Music Theory: Undertale's Undyne Themes

[@solidgamer6160]

I’m so ridiculously happy you’ve branched into Undertale music. I really hope you do more

[@xuko6792]

We getting closer, yay!

[@moadot720]

Fixed the 118 likes.

[@MemeinAndDreamin]

I hope not

[@knoxdafoxtv7678]

I hope you like ur new basketball coach usc fan

[@JojoJere]

he wont

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

13:00 - Minor nitpick: Undyne is the hero antagonist, and you are the villain protagonist.

[@thehermit8618]

You could argue Undyne does become the protagonist as what this fight means for her is larger than whatever it might mean for you as a senseless killer. That fight is her moment, her ascend into the spotlight to be the hero she was trained to be for all monster kind

[@m3gapixel878]

​@@thehermit8618 the protagonist is the one you follow throught the game/movie, purpose does change the hero/villain, but not the protagonist/antagonist, at least this is what I think it is.

[@Jeremy-ld9wt]

Friendly reminder that the protagonist is not the good guy, just the main character, evil or not!

[@sunscraper1]

​@@thehermit8618think about Death Note for a moment.

[@Kat-Kobold]

@@thehermit8618 definitionally, Undyne is still an antagonist on the genocide route, since she's trying to maintain the status quo, while Frisk/Chara is the protagonist, since they're trying to enact change.

[@Mimikins]

Undyne isn't a bad lady. She's just doing her job and isn't fully trusting of hoomans yet.

[@Bryce_the_Woomy_Boi]

Considering the war, can you blame her?

[@JojoJere]

I can't take you seriously when you say "hoomans" like that. You sound like a cringe therian

[@jacksonpekny431]

one thing to point out: the Ruins theme is also remixed for the Waterfall theme, so it's more likely that Spear of Justice is meant to reference that version!

[@Yuti640]

Huge respect for talking about Undyne instead of the obvious fan favourite character She’s cool

[@CyberDucke]

Well he only has 3 songs

[@ihaetschool3361]

@@CyberDucke 4, actually

[@CyberDucke]

@@ihaetschool3361 which one?

[@CyberDucke]

@@ihaetschool3361 oh yeah I forgot about it’s raining somewhere else

[@BraviaGames]

Dude, this is NUTS! Seeing Alex play the theremin was my favorite part! The rest of the video is not far behind either.

[@Pirateyware]

Another aspect of Undyne's character you didn't touch upon in the video is a slight undercurrent of piratey-ness. She's a sea creature, she has an eyepatch, and "Spear of Justice" is in 6/8 time, a classic "piratey" rhythm.

[@Gemini053]

I hear Spanish flamenco influence too. Especially in the scrapped version. EDIT - (9:58) Nevermind, he brought that point up too.

[@sybiliminalSyntax]

i love how you say "the composer" as if we don't all know who toby fox is

[@jellywillreturn]

As it turns out, this was foreshadowing for some truly strange and ill-founded conspiracy theories Alex holds.

[@inkywright]

Something about NGAHHH! really works with its military chords and sudden orchestral hits, like, it just makes Toby an absolute genius with his subtle progressions and rises of power with each new incarnation of the song. Please do more Undertale, it needs even more discussion of its brilliant compositional showpieces. I absolutely adore your work, Alex, keep it up.

[@FrostFire425]

I love how you'recalling him “the Composer” rather than just saying “Toby Fox”... Feels like giving him the respect he deserves.

[@AlexYardZone]

Yeah, some people thought it was disrespectful, imagine that. In these videos I generally try not to keep saying the composers name because it takes you out of the immersion and makes you aware of a person just clicking notes on their computer screen. In addition to Tobs being a private person. I always intended to give Toby at least some kind of composer spotlight in a future video, as was done for Koji Kondo in the Dire Dire Docks video.

[@jellywillreturn]

This was Ground Zero for Alex’s psychotic break…

[@SomeUsernameSomeoneElseTookIt]

@@jellywillreturn Real!!!

[@erkanerkan3643]

he made a video about this

[@dayzlove4994]

I like how Undyne has 6 track and They're ALL bangers. You could make a whole CHANNEL out of this game. There's so much, there's even one for that bird that carried you over a disproportionately small gap.

[@1no1.]

I'm sorry if this comes off as strange or anything, but, like, THIS IS SO UNBELIEVABLY GOOD?! LIKE. OMG?! I cannot stress enough how much I absolotely love this! AGAIN sorry if I seem really odd or anything but it's just, as someone who is very interested in this game's lore SPECIFICALLY about Undyne as I feel that she has NEVER gotten the recognition she deserves, seeing something so new and in-depth as this has quite simply BLOWN ME AWAY. THANK YOU for making this video (and I apologise if this is strange)

[@JojoJere]

cringe emo reaction to undertale

[@1no1.]

