Question about Dirk's actions in the Candy timeline

[SemioticHaruspex]

I just recently read through the Homestuck epilogues. Before I read them, I had skimmed through the MSPA Wiki and there was one thing mentioned several times, both on the Epilogues wiki page as well as Dirk's own page.

On both pages there are several mentions that Dirk committing suicide in the Candy timeline led to him fully realizing his "Ultimate Self" state in the Meat timeline.

From the Epilogues page:

Aware of the non-canonicity of this path, Dirk asks Jane to give up her presidency campaign and commits suicide. His death unlocks what has been referred to as powers of "Ultimate Self" that allowed him to take over the story-telling of Homestuck itself in the "Meat" path of the Epilogue.

Simultaneously, events in the Candy path directly lead to outcomes in the Meat path, such as Dirk's death in the Candy path resulting in his rebirth in the Meat path.

From Dirk's page:

Unbeknownst to him, his death is the catalyst to the Dirk from Meat realizing his Ultimate Self.

Now, I can definitely see some potential evidence for that but when I was reading the Epilogues, but unless I missed something I don't believe that was ever confirmed in the text. There's a bit of a nod to that direction when Dirk refers to his suicide as "one final act of relevance that can bequeath [his] meager energies to the cosmic well from whence they came."

But other than that, I kind of expected a more direct confirmation just given how confidently the wiki asserts it. Is this something that was ever confirmed elsewhere, like in any of the spin-off games or by one of the writers on social media or something, or is this just a theory that the wiki happens to state as fact? Or, alternatively, was it stated somewhere in the epilogues and I just missed it on account of being a bit of a dumbass?

[Generalrabogolfo]

before killing himself, dirk says, and i quote, "well played" to the horizon. this happens moments after john makes his decision, which means dirk is already in his ult self form and did, in fact, notice the irelevance branch his world was now in. that phrase i just quoted is basically dirk admitting defeat to calliope because this timeline doesnt matter, so he has no reason to fight over it. thats basically why he kills himself. why live in an irrelevant world knowing its an irrelevant world? the logical course of action is to just get the fuck out of there.


i dont know if this answered any question you made cause i already forgot because im fucking drunk as fuck lol anyway i dont really care hope you having a good whatever bie~~~

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[RoyalFiddle]

My best guess is that the Candy Selves are like anchors preventing the kids from fully going Ult. They exist inside of a bubble that cannot see outside of itself and cannot be peered into (Outside of very specific circumstances), creating an incompatibility of not being able to see the rest of paradox space or the rest of it's own reality, and such a dichotomy leaving one unable to full ascend. Which, if I had to guess, is why Rose isn't Ult. yet, isn't aware of the narrative and can't survive without the bot, but that's another matter altogether. I recognize I'm stringing these parts together without padding them out with extra meat but, I don't wanna write a thesis on this lol

[overThinker]

from candy 40:

ARADIA: ah yes the prince
ARADIA: i still have no idea who he is
ARADIA: not that i doubt you really
ARADIA: we had a prince who was a huge jerk who destroyed everything he touched
JADE: the prince i am referring to electively removed himself from this reality in order to strategically consolidate his power.
JADE: he cannot threaten this world. and yet by sequestering himself elsewhere, has become infinitely more dangerous.

so yes, candy dirk most likely believed that his suicide would have greater repercussions in other, more canon timelines. it also seems worth it to mention that candy dirk kills himself in candy's chapter 14, while in meat's chapter 14, the text begins to show its first signs of dirk's narration. i would paste some quotes but it's practically written all over the chapter, lmao. just look at how jake is insulted by the narrative and then immediately cockblocked by his own random dirk thoughts. it's enough to convince me of meat dirk's godhood, but it could just be a coincidence of chapter numbers.

