Compilation of Mysterious Papyrus Things

Random Strange Facts:

Relationships:

Personality:

Quotes:

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

Papyrus masterpost! :D

This makes me want to write a sequel for “Pavirus”, oh my gosh.

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

I got fucking chills omg..

Also. I keep forgetting it but:

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

This was one of the things I noticed when I first became suspicious of Papyrus, but I would like to point out that there’s two other characters who have shaking text like Papyrus’.

Undyne the Undying.

And Flowey, when he has absorbed the human souls before he turns into photoshop Flowey.

@forgettable-au

Funny that you mentioned me here because I literally reblogged this on my main account like 4 hours ago lol

You know what, I’m gonna share it around here too, because you all need to know about the weird Papyrus things to understand some of the things I’m doing with this AU hehe

Spreading the knowledge everywhere, I need more people to be crazy about Papyrus

FORGETTABLE AU: PROLOGUE

PAGES:

[Image ID: A title image for the prologue of the Undertale fancomic Forgettable-AU. Papyrus smiles wide as he carries Flowey in a backpack, who stares off somewhere. Beneath the skeleton, a shadow with Gaster's smile is faintly visible. /End ID]

it’s so funny that Papyrus tells about Flowey to all the people he is close to, Flowey purposely never shows up around anyone else and doesn’t want people to know about him, yet he keeps befriending Papyrus and Papyrus immediately goes tell his brother and his boss about a flower friend he made every single time

Papyrus and Flowey are the aromantics of the friend group of course they stick together

the newsletters's main job is to give us papyrus content and more reasons to believe in knight papyrus

8th Anniversary🎊

[Image ID: A gif of several Undertale characters in sequence, against a black background. First is Flowey, who notices the camera and gives a wry half-smile. He doubles over laughing before looking back up to give a menacing grin, and then straightens up to look into the background, where Frisk lies fallen down on their stomach. They push themself up with their arms and then stare as the battle menu appears (Banniv, Lv1, Hp 20/20, たたかう(Fight), こうどう(Act), アイテム(Item), みのがす(Mercy)) and we switch to a reverse shot to see Toriel, who clasps her hands as she kindles her fire magic, and looks up sadly before averting her gaze. Next is Papyrus, who stands confidently, gesturing with a closed fist before pointing at Frisk and unleashing a wall of bones. The Annoying Dog sits on one of them. Undyne creates a spear and pulls it behind her back, snarl turning into a grin as she draws a finger across her neck. Mettaton poses swiftly, moving his arms and legs before settling on holding out two pointing hand signs and raising an eyebrow in challenge as he is backlit by an array of spotlights. Alphys turns and nervously notices Frisk, covering her head with her hands as Endogeny looms behind her. Sans turns around and sees you, and pauses for a second as he stands in your path before holding out his hand to open the way. Finally Asgore turns and looks up sadly before his gaze is shadowed and he raises his trident. The lower gif shows all character animations at once over a drawn Undertale logo. /End ID]

[Image ID: Fake dialogue between Sans and Papyrus from Undertale, formatted through the game's dialogue boxes.

Papyrus: "For you see, this is the invisible… electricity maze!!!"

Sans: "technically, it's a labyrinth. a maze has intertwining, branching paths. whereas a labyrinthis one singular, winding path."

Papyrus: "Ah, but you see… a labyrinth is an elaborate path that leads to the center. This simply leads from one end to the other. So really, it would be more similar to a … hallway?"

Sans: "but a hallway has to be inside of a building. this is an opening BETWEEN two buildings, which also just so happen to electrocute you if you touch them. so, it's really more like an alley."

Papyrus: "-Are- they buildings, though? A building is defined as follows: a structure with a roof and walls, such as a house, school, store, or factory."

Sans: "well, does it have a roof and walls?"

Papyrus: "To answer that, we must consult their definitions! A roof is defined as: the structure forming the upper covering … of a building or vehicle. A wall is defined as: a side of a building or room, typically forming part of the building's structure. …Wait. A building is defined by its walls and roof… but they are only a roof and walls… if they are part of a building. Which, is defined by if it has a roof and walls. Oh no. It's a lexical loop of definitional discordance!!! A dictionary dead-end!!! An index impasse!!!"

Sans: "a words wall."

Papyrus: "That's just lazy. Wait! I've got it! It's a strait!"

Sans: "a strait? as in, a narrow passage of water connecting two large areas of water?"

Papyrus: "Yes, precisely! Snow is water, and therefore each side is a body of water. The snow in the middle is the strait connecting them. So there! The invisible electricity strait!"

Sans: "i dunno, it doesn't seem all that straight to me."

Papyrus: "Alright, then how would you describe it!?"

Sans: "well, the path is pretty complex and winding, and it's easy to get lost. so if you ask me, i'd probably say the best way to describe it would be…" He stops and winks. "a maze."

