Today is Undertale’s second anniversary. I love Undertale so much that it has been my hyperfixation ever since I played it at the beginning of 2016. I joined tumblr in May of 2016 because I saw that a lot of people were talking about Undertale on here. This is the origin of this particular blog. And now, I have planned a Special Post™ for this occasion.

(Warning: this post is extraordinarily long - as in, over five thousand words long - and contains many spoilers for the game. I have hidden it under a “Read More” so that it doesn’t clog up people’s dashboards.)

I. Preface and Special Thanks

First, though, I must tell you a story. It all started when I made my husband play Undertale, because it was so great when I played it, and I wanted to see how he would play the game. Which route would he take? (He ended up doing True Pacifist after killing the first Froggit and feeling so guilty about it that he reset). Once he finished, I asked him who his favorite character was.

His answer? Papyrus.

“Papyrus?” I thought. “But why?” I felt like he was probably the most forgettable character in the entire game, perhaps apart from Sans (note: I have never done a Bad Time route). What was it about this goofy skeleton that made my husband like him so much? Was it his malapropisms? Was it the fact that he can somehow shout in whispers? Was it his Ghost costume… er, “battle body?”

So, I decided to do some research. I started searching “Papyrus from Undertale” on Google, and most of the results I found came from the wonderful, well-functioning website which we all know and love as tumblr. He was buzzing, and it seemed a lot of people felt about Papyrus the same way my husband did.

I made an account, and the first thing I posted was a Very Profound Theory™ which was met with some disagreement. That “theory” is that Papyrus is Sans’ older brother, and not the other way around. (Keep in mind that, at this point, I had not seen Toby Fox’s tweet about Papyrus calling Sans the common word for “older brother” in Japanese, which was actually an allusion to the fact that he was translating Undertale into Japanese, but I digress.)

The reasons I posted were simple enough, and if you really want to, you can even go back and read it for yourself. I’ll link to it here for you also:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/144298607667/papyrus-is-the-older-brother [link to my first tumblr post, “Papyrus is the older brother.”]

This just came from my personal experience as an older sibling, and a closer analysis of Papyrus’ character during my second True Pacifist playthrough.

Through this “theory” post (and I really am hesitant to call it a “theory” now, because it’s so mundane), I met a lot of friends who were also theorizing about Papyrus. However, this is not the theory that I wanted to talk about.

As I gained more and more tumblr friends who were also very interested in Undertale (mostly Papyrus in particular), I started seeing more posts about all of the weird things he does and says. Not “weird” in a derogatory way, I just mean weird as in “odd,” “unusual,” “eccentric,” and sometimes “nonsensical” or “unpredictable.”

@undertale-encyclopedia did a really good job of compiling each of the canon strings of text, so I will mainly be using that blog as a resource for my canon information (since I never played anything but True Pacifist, and therefore do not have my own screenshots of certain bits of dialogue from other routes).

https://undertale-encyclopedia.tumblr.com/ [link to undertale-encyclopedia’s tumblr blog]

@jewels336 (now deactivated) also provided a masterpost for which I am eternally grateful, as even though I had seen all of the posts (and even participated in a lot of them) compiled within that master list, they were now in a very neat and accessible place. I will be referencing those posts as well, as they were a springboard for many parts of this theory, and utilize canon information. Here it is:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/151713943787/compilation-of-mysterious-papyrus-things [link to jewels336’s tumblr post, “Papyrus Masterpost!”]

@uselessundertalefacts (formerly @uselessshoelacefacts), @lefthanded-sans, and @papyrus-knows also indulged a lot of questions I originally had about Papyrus. They all made some really good analysis posts about the skelebros in general as well, so you should definitely go and check out their blogs, too.

I would also like to thank each and every one of my followers/mutuals/friends, who let me talk about Papyrus with them at some point or another. I am very much aware of how wild my theories are, so thank you for putting up with me.

Right. *deep breath* Now onto the theory.

