Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-27827802-20160219134059/@comment-27701762-20160219202541

An interesting thought, though I think it hinges far too much on one line. If I recall correctly, the context of the line is about how monsters have trouble fighting when they don't want to. Which might suggest, in lieu of your claim that the little white heart is the only place to find their "being," that a monster's physical (for lack of a better term) body is impacted by or draws its power from the SOUL.

Which still gets us to the problem that "essence" and "SOUL" cannot be synonymous. But I don't think we need to upend the rest of the story to solve the problem.

I'm somewhat amenable to the concept of treating Flowey and Asriel as somewhat distinct entities. But less in the way you do, such that we are always dealing with Flowey the entire time. Rather, as a sort of half-similarity. Flowey is almost Asriel, but lacks certain aspects that would make him truly Asriel. Flowey is only able to become Asriel once he has the power to regain his true form. Conversely, we would say that Asriel turns into Flowey once Alphys injects determination into the flower, and is only able to become himself again once he regains his true form. They are not quite the same, but not quite distinct, either.

We could try to figure out the exact nature of things by trying to develop an entire philosophy of identity, but I am extremely doubtful that Toby is delving into an incredibly complex branch of philosophical inquiry for the purpose of making two characters in a video game.