empatheias Info

[despiteeverything]

Frisk

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Player: Gorse
Canon: Undertale
Canon Point: Shortly post-True Pacifist
Alignment: Piphron
Date of Entry: 1/9/2016

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Age: 9 10
Birthday: September 15th
Eye Color: Brown
Hair Color: Brown
Height:
Amulet: A necklace, with silver buttercups twining their way around the heart-shaped crystal
Appearance: Link or brief description.
Contact: gorsecloud, Discord: Gorsecloud#8698

Background:
(note that Frisk is considered a blank slate protagonist, and therefore this is the background that I am using for Empatheias only)
Frisk's life on the surface was not the happiest. Or at least, it may have been at first, but after being orphaned at a young age, Frisk was passed around from foster home to foster home. The overall quality of life averaged from passable to not very good depending on the location, and overall Frisk grew up feeling alienated. They had difficulty reaching out to others, knowing that nothing would last.

A series of these unhappy circumstances leads to Frisk climbing Mt. Ebott, a mountain where it was rumored travelers who visited would disappear. Whether by foolishness or fate, Frisk finds the hole that leads to the Underground, and they fall.

Upon waking up, Frisk is almost immediately greeted by two of the Underground's inhabitants. First, Flowey the sentient, talking flower tricks them and attempts to kill them for their soul. Then, they're saved by the monster Toriel, whose warm treatment of them reminds Frisk of hazy distant memories of before their parents died. Despite being comforted, Frisk is still spooked by the monsters that attack them as they travel through the Ruins, and Flowey himself. The solution, they reason, is to get back to the Surface, even if it means leaving behind this kind old lady.

They remain with her for a little while, but when Frisk eventually asks to leave the ruins, Toriel, in an attempt to protect them, attempts to destroy the only exit. When Frisk tries to stop her, Toriel challenges them to prove that they can survive, and attempts to fight them. When trying to talk to her and reason their way out yields no results, they do fight, to try to prove just that. They win the fight, and in doing so Toriel dies. Frisk is devastated, but pushes onwards.

They travel through the Underground, meeting many of its different and often bizarre inhabitants - the two skeleton sentries Sans and Papyrus, the captain of the Royal Guard Undyne, the royal scientist Alphys, the movie star robot Mettaton, even a shy awkward ghost named Napstablook. They don't go out of their way to hurt anyone, but they're scared and confused, and at times lash out in that fear. And even when there are monsters - especially Papyrus, who always stops their fights just short of seriously hurting Frisk and even comes to worry about them enough to not fight at all - who want to reach out in friendship, Frisk is reluctant to accept, too used to a life where close relationships never last for them.

And then there are the times they die. Because as Frisk discovers, upon arriving in the Underground they have gained the ability to SAVE and RESET, allowing them to wake up shortly before their would-be deaths. Stranger still, they hear voices, usually during these deaths but very occasionally at other points as well. Usually a deep voice, but sometimes that of a child too, and both call them Chara.

Also as they travel, they learn of the Underground's history, of the barrier and how they - Frisk - would be the seventh and final soul needed by the monster King - Asgore Dreemurr - to free monsters from the Underground. They even learn the story of how Asgore and Toriel's son, Asriel, befriended a human child who had fallen into the Underground long ago, how that child and fallen ill and died, and how Asriel had died at human hands trying to fulfill the fallen child's last wish.

Finally, Frisk reaches Asgore and the barrier, and though neither party really wishes to, they fight. Frisk wins, eventually, but seeing Asgore's reluctance, feeling no small measure of pity and guilt towards the mosters, and not really having anything worth returning to on the surface, spares him, even though it means they will remain trapped underground.

However at this point Flowey, who has been following Frisk all along, steals the other six human souls, kills Asgore, and traps Frisk in a nightmare realm. There he proceeds to kill Frisk over and over for his own amusement while they try vainly to fight back. However, eventually Frisk's cries for help reach the other six souls and they rebel, leaving Flowey battered and stripped of his powers. Despite all they endured at his hand- er, petals, and his continued threads, Frisk decides to spare him, having seen enough pain and meted enough of it out.

But what now? Seemingly moved by their decision, Flowey offers an option: if Frisk can prove to him that they can make it all the way through the Underground without killing anyone, while reaching out in turn, then he'll give them a happy ending, a real one. Frisk accepts, taking their still newfound power to Reset and winding the clock back to when they fell.

