I have a theory about the Shadow Mantle/Crystals and what Seam is going to make with them. It's very speculative, but fuck it, why not.
I've seen a couple people pose an idea that this item Seam forges would allow Ralsei to come to the Light World. And that would be awesome! But that got me thinking, wouldn't something like that be a big deal for the residents of Castle Town? Assuming that this item allows ANY darkner to survive in the Light World, who else might take major notice to this item?
First to come to mind was Spamton, who talked about reaching "Heaven" using Kris' soul, which I believe was heavily implying this exact thing, going to the Light World. So my next list of people to check would be the other secret bosses. And boy, that gets interesting.
Seam confirms the nature of Shadow Crystals to be shards of broken dreams, more or less. And that makes sense, because their holders have broken dreams associated with them, right? Spamton used to be a big shot, Gerson used to be alive, Jevil has lost all his old friends, Mad Mew Mew hasn't had a chance to live as her true self, and the Knight being associated with fear and sadness more or less makes sense that they'd be made of the stuff.
Except all of that is a bit off.
So, what if their broken dreams are something else, within the context of the crystals? Crystals...that could take them to the Light World...
Mad Mew Mew sure is getting the chance to live as herself now that she has an able darkner body instead of just a doll, and is likely to come to Castle Town. But she can't leave. No one she knows will ever see her like this. This hasn't come up in game yet because she hasn't used the crystal.
Gerson is back, but his son, students, church members, and everyone else won't get to see or talk to him, even though he is alive and old again! This again didn't come up in game because he also refused to use the Shadow Crystal.
But Spamton and Jevil did.
Spamton going to the Light World, where no one from his past would be, would be his ultimate second chance. That means he'd be far away from both the people that rejected him, and maybe even the army of Image_Friends who may or may not be hunting him. Using the crystal gave him proof somehow that a darkner could leave the dark world, although he specifically focused on using Kris as his vessel to do so.
Jevil is a little harder to parse on this issue, but one of his opening lines comments how he's lonely in his little freedom, and he just wished to play a game, the "game" he plays with our party. And he also says: "Then after you, I can play with everyone else too." Jevil could simply be referring to the people in his dark world again, but considering his knowledge of some future events, namely the mention of Queen and his prophesy of Hell's Roar, it might be more reasonable to assume he's not referring just to them. We also don't necessarily have him with us after the fight, if you pacified him, but considering it makes him so tired he goes to sleep for 100 years, he might not have a say in the matter. And if you defeat him with fighting, he SPECIFICALLY requests to come with you. Thirdly, he has a personal connection to Seam, who is the one forging the item from the crystals and the mantle, so it's possible Jevil knows what item is possible if the party pursues it; he would just be biding his time until the right moment to take it.
Finally, there's the Knight. There's a theory going around that the Knight is not a specific person, but the manifestation of every person's dream about Dess that was broken after her disappearance. And considering the crystal is obtained from breaking off a piece of the sword itself, rather than it being gifted to you, this would fit. The people in hometown want Dess to return to them, in the Light World of course, so this too would fit the dreams of the other 4 crystal holders. Although, this combination makes this reasoning heavy speculation, as I mentioned at the start.
So, if the 5 shadow crystal bosses really are all related to the same hope of going to the Light World, then an item that manifests those desires makes a lot of sense. And any secret boss who is present in Castle Town would be very interested in getting their hands on that item as soon as it was forged. I think if you try to give such an item to Ralsei, these bosses aren't going to let you do that if they have any say in the matter.
And that's when we're going to have to fight all 3 of them at once :) The ultimate ass-kicking from Jevil, Spamton, and Mad Mew Mew.
Ok this is just "that would be cool" territory. But I do like the idea of fighting for the right to take Ralsei to the Light World. It would be an opportunity for him to feel special and loved by his friends again in contrast to how he thinks about himself. Or, it could be the opportunity for the player to choose someone else if they wanted? I'm sure if we were given such a choice, everyone would be constantly talking about their preferred pick.
