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Characters / Undertale - Asgore Dreemurr

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Undertale Main Character Index
Major (The Human Child, Flowey, Sans, Papyrus, Undyne, Mettaton, Asgore Dreemurr)
Others | Monsters | Spoilers (The Fallen Human)

King Asgore Dreemurr

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asgore.png
"Human... It was nice to meet you. Goodbye."
"I so badly want to say, "would you like a cup of tea?" But... You know how it is."
The King of the Underground and ruler of the monsters. He wants to harvest your SOUL so he can finally break the barrier that imprisons the monsters from the outside world. You're probably going to have to fight him.
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    A-H 
  • Adipose Rex: He certainly is of a rather wide frame, more than any other monster, but it becomes rather clear that if this trope applies, another does as well.
  • Affably Evil: Of the Anti-Villain variety. He more or less a Universally Beloved Leader among his people, and for good reason; when you meet him in person he's about as nice and accommodating as it gets. Unfortunately, he's still obligated to kill you.
  • The Ageless: As a boss monster, Asgore is immortal and only ages as his children do. Because his son, Asriel, died, both he and Toriel cannot age.
  • Ambiguously Bi: His monologue from the official Alarm Clock app page has pretty strong romantic undertones for Rudy.
  • Amicable Exes: Wants to be this with Toriel. She doesn't seem interested. Though the true ending shows him working at Toriel's school, so maybe she forgave him, or she can at least tolerate Asgore's presence.
  • Anti-Villain: In a notorious feat, Asgore manages to check all four types.
  • Apologetic Attacker:
    • Asgore makes light conversation with you which sounds extremely regretful leading up to the battle. With the right actions, you can make him hesitate and lower his attack and defense.
      Asgore: Human... It was nice to meet you. Goodbye.
    • Shown visibly in his transition from normal dialogue to his Game Face: he lowers his head, causing him to look more like a fearsome, barbaric beast, but the honest-to-god truth of it is that he can't look you in the eye while actively attempting to murder a child.
    • Very subtly used in gameplay as well. All of his attacks will reduce you to 1 HP if you're not already there, meaning he holds back until he literally has no choice otherwise.
    • Played entirely straight as a Lost Soul, where he says "Forgive me for this."
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: He's not the King of Monsters for no reason.
  • The Atoner: Seems to be set on making on things right in the True Ending.
  • Badass Cape: Wears a rather long one.
  • Bait-and-Switch: Asgore is built up the entire game as an imposing figure and the game's inevitable final boss. But then his Establishing Character Moment is him peacefully watering a flower garden. And even after you fight him, it's revealed that Flowey is the true final boss of the first run.
  • Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Asgore wears a full armor along with a cape and of course, his crown. However, he has no footwear.
  • Behind Every Great Man: Played with. Even though Asgore is a respected and loved ruler, according to Gerson, Toriel was the brains of the royal family as Queen and everything went downhill when she left.
  • Being Evil Sucks: While far from evil, his mission to to harvest human SOULs has made him miserable, to the point where once you defeat him on your first Neutral route, he's practically begging you to kill him.
    Asgore: This war has gone on long enough. You have the power... Take my soul, and leave this cursed place.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: It's said that he's the most gentle-hearted monster in all the Underground, and he is. However, once he's resolved to fight, he's an absolute terror. Even Undyne has only ever managed to knock him down once, when he trained her to be able to beat him, if that tells you anything.
  • Big Bad: Set up to be one for the story proper, as he leads the monster kingdom, has declared war on the humans, has harvested six human souls, and is trying to take yours. Most of the monsters trying to kill you throughout the game follow him as well. The twist is that he isn’t evil and is only trying to kill the Protagonist to help his people, and extremely reluctantly at that.
  • Big Good: A lot of the monsters consider him this In-Universe (like Papyrus), and for good reason: after Asriel's death, he promised to free them all by gathering the human SOULs and breaking the barrier, but he could never bring himself to do it.
  • Bilingual Bonus: The prelude theme to his boss battle is titled "Bergentrückung", which is German for "Mountain Rapture" and refers to the literary motif known in English as the King in the Mountain — a term and concept which relates to Asgore in a lot of ways.
  • Bling of War: While it's never shown what color his armor is, fans generally agree that it’s gold.
  • Boss-Altering Consequence: If you eat the pie that Toriel gave you at the beginning of the game while fighting Asgore, the smell will remind him of her and reduce his stats.
  • Boss Remix: "Bergentrückung", his normal theme, gets a bit more kick to it as "ASGORE" once he starts his battle.
