#obviously if theres something official that contradicts this let me know

[skyabove]

Ok im just going to jump straight in. I believe that the glowing kid you see after Eden is actually the King (or I suppose more accurately, Prince). 

(this ended up being really long, I really hope the ‘keep reading’ worked)

Something that has always bugged me about this section after Eden, is that the glowing kid seems surprised that you offer them a hug? Originally I thought that the glow kid was a depiction of your soul, or new soul. You die, turn up here and then reassure Yourself that everything is ok - hence the offering a hand and a hug and then absorbing them before moving onto your new life. However the surprise at the offer of a hug, and then the WAY they accept the hug fits so much better if this is actually the Prince.

Unlike friend-to-friend hug interactions,it's much slower, less of a display of friendship and familiarity, and more as if you are consoling someone, specifically someone who has either not been hugged in a Really long time, or not expecting someone to show them kindness, hence the surprise and almost relief in the movement? Which would make sense if he’s spent the past few centuries alone with the guilt of destroying your whole civilisation. After the hug, you absorb the glow kid, and regain your cape, but in a pure light form - no Winged Light, you have just become a being made out of light (instead of just having Your light relit, you become much brighter suggesting that you have absorbed more than just the light you are supposed to have). This also opens the gateway back to the physical world and your path to Orbit. 

Slight side note here: you continue to glow with this newly acquired light until the Children of Light you have saved return to the sky back in their star forms. The scene where they seem to thank you has some extra implications if the soul of the Prince (ie the person who caused their split from their bodies- more about this another time) is still in your body. After they leave, you immediately lose your glow, the Prince’s soul/light has left as it has been returned to Orbit (ie the “bring our lost stars home”)

In one of the updates a few months ago, the glow kid was changed from the same orangey glow that the Children of Light had later before they leave, to a white colour with almost no glow at all. Could this be to further differentiate between glowkid (Prince) and the Children of Light that you have just saved? A further point is that, the glow kid being your soul/light conflicts with the fact that the Voice tells you that you are about to be reborn only AFTER you go through the swirly space gate at the end of Orbit. It also seems strange to receive a cape, then become capeless again in Orbit if it were a part of your soul that you were reabsorbing.

Coming back to the Limbo glowkid scene. It acts exactly the same as the Elder cutscenes, which happen at the end of their respective realms, fiting with the confirmed idea that “The locations of their cutscenes are somewhere beyond space and time”. The same piece of information continues to say “he's(the King) not there in the same way as the elders you see in the cutscenes”. Although not explicitly labeled as an Elder himself, the King is essentially the ruler of Eden as seen in the opening cutscene (and Prophecy Murals, but thats a topic for another time). This black void that you go to is the Prince’s “Cutscene Limbo”. It also fits into the rule that although these places are separate from reality, they can still affect the physical world - Prairie with the butterfly pots, Wasteland with the door, Forest with the gold wheel and the doors etc. After you have interacted with the Elder (the glowkid) and given them light (in this case, shown them kindness, then they give you light in return) the physical world changes and allows you to progress (the golden light column appears and you can fly to Orbit) 

Another side thought about the Limbo, all of the other Elder’s Limbo’s look like a place they value, Prairie’s butterflies, the Twins coliseum, Wasteland protecting the gate, but the Prince’s is an empty void with a reflective floor. Getting into speculation now, but this somewhat points to either; he has no place of value because he knows he destroyed everything, or he doesn't feel he deserves to value any place in a civilisation he caused the downfall of. (or whatever put them there decided he needed a stricter time out zone)

Anyway, the last point that supports this, which deserves a post of its own, is that in my opinion at least it seems highly likely that Prince was a sort of “Proto-skykid”. From the concept art to the murals in the Prophecy caves, to the opening cutscene and new spirit memories, to the symbols related to King and skykids that we may have had reversed all along, a lot of stuff seems to be pointing in that direction.

But that a topic for another time

One final thing though. I know someone is probably thinking “if the skykid isnt us, why does it change size to match us if we resize in the scene?” Obviously there might be some lore connection there but I’m pretty sure that its so the hug scene works properly. As you know, hugging a player who is taller or shorter than you leads to some weird air hugs/grabbing the knees, which would have distracted players from what seems to be a rather important emotional point in the story.