"Chara", the demon that comes when people call its name. They are the official first fallen human & the adoptive sibling of Asriel Dreemurr. They devised a plan with Asriel for him to get their soul and break through the barrier. Chara's motives in this situation are uncertain, but upon entering the golden flower village and the humans seeing Asriel holding a dead human they attack him with little resistance from Asriel ending in his & Chara's death.
Chara Dreemurr
Origin
Origin
Undertale
Creator
Toby Fox
First Appearance
Undertale
Characteristics
Species
Initially Human, potentially a Demon after reaching the Absolute
This dropdown contains the synopsis of Chara’s story. Read at your own risk as you may be spoiled otherwise!
Pre-Undertale
Chara first appears during the opening of Undertale, climbing Mt. Ebott, tripping over a root, and falling into the Ruins. During the fight with Asriel, the scene continues, showing Asriel helping Chara up after hearing their cry for help and bringing them to his parents.
Toriel and Asgore took Chara in as their own child, treating them with the same care as their biological son. Chara and Asriel became close siblings and best friends, and the monsters of the Underground spoke of how Chara brought hope to them. Eventually, Chara fell ill after eating buttercups and expressed a wish to see the golden flowers from their home village. After their death, Asriel absorbed Chara's SOUL, and the two shared control of one body. Asriel carried Chara's body across the barrier, but when humans attacked, Chara wanted to fight back with full force. Asriel resisted, and the fused being was killed by the humans.
Chara's true intentions are left unclear. In one tape, Asriel says they will be strong and free everyone, and in another, he mentions needing six human SOULs. During the Genocide Route, Flowey urges Chara to finish what they started and free everyone, adding that the world is still "kill or be killed." Asriel later tells the protagonist that he came up with that philosophy because his resistance led to both their deaths. At the end of the Genocide Route, Chara reflects on their confusion after the plan failed, suggesting that their consumption of the buttercups was intentional. It seems they intended to give Asriel the power to cross the barrier, collect six human SOULs, and break the Barrier to free monsterkind.
Chara's body was originally placed in a coffin in the castle basement, where other fallen humans would later be kept. When Toriel left Asgore, she took Chara's body to the Ruins and gave them a proper burial.
In the Genocide Route, Chara states that the protagonist's determination and human SOUL brought them back from death. Some narration and item descriptions throughout the game may be from Chara's perspective, though this remains open to interpretation.
Neutral Route
When the protagonist dies, a game over screen appears with Asgore's voice encouraging someone to "stay determined." The message is identical to what Asgore said to Chara while they were dying. The protagonist can also hear Chara's name in their dreams, and if they sleep in Toriel's house, Asgore's voice repeats a plea for them to wake up and become the future of both humans and monsters. When the protagonist first falls into the Garbage Dump, Asriel's initial words to Chara appear on screen alongside his voice.
True Pacifist Route
In the True Lab, the player can view VHS tapes that show Chara with their family, though none of them include visuals—only narration. Most of the tapes feature Asriel and Chara and suggest that Chara had a plan. In one recording, Asriel tells Chara to wake up and says he no longer likes the plan. This line is believed to be something Asriel said to Chara when they were dying, as the same quote also appears on the game over screen.
Near the end of the fight with Asriel, when the protagonist calls out to "someone else," flashbacks play showing Chara falling into the Underground, Asriel finding them, and the royal family spending time together. After the battle, Asriel recognizes the protagonist as the human.
In the epilogue, the protagonist can return to the room containing the coffins. All of the other coffins are empty, and Chara's coffin contains only mummy wrappings at the bottom.
Genocide Route
Throughout the Genocide Route, various characters comment on the protagonist's unsettling smile. Sans remarks that it would be nice if they kept pretending to be human, and Asgore asks what kind of monster they really are. At the end of the Ruins and during the journey through New Home, Flowey realizes the protagonist is hollow inside, just like him. He concludes that they are Chara and shares a plan to gain ultimate power.
Chara only appears physically at the end of the Genocide Route, shown as an overworld sprite speaking directly to the player. They explain that the protagonist's human SOUL and determination brought them back to life, and that the violence of the route helped them understand their purpose was to gain power. Chara claims to represent the feeling of increasing STATS and suggests erasing the world to move on to the next.
