Talk:Player/@comment-27409842-20151222190627

I have a theory about what our role as "the player" is in game. It might ruffle a few feathers, but here goes.

(Spoiler Warning)

My theory: We, the players, are always the villains in the Undertale story.

I came to this conclusion by taking a close look at the very beginning and very end of the game (both True Pacifist and Genocide). Even in a pacifist run, we're essentially possessing a very young child and putting them into mortal danger, getting them killed repeatedly for our own amusement. We aren't given the option to say anything to Flowey when he begs us not to reset, and he eventually believes that we are going to anyway and his words are pointless.

Toby Fox also suggested that players use their real name for the name of the first human, which further casts the player as the demonic entity.

Most of the characters aren't aware of the player's existence, and the ones that are (Sans and Flowey/Asriel) just want the player to leave them alone. We aren't their friends. We're a nuisance. It's a very unique take on RPGs and video games in general; where normally the player can completely immerse into the character and the world and "be the hero." Makes you question if you ever were really the hero at all...?

At best, the player is a manipulative puppeteer, holding everyone back from finding their "happily ever after," and at worst, the literal bringer of the apocalypse.

Of course, it really is JUST a game...