Toriel

I am TORIEL, caretaker of the RUINS.

Toriel introducing herself.

Toriel is the second character the protagonist encounters in Undertale. She saves the protagonist from Flowey and guides them through the Ruins.

Profile

Appearance

Toriel is a Boss Monster whose head resembles a white-furred Nubian Goat, structured with floppy ears and tiny horns. She has a pair of visible fangs and long eyelashes, and her irises have a dark red tint. She has an anthropomorphic body, with paws at the end of her limbs. She wears a long purple robe with white sleeves and the Delta Rune on the chest. Toriel can also be seen with reading glasses, one instance being in her house when reading a book on snail facts.

Personality

Toriel is a kind monster that acts as a protective mother figure for the protagonist. She employs tough love on the protagonist as well as Asgore. She cares for children and was excited to become a mother.^[1]

She enjoys cooking and bakes butterscotch-cinnamon pie as well as her favorite, snail pie.

Toriel has a playful side, as shown by her love of puns and bad jokes, and she even keeps a journal of puns.^[2]

Toriel is said to be intelligent^[3] and dreams of becoming a teacher. She has already prepared a curriculum for the protagonist by the time they reach her home in the Ruins.^[4] In the True Pacifist Ending Credits, she stands outside a school and, in the Family Ending of the Neutral Route, she starts her own.

Main Story

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,^[5] and remained in the Ruins.

Toriel often checks the entrance to the Ruins to tend to the bed of Golden Flowers^[6] and aid those who fall into the Underground.^[7] It is implied that she had cared for the previous six fallen humans in the same way she cares for the protagonist before their eventual depart.^[8][9] Sometime after that, Toriel and Sans became friends over knock-knock jokes they shared at the Ruins's exit door. One day, she requested that he promises to protect humans that exit through the door.^[10]

Neutral Route

At the beginning of the game, Toriel saves the protagonist from Flowey, healing any damage done by him. After introducing herself, she guides them through the first few rooms of the Ruins. She encourages the protagonist to deal with monster encounters by talking to them, as opposed to acting violently.

She gives the protagonist a cell phone to keep in contact with one another, as she needs to run some errands further into the Ruins. She tells them to stay where they are, only to be disobeyed. She calls the protagonist frequently as the protagonist goes through the Ruins, and is about to call them again when she finds the protagonist at the entrance to her home.

She introduces the protagonist to their room and plans to raise them as her own. After the protagonist asks her about leaving the Ruins, Toriel abruptly leaves; the protagonist follows.

As she goes toward the exit of the Ruins, she explains that she plans to destroy the exit to prevent the protagonist from leaving, as all other humans who left had been killed.^[11]

At the end of the Ruins, Toriel tells the protagonist to prove that they are strong enough to survive and fights them in a test of strength. She can be killed or spared; if spared, Toriel allows them to leave, but advises them to never return and hugs them briefly.^[12]

For information on her ending, see Neutral Route#Toriel Ending Tree.

True Pacifist Route

Toriel reappears just as Asgore and the protagonist prepare to fight, interrupting it with her fire magic, much like she does with Flowey at the start of the game. She explains the motive of her arrival was the realization that the protagonist would have to take a life to leave and that she had been trying to prevent such a thing from the beginning.

As the protagonist's friends come, she introduces herself to them and recognizes Sans's voice immediately. She tells the protagonist that while they may have to stay Underground with all their friends, they will live a happy life regardless.

Flowey then appears. Having absorbed the human SOULs, he binds Toriel and company with vines. When Flowey tries to kill the protagonist, Toriel is the first monster to intervene, using her fire magic to block Flowey's bullets. Her SOUL, along with every other monsters', is eventually absorbed by Flowey, allowing him to become Asriel.

During the protagonist's battle with Asriel, Toriel appears as one of the Lost Souls. However, she is eventually saved along with the others by the protagonist when they help them regain their memories of their recent experiences with them.

