The "Good Chara" Theory for Undertale

So I keep seeing people trying to defend Chara. Using logic such as this

"I am one of the few believers of "Good Chara." It still gives me some disappointment when people don't get how a very young child that I would assume is around the age of 8-12 can't be evil. The player is both the hero and the villin, pacifist or genocide, the choice is not Chara's, but the player's. Children are easily influenced, and how would a very easily influenced child react to a person slaughtering monsters when they are very easily influenced?"

Or

"Chara isn't the bad guy, YOU are for influencing her"

So I decided to tackle this theory.

If you do True Pacifist, you get into the True Lab, where you can learn all kinds of things, including more about Chara. Some of these things are sympathetic, and others... Not so much. Let's go over some of the notable things, both on the VHS and in dialogue throughout the game:

"[Asriel] Okay, , are you ready?
Do your creepy face!
AHHHHH!! Hee hee hee!
Oh! Wait! I had the lens cap on...
What!? You're not gonna do it again...?
Come on, quit tricking me! Haha!" - Asriel to Chara, True Lab VHS Tape 2


"What? Oh, yeah, I remember.
When we tried to make butterscotch pie for Dad, right?
The recipe asked for cups of butter...
But we accidentally put in buttercups instead.
Yeah! Those flowers got him really sick.
I felt so bad. We made Mom really upset.
I should have laughed it off, like you did...
Um, anyway, where are you going with this?
Huh? Turn off the camera...? OK." - Asriel to Chara, True Lab VHS Tape 3

"I... I don't like this idea, Chara.
Wh.. what? N-no, I'm not... ...big kids don't cry.
Yeah, you're right. No! I'd never doubt you, Chara.
...Never! Y... yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone.
I'll go get the flowers." - Asriel to Chara, True Lab VHS Tape 4

"[Toriel] Chara... Can you hear me? We want you to wake up...
[Asgore] Chara! You have to stay determined!
You can't give up... You are the future of humans and monsters...
[Asriel] ...
Psst... Chara... Please... Wake up...
I don't like this plan anymore. I... I...
... no, I said... I said I'd never doubt you.
Six, right? We just have to get six...
And we'll do it together, right?" - True Lab VHS Tape 5

"The sick human had only one request. To see the flowers from their village. But there was nothing we could do." - Vegetoid

"Chara hated humanity. Why they did, they never talked about it. But they felt very strongly about that." - Asriel

"Frisk, when Chara and I combined our SOULs together... The control over our body was actually split between us." - Asriel

"They were the one that wanted to... ...to use our full power. I was the one that resisted. And then, because of me, we... Well, that's why I ended up a flower." - Asriel

"I did the right thing. If I killed those humans... We would have had to wage war against all of humanity." - Asriel

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So what can we glean from this? Well, it is fair to say that Chara is a troubled child. Something happened in her past -- but undeniably, she also hated Humanity. She began to actively manipulate Asriel to do what she wanted. This isn't a simple "mistake" or "regret". He said plenty of times that he wasn't sure about the plan.

Chara insisted that this was the only way, though. And so continued with poisoning herself, and giving up her SOUL to Asriel. Afterwards there was a struggle between the two over what to do with the Humans -- it certainly wasn't just to break the barrier, or Chara urging Asriel to defend himself.

Chara isn't some punisher out to make sure you pay for your crimes if you go Genocide. On the contrary, you become the partner she originally wanted Asriel to be. But now she is the one that has the deciding power when it comes to the split. She won't let you betray her, if it comes to that.

This doesn't mean "Chara was always pure evil" or "It's totally impossible to redeem Chara"

But she's pretty far from "Good", as depicted in the game.

Anyway, I saw the theory and it was annoying because it pretty blatantly ignores lore right in the game.

A very fair and well thought out argument against the "CHARA WAS ACTUALLY JUST MISUNDERSTOOD" argument. The problem with that argument is that the people levying it assume people saying Chara isn't good are trying to excuse the player during a genocide run, but the thing is no, the player isn't secretly good for doing geno. Nobody is actually claiming "ACKSHUALLY CHARA MADE ME DO IT!!". The canon literally spells it out in black and white; Chara is manipulative, filled with hate, and generally has no issue with seeing bad things happen to other people.