So I’ve gotten back into Undertale recently after being away since around 2019 I believe (outside of stuff like the newsletters) and coming back feels so weird in a few ways and I wanted to yell in the void about it (2.7k words below):
- First off, the weirdest thing was that after so long away from the game I’ve grown to see Sans as a meme more than anything else (worth noting I’ve only played the first half of Deltarune’s chapter 3, haven’t touched chapter 4 yet and didn’t watch the 10th anniversary stream in case it spoiled those chapters so I haven’t seen the guy in a while).
So it felt so weird going back to watch let’s plays of the game and have to stop seeing him as “Sans Undertale” and start seeing him as “Sans the Skeleton” again. Remembering that he’s a three-dimentional character with feelings and emotions and growth, not just “haha funny bone man”.
I think the most interesting thing about coming back to view Sans as a character is to remember just how much he cares about the people in his life. Him staying by Alphys’ side in the Queen Alphys ending, the way it’s implied he knows about the Amalgamates but keeps it a secret, the way he can’t stop gushing about Papyrus during the Snowdin section, him lying to Papyrus in the King Papyrus ending in a desire to protect him, same with him lying to Toriel in the exiled Queen ending in which Papyrus is dead, him getting his ass up and buying snail pasta or baking a pie despite being depressed and not seeing the point in trying anymore because those matter to Toriel. Sans just cares so deeply about the people he loves and it’s the sweetest thing.
(Also for some reason I think as a kid I believed Sans was being sarcastic when talking about how cool Papyrus is, but looking at it as an adult yeah no he really does find his brother amazing, AS HE SHOULD!)
Also I love how coming back I was like “lol remember how I used to ship Soriel, what was that even about” and then I rewatched their dialogues in the pacifist ending and the Q&A and Alarm Clock stuff and yeah nevermind, these two are adorable (took me 2 days before I started scouring the soriel tag). They’re insufferable together in the best way possible and I love them for it!
- It’s funny coming back and remembering all those random details. First few days of watching UT content was basically me going “oh yeah that FUN event!” “wait doesn’t HP stand for hope?” “Oh I remember when Flowey did that!” “Oh right the phone conversations god I need to reread them all.”
- Also going back to my old fics (tho barely reading them bc holy shit it’s bad!) and picking which headcanons to keep and which ones to let go of. It’s a fun exercise re-making my headcanons by taking what I already had and change some of it around!
- Coming back to it as an actual adult made me appreciate Undyne, Alphys and Flowey’s characters so much more. Especially Alphys, I didn’t give a shit about her as a kid from what I remember. And Undyne is such a sweetheart who cares so much about others, which is something I don’t think I quite realized back then. Also it’s insane just how much determination she has, to the point of refusing death for a while and even melting from just how much of the stuff she naturally has. I didn’t appreciate that enough as a kid.
- Also Papyrus. He’s always been my favorite character since I first played the game but holy shit Papyrus. I saw a post the other day pointing out all the weird stuff related to Papyrus and yeah, the more I think about this guy the more mentally ill I am about him.
He’s one of the toughest characters you face. He can defy gravity. He knows basically everything about Sans. He is the character that allows a pacifist run (befriends you, gets Undyne to do the same, Undyne’s love letter to Alphys was his idea, Flowey asks him to bring everyone to the barrier). He has yet to show up in Deltarune. He’s the one character Flowey likes the most, and many more things I’m currently forgetting.
Like forget “what’s the deal with Sans?”, we know what Sans’ deal is. What I want to know is Papyrus’ deal.
- And since I’m at it Papyrus and Flowey’s friendship is severely underrated. Especially when thinking about the Genocide route and how Papyrus believes in you no matter what. He probably acts the same towards Flowey, and somehow this got Flowey to have the closest thing to a soft spot he can have. And when taking into account that Papyrus is smarter than he looks/lets on, on top of how strong he is, it can create such an interesting dynamic.
- Also thinking about it the “King Papyrus” ending absolutely destroys me. The fact that Sans and Papyrus should be closer than ever in order to run the kingdom but instead are growing apart due to lying to each other (Sans telling Papyrus his friends are on vacation, Papyrus hiding how he truly feels about being a ruler). And the reason why they’re lying is to protect the other because they love and care for each other so much…Absolutely heartbreaking, especially that part when Papyrus suddenly stops talking, asks if Sans is gone and then his smile just drops as he opens up to us. Kills me every time I watch/read that phonecall.
