Elementary!

Punctuation:

Exclamation points!

Papyrus uses a lot of exclamation points… He uses them more often than not. He is constantly shouting. Mostly frequently, he uses one. But he also uses more! Like this!! Or this!!!!!

Examples:

“SANS!!! THAT DIDN’T DO ANYTHING!”

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU SAID THAT!!”

“PURPLE TILES ARE SLIPPERY!”

“THIS PUZZLE… IS ENTIRELY RANDOM!!!!!!”

Scroll through any of the linked references (at the end of the post) to see how often they appear.

Don’t let this fool you into using exclamation points for every sentence.

Papyrus uses it occasionally in normal dialogue.

In serious dialogue, when he lets his mask drop for a few sentences, he uses periods and other low-energy punctuation.

Geno route examples:

“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAVE SOME THINGS TO SAY.”

“NOT ONLY DO YOU NOT LIKE PUZZLES. BUT THE WAY YOU SHAMBLE ABOUT FROM PLACE TO PLACE… THE WAY YOUR HANDS ARE ALWAYS COVERED IN DUSTY POWDER.”

“IF FEELS… LIKE YOUR LIFE IS GOING DOWN A DANGEROUS PATH.”

Talking with Undyne examples:

“…WHAT? DID I CAPTURE THEM…? W-W-WELL… NO. I TRIED VERY HARD, UNDYNE, BUT IN THE END… I FAILED.”

“…W-WHAT? YOU’RE GOING TO TAKE THE HUMAN’S SOUL YOURSELF… BUT UNDYNE, YOU DON’T H-HAVE TO DESTROY THEM! YOU SEE… YOU SEE…”

“…”

“…”

“…I UNDERSTAND. I’LL HELP YOU IN ANY WAY I CAN.”

This is theorizing based on a couple of sentences, but Papyrus is much more subdued when he thinks he’s alone with Sans. (*More on this scene later.)

“HEY, SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY…”

“OH, HELLO. YOU AREN’T SANS.”

“WAIT A SECOND.”

There are a lot more examples of Papyrus’s mask dropping (And therefore his punctuation and speech patterns changing), but I want to move past the first bullet point sometime today…

Personal note: I find too many exclamation points in fic prose can be more distracting than in text boxes. I tend to use them as frequently as he does canonically when I’m making comics (and therefore am using a textbox format) and less frequently in fics. I also normally only use one or three when using multiple exclamation points in a row (!!!) to make them less likely to stick out.

Quotation marks

Papyrus quotes things more than once—he repeats phrases and such back to the speaker, or makes it clear he’s repeating something someone has said in the past.

I’m not very confident in my analysis of this section, so I will just give some examples. Make of them what you will.

Examples:

PEOPLE WILL ASK, TO, BE MY, “FRIEND?”

YOU KNOW WHAT “SUP,” BROTHER!

I HAVE MANY “SOCIAL MEDIA CONNECTIONS.”

ARE WE POSTING HOT "PICS???"

These are some of the only appearances of this, so it’s not frequent.

Interrupted/Incomplete sentences/words*

Papyrus often interrupts sentences and words with punctuation, making them grammatically incomplete.

Examples:

“THEN I'LL!!! BE FORCED!!! TO ASK UNDYNE FOR HELP!!!”

“UN. BELIEVABLE.”

“HA! HA! YES! HUMANS MUST BE VERY INTELLIGENT! IF THEY ALSO FIND JUNIOR JUMBLE SO DIFFICULT!”

Short sentences*

Short sentences. Papyrus uses very short sentences. He also uses a lot of ellipses to trail off early…

Examples

“FRISK… TAKE A HIKE. HIKING IS GOOD FOR YOUR BONES”

“PSST. MAKE SURE TO GIVE HER THIS! SHE LOVES THESE!”

“I’M JUST A DOZEN AWAY... FROM A DOUBLE DIGIT FOLLOWER COUNT!”

Scroll through any of the linked references (at the bottom) to see more examples. It’s everywhere.

*Both the short sentences and some of the interrupted sentences are most likely due to his text size and dialogue box. He CAN’T say long sentences or it won’t fit! When he has more space to talk, he does so, as seen in the Valentine's cards sent out in the Winter 2024 Newsletters. It may also may be because long sentences in all caps are much harder to read.

Feel free to play around with sentence length if you aren’t trying to fit his dialogue in a tiny little box.

(A general tip that is situation dependent: Too many super short sentences in a fic tend to stick out and make dialogue stilted and unnatural. Spice it up with a few longer sentences if you can (not too long if you’re writing in all caps, though). You have more room to play when not limited by a text box.)

