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blueiskewl · 2 years

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The Rise and Fall of the Great Library of Alexandria

The famous library in Egypt flourished for six centuries and was the cultural and intellectual center of the ancient Hellenistic world before falling into ruin.

The famous library of Alexandria, Egypt, was one of the most important repositories of knowledge in the ancient world. Built in the fourth century B.C., it flourished for some six centuries, was the cultural and intellectual center of the ancient Hellenistic world, and was rumored to contain half a million papyrus scrolls — the largest collection of manuscripts in the ancient world — including works by Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Herodotus and many others. Some of the most brilliant minds of the period worked, studied and taught at the library.

By the fifth century A.D., however, the library had essentially ceased to exist. With many of its collections stolen, destroyed or simply allowed to fall into disrepair, the library no longer wielded the influence it once had.

The story of the Alexandrian Library's rise and demise is still being fleshed out through scholarship and archaeology. But what we do know of this tale is as complex and dramatic as any Hollywood movie.

LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA'S AGE AND ORIGINS

Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria, Egypt, at the northwestern end of the Nile delta around 331 B.C. When he died eight years later, his empire was divided among his generals. One of them, Ptolemy I Soter, became the ruler of Egypt and established his capital at Alexandria. Under his reign and the reign of his descendants, the city grew into one of the greatest and most prosperous cities of the Hellenistic period (323 B.C. to 30 B.C.) — a thriving commercial hub and Mediterranean seaport.

"The library was probably created quite soon after the founding of Alexandria around 331 B.C.," said Willeke Wendrich, a professor of Egyptian archaeology and the Joan Silsbee chair of African cultural archaeology at the University of California, Los Angeles. "But it is unclear whether the library was founded by Alexander, Ptolemy I or [his son] Ptolemy II, but it seems likely that it came to fruition under the latter, who ruled from 284 to 246 B.C."

A persistent legend, however, holds that the library began when one of Ptolemy I's subjects, an Athenian named Demetrius of Phalerum, proposed constructing a building to house all the world's known manuscripts, according to according to Britannica. Demetrius' grand design was to erect a place of learning that would rival Aristotle's famous Lyceum, a school and library near Athens. Ptolemy I apparently approved the plan, and soon, a building was erected within the palace precincts.

"It was called the Museion, or 'Place of the Muses,'" Wendrich said; it was named after the muses, the nine Greek goddesses of the arts. (The word "museum" is derived from "museion.")

Zenodotus of Ephesus was reputed to be the first chief librarian, according to Britannica. He was a Greek scholar and poet who served as chief librarian under both Ptolemy I and Ptolemy II. He was responsible for creating the first critical edition of Homer, a work that attempted to determine which parts of the Iliad and the Odyssey were original and which were added by later writers. Zenodotus also edited the work of Hesiod, Pindar and other ancient poets, as well as producing his own poetry.

LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA'S ARCHITECTURE

The library expanded in size and scope over the years as the Ptolemaic rulers saw the advantages of promoting a center of learning and culture within their city. Generous royal subsidies led to the creation of a complex of buildings surrounding the Museion. Although the precise layout of the library is not known, at its height the library was reputed to have included lecture halls, laboratories, meeting halls, gardens, dining commons and even a zoo, according to the ancient historian Diodorus Siculus. There was also a medical school whose students practiced the dissection of human cadavers — a unique skill that was rarely practiced in Europe before the 15th-century Renaissance.

"The Museion was not a museum in the modern sense of the term, but much more like a university," Wendrich told Live Science. "Here, literary works were recited and theories discussed."

The library's archive, where the manuscripts were held, may have been a separate building from the Museion, though it is not entirely clear. It is possible that, at its height, the library housed upward of half a million separate written works, according to World History Encyclopedia. These written works, called scrolls, were made out of papyrus, a reed that grew along the Nile River. According to Dartmouth College, the reeds were pounded flat to form paper and dried in the sun; the different papers were attached to one another with glue to form a long, continuous paper that could be rolled up.

"The subject of these scrolls contained the totality of knowledge of the ancient [Western] world, ranging from literary works, to philosophical tractates, to scientific explanations," Wendrich said. There were also texts containing religious, mythological and medical subjects.

LIBRARY OF ALEXANDRIA'S COLLECTIONS: BOOKS AND SCROLLS

The archives contained works by many of the famous Greek writers of classical antiquity, including the philosophers Plato, Aristotle and Pythagoras and the dramatic poets Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. The works of Aristotle were especially prized possessions, according to Britannica. They were, by one account, bought by Ptolemy II, who paid a considerable price for their acquisition. There were also medical texts by Hippocrates; poetry by Sappho, Pindar and Hesiod; and scientific tracts by Thales, Democritus and Anaximander.

The librarians also collected the work of other cultures. According to Britannica, ancient Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Assyrian and Indian texts were included in the library. There were also Jewish, Zoroastrian and Buddhist texts.

The Ptolemaic rulers wanted to collect all the world's manuscripts, and to this end, they sent out agents all over the known world in search of papyri. These agents were given explicit orders to find and purchase whatever manuscripts they could find, preferably the oldest and most original, according to Ancient History. Price was not a limitation; the Ptolemaic rulers were willing to pay vast sums for quality manuscripts.

The hunger for manuscripts was so voracious that, according to a popular story noted in World History Encyclopedia, under the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the son of Ptolemy II, all sailing vessels entering the city's harbor were required to hand over any manuscripts they happened to have onboard. The Alexandrian scribes copied these, keeping the originals and sending the copies back to the ships.

Organizing the scrolls was a gargantuan task. Much like a library today, the scrolls were organized so they could be readily found and accessed by scholars. According to Britannica, the task of organizing the scrolls was given to a man named Callimachus, who worked under the reign of Ptolemy II. He devised a system, called the Pinakes, or "Tables," that classified the scrolls into divisions based on each scroll’s topic. These topics included, for example, natural history, history, poetry, law, rhetoric, medicine and mathematics. The system was akin to a library catalog or bibliography and, according to Britannica, became a model on which other systems of library organization were subsequently based. In addition, each scroll contained a tag that specified the title, author, subject and whether the work contained a single text or multiple texts.

When the scrolls became so numerous that they could no longer be housed in a single building, the ancient Egyptian rulers built a second library, called the Serapeum, according to World History Encyclopedia, which reportedly held over 40,000 scrolls. It was erected near the royal palace in Alexandria sometime between 246 B.C. and 222 B.C. and was dedicated to the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis.

As the library expanded over the centuries, it attracted many of the ancient world's most renowned scholars, philosophers and scientists. These included, among many others, Eratosthenes of Cyrene, Aristarchus of Samos, Euclid of Alexandria and Apollonius of Rhodes. Eratosthenes — a mathematician, geographer and astronomer — was the first person known to calculate the circumference of Earth. He also became the chief librarian of the library under the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, according to Britannica. Aristarchus of Samos was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who first put forward the heliocentric model that placed the sun, rather than Earth, at the center of the known universe. In about 300 B.C., Euclid, known as the "father of geometry," wrote the famous book "Elements," one of the world's most influential works of mathematics. Apollonius of Rhodes was famous for writing a long poem based on the classical tale of Jason and the Argonauts.

THE LIBRARY'S BURNING AND DEMISE

Julius Caesar was accused by historians such as Plutarch and Seneca of starting a fire in Alexandria that burned the library to the ground, and for a long time modern historians accepted this version of events. The conflagration occurred during Caesar's occupation of the city in 48 B.C., a time when Caesar was fighting a civil war against his political rivals. According to the story, Caesar, besieged by his rivals, ordered his troops to set fire to enemy ships in the harbor. The historian Plutarch wrote, "Caesar was forced to repel the danger by using fire, which spread from the dockyards and destroyed the Great Library."

But the story is likely exaggerated, most historians now agree. There was a fire during Caesar's occupation, but it is believed that the library was largely unaffected, though some scrolls may have been burned. The Roman historian Cassius Dio, for example, wrote that a warehouse with scrolls located near the docks was burned during this conflict but that the library was untouched. Historians further cite evidence that the library survived by pointing to the writings of later visitors, such as the scholar Strabo, who mention using the library collections in their research.

