 Content on this article may spoil current key events of the comic. |
 Content on this article may be incomplete or inaccurate. Reason being: Loose Ends, True Lab & Victory Arcs are to be added. |
| “ | I just thought it'd be cool, being a hero, protecting everybody. And maybe then... people would like me. | ” |
— Alphys, Part 27B
|
Alphys is the Captain of the Royal Guard and the final boss in Waterfall.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Alphys is a short, yellow lizard monster. When she first appears, she's wearing full, metal armor with an intimidating face mask. The mask has sharp spines, yellow eye lights, and metallic "teeth" to increase her intimidation factor. Beneath the mask, however, she wears a simple pair of goggles that act as protective gear and help with her poor vision.
When not in armor, Alphys wears a pink Mew Mew Kissy Cutie T-shirt and tan pants.
Personality[]
Deep down, Alphys is a shy, awkward, nervous wreck of a monster. However, she tries to mask this behind a cold, quiet, and imposing demeanor when on Royal Guard business. This is aided by the voice amplifier in her helmet, which deepens her voice to a more menacing sound.
She's intelligent, tactical, and very much the brains behind the Royal Guard. Much of her time is spent on logistics, strategies, and planning meetings. However, during those meetings, she often defers to Sans, who is the far more confident of the two and possesses greater social skills.
Beneath her cold demeanor, however, Alphys is a monster of great passion and insecurity. Passion towards anime, video games, human culture, and humans in general and insecurity due to those feelings. At one point she felt far less shame, but in the aftermath of Undyne's actions, with the fear and hatred of humans at an all time high, Alphys feels no choice but to suppress her true adoration for fear of being marked a traitor. She feels she has to set aside her own interests for the sake of the "greater good," and above all else, desires to be loved and admired by those around her, especially Undyne herself.
Yet when Frisk falls into the Underground, she drags her feet. She knowingly lets them and Papyrus escape Fort Aquarius even when she sees through Pap's lamp disguise, and gives them multiple opportunities to turn back and return to Snowdin. Unlike Undyne, she lacks the conviction to go 100%, and the mask that she forces herself to wear only increases her suffering inside.
Since befriending Frisk, she's reached a point of realization. She needs to face Undyne and come clean about her true feelings. Mettaton and Sans had pushed her toward this choice multiple times, but even now, she remains fearful and that fear holds her back. Time will tell if she gains the courage to stand her ground.
Abilities[]
Alphys is a master of using lightning magic with her crossbow. She's a tactical fighter who studies her opponents to identify weaknesses. In part 58 & 59, Alphys is a supporting character similar to PAPYRUS. She has a Charge Beam spell to stun opponents and a Study act to analyse the opponent to help Frisk spare them. She has a defensive Electric Barrier spell to protect frisk from bullets.
History[]
From a young age, Alphys always admired humans from afar. She found their history fascinating, their media gripping, and longed to meet one face to face. She'd pour her heart into studying their culture, taking routine dump trips to collect as much media as possible. Eventually, she'd befriend Bratty and Catty, acting as a big sister figure to the two. After moving to Forgespring, she also became fast friends with Mettaton, then known as Mettacrit, and the two bonded over a shared love of humanity and even started a human fanclub.
At age 16, she made a risky decision. She decided to join the Royal Guard so that she could get the chance to meet humans up close and personal and, if she was lucky, not only befriend them but become their hero. Their knight in shining scales... and armor, of course.
Upon trying out for the royal Guard, she met Sans, and the two over time formed an awkward friendship, with Alphys sharing her love of nerdy things while Sans rolled with the punches and brought some much needed smiles and laughs from the otherwise anxious reptile. Eventually, the two reached the upper rungs of the guard, but Sans turned down Gerson's offer of leadership, recommending Alphys instead.
To this day, she questions why. Thankfully, Sans remained by her side as her lieutenant, easing the pressures of leadership. If anything, the two were a cohesive unit.
Eventually, she met Undyne, an up and coming young scientist who'd created an artificial sky over Snowdin. Impressed by her technical know-how, Alphys shyly approached the fish, whose passion caught her eye from day one. They'd geek out over anime, tinker with machinery, and as time went on, the two harbored mutual feelings- though neither had the guts to act on them.
However, she did reach out to Undyne at the behest of Mettacrit, seeking her help in making his dreams come true. And while at first Undyne was apprehensive, she agreed to create a body for the ghost on the condition that he remained in touch with those he cherished, didn't let his ego get to his head, and allowed her to add anti-human weapons in order to ensure he could protect those around him.
This would later come back to bite both Alphys and Mettaton later, as the Dreemurr Family tapes fueled anti-human sentiment. Eventually, Mettaton was forced to act as a cool, strong, protector against humans in his programming, taking on a stage presence he had never asked for, while Alphys herself felt as though she had to bury her true feelings and become a cold, commanding presence. Worse yet, Undyne... changed. She grew more aggressive. More desperate, and the robot eye was certainly cause for alarm.
While the two still cared about each other, a rift would steadily form as Alphys turned against her own morals to become the figure she assumed Undyne wanted her to be.
Main Story[]
Ruins & Snowdin Arcs[]
Alphys first appears in Part 2 during Napstablook's brief meeting with Frisk. However, her first speaking appearance occurs in Bonus 2, where she and Mettaton discuss matters related to the new human's arrival as well as Sans. Here, Mettaton asserts that Alphys shouldn't bury her true feelings in favor of her idealized image of a Royal Guard captain- that it will only bring her pain, but Alphys stubbornly refuses to take MTT's advice.