  • Caring Gardener: He is first encountered watering flowers in the throne room, and is shown to be a very talented gardener with a beautiful flowerbed around his throne. It's implied that Toriel is trying to do the same at her home in the ruins, a subtle indication of the remnants of their relationship, but she can't grow anything other than easy-to-raise potted plants.
  • The Chains of Commanding: He has no more interest in killing you or waging war on humanity, but since the promise that monsterkind will someday return to the surface and exact revenge on the human race is the only thing keeping morale up, he feels that he has to.
  • Comically Missing the Point: In the pacifist ending, Asgore apologizes for trying to kill Frisk while Undyne says not to feel too bad since "everyone's tried to kill Frisk at one point or another". Asgore then says he's not sorry after all, causing Undyne to laugh and tell him that's not what she meant by it.
  • Cool Crown: But of course. He is the King of the Monsters after all.
  • Cutscene Boss: In the True Pacifist route, his fight is interrupted before it can start. In No Mercy, the Fallen Child takes over your character and one-shots him.
  • Damage-Sponge Boss: There are no tricks to Asgore's fight; he smashes your Mercy button, making him impossible to spare. While there are a couple ways to make the fight easier, ultimately all you can do is dodge his attacks and swing away until he goes down. If you've been entirely pacifistic up to that point, you'll be there a while, because you'll only be chipping away a tiny amount of his HP with every hit.
  • Death Seeker: When you finally battle Asgore, the first thing he does is destroy your Mercy button, preventing you from being able to spare him or flee, meaning the battle can only end with your death or his. While he does put up a good fight, he clearly holds back from using his full power (even moreso if you talk to him or show him Toriel's pie). If the player dies to him and loads a previous save to try again, they can tell Asgore how many times he's killed them, and his only response is to nod sadly and continue fighting. At this point, he clearly knows that killing you permanently is theoretically impossible, and therefore without your Mercy button, the fight can only end with his own death, but he keeps the fight going anyway. When you get him down to his last hit point, he collapses to his knees and essentially asks you to finish him off, with his last words being "I just want to see my child". If you kill him at this point, he'll Go Out with a Smile. If you don't, he does brighten up at the thought of being forgiven and getting a second chance to raise a family, before Flowey murders him — but if you've done a Neutral Run already at least once, Flowey doesn't kill him, remembering that it didn't go well last time, and Asgore instead decides his happiness can't last and kills himself to give you his soul.
  • Defeat Means Friendship: Played with. When you encounter him, he shatters your Mercy button immediately, making it impossible to talk him out of fighting… however, if you beat him into submission, you can elect to spare him. In this case, he shortly entertains the thought of letting you live together with him… right before Flowey kills him. If you already beat Photoshop Flowey and are replaying a Neutral ending without resetting, he will instead commit suicide to atone for his sins, and attempt to give his SOUL to you in hope that you will someday find a way to free the monsters… only for Flowey to show up anyways and destroy it.
  • Didn't Think This Through: In the True Pacifist Route, Toriel scolds him for making the plan to break the barrier needlessly difficult. Instead of waiting for seven humans to fall down the Underworld, he could have just taken one Soul, go past the barrier, find six more Souls, and then come back to break the barrier from outside.
  • Disc-One Final Boss: Despite being built up as the Big Bad of the story proper, he's only the last monster to be fought on repeat Neutral runs. On the first Neutral run, the actual Final Boss is Flowey, whom takes the form of Photoshop Flowey. For the True Pacifist route, Flowey becomes Asriel Dreemur and serves as the True Final Boss, while Asgore goes unfought. On the No Mercy route, Asgore and Flowey are quickly done away with in succession, the last proper battle being with Sans right before.
  • Double Meaning: At the end of a Genocide run, Asgore asks the child (with a standard expression on his face) "What kind of monster are you?", simultaneously not recognizing the player as human (which many other monsters do during the Genocide route) and calling them a monster in a figurative sense.
  • Driven to Suicide: In a Neutral run, one where Flowey doesn't show up to kill Asgore after granting him Mercy, Asgore talks briefly about adopting you and reuniting with Toriel before realizing the impossibility of that dream and killing himself to let you through the barrier with his SOUL.
  • Embarrassing Nickname: Lord Fluffybuns. During a public speech, his wife called him this, and it got picked up by the microphone. Despite the audience's laughter, he decided to roll with it.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: Has a very deep voice. A familiar one, at that.
  • Face Death with Dignity: Once he's defeated in a non-pacifist/genocide run, he willingly allows you to kill him to use his soul to escape from the underground, and if you comply, he dies with a peaceful smile on his face. However, that's because he knows you opted to kill him. If you spare him, Flowey will sucker punch him instead, leaving him in shock as he dies.
