Papyrus & Sans
| Gen Relationship | |
|---|---|
| Relationship: | |
| Alternative name(s): | Skeleton Brothers, skelebros |
| Fandom: | Undertale |
| Type: | siblings |
| Canonical?: | yes |
| Prevalence: | popular |
| Archives: | |
| See also: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Papyrus & Sans is the gen relationship between Papyrus and Sans in the video game Undertale
Canon
Sans and Papyrus are siblings, and are encountered together throughout events in the Snowdin region; Sans often has guest appearances in Papyrus' phone calls. When the two are together, Sans is often depicted annoying Papyrus with bad skeleton jokes and puns, but whenever Papyrus is offscreen Sans brags to the player about how cool Papyrus is. Missable events and dialogue also depict Sans as supportive of Papyrus' dreams and interests. Their house features a post-it note conversation involving Papyrus nagging Sans to clean and Sans being deliberately obtuse to annoy him. Many fans have noted how realistic a sibling relationship they share.
If Papyrus is killed on a neutral route, Sans stops appearing until the very end of the game, and is extra hostile during the judgment scene and end-of-game phone call.
Fandom
While the romantic relationship between them has received more attention—both more fanworks (at least on AO3) and more fandom controversy—the gen relationship is also popular. Lighter works focusing on the sibling rivalry and pranks they play on each other in the game might be more likely to be tagged and understood as gen.
Both brothers are shown to offer Frisk advice and encouragement in the game (depending on the story route), and this is reflected in the popular fanon trope of one or both brothers being mentors or even parents to Frisk in post-canon stories.
As of early 2018 Sans & Papyrus was the eighth most popular Undertale relationship by number of tags on AO3 as of early 2018. [1] The gen tag had risen to sixth in popularity as of June 2022. [2]
Example Fanworks
Fanfiction
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
Fanart
| Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples. |
- because I've lost control of my life, Archived version by sirartwork, a fan comic about Sans and Papyrus from 2015. The comic gained over 300k notes and the final panel became a meme and reaction image in the broader Tumblr community.
Links
- Papyrus & Sans-tagged works on AO3
References
- ^ Undertale (Video Game) works on AO3, snapshot from 23 February 2018.
- ^ Undertale (Video Game) works on AO3, snapshot from 21 June 2022.