II. Introduction

If you have not yet read @napstamuse’s “Goner Theory Part III: Skeletons in the Closet,” I very strongly urge you to do so right now. Here it is, for your convenience:

http://napstamuse.tumblr.com/post/139568679252/goner-theory-part-3-skeletons-in-the-closet [link to napstamuse’s tumblr post, “Goner Theory Part III”]

This is the actual post which made me join tumblr, and ultimately it led me to make up this theory. In summary, it points out how little we know about Papyrus, despite his talking incessantly. In fact, it even mentions at the very end that there’s only one other character in Undertale of whom we know about as little: Mystery Man.

[picture of Mystery Man sprite]

With a name like “Mystery Man,” one would expect at least some intrigue surrounding such a character. We know what Mystery Man looks like:

[picture of Mystery Man, surprised]

We know what font he speaks in:

[picture of Entry 17 in capitalized Wing Dings font with no asterisks]

And are therefore able to conclude that he was a Royal Scientist, as the only other person to write “entries” is Doctor Alphys, the current Royal Scientist of the Underground:

[picture of Doctor Alphys’ entries in normal font, with standard asterisks at the beginning]

and that his name was probably Wing Dings, or W. D. for short:

[picture of one of Gaster’s followers referring to him as “Doctor W. D. Gaster”]

But what does this have to do with Papyrus? Well, let’s start with what we know about Papyrus.

We know that he looks like this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a cape, battle body, and hotpants]

sometimes this:

[picture of Date Papyrus with MTT-brand Basketball Shoulder Pads, a shirt which says “Cool Dude” in all caps, shorts, and sneakers]

or even this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a sweatband over his head and a shirt which says, “Jog Boy” on it]

We know that he likes puzzles:

[picture of Papyrus standing next to and talking about one of his puzzles]

We know that he’s a good artist:

[picture of Papyrus talking about how he painted the Snowdin bridge over a rock formation]

We know that his name is Papyrus (obviously) because he is referred to as such, and talks in this font:

[picture of Papyrus saying “Nyeh heh heh!” in capitalized Papyrus font, also without the standard asterisks]

And… that’s it.

The rest of this theory involves putting these clues together. Ready?

III. Appearance

Let’s start with Papyrus’ appearance. He’s pretty tall, compared to his brother Sans. According to this chart by @kitty4915, he’s approximately 6 feet and 8 inches tall:

https://kitty4915.tumblr.com/post/138141358237/yo-undertale-heights-go [link to kitty4915’s tumblr post, “YO UNDERTALE HEIGHTS GO!!”]

[picture of Papyrus next to a door]

A bit strange for brothers, don’t you think? One of them definitely got the short end of the stick. *badum-tss*

[picture of Sans Height Chart, 4'8"]

Anyway, I’ve seen it speculated that Papyrus and Sans are not “brothers” in a literal sense, but they are very close friends who sometimes call each other “brother.” However, I do not think this is quite the case.

Sometimes I forget that half-siblings are a thing that exist. Half-siblings are siblings who share only one parent. How is this relevant to the skelebros? Well, @zarla-s has come up with an AU called Handplates which has one possible explanation for this: the skelebros technically share one parent, because they are both cloned from the same person. That person is, you guessed it: Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster.

http://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the [link to @zarla-s’ “Handplates” AU Index post on tumblr]

Speaking of Mystery Man, we haven’t analyzed his appearance next to Papyrus’:

[pictures of Mystery Man sprite and Papyrus sprite next to each other]

It is said that the eyes are windows into the soul. Something people notice right away about Gaster’s eyes are that they are extremely asymmetrical. His left eye is much bigger than his right.

Papyrus, on the other hand… well, both of his eyes are small, but if you look closely, you’ll see that his left eye is smaller than his right, even when it is facing slightly away from view, like in his battle and date sprites. And it’s more noticeable from the front, like in his overworld sprite, pictured above.

Ok, so they’re kinda-sorta mirror images of each other, nothing too special. Could be a coincidence. Right? Well, sure, if this was the only thing they had in common, it could definitely be a coincidence. Never mind the fact that Papyrus seems to be raising his right eyebrow and squinting his left eye, almost as if he’s compensating for them naturally being the other way around…

But why stop there? The other thing to note is that both of these skeletons are tall. Very, very tall. We already know how tall Papyrus is, but how big is Mystery Man?

