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jewels336-deactivated20170121

Compilation of Mysterious Papyrus Things

Random Strange Facts:

Papyrus is the only character to speak without an asterisk

Papyrus’s dialogue shakes on a consistent basis when no one else’s does

Papyrus is described as “forgettable,” something only mentioned elsewhere in context with Goner Kid and Gaster

Papyrus seems to be able to see what the player is looking at when he calls them (”THAT BAG OF DOG FOOD LOOKS FAMILIAR…”)

Papyrus seems to know that MTT has eyes before MTT becomes MTT Ex

Papyrus has a total of 2184 lines in the game—more than any other character, and almost as much as the narrator of the game, which is at 2418 lines. The next closest character is Undyne, with 1268 total lines.

Similar wording is used to describe Papyrus as it is to describe Gaster. (It’s rude to talk about someone who’s listening)

Papyrus’s theme, “Nyeh heh heh/Bonetrousle,” is used in all of the trailers of the game

Papyrus and Sans break the 4th wall in the stream greenlight trailer, which shocks Toriel

Papyrus flies/breaks the laws of physics casually and seemingly on a regular basis

Papyrus is one of the few characters that refers to gameplay mechanics (“PRESS [C] ON THE KEYBOARD FOR DATING HUD!” “HOLD UP LONGER TO JUMP HIGHER, JEEZ!”)

Papyrus says himself that he knows nothing about his hands because he always keeps his gloves on.

There is nothing, nothing known about his past before his showing up to Snowdin. By the end of the game and after some research, you can basically know more about Gaster and Sans than you do about Papyrus, despite him having the most dialogue in the game besides the narrator.

Papyrus has such control over his magic in his fight, that he can make his attacks do zero damage because he refuses to kill the human.

You are healed to full HP right before the Papyrus fight, as well as immediately after if you are captured.

Papyrus doesn’t seem to realize that Frisk is a kid, despite Frisk wearing a striped shirt, which is a common indicator for childhood in monster society. (is he unfamiliar with common monster culture, for some reason?)

Sans reads Papyrus bed time stories on a regular basis, but Papyrus himself never seems to sleep

The Undertale Q&A that Toby Fox did for Undertale’s anniversary revolves around Papyrus

His defense raises in the spare phase of his fight, unlike every other monster. He seems to be able to manipulate his own stats.

Relationships:

The two 4th wall breaking characters (Flowey and the Annoying Dog) seem to have a special interest in Papyrus

Annoying Dog:

Steals bone attacks on two separate occasions (Papyrus fight and aborted Genocide hangout, in which the “special attack” is hinted to be Gaster Blasters)

Steals bones in general on two occasions (Under Papyrus’s sink and during the hangout with Undyne)

Eats Papyrus’s lasagna

Snuggles with Papyrus

Flowey:

Says Papyrus started a “Flowey Fan Club”

Says Papyrus took a long time to get boring on his repeated runs

Asks Papyrus to call Frisk before the True lab, gather everyone together before the True Ending, and probably leave a note in Alphys’ trash can

Flowey is the only one who knows Papyrus’s favorite food, which is dinosaur oatmeal (no, it’s not spaghetti. Papyrus has never eaten it.)

When Flowey attacks the group during the True Pacifist fight, he binds everyone with two vines, except Papyrus–who he binds with four.

Sans (overlooking the bounteous brotherly goodness of the two):

Papyrus lies to him on a consistent basis

This is to probably humor Sans about his level of knowledge?

Papyrus still expects Sans to know more about Papyrus than Papyrus does himself?

Papyrus acts negatively towards Sans’s puns, but then turns around and makes the most (and arguably best) puns in the game out of anyone

Personality:

Doesn’t outwardly acknowledge criticism

According to Sans, he is trash-talked a lot

May have self-worth issues

Extremely blasé about his own death

Doesn’t seem to have friends, despite working very hard to get them

He phrases things in really strange ways. (”UNMANDATE IT SAFER”)

Papyrus staunchly refuses to really hurt people, despite it being very likely that he could be just as hard or harder of a fight than Sans

He has a strong and unshakeable belief that people can change (does he know this from personal experience?)

He hates Grillby’s and Hotland

He is an amazing artist

He considers himself a great chef, even if he doesn’t necessarily eat what he cooks

Quotes:

“DEADLY SPIKES, PRECARIOUS BRIDGES! TRULY THE PILLARS OF YOUTH!”

[when dying] “ALAS, POOR PAPYRUS. [this is quoting Shakespeare while he’s dying] WELL, AT LEAST I HAVE MY HEAD!”

“I WOULD NEVER TAKE A VACATION FOR ANY REASON!”

Undyne: “Papyrus… doesn’t know how to sleep??”

“I WANT TO MEET DEATH!”

“YOU CAN SEE YOUR REFLECTION IN A PUDDLE, BUT… DON’T LET A BODY OF WATER DETERMINE YOUR SELF WORTH!”

