Sprite

The Kernelsprite is an entity released when a Sburb player first opens their Cruxtruder. At first, Kernelsprites are nigh-on-useless, unintelligible balls of light (the Kernel). In order to be useful, they must be prototyped, which involves dropping an object (that gets absorbed indefinitely) into the Kernelsprite. They are said to be "drawn", in a sense, to the dead or soon-to-be-deceased-- there is no explicit rule saying that a Kernelsprite must be prototyped with something dead, but across all sessions ever played, almost all of them are. These objects' characteristics determine the sprite's personality and abilities. Sprites can be prototyped at least twice (so far no one has attempted to prototype them a third time), and at least one pre-entry prototyping is necessary to win the game, presumably because Skaia would otherwise be unable to grow to its final form. According to Davesprite, a properly prototyped Kernelsprite is given access to a wealth of knowledge about Sburb, but there are apparently limits on what a player's Kernelsprite can tell them and when, and Kernelsprites are supposed to be coy in nature. Davesprite, though, is an exception to the rule. Kernelsprites cannot accompany the players they're guiding through the first gate. According to Davesprite, Sburb players unlock the power to have their Kernelsprites accompany them through the gates at a later point in the game.

John's Kernelsprite
John Egbert's Kernelsprite is initially prototyped with his Dad's birthday present, the Harlequin Doll, giving it a mangled face and a fake arm. It speaks in complete gibberish, though. When the Sburb meteor threatened John's home and he escaped into The Medium, the Kernelsprite "hatched" into three parts, a black orb, a white orb, and a ghostly looking Harlequin, aka the 'Sprite'. The black orb spiraled off of John's house, which is floating above his planet, and vanished beneath the clouds, coming to rest in an orb atop a spire in "a kingdom entrenched in darkness." The white orb floated into the sky and left behind a trail of spirograph portals, known as The Seven Gates, eventually coming to rest in a similar orb-topped spire in "a kingdom basking in light." Rose and John attempted to finish prototyping the Kernelsprite, first using some Betty Crocker cake mix, then using Colonel Sassacre's book (to create a Colonelsprite). Both times the Kernelsprite avoided being prototyped, due to its trickster nature. It was then accidentally prototyped with the ashes of John's Nanna, whose sacred urn was toppled following the dropping of Colonel Sassacre's text. It evaded John after that, owing to the trickster nature of its harlequin component. It has only recently revealed itself through the classic bucket on top of the door trick, earning it the pranksters gambit. It appears to have a new remix of an old theme (Harlequin) as its signature music (Nannaquin). Its conversations are shown through the Sprite Log, where it is referred to as the Nannasprite. Some readers refer to it as the Nannaquin. It appears to leave a blue goo (ectoplasm) behind as it phases through walls.

Nanna retains her memories and personality as a sprite, and helps John by providing needed exposition on where Sburb sent him and where his father is. John's Dad has been kidnapped by Imps and his house has been transported somewhere called The Medium, described by the Nannasprite as "A realm that is a ring of pure void, dividing light and darkness. It turns in the thick of the Incipisphere, a place untouched by the flow of time in your universe." Whether Nanna knew of the Medium before her death is unknown, but a good portion of her knowledge is undoubtedly given to all sprites. Nanna also retains all her old skills as a sprite, creating so many cookies that it is surprising that there was enough room to store them all. Finally, as a sprite, Nannaquin seems to have special powers. Her scarred eye launches attacks, such as lasers, while her intact eye offers aid through various means, such as healing lasers. Both eyes are capable of conjuring furniture and kitchen appliances, which glow the same blue light as her lasers and the Nannasprite herself, the purpose of which depends on the eye used. However, an oven created by her intact eye with the purpose of catching and launching John was later used to offensively launch a cookie-infused laser at a Crude Ogre, though it's possible this was a completely different oven created by her scarred eye. She was left behind at John's house when John reached the first gate and instead advising him from a distance, informing him that he is the Heir. When John unlocks the ability to have Nanna accompany him, she presumably will.

Rose's Kernelsprite


Rose Lalonde's Kernelsprite was prototyped twice before Rose entering the Medium. She initially prototyped it with Jaspers, and Dave prototyped it with the Eldritch Princess. Her Kernelsprite is shown to be very reliable, as it grabbed Rose with a tentacle to rescue her from a fall. It was hinted that Rose would prototype the sprite with Jaspers after Jade mentioned Sburb might be able to bring Rose's dear cat Jaspers back from the dead. Notably, it was prototyped not only both times before it entered The Medium, but the (formerly) living element was introduced before the nonliving element, though this had no visible effect on the sprite. Interestingly, Rose's kernelsprite initiates direct physical contact to save Rose, whereas the Nannasprite uses indirect means.

