Fridge / The Knight Shift

Fridge Brilliance

• At its core, TKS follows the same basic structure as a classic fairy tale: a Knight representing the power of the Christian God is sent on a dangerous quest to do battle against an evil being who represents a Satan figure — i.e., a dragon. (The Infernous is called “The Dragon’s Den” in the title of the first trailer episode, and the original URL for the series was ROT13VAGURQENTBAFQRA, which decodes to INTHEDRAGONSDEN when using the ROT13 cipher.) However, in the same way that The Arkn Mythos as a whole deconstructs angelic lore and demonology, TKS is a deconstruction of classic fairy tale themes, archetypes, and motifs:
  • The “good knight” is a moody, violent, insecure boy with who only agrees to “slay the dragon” in order to impress his father (and prove himself to the kingdom).
  • The "forces of good" that the Knight allegedly represents are actually self-involved, warlike alien creatures whom humans have mistaken for angels.
  • The Knight’s “noble quest” is orchestrated by shady government figures who are using him as their pawn — banking not only on his pride, but his infamous temper; anticipating that he will eventually snap and kill the “dragon” (and, in doing so, become something that they can use as propaganda to prolong their war).
  • The “Dragon” may seem evil, when in reality he’s no more evil (and, in some ways, LESS evil) than many of the alleged "good guys". The same also applies to the rest of his race, who (while being mistaken for demons) are generally more benevolent than their allegedly good opponents!
    • Also, consider that Hash’bor’kanibal isn’t just the “dragon” in that he’s (seen as) the Big Bad and a Satan figure: he’s LITERALLY The Dragon to Deebo!
    • Taken as step further in the conclusion of the Arknthology, when it turns out that the "Dragon" was Good All Along.
  • In the end, the Knight comes to care about the Dragon and see him as a friend; when he finally does “slay” him, it’s unintentional. The quest is completed at the cost of the Knight's name, his identity, his principles, and (potentially) his very soul. Here, the Knight doesn’t just kill the Dragon: he becomes the Dragon.
    • Word of God says that The Carver genuinely cared about Ellpagg, and hated having to corrupt him.
• When The Carver falls under the sway of the Infernous, he is faced with an evil, red-eyed version of Ellpagg who feigns being timid and powerless, only to turn the tables, wield The Carver’s own powers against him, and beat him senseless. In light of The Carver’s ultimate plan, the sequence takes on a whole new meaning: Carver isn’t afraid of Ellpagg turning the tables on him in the Infernous; he’s afraid that Ellpagg will become more powerful and monstrous than himself in the long run, and actually defeat him in the final battle! He might even be afraid that Ellpagg will be seen as a more worthy contender and will be raised as a pure Hethe instead of him!
  • Later confirmed by DeathlyLogic.
• After Ellpagg displaces Michael Knight into a new timeline, why does the same clip (i.e. Michael “awakening” in a new timeline, looking disoriented, and feeling himself up) play twice? It’s not a glitch: according to DL, Michael Knight moved timelines for the first time immediately before the start of MC; Ellpagg is using his newfound powers to pull off the same stunt — tearing open a hole in .Reality and moving Michael from one timeline to another — in two different timelines at the same time!
  • It’s later established that Ellpagg is one of the only beings in existence who can use “shading” (i.e. a form of chaos magic that enables Self-Duplication); we may be seeing him use it for the first time.