Something I wanna point out cause it got kinda lost in the script writing: When counting the categories, I wasn't trying to imply mixtures don't occur, aggressor and protector were often combined. What I tried to go at is that if you dialed up all these categories to the extreme, his character becomes too contradicting. You can still turn it into something somewhat comprehensible, but again, you REALLY need to go through hoops to have it make any sense
I want you to give "Silly characters who are NO joke" a watch (Forgot the creator's username) because I feel Sans is characterized VERY well there (similar to your own thoughts too), aswell as everyone else included in that video.
Personally I’m a big fan of the telescope gag. sans put some kind of paint around the eye piece so you get a silly circle around your eye. Most people see this change to the character sprite and go confront sans for his prank, to which he says something cheeky. But there aren’t any mirrors so Frisk shouldn’t be able to see the prank, but you can. So in that moment he proves the existence of you, the player
...orrr you can just.... Feel the paint sticking to your face and check it by touching your face as you disengage with the telescope, atleast if we assume that Frisk just can do some benign things inbetween actions that we can't see (like Frisk performing some actions in battle). But the theory is neat otherwise.
@MAJJASTAK well if it were, say, a stamp instead of paint then this guys theory holds really well since you wouldnt even notice it if that were the case.
what about the fact that you/Frisk CANNOT SEE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE? whether or not you realise something has rubbed off on your face, that's plenty reason to complain. on my first playthrough, that was all it took to get me to talk to sans again. for me, seeing the change to frisk's sprite was an additional punchline.
sans threatining us to see if you'll be intimidated (in order to know if we're not the anomaly) sans saying that we've never died a single time waiting for your expression (to prove that we are the anomaly) i wouldn't be suprise if sans trolling us in our first meeting was actually just a way to check us to know if we've massacred the ruins or not
I remember seeing jokes online about how messed up it realistically would be for a guy to threaten death to a child in a public diner, but it makes more sense as a test to see if you’re afraid of death like most people or view it as meaningless because of your powers
I wouldn't say it was to check if we killed people in the ruins, more-so that entire encounter seems like a very thought out way by him to get in depth knowledge on just how we act. In the stalking scene, he can see if we're paranoid, trigger happy, combative, unobservant, skittish, etc. depending on how we react to a strange figure stalking you through the woods. Next, he can get a clue on how you are social settings, see if the way you act changes to give signs of wearing a mask, and other general personality traits that aren't revealed via testing the fight or flight response. These methods, while less effective on us that don't talk much, still are very effective to give a general profile of the human in ways that aren't just "Hey, that person killed a lot of people".
Also should note he can guess if you're the anomaly if you go back to a save point he comments on you turning around immediately to shake his hand, as if you already knew...
Fun fact: Sans's dialouge changes if you didn't die once. Instead of noticing your expression, he comicaly emphasises that it's because of him you didn't die once. Whenever he's onto you, or just joking to make the "not-anomaly" feel safer, it adds even more depht to him.
@@fruitloops2058 Fans call it Judgement Hall because of the part Sans plays in that room, but for all we know, Sans being a judge probably isn't anything officially placed by Asgore. The game never implies Sans was hired by Asgore to be some "royal judge" Sans is probably judging us of his own accord in that room just because it's the "last corridor" to the end of the game.
I gave Undertale to my best friend this year. She only usually plays console games with her boyfriend, and treats PC as work (if you watch Caddicarus, he made a very good point on a video a few years ago, about working on PC means not relaxing on a PC), and I gave her a distinct advice: "don't search anything online. Anything you would search online, ask directly to me. Trust me, you're like one of the few people I know that likes games and haven't heard about UT, you DESERVE the original experience from 9 years ago" And I respect and restrain myself around this game for her because she was the only Star Wars fan that I know that can talk about why they like the franchise without parroting the infamous "____, I'm your ______" every other sentence. She was a real G back in HS, I'm just repaying the favor (and maybe someday I'll watch The Clone Wars, as her request)
Sans is such an interesting character because who he's seen as is entirely a facade. He's seen as lazy, uncaring, and generally chill but all of those are so far from the truth. Sans walls himself off from others under this layer of irony so he never has to open up about himself and make himself vulnerable, because why bother when it's all going to be reset anyways? Might as well just enjoy the time he thinks he has left instead of trying to address any of his problems. Despite this however, Sans proves not only is he not lazy in the king Papyrus ending, but that he's not as laid back and uncaring as he pretends to be in every other neutral route and even genocide. From his point of view, knowing about the anomaly is like coping with a terminal disease diagnosis with no timeframe given for how long he has left. He can't change it, and thus slinks into a habit of letting others pick up the pieces until he thinks the anomaly is satisfied and he can go back to living. This is why he suddenly stops being "lazy" in every ending like in the king Papyrus ending, he never was lazy. He steps up to the plate once he thinks the anomaly is "satisfied" and won't undo everything that's happened. Edit: fixed a small typo Edit 2 (additional note): some people with depression sleep a lot to escape their emotions which I think is interesting given Sans is known for falling asleep just about anywhere.
@wildfire9280 sans’ inability to remember resets doesn’t invalidate what OP said. sans knows that there’s an anomaly out there that can reset everything, so sans doesn’t do anything because there’s still no point in his mind. everything can get erased and reset to its beginning and he would never know. he doesn’t know how many times it’s happened or how many times it will happen again. why would he ever try to achieve anything in a situation like that?
i dont really think sans is depressed, at least not anymore than anyone else in the underground is. he just knows a little more than everyone else. hes lazy, theres signs of him always being that way. he tells jokes because he genuinely likes it. I really dont think hes "depressed". but thats just me. and for the sleeping thing, i like ur idea, i always saw it as something else. if u go to the inn u can learn that sleeping raises ur hp above its max, anddddd whooo has the lowest hp in the underground... sans. I always imagined this is just his way of mitigating it.
Weirdly enough, my interpretation of the resort scene on first blush didn't align with any of the 3 you listed. I've noticed that in most fan renditions of the threat, Sans is depicted as very direct about it, looking Frisk dead-on when delivering his line. It does seem in line with the rest of his character when you think about it. But that's not quite how it went down. There's a detail often lost in the shock of it. If you play it back, Sans is turned _away_ from Frisk when he makes the threat, only turning back to face them after trying to backpedal on it. When I picked up on this on my first viewing, I couldn't read it as a "threat" at all. I read it as guilt. He's essentially admitting that he might have enacted prejudice on Frisk if not for making a commitment. He may have some obvious apathy in retrospect, it's true, but Flowey's blurbs do seem to imply he exercised less restraint when dealing with him. But him admitting this to you, here, in the context of a Pacifist route, implies to me that he does genuinely view you as contextually innocent, and having a capacity for good, and that he has some remorse for that he might not have been initially been planning on giving you a chance if not for that commitment. You've given him reason to doubt that you're hiding your true nature, that you'll just reset. So he lets some of his inner thoughts out, too. Just a bit. This coupled with him skewing more lighthearted with you in the time travel shenanigans later feels to me like the resort scene was him coming clean to you. It lets him get what limited closure he can on your relationship while still being covert enough to not let you in completely. I don't think he liked keeping his cards close to his chest, not really. In the end, all he wanted was for you to be a friend.
I noticed this body language, too. In fact, Sans looks to the side several times during the MTT conversation. Normally, Sans is able to keep the jokes going even as he's emotionally wrecked inside, as we saw from the Lost Soul fight. So for him to be visibly uncomfortable? Something is very wrong. I have a few ideas as to why. And while my conclusions might be different from yours, I like your thought processes, too!
It really is the moment where Sans levels with you, I like to think. Back at the Grillby's chat, he kind of gives you the impression of letting you in on an undercover cop case, giving you more reasons for caution around Flowey, letting you know there's more going on in the background, and hinting that there's a lot more going on with him than the facade he presents to the world. During the dinner, though, he's really laying his cards on the table. Not letting you in on some job or pertinent piece of knowledge, but his own character. In that way, the death threat not only isn't directed at us the way most people interpret it, but is tipping his hand that no, he's not a useless side character, he's actually strong enough that he is quite confident he could kill you. The threat is an admission of power as well as prejudice. Combined with the multiple other bombshells of his ties to Toriel, his subtle awareness of the effects of Determination based timeline manipulation, and just the overall vibe of his being a highly competent, highly intelligent shadow agent for the forces of good in this world... Sans is really laying out everything important about himself to you, in his own awkward way. Which is, I think, an intentional show of trust. That's pretty much my interpretation. Sans is way too smart to not know what he's doing. Even if his emotions and flaws might cause him to swerve along the path, he invited you to this meeting for a reason, and I think that reason is to let us know he believes in us.
"Sans is turned away", "as guilt", "admitting that he might have enacted prejudice on Frisk if not for making a commitment". Damn, man, that's genious! This detail really changes the context of the whole scene. I'm surprised that neither I nor anyone else has thought about it in this way before....
Great interpretation! I still think that the person making this video hit the nail on the head but the cool thing about sans is that all interpretations are probably true. Sans is the most human, most layered, most 3 dimensional character in any video game for me. Everything said here can be true on top of everything said in the video. I do genuinely think he's checking to see if your the anomaly. But he could also be guilty like you said. His lack of trust that's nearly trusting is also there too. His promise used as an excuse to not get involved in something he sees as pointless is also there! He has so many layers and even after all this time in the fandom I still learn about new folds and wrinkles in this character! Toby fox is a genius of character writing and meta storytelling! This single video and comment section has singlehandedly reignited my love for this game and brought it to heights I never thought possible! It's insane to me that such a short and compact game has all this deep complexity! Fuckin love undertale! ❤
I feel like Sans being a popular character in a massively popular game is what contributed the most as to why his personality tends to change alot in various depictions from the fans. Not only that, but he is also a character that is written in a way that basically invites people to dissect him and try to figure him out. More so than any other character in Undertale. Much like other characters in media like Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic series and Beatrice from Umineko: When they Cry. Sans to me is a simple enough character as you say, but only at a surface level. Once you start diging deeper you find a lot more questions than answers.
With depression also comes mood swings. I myself have severe depression and with that I have episodes of times where I act, for lack of a better term "out of character" and "inconsistent". Perhaps that can be one reason as to why Sans' cannon characterization is so inconsistent.
Hope you recover from your depression mate. And I agree. Once had depression and I either go from cheery and talkative to just silent and only talks when needed and as much needed.
As someone who's struggled with depression since middle school (and is now in college), yeah... that checks out. Somedays, I feel great. Other days? I'm just emotionally checked out, and just feel like nothing matters.
I always saw the promise as an excuse for sans to try and feign hope, rather than an excuse to not fight you. I thought it was more like sans being: "welp, I made a promise, guess I HAVE to try now." Perhaps it can be both.
I actualy don't see Sans as a nihilist, but more of an absurdist. True he does deteriorate when he realizes nothing matters, but he doesn't stop functioning. Sans seems to find his reason in joking, and as he puts ot, "some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends". He puts it into the things he enjoys and into tracking down the anomaly. He only seems to fail at this in hapiness in the genocide run.
I personally believe there's two types of nihilism. There's the "nothing matters, so why bother trying," and "nothing matters, so I'm going to do whatever I want." Sans falls somewhere in between
He doesn't really fit absurdist honestly. He still fits nihilist more. He is kind of an odd one. Because Sans is very complex. But I do personally think he fits nihilist more than absurdist.
Not to necessarily be that Guy, but I always thought of him as a "Determinist". After all he never really says that 'nothing matters'. Or claims or behaves in a way that shoes that nothing matters to Him. He cares about Papyrus and his Friends, as well as Frisk, The Player, and The Fate of The Timeline (to an extent), a great deal; Trying to look for hope in every decision you make and trying to support the ideals of Your's and Frisk's kindnesses and Papyrus's and Toriel's Beliefsm in Mercy, in just about every opportunity, even when he's Judgemental or Critical of it. But what he struggles with is "Trying". He tries to do everything he can to reach a Proper Happy Ending for everyone even if it’s not The Ending where everyone gets to make it, 1 where He gets to be Happy, or if it isn't even all that Happy of an Ending at all, but then when everything RESETS and he knows it. He starts wondering why he even bothers, because of the chance of it all happening again, or somehow getting even worse, until like always, he's given another reason with You or the same old 1 with Papyrus. Sans is very cynical and honestly pretty depressed about his situation, from what we can tell, but he never really stops because it's all he knows how to do and all he believes he can do. Because in the End, he belives that his Fate and Everyone's Fate is already Pre-Determined. And whether he likes it or not, it's Determined, by "You".
@@Nobody0333 sorry but I don't like this take because I'm a "determinist" and don't see Sans doing that. (Besides for Sans actively saying that he can't care anymore in the genocide fight we can agree that it's a different scenario). Determinism has no metrics that what you do don't matter but you should still try- That's absurdism!!! That's exactly my point! I don't think he thinks everything is predetermined because we have 3 routes, 3 outcomes, and 2 versions of Sans. We have the happier live your best life Sans and we have the depressed jaded Sans. That's where I get the absurdism from. In Geno it's depicted more as nihilism but I think that's because he sees all his efforts falling apart. Sans isn't a determinist. He's an absurdist who sees his philosophy die when you mercilessly slaughter his entire reality. He tried his best because he knows nothing matters. He creates his own reasons for living: creating what he thinks is the best life
11:49 honestly why can’t he be a mix of all 3? It makes for a perfect conflicted character. He has this deep resentment towards you/humanity for whatever reason. “The aggressor”. But that sentimental connection he had with Tori to keep the promise, followed by developing a genuine bond with frisk, causes his to suddenly care even if he doesn’t want to. “The protector”. You can’t control how you feel sometimes. So he has this inner battle within himself and you can see how both sides come out when talking to you. Followed by him trying to cope with it all by using humor and being a jokester. “Dumb funny guy”. As someone who copes with memes after something upsetting happens, I completely understand him. Lil dark humor to hide the battling thoughts in that skull of his. But hey, that’s just a theory, A GA-
But anyways I’m so glad there’s someone else understanding more of the media literacy and sans’ depression. Seeing his individual characteristics is nice and all but I wanna see his whole complete self more often
I did mean to mention that mixtures do occur but got kinda lost in the rewriting of the script. Point was how extreme these categories would show themselves Oversight on my part ^^'
I don't believe that Sans has resentments towards you or humanity, mostly because of what he says in the neutral ending where Papyrus is the ruler. The new human policy established is that humans can't be judged to be all good or all evil. From how the dialogue goes, it seems like Sans is the one who suggested it. But considering that in that run you killed plenty of monsters and main characters, it's unlikely that Sans's opinion on humanity got better, it'd make more sense if it got worse. So, Sans was always fair and impartial/accepting towards humans. I have other reasons to believe that he never planned to kill you, regardless of the promise. Probably, as it's stated in this video, that threat was just a little warning: "I'd BE ABLE to kill you on the spot if I wanted to. So, behave, and stay on the right path". It was meant to scare you a little, but it was really mostly a "joke", in Sans' words. He wouldn't have killed you regardless.
