Toriel

Toriel is the second major character the protagonist meets in Undertale. She saves the protagonist from Flowey and guides them through the Ruins, wishing to protect and to teach them to avoid the dangers of the Underground. Toriel is the former Queen of the monsters, the ex-wife of Asgore, the mother of Asriel, the adoptive mother of the first human, and the first boss, as she guards the Ruins exit.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
Toriel is a Boss Monster whose head resembles a white-furred Nubian Goat, structured with floppy ears and tiny horns. She has a pair of visible fangs and long eyelashes, and her irises have a dark red tint. She has an anthropomorphic body, with paws at the end of her limbs. She wears a long purple robe with white sleeves and the Delta Rune on the chest. Toriel can also be seen with reading glasses, when reading a book on snail facts.
=== Personality ===
Toriel is a kind monster that acts as a protective mother figure for the protagonist. She is sincere in expressing her love through words and actions, such as when she was married to Asgore. She employs tough love on the protagonist and Asgore. Toriel cares for children and was excited to become a mother.
Toriel's hobbies includes baking, reading, writing puns, bug-hunting, and tending to flowers. She enjoys baking Butterscotch Pie, as well as her favorite, Snail Pie. She has read many books in her home, and has a journal full of puns. She enjoyed puns even before meeting Sans.
Toriel is said to be intelligent and can come off as intimidating when she is serious. Toriel is meticulous in her goals, and was often referred by her title when she was the queen.
Toriel aspires to be a teacher. She offers instructions on puzzles and prepares a curriculum for the protagonist. In the True Pacifist Ending Credits, she stands outside a school and, in the Family Ending of the Neutral Route, she starts her own.
Her full name is Toriel Dreemurr, she is also one of the three known Boss Monsters and a member of the Dreemurr family along with Asgore and Asriel.
== Main Story ==
Before the events of Undertale, Toriel was married to King Asgore and had a son, Asriel. When the first human fell into the Underground, she adopted them as their child. When the deaths of their two children pushed Asgore to declare war on humanity, Toriel became disgusted by his actions. She left him, retrieved the first human's body so she could give them a proper burial, and remained in the Ruins.
Toriel often checks the entrance to the Ruins to tend to the bed of Golden Flowers and aid those who fall into the Underground. It is implied that she had cared for the previous six fallen humans in the same way she cares for the protagonist before their eventual depart. Sometime after that, Toriel and Sans became friends over knock-knock jokes they shared at the Ruins's exit door. One day, she requested that he promises to protect humans that exit through the door.
=== Neutral Route ===
At the beginning of the game, Toriel saves the protagonist from Flowey, healing any damage done by him. After introducing herself, she guides them through the first few puzzles of the Ruins. She encourages the protagonist to deal with monster encounters by talking to them, as opposed to acting violently.
Toriel gives the protagonist a cell phone to keep in contact with one another, as she needs to run errands further into the Ruins. She tells them to stay where they are, only to be disobeyed. Toriel occasionally calls the protagonist as they explore to inquire if they left the room, on their favorite flavor preferences, and offers advice on keeping space for new items. When Toriel is about to call once more, she discovers the protagonist is near the entrance to her home. If the protagonist is injured, she heals them.
In her home, Toriel introduces the protagonist to their room and plans to raise them as her own. At the scent of something burning, Toriel leaves them to check on the freshly baked butterscotch-cinnamon pie. After the protagonist asks her about leaving the Ruins, Toriel abruptly leaves; the protagonist follows.
As she goes toward the exit of the Ruins, she explains that she plans to destroy the exit to prevent the protagonist from leaving, as all other humans who left had been killed.
Depending on choice, the protagonist can leave by killing or sparing Toriel. If killed, she responds accordingly depending if they do so normally or after she stops attacking. If spared, Toriel allows them to leave, but advises them to never return. She hugs them briefly, and looks back at them once more before departing to tend to the flowerbed.
=== True Pacifist Route ===
Toriel reappears just as Asgore and the protagonist prepare to fight, interrupting it with her fire magic, much like she does with Flowey at the start of the game. Toriel explains that she was constantly worried about the protagonist, and realized that they would have to take a life to leave, something she was trying to prevent since the beginning.
When Asgore expresses his delight at her reappearance, she scolds him for his cowardice. Toriel criticizes Asgore's plan on freeing monsterkind and rejects his request at being friends.
As the protagonist's friends come, she introduces herself to them and recognizes Sans's voice immediately. She tells the protagonist that while they may have to stay Underground with all their friends, they will live a happy life regardless.
Flowey then appears. Having absorbed the human SOULs, he binds Toriel and company with vines. When Flowey tries to kill the protagonist, Toriel is the first monster to intervene, using her fire magic to block Flowey's bullets. Her SOUL, along with every other monsters', is eventually absorbed by Flowey, allowing him to become Asriel.
During the protagonist's battle with Asriel, Toriel appears as one of the Lost Souls. However, she is eventually saved along with the others by the protagonist when they help them regain their memories of their recent experiences with them.
