#this is also kinda sorta the introduction to my little theory

[wiinksalot]

i always thought it was interesting (and fitting) that sleepacross chose to associate sayeon with the king piece as opposed to the queen piece.

although you have to kill or capture the king in order to win a game of chess, the king is arguably the weakest piece in the game, only being able to move one square in any direction. in contrast, the queen can move any number of squares in any direction: horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

while the other trainees can create bombs, summon blades from their hands, and literally manipulate their own blood, sayeon is given the ability to turn back time for 20 seconds (and 60 seconds if she tries really hard). her gift is not powerful on it’s own, nor is it the most useful in a combat. some might even consider her to be one of, if not the weakest aberrant among the trainees of her year.

instead, sayeon’s power lies in neither her physical capabilities nor her gift (though she can hold her in a physical fight), but her intelligence, her ability to extract information, manipulate variables (whether it be objects or people) to her advantage, and adapt to her given situation.

so while she isn’t overtly dangerous or strong, she still manages to be quite a formidable opponent.

[back-alley-bardblog]

HEYY I've got a question: what instruments does everyone play? also who usually writes the songs 👀

A hyperactive imp runs into frame, grabbing the camera and raising it up before exploding into a greeting 

“The people asked so the people will receive!! Don’t look at the gap between the posts, it isn't real and it can’t hurt me!!”

“Gonna just use this as a way to let you all know about the others. Just for funzies!! You’re gonna love em, I promise!” Tobi places the camera down and begins to rummage around his room, tail wagging around in the air as he does. “But FIRST… I’ll show you what I do!!” Loud clashing fills the room as things are flung around as Tobi searches for their instrument, eventually he resurfaces after noticing it was leaned up against the wall in broad daylight. He promptly grabs it and holds it up as if it were a cool fish he just caught.

“I play lead guitar!! I’m not the best vocalist or anything but our frontman lets me tag in whenever he needs a rougher voice and doesn’t want to talk to our bassist! So like, usually.”

They smile, but in the way a child who just saw their parents who are desperately in need of a divorce argue for the 5th time that day would.

“I really like playing guitar. I sorta got into it thanks to one of my uncles, he had an old one lying around from his old rocker days and let me play it when I was a kid and eventually my parents got me one as a gift when I turned 13 and I've been doing it ever since! I'm pretty sure if you look around you can find some old covers of mine. Don't listen to them, they suck!"

They put their guitar down and get closer to the camera once again

“That’s enough on me though, I’ll go grab the others! Cedar’s on the couch right now so I’ll go get him first! Be right back!"

The imp comes back a few moments later, dragging a somewhat groggy looking human into the room by the sleeve of his hoodie. His square glasses seemingly just frantically adjusted and his hair shaggy and messy, the type of existence you can only really achieve after being suddenly awoken from an accidental couch nap. 

“Are you sure they asked for me specifically?” His voice was tired and monotone - but not angry. More just bewildered.

“Well they asked for the whole band but one person asked about who writes for us plus you’re like, the easiest person to find usually considering the fact you just kind of rot on the couch-” “I get it Tobi- You don’t have to-” “I'm not saying that's bad or anything, don't worry! I know the job market’s hard for you Cece!!”

He stands there in silence, biting his tongue a little bit before deciding to change the subject “What did you need me to do again?”

“Just say your name, what you do and maybe a few things about yourself if you feel like it!” “So… basic introduction?” “Yeh!” “Alright…”

He looks to the camera, raising a hand to lazily wave at it

“Hi. I’m Cedar, I mostly handle the vocals for us… plus generally act as the songwriter for us all since some people never bothered to learn basic music theory” “Jasper knows it. He keeps rewriting your basslines, remember? He says you aren’t good at writing them.” “What does he know about that stuff-” “The actual instrument.” “Yea well- he can- he can fuckin…” Cedar’s face regresses into sour frustration as he struggles to think of a response to that. Tobi pipes up again after a prolonged awkward silence

"y'know there's still a bonus bit of info you can give... how'd you get into what you do?"

Cedar seems to be snapped out of his bubbling fit of rage by the question. He takes a moment to think before answering "I don't know... bunch of stuff, really. Mostly an old friend. He showed me how to pirate music and some bands from over here and I thought it was pretty cool. Tried making my own stuff and that's what got me into songwriting." "What about the singing though" "I did uh... what's the word.... that thing where people sing... in like, a big group and uh..." "Choir?" "Yea. Yea Choir." "Huh... I can kinda see it honestly!! Dunno how you forgot the word choir though." "Tobi." "Oh. yea, right, sorry..." He clicks his tongue as a sense of embarrassment forms within him from his blunder before making a sudden recovery, "Anything else you wanna say before you go?" “Don’t listen to anything that blue haired dickhead says about me.” “Cool… cool cool cool��� You gonna go back to the couch?” “Nah, bed. Night.” “Cedar it's 2pm…” “I know.”

He walks away, leaving Tobi alone in the room once again. He remembers the camera is still rolling and to get back on with entertaining “SO! That was Cedar! I promise he’s cool to be around aha- Great at what he does though! Don’t think we’d be able to function without him!”

They put their hands on their hips and make popping sounds with their lips as they think of what to do next, eventually remembering a pretty important bit of information "So uh... I'm pretty sure the others aren't home right now. One's at work and the other one just kinda wanders sometimes? He'll probably be back in like, an hour or something. My phones about to die soon too so I'll just make this one a 2-parter!"

He throws up a peace sign before ending the recording

[dreamtydraw]

Glub Glub

HAHA I’ve made it back home to my fishbowl!!! And guess what~ I played through all of your games! (I finished at.. 2 AM fishy time… I’m very sleepy lmao) I have oh so many thoughts about them all… >:) Ramble incoming! Apologies for the atrociously long ask and grammatical errors-

I played the games in order of release so first up was Night Shift, which was such a fun and quick play!! I loved how it sorta just throws you into this confusing supernatural world and is just like “You’re stuck in a time loop, good luck!”. I tend to go into video games expecting them to be super difficult for me, especially when they involve choice, so at the start I was listening to Françoise’s instructions like a hawk 👁️👁️, the atmosphere of the game was so cool too, the little inconsistencies in logic was so cool to watch unfold (I vividly remember reading the bit where the MC picks up the axe and flipping out cause “YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO HAVE THAT!! THE GAME SAID DON’T DO THAT YOU IDIOT!!”) I forget the actual word for it but the entire setting really gave of the feeling of being in a huge place that’s typically filled with people but is for some reason deserted.. well except for Sam. Speaking of! Sammy’s fun I loved them! I was so intrigued as to what their whole deal was, like how did they get there? Why are they there? Whats up with them and Françoise and the whole “Deary” thing?? Overall it was such a short but sweet experience and a very nice introduction into the Paranormal Club world

Next was Apple Bag! I was actually originally going to play this last cause of its open ending, but I figured since it came out directly after Nightshift, I might as well just play it right then and there. This was also tons of fun! I actually really liked the MC’s personality a lot, I dunno why but their dialogue and thoughts were just fun to read through. I played through the mystery strangers route (I swear to god their name was said somewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember what it was) and it was a good time! I love their design a whole lot and it was funny seeing them get introduced as this terrifying menacing stranger to chill and sleepy customer, funnily enough when the MC kept describing them as really scary I was pretty confused as to why, then I realized that I kinda tend to act a lot like the stranger when I’m going out sooooo.. no wonder I didn’t find them all too spooky. The mystery of the literal apple bag and Sammy’s disappearance was also really fun to see, I wonder if it’s talking about Nightshift? Idk, I’m not a theory making expert so who knows! I’m just eager to watch the story unfold!

Next up Tulipe! The creation of this game was when I really first started seeing your Paranormal Club stuff so needless to say I was really excited to finally play it, and boy was I not disappointed!! Getting to see Achik in action was so so nice considering he’s the one that really got me into Paranormal Club. The game overall just had this constant feeling of fleeting bittersweetness? If that makes sense? And I mean that in a good way, I loved how the story (when doing the good endings) were sweet overall but kind of had this melancholic tint to it that I couldn’t ignore, kinda reminded me of my time playing blooming panic if that makes sense. I played through every single ending cause they were easy and quick enough to get and every single one of them was great! The good ending where you tell Achik the truth about why you approached him was, predictably, my favourite ending, I actually liked how you don’t really become besties by the end of it and remain as friends who are close but ultimately aren’t ever gonna deepen the relationship. The other good ending was also very nice but man did I feel awful telling Achik I only pursued him for his looks, it made me feel so bad I for the poor guy. And getting the bad endings? Man. Being generally mean in games already makes me feel terrible, so in Tulipe where I flat out have to use manipulation and spike someone’s drink???? YIKES. All I have to say to that is thank god I can consider it wildly non canon! (I didn’t know where to say it, but Achik’s sunglasses make me giggle, they look so goofy in a good way!)

And lastly, I played 21 Questions…. *sob* Clem… love of my life… I finally got to be with you like I always dreamt!!!! Yeah, jokes aside as you can probably tell Clem’s become my #1 fav of Paranormal Club. He’s just so cute and lovable and relatable! I could rant about my love for them for hours. I adored how down to earth the story and its characters were, and my heart goes out to everyone on the dev team for breathing so much life into the game. Clem and Aurore are such fun characters to watch interact and I never doubted for a second that they were best friends! The duo also really remind me of myself and people I know irl so I was like “Yeah I’d fit right in with these too if they were real” the whole time. Speaking of relatability, boy did Clem’s vent scene hit so hard- it feels weird to say but I just adored how depressing that scene was, not to get personal but Clem’s entire vent just reminded me exactly of myself, like I’ve had the exact thoughts that they had, so the entire time I was ugly sobbing right there with Clem, it felt nice, cathartic too. I always really appreciate any piece of media that’s able to do that, so Clem’s kinda become pretty special to my heart <3

Every single one of these games was an absolute delight to play through, they’re all filled with so much love and care that I can’t help but admire each and every one of them. I hope you and everyone you’ve worked with on your games are proud of what you’ve made and know that they’re all such amazing experiences :) Whenever you decide to make your next project (after a nice and healthy break), know that your fish anon will be right here in my fishbowl ready to support you!

And with that I must take my leave and turn in for the night, I’m so ready to knock out. Goodnight!

-🐟

First off… OH MY GOD

Your ask has been screened and sent to the other teams member + added to my personal gallery to remember because oh my 😭😭😭

I can’t put words on how much this ask feels to me, like, this is the reason i want to make art it’s for people to enjoy but i always doubt myself and like having point blank long comments about enjoying the biggest projects i worked on in my life so far is like- so important to me thanks you so much fish anon thank you !!! ( this is all i’ll be seing when i goes to sleep )

I’m really glad you liked the game, even nighshift ! This games is in my standard bad and i aim to remake it one day but i’m glad you add fun.

Answering some of the questions :

Yes Sam from nighshift and Sam from apple bag are the same person ! That why you meet erinna in both game. The events also happen at the same période.

The stranger’s name is Leila and they go by they/them.

The canon ending of tulipe is the first good ending :}

I will be taking a break as a dev yeah disidod need some rest.

Hope you’re also resting well !!!

Tons of love fish anon and again multiples thank you for not only playing my games but taking the time to writte all of this. It warms my heart and i’m grateful for your message. ❤️

[kozachenko]

Speculation for Touhou 19 Update: [SPOILERS THIS IS OUTDATED KINDA SORTA LOL]

Ok so I haven't gotten to talk too much about my theories for Touhou 19 but I'll share some speculation and predictions that I have as well as a few theories.

First of all, I feel like not enough people are mentioning Seija as a possible character in this game, like, her whole thing is about the "weak eating the strong" and "overturning society" so this seems like a pretty good chance for her to go against the main enforcers of that ideology i.e. the beast yakuza leaders (Saki, Yachie, and Yuuma). I mainly got this idea from another Tumblr user mentioning Seija and I loved that concept so much, so I'm bringing it up again just to make people more aware of it.

Another thing I would like to mention is the SDMs role in the story, which may seem out of left field but hear me out. So, in 17.5 Okina got Flandre to beat up Yuuma yadayadayada incident solved. I haven't read up on too much of 17.5s story but I know that she's left in charge of the blood pools by Okina and that's that… or is it? What about the eagle spirits that learned of their leader (who they hold in very high regard) being defeated? Wouldn't they also use this opportunity to get revenge on the one who did it? How would Remillia react if she learned that her little sister was being targeted by a bunch of (potentially dangerous) beast spirits? And thus, this would be the reason for Sakuya to get herself involved in the incident. Even if Remillia or Flandre herself tried to tell her "It'll be fine! They're weak anyway! What's the worst they could do?" Sakuya would probably be too paranoid to let it slide.

Another thing to note is the Netherworlds involvement in this game, specifically Youmu. It would also be very likely that she would be involved too since in one of her touhou 17 endings, Eiki told Youmu to get more information on Yachie. So of course, this would be a great oppurtunity to do so.

Some people are also speculating the Moriya Shrines involvement in the new incident, which could be likely as the opportunity of claiming new land would be right up their alley. Plus a leak of Sanae being a potential character in this would support this theory.

One of the most common predictions for Touhou 19s roster and story is that the beast yakuza leaders would also want to get themselves involved in claiming new land. Plus the potential introduction of the fourth faction could also play into this, with all of them trying to go for the same place at once.

Then we have Tsukasa, who I think could probably be related to the fourth faction or (just the beast realm in general), and could potentially be the instigator for Touhou 19s story as she was for 18s story. I should also bring up Chimatas potential involvement as I think it would make sense, this was probably an unintentional side effect of her own ability and she would obviously want to help sort things out again.

Another thing that's mentioned a lot in the story is the possibility of Reimu being lured into a trap of some sort by going to the animal realm, mainly by Aunn. Now, there could be a variety of things that could happen with Reimu and the animal realm, but I'm saving this part for last because it's the possibility I'm most excited for and think would be a really fun twist.

There's also the fourth faction, who we know from Yachies profile uses "cowardly tactics" such as poisoning, parasitism, and assassination, which may mean that the spirits in the faction may not be the strongest in terms of physical strength, but more in strategy, so who could the spirits in this faction be? Foxes, cats, or maybe even monkeys, which leans into the idea of the Sun Wukong character being the leader of the fourth faction.

Then there's the question of who is the true mastermind behind the incident. With Marisa stating that there is some "unknown magic" behind the whole thing, there could be a multitude of answers to this question. It could be someone new or someone we know. I personally think that Okina would play some role in this incident as one of her abilities is manipulating mental energy, which means that she could make everyone want the new land. It could probably be someone new, but the answer to this question will probably have to wait until the full game is out.

So, as of right now, everyone in Gensokyo is going for this new land that just popped up. Especially the beast spirits and beast gangs. Now, if we consider the possibility that the beast leaders themselves (including the fourth one) are also looking to claim the new land, then what does that mean for the animal realm? Since no one is there (except like, maybe a few beast spirits who didn't go), the animal realm (and the human spirits for that matter) are left unwatched.

And I think we know who would want to use this opportunity to gather some faith and take over the animal realm completely...

So, I feel like Keiki wouldn't be a playable, she would probably send Mayumi out to go get this new land for a new base for the human spirits as a backup plan, so we can expect Mayumi to join the "New stage 5 character becomes a protagonist" club. Meanwhile, Keiki has all the time in the world to reassemble her Haniwa army and take over the animal realm. Just to clarify, I don't think Keiki is the one responsible for the incident as a whole, rather, she's just taking advantage of the situation. It would be out of character for someone like Yachie to just leave without making sure the animal realm doesn't get taken over, it seems like an oversight that she wouldn't make. This is why I mentioned maybe a few beast spirits staying behind just in case something happens. Maybe the fourth faction leader is still in the beast realm and is trying to keep Keiki back as long as they can to the best of their ability, and if the fourth leader really is the Sun Wukong inspired character, then anyone who is familiar with the story they come from (Journey to the West) would know that this character would probably jump at the opportunity to fight a powerful god. That probably wouldn't be the primary reason just a little benefit for them.

And with that marks the end of this, really, really long post (LOL), but yeah those are a few of my predictions and speculations. I used to have the mentality of "If you say your wish out loud then it won't come true" but if I was right about the Sun Wukong inspired 2hu character then who knows, maybe I'll be right about a few things here. Let me know what you think could happen, I'm really curious!

[glitch1997]

Ughhhh, I need to figure out my Lightner Mail story...

I know I probably haven't talked about it here before, but it's basically the official main lore story fanfic thing for my goofy Deltarune AU. The one with Spam, y'know? I've been wanting to redo it, sorta. It's a little messy... and cringe. And I only have one complete chapter. The others are purely just ideas at the moment.

The first chapter is an introduction to everything, of course. Spam shows up in the Light World for the first time(after a mostly typical Snowgrave Route), and The Fun Gang(Kris, Susie, Noelle for some reason) tours him around Hometown. All of them have a cute little moment watching the sunset, and because it's dark now, Spam changes into his Darkner form and freaks out a little. Susie pulls out her phone so he can use the flashlight, and it works for some reason(see how this is cringe and doesn't make sense). Anyway, they head to Kris place, Toriel (almost) says she's surprised that Kris has friends, and she invites them in. Spam gets to stay the night, and he sees his new self through the bathroom's mirror.

I had planned to make chapter 2 the one where he goes to Castle Town and meets up with Site(Blue) again, but that might be a little difficult. So, if Lightner Mail takes place at the end of DR Ch. 2, how would Spam go to Castle Town if he were to wake up in the TV Dark World?? I do enjoy the idea of him trying to talk to Tenna again, but it kinda ruined my original plans, especially with the lore drops of their relationship and his past. I have to rework the way I reference his backstory in LM(Lightner Mail) now.

I mean, I could just push back the events of DR Ch. 3, and have him go there later, but idk. I might just pretend it doesn't happen, actually. Cuz, would Kris still open the fountain if he stayed with them? Idk, maybeee??? It's just so hard to figure this stuff out! When I played Ch. 3, it changed my perspective quite a bit. When I started LM, it was before Ch. 3 and 4 came out, when all the theories about the game seemed accurate to me at the time. Aughhhhhh, do you see what I mean now?

Something I had wanted to change about LM's Ch. 1 is the fact that Spam was vaguely aware of what he was as a Darkner. I'll give a quote of that part:

"And then the school and the 'librarby'."

"Eh... don't ya mean 'library'?-"

"Nope. Look at the sign. It clearly says librarby."

