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they were right. it could be worse . those are official arts btw

the way Mira would put her hand in front of Zoey so as to protect her from Rumi 😭😭 OUCH MANN my girl would start bawling right then and there 😤😤 it would be soO much more emotional which is a plus considering how emotional it already is.

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Uh, how come you’re not upset? Oh, it’s no big deal. He’s a snowman. We’ll just…put him back together.

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Even in 358/2 Days, where it's said (by Riku himself actually) that Sora's 'most precious memories' are those of Kairi, Roxas's most extreme emotional reactions to his dreams of Sora's memories are when it's memories of Riku Like he remembers 'Giving up already? Come on, Sora, I thought you were stronger than that' and wakes up screaming Riku's name And he cries when he dreams of the time Riku took the Keyblade and Donald and Goofy left Sora

Roxas's reactions to the dreams of Kairi were always more like 'Huh, it happened again'

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the opening scene of Dream Drop Distance.png

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one of the most frustrating things about getting a job is that after you go through the absolute hellscape that is applying and interviewing and you finally prove yourself worthy of having employment, you'll end up in the workforce and realise that 90% of the people with jobs are not actually very good at them. so like why was all of that even so hard

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Story board art for This is What it Sounds like!

Credit to tinyfortress on Instagram

This helps disprove some theories and approve others

1. Gwi-Ma is not Rumis father. He appears to be a similar species to the Saja Boys

2. Rumi is not a rape baby. Many theorize Miyeong was raped by Rumis dad but this shows it was mutual love

3. This confirms Rumis dad was a specific type of demon and that the love was mutual between her parents

In past concept Celine was originally the one who killed Miveong, accidentally. Perhaps Celine was aiming for the dad but Miyeong got in the way and was struck instead 👀

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Why was literally everything of substance left in the storyboards???? (also Celine x Rumi's mother hinted at?)

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Graven sounding annoyed every time Kairi shows up in his KH1 streams is funny af and 100% in character for KH1 Riku.

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Happy ReBirth-Day to my precious Riku TvT

because it's his birthday I decided to draw caution to the wind and just yolo post my analysis that no one asked for and most probably won't read anyways lol

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I am going to kill [remembers suicide jokes are bad] a healthcare executive [remembers the fbi exists] haha just kidding [remembers that tumblr hates posers] but maybe I’m not [remembers The Alamo] The Alamo

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Riku & Keyblades: ???

It's been a bit since my last bit of KH tinhatting but I was looking at keyblades again and

HOW DOES HE KEEP SUMMONING THESE THINGS??

Keychains, I get! Something something, connecting with people's hearts, keyblades are "heart" swords, boom: your heartsword now resembles whomever you just trauma-bonded with! "Befriended", same thing.

BUT HOW IS RIKU MAKING NEW HEARTSWORDS??

Riku starts out as the "Chosen" of the Light Realm's Kingdom Key but, due to his being preoccupied by Teen Angst (Gay Panic), the Key instead passes to Riku's "Chosen": Sora. This is Keyblade 1.

Kingdom Key is happy to stick with Riku's Chosen but Riku's Villain Arc requires him to be armed so... Riku materializes a WHOLE SECOND KEYBLADE (how?? he's only got one heart! it wasn't like Terranort had one to spare!) to use instead of Kingdom Key. It starts out as the appropriately ominous "Soul Eater" (Devil Wing ft Eyeball) but turns into the much cooler "Way to the Dawn" (Devil AND Angel Wings ft Eyeball) when Riku has his Redemption Arc. Keyblade 2.

Then Maleficent somehow makes a "Keyblade of Hearts" via... daring Riku to de-heart some Disney Princesses? HOW DID SHE EVEN KNOW THIS WOULD WORK?? Why couldn't Xemnas have done this?? Why RIKU??? Is this the Darkness prodding Mal along or..? ugh, Keyblade 3.

It's very quickly brushed aside, in the midst of a big epic reunion between the Destiny Trio, but Riku casually pulls out a shiny new keyblade from nowhere and magically makes Kairi the wielder of "Destiny's Embrace". Aqua accidentally nudging toddler!Kairi with a keyblade always vibed like a red herring tbh: heartswords should require INTENT before being passed down! YET! SOMEHOW?? Untrained Riku can just... mediate on a heart's behalf? idk, man, nomura ain't said nothin'. Keyblade 4.

