UNKNOWN

CREATURE

VANGUARD

MALE

MONSTER

SLACKER

character overview

positive traits

negative traits

things they like

things they dislike

character description

you're on the road, but you've got no destination

a funny lil skeel who loves his bror

you've been all over, and it's been all over you

Sans is the only monster in the underground that has been shown to bleed when cut open. This, paired with the fact that he's a skeleton, which don't have any blood to bleed, comes off as quite some bizarre trivia. Some would argue that this is actually ketchup spilling out of the wounds due to some... bizarre eating habits of his, but considering the fact that monster food is not digested at all like food on the surface – more specifically that it immediately converts itself into energy once swallowed, leaving no waste and no need for genuine digestion – this substitution is highly unlikely, if not entirely impossible.

Speaking of ketchup and bizarre eating habits, it's known that the guy doesn't necessarily have the best taste when it comes to food. Despite a supposedly large arsenal of information regarding food, what's out there and how it tastes, he still settles for what are supposed to be the worst burgers (which, to be fair, are probably still a large improvement on the food that his brother cooks and has him eat). Beyond that, he drinks condiments, that aforementioned ketchup for certain, straight from the bottle, and while this could have easily been brushed off as shock humor at its tamest, a sentry station under his name filled with nothing but condiments implies that he's not above taking a swig of mustard or relish whenever the opportunity presents itself.

The lights in Sans' eyes can fade in and out at will, usually hanging around and only disappearing when attempting to frighten or get a point across. In instances of high stress (say... a life or death battle?), his right “pupil” will disappear, leaving the left to grow to many times its original size and flash rapidly between the colors light blue and yellow. These colors stand for patience and justice respectively, and were the color of the human souls who was defined by these traits.

A bit of a science fiction nut. Despite the lack of viewable stars at his former place of residence, he still owned a telescope (which, unfortunately, was used as the main instrument of at least one known prank) and more than one book covering topics of quantum physics. It's also heavily implied that some of that science he loves wasn't quite so fiction, what with an out of place workshop filled with unintelligible blueprints and broken machines in his house and cryptic talk of “[their] reports” in regards to the anomaly resetting the timeline – but that's speculation for another day. For now, what's important to note is that sci-fi gets his non-existent blood moving, regardless of whether or not it's as laughably horrible as the fiend known as Sharknado.

Used to hold and currently holds quite a few jobs, yet managed to and continues to manage to slack off at each and every one. His teleportation abilities allow him to quickly move from one station to the next, so despite rarely being seen actually working at any given job, it's actually uncommon to not see him present and goofing off. In Sanctum, he runs a hotdog stand alongside his work with the Vanguard, but plans to open maybe one or two more stands of different function across the city once he has a better grasp of where everything is and can better teleport to and from each job.

I'M SUPER UPSET BECAUSE I KEEP THINKING OF MORE THINGS TO ADD MID-PARAGRAPH, AND THEN I JUST... FORGET.

character classification

Despite signs pointing to the monster being of a different classification entirely, simplicity and the words from his own mouth dictate that Sans is something that we are all quite familiar with: a skeleton. While skeletons themselves are not something that one would find difficult to wrap their head around, it's understandable to scratch your head at the fact that, as a skeleton, he seems perfectly capable of thought, action, speaking... life. How can this be? Well, a simple gander between he and his younger brother (another skeleton) will tell you that he doesn't exactly fit the skeleton “look” - and beyond that, neither brother have any real connection to any human or animal that is common knowledge. Instead, they are part of a larger scope of species called “monsters,” beings comprised mostly of magic that rely more on spiritual concepts for survival than the corporeal things that keep humanity going. This is what keeps Sans together, as well as enables him to do all of the things that make him alive, and all of the things that make him himself! The magic that gives him being is not limited to only keeping him together, however. He, like other monsters of various size and shape, is able to use it to his advantage in and out of combat. The drawback to this is that his soul, once more like all monsters around him, is much weaker than that of a human's. Whereas a human soul can persist for some time after its owner's death, the soul of a monster – Sans, namely – shatters once its owner dies and dissolves into dust. There are a great number of things that set him apart from most of monsterkind, though, even once you have taken the fact that the skeleton brothers are the only known monster skeletons. In fact, he differs from his own flesh and blood – or what would have been, assuming they were made of anything but magic and bones – in many ways, making him quite the interesting monster once one has seen all there is in his arsenal.

the weakest monster

While the weakest might be a bit harsh (but only a bit), there is no denying that Sans is... lacking in terms of physical prowess. As a character in an RPG, he was ranked in both attack and defense with a measly one, and regardless of the defender's defensive capabilities, the attacks he lands were only capable of inflicting one point of health damage. To put this in perspective, for a game where an unexperienced child starts with twenty points of health, that's... far from an impressive display of strength. A blow from him would barely sting, where as a solid thwack with him on the receiving end could put him unceremoniously on his rear, bested in a single blow. There should be nothing to fear, assuming your fears aren't for his sake. There should be, anyway – but that doesn't mean there aren't things to fear.

