Asriel Dreemurr

Asriel Dreemurr (typically ) is the biological child of Toriel and Asgore, the adoptive brother of the first human, and the former prince of monsters. He serves as the final boss of the True Pacifist Route, replacing Asgore in New Home. Despite his late introduction, his presence as Flowey as well as in Undertale's backstory makes him a major character.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Asriel is a Boss Monster with white fur, long ears, a snout, and a set of visible fangs. In his child form, he lacks horns and has a small tuft of fur atop his head, unlike his parents. He wears a green long-sleeved shirt with yellow stripes and black pants, similar to the first human's clothing.
==== God of Hyperdeath ====
This form is named directly in the game. During much of his battle, the "Check" option labels Asriel as "The Absolute GOD of Hyperdeath!" In this state, in contrast to his child form, Asriel has black sclerae with white slit pupils, longer fangs, a pair of horns, and black markings on the sides of his face. He wears a long robe with white sleeves and the Delta Rune symbol, akin to Toriel's robe, as well as a large collar with shoulder pads. He also wears a locket similar to the Heart Locket.
==== Final Form ====
Asriel's body becomes more geometric, his horns are longer, and his claws and teeth get sharper. He has a pair of wings that continuously change color, and his lower body becomes sharp and heart-shaped.
While this form is not directly named, it resembles the Delta Rune, which looks like the "Angel of Death" from the prophecy.
=== Personality ===
Before his death, Asriel was a docile, loving, and gentle child. Asriel was compassionate, as he helped the injured fallen human despite The War of Humans and Monsters. In the VHS Tapes, Asriel's dialogue implied he highly trusted the fallen human, as they continued their plan to break the Barrier to free monsterkind.
As Flowey, he lacks a SOUL and becomes incapable of feeling love. This saddens him initially, as he blames himself for his fate. Eventually, he became resentful and murderous.
After temporarily regaining his compassion, Asriel regrets adopting the "kill or be killed" philosophy and apologizes for his actions to the protagonist, understanding that they may not forgive him.
== Main Story ==
Before the events of Undertale, Asriel was the prince of monsters in the Underground. In the Ruins, Asriel finds the fallen human, who was the first human to fall into the Underground. After bringing them to his parents, the fallen human became Asriel's adoptive sibling and best friend. It is implied through the VHS Tapes that the two eventually began a plan to break the Barrier and free monsterkind. When the fallen human became ill, Asriel absorbed their SOUL to fulfill their wish, which was to see the Golden Flowers at their village on the Surface. With their shared SOUL and form, the fallen human carried their own body across the Barrier to their home village.
The villagers assumed Asriel had killed the human child and in response, they attacked him. Asriel fled the village, refusing to fight back. Upon his return to the Underground, he died from his lethal injuries and turned to dust, which spread across the garden in New Home.
Later, during the determination experiments, Alphys injected determination into one of the garden's Golden Flowers — the first one to bloom after Asriel's death. Initial experiments on the flower vessel proved unsuccessful, and Alphys returned it to Asgore. Not long after being replanted, Asriel awoke within the garden, reincarnated as Flowey.
Though the injection of determination granted Flowey the will to live, he soon found that neither his mother nor father could elicit any emotional response from him. He did not have a SOUL and thus could not feel love, joy, or compassion, which eventually turned him murderous.
=== Neutral Route ===
Asriel does not appear in person during a Neutral Route.
However, when the protagonist falls into the Garbage Dump, they hear Asriel's sound bite during a memory from his human sibling. Monsters also tell the story of Asriel and the first human during the walk in New Home.
=== True Pacifist Route ===
In the True Lab, the protagonist discovers that the first human and Asriel had worked together on a plan to get to the Surface and retrieve six human SOULs. While the human was on their deathbed, Asriel informed them he did not think it was a good plan anymore; ultimately, this leads to him betraying his sibling and aborting their plan.
After restoring the elevator's power, the protagonist receives a phone call from someone whose voice they have never heard before; the sound bite is similar to Asriel's.