@roca7268 i think he knows his threats are empty regardless of meaning or not. Sans cannot touch us the player, even if he did kill us on the spot we'd be back and wiser for the experience. That entire idea permeates Sans fight, as he knows he's already lost, the only thing he can do is frustrate the player into quitting. That's literally his last hope if victory
"Because they are made of magic, monsters’ bodies are attuned to their SOUL. If a monster doesn’t want to fight, its defenses will weaken. And the crueller the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us. Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill..." Sans' nihilism explains why he only has one health and only does one damage.
This is GENIUS, my eyes literally widened and a small "oh my god" escaped my frickin' mouth. The part, the realization, that THE JOKE in the dinner scene was the THREAT all along made a chill down my spine. It's an indication that Sans didn't even threat Frisk anymore in that line, no, he threatened US, the PLAYER. It genuinely made me felt scared and watch when I realised that, like he could almost see directly to US from the other side od the screen. But this essay is the most easily understandable, complex, and a creative way to look at Sans's personality, both mix of the good side of canon and fanon personalities. Love this video so much❤🎉
honestly, the whole section here 20:24 was extremely well done. i remember raising my eyebrow when i first saw that line all those years ago, but this whole part genuinely unnerved me with a realization that a lot more threat went under my radar than i ever knew. and its so freakin' _cool._ like- ugh, tobys writing of sans is so amazing, because the subtle threat in that line is SO subtle, most people completely missed it. i love the way this calls attention to it.
One of the main reasons Sans is one of my favorite characters in the game (and, let's be real here, in general) is because of the seeming contradiction between Sans's nature as the comedy relief and being among the most dangerous people in the Underground. Not just because of how he's really strong in weird ways (karma, shortcuts, etc.), but because he's so freaking smart. Sans and Flowey seem to be the only ones with a proper understanding of what DT can do, and he can figure you out with just a *look.* By extension, that makes him the only person to know how much of a threat *we* are. That and his lack of involvement outside of his role as judge gives him a real "above it all" vibe I really enjoy. I've noticed that a large portion of interpretations of Gaster also have this sort of dichotomy. A lot of them seem to be either walking memes (like Wing Gaster, the Roya-AAAAA), bins of bottomless depression (like Handplates), cold and calculating nightmare fuel (like XGaster), or some combination of those three.
Figuring us out by a single look is a written well ability for him to have. He's socially adept in the underground and almost know everyone. He's popular in grillby's, a comedian in MTT hotel, befriended someone he's never even seen (Toriel), he's got ties with Alphys, and more. So, he knows with his experience how to read faces.
Sans interacts in such a way that the Player's responses and expressions will give him a TON of information. He will get an idea of how many times you've met, what you've done in other timelines, and so on. His pranks SHOULD take you by surprise... If they don't, he knows what's up. Very clever.
I grew up thinking sans is just a protecter whos a badass When i became older, Depression and nihilism got to me, Feeling how sans does is not very fun
I think the "somewhere else" is whatever place sans originally came from. He's thinking of how it's raining "somewhere else", and since he feels homesick, he's thinking of the rain, almost like his home is missing him back. That's how I interpret the song and title, anyway.
12:18 Sans knew Papyrus was harmless, he said so himself. Papyrus won’t kill you, even Toriel will if you try hard enough, but Papyrus never will. Sans also couldn’t stop every enemy, he clearly didn’t want you to know until that dinner.
Damn undertale video essays getting released mere hours ago. I’m so glad this game is thriving as much as it is now. It was such an important part of my childhood and I was worried about it having fallen off. Before I was jealous this game was settling into obscurity while FNAF was in the spot light but I guess things have changed.
Yeah I wouldn’t worry about it honestly, Undertale’s a timeless classic. People will be talking about this game for generations to come. It’s one of my favourite games and I know I won’t forget about it.
25:13 There's a goner in waterfall who may appear during a playthrough, who speaks about imagining a world where everything is the same except one doesn't exist. if you bring them an umbrella, they mention that it isn't raining, before thanking the player for making them feel better. "It's raining somewhere else" is a flawless response to this interaction. May have something to do with Sans...
In all honestly I absolutely LOVE how you portray sans in your dusttale revamp comic, especially how you portray alphys in a light that I haven’t seen many people apart from myself see. It’s beautifully put together and from author to another if you ever release original stories out there for the world to see, you have my support! I love you narratives and I love your art work Rean!
Good analysis, talk about inaction that depression can cause hits hard. The fact the "you haven't died once" throwaway is actually an expression read hinting to reload shenanigans is crazy, this game is so good
I now understand what makes sans so unique, the layering personalities, the depiction of so many different emotions and responses to certain situations, that's how you make a 3d character
It's amazing how he has so many layers and the more I see him the more I discover new things. He comes across as lazy but he is someone who works hard behind the scenes (works in different positions, tried to keep a promise even at the cost of lives even his own brother and fight for his world that was in danger) and someone who tries as hard as possible to make sure that the people he cares about don't get hurt where he lies to Papyrus that his friends went on vacation (King Papyrus route) omitted about Papyrus' death to Toriel (Queen Toriel route) and helps Alphys as much as he can (Queen Alphys route) and manipulates you into going on a good route with a similar type of manipulation Chara has with Asriel ridiculing you and making you feel bad when you call him. He is a character who, even at times when he says that he has given up and that nothing really matters since everything can be restarted, he is the most hard-working guy I have ever met.
I love that Toby Fox keeps pushing forth the narrative that Sans is lazy: * Sans Inaction Figure * "Sans is too lazy to . . ." * "ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE." And yet Sans is the one who spends the most time on the clock. The more you find out about Sans, the more you appreciate him. Top-tier character writing. I maintain the stance that Sans did "give up" in a lot of ways, but he never truly lost hope. If he did, he wouldn't be doing all he does.
actually it's not the first time at the dinner where he points out at your ability to reset, he also does it in Snowdin(I mean the first 100% one) when you solve Papyrus's XO∆ puzzle he says something about you doing a great job because it can't be possible that you have seen this puzzle before
A little added humor and a little more meta... I watched a number of blind playthrough of Undertale back durring the big popularity craze when it first came out. You know what? Sans caught sooo many youtubers editing their footage. Because that dialog *is* different if you've never died, so when they made it to the dinner seen without ever dying on screen or admitted to it, only for Sans to call them out on their death count? Busted! He's so good, he even catches dishonest players.
12:25 Sans never intervened in Papyrus's fight because he knows that Papyrus could never kill you. Even during the fight, when you drop down to 1hp, Papyrus simply captures you and "locks" you in his shed. And if you lose to Papyrus 3 times, he'll actually let you skip the whole fight and go past him. Saying that he can't continue fighting you forever out of exhaustion and annoyance for your stubborness.
Personally, I actually read the restaurant scene as a kind of confession. Basically every major character in Undertale tries to kill you at some point (and Toriel brings you to the brink of death and Papyrus locks you in a shed to be delivered to someone who will kill you and Alphys engineers situations where you /think/ your life is at risk so they aren't really in the clear either...) except for Sans. And the only reason Sans doesn't is because of the combination of his own nihilism, his suspicions that you're the anomaly, and the promise. So I read the whole restaurant thing as him... trying to dispel the notion that he's any better than them, I guess. Because he knows he would have killed you, under different cirumstances, while you're still under the impression that he's your staunchest ally. (as low a bar as that is) Because as a threat, I don't think it really... makes sense? He at the very least strongly /suspects/ that you're the anomaly by that point, especially if you've had the various sans sus interactions in Snowdin, and he makes it clear in the genocide run that he understands that he can't really do anything but annoy you. So when he says "you'd be dead where you stand" he definitely knows exactly how little that means. And he's already hinted that he Knows several times by that point (see: grillby's scene, pointing out if you've solved Papyrus' puzzles before) so as a way to tip you off to that it's... slightly more definite than what he's already said, I guess? But not exactly news if you've been paying attention. And it actively works against his goals to tell you that he's not as caring towards you as you might have assumed, because it actively endangers his whole "get the anomaly to like me so they won't want to kill people" plan. The fact that he'd risk actively alienating you when he considers you such a threat is very notable, I think. So I can only really read it as an integrity thing. Him feeling guilty for not proactively protecting you like Toriel would have wanted, or for the fact that if it weren't for the promise and you being the anomaly, he wouldn't have hesitated to hurt you. Good video, by the way! I clicked on as soon as I saw the title because that specific conversation is probably my favorite interaction to pick apart in the whole game (short of like. the sans geno fight). It's so interesting to me that I once wrote an entire fanfiction specifically about digging into it. You brought up a lot of interesting ideas, many of which I haven't considered before. Solid 9/10!
This. This is beautiful. I really enjoy seeing this kind of interpretation of Sans, because, you know, he is a complex guy. Not just a function, but a PERSON, a person we, Player, know nothing about... despite some basic traits His sense of humour. His love for his brother. His good relationships with literally everyone. His high intellegence. His laziness, of course. And his tragedy. And that's shere the bad part starts. People always think they understand him, they understand what happened to him and he copes with it, while in reality, we have, like, zero information about what actually happened to Sans. We don't know his situation and still - we judge him, oh, what an irony. Judging the judge. We say we know why he is - let's use this word - depressed, but WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. We say he is lazy and laid-back while in reality Sans himself says it's not truth but we already saw a part of the painting so we think we can see the whole of it. I think his dialogues are really, really difficult to understand. Almost impossible from the first try. Never forget one thing: Sans is a lot smarter than he wants to be seen, it's his intelligence that makes him dangerous. He uses logic to understand things that took decades and, probably, hundreds of years to understand for Flowey or Gerson. Sans is obviously younger than Gerson, damn, he is something between a teenager and a young adult, while Gerson is... ancient. And Flowey. Flowey had as many Resets as he wanted to get the information, but Sans? Every Reset is the first try to him. And he cayches every small detail to understand the mechanics of the world, to understand the anomaly Do not trust his words. Sans is not someone you should be afraid of, not someone bad or violent. He just... is not really honest with you, you know. But you still can get answers if you look closely. As I said, this guy is a lot smartef than you think, so don't let him fool you ibto thinking he is simole and dumb. He isn't. He is always there, watching your step, analysing you. So you better start doing the same thing. Try to look closely. Try to understand the hidden meaning of his words. Probably, the better way to become friends with a really smart, but "closed" person is to understand them. Sorry for bad English, it's not my native language. Hi from Russia!
Ironically enough, Sans' character was something I related to back when I was realizing I was depressed. Not being able to care, yet simultaneously caring a lot. It is/was a weird thing to experience. Using jokes to try to cope and bring some light into my life. The need to be more aggressive to people who were causing me problems. I see him as a positive nihilist with depression. As we go further down the geno route, he becomes more of a traditional nihilist.
A massive thing I’ve noticed with the fandom is that people seemingly don’t realise you can be happy and depressed at the same time, I was diagnosed with chronic depression when I was 14, and at 21 it still hasn’t gone away, but I’d like to believe I’m a pretty happy person, just like you can feel lonely while surrounded by people, you can feel depressed while happy, it’s an impossible task to explain to anyone who hasn’t experienced it, but just as any emotional experience, depression isn’t black and white
Sans is one of the most complex characters that, at least I have ever encountered As an obsessive fan of Undertale, I found myself completely drawn to the complexity of this character and his brother And this skeleton I noticed something very interesting, since our interaction as the human child is our look into the character in a deeper way.. (I don't expect anyone to read this but oh well... I don't care I'm happy being a conspiracy theorist) Sans appears largely apathetic to the events that transpire around him, but he retains love for people like his brother. The reason Sans is so unmotivated to alter the world around him is because he has given up trying. Across the various timelines, evidence comes together that Sans has given up on changing the world for the better. Just consider some of his following quotes: "just give up. i did." (True Pacifist Route, as a lost soul inside Asriel) "why even try?" (True Pacifist Route, as a lost soul inside Asriel) "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? to be blunt… it makes it kind of hard to give it my all." (Genocide Route, during boss fight) "well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now." (Pacifist/Neutral Route during dinner at MTT Resort) The Genocide Route quote is probably one of the most revealing, and definitely poignant to consider. I could talk about it (and cry about it) for hours. That quote demonstrates how futile Sans believes trying really is. At one point in the past, Sans did care - the fact that he “gave up trying to go back” implies Sans once sought to go back in the desire to create a better world. There was some past where Sans actively interacted with the events of his world and tried to build a better future. However, by the time he meets Frisk, Sans has come to realize that nothing he does will change the final result. All the other monsters hold to hope about breaking the barrier and entering the world above, but for Sans, even that cannot interest him anymore. He knows that whatever he does, whatever choices he makes, whatever outcome he experiences… it will all be erased. Therefore, Sans can care about the people around him - and he does. It's especially clear how much he loves his brother, and how emotionally affected he gets when Papyrus dies. What has happened is that Sans has realized it's futile to try to do anything to build a better future. He knows it is out of his control, and that even if he does enact something positive, the whole world will be reset. All his efforts will be lost as the timeline is reset and washes over everything he accomplished. This provides insight into why he is so lazy, why he is so apathetic to the chaos around him. He has given up. Sans giving up is true of any timeline - Neutral, Genocide, Pacifist - because Sans gave up long before meeting the human. Living, unmotivated, having given up, is how just life goes for him. And then… the human appears. What follows is the story not just of a friendship, but of the human positively impacting and inspiring Sans. At MTT Resort he says “i'm rooting for ya kid“ For the moment, I am going to pass over the beginning interactions between Sans and the human and hop to MTT Resort. I will backtrack to other incidences which show Sans cares about the human, but since this dinner and the subsequent events are most critical to how Sans feels about the human, I am starting here. Sans’ apathetic, give up philosophy is hugely evident at this dinner conversation. Prior to this point, Sans has essentially never spoken to Frisk about the journey to the barrier. The most he does is make a cryptic comment about a talking flower and warn the human to be careful. However, at this dinner, Sans approaches the topic head-on, and says: “well, here we are. so. your journey’s almost over, huh? you must really wanna go home. hey. i know the feeling, buddo. though… maybe sometimes it’s better to take what’s been given to you. down here you’ve already got food, drink, friends… is what you have to do… really worth it?“ Sans’ words question whether or not Frisk should even continue into the CORE. In this manner, Sans is essentially indirectly suggesting to Frisk that persevering to the barrier is not worth it. The human might be better off not even trying, but simply enjoying the life that’s in front of them. This is exactly what Sans does with his own life, after all: he puts forward very little effort into anything, but simply does his best to enjoy whatever comes his way. It says a lot that Sans would even suggest to Frisk that their entire quest might not be worth completing, and that they should quit being so diligent. Maybe they should be like him - live without motivation but plenty of laughs. After a pause, though, Sans changes what he says. “ah, forget it. i’m rootin’ for ya, kid.” Perhaps Frisk’s reaction shows that the human plans to continue their journey. Either way, though, Sans changes his message after a little thought. For me, this is the first evidence of how the human inspires Sans. Sans is still leaning on his usual instincts when talking to the kid. The first thing he says, and with quite a few words, is that it might be best not to finish the journey. One should simply enjoy the good food and friends already present rather than make an effort to better circumstances. This is what Sans primarily thinks. But Sans’ secondary thoughts show that he’s watching Frisk with interest. He’s rooting for them. Though Sans might believe it’s “better” to let the world’s circumstances wash over everyone, he supports Frisk in their journey. He can see Frisk plans to continue their quest, and he wishes Frisk luck with what lies ahead. When he says, “i’m rootin’ for ya, kid,” it shows that Sans cares what happens to Frisk in the future. It shows positive sentiment, not indifference. On one level, then, this interaction shows some evidence Sans regards Frisk as a friend. He supports his friend’s journey and hopes all goes well for them. On another level, it suggests that Frisk’s presence is starting to influence Sans’ thoughts. Though his primary reaction is to suggest staying behind might not be so bad, his secondary response is that he’s rooting for Frisk. And what does rooting mean? Hoping for their future… something which is rather unlike his typical giving up.
