Asgore (Undertale)

Asgore Dreemurr is a character in the 2015 video game ''Undertale'' developed by Toby Fox, and its 2018 spiritual sequel ''Deltarune''. The king of the Underground, he is a special type of creature known as a Boss Monster and serves as the penultimate boss of the neutral route. Having previously killed six other humans as part of a plan to break an ancient Barrier created to entrap the Underground's denizens, he intends to take the protagonist's soul as the final one, freeing the monsters and getting revenge on the humans for killing his son, Asriel. He was created by Toby Fox, with support from artist Temmie Chang.

Asgore has been generally well received, praised for the execution of the battle between him and the human, particularly him preventing the human from sparing him by destroying that part of the menu user interface. The moral dilemma of killing humans to help the monsters, as well as the similarities between the musical themes of Asgore and his wife Toriel, have made him the subject of commentary.

Concept and creation

Asgore was created for ''Undertale'', designed by the game's creator, Toby Fox. Asgore was initially intended to be an intimidating character until Fox thought of his friend Reid Young, leading him to make Asgore "goofy." In early concept art by Temmie Chang, he was depicted without a beard. His sprite also used to have black hair, though Fox changed this to make it more readable.

Appearances

Asgore first appears in the game ''Undertale'', serving as one of the game's antagonists. He and the monsters he ruled had been driven into the Underground, a cave beneath the fictional Mt. Ebott, millennia ago by hostile humans, and trapped there by a magical Barrier. Before the events of the game, he and his wife Toriel had two children: Asriel and an adopted human. The human, who had fallen into the Underground, has the default name Chara, but can be named by the player. Both were ultimately killed by humans following an ill-fated plan to cross the Barrier. Asgore, seeking revenge on humanity, began to reap the souls of humans who had fallen into the Underground, with the intention of using their power to destroy the Barrier. Unwilling to fully enact his plan, Asgore chose to wait and ambush them one by one rather than exit the Barrier with a single human soul and immediately claim six more. Toriel, angered by his hypocrisy, decided to live alone in the Ruins.

Asgore is unseen for most of the game, though other characters, such as Toriel, warn the protagonist about him. Other monsters are more positive about him, including Undyne, who he helped on her path to becoming the captain of the Royal Guard. Asgore also works with other characters, like Alphys, the Royal Scientist, who helps the human get to Asgore's throne room, though warning that Asgore and the human will inevitably have to fight one another. When the human eventually meets Asgore, he is anxious to fight, doing so out of duty to the monsters rather than any personal desire to kill. During battle, he destroys the Mercy menu option on the user interface, preventing the human from sparing him and forcing them to fight to the death. Unlike other monster encounters, the player must fight him, though his health will not lower to zero upon defeat. At this point, Asgore accepts defeat, and the human can choose to either kill or spare him, having rebuilt the Mercy menu option. If spared, he will be moved, and decide to not break the Barrier, and instead become part of a family with the human, though he will accept death if killed. In the former option, the character Flowey, who had served as an antagonist in the beginning of the game, returns and kills Asgore instead before turning to fight the human.

After fighting Flowey, the player can either kill or spare Flowey as well. After the credits, Flowey instructs the player how to get the best ending. Once these conditions are fulfilled, either from reloading an earlier save or starting a new run, the human's encounter with Asgore will be interrupted by Toriel and other characters. Eventually, it is revealed that Flowey got these characters together, using their combined souls to reveal his true form, Asriel, who was resurrected as Flowey, lacking a soul, and becoming unable to feel empathy. During the fight, the human is able to rescue the souls of monsters Asriel took, including Asgore. After making Asriel stop fighting, he breaks the Barrier, allowing Asgore and the others to go outside of the Underground. In the Genocide route, a separate story path in which the protagonist sets out to kill all monsters in the Underground, the player is strong enough to immediately kill Asgore in one hit.

Asgore also appears as an NPC in ''Deltarune''. In this parallel universe, taking place in a more standard town environment, Asgore has gotten a divorce from Toriel, while Asriel is still alive. He was formerly the town's chief of police, but had been fired for unknown reasons. He owns a flower shop named "Flower King", a reference to his role in ''Undertale''. He is depicted as a loving and somewhat goofy father figure of Kris, who is the game's equivalent to Chara and Frisk.

Reception

Asgore has generally been well received by critics, particularly for the emotional conflict behind his actions and backstory. ''Kotaku'' writer Joe Parlock considered him among the best new characters of 2015, feeling that despite the cast of ''Undertale'' being so solid, none of them were as "endearing, tragic, or adorable" as Asgore. He considered him the most "conflicted and multi-dimensional" character in the game. Parlock discussed how the game frames him as an "unstoppable, terrifying force who will rip you limb from limb," the player discovers how good he actually is from the monsters. He commented that finding out how kind he is made it hurt to find out how damaged he was, which lead him to commit "truly evil" acts. Author Andrés José Almirall Nieves discussed how the moments before encountering Asgore, where monsters discussed their dreams of escaping and their appreciation for Asgore's actions, helped engendered empathy for Asgore's side of the story, which he felt reinforced ''Undertale''s message of "love and connection."

The fight with Asgore was praised alongside the fight with Sans by ''Kotaku'' writer Ash Parrish for subverting what players of the Pacifist route can do in the fight. They felt that it forced players to decide whether to kill a character for the first time. Writer Tobias Salte Klausen also discussed the game removing player agency in this fight, also discussing how the game removes player agency in the Genocide fight by forcing the human to kill Asgore. Author Matthew Perez noted that, in the Genocide route, Asgore does not recognize the human as a human, suggesting that the question of "what kind of monster are you?" is meant to be a "sarcastic jab" at the player for their choices.

Asgore's theme and connection to Toriel has been discussed by critics. Andrés José Almirall Nieves discussed how his theme, "Bergentrückung," takes its name from the German term for the "king in the mountain," which is a prominent figure in folklore. They also discussed how his theme reflected Toriel's theme, turning the ostinato figure "into a sturdy 4/4 meter instead of a lilting 6/8." Writer Jason Yu also discussed the shared thematic elements between Asgore and Toriel, including the gradual discovery of the relationship between them. He also observed the similar ostinato, appreciating that it did not come into the song immediately, as he felt it would have given away the musical relationship between Asgore and Toriel too easily. He also felt that the different time signatures helped exemplify the two songs' rhythmic differences. Writer Arthur Canzi Zeferino noted how Asgore and Toriel have similar attack patterns with their fire, discussing how Toriel eventually holds back to not kill the human, but Asgore is unyielding unless defeated. Matthew Perez felt that the reuse of Toriel's musical motif was meant to demonstrate the struggle Asgore experienced with his actions.

References

{{Undertale
Video game bosses
Fictional monsters
King characters in video games
Male characters in video games
Undertale and Deltarune characters
Video game characters introduced in 2015
Video game characters with fire or heat abilities
Fictional murderers of children
Video game characters who use magic
Anthropomorphic video game characters
Anthropomorphic goats