Oh. I guess it did say that.

"We actually had a sick adventure in there recently! Though, when we were done, we just sorta woke up in the computer lab. Kinda like you!"

"Like... me?- Wait, ya’ said ya’ had an adventure in a computer lab?"

"Well, yeah-"

"With... tech-related items?"

"Y-yeah...?"

"Kay... just checkin'."

HE SHOULDN'T BE THIS SELF-AWARE! LIKE, BRO, WHAT THE HECK!!

I was going to change that part of the story, or just take it out, but I'm reconsidering it now. We know that most of a Darkner's past comes from their interactions in the Light World. But I'm a little confused. I thought Darkners didn't exactly know what they were. I mean, Ralsei knows, but he kinda has to. And I think Queen says something about her being a computer, but I think that’s just a general term. But some of the Darkners in Ch. 3 are strangely aware of what they are. Ramb has quite a few memories from when he was an object, and even states that he is a power cord. Tenna is the same. So, would Spamton be the same or...?

Ugh, idk about this stuff. I'll have to take a lot of time to reconsider things.

And, in fact, I haven't played Ch. 4! That could give me some answers, hopefully, maybe.

I've included Berdly in an animation with Spam before, but I'm starting to wonder if that would even be canon. If LM is in a Snowgrave timeline, Berdly would be a frozen chicken nugget. But he might not be... dead. I've accidentally given myself some spoilers from Reddit while trying to defeat a boss. So it seems like he might be okay.

I also haven't beaten the Knight with the Shadow Mantle yet. I don't know if something different happens after.

Btw, in LM's Ch. 1, Spam gets to the Light World through the bunker. I just saw it as a sus mysterious place, somewhere extra dark, perhaps... darker than dark mwahahahah

But now there could be a Dark World in there, and idk what the heck that would look like. Bro, help- I thought Ch. 4 was supposed to be in the church. Although, it might still be. Idk.

Anyways, the point is that Lightner Mail is messy and needs to be reworked.

And I also need to go play Ch. 4.

[theevilthatismokke]

Kou, supernaturals and red herrings

Or, Six was a red herring, Kou is going to replace another School Mystery and other smaller musings.

Warning: Not spoiler-free, this theory was mostly developed upon chapter 90’s release, but it has spoilers up to chapter 94. Also, it is ridiculously long.

Read more under the cut

Kou becoming a supernatural has been theorized for quite a while, and as of chapter 90, most expected (still expect?) Kou to take Shinigami’s place as Mystery no. 6.

I, however, thought it was a little bit odd- why would Six suddenly vanish and be replaced by Kou when a reunion between him and Sumire was often hinted at in previous chapters? And although Kou becoming (or at least trying to become) a supernatural was not by any means unexpected, I had my doubts about him being the new no. 6, even if I could not put my finger on why…

After pondering on it a little, I realized what it was: we got the wrong mystery!

Rather than no. 6, Kou is going to become the new no. 2! Or, well, he’ll try to and fail, or he’ll become bound to Yako/make a contract with her.

Here, I’ll try to examine the patterns concerning the Seven Mysteries, which includes their names and first appearances, some of the lore we got about humans either being bound to a supernatural or becoming one, and how this information could be interpreted into foreshadowing about Kou turning into a supernatural (specifically, No. 2).

Also, for clarity’s sake, I’ll be referring to the Original No. 3 as such, the current No. 3 as Mitsuba and his living/original counterpart as Sousuke. Likewise, mystery No. 4 will be referred as Shijima and her creator/living counterpart as Mei. Akane (boy) and Aoi (girl) will be referred by their first names.

1. What’s in a number?

The Seven Mysteries are each assigned a number, which are also often referred to as “seats” throughout the series. And, as many have noticed already, these characters are quite connected to their number: maybe it’s in their names, maybe it’s the chapter they first appear.  That’s what we’ll examine in this section!

1. 1 ) First appearances and chapter number

Upon some re-reading, I noticed something really interesting: all mysteries we’ve seen so far (with the exception of Hanako) have first appeared, in some way or another, in a chapter corresponding to their seat number!

Starting with the obvious, Mitsuba (the one “created” by Tsukasa, and which would go on to become the new No. 3) first appears at the end of chapter 30!

Shijima (or rather her… paint clone, as we later learn) first appears at the end of chapter 40:

Shinigami makes his first appearance at the end of chapter 60:

Hanako, obviously, first appears in chapter 1. Instead, the one who first appears at the end of chapter 7 is none other than Sakura:

And, considering the reveal that she might have had a hand in assigning the seats to the Seven Mysteries, makes this very fitting. Whether that means she was formerly No. 7 or not, remains to be seen.

Akane doesn’t make a full appearance, but he does have a pretty neat cameo in chapter 1!

I mean, Kou kinda does too, but…

Akane’s more visibly distinct. Not to mention, unlike Kou, who was chatting with his brother, the only other relevant character in the first chapter other than Hanako and Nene, Akane doesn’t really interact with any of them in a meaning way. So other than fitting into this particular pattern, there was no reason for him to appear here.

Tsuchigomori first appears in chapter 11. However, it’s in chapter 5 that we first hear the idea of a supernatural being a teacher…

…which is exactly what Tsuchigomori turns out to be!

Finally, Yako first appears in chapter 5 (or maybe even chapter 4, if you consider the introduction of her rumor as her debut). However, if you pay attention, a good part of the later half of chapter 2 takes place near stairs:

And who is it that appears at the end of chapter 2, atop (sorta) the stairs? None other than our dear young exorcist, Kou:

A few notes:

So far, most of the mysteries/characters that appeared at the end of a chapter corresponding their ‘number’ have had a wish granted by Tsukasa: Shijima, Sakura and Mitsuba. Shinigami’s character arc seems to be leaning towards him understanding his own desires, whereas little Tsukasa has witnessed plenty of Kou’s desires in the Red House.

Akane first appears in chapter 1, but is only revealed as a school mystery at the end of chapter 24. Mirai first appears in chapter 25 and Kako, in chapter 27. Their rumor is introduced in chapter 23.

Sumire first appears in chapter 66.

Looking at these, I predict that Mirai and Kako will reappear at the end of chapter 100. So, for you Clock Keeper fans out there... it might take a while. EDIT (16/03/23): whelp, this is now jossed. That said, it just occurred to me, that, since there’s 3 of them (two full kaii and Akane who’s borrowing their powers), they could reappear in chapter 101 or chapter 111. (lol)

1. 2) Names, titles and numbers

This is another one people have noticed. Some characters have their seat numbers in their names. Sorta. Others… it’s a little more subtle.

Let’s start again with the most obvious one: Mitsuba Sousuke (三葉惣助) has 'mitsu' (三) in his name, the kanji for ‘three’.

Similarly, Shijima Mei (四島芽衣) has 'shi/yon' (四) in her name, the kanji for ‘four’.

Curiously, both of them and their living/human counterparts are referred to differently:

Sousuke is referred in the manga as Mitsuba (三葉) using kanji. However, Mitsuba the supernatural/’artificial ghost’ is referred as ‘Mitsuba’ (ミツバ) with katakana.

It’s the same with Shijima Mei. Mei is referred as Shijima (四島), whereas No. 4 is referred as ‘Shijima-san’ (シジマ).

Mitsuba and Shijima could both be considered as “creations”- Shijima was created by Mei as her ideal self, and Mitsuba was ‘created’ by Tsukasa, in the sense that Tsukasa gave Mitsuba his new body and powers. Or perhaps, we could look at them as neither 'human' nor 'supernatural', but maybe something in-between. Either way, it’s interesting that they share this pattern.

Both Sakura and Nene are similar cases. Sakura’s full name is Nanamine Sakura (七峰桜) and has 'nana' (七) the kanji for ‘seven’. Nene’s full name is Yashiro Nene (八尋寧々) and has 'ya/hachi' (八) the kanji for ‘eight’.

Curiously, both of their names are often written in katakana when said by Tsukasa and Hanako. As in, instead of Yashiro (八尋), Hanako calls her ‘Yashiro’ (ヤシロ). And with Tsukasa, instead of Sakura (桜), he calls her ‘Sakura’ (サクラ).

(Basically, Nene and Sakura share the same pattern as Shijima and Mitsuba. What does that mean? Well, we have yet to see.)

But what about the others, you’re probably wondering- these are the only characters with numbers in their names, after all! And only Mitsuba and Shijima are official school mysteries!

Well, yes, but it doesn’t mean the names and numbers aren't connected!

Tsuchigomori does not have the kanji for ‘five’ (五) in his name, as it is written (土籠龍仁郎), read: Tsuchigomori Ryūjirou. However, the ‘go’ in his name might still be a reference to his seat number, as it’s phonetically the same. Other than that, his name is likely a reference to the “Tsuchigumo” spider-demon, considering he’s a spider-demon himself.

Why is that relevant? Well, “Tsuchigumo” is also the name of a Noh play, and is categorized as a "5th thing of Noh" type of play. So, either way, there’s a connection to the number 5.

Hakubo/Shinigami is an interesting case, in that both his name and what he's first referred as, other than his seat number, are connected to the number 6.

His title of “Shinigami-sama (死神様)” can refer to the number 6 in two ways: 1) it is believed that, in order to cross the Sanzu River and reach afterlife, one must pay the toll of six mon.

Or, it can refer to the performance, “Shinchuuha ha Koori no Sakujitsu” in Hoei 6. I specifically chose this one, as it refers to a shinjuu committed by a man and a woman, which I believe is relevant to his and Sumire's backstory.

His actual name, Hakubo (薄暮) also has a connection with the number six, as it means 'dusk/twilight', during which the Sun’s disk is 6° below the horizon in the evening.

Unfortunately, I could not find any connection between Yako, Mirai, Kako and Hanako/Amane’s names and their corresponding numbers. To take note, Yako (ヤコ) and Mirai (ミライ)'s names have, so far, only been spelled in katakana. Kako (カコ/過去)’s name has been spelled in both kanji and katakana. Meanwhile, Yugi Amane (柚木普) has (柚木), which means 'citron' and 'tree', respectively, and (普), which means ‘normal’. Hanako (花子) is a direct reference to the urban legend of “Hanako-san”.

Akane’s name apparently also doesn’t have any connections to the number one. Instead, his name, Aoi Akane (蒼���茜), and the little word play with his similarly named love interest, Akane Aoi (赤根葵), seem to be a reference to the urban legend of “Red Paper, Blue Paper”. He even wears a cape and a mask! The Hanako-Akane enmity just gained another layer…  

There can be only one toilet-based ghost. ONE

Instead, I would like to present to you, Akane’s formal introduction in the manga, in chapter 8:

Pictured: Aidairo, thinking they’re slick

(This is honestly just so funny in hindsight. This is his official introduction. He's seat Number One.)

So, although it’s not in his name, like many other mysteries, he is connected to his number.

Similarly, Kou may not have the number 2 in his name, but…

…he has introduced himself as the second son more than once!

A few notes:

Aoi (葵) is also called 'Aoi-chan' (アオイ) in katakana by Hanako. Akane calls her 'Ao-chan' (アオちゃん) in katakana as well, but the feelings conveyed are quite different.

Misaki (ミサキ), Sumire (スミレ) and Katakuri (カタクリ) have all, as of chapter 94, only been called by their names in katakana. The original Mei has also been called 'Mei(-chan)' (メイ) in katakana.

Yashiro, Sumire, Katakuri and Aoi have been referred as kannagis. Misaki, Mei and Mitsuba have not, but they still had connections with the supernatural and died. All had their names spelled in katakana at some point.

Aoi, Sumire and Katakuri are all named after flowers! Aoi is hollyhock, Sumire is violet and Katakuri may be named after trout lilies.

Sumire's name probably has two types of violet in mind. First, the violet most commonly known as just 'sumire', the V. mandshurica, which, curiously, has a subtype that is also known as "Fuji Dawn". The other type of violet it may be referrencing is (アカネスミレ) 'akanesumire'.

Tsukasa's name (司) means 'leader, chief'. However, he's often referred as (つかさ) in hiragana. He also often refers to Amane (あまね) in hiragana. The Well God/Red House Entity has called Tsukasa and Akane by their names in hiragana.

2. Cooking Kou

One of Kou's key characteristics is how good of a cook he is- it's not only about the skill itself, it's a very important part of his issues and his relationships with other people.

It's portrayed, I think, in a mostly positive light. He uses it to cheer up his friends, Nene and Hanako, he teaches Mitsuba and that brings them closer in 'Houkago Shounen Hanako-kun', he cooks for his family... it really highlights the warm, 'caretaker' aspect of his personality. Later, it gains a more nuanced light, in that Kou resents being shoved into this role by his life circunstances and Teru, but doesn't necessarily hate the act of cooking and taking care of others themselves.

Cooking and eating, in general, are cast in a warm, fun light in the manga, as something that brings people together.

Which is why it's so interesting that one of the ways to become a supernatural is to eat one.

Curiously, we're introduced to both concepts (eating as a way to connect people, eating to become a supernatural) at the same time, in the very first chapter of the series!

The mermaid scales Nene eats both turn her into a half-supernatural, bounding her to the Mermaid supernatural... but they also bound her to Hanako! It's even likened to 'marriage'!

Later, the rule of becoming a supernatural by eating one is turned more explicit. First, when Tsukasa makes Mitsuba eat the Original no. 3's heart, and then, when Teru explains how this works to Akane, Kou and Nene, in a particularly funny scene of the manga, as he reveals they ate an oni's hand he finely chopped into their pizza.

So, we've always sorta had these two concepts from the get-go. And Kou, our dear mini-chef, the character that is connected to food more than any other, wanting to become a supernatural by eating it? It makes sense, and nicely ties both sides of the same coin into one character.

Now, the question is, could there be a supernatural that has a similar connection to food? I mean, if Kou is the cook, and he has something he plans on eating, then what's his dish?

KITSUNE UDON

Sure, it is a gag, but I wouldn't put it past Aidairo to just... make this much darker and heartwrenching in hindsight.

Of course, numbers and food aren't the only ways Kou and Yako may be connected.

3. "He's kinda like you, isn't he, No. 2?"

Kou and Yako have a very interesting dynamic. Although it starts as antagonistic, with Yako going wild and attacking students, among them, Satou and Yokoo, Kou’s friends, it felt less personal than the Yashiro-Nene dynamic. Probably because there was no confrontation between Kou and Yako. Instead, the focus was on Yako and Nene’s similarities.

However, that doesn’t mean we wouldn’t eventually get something more out of this pair!

The first time they interact in a meaningful way is in the ‘Hell of Mirrors’ arc.

Hanako and Kou, in order to reach No.3’s boundary, ask for Yako’s assistance, as she’s the School Mystery who controls/oversees ‘space’.

Once they enter her boundary, the first thing they notice is how much it’s changed since Yako’d been stripped off her seat. Kou, in particular, has a very interesting reaction, calling it ‘pretty’.

While they climb up the stairs, Kou asks Yako how she felt when she was under the influence of her slightly changed rumor. Angry at such an insensitive question, Yako snaps at him, until Hanako cuts in and explains Kou’s situation to her, of how he lost someone he just can’t forget. He then remarks:

Athough, Yako denies it, it’s clear she’s affected by Hanako’s words. So much so, she relents, tells them how she felt and even goes as far as to comfort Kou, telling him that his words probably reached Mitsuba.

I would like to remark that, pretty much all the Seven Mysteries have a loved one who died and they can't forget/stop thinking about, so it's pretty significant that this direct comparison only happens between Yako and Kou.

It all ends in a really cute exchange, with Yako telling Kou to call her ‘Yako-nee-san’.

I think, other than Hanako and Nene (and maybe Natsuhiko), Yako is the person who knows and understands Kou’s motivation, regarding Mitsuba, the best.

It’s pretty interesting that they bond in this arc in particular, as we’re introduced to a Mitsuba that’s brought back in an artificial body. Tsukasa even compares him to ‘Frankenstein’!

And, may I ask, who is the other supernatural that tried to bring a loved one back to life by giving them an artificial body…?

So, Yako actually does have a solid parallel and connection to Kou and Mitsuba’s situation.

After this, Kou and Yako seem to be on good terms, which is most apparent in the ‘Tanabata Festival’ arc. They are constantly hanging out together. It’s cute.

The current arc has our three main characters facing a pretty hard dilemma: they're each at a crossroad, they all have to sacrifice something in order to get what they want.

To illustrate: If Nene wants to live, she has to either sacrifice Aoi, her best friend, or Sumire, someone she symphatizes with and likes. If Hanako wants Nene, the girl he loves, to live, he has to destroy his yorishiro eventually... his dear little brother, Tsukasa.

So, thinking about that, Kou sacrificing Shinigami for his goals doesn't make much sense- Hakubo doesn't mean anything to Kou, there's no emotional weight to him killing the current no. 6 and replacing him, when it's not a difficult choice to make, between destroying him and saving Mitsuba, Nene, Teru, Akane and Aoi.

Kou also believes he can just figure out how to turn back into a human with Mitsuba. I think... in his mind, he figures he can just turn into a supernatural, then go back to being human. He's too focused on saving 'everyone' so it maybe hasn't hit him yet that... it's probably not that simple.

Nevertheless, Kou having to chose between all these people he holds dear and a supernatural he actually likes, that's his friend, that understands him... that holds much more emotional weight and it matches with Hanako and Nene's own current dilemmas.

4. Sharing Seats

Now, does that mean that this will end with Yako dying permanently and Kou taking her place as a School Mystery? Possibly.

But I believe there may be other possibilities as well.

But before we get into them... I actually do wonder if the Original no. 3 is gone in the truest sense of the word. Everything indicates that yes, he was eaten by Mitsuba and is now, deader than dead.

However, there are two things that make me question this: the rule that nobody can die in a boundary and the manga comparing Mitsuba to "Frankenstein".

Regarding the rule about nobody dying in a boundary, so far, only Aoi has been confirmed to die, and she was brought to the Far Shore with the intent to be sacrificed. Actually, it's hinted that, it wasn't until she fell into that hole with Akane that she died. So, it's something to keep in mind.

And then we have Mitsuba, our very own Frankenstein's Creature. Tsukasa, the one who essentially brought him into existence, compares him to this character, and tells Kou and Hanako he 'made' Mitsuba out of the bodies of weaker supernaturals and the original Sousuke's mind. Later, he also gains No. 3's heart.