“IT’S MY LEAST FAVORITE NIGHTMARE!” – referring to Hotland lasers and conveyors

“A MYSTERIOUS SCIENCE HOUSE. […] LABORADOR-Y?” When talking about Alphys’s lab with Sans present.

“A LAB?? MY BROTHER WOULD LOVE THAT!” –when talking about Alphys’s lab without Sans present.

“ICE CREAM? THANKS, BUT I LIVE IN SNOWDIN! THERE’S ICE CREAM ALL OVER THE GROUND!” –when talking about ice cream when Sans is present.

“I TRIED TO CAPTURE YOU… WHERE’S MY ICE CREAM.” –when talking about ice cream without Sans present.

“STOP LOOKING IN MY EMPTY MAIL BOX. THAT’S MY EMPTINESS, NOT YOURS.”

“I AM A PRETTY BRUTAL KIND OF GUY.”

“HOTLAND! I KNOW IT LIKE THE BACK OF MY HAND. WHICH, SINCE I’M ALWAYS WEARING GLOVES… I DON’T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT!”

“WELL, IF YOU WANT TO GET SOMEONE TO OPEN UP, YOU SHOULD ENGAGE THEM IN COMBAT! HUM HUM HUM…” – before the Shyren encounter. This is one of the few times where Papyrus actually gives you something helpful, but how does he know?

Links for additional reading/theories(most links to @batter-sempai, @papyrus-knows, and @queenofdragons6 posts and reblogs): Optimism does not make Papyrus naive Papyrus casually breaking laws of physics Strange music (or lack of) in Papyrus’s room Brutal kind of guy screenshots Some disturbing connections Some suspicious screenshots Part 3 of a sans theory where the writer realizes Papyrus is ridiculously mysterious Chara and Papyrus similarities–they’re always smiling! Phone call and 4th wall suspicions Papyrus surprising cynicism Sans and Papyrus dynamic speculation Vague Gaster and Papyrus connection Papyrus’s skewed views on what is safe for kids… possible backstory connection? Another compilation of sketchy Papyrus-y things Insomnia and nightmares More on music and rooms Papyrus creeped out by echo flowers Papyrus and Annoying Dog interactions (there are a surprising amount) Sans and Papyrus dynamic speculation 2 Papyrus: treated like a child Papyrus: nasty words with a huge grin The fodder for many an amnesiac theory Papyrus is literally the skeleton in the closet Papyrus battle mechanics and minor Flowey connections The dude is lonely Theory: is Papyrus Gaster? More Papyrus fighting skill plus reality breaking phone call He’s a gentleman Papyrus doesn’t sleep Undertale Q&A/Papyrus’s favorite food Reference–How many lines each character has in the game Debunking Stupid Papyrus 1 – he knows what death is Debunking Stupid Papyrus 2 – the sink height. Strange, but workable Debunking Stupid Papyrus 3 – “solving” the horoscope Debunking Stupid Papyrus 4 – the lab Debunking Stupid Papyrus 5 – pet rock Debunking Stupid Papyrus 6 – spaghetti

eroshiyda

Papyrus masterpost! :D

tentadog-deactivated20220704

I didn’t realize there’s so much strange shit about papyrus

takashi0

#undertale#long post#all this shit and matpat still makes blind reaching theories

centipedelightning

Hey. Hey psstttt Valentine you should totally tell us all the ways Papyrus shows his Autismcore Swagger(tm) 👁️ 👁️

This is gonna be a dissertation good god. Toni you don’t know what you’ve brought into the world. Also this isn’t really gonna be a “look at all the way’s he Is autistic!!” As much as look at all the correct reasons he’s autistic so I will be covering a lot of character misconceptions.

The correct and lore accurate reasons why Papyrus is autistic (and debunking some incorrect points bc I can’t stand misinformation) in no particular order. A whole lot more under cut.

Safe Food

a lot of people consider spaghetti to be Papyrus’ safe food or something but papyrus hasn’t even eaten his own food.

You might be able to argue that him making spaghetti all the time is a weird habit or missed social cue, but it isn’t a “safe food”. Hell, him not eating his own food is why he constantly misses social cues about how it’s actually super bad.

Face Blind

Is face blindness an autism trait? Tbh I’m not sure, but I‘m autistic and mildly face blind so I’m bringing it up. Papyrus seems relatively unable to tell the difference between faces. He does not recognize that Toriel is a different person from Asgore.

You might also be able to make a case about how he refers to Frisk as “Human” the whole time because he can’t differentiate than from others but that’s not really a strong point, so it’s being skipped.

dont-touch-the-flower-child

HOT TAKE but I think some parts of the fandom mistake the reason Flowey likes Papyrus SO MUCH and it’s usually due to a grave misinterpretation of both characters.

Fanon: Papyrus, Most Innocent and Naive Idiot, becomes the perfect plaything in Flowey’s eyes. Thus the Sadistic Evil Weed spent countless resets trying to break the former with advanced torture.