  • Face Framed in Shadow: An unusual example. His face is not visible during the battle because he is looking at the ground instead of at you the whole time. He can't bring himself to look you in the eyes as he attempts to kill you.
  • Failed Attempt at Drama: His "battle" in the True Pacifist briefly consists of him making the same speech as he did in the Neutral-Pacifist route, only to be decked by a fireball from an offscreen Toriel, all while making a goofy expression.
  • Failure Is the Only Option: Every single ending that isn't the True Pacifist ending ends badly for him. Neutral will either end with him getting slaughtered by Flowey or killing himself to let you go home, and Genocide ends with him getting one-shotted by you.
  • Fiery Stoic: He uses fire magic but have a calm, albeit somber, personality.
  • Final Boss: Subverted. The battle with him is built up throughout the game to be the final showdown, but he is not actually the final boss of any route: that role goes to Photoshop Flowey in Neutral, Asriel Dreemurr in True Pacifist, and Sans in Genocide. In the latter two cases, Asgore isn't even fought. There is one exception, though: a Neutral run set after another Neutral run where Photoshop Flowey was defeated, without a True Reset. In this case, Asgore really is the final battle of the game, as Flowey will not assume his "Photoshop Flowey" form again.
  • Final-Exam Boss: Many of Asgore's attacks are very similar to Toriel's, in addition to heavily using variations of blue/orange attacks, introduced by Doggo.
  • Flower Motifs: Flowers seem to pop up in everything related to Asgore, to the point where even his weapon has one engraved on it. He's an avid gardener and when you first see him, he's in a room overflowing with flowers. This is both a hint that he's actually a loving, caring ruler who doesn't want to hurt you... and that his relationship with Flowey is deeper than anyone realizes.
  • Forced into Evil: It's implied he can't give up his goal to break the barrier with the human souls even if he wanted and how badly he does, or else his people will lose hope of ever escaping the underground.
  • Friendly Enemy: He is very friendly to the player and makes it apparent that he dreads the final battle.
    Asgore: Are you ready? (answer "no") It's alright... neither am I.
  • Game-Over Man: Asgore can be found saying something every time you die. In fact, it's implied via a cut song and a part within his battle theme that the song that plays while within the Game Over screen is supposed to be his theme song.
  • Gentle Giant: Dwarfs everything else in the game (including Undyne) and is the most gentle and passive character in the game. That is, unless you have to fight him.
  • Giver of Lame Names: Asgore is terribly uncreative with names, naming their old land Home (and their current land New Home), among others. His subjects seem to tolerate it with mixed amusement and exasperation. Perhaps most tellingly, the name of his son, Asriel, is very transparently a combination of his own name and that of Toriel. Even his boss theme (ASGORE) is this. It's literally just his name in all caps. Even more hilariously, it sees to be a hereditary trait. Asriel, upon getting resurrected as a talking flower, decides to call himself "Flowey the Flower".
  • Good Hair, Evil Hair: Curiously enough for a Big Bad, he comes with the almost unambiguously good full beard. This might be because he is not the main antagonist.
  • Good Is Not Soft: He's a decent, well-loved king that will kill a child to free his people from their prison. However, the exact degree of his softness is what disgusts Toriel to the point she doesn't even want to be friends with him. She points out that after obtaining the first SOUL, he already had the power to pass through the barrier, gain six more SOULs, then return to destroy the barrier in almost no time at all. The current plan to just wait for humans to fall into the Underground is described as being cold-hearted enough to murder children, while at the same time being so soft that he's making all monsters wait who knows how long for freedom just because he's stalling dirtying his hands.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Should you choose to finish him at the end of his battle, although you can see his pained expression as if he's trying to atone for his mistakes. If you fight him again in a Neutral path and spare him, he will be Driven to Suicide, but this time it's a genuinely hopeful smile that you would find a way to free monsterkind.
  • Graceful Loser:
    • According to Undyne, he was really happy when she managed to build up the strength and skill to beat him in a fight thanks to his training.
    • When defeated by the human child, he immediately gives up and asks for them to grant him a Mercy Kill.
  • Green Thumb: While it may not be a magical power and just a natural knack, the fact remains that Asgore is heavily associated with gardening and plant life (kinda like Toriel is with cooking). His palace is full of potted flowers and has a magnificent garden, and his favorite drink is tea, which is made from the tea plant's leaves. Since plants symbolize growth and prosperity, it can be seen as a symbol of his goal to free monsterkind. With this in mind, if you visit Toriel's Home again, you may realize that all of the plants in and around it (aside from the low-maintenance water sausages) are dead without Asgore to care for them, and she has no tea to go with her homemade meals. She needs Asgore more than she cares to admit.