After Flowey absorbs the six human SOULs and most of the monster SOULs, he transforms into Asriel.
Asriel greets the protagonist as <Name> before he transforms into "ASRIEL DREEMURR, God of Hyperdeath." He informs the protagonist that he does not care about destroying the world anymore, and instead just wants to reset the timeline so that everything unfolds again from the beginning. Asriel believes that the protagonist will continue even if he resets the timeline because they want a "happy" ending.
He then says that his first form is just a fraction of his real power and transforms into his final form. Asriel reasserts that the protagonist will die in a world where nobody remembers them as their physical body fails them.
The protagonist calls to the Lost Souls inside of Asriel's SOUL and reminds them that they are friends with the protagonist. After all Lost Souls regain their memories, the protagonist realizes that someone else needs saving. The protagonist calls their name, and a few sepia tone pictures display. The pictures are of Asriel and his sibling together when the human first fell into the Underground.
Asriel begins crying and reverts to his original form. After finding out that the protagonist's name is "Frisk," Asriel tells them that the monsters really love them and apologizes for his actions. He then breaks the barrier with the power of the SOULs.
He tells Frisk that he has to go; Frisk has the option to hug Asriel and comfort him before he leaves. As he walks away, Asriel tells Frisk to take care of his parents for him.
==== Epilogue ====
Asriel can be found at the flowerbed in the Ruins. Frisk only encounters him immediately after his boss fight; if the player watches the True Pacifist Ending Credits and reloads the game, Asriel does not appear. Asriel speaks extensively to Frisk and offers them a new philosophy contrasting his previous one: "Don't kill, and don't be killed." He also mentions to be careful on the surface because "There are a lot of Floweys out there."
Asriel makes a brief appearance in the credits in his God of Hyperdeath form and reminds the player that they are not over yet. Reverting to his child form, he begins the "Special Thanks" portion of the credits. After the credits sequence, when reopening the game, Asriel returns as Flowey and begs <Name> to "Let [Frisk] go" and allow everyone to live their lives. It is unclear if he is talking to the first human or to the player.
=== Genocide Route ===
After the protagonist kills Toriel, Flowey tells them that they are not really human, and starts mistaking them for the first child, telling them that they are still inseparable after all those years.
When the protagonist reaches New Home, the monsters who tell Asriel's story don't appear, so Asriel's name is never mentioned on this route. Instead, Flowey welcomes them and discusses his backstory as a flower and how he discovered his ability to SAVE. Near the end of his dialogue, he begins to gain feelings, as he nervously begins trying to convince the protagonist that killing everyone isn't a good idea. He also realizes that the protagonist will not hesitate to kill him, and he is frightened for his life. He rescinds his previous plans with the protagonist and tells them to leave him alone.
After the protagonist defeats Sans, they easily kill Asgore. Flowey destroys Asgore's SOUL and pledges himself to the protagonist one final time in an attempt to save his own life, revealing his true identity as Asriel in the process. He cries and begs the protagonist not to kill him and the player has the opportunity to spare him by quitting the game or deliver the final blow.
== In Battle ==
== Relationships ==
=== Protagonist ===
In the True Pacifist Route, Asriel mistakes the protagonist for the first human and calls them his best friend. After the final boss fight, Asriel realizes that Frisk is not the first human and asks what their real name is. He later tells Frisk, if they backtrack to the flowerbed, that he no longer regrets his decision of not killing the humans since another war would've happened otherwise, though he does think the situation could have ended better because of how long it took for the Monsters to be freed. After the credits scene, Flowey asks the player not to reset everything, and let Frisk live their life.
=== The First Human ===
Asriel found the first human when they fell into the Underground. He became their best friend after helping them, and then the first human's brother after Toriel and Asgore adopted them.
After the human carried their own body to the Surface, Asriel decided to not act on his sibling's desire to unleash their full power to protect themselves, and humans fatally wounded them. With the first human's empty body in his arms, Asriel returned to the Underground and collapsed. His dust spread over the flowerbed in his father's garden as he died. Even after becoming Flowey, he could not think of a world without them, as they are the only person that understands him and that is unpredictable to him to the point of mistaking the protagonist for the first human. After the protagonist saves him during his battle, Asriel admits the first human "wasn't really the greatest person." This shows his loss of his idealization of the first human, but does not necessarily mean they ever mean towards him and that the two don't care about each other anymore.
