passivechara:

Heiya. It’s me. Again.

I just read this sunday’s main newspaper article (the German Welt am Sonntag, and the article was written by Céline Lauer, by the way) about theories on quantum mechanics, especially the many-worlds interpretation and oh, boy. OH, BOY.

The article mentioned four different kinds of parallel universes, as characterized by the Swedish physicist and cosmologist Max Tegmark, the first one being those worlds that are yet out of reach, in the corners of our universe that light has not yet traveled from far enough to reach our sensors, the sceond kind are the parallel universes that were created in the big bang event, but have different physical rules than ours, the third kind are those created by the possible positions of particles, and the fourth are those universes that belong to every single mathematical formula, respectively.

Now the second and third kind are those where it gets interesting.

Let’s start with the third kind, because it was the article’s main focus: again, for every possible postion of a particle, there is a respective universe. Translating that into mundane-usage-language, it means: everytime we make a decision, a universe is created for every possible outcome. Every small detail that changes during that process results in a whole new world with ever-so-slightly different properties.

Sound familiar? Yup, that is exactly how Undertale works. For every time we spare an enemy or solve a puzzle in a certain way, there is a version of the game/universe, in which that enemy gets killed or the puzzle gets solved differently. For every genocide run, there is a pacifist one (and probably many neutral ones, I guess).

Most, if not all of you, probably knew that already.
But the article goes on. What if people are aware of the different universes created this way? What if they knew that there is a world in which they made a good decision, when they made a bad one in this world? What if, for example, they killed someone in this world, but there is also a universe in which they are still alive?
(this next part is not from the article, but my own thought on the matter) What if they had access to/ could live in all of these universes? What if they could undo everything they did?(/end own thought)Wouldn’t they just use this as an excuse for their actions, seeing that there is always a version of the universe in which they killed nobody, where they can’t be made responsible, because they are not responsible, for anything in that matter, and thus they are above consequences? (at this point I had chills running down my spine, by the way)

Now in the article, the author Juli Zeh (who has written an interesting sounding book on that matter, heh, matter), was stated to have said that she didn’t think that would be the case, because every human is born with a sense of moral, that would “force us to exist as a moral being in this world, in which we currently exist and which we can experience” (I like to call it the “here and now”).

But what if we remove this sense of moral, this sense of being here and now, for example, what if this world was expicitly stated to be not ours, but just a game?

That is where Undertale comes into play (heh, play).
Its brilliance stems from its awareness of everything stated before.

It knows.
It knows when you killed Toriel and went back to your last SAVE point to fix it.
It knows if you RESET in a pacifist run, only to hear Sans’ speech again (and get the key to his room, which is exactly why you get it in the first place).
It knows, whether you stay a pacifist, or go out of your way to do the kill-all route needlessly, just out of curiosity or simply because you can.

It will call you out for it.

It will judge you accordingly.

And it will present you with consequences where you would not expect them in another game.

(note: OH. BOY. This is getting long. And I’m not done yet.)

But all this is only possible because Undertale, as a whole, could be classified as a Level Two parallel universe in relation to our own, metaphorically speaking. As a reminder, those are universes that were created at the same time as ours, only with different physical rules and properties, their existence based on extremely certain specifics, so that, if certain changes are made, they can cease to exist, there one second, gone another, like a soap bubble, similar to how, if you mess with the files to much, the game can’t function anymore.

These kinds of universes are very popular in philosophy and religion, specifically in a dual system, for example Plato’s Theory of Ideas or the image of an Intermediate State.

Or, maybe, the Underground and the Surface.

Speaking of religion: all these theories and thoughts never answered one question. They adressed the what and how, but never the why.

Why would there be so many universes with so specific properties?

Why were they created?

“Because God did more than he needed to.” Says Johann Hafner, theologian. (note: link to German Wikipedia, because not available in English)

(Note: I don’t want to offend anyone’s religious orientation, I’m using this quote in the context of this analysis only to get a certain point across, which is not of religious nature per se. I myself am agnostic, by the way.)

Why was Undertale created as the game it is now?

How did it all start?

Someone had an idea and was filled with the joy of creation.

Now if you take the dual system and apply it to the game and reality (the world of perception and the world of ideas/ this world and the world beyond)…

Where do ideas come from?

Who lives in the world beyond?

Toby Fox, you sly god dog. (I really wonder if he read that article beforehand, nah, kidding)

Also, that makes the player, us, angels, doesn’t it?

Like, the angel of the prophecy of the Delta Rune? (The design changed by the way, from the intro, where the upside down triangle (or is it a heart?) is still on the same level as the others, to the actual game, where it’s below them.)

The article concluded with a thought about determination (of the world, but also willpower), and that every human decides on his own in which world they live.

Very, very interesting stuff, I tell you that much. Also, what a coincidence (or was it???).

Anyways, I’m done. That’s all I have. Thanks and Good Night!

*falls on bed exhausted*

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(submitted by anonymous)

Woah, this was a good read and puts the meta lore into perspective.