Undyne
Undertale character
3D render of Undyne created for Fangamer
First appearance	Undertale (2015)
Designed by	Toby Fox Temmie Chang

Undyne is a character in the 2015 video game Undertale. She is a lesbian monster who serves as the captain of the Royal Guard of the Underground under its king, Asgore. She is initially an antagonist to the player-character, the human, but depending on the human's actions, she may become their ally. She is reluctant to befriend the human, but through persistence by the player, eventually realizes that they were a good person. If the human makes a point of killing every monster possible, Undyne will transform into Undyne the Undying, vowing to destroy the human in order to save humans, monsters, and all other life from their actions. She is in love with Alphys, and in the true ending, is asked to help deliver a letter professing her love. Undyne's sexuality, as well as her relationship with Alphys, were praised by critics for how they were depicted. Undyne later appeared in Deltarune, though in an unrelated role to the one she has in Undertale.

Undyne was created by Toby Fox, who created most of the rest of the game. He received assistance from other artists, including Temmie Chang and Gigi, the former responsible for working on Undyne's sprite designs and the latter designing the art that initially revealed her. Undyne went through different depictions in early concept designs, including being more fish-like in art by Fox and resembling an Axem Ranger from Super Mario RPG in art by Temmie. She was difficult for Fox to design at first; he gave her various accents and interests to have, including fashion and dancing, before Fox settled on her final design and characterization. Her music also went through multiple iterations, with her final music using similar instruments to some songs composed by ZUN from the Touhou series.

Since her appearance in Undertale, she has been met with positive reception. In addition to her aforementioned sexuality and romance, she was also praised as one of the best characters in and out of Undertale, particularly as a female character. Her boss fights were also praised, with Game Informer calling the "genocide" route boss fight against her one of his favorites. She has also received praise and analysis for her music, with critics and writers discussing how her music reflects her personality and actions. She has also been the recipient of multiple pieces of merchandise, including a Nendoroid figure from Good Smile and multiple pieces from Fangamer.

Concept and creation

Undyne was originally envisioned as resembling the Axem Rangers from Super Mario RPG

Undyne was created by Toby Fox for the video game Undertale, and was also designed by others involved, such as Temmie Chang.^[1] According to initial concept designs, Undyne was originally meant to look more fish-like.^[2] Other early concept designs, created by Temmie, were meant to look like an Axem Ranger's head from Super Mario RPG per Fox's vision.^[3] Undyne is a lesbian monster who serves as the captain of the Royal Guard of the Underground under its king, Asgore, tasked with getting a human's soul to free the monsters in the Underground. She is first seen in a full suit of armor, though when her helmet is removed, she is shown to be a fish woman with red hair pulled back in a ponytail, blue skin, fangs, and only one eye. She fights with a blue spear, and can summon energy spears as well. When not in her armor, she is seen wearing a tank top and pants.^[1] She was difficult for Fox to reach a final design, both in terms of appearance and characterization, with the only detail he always settled on being that she would be the first boss to try to kill the protagonist. He tried to give her various accents, but was unsatisfied with them. She was also intended to be into fashion and singing for a large portion of her development, only materializing for Fox once he began writing the monologue she spoke before her boss battle with the protagonist. At this point, she became a natural character for him to write. Her face and body were also difficult to settle on, taking a long time to pick a final design.^[1] Her first sprite by Temmie was deemed too much like a "normal knight" by Fox, who tweaked her helmet. Other changes he made included making her waist-armor longer to avoid looking like a miniskirt and changing the lighting of the sprite to make her more intimidating.^[1] When designing a "cute outfit" for Undyne, Gigi commented that it looked too much like jogging clothes, and a friend suggested adding a jacket, which he did.^[1] When designing Undyne the Undying, Fox intended for her hair to be more vertical, but found that it would not fit on screen.^[1] Her design was initially revealed through a Steam digital trading card shortly before the release date illustrated by Gigi.^[1] Toby Fox intended to make it clearer what players had to do in the fight against Undyne due to multiple players having trouble understanding that they had to run away. He added an extra line to her dialogue to telegraph to players that they needed to run away.^[4]

