Ok, so this post is kind of a Fan Theory post, and kind of a “does anyone have anymore info on this” post, so bear with me, but. Is anyone really familiar with the constellation “Canes Venatici”? and if you are, are you also familiar with Undertale? I think I’ve stumbled onto something that is either a huge coincidence, or it’s this not-very-well-known inspiration behind Asriel and Chara. I’ll try and make this as concise as I can. “Canes Venatici” is a constellation depicting two hounds. The Astronomer who named this constellation (Johannes Hevelius) attributed the two hounds to belonging to Bootes the Herdsman, although no hounds were really included in any myths of Bootes. The two hounds were named Chara and Asterion, where Chara is Greek for “Joy”, and Asterion means “Little Star”. On today’s constellation maps, the two brightest stars of the Canes Venatici belong to Chara, one marking its eye, the other marking its collar, although it seems that originally, the star marking Chara’s eye had belonged to Asterion. Asterion’s region in the constellation is now, essentially, a void in the night sky. I feel like this is pertinent information somehow, maybe as a parallel to Chara using their own soul in addition to Asriel’s when they crossed the barrier, or of how Asriel essentially became soulless as Flowey. Furthermore, a little over 30 years after the initial naming of the constellation, an English astronomer named Alpha CVn (the star marking Chara’s collar) “Cor Caroli” in honor of King Charles I, which means “Charles’ heart”. Which means that Chara’s collar holds the king’s heart. I think this is an obvious parallel to Chara’s heart locket, which makes me wonder: if this constellation really is the inspiration behind Chara and Asriel, would that mean that the locket was a gift to Chara from Asgore? I think it’s possible, since the locket was found in a gift box, and in the in-game images of Chara being found by Asriel after they fell, you can’t see their face or chest, so it’s possible that the locket wasn’t something they had before falling into the underground. This is all I’ve got for right now, but if anyone has additional info on the constellation that’s applicable here, or wants to add onto this theory, go for it.
wait, fuck, no!!! I didn’t realize until immediately after posting this, but “Asterion” can be shortened to “Aster”, like in “W.G. Aster”, for Gaster! Asterion’s now-starless region could also be a parallel to Gaster’s erasure from both existence and the underground’s memory. I regret posting this all so soon.
