Hello. For the past few months I have been working on a document deconstructing the dynamic between UNDERTALE's protagonist and the various factors surrounding them.
After replaying the game I've had a revelation of sorts regarding this topic that I'd like to share with you.
For theorists in this community, I only hope that this proves useful going into DELTARUNE.
Undertale lore is hilarious because there'll be impossibly deep secrets about certain characters you can more or less only learn by datamining, but also the first major character is called "Toriel" because she gives you the tutorial.
we have a couple of guides to Deltarune's structure.
deltarune.com/chapter5
the Forgotten Man's schedule
the shadow crystals
Gerson's summary of Lord of the Hammer
information shared by Toby
all of these end at Chapter 5. firstly, i want to explain how. then, i want to explore what we do have to understand/predict Chapter 6 and 7.
the chapter pages
on each site from deltarune.com/chapter1 to chapter3 we can access a message. there aren't pages for deltarune.com/chapter6 and deltarune.com/chapter7.
/chapter1 - Not applicable.
/chapter2 - Applicable.
/chapter3 - Not applicable. But...
/chapter4 - [very different, i won't write about it here]
/chapter5 - ["back" - the Weird Route map]
this matches up with whether the Weird Route is possible with each chapter, /chapter3 referring to the Sword Route. deltarune.com/chapter4 breaks the pattern, and links to something very different. /chapter5 also breaks the pattern, and instead elaborates on the Weird Route.
/chapter5
on /chapter5, there are five numbers. 2, 3 and 5 link to audio files. 1 doesn't link to anything, and 4 links to deltarune.com/chapter4.
1 - very small, black, N/A
2 - large, white, d.mp3
3 - large, almost black, ma.mp3,
4 - small, white, N/A
5 - medium, white, h.mp3
deltarune.com/chapter5 also has the page title "back", which isn't translated on the Japanese version.
1 is small and black because it has no weird route. 2 has a lot of weird route content. 3 has a lot of sword route content. 4 has a small amount of weird route content... and we can presume 5 is going to have like, a medium smount.
but that leaves the status of the weird route in chapter 6 and 7 completely open.
the Forgotten Man's schedule
our next guide is the Forgotten Man's schedule; the day-of-the-week lets us work out the chapter. Chapter 3 happens during Friday night, presumably why it isn't mentioned.
[Chapter 1] ON THURSDAY, I GO TO SELL THE DONUTS.
[Chapter 2] ON FRIDAY, I TOSS THE LEFTOVERS IN THE DUMPSTER.
[Chapter 4] ON SATURDAY, I LET IT COOL ON THE WINDOWSILL.
[Chapter 5] ON SUNDAY, I HARVEST THE WHEAT.
Temmie counts how many eggs you've collected. in Chapter 4, you can go to the classroom to find them all on a desk, with another "leader egg" at the top. this desk could fit 5 eggs maximum, assuming that all the Man eggs stay at the bottom.
anyway, both the schedule and Temmie don't support eggs for Chapter 6 and 7.
the Shadow Crystals
in Chapter 4, before the dark world, Seam tells us the following:
You got the Crystal, that's all that matters!
Now you've got three. Only two more, and we should have enough...
... to make something I think you'll quite enjoy. Now good luck... and I'll be taking that Shadow Crystal.
we get one more shadow crystal from Gerson, leaving the last one Seam needs to be collected in Chapter 5.
Gerson's summaries
during his battle, Gerson provides summaries of each chapter to Lord of the Hammer, lining up with Deltarune's chapters.
Chapter 1 / The March of the Dark King. The heroes defeat the king and stop the dragon.
in Chapter 1, we defeat the Card King and stop Susie from attacking everything.
Chapter 2 / The City of the Shining. The heroes do battle in chariots to save the Queen.
in Chapter 2, we fight Berdly in bumper cars.
Chapter 3, The Isles of Northernlight. The heroes travel among the islands and catch a glimpse of a lost land.
in Chapter 3, we go to the Island Board, and see multiple "lost lands"; Atlantis, the Purple Cliffs.
Chapter 4, The Trials of the Holy Hammer. A great smith gives the heroes a terrible weapon.
in Chapter 4, we meet Gerson, a "great smith". but he doesn't have to give us a weapon - maybe it's hope?
Chapter 5, The Field of Pink and Gold. The vast garden is charred in an inferno of jealousy.
