Characters / Ebott's Wake

Please note that all spoilers on this page are unmarked.

Undertale Cast

Frisk

The ten-year-old ambassador between monsters and humans.

• 100% Heroism Rating: Most if not all of the monsters trust Frisk implicitly after the destruction of the Barrier.
• Abuse Mistake: After Frisk begins learning how to use magic, Child Protection Services is called several times when Frisk is seen having magic attacks thrown at them. Frisk and Papyrus end up demonstrating that sparring is a legitimate means of teaching magic, and the social worker involved leaves without taking further action. Toriel explicitly states that the inconvenience of a sudden unannounced visit is a small price to pay for the safety of children.
• Adoptive Name Change: They've dropped their old surname, "Taylor," and taken the surname "Dreemurr."
• Ambadassador: Although they don't do typical ambassador work, it is their job to try and bridge the gaps between humans and monsters. They also regularly get into life-threatening situations and come out on top.
• All-Loving Hero: Frisk cares about everybody. This, combined with their frankly terrifying magical ability and the fact that magic is a function of will and intent, is implied to explain why Nobody Can Die in these stories.
• Ambiguous Gender: Neither humans nor monsters can easily tell if Frisk is a boy, a girl, or none of the above. Dialogue from the doctors operating on Frisk indicates that they are female, and Chara uses she and her as pronouns when talking about Frisk. It's implied that Frisk got so used to everyone using they and them pronouns that they decided to roll with it.
• Afraid of Needles:
  • Frisk has to receive regular injections to treat their allergies. They are not a fan of this.
  • Frisk will do anything to get Chara their own body… unless it involves giant needles. (Luckily, giant needles were never actually considered.)
• Anxiety Dreams: Frisk has a lot of these. Often, they're about their closest friends finding out about whatever big revelation is bothering them at the moment and rejecting them because of it. There are also nightmares where everything falls apart because of a single mistake they made.
• Badass Bookworm: They're a Kid Hero who loves reading and science. They aren't a genius, but they're great at applying what they know and finding what they need to know to accomplish the task at hand.
• Badass Pacifist: They get more willing to use force later on, but it takes a while for them to snap at all. Before then, they definitely qualify for this.
  • The biggest example is during the attack on the State of the Kingdom Address, where they successfully get Dwayne Riley to drop his gun simply by standing in front of him and daring him to shoot them.
  • Undyne also points out how awesome it is that they made their way through an unfamiliar world filled with hostile environments and monsters, dodging through everybody's attacks unfazed, never fighting back, and making friends out of every enemy.
• Being Tortured Makes You Evil: A heavily Downplayed example. Frisk isn't evil in the slightest, but it's theorized that, thanks to their traumatic upbringing, they see every interaction as a fight — though they choose to de-escalate rather than fight back. Certainly, the only part of their time with Toriel underground that was familiar to them was the fight.
• Camera Fiend: A subtle example; Frisk is occasionally shown taking pictures and then organizing them into physical photo albums and frames. Their chest of drawers in their bedroom is mentioned as being covered in many, many pictures of their friends. A holiday-themed one-shot story set some time after the events of Ebott's Wake shows them receiving a book on the history of photography.
• Cannot Spit It Out: After they realize they can use magic, the stress of keeping the secret from everyone except Asriel starts getting to them. There are several times where they try to tell others, including Alphys, but their fear of what monsters might do if they realize humans can use magic again keeps them silent. When they finally work up the nerve to reveal the secret to Toriel, they're unable to tell her and have to resort to a forceful demonstration.
• Child Prodigy: While never stated outright, Frisk is heavily implied to be much smarter than other children of the same age. This is most obvious with the books that they read; at one point Sans gives them a textbook that Dr. Aster wrote on the fundamentals of magic, and they not only understand the contents but finish the book in a matter of weeks.
• Creepy Child: Their intelligence isn't the only thing out of the ordinary about them. They (usually) don't do anything overtly creepy, it's just that they're so competent in so many areas of adult life at the age of eight.
  Officer Steve: Frisk, don't take this the wrong way[,] but listening to an eight year old[sic] child talk about market psychology and political economy is rustling the heck out of my jimmies right now.
  • At the beginning of Terra Incognita, Sans notices that Frisk has a weird amount of control over the crowd of humans. It'd make the hair on the back of his neck stand up if he had any.
  • Also in Terra Incognita, Frisk talks to Officer Steve alone and gives him a short speech about how dedicated they are to the monsters. Unlike normally, here Frisk's demeanor does creep Steve out. When he gets into his cruiser immediately afterward, his hands are shaking too much to start the engine.
• Dark and Troubled Past: It quickly becomes clear in Ebott's Wake that they had a very traumatic upbringing, which we gradually get to see more of throughout Ebott's Wake and Legacy of the Magi.
• Determinator: As with the original game.
• Dreaming of Things to Come:
  • They have a few dreams that seem to predict the future during the week before the battle for the CORE. (Later events imply this may have been them subconsciously using Pattern Magic.) This does not mix well with their normal Anxiety Dreams.
  • In Terra Incognita, Frisk has a dream about a scene from Ebott's Wake. The dialogue is exactly the same, though Frisk notices different things about the scene.
• Dreaming of Times Gone By:
  • In Ebott's Wake, they have a number of dreams about past experiences, such as fighting Toriel in the Ruins.
  • In Legacy Of The Magi, they start having dreams from the perspective of one of the archmages who created the Barrier.
• Driven to Suicide: After Asriel gets revived, a combination of Toriel's Freak Out and their own guilt over "replacing" Asriel as Toriel's child drives Frisk over the edge, and they attempt to jump off the roof of their house. Fortunately, Asriel manages to catch them in time.
• Drives Like Crazy: Frisk is occasionally shown and described as riding their bicycle with little to no concern for their personal safety.
• Extremely Protective Child: Within the scope of the story, Frisk only ever directly risks their life for Undyne, but they make it blatantly clear that they'd do the same for Toriel and Asgore (as well as their other friends).
• Felony Misdemeanor: Due to the circumstances of their upbringing, Frisk sees every single mistake that they make as this. Just breaking a dinner plate by accident causes them to panic and their attempt to make amends by buying replacement plates ends with them incoherent and terrified of being sent back to their biological family.
• Fever Dream Episode: Frisk does not handle getting sick very well. Their recovery from getting shot in Ebott's Wake, and two one-shot stories that describe their bout with the flu, are filled with bad dreams and hallucinations.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Primarily late in Legacy of the Magi. Before then, it mostly just indicates that Chara is controlling their body.
• Go Through Me:
  • During the attack on the Auditorium, Frisk runs between Undyne and Dwayne Riley, telling him he'll have to shoot them to get to Undyne.
  • In case it wasn't clear enough from their behavior in Ebott's Wake and Terra Incognita, they explicitly say this at the end of the latter:
    Frisk: ...I remember what you told me. Take care of mom and dad. If anyone tries to hurt them, they won't make it past me. I promise.
  • One could argue they're metaphorically doing this at the end of Ebott's Wake—their magic is protecting everybody in town, so Cater has to kill them before he can kill everybody else.
• Happily Adopted: Frisk is a human child living in a family of monsters, and at one point in Terra Incognita refers to Toriel taking them in as "winning the foster parent lottery."
• Ignored Aesop: Time and time again, Frisk worries that some revelation or minor mistake will cause their new friends to reject them, even after all they've done for them. Time and time again, this fear is proven incorrect… yet they still can't shake it. Justified in that their abusive past hammered this idea into them, and even though it gets proven wrong, the older experiences largely take precedent.
• Improbable Age: As the ambassador for the monsters, they were and continue to be front and center in attempts to integrate monsters into the human world. They got the job before they turned nine, and even then, they were unnervingly competent at it.
• Insistent Terminology: The people of Ebott's Wake aren't weird, they're eccentric.
• Interspecies Adoption: They're a human child adopted by boss monsters.
• I Should Have Been Better: Frisk feels like they should've been able to save Asriel sooner.
• Kid Hero: They've been through a hundred and one life-threatening situations and come out swinging, and they haven't even turned eleven yet.
• Killing Intent: Has a LV of 1 and a LV CAP of 20. The latter becomes a plot point: Frisk becomes worried about what their friends and family would think if they found out, while everyone else is concerned about what caused it to get so high in the first place.
• New Parent Nomenclature Problem: Frisk seems to waffle on whether or not to call Toriel and Asgore "Mom" and "Dad," most commonly when they feel like they don't deserve to be their child or think they're going to be sent away.
• Not Afraid to Die: Sans describes it pretty well in Legacy of the Magi.
  Sans: That kid has already died who knows how many times. If they think they can help everyone by doing it one more time, they won't even hesitate.
• Patricide: When Frisk got back home from the Underground after the first run, Jason told them to go away, that they couldn't just put the world on pause like that. Frisk flew into a murderous rage and tried to kill him. The only reason they didn't is that he panicked and killed them first.
• Replacement Goldfish: Frisk believes that they qualify as this and that they will no longer have a place in the Dreemurr family once they manage to restore Asriel completely. Once Asriel is restored, the start to see theirself as one for Chara as well.
• The Runaway: Frisk ran away from home because they thought they were the reason their parents were fighting.
• Science Wizard: They've always had a thing for science and engineering, and as of early in Ebott's Wake, they have magic as well.
• Secret-Keeper: They don't tell anybody that Flowey is Asriel.
• Seeks Another's Resurrection: Asriel isn't quite dead, but it's almost that bad, and Frisk is desperate to bring him back all the way. Once they find out that Chara's spirit is in their head, they feel the same way about bringing them back.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Implied to have this relationship with a boy at another elementary school in town. Frisk says they look forward to only having to deal with him once Jordan Cater is neutralized.
• Situational Hand Switch: Being left-handed, after they got shot in the left shoulder, they have to struggle through writing with their right hand until the left shoulder heals.
• Sharing a Body: With Chara, though they don't realize it until the very end of Ebott's Wake. Slightly out of the ordinary for this trope, Frisk is always the one truly in control—even when Chara is "in the driver's seat," they say Frisk has to actively try not to override their movements.
• Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Their preferred form of magical attack. Usually, it's a red knife.
• Stepford Smiler: Frisk spends every waking moment between the destruction of the Barrier and the beginning of the story trying to be the perfect child, bottling up all their fear and anger so that Toriel won't have second thoughts about adopting them.
• The Stoic: Frisk does show some emotions, even in public, but their negative emotions hardly ever surface. Undyne says Frisk can't have a DF of 0, because somebody with 0 DF would've "cried like a baby" after tanking one of her spears. Of course, she doesn't know what Frisk has had to deal with in the past.
• Suddenly Shouting: Happens after Asriel is brought back and all of their fears and worries about being a placeholder until Asriel comes back reach a breaking point.
• Time Master: Their control over it isn't as good as the standard trope, but they are the sole controller of the timeline, with others attempting to take over control of the time loop and being rejected.
  • They actually don't want the time loop to exist at all, because they're terrified that they're going to die and drag everybody back to when they fell into the Underground.
  • They are also able to use Energy magic to "give themselves an extra moment"—by accident, even—though this ability isn't unique to them.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Mostly to those bigoted against monsters, but it is there.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Frisk loves root beer, especially root beer that has caffeine added to it.
• Vague Age: Averted; Frisk is ten years old during Ebott's Wake and was eight years old during the events of Undertale.
• Voice of the Legion: In Ebott's Wake and for roughly the first half of Legacy of the Magi, it simply represents Chara being the one in control. After Chara gets their own body, it indicates that Frisk is using a lot of magical power at once. Either way, always accompanied by Glowing Eyes of Doom.
• Young and in Charge: They're technically just an Ambassador, but many humans see them as leading the monsters. Anybody who's seen them in action knows they are fantastically well-qualified for the job.
• Wake Up, Go to School & Save the World: A variant in that Frisk has to balance the politics and public relations aspect of being an ambassador with ordinary elementary school responsibilities. At the end of the first fic, they end up taking a break from their ambassador duties for the summer so they can focus on learning magic.