As I continue to watch this video, I continue to breath a sigh of relief every time when you point out how much sans has varied when it comes to his interpretation When I made my video discussing the entire fandom as a whole, when I went to sans bit. I was sorta afraid I was misremembering or I would be gettin stuff wrong While I did get small stuff wrong, I’m happy how I talked about it wasn’t wrong as cited with your video Tho now I can’t do a video talking about this in detail cause you did it so good, you bastard (I’m joking of course XD) But this is genuinely a really well made and put out video
"When I made my video discussing the entire fandom as a whole, when I went to sans bit." I really liked this video. "Tho now I can’t do a video talking about this in detail cause you did it so good, you bastard (I’m joking of course XD)" I say the more the merrier. If u ever did do a video like this (too), I would love to watch it.
I updated the description with the track names. The question was more about "before the story" but might as well list them all. Being in this brainrot makes you forget not everyone memorized the track names lol Track Names In Order: -sans. -Premonition -It's Raining Somewhere Else(also end track) -Snowy -Mysterious Place -Quiet Water -Memory -Ghostfight -An Ending -Before The Story(Deltarune Menu) -Small Shock -Your Best Friend -Dummy! -Megalovania(slowed down) -Reunited
12:38 I think people overestimate how strong Sans is. He’s strong, but he’s not that strong. The only reason he stands a chance in his fight is because Frisk had karma for being level nineteen. Imagine how easy Sans would be if you had invincibility frames. He would still be hard at level one, but what about level seventeen, the highest level you can get on a neutral run.
People don't overestimate Sans. Lowered IV's and KR are both really strong abilities of Sans (u can't just take one or both and say, Sans is only strong because of them or would be weak/weaker because of them, because yeah, that tends to happen when u take abilities/powers from a character). And Sans has a bunch of other skills, powers, tactics, etc. And KR being linked with LV/EXPs is pure fanon, and even if it wasn't. Ur KR would still be quite high at LV17, if KR was connected to LV/EXP, which again, is pure fanon. Sans may not be the strongest in Undertale, but he is still one of the most powerful in his own rights.
@ Assuming that karma being connected is exp is how it works, then you wouldn’t have it at level 17. You can get to level 17 on a neutral run and not get it. The K.R. is meant to stand for karma, it makes more sense, to me at least, that you would get an effect called “karma” for being a terrible person, rather than picking a fight with a skeleton.
@@JosephMaddoxJoyce KR isn't just a power that randomly happens, if it was just because of ur own KR killing/hurting, then other monsters should be able to do use it (If u are LV17, u certainly have enough sins to be hurt by. Like, u can still very much be a terrible person at lower level, and yet, Karma doesn't just appear for other characters. Because it is Sans' ability/power, not just an effect that randomly appears out of nowhere. Like, u do realize Sans has also caused Flowey some of the most trouble too, right? Causing Flowey a fair share of resets, and making it so Flowey warns you to never let Sans find out anything about you). KR is Sans' power/ability. Sans is tired to judging as a character; hence the KR, Karma, sins, etc. stuff, because it is part of his character, not because KR is tired to LV and EXP which has no real proof in canon, besides the Karma name, which just isn't much proof honestly (also, Karma's original meaning anyways just means consequence, rather for good or bad actions, .sooo...). KR is Sans' ability, and such, if u were to fight him at not LV19, he would still have the ability. Same with lowering IV's, because that is also an ability he has. Among his many other powers/abilities and skills and etc. "it makes more sense, to me at least, that you would get an effect called “karma” for being a terrible person, rather than picking a fight with a skeleton." Ok, and like KR being tired to LV and EXP, there is no actual evidence or basis for this in canon. There is even less "evidence" for this. U can believe it if u want, but I personally don't, and like I said, there isn't (much) real evidence for it in canon.
Really cool analysis on Sans, I love the layers of Sans and I think that the analysis of the Dinner scene really shows just how much you can infer about this guy. On one level he’s a nihilistic skeleton with depression, struggling to properly live in the moment due to this yearning for whatever home might have been to him. But on another level, he’s basically warning you “I know what you are so you’d better stay in your lane”. He’s such a well written character. I also love the discussion around It’s Raining Somewhere else and how he may view stuff like the promise with Toriel as an excuse to keep acting how he always has (even if he does genuinely want to keep up that promise)
Okay first off, your art is gorgeous. I need to check out more of your art. Second, this video is awesome. This scene is my absolute favorite in the game, it adds so many layers to Sans as a character in a single monologue. Toby’s a freaking genius, and you went through this scene and Sans as a character perfectly. Also fun fact: I actually picked “It’s raining somewhere else” as the music for my senior ballet solo because I loved this scene, this game, and this character
The fact you covered so many parts of his character I love perfectly made me very happy. And I myself can relate to sans, I've been in those moments A LOT, and I still feel them today. Seriously, I really admire his character. AND AS A SANS FANGIRL, I will admit he is my comfort character. I could go on and on but I'll just end it there. Thank you for making this essay.
I remember when I first played Undertale when I was young (11-12) I got to that “am i wrong?” bit and internally freaked out. Something along the lines of, “He knows. Is that a bad thing? Have I been actodentaly torturing him with how bad I am at this game?!” Ah, good times. But I’ve also been wondering recently, what if Frisk was honest about the Resets? Specifically in the early runs? How would people react? It’s honestly kinda fun to think about for my AU.
YES! YES! I WAS SO SCARED THAT THE VIDEO WOULDN'T INCLUDE THE IMPORTANCE OF "am i wrong?" I'VE NOTICED THIS TOO AND I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE SOMEONE ELSE MENTION IT! YIPPEEEE
thank you, i lost track of time and was focused on the video for the entire duration of it, thats really good considering my attention span! You surely deserve more exposure then this!
I can't believe just one of your comics which literally is just a scene from the game resurrected the fandom because of facial expressions Goddamn Your art style is also hella amazing
oh oomf/moot has a youtube channel. neato. i definitely enjoyed this video. i like watching essays on sans since it's fun to see what goes on in other people's minds about him for sure. as for the stuff talked about. 7:10 a lot of people think that sans doesn't care about people being mean to papyrus because he knows papyrus is "tough", but like, come on. it's his goshdarn brother, and as someone else on twitter said, "it's very much a "only i and close friends can tease him situation". most people probably don't know this because they pick that papyrus is cool, lmao... 7:36 sans has been implied to have been a scientist in his past, he might have been involved with the true lab stuff, in a way. 9:10 i mean, yuh, prolly 'cus there isn't anyone else super close by. there's a few other people in the room but nobody immediately close, and dinners are often a place where you tend to feel more open anyways. 10:06 i feel like sans protects you more mentally than physically in undertale. he knows you can reset, infinitely so, so there isn't any reason for him to step in and protect you, you'll try again. what he DOES try to protect is your will to keep going. a lot of people get upset at hard points in video games, or just in real life, and quit doing them. sans wants us to keep going, to win, to make it to the end, and the best way to raise someone's mental health is jokes. when someone is feeling down, you want to make them laugh, feel happy. he also DOES sell us healing items, so there's that. 10:22 i think he probably is just trying to get a reaction out of you. like he knows you can reset/reload/whatever, he's like tryna see if that he's correct on that theory based on what you react like. 11:48 and yeah, these three lines are definitely what caused the split. it's very bizarre, but i understand WHY people have gotten him wrong. a lot of his dialogue is vague like this. 12:49 like yeah, it's really weird how the game scripts sans, but like i said i think he is protecting you mentally rather than physically. 14:12 probably deltarune lmao 15:55 yeah this is how i view the actual promise making. 17:55 i don't think i will ever remember where the judgement hall misconception came into play but i vividly remember watching more and more people use the term. 20:52 and this is why i believe that sans is genuinely good at reading your face. him remembering resets is 100% not canon and makes no sense, but like, yeah, he knows how many times you've died, and he knows what's happened to you. he gets nostalgia of past resets/reloads like everyone else, and since he's been watching you throughout your journey, he'd get that weird nostalgic feeling at the points you died at. if he got none, "oh, they didn't die. neat." 21:42 and uh, about us being the anomaly. no, we aren't the anomaly he thinks we are. he definitely believes we are "the anomaly", but the one he was talking about in genocide is flowey. he got those timeline reports likely way before we fall, and it wouldn't make sense for him to say this if your first playthrough is geno, or geno is like, your second or third run. we are AN anomaly, flowey is the one he talks about in his fight, however he thinks that WE are that anomaly. 22:01 oh hey, we agree on it lmao. 24:25 funny how all of sanses themes (megalovania isn't his theme imo) are just "sans." remixed differently. peak video, you explained him very well. sans undertale approved. 👍
20:53 That reveal genuinely had me baffled, like I knew he was manipulating the player so they feel bad for killing everyone, but that at of asking "You haven't died yet" genuinely got me awestruck.
Honestly i think the protector & aggressive personality types mainly come from people kinda molding him to match the personality of the writer. After all I think a lot of us can agree that if we were in Sans's shoes some of us would try and protect or save our brother or save frisk from the player. If we can't do that, then might as well crash out & try give the player hell for what they did. I don't understand the jokester role tho.
I always read San's threats and reading your expression as not just knowing what the character is capable of, but knowing as a player, you have the intrigue to "complete" every route and to see every interaction. Yourself, Sans and Flowey are the only characters who respond to your save files and replaying of the game(replaying everyone's life) so It makes sense to entertaining him as a meta character talking to the player, being aware that there's 5 million+ players and 15 million+ times you have gone down a Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide routes only to reset it again for whatever reason but acting oblivious.
I just wanted to point out that before the fight starts, sans says something along the lines that he's sorry for not being able to keep the promise old lady, and it obvious that he was referring to the promise he made with toriel. I like to interprete that as he is a sincere person that keeps a promise even if it is at the cost of the life of the person closest to him (papyrus). He only breaks that promise when you genocide and kill everyone.
Sans' unwillingness to fight is multi-faceted: he is aware of your ability to RESET and has timeline apathy for a Groundhog Day that's ultimately out of his control; he genuinely cares and hopes you'll learn and turn things around; and his promise to Toriel. Sans is vehemently against injustice, but he's a "wait and see" / big picture kind of guy. He picks his battles. Even though, in reality, he'd prefer not to fight at all. I see it this way: Sans is very serious about keeping promises, but he views not stopping the Player as the bigger sin. Ironically, if Sans does stop you, you'll RESET the timeline to where he never breaks his promise in the first place.
Honestly, you did an amazing job on this essay. Even after spending all this time in the fandom and watching many other essays about this character, you provided something new. Thanks for the great video and have a nice day.
6 min into the video and i realised i stopped gaming and started really watching your video. excellent stuff, excellent pacing ( so far. i stopped to type this ) and I look forward to what you make in the future
I think, more than anything, San's is cunning and smart. Very methodical. He's not aware (at least consciously) that resets and the like occur. But with Flowey, he started to develop an interesting sixth sense to it, which he probably starts to deduce before we come in considering the dialogue in his fight shows more so how he's rationalizing it. Which, admittedly, he's not wrong in most of his conclusions. Intuition. To me, Sans embodies the idea that some of the laziest people are also some of the smartest. His jokes come in a variety of ways, but are always succinct and to some extent clear. He always finds "shortcuts" through screen transitions. The idea is that lazy people will often try to find the most efficient way to do something with minimal effort. Which is where his last fight is a clear sign of desperation on his part, but even still, he does come to one final solution. Just... Nothing. You can't win if you don't get a turn. As a Nihilist, he has patience, and can earnestly just wait, that's probably what he does most of the time. Save the meta 4D chess shenanigans the player gets away with there, his idea might've legitimately worked. Again, he's a crafty one.
My personal favorite depictions of sans are from Rad Chad and spaceman scott. i think they nail who sans is on the head. Their videos are "silly characters that are no joke" and " how undertale does evil right" if you're interested. This video is definitely one of my favorites now tho
this is why undertale is so good, i've been a fan of undertale for like since it came out, and to this day, i'm still learning new stuff about undertale and the character, like when sans is having dinner with you, i did not think of him testing you if you've done the NO MERCY route before, and that's actually a very smart way of thinking, and it explains a lot more about sans and even flowey. thank you for this good video, and thank you for making this video, to learn more about the characters, and into the mind of sans. this might not be the actual character plot of sans, but i'd say it's super accurate than the fandom sans, and i liked to think of all the characters as living, breathing people, so you have more attachment to them.