The player is given the option to erase the world or refuse. Both choices lead to the same result.
If the player chooses to erase, Chara calls them a great partner, and their eyes widen. They tell the protagonist they will be together forever. If the player refuses, Chara appears briefly confused before asking, "SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?" A jumpscare follows, with Chara approaching the screen and laughing while the game shakes and a droning sound plays.
After the choice is made, an attack animation appears, red "9"s fill the screen, and the game enters windowed mode, shakes like a monster's death, and closes. The player must use Task Manager or Force Quit to exit beforehand.
When reopened, the screen is black with wind-like sounds. After ten minutes, Chara speaks, questioning why the player would want to return. They remind the player of the destruction they caused and ask if they believe they are above consequences. Chara offers to restore the world in exchange for the protagonist's SOUL.
If the player agrees, the world returns, but the True Pacifist ending is permanently changed. If they refuse, Chara abandons them, but repeats the offer after another ten minutes on restart.
Post-Genocide True Pacifist Route
If the Genocide Route has been completed prior to a True Pacifist run, Chara appears briefly after the credits. If the protagonist chooses to stay with Toriel, the scene continues after she closes the door, and the human turns to face the screen with red eyes. The game then cuts to black, and Flowey X's laugh plays at a lower pitch, likely representing Chara's laugh.
If the protagonist chooses to leave, the photograph shown after the credits has everyone's faces crossed out in red, with Chara's sprite replacing the human's. The "THE END" text appears in red, and a slowed version of Anticipation plays. The Annoying Dog does not appear to sleep under the ending screen.
Post-Genocide Genocide Route
After completing the Genocide Route a second time, Chara is described as "the demon that comes when people call its name." Chara blames the player for destroying and recreating the world out of a misguided sense of attachment. They explain that the SOUL they now hold resonates with unfamiliar feelings and suggest that a different path should be taken if the world is recreated again. Chara gives the protagonist the option to erase the world once more.
If the protagonist chooses to erase, Chara once again calls them a great partner and says they will be together forever. If they refuse, Chara says these feelings are exactly what they were talking about and reminds them that they made their choice long ago. Another jumpscare occurs, and the world is destroyed again. However, when the game is rebooted afterward, it loads normally.
Name Meaning
Their name is short for "Character", as the fallen human's name is meant to be whatever the player decides to name them.
Appearance
General Description:
Chara looks strikingly similar to the protagonist and has a "similar fashion choice," as stated by Asriel Dreemurr. Both appear to have been around the same age when they fell into the Underground. Chara's SOUL is the same color as the protagonist's, indicated by the red SOUL on Chara's coffin.
Facial Features:
They have cream skin, brown medium-length hair with side-swept bangs, and rosy cheeks. Their eyes are brown and open, and they have a smile that contrasts the protagonist's stoic expression. In the "Soulless Pacifist" ending, they appear with red eyes.
Clothing/Outfit:
A long-sleeve neon green sweater with a single horizontal cream stripe. Nondescript brown pants and brown shoes.
Special Features:
Their sweater is an inverted color of the protagonist's shirt. Any other shared traits between Chara and the protagonist are unknown.
Personality
Ambiguous and Complex: Chara's personality is largely ambiguous. They are implied to have climbed Mount Ebott for an unhappy reason and hated humanity.
Mischievous: In the VHS Tapes, Chara is implied to be mischievous and can make a "creepy face" with a certain smile.
Intelligent, Secretive, and Persuasive: Chara is intelligent, secretive, and persuasive. They did not let their plan be recorded on camera and gained Asriel's trust to continue it.
Hopeful: Asgore once noticed Chara had a sense of hope in their eyes. This is likely why when getting flashbacks to Chara, it is Asgore telling them to stay determined.
Polite, Formal, and Blunt in Genocide Route: At the end of the Genocide Route, Chara behaves politely, formally, and tersely. Their vocabulary is slightly above average, and they are blunt and criticizing in their dialogue due to being filled with LOVE.
Confused by Sentimentality After Second Genocide Route: After a second Genocide Route, Chara expresses confusion at the protagonist's sentimentality and states they can no longer understand such emotions, implying they lack a SOUL and compassion since their death. It could also be they do not understand how the Anomaly could be so perverted to cause another genocide just to see if something new would happen.