Flowey A.K.A. Asriel Dreemurr

A talking flower fond of pulling pranks on the inhabitants of the town. Until he gets his SOUL back, at least.

• All Your Powers Combined: Using the Soul Link, he can borrow other people's SOULs, as he did with the monsters in the climax of the Pacifist Run. After the battle for the CORE, he links with Shop Class to become something similar to the Omega Flowey seen at the end of the Neutral Run, but this time with powers more befitting the various members of Shop Class. Also less godlike, but still entirely sufficient to Curb-Stomp Cater and help the police defeat the New Guardians.
• Back from the Dead: Downplayed. Asriel hasn't been dead in a while, but he didn't have a Soul, and from most other people's perspective, he basically did come back from the dead.
• Berserk Button: As Asriel, he never gets as angry as he does when O'Dell attacks Papyrus, coming very close to killing him.
• Came Back Strong: About halfway through Ebott's Wake, Flowey is transformed back into Asriel thanks to a fragment of Frisk's Soul. The combination of Boss Monster magic and a Human Soul means that Asriel is considered one of the strongest monsters alive just a few weeks after his resurrection, and it's implied he will get even stronger.
  • At one point in Legacy of the Magi, his stats are impossible to measure accurately, because his maximum HP is increasing in real time.
  • He also maintains his Green Thumb and the Soul Link ability from being Flowey.
• Catchphrase: "I did a lot of weird stuff as a flower."
• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: He occasionally subs in for Justin in trying to keep Hal under control.
• Combat Tentacles: In the form of vines. Notably, Asriel keeps this power even after getting his original body back.
• Establishing Character Moment: When he makes the Arboretum trees go on strike, combined with the way the radio announcers talk about that and how Frisk gets him to stop by coming to talk to him. It perfectly outlines Flowey's Reformed, but Not Tamed personality.
• The Gadfly: Flowey ends up spending the year and a half between the destruction of the Barrier and the start of Ebott's Wake pulling assorted pranks on people out of boredom.
• Game Face: Puts one on while immolating Thomas O'Dell.
  The monster child's face had changed. Black stripes had spread across his fur, and his muzzle had elongated slightly while his lips pulled back to reveal his teeth, and most telling of all his eyes had turned solid black with pinpricks of red light inside them. The overall effect made him look almost skull-like, and Alphys was forcibly reminded of a similar face that Flowey had made when especially angry.
• Green Thumb: As Flowey, his magic defaulted to this form. With his Boss Monster body restored, Asriel still has this power.
• Heal the Cutie: Once he comes back all the way, a lot of the plot centers around helping Asriel forgive himself for all the people he hurt, helping Chara with their plan, and even some of the stuff he did on the Surface.
• Insistent Terminology: Flowey does not like being called Asriel.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: He can use the Soul Link to go into other people's heads. He only uses it this way with Frisk, though.
• Last-Second Word Swap: As Flowey, he often stops himself when he was about to phrase something in a way that implied that he was Asriel. (Which he is, he just doesn't want to admit it.) He also comes close to calling Toriel "Mom" a few times.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: The fact that Flowey is Asriel Dreemurr is mentioned in the same chapter that introduces him.
• Muscles Are Meaningless: He's unnaturally strong for his size. Justified in that he's literally made of magic and has no reason to have muscles.
• Must Make Amends: Not long after getting his old body back, Asriel starts trying to figure out how to make up for all of the things he did as Flowey. This is complicated by the fact that his worst actions took place in forgotten timelines that only he remembers; everyone else in town just remembers a year and a half worth of pranks, and a number of the town's inhabitants are willing to let those pranks slide when they understand what happened to him.
• My Greatest Failure: Considers agreeing to help Chara with the Buttercup Plan to be this.
• Non Sequitur: Whether as Asriel or Flowey, he's always very incoherent after coming out of the Soul Link.
• Odd Friendship: With Hal Greene. Asriel is implied to consider Hal a role model of sorts, and Hal ends up providing Asriel with a much-needed morale boost at several points.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Flowey allows himself to be transplanted into a flower pot in order to be close to Frisk in the hospital, despite previously being completely against the idea. He also ends up apologizing to Alphys for threats he made earlier in the story. This serves as foreshadowing that he has a fragment of Frisk's Soul, left over from the final battle of the True Pacifist Ending of Undertale.
• Personal Horror:
  • Even when he gets his body back, he still doesn't quite think he's the real Asriel. It gets worse after he transforms into Omega Flowey after the battle for the CORE—it's as if he wasn't allowed to be free of being Flowey. Even well into Legacy of the Magi, he still has nightmares about turning back into Flowey.
  • Even when he isn't being bothered by the idea that he isn't the real Asriel, he also has trouble forgiving himself for all the things he did as Flowey.
    Asriel: Have you ever. Uh. Done something. Something terrible. Something that you couldn't fix, or make up for. Something so bad that even if you, somehow, could turn back time itself before it happened... it would still be a part of you in an alternate timeline where it never happened?
• Playing with Fire: Asriel was a prodigy at fire magic when he was younger, but he has trouble using it after his restoration. It takes seeing Thomas O'Dell attack Papyrus for Asriel to completely get it back.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: As Flowey, he's still kind of a jerk and likes to threaten people and play pranks on everyone, but he doesn't attempt to seriously harm anyone anymore. He ends up taking a level in kindness once he turns back into Asriel.
• Refused Reunion: As Flowey, he doesn't want to reveal himself to Toriel and Asgore. Before he turned back into Flowey, he was worried about hurting them all over again, and after, he didn't consider himself their son anyway.
• Secret-Keeper: For a while, he's the only one who knows about the time loop, and for another while, he's the only one who knows Frisk can use magic.
• Seeks Another's Resurrection: Once he knows Chara is within reach, he will stop at nothing to bring them back.
• Stumbling in the New Form: When Flowey is transformed back into Asriel, it takes him a few minutes to figure out how to use his arms and legs again, and over a week to regain access to fire magic.
• Super-Strong Child: Asriel is unnaturally strong for his size. It consistently surprises Chara, both because he doesn't look like he should be that strong and because they have trouble reconciling strength with gentleness.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Downplayed, but he is noted to like cinnamon. Justin even picks up a craving for it from him after using the Soul Link.
• Turned Against Their Masters: Asriel considers himself to be at least partially Alphys's creation, so he Invokes this trope as an excuse to disobey her at times.
• Turning Back Human: A few days after the State of the Kingdom address, his fragment of Frisk's Soul suddenly turns into a whole Soul, and he manages to re-form his monster body.
• When Trees Attack: Flowey did this at the Ebott's Wake Arboretum, but instead of sending the trees on a rampage, he sent them on strike, complete with picket signs. He still has this ability when he transforms back into Asriel.