What I find curious, is that Mitsuba had the more concrete wish of 'becoming human' after he ate No. 3... who himself seemed to aim to replace humans, as he tells Nene and Mitsuba.

Mitsuba's personality and issues clearly come much more from Sousuke than anything else, that is true. If Mitsuba is an amagalmation of different beings, then Sousuke's essence/personality is the more prominent one.

Still, it makes me wonder: if Kou ate Yako, would he gain some of her feelings? Some of her desires, making them become one? Would she actually exist as a separate being inside him? If so, could this be reversed somehow?

Of course, I'm talking if he eats her heart/her wholly. I believe there can be different results.

First things first, to get the elephant out of the room...

Kou technically already has eaten Six.

And so have Nene, Teru and Akane!

Because unless the village managed to capture and enslave another oni to do their bidding, I'm pretty sure that's his hand.

(Did they cut him into pieces after/while killing him? Was the thing with Yako foreshadowing for him as well? Well, damn.)

The small amount, according to Teru, means they can temporarily borrow its powers and not, well, die or be easily noticed by supernaturals.

A similar thing also had happened before this!

Nene, of course, had also eaten a supernatural before even that. Or at least, part of one, in the very first chapter of the series.

As discussed before, Nene would've remained as a supernatural fish had Hanako not eaten a mermaid scale as well, to share the burden of her curse.

Later, when we meet the little supernatural fish that work for the Mermaid, we're told Nene, due to eating part of her flesh, is now in line to become their next 'master'. She only has to drink her blood to seal the deal and be now bound to the Mermaid instead of Hanako.

Note that the current Mermaid is still alive, and apparently doesn't have to die in order for Nene to eat her flesh and blood and become an... heir of sorts to her.

So here, we have two things: one, the concept of sharing, be it the power of a supernatural or a curse, and two, a supernatural doesn't necessarily has to die in order to share some of its power.

We also see it with the Clock Keepers.

School Mystery No.1 is actually composed of three beings: Mirai, who oversees 'future', Kako, who oversees 'past' and Akane, who oversees 'present'. We don't know whether Kako and Mirai tricked Akane into eating something of theirs as well, but the important thing to notice is that a school mystery can share its powers with someone else.

Of course, time here has 'three facets', so it makes sense that they have this ability. Viewed like that, it would probably make more sense for Hakubo to share his powers with someone, since he rules over 'death and life', right?

However, it's implied that the Clock Keepers are not the only ones sharing their power. The way Sakura refers to 'Hanako-san' (asking Nene if 'hers' is like a cat as well) makes it implicit that this particular mystery is composed of both Amane and Tsukasa.

Both can grant wishes. They do seem to work around that, by having Amane grant the wishes of the Near Shore, and Tsukasa grant the wishes of the Far Shore, so they 'technically' have this more than one facet thing going on.

It's implied that their power also comes from the Well God/Red House Entity, which, as we saw, seems to have fused with Tsukasa in the past. Is the current Tsukasa an amalgamation of Amane's little bro and the Well God? Did they essentially become one and the same, indiscernible from each other? Who knows.

And how or why Amane has these powers when it was Tsukasa who fused with the Red House Entity? Again, who knows.

(Did you make a Tsukasa udon out of your little brother, Amane? Did you nom Tsukasa, Amane? Did you nom Tsukasa's heart, Amane? Is that why you stabbed yourself in the gut, Amaneeee?)

But we can still consider this an example of a School Mystery sharing its power with someone else, and a supernatural not really needing to die for that to happen.

If it's a possibillity for Yako and Kou, I don't know. But it's there.

5. Red Herring (conclusion)

Kou probably still intends to become a supernatural. It won't be Hakubo, but instead, Yako will become, at very least, important to his arc later on.

But it's not like there hasn't been certain hints around Hakubo being eaten. His severed, mummified hand being the key for Kou and the others to access the place nearest the Far Shore, the Broadcast Club (especially Natsuhiko)'s interest in his power, Kou pretty much declaring that he needs his powers to save everyone...

But that's why it's a red herring. Hakubo was a red herring for Kou... and Kou was a red herring for Hakubo!

Before chapter 94, I had theorized Sumire would be the one to eat one of Hakubo's eyes. It's funny how I was wrong about that, but still managed to get the whole 'romantic (literal) eating of your partner' thing right.

...of course, I do think the possibility of Hakubo being eaten is still there, but considering he doesn't seem to be no. 6 (as of chapter 94) anymore, it would be pointless for Kou to eat him. (Maybe. Would he still have his powers over life and death if he no longer has his seat number? They could just have been weakened... but, again, it would still be kinda pointless to eat him...)

(Though, considering he shares the pattern of appearing at the end of the chapter corresponding to his number with Sakura, Mitsuba and Shijima, he could also give up at least one eye to Tsukasa, in exchange for a wish.)

(...I often wonder about what price Shijima paid Tsukasa for her granted wish, just as much as I think about Mitsuba never showing both of his eyes and hands after becoming a ghost/supernatural/school mystery. An artitst's hands are valuable after all...)

Lastly, even if Kou does end up eating Yako, I believe there's at least one way to reverse it, and it will involve the Clock Keepers' powers. The presence of so many time-travels and time-loops in the series... there has to be a reason behind that. And I think there's a chance of an in-universe retcon happening in future chapters.

(Which, personally, I think would be hilarious- imagine, all the shit that's been going on, undone, but everyone remembering everything. Hysterical.)

But that's for another post.

[rena-te]

I’m gonna throw some random thoughts/predictions about NEO at the wall. Mostly bc I’ve been thinking about this stuff for a while and need to shout into the void about it. (It will get into the Game’s Opening Sequence as well as any information that’s come out so far, just to mention it in case you were avoiding that content.) Join me for a lot of this down below the cut!

First of all, Tsugumi. In A.N.D we see her in a destroyed Shinjuku. Along with the visions of the future she gives Neku there are these messages.

“Everyone’s gone away..... All that’s left in the world is me.” (City being destroyed.)

“I can’t hear a thing...” (Tsugumi is walking the streets alone.)

“Hello? Is anybody there?” (Joshua shooting.)

“Somebody... Anybody... Can anybody hear me?” (Rhyme dying to (purple) shark noise.)

This last one isn’t a vision. It happens after Coco shoots Neku and he vanishes. Which leads me to think, since it is mostly a repeat of the first two future visions, it’s actually happening in this moment. It could be Tsugumi calling out one last time...... Before she’s overtaken by something?

“Too late... It’s all over...” (Same as first two. Tsugumi’s eyes notably turn red more than before.)

How is she giving Neku these visions? (It seems that she’s just calling out to anybody, and for some reason Neku heard her.) To send visions like that I’d think that Tsugumi is either Shinjuku’s Composer or maybe an angel? Or something else we’ve not seen? And they’re all visions of the future. Is Tsugumi speaking into the past as well as projecting those images? (We’re assuming that the reason for Shinjuku Reapers being in Shibuya is bc the UG in Shinjuku has been destroyed. So are the visions congruent with Shinjuku being destroyed or is the city being destroyed in the future, likely sometime between TWEWY and NEO?) The possibility of time travel makes things a million times more complicated.

Or maybe Tsugumi wasn’t quite sending him visions at all, and it was a kind of side effect of being linked to a Composer (since they are somewhat omniscient, and bc some of those visions were not really related to Tsugumi.) She was just trying to communicate with him, but some of that power leaked through their psychic bond and gave Neku a bit of clairvoyance?

If Shinjuku’s UG got destroyed, does that leave the Composer alive? We know that the Composer killing themselves would effectively shut down the UG, but if it happens the other way around? The Composer still exists, but would there be no consequence for losing an integral part of themselves? If the Composer’s connection to the UG is so pivotal, maybe the UG being gone is the reason why Tsugumi seems so...empty? (Is she so vacant that someone else is pulling the strings at this point?) It’s odd for Tsugumi to call out to Neku for help, but target him in NEO. (Given orders to target him.)

Also maybe the UG being destroyed but the Composer still existing explains Joshua’s....odd reaction to her? “How fortunate she managed to escape erasure.” Said when he was just in a position of wanting to kill himself in order to destroy his UG. He doesn’t use that sprite often ya know. It could explain the expression he has and the mumbled speech bubble used. Joshua said that he needed to get rid of His UG bc it could negatively tamper with the other grounds. To discover that could be done without killing himself... (And without him knowing of the apparent side effect of a “vacant Composer” Assuming that theory is true in the first place.)

But why does she have a Mr.Mew doll? Uhhhhh.... There’s also some time shenanigans happening too. And that throws many “what-ifs” into the mix, so I’ll avoid going down that rabbit hole. Basically I have no idea, the possibilities are kinda endless with time travel.

Another thing. This guy is also important. Very important apparently. I had a vague idea about him at first, a guess kinda outta left field, but I mean....I’m liking what bits I’ve scraped together for my guess theory by now. Onto speculating about Mr.Kubo here......

In the game’s opening sequence he walks right past Tsugumi (so connected to her in some way), leans in towards the camera, looks at you and does his little eccentric pose.

The only other characters who sorta look into the camera for the opening sequence are Shiba and Shoka, BUT in Shiba’s case it’s more like the camera is centered on him looking forward, and Shoka is more so interacting with Rindo with the way her scene was done. Here Kubo is just walking alone, stops and his eyes lock with the camera...... so wtf does this mean, you’re probably asking. It’s just a funky game introduction, it’s just this dude being weird. Yes, that is all true.

I know that he’s introduced in the line up as a Shinjuku Reaper, along with everyone else. But... I think this guy is Shinjuku’s Producer. If Tsugumi is Shinjuku’s Composer it makes sense for him to follow Her into Shibuya, he’s basically tasked to watch over Her.

Compared to the other Shinjuku Reapers, his color scheme is more...grey scaled. The girl has a grey suit, but Kubo doesn’t have any colors to his outfit at all. His clothes are plain compared to everyone else in this lineup. His facial expressions are the only...unique thing to his appearance. In the little bit of English dialogue we have of him so far, it seems that he’s giving us some kind of advice? And Fret looks to be put off with his eccentric (I can’t think of a more accurate word for it) demeanor.

So the middle aged man with an eccentric personality, with a tendency to give advice (?), pretending to be involved in the game in ways they are not, clothes styled in only neutral colors, and the funky little watch they’re wearing....along with the light poking at the fourth wall (Mr.H- “You mean those teasers?”) both Kubo and Hanekoma fit that bill.

Tbh Hanekoma is a bit eccentric, we’re just so used to how he is by now. The watch is just a minor thing that’s a fun little similarity in their designs don’t worry about it. Don’t tell me the watch isn’t important it ties everything together. Also after a quick goggle search, one website is telling me that Kubo’s name means “sunken ground” in Japanese and this other website is telling me what the individual kanji means, (I do not know Japanese in any way and am assuming that the internet is right about all this. I feel like it tracks with him being a Producer though.)

And just to cap it off, maybe Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor. If he rose through Shibuya’s ranks so quickly he’s gotta know what he’s doing. Did he throw Shinjuku out of balance and get rid of the UG so the Composer would be an empty puppet (like Tsugumi kinda seems to be.) Is that why he’s doing all this? Does he plan to become the Conductor (right hand man of the Composer) and then erase the UG, rendering it’s Composer vacant and take control? Shiba wouldn’t know about the Producer, naturally. Is that what it’s all culminating too? Will Joshua be in danger at some point from this guy? I’m wondering when the Higher Plane would step in, but this might just be Kubo’s job since Shiba was Shinjuku’s Conductor (and Hanekoma’s job, since it’s happening in Shibuya now) unless it gets completely out of control. They don’t seem to interfere much, just letting the assigned angels do the groundwork.

So that’s all my thoughts about stuff. I wouldn’t go into the game heavily expecting much of this though. As fun as theories are I’ll be fine enjoying the game for whatever happens. The world-building in twewy is just extremely fascinating to me and I love it so much. This is just my take on a “‘what if” situation anyways so nothing close to this may happen, hahaha. But speculation is very fun and I love to flex my twewy knowledge (it’s been next to useless for like 10 years. Finally twewy is relevant.

[silvialightning]

I’ve been thinking about the Chapter 3 recap/introduction part. Every once in a while I think about how the person talking...gives me Keiji vibes. I mean. We have no idea who this person is. It’s literally just text and could be someone we’ve never met before. Maybe I’m too focued on Keiji but.....

He says shucks like this.

In complete seriousness though, the way this person talks does seem a bit Keiji-esque. Just some of the way the words are paced, the use of ellipsis. The sorta interigation vibes from the opening sound effect and the single chair being under the spotlight. Once I got this idea in my head it’s kinda hard to not think about.

As for like...the timeline for the sort of theory like this....maybe this was Keiji questioning somebody directly involved in the first death game. (So this conversation would be before the events of YTTD.) And they just rolled the questioning segment into the chapter recap. If he was trying to gather more info about Asunaro that could be what this little bit is about. Also, whoever is talking here does seem to be personally involved, or at least has a strong emotional involvement in knowing about the death game the other person here was involved in.

Keiji did say at one point he “read a file” about a similar death game before...but with Keiji there could be a lot more to that story. Just some speculation, since I’ve not seen people guessing about this part much.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Hooty’s Moving Hassle

Post Episode Discussion

As per usual, I went back to rewatch the episode, and you know what? It was more enjoyable the second time around. Not by a whole lot, but I did like it more so than I initially did. I think part of my disappointment with the episode when I liveblogged it yesterday was that it just seemed very insignificant and there just wasn’t a whole lot for me to comment on. It seemed a bit like filler to me.

Now, it might not have been only a filler episode, there was some character development with Willow. Now, I kinda thought that she would’ve gotten over the whole ”Half-a-Witch” thing after her shining moment in episode three, but then again… years of being teased and bullied isn’t going to go over as quickly like that, realistically speaking. Finding out that she and Amity used to be friends also seems like it might get to be important later on.

Going into the episode this second time, I also knew what to expect. I knew not to expect too many new revelations, introductions or lore. So I was able to sit back and just enjoy the ride a lot better.

There’s one more thing I want to talk about quickly, and it’s a theory by @jcogginsa. You remember how I thought it was implied Luz had Special Protagonist Powers™? Well, basically, jcogginsa’s theory is that it was actually the Power of Friendship. They brought up the point that right after that scene, we’re shown how Amity’s little girl posse failed to animate their doll. It might not have had anything to do with them being magically inept, but rather that they weren’t actually real friends. It does line up fairly well, I did note that Amity didn’t seem that excited to spend time with her gal pals. And it sorta makes sense, if this ritual was made specifically for slumber parties with your friends.

Aside from that, my thoughts on this episode can be summed up as ”Not bad, but nothing too special.” And that’s okay, they can’t all be winners after all. And hey, those are just my thoughts and opinions. If you loved the episode, good for you.

For those of you reading this live, I’ll continue with my liveblog of episode 7 right after answering a few asks, so stick around for that. If you’re not live, or can’t stick around for now, be sure to take care of the planet Earth and remember that anything can happen in space!

<--Previous Episode: Covention

Masterlist

Next Episode: Lost in Langauge

[lordxgrinnyxboy]

rewatching The Grinning Man once again,,2am edition,,just through Beauty and the Beast bc i had to give up and go to bed. @past me you really thought you were gonna. ha. haha. who ever said you’re not a funny clown.

‘ye gods’ is fully a tagphrase of barkilphedro’s. bc saying it at least twice makes it definitely a Thing.

josiana says Bark looks like a...~bug~...and ngl the cut of his coat + those limp antenna things on his hat do actually kinda create that effect. they really did make him look like a skittering creature

accidentally paused at such a moment where his head is angled just so and it’s so weird bc u can’t see the paint on his nose at this angle what

i could play barkilphedro. it would be a ghastly shame but i. no. i could though. no i couldn’t. but

everything bark says just sounds very...Like That.

gonna start doing eye makeup like bark’s

i have so many feelings about the fact that Mr. Maskell’s ensemble(?) character and Ms. Obianyo’s ensemble character stand beside each other for this scene

au where Gwyn’s mom lives and the two of them work as performers

no but fully that Green Cowl but also like. Ms. Obianyo’s entire outfit??? that is a Fantastic Look right There right There.

i like how Bark points at an audience member when he says “whose life is even worse than yours”

okay so the mist that comes up when Bark first says “laughter is the best medicine” plus the way Ms. Obianyo’s ensemble character Looks At Him plus the way Ms. Obianyo’s Ensemble Character and Mr. Maskell’s Ensemble Character stand next to each other plus the fact that this is all Barkilphedro telling the story of events he perpetrated and whatnot just generally the whole look of the bit gives me Feelings like these particular two ensemble characters are almost sort of the ghosts of Gwyn’s mom and kinda sorta who Gwyn could’ve been but also not but also Kinda

i’m just so very emotional and love seeing these two together they look amazing and i love them DX

Josiana’s Introduction/Portrait dress looks fantastic and im mad she doesn’t get to keep it

London!Jojo’s costume is better

genuinely still can’t believe Clarence is Ursus

but it’s kinda ironic tho since it’s by Clarence’s orders that Bark was ever in the situation where ‘hmm guess i havvvve to mutilate this kid’s face lol, that’s too bad” was a thought htat occurred to him so i mean both of Ursus’ characters had a hand in what happened

clarence is like “look at my unhappy children/what a tonic for my pain” ursus is like “...” and dea’s like “look at your unhappy children father i dare u”

the lords on palace hill are a gift

Ms. Brisson is just a truly adorable individual i love her ensemble character

also the material on the sort of dress/aprons the Lords wear? the print kind of looks like a map to me but idk if that’s what it is?