They're overjoyed to see Toriel again, and stand their ground instead of fighting her (as they do in every subsequent run). They make mistakes as they go, and have to Reload and Reset more than once. Learning to reach out and connect with others is hard after closing themselves off for so long, but the more and more they try, the more they fidn themselves falling in love with the monsters of the Underground.

And eventually they manage it. They don't hurt a single monster. They go on a date with Papyrus. They burn down Undyne's house as part of a cooking lesson. They encourage Alphys to face her fears, and then help her confront her past. And it's then that they get a very strange phone call, from someone who thanks them, and calls them Chara.

When they face Asgore again, this time the fight is stopped before it even begins, as all of Frisk's closest friends - including Toriel - rush to their defense. However, it's then that Flowey springs his trap. He steals the human souls yet again, and ensnares all of Frisk's friends. He then tries to kill Frisk yet again, but when more monsters from all around the underground come to help them, Flowey instead opts to absorb their souls and regain his true form: Asriel Dreemurr.

At that point, Frisk is engaged in another fight, this time one over the ability to Reset, over their Determination. Asriel, who has mistaken Frisk for Chara - the first fallen child - wants to force Frisk to relive their journey through the Underground over and over, in order to keep them from "winning the game" and leaving him behind. Eventually he traps Frisk entirely, however Frisk uses their ability to Save to reach out to the souls of their loved ones, and then to Asriel himself. And their Determination wins out. Asriel remembers the person he had been before he'd died, and recognizes Frisk as their own person.

Asriel then uses the human and monster souls to break the barrier before freeing them, even though it will mean returning to being a soulless flower. Frisk comforts him, even returns to the Ruins to visit him one last time. Then, they return to where the barrier had been and cross out to the Surface with their friends - no their newfound family.

As they watch the setting sun with everyone, Asgore asks Frisk if they would be willing to help as ambassador to mend relations between humans and monsters. And just as (if not more) importantly, Toriel asks Frisk if they would like to stay with her. On both counts, Frisk gladly accepts.

Personality:
As with many things about Frisk, their personality is up to various interpretations. The interpretation that I personally use, is that the True Pacifist ending is indicative of Frisk's true nature. Or if it makes things simpler, the personality I'm going to describe is based entirely on the True Pacifist route, which includes sparing every monster encountered, going on a Date with both Papyrus and Alphys and a Friend Date with Undyne. All of which basically involves being a highly lovable little nugget.

One of Frisk's most striking traits is one that is repeated throughout the game - one that goes almost into ability territory, but is reinforced heavily by Frisk's own personality. Frisk has an incredibly strong will to live, but more than that they have a desire to press on, to keep going, to keep trying again when they fail. It even shows itself in less dire straits, as a general desire to push forward through obstacles despite deterrents and miscellaneous circumstances. Such as progressing through the ruins even though Toriel tells them to wait, or one time through one of Papyrus' puzzles rather than waiting for him to perform the solution for them.

While it serves them well in their adventures through the Underground, it can go to unfortunate extremes of pure stubbornness. Frisk's overabundance of determination is something that the game's primary antagonist, Asriel, attempts to exploit near the end of the True Ending, in order to try to keep Frisk trapped in the game. He cites how Frisk's determination and stubbornness to get a perfect ending - where everyone is happy - will drive them to go through their journey over and over again, no matter how many times Asriel might reset it.

Hand in hand with this determination is a sense of optimism - it seems strange that Frisk would push so hard to keep going and to find peaceful solutions with all they encounter, if they didn't believe such solutions and resolutions might be possible. They would have to believe that there isn't truth in Flowey's "kill or be killed" mantra. And so Frisk doesn't. Not to push this to an extreme though - they're "not totally naive or innocent" as Sans puts it, when judging them at the end of a pacifist run. In a more practical sense, this does involve a decent sense of when to cut and run. It's not perfect (Frisk likely makes plenty of use of those Save points) but there are times, such as the fight with Undyne, where Frisk opts for discretion.

As the above paragraph indicates, Frisk is also a pacifist. They prefer using other methods of resolving conflicts with those they encounter instead of fighting. This doesn't mean that they're passive or willing to just take whatever is dished out at them. But Frisk refuses to be the one meting out pain to others. No matter how harsh the opponent - from the lowliest of Froggits who just need a compliment, to Flowey, who tormented Frisk, including trapping them in a nightmare world and killing them repeatedly, and then threatening to kill everyone Frisk cared about - Frisk has shown them all mercy.