Toriel

Queen of the monsters and administrator of Dreemurr Elementary School.

• Anger Born of Worry: Poor woman goes through this a lot as a consequence of her and her children's experiences.
• Amicable Exes: After a year and a half on the surface, Toriel has reached this point with Asgore, to the point where they can co-parent Frisk with little to no friction.
• Badass Teacher: Toriel does not take threats to the children in her care lightly.
• Cool Teacher: While Toriel is never explicitly shown in the classroom, the way that students speak to her outside of the school (and about her when she is not around) implies that she is respected by her students.
• Does Not Drive: She's too big for most cars anyway.
• Mama Bear: Any threat to her own children, or the students at her school, will turn the kindly schoolteacher into a towering inferno of rage.
• My Beloved Smother: Toriel is protective of Frisk, but has gotten better about allowing her children to take risks and make their own decisions. At one point, she realizes that Frisk's lack of arguing or acting out is actually a sign that something is wrong.
• Playing with Fire: Toriel's fire magic is mostly used for cooking, but she is not above incinerating anyone who threatens her children, or for that matter any children.
• Unstoppable Rage: An unusual case when Flowey transforms back into Asriel; Toriel is too shocked to think that what has happened is anything but a cruel trick, and lashes out at everyone in response until Asgore can calm her down and convince her that Asriel is real.

Sans

A short, pun-loving skeleton monster with a reputation for being lazy.

• Adaptational Badass: His stats are much higher in the fic than in the game. He says his stats were all ones just after Dr. Aster disappeared, but they got much higher after that, so presumably they're only all ones in the Genocide route because he's already so demoralized.
• Big Brother Instinct: In addition to being protective of his actual younger brother Papyrus, Sans shows this with Frisk.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Sans is intelligent and observant of details that others miss, and works with Alphys on many scientific projects, but is just as likely to be found selling hot dogs as performing advanced scientific research.
• Catchphrase: He uses "have a bad time" and variants a lot.
• Character Development: After a year and a half on the surface with no sign of resets, Sans appears to have let go of the fatalism seen in the final battles of the Genocide Run and True Pacifist Runs of Undertale. This also comes with a Heel Realization when he realizes that he would have been just fine letting all of the Fallen Humans wander around the Underground until they died, including Frisk, save for the fact that Toriel made him promise to watch out for them.
• Extremely Protective Child: The one time Sans gets angry at Toriel (and one of the few times he gets angry at all) is when Toriel threatens Dr. Aster while losing her temper.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Played with. Sans's eyes glow naturally, and his left eye glows blue when using his powers. When they ''stop'' glowing is when you should be worried.
• Laborious Laziness: Discussed by several other characters, including Toriel. While Sans has a reputation for being lazy, his shortcuts give him away; they use an extremely advanced and difficult form of magic to work, called a Dimensional Bridge. The fact that Sans uses them instead of walking around, and even utilizes them for the sake of comedy, implies that his laziness is an act. This is also supported by the occasional mention of Sans working late on one task or another.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: When the AML is attacking the hospital, Sans almost single-handedly takes on Jordan (who has an LV of 4) and wipes the floor with him. (Though Papyrus, Undyne, and several humans were helping to contain the rest of the crowd.)
• Missing Mom: Sans' mother is only mentioned a few times, and never shown in flashbacks or photographs.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Downplayed; while Sans is mostly shown working with physics or engineering, occasionally there are hints that he has knowledge in other fields such as electronics, computer programming, and chemistry.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: On top of his banter from the game, Justin mentions discussing these with him.
• Secret-Keeper: He's one of the only people who knows about Frisk's ability to LOAD.

Papyrus

Younger, taller brother of Sans and in many ways the face of monsters to the rest of the world.

• All-Loving Hero: Papyrus is still willing to see the best in anyone and everyone and is willing to extend olive branches to former enemies. Or even current enemies, such as when Thomas O'Dell is actively trying to kill him.
• Butt-Monkey: Papyrus is still being pestered and harassed by the Annoying Dog, even after a year and a half. It's also all but stated that Sans is still trolling him online.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Every time that Papyrus is forced into combat, he demonstrates a frightening competence.
• Gravity Master: Papyrus uses Blue magic to move things around very casually, including himself at several points.
• Odd Friendship: With Flowey. Later, he also starts befriending Dwayne Riley.
• Social Media Before Reason: A positive version in Terra Incognita when Papyrus starts taking pictures of the activities being done on the surface; this has the dual purpose of keeping the monsters still in the Underground up to date on current events and providing firsthand experience of monsters to the human population in a format that is readily accessible. By the time the events of Ebott's Wake take place, Papyrus is a social media icon with almost a million followers.

Undyne

Former Captain of the Royal Guard turned Elementary School gym teacher.

• Badass Bookworm: At one point, Undyne picks up a bunch of human medical textbooks at the Ebott's Wake Librarby Book Sale, which she apparently reads for recreational value.
• Badass Teacher: As the physical education teacher for Dreemurr Elementary School, Undyne automatically qualifies.
• Declaration of Protection: Does this several times, including when anti-monster rioters are outside the hospital and when Dreemurr Elementary School is attacked.
• Eye Scream: The exact nature of what happened to Undyne's eye is apparently a topic of discussion in the teacher's lounge when she's not there. She casually mentions at one point that the eye is still intact under her eyepatch, but damaged and blind.
• Humans Are Warriors: Used to have this belief in the underground, though the reality is a bit disappointing for her. She does gain an appreciation for human medical treatments, though.
• No Full Name Given: All of Frisk's friends have specified surnames except for Undyne and Alphys. Given that Undyne is called "Captain Undyne," where ordinarily the title would be followed by a surname, it's plausible that she just has Only One Name.
• Putting the Band Back Together: Undyne almost says the trope name exactly when Frisk talks about reviving the Royal Guard as the Royal Honor Guard.
• Took a Level in Kindness: While Undyne is still the same Hot-Blooded warrior, she shows a softer side after a year and a half on the surface. Frisk regularly confides in Undyne, even sharing concerns that they don't feel safe sharing with anyone else, including their parents.
• Warrior Therapist: Undyne not only fills this role for Frisk and many monster students who are not comfortable with the human counselor, she name drops the trope when trying to cheer up Asgore.
• You Just Told Me: Multiple times, she gets somebody to reveal something she didn't know by acting like she did, though it's never plot-important.
  Undyne: As for how [her eye] got messed up? Let me know when the office pool gets up to around five hundred dollars and we'll work something out.
  Danny: Wait, you know about the pool??
  Undyne: Not until you just said that I didn't!

Dr. Alphys

Former Royal Scientist, now an independent researcher and owner of her own Research and Development company, All Fine Labs.

