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.

But don’t let this fool you into using exclamation points for every sentence. He uses periods and other low-energy punctuation occasionally in normal dialogue.

In serious dialogue when Papyrus lets his mask drop for a few sentences, he also uses more 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 also much more subdued (low energy punctuation) when he thinks he’s alone with Sans. (*More on this scene later.)

Examples: - “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…

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.

PAPSLOCK

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

*A note on both the short sentences and interrupted/Incomplete sentences/words: Both the short sentences and a few of the interrupted sentences are most likely due to Papyrus's 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. The ellipses especially appear to be less of a characterization thing, and more of a "making longer sentences actually fit in a text box" thing. So feel free to play around with sentence length if you aren’t trying to fit his dialogue in a tiny box! Often times, dialogue that works in a text box is too stilted and short in fic format.

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. Typically, it’s in places where third person makes sense to use in the context of the sentence.

Examples: - “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.)

When talking about Sans to other people, Papyrus sometimes refers to Sans as his brother. He also just calls him by his name.

Examples: - “MY BROTHER ALWAYS GOES OUT TO EAT. BUT… RECENTLY, HE TRIED 'BAKING' SOMETHING.” - “MY BROTHER WILL… WELL, HE WON'T CHANGE VERY MUCH.” - "I WILL NOW SEND YOU TO THE CAPTURE ZONE!! OR, AS SANS CALLS IT… OUR GARAGE???" - “HEY, SANS, HAVE YOU SEEN MY…”

But when Papyrus is talking directly to Sans, he just calls Sans by his name—except for once, at the very start. The famous quote: “YOU KNOW WHAT ‘SUP,’ BROTHER!” which is seemingly for humorous purposes.

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 for anything other than humorous purposes or on one off occasions. (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!!!

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?”)

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.

Examples: - “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.)

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!

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 the rigmarole of stopping to figure out what kind of malarkey I'm spewing and being discombobulated by needing to stop to find a definition every five sentences. 

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.)

Examples: - “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!” - “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…?

Papyrus 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 those quotes into the "joke" section... Oops.

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 Papyrus's 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 post? 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.)

Now 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.

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!!

Golden Cheese Cookie: We all know by now that her kingdom was destroyed beyond saving due to the Dark Flour war, but what if instead of immediately going into hiding in her digital realm, she finds the person responsible for killing her own?

The story goes as follows….

The protagonist was once a member of Dark Enchantress’ forces way back when, whatever they were apart of is unknown. Years after the first war, they get a message from Dark Enchantress herself that they are needed in the dessert to find an artifact that she needs for unknown reasons. Wanting to help out their leader one last time, they set off on their journey. 

As they traverse through the now ruined city, they start to have a feeling that something isn’t right. Unfortunately, way too late before they were knocked unconscious. 

When they awaken, the city that they were once in had now changed into something more..grey and dull, the sky now pitch black much like an endless void. And as they travel, they start to notice strange happenings within this ‘city’. 

Denizens of the Kingdom wandering the void like injured animals in the corner of their eye before disappearing when they turn to face them. The city itself changing itself every time the protagonist travels a different path, walls that weren’t there before blocking the way out. And the eerie sound of static like wailing heard keeping them company every now and then. 

It scared them at first, but they eventually started to brush off the ambiance as they try to find a way out. However, things start to go from bad to worse as the staticy wails started to get louder as their journey continues.

That was when they saw it.

A tall figure in one of the dark allyways, its legs wobbly as black jam oozed from the many open gashes it had decorated on its body, the stomach in much worse condition as a much wider open wound spilled out whatever contents it once held. Once vibrant teal eyes now clouded and bloodshot looking down at the protagonist as they had a standstill. 

Till it started to move towards them. 

The protagonist wasted no time as they sprinted away from whatever that thing was. Things started to go from bad to worse as they started to encounter more figures.

One of them having their ribs sticking out of its chest; they figured that it was once an avian by the rotted red feathers on its skin and having a preferred habit of attacking them from the tall grey blocks. It was faster than the other entity, dangerously fast. Luckliy all they had to do was listen out for its wailing and dodge.

