Gaster Font Guide: What Font Does W.D. Gaster Use & How to Type It

Q: Why do my Gaster font symbols turn into colored emojis on mobile?

Many mobile operating systems automatically substitute monochrome Wingdings dingbats—such as victory hands, thumbs up, and bombs—with native full-color emojis. Appending the invisible Unicode Variation Selector-15 (U+FE0E) immediately after each symbol forces supported browsers and mobile apps to display the classic black-and-white text glyphs seen in Undertale.

Q: Why do Wingdings symbols show up as empty boxes (□)?

When Wingdings symbols appear as empty rectangles, tofu boxes, or question marks, the app or device lacks a system fallback font covering the Unicode 7.0 Dingbats and Miscellaneous Symbols blocks. Viewing the characters in modern browsers, Microsoft Word, or Google Docs resolves the missing glyph issue.

Q: What happens if you name yourself 'Gaster' in Undertale or Deltarune?

Entering the name GASTER on the fallen human naming screen in Undertale resets the game immediately back to the opening title sequence the instant the letter R is typed. In Deltarune, entering GASTER as the creator or vessel name forces an identical instantaneous game restart.

Published October 17, 2026 · 8 min read

Stumbling across a hidden room in Undertale only to find a cryptic screen filled with pointing hands, bombs, snowflakes, and crosses immediately sparks one question: what is the Gaster font? Whether you are decoding the secret lab logs of the Underground’s former Royal Scientist, copying symbols for your Discord bio, or looking for the exact typeface inside Toby Fox’s game files, understanding how these symbols work is essential.

W.D. Gaster font guide overview with Wingdings symbols and Undertale lore — Figure 1: W.D. Gaster typographic origins, Wingdings 1 hand mapping, and cross-platform typing guide.

This complete guide answers the three most-searched questions about the Gaster font—what font Dr. W.D. Gaster uses, which specific version of Wingdings he speaks in, and how to get and type in the font across PC, Mac, mobile, and design apps—complete with a copy-and-paste Unicode symbol chart and instant conversion via our Gaster Translator.

What Font Does Gaster Use?

W.D. Gaster uses the original Wingdings font (specifically Wingdings 1), a classic TrueType dingbat symbol typeface designed in 1990 by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes and bundled with Microsoft Windows since 1992. Instead of standard Latin letters, Gaster’s dialogue maps each keystroke to pictographic symbols such as pointing hands, zodiac icons, and flags. For a deeper breakdown of the character set, explore our guide on what Wingdings is.

In Undertale, skeleton characters are famously named after the real-world fonts used in their dialogue boxes: Sans speaks in lowercase Comic Sans, and Papyrus speaks in uppercase Papyrus. Dr. W.D. Gaster follows this exact typographic rule. The initials “W.D.” stand for Wingdings, which directly explains the famous hint given by the River Person while traveling through Snowdin:

“Beware of the man who speaks in hands.”

Because uppercase letters A through I in the Wingdings alphabet render as nine distinct hand gestures (✌︎, 👌︎, 👍︎, 👎︎, ☜︎, ☞︎, ☝︎, ☟︎, ✋︎), any uppercase sentence spoken by Gaster is visually dominated by hands.

Why Is He Named “Gaster”? (The Aster Font & EarthBound Theories)

While “W.D.” clearly refers to Wingdings, fans and typographers have proposed two main explanations for the surname “Gaster”:

The Aster Typeface Theory: Many players link “Gaster” to Aster, a serif typeface designed in 1958 by Italian typographer Francesco Simoncini for Simoncini and Linotype. Fans have speculated that the sharp serif “Z” snoring characters shown when Sans falls asleep during his battle—or the serif damage numbers—reference the Aster font, making “W.D. Gaster” a typographic fusion of Wingdings and Aster. In Deltarune, when mysterious dialogue plays during the opening sequence, the underlying code references a font named font_aster, providing compelling evidence for this connection.
The MOTHER 2 / EarthBound Reference: According to The Undertale Wiki, only the Wingdings font package is actually used for Gaster’s hidden text in the game files. The Wiki notes that “W.D. Gaster” may also be an homage to “M.D. Seeger”, the alias used by Nintendo creator Shigeru Miyamoto in the ending credits of MOTHER 2 / EarthBound.

Which Wingdings Does Gaster Speak In?

W.D. Gaster speaks exclusively in Wingdings 1—the original 1990/1992 Microsoft Wingdings font—and never uses Wingdings 2, Wingdings 3, or Webdings. Furthermore, Gaster speaks in ALL CAPS Wingdings 1 in his famous lab log (ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN), using lowercase Wingdings 1 only once in an unused room.

