History Webcomic / TheCaretakerOfTheRuins

** Chara was already a pretty messed up child, but finding out that they're practically immortal ''and'' can time-travel didn't help matters. [[spoiler: After getting complete control of the power to reload, they frequently use it to [[KarmaHoudini avoid any kinds of consequences]] for their actions. This continues even after the power transfers to Frisk, as Chara uses the latter's numerous death over the course of the story to find new ways to kill them and convince the monsters that killing them is necessary at the same time. They also believe themselves to be TheChosenOne because of them being the first human to receive the power, destined to lead the monsters out of the mountain and destroy humanity. [[spoiler:In ''Escape'', their soul is fused with Asriel's and those of the five other fallen children. With both control over the timeline back and a stronger body, they attempt to murder Frisk for good and when that fails, tries to cross the barrier to the surface to commit a full-on genocide on the human race. Luckily, Frisk's resilience and the will of the other souls in the body throw a wrench into that plan.]]

* GenderNeutralWriting: Frisk, Chara and the other Fallen Humans are referred to with gender-neutral pronouns.[[note]][[AllThereInTheManual Chara is biologically male, while Frisk is biologically female. The biological sex of the Fallen Humans is revealed in their respective character profiles.]][[/note]]
** Some monsters are referred to with they/them pronouns as well.

** Chara was already a pretty messed up child, but finding out that they're practically immortal ''and'' can time-travel didn't help matters. [[spoiler: After getting complete control of the power to reload, they frequently use it to [[KarmaHoudini avoid any kinds of consequences]] for their actions. This continues even after the power transfers to Frisk, as Chara uses the latter's numerous death over the course of the story to find new ways to kill them and convince the monsters that killing them is necessary at the same time. They also believe themselves to be TheChosenOne because of them being the first human to receive the power, destined to lead the monsters out of the mountain and destroy humanity. [[spoiler: Ramped UpToEleven in ''Escape'', in which their soul is fused with Asriel's and those of the five other fallen children. With both control over the timeline back and a stronger body, they attempt to murder Frisk for good and when that fails, tries to cross the barrier to the surface to commit a full-on genocide on the human race. Luckily, Frisk's resilience and the will of the other souls in the body throw a wrench into that plan.]]

* AdultFear:
** A child wanders to a dangerous location and ends up falling into a dark pit in a mountain with no way of contacting the outside world.
** You're trapped in a strange land and a person who you barely know is trying to kill you. Even worse, said person has OneHundredPercentAdorationRating among the citizens of said land and is in a very high position of power, so no one will believe you.
** Your spouse, whom you've been married to for over ten years, turns out to be a murderous psychopath who has killed innocent people behind your back. What's worse, upon confronting them they are utterly unapologetic about it and don't even seem to realize that what they've been doing is wrong.

'''WARNING: Unmarked Undertale spoilers below.'''

''[[http://caretaker-au.tumblr.com/ The Caretaker of the Ruins]]'' is an {{VideoGame/Undertale}} AU comic created by Peppermintbee (a.k.a. Minty), Eruto, and Ellipsis. It centers around a grown-up Chara assisting fallen humans through the Ruins, in similar vein to the canon caretaker Toriel. It even starts off similar, with Chara meeting Frisk after the latter "falls down". However, the similarities are quick to end... and not in a good way.

* YearOutsideHourInside: [[spoiler: The second half of ''Interlude: Integrity'' reveals that the world outside the Underground has not been effected by Chara's frequent loading and saving. Instead time on the surface has been flowing normally, leading to Chara being Really700YearsOld in real time.]]

* WhereAreTheyKnowEpilogue: [[spoiler: ''The End'' has a small section that plays ten years after Chara's and Frisk's last conversation in New Home. Chara and Asriel's relationship is courteous, but distant and Frisk has become a human history teacher at Hotland elementary school. Chara also decides to set the souls of the Fallen Humans free from their containers, as a way to atone for their murder of them, and intends to give their own soul to the monsters for study after their eventual passing. They then ponder taking on the title of Royal Scientist, after thinking about how it would be a pity to let the laboratory go to waste.]]

* HopeSpot: ''Chapter 06''. It starts out with Chara waking up to find Asriel told Asgore and Toriel about Frisk, leading to Frisk not only having been let out of jail but for the first time in many reloads finally, ''finally'' having managed to tell their side of the story and earn the monsters' sympathy. [[spoiler: Chara is not thrilled by this and proceeds to slash their throat right in front of the entire Dreemurr family. Despite both Toriel's and Asriel's best efforts, Frisk dies. And although the chapter ends with Chara exposed to the Dreemurrs as the utterly unhinged murderer they are, readers already know this won't last since Frisk is now forced to reload and their efforts and death will have been AllForNothing in the end.]]

