Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30326084-20161026101955

HP is normally referred to as “Health Points” or “Hit Points” in video games, but many people are aware that Undertale is, indeed, not normal at all. With it’s hidden meanings and intriguing storyline, Undertale breaks the fourth wall.



For instance, LV in Undertale is not level, but instead Level of Violence; EX is not experience, but Execution Points. We can see that Undertale (as it is an emotionally triggered game) has more violent descriptions, making it, unique.



This is why I propose that HP means Hope Points. The higher Hope Points you have, the more hope you have. Though many of you may turn your head and leave, I suggest you stay, as this theory does, in fact, make perfect sense.



It is theorized that the white souls of the monsters symbolize hope. From the fierce Undyne to the Comic Sans, all monsters have their own set amount of HP. Undyne, known to have one of the highest HP, has a mass amount of hope; her motivation to fight for the underground and to murder humans drives her on. In fact, in the genocide run, she has an outrageous amount of Hope Points because she has hopes that she can save the underground. She has many reasons to live; she is good at what she does and only wants justice. Sans, on the other hand, lives with depression and only has one thing that allows him to live; his brother, Papyrus. Because this is the only cause for Sans to live, he only has one bright thing in his life; Papyrus, causing him to have only one Hope Point.



One of the hardest reasons to prove this theory is Asgore (as he had almost lost everything in his life) but there are reasons why he has so much Hope Points. Even though he is aware that he lost everything, he still has hope. Who is the voice heard to convince Frisk to have determination, to keep living? Asgore. Asgore knows that he has lost almost everything, but he still has the hope that things will get better. His hope surpasses his despair; he has determination that everything will get better.



<span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">In place of their determination, monsters have hope; hope that everything will get better; hope that they can have a good life. Because humans have enough solid to hold determination, they can also hold hope; however, the two strong emotions contradict with one another. But because hope is in place of determination, hope plays a different role to humans. In humans, determination works with hope. They are determined to do the things only they want to do, and their goals are more self-centered and have a more of a burning desire. Unlike humans, monsters have only hope. They have the positivity that everything will get better, which shines and affects others around them in a more positive way. They may not all have the burning desire to do things, but they can hope for things to happen.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">So what does HP mean for the humans in Undertale? Hope is strongly connected to positivity, to happiness. This means that instead of the exact meaning of hope that monsters have, humans’ hope points are more connected to happiness. This is shown as when Genocide Frisk goes and kill more people; they get happier. Neutral Frisk also becomes happier because they were able to kill a proclaimed “enemy” (although an enemy may not be the correct title). But what about pacifist Frisk? They don’t grow any happiness points in the game; rather, they keep it consistent. This is because of their emotions; they have fear of the monsters. For a child, one that has lived the majority of their life ontop of land, falling underground and encountering monsters out of all things, that they were often taught that monsters are bad and evil? And talking flowers? For them, everything they learned is a lie. Also, they never get the pleasure of defeating someone who is evil, like neutral and genocide Frisk. This is how HP affects humans. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:14.666666666666666px;font-family:Arial;color:#ffffff;font-weight:400;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Please, please, please tell me if you have any thoughts on this theory. <span style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(255,255,255);font-weight:400;white-space:pre-wrap;">Thanks for reading! <ac_metadata title="Theory: The meaning of HP"> </ac_metadata>