[picture of Gaster Height Chart]

Wow, 7 feet and 6 inches! That is really tall. Even taller than Papyrus (by ten inches). Cool. So, if Papyrus somehow came from Gaster, then Papyrus’ extreme height would make a little more sense. But again, where does that leave Sans?

[picture of Sans shrugging]

One could argue that Sans has inherited Gaster’s, shall we say, roundness. That makes a little less sense, as we are not even sure exactly how “round” Gaster even is. His black “cloak” (not even sure if it’s really a cloak canonically) does not necessarily represent Gaster’s bodily shape - as it could be flowy, melted, or otherwise augmented by some magical law of physics. And besides, this theory doesn’t really have anything to do with Sans.

IV. But Something’s Missing…

However, even I must admit that something isn’t quite right about the height discrepancy between Gaster and Papyrus, either. With Gaster being nearly a whole foot taller, it seems as though there’s something… missing.

And, even if you take away that extra ten inches from Gaster’s height, there’s something else which Gaster has which Papyrus, at first glance, seems to not have.

Refer back to the pictures of Gaster and Papyrus next to each other. See the holes in Gaster’s hands? And Papyrus’… well, they’re covered in gloves, so I guess we’ll never know. Darn.

[pictures of Papyrus saying “I know it like the back of my hand… which, since I’m always wearing gloves… I don’t know anything about!!”]

Thanks, Papyrus.

But, there is still something else missing, and this thing has nothing to do with appearances. Of course, I am referring to Wing Dings’ experience as the Royal Scientist of the Underground.

Gaster even has “followers” who consider him to be important in the Underground’s history long after he is gone. You can find them with certain Fun values:

[pictures of Gaster’s three followers]

In contrast, Papyrus holds no important status in the Underground (unless all of the other boss monsters are killed, leaving Papyrus to take King Asgore’s place in the end). But he *does* want to join the Royal Guard.

[pictures of Papyrus saying that his “lifelong dream” is joining the Royal Guard]

Why? Well, for starters, he is friends with the Royal Guard Dogs in Snowdin (which is his place of residence), as well as the Captain of the Royal Guard herself, Undyne.

[picture of Undyne]

Undyne got her job because she asked King Asgore “Fluffybuns” Dreemurr to train her in combat. They subsequently became close, and she was so well-trained that she was basically a shoo-in. (This is all canon information which you can obtain by going on the “friendship date” with Undyne in True Pacifist.) But this theory isn’t about her, either.

So again, what is Papyrus’ motivation for wanting to join the Royal Guard? He’s not close with the King. In fact, Papyrus is never mentioned by anyone other than Flowey (who knows everything, but we’ll get to that later), Undyne (arguably his only friend), and Sans (his own brother); and, at the very end of True Pacifist route, by both Toriel (who had only heard his name because of Sans) and Monster Kid. No one really knows who he is, so the reason for his wanting to join couldn’t possibly be his connections.

Could it be that he wants to FIGHT? Considering that he can’t even bring himself to hit Frisk in any run (regardless of how many monsters they have killed in the Underground upon meeting Papyrus), I would say that this is also rather unlikely.

Luckily for us, Papyrus hints at what it is he is really after:

[picture of Papyrus saying “Powerful, Popular, Prestigious!”]

He wants to be powerful, popular, and prestigious. Sounds fair enough, right?

Not so fast. Who in the Royal Guard is powerful, popular, and prestigious? Certainly the Royal Guard Dogs are not. And, while Undyne is undoubtedly powerful, I wouldn’t really call her “popular,” except with Monster Kid (and Doctor Alphys, but that is a whole other story). But Monster Kid is exactly that: a kid. A child.

[picture of Monster Kid]

Papyrus wants a child to look up to him. Part of the reason he dresses up and acts like a super hero is to appeal to children and give them a role model to emulate. This is also evident in the way he treats Frisk, who is also a child: with open, accepting arms, ready to embrace them and be their friend.

