A lot of this information's been sourced from the Undertale Wiki page on monsters. This is also pretty rough.
Monsters are a very diverse race in Undertale. They dwell in the Underground beneath Mount Ebott, while humans and other races/species live on the surface beyond the Barrier. Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, such as rabbits, skeletons, ghosts, shapes, lizards, and so on.
some monsters. monsters on far left/right are robots/dolls inhabited by ghosts.
Despite the negative implication of the word "monsters," monsters in Undertale are not an evil species. It is even said that monster SOULs are made of love, hope, and compassion. It doesn't take hardly anything for a monster to love and care fiercely for others.
Monsters interact with the world using the power of their SOULs, which comes across like magical implements, bullets, sparkles, hearts, or other emotive expressions. They can see SOULs, and make SOULs visible to humans. Where human SOULs come in a variety of hues, monsters all have SOULs that are completely colorless, akin to pure white light, and appear upside down or reversed in comparison to a human's. All monster SOULs appear identical to one another.
Monsters are far weaker than humans, both in physical combat and regarding the strength of their SOUL. This inadequacy is because a monster's SOUL is made up of emotional vulnerability, in a sense. The damage a monster receives from an attacker is dependent on both the monster's will to fight and the attacker's will to hurt. Because a human can strike a monster with such intense violence, a monster can be easily killed by a human who is both used to hurting others, and feels little compassion for those they hurt. A human can kill a monster in one swing, if they are callous enough. Likewise, it takes every monster Underground to equate the SOUL of one human.
Monsters, however, can obtain an "unfathomable" amount of power when they absorb the SOUL of a human. To gain a SOUL, a monster needs to kill the human and take their SOUL, which lingers beyond their body's death. The reverse would be difficult to perform, as monster SOULs perish instantly upon death, and what little physical matter makes up their bodies turns to dust. Their SOUL is gone for good. If a monster were to claim the equivalent of 7 human SOULs, that monster would obtain godhood enough to take control of space-time, continuity, and awareness beyond the 4th wall.
Monsters do not possess "DETERMINATION." In Undertale, DETERMINATION is defined as "The will to keep living. The resolve to change fate." In practice, this is what permits humanity—and likely, any other species—to persist even in the bleakest of circumstances without giving up, especially when their lives are on the line. If a monster loses hope, they become extremely vulnerable; too hopeless, and they "fall down:" a state that renders them comatose, which precedes their death, and subsequent disappearance.
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❥ undertale monsters
Monsters are a very diverse race in Undertale. They dwell in the Underground beneath Mount Ebott, while humans and other races/species live on the surface beyond the Barrier. Monsters come in all shapes and sizes, such as rabbits, skeletons, ghosts, shapes, lizards, and so on.
some monsters. monsters on far left/right are robots/dolls inhabited by ghosts.
Despite the negative implication of the word "monsters," monsters in Undertale are not an evil species. It is even said that monster SOULs are made of love, hope, and compassion. It doesn't take hardly anything for a monster to love and care fiercely for others.
Monsters interact with the world using the power of their SOULs, which comes across like magical implements, bullets, sparkles, hearts, or other emotive expressions. They can see SOULs, and make SOULs visible to humans. Where human SOULs come in a variety of hues, monsters all have SOULs that are completely colorless, akin to pure white light, and appear upside down or reversed in comparison to a human's. All monster SOULs appear identical to one another.
Monsters are far weaker than humans, both in physical combat and regarding the strength of their SOUL. This inadequacy is because a monster's SOUL is made up of emotional vulnerability, in a sense. The damage a monster receives from an attacker is dependent on both the monster's will to fight and the attacker's will to hurt. Because a human can strike a monster with such intense violence, a monster can be easily killed by a human who is both used to hurting others, and feels little compassion for those they hurt. A human can kill a monster in one swing, if they are callous enough. Likewise, it takes every monster Underground to equate the SOUL of one human.
Monsters, however, can obtain an "unfathomable" amount of power when they absorb the SOUL of a human. To gain a SOUL, a monster needs to kill the human and take their SOUL, which lingers beyond their body's death. The reverse would be difficult to perform, as monster SOULs perish instantly upon death, and what little physical matter makes up their bodies turns to dust. Their SOUL is gone for good. If a monster were to claim the equivalent of 7 human SOULs, that monster would obtain godhood enough to take control of space-time, continuity, and awareness beyond the 4th wall.
Monsters do not possess "DETERMINATION." In Undertale, DETERMINATION is defined as "The will to keep living. The resolve to change fate." In practice, this is what permits humanity—and likely, any other species—to persist even in the bleakest of circumstances without giving up, especially when their lives are on the line. If a monster loses hope, they become extremely vulnerable; too hopeless, and they "fall down:" a state that renders them comatose, which precedes their death, and subsequent disappearance.