PAPSLOCK

Papyrus speaks exclusively in capslock. (There’s a bit about how I deal with this in the “Miscellaneous Tips” section later.)

How Papyrus refers to People:

Referring to himself

Papyrus refers to himself in a variety of ways! The most common is “THE GREAT PAPYRUS,” but that’s not the only one.

Examples

“THE GREAT PAPYRUS”

“MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS”

“PAPYRUS: UNPARALLELED SPAGHETTORE,”

The point isn’t to grab these directly (though you can!) But that he doesn’t just call himself great. He makes up random titles!

In the genocide route confrontation he switches from using “THE GREAT PAPYRUS” to simply “I, PAPYRUS,” This also happens during the date/hangout with him, when he’s turning the human down.

In the English version of the game, Papyrus doesn’t typically speak in third person—he introduces himself.

Examples:

“AND I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS...”

“HUMAN! I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... WILL GO ON A DATE WITH YOU!!!”

“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... HAVE NEVER BEEN BEATEN AT DATING, AND I NEVER WILL!”

“BUT ALAS... I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS... HAVE FAILED.”

“I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WILL SOLVE THIS CONUNDRUM!”

“FRET NOT HUMAN! I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS...”

He puts “I” in front of it—there are a lot more examples I’m not grabbing.

Most of the time he simply introduces himself—however, there are a few uses of third person. And typically, it’s in places where third person makes sense to use.

Examples:

“WELL, WORRY NOT DEAR HUMAN! PAPYRUS WOULD NEVER BETRAY YOU!”

“PAPYRUS! HE SMELLS LIKE THE MOON.”

“POWERFUL! POPULAR! PRESTIGIOUS!!! THAT'S PAPYRUS!!! THE NEWEST MEMBER... OF THE ROYAL GUARD!”

When he does use third person (from what I’ve seen) it’s never paired with “The Great Papyrus.” If he’s calling himself that, he’s introducing it as a title after saying “I.”

Referring to Others

Papyrus doesn’t use nicknames very often… unless you count the mangled “Flowy” and “Happstablook” (which isn’t wrong. It’s just his headcanon.)

Papyrus refers to Sans as his brother when talking to other people

Examples:

“THIS IS MY BROTHER'S PET ROCK.”

“MY BROTHER ALWAYS GOES OUT TO EAT. BUT... RECENTLY, HE TRIED 'BAKING' SOMETHING.”

“MY BROTHER WILL... WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH.”

He calls Sans simply “SANS” when talking to him—except for once, at the very start. The famous quote: “YOU KNOW WHAT ‘SUP,’ BROTHER!”

From what I’ve seen, Papyrus calls Undyne by her name, Alphys by her name, Asgore by his name, etc.

He has called Alphys “The Great Dr. Alphys.”

He called Toriel “MOM” once

He calls Frisk “HUMAN” for most of the game, however, he switches to “FRISK” as soon as he learns their name.

Examples:

“WOW, FRISK... THIS REALLY PUTS OUR RELATIONSHIP IN A NEW LIGHT.”

“IT'S OK FRISK! I'VE GOT YOU COVERED!”

“IT SEEMS LIKE YOU REALLY BOTCHED YOUR QUEST, FRISK.”

“FRISK, WHY DON'T YOU TAKE A WALK AROUND?”

“YEAH, FRISK, WHY DON'T YOU FLY?”

“FRISK... TAKE A HIKE.”

So… As an overview: Papyrus doesn’t really use nicknames. (That we see.)

Papyrusisms:

I don’t know how else to describe this… Papyrus really loves language and playing with it. The level of language manipulation Papyrus does is most definitely on purpose. Here are some of his vocal quirks that make his voice distinct:

Alliteration/Rhyming

Papyrus often uses alliteration and rhyming. Things that make sentences roll off your tongue!

Frequently, the alliteration is paired with either Made-Up Words, or Esoteric Words. (Seen later in this section) Wanna make Papyrus use alliteration but can’t think of a good one??? No problem. Just. Make up a word!!!

Canon examples:

“NO! I'VE BEEN DOGBURGLED BY THAT PERNICIOUS PUP!”

“I'M SO ENTHUSED BY YOUR ENTHUSIASM!!!”

“WOW… YOU'RE TRULY A PUZZLE PASSIONEER!”

“NOT AS PERSISTENTEST AS PAPYRUS, THE PERSISTENTESTEST!”

“SO INSTEAD I CRUISE WHILE I SNOOZE.”

Weird metaphors, Made up Idioms, changing common sayings

That’s the best way I can think of to categorize this. He uses odd metaphors, makes up idioms, and messes around with common sayings, and just… in general says incredibly odd things.