The third one wasn’t as fast, but he still needed to look out for. Unlike the others, it was headless to the shoulder, ooze spurted out of the large opening every now and then. Undead jackals accompanied it as it wandered the maze like void looking for the Protagonist. 

What was supposed to be an easy mission that would have lasted an hour at best turned into days of survival trying to avoid the entities. Each encounter getting more dangerous than the last, claws grazing at their hair as their sunken eyes looked at them in rage and hunger.

Witches they wanted to go home. With only having instructions from Dark Enchantress through a measly radio to guide them, they didn’t have much of a choice but to follow. 

Though it was strange, she went against hurting the glitched out entities, and instructed them to just..run. Informing the protagonist that it was for the best sine there was nothing they could do to stop them anyway. 

Days now turned to months since they received any word from Dark Enchantress. Having to survive off of this new world’s rules, finding food was starting to get more difficult, their leader was the only one able to point out what to eat when she was with them. Without her guidance, they were practically lamb to the slaughter. 

That day, Dark Enchantress had finally got on the radio again.

“Hello? Can anybody hear me? You didn’t crumble now didn’t you?” 

The protagonist was glad to hear a familiar voice, practically hugging the radio hearing their leader’s voice again.

“Yes yes I know.” The staticy voice grumbled “I have new instructions to give you.”

She told them to go to the top of the once Great queen’s palace, there, it would have the thing they desire to have before going home. 

The journey to the palace was surprisingly easy, almost too easy. But having been in this hellscape for so long, they didn’t entertain the thought for long. 

Eventually, they finally arrive at the palace. Like the many buildings, the palace was dull, grey, and without texture. Dark Enchantress was…just as excited as the protagonist to get out to say the least, practically yelling at them to open the doors. 

The halls were much detailed compared to the rest of the city, grooves and architecture lining the halls and palace. They weren’t too surprised after all, Golden Cheese always wanted to outshine all. 

But they can’t shake off the feeling that something was…off. It was as if something—no. Someone was watching them.

Dark Enchantress didn’t care about their discomfort as she pushed them forward.

“Yes! That one right there! That’s the one!” She shouted, static blasting in their ears from her excitement 

There was only a tv in the middle of the hallway. The static from it softly fizzing as it was the only sound in the area. Confusion set in until the radio spoke again, however instead of hearing an old woman on the other side, it was replaced by a younger voice.

“For someone that managed to take down my kingdom, you sure are easy to manipulate.”

That was when the static gotten louder, and all the entities came out of hiding towards the protagonist blocking them on all sides. The Mad Queen only laughed at their coming demise. 

“Until I find a way to bring them back, you will stay here to answer for your crimes.” 

Details: 

Mainly wanted to focus on the horror aspect with her first attempts to bring her subjects back from the dead. The injures mentioned are the ones they got from the war. 

Our Protagonist was actually the war general that killed all of Golden Cheese’s loyal subjects. 

This was the “early phase” of the Golden City that she was making, so there were many mistakes while making said city. Modeling and texturing are nightmares 

The entities shown were also in their early phases of development as well, they do not have the souls of her beloved subjects but have their resentment for their killer. Which is why Smoked Cheese was so hellbent on ripping them to shreds compared to the others 

Golden Cheese still has the General’s body in the deepest parts of her kingdom. No one has found it yet. 

Pure Vanilla: Since the trio and White Lily got out of Beast Yeast, things seem to go back to normal, but Wizard seems to keep thinking about what Shadowmilk had said to Pure Vanilla. So what if your Parent figure starts to act much stranger than usual? 

Story Summary: Wizard Cookie suspects that something had taken over Pure Vanilla while they were in beast yeast, trying and failing to convince the others of the strange things he had saw. However, when he goes to snap evidence, the truth is far more dreadful than he imagine 

Story details

Something something, Pure vanilla actually being an entity wanting to be a cookie. Much like the little mermaid, except he uses a costume to try and fit in

It is implied that only White Lily knows his true form

Shadowmilk’s words hurt him on a deeper level because he knows what exactly he was 

While I was thinking about the story, the only title that was fitting was “There’s something in Pure Vanilla’s skin.” 

