Snowdrake

"Ice" to meet you.

One of Snowdrake's jokes

Snowdrake (JP: オワライチョウ) (nicknamed "Snowy" by his mother and friend Chilldrake) is a monster that can be encountered in Snowdin. If the protagonist spares Papyrus, they may later find Snowdrake as an NPC near Papyrus's sentry station.

If Snowdrake is killed at any point, any further encounters are replaced with the mechanically-identical Chilldrake, searching for its (now dead) friend.

Profile

Appearance

Snowdrake is a drake (dragon) with a snowflake-like design. Snowdrake also shares some qualities with the alternate meaning of the word drake (male duck). His face is arranged to resemble a snowflake with feathers sticking out symmetrically in certain locations. He also appears to be vaguely draconic, such as having teeth in his beak and a scaly belly.

Snowdrake is light blue on the entirety of his body, excluding his beak, eyes, underbelly, and feet, all of which are yellow, and the snowflake-like detail across his face which is white. Snowdrake has markings on both of his eyes that differ in comparison to each other. Snowdrake also claims to be at least partly made of ice.

Personality

In a battle, Snowdrake makes various ice puns in an attempt to entertain the protagonist and garner a positive reaction. If the protagonist laughs at his joke for the first time, Snowdrake becomes proud and states that his father was wrong. If the protagonist laughs at more of his jokes, Snowdrake is appreciative. In the overworld, Snowdrake emphasizes that the protagonist should laugh at his puns despite the dour context of the joke.

It is implied that Snowdrake has low self-esteem. Conversely, if the protagonist tells him an ice pun joke, Snowdrake responds neutrally or with indifference. If the protagonist makes an ice joke while Ice Cap and Jerry are present, he wants their attention and hesitantly tells the monsters that his jokes are better.

Snowdrake seems to be easily offended. If the protagonist laughs before he tells a joke, he emphasizes the word "you" when asking the protagonist why they are laughing. Snowdrake's fragile ego is further shown if the protagonist heckles him. Should the protagonist Heckle, there is a 1/6 chance that Snowdrake feels defeated and is immediately spared.

Etymology

Snowdrake's name is a pun on the words snowflake and drake.

His name in Japanese is "オワライチョウ" (Owaraichou) which translates to English as "snow grouse". This takes "drake" to mean "male duck" instead of the original intended meaning of "dragon" according to a note written by Magnolia Porter on Snowdrake's concept art in the UNDERTALE Art Book and according to a note from Toby Fox in Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE. In that book, Toby told the translation team that "if it helps to localize a pun you can also refer to it as a bird". The name was intended to combine the words 御笑い (owarai, "comedy"), 鳥 (chou, bird), and ライチョウ (raichou, a bird that lives in snowy areas, known in English as a rock ptarmigan). He also speaks in an Osaka dialect, since the city is known as the comedy capital of Japan.

Main story

History

Prior to Undertale, Snowdrake originally lived with his mother and father outside of New Home. He wants to be a comedian like his father. When Snowdrake's mother became ill, she was sent to the Lab, and he attempted to write letters to Alphys. However, due to his mother's absence and strained relationship with his father, Snowdrake ran away from home and never returned. Afterwards, Snowdrake "fell in with the wrong crowd".

Neutral Route

Snowdrake can be found near Papyrus's sentry station in Snowdin after sparing him and having not killed Snowdrake. If the protagonist talks to him, he talks about he ran away from home because his father was "cold" to him, then getting mad that the protagonist did not laugh at the pun he made.

If Snowdrake was the only monster that was killed, Undyne acknowledges this atop the crag in Waterfall.

True Pacifist Route

Snowdrake's family reunited

In the True Pacifist Route epilogue, Snowdrake is reunited with his parents, and can still be found near Papyrus's sentry station. He is happy to be with his mother again, despite her being an Amalgamate.

Genocide Route

Snowdrake is a unique monster that must be killed in order to progress the Genocide Route. If, after killing Greater Dog, Snowdrake has not yet been killed, the flavor text displayed for each SAVE Point in Snowdin becomes "That comedian..." until he is killed. If Snowdrake is not killed before the kill counter in Snowdin is exhausted, the Genocide Route is aborted, indicated by the text changing to "The comedian got away. Failure."

In battle

Appears with

• Ice Cap
• Jerry

Attacks

• Crescent-shaped projectiles fly toward the protagonist's SOUL. They either move in a parabolic way, or in numerous straight lines.

Strategy

• To spare Snowdrake, the protagonist must first perform a neutral action (like Checking or using an item) to get him to tell a joke, and then Laugh at the joke.
• If the protagonist chooses "Heckle", there is a 1/6 chance (16.66666667%) that Snowdrake is automatically spared (similar to how Whimsun is spared if consoled).
• If other monsters are present, Joking on Snowdrake causes them to laugh at the protagonist's bad ice pun, leaving Snowdrake upset. This reaction allows the other monsters to be spared.