** The Dreemurrs in ''Chapter 06''. In their defense, they had been living with Chara for years at that point and Chara took advantage of both their kind nature and their reload-ability to conceal their true personality. But still: Frisk is quite obviously scared of Chara, even muttering "No, please-" when Chara says they'll escort them back to their cell. Coupled with the fact that Chara was evidently not pleased about Frisk's presence and Frisk telling the Dreemurrs earlier that Chara tried to hurt them, maybe the Dreemurrs should have known better than to try and force Chara and Frisk to be friends. [[spoiler: Though it's probably safe to say ''no one'', Frisk included, would have expected Chara to murder Frisk while the entire royal family was watching.]]
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: In ''Chapter 09''. After realizing Asriel's consciousness is part of the Horrible Beast, Frisk tries to get him to fight against Chara's control by reminding him of his dislike for killing and their previous friendly interactions. Asriel does manage to take back control a few times, along with the souls of the other Fallen Humans. But sadly it's not enough to stop Chara, and Frisk is forced to kill their combined form to save themselves and the surface.]]

* KarmaHoudini: PlayedForDrama. Chara's previous hold on the Underground's timeline allowed them to get away with quite literally everything, since they could just reload to an earlier fixpoint in time and make the monsters forget whenever they messed up too bad and were in risk of losing their trust. Even when the power is taken away from them for good with Frisk's arrival, Chara still finds ways to manipulate events in their favor (mostly through killing Frisk several times and forcing them to reload), leading to them never really facing consequences for their horrible actions. [[spoiler: It's somewhat subverted in ''Chapter 11'', as their SilentTreatment of Asriel gives him the time away from them he needed to come to the conclusion that they're not the good partner he viewed them as. This leads to him breaking up with them for good. Chara attempts to get Frisk to reload the timeline in an effort to get him back, but Frisk understandably refuses.]]

** [[spoiler: Frisk is utterly horrified upon discovering they can no longer reload in ''Chapter 09''.]]

** [[spoiler: In ''Chapter 09'', Frisk takes one look at the EldritchAbomination that Asriel has become and then immediately books it for the exit.]]

** Chapter 8: [[spoiler: After realizing they'll never be able to kill Frisk while they still have control over the timeline, Chara decides to speed things up. They drag Asriel into the barrier room, make him swear to always trust and obey them from now on after telling him lies about Frisk and their powers, then promptly set the souls free and commit suicide to force him to absorb all the present human souls.]]

* WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: Chara was already a pretty messed up child, but finding out that they're practically immortal ''and'' can time-travel didn't help matters. [[spoiler: After getting complete control of the power to reload, they frequently use it to [[KarmaHoudini avoid any kinds of consequences]] for their actions. This continues even after the power transfers to Frisk, as Chara uses the latter's numerous death over the course of the story to find new ways to kill them and convince the monsters that killing them is necessary at the same time. They also believe themselves to be TheChosenOne because of them being the first human to receive the power, destined to lead the monsters out of the mountain and destroy humanity.]]
** [[spoiler: Ramped UpToEleven in ''Chapter 09'', in which their soul is fused with Asriel's and those of the five other fallen children. With both control over the timeline back and a stronger body, they attempt to murder Frisk for good and when that fails, tries to cross the barrier to the surface to commit a full-on genocide on the human race. Luckily, Frisk's resilience and the will of the other souls in the body throw a wrench into that plan.]]

* GroundhogDayLoop: [[spoiler:Chara]] attempts to trap Frisk in this in order to wear them down and steal their SOUL. However, they [[DidntThinkThisThrough didn't secure ALL the escape routes]]...
* HiddenDepths: Chara appears to Frisk as a kindly caretaker and "guide" through the Ruins (they don't actively assist Frisk moreso than observe). A little while after reaching Chara's house, [[spoiler:Chara reveals their [[FauxAffablyEvil true]] [[WouldHurtAChild colors]]]].
** [[spoiler:Asriel]] appears to be violent, aggressive, and very hostile upon first encountering Frisk. Not too later, it's all revealed to be a big bluff, as he's actually not as willing to kill Frisk as [[spoiler:Chara]] is.

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: In Chapter 9. After realising Asriel's consciousness is part of the monster, Frisk tries to get him to fight against Chara's control by reminding him of his dislike for killing and their previous friendly interactions. Asriel does manage to take back control a few times, along with the souls of the other Fallen Humans. But sadly it's not enough to stop Chara, and Frisk is forced to kill their combined form to save themselves and the surface.]]

