Toriel/In Battle (2024)

You want to leave so badly?
Hmph.
You are just like the others.
There is only one solution to this.
Prove yourself...
Prove to me you are strong enough to survive.

Toriel

Toriel is the first boss of the Neutral, Pacifist, and Genocide routes. At the end of the Ruins, Toriel prevents the protagonist from venturing further into the Underground.

In the encounter, she attacks with fireballs in various formations. However, her fireballs avoid the protagonist if they have tried to spare her 11 times, or has less than 3 HP. Toriel may be attacked normally, or be spared after 24 spare attempts.

On the Genocide Route, Toriel dies in one hit.

Attacks[]

Note: All damages assume no armor and LV 1.

• Paw sweep: A paw appears at the top-left corner of the Bullet Board and sweeps in an arc to the top-right corner, leaving a trail of fireballs. When the paw reaches the other side of the board, the fireballs will launch towards the SOUL and bounce off of the walls. In later rounds, the attack contains a second paw that starts at the bottom-right corner and mirrors the first. This attack ends immediately if the SOUL touches either paw. This attack does 3 damage per fireball hit, and 4 damage for a paw hit.
• Fire waves: Streams of fireballs fall from the top of the Bullet Board in a crisscrossing double-helix pattern and accumulate at the bottom. The streams have holes in the middle of them to dodge through, including two safe spots in both top corners. In the harder version of this attack, the Bullet Board is shorter, and fireballs are hovering at the sides. The safe corner spots still exist despite this but are smaller and harder to reach. This attack does 4 damage per hit.
• Fire helix: Thicker streams of fireballs, too thick to dodge through, but they do not sweep back and forth, allowing a careful player to keep their SOUL safe between the streams. This does 4 damage per hit.

• Faltering: Fireballs fall haphazardly from the top of the Bullet Board, but deliberately move away from the SOUL if they come close, making it impossible to take damage from this attack. If the protagonist's HP is 2 or less, Toriel uses this attack exclusively, and she ends her other attacks immediately if they reduce the protagonist's HP to 2. She also uses this attack after the 11th Spare, regardless of health. After the 12th, she stops attacking entirely.

Strategy[]

• The protagonist may flee from Toriel; however, Toriel will re-initiate the battle when the protagonist approaches again.
• After being spared enough times, Toriel stops fighting and talks. The option to "Flee" disappears. If the protagonist continues to spare her, she allows the protagonist to leave the Ruins. She asks the protagonist never to return before hugging them and walking back down the corridor.
  • Missing attacks has the same effect as sparing her.
  • If attacked after she stops fighting, she dies in one hit and unique dialogue similar to the one in the Genocide Route appears.
• The protagonist can choose to intentionally direct their SOUL into Toriel's attacks to lower their HP below 3. At this level, Toriel's attacks falter and will intentionally avoid the protagonist, allowing them to easily survive until Toriel could be spared.
  • If the protagonist restores their HP to at least 3, Toriel's attacks return to normal until the protagonist's HP drops below that point again or she is spared 11 times.

Quotes[]

Speeches[]

• You wish to know how to return "home," do you not?
• Ahead of us lies the end of the RUINS.
• A one-way exit to the rest of the underground.
• I am going to destroy it.
• No one will ever be able to leave again.
• Now be a good child and go upstairs.
• Every human that falls down here meets the same fate.
• I have seen it again and again.
• They come.
• They leave.
• They die.
• You naive child... If you leave the RUINS...
• They... ASGORE... Will kill you.
• I am only protecting you, do you understand?
• ... go to your room.
• Do not try to stop me.
• This is your final warning.

Pre-Battle[]

• You want to leave so badly?
• Hmph.
• You are just like the others.
• There is only one solution to this.
• Prove yourself...
• Prove to me you are strong enough to survive. [Normal]
• [If Toriel was killed on a previous run]
  • Prove to me you are strong enough to survive!
  • ... wait.
  • ... why are you looking at me like that?
  • Like you have seen a ghost.
  • Do you know something that I do not?
  • No... That is impossible.
• [Killing 11 monsters in the Ruins and in Snowdin; unused]
  • Prove to me that you are...
  • Hey, let me finish
• [After fleeing from battle]
  • That is right.
  • Go upstairs.
• [Upon fleeing and returning]
  • Already?
  • What will it take for you to learn your lesson?

In-Battle[]

Any Route

• ..... [Spare]
• ..... ..... [Spare #2]
• ..... ..... ..... [Spare #3]
• ...? [Spare #4]
• What are you doing? [Spare #5]
• Attack or run away! [Spare #6]
• What are you proving this way? [Spare #7]
• Fight me or leave! [Spare #8]
• Stop it. [Spare #9]
• Stop looking at me that way. [Spare #10]
• Go away! [Spare #11]
• ... [Spare #12]
• ... ... [Spare #13]
• I know you want to go home, but... [Spare #14]
• But please... go upstairs now. [Spare #15]
• I promise I will take good care of you here. [Spare #16]
• I know we do not have much, but... [Spare #17]
• We can have a good life here. [Spare #18]
• Why are you making this so difficult? [Spare #19]
• Please, go upstairs. [Spare #20]
• ..... [Spare #21]
• Ha ha... [Spare #22]
• Pathetic, is it not? I cannot save even a single child. [Spare #23]
• ... [Spare #24]
• [Spare #25]
  • No, I understand.
  • You would just be unhappy trapped down here.
  • The RUINS are very small once you get used to them.
  • It would not be right for you to grow up in a place like this.
  • My expectations... My loneliness... My fear...
  • For you, my child... I will put them aside.
• [Attack, once she stops attacking]
  • You...
  • ... at my most vulnerable moment...
  • To think I was worried you wouldn't fit in out there...
  • Eheheheh!!! You really are no different than them!
  • Ha... ha...