In truth, he presents himself as a threat in his use of what may be considered dirty or underhanded tricks. Most monsters would take direct blows straight on, but he, himself, elects to not “stand there and take it.” What he lacks in might and stamina, he makes up for in speed, both in his own movements and that of his attacks. Very, very rarely will be one on the receiving end of his near non-existent wrath, but those unfortunate enough to experience it won't be experiencing it for much longer. If each attack only does one point of damage, he compensates by striking repeatedly, and if that isn't enough, he makes sure that the damage inflicted continues even after the initial contact is long over, similar to poison. More specifically is this "poison" called Karmic Retribution, or "KR", and is more effective against those who have high levels of violence; the more you've hurt and the more you've killed, the harder this lasting effect will hit you. What balances this all out is his function as a bit of a glass canon. When he strikes, it leaves the opponent in a daze, but at what cost? He can dodge counter attacks, but for how long? Speed and stamina are two vastly different things, and nothing proves this more than he himself. He cannot dodge forever, and most would argue that the only chance of victory is to survive long enough to see him tire out.

you're blue now

As was mentioned before, Sans is capable of using magic. This, by itself, is no incredible feat for monsterkind, but he and his brother specialize in a certain kind of magic that no one outside of their family of two have been known to use: blue magic. Simply put, blue magic allows the soul of the opponent to be affected by gravity. In game mechanics, this only effected in combat maneuvering; outside, hover, think of it more as the soul as well as the rest of the person housing it being effected by gravity – doubly so, in the sense of the vessel. Blue magic in its most basic form, then, increases gravity on whoever it is being cast on, assuming that they have a soul for the magic to be cast on at all. Whereas his brother has only be known to inflict downward gravity on the soul, though, Sans can affect the direction and magnitude of the gravity that he inflicts. This allows him to suspend unfortunate victims in air or, worse, slam them into the most convenient vertical or horizontal surface like a rag doll.

gaster blasters

Perhaps the most iconic of Sans' abilities, not much is known about the blasters outside of their appearance and function. The former is frightening enough by itself, wide-eyed, wide-jawed, and skull-like in shape. Their only known use – assuming their proposed victim has not already fled from fright – is to fire powerful, unstoppable lasers from their jaws, disappearing after a single use and often quickly replaced. These beams of light are limited to traveling in a straight line, although this seems a fair enough drawback when taking into consideration that he can call many, many more to take the place of one that has failed to hit its mark. Because they are summoned by his magic, however, and are likely an extension of it, he is limited in such summonings by that aforementioned lack of stamina. Limited by stamina, that is, and his own general reluctance to fight. Feel free to let go of that held breath – the abilities mentioned up until this point are saved only for those who have committed unspeakable crimes, and the abilities yet to be mentioned are not nearly as menacing.

i know a shortcut

It's never exactly made clear how much influence Sans has on the temporal plane – one could argue, for example, that during the latter portion of his battle, the way he cuts into and out of various attack patterns in a rapid fire manner, starting the opponent off in different places and his unique ability to remember some, but not all parts of previous timelines that had been erased and replaced by the will of the fallen human child could be very subtle manipulation, or at least awareness of time mechanics – but it's best to leave the latter to speculation and focus on what we do know. Namely his influence on the physical plane. It's already known that he is capable of manipulating gravity, both in direction and magnitude, and it's unquestionable that he moves you in space during that aforementioned latter portion of combat, but the type of spacial shenanigans that he was most known for back home (largely because no one else really know of those other shenanigans) was his frequent use of what he called “shortcuts”. A mile or so out of town but still craving a burger from Grillby's? Not a problem at all; he's got a shortcut for that. Or maybe fast food isn't quite your style – maybe you'd care for a fancy dinner at a nice restaurant. No worries, no worries. Ignore that brick wall clearly blocking your path up ahead, because he's got a shortcut for that, too. In more than one instance, the skeleton is shown to remain stationary, if not shown to be walking noticeably in the opposite direction, yet always manages to arrive to a scene first, nonchalant and effortless as ever. Beyond that, he's been shown to disappear from sight quite literally in the blink of an eye, abandoning the pretense of a “shortcut” in favor of a quick get-away. The most likely explanation is that these are possible due to quick teleportation, although the “how”s and the “why”s are still largely up in the air. So long as he knows where he is, though, and he's familiar with where it is he'd like to go, Sans is capable of crossing startlingly long distances in less than a second's time, company in tow or otherwise.

character biography

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another part of the same timeline

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"this is "you made an uh oh" dialogue"

"this is other people talking"

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