Epilogue

After the fight against Asriel concludes, she learns the protagonist's name, "Frisk." She tells them that they are free to go through the Underground to talk to more of their friends. Meanwhile, Alphys upgrades Toriel's phone, allowing her to send text messages.

Frisk leaves the Underground with Toriel and their other friends. As the others leave Frisk to begin their lives on the Surface, Toriel asks Frisk what they will do now.^[13]

• If Frisk decides to stay with Toriel, she says that none of this would have happened if they remained with her at the beginning of the game and that it was for the best that they decided to leave the Ruins.^[14] She then promises to take care of Frisk for as long as they need.^[15] Like in the Ruins, Toriel takes Frisk's hand as they walk offscreen together. After the credits, Toriel brings a slice of pie to Frisk's room.
• If Frisk says that they "have places to go," Toriel says that she will see them later.^[16] After the credits, Frisk and their monster friends are shown together in a sepia photograph.

In the credits sequence, Toriel welcomes Monster Kid to a school that she opened and teaches at. The school door is adorned with the Delta Rune without the triangles that represented the monsters trapped Underground.^[17]

In Battle

For an in-battle description, see Toriel/In Battle.

Relationships

The Protagonist

Toriel cares for humans who fall into the Ruins and the protagonist is no exception. She tries to keep the protagonist in the Ruins, as Asgore killed the other humans who left her care. If the protagonist spares her, she lets them leave the Ruins, but not before giving them a parting hug.

If the protagonist kills her during a Neutral Route, she uses the last of her strength to give them a warning about what lies ahead and calls the protagonist "my child" before she turns to dust.^[18] If the protagonist kills her when she stops attacking, she says that the protagonist is no different from the monsters outside the Ruins and laughs hysterically before she dies.^[19] In the Genocide Route, she realizes that by keeping the protagonist in the Ruins, she was protecting not the protagonist, but the rest of the monsters in the Underground.^[20] The death sprite for Toriel is the same in a Genocide Route and on a Neutral Route if the protagonist kills her after she is spared thirteen times.

If the protagonist calls Toriel "mom," it surprises her, and she states that if it makes them happy, then she heartily approves of it.

Calling Toriel on her phone in the Ruins and flirting with her makes her assume the protagonist is joking, if they do it again she is unsure what to make of it.^[21] If they flirt with her after calling her "mother," she becomes uncomfortable and calls the protagonist an "interesting" child. She also mentions this in the epilogue.^[22]

If the game is reset, Toriel says that talking to the protagonist is like "meeting an old friend for the first time" and also says that she feels this way about most fallen humans.^[23]

Asgore

Asgore is Toriel's ex-husband. They were once extremely close, winning first place in the '98 Nose Nuzzle competition^[24] and were open about their affection for one another.^[25] During their marriage, Toriel's nicknames for Asgore included "Fluffybuns"^[26] and "Gorey."^[27]

Toriel left Asgore and New Home after he declared war on humanity.^[28] After they are reunited on the True Pacifist Route, Toriel criticizes his plan for freeing monsters^[29] but still believes that he deserves mercy, even though he is "terrible."^[30] When Asgore asks if they can be reconciled or at least be friends, Toriel declines. While she appears to be civil with Asgore when she speaks to him about the future of the Underground in the aftermath of the fight against Asriel, once they are on the surface and everyone else has left, Asgore wonders whether he should leave too, and Toriel glares at him, prompting him to leave her and Frisk alone. However, in the ending credits, she does not mind his presence while trimming the bushes, hinting a developing tolerance or gradual forgiveness.

Flowey

Toriel calls Flowey a "terrible creature"^[31] right after preventing him from killing the protagonist. She is unaware that Flowey is her son, Asriel.

Sans

Sans and Toriel do not meet in person until the end of a True Pacifist Route and the Family and Exiled Queen endings, where they both have become good friends. They started their friendship by telling jokes to each other through the door between the Ruins and Snowdin.^[32] One day, Toriel entrusted Sans with protecting any human that left the Ruins.^[10] They continue to bond in the epilogue and text each other as Frisk backtracks through the Underground.