  • Gruesome Goat: Played with and subverted. He looks like a goat, is a king of monsterkind, and steals human SOULs to destroy the barrier they were unjustly sealed with. That said, he is one of the nicest characters in the game and his promise to conquer humans was made in a Moment of Weakness and the only reason he holds onto that promise was to give the monsterkind hope to break free.
  • Heartbroken Badass: He never got over Toriel leaving him. It shows. A LOT. He still obviously loves her, and even refers to her as "Tori" in the pacifist ending, and she utterly rejects her old pet name, her old last name, and him.
  • Heel–Face Door-Slam: If you choose to spare him, he says he'll make your life in the underground comfortable and he will try to rekindle his relationship with his wife so that you can be in a family together with him… that is, until either Flowey kills him while he's at his weakest, or he commits suicide because he finds it impossible.
  • Hero Antagonist: In the eyes of the monsters, he would certainly play this role to the player. As it turns out, he's an unusual case, especially for a Neutral or Pacifist protagonist. Asgore is justifiably described by his subjects as being gentle and good-natured, despite being a powerful badass. But being in the position where he wants the best for his people, and being willing to choose it over the lives of any errant human children, firmly places him as the chief antagonist in the story. Until you find out what Flowey is up to. But this trope is also Deconstructed as well, as Asgore doesn't quite fit into the antagonist role very well (see Good Is Not Soft above); after the deaths of his children, he got the first human soul which would allow him to leave to kill 6 adult, not-innocent humans, but he couldn't bear the idea of seeking out people to put their blood on his hands. His inability to commit to action against a few humans and allow the whole of the monsters to languish underground tears him up emotionally, and was approximately half of what wrecked his relationship with his wife.
  • He Who Fights Monsters: This is the reason Asgore's wife left him. After both his children died, Asgore declared war on the humans and ordered any that fell underground to be killed. And many that did fall were children. Asgore's wife tells him personally that the policy was short-sighted, brutal, wasted time, created an unnecessary Hope Spot for the monsters, and caused her to relive her own children's deaths over and over.
  • Hidden Depths: Asgore is completely unsurprised when you tell him he's already killed you multiple times. It's never explained why.
  • Hidden Eyes: Once his fight begins, he never once makes eye contact, probably because he feels he's forced to kill you and doesn't really want to.
  • Hope Bringer: To all the Underground, it's unanimous: King Asgore is their greatest hope for freedom. And dear lord, does this tear him apart inside.
  • HP to One: Getting hit by any of his attacks will never leave you with less than 1 HP, unless it's at 1 already, in what can be interpreted as a tragic reprise of his ex-wife's battle earlier in the game.
    I-Z 
  • I Did What I Had to Do: When Asriel, the prince, and his sibling both died on the same day, the Underground despaired. They felt all hope was lost. Unable to stand his subjects grieving anymore, Asgore declared war on mankind to rekindle hope for monsters. This came at a heavy cost, though, for both his conscience and his marriage.
  • Immune to Flinching: He won't move, shake, or flinch at all when you hit him. With the exception of when you get his health low enough.
  • Informed Ability:
    • Most of what you hear about his actual fighting ability is just "take our word for it"; at 80 ATK, he could easily kill a Pacifist or Neutral player in one hit, and severely dent even a Genocide player's health (for comparison, Undyne the Undying has 99 ATK), but in the former, he's holding back so that his attacks are survivable, and on Genocide, when he would probably fight at his full power, he's taken down in one hit by a cheap shot. Not to mention that with 80 DEF, it would be impossible for a Pacifist or Neutral run player to even damage him at all.
    • Also, Undyne mentions him "dodging her attacks." No monsters (except Sans, who breaks multiple rules while fighting you anyway) have this ability, and if you factor everything else in, Asgore could easily be the toughest boss in the game. Though, considering that he's a Death Seeker, it's extremely likely that he refuses to dodge whatever you throw at him.
  • Interface Screw: His first aggressive action when the fight begins is to destroy your Mercy option, making it clear that he won't be talked down.
  • Ironic Name: For a guy called Asgore, he's not very comfortable with having blood on his hands.
  • I've Come Too Far: Asgore agrees with Toriel that he's lost any chance of redemption by declaring that any human that fell down into the Underground would be killed and their soul used to break the barrier and kill all humans. While he clearly is not remotely happy about what he's doing, he knows full well that his plan to harness the SOULs of seven dead children to exterminate the human race puts him beyond redemption, and as a result he doesn't allow for any scenario in which he both fails his mission and continues to live. He refuses to let the child spare him, going so far as to destroy the Mercy button, and when the child wins and spares him anyway, if it's a second playthrough and Flowey doesn't show up to kill him, he kills himself because he simply can't live with having taken six children's lives.
