Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27907368-20160428221757/@comment-27907368-20160430111908

I'm currently editing my response - I have a few papers to work on this weekend, so I will probably post it on Sunday. However, I do have some insight into inspiration for Undertale and why I think the player can't be removed from the story. :D

A famous quote from Nietzsche was one of the first thoughts I had about Undertale:

“'''He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'” – Beyond Good and Evil''

I see a lot of inspiration from Nietzsche in Undertale. If you are unfamiliar with his work, please take five minutes to read this. I think you’ll enjoy it.

Nietzsche was initially inspired by the philosopher Schopenhauer who coined the phrase “will to live”. This is a familiar concept, most likely; everything is driven by a want to avoid death and procreate.

Nietzsche was fascinated by human behavior and philosophized endlessly about why humans acted the way that they do. “Will to power” (originally “Machtgelüst - desire for power”) is a cornerstone of his philosophy; it means that humans are driven by ambition, achievement and a “want to overpower”.

These two wills - power and live - sound like both halves of "Determination", which is defined in the True Lab as "The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate."

A few years later, he declared this concept true for all beings and that the “will to live” is overcome by the “will to power”. That is, beings that increase their power will overpower beings that seek only to survive.

Another cornerstone quote on "will to power":

"Even the body within which individuals treat each other as equals ... will have to be an incarnate will to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant – not from any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life simply is will to power."

This sounds a lot like dialogue from sans' boss fight:


 * " 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". "

The protagonist confusion also reminded me of a more obscure piece of his. Nietzsche believed that modern morality was leading to the mediocrity of Man because it distinguished doers frome deeds. In actuality, the two are indistinguishable; you cannot criticize the murderer without considering the act of murder.

In lieu of this, Nietzsche counters that one person cannot see another person’s intentions; we see actions and assume that the person who is performing these actions has intent. However, Nietzsche comments that there is no way to know intent because is it commonplace that “a will to power has become master of something less powerful and imposed on it the character of a function”.

So, yeah! :D I hope you enjoyed this little read! Stay determined(?)!

Beyond Good and Evil is a fantastic read – it is a collection of aphorisms that are short and can be read weeks apart if you’re busy. Twenty thumbs up.