Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-10788405-20160720031315/@comment-27701762-20160722044331

Okay, this is going way off the reservation now. I was okay with the "abomination" thing when it was just a term that described what Flowey was, but now there are scores of ideas being introduced to redescribe things that are already being described in-game. I am going to respond to one thing, and then wash my hands of the rest of this.

Heedfulconch3 wrote:

What I fail to understand, is why Asriel after regaining his true form and having his dormant compassion awakened, will eventually turn back into Flowey over time despite having the power of 1-6 human Souls. It should take a lot less power to prevent Asriel's body from re-entering the abyss and to keep the trait alive as well.

You earlier mischaracterize what happens with Flowey. There is no "reaching across the void to draw back a body that has been lost." All Flowey has done is manipulate his physical form to turn himself into something completely different: whereas everything before that he could change himself into has been plant-based in some way, he is now able to fully alter his being into a monster, a being whose physical composition is comprised primarily of magic. It is the process of maintaining this form which requires the full power of all of the souls, as Asriel says. It is the same as when the souls rebel from Flowey: without the power of the souls he absorbed, he is no longer able to maintain the form he transformed himself into.

And the trait is attached to the monster form. Which is why Flowey starts out trying to recapture the feeling he remembered from being Asriel, before finally giving up. Which is why Asriel warns us not to think of Flowey as properly "him" when he changes back. All Flowey would be able to do is hold onto the memory that was left of feeling love and compassion again.