moocyte

Chapter 4's dark world starts out like any other. We have come to expect a straightforward world created from the themes of the given location and wacky characters inspired by the objects littering that location. This much is true for Chapter 4's first dark world (I'll call it Dark Sanctuary, after the BGM). We enter a dark world version of the church, and while a few things are a bit off (some darkners are turned to stone from the start, and it's VERY dark in places), nothing really sticks out. We start seeing parts of the prophecy in order, which is to be expected since this dark world is based on the church, and the prophecy seems to be as much of a thing in the light world as the dark world. We later meet Gerson, who is also in all aspects a normal "lightner".

Of course, after closing the fountain, we find out a couple things wrong with this dark world. First off, the fountain is much smaller than other fountains, and it turns out this isn't the main fountain. This explains some things - the dark world being generally darker, and darkners turning to stone due to too much darkness. However, this does not explain why certain darkners are spared while others aren't. A bigger issue also presents itself: Gerson turns out to be a darkner, made alive from his own ashes and the power of the dark world.

Seeking to resurrect her teacher, Susie then creates the Second Sanctuary dark world. Here's where things get very, very interesting. Right away, our heroes notice something is up. The Second Sanctuary is different from the first. Things are wrong. The colours are off, the puzzles are twisted, the terrain is misaligned, and even the music is completely messed up, opening with a sort of alarm or ringtone, and switching between increasingly irregular time signatures. It's not that the dark world is completely different, but it's like it's been shuffled around. The pianos are here, but they are out of tune, and the puzzles associated with them work in reverse. We then see this extends to the prophecy as well.

In the Dark Sanctuary, the prophecy has a logical flow, starting at the beginning and progressing through the entries. In the Second Sanctuary, the prophecy's order is messed up (as made clear by the list of heroes starting with the third hero, going to the first hero, to the girl and then ending at the second hero). Since the dark world is still based on the church, the presence of the prophecy is expected. But why is it jumbled? It's because Susie is an outsider. She's never been to church, and has no idea what it's supposed to be like. She doesn't know the prophecy and she has no idea what order it should be in. The content is here, but the context is missing. 

There is a very straightforward explanation to this: Every dark world is different, and dark worlds reflect their creator. Susie's dark world being "off" fits in with her being an outsider. Her dark world being so "off" tells us a lot about how dark worlds work, but I haven't seen many people apply these lessons to other dark worlds. In particular, I think that if Susie's church dark world is strange because she is an outsider to it, it follows that whoever made the Dark Sanctuary has to be much more familiar with the church. This point is further driven home by the darkners found in each dark world.

In the Dark Sanctuary, we come across darkners that have been turned to stone from the start. Why this happens is never really explained, but from what we learned in previous chapters we know that darkners that have no ties to the location turn to stone. This is peculiar, because all the darkners fit within this dark world thematically and seem like they belong here. There is actually only one darkner that appears in both dark worlds: the fire extinguisher, which explains why it calls itself the most important darkner. The rest can however be divided into two distinct themes when we look at them separately.

Dark Sanctuary includes the following darkners: Guei (prayer candles), Wafer (communion wafers), Bibliox (books, but religious ones specifically as implied by the single bibliox in TV world owned by Toriel), Mizzle and Miss Mizzle (water, Mizzle being regular water from the water coolers, and Miss Mizzle possibly being holy water from the font), Balthizard (incense holder), Cuptains (obviously the cups used for punch), Jackenstein (a halloween costume - I think the most peculiar darkner on this list…) and lastly the hidden Tao NPC (a metronome).

Second Sanctuary includes Organikk (church organs), Wicabel (church bells), and Winglade (quill pens). The darkners found in one dark world are excluded from the other, mirroring each other perfectly. The divide between these darkners may seem random at first, but looking at it more closely, there is a pattern. All the items found in Dark Sanctuary are general functional items used in church sermons. Strikingly, they exclude all the creative objects found in the church (the organikk and wicabel being musical instruments, and winglade being a pen - we can argue that Tao being a metronome is also musical, but it's not an instrument and serves a functional rather than creative role). This divide in darkners is interesting, and definitely intentional.

Since we've established Susie doesn't know much about church and this colours her dark world version of it, these specific darkners must have a more special meaning to her. The musical instruments are easily guessed. Just before opening this fountain Susie recounts an experience expressing interest in playing the piano, a dream that was crushed by her peers. She clearly has an interest in music, and so the musical part of the church is what stuck with her most. The pen is curious, but given the events in the Dark Sanctuary, it's easy to see why the pen is important to her. It represents Gerson's lesson to her. Beyond this, the darkners themselves are also themed after things that oppose religion. The wicabels are referred to as witches, the winglades speak about revolution, and the organikks call themselves philosophers. All three of these represent threats to the church's influence and status quo, being archetypes that forge their own paths.