When composing the theme in Undyne's first boss battle, Fox used the same trumpet sounds used by ZUN in the Touhou series.^[4] Her home was designed by artist Gigi, with the only notes given by Fox being that it needed to look funny when it catches on fire.^[1] The house was designed in-game by Drak.^[1] Fox originally considered giving her a pet fish, but found it strange for a fish to own a fish.^[1] Undyne had another song that was planned before being scrapped, which was the most complete of all scrapped songs in Undertale. It was made before Fox fully understood Undyne's personality, and despite him liking the arrangement, he felt it did not sound enough like "being heroically punched in the face."^[5] Both of her boss themes, "Spear of Justice" and "Battle Against a True Hero," use a combination of real and synthetic instruments.^[6]

Appearances

Undyne originally appeared in Undertale. She initially appeared as an opponent to the protagonist, the human, attempting to kill them in order to extract their soul and use it to free the monsters from the Underground to fulfill Asgore's plans. She pursues them throughout Waterfall, and eventually fights them in a duel. The human can either fight Undyne or run away, but cannot spare her. If they run away enough, Undyne follows them into Hotland, causing her to overheat. The human can either give her water or ignore her; if they ran away and hydrated Undyne, as well as avoided killing any monsters, they can show up on a "date" set up by Papyrus, a friend of Undyne's, who leaves the date and manipulates Undyne into trying to befriend the human by saying she isn't good enough to do it. Undyne is reticent to befriend the human, but is pushed to doing so by Papyrus' chiding. Undyne and the human end up accidentally burning down her house in the process of making spaghetti. She attacks the human, believing they cannot be friends, but the human's attack is so weak that Undyne realizes the human does not want to hurt her, a sentiment she shares. She befriends the human, telling them to try to reason with Asgore instead of fight him. After the date, she, now homeless, goes to hang out with Papyrus instead, and can be talked to if the human calls him. There are multiple endings the player can get, which depend on what they did during the game. In the ending where Asgore dies, but the human does not kill any monsters and befriends both Papyrus and Undyne, Undyne mourns Asgore, but does not blame the human. She tells them to make the best of their life, and to call her if they ever want to talk. If the player has killed monsters, there are various endings that they may earn, including one where she blames the human for Asgore's death and seeks revenge.

After the ending, the game's antagonist, Flowey, tells the player how to get a happier ending, with one step involving making friends with Undyne if they did not do so, and another step being to befriend Alphys. After managing to befriend Papyrus and Undyne, getting one of the endings, and not killing any monsters, the human is asked by Undyne to deliver a letter to Alphys. Alphys misunderstands it to be a love letter from the human to her, and decides to go on a date with the human, in which she ultimately admits to the human her feelings for Undyne. Undyne interrupts the date, and eventually, Alphys tells Undyne that she is not the person Undyne thinks she is, talking about how she spends all day reading manga and watching anime. Undyne, however, simply gushes about the qualities of Alphys she appreciates. After completing the True Lab and fighting Asgore once again, Toriel comes to stop the fight, and Undyne, Alphys, and others join them. During this scene, Undyne and Alphys are prompted to kiss, though the kiss is aborted by Toriel. Flowey shows up to trap the monsters and the human, though when other monsters join, Flowey uses their combined souls to become his true form, Asriel Dreemurr. The human must help Undyne and the others break free in order to defeat Asriel. After managing to pacify Asriel, the human is able to break the barrier, freeing the monsters from the Underground. During the end credits, Undyne and Alphys are seen at the beach, where Undyne kisses Alphys.

If the human makes a point of killing every monster possible before fighting Undyne, a child named Monster Kid, who had been trying to befriend the human, finds themselves nearly dying by the human's hands; however, Undyne steps in the way, nearly dying in the process. However, due to an abundance of determination, the quality that allows the human to survive death, she manages to survive, transforming into Undyne the Undying and vowing to destroy the human in order to save monsters, humans, and all other life.

Undyne also appears in Deltarune, a video game featuring multiple characters from Undertale, though in a different incarnation than the one in Undertale. She works as a cop instead of a knight.^[7] Cosmetics based on her were included in Among Us, alongside other Undertale characters.^[8]

Promotion and reception

Undyne has received multiple pieces of merchandise. A Nendoroid figure of Undyne by Good Smile was released, featuring accessories such as her spear and fish-shaped mug. She also has multiple faces that can be swapped. People who pre-ordered the figure would also receive a special backdrop.^[9] A figure of Undyne was released as the second set of a series of figures called 'Little Buddies'.^[10] Fangamer has released multiple pieces of merchandise based on Undyne and other Undertale characters, including multiple sets of stickers and sticky notes.^[11] A cloth face mask based on Undyne was sold alongside a storage pouch based on Waterfall.^[12] A soundtrack based on music related to Undyne, including an Undyne medley remix, was released.^[11] Fangamer also released a plush toy of Undyne, designed by Audrey Waner.^[13] Banpresto has also produced various Undertale merchandise, including an acrylic figure of Undyne.^[14]