  • Karma Houdini: In the True Pacifist ending, he never faces any consequences for directly and/or indirectly killing six humans for their souls beyond guilt and a schism in his marriage that may have been repaired considering he is seen working at Toriel's school. Although, considering that due to the fact he will outlive most of the characters barring Toriel, he likely will be left alone to live with his guilt.
  • Kill All Humans: Seems to be his ultimate goal. Very, very much subverted: at first, he's all for this, but after calming down from his initial need for vengeance, as well as either directly or indirectly causing the deaths of six humans, he's become extremely disillusioned.
  • Killed Off for Real: Asgore dies no matter what you do in the Neutral path. The only ending where he survives the end of the game is the True Pacifist ending.
  • King in the Mountain: Asgore is a direct reference to the motif, being completely inactive until the player arrives for their final battle. The intro song to his battle references it by name: "Bergentrückung", the German term for the motif.note 
  • King of Beasts: Invoked. Asgore is king of the monsters, but while he is a goatlike creature rather than a lion, his imposing stature and long, blonde hair and beard give off a similar effect.
  • Large and in Charge: He's extremely tall and bulky, taking up most of the screen that isn't part of the combat menus, though his wife is only slightly shorter than him; presumably, it's just a trait of his species.
  • Leitmotif: "Bergentrückung"note , of which a variation plays at the start of "ASGORE".
  • Lightning Bruiser: Despite how massive he is, Undyne makes a very telling comment during her narration about never landing a hit on him; however, because of the way the battle system is set up, it's stuck as an Informed Ability (though in one of his attacks where he directly swings his weapon, every swing is executed in full in under half a second). It's implied this is because he's holding back.
  • Meaningful Name: Asgore Dreamer. He's known for his dream more than his person.
  • Medium Awareness: Implied. If you've died to him before, you can tell him that he's killed you X number of times already, causing him to nod solemnly. Also, in the beginning of the fight, he will destroy the SPARE button. Whether this means that he's aware of this or not is entirely up to speculation.
  • Moment of Weakness: When he lost both his children in a single day, he impulsively declared war on humanity, and announced his plan to do so. By the time he realized what he had done, it was too late to change his mind without demoralizing his subjects. He's regretted it ever since.
  • The Mourning After: He still pines for Toriel and misses being married to her. Alas, she doesn't feel the same way. At the end of the True Pacifist route, they've sort of reconciled, at least enough that he's helping out at her school. It's not clear if they'll ever be anything more than friends, though.
  • My Greatest Failure: He lost both his children — his child by blood and the human he'd adopted — all in one day, and soon after his life was effectively ruined. His following half-measures in harvesting seven human souls to free his people caused his wife to leave him, and even though he's remained a symbol of hope to the people, he has been a very, very broken and lonesome man ever since. Ultimately, all he desperately wants is what he can never have: his family back.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast:
    • Just listen to his name: Asgore… Can you imagine what a guy named that could do to you? And the not-so-funny part? He really can do what you just imagined to you, though he'll hate that he has to do it and will do his best to stave it off for as long as possible. It's even invoked in the game itself: when Toriel warns you about him, she refers to him solely as "Asgore", without providing further details. When the other monsters mention him as The Good King, they usually call him "King Dreemurr", so it isn't until a good while into the game that you learn that the kind, beloved King Dreemurr and the dangerous, human-killing figure known as "Asgore" are one and the same.
    • "Dreemurr" is an anagram for "Murderer", though whether this actually qualifies is debatable.
  • Nice Guy: In spite of his immense power as king, Asgore is shown to be a compassionate, sweet hearted man who wouldn’t hurt a fly unless it was to protect his people. Even when he has to fight the Child, he despises every moment of it, sounding forlorn when destroying the Mercy option and unable to look them in the eyes.
  • Orcus on His Throne: Despite being the most powerful monster in the Underground, he waits for you to approach him, since he guards the barrier. Turns out to be more because he doesn't want to kill you in the first place.
  • Outliving One's Offspring: Lost his biological son and their adopted human child in a single night.
  • Painting the Medium: When referred to by other characters, his name is usually rendered in ALL CAPS to signify his importance. His first name is also written in red when Toriel first refers to him, as well as when Undyne reveals the king's full name to drive home that they are indeed the same character.
