Chara

Chara (typically /ˈkæ.ɹʌ/ or /ˈtʃɑː.ɹʌ/), also known as the First Human or the Fallen Human, is the first human to ever fall past the Barrier on Mount Ebott into the Underground. This person is who the player names at the start of the game, and not the controllable character who is played throughout the entirety of Undertale.

Appearance
Chara is said to have looked incredibly similar to Frisk, down to a "similar fashion sense." Like Frisk, they are of ambiguous gender and appear to have also been around the same age as Frisk when they fell into the Underground. Chara's SOUL is also the same color as Frisk's.

At the end of the Genocide Route, Chara is seen to be wearing a lime and cream colored striped shirt, brown pants and shoes. Compared to Frisk, Chara is of a lighter skin and hair color. They have rosy cheeks, open eyes, and a vacant smile, displaying an unusually sunny disposition in contrast to Frisk's constant stoic expression.

Personality
While initially cast in a sympathetic light, Asriel admits at the end of the True Pacifist Route that Chara wasn't the greatest person. Asriel says that the reason Chara climbed Mt. Ebott was because they weren't very happy, that they hated humanity; though they never explained why and they felt very strongly about it. It is mentioned that Chara "laughed it off" when they and Asriel accidentally made Asgore ill, by putting buttercups instead of cups of butter into a butterscotch pie they made for him, although this could be misinterpreted childish behavior. Asriel states that it was Chara who took control of Asriel's body, picked up their own corpse and carried it out to a human village after Chara had died. He recollects that when the humans attacked Asriel, Chara wanted to use Asriel's full power to kill them in order to break the barrier.

At the end of the Genocide Route, Chara is cold and malevolent, in clear juxtaposition to their appearance and apparent age. Their speech is slow and silent. They are shown to display curiosity if the player chooses not to destroy the world.

Chara reveals at the end of the Genocide Route that they have been awoken by the protagonist's Determination as soon as they entered the Underground.

Main Story
After falling into the Underground, Chara was taken in by Toriel and Asgore as a second child, who treated them with respect equal to their biological son, Asriel. Chara and Asriel became best friends. Monsters spoke of how Chara filled the Underground with hope.

One day, Chara became terminally ill, and their last wish was to see the Golden Flowers of their village. When Chara died, Asriel absorbed Chara's soul, and carried their body across the barrier to the human's village, where he was attacked by its inhabitants, as the humans had mistakenly thought Asriel had killed Chara. This is later revealed to be in fact a plan by Chara: to poison themself with flowers, have Asriel absorb their soul, and to collect six more human souls to destroy the barrier. Whether their intentions to conceive such a plan were benevolent or not is unclear; Asriel mentions it was Chara who wanted to destroy the villagers when he absorbed their soul and Asriel is who held back and walked away.

Chara's body was originally laid to rest in a coffin in the basement of the castle, where the bodies of the other humans would later be put. Toriel later carried Chara's body to the Ruins to give it a proper burial.

Upon entering the Underground, The Protagonist's determination awakens Chara, albeit without a soul. Throughout every route, Chara offers narration, and their dialogue differs on the Route taken.

Neutral Route
When the player gets a Game Over, Asgore's voice can be heard, urging them to "stay determined." The messages heard at this point are identical to those Asgore said to Chara when they were sick and bedridden.

The protagonist may also hear Chara's name in their dreams. At a certain point in the story, if the protagonist sleeps in Toriel's home, Asgore's voice can be heard, pleading "Chara, please... Wake up! You are the future of humans and monsters." When the protagonist first falls into the Garbage Dump, Asriel's voice can be heard talking to Chara as well.

True Pacifist Route
In the True Lab, VHS tapes of Chara interacting with their family can be played back.

Towards the end of the fight against Asriel, when the protagonist calls Asriel's name to save him, flashbacks of Chara play, showing them after they fell into the Underground, being found by Asriel, and with their family. After the fight, Asriel finally recognizes the protagonist as Frisk.

During the epilogue, Frisk may return to the room containing the coffins of the other humans. They see that Chara's coffin is empty, and notice mummy wrappings at the coffin's bottom.

Genocide Route
Whilst traversing the Genocide Route, many characters comment on the protagonist's cold attitude and fail to even recognize them as human. When going through New Home, Flowey mistakes the protagonist for Chara, however this is proven to be true as Chara dominates more and more control over the protagonist, even controlling the protagonist's expression (Flowey nervously demanding Chara to "stop making that creepy face").

The only instance in the game where Chara makes an in-person physical appearance is at the end of the Genocide Route. After completing the route for the first time, Chara addresses the player directly, instead of the protagonist.

Chara states they were brought back to life by the protagonist's power and determination, and that, judging by the player's guidance, assume the purpose of their reincarnation was power itself. Shaped by the player's display of careless murder, they identify themself as the very feeling the player receives whenever their stats increase, and propose that the player erases the world so they can move on to the next.

The player is given the choices to "ERASE" the world, or "DO NOT".
 * If the player chooses to "ERASE", Chara will call the player "a great partner."
 * If the player chooses "DO NOT", Chara's eyes widen, and they tell the player that they were never in control. Afterwards a jump scare (Warning: disturbing content) will occur, in which Chara approaches the screen with a horrifying laugh. The screen shakes while a loud droning sound loops in the background during the jumpscare.

After the player makes their choice, the attack animation occurs, followed by several red "9"s, both covering the screen. If the game is in windowed mode, the window will shake similar to the death animation of a monster before the game crashes.

Upon reopening the game, the entire screen is black only accompanied by a sound of howling wind. After 10 minutes, Chara will speak to the player, sensing that they want to go back to the game's world, and reminding them that their actions caused its destruction. After asking the player if they think they are above consequences, Chara offers to restore the world in exchange for the player's soul. Agreeing to this trade will restore the world, but will permanently affect the True Pacifist ending. Refusing will have Chara abandon the player in the abyss, only to offer the same choice again after another 10 minutes.