Sans' depression is the reason why he's depicted in so many different ways Because remember, not everyone acts the same when depressed So people try to figure out how he deals with it, so that's why so many different types of angst of sans exist
In 2024 I decided to play the Genocide route after failing the sans fight as a kid and giving up. It took me like a solid 7 tries but I finally beat him after all this time. I completely forgot most of the story, so watched some old lets plays, but still after all this time I can remember this scene clear as day. This scene sent chills down my spine. The entire pacifist route we never really feel like we're in danger, even when we're about to get killed by Mettaton we always had Alphys "protecting" us, but here sans isn't just talking to Frisk for the sake of it (like as the comic relief). He's saying these things to set the tone of the rest of the game, to brace us for the seriousness of what follows; Asgore's inner turmoil over collecting human souls, Asriel/Chara's backstory and the horrific underground lab. He's also setting the tone of the inevitable Genocide run some players will do immediately after the game ends (which is relevant as he's also poking fun at the fourth wall to gage your reaction). Essentially, no more silliness from this point on and he knows it. Even if you reset, it's probably not going to be a good time for anyone (some people want to have a bad time...). Unless you count the banter after you beat Asriel or the trash dump date, but each of those has grounds in seriousness and have some heavy character development (The trash dump date also being used as a stark contrast for when you go to the underground lab). He won't know if a reset happens so could be justifying his laziness with the fact he could just wake up one day and be part of a bad run but he also clearly cares about the people in his life (Toriel and Papyrus) enough to make an effort around them (like with the knock knock jokes). Which just makes him feel more anxiety over what he could lose and forget. Anyone would be (more) depressed if the fate of everything you knew was fundamentally out of your control and you just had to wait, watch and hope. The comic relief and getting the player to care about the characters is sans' whole purpose and he does a great job at it. Some people get attached and don't do a Genocide run, every sans in every playthrough from every unique player either feels like he's succeeded or failed at one point in the story, depending on when or whether you gain exp. He's been gambling that he's enough to tip the scales towards pacifism with his gags (he even fights the player at one point as part of a joke). If he steps in as a roadblock or anything more than a joke (like Undyne, Papyrus or any of the other guards or monsters do) he'll just be one more possible source of failure/exp for the player. He's been monitoring the timeline and the player (with Alphys?) so he's confident in his place in the world. He doesn't even fight you if you kill Papyrus in a neutral run because he knows you'll just reset anyways to replay for a better ending and he'll forget it happened in the first place. He knows that if you even get a single piece of EXP it's all over and he either won't remember any of this ever happened or everyone he knows is about to die. But he also knows the underground needs the human to make the choice to help the monsters or else they will never be free. But then "You'd be dead where you stand" is his way of saying "I would have killed you like Asgore told me to if there weren't people I cared about who also cared about you. Even if we were free, that lady would never talk to me again" and I mean what's the use of freedom if the people you love hate you, which is the real significance behind his promise. The way for him to one day be happy is to fight against his fears no matter what happens (even after the signal appears (exp up) where he knows he won't remember. He even says he respects you if you bail out of a genocide run to make you feel good about it) so that one day somebody will care what happens to his world.
i realy like how Artisticthingem does sans in their "unexpected guests" series, he's cold but not unfeeling, he cares but his cynicism towards life due to the power to reset causes him to do nothing, he accepts a promise but does not act upon it. a few more things I wanted to say... but I don't want to spoil anything more
I intend on deleting this account sooner or later, switching over stuff so I can do my own things on UA-cam with a tighter sense of security, assuming of course that I ever get to that. This comment won't be up forever is what i'm tryna say but i feel it's worth posting regardless because i can't thank you enough as to the portrayal of this character that you've brought to light, so many people look at sans and even the rest of the main cast in this one dimensional way when ultimately, there's so much more depth to it than that, so many more layers, so much more intrigue, so many flaws, and that's good, characters are meant to be flawed, because people are meant to be flawed, it's okay to be flawed, to have masks that you hide behind, it's okay to not have your sense of self figured out right now, not many people know who they are, or what they want, it's okay to let the rain come down once in awhile, but above all else, it's okay to let it rain, somewhere else, and I think more people need to know that.
Sans is/was a scientist afterall, him doing small experiments to catch the "anomaly" like the telescope gag and him watching Frisk's facial expressions to see if they've already died before is fucking brilliant. Dude's insanely clever and pretty much already knew Frisk is the anomaly well before we thought he did.
honestly it is nice to see inteligently written characters, even discounting the theories of his back story and connections to gaster he's just... investigative, even from the first interaction in a run he'll pick up if it's the second time you're reacting to the woopie cushion. even though flowey does comment on you resetting on the toriel fight it definitely seems like he's the exception to the rule of saving not being a part of the game world so it's nice to see an outside perspective on how saving works. and even discounting the meta narative, in the core story he's just a fun character, honestly can't state enough how well toby made a game with a meta narrative which is still satisfying without knowing any of it, like i love don't hug me i'm scared but the final episode of the web series is really unsatisfying cause it relies so much on knowing about the media theory when most people watch it for the unnerving comedy, and in the realm of video games oh god even including lore from previous games can hurt the enjoyment of the core story like kingdom hearts forcing xahanort and the psp spin off characters into the main story even discounting the poor choice of adding time travel. obviously time travel in itself ain't bad but the story has to revolve around that time travel and that is what undertale does beautifully, there's 3 layers of story all going on which play into eachother, the main story of you being a child escaping the underground, fairly standard but quirky adventure with the dreamer family being the main narrative hook, the meta narrative where your actions as the player catches sans eye and the lore narrative which actively pushes you into conflict with sans cause the genocide and true pacifist routes contain vital information for the world building, gaster maybe a hook if you get the random events but generally it feeds on asriels tradgedy keeping things tied to the main story. more time passes the more i appreciate the game and understand why it got so popular cause the game fully utilyses its premise and leaves just enough hanging threads to not unwravel its characters in the story but have enough hanging to latch players into wanting to find out more and then slaps the player in the face for going to those lengths to unwravel its characters and world. there was a lot of criticism towards the genocide route back in the day and on a gameplay perspective i get it, but narratively it makes sense. honestly my big criticism is shoving chara in at the end, felt a bit too creepy pasta for my tastes with how abrupt it is after killing flowey, could've been fun to walk to the barrier room and when you try to walk to the exit the player character turns back towards you or whatever, but that's more of a nitpick, still a 10/10 game which does exactly what it sets out to do.
Great video, you're analysis of the dinner scene and specifically the dialogue after the famous line was super interesting to me. Sans is a complex character and I've gained a new view to his arch. Finally, I was able to answer the question of why doesn't sans kill you once you murder Toriel and Papyrus. I was confused that he only attacks you once you kill everyone and I think the answer to this is rather simple: Sans is depressed and filled with hopelessness. He knows that you have unlimited resets, and thus, him trying to stop you, especially early on in the game will be futile. However, he may know that you completing the genocide run will result in the erasure of his world. Additionally, you killing everyone may rile him up to the point that he feels as though he as to take action.
It is not may know, he does know (or at least knows enough). He specifically says "then everything ends". He sees something so bad in Geno; the end of everything, something he thinks that not even a Reset can "fix". That he can't afford not to care anymore. So he fights you.
I saw the thumbnail and I was so excited. When I first watched the game during its heyday, the dinner and its accompanying song “It’s Raining Somewhere Else” were some of my favorite parts of the game and even though I hadn’t thought about it in a while, as soon as I saw this video I was like “damn I remember that scene, that was fkin iconic”. Your analysis did not disappoint, thanks for the food for thought 💜
4:55 when you grew older you learn more about the people and world around us and about ourselves you became more conscious about everything including yourself and develop deeper feelings than whe you where a kid that’s what I think knowledge and experience make to our capacity to feel things
THIS WAS AMAZINGGGG I completely agree with all the points you made!! It’s hard to see a character as a full, complex person sometimes, but Sans was written in such a good way that he feels *real*. He cares, truly does, from the bottom of his heart-yet can’t bring himself to _show_ that care due to a deep-rooted belief in the absence of meaning in his life. It’s tragic, sad, but his arc in Pacifist is perhaps one of the most uplifting things a depressed person could go through; learning how to hope. Beautiful analysis, and beautiful video (love your artstyle)!!! Much love 💜💜
Him saying "You haven't died a Single time" is actually a Nod to he already knows about your Ability to SAVE and RESET. That's why he has his Depression, Why bother with anything if things are just going to Reset all the time
So glad i am not the only one trying to figure this scene out The main thing that bugged ME about the dialogue is how the death threat didn't seem to make sense. Sans wouldn't throw such a line just to intimidate a child, so that threat was either directed at us being human or the anomaly... and neither made sense to me: HUMAN) Sans is not a zealous human hater, he pretty much says so in his introduction. Another motivation for killing us would be the rewards of the capture of our soul and potential freedom of monsterkind. First of all, seems like a bit too much initiative for someone who slacks off his job as a sentry with his supposed target. Secondly, if really saw at some value in trying to capture us, why is this promise the ONE thing suddenly restraining him? ANOMALY) Sans already knows we are the anomaly. But, why would he be so damn confrontational? He's not stupid, he knows a battle with us is a pointless venture. And what good is a promise here anyway, Sans wouldn't be eager to fight us in the first place? Your interpretation is helping me to clear things up. Perhaps it was a sorta warning/bluff. And him being restricted by the promise makes the threat both more intimidating (it wouldn't be intimidating if he didnt provide a reason why he doesn't just throw hands with us right now if he's so pissed) and weirdly comforting (due to him communicating that Toriel is looking out for us even beyond the Ruins' door)
I absolutely adore this analysis! It's very rare to see someone debunk common fandom tropes/characterisation while also acknowledging how they came to those conclusions about the character in the first place. Just for that alone you deserve like. A billion dollars. It also helped me broaden my understanding about the funni skeleton man methinks One thing I would like to bring up that I think is interested is how sans seems to have a history with promises. "Sorry old lady, this is why I never make promises" and also his initial aversion to making a promise to toriel in the first place. Cause like. To say something like that and to react like that makes it seem like he's had a history with them. (It's also interesting that in the "sans pick up your sock" texts papyrus never tries to make him promise to pick it up) Maybe because of his depression he failed one too many promises and he's scarred from disappointing people, who knows But one thing's for sure. He *cares*. He didn't just mindlessly promise toriel with no intention to uphold it. He actually feels a sense of duty about it, and he wants to fulfill as many promises as he possible can So. Hear me out. "Don't forget" What if that was The promise. Maybe it only happened once. Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back. But I think this might've been the thing that sent him down on that spiral, or at least the one that sucker-punched him to rock bottom. After all, there is significant proof that depression makes people very forgetful Do I have any real proof that this theory is correct? No. I just b sayin words that I think look good in that order. But it's something fun to think about
Something I wanna point out cause it got kinda lost in the script writing:
When counting the categories, I wasn't trying to imply mixtures don't occur, aggressor and protector were often combined. What I tried to go at is that if you dialed up all these categories to the extreme, his character becomes too contradicting.
You can still turn it into something somewhat comprehensible, but again, you REALLY need to go through hoops to have it make any sense
Holy Fuck (interest) sans is a bastard
I want you to give "Silly characters who are NO joke" a watch (Forgot the creator's username) because I feel Sans is characterized VERY well there (similar to your own thoughts too), aswell as everyone else included in that video.
@@thedarknessinthelight9824username is Rad Chad
@@obsessionsofthevoid W
I knew about sans before I knew about Undertale
Personally I’m a big fan of the telescope gag. sans put some kind of paint around the eye piece so you get a silly circle around your eye. Most people see this change to the character sprite and go confront sans for his prank, to which he says something cheeky. But there aren’t any mirrors so Frisk shouldn’t be able to see the prank, but you can. So in that moment he proves the existence of you, the player
...orrr you can just.... Feel the paint sticking to your face and check it by touching your face as you disengage with the telescope, atleast if we assume that Frisk just can do some benign things inbetween actions that we can't see (like Frisk performing some actions in battle). But the theory is neat otherwise.
@MAJJASTAK well if it were, say, a stamp instead of paint then this guys theory holds really well since you wouldnt even notice it if that were the case.
Sans has knowledge few others have in Undertale.
He is from another world.
Where? We don't know.
But Sans and Papyrus are from somewhere else.
@@TheSkyGuy77sans is ness/j
what about the fact that you/Frisk CANNOT SEE THROUGH THE TELESCOPE? whether or not you realise something has rubbed off on your face, that's plenty reason to complain. on my first playthrough, that was all it took to get me to talk to sans again. for me, seeing the change to frisk's sprite was an additional punchline.
sans threatining us to see if you'll be intimidated (in order to know if we're not the anomaly)
sans saying that we've never died a single time waiting for your expression (to prove that we are the anomaly)
i wouldn't be suprise if sans trolling us in our first meeting was actually just a way to check us to know if we've massacred the ruins or not
I remember seeing jokes online about how messed up it realistically would be for a guy to threaten death to a child in a public diner, but it makes more sense as a test to see if you’re afraid of death like most people or view it as meaningless because of your powers
yeah cause he instantly goes on with the "my brother would really like to see a human, so keep pretending to be one" thing just a couple scenes later
I wouldn't say it was to check if we killed people in the ruins, more-so that entire encounter seems like a very thought out way by him to get in depth knowledge on just how we act. In the stalking scene, he can see if we're paranoid, trigger happy, combative, unobservant, skittish, etc. depending on how we react to a strange figure stalking you through the woods. Next, he can get a clue on how you are social settings, see if the way you act changes to give signs of wearing a mask, and other general personality traits that aren't revealed via testing the fight or flight response. These methods, while less effective on us that don't talk much, still are very effective to give a general profile of the human in ways that aren't just "Hey, that person killed a lot of people".
I don't know what he is looking for, but I think it's Flowey.
Also should note he can guess if you're the anomaly if you go back to a save point he comments on you turning around immediately to shake his hand, as if you already knew...
Fun fact: Sans's dialouge changes if you didn't die once. Instead of noticing your expression, he comicaly emphasises that it's because of him you didn't die once. Whenever he's onto you, or just joking to make the "not-anomaly" feel safer, it adds even more depht to him.