Osric’s “Welcome to the Stokes-Croft Faire” is like. one of the top 10 most iconic moments of the show for me negl. maybe even top 5. It’s got this particular energy i can’t describe but it’s So Good

i feel like in this scene like the top half of Mr. Maskell’s face is painted white(er) which looks fabulous once the bandages + cowl are added like heavens above but also with the whole “ooooh that’s the ghost of pre-barkilphedro!Gwynplaine” angle it’s interesting w/how Jojo’s got that bit of white paint/powder as well and it looks like Dirry-Moir’s whole face is painted at least for this number like Ooooh Is That A Lord Thing idk but it’s a Vibe

i once again think it��s interesting that it’s the actors for Angelica and Jojo who are in the picture frame for “Chained Beasts Fighting” considering how Jojo and Angelica seem to for real not get along so well during the play’s events

i’ve another theory abt mr. hubert

bark’s really like all up on Mr Maskensemblecharacter for the “stab an old man with a needle” bit.

i’ve tried so hard to figure out what the heck that could mean but all i can find is “they’re probably referring to murdering ppl with hat pins” u-u

yo the artwork on the walls behind them Wowie

gosh i love Osric

the little dance thing they do after “I’ve got the misery” is something i yearn for like. pls.

idk if anyone gets more into that last Laughter is the Best Medicine choreo than mr. Dirry-Moir like. he is positively Aggressive with it

the drum or whatever makes that little repeating like, three-point, one-two-three over and over toward the peak of this song is like. i don’t know what i was about to say but I Like This Part Of The Song Even Though It Is Very Stressful And Intense

idk man gwyn just looks Really Good when ursus pulls back that curtain like idk if it’s the way he’s standing or the way he’s moving however slightly or what he’s doing with his hands but like. A+ Gwynlit you look fantastic right here

i like how initially he looks just at Ursus but then kind of looks directly into the camera. sort of fancy the notion that in order to get through shows Gwyn’s kind of particular about where he looks and will try to focus on Ursus and Dea as much as possible but otherwise kind of just tries to not really See the audience maybe or something

oh hey that’s Born Broken that’s music boxing hangon lemme go back what plays for

i don’t reckona- give me a minute - i don’t. recognize. there we go. the music box sound that  plays for gwyn

dea is So Pretty

“I shall put my money where my mouth is” dirry-moir that is a most unfortunate turn of phrase

ngl gwyn always looks like he’s having a good time doing up the Drama for his act as Clarence

shadow!gwyn’s hair is next level kinds of floofy magnificence

even his bandages look amazing

“Sonny” :}

no but when Gwyn walks little puppet!Gwyn up the ramp to the ship but Dea’s helping and so they wind up standing Very Close and there’s Height Difference i’m sorry but they are Adorable

i reall like the ocean effect they do

Dea’s cowl look is Exquisite

can’t actually remember for real for real but i’m fairly confident that Mr. Maskell’s “MOTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER MOTHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER” was at least 67% of what initially forced me to fall in love with this show so Thank You Mr. Maskell For That

the cowl + bandages just looks so good i don’t know what to say. that’s a Look right there. the eye makeup? the hair? The Bandages and Cowl? I’m sorry who says this is not a handsome boy?

he looks amzing

puppet!gwyn constantly looks like he’s got one eyebrow raised thanks to how the eye area is carved

i want to know how Ursus thought he wasn’t going to wind up with a couple of the most dramatic chidlren on the earth like when did he think there was a chance they wouldn’t both turn out Dramatic

high note hazlit has arrived

i wish that in the Osric Raises Gwyn au there was some way for Osric to meet like Ghost!Hazlit or i don’t even know but. they need. to meet each other.

Osric’s got vibes and i don’t know what they are but they’re so powerful and they move me to intense affection

it’s Ridiculously Tall-looking Gwyn time. he goes to stand up straight and keeps on Extending

he really just keeps his eyes on the puppet at all times tho

“your little hat can find out what it means” i know he said ‘heart’ but he said ‘hat’ gwyn needs a hat send tweet

book gwyn got to have a hat

don’t worry gwynlit osric’s gonna take care of that in the au

dea’s so cute

so when Ursus says “for certain, it would be no man” is that like a heads-up that they changed the wolf’s name bc now it isn’t Homo anymore or

it’s 3am now and im only 20 minutes in help me dea

forearms

the “No” “Yes, yes” when Ursus first gives him the Crimson Lethe kills me every single time bro.

how long is this post do i need to shut up yet

i’ve babbled for longer before i think we’re good

And Ursus Gave The Boy A Name. A Cruel Name. A Name That Means “Wow That Debilitating Wound Carved Into Your Actual Face Must Hurt Pretty Bad Huh Kidlet”

arms

still mad about the fact that Ursus mentions “Melt into mist/no longer exist” and Barkilphedro uses those Exact Words

i always assume they’re talkin about going to Murca but i mean technically anywhere could be the ‘new world’ huh

forearm

see the one thing i

when he says “we’ll come back to the place where once we were lost in the snow” now im thinking about adult!lord!Gwyn revisiting like. the actual place. where it all Happened like. imagine adult!Gwyn going back to the gallows-site and just.

under angelica’s reign it’s probably converted into a memorial instead ofc and is no longer a gallows-site but still

puppet!Dea doesn’t wear shoes

when puppet!Dea first goes “Mojo?” puppet!Gwyn kinda reaches toward her for a sec like he’s Concerned

Dirry-Moir waving at Dea like he’s trying to figure if she really is blind smh

cowl gwyn is such a phenomenal look

GWYN DOES THE FOOT WIGGLE DURING THE BEAUTY AND THE BEAST SCENE I JUST NOW NOTICED

HIS FOOT IS ACTUALLY FLAT ON THE GROUND SO INSTEAD OF IT BEING A LITTLE HEEL SHAKE IT’S MORE LIKE A LIL ANKLE TWISTY BUT. !!

puppet!Gwyn fiddles with his shirt/vest a lot

forearm

the lil motion with his head after the Kiss tho rlly does look suspicious like the “twinge (of unspeakable agony)” motion tho

love how Osric just runs along to go with to see the rest of the show like. he’s into it.

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

alright alright alright it’s long overdue, but here’s my “Angel returns” theory from way back when her actress posted an image of her on twitter.

tl;dr: Angel is back and we see her getting digistructed in the dev trailer in the giant electricity machine thing

There’s some Commander Lilith spoilers below (main story and side quests) so if you haven’t beaten the whole dlc yet, don’t read!!

Alright so this obviously was kickstarted by the Sirentology quest lol 

I didn’t wanna say anything above the cut about that cause that’d be a dick move

let’s start with the thing I first noticed as soon as I walked into the prototype chamber!

ahahhaha yeah.

and if you’ve been following me since I replayed tales, then you might see where this is going

we see something similar here

this is from TFTBL, in the biodome where you find one of Gortys’s pieces (chassis? i don’t remember lol. the big ring one). It’s holding it up, like it’s being suspended in the air. I imagine this is the same technology Jack used to build Control Core Angel, keeping Angel suspended above the Vault Key. So this was built by Atlas, just keep that in mind, I’ll bring it back in a second.

You can see when Jack brings Lilith to the Vault itself, it keeps her stuck in the air, charging the Key

so obviously jack needed to improvise because he wasn’t about to bring Angel to the Vault with him, he wanted to wait until the key was fully charged.

I think Angel definitely got a little bit of leeway compared to Lily, though. I also think, since we don’t see any wires, the Vault key is sorta pulling the Eridium through Angel to process it and absorb it? and the thing above her is a pump/shield generator/suspension. As i understand it, in the new dlc we’ve seen Lilith actually flying with her wings in the final battle, and I do think Angel is using hers to move around (above), but I do think the Vault Key/machine thing is holding her suspended in the air. 

Anyway, the reason I’m bringing all this up is because of how Tannis acts in this DLC. @humphreyhornbeam commented on one of my interview posts with a great point and that is that “[Tannis] may or may not have blueprints and/or information that Jack used to create the Siren Collars and she may be the only one alive that has this info”. Which, oh fuck

Lemme point out some lines that are very suspicious from her just to let that sink in for a bit

we know Tannis has been studying Lilith for some time now, since the Assassinate the Assassins quest, and she has apparently dubbed such studies as “Sirentology”, hence the name of the quest.

so she wants to know exactly where Siren powers come from and how they act/appear over time (Understandably, we’ve seen Lilith’s exposure to Eridium allowed her to start teleporting)

we end up sending her the data through a console hooked up to the chamber

we don’t exactly get a choice.

normal reused console from other areas, with a little projection coming out of it (I’ll get to that soon)

Lilith comments this:

which… y’know… “she could have been so much more”. im not saying the devs are regretting killing Angel, but… that very well may be foreshadowing. Yeah, I’m getting there.

and Tannis is pleased (don’t think she quite cares about Angel).

so… i imagine Tannis is going to have some sorta hold on the story in the next game (”Tannis is not what she seems” is still relevant). Interviews have already confirmed this next game is focusing HARD on Sirens. This quest was 100% put in because of that. There’s no way they’d throw this in otherwise, it doesn’t make sense. 

This entire DLC was the devs’ way of ensuring we were prepared for bl3, and that means for (7? I’m pretty sure this dlc takes place about a year after the end of bl2) approximately 6 years, Tannis has access to some of the most in-depth Siren information. Ever. Remember, before BL2, Jack was smashed in the face with a Vault symbol and apparently got a shitload of information from it before that. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if he learned some stuff about Sirens through that. He’s even the one who first confirms there are only 6 Sirens in the universe(s) afaik.

so what’s going on here? What’s Tannis going to do with all this information? We don’t really know a lot in regards to what she’s trying to study. As I understand it, she’s mainly focusing on Eridians in general, so her study of Sirens makes sense. We know she had a large stake in what happened to the Vault Key in the DLC (she’s very upset Mordy is just leaving his drinks in it). We know she’s extremely interested in what happened to Typhon Deleon (which I don’t think is coincidence considering what her focus is).

I want to believe she’s trying to use this information to simply discover more about the Eridians. I don’t wanna believe she’s going to use it for evil. Her introduction as a Dahl scientist stranded on Pandora seems super legit, so I can’t see her being of alien origin. I suppose I could see her teaming up with something of alien origin trying to find out where the Eridian homeworld is, since she’s wildly smart and I imagine would have at least 1 or 2 leads (concerning the Vault Symbol on a slab/floor tile we see in her infirmary on Sanc-III). 

Also, I know it is largely assumed the CoV thing is a broadcast from the twins to their cult, but that just… doesn’t make sense to me. I’m gonna go wildly crazy here and suggest that the broadcast wasn’t from the CoV, but instead the Children of the Vault are another entity and the cult picked up the name after hearing said Broadcast. I mean, seriously, do you really think a bunch of crazed lunatics are going to want to call themselves “Children of the Vault” without a larger influence?

HEAR ME OUT.

okay, I do not play battleborn. at all. so idk what the deal is, but looking at videos that show the morse code easter egg shows this

now i did a little looking, not a lot because I am not a fan of battleborn and my disinterest made me terribly bored BUT

this is what i think a “Varelsi” (the enemy faction of Battleborn) portal is SUPPOSED to look like: 

so, you know, there’s a difference. probably the reason it’s called “anomaly”.

And we know the code we get from those anomalies is in morse code

which translates to this (thanks reddit. It’s been 2 years since I upvoted stuff on that post, btw. time sure does fly.)

And y’know, I JUST did a analysis trailer of We are Mayhem, and you know what was in that trailer? Maya’s Phaselock.

let’s take a look at that, shall we?

so we know that Maya’s ability “allows her to lock an enemy in another dimension, preventing the desired target from fighting back for a short while”. Do you see where I’m going with this, yet?

yeah.

Compare the phaselock to the easter egg “anomalies”, they’re both cracks in our dimension, though Maya’s is white, and they’re both cast against a space-like/starry background which I think is our look into the “other dimension” her description mentions.

in fact, let’s look at some other Sirens we know of, more specifically, let’s take a look at Amara’s arms

I think that’s all the same “stuff”. idk what to call it. just… “STUFF”. yeaaaahhhh.

Anyway, this is all a convoluted way for me to say that I think that morse code message we hear is coming from that dimension that Maya can open a rip to. She uses it to imprison people? yeah. Probably the same dimension Lilith can phasewalk through. idk the deal with Amara’s arms but I assume they take their power from that dimension as well. I imagine that dimension is also tied to the Vaults. We know the Traveller “teleports” places, I imagine he’s doing something similar to Lilith: jumping into the other dimension then quickly jumping out. (okay yes i just likened Lilith to Kurt Wagner, whatcha gonna do?).

Consider the idea that Sirens are this dimension’s connection with the other dimension we see within their powers, and that’s where this message is coming from. I think that’s why Sirens can be used to charge the Vault Keys. But wait, there’s more.

(Sorry i totally lost my train of thought, i got SUPER distracted.)

I think Eleseer (the inside of Elpis in TPS) is connected to this dimension as well, or traveled to through this dimension.

the holograms of planets, the stars- I mean the whole thing looks like a giant void, and I get it, the moon is HUGE, but you think at some point you’d see the outside crust or something. You’d think at some point the mines would’ve caused the planet to cave in or something. Fuck, even the Crackening, which we all kinda know was caused by the Eridians, you think that would have shown this GIANT cavern inside the moon.

I think the whole above bit, Tycho’s Ribs, the huge Eridian base thing, is powering a large rift or something into another dimension, the dimension that the TPS VHs drop into on that giant platform with the cutscene and everything. I mean…

COME ON. is all that seriously inside a MOON?

there is even a bubble shield surrounding the platform they get off on, something very similar to the shields Axton has around his turrets. I think that may be to prevent the atmosphere from escaping, anything visiting from getting out, or, possibly, things from getting in. If this actually is somewhere out in space/another dimension, then it would make sense that they’d wanna keep their magical floating future-seeing platform from getting knocked by asteroids or raided by other aliens

Okay, and I know the “planets” all appear as holograms, but look at that galaxy. the nebulas. Those aren’t holograms. 

Eridian writing on the outside ring there? Oh boy bl3 theories here i come. That’s looking very familiar right about now after my We are Mayhem analysis.

cloud/nebula. clearly not a hologram

there’s even a fucking galaxy down here like… Yeah guys I don’t think we’re on Elpis anymore

Even the entrance to the Vault which… y’know isn’t that normal Vault-y shape is a giant hunk of eridium with a huge crack in it. 

and when you touch it, what happens??

You teleport inside, and it even plays the same animation as when Lilith teleports you during the Hunting the Firehawk quest. 

It probably looks less organic than the one in bl2 because this is powered by Eridian machinery, but it’s definitely the same concept- you fade back in all purple and shit

then this asshole shows up out of an actual Vault symbol, which makes me wonder why we traveled all this way and if Vault symbols are actually gateways somewhere and by walking inside one (unlike every other VH), Rhys and Fiona really DID get teleported somewhere

also, a little off-topic but does anyone else think this is what the eridians are gonna look like?

just… the face after u shoot the mask off.

how did i get to this topic…??

oh yeah Tannis LMAO SORRY

Okay POINT BEING

I think that the easter egg message is coming from whatever dimension all of THIS is. If it IS the Eridians, then maybe humans (or the Vault Hunters- the Crimson Raiders?) are the “Children of the Vault” and the Cult took the name because they heard the broadcast. Because as it stands, “Do not open the Vaults” just doesn’t make sense coming from the Calypsos’s perspective. They WANT the Vaults opened. You know who doesn’t? The Eridians.

So the line: “Tannis is not what she seems” then wouldn’t be coming from the CoV, but instead from an outsider watching us. You know… someone getting info to whoever is in that dimension… like the Watcher maybe? Or maybe the Eridians are just watching us in general, like they can see things from their dimension or homeworld or whatever. They had the Elpis Vault that could see the future, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they could see the present anywhere. 

Anyway

TANNIS

I don’t want her to be evil is what I’m trying to say. but you know what? I didn’t even get into the MEAT AND POTATOES of this post yet

here we go

you know this thing? It’s from the dev trailer for bl3. looks pretty similar to the above stuff, doesn’t it? And it’s powered by electricity, because if you watch the tubes get filled up/emptied out in the video. I’m still trying to determine if the footage was reversed or not because the lava (?? I think???) outside the window is falling upwards when it’s playing normally.

So you might be wondering? Why bring this up?

Cause I think it’s possible Tannis has built this using the blueprints she got from Angel’s prototype room. and why is THAT important? 

Well, hear me out.

this is what a digistructer looks like. Imagine 2 of those facing opposite each other, supercharged by electricity

Now we know Tannis has built Digistruct peak to create fake enemies for us, but maybe those don’t last long/aren’t stable enough

and yeah I think you know where I’m going with this

I think it’s possible Tannis has somehow created a machine to digistruct Angel for us.

and you might be wondering

“why the fuck would she do that”

BECAUSE

IF YOU LOOK AT THE CONTROL PANEL WHILE YOU’RE UPLOADING THINGS FOR TANNIS

YOU CAN SEE ANGEL’S FACE APPEAR FOR A SPLIT SECOND

which only ever happened while she was speaking using her powers!!! I don’t even think you actually could “record” that because that’s her using her Siren powers to talk in your brain!! It’s not a part of your ECHO or a tv screen, that’s literally part of her powers

so what if Angel uploaded herself into Helios, then when AI Jack came barging in she had to hide somewhere she wouldn’t be found/overwritten by him

and please tell me if I’m wrong, i’ve been staring at a computer screen all day/night

but that looks like a body to me. You can see the left arm on the right, then a torso, then another arm slightly behind that

even the electric bursts coming out of them create the shape of a body standing there. I can very clearly see the hand/thigh/waist on the bottom and the shoulders/opening to a shirt? on top there

idk lmao. I’m trying my best to explain why her actress would tweet a picture of her with no context and then PIN it to her twitter page

why britanni. whyyy

[eienshi09]

Reconnecting with Final Fantasy III

Finally we get to a game I've played before! Well... can I even still say that I've played it if I remember pretty much nothing about the game? Now, given my poor memory of... pretty much anything in general, let alone a game I've played once 15 years ago, that isn't necessarily a bad mark on game. But one can argue it isn't really a good sign for the game either. Anyways, it's kinda weird playing it again now because any "nostalgia" I'm feeling for it is more due to the Crystal Tower Alliance Raids in Final Fantasy XIV than FFIII itself. Like, just starting the game, when the theme music for the beginning area hit, I immediately thought, "Oh, I know this! It's 'Hubris'!" So that was a treat. Otherwise, I vaguely remember some broad strokes of the game, both story-wise and systems-wise. And so far, it's been a bit of fun when I recall something, whether from my initial playthrough or from some bit of lore I got from FFXIV.

Like, I remember the Warrior of Lights' names, the Cloud of Darkness, and there being two worlds but not Xande (whom I know more from XIV at this point) or much of any of the connecting narrative. And I remember the job system, that combat is turn-based, and that stats are tied to the class you use rather than the character itself, but not the exact jobs on offer or the fact that the game still uses a spell charge system rather than an MP pool. I do remember there being lots of ships. I don't remember this guest party member mechanic, but it's neat! ...in theory.