==== Epilogue ====
After the fight against Asriel concludes, she learns the protagonist's name, "Frisk." She tells them that they are free to go through the Underground to talk to more of their friends. Meanwhile, Alphys upgrades Toriel's phone, allowing her to send text messages.
Frisk leaves the Underground with Toriel and their other friends. As the others leave Frisk to begin their lives on the Surface, Toriel asks Frisk what they will do now.
* If Frisk decides to stay with Toriel, she says that none of this would have happened if they remained with her at the beginning of the game and that it was for the best that they decided to leave the Ruins. She then promises to take care of Frisk for as long as they need. Like in the Ruins, Toriel takes Frisk's hand as they walk offscreen together. After the credits, Toriel brings a slice of pie to Frisk's room.
* If Frisk says that they "have places to go," Toriel says that she will see them later. After the credits, Frisk and their monster friends are shown together in a sepia photograph.
In the credits sequence, Toriel welcomes Monster Kid to a school that she opened and teaches at. The school door is adorned with the Delta Rune without the triangles that represented the monsters trapped Underground.
=== Genocide Route ===
Toriel behaves just like she did in all other routes until her battle with the protagonist, where they deplete her HP in one hit. She immediately recognizes their killing instinct, and laments in vain as she collapses. She then disintegrates, and her SOUL lingers briefly before shattering.
== In Battle ==
== Relationships ==
=== The Protagonist ===
Toriel cares for humans who fall into the Ruins and the protagonist is no exception. She tries to keep the protagonist in the Ruins, as Asgore killed the other humans who left her care. If the protagonist spares her, she lets them leave the Ruins, but not before giving them a parting hug.
If the protagonist kills her during a Neutral Route, she uses the last of her strength to give them a warning about what lies ahead and calls the protagonist "my child" before she turns to dust. If the protagonist kills her when she stops attacking, she says that the protagonist is no different from the monsters outside the Ruins and laughs hysterically before she dies. In the Genocide Route, she realizes that by keeping the protagonist in the Ruins, she was protecting not the protagonist, but the rest of the monsters in the Underground. The death sprite for Toriel is the same in a Genocide Route and on a Neutral Route if the protagonist kills her after she is spared thirteen times.
If the protagonist calls Toriel "mom," it surprises her, and she states that if it makes them happy, then she heartily approves of it.
Calling Toriel on her phone in the Ruins and flirting with her makes her assume the protagonist is joking, if they do it again she is unsure what to make of it. If they flirt with her after calling her "mother," she becomes uncomfortable and calls the protagonist an "interesting" child. She also mentions this in the epilogue.
If the game is reset, Toriel says that talking to the protagonist is like "meeting an old friend for the first time" and also says that she feels this way about most fallen humans.
=== Asgore ===
Asgore is Toriel's ex-husband. They were once extremely close, winning first place in the '98 Nose Nuzzle competition and were open about their affection for one another. During their marriage, Toriel's nicknames for Asgore included "Fluffybuns" and "Gorey."
Toriel left Asgore and New Home after he declared war on humanity. After they are reunited on the True Pacifist Route, Toriel criticizes his plan for freeing monstersbut still believes that he deserves mercy, even though he is "terrible." When Asgore asks if they can be reconciled or at least be friends, Toriel declines. While she appears to be civil with Asgore when she speaks to him about the future of the Underground in the aftermath of the fight against Asriel, once they are on the surface and everyone else has left, Asgore wonders whether he should leave too, and Toriel glares at him, prompting him to leave her and Frisk alone. However, in the ending credits, she does not mind his presence while trimming the bushes, hinting a developing tolerance or gradual forgiveness.
=== Asriel ===
Toriel was the mother of Asriel, little is known about her relationship with her son, but she always wanted to have a baby and takes care of him along with Asgore. She wished Asriel all the best and even allowed him to be friends with the first human. Even when they poisoned Asgore she was furious about it, but she obviously didn't hold a grudge against him for that long. After his death, Toriel was saddened by his death, she never found out that Flowey was her son. She loves her son very much even years after his death.
=== The First Human ===
Toriel took care of the first human as her own child. Little is known about their relationship, but apparently she spent time with them. She clearly taught the first human how to cook a pie and knitting. Later, Chara bonded with Toriel that they developed a habit of saying "Greetings". After their death, Toriel did not want to leave their body in the basement and she took the body to bury in a decent way in a field of golden flowers.
=== Flowey ===
Toriel despises Flowey, and refers to them as a "terrible creature" for his attempt to kill the protagonist.
Toriel is unaware that Flowey is Asriel.
=== Sans ===
Sans and Toriel do not meet in person until the end of a True Pacifist Route and the Family and Exiled Queen endings, where they both have become good friends. They started their friendship by telling jokes to each other through the door between the Ruins and Snowdin. One day, Toriel entrusted Sans with protecting any human that left the Ruins.
They continue to bond in the epilogue and text each other as Frisk backtracks through the Underground.
== Gallery ==
 Toriel artwork Steam card.jpg | Toriel in a Steam trading card.
 Toriel screenshot staring at Froggit.png | Toriel glaring at a hostile Froggit.