@@JojoJere crings

[@JojoJere]

@@1no1. I fixed it grammar nerd.

[@Gmann-q4r]

The melody in the B part of battle against a true hero after the main theme theme takes a back seat is basically an extra dramatic 4/4 version of thr ruins theme

[@psyphon3]

Never did I think you'd treat us to an Undertale music theory. Please do more this was great!

[@gammaguyyt]

ive always been a large fan of the chord structure in the chase theme, happy you covered it

[@21volts_gaming_official]

My jaw dropped at 7:03. So thats where that song came from! Great job Alex!

[@MasteredRealm]

I was initially a bit disappointed with the themes you chose to analyze because I never really liked the tense segments these themes were used in. But, man! you just made me like the soundtrack even more! You never disappoint, Alex! This is brilliant

[@reziinicoo]

What do you mean

[@CozyBanx]

This is the best "talk music" channel on the site.

[@Zsaber64]

Alex, this was a really good video. More of this. Not simply positivity for its own sake, but videos that are coherent, enjoyable, entertaining, and showcase your talents and ear for analysis and editing. Even the humor, while not knee slapping or anything, is actually understandable and decent enough. Opinion, conjecture, accusation, debate, and controversy are not your strong points and are not what anyone wants from you or your channel. You're probably not going back to Undertale like this ever again, which is a shame, but hopefully you do.

[@OwlManlololhesofunne6655]

Not only is he not gonna go back to undertale, but i'll be surprised if he ever stops talking about the drama he went through

[@Ah2o5b]

Cry me a river toby is a theif

[@Tran3x72]

​@@Ah2o5bit's "thief" Since you cannot spell something that a third grader can, how do you think you can have a say on that? And also, have you ever heard of "inspiration" I know, i know, you're like 5, you don't even know what that means.

[@Mortimer_RS]

@@Ah2o5b obvious bait

[@Tran3x72]

@@Mortimer_RS fr tho i fell for it maybe I'M the stupid one

[@dewotm8]

Fun fact: in battle against a true hero starting at 0:45 there is a leitmotif of tavros theme(desperado rocket chairs, another song composed by Toby.) from Homestuck. I assume the connection being that they are both bullfighter inspired Speer users who have some focus on bravery.

[@Just-A-Chill-Gamer]

9:55 Yeah, it's the Ruins theme, BUT it's most likely a reference to the waterfall theme. The Ruins Lietmotif in Waterfall happens at about 27 seconds in the Waterfall theme. Also, Awesome Video!

[@klonpa]

the editing on this one is so good!!!! the end of asgores theme lining up with the end of the fight in footage was a really nice touch, and the segment talking about the credits theme doubling as the actual video credits is a really smart usage of time!! you crammed so much information into this video without making it any longer than your average videos its amazing ^0^

[@Terionic]

very great video, i do hope you come back to undertale sometime soon! i would personally like a video going over how the themes in the true lab are built, those are some of my favorites

[@chriscooper420]

Both your channel and this game have become near and dear to my heart, it's wonderful to see them combined! I really hope you continue with Undertale in future videos

[@mettaton1669]

Nice, love when people take the time to appreciate Undertale's soundtrack. I'd love to see some analysis on Mettaton's music

[@chuchu9649]

The editing on this video (like all of your videos) is superb and really helps your explanations. 😊 Great stuff as always!

[@jcoxeye9200]

14:02 I know this is sort of adjacent to the point, but I'd like to note that this isn't entirely the case: The first half of the 'Ruins' motif *is* present in Battle Against a True Hero, but in a modified form, as heard at timestamps 0:44-1:35. The same modified 'Ruins' motif also appears in An Ending (1:01-3:21), Don't Give Up (0:00-2:00), and Respite (0:33-1:47). In any case, it's a modified version of the motif that appears in Spear of Justice, in conjunction with the second half during timestamps 0:36-1:20, and on its own during timestamps 1:20-1:53 (and for reference, appears in Waterfall during timestamps 0:27-1:08).

[@ak47dragunov]

Undertale/Deltarune are an absolute goldmine for music theory analysis. Hope you revisit this series ASAP

[@iNelaphim]

Alex, you're evolving every video and I'm here for it bud. Keep up the amazing work!

[@Yoshikid4070]

If this is gonna be the next game you analyze music for then I cannot wait for Alphys, so then you would have to find a way to contextualize the leitmotif in "Bird That Carries You Over A Disproportionately Small Gap"

[@Weirdcko]

I feel like I learned a lot about hero and villain motifs in this video. Great vid as always Alex!

[@whirl3690]

I swear to God the Minor 2nd is my favorite interval

[@jsels777]

I don't know why, but undertale feels like a natural extension of this channel's content past sonic 3, and this was a really great video to start with!

