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i know your type. you're, uh, very determined, aren't you? you'll never give up, even if there's, uh... absolutely NO benefit to persevering whatsoever. if I can make that clear. no matter what, you'll just keep going. not out of any desire for good or evil... but just because you think you can. and because you "can"... you "have to".
~ Sans describing the SOUL's amoral motives.
But. You and I are not the same, are we? This SOUL resonates with a strange feeling. There is a reason you continue to recreate this world. There is a reason you continue to destroy it. You. You are wracked with a perverted sentimentality. Hmm. I cannot understand these feelings any more. Despite this. I feel obligated to suggest. Should you choose to create this world once more. Another path would be better suited. Now, partner. Let us send this world back into the abyss.
~ Chara to the player if they succeed in a second Genocide run.
(I can still... hear... their voice...)
~ Noelle Holiday hearing the SOUL speak to her.

The SOUL is the overarching protagonist of the 2015 indie video game Undertale and it's counterpart Deltarune.

They are simply the player, and in-universe they serve as a driving force throughout the game, aiding Frisk and Kris on their journeys throughout the Underground and the Dark Worlds respectively. Seeing as they are the player, their alignment depends on what route they take. While they don’t have a physical appearance in the game, they are represented by a red heart of which is Frisk and Kris’s SOUL, which can be controlled by the player. Although the player is present in all three routes, they still deserve special mention here because the player is featured more prominenetly in both Undertale and Deltarune when they are engaged in evil acts.

Biography[]

Undertale[]

Influence[]

As Undertale is a game that's very big on meta-commentary, the player themselves is just as much a character as anyone else inside the game, and the most powerful being in the context of the game as well. In any playthrough, the player is the one controlling Frisk and the being who makes every decision. At any moment, the SOUL can turn back time to the point where Frisk fell into the Underground, the only ones capable of overriding this power being Flowey after absorbing the Six Human SOULs and Chara after they reaches maximum LOVE (Level of Violence). Most of the time, when the SOUL resets time, only Frisk and Flowey are fully aware of the resets while everyone else has only vague recollections, but if the SOUL either sells itself to Chara or does a True Reset, even Frisk and Flowey can be made to forget.

There are only a handful of beings in Undertale that are aware of the SOUL's influence and none of them know all of the details. Outside of Chara and Flowey, only Sans is aware of its existence, and mistakes it for an anomaly that he was researching (the true anomaly is, all things considered, most likely Flowey). It's also likely that Chara misunderstood the SOUL for Frisk, too, given their wording.

The only beings capable of challenging the SOUL directly are those who have reached maximum LOVE, such as Chara (who gained their LOVE through murder) and Flowey (who gained his LOVE by absorbing human souls). However, both are powerless against indirect influences, as the SOUL can edit the games files to alter the world as they see fit.

Pacifist Run[]

In a pacifist run, the SOUL is a benevolent influence on Frisk who guides them through the underground, presumably being helped by Chara who gives them advice on the best course of action. However, at the end of a pacifist run, it is possible to reset back to when Frisk fell into the underground, which by that point even Flowey no longer wants to do.

However, if the SOUL had done a genocide run before, the ending will be made sour by Chara who shows that they can possess Frisk at any time due to the player having sold Frisk's soul, regardless of how many Pacifist Runs they done.

Neutral Run[]

The influence of the SOUL can be either benevolent or malevolent in this run. They can still be helping Frisk through the Underground, but not on a pacifist route due to mistakes on their part. However, if the SOUL is experimenting at this point, then they are trying to find out what would happen if they kill certain characters and spare other characters, under the justification that everyone can simply be brought back.

Genocide Run[]

In a genocide run, the SOUL is a villainous demiurge, playing an emotionally exhausting playthrough that calls them out on their actions every step of the way, is full of tedious level grinding, gives little pleasure in its fights due to almost all of those being incredibly easy while the two difficult boss fights are an exercise in frustration and permanently ruins any ending they can get for no other reason than that the SOUL can and because it can, it must. At any point, the SOUL can undo a genocide route by resetting unless they reach the point where Chara speaks to them.

After Flowey and Asgore die, Chara greets the SOUL, thanking the latter for guiding and teaching them the importance of power. Chara then gives the SOUL the option to erase the world or preserve it. Both options lead to the world being destroyed, but saying to preserve it results in Chara betraying the player.

If the SOUL returns to the Underground, it will be nothing but a void. After ten minutes, Chara will speak to them again, knowing the SOUL wants to go back and will call them out for thinking that they are above consequences. Chara will then offer to make a deal with the player, trading Frisk's soul in exchange for regaining their influence over the world. If the player refuses, Chara will say to stay there forever. Though if the player agrees, then Chara will uphold their end of the deal.

If the player does a second Genocide run, Chara will be disgusted by the SOUL's actions, describing the SOUL as having a perverted sentimentality that they can't understand and viewing the SOUL as a different and worse kind of depravity than their own. They will even suggest to the player that a different route would be better suited should they choose to recreate the world again. Nonetheless, Chara will then give the same options as the first Genocide run, erasing the world either way. However, they will not prevent the SOUL from resetting their second genocide run.

Deltarune[]

Chapter 1[]

In Undertale's alternate universe successor Deltarune, the SOUL takes control of the human Kris. However, before all this, an unknown voice, speculated by fans to be the infamous Dr. W. D. Gaster, speaks to them and tries to create a vessel with them. After it's created, however, someone (either the Voice or a new entity) discards it, declaring that its choices don't matter.

