Sans origin, DeltaRune/Undertale theory (spiolers)

So I called this "Sans origin" but it also involves some theories on the connection between the Undertale and DeltaRune worlds and a prediction for something that will happen in DeltaRune. This is your last chance to avoid reading any spoilers. Sorry in advance for the length of the post.

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This is something that I had been thinking about for a while now. For a while, Toby had been teasing the release of the DeltaRune demo in a few of the Undertale updates. Specifically, one of the Gaster follower characters, a clam monster with an eyeball in the place of a pearl inside of the clam. Well, she's actually a "goner" character, not a Gaster follower (more on that later.) She mentions her neighbor's daughter, Susie, who is one of the three main characters in DeltaRune and was given some extra dialogue in the Switch version of the game where she says "the time when you will meet her is fast approaching" shortly before the DeltaRune demo was released.

The interesting thing about DeltaRune is that it's sort of a canon AU, something that fans had been creating on their own for years. Toby confirmed that the game takes place in a different setting than Undertale, not a prequel or a sequel to it. So that brings us to our favorite little skelebros, at least one of which we know has the ability to travel through dimensions in an odd sort of way. And a theory of mine, in spite of it being a separate world, that DeltaRune is a spiritual prequel to Undertale, as well as an origin story for the skelebros, who appear in both DeltaRune and Undertale.

You might remember that in an update similar to the ones that added the goner clam monster, something was added to Sans's secret room, a picture of 3 people with the words "don't forget" written on it. You can actually only find this if you talk to the goner clam monster, which suggests a link. Well it just so happens that the song that plays at the end of DeltaRune is called "Don't Forget." I think it's likely that the three people in that picture are actually Kris, Ralsei, and Susie. That would mean that Sans would have to have met them at some point, or at least someone who knew them, in order for him to have that picture. (It could still be him, Papyrus, and Gaster though. Again, more on that later.) It might also be worth mentioning that even though there are a lot of similar characters in the two games, there are also quite a few who are unique to DeltaRune, which might account for the picture of the group of people you don't recognize, which you can also find in Sans's hidden room.

Next, there's the thing that Sans says during the genocide fight. "Look. I gave up trying to go back a long time ago. And getting to the surface doesn't really appeal anymore, either." In this quote, it sounds like he's referring to the surface in the Undertale world and the place he originally came from as two separate places, indicating he was originally from somewhere else. (Also potentially referenced in the song, "It's Raining Somewhere Else") The rabbit monster who runs the shop in Snowdin also mentions that he and Papyrus just sort of appeared one day and asserted themselves.

So with all of that being said, there is some weirdness in this theory. One being that Papyrus at the end of Undertale doesn't seem to know what the sun is, in spite of monsters living on the surface in DeltaRune. I think that we might actually need more details on this to be sure of anything, but in DeltaRune Sans refers to Papyrus as the younger brother and in Undertale he mentions reading bedtime stories to Papyrus. We also never actually see papyrus in the DeltaRune game, Sans just mentions him. Behaviorally, in Undertale Papyrus does seem pretty young in spite of being much taller. So my theory on this is that Papyrus was too young during the events of DeltaRune to remember the sun, which is why he doesn't know what it is, but is also why Sans is able to tell him what it is.

Another thing that might be worth mentioning is that the Delta Rune, which the second game is named for, is also something that appears in Undertale. Gerson explains that the image predates written history, though it's believed that the triangles at the bottom represent monsters and the winged circled represents the angel from the prophecy. The rune is actually given a canonical meaning at the start of DeltaRune, with a new prophecy. It seems like the three triangles below represent the three protagonists, with the two upright triangles representing Chris and Susie, who came from the light world, and the upside-down triangle representing Ralsei, from the dark world. The legend also talks about a calamity called the "Angel's Heaven," which is represented by the winged circle, that would come from the sky and destroy the world if the balance between light and dark were disrupted. So this has some odd possibilities. The rune could have been brought from the DeltaRune world to the Undertale world and the original meaning was forgotten, or the rune exists in both worlds and has different prophecies attached to it. If the two games really are alternate reality versions of each other, I think it's most likely that both worlds had the original Delta Rune legend, which was forgotten by history in Undertale in the wake of the war with the humans, and a new meaning was given to it later on.

An interesting side note is that Ralsie and Asriel's names are jumbled versions of each other, and the same thing applies to the names of the games, Undertale and DeltaRune. Papyrus's favorite game is junior jumble. It might not be implying that he's aware of this, but could also be a potential nod to the audience of the connection between the two worlds.

So that just leaves one really major plot point that we still know nothing about; what does Gaster have to do with any of this? Sans's weapon is named after him, the voice you hear at the start of the game is thought to be him and you create your character in the same sort of grey color at the start that's shared by the Gaster followers, along with a lot of other hidden items thought to be linked to Gaster. (Kris's armor is a similar color as are some of the other surroundings in the dark world.) There's also his quote "Dark, darker, yet darker. The darkness keeps growing. Shadows cutting deeper. Photon readings negative" which has a new meaning to it when you consider the theme of dark and light in DeltaRune, and the legend about how the darkness growing will upset the balance between the two. The quote also mentions an experiment, which might refer to the "survey program" through which you play the DeltaRune demo. It might also be worth mentioning that while most of the follower characters in Undertale were altered versions of sprites of other characters, one of them didn't have a sprite it was based on.