Out of all the ancient creepy pastas, Pure Vanilla is the most tame. Not wanting to hurt other cookies.  

Dark Cacao: Would you really trust a dream to interpret the outcome of your kingdom after being banished? That is what Choco deals with as he tries to survive what he thinks are the ruins of his father’s own kingdom.

Story Summary: After a patrol around the Tundra Kingdom (Dark Cacao Kingdom) with Licorice and Poison Mushroom Cookie, a blizzard picks up in the area. They take the opportunity to take shelter before it gets any worse. However, while Choco slumbers, things take a much sinister turn. 

Story details

Choco dreams about the aftermath of the kingdom when he was under control of the cursed sword. Most of the denizens are frostbitten with rotten injures 

His father in said dream is the main antagonist trying to catch him. He is the only one of the frostbitten undead after him.

After being cornered by what used to be his father, Choco wakes up from the dream last minute with a very concerned Licorice hovering over him. Relaxing remembering that it was only just a dream.

That was until a stinging wound that wasn’t there before appeared across his torso. Which really begs the question: was it truly a dream?

White Lily: Would you do anything in the name for freedom of Cookie kind? That was what White Lily asks herself all the time as she travels to uncover the truth of their existence. Things start to take a turn when cookies start going missing once she returns

Story details

Story takes place in Pure Vanilla’s POV trying to get to the bottom of this

Lily thinking about cannibalism, that’s it really for her.

Hollyberry: When it comes down to Hollyberrians, there is a fine line between passion and boredom. One thing to note is to never let them get bored.

It started subtle, with her clawing and climbing more trees than what she’d normally do.

Then it started to get worse

Fighting with the monsters for territory/food, fire breathing, etc.

It was until she started to hunt down the residents was when it started to get dangerous.

At first, she’d just catch and release the Angels. But one day, when Hollyberry was about to tackle the sugar Angel, she accidentally broke their neck when they landed.

It was a complete accident, she didn’t mean to hurt them. But pavlova was coming soon, and if he saw then he would definitely tell Eternal Sugar about it. So Hollyberry did what any monster hybrid would do: hide it

But she felt a certain thrill of the chase. She hasn't hunted like this since she became queen. So she kept going, and eventually she went too far again. Using her teeth this time, she bore them into another unfortunate local when the chase was over.

The moment their jam pooled into the Protector’s mouth, that was when she tasted it. The smell, that sickeningly sweet smell she noticed when arriving, it had came from the residents.

Before she thought through what she was about to do next, she began to tear and rip into her catch, greedily consuming every fiber of flesh her claws could reach. It was delisous, the most tasty meat Hollyberry’s lips had ever come to contact with. She had to get more, but in another time. Eternal Sugar is calling her for something again and she’d be mad to see her other half covered in jam.

Story details:

goes insane due to the constant poisoning she gets while she’s in the garden. Said poison is supposed to attract monsters and causing them to go violent, but since Hollyberry is half dragon, she is affected by it too

Okay (cracks knuckles) I'm here to ramble for literally no reason whatsoever about something not a single person has actually said to me. And a lot of people might not even notice the fact that Sans has a weaker character arc! But I have and I want to ramble.

To start with, the reason Sans might not stand out quite as much as Papyrus and Frisk in HotT despite being a main character with an incredibly important role comes down to one thing: his character arc. Namely, it's not as strong as Papyrus's or Frisk's. By chapter five, we'd already speed ran his character development in terms of his apathy and feelings towards Frisk! And then he settles into being a pillar of support for Papyrus and Frisk.

That's still important, of course, but it can make him feel like he's not as much of a focus.

Despite what you may think... the accident of Sans having a wonkier character arc than Papyrus was NOT because of my overwhelming love (read: obsession) with Papyrus. It's actually quite the opposite.

If you've read HotT, and read the author's notes and some of the comments, you might know that it was the first fanfiction I ever wrote. I plotted, replotted, and wrote an entire "first" draft that was 113k words long in seven months. (First is in quotations, because while I was writing I backtracked and rewrote HUGE portions of it at least three times). After that, I began to do "last minute" edits and post it on Ao3. (Which, by the time I got to chapter 7 or so, turned into an EXTENSIVE rewrite to make what is now the posted final draft.)