The entity's words were true, as the relationship between the player and the game is reversed: now, your choices don't matter. This time, the player's choices are powerless and the game is successful at limiting their actions regardless of their path. Attempting a Genocide Route in Deltarune is insignificant as the enemies will automatically flee when defeated and no one can be killed. Meanwhile, attempting a Pacifist Route will fail, as you end up meeting a truly evil villain within the game's world itself whom cannot be reasoned with. The SOUL's philosophy of the Genocide Route has been integrated into the characters within Deltarune: Susie fights enemies on instinct, King is irredeemably cruel towards the other characters and refuses to listen to reason, and Jevil believes that he can get away with his actions because he knows that in Deltarune's world, your choices don't matter.

At the end of Deltarune's first chapter, no matter what route the SOUL took, Kris gets out of bed and tears them out of their body and throws it into a cage, before making an evil look on their face while brandishing a knife. Meanwhile, the player is able to move the SOUL around in the cage, suggesting that they were in control of Kris before they threw the SOUL away.

Chapter 2[]

It's revealed that Kris simply went to get some pie after ripping their SOUL out, and promptly put it back in its place after finishing their meal.

The SOUL, its vessel and their friends explore a second Dark World ruled by a tyrannical Queen who seeks world domination. Unlike King, she is truly benelovent and can be reasoned with, to the point she manages to redeem herself in every ending. The player encounters Jevil's successor, an insane salesman called Spamton G. Spamton. Similar as to how the SOUL will search for and do anything they can to satisfy their curiosity and find a way to prove their choices matter, but in contrast to Jevil's sadistic nihilism, Spamton is enraged at the fact his choices don't matter and seeks to escape the Dark World to reach a place he calls "Heaven", where he will be free from the strings controlling his every move and become a "real boy". It's implied Heaven is either the Light World, real life, or the Heaven mentioned in the Prophecy. Spamton, outside of the Voice and Ralsei, is the first person to acknowledge the SOUL's existence, wanting to steal it from Kris and absorb it, believing it will help him reach Heaven.

It's implied Kris has an immense dislike of the SOUL, as you have the choice to fight Spamton NEO, an upgraded form of Spamton and the chapter's bonus boss. Spamton has an intense hatred of the literal strings holding him down and seeks to cut them to achieve freedom, and if spared, is joyful at the fact Kris genuinely wants to help him... but once his final string is cut, he falls down to the ground and seemingly dies. After the fight, Kris is noticeably traumatized and panicking, as pointed out by Susie and Ralsei, implying they're scared by the fact that they can't live without the entity controlling them.

However, the introduction of Noelle Holiday as a new party member makes the SOUL able to finally kill again, and perform the closest the game has to a Genocide Run. In an event dubbed the SnowGrave Route, the SOUL psychologically tortures Noelle and forces her to kill Darkners for it. Making a deal with Spamton, the SOUL buys a Thorn Ring, a torture device, and equips it onto Noelle before forcing her to freeze and quite likely kill her own classmate, Berdly. The route's final enemy is not GIGA Queen, but instead Spamton NEO, who claims that the SnowGrave Route will grant Kris freedom, but leave them in a "broken home" wishing for death. Once Spamton is killed and the Fountain is sealed, Berdly remains unresponsive, implying that either A) he's dead and the rules work differently in Deltarune (as in Undertale, monsters turn to dust upon death), B) he's comatose C) his SOUL is dead but his body remains untouched.

No matter what ending the player picks, the chapters ends the same way; Kris rips out their SOUL to slash the tires to Toriel's car, thus making their mother paranoid enough to make Susie stay over for a sleepover and call the police. In the middle of the night, Kris rips their SOUL out, turns on the TV and opens the door to their house before creating a Dark Fountain in the middle of the living room. Putting the SOUL back into their body as the Fountain covers the room, the TV flashes a menacing smile, having come to life as a Darkner.

Trivia[]

  • The SOUL is the reason why Frisk could either choose Pacifist, Neutral Route or the Genocide Route.
  • It's sometimes speculated that while Sans was addressing the player as the Anomaly, the true anomaly he was investigating was in fact Flowey, with everything he accused the player of was actually done by the flower. Evidence to this is the fact that the player can do genocide on their very first run with little or literally no saving, Flowey saying that he has done everything except taking the human souls and that Sans has been battling him in numerous timelines, as well as the fact that the player/Frisk hasn't been in control of the timeline long enough for Sans to become aware of this and gain depression.
  • Given how the Voice has been looking for the player and that Kris' SOUL is needed to seal the Fountains, it seems like the SOUL is a necessary evil needed to prevent the end of the world.

Navigation[]

           Undertale Logo/Deltarune Logo Villains

Monsters
Introduced in Undertale
Asriel Dreemurr | Asgore Dreemurr | Undyne | Dogamy and Dogaressa | Royal Guards | Muffet
Introduced in Deltarune
Susie | Berdly | Noelle

Ghosts
Mettaton | Mad Dummy

Humans
Frisk | Chara | Blue Human Soul

Darkners
Card Kingdom
King | Lancer | Rouxls Kaard | Jevil
Cyber World
Queen | Spamton G. Spamton

Others
Flowey | The SOUL | The Knight | Someone | The Titans

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