Quotes

• "Ice" to meet you. [Neutral]
• Ice puns are "snow" problem [Neutral]
• Fights you in "cold" blood. [Neutral]
• Better not snow "flake" out! [Neutral]
• My fave ice cereals: "frosted" [Neutral]
• "Chill" out... [Neutral]
• M.. m.. macaroni and "freeze" [Neutral]
• Is that s'posed to be funny? [Joke]
• Ha... Ha... Nice try. [Joke]
• I've heard that one. [Joke]
  • That's not like me... [Other monsters]
  • I don't do it that way... [Other monsters]
  • It's better when I do it... [Other monsters]
  • IT'S JUST LIKE 'EM [Other monsters; unused]
  • HAHA YOU'RE BETTER [Other monsters; unused]
  • YOU NAILED IT [Other monsters; unused]
  • Do I really ... [After other monsters]
  • Hey... [After other monsters]
  • Guys... guys... [After other monsters]
• THIS won't be funny either! [Heckle]
• Is your flesh rotten as you? [Heckle]
• (Insults towards humans) [Heckle]
• What are YOU laughin' at?!? [Laugh before Snowdrake tells a joke]
• See!? Laughs! Dad was wrong! [Laugh after Snowdrake tells a joke - Always used the first time]
• You have good taste!! (In jokes) [Laugh after Snowdrake tells a joke]
• Thanks, you're all great. [Laugh after Snowdrake tells a joke]

Flavor text

• This teen comedian fights to keep a captive audience. [Check]
• Snowdrake flutters forth! [Encounter]
• Icecap and Snowdrake confront you, sighing. Jerry. [Encounter with Ice Cap and Jerry]
• Icecap and Snowdrake pose like bad guys. [Encounter with Ice Cap; unused]
• Snowdrake is assessing the crowd. [Neutral]
• Snowdrake is practicing its next pun. [Neutral]
• Snowdrake is smiling at its own bad joke. [Neutral]
• It smells like a wet pillow. [Neutral]
• Snowdrake realized its own name is a pun and is freaking out. [Neutral]
• You make a bad ice pun. [Joke]
  • [Other monsters]
    • You make a bad ice pun.
    • The other monsters think it's hilarious...
• Snowdrake pretends not to care. [After Joke; unused]
• Snowdrake is puffed up.. [After Joke when Other monsters are present]
• You boo the Snowdrake. [Heckle, 50% chance]
• You tell the Snowdrake that they aren't funny. [Heckle, 33% chance]
• [Heckle, 17% chance]
  • You tell the Snowdrake that no one will ever love them the way they are...
  • They struggle to make a retort, and slink away utterly crushed...
• You laugh at Snowdrake before it says anything funny. [Laugh before Snowdrake tells a joke]
• You laugh at Snowdrake's pun. [Laugh]
• Snowdrake is flaking apart. [Low HP]
• Snowdrake is pleased with its "cool" joke. [Spare conditions met]
• Snowdrake is laughing at your imitation of its cohort. [Unused]

Relationships

Snowdrake's father

Snowdrake is implied to have a strained relationship with his father. Snowdrake can be seen near Papyrus's sentry station, and if spoken to, says that he ran away because his father was 'cold' to him. Snowdrake denies his father's claims that he is unfunny and can be proven right if the protagonist laughs at one of his jokes. Later in the game, his father in the MTT Resort admits that he hated Snowdrake's puns and jokes but wanted to apologize for that.

At the end of the True Pacifist Route, Snowdrake and his father are eventually reunited and have seemingly repaired their relationship.

Snowdrake's mother

Snowdrake is implied to have cared deeply for his mother before she was taken to Alphys's Lab and ran away from home, in part, due to her absence. At the end of the True Pacifist Route, Snowdrake's entire family is reunited.

Creation and development

Snowdrake was designed by Magnolia Porter, creator of Monster Pulse. She also designed Monster Kid, Ice Cap, Jerry, and helped design Gyftrot.

Outside of Undertale

Main article: Snowy

In Deltarune, Snowdrake appears as a minor character and one of Kris's classmates in Hometown's school. They have a tendency to make bad puns and jokes, and is academic partners with Monster Kid.

Trivia

• Snowdrake's design appears to be a 5-pointed snowflake. However, 5-pointed snowflakes do not form in nature, as real snowflakes have six points.
• Snowdrake's flavor text sometimes calls him "the Snowdrake", possibly implying that there is more than one Snowdrake. This is supported in New Home, as a group of Snowdrake-like monsters are among the monsters that tell the story of Asriel and the fallen human.
• It can be assumed that Snowdrake was among the teens responsible for decorating Gyftrot, as one of the various items that can be removed from the deer monster is a childhood photo of him with his parent.
• In the official UNDERTALE Soundtrack, the song that plays in Snowdin is named "Snowy", which is also Snowdrake's nickname.

See also

• Snowy article on the Deltarune Wiki