this headline makes me laugh because it sounds like God is trying to scrub this earth clean but we are all stubborn and persistent sinners that won’t wash out
This actually fooled me when I got to the Sans fight. I was like, “Oh, well this is going to be an easy fight. Tumblr says he’s the -easiest- enemy.
… That is indeed bullshit.
NO BUT THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY IMPORTANT. By this point, you’re playing the game purely as an RPG- as “Chara”, the self-proclaimed demon who lives only to see numbers go up. Sans’ stats aren’t lying to you- his attacks only do one damage per hit (they simply have no i-frames) and he dies to a single hit. The trick comes in when you consider what he represents.
OF COURSE that ‘demon’ considers Sans the easiest enemy. The typical RPG player would too! Look at how low his numbers are! But Sans doesn’t play by RPG rules, because unlike everyone else, Sans knows what you are by that point. He calls you out on it repeatedly, and taunts you about your failures in a way no character would. He’s the game pushing back, because Undertale knows you’re almost ‘done’ with it, and in that all-consuming thirst to see content and play the game like any other game, you’re just realizing what the ‘demon’ believes every game should be like.
That’s why you name Chara, not Frisk- Chara, at the end of the Bad Time Run, represents the typical RPG character. The moralless, soulless being that exists purely to come into a world and consume content until the content is exhausted, before moving on to another. That ‘demon’ isn’t lying to you, when you sell it your soul to reset- from its perspective, wanting to keep playing Undertale is incomprehensible. You’ve seen the content, right? It must be a perverted sentimentality that keeps you there, feelings for something you just tore apart to its core just because you could.
Sans is the ultimate realization of what Undertale has to say about that kind of attitude, and that’s why his Check screen is so damn important.
Also, the lore behind peoples power levels is based on their emotions because their bodies are attuned to their souls. The more attached they are to people, the easier they get hurt. In neutral and pacifist run, when you hang out with sans in snowdin, everyone loves him. He’s quite popular, popular enough to get a reservation at the most exclusive restaurant and he cares about everyone. He loves all his friends and family and doesn’t wanna hurt people which is why his HP and attack are both 1. However, you killed them all in genocide run. You kill all his friends and his family. You killed everything he loved. He still doesn’t want to hurt people but now he has no choice which is why there is no invincibility frames.
