Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27997069-20160317174518/@comment-27907368-20160331052929

The Chara that occurs in Frisk's timeline becomes a part of the Player as a genocide run progresses and ultimately becomes indistinguishable after this run is completed.

Canon supporting this (I've isolated them here because I did write a lot.) When playing through the neutral route, it is likely that the Player is not aware of Chara. After subsequent playthroughs in genocide and pacifist, we learn more about Chara. From Asriel, we learn about Chara as a human and are told that she may not have been the best person and that they were the one to attempt to harm humans on the Surface. From genocide, we learn much more about their spirit (Chara is soulless now) as they guide the protagonist's thoughts (or flavor text) and actions.
 * At the end of the pacifist run, the protagonist is identified as "Frisk" meaning that this ending would have been in line with what the protagonist that we take control over would have done. Flowey also tells us to "leave Frisk alone" before we restart.
 * Chara does not exist without the Player doing a lot of harm. Killing all monsters, in fact. Chara can also not reset the timeline without the Player's collaboration.
 * Chara goes on to ruin any pacifist run completed after a genocide run and destroys all monsters and humans once the barrier is broken. 
 * We also name OUR "demon" (as they describe themselves) and not the protagonist. This demon cannot be named after most of the main cast.

Chara, when she was alive, was definitely separate from the Player and Frisk. In our timeline, Chara is ubiquitous but lies dormant unless the Player guides Frisk to do harm. Lots of harm. In this way, I believe Chara is meant to be symbolic and represents the loss of innocence that comes from morbid curiosity accompanied with the belief that consequences can be avoided.

Without the Player, Chara could not have returned or taken any power over Frisk's body. By the end of genocide, Chara speaks to the Player (us): Though there is talk about there being two entities here (Chara and us) one cannot continue without the other. Chara needs our agreement to reset the timeline and we need them to do as much; we are stuck in the void without a collaboration. Chara even muses "We'll be together forever, won't we?" Two entities have become permanently bound to one another.
 * It was you who led the world to its destruction.
 * But you cannot accept it.
 * You think you are above consequences.
 * Exactly. [Yes]
 * Then what are you looking for? [No]

Chara grows within the Player and serves as an eternal judgment that is hellbent on toying with the Player and destroying subsequent happy endings. This may be a commentary on feelings of low self-worth and doubt such as someone being self-destructive because at their core they believe that they aren't worth a happy life.

One huge piece of evidence that Chara and the Player are one in the same is the picture at the end of a soulless pacifist. The images of your monster friends are scratched out which alludes to them being killed by Chara. However, we know that when Chara was still alive they had no beef with monsters. By the end of a genocide run, they slice and dice their father and their "best friend" without hesitating. After Chara has taken Frisk's soul, they will end up destroying everything regardless of the Player completing a pacifist run; there is no happy ending. ''What does it matter, though? You already slaughtered all of your friends once - have you grown attached to them or something? Do you have regrets? Well, you should have thought about that before you spent hours grinding them all to dust. You IDIOT.'' Though Chara sits in stark contrast to the Player in a pacifist run, they are in league with the Player in a genocide run and eventually are streamlined to an entity that craves power and to become strong.

Perhaps what is most telling of our final minutes before becoming one with Chara is sans' warning. After you've defeated him and before he falls asleep, he says:

Juxtapose this with Chara's lines:
 * i know your type. you're, uh, very determined, aren't you? you'll never give up, even if there's, uh... absolutely NO benefit to persevering whatsoever. if i can make that clear. no matter what, you'll just keep going. not out of any desire for good or evil... but just because you think you can. and because you "can"... ... you "have to".   [Attack #23]
 * but now, you've reached the end. there is nothing left for you now.
 * Every time a number increases, that feeling...
 * That's me.
 * "Chara."
 * Now.
 * Now we have reached the absolute.
 * There is nothing left for us here.

These lines are eerily similar. The lesson sans tries to impart on the murder-bound Player is that they are only doing this because they have been corrupted by power but there is still time to turn back. However, the line that follows tells the Player that they've beaten him and that there's nothing left to do in this world because they have exhausted him of his attacks. Moreso, there are are no more monsters left for it to be a neutral ending so the Player has to either reset or finish genocide. Chara then mirrors what sans said and says that there is nothing left for us here because all stats that can be acquired have been acquired and the protagonist is a god.

 From there on, you'll never be without "Chara" or the knowledge that you knowingly killed everything and ended the timeline - even after sans warned you.

''... ... ... so... guess that's it, huh? ... just... don't say i didn't warn you. welp. i'm going to grillby's. papyrus, do you want anything?''

So, yeah. Chara grows within you and is reanimated if you feel like annihilating everything.



What's your damage, sans?
 * hmm. that expression...
 * that's the expression of someone who's died ten times in a row.
 * hey, congrats! the big one-oh!
 * let's invite all your friends over for a big shindig.
 * we can have pie, and hot dogs, and...
 * hmmm... wait. something's not right.
 * you don't have any friends.