W.D. Gaster has always been a mystery. Deltarune is chock-full of questions, and its most central seem to coalesce around Undertale’s Mystery Man.
From his first “appearance” in Undertale to his constant references in Deltarune, I believe we’ve been slowly able to put together fragments of his true role. Today I’ll be going over what we know, and what it could mean for Deltarune’s future.
Who is W.D. Gaster?
The entity we know as W.D. Gaster has only ever been mentioned in passing within the source material. Back in Undertale, Gaster’s appearance was bound to a save file’s “Fun Value”, a hidden number that is selected when a file is first created.
At a fun value of 66, an extra hallway will appear in Waterfall, with a 10% chance of an extra, hidden door appearing in the center. Behind this door is an NPC called “mysteryman” in the game’s files.
The mystery man is the design most fans associate with Gaster, though that name is not directly attributed to the NPC. No, the name W.D. Gaster comes from another set of Fun Value events, the Goners.
Goners are monochromatic NPCs that appear throughout Hotland and tell the tale of the Royal Scientist before Alphys, a man named W.D. Gaster. He was the creator of the massive engine that powers the entire Underground, and apparently fell into his creation shortly after it was finished.
The Goners say he was “shattered across time and space”, and imply he can actively listen in on anyone or anything. This mysterious intrigue, alongside internal references like Sans’ Gaster Blasters and impossible to find “ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN” gave the community just enough to speculate with.
Even back during the heyday of Undertale, the most the community could agree on about Gaster was that he was a former scientist, was immensely powerful, and was probably linked to Sans and Papyrus in some way.
This was enough for mountains of speculation, but nothing with much substance. That all changed on October 31st, 2018, when a strange voice took over the official Undertale Twitter account to offer a Survey Program that would change everything.
Deltarune and ‘The Voice’
On Halloween night, 2018, the official Undertale Twitter account was taken over by a strange voice speaking in all caps, mirroring the format of “ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN” from Deltarune. It requested player input before posting a download link to a file named “SURVEY_PROGRAM”, the Chapter 1 demo for Deltarune in disguise.
The game starts with a short character creator narrated by the same voice that operated the Deltarune Twitter. This same voice appears in moments throughout the current game, most notably at the end of Chapter 4 to mark the “halfway point being reached” and during the Roaring Knight boss fight when attempting actual clears.
The voice repeats phrases from “ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN,” and characters throughout the game reference Gaster’s sparse dialogue. The constant shoutouts have made a character who has never truly appeared feel like an ever-present force.
There are more subtle, direct references to W.D. Gaster throughout the game’s soundtrack, most directly right as the game starts. The track that plays during character creation is called ANOTHER HIM, an ominous enough name that uses parts of a hidden song from Undertale.
Within Undertale’s hidden Sound Test are a few unused song, one of which is known as “Gaster’s Theme’. It immediately stands out as the only track not to be a short loop, but it seems to have been fully reborn through ANOTHER HIM. It doesn’t help that, in Undertale’s files, Gaster is referred to as “Him”.
With the recent disappearance of Onionsan and the growing relevance of the Striped Bird, a Hometown NPC who shares a silhouette with a Goner, Gaster feels right around the corner.
What Does W.D. Gaster Want?
Is he a threat? A helping hand? Even though his arrival feels nigh, we still know little of his intent. He calls Deltarune “His” during the Chapter 4 end credits, and sees to enjoy watching the player attempt feats he considers impossible.
Like his assumed origin, the Voice looks at our struggles with a kind of scientific intrigue that allows him to maintain control even as we push at the boundaries of the world. Both in the Normal and Weird Routes, Deltarune’s existence as a video game feels shockingly relevant.
Undertale culminated with the in-universe confirmation of many meta elements, and between Ralsei’s constant references to menus in the standard route and the very existence of a B-Side through Snowgrave, it feels important to start picking at the walls of the world as we see it.
No matter what he wants with us, Gaster has given us a chance to really make a difference for the characters of Deltarune. It may take some extra effort, a secret boss here, an Egg there, but if there’s a way to stop whatever blood toll the Prophecy requires, I’ll be looking for it.
We don’t have long to wait now, only two chapters left. Let’s enjoy the last bit of sun we have before the shadows cut deeper. The next few updates to Deltarune should be very, very interesting.