  • Personality Powers: Has fire powers, fitting for someone who swears he will conquer the surftace by any means necessary and raze humanity… even though he doesn't want to. Since he is The Good King, he is affiliated with the "warming and nurturing" side of fire, but he is also associated with the more impulsive, hot-headed, and destructive side of fire as well, especially since he made his promise to destroy humanity in a fit of rage.
  • Playing with Fire: Largely shares his attack patterns with Toriel.
  • Post-Final Boss: On the No Mercy route, he is encountered and fought, but the Fallen Child automatically initiates battle and kills him in one hit, with no effort required on the player's part once Asgore's dialogue begins.
  • Prematurely Marked Grave: Subverted. In Asgore's basement, you can find coffins for each of the humans that he has killed, with the leftmost one having a red soul. If you examine the coffin, it will have the name you entered at the start of the game written on it. This implies that Asgore has already prepared your coffin for when he kills you. However, this coffin actually belonged to the Fallen Human, the Dreemurrs' adoptive child, who was the one you named at the beginning of the game.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: He loves gardening and tea, as he tends a garden in his throne room and apparently having tea hangouts with Undyne. Taken literally in the Pacifist ending, where he trades his blue robes for a pink shirt and jeans.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Toriel delivers one to him during the "True Pacifist" run, calling him out on the fact if he was serious about breaking the barrier and waging war against humans, he should have just went through the barrier himself after collecting the first human soul, killed six other random humans on the other side and stolen their souls — or at least, taken them from people already dying anyway — and came back to break the barrier. The fact he waited around for seven humans to just happen to fall into their world so he could take their souls just shows that he obviously didn't want to succeed in his plan, and in the end Toriel calls him a coward for just causing more misery and giving the monsters false hope. Of course, this is despite the fact that she never proactively did anything about it either, and by simply running away without even trying to resolve it herself (or even even suggesting to him the above), left him to handle a very complex and difficult situation alone.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni:
    • When you date Undyne in a Pacifist run and she tells you her story with Asgore, she reveals to be the Red oni while the King is the Blue: he trained her personally after she attacked him with all her strength as a child while he contempted to dodge, then apologized. This contrast can also be seen if you kill them on a Neutral run: as a Red oni, Undyne has a brief Heroic Second Wind and gives everything she has before melting while Asgore, as a Blue, who already restrains himself during the battle, begs you to kill him and to take his soul to leave the Underground.
    • Asgore also seemed to be the Blue to his ex-wife, Toriel, who seemed to be the Red in comparison. While she is far from abrasive, she's more prone to bad jokes and panic, but also holds grudges for longer. For example, during the pie incident, Toriel was mad at Asriel and the Fallen Human while Asgore, despite being sick, didn't seem to hold a grudge against them. She didn't forgive her ex-husband for declaring war on humanity either, and especially hates him for his indecisiveness in being unwilling to fully commit himself to either peace or war.
  • Reverse Grip: Asgore holds his trident with the prongs in the opposite direction from both thumbs, which makes sense considering how he stabs downwards on the Mercy button when the fight begins. However, when he starts swinging it around, he switches to a forward grip.
  • Satanic Archetype: Played with and subverted. He resembles a goat (an animal associated with demons and Satan), wields a trident (demons often are depicted with Devil's Pitchfork), and uses fire magic. He is also a leader of monsters, banished and sealed underground, who swore that he would one day break free and conquer the world above, and steals human souls to accomplish this. And he's also a total pushover, who made this promise in a burst of anger, really doesn't actually want to kill anyone, and only goes along with the plan because he feels the monsters expect him to do it as king and he needs to give them hope. A much more fitting Satanic archetype in the game is actually the Fallen Child, at least in a Genocide Run.
  • Satan Is Good: Sort of. While he is never explicitly stated as such, Asgore, with his goat-like body, pitchfork weapon, fire spells, and penchant for collecting souls, definitely gives off a superficially Devil-ish vibe. He is also one of the nicest, gentlest characters in the game, who only wants to collect your soul so that he can free his people, who were unjustly sealed away in the underworld by the humans who feared them.
  • Saving Christmas: He dresses up as Santa to spread joy to young monsters everywhere.
  • Silliness Switch: Inverted. He's one of the few bosses in the game that switches the game into Serious Mode.
  • Shoulders of Doom: Just look at them.
  • Sickeningly Sweethearts: Used to be this with Toriel.
  • Significant Anagram: "Asgore Dreemurr" is an anagram for "Sage or Murderer". You can see him as either, a good king who is only trying to give his people hope, or a man who let his rage and cowardice get the best of him and force him onto a dark path.