Because Microsoft released three numbered Wingdings fonts plus Webdings, choosing the wrong font variant produces completely unrelated symbols when translating Undertale or Deltarune secrets. Here is how the four symbol fonts compare (see our detailed Wingdings 1 vs. 2, 3 and Webdings comparison for full character maps):

Font Variant	Release Year	Core Symbol Repertoire	Used by W.D. Gaster?
Wingdings (Wingdings 1)	1990 / 1992	Hand gestures (`✌︎ 👌︎ 👍︎ ☜︎ ☞︎`), faces (`☺︎ 😐︎ ☹︎`), zodiac signs (`♋︎ ♌︎ ♍︎`), weather (`☼︎ ❄︎ 💧︎`), skulls (`☠︎`), and crosses (`🕆︎ ✞︎ 🕈︎ ✠︎`)	Yes (Canonical) — Used in `room_gaster` (`ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN`), `room_water_redacted`, and archived `deltarune.com` teasers
Wingdings 2	1990	Writing tools (`🖊︎ 🖋︎ 🖌︎`), 16 directional index hands, ballot checkboxes (`☑︎ ☒︎`), and enclosed numbers (`① ② ③`)	No — Never used in Undertale or Deltarune
Wingdings 3	1990	Almost exclusively directional arrows (`⭠ ⭢ ⭡ ⭣`), geometric triangles (`▲ ▼`), and ISO keyboard keytop icons (`⎋ ⌤`)	No — Never used in Undertale or Deltarune
Webdings	1997	Internet Explorer 4.0 web icons including buildings (`🏗︎ 🏘︎`), vehicles (`🚲︎ 🚑︎`), and media controls (`⏩ ⏪ ⏸`)	No — Unrelated to Gaster's dialogue

Why ALL CAPS Matters When Writing in the Gaster Font

In Wingdings 1, uppercase and lowercase letters map to entirely different pictographs. Lowercase letters a through l map to the twelve astrological zodiac signs (♋︎ through ♓︎), while lowercase m through z map to geometric squares, diamonds, and lozenges.

To replicate Gaster’s canonical voice from room_gaster, you must type in ALL CAPS:

Uppercase Wingdings 1 (room_gaster & deltarune.com): Used for the entirety of Entry Number Seventeen and the archived 2015–2016 him.png teasers on deltarune.com. Uppercase letters produce the iconic pointing hands, bombs, skulls, and snowflakes associated with Gaster.
Lowercase Wingdings 1 (room_water_redacted): Used only once by the hidden sprite spr_redacted_a, which outputs * [redacted] (* [❑︎♏︎♎︎♋︎♍︎⧫︎♏︎♎︎]) in lowercase Wingdings when approached.

If your text looks like astrological horoscopes instead of pointing hands, turn on Caps Lock or use our Gaster Translator which handles casing automatically.

How to Get Wingdings Font (Windows, Mac, Mobile, Canva & Copy-Paste)

You can get the Wingdings font by selecting the pre-installed Wingdings typeface in Windows and macOS desktop software, using an online Unicode Wingdings translator to copy and paste symbols on mobile and Discord, or downloading the Dx Gaster display font if you need the commercial serif typeface.

Font Family vs. Universal Unicode Characters

If you type text using the local Wingdings font in Microsoft Word and paste it into Discord, Reddit, Roblox, or TikTok, the symbols will revert to plain English letters because web browsers strip local font formatting. Fortunately, Unicode 7.0 added Wingdings pictographs to the universal character standard in 2014. For web and chat apps, always copy the Unicode character equivalents rather than applying a font family. Read our English to Wingdings copy-paste guide for full clipboard details.

1. Copy & Paste Gaster Font Symbols Online (Discord, Roblox, TikTok & X)

To post Gaster symbols in social bios and chats without installing any software:

Visit our browser-based Gaster Translator.
Type your phrase in ALL CAPS (for example, VERY VERY INTERESTING) to trigger uppercase Wingdings 1 mapping.
Keep Unicode / Emoji Mode active so the tool outputs portable Unicode characters rather than local font styling.
Copy the converted symbols and paste them directly into your chat, profile, or status.

2. Access Pre-Installed Wingdings on Windows 10/11 & macOS

You do not need to download third-party .ttf files on a PC or Mac, because the official Microsoft Wingdings font is pre-installed in both operating systems:

Windows 10 & Windows 11: The file wingding.ttf is pre-installed in C:\Windows\Fonts. Open Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Photoshop, or GIMP, highlight your uppercase text, and select Wingdings from the font menu. You can also press Win + R, type charmap, and hit Enter to browse every glyph in the Windows Character Map. For Word shortcuts, refer to how to find Wingdings in Word.
macOS: Apple bundles Wingdings.ttf inside /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/. You can select it directly in Pages, Keynote, or Adobe apps, or press Control + Command + Space to search symbols in the macOS Character Viewer.

