This article may contain spoilers for recently-released DELTARUNE chapters. If you wish to not receive spoilers for Chapter 4, please refrain from reading this article.
Gerson Boom, called the Old Man by the characters, is the tritagonist of Chapter 4. A returning character from Undertale, he is a spirit seen in the Dark Sanctuaries and a Darkner version of his late Lightner counterpart. Originally working as a blacksmith[1], he later became a renowned author and historian, passing away prior to the events of Deltarune. However, the Dark World revives him using his remains in the church.
Gerson is a large, hunched-over green tortoise with pink eyebrows and beard, and one yellow eye (the other one is completely closed, most likely gone). He wears a brown beret and overcoat, an orange scarf, darker brown pants, black shoes, and a white undershirt with a black tie, giving him the appearance of a scholar. He walks with a green cane.
As the Hammer of Justice, he dons grey-silver armor, gloves, and sabatons and wields an incredibly large war hammer. His beret is gone, revealing long flowing pink hair on the back of his head. He still is hunched over, but moves much more quickly and effortlessly.
In the Light World, he is dust covering an old hammer sealed in a glass case.
Personality[]
Gerson is confident, charismatic, and a bit mischievous, fond of dispensing advice to the party and has a tendency to know much more than he lets on. He is the famous author of the novel based on the Delta Rune Prophecy, Lord of the Hammer, which contains striking similarities to many events of the game up to Chapter 4. His "first" appearance is him smashing part of the prophecy that the Lightners are reading by throwing his hammer at it, followed by running through the dark tunnels while they chase him down. Upon meeting Susie, he doesn't seem lost or confused, but his slow, lumbering gait and scholary demeanor lead Susie to think that he's a Lightner. After having the heroes agree to escort him back to his study, he continues to mess with them, moving far slower than he actually can, annoying Susie.
Main Story[]
Chapter 1[]
The graveyard in Hometown has a bench erected in memoriam to his Light world counterpart, as well as a gravestone with a hammer engraved on it. When interacted with, it says:
"GERSON
RENOWNED HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, AND TEACHER"
Chapter 2[]
In Chapter 2, Alvin can be seen paying his respects to his father, mentioning in dialogue that he was buried with a hammer to symbolize his life in custom with monster burials. When leaving the graveyard, Alvin is heard asking his father if he has made him proud, asking if it is "right for the hammer to..." before cutting off.
Chapter 4[]
Gerson is first seen after the party outruns the Titan Spawn, scaring Susie. He asks if they could help him reach his study, to which Susie replies they can't babysit every Darkner they meet. Gerson understands, but then asks what a Darkner is, causing Susie to think he's a Lightner, and reluctantly agrees.
They then come up to a locked door. Gerson wishes to grab the green book from the bookshelf, but is unable to reach. Susie just dismisses him, and tries to figure out how to open the door. Gerson asks if Susie could help him, but she's busy solving the door puzzle, and asks Ralsei to help him instead. Ralsei responds with his stool forme, but Gerson still requests Susie's help. Exasperated, Susie agrees, and grabs the book for him, opening the door. Susie gives the book to Gerson and runs ahead. Gerson thanks Susie (despite her not being able to hear him) and follows.
As they walk through the First Sanctuary, the party finds another Prophecy. If interacted with, Gerson will describe it as a "very nice fairytale". Upon further progression, they'll find another prophecy which Gerson destroys before they read it. He apologizes, claiming that he couldn't see where he was going. Susie then sees the path forward was behind the now broken prophecy, and runs ahead, shoving Gerson aside, Ralsei following suit. Gerson can be interacted with before following them further. He'll ask if Kris has anything to say to him.
Answering "You broke it on purpose": Gerson will ask why Kris thinks he would do that.
Answering"Don't like prophecies":
Answering "Annoy Susie": Gerson will ask if that's what Susie thinks, and will be flattered.
Answering "You broke it on accident": Gerson will say he’s flattered.
Hammer of Justice is an optional fight unlocked after completing the Golden Piano Puzzle and reaching the room where the Justice Axe is located. When Susie attempts to claim it, He will stop her and say she has to pay an outrageously high price for it. When she says she can't, he offers it in exchange for her giving him a haircut. Susie accepts, but is unable to cut any of his hairs with her axe. Gerson then disappears, and returns donning his armor and weapon, facing her as the Hammer of Justice.
He also appears in the Titan fight, where his presence enables the use of DualBuster, allowing the battle to progress.
In Battle[]
As a "Party Member"[]
OldMan[]
Using this ACT has a variety of effects that aid you in battle.
