Sans

Papyrus (brother)

Rose Dreemurr (daughter)

**Sans** is the brother of Papyrus and a major character in *Undertale*. He first appears in Snowdin Forest after the protagonist exits the Ruins. He is the deuteragonist of Neutral and True Pacifist routes keeping an eye on the protagonist, and as the final boss and heroic antagonist in the Genocide Route trying to stop a human in the last corridor.

## Profile

### Appearance

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, a white t-shirt underneath, black shorts with white stripes, and a pair of slippers. He has white dots in 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.

### 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, as he also performs at the MTT Resort as a comedian.

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, and the monsters and Royal Guard dogs treat him kindly. Sans has informed Big Mouth about "all kinds of incredible foods," yet Big Mouth comments that "he always orders the worst burger off the menu." Although Sans hates making promises, he respects Toriel's request to watch out for any humans. Even if the protagonist killed people that were close to him, Sans refrains from broaching the topic until the Last Corridor. In a Neutral Route ending where Papyrus or Toriel is alive, Sans omits the protagonist's slaughter to either of them.

He is also observant; Sans reads the protagonist's expressions and can often tell when they have already done certain tasks. Though Sans is usually agreeable, he can become eerily serious to emphasize a subject. Regardless of the human being partially or wholly merciful, Sans tells them that if "the old lady" had not made him promise to protect them, "(they'd) be dead where (they) stand." 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.

Sans has implied he once longed and searched for a life that he cannot go back to as he "gave up trying to go back a long time ago". As a Lost Soul, he tells the protagonist that "you'll never see 'em again." Although what Sans is trying to return to is vague.

## Main Story

### Neutral Route

Sans introduces himself to the protagonist in Snowdin Forest after he initially appears as a silhouette. He explains that he has no interest in capturing humans, but that his brother, Papyrus, does. Then, Sans hides the protagonist behind a lamp whose shape is identical to the protagonist's. Papyrus rushes onscreen, and the brothers discuss Sans's laziness and the importance of puzzle upkeep. Sans appears multiple times throughout Snowdin Forest, observing and commentating on the puzzles but not engaging in any japery, except for the word search.

Before Papyrus's battle, Sans is absent in Snowdin Town. He appears briefly to play trombone during the date/hangout with Papyrus but does not appear again until the Last Corridor if the protagonist kills Papyrus.

After entering Waterfall, Sans is found manning a sentry station and asks the protagonist if they want to take a break with him. If the protagonist agrees, he takes them to Grillby's via a "shortcut." The patrons warmly greet Sans, and he proceeds to treat the protagonist to a burger or fries. After some dialogue, a spotlight falls on him and the protagonist and time appears to stop as Sans tells the protagonist that a flower has been talking to Papyrus. Sans believes that someone is tricking Papyrus with an Echo Flower when the flower in question is Flowey. Sans can be seen again in Waterfall and pranks the protagonist with a red-eye telescope. Later, if Papyrus was killed, "a hooded figure" watches Shyren's battle. However, if Papyrus was spared, Sans sells concert tickets made of toilet paper, implying the other figure was Sans as well.

The protagonist passes him sleeping at a sentry post in Hotland if the protagonist flees from Undyne. Undyne notices him sleeping and berates him mid-chase. Sans does not appear in this spot if Undyne was killed, even if Papyrus was spared.

Later, Sans sells Hot Dogs in Hotland for 30G. If the protagonist attempts to buy a Hot Dog when their inventory is full, he stacks a maximum of 30 Hot Dogs on their head for free.

Further on, Sans waits outside of the MTT Resort and asks the protagonist if they want to grab a bite to eat. He escorts the protagonist inside via "shortcut" and talks about a woman he has befriended that shares his affinity for puns. He tells the protagonist that this woman made him promise to protect any human that left the Ruins and that, if she had not said anything, the protagonist would be "dead where [they] stand." He dismisses this as a joke immediately and says that he has done a great job protecting the protagonist. If the protagonist has not died before, Sans takes credit for their success. If the protagonist has died, Sans questions the validity of his statement. Before leaving, he tells the protagonist to take care of themself because someone really cares about them.

#### Judgement

The protagonist encounters Sans for the last time in the Last Corridor. He explains that EXP and LOVE are acronyms - "**EX**ecution **P**oints" and "**L**evel **O**f **V**iolenc**E**" and judges the protagonist for their current EXP.

