Okay, now that I’m thinking about the ending of the bartimaeus trilogy, I can’t help but draw some parallels to Undertale, so if you don’t want to be spoiled for either, don’t look under the cut! (Especially Undertale’s Destruction run).

The thing I’m thinking about here in particular is this:

Chara vs Frisk and Bartimaeus vs Faquarl

This might be confusing at first, until you think about what happened near the end of the bartimaeus trilogy:

“Ah, you traitor …” Faquarl had been in Hopkins’s body for a long time; he licked his lips just as a human might. “I care nothing for that loss—the world is crammed with humans, and there are spirits enough to fill them all. But as for you … To murder your own kind, to defend your old oppressors … No, it sickens my essence to think of it!” His hands were clenched; his voice was high with emotion. “We have fought each other many times, Bartimaeus, but always because of chance, because of our masters’ whims. And now, when we are the masters at last, and should celebrate together, now you choose to carry out this rank betrayal! You, Sakhr al-Jinni himself! How can you justify your actions?”



“Me, the traitor?” To begin with, I had just been keeping him talking, waiting till our strength recovered from our fall, but now I was too incensed to think. My voice rose to the old wendigo roar that echoed through the pinewoods and kept the tribes cowering in their teepees. “You’re the one who’s turned his back forever on the Other Place! How much more of a traitor can you be—to desert your home, to encourage fellow spirits to abandon it forever by becoming squatters in these bags of bones? And for what? What do you get from this benighted wasteland?”



“Vengeance,” Faquarl whispered. “Vengeance is our master here. It keeps us in this world. It gives us purpose.”



“ ‘Purpose’ is a human concept,” I said quietly. “We never needed that before. This body of yours isn’t just a disguise anymore, is it? It isn’t just a barrier against pain. It’s what you’re busily becoming.”



The fire behind the eyes flared indignantly, then dwindled suddenly, grew dull. “Perhaps so, Bartimaeus, perhaps so …” The voice was soft and wistful; the hands patted the front of the rumpled suit. “Between ourselves, I will admit to feeling a certain discomfort in this body that I had not anticipated. It is not like the old sharp pain we have long withstood; rather, it’s a dull itch that nags at me, a hollowness inside that no amount of slaughter can quite ease. So far, at any rate.” He gave a rueful grin. “I intend to keep trying.”



“That hollowness,” I said. “It’s what you’ve lost. The tie to the Other Place.”

Why I’m bringing this up is this struck me with similarity to the endings of both the pacifist and destruction runs of Undertale.

If you have done a pacifist playthrough, and Frisk is still holding on, in the last mirror, it will say:

Despite everything, it is still you.

If you go through with the Destruction run, all you will read is:

It’s me.

The dichotomy I’m bringing up here is losing yourself in your struggle and becoming something so much worse, and holding on despite all odds.

Bartimaeus manages to hold on, and stay despite all the odds, a spirit. Despite everything, it’s still him. Faquarl succumbed to his hatred and the grinding influence of the earth and gained a purpose…that purpose being revenge. Go back to Chara now:

Greetings. I am Chara.

Thank you. Your power awakened me from death.

My “human soul.” My “determination.”

They were not mine, but yours.

At first, I was so confused.

Our plan had failed, hadn’t it?

Why was I brought back to life?

…

You.

With your guidance I realized the purpose of my reincarnation.

Power.

Together, we eradicated the enemy and became strong.

HP. ATK. DEF. GOLD. EXP. LV.

Every time a number increases, that feeling…

That’s me. “Chara.”

Now. Now, we have reached the absolute.

There is nothing left for us here. […]

It isn’t just Chara then; it’s YOUR guidance of Chara that leads you to the destruction ending. Certainly Chara is confirmed to have hated humanity. The last conversation with Asriel confirms this. But I’m unsure if I would categorize them as a “demon child” because Undertale doesn’t seem like that kind of game.



I’m recalling what this person had to say on the idea:



I feel like Chara’s still a huge mystery, because it just doesn’t make sense for Chara to be 100% evil tiny satan, to the core, from the start; I don’t think Undertale is that kind of game. obviously they had some terrible experiences with humanity, and it kind of reminds me, in a weird way, of Undyne. Undyne is a true hero, forever, always, but in neutral endings where she’s in charge and mobilizing to destroy humanity, she’s definitely in a different class than Asgore - she sincerely believes that this is how everyone’s hopes and dreams will come true, and she’s not going to half-ass it; she’ll become the hero for the monsters, and once she has that resolve, after being completely disillusioned by humanity, I would not doubt her conviction to spearhead a war against humans. I think if you took that and pushed it a bit further, maybe add something a little more selfish, that might be in the ballpark of where first fallen child was. or maybe I’m being too generous. maybe first fallen child really is tiny satan. who knows? not me.

It is of high importance then that nobody recognizes you as Chara once the true pacifist ending has been achieved! And I feel like the marker where we can count them as put to rest is the same marker where we would say Asriel was saved and brought to rest too.

Going back to the Bartimaeus Trilogy, Bartimaeus and Faquarl start out the same, practically brought to earth as it were near the same time. How were they both influenced? Faquarl becomes more and more “human” until by the end of the trilogy, he practically is one, severing his ties to the Other Place in the process. Less related, but remember in the Destruction run the text you get when you enter Toriel’s kitchen?

Where are the knives

Now I’m not saying the first thing Faquarl would do is go into the kitchen and look for the knives, but I AM saying that is totally something Faquarl would do.