History FanFic / EbottsWake

** The remaining Sages think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong, and anyone denying that (such as Dr. Aster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth.

* {{Catchphrase}}:
** Going by how many different town slogans get read on the air in the Morning Rush radio segments, the Ebott's Wake Tourism Board must have thought up of dozens at the very least. Ebott's Wake: The City That Seldom Sleeps, Don't Trust the Flower, Land of the Free and Home of the Daves, Fortified with Vitamin E, A Cut Aside…
** Sans uses "have a bad time" and variants thereof a lot.
** Tim will frequently say that something "doesn't really matter."

''Ebott's Wake'' is an ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fanfic written by [=TimeCloneMike=], as the first in a trilogy called ''We're Not Weird, We're Eccentric''. It was followed by a prequel, ''Fanfic/TerraIncognita''.

Royal Scientist Wing Ding Aster, long thought to have been scattered across time and space by one of his own experiments, instead finds himself launched into the future; A time where the Barrier is broken and the Underground has been left empty for over a year and a half, and a dawning era of coexistence between humans and monsters. The good doctor has a lot to catch up on as he adjusts to the quirky nature of small-town Ebott's Wake: [[{{Catchphrase}} Don't Trust the Flower]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Initially {{Averted|Trope}} by the first story, which first published in June 2016 and was set in May 2016, until it fell into WebcomicTime as the story remained in that month while its last chapters were published towards the end of 2017.%%sorted as "20" due to becoming a number
** Played straight by the prequel ''Fanfic/TerraIncognita'', which is set in the Fall of 2014 and was written between late 2017 and 2018.
** Likewise played straight by the sequel ''Legacy of the Magi'', an ongoing story started in late 2018 and picking up a week after the events of ''Ebott's Wake'', in June 2016.

** It becomes clear early on that Frisk didn't come from a healthy home prior to their fall into the Underground…

* AdoptingTheAbused: The Dreemurrs didn't immediately realize it either time, but both Chara and Frisk had run away from AbusiveParents, and they gave them a second chance at a good home. As Chara once put it, Asgore showed them more kindness in the first week they knew him than Jordan ever showed them in their entire life. Both Frisk and Chara became {{Extremely Protective| Child}} of the Dreemurrs as a result… even to the point of trying to remove themselves from the equation if they thought it'd help them.

* AlliterativeName: Chara Cater.

** Toriel grounds Frisk for a week after they involve themselves in the climax. {{Downplayed|Trope}} here since she doesn't really get angry, ''per se''.
---> '''Toriel:''' I am... I am not angry. I am not even disappointed. Not really. But I am frightened of what will happen in the future, if you continue to be so reckless in the face of danger.

** The Riverperson has a lot more screen time, especially in the prequel and sequel.

** The green [[ElementalEmbodiment fire-girl]] from Hotland is named Roastie, is Grillby's daughter, and has a job as a waitress at an unnamed restaurant.

** The members of Shop Class, being little more than a group of friends who banded together to keep the community and its people safe when trouble rears its head. Though the "normal" aspect doesn't apply as much once they start [[spoiler:being able to use magic…]]

--> '''Dr. Aster:''' ''points down the hallway'' I don't remember his name, if I heard it at all, but that's him speaking to my son right now.

** At the very beginning of the story, Sans and Papyrus get to see their father again after four and a half years, when they thought he was dead. Admittedly a little one-sided, because for Dr. Aster it's been a few hours at most since he saw Sans, and it can't've been much longer since he last saw Papyrus.

* {{Bizarrchitecture}}: The town of Ebott's Wake is difficult for non-locals to navigate, with one character comparing the town to M.C. Escher's work. Rather than being the result of the supernatural or magic, it's implied to be the result of inconsistent or incompetent city planning both in the past and present.

** The KEBT Morning Rush chapters tend to break away from the action to provide a more bird's-eye-view of notable events and flesh out the presence of the local community. It also helps that one of the co-hosts is DJ Pantz, formerly Burgerpants of MTT Restaurant infamy, having quit his old job for saner pastures.
** The [[WackyRacing Kludge Derby]] chapter in particular takes a complete break from the plot, after the story arc preceding it winds down.

[[folder:C–F]]
* CallBack: [[spoiler:Asriel]] asks about the time [[spoiler:he as]] Flowey tried to kill Frisk [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} the first time they met]], and why Frisk tried to dodge. Frisk explains that they were sort of expecting to be hurt right then. [[spoiler:Asriel mentions that he's glad Toriel stopped him when she did. Toriel overhears this and starts breaking down over the realization that she tossed her own son aside like a weed.]]
* CallingParentsByTheirName: In flashbacks to the Underground and in Flowey's dreams, Chara fairly consistently refers to Jordan by name rather than as their father or dad. It seems a whole lot like Chara thinks [[YoureNotMyFather Jordan has lost the right to be called their parent]].

** Healing magic is green. In addition to [[HealingHands the obvious]], it also enables other [[StatusBuff "improvements to living organisms"]] and allows the creation of [[DeflectorShields shields]].
** Wave magic is cyan. It also interacts with motion, but… differently? The most obvious use is creating light-blue bullets that damage moving things, as in [[VideoGame/{{Undertale}} the original game]]. In ''Legacy of the Magi'', it also gets used to [[{{Intangibility}} phase through objects]].

** Pattern Magic is magenta. It involves finding or altering connections between entities. In practice, this means things like AwesomenessByAnalysis, XRayVision, and Prophecy (which is actually PrescienceByAnalysis).

* {{Cult}}: The Guardians of the Legacy of the Magi, [[SomeCallMeTim AKA "the Sages,"]] were a secretive, manipulative cult convinced that there were monsters under Mount Ebott who were going to TakeOverTheWorld

--> '''Dr. Aster:''' ''[eye roll]'' Yes, but it was very boring, so I came back to life.

** A {{Downplayed|Trope}} example with Frisk's human father. Frisk left him, not the other way around, but he had plenty of opportunity to show up and try to reclaim them, and he never did.
* DisarmDisassembleDestroy: The Asters like to use [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to disarm enemies of their guns and render said firearms nonfunctional.

* DoesNotDrive: Of all Frisk's friends, only Papyrus seems to drive. Toriel and Asgore just walk everywhere, because they're barely small enough to fit in a car in the first place; Sans and Dr. Aster usually teleport everywhere or hitch rides with Papyrus; Undyne just runs; and it isn't clear how Alphys gets around.

--> '''Justin:''' “If I get another craving for Red Hots[,] I swear I am going to shoot myself ''in the face''.”

* FailedASpotCheck: Metaphorically. Jordan Cater's initial plan to use the Anti-Monster League to siege the town and wipe out all monsters [[spoiler:gets ''completely'' blindsided by the fact that the majority of the humans in town wind up siding with the monsters in the conflict]]. This should be obvious to anyone seeing monsters and humans openly coexisting in the same community.

** The Anti-Monster League's bread and butter. Though as far as influence goes, they're viewed by the rest of the town's residents as a vocal nuisance at best. [[NotSoHarmlessVillain Until the AML attempts to outright siege the town, that is]].

* FireballEyeballs: Asgore sometimes gets these when using or preparing to use a lot of magical power. One is orange and the other cyan, [[ContinuityNod calling to mind the colored eye flashes from his bossfight]].

*** After the Address, it turns out that he [[spoiler:has part of Frisk's Soul]].

----> '''Dr. Aster:''' "Broadly speaking, it's your ability to exert your will on the world in a destructive manner… the ability to inflict harm requires a physical connection to complete the, uh, I guess you'd call it a circuit, even if it oversimplifies."

----> '''Dr. Aster:''' "DF is the counterpart of [AT]… the capacity of your soul to divert or deflect aggressive energy away when it is attacked."

----> '''Dr. Aster:''' "[HP is] your soul's ability to regenerate from damage and interference. More is nice to have because it means you're less likely to be impaired through injury, illness or magical disruption, but honestly as long as you have even a fraction of Healing Potential—and I mean even less than 1, in the decimals—you'll be alright."

----> '''Dr. Aster:''' "It actually quantifies your mental acuity and reflexes, how quickly you react psychologically."

----> '''Dr. Aster:''' "When anyone's Soul is harmed, the disruption in energy creates eddy currents… the resulting counter current in the soul pushes back any further incoming energy, no matter how great it is, until the counter current dissipates."

* GeniusBruiser: Mike Van Garrett, who is vice president of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board and possesses a degree in aerospace engineering. He is also a muscled giant who has broken a man's femur with a single punch, was almost a match for Undyne in an arm-wrestling match, and is practically unfazed when he [[spoiler:gets shot with a .22 caliber pistol]].

** [[spoiler:Humans]] who are using a lot of magic will often have eyes glowing with the color of their SOUL. [[DownplayedTrope It could be a perfectly benign use of their magic]]… but it could also mean they're about to ruin your day. Ironically, RedEyesTakeWarning does ''not'' apply here, as [[spoiler:humans]] with [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience red SOULs default to Communication magic]], which is essentially unable to affect physical matter… though (depending on whether they used [[spoiler:the Phase Integrator to gain magic or not]], and if they did, how recently) they're likely still able to use the rest of the spectrum to mess you up.

** Chara never got over their issues, either, but they were happier with the monsters than they ''ever'' were on the Surface. As they themselves put it, Asgore showed them more kindness in the first week they knew him than Jordan did in their entire life.

* INeedToGoIronMyDog: When Flowey ges to visit Alphys, and she promises she'll figure out what's going on with him, he suddenly [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness starts crying]], then says:

* InsultedAwake: When Alphys is ''really'' out of it due to being distracted by a scientific issue she can't let go of, Undyne can only get her attention by saying, "''Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2'' wasn't that bad." Even then, [[DelayedReaction it takes a moment for it to register]].

* InterspeciesAdoption: The Dreemurrs adopted human children on two separate occasions (first Chara, later Frisk).

* JumpingTheShark: Officer Steve says the town has done this when, at the very end, he learns that [[spoiler:Hal has magic]].
* KillingIntent: As an ''Undertale'' fic, '''EX'''ecution '''P'''oints and '''L'''evel '''O'''f '''V'''iolenc'''E''' still play a role in the trilogy.
** ''Ebott's Wake'' introduces a new stat called a Level of Violence Cap or '''LV Cap''' for short, which is the highest LOVE a person can reach. A high enough LV Cap can affect a person's mindset just like LOVE can, but it can only increase based on outside stimuli; essentially, it's a measurement of how much a person has been hurt, rather than how much they've hurt others.

** This ends up working against [[spoiler:Jordan Cater after he gains magic]], as his body ends up reacting to the Killing Intent in [[spoiler:the bullet fired by Jason Taylor during the attack on Dreemurr Elementary]].