If the protagonist gained no EXP, Sans skips his judgment, instead praising the protagonist for embracing compassion and actively choosing to be merciful to the monsters throughout their journey. He reinforces the idea that the protagonist's actions shall decide the fate of the world in one of two ways: the protagonist lets Asgore take their SOUL and allow the monsters to break the Barrier, or they take Asgore's SOUL to escape the Barrier themself. Sans concludes that the protagonist now has enough determination and believes that they can do the right thing before leaving.

If the protagonist has heard his speech before, Sans notices their bored expression and offers a secret codeword that he uses to prove that they are a time traveler. After the protagonist loads their SAVE a few times, Sans's suspicions are affirmed and he gives them a key to his room. Inside Sans's room is a key to his workshop.

If the protagonist gained EXP, Sans allows them a moment to think about their actions. He then emphasizes the importance of integrity and, if Papyrus is alive, concludes that whatever happens next is up to the protagonist. If the protagonist killed Papyrus, Sans expresses his suspicion that they have some special power. He then asks if the protagonist thinks it is their responsibility to do the right thing. Regardless of their answer, Sans reminds the protagonist of his fallen brother and leaves.

If the protagonist returns to the Last Corridor after loading a SAVE, Sans judges the protagonist on their earned LV. Subsequent attempts to talk to Sans after judgment prompts him to tell the protagonist to "consider [their] session over."

#### Endings

After the protagonist defeats Photoshop Flowey, Sans calls and informs them of the events that transpired after their departure. The content of this phone call varies depending on the protagonist's actions.

### True Pacifist Route

Sans is absent from the Last Corridor in the True Pacifist Route. There is also no SAVE point upon entering the corridor. He appears during the pre-Asriel cutscene and meets Toriel face-to-face for the first time. Flowey binds Sans and the protagonist's other friends. However, the protagonist's friends protect them from Flowey's attacks before Flowey absorbs their SOULs.

During the battle against Asriel, Sans appears as one of the Lost Souls.

#### Epilogue

After defeating Asriel, Sans stands alongside the other main characters. If the protagonist talks to him, he says a certain remark depending on what, if anything, the protagonist said to Toriel in calls at the beginning of the game. Sans also uses Toriel's phone to text for her a few times because Toriel's thumbs are too big for the phone buttons. When the protagonist is ready to leave, Sans exits the Underground and heads to the Surface along with the other monsters.

When Papyrus runs off to introduce himself to the humans, Sans says that someone must keep him away from trouble and runs off in the opposite direction, presumably to use a "shortcut."

In the credits, Sans rides a tricycle on a highway, while his brother races alongside him in a car. Papyrus seems irritated when his brother overtakes him.

### Genocide Route

Sans stalks and introduces himself to the protagonist as usual but requests that they continue *pretending* to be a human. He does not comment on the protagonist turning around before he asks them to. Sans goes along with Papyrus's japery and does not appear as an NPC as he does on other routes. After the protagonist crosses the bridge before Snowdin Town, Sans warns them not to fight his brother or else they will "have a bad time." He then disappears and is absent until the Last Corridor.

If the protagonist aborts the Genocide Route by sparing Papyrus, Sans reappears at the Waterfall sentry station and tells the protagonist he respects them for doing that. He continues to appear as he does on the Neutral Route but does not take the protagonist to Grillby's since there is no one left in Snowdin.

After killing Papyrus, the protagonist continues to kill all the monsters in the Underground. Sans watches them secretly without confronting them directly, he hoped they would heed his friendly advice, but that didn't happen. Sans decides to stop them no matter what, and in the Last Corridor he comes face to face with them.

Sans meets them but does not judge saying they were busy. He asks them a question, can the protagonist change and become a good person if they just try. Instead of answering, they take a step forward unwilling to justify their actions. Next Sans laughs and asks a better question, "do you wanna have a bad time?". And warns if they take it one step forward further that they won't like what happens next. Completely ignoring Sans's threats, they step forward. Sans realizes that it is useless to talk to them.

Before the battle begins, Sans apologizes to Toriel (She's already dead on this route) and breaks the promise he made to her that he would protect humans.

Sans tried his best to make them stop and reset the world. But no matter how many times he kills them again and again, they did not give up, having spent all their strength, he uses his "special attack" absolute nothing. He knows that he can not defeat them and decided to continue his move, what to force the protagonist to give up from boredom. However, Sans falls asleep and they use the "FIGHT" button, he wakes up and dodge the attack, but a second attack occurs from which Sans could no longer dodge.

