this isn't really a big revelation, more just an observation of how lightners and darkners are written differently. lightners are distinctly person-like in how they act and what their motivations are. they have problems that are grounded in very tangible events, people they have complex relationships with, and these things motivate them to take action in either world. their motivations are dynamic, changing in response to the world around them. they grow and develop in very authentic ways. their behavior is nuanced and contextual, never static or rigidly conformed to a single angle. darkners on the other hand are distinctly character-like. their aspirations are more grand and concerned with the bigger picture of things. they may have smaller more specific goals beat by beat, but typically it all informs the same overarching idea. king wants revenge for being abandoned, queen wants to help people, tenna wants to entertain his family. these core values are felt much more potently in their character because they are made to embody them. their personalities are archetypal, conveying or subverting tropes that connect directly to the themes they represent. everything they do, say, think, and feel ultimately is meant to play into the greater narrative theyre built into.
and this dichotomy matters because it plays into the gap between them that ralsei is meant to blur the lines of. ralsei becoming more of a distinct person isnt just about having empathy for anthropomorphized objects and concepts. its this, being born as a character meant to play a role in a narrative, where your actions have to be informed by the themes you embody and the tropes written into you, and then being able to grow into a complex and nuanced person who can think and act independently of that narrative. and this is only possible through his friends seeing past the fact that hes fictional and treating him like a real person. thats also why the prophecy is so important. it is that narrative that ralsei was written to carry out, but its clear that he resents that role deep down but doesn't feel like he has enough power or influence over the narrative to do anything about it.
in the end, thats what the dark worlds are about. not the objects. its about characters, fiction, stories, and ascribing meaning to them that goes beyond the narrative theyre initially meant to tell. the more you treat these characters as people, the more power you give them over your emotional investment, the more they themselves can become more than what they were made for.