Regardless of what I remember or not about Final Fantasy III, what I feel about it now is why I'm writing these, and it's been kind of a slow start. At least, compared to Final Fantasy II's much more intriguing opening, the tried-and-tired "you are just some dude that was chosen to be a Warrior of Light to fight back the encroaching Darkness" plot is somewhat of a step back as far as introduction sequences go. But the game does try and give each of your four party members a name, some personality, and a bit of backstory; all of which are cute along with their individual character designs, especially in the sorta-chibi-3D-model art style the game uses. And there's just enough plot to keep you going along.

Systems-wise, I feel it's also a little slow to start. You get your first batch of jobs after a short intro dungeon, a bit of story to meet your party members, and another short dungeon. Could probably be there in about 30 minutes if you rush it, but I got there in about an hour to hour-and-a-half, taking my time to explore around and pick up chests. Either of the two dungeons could have been shorter still or even cut entirely because by the time you've reached the first boss, it will have been more than enough time to familiarize yourself with the basics of the battle and other systems. Because the Freelancer class is so limited, it feels like your characters aren't really growing until you get the first batch of jobs.

I do remember finishing the game when I played it back in 2007, and I do remember enjoying my time with it. Granted, I had infinitely more free time and infinitely less other games available to me then. But now 15 years later, it's still pretty fun even if I'm finding more bits of the game to grumble about that my teenage self would have not given a second thought.

[eroshiyda]

Wild Theory

Today is Undertale's second anniversary. I love Undertale so much that it has been my hyperfixation ever since I played it at the beginning of 2016. I joined tumblr in May of 2016 because I saw that a lot of people were talking about Undertale on here. This is the origin of this particular blog. And now, I have planned a Special Post(TM) for this occasion.

(Warning: this post is extraordinarily long - as in, over five thousand words long - and contains many spoilers for the game. I have hidden it under a "Read More" so that it doesn't clog up people's dashboards.)

I. Preface and Special Thanks

First, though, I must tell you a story. It all started when I made my husband play Undertale, because it was so great when I played it, and I wanted to see how he would play the game. Which route would he take? (He ended up doing True Pacifist after killing the first Froggit and feeling so guilty about it that he reset). Once he finished, I asked him who his favorite character was.

His answer? Papyrus.

"Papyrus?" I thought. "But why?" I felt like he was probably the most forgettable character in the entire game, perhaps apart from Sans (note: I have never done a Bad Time route). What was it about this goofy skeleton that made my husband like him so much? Was it his malapropisms? Was it the fact that he can somehow shout in whispers? Was it his Ghost costume... er, "battle body?"

So, I decided to do some research. I started searching "Papyrus from Undertale" on Google, and most of the results I found came from the wonderful, well-functioning website which we all know and love as tumblr. He was buzzing, and it seemed a lot of people felt about Papyrus the same way my husband did.

I made an account, and the first thing I posted was a Very Profound Theory(TM) which was met with some disagreement. That "theory" is that Papyrus is Sans' older brother, and not the other way around. (Keep in mind that, at this point, I had not seen Toby Fox's tweet about Papyrus calling Sans the common word for "older brother" in Japanese, which was actually an allusion to the fact that he was translating Undertale into Japanese, but I digress.)

The reasons I posted were simple enough, and if you really want to, you can even go back and read it for yourself. I'll link to it here for you also:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/144298607667/papyrus-is-the-older-brother [link to my first tumblr post, "Papyrus is the older brother."]

This just came from my personal experience as an older sibling, and a closer analysis of Papyrus' character during my second True Pacifist playthrough.

Through this "theory" post (and I really am hesitant to call it a "theory" now, because it's so mundane), I met a lot of friends who were also theorizing about Papyrus. However, this is not the theory that I wanted to talk about.

As I gained more and more tumblr friends who were also very interested in Undertale (mostly Papyrus in particular), I started seeing more posts about all of the weird things he does and says. Not "weird" in a derogatory way, I just mean weird as in "odd," "unusual," "eccentric," and sometimes "nonsensical" or "unpredictable."

@undertale-encyclopedia did a really good job of compiling each of the canon strings of text, so I will mainly be using that blog as a resource for my canon information (since I never played anything but True Pacifist, and therefore do not have my own screenshots of certain bits of dialogue from other routes).

https://undertale-encyclopedia.tumblr.com/ [link to undertale-encyclopedia's tumblr blog]

@jewels336 (now deactivated) also provided a masterpost for which I am eternally grateful, as even though I had seen all of the posts (and even participated in a lot of them) compiled within that master list, they were now in a very neat and accessible place. I will be referencing those posts as well, as they were a springboard for many parts of this theory, and utilize canon information. Here it is:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/151713943787/compilation-of-mysterious-papyrus-things [link to jewels336's tumblr post, "Papyrus Masterpost!"]

@uselessundertalefacts (formerly @uselessshoelacefacts), @lefthanded-sans, and @papyrus-knows also indulged a lot of questions I originally had about Papyrus. They all made some really good analysis posts about the skelebros in general as well, so you should definitely go and check out their blogs, too.

I would also like to thank each and every one of my followers/mutuals/friends, who let me talk about Papyrus with them at some point or another. I am very much aware of how wild my theories are, so thank you for putting up with me.

Right. *deep breath* Now onto the theory.

 II. Introduction

If you have not yet read @napstamuse's "Goner Theory Part III: Skeletons in the Closet," I very strongly urge you to do so right now. Here it is, for your convenience:

http://napstamuse.tumblr.com/post/139568679252/goner-theory-part-3-skeletons-in-the-closet [link to napstamuse's tumblr post, "Goner Theory Part III"]

This is the actual post which made me join tumblr, and ultimately it led me to make up this theory. In summary, it points out how little we know about Papyrus, despite his talking incessantly. In fact, it even mentions at the very end that there's only one other character in Undertale of whom we know about as little: Mystery Man.

[picture of Mystery Man sprite]

With a name like "Mystery Man," one would expect at least some intrigue surrounding such a character. We know what Mystery Man looks like:

[picture of Mystery Man, surprised]

We know what font he speaks in:

[picture of Entry 17 in capitalized Wing Dings font with no asterisks]

And are therefore able to conclude that he was a Royal Scientist, as the only other person to write "entries" is Doctor Alphys, the current Royal Scientist of the Underground:

[picture of Doctor Alphys' entries in normal font, with standard asterisks at the beginning]

and that his name was probably Wing Dings, or W. D. for short:

[picture of one of Gaster’s followers referring to him as “Doctor W. D. Gaster”]

But what does this have to do with Papyrus? Well, let's start with what we know about Papyrus.

We know that he looks like this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a cape, battle body, and hotpants]

sometimes this:

[picture of Date Papyrus with MTT-brand Basketball Shoulder Pads, a shirt which says "Cool Dude" in all caps, shorts, and sneakers]

or even this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a sweatband over his head and a shirt which says, "Jog Boy" on it]

We know that he likes puzzles:

[picture of Papyrus standing next to and talking about one of his puzzles]

We know that he's a good artist:

[picture of Papyrus talking about how he painted the Snowdin bridge over a rock formation]

We know that his name is Papyrus (obviously) because he is referred to as such, and talks in this font:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Nyeh heh heh!" in capitalized Papyrus font, also without the standard asterisks]

And... that's it.

The rest of this theory involves putting these clues together. Ready?

 III. Appearance

Let's start with Papyrus' appearance. He's pretty tall, compared to his brother Sans. According to this chart by @kitty4915, he's approximately 6 feet and 8 inches tall:

https://kitty4915.tumblr.com/post/138141358237/yo-undertale-heights-go [link to kitty4915's tumblr post, "YO UNDERTALE HEIGHTS GO!!"]

[picture of Papyrus next to a door]

A bit strange for brothers, don't you think? One of them definitely got the short end of the stick. *badum-tss*

[picture of Sans Height Chart, 4'8"]

Anyway, I've seen it speculated that Papyrus and Sans are not "brothers" in a literal sense, but they are very close friends who sometimes call each other "brother." However, I do not think this is quite the case.

Sometimes I forget that half-siblings are a thing that exist. Half-siblings are siblings who share only one parent. How is this relevant to the skelebros? Well, @zarla-s has come up with an AU called Handplates which has one possible explanation for this: the skelebros technically share one parent, because they are both cloned from the same person. That person is, you guessed it: Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster.

http://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the [link to @zarla-s' "Handplates" AU Index post on tumblr]

Speaking of Mystery Man, we haven't analyzed his appearance next to Papyrus':

[pictures of Mystery Man sprite and Papyrus sprite next to each other]

It is said that the eyes are windows into the soul. Something people notice right away about Gaster's eyes are that they are extremely asymmetrical. His left eye is much bigger than his right.

Papyrus, on the other hand... well, both of his eyes are small, but if you look closely, you'll see that his left eye is smaller than his right, even when it is facing slightly away from view, like in his battle and date sprites. And it's more noticeable from the front, like in his overworld sprite, pictured above.

Ok, so they're kinda-sorta mirror images of each other, nothing too special. Could be a coincidence. Right? Well, sure, if this was the only thing they had in common, it could definitely be a coincidence. Never mind the fact that Papyrus seems to be raising his right eyebrow and squinting his left eye, almost as if he's compensating for them naturally being the other way around...

But why stop there? The other thing to note is that both of these skeletons are tall. Very, very tall. We already know how tall Papyrus is, but how big is Mystery Man?

[picture of Gaster Height Chart]

Wow, 7 feet and 6 inches! That is really tall. Even taller than Papyrus (by ten inches). Cool. So, if Papyrus somehow came from Gaster, then Papyrus' extreme height would make a little more sense. But again, where does that leave Sans?

[picture of Sans shrugging]

One could argue that Sans has inherited Gaster's, shall we say, roundness. That makes a little less sense, as we are not even sure exactly how "round" Gaster even is. His black "cloak" (not even sure if it's really a cloak canonically) does not necessarily represent Gaster's bodily shape - as it could be flowy, melted, or otherwise augmented by some magical law of physics. And besides, this theory doesn't really have anything to do with Sans.

 IV. But Something's Missing...

However, even I must admit that something isn't quite right about the height discrepancy between Gaster and Papyrus, either. With Gaster being nearly a whole foot taller, it seems as though there's something... missing.

And, even if you take away that extra ten inches from Gaster's height, there's something else which Gaster has which Papyrus, at first glance, seems to not have.

Refer back to the pictures of Gaster and Papyrus next to each other. See the holes in Gaster's hands? And Papyrus'... well, they're covered in gloves, so I guess we'll never know. Darn.

[pictures of Papyrus saying “I know it like the back of my hand… which, since I’m always wearing gloves… I don’t know anything about!!”]

Thanks, Papyrus.

But, there is still something else missing, and this thing has nothing to do with appearances. Of course, I am referring to Wing Dings' experience as the Royal Scientist of the Underground.

Gaster even has "followers" who consider him to be important in the Underground's history long after he is gone. You can find them with certain Fun values:

[pictures of Gaster's three followers]

In contrast, Papyrus holds no important status in the Underground (unless all of the other boss monsters are killed, leaving Papyrus to take King Asgore's place in the end). But he *does* want to join the Royal Guard.

[pictures of Papyrus saying that his “lifelong dream” is joining the Royal Guard]

Why? Well, for starters, he is friends with the Royal Guard Dogs in Snowdin (which is his place of residence), as well as the Captain of the Royal Guard herself, Undyne.

[picture of Undyne]

Undyne got her job because she asked King Asgore "Fluffybuns" Dreemurr to train her in combat. They subsequently became close, and she was so well-trained that she was basically a shoo-in. (This is all canon information which you can obtain by going on the "friendship date" with Undyne in True Pacifist.) But this theory isn't about her, either.

So again, what is Papyrus' motivation for wanting to join the Royal Guard? He's not close with the King. In fact, Papyrus is never mentioned by anyone other than Flowey (who knows everything, but we'll get to that later), Undyne (arguably his only friend), and Sans (his own brother); and, at the very end of True Pacifist route, by both Toriel (who had only heard his name because of Sans) and Monster Kid. No one really knows who he is, so the reason for his wanting to join couldn't possibly be his connections.

Could it be that he wants to FIGHT? Considering that he can't even bring himself to hit Frisk in any run (regardless of how many monsters they have killed in the Underground upon meeting Papyrus), I would say that this is also rather unlikely.

Luckily for us, Papyrus hints at what it is he is really after:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Powerful, Popular, Prestigious!"]

He wants to be powerful, popular, and prestigious. Sounds fair enough, right?

Not so fast. Who in the Royal Guard is powerful, popular, and prestigious? Certainly the Royal Guard Dogs are not. And, while Undyne is undoubtedly powerful, I wouldn't really call her "popular," except with Monster Kid (and Doctor Alphys, but that is a whole other story). But Monster Kid is exactly that: a kid. A child.

[picture of Monster Kid]

Papyrus wants a child to look up to him. Part of the reason he dresses up and acts like a super hero is to appeal to children and give them a role model to emulate. This is also evident in the way he treats Frisk, who is also a child: with open, accepting arms, ready to embrace them and be their friend.

[picture of Papyrus saying "I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!"]

But let's tie this back into Mystery Man, shall we? The previous Royal Scientist definitely had a connection with the monarchy as well (which, as we've already established, Papyrus did not have). How else would he have gotten such an esteemed position? He may have also been extraordinarily intelligent, much like the current Royal Scientist, Doctor Alphys:

[picture of Papyrus explaining to Frisk that Doctor Alphys made an advanced puzzle]

[picture of Bratty & Catty telling Frisk that Doctor Alphys made Mettaton's robot body]

but, ultimately, W. D. Gaster met with an untimely death after having an accident of sorts:

[picture of one of Gaster's followers saying that "he fell into his creation"]

which implies that he was a savant, or someone who could be considered "book smart," but also absent-minded and accident prone. That sort of reminds me of someone else...

[pictures of Papyrus explaining Alphys' puzzle]

[picture of Papyrus getting shocked]

Anyway, there appears to be something *else* missing, on top of everything we've just covered.

 V. Memories

Papyrus seems to have a... sketchy memory, to say the very least. At first glance, he appears to retain nothing:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Really though!!! That human!!! Do I know that person?” Hint: the answer is "yes."]

but, upon closer inspection, we learn that he retains quite a lot (as evidenced by his telling Frisk seemingly random trivia about nearly each and every room in the Underground over the phone):

[picture of Papyrus saying, "I have a photographic memory for phone calls!"]

and, upon even closer inspection, we see that he actually can't even remember commonly-used idioms:

[picture of Papyrus using the malapropism "smells like the moon" instead of "odor the moon," which comes from the idiom "over the moon," as pointed out by @eheufeles]

then, upon microscopic inspection, we see that there's something definitely off with Papyrus' memory. He literally remembers and even references things which do not exist (or have yet to happen) in current timelines:

[pictures of Papyrus alluding to Mettaton's EX forme – specifically, his “bishonen eyes” – while Mettaton is still in Box forme, and Undyne inadvertently confirming that his EX forme has not yet been revealed, by replying “He doesn’t even HAVE eyes!!!”]

[picture of Papyrus talking about a "Laborador... y?" which is a reference to both Endogeny and the True Lab, yet to be discovered]

[pictures of Papyrus telling Frisk that he will talk to them again, even though this has not yet been confirmed at this point in the True Pacifist route]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk that they "can do a little better!" even after killing every monster they have encountered up until this point]

So... what gives? How can he remember things that have not yet happened, unless he is, say, perhaps, a time traveler?

 VI. Time-Space Shenanigans

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, eroshiyda, Sans already told us that Flowey gives Papyrus predictions, so this discussion is all meaningless!"

Ok, but we also know that Sans has the ability to travel across time-space in strange ways; namely, he teleports. It's not exactly an easter egg or anything, as it's too extraordinary a phenomenon to ignore.

[pictures of Sans appearing in two places in the same room at the same time]

[picture of Papyrus asking Sans if he is, in fact, in two places at once; walking into the next room will prove that this conjecture is correct]

But the implication is that Papyrus has the same ability (because they are brothers), or at least a very similar one, as Sans' ability comes as no surprise to Papyrus.

[pictures of Papyrus asking Frisk, "Is Sans pranking you across time and space? I hate it when he does that!"]

And, in fact, there is alternate evidence of their similar abilities:

[picture of Papyrus battle in Pacifist or Neutral routes, showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of Sans battle, exclusive to Bad Time route, also showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of the narrator saying, “Papyrus prepares a non-bone attack, then spending a minute fixing his mistake"]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk "Had I only used my Special Attack, you surely would have been blasted to..." with a forlorn look on his face. This only happens when you abandon a Bad Time route by sparing Papyrus.]

[picture of Sans using Gaster Blasters during his battle with Frisk. This is only available during a Bad Time route, killing everyone else – Papyrus included.]

Of course, you cannot possibly see them both in action during the same route (Toby Fox, you clever dog), so it is difficult to compare the two without going back to play Undertale in an entirely different way than before. So, this may count as an easter egg.

What is, perhaps, a bit more of an easter egg (at least, according to my Papyrus-fixated tumblr friends), is the fact that Papyrus can - and does - manipulate time-space in his own ways:

[gif of Papyrus literally walking on air over Frisk]

[gif of Papyrus quickly transposing off of the screen without moving his body otherwise]

So, who's to say that he doesn't travel across time as well?

[picture of Gaster's first follower saying that "he shattered across time and space"]

 VII. Memories, Revisited

Remember that "memory" thing I pointed out? Well, I'd like to come back to that for a bit.

There are two things which I have noticed, and I get why they've been met with resistance in the past when I brought them up. But, keep in mind all of the evidence listed above and the things we've talked about thus far. As I said, I know that these are wild theories, but please bear with me for just a little bit longer.

Ok, here's the first thing I've noticed:

[picture of Papyrus leaving Frisk with 1 HP so that he can capture them after battle; this happens no matter what, if you lose to him]

[pictures of Papyrus referring to the battle as “a terrible memory" over the phone]

[pictures describing the Bad Memory item, found in the True Lab; it depletes exactly 1 HP when consumed by Frisk]

And the second thing is this:

[pictures of Papyrus immediately recognizing Frisk as a human during a Bad Time route]

[picture of Papyrus not immediately recognizing Frisk as a human during a Pacifist route; he asks Sans if Frisk is human]

Something about HP, bad memories, and a human... Now, how could this possibly be connected?