Neutral Route

• [Defeat]
  • Urgh...
  • You are stronger than I thought...
  • Listen to me, small one...
  • If you go beyond this door,
  • Keep walking as far as you can.
  • Eventually you will reach an exit.
  • ... ....
  • ASGORE... Do not let ASGORE take your soul.
  • His plan cannot be allowed to succeed.
  • ......
  • Be good, won't you?
  • My child.

Genocide Route

• [Defeat]
  • Y... you... really hate me that much?
  • Now I see who I was protecting by keeping you here.
  • Not you...
  • But them!
  • Ha... ha...

Hard Mode

• [Defeat or Spared]
  • [Annoying Dog] And that's the end of Hard Mode!
  • [Toriel] Eh??
  • [Toriel] You are ending it NOW?
  • [Toriel] And on such a dramatic moment...?
  • [Annoying Dog] That's the difficult part.
  • [Annoying Dog] Not the bullets.
  • [Annoying Dog] But, accepting that it's all over...
  • [Toriel] But there WILL be more, will there not?
  • [Annoying Dog] Maybe.
  • [Annoying Dog] Knowing the answer is...
  • [Annoying Dog] ... HARD.
  • [Annoying Dog] ...
  • [Annoying Dog] Hey!
  • [Annoying Dog] Aren't you supposed to be dying or something?
  • [Toriel] Well. What is the point of that now?
  • [Annoying Dog] What will you do instead...?
  • [Toriel] Hmmm. Perhaps I will bake another pie.
  • [Toriel] That last one ended up a little burnt.
  • [Annoying Dog] I thought it was good.
  • [Annoying Dog] Theoretically.
  • [Annoying Dog] It's not like I ate it all while you were fighting.
  • [Annoying Dog] Hey! Hey! Can I have some pie!
  • [Toriel] You are just going to eat it all...
  • [Annoying Dog] I can helllp!!!
  • [Toriel] Snoring on the floor is NOT help.
  • [Annoying Dog] I'm not snoring, I'm cheering you on in my sleep!!
  • [Annoying Dog] ...
  • [Annoying Dog] Oh, you're still here?
  • [Annoying Dog] Don't you have anything better to do?

Post-Battle[]

• If you truly wish to leave the RUINS...
• I will not stop you.
• However, when you leave...
• Please do not come back.
• I hope you understand.
• Goodbye, my child.

Flavor Text[]

Any Route

• Knows best for you. [Check]
• Toriel blocks the way! [Encounter]
• Toriel looks through you. [Neutral]
• Toriel prepares a magical attack. [Neutral]
• Toriel takes a deep breath. [Neutral]
• Toriel is acting aloof. [Neutral]
• ... [When she stops attacking]

Neutral Route

• You couldn't think of any conversation topics. [Talk]
• You tried to think of something to say again, but... [Talk #2]
• Ironically, talking does not seem to be the solution to this situation. [Talk #3+]
• [Talk, if Toriel was killed on a previous run]
  • You thought about telling Toriel that you saw her die.
  • But... That's creepy.
  • Can you show mercy without fighting or running away...?
• Can you show mercy without running away...? [Talk #2+, if Toriel was killed on a previous run]

Genocide Route

• Not worth talking to. [Talk]

Trivia[]

• As a Boss Monster and a Dreemurr, Toriel's battle has Serious Mode enabled.
• Toriel and Papyrus are the only characters that do not have animated battle sprites.
• When Toriel uses her "Faltering" fireball attack, she always looks away until her turn ends. This emphasizes her not wanting to kill the protagonist.

• If the protagonist dies when fighting Toriel, she appears horrified at the last frame before the Game Over screen appears. This is difficult to observe, as Toriel's attacks deliberately avoid the protagonist's SOUL when they have less than 3 HP, effectively preventing them from being hit and killed. However, Toriel only updates her attacks in the next turn, so if the protagonist's health only slightly exceeds 3, it is still likely for her attack to kill them.
• Excluding Hard Mode, all of Toriel's near end battle dialogue foreshadows the aftermath of The War of Humans and Monsters.
• The way that Toriel can be spared is foreshadowed by a Froggit, who warns the protagonist that they may have to try repeatedly to spare someone even if the "spare" text color is not yellow or pink.
• If the protagonist spares Toriel in Hard Mode, the Annoying Dog still comments on how she should be dying even though the protagonist did not kill her.
• Toriel and Undyne are the only bosses that have green rectangles in the background. However, the rectangles for Toriel's are static, vary in size, and appear to resemble walls beside her.
  • Toriel's background is different in the Undertale Demo. It originally appears as a complete background, with smaller rectangles around her.
  • Toriel shares the same green rectangle background with Napstablook in Undertale and the Undertale Demo.
• In the game files, there is an unused battle sprite of Toriel committing suicide. This may parallel Asgore committing suicide if the protagonist killed Flowey in a previous Neutral Route and spares Asgore.
  • There is unused dialog in the game code that implied the protagonist would lose 1 experience point after killing Toriel, but it went to Napstablook.^[1]
• Toriel, unlike her ex-husband and son, does not use melee weapons.
• Her fire magic is shared with the rest of the Dreemurr family.

References[]

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