---> '''Van Garrett:''' Dwayne Riley, his drinking buddies, and every other ne'er-do-well in this town with giant egos and tiny... brains. Tiny brains is exactly what I planned on saying the whole time, and not other parts of the body. Though if I were to say another part of the body, that too would be disproportionately small compared to everything else, causing members of the opposite sex to laugh uproariously upon seeing it.

** After waking up from an energy drink crash, Hal feels the need to ask what year it is. That chapter was the first chapter of 2018.

* TheMagicGoesAway: One of the research projects at All Fine Labs involves trying to understand why humans can no longer use magic. Near the very end of the story, Dr. Aster comes to the conclusion that the Barrier itself used up all available magic energy just to sustain its own existence, leaving virtually nothing left for humans to use. [[spoiler:With the Barrier gone, [[TheMagicComesBack humans are regaining access to magic]], which Frisk intends to leverage to make sure humanity never tries to create another Barrier.]]

* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: Frisk understands perfectly well that it's okay to make mistakes… they're the one making them.

** The ''one'' [[SubvertedTrope exception]] is Andrew, the last child before Frisk to fall into Mount Ebott, who [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] in a {{Flashback}}.
* NoFullNameGiven: Surnames are given for Sans and Papyrus (Aster), Frisk (Dreemurr, formerly Taylor), Chara (Dreemurr, formerly Cater), and all major [=OCs=], meaning that of the main cast, only Undyne and Alphys lack full names. Given that these are also the names used with their titles, it's possible that each of them really does have OnlyOneName.

** Apparently something happened during the 2010 [[WackyRacing Kludge Derby]] to necessitate some insanely good driving skills. Akin to, say, dodging through a giant group of Temmies that ran onto the track in the middle of the race (which was what drew the comparison in the first place).

* NotQuiteDead: As Undyne [[DiscussedTrope puts it]], the humans of Ebott's Wake "feel like people in a horror movie when the guy with the knife and the mask ''should'' be dead, but he shows up out of nowhere with a ScareChord."

** The Anti-Monster League are regarded by everyone as a nuisance at worst, despite them being a major obstacle to integrating monsters and humans. Then they stage an assault on the State of the Kingdom address, which leads to Frisk getting shot and the revival of the Sages.

** Between Hal Greene and [[spoiler:Asriel Dreemurr]]; the former being a thirty-something car mechanic and at times [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a borderline madman]], and the latter being a mellow child of no older than eleven.

** Averted with Joe Stanton, lab gofer/wrangler at All Fine Labs, and Joe [no surname given], the owner of Joe's House of Stuff.
** [[PlayedForLaughs Humorously]] averted with The Daves, a former band local to Ebott's Wake consisting solely of people named Dave. Brett says they were "the most popular band to come out of Ebott's Wake during the Seventies, featuring Dave [=McGee=] on vocals, Dave Harrison on saxophone, Dave Thorton on keyboard and Dave Greene on theremin and pyrotechnics." (Dave [=McGee=] is the father of Clutch [=McGee=], a KEBT FM radio host; Dave Harrison is later mentioned as Derby Marshal for the [[WackyRacing Kludge Derby]]; Dave Greene is the father of Hal Greene; and nothing is mentioned about Dave Thorton.)

** After [[spoiler:Asriel comes back]], and Toriel doesn't take it well at first, Frisk tries to run away but is stopped by [[spoiler:Asriel]] once Toriel calms down. Toriel tries to understand what's wrong, and suddenly…
---> '''Frisk:''' Because. Because it's over. Everyone has what they wanted. [[spoiler:You have Asriel again]]. The way it should have been a year and a half ago, if [[IShouldHaveBeenBetter I hadn't screwed up everything]]. And I won't screw it up again.
---> '''Toriel:''' ...my child. What did you-
---> '''Frisk:''' [[SuddenlyShouting I'M NOT YOUR CHILD!]] [[spoiler:YOUR CHILD IS RIGHT THERE! HE'S BACK AND YOU'RE A FAMILY AGAIN]] AND JUST STOP TAUNTING ME WITH WHAT I CAN NEVER HAVE! I DON'T... ''[deep breath, but they've lost their momentum]''
---> Around them, eyes widened, and eye sockets darkened. Nobody present had ever heard Frisk raise their voice that much. Some of them had never heard the human child raise their voice ''ever''.

** Dr. Aster delivers on to Cater and O'Dell before their fight in [[spoiler:the CORE]].

---> '''Dr. Aster:''' Your bodies are mostly water. Our bodies are mostly magic. Both provide a medium for energetic and physical reactions and activity. But your bodies rely on those reactions for ''everything'', reactions that rely on other reactions, on specific elements and compounds, on extremely narrow ranges of temperature and pressure and electrical charge. If it gets too hot, you die. If it gets too cold, you die. If ambient air pressure goes up or down too much, you die. Electrical interference can stop your heart, jam your muscles, damage your brain. And let's not get into the train wreck that is your digestive process. Do I need to list any more examples? You said you could kill me with one hit. That might be true. But somebody could kill ''you'' with one hit too, and they wouldn't even have to be trying to do it, so long as they hit the right spot.

---> '''[[spoiler:The Demon]]:''' ''Asriel didn't take Chara away from you. Chara wasn't taken at all. Chara ran away. You've read the letter enough times. You know that, and you know why. But [[NeverMyFault you cannot accept it]]… W hile[''sic''] you [[PartingWordsRegret regret saying what you said]] before Chara ran away to climb Mt. Ebott, you can't accept that any of what you said or did before that played a role in Chara's decision.''
* ReassignedToAntarctica: Dwayne Riley talks about Officer Steve getting "shuffled over to monster patrol as punishment for embarrassing the force." Steve, for his part, seems to think it's a pretty cushy job.
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Played with with Chara. They had a rare form of heterochromia that resulted in one eye turning red over time. They normally weren't a dangerous person or anything, but the other children called them a "demon child" for it, and they got into a lot of fights as a result. Later, when Chara [[spoiler:is taking over or sharing control of Frisk's body]], one or both eyes will glow red, such as when they [[spoiler:stab Cater in the hand or when they're fighting him outside the school]].

** Relatively early on, Frisk learns that they have an LV CAP of 20. Everybody who hears about the idea of somebody having an LV CAP that high is horrified. Frisk thinks this means something terrible about them, but then they and we find out: LV CAP measures how much you've been hurt when you were powerless to stop it. Nobody's horrified of somebody with LV CAP 20; they're horrified at the idea of what has to happen to somebody in order for them to have an LV CAP that high.

* RewatchBonus: Knowing that Chara is right-handed (in contrast with Frisk being left-handed) and that [[spoiler:Chara is still around in Frisk's head]] puts a whole new light on several mentions of just one eye doing something and on a couple places where attention is drawn to Frisk's right side for no clear reason. This is especially true with additional characterization of [[spoiler:Frisk and Chara's "timeshare agreement"]] in ''Legacy of the Magi''.

** Frisk ran away from home because they thought the world would be better off without them.

** Dr. Ross and Dr. Aster get along… really well in the scenes they share.

** A lot of the focus on the Dreemurr family involves preparing and eating meals, school assignments, parent/child quality time, and sibling rivalry.

** Implied in ''Legacy of the Magi'' to be the reason for Chara's overly formal and precise manner of speaking. [[spoiler:They are more casual and less formal in some flashbacks and when speaking to Asriel and Frisk in the present]].

* TheStoic: Frisk ''does'' [[DownplayedTrope show emotion]] in public, but they do keep a firm lid on a lot of their emotions. For example, Undyne says Frisk can't have a DF of 0, because somebody with 0 DF would've "cried like a baby" after tanking one of her spears. Of course, she doesn't know what Frisk has had to deal with [[DarkAndTroubledPast in the past]].

* TechnicallyASmile: Smiles that "don't quite reach the eyes" (or variants) are quite common from characters in grim situations.

---> '''Burgerpants:''' "It's not that impressive. He traveled ''forward'' in time. Anyone can do that. ''I'' can do that. Especially after an hour at the Dank Memehaus."

* TooDumbToLive: During the attack on the Auditorium, Papyrus plugs some AML members' guns with blue attacks, loudly [[ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy explains what they do]], and (somewhat redundantly) recommends that they not pull the triggers. They all proceed to do just that and are "rewarded with several sounds nobody holding a firearm wants to hear." One of them has [[{{Fingore}} chunks of his fingers]] fly all over the place.

* TurningBackHuman: [[spoiler:Flowey]] turns back into [[spoiler:Asriel]] a few days after the State of the Kingdom address, because [[spoiler:he hadn't actually given the soul fragment back to Frisk in the hospital, and now that fragment has turned into a whole soul]].

* WhenTreesAttack: Near the beginning of the story: Flowey controls the trees at the Arboretum and sends them on strike.

** {{Determinat|or}}ion and the BeyondTheImpossible-type feats it enables kind of put it here by definition.

--> '''Justin:''' “If I get another craving for Red Hots I swear I am going to shoot myself ''in the face''.”

* IShouldHaveBeenBetter: Frisk feels that they should have been able to bring Asriel back permanently, if they'd only done everything right. Which is insane, but it gradually becomes clear that they were raised to think anything less than perfection is utter failure.

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: During the attack on the auditorium, Frisk stands in front of Dwayne Riley, who was about to shoot Undyne, and dares him to shoot them. [[spoiler:[[WouldntHurtAChild He can't do it.]] He doesn't even try to aim around them.]]

* MagicAIsMagicA: Magic has well-defined properties, capabilities, and limitations. The use of magic is always accompanied by a burst of light, for example, and said [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience light's color depends on the type of magic being used]]. Magic's properties are often explicitly compared to light. In ''Legacy of the Magi'', for example, it's noted that red and magenta magic have the greatest amount of trouble interacting with matter, because the former is too low-energy and the latter is too high-energy—much like how infrared light and below isn't energetic enough to trigger the rod and cone cells in our eyes, while ultraviolet light and above is ''too'' energetic.

* NobodyCanDie: Even once the CerebusSyndrome sets in, nobody seems to die [[spoiler:other than Frisk, but [[ResurrectiveImmortality they don't quite count]]]]. %%in the end, it doesn't really matter whether anybody dies to the life-threatening situations, because the real point of those situations is to advance the internal conflicts of the characters involved. (That might be a bit too editorial for a trope entry, though.)

** There's a vague implication that this is [[JustifiedTrope because]] Frisk has ''so much {{Determinat|or}}ion'' and [[AllLovingHero cares so much about everybody]] that sequences of events that lead to people dying [[RealityWarper are simply forbidden from happening]].

