undertale meta deepdive: sans is not a good person (OR the sans theory masterpost pt. 1)
ā¤ļø || Part 2Ā || Part 3
Sans is far from this valiant epitome of good that the fandom so often paints him as. Heās not a heroāhell, he might even be a bad, terrible person. At least in the past. My intention in this post isnāt to crush popular fandom interpretations of Sans in a bad faith argument, rather, it is to challenge preconceptions that have existed for years and to open up discussion on the dubious morality of this popular and loved character; I certainly love him a little more after doing this analysis.Ā
Section I - A Bad Person (The āWhatā)
Sans is certainly not opposed to leaving us little breadcrumbs for us in regards to his mysterious past. We get the idea that Sans is separated from his home, likely due to something he did. Something he had thought was important. Something that led him to take his home for granted.
So based off of the previous dialogue, thisĀ ātypeā that he intimately knows... heās talking about himself. He was very ādeterminedā to do whatever he did, which cost him his home, likely nearly everything he cared about given his angst.
So letās say Sans used to beĀ ādeterminedā.
Sans is also aware of the SAVE function, meta knowledge that only the player and Flowey should know about because they have or have had this ability in the past.
āTake it from meā: accept that what I say is true, because I know or have experienced it. Sans should have quit when he had the chance. Never satisfied, too determined to bow out. But is he talking about the same thing weāve been doing?Ā
When Sans threatens us with the infamous ābad timeā, he is NOT referring to the fight... but what comes after, because only after he is struck down, he gives us one final piece of advice:
But HOW does he know that the world is going to be thrown into the āabyssā? Unless he has experienced this first-hand.
This is Papyrus confronting us in the genocide run antecedent to his fightā¦
ā¦and this is him on Sans. An eerily mirrored piece of dialogue from Papyrus describing us and his brother. What do we know so far? Both Sans and the player need to be kept onĀ āthe straight and narrowā, both areĀ ādeterminedā, and both do irreparable damage to the world, possibly sending it toĀ āthe abyssā.Ā
Purgatory: a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. Not to mention the suspicious usage of the word āabyssā by Papyrus.
From the evidence gathered, it seems that the reason why Sans isnāt able to return to his world is because he destroyed it in the same manner we destroyed Undertale in the genocide run. Why else would he say ātake it from meā; he empirically knows what happens when the world is pushed to its very limits.
But which world could he have destroyed? What world did Sans come from?
(Continues under the cut because this gets reallyĀ long.)
Section II - The Deltarune ConnectionĀ (The āWhereā)
If youāve read some Deltarune theory posts, you know that Gaster is prominently featured in Deltarune. He addresses us at the beginning of the game and there are blatant references to him (the phone call in the Dark World, the strange bunker, etc). Iām going to try to prove that Sans will also play a large role in its story. Letās take a look at the lyrics of the end credits, Donāt Forget.Ā
When the light is running low
And the shadows start to grow
And the places that you know
Seem like fantasy
There's a light inside your soul
That's still shining in the cold
With the truth
The promise in our hearts
Don't forget
I'm with you in the dark
The truth:Ā Sans says this to us before giving us access to his room, the entrance to which is suspiciously identical to the fast-travel doors that Darkners use. We also get access to his basement.
Promise:Ā Sans has a history of promises. He is regretful of a promise he made in the past.
Donāt forget: Appears on a poorly drawn picture of three smiling people, in Sansās basement. This phrase is also used in a description for "Memoryā in the sheet music booklet from the Collectorās Edition. What do you know, itās written in Comic Sans too. Go figure.
Now, let me introduce a character that is featured prominently in Deltarune, someone that is somehow related to Sans, someone who isnāt Gaster.
Ice-E is everywhere in Deltaruneās Hometown, but the only inkling we get of his existence is from Sans. The Ice-E word search that Sans gives us is interesting because the title itself is written in comic sans.Ā
In one of the hospital rooms, thereās a ā1-to-10 pain scale using Ice-E as a modelā. Itās an uncanny description of Sans.Ā
Ice-E is also characterized for its missuses of apostrophes. One might call it an āapostrophe-dogā.
Moving on.
Section IIIĀ - GasterĀ (The āWhoā)
Oh boy, this section is going to be absolutely massive. Iāll try my best to make the logical flow easy to understand. So we know that Sans did (will do) some pretty shady things in the world of Deltarune. To understand why, we have to examine how exactly Sans and Gaster are related. Letās start with Ice-E since we know that heās somehow associated with Sans.
TheĀ āNightmareā variant of the Ice-E word search appears in fun values between 56 and 57. There is only one other snowman that appears in Undertale.
We are asked to takeĀ āa pieceā of it. Letās investigate where else this specific phrase is used. Following this trail of breadcrumbs reveals other phrases that Sans and Gaster-related things share.
Exhibit A: Gaster follower #2,Ā ātime and spaceā
The prophecy has something to do with Sans and Gaster. Iāll let the evidence speak for itself.
Exhibit B: Memoryheads,Ā ābe seeing youā
Memoryheads are the first amalgamate we encounter in the True Lab. Before their spare conditions are met, they are known as " Ā Ā Ā " (six blank spaces). Gaster is frequently associated with the number six.Ā
If we attack the Memoryheads, these statements flash by quickly in red text:
FAILURE
But it didn't work.
nope
Absorbed
Don't worry about it.
I'm lovin' it.
Occurs when the player tries to name themselves Sans.
We see the phraseĀ ābe seeing youā in only these instances. Below is the Sound Test Room that has a chance to appear if the fun value is set to 65. This is the only place thatĀ āGasterās themeā can be accessed in-game.
Exhibit C: The dump
āThe abyssā makes an appearance again. Itās something to pay close attention to--itās always somehow related to Gaster. So what does a piece of trash falling into the abyss mean? Well, we know that Gaster āfellā into his creation...
We know that Flowey refers to Sans as āSmiley Trashbagā. Papyrus states that Sans frequents Grillbyās, aĀ āpurgatoryā and āhamburger abyssā.
(note: Papyrus is referring to a literal trash can here, but the implication that Sans isĀ ātrash-likeā is here)
If itās not clear what Iām getting to, then let me spell it out: Sans is a piece of Gaster, they are one and the same. Sans/Gaster took hisĀ āexperimentā with Deltarune too far, possibly destroying the world and displacing him in Undertale.Ā
Iāll continue this in another post because it seems that tumblr is breaking.
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