[@Hamond1989]

Yay, hope you'll do more Undertale in the future :) ty for making all these by the way, I'm fascinated by music since a long time, but my brain has a hard time grasping and understanding it but your videos help me quiet a bit to understand and slowly build up the courage to one day finally try and learn one the instruments I'm fascinated by

[@gigithehedgehog8469]

Wow! I never expected you to do Undertale music theory. Amazing as always!

[@zinklebob3650]

3:25 I have played undertale 6 times and not once did I realize you can just not save monster kid

[@brawlmasterjoelstudios]

Also the instrumentation is great The harpsichord, making you think of a medival knight's armor, and the theramin making you think of the otherworldly monster that wears it

[@unsmart42069]

14:03 there's also a part earlier in the song, where it takes the variation of the other ruins melody and puts it into 4/4. same variation at 15:45, actually. come to think of it, this variation is actually heavily related to undyne. It plays when she's dying in the neutral route, it plays in her scene in the credits, it plays the first time she is dying in the genocide route, and it plays in her boss theme in the genocide route. damn.

[@Mystic_Apollo]

Alot of people go on about "use this chord progression for this emotion" and babble on yet all their examples pieces have no emotion behind them. THIS though is a perfect analysis of how these different progressions work and how to use them and their emotional context while actually having emotion behind them! So I guess good work and thank you? I now finally understand the uses of neopolitan chords and andelusian cadence

[@zekeram129]

Fun Fact! Undyne's the first major boss that can actually kill you in normal circumstances. Toriel's attacks will stop hitting you at 2 HP, but you can finangle your way into getting killed if you're skilled enough, which will treat you to a split second of Toriel staring in shock and horror as you die. Papyrus, however, cannot kill you. It is literally impossible to die to Papyrus. He's just that cool.

[@RikouHogashi]

Ahh the 3 Major themes of Undyne she's also a Pianist herself it seems not to mention Waterfall's theme being a variant of one of them

[@Karanthaneos]

In my opinion, Toby Fox is one of the great composers of our time. His melodies always feel so rich and work so well with what his stories. It's the advantage of having the game designer the same as the composer, there's a level of intimacy and cohesion that could only be achieved like that.

[@Kess_P2]

I never made the connection between the green human soul's section in Your Best Nightmare and Undyne's theme. Somehow, I am still learning new things about Undertale.

[@lurkathon]

The Eggman Cadence at the end much more feels to me like a final heroic push, where you know you can win against the evil if you persevere.

[@gerniyy5579]

More undertale/deltarune please your analysis videos are top tier.

[@funnylittlecreature]

Oh my gosh, I’ve been thinking and feeling this stuff the whole time I’ve been listening to this music, and this gave me the words to describe it! That’s so cool.

[@prismaux5168]

Incredible video! very nice editing :)

[@punkipatchmusic]

Oooh, nice!! I've always wanted to see some more analytical stuff about Undertale's music, as, despite working with it a lot, I don't really know music theory at all.

[@GarrySummer1700123Summer]

Love your videos dude, keep them coming

[@ignaciobarron2931]

Man im just discovering your content and its amazing, really helps in getting into music in more detail in a fun and interesting way with the tunes i grew up listening to, please keep up the great work, also hate to be that guy but could you make one about metallic madness?

[@j_ravioli6154]

Incoming requests for big shot? Jokes aside, very very nice analysis and I'm just happy for any content lmao

[@emiljunstrand]

On the Neapolitan chord section: The Bull Fight gives me Wind Waker flashbacks. Similar DNA when comes to the Mini-boss?

[@Green-3c34y65vrbu]

WOOO UNDERTALE!! love the video c:

[@rimetxy]

Finally someone who analizes the run song

[@Yuti640]

9:48 I don’t know if that blurry background footage lining up to the music was intentional or not

[@warlloverespanol2897]

Heya i maybe late, but ¿we can get a metallic madness music theory? It may be long and hard but i want to know more about the zone and music that (we) love!

[@ShowWithNoName]

The more you learn about the music theory of Undertale, the more you realize that Toby Fox wanted to create as few ideas as possible and reuse them in as many ways as he could.

[@Eliasdbr]

I never realized Undyne was playing Alphy's song on her piano until now

[@JestroGameDev]

This is amazing, and it’s great to see you continue to make music theory videos. Could I request a video on metallic madness from sonic CD?

[@thealandude9146]

Oh wow I didn't even know you did an Undertale one now

[@corruptedteka]

A delight as always !

[@TrevinAdams]

Fantastic break down! Thank you very much!!!

[@ObaREX]

I never made the connection between Undone and Jaws and now my mind is blown.

[@ShineTermiten]

Awsome analysis!

