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This theory contains several spoilers for multiple endings.
I'd like to discuss regarding something I read other day on Undertale's reddit. I'm new to Vs Battles so I apologize if something like this has already been discussed here.
So... As many of you may know, Sans hinted to know much, much more than he lets on about. You battle him at the end of the Genocide route, where he will outright tell you that he knows about your ability [to SAVE, although he does not refer to it as that], among other things. It is rather depressing because it lends a new light to many of his actions within the game. In addition, according to some sources, he is able to keep a memento from the True Pacifist ending even after the True Reset.
Before I go into detail... Here is some prerequisite watching first. The battle against him at the end of the Genocide route.
As you can see, he displays a number of abilities that no other character, to my knowledge, possesses. Not only in terms of his sheer power during the battle with him, but his ability to manipulate time and space to some extent. This is seen most readily in the battle, where he teleports you around, but it can even be seen in the Pacifist route as well, where he takes you through a "shortcut" to Grillby's by walking off the wrong side of the screen, appears inexplicitly ahead of you despite not moving or walking in the wrong direction multiple times, and teleports out of the castle corridor after talking to you. In addition, earlier in the video, he teleports immediately off the screen after warning you not to continue with the Genocide path.
Starting with that battle with him:
"our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, starting and stopping... until suddenly, everything ends."
This line reveals multiple details on its own. "Reports" and "timespace continuum" suggest that Sans not only knows about SAVEing and its effects, but has done formal research into it in the past along with someone else, given the "our". (The "our" is very likely Dr. Gaster - more on that later.) To add onto the above detail, in his and Papyrus' house, one can find a quantum physics book, albeit with an endless loop of joke books inside.. While it might seem, at first glance, to only be a joke, I believe that he at least used those quantum physics books seriously in the past.
And from the sequence that allows you to get his room key...
"wait a second. that look on your face while i was talking… you've already heard my spiel, haven't you? i suspected something like this. you're always acting like you know what's going to happen. like you've seen it all before. so... i have a request for you. i kind of have a secret codeword that only i know. so i know if someone tells it to me… they'll have to be a time traveller. crazy, right? anyway, here it is… (whisper, whisper) i'm counting on you to come back here and tell me that. see you later."
"huh? do you have something to say to me? what? a codeword? can you speak a little louder? did you… ... just say "i'm a stupid doodoo butt?" wow. i can't believe you would say that. not only is that completely infantile… but it's also my secret codeword. that, however, isn't good enough. what you need is the secret secret codeword. it's only for people that know the secret codeword. anyway, here it is… (whimsper, whimsper)..."
"huh? do you have something to say to me? what? a codeword? can you speak a little louder? did you… ... just say "i'm the legendary fartmaster?" wow. that's... uh... really childish. why would you think that was a secret secret codeword? whoever told you that is a dirty liar. i don't have a secret secret codeword. however. i do have a secret secret triple-secret codeword. which you just said. so, i guess you're qualified. here's the key to my room. it's time… you learned the truth."
(When you looked, the key was already on your keychain.)
Sans took the matter of shifting timelines seriously enough to think of a code phrase for a time traveler. Not only that, but he thought of a backup code phrase to make sure. While it may seem like a joke, the fact that he recognizes the code phrases shows that they were actual code phrases, and not just off-the-cuff pranks. (Though, it fits perfectly with his character to prank a time traveller regardless by making the code phrases what they are.) He is able to infer a lot of details about you from your reactions and expressions. With that, and the other details (the quantum physics book, the research, the hidden lab), I think it is clear that Sans is not only much more powerful than he lets on, but much smarter and much more observant as well.
Then there is the fact of the key being "already" on your keychain, which would be yet another example of Sans' unexplained powers. Then if you go into his lab, in a playthrough after a True Pacifist ending where you choose not to stay with Toriel, you will find what is implied to be this photo, the one taken at the ending sequence, in the drawers. Note that a True Reset is supposed to wipe everything, even Flowey's memories.
Note also that the blueprints are said to be covered in strange symbols. Dataminers have discovered mentions of a strange character named WD Gaster, the Royal Scientist before Alphys, and snippets of text written in Wingdings, another infamous font (in line with Comic Sans and Papyrus). It is highly possible that "WD" stands for "Wing Ding", and he, Sans, and possibly another researcher comprised the "our" Sans mentioned. Gaster was said to be scattered across time and space in the aftermath of an experiment gone wrong. It is possible that this incident may be part of Sans trying to "go back", especially since it is mentioned that Sans looked happy in the photo album in the hidden lab.
