I am wondering about his mother! PP traditionally is played by a woman in plays so it could have been an interesting but perhaps not commercially mainstream twist. I guess it was mind blowing enough already.
I think that doubt speculation makes the most sense to me, as NL runs on belief and doubt is the opposite, the inevitable shadow created be any belief. So that fits in to Mal corrupting NL. Children can believe so purely and adults we are taught to reason and it can undercut that emotional kind of belief.
“If I had a world of my own, everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is, because everything would be what it isn't. And contrary wise, what is, it wouldn't be. And what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?” -- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass