Martlet is the deuteragonist of Undertale Yellow, the boss of Snowdin, and the final boss of the Genocide Route. She is a member of the Underground Royal Guard.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Martlet is a blue anthropomorphic bird-like monster with two wings used as arms. She wears two yellow-ochre snow boots. She has a mop of hair on top of her head with outsticking parts and a feather-like tuft near the back. She wears a greyish blue sleeveless shirt and dark blue pants.
When Martlet transforms with her serum, her eyes turn a glowing yellow, and her hair, wings, and legs become longer. Her hair drapes down more and is more wavy. She sports a breastplate with a heart design in the middle and shoulder pads fitted into the suit pointing up. Her boots disappear from her original design, with talons replacing them. Martlet's hair is also more elegantly displayed, with the outsticking motif from her original hair style being accentuated.
Personality[]
In February 2019, a comic was made about her, depicting her running late to work and falling asleep when trying to be productive. In the game, Martlet is shown to be, as the game states, scatterbrained. Martlet seems to struggle with concentrating on her duties and often relies on a manual or lists so she can know what she has to do. Her laziness is also hinted at in the game with a note on Information booth that tells passerby to wake her up if she dozes off on the job.
While she seems a bit naive on the surface, what Martlet makes up for in her disorganized workflow is her strong morale. As shown in the Genocide Route, Martlet has a strong sense of justice, and is more serious compared to her Pacifist counterpart. She even runs away from her initial battle via a tactical retreat, and monitors Clover for most of the game. She will go to great lengths to put a stop to anyone trying to harm monsterkind, including injecting herself with a fabricated serum, just so she can have the power to put an end to Clover’s killing spree, no matter the cost.
Main Story[]
Neutral Route[]
Snowdin Encounter[]
Martlet is first introduced in Snowdin when she is recalibrating a lava ball puzzle, and again propping up a sign next to the swinging bridge puzzle. After going through some of her puzzles, Clover officially encounters her when she is pretending to be an information kiosk. This doesn't last long, as she soon reveals herself to be a member of the Royal Guard. She correctly guesses that Clover is a human and engages in combat.
Wild East Encounter[]
Apt. Complex Roof Encounter[]
Mail Whale hands Clover an urgent letter from Martlet when they're leaving Steamworks, which tells them to meet her on the roof of UG Apartments. When they get there, Martlet explains that she can't let them go to Asgore Dreemurr since he will kill them. Martlet asks Clover to reconsider and offers them to live with her, but before they can leave together, Flowey kills her by impaling her with a vine. Martlet believed that it was Clover who impaled her, not Flowey.
If the player aborted a Genocide Route before finishing Steamworks, the dialogue is changed. Martlet feels like she can still sense good in Clover, despite feeling proven right that humans are the enemy, and despite contemplating the plan of using her syringe. She questions her own judgement, and says that even if Clover shoots her now, they will never get past Asgore. She then pleads with Clover to put an end to the death, and come live a "happy, violence-free childhood" by staying with her. Before they can leave, she is killed by Flowey impaling her, and dies believing Clover was responsible.
Pacifist[]
Snowdin Encounter[]
Martlet becomes confused when Clover does not attack first and tries to understand by reading her Royal Guard guidebook. If Clover still does not attack, Martlet loses the urge to fight and instead pushes Clover to insult her. When Clover finally does, Martlet tells them she is very close to losing her job and that another misstep will get her fired. If Clover instead hits Martlet after being prompted, they no longer have to insult Martlet, as she will allow them to spare her after a few turns have passed. After Clover spares Martlet, she chastises Clover for resorting to violence before forgiving them because they're still a good kid some of the time, "and some of the time is good enough for me!", after which the story continues as normal[1]. Considering her job is on the line, Martlet suggests hiding Clover to not lose her position and to get Clover home. She escorts them to the U.G Aviator, nicknamed "Ava", and joins Clover down the ride through Waterfall. Martlet and Clover are then separated after the U.G Aviator crashes. As trying to kill Martlet ends with her running away, it is not possible to gain EXP from her. Hence, the player can choose to defeat Martlet without aborting the Pacifist route. The post-Martlet fight proceeds as it would in a Neutral route where the player defeats Martlet, with Clover stealing the U.G Aviator and ending up in the Dunes. However, the scene where Martlet meets Clover in the Dunes is unchanged, even though she uses Clover's name despite never learning it, and never brings up the fact that Clover stole the U.G Aviator[2].