I!!! Frankly had zero idea what I was doing. I was just having fun with it!

And in that very first draft...? Papyrus was a background character, pretty much. He had the role that Sans has in the currently posted version - being a support with a character arc that was over before we hit the first half. The actual preliminary plotting was even worse to Papyrus.

(Like, I neglected Papyrus so badly that I had to intentionally take a pause in the later half of the fic to give him a chapter where he was prominent (what later turned into the chapter where he has a nightmare in the current version) and the title of that chapter in my notes was "my lovable boi pap needs some attention." Because he just... didn't really show up as much.)

super secret... that you may be shocked to learn if you follow this blog... i was actually a mostly a sans fan girl before writing HotT (well, i still am, but I am not as obsessed with him as I am Papyrus.) I always liked Papyrus, but I was actually rather normal about him. And Sans was my all time favorite. The obsession with Papyrus grew while writing HotT.

Meaning that HotT was supposed to be a story largely about Sans and Frisk, even IF Papyrus set off the inciting incident.

(ANOTHER FUN FACT: The entire plot with the Undyne confrontation just... didn't exist in the first draft of HotT. The chapter where Frisk died in Papyrus's arms still happened, but it didn't have the same impact on him. He was actually with Frisk during the Undyne hangout and helped facilitate it in the first draft! He had a bit of friction with Undyne, but, eh, he got over it. Big deal, right? mistakes happen! He was impacted, but not nearly to the extent he is in the current version.)

Now what does this have to do with Sans taking a backstage in the posted version?

Welp. Sans's character arc was still pretty wonky in the first draft, but he was still center stage! The suckiness didn't stand out as much because Papyrus's character arc also sucked. (no shame to past me. Yes, I think the first draft of HotT is terrible because of how much I've learned now, but also I am incredibly fond of it for being my very first fic. i'm proud of it and proud of myself for finishing an entire fic, and i like reading it to see how far I've come.)

Sooo.... with that said! Sans's starting character arc was pretty strong! His apathy turning into caring about Frisk, and learning that he really... can't afford not to care. Great! lots of conflict! Canon compliant!

Now, with that said... Yeah. if you read HotT, you might have realized Sans figured that out. As of. Uh. Chapter 5. (We are currently on Chapter 35 out of 47.)

I loved Sans so much that (back when I had no idea what character arcs or any of that shit was) i just wanted him to become attached to Frisk!! The earlier the better!!!

In hindsight, I could have paced this out much better. But. Well! It was my first fic and I hadn't studied anything about writing craft at the time.

Now that brings us to the current version of Heart on the Table... Where Sans got (what I'd intended to be) his character arc mostly closed up by chapter six or so. Yep! He's still got guilt. I'm not saying he has no conflict or that things were completely closed (i sure hope not. I've been trying to introduce a lot!) but just that I already dealt with the worst of his apathy, and he already came to the conclusion that he couldn't afford not to care. Aka bad pacing.

In the first draft of HotT, Sans got a focus from chapters 1-5, Papyrus got a bigger focus during chapters 6-9, and chapters 9-27 (the end of the first draft) were focused SOLELY on frisk's arc. (the only arc that spanned the entirety of the fic.)

Now, ideally in a story with three main characters, they would all have arcs that spanned from chapter 1 through the end.

So. We've got a problem, right? Sans's character arc is (somewhat) closed up, and while i could linger in his guilt (and i am) it begins to get repetitive since there is little forward momentum. And then we also have the same problem with Papyrus's character arc. We were stagnating with them until the closing chapters.

Now. To be clear, the story surrounds Frisk's journey underground, and there's nothing wrong with Sans and Papyrus being supporting characters to Frisk's emotional journey. But it wasn't my intention. What I did isn't technically wrong, but it's not right for what I wanted.