Wendrich characterized the destruction of the Library of Alexandria as a "slow decay" that "took place over centuries." Indeed, most scholars today are in general agreement that the library suffered a prolonged, painful decline rather than an abrupt, dramatic death. As its influence waned over time, many of its collections were sold or destroyed, and its buildings were ultimately razed or converted into other facilities, such as churches or mosques.

However, this decline was hastened by a number of dramatic events, each of which played a role in lessening the importance of Alexandria as an intellectual center. One such event occurred when the ruler Ptolemy VIII (182 B.C. to 116 B.C.) expelled several scholars, including the chief librarian Aristarchus of Samothrace (not to be confused with Aristarchus of Samos), who had supported Ptolemy VIII's political rival, according to World History. Ptolemy VIII also ordered the expulsion of all non-Alexandrian scholars from the city. This unstable and hostile political environment led to a diaspora of scholars to such places as Athens and Rhodes.

A second event occurred in A.D. 391, when the Roman emperor Theodosius I, who was a devout Christian, issued a decree allowing for the destruction of pagan temples in the empire. Theophilus, the bishop of Alexandria, acted upon this decree by destroying the Serapeum and ordering a church to be built on the ruins, according to World History Encyclopedia.

These and other incidents — such as the Roman emperor Diocletian's siege and sack of the city in A.D. 297 — played roles in further destroying the library and its associated buildings. According to the Coptic bishop John of Nikiu, Diocletian, "set fire to the city and burned it completely."

But perhaps the greatest influence leading to the demise of the library was simply the decline of Alexandria as an intellectual center. Around this time, Rome and Athens gained influence as powerful academic centers, each with their own renowned libraries. This loss of prestige occurred hand in glove with the decline of the city as an important cultural and commercial center. Political and economic problems, coupled with social unrest, prompted many later Ptolemaic rulers to invest fewer resources and less energy in maintaining the library.

"From its heyday in the third century B.C., the intellectual climate fluctuated," Wendrich said. "Some rulers were supportive [of the library], others less so."

In the long term, this meant the gradual dissolution of the library as construction projects halted, other academic institutions attracted scholars and the fortunes of the city waned. Indeed, by the seventh century A.D., when the Arab Caliphate of Omar (also spelled Umar) conquered the city, the library was merely a memory, according to World History Encyclopedia. However, the Christian bishop Gregory Bar Hebraeus, writing in the 13th century, argued that Caliph Omar played a final role in the destruction of the library. When the Muslim army took the city, a general reportedly asked the caliph what was to be done with all the surviving scrolls. The caliph is reputed to have answered, "they will either contradict the Koran, in which case they are heresy, or they will agree with it, so they are superfluous," according to ehistory from The Ohio State University. Consequently, the scrolls were allegedly burned in several great conflagrations that were used to heat the city's bathhouses. However, this story has now largely been discounted by scholars.

Historians and scientists have long lamented the loss of the Great Library of Alexandria — and the destruction of so much knowledge. It is difficult to say for certain what information might have been lost, because there has never been a full accounting of what exactly the library held in its archives.

By Tom Garlinghouse.

#The Rise and Fall of the Great Library of Alexandria #Alexandria Egypt #Alexander the Great #archeology #archeolgst #history #history news #ancient history #ancient culture #ancient civilizations #ancient egypt

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thatlittleegyptologist · 2 years

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Still chuckling over the Adoption Papyrus, had to print it out for my non-tech mom so she could read it too and we had a BLAST talking about it the rest of the afternoon, so really, thanks for making that post.

Any recommendations on where to start learning more about ancient Egyptian law and/or other surviving documents like the Adoption Papyrus? Your reply was the first I've ever heard about it before.

There are many Ancient Egyptian legal documents, like the oracle texts of the Kenbet from Deir el Medina (some of these you can read in McDowell's Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry Lists and Love Songs, which is a relatively easily accessible book (insomuch as it is easily purchasable)), which are mostly on ostraca. Not all of them are published, unfortunately. Further books/articles on Ancient Egypt Law/Legal documents will be quite difficult/expensive for you to get hold of, but I can list them here.

n.b. Abbreviations for Journals and Publishing houses I've put under a cut

Allam, S., 1973. Hieratische Ostraka und Papyri aus der Ramessidenzeit. Tubingen: Selbstverlag des Herausgebers. Allam, S., 1991. Egyptian Law Courts in Pharaonic and Hellenistic Times. JEA, 77, 109-127. Caminos, R., 1954. Late Egyptian Miscellanies. London: OUP. (this has a lot of random texts like letters and other personal documents, but it is *very* difficult to get hold of) Capart, J. & Gardiner, A. H., 1939. Le Papyrus Léopold II aux Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire de Bruxelles et le Papyrus Amherst à la Pierpont Morgan Library de New York. Bruxelles: Patrimoine des Musées royaux d'art et d'histoire. Capart, J., Gardiner, A. & Van de Walle, B., 1936. New Light on the Ramesside Tomb Robberies. JEA, 22, 169-193. Černý, J., 1929. Papyrus Salt 124 (Brit. Mus.10055). JEA, 15, 243-258. David, A., 2010. The Legal Register of Ramesside Private Law Instruments. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag. Eyre, C. J., 1984. Crime and Adultery in Ancient Egypt. JEA, 70, 92-105. Eyre, C. J., 1992. The Adoption Papyrus in Social Context. JEA, 78, 207-221. Haring, B., 2010. Administration and Law: Pharaonic. In A. B. Lloyd (Ed.), Companion to Ancient Egypt. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 218-236 Lorton, D., 1977. The Treatment of Criminals in Ancient Egypt: Through the New Kingdom. JESHO, 20, 2-64. McDowell, A., 1990. Jurisdiction in the Workmen's Community of Deir el Medina. Leiden: Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten. McDowell, A., 1999. Village Life in Ancient Egypt: Laundry lists and Love Songs. Oxford: OUP. Peet, T., 1920. The Mayer Papyri A & B Nos M.11162 and M.11186 of the Free Public Museums, Liverpool. Liverpool: Library, Museums and Arts Committee of the Corporation of Liverpool. Peet, T., 1925. Fresh Light on the Tomb Robberies of the Twentieth Dynasty at Thebes: Some New Papyri in London and Turin. JEA, 11, 37-55. Peet, T., 1930. The Great Tomb-Robberies of the Twentieth Egyptian Dynasty: Being a Critical Study, with Translations and Commentaries, of the Papyri in which These are Recorded. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford Claredon Press. Shupak, N., 1992. A New Source for the Study of the Judiciary and Law of Ancient Egypt: "The Tale of the Eloquent Peasant". JNES, 51(1), 1-18. Vernus, P., 2003. Affairs and Scandals in Ancient Egypt. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

ÄAT Ägypten und Altes Testament BIFAO Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale CNWS Centre of Non-Western Studies CUP Cambridge University Press EES Egypt Exploration Society GHP Golden House Publishing GM Göttinger Miszellen IFAO l'Institut Francais d'Archeologie Orientale JEA Journal of Egyptian Archaeology JESHO Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient JNES Journal of Near Eastern Studies OUP Oxford University Press ZÄS Zeitschrift für Ägyptische Sprache und Altertumskunde

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witchbitchheadedtoaditch · 3 years

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The Basics of Kemetic Philosophy (without the appropriated shit from Judaism)

I'm starting a series on Kemetic philosophy because a lot of my readings on it have included things like Kabbalah (Kabala, Kabbala, Qabala, etc.) which is directly appropriated from Judaism, and definitely would not have been included in ancient Kemetic philosophy.

This series relies heavily on the following books/independent publications (this continues to be updated as the series continues):

The Instruction of Ptah-Hotep and the Instruction of Ka'Gemni: The Oldest Books in the World translated by John Murray

Teachings of Ptahhotep

Maat: The 11 Laws of God by Ra Un Nefer Amen (somewhat, this book literally has the Kabbalistic tree of life on its' cover so I don't take a lot from it--it's really just a good jumping-off point because it covers so much)

Maat: The Moral Idea in Ancient Egypt by Maulana Karenga

The Literature of Ancient Egypt: An Anthology of Stories, Instructions, and Poetry edited with an introduction by William Kelly Simpson. Authors include Robert K. Ritner, Vincent A. Tobin, and Edward F. Wente.