Wild East[]
Upon arriving at the Wild East, Clover and Martlet will be confronted by the Feisty Five. While Clover is taken in for deputy training, Martlet spends the entire chapter located in the town’s jail due to them not believing her to be a Royal Guard. Once Starlo is bested and talked down, Martlet heads back to Snowdin to not be late. After successfully traversing the Steamworks, Clover is taken back to the Wild East while Starlo pursues Ceroba. Martlet is then informed by Moray of the Feisty Four in order to aid Clover in investigating Ceroba’s home, and upon discovering Chujin's recordings, instructs Clover to meet her on the roof of the UG Apartments Complex. From here, both of them leave to pursue Ceroba and Starlo to New Home.
Apartment Complex → New Home[]
Clover and Martlet both take the elevator up to New Home, where they both discover Ceroba and Starlo standing on a balcony, arguing over the morality of Ceroba’s quest. After listening in to their conversation, Martlet and Clover interfered their argument to aid Starlo in driving Ceroba of her quest. Ceroba knocks out both Martlet and Starlo before engaging Clover in a final showdown. Both do not recover until the fight ends.
If Ceroba is spared after the fight, Martlet and Starlo attempt to find a new alternative to Clover offering their SOUL to them, but could not overrule Clover's decision. She is later seen in the end credits giving corn to Dalv at his new house. Later at Waterfall, she reveals to have put her two week notice for the Royal Guard before placing Clover’s Hat in the U.G Aviator, along with Dalv, Starlo and Ceroba, and sending them down a river, saying her last goodbyes.
If Ceroba is killed, Martlet tries to cheer Clover up after Starlo’s departure, and continues with them to Asgore. She attempts to convince him to let Clover go back to the surface, before reluctantly leaving the room at Clover’s request.
Genocide[]
Snowdin Encounter[]
When first encountering Clover in Snowdin, Martlet shows concern about them being left behind. After offering to help Clover catch up with the others, a battle begins the two. Although not wanting to fight at first, thinking they're just scared due to the current looming threat, after being attacked 3 times she realizes that Clover is the reason behind the Evacuations, which causes her to begin attacking. Upon reaching low HP, Martlet stops the fight, asking Clover to lower their weapon before warning them about the consequences of their actions if they continue killing and flies away.
Wild East Encounter[]
Martlet and Clover run into each other on the path to the right of the playground. Here, she tries to reason with Clover, before they step forward, cutting her off. She then warns them about how the Royal Guard searching for them and how she thinks Clover can still fix things. Clover pulls their gun out, so she warns them about how they won't get away with what they've done before flying away.
Apt. Complex Roof Encounter[]
Martlet injecting herself with serum to transform into a more powerful form
Martlet can be seen staring at the core, before turning to face Clover. After being brought into battle, she monologues about how she wanted to believe humans were good, sharing her regrets about not trying harder to stop Clover but how she knew the chance of her succeeding was slim. She then pulls out a syringe containing an unspecified substance (implied to be either Determination or leftover extract Chujin got from the Integrity SOUL), telling Clover that they should've finished her when they had the chance before injecting it into her left wing. A second passes, before she drops to the ground. Her body soon begins transforming, causing her old wings to erupt into much larger, galaxy textured wings, her feet to turn into that of a falcon's, and her hair grows much longer. She flies into the air, out of frame, before slowly gliding back into frame, revealing a metal chest piece that can only be damaged by the SOUL blaster. After letting out a screech, signifying a battle cry, she attacks.
