silent-mime:

So, I’ve been seeing a LOT of theories going around of W.D. Gaster. A lot of them seem to involve things like, him being Sans’s and Papyrus’s father, or Sans’s lab partner, etc. but I don’t really believe any of that. Now, I don’t know if anyone has come up with this idea or not yet, but I got way too excited about it to not share it.

So, bare with me, because this is an idea that came to me the other night that makes more sense than ANY of those.

I think W.D. Gaster actually IS Sans and Papyrus. Or, more accurately, WAS.

You see, when he fell into that curious machine that supposedly erased him from existence, it didn’t do it in a way that we necessarily would have thought of. Technically, GASTER was erased from existence, because he was physically split into two different entities. Sans, and Papyrus.

This makes a lot of sense, and is proven by more than one piece of evidence. First off, the obvious. WingDings, being the font that Gaster is named after and also speaks in. Papyrus and Sans also sharing that font-related name trait. Clearly, they’re related in some way, shape, or form.

Now what about looks? I mean, let’s compare their faces alone. Even with basic similarities alone, there’s too much that they all three have in common to ignore. For starters, they’re all ‘skeletal’ characters. One of the main features of that seems to be the whole, permanent grin thing. This seems to be a sort of requirement for skeleton-like creatures in their world, and is mandatory whether they want to smile or not For example:

Another shared trait, is the lack of pupils, to suddenly gaining eyes/pupils.

All three characters have the ability to have eye-less black voids in their heads, as well as regain pupils/eyes on demand. And speaking of eyes, who else have we seen frequently closing one eye/winking, in the same manor as Gaster’s sprite? 

That’s right, Sans.

To top it all off, Gaster down right looks as though his facial design is a near perfect fusion of the other two characters. And what makes it even more curious? The cracks that split his face. Nothing really screams ‘symbolism’ for being physically split, like that.

Now, let’s move on to the deeper details.

Where did Sans and Papyrus come from? Well, nobody knows. In fact, the exact line of text we’re offered when we ask this question to the bunny lady at the shop in Snowdin, is this:

Just showed up one day. My theory, is that that day happened to be the exact same day that Gaster stopped existing.

Personally, I believe that Sans is the only one that actually remembers any part of being Gaster. As if the fact that his weapon is still called the GASTER BLASTER isn’t enough proof on it’s own, There’s more than enough evidence of this when we find out what’s hidden in Sans’s stuff, where we find the strange machine, and the blueprints with symbols you can’t read (most likely Wingdings). With his vast knowledge of time/space travel, I believe that Sans is the part of Gaster that remembers all of the stuff he did as the royal scientist. However, Sans isn’t motivated. He’s not got the same drive to work on these things like Gaster did. He’s tired, and has little desire to continue working on it all. Why is that?

Because that’s where Papyrus came from.

Papyrus is the embodiment of unbridled determination and optimism. He’s chock full of energy, and when he sets his mind to something, there is absolutely nothing that he’ll let stand in his way to accomplish it. Papyrus puts every last ounce of himself into accomplishing his goals. He was the part of Gaster that lead him to be so successful and dedicated to his work. Papyrus was Gaster’s passion, his motivation, his childlike wonder, his sheer devotion to what he loved, that lead to him becoming such a successful scientist. In Papy’s case, he loves his friends, and his optimism always sees the good in everyone no matter how bad they may seem.

Papyrus may or may not remember that he was part of Gaster at one point. If he does remember, he’s clearly chosen not to acknowledge it, or to simply hide it. I don’t think that’s the case though. I think Paps honestly isn’t aware of it.

This is partly why Sans tries so hard to take care of his brother. Not only are they part of each other, but he wants to protect Paps from the truth. Why else would he keep all those secret blueprints and stuff locked up? He’s seen what happens in the other timelines, and he doesn’t want Papyrus to know about it. He can see the hope within Papyrus, thanks to not knowing about the alternate timelines, and the fact that in some of them, he dies along with everyone else he cares about. Sans wants to make sure his brother never becomes aware of it, because he can’t stand to see that unfiltered hope be crushed. Nothing is more important to him, than Papyrus’s happiness. That, and he truly does love his brother.