every character in undertale that uses they/them is canonically nonbinary
and before you get mad, let’s take a look at what nonbinary means:
chara, frisk, kris and several other characters in undertale are never explicitly defined as male or female, instead, only ever referred to with gender neutral language and pronouns throughout the game. these characters would fall under the definition of nonbinary.
to nonbinary and trans people, these characters are representation. these characters are important to everyone, but the fact that they positively represent this part of us (being nonbinary) that is so often ignored, shamed, or inaccurately portrayed by other media is much more important to us. it’s very appropriate that the example sentence for the definition of nonbinary is “nonbinary people are vastly underrepresented in the media” because it’s true.
list how many nonbinary characters you know off the top of your head. now list how many characters you know that aren’t nonbinary. the lack of representation we get is astronomical.
it’s undeniable that these characters are canonically nonbinary. however, it appears that some people are holding on to the idea that they’re not. i’ve seen many, many excuses for why people can’t possibly see them as their canon gender or use their canon pronouns.
these excuses are often very poorly thought out. and they tend to disrespect the source material. so, if you’re going to come up with an excuse to misgender these characters, at least do a better job.
here’s all the excuses i’ve seen and why they make no sense.
#1: frisk/chara/kris are the player.
if they were the player they would not have their own names, backstories, personalities, relationship dynamics, motivations, & interests which lay outside the player’s influence. i’m inclined to believe people who claim this probably did not finish these games.
also just because the narrator says “you” does not mean they’re referring to you, the player. i’m guessing people who think this probably haven’t read homestuck and…actually, that’s valid tbh.
#2: frisk/chara/kris are meant to be projected on.
there’s a whole plot twist during the end of this game that these characters are separate from the player. (ie: frisk being revealed to have their own name and be their own person with their own life that flowey begs you to stop interfering with. chara being separate from both frisk and the player, having their own true name, family, backstory, personality, and morals.)
frisk and chara are written to be ambiguous at first, yes, but that’s because toby wants the player to project onto them because it makes the whole plot twist have actual meaning. frisk and chara being separate people and having their own names and backstories wouldn’t have any meaning if they were still supposed to be representations of the player.
this is amazing writing and it would make no sense for their genders to be the one thing that the player somehow still has control over when both undertale and deltarune keep reiterating time and time again that these characters are separate from the player.
#3: toby said frisk/chara/kris’s genders are up for interpretation.
#4: toby made a tweet that said-
toby’s tweets are not canon.
#5: someone found a deleted tweet where toby called frisk a boy.
#6: frisk/chara/kris are only called they/them because the monsters don’t know their gender.
that’s never stated anywhere.
if monsters didn’t know their gender, toby would have written that into the narrative to show clearly what was going on, and we wouldn’t be having this whole nonbinary debate. but he didn’t. because this excuse doesn’t make sense.
chara & kris had been living with monsters for years. they were family. there’s no way the dreemurrs wouldn’t know what gender their fucking child (sibling & best friend, in asriel’s case) is, especially when they all have genders themselves. especially since, in undertale, the monsters weren’t living under a rock forever. they know what humans are like and have interacted with them before the war. even more so in deltarune, where everybody lives on the surface, so OF COURSE monsters would know what nonbinary is.
just maybe…..the monsters call frisk/chara/kris by they/them pronouns because they go by they/them pronouns
there are several monsters who go by they/them pronouns in the game as well. napstablook, monster kid, and ice wolf are just a few notable examples. the monsters do understand that these characters are nonbinary. i just wish some irl people could too!
#7: they/them is just another way of saying he or she.
usually you only call someone they/them in this way if you don’t know them. all the monsters know frisk/chara/kris. they’re family, class mates, friends, neighbors, etc. they know what gender these characters are and they know what pronouns they use.
there’s also already characters in these games who use multiple pronouns. there’s characters who use both he/him AND she/her pronouns. if frisk/chara/kris was like that then toby could’ve just done that as well. but he didn’t. they only ever uses they/them. it’s not that hard to respect that.
#8: singular they/them is not grammatically correct.
tell that to shakespeare.
#9: they look like [x] gender stereotype.
start applying this logic to real life people and see how quickly you get punched in the face.
#10: they never explicitly state they are nonbinary. the words “i am nonbinary” never come out of their mouth.
alphys never explicitly states she’s a girl. the words “i alphys, the royal scientist, am a girl” never comes out of her mouth. and yet… do people think her gender is up for interpretation? no.
you don’t need someone to hold your hand for you and walk you through this shit.
#11: [literally any other excuse that involves kris.]