After her chest piece's health is depleted, she falls to the ground before the screen fades to white and the chest piece can be heard shattering. A flashback then ensues, showing her telling Chujin about how she got a job as a Royal Guard, posted near Hotland. Shortly after, it cuts to a conversation between Alphys and Martlet, before another cut to Martlet standing infront of the true lab door. It fades to black as she enters the true lab, muttering "Humans are dangerous..." as the flashback ends.
After taking more damage, Martlet takes a fighting stance, using both her wings as fists as she prepares to fight once more. With her chest piece gone, she may now take damage from Clover's weapon as well as the SOUL blaster. As her health depletes, her body's integrity begins to waver, and cracks form in the starry grid behind her. When Martlet loses all of her health, she asks Clover how many it'd take for them to be satisfied, calling them an unjust maniac. She attempts to say something else, beginning with "I hope you-" but is cut short when she starts losing color and melts rapidly. She desperately pleads for help, to no avail, and eventually fully disintegrates.
In Battle[]
- Main article: Martlet/In Battle
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- A martlet is a mythical footless bird that never roosts throughout its entire life, continuously flying until death. In English heraldry, it is an allegory for continuous effort.
- Martlet is one of the final bosses along with Flowey and Ceroba.
- She is the final boss of the Genocide Route.
- Martlet was revealed on December 26th, 2016 in an Undertale Yellow Twitter post, and her art was created by Emmalume_, who does not have a Twitter account anymore.
- Her Neutral and True Pacifist Route battle theme, Protocol, was revealed on April 15, 2019, and her Genocide Route battle theme, Apprehension, was revealed on November 18, 2021, with much more intense and has added guitars. The title of the Genocide track also presents a possible double meaning - “apprehension” can mean the same thing as “arrest” (ironically not what she is doing, as she is acting out of a last resort instead), but also suggests she naturally has immense anxiety from the fight.
- Upon arriving at the Wild East well, Martlet asks Clover for gold to wish Clover back home safely. It is possible to give her gold even if the player is out of money.
- Zenith Martlet, along with Ceroba and Axis, is the only enemy of the Genocide Route that cannot be spared. (Axis, in this case, can only be spared in a aborted genocide)
- She is visually similar to the character Berdly from Deltarune (in terms of being bluebirds), and their battles themes have somewhat similar beats. This led to several memes from fans about the possibility of Toby Fox including Martlet in the Deltarune universe, representing her as Berdly's mother or as his older sister.
- She has an unused dialogue if her HP were to be fully depleted during the Genocide Route.
- If the player inspects the knives in Ceroba's house, Martlet approaches Clover, saying that "children shouldn't use knives". It could be a joke with Chara.
- Martlet is the game's most beloved character among fans, alongside Starlo.
- She shares some characteristics in common with Sans and Papyrus. Besides living in Snowdin, like the skele-bros; similar to Papyrus, she is an aspiring royal guard (or almost so), with an enthusiastic and clumsy personality, with a great taste for puzzles, but still has a kind heart and seeks to see the good in the protagonist, in addition to occupying the role of Snowdin's boss. Like Sans, she has the characteristic of sleeping on duty, mild laziness, offers warnings to the protagonist about the path them is taking on the Genocide Route, observes the protagonist's actions on the Neutral Route, hoping that they have something good within them, and at the end of the Genocide Route, she recognizes the threat that the protagonist represents and has one last battle against them, using all her efforts in what is considered the most difficult fight in the game. The variation in the conversation she has with Clover on the roof depending on the player's LOVE is very reminiscent of Sans' judgement. Just like Sans' eye, her form Zenith carries the colors light blue and yellow (The colors of Patience and Justice, respectively).
- Just like Asgore in the original Undertale, Martlet can only be saved on a Pacifist Route. In any other route she dies at the hands of Clover or Flowey.
- Martlet made a cameo in an Undertale mod, known as Undertale: Bits And Pieces, where she appears beside on a outpost near Papyrus's puzzles areas. She is member of the Royal Guard in this mod, while in Undertale Yellow she left the group at the end of the game.
- When she dies in the neutral route, she turns into dust from the bottom up, which is odd because in almost every other case it is from the top to bottom. This also happens with Starlo in the Genocide Route.