Howdy, howdy, ya’ll!
We’re back on the Character Analysis and we’ve got a bit of an odd one to introduce this time.
Typography is something we use in our everyday lives even if many people don’t study the topic in depth.
Even so, typography is important to character making. Besides thinking about how word bubbles are formatted, the font choice itself can be another factor in a characters’ or a game’s design. Look at Undertale and deltarune, the former is often officially spelled in capitals and the latter, lowercase, and if you rearrange the letters of both, you can make both titles with the same letters.
Speaking of, we’ll be returning back to Undertale for this topic!
Font Fun Fact
Did you know?
The font Papyrus is one of the most disliked fonts, due to it’s overuse and misuse.
Despite that, one of the characters in Undertale is given the name and font in their text box, that being Papyrus, the skeleton.
Papyrus
[Image source from the Undertale Wiki]
Papyrus is the younger brother of Sans (despite being the tallest one; some siblings know this pain), both being skeletons named after a font that they use to speak it. He’s also a Royal Guard, hoping to capture a human to gain fame and friends from what comes with doing such a grand thing yields.
Even though he’s named after one of the hated fonts and has a bit of a ego Papyrus is someone not hated in his world and in terms of fan response, he’s amongst many favorites in the game. This is due to being a overall charismatic goofball, which people find funny to endearing, especially once Papyrus realizes, he doesn’t want to be popular so much so that he just wants friends. If you sooner go a pacifist route and do the puzzles Papyrus throws at you even if they are simple or silly. The fact you give them the time of day makes Papyrus warm up to you.
A relatable story for many, seeking attention of many when all they want is someone to care for us as they give us their time with stuff we enjoy and care about. As such, Papyrus is very well loved by fans.
Design
[Image source from the Undertale Wiki]
Papyrus as stated before, is the tallest skelebro out of the duo as shown in his design. What’s also evident is the colors in his palette. Obviously, due to being a monster that resembles a skeleton, he has the color white as a main color/shade, along with having red in palette as well, through his cape, gloves and shows. Beyond that, he has a bit of blue. (Also his arms and legs are shown to be covered in black clothing or just show his bare bones *rimshot*.)
Papyrus’ name also shares the same name with a kind of paper, also called Papyrus, used by Egyptians. His battle sprite supposedly referencing a Egyptian like pose.
[Left (Sans) Image source from the Undertale Wiki]
[Right (Papyrus) Image source from the Undertale Wiki]
Papyrus’ overall design contrasts to his brother, Sans, who mostly wears blue. Papyrus’ design is “louder”, while Sans is sooner “quiet” in a way, showcased by their contrasting red and blue colors. Red is a color associated with alert and blue, calming association. That and while Papyrus is prepared for battle, Sans is wearing a hoody and slippers, which are sooner comfy clothing.
Even when annoyed by his brothers supposed laziness and puns, they both love each other dearly.
That’s all for now! Look forward to our next post where we’ll talk about his brother, Sans!
Do you want to read about another red perky character? Check out our duo character analysis which showcases Ruby Rose and one of her teammates, Weiss Schnee!
