u/ExternalRise3840

So, after Chapter 5, I have been seeing some speculation that Kris made the Chapter 1 Dark World. I’m not really sure on the evidence we have specifically for it, but the main thing I’ve seen is the shared aesthetics of the Field and Garden. Though, as you can tell from the title, I simply do not buy this theory. As for why, I feel we should look into the two respective Dark Fountains that we know were created by the Knight and Kris respectively.

To start, I feel the Knight is a great spot, since they’re the less deep of the two. So, we can absolutely guarantee that the Knight created Cyber City and the Sanctuary, since Kris wouldn’t have had nearly enough time to head to those specific locations and open a fountain, plus we have evidence the Knight was there through the closet lines. So, what are the shared elements between the Knight’s two Dark Worlds? Well:

• They both primarily utilise cold colours, but specifically blue. All three of them are utterly dominated by blue colouring, with some small bits of purple, green and red. Alongside this, both of them have comparatively darker areas, like Queen’s basement or the obvious pitch black parts of the Sanctuaries.
• The story, environments and Darkners are all very much fantastical environments from adventure stories, with a conventional style of travel and a vibe much more akin to a typical RPG.
• The Darkners have personalities following other story archetypes (a tyrannical queen, innocent civilians forced to do the Queen’s bidding, an elderly mentor who helps train the heroes for future battles, a large hulking monster locked away in a far-off part of the world, a nobody with secret malicious intent who manipulates the heroes into getting himself power)
• The areas are very explicitly meant to be reflective of the area they were created in, and expand across the entire area and merges them together rather than focusing on one particular element.
• The Darkners in their personality and stories aren’t immediately obvious to be objects, since they have actual lived-in history and interactions not fully tied to their objects (Spamton copying Swatch’s style, Jackenstein being locked away for being “too scary” supposedly by the Darkners of the Sanctuary, Miss Mizzle somehow knowing Blue despite the fact they probably wouldn’t have had a chance to properly meet), and even the bits taken from their objects can be written off in other ways if they were disconnected from their object counterparts (Queen calling herself a computer could just mean she’s an AI operating a robotic body)

There’s definitely more I might have missed, but the main thing is that the Knight’s Dark Worlds very much lean into the adventure aspect and make them feel lived-in and have proper history beyond the Light World counterpart.

Now, meanwhile, Kris’ Dark Worlds are very much easy to identify, so let’s look at their similarities between their two worlds, which will also have me analysing some stuff regarding their Dark Worlds since I thought it was neat and wanted to talk about it.

• Compared to the Knight, Kris’ worlds have a far warmer and more varied colour palette, primarily using reds, oranges, pinks and greens, with occasional purples and blues sprinkled throughout.
• Their worlds are just in general far brighter. While the Knight had some fairly bright areas like Queen’s Mansion, Kris’ are very much lit with stuff like the Green Room or effectively every part of the Flower Kingdom after the initial Garden.
• The progression is far more bizarre, often with very clear segmentation, incredibly varied aesthetics between each area, and of course the signature wacky gameplay-changing gimmicks like the boards or platforming segments.
• The Darkners are much more explicitly their objects, either outright stating what object they’re meant to be, or having history that is very much connected by the hip to the Light World, like with Tenna or the Flowers.
• Frequent clashing of art style and aesthetic, with certain locations and Darkners looking far different stylistically from others.
• The Darkners typically don’t fall under fantasy or adventure archetypes easily like the Knight’s do, and the Darkners themselves are a bit less plentiful.
• The entire Dark World for both, compared to the Knight, entirely themes itself around one specific setpiece or item (the TV and the seven flowers), while other objects aren’t nearly as focused on due to not fitting that theme.
• The Darkners and Dark Worlds themselves never are taken all too seriously, notably with Tenna and the Flowers.
• Often piggyback off the Dark Worlds the Knight already made, like Tenna having history with Spamton, a Plugboy being a major part of TV World, a Mizzle from the Sanctuary being in the TV World, and a lot of references to Card Kingdom in both.

However, easily the most identifiable aspect of Kris’ Dark Worlds is one element prevalent in the most major aspects: the projection of Kris‘ trauma, memories, fears and desires onto the Darkners. Chapter 3 already makes this fairly clear with Tenna alone, whose separation anxiety and lines in the later parts of the chapter (the whole “sorry about the pipes” thing and of course “The family’s fighting again) feel like Kris’ own thoughts being telepathically transmitted into Tenna. Even aside from Tenna, there’s also the entire divorce arc with Lanino and Elnina which I don’t think I need to explain is a reflection of Kris’ own trauma about their parents’ divorce. With that in mind, the ultimate resolution (the couple getting back together and being happier than ever before) is very clearly meant to be what Kris wishes happened. Additionally, I feel the whole Sword Route and Ramb are meant to be a reflection of Kris’ own yearning for freedom, going off the path that someone else (the Soul, Tenna) put them down and getting to let out their frustrations, even if they might hate what they’re doing. Additionally, both this and the Flower Kingdom heavily play into nostalgia and the past, which I feel is Kris’ hopes for everything to just to back to how it was before: when their parents were together, when they and Noelle were still close, when their family and the Holidays were still tied at the hip, and when they were able to make their own choices.

