W. D. Gaster

W. D. Gaster
Undertale character
"Mystery Man", a sprite believed to belong to W. D. Gaster in Undertale
First game	Undertale (2015)
Created by	Toby Fox

W. D. Gaster is a character from the 2015 video game Undertale. He cannot normally be encountered in the game, and is never discussed directly as part of the game's main narrative. Players can only encounter events related to him either by luck or by modifying certain game files. A sprite from one of these events, internally named "Mystery Man", is generally used to portray W. D. Gaster, though the sprite's connection to the character is only hinted at, and not confirmed.

The existence and nature of W. D. Gaster has been the subject of speculation among both fans and critics. Multiple theories exist about him, including ones that suggest that he is related to Sans and Papyrus. It has also been argued that, given his name is a reference to the Wingdings font, he may be a skeleton similar to Sans and Papyrus, since they are named after the fonts Comic Sans and Papyrus. Despite his mysterious nature, it's generally agreed that Gaster was a scientist, wrote a report named "Entry 17," designed the CORE machine shown in the game, and was shattered across time and space in an accident.

Concept and history

W. D. Gaster is a character created by Toby Fox who appears in Undertale. Although he himself does not appear in the game's main story, he is alluded to through cryptic references in rare dialogue from minor characters. He is also indirectly referenced during a fight against Sans, who wields weapons that are labelled "Gaster Blasters" in the game's files. Gaster's existence in Undertale was discovered after players looked through the game's code. There are two sprites within the game's files that are believed to represent Gaster, known as "Mystery Man" and "Redacted". According to IGN, the "Mystery Man" sprite appears to be based on the design of the character Uboa from Yume Nikki.

In addition to these sprites, modifying an internal code value labelled "fun" can cause hidden characters called Gaster Followers to appear in the game and divulge details about Gaster. They describe Gaster falling into "his creation" and "[shattering] across time and space", with one claiming that Gaster is still nearby and "listening". A Tumblr post written by Undertale creator Toby Fox, written from the perspective of Sans, also contained language suggesting that someone was "listening". Players can also modify the game to place their character in an unused room internally labelled "room_gaster", containing a message written in the Wingdings font titled "ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN", in reference to a missing entry in a series of logs in Undertale's main story.

When Undertale creator Toby Fox released update version 1.001 for Undertale, fans believed that certain lines of dialogue added to the game suggested that Gaster was indeed a real character in the game. This update added a rare event that would allow the player to enter a room containing the "Mystery Man" sprite, which was originally only possible by modifying the game's code.

Despite the numerous hidden references to Gaster in Undertale, its spiritual successor, Deltarune, which contains copious overt references to Undertale, does not contain almost any direct references to the name "Gaster" (the only exception is if the player names a character as "Gaster", the game crashes) or a similar character in its current state. However, numerous pieces of evidence suggest that W.D Gaster is tied to the game's overarching story. For example, the first song in the soundtrack, "ANOTHER HIM," plays during the intro of the game in which a voice guides you through the creation of a body. The song is highly melodically similar to the hidden song "Gaster's Theme" in Undertale and the name likely references said song's file name, "mus_st_him." Many other songs in the game contain a similar melody to this theme, such as "Scarlet Forest," "THE WORLD REVOLVING" and "BIG SHOT."

Furthermore, various things within the meta-narrative of Deltarune suggest W.D Gaster is involved. Preceding the release of the first demo of Deltarune, the official Undertale Twitter page appeared to be hijacked by a character with a name consisting of six blacked out characters and an all-black profile picture. Said character spoke in all-caps as Gaster does (albeit in plain English rather than WingDings) and appears to be revealing a form of experiment as he was in "Entry 17." They speak about 'waiting' for the reader, and conclude with an exclamation of "SHOW YOURSELF, DELTARUNE!" as the game was initially revealed. The game was initially released by this character as a "SURVEY PROGRAM" despite it being a videogame rather than a survey. Finally, "Royal Sciences LLC", a company founded by Toby Fox in October 2015 to manage the copyrights of both Undertale and Deltarune, appears to reference the character's job as the former monster royal scientist.

Appearances

Gaster is referenced in Undertale at various points, but with only few exceptions, does not actually appear in the game. According to information found in the game, Gaster once existed in the world, but due to falling into one of his machines, caused his existence to be scattered across time and space. After this happened, no one in the world seemed to remember he existed. Through code modification or random factors, the player may encounter a character believed to be Gaster. Players can also find a theme in a secret sound test room, where the song "Gaster's Theme" could be played, and if they try to name themselves Gaster, the game will restart, not allowing it. If players name themselves Gaster in Deltarune, the game will similarly restart. While Gaster is not shown to appear in Toby Fox's other game, Deltarune, there are references to Gaster's theme at multiple times throughout the game and he is often a topic in fan theories about the game.