• Honest Corporate Executive: Alphys is more scientist than executive, but otherwise fits; most of what her company makes in profit gets invested back into the community in the form of start up funds or free equipment for other monster-owned businesses. Partially deconstructed when it's shown that Alphys is often struggling to keep the company out of the red.
• Must Make Amends: Alphys is still haunted by what happened to the Amalgamates, and finding a cure or treatment for Amalgamation Syndrome is one of the ongoing projects at All Fine Labs.
• No Full Name Given: All of Frisk's friends have specified surnames except for Undyne and Alphys. Given that Alphys is called "Doctor Alphys," where ordinarily the title would be followed by a surname, it's plausible that she just has Only One Name.
• Research, Inc.: All Fine Labs is a community-minded version of this, with production lines that manufacture magical technology for other monsters to use so that they can keep up with the demand from the human population on the surface. Ethical conflicts are almost completely nonexistent; thanks to her experience with the Amalgamates, Alphys prioritizes safety and informed consent very highly.
• Science Wizard: Being a monster, she's naturally proficient in magic, but her career is in science. Usually the science of magic, but still.
• Secret Secret-Keeper: After learning Frisk can use magic, Alphys keeps it to herself, or at least she thinks she does.
• Shock and Awe: Alphys is shown having a particular affinity for lightning and electrical magic. It's implied in Terra Incognita that, if she had a thorough understanding of the hardware and software behind the electronic voting machines being used by the town, she could hack them with magic alone. She ends up explaining this while trying to explain to Officer Steve of the Ebott's Wake Police Department that she actually doesn't have that information, and even if she did, she wouldn't want to use it like that.
• Talking in Your Sleep: Alphys does this, but it's not clear if it's a normal part of her sleep cycle or a result of her pushing herself too hard. Notably, this is how Undyne and Papyrus learn that Frisk can use magic after Alphys overhears Frisk talking about it with Asriel.
• Took a Level in Badass: While she still has the same social anxiety issues, Alphys is shown standing up for herself and for others in times of conflict or crisis. These include lecturing Undyne about getting seriously injured in battle, fighting off several anti-monster bigots who broke into All Fine Labs, and giving the spokesman for the anti monster movement a piece of her mind during a call-in segment at the local radio station.

Mettaton

The Underground's greatest (and only) celebrity, now a pop culture sensation on the surface.

• B-Movie: It's subtly implied that Mettaton's movies qualify as this. In the year and a half that monsters have been on the surface, Mettaton has already produced and starred in at least four films, meaning that the production cycle for each one must have been very short.
• Demoted to Extra: Mettaton does not get that much screen time compared to other characters. In Ebott's Wake, he has fewer mentions than Jeff Walsh.
• Killer Robot: While Mettaton is far more interested in fulfilling his dreams of stardom than killing anyone, he is more than capable of defending himself.
• Playing Possum: He appears to die during the attack on the Auditorium, but he shows up a few minutes later dragging an AML mook in each arm. He claims he was just doing this.
• Transformation Sequence: Mettaton is shown switching back and forth between his humanoid EX form and his original box-on-a-wheel shape as needed.

Asgore

King of the monsters, groundskeeper at Dreemurr Elementary, and a big fuzzy pushover.

• Amicable Exes: With Toriel.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Asgore is one of the friendliest Monsters you'll ever meet, but threaten anyone he cares about, and he'll remind you that he's a Boss Monster with the strength that entails.
• Does Not Drive: He can't even fit in any car that has a roof.
• Fireball Eyeballs: He sometimes gets these when using or preparing to use a lot of magical power. One is orange and the other cyan, calling to mind the colored eye flashes from his bossfight.
• First Gray Hair: At one point, Asgore notices that some of the hair in his beard is going grey, which should be impossible for a Boss Monster without children. Not only is this foreshadowing of Asriel's return, but it's heavily implied to be the reason that Asgore accepts that Asriel is back immediately, while Toriel is convinced that it's all a cruel trick by Flowey.
• Green Thumb: Asgore is a master of horticulture and landscaping, owing in part to his magic.
• Papa Wolf: It takes a lot to get Asgore angry, but threatening his children will definitely do it.
• Playing with Fire: Outside of the occasional fight, Asgore mostly uses fire magic to brew tea.
• Universally Beloved Leader: Asgore legally dissolved the Kingdom of Monsters as part of a legal gambit to help monsters integrate with the surface, but other monsters still consider him king, whether or not the crown is on his head.
  Undyne: [in fits and starts due to being ill] You. Just because. Because you had to dissolve the kingdom so we could be... whatever we are now. Just because you're not wearing the crown anymore. That doesn't mean you stop being king. You and Toriel, you held things together for ages. I remember Gerson's stories about the early days after the war. The fear, the despair. You turned all of that around. You held everyone together, long before we had all of the amazing science stuff.

Dr. W.D. Aster

Former Royal Scientist, thought to be scattered across time and space, now adjusting to life on the surface.

• Ascended Extra: Gets upgraded from a deleted character to part of the main cast.
• Audience Surrogate: Dr. Aster learns about the events following the destruction of the Barrier at the same time that the readers do.
• Back from the Dead: He wasn't actually dead, but from other people's perspective, he may as well have been.
• Consistent Clothing Style: When his attire is described, he's always dressed in monochrome bar a single yellow accessory, such as sneakers or a bow tie.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dr. Aster has a talent for snarking with a neutral expression, especially towards people who thought he was dead.
  Roastie: Uh, not to be rude or anything, but didn't you, like, die a while ago?
  Dr. Aster: Yes, but it was very boring, so I came back to life.
• Decoy Protagonist: The summary of Ebott's Wake makes it seem like he's going to be the main character, and the first few chapters don't dispute that, but after that it becomes pretty clear that Frisk is the real protagonist.
• Does Not Drive: Normally, he just teleports everywhere. When he's going somewhere unfamiliar, he hitches a ride with somebody who does drive, such as Papyrus or (in one instance) Mike Van Garrett.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Dr. Aster only gets launched four and a half years into the future at the start of Ebott's Wake, but there have been so many changes between those two points that he has to work double-time to catch up with the rest of the monsters in learning about the Surface.
• Friend to All Children: Dr. Aster does not regularly interact with children, but when he does, he seems to be very capable of establishing a rapport with them. This ranges from having an impromptu lesson on various magical and monstrous topics with a human child on an airplane, to cheering up a depressed Frisk, to spending a lot of time just talking back and forth with Asriel.
• Good Is Not Soft: After Asriel is revived and Toriel is lashing out at everyone in the room from disbelief, Dr. Aster immediately summons his trademark Blaster when she insults Papyrus.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Like Sans, it's when they stop glowing that you're in trouble.
• Gravity Master: Dr. Aster uses Blue Magic very casually, including grabbing markers for the whiteboard that are on the other side of the room or just a few inches out of reach.
• Heroic Lineage: Dr. Aster mentions once or twice that the Aster family was once counted among the Boss Monster nobility, though that apparently has not been the case for a very long time.
• The Illegible: The other monsters couldn't pick up Dr. Aster's work on the CORE based on his notes because his handwriting is atrocious. Given that Papyrus apparently writes in the Papyrus computer font, it's likely that Dr. Wing Ding Aster writes his notes in, well…
• Interspecies Romance: At one point Dr. Aster meets Dr. Jamie Ross, a surgeon at the local hospital who operated on Frisk, and establishes a friendship that evolves into a relationship. A one-shot set years after the events of Ebott's Wake shows that they had a child together.
• Mr. Exposition: Nearly always the one to explain whenever anything science-related comes up.
• Omnidisciplinary Scientist: Downplayed and justified at the same time; Dr. Aster personally specialized in physics and engineering, but also picked up various other disciplines from whatever books survived the garbage dump, including human medicine.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: We can kinda see where Sans gets it from.
  Dr. Aster: My name is Doctor Wing Ding Aster. And if you are currently enjoying yourself, you had best get ready to stop.
• Science Wizard: As a monster, he's reasonably proficient in magic by default, and he has plenty of tricks up his sleeve that his father taught him. He's also an accomplished scientist where magical science is concerned and broadly familiar with many fields of human science as well.
• Spell My Name With An S: Thanks to a typo on some Royal paperwork in the Underground, people have been calling the good doctor "Gaster" for some time, and the mistake has even followed him to the Surface. This is usually Played for Laughs, though it takes on serious overtones as Sans describes hearing some kids in New Home make up a rhyme about his father and getting his name wrong, despite all that Dr. Aster had done for the Underground, as the breaking point that lead to him moving to Snowdin Town.
• Summon Magic: Dr. Aster is shown summoning 'Aster Blasters', the same skull-like entities that Sans uses in combat. At one point Papyrus explains that the Aster Blasters are not named for the doctor specifically, but rather the Aster family tree as a whole.
• The Talk: During a not-exactly-a-date, Dr. Aster explains skeleton reproduction to a curious Dr. Ross. Played for Laughs, as Dr. Ross is practically stunned into silence not only by how different it is from human reproduction, but by how easy it was for her to believe the speculation that she found online.

Chara

The first fallen human and friend of Asriel Dreemurr, who now lives on inside Frisk.

