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Duckyworth Showed Chara Mercy

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Recently, I uploaded a ‘Characters I used to Dislike/Hate But now Love’ meme, and the Number One character on this spot was Chara from Undertale. I will admit that when I originally uploaded the meme, all I gave for the description was a link to a Youtube Video, saying it sums up why I changed my opinions.

Please allow me to elaborate. :) A short while ago, I started receiving comments from people asking me to check out that video and some other sources, and I had actually been looking up on blogs that a lot of people think that Chara is one of the most misunderstood characters in the franchise. And after reading about them playing the game again…… my opinion has changed DRASTICALLY.

I will admit, that video – ‘Who Is the True Villain of Undertale?’  www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYHXpd… - helped change my opinion on Chara. A big part of it revolves around a lot of people wanting someone to blame for something going wrong in a video game, and immediately pointing fingers at their scapegoat Chara, without realising that they themselves are to blame for the No Mercy Run. (I highly recommend watching that video. :aww: )

I will admit I used to hate the character, but upon reading things people have pointed out about their view of Chara, my view on the character has vastly changed. And in this picture, I wanted to draw myself apologising to the character for those two pieces of hate art I drew of him. :( The two pieces of art are here - With Friends Like These.... by DuckyworthA Tangled Web by Duckyworth . While I don't want to REMOVE these two pictures (I put quite a bit of time into them), I wanted to follow them up with a picture rather than a simple change in the description.)

 

 

Let's go over what we do know about Chara. He hates humanity and climbs the mountain for reasons that "weren't very happy". He's described by Asriel as "not really the greatest person". He "laughs off" the king getting very ill from Asriel and his' mistake when baking a cake. He plots his own death with Asriel, a plan which included killing 6 more humans to break the barrier. While at his village his spirit attempts to influence Asriel to kill all the humans there. Lastly, at the end of the No Mercy playthrough he destroys the world and steals Frisk's soul as payment for resetting the game.

On the surface that may seem like a pretty damning case, but take a closer look. Aside from the end of the No Mercy playthrough, none of that is expressly "evil". It's ambiguous at best. And I now think there's a strong case for Chara not being evil at all, but in fact good.

The strongest piece of evidence in favour of that is, I think, a lack of evidence to the contrary. If Chara was truly evil, the other monsters would have noticed something "off" about him. He wouldn't be spoken of in such a positive light. Until you get to the end of the game, nowhere is it ever hinted that Chara is a bad kid. Asgore and Toriel sensed nothing evil about him, going so far as to love him and raise him as their child. Even on his death bed they still viewed him as the hope of humans and monsters. Other monsters in the kingdom saw him as a becon of hope as well, which could only be possible if they had a good impression of him, as a kind, loving human being.

But nobody is perfect, everyone has a dark side, some darker than others. Chara hated humanity and came to the mountain for unhappy reasons. It's possible that, yes, he came seeking power, with a plan to deceive and murder. However, it's also entirely possible, and much more probable I now feel, that he came to the mountain out of depression. Was he abused? Was he simply sick of what he saw in humans and their actions? Did he come with the intention of seeking help, possibly friendship with monsters? Did he come in the hopes he would die? We may never have the answer to those questions. But the important thing is that all of those possibilities do not suggest he is evil. Nothing about hating humanity or coming to the mountain for unhappy reasons suggests he's wicked, just that he's in deep, emotional pain.

So he comes to the mountain, is accepted by the monsters, and lives by all accounts a happy and peaceful life in their world. Or does he? After all, we do get the suggestion of a more sadistic side to Chara in the story about King Asgore taking ill due to his actions (supposedly an accident). Chara is said by Asriel to "laugh it off". But what does it mean to laugh something off? Have you never been in a situation where you or a friend narrowly escapes serious injury, and you both laugh, nervously or boisterously? People commonly laugh at suffering or potential suffering, not because they take sadistic enjoyment in watching people truly suffer, but as a way to relieve stress. It's not wicked, in fact it's a highly typical human response. In fact, I noticed a lot of characters in the game (Toriel, and Undyne are two notable examples) where they laugh to try and cope with the situations they find themselves.