  • Skilled, but Naive: He totally fails to appreciate the threat the Fallen Child presents in the Genocide Route, even after Alphys and Flowey warns him, acting with his usual friendliness right up to the point where he's killed. He also lacks any knowledge of the true facts behind Asriel's death, and his ex-wife calls him out on just hoping his problems go away, rather than take firm if unpleasant action that would be much less painful in the long run.
  • Soul Eating: This is his plan, not that he's able to achieve it.
  • Squishy Wizard: Downplayed, and given his personality, possibly even invoked. He primarily attacks with fire magic, and he has the worst defense stat out of any enemy in the game, but he makes up for it anyway with quadruple-digit HP. His check stat shows his actual defense is extremely high, and thus he's holding back.
  • Stepford Smiler: Everyone knows him as a cheerful, friendly guy, and his diary in New Home has him note what a lovely day it is, but the fact of the matter is that the loss of his family has left him a sad, broken man who just wishes that this tragedy would come to an end.
  • Stout Strength: He is capable of single-handedly swinging around a big honking trident taller than himself and can take a large beating, and certainly does not look particularly slim.
  • Suicide by Cop: He is the only character in the game who you outright tell they can't kill you for good no matter how many times they try, as your death resets the timeline. Logically, this would be a way to spare him: what's the point of fighting you if there's only one possible eventual outcome? The only obvious answer is that he's trying to get you to kill him. In the second and further Neutral Endings, if you spare him, he outright commits suicide to let you leave…
  • Talking the Monster to Death:
    • Averted. He's one of two opponents you face in the Neutral or Pacifist route who must be defeated by force; however, talking to him with the ACT command will hurt his will to fight, reducing his attack and defense, as will eating Toriel's pie.
    • He tries to do this to you at the end of the Genocide route. No prizes for guessing what happens next.
  • Tastes Like Friendship: Invoked by Asgore in either route.
    • He wants to offer the Human Child some tea, but can't, since you and him are enemies. On a True Pacfist playthrough, he finally can offer you some tea, but it's already gone cold.
    • When you encounter him in the Genocide route, Asgore asks if they could have this rather than fight, but the human simply one-shots him.
  • Telescoping Staff: Although it's usually longer than he is tall, Asgore's massive trident is shown to be capable of changing length — most obviously seen when he takes it out from under his cloak just before he fights you.
  • Too Dumb to Live: On the Genocide Route. Even keeping in mind about his attempts to remain affable and hospitable, there really was no excuse for Asgore not to absorb the six human SOULS in an effort to defend the already small population of the Underground, considering he was told well in advance by Alphys about a genocidal human killing off everyone. The fact he somehow decided to let his guard down makes things even worse.
  • Totally Radical: This is played for laughs in his section on the Undertale First Anniversary Q&A—
    Asgore: I do not know, but my, err, second-favourite thing to eat...has always been a cup of tea and a biscuit. A little secret, is to dip the biscuit, into the tea. How do I put this...it's sort of like a "life's hack..." that'll make your tea-time "epic". ...how does that sound?
    Undyne: AWESOME!!! IT SOUNDS GREAT!!! All the kids are gonna think you're so cool! Right, Alphys?
    Alphys: Um...well. They'll certainly...uh... (under her breath) God, I shouldn't have shown them the internet.
  • Tragic Villain: He clearly hates himself for attempting to take the Human Child's soul and probably didn't want to kill the six humans either, but still felt like he had to do it to give the other monsters hope.
  • The Unfought: In the True Pacifist Ending, Toriel intervenes before the fight with Asgore begins. This is the only outcome where he lives.
  • Universally Beloved Leader: Except for Toriel, every monster under his rule respect him and admires him for being a Nice Guy who's willing to do anything for his people.
  • Vague Age: Just like Toriel, his exact age is left unclear, though unlike Toriel his appearance does at least imply that he's vaguely middle-aged, and he's been around for a while according to some dialogue. But also like Toriel it's muddled due to him being The Ageless ever since his eight-year-old son died, and likewise it not being clear how old he was when that happened.
  • Villain with Good Publicity: With all the NPCs saying things about how nice he is, the player probably thinks he's this. Then you meet him and… he actually is as nice as they say. Played with a bit in how the story introduces him. When characters refer to him as the antagonist, he's initially referred to as Asgore. When characters refer to him as the lovable king, he's referred to as King Dreemurr. It isn't until Undyne states his full name where it's made explicit that they're both the same character. From that point on, Asgore and Dreemurr are used interchangeably.
  • Violence is the Only Option:
    • Invoked. On a normal Pacifist or Neutral run, he begins his fight with you by smashing the Mercy button, and you can't talk him into resolving things peacefully.