And it’s really out of character for me because Flowey simply isn’t sadistic for the sake of being sadistic. He started killing because he was curious. He wanted to know what happens next. There is NO WAY that curious, allergic-to-routine Flowey would find the screaming of a naive idiot entertaining. There is NO WAY that he would take any prolonged interest in someone he only sees as a naive idiot.

Here are way better things to consider:

Flowey recognizes his similarities with Papyrus.

Flowey is intrigued by the mysteries behind Papyrus.

Flowey gets mad when people treat Papyrus as if he knows nothing because he’s so much smarter than they think.

Flowey is outraged that Undyne lies to Papyrus about his prospects of becoming Royal Guard.

Flowey is in awe of how good Papyrus is at fighting.

Flowey is in awe of how Papyrus shows strength through pacifism. Flowey respects Papyrus for staring a killer in the eyes, knowing what they’re up to and feeling afraid—and believing in them regardless.

Papyrus keeps Flowey from going off the deep end by sustaining his faith in pacifism. Papyrus fills Flowey with shame by reminding him that he’s no longer that person.

You can come to Papyrus with a body count, with the dust of his family and friends on your face, and he’d still smile at you and tell you that you’re better than you think you are.

He never changes, even when everyone else does. When everyone else stare at you in shock and fear and disbelief and call you a demon, in stark contrast with how they treat you when you wear that plastic smile and try to fix all their problems, Papyrus always calls you a friend, always wants to be your friend, always treats you as a friend.

It’s the first time you don’t find something unchanging boring.

Flowey both hates himself more and loves himself more, because of Papyrus. Flowey thinks he doesn’t deserve Papyrus, but Papyrus loves him anyway.

How’s that for a change.

wolfer-aid

papyrus’s lost soul dialogue intrigues me (said with a general air of mental illness). i wonder why after he says ‘I MUST CAPTURE A HUMAN’ and ‘THEN EVERYONE WILL,’ he just goes quiet .

papyrus NEVER goes quiet!!! sure he takes judgmental pauses every now and then because he’s a bit of a bitch (i say affectionately) but he never just gives up on a sentence. it’s almost like he doesn’t believe what he’s saying . Lol . it’s almost like he doesn’t think ‘then everyone will’ be his friend, like him, etc. Lol . almost like he thinks making friends is a lost cause . Who else is laughing and smiling and sticking their head in a hydraulic press

eroshiyda

Papyrus is the older brother.

Everyone thinks Sans is the older brother because he “reads Papyrus bedtime stories” and pays the rent.

Remember that Sans is a jokester. He probably doesn’t read Papyrus bedtime stories. He says “Papyrus gets cranky without his bedtime story” while winking, which means it was a joke, because every time he winks is when he tells a joke or makes a pun. Plus, who is more likely to be the jokester: the younger brother or the older brother?

Yes, Sans has depression. That doesn’t make him older. It also doesn’t mean that, because he tries to hide his depression behind a perpetual smile that he is older/more mature than Papyrus.

You might say, “But Papyrus wears a costume all of the time!” So what? I wear costumes sometimes, and I’m 28. There’s no age limit on costumes.

Besides, Sans says to Frisk at several points, “Isn’t my brother cool?” Who says that about their younger brother?

And so what if Sans pays the rent? Do you know who got him his job as a sentry in the first place? Papyrus. Sans says so himself. Papyrus knows that Sans has depression and wants him to keep busy instead of being self-destructive.

Which brings me to my next point: Papyrus is bossy. As an older sister myself, I can tell you that we older siblings are definitely bossy towards our younger siblings. And younger siblings can talk back all they want, but they know they can’t boss us around. The most they can get away with is making jokes about how bossy we are.

You want to know the real reason I think Papyrus is the older brother? Look at his stats. Papyrus is 20 (or at least 3) times stronger than Sans, who has both Attack and Defense as 1.

Not convincing enough? Who do you fight first, Papyrus or Sans? Papyrus. Everyone thinks that Sans is the protector of Papyrus and therefore the older one, but pay attention; why would Sans let Papyrus fight you first? Why didn’t Sans jump in to save Papyrus when Frisk/Chara was kicking his butt?

Because Sans knows he’s not as powerful as Papyrus. How does he know this? Papyrus probably has never fought anyone before. But Sans already knows because Papyrus is his older brother. That’s why Sans completely disappears after you kill Papyrus: because you killed his protector. There’s nothing standing in your way from killing Sans anymore.

So why does Sans tell you not to fight Papyrus in a Genocide/No Mercy run? That’s easy: because he knows that Papyrus will destroy you if he uses his full power on you. Remember, Sans made a promise to Toriel that he would protect all of the humans he saw in the Underground. When he warns you not to fight his big brother, it’s because he’s protecting YOU, not Papyrus.

What Sans didn’t account for is that Papyrus is so genuinely non-violent that his stats lower to 3 automatically during a Genocide/No Mercy run, making him an easy kill for Frisk/Chara. It is demonstrated time and time again (and even outright stated) in Undertale that, the less someone wants to inflict damage, the less damage they will end up inflicting.