I Am Because We Are: Readings in Africana Philosophy by Fred Lee Hord, Mzee Lasana Okpara, and Johnathan Scott Lee.

Ancient Egyptian Literature: Volume I: The Old and Middle Kingdoms by Miriam Lichtheim (2006 Edition)

Current Research in Egyptology 2009: Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Symposium by Judith Corbelli, Daniel Baotright, and Claire Malleson

Old Kingdom, New Perspectives: Egyptian Art and Archaeology 2750-2150 BC by Nigel Strudwick and Helen Strudwick

Current Research in Egyptology 2010: Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Symposium by Maarten Horn, Joost Kramer, Daniel Soliman, Nico Staring, Carina van den Hoven, and Lara Weiss

Current Research in Egyptology 2016: Proceedings of the Seventeenth Annual Symposium by Julia M. Chyla, Joanna Dêbowska-Ludwin, Karolina Rosińska-Balik, and Carl Walsh

Mathematics in Ancient Egypt: A Contextual History by Annette Imhausen

The Instruction of Amenemope: A Critical Edition and Commentary by James Roger Black

"The ancient Egyptian concept of Maat: Reflections on social justice and natural order" by R. James Ferguson

The Mind of Ancient Egypt: History and Meaning in the Time of the Pharaohs by Jan Assmann

Transformations of the Inner Self in Ancient Religions by Jan Assmann and Guy G. Stroumsa

Of God and Gods: Egypt, Israel, and the Rise of Monotheism by Jan Assmann

Death and Salvation in Ancient Egypt by Jan Assmann

Cultural Memory and Early Civilization: Writing, Remembrance, and Political Imagination by Jan Assmann

From Akhenaten to Moses: Ancient Egypt and Religious Change by Jan Assmann

Book of the Dead: Becoming God in Ancient Egypt edited by Foy Scalf with new object photography by Kevin Bryce Lowry

It also relies on the following journal articles/book chapters:

"A Modern Look at Ancient Wisdom: The Instruction of Ptahhotep Revisited" by Carole R. Fontaine in The Biblical Archaeologist Volume 44, No. 3

"The Teaching of Ptahhotep: The London Versions" by Alice Heyne in Current Research in Egyptology 2006: Proceedings of the Seventh Annual Symposium

"One Among Many: A Divine Call for Gender Equity" by Sandra Y Lewis in Phylon (1960-) Volume 55, No. 1 & 2.

"A Tale of Semantics and Suppressions: Reinterpreting Papyrus Mayer A and the So-called War of the High Priest during the Reign of Ramesses XI" by Kim Ridealgh in Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur

EDITORIAL: African Philosophy as a radical critique" by Alena Rettová in Journal of African Cultural Studies Volume 28, No. 2

"Sanctuary Meret and the Royal Cult" by Miroslav Verner in Symposium zur Königsideologie / 7th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology: Royal versus Divine Authority: Acquisition, Legitimization and Renewal of Power. Prague, June 26–28, 2013

"The Ogdoad and Divine Kingship in Dendara" by Filip Coppens and Jiří Janák in Symposium zur Königsideologie / 7th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology: Royal versus Divine Authority: Acquisition, Legitimization and Renewal of Power. Prague, June 26–28, 2013

"The Egyptian Temple as a Place to House Collections (from the Old Kingdom to the Late Period) by Roberto A. Diaz Hernández in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 103, No. 1

"Death and the Sun Temple: New Evidence for Private Mortuary Cults at Amarna" by Jacquelyn Williamson in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 103, No. 1

"Mery-Maat, An Eighteenth Dynasty iry '3 pr pth From Memphis and His Hypothetical Family" by Rasha Metawi in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 101, 2015

"A New Demotic Translation of (Excerpts of) A Chapter of The "Book of the Dead" by Joachim Friedrich Quack in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 100, 2014

"The Shedshed of Wepwawet: An Artistic and Behavioural Interpretation" by Linda Evans in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 97, 2011

"(De)queering Hatshepsut: Binary Bind in Archaeology of Egypt and Kingship Beyond the Corporeal" by Uroš Matić in Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory Volume 23, No. 3 "Binary Binds": Deconstructing and Gender Dichotomies in Archeological Practice.

"Egyptian Maat and Hesiodic Metis" by Christopher A. Faraone and Emily Teeter in Mnemosyne Volume 57 Fasc. 2

"Maat and Order in African Cosmology: A Conceptual Tool for Understanding Indigenous Knowledge" by Denise Martin in Journal of Black Studies Volume 38, No. 6

"Memphis and Thebes: Disaster and Renewal in Ancient Egyptian Consciousness" by Ogden Goelet in The Classical World Volume 97, No. 1

"A Radical Reconstruction of Resistance Strategies: Black Girls and Black Women Reclaiming Our Power Using Transdisciplinary Applied Social Justice, Ma'at, and Rites of Passage" by Menah Pratt-Clarke in Journal of African American Studies Volume 17, No. 1

"Emblems for the Afterlife" by Marley Brown in Archaeology Volume 71, No. 3

"Human and Divine: The King's Two Bodies and The Royal Paradigm in Fifth Dynasty Egypt" by Massimiliano Nuzzolo in Symposium zur ägyptischen Königsideologie/8th Symposium on Egyptian Royal Ideology: Constructing Authority. Prestige, Reputation and the Perception of Power in Egyptian Kingship. Budapest, May 12-14, 2016

"The Block and Its Decoration" by Josef Wegner in The Sun-shade Chapel of Meritaten from the House-of-Waenre of Akhenaten

"The African Rites of Passage and the Black Fraternity" by Ali D. Chambers in Journal of Black Studies Volume 47, No. 4

"Review: Translating Ma'at" by Stephen Quirke in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 80, 1994

"Additions to the Egyptian Book of the Dead" by T. George Allen in Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 11, No. 3

"Types of Rubrics in the Egyptian Book of the Dead" by T. George Allen in Journal of the American Oriental Society Volume 56, No. 2

"Book of the Dead, Book of the Living: BD Spells as Temple Texts" by Alexandra Von Lieven in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 98, 2012

"Fragments of the "Book of the Dead" on Linen and Papyrus" by Ricardo A. Caminos in The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology Volume 56, 1970

"Herodotus and the Egyptian Idea of Immortality" by Louis V. Z̆abkar in Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 22, No. 1

"Theban and Memphite Book of the Dead Traditions in the Late Period" by Malcolm Mosher Jr. in Journal of the American Research Center in Egypt Volume 29, 1992

"The Conception of the Soul and the Belief in Resurrection Among the Egyptians" by Paul Carus in The Monist Volume 14, No. 3

"It's About Time: Ancient Egyptian Cosmology" by Joanne Conman in Studien zur Altägyptischen Kultur Volume 31, 2003

"Egyptian Parallels for an Incident in Hesiod's Theogony and an Episode in the Kumarbi Myth" by Edmund S. Meltzer in Journal of Near Eastern Studies Volume 33, No. 1

"The Book of the Dead" by Geo. St. Clair in The Journal of Theological Studies Volume 6, No. 21

"The Egyptian "Book of the Two Ways"" by Wilhelm Bonacker in Imago Mundi Volume 7, 1950

"The Papyrus of Nes-min: An Egyptian Book of the Dead" by William H. Peck in Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts Volume 74, No. 1/2

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harmonytre-reblogs · 3 years

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Undertale/Deltarune AUs

(IF YOU SEE YOUR AU HERE AND WOULD LIKE ME TO LINK TO IT, PLEASE LET ME KNOW! I’m not directly mentioning everyone, but will gladly link to them if asked.)

Blog names are the same or in parentheses if applicable. All on tumblr, and if not, then on Deviantart or Youtube.

