Chapter Text
Chara looms large in the background of Undertale. While they only appear in person once, their ghost haunts the entire game. This is not just meant metaphorically. Frisk, upon falling into the Underground, absorbed what remained of Chara’s soul. There are numerous signs that this is the case, but the most obvious one is that Chara’s name overrides Frisk’s for the majority of the game. This parallels the situation in Deltarune, where the protagonist is possessed by a foreign soul. But unlike Deltarune, in Undertale you control the vessel, not the possessing spirit. Furthermore, as Chara makes clear in their only appearance, the soul and determination were ‘yours’ all along. Whether that ‘you’ is the player or Frisk is unclear, but it shows that despite the parallel, Chara is not controlling Frisk. Nevertheless, their presence changes something. Frisk’s soul is red, like Chara’s. It is Chara who gains EXP, whose LOVE is increased. And in the end, that accumulation of EXP is what enables Chara to rematerialize as a separate entity in the genocide ending. Their Being consolidates the more you kill.
This seems to be a severe indictment of their character, and that is how it has largely been treated by players. Chara is the ultimate evil. They are the antithesis to the game’s morality. I am not here to dispute this, exactly. What I am here to do is interrogate what exactly that antithesis consists in, and problematize the dualism which the game sets up.