• Alliterative Name: Chara Cater.
• Archnemesis Dad: Chara's human father is the main villain of Ebott's Wake, Jordan Cater. They occasionally lament that they don't know any words capable of expressing how much they hate and despise him.
• Breeding Cult: The Guardians of the Legacy of the Magi, the cult that Chara grew up in, apparently used this practice, and Chara was one of the results. They mention that had circumstances been different, they would have been forced into an Arranged Marriage with another child in the cult as part of some larger plan.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Chara refers to their human father, as well as Toriel and Asgore, by their first names. In Jordan Cater's case, they simply despise him and all he stands for. For the Dreemurrs, it's implied that Chara feels they lost the right to consider themselves part of the Dreemurr family when they hurt Asgore with the Buttercup Pie.
• Calling the Old Man Out: The climactic battle outside of Dreemurr Elementary School is won after Chara takes control and uses Communication Magic to force Cater to experience their memories of being raised by him and memories of being taken in by the Dreemurr family back-to-back. It's implied that the shock of realizing that Chara is still alive somehow is what causes him to lose the focus needed to use magic, rather than seeing that the Dreemurrs treated his child better than he did.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Buttercup Plan, by way of buttercup juice extract. Flashbacks indicate that the Healing Magic used on Chara could have saved their life, but they kept drinking the extract so that the Healing Magic wasn't able to catch up.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Subverted in that Chara is not evil, but they have completely internalized the Guardians' strict ethical code to the point that they assume that forgiveness and mercy are concepts unique to monster culture. During a flashback to the Buttercup Plan, they have difficulty understanding or even rationalizing why the Dreemurrs are trying so hard to heal them after what happened to Asgore.
• Gender Reveal: While Jordan Cater refers to Chara as his daughter, Asriel specifically mentions that Chara preferred they and them pronouns.
• Ironic Hell: Chara all but states outright that they think their continued survival as a part of Frisk is punishment for getting Asriel killed with their plan; every single day, they see a world where monsters and humans live and work side by side, disproving their justifications for wiping out humanity to protect monsters. They also see Frisk interact with Flowey regularly, which is a constant reminder of what Asriel lost because of their plan.
• It's All My Fault: They blame themselves for all the bad things that happened following their plan.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A subtle example. Chara tells Frisk at one point that they didn't need to be a part of Asriel's happy ending, they just needed to know he got one. This mirrors a lot of players' reactions to not being able to save Asriel in the canon game.
• My Greatest Failure: The Buttercup Plan; it got Chara and Asriel killed, which caused Asgore to declare war, which caused a rift with Toriel that resulted in her leaving and got six human children killed after they fell into the Underground. And if that wasn't bad enough, Asriel's appearance on the surface drove the cult that Chara had escaped from into a paranoid frenzy, turning them into a threat to everyone in Ebott's Wake until a government standoff broke their hold on the town.
• The Nothing After Death: Near the end of Ebott's Wake, Alphys asks Chara what the afterlife was like. Chara says that they had no concept of the passage of time and did not realize they had died until they "woke up" in Asriel's body, seeing their own corpse. They consider it a positive experience overall, at least compared to the Guardian conception of the afterlife, where you continue to experience whatever killed you forever.
• Posthumous Character: At the beginning of Ebott's Wake, they seem to be dead, but their life and death continue to affect the living characters. Subverted after the battle for the CORE, when it becomes clear that Chara is still around in Frisk's head.
• Punny Name: Their full name on the Surface was Chara Cater. An appropriate extension to "Chara" being short for "character" in the original game.
• Redemption Equals Death: Chara's determination to follow through with the Buttercup Plan stems from their guilt over making Asgore sick with the Buttercup Pie. Even discussing the incident with Asgore much later is enough to bring them to tears.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Played with. They had a rare form of heterochromia that resulted in one eye turning red over time. They normally weren't a dangerous person or anything, but the other children called them a "demon child" for it, and they got into a lot of fights as a result. Later, when Chara is taking over or sharing control of Frisk's body, one or both eyes will glow red, such as when they stab Cater in the hand or when they're fighting him outside the school.
• Red Right Hand: When Chara has control over Frisk's body, Frisk's eyes glow red and their voice takes on an echoing quality. If Chara and Frisk are sharing control, then only Frisk's right eye glows. Appropriately enough, Chara is right-handed, while Frisk is left-handed.
• Refused Reunion: They didn't even know how to make their presence known, and even if they had known, they worried that they'd be punished in a way that hurt Frisk.
  Chara: Your son. Your own son. My best- My best friend. Was gone. And I was here. What was I supposed to do? Take over Frisk's body and leave you a note? ‘Sorry that your son died for nothing but here's the viper you took in that destroyed your whole family.’ There’s no possible way that would have ended poorly.
• The Runaway: They ran away from home to finally do something that'd make Jordan proud.
• Self-Inflicted Hell: Chara can easily take over Frisk's body when they are asleep and even when they are awake. Nothing stopped them from trying to tell other people that they were there, except for their own guilt over the fallout from the Buttercup Plan. By the time Frisk even realizes they aren't alone in their own head, Chara has been quietly watching for over a year and a half.
• Sharing a Body: Chara's presence in the story is first shown by having them take over Frisk's body while asleep in order to comfort Asriel while he has a nightmare.
• Think in Text: Chara's dialogue in Frisk's head is generally italicized and in single quotes. Though sometimes the quotes are missing. And sometimes Frisk's normal thoughts have single quotes.
• Training from Hell: One flashback shows Chara being forced to catch hot stones, in an attempt to make them ignore their own instinct to avoid pain or injury.
• Unconventional Formatting: When Frisk and Chara converse in writing, the latter's lines are right-aligned. Justified because the latter is literally writing on the right side of the page.

KEBT FM

Brett "The Brett" Brinkmann

Host of The Morning Rush morning radio program at the local community radio station along with co-host DJ Pantz.

• As You Know: Brett's radio announcements often turn into this, or veer close to it. Justified in that a large percentage of the radio station's listening audience consists of monsters and human tourists who are not native to the area. Neither group would necessarily know information that locals are already aware of.
• Large Ham Radio: A downplayed example in that Brett is typically the host of early morning radio shows. The Morning Rush is never given a specific time frame for broadcasting but is implied to run from morning to noon, and Brett begins each show with an enthusiastic greeting to the town.
• Mr. Exposition: Brett provides updates on current events through news reports and is also on the receiving end when DJ Pantz explains magic, monster culture, or monster history for the benefit of human listeners.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: He's the Blue Oni to Burgie's Red. Burgie introduces him to the Monsters Against Humanity club as "the voice of reason during the Morning Rush."

Burgie/DJ Pantz

Burgerpants, now with a new on-air nickname, after leaving Mettaton's employment and joining the radio station.

• Ascended Extra: Burgerpants gets a much greater share of the spotlight than he did in the original game.
• Berserk Button: Mettaton.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Downplayed, at least for the shortened form. DJ Pantz doesn't seem that bothered when other radio station staff, listeners calling in, or even his girlfriend call him "Burgie" instead of DJ Pantz.
• Finger-Snap Lighter: Burgie uses this to light a cigarette while on break during Terra Incognita, except that he was generating electric sparks instead of flames.
• Interspecies Romance: The fact that humans and monsters can reproduce together comes to light when fellow radio host Lazy Lindsey starts experiencing morning sickness, and explains that she's been in a relationship with DJ Pantz.
• Mr. Exposition: DJ Pantz shares a lot about monster culture, society, arts and education on air, for the benefit of the human listeners.
• Recovered Addict: Some time between Terra Incognita and Ebott's Wake, DJ Pantz quit smoking. He attributes this to the influence of his girlfriend Lazy Lindsey.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The Red Oni to Brett's Blue. Burgie is decidedly the less chill and well-hinged of the two Morning Rush hosts.
• Shock and Awe: It rarely comes up, but DJ Pantz is fairly adept at lightning and electricity magic.
• Start My Own: Proclaims that he'll start a hate group of his own after listening to Dwayne Riley one too many times… though in practice, it's just him and his friends playing card games.

Gary Welkin

Pilot of the KEBT traffic helicopter.

• Ace Pilot: Gary can put the traffic copter through some impressive aerobatic maneuvers, including evading air-to-air missiles launched by Tsundereplane and dodging small arms fire from the ground. He is also capable of flying the helicopter perfectly even when recovering from a concussion, stoned on painkillers, and hallucinating.
• Chick Magnet: Gary is very popular with the ladies.
• No Indoor Voice: Presumably as a result of trying to be heard over the sound of the engine and rotors, Gary shouts most if not all of his dialogue.
• Metaphorgotten: He has a marked tendency to go overboard with metaphors or lose track of them entirely.
  Gary: Much like the dreaded U-Boats referenced in this eatery's advertisements, the Kriegsmarine Special descends silently beneath the waves of biting teeth, only to later surface and torpedo unsuspecting commercial shipping traffic carrying valuable materiel to a besieged Britain!
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Gary has a rather extensive vocabulary and isn't shy about using it.
• Stalker with a Crush: Has apparently been the target of more than a few.

