Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-30390828-20161120192150/@comment-13682699-20170828012633

I feel like while Asgore is a very complex character, a lot of people are trying to look at one part of his character and judging him by only his actions-specifically his negative ones-without really grasping his entire character which involves ALL of his actions as well as his intentions and desires to a certain degree. Its simple to try to think one way or another since when we are first referenced to him, we are led to believe that he is the MAIN antagonist(which he is in a way) throughout the journey through the underground, we hear from the monsters about how nice he is (then again its obvious that the king would be nice to his fellow monsters).

When we finally meet him for the first time, he is very shocked and nervous. He clearly does not want to do what he had decreed to do, and he tries to get out of it by stalling for as much time as possible and giving you plenty of ways out before the fight. When you initiate the battle with Asgore, he immediately destroys the MERCY option, which many people tend to think means that he wants to make sure you cant escape when its actually the opposite. He doesn't believe he deserves mercy for his actions and feels incredibly guilty for what he has to do for the sake of his people. His stats are clearly high enough to basically 1-shot you if he felt like it but he doesn't, and he is very clearly struggling throughout the whole fight to keep it together and making it easier for you to kill him. He cant even look at you because he is so ashamed of himself. Ultimately you win and he explains afterwards that he truly does NOT want power or to hurt anybody, but he feels bound by the foolish promise he made in blind anger shortly after his children died.

For the kind of person that he is, its a very heavy weight on his shoulders and he has carried it alone for many years. Is he still responsible for the human's deaths? Yes. Was declaring war a horrible thing to do? Absolutely. Could he have done better? Of course, but then again, considering all circumstances, what he did at the time after he lost his children was a very understandable action and there are not very many people who are physically/mentally/emotionally/spiritually capable of dealing with the horrible events that occurred to him and his family.

His actions towards monsters say he is a good person, his actions towards humans lead others to believe he is a bad person. His intentions was to bring hope to the Underground(it was a false hope, but hope nonetheless that kept the monsters alive and going) His desire was to eventually free his people from their prison and, hopefully, for no one to be hurt (even though it still happened). Based on this evidence, many people would believe that he is a good person, or at least trying to be one.

Of course, there are some people that, no matter how tragic or impossible the circumstances, killing someone is considered a completely unforgivable and irredeemable act and considers the person responsible to be a bad person regardless. While its not required for you to like Asgore's character in general, such a lack of compassion for the situation he was put in shows a lack of respect for the tribulations he had to endure not only for himself but for his people. He is a very selfless man and its shows when you defeat him for a second time and he willingly gives you his SOUL so that you can be free and so that maybe you could possible find a solution to free them on the surface.

Like I said in the beginning, he is a very complex character worthy of deep thought and consideration. Its a bit sad that a lot of the game tends to screw over his development as he is only shown for a brief time, and unless you have good insight and critical thinking skills, a lot of what is shown can make Asgore seem a LOT WORSE than he really is; a good portion of it specifically by none other that Toriel, the first monster we meet who shows concern for our well being as a mother-like figure, and the one the player first becomes attached to. As such, she would have a heavy influence in the players outlook concerning Asgore's character, especially in the end where she goes off on him and openly berates him for his actions. Not only that, but her influence would further emphasize a lack of accountability on Toriel's part and make her seem a LOT BETTER than she really is, which is an injustice to her character development as well.

However, everyone is entitled to their informed/educated opinion on this matter and whether or not you believe him to be a bad person is still up to each individual. At the end of the day, no matter what anyone thinks, he is still a likeable character who deserves as much love as every other character in-game gets.

Except Jerry. **** Jerry