INDEX:

Personal and Friends

Mutuals

Favorites

Deltarune (although most are in the two above)

Undertale Alternate Timeline and OC

Undertale Alternate Universe

Personal and Friends

Flicker-of-a-Neon-Soul (mine)

Prismtale (mine)

Skeleflock AU (mine)

Savepoint AU (mine)

Impostertale

Don’t Name Tale @/Polilla-de

Alivetale @/tatatale

Undertime @/azeriaa

Abysstale @/metakazkz

UT-Zircans

ShatteredTales

Damagedtale (Rain) @/6nimus9

Magusverse @/xfre3ax

Lumitale @/iyumiichi

Idoltale @/nekojaf

Techy @/k0re-drawings

Parasite!Tale @/bloowe-blu

Underlust Reimagined @/zirkkun

Thirdtale Sans @/purple-murder

Soulbound-ut-au

Cheshire from @/alchemic

Passagetale @/splynter

Frostytale, Chicken Sans, and Bunny Papyrus by @/sanityau

Ecantale

Escort Mission (Yoki-Doki)

Arwaa and Matias by @/nurizyume

Condoriano @/murmur-utdr-au

Spitetale, Motiftale @/nosebleed-inglishera

Dragontale, Heartache, and more @/squarefriend

Kaleidoscopetale-AU

Various AUs by @/blaiddsumu

Horizon-Tale

The-Nursery-Official

Ask-OABGaster-Alpha-Yan

Various AUs by @/undertalewasagoodgameokay

Magustale

AskSunflower

Underknowledge

Mutuals

Mermaid Pirate AU by @/kiokodoodles

Critic!Tale by @cihello

Cyrustale (OnixOwl)

Various AUs by @/Satellite-Starss

Refusetale (natsuneneko)

Various AUs by @/scarew0lves

Favorites

Sans The Seraphim (The Thought)

Over the Void @/Undertale-over-the-void

Timetale AU @/Punny Skele-scientist, Allesia the Hedge

Endertale @/xxtc-96xx

Underswap @/underswapped3

Chutsu AU @/Emositecc

Littletale @/mudkipful

Ink Sans @/comyet

Paper Crane @/little-noko

Outertale

Bonely Hearts Club

Delta-Experiment (Deltarune)

Wingsdingus

Slumbertale @/rainingskeletons

Gaster’s Great Escape @/moldy-junk (Deltarune)

humancandy-comic

Sixbones @/zarla-s

Insomnia @/wily-art

SwapOut @/cats-artbag

AskErrorSans

Pink Swapfell @/whyiswingdingsafont

AskFallenRoyalty

Pinktale by @/save-star

The rest of the Pinkverse by various creators XD

Playbacktale @/linssins

Deltarune

Paper Trail @/lynxgriffin

Deltaspin

Under-deltarune-tale-comic

Lifeline-AU

Felltarune @/sunfloraas

Undertale Alternate Timeline and OC

Underplayer

Another One

Dogs of Future Past @/lynxgriffin

Underpuppets

Chocoblook-comic

Skelechara (insanelyadd)

Undertale Green (FlamingReaperComic)

Willow (cottagegore OC) @/smol-spoopy

Glitchtale @/camilacuevas

Project: JUSTICE @/RoyalElemental

Ghost Switch (CleverCatchphrase)

All That’s Left (dyonsia96)

Regret (BroGirl62)

Unexpected Guests @/undertalethingems

Gaster Bros @/leafaske

Handplates @/zarla-s

GenoHope (Azany)

Just a Head AU @/kathaynesart

Wartime-undertale

Undertale-four-kingdoms

Lee from @/halban-josu

@/rainbowsans ‘s characters!

Megalosomnia by @/megalommi

Ask-Grillby

Undertale Alternate Universe

Wingtale-AU-Blog

Underdecay @/little-noko

Overtale @/yuramec version

Paraversetale

Horrortale-comic

Fallen Flowers @/Tarableart

Undetermined (WhisperingIllusion)

Underfell @/underfell

Minecraft AU @/kers-seeri

Faded Timeline (ClassyEyeballs)

Imaginary Friend (LotusTheKat)

Cyrustale (OnixOwl)

Farmtale (anime-grimmy-art version)

Undertale Inc. @/salami-dono

UT Mob @/nyubackneko ‘s version

Papster (Macosi-Comics)

Unnamed AU by @/asterxsk

Any of @/blaiddraws Gasters! (and also Entypo and Dave look cute!)

The Fall and Fostertale by @/kalon-dern

Jadefell @/glaucuss22

Ask-Mac404

Ask-BHC-Sunny

Outerbloom by @/outery

Various AUs by @/glitchysquidd

Pawtale

Tethertale and more by @/enderparty101

Various AUs by @/whiteartblood

Darkworld!Frisk by @/friskundertaleisms

Enti!Flowey by @/undertaleatnight

Moontale-Official

Ask-Dune

#undertale #undertale au #list #HarmonyTRE #btw this is just a personal list #for what I'm willing to draw for requests which are closed atm #more organizing

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the-river-person · 3 years

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Monster History in the Librarby