3. How to Get Wingdings Font on Mobile (iPhone & Android)

Default iOS and Android keyboards do not include a Wingdings key layout, and mobile systems restrict system-wide .ttf font replacements. You have three reliable options on smartphones:

Microsoft Office & Apple Pages Mobile Apps: The official Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint mobile apps for iOS and Android—as well as Apple Pages on iPhone—include Wingdings and Wingdings 2 in their built-in cloud font lists.
Android Font Managers & Design Apps: On Android, you can load a licensed wingding.ttf file into design apps like Phonto, Picsart, or PixelLab, or manage custom fonts via zFont or HiFont.
Canva Pro & Google Docs Workaround: In Canva Pro, upload wingding.ttf under Brand Kit > Brand Fonts to use Gaster symbols in thumbnails and posters. For Google Docs (which lacks native Wingdings licensing), follow our guide on Wingdings in Google Docs or paste portable Unicode characters. You can also inspect our Wingdings font download guide for instructions on locating system font files.

4. Looking for the “Dx Gaster” Graphic Design Typeface?

If you searched for “gaster font” looking for a luxury editorial serif font rather than Undertale dingbats, you are looking for Dx Gaster Free Font by Dirtyline Studio.

Typeface Style: Dx Gaster is a modern high-contrast display serif with sharp triangular serifs, a dancing baseline, 404 glyphs supporting 86+ languages, and OpenType ligatures.
Where to Download: You can download the free personal-use OTF/TTF weights (DxGaster-Thin and DxGaster-ThinItalic) or purchase a commercial license on Dirtyline Studio’s official product page.

Complete Gaster Font (Wingdings 1) Copy & Paste Alphabet Chart

Use the reference tables below to manually encode or decode any Gaster font message. Every symbol uses standard Unicode characters that can be copied and pasted anywhere.

Uppercase Gaster Alphabet (A–Z) — Canonical Entry 17 Style

Letter	Gaster Symbol	Symbol Description	Letter	Gaster Symbol	Symbol Description
A	✌︎	Victory hand	N	☠︎	Skull and crossbones
B	👌︎	OK hand sign	O	⚐︎	White flag
C	👍︎	Thumbs up	P	🏱︎	Pennant flag
D	👎︎	Thumbs down	Q	✈︎	Airplane
E	☜︎	Pointing left hand	R	☼︎	Sun with rays
F	☞︎	Pointing right hand	S	💧︎	Water droplet
G	☝︎	Pointing up hand	T	❄︎	Snowflake
H	☟︎	Pointing down hand	U	🕆︎	White Latin cross
I	✋︎	Raised open hand	V	✞︎	Shadowed Latin cross
J	☺︎	Smiling face	W	🕈︎	Celtic cross
K	😐︎	Neutral face	X	✠︎	Maltese cross
L	☹︎	Frowning face	Y	✡︎	Star of David
M	💣︎	Bomb	Z	☪︎	Star and crescent

Lowercase Wingdings 1 Alphabet (a–z) & Numbers (0–9)

Character	Wingdings Symbol	Character	Wingdings Symbol	Number / Punct.	Wingdings Symbol
a	♋︎	n	■︎	0	📁︎
b	♌︎	o	□︎	1	📂︎
c	♍︎	p	◻︎	2	📄︎
d	♎︎	q	❑︎	3	🗏︎
e	♏︎	r	❒︎	4	🗐︎
f	♐︎	s	⬧︎	5	🗄︎
g	♑︎	t	⧫︎	6	⌛︎
h	♒︎	u	◆︎	7	🖮︎
i	♓︎	v	❖︎	8	🖰︎
j	🙰	w	⬥︎	9	🖲︎
k	🙵	x	⌧︎	. (Period)	📬︎
l	●︎	y	⍓︎	? (Question)	✍︎
m	❍︎	z	⌘︎	: (Colon)	💻︎

Lore Note: In Undertale’s datamined code, Gaster is recurringly tied to the number 6 (⌛︎): his monster ID is 666, his global.typer value in room_gaster is 666, his unused battle stats are 666666 HP / 66666 AT / 66666 DF with -6666 EXP and GOLD, and the Mystery Man hallway appears only when the game’s randomized fun value equals 66.