So, after Papyrus’ death, Sans becomes speechless, a recluse, vengeful, basically the opposite of the facade that was hiding his depression before. He is absolutely stunned that you were able to kill Papyrus. So he starts planning his revenge on you. And he does as much damage to Frisk/Chara as he can possibly muster, because he knows how strong they had to be in order to kill his older brother, who is 20 times stronger than Sans himself.

And that’s why you fight Papyrus first; no doubt Sans has told Papyrus that Frisk/Chara has been killing other monsters, and so Papyrus steps up to the plate as Sans’ protector to stop Frisk/Chara, so that Sans doesn’t have to break his promise to Toriel. Papyrus knows what he has to do, even though deep down, he really does believe that Frisk can change. He knows that Sans wouldn’t lie to him about Frisk, but he is torn between protecting his little brother and being kind to his absolute core.

I know it’s comical to think of Papyrus as an overgrown child, as being the much younger and much taller brother of Sans. But I really believe that there is much more to Papyrus’ character than being so one-dimensional.

It could even be that Papyrus also has depression, but he deals with it in a different way than Sans does because their personalities are so different from one another. Papyrus has dissociated into being another character - The Great Papyrus - because he doesn’t want to deal with reality anymore. He focuses on what traits he has that he thinks are helpful (protecting his brother, being orderly, showing kindness), and he channels these traits into The Great Papyrus, his idealized self. He wants to set a good example for Sans, and he has to be strong to continue being his little brother’s protector. So he dresses up as a superhero to cheer up both his brother and himself, while still fulfilling his duties as an older brother.

I suggest reading @napstamuse’s theory about Papyrus here: napstamuse.tumblr.com in Goner Theory Part 3.

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

What do you think of Papyrus as being willfully naive? Like not that he doesn't know of the bad in the world, but that he DOES and he hates it, so he just... pretends it doesn't exist for a little while. And when he really needs to, he can shelve the denial.

Idk, I could be projecting, because that's exactly how I feel about stuff.

that's it. that's what papyrus does in game.

but I'll be more specific about the way he pretends to be "naive" :

1. he pretends to not know some things and changes his opinion when sans or undyne are around.

2. he says he doesn't know about some things then later he reveals that he actually knows. (like what happens to humans who meet asgore)

3. he can be pessimistic when he's alone .

4. he pretends to not know about the bad things that happened , as you said , because he doesn't want to think of it . and tries to make things better .(like some endings )

5. something i want to add , that he's aware of many things that the fandom think he's not aware of . like death , or sex , etc..... and he never hid that (simple) knowledge nor pretended being oblivious of them :D

so his acts depends on people around him . and as my uppercase theory says .. he never actually showed us his real self the whole game ....

anyway , thanks for the ask !

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

I feel like people forget the only reason everyone shows up in true pacifist is because Papyrus called them. Like ya, Flowey told him to get ‘em but Papyrus is the one who convinced everyone. And not just the main group, the ENTIRE underground. Say what you will about him, but you can’t deny that he knows how to talk to people and get them to do stuff

Y E S .

tell those people who think "pAPyrUs iS sO iNNocEnT ! hE dOeSN't kNOw bEttER!!"

also don't forget he convinced undyne, the most stubborn monster , to befriend you , a human .

he knows how to deal with any type of people, even if he's lonely. that's how he's so smart socially (he's also has more types of smartness)

(also , i have a deep belief and trust, that he AND flowey planned that together, and papyrus knew flowey will "backstab" him , but what flowey didn't know , he'll also have a happy ending )

thank you anon!!! I'm sick and tired of those people who infantilize papyrus!!

sharada-n

Could you elabirate about why Papyrus reminds Flowey of Chara? I'm really curious.

Sure, but I want to preface this by saying its been ages since I’ve written Undertale Meta so excuse me for being a bit rusty. Also, there’s a lot of personal conjecture and interpretation here so feel free to take what I say with a grain of salt…

This is pretty much a counter argument to people claiming that Papyrus resembling Asriel is the reason why he’s Floweys favorite. I’ll get into why I think that isn’t true in a second (and why I think he actually is more like Chara) but first I’d like to point out that this theory doesn’t even make sense.

Flowey’s relationship with Asriel is complicated. On a technical level they’re the same person, yes, but in reality, they’re more like separate entities. While I do believe there is some Asriel left in Flowey, Asriel himself states at the end of the pacifist route that Flowey and he are not the same. More importantly though, Flowey talks about Asriel with clear resentment. He says Asriel was weak and blames the failure of the plan to free monsterkind on himself.

Keeping this in mind, it doesn’t make sense that Papyrus reminding Flowey of Asriel would be a positive thing to him. Especially considering the way Flowey speaks about his first encounters with Asgore and Toriel. Flowey doesn’t seem to want a constant reminder of his old life around, let alone a constant reminder of his old self. If Papyrus was like Asriel, I can only imagine Flowey would resent him too and not have him as a best friend.

