#like if frisk‚ an ACTUAL child‚ can somehow be mature enough to be the monster ambassador

[cherry-shipping]

ok so anyway while were on the topic of fanfiction it pisses me off to no fucking end when fanfic authors depict papyrus as some naive gullible sweet innocent little kid who doesnt know or understand anything, ESPECIALLY if its a fic dealing with monster racism and xenophobia. ive seen so many fucking fanfics talking about that where papyrus is written as some sort of innocent ball of sunshine who cant understand the harsh reality he lives in....... like shut the FUCK UP!!!!! he KNOWS!!! the thing is hes SMART and KIND and WILL NOT LET YOU BE MEAN TO HIM!!!!!! thats why he reacts positively even if you pick the mean dialogue options in the game!!! he KNOWS youre trying to hurt his feelings but he wants to be your friend SO BAD he LITERALLY will not let you!!!!! and it works!!!!!! hes not stupid!!!!! you guys are just ableist!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[edotvie]

SURVEY_PROGRAM

It’s been a long time, but here’s my updated thoughts on Deltarune.

Evidence for DELTARUNE being a SIMULATION created by W.D. Gaster:

Gaster's tweets. Toby tweeting as Gaster when Deltarune Chapter 1 originally came out seems to imply he’s the one in charge of Deltarune.

Deltarune was originally called SURVEY_PROGRAM. What is being surveyed, why and by who?

Entry number 17 plays from your cellphone in the Dark World.

Gaster seems to talk to you during the character creation.

Sans, his house and Grillby's seem the same as in Undertale, though without the decorations.

”Delta” can be a reference to ”Delta Testing”: The first Chapter is isolated for testing under Gaster's surveillance.

Questions this raises (and my assumptions):

What does Gaster know about the Red Soul/The Player?

The Red Soul could be an artificial SOUL created by Gaster. (Contradiction: Alphys states in her log entry that the power of the SOUL can't be artificially constructed, and she opts to use Monster Souls as test subjects.) The Red Soul is Chara's original SOUL after they've died with Asriel. (Contradiction: There is no mention of what happened to Chara's SOUL after the fused Asriel and Chara returned to the Underground, but the six other SOULs have been told to vanish every time after Flowey/Asriel absorbs them. Also, it is uncertain whether Chara can be thought of as a character the player could control, as we only ever control Frisk, and then Kris in Deltarune.) The Red Soul is simply our SOUL. (Contradiction: That would imply the player is a literal part of the game/Undertale universe, but would explain none of our origin within it. Human SOULs (most likely as no other indication has been given) spawn with human bodies, and Chara says both the SOUL and human body were “not theirs, but yours.” With Frisk being an actual character outside our control, it's debatable whether Chara is referring to them or the player, or perhaps both.)

The fact that we use the player name we've chosen within the mechanics seems to imply Chara is still very much with us, and that the Red Soul is the same as in Undertale. Especially because we recognize Sans both in and out of game. Even if our previous association with him is not the same as in Undertale, the Red Soul and Sans are somehow involved. The character creation resembling the form of Frisk, even if older, seems to indicate the same thing. And because we are given a teenage body instead of a child's one, it could imply the Red Soul has matured from when we were controlling Frisk. It enters a very messy area of speculation however, especially considering the likely timeline(s) of the two games.

What is Gaster testing?

If Deltarune is a simulation created by the W.D. Gaster who was once the Royal Scientist in the Undertale universe, we can assume it had to do with freeing monsterkind. Alphys' experiments focused on recreating or ”unleashing” the power of the SOUL in order to break the barrier. She discovered a component in the SOULs makeup she called Determination. She also discovered that it is the fundamental aspect that allows human SOULs to persist after they die. Determination can only be hosted by beings with enough ”physical matter”, or the subject will melt and fuse with another of its kind if possible. Beings without SOULs will gain the will to live if injected with Determination – or at the very least this becomes the case when monster dust seems to be involved (memory data, DNA). Without a SOULs other properties, this kind of being lacks the capacity to love, but hosts a multitude of powers Determination apparently grants Human Souls.

Gaster could be testing the Red Soul. He is said by the Gaster Followers to have been brilliant, and because nobody remembers him, it could be that he was further along in this kind of study than Alphys. When Chara wields Determination among a set of other kinds of strenght provided by the No Mercy (Genocide) run, they have the power to Erase the world of Undertale. They also encourage you to ”move onto the next (world)”, and later refer to us recreating Undertale if we complete No Mercy twice. This implies that either the human SOUL or Determination alone gives us the power to not only manipulate reality, but to destroy and rebuild it. DETERMINE, TERMINATE and DE-TERMINATE. Because Gaster specifically gives us the option to create and erase files in Deltarune, this could be something he's testing. What are the limits of the Red Soul, how much can you do with it... What choises will it make in a controlled environment?

