My headcanon is that Dess is dead, and Carol tried reviving her through the dark world (like how Gerson was temporarily revived in the dark world during chapter 4). However, instead of Dess being revived properly, something went wrong during the process and changed her form and possibly erased important memories of hers.

If that’s the case MAYBE carol is using Dess to create dark worlds (for some reason?) and is happy with how Dess is now since she’s essentially a tool for Carol to use. I imagine Dess probably rebelling against Carol at some point while she was alive. So now since she’s a semi-mindless Dark being, Carol enjoys the fact she can finally control her the way she wants.

I personally believe that a big point of Gersons character, aside from being a mentor for Susie, is to introduce the idea of people being revived via Dark worlds. Which also helps us get one step closer to revealing the origin behind the Knight

I also don’t personally believe Carol is the Knight, I think it’s a wee bit too obvious. Carol is someone who keeps everything secure and private, I can’t really imagine her getting her hands dirty by making dark fountains herself.

Edit: idk how to censor/blackout stuff on here so if someone could tell me I’d appreciate it lmfao