[@poppyfrancis7338]

I can't believe I never noticed that she's playing piano is alphys's theme, I recognized it from somewhere but couldn't place my finger on it

[@BillyAW]

Have you thought about reviewing Kirby music from the SNES era? I think Kirby Super Star and Kirby's Dream Land 3 have insanely well composed tracks, and I would love to see you pick them apart!

[@leonl1559]

Thanks for your content ❤

[@pixeldemon6173]

Interesting note: in undertale all the main female characters have odd time signature themes while all males have even time signature

[@YARGGG_GG]

ooh, that was great :) very insightful and thorough. wouldn't mind more undertale stuff.

[@vasilef3500]

I feel like I wait for it my entire life

[@tailpig6417]

The middle section of Battle Against A True Hero is a slightly changed Ruins motif

[@seronymus]

What can be said, honestly? This analysis was a long time coming and it's an Easter feast as much as I love Sonic. It seems obvious in hindsight but I beer attributed such classic chords to Undertale music, almost like the simplicity deceived me. Thanks for this. And it's not even Megalovania!

[@Chillipeffer]

Can you do a music theory on plants Vs zombies? I think Laura Shigihara's compositions are very good at conveying the story in a simple setting

[@aykarain]

3:04 the theremin just makes it scarier for me tho :P

[@graysongdl]

I hope you do more of these! As much as the Sonic fan in me wants to learn more about some of my favorite Sonic games, the Undertale fan in me wants to know exactly what went into all of these songs to make them so good. Especially since Undertale is a much more personal experience, being largely from the mind of one guy. And that's best seen in the music, considering it was one of the aspects of the game that he was 100% responsible for.

[@nerathi]

I hope there's more Undertale music theory coming.

[@underbe1319]

I miss But Earth Refused to Die,but still,it was interresting to know Undyne's music theory.

[@arn3107]

don't forget the mitsuda lick at 14:17

[@TheRealHotVanilla]

Please do more Undertale music theory!

[@KeritechElectronics]

Thanks for the analysis! I don't know squat about music theory, always appreciating people with knowledge and insight. (Knowing that this badass chick will kiss an uber nerd in the end... It fills you with determination.)

[@djanatyn]

beautiful, thanks so much, now i can understand and appreciate these songs even more

[@user-uy1ko9ob5j]

such a good video

[@sirozen8133]

Really cool to see both my favourite games with fire music sonic and undertale!Can't wait to see more

[@callumsparrow4379]

Toby Dorian Fox honestly has a nice ring to it.

[@denmarine7925]

Thanks for the video, you're cool

[@HKG4]

Hopefully he talks about Ghost Fight, Mad Dummy, and Spider Dance

[@NGO9000]

Actually, speaking of battle against a true hero, I made a comment on Davi vasc's video reacting to it, and commented on key parts of the timestamps, giving thought on what was going on during the track.

[@GenericInternetPerson]

Minor nitpicks: throughout the video the notes shown suggest a BPM of 260, which is unnecessarily high. 130 would be a better candidate. also, i noticed you had shown 6/4-time signature, while the actual piece is in 3/4-time.

[@gooolixx]

YES please do more undertale

[@abxy_real_official_since2020]

My friend Alex would be proud!

[@gusmusicau]

You would have a field day with ZUN compositions

[@Earoist]

Oh, Undertale? Fuck yeah

[@bubblewiz120]

Hi there Alex Yard & Knuckles, great job on this video! Could you make a video called “Music Theory: Sonic 2's Hill Top Zone and Sonic 2006's Crisis City”? Could you also give it a part where the “Hill Top Zone” theme from “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” and the “Crisis City” theme from “Sonic the Hedgehog 2006” sound similar to each other?

[@theultimategamertr2353]

What’s next ? Death By Glamour ? Megalovania ? sans. ? Bonetrousle ?

[@GabrielAraujo-qm3hc]

Dont know if you plan on doing it further down the line, but could you analyse the Dark gaia themes (part 1 and 2) from sonic unleashed and how they manage to convey their message

[@ruskah0307]

i will kill for more undertale analysis's

[@ashland6562]

Could you do a music theory of any Pizza Tower song? I would love an in depth video on its songs.

[@Lunatic89097]

I second this! That score is wild.

[@YourLocalJamesHetfieldFangirl]

Can You Do a Music Theory on Roar! Cloverfield Overture?

[@sanicmaniac]

0:40 that should be a semitone higher on the piano lol

[@AlexYardZone]

Yeah, I put a text disclaimer in text at the bottom of the screen at that part.The. Reason Why I transposed It Visually to a minor is because it gives a much better visual impression of where the neapolitan chord is compared to the tonic.

[@sanicmaniac]

@@AlexYardZone Oh I didn't see

[@uraynuke]

WHAT it actually happened?! you're doing UNDERTALE!? EDIT: upon viewing this, it appears you forgot to mention that Battle Against a True Hero has Alphys' theme in it!

[@markymar]

It does?