Flowey

Flowey is a fictional character and the main antagonist of Undertale, a role-playing video game created by Toby Fox.

Flowey
3D render of Flowey created for Fangamer
First appearanceUndertale Demo (2013)
First gameUndertale (2015)
Created byToby Fox
Designed byTemmie Chang

Depicted as a small, sentient golden flower with a sadistic and psychopathic personality, Flowey is the first NPC encountered by the player in the game. He covertly follows the player through the game past the introductory area before reappearing at the end of the game's "neutral route" to serve as the route's de facto final boss.

During the ending of the game's "pacifist route", achieved if the player never kills any enemies and befriends several key characters, it is revealed that Flowey is a soulless resurrection of Asriel Dreemurr, a young monster prince who was killed by humans. In this ending, Flowey, transformed into the form of a mature Asriel, serves as the game's true final boss. It is also revealed about how he was created by Alphys, the scientist of the Royal Guard.

Critics and fans have praised Flowey's characterization, well-constructed backstory, use of breaking the fourth wall and boss fights involving the character.

History and appearances

The player first encounters Flowey, who appears as an unassuming flower with a face in the middle, at the very start of the game. He attacks the player under the pretense of being a helpful monster who will award the player with "friendliness pellets", which are 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] stating his philosophy of "KILL or BE killed". He is thrown away by Toriel before he can kill the player, only returning after the player has fought her. Flowey judges the player about the encounter depending on if the player spared Toriel or killed her.

Following the player throughout the game, Flowey returns after the fight against Asgore, finishing him off if the player tries to spare him, to get him out of the way in order to obtain the collected human souls. Using the power of the souls, he takes on a gigantic, hideous form called "Photoshop Flowey" (also known as Omega Flowey), depicted in an uncanny artstyle similar to Donkey Kong Country, with unsettling sound and imagery; clashing with the rest of the game's 8-bit style. When the player defeats him, he tells the player to complete the game without collecting any EXP if he is spared, precipitating the game's "True Pacifist Route", if the player has not done so already.[1]

Asriel Dreemurr

Upon reaching the New Home area nearing the endgame of a Neutral or Pacifist run, random encounters in which the enemies tell the player about Asriel and Chara's history occur. Asriel was the only child of Toriel and Asgore. Asriel became best friends with Chara, the first fallen human. Chara devised a plan to attempt suicide by eating poisonous flowers after their plan of jumping off Mount Ebott failed, combining their soul with Asriel's and breaking through the barrier that kept monsters trapped in the Underground, rendering them free to reach the surface. Upon the execution of this plan, Asriel transformed into a powerful, monstrous being due to absorbing Chara's soul from their corpse. As the control of the body was shared between Chara and Asriel, Chara took their own body to the human village and laid it upon a bed of flowers in its center. The fusion of the two was attacked by the humans who believed Asriel had killed Chara, upon seeing their body. Chara tried to fight back but Asriel resisted them and walked away. The humans mortally wounded Asriel and Chara, and upon returning home, he collapsed and turned into dust, which scattered over a bed of golden flowers in Asgore's throne room.

When the player reaches the True Lab area of the game (which can only be accessed in the "True Pacifist" run) they learn the origins of Flowey - Asriel's consciousness was restored as a sentient flower as a result of scientific experimentation from the royal scientist Alphys, who injected a flower with "determination" as part of a larger series of experiments on the nature of the substance, with unbeknownst to her, the flower still having some amount of Asriel's dust on it. In the "Genocide" route of the game (which involves killing every enemy across all of the areas as well as all of the bosses), upon reaching New Home, in a similar fashion to Asriel's and Chara's story in the Neutral run, Flowey tells the story of how he awakened as a flower and reunited with his parents, before realising that he no longer had the ability to feel love or attachment, due to no longer possessing a soul. He attempted suicide, after which he realised that he now had the ability to "SAVE" and "RESET" time due to the Determination he had been given.

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 protagonist Frisk is Chara, wants them to keep playing with him over and over, fearing losing them again. 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 due to releasing the souls of the humans and monsters, once again losing the ability to feel love. In game, it's ambiguous as to whether Flowey leaves the Underground with the others, but fan speculation and certain supplemental media suggests that he does.[2]

Towards the end of the "nGenocide" route of the game, Flowey flees to warn Asgore of the player's cruelty. The player encounters Flowey pleading to Asgore in his throne room, and without player input, the playable character mortally wounds Asgore. Flowey finishes off Asgore to prove his loyalty to the player, but realises that he may be the player's final target, and begs for mercy, saying that he can be helpful and will not make a mistake again, revealing himself to be Asriel by mimicking his former face and voice. He is ultimately hacked to pieces, again without any player input, after which Chara appears to the player and, after a monologue about the player's destructive actions in which they mention how the player's actions made them realise that their purpose in life is power, destroys the world.

Reception

Flowey has received generally positive reception. 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] Flowey placed 7th on a 2018 list of the best villains in video games published by GamesRadar, with staff noting that Flowey seems innocuous upon first impression, but turns out to be a manipulative and terrifying antagonist, and calling his final form "the stuff of nightmares".[7]

Critics have commented on Flowey's seeming ability to transcend the game world. Player vs. Monster compared Flowey to the boss Psycho Mantis from Metal Gear Solid due to their abilities to read the player's save file and mock them for their decisions. The author noted that Photoshop Flowey's colorful, realistic graphics were commissioned to be unsettling on purpose, contributing to the impression that Flowey is able to "break from containment".[8] Horror Literature and Dark Fantasy similarly states that Flowey's edict of "it's kill or be killed" encourages the player to think critically about the initial systems set by the game, also framing it in terms of queer gaming practices that play against the intent of the game's design, repurposing and resisting the rules.[9]

Japanese Role-Playing Games states that Flowey is an example of a parodic guiding character directly inspired by the Mother series. It also explains that Flowey demonstrates how tutorial characters can be both parodic and central to a game's narrative.[10] Ludopolitics describes Flowey as a "rich, complicated antagonist", also characterizing him as an analogue for completionist players. Flowey is motivated by curiosity for its own sake, and believes he has the strength to see the game's "no mercy" route for himself, insulting those who would not play it but still watch it to see what happens.[11]

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."[12] 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".[12] 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".[13]

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. Fox, Toby. "UNDERTALE 5th Anniversary Alarm Clock Winter Dialogue - Flowey". undertale.com. Retrieved 2023-02-05.
  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. "The best villains in video games". GamesRadar staff. February 10, 2018. Archived from the original on October 22, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2021.
  8. Svelch, Jaroslav (2023). Player Vs. Monster: The Making and Breaking of Video Game Monstrosity. MIT Press. p. 133. ISBN 9780262047753.
  9. Fabrizi, Mark A., ed. (2018). Horror Literature and Dark Fantasy: Challenging Genres. Critical Literacy Teaching Series: Challenging Authors and Genres. Brill. p. 163. ISBN 978-90-04-36625-1.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  10. Hutchinson, Rachael; Pelletier-Gagnon, Jérémie, eds. (2022). Japanese Role-Playing Games: Genre, Representation, and Liminality in the JRPG. Lexington Books. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-1-7936-4355-1.
  11. Mitchell, Liam (2018). Ludopolitics: Videogames Against Control. Winchester, UK Washington, USA: Zero Books. ISBN 978-1-78535-489-2.
  12. 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.
  13. "Ranking The Main Cast Of Undertale". TheGamer. September 7, 2019. Archived from the original on October 27, 2019. Retrieved November 1, 2019.
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