Which leads to perhaps one of the darkest realizations from all this. Back to the battle with him...
"heh heh heh... that's your fault, isn't it? 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. ...or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy...? hell if I know. all i know is… seeing what comes next… i can't afford not to care anymore."
"sounds strange, but before all this i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this. and maybe all they needed was… i dunno. some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends. but that's ridiculous, right? yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy. you'll keep consuming timelines over and over, until… hey. take it from me, kid. someday… you gotta learn when to QUIT. and that day's TODAY."
Knowing all this about the timeline resetting, over and over, with no power to stop it, has taken a toll on Sans, along with Gaster's disappearance. From his dialogue as a Lost Soul in the battle with Asriel:
"just give up. i did."
"why even bother?"
And I believe there was one additional line as well: "you won't ever see them again." Could it be a reference to Gaster - and possibly some other colleagues, maybe even the grey NPCs - disappearing? All of these lines are written in shaking font, used only when a character is under heavy emotion.
Essentially, knowing everything and losing a colleague to time and space has caused Sans to fall into hopelessness, to give up on putting effort towards anything at all, knowing that it might/will simply be reset anyway in the end. This hopelessness is mistaken as sheer laziness by the others in the game, even Papyrus, and he rolls with it knowing he can never explain it to them. Only when you threaten to truly and utterly erase the world itself by heading down the Genocide path is he finally spurred to fight you, in an attempt to make you QUIT out of frustration.
One last conversation. The conversation with him at the hotel's diner, accessible through non-Genocide runs...
"do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made to her [Toriel, to not harm the player]... you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? ...buddy."
(in complete silence, in normal font)... "You'd be dead where you stand."
Sans also considers the player a major threat, enough that he would have killed them the moment they walked out of the ruins. If once was not enough, then however many times it would take to make them QUIT - imagine fighting him without almost maximum HP and LOVE. However, he did not, out of a promise to Toriel, a friend. That, and the fact that despite his distrust of you and the danger you pose and his hopelessness over being trapped in a resetting timeline he attributes to you, he still made an effort to befriend you and make you feel welcome, says some interesting things about his personality. It is also interesting to note the parallel to the game's own system of sparing or killing enemies: you are technically Sans' enemy, but he still chose to spare you in all but the worst timelines. Not only out of practicality, but out of a genuine hope that you could reform. This happens even after you reset from the best ending, and he manages to hold onto proof that the best ending DID happen… you just reset it because you weren't satisfied.
And he took this all very seriously. If he was truly lazy, he would not have bothered following you through the game and taking you out to eat.
There is one major hole that bothers me, which is the timing of the game's events. No one is sure when exactly Gaster was scattered across time and space, nor when Sans discovered the timeline was being warped. From Flowey's dialogue at New Home in the Genocide run, before you came along, Flowey had been resetting time over and over out of boredom, in the same manner of a player doing multiple playthroughs of a game. It is possible that Sans had noticed those fluctuations rather than yours, but given that he does not know who Flowey is - he thinks that the flower talking to Papyrus is an Echo Flower - he blames you for them, regardless. And if noticing these fluctuations was what caused Gaster to perform his ill-fated experiment, then it is entirely possible that Sans blames you for Gaster's disappearance, which adds additional weight to the fact that he wanted to kill you, but tried to befriend you instead. However, without more information, it is hard to say how much of this is accurate.
And one more hole. Sans mentions "seeing what comes next" and "everything end[ing]". Did he guess the outcome of the Genocide path, the world being erased, or even explicitly see it from the readings? If so, it would add yet another weight to his actions throughout the game. Hopelessness mistaken for laziness, his attempts to befriend you to keep you from resetting the other endings and going down the Genocide path, and his own determination to stop you in the Genocide battle. "i can't afford not to care anymore."
In summary: My guess is that Sans is a former physicist whose research uncovered distortions into time and space and possibly led to the loss of a colleague. These events, along with his inability to do anything about them, led him to become hopeless and stop putting effort towards accomplishing anything, knowing it might be erased. He is aware of the player's role in everything and their abilities, and does on some level want to kill them, but tries to befriend them instead in hopes of getting them to stop messing with the timeline.
TL;DR
Sans is one of the most fascinating character you will ever meet. No joke. If you played Undertale, let me know your opinion regarding this awesome character.
I'd like to discuss regarding something I read other day on Undertale's reddit. I'm new to Vs Battles so I apologize if something like this has already been discussed here.
