delta(rar)ne thoughts

and the reason she seems mournful at the end when she says this is because she's given up on the idea of them saying anything, either because she thinks she was wrong or thinks they just don't want to actually take it there

My theory is that actually, toby fox is trying to frame this situation as a GOOD thing.

It's very easy to look at her literally living in the dark world and be afraid that it's a trap or is going to backfire, but today this situation reminded me of real-life situations that are analogous to hers: online fandoms*.

*(this theory might also work for other types of communities but stick with me)

There are so many stories of people who talk about their fandom being their lifeline, about making friends, having something giving their life meaning and happiness, improving them as people, and sometimes literally saving their life. As soon as Susie entered the dark world, she was given the chance to make friends and have something to really make her happy for once, and she has been improving as a person (and a lot of it was simply just giving her a proper chance)! Her literally living there seems like an analogy to how these people cling to their fandoms as their lifeline, pouring every spare moment they have into it, and it gets them to a BETTER place as a result, despite the fears of going too far; it seems quite often, that this simply doesn't end up being the case.

There's also further similarities between these dark worlds and online spaces. There are so many people out there in the world that we never get to see, never would get to talk to or even fathom that they exist, other than a vague feeling of the world being a big place with a lot of people in it. But when we enter an online community, those people suddenly come to life for us. We all get a name and an avatar, giving us form, and share an experience together that we enjoy, our dark worlds. Often some of those communities we close for good, but sometimes we keep some of the friends we made while still in them...our recruits? :) And then we find new fandoms and start the whole thing over again, just like Kris opening new dark worlds that hold new adventures and new friends. Toby hard-pushing the idea that the Darkners are real people and not just "objects" really makes a lot of sense in this context too. To some people, the internet is just a screen, but we know we are talking to real people, even if it looks a little different.

Yeah, this is currently my interpretation of the subtext

and just text at this point

because the thing is I'm not actually sure if doing nothing leaves Kris high and dry or if it's what they wanted

Flowery's dialogue right before this decision about how Kris is alone is probably supposed to make you think, "wait, they aren't alone! I'm here!" and you can heroically help them land the final blow.

except that doesn't seem to happen? You deflect Flowery with the strike and he's hurt, then Kris steps back, the smoke clears and they're fucking dead. we don't see what happened, it's like there was a timeskip, but it looks like they let (?) Flowery strike them in the end.

and the same basic thing happens if you don't strike. Kris hangs back and braces for impact (Flowery gets to wind up his fist for this one)