Frisk

Frisk is the playable character, main protagonist, and the eighth human in Undertale. After falling into the Underground, they venture to return to the surface, whether neutrally, genocidally, or peacefully. The latter case, the True Pacifist Route, is the only one where Frisk's name is revealed, emphasizing they are not the "fallen human" that is named by the player.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Frisk is a yellow-skinned human child who wears a long-sleeve light blue shirt with two magenta stripes, light blue pants (often depicted as shorts in the official Undertale merch), and red-brown shoes (usually depicted as black or in a darker tone). They have medium-length straight red-brown hair, short and choppy bangs, and a blank expression. Though Frisk does not show much expression in the overworld, NPCs often describe Frisk's expressions. Just like the first human, they have no stated gender..the main character's gender is left unstated in Undertale... - Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE, page 51 and are solely referred to with "they/them" pronouns throughout the game, or by generic terms (such as "child", "human", or "kid".)
=== Personality ===
Frisk's personality is usually ambiguous, allowing the player to project any personality onto Frisk since they're very often speechless to them. However, the narration that describes Frisk's actions occasionally changes depending on their LOVE. Frisk speaks to NPCs throughout the game, especially when ACTing in encounters, but the exact dialogue is shown only when the game gives multiple dialogue options. NPCs' dialogue boxes display "..." to show that the NPC is listening to Frisk, and some NPCs respond to questions that Frisk asks.
Depending on their actions, players can interpret Frisk as merciful and kind, or merciless and violent. Some NPCs emphasize Frisk's kindness, understanding, and grace in the epilogue. Frisk is obedient and only disallows player input when they follow someone else's instructions, such as when Sans tells them to hide behind the conveniently-shaped lamp.
=== Abilities ===
Frisk's determination grants the power to SAVE, heal at SAVE Points, and respawn at SAVE Points after death. This power emerged when Frisk first awoke in the Ruins. Frisk can reload the SAVE file to repeat events that occur after it, but NPCs' memories are not completely erased unless a True Reset occurs or after completing the Genocide Route. After the True Pacifist ending, Flowey's dialogue implies that Frisk is not the being who is manipulating SAVE files.
Frisk is the only character who is ever shown using items or gaining EXP.
== Main Story ==
=== Neutral Route ===
Flowey attempts to kill Frisk after he pretends to offer honest advice. Toriel intervenes, hits Flowey with fire magic, and serves as a guide to the Ruins. At the end of a long room, Toriel asks Frisk to wait for her to return and states that she has errands to do. To be safe, Toriel gives Frisk a cell phone to call her with.
Frisk travels through the remaining puzzles in the Ruins and eventually arrives at Toriel's home. They ask Toriel "how to exit the RUINS," which prompts Toriel to destroy the Ruins's exit. Toriel then battles Frisk because she wants them to prove that they can survive outside of the Ruins.
Then, Frisk meets Sans and Papyrus in Snowdin Forest. The brothers set up traps and puzzles in an attempt to capture Frisk. After passing through Snowdin, Papyrus battles Frisk.
Undyne, the head of the Royal Guard, pursues Frisk throughout Waterfall. Monster Kid often saves Frisk from Undyne by accident because they are so excited to see Undyne in action. After a chase scene, Undyne destroys a bridge that Frisk is standing on, and Frisk falls into the Garbage Dump. Before they get up, they recall a memory from the first human. In the garbage dump, Mad Dummy battles Frisk after accusing them of mistreating their cousin, Dummy, in the Ruins. At the end of Waterfall, Undyne battles Frisk after she gives an abridged monologue atop a crag.
After entering Hotland, Frisk enters a lab and meets Alphys and Mettaton. Alphys tells Frisk that she is not a bad guy, and Mettaton interrupts them with a quiz show. Alphys gives Frisk an upgraded cell phone after the quiz show concludes. She guides Frisk through Hotland and the CORE, helping them solve puzzles and evade Mettaton. Before his battle at the end of the CORE, Mettaton reveals that Alphys had created all of the traps in Hotland in an attempt to endear herself to Frisk. He then transforms into Mettaton EX and battles Frisk.
