Frisk

Frisk slowly became a favorte character of mine over the years. When I'm hyperfixated on something, I analyze the hell out of every little detail. When I did that with UNDERTALE, I found out Frisk does have a little bit of personality, and it helped me become more attached to them as their own person. Did you know they don't like soda? It's implied during the Undyne hangout if you try to pick soda!

Flowey

The way he goes about antagonizing Frisk and others is really interesting. The whole game, he's hiding and spectating from the shadows. This flower will study the way you behave and either take advantage of any weakness you have, or... sympathize with you. It always struck me as interesting how he seems a bit compassionate after a pacifist neutral route despite having trouble feeling much. The way he reacts to and processes his trauma sticks with me deeply.

I love that Flowey, as messed up as he is, is capable of growth and change. Even if he did horrible things that aren't excusable, he is able to be better. He couldn't go back to how things were before he died as Asriel, but he can learn, adapt, and live as Flowey.

Toriel

I've always liked Toriel, but much like Frisk, she's grown onto me. She reminds me a lot of my own mom, although more calm and reserved. I love that when away from children, she lets herself get more rowdy and silly. I love her kind and motherly nature, even if it comes off as a little overbearing at times. It's better to care a bit too much than not at all.

Her and Sans are dorks. The fact they both have a sock collection will never not be funny and adorable to me. Neither of them even wear socks... Maybe they do for special occasions?

sans

He is one of the top 10 idiots of all time. While most people like him for his role in the genocide route, I much prefer his sillier self in the pacifist route. This man can fit so many stupid bone puns in him it's amazing. No wonder he connected so well with Toriel over the shared interest of puns.

It's interesting to look at the pacifist run and how Sans changes in it. He goes from emotionally distant from you while cracking jokes to willing to be able to open up a little about himself to connect with and be friends with you throughout his two hangouts... In a way, it feels like he's learning that it's okay to be vulnerable again. I really connect with that.

PAPYRUS!!

His endless optimism is incredibly inspiring to me. The way he praises himself without putting others down stuck with me. It made me want to be kinder to myself, so I could be kinder to others.

I was one of many who pointed to the small pixel skeleton and went, "he's so me for real"! He missed social queues occassionally, had special interests nobody else seemed deeply into like puzzles, and was often percieved as childish. For the longest time I related to him with these qualities and never understood why, but when I was diagnosed with autism it clicked for me. As such, to me, Papyrus is an autistic icon.

Undyne

Over the years, she became a favorite of mine. One of my friends had an Alternate Universe with Undyne in Sans' position, and his take on her stood out to me. It reminded me of what made Undyne unique... She's full of passion and WILL let you know about it!! Nggaahh!!! She loves her friends! She loves her girlfriend!! She loves violently playing the piano!!! ... Well, maybe not violently. She plays it really gently, and it's a really nice contrast to her bombastic personality. I wonder what her favorite type of song to play on the piano is?

Seeing endings of UNDERTALE where her passion completely left her is really heartbreaking. She feels like she failed and let those that matter to her down, and feels like she can't do anything to redeem herself. I relate to that deeply.

Alphys

Admittingly, I didn't used to really like her. Don't get me wrong, I liked her, but she was like most of the monsters you fought in the game to me for a while. I didn't used to find the whole "nerd" part of characters interesting. I don't know what clicked, but later on, she became a bit of a favorite too.

Alphys made a lot of mistakes during her time as Royal Scientist. She's amazing at what she does; she made a robot body for a ghost, she did a lot of research on Determination and what that substance meant for human SOULs, and in a few seconds made a phone that can turn into a jetpack! However, there's no doubt that she handled the Amalgamates pretty poorly. I relate deeply to wanting to hide the bad parts of yourself out of fear of hate... I'm glad she learns that her friends will stick by her and help her fix things. That's hard to learn.

Mettaton

Admittingly, I don't think about Mettaton a lot. It's a shame, because he's honestly really great! Despite how selfish and self-absorbed he is, he does care about Alphys and Napstablook. It takes him a while to realize that his friends are important, but when he does, it's nice to see him support Alphys in his own... weird way.

I always found his backstory before becoming a show preforming robot to be interesting. He used to live on a snail farm, for corn's sake! He's always desired to be something more and to make a positive impact on the Underground. Hell, in his pacifist fight, Frisk makes him realize how much he matters to the Underground. He's their only star and source of entertainment, and in that sense he brings a nice piece of hope. It's really sweet to see him smile at the sight of his impact on people.

Asgore

I love Asgore a lot. I wish the best for him. He's went through a lot, as a father, husband, and king. He's often described as a fuzzy pushover for how nice he is, but many don't realize he can be really stubborn too. As much as he doesn't want to, he refuses to not fight you until multiple monsters tell him to stop because he feels pressured by his own promise he made a hundred years ago. He feels deep regret and sorrow about his emotional outburst that lead him to make such a promise, but, he can't turn back... and I relate to that. It really stings seeing him kill himself in one of the alternate endings to his fight in neutral routes. All he wanted was to make things better and fix what happened to his family and his people, but he struggles because it's essentially his wife or the kingdom of monsters.

I like to think that on the surface, he's learning to set boundaries for himself and understand he doesn't need to choose between his kingdom and his loved ones anymore. The dialogue from the Alarm Clock app makes me feel like he is.

Chara

From first glance, there's not much to know about Chara. They were suicidal, they hated humanity, and they were close to Asriel. However, going with the popular Narrator Chara theory where Chara is the one narrating your adventure in UNDERTALE, I think there's a lot more to them.

In every fight with the Dreemurrs (or during genocide-route exclusive fights), a flag in the game is set to shorten the name of your items to less humorous versions. ButtsPie becomes Pie, for example. The fact serious mode happens with all of them cements the idea that Chara was really close with the Dreemurrs and felt very loved by them. Outside of these fights, the shortened names are very goofy. To me, this lends to the idea that they were silly and loved being creepy, yet at their core was troubled and didn't know how to handle it (not unlike Kris in DELTARUNE).