“But Shara,” I hear you cry “Flowey is hardly a good friend. In fact, he’s kind of a jerk and he manipulated Papyrus in the pacifist ending!”. Which, yes, that’s a fair point. I’m not saying he deserves a “friend of the year” award, but I’ve definitely been over why I feel their friendship is not just a charade on Flowey’s part. It might have started as such, but it’s not anymore I think.

For example, the plan to use Papyrus to lure everybody into his trap at the end of the pacifist route wasn’t concocted until after Frisk fell, and they were friends long before that, so it can’t be the reason why Flowey befriended him in the first place.

Granted this is veering a little into headcanon territory, but there also is canon evidence to support this, such as the anniversary event where Flowey was the only one who knew what Papyrus’ favorite food was, and was seemingly annoyed at the fact that nobody else knew.

And also the dialogue you get if you keep doing neutral runs without ever attempting a genocide or pacifist run.

Here Flowey accuses the player of continually resetting and visiting him out of curiosity and boredom rather than a genuine desire to befriend him. This mirrors the part where he talks about his friendship with Papyrus being a result of his own curiosity and Papyrus (for some reason not actually properly explained in canon) being “fun to mess with” and a character that took a long time for Flowey to get bored off. Then we get this tidbit:

Not only is this line very interesting but the facial expression is important too. You can read it as discomfort, clearly, but it is also very much a guilty expression. This is the same expression Flowey has at the end of the pacifist route when addressing the player and compelling them not to reset anymore because it would take away everybody’s happy ending. It also happens to be the same expression he has when talking about the Flowey Fan Club as well as at the exact line I mentioned above, where he admits Papyrus was his “favorite”.

Seems to me like Flowey is expressing guilt or embarrassment about his original intentions behind befriending Papyrus…

Now to get into the main thing: Why do people think Papyrus and Asriel are similar? The hard part is that we don’t know that much about Asriel when you think about it. He’s been long dead before the events of the game. We get some bits and pieces here and there but most info comes from Flowey himself, who is hardly an unbiased source. However, it’s fair to say Asriel was very kind, innocent even, and pretty naive. A crybaby, in his own words. And if you take the most shallow, basic interpretation of Papyrus (the kind of fanon that makes me want to pull my hair out) what do you get? That Papyrus is kind, innocent and naive.

The only word in that list I do not take offense to is kind. Papyrus is undeniably a very kind person. But he is not innocent or naive. I could go into why I say this but honestly, it has been argued to death not just by me but by the entire fandom at this point, you’ve all heard it before. Papyrus is an actor. He’s good at showing people the parts of himself he wants them to see. It’s unlikely that he’s completely faking it, I do believe Papyrus is genuinely a positive and quirky person. But he’s also playing up those parts to the extreme. Which leaves us with a lot of subtle clues as to his real feelings. Meanwhile, Asriel wears his heart on his sleeve. Crybaby, remember? And what about Asriel being a coward? Papyrus is anything but a coward.

So let’s talk about Chara then. Once again we face the same problem we did earlier. Chara is long gone and we don’t know a lot about them besides what Flowey tells us, unless you subscribe to the “Chara is the narrator” theory, which I personally do, but since I know some people are still on the fence regarding this I’ll keep to strictly canon dialogue first.

Asriel says Chara wasn’t the nicest person. True enough, their plan to destroy the barrier by means of killing themselves and then a bunch of humans wasn’t exactly a solid idea. However, it was made with good intentions. Chara was willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of freeing their newfound family. Chara wanted to help fix something they saw as undeniably wrong: the way humans treat others.

But this was also about revenge. Chara was bitter. They didn’t climb the mountain for a happy reason, according to Asriel. Asgore tells us something different too. He says he can see “the same hope in Frisk’s eyes that he saw in [Chara]”. So here we find what is both the big similarity and the big difference between Chara and Papyrus. Both of them are genuinely filled with hope, with belief, and with the motivation to make things better. They just manifested it differently.

Where Papyrus seems to maintain this disposition even in the face of adversary and unkindness, believing in you all the way until his death in the genocide route, Chara has already faced the kind of behavior that has made them resentful of things they consider unfair or unjust.

Both of them are willing to act upon these feelings of righteousness at least, however ill-advised, in contrast with Asriel (or ironically: Sans), who seems to be a more static, laid back person that didn’t like shaking up the status quo and just went along with what others did. Even Flowey himself only engages when he’s sure he has an ace up his sleeve and is unwilling to act thoughtlessly or impulsively.

As the tape in the True Lab betrays, Chara was also a hard person to read, and both an excellent liar as well as an actor. They were hard to figure out, at the very least, and Asriel expressed joy at seeing a glimpse of their unguarded emotions when they smiled genuinely. Once again though, Chara seems to do this because they want to come across as colder and more emotionless than they really are, giving the impression that they don’t care about anyone or anything. While Papyrus is always trying to come across more happy and untroubled than he really is, and rather keeps his more negative feelings to himself.

