Chapter Text
It's been confirmed by Nate that Spawn reflects how Thomas sees the real world.
It's all stale and grey, because that's how he feels. -Everyone looks the same, people's faces are blurred they all sound the same to him. His life is lifeless, in a way. Taking this into consideration, I believe Thomas is sober during Spawn and some of the games before it - But still hallucinating how reality looks like, likely due to drug withdrawal.
Before reaching Spawn; during hallucinations. The glowing person informs Thomas that he stopped taking his medication. He is "sober" but experiencing severe withdrawal symptoms and seeing things that aren't actually there.
☆~♪~♪ Hallucinations dialogue ♪~♪~☆
(Ø=Glowing Person, T= Thomas)
Ø: Hello thomas.
T: Where am i... What is this place.
Ø: Ur hallucinating thomas.. This is not real.
T: Hallucinating..?
Ø: Yes.
T: Does that mean ur not actually real..
GP: No.
T: I feel so confused, Whats causing this..?
Ø:The meds thomas, U stopped taking them.
T: Meds..? I dont remember taking meds.
Ø: do u atleast remember the incident that happened..?
T: Incident?? what incident..?
Ø: The incident, Thomas.
T: No.. what happened?
Ø: *sigh* I should stop talking.
T: What happened??
Ø: ..
☆~♪~♪ dialogue ends ♪~♪~☆
That brings me to confused! I don't hear a lot of discussion around this, which is a shame because I find it very interesting; confusion in the context of substance abuse refers to a decline of any cognitive ability. A person experiencing confusion might not think properly, as their ability to remember and recognise their surroundings is affected. Now, on the game "confused" we spawn in a swirling tube with the skybox texture. Here Thomas has an split design; one half looks like an Spawnzle while the other is his usual appearance. - Everything swirls around him, we don't know why or how we are there. We can't make out if we are actually moving until we walk for a significant amount of time, reaching the light at the end of the tunnel.
The most important part for me, is Thomas's appearance. I firmly believe that the split Spawnzle design represents his body detoxing from the drugs; When a person is regularly under the influence, their brain and body adjust to being under the substance of choice. They become reliant on it to feel "normal". The more they take the withdrawals become more brutal and severe. Based on this, we can make out that Thomas has been addicted for a long time. All his symptoms are severe.
Thomas appearance on confused clearly represents his body trying to balance itself and reach homeostasis, as it gets rid of any lingering chemicals of the drug. Confused takes place just before Spawn, where Thomas isn't experiencing any severe withdrawal symptoms. This might be a stretch but Spawn might reflect his depression. (Which is in itself, another symptom of withdrawal.)
My last point is about the statue at the center of Spawn. We see a black figure standing on Skittles decapitated head.
I don't see Skittles as literally Soren.
I think he represents both Soren AND his medicine addiction. Think about it, his colour palette is vibrant, happy - similar to that of the meds. Perhaps the statue symbolises how Thomas hasn't been taking the meds, how he was starting to "defeat" his addiction. Before going inside the cave. We see a warning sign, outside of it. (Again, this is a stretch.) It might symbolises that regressing and taking the meds again is dangerous; Thomas falls into the risk of dying on the hands of an overdose, erasing all the process he had made. Inside the cave, Thomas gains a lantern. Maybe I'm looking too deeply into things but, the lantern might represent how he is looking for "something". That something being the meds.
The painful reality is too much for him, he chooses his artificial world. - One full of excitement, bright colours and happiness. The medicines are his beacon of hope on his life, a detrimental solution to his sadness. One that ends up claiming his life.