Anything for if you've died exactly once? And/or if you reload, die, and then redo the cutscene?
@@JaggerG Just if you haven't died before initiating the scene, which includes loading shenanigans.
Yeah it felt wild seeing him mention not dying when I played Undertale a bit ago, managed to not get killed until Flowey
depht
Did I just find a fellow chiki's chase fan in the wild?
ngl I forgot that judgement hall wasn’t a term used in game until this video 😭 genuinely tho this essay is amazing omg
I still usually call it like this despite knowing that it's officially name is different.
Wait what’s the actual name? 😭
@@ANON_THE_ANONYMOUSLast Corridor.
It's called out a few times that Asgore is bad with coming up with names, as they're all too literal.
@@xdman0289 guess Judgement Hall sounds too cool for the naming scheme of the underground
@@fruitloops2058 Fans call it Judgement Hall because of the part Sans plays in that room, but for all we know, Sans being a judge probably isn't anything officially placed by Asgore.
The game never implies Sans was hired by Asgore to be some "royal judge" Sans is probably judging us of his own accord in that room just because it's the "last corridor" to the end of the game.
"if you somehow avoided spoilers in the past nine years"
‘the past nine years’ gave me psychic damage… i swear 2015 was last year
@ oh cod i hate that you actually said the year that was nine years ago thats so much worse.
I wish that were me.
I gave Undertale to my best friend this year. She only usually plays console games with her boyfriend, and treats PC as work (if you watch Caddicarus, he made a very good point on a video a few years ago, about working on PC means not relaxing on a PC), and I gave her a distinct advice: "don't search anything online. Anything you would search online, ask directly to me. Trust me, you're like one of the few people I know that likes games and haven't heard about UT, you DESERVE the original experience from 9 years ago"
And I respect and restrain myself around this game for her because she was the only Star Wars fan that I know that can talk about why they like the franchise without parroting the infamous "____, I'm your ______" every other sentence. She was a real G back in HS, I'm just repaying the favor (and maybe someday I'll watch The Clone Wars, as her request)
@@renanmarcilio4677that's actually amazing, hope she enjoys it!
Sans is such an interesting character because who he's seen as is entirely a facade.
He's seen as lazy, uncaring, and generally chill but all of those are so far from the truth.
Sans walls himself off from others under this layer of irony so he never has to open up about himself and make himself vulnerable, because why bother when it's all going to be reset anyways?
Might as well just enjoy the time he thinks he has left instead of trying to address any of his problems.
Despite this however, Sans proves not only is he not lazy in the king Papyrus ending, but that he's not as laid back and uncaring as he pretends to be in every other neutral route and even genocide.
From his point of view, knowing about the anomaly is like coping with a terminal disease diagnosis with no timeframe given for how long he has left.
He can't change it, and thus slinks into a habit of letting others pick up the pieces until he thinks the anomaly is satisfied and he can go back to living.
This is why he suddenly stops being "lazy" in every ending like in the king Papyrus ending, he never was lazy.
He steps up to the plate once he thinks the anomaly is "satisfied" and won't undo everything that's happened.
Edit: fixed a small typo
Edit 2 (additional note): some people with depression sleep a lot to escape their emotions which I think is interesting given Sans is known for falling asleep just about anywhere.
This is so well-written and explained thank you for your typing this ❤️
He knows of resets, but does not remember them. His depression probably comes from somewhere else.
@wildfire9280 sans’ inability to remember resets doesn’t invalidate what OP said. sans knows that there’s an anomaly out there that can reset everything, so sans doesn’t do anything because there’s still no point in his mind. everything can get erased and reset to its beginning and he would never know. he doesn’t know how many times it’s happened or how many times it will happen again. why would he ever try to achieve anything in a situation like that?
i dont really think sans is depressed, at least not anymore than anyone else in the underground is. he just knows a little more than everyone else. hes lazy, theres signs of him always being that way. he tells jokes because he genuinely likes it. I really dont think hes "depressed". but thats just me. and for the sleeping thing, i like ur idea, i always saw it as something else. if u go to the inn u can learn that sleeping raises ur hp above its max, anddddd whooo has the lowest hp in the underground... sans. I always imagined this is just his way of mitigating it.
@TrulySomeone Thank you for explaininggg!
Weirdly enough, my interpretation of the resort scene on first blush didn't align with any of the 3 you listed. I've noticed that in most fan renditions of the threat, Sans is depicted as very direct about it, looking Frisk dead-on when delivering his line. It does seem in line with the rest of his character when you think about it. But that's not quite how it went down. There's a detail often lost in the shock of it.
If you play it back, Sans is turned _away_ from Frisk when he makes the threat, only turning back to face them after trying to backpedal on it. When I picked up on this on my first viewing, I couldn't read it as a "threat" at all. I read it as guilt.
He's essentially admitting that he might have enacted prejudice on Frisk if not for making a commitment. He may have some obvious apathy in retrospect, it's true, but Flowey's blurbs do seem to imply he exercised less restraint when dealing with him. But him admitting this to you, here, in the context of a Pacifist route, implies to me that he does genuinely view you as contextually innocent, and having a capacity for good, and that he has some remorse for that he might not have been initially been planning on giving you a chance if not for that commitment. You've given him reason to doubt that you're hiding your true nature, that you'll just reset. So he lets some of his inner thoughts out, too. Just a bit.
This coupled with him skewing more lighthearted with you in the time travel shenanigans later feels to me like the resort scene was him coming clean to you. It lets him get what limited closure he can on your relationship while still being covert enough to not let you in completely. I don't think he liked keeping his cards close to his chest, not really. In the end, all he wanted was for you to be a friend.
I noticed this body language, too. In fact, Sans looks to the side several times during the MTT conversation. Normally, Sans is able to keep the jokes going even as he's emotionally wrecked inside, as we saw from the Lost Soul fight. So for him to be visibly uncomfortable? Something is very wrong.
I have a few ideas as to why. And while my conclusions might be different from yours, I like your thought processes, too!
It really is the moment where Sans levels with you, I like to think. Back at the Grillby's chat, he kind of gives you the impression of letting you in on an undercover cop case, giving you more reasons for caution around Flowey, letting you know there's more going on in the background, and hinting that there's a lot more going on with him than the facade he presents to the world. During the dinner, though, he's really laying his cards on the table. Not letting you in on some job or pertinent piece of knowledge, but his own character.
In that way, the death threat not only isn't directed at us the way most people interpret it, but is tipping his hand that no, he's not a useless side character, he's actually strong enough that he is quite confident he could kill you. The threat is an admission of power as well as prejudice. Combined with the multiple other bombshells of his ties to Toriel, his subtle awareness of the effects of Determination based timeline manipulation, and just the overall vibe of his being a highly competent, highly intelligent shadow agent for the forces of good in this world... Sans is really laying out everything important about himself to you, in his own awkward way. Which is, I think, an intentional show of trust.
That's pretty much my interpretation. Sans is way too smart to not know what he's doing. Even if his emotions and flaws might cause him to swerve along the path, he invited you to this meeting for a reason, and I think that reason is to let us know he believes in us.
"Sans is turned away", "as guilt", "admitting that he might have enacted prejudice on Frisk if not for making a commitment".
Damn, man, that's genious! This detail really changes the context of the whole scene. I'm surprised that neither I nor anyone else has thought about it in this way before....
this is a GREAT reading of that scene!! this is def how I interpret it now, makes sooo much sense
Great interpretation! I still think that the person making this video hit the nail on the head but the cool thing about sans is that all interpretations are probably true. Sans is the most human, most layered, most 3 dimensional character in any video game for me. Everything said here can be true on top of everything said in the video. I do genuinely think he's checking to see if your the anomaly. But he could also be guilty like you said. His lack of trust that's nearly trusting is also there too. His promise used as an excuse to not get involved in something he sees as pointless is also there! He has so many layers and even after all this time in the fandom I still learn about new folds and wrinkles in this character! Toby fox is a genius of character writing and meta storytelling! This single video and comment section has singlehandedly reignited my love for this game and brought it to heights I never thought possible! It's insane to me that such a short and compact game has all this deep complexity! Fuckin love undertale! ❤
Frisk: Papyrus is uncool
Sans:…I’m gonna pretend you’re joking for your sake
I feel like Sans being a popular character in a massively popular game is what contributed the most as to why his personality tends to change alot in various depictions from the fans.
Not only that, but he is also a character that is written in a way that basically invites people to dissect him and try to figure him out. More so than any other character in Undertale.
Much like other characters in media like Shadow the Hedgehog from the Sonic series and Beatrice from Umineko: When they Cry.
Sans to me is a simple enough character as you say, but only at a surface level. Once you start diging deeper you find a lot more questions than answers.
Undertale movie PLEASE
@@Soupy8.That is terrible idea, no offense but still
@@paperhat_boi If they do it right it could be really good
With depression also comes mood swings. I myself have severe depression and with that I have episodes of times where I act, for lack of a better term "out of character" and "inconsistent". Perhaps that can be one reason as to why Sans' cannon characterization is so inconsistent.
Hope you recover from your depression mate.
And I agree. Once had depression and I either go from cheery and talkative to just silent and only talks when needed and as much needed.
same
@@totallyregulargiornoYou described my personality perfectly lmao
Me too. My depression sometimes makes me moody or prone to slight jolts of unproportional anger.
I got it under control, but damn is it *EXHAUSTING*
As someone who's struggled with depression since middle school (and is now in college), yeah... that checks out. Somedays, I feel great. Other days? I'm just emotionally checked out, and just feel like nothing matters.
I always saw the promise as an excuse for sans to try and feign hope, rather than an excuse to not fight you. I thought it was more like sans being: "welp, I made a promise, guess I HAVE to try now." Perhaps it can be both.
Definitely both
Definitely both
I actualy don't see Sans as a nihilist, but more of an absurdist. True he does deteriorate when he realizes nothing matters, but he doesn't stop functioning. Sans seems to find his reason in joking, and as he puts ot, "some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends". He puts it into the things he enjoys and into tracking down the anomaly. He only seems to fail at this in hapiness in the genocide run.
I personally believe there's two types of nihilism. There's the "nothing matters, so why bother trying," and "nothing matters, so I'm going to do whatever I want."
Sans falls somewhere in between
He doesn't really fit absurdist honestly.
He still fits nihilist more.
He is kind of an odd one.
Because Sans is very complex.
But I do personally think he fits nihilist more than absurdist.
Not to necessarily be that Guy, but I always thought of him as a "Determinist". After all he never really says that 'nothing matters'. Or claims or behaves in a way that shoes that nothing matters to Him. He cares about Papyrus and his Friends, as well as Frisk, The Player, and The Fate of The Timeline (to an extent), a great deal; Trying to look for hope in every decision you make and trying to support the ideals of Your's and Frisk's kindnesses and Papyrus's and Toriel's Beliefsm in Mercy, in just about every opportunity, even when he's Judgemental or Critical of it. But what he struggles with is "Trying". He tries to do everything he can to reach a Proper Happy Ending for everyone even if it’s not The Ending where everyone gets to make it, 1 where He gets to be Happy, or if it isn't even all that Happy of an Ending at all, but then when everything RESETS and he knows it. He starts wondering why he even bothers, because of the chance of it all happening again, or somehow getting even worse, until like always, he's given another reason with You or the same old 1 with Papyrus. Sans is very cynical and honestly pretty depressed about his situation, from what we can tell, but he never really stops because it's all he knows how to do and all he believes he can do. Because in the End, he belives that his Fate and Everyone's Fate is already Pre-Determined. And whether he likes it or not, it's Determined, by "You".
@@Nobody0333 sorry but I don't like this take because I'm a "determinist" and don't see Sans doing that. (Besides for Sans actively saying that he can't care anymore in the genocide fight we can agree that it's a different scenario). Determinism has no metrics that what you do don't matter but you should still try- That's absurdism!!! That's exactly my point! I don't think he thinks everything is predetermined because we have 3 routes, 3 outcomes, and 2 versions of Sans. We have the happier live your best life Sans and we have the depressed jaded Sans. That's where I get the absurdism from. In Geno it's depicted more as nihilism but I think that's because he sees all his efforts falling apart. Sans isn't a determinist. He's an absurdist who sees his philosophy die when you mercilessly slaughter his entire reality. He tried his best because he knows nothing matters. He creates his own reasons for living: creating what he thinks is the best life
@@DoJayMi that's just claiming nihilism is an umbrella which includes absurdism... Which it is not.
11:49 honestly why can’t he be a mix of all 3? It makes for a perfect conflicted character. He has this deep resentment towards you/humanity for whatever reason. “The aggressor”. But that sentimental connection he had with Tori to keep the promise, followed by developing a genuine bond with frisk, causes his to suddenly care even if he doesn’t want to. “The protector”. You can’t control how you feel sometimes. So he has this inner battle within himself and you can see how both sides come out when talking to you. Followed by him trying to cope with it all by using humor and being a jokester. “Dumb funny guy”. As someone who copes with memes after something upsetting happens, I completely understand him. Lil dark humor to hide the battling thoughts in that skull of his.
But hey, that’s just a theory, A GA-
But anyways I’m so glad there’s someone else understanding more of the media literacy and sans’ depression. Seeing his individual characteristics is nice and all but I wanna see his whole complete self more often
I did mean to mention that mixtures do occur but got kinda lost in the rewriting of the script. Point was how extreme these categories would show themselves
Oversight on my part ^^'
I feel like this a very apt description considering some people are like this irl. You can both hate someone and love someone after all
I don't believe that Sans has resentments towards you or humanity, mostly because of what he says in the neutral ending where Papyrus is the ruler. The new human policy established is that humans can't be judged to be all good or all evil. From how the dialogue goes, it seems like Sans is the one who suggested it. But considering that in that run you killed plenty of monsters and main characters, it's unlikely that Sans's opinion on humanity got better, it'd make more sense if it got worse. So, Sans was always fair and impartial/accepting towards humans.
I have other reasons to believe that he never planned to kill you, regardless of the promise. Probably, as it's stated in this video, that threat was just a little warning: "I'd BE ABLE to kill you on the spot if I wanted to. So, behave, and stay on the right path". It was meant to scare you a little, but it was really mostly a "joke", in Sans' words. He wouldn't have killed you regardless.