** Between Hal Greene and [[spoiler:Asriel Dreemurr]]; the former being a thirty-something car mechanic and at times a borderline [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} madman]], and the latter being a mellow child of no older than eleven.

* OneSteveLimit: Averted with Joe Stanton, lab gofer/wrangler at All Fine Labs, and Joe [no surname given], the owner of Joe's House of Stuff.

---> '''Alphys:''' When have you ever cared about anybody but yourself? Before we came out of the underground you spent all your time complaining about other humans! All you ever do is tear people down and you never, ever care about anybody from yourself! I'll put up with a lot of crap[,] but I won't take it from the likes of you! And you know what? You know what?! Anybody who comes to the volunteer study this week gets a free T-Shirt that says[,] 'Dwayne Riley is an Imbecile!' I don't know where we'll get them on short notice[,] but I will knit them with my own damned claws if I have to! CHOKE ON THAT!%%single quotes original due to being within double quotes

---> '''[[spoiler:The Demon]]:''' ''Asriel didn't take Chara away from you. Chara wasn't taken at all. Chara ran away. You've read the letter enough times. You know that, and you know why. But [[NeverMyFault you cannot accept it]]… W hile[''sic''] you regret saying what you said before Chara ran away to climb Mt. Ebott, you can't accept that any of what you said or did before that played a role in Chara's decision.''

* RedEyesTakeWarning: Played with with Chara. They had a rare form of heterochromia that resulted in one eye turning red over time. They normally weren't a dangerous person or anything, but the other children called them a "demon child" for it, and they got into a lot of fights as a result. Later, when Chara [[spoiler:is taking over or sharing control of Frisk's body]], one or both eyes [[spoiler:will glow]] red, such as when they [[spoiler:stab Cater in the hand or when they're fighting him outside the school]].

* ShipTease: Dr. Ross and Dr. Aster get along… really well in the scenes they share.

--> '''DJ Pantz:''' "That is… [[LampshadeHanging oddly specific]]."

** The remaining Sages think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong, and anyone denying that (such as Gaster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth.

* HarmfulHealing: Toriel attempts to heal Frisk after [[spoiler:they are shot by Jordan Cater]]. While the healing magic works, Frisk has to be rushed to the hospital to [[spoiler:remove the bullet fragments left inside their body]] and to treat the infection from the [[spoiler:gunshot wound]]. Somewhat {{ZigZagg|ingTrope}}ed because various doctors differ on whether the time bought by the healing magic outweighs the complications to the surgery.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Dwayne Riley talks about Officer Steve getting "shuffled over to monster patrol as punishmen for embarrassing the force." Steve, for his part, seems to think it's a pretty cushy job.

** There's a man in a suit who sometimes shows up in Joe's House of Stuff buying random objects as a sort of FunnyBackgroundEvent.

** An InUniverse version with Wing Ding Aster; multiple characters refer to him by the name "Gaster" and have to be corrected. Sans explains that this was caused by a typo on some Royal Scientist paperwork. Somehow, though, even humans seem to make the same mistake.

* TemporalParadox: The Core facility in Hotland was built specifically to create a paradox that could [[RetGone unmake]] or [[TimeCrash destroy]] the Barrier, allowing monsters to escape the Underground without requiring any human souls at all. The first full-scale test [[FreakLabAccident doesn't go as planned]] and is not only responsible for Dr. Aster's [[TimeTravel trip to the future]], but the Save Points scattered throughout the Underground [[spoiler:and the surface]].

* UnequalRites: By the end of the story, there appear to be three types of magic-users.
** There are monsters, for whom magic is as integral as metabolism is for humans. Basically all assumptions about how magic works come from knowledge of monsters using magic.
** There are [[spoiler:humans who used Joe's Phase Integrator]]. These initially have impressive prowess in all seven colors of the spectrum, but they seem to gradually lose proficiency in all but the one matching [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience the color of their SOUL]]. Each one has a personalized bullet pattern, much like monsters, but unlike with monsters, they aren't the type of attack that immediately comes to mind in combat. Their bullets are also the color of their SOUL, rather than of the object they resemble.
** There are [[spoiler:humans who have developed magic naturally]]. These generally have to work for their magical prowess, but like monsters, they can use all colors reasonably easily. They do ''not'' seem to have a default bullet pattern, and using bullets requires them to consciously decide on a shape. When they do use bullets, those bullets are the color of their SOUL by default.

* WouldHurtAChild: Jordan Cater introduces himself as the story's BigBad almost immediately after Riley surrenders by shooting him in the back and then [[spoiler:''deliberately shooting Frisk'']]. Afterwards, every encounter between Frisk and Cater involves the latter attempting to outright murder the former.

Royal Scientist Wing Ding Aster, long thought to have been scattered across time and space by one of his own experiments, instead finds himself launched into the future; A time where the Barrier is broken and the Underground has been left empty for over a year and a half, and a dawning era of coexistence between humans and monsters. The good doctor has a lot to catch up on as he adjusts to the quirky nature of small-town [[TitleDrop Ebott's Wake]]: [[{{Catchphrase}} Don't Trust the Flower]].

[[folder:#–E]]
* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Initially {{Averted|Trope}} by the first story, which first published in June 2016 and was set in May 2016, until it fell into WebcomicTime as the story remained in that month while its last chapters were published towards the end of 2017.

** Chara's reasons for climbing Ebott as well as their hatred of humanity both stemmed from this.
** One of the radio personalities casually mentions being on the receiving end of this from their mother, but it's not shown or explored in any detail.

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Joe Stanton]] gets his arm blown off at the elbow by an improvised shotgun, courtesy of [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]].

* AnxietyDreams: Poor Frisk has a lot of these. Usually, they're about their closest friends finding out about whatever big revelation is bothering them at the moment and rejecting them because of it. Even when that cycle has repeated multiple times, and their friends have been nothing but supportive each and every time.

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: To quote Officer Steve on the criminal charges being held against [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]] after his arrest: “Yes. You are under arrest. We have you dead to rights for breaking and entering, vandalism, theft, conspiracy, [[spoiler:assault, three separate counts of attempted murder]], and operating a wind powered vehicle within the city limits of Ebott's Wake.”

* BackFromTheDead: Downplayed for [[spoiler:Asriel]]. He's been around for a while [[spoiler:as Flowey]], but like, not ''really''.

* BewareTheSillyOnes: Hal Greene is a CloudCuckooLander in a [[CloudCuckooLand town that's already off its rocker]]. He's also widely regarded as one of the most dangerous people in Lost Eagle County.

** The KEBT Morning Rush chapters tend to serve as this, breaking away from the action to provide a more bird's-eye-view of notable events and flesh out the presence of the local community. It also helps that one of the co-hosts is DJ Pantz, formerly Burgerpants of MTT Restaurant infamy, having quit his old job for more sane pastures.
** The Kludge Derby chapter in particular takes a complete break from the plot, after the story arc preceding it winds down.

* CloudCuckooLander:
** The town of Ebott's Wake as a collective whole had a reputation for being this long before the monsters moved in.
** Hal Greene has this reputation in the eyes of everyone else in town.
** To a lesser extent, this also applies to Quentin Forsythe, the resident ConspiracyTheorist.
* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Justin Carrow ends up in this position as a result of being Hal Greene's best friend since before grade school. The rest of Shop Class and, later, [[spoiler:Asriel]] cover for him at times.

* DeadpanSnarker: Dr. Aster does this reasonably often, especially with people who thought he was dead.

* DisarmDisassembleDestroy: The Asters like to use [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] to do this to humans threatening them with guns.

* EleventhHourSuperpower: A villainous example when Jordan Cater uses [[spoiler:the stolen [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phase Integrator]] to temporarily supercharge himself with magic]].

[[folder:F–O]]

* FailedASpotCheck: Jordan Cater's initial plan to use the Anti-Monster League to siege the town and wipe out all monsters [[spoiler:gets ''completely'' blindsided by the fact that the majority of the humans in town wind up siding with the monsters in the conflict]]. This should be obvious to anyone seeing monsters and humans openly coexisting in the same community.

* ImpaledPalm: [[spoiler:Frisk]] does this to Jordan Cater with the Worn Dagger during the [[spoiler:battle for the CORE]].

* IShouldHaveBeenBetter: Frisk feels that they should have been able to bring Asriel back permanently, if they'd only done everything right.

* LargeHam: Undyne and Papyrus, naturally, and Hal Greene is a particularly notable example of this among the human cast.

* {{Metaphorgotten}}: Gary Welkin does this a lot.

* MistakesAreNotTheEndOfTheWorld: Frisk understands this perfectly well… about ''other people's'' mistakes.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:Asriel]] feels this way about all the things he did as [[spoiler:Flowey]].

** The Usurper, who turns out to be the [[spoiler:GreaterScopeVillain and ''not'' just another name for Jordan Cater.]]

** There's a vague implication that this is [[JustifiedTrope because]] Frisk has ''so much {{Determinat|or}}ion'' and [[AllLovingHero cares so much about everybody]] that sequences of events that lead to people dying are simply forbidden from happening.
* NoFullNameGiven: Surnames are given for Sans and Papyrus (Aster), Frisk (Dreemurr, formerly Taylor), and Chara (Dreemurr, formerly Cater), meaning that of the main cast, only Undyne and Alphys lack full names. Given that these are also the names used with their titles, it's possible that each of them really does have OnlyOneName.

** The Anti-Monster League are regarded by everyone as a nuisance at worst, despite them being a major obstacle to integrating monsters and humans. Then [[spoiler:they stage an assault on the State of the Kingdom address, which leads to Frisk getting shot and the revival of the Sages]].
** The Sages were apparently less prevalent in the past, being a weird cult with ominous rumors about them, but ultimately keeping to themselves… until Asriel came down the mountain with Chara's body. As a result, the town began taking them more seriously, leading to them eventually taking over Ebott's Wake.

** Between Hal Greene and [[spoiler:Asriel Dreemurr]]; the former being a thirty-something car mechanic and at times a borderline [[CloudCuckooLander madman]], and the latter being a mellow child of no older than eleven.
* OffingTheOffspring: It turns out that this is how [[spoiler:Frisk got reset]] after the first run. [[spoiler:And it was in panicked self-defense—Frisk finally lost their temper when they went back home and their father rejected them, and they were going to [[{{Patricide}} kill him]] if he didn't stop them.]]