/End ID]

they were surprised he finally put moderate effort into something

[Image ID: Art taking place after the Sans battle in Undertale's No Mercy route. The battle screen is visible on the right edge, but transitions into a white area that Sans has just entered, his fatal slash still visible. Papyrus is rushing up to pull him into a hug so enthusiastically that his own head flies off, and Sans is visibly happy while still trying to take it casually. Undyne, in her Undying form and a little drippy, is surprised but glad to see him, and in front of her the Annoying Dog is also rushing in. Toriel is also running to greet him, and the Snowdin guard is gathering in the back. From off screen, Mettaton in his Neo form is holding up a sign for 10 points. /End ID]

ok actually pride art and not just rouxls this time <3

[Image description: digital art of the Undertale cast wearing pride flag sweaters and posing together. Toriel wears a demisexual sweater and looks angrily at her phone as she tries to take a photo. Her arm rests on Sans's head, and he's wearing an aroace sweater, grinning. Papyrus wears an aro sweater and yells at them from the side.

Frisk is at the front of the group pose, with nonbinary colors and giving a thumbs up. Asriel stands behind them in God of Hyperdeath mode, wearing an agender sweater and smiling while giving the middle finger. Alphys wears a bi sweater, smiling awkwardly. Undyne has lesbian colors and stands behind Alphyis with a grin, with her ponytail smacking Asgore in the face. Asgore wears a pan sweater, while Mettaton is waving and wearing the trans colors. Lastly, the Annoying Dog runs in front of the group holding a rainbow flag in his mouth. End ID.]

THANK U FOR THE ID !!! i have added it immediately 🫡🫡🫡

The most striking thing about Papyrus (aside from his limitless positivity) is the fact that it is literally impossible to die in a fight against him. Even Toriel, who starts purposefully missing you once your health gets low enough, can accidentally kill you, but Papyrus? It is literally impossible. Papyrus has incredible control over his power! Wow, what a great and impressive skeleton. And, even though he could probably deal some legit damage to you on the murder run, his only action is to spare you, because he’s heckin worried about this little emotionless murder child.

A lot of people like swap aus where Sans is the one that dies and Papyrus is forced to shed his naivete and face you going all-out, which makes sense, but also, Papyrus is just so. Papyrus. I feel like if Papyrus had to be the final murder-run boss, it’d be more like, “After losing Sans, the world seems like a different place. I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through for you to see the world the way you do.”

He only has one attack, but it’s a really long one and powerful one (kind of like Sans’ before his ‘special attack’), plus he talks during it, which would be pretty distracting. whenever he gets your hp down to 1, combat automatically stops and you’re ejected back into the judgement room. if you try to talk to him without healing, he’ll just say you’re too hurt - a gust of wind could knock you over! after you heal at the conveniently placed save point and go back to fight him, he has stuff to say about how you don’t have to be alone, you don’t have to do this, you might think there isn’t any good in you and it’s too late to change, but there is and it isn’t! After a few of those, he’ll talk about Undyne and Sans, and they always tried to help him, even when they thought he wouldn’t notice. He’s got a ton of stories about that. After he says his piece there’s an option to either fight or don’t fight, and every time you pick fight he looks disappointed, but he goes all out. He’s always able to be spared.

if you survive his attack, he goes down in one hit. his last words would probably be an apology, even though he tried really hard he still couldn’t show you a better path

Yes, yes, yes.

I think it’s notable that, while there’s plenty of neutral endings where Papyrus is worrying over various of his friends (or kept protectively oblivious), the only ending where he seems truly miserable is the one where he becomes king of the underground. 

He’s clearly overwhelmed and stressed and has so many new responsibilities and people depending on him and asking him to solve impossible problems.  And he’s still trying so. hard. 

Faced with ridiculous pressure he still chooses to judge the goodness or evillness of humans on a “case-by-case” basis (and still reaches the conclusion that all types should get puzzles, suggesting that Papyrus believes that all people have the potential to change and grow and deserve this opportunity.)

He still maintains his positivity and optimism, apparently through sheer stubborn willpower and a belief that this is the most important thing he can do.  

And in doing so he’s still a source of these things for other people.

This is Papyrus grown up.  This is Papyrus stepping up to the line.  This is maybe not Papyrus with his brother gone or his naivete broken, but this the unwavering core that emerges when you start stripping away everything else.

This kind of narrative is really important, because it’s such a selfish thing for a lot of people to imagine that if kind and gentle types were just confronted with the horrors of Real Life, they’d learn that it’s necessary to be cruel sometimes. That despair and violent conflict is an intrinsic part of adulthood. 

But that’s just not the case: plenty of people go from naively believing the best in everyone, to making an informed and rational decision to believe the best in everyone. Brutality is a choice, not a stage of maturity. 

