The Power of Mercy /// An Undertale Analysis

Remember that little ol' game, which released a few years ago, known as Undertale? Remember how I reviewed it last year? Remember how I said that I wanted to do some writing lessons from the game or examinations of themes or scenes?

Well, I'm finally doing it today!

To give you a bit of a refresher, Undertale has two distinct routes: Pacifist and Genocide, which are fairly self-explanatory. It all boils down to, when in combat, the choice between sparing or slaughtering the monster that has attacked you. There is also the Neutral run, which is where you kill some and save others.

When you're engaged in battle, this is what the screen looks like:

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You'll notice that the button for ending the fight peacefully is labelled "mercy" rather than something like "spare." I think this is a very interesting, but also very intentional, choice on Toby's part. Let's compare the definitions of the two. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, spare is defined as "to forbear to destroy, punish, or harm;" another is "to refrain from attacking or reprimanding with necessary or salutary severity." Meanwhile, mercy is defined as "compassion or forbearance shown especially to an offender or to one subject to one's power."

I don't know about you, but here's the difference I see: it's all about the focus. Sparing involves restraining oneself from delivering just consequences and going easy on the other person, maybe even letting them get off scot-free. Mercy is a flow from within, an act of showing compassion to those who don't deserve it, even when you have every right to exact punishment.

To sum up, sparing means holding back; mercy means letting go.

In Undertale, every time you press that mercy button, you are making a choice to let go of any potential offenses. No matter the reason behind the attack, you end things peacefully and show compassion. Of course, you could decide that life is unfair, that you did nothing to merit becoming trapped in a world not your own with home far, far away. Would, then, lashing out against others--killing them, even--be the right thing to do in response to your bad situation? That's up to you to decide, but either way, you'll live with the consequences. I can tell you that the pacifist option is the one with the most favorable outcome.

But here's something interesting: in most every battle, before you can choose the mercy button to end the fight, you must first befriend the monster in order to calm them down and enable you to finish on good terms. There is one encounter in particular where this is not the case, and in order for me to make my full point, I'm gonna have to delve into some major spoilers for the Neutral route's ending. This definitely doesn't spoil everything, but it does give enough away that a spoiler alert is most certainly necessary.

You have been warned. If you want to avoid MAJOR SPOILERS, you will have to skip the rest of the post.

Now, I'm going to utilize some creative liberty and my writer's side to paint this scene in my own way, since I'm not going to just show you a video of it. Here we go . . .

The terrific white light dulls, then fades away entirely. You blink a few times to adjust. Then you see him. The little yellow flower, the one who has been following you every step of the way, the one who had just fought you as a hulking mass of vegetation and machine--there he is. No more is his tremendous power. Though he threatened you in the past, expressing his desire to kill you, he is now a defeated, broken mess.

Flowey has been reduced from a sinister, cruel being to one who now hangs his head, awaiting your judgment. You have two choices: you can either finish off the murderer or do the unthinkable and show him mercy.

If you took him out, no one would complain. In fact, if the denizens of the Underground knew what you did, they would undoubtedly thank you for saving them from any future heartache and pain. It'd be so easy to slice through his stem and be done with the whole thing.

But then you think back on your journey, everything you've witnessed and everyone you've met. There was always something more to the other monsters than what met the eye. They didn't deserve to be cut down in cold blood.

Flowey, on the other hand . . .

You gaze at him and contemplate all that he is and all that he was. Something inside you awakens. It feels like . . . pity. And unexpected, but somehow fitting, compassion. There's even a glimmer of hope that he might one day become reformed.

With all this in mind, you choose mercy.

He glances your way, confusion etched on his face. ". . . What are you doing? Do you really think I've learned anything from this?" He answers his own question: "No." He looks back down at the ground.

The choice is again presented, and so you pick mercy again.

He turns his head slightly to look at you. "Sparing me won't change anything. Killing me is the only way to end this."

You go with mercy.

Head bent to one side, face covered in cuts and wounds from the battle, he hisses, "If you let me live . . ." He straightens. "I'll come back."

You choose mercy once more.

"I'll kill you."

Mercy.

His eyes widen. "I'll kill everyone."

Mercy.

A maniacal expression consumes his features. "I'll kill everyone you love."

Though you know that he would do so if he could . . . mercy.

His face falls, then a scowl appears. " . . . Why?"

You remain silent.

". . . Why are you being . . . so nice to me?" A deep pain glows through his eyes and moves you even more. Mercy is still chosen.

"I can't understand." Sobs wrack his tiny body. "I can't understand!" Tears well up as he stares at you. "I just can't understand . . ."

You want to reach out and embrace him, convey in some way that things are going to be okay, that they'll get better. But before you can make a single move . . .

Flowey runs away, and you're left alone in the silence.

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Honestly, to me, this is one of the most moving scenes in the game. Though Flowey deserves no mercy, much mercy is given. Even when he's practically tempting you to kill him, threatening to return to his ways of violence and giving you ample opportunity to snuff him out and prove his point ("It's either kill or be killed"), mercy breaks his heart. He can't wrap his mind around the concept; it's foreign to him, and most people wouldn't even consider it as a viable option.

I think part of the reason why this is so touching is because I am Flowey. I am the one who has messed up big time. I am the one who has hurt others. I am the one who doesn't deserve compassion. And so when Jesus offers His unfailing mercy--which is new every morning--to me, I ask, "Why are you being so nice to me?" I say, "I can't understand." Mercy is not a concept of the natural world, and it isn't ingrained into our old selves.

But thank God for mercy and compassion. He reaches out into the dark void in search for us, even when we fight back and resist, even when we threaten to go back to our sinful ways, and especially when we break down our walls and cry because of all the pain and suffering we've gone through. He wipes away our tears, embraces us, and welcomes us into the light. He extends His majestic kindness to us, and that kindness can change us forever.

That, my friends, is the power of mercy.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. Did you appreciate the analysis of Undertale and the connection it has to our real lives? If so, would you want to eventually more posts of a similar vein in the future? Let me know all your thoughts and feedback!