Papyrus walks in and his jacket is meowing and Sans is just “oh my god Papyrus” and he opens his jacket and there’s like three baby kittens in his rib cage and Papyrus is just “THEY NEED ME, SANS! IM NOT HEARTLESS! WELL TECHNICALLY YEAH I AM BUT SAAAANS!”
The most striking thing about Papyrus (aside from his limitless positivity) is the fact that it is literally impossible to die in a fight against him. Even Toriel, who starts purposefully missing you once your health gets low enough, can accidentally kill you, but Papyrus? It is literally impossible. Papyrus has incredible control over his power! Wow, what a great and impressive skeleton. And, even though he could probably deal some legit damage to you on the murder run, his only action is to spare you, because he’s heckin worried about this little emotionless murder child.
A lot of people like swap aus where Sans is the one that dies and Papyrus is forced to shed his naivete and face you going all-out, which makes sense, but also, Papyrus is just so. Papyrus. I feel like if Papyrus had to be the final murder-run boss, it’d be more like, “After losing Sans, the world seems like a different place. I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through for you to see the world the way you do.”
He only has one attack, but it’s a really long one and powerful one (kind of like Sans’ before his ‘special attack’), plus he talks during it, which would be pretty distracting. whenever he gets your hp down to 1, combat automatically stops and you’re ejected back into the judgement room. if you try to talk to him without healing, he’ll just say you’re too hurt – a gust of wind could knock you over! after you heal at the conveniently placed save point and go back to fight him, he has stuff to say about how you don’t have to be alone, you don’t have to do this, you might think there isn’t any good in you and it’s too late to change, but there is and it isn’t! After a few of those, he’ll talk about Undyne and Sans, and they always tried to help him, even when they thought he wouldn’t notice. He’s got a ton of stories about that. After he says his piece there’s an option to either fight or don’t fight, and every time you pick fight he looks disappointed, but he goes all out. He’s always able to be spared.
if you survive his attack, he goes down in one hit. his last words would probably be an apology, even though he tried really hard he still couldn’t show you a better path
Yes, yes, yes.
I think it’s notable that, while there’s plenty of neutral endings where Papyrus is worrying over various of his friends (or kept protectively oblivious), the only ending where he seems truly miserable is the one where he becomes king of the underground.
He’s clearly overwhelmed and stressed and has so many new responsibilities and people depending on him and asking him to solve impossible problems. And he’s still trying so. hard.
Papyrus: [dropping his smile] Is Sans gone? Papyrus: You know… Papyrus: Don’t tell my brother, but… Papyrus: Despite the improvements we’ve made… Papryus: Sometimes this job is kind of hard.
Faced with ridiculous pressure he still chooses to judge the goodness or evillness of humans on a “case-by-case” basis (and still reaches the conclusion that all types should get puzzles, suggesting that Papyrus believes that all people have the potential to change and grow and deserve this opportunity.)
He still maintains his positivity and optimism, apparently through sheer stubborn willpower and a belief that this is the most important thing he can do.
And in doing so he’s still a source of these things for other people.
This is Papyrus grown up. This is Papyrus stepping up to the line. This ismaybe not Papyrus with his brother gone or his naivete broken, but this the unwavering core that emerges when you start stripping away everything else.
This kind of narrative is really important, because it’s such a selfish thing for a lot of people to imagine that if kind and gentle types were just confronted with the horrors of Real Life, they’d learn that it’s necessary to be cruel sometimes. That despair and violent conflict is an intrinsic part of adulthood.
But that’s just not the case: plenty of people go from naively believing the best in everyone, to making an informed and rational decision to believe the best in everyone. Brutality is a choice, not a stage of maturity.
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