True Pacifist Route
Chara appears briefly after the True Pacifist Ending Credits if a Genocide run has been completed beforehand. If the protagonist chose to stay with Toriel, the after-credits scene continues briefly after Toriel closes the door, showing Chara in place of Frisk turning their face to the screen with red eyes. The game cuts to black, with laughter similar to Flowey's, but slowed down and lower-pitched.

Similarly, if the protagonist says they have "places to go," the photograph after the credits will have the face of everyone crossed out in red, except for Chara, who replaces Frisk. The "THE END" text is red, and a slowed down version of Anticipation plays, while the Annoying Dog does not appear to sleep under the ending screen.

Genocide Route
After completing a Genocide Route a second time, Chara calls themself "the demon that comes when people call its name." They say that the reason the player continues to recreate and destroy the world is a "perverted sentimentality" they can no longer understand, before suggesting that the player takes a different path if they choose to create the world again. Chara gives the player the "choice" to erase the world again.
 * If the player chooses "ERASE", Chara will once again call the player "a great partner," saying they will be together forever.
 * Choosing "DO NOT" will have Chara tell the player that these very twisted feelings were exactly what they were just talking about. Chara then reminds the player they sold their soul a long time ago, causing another jump scare, as they destroy the world again.

Asriel
When Chara first fell into the Underground, Asriel found them and took them back to his parents; Toriel, and Asgore. The two of them grew together as siblings and best friends.

Flowey
Flowey, in spite of his inability to feel love, perceives Chara as his partner and best friend. Seeing them as a creature akin to him, he helps them by clearing all obstacles in their way. He says that Chara is the only one who understands him and that they would never give him any "worthless pity."

The Player
Chara only reveals themselves if the protagonist completes a Genocide Route. Chara explains that due to the player's determination, Chara was reincarnated. As the protagonist kills monsters and gains more EXP, Chara seems to grow stronger. Chara refers to the player as their "partner" if the player accepts Chara's offer to erase the world.

If the player is to complete a Genocide Route a second time, Chara questions why they continuously recreate and destroy the world. Chara then goes on to say that the Player has a "perverted sentimentality" that drives this odd behavior. This behavior is most likely game players' urge to find each and every single bit of information about a game, no matter what it takes, which includes traversing a Genocide Route, even multiple times. Regardless of Chara's opinion, they further recreate the world.

Toriel
When Chara fell into the Underground, Toriel acted as their mother. She cared for Chara very much, equally as much as Asriel.

Asgore
Similarly to Toriel, Asgore acted as the parent of Chara and treated them as equally as Asriel. It can be speculated that Asgore's "Mr. Dad Guy" sweater was made by Chara, due to their response to checking it while in New Home during a Genocide Route.

Chara In-Game
In several moments throughout the Genocide Route, Chara temporarily disables the player's input and takes direct control of the protagonist. Furthermore, the text that the player sees changes depending on Chara's voice and thoughts. These narrations are sometimes, but not always, red in color. A list of them can be found on the Genocide Route page. Chara's perception of various objects also changes depending on the route, most notably the Heart Locket and Worn Dagger, which Chara narrates as being simply "The Locket" and "Real Knife" in the Genocide Route.
 * The first instance of this is during the first encounter and puzzle with Papyrus, where they seem to ignore him and move forward on their own.
 * The next instance of this is prior to the battle with Undyne the Undying, where protagonist turns away, and then approaches Monster Kid aggressively.
 * Another instance of this is during the two encounters with Mettaton, who notices their eagerness to fight him.
 * The penultimate instance of it occurs just as they encounter Sans, and they move forward to provoke him into fighting them directly, and they deal the killing blow to him without any input.
 * The last instance of this is at the Throne Room, where without any input from the player, Chara slays both Asgore and Flowey without hesitation.

Name
"Chara" is likely short for "Character," but there are speculations of its greater significance. For example, The word "Chara" (χαρά) in Greek means "joy", "delight", or "gladness". "Friend" translated from English into Irish is "Cara."

When attempting to name the fallen child "Chara", the response becomes "The true name". Removing the name from a save file results in the name "Chara" being given by default. The child being "fallen" can refer both to the child having literally fallen into the Underground, or to the phrase "to fall from grace" (to become morally corrupt). It is also a word used to describe someone who has died.

Trivia

 * Toby Fox suggests naming the Fallen Child the player's own name.
 * Only if you can't think of anything else.
 * Chara is implied to like chocolate; should the protagonist check the refrigerator in Asgore's home, the text reads " No chocolate. ".
 * While there is no chocolate in Asgore's home, there is a bar of chocolate in the fridge at Toriel's Home; it is possible Toriel kept it in her fridge in memory of Chara's tastes.
 * The Heart Locket may belong to Chara as the text "right where it belongs" is shown when the protagonist equips it in the Genocide Route.
 * Within the game files, there are sprites of Chara with their yellow-and-green shirt and pants, lacking a face but having shading under the eyes. In debug mode it is possible to have these sprites appear as the protagonist's reflection in puddles and mirrors; it has been speculated that this was going to be normal in a post-genocide run.
 * The music as Chara introduces themselves to the player on a Genocide Route has been dubbed by fans as "The Fallen Child" and "CHARA". The filename for this music is "mus_zzz_c", with the jumpscare music named "mus_zzz_c2".
 * Both Chara and Sans tell the player a similar line. Sans tells the player at the end of his boss battle, "There is nothing left for you here.", and Chara tells the player at the end of their speech, "There is nothing left for us here." This is most likely an attempt to convince the player to quit playing the game.