Theme: UNDERTALE OST 083. “Here We Are”
Here we are indeed.
The long alluded to theory of mine is finally here.
I now present to you, my theory on why
DETERMINATION IS DARKNESS
AND DARKNESS IS DETERMINATION.
Without further ado, here we go.
PART 1: BENEATH IT GREW ETERNAL NIGHT
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."
Good ol’ DETERMINATION.
The will to live itself.
The substance that allows us to SAVE whole worlds.
The Dark Fountains.
When your will,
Your
DETERMINATION
is focused into a blade, and plunged into the Earth…
Darkness springs forth.
You use your DETERMINATION to call forth DARKNESS.
And what happens once the DARKNESS is brought forth?
What happens to the things around you?
Suddenly…
They begin to move.
They begin to think.
They begin to live.
They begin to WILL.
They suddenly are living, talking, people. People that think, and have will to live.
People with DETERMINATION that was given by the DARKNESS.
Ralsei describes Dark Worlds as what happens when you take away light that isn’t there, but when we see a Dark Fountain open, it doesn’t act like a shadow. It acts as a gas, a substance of its own. Almost as if it’s a negative light, made of negative photons, that when exposed to normal light cancels it out.
As I stated, this negative light is what gives Darkners will and makes them more than just objects. I’ve dubbed this substance
DARKNESS
Very creative name, I know.
PART 2: YOU CAN’T TELL EXACTLY HOW MANY CATS THIS IS
Now, I’m gonna talk about FRIEND, because what’s a good theory without everyone’s favorite cat?
This is IMAGE_FRIEND, as we all know.
And as you also probably know, he looks a lot like this guy
That’s kinda weird, innit?
This is because I believe…
FRIEND is an Amalgamate.
Of what? I have no clue. Perhaps a Darkner Amalgamate? I really don’t know, but I DO know that this clear reference can’t be for nought.
Furthermore, @Random_Kirby_Fan938 has pointed out to me recently that
That’s ERAM.
That right there is John Mantle himself.
The guy who summons the
Friendlings.Why is he there? Why’s he in one of the Amalgamate’s? And this one is Memoryhead’s overworld sprite no less!
So I believe that all these connections between Spooky Dooky Dark Guys in Deltarune and the Amalgamates are further evidence that DARKNESS and DETERMINATION are at the very least closely connected.
However, I have another piece of evidence for them being even more closely connected.
PART 3: YOU GOT THE SHADOWCRYSTAL
I think SHADOWCRYSTALS are crystalized DARKNESS. Like they’re literally SHADOW, CRYSTALS. They’re invisible and only able to be seen as their shadow.
But also… Seam said in that one Chapter 5 tease that SHADOWCRYSTALS are made of a certain power, that he called “will”, and will presumably correct himself to say “DETERMINATION”
(I assume everyone reading this has context to what I’m referring to here)
And like
That’s the most obvious connection
The dark crystal object is made of DETERMINATION
So um yeah that’s it for that point
PART 4: THE LIGHT INSIDE YOUR SOUL
Now as I’ve been pondering this theory, the biggest disproving point I’ve thought of is that the SOUL, the vessel of our DETERMINATION, is very consistently described as a light.
Even in UNDERTALE, the SAVE Points are little glowing lights on the ground.
And even more so in Deltarune.
So if Darkness is Determination, how come the SOUL isn’t dark?
For this, I have two explanations
- The light stuff is a trait belonging to our SOUL, not to the DETERMINATION we have
- The DETERMINATION produced by a Dark Fountain is different than the DETERMINATION produced by a SOUL.
I personally like the second one, because it leans into Deltarune’s constant themes of the balance of light and dark, and also draws a parallel between SOULS and Dark Fountains, which could mean that the Dark Fountain acts as a Darkner’s SOUL which is really cool
Although that means the title is kinda clickbait, as that means Dark Fountains produce a special DETERMINATION that isn’t like the juice we get from SOULS, but at the very least, I believe I am right in saying that Darkness and Determination are very closely related to each other, and may even be different sides of the same coin if not one and the same.
If you read all of that, I thank you dearly. Feel free to leave criticism or point out anything I got wrong, just make sure to be nice about it.
All that said, I hope you enjoyed reading my theory. This is really the first big theory I’ve ever made myself so I’m excited to share it!
Now, BYE-BYE!!