That brings us to now, in the final posted draft - where I changed Papyrus's development but not Sans's. Now, the reason that the story feels mostly Frisk and Papyrus focused is because I have made Papyrus the heavily flawed character with high internal conflict. Normally in skelefam fics, Sans is the one with that role, and Papyrus takes on the less flawed character who ends up playing support to Sans and Frisk's development.

Okay, bear with me here. (If you're still reading this absolutely RANDOM ramble for some reason???? If you are, here, cookie: 🍪) Why does Papyrus have conflict now when I said he had the same issue as Sans in the first draft?

Well. The reason that happened is because, as I was doing the rewrites to Heart on the Table, I got to chapter eight. By that point, I'd written well over 100k words, several other fics, and I'd done a lot of studying on writing! So the chapter was a lot better. And. A lot more emotional. And then when I came out of it on the other end, I realized that for something this traumatic, it would impact Papyrus a lot deeper than the first draft.

So, during the rewrites, I delved more into Papyrus's internal world. His guilt, his conflict, his feelings. By doing this, we got the ENTIRE Papyrus and Undyne saga. (Including Papyrus and Undyne's fight/confrontation. That didn't exist before!) In the first draft, the Undyne hangout was supposed to be chapter 12. In the current version, it starts at the end of chapter 17. Almost all of those extra chapters were delving further into Papyrus's conflict.

I had a lot to work with with Papyrus, and by this point I was still running on instinct. I still didn't have a super great grasp on character arcs or any of that shit - I just went "nah this would impact papyrus more so lets go more into it" and that lent itself well to expanding his character arc even if I wasn't doing it intentionally.

Which leaves me with Sans. I didn't even realize what I'd done until I got to chapter 21 and I went "SHIT SANS YOU SPEEDRAN THAT CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT"

With Papyrus, it was a matter of not giving him much of an arc in the first place. Easy to fix by giving him more of one. With Sans, it was a matter of finishing his arc too early. Which meant I needed to change it and give him an entirely new lesson to learn.

And this brings me to desperately trying to patch that up.

I rescued Papyrus's arc by dragging it out more (aka fixing the pacing) and adding the additional important part of "you cannot let guilt over your past actions haunt you. Use it to fuel yourself be better instead of using it to punish yourself, because wallowing in it will only hurt you and others." or something like that. I gave him more interiority and depth and that helped a bit.

But Sans? I needed to give him something new to chew on. And recently I have! It's shifted in a way I'm still not the most pleased with since it's not as canon compliant? But it fits with finding home sans. It delves a bit more into his (canon) habit of sheltering his loved ones to the extent that he is harming his relationships with them, and delves into the (slightly less canon) issue of overworking and burning himself out to fix things.

I have no idea if anyone is reading this without reading HotT??? But if you are, for context, HotT Sans went from the incredibly depressed and apathetic Sans that we see in canon, and as of (very recent) chapters, we've begun to built back up to his previous bad habits. In the Finding Home series, it's been established that Sans was a massive overworker. (extrapolated on from the fact that he would "do anything to get back" and his burnout in canon).

In HotT, Sans never actually dealt with the overworking and neglecting anything and everything in order to achieve his goal. He just... burnt out. He never solved the core issues - they just got covered by different ones. Therefore, in HotT, once we got rid of the issue that was causing his depression and apathy (not trusting the anomaly and thinking everything would just… reset), he's starting to fall back full swing into those same bad habits of overwork and neglect and single minded focus.

Don't get me wrong, I've had seeds for that character arc the entire time, but you kind of have to lean into those intentionally, you know? And I wasn't doing that. i have recently pulled out the new direction by analyzing what i'd written and trying to figure out where Sans needed to grow and what I’d been already doing somewhat accidentally (and therefore weakly). The actual external plot hasn’t changed—just the way I’m writing it, and how it impacts Sans.

But this isn’t just a post of my direction that I’m going for HotT now. It’s answering why Sans’s arc’s pacing is shit (and therefore letting him fade to the background)

The problem with writing something serialized is that it's... really hard to backtrack. It's one of the main reasons that I try to write a first draft for any long fic before I post it - because inevitably I'll run into something i want to change hrough the fic. If it's unposted, it's pretty simple to just make a second draft!