Well, I'm afraid that I have no more canon evidence to support my theory, so now we are plunging deep into headcanon territory from here on out. If this upsets you, please just stop reading now. I'd rather you form your own headcanon, given the canon evidence so far. Perhaps yours will be more satisfying than mine is, because it's about to get kind of dark. In fact, I would hide it under another "Read More" if I could. But I can't, so I'll give you a break.

Last chance to turn back now.

By continuing to read this, you are submitting yourself to probably the most wild and ridiculous theory that has ever been made in the Undertale fandom.

 VIII. Conclusion

If you're still reading this, I must confess that I do have one, tiny piece of canon information to support this theory, which has seemingly nothing to do with anything I just talked about. Here it is:

[picture of a silhouette of Toriel standing next to a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption "Long ago, humans and monsters lived in peace."]

[picture of a silhouette of Asgore fighting with a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption "They were at war."]

The king and queen were on the surface during the Monster and Human War. This implies that they knew humans at some point before they were sealed away Underground when the humans won.

So... what if Gaster, their Royal Scientist before Doctor Alphys, was a human?

A stretch, I know. But here is another tiny piece of evidence to consider:

[picture of Gaster's second follower saying, "I'm holding a piece of him right here." In their hand is what looks like a human face]

Our Mystery Man once had a face which looks strikingly human. Of course, by the time we see him, he looks more like a skeleton with two large fractures on either side of his skull. So, it makes sense that his face went missing.

Which reminds me of this:

[picture of Papyrus realizing that he doesn't have ears]

[pictures of Papyrus referencing his “hair” and “skin,” neither of which he has, since he is a skeleton]

The only reason that Papyrus could possibly "realize" that he has neither ears nor hair is if he had had them before, and only now realizes that they are gone. Remember: Papyrus has a sketchy memory. Something definitely messed with it at somewhere along the way. But what?

Well, remember the aforementioned "accident" which Royal Scientist W. D. Gaster had? I would think that being spread across time-space would be... disorienting, if you will. Parts could go missing. Pieces. Memories, physicalities, any of it.

"Wait," I hear you thinking. "Surely you're not trying to suggest that Papyrus is Gaster! That would be ludicrous!"

Wouldn't it?

"They have such different personalities!"

Don't they?

"Papyrus could never be the Royal Scientist!"

Are you sure about that?

Let me explain to you how I think it happened.

(This is the dark part. I decided not to dive right into it because I wanted to give you time to adjust to my wild theory. Once you are comfortable with the headcanon of Papyrus being Gaster, please proceed. If this is against your sensibilities, I won't hold it against you at all. You are free to stop reading this post at any time.)

Gaster was a human who lived on the surface like everyone else. He was a friend to monsters before the war. He even knew Asgore and Toriel, although Toriel took to him a bit better. Once the war broke out, everyone had to choose a side. The line was drawn between monsters and humans. Only W. D. Gaster decided to cross that line.

When the monsters were sealed Underground by a magical barrier after the humans won the war, Gaster ended up being sealed with them. Asgore and Toriel were elected the King and Queen of the Underground, and they elected Gaster to be Royal Scientist.

The magical barrier transformed Gaster as time passed. He became immortal, like a monster. He started to adopt their mannerisms, and even started to look like a monster. As his body aged, soon all that was left of him was his skeleton. Without vocal cords, he could only speak in a strange font: Wing Dings. This earned him his nickname.

Then, "The Accident" happened. I don't know exactly how, or when, but we all know that it happened. Gaster "fell into his creation," and "was shattered across time and space," according to his followers. A new Royal Scientist was needed.

In the meantime, two skeleton brothers randomly showed up in Snowdin. We get this information from an NPC in Snowdin:

[pictures of the Snowdin Shopkeeper telling Frisk that Sans and Papyrus "just showed up one day"]

Interesting.

 IX. Supporting Evidence/More Headcanons

But how did the Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster become the Papyrus we all know and love?

(trigger warnings: mentions of violence and child death)

Let's go back to canon evidence, shall we? We are far enough into the headcanon realm that I do think it's time for some canon reminders:

[Papyrus, looking slightly worried as he says "LOVE." in all capital letters, which holds a very different meaning than lowercase "love" in the game of Undertale]

I know that Papyrus speaks in all caps all of the time, but notice how the word is separated from the rest of the sentence (even though there was definitely room to fit it in with the rest), as if to draw your attention to the word. Also, look at the expression on his face. Doesn't that look like someone who knows what LOVE stands for "Level Of ViolencE," as Sans points out to us in Judgment Hall? Because it sure does to me. Also, remember how Papyrus definitely knows that Frisk is a human during the Bad Time route, but not during a Pacifist route? Why would Papyrus make the connection between humans and violence?

There are two explanations for this.

The first is that a few sub-conscious memories of his time as Gaster were somehow retained; that is, he remembers the war between humans and monsters, much like how he remembers having hair and ears. So that is one possible explanation.

The second is perhaps the wildest headcanon you will ever hear about Papyrus.

Ready?

Ok.

*sighs*

Papyrus... has killed before.

"WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY? HOW?" you ask. Well, here's my theory.

Papyrus, being newly incarnated from Gaster (alongside his brother, Sans), doesn't really know much about the world around him. He has memories missing. Which ones, we're not sure of, but he's definitely... not all there, if you get me.

Now is a good time for to mention Papyrus' stats versus Sans' before I continue with this story. Have you ever noticed how Papyrus is up to twenty times stronger than Sans?

[picture of Papyrus' Pacifist stats: 20 Attack, 20 Defense]

[picture of Sans' stats: 1 Attack, 1 Defense, with the caption "*The easiest enemy."]

But Papyrus and Sans are brothers, so we would expect that they would have the same stats, which clearly isn't so.

Tying this back into what we know about LOVE, we know that with every increase of LOVE, one receives an increase in stats as well:

[pictures showing LV 1 stats, and then saying, "Your LOVE increased!” to LV 2, and the HP stat going up.]

So, the only logical explanation is that Papyrus received an increase in stats because he received an increase in LOVE. And how did this happen?

Think about the Items which Frisk finds in Snowdin: the Tough Glove and the Manly Bandanna.

[pictures of Frisk acquiring Tough Glove and Manly Bandanna in Snowdin]

To which child did they belong? The Orange SOUL.

[picture of the Photoshop Flowey battle, depicting the Orange SOUL in the box and the Tough Glove being used as a weapon against Frisk]

Which trait is attributed with Orange? Bravery.

[picture of the Ball Game in Snowdin showing the word "bravery" in orange]

What happens when an attack is Orange? You have to keep moving.

[picture of Doctor Alphys explaining how orange lasers work in Hotland]

From this canon evidence, what can we infer the Orange SOUL kid's gimmick was, if they were "brave?"

I'll tell you: they kept moving forward, no matter what.

Now, what color magic does Papyrus have?

[picture of Papyrus using blue-colored bones in battle]

What does Blue magic do? It requires you to *stand still,* or else you will get hurt.

[picture of Doggo using blue magic on Frisk's motionless, red SOUL and doing no damage]

Tell me, how is a kid who is incapable of standing still going to survive Blue magic? Simple: they won't.

I even wrote a short ficlet about it here:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/152526581522/orange-soul-headcanon [link to my tumblr post, "Orange SOUL headcanon"]

Of course, I'd like to think that it was just an accident. But, accident or not, Papyrus killed a human child, which was enough to raise his stats to twenty times higher than what they were originally. (Remember that humans are far more powerful than monsters, so they would be worth a lot of EXecution Points.)

This is why Papyrus knows exactly how much to lower his stats during the Bad Time route. He's not trying to kill Frisk, and he knows how much force is needed for that.

[picture of Papyrus lowering his stats to 5 ATK, 5 DEF in a Bad Time route]

That's also how he knows that Frisk is going down the "wrong path" by moving closer to Papyrus in a threatening way.

[pictures of Papyrus lecturing Frisk to stop moving before battling them during a Bad Time route]

Papyrus has experience battling at least one human child. And Papyrus didn't lose, either; otherwise, he wouldn't be around anymore by the time Frisk arrives, right?

But this is why his character development is so important to the story of Undertale. This is why he's (arguably) Flowey's favorite monster in the whole Underground, long after Flowey grew tired of torturing everyone else:

[picture of Flowey at the end of a Neutral route saying, "Took me a long time to get bored of that one." Yes, he is referring to Papyrus.]

Because even after Papyrus committed the most heinous atrocity any monster could ever think of, he changed. He resolved to never FIGHT again. He solemnly swore to only use MERCY, no matter how dire the circumstances got. Even after all he had been through, he proved that people can change their ways.

[picture of Papyrus saying, "Everyone can be a great person if they try!"]

It's all about the choices you make. Because accidents happen, everyone makes mistakes, but ultimately you have a choice; do you keep going down the path of least resistance, or do you learn and grow from it enough to do the right thing, no matter how hard it gets?

 X. Afterword

Thanks for reading this theory all the way through! You're a real trooper!

I know that this is a topic that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and I probably left out a lot of discrepancies, but I really did have fun working on this for the past year and a half. I hope you had fun reading it, too.

As I was finishing up this project, the Japanese version of Undertale came out. Some of the information gathered from gleaning nuances in the Japanese text conflicts with this theory, while some supports it; but I just didn’t get a chance to include any of it, to my dismay.

By the time you see this post, I most likely will have left tumblr. So, I cannot accept any of your thoughts about it, unfortunately.

However, if you would like to do even further research of your own, I have left behind this blog as an archive, along with another, super-secret blog I used to reblog my sources. The url is @papyrus-is-gaster. Here’s the link to it:

https://papyrus-is-gaster.tumblr.com/ [link to one of my sideblogs, called papyrus-is-gaster]

I'd like to think of this as my sort of "tumblr dissertation," and I've officially graduated and am ready to move on to other things. Undertale was a fun phase in my life, but all phases come to an end.

And, with that, this post has also (finally) come to an end as well.

Just remember,

[picture of Papyrus saying "Still! I believe in you!"]

The Great Papyrus believes in you, and so do I.

[papyrus-is-gaster-blog]

wild theory

(Note: this version is cross-posted from my main blog, @eroshiyda [link: https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com], so please reblog it from there, if you can.]

Today is Undertale's second anniversary. I love Undertale so much that it has been my hyperfixation ever since I played it at the beginning of 2016. I joined tumblr in May of 2016 because I saw that a lot of people were talking about Undertale on here. This is the origin of this particular blog. And now, I have planned a Special Post(TM) for this occasion.

(Warning: this post is extraordinarily long - as in, over five thousand words long - and contains many spoilers for the game. I have hidden it under a "Read More" so that it doesn't clog up people's dashboards.)

I. Preface and Special Thanks

First, though, I must tell you a story. It all started when I made my husband play Undertale, because it was so great when I played it, and I wanted to see how he would play the game. Which route would he take? (He ended up doing True Pacifist after killing the first Froggit and feeling so guilty about it that he reset). Once he finished, I asked him who his favorite character was.

His answer? Papyrus.

"Papyrus?" I thought. "But why?" I felt like he was probably the most forgettable character in the entire game, perhaps apart from Sans (note: I have never done a Bad Time route). What was it about this goofy skeleton that made my husband like him so much? Was it his malapropisms? Was it the fact that he can somehow shout in whispers? Was it his Ghost costume... er, "battle body?"

So, I decided to do some research. I started searching "Papyrus from Undertale" on Google, and most of the results I found came from the wonderful, well-functioning website which we all know and love as tumblr. He was buzzing, and it seemed a lot of people felt about Papyrus the same way my husband did.

I made an account, and the first thing I posted was a Very Profound Theory(TM) which was met with some disagreement. That "theory" is that Papyrus is Sans' older brother, and not the other way around. (Keep in mind that, at this point, I had not seen Toby Fox's tweet about Papyrus calling Sans the common word for "older brother" in Japanese, which was actually an allusion to the fact that he was translating Undertale into Japanese, but I digress.)

The reasons I posted were simple enough, and if you really want to, you can even go back and read it for yourself. I'll link to it here for you also:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/144298607667/papyrus-is-the-older-brother [link to my first tumblr post, "Papyrus is the older brother."]

This just came from my personal experience as an older sibling, and a closer analysis of Papyrus' character during my second True Pacifist playthrough.

Through this "theory" post (and I really am hesitant to call it a "theory" now, because it's so mundane), I met a lot of friends who were also theorizing about Papyrus. However, this is not the theory that I wanted to talk about.

As I gained more and more tumblr friends who were also very interested in Undertale (mostly Papyrus in particular), I started seeing more posts about all of the weird things he does and says. Not "weird" in a derogatory way, I just mean weird as in "odd," "unusual," "eccentric," and sometimes "nonsensical" or "unpredictable."

@undertale-encyclopedia did a really good job of compiling each of the canon strings of text, so I will mainly be using that blog as a resource for my canon information (since I never played anything but True Pacifist, and therefore do not have my own screenshots of certain bits of dialogue from other routes).

https://undertale-encyclopedia.tumblr.com/ [link to undertale-encyclopedia's tumblr blog]

@jewels336 (now deactivated) also provided a masterpost for which I am eternally grateful, as even though I had seen all of the posts (and even participated in a lot of them) compiled within that master list, they were now in a very neat and accessible place. I will be referencing those posts as well, as they were a springboard for many parts of this theory, and utilize canon information. Here it is:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/151713943787/compilation-of-mysterious-papyrus-things [link to @jewels336's tumblr post, "Papyrus Masterpost!"]

@uselessundertalefacts (formerly @uselessshoelacefacts), @lefthanded-sans, and @papyrus-knows also indulged a lot of questions I originally had about Papyrus. They all made some really good analysis posts about the skelebros in general as well, so you should definitely go and check out their blogs, too.

I would also like to thank each and every one of my followers/mutuals/friends, who let me talk about Papyrus with them at some point or another. I am very much aware of how wild my theories are, so thank you for putting up with me.

Right. *deep breath* Now onto the theory.

 II. Introduction

If you have not yet read @napstamuse's "Goner Theory Part III: Skeletons in the Closet," I very strongly urge you to do so right now. Here it is, for your convenience:

http://napstamuse.tumblr.com/post/139568679252/goner-theory-part-3-skeletons-in-the-closet [link to @napstamuse's tumblr post, "Goner Theory Part III"]

This is the actual post which made me join tumblr, and ultimately it led me to make up this theory. In summary, it points out how little we know about Papyrus, despite his talking incessantly. In fact, it even mentions at the very end that there's only one other character in Undertale of whom we know about as little: Mystery Man.

With a name like "Mystery Man," one would expect at least some intrigue surrounding such a character. We know what Mystery Man looks like:

[picture of Mystery Man, surprised]

We know what font he speaks in:

[picture of Entry 17 in capitalized Wing Dings font with no asterisks]

And are therefore able to conclude that he was a Royal Scientist, as the only other person to write "entries" is Doctor Alphys, the current Royal Scientist of the Underground:

[picture of one of Doctor Alphys' entries in normal font, with standard asterisk at the beginning]

and that his name was probably Wing Dings, or W. D. for short:

[picture of one of Gaster’s followers referring to him as “Doctor W. D. Gaster”]

But what does this have to do with Papyrus? Well, let's start with what we know about Papyrus.

We know that he looks like this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a cape, battle body, and hotpants]

sometimes this:

[picture of Date Papyrus with MTT-brand Basketball Shoulder Pads, a shirt which says "Cool Dude" in all caps, shorts, and sneakers]

or even this:

[picture of Papyrus wearing a sweatband over his head and a shirt which says, "Jog Boy" on it]

We know that he likes puzzles:

[picture of Papyrus standing next to and talking about one of his puzzles]

We know that he's a good artist:

[picture of Papyrus talking about how he painted Snowdin’s bridge over a rock formation]

We know that his name is Papyrus (obviously) because he is referred to as such, and talks in this font:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Nyeh heh heh!" in capitalized Papyrus font, also without the standard asterisks]

And... that's it.

The rest of this theory involves putting these clues together. Ready?

 III. Appearance

Let's start with Papyrus' appearance. He's pretty tall, compared to his brother Sans. According to this chart by @kitty4915, he's approximately 6 feet and 8 inches tall:

https://kitty4915.tumblr.com/post/138141358237/yo-undertale-heights-go [link to @kitty4915's tumblr post, "YO UNDERTALE HEIGHTS GO!!"]

[picture of Papyrus next to a door]

A bit strange for brothers, don't you think? One of them definitely got the short end of the stick. *badum-tss*

[picture of Sans Height Chart, 4'8"]

Anyway, I've seen it speculated that Papyrus and Sans are not "brothers" in a literal sense, but they are very close friends who sometimes call each other "brother." However, I do not think this is quite the case.

Sometimes I forget that half-siblings are a thing that exist. Half-siblings are siblings who share only one parent. How is this relevant to the skelebros? Well, @zarla-s has come up with an AU called Handplates which has one possible explanation for this: the skelebros technically share one parent, because they are both cloned from the same person. That person is, you guessed it: Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster.

http://zarla-s.tumblr.com/post/139516306171/okay-i-get-a-lot-of-questions-about-what-order-the [link to @zarla-s' "Handplates" AU Index post on tumblr]

Speaking of Mystery Man, we haven't analyzed his appearance next to Papyrus':

[pictures of Mystery Man sprite and Papyrus sprite next to each other]

It is said that the eyes are windows into the soul. Something people notice right away about Gaster's eyes are that they are extremely asymmetrical. His left eye is much bigger than his right.

Papyrus, on the other hand... well, both of his eyes are small, but if you look closely, you'll see that his left eye is smaller than his right, even when it is facing slightly away from view, like in his battle and date sprites. And it's more noticeable from the front, like in his overworld sprite, pictured above.

Ok, so they're kinda-sorta mirror images of each other, nothing too special. Could be a coincidence. Right? Well, sure, if this was the only thing they had in common, it could definitely be a coincidence. Never mind the fact that Papyrus seems to be raising his right eyebrow and squinting his left eye, almost as if he's compensating for them naturally being the other way around...

But why stop there? The other thing to note is that both of these skeletons are tall. Very, very tall. We already know how tall Papyrus is, but how big is Mystery Man?

[picture of Gaster Height Chart]

 Wow, 7 feet and 6 inches! That is really tall. Even taller than Papyrus (by ten inches). Cool. So, if Papyrus somehow came from Gaster, then Papyrus' extreme height would make a little more sense. But again, where does that leave Sans?