 Toriel screenshot glaring at Froggit.png | Froggit leaves, Toriel glares even harder.
 Toriel face confused 2.png | Toriel still confused by the strange outcome of the boring dummy fight.
 Toriel face Hard Mode.png | Toriel's expressions in the Hard Mode Ending.
 Heartache soundtrack.png | Toriel forcing the protagonist to fight her.
 Toriel screenshot shocked.png | Toriel's shocked sprite, seen if she kills the protagonist.
 Toriel artwork Little Buddy.png | Toriel Little Buddy sold on Fangamer.
 Toriel artwork plush.png | Toriel plush sold on Fangamer.
 Toriel artwork Nendoroid.png | Toriel Nendoroid sold on Fangamer.
 Toriel tarot.png | Toriel's official tarot card as Major Arcana III, "The Empress."
 Undertale artwork Kickstarter.png | Toriel 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.
 Thundersnail screenshot Famitsu.png | Artwork from Undertale's 5th anniversary.
== Trivia ==
* Toriel's name is similar to that of the Watcher angel "Turiel" (More commonly known as "Yomiel") in Judaism and Christianity. Furthermore, Toriel herself is described as the "watcher" and "caretaker" of the Ruins.
* Toriel's name is a play on the word "tu-torial," as she teaches the protagonist about how the game works.
* When attempting to name the fallen human "Toriel," the response is: "I think you should think of your own name, my child," and prevents the name from being used.
* Toriel is the only character that has a blinking animation in the dialogue box.
* Toriel's dialogue completely excludes the use of contractions, hence her more idiosyncratic phrases, such as "is it not" instead of "isn't it", giving her speech patterns a more "ancient" tone. This trait is absent from both her appearances in the Alarm Clock App and Deltarune.
* If the protagonist bores the Dummy during their encounter, Toriel stares in disbelief and confusion and starts thinking in a confused manner before moving to the next room without comment.
* Toriel has a sock drawer despite never wearing socks in-game.
** The narrator's reaction to Toriel's sock drawer and Sans's sock pile is similar.
* Attempting to open the menu by pressing C after fleeing her battle makes the menu disappear instantly. Leaving the room while sliding against the wall also causes the protagonist to appear in the wrong spot in the previous room. This effect ends after leaving the room.
* If the protagonist spares Toriel, she can be found by the flowerbed where the protagonist initially awoke after falling into the underground. If the protagonist backtracks to talk to her, she tells them "Do not worry about me. Someone has to take care of these flowers."
** Asriel also says this when backtracking to the same location after completing a True Pacifist Route.
* In the game files, there is a sprite called spr_torielboss_suicide, looking similar to the sprite where she is killed. This implies that at some point in development, it was intended to be possible for Toriel to kill herself.
* The player cannot call Toriel once they exit the Ruins even if she was spared. While most players may assume that Toriel intentionally refuses to answer the protagonist's calls outside of the Ruins, she is actually unable to answer due to the Annoying Dog having stolen her phone.
** Calling her with the Annoying Dog in the inventory causes ringing in the protagonist's inventory, implying that it stole and ate her phone.
* Toriel once wore a flower-patterned muu-muu; other monsters complimented her by saying "nice muu-muu," but she assumed everyone was calling her a cow and never wore it again.
* In Undertale trailers, a common recurring theme is a 3D figure of Toriel showing events that do not happen in the game, with a disclaimer stating so.
** In the Undertale release trailer, the figure is being smashed against a wall of white blocks, with the background text stating "my child you are breaking my heart." This event repeats in the PS4 and PS Vita announcement trailer.
** In the Nintendo Switch version release trailer, the figure is shown eliminating Mad Mew Mew by shooting lasers from her eyes, with the text now stating "my child i shall break your heart."
** In the Xbox release trailer, three figures are shown rotating, with the words "NOMINAL" in the background changing to "ERROR!"
** Outside from Undertale trailers, the figure has been shown in the Undertale 6th anniversary stream, where she walks into the room, speaks gibberish, then shoots lasers at the stream hosts before the stream pauses.
* Despite Toriel's motherly nature, she is not above swearing.
** Toby Fox stated in a deleted tweet that it is possible for Toriel to have said the "F-word." 
** An example of this is in the Undertale Alarm Clock app. According to Papyrus, Toriel started acting weird due to drinking too much eggnog. This included singing holiday songs and replacing all of the words with swears.
* According to Sans, at some point after the events of the game, Toriel drank three glasses of wine and threw pizza at him like frisbees.
** Toby Fox has clarified on his Tumblr that these pizzas were meant to be miniature Lunchables pizzas and not regular, full-size pizzas, but he doesn't really mind either way because he finds the concept of Toriel throwing full-size pizzas at Sans to be funny.
* The Toriel plush doll sold on Fangamer has a white heart hidden inside, representing her SOUL. The doll must be cut in order to retrieve the heart.
== See Also ==
* Toriel article on the Deltarune Wiki.
== References ==
cs:Toriel Dreemurová
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ru:Ториэль
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Category:Boss
Category:Main characters