[picture of Papyrus saying “I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!”]

But let’s tie this back into Mystery Man, shall we? The previous Royal Scientist definitely had a connection with the monarchy as well (which, as we’ve already established, Papyrus did not have). How else would he have gotten such an esteemed position? He may have also been extraordinarily intelligent, much like the current Royal Scientist, Doctor Alphys:

[picture of Papyrus explaining to Frisk that Doctor Alphys made an advanced puzzle]

[picture of Bratty & Catty telling Frisk that Doctor Alphys made Mettaton’s robot body]

but, ultimately, W. D. Gaster met with an untimely death after having an accident of sorts:

[picture of one of Gaster’s followers saying that “he fell into his creation”]

which implies that he was a savant, or someone who could be considered “book smart,” but also absent-minded and accident prone. That sort of reminds me of someone else…

[pictures of Papyrus explaining Alphys’ puzzle]

[picture of Papyrus getting shocked]

Anyway, there appears to be something *else* missing, on top of everything we’ve just covered.

V. Memories

Papyrus seems to have a… sketchy memory, to say the very least. At first glance, he appears to retain nothing:

[picture of Papyrus saying “Really though!!! That human!!! Do I know that person?” Hint: the answer is "yes.”]

but, upon closer inspection, we learn that he retains quite a lot (as evidenced by his telling Frisk seemingly random trivia about nearly each and every room in the Underground over the phone):

[picture of Papyrus saying, “I have a photographic memory for phone calls!”]

and, upon even closer inspection, we see that he actually can’t even remember commonly-used idioms:

[picture of Papyrus using the malapropism “smells like the moon” instead of “odor the moon,” which comes from the idiom “over the moon,” as pointed out by @eheufeles]

then, upon microscopic inspection, we see that there’s something definitely off with Papyrus’ memory. He literally remembers and even references things which do not exist (or have yet to happen) in current timelines:

[pictures of Papyrus alluding to Mettaton’s EX forme – specifically, his “bishonen eyes” – while Mettaton is still in Box forme, and Undyne inadvertently confirming that his EX forme has not yet been revealed, by replying “He doesn’t even HAVE eyes!!!”]

[picture of Papyrus talking about a “Laborador… y?” which is a reference to both Endogeny and the True Lab, yet to be discovered]

[pictures of Papyrus telling Frisk that he will talk to them again, even though this has not yet been confirmed at this point in the True Pacifist route]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk that they “can do a little better!” even after killing every monster they have encountered up until this point]

So… what gives? How can he remember things that have not yet happened, unless he is, say, perhaps, a time traveler?

VI. Time-Space Shenanigans

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “But, eroshiyda, Sans already told us that Flowey gives Papyrus predictions, so this discussion is all meaningless!”

Ok, but we also know that Sans has the ability to travel across time-space in strange ways; namely, he teleports. It’s not exactly an easter egg or anything, as it’s too extraordinary a phenomenon to ignore.

[pictures of Sans appearing in two places in the same room at the same time]

[picture of Papyrus asking Sans if he is, in fact, in two places at once; walking into the next room will prove that this conjecture is correct]

But the implication is that Papyrus has the same ability (because they are brothers), or at least a very similar one, as Sans’ ability comes as no surprise to Papyrus.

[pictures of Papyrus asking Frisk, “Is Sans pranking you across time and space? I hate it when he does that!”]

And, in fact, there is alternate evidence of their similar abilities:

[picture of Papyrus battle in Pacifist or Neutral routes, showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of Sans battle, exclusive to Bad Time route, also showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of the narrator saying, “Papyrus prepares a non-bone attack, then spending a minute fixing his mistake"]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk “Had I only used my Special Attack, you surely would have been blasted to…” with a forlorn look on his face. This only happens when you abandon a Bad Time route by sparing Papyrus.]

[picture of Sans using Gaster Blasters during his battle with Frisk. This is only available during a Bad Time route, killing everyone else – Papyrus included.]

