An appreciation for Undertale's masterful soundtrack - music theory examination of its leitmotifs

I don't think it's any secret that Undertale's soundtrack is one of the best in gaming. It's so good that I often want to re-play the game simply so I can hear the soundtrack again in context of the game's events.

But while I've appreciated the soundtrack over the last couple of years since I first played Undertale, I never realized just how interconnected all of its leitmotifs are. Sure I recognized recurring themes throughout the game, but thanks to an amazing series of articles, I just learned how much deeper and more thoughtful Toby Fox was in its creation.

Part 1 focuses on the different environments, while part 2 focuses on the different characters:

An Examination of Leitmotifs and Their Use to Shape Narrative in UNDERTALE – Part 1 of 2

An Examination of Leitmotifs and Their Use to Shape Narrative in UNDERTALE – Part 2 of 2

These are great, exhaustive pieces which do an incredible job describing in layman's terms what all of the themes of the game are - both for environments and characters - with a ton of easily accessible music samples and timestamps embedded within.

For anyone who's played Undertale, I cannot recommend highly enough that you thoroughly read and listen through these articles.

XaosWolf said:

The entire game soundtrack is incredibly memorable due to its heavy use of a handful of little musical themes. Toby seems to have a gift for making so much from so little.
I really wish other games would take the time and effort to at the very least create a leitmotif for their game. Just takes a few bars to tie an entire soundtrack together.

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But what Toby did, as I learned from those articles, is so much more than just repeating themes throughout. He takes those themes and ties them directly into the story the game is telling, and then warps those themes metaphorically throughout.

It's unbelievable just how much thought, care, and expertise Toby put into crafting Undertale's soundtrack! I'd love to hear him speak about his process behind the music at GDC or another venue.