Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-28128661-20160404143233/@comment-27907368-20160418055131

Hmm... we know that Chara is stuck in a spirit...esque... form while there is no indication that the other humans have "survived" post-mortem. This may be due to the fact that all the SOULS (and bodies) of the previous fallen humans are accounted for whereas Chara's body is buried under the flowers at the start of the game and their SOUL is... somewhere.

When Asriel turned to dust in ASGORE's garden, it is not said whether or not Chara's SOUL was shattered or also dusted along with Asriel. I believe the key to this may be within the creation of Flowey.

Alphys took the first flower that bloomed when Toriel left (or something to this end) and injected it with tons of DETERMINATION. Nothing happened. I glossed over this detail until recently - Alphys did not know the Flowey that we know; Asriel had not been induced into the vessel in the True Lab. The lore makes more sense if we go at it knowing this. Why would Alphys return an Asriel-flower to ASGORE's garden? That's messed up. She did not do this and instead returned what she thought to be a failed experiment that showed no signs of life.

The determined vessel was replanted into the dust-riddled garden and absorbed Asriel's essence, giving it his memories and consciousness.

Parallel this to flowerbed Chara - we added DETERMINATION to these flowers and they also became alive.

I'm thinking through it all... thank you guys for posting such thoughtful responses!