(Originally labeled this as Deltarune Discussion, but I think Wiki Discussion may fit better)
Right now, the pages for the 7 Colored Flowers and the Cactus from Chapter 3 use the unique qualification of Plant. This makes sense, they are distinct from Darkners because of, among other things, their ability to pattern their dark world bodies after their own dreams/their observations of the light world. This was more directly confirmed in the recent Newsletter, which is what got me thinking about this.
(EDIT: Adding the quote that confirms this. Found in the Flowery section of the Chapter 5 Thoughts page. I shared further thoughts on this aspect of Plants in a reply below)
Their designs may be strange, but that’s because they had to decide who they wanted to be for themselves. I wonder what inspired each of their “dreams”...? (It’s not really important to be honest, but it’s fun to think about.)
Zenlooker, currently, is classified as a Darkner on their page. Yet, they specifically say "I've patterned myself after the world's greaterst looker" They are aware of Milklooker, and they take on a form based on their own admiration of Milklooker. This seems like very direct textual evidence that Zenlooker, like the 7 flowers and the Cactus, has a body modeled after their dreams, not just the will of the fountain maker, which must mean they they too are a living plant, not a regular darkner.
Of course, unlike the 7 flowers or the cactus, we don't for-sure see the living light world plant they're modeled after, meaning this is ultimately speculation even if, in my opinion, the evidence is strong. I admit that it's also just kinda funny to me that Zenlooker may be in the same class of characters at the 7 flowers. Still though, I'm wondering if y'all think this would be worth editing their page to acknowledge.
The 7 Colored Flowers aren't “patterned” after anyone. They look human, but not any specific human.
No they don't. They say...
I'm Zenlooker. I'm patterned after the world's greatest looker
... not that they chose this form themselves.
what about leafling?
they're y'know, a leaf
also shouldn't this topic be wiki discussion?
They say "I'm Zenlooker. I'm patterned after the world's greatest looker" when you find them in garden. When you find them in the secret room in the left side of the castle they say what I quoted. You can check the text dump if you want. It's also directly quoted at the top of their wiki page. I figured you would at least want to check their page before trying to correct me.
And I wasn't suggesting that the 7 flowers are directly patterned after specific humans, they obviously are not. However, their designs are still inspired by their own dreams, their own conceptions of what they wanted to be, which as I said, Toby very directly confirms in the newsletter. Specifically, in the Chapter 5 thoughts Page on the newsletter, near the bottom of the Flowery section
Their designs may be strange, but that’s because they had to decide who they wanted to be for themselves. I wonder what inspired each of their “dreams”...? (It’s not really important to be honest, but it’s fun to think about.)
The Flowery segment goes more in depth in this topic, but I feel like this is already pretty clearly established by the game itself. First of all, there's this quote if you talk to Flowery before saying goodbye to the flowers
* We witnessed the dance of people coming through the shop.
* A parade of smiling faces, of bright laughter.
* Beings driven by meaning... by emotion... by love.
* To be monster... to be human. We wanted to know...
* What that meant.
And overall, you can very clearly see instances of them being inspired by observations of the light world. Yellow models himself to be a cowboy like in Asgore's favorite show, Aqua clearly seems to parallel some of Kris' traits, Flowery calls himself Asgore's "College Roommate" when Asgore has a noted strong relationship with Rudy, who he met in college. And Seth's thing with Berdly kinda goes without saying. They're not 1-1 reflections of lightners, but their dreams are based on their observations of the light world, and those dreams inform the shapes they've decided to take, and Zenlooker seems to operate the same way, just much more directly copying a lightner instead of simply taking inspiration.
I have never seen this "zenlooker" at all during the chapter
So I should shut up
Given that leafling is their own species of darkner, not a singular person, they seem to operate the same as most other Darkners, being an inert object that is assigned a personality, not having a personal will that effects their being. They're likely just fallen leaves in the light world, no longer living, and thus not having a heightened consciousness like living plants.
And yeh, I considered making this wiki discussion, but I feel like Deltarune Discussion was a better fit. Not sure, though.
just scrolled up and saw your reason and it's valid so you don't have to
I looked in the code directly. I didn't notice the typo, so I didn't find it. Sorry.
Only the cactus from Chapter 3 and the 7 colored flowers are directly addressed in-game as being plants. Calling any other character as a "Plant" is pretty much speculation. Unless there is direct confirmation, I don't think any other character should be labelled as such.
You know I don't know I can think of roughly the same evidence both for and against this such as
- their a sprout (according to my 5 second wiki page analysis) so at first they don't really adapt much but when time passes and they grow they adapt and evolve allowing them to shape themselves
- they're a plant like the rest so they should get the 7 flowers treatment
- The flowers are kept alive via Asgore's determination to keep them alive which is tied to dark fountains, which may mean only the 7 flowers are strong enough to have personalities
so I think it's up to intrepretation