This one is more practice and a mindset shift than anything. You can try to recycle some of the canon phrases, or make up your own. Don’t be discouraged if you can’t think of anything, though! It’s… really hard to match Papyrus’s sheer level of out-of-pocket eccentricity. Practice makes perfect! 

(Personally, I’m better at messing around with existing sayings than I am making weird metaphors. I like to use a saying, and then ask myself, “how could Papyrus use this in a literal fashion jokingly?”)

Canon examples:

“WE REALLY ARE BOUND TOGETHER. TWO BONES IN THE SKELETAL ANATOMY OF FATE!!!”

“SEEING AS THIS SPAGHETTI IS STILL HERE SOMEHOW… I HEREBY DONATE IT TO THE PUBLIC. IT'S LIKE A PLAYGROUND FOR YOUR MOUTH!”

“AH-HA! INTERESTED IN MY FOOD MUSEUM? PLEASE. PERUSE MY CULINARY ARTSHOW.”

“PREPARE YOURSELF!! FOR HIGH JINKS! FOR LOW JINKS!”

Puns/Jokes

Papyrus tells a LOT of jokes and puns! He bemoans Sans’s, but actually makes more than Sans. (Though, Papyrus has a LOT more dialogue than Sans, so it’s not a fair comparison. If I wanted to get into the actual frequency I’d want to do a percentage—how many lines do they have vs. how many jokes they make. But then it’s skewed because Papyrus’s text is larger, so he has less text per box, so really it should probably be joke to sentence ratio instead… …Yeah I’m not doing that. But Papyrus makes a lot of jokes, okay?)

Papyrus is the guy at the party who plays up hating the jokes, and then makes his own right after. …Increasing the humor of it dramatically when he does.

Here are few examples of jokes and puns:

“AS FOR YOUR WORK? PUT A LITTLE MORE, "BACKBONE" INTO IT!!!!”

“SO LET'S LET BYBONES BE BYBONES.”

“I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M FRIENDS… WITH A BONE-A-FIDE OPERA STAR!!!”

“WAIT, WHY ARE THEY A ROYAL GUARD AND NOT ME!? I LOVE TO BE PET TOO!!! SIGH... IT'S ALL JUST A PUPULARITY CONTEST.”

(I included the full quote, not just the pun, because I LOVE THIS QUOTE. PET THE SKELETON, OKAY? SOMEONE PET HIM AND TELL HIM HE’S A GOOD BOY. HE DESERVES IT. HE EVEN PLAYS FETCH—) (…Ahem. Sorry. Wrong post for this. Next time I’ll put my “Proof that Papyrus Undertale is Actually a Dog” up. (/half joking. I do have a document like this. I probably won’t post it, though. I don’t normally post any of my analysis. (does that COUNT as analysis???)(AHEM AGAIN. SORRY. BACK TO PAPYRUS PUNS.)

“I ALWAYS MAKE PEOPLE FEEL BETTER... WHEN THEY'RE DOWN IN THE DUMPS!!!” (Said when you call him from the dump.)

“OTHERWISE, I'VE ALWAYS BEEN INTERESTED IN THE XYLOPHONE. SOMETHING ABOUT ITS SOUND… TICKLES MY RIBS.” (Interview 1)

There are more, but I think you get the idea…

Made-up Words/Phrases

Papyrus makes up words and short phrases! As a disclaimer, I may make mistakes and mix up “made-up words” with “esoteric” words. (Shown in the next section.)

Here are a few examples:

“NYEH HEH HEH” (The amount of “HEH”s differs)

“NYOO HOO HOO”

“LOOKSY” (“TAKE A LOOKSY!”)

“WOWIE”

“DOGBURGLED” (“NO! I'VE BEEN DOGBURGLED BY THAT PERNICIOUS PUP!”)

“PASSIONEER” (“WOW… YOU'RE TRULY A PUZZLE PASSIONEER!”)

“READIED-UP” (“OKAY! ALL READIED-UP TO HANG OUT!?”)

“CHECK IT OUTIE!!!”

“NYEHFULLY” (“NYEHFULLY YOURS, PAPYRUS”)

“BONETROUSLED” (“WHEN YOU WENT MISSING I GOT WORRIED SICK!!!- SLIGHTLY BONETROUSLED, PAPYRUS”)

“PERSISTENTEST”/“PERSISTENESTER”/“PERSISTENTESTEST” (Incorrect grammatical forms of the word “Persistent”)

(Want some help on how to make up words or phrases and otherwise manipulate the English language? Check out: this post (1) (it’s phrased as an article for advertising, but the advice in it is very useful), this post (2), or this post (3). Or try playing a game like Balderdash )

(Huh. Writing this post has given me a new headcanon. I bet Papyrus would LOVE Balderdash and Scrabble and word games. …I really wouldn’t want to play against him, though)

Papyrus frequently 

Changes nouns into verbs (or vice versa) (ie. How Papyrus of you!) 