Gallery

Toriel in a Steam trading card.

Toriel glaring at a hostile Froggit.

Froggit leaves, Toriel glares even harder.

Toriel still confused by the strange outcome of the boring dummy fight.

Toriel's expressions in the Hard Mode Ending.

Toriel forcing the protagonist to fight her.

Toriel's shocked sprite, seen if she kills the protagonist.

A side to side comparison of Toriel committing suicide (unused sprite, left) and Toriel being killed (right). The only difference is the mouths.

Toriel Little Buddy sold on Fangamer.

Toriel plush sold on Fangamer.

Toriel's official tarot card as Major Arcana III, "The Empress."

Artwork from Undertale's 5th anniversary.

Trivia

• Toriel's name is similar to that of the Watcher angel "Turiel" (More commonly known as "Yomiel") in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Furthermore, Toriel herself is described as the "watcher" and "caretaker" of the Ruins.
• Toriel's name is a play on the word "tu-torial," as she teaches the protagonist about how the game works.
• When attempting to name the fallen human "Toriel," the response is: "I think you should think of your own name, my child," and prevents the name from being used.
• Toriel is the only character that has a blinking animation in the dialogue box.
• Toriel's dialogue completely excludes the use of contractions, hence her more idiosyncratic phrases, such as "is it not" instead of "isn't it", giving her speech patterns a more "ancient" tone. This trait is absent from both her appearances in the Alarm Clock App and Deltarune.

• If the protagonist bores the Dummy during their encounter, Toriel stares in disbelief and confusion and starts thinking in a confused manner before moving to the next room without comment.
• Toriel has a sock drawer despite never wearing socks in-game.
  • The narrator's reaction to Toriel's sock drawer^[33] and Sans's sock pile^[34] is similar.
• Toriel and Photoshop Flowey are the only characters whose battle sprites have colored eyes throughout their battles.
• Toriel and Undyne are the only bosses that the protagonist can flee from in battle.
• Attempting to open the menu by pressing C after fleeing her battle makes the menu disappear instantly, leaving the room does not reproduce the error.
• If Toriel was killed and the protagonist resets to the point before her battle, Toriel remarks that the protagonist looks like they "have seen a ghost"^[35] and asks if the protagonist knows something she does not, before saying that is impossible.^[36]
• If the protagonist spares Toriel, she can be found by the flowerbed where the protagonist initially awoke after falling into the underground. If the protagonist backtracks to talk to her, she tells them "Do not worry about me. Someone has to take care of these flowers."
  • Asriel also says this when backtracking to the same location after completing a True Pacifist Route.
• The player cannot call Toriel once they exit the Ruins even if she was spared. While most players may assume that Toriel intentionally refuses to answer the protagonist's calls outside of the Ruins, she is actually unable to answer due to the Annoying Dog having stolen her phone.
  • Calling her with the Annoying Dog in the inventory causes ringing in the protagonist's inventory, implying that it stole and ate her phone.
• Toriel once wore a flower-patterned muu-muu; other monsters complimented her by saying "nice muu-muu," but she assumed everyone was calling her a cow and never wore it again.^[37]
• Despite Toriel's motherly nature, she is not above swearing.^[38]
  • Toby Fox stated in a deleted tweet that it is possible for Toriel to have said the "F-word."^[39]
  • An example of this is in the Undertale Alarm Clock app. According to Papyrus, Toriel started acting weird due to drinking too much eggnog. This included singing holiday songs and replacing all of the words with swears.^[40]
• According to Sans, at some point after the events of the game, Toriel drank three glasses of wine and threw pizza at him like frisbees.^[41]
  • Toby Fox has clarified on his Tumblr that these pizzas were meant to be miniature Lunchables pizzas and not regular, full-size pizzas, but he doesn't really mind either way because he finds the concept of Toriel throwing full-size pizzas at Sans to be funny.^[42]

See Also

• Toriel article on the Deltarune Wiki.

References