@roca7268 i think he knows his threats are empty regardless of meaning or not. Sans cannot touch us the player, even if he did kill us on the spot we'd be back and wiser for the experience. That entire idea permeates Sans fight, as he knows he's already lost, the only thing he can do is frustrate the player into quitting. That's literally his last hope if victory
"Because they are made of magic, monsters’ bodies are attuned to their SOUL.
If a monster doesn’t want to fight, its defenses will weaken.
And the crueller the intentions of our enemies, the more their attacks will hurt us.
Therefore, if a being with a powerful SOUL struck with the desire to kill..."
Sans' nihilism explains why he only has one health and only does one damage.
Underrated! Holy shit! Really didn't want to fight!
If that's how dificult the fight is if he does NOT want to fight, imagine if he did....
This is GENIUS, my eyes literally widened and a small "oh my god" escaped my frickin' mouth.
The part, the realization, that THE JOKE in the dinner scene was the THREAT all along made a chill down my spine.
It's an indication that Sans didn't even threat Frisk anymore in that line, no, he threatened US, the PLAYER.
It genuinely made me felt scared and watch when I realised that, like he could almost see directly to US from the other side od the screen.
But this essay is the most easily understandable, complex, and a creative way to look at Sans's personality, both mix of the good side of canon and fanon personalities.
Love this video so much❤🎉
honestly, the whole section here 20:24 was extremely well done. i remember raising my eyebrow when i first saw that line all those years ago, but this whole part genuinely unnerved me with a realization that a lot more threat went under my radar than i ever knew. and its so freakin' _cool._ like- ugh, tobys writing of sans is so amazing, because the subtle threat in that line is SO subtle, most people completely missed it. i love the way this calls attention to it.
couldnt have said it better myself! ^^
One of the main reasons Sans is one of my favorite characters in the game (and, let's be real here, in general) is because of the seeming contradiction between Sans's nature as the comedy relief and being among the most dangerous people in the Underground. Not just because of how he's really strong in weird ways (karma, shortcuts, etc.), but because he's so freaking smart. Sans and Flowey seem to be the only ones with a proper understanding of what DT can do, and he can figure you out with just a *look.* By extension, that makes him the only person to know how much of a threat *we* are. That and his lack of involvement outside of his role as judge gives him a real "above it all" vibe I really enjoy.
I've noticed that a large portion of interpretations of Gaster also have this sort of dichotomy. A lot of them seem to be either walking memes (like Wing Gaster, the Roya-AAAAA), bins of bottomless depression (like Handplates), cold and calculating nightmare fuel (like XGaster), or some combination of those three.
Figuring us out by a single look is a written well ability for him to have. He's socially adept in the underground and almost know everyone. He's popular in grillby's, a comedian in MTT hotel, befriended someone he's never even seen (Toriel), he's got ties with Alphys, and more. So, he knows with his experience how to read faces.
relatable and I relate to him alot
Sans interacts in such a way that the Player's responses and expressions will give him a TON of information. He will get an idea of how many times you've met, what you've done in other timelines, and so on. His pranks SHOULD take you by surprise... If they don't, he knows what's up.
Very clever.
For me, "The Scene That Changed Sans" is also the scene that changed Undertale for me, from my perspective.
I grew up thinking sans is just a protecter whos a badass
When i became older, Depression and nihilism got to me, Feeling how sans does is not very fun
As someone who has gone through similar things, yeah it really ain't great 💀
as a former depressed myslef:☝️🤓
@@txr1723 *myself
But nice try Lil bro
Wild replies
very cool video, that breakdown of the "am I wrong ...?" line is especially cool, haven't really seen anyone else talk about it
The "am I wrong...?" Line was the one simple motivation I had to do a no-die run when I first played the game
I think the "somewhere else" is whatever place sans originally came from. He's thinking of how it's raining "somewhere else", and since he feels homesick, he's thinking of the rain, almost like his home is missing him back.
That's how I interpret the song and title, anyway.
12:18 Sans knew Papyrus was harmless, he said so himself. Papyrus won’t kill you, even Toriel will if you try hard enough, but Papyrus never will. Sans also couldn’t stop every enemy, he clearly didn’t want you to know until that dinner.
Damn undertale video essays getting released mere hours ago. I’m so glad this game is thriving as much as it is now. It was such an important part of my childhood and I was worried about it having fallen off. Before I was jealous this game was settling into obscurity while FNAF was in the spot light but I guess things have changed.
Yeah I wouldn’t worry about it honestly, Undertale’s a timeless classic. People will be talking about this game for generations to come. It’s one of my favourite games and I know I won’t forget about it.
yea.....
Yeah, I think deltarune has definitely helped…
25:13 There's a goner in waterfall who may appear during a playthrough, who speaks about imagining a world where everything is the same except one doesn't exist. if you bring them an umbrella, they mention that it isn't raining, before thanking the player for making them feel better.
"It's raining somewhere else" is a flawless response to this interaction. May have something to do with Sans...
snas dundretale
nice thunder speech
Very snarky
Man, I think that Astalos hit you with a little too much voltage.
Snad nuderman
@@hybridvenom9NUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!
In all honestly I absolutely LOVE how you portray sans in your dusttale revamp comic, especially how you portray alphys in a light that I haven’t seen many people apart from myself see. It’s beautifully put together and from author to another if you ever release original stories out there for the world to see, you have my support! I love you narratives and I love your art work Rean!
Good analysis, talk about inaction that depression can cause hits hard.
The fact the "you haven't died once" throwaway is actually an expression read hinting to reload shenanigans is crazy, this game is so good
"was it on purpose to help you or was it to piss you both off?"
"both? both. both is good"
I now understand what makes sans so unique, the layering personalities, the depiction of so many different emotions and responses to certain situations, that's how you make a 3d character
4d character
It's amazing how he has so many layers and the more I see him the more I discover new things.
He comes across as lazy but he is someone who works hard behind the scenes (works in different positions, tried to keep a promise even at the cost of lives even his own brother and fight for his world that was in danger) and someone who tries as hard as possible to make sure that the people he cares about don't get hurt where he lies to Papyrus that his friends went on vacation (King Papyrus route) omitted about Papyrus' death to Toriel (Queen Toriel route) and helps Alphys as much as he can (Queen Alphys route) and manipulates you into going on a good route with a similar type of manipulation Chara has with Asriel ridiculing you and making you feel bad when you call him.
He is a character who, even at times when he says that he has given up and that nothing really matters since everything can be restarted, he is the most hard-working guy I have ever met.
I love that Toby Fox keeps pushing forth the narrative that Sans is lazy:
* Sans Inaction Figure
* "Sans is too lazy to . . ."
* "ALL YOU DO IS SIT AND BOONDOGGLE."
And yet Sans is the one who spends the most time on the clock. The more you find out about Sans, the more you appreciate him. Top-tier character writing.
I maintain the stance that Sans did "give up" in a lot of ways, but he never truly lost hope. If he did, he wouldn't be doing all he does.
actually it's not the first time at the dinner where he points out at your ability to reset, he also does it in Snowdin(I mean the first 100% one) when you solve Papyrus's XO∆ puzzle he says something about you doing a great job because it can't be possible that you have seen this puzzle before
A little added humor and a little more meta... I watched a number of blind playthrough of Undertale back durring the big popularity craze when it first came out.
You know what?
Sans caught sooo many youtubers editing their footage. Because that dialog *is* different if you've never died, so when they made it to the dinner seen without ever dying on screen or admitted to it, only for Sans to call them out on their death count? Busted!
He's so good, he even catches dishonest players.
This actually so funny. And fitting.
12:25
Sans never intervened in Papyrus's fight because he knows that Papyrus could never kill you. Even during the fight, when you drop down to 1hp, Papyrus simply captures you and "locks" you in his shed.
And if you lose to Papyrus 3 times, he'll actually let you skip the whole fight and go past him. Saying that he can't continue fighting you forever out of exhaustion and annoyance for your stubborness.
I think the canonical Sans is "If Undertale was realistic"
"ABSOLUTE LAMP MATE"
Personally, I actually read the restaurant scene as a kind of confession. Basically every major character in Undertale tries to kill you at some point (and Toriel brings you to the brink of death and Papyrus locks you in a shed to be delivered to someone who will kill you and Alphys engineers situations where you /think/ your life is at risk so they aren't really in the clear either...) except for Sans. And the only reason Sans doesn't is because of the combination of his own nihilism, his suspicions that you're the anomaly, and the promise.
So I read the whole restaurant thing as him... trying to dispel the notion that he's any better than them, I guess. Because he knows he would have killed you, under different cirumstances, while you're still under the impression that he's your staunchest ally. (as low a bar as that is)
Because as a threat, I don't think it really... makes sense? He at the very least strongly /suspects/ that you're the anomaly by that point, especially if you've had the various sans sus interactions in Snowdin, and he makes it clear in the genocide run that he understands that he can't really do anything but annoy you. So when he says "you'd be dead where you stand" he definitely knows exactly how little that means. And he's already hinted that he Knows several times by that point (see: grillby's scene, pointing out if you've solved Papyrus' puzzles before) so as a way to tip you off to that it's... slightly more definite than what he's already said, I guess? But not exactly news if you've been paying attention.
And it actively works against his goals to tell you that he's not as caring towards you as you might have assumed, because it actively endangers his whole "get the anomaly to like me so they won't want to kill people" plan. The fact that he'd risk actively alienating you when he considers you such a threat is very notable, I think.
So I can only really read it as an integrity thing. Him feeling guilty for not proactively protecting you like Toriel would have wanted, or for the fact that if it weren't for the promise and you being the anomaly, he wouldn't have hesitated to hurt you.
Good video, by the way! I clicked on as soon as I saw the title because that specific conversation is probably my favorite interaction to pick apart in the whole game (short of like. the sans geno fight). It's so interesting to me that I once wrote an entire fanfiction specifically about digging into it. You brought up a lot of interesting ideas, many of which I haven't considered before. Solid 9/10!
This. This is beautiful. I really enjoy seeing this kind of interpretation of Sans, because, you know, he is a complex guy. Not just a function, but a PERSON, a person we, Player, know nothing about... despite some basic traits
His sense of humour. His love for his brother. His good relationships with literally everyone. His high intellegence. His laziness, of course. And his tragedy.
And that's shere the bad part starts. People always think they understand him, they understand what happened to him and he copes with it, while in reality, we have, like, zero information about what actually happened to Sans. We don't know his situation and still - we judge him, oh, what an irony. Judging the judge. We say we know why he is - let's use this word - depressed, but WE DON'T KNOW ANYTHING. We say he is lazy and laid-back while in reality Sans himself says it's not truth but we already saw a part of the painting so we think we can see the whole of it.
I think his dialogues are really, really difficult to understand. Almost impossible from the first try. Never forget one thing: Sans is a lot smarter than he wants to be seen, it's his intelligence that makes him dangerous. He uses logic to understand things that took decades and, probably, hundreds of years to understand for Flowey or Gerson. Sans is obviously younger than Gerson, damn, he is something between a teenager and a young adult, while Gerson is... ancient. And Flowey. Flowey had as many Resets as he wanted to get the information, but Sans? Every Reset is the first try to him. And he cayches every small detail to understand the mechanics of the world, to understand the anomaly
Do not trust his words. Sans is not someone you should be afraid of, not someone bad or violent. He just... is not really honest with you, you know. But you still can get answers if you look closely. As I said, this guy is a lot smartef than you think, so don't let him fool you ibto thinking he is simole and dumb. He isn't. He is always there, watching your step, analysing you.
So you better start doing the same thing. Try to look closely. Try to understand the hidden meaning of his words. Probably, the better way to become friends with a really smart, but "closed" person is to understand them.
Sorry for bad English, it's not my native language. Hi from Russia!
О, привет!)
Ironically enough, Sans' character was something I related to back when I was realizing I was depressed. Not being able to care, yet simultaneously caring a lot. It is/was a weird thing to experience. Using jokes to try to cope and bring some light into my life. The need to be more aggressive to people who were causing me problems. I see him as a positive nihilist with depression. As we go further down the geno route, he becomes more of a traditional nihilist.
A massive thing I’ve noticed with the fandom is that people seemingly don’t realise you can be happy and depressed at the same time, I was diagnosed with chronic depression when I was 14, and at 21 it still hasn’t gone away, but I’d like to believe I’m a pretty happy person, just like you can feel lonely while surrounded by people, you can feel depressed while happy, it’s an impossible task to explain to anyone who hasn’t experienced it, but just as any emotional experience, depression isn’t black and white
It's strange
Sans is one of the most complex characters that, at least I have ever encountered
As an obsessive fan of Undertale, I found myself completely drawn to the complexity of this character and his brother
And this skeleton I noticed something very interesting, since our interaction as the human child is our look into the character in a deeper way..
(I don't expect anyone to read this but oh well... I don't care I'm happy being a conspiracy theorist)
Sans appears largely apathetic to the events that transpire around him, but he retains love for people like his brother. The reason Sans is so unmotivated to alter the world around him is because he has given up trying. Across the various timelines, evidence comes together that Sans has given up on changing the world for the better. Just consider some of his following quotes:
"just give up. i did." (True Pacifist Route, as a lost soul inside Asriel)
"why even try?" (True Pacifist Route, as a lost soul inside Asriel)
"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? to be blunt… it makes it kind of hard to give it my all." (Genocide Route, during boss fight)
"well, if I were you, I would have thrown in the towel by now." (Pacifist/Neutral Route during dinner at MTT Resort)
The Genocide Route quote is probably one of the most revealing, and definitely poignant to consider. I could talk about it (and cry about it) for hours. That quote demonstrates how futile Sans believes trying really is.
At one point in the past, Sans did care - the fact that he “gave up trying to go back” implies Sans once sought to go back in the desire to create a better world. There was some past where Sans actively interacted with the events of his world and tried to build a better future. However, by the time he meets Frisk, Sans has come to realize that nothing he does will change the final result. All the other monsters hold to hope about breaking the barrier and entering the world above, but for Sans, even that cannot interest him anymore. He knows that whatever he does, whatever choices he makes, whatever outcome he experiences… it will all be erased.
Therefore, Sans can care about the people around him - and he does. It's especially clear how much he loves his brother, and how emotionally affected he gets when Papyrus dies. What has happened is that Sans has realized it's futile to try to do anything to build a better future. He knows it is out of his control, and that even if he does enact something positive, the whole world will be reset. All his efforts will be lost as the timeline is reset and washes over everything he accomplished. This provides insight into why he is so lazy, why he is so apathetic to the chaos around him. He has given up.