Adds prefixes and suffixes

Invents the word he needs (Bonetrouseled)

Esoteric Words (or words otherwise not typically used in everyday English by most people)

Papyrus uses a lot of odd words that most people rarely use! Older words, or just specific ones!

Here are a couple of examples:

“ALAS” (He pulls this from a Shakespeare quote… you could add in a few of those)

“CURSES!!!”

“PERNICIOUS” (“PERNICIOUS PUP”)

“BOONDOGGLE”

“LOATHSOME SCOUNDREL”

“HEREBY”

“JAPED”

“PONDER” (“WHO COULD HAVE BUILT THIS, YOU PONDER…”)

My List of Funny Words I Think Fit the Bill for Papyrus to Use:

Discombobulate

Fuddy-duddy

Kerfuffle

Ornery

Rambunctious

Rigmarole

Skedaddle

Skullduggery !!!!!!!!! (DOUBLE PURPOSE PUN!)

Bodacious

Gnarly

Goggle 

Malarkey

Balderdash

A list of more funny words

When I’m using really odd words, I try not to use them too often, and when I do, I (try to) make sure context is clear so people don’t have to pause and look up the word if they don’t want to. I don’t want to go around bamboozling my readers! Nobody enjoys being discombobulated and needing to stop to find a definition every five sentences to make sense of it all. 

Improper word usage?

No idea how to classify this one, but sometimes Papyrus doesn’t use words in their proper ways! I’m just pulling examples—make of it what you will. (He doesn’t do this very often.)

“YOU DIDN'T DO A VIOLENCE!!!”

“YOU SHOULD LEARN A PRIVACY.”

A few characterization notes:

Stuttering/Stammering

I know some people avoid writing stutters out like this in fics, but for analysis’s sake: Papyrus has moments of stuttering, stammering, and using filler words when nervous.

Examples:

“H... HI, UNDYNE! I'M HERE WITH MY DAILY REPORT... UHHH... REGARDING THAT HUMAN I CALLED YOU ABOUT EARLIER... I THINK, UH... HOW DO I...”

“Y-YES! OF COURSE I DID!”

“W-W-WELL...”

“... W-WHAT?”

“SO, UH, JUST WALK BACK THERE, AND...” (Walking through a puzzle in a geno route.)

“R-REALLY??? WOWIE!!!”

He gets flustered a decent amount in game.

Confidence!!!

Is it false bravado? Is it real? I’m sure you have an opinion (I certainly do), but this post isn’t about what Papyrus thinks. It’s about what he says! And Papyrus certainly says a great many things about himself! Wanna toss in some self-deprecation as well? Please do! (He’s got a few lines of bashful modesty in canon as well!) But he’s got a level of thick-skinned, ballsy self-confidence… well. At least his words do!

…But Papyrus gets flustered if you compliment him. On the flip side, if you insult him, his response is immediate and unflappable deflection and confidence. 

Example response to insults:

“YOUR BARBS HIDE A HIDDEN AFFECTION! YOU EMOTIONAL CACTUS!”

(After insulting him) “HOW SELFLESS... YOU WANT ME TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT FIGHTING YOU... THERE'S NO NEED TO LIE TO YOURSELF!!!”

Example response to positive things (flirting, or just being kind if you go the hangout route):

You’ve got all the stammering after flirting and such, but also…

If you say yes to hanging out: “R-REALLY??? WOWIE!!!”

(If you compliment him:) “NO!!! A GENUINE COMPLIMENT...!!!”

Most of it is pretty silly, but even if the fluster is for show, it’s there. And more importantly: it doesn’t just happen when flirting. It happens if you do friendship, too! Which means he’s just… responding that way to positive things.

(I could ramble about the implications of Papyrus not blinking twice at insults, but scrambling for a composed response to praise, and what that implies he’s used to… but that is rambling about character analysis, not observations. He breaks my heart and I love him, your honor.)

Self-Aggrandizing Language Unlinked to an Insult or Compliment:

“WELL...! HUFF IT'S CLEAR... YOU CAN'T! HUFF DEFEAT ME!!! YEAH!!! I CAN SEE YOU  SHAKING IN YOUR BOOTS!!! THEREFORE I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, ELECT TO GRANT YOU PITY!!”

“OH NO!!! THAT HUMILITY... IT REMINDS ME OF, MYSELF!!!”

“DON'T BE SO JUDGMENTAL, UNDYNE. MY SHACK IS A FOUR STAR ESTABLISHMENT.” (Unused text in game) (Some modesty! …And yet still confident…?)