Final Boss Papyrus fanart and theories are really badass and cool and all and it’s great to see Pap get the spotlight he deserves but when an entire game is about holding on to your morals so dearly that you would rather be peaceful and suffer than hurt anyone, and when even when there is no option BUT to fight you can see find a peaceful resolution to the situation…… it seems so inauthentic to assume that’s how Papyrus would actually be.

Papyrus is not Sans. They are very very different characters. Sans is nihilistic and believes that even if he murders a small child brutally it won’t really matter because you can just reload. His aim is to murder you so many times you give up on trying to come back. That’s pretty fucked up. Sans fails at being a pacifist. He fails at befriending you and fails at trying to reach out to Frisk inside Chara. He even fails at giving you your second chance and just uses it as blunt deception. When faced with a difficult situation where he has to confront himself and the fact that you killed his brother, he decides that the ONLY option available is to stop you with violence. It’s totally understandable given the context of his roll in the game as Naughty Children Judgement Skeleton, because he understands that this is his situation where fighting is the only available option if he wants to protect whats left. Because he understands he’s the last defense against you.

But Sans is the antithesis to a Pacifist run. He gives up on his morals and gives up on doing what the right thing might be. He tried really really hard and tries really really hard to do the peaceful thing in pacifist and neutral runs but he gives up in the end and chooses the quickest and easiest route out, just like how the player would in a neutral violent run or the genocide run after getting too frustrated with trying to reach a peaceful resolution to a fight.

You big hypocrite, Sans.

Another thing to note is that Sans, even in a pacifist run, has to try really hard to not murder you the moment he sees you. He basically tells you if it wasn’t for Toriel making him promise not to hurt you he would have killed you asap. He’s super blunt and intimidating about it as well. Does he know then that you have Determination and can reload? Pretty doubtful. He’s probably aware of humans having the potential to do it and may have gotten reports about reloaded timelines from his machine and chalked it up to you before meeting you but he really doesn’t have any proof before you enter outer Snowdin. It seems to be implied that he can be aware of timelines being reset and reloaded but he has no way to link this power to someone besides assuming the obvious when presented with proof. He might even believe that all of Floweys resets are your fault. He only ever acknowledges that you have the ability if you reload multiple times literally right in front of him (besides the genocide fight). He’s pragmatic enough to believe that you are a liability to the Underground from the very get go, unsure or unaware at that point that you could be a threat to the timeline itself, and it seems like he would have barely hesitated to do the dirty deed if not for Toriel begging him not to.

Papyrus on the other hand never fails in doing what is the right thing to do in his heart. He never doubts that you have the ability to change your fate in a neutral or genocide run. He’ll rough you up a bit when fighting him but he will never ever kill you. In any play through. EVEN AS HE IS IN THE PROCESS OF DYING he still believes that you have the courage to do the right thing. He goes down in a single hit because he has absolutely no will or determination to fight you, or defend against you, because he believes in you that strongly.

The neutral ending where Papyrus becomes king can only be met if the following main characters are killed: Toriel, Undyne, and Mettaton. Undyne is his closest friend. They’re almost inseparable. If you kill any character in the game you cannot befriend Undyne. If you kill Papyrus before meeting her you CERTAINTY cannot not befriend her. She’ll try as hard as she possibly can to kill you, always, even more if you’ve already killed. If you befriend her and THEN kill, she’ll either become overwhelming obsessed with destroying the entirety of human or will fall into intense depression.

So that’s how Undyne reacts to you killing Papyrus, or anyone for that matter. If you kill Undyne (and Mettaton) and Papyrus becomes king? He continues to believe that all humans have the capacity and intention for good. Granted, it seems he’s probably only vaguely away that Undyne may have been killed by you, but the point is that Papyrus is totally unable to muster up any intent to hurt you, anywhere, anytime. Papyrus is pacifist to a fault and dies believing in that absolutely. Papyrus might beat you up a little but he makes his attacks say COOL DUDE and then offers you a place to stay at their house because he’s upset that you might be scared and lonely. In the genocide run, he won’t ever attack you. Fight Sans once, and he tries as hard as he possibly can, immediately, to fuck you up and bloodily, violently destroy you.

I feel that, while it’s awesome to see Final Boss Papyrus au stuff so he can look like a badass motherfucker, that not only is it kind of going against the purpose of Papyrus’ character as an personification for the pacifist route but also the message of the game. That causing pain and violence for your own benefit goes against who you are as a conscious moral being, and that even in the face of danger and hurt and pain, you can persevere to do the thing right by you.

The “Sans is a hypocript” part is the best part because the fandom keeps protraying him as some kind of protector or angel of judgement. He’s NOT. He’s a person who lost his morals, morals that he tries to preach to you but never actually upholds them. In a way you can’t blame him, he’s lost all hope and is deep in depression. But still, that’s his weakness, that’s the mistakes he’s made, his character flaw. And I hate how majority of the fandom overlooks that and sees him as an angsty but pure character.