A rare possible event in the town of Snowdin in Undertale has the protagonist receive a mysterious phone call asking "Can I speak to G..." before the caller decides it was a wrong number and disconnects. Many fans speculated that the "G..." was intended to signify "Gaster". Undertale was localized into the Japanese language by 8-4, and this particular line was considered difficult to translate. There is no way in the Japanese syllabary to represent only the letter "G", and an early draft translation by 8-4 used が (Ga), which would have been taken as further confirmation the line referred to Gaster. Toby Fox wished for certain mysteries to remain mysteries, and the entire phone call instead remained intact in English in the Japanese version, released in 2017.

Multiple unknown characters in Deltarune have been commonly attributed to W.D Gaster. For example, there is a rare, hidden room in the Dark Worlds which you can only access by walking between rooms. If you reach the room, it has a tree in which a 'man' offers you an egg; the room bears a resemblance to the shape of the room in which 'mysteryman' is encountered in Undertale. You cannot see the man because the tree obscures him, but the narration states 'there is a man here.' When you obtain the egg, he teleports away and the narration says 'Well, there is not a man here.' In Chapter 2, the room contains a blue road leading to the tree instead. Due to the background music in the room being similar to Gaster's theme and the nature of a secret room which can only be encountered with a rare chance, many believe this is him.

Finally, in the February 2024 newsletter sent out by Toby Fox, there were dozens of collectable Valentine's Day cards from various characters, including Sans, Toriel, Queen, and a character alleged to be W.D. Gaster. They celebrate the new year, and call Valentine's Day absurd, because "EVERY DAY IS A DAY OF LOVE, IF ONLY YOU BELIEVE IT SO. DO YOU BELIEVE IT SO?" This character spoke in all-caps and mentioned "DELTA RUNE," evoking the similar mysterious character who spoke on Undertale's Twitter account. Additionally, the letter is 'illegible' and the reader needs to squint their eyes and heart to read the message. This has led various to theorise it was written in WingDings. However, the character is labelled as 'unknown' in the file name of the card, so it is not confirmed to be from Gaster.

Analysis

W. D. Gaster has been a popular figure in the Undertale community, the mystery behind his existence sparking a large investigation by members of the community into the truth around him. The identity of W. D. Gaster was identified as one of gaming's biggest mysteries, by both Gaming Bolt and The Gamer staff, the latter who noted that Gaster was popular with roleplayers online. Kotaku writer Nathan Grayson noted that W. D. Gaster was the only secret left remaining in Undertale, discussing how, despite all of the work put into investigating Gaster, the mystery still remains unsolved, suggesting that the data in the game files could have been leftover content not intended to be found. Tunic game designer Andrew Shouldice spoke of his appreciation for "risky secrets" like Gaster that cause players to "consider a new approach that'd never crossed their mind, or reveal a submerged mechanic that they'd never interfaced with." Fanbyte writer Kara Dennison speculated that Deltarune would eventually answer questions surrounding Gaster and other mysteries from Undertale.

Gaster has been the subject of various theories, including a theory that he is a long-lost brother or father of Sans and Papyrus. Kotaku writer Heather Alexandra suggested this could be the case, citing design notes that allude to a character related to Papyrus and claiming that this could be Gaster. In contrary, video game theorist Matthew Patrick theorised that Sans and Papyrus are split pieces of W.D Gaster, based off analysis of his and their behaviour. Players also suggested that the 'W. D.' in his name stood for "Wingdings", which furthered the connection to Sans and Papyrus, who are named after Comic Sans and Papyrus fonts respectively; Nathan Grayson also believed that strange symbols found in Sans' lab may also be in Wingdings. Additionally, a common interpretation of the 'shattered across time and space' line suggests his existence was spread all across space and time. In reference to the NPCs found through file modification, some believe that they are fragments of Gaster speaking about the experience of existing across time and space. Writer Mattia Podini discussed the presence of techniques he suggested were used by Toby Fox to manipulate players into responding to certain details in a certain way. For Gaster, he suggested that he served as an example of players experiencing apophenia, the perception of meaningful connections between unrelated things. He argued that many things players took for granted to be true about Gaster, such as his appearance, character connections, and other background details, were not confirmed to be true. Despite this, though, W.D Gaster's identity is not entirely a mystery and more details about him will likely be revealed as more Deltarune chapters release.