A colourful cast: the top 10 ‘Undertale’ characters as chosen by the internet

By Sam Wareing

Updated Oct 17, 2022 at 05:18 AM

Reading time: 4 minutes

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Images by Toby Fox from Undertale

Undertale is a game unlike any other. A roleplaying game (RPG) where you don’t have to kill a single enemy, and can simply talk your way out of every encounter by showing mercy. It also happens to be one of the most loved stories ever crafted.

As with pretty much every game in existence however, it’s not just the interesting story or the unique gameplay that makes it so memorable—no, it’s the iconic characters you meet along the way. And Undertale has some of the most beloved characters ever to grace our screens. But which ones are the best, and why? Join us as we count down the top ten.

Chara is the first human to fall into the Underground and therefore the catalyst for the events of Undertale. Bearing a striking resemblance to the player character, Frisk, Chara gets taken in by Toriel and Asgore and treated as their own child, along with their son, Asriel. After consuming a yellow buttercup—deadly to humans—Chara became terminally ill and died, their soul merging with Asriel’s.

Chara, in control of Asriel’s body, carried their own corpse across the barrier between the human world and the Underground, and wanted to use their new power to destroy the humans who were attacking them. Asriel resisted Chara which ultimately led to the humans killing the fusion of the two souls.

The only time Chara makes a physical appearance in the game is if the player completes the genocide route by killing everything in their path.

Asgore is the king of the Underground and leader of its denizens, the monsters. He is also the ex-husband of Toriel, father of Asriel and adopted father of Chara as well as the penultimate boss of the neutral route.

While not evil or malicious, even shown as a nice monster during certain parts of the story, Asgore is one of the main antagonists due to his plan to capture and kill seven humans in order to use their souls to break the barrier which traps the monster in the Underground—he’s a complicated guy.

Having lost his family many years ago, and having to do terrible things for the sake of his people, he regrets it to such a degree that he can’t even look you in the eyes while fighting you. He is the most powerful monster in the Underground, but holds back against you. Yet, despite his terrible story, he still is still very much a wholesome character and is constantly trying to repair his relationship with his former partner Toriel.

Frisk is the player character of the game, and while they are the protagonist you play as, they are not the character you are asked to name at the beginning of the game.

By having an ambiguous personality, this allows the player to project their own personality onto them. Because of this, Frisk very much becomes the lens through which you experience Undertale. Be it genocide or pacifism, your actions decide what kind of person Frisk is.

Toriel is one of the first characters you encounter upon starting Undertale. Taking you in much as she did with the first human she adopted, she looks after you until you decide to leave the ruins in order to get back home.

Before the events of Undertale, she 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.

When fighting Toriel to leave the ruins, if the player chooses to spare her over and over again, her attacks begin to purposely avoid the player, showing her unwillingness to cause harm to them, a sentiment she instilled in you when guiding you through the ruins.

Alphys is an adorable, shy and awkward scientist who the player character meets once reaching Hotland. Alphys is known for watching far too much anime, and most notably for her huge crush on the leader of the royal guard, Undyne, creating one of the most beloved lesbian couples in modern fiction.

Appointed as the royal scientist by Asgore after her predecessor disappeared, Alphys created the ultra-popular entertainment robot Mettaton, which leads us nicely into our next entry on this list.

Mettaton, probably the most flamboyant character in Undertale, is an entertainment robot created by Alphys and hosts many TV shows to entertain the Underground’s inhabitants. Despite his showbiz personality, Mettaton has also been programmed to kill humans in order to capture the souls needed to escape the Underground.

Mettaton is also one of Alphys’ experiments to create a soul from scratch, but only real human souls contain enough power to break the barrier. It is revealed later in the game that the only reason Mettaton was trying to kill the player character was so Alphys could save them, thus making her feel more important and growing closer to the protagonist.

Met at the very beginning of the game, Flowey is a yellow flower that pretends to be your friend before trying to kill you.

Actually the reincarnation of Asriel—Toriel and Asgore’s late son but lacking a soul—Flowey is the final boss of Undertale and is essentially able to control the game, saving, loading and erasing everything on a whim. While definitely the evilest character in the game, Flowey’s story is possibly the saddest too, because at the end of the day, he is just a sad, lost child who wants to feel something again.

Everyone’s favourite angry fish lady, Undyne is captain of the royal guard, in charge of capturing humans. She is loud, impulsive and scary, with your first encounter involving a stress-inducing chase sequence. However, after completing the neutral ending and attempting the true pacifist run, we see Undyne’s true colours, where her feelings for Alphys are revealed and a scene plays where Undyne kisses Alphys on the cheek, causing her to blush profusely. Wholesomeness at its peak.

The coolest skeleton in the Underground, Papyrus is a member of the royal guard, although not very good at his job. All of Papyrus’ text is written in the papyrus font and he is loud, active and very much full of himself, but in an endearing way.

Papyrus means to become a full-fledged member of the guard by capturing a human to please his superior, Undyne. He believes completing this goal will finally make him popular and allow him to have friends. A lover of puzzles and spaghetti, Papyrus provides much of the game’s comic relief and is a key character in the plot of the game.

The only Undertale character that could be number one on this list, Sans is known by just about everyone on the internet. Like his brother, Sans is named after a font, namely comic sans, which fits his personality perfectly, as he is a lover of bad puns and practical jokes. He aids the protagonist during the neutral and pacifist runs, and is the final boss and heroic antagonist in the genocide run.

Known primarily for his iconic battle music ‘Megalovania’, Sans is the subject of many memes, mostly involving this piece of music. Fanart of Sans and his brother Papyrus has caused controversy on the internet in the past, with many artists depicting them in a romantic, sexual relationship, and many fans shipping them together, seemingly promoting incest. In any case, with his silly humour and infuriatingly hard boss fight, Sans the skeleton is well deserved for his spot at number one.