Of course, you cannot possibly see them both in action during the same route (Toby Fox, you clever dog), so it is difficult to compare the two without going back to play Undertale in an entirely different way than before. So, this may count as an easter egg.

What is, perhaps, a bit more of an easter egg (at least, according to my Papyrus-fixated tumblr friends), is the fact that Papyrus can - and does - manipulate time-space in his own ways:

[gif of Papyrus literally walking on air over Frisk]

[gif of Papyrus quickly transposing off of the screen without moving his body otherwise]

So, who’s to say that he doesn’t travel across time as well?

[picture of Gaster’s first follower saying that “he shattered across time and space”]

VII. Memories, Revisited

Remember that “memory” thing I pointed out? Well, I’d like to come back to that for a bit.

There are two things which I have noticed, and I get why they’ve been met with resistance in the past when I brought them up. But, keep in mind all of the evidence listed above and the things we’ve talked about thus far. As I said, I know that these are wild theories, but please bear with me for just a little bit longer.

Ok, here’s the first thing I’ve noticed:

[picture of Papyrus leaving Frisk with 1 HP so that he can capture them after battle; this happens no matter what, if you lose to him]

[pictures of Papyrus referring to the battle as “a terrible memory" over the phone]

[pictures describing the Bad Memory item, found in the True Lab; it depletes exactly 1 HP when consumed by Frisk]

And the second thing is this:

[pictures of Papyrus immediately recognizing Frisk as a human during a Bad Time route]

[picture of Papyrus not immediately recognizing Frisk as a human during a Pacifist route; he asks Sans if Frisk is human]

Something about HP, bad memories, and a human… Now, how could this possibly be connected?

Well, I’m afraid that I have no more canon evidence to support my theory, so now we are plunging deep into headcanon territory from here on out. If this upsets you, please just stop reading now. I’d rather you form your own headcanon, given the canon evidence so far. Perhaps yours will be more satisfying than mine is, because it’s about to get kind of dark. In fact, I would hide it under another “Read More” if I could. But I can’t, so I’ll give you a break.

Last chance to turn back now.

By continuing to read this, you are submitting yourself to probably the most wild and ridiculous theory that has ever been made in the Undertale fandom.

VIII. Conclusion

If you’re still reading this, I must confess that I do have one, tiny piece of canon information to support this theory, which has seemingly nothing to do with anything I just talked about. Here it is:

[picture of a silhouette of Toriel standing next to a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption “Long ago, humans and monsters lived in peace.”]

[picture of a silhouette of Asgore fighting with a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption “They were at war.”]

The king and queen were on the surface during the Monster and Human War. This implies that they knew humans at some point before they were sealed away Underground when the humans won.

So… what if Gaster, their Royal Scientist before Doctor Alphys, was a human?

A stretch, I know. But here is another tiny piece of evidence to consider:

[picture of Gaster’s second follower saying, “I’m holding a piece of him right here.” In their hand is what looks like a human face]

Our Mystery Man once had a face which looks strikingly human. Of course, by the time we see him, he looks more like a skeleton with two large fractures on either side of his skull. So, it makes sense that his face went missing.

Which reminds me of this:

[picture of Papyrus realizing that he doesn’t have ears]

[pictures of Papyrus referencing his “hair” and “skin,” neither of which he has, since he is a skeleton]

The only reason that Papyrus could possibly “realize” that he has neither ears nor hair is if he had had them before, and only now realizes that they are gone. Remember: Papyrus has a sketchy memory. Something definitely messed with it at somewhere along the way. But what?

Well, remember the aforementioned “accident” which Royal Scientist W. D. Gaster had? I would think that being spread across time-space would be… disorienting, if you will. Parts could go missing. Pieces. Memories, physicalities, any of it.

“Wait,” I hear you thinking. “Surely you’re not trying to suggest that Papyrus is Gaster! That would be ludicrous!”

Wouldn’t it?

“They have such different personalities!”

Don’t they?

“Papyrus could never be the Royal Scientist!”

