The death of the author in interactive narrative with a study of undertale (2015)

Fathurrohim, Muhammad Rayhan (2026) The death of the author in interactive narrative with a study of undertale (2015). Sarjana thesis, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung.

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Abstract

This study examines how Roland Barthes' concept of the Death of the Author is enacted within the interactive narrative of Undertale (2015), a role-playing video game whose story is shaped by player choice rather than fixed authorial intention. Employing a qualitative textual and narrative analysis grounded in Barthes' post-structuralist theory and Espen Aarseth's theory of ergodic literature and the cybertext, this study treats the game itself, its dialogue, mechanics, and system memory, as the primary object of literary close reading, focusing on the True Pacifist and Genocide ending sequences. The findings show, first, that Barthes' concept is manifested in Undertale's narrative structure through its three distinct endings, Neutral, True Pacifist, and Genocide, none of which is privileged as a single authorially intended conclusion; each instead emerges from the player's cumulative choices. Second, the study finds that permanent narrative consequences, encoded through mechanical systems such as EXP and LV, the SAVE system framed fictionally as Determination, and the cross-run memory of the Genocide route's taint, construct narrative meaning through player action rather than authorial exposition. Analysis of characters such as Sans, Flowey, and Chara further reveals that characterization itself becomes route-dependent, allowing a single authored character to carry different meanings depending on the path a player constructs.

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