=== Asgore ===
Asgore is Asriel's father. When Asriel first woke up as Flowey, Asgore was the one to find him. Asriel informs Asgore of his identity, hoping to feel something and possibly turn back into his original form. However, having lost his SOUL, he discovers he feels nothing for Asgore any longer. Asgore believes that letting the protagonist escape the Underground with his SOUL is what Asriel would have wanted.
Asriel's habit of saying "golly," and "howdy" came from Asgore.
Asgore is unaware that Flowey is Asriel.
=== Toriel ===
Toriel is Asriel's mother. In older timelines, after failing to feel anything with Asgore, Flowey had turned to Toriel in hopes of feeling love again with her. This ultimately failed, as he could not love others without a SOUL.
Like Asgore, Toriel is unaware that Flowey is Asriel.
=== Alphys ===
Alphys unintentionally created Flowey as a result of the determination experiments, but there is no indication that she knew Asriel in life, or was aware of his existence except her comments of VHS Tapes and at the end of the True Pacifist Route.
=== Sans ===
Sans is the only character other than Chara that Flowey, out of fear, respects. He sees Sans as a dangerous adversary and takes measures to make sure Sans does not learn of his existence. It is heavily implied that Flowey came into conflict with Sans, and was defeated by him.
Sans is unaware that Flowey is Asriel.
=== Papyrus ===
Papyrus is one of the people who knows Flowey as a friend and not an enemy. Flowey sometimes pops up when nobody else is around and converses with Papyrus, giving him flattery, encouragement, advice, and even predictions. Papyrus even started a Flowey Fan Club, and Flowey knows Papyrus's favorite food. At the time he gained his ability to reset, Flowey found that Papyrus was his favorite person to mess with.
Papyrus is not aware that Flowey is Asriel.
== Gallery ==
 Asriel Dreemurr battle alternate.png | Asriel as he briefly appears before his boss fight and in the True Pacifist Ending Credits.
 Asriel Dreemurr battle headshake sassy.gif | Asriel doing a sassy headshake in battle.
 Flowey tarot.png | Asriel in Flowey's tarot card, as Major Arcana XII "The Hanged Man"
 Asriel Dreemurr tarot God of Hyperdeath.png | Asriel's official tarot card of his first form on a True Pacifist Route, as Major Arcana I, "The Magician."
 Asriel Dreemurr tarot final form.png | The official tarot card for Asriel's final form, as Major Arcana XIII, "Death."
 Asriel Dreemurr artwork boyband.png | Concept art of Asriel with boyband hair.
== Trivia ==
* Asriel's general appearance and green shirt resembles the race of "Mimiga" from the indie game Cave Story.
* Asriel shares the same color palette as his soulless self Flowey: white, green, yellow, and black.
* When attempting to name the Fallen Child "Asriel," the response becomes "..." and prevents the name from being used.
* Asriel's name has several possible meanings or origins.
** Asriel's name is a combination of his parents' names, Asgore, and Toriel,Toby chose the name "Asriel" with two other special meanings in mind:
* "Asriel" is a reference to Azrael, the mythological angel of death
* "Asriel" is a combination of the names "Asgore" and "Toriel"
- Clyde Mandelin, Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE likely stemming from Asgore being terrible at naming things. An interesting thing to note is that this follows Anglo-Saxon naming traditions, from where the English language imported names like Albert, Edgar, or Wilfred.
*** His name may have also been inspired by typical goat naming conventions, in which goats are named after a combination of both their parents' names.So Asriel's name wasn't just Asgore being shit at naming his kids... - Reddithttps://www.adgagenetics.org/GoatDetail.aspx?RegNumber=T000918739 
** "Asriel" is partially derived from "Azrael," the angel of death in some sects of Judaism and Islam. Gerson mentions an Angel of Death in his explanation of the Delta Rune prophecy. Tradition says that Azrael is covered in eyes and tongues, the amount of which corresponds to the amount of humans on earth. He will be the last to die, as he continously writes and erases names from the book of the living.