    • Ironically, he ends up on the receiving end of this trope at the end of the Genocide route, because the Mercy button is already gone, and talking does nothing to save him.
  • Virtuous Character Copy: He is based off Bowser and Ganon — a Monster Lord who wants to acquire the MacGuffin and Take Over the World, apparently for the sake of his people. But despite initially being portrayed as the standard Big Bad, it turns out he's a Gentle Giant who is friendly to just about everyone and beloved by his people, and at worst he is a Tragic Villain who genuinely does not want to kill anyone but feels forced to by circumstances, completely lacking Bowser's fanaticism and pride in his evil deeds, and Ganon's penchant for cruelty and lust for power.
  • Voice Grunting: His voice is the deepest in the game. It also sounds quite similar to Toriel's voice, albeit heavily pitched down.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: If you made a Pacifist run, Asgore will be the first boss who requires you to actually hurt him to succeed. His attacks are also trickier than Toriel's, and even if he has a better control over his strength, he still has the duty to kill you to free his people.
  • Walking Spoiler: For literally every reason. His identity, his physical features, his motives, and even what he does are extremely difficult to discuss without giving away the massive twist that Toriel is his ex-wife.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Asgore takes it a step further by wanting to clear the surface so that monsters can live there alone peacefully.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Gerson explains that Asgore, as a species of Boss Monster, only ages as his child grows. Because Asriel is dead, he has to live with that pain forever. In the Golden Ending, he seems happy enough, and there's always the chance he could reconcile with Toriel and have another child.
  • Willfully Weak:
    • According to Undyne, he is perfectly capable of dodging attacks, yet he chooses to remain stationary and tank attacks like every other monster does. According to his examine text, he's got the second-highest attack and defense stats in the game, sharing this place with Toriel. According to everyone from Toriel to Mettaton, he is capable of putting you into the ground the moment combat begins. Out of shame, he refrains — which serves as a Drama-Preserving Handicap in favour of the player.
    • This is also reflected by his internal stats during his fight, which are much lower than his CHECK makes them out to be. His ATK is 10 and his DEF is -30note . If he didn't hold back, you'd have to be on the Genocide Route to deal any sort of damage to him and to be able to take a single hit from him without dying.
  • Worf Had the Flu: Asgore is never fought at his full strength on any route. His internal stats are far lower than his check stats show, in order to indicate he's holding back. He dies in one hit on the Genocide Route, but only by being taken off guard, as his stats actually are high enough that he could take and dish out damage against the player if they actually fought.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His start of villainy (if you can even call it that) had to do with the death of both his children (this of which occurred on the same day) and his wife leaving him. He hates being the "Destroyer of Worlds" part, though.
  • World's Strongest Man: Largely an Informed Ability, seeing how he never displays this in the game itself, albeit that's because he's intentionally holding back. Asgore is the allegedly good king of the Underground, but, as Undyne will readily let you know, he is not to be trifled with. The game also takes a few instances, such as the ending wherein Toriel is thrown from ruling, to make perfectly clear that a weak monster could not hope to rule down there. Even Flowey was too afraid to actually confront him for the human souls, and his entire philosophy is based on murder and dominance.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Asgore will kill any humans he discovered no matter how old they are and intends to kill the one the Player controls, but still, very clearly despises himself for doing it.
  • Xanatos Gambit: A rare benign case; the Neutral path and future repeat playthroughs of it has him pull the trope on the player character. Asgore feels that he had let everyone down by not being able to accomplish his goal of giving his people the freedom they yearned for so long, and also feels bad that his initial anger and his plan is what drove Toriel away from him. However, he already has six human souls and yours is the last one he needs to fulfill his plan. At the same time, Asgore believes that he cannot be forgiven for his sins and death is the only way to make up for what he did, thus he fights you hoping that you will kill him. Should he successfully kill the player character, he gets the last human soul he needs to break the barrier. If the player defeats him, Asgore asks them to finish him off so that the player character can return home and he is at peace when he dies. On later neutral path runs, if you decide to spare him, Asgore thinks the dream of you living with him and his wife is impossible to achieve and decides to kill himself to give you his soul to escape. Whether Asgore succeeds or fails, he still gets what he wants. The True Pacifist ending derails Asgore's plan with Toriel stopping the fight and the ending basically gives Asgore a second chance at redemption.
  • You Killed My Father: Inverted, the deaths of his children destroyed him and he vowed to avenge them. But, he quickly regretted his vow and realised he was in too deep to get out.
  • Zero-Effort Boss: On a Genocide run, the player doesn't even need to go through the effort of One Hit Killing him themself, as the First Child takes over to do it for you.

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