While passing through New Home, the capital of the Underground, Frisk learns the story of Asgore and Toriel's children from passing monsters. Then, Sans judges Frisk in the Last Corridor and explains the meaning of LOVE and EXP. He also emphasizes Frisk's importance in the fate of the world.
==== Escape ====
Frisk enters the Throne Room and finds Asgore, who tries to make small talk, only to realize their fated confrontation. The two walk to the Barrier and Asgore gives Frisk one last opportunity to leave before fighting.
Just before the fight, Asgore shows the six collected human SOULs, preparing the containment process after the battle. Right before the fight starts, Asgore destroys the MERCY button with his trident, making it impossible to spare or flee. However, at the fight's conclusion, Frisk can explicitly choose whether to spare or kill Asgore. Regardless of the choice made, Flowey appears, destroys Asgore's SOUL and takes the human SOULs. The game then abruptly closes, or restarts from the fake "humans and monsters" intro on the console versions.
After reopening the game, Frisk finds that Flowey has saved his own game over the SAVE file, having gained the power to do so with the stolen human SOULs. Loading Flowey's game, Frisk confronts a powered up Flowey and defiantly steps forward, entering an initially hopeless battle with him.
After Frisk calls for help several times, the stolen SOULs begin to revolt: first, they heal Frisk, and then they weaken Flowey, leaving him vulnerable to destruction. After Frisk reduces Flowey's HP to 0 and listens to his monologue, the SOULs remove his ability to SAVE or LOAD, and then finish him off. After this, there is an option to kill or spare a weakened Flowey before leaving the Underground, returning to the surface, and ending their journey.
After leaving the Underground, Frisk receives a call from Sans, who leaves a message about what happened to the Underground after Asgore died. This varies based on what monsters were killed and what friendships were completed.
=== True Pacifist Route ===
To complete the True Pacifist Route, Frisk must have first completed the Neutral Route.
If Frisk has completed the Neutral Route without gaining any EXP or LV (i.e. without killing anyone), it is possible to backtrack in the existing SAVE file to complete any missing friendships, then achieve the True Pacifist ending.
If Frisk acquires any EXP or LV, they have to reset the game to reach the True Pacifist Ending.
==== Friendships ====
While Frisk befriends many of the monsters in the Underground, only the Undyne, Papyrus, and Alphys friendships are required to achieve the True Pacifist Ending.
Frisk gains Papyrus's friendship by visiting him at his home and hanging out or dating him.
If Frisk chooses to give Undyne some water after being pursued, Undyne can be befriended (if they have not gained any EXP beforehand). Otherwise, a reset is needed to achieve Undyne's trust and friendship. Frisk visits Undyne with Papyrus's help, and Undyne gets "revenge" by trying to befriend Frisk and become "besties", setting her house on fire in the process. She tries to fight Frisk to regain honor but realizes that Frisk is a "wimpy loser with a big heart" just like Asgore and decides to be friends.
Undyne, having been encouraged to send a love letter to Alphys, gives the letter to Frisk, who delivers it to Alphys. This results in a date sequence with Alphys in which she and Undyne realize their feelings for each other and Alphys begins to come to terms with her past mistakes.
After befriending Alphys, Papyrus recommends traveling to Alphys's lab. In the lab, there is a letter on the floor that, when picked up, reads a monologue and the instructions needed to proceed to learn "the truth." Walking through the bathroom door reveals an elevator which goes down to the True Lab after a malfunction.
Frisk proceeds to explore the True Lab and along the way learns of Alphys's failed experiments (amalgamates) with determination and also about the origin of Flowey. After exploring the True Lab and talking to Alphys, she gains the confidence to reveal the truth about her experiments to the rest of the Underground. While attempting to leave, Frisk receives a phone call in the elevator from an unknown voice. The elevator immediately and forcibly brings Frisk to New Home.
==== Barrier ====
After returning to the throne room and confronting Asgore again, the pre-fight dialogue is interrupted by Toriel, who stops Asgore from fighting Frisk. Toriel is immediately followed by the other main characters who encourage everyone to get along. However, in a surprise twist, Papyrus reveals that it was "a tiny flower" who told him to bring everyone there.