Defeated, Sans tells them not to say he didn't warn them. After which he jokes that he is going to Grillby's, after leaving the battlefield, Sans speaks to his dead brother off-screen "papyrus, do you want anything?". After that, he dies, most likely turns to dust like all other monsters.

After defeating Sans, the protagonist's EXP is set to 99999, granting them LV 20. Sans notices if the protagonist has killed him before and is re-fighting him.

Sans does not count as a kill in the Stats menu, and the game does not record whether or not he is killed.

## Relationships

### The Protagonist

Sans's attitude towards the protagonist depends on their actions, though he usually enjoys pranking them and occasionally hanging out with them unless they kill Papyrus. Near the end of a Neutral or Genocide Route, he judges them on their EXP. At the end of the True Pacifist Route, Sans considers them a good friend. If the protagonist killed Papyrus, Sans does not bother to encounter them until he judges them in the Last Corridor, where he reminds them that they killed his brother.

Sans initially considers the protagonist to be an "anomaly"; his intentions of befriending them were in hopes that they would stop resetting the timeline. However, he also says that the protagonist did not die after their initial encounter because of his promise to Toriel. This may imply he would have killed the protagonist, he protected them from life-threatening harm after their first encounter, or he was simply joking.

His awareness of time travel makes him scrupulous, and he recognizes when the protagonist is behaving unusually. Sans reads the protagonist's expression and determines if they have experienced events before and are repeating them. He also knows how much EXP the protagonist has and comments on it when judging them.

If the protagonist pursues pacifism, Sans begins to lose his previous apathy and comes to genuinely support the protagonist in their mission, as indicated in his MTT Resort date and Last Corridor judgement.

### Papyrus

Sans deeply cares for and admires his brother. He keeps up with Papyrus's temper tantrums and he knows how to deal with Papyrus's childish outbursts. Sans also reads him bedtime stories and gives him presents under the identity of Santa. Nonetheless, Sans likes to mess with Papyrus, sending him bad puns on the UnderNet. He also leaves a dirty sock in their living room for Papyrus to fuss over.

Sans also worries about others hurting Papyrus or taking advantage of him. In the Papyrus ending of the Neutral Route, Papyrus states that Sans is handling the paperwork and puts in unusual amounts of effort compared to his usual lethargy. To avoid bothering Papyrus with other characters' deaths, Sans lies about them going on a vacation. He also conceals this to Papyrus in other Neutral Route endings where the latter is alive.

### Toriel

Toriel and Sans share a love of bad jokes and are friends even though they never see each other face-to-face until the epilogue, the Family Ending, or the Exiled Queen Ending. Before the protagonist's arrival, Sans and Toriel shared jokes through the door to the Ruins.

In the Exiled Queen Ending, Sans becomes Toriel's roommate if Papyrus has been killed. In this route, he does not inform Toriel of the protagonist's slaughter to uphold his promise. If Papyrus is alive, the brothers visit Toriel often, play board games together, and sometimes convince Toriel to leave the Ruins.

As mentioned before, while not being one to make promises, Sans complies with Toriel's request to watch over and protect any human that exits the Ruins. Near the end of the Genocide Route, he indirectly apologizes to her, as he is forced to break his promise to stop the protagonist.

Sans and Toriel are only seen together on screen in the True Pacifist Ending. If the protagonist decides to go back through the Underground before going to the surface, Sans sends them texts for Toriel since her thumbs are too big for the buttons on the phone. It is implied that they soon fight for control of the phone when they begin to send embarrassing texts of each other.

### Alphys

It is implied Sans is friends with Alphys, as he sends her dog food to help her feed Endogeny. However, he does not inform anyone of his actions. Their friendship is emphasized in the True Pacifist Route epilogue, where Alphys preemptively responds with a joke before Sans does.

It is also noteworthy that if Papyrus is called just before entering the Lab, Sans appears in the call and suggests that there may be dogs inside the lab. This hints that he may know about the True Lab since Endogeny, an Amalgamate composed of several dogs, can be found there. According to Alphys in an aborted Genocide Route, she is forced to rule the Underground and Sans helps her lead; she calls Sans "a good guy".

### W. D. Gaster

A few things hint at a connection between Sans and W. D. Gaster. Evidence includes the blueprints and veiled machine found in his workshop, the sprites used for his skull-like laser guns (labeled *gasterblaster* in the game files), and his unexplained scientific research on the "anomaly" and timelines. Sans and Papyrus are named after a font, which W. D. Gaster is assumed to also be, so it is believed they are related.