** After [[spoiler:Asriel comes back]], and Toriel doesn't take it well at first, Frisk tries to run away but is stopped by [[spoiler:Asriel]]. Toriel tries to understand what's wrong, and suddenly…

** Justin, tapping his [[SuperSpeed Condensintrator watch]] before fighting Cater one-on-one: "Would you look at the time. It's Bad O'Clock." Once cater is on the ground, Justin admits that he needs to work on his one-liners.

---> '''Dr. Aster:''' ''[eye sockets narrow, eye lights fade]'' You want to kill me and everyone I know and care about, and wipe my race from the surface of this planet. Explain to me why I should give a ''fuck'' about what you believe.%%extra comma original

---> '''Sans:''' Not fond of the idea myself, that's true. Neither is he. But we got to talking earlier and he thinks that it's better than the alternative, if the alternative is going to your funeral. And I'm inclined to agree; pardon my coarse language, but you scared the ''fuck'' out of me and dad in the hospital when you told the doctors you didn't think you could keep going.

* RashomonStyle: InUniverse; every monster seems to have a different idea of exactly what happened when the Barrier was broken.

* ResearchInc: All Fine Labs is a community-minded version of this, with production lines that manufacture magical technology for other monsters to use so that they can keep up with the demand from the human population on the surface. [[ForScience Ethical conflicts]] are almost completely nonexistent; thanks to her experience with the Amalgamates, Alphys prioritizes safety and informed consent very highly.

** An in-universe version with Wing Ding Aster; multiple characters refer to him by the name "Gaster" and have to be corrected. Sans explains that this was caused by a typo on some Royal Scientist paperwork.

* SquishyWizard: Sans and Dr. Aster speculate that this was the case for human wizards—much like monsters, the magic in their bodies would respond to the [[KillingIntent intent to harm]] from their attackers, while they continued to have all the fragility of a human body.

* TheStoic: Frisk ''does'' [[DownplayedTrope show emotion]] in public, but they have elements of this. For example, Undyne says Frisk can't have a DF of 0, because somebody with 0 DF would've "cried like a baby" after tanking one of her spears. Of course, she doesn't know what Frisk has had to deal with [[DarkAndTroubledPast in the past]].

:::Surprisingly, this denial ''doesn't'' turn out to have any greater significance.

* TheseHandsHaveKilled: Sans's reaction to the Justice Soul's suicide. Even though he did not actually kill him, and Sans's hands did not even get dirty, both literally and figuratively, he still ''feels'' dirty. He started wearing gloves from that point on.

** Matter, however, cannot be sent back in time, because it will immediately collide with itself in the immediate past. Traveling forward in time is possible (and indeed happened to Dr. Aster)… which everybody knew anyway.

** All the {{SavePoint}}s in the original game are described as "shrapnel" from the explosion in timespace set off by the experiment. Said experiment accidentally set up a self-sustaining time loop that somebody with enough DT could tap into. Matter can't go back, but energy can—and energy means information, which means memories. %%needs further elaboration

* WhoNamesTheirKidDude: Frisk invokes this on their own name, while also mentioning Royal Guards 01 and 02.

* WouldHurtAChild: Jordan Cater introduces himself as the story's BigBad almost immediately after Riley surrenders by shooting him in the back and then [[spoiler:''deliberately shooting Frisk''. Afterwards, every encounter between Frisk and Cater involves [[spoiler:the latter attempting to outright murder the former.

* YinYangBomb: Combining Orange and Cyan magic without taking certain precautions results in this.
** Joe Stanton causes this by accident when trying to build a machine that [[spoiler:lets humans use magic.]]

** Undyne pulls this off multiple times, though it's never plot-important.

[[folder:A–E]]

-> A part of [Dr. Aster's] mind, standing off to the side like am impartial observer or referee, noted that there was an appealing symmetry to the situation; on each side, a skeleton and two blasters.

* NoodleIncident: The series has enough of them to weave into a basic roadmap of the town's history.

** Averted with Joe Stanton, who is explicitly stated to have a degree in electrical engineering.

* RunningGag: The weird slogans the Ebott's Wake Tourism Board creates, usually found at the beginning of The Morning Rush segments.

* TooDumbToLive: During the attack on the Auditorium, Papyrus plugs some AML members' guns with blue attacks, loudly explains what they do, and (somewhat redundantly) recommends that they not pull the triggers. They all proceed to do just that and are "rewarded with several sounds nobody holding a firearm wants to hear." One of them has [[{{Fingore}} chunks of his fingers]] fly all over the place.

* TownWithADarkSecret: While under the thumb of the Sages, the town of Ebott's Wake seemed like a quirky small town on the surface but was actually controlled by TheConspiracy.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Initially {{Averted|Trope}} by the first story, which first published in June 2016 and was set in May 2016, until it fell into WebcomicTime as the story remained in that month while its last chapters were published towards the end of 2017.
** Played straight by the prequel ''Fanfic/TerraIncognita'', which is set in the Fall of 2014 and was written between late 2017 and 2018.
** Likewise played straight by the sequel ''Legacy of the Magi'', an ongoing story started in late 2018 and picking up a week after the events of ''Ebott's Wake'', in June 2016.

** {{Averted|Trope}} with people using Pattern magic—their eyes will glow magenta, but they're just using it to enhance their senses.

* ReadingsAreOffTheScale: Alphys tries using a bullet analyzer to measure Flowey's stats. They come back as all nines, which Alphys interprets as the analyzer trying to divide something by zero, because he has no soul. [[spoiler:Except he does have one, or at least part of one, and the actual reason is that the analyzer is calibrated for monster souls and not human ones.]]

* TownWithADarkSecret: The town of Ebott's Wake qualified as such while under the thumb of the Sages, measuring between 2 and 3 on the Sliding Scale.

* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Joe Stanton]] gets his arm blown off at the elbow by an improvised shotgun, courtesy of [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell.]]

* ArcWords: Some characters will occasionally mention that they know each other because they "took shop class together." It later turns out that "Shop Class" is a secret organization of friends that teamed up to protect the town.

* {{Catchphrase}}: Going by how many different town slogans get read on the air in the Morning Rush radio segments, the Ebott's Wake Tourism Board must have thought up of dozens at the very least. Ebott's Wake: The City That Seldom Sleeps, Don't Trust the Flower, Land of the Free and Home of the Daves, Fortified with Vitamin E, A Cut Aside…

* CloudCuckooLander:

[[folder:T–Z]]

* DullSurprise: In the prequel ''Fanfic/TerraIncognita'', the initial reaction of many of the people meeting monsters for the first time (and realizing that they aren't costumes or hoaxes) is some variation of this.

** The ''one'' [[SubvertedTrope exception]] is Andrew, the last of the six children between Chara and Frisk to fall into Mount Ebott, who [[DrivenToSuicide kills himself]] in a {{Flashback}}.

* OvertOperative: A pair of government agents are recurring characters in ''Terra Incognita'' and ''Legacy of the Magi''. Most people in town see through their cover instantly, and aren't bothered by it that much; in the prequel, it doesn't surprise anyone that the government would want to send people to see the whole "monsters from the underground" thing for themselves. It's not clear why the same agents would be sent back to the same community after their cover was blown the first time, though.

** The six humans that died in the Underground get several mentions in ''Ebott's Wake'', and their past deaths serve as a plot point in ''Terra Incognita''.

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Averted; Child Protective Services are mentioned multiple times, and explicitly shown checking up on Frisk in ''Fanfic/TerraIncognita'' and ''Legacy of the Magi'' in response to a number of concerned phone calls. It's explicitly stated that the agency is [[BeleagueredBureaucrat overworked and understaffed]] after having all of the children of the Sages suddenly placed in their care.

''Ebott's Wake'' is an ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fanfic written by [=TimeCloneMike=], as the first in a trilogy called ''We're Not Weird, We're Eccentric''.

** Joseph Stanton is an electrical engineer by education and a lab gofer by trade. Doesn't stop him from showing up on a motorbike with a magic laser pistol during [[spoiler:the battle for the CORE segment]], nor does it stop him from [[spoiler:giving himself magic and using it against O'Dell and Cater]].

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: There are seven "bands" of magic, each identified by a color that happens to match the seven human Soul colors. Each color has specific properties that dictate how it interacts with the physical world, but multiple bands of magic can be mixed or combined for different results, mostly limited to the magical strength, mental creativity, and rooted beliefs of the experienced caster. The different colors are

* {{Doorstopper}}: The first story in the trilogy clocks in at ''150 chapters'' and a total wordcount of ''598,888''.
** ContinuityCreep: The story was originally intended to be around 60 chapters long and have a different plot featuring a custody battle for Frisk between the Dreemurrs and Frisk's biological parents. 150 chapters later, there's a prequel ''and'' a sequel in the works. According to the author, the storyline underwent massive changes with the introduction of [[BigBad Jordan Cater]].

* DullSurprise: In the prequel ''Terra Incognita'', the initial reaction of many of the people meeting monsters for the first time (and realizing that they aren't costumes or hoaxes) is some variation of this.

* ShoutOut:
** Many of the teachers at Dreemurr Elementary School are named after members of the WebVideo/GameGrumps. Music teacher Danny and Math teacher Brian are the most explicit examples, in that they used to have a cover / tribute band based on Ninja Sex Party.
** A number of staff at All Fine Labs are named after members of the [=LoadingReadyRun=] comedy group.
** The author has mentioned that the KEBT Community Radio segments were inspired by [=LoadingReadyRun=]'s Qwerpline podcast.
** After [[spoiler:Asriel becomes Omega Flowey by borrowing Shop Class's SOULs]], some characters compare it to ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers''.
** Thomas O'Dell is explicitly compared to [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} David Xanatos]].

* SocialServicesDoesNotExist: Averted; Child Protective Services are mentioned multiple times, and explicitly shown checking up on Frisk in ''Terra Incognita'' and ''Legacy of the Magi'' in response to a number of concerned phone calls. It's explicitly stated that the agency is [[BeleagueredBureaucrat overworked and understaffed]] after having all of the children of the Sages suddenly placed in their care.

** Played straight by the prequel ''Terra Incognita'', which is set in the Fall of 2014 and was written between late 2017 and 2018.

** [[spoiler:Chara's reasons for climbing Ebott as well as their hatred of humanity both stemmed from this.]]

* AllLovingHero: Frisk and Papyrus both strive to bring out the best in everyone. [[spoiler:Though there are a number of people in town who aren't so inclined to reciprocate.]]

** Frisk, as with in the original game. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that they are biologically female and never thought it was important to bring it up. They're fine with everything as long as it's not he/him pronouns, and that's to avoid future confusion more than anything.]]
** [[spoiler:Chara is also biologically female, though strictly non-binary.]]

