Fandom theory

☆WHAT IS THE VOID?

The next thing you'll notice is the inhabitants you get to talk to. You'll recognize them as the "gray gaster followers" which I'm sure everyone is familiar with by now. (But who they are isn't important right now. The question is, why "besides the annoying dog" is all the inhabitants of the void disfigured and malformed in some way?) it couldn't be that they came here like that right? After all... we know for a fact what happened to gaster. (And that's the key to figuring out what happened to his followers, and in turn how the void works.)

So what did happen to gaster? Well.... as we read on we find out that...

*gaster fell into his creation. (Core? Maybe?) And was ripped through time and space. Erasing his existence fully from ALL timelines.*

So... what exactly does that mean? What happened to him? With the little information were given, we can infer that (as soon as he fell into the void) he was forcibly ripped out of every timeline. The force probably being what torn him into pieces. But in *don't forget* you explore through the void completely fine and in tact. So what gives? There could be a lot of reasons for this. One, you're a human and because your body is made up of physical materials (which we've seen can pass into the void unscathed) and are much stronger than a monsters (magical) body, you're naturally protected from this happening to you. But if that's the only reason then... what about the dog? And why where gasters followers grayed out more than deformed like gaster. (It couldn't be that the void is sentient and just chooses to pick people at random to rip through time and space.) so what else could it be? Maybe a souls strength level could determine weather or not you get through alright? (Maybe... but even that doesn't explain everything) maybe gaster falling in and the others just being close by is what caused the drastic difference. (But that still doesn't explain you or the dog...?) hmm...

Well I have a bit of a theory that COULD explain what was going on. I took into account that while you SEEM to not be affected walking around in the void (their is still long time exposure to think about, which we don't get to see or experience). My theory is that, what *actually* tore gaster apart and deformed his followers was a protective layer AROUND the dark void. Like a natural shield. (Seem far fetched? Think there's still loose ends? Well... here me out.)

First we established (in theory) that the void is a sort of black hole. And what's the most dangerous part of a black hole? You'd think it's the center where (typically) the pressure inside is strong enough to crush you to the size of a particle. But if you think THATS strong, the boarders (or layer around) the black hole has the magnetic strength to tare you apart by molecule (sound familiar?) this is exactly what happens to gaster when he falls in to his creation (which for all intents and purposes, we're just going to assume is the core at the center of the undertale universe.) but what about his followers? What's up with them? And more importantly, why didn't the void treat them like it did gaster? Because... they're not IN the void. (Or at least not fully.)

What I imagine happened is that when gaster fell into the core, a chain reaction occurred and a blast was created (tearing everyone apart through time and space). But unlike gaster, they weren't sucked forcibly into the void. Instead, a part of their existence was split between the void and existence (including sans, giving him his space altering powers) but if that's true, then why don't they just continue their existence in the "real world" like sans does. It's because they "choose" to live in the void. (Meaning that sans can also hop between the void and reality at will, which he does in what to us seems like teleporting.) but that also means that "sadly" gaster is forever stuck in the void with no way out (maybe). Ok. So the void is a bit more complicated than it seems. But what about whole beings like you and the dog who seem to come in and out of the void at will? That's where it gets even more complicated...

Remember when I said (jokingly) that it's not like the void was a living entity choosing who to take and who to let go. Well... that's still not the truth. But at the same time it kind of DOES work like that. You see... when you start up undertale you get the regular "save screen" taking you a bit out of the emersion as YES you ARE playing a video game. But as you continue playing the game, you start to realize that something is VERY wrong. Flowey starts to talk about past saves, sans looks directly to the screen when he tells his jokes, and then accessing your save file becomes an essential part of the game. And then it clicks, UNDERTALE IS A VIDEO GAME WORLD. And no I don't mean that you're playing a video game, or even the cliché that they're all trapped in a video game, I mean (the entire world) of undertale is and always has been inside a video game (cannon wise) but that also has some serious implications with it.

(For "cannonisity" sake) their world is very real. But unlike our world that's made up of particles and atoms, their world is made up of game code and Wingdings "instead of traditional binary". So their world is held up by code and PROGRAMMING huh? So... who's to say that the void isn't also made up of programming and code instead of particles. This would explain its behavior as it was "programmed" in (by WHO is not a concern at that point.) But keeping this in mind, could that be why curtain people can't leave and others can come and go as they please? Ok. Keep all of this in mind, it'll be important later.

Ok. So far we got that the void is a black hole made up of code and programming instead of particles. It's inside is relatively safe and made up of "rooms". However it's outside is made up of a dark protective shield with a magnetic like force capable of splitting people through time and space. The concept of light does not exist there (though time could be argued depending on your viewpoints) and gaster is (possibly) stuck there through the end of eternity (notice I didn't say until.) but that still leave two outliers in this equation. You. And the annoying dog. Which are BOTH seemingly unharmed or effected by the voids "nature".

First let's start with you. It's not 100% clear why or how you got their but we can at least get rid of one question here. The HOW. Thinking back, through several travels of the pacifist run (during the encounter with sans) you get a key to his room. This key is to a lab at the back of their (sans and papyrus's) house. Once you reach the lab and start exploring you come across many interesting discoveries (the most important of which) is a "mysterious machine" hidden under the tarp. Many have theorized that this is the machine sans is attempting to build to reach gaster in the void space INSIDE the void. For our theory (we're going to confirm that as the most plausible reasoning). So back to our question. HOW DID WE GET INTO THE VOID? (Especially unscathed) well, we can assume that sans managed to finish (and or fix) the machine and sent you there in his place, staying behind so that he can bring you back when ready. (Since he's probably the only one qualified to run the machine). That explains HOW you got there. (But not why you're not torn through time and space like everyone else.) for that, we're going to have to look into how the machine itself works.

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