## Trivia

* Sans's name alludes to the typeface in which he speaks in: Comic Sans. This is a reference to *Helvetica*, a webcomic about a skeleton named after a font.
	+ In Japanese phonetics, Sans's name is homophonous with the name of the Sanzu River, a boundary between death and the afterlife in Buddhist lore which, like Sans, judges all who cross it for their deeds. The Sanzu River is also a recurring locale in the *Touhou* series, from which Toby drew inspiration for *Undertale'*s bullet hell battles.
* If the player attempts to name the fallen human "Sans," the game responds with "nope." and prevents the name from being used.

* Sans's text sound originates from a small clip of SpongeBob SquarePants from the S2 episode 'Something Smells', where Patrick Star says "M**ay**be it's the way you're dressed".
* Sans appears to be left-handed. Evidence includes:
	+ Greeting the protagonist with a handshake using his left hand.
	+ Holding and drinking a ketchup bottle with his left hand while dining at Grillby's.
	+ Steering a tricycle using his left hand in the True Pacifist Credits.
	+ Manipulating gravity with his left hand in his battle.
* Sans speaks in all lowercase, not even capitalizing names or sentence starters, with a few exceptions. This may be a representation of how lazy he is.
* Sans is one of the final bosses along with Flowey and Asriel.
	+ He is the final boss of the Genocide Route.
* In a deleted tweet, Toby Fox said that Papyrus would use the term "Aniki," a Japanese slang used for older brothers or superiors. There are a multitude of interpretations for this as it does not give a clear answer. However, in the official Japanese translation released in 2017, Papyrus refers to Sans as "Nii-chan", a somewhat immature way of addressing one's older brother.
* When the "fun" value is between 45 and 50, Sans calls the protagonist in Snowdin Forest to ask if their fridge is running.
* There was a glitch in version 1.0 in which Sans would walk up off the screen at Grillby's when he took the protagonist there. His dialogue still appeared normally.
* In the Xbox version of *Undertale*, Sans mentions a "famous cherry" in regards to what the GamerBlood soda is made of. This is a potential reference to Merg a YouTuber that frequently plays *Undertale* fan games, as his icon depicts a cherry.
* Sans's line "on days like these, kids like you... Should be burning in hell." could possibly be a reference to a line said by Captain Strong in *EarthBound*, which goes "At times like this, kids like you should be playing Nintendo games."
	+ In addition, the first part of this quote is a direct reference to a quote of Asgore's on the Neutral Route.

* There are two unused overworld sprites of Sans in the game files, one showing him with his pupils (*spr\_sans\_dangerous\_0*) and one showing him holding an ice cream.
	+ In the 2023 summer edition of the *Undertale* / *[dr:Deltarune Deltarune]* newsletter, Toby Fox revealed that the ice cream sprite was meant for a special scene before Sans's judgement if he was reached fast enough, in which he would slowly eat the ice cream for a full minute accompanied by silly music.

* Sans also has an unused pose for his battle graphics, similar to his shrugging pose, but with clenched hands.
* In the 5th Anniversary Alarm Clock text, Undyne was talking about a hockey game everyone had played against her. Once Sans scored a goal, he went over to Alphys and did a "finger-pointy arm-crossy dance," implied to be the *Fortnite* emote Dance Moves, more commonly known as the Default Dance.
* Sans makes an appearance alongside Papyrus at the end of the *Undertale* Demo if the protagonist gained no EXP.
* Sans appears as a Mii costume for Mii Gunner in *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*. The Gaster Blaster is used as the Mii Gunner's arm cannon. The Sans Mii Costume and *MEGALOVANIA* remix can be bought for $0.75.
	+ The costume model is based on the 3D model used for the "Sans Inaction Figure" sold on Fangamer, though it differs with the aforementioned Gaster Blaster and no visible neck. It is simultaneously a play on some of the *Smash* series's concept of the *Smash* fighters being trophy figures brought to life, often depicted as Amiibos in reality.
	+ The reveal trailer for this costume is in homage to *Undertale*, with themed items and brief moments of Sans dodging attacks from two Villagers to represent the humans, and a yellow Piranha Plant, implied to represent Flowey.
	+ Sans is the first Mii Costume in *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate* to include a song with it.
* Sans appears as a guest character in *Pop'n Music UniLab*.
* Despite most official appearances of Sans depicting him wearing pink slippers, such as his Mii costume in *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*, Sans is never seen wearing pink slippers in either *Undertale* or *Deltarune*.