Gerson tells us, "there was only one more chapter... After that, it all stopped."- so a chapter 6 existed, but he doesn't describe it to us, while chapter 7 was never written.
like in the other examples, Chapter's 1 to 5 are mentioned, but 6 and 7 aren't.
conclusions
I do think there's going to be a Chapter 6 and 7. the most reliable, important guide we have to the structure is the chapter select screen. Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 are always included there.
and finally, Toby's just never mentioned Chapter 6 or 7 before- he refers vaguely to like, other chapters, and implies there'll be more after 5.
the release schedule for the following chapters will be a lot smoother!! It's still going to take a good while to get there, but once we do, you'll never have to wait so long for a Chapter ever again!
but in terms of more direct information, we really just don't have any.
code exists, showing the game will continue. I don't think it's ending in Chapter 5, or that just-the-weird-route will end in Chapter 5. to me it feels like a really major structural shift is being set up for 6 and 7.
There's something pretty amusing about the fact that Fangamer released a Chara-themed shirt with a description and name that follows the patterns and themes used in Undertale by Chara or to refer to Chara, putting Undertale before Deltarune in its credits in english whilst only crediting Undertale in japanese, to go along with Toby Fox sharing a Chara-relevant newsletter for Undertale 9th (strongly Chara associated number) anniversary.
...And yet so many people still seem to have confused it for a Kris shirt.
I mean, obviously it isn't irrelevant to Kris, to an extent it is meant to serve as both. But it should be rather obvious that Chara was the intended primary focus of the item here, and Kris the secondary one.
I suppose there is some kind of recency bias going on towards the newer game.
Either that, or people unfamiliar with Fangamer's long past history with not making their clothing designs super accurate to the source material rushed to conclusions over the Chara-Kris shirt design nuances.
Yall have no idea on how long i've been working in this
This is my first comic ever and i hope you'll enjoy it! I apriciate all critisisms and tips <3
Please do keep in mind that this comic is filled with OCs and its very different from canon undertale. Its focus is a OC x Sans relationship but its peak guys, i swear 💔💔
This comic is mainly focused on character development, politics, humor and relationships. I hope thats something yall enjoy <33
I’m very interested to hear your Gaster interpretation as someone who likes to make my own!
Okayokay long ramble incoming- Kind of a mix of my Gaster lore and the Skelebros since they're kind of intertwined for my stuff --- I'll try to break up the paragraphs with doodles so it's not just a block of text
My version of Gaster is a mix between the usual crazy scientist interpretation and also someone who just really really wants to be a parent. (there is an appeal to the version of Gaster that's just.. Awful and creates the skelebros as experiments, but I wanted to go for a little of a more wholesome approach for my lore cuz I feel like they've been traumatized enough lol)
There aren't any other skeletons in the underground except for Gaster, though, and also I headcanon him as aro/ace so he was like. Yeah I'll figure something out on my own. SO! Inbetween working on the Core and trying to find ways to break the barrier, he did studies in his own time on SOUL magic to find out if it was possible to create life only using the SOUL magic of a single monster (rather than the usual two). His research on how to break the barrier overlapped some with this research so he get away with using the royal science lab/materials/etc for it.
Some science junk, blah blah, he found that it could be possible- if he took a chunk out of his own SOUL. And I suppose probably also the chunks out of his hands to provide the physical material necessary (Can thank Handplates for that idea). And that was a sacrifice he was willing to make for Science and also Child.
(The next section is copy-pasted directly from my lore google doc)
Gaster was cautious with his experiments for his first attempt. He didn’t want to risk a huge chunk of his soul on a first try that he thought would surely abort itself, so he only used a little bit, plus the extra soul power he was able to create through his own desire to have kids and probably some sketchy magic injection type stuff.
However, the first attempt didn’t abort. Despite his hesitancy and being sure that this first run would just be a proof of concept, or to just to figure out where things could possibly go wrong and how to fix them (he did all the calculations beforehand and everything, of course, but real life never plays out like the simulations), the soul actually took and began to create itself. He grew it and took care of it in an incubator in the lab, and during this time he slept at the lab a LOT, terrified that something would go wrong if/when he wasn’t there. As time went on and the soul & vessel it created became more stable, he got a little less freaky weird about being away from it for short periods of time.
I guess probably this process takes about 9 months because?? That’s how long it takes to build a whole skeleton with magic soul power probably? Idk man. Anyway because they’re magic skeletons and there’s no reason to ‘birth’ (read: remove from the incubator) the soul & vessel before its able to support itself (unlike humans, who are all born premature because our heads would be too big otherwise) the new skeleton usually starts trying to become independent (get born) around the developmental size that humans would associate with a 1 or 2 year old.
And thus Sans was created! Gaster feels extremely guilty that Sans is so weak because technically it’s his fault for not committing more of his soul to him but he’s so so happy to finally have a kid and does everything in his power to keep Sans safe despite his weaknesses and help him learn how to navigate around them (Including sleeping to regain above max HP!)