Fort Aquarius Arc[]
Her next appearance occurs in Part 15, where she and Sans meet to discuss matters related to the human. Sans lies to her and says that Frisk and Papyrus snuck off while he was asleep. Moreover, he mentions Flowey to the confused Captain and urges her to remember that she's in charge. Like before, his words fall on mostly deaf ears, as once Sans leaves, Alphys hears a ruffling in the grass and immediately leaps into action. She draws her crossbow, poised to strike, but... ultimately backs away, unwilling to press the matter further.
She's absent through most of the Fort Aquarius arc, though she briefly speaks over the intercom Part 18 once the Fort's power is restored, assuring guards of an ongoing investigation before unintentionally breaking out into a rant about Mew Mew Kissy cutie. The announcement abruptly ends.
In the following part, after Frisk and Papyrus sneak into her office, Alphys arrives with Bratty and Catty. The two try to urge Alphys to take a break from all the hard work due to concerns for her physical and mental health. She refuses on the grounds that it's her duty to take this human situation seriously, given past precedents like the Waterfall Incident. Though the two offer to help alleviate Alphys' workload, the only compromise she offers is that they help her scout the surrounding area.
Following Dohj's defeat in Part 20, the royal guard assembles to find Sans and Dohj at odds. Papyrus uses his Concocterest to create a smokescreen for him and Frisk to escape, but the aftermath leaves Alphys furious. Why did Sans let the human escape? Sans does't care about rules or regulations as much as doing what's right. He has faith in his bro and believes Alphys does too, despite her constant denial. He even frames the whole situation as training for Alphys, given the odds of further human hostility on the surface.
Waterfall Arc[]
Afterwards, Alphys does not physically appear for quite some time, though her presence lingers multiple times. She uses her lightning arrows to break the DT Scanner that blocks the way to Forgespring after it detects Frisk's high determination. She later uses those same arrows to damage the puzzles leading toward the end of Waterfall in hopes of driving Frisk and Papyrus back. Her final warning comes from a foreboding echo flower message, a broken bridge, and her discarded helmet at the end of that path.
At the end of Part 25, she once again clings to denial. Though she admits that she's seen Frisk's kindness in motion, but she fears for Undyne's desperation and emphasizes how the majority of monsters would not understand Frisk and Papyrus' plight. How they expect her to fix everything. She urges them to return to Snowdin, promising to turn a blind eye, but the two stubbornly refuse, determined to break through to Alphys despite the risks.
A gruelling battle follows. Perched at the top of a peak, Alphys uses her lightning magic to try and drive Frisk and Papyrus away, but little by little, the two make their way up the mountain. Eventually, Alphys exhausts her magic, and the two finally reach her. Frisk and Papyrus then try to reason with Alphys, to both understand and encourage her.
Eventually, she admits defeat, but ultimately is left distraught by her crushing defeat. Frisk offers her a Mew Mew Kissy Cutie DVD before she slinks off.
But by the time she returns to her home, she finds Frisk and Papyrus there, her house littered with tacky decorations, and Sans right there with them. Though initially frustrated that Sans broke them into her house, she relents and lets the two hang out with her. During this time, she bonds with Frisk and Papyrus a bit more, while they learn about Alphys' nerdy habits. Alphys also comes clean about her reasons for joining the guard and how she still doesn't understand why Sans didn't take up the position of captain.
In the end, the hangout leaves her in slightly higher spirits, and she asks Frisk and Papyrus to try and help Undyne, given her desperate and unstable mental condition. Alphys also promises to speak with her soon and try and talk her out of her hero complex...
Hotland Arc[]
But ultimately, her anxiety comes back to bite her as she watches things unfold on TV. By the time the trial ends, she's too scared to speak her mind.
CORE Arc[]
But in Part 49, Alphys appears as the final caller. Ready to face speaking to Undyne, she defends Frisk and states they are indeed her friend, and has nothing to do with the war or the Waterfall Incident, and admits she doesn't like Undyne attacking them. This gives Undyne the final push needed to stand down, though Undyne runs away in the process.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In Part 27, Alphys' home is shown to contain many references to anime and video games including a Nintendo switch, a Persona 4 parody game, a Gurren Lagann and Dragon Ball parody manga, and action figures including Chocobo, Gundams, and a Twilight Sparkle figure.
- She claims the royal guard’s anime and JRPG inspired uniforms are designed to use the tactical advantages of human armor against the very humans who created it… but really, she just wanted everyone to wear cute cosplays.
- Her Charge Beam spell resembles the SOUL's Charge Shot from the secret boss fight in Deltarune Chapter 2. However, this was mostly done out of convenience. When creating the Downward SPIRAL fight, Philiplol used the same asset. It was originally envisioned as a general electric blast.
| Characters | |
|---|---|
| Main Cast | Flowey • Frisk • Chara • PAPYRUS • Asgore Dreemurr • Napstablook • Sans • Alphys • Mad Mew Mew • Mettaton • Undyne • Toriel |
| Ruins | Froggit • Dummy • Ruins Bullies |
| Snowdin | Dogamy and Dogaressa • Doggo • Lesser Dog • Greater Dog • Snowdin Trio • Snowman • Jerry • Monster Kid |
| Waterfall | Bassiere von Dohj III • Knight Knight • Madjick • RG 01 and RG 02 • Gerson • Masa • Spout Wassar • Bratty and Catty |
| Hotland | RG 03 and RG 04 • Glyde • So Sorry • Parsnik • Astigmatism • Migospel • Misyrm • Muffet • Burgerpants |
| The CORE | Robot 98 • Robot 100 • The Season Dudes |
| True Lab | Mechamalgamates • Memoryheads |
| NULL | Spamton • Lilac |
| Other Characters | Fallen humans (The Mage) • W.D. Gaster |