With this in mind, the darkners in the Dark Sanctuary must have a special meaning to their creator as well. If we look at them together, they follow a single theme, similar to Susie’s darkners. All the Dark Sanctuary darkners are things needed to run the church service. It’s peculiar however, that this dark world excludes all the musical instruments and creative tools. Whoever made this world has less of a connection to them, and probably sees them as less valuable. The other differences also allude to the creator’s identity. The Dark Sanctuary is logical and ordered, while the Second Sanctuary is chaotic and creative. But most importantly, the resurrection of Gerson in the Dark Sanctuary is a hugely important clue to the identity of its creator.

When Susie tries to resurrect Gerson in her own dark world, it backfires. Ralsei explains, saying "Darkners patterned after the memory of a loved one only tend to appear in very specific darknesses.". This paints a picture, but isn't actually very clear. What is clear is that while Susie couldn't revive Gerson, someone else could. To me, the most obvious difference would be that Susie is new to Hometown, and has never met Gerson in the light world. Because of this, she could not revive him in her dark world. However, someone who did know him might be able to.

I know what you're thinking. "That's all well and good, but this doesn't explain why the Knight couldn't have made both the first and last dark worlds..." . Since we don't know the identity of the Knight, their connections to the church are also ambiguous. I don't really want to go into the popular knight candidates here, but I may have to. What stands out to me though, is that none of them seem particularly connected to the church to explain the differences between the first and second dark worlds. Moreover, to explore why I think the first and third dark worlds were made by different people we first have to explore the Third Sanctuary.

As the heroes enter the main dark world in the church, things seem normal again. Ralsei says "I suppose the original dark world was formed partially of the fountain inside there, too.", which implies that the first and third sanctuaries are similar. This makes sense for the entrance and when you backtrack, (although there are subtle differences even here) but this falls apart when you actually set foot in the new area of the Third Sanctuary and see that this dark world is nothing like the first. If anything it's a lot more like Susie's!

This dark world is very short, and most of the information is overshadowed by the appearance of the Titan at the end, but we can still learn some things about the creator. For this one, I do think it was created by the knight. The connection to the church is all but gone, just as we saw with Susie's dark world. The terrain is just as twisted, the prophecy is jumbled, and the puzzles are inverted again. What's notable is that all the darkners are present in this world.

The discrepancy between the first and third sanctuaries is so glaring it's hard to ignore. The Third Sanctuary opens with a remix of the Second Sanctuary BGM, but somehow this version seems more complete. The prophecy panels are back, but now it's just the pictures, and a whole bunch of them. It's also not all of them but only a specific subset: Delta Rune/Angel, Titan, Knight, Three Heroes (together and separate), Hammer, Tail of hell, Ring of Heaven. They feature only the most impactful figures in the prophecy as is to be expected with the creator being the Knight.

Whether Ralsei is speaking the truth or not (and we established he is unreliable just moments before entering the Third Sanctuary), it's weird that the Dark Sanctuary and Third Sanctuary are so different. Ralsei's comment could be partially true, but I would rather say the Third Sanctuary (namely the part we've already seen in the Dark Sanctuary) is partially formed of the Dark Sanctuary, not the other way around.

I know I said I wouldn't get too much into the Knight's identity in this theory, but I guess I have no way around it now. To preface this next part, I'm a DessKnight believer (sorry Rory and Papyrus truthers...) and will try to explain how DessKnight ties this whole theory together. It's no coincidence the Knight's and Susie's dark worlds are so similar. From the little information we have about Dess, it seems she was about as much of a rebel as Susie is. It's also implied she was a bit of a loner or outsider, as nobody in hometown even mentions her, not even her previous classmates. It explains why the more rebellious darkners are present in her dark world, and why the dark world itself such a diversion from the standard template.

The fact that the more traditional darkners are also present also makes sense. Dess, unlike Susie, has probably been to church many times with her family. She is familiar with the prophecy and church service, and this makes her less of an outsider than Susie, who has no idea of how it should be. Part of the dark world is normal, and this could largely be due to her connection to the church. As stated before, Gerson is able to resurrect in the Third Sanctuary. Because we don't know the Knight's identity, it makes it hard to speculate why, but if we assume the Knight is Dess, it begins making sense. The old classroom, which houses the Card Kingdom dark world, used to be Gerson's classroom. Gerson didn't teach Kris and Noelle because of his age, but it's heavily implied that Gerson taught Dess and Asriel when they were young. Gerson also hints to this and the connection between Susie and Dess, stating Susie reminds him of someone he once knew (particularly the "Dragon" in his story, who may or may not be based on Dess). If Dess had a similar relationship to Gerson as Susie builds, it stands to reason that she could resurrect him in the dark world.

