Papyrus

Goals

Papyrus wants to become a Royal Guard to gain fame and friends. He patrols and prepares many of Snowdin Forest's puzzles in hopes of capturing a human and earning his goal.

Appearance

Papyrus is a tall, perhaps anatomically inaccurate skeleton, with a skull more vertical and geometric than his brother. Being skeletal, many of his expressions incorporate a toothy grin. His eyes resemble vertical slits; his skeletal pseudo-brows form most of his expressions, as well as the corners of his mouth. He has eyeballs which show at times when he is experiencing strong emotions. Papyrus is relatively taller and slightly slimmer than his brother.

Appearance part 2

For most of his in-game appearances, he wears his "battle body," an outfit that he created for a costume party. It consists of an orange-red cape,a white chestplate with a gold trim on the bottom, and blue briefs with a golden belt. A symbol that resembles that of Starman from the MOTHER series adorns the chestplate. He also wears red coquelicot gloves, each with a yellow trim, and red boots.

Backstory

Papyrus and his brother showed up one day in Snowdin and asserted themselves. Sometime after that, Papyrus became friends with Undyne and began training with her.

His brother

Sans is Papyrus's brother, and though Papyrus often chastises him for being lazy and detests his many skeleton puns dropped throughout the game, the two of them care about each other a lot. Papyrus often cleans up after Sans and prompted him to get a job as a sentry. Papyrus is upset that Sans naps so much, mostly through the night, and mentions that it's impressive how much slacking off his brother can do. Even though Sans reads Papyrus bedtime stories and is the sole provider in the skeleton household, Papyrus takes care of his brother and wonders what Sans would do without such a "cool guy" watching over him. Together, they made Papyrus's "battle body" as well as his cardboard sentry station in Snowdin Forest.

Undyne

Papyrus and Undyne are close friends. After Papyrus asked to join the Royal Guard, Undyne gave him cooking lessons, and they bonded. Because Undyne does not have the heart to tell Papyrus that she will never let him join the Royal Guard, Papyrus continues trying to impress her by capturing a human. Sometimes Undyne grosses Papyrus out, but Papyrus looks up to her as a role model. Papyrus is also oblivious at times when Undyne is angry at him.

Personality

Papyrus is a flamboyant skeleton who presents a confident, charismatic image of himself. He is thought to have an egotistical personality, referring to himself as "THE GREAT PAPYRUS," possibly as a way to feel as prestigious as his brother. He works hard and, despite his brash personality, is kind at heart. He is optimistic and brave, and is shown to be considerate and forgiving even when the protagonist beheads him in the Genocide Route. He is also occasionally oblivious and nonobservant, but can be cunning at times, as seen when he uses reverse psychology to trick Undyne into befriending the protagonist. He is thought of to be somewhat naive by other characters, but not dumb. He shows great bravery as even in the face of potentially imminent death, he drops his guard and spares the protagonist hopes of driving them down a better path. Papyrus believes in others just as much as he believes in himself. He has so much faith in his abilities that he waited outside of Undyne's house all night and begged her to accept him into the Royal Guard. Seeing his persistence, Undyne offered to train him, but instead gave him cooking lessons.His confidence in himself and others is so great that he interprets direct insults towards him as the protagonist trying to make themselves look bad so he can hurt them easier, rather than the possibility that they dislike him.

Personality part 2

He cooks spaghetti from time to time, though many characters seem to think that he is not very good at it. One of the reasons for this is because Papyrus never ate spaghetti himself to complete the chef's guidebook to cooking by tasting their creation before serving. He, therefore, cooks spaghetti only because everyone else loves to eat it, indicating he does not play favorites. Since Undyne - whose results do not best Papyrus - teaches him, she is also responsible. He loves puzzles and japes, as shown by the numerous puzzles he prepares for the protagonist as well as his collection of "complex tomes about puzzle creation." Though advanced puzzles may seem cerebral, Papyrus also enjoys children's books and is somewhat childish with the decoration of his room. He also collects action figures. He has some unexpected skills besides cooking however, such as consistently high-caliber artistic prowess from things such as: being able to paint a rock formation to look exactly like a bridge, creating a snow sculpture to look just like himself but with musculature, to the various puzzle designs he creates for the protagonist. He also has a photographic memory for phone calls, and the ability to perform physics-breaking acrobatics. Papyrus seems to be strangely unconcerned about his own death, comically stating that "AT LEAST I STILL HAVE MY HEAD." right before dying, or be more worried about the protagonist's path in the Genocide Route.

