Onion

Y'hear... Y'hear closely for a second.
Y'hou're my friend. Right?
As my friend... Do you wanna... y'hear a secret?

Onion, Chapter 2

Onion (JP: オニオンさん), Beauty, or Asriel II is a returning character in Deltarune. They reside in Hometown's lake, where they are lonely. They have been missing since Chapter 2.

Profile

Appearance

Onion is an aquatic monster whose head resembles a yellow onion with two large eyes and a toothless mouth. They often have exaggerated facial expressions when talking. When Onion rises out of the water, there are no visible limbs.

Personality

Onion is lonely, having no friends outside of Kris. They have forgotten their own name since no one talks to them. Onion is shown to have memory problems, as they often forget the name they are given or Kris's name, instead opting for close approximations. Onion is also sensitive, and they refuse to talk to Kris if they were insulted.

Speech pattern

Onion speaks very informally, and they frequently use "y'hear" to emphasize a point, even replacing other words such as "hear" and "you're" with it. During certain dialogue, they switch to a more serious tone, where their face gets shadowed and their sentences include many ellipses.

Main story

Chapter 1

In Chapter 1, Onion rises out of Hometown's lake if Kris stands on the circular brown patch on the shore for long enough. Onion claims to have no friends, and then asks Kris to be their friend. If Kris accepts, Onion becomes excited and states they have never been this happy before. Onion then asks for their name, to which Kris can respond with either their own name or "Hippopotamus".

Onion appears to have forgotten their own name, due to nobody talking to them, and requests Kris to give them a new name. Naming them Onion, Beauty, or Asriel II results in the misremembered names Umyum, Bootis, and Cereal, respectively. After talking with them, Onion asks Kris to come back the next day, saying they have something "[they] can only tell a friend", with their tone shifting to be more serious, and then dives back under the water.

If Kris declines Onion's request for friendship or names Onion as "Disgusting", they immediately sink into the water with no further dialogue and do not appear in Chapter 2.

Chapter 2

When meeting with Onion again in Chapter 2, Susie withdraws from the scene, not wanting to get involved. Onion asks if Kris missed them, to which they can respond "yes" or "no". Saying "no" results in Onion sinking back into the water with no further dialogue.

Onion then reveals what they wanted to tell a friend in Chapter 1; at night, they can sometimes hear a piece of a song coming from deep below the water. They think that they have heard this song in full before, and that it is not a "new" song, but they cannot remember it. Onion declares that they will investigate the song, and asks Kris to come back the next day.

If Kris did not visit Onion in Chapter 1, Clam Guy appears by the lake and tell Kris that they met Onion, but they disappeared after Clam Guy called them weird.

Chapter 4

Onion is absent in Chapter 4, despite telling Kris they would meet them the next day in Chapter 2. Waiting on the meeting spot during the day prompts Susie to tell Kris that Onion might be busy. Afterwards, the Striped Bird is seen standing on the meeting spot, who speaks cryptically, chanting "don't wait" and "wait, don't". “Especially the don’t.”

If Kris did not visit Onion in Chapter 1, Susie will instead attempt to skip a rock across the lake, prompting Kris to try and not laugh.

Visiting Onion's meeting place during the night will have Kris and Susie sitting down, with Susie commenting on a melody she can hear from across the water. Kris seemingly does not hear anything.

Chapter 5

Once again, despite Onion telling Kris that they would meet them the next day in Chapter 2, Onion does not appear at the lake in Chapter 5.

Outside of Deltarune

Main article: Onionsan

In Undertale, Onion is a minor NPC named "Onionsan" that resides in the Waterfall area. They appear in the horizontal room that precedes Shyren's room, following the protagonist and asking them questions before disappearing.

Trivia

• Onion's response to being named Asriel II implies that they have met Asriel before. Onion recalls a memory of someone throwing corn flakes into the water for them.
• After Onion misremembers the name Beauty as "Bootis", they comment on the taste and the smell of it. This is a reference to an unused image in Undertale's files, in itself being a quote taken from Earthbound. "Bootis" is also very similar to "Bepis", a nonsense word used for error messages in Undertale. It may also be a reference to "Pootis", a community fad from Team Fortress 2. "Bootis" is also an alternate spelling of the constellation Boötes.