When Sans got old enough to kinda do his own thing around Gaster (like 5 or 6?) Gaster decided it was time to make another kid for a number of reasons:
To redeem himself scientifically: He had proof he could make a living being, but with Sans he’d hesitated and Sans suffered because of it. He wanted to make another who was more healthy
To give Sans a sibling: Both because Sans seemed kind of lonely and because he figured they would be able to keep each other safe that way- when they got older the sibling could help protect Sans and ‘make up’ for his disabilities by being able to help him out (Gasters view on it- I used airquotes deliberately. People with disabilities can function just fine on their own. Gaster sees Sans' disabilities of a failing of his (Gaster) own so he views it more negatively because he feels guilty about it.)
Because he wanted to: Gaster always wanted at least two kids and now that Sans was a little more stable and independent Gaster could handle the responsibilities & time dedication of having another little one around
And so Gaster did the whole thing again, but took a bigger chunk of his soul this time and probably more sketchy soul injection things to create more soul power.
And blah blah 9 months of waiting and sitting around in the lab being anxious and BAM! Papyrus is born!
The boys grew up mostly in the lab and around it since Gaster was so involved in his work, but Toriel and Asgore babysat sometimes too (Papyrus’ memories of the ‘green’ but not remembering Toriel because he was too little). Gaster was a super involved parent as well, and even hired Alphys as an assist in the lab so he didn’t have to spread himself so thin with work and his kids. (Alphys only worked on vague assistance type stuff, which is why after Gaster got shattered across time she had no recollection of the deeper workings of the Core or of Gaster’s studies- anything that wasn’t erased with Gaster was really vague surface-level stuff)
As time went on, Sans got interested in the science that Gaster was doing. Sans and Papyrus hung out at the lab a ton, especially as they got a little older and didn’t need quite as much direct adult supervision. Mostly Sans just watched after Papyrus, but occasionally he’d watch Gaster work instead or in addition. Gaster taught him as best he could at an age appropriate level, and so Sans ended up something of a scientific prodigy. Papyrus didn’t take the same interest & spent most of his time pretending to be a knight and/or learning magic instead. Gaster taught both of them how to fight & how to use magic in his own homeschooling sort of curriculum (Reason why no one knew them before they showed up in Snowdin- they stayed pretty much just around the lab & the castle)
Oh, also, the cracks in Gaster’s skull appeared after each kid! Because splitting his soul weakened his magical ability it also weakened his physical form somewhat so he got more brittle. Sans’ soul piece caused the split down his eye to his mouth, and Papyrus’ caused the one from his eye up his skull- bigger & worse because 1. He was already more fragile after having Sans and 2. Papyrus was a bigger piece of his soul
When Sans was 17 and Papyrus was 11, Sans had been actively helping around the lab and the Core for a few years.
Gaster and Sans were running around the core performing some routine maintenance or something but someone didn’t get the memo that they were in the sector that they were in and started rearranging the Core (as you do. Literally it’s part of how the place works the hallways get rearranged) Sans was a little behind Gaster because he’d been fixing up some wires or something and so when he went to catch up he saw what happened next but couldn’t do anything about it.
Gaster was stepping between sectors when the rooms shifted. He had one foot on the next sector and one on the previous, so when they detached and swung out he got flung. Directly into the Core. And was shattered across time and space.
When Gaster got disintegrated across time he took people’s memories of Sans and Papyrus too- Because they shared parts of his soul, they occupied the same parts of people’s memory as Gaster did, which was all overwritten after the Accident.
Sans and Papyrus also forgot most of their direct ties to Gaster- they remembered having a dad, being raised, the things they learned (magic, schooling, etc) but not anything about their dad, or what he did, or who he was. Directly after the Core Accident, Sans woke up at their house in the Capital (where Gaster and the boys technically lived when they weren’t all at the lab), only remembering that his dad was gone- but not how, or why- and when he dug in his mind for what his dad looked like or who he was, he got a headache and gave up. Papyrus was also home. To the best of their collective recollection and filling in gaps with assumptions, their dad had died, maybe recently? And now they were on their own. They had no income anymore, or maybe at all ever? And they couldn’t afford to stay where they were. The capital is expensive, after all. And… And this house was for royal officials and their families anyway, they weren’t supposed to be there. They made up the idea that they’d been allowed to live there to get back on their feet after their dad’s death (the king is generous, after all) since the place had been vacant anyway and the king/queen/someone official had felt bad for them.
So they moved to Snowdin!
Aaaand the next chunk of the doc is on the Skelebros so I'll spare you of it since that's not what you asked. Tbh most of this is probably more than you asked but thank you for giving me the opportunity to ramble!!