[Image ID: 1 - Undertale dialogue boxes where Papyrus says "Lots of people just want to give up. Sometimes, even my best encouragement… doesn't work." 2 - He goes on to say "But hey!!! I won't give up! I can't give up! I have to make everyone give up giving up!" 3 - Gif of dialogue where Sans says "you have something called 'determination.' so long as you hold on… so long as you do what's in your heart… i believe you can do the right thing." /End ID]

Ok Undertale fandom, I've had a thought and I want YOUR opinions!

Would love to see people's explanations why!

Toby Fox was going around in Twitter and he was like, 'Tell me your headcanons for [this character] and tomorrow I'll make some of them canon!!' And the only thing he canonized for Papyrus was that, 'He likes to touch tall grass.'

Don't give him ideas knowing Toby Fox he'd do that

ok ok ok i will allow myself to say One Thing because this actually has been a bit of a pattern i've noticed . It's super cool if you support theories where Papyrus is more important to the plot or stronger than he lets on right. But if you think that he has to be manipulated by some outside force into making flawed decisions or even just using very simple reverse psychology to make his friends hang out. You're still infantilizing him a bit. Like yeah you can let him say fuck and say he's strong and capable all you want but you're still very much downplaying his own agency and intelligence even if it's not as bad as if you called him a cinnamon roll baby child or something

tags by sukifoof:

#people will see autistic characters and infantilize or demonize them no in between #actually the in between is both at the same time i have seen this happen to flowey #papyrus is an extremely emotionally intelligent character and i hate seeing people go like. #'uhhh but flowey was behind it all he MANIPULATED him.' it makes me SO mad cuz theyre both much more complex characters than. that take #i have a lot of thoughts on the blatant ableism in this fandom but i dont have enough space to complain about it here

Undertale is so funny. Critically acclaimed indie game with widely beloved characters such as: tutorial, comic sans, papyrus, and of course the tragic complex and emotionally compelling main antagonist: flowey the flower

HER NAME IS SHORT FOR TUTORIAL?

I think the thing that has blown my mind the most about Papyrus was seeing a part on Reddit a few weeks ago that pointed out that because Papyrus is the boss you keep re-fighting without dying and resetting, his battle dialogue being the exact same means he’s actually saying things he knows and remembers he’s already said.

Which might seem like a weird oversight but then you can remember his lines about coming up with lines to stand around repeating and practicing monologues and you realize that this dork planned out his whole speech and you are absolutely going to hear all of it from top to bottom if you wish to progress!!!

The real question is if he planned out all his doubts and dirty laundry to sort out in front of you too.

And the answer is probably yes.

Sans AU that I’d be interested in seeing:

Roleswap AU where Sans is Caretaker of the Ruins and Papyrus is King of the Monsters. (You decide where everyone else is.)

When the Human initially falls into the Ruins, Sans asserts himself not as their guardian, caretaker, or guide, but more as just their buddy. He suggests a couple places in the Ruins you might want to go, like the fun puzzles or the spider bakesale, he offers to introduce you to the Ruins monsters he’s befriended and shows you how to get on their good sides, and extends the invitation to stay at his house, but largely allows you to explore on your own, and it’s your choice if you want to tag along with him or not.

After all. You’re gonna end up at his house anyways.Whether you accept his matter or want to leave, you don’t have any choice in the matter.

When you do show up (because eventually you have to), he proceeds to try and be as welcoming as he can. Good food, good friends, bad laughs, etc. When you eventually decide to leave (because of course you were going to), unlike Toriel, he makes absolutely no attempt to stop you or test you. He explains the situation outside and how his brother has no choice but to collect Seven Human Souls, but if you still want to leave, he just says ‘okay. see ya.’ and lets you go.

Because there was no way you were ever going to stay. Six fell before. Six left.

Only when you reach the Judgement Hall does Sans show up again, it finally having sunken in that this is the last soul. If the King takes your soul too, a good kid dies, and a good brother will be forced to do something he never wanted to do, in the name of things like his peoples’ adoration, and shouldering the burdens of their desires so they won’t have to. Or his brother dies, and a good kid is forced to kill. So in the Judgement Hall, Sans actually does fight you. And he only stops when he’s reminded to have a little faith both in the kid who’s gone this far being a pacifist, and his brother, who used to be so intent on doing the right thing.

He was apathetic for a very long time, remaining inactive when he should have tried to intervene. And he should still be doing something else to intervene now, but he should also trust the two most moral people he’s ever known not to lose themselves.

He exits the Judgement Hall, telling the human ‘nah. i’m rootin’ for ya, kid.’

(About a half an hour later he uses his incredible people skills to get approximately five hundred monsters to stampede into the Throne Room and yell at Frisk and Papyrus to stop fighting.)