“WAIT! I KNOW WHERE TO LOOK!!! IN MY COLLECTION! NYEH HEH HEH!!! SOMETIMES, I'M A GENIUS. ALL THE TIME.”

(Note: everything in these parentheses is my headcanon/character analysis. You didn’t ask for this. Terribly sorry for straying from cold, hard, canon-provable fact for a bit.)

(But I feel like there’s a common thread among how Papyrus talks about himself and the technique he’s using… Check this post out (CW: discussion of suicidal thoughts) regarding using self-aggrandizing to build self-confidence. (Can also be used as a defensive mechanism…) This appears to line up with the way Papyrus boasts. Especially when you consider the joking lines that are more modest— (four star establishment!))

(Personally, treating Papyrus’s humorously cocky statements like this helps me write them in a way that I think feels in line with canon. He’s not actually arrogant in a way that makes him act like he’s better than other people. He just talks like he’s great, and so is everyone else.)

Serious moments and dialogue!

I talked about this a decent amount back in the punctuation section, but is worth talking about again down here. Papyrus isn’t as over the top in more serious segments (E.g. Parts of the geno route confrontation, when at home with Sans, when talking to Undyne about the human, when talking to the human after Undyne is hurt/killed, when turning you down after a date/hangout…)

It’s not just his punctuation that changes during these times. He’s also less inclined to use Papyrusisms. There can still be some quirk to his language, but it’s much less over-the-top.

An example of a more subdued Papyrusism:

“HEY, I… REALLY DOUBT WE’RE GOING TO BE ABLE TO HANG. IT’S HARD TO IMAGINE, BUT… YOU’LL HAVE TO SPEND TIME WITH NOT ME.”

The type of fanwork I’m making is a large determination of the type of punctuation and amount of Papyrusisms he uses. Hurt/comfort that takes place mostly in front of Sans? Probably much less enthusiasm. Fluff taking place with the entire cast? Copious amounts of Papyrusisms and exclamation points. Longer form fics where he’s a main character have both.

That one scene in Sans’s room

I said I’d talk about this more. So here we are! In the game, if you get the key to Sans’s room, you get a very short cut scene with Papyrus. For a very brief, but telling time, Papyrus thinks you are Sans and says:

“HEY, SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY…”

“OH, HELLO. YOU AREN’T SANS.”

“WAIT A SECOND.”

This dialogue is worlds away from his usual way of talking, even in just three sentences. English speaking fans probably pick up on that—but the Japanese localization confirms that Papyrus speaks entirely differently when he thinks it’s just him and Sans.

Here is a quote from the official Legends of Localization book for Undertale in regard to it:

“Papyrus always uses the pronoun ore-sama - except in one scene. If the player enters Sans’ room, Papyrus will barge in to ask Sans about an action figure. In this one scene, when Papyrus thinks it’s safe to be his true self, he refers to himself as boku. This detail adds charm to Papyrus’ personality not present in the English line.”

He basically entirely drops the whole “The Great Papyrus” shtick. If you’re interested in it, here’s a post that goes more into the Japanese localization of the game, and how Papyrus speaks. It’s got some interesting character notes!

(Also, I highly recommend reading the Legends of Localization book for Undertale. It’s very interesting and contains a lot of behind-the-scenes info about stuff!!!)

Skin/Hair/Muscles…?

He references skin! And hair! And muscles!

Examples:

The very ripped snow skeleton…

“I'D LIKE TO DRIVE DOWN A LONG HIGHWAY. WIND IN MY HAIR… SUN ON MY SKIN...”

“YEAH, BUT I COULD STYLE MY HAIR!”

It’s done on rare occasion, and seemingly always for humorous purposes. I could have probably lumped the quotes into the "joke" section.

Miscellaneous Tips:

PAPSLOCK:

This is a take it or leave it thing when making fan content! Most people use all caps, but not everyone does. It can be hard to read.

Personally, I post my fics in sentence case for accessibility, but then use a custom work skin and HTML on Ao3 to make Papyrus’s font and PAPSLOCK optional to toggle on or off. (I’ve found some screen readers struggle with all uppercase.)

When making comics or short-form content (and therefore no HTML), I put it in caps. This is a personal preference.

Capitalization can be fun to play with. Just like Sans switching from talking like a lazy texter to speaking in grammatically correct sentence case with the creepy spacing… it's fun to have Papyrus drop to sentence case sparingly when he always uses uppercase.

When using all uppercase, I like to shorten those sentences, make them less complex, and break them up somehow if Papyrus is rambling for a long time. All uppercase is hard to read, especially if it goes on for more than a line or two.