Personality part 3

Papyrus is implied to have a deep loneliness; he wants to join the Royal Guard in order to be popular and loved by the people of the Underground. Papyrus is shown to not get nearly as much positive attention (or any attention for that matter) from the people of Snowdin compared to his much calmer and more amiable brother, Sans. This is further implied by their mailboxes in which Sans's is packed with junk mail, while Papyrus's mailbox has only emptiness, even prompting him to claim that it is "[HIS] EMPTINESS, NOT YOURS." Papyrus exclaims to the human that he has never come across someone who is so much like him in taste, passion, and skill. He further exclaims that he "[DOESN'T] EVER WONDER WHAT HAVING LOTS OF FRIENDS IS LIKE." clearly projecting his lack of said friends. This desire to be favored amongst the crowd runs so deep that Papyrus will change his opinion on something on the spot just to gel in with the majority, like with his opinion on Grillby's. And this desperation for a true friend leads Flowey to easily manipulate Papyrus into calling the protagonist's friends to the barrier room, although whether or not Flowey considers Papyrus a friend is vague. Despite all of this, Papyrus mentions that others depend on him to make them happy, so he hides his sadness to comfort them more effectively. Papyrus is also shown to have a level of kindness and understanding that no other character in the game possesses, as he is the only enemy with attacks that never kills the protagonist, only leaving them at one HP.

Main story

Papyrus first appears in Snowdin Forest, where he arrives to check up on his brother. After learning that Sans had not made any progress over eight solid days, Papyrus, ignorant of the human hiding nearby, berates Sans for not recalibrating his puzzles. He then delivers a long tirade to Sans that he will capture a human and become popular. Further in the forest, Papyrus meets the protagonist for the first time, though he initially confuses them for a rock. Papyrus attempts to antagonize the protagonist with puzzles and japes, but he eventually warms up to them. He almost refuses to fight the protagonist out of pity. Though Papyrus initiates an encounter, he never kills the protagonist and instead places them in his shed if he reduces their HP to one. The protagonist can easily escape his shed since the door is always unlocked from the inside, but after taking the protagonist to the shed for the second time and beyond that, Papyrus tries to make it more appealing for them to stay by cutting up pieces of a hot dog and adding it to the bowl of kibble for them to eat. Ultimately deciding that the protagonist is friendly, Papyrus lets them continue into Waterfall, advises them on how to exit the Underground, and offers either a hangout or a date back at his house depending on if the protagonist flirted with him during his battle.

Sans' appearance

Sans is the older brother of Papyrus. Sans appears as a relatively short and paunchy skeleton, with mitten-like hands. Sans is always seen with a wide, toothy-grin on his face. Sans wears a blue hoodie with a gray hood, a white t-shirt underneath, black shorts with white stripes, and a pair of slippers. He has white dots for pupils in his black eye sockets, that disappear when he is serious or angered. When Sans uses telekinesis, his left eye flashes light blue and yellow (the colors for patience and justice) while his right pupil vanishes.

Sans' personality

Sans is lazy, often sleeping on the job and taking breaks. His laziness is a combination of fatalism and apathy, as he is aware of timeline resets. Conversely, he suggests that this knowledge could be "a poor excuse for being lazy." He enjoys being mischievous. Sans primarily acts this way towards those he is in good terms with. His antics range from an assortment of illogical, juvenile, and slightly inconvenient pranks. Examples include Sans "selling fried snow," using whoopee cushions, sharing an unscrewed ketchup bottle, and eye paint on a telescope. He is not above utilizing his teleportation or other magic for practical jokes either. Sans is also fond of making the occasional low-brow puns. He enjoys making others laugh in general. Despite Sans being apathetic towards his own life, he is considerate to those he cares for. For example, Sans is a regular at Grillby's where he's pals with everyone. He is also observant; Sans reads the protagonist's expressions and can often tell when they have already done certain tasks, as when SAVING and reloading. Though Sans is usually agreeable, he can become eerily serious to emphasize a subject. Regardless of the human being partially or wholly merciful. During the Genocide Route, he does everything in his power to kill the protagonist, even faking mercy. Sans may have a scientific background. Evidence includes the quantum physics book, his workshop, affinity for science, his inexplicable ability to teleport and his timeline research.