The result for both of them is the same though: they are distanced from their friends and family, I’d almost go as far as to say that even those closest to them barely know them, and they are misunderstood in the most fundamental way. Their motivations are harder to figure out than those of most other characters, for sure. It would definitely go some way into explaining why Flowey was so fascinated by Papyrus from the start…

If you do believe in the Narra!Chara theory, there are some small details that match too. Chara is a rather goofy person actually and often makes jokes, but expresses disgust at puns and Sans’ rather lazy sense of humor where he goes for the most obvious wordplays. Just like Papyrus, who the fandom often portrays as hating puns when in reality he loves them, just not the kind Sans makes because they’re easy. Chara is also implied to be quite fond of books/reading and cooking, as is Papyrus. They both come across as inquisitive to me. The narrator’s retorts can be unexpectedly sarcastic, or even dark, not unlike some of Papyrus’ dialogue. There’s some other minor things but honestly this post is way too long as is so I’ll just leave it there

Conclusion: Flowey made the same mistake the fandom made in assuming Papyrus was a one-dimensional person who is easy to fool, only be confronted with his new best friend being strangely similar to his old one and now he has no soul and a weird attachment to this strange skeleton who everybody underestimates. He even admits that Chara is the only person he would still care about now. Kind of a weird statement, except if you consider he has found somebody like Chara that sparked some kind of actual emotion in him (whether that be friendship, compassion, guilt, or something else)

What do you guys think? I’d love to hear your thoughts, or if you want to tell me this post was a horrible read from start to finish you can do that too

dubiousjuicebox

Tier list for each Undertale character’s fourth-wall awareness, along with reasons behind their placements! I’ve probably missed some characters consider how meta Undertale gets.

S tier was originally just Flowey and Chara until I remembered that Mettaton has a copy of Undertale he used during the news segment. He literally owns the game in-universe. How the fuck. (okay it’s a bomb but still)

Thanks to @canonpapyrusfan for the Papyrus-related info! Papyrus definitely knows what’s up, on par with Sans’ meta awareness.

I was kinda unsure where to place Mew Mew on this. Telling you get get another system to repeat unique dialogue is powerful, but also could be handwaved that she just wants her own GAMERBOX as a bribe.

undertalethingems

Okay but that Papyrus iceberg just gave me a bunch of really dark theories, I might have to consider writing a fanfiction about some of those them...👀

oh, there’s plenty of room for dark papyrus stuff, it’s just that so much of the broader fandom has stuck with the initial impression of “naive fool who doesn’t know what death is and only eats spaghetti” that any other possibility just never occurs to them. sure, there’s ‘disbelief’ or whatever other edgy AUs like it--but canon Undertale provides plenty of story starters by itself. i’ve written at least as much angst focusing on papyrus as i have sans, because yeah. the potential’s there, you just have to put the pieces together.

Papyrus says he’s “a brutal kind of guy” in one of the phone calls. Considering his philosophy--”even the worst person can change”--is he speaking from experience? Was he once... not very good at all? Who knows, we have absolutely 0 ideas about his past. He could be joking! We just don’t know.

“There are no skeletons in my closet, except me sometimes” What does that mean??! Again, could just be joking, but it’s hard to tell with him!

Why doesn’t he sleep? Why do echo flowers make him nervous? Why does he hate Hotland? Why does he work so hard to get recognition, only to be described as “forgettable”? There are several neutral endings to play with where Papyrus wouldn’t be having the best time--the King Papyrus is just one you could explore.

i have concepts about papyrus that i don’t even know what to do with, because they’re feelings more than a concrete idea i can write a story from. I really wanna do something with this guy:

but an actual idea for a story with him? forget it (ha)

So i am 100% behind people writing more fics that explore the weirdness of Papyrus, because Sans? i love the guy, but we kinda know what’s up with him. his brother...? who knows, because he sure won’t say anything about it. and i find that pretty fun to explore as an artist. so yeah, go for it, i already know a lot of people who’ll be excited besides me :>

uselessundertalefacts

This text isn’t normally accessible in-game. It theoretically shows up after you finish the Alphys date and before you get the phone call from Papyrus, but since you can’t get back to Snowdin before getting the call, this never happens. I don’t understand what he’s trying to say here, but it almost sounds like something reset-aware Papyrus might say? Maybe?

eroshiyda

Of course Papyrus is aware of resets. Even moreso than Sans, Papyrus tries as best as he can to not affect the outcome of each timeline. That’s why he treats Frisk the same way in every run, no matter how many people Frisk has killed. That’s why he mentions Pacifist runs in No Mercy runs, and vice versa. That’s why, when he breaks the fourth wall, it’s to subtly inform Frisk about the ending based upon Frisk’s actions. That’s why Sans’ space-time bending seems perfectly normal to him.

papyrus-onlyblogokay

Yeah but also:

How many people disappeared in your life to assume its normal papyrus?