But HotT was being posted live (ish). Because while i DID have a first draft, the difference in my writing level and the amount of rewrites... well. It's entirely off the rails of the first draft now and has been for a while. We've got the same destination, but we've taken an ENTIRELY different route.

So. I was winging it for most of the rewrites. It wasn't until the chapter 21 mark that I realized what was going on with my pacing for the character arcs and I started trying to fix it. This helped with Papyrus, because I hadn't closed up his arc as much as I had Sans's. I’d accidentally fixed his from the first draft, and while it still wasn’t perfect, I was able to lean into it more intentionally at that point.

Meanwhile, I was still floundering with Sans. I didn’t know what to do with him. I didn't want him to fall back into apathy and have a relapse of the lesson he'd already learned, so I had to decide what I would focus in on. And while his guilt was a possibility, (and is STILL a very important driving factor in how he acts in HotT!!!) I didn't want it to be SOLELY guilt.

Papyrus's arc is centered around guilt, and learning how to deal with it in a healthy manner and accept that he's not the one who can choose if he's forgiven. And I didn't want to have both of them going through the exact same character arc.

Now, don't get me wrong. Sans and Papyrus's characters ARE both very intertwined, and they both have very similar issues with different weight put on different aspects. Papyrus is more guilt heavy, Sans is more heavy on the sheltering and making choices for others. But both of them have both of these.

Wow this is a REALLY long ramble. Is anyone still reading??? if so I am very impressed. Here, have another cookie: 🍪

Okay back to the ramble.

A slight side track: Why did I have Papyrus's growth more focused on guilt and Sans's more on sheltering when the fanbase (including me!) normally loves to lean into Sans's guilt?

I mean, it wasn't a conscious decision at first. Because by the time I was writing more intentionally, I'd already started down this path instinctively... But I stand by the fact that it makes sense for Heart on the Table for Papyrus to have the massive guilt issues instead of Sans.

Because. Well! Sans doesn't really have nearly as much to be guilty about!

HotT is a first time pacifist run that diverged from canon at the Undyne fight. Which means there was never any geno run, never any neutral routes and judgements, and it means that we didn't even get the MTT hangout where Sans pulls out the whole "You'd be dead where you stand" card. (Which, if you've read some of my other stuff, you'll know i adore delving into. So fun!)

But that means. Sans was honestly just really buddy buddy with Frisk? Yeah, he's got guilt for not doing more to help them when he was supposed to keep an eye on them, but his biggest crime is inaction, not action. Still enough to give him massive issues here, but not nearly as bad as Papyrus's guilt.

Because Papyrus's guilt comes from the fact that he actively hurt Frisk. In HotT my whole thing is kinda... looking at the things that happen to Frisk a bit more seriously? Sure! The Papyrus fight can be seen as super fun and playful like it is in game! But I leaned into the fact that if you lose (which is easy to do!!! I lost to Papyrus all three times, HE'S NOT EASY IF YOU AREN'T A GAMER, AND A TINY LITTLE EIGHT YEAR OLD IS CERTAINLY NOT A GAMER) i digress. if you lose, he brings frisk down to 1 hp! To the point where they literally black out! And he'll do that three times before he feels bad enough to let you go.

So, while Papyrus leaned into the fun of the fight at the time and ignored the red flags, and while Frisk flirted and went through the motions, they were not having a fun time. They were doing it because they'd figured out that was the kind of thing they needed to do to get through Encounters.

(also fun little tidbit - papyrus does not like thinking back about the fight canonically! he does not have fond memories of it!!! if you call him in that room you get the dialogue "THIS IS WHERE I TRIED TO CAPTURE YOU! WHAT A TERRIBLE MEMORY!")

SO YEah. In heart on the table, Papyrus has a lot more to be guilty about than Sans! Frisk has more trauma with Papyrus! Frisk has nightmares about the fight! Which means that I wanted the guilt centered arc to be Papyrus's and not Sans's. I wanted to give Sans something else.

...preferably it would be about his apathy since that's his canon flaw in game that he needs to overcome, but as we've covered, I already did that. Alas.

