Flowey

Flowey is a fictional character and the main antagonist of the role-playing video game Undertale, created by Toby Fox. He appears for most of the game in the form of an unassuming flower with a face in the middle. It is later revealed that he is the reincarnation of Asriel Dreemurr, a young monster prince who was killed by humans.

Flowey
Undertale character
3D render of Flowey created for Fangamer
First appearanceUndertale (2015)
Created byToby Fox
Designed byTemmie Chang
In-universe information
SpeciesFlower / Boss Monster (formerly)

Appearances

The player first encounters Flowey at the start of the game, where he attacks the player under the pretenses of being a helpful monster who will award the player with "friendliness pellets" (actually harmful bullets).[1] He also tells the player to level up by increasing their LOVE, which unbeknownst to the player stands for "level of violence", therefore in actuality encouraging violence against other monsters.[1] He is chased away by Toriel before he can attack the player, only returning after the player has fought her.

Following the player throughout the game, Flowey returns after the fight against Asgore and finishes him off when the player is about to spare him. Taking the power of Asgore's collected human souls, he becomes Photoshop Flowey (also known as Omega Flowey) and takes on a hideous and gigantic form that clashes in art style with the rest of the game. When the player defeats him, he tells the player to complete the game without collecting any LOVE if he is spared, precipitating the game's "Pacifist Route", if the player has not done so already.[1]

Asriel Dreemurr

When the player encounters the True Lab area of the game, they learn the origins of Flowey—that he was the son of Toriel and Asgore, being named Asriel with half of each of their names.[2] An only child, Asriel became best friends with Chara, the first fallen human. Chara devised a plan to commit suicide by eating poisonous flowers, combine their soul with Asriel's and break through the barrier. When this plan was executed, Asriel transformed into a powerful being. He took Chara's body to the human village and put the body of Chara in the center of the village, but was attacked by the humans who believed he had killed Chara. Chara tried to influence Asriel to kill the humans but Asriel resisted them and walked away. The humans mortally wounded Asriel and, upon returning home, he collapsed, his dust scattering over golden flowers. Asriel's consciousness was restored as a sentient flower as a result of scientific experimentation. After awakening as a flower, Asriel reunited with his parents but was upset because he no longer felt love towards them. He then realized he had the ability to reset time. He then abandoned his old identity and lived his life as Flowey.

At the end of the True Pacifist route, Flowey retakes the souls of the fallen humans and absorbs the souls of all the monsters of the underground to take the form of an all-powerful older Asriel. Asriel, mistakenly thinking the playable character Frisk is Chara, wants them to keep playing with him over and over. Frisk "SAVES" Asriel and reaches out to him, leading the monster to emotionally break down and admit his insecurity and loneliness. Asriel regains his empathy and reverts to his original appearance as a child. He apologizes for his misdeeds and uses his power to break the barrier, thus freeing the monsters. He ultimately reverts to Flowey and is unable to leave the underground.

In Chapter 1 of Deltarune, which takes place in a different universe than Undertale, Asriel appears as the older brother of Kris, the main protagonist, and is said to be attending college. When Kris and their classmate Susie enter the Dark World, they meet Ralsei, a 'prince from the dark' whose appearance and personality is similar to that of Asriel. Just before Kris and Susie leave the Dark World, Ralsei reveals his true appearance, which heavily resembles Asriel. Additionally, Ralsei's name is an anagram of Asriel.

Reception

Flowey has received generally positive reception for his managing to be intimidating with his sadistic demeanor despite being a flower, his fight as Photoshop Flowey and God of Hyperdeath, and his surprisingly tragic and sympathetic backstory, as well as being an interesting take on psychopaths' portrayal in media on general.

Flowey was a runner-up for USGamer's best characters of 2015, citing his knowledge of everything the player "has been up to", which may leave the player "a little stunned."[3] USGamer also called the older Asriel "exactly the kind of thing a suffering pre-teen would design if they had possession of God's own wrath."[4] Game Informer called Flowey one of the top 10 fourth wall breaking moments in games, calling him a "crazed talking flower".[5] Zack Furniss of Destructoid stated that the battle against Flowey was one of his favorite gaming moments of 2015, saying that while he was apprehensive about playing the game, the fact that "a small flower ends up being a Photoshopped monster that can destroy in seconds", "sold" him on the game. Calling Photoshop Flowey "wonderfully disturbing", he called the boss and how it affected the player's save file what would stay with him the longest.[6]

Jason Schreier of Kotaku called the fight against Flowey's true form as Asriel "one of the greatest final boss fights in RPG history", saying that it rivaled "games like EarthBound and Chrono Trigger in sheer, gut-wrenching poignancy."[2] Stating that he has "one hell of a theme song", he praised the entire fight sequence as "spectacular", saying that it "justifies even the slowest of Undertale's setups".[2] Thegamer ranked Flowey as the 8th best character among the main cast, opining that his fight is "one of the most intense boss battles in modern gaming history".[7]

References
  1. "The videogames that want to be disobeyed - Kill Screen". Kill Screen. 2016-02-23. Archived from the original on 2016-08-08. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  2. Schreier, Jason. "Undertale Has One Of The Greatest Final Boss Fights In RPG History". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2017-10-23. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  3. "USgamer's Best Games of 2015: Best Character". USgamer.net. 2015-12-26. Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  4. "Why Undertale's End-Game Tops All Other RPG Finales". USgamer.net. 2017-08-15. Archived from the original on 2017-12-24. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  5. "Top 10 Fourth Wall Breaking Moments". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 2018-02-27. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  6. "Zack Furniss' favorite moments of 2015". destructoid. Archived from the original on 2016-03-26. Retrieved 2018-02-27.
  7. "Ranking The Main Cast Of Undertale". TheGamer. September 7, 2019.
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