Decoding Gaster’s “Entry Number Seventeen” (Full Text & Translation)

Located in room_gaster (Room 264 in most versions of Undertale), Entry Number Seventeen is the most famous Wingdings message in gaming history. Accessible only via SAVE file manipulation or debug mode, the room plays the slowed-down, reversed audio track mus_smile and uses voice sound effects snd_wngdng1 through snd_wngdng7 while displaying eight lines of uppercase Wingdings 1:

Line	Original Uppercase Wingdings 1 (Gaster Font)	Decoded English Text
1	`☜︎☠︎❄︎☼︎✡︎ ☠︎🕆︎💣︎👌︎☜︎☼︎ 💧︎☜︎✞︎☜︎☠︎❄︎☜︎☜︎☠︎`	ENTRY NUMBER SEVENTEEN
2	`👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎☜︎☼︎ ✡︎☜︎❄︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎☜︎☼︎`	DARK DARKER YET DARKER
3	`❄︎☟︎☜︎ 👎︎✌︎☼︎😐︎☠︎☜︎💧︎💧︎ 😐︎☜︎☜︎🏱︎💧︎ ☝︎☼︎⚐︎🕈︎✋︎☠︎☝︎`	THE DARKNESS KEEPS GROWING
4	`❄︎☟︎☜︎ 💧︎☟︎✌︎👎︎⚐︎🕈︎💧︎ 👍︎🕆︎❄︎❄︎✋︎☠︎☝︎ 👎︎☜︎☜︎🏱︎☜︎☼︎`	THE SHADOWS CUTTING DEEPER
5	`🏱︎☟︎⚐︎❄︎⚐︎☠︎ ☼︎☜︎✌︎👎︎✋︎☠︎☝︎💧︎ ☠︎☜︎☝︎✌︎❄︎✋︎✞︎☜︎`	PHOTON READINGS NEGATIVE
6	`❄︎☟︎✋︎💧︎ ☠︎☜︎✠︎❄︎ ☜︎✠︎🏱︎☜︎☼︎✋︎💣︎☜︎☠︎❄︎ 💧︎☜︎☜︎💣︎💧︎`	THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS
7	`✞︎☜︎☼︎✡︎ ✞︎☜︎☼︎✡︎ ✋︎☠︎❄︎☜︎☼︎☜︎💧︎❄︎✋︎☠︎☝︎`	VERY VERY INTERESTING
8	`📬︎📬︎📬︎ 🕈︎☟︎✌︎❄︎ 👎︎⚐︎ ✡︎⚐︎🕆︎ ❄︎🕈︎⚐︎ ❄︎☟︎✋︎☠︎😐︎`	... WHAT DO YOU TWO THINK

For more lore context and audio breakdowns, explore our deep dive on what language Gaster speaks and read the full Entry Number 17 transcript and audio analysis.

This exact Wingdings text also famously foreshadowed Deltarune. In December 2015, an archived low-contrast image (him.png) on deltarune.com displayed “THIS NEXT EXPERIMENT SEEMS VERY VERY INTERESTING” in Wingdings 1, before changing in December 2016 to “THREE HEROES APPEARED TO BANISH THE ANGEL’S HEAVEN.” Later, in Deltarune Chapters 1 and 2, characters like Seam (“darker, yet darker” and “very, very, interesting”) and Ralsei (“Darker than dark”) directly echo Gaster’s Entry 17 phrasing.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Why do my Gaster font symbols turn into colored emojis on mobile?

Many mobile operating systems automatically replace standard monochrome Wingdings characters—such as victory hands (✌︎), OK hands (👌︎), and bombs (💣︎)—with native full-color emojis. Appending the invisible Unicode Variation Selector-15 (U+FE0E) immediately after each character forces supported browsers and mobile apps to display the crisp black-and-white text glyph used in Undertale. Our Gaster Translator tool appends U+FE0E automatically.

Why do Wingdings symbols show up as empty boxes (□)?

If Wingdings characters appear as blank rectangles, tofu boxes, or question marks, the app or device you are viewing them on lacks a system fallback font covering the Unicode 7.0 Dingbats and Miscellaneous Symbols blocks (U+1F500–U+1F67F). Pasting the text into Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or a modern Chromium/Safari browser resolves the missing glyph issue.

What happens if you name yourself “Gaster” in Undertale or Deltarune?

Entering the name GASTER on the fallen human naming screen in Undertale immediately resets the game back to the opening title sequence the instant the letter “R” is typed. In Deltarune, entering GASTER as the vessel or creator name similarly forces an immediate game crash back to the title screen.

Conclusion

Decoding the Gaster font comes down to one simple typographic rule: Dr. W.D. Gaster speaks exclusively in ALL CAPS Wingdings 1. Whether you are analyzing Entry Number Seventeen, designing fan games, or pasting cryptic messages into Discord, keeping your input in uppercase and copying universal Unicode symbols guarantees that your pointing hands and eerie symbols render accurately across every modern platform.