Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27997069-20160317174518/@comment-27907368-20160331120837

Prpr wrote: The one I'm particularly concerned about, and has been debated in this thread, is Chara as a separate entity vs a part of the player. Chara becomes a part of the player but starts as a separate entity - I definitely answered this question best I could. If you'd asked why in this bit, my answer would have reflected as much and it would have been shorter.

I'll take a stab at "How?" - it's speculation, though. The canon isn't broad enough to give concrete answers.

Chara's spirit may not even exist before the Player enters the timeline. We add determination and a(n extra) human soul to the mix which calls to her. However, she is soulless. I believe that her Flowey-esque existence may have occurred because we reset right on top of where she is buried. Yeah, Frisk lands on a flower bed that just so happens to have a human corpse beneath it. The first time through the timeline, all players are forced into a neutral run (I'm expecting few go genocide their first time playing). This means that a reset has to occur - which gives determination to Chara's spirit that allows her to live on within Frisk.

Such as Asriel is bound to a flower, Chara is then bound to Frisk's physical being while the Player has the pleasure of being blessedly distant from it in the overworld for most of the game. Chara becomes one with the Player at the end of genocide because while Chara once was just an essence in Frisk's physical form, the Player has gained so many STATS that Chara's power over Frisk's body matches and even overtakes the Player's. The emphasis that a human soul is a house for the essence of a human within the physical body is canon. It is not a far stretch to think that some of Chara's essence may remain after being dead for some time and may be transferred to Frisk.

As STATS increase and genocide comes to an end, the Player has the pleasure of killing Flowey and ASGORE from a first-person perspective without actually doing anything. This may be a way of showing that the Player was soulless Chara the whole time (it reminds me of Animal Farm...) and then they see eye-to-eye at the end of genocide.

I'll also attempt "Why?" in regard to the story.

Having Chara's namesake become either a demon or nonexistent is interesting. I believe pacifist Chara was kept around because of Flowey's interaction with them as well as Asriel recognizing Frisk as the protagonist. The pacifist route involving someone that Asriel knows and can tell us about offers good flavor as well as some history as to why Asriel died and thus why the antagonist is a flower with a face and why ASGORE is killing off humans... I think you'll agree that having Chara discussed in pacifist is great.

However, Chara is genocide is tricky. I honestly go back and forth about why they're the embodiment of our dust-lust. Foremost should be that they are soulless and thus are no accurate reflection of their former self. However. Canon tells us that monsters are composed wholly of their SOULS which are made of love, mercy, and compassion. Human souls require none of these traits. Both the Player and Chara lack these traits at the end of genocide and having the Player look at Chara and thus, what they've become, may be a wake-up call.

Recall that Chara's essence encourages flavor text such as "In my way." "Free EXP." and "Just a useless pile of snow." The Player being in line with Chara is more of a slap to the face, now that I think about it.

Having the Asriel/Chara arc parallel the Player/Self (Chara) arc was probably intentional. Why would the demon need to share Chara's name, though? Perhaps it's so that Asriel can get those "Though you dress similarly, you're Frisk" lines in. You know, just to emphasize that any person can change or can house feelings of hatred. It takes action to make that person who has conflicting emotions a saint or a sinner.

Yeah, lots of speculation. That's what happens when the canon is short. T_T