🕰 GoodOlJenkins 🕰

(undertale spoilers)

There are many mysteries surrounding the two skeleton brothers, including their origins. The following are context from the game that suggests Sans and Papyrus are from somewhere else.

At a glance, this statement doesn’t seem too odd. The brothers are from out of town and quickly made themselves at home after moving in.

In the neutral route, Sans mentions knowing the feeling of wanting to go home. However, suggests “it’s better to take what’s given to you,” implying he may not be able to go back.

SANS: you can’t understand how this feels. knowing that one day, without any warning… it’s all going to be reset. look. i gave up trying to go back a long time ago. and getting to the surface doesn’t really appeal anymore, either. cause even if we do… we’ll just end up right back here, without any memory of it, right?

During his battle in the genocide route, Sans clarifies that he has given up on “trying to go back.” It’s likely that he is speaking about going back home. The underground is a confined space that has been settled by the monsters. One place that is unreachable is the surface, but Sans makes it clear that the surface isn’t what he is referring to.

During the Lost Souls battles, each friend reverts to the state they were in before befriending Frisk. Their desires and fears are laid bare. Once again, Sans mentions giving up and also states “you’ll never see ‘em again.” While he is speaking to Frisk, he mentions again how he had given up. It’s possible that he speaks from experience.

In Sans’ hidden lab, there is a photo of him with people Frisk does not recognize. These may be the people that Sans will never see again. While some have speculated that these are Gaster’s followers, there is a very slim chance of running into a follower in Hotland. Seeing the follower, however, does not affect the “people you don’t recognize” dialogue.

tl;dr

Sans wants to go back home.

He has given up on going back.

He’s not interested in reaching the surface.

He will never see “them” again.

It’s unknown where Sans’ home is, but it must be somewhere he cannot physically reach. Considering Sans has shortcuts in the underground, it’s hard to imagine there is a place he cannot reach, especially when it’s limited in size. His home is not on the surface and not in the underground. Perhaps home is another timeline. Unfortunately, there is no evidence to cement this, although Sans is known to play tricks across time and space.