** Chara shows up in [[spoiler:Asriel]]'s dreams sometimes, but it isn't entirely clear whether that's actually Chara, some sort of psychic imprint, or what. [[spoiler:At least until Chara takes control of Frisk's sleeping body after the battle for the CORE.]]
* AmplifierArtifact: The prototypes for Joe Stanton's Phase Integrator invention are explicitly referred to as amplifiers. Justified by Alphys, Dr. Aster, and Sans speculating that human magic hasn't disappeared, it's simply been forgotten and neglected. %%considering this not a spoiler because it doesn't tell you what the Phase Integrator is.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Joe Stanton gets his arm blown off at the elbow by an improvised slam-bang shotgun, courtesy of Thomas O'Dell.]]
* ArcWords:
** Some characters will occasionally mention that they know each other because they "took shop class together." [[spoiler:They are later revealed to be members of Shop Class, a secret organization of friends that teamed up to protect the town.]]
** "Kindness can be the greatest cruelty." Mentioned by The Riverperson several times.
** "Beware the man from the other world." A variation of a quote from the original game, also used by The Riverperson.

* BackgroundMagicField: Dr. Aster explains the science of such a field when he [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee appears before the Senate Oversight Committee on Paranormal Activity.]]

** O'Dell used to be an absolutely average architect. He becomes Cater's right-hand man, with his [[XanatosSpeedChess quick planning prowess]] often enabling Cater to be the threat he is. He acquits himself decently without Cater, too, [[spoiler:orchestrating a break-in into All Fine Labs and the theft of the [[AmplifierArtifact Phase Integrator]], and he shoots [[EmpoweredBadassNormal powered-up]] Joe Stanton's [[AnArmAndALeg arm off]] when they get into a fight]].

** The members of[[spoiler:Shop Class]], being little more than a group of friends who banded together to [[spoiler:keep the community and its people safe when trouble rears its head]]. [[spoiler:Though the "normal" aspect doesn't apply as much once they start being able to use Human Magic…]]

** Jordan Cater, [[spoiler:until the very end]]. He's formidable in close combat, has a knack for escaping imprisonment, and repeatedly poses a significant threat to the main characters.

* BreakTheCutie: Whenever [[spoiler:Asriel]] is forced or pushed to take drastic actions, it painfully reminds him afterward that part of him never truly stopped being [[spoiler:Flowey]], or worse, it almost convinces him that he couldn't possibly be [[spoiler:the original Asriel who died years ago]], despite solid evidence to the contrary.

** CerebusRollercoaster: By the time the story hits its stride, it frequently jumps between slice-of-life character development, zany background hijinks and serious trouble.

** The town of Ebott's Wake as a collective whole has had a reputation for being this long before the Monsters moved in.

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Justin Carrow ends up in this position as a result of being Hal Greene's best friend since before grade school. [[spoiler:Shop Class in general and, later, Asriel]] cover for him at times.

** ContinuityCreep: The story was originally intended to be around 60 chapters long and have a different plot featuring [[spoiler:a custody battle for Frisk between the Dreemurrs and Frisk's biological parents]]. 150 chapters later, there's a prequel ''and'' a sequel in the works. According to the author, the storyline underwent massive changes with the introduction of [[BigBad Jordan Cater]].

** A downplayed example with Frisk's human father. Frisk left him, not the other way around, but he had plenty of opportunity to show up and try to reclaim them, and he never did. [[spoiler:Well, he does show up eventually, but only during the climax, and he doesn't directly interact with Frisk.

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The Player]] seems to be this. They are an outside force that's not part of this world, and their features are completely indistinct because they leave an impression of someone being there, rather than actually being there. It's not even possible to classify their speech as ''talking''.

* {{Eye Scream}}: Joe Stanton loses his glasses in spectacular fashion when a science experiment blows up in his face. And he then proceeds to [[spoiler:use magic to ''rip out all forty-seven pieces of shrapnel lodged in his eyeballs'' before healing the damage with further magic.]]

** The Anti-Monster League's bread and butter. Though as far as influence goes, they're viewed by the rest of the town's residents as a vocal nuisance at best. Until the AML attempts to outright siege the town, at least. [[spoiler: After the AML is largely put out of commission, a resurrected Sages cult replaces them. They're forced to operate from the shadows, but they're a much more potent threat in terms of their goals and methods.]]

* ForWantOfANail: Many of the series' key events of both the past and present naturally stemmed from Chara climbing Mount Ebott and falling into the Underground, but both that and the events that follow after can be traced back to [[spoiler:Jordan Cater's inability to properly care for his child]].
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: A large part of Jordan Cater's motivations involve avenging the death of [[spoiler:his daughter Chara (and, to a lesser extent, the other six fallen humans); however, as pointed out multiple times—and more than once, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to his face]]—he's all too willing to kill another human child to achieve his goals, so nobody feels all that sorry for him. Not helping his case is that [[AbusiveParents he's the reason Chara climbed Mt. Ebott in the first place.]]]]

* GeniusBruiser: Mike Van Garrett, who is vice president of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board and possesses a degree in aerospace engineering. He is also a muscled giant who has broken a man's femur with a single punch, was almost a match for Undyne in an arm-wrestling match, and [[spoiler:is practically unfazed when he gets shot by a man armed with a .22 caliber pistol]].
** GentleGiant: Mike also prefers to downplay his strength and cultivate his appearance more in favor of the Genius side rather than the Bruiser side. [[spoiler:Not that this stops him from being able to look appropriately threatening when the situation calls for it.]]

** [[spoiler:Humans]] who are using a lot of magic will often have eyes glowing with the color of their SOUL. [[DownplayedTrope It could be a perfectly benign use of their magic]], like using Pattern magic to enhance their eyesight… but it could also mean they're about to ruin your day. Ironically, RedEyesTakeWarning does ''not'' apply here, as [[spoiler:humans]] with [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience red SOULs default to Communication magic]], which is essentially unable to affect physical matter… though (depending on [[spoiler:whether they used the Phase Integrator to gain magic or not, and if they did, how recently]]) they're still able to use the rest of the spectrum to mess you up.

* HarmfulHealing: Toriel attempts to heal Frisk after [[spoiler:they are shot by Jordan Cater]]. While the healing magic works, [[spoiler:Frisk has to be rushed to the hospital to remove the bullet fragments left inside their body and to treat the infection from the gunshot wound itself]]. Somewhat [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] because various doctors differ on whether the time bought by the healing magic outweighs the complications to the surgery.
* HealingPotion: Monster food is explicitly mentioned as healing a wide variety of illnesses and injuries, including cancer and nerve damage, though it does have limits. Frisk still has to get shots for their allergies, [[spoiler:and healing magic can't grow back Joe Stanton's arm after it gets shot off]].
* ImpaledPalm: During the [[spoiler:battle for the CORE, Frisk and Chara do this to Jordan Cater with the Worn Dagger]].

*** As in canon, Frisk of a LV Cap of 20. In this fic, however, it's unnaturally high, an indicator of Frisk's DarkAndTroubledPast and true nature as a StepfordSmiler.
** Justin Carrow has a LV of 3, which he explains as a result of being a former soldier.
** Jordan Cater has an LV of [[spoiler:4 and an LV CAP of… also 4, which the lowest known for humans. It implies he was extremely sheltered as a child and still managed to be a murderous bigot and an extremely abusive father]].

* LargeHam:
** Undyne and Papyrus, naturally, and Hal Greene is a particularly notable example of this among the human cast.
** IncomingHam: Hal's first direct appearance is heralded with the line "YOU SUCK, METZINGER!"
* LivingShadow: One of these is shown to be indirectly responsible for Flowey leaving the Underground and joining everyone else on the surface; he gives it his Post-Pacifist speech thinking that it is Chara in some form and proceeds to FreakOut when he realizes that it isn't. [[spoiler:Later on, the same shadow shows up again when Cater summons it. He calls it [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Demon]]; it seems like an EldritchAbomination and appears to be some sort of player analogue.]]

* TheMagicGoesAway: One of the research projects at All Fine Labs involves trying to understand why humans can no longer use magic. [[spoiler:Near the very end of the story, Dr. Aster comes to the conclusion that the Barrier itself used up all available magic energy just to sustain its own existence, leaving virtually nothing left for humans to use. With the Barrier gone, [[TheMagicComesBack humans are regaining access to magic]], which Frisk intends to leverage to make sure humanity never tries to create another Barrier.]]

* NobodyCanDie: Even once the CerberusSyndrome sets in, nobody seems to die [[spoiler:other than Frisk, but [[DeathIsCheap they don't quite count]]]]. %%in the end, it doesn't really matter whether anybody dies to the life-threatening situations, because the real point of those situations is to advance the internal conflicts of the characters involved. (That might be a bit too editorial for a trope entry, though.)

** There's a vague implication that this is [[JustifiedTrope because]] [[spoiler:Frisk has ''so much {{Determinat|or}}ion'' and [[AllLovingHero cares so much about everybody]] that sequences of events that lead to people dying are simply forbidden from happening]].

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: The Anti-Monster League are regarded by everyone as a nuisance at worst, despite them being a major obstacle to integrating monsters and humans. Then [[spoiler:they stage an assault on the State of the Kingdom address, which leads to Frisk getting shot and the revival of [[TheDreaded the Sages]]]]. Subverted with [[spoiler:Dwayne Riley himself]], however; while [[spoiler:he leads the assault and even has Undyne at gunpoint, he can't bring himself to harm Frisk when the latter calls his bluff, leading to [[BigBad Jordan Cater]] shooting both of them]].
** The Sages were apparently less prevalent in the past, being a weird cult with ominous rumors about them, but ultimately keeping to themselves… then Asriel came down the mountain with Chara's body. As a result, the town began taking them more seriously, leading to them eventually taking over Ebott's Wake.

** [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in Dr. Aster's case; he's primarily a physicist, but also knows a lot about engineering, and mentioned that he ended up reading whatever human medical knowledge could be salvaged from the garbage dump. While this knowledge was neither complete nor comprehensive, it still made him the closest thing the Underground had to an expert on human biology and physiology.

** The Six Humans that died in the Underground get several mentions in ''Ebott's Wake'' and whose past deaths serve as a plot point in ''Terra Incognita''.
** Byron Thorton, the town's previous postmaster [[spoiler:and the seventh member of Shop Class who united them all in a common cause]], who died after [[spoiler:he was caught by the Sages for sneaking evidence of their crimes to the federal government]].
** Jordan Cater mentions that his wife died of some unspecified illness after Chara disappeared, but before Asriel appeared on the surface.

* SquishyWizard: Sans and Dr. Aster speculate that this is the case [[spoiler:when Jordan Cater is shot while attacking Frisk's school, and can't heal himself because the magic in his body was responding to the [[KillingIntent intent to harm]] from his attacker]].