*** "Asriel" is an anagram of "Israel", the country where Judaism was founded, furthermore it is the name God gave to Jacob after he wrestled with an Angel.
** "Asriel Dreemurr" is an anagram of "Serial Murderer," parodying his vicious behavior as Flowey."Keen-eyed players have noticed that "Asriel Dreemurr" is an anagram of "Serial Murderer", and Toby has confirmed that this was intentional" - Clyde Mandelin, Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE
** "Asriel" is an anagram of "Ralsei," which is the name of a character with a similar appearance from Deltarune, a game Toby Fox also created.
** "Dreemurr" is similar in pronunciation to "Dreamer," alluded by the ACT "dream" in his battle, and one of his tracks "Hopes and Dreams."
** "Asriel" is also a name of Hebrew origin that means "Helped by God." This might be a reference to Asriel being miraculously saved and turned to a flower after dying or helping Frisk by breaking the barrier with his god-like powers. This name appears several times in the Tanakh, the equivalent to the Christian Old Testament.Num 26:31; Josh 17:2; 1 Chr 7:14 (KJV)
*** The literal translation is "I shall be prince of God", which is even more straightforward, as Asriel is son of a King.
** His name and appearance could have also been inspired by Sariel, from the game Touhou: Highly Responsive to Prayers. His name is an anagram for Sariel, and this character's outfit resembles the God of Hyperdeath's (it also bears a symbol similar to the Delta Rune). Sariel is also an angel of death.
* It is possible that Asriel inherited his father's trait of being bad at coming up with names, as when he is in his flower form he names himself "Flowey."
* On all three routes, Asriel (or some form of Asriel) is always the last monster the protagonist encounters before the route's completion.
** In the Neutral Route, he absorbs the six human SOULs and becomes Photoshop Flowey.
** In the True Pacifist Route, he absorbs every SOUL in the Underground and becomes the "God of Hyperdeath".
** In the Genocide Route, he destroys Asgore's SOUL and vainly begs for the protagonist not to kill him.
* Napstablook is the only known monster whose SOUL was not absorbed by Asriel.
* The sound of Sans's Gaster Blasters consists of two sounds used by Asriel. First, the text sound when "ASRIEL DREEMURR" displays at the beginning of his battle (mus_sfx_a_gigatalk), and second, a beam sound used by Asriel's Chaos Buster and final attack (mus_sfx_rainbowbeam_1).
* Both Undyne the Undying's armor and Mettaton NEO's body closely resemble Asriel's Angel of Death form, displaying a heart on the chest (and both gloves in Undyne's case), large, spiked shoulder pads, and, in Mettaton NEO's case, enormous, vibrant wings.
* The amount of the stripes on his shirt varies in his appearances. Before turning into his god form, it has four stripes. In the flashback cutscene, it has one. And in his overworld appearance, his shirt has two stripes.
* According to Toby Fox in the Undertale Art Book, he only flies because he "looked like a doofus" standing in battle.
** Additionally, Toby Fox originally experimented the idea of giving Asriel "boyband hair" for about five seconds, mainly on his God of Hyperdeath design to evoke that feeling.
* At the end of Ruins, if the protagonist has not killed anyone, Flowey says "I am the prince of this world's future", this is possibly a hint of his old self, since before his death he was called the prince.
* Upon exhausting all of his dialogue during the True Pacifist Route epilogue, Asriel says "Don't you have anything better to do?" to Frisk. This is also what Flowey sometimes says during certain moments in the game, as well as the Annoying Dog at the end of Hard Mode. It is also the name of a PlayStation Trophy in the PlayStation release of Undertale.
== See Also ==
* Asriel article on the Deltarune Wiki
== References ==
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ru:Азриэль Дримурр
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Category:Boss
Category:Main characters