Papyrus's original concept in Undertale was to be a less likeable, fedora-wearing "nice guy," as in someone who's creepy and "doesn't know how to talk to women," based on this post:
As we know, he was mellowed out to still be socially awkward, but in a more endearing way, rather than this early "jerkass" version of him. This personality is moreso similar to Berdly, honestly (though to be clear I like Berdly's character).
Now, another common theory is that Sans and Papyrus are from the Deltarune world, and were transported to Undertale's world somehow. Without explaining it too much, there's a lot of evidence to support this, such as Sans having memorabilia of 3 characters smiling in Undertale (maybe the fun gang), Sans and Papyrus showing up in the Undertale world from somewhere that isn't the underground or the surface, and Sans' parallel tracks It's Raining Somewhere Else (UT) and The Place Where it Rained (DT).
So the third thing is in Deltarune something strange is going on with Papyrus, as he conspicuously stays at home all day with his "bones trousling," a complete contrast than his extraverted personality in Undertale. This is why I think it's possible for Deltarune Papyrus to be revealed to akin to this earlier "jerkass" version of him, which he will grow from before the events of Undertale. Even if he's not a "jerkass," I feel like the theory that he will be a less grown, more introverted version of himself in general, which I *have* seen discussed before, is very possible.
Ultimately though, although I find this far more unlikely, this ties in with the Papyrus Ch6 secret boss theory as, if he's actually an asshole, it would vaguely give more of an explanation on why he fights you. However, this theory has basically no grounds on its own and seems like a halfjoke so I don't think this will happen. But if it did, jerkass Papyrus would fit.
It might be seen as frustrating and a character assasination since it's sort of opposite character growth. It might be hard to buy based on how kind and likeable he is in Undertale, which might make it frustrating to see. Like, he was changed from this earlier idea for a reason.
Honestly, I'm not sure how much of a "jerkass" he even is in this concept art. He kind of just says something that seems selfish and wears a fedora. The narrative I extrapolated is similar to Woody from Toy Story's improvement from his original villainous role to a flawed protagonist as the film was written, but I think the difference is much smaller and could easily just have gone down to Toby cutting these specific scenes.
So, now that I've thought it through I honestly think this theory is only 3/10 likely. However, I do think the more general "Papyrus is a more introverted, less grown version of himself has more of a 6/10 chance of happening. I see UT Sans&Papyrus = DT Sans&Papyrus as 8/10, and the Ch6 Papyrus secret boss theory as like 2/10. Either way I'm interested what Papyrus's role in Deltarune will be.
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