Niven was getting ready to close the Library for the night. All the usual patrons had gone home already. Both of the editors for the Snowdin Newspaper, as well as the Loox that often hung around by the tables and played word games like crosswords, junior jumble, or soduku. Speaking of which, Lady Garf, one of the editors of the newspaper who specialized in making games for it, had left a few of the ones she’d been working on. With a sigh he collected the pages and stored them behind the main desk, he’d have to remember to give it to her tomorrow. The bell on the door tinkled and Niven looked up to say that they were actually just about to close. But the words died on his lips and he stared at the person who had come in. Face hidden by a dark cloak, they were somewhat tall, nearly reaching the height of Sir Papyrus, captain of the Royal Guard. Though he couldn’t see their face, he caught a glimpse of white fur. Was it Ice Wolf? Just a little over a year ago he’d started coming in every few months to check out books to read during his work breaks. No, Ice Wolf was much bigger. “Is this the Librarby?” Asked the figure, a male voice, deep yet not unpleasant, almost musical really. Niven grimaced at the question. He’d once harbored hopes of getting the sign repainted. But there really wasn’t any point now, was there? Not only had everybody just gotten used to it, but even if he did repaint it, the sign would just reset along with everything else in a few short weeks. It wasn’t worth the effort, but it still irritated him. Forcing himself to smile he quickly decided just to see what this Monster wanted before closing up. “Yes, it is. We don’t usually see too many non-locals in here. Most just pass by on their way to the ruins or the Greater Snowdin Caverns. Are you from the Capital?” “You could say that,” said the figure, sounding mildly amused. They offered no further explanation, and Niven decided not to push his luck further that way. “What can I do for you?” For a moment the Monster was silent, looking round the small library as if gauging its potential somehow. Not for the first time, Niven wished for the resources to make a much grander library, something akin to the great libraries he’d read of in human books: Ashurbanipal, Alexandria, Pergamum, Villa of the Papyri, Trajan’s Dual Library, Celsus, the Imperial Library of Constantinople, House of Wisdom in Baghdad, "Dharmaganja" ("Treasury of Truth") and Dharma Ghunj ("Mountain of Truth") in India’s Nalanda University. There were so many, and all he had was a few shelves. A couple histories, fiction, somone’s book report left here years ago and never retrieved (it was gleefully shelved as something new and at least 3 people had checked it out since for the sheer novelty), poetry, only a single science book about astronomy, and an entire shelf devoted to joke books and word games. But if someone was really coming out here, far from the Capital, to look for something specific. Well... They had to be desperate. New Home’s public library was much bigger, and if you couldn’t find something, you might humbly petition the King and Queen for access to the castle archives in the chance it might be there. Nobody came to a tiny town at the edge of civilization. Well... they did come. Sometimes they even bought things at the general store or stayed a the inn. But that was really just people on their way to the Ruins after Reset Day, the crowds and the general traffic as Monsters carried out their plans for the next three weeks. Getting puzzles ready for the famous DT and Royal Guardsman Monster Kid, who lived right here in said small town. So some people came through, a lot of people. But not for books. Never for the librarby that hadn’t even spell its name right when the sign was painted. “I’m hoping,” said the Monster. “That you might have texts on Monster History from before the war. History, perhaps theology? Mythology and folklore? I’ll take anything you’ve got.” Oh, so that’s what he wanted. Niven gulped. Okay so maybe it wasn’t accurate that nobody had been coming to their tiny library from out of town. There was that person from the capital he’d only seen once, a shifty fellow who was supposed to be a castle servant. White hair, pale purplish skin, and a terrifying grin with sharp yellow teeth. Niven had been freaked out by the Monster’s weird face markings and the J like tail that had lashed back and forth in agitation. Jevil, or so he had said his name was, had been after books on Monster Religion. It was a surprising subject, one few cared about. But Niven had a couple of rare tomes on it, possibly texts even the Royal Archives didn’t have. And that, it turned out, was the entire point. Jevil was a scribe in the Royal Archives and kept the smaller of the castle’s two libraries in good order for the King and Queen’s more general use. Thankfully he hadn’t come again after the first time, having taken a stack of books with him. He sent them back a month later, along with a few coins for the late fees, and asked for more books, naming each specifically. So Niven had shipped them off to the Capital, and sure enough they returned the next month with a request for more books. Sans the skeleton had become a familiar face as he came by so often to pick up or deliver boxes of books headed for the weird little Monster. And Jevil wasn’t the only one. Ice Wolf had been checking out the weirdest things. Niven would have expected a joke book, or even an interesting novel, but no. Ice Wolf wanted to read about physics and geology and historical documents and traditions. Niven hadn’t had much cause to write to the Capital Public Library in... well ever really. But to get some of the texts Ice Wolf wanted he pulled up his sleeves and penned message after message requesting various books until someone came down about nine weeks in to ask why on earth there was suddenly more book traffic going to Snowdin. “Oh, heh heh.” He laughed nervously. “I believe we do have some things. If you’ll come this way please.” The Monster followed him into the lower levels of the library, a section which held most of the least circulated books and materials available only by request. He really needed to dust down here, now where was the light? Ah yes. A dim bulb flickered to life, bathing the shelves in a warming and distinctly yellow light. From the shelves he pulled book after book, most dusty, a few with a little water damage, and many quite old. These he stacked before the Monster, who shifted in surprise as he looked over the growing pile. As Niven set another book on the pile he caught a better glimpse of the face beneath the hood. A white furred goat-like face with black markings on his lower cheeks and eyes of a dark muted red. Niven almost dropped the books in surprise but hid his reaction by faking a sneeze, though maybe with all the dust in here it really wasn’t that fake. This was a Boss Monster! But not Asgore, not nearly tall enough and certainly much thinner. But not the motherly Toriel either. It didn’t make sense, all the other Boss Monsters had been killed in the war, only the King and Queen had made it Underground with the others. And the only other Boss Monster living since then had been... Hadn’t Asriel Dreemurr become a flower? How had he regained his body? Or... something similar. It wasn’t quite a child anymore, though not yet an adult. Somewhere in between if appearance was anything to go by. A teenager maybe. That didn’t make sense either as his age should have been tied to Asgore and Toriel’s, and none of them could age anyway with the Resets, but maybe being a flower did odd things to you. Niven watched out of the corner of his eye as the prince began flipping through some of the books. “Monsters and Humans have always dwelt together in the world, though the nature of this coexistence had been woven together with myth, legend, and superstition for thousands of years.” Asriel read the passage from a “Brief History of Monsters and Humans”, it was volume nine of the collection, which was anything but brief. The author had been criticized for his long winded and needlessly flowery language. Still it made for good reading, if you had the time for it. “Owing to the nature of Monster’s Souls and the intrinsic connection their magical bodies have to the state of their soul, Humans were often under the mistaken impression that the Monster Clans were more numerous than they really were. As new generations of Monsters were born, they sometimes took on new and often unique forms different from their elders, forms that matched the state of their very soul.” The Prince broke off reading and looked up at Niven, who suddenly realized he’d stopped taking books off the shelves and had been staring as he listened. Flushing, the Lizard started to turn back to the shelf. “Is that why some of the Monsters around are things like Aeroplanes or shaped like bathtubs and obsessed with washing? Because they were born with new forms?” Niven turned back around. It was a good question, and not really covered that well in schools. Sure they touched on the subject, but no one really focused on the implications of how Monster Souls behaved. “Well, more or less. You have to understand that Monsters such as the Tsundereplane couldn’t have been born until Monsters learned of the existence of human airplanes. And anime of course. Then when this new Monster was born, their soul manifested a body that fit who they were at their foundations, the most basic structure of all the things they could become. We Monsters don’t have much control over this, we can’t shift our own forms at will, but our appearance is far more closely tied to who we are than you would think. Creatures like Woshua were born of groups of water dwelling Monsters. Humans often characterized us with names like Fay or Fairy, Spirits, Daemons, and lots of other things. And human folklore has a lot of tales about faeries who insist upon cleanliness and washing, often enacting terrible punishment if specified arrangements weren’t kept, like leaving washing water out at night for them to bathe in, or having a strict routine of personal hygiene while living in an area where said fairy has to deal with you often. Sound familiar? At some point the bathtub must have been an image they focused on, and at some point a Monster child was born with that form as part of who they were.” Asriel nodded, forgetting that he was trying to hide his face and letting the hood slip down a bit as he listened with wide eyes. Just barely visible in the upper shadows of the hood were his horns, not terribly big, just poking up from the white tufts of fur. “Alright,” he said. “I’ll take this one. And these.” He plucked another four books from the pile. “Can you hold the rest for me?” Niven found himself agreeing to do just that as he followed Asriel back up the stairs and let him out. As he locked up and turned out the lights, he wondered why nobody had heard anything about the prince yet if he was back to his true self?

#jevil #snowdin town #librarby #undertale #undertale au #aeontale #asriel dreemurr #tsundererplane #woshua #toriel dreemurr #asgore dreemurr #monster souls #library #snowdin librarby #flowey the flower #ice wolf undertale

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dead-by-glamour · 3 years

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𝐖𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠! 💖

My name is MTT, I’m a fictive of Mettaton from the Undertale in the snow system!

More info under the cut~!

About me:

My name is Mettaton, but I also go by MTT! I’m one of the three Undertale fictives in our system. The other two have their own blog, @dreemurr-tale! I use he/him pronouns and I’m ~19 years old. ~✨

About my blog:

I’m mostly going to be reblogging posts I like with the occasional orignal post here and there! Most of my posts will be pretty aesthetic things, or posts related to my source!

Tag system:

original posts: 🎤 ↳ [singing] ♪ ⇒ ₘₜₜ ₚₒₛₜₛ + 💖🎤

orignal art: 🎤 ↳ [singing] ♪ ⇒ ₘₜₜ ₐᵣₜ

reblogs: 💖 ↳ [reblogs] ☆ ⇒ ᵐᵗᵗ ʳᵉᵇˡᵒᵍˢ

fave posts: 💖 ↳ [reblogs] ☆ ⇒ ᵐᵗᵗ ᶠᵃᵛᵉˢ

stim tag: 💖 ↳ [reblogs] ☆ ⇒ ᵐᵗᵗ ˢᵗᶦᵐ ᵗᵃᵍ

DNI:

General things: Terfs/swerfs/radfems/gender critical, truscum/transmeds, proana/thinspo or post it, d/d/l/g or variants, kink/nsfw/18+, pro-self harm or post it, discourse or syscourse blog or will send it to me or my headmates, fakeclaim systems or ableist towards systems with a lot of introjects, use the terms “sysmed” or “traumascum”

Undertale fandom specific things: Chasriel (Chara/Asriel) shippers, Frans (Frisk/Sans) shippers, Frisk/Chara shippers, Frisk/Asriel shippers, Fontcest shippers, Undyne/Papyrus shippers, if you believe Chara is evil

other:

If you kin Mettaton or you yourself are an introject of Mettaton or Mettaton IRL you are free to interact and to talk about your memories if you’d like!