Sans giving up is true of any timeline - Neutral, Genocide, Pacifist - because Sans gave up long before meeting the human. Living, unmotivated, having given up, is how just life goes for him.
And then… the human appears.
What follows is the story not just of a friendship, but of the human positively impacting and inspiring Sans.
At MTT Resort he says
“i'm rooting for ya kid“
For the moment, I am going to pass over the beginning interactions between Sans and the human and hop to MTT Resort. I will backtrack to other incidences which show Sans cares about the human, but since this dinner and the subsequent events are most critical to how Sans feels about the human, I am starting here.
Sans’ apathetic, give up philosophy is hugely evident at this dinner conversation. Prior to this point, Sans has essentially never spoken to Frisk about the journey to the barrier. The most he does is make a cryptic comment about a talking flower and warn the human to be careful. However, at this dinner, Sans approaches the topic head-on, and says:
“well, here we are. so. your journey’s almost over, huh? you must really wanna go home. hey. i know the feeling, buddo. though… maybe sometimes it’s better to take what’s been given to you. down here you’ve already got food, drink, friends… is what you have to do… really worth it?“
Sans’ words question whether or not Frisk should even continue into the CORE. In this manner, Sans is essentially indirectly suggesting to Frisk that persevering to the barrier is not worth it. The human might be better off not even trying, but simply enjoying the life that’s in front of them. This is exactly what Sans does with his own life, after all: he puts forward very little effort into anything, but simply does his best to enjoy whatever comes his way. It says a lot that Sans would even suggest to Frisk that their entire quest might not be worth completing, and that they should quit being so diligent. Maybe they should be like him - live without motivation but plenty of laughs.
After a pause, though, Sans changes what he says. “ah, forget it. i’m rootin’ for ya, kid.” Perhaps Frisk’s reaction shows that the human plans to continue their journey. Either way, though, Sans changes his message after a little thought.
For me, this is the first evidence of how the human inspires Sans. Sans is still leaning on his usual instincts when talking to the kid. The first thing he says, and with quite a few words, is that it might be best not to finish the journey. One should simply enjoy the good food and friends already present rather than make an effort to better circumstances. This is what Sans primarily thinks. But Sans’ secondary thoughts show that he’s watching Frisk with interest. He’s rooting for them. Though Sans might believe it’s “better” to let the world’s circumstances wash over everyone, he supports Frisk in their journey. He can see Frisk plans to continue their quest, and he wishes Frisk luck with what lies ahead. When he says, “i’m rootin’ for ya, kid,” it shows that Sans cares what happens to Frisk in the future. It shows positive sentiment, not indifference.
On one level, then, this interaction shows some evidence Sans regards Frisk as a friend. He supports his friend’s journey and hopes all goes well for them. On another level, it suggests that Frisk’s presence is starting to influence Sans’ thoughts. Though his primary reaction is to suggest staying behind might not be so bad, his secondary response is that he’s rooting for Frisk. And what does rooting mean? Hoping for their future… something which is rather unlike his typical giving up.
As I continue to watch this video, I continue to breath a sigh of relief every time when you point out how much sans has varied when it comes to his interpretation
When I made my video discussing the entire fandom as a whole, when I went to sans bit.
I was sorta afraid I was misremembering or I would be gettin stuff wrong
While I did get small stuff wrong, I’m happy how I talked about it wasn’t wrong as cited with your video
Tho now I can’t do a video talking about this in detail cause you did it so good, you bastard (I’m joking of course XD)
But this is genuinely a really well made and put out video
"When I made my video discussing the entire fandom as a whole, when I went to sans bit."
I really liked this video.
"Tho now I can’t do a video talking about this in detail cause you did it so good, you bastard (I’m joking of course XD)"
I say the more the merrier. If u ever did do a video like this (too), I would love to watch it.
This was a great breakdown and you helped me learned a lot more about sans than i ever thought. I think i get sanes characterisation
I updated the description with the track names. The question was more about "before the story" but might as well list them all. Being in this brainrot makes you forget not everyone memorized the track names lol
Track Names In Order:
-sans.
-Premonition
-It's Raining Somewhere Else(also end track)
-Snowy
-Mysterious Place
-Quiet Water
-Memory
-Ghostfight
-An Ending
-Before The Story(Deltarune Menu)
-Small Shock
-Your Best Friend
-Dummy!
-Megalovania(slowed down)
-Reunited
12:38 I think people overestimate how strong Sans is. He’s strong, but he’s not that strong. The only reason he stands a chance in his fight is because Frisk had karma for being level nineteen. Imagine how easy Sans would be if you had invincibility frames. He would still be hard at level one, but what about level seventeen, the highest level you can get on a neutral run.
People don't overestimate Sans. Lowered IV's and KR are both really strong abilities of Sans (u can't just take one or both and say, Sans is only strong because of them or would be weak/weaker because of them, because yeah, that tends to happen when u take abilities/powers from a character). And Sans has a bunch of other skills, powers, tactics, etc.
And KR being linked with LV/EXPs is pure fanon, and even if it wasn't. Ur KR would still be quite high at LV17, if KR was connected to LV/EXP, which again, is pure fanon.
Sans may not be the strongest in Undertale, but he is still one of the most powerful in his own rights.
@ Assuming that karma being connected is exp is how it works, then you wouldn’t have it at level 17. You can get to level 17 on a neutral run and not get it. The K.R. is meant to stand for karma, it makes more sense, to me at least, that you would get an effect called “karma” for being a terrible person, rather than picking a fight with a skeleton.
@@JosephMaddoxJoyce KR isn't just a power that randomly happens, if it was just because of ur own KR killing/hurting, then other monsters should be able to do use it (If u are LV17, u certainly have enough sins to be hurt by. Like, u can still very much be a terrible person at lower level, and yet, Karma doesn't just appear for other characters. Because it is Sans' ability/power, not just an effect that randomly appears out of nowhere. Like, u do realize Sans has also caused Flowey some of the most trouble too, right? Causing Flowey a fair share of resets, and making it so Flowey warns you to never let Sans find out anything about you).
KR is Sans' power/ability. Sans is tired to judging as a character; hence the KR, Karma, sins, etc. stuff, because it is part of his character, not because KR is tired to LV and EXP which has no real proof in canon, besides the Karma name, which just isn't much proof honestly (also, Karma's original meaning anyways just means consequence, rather for good or bad actions, .sooo...).
KR is Sans' ability, and such, if u were to fight him at not LV19, he would still have the ability. Same with lowering IV's, because that is also an ability he has. Among his many other powers/abilities and skills and etc.
"it makes more sense, to me at least, that you would get an effect called “karma” for being a terrible person, rather than picking a fight with a skeleton."
Ok, and like KR being tired to LV and EXP, there is no actual evidence or basis for this in canon. There is even less "evidence" for this. U can believe it if u want, but I personally don't, and like I said, there isn't (much) real evidence for it in canon.
I really got no words to say how amazing this vid is
Really cool analysis on Sans, I love the layers of Sans and I think that the analysis of the Dinner scene really shows just how much you can infer about this guy. On one level he’s a nihilistic skeleton with depression, struggling to properly live in the moment due to this yearning for whatever home might have been to him.
But on another level, he’s basically warning you “I know what you are so you’d better stay in your lane”. He’s such a well written character.
I also love the discussion around It’s Raining Somewhere else and how he may view stuff like the promise with Toriel as an excuse to keep acting how he always has (even if he does genuinely want to keep up that promise)
everybody determined till the scientist calls ur bluff
Okay first off, your art is gorgeous. I need to check out more of your art.
Second, this video is awesome. This scene is my absolute favorite in the game, it adds so many layers to Sans as a character in a single monologue. Toby’s a freaking genius, and you went through this scene and Sans as a character perfectly.
Also fun fact: I actually picked “It’s raining somewhere else” as the music for my senior ballet solo because I loved this scene, this game, and this character
The fact you covered so many parts of his character I love perfectly made me very happy. And I myself can relate to sans, I've been in those moments A LOT, and I still feel them today. Seriously, I really admire his character. AND AS A SANS FANGIRL, I will admit he is my comfort character. I could go on and on but I'll just end it there. Thank you for making this essay.
dawg this is one of the most beautifully written videos and character essays ive ever seen oh my god i love this so much
I remember when I first played Undertale when I was young (11-12) I got to that “am i wrong?” bit and internally freaked out. Something along the lines of, “He knows. Is that a bad thing? Have I been actodentaly torturing him with how bad I am at this game?!”
Ah, good times.
But I’ve also been wondering recently, what if Frisk was honest about the Resets? Specifically in the early runs? How would people react?
It’s honestly kinda fun to think about for my AU.
YES! YES!
I WAS SO SCARED THAT THE VIDEO WOULDN'T INCLUDE THE IMPORTANCE OF "am i wrong?"
I'VE NOTICED THIS TOO AND I'M SO HAPPY TO SEE SOMEONE ELSE MENTION IT! YIPPEEEE
thank you, i lost track of time and was focused on the video for the entire duration of it, thats really good considering my attention span! You surely deserve more exposure then this!
The theme at 16:33 is the PS4 theme for undertale but also is used in deltarune In before the story
I can't believe just one of your comics which literally is just a scene from the game resurrected the fandom because of facial expressions
Goddamn
Your art style is also hella amazing
oh oomf/moot has a youtube channel.
neato.
i definitely enjoyed this video. i like watching essays on sans since it's fun to see what goes on in other people's minds about him for sure.
as for the stuff talked about.
7:10 a lot of people think that sans doesn't care about people being mean to papyrus because he knows papyrus is "tough", but like, come on. it's his goshdarn brother, and as someone else on twitter said, "it's very much a "only i and close friends can tease him situation". most people probably don't know this because they pick that papyrus is cool, lmao...
7:36 sans has been implied to have been a scientist in his past, he might have been involved with the true lab stuff, in a way.
9:10 i mean, yuh, prolly 'cus there isn't anyone else super close by. there's a few other people in the room but nobody immediately close, and dinners are often a place where you tend to feel more open anyways.
10:06 i feel like sans protects you more mentally than physically in undertale. he knows you can reset, infinitely so, so there isn't any reason for him to step in and protect you, you'll try again. what he DOES try to protect is your will to keep going. a lot of people get upset at hard points in video games, or just in real life, and quit doing them. sans wants us to keep going, to win, to make it to the end, and the best way to raise someone's mental health is jokes. when someone is feeling down, you want to make them laugh, feel happy. he also DOES sell us healing items, so there's that.
10:22 i think he probably is just trying to get a reaction out of you. like he knows you can reset/reload/whatever, he's like tryna see if that he's correct on that theory based on what you react like.
11:48 and yeah, these three lines are definitely what caused the split. it's very bizarre, but i understand WHY people have gotten him wrong. a lot of his dialogue is vague like this.
12:49 like yeah, it's really weird how the game scripts sans, but like i said i think he is protecting you mentally rather than physically.
14:12 probably deltarune lmao
15:55 yeah this is how i view the actual promise making.
17:55 i don't think i will ever remember where the judgement hall misconception came into play but i vividly remember watching more and more people use the term.
20:52 and this is why i believe that sans is genuinely good at reading your face. him remembering resets is 100% not canon and makes no sense, but like, yeah, he knows how many times you've died, and he knows what's happened to you. he gets nostalgia of past resets/reloads like everyone else, and since he's been watching you throughout your journey, he'd get that weird nostalgic feeling at the points you died at. if he got none, "oh, they didn't die. neat."
21:42 and uh, about us being the anomaly. no, we aren't the anomaly he thinks we are. he definitely believes we are "the anomaly", but the one he was talking about in genocide is flowey. he got those timeline reports likely way before we fall, and it wouldn't make sense for him to say this if your first playthrough is geno, or geno is like, your second or third run. we are AN anomaly, flowey is the one he talks about in his fight, however he thinks that WE are that anomaly.
22:01 oh hey, we agree on it lmao.
24:25 funny how all of sanses themes (megalovania isn't his theme imo) are just "sans." remixed differently.
peak video, you explained him very well.
sans undertale approved. 👍
Yo this is an amazing video, I loved it :)
This cutscene has put me in a new light of looking at it, Damn. Good work
This was actually so good 😭
You have a way with words! I got super hyped like 5 times through the video. Genuinly, great job 🙏🙏
20:53 That reveal genuinely had me baffled, like I knew he was manipulating the player so they feel bad for killing everyone, but that at of asking "You haven't died yet" genuinely got me awestruck.
the fact you knew deltatraveler i realized that you were a shayy fan lol.
excellent video essay!
Honestly i think the protector & aggressive personality types mainly come from people kinda molding him to match the personality of the writer.
After all I think a lot of us can agree that if we were in Sans's shoes some of us would try and protect or save our brother or save frisk from the player.
If we can't do that, then might as well crash out & try give the player hell for what they did.
I don't understand the jokester role tho.
I always read San's threats and reading your expression as not just knowing what the character is capable of, but knowing as a player, you have the intrigue to "complete" every route and to see every interaction. Yourself, Sans and Flowey are the only characters who respond to your save files and replaying of the game(replaying everyone's life) so It makes sense to entertaining him as a meta character talking to the player, being aware that there's 5 million+ players and 15 million+ times you have gone down a Neutral, Pacifist and Genocide routes only to reset it again for whatever reason but acting oblivious.
You know, I actually forgot that the pope listened to megalovania. Thank you for reminding me of this hilarious moment in history
I just wanted to point out that before the fight starts, sans says something along the lines that he's sorry for not being able to keep the promise old lady, and it obvious that he was referring to the promise he made with toriel. I like to interprete that as he is a sincere person that keeps a promise even if it is at the cost of the life of the person closest to him (papyrus). He only breaks that promise when you genocide and kill everyone.
Sans' unwillingness to fight is multi-faceted: he is aware of your ability to RESET and has timeline apathy for a Groundhog Day that's ultimately out of his control; he genuinely cares and hopes you'll learn and turn things around; and his promise to Toriel. Sans is vehemently against injustice, but he's a "wait and see" / big picture kind of guy. He picks his battles. Even though, in reality, he'd prefer not to fight at all.
I see it this way: Sans is very serious about keeping promises, but he views not stopping the Player as the bigger sin.