Goals
Outside of Genocide Route
Free monsters by fusing with Asriel (Failed).
In Genocide Route
Destroy the world and move on to the next (Succeeded)
Chara and Asriel shared a close bond as both siblings and best friends. They often spent time together playing in New Home's garden, and Chara was the only one who truly understood him. It is implied that Chara trusted Asriel enough to confide in him about why they had climbed Mount Ebott,[1] though they never explained their hatred for humanity.[2] Chara occasionally played tricks on Asriel, such as startling him with their unsettling "creepy face" smile.[3] In VHS Tape 4, Chara appears to have told Asriel that "big kids don't cry" after he admitted to disliking their plan.
At the conclusion of the Genocide Route, Chara makes little mention of Asriel's resistance that led to their death, instead expressing only confusion about the event.
Toriel took on the role of Chara's adoptive mother. It is implied that Chara may have favored her over Asgore, as they greet others with "greetings"—a mannerism reminiscent of Toriel. Chara also showed embarrassment at the public displays of affection between Toriel and Asgore[4].
Asgore served as Chara's adoptive father. Chara was embarrassed by his and Toriel's affectionate behavior in public[5]. When Asgore was accidentally poisoned by buttercup flowers, Chara laughed in response, which this reaction was a coping mechamnism as shown with laughter being constantly cope within Undertale[6]. While Asgore noticed a gleam of hope in Chara's eyes, it remains uncertain whether his expectations motivated Chara to attempt to fulfill the Delta Rune prophecy.
During the Genocide Route, Flowey expresses confidence that Chara can persuade Asgore to show the six captured human SOULs.
Flowey perceives Chara as his partner and best friend. After their deaths, Flowey adopted the "kill or be killed" worldview as a result of their shared experiences.
In the Genocide Route, Flowey eventually realizes that Chara—being soulless—would never offer him any "worthless pity" and would not hesitate to destroy him. The protagonist's actions at the end of the Genocide Route suggest Chara lacks any empathy for Flowey. They respond to him with a "creepy face" when he expresses regret over his ideas, and repeatedly strike him with a red slash animation as he begs for his life and warns Asgore.
The anomaly—the player—only directly encounters Chara upon completing the Genocide Route. As the anomaly kills monsters and accumulates EXP, Chara appears to grow stronger. Chara refers to the anomaly as a "partner" if they accept the offer to erase the world. If the offer is refused, Chara briefly leaves them in the void, then condemns them for their actions in the Underground.
If the anomaly completes another Genocide Route, Chara questions why they repeatedly create and destroy the world. Chara admits they no longer understand the protagonist's feelings or behavior, suggesting it must be driven by a "perverted sentimentality".
Status:Other (Chara upon reaching the absolute gains a new body and becomes the anomaly's LOVE itself)
Alignment:Varies until a route is taken, otherwise True Neutral (Chara's morality depends on the Anomaly's "guidance"[11], with giving them a max LOVE awakening them as a demon[12]. If they do a True Pacifist Route, Chara will remain good at heart and help the human in sparing Asriel. However if they reach the absolute Chara will be a demon that wishes for the end of the world. Though before any true route is finished Chara will follow The Human along the route, no matter where it takes them)
Threat Level:Cosmic Threat (Ended the entire timeline in the genocide route)
Stamina:Average as a human, Limitless as a spirit and when reaching the absolute (Chara is a parasite constantly feeding off of The Anomaly's determination, STATS, etcetera, as such they can never grow tired)
Range:Standard Melee, Extended Melee with weapons, likely Hundreds of Meters with Empty Gun, Universal upon reaching the absolute (One slash from them destroyed the world)
Intelligence:Average Intelligence normally, Cosmic Intelligence upon reaching the absolute (Reached a state where they had an understanding of the world outside of Undertale, where The Anomaly resides, was able to feed off of their determination to become the very embodiment of STATS, LOVE, and Determination)
Description: The Real Knife is a weapon item found in Asgore's Home. Plot-wise, it is the Worn Dagger as seen through the lens of a Genocide Route. Its defensive counterpart is The Locket. It is the Genocide Route weapon item associated with the first human, and is implied to belong to them.
