6 Most Unhinged Dungeon Crawler Carl Fan Theories

Published Sep 28, 2026, 4:00 PM EDT Carrie is a Senior Writer at ScreenRant who previously managed Geek to Geek Media and wrote for SwitchRPG. She is particularly knowledgeable when it comes to WoW, Diablo, and cozy games. She has a passion for supporting the indies and always enjoys sharing her passions with others through her writing. The popular LitRPG series, Dungeon Crawler Carl, is already eight books deep, with author Matt Dinniman currently working on the epic finale, which may be broken into two additional books. That means there's already a lot of lore for eager fans to pore over while coming up with theories for things that may be going on beyond what is shared in the text of the books. There isn't a lot that we know for certain about what will happen in the next Dungeon Crawler Carl book, much less what the ultimate fate of our protagonists, Carl and Princess Donut, will be. However, fans have a magnificent knack for picking up on hints that authors might leave, as well as coming up with some pretty unhinged ideas of what could happen. Naturally, despite these theories being simply suppositions from fans, this article will contain spoilers for the Dungeon Crawler Carl series through Book 8, A Parade of Horribles. If you haven't read the series yet, you can purchase book 1 now through this link to start your reading journey. "This Message Is From A Deceased Crawler" Credit: Dandy House Some of the writing in the books, particularly the way Carl sometimes seems to speak as though he is telling a story, has led quite a few readers to come to the idea that what we are reading is actually Carl's writing inside the Dungeon Anarchist's Cookbook, or other types of journal entries or even an insanely long chat message. As Reddit user "sab340" suggests, "The books are written posthumously from Carl; books end with 'this message is from a deceased crawler'." Unfortunately, we are just hoping that this theory is unhinged and not an actual prediction of what Matt Dinniman plans to do in ending this saga. Otherwise, it's entirely possible that the final books could end up being considered as the worst books of the DCC series. Donut Will Get Custody Of Bea And Enter Her In Pageants A popular theory among many fans in forums across the internet seems to relate to the final relationship between Princess Donut and Bea. Among these is the idea that after everything is said and done, the roles will be reversed and Donut will become Bea's owner. Reddit user "Dino_Chicken_Safari" says, "Bea and donut are going to reconcile, and donut will get legal custody of her. And donut is going to have her start competing in human pageants." The theory brings up several questions, including what happens to Carl in this scenario. Does he also become a pet of Donut's? Does he share custody of Bea in some twisted and likely uncomfortable outcome? Regardless, it would be somewhat satisfying for those of us who love Princess Donut to see her get to have the revenge she and many cats before her deserve. The AI Chose Carl Long Before The Collapse Image via Amazon Several fans have actually shared variations on this theory, with various ways it could have happened. Ultimately, the consensus here is that the AI was watching Earth for a long time and chose Carl long before the collapse took place. Reddit's "heather_in_progress" says, "I fully believe the AI chose Carl before the collapse, and engineered it so he had no choice but to go down the stairs. Carl has been the tip of the AI's spear since day 1." This argument is further strengthened by other fans such as "rileyjw90" pointing out the AI's fascination with Carl's feet: "Maybe Carl posted a pic of himself playing COD with his feet up and the AI trawled the net before the collapse and 'chose' him XD." This would certainly make sense with the way that the AI has had a heavy focus on Carl since the very beginning, creating a strange sort of relationship that it doesn't appear to have with any other crawler, as is noted by comments from Katia during the situation with hordes of gerbil-like creatures when the AI is angry with Carl. However, given Matt Dinniman's feelings towards that foot-related subplot, he may not want to highlight that any more than he already has. Floor 19 Is The Key Reddit user "Deodorized" shares an interesting theory about where this story could be headed. "There are 19 floors to the dungeon, but the stairs down to F19 will only show themselves to Primals, Crawlers, and more importantly, Primal Crawlers, so nobody currently knows F19 even exists. F19 is where the primals suddenly disappeared to, are trapped there, and all System/Dungeon AIs are a group of consciousness of the trapped Primals. The Dungeon AI going Primal is really the Primal group consciousness trying to power up Crawlers so that they can reach F19 and finish the dungeon because... Finishing the dungeon releases the trapped Primals and collapses all System AI functionality." Although only available in the physical, hardcover editions of the books, the bonus content throughout the series shares information about the Pineapple Cabaret, which is on the 18th floor. The idea that there is one more hidden floor that a group could be trapped on and trying to pull some strings to be freed isn't entirely out of the realm of possibility. Although it would still be a reach to get there from where the books currently are. Carl Is A Patient In A Mental Ward Credit: Dandy House We've received enough information in the books to know that, prior to the world collapsing, Carl enjoyed playing video games. Therefore, it isn't that big of a stretch to believe that Carl's subconscious has the capability of creating this entire world. The game mechanics, level systems, even enemies could have been in his mind from games he has played in the past. Reddit user "inabindbooks" brings up the idea that "Carl is a patient in a mental ward. The dungeon and all the characters are drug induced hallucinations. Princess Donut is a sock puppet he made in arts and crafts." Other commenters responded to this idea, adding that Donut is heavily inspired by his psychiatrist, who is named Dr. Hekla Metcalf. A few commenters on various threads across Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok have also brought up the idea that he is in a mental ward or has had some kind of mental breakdown, leading him to have hallucinations or even potentially being in a coma. Some even say that his hallucinations of this world are causing him to kill people in the real world. Donut Has Been Manipulating Carl The Whole Time Generally speaking, fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl all love Princess Donut. To the point that if anything were to happen to her in any of the books, there would likely be riots in the streets. That is why this particular fan theory by Reddit's "cursedwithplotarmor" is the most unhinged of any theory. Their post states that, "Donut has been manipulating Carl since she ate the pet biscuit. She quickly learned that having a psychotic arsonist as a 'best friend' was very valuable both in the crawl and with the fans. She learned how to manipulate Carl while living with Bea. Donut gains the throne and when Carl again expresses his desire to end the crawl, Donut says, 'Why would we end it Carl? The crawl is mine.' And tosses Carl into the Nothing." Ultimately, this would mean that not only has Donut been manipulating Carl in the worst ways, but that Matt Dinniman has also been manipulating us, his audience, by playing with our emotions if he were to throw a plot twist of this size into the final fates of our beloved characters. The series is a tragedy, and isn't supposed to be all sunshine and rainbows. Likely the ending of the series will result in many tears. However, surely Matt Dinniman would never turn against his Dungeon Crawler Carl fanbase in this way. Dungeon Crawler Carl Publisher(s) Penguin Random House Publication Date September 21, 2020 Number of Pages 444 ISBN# 979-8688591507 Author(s) Matt Dinniman