Are you sure about that?

Let me explain to you how I think it happened.

(This is the dark part. I decided not to dive right into it because I wanted to give you time to adjust to my wild theory. Once you are comfortable with the headcanon of Papyrus being Gaster, please proceed. If this is against your sensibilities, I won’t hold it against you at all. You are free to stop reading this post at any time.)

Gaster was a human who lived on the surface like everyone else. He was a friend to monsters before the war. He even knew Asgore and Toriel, although Toriel took to him a bit better. Once the war broke out, everyone had to choose a side. The line was drawn between monsters and humans. Only W. D. Gaster decided to cross that line.

When the monsters were sealed Underground by a magical barrier after the humans won the war, Gaster ended up being sealed with them. Asgore and Toriel were elected the King and Queen of the Underground, and they elected Gaster to be Royal Scientist.

The magical barrier transformed Gaster as time passed. He became immortal, like a monster. He started to adopt their mannerisms, and even started to look like a monster. As his body aged, soon all that was left of him was his skeleton. Without vocal cords, he could only speak in a strange font: Wing Dings. This earned him his nickname.

Then, “The Accident” happened. I don’t know exactly how, or when, but we all know that it happened. Gaster “fell into his creation,” and “was shattered across time and space,” according to his followers. A new Royal Scientist was needed.

In the meantime, two skeleton brothers randomly showed up in Snowdin. We get this information from an NPC in Snowdin:

[pictures of the Snowdin Shopkeeper telling Frisk that Sans and Papyrus “just showed up one day”]

Interesting.

IX. Supporting Evidence/More Headcanons

But how did the Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster become the Papyrus we all know and love?

(trigger warnings: mentions of violence and child death)

Let’s go back to canon evidence, shall we? We are far enough into the headcanon realm that I do think it’s time for some canon reminders:

[Papyrus, looking slightly worried as he says “LOVE.” in all capital letters, which holds a very different meaning than lowercase “love” in the game of Undertale]

I know that Papyrus speaks in all caps all of the time, but notice how the word is separated from the rest of the sentence (even though there was definitely room to fit it in with the rest), as if to draw your attention to the word. Also, look at the expression on his face. Doesn’t that look like someone who knows what LOVE stands for “Level Of ViolencE,” as Sans points out to us in Judgment Hall? Because it sure does to me. Also, remember how Papyrus definitely knows that Frisk is a human during the Bad Time route, but not during a Pacifist route? Why would Papyrus make the connection between humans and violence?

There are two explanations for this.

The first is that a few sub-conscious memories of his time as Gaster were somehow retained; that is, he remembers the war between humans and monsters, much like how he remembers having hair and ears. So that is one possible explanation.

The second is perhaps the wildest headcanon you will ever hear about Papyrus.

Ready?

Ok.

*sighs*

Papyrus… has killed before.

“WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY? HOW?” you ask. Well, here’s my theory.

Papyrus, being newly incarnated from Gaster (alongside his brother, Sans), doesn’t really know much about the world around him. He has memories missing. Which ones, we’re not sure of, but he’s definitely… not all there, if you get me.

Now is a good time for to mention Papyrus’ stats versus Sans’ before I continue with this story. Have you ever noticed how Papyrus is up to twenty times stronger than Sans?

[picture of Papyrus’ Pacifist stats: 20 Attack, 20 Defense]

[picture of Sans’ stats: 1 Attack, 1 Defense, with the caption “*The easiest enemy.”]

But Papyrus and Sans are brothers, so we would expect that they would have the same stats, which clearly isn’t so.

Tying this back into what we know about LOVE, we know that with every increase of LOVE, one receives an increase in stats as well:

[pictures showing LV 1 stats, and then saying, “Your LOVE increased!” to LV 2, and the HP stat going up.]

So, the only logical explanation is that Papyrus received an increase in stats because he received an increase in LOVE. And how did this happen?

Think about the Items which Frisk finds in Snowdin: the Tough Glove and the Manly Bandanna.