Immediately after this reveal, Flowey appears, having again stolen the SOULs of the six other humans. He attempts to kill Frisk, but Undyne, Toriel, Alphys, Asgore, Sans, and Papyrus use their power to block Flowey's finishing blows. Directly after this, all of the Underground's monsters arrive to encourage Frisk in the fight against Flowey. However, Flowey reveals that this is what he wanted all along so that he could absorb the souls of all the monsters in the Underground along with the six human SOULs.
Due to the immense power gained from the six human SOULs and all of the monster SOULs, Flowey can transform into his true form, and just before the fight begins it is revealed that he is actually Asriel Dreemurr.
During this fight, Frisk is invincible, and any hit that would normally result in death instead causes the heart to split, but reform back together. The first time this happens, it is accompanied by the text "but it refused." After stalling for long enough, Asriel transforms again. At this point, Frisk can feel the souls of Toriel, Asgore, Alphys, Undyne, Papyrus, and Sans within Asriel and the ACT button changes to SAVE to represent the act of freeing everyone's souls. This is accomplished by completing a short sequence of ACT options to restore the memory of each lost soul after selecting the said lost soul of a chosen character.
After saving each monster, Frisk realizes that there is still one more person to save. After choosing to save "someone else," Asriel's memories of the first human (who strongly resembled Frisk) begin to play in a slideshow style. It is then revealed this "someone else" is Asriel himself. After this, Asriel starts to feel the love the monsters feel for Frisk through the souls he has absorbed, and slowly loses the will to fight as he is overcome with his fear of dying alone.
After reverting to his child form, Asriel learns Frisk's name. He apologizes for hurting everybody, and Frisk can choose to forgive or not forgive Asriel. Regardless of the choice made, Asriel destroys the barrier using the power of all of the SOULs before releasing them. Knowing that he will turn back to a flower without the power of the SOULs to sustain him, Asriel says one last goodbye to Frisk before leaving. At this point, there is a choice to hug Asriel or do nothing.
==== Freedom ====
After the scene with Asriel finishes, Frisk wakes up in front of Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys and Asgore. While the monsters remember little about Flowey and nothing about his incarnation as Asriel, they do know Frisk's name. At this point, Frisk can backtrack through the Underground and talk to the other monsters, before returning to the surface.
If Frisk backtracks through the Ruins, they can find Asriel tending to the Golden Flowers. Asriel asks about Frisk's desire to travel up Mt. Ebott in the first place. Receiving no answer, Asriel lists off foolishness or fate as possible motives, but comes to the conclusion that "only you (Frisk) know the answer."
After passing through the final door to the surface, Frisk leaves the Underground with their friends. Asgore offers Frisk the chance to be the monsters' ambassador to the humans. Most of the main monster cast then leave, except for Toriel, who asks about Frisk's plans. At this point, Frisk can choose to stay with Toriel or to go elsewhere.
After choosing to stay with Toriel, the ending scene shows Frisk sleeping in a bed, and Toriel bringing a slice of pie to Frisk's bedroom. 
Otherwise, if Frisk has "places to go," Toriel ends their conversation with "Frisk. "See you around."" As Toriel leaves, Frisk turns north and does not watch her. The game ends with a group photo of the main monster cast with Frisk in the middle.
=== Genocide Route ===
== Gallery ==
 Frisk overworld pranked.png | Frisk's eye being stained by Sans' telescope prank.
 Frisk overworld tomato.png | Frisk covered in fruit and vegetables, during the hangout with Undyne.
 Frisk overworld hugging Asriel.gif | Frisk hugging Asriel at the end of a True Pacifist Route.
 Frisk artwork Little Buddy.png | The Human Little Buddy sold on Fangamer.
 Frisk artwork Nendoroid.png | The Human Nendoroid sold on Fangamer.
 Frisk tarot.png | Frisk's official tarot card, renamed to "the human" in the official merchandise page, as Major Arcana 0, "The Fool."
 Doggo tarot.png | Frisk latching onto Doggo's back on his tarot card.