** Early on, it becomes apparent to Frisk's adoptive monster family that Frisk has been hiding a lot of trauma and anxiety for fear of being rejected [[spoiler:and sent back to the circumstances that left them so scarred to start with]].
** [[spoiler:Asriel, too, once he is resurrected for real]]. There's a striking contrast between how he behaves in various flashbacks and how he behaves in the present, [[spoiler:and with a soul giving him back his full range of empathy, his past actions as Flowey now haunt him continuously.]]
** Implied in ''Legacy of the Magi'' to be the reason for [[spoiler:Chara's overly formal and precise manner of speaking. They are more casual and less formal in some flashbacks and when speaking to Asriel and Frisk in the present]].

: Surprisingly, this denial ''doesn't'' turn out to have any greater significance.

* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted multiple times. Toriel's school has a counselor on staff, [[spoiler:and after Frisk is shot, the subject of psychological first aid comes up to help them deal with the trauma of the attack]].
* TheseHandsHaveKilled: Sans's reaction to [[spoiler:the Justice Soul's suicide]]. Even though he did not actually kill him, and Sans's hands did not even get dirty, both literally and figuratively, he still ''feels'' dirty. He started wearing gloves from that point on.

:: This caveat is why Dr. Aster is loath to tell people about the CORE's function, because they hear "temporal paradox," immediately think "time travel," and quickly develop a whole lot of drastic misconceptions.
** All the {{Save Point}}s in the original game are described as "shrapnel" from the explosion in timespace set off by the experiment. Said experiment accidentally set up a self-sustaining time loop that somebody with enough DT could tap into. Matter can't go back, but energy can—and energy means information, which means memories. %%may need further elaboration

** While he still acts rude and abrasive much of the time, Flowey has apparently spent his days on the surface cultivating a reputation as a particularly mean prankster; a far cry from [[ManipulativeBastard how he]] [[TheSociopath treated others]] during his days in the Underground.

* WhamEpisode: The very end of chapter 49, going into chapter 50 and beyond. The Anti-Monster League launches an armed assault on the State of the Kingdom Address, resulting in [[spoiler:Frisk being shot and sent to the hospital]] and soon spiraling out into a riot across the town. Chapter 50 also introduces Jordan Cater as the main antagonist, who resurrects the Sages as a tangible threat and shakes up the whole town. This is the point where it becomes clear that the story just grew larger than its previous SliceOfLife elements.

* WorldBuilding: Much of what is seen so far is relegated to several communities and a small city in a specific region (and most of it spent in the titular town of Ebott's Wake), but the town and its surroundings have a history and characterization rich enough to feel like they could be real places in their own right.
* WouldntHurtAChild: Dwayne Riley, for all his anger, racism and bluster, [[spoiler:ultimately chooses to toss down his gun during the AML riot, when Frisk shields a wounded Undyne and calls him out on his actions]]. [[spoiler:As Papyrus later points out, Frisk's smaller size meant that Riley still had a clear line of fire on Undyne, but chose to put down his gun and surrender rather than endanger a child's life.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: Jordan Cater introduces himself as the story's BigBad almost immediately after Riley surrenders by shooting him in the back and then [[spoiler:''deliberately shooting Frisk.'' Afterwards, every encounter between Frisk and Cater involves the latter attempting to outright murder the former.]]

** The remaining Sages think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong, and anyone denying that (such as Gaster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth. [[spoiler:After the raid on the CORE, Jordan Cater thinks that the monsters' secret weapon isn't the CORE, but ''Frisk''.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: Thomas O'Dell is frighteningly good at planning on the fly, negating major setbacks and hitting critical points, to the point that [[spoiler:a last-minute plan to raid the CORE, something that in different circumstances would've accomplished little more than petty vandalism, ''very nearly'' turned into [[TheBadGuyWins The Bad Guy Wins]] on a ''cosmic level'' simply from the sheer impeccable timing of it]]. One of the characters explicitly compares him to [[WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}} the Trope Namer]].

* {{Eye Scream}}: Joe Stanton [[spoiler:loses his glasses in spectacular fashion when a science experiment blows up in his face. And he then proceeds to use magic to ''rip out all forty-seven pieces of shrapnel lodged in his eyeballs'' before healing the damage with further magic.]]

** The weatherwoman on KEBT FM is named Hailey Skye.

* DecoyProtagonist: The summary makes it seem a whole lot like Dr. Aster is the main character, as does the very beginning. In reality, though, his perspective is mostly used as a vehicle to introduce the audience to the titular Ebott's Wake, and before too long, it's clear that Frisk is the true main character of the story.

* KillMeNowOrForeverStayYourHand: During the attack on the auditorium, Frisk stands in front of Dwayne Riley, who was about to shoot Undyne, and dares him to shoot them. [[spoiler:[[WouldNotHurtAChild He can't do it.]] He doesn't even try to aim around them.]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: [[spoiler:[[GreaterScopeVillain The Usurper.]]]]

** The weatherwoman[?] on KEBT FM is named Hailey Skye.

*** As in canon, Frisk of a LV Cap of 20. [[spoiler:In this fic, however, it's unnaturally high, and an indicator of Frisk's DarkAndTroubledPast and true nature as a StepfordSmiler.]]

** This ends up working against [[spoiler:Jordan Cater after he gains magic]], as his body ends up reacting to the KillingIntent in [[spoiler:the bullet fired by Jason Taylor during the attack on Dreemurr Elementary]].

* LivingShadow: One of these is shown to be indirectly responsible for Flowey leaving the Underground and joining everyone else on the surface; he gives it his Post-Pacifist speech thinking that it is Chara in some form and proceeds to FreakOut when he realizes that it isn't.
* MagicAIsMagicA: There are seven "bands" of magic, each identified by a [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color which matches the seven human Soul colors]]. Each color has specific properties that dictate how it interacts with the physical world, but multiple bands of magic can be mixed or combined for different results, mostly limited to the magical strength, mental creativity, and rooted beliefs of the experienced caster.

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: Initially averted by the first story, which first published in June 2016 and was set in May 2016, until it fell into [[WebcomicTime Webcomic Time]] as the story remained in that month while its last chapters were published towards the end of 2017.

* AmbiguousSituation: One of the character tags simply says "The Player(?)".

** Joseph Stanton is a fairly unassuming assistant at All Fine Labs. Doesn't stop him from showing up on a motorbike with a magic laser pistol during [[spoiler:the battle for the CORE segment]], nor does it stop him from [[spoiler:giving himself magic and using it against O'Dell and Cater]].
** O'Dell used to be an absolutely average architect. He becomes Cater's right-hand man, with his quick planning prowess often enabling Cater to be the threat he is. He acquits himself decently without Cater, too, [[spoiler:orchestrating a break-in into All Fine Labs and the theft of the [[AmplifierArtifact Phase Integrator]], and he shoots [[EmpoweredBadassNormal powered-up]] Joe Stanton's [[AnArmAndALeg arm off]] when they get into a fight]].

** An additional attribute called LV CAP is introduced a little later, but [[SubvertedTrope it isn't an acronym]]—or at least, not its own; CAP is simply short for "capacity."

* GeniusBruiser: Mike Van Garrett, who is vice president of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board and possesses a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He is also a muscled giant who has broken a man's femur with a single punch, was almost a match for Undyne in an arm-wrestling match, and [[spoiler:is practically unfazed when he gets shot by a man armed with a .22 caliber pistol]].

* HarmfulHealing: Toriel attempts to heal Frisk after [[spoiler:they are shot by Jordan Cater]]. While the healing magic works, [[spoiler:Frisk has to be rushed to the hospital to remove the bullet fragments left inside their body and to treat the infection from the gunshot wound itself]].

* ImpaledPalm: During the Battle For The CORE Arc, [[spoiler:Frisk and Chara do this to Jordan Cater with the Worn Dagger]].

*** As in canon, Frisk of a LV Cap of 20. [[spoiler:In this fic, however, it's unnaturally high, and an indicator of Frisk's DarkAndTroubledPast and true nature as a StephordSmiler.]]
** [[spoiler:Justin Carrow]] has a LV of 3, which he explains as a result of being a former soldier. [[spoiler:He turns out to be [[TheMole an inside man]] for the Anti-Monster League.]] [[spoiler:Except [[TheMole not really]], he's actually on the monsters' side and really is just a ShellShockedVeteran.]]
** [[spoiler:[[AbusiveParents Jason Taylor]]]] turns out to have a LV of [[spoiler:'''6''']], beating out even [[spoiler:[[BigBad Jordan Cater]]]].
** This ends up working against [[spoiler:Jordan Cater after he gains magic]], as [[spoiler:his]] body ends up reacting to the KillingIntent in [[spoiler:the bullet fired by Jason Taylor during the attack on Dreemurr Elementary]].

* TheMagicGoesAway: One of the research projects at All Fine Labs involves trying to understand why humans can no longer use magic. [[spoiler:Near the very end of the first part of the trilogy, Dr. Aster comes to the conclusion that the Barrier itself used up all available magic energy just to sustain its own existence, leaving virtually nothing left for humans to use. With the Barrier gone, [[TheMagicComesBack humans are regaining access to magic]], which Frisk intends to leverage to make sure humanity never tries to create another Barrier.]]

** [[spoiler:The Sages were apparently less prevalent in the past, being a weird cult with ominous rumors about them, but ultimately keeping to themselves… then Asriel came down the mountain with Chara's body. As a result, the town began taking them more seriously, leading to them eventually taking over Ebott's Wake.]]

** Downplayed in Dr. Aster's case; he's primarily a physicist, but also knows a lot about engineering, and mentioned that he ended up reading whatever human medical knowledge could be salvaged from the garbage dump. While this knowledge was neither complete nor comprehensive, it still made him the closest thing the Underground had to an expert on human biology and physiology.

** Byron Thorton, the town's previous postmaster [[spoiler:and the seventh member of Shop Class who united them all in a common cause]] who died after [[spoiler:he was caught by the Sages for sneaking evidence of their crimes to the federal government]].
** [[spoiler:Jordan Cater]] mentions that his wife died of some unspecified illness after Chara disappeared, but before Asriel appeared on the surface.
* PunnyName: [[spoiler:Chara's father's name is Jordan Cater, making Chara's full name Chara Cater. Completely [[LampshadeHanging Lampshades]] that in ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' proper, Chara's name comes from the word "Character."]]

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: An in-universe version with Wing Ding Aster; multiple characters refer to him by the name "Gaster" and have to be corrected. Sans explains that this was caused by a typo on some Royal Scientist paperwork.