* MeaningfulEcho: [[spoiler: Chara's monologue at the beginning of "Memory: Edge" about their discovery of and following experimentation with their time-travel powers is almost word for word the same as Flowey's dialogue detailing the same scenario in Undertale's genocide route.]]
** [[spoiler: Asriel calling Chara's sense of humor "sick" in the chapter is also a quote from the original Undertale's genocide run. There it was said by a terrified Flowey when Frisk/Chara approached him while sporting a SlasherSmile. Here it's said as a response to Chara jumping off a high wall just to mess with him.]]

* NotCompletelyUseless: A non-video game example. The stick Frisk uses is fragile and shatters if it hits too hard against something, but it's enough to temporarily incapacitate [[spoiler:Chara]] and allow Frisk to make it into Snowdin.

* OurTimeTravelIsDifferent: Though never referred to as such, the power to make save points and go back to them is a form of time-travel. Only one person at a time can use it and only if their determination is strong enough, it's not possible to make and load a save point in the future and if the wielder of the power dies, they will automatically reload and come back to life at their last save point. However, using this power intentionally takes some practice and it's heavily implied that a person losing their determination will result in the the power being lost as well.

* RippleEffectProofMemory: Frisk is the only one able to remember what happened after a LOAD. [[spoiler:At first. After [[FauxAffablyEvil dropping their mask]], Chara reveals that they remember what happened, as well. Their behavior beforehand was all an act. Later in the story it's revealed that it's only the monsters who lose their memories after a reload. Humans are completely unaffected by it.]]

* SilentTreatment: After [[spoiler: Frisk defeats them in their Horrible Beast-form]], with some help from Asriel, Chara decides to punish all of the Underground for this "betrayal" by locking themselves into the Ruins and breaking off contact completely. However, they decide to make contact again after a year, when they realize how much being alone is affecting them.

** [[spoiler: In almost the same vein, Asriel calling Chara's sense of humor "sick" in the chapter is also a quote from the original Undertale's genocide run. There it was said by a terrified Flowey when Frisk/Chara approached him while sporting a SlasherSmile. Here it's said as a response to Chara jumping off a high wall just to mess with him.]]

** [[spoiler: Chara istantly slamps their mouth shut after realising they just revealed their time manipulation to the Dreemurrs in Chapter 03.]]
** [[spoiler: Frisk is utterly horrified upon discovering they can no longer reload in Chapter 9.]]

** [[spoiler: In Chapter 9, Frisk takes one look at the EldritchAbomination that Asriel has become and then immediately books it for the exit.]]

** Chapter 8: [[spoiler: After realising they'll never be able to kill Frisk while they still have control over the timeline, Chara decides to speed things up. They drag Asriel into the barrier room, make him swear to always trust and obey them from now on after telling him lies about Frisk and their powers, then promptly set the souls free and commit suicide to force him to absorb all the present human souls.]]

** [[spoiler: Ramped UpToEleven in Chapter 9, in which their soul is fused with Asriel's and those of the five other fallen children. With both control over the timeline back and a stronger body, they attempt to murder Frisk for good and when that fails, attempt to cross the barrier to the surface to commit a full-on genocide on the human race. Luckily, Frisk's resilience and the will of the other souls in the body throw a wrench into that plan.]]

* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: [[spoiler: In Chapter 9. After realising Asriel's consciousness is part of the monster, Frisk tries to get him to fight against Chara's control by reminding him of his dislike for killing and their previous friendly interactions. Asriel does manage to take back control a fw times, along with the souls of the other Fallen Humans, but sadly it's not enough to stop Chara and Frisk is forced to kill their combined form to save themselves and the surface.]]

** The Dreemurrs in ''Chapter 06''. In their defense, they had been living with Chara for years at that point and Chara took advantage of both their kind nature and their reload-ability to conceal their true personality. But still: Frisk is quite obviously scared of Chara, even muttering "No, please-" when Chara says they'll escort them back to their cell. Coupled with the fact that Chara was evidently not pleased about Frisk's presence and Frisk telling the Dreemurrs earlier that Chara tried to hurt them, maybe the Dreemurrs should have known better than to try and force Chara and Frisk to be friends. [[spoiler: Though it's probably safe to say ''no one'', Frisk included, would have expected Chara to actually murder Frisk while the entire royal family was watching.]]

* OhCrap: Frisk has this reaction when Chara reveals their true nature. In turn, Chara has this several times chasing Frisk down.

* SavePoint: Whenever Frisk's or Chara's eyes glow yellow, it means one has been activated.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The scenarios on the chapter covers never actually happen in the story. They're more metaphorical than anything.

* AlternateUniverseFic: ''Caretaker of the Ruins'' takes place in an AlternateUniverse in which Chara's Buttercup-plan was executed far later in their and Asriel's life, [[spoiler: which caused Asriel to abandon them in the middle of it due to his growing doubts.]] As a result, Chara and Asriel live to adulthood and Chara becomes the titular caretaker of the ruins.