 Small Bird tarot.png | Frisk sitting with the Small Bird roosting on their head.
 Sans tarot.png | Frisk as seen in the reflection on Sans's tarot card.
 Undertale artwork Kickstarter.png | Frisk as seen on the promotional image for the Undertale Kickstarter campaign.
 Undertale artwork postcard.png | Bonus group postcard made by Gigi D.G. for Fangamer.
== Trivia ==
* The word "frisk" can mean several things:
** To "frisk" means to skip or leap playfully, or to pat down on someone, looking for a hidden item.
** "Frisk" is the Swedish word for "healthy," and the Danish and Norwegian word for "fresh."
** "Frisky" means "playful and full of energy."
* Naming the fallen human "Frisk" initiates Hard Mode.
* When just tapping right, Frisk does not put their foot up. This is not true for the other directions.
* When holding up and down on the north wall of any room, Frisk will appear to flash quickly between their two north and south sprites.
** When in the room overlooking the castle with the Monster Kid and going either left or right while holding up and down, Frisk walks twice as fast.
* Frisk appears to be left-handed. Evidence includes:
** Holding the umbrella and glass of water using their left hand.
** The slicing attack animation curving to the right, implying that force was carried from the left to the right during the attack.
*** Most fatality battle sprites display steep slashes from top left to bottom right, a pattern not commonly made by someone who is right-handed.
* While Frisk is allergic to Temmie, this is not true of the other furry residents of the Underground.
* When hugging Asriel, other magenta stripes appear on Frisk's shirt sleeves.
* At the end of the True Pacifist Route, Napstablook was the only monster who did not know Frisk's name until they mention it.
* Frisk is the last of the eight humans to fall into the Underground after traveling to Mount Ebott. Out of all the humans that fell, Frisk is the only human to survive the adventure in any ending.
* Frisk is only alluded to in Flowey's UNDERTALE Alarm Clock App dialogue, where one of his talk-sprites mimics their blank expression.
* Toby Fox was asked two interview questions regarding Frisk. One was whether Frisk's pronoun is a design choice, and in regards to Frisk's parents not being mentioned in-game. However, Toby responded with "Skip" to both questions, as he was offered to skip any questions he did not want to answer.
* In a joke thread on Starmen.net, Toby Fox posted early files from Undertale saying they were from an EarthBound hack called "UnderBound 2."Toby Fox (4 February 2013). "UnderBound" Archived on 15 December 2015.
** It was said that Frisk was a young androgynous child who was the step-cousin of "Squeezo" from the non-existent EarthBound hack, "UnderBound."
** Frisk was also shown to have black outlines with black hair and shoes compared to the lighter brown seen in the final version of the game. The artbook reveals this was changed because the sprite did not show up on the game's dark backgrounds that well.
** It was also jokingly mentioned that Frisk's love interest was a female Cuban cigar,"The main character's love interest is actually a female Cuban cigar" - Toby Fox. February 4, 2013. Starmen.Net Archived on 15 December 2015. concerning a question of whether the "love" in the game was romantic or like love of a fine cigar.
** In the Undertale Art Book, Frisk's early sprite is called MainChara.png. Toby Fox commented, "Originally this sprite had a black outline, but it didn't show up very well on the game's numerous black backgrounds... Everyone says the protagonist's sprite looks terrible. That's right. If it looks too good, you'll have a different expectation."
* Frisk's striped clothing is most likely a reference to the Mother/EarthBound franchise, which was Toby Fox's major inspiration for Undertale. The main protagonists of each installment also wore striped clothing.
* In Waterfall, there is an area where there are pools of water. If Frisk is near or on top of them, their reflection is visible in the pool; however, if the player modifies the game to enable Debug Mode and presses Space, the reflection will have an unused sprite with orange skin and a yellow shirt with green stripes, blue pants, brown shoes, and a shadow covering their eyes. The sprite has some similarities to Deltarune's Kris.
** Additionally, pressing U in debug mode causes Frisk's sprite to transition between a dark silhouette with a blue shirt and a version of Frisk with a green shirt with red stripes.
== References ==
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Category:Main characters