[picture of Sans shrugging]

One could argue that Sans has inherited Gaster's, shall we say, roundness. That makes a little less sense, as we are not even sure exactly how "round" Gaster even is. His black "cloak" (not even sure if it's really a cloak canonically) does not necessarily represent Gaster's bodily shape - as it could be flowy, melted, or otherwise augmented by some magical law of physics. And besides, this theory doesn't really have anything to do with Sans.

 IV. But Something's Missing...

However, even I must admit that something isn't quite right about the height discrepancy between Gaster and Papyrus, either. With Gaster being nearly a whole foot taller, it seems as though there's something... missing.

And, even if you take away that extra ten inches from Gaster's height, there's something else which Gaster has which Papyrus, at first glance, seems to not have.

Refer back to the pictures of Gaster and Papyrus next to each other. See the holes in Gaster's hands? And Papyrus'... well, they're covered in gloves, so I guess we'll never know. Darn.

[pictures of Papyrus saying “I know it like the back of my hand… which, since I’m always wearing gloves… I don’t know anything about!!”]

Thanks, Papyrus.

But, there is still something else missing, and this thing has nothing to do with appearances. Of course, I am referring to Wing Dings' experience as the Royal Scientist of the Underground.

Gaster even has "followers" who consider him to be important in the Underground's history long after he is gone. You can find them with certain Fun values:

[pictures of Gaster's three followers]

In contrast, Papyrus holds no important status in the Underground (unless all of the other boss monsters are killed, leaving Papyrus to take King Asgore's place in the end). But he *does* want to join the Royal Guard.

[pictures of Papyrus saying that his “lifelong dream” is joining the Royal Guard]

Why? Well, for starters, he is friends with the Royal Guard Dogs in Snowdin (which is his place of residence), as well as the Captain of the Royal Guard herself, Undyne.

[picture of Undyne]

Undyne got her job because she asked King Asgore "Fluffybuns" Dreemurr to train her in combat. They subsequently became close, and she was so well-trained that she was basically a shoo-in. (This is all canon information which you can obtain by going on the "friendship date" with Undyne in True Pacifist.) But this theory isn't about her, either.

So again, what is Papyrus' motivation for wanting to join the Royal Guard? He's not close with the King. In fact, Papyrus is never mentioned by anyone other than Flowey (who knows everything, but we'll get to that later), Undyne (arguably his only friend), and Sans (his own brother); and, at the very end of True Pacifist route, by both Toriel (who had only heard his name because of Sans) and Monster Kid. No one really knows who he is, so the reason for his wanting to join couldn't possibly be his connections.

Could it be that he wants to FIGHT? Considering that he can't even bring himself to hit Frisk in any run (regardless of how many monsters they have killed in the Underground upon meeting Papyrus), I would say that this is also rather unlikely.

Luckily for us, Papyrus hints at what it is he is really after:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Powerful, Popular, Prestigious!"]

He wants to be powerful, popular, and prestigious. Sounds fair enough, right?

Not so fast. Who in the Royal Guard is powerful, popular, and prestigious? Certainly the Royal Guard Dogs are not. And, while Undyne is undoubtedly powerful, I wouldn't really call her "popular," except with Monster Kid (and Doctor Alphys, but that is a whole other story). But Monster Kid is exactly that: a kid. A child.

[picture of Monster Kid]

Papyrus wants a child to look up to him. Part of the reason he dresses up and acts like a super hero is to appeal to children and give them a role model to emulate. This is also evident in the way he treats Frisk, who is also a child: with open, accepting arms, ready to embrace them and be their friend.

[picture of Papyrus saying "I, Papyrus, welcome you with open arms!"]

But let's tie this back into Mystery Man, shall we? The previous Royal Scientist definitely had a connection with the monarchy as well (which, as we've already established, Papyrus did not have). How else would he have gotten such an esteemed position? He may have also been extraordinarily intelligent, much like the current Royal Scientist, Doctor Alphys:

[picture of Papyrus explaining to Frisk that Doctor Alphys made an advanced puzzle]

[picture of Bratty & Catty telling Frisk that Doctor Alphys made Mettaton's robot body]

but, ultimately, W. D. Gaster met with an untimely death after having an accident of sorts:

[picture of one of Gaster's followers saying that "he fell into his creation"]

which implies that he was a savant, or someone who could be considered "book smart," but also absent-minded and accident prone. That sort of reminds me of someone else...

[pictures of Papyrus explaining Alphys' puzzle]

[picture of Papyrus getting shocked]

Anyway, there appears to be something *else* missing, on top of everything we've just covered.

 V. Memories

Papyrus seems to have a... sketchy memory, to say the very least. At first glance, he appears to retain nothing:

[picture of Papyrus saying "Really though!!! That human!!! Do I know that person?” Hint: the answer is "yes."]

but, upon closer inspection, we learn that he retains quite a lot (as evidenced by his telling Frisk seemingly random trivia about nearly each and every room in the Underground over the phone):

[picture of Papyrus saying, "I have a photographic memory for phone calls!"]

and, upon even closer inspection, we see that he actually can't even remember commonly-used idioms:

[picture of Papyrus using the malapropism "smells like the moon" instead of "odor the moon," which comes from the idiom "over the moon"]

then, upon microscopic inspection, we see that there's something definitely off with Papyrus' memory. He literally remembers and even references things which do not exist (or have yet to happen) in current timelines:

[pictures of Papyrus alluding to Mettaton's EX forme – specifically, his “bishonen eyes” – while Mettaton is still in Box forme, and Undyne inadvertently confirming that his EX forme has not yet been revealed, by replying “He doesn’t even HAVE eyes!!!”]

[picture of Papyrus talking about a "Laborador... y?" which is a reference to both Endogeny and the True Lab, yet to be discovered]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk that he will talk to them again, even though this has not yet been confirmed at this point in the True Pacifist route]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk that they "can do a little better!" even after killing every monster they have encountered up until this point]

So... what gives? How can he remember things that have not yet happened, unless he is, say, perhaps, a time traveler?

 VI. Time-Space Shenanigans

Now, I know what you're thinking: "But, eroshiyda, Sans already told us that Flowey gives Papyrus predictions, so this discussion is all meaningless!"

Ok, but we also know that Sans has the ability to travel across time-space in strange ways; namely, he teleports. It's not exactly an easter egg or anything, as it's too extraordinary a phenomenon to ignore.

[pictures of Sans appearing in two places in the same room at the same time]

[picture of Papyrus asking Sans if he is, in fact, in two places at once; walking into the next room will prove that this conjecture is correct]

But the implication is that Papyrus has the same ability (because they are brothers), or at least a very similar one, as Sans' ability comes as no surprise to Papyrus.

[pictures of Papyrus asking Frisk, "Is Sans pranking you across time and space? I hate it when he does that!"]

And, in fact, there is alternate evidence of their similar abilities:

[picture of Papyrus battle in Pacifist or Neutral routes, showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of Sans battle, exclusive to Bad Time route, also showing blue-colored, bone-shaped magic]

[picture of Papyrus "preparing a non-bone attack, then spending a minute fixing his mistake"]

[picture of Papyrus telling Frisk "Had I only used my Special Attack, you surely would have been blasted to..." with a forlorn look on his face. This only happens when you abandon a Bad Time route by sparing Papyrus.]

[picture of Sans using Gaster Blasters during his battle with Frisk. This is only available during a Bad Time route, killing everyone else – Papyrus included.]

Of course, you cannot possibly see them both in action during the same route (Toby Fox, you clever dog), so it is difficult to compare the two without going back to play Undertale in an entirely different way than before. So, this may count as an easter egg.

What is, perhaps, a bit more of an easter egg (at least, according to my Papyrus-fixated tumblr friends), is the fact that Papyrus can - and does - manipulate time-space in his own ways:

[gif of Papyrus literally walking on air over Frisk]

[gif of Papyrus quickly transposing across the screen without moving his body otherwise]

So, who's to say that he doesn't travel across time as well?

[picture of Gaster's first follower saying that "he was shattered across time and space"]

 VII. Memories, Revisited

Remember that "memory" thing I pointed out? Well, I'd like to come back to that for a bit.

There are two things which I have noticed, and I get why they've been met with resistance in the past when I brought them up. But, keep in mind all of the evidence listed above and the things we've talked about thus far. As I said, I know that these are wild theories, but please bear with me for just a little bit longer.

Ok, here's the first thing I've noticed:

[picture of Papyrus leaving Frisk with 1 HP so that he can capture them after battle; this happens no matter what, if you lose to him]

[pictures of Papyrus referring to the battle as “a terrible memory" over the phone]

[pictures describing the Bad Memory item, found in the True Lab; it depletes exactly 1 HP when consumed by Frisk]

And the second thing is this:

[pictures of Papyrus immediately recognizing Frisk as a human during a Bad Time route]

[pictures of Papyrus not recognizing Frisk as a human during a Pacifist route]

Something about HP, bad memories, and a human... Now, how could this possibly be connected?

Well, I'm afraid that I have no more canon evidence to support my theory, so now we are plunging deep into headcanon territory from here on out. If this upsets you, please just stop reading now. I'd rather you form your own headcanon, given the canon evidence so far. Perhaps yours will be more satisfying than mine is, because it's about to get kind of dark. In fact, I would hide it under another "Read More" if I could. But I can't, so I'll give you a break.

Last chance to turn back now.

By continuing to read this, you are submitting yourself to probably the most wild and ridiculous theory that has ever been made in the Undertale fandom.

 VIII. Conclusion

If you're still reading this, I must confess that I do have one, tiny piece of canon information to support this theory, which has seemingly nothing to do with anything I just talked about. Here it is:

[picture of a sillhouette of Toriel standing next to a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption "Long ago, humans and monsters lived in peace."]

[picture of a sillhouette of Asgore fighting with a human in the introduction to Undertale, with the caption "They were at war."]

The king and queen were on the surface during the Monster and Human War. This implies that they knew humans at some point before they were sealed away Underground when the humans won.

So... what if Gaster, their Royal Scientist before Doctor Alphys, was a human?

A stretch, I know. But here is another tiny piece of evidence to consider:

[picture of Gaster's second follower saying, "I'm holding a piece of him right here." In their hand is what looks like a human face]

Our Mystery Man once had a face which looks strikingly human. Of course, by the time we see him, he looks more like a skeleton with two large fractures on either side of his skull. So, it makes sense that his face went missing.

Which reminds me of this:

[picture of Papyrus realizing that he doesn't have ears]

[pictures of Papyrus referencing his “hair” and “skin,” neither of which he has, since he is a skeleton]

The only reason that Papyrus could possibly "realize" that he has neither ears nor hair is if he had had them before, and only now realizes that they are gone. Remember: Papyrus has a sketchy memory. Something definitely messed with it at somewhere along the way. But what?

Well, remember the aforementioned "accident" which Royal Scientist W. D. Gaster had? I would think that being spread across time-space would be... disorienting, if you will. Parts could go missing. Pieces. Memories, physicalities, any of it.

"Wait," I hear you thinking. "Surely you're not trying to suggest that Papyrus is Gaster! That would be ludicrous!"

Wouldn't it?

"They have such different personalities!"

Don't they?

"Papyrus could never be the Royal Scientist!"

Are you sure about that?

Let me explain to you how I think it happened.

(This is the dark part. I decided not to dive right into it because I wanted to give you time to adjust to my wild theory. Once you are comfortable with the headcanon of Papyrus being Gaster, please proceed. If this is against your sensibilities, I won't hold it against you at all. You are free to stop reading this post at any time.)

Gaster was a human who lived on the surface like everyone else. He was a friend to monsters before the war. He even knew Asgore and Toriel, although Toriel took to him a bit better. Once the war broke out, everyone had to choose a side. The line was drawn between monsters and humans. Only W. D. Gaster decided to cross that line.

When the monsters were sealed Underground by a magical barrier after the humans won the war, Gaster ended up being sealed with them. Asgore and Toriel were elected the King and Queen of the Underground, and they elected Gaster to be Royal Scientist.

The magical barrier transformed Gaster as time passed. He became immortal, like a monster. He started to adopt their mannerisms, and even started to look like a monster. As his body aged, soon all that was left of him was his skeleton. Without vocal cords, he could only speak in a strange font: Wing Dings. This earned him his nickname.

Then, "The Accident" happened. I don't know exactly how, or when, but we all know that it happened. Gaster "fell into his creation," and "was shattered across time and space," according to his followers. A new Royal Scientist was needed.

In the meantime, two skeleton brothers randomly showed up in Snowdin. We get this information from an NPC in Snowdin:

[pictures of the Snowdin Shopkeeper telling Frisk that Sans and Papyrus "just showed up one day"]

Interesting.

 IX. Supporting Evidence/More Headcanons

But how did the Royal Scientist Wing Dings Gaster become the Papyrus we all know and love?

(trigger warnings: mentions of violence and child death)

Let's go back to canon evidence, shall we? We are far enough into the headcanon realm that I do think it's time for some canon reminders:

[Papyrus, looking slightly worried as he says "LOVE." in all capital letters, which holds a very different meaning than lowercase "love" in the game of Undertale]

I know that Papyrus speaks in all caps all of the time, but look at the expression on his face. Doesn't that look like someone who knows what LOVE stands for "Level Of ViolencE," as Sans points out to us in Judgment Hall? Because it sure does to me. Also, remember how Papyrus definitely knows that Frisk is a human during the Bad Time route, but not during a Pacifist route? Why would Papyrus make the connection between humans and violence?

There are two explanations for this.

The first is that a few sub-conscious memories of his time as Gaster were somehow retained; that is, he remembers the war between humans and monsters, much like how he remembers having hair and ears. So that is one possible explanation.

The second is perhaps the wildest headcanon you will ever hear about Papyrus.

Ready?

Ok.

*sighs*

Papyrus... has killed before.

"WHO? WHAT? WHERE? WHEN? WHY? HOW?" you ask. Well, here's my theory.

Papyrus, being newly incarnated from Gaster (alongside his brother, Sans), doesn't really know much about the world around him. He has memories missing. Which ones, we're not sure of, but he's definitely... not all there, if you get me.

Now is a good time for to mention Papyrus' stats versus Sans' before I continue with this story. Have you ever noticed how Papyrus is up to twenty times stronger than Sans?

[picture of Papyrus' Pacifist stats: 20 Attack, 20 Defense]

[picture of Sans' stats: 1 Attack, 1 Defense, with the caption "*The easiest enemy."]

But Papyrus and Sans are brothers, so we would expect that they would have the same stats, which clearly isn't so.

Tying this back into what we know about LOVE, we know that with every increase of LOVE, one receives an increase in stats as well:

[pictures showing LV 1 stats, and then saying, "Your LOVE increased!” and the HP stat going up.]

So, the only logical explanation is that Papyrus received an increase in stats because he received an increase in LOVE. And how did this happen?

Think about the Items which Frisk finds in Snowdin: the Tough Glove and the Manly Bandanna.

[pictures of Frisk acquiring Tough Glove and Manly Bandanna in Snowdin]

To which child did they belong? The Orange SOUL.

[picture of the Photoshop Flowey battle, depicting the Orange SOUL in the box and the Tough Glove being used as a weapon against Frisk]

Which trait is attributed with Orange? Bravery.

[picture of the Ball Game in Snowdin showing the word "bravery" in orange]

What happens when an attack is Orange? You have to keep moving.

[pictures of Doctor Alphys explaining how orange lasers work in Hotland]

From this canon evidence, what can we infer the Orange SOUL kid's gimmick was, if they were "brave?"

I'll tell you: they kept moving forward, no matter what.

Now, what color magic does Papyrus have?

[picture of Papyrus using blue-colored bones in battle]

What does Blue magic do? It requires you to *stand still,* or else you will get hurt.

[picture of Doggo using blue magic on Frisk's motionless, red SOUL and doing no damage]

Tell me, how is a kid who is incapable of standing still going to survive Blue magic? Simple: they won't.

I even wrote a short ficlet about it here:

https://eroshiyda.tumblr.com/post/152526581522/orange-soul-headcanon [link to my tumblr post, "Orange SOUL headcanon"]

Of course, I'd like to think that it was just an accident. But, accident or not, Papyrus killed a human child, which was enough to raise his stats to twenty times higher than what they were originally. (Remember that humans are far more powerful than monsters, so they would be worth a lot of EXecution Points.)

This is why Papyrus knows exactly how much to lower his stats during the Bad Time route. He's not trying to kill Frisk, and he knows how much force is needed for that.

[picture of Papyrus lowering his stats to 5 ATK, 5 DEF in a Bad Time route]

That's also how he knows that Frisk is going down the "wrong path" by moving closer to Papyrus in a threatening way.

[pictures of Papyrus lecturing Frisk to stop moving before battling them during a Bad Time route]

Papyrus has experience battling at least one human child. And Papyrus didn't lose, either; otherwise, he wouldn't be around anymore by the time Frisk arrives, right?

But this is why his character development is so important to the story of Undertale. This is why he's (arguably) Flowey's favorite monster in the whole Underground, long after Flowey grew tired of torturing everyone else:

[picture of Flowey at the end of a Neutral route saying, "Took me a long time to get bored of that one."]

Because even after Papyrus committed the most heinous atrocity any monster could ever think of, he changed. He resolved to never FIGHT again. He solemnly swore to only use MERCY, no matter how dire the circumstances got. Even after all he had been through, he proved that people can change their ways.

[picture of Papyrus saying, "Everyone can be a great person if they try!"]

It's all about the choices you make. Because accidents happen, everyone makes mistakes, but ultimately you have a choice; do you keep going down the path of least resistance, or do you learn and grow from it enough to do the right thing, no matter how hard it gets?

 X. Afterword

Thanks for reading this theory all the way through! You're a real trooper!

I know that this is a topic that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, and I probably left out a lot of discrepancies, but I really did have fun working on this for the past year and a half. I hope you had fun reading it, too.

As I was finishing up this project, the Japanese version of Undertale came out. Some of the information gathered from gleaning nuances in the Japanese text conflicts with this theory, while some supports it; but I just didn’t get a chance to include any of it, to my dismay.

By the time you see this post, I most likely will have left tumblr. So, I cannot accept any of your thoughts about it, unfortunately.