Jeff Walsh

The station technician and sound engineer at KEBT FM.

• Almighty Janitor: It's stated at least once that Jeff is the backbone of the radio station and it would fall apart without him.
• The Ghost: Jeff is only referred to, never heard on air or described in any way, shape, or form.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Brett, DJ Pantz, and other people who work at the radio station will occasionally mention some interesting fact about Jeff, or refer to some impressive feat he managed to accomplish.
• Hypercompetent Sidekick: Jeff is never heard on air but instrumental in keeping the radio station running smoothly, or at all. He is mentioned climbing the transmission tower multiple times to get traffic information when the traffic reporter was unable to do so.
• Not So Above It All: Jeff cooperates with DJ Pantz in setting up Brett for a joke about magic, complete with a laugh track sound bite.

"Lazy" Lindsey

Another radio host and announcer at KEBT FM who hosts afternoon and overnight programs.

• Abusive Parents: Lindsey's mother was apparently this.
• Interspecies Romance: Hooks up with DJ Pantz and is the first known example of a hybrid human-monster pregnancy in living memory.
• Laborious Laziness: While Lindsey is the first to admit that she's not a morning person, her choice of career gives away the fact that "Lazy" is an affectation.
• Mellow Fellow: Apparently a key part of Lindsey's On-Air persona is that she isn't surprised by anything.

Shop Class

In General

A group of friends working to protect Ebott's Wake from the Sages.

• Badass Normal: At least to start with, they have no magic but are willing and able to throw down in defense of the town. Some of them gain magic later, though.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: There just so happens to be one of them for each SOUL color (if you count Byron).
• The Conspiracy: Albeit one aimed at stopping another conspiracy.
• True Companions: The members of Shop Class were all friends since childhood.

Elijah Mc Graw

Owner and operator of the Dank Memehaus, a local bar and cybercafe.

• Batter Up!: Whenever he has a weapon, it's always a baseball bat. He never uses it, though, and lines from the rest of Shop Class imply they don't expect him to ever do so.
• Family Business: The Dank Memehaus, a combination bar, grill, and cybercafe, is the current incarnation of a family-owned bar that has been in Elijah's family since before the Prohibition Era. Eli is the current owner and operator.
• Mad Artist: Inverted; Elijah is considered to be the sole voice of reason in Shop Class.
• Non-Action Guy: He's the only member of Shop Class who never directly gets into the fight. In the battle for the CORE, he's just driving, and he's absent from all the other action-y parts of the story. He does pull out a bat in a couple instances, but those are all in situations that never escalate to violence. He still totally pulls his weight within the group, just not via direct physical confrontation.
• Only in It for the Money: Elijah claims that he accepted some rather explicit artistic commissions because they allowed him to pay off his student loans in record time.
• Overshadowed by Awesome: Everyone else in Shop Class gets a lot more screen time than Eli does.
• The Social Expert: Implied to be one after years working at a bar and seeing all sorts of people at their best and worst.

Hal Greene

The most skilled and most feared mechanic in Ebott's Wake.

• Caps Lock: He always texts in ALL CAPS. In Legacy of the Magi, typing with normal casing tips Asriel off that it isn't Hal on the other end. (It's his father, Dave.)
• Cloudcuckoolander: Widely considered to be the craziest individual in a town that is itself notorious for not firing on all cylinders.
• Cloudcuckoolander Has A Point: Every now and then, he'll have a legitimately great idea. And then he goes back to being a borderline madman.
  Justin: That's how he gets ya. Every now and then he sneaks in a good idea so you keep listening to him, rather than learning to never trust a single thing he says. If he did it on purpose[,] he'd be some sort of evil mastermind manipulator[,] but apparently that's just how his brain works when he's not tripping the balls fantastic.
• The Dreaded: Has this reputation in town simply because of his unpredictability; get on his bad side, and there's no telling what he might do.
• Empowered Badass Normal: He was already one of the most feared men in town… and then he gains the ability to use magic near the end of Ebott's Wake. In Legacy Of The Magi, he's the best in the class after Frisk.
  Sans: ...Hal Greene. Mechanic, Musician, and all around Wild Card. Now with magic. That's... well, that's probably how the world is going to end.
• Generation Xerox: Hal's parents are introduced in Legacy of the Magi, and it becomes immediately clear where he gets his enthusiasm.
• Jack of All Trades: Auto mechanic, machinist, musician, marksman, and apparently a very skilled cook, among other things.
• Large Ham: Hal is a larger-than-life figure by any standard, the kind of man with so much enthusiasm that shaking his hand can cause a dislocated shoulder.
• Made of Iron: Joe dismisses the idea of anyone or anything killing Hal.
  Joe: Hal survived the bike crash, the parade float, the Van Garrett barn fire, and the chicken pox epidemic in fifth grade. If none of that killed him, then he’s probably a fucking Highlander.
• Mr. Fixit: A mechanic by trade, Hal can fix anything with wheels. Or, for that matter, without wheels. The only thing he can't seem to fix is the windmill on the miniature golf course.
• Not a Morning Person: A result of staying up all night working.
• Odd Friendship:
  • Flowey and Hal appeared to establish a rapport during the Ebott's Wake Chili Cookoff, a connection that remained even after Flowey transformed back into Asriel Dreemurr. Asriel is implied to consider Hal a sort of role model, wanting to learn to play the guitar after watching Hal play it and eventually learning American Sign Language because Hal was teaching the course.
  • He also hangs out with Tim a lot.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Hal isn't going at a hundred miles an hour, that's a sign that things are serious.
• Refuge in Audacity: Hal drives off reporters that are harassing the Dreemurr Family by playing Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" on a musical instrument of his own design, with the Riverperson chiming in on the chorus.
• Sitcom Archnemesis: Has this relationship with the head of the Ebott's Wake City Council, Walter Metzinger.
• Sniper Rifle: When Shop Class has setup time, he usually has one of these. Somehow, he's the best marksman of the six.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With Justin Carrow, a fellow member of Shop Class.

Steven Ward

Officer with the Ebott's Wake Police Department.

• Added Alliterative Appeal: Subverted; he doesn't like it when people call his pistol "Steve's service sidearm," because "the alliteration gives me a headache."
• By-the-Book Cop: Officer Steve holds the law in very high regard, and while he may sometimes bend the letter of the law it is always in service of the spirit of the law.
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Officer Steve deliberately invokes this when he buys anything from Muffet.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: For some reason, Officer Steve's name is spelled "Stephen" for roughly the first half of Ebott's Wake and "Steven" for the second half, plus the prequel and sequel.
• Friend on the Force: Is this to the rest of Shop Class.
• Not So Above It All: For years, Officer Steve had a fear of Val Kilmer trying to steal his teeth, caused by watching the film Real Genius at a young age.
• Police Are Useless: Zig-zagged; while the police do not fare well against Jordan Cater or Thomas O'Dell, this is implied to be the result of a lack of familiarity with magic. The chapters with the focus on the reborn Guardians organization show that they are actually starving for manpower and resources, and eventually the entire safehouse network is raided. In the lead-up to Thomas O'Dell's attack on All Fine Labs, it's shown that Officer Steve was less than an hour behind him when he found O'Dell's last safehouse.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Officer Steve is the first contact monsters have with human government, and while he does pass out from shock, he does not panic. He later makes a speech to the Ebott's Wake City Council praising the monsters' willingness to work with humanity. Coming from the other side of the scale, he is very clearly furious when he learns of the fallen humans that died in the Underground, but still tries to be an impartial public servant in the meantime.
• Reassignment Backfire: Officer Steve fainted on camera during first contact with monsters, which is implied to be why he got "stuck" with all monster related legal entanglements. In a roundabout way this leads to Officer Steve becoming the face of law enforcement in the town, trusted by humans and monsters alike for his insight. He also comments during a radio call in segment that his job is a lot safer than it used to be.

Joe Stanton

An electrical engineer working for Dr. Alphys at All Fine Labs.

