WAC #192 | Tumblr Version | Your Best Nightmare + Finale

*** MAJOR UNDERTALE SPOILERS ***

This was originally draw for the Weekly Art Challenge #192, the prompt being “take inspiration from your current favorite song / band.” Due to the size of this file, I thought it would be better to submit this to my own blog and just use the WAC tags rather than clogging up the WAC’s dashboard with it.

Well, my current favorite song at the moment has to be Your Best Nightmare + Finale (linked above), which plays during your fight with God / Photoshop / Omega Flowey from Undertale at the end of the Neutral route. This is a depiction of the events during the context of the songs, plus the scene that occurs right after, which are my favorite scenes in the game.

When it comes to this song, I can literally put this song on repeat for hours and hours and even days and not grow tired of it. I’ve even written my own lyrics to the Finale segment (in addition to an original song I wrote for Flowey that is meant to mirror Your Best Nightmare + Finale). (Neither of these things you can find anywhere publicly, I’m shy of showing of them right now, sorry.) Flowey is by far my favorite character from Undertale, as well as my third favorite fictional character in general, and I have a lot of feelings about him / this scene especially.

When I first played this game, I died to Omega Flowey literally 15-20 times; I even had to look it up to see if this fight was even beatable because he seemed so absurdly overpowered. Nowadays, I can get through this segment without dying at all, however.

Your Best Nightmare + Finale begins with a sense of dread, foreboding, and fear. How could you ever win against this monstrosity, this ginormous, overpowering abomination of what was once just a small, seemingly innocent flower? The overwhelming sense of malice and despair and hopelessness, that nobody is coming to save you. That you will die alone and unable to make a difference.

The fact that Flowey crashes the game every time you die just adds to the sense of helplessness; he has control over this game, not you. He’s just toying with you, and you seem so insignificant and small in comparison. But as the battle progresses, and you call out to each individual SOUL to help you, they hear your cry and turn the tide of the battle. You’re no longer losing. You have your friends here to save you, and you can win.

From your side of things, your hope is returning. You feel full of determination, and like you actually have a chance now against Omega Flowey instead of just trying to survive. For Flowey, however, his attacks become increasingly more aggressive, and pick up in speed at the same time the music cues do. It’s as if he’s the one now becoming desperate, realizing you’re winning, and is throwing everything he has at you. After all, it’s kill or be killed.

To me, this song symbolizes and depicts so many emotions; your hopelessness and despair, your rising confidence and triumph, and Flowey’s mischievousness and malice, fear and desperation. This song is brimming with so many competing themes, and it literally makes me want to cry sometimes actually. It really affects me personally, and mostly because of Flowey.

The thing about Flowey is, a lot of the things he says to Frisk are actually reflections of how he truly feels. He’s been trapped in an endless cycling loop for who knows how long that it’s the only thing he knows. It’s like a repeating record for him, since without a SOUL, is he even truly alive? He’s empty inside; just a shell of the being he once was. An empty shell without the ability to feel compassion, love, or mercy, but full of anger, fear, and loneliness.

“You’re hopeless. Hopeless and alone.”

It’s a mirror of how he has lived; nothing ever changes within the underground. There is no hope here, there is just this endless static. He’s alone, as nobody else even remotely feels real to him anymore after being trapped here so long.

“I’ve done everything this world has to offer. I’ve read every book. I’ve burned every book. I’ve won every game. I’ve lost every game. I’ve appeased everyone. I’ve killed everyone. Sets of numbers... Lines of dialogue... I’ve seen them all.”



Even what he whispers to this Echo Flower is a reflection of how he feels. It seems malicious at first, but then you realize, in a way, watching how Toriel treats Frisk, he must feel replaced / abandoned / as if nobody cares.

“Golly, that's right! Your WORTHLESS friends... ... can't save you now. Call for help. I dare you. Cry into the darkness! "Mommy! Daddy!" "Somebody help!" See what good it does you!

(You called for help.)

...

* But nobody came.”



This is literally what happened to him; this is literally a parallel of what he reveals in Genocide route. His “worthless” friends couldn’t save him; he called out for help. Cried into the darkness. Mommy, Daddy! Somebody help! But nobody came to save him. He was hopeless; hopeless and alone.

...

But that’s not true. As Frisk, you are there for him. You are the friend he always wanted, but never had. You know you have to save him, and you call out to him. As Flowey, he cannot understand this; he only ever is able to when he has the SOULs at the end of the Pacifist route / as Asriel. But personally, I actually enjoy Imperfect Pacifist / Neutral route more. When it comes to Undertale, Flowey is literally the only character you can’t befriend. Even as Asriel, he asks of you not to think of them as being the same entity / to think of him as being someone who was your friend for a short period of time.

To me, though Asriel and Flowey are technically the same being, they are not the same character, as having a SOUL / the ability to feel love, mercy, and compassion makes quite a difference in how they act/think. To me, Undertale is more about loving and caring about Flowey even though he can’t understand it. Even though he’s angry, hurt, scared, violent, malicious, deceptive, and mean. Even though he literally can’t reciprocate your feelings. I care about Flowey literally so much; the entirety of the game, all I really wanted to do was be friends with him. Because out of everyone there, he’s the one who needs it the most.