W. D. Gaster

W. D. Gaster is a "hidden" character within the world of Undertale. If the game is played normally, the existence of Gaster is only hinted at, by characters such as the River Person. Otherwise, Gaster is hidden throughout the game's internal data, and direct references to Gaster can only be found by editing the game's files.

Piecing the clues together reveals that Dr. Gaster was the previous royal scientist before Alphys, and that he was responsible for creating the Core. However, he fell into the Core, and his life was cut short. It is implied he was erased from existence, but that his consciousness is still present, forced to comprehend the fact that the world is the same without him.

Most of the information on this article comes from this Steam page.

"The Man who Speaks in Hands"
Occasionally when the player travels by way of the River Person, they will say to "Beware of The Man who Speaks in Hands." Although the character states many odd comments, this one appears to particularly stick out as unrelated to the game.

This could be a reference to the game show with Mettaton in which Alphys gives Frisk/the protagonist hints on the answers to the questions from Mettaton.

As of now, Gaster is unknown to actually exist in the game.

The "Fun" Value
There are many secrets that can be found in the game by correcting the word "fun" and messing around with its value in the game's files.

The Door Encounter
By setting your Fun value to 66 (making sure it's capitalized), the grey door may appear. The fact that the door just mysteriously appears out of nowhere brings up many questions. One of the river person's messages is 'Beware of the man from the Other World'. It might not be a reference to "So Sorry," but in fact may be referring to this door.

The corridor with the door is not normally explored - there is usually no room between the room with the crystal cheese and the room with the telescope.

Entering the door leads the player to a grey room with a mysterious person, who is widely believed to be Gaster. Interacting with the person causes them to react, apparently in surprise, and a sound effect plays as they fade out. When the player leaves, the door in the corridor disappears. The corridor itself becomes inaccessible when the player leaves it.

The sprites for the strange NPC encountered here begin with "spr_mysteryman".

The Grey Kid
The Grey Kid who resembles Monster Kid can be found in Waterfall. The kid wonders about how scary it would be to imagine a world that looks exactly the same, except that they don't exist in it and how the world functions perfectly without them. You can also take an umbrella to him, triggering different dialog. He soon prompts you to 'forget about him' and disappears when you leave the room he's in.

Their sprites begin with "spr_mkid_goner" which may implicate that there was a timeline where the Monster Kid dies but was resurrected to make it possible for the protagonist to escape Undyne.

Gaster's Followers
The sprites of the grey NPCs that are found in Hotland all begin with "spr_g_follower", this implies that these NPCs were all followers of W.D. Gaster. They all talk about how great the Gaster was and mention how it took a long time for Asgore to find a replacement for him.

On the right of the first floor, you can a grey version of the Donut Guy who speaks in rhymes through the item on his hand. They talk about how the old royal scientist, Doctor W.D. Gaster, suddenly disappeared without a trace and may be scattered throughout time and space. The NPC suddenly disappears after mentioning that they're holding a piece of him. Their sprites begin with "spr_g_follower_2".

On the left of the second floor, you find a talking face coming out of the ground. They mention that his life was cut short after an experiment went wrong. They stop and mention that Gaster may be listening. Their sprites begin with "spr_g_follower_3".

On the left of the third floor, you find a grey version of a restaurant NPC who talks about how Gaster created the core then talks about how his life was cut short after he fell into one of his creations. The NPC then wonders if Alphys will end the same way and disappears once you leave the room that they're in. Their sprites begin with "spr_g_follower_1".

Naming the Player
Perhaps one of the more curious secrets, naming the protagonist 'Gaster' on the file select will immediately restart the game, sending you back to the intro video.

The "Sound Test" and "Gaster's Theme"
While having the game's 'fun' setting set to 'Fun' and having a value of 65, you can get a sound test to appear.

https://d.maxfile.ro/fqwkvlcmyj.webm

Perhaps the most curious thing about this sound test are, aside from the lack of any of the game's actual music, the other songs included within, 'Happy Town', 'Meat Factory', and 'Trouble Dingle'.

Likewise, Gaster's Theme has a very eerie feel to it.

The Wingdings and "Entry 17"
https://d.maxfile.ro/beryidzssq.webm

By changing your room number in both your save0 and your .ini file to 264, a set of wingdings will appear. This is what happens when you load a save. The Wingdings written translate to:

"ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN

DARK DARKER YET DARKER THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING

WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK?"

The 'two' mentioned could perhaps relate to Sans and Papyrus, Toriel and Asgore, or even Sans and Gaster himself. This text is believed to be the Seventeenth entry from the True Lab that cannot be accessed.

The wingdings themselves could also be another nod to 'The Man who Speaks in Hands', as there are a few hand symbols that replace some letters in the font itself.

Sans' Workshop
Sans himself has a lot to do with this. To gain access to Sans' secret Workshop, you need to be at the end of a Pacifist Route, before the final corridor where Sans gives your lecture. Let Sans explain EXP and LV to you and then reload your save repeatedly. He'll recognize your time travelling powers and give you a key to his room.

Once you've entered his room, walk around and trigger a cutscene. Once you're done with this, check Sans' drawers and you'll find a Silver Key. Once you've done this, go behind the left side of their house and you'll find a door that you can unlock. Inside will be some kind of Machine behind a curtain, as well as some drawers filled with blueprints and one containing 'There are photos of Sans with a lot of people you don't recognize.' The blueprints are written in what the game refers to 'Strange Symbols. Or it could just be the handwriting.' This could potentially poke at Gaster having built the strange machine, and the 'Strange Symbols' being Wingdings.

Additionally, the sprites for Sans' blaster weapon in a Genocide run are labeled "gasterblaster," indicating that this is a device that was developed by Gaster.

Text Fonts and Flowers
People have pointed out that the W.D part of his name could refer to Wing Dings, as that is what Gaster presumably speaks in.

As Gaster speaks in wingdings, this adds to his relationship with the other skeletons, who all speak in a text font that appears in their names.

If the name W.D. Gaster is deconstructed as the following

W.D Gaster

Wing Dings Gaster

Wing Din Gaster

Wing Ding Aster

Aster itself IS a font, and as well as that, a genus of Flower.

POTENTIAL GASTER ENCOUNTER.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/yyorjpkfkmak4ez/POSSIBLE%20GASTER%202.webm?dl=0

Located in room 272.

Checking this room without altering something else just gives you a dog.

The wingdings in it read: "* [redacted]", as if to imply there was originally a conversation planned, but the idea was scrapped.