• An Arm and a Leg: When Thomas O'Dell attacks All Fine Labs, Joe loses his right arm just below the elbow to an improvised shotgun. He takes it pretty well, even before he finds out that Alphys is building him a robot arm to replace it.
• Badass Biker: During the Battle For The Core Arc, Joe rides his bike one handed while firing a magical energy pistol that Alphys made out of a Nintendo Light Gun with the other hand.
• Cool Bike: Joe gets around on some sort of motorcycle or dirt bike. Make, model, and manufacturer are never mentioned, but it is implied that the bike is some sort of overhauled custom job that vastly exceeds the performance of any commercially available motorcycle.
• Cybernetics Eat Your Soul: Played with. The prosthesis that Alphys builds links to Joe's Soul… because it's magic technology, and magic and the Soul are connected.
• Eye Scream: The first prototype machine to test if humans can directly sense magical energy literally blows up in Joe's face, blinding him. He doesn't even realize it due to a combination of shock, emergency magical healing from monster food, and his newly acquired magical abilities, which he uses to heal his eyes.
• Freak Lab Accident: How Joe gets the ability to use magic.
• Muggle with a Degree in Magic: Dr. Aster notes that he has a great intuition for magic even though he can't use it. This stops being the case once he gives himself magic.
• Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: Joe is a spy, electrical engineer, physical security expert, and biker. Later, he adds magic user and cyborg to the list.
• The Mole: A fairly heroic example; Joe's job was to keep tabs on all the projects going on at All Fine Labs to make sure that monsters weren't actually plotting against humanity.

Michael Van Garrett

Vice President of the Ebott's Wake Librarby Board.

• Car Fu: Takes out a stalker spying on Frisk and the Royal Family with the door to his truck.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Allegedly, Mike's great physical strength came from following the exercises in a book on circus strongmen that he found.
• Cool Car: A heavily customized pickup truck, with an attached toolbox and the ability to link with a network of cameras and drones around town.
• Genius Bruiser: Van Garrett combines impressive physical capabilities with a vast body of knowledge.
• Stout Strength: Mike just barely lost to Undyne in an arm wrestling contest, and is described as being on the large side.
• This Ain't Rocket Surgery: Has a degree in aerospace engineering. How he ended up working at a small town library has not been addressed.

Justin Carrow

An Army veteran who does odd jobs around town.

• Cloudcuckoolander's Minder: Often plays this role for Hal.
• Does Not Like Spam: Hates cinnamon. This leaves him really disoriented after he picks up a liking for it from Asriel in the Soul Link.
  Justin: If I get another craving for Red Hots[,] I swear I am going to shoot myself in the face.
• Grenade Launcher: Whenever Shop Class has setup time, he has one of these. It's always loaded with tear gas, but he notes multiple times that the mass and speed alone make the grenades deadly at very close range.
• Killing Intent: Has a LV of 3 out of 8 due to his past as a soldier, which raises some eyebrows at All Fine Labs. Despite that, he's still very much heroic.
• The Mole: Initially joined up with the Anti-Monster League in order to keep tabs on them.
• Shell-Shocked Veteran: Downplayed, but it comes up when he talks about his past as a soldier (particularly when it comes to killing people).
• Vitriolic Best Buds: With fellow Shop Class member Hal Greene.

Byron Thorton

The former postmaster of Ebott's Wake and the final member of Shop Class. He was caught by the Sages and killed along with his wife.

• Morality Chain: The rest of Shop Class doesn't really seem to need it, but he was the one to come up with the idea of putting pictures of childhood shows on the walls to keep them humble, and Steve credits his memory with keeping them honest.
• Nice Guy: According to Hal, he had about three flaws, and "Everything else about him was twenty[-]four karat gold."
• Posthumous Character: Killed by the Sages before the story began.

The Sages

In General

A.K.A. The Guardians of the Legacy of the Magi. Initially just a secretive cult with shady rumors surrounding them, they became much more prevalent when Asriel climbed down Mt. Ebott. They were eventually destroyed in a government raid on their main compound, but some members survived and went into hiding, before resurfacing after the Barrier was broken.

• And There Was Much Rejoicing: The entire town celebrated when they were finally brought down.
• Breeding Cult: According to Quentin Forsythe, they were one of these with the goal of bringing back human magic.
• Day of the Jackboot: They took over Ebott's Wake for several years after Asriel came down the mountain. Events like people disappearing were pretty common.
• Death by Irony: For all their preparations against the Monsters, it was a human strike force that brought them down.
• The Dreaded: Pretty much everyone has a reason to hate and fear the Sages. It's to the point that most of the town accepted Monsterkind out of hatred for them more than anything else.
• The End of the World as We Know It: Believed the Monsters escaping the Underground was this.
• Evil Virtues: They put a lot of stock in the seven SOUL traits (Determination, Patience, Bravery, Kindness, Justice, Perseverance, and Integrity), though obviously twisted to fit their agendas and propaganda; Kindness, for instance, was generally reserved for other sages and nobody else, least of all monsterkind.
• The Extremist Was Right: Subverted. There were monsters under Mt. Ebott, planning on waging war, and out of all the humans that fell into the Underground, only one of them came back… Except the monsters weren't evil, none of the humans died by their hand (in fact, they actually adopted the first one to fall), and the Sages' reign of terror over the town hurt many of their fellow humans. By the time the story starts, nobody in Ebott's Wake is willing to give them credit for anything, and they're especially unwilling to allow them to gain a foothold in the town again.
• Fantastic Racism: As a whole, they believe the monsters are a genuinely malevolent force out to subjugate and corrupt humanity.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Were the ones to attack Asriel, and shaped the history of Ebott's Wake for the worse. In addition, several of the Fallen Humans came to Mt. Ebott because of them (including Chara).
• Ironic Hell: According to Chara, the Sages believed that anyone who died would be stuck in whatever state they died in for all eternity (e.g., someone who drowned would be drowning forever). There are apparently exceptions to this, which Chara suspects only exist for the purpose of recruitment and loyalty.
• The Remnant: The members we see in-story are all that's left of the original Sages Group.

Jordan Cater

The Guardian of Perseverance and the leader of the resurgent Sages cult.

• Abusive Parents: To Chara.
• Asshole Victim: Frisk stabbing him in the palm is one of the more gruesome scenes in the trilogy, and they're a little terrified of themselves for it, but nobody's giving him any sympathy.
• Big Bad: The primary threat of the story.
• Break the Haughty: Chara Calling the Old Man Out ended up doing far more to hurt him than anything else anyone did (with the possible exception of the Wave/Force collapse cannon they hit him with immediately after).
• Cutting the Knot: His response to seeing a SAVE point in the CORE, thinking it's a Reset Button for the monsters? Shoot it.
• Deal with the Devil: Attempts this by summoning "the Demon" late into Ebott's Wake. It doesn't work, partially because the Demon seems to have standards and partially because someone else apparently summoned it first.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Like Frisk, he sometimes has dreams about future events, like the assault on the Sages' compound and the battle for the CORE.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Still cares for his daughter Chara, at least on some level, and his motivations partially involve avenging her death. Not that Chara reciprocates his affections.
  • He also genuinely cares about the other Sages, even taking time out to heal Thomas O'Dell.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Cannot understand that the Monsters aren't actually malevolent, or that Frisk is Happily Adopted by Toriel rather than some sort of pet or puppet.
• Fantastic Racism: Believes that the monsters are a facsimile of life without true will or emotions, and that they're actively undermining human civilization.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Even more so than the rest of the sages, being the reason that Chara climbed Mt. Ebott in the first place.
• Hate Sink: While his motivations are somewhat sympathetic, his actions (past and present) and the fact that he constantly acts like he is the only one who's suffered ultimately make him a pretty loathsome person.
• Killing Intent: Has a LV of 4 out of 4. Sans calls him out for this, since his low LV Cap means that he had a fairly decent life and therefore doesn't have a Freudian Excuse for his twisted mindset.
• Knight of Cerebus: The moment he appears is the moment the story shifts from a Post-Pacifist Slice of Life to something more serious.
• Omnicidal Maniac: After gaining magic, he attempts to summon an entity called "the Demon" to help him destroy the world, believing it would be a better option than being subjugated by monsterkind.
• Shut Up, Kirk!: He's pretty fond of these, which just goes to show how he refuses to listen to anyone who would get in his way.
• The Social Darwinist: During his rampage after gaining magic, he gives a Motive Rant that firmly paints him as this. He also states that his "training" of Chara was meant to make them stronger.
• Would Hurt a Child: Shoots Frisk in his first appearance, and makes an effort to try and kill them every time they meet. Given his motivations involve the death of his own child, he's regularly called out for this.

Thomas O'Dell

Jordan Cater's right-hand man.