So... As many of you may know, Sans hinted to know much, much more than he lets on about. You battle him at the end of the Genocide route, where he will outright tell you that he knows about your ability [to SAVE, although he does not refer to it as that], among other things. It is rather depressing because it lends a new light to many of his actions within the game. In addition, according to some sources, he is able to keep a memento from the True Pacifist ending even after the True Reset.
Before I go into detail... Here is some prerequisite watching first. The battle against him at the end of the Genocide route.
As you can see, he displays a number of abilities that no other character, to my knowledge, possesses. Not only in terms of his sheer power during the battle with him, but his ability to manipulate time and space to some extent. This is seen most readily in the battle, where he teleports you around, but it can even be seen in the Pacifist route as well, where he takes you through a "shortcut" to Grillby's by walking off the wrong side of the screen, appears inexplicitly ahead of you despite not moving or walking in the wrong direction multiple times, and teleports out of the castle corridor after talking to you. In addition, earlier in the video, he teleports immediately off the screen after warning you not to continue with the Genocide path.
Starting with that battle with him:
"our reports showed a massive anomaly in the timespace continuum. timelines jumping left and right, starting and stopping... until suddenly, everything ends."
This line reveals multiple details on its own. "Reports" and "timespace continuum" suggest that Sans not only knows about SAVEing and its effects, but has done formal research into it in the past along with someone else, given the "our". (The "our" is very likely Dr. Gaster - more on that later.) To add onto the above detail, in his and Papyrus' house, one can find a quantum physics book, albeit with an endless loop of joke books inside.. While it might seem, at first glance, to only be a joke, I believe that he at least used those quantum physics books seriously in the past.
And from the sequence that allows you to get his room key...
"wait a second. that look on your face while i was talking… you've already heard my spiel, haven't you? i suspected something like this. you're always acting like you know what's going to happen. like you've seen it all before. so... i have a request for you. i kind of have a secret codeword that only i know. so i know if someone tells it to me… they'll have to be a time traveller. crazy, right? anyway, here it is… (whisper, whisper) i'm counting on you to come back here and tell me that. see you later."
"huh? do you have something to say to me? what? a codeword? can you speak a little louder? did you… ... just say "i'm a stupid doodoo butt?" wow. i can't believe you would say that. not only is that completely infantile… but it's also my secret codeword. that, however, isn't good enough. what you need is the secret secret codeword. it's only for people that know the secret codeword. anyway, here it is… (whimsper, whimsper)..."
"huh? do you have something to say to me? what? a codeword? can you speak a little louder? did you… ... just say "i'm the legendary fartmaster?" wow. that's... uh... really childish. why would you think that was a secret secret codeword? whoever told you that is a dirty liar. i don't have a secret secret codeword. however. i do have a secret secret triple-secret codeword. which you just said. so, i guess you're qualified. here's the key to my room. it's time… you learned the truth."
(When you looked, the key was already on your keychain.)
Sans took the matter of shifting timelines seriously enough to think of a code phrase for a time traveler. Not only that, but he thought of a backup code phrase to make sure. While it may seem like a joke, the fact that he recognizes the code phrases shows that they were actual code phrases, and not just off-the-cuff pranks. (Though, it fits perfectly with his character to prank a time traveller regardless by making the code phrases what they are.) He is able to infer a lot of details about you from your reactions and expressions. With that, and the other details (the quantum physics book, the research, the hidden lab), I think it is clear that Sans is not only much more powerful than he lets on, but much smarter and much more observant as well.
Then there is the fact of the key being "already" on your keychain, which would be yet another example of Sans' unexplained powers. Then if you go into his lab, in a playthrough after a True Pacifist ending where you choose not to stay with Toriel, you will find what is implied to be this photo, the one taken at the ending sequence, in the drawers. Note that a True Reset is supposed to wipe everything, even Flowey's memories.
Note also that the blueprints are said to be covered in strange symbols. Dataminers have discovered mentions of a strange character named WD Gaster, the Royal Scientist before Alphys, and snippets of text written in Wingdings, another infamous font (in line with Comic Sans and Papyrus). It is highly possible that "WD" stands for "Wing Ding", and he, Sans, and possibly another researcher comprised the "our" Sans mentioned. Gaster was said to be scattered across time and space in the aftermath of an experiment gone wrong. It is possible that this incident may be part of Sans trying to "go back", especially since it is mentioned that Sans looked happy in the photo album in the hidden lab.
Which leads to perhaps one of the darkest realizations from all this. Back to the battle with him...
