#And Jevil is just a goober ever

[achillean-knight]

I'm so annoyed... I just realised this piece I conceptualised would be amazing for Halloween. DAMN Ya'll will def get this rendered tho, I enjoy this piece too much so far PFFT

Anyone call for a couple of clowns?

[patchwork-crow-writes]

Another thought I've just had about these secret goobers - it's theorised that they become the way they do in part because they serve no real purpose as darkners - Jevil's Joker card isn't used in a standard deck of playing cards, and Spamton's spam email would likely be deleted or autofiltered into... well, a spam folder. It is presumed that they were uplifted by the "strange someone" for this precise reason, though to what exact end is currently unclear.

And this results in a bittersweet irony - by becoming equippable items with seemingly little agency of their own upon defeat, they have been given another purpose with more meaning and significance than their old identities ever imparted - to aid the heroes who defeated/pacified them in completing their quest and/or breaking their own strings, as applicable.

And that makes me think of this line that King utters in his fight:

Could this portend something significant for the future, perhaps? Does something interesting happen when a darkner's purpose changes?

Right now, we can but speculate.

Interesting detail about Chapter 1 and 2's secret bosses; to challenge them, you have to travel downwards. That is to say, deeper into the darkness, and closer to the fabled Dark Sea from which the dark fountains are theorised to originate from.

And isn't it interesting how, when fighting against both Jevil and Spamton NEO, the backgrounds become surreal thematic extensions of their respective characters? The nightmarish pseudo-3D carousel of Jevil's cell, and the equally-nightmarish cityscape infested with Spamton's likeness? Isn't it interesting that any sense of cohesive reality starts to break down during these encounters, as if you're on the cusp between dreaming and waking?

And isn't it interesting that the recurring theme of these nightmarish experiences is the desire for freedom above all else - as if we are seeing Kris's deepest, darkest fears made manifest and reflected back at them, at what might be considered to be the closest point between the edge of reality and a realm of pure dreams?

...I think about this sometimes.