Chara is racked with deep pain, that much we know for sure. But what we also know is that he doesn't like to talk about it. He's not constantly raving out loud with hate. He keeps his pain, his anger, deep inside. Why might that be? I believe it's because he doesn't want to appear weak. Many people who suffer trauma, or are just generally miserable, come off as a bit callous, a bit cold. It's a defence mechanism. A way to avoid dealing with their pain, to not feel it. And that is exactly why I think he "laughs off" making his father ill. Not because he takes pleasure in harming him, possibly even almost killing him (the game is a bit ambiguous about the seriousness of the illness). Not because he doesn't recognize the harm he did and feel remorse. Rather, he laughs it off because of those very things. In his subconscious, he doesn't want to show weakness, he needs to protect himself. He can't cry, he can't mope. So he laughs.

Then there's the issue of the plot to pass through the barrier. Admittedly, Chara is a bit pushy about this, almost somewhat emotionally manipulative. But what's another word for pushy? Determined. I choose to view this in a more positive light now. Given everything else, I don't see this as Chara trying to be underhanded and bullying, I see this as Chara being determined to finally do something about his pain, and determined to help the people he loves. Everyone knows that when someone is very determined, they can get a bit pushy about things. Nothing evil there, just normal human imperfection.

And what is their plot exactly? For Chara to kill himself, have his soul absorbed by Asriel, and for Asriel to then cross the barrier and collect 6 more human souls so that he may destroy the barrier for all time. Some point to this as evidence of Chara being a nefarious plotter. "He's trying to start a war between humans and monsters" they cry. "He wants to use his and Asriel's newfound power to destroy humanity!" And actually, I find this to be quite possible. To an extent anyway. I don't believe Chara to be lying about wanting to break the barrier, nor do I believe he doesn't actually care for the monsters of the underground. I believe that, whatever he may be doing, he's doing it with the intention of protecting, even bettering, his family and the community of monsters. He loves them. But he hates humanity.

It's also important to note too that we don't know how much Chara knows about souls. It could be he knew all along what his powers would be and what would happen when Asriel absorbed his soul. But it's also entirely possible that he had absolutely no idea what would happen as well. He may very well have expected to simply die and vanish from existence, while Asriel gained a power boost, no consciousness sharing bodies. It could be it was just a sacrifice he was willing to make, a sacrifice he thought was necessary. A sacrifice that would end his pain, and a sacrifice that would save his friends and family. Or the truth could be somewhere in the middle. Perhaps he did know his consciousness would continue on in Asriel, but perhaps didn't know he could take control. We simply don't know and can't know. In truth, we can be very certain of next to nothing about the plan, other than the details of what happened. Why did Chara influence Asriel to carry his body to his home village? Was it just part of the charade, as a justifiable excuse for Asriel to cross the barrier? Was it truly an intentional way to try and instigate a war? Or did Chara actually just want his body buried there? Again, no way of knowing for sure. Though I would hedge my bets, as with the other questions, on the non-malevolent explanations.

And last there is the question of the confrontation. Asriel brings the body to the village, the village attacks, Chara tries to get Asriel to kill them all, but instead Asriel runs away. It's important to note that the game describes the events that occur in this exact order. They don't arrive and Chara immediately tries to kill everyone. It's not until AFTER THEY ATTACK that Chara seeks to kill them. I… will admit, that right there is a big shot in the foot to the narrative that Chara was some evil mastermind, trying to gain power and wanting to kill. If that were the case, why would he wait? He has control of Asriel, he has the power to kill. I would imagine he would just start killing. Rather, I see this more as reflexive anger and, more importantly, a desire for revenge. Chara hates humanity for reasons unstated, but hatred is not always a wish for extreme suffering and malevolence. It doesn't even mean there's a lack of compassion. I find it entirely believable that Chara returns his body to his village in the hopes that a monster returning a dead child home and burying it would in some way be taken as an olive branch of peace. That it would show monsters are not heartless. So when that fails, and the people he already hates attack not just him, but his best friend, he reflexively lashes out. His rage spills over and he decides these people just aren't worth it. But Asriel, not sharing his pain, doesn't want to hurt anyone and instead runs away.

From there we know what happens. Asriel comes back and dies, Toriel takes Chara's body and buries it, and both their spirits linger on in some way. Eventually Asriel is reborn as Flowey and Chara is taken into Frisk. Which brings us to the final question. Why is Chara revealed at the end of the N Mercy playthrough, and why does he destroy the world, if he's not evil?

