Okay, this may be a dumb question, but the kernel at the beginning that john prototypes, you aren't able to understand until it's double prototyped. How come we can understand the single prototyped kernels now? (For instance: nepetasprite)

Because it was prototyped with a non-sentient thing. The harlequin doll doesn’t have a brain or a way to convey speech and the sprite reflected thins.