A deep dive into Sans the comic

The most detailed character in Undertale, deserves the most detailed analysis.

Column by Write Owl

Here we are again, talking about Undertale but this time taking a deep dive into the most popular character in the game, Sans. Personally, I love Flowey but that’s just my opinion. First let’s take a dive into Sans in within the true pacifist run. Please be warned that this is a detailed analysis of the character and does contain spoilers.

We first meet Sans outside the doors from the Ruins, where he hides within the shadows, leaving the players wondering who is chasing them.

He introduces himself after pranking Frisk with a whoopee cushion. He is known for his famous smile which never seems to never fade, along with his very bad puns.

He makes you hide behind a lamp that is conveniently in the shape of Frisk, because his brother papyrus is currently on the hunt for humans.

Once Papyrus arrives, they enter into a bit of dialogue showing the player their strong brotherly bond. Which is significant because it could impact your decisions within the game.

Once Papyrus has left, Sans asks you to play along with his brother’s puzzle's, letting you know you’re never in any real danger. He does show signs of teleportation by this point when he says, "I'll be a head" and goes in the completely wrong direction. You never really get told how he does that.

He explains and shows the player his lazy personality, on one occasion he invites you to Grillby's when he should be at work.

The second time he invites you somewhere is at the MTT Restaurant, where he warns you of what would have happened if he hadn’t made a promise to Toriel, saying, “You’d be dead where you stand.”

Toriel is a tutorial monster who in fact plays a large part in the story, she is shown to be a lover of Sans, but many disagree.

Almost coming to the end of the Pacifist route the player must be judged by Sans, where he analysis your choices thus far.

He explains the Acronyms within the game and tells you that your journey is coming to an end. This is also a sign of Sans knowledge about the game, considering he understands you’re playthrough.

Within the True Pacifist run Sans is neither friend nor foe but he does have an acceptance towards the choices of the player and lives in the constant fear that you may reset and change the entire ending.

Overall, he sounds like a pretty cool guy, but this persona completely flips itself on its head once you decide to go down the dark path.

In the genocide run instead of Sans inviting you to have fun times with Papyrus and his puzzles, he asks you to pretend to be human.

This shows that he perceives you as a monster, because he knows about the other characters you’ve previously killed.

After he gives the player a warning then teleports away, Sans isn't seen nor spoken to until after you decide to kill his brother. Just like that the friendship you had from the other route means nothing to him.

He is only seen again when it comes to your judgement, where you must face Sans as the final boss within the game. He warns you to re-think your choices and speaks about having reports of repeated resets that are occurring as anomalies.

Every time you fail to defeat Sans, he tells you the number of times you’ve died before continuing the battle.

If you somehow succeed in defeating him, which is impressive since I have already given up, he walks off screen calling out to his dead brother before he dies.

Unlike the other monsters who turn do dust when they are killed, Sans shows a red mark on his chest where you sliced him. Many fans believe this is blood and came down to a theory of Sans being human, but it could just be ketchup.

Before deciding to take this route, you must take into consideration that even if you reset your relationship with Sans will never be the same, because he never forgets.

Now that we’ve gotten the boring stuff out of the way, lets talk about the hidden secrets that float around about his character, after all it’s the reason he’s favourtised so much.

Well as we all know Sans has a secret door behind his house. Which can only be accessed by retrieving the key from Sans’s locked room. You must prove to him you have the ability to manipulate time with resets in order to receive his key.

Once you are able to enter the hidden room behind the house, you will then find out about the science side of Sans. To be honest its really hard to imagine this guy is really that lazy.

Another secret about Sans is his teleportation skills I mentioned before, which first occurs within the same scene as the conveniently shaped lamp.

Sans say's "I'll be up ahead" before walking in the opposite direction as to where you are heading, however he does appear up ahead standing next to Papyrus.

Another well-known occurrence happens next a hidden locked door that can only be accessed if you beat the mini game at the end credits. I’m starting to think Toby fox thought of everything at this point.

At this section Sans appears on either side of your screen when you walk from one side to the other. He cheekily asks you questions such as "are you following me" or "how's it going."

Another well-known occurrence is next to the MTT hotel, where instead Sans enters the building by teleporting through the wall, he calls it his ‘short cut.’ At this point you can’t ignore the fact that this guy is blatantly messing with us.

It’s funny how the laziest guy in the game, finds himself in so many places at once. Sometimes you’ll leave the room for only a second and he’s already on the other side of the map.

Now let’s talk about the infamous Gaster Blasters, the large skull like cannons Sans uses in order to fight against you in the genocide run. I’ve searched my heart and soul for an answer on why Sans uses a weapon clearly named after the broken character Gaster, but I came up empty handed. Instead, I found a few fan made theories which could help you gain a peace of mind:

Handplates (Fan Comic)

Sans being Gaster's son,

Sans Papyrus and Gaster being one person divided into three (Game Theory YouTube)

Sans Papyrus and Gaster being brothers.

There are so many theories out there the list goes on, but these are the topmost accepted ones within the community. I recommend having a watch of Game Theories video if you’re interested in this topic.

This was a short analysis on what I think is Toby Fox’s most detailed character in the game, he’s barley participated within the gameplay yet holds such a significance to the storyline. If you haven’t yet had a shot at Undertale I highly recommend giving the game a try, why not check out my review if you haven’t already.

Game Theory Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kDowfKp0s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0kDowfKp0s