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

yes , with this smile , he knows people who disappeared , ahem . (but couldn’t he just meant that alphys always disappears? no right?)

also undyne is just standing next to papyrus and hear this XD

batter-sempai

This line from Papyrus still baffles me and I still can’t figure out what he’s hinting at. Especially the “numbers” comment.

humankk

Hope that’s not a reference to 90% of neutral run where Alphys literally disappear

batter-sempai

That does bring up the question of whether Papyrus knows about other endings/timelines and knows that Alphys disappears for most of them.

He does make a reference to endings in the true pacifist end. He says this is the “WORST POSSIBLE ENDING” because he doesn’t get to be a royal guard. The true pacifist ending is the only ending where he isn’t dead or a royal guard.

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

i mean sure he does , if he begs you in some endings to bring back his friends, and say he’s hardworking even for nothing at all , and planned with flowey, sure he 100% knows about endings if not remembers it

birdsareblooming

Ya’ll I have the funniest but the most explanatory Sans and Papyrus headcanon who wants to hear it.

birdsareblooming

Ok so.

This theory is old as time, but we’re all pretty sure Sans worked at the lab at some point. With the dog food bag that was in there that Papyrus recognized, the ‘hint hint, nudge nudge’ that there was a dog in there, the fact that Alphys and Sans know each other well enough to talk over each others sentences.

It’s well established.

Thing is, because of Papyrus phone call dialogue, I found something else:

((This is before he has eyes))

((As you can see, this is in waterfall….WAY BEFORE the cooking show happens))

((He also knows for sure that a ghost used to live in MTTs house, despite you not telling him so, him never reading the diaries, and no one else really knowing this.))

So uhm……Weird that Papyrus can perfectly predict at least two of Alphys’ inventions, even already claiming to know MTTs eyes.

So uhh, this sounds uneducated but my first thought was “HOLY SHIT DOES PAPY WORK AT THE LAB TOO”

OKokok

So it’s possible that he’s just the idea guy. Alphys and him ARE friends on social media. So it’s fully possible that he tells her his random invention ideas and Alphys is just like “Dude I can make that happen.”

However.

This spawned the funniest headcanon I might ever have.

Papyrus does work at the lab, at least somewhat, for money or fun or something to do instead of sleeping.

But he works invention-wise. He’s the idea guy and helps Alphys build shit. (maybe even the DT machine who knows) In return she’s his friend and gives him puzzles to use (al legit gave papyrus a free puzzle)

Thing is, this is a kinda weird situation for Pap, because (maybe bc of he-who-shall-not-be-named) He and Sans don’t really care for the lab, and Papyrus wants to commit to being in the royal guard.

So Papyrus keeps this as a secret from Sans either for the reasons stated above or a surprise.

But.

Sans also used to work at the lab. But he helped out with the DT experiments, something Papyrus never knew about. Sans also still helps out presently, with taking care of the amalgamates at least. And, because the DT experiments went really bad, he’s also keeping this a secret from Papyrus.

So both brothers worked at the lab, and both are keeping this a secret from each other.

And poor Alphys has to juggle both of them.

birdsareblooming

@imagine-papyrus @drundertalescum I think Yall would like this

damion-the-skeleton

Alphys, trying to talk to both brothers:

justiceforskeles

everyone headcanoning papyrus as some uwu pure cinnamon roll baby boy when we all know the truth is he says fuck a lot more than his goblin of a brother

boxlizard

No more babying Papyrus to the point of having a negative kneejerk reaction to people who characterize him as being capable of swearing you demons. LET PAPYRUS SAY FUCK 202!

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

when someone talks about an au that treats papyrus well, what come to ppl mind usually is either disbelief or glitchtale . but actually , for me at least , it's either dustbelief or inverted fate . why?

because in papyrus' powers , the four work well. but most importantly, his personality, dustbelief/ invented fate is way better. in the first mentioned two AUs above , they picture papyrus as innocent and truthful (and honestly, papyrus is the biggest lier I've ever seen in a video game) but make everyone else (even who's younger than him like frisk) aware and more mature than him . or , make him regret being blinded by hope , trying to kill you but fails/ crys because he doesn't want to, etc. and this Characteraziations are so .. far from canon , and a big misunderstanding for papyrus ..

but in the second two AUs mentioned , inverted fate and dustbelief, they make him more mature , energetic , and more close to his canon self than any other AU .

(and honestly i usually don't really like dust AUs , but dustbelief is really good, it's one of the rare AUs i don't regret seeing it . I LOVE IT) (i didn't read an AU for a long time btw)

sadly, inverted fate and dustbelief are kinda underrated to people, and i wish they was more popular. i mean,no AU is perfect, BUT they're Better than the other ones .

idk i wanna hear some opinions about them from you guys? am i wrong?? it's just me ?

also if there is any other AU treated papyrus well and is underrated please tell me i wanna hug- i mean read it ^^

batter-sempai

🔥 papyrus

Unpopular opinion on Papyrus as a character? Or how he is portrayed by the fandom?