Gerson enter the battle, causing Susie to forget what she was doing, effectively canceling her turn. In exchange, Gerson will tell the enemies to go easy on the party, raising their MERCY.
Gerson will heal everyone in the battle (minus Susie) with some candy, raising the enemy’s MERCY.
Gerson will drop his cane, and it will move around the bullet board to places where bullets won't hit.
Gerson will recruit the enemies for himself, ending the battle. This makes 2 Guei NPCs to appear in the Study.
Dual Buster[]
Gerson and Susie will both attack with their own Buster spells, dealing separate damage from each other. Unlike Rude Buster and Red Buster, this spell does not cost TP. Gerson's "Buster color" is green.
As an Enemy[]
Attacks[]
In addition to standard dodge-based attacks, the battle features multiple sections with a green SOUL. Similar to the green SOUL Mode in Undertale, while green, the SOUL enters Shield Mode and cannot move, instead using Susie's axe to protect the SOUL in whichever direction is pressed. Notably, the soul can defend in eight directions, as opposed to Undertale's four.
Whenever you change directions (even if you change it to the same direction you’re on) the axe will ‘shove’ letting you ‘parry’ incoming attacks if done at the last second. This plays a different sound, and gives a bit of TP. It’s sort of like ‘grazing’ for the green SOUL Mode.
Green Soul Projectiles[]
Arrows: These arrows move towards the heart at the center of the screen, needing to be blocked by Susie's axe. It starts off with just four directions, but adds four more after the first attack. Mouse and keyboard players will need to press the two closest movement keys to angle the axe. The speed of arrows cannot change mid-flight, but can be sent out at differing speed, resulting in certain salvos having the first attack to arrive last.
Hammer: Hammers will appear either from the top or sides and will need to be blocked to bypass the damage. After a hammer breaks the axe, the green soul returns to red while Gerson attacks the soul with his hammer, striking either vertically or horizontally.
Turtle Shells: After some time, turtle shells will join the salvo of arrows. These will bounce off the axe at least once, only able to be destroyed when they turn yellow. While they start only bouncing a single time and staying on the same direction, later attacks see them bounce twice and move to the left twice every bounce.
Red Soul Attacks[]
Rico-shell: A turtle shell flies across the screen, leaving behind star projectiles. After leaving the arena, Gerson will hit it back into the arena with his cane at the SOUL. This can either be straight towards it, or by ricocheting it off the floor or ceiling. At the end of the attack, Gerson, hits it down across the screen from top to bottom, requiring the SOUL to dodge far left or far right. Upon hitting the floor, the shell will burst into a flurry of star projectile that shoot up and then fall to the ground.
Hammer Rain: Gerson knocks the arena leftward and tilts it 45 degrees before tossing a large amount of Hammers into the air, falling across the screen. Hammers fall in a more-or-less straight line, each line having a designated gap for the SOUL to dodge through. After some time, the Hammers will grow in size. A short time after that, Gerson tosses one final, massive Hammer onto the arena, only able to be dodged by moving far to the left or right.
Strategy[]
While not visible, the fight does have a Mercy Meter that will fill up depending on what actions are taken. This is most easily indicated by the stars that will appear around Gerson (with each star representing 1 percent towards the Mercy Meter). After the Mercy Meter reaches 84% or more, Gerson will begin his final attack. If the you haven't reached enough Mercy by a certain point, Gerson will use unique attacks which will also fill up the Mercy Meter when survived (eventually resulting in the final attack since the Mercy Meter will always reach 84% once the second to last attack concludes)
The amount of Mercy for each action are the following
4% for FIGHTing
6% for using Rude Buster but failing to deflect it
8% for using Rude Buster and successfully deflecting it
9% for using OKHeal
No Mercy is granted for defending or using items
Susie is the only party-member present during this fight, so players should allocate their armor accordingly. Boss drops, including Dealmaker, Jevilstail, and Shadow Mantle are always good choices.
No matter what your action is, Gerson will progress the fight each turn. Priorities during the fight should be healing, though actions can still be taken to further progress the fight.
FIGHTing will give more TP than defending. This may incline players against defending.
FIGHTing will also help further progress the fight, as opposed to defending
It's worth noting that the accuracy of an attack doesn't matter at all — even if it's a complete miss due to lack fast enough of input — as you will always gain the same TP (and health, if using the Absorb Ax). This is likely implemented due to the fact that no attack will hit Gerson in this fight.
If you defend until the final attack in the fight, said attack is delayed for him to paraphrase his Undertale counterpart, stating that he knows there is someone out there who strives to do the right thing no matter what, and that this knowledge is not tied to any prophecy or legend.
