Correct me if I’m wrong, but it seems that Undertale was designed in such a way that the player, if they were to reach each ending during their first playthrough, would most of the time naturally experience them in the order : neutral–>pacifist–>genocide.
At the end of the pacifist route, the name of the music playing during the last scene (the one at the surface) is Respite. Given the word “respite”'s meanings, i.e. “a pause or rest from something difficult or unpleasant” OR “a useful delay before something unpleasant happens”(RESPITE | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary), it appears to me as a direct meta-reference to what is most likely to come, that is the genocide route, which fits the global message of the game (you know, “because you can do the genocide route doesn’t mean you have to, but you’ll still try it out of curiosity…”).
All that to say I think it’d be interesting to underline the “meta-meaning” of the Respite music’s title.
(However, besides asking for your opinion on the subject, I’d also like to mention that, as I’m not a native English speaker (sorry for my writing/phrasing mistakes btw), I don’t feel capable of writing about this matter in the short and comprehensible style that fits a wiki.)
(I promise, one day I’ll learn to write in concise English)
I feel like the meaning Toby intended here is the first meaning from the dictionary page you linked: “a pause or rest from something difficult or unpleasant”. Monsters have just exited the Underground after centuries of being trapped there, and then this track plays.
I think you’re right and I’m simply overthinking it. I’ll admit that the “useful” part of the definition I had opted for bothers even me the more I think of it, but hey I had nothing to lose by sharing my thoughts I guess. Thanks for the enlightenment.
You could still make the same argument with that definition. A pause from something unpleasant.. implying after the pause, that unpleasantness will return. Though I suppose it’d be hard to say that thing is the murder run from that alone since it’s hard to argue killing is what happened and we’re taking a break from. (Not impossible though we are forced to see Asgore get killed at least once before this point)
Really, though, this could have been a reference about the natural backlash humanity would likely give towards the monsters. Perhaps when monsters meet humanity again, humanity won’t like them very much… and Frisk or Papyrus will have to prove that monsters aren’t a threat. …Though I see that problem also getting resolved in the end. Toby said in the Deltarune FAQ that if you left them happy, they’ll stay happy. So we can presume nothing will actually ruin the happy ending for good unless you choose to do that yourself by resetting.
Back towards supporting the idea that we’re supposed to do the murder route, though, we also have internal activity levels that suggest neutral->pacifist->murder is the correct progression of events. A is Neutral. B is Pacifist. C is killing Sans. (Or fighting him at least twice, strangely enough, if I recall correctly. it’s weird)
I think the track has some static/popping effects which might suggest a darker undertone if they were intended. But I’d avoid speculation on the title’s meta meaning.