• Asshole Victim: Nearly burns to death at the hands of Asriel. He survives and is later healed, but no tears would have been shed if he had died then and there.
• Deal with the Devil: Implies at the end of Ebott's Wake that he summoned The Demon for help before meeting Cater. Later in Legacy Of The Magi, the Demon busts him out of jail in exchange for help with a project.
• The Dragon: To Cater. It's noted he's not good at making his own plans, but he's frighteningly capable when given someone else's plans to work with.
• Fantastic Racism: He thinks of the Monsters in RPG terms (i.e. kill and take their loot), ignoring the fact that they aren't Always Chaotic Evil.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: After being sprung from jail, he's not happy to find himself working with the Riverperson. The feeling's mutual.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: He thinks he's in a story about defending humanity from an invasion of monsters, which couldn't be further from the truth. Word of God states that he's essentially the author's attempt to turn this trope into a whole character.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: He's far too good at this, leading to Sage plots going From Bad to Worse very quickly when he's involved.

Others

Dwayne Riley

The leader of the Anti-Monster League (seemingly) also known as "Riled-up Riley".

• Enemy Mine: Joins up with Shop Class and the Asters to get revenge on Jordan Cater.
• Fantastic Racism: He's one of the loudest and most prevalent opponents of monsterkind that isn't The Sages. It's stated that he also engaged in normal racism before the Barrier was destroyed.
• Killing Intent: His EXP and LV are unstated, but he's able to hurt Undyne despite the latter's armor due to this.
  • Word of God notes that Riley only hurting Undyne rather than killing her outright is an indicator of his actual morality and EXP level.
• Not-So-Harmless Villain: Treated as the butt of the joke until the State of the Kingdom Address. Ultimately subverted: He's unwilling to finish off Undyne if it means harming Frisk, and he turns out to be an Unwitting Pawn in the resurgence of the Sages.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Terra Incognita reveals he actually voted to recognize monsters as citizens since they'd have restrictions against market manipulation that way.
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He still hates monsters after Papyrus befriends him, with the latter acting as a Morality Chain.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Has shades of this.
• The Usual Adversaries: He and the AML in general are seen as little more than a nuisance rather than a genuine threat… at least until they raid the State of the Kingdom Address.
• Would Hurt a Child: He may hate monsters, but he's unwilling to hurt Frisk when the latter pulls a Go Through Me on him.

Jason Taylor

Frisk's biological father.

• Abusive Parents: There's a reason Frisk climbed the mountain, after all.
• Badass Boast: As we find out in Legacy of the Magi, he was never too worried about the Sages.
  Jason: "What the Sages were doing back then. Those were plays from a playbook I knew by heart. And I was better at the game than they were. If they even looked at me, Diane, or [Frisk] cross-eyed, I would burn Bastion Circle to the ground by myself and walk away with, at worst, a cool scar I could show off at parties.
• Everyone Has Standards: He realized the way the Sages were going and wanted nothing to do with them when they were in power. He's even less interested in what they have to offer after they put Frisk in the hospital.
• Hate Sink: Is one In-Universe due to his treatment of Frisk. Toriel in particular very much wants his head on a platter. Out-Of-Universe, while he's clearly not a good person, there are enough Hidden Depths to keep him from being utterly loathsome.
• Heel Realization: It's implied that he's realized how badly he'd been treating Frisk. In Legacy of the Magi, he says it outright.
• Killing Intent: He has a LV of 6, beating out even Jordan Cater^note though Cater also had an abnormally-low LV CAP.
• Papa Wolf: Joins the defense of Dreemurr Elementary and even takes a shot at Jordan Cater to protect Frisk. Sans takes notice of this, allowing them to have a civil conversation after Cater is taken down.
• Pet the Dog: He's a terrible father and implied to be a real piece of work, but it's shown more than once that he does actually care about his daughter.
• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic: Claims to have joined "every crackpot militia and wannabe revolutionary group west of the Mississippi." None of it really convinced him it was something worth fighting for, though.
• Screw Destiny: The Demon can traverse up, down, and between timelines with ease, yet it never expected Jason to simply let Toriel take care of Frisk.

The Riverperson/Tim

The former Riverman (…or Riverwoman?) in the Underground. There are some who call them Tim.

• Ambiguously Evil: Legacy of the Magi shows they are working with the Demon and later Thomas O'Dell for some unknown purpose.
• Arc Words: "Beware the man from the other world."
• Cloudcuckoolander: They're a pretty odd monster. Fittingly, they get on famously with fellow Cloud Cuckoo Lander Hal Greene.
• Cryptic Conversation:
  • Anyone who talks to the Riverperson is in for this. Expect some combination of random ramblings and ominous Foreshadowing.
  • Amusingly, they end up on the receiving end of this trope when talking to the Demon.
• Dream Walker: They occasionally appear in other people's dreams. In Legacy of the Magi, they even bring Toriel into Frisk's dream.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Most people just call them by their (now former) job.
• Hypocritical Humor: They're the first of many to call the Trickster a "cryptic asshole," when they themselves are one of the most cryptic people in town.
• Some Call Me "Tim": Said nearly word-for-word, but Inverted as a trope; rather than standing in for an Overly Long or Unpronounceable name, it seems to be filling in the lack of one entirely. As described above, the alternative is just calling them "the Riverperson."
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Understandably not happy to be working alongside Thomas O'Dell in Legacy of the Magi.

The Demon/The Trickster

A mysterious entity summoned by Jordan Cater. Or did he…?

• Ambiguously Evil: Its initial appearance, name, and dialogue are a clear reference to a Genocide Ending player, and it's willing to assist Jordan Cater when he summons it.
  • However, Terra Incognita shows it pulling strings to help out Frisk and the monsters, it tries to talk Jordan Cater out of attacking Frisk, and it seems to be working with Tim the Riverperson and Thomas O'Dell for another unknown purpose. It also explains that it will help anyone who calls for it.
  • Legacy Of The Magi reveals that the Demon is opposing another entity called the Usurper, and it implies its ultimate goal is to get everyone a "happy ending".
• Cryptic Conversation: It never seems to have the time or inclination to explain its nature and goals, leading to a lot of this. Even the Riverperson calls it a "cryptic asshole."
• Dark Is Not Evil: Although it's an Eldritch Abomination that appears to be made out of darkness, it does seem to be trying to get everybody in the story a happy ending.
• Deal with the Devil: It will help anyone, no matter who they are, so long as they just call… Played with, as how much of a "devil" it truly is gets called into question.
• Dimensional Traveller: States that once it's finished in one world, it will move on to the next.
• Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: It's actually quite friendly. At the very least, it's pretty casual about being an otherworldly presence.
• Eldritch Abomination: Some sort of amorphous interdimensional entity with a tenuous grasp on the laws of reality.
• Godzilla Threshold: Seems to have been one for the Sages, a means to "save" the world from the monsters even if it meant destroying it. Fortunately for everyone who isn't named Jordan Cater, it doesn't work out like that.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: It's a clear reference to the Player.
• Living Shadow: Generally manifests as darkness and shadows, but it can also take the form of a humanoid figure—or at least, the memory of one.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: You probably want to stay away from somebody called "The Demon." You also probably don't want to work with "The Trickster" either if you can help it, but that one's less intimidating.
• No Name Given: "The Demon" is the name the Sages gave it. Monsters call it "The Trickster." What its true name is, or if it even has one, is unknown.
• Painting the Medium: Its dialogue and narration concerning it are printed in italics.
• Time Travel: Mentions that it can travel between different points in history, but it implies that San Dimas Time is in effect for it (which is why it needs Thomas O'Dell to research the Human/Monster War).
• The Trickster: Literally its name in monster mythology.
  The Demon: ["The Trickster" is] what people call me, and to be fair to them, the description is reasonably accurate. I do so enjoy a good battle of wits, especially one that ends in comeuppance for the overconfident and arrogant.

The Usurper

An unknown entity that the Demon opposes, described as a "black hole with a chip on its shoulder".

• All Take and No Give: How the Demon describes it. Jordan Cater healing Thomas O'Dell with magic is proof that he isn't the Usurper himself.
• The Dreaded: The few times anyone talks about it make it clear that it's not a pleasant being.
• Evil Counterpart: Implied to be one for the Demon; however, the Demon theorizes that it actually isn't this trope, but wants to be.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Is this to Jordan Cater and seemingly almost all other antagonists in the story.
• Light Is Not Good: The being that appears in the CORE in the climax, which seems to be the Usurper based on its parallels with the Demon, is made of pure light.
• Nothing Is Scarier: What is the Usurper? What is it capable of? What does it want? What is it willing to do to achieve it? Very little is known about the Usurper, and the things that are known don't paint it in a friendly light.
• Unseen Evil: Not even the Demon knows what this thing is.
• The Usurper: It's in the name.
• Walking Spoiler: Even more than the Demon.