#goner3

[napstamuse]

Yo I'm starting to think that Pap may have a teensy bit of Determination like Undyne and Sans. If you kill him, his body disappears instantly but /his head doesn't until much later/. He stays alive as a head to give you several last sentences before he dies for real. Now, he's not the only other monster who sticks around after being drained to 0HP (see Toriel & Asgore), but it's strange that he stays conscious even after most his body has been turned to dust. idek about this but... (pt.1)

(pt.2) what if the reason that's the case is because after The Incident, he became so full of despair that he fell down? Sans, utterly distraught and desperate, refused to let this be his baby bro's final fate. So he took him to Alphys. He stayed by his side as his lifeless body was injected with just the right amount of Determination. And turns out those experiments amounted to something beneficial after all, because Papyrus became the first and last completely successful "resurrection".

*Wheezes* PAPYRUS HATING HIMSELF SO MUCH THAT HE FALLS DOWN, WHY WOULD YOU SUGGEST SUCH A THING

M Y HEA RT

[napstamuse]

The fact that Sans had to remind himself to not forget suggests that him and Papyrus are forgetting Gaster. And wouldn't that be better? For Papyrus to allow himself to forget what he did, to stop the sensation of his sins crawling on his back when he travels with the River Person. He tries to sleep as little as possible because when he sleeps he sees Gasters death and he tries to ignore the feeling of being watched in Waterfall, but try as hard as he can, Papyrus remembers more than he'd like.

I still can’t quite decide how much I think Papyrus knows. I still don’t think he has explicit memories of anything, but I could totally see him having nightmares of Gaster’s death and waking up, feeling terrible but not really knowing why.

Honestly............. They actually might be better off forgetting. Poor Gaster would be alone forever, and without anybody, but Sans and Papyrus wouldn’t have to hurt over it anymore, as awful as it sounds. Gah, I don’t even know ;-;

[napstamuse]

"What if that would hurt him more though? Like… I feel like he might take that as 'Despite how hard you try, you’ll never change what you are.'" i knOW I REALIZED AFTER I SENT IT. Now I'm imagining Frisk finding out about his past somehow and saying this to him because it always helped THEM get through things. They say it with completely sincere and good intentions but he just... looks down, weakly nods and shakes as he's trying not to let tears spill and oh no I hate myself so much

oh no oh nO OH NO OG NOSDKHJS

[napstamuse]

What if when you kill papyrus and reset and sans says "here's some advice on fighting my brother: don't" He's really trying to save /you/ because he isn't sure if papyrus will remember between resets and attack you first?

@dimensionalbox and I actually considered this while writing Part 3. It seems like this is still mostly Sans just trying to keep you from fighting his brother because he’s worried for him. Maybe there’s just a bit of him warning you not to fight in order to save you, but it still seems like it’s Sans trying to save Papyrus.

Hell, if Sans was worried that Papyrus might attack you first, maybe he was warning you not to fight Papyrus because he didn’t want you to make him kill you.

[napstamuse]

I'm desperately hoping you're reading too much into this bc Papyrus deserves happiness and this theory is so sad (it is well put together, however).

I like… Both hope and don’t hope we haven’t read too much into it. Because like. If we’re right.

a.) WOW WE WERE RIGHT WHAT

but also

b.) oh god one of the happiest characters in the game is actually the saddest and we never even saw it, we the players even ignored his sadness, why

[napstamuse]

I've honestly thought for a while that Pap could actually be just as depressed as Sans, just better at hiding it. I mean, it wasn't for the same reasons as it is now, but still. It makes a lot of sense honestly, living with what grief and blame he may have, along with forcing a smile to make sure his brother makes it through the day can't be easy for one, young adult skeleton

Agh. Imagine if Sans has no idea about it, even. But one day he finds out. He would feel so awful.

I feel awful thinking about it ;-;

[napstamuse]

I just realized something that blows a hole the size of your theory in your theory that Papyrus is aggressive and kills people, and that Sans would try to prevent him if he tried to kill again. I present to YOU.... THE GAUNTLET OF DEADLY TERROR! Pap turned it off of his own accord, and Sans merely waits patiently for the Player to die- even nonchalantly and jokingly saying that 'it doesn't look very activated'. clearly Pap could not kill- and, mind you, there are no signs of a breakdown before -

CONT. he turns it off. he just stands there for a moment. he doesn’t even shed a tear, or frown, or anything. he just… stands there, and changes his mind.

I don’t think this blows a hole in the theory. The theory wasn’t that Papyrus is aggressive and kills people- Just that he possesses the power to kill. Actually, Papyrus lowering the Gauntlet of Deadly Terror only supports our theory; he has the ability to tear you to pieces, but he doesn’t.

[napstamuse]

Okay you know what I'm going off anon because this is important to me. Everything Pap has done has a different meaning now... like what if one reason he sent Alphys home early was because she said stuff about herself that hit too close to home? Flowey may have had something to do with it too but what if he also just couldn't bear to have the words he worked SO HARD and so LONG to stop saying to himself thrown back in his face? (now that I think about it they're more alike than I thought) (pt.1)

(pt.2) and what if that extends to why he spares geno!Frisk as well? Because he /gets it/? Whether or not he ended up killing someone in the Dead Timeline is anyone’s guess, so it’s probably not because of any shared bloodlust. But maybe he does understand being a confused, lost kid scared of the world and of himself, thinking there weren’t any redeeming qualities in him at all. But Sans was always there. Sans loved him no matter what. Maybe the kid just needed some of that lowercase love too.

(pt. 3) AND ALSO… say there’s this hypothetical way to bring Gaster back 100%, but it involves sacrificing Papyrus, effectively switching him in his place…. Pap would do it. If it could be done by pressing a button, he’d smash it so hard it would shatter to pieces cause that’s just the kind of person he is ;_; -sigh- okay. I think that’s all my thoughts regurgitated out sorry the rambling. I JUST HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS FOR THE JOGBOY OKAY

He…. He would totally press the button. If he could switch places with Gaster, let Sans and Gaster live together happily without him, he would do it. He would jump at the chance to undo everything and do what he thinks would make his brother happy in a heartbeat.

Oh god. My poor skeleton baby. No o ;-;