Ironically, if Sans does stop you, you'll RESET the timeline to where he never breaks his promise in the first place.
That is such a good analysis. You literally blew my mind at 11:15. I never thought about that convo like that before
Honestly, you did an amazing job on this essay. Even after spending all this time in the fandom and watching many other essays about this character, you provided something new. Thanks for the great video and have a nice day.
2016 sans: seen as a threat
2022/3 sans: seen as a joke
Late 2024 sans: all of the above
6 min into the video and i realised i stopped gaming and started really watching your video.
excellent stuff, excellent pacing ( so far. i stopped to type this ) and I look forward to what you make in the future
I think, more than anything, San's is cunning and smart. Very methodical. He's not aware (at least consciously) that resets and the like occur. But with Flowey, he started to develop an interesting sixth sense to it, which he probably starts to deduce before we come in considering the dialogue in his fight shows more so how he's rationalizing it. Which, admittedly, he's not wrong in most of his conclusions. Intuition.
To me, Sans embodies the idea that some of the laziest people are also some of the smartest. His jokes come in a variety of ways, but are always succinct and to some extent clear. He always finds "shortcuts" through screen transitions. The idea is that lazy people will often try to find the most efficient way to do something with minimal effort. Which is where his last fight is a clear sign of desperation on his part, but even still, he does come to one final solution. Just... Nothing. You can't win if you don't get a turn. As a Nihilist, he has patience, and can earnestly just wait, that's probably what he does most of the time. Save the meta 4D chess shenanigans the player gets away with there, his idea might've legitimately worked. Again, he's a crafty one.
My personal favorite depictions of sans are from Rad Chad and spaceman scott. i think they nail who sans is on the head. Their videos are "silly characters that are no joke" and " how undertale does evil right" if you're interested. This video is definitely one of my favorites now tho
this is why undertale is so good, i've been a fan of undertale for like since it came out, and to this day, i'm still learning new stuff about undertale and the character, like when sans is having dinner with you, i did not think of him testing you if you've done the NO MERCY route before, and that's actually a very smart way of thinking, and it explains a lot more about sans and even flowey.
thank you for this good video, and thank you for making this video, to learn more about the characters, and into the mind of sans. this might not be the actual character plot of sans, but i'd say it's super accurate than the fandom sans, and i liked to think of all the characters as living, breathing people, so you have more attachment to them.
you're telling me sans has been playing one giant among us with us the entire time figuring out we're the anomaly?
Sans is a master manipulator that only puts it into play when you prove yourself as a danger
Sans' depression is the reason why he's depicted in so many different ways
Because remember, not everyone acts the same when depressed
So people try to figure out how he deals with it, so that's why so many different types of angst of sans exist
In 2024 I decided to play the Genocide route after failing the sans fight as a kid and giving up. It took me like a solid 7 tries but I finally beat him after all this time. I completely forgot most of the story, so watched some old lets plays, but still after all this time I can remember this scene clear as day. This scene sent chills down my spine.
The entire pacifist route we never really feel like we're in danger, even when we're about to get killed by Mettaton we always had Alphys "protecting" us, but here sans isn't just talking to Frisk for the sake of it (like as the comic relief). He's saying these things to set the tone of the rest of the game, to brace us for the seriousness of what follows; Asgore's inner turmoil over collecting human souls, Asriel/Chara's backstory and the horrific underground lab. He's also setting the tone of the inevitable Genocide run some players will do immediately after the game ends (which is relevant as he's also poking fun at the fourth wall to gage your reaction).
Essentially, no more silliness from this point on and he knows it. Even if you reset, it's probably not going to be a good time for anyone (some people want to have a bad time...). Unless you count the banter after you beat Asriel or the trash dump date, but each of those has grounds in seriousness and have some heavy character development (The trash dump date also being used as a stark contrast for when you go to the underground lab).
He won't know if a reset happens so could be justifying his laziness with the fact he could just wake up one day and be part of a bad run but he also clearly cares about the people in his life (Toriel and Papyrus) enough to make an effort around them (like with the knock knock jokes). Which just makes him feel more anxiety over what he could lose and forget. Anyone would be (more) depressed if the fate of everything you knew was fundamentally out of your control and you just had to wait, watch and hope. The comic relief and getting the player to care about the characters is sans' whole purpose and he does a great job at it. Some people get attached and don't do a Genocide run, every sans in every playthrough from every unique player either feels like he's succeeded or failed at one point in the story, depending on when or whether you gain exp. He's been gambling that he's enough to tip the scales towards pacifism with his gags (he even fights the player at one point as part of a joke). If he steps in as a roadblock or anything more than a joke (like Undyne, Papyrus or any of the other guards or monsters do) he'll just be one more possible source of failure/exp for the player.
He's been monitoring the timeline and the player (with Alphys?) so he's confident in his place in the world. He doesn't even fight you if you kill Papyrus in a neutral run because he knows you'll just reset anyways to replay for a better ending and he'll forget it happened in the first place. He knows that if you even get a single piece of EXP it's all over and he either won't remember any of this ever happened or everyone he knows is about to die. But he also knows the underground needs the human to make the choice to help the monsters or else they will never be free.
But then "You'd be dead where you stand" is his way of saying "I would have killed you like Asgore told me to if there weren't people I cared about who also cared about you. Even if we were free, that lady would never talk to me again" and I mean what's the use of freedom if the people you love hate you, which is the real significance behind his promise. The way for him to one day be happy is to fight against his fears no matter what happens (even after the signal appears (exp up) where he knows he won't remember. He even says he respects you if you bail out of a genocide run to make you feel good about it) so that one day somebody will care what happens to his world.
i realy like how Artisticthingem does sans in their "unexpected guests" series, he's cold but not unfeeling, he cares but his cynicism towards life due to the power to reset causes him to do nothing, he accepts a promise but does not act upon it. a few more things I wanted to say... but I don't want to spoil anything more
I intend on deleting this account sooner or later, switching over stuff so I can do my own things on UA-cam with a tighter sense of security, assuming of course that I ever get to that. This comment won't be up forever is what i'm tryna say but i feel it's worth posting regardless because i can't thank you enough as to the portrayal of this character that you've brought to light, so many people look at sans and even the rest of the main cast in this one dimensional way when ultimately, there's so much more depth to it than that, so many more layers, so much more intrigue, so many flaws, and that's good, characters are meant to be flawed, because people are meant to be flawed, it's okay to be flawed, to have masks that you hide behind, it's okay to not have your sense of self figured out right now, not many people know who they are, or what they want, it's okay to let the rain come down once in awhile, but above all else, it's okay to let it rain, somewhere else, and I think more people need to know that.
this is very fun and a very good video essay to watch ngl please make more of these 🙏
"I may die a thousand times, but you only need to die once" goes incredibly hard
Sans is/was a scientist afterall, him doing small experiments to catch the "anomaly" like the telescope gag and him watching Frisk's facial expressions to see if they've already died before is fucking brilliant. Dude's insanely clever and pretty much already knew Frisk is the anomaly well before we thought he did.
honestly it is nice to see inteligently written characters, even discounting the theories of his back story and connections to gaster he's just... investigative, even from the first interaction in a run he'll pick up if it's the second time you're reacting to the woopie cushion. even though flowey does comment on you resetting on the toriel fight it definitely seems like he's the exception to the rule of saving not being a part of the game world so it's nice to see an outside perspective on how saving works.
and even discounting the meta narative, in the core story he's just a fun character, honestly can't state enough how well toby made a game with a meta narrative which is still satisfying without knowing any of it, like i love don't hug me i'm scared but the final episode of the web series is really unsatisfying cause it relies so much on knowing about the media theory when most people watch it for the unnerving comedy, and in the realm of video games oh god even including lore from previous games can hurt the enjoyment of the core story like kingdom hearts forcing xahanort and the psp spin off characters into the main story even discounting the poor choice of adding time travel.
obviously time travel in itself ain't bad but the story has to revolve around that time travel and that is what undertale does beautifully, there's 3 layers of story all going on which play into eachother, the main story of you being a child escaping the underground, fairly standard but quirky adventure with the dreamer family being the main narrative hook, the meta narrative where your actions as the player catches sans eye and the lore narrative which actively pushes you into conflict with sans cause the genocide and true pacifist routes contain vital information for the world building, gaster maybe a hook if you get the random events but generally it feeds on asriels tradgedy keeping things tied to the main story.
more time passes the more i appreciate the game and understand why it got so popular cause the game fully utilyses its premise and leaves just enough hanging threads to not unwravel its characters in the story but have enough hanging to latch players into wanting to find out more and then slaps the player in the face for going to those lengths to unwravel its characters and world.
there was a lot of criticism towards the genocide route back in the day and on a gameplay perspective i get it, but narratively it makes sense. honestly my big criticism is shoving chara in at the end, felt a bit too creepy pasta for my tastes with how abrupt it is after killing flowey, could've been fun to walk to the barrier room and when you try to walk to the exit the player character turns back towards you or whatever, but that's more of a nitpick, still a 10/10 game which does exactly what it sets out to do.
Great video, you're analysis of the dinner scene and specifically the dialogue after the famous line was super interesting to me.
Sans is a complex character and I've gained a new view to his arch. Finally, I was able to answer the question of why doesn't sans kill you once you murder Toriel and Papyrus. I was confused that he only attacks you once you kill everyone and I think the answer to this is rather simple:
Sans is depressed and filled with hopelessness. He knows that you have unlimited resets, and thus, him trying to stop you, especially early on in the game will be futile. However, he may know that you completing the genocide run will result in the erasure of his world. Additionally, you killing everyone may rile him up to the point that he feels as though he as to take action.
It is not may know, he does know (or at least knows enough). He specifically says "then everything ends".
He sees something so bad in Geno; the end of everything, something he thinks that not even a Reset can "fix".
That he can't afford not to care anymore.
So he fights you.
I'm kinda worried by the fact that I relate to this description you gave of nihilistic depression, and to the way Sans uses excuses to not act.
The fact his name is literally just “without” feels more on the nose as time goes on
That's funny because he doesn't have a nose
@@pinxelated2799 lmao
Deltarune bored as hell gameeplay: Enters shops hears funny bone man theme: SAAAA-
HOLY SHIT YOU DO VIDEO ESSAYS NOW 😭😭
(Haven’t watched it yet, I’m just so suprised)
i love stans bunderdale eating dinner with krissk glumbertune
I saw the thumbnail and I was so excited. When I first watched the game during its heyday, the dinner and its accompanying song “It’s Raining Somewhere Else” were some of my favorite parts of the game and even though I hadn’t thought about it in a while, as soon as I saw this video I was like “damn I remember that scene, that was fkin iconic”. Your analysis did not disappoint, thanks for the food for thought 💜
“Not a video essayist” after dropping an absolute banger….
There's a video called "What if sans dodged the second strike" or something that PERFECTLY captures sanses personality.
4:55 when you grew older you learn more about the people and world around us and about ourselves you became more conscious about everything including yourself and develop deeper feelings than whe you where a kid that’s what I think knowledge and experience make to our capacity to feel things
Absolutely amazing, you broke down his character in such a meaningful way and I love it nwn
Amazing vid! Would love to see more. Subbed!
THIS WAS AMAZINGGGG
I completely agree with all the points you made!! It’s hard to see a character as a full, complex person sometimes, but Sans was written in such a good way that he feels *real*. He cares, truly does, from the bottom of his heart-yet can’t bring himself to _show_ that care due to a deep-rooted belief in the absence of meaning in his life. It’s tragic, sad, but his arc in Pacifist is perhaps one of the most uplifting things a depressed person could go through; learning how to hope.
Beautiful analysis, and beautiful video (love your artstyle)!!! Much love 💜💜
Awesome video! Love this fun and cool essay! You're such a unique and fun channel, ya got a new sub!
Him saying "You haven't died a Single time" is actually a Nod to he already knows about your Ability to SAVE and RESET.
That's why he has his Depression, Why bother with anything if things are just going to Reset all the time
So glad i am not the only one trying to figure this scene out
The main thing that bugged ME about the dialogue is how the death threat didn't seem to make sense. Sans wouldn't throw such a line just to intimidate a child, so that threat was either directed at us being human or the anomaly... and neither made sense to me:
HUMAN) Sans is not a zealous human hater, he pretty much says so in his introduction. Another motivation for killing us would be the rewards of the capture of our soul and potential freedom of monsterkind. First of all, seems like a bit too much initiative for someone who slacks off his job as a sentry with his supposed target. Secondly, if really saw at some value in trying to capture us, why is this promise the ONE thing suddenly restraining him?
ANOMALY) Sans already knows we are the anomaly. But, why would he be so damn confrontational? He's not stupid, he knows a battle with us is a pointless venture. And what good is a promise here anyway, Sans wouldn't be eager to fight us in the first place?
Your interpretation is helping me to clear things up. Perhaps it was a sorta warning/bluff. And him being restricted by the promise makes the threat both more intimidating (it wouldn't be intimidating if he didnt provide a reason why he doesn't just throw hands with us right now if he's so pissed) and weirdly comforting (due to him communicating that Toriel is looking out for us even beyond the Ruins' door)
Your art is so pretty
dude you're so good at video essays this was 10/10
I absolutely adore this analysis! It's very rare to see someone debunk common fandom tropes/characterisation while also acknowledging how they came to those conclusions about the character in the first place. Just for that alone you deserve like. A billion dollars. It also helped me broaden my understanding about the funni skeleton man methinks
One thing I would like to bring up that I think is interested is how sans seems to have a history with promises. "Sorry old lady, this is why I never make promises" and also his initial aversion to making a promise to toriel in the first place. Cause like. To say something like that and to react like that makes it seem like he's had a history with them. (It's also interesting that in the "sans pick up your sock" texts papyrus never tries to make him promise to pick it up) Maybe because of his depression he failed one too many promises and he's scarred from disappointing people, who knows
But one thing's for sure. He *cares*. He didn't just mindlessly promise toriel with no intention to uphold it. He actually feels a sense of duty about it, and he wants to fulfill as many promises as he possible can
So. Hear me out.
"Don't forget"
What if that was The promise. Maybe it only happened once. Maybe it was the straw that broke the camel's back. But I think this might've been the thing that sent him down on that spiral, or at least the one that sucker-punched him to rock bottom. After all, there is significant proof that depression makes people very forgetful
Do I have any real proof that this theory is correct? No. I just b sayin words that I think look good in that order. But it's something fun to think about