Who is the creator of the Dark Sanctuary?

Let’s look over the clues we have gathered: 

The Dark Sanctuary fountain is notably very small. In chapter 2, it was revealed fountains are made by thrusting one’s determination into the earth. It stands to reason that whoever created this world does not have as much determination as the Knight and Susie. Either this person is not determined in general, or the creation of the fountain was just a practical means to an end and this is reflected in the fountain. 

The layout of the Dark Sanctuary lines up with someone familiar with the church.

The order of the prophecy panels implies this person is familiar with the prophecy. 

The darkners present are only practical objects used in church services, and exclude those that are more creative. The darkners themselves are also more concerned with tradition and the status quo than those found in the Second Sanctuary. The creator is a more practical person who is less concerned with being creative. 

The creator was able to resurrect Gerson, hinting that they had a personal relationship with him unlike Susie, who was not able to resurrect him. 

The only thing we don’t have a clear answer for is the motive. Why would someone other than the Knight open dark fountains? We’ve seen Kris do this, and we also know Kris is involved with Carol’s plot. So, the creator of this Dark World must also be involved in Carol’s plot. After talking to some people, I have two candidates: Alvin Boom and Carol Holiday herself. 

Alvin Boom would be my first guess. The fountain is smaller because Gerson is not a particularly determined person. Dark Sanctuary has a logical ordered layout because Alvin is familiar with the church. The prophecy is in the expected order because Alvin knows it by heart. This world has both the content and the context and so it has a logical structure.  The objects that turn into darkners are also familiar to Alvin, who uses them on a daily basis. Why then, does his dark world exclude the musical instruments and the pen? Alvin has lived in the shadow of his father's legacy all his life. There is a notable divide between father and son, evidenced by Gerson's letter to Alvin and Alvin asking Gerson if he was proud of him at his grave. Alvin was never able to achieve Gerson's level of creativity, and this is reflected in his dark world, where he has excluded any creative objects, favouring only the practical ones. This also reflects back on his lack of Determination. Even the presence of Gerson makes sense. It is implied that Alvin is the one who dug up Gerson's grave and put his hammer in his office, but it's not super clear why. 

Come to think of it, the main reason this theory is lacking is because of the lack of motive. Maybe Alvin only dug up Gerson’s remains because of his obsession of wanting to be more like his father and it has nothing to do with the dark world. But if only people who are deeply familiar with a lightner can resurrect them as a darkner, it becomes more plausible Gerson being in this Dark World is more intentional. It’s already plausible he's involved with Carol's plans because he tells Kris not to go near the bunker, the church having a code on the bunker, and the convenient placement of Gerson's remains in the dark world fits into this as well. Interestingly, Gerson’s possession of a shadow crystal also points to him being there for a reason and not just coincidentally. Gerson was supposed to become Freedom-obsessed due to the shadow crystal, but this plan did not work out in the end.

Carol Holiday. Not my first guess, but after discussing my theory many others also point to her as creating the fountain. This one hinges mostly on her central involvement in the creation of other fountains, and her stating on the phone that the Church will have a fountain tonight. She is clearly involved, and could definitely be the one to create it. She has the motive, but with our clues there’s a bit more uncertainty to me. The fountain being smaller strikes me as odd, since Carol is very determined. Ice cold and practical in her means to achieve her goals, having a small fountain seems off. However, it’s pointed out to me that the fountain could be small due to her having less of a connection to the church, since she does not attend service (any more?). The next parts are logical enough. Carol has probably been to church, as her whole family goes, and while we haven’t seen her there, she probably knows the layout and is familiar with church in general. She also very probably has an idea about the prophecy seeing as she’s actively working with the Knight in creating dark fountains. The darkners also work, since she is a practical person, cares about rules and order, and does not seem to be a very artistic or creative person. The only really glaring part is Gerson’s resurrection. Nowhere in the game up to now have we gotten any indication of a connection between Gerson and Carol. She probably knew him, since he taught her daughter in school and she’s the mayor, but that’s the only connection we have. 

Alvin obviously has the most easy access to the church, and could have made the fountain anytime. Carol also could have made the fountain on her way to the Holiday home. The last thing that strikes me as odd, is that Alvin is nowhere to be found. As the priest of the church, he probably lives in or near the church itself, and I think he would have noticed the dark world in the church if he was not aware of it. To me, his absence also points to his involvement with the Carol plot. 

My personal belief is that Alvin is working with Carol for some reason, and he was instructed to create a dark fountain in the church by her. To slow down the Heroes, to resurrect Gerson, or for another reason altogether is not really clear, but to me this theory points in this direction. I’m not sure if we will ever get a definitive answer, but I hope the next chapter gives us at least some more clues as to who is involved with Carol.