Meanwhile, with the Flower Kingdom… I feel it’s obvious what the flowers are meant to be. Them turning into humans is just blatantly meant to be Kris’ already clear insecurities about being human, so like with the fantasy wish fulfilment with the divorce arc, they get their wish by having 7 other humans around. Additionally, as others have pointed out, the Flowers themselves almost seem to reflect those Kris is especially close to:

• Aqua is of course very obviously meant to represent a younger Kris: a small, chaotic, mischievous blue child who loves knives, wants to make friends, and is obsessed with playing around.
• Seth I imagine is meant to represent Noelle: a more levelheaded and smart contrast to the mischievous Aqua/Kris who is nevertheless absurdly close to them. Their seeming gender questioning could maybe also be some of Kris’ own thoughts, if humans do actually have genders in UTDR and Kris didn’t immediately realise they were nonbinary.
• Green, based on the ending bit with Asgore, seems to represent Asriel, being the kindest and most beloved of the flowers, and them never speaking might represent how Asriel is so far away and hasn’t really seemingly communicated with Kris.
• Orange meanwhile to me seems to be Dess, being rowdy and confident, the Bravery flower (I feel Kris woulda probably seen Dess as the bravest person alive when they were younger) and really close with Asriel’s equivalent.
• Yellow can be easily read as Asgore’s counterpart: not only was the cowboy program Asgore’s favourite, but they’re both kindhearted, noble yet stupid and end up blaming themselves far too much for something that wasn’t their fault to the point where they’re effectively killing themselves trying to atone (Yellow in a… much more literal sense than Asgore simply becoming obsessed with figuring out who took Dess)
• With Asgore as Yellow, it’s only reasonable to view Blue as Toriel. Admittedly there’s not really any similarities I can spot, but I’m sure they exist and it’s unlikely Blue represents anybody else.
• Meanwhile, as many have pointed out, Flowery is obviously meant to be a representation of Rudy, and his parody sue character and power level might be how a younger Kris saw Rudy.

Noticeably, Carol doesn’t actually get a flower, so I imagine it might be that the Roaring GC has made Kris become far less attached to Carol ironically, because of the things she’s making them do. Another thing I sort of caught onto is with the symbolism of each flower being possible to see as a representation of one of Kris’ family or closest friends, which I see as Kris partially wishing for a human family but not wanting to leave their current one behind. Also, each flower pairing lines up with a pairing between the Dreemurrs and Holidays (or just the Dreemurrs): Kris and Noelle, Dess and Asriel, Asgore and Toriel. Given the implications that Kris and Noelle had feelings for each other in the past, and the doomed nature of the other two relationships, I can once again see this as fantasy wish fulfilment on Kris’ behalf. On the topic of relationships, I can easily see the whole polycule stuff in Chapter 3 being another instance of fantasy wish fulfilment. Sure, I am a shipper, but the game itself makes it fairly clear that Kris has feelings for Susie, and there’s a lot of indications they have those for Noelle as well. So, I imagine the whole polycule stuff is Kris wanting to find a compromise between those feelings and the Suselle stuff, with the healthy relationship they find with Starwalker being what Kris is hoping will happen with them (in which case Rouxls represents Berdly or something).

So, that’s about the end of my rambling about Kris’ issues, but back to the main topic: how does this prove they didn’t make Card Kingdom? Well… do you see King talking about divorce trauma? Card Kingdom lines up far better with the pattern from the Knight’s Dark Worlds: It’s the darkest Dark World besides parts of the Sanctuary, it’s the most like a traditional RPG, it takes itself the most seriously, all the Darkners have history and dynamics that aren’t immediately tied to the Light World, the Darkners (mainly King, Lancer, Jevil, Seam and Rouxls Kaard) very much fall under fantasy archetypes (evil king, redeemed servant/prince, court jester who’s more powerful than he seems, magician and shopkeeper, the King’s right hand man), the colours are primarily purple and are especially blue near the end (sure Scarlet Forest is mainly red, but Cyber City also had some recurring red in the mansion), and most damningly of all (aside from the lack of Kris projecting their issues onto it): it uses the entire abandoned classroom rather than simply one element, and feels a lot more cohesive as well.

So there you have it, counter evidence to show that Kris didn’t make the Card Kingdom. Why did I feel like showing this?

…I’m gonna be honest, I just wanted to share what I had thought about regarding Kris’ Dark Worlds and had to come up with a solid way to express that.