Usage: Used as a weapon.
Function: Its existence is foreshadowed in the Ruins near the beginning of the Genocide Route, with the first instance of the route's red text. Name-wise, it contrasts the Toy Knife found in the ruins.
The Locket
Description: The Locket is an armor item found in Asgore's Home. It is the Heart Locket's Genocide Route counterpart. Its offensive counterpart is the Real Knife. It is the Genocide Route armor item associated with the first human.
Usage: Used as armor.
Function: Serves as the the defensive counterpart to the Real Knife.
Snail Pie: Restores HP up to one less than maximum HP.
Snowman Piece: Recovers 45 HP.
Nice Cream: Recovers 15 HP.
Bisicle/Unisicle: It's a two-pronged popsicle(single-pronged when eaten once), so the human can eat it twice. Recovers 11 HP twice.
Cinnamon Bunny: Recovers 22 HP.
Astronaut Food: Recovers 21 HP.
Crab Apple: Recovers 18 HP.
Sea Tea: Increases the human speed for one battle and recovers 10 HP.
Abandoned Quiche: Recovers 34 HP.
Temmie Flakes: Recovers 2 HP.
Dog Salad: Recovers 2/10/30/ALL HP. Chance of spawning when Dog Residue is used.
Instant Noodles: Recovers 4/15/90 HP.
Hot Dog...?: Recovers 20 HP.
Hot Cat: Recovers 21 HP.
Junk Food: Recovers 17 HP.
Hush Puppy: Spell will stop a dog from casting magic. Recovers 65 HP.
Starfait: Recovers 14 HP.
Glamburger: Recovers 27 HP.
Legendary Hero: Increases ATTACK and recovers 40 HP.
Steak in the Shape of Mettaton's Face: Recovers 60 HP.
Popato Chisps: Recovers 13 HP.
Last Dream: Created from your determination. Recovers 17 HP.
Weapons
Stick: Its bark is worse than its bite. Single hit.
Toy Knife: Knife made of plastic. Single hit.
Tough Glove: A worn pink leather glove. For five-fingered folk. Single hit, then
mash.
Ballet Shoes: These used shoes make you feel incredibly dangerous. 3 hits.
Torn Notebook: Contains illegible scrawls. Increases invincibility by 6. 2 hits.
Burnt Pan: Damage is rather consistent. Consumable items heal four more HP. 4 hits.
Empty Gun: An antique revolver. It has no ammo. Must be used precisely, or damage
will be low. 4 hits, very fast.
Worn Dagger: Perfect for cutting plants and vines. Single hit.
Real Knife: Most powerful weapon in the game. Single hit.
Armors
Bandage: It has already been used several times.
Faded Ribbon: If you're cuter, monsters won't hit you as hard.
Manly Bandanna: It has seen some wear. It has abs drawn on it.
Old Tutu: Finally, a protective piece of armor.
Cloudy Glasses: Glasses marred with wear. Increases invincibility by 9.
Temmie Armor: Raises ATTACK when worn. Recovers HP every other turn. Increases
invicibility up slightly.
Stained Apron: Heals 1 HP every other turn.
Cowboy Hat: This battle-worn hat makes you want to grow a beard. It also raises
ATTACK by 5.
Heart Locket: It says "Best Friends Forever."
The Locket: You can feel it beating. The strongest armor in the game.
Punch Card: Use to make punching attacks stronger in one battle. Use outside of
battle to look at the card. Increase ATK when in battle. Three can be traded in for a
free Nice Cream.
Annoying Dog: A little white dog. Absorbs the legendary
artifact when used or dropped. Also gives you Dog Residue.
Dog Residue: Varies. Fills the human inventory with more Dog Residue, with a
possibility of giving the human Dog Salad.
Mystery Key: Unlocks the front door of the house next to Napstablook's.
Undyne's Letter: Letter written for Dr. Alphys. Used to regain access to Dr.
Alphys's lab.
Undyne's Letter EX: It has DON'T DROP IT written on it. Used to regain access to
Dr. Alphys's lab.
Notable Techniques
Should have the same techniques as The Human which includes:
FIGHT
The Human is prompted to pick an enemy to attack. The Human can attack one enemy each turn.