If we are mutuals, since Chara and I share a main blog, please tag any posts including Chara angst or evil Chara content as #Chara don’t look

#🎤 ↳ [singing] ♪ ⇒ ₘₜₜ ₚₒₛₜₛ #💖🎤

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ogravitate · 4 years

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Howdy!

It's a pleasure to be here with you guys!

I'm here to present to you my own AU, one that i've been thinking for quite a while now

Oh and by the way, you can call me: Gravitate, Gravs, Rodrigo(My real name) or Rod, treat me like a friend of yours, because that's what i would like to be!

A little disclaimer: I'm portuguese, so my english might be a bit bad, sorry for that

But let's get right into it

ProsperTale

The AU was supposed to b called Sci-Tale, but i changed it to ProsperTale so it wouldn't get confused with ScienceTale

History:

43 years ago, the war between monsters and humans begun, the humans were getting a big advantage suring the war because of their souls, the monsters, outnumbered and weaker than their enemies were going to lose

1 year into the war, it's almost new year eve, and a meteor hits the top of Mt. Ebott

Humans and Monsters are in shock, they take that meteor as a warning of the God Ebott to both sides end the war (On this AU, Ebott is a god, Mt. Ebott is the home of Ebott and the Underground is considered hell)

As the New year shines, The monster King and the President of Humankind sign a peace treaty on top of the mountain where the meteor hit, ending the war

29 years after the treaty took place, monster magic is out of control, 67% of the monster population is affected by this, the "Magic Quake" has a lot of different effect to different monsters, it can:

Give a enormous boost of magic to an individual

Make ones magic almost non-existent

One case of the "Magic Quake" is: Asgore losing control after summoning his magic trident, the throne room almost got destroyed that day

32 years after the treaty took place, cases of humans starting to crack like stone, the disease was called "Soul Taker" because of one of the symptoms: The Soul of the infected starts to fade away, when it 100% fades the body of the human infected breaks like stone, no blood, no nothing that would happen if you cut the body manually, the body becomes solid

One cannot be infected if in contact with someone that's already infected, the disease appears on different individuals without warning

43 years after the treaty took place the President of Humankind and the Monster King sign a new treaty

Both sides agreed on a war, a war with no blood spilled, a war where both sides win, a technological war to give prosperity to Humans and Monster

The Monster Kingdom brings together the "Royal Science Team" (Represented by this simbol)

With the objective of curing the humans and re-control the monster magic again

The team consists of:

Frisk and Asriel (Interns)

Sans

Papyrus

Undyne

Blookton (ProsperTale's Mettaton)

Grillby

Muffet

Gaster- 1/3 Team leader

Alphys- 2/3 Team Leader

And for the spot of third leader, he's my OC, i know, i know, it's kinda lame putting an OC on a AU, but he's one of my first OC's ever, and i really am attached to him, and i wanted to give him a place on the multiverse, so if you don't like AU's where someone puts their OC, i'm really sorry

Konnor- 3/3 Team Leader

So, let me tell you guys about Konnor (Mostly because he's my OC and you guys don't know about him)

Konnor is a Human, he was in charge of the Human Science Team but left after the President said that a cure for "Soul Breaker" was not to be developed because it wouls not help them win the Techno War

Konnor, that was offended by the audacity of the president went to the monster kingdom, where he was accepted into the Royal Science Team by King Asgore

He has a great knowledge of astrology, medicine, mathematics, sciences and much more, all of that because of his dedicated studies since he was just a teenager

But enough talking about Konnor

Now i'm here to say:

I'm not making this AU alone, even if i'm creating all of the story, characters designs, characters personalities

I'm receiving a fantastic help from a friend of mine, i'll say it right now, i SUCK at drawing, so she offered to help me drawing the characters of ProsperTale

For now we have already 8 characters drawn:

Sans and Papyrus(On the same drawing)

Frisk and Asriel(On the same drawing)

Alphys and Undyne(On the same drawing)

Gaster

And Konnor

As of right now she's working on Grillby

So yeah!

If you have any question i'm willing to answer, any criticism will be heard, and i hope you guys like it!

#undertale #AU #Undertale AU #Sans #Papyrus #Gaster #Alphys #Undyne #Mettaton #Frisk #Asriel #Alternate Universe #OC #Original AU #Original Character #ProsperTale

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kytea · 4 years

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The True Nature of Deltarune

Deltarune Chapter 1 has been out for over a year now, and being the big UT/DR fan that I am, I’ve been slowly mulling over both games, reading many fan theories and putting together my own interpretation of what I believe the nature and goal of Deltarune will be. This will be a long one so grab some popcorn, put on your matpat hats and click to keep reading!

So what is Deltarune? Is it a sequel to Undertale? Is it a prequel? Is it an alternate universe? Is it the coming of age story of a bunch of teens? Is it a complex meta-narrative on the nature of video games?

The answer is yes to all of the above. And to begin delving into this we must first understand the creator of this game: Toby Fox.

I won’t toot Toby’s Fox’s horn too much, we all know how talented and hardworking he is, but he’s also very emotionally perceptive and empathic. His general disposition is reminiscent of avant-garde artists that push the boundaries of artistic creation in a medium.

Toby loves mysteries, and in the early version of Undertale there was an included file that disparaged hackers and went on to say that it’s difficult to add mysteries in games these days due to data miners and such.

Thankfully, this did not stop Toby from lovingly adding quite a few big mysteries to Undertale that have yet to be resolved. Knowing Toby and his strong desire to share his story, a story that according to him, kept him awake at night:

“For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about.That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind.“

I don’t believe Toby will let these mysteries go unanswered, and it is here that we can begin to understand what Deltarune is about.

The Mystery of W.D. Gaster

Truly, the biggest mystery of Undertale is that of W.D. Gaster: former royal scientist, creator of the CORE and the Determination Extraction machine.

A player can go through the entirety of Undertale multiple times and never even hear word of Gaster’s existence. This is because all the events that pertain to him are hidden behind a value in the game’s files known as the “FUN value”. Outside of actually manipulating this file manually yourself, it is, to the average player, random. The FUN value can trigger multiple different events throughout the game, some of which include running into “Followers of Gaster” or even Gaster himself.

While the latter has nothing to say before he “boings” out of existence, the former Followers all tell an eerie tale of a scientist who fell into his own creation and was scattered across time and space.

But hold on. Time and space? Why does that sound familiar?

Ah yes, during the Sans battle he speaks about an “massive anomaly in the timespace continuum”.

And during this battle Sans says a lot of other cryptic things without context, for example, he laments not being able to “go back” somewhere. But where or when is he referring to?

He mentions how he and others were monitoring time-lines and their readings showed them stopping and starting, jumping left and right, and eventually ending. Who was he monitoring these readings with? This all seems incredibly scientific and sci-fi, I thought Sans was just a silly skeleton, is he some kind of time cop? (he does have a “badge” in his workshop) He also uses skeletal weapons known as “Gaster Blasters”.

What…? Gaster Blaster?

Okay, now we KNOW Sans DEFINITELY has some connection to this mysterious scientist W.D. Gaster, but what? Well, for starters W.D. Gaster is short for Wing Dings Gaster, a type of font that he also speaks in.

Who else is named after and speaks in specific font types? Sans and Papyrus of course!

Furthermore, in the concept sketches for Papyrus, Toby wrote and redacted parts of a message that says: “has a brother named comic sans and a [BLANK] named [BLANK]”.

Who is this mysterious redacted person and what is their relationship to Sans and Papyrus? The easy money is on a family member, and for sake of argument lets use the prediction most of the fandom has already concluded and accepted: that Sans and Papyrus have a father named Gaster.

So Sans and Papyrus have a long lost father that was a scientist. This explanation would begin to explain why Sans has a weapon named after him, and why he wanted to “go back” to some place or time, perhaps in an effort to save him from his fate.

There’s a hidden event in Undertale where if you reset after listening to Sans speak about LOVE and EXP in a pacifist route, and initiate the conversion a couple of times in a row, he’ll catch on by the expression your face that you’ve heard it before and will surmise that you’re a time traveller and give you secret code words to tell his past self.

This will lead to him giving you the key to his room which ends up just being a prank at first.