Due to Ralsei being absent and Items being stolen and promptly disabled, the only healing available during the fight is through the AbsorbAx (which heals 2 health each attack, even if it misses), and Susie's OkHeal spell. Because of this, players may want to maximize Susie's magic for the fight to make the most of her lackluster (in-development) healing.
Since Susie's OkHeal spell improves with each use (both in increased HP restored and decreased TP cost), including between multiple attempts, using it frequently will make subsequent attempts progressively easier.
Using Susie's OkHeal spell will also reduce the amount of turns in the fight
On using Rude Buster, Gerson will be able to deflect the projectile, needing Susie to reflect it back, which can happen multiple times. Successfully using Rude Buster will cause the fight to take fewer turns.
Quotes[]
Flavor Text[]
It’s one shell of a battle![Neutral]
The air crackles GREEN with freedom.[Neutral]
The bell of justice tolls… for a frog. No, a turtle![Neutral]
Chapter 1 The March of the Dark King. The heroes defeat the king and stop the dragon. Chapter 2 The City of the Shining. The heroes do battle in chariots to save the Queen. Chapter 3, The Isles of Northernlight. The heroes travel among the islands and catch a glimpse of a lost land. Chapter 4, The Trials of the Holy Hammer. A great smith gives the heroes a terrible weapon. Chapter 5, The Field of Pink and Gold. The vast garden is charred in an inferno of jealousy.
Gallery[]
Gerson's Overworld Sprite.
Gerson writing his letter in the Study
Ditto, outside study
Text that appears when Gerson recruits someone.
Trivia[]
It's stated that despite him being a Lightner originally, he is now a Darkner, as he is only modeled after the memory of a Lightner.
Gerson's fight uses a percentage-based damage system, meaning that even if you edit your save file to increase your health, Gerson will still deal major damage. However, he is still affected by defense.
Gerson, like Sans in Undertale, can dodge your attacks. He is therefore, the first enemy in Deltarune seen with the ability to do this without the warned status.
If the player does not do any actions that cause stars to appear over Gerson's head (most notably using an item), the fight lasts longer with some exclusive attacks and dialogue.
Some of Gerson's attacks appear to be references to enemies from the franchise Super Mario Bros. The most obvious being the Hammer rain, a possible reference to the Hammer Bros famous ability to throw hammers at the player. Gerson himself and his weapon of choice reinforces this. His turtle shell attacks are also very similar to Koopa Shells.
His fight is a mix between Sans' and Undyne the Undying's fight in Undertale. Gerson's attack patterns and battle theme are directly based on Undyne the Undying's , and the fact that the battle will only end when the player manages to hit the enemy once after successfully distracting them is very similar to Sans' battle as a whole.
Additionally, all three of their fights are significantly higher in difficulty than other fights in the game
Gerson is one of two enemies in the game as of now to use the Green SOUL mode in their battle, the other being the statue of him fought in the Second Sanctuary. Said statue's battle is both a nod to the existence of his fight and the only non-secret-boss encounter to use an a different SOUL mode than the default.
Some of Gerson's dialogue during battle seems to reference the chapters of DELTARUNE itself, with parallels between adventures in the book he describes and the player's own journey so far. This could mean that the fifth chapter he speaks about, the "Field of Pink and Gold" in which "the vast garden is charred in an inferno of jealousy," could be a form of foreshadowing for DELTARUNE's fifth chapter. This would fit with the precedent of previous secret bosses foreshadowing later chapters.
Gerson's name is possibly a nod to an famous Super Smash Bros. match were 2 players: Gerson and SuPeRbOoMfAn. The match lasted longer than expected due to "turtling" from both sides.
The text when hovering over the "OldMan" option, "I'm old!" is a reference to Toby's first EarthBound hack, Arn's Winter Quest, where part of Starman Sr.'s sprite is a speech bubble reading the same thing.
its easy to accidentally find his fight when trying to normally progress
Speculation[]
Due to Gerson's dialogue of "The Field of Pink and Gold" and "the vast garden is charred in an inferno of jealousy", people have speculated that Chapter 5 will take place in Asgore Dreemurr's shop, the Flower King. Another line in the Prophecy: "THE FLOWER MAN, TRAPPED IN ASYLUM." also supports this theory.
In Chapter 2, Alvin says that his father's remains were buried at his grave, but by Chapter 4 these remains are found to be in Alvin's office. This implies either that he has exhumed them at some point between the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 4, or him having previously lied, possibly obscuring the fact that he kept his father's remains.
References[]
↑"Originally a smith by trade, he began writing history [..] and made a turn into telling stories." -Alvin, Chapter 2
