Hrrrrrm unironically my favorite horrortale moment and the scene that shows the strongest character in all of Horrortale is Aliza. Not Sans, not Undyne, not Papyrus, not Toriel, etc, etc. Aliza. Pathetic wet rat scared out of her mind Aliza
The entire point of Horrortale is everyone has been pushed to the breaking point. The circumstances are so bad so many people have crumbled and been driven insane. Sans is a shell or at best a poor imitation of his former self, apathetic, sadistic, selfish, and bored of the world
To give a little more context to the unaware of this scene
Sans points out how hopeless Aliza's situation is, even pointing out he's actively putting himself in danger to keep her alive. If Undyne gets her soul then she will destroy Snowdin by extension his friends and family thus the question
"How much is your life worth?"
If Aliza doesn't counter at all, he just kills her (talking about Aliza & Horror pre-adoption is a whiplash if you're seen all my Papa Horror headcanons huh)
However if Aliza does she gives the ultimate comeback
"How much is your life worth?"
The Fandom will be reminded time and time again by me that Horror is a bad person, he's actively harmed many and ruined several lives. That includes Aliza herself within the narrative. The entire point of Horrortale is how people break under pressure, crumble when worse comes to worse, putting characters at their lowest then seeing how that affects them. Insert that Joker quote of "it only takes one bad day..."
Then you have Aliza....a girl who's had objectively speaking the worst day of her life. A twelve-year-old who's meek and passive. Unlike the fallen children before her she's not known a single friendly face, several monsters have attempted to kill and even succeeded in murdering her, she's been tortured, she's been drugged, belittled, mocked, threatened, manipulated, maimed, isolated, the list goes ON
Yet, she doesn't break. Unless we count the alternative ending of her staying in the underground (which even then she just accepts the cannibalism she doesn't turn bloodthirsty), Aliza remains kind, sweet, compassionate and understanding. It doesn't seem to matter how bad the day is getting, Aliza remains herself. And the objective fact of the matter is she never would have hurt anyone, no matter what. She was just a girl trying to get home and if the alternative ending is anything to go by she might have stayed peacefully if she was given that option. ("Why didn't Frisk stay in the ruins" doesn't apply to Aliza given Toriel literally poisoned the poor girl)
How much is her life worth? Who knows. She's one human. But she's harmless. She's kind. She's proven useful given she's gotten this far on her own wit and luck alone.
How much is his life worth? The man who's done so much harm? The man who insists nothing matters yet clearly values his own life and his loved ones? The man who, whether he likes it or not, is responsible for the current horrible circumstances? The man who....hurt a young girl....for no good reason?
Horror is HUMBLED after this. No witty response. No clapback. The light literally vanishes from his eyes. All he tells her afterwards is "beat it" because he knows she's right. He has a fucking point. The girl is kind and certainly naive but she's not stupid. And she keeps doing the thing she's kept doing since she arrived here. Challenge him.
The main way is "she keeps not fucking dying when she should be dead", but also really challenging his worldview. Nothing mattered. Aliza would snap and prove she is no better than any of the monsters down here. Right and wrong don't matter, so do whatever the fuck you want. All is fair in war yadda yadda. It eat or be eaten.
But Aliza refuses each time.
Each show of kindness contradicts that. Each act of compassion contradicts that. She fundamentally as a whole contradicts that. Its gotten her far and touched the hearts of many.
Her life is worth more than his.