[pictures of Frisk acquiring Tough Glove and Manly Bandanna in Snowdin]

To which child did they belong? The Orange SOUL.

[picture of the Photoshop Flowey battle, depicting the Orange SOUL in the box and the Tough Glove being used as a weapon against Frisk]

Which trait is attributed with Orange? Bravery.

[picture of the Ball Game in Snowdin showing the word "bravery” in orange]

What happens when an attack is Orange? You have to keep moving.

[picture of Doctor Alphys explaining how orange lasers work in Hotland]

From this canon evidence, what can we infer the Orange SOUL kid’s gimmick was, if they were “brave?”

I’ll tell you: they kept moving forward, no matter what.

Now, what color magic does Papyrus have?

[picture of Papyrus using blue-colored bones in battle]

What does Blue magic do? It requires you to *stand still,* or else you will get hurt.

[picture of Doggo using blue magic on Frisk’s motionless, red SOUL and doing no damage]

Tell me, how is a kid who is incapable of standing still going to survive Blue magic? Simple: they won’t.

I even wrote a short ficlet about it here:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/152526581522/orange-soul-headcanon [link to my tumblr post, “Orange SOUL headcanon”]

Of course, I’d like to think that it was just an accident. But, accident or not, Papyrus killed a human child, which was enough to raise his stats to twenty times higher than what they were originally. (Remember that humans are far more powerful than monsters, so they would be worth a lot of EXecution Points.)

This is why Papyrus knows exactly how much to lower his stats during the Bad Time route. He’s not trying to kill Frisk, and he knows how much force is needed for that.

[picture of Papyrus lowering his stats to 5 ATK, 5 DEF in a Bad Time route]

That’s also how he knows that Frisk is going down the “wrong path” by moving closer to Papyrus in a threatening way.

[pictures of Papyrus lecturing Frisk to stop moving before battling them during a Bad Time route]

Papyrus has experience battling at least one human child. And Papyrus didn’t lose, either; otherwise, he wouldn’t be around anymore by the time Frisk arrives, right?

But this is why his character development is so important to the story of Undertale. This is why he’s (arguably) Flowey’s favorite monster in the whole Underground, long after Flowey grew tired of torturing everyone else:

[picture of Flowey at the end of a Neutral route saying, “Took me a long time to get bored of that one.” Yes, he is referring to Papyrus.]

Because even after Papyrus committed the most heinous atrocity any monster could ever think of, he changed. He resolved to never FIGHT again. He solemnly swore to only use MERCY, no matter how dire the circumstances got. Even after all he had been through, he proved that people can change their ways.

[picture of Papyrus saying, “Everyone can be a great person if they try!”]

It’s all about the choices you make. Because accidents happen, everyone makes mistakes, but ultimately you have a choice; do you keep going down the path of least resistance, or do you learn and grow from it enough to do the right thing, no matter how hard it gets?

X. Afterword

Thanks for reading this theory all the way through! You’re a real trooper!

I know that this is a topic that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of things, and I probably left out a lot of discrepancies, but I really did have fun working on this for the past year and a half. I hope you had fun reading it, too.

As I was finishing up this project, the Japanese version of Undertale came out. Some of the information gathered from gleaning nuances in the Japanese text conflicts with this theory, while some supports it; but I just didn’t get a chance to include any of it, to my dismay.

By the time you see this post, I most likely will have left tumblr. So, I cannot accept any of your thoughts about it, unfortunately.

However, if you would like to do even further research of your own, I have left behind this blog as an archive, along with another, super-secret blog I used to reblog my sources. The url is @papyrus-is-gaster. Here’s the link to it:

https://papyrus-is-gaster.tumblr.com/ [link to one of my sideblogs, called papyrus-is-gaster]

I’d like to think of this as my sort of “tumblr dissertation,” and I’ve officially graduated and am ready to move on to other things. Undertale was a fun phase in my life, but all phases come to an end.

And, with that, this post has also (finally) come to an end as well.

Just remember,

[picture of Papyrus saying “Still! I believe in you!”]

The Great Papyrus believes in you, and so do I.