For an unpopular opinion on Papyrus’ characterization, I kind of want to see him having more emotions besides being cheerful? I mean we do see him get mad at Sans, and feel sad when talking to us in the King Papyrus neutral end. But I would love to see what he’s like when he’s really angry, and not just annoyed at his brother’s jokes. We’ve seen what Undyne and Sans are like when they’re furious, and it’s terrifying. I would love to see Papyrus being terrifying as well.

For his portrayal by the fandom, I want to see more protective Papyrus. The fandom really likes protective Sans, and some people also portray other characters as being protective over him. I’d love to see him being overprotective over Sans for a change in fancomics and fanfics, getting furious if anyone so much dared to threaten Sans. And also him being protective over Undyne, and even Frisk.

canonpapyrusfan-deactivated2022

I honestly hate protective sans bc papyrus in canon is more protective. Do you call saying to a murderer they’ll have a bad time if they continue the path they’re on an act of protection? Did he even do the promise he made for toriel ? He literally watches you fighting and does nothing . Papyrus protects frisk from the path they’re on instead of threatening them ! He also may have kept flowey from hurting everyone for a long time, and may also protect flowey from the genocide path as well so that’s why flowey talks about papyrus like how he talks to chara ? Idk …

papyrus-onlyblogokay

Dude, sans would let us walk off a cliff and die.

Papyrus would jump off the cliff for you and take the blow.

Try and think of one time sans tried to help you.

Hes popular cause hes funny.

It hides the fact that hes a dick, and as much as he says he cares about papyrus.. He doesn’t even try.

Dude, I can be depressed or lazy, but im not making my family clean up after my mess 24/7 like an irresponsible dickhead.

Sure you pay for the house, and get those paperwork in check, and crack a joke or 2.

But if that’s all your doing? Fuck you.

Also, wtf is papyrus doing that makes him stay up so late that he defines sleeping as “naps”

Probably he does power naps, which seem accurate.

Not to mention, when papyrus dies, you know what sans does?

He goes to toriel instead.

You cant even live on your own, by yourself, or even greive my dude.

He’s like a fucking leech, and i am GLAD TO NEVER WRITE THIS MAN IN MY AU AS A MAIN PROTAG.

BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY BETTER CHARACTERS THAN HIM.

zarla-s

Tragic Detail of the Day: I posted before about how Sans and Papyrus share a lot of the same attacks, in particular a certain attack where tiny bones rapidly criss-cross across the screen (Sans’s is harder but it’s basically the same). I was messing around in Papyrus’s battle and I noticed that he always does this attack at the same time during the battle for the same line of dialogue.

He always does this attack when he’s thinking about Sans.

And this attack (plus a lot of taller bones…) is the first one Sans uses in his own battle after his initial barrage.

So if a monster’s attack pattern is a way to express their feelings… then that attack is each of them thinking about the other.

Additional Detail: I somehow didn’t notice this before, but at the very end of Papyrus’s one blue/one white attack, he sends one set of bones at you at about the same speed Sans does. So he is actually capable of going that fast if he wanted to, but he doesn’t.

courtpheasent

A Brief Analysis of the “Alas! Poor Papyrus!” Line and Why It Hurts Me

We’ve all got a favorite quote from Undertale. It’s hard not to, with how good the writing and story telling is. I can still quote many lines from memory.

However, one line in particular often goes over looked. It’s not all that surprising, as it really doesn’t seem like to much on the surface. Just three lines of amusing filler before the real shit hits the fans. I think it’s more than that.

In a Neutral route, Papyrus will say two things upon his death. Firstly, when in the initial decapitation he will say “Alas! Poor Papyrus!” while still holding his head. Next, he will declare “Well, at least I still have my head!” before finally dying.

The last quotation is going to need an analysis of its own, so we’re just gonna focus on the first one for right now.

(Screenshot credit to Fallen Rub from SomethingAwful forums)

So! First off, that’s a pretty weird thing to say. Imagine your head just for socked off my a homicidal seven year old with a god complex. Would your reaction be to smile- because he is smiling- and say something odd like that? What does that even mean?

It’s Shakespeare.

He’s reciting a line from Hamlet. To be specific, line from Act 5, Scene 1 of the play. The title character is given the skull of the old Court Jester, Yorik. Hamlet proceeds to lament to the skull, discussing the fond memories he has with it, as if it were still alive. He contemplates the nature of death and memory, declaring “Alas! Poor Yorik! I knew him, Horatio. A fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy....” (Hamlet, Act-V, Scene-I, Lines 160-162).

(Hamlet Pictured here is David Tennant)

Interestingly, Papyrus is not putting himself in the place of Hamlet. He isn’t just declaring his mortality, he’s also calling himself a fool. Yorik as a character is characterized as a comic relief. He is a fool, a clown. Someone to be jeered and laughed at. Even in his death, he is called nothing more.

This may allude to Papyrus’s view on himself. Under all of his confidence and flamboyant personality, the guy clearly has some insecurities. He’s well aware that not a ton of people like him, or even notice he’s there. That’s got to wear away at someone after a while.

It’s a bit of a stretch, but I think it’s interesting none the less.

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