Well, consider Asriel/Flowey. Asriel quite clearly isn't evil at all, but Flowey is quite nefarious. This is a result of Asriel's time as Flowey. As Flowey says, when he first revived, he sought comfort in his father. But he found he couldn't feel whole from his love. So he went to his mother, but the same issue persisted. Distraught, he tries to kill himself, only to discover his power of saving. He then decides with this power he's going to make everyone's lives and good as possible, and does so, only to find he still wasn't satisfied. It's from there he slowly spirals downward into the Flowey we meet at the start of the game. In other words, Asriel's time as the souless, loveless Flowey warps his character until his character reflects his new form. And I think the same can be said for Chara. When Chara's spirit attaches itself to you, it's much like Asriel becoming Flowey. Chara becomes shaped by your actions. During a No Mercy playthrough, by inhabiting a being of malevolence, Chara becomes malevolent. This, I believe, is evidenced by Chara describing his rebirth at the end. He talks about not knowing why he was reborn, being confused. He says you taught him the meaning of his existence, and that his existence is to seek power. You drew those feelings to the forefront. Those feelings of rage, hatred, vengeance, and the desire to use power to crush your enemies. Those weren't there when he was first taken into you (or at least, they weren't dominant and all-consuming), it was through your actions that those desires, that "purpose", took him over. You moulded his spirit in your image, much like how a soulless, unloving flower moulded Asriel into Flowey.

But what about a pacifist playthrough? We can only speculate the opposite is true. Through Frisk, Chara learns to let go of those negative feelings he has towards his enemies, instead learning to love them despite conflicting with them. He learns not to seek power, and to always try and take the high road.

Why then does he not appear at the end of your pacifist playthrough? Possibly because he has no determination to cause him to manifest. The desire to kill, the desire to seek power, to crush enemies, that creates strong determination, especially when fuelled by deep pain. But the desire to love? The desire to relinquish pain? What happens to a lingering spirit when it makes peace with the world?

It moves on.

All of this plays into the narrative of Chara being you, the player as well. Chara is supposed to be you, which is why Toby Fox, the creator of the game, recommends you name your save file (and by extension, Chara) after yourself. I believe at the end of the No Mercy run Chara isn't talking to you, but rather, you the player, through Chara, are talking to Frisk. You're telling Frisk that they were never in control, that you the player, you sadistic bastard, were in control the whole time. That Frisk gets no say in what happens to the world any longer and that, if Frisk should ever want to go back and undo their actions, they will permanently be submitting themselves to your control. In other words, you remove yourself psychologically from the world and view it as a "game" with "characters" rather than a world with living beings. And once you enter that mind-set, you can't ever go back from it. Even if you play the game again and make everyone happy, you're still "playing the game" and simply structuring the world in a way you see fit. Hence why Chara possesses Frisk from then on out.

And at the end of the pacifist playthrough? You, the player "move on" as well. You complete the game, you make everyone happy, you get the perfect ending. You feel at peace inside, and so you put the game down and move on to other things. You move on to the "next life", the next game.

In this light, given all of this, I think Asriel's comments about Chara not always being the best person shouldn't be taken as some damning slight against Chara, but should rather be viewed as Asriel simply admitting to Chara's flaws. Asriel is shown to be enamoured with Chara. He seems to look up to him, probably due to seeing Chara as "strong", and Chara certainly tries to give off that kind of impression. It's not until Asriel meets you that he's willing to reconcile that Chara wasn't perfect, or even ideal. He was like most humans. Flawed, and flawed in some pretty dark ways. He had issues and maybe wasn't the greatest role model. That doesn't make him evil, not even close. It's just as Asriel says. He's "not really the greatest person", nothing more, nothing less.

The only potential issue I can see with all of this is Flowey. More specifically, why he recognizes Chara's presence in Frisk in a No Mercy playthrough, but not in a pacifist one. I have no solid answers for this and would be interested in hearing what you all think about that.

Reagrdless, I now think there's a relative mountain of evidence to suggest Chara is not evil as opposed to what the dominant theory in the community is currently. In short, this also plays into the metaphor of Chara being you, the player. If you're good, Chara is good. If you're evil, Chara is evil.

 

Hopefully my description makes sense. :)

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kingofpain0's avatar
wow you sold out your beliefs so easily even though they we're right and you've changed them to be wrong pathetic