"heh heh heh... that's your fault, isn't it? 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. ...or is that just a poor excuse for being lazy...? hell if I know. all i know is… seeing what comes next… i can't afford not to care anymore."
"sounds strange, but before all this i was secretly hoping we could be friends. i always thought the anomaly was doing this cause they were unhappy. and when they got what they wanted, they would stop all this. and maybe all they needed was… i dunno. some good food, some bad laughs, some nice friends. but that's ridiculous, right? yeah, you're the type of person who won't EVER be happy. you'll keep consuming timelines over and over, until… hey. take it from me, kid. someday… you gotta learn when to QUIT. and that day's TODAY."
Knowing all this about the timeline resetting, over and over, with no power to stop it, has taken a toll on Sans, along with Gaster's disappearance. From his dialogue as a Lost Soul in the battle with Asriel:
"just give up. i did."
"why even bother?"
And I believe there was one additional line as well: "you won't ever see them again." Could it be a reference to Gaster - and possibly some other colleagues, maybe even the grey NPCs - disappearing? All of these lines are written in shaking font, used only when a character is under heavy emotion.
Essentially, knowing everything and losing a colleague to time and space has caused Sans to fall into hopelessness, to give up on putting effort towards anything at all, knowing that it might/will simply be reset anyway in the end. This hopelessness is mistaken as sheer laziness by the others in the game, even Papyrus, and he rolls with it knowing he can never explain it to them. Only when you threaten to truly and utterly erase the world itself by heading down the Genocide path is he finally spurred to fight you, in an attempt to make you QUIT out of frustration.
One last conversation. The conversation with him at the hotel's diner, accessible through non-Genocide runs...
"do you get what i'm saying? that promise i made to her [Toriel, to not harm the player]... you know what would have happened if she hadn't said anything? ...buddy."
(in complete silence, in normal font)... "You'd be dead where you stand."
Sans also considers the player a major threat, enough that he would have killed them the moment they walked out of the ruins. If once was not enough, then however many times it would take to make them QUIT - imagine fighting him without almost maximum HP and LOVE. However, he did not, out of a promise to Toriel, a friend. That, and the fact that despite his distrust of you and the danger you pose and his hopelessness over being trapped in a resetting timeline he attributes to you, he still made an effort to befriend you and make you feel welcome, says some interesting things about his personality. It is also interesting to note the parallel to the game's own system of sparing or killing enemies: you are technically Sans' enemy, but he still chose to spare you in all but the worst timelines. Not only out of practicality, but out of a genuine hope that you could reform. This happens even after you reset from the best ending, and he manages to hold onto proof that the best ending DID happen… you just reset it because you weren't satisfied.
And he took this all very seriously. If he was truly lazy, he would not have bothered following you through the game and taking you out to eat.
There is one major hole that bothers me, which is the timing of the game's events. No one is sure when exactly Gaster was scattered across time and space, nor when Sans discovered the timeline was being warped. From Flowey's dialogue at New Home in the Genocide run, before you came along, Flowey had been resetting time over and over out of boredom, in the same manner of a player doing multiple playthroughs of a game. It is possible that Sans had noticed those fluctuations rather than yours, but given that he does not know who Flowey is - he thinks that the flower talking to Papyrus is an Echo Flower - he blames you for them, regardless. And if noticing these fluctuations was what caused Gaster to perform his ill-fated experiment, then it is entirely possible that Sans blames you for Gaster's disappearance, which adds additional weight to the fact that he wanted to kill you, but tried to befriend you instead. However, without more information, it is hard to say how much of this is accurate.
And one more hole. Sans mentions "seeing what comes next" and "everything end[ing]". Did he guess the outcome of the Genocide path, the world being erased, or even explicitly see it from the readings? If so, it would add yet another weight to his actions throughout the game. Hopelessness mistaken for laziness, his attempts to befriend you to keep you from resetting the other endings and going down the Genocide path, and his own determination to stop you in the Genocide battle. "i can't afford not to care anymore."
In summary: My guess is that Sans is a former physicist whose research uncovered distortions into time and space and possibly led to the loss of a colleague. These events, along with his inability to do anything about them, led him to become hopeless and stop putting effort towards accomplishing anything, knowing it might be erased. He is aware of the player's role in everything and their abilities, and does on some level want to kill them, but tries to befriend them instead in hopes of getting them to stop messing with the timeline.
TL;DR
Sans is one of the most fascinating character you will ever meet. No joke. If you played Undertale, let me know your opinion regarding this awesome character.