However, if you would like to do even further research of your own, I have left behind this blog as an archive, along with another, super-secret blog I used to reblog my sources. The url is @papyrus-is-gaster. Here’s the link to it: https://papyrus-is-gaster.tumblr.com/ [link to one of my sideblogs, called papyrus-is-gaster]

I'd like to think of this as my sort of "tumblr dissertation," and I've officially graduated and am ready to move on to other things. Undertale was a fun phase in my life, but all phases come to an end.

And, with that, this post has also (finally) come to an end as well.

Just remember,

[picture of Papyrus saying "Still! I believe in you!"]

The Great Papyrus believes in you, and so do I.

[pengychan]

The Mind Cage - Epilogue

Title: The Mind Cage Summary: In another world, Stanford Pines places a metal plate in his skull far too soon. In another world, Bill Cipher is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Characters: Bill Cipher, Ford Pines, Stan Pines, Fiddleford McGucket Rating: T COMPLETE. Click here for the first chapter, warnings and links to all chapters up so far.

A/N:  And here’s the epilogue - if you read the Journal, you’ll definitely know which scenario it’s based on! (If you haven’t: it’s from a parallel reality where Stan left with Jornal 1 when told to, Ford reconnected with McGucket and together they made interdimensional travel possible without allowing Bill access to their world. Happy ending for everyone… except Stan, clearly. So I had to fix that.)

***

The Astonishing Anomalies of Gravity Falls

Fiddleford H. McGucket, PhD Stanford F. Pines, PhD

– To Stanley Pines, without whom none of this would have seen the light of day.

Introduction

Nikola Tesla once said that the history of science shows that theories are perishable; with every new truth that is revealed, we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.

Much of what is written in this paper defies what most believe to be real; research on the cause of these phenomena is still ongoing. Only by keeping an open mind on the scientific evidence presented in this work, and abandoning all preconceptions…

***

Stan had seen it coming from a mile away.

The not at all subtle mention of ‘ongoing research’ was a first hint, as was Stanford’s decision to wait for McGucket to come pick his car up before publishing the revised thesis paper. ‘To discuss a few matters’, he had said, but Stan knew it wasn’t the paper he wanted to talk about: for that, a phone call would have sufficed. If Stanford wanted to wait for a face-to-face chat, there had to be a lot more going on.

The third big hint wasn’t so much something his brother did, but what he did not do. He got rid of the rather creepy amount of Bill-related stuff he kept in his basement, including a golden statue Stan would have rather melted to keep the gold; everything in any way connected to Bill Cipher had to go, and go it did. Except for the one thing his brother did not dismantle.

So really, when Stan went in the kitchen one night to find the door to the basement open and his brother downstairs, staring in silence at the deactivated portal with his arms behind his back, he was not surprised in the slightest.

“So, lemme guess. You’re thinking of firing up this baby and see what’s beyond.”

His words caused Stanford to wince and turn. He looked amazingly guilty, like he’d been caught with his hand in the cookie jar - something that had never happened when they were kids, really, because that was usually Stan’s role. And he’d never felt guilty when caught, anyway.

“Stanley, I… I hadn’t realized I had woken you up.”

“You didn’t. I woke up on my own,” Stan said with a shrug, and walked up to stand by his twin’s side. “So. Am I right? Is this what you want to discuss with Nerdy?”

“Yes. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but truth be told I haven’t made up my mind yet. It’s… just an idea.”

“An expensive one, huh?” Stan guessed, and grinned, elbowing his brother’s side. “That’s where the money from the paper is gonna go, huh?”

Stanford’s guilty expression melted into a laugh. “Only my part, no worries. And only if Fiddleford believes what I have in mind to be feasible - only if he agrees. If he says no, then that will be it,” he said, then paused for a moment and turned to Stan. “… What do you say?”

Okay then. Stan hadn’t been surprised to find his brother there, but now he sure was. “Whoa there. Are you telling me that if I say ‘nope, don’t do it’, you’ll just scrap this whole thing?”

“I am,” Stanford said, no hint of humor left in his voice, and Stan knew he meant it.

“… Okay. I ain’t saying no just yet. What’s your idea?”

Stanford turned back to the portal. “This is a gateway to other dimensions, and in a way it feels… wrong to keep their existence hidden from mankind. I would never dare activating it with Cipher still around, but now he’s gone.”

“Yeah, but if Nerdy’s rambles are anything to go by, this thing kinda leads into the tenth circle of Hell.”

“It does, as things are. Cipher tricked me into building this portal so that it would lead into his own dimension - the Nightmare realm. However, I think that a dimensional vortex neutralizer might allow us to entirely bypass it, giving whatever dwells in it no opening to come through and leaving other dimensions accessible for us to explore.”

That sorta made sense, in a very sci-fi sort of way. And really, it sounded like an amazing chance: as kids they had wanted to explore the world, but had always been a little put off by the fact explorers had already been pretty much in every corner of Earth, leaving no unknown waters left to map. But what would it be like, to explore dimensions - and be the first ones to ever do it? Also, getting unbelievably rich and famous in the process would be a nice cherry on top of the cake of awesome.

“Oookay. Let’s say I’m intrigued. Can you build a thing like that? A neutralizer-something?”

Stanford shook his head. “No, not me. If anybody can create something like it, that’s Fiddleford.”

“Looks like we’re gonna have to ask Nerdy, then,” Stan said, then shrugged. “Okay. If he says yes, we go through it together. If he says no, we dismantle this whole thing - wouldn’t even be the first of your inventions I break, huh? - and use the money from the paper to buy, like, a research cruise ship or something. You do the research, I enjoy the cruise.”

The idea made Stanford laugh again. “That sounds tempting,” he admitted, then sobered up. “It might just be what we’ll do. Fiddleford almost lost his sanity to whatever he saw on the other side. I can’t say I truly expect him to agree giving the idea a go.”

Stan shrugged. “Hey, you never know. The guy’s got bigger balls than one would think. I mean, figuratively. Didn’t look myself. Did you?”

Stanford raised an eyebrow. “… Really now?”

“Hey, you were college roommates. Never even got a glimpse?”

“Stanley. He is married.”

“Nope. Was married. Might be your chance, Poindexter.”

Another laugh. “I’ll pretend to have never heard any of this,” he said, turning his back to the portal. “As for the project, I’ll ask next week when he comes for his car. He’s likely to bring his son with him, and I’d appreciate it if you didn’t repeat any of this in front of the child. Or at all. Let’s go back to sleep.”

Stan made a dramatic gesture towards the door. “Ladies first,” he said, earning himself light punch on the arm. He rubbed the spot, watching Stanford walk away, and grinned. Not so much because of the joke, but because he had noticed something most wouldn’t have even thought of.

As he left the basement, Stanford didn’t turn to spare another glance at the portal. It was enough for Stan to be certain that yes, if he or McGucket said no, Stanford would just dismantle the portal and never bring it up again. His brother strived to go forward, as he always had, but no longer all on his own.

Never again all on his own.

***

… The inauguration of the International Institute of Oddology in Gravity Falls, Oregon, is undoubtedly the greatest leap ever made in history - not only proving the existence of worlds outside our own, but even allowing mankind to make contact with them.

“The Dimensional Vortex Neutralizer makes the activation of the portal perfectly safe, but for time being only specialized teams of experts can travel through dimensions for limited amounts of time. We do however have high hopes that, in the future, interdimensional travel will be open to all,” said Dr. Stanford Pines, founder and CEO of the Institute, who took the scientific world by storm last year with the publication of his amazing discoveries.

According to Chief Operating Officer Dr. Fiddleford McGucket, the team has successfully made contact with a dimension known to its inhabitants as Dimension 52 during its latest expedition.

“We documented every step, and are looking forward to share all we’ve gathered in a press conference at the end of the month,” he added.

Both declined to comment allegations that one Stanley Pines, whose title and role in the Institute are still unclear, attempted to sell the Brooklyn Bridge to a seven-eyed alien lady in the course of the expedition. They also denied Mr. Pines’ earlier claims a souvenir shop and guided tours of the Institute are in the works, to the disappointment of local children.

On other news…

***

“Guys! GUYS! I found another door and it’s all brand new! He explored another dimension!”

“Cool! Let’s go now! I want to see it!”

“Wait, let me take my notebook…”

“Who’s got a camera?”

“I’ve got seven!”

“Oh! I want one!”

“No. You’d just finish all the film to take pictures of noses.”

“I wouldn’t! Liam, tell him!”

“… He’s right, actually. You do that all the time, Billy.”

“Hey! That’s not true! I also take pictures of ears! And teeth!”

“C’mon, Stanford, don’t be a stick in the mud! Let him keep a camera and let’s go.”

The new door wasn’t a long distance away; Stanley and Stanford ran all the way to it, while Bill and Liam hovered right behind them. Really, why did they even bother walking and running when they could fly so easily in the Mindscape? Stanford had said something about a ‘force of habit’, and it sounded really boring, a bit like staying in one place all the time.

Because sure, the beach was great and a lot of fun, but it was just so much better to go out and explore all of the new memories that kept popping up… especially the ones of different dimensions. So far they had met a bunch of warrior piglets with octopus arms - Stanford had gotten a really cool tattoo there - then they had found a dimension where it was mandatory to gamble. It had been a lot of fun, until they had caught him and Stanley cheating, so they had to leave really quickly. Stanford and Liam had been really annoyed at them, because they’d been only halfway through taking notes and snapping pictures of everything they could see and now they were pretty much banned from going back in that memory.

Then there had been the other one - a world called Exwhylia that had looked a lot like the Second Dimension - but they hadn’t explored that one. When Billy had found it, one look had been enough decide he would never, ever take Liam there. They would hate him there, just like at home. They would call him Irregular. And they would try to kill him, just like at home.

But it wasn’t really home, was it? Because home is supposed to be a place where you feel welcome, and Liam had never been welcome back there, not at all. No one less than Regular had been.

I’m glad it’s gone, Billy had thought when he had slammed the door shut, and right there and then it hadn’t even mattered that it was probably what the other Bill had felt like, what he had thought after destroying it. Because they deserved to be gone.

I’m glad they’re all gone. But I am here, Liam is here, and we’re free.

“Here! This is it!”

The door Stanley had led them to was made of very dark wood, with a brass plaque on it. Most doors seemed to have one: Stanford Pines’ mind was incredibly well-organized.

Dimension 52.

“What do you think is in here?” Liam asked, floating closer. His eye was wide and almost sparkling, a notebook and a pen already in his hands. Billy thought, not for the first time, that their world just hadn’t deserved him. It hadn’t deserved either of them. “Maybe a new color?”

“Hot alien girls! Or… or the Toffee Peanut Dimension!” Stanley immediately piped in.

“Eldritch abominations!” Stanford exclaimed, holding up a camera. Billy, who was kinda hoping to find a dimension of endless candy or something like it but would also settle for abominations, shrugged and hovered to the door, reaching out to grasp the handle.

“Hey, only one way to find out. Kings of New Jersey?”

“Kings of New Jersey!”

Bill pushed down the handle. The door opened, and they stepped into the unknown.

***

June 2012

Ah, summer break. A time for leisure, recreation, and taking it easy… unless you’re me.

My name is Dipper. The girl about to puke is my sister Mabel. You may be wondering what we’re doing in an interdimensional shuttle-cart, fleeing from a creature of unimaginable horror. Rest assured, there’s a perfectly logical explanation. Let’s rewind.

It all began when our parents finally allowed us to spend the summer at our great uncles’ International Institute of Oddology in Gravity Falls, Oregon…

***

(For the record: in the end, Stan totally wins the argument and there IS a gift shop in the Institute. Soos and Wendy will obviously work there. Because I say so.)

***

[Back to Chapter 14]

[Back to the beginning]

[fangirlsaywhaat]

Piano Adrien

So Adrien plays the piano, right. But you’re kidding yourself if you don’t also think he has an amazing voice (it kinda goes with the model/superhero/hot person territory). So Marinette and Alya are discussing the latest behind him before class (Marinette was actually on time, yay) and Marinette offhandedly mentions something about loving Imagine Dragons. Adrien smiles, so does he. He even knows a piano cover for their song Demons. But before he could turn around and say any of that, class starts. He decides to approach Marinette after class. He asks her if she wanted to be in the talent show with him, they could duet to the song. Mumbling and blushing the entire way, she agrees. 

When he gets home he practices the song over and over till it’s perfect. He wants to impress her so badly. They meet up that Friday and work on it. Marinette has a good voice, but she lacks confidence. She is very quiet, which is not something you want in a singer. But as they spend more time together she opens up more. Her volume grows with confidence. Eventually, she’s better than him. He doesn’t mind. He loves watching her sing. It’s mesmerizing. He hits a false note and it brings him back to reality. The talent show isn’t for another two weeks, so they have a couple more practices. When they are done practicing, he walks her home (so he could get cookies and goodies from her parent’s bakery). All the rest of the week they are practicing their parts on their own.

They meet again next friday. This time, they have the basics down so they try and add some more riffs or harmonies. Adrien even adds a little piano solo in between choruses. They are really happy with what they’ve done. They walk Marinette home together (again) and Adrien get’s more cookies.

That weekend there is an akhuma attack. Ladybug and Chat Noir to the rescue. They are setting a trap for the akhuma (like in animan) when Chat Noir notices Ladybug humming Demons under her breath, hoping he wouldn’t notice. He does and starts humming along with her. They notice themselves start to go into their harmonies from rehearsal, but they don’t think much of it. They've done it that way so many times, it sorta becomes second nature to them. They are about to get to the riffing part when Ladybug stops. If she does that, she’ll be too recognizable. They go back to work. Akhuma captured, Paris restored.

Next, and final, Friday they meet up again. The show’s on Sunday. They are mostly done, only polishing at this point. They were walking home when Adrien asked, “So what are you going to wear?”

“What?”

“For the concert. I’m thinking of wearing something black. Like a suit. What about you? We should colour coordinate.”

“Never really gave it much thought.” Something about the way Marinette said it, or the way she looked off into the sunset, felt very familiar. Thet’s crazy. This is the longest they’ve ever spent together. How can something new feel farmiliar. Still, he decided to test a theory.

“You should wear red.”

“Red?”

“Yeah, like-” Ladybug, “those big celebrities.”

“Ok. I don’t have anything in red, I’ll have to make something.”

Make something? Couldn’t she just buy something? Wait, how much does she make? “Do you make your own clothes?”

“Not necessarily. We have enough money. I buy stuff if I wanted. I just know I can do getter than Gap or Old Navy can. Also, making it means I can get a lot of practice designing clothes.”

Adrien smiled. She would love to meet his dad. He made a mental note to introduce them the first chance he got. “Tell you what. I’ll get you something from my father’s ‘vault.’ It’s where they keep all the sample sizes. I don’t think you have enough time to make something.”

“Oh. Thank you.” Her blush deepened. He smiled, and she smiled back.

He droped her off and raced back to go through the vault. His father found him looking at all the dresses and thought nothing of it. He was taking an interest in the company for the first time. Adrien found the perfect dress. It was the exact same shade as Ladybug’s suit. 

Sunday came and all the people who were performing meet backstage. He had dropped off the dress at Marinette’s house earlier that day but hadn’t actually seen her in it yet. Also, they were entering from opposite wings so the first time he’d see her in it would be on stage. And they were the closing act. The waiting was torture. Finally, they were up. He walked out when she did and. . . She looked beautiful. Like a dream. She smiled at the audience, then at him. When she smiled at him his heart melted into his shoes. Looking at her now, how could he have been so foolish? Of course she was Ladybug! She had the same smile, same eyes, same kindness. He was so enthralled with her, he forgot he was even on stage. It wasn’t till she whispered “Adrien?” that the spell was broken. 

He played and they sang. It was amazing. All their practice really paid off. When they finished they got a standing ovation. Marinette smiled at the audience, and Adrien couldn’t take it anymore. He walked over to her, grabbed her hand and lead her off stage. 

“I know you’re Ladybug,” he whispered at her.

“How? I-I was careful. I never-” She was shocked. She panicked. Her eyes were wild.

“I know you’re Ladybug, bugaboo, because I am Chat Noir.” 

Horror came over her face. Horror over him being cavalier with his identity, he guessed.

“And I love you. As Marinette, or Ladybug, or anyone. I love you and will always love you.”

Adrien couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Horror? Relief? Love? Hatred? He had no idea. He had one more card to play.

“I love you,” he said holding her face in his hands, “Let me prove it to you.” He kissed her. She was hesitant at first, but she soon started to kiss him back. They couldn't have stayed there forever, but they were interrupted by a scream. They looked up, fearing an akhuma attack. Instead, they saw all their friends and family gathered around. The scream came from Chloe. She looked at them in horror. Everyone else was smiling. Suddenly, Alya said “Pay up!” and everyone started to hand her a few crumbled euros. Adrien even saw Tom slip her a few. Nino stopped everyone saying “Wait, wait. They just kissed. That doesn't mean they are dating.” “You just want them to wait another week,” Alya said, “Pay up.” Reluctantly, Nino handed her a couple euros. 

All this attention made Marinette very uncomfortable. Adrien decided to put an arm over her, boyfriend style. This only made her more uncomfortable. He took it back, instead held her hand and lead her away from the crowd, explaining how he wanted to introduce her to his dad. He made the introduction, then ran off. He wanted to give them room to discuss fashion, but he also wanted to talk to Tom and Sabine. He found them in the crowd. Tom was muttering something about “I thought valentine’s day was a sure bet.” He suddenly became very self-conscious about how messy his hair must be. He smoothed it out and approached them cautiously. 

“Um, sir? Madam?”

Tom and Sabine looked up. 

“No need for such formalities Adrien,” Tom said

“We know you practically like a son,” Sabine added. It’s true that over the last few weeks Adrien has been spending more and more time at the Dupont-Cheng household. After hearing that Adrien had lost his mother Sabine started to treat him with extra love. Adrien didn’t mind. Sure he didn’t like to feel pitied, but that wasn’t what Sabine was doing. She was just trying to show she cared. 

“I thought things might be different now that I’m. . . Well, now that Marinette and I are. . .” He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

“Don’t worry,” Tom said, “We trust our daughter to make good choices.”

“And as far as first boyfriends go, we couldn’t have picked a better one ourselves.” Sabine got up and hugged him. Tom followed her lead. Adrien felt their embrace and couldn’t help think, is this what family feels like? People who will love you unconditionally? Who trust you and don’t keep you to a schedule or chain a bodyguard to you? When the embrace broke, he was crying. Sabine dried his tears saying “You are welcome at our house whenever you want.”

“Thank you,” Adrien said, “So much.”