You have to take into account that Chara interferes with Character Creation and discards the vessel Gaster has encouraged you to construct. Chara places the Red Soul in Kris' body and tells the player that ”they can not choose who they are in this world.” That means that the experiment is not going exactly according to plan. (Sans could be there as damage control, but it is hard to know what part he actually plays.) This is also proven when, at the end of Chapter 1, Kris rejects the Red Soul. In the Dark World, Kris' flavor text says ”Body contains a human SOUL,” which seems to imply the Red Soul is not Kris' original one. This could imply that the SOUL needs to match its body for the body to act in complete obedience, a bit like how Ghosts become corporeal by finding an appropriate form through a strong emotional reaction. This would also explain why Gaster wants us to make our own vessel specifically. He could have meant for us to be in control within the experiment, but Chara interfered. For whatever reason, the experiment was not interrupted. We are given the power to stop or resume, which seems to indicate the biggest thing Gaster wanted of the Red Soul was its cooperation. This could imply simply trying to understand the Red Soul.

How was Deltarune created?

I believe the world of Deltarune is constructed similar to how one would create a video game. First, you need an engine: It is shown SOULs can be used as sources of energy through how they supercharge whoever they're fused with. A human SOUL or the CORE could very well work as an engine. Then you need to program it, where I assume Gaster would come in: He provides a platform upon which you can create. The Red Soul could/would be in charge of creation as much as Gaster would be: Their memories, experiences, hopes and dreams could be functioning as the pillars for the simulated world. They'd simply manifest within the constraints Gaster had placed (which could also explain the way we experience Undertale/Deltarune. It is simply the extent to which we're able because of our own power. Some Undertale characters seem to be aware of it: especially Sans. Which would confirm the theory of him being involved with Gaster and the creation of Deltarune, the experience given to the Red Soul and the lense the Red Soul can view the world through).

Chara's interference could’ve caused the world to form the way it did. This would imply the people present in the overworld are the people Chara knew and how they witnessed them/or maybe they did not know them very well and made up their own environment from these people. Sans may or may not be an intruder in that and is having an effect on the world to mess with Chara. The world is likely not an ideal world of Chara's, but rather their hopes and dreams mixing partly with reality. The Dark World could be a world created within that world with more effects from either Gaster or Chara's/Frisk's/Kris' imagination, or perhaps a subconcious world. Their own power could be catching them off guard.

Where in the Undertale timeline does this simulation happen?

The lack of Gryftmas lights (as well as the lack of snow on the roof) on Sans' house would imply before he lived in Snowdin, or at least before Gryftmas was made a tradition. The use of Red Soul could imply 'after' Undertale, but it is specifically referred to as ”not a sequel,” so I don't think it would happen afterwards in the timeline. So the experiment could reasonably take place before they have seven human SOULs; It would have to take place either before or after Chara's death, but at the very least before all the other humans fell in. Gaster's presence could also imply that it was before he was scattered across time and space, especially because Entry Number 17 plays on the phone (he could be making it during Chapter 1). However, the fact that he says he has been ”searching for us” (either referring to the player or the Red Soul), could mean that he is in fact scattered. Or at the very least, the SOUL is lost. (Which, when I think about it, could imply Chara has died at this point and he is fishing for the Red Soul from the Void after it has likely vanished. This could clash with other portions of my theory, but I'm simply looking at whatever facts we have.)

Who is Kris?

Kris is the vessel chosen to host the Red Soul by Chara. This, combined with the behaviours the people in the Deltarune overworld say they've witnessed of Kris, seems to suggest Kris is a version of Chara. A vessel they want the Red Soul to work through, and it is notable that they travel with the Red Soul when their name (whatever your player name ends up being) is called. Kris does not match the Red Soul as perfectly as it does Chara, the original fallen child. That could be why they created or chose this vessel and why they're able to fight the power of the Red Soul by extracting it from Kris.

If experiments are done while Chara is still alive, Chara would still most likely be a child considering the timeline. However, if experiments are being done to strenghten their SOUL, the SOUL could be more mature than Chara themselves is. Thus an older vessel matches the Red Soul or alternatively, Chara's SOUL, better.

What is Chara?

If nothing has changed from Undertale, the Chara the Red Soul knows is the memory of the first human who fell into the underground. We give them a name and they realize a purpose from themselves when the Red Soul distances from the vessel known as ”Frisk.” This purpose is power. With the lack of a SOUL of their own, Chara lacks the ability to love. It seems they operate almost purely on a manner of logic, like a program. Within Deltarune though, Chara seems to act differently. They take initiative and actively seek to take control, which on paper is not too different; However, Chara is no longer a result of our actions, implying they have their own free will from the start. Chara acts very much like a virus within the context of Deltarune if you consider it a program. They interfere and take over. If the world is a projection made by Chara, it also implies an emotional presence and could suggest Chara still has a SOUL and is an active character/player within the universe.

These are my current thoughts. Up to changing. Left out a ton of speculation.