ACT
The Human is prompted to select an enemy, and is then given one or more ACT options which are specific to that enemy.
ITEM
Using consumable items regains health. Some consumable items are capable of increasing stats. Using equipment items other than the Bandage or Stick equips them.
MERCY
Sparing means that Frisk does not want to fight. The Human is encouraged on multiple occasions on their journey to show mercy to the opponents they fight.
Other
Standard Tactics: Chara likely employs similar combat methods to Genocide Frisk, killing their enemy through any means necessary, even if it requires[85]breaking the very rules of the FIGHT[86]. As Chara is the embodiment of The Anomaly's goals to grow stronger, they will only opt to destroy the world if they've reached the absolute and there is nothing left in the world to offer. If one wishes for the world to come back they must make a deal wtih Chara to give them their SOUL, in which they will eventually possess the target.
Unique Weaknesses: After destroying the world they seem to require one's SOUL in order to bring it back.
Note
While Chara is an avatar of The Anomaly, once they've reached the absolute they've managed to reach them and break free from their control completely making them able to affect the plane The Anomaly exist on.
The human key is not in regards to the genocide route. The character in the genocide route is The Human, not Chara. The key is meant to represent Chara before their death, as The Human is mistakened for them by Asriel and isn't shown to have abilities unnatural for humans, Chara should be able to scale to them.
Gallery
Chara's tarot card (titled "??????"[90]) as Major Arcana XV "The Devil"
Trivia
The child being "fallen" can refer both to the child having fallen into the Underground, or to the phrase "to fall from grace" (to become morally corrupt). It is also a word used to describe someone who has died.
Toby Fox suggests naming the Fallen Child the player's own name, though he then replied to that Tweet with "I mean, if you can't think of anything else lol."[91]
"Chara" is likely short for "Character," as all internal references of either Frisk (mainchara) or Chara (truechara) use "chara."
The official Japanese translation of the game translates Chara's name as "キャラ Kyara".[92] This matches the katakana for the English word "character", which is written as "キャラクター Kyarakutā".
"Chara" is also an alternate spelling of "Cara" and "Kara", both names having their roots in Latin, meaning "darling," "beloved," "dear" or "loved one."
When attempting to name the fallen child "Chara," the response becomes "The true name." Removing the name from a SAVE file results in the name "CHARA" being given by default. These are the only two instances where the name "Chara" appears in-game.
Chara is referred to with singular "they/them" pronouns.[93]
Chara is implied to like chocolate; in the Genocide Route, should the protagonist check the refrigerator in Asgore's Home, the text reads "No chocolate."
While there is no chocolate in Asgore's home, there is a bar of chocolate in the fridge in Toriel's Home; it is possible Toriel kept it in her fridge in memory of Chara's tastes.
It is also implied that Chara has an interest in knives, as the text upon inspecting Toriel's kitchen in the Genocide Route reads "Where are the knives." This is further evidenced by the Real Knife.
The Locket may belong to Chara, as the text "Right where it belongs." displays when the protagonist equips it during a Genocide Route.
Chara's jumper's color scheme (cream and green) is a color negative of the human's (blue and purple).
Chara is the only character whose dialogue is never accompanied by voice bytes.
The music as Chara introduces themself to the protagonist has the filename mus_zzz_c, with the jump scare music named mus_zzz_c2.
If the game is not in windowed mode during the jump scare, the game will automatically go into windowed mode.
Toriel and Chara both greet new figures using "greetings" (Toriel to the protagonist at the beginning of the game, Chara to the protagonist at the end of the Genocide Route). It is likely Chara assimilated this behavior from Toriel.
In the Japanese translation, Chara uses "watashi" and "jibun" for themself and refers to a person using "omae". Their speech is also written in "proper" Japanese, that is to say, it employs a standard level of kanji usage (Chinese characters), which puts it in stark contrast with the rest of the game, which hardly ever uses kanji in its text. This gives their speech an air of high formality.[94]
Within the game files, there are look-alikes of Chara with their yellow-and-green shirt and pants, with a different skin tone and lacking a face but having shading under the eyes. In debug mode, it is possible to have these sprites appear as the protagonist's reflection in puddles and mirrors; it has been speculated that this was going to be a feature in post-Genocide Route timelines.
