Don't you know how to greet a new pal?

Let's go by timeline. First of all, I think it's interesting that Dark is the only hollowhead who didn't immediately have a negative relationship with Alan. Victim looked around in confusion and fear even before Alan started screwing with them, Chosen went on the offensive instantly, and Second tried to keep her existence hidden because of her well-founded fear of deletion.

By contrast, Dark seems to just look around and then start doing stretches while Alan is coding up his purpose, one that he takes to like a fish to water.

I've talked before about how I think Alan's mindset in the moment he makes a hollowhead defines their core character and nature, and I think this is further proof of it. The only stick figure that he purposefully brought to life, but doesn't have any negative intentions for, instinctively understands him to be an ally.

One thing that I think goes overlooked is that Dark is a bit of a paper tiger. Despite being one of the most powerful and dangerous characters in the entire series, they're a lot less fearless than Chosen is. They not only plead for their life when Chosen has them dead-to-rights, they almost curl up in the fetal position and tremble.

They also panic when the computer starts going down, unlike Chosen who stays focused and immediately figures out an escape route.

Thus begins their combined rampage across the internet. Again, I'm not going to try and justify this - I think Dark was made to be a weapon, but he also clearly enjoys being a weapon. But there was one small thing in episode 11 that had me thinking.

Previously, we were led to believe that Chosen just never showed any signs of his growing discomfort to Dark, that him stopping them from launching Virabot was the first time he ever showed any sign of it. But now, we know that he did show signs prior - or at least, that he had Dark's attention when he was unintentionally showing signs.

I don't think it's impossible that Dark just brushed this off and thought nothing of it, but what if they did notice? What if they saw Chosen's lack of enthusiasm compared to how he used to be, and started thinking about it? Keep that in mind as we move further.

Now we get to the big scene. The confrontation.

What I find notable about the falling out between Chosen and Dark is how still they both are. We've seen plenty of examples of stick figures communicating across the series - even when they don't make little pictographs (and who knows if those are actually diegetic or not), they gesture pretty extravagantly and use a ton of body language to get across to the viewer that a conversation is happening.

This? Nothing. Chosen grabs their hand, shakes his head, shoves them away, and then throws them when they don't get the hint before trying to figure out how to shut off the cannon.

There's nothing to indicate Chosen's explaining his reasons here. In fact, if he isn't explaining anything and is just saying they shouldn't do this, that makes Dark's reaction a lot more understandable; they don't get why Chosen is having this reaction, so it seems obstinate and out of nowhere.

I'm not saying this is Chosen's fault - he's in the middle of his crisis of conscience, and Dark still massively overreacted. But I think it's worth noting that he seems to just not be the best at communication in general. Remember how he completely failed to get across why he thought Second had powers and resorted to just grabbing her and running when he needed her help against the mercs? Same deal as this!

We all know what comes after. They briefly fight, Dark launches the Virabot, Chosen punches them into the distance. I think what's REALLY interesting is their next meeting.

Reminder, the last time that these two saw each other, Chosen punched Dark so hard they went flying. But when he opens the door and steps in, posture neutral?

Dark is the same. They seem a little put off, maybe, but the punch that comes after takes them completely by surprise.

Despite Chosen being in plain view and them being equals in speed and combat skill, Dark doesn't even react to the punch until right before it sends them flying.

In fact, they STILL only BARELY react to the punch that came after, blocking it at the last moment rather than parrying or countering. And when it sends them flying all over again, there's this moment where they're hanging on the edge of bay, staring at Chosen - like they're stunned. They're in pure shock over what he's doing.

When they finally do counterattack with that massive explosive fireball, they pause afterwards, staring at the explosion and then just kind of... standing there.

Staring at the explosion, sure, they could have just been making sure Chosen was actually dead or incapacitated. But staring off into nothing? It feels, at least to me, like they're thinking hard about what they just did. Even if they're not necessarily upset, they're at least unsure.

All of this is to say one thing: despite their last interaction going so sour, Dark genuinely didn't expect Chosen to get violent. They seemed at most a little surprised to see him enter the computer shack, and it takes two massive, earth-shaking punches for it to finally sink in and for them to hit back.

It might seem like Dark is just an idiot for not expecting "throwing an explosive fireball at my one and only friend in a fit of anger" to not have immediate consequences, but then again - have you seen the way Dark and Chosen treat other people?

Compared to the horrific things they did in their rampage, Dark genuinely thought that the fight they and Chosen had wasn't a big deal. They understood there would be sore feelings, but they didn't at all realize that Chosen considered that the end of their friendship - that the moment he found Dark again, he would be immediately fighting with intent to kill or grievously incapacitate.

I think it's also worth noting that throughout the fight, Dark doesn't seem to be having any fun. We know that they love to cause violence and kill, and they do show some of their usual hammy mannerisms when they taunt Alan, specifically.

But when it's just them and Chosen? Nothing. Just cold, calculated execution. And yet, they don't take out the disintegrating wristblade unless he's actively fighting back - once they have him at their mercy, completely defeated with nobody else to interrupt, they don't finish the job. They don't even attempt to. They seem like they're about to attack before Second interrupts, but it's bare-handed - then they take out the blade to make quick work of the color gang, and after that, they just leave Chosen alive.

Finally, there's the wristbands themselves. Thanks to my friend @ellielectric pointing something out about them when I showed the series to her, they're the keystone to this whole thing. Most people I've seen talk about them assume that Dark either A) just wanted to be a more efficient killing machine or B) anticipated a fight with Chosen at some point and made them "just in case". In both of these options, Dark made them because they viewed Chosen as more powerful or dangerous than them - but I think there's another possibility.

It's notable that the wristband becomes wristbands, plural, midway through the fight - but it's even more notable that this seems to be unnecessary for their function.

You'd think "they need two wristbands for dual-wielding", but here they are manifesting both swords with only one. It's only later on that the wristband duplicates.

And, really - why did the wristband need to make Dark so ridiculously strong? It lets them utterly humiliate Chosen, far more than just being assured they could defeat him. And even if they expected their friendship with Chosen to go south, there's no way they would have anticipated having to fight him and Alan at the same time. And yet, just by putting it on, Dark becomes an equal threat to both of them working together.

"Did they need a reason to not make it so strong?" No, but they needed a reason to make it in the first place - they seemed perfectly content just with their usual pyrokinesis for four straight years of rampaging, if not longer. So what changed?

Chosen changed.

Dark has literally only known destruction. It's what they were made for, and it's all they did either for or with the only two allies they've ever had. Chosen was just as gung-ho about it for years... until he suddenly started showing less enthusiasm. Dark clearly didn't understand he was having second thoughts about morality, but if they did notice, what did they think?

They thought Chosen was getting bored.

They thought all of the destruction and chaos was getting too similar for his liking. They thought he would want an improvement. Dark made the Virabots specifically to impress Chosen, the one who had walked this path of carnage with them for so long.

Why did the wristbands make Dark so strong? Why were they designed to duplicate even if it was unnecessary?