Personally, I'm one of the opinion that "Dirk" will get redeemed in some manner. But not Ult.Dirk. Ult.Dirk has so graciously asked to become the villain, and I think that it would be so gracious of the narrative for Dirk to be able to fix his shit while Ult.Dirk is forced to take on a hollow victory--being the superbadguy he asked for, but losing the status as the "Ultimate" Dirk somehow (I feel like Candy!Jake's increased Hope powers could easily make BG!Dirk real now and thus a viable replacement but I don't think that's gonna happen... now Meat!Jake on the other hand...).

That's because I don't think that Ult.Dirk can really be considered Dirk. This is probably a point that the comic will make but basically that the ironic allure of the Ultimate Self is a trap because it sounds like a good, self-bettering thing. But "ultimate" is not "the best version". It's the last. Because the BC team refuse to fucking elaborate on what the hell(tier) going helltier is (or if thats even what its called), I've elected (impulsively) to believe that HELLTIER is sort of the opposite of ULT-SELF in a way.

Becoming ULT-SELF involves absorbing (quite literally and violently) all possible you-s into one soul/consciousness/body. It's looking at every possible you and saying "yep, that's me". HELLTIER has a similar sort of acceptance (Vriska DID those things... wrong) but it notably comes with the rejection of you HAVING to be your other you-s. Saying "they can be/were me, but I'm not them and I don't HAVE to be them to be ME." Vriska LISTENS to Tavros. She LEAVES Momfang behind. It's not clear if she merged with GO.Vriska in [S] 8r8k but I think instead she simply disappeared, having received closure. Vriska accepted that they'd both been hurt by the same sort of loss (why they hugged), but that doesn't mean she IS GO.Vriska. She's still herself, but she escaped hell having been reminded that while the core of Vriska might be immovable, and there's so much potential for who she could be spooling out across every possible iteration of reality through Paradox Space... somehow, despite seeming impossible, she still has a choice. Even Doc Fucking Scratch tells her this: She can't change WHO she is foundationally, but she CAN change WHO she is now. How she represents herself, how she acts towards others, and what parts of herSELF she holds onto. And because of that realization, she's "normal now" in her own words. And all the while, Ult.Dirk is characterized and talked about as being a fucking psychopath. He's on the wrong track and doesn't care.

But dammit, I'd like to think that the core, immutable, immovable concept of "Dirk Strider" deep down, does give a shit. And THATS how they (might) redeem Dirk and still defeat Ult.Dirk. (And also how June will happen)

BUT HEY, THATS JUST A THEORY. A-