- Apparently everyone hates Sans now which I find hilarious (yes I saw that scene at the very end of chapter 4, one of the very few spoilers I saw of this chapter). Also we’re back in 2016 with the “Toriel is a bad person” arguments…
Though talking about this scene and Toriel, I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone point out how this shows that, while Asgore and Carol are stuck on the past (at least from what I’ve heard of Carol), Toriel is trying to move on too fast, at least too fast for Kris. Like Toriel is an adult and single, she can do whatever the fuck she wants, but she has a kid that is still processing the divorce. The last thing Kris needs right now is their mom bringing her new boyfriend home.
On that note I love how they made the scene with a huge sexual innuendo relevant to the story. Nothing says “I think my mom is moving on too fast” like hearing said mom “have sex” with a guy she’s known for 4 days top. And that’s not even getting into Toriel being religious (hell the fact Deltarune’s religion has a church gives it “christianity” vibes, which has abstinence; also the fact Toriel is religious makes this whole “ditching a religious event to drink and have non-marital “sex” with a guy I just met” even more “scandalous”) or that the marriage she just ended lasted for over a decade given Asriel’s age (which also explains Kris struggling with the divorce). I just find it very funny, they made the “sex” scene plot relevant.
Also the fact that there’s a bottle of ketchup “standing defiantly” in the fridge which gives huge “douchey boyfriend just moved in and is acting like he owns the place” vibes, on top of Toriel forgetting to call Kris kind of makes me wonder if there’s also supposed to be this idea of a parent who moved on to a new relationship and immediately starts ignoring their ex and what tied them to said ex, including neglecting the kids they had together.
Though obviously this is a much lesser version of this as Toriel is a good parent, but it might have felt like this for Kris in that moment. Hell that’s also why I like the innuendo when Sans and Toriel are partying. They’re not having sex but in Kris’ eyes they might as well be.
Also it being plot relevant is why I find it annoying to see some people insist Deltarune Sans and Toriel are just friends. From a narrative perspective, “child still processing their parents’ divorce finds out their mom started dating again and her bf is an asshole” is a lot more powerful than “child of divorce finds out their mom has a new friend and might be spending less time with them”, you know?
Plus I’ve heard about how part of the prophecy mentions “a field of flowers burning in an inferno of jealousy” or something along those lines, which is very likely Asgore. And as someone who really doesn’t like the way Asgore is handled so far in Deltarune (just let this man move on already and STOP MAKING HIM THE BUTT OF THE JOKE), I’d MUCH rather it be Asgore getting pissed the ex he’s trying to get back with has a new boyfriend rather than him being one of those “how dare the girl I like have male friends!” assholes.
So yeah, until chapter 5 comes out and either confirms or undoes it, I consider Deltarune Soriel canon. As at least from a story perspective it’s much more powerful given the main plot is apparently tied to the Holidays and Dreemurrs drama. Though I could definitely see their relationship be very unserious if not outright being Toriel trying too hard to move on/using Sans as a rebound, meaning it might not last.
(btw if it needs to be said I won’t go around claiming Soriel is 100% canon, we’ll just have to wait and see how this whole thing evolves, it’s just that we’ve come to a point where there’s more than enough hints of them being together + narratively speaking it would be more effective)
And if it needs to be said I don’t consider Toriel a bad mom for this scene. She’s had a couple stressful days, her ex is stalking her, her kid is making new friends and from what I’ve heard was at a friend’s house, and she finally met someone who just moved in meaning he sees her for who she is completely separated from the divorce drama. Thus she had a moment of weakness, it happens.
Also I’ve seen a few people get mad at Toriel for not apologizing for that scene but like, she was drunk and will probably do so in the morning at the beginning of chapter 5??? Hell looking at the “Papyrus what’s your favorite food?” Q&A and the Alarm Clock dialogue, she’s clearly embarrassed by her drunk behavior. No doubt she’ll apologize once sober.
- By the way I watched about a dozen reactions of this scene, and I fully believe the reason players are so shocked by it is because it’s Sans fucking Undertale. Like obviously in UT him and Toriel are besties so when giving Toriel a love interest he’s definitely at the top of the list, but with him being widely seen as a meme, it creates that “that troll Sans Undertale is fucking our mom!” impression, which is really just a bad (but very amusing) coincidence.
