I’ve talked about the ‘chara’ sprites before, if briefly. Long story short, there are a set of sprites in the game called ‘Chara.’ Frisk’s called ‘Mainchara,’ the Chara we see at the end of the Kill-all is called ‘truechara’, but what is a little more nebulous is the existence of another set of sprites, these sprites, which are all called simply ‘chara.’
I once said that there was a lot to talk about here, but that that was not the time to dig into what these sprites are, or what they could or could not represent. And I stand by that, it wasn’t the time.
Now. Now is the time. This post is long, and there’s a lot of datamining stuff in here, so click at your own risk.
im still thinking about how like…if you abort a genocide run, do a neutral pacifist run afterwards then spare asgore, flowey will be like,
Chara…
You haven’t learned a thing.
(for reference, his line is normally “You IDIOT” instead of “<playername>”)
his whole emphasis in the genocide route is that they’ve learned something. his whole emphasis in the pacifist route is that they need to learn something. this, imo, is pretty solid evidence that chara was not like this when they were alive.
even if you stop the genocide really really late – like, as late as right before entering the throne room, even if you close the window during chara’s choice AFTER KILLING FLOWEY and reset – he’ll still be under the impression that chara hasn’t learned to kill yet
like, feeling that strongly about this just makes it feel like proof that chara really was not murderous in life. he doesn’t say they need to go back to normal. he doesn’t say that this isn’t like them. he says they haven’t learned a thing.
An argument I’d like to work through at some point, when I can think how best to present it:
All three routes are the result of three entities working in concert: Frisk, Chara, and the Player. No route is possible without all three contributing in some way. However, the Pacifist Route “belongs” to Frisk, the No Mercy Route “belongs” to the Player, and the Neutral routes “belong” to Chara, based on who is acknowledged to be present and how.
honestly just really like undertale 