On a related note, Frisk is overall displays a decent amount of caring and empathy. Merciful doesn't always mean nice, but Frisk displays a considerable amount of compassion throughout the game. The most blatant display of this is Frisk's forgiveness of Asriel, and their attempts to comfort him about his fate of returning to being Flowey. Many of the options involved with sparing monsters throughout the game involves behaving in a compassionate and friendly manner with them - complimenting Froggits, laughing at Snowdrake's bad puns, singing along with Shyren, hugging or encouraging Vulkin, and so on and so forth.

That being said, also appears to possess a fair degree of self-confidence, or at least a distinct lack of self-consciousness, even a ridiculous streak. Frisk appears to have no reservations whatsoever about doing all manner of silly things when befriending monsters - such as getting into a flexing contest with Aaron or the entirety of the "fight" with Mettaton EX. Even ridiculous things they do, like pouring tea under a door during a sidequest to help with room service (and getting complimented for it). Petting vegetables during cooking lessons with Undyne. Overall, it's one of the ways in which Frisk is definitely still a kid.

Another way is in the sense of wonder they seem to find fairly easily. Throughout the game, Frisk's health is replenished by their determination, which is described as essentially their will to live. Various save points throughout the game describe different things that give Frisk enough determination to fully heal themselves. And many times they're simple things - crinkling playfully through leaves, a warm house in the ruins, a conveniently-shaped lamp. Even more ridiculous things such as the idea of a mouse hacking a safe to get to some cheese - implying that Frisk has a decent sense of imagination too.

For all this, Frisk does seem to hold how they express themselves in a certain reserve. While in many ways they are an example of the "silent protagonist" trope typical of RPGs, they do speak. Many of the commands during battles involve talking and there are times that they speak to NPCs (usually indicated by something like "..." in the NPC's dialogue). However the overall indication is that they don't feel the need to be needlessly chatty, if they don't have to be. It's similar with their emotions - while they don't show visible reactions, there are characters who comment on the faces they make, such as horror at fighting Toriel after resetting from a timeline where she's died, or grimacing at Sans if he talks about how "you haven't died even once" when they have.

Abilities:
Overall Frisk is a pretty normal human in every way.

With just a couple notable exceptions. Frisk possesses a pretty hefty amount of (for lack of a better explanation) the will to live, to persist, known colliquaily as "Determination". This Determination allows them to create a "Save" - a sort of temporal and spatial anchor point. Should they wish to do so, or should they die, Frisk can then "Reset," which rewinds time and space either back to their most recent Save, or back to when their abilities manifested - which is to say when they fell into the Underground. Only those with sufficient Determination - Frisk and Flowey in canon - are able to remember/recognize what has happened. On a related note, when feeling a particularly strong surge of Determination (such as when Saving), it has a passive healing effect.

On the whole, given the game-breaking nature of these abilities and the fact that the players in the game all likely possess much more Determination than the monsters in the Underground (and the fact that Flowey's abilities section has already established precedent), they'll be completely nullified. However there's one exception. The ability to Save is shown to have the ability to purge corruption and restore a being to a previous state. However it's not something Frisk can use willy-nilly on anybody - it's generally required that to Save someone you need to have an emotional understanding and ability to connect with them, to help remind them of who they once were. Also given aforementioned reasons, they would likely require extenuating circumstances to use and be incredibly exhausting for Frisk to do so.

Other:
Frisk spends a majority (if not all) of the game with the First Fallen human, generally referred to in fandom as Chara (though the name is actually designated by the player) sharing soul space with them. The role that Chara plays throughout the game (on Neutral and Pacifist routes in particular), as well as most aspects of Chara's personality, are generally very ambiguous and subject to much fan speculation (and argument). Two things we do know for certain is that Frisk is able to occasionally glean some of Chara's memories, particularly relevant ones of the Underground, and also if Frisk ends up participating in a genocide route, Chara's influence on their actions grows to the point of full-on possession.

Chara's soul has been rendered dormant by Frisk's arrival in-game.

Frisk as I play them identifies as nonbinary/questioning. I am okay with playing out IC misgendering and the resulting conflict but OOCly please use they/them pronouns.

Permissions: Permissions for actions done to this character.
Key: ☐ (neutral; contact first) | ☑ (yes) | ☒ (no).
» Backtagging: ☑
» Threadhopping: ☑
» Hugging: ☑
» Kissing: ☐
» Fighting: ☑
» Injuring: ☐
» Killing: ☐
» Fourth Wall: ☑
» Manipulation: ☑