Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26826023-20160201071856/@comment-27907368-20160303203102

I am going to copy-paste this from another thread I have, then. It will interest you!

Another small theory - the sans genocide battle. First and foremost, I do realize that half the reason why sans is here is so that there was some epic battle at the end of genocide. However, I think it goes against his character unless some part of the formula changed.

And I know what you’re saying – he knows what comes next! He knows you killed everyone else! … And yet, he also knows that the timeline ends regardless of him fighting you. He even says that he knows you’re going to hit him one of these times. So, what makes him go on? It seems contradictory to his character.

What if he pumped himself full of liquid DETERMINATION before the fight? Hear me out on this. We know that he knows Alphys (the true pacifist ending reveals as much) and we also know he brings dog food to the lab. Is it a stretch to say that he knew about the DETERMINATION? And what does DETERMINATION do to monsters?

Makes them melt, is an obvious one. Sans is either sweating or melting during his battle with you. I know the skellies can sweat, too. I’m not sure we’ve seen sans do as much, but he probably does. Moreso, it also gives them the power of DE-TERMINATION.

You read that right. DE-TERMINATION. It makes them un-endable. They undo being killed. Nothing close to the power of saving and resetting, but it is a notable attribute. How can I say this? Well, have you tried to fight the amalgates in true pacifist mode? Check it out.

Long story short, you can’t. RED text pops up saying “nope”, “not happening”, "FAILURE", "but it didn't work", “lovin it”… It goes on. Sometimes the amalgates even have higher health bars after your attack.

We acquire this same attribute in true pacifist mode when we fight Asriel – “but it refused”.

I’ve always been on the fence about sans leaking ketchup or blood or whatever after you slice and dice him. Could it be DETERMINATION? … does this mean our skeleton friend doesn’t actually die? Recall that you get the same dust sound effect when you spare AND when you kill a monster. He could just be playing some tricks on you and skulking off.

Moreso, the in game stat tracker adds EXP and LV after you win, but does not add a kill to your counter.

Or he could just be left in that timeline to suffer as it winks out of existence. He does mention multiple sanses existing - just think of all of the neutral timelines he's left in. Poor skelly.

Also, something to consider - he is one of a handful of characters that utilizes the GAME OVER screen. Flowey is one, Chara is another (and perhaps Asgore, even though I think it's more Chara's spirit that gives you flavor text). And sans. Dunking on you. Cheeky. More notable is that these characters had the ability to manipulate the timeline. Though Chara is a guess during her own lifetime, we know for sure that she lingers after death as a spirit and is carried with you no matter what you do. Flowey is Flowey. He uses the screen when he has the ability to save and load.

Why does sans use it? Just as a joke?