But then you find a key to the secret workshop/basement hidden behind his house.

Once you enter the workshop, you’ll find some blueprints written in symbols you can’t read (wing dings?) and a curtain covering a machine that doesn’t seem to be working, among other things.

Toby Fox tweeted a message regarding this machine a few days after Undertale’s release around the time people were figuring out FUN values and the secrets surrounding Sans and Gaster.

“You’ve all seen the happiest outcome. Neither of them could fix the machine, no matter how hard they tried. No one can.”

This tweet seems to imply that if the machine could be fixed that Undertale could have a happier outcome.

And this my friends, is the gateway to the nature of Deltarune.

Deltarune, according to Toby Fox, is a game for players that have completed Undertale. But what does it mean to complete Undertale, and I mean, TRULY complete it? Toby often expressed that he wasn’t happy with how people told others how to play the game, that it is best played completely blind. Having played Undertale blind myself, and having watched others do the same, the natural way the game is meant to progress is that first players will experience the Neutral Ending, followed by the Pacifist Ending, and Finally the Genocide ending. This is because the game cruelly plays against your expectations of how an RPG should work and this almost guarantees that you will kill at least one monster your first play through. As if the fact that the fight button is always the default position in battle isn’t enough, in the early parts of the game you are told that you may need to weaken a monster before you can spare them. This naturally brings to mind the systems of Pokémon, where you have the best chance to catch a Pokémon if it’s at low health. Well, if you try this during the Toriel fight, as most do, you’ll find that as soon as you get close to critical health, you’ll instantly kill her.

Poor goat mama..

Difficulty-wise, the neutral route is the most easy, because you can level up a little and gain more HP. The Pacifist route is a bit harder because your HP is lower, but with the experience you gain from the previous route, it should prove no problem. Finally the Genocide route is the most difficult because it takes a concerted effort that implies knowledge of the previous routes to kill every single monster.

So an ideal Deltarune player has knowledge of all three main routes of Undertale, and may have experienced or heard of Gaster.

Is this player you? If so, ask yourself, what would a “happier outcome” look like to you? And be honest. Many fans in the Undertale community have already answered this question in the form of fanworks. Some of the most common elements among them are as follows:  

1) Frisk and all the monsters are free from the Underground and living on the surface with humans.

2) Asriel is revived.

3) Gaster is revived.

4 )Chara is revived.

The revival of Asriel, Chara, and Gaster are the undisputed holy grails in terms of happiest endings that the UT community dreams of and creates endless fan works to explore the possibilities. Toby knows this well.

Using a speech pattern attributed to Gaster, Toby teased the release of Deltarune Chapter 1

“I LOOK FORWARD TO CREATING A NEW FUTURE WITH YOU.” stands out quite a bit to me as the prospect of a “happier outcome” is already tied to Gaster and Sans, now a “new future” is connected.

And when Deltarune released, and fans had a chance to play it, they found:

1) All the monsters are free and living on the surface.

2) Asriel is alive and well and living his best life.

3) A voice with the same speech pattern as Gaster (based on Japanese text) brought you to this world and attempted to give your own vessel before…

4)…a voice with the same speech pattern as Chara (also based on Japanese text) discarded it.

Right off the bat Toby seems to have given fans what they wanted, a perfect future ending. But as you continue to play, you begin to realize that this may not be the world you dreamed of.

First, while all the monsters are living on the surface, they aren’t the same people from Undertale, for example: Undyne has never met Alphys, and the amalgamates that went to live with their families at the end of Undertale are deceased in this world. And while Asriel is alive, it’s not THE Asriel we were so determined to save in Undertale.

Gaster’s presence permeates Deltarune so thoroughly it would take awhile to point out every example, but it seems clear that he’s present in some form.

And Chara? You only need to see the ending cutscene of chapter 1 to know that they are around in a similar fashion as when they possess Frisk in the True Pacifist after a Genocide ending.

But their presence is also present in subtle ways. For example, if you attempt to play the piano in the hospital in Hometown and then speak to the receptionist, she comments that Kris’ playing isn’t the same as usual (Likely due to our control), but it seems that Chara may be good at piano. Interestingly, on the cover artwork for the official Undertale Piano Collection 2 book, Frisk can be seen holding a knife playing a key on a piano in the judgement hall filled with bones.

So for better or worse, what appears to be the original Chara and Gaster from Undertale are present in Deltarune, in some meta form or another. And maybe that’s the key: “Meta-characters”. After all, you yourself as a player are a “Meta-character”. You can ask the inhabitants of this new world questions that only someone with knowledge of a True Pacifist route would have, such as being able to ask Undyne about Alphys. Asking her this only makes sense if you yourself completed a True Pacifist route before playing Deltarune.

Ralsei, the lonely prince.

Toby being the trickster dog he is, he didn’t just give us 1 Asriel and call it a day, no he gave us 2.

Ralsei is quite clearly meant to be a version of Asriel because not only do they have similar or identical dialogues, but he was also was meant to look more like him before Toby decided to give him his Black Mage look.

There are even strong parallels obviously meant to create an emotional response and connect Ralsei to the feelings people had for Asriel in Undertale by giving the players the option to hug him.

Ralsei is quite the mystery on his own. And while he’s most certainly sweet and lovable, there’s undeniably some disconcerting things about him such as:

-Why does he know Kris and Susie’s names?

-Who did he learn the prophecy from? “Foretold by time and space” isn’t a good answer (or is it?).

-What did he say to Kris when the player SOUL wasn’t present in the prison?

-When he’s KO’d in battle, what does he become? Apparently he can still eat to regain HP when in this shrunken form.

Ralsei seemed to be under the impression that violence wasn’t needed in this world, but upon nearly being defeated by the King after mistakenly healing him, Ralsei says “This isn’t a world where kindness always wins, is it?”

The way he says this seems to imply he knows of other worlds and that they have different rules. Perhaps he comes from a world where someone being kind to everyone they met had great results?

There are definitely things that Ralsei is not telling us, whether this means he’s up to no good will remain to be seen, however, I would like to take this opportunity to make a prediction based on the previous understanding that the original Chara and Gaster are present in this new world in meta forms, and assert that Undertale Asriel, the final piece of the perfect ending puzzle is present in Deltarune in his own meta-character form of Ralsei. Perhaps the form he shrinks into when KO’d is one we know well...

There is that unused Flowey face...

Add glasses and a hat and...

but that’s just a game theory!

And I can't help but wonder about the dark heart on Ralsei's chest and this merchandise in the Deltarune section of fangamer that specifically features a quote from Undertale about the prophecy of Delta Rune (that turns out to be about Asriel in the TP ending, and Chara in the Genocide ending) "There is a prophecy. The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty."

It's also the Deltarune game logo

Because the merchandise is called Darkheart, it made me immediately think of the dark heart on Ralsei's chest, and having an Undertale quote about Asriel/Chara makes it all the more mysterious...

Regardless, in just the first chapter of Deltarune, the elements of the “happier outcome” connected to Sans’ machine are present. But how do they all connect? Well, let’s look at the other characters in Deltarune, starting with:

Lancer

Oh Baby Santa Claus, how we love you so. It’s hard to overlook how similar Lancer is to Sans. They’re both hilarious in their own way, both ride bikes, have similar color-schemes, both have a love for tomato-based products, and both have some scientific/engineering affinity (Sans and his workshop, Lancer and his “Lancer Industries”).

But that’s not all, the door to Sans’ room is identical to the warp doors found in the Dark World that Lancer hails from, and Sans’ warp ability also makes the same sound effect as these doors as well.

Lancer is a member of the FUN gang (remember the FUN value?), that, as far as we know currently, has 3 other members besides himself: Kris, Ralsei, and Susie (with the possibility of Noelle and others in the future).

Speaking of Susie, her name (or a version of it) popped up in Undertale prior to Deltarune’s release when the game was released on the Switch. By speaking to the Gaster Follower “Clamgirl”, you can learn of a girl named “Suzy”, that you will meet her soon, and that “in life’s grand scheme, she might be why you came here in the first place...”