When in doubt, recycle quotes from canon! You don’t have to overdo it, but occasionally finding a good quote or line to sprinkle in can make it seem more like Papyrus.

MY GUIDING PRINCIPLE WHEN WRITING PAPYRUS:

“A localization team member explained the goal for Papyrus’ text early on: "You can Google a lot of Papyrus’s lines and he is the first search result because no one else has ever said anything like it. That’s the kind of dialogue we should be striving for with him.” (“Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE” p.120)

(I just spent 2 hours looking through my physical copy of Legends of Localization to get this quote exactly right and not paraphrased. CTRL F DOES NOT EXIST IN PAPERBACK. ALAS.)

This concept has completely changed the way I tackle Papyrus’s dialogue (when he’s being silly). Make it unique! Things never said before!

On a note of “Legends of Localization Book 3: UNDERTALE” — I just really recommend reading it if you want a better grasp of how Papyrus or any of the characters talk.

Localization is different from translation — instead of being direct, it adapts languages to the culture of the place it’s meant for. Which means the localization team had to come up with a BUNCH of brand new sentences! And still keep the core of what Toby wanted!

Which means the book is FILLED with Toby helping the localization team learn how to write like the characters! And there’s a crap ton of explanation for Toby’s reasons behind saying things—which really, really helps writing new dialogue, even in English! Who’da thunk?

To test the Papyrusyness of my sentences, I write in sentence case! If it looks like something Papyrus would say in sentence case, I can be sure it will when it’s uppercase. Most writing programs have a tool to switch to uppercase afterwards.

I also reread it in caps locks after writing in sentence case just to double check it seems right.

You can get creative with his inner thoughts! What’s Papyrus like at home? How does he act around other people, and how does that change from person to person? He masks so hard it’s impossible to say what he’s like in a million different situations.

But if his characterization and vocal habits are different from canon in most of a fanwork because of the tone or location, I find it helps to maintain his speech patterns in some situations—it makes it clear that when you put him in a different situation (e.g. being angry, being at home, being comfortable) that it’s still the same character. 

Personally, if I’m writing something super serious where Papyrus just… isn’t throwing on a mask, I still try to fit in a short scene with his canon vocal habits (even if it’s just for a sentence or two as he claws for normalcy). Or I fit a few subdued Papyrusisms in there.

Bonus Points for RPG References. If you want to go the extra mile and really add some Toby Fox flare, reference old RPGS. There are so many references in Undertale.

I don’t know any old RPGs so I really can’t do this… But! I try to add my own kind of flare by occasionally referencing either games I do know, or!!! By referencing popular Undertale Fandom content!!! Meta… or at least I try. 

On this note: disclaimer. Some of the Papyrusisms in this post may be accidentally mis-categorized references that I didn’t recognize. 

It's easy to fall into the trap of making Papyrus too formal, or using only eclectic words. But Papyrus uses casual language, too! It’s what makes him feel real—his silly language is used to spruce things up, but underneath it he still has moments where he talks casually. It takes him from being a caricature to being a person.

(There are notes on this in Legends of Localization, (in regard to all the characters—something along the lines of “they talk like cartoon characters, but then they turn around and talk casually and that’s what makes them feel real”) but I’m not going through it for hours again to find it.)

Papyrus also says “WOW” instead of “WOWIE” several times. Those Papyrusisms aren’t all the time.

And just a general tip on writing voice…

I often write my entire fic or chapter without worrying about Papyrus's dialogue AT ALL. Sometimes it comes naturally. Sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t let myself stress if I have a large section of conversation where his voice doesn't shine.

Instead, I finish everything, and THEN, when I’m editing, I come back to this paper, reread it to refresh my brain, scroll through some of his phone calls to pick up the right vibes, and then I go back and tackle his dialogue. Most of the time I can keep the message the same but make it sound more like something he would say.

Overwhelming list? Don’t know where to start? Have no idea how to incorporate this naturally, but you do want to? Try grabbing a few things from the “Papyrus-isms” section and adding them or replacing things.

E.g. changing “WOW” to “WOWIE,” or “LOOK” to “LOOKSY.” Add in a weird metaphor, or alliteration, or an esoteric or made-up word. Pick one thing to add at random and see if it helps! You could also try sneaking in some in-game dialogue. 

Take it slow. There’s no need to overwhelm yourself. The most important thing is to have fun!!! Take or leave WHATEVER you want from this.

THE MOST IMPORTANT TIP!!!!

Is this stressing you out??? Does trying to integrate this advice suck the joy out of creating? 

IF SO. Throw It All Away! 

Close this post and forget it exists. You create fanwork for fun, not profit. Or maybe you do it to process your emotions, or maybe you’re doing it for a friend. Whatever the reason is, you shouldn’t allow “proper characterization” or “proper dialogue” to get in the way of creating, or to suck the joy out of it for you. (And this whole analysis is all some random person’s interpretation, anyway. Like. This is not an authority.)