** [[spoiler:Asriel, too, once he is resurrected for real. There's a striking contrast between how he behaves in various flashbacks and how he behaves in the present, and with a soul giving him back his full range of empathy, his past actions as Flowey now haunt him continuously.]]

* TheseHandsHaveKilled: [[spoiler:Sans's reaction to the Justice Soul's suicide. Even though he did not actually kill him, and Sans's hands did not even get dirty, both literally and figuratively, he still ''feels'' dirty. He started wearing gloves from that point on.]]

** Toriel's MyBelovedSmother tendencies show up much less frequently, and when they do, are less severe.

* WhamEpisode: The very end of chapter 49, going into chapter 50 and beyond. [[spoiler:The Anti-Monster League launches an armed assault on the State of the Kingdom Address, resulting in Frisk being shot and sent to the hospital and soon spiraling out into a riot across the town. Chapter 50 also introduces the main antagonist, who resurrects the Sages as a tangible threat and shakes up the whole town.]] This is the point where it becomes clear that the story just grew larger than its previous SliceOfLife elements.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Dr. Aster is fully aware that his dedication to his work as the Royal Scientist meant that he wasn't around Sans and Papyrus as much as they needed him to be, and put a lot of responsibility on Sans at an early age. Subverted in that both Sans and Papyrus understand that Dr. Aster's disappearance was an accident, and the three of them have taken the time and effort to reconnect rather than Dr. Aster being locked out of his sons' lives.

* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Jordan Cater introduces himself as the story's BigBad almost immediately after Riley surrenders, by shooting him in the back and then ''deliberately shooting Frisk.'' Afterwards, every encounter between Frisk and Cater involves the latter attempting to outright murder the former.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]] deliberately invokes the traditional RPG approach of fighting monsters in order to save the world, not realizing that monsters are not AlwaysChaoticEvil.
** [[spoiler:The remaining Sages]] think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong, and anyone denying that (such as Gaster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth. [[spoiler:After the raid on the CORE, Jordan Cater thinks that the monsters' secret weapon isn't the CORE, but ''Frisk''.]]
* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]] is frighteningly good at planning on the fly, negating major setbacks and hitting critical points, to the point that [[spoiler:a last-minute plan to raid the CORE, something that in different circumstances would've accomplished little more than petty vandalism, ''very nearly'' turned into [[TheBadGuyWins The Bad Guy Wins]] on a ''cosmic level'' simply from the sheer impeccable timing of it]].
* YinYangBomb: Combining Orange and Cyan magic without taking certain precautions results in this. [[spoiler:Joe Stanton discovers this by accident when trying to build a machine that lets humans use magic.]]
** [[spoiler:Frisk and Chara end up exploiting this to create a WaveMotionGun to bring down Jordan Cater.]]

** Frisk, as with in the original game. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that they are biologically female, and never thought it was important to bring it up. They're fine with everything as long as it's not he/him pronouns, and that's to avoid future confusion more than anything.]]

* AmplifierArtifact: [[spoiler:The prototypes for Joe Stanton's Phase Integrator invention are explicitly referred to as amplifiers.]] Justified by Alphys, Dr. Aster, and Sans speculating that human magic hasn't disappeared, it's simply been forgotten and neglected.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Joe Stanton gets his arm blown off at the elbow by an improvised Slam-Bang shotgun, courtesy of Thomas O'Dell.]]

* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: To quote Officer Steve on [[spoiler:the criminal charges being held against Thomas O'Dell after his arrest: “Yes. You are under arrest. We have you dead to rights for breaking and entering, vandalism, theft, conspiracy, assault, three separate counts of attempted murder, and operating a wind powered vehicle within the city limits of Ebott's Wake.”]]

* BadassBookworm: Frisk is unusually sharp and knowledgeable for their age; while not genius-level in their intellect, they are a powerhouse at finding and applying practical knowledge and covering for the things that they don't know. [[spoiler:As much as they downplay the significance of their contributions, Frisk played a major role in getting monsters situated on the Surface as their Ambassador in the weeks following the fall of the Barrier, and more or less keeping up with the adults involved at the age of ''eight''.]]

** [[spoiler:Shop Class]] starts out as one, being little more than a group of friends who banded together to [[spoiler:keep the community and its people safe when trouble rears its head]]. [[spoiler:Though the "normal" aspect doesn't apply as much once they start being able to use Human Magic…]]
** Many citizens of the town as a whole, [[spoiler:taking to the streets to fight the Anti-Monster League outside of the hospital]].

* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:Whenever Asriel is forced or pushed to take drastic actions, it painfully reminds him afterward that part of him never truly stopped being Flowey; or worse, almost convinces him that he couldn't possibly be the original Asriel who died years ago, despite solid evidence to the contrary.]]

* {{Catchphrase}}: Going by how many different town slogans get read on the air in the Morning Rush radio segments, the Ebott's Wake Tourism Board must have thought up of dozens at the very least.
* CerebusSyndrome: The moment [[spoiler:Jordan Cater]] first shows up in a scene, before [[spoiler:his name is even mentioned]], things already begin to take a turn for the serious in the {{Foreshadowing}} department. When it comes to [[spoiler:his]] proper introduction, [[spoiler:all hell has already broken loose, and ''then'' he shows up and shoots both [[WouldntHurtAChild Dwayne Riley]] and [[KidHero Frisk]] in quick succession]].

* CloudcuckoolandersMinder: Justin Carrow ends up in this position as a result of being Hal Greene's best friend since before grade school.

* ConsistentClothingStyle: Dr. Aster is always wearing black and white with a single yellow accessory, like a yellow bowtie for formal occasions or yellow sneakers. Otherwise, he is always quite conservative and professional with his clothing, like slacks, coats, button-up shirts, e.t.c.
* {{Doorstopper}}: The first story in the trilogy clocks in at ''150 chapters and a total wordcount of 598,888''.
** ContinuityCreep: The story was originally intended to be around 60 chapters long and have a different plot featuring [[spoiler:a custody battle for Frisk between the Dreemurrs and Frisk's biological parents]]. [[spoiler:According to the author, the storyline underwent massive changes with the introduction of [[BigBad Jordan Cater]], expanding the scope into a long-running trilogy.]]
* DisappearedDad: Aster outright vanished from time for several years, unintentionally leaving his sons Sans and Papyrus behind in the wake of the accident. Once he returns and learns of his circumstances, he makes up for all that lost time with interest.
* TheDragon: [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell serves as this to Jordan Cater in the revived Sages cult.]]

* EldritchAbomination: [[spoiler:The Player reveals themselves to be this. They are an outside force that's not part of this world, and their features are completely indistinct because they leave an impression of someone being there, rather than actually being there. It's not even possible to classify their speech as ''talking''.]]
* ElementalPowers: While the elements of [[PlayingWithFire Fire]], [[MakingASplash Water]], [[ShockAndAwe Lightning]], [[BlowYouAway Wind]], and [[DishingOutDirt Earth]] are all present in monster magic, they are less important than the color of the magic itself. At one point, Dr. Aster explains that magical electricity and physical electricity behave differently, which is why the CORE in Hotland can't be tied into the local power grid.
* EleventhHourSuperpower:
** A villainous example when [[spoiler:Jordan Cater uses the stolen [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phase Integrator]] to temporarily supercharge himself with magic]].
** Followed by [[spoiler:Frisk using their own magic to form [[FluffyTheTerrible Mister Hyper Goner]], a cross-inspiration between the Aster Blasters and Hyperdeath Asriel's own Hyper Goner attack, to put a stop to Cater's subsequent one-man rampage throughout town]].

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: [[spoiler:Jordan Cater proves incapable of seeing monsters as no different than human beings at heart, instead believing that they are mockeries of life that even lack true consciousness, who either ''must'' be plotting the downfall of humanity or are corrupting with their mere presence.]]
* {{Eye Scream}}: [[spoiler:Joe Stanton loses his glasses in a particular fashion when a science experiment blows up in his face. And then proceeds to use Magic to ''rip out all of the forty-seven pieces of shrapnel lodged in his eyeballs'' before healing the damage with the aforementioned magic.]]

** The Anti-Monster League's bread and butter. Though as far as influence goes, they're viewed by the rest of the town's residents as a vocal nuisance at best. [[spoiler:That is, until the AML attempts to outright siege the town.]]
** [[spoiler:The resurrected Sages cult that replaces the Anti-Monster League after its effective downfall is forced to operate from the shadows, but is a much more potent threat in terms of their goals and methods.]]

* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler:Jordan Cater's initial plan to use the Anti-Monster League to siege the town and wipe out all monsters gets ''completely'' blindsided by the fact that the majority of the humans in town wind up siding with the monsters in the conflict; something that should be obvious to anyone seeing monsters and humans openly coexisting in the same community.]]
* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Doctor Wing Ding Aster only gets launched three years into the future at the start of the story, but there have been so many changes between those two points that he has to work double-time to catch up with the rest of the monsters in learning about the Surface.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[spoiler:A large part of Jordan Cater's motivations involve avenging the death of his daughter Chara (and to a lesser extent, the other six fallen humans). However, as pointed out multiple times — and more than once, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to his face]] — he's all too willing to kill another human child to achieve his goals, so nobody feels all that sorry for him. Not helping his case is that [[AbusiveParents he's the reason Chara climbed Mt. Ebott in the first place.]]]]

** Dr. Aster explains that every vital statistic is actually an acronym.
** An attribute called LV CAP is introduced early on, which stands for '''L'''evel of '''V'''iolence '''CAP'''acity, an upper limit for how high a person's LV can actually get. Averted when it comes to Level of Violence, which is never actually refered to as LOVE.

* GeniusBruiser: Mike Van Garrett, vice-president of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board and possesses a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He is also a muscled giant who has broken a man's femur with a single punch, was almost a match for Undyne in an arm-wrestling match, and [[spoiler:is practically unfazed when he gets shot by a man armed with a .22 caliber pistol]].

** It becomes clear early on that Frisk didn't come from a healthy home prior to their fall into the Underground...

** [[spoiler:Shop Class]] starts out as one, being little more than a group of friends who banded together to [[spoiler:keep the community and its people safe when trouble rears its head.]] [[spoiler:Though the "normal" aspect doesn't apply as much once they start being able to use Human Magic...]]
** Many citizens of the town as a whole, [[spoiler:taking to the streets to fight the Anti-Monster League outside of the hospital.]]

* ByTheBookCop: Officer Steven Ward is considered a [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Reasonable Authority Figure]] by almost everyone else in town, human and monster alike.