And now we get to cycle back to the arc that I did decide on for Sans. ...But very late in the game. I didn't really start to hint at the new direction I decided to take Sans's character arc until the very end of chapter 30.

I probably could have pulled it in earlier, but I've been very hesitant about this entire thing because of how far from canon Undertale Sans has gotten. He started there, but I'm bringing him into a direction completely removed from what we see of him in game beyond the hint that he's burned out. (and his million side hustles. and the king papyrus ending. and- okay it's not completely unsupported, but a lot of people don't really think of "sans" and "overworking")

But, well. I've decided I don't give a shit about what people would consider OOC from canon and we going full throttle into this path with no remorse! And it's not like I haven't done the same with Papyrus. Because by this point, I've given that skeleton enough long-term, sustained trauma to drastically shift him from his canon self, too.

So.... Yeah! The long ass ramble about why Sans may seem less center stage than Papyrus and Frisk in HotT.

TLDR; (that I'm putting in the middle of this and is really just more of a summary) I messed up the pacing of Sans's character arc massively, and it took me a long time to figure out how to fix it, while I had better luck winging Papyrus's. (Mostly because I had less to work with with Papyrus and wasn’t trying to undo mistakes I’d already set in stone.)

But fear not to those who love HotT Sans. Cuz things are about to pick up for him, too!

And if anyone's curious about what spurred this post, it was because I'm writing HotT (making a backlog of chapters right now) and I'm getting really close to the end. I'm feeling... sentimental, I suppose?

If I could rewrite HotT from the start, I'd probably do a lot of things differently. I think it had the potential to be a lot better if I wrote with intention instead of working on solely on instinct. But I still love this story because of how much I've poured into it! It's my baby and my passion project, and visible progress of the way my writing's improved.

I'm actually a weirdo who likes being able to see what I've done wrong. Because if I can see the issues, it means I've grown! Every new thing I spot is something new I've learned. It's exciting! All that to say, this post is not meant to be a negative thing. It's fun and exciting for me to figure out all the ways I've grown.

WOOO that was a LOT of text and rambling! Hello? Is anyone still here?

Well, if you're still here, I'm guessing you may be a HotT reader, so... reward for sticking around? Something a bit more tangible than a cookie emoji?

Here's a snippet of chapter 36 of HotT! Skip if you don't like snippets/minor spoilers.

“The great doctor is a wonderful actress, isn’t she? She never even told me you were down here!” Frisk swallowed as they dodged Mettaton’s flurry of kicks, pulling the emergency glitter out of their inventory and throwing it into the air. The ratings off to the side soared. Oh. If they climbed high enough, would Sans and Papyrus see? Would it help them find Frisk? Just a bit longer. Sans and Papyrus would come. Frisk wasn't going to die. “And I’m just a simple robot. Her… invention.” Mettaton’s face puckered like he’d bitten into a lemon, but he smoothed it out a second later. “Yes. She’s always been a wonderful actress. But I thought we were costars. I suppose the joke’s on me though, isn’t it, darling?” Mettaton’s freezing hands were unforgiving as Frisk grabbed them and yanked him into a dance. Smoothly, Mettaton took charge and shifted into a waltz as he spun Frisk around the stage. When he spoke, his voice was quieter, and this close, Frisk could see something odd in his expression. …Hurt? “She thought she was the star of this little show, and I was her side character. Who needs to tell the supporting cast all the nitty gritty little details? So tell me, darling—” He dipped Frisk back by their waist, and they watched the ratings fly up. “—How am I supposed to know to leave you be? She’s never once mentioned a human to me.”

(Oh ho ho ho, how the butterfly effect has changed Heart on the Table... After all, in this world, by the time Frisk got to Hotland, Alphys had already crushed her dreams of being the hero in their story. And without that... well. There was no need to loop Mettaton into her nonexistent plans, was there? This secret was not Alphys's to tell. And she is so very good at keeping secrets.)

(A shame that this created a rift in their relationship. And an even bigger shame that a certain little flower knows how to press just the right buttons to get the response he wants.)