The right way to write him is the one that makes you happy. No one other than Toby Fox himself can write Papyrus the exact right way, so who cares how close you get?

Don’t let your fear of writing something OOC stop you from creating. (An old, but relevant comic I made.)

With that said!

Final Notes and Links

One last note:

I feel the need to disclaim—I definitely missed some stuff here, and got some wrong. I’m sure I misinterpreted at least a few things! There’s just… so much. So, so much. These are just the points I try to keep in mind when writing Papyrus (and I’m not always the best at following!) I wrote this for my personal reference, so it’s biased around my interpretations and headcanons and the things I focus on. I just polished it up and shared it because I heard from a few people that they wanted to read it.

…One extra last note:

If anyone tells you that Papyrus’s dialogue is easy and you should be able to do it no problem… give them four middle fingers, okay? Two from you and two from me…

It’s fucking HARD! So just have fun about it and don’t stress too much.

One super duper very last note: (That I originally planned to put in the tags:)

if you couldn’t tell, i am unhealthy levels of fixated on papyrus, i’ve got so many observations stuck up in my head, (and in scattered notes), but i never want to share them, because i’m worried people will think that i think that my interpretation is the only right one, and that’s not true!, take this post with a grain of salt, i also never want to get in one of those headcanon wars, they stress me out just watching, why can’t we all just agree to appreciate everyone’s interpretations of the character?, why do we have to be jerks to people that do something a different way?

…on that note, taking this chance to say, if you shit on OOC writing, or on people interpreting a character a different way than you, I will block you., this list is to help people if they want it, not to judge, fandom is for FUN, and writing people OOC can be fun, you don’t need a degree in a character in order to write them, don’t ruin other people’s joy. If you don’t enjoy someone’s works because a character is “ooc”, then don’t READ them, they aren’t for you, it doesn’t matter if “he wouldn’t say that”, you are not entitled to a fandom creator’s work, Don’t. Be. A. Dick., don’t like don’t read

AHEM. …With that said! Uh. If you found this post helpful or actually end up using it to help you write Papyrus’s dialogue, please consider letting me know…? I’m really curious if anyone actually finds this mess of an info dump useful.

Canon Papyrus Dialogue!

https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/#Papyrus (Papyrus)

https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/#Papyrus%20(call) (Papyrus Call Dialogue)

http://pcy.ulyssis.be/undertale/calls (All Papyrus and Undyne Calls - I recommend using this one over the link above, because you can see what Undyne said as well - it provides context)

https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/#Papyrus%20(note) (Papyrus Notes)

https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/#Papyrus%20(Undernet) (Papyrus Undernet)

https://hushbugger.github.io/dialogue/#Papyrus%20(label) (For completeness’s sake - Papyrus’s sign on his bedroom door)

https://toby.fangamer.com/interviews/papyrus/ (Papyrus Interview 1)

https://toby.fangamer.com/interviews/papyrus2/ (Papyrus Interview 2)

https://undertale.com/alarmclock/papyrus/ (Papyrus - Winter Alarm Clock)

https://toby.fangamer.com/interviews/nine/ (Number 9 Interview)

https://undertaleqa.tumblr.com/post/150442760868/questions-complete (Undertale Q&A "Papyrus whats your favorite food")

https://toby.fangamer.com/comics/grillbys/ (Grillby’s Rouge Gallery (Newletter) - Doesn’t contain direct dialogue, but references speech habits - More useful for characterization than direct dialogue)

https://toby.fangamer.com/newsletters/winter22/ (First newsletter - contains comic and single line of Papyrus text outside of that)

(I believe I’m missing some items from earlier newsletters, released before I was in the fandom. In addition, canon-adjacent dialogue is missing from this list - Kickstarter, Trailer Videos, etc.)

Valentine’s Day Cards - 

DEAR VALENTINE,

IF I KEPT YOU IN MY SHED, I WOULD FEED YOU CAT FOOD INSTEAD OF DOG FOOD!

DEAR VALENTINE,

IF YOU SEE SANS, PLEASE TELL HIM TO TAKE DOWN THE HEART-SHAPED BALLOON STUCK IN THE CORNER OF THE HOUSE FROM LAST YEAR!!! A DOG KEEPS GETTING TIED UP IN IT AND BECOMING A FLOATING 100 POINT HAZARD!!!

DEAR VALENTINE,

I READ YOUR LETTER! I UNDERSTAND…

YOU ARE CHALLENGING ME TO SEE WHO THE BEST VALENTINE IS!!! WELL, I WON’T LOSE!!! MEET ME OUTSIDE AS SOON AS YOU READ THIS! AND TELL SANS TO BRING THE RED FRILLY CONSTRUCTION PAPER!!