- And speaking of Toriel, re-reading the Q&A and Alarm Clock dialogues, can we talk about Toriel becoming friends with Papyrus and being fully on board with his weirdness? Like in the Q&A where both her and Sans describe how to make his sandwiches, with Toriel being completely fine with it (also Sans and Toriel finishing each other’s sentence, it’s cute). And in the Alarm Clock her repeatedly tackling Undyne thus helping Papyrus score. Idk it’s very sweet. Sans and Papyrus are a package deal and Toriel understood the assignment when trying to grow closer to Sans.
- And since I mentioned Deltarune, I find the difference in story between the two games so funny. Undertale’s “you’re a young child trying to go home and meeting wacky friends along the way” vs Deltarune’s “this teenager’s life is in fucking shambles.”
- So there is a theory going around that Sans Undertale and Sans Deltarune are the same guy who just hopped dimensions, and while I do think that theory makes a lot of good points and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s canon, I honestly don’t like it.
My issue with it is that, as someone who is currently more into UT than DR, I can’t help but feel like this theory undermines the relationships UT Sans has with other characters, especially Toriel and Alphys (I would say Papyrus too but from what I’ve seen people think he jumped dimensions too).
So while I definitely see the vision, I feel like this theory does UT Sans a disservice. Then again I’ve never been a big fan of parallel universe stories (didn’t like the second Spide//rverse all that much for example). So if I ever do Deltarune content I’ll completely ignore the Gaster part of the story because it’s stuff I’m just not interested in. And if by the end of Deltarune it’s canon or heavily implied to be, and I end up doing UT content again, I’ll just completely ignore this aspect of his character.
To explain a bit more about Toriel and Alphys, to make my point as to how it undermines Sans’ relationship with them:
For Alphys, I just really like that aspect of them being previous coworkers who lost contact a bit after Gaster fell into his creation, with Sans also finding out about the Amalgamates at some point and helping Alphys from afar. Idk I just really like their dynamic for the little we see of them (the Queen Alphys ending man, so much potential) and part of it does feel tied to them meeting for the first time in Undertale, rather than Sans going “hey it’s that teacher friend I know!” and feeling compelled to hang out with her due to those memories. Unless you see UT and DR Alphys as one and the same I guess? Since this is a theory I saw float around.
And then you have Toriel with whom it’s even worse. So one thing about Soriel that I like a lot is the anonymity of their meetings. They’re both complete strangers, two broken people finding solace in each other, making each other’s day a little better. It gives Toriel something to look forwards to, giving her the motivation to take care of herself, while Sans is given the motivation to do things despite his depression (also can we talk about Sans taking an interest in Toriel’s hobbies, actively engaging in the things she likes? Bc I find this absolutely adorable).
But if you add in the UT Sans = DR Sans theory, it completely changes that dynamic. Now it isn’t Sans falling in love with a stranger’s laugh. It’s Sans encountering a past lover from another dimension and staying by her side because of it. Which to be fair “I’ll meet you in every dimension and fall in love with you all over again every time” is a very cute story, but it’s just not what made me find Soriel compelling. And if you want to argue that Sans might not remember her, given the hints we have of him coming from Deltarune I wouldn’t be surprised if he found her voice at least somewhat familiar, hence making him want to stick around.
There’s also the fact that, taking their Deltarune relationship as romantic, Sans will always have that “what if” in his mind. That Toriel is not the same Toriel he knew. She has a lot more baggage (which he does too), a lot more responsibilities. Things will be a lot less easy than if he was still in his own dimension, with his “own” Toriel.
And more importantly, you have the promise. Looking at it with only UT, it’s incredibly sweet. Sans doesn’t know this woman, he hates promises, monsters only need one more soul to finally be free, which not only Papyrus wants to be but it also means more monsters will be after Frisk, which could make Sans protecting them a traitor. There is absolutely no good reason for Sans to agree. And yet he does. And he will hold true to that promise even when you kill his brother as long as you’re not doing a genocide run. Because that’s how much he grew to care for that random stranger he met by total luck.
Meanwhile with Deltarune added it just becomes “well of course Sans would agree, that’s his past girlfriend!”
So yeah overall I just don’t like this theory, even though I agree it very likely will be proven true.