This sprite bears a resemblance to the character Kris, the protagonist of Toby Fox's later game Deltarune. It is possible this was an early prototype design of the character, as Deltarune was planned since before the release of Undertale.
It is implied in the scrapped Undertale Alarm Clock dialogue that they overfill their glasses of water, and that Asriel adopted that method.[95].
Explanations
Monster Check Stats
Monster's check stats are quite dubious for a couple of reasons:
Chara's morality is up for constanty debate within the Undertale community. There are those that argue they are pure evil while others argue they are complete good.
In essence this means that LV is not a measure of how much stronger one has grown in terms of physical stats, but how more willing one is to hurt others.
Thus higher LV does not actually increase one's strenght in the way it does in typical RPGs.
The Anomaly doesn't exist/The Anomaly is Frisk
This is an argument that queestions the existence of the Anomaly in Undertale, claiming anytime a character is talking about The Anomaly they're either referring to Frisk or that the character doesn't exist at all.
↑Undertale True Lab Alphys Entry Number 5 "ENTRY NUMBER 5 I've done it. Using the blueprints, I've extracted it from the human SOULs. I believe this is what gives their SOULs the strength to persist after death. The will to keep living... The resolve to change fate. Let's call this power... "Determination.""
↑Undertale - Pacifist/Neutral run after killing sans but not finishing genocide
↑ 65.065.165.265.365.4Undertale: Flowey on Saving Toriel after restarting your save file "Clever. Verrrryyy clever. You think you're really smart, don't you? In this world, it's kill or be killed. So you were able to play by your own rules. You spared the life of a single person. Hee hee hee... But don't act so cocky. I know what you did. You murdered her. And then you went back, because you regretted it. Ha ha ha ha... You naive idiot. Do you think you are the only one with that power? The power to reshape the world... Purely by your own determination. The ability to play God! The ability to "SAVE." I thought I was the only one with that power. But... I can't SAVE anymore. Apparently YOUR desires for this world override MINE. Well well. Enjoy that power while you can. I'll be watching."
↑Undertale Ruins First Save Point "The shadow of the ruins looms above, filling you with determination. HP fully restored."
↑Undertale Asgore Fight Intro Text "A strange light fills the room. Twilight is shining through the barrier. It seems your journey is finally over. You're filled with DETERMINATION."
↑Some people say "What am I supposed to name the fallen child?" Your own name. - Toby Fox (@tobyfox) on Twitter, September 16, 2015. Archived on March 20, 2016.
↑<Name> hated humanity. Why they did, they never talked about it. But they felt very strongly about that. - Asriel, True Pacifist Route
↑The Fallen Child uses watashi, but they use the kanji for it. Asgore and Toriel also use watashi, but they spell it out in hiragana. The Fallen Child actually uses a ton of kanji when they speak, way way way more than anyone else in the game. It’s really jarring. (The narration does not use kanji in general, including the red text.) - zarla-s on Tumblr, August 22, 2017.
↑A long time ago, I knew someone that always filled up their glass, so the liquid was just peeking over the brim. It was the most efficient way to fill it, they said. Regardless of how thirsty they were. Because of that, my son started doing it too, and... There were a lot of spills in the house. - Toriel, Undertale Alarm Clock dialogue
↑ 100.0100.1100.2Undertale Library Blue Book "While monsters are mostly made of magic, human beings are mostly made of water. Humans, with their physical forms, are far stronger than us. But they will never know the joy of expressing themselves through magic. They'll never get a bullet-pattern birthday card..."
↑ 101.0101.1101.2101.3101.4Undertale Library Orange Book "Because they are made of magic, monsters' bodies are attuned to their SOUL. If a monster doesn't want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueller the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill... Um, let's end the chapter here..."
↑Undertale Library Dark Green Book "Love, hope, compassion... This is what people say monster SOULs are made of. But the absolute nature of "SOUL" is unknown. After all, humans have proven their SOULs don't need these things to exist."
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![Chara's tarot card (titled "??????"[90]) as Major Arcana XV "The Devil"](/File:Chara_tarot.png)
