Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27089028-20160805195911/@comment-27701762-20160805213208

Starscream1998 wrote: It would seem odd to use the word reincarnation and not apply it to the context of the game. There is perhaps reason to think that "reincarnation" is simply being used to mean "being brought back to life (i.e. awareness) in some form," rather than its literal definition of "to be brought into a physical form again." There is only the one use of "reincarnation" in the entire game, and the description that Chara gives doesn't actually suggest that they still inhabit a physical form.

I'm also curious about whether the Buddhist conception of reincarnation can be mapped onto the series of events. I am not familiar with the philosophy, so I am only able to rely on what you have relayed, but it appears that while the two souls are linked, they are not properly speaking the same person. So, as you say, Chara is not properly Frisk, and vice versa. But if this is the case, then while Chara might recognize Frisk as being linked to their soul, they wouldn't recognize Frisk as "their reincarnation," nor would they think of Frisk's existence as being "awakened from death." Frisk would be an entirely different entity.

I think Toby's methods are similar to Scott Cawthon's in that regard: hinting at what lies behind the mystery but never indulging.

Perhaps, but it likely isn't intentional. As I said, that there is so little given to us that it is less likely a result of Toby hiding something that is present, but of that something not being present in the first place. The two are basically observationally equivalent: we see only a few pieces of a small structure, so we can either assume the small structure is all there is, or posit that this small structure is merely the tip of the iceberg. Since, as I noted, the most relevant character for this analysis, Flowey/Asriel, is himself inconsistent in how he addresses the issue (and this would be the one character where, if you wanted to suggest a deeper concept of personal identity underlying the entire framework, you would want to make sure that any tiny clues are presented either clearly and/or consistently), stronger evidence points to Toby just not having a deeper framework in mind.

But that only gets us to the conclusion of "it's up in the air." If there's a particular interpretation (or set of interpretations) of personal identity that the player wishes to impose, that is precisely what headcanon is for.