Dr. Alphys

Alphys is severely anxious and quite a bit socially awkward. It’s quite obvious through basically any interaction with her, from her stuttering to even her pose in her main sprite. And from the way she sometimes is afraid to speak, from her sudden and slightly panicked outbursts. Another good example of that is just how different she sounds online, where she doesn’t sound half as awkward, despite the things she says - though, not only do her posts reveal more about her anxiety, they also, along with what we learn about her past and her mistakes, show some rather deep emotional issues.

Alphys is very reclusive. Albeit her shyness and awkwardness, it is hinted by several characters, such as Bratty and Catty, who have known Alphys since they were children, that her reclusiveness is more of a recent development. In fact, we even come to learn that Alphys even went as far joining Mettaton’s human fanclub, meaning that she, at least, went out socially. However, little after she gained the title of Royal Scientist - by presenting Mettaton as a weaponized robot with a fabricated soul, instead of what he really is: a ghost monster possessing a robotic body Alphys built (more on that later on) - other monsters simply stopped seeing her around.

We come to learn that this was due to a very serious situation: per King Asgore’s request, Alphys was charged with finding a way to make monsters’ souls persist after death, as humans’ do. She began doing experiments on “fallen” monsters (that, according to what is hinted in the game, is a sign that a monster is close to death). These experiments consisted in injecting a compound she called “determination”, that she had extracted from human souls Asgore kept, into those monsters. While the experiments seemed to work at first, it all went terribly wrong as the monster’s physical bodies began to melt and, in some cases, mesh together into barely coherent abominations, which were named the Amalgamates.

Rattled with guilt over her failure, she stopped responding to the fallen monsters’ family members’ letters, kept the whole experiment and results a secret, locked them up in the lower levels of her lab, isolated herself in her home for the most part, and became depressed. No one knew of her doing, not the family members, not her friends, not Asgore, no-one.

The guilt of her failure haunts her, and the severity of her depression is not to be taken lightly. Her self loathing is apparent, ranging from “jokes” she posts online about herself, to how easily defeated she sounds as soon as her plans begin to fail. In several different instances, it is hinted that she might have been as far as considering suicide at some point - from Undyne having first Alphys standing on the edge of a deep, seemingly endless waterfall in the garbage dump in the Underground, to the vague letter she leaves the protagonist before they come to know about the True Lab, to speeches the Neutral Endings where the player has killed either Mettaton or Undyne, the two most important relationships in Alphys’ life.

So, with all of these things considered, it’s no real surprise that she isn’t very skilled in handling stress - specially when you consider that, according to her journal entries from when she was performing the determination experiments, she was apparently being rushed by Asgore for results, while also being contacted by the monsters’ family members, causing her to act desperately and carelessly by injecting more and more Determination into their bodies. She also devises some complex plans, shutting down fairly easily when they don’t work out - such as her plan to gain the protagonist’s trust by recruiting Mettaton as a “killer robot” while she stepped in as a “friendly hero”, a plan which Mettaton ended up sabotaging without her knowledge. As she tried to help the protagonist through, she became more and more nervous and less and less responsive, falling into self-loathing whenever the protagonist got hurt.

Despite all of this, Alphys is still a kind, well-meaning person. We find out that, after having struck a friendship with Mettaton, then a ghost with the wish to become corporeal and become an entertainer, but saddened that he’d never find the body he truly wanted, Alphys offered to make him a robotic body using her technological skills. Mettaton was thrilled by this, and the two apparently struck a deal - Alphys built him a body, and Mettaton presented as a robot with a soul so that she could impress King Asgore. The plan apparently worked, and she gained her title as Asgore’s Royal scientist, but their friendship started to deteriorate as Mettaton gained fame as an entertainer in the Underground and talked to her less and less. Alphys, according to another of her journal entries, apparently even went as far as slightly delaying the conclusion of his final body, fearing that her friend would simply stop talking to him.

While still going on about her well-meaning kindness, it’s worth to note that, despite keeping the Amalgamates locked off away from the world and not informing anyone about them, she did, however, take care of them and kept them fed, instead of simply abandoning them. While not exactly a good choice, it at least meant that she didn’t discard them as simply some (figurative) monsters.

She is also prone to developing crushes rather easily - some more innocent, such as her apparent crush on King Asgore (as revealed by Mettaton) and, possibly, on Toriel; and others much more serious, such as her unknowingly-requited crush on Undyne. Sadly, her serious insecurities and deep self-loathing cause her to be unable of confessing her feeling for Undyne, or even to see herself as deserving of her romantic attention.

Despite that, Undyne is a close friend of hers, sharing her interest in anime - something Alphys shows extensive knowledge and interest for. In fact, we could go as far as peg Alphys as a straight-up otaku, considering how serious she takes this hobby, going on long rambles about her favorite show, religiously collecting DVDs from the garbage dump in Waterfall, and even almost blowing her cover during one of the protagonist’s showdowns against Mettaton.

Unfortunately, despite all her good intentions, Alphys seems to have a propensity to lie, but not with malicious intention, possibly as another symptom of her anxiety. She led Undyne to believe reflects the real Human world, which caused the latter great shock when she learned that it isn’t; she tried to trick the protagonist into trusting her by devising an elaborate plan; she lied to Asgore about having created a robot with a soul; along with her serious secrets.