After its first prototyping, Rose's Kernelsprite appears as a disembodied cat head surrounded by an orb of light, like John's. Between its double prototyping and Rose's entry in the Medium, it has the full sprite body still surrounded by the orb of light. When Jaspersprite is seen again in the Medium, the orb of light is gone. As Rose prototyped twice before entering the Medium, the changes undergone by the denizens of the Incipisphere were more drastic: the opening to Act 4 shows new types of imps taking on all possible properties; Cat, Cathulu, Princess and even some Cathulus and harlequins wearing Jaspers' suit. In the Medium, Rose's Kernelsprite is referred to as the Jaspersprite. He can talk, although he prefers to just make cat noises. He seems to be privy to a lot of important information, but he doesn't quite understand it.

Dave's Kernelsprite
Dave Strider's Kernelsprite was prototyped with the remains of the Rambunctious Crow by Jade, much to Dave's distaste. Before its second prototyping, it resembled a ghostly bird with a Katana lodged in its chest, refered to by Dave as the Seppucrow. Dave was somewhat disappointed with his sprite. However, being prototyped with a bird certainly had an effect on the Kernelsprite, as it feels compelled to do bird-like things like make nests out of whatever it can find lying around and stealing and trying to hatch Dave's Cruxite Egg. When Dave entered the Medium, the denizens of the Incipisphere gained the additional possiblities of having beaks, wings, or swords in their chests. In the original timeline, the kernelsprite was later prototyped with Lil' Cal. It seemed to be very powerful in combat, and it could use abilities such as shooting a puppet-infused laser or transforming into a huge puppet to attack enemies; however, it gave no useful advice whatsoever, only leering at Dave and laughing annoyingly. After around four months with Calsprite, Future Dave got fed up with the prototyping and used time travel to change it. In the corrected timeline, the Dave from the future merges himself with the crowsprite to make a Davesprite. Davesprite uses orange text and can chat on Pesterchum with his 'iShades'. Although the other Kernelsprites were withheld from revealing information, Davesprite claims Dave can ask him anything and he will answer. Davesprite may be the most potentially helpful Kernelsprite, being open and direct with Dave, as well as having the knowledge to prevent mistakes the Kids made in his own timeline. Other than that, Davesprite's personality is just like Dave's, since he is simply a version of him from the future, and he claims he will update Sweet Bro &amp; Hella Jeff while the Dave from the current timeline continues his quest. Any birdlike traits are as of yet unknown. He also appears to have fists, though none appear in his sprite.

John's birthday letter to Dave mentioned that Dave oughta get out of Bro's shadow and spread his wings. Circumstances being what they are feel free to groan. Research is ongoing into the time one of the Trolls thought Dave was a girl and the fact that Rambunctious Crow's gender is unknown.

Jade's Kernelsprite
Jade has tended to break tradition previously, so it is hard to speculate on what her Kernelsprite will be, although she undoubtedly has one as Wayward Vagabond posesses a fully prototyped ring. Theories include Grandpa, Halley, Jade's Dream Self, Becquerel, and the Distinguished Houseguests. Jade's Kernelsprite will most likely be green, as green is her associated color, and the color of each sprite so far has been close to their owner's associated color.

Troll Kernelsprites
Except for Aradia, all Trolls prototype exactly once, pre-entry, with their deceased Lusus.

Aradia's Kernelsprite
Aradia Megido used her telekinesis to move the desecrated head from the Frog Temple to be prototyped, as urged by the voices of the dead. Her Lusus was killed because of the accident and therefore she was left with finding something else to prototype with. It is important that she used the frog head from the temple, as it enabled the Troll version of Jack Noir to exile the Troll version of the Black Queen, and possibly other reasons. She then used herself for the Tier 2 prototyping. She was the only Troll to prototype twice, and also the only one not to use her dead Lusus. After Equius delivers Aradia's robot body to her, Aradiasprite somehow integrates herself with the machine, taking a robotic form. It is not known what effect this has on Aradiasprite exactly, or if she keeps her natural knowledge of the game's workings or any of her sprite powers.

Karkat's Kernelsprite
Karkat Vantas already had a Kernelsprite when he was shown at the end of the Midnight Crew Intermission. It was already in Sprite form and prototyped with the remains of his dead Custodian.

Kanaya's Kernelsprite
Kanaya Maryam uses the body of her Mother Grub lusus, forming Mothersprite. Mothersprite is the first Troll Kernelsprite we see communicating with her charge, comforting her after Vriska Serket played her for a fool. Mothersprite's head is really big.

Equius' Kernelsprite
Equius Zahhak, like almost all trolls, prototyped his sprite with the body of his dead Lusus, Aurthour.