[thorondraco]

My best guess is that the Candy Selves are like anchors preventing the kids from fully going Ult. They exist inside of a bubble that cannot see outside of itself and cannot be peered into (Outside of very specific circumstances), creating an incompatibility of not being able to see the rest of paradox space or the rest of it's own reality, and such a dichotomy leaving one unable to full ascend. Which, if I had to guess, is why Rose isn't Ult. yet, isn't aware of the narrative and can't survive without the bot, but that's another matter altogether. I recognize I'm stringing these parts together without padding them out with extra meat but, I don't wanna write a thesis on this lol

That is quite possible. We don't know if it has any relation to how Dirk has survived his transformation, but it seems likely that one must have no active splinters to achieve a full awakening. But whether or not you can have extraas is another question.
Pesterquest showed Dirk getting a younger dirk for unknown purposes. Along with dirk somehow manifesting in another place and time entirely....
Actually it makes me wonder if the dirk we are looking at now even IS Dirk himself. What if his own body is on life support too and he is somehow projecting bodies from there?

Either way i think it is quite likely having living splitners is fucking over dave and rose....

Sudden theory. Rose's robot body gets destroyed and she transfers herself into her Candy incarnation to survive.If we presume they only get the memories of theri dead selves, then she has no memory of her life with Kanaya, their daughter, and so on.

[SemioticHaruspex]

from candy 40:

ARADIA: ah yes the prince
ARADIA: i still have no idea who he is
ARADIA: not that i doubt you really
ARADIA: we had a prince who was a huge jerk who destroyed everything he touched
JADE: the prince i am referring to electively removed himself from this reality in order to strategically consolidate his power.
JADE: he cannot threaten this world. and yet by sequestering himself elsewhere, has become infinitely more dangerous.

so yes, candy dirk most likely believed that his suicide would have greater repercussions in other, more canon timelines. it also seems worth it to mention that candy dirk kills himself in candy's chapter 14, while in meat's chapter 14, the text begins to show its first signs of dirk's narration. i would paste some quotes but it's practically written all over the chapter, lmao. just look at how jake is insulted by the narrative and then immediately cockblocked by his own random dirk thoughts. it's enough to convince me of meat dirk's godhood, but it could just be a coincidence of chapter numbers.

Thank you! I missed that line from Aradia the first time through, and when I was looking into this question I was mostly looking at all the pages up to Candy/Meat 14, rather than after it.

That's a pretty convincing indication, as far as I'm concerned. I also noticed the correlation that Dirk's death in Candy and overt ascension in Meat took place in the same chapter (I say 'overt' since it's implied a bit by his narration in Meat 17 that he had been the narrative voice in Meat for a while, and only just then chose to reveal himself)

[thorondraco]

from candy 40:

ARADIA: ah yes the prince
ARADIA: i still have no idea who he is
ARADIA: not that i doubt you really
ARADIA: we had a prince who was a huge jerk who destroyed everything he touched
JADE: the prince i am referring to electively removed himself from this reality in order to strategically consolidate his power.
JADE: he cannot threaten this world. and yet by sequestering himself elsewhere, has become infinitely more dangerous.

so yes, candy dirk most likely believed that his suicide would have greater repercussions in other, more canon timelines. it also seems worth it to mention that candy dirk kills himself in candy's chapter 14, while in meat's chapter 14, the text begins to show its first signs of dirk's narration. i would paste some quotes but it's practically written all over the chapter, lmao. just look at how jake is insulted by the narrative and then immediately cockblocked by his own random dirk thoughts. it's enough to convince me of meat dirk's godhood, but it could just be a coincidence of chapter numbers.

Thank you! I missed that line from Aradia the first time through, and when I was looking into this question I was mostly looking at all the pages up to Candy/Meat 14, rather than after it.

That's a pretty convincing indication, as far as I'm concerned. I also noticed the correlation that Dirk's death in Candy and overt ascension in Meat took place in the same chapter (I say 'overt' since it's implied a bit by his narration in Meat 17 that he had been the narrative voice in Meat for a while, and only just then chose to reveal himself)

From the sounds of it having too many 'extras' weakens one's ultimate self powers. Or its even possible that his powers got split between these two incarnations of himself too.

Wait i just had a thought. In pesterquest we see him suddenly snatching up another incarnation of himself in one timeline. He said 'change of plans' and such.
What if his 'change of plans' means that he pulled out an extra version of himself to prepare a countermeasure for something?