Spoiler: Until DeltaRune

So there's clearly something going on with Gaster. The two people he refers to in entry 17 could very likely be Sans and Papyrus, and the conversation could have happened in DeltaRune. Since he was "shattered across time and space" when he fell into his creation, I don't think it's impossible that he could have ended up in a past version of DeltaRune where he met the two skelebros.

So here comes my prediction for DeltaRune. Another thing that the clam monster says is "In life's grand scheme, she might be why you came here in the first place..." talking to Frisk and referring to Susie when she says "she." Kris shares the same color soul as Frisk (their names are also near perfect scrambles of each other, which isn't necessary since Kris's name could have easily been spelled as "Chris" instead) and they both appear to be "posessed" by Chara in some way. At the end of Undertale's Genocide run, Chara says "I finally understand the purpose of my reincarnation" which was something that I had always taken literally; that Chara died but was then reincarnated as Frisk since human souls persist after death. That would explain why Frisk has some of Chara's memories. It could be that Kris, Chara, and Frisk are all actually the same character, though different incarnations, which would mean that Susie, for whatever reason, is the reason they showed up in Undertale. We never actually learn Frisk's reason for being there, after all. The only problem with that is the way that "Chara" tears out Kris's soul at the end of DeltaRune, which seems to imply they're separate entities, though it could actually be the player's soul and tearing it out is Kris's way of taking back control from the player.

All of that, in conjunction to the little we do know about Gaster, leads to some sinister implications. Based on entry 17, It sounds like Gaster might have been doing experiments on the dark fountains or something like that. Goner Kid mentions "another world where you don't exist, which functions perfectly without you" which might reference the DeltaRune world. He also says something that sounds like a reference to "it's raining somewhere else" which might imply that he's also originally from DeltaRune. The clam character mentioned earlier is another "goner" character, who is also from DeltaRune, since she mentions Susie being her neighbor. So why are they called goners when the grey characters that were originally from the Undertale world are referred to as Gaster followers?

I'm wondering if something really bad is about to happen. Something tragic, possibly instigated by Gaster, that leads to Sans and Papyrus's arrival in the Undertale world. Something that might cause the clam girl and that world's monster kid to lose their lives. Kris might die at Susie's hand, or perhaps Susie's role is just as important as all of the foreshadowing for her character implies it to be, and she ends up intentionally sending Kris to the Undertale world for some reason.

So what do you guys think? And is there anything I missed that might add more to or contradict what I've talked about so far?

 

That's a good point about the dark world, although I do think it's relevant. I just found some new interesting information involving Jevil, the secret boss from DeltaRune. All this time, I thought the knight character mentioned throughout was Rouxls Kaard, but it turns out it's someone else. Jevil apparently went mad after meeting a stranger. If you defeat him by fighting, he says "THE HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD. SOON, THE "QUEEN" RETURNS, AND HELLS's ROAR BUBBLES FROM THE DEPTHS..." If you beat him by sparing he says, "FROM NOW, A NIGHTMARE WILL AWAKEN IN YOUR HEARTS. IN THE SHADOW OF THE KNIGHTS'S HAND..." the river person from Undertale tells you to "beware the man who speaks in hands" and "beware the man who came from the other world." which are quotes thought to be attributed to Gaster. (Notice how they say the other world, referring to a specific one. This might go back to whatever ties their jumbled names and shared delta runes suggest.)

If you talk to Seam and ask him about Jevil, he mentions how meeting a stranger (presumed to be the knight based on Jevil's quotes) made him go mad and see the world as a game which, in reality, it actually is. He also says his own view of the world has become "darker, yet darker," a reference to entry 17. It's also mentioned throughout the game that the knight appeared one day, manipulated the king, and is responsible for the second dark fountain opening.

So here's what I'm thinking:

• The dark world is real. I don't know how else Susie and Kris could imagine the Gaster references.
• Gaster is the knight. This actually works really well with my theory that he's experimenting on the fountains since he's actually opened one.
  
• Gaster might originally be from DeltaRune based on the river person's quote. That suggests that he hasn't been shattered yet and that he ends up in Undertale through the same means as the skelebros.
• The mentioning of the nightmare awakening in their hearts might refer to kris's possession. This implies Gaster is somehow responsible and this could even be the reason behind the survey program.
• The quote about the "queen" is interesting. We already have the kings. The knight would take the role of a Jack, so that just leaves the queen missing. I'm curious as to why "queen" is said in quotes.
• It's interesting that Jevil's name is a reference to Devil, that the number assigned to Gaster in the Undertale code is 666, and Jevil mentions "Hell's roar" which is also an interesting parallel to Angel's Heaven.
• Seam started taking a bleaker look to the world after Jdvil's corruption. After defeating Jevil, he says, "JEVIL was just a taste of what you'll face from now on. One day soon...You too, will begin to realize the futility of your actions. At that time, feel free to come back here. I'll make you tea... And we can toast... to the end of the world!" there's an ongoing theme of futility and how your actions won't matter in the end in this game. It's actually pretty similar to Sans's views, revealed in the genocide run. I'm afraid that this might actually confirm that things are going to end badly.