* CerebusSyndrome: The moment [[spoiler:Jordan Cater]] first shows up in a scene, before [[spoiler:his name is even mentioned]], things already begin to take a turn for the serious in the [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowing]] department. When it comes to [[spoiler:his]] proper introduction, [[spoiler:all hell has already broken loose, and ''then'' he shows up and shoots both [[WouldntHurtAChild Dwayne Riley]] and [[KidHero Frisk]] in quick succession.]]

** To a lesser extent, this also applies to Quentin Forsythe, the resident [[ConspiracyTheorist Conspiracy Theorist]].

** ContinuityCreep: The story was originally intended to be around 60 chapters long and have a different plot featuring [[spoiler:a custody battle for Frisk between the Dreemurrs and Frisk's biological parents.]] [[spoiler:According to the author, the storyline underwent massive changes with the introduction of [[BigBad Jordan Cater]], expanding the scope into a long-running trilogy.]]

* TheDragon: [[spoiler: Thomas O'Dell serves as this to Jordan Cater in the revived Sages cult.]]

** A villainous example when [[spoiler:Jordan Cater uses the stolen [[AppliedPhlebotinum Phase Integrator]] to temporarily supercharge himself with magic.]]
** Followed by [[spoiler:Frisk using their own magic to form [[FluffyTheTerrible Mister Hyper Goner]], a cross-inspiration between the Aster Blasters and Hyperdeath Asriel's own Hyper Goner attack, to put a stop to Cater's subsequent one-man rampage throughout town.]]

* FamilyOfChoice: A subtle but recurring theme throughout the trilogy. Frisk's connection with the monsters they met in the Underground is much stronger and closer than any connection they have with their biological family or humans they knew on the surface. To a lesser extent this also applies to the town of Ebott's Wake as a whole, with various citizens taking pride in their local traditions and history no matter how ridiculous they may appear to tourists and outsiders.

* ForWantOfANail: Many of the series' key events of both the past and present naturally stemmed from Chara climbing Mount Ebott and falling into the Underground, but both that and the events that follow after can be traced back to [[spoiler:Jordan Cater's inability to properly care for his child.]]
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: [[spoiler: A large part of Jordan Cater's motivations involve avenging the death of his daughter Chara (and to a lesser extent, the other six fallen humans). However, as pointed out multiple times - and more then once, [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to his face]] - he's all too willing to kill another human child to achieve his goals, so nobody feels all that sorry for him. Not helping his case is that [[AbusiveParents he's the reason Chara climbed Mt. Ebott in the first place.]]]]

* GeniusBruiser: Mike Van Garrett, vice-president of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board and possesses a degree in Aerospace Engineering. He is also a muscled giant who has broken a man's femur with a single punch, was almost a match for Undyne in an arm-wrestling match, and [[spoiler:is practically unfazed when he gets shot by a man armed with a .22 caliber pistol.]]

* HarmfulHealing: Toriel attempts to heal Frisk after [[spoiler:they are shot by Jordan Cater.]] While the healing magic works, [[spoiler:Frisk has to be rushed to the hospital to remove the bullet fragments left inside their body and to treat the infection from the gunshot wound itself.]]
* HealingPotion: Monster food is explicitly mentioned as healing a wide variety of illnesses and injuries, including cancer and nerve damage, though it does have limits. Frisk still has to get shots for their allergies, [[spoiler:and healing magic can't grow back Joe Stanton's arm after it gets shot off.]]
* ImpaledPalm: During the Battle For The CORE Arc, [[spoiler:Frisk and Chara do this to Jordan Cater with the Worn Dagger.]]

*** As in canon, Frisk of a LV Cap of 20. [[spoiler: In this fic, however, it's unnaturally high, and an indicator of Frisk's DarkAndTroubledPast and true nature as a StephordSmiler.]]
** [[spoiler: Justin Carrow]] has a LV of 3, which he explains as a result of being a former soldier. [[spoiler: He turns out to be [[TheMole an inside man]] for the Anti-Monster League.]] [[spoiler: Except [[TheMole not really]], he's actually on the monsters' side and really is just a ShellShockedVeteran.]]
** [[spoiler:[[AbusiveParents Jason Taylor]]]] turns out to have a LV of [[spoiler:'''6''']], beating out evenn [[spoiler:[[BigBad Jordan Cater]].]]
** This ends up working against [[spoiler: Jordan Cater after he gains magic,]] as [[spoiler: his]] body ends up reacting to the KillingIntent in [[spoiler: the bullet fired by Jason Taylor during the attack on Dreemurr Elementary.]]

* LivingShadow: One of these is shown to be indirectly responsible for Flowey leaving the Underground and joining everyone else on the surface; he gives it his Post-Pacifist speech thinking that it is Chara in some form and proceeds to [[FreakOut Freak Out]] when he realizes that it isn't.
* MagicAIsMagicA: There are seven "bands" of magic, each identified by a [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience color which matches the seven human Soul colors]]. Each color has specific properties that dictate how it interacts with the physical world, but multiple bands of magic can be mixed or combined for different results, mostly limited to the magical strength, mental creativity and rooted beliefs of the experienced caster.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: The Anti-Monster League are regarded by everyone as a nuisance at worst, despite them being a major obstacle to integrating monsters and humans. Then [[spoiler: they stage an assault on the State of the Kingdom address which leads to Frisk getting shot and the revival of [[TheDreaded the Sages]].]] Subverted with [[spoiler: Dwayne Riley himself]], however; while [[spoiler: he leads the assault and even has Undyne at gunpoint, he can't bring himself to harm Frisk when the latter calls his bluff, leading to [[BigBad Jordan Cater]] shooting both of them.]]
** [[spoiler: The Sages were apparently less prevalent in the past, being a weird cult with ominous rumors about them, but ultimately keeping to themselves... then Asriel came down the mountain with Chara's body. As a result, the town began taking them more seriously, leading to them eventually taking over Ebott's Wake.]]

** Byron Thorton, the town's previous postmaster [[spoiler:and the seventh member of Shop Class who united them all in a common cause]] who died after [[spoiler:he was caught by the Sages for sneaking evidence of their crimes to the federal government.]]

** Many of the teachers at Dreemurr Elementary School are named after members of the Game Grumps. Music teacher Danny and Math teacher Brian are the most explicit examples, in that they used to have a cover / tribute band based on Ninja Sex Party.

* SquishyWizard: Sans and Dr. Aster speculate that this is the case [[spoiler:when Jordan Cater is shot while attacking Frisk's school, and can't heal himself because the magic in his body was responding to the [[KillingIntent intent to harm]] from his attacker.]]

** Early on, it becomes apparent to Frisk's adoptive monster family that Frisk has been hiding a lot of trauma and anxiety for fear of being rejected [[spoiler:and sent back to the circumstances that left them so scarred to start with.]]

** Implied in ''Legacy of the Magi'' to be the reason for [[spoiler:Chara's overly formal and precise manner of speaking. They are more casual and less formal in some flashbacks and when speaking to Asriel and Frisk in the present.]]
* TemporalParadox: The Core facility in Hotland was built specifically to create a paradox that could [[RetGone unmake]] or [[TimeCrash destroy]] the Barrier, allowing monsters to escape the Underground without requiring any human souls at all. The first full-scale test [[FreakLabAccident doesn't go as planned]] and is not only responsible for Dr. Aster's [[TimeTravel trip to the future]] but the Save Points scattered throughout the Underground [[spoiler:and the surface.]]
* ThereAreNoTherapists: Averted multiple times. Toriel's school has a counselor on staff, [[spoiler:and after Frisk is shot, the subject of psychological first aid comes up to help them deal with the trauma of the attack.]]

** Toriel's [[MyBelovedSmother My Beloved Smother]] tendencies show up much less frequently, and when they do, are less severe.

* WhamEpisode: The very end of chapter 49, going into chapter 50 and beyond. [[spoiler:The Anti-Monster League launches an armed assault on the State of the Kingdom Address, resulting in Frisk being shot and sent to the hospital and soon spiraling out into a riot across the town. Chapter 50 also introduces the main antagonist, who resurrects the Sages as a tangible threat and shakes up the whole town.]] This is the point where it becomes clear that the story just grew larger than its previous [[SliceOfLife Slice of Life]] elements.

* WouldntHurtAChild: Dwayne Riley, for all his anger, racism and bluster, [[spoiler:ultimately chooses to toss down his gun during the AML riot, when Frisk shields a wounded Undyne and calls him out on his actions.]] [[spoiler:As Papyrus later points out, Frisk's smaller size meant that Riley still had a clear line of fire on Undyne, but chose to put down his gun and surrender rather than endanger a child's life.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler: Jordan Cater introduces himself as the story's [[BigBad Big Bad]] almost immediately after Riley surrenders, by shooting him in the back and then ''deliberately shooting Frisk.'' Afterwards, every encounter between Frisk and Cater involves the latter attempting to outright murder the former.]]
* WrongGenreSavvy: [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]] deliberately invokes the traditional RPG approach of fighting monsters in order to save the world, not realizing that monsters are not [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Always Chaotic Evil.]]
** [[spoiler: The remaining Sages]] think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to SetRightWhatOnceWasWrong, and anyone denying that (such as Gaster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth. [[spoiler: After the raid on the CORE, Jordan Cater thinks that the monsters' secret weapon isn't the CORE, but ''Frisk.'']]
* XanatosSpeedChess: [[spoiler:Thomas O'Dell]] is frighteningly good at planning on the fly, negating major setbacks and hitting critical points, to the point that [[spoiler:a last-minute plan to raid the CORE, something that in different circumstances would've accomplished little more than petty vandalism, ''very nearly'' turned into [[TheBadGuyWins The Bad Guy Wins]] on a ''cosmic level'' simply from the sheer impeccable timing of it.]]

** [[spoiler: Frisk and Chara end up exploiting this to create a WaveMotionGun to bring down Jordan Cater]].

* StandardStatusEffects: Monster illnesses resemble these, and the differences between monster and human biology makes it difficult but not impossible for humans to contract them.

** Between Hal Greene and [[spoiler:Asriel Dreemurr]]; the former being a thirty-something car mechanic and at times a [[CrazyAwesome Crazy Awesome]] [[CloudCuckooLander madman]], and the latter being a mellow child of no older than eleven.

** [[spoiler: The remaining Sages]] think the CORE is actually a time machine that allows the monsters to MakeWrongWhatOnceWasRight, and anyone denying that (such as Gaster, who built the thing and ''repeatedly'' states it's not a time machine) is just lying to cover up the truth. [[spoiler: After the raid on the CORE, Jordan Cater thinks that the monsters' secret weapon isn't the CORE, but ''Frisk.'']]