Since her appearance in Undertale, she has received generally positive reception. Kotaku writer Kirk Hamilton considered her one of Undertale's most memorable characters, discussing how fans have theorized why she is capable of having determination, a quality normally reserved for humans.^[15] Undyne has been praised as a favorite LGBTQ character by multiple critics, with NintendoLife writer Kate Gray praising her relationship with Alphys as "absolutely wonderful."^[16] IGN staff praised her for her charm, which they explain comes from being able to see her from "multiple facets" depending on how you play. They cited how killing only some monsters would have her be a "fairly intimidating warrior" while taking the "genocide" route would make her the "hero of the game." Additionally, they discussed how, when the player takes a pacifist approach, they discover that Undyne wants the best for her friends and loved ones.^[17] In an article about celebrating LGBTQ representation in video games, RPGFan writer Stephanie Sybydlo regarded the relationship between Undyne and Alphys as best encapsulating the feature, encouraging Undertale players to help ensure that they get together.^[18] Writer Max Delsohn discussed their gender journey and how they reacted negatively to certain media, including what they describe as "Alphys and Undyne's easy, lesbian love in a whimsical, faraway world" due to the complications they were undergoing.^[19] Writer Evan Marzahn discussed how Undyne could be read by the player as evil due to the human being an innocent child in the pacifist run, but may also be seen as heroic in the genocide run due to the human's actions. They noted that the human in the genocide run makes Undyne, alongside Sans, serve as heroic characters against the human's villainous nature. They discussed how this highlights the capacity for characters to be both good or bad.^[20]

Undyne has been considered among the best female characters by multiple critics. Game Informer writer Elise Favis felt that she was not only one of her favorite female characters of 2015, but also one of the best Undertale characters. She praised her for being "at times terrifying and merciless," regarding her boss battle as "one of the best," also praising the boss theme.^[21] Polygon writer Allegra Frank also regarded her as one of the best women of 2015, saying that she was the best female character to choose from in Undertale. She praised her character arc, going from an antagonizer who is "frightening and merciless," but turns out to have more depth than people may realize. She discussed how Undyne is reluctant to accept the human's friendship, as well as discussing how her romantic interest in Alphys helps drive players towards completing the "true pacifist" route, due in part to it being a lesbian relationship.She appreciated how she has a "no-holds-barred approach to everything" as well as her having her own vulnerabilities and insecurities despite that, feeling her arc was among Undertale's "most compelling."^[22]

Undyne's boss fights and music have been well-received. Writer Tobias Salte Klausen discussed the concept of ludonarrative resonance semiotic metaphor, citing examples such as Undyne's attacks growing more sluggish in battle, suggesting Undyne was growing more weary. They also cited how the ability to run away was removed during this fight, requiring players to follow Undyne's comment about needing to face her head on so long as the human's heart is locked in place. They noted that Undyne is the first boss character where the player lacked an emotional connection to, contrasting Papyrus and Toriel, and that they only get to see their perspective once they begin the battle with Undyne.^[23] The boss battle in the "genocide" route of Undertale against Undyne was considered a favorite by Game Informer writer Daniel Tack.^[24] When analyzing Undyne's leitmotif, writer Jason Yu noted that it appeared well before her actual theme in other themes such as her first encounter, as well as the themes of Waterfall and the Ruins. He discussed her Undyne the Undying theme, "Battle Against a True Hero," feeling it represents Undyne after she has been "maxed out, stretched to her limits." He also pointed out that Undyne's theme, similar to the other two female characters (Toriel and Alphys), have a triple meter for their themes, as opposed to the male characters, whose themes are in common time.^[25] Writer Matthew Perez discussed how Undyne and her music contrasted the earlier game's "whimsical aesthetics," calling her first theme - "Undyne" - "haunting and threatening" - which he felt matched Undyne. He discussed how "Waterfall" using elements later associated with Undyne helped "create a relationship between [Undyne] and current gaming environment." He later talked about the genocide route, talking about how Undyne's selfless actions of protecting Monster Kid with her life contrasted the protagonist's selfish actions, representing Toby Fox's interest in clarifying the "notions of good and evil." He also noted that, despite her violent nature, she is given tonal tracks due to the "purported noble intentions with which they operate."^[6]

References