Being a literal object made to serve the lighteners definitely underscores this, but I can't think of any other darkeners that are this, uh… neurotic? unwell. about it. (well there’s a certain puppet secret boss im side-eyeing but he psychologically goes the other direction. Flips a middle finger to god and tries to ascend to another dimension. classic.)

Tenna’s survival literally depends on if other people are happy enough with him or not. And to do that he’s forced to act a certain way. In obvious ways like always having to keep the energy up and ignoring conflict,

but this extends to trying to suppress his own negative emotions, thoughts, and needs, being forced to do things that are against his own morals,

and a fawn response to threats.

There’s a sort of conundrum with the nature of performing arts where it’s kind of inseparable from your physical self. Whether you're using your face, voice, hands, etc. (or your whole entire body, in Tenna’s case), when a comment or critique is made of your performance, there’s just one less degree of separation between the thing you put out there and your whole You (I love TV = I love Tenna :) no degree of separation from the abstract concept of TV and his own idea of himself). So there’s the whole self worth thing already tied up in there. I’m not even gonna get deep into that one I feel like we know where that one’s going.

But the other question becomes, exactly how much of myself am I willing to give up for approval? What’s the right way to balance self-expression and individual identity with giving the people what they want? ... Or do we bother balancing it at all?

(and this is true of any art anyone puts into the public eye, but performance art is just kinda extra weird about it, by nature. For example, actors are expected to get hair cuts, keep or change their bodies to be a certain way, they lack anonymity because their face is tied to their art, so you're expected to behave a certain way when you're off the clock too-- it just requires so much more self-editing.)

Tenna’s such a beautiful example of this. In a very unsubtle (imo) way you see him bulldoze his own emotions for the sake of performance, upkeep his own denial to try to keep the happy facade up, and go to lengths to hide personal information. And it’s obviously stressing him out.

He’s internalized it to the point where it’s starting to come out in odd ways that dont make sense anymore, too.

"everyone's gonna know I..." know what. that youre a single mother. babygirl what are u talking about. + we all agree that the audience in the second one is like. some sort of manifestation right. can a professional please give this guy some cognitive behavioral therapy im begging

And then the dude does not know when to give it up. In a bad way.

There's a saying that originated from broadway i think, “the show must go on.” There’s a cute happy song about it but the attitude in the showbusiness is very real. It doesn't matter what you're personally going through, you’re expected to show up and perform no matter what, Or Else. Or else you ruined everyone else’s months of hard work, or else the show will suck and it will be your fault. In a lot of performing art mediums, there’s no retries, either. You mess up on stage and your moment is stained forever :) so you better do it right! no pressure.

In Tenna’s case, the “or else” is “or else you get sliced into ribbons”. He’s expected to pack up Toriel, keep it a secret, and keep the fun gang occupied for an indefinite amount of time until the Knight picks up its to-go order. Ive said it before and ill say it again this dude is doing like 5 hours straight of comedy improv with a gun to his head HE DOESNT EVEN RLY WANT TO KEEP YOU HERE. HE RUSHES YOU THRU THE FIRST BOARD, ROUND 2 WAS VAGUELY SLAPPED TOGETHER, AND THE BONUS ROUND IS NONEXISTENT THE MAN IS FREAKING OUT BACKSTAGE TRYING TO KEEP IT TOGETHER. OR ELSE. 

And then he has a mental breakdown live on stage and he just has to keep going. What other option is there.

And then his crew leaves, and his friends leave, and Mike leaves. But Tenna doesn't get to leave. The show goes on. Until the very end he's still cracking jokes and trying to herd you back to the board. Even his boss fight with the fun gang is just More Games!! He acts genuinely confused if you start whacking him in his fight!!

it's kinda meta in a way that an amount of people read Tenna's on-stage mental breakdown as a sort of temper tantrum for not giving him enough attention, which is similar to the way celebrities irl get dismissed when they go thru mental health issues. so so many signs pointing to how much he actually does not want to do any of this and is very scared. i mean to be fair that's the lie he gave us right before his battle. (covering up the deal with the Knight for Kris)

Maybe Kris/the knight really DID promise a reward, but the way he gets nervous as hell and shakes when he's alone with Kris-- that's not the usual reaction to someone you expect a prize from. they both know what the consequences are.

In conclusion: Tenna is a patron saint of performance art to me and all of his lovely complexes and mysterious deal with Kris perfectly represents the secret psychological horror that is to exist at an audience’s whims. Thank u for staying this long here take this shitpost as a reward