Upon receiving this dialogue, checking the drawers in Sans workshop will reveal a card with a drawing of 3 people smiling and the words “don’t forget”.

“Don’t Forget” is the vocal theme of Deltarune sung by Laura Shigihara, and the melody from the ending verse,“Don’t forget, I’m with you in the dark.”, is leitmotifed throughout the entire Deltarune chapter 1 OST. The connections between Sans, the FUN gang, Gaster, and by extension Undertale and Deltarune are quite apparent. Perhaps the actions of the FUN gang in the Deltarune world will have an affect on the FUN value in Undertale.

Based on all the evidence we have now, I am going to make a bold prediction:

Lancer is literally a younger Sans.

That’s right, Toby Fox made Baby Sans before Disney and Sega made Baby Yoda and Baby Sonic.

Deltarune’s Dark World is the past from the perspective of Sans and Gaster (or a recreation of it). How Lancer becomes Sans will likely be a very large part of Deltarune’s narrative, and once he becomes Sans, he will exist as a separate meta entity that can traverse different worlds, even if versions of himself already exist in some form there (similar to Ralsei and Asriel).

We’ve seen that if characters are exposed to elements that make it clear they live in a video game world, whether this be Determination for humans and Flowey, a time-space accident for Gaster, or a strange man whispering to Jevil, these characters become something wholly different, more powerful, and begin to become more similar to players with the ability to SAVE, RESET, or use abilities that seem beyond the scope of the game (e.g. Photoshop Flowey, Jevil’s ability to speak, etc). Undertale and Deltarune are video games about video games.

So if it is to be believed that Gaster is Sans’ father, and that Lancer is a younger Sans, then it stands to logical reason that whoever Lancer’s father is, that they must be Gaster.

No, not the King, there is another. A “Lesser-dad”.

Yes, Rouxls Kaard.

“GOD DAMNIT”

Rouxls Kaard, or “Rules Card”, or if you rearrange his name “A Dark Soul Rx”, wait, Rx as in prescription? As in a doctor? Dark Soul as in Mr. Darkness Gaster himself? Too much of a stretch? Maybe. Although you can’t deny they have similar appearances.

If Rouxls Kaard is Gaster, and therefore the father of Sans and Papyrus, then he’s undeniably similar to one of his sons. Rouxls Kaard seems to be quite passionate about puzzles, (despite not having a natural predilection to them). I could see Papyrus gaining an affinity for puzzles by being raised by such an individual, they both have quite flamboyant personalities. And let’s not forget that there are also hints that Rouxls Kaard may be inclined to creating scientific devices such as the “Control Crowne” he uses to control K.Round.

Hmm, controlling other people… sounds familiar to what we the player are doing to Kris… and who was it that was initially going to give us control of a vessel before we lost said control to Chara’s intervention? Control seems to play a big part in Deltarune doesn’t it?

Also, isn’t his manner of speech is reminiscent of a silly ye olde knight. Wait, wasn’t there a Knight causing trouble in the Dark World? Hm.

So something is going to turn Lancer and Rouxls Kaard into Sans and Gaster, respectively.

Now remember the CORE that Gaster built? This one?

It turns geothermal energy into magical electricity via an unknown means with one of the byproducts being ozone, which is corrosive and could potentially make someone very melty. This is what it looks like on the inside.

Lots of blues of varying hues with white accents. Kinda reminds me of Rouxls Kaard and the other “card” people’s color schemes.

What a coincidence! Oh and apparently the layout of the CORE can be re-arranged or something:

"I work at the CORE. The inside is a maze made of swappable parts... That means we can shuffle the layout at will." - Hotland NPC

Almost sounds like a sliding puzzle…

Finally, Gaster is referred to as “The man who speaks in hands”, likely due to his Wing Dings font that contains a lot of hand symbols, however, it isn’t a stretch to also apply that epithet to Rouxls Kaard, after all, the Rules Card speaks in hands as well. Hands of cards.

Susie

Can’t forget Susie. Unfortunately, there’s not much we can say about how her role in all this will play yet. If we are to believe that the “Suzy” that Clamgirl references is Susie, then it’s clear that she’ll be key, perhaps as a catalyst for all the big changes some characters will need to undergo...

I will say that I think it’s interesting that toby specifically has a character in Hometown comment that humans are made of blood (and implying the monsters are not),

and Susie says:

“Everybody bleeds, right?”

From our understanding of monsters in Undertale, monsters don’t bleed, they turn to dust. But, maybe Darkners can bleed. If we believe Sans is a Darkner, it may explain this:

It could be ketchup. It could be a Darkner thing. Lancer does mention blood casually. But if only humans and Darkners bleed, then why would a monster like Susie say “everybody bleeds”?

So what is Deltarune you ask? I think it’s:

1) A story about Sans, Papyrus, and Gaster’s past and future. We get to experience their past in the Dark World, and speak with their future selves in the Light World. But these future versions of Sans and Papyrus may not be as far into the future as the Sans and Papyrus we meet in Undertale. Remember, Sans had an Ice-E’s crossword in Undertale? Ice-E’s-P’E’zza is a restaurant in Hometown. Papyrus may also be younger than he was in Undertale because Sans, an adult who runs a grocery store, thinks a teen like Kris should hang with his little brother, and it would be “weird” if he were there with them.

2) A story about post-Undertale Asriel, Chara, and Gaster. Asriel/Flowey maintains his new form as Ralsei thanks to the power of the Dark Fountain. He now lives in what is/was Sans’ childhood home. Whether he knows this or remembers the events of Undertale is unknown, but it is my belief that he holds a deep connection to the Asriel we all wished to save. Chara resides within Kris in a similar manner as they did at the ending of a UT True Pacifist Ending after surrendering the red SOUL to them in a Genocide ending. Does this mean that Kris’s body or “vessel” is Frisk? This seems to be heavily implied by Kris’ outfit taking on the same color scheme as Frisk’s UT shirt while in the Dark World.

3) A coming of age story for a bunch of teens. Kris, Susie, Ralsei, Noelle, Lancer, and all the friends that may join on their adventures are still people regardless of what grand meta narrative is at play involving the nature of their reality. They still need to go to school, fall in love, and worry about growing up and going to university. Noelle will undoubtedly play a large role with Toby’s tease of her as “Lost Girl”, and considering how attached most of the community has already gotten to these characters, it hurts my heart to think about what may befall them as they try their best to live their lives. Does this mean Deltarune’s world is doomed? I hope not... but those save file screens sure are creepypasta...

“IT WAS AS IF IT WAS NEVER THERE AT ALL.”

4) A story about video games and the control (or lack thereof) we have over them. It’s quite clear that we, the player controlling the red soul, is able to influence this new world based on knowledge from Undertale that should have no barring. For example, we can name “Onionsan” who has forgot their own name. One of the options is “Onion”, but why? Is it because we know their name is Onionsan in Undertale? How do we even know if that is actually what this version of them is really named?

Deltarune is so close to the perfect Undertale ending we wanted, but it’s just a little bit wrong. Would it hurt to force Undyne and Alphys to meet and fall in love? To get Toriel and Asgore back together? To make Bratty and Catty friends? If you were given the option in game to do it, would you do it? What if it made their lives worse…? I believe that the fact we are able to influence inhabitants of Deltarune with our Undertale knowledge may have some unforeseen consequences, and perhaps, be what begins this whole situation in the first place. (Paradoxes are the best time travel stories!)

Toby Fox said that Deltarune was the game he originally wanted to make, but whether it was too ambitious or time consuming, his idea evolved into Undertale. Now that he’s creating the game he always wanted to, I believe that he will connect everything we know about them together and resolve the mysteries, after all, Gaster has been waiting for this chance.

And maybe, with a little luck and determination, we can create a new future with a happier outcome. If I’ve learned anything from Undertale, it’s that you must hold on to your hopes and dreams, because dreams are the goal of “Determination.”

#undertale #deltarune #spoilers #sans #papyrus #gaster #asriel #chara #frisk #kris #toriel #sans undertale #theory #the true nature of deltarune #noelle #fun gang #susie #toby fox

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