Fast forward to Dream Drop Distance where Riku AND Sora are now able to manifest their heartswords TO each other, across time and space, because... Best Friendship? Dream Eater & Dreamer? True Love? It's not a dream-only thing either - they summoned this "Combined Keyblade" (there's no official name for it yet but it's more commonly known as "The Gayblade" because... Rainbows) during the Aqua Rescue at the Dark Margin. Keyblade 4½ (Sora has joint custody).

Between the canonical appearances of The Glowing Rainbow Duet Heartsword in DDD & KH3, "Way to the Dawn" breaks. Riku leaves the broken heartsword for Repliku to use (oof), something something thinks of Sora yearningly, new keyblade summoned: "Braveheart" AKA Modern!Kingdom Key AKA Keyblade 5.

THAT'S FIVE FRIGGIN KEYBLADES! "Manifested" by Riku and handed out to FIVE DIFFERENT PEOPLE: Sora; Riku Replica; Terranort's Heartless; Kairi; and Riku himself.

(anyone else remember that one interview where Nomura casually implied Riku wasn't or wasn't entirely human? no? i haven't been able to track it down but it's haunted me ever since: what do you mean "what" Riku "really is" has yet to be revealed??? is he NOT just a dude from Xehanort's home world who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ephemer?? is Riku a changeling??? Kingdom Hearts' Humansona?? *pterodactyl shrieking*)

Oh and, just to feel even more agonized at how mysterious Riku somehow still is, I had a closer look at the symbolism of his keychains:

Keychains of Braveheart (L) and Kingdom Key (R). Mickey's Kingdom Key-D is This but "gold".

Something something the "Lucky Symbols" in KH3 aren't Mickey? What else could this be? Two moons much too close to one planet? A botched venn diagram?? Infamous World Destroyer, Eater of Worlds, Kirby???

Keychains of The Gayblade (L) and "Destiny's Embrace" (R).

Selphie says in KH1 that sharing one paopu fruit is romantic; Kairi says in KH3 that eating two paopu fruit, separately, means Friends Forever... there's a metaphor for Compulsory Heterosexuality in here somewhere, I just know it.

Keychain of Riku's "Way to the Dawn" (L) and the symbol for HEARTLESS (R)???

How heartbroken WAS this kid?!?

Keychains of the Uncombined Gayblade: Riku's Mirage Split (L) and Sora's Nightmare's End (R).

Oh, look! It's the "Riku" Symbol! AGAIN. ???

top: Keychains of KH2's Ultima Keyblade (L) & Brain's "Master's Defender" (R). mid: Ultima Keychains of BBS (L) and KH1 (R). bot: Ultima Keychains of DDD (L) and KH3 (R).

The outlying symbol amongst all the Ultimas is known in the Ultimania as "the symbol of Terra and his Friends". Its earliest known appearance is in Scala ad Caelum and it's just similar enough to Riku's Heart Symbol to feel like an intentional resemblance.

Yeah, this + "Riku is the Light" + "Riku casually becoming a different species (for Sora)" has just further cemented my supposedly crack "Prince of Kingdom Hearts!Riku" theory isn't that crack-y afterall.

(dw guys: riku's not OP bc he forfeited his crown to his True Love when they were toddlers so King Sora of Kingdom Hearts = VALID! riku is just out here, our local half-devil half-angel, handing out new heartswords as the plot requires. what, like it's hard?)

...KH4 can't come soon enough. Hopefully Disney doesn't implode under the evils of its Empire before Squeenix grabs all the copyright permissions they need for all this. ugh, I need to find better screenshots. x_x

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i hope that someday there will be no more advertisements ever again

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Pretty gay of Riku to mentally slow down Sora’s cool landing in the RoD and pay extra attention to Sora’s pretty face as opposed to the cool landing itself. What, are you in love with him or something

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ntm riku is the only one that sora doesnt have to follow the heartless to get to the world hes in

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Was Sora asleep during the course of COM?

What initially made me consider such a thing was how there were two sides to COM much like 3D and Sora was sleeping on the 13th floor on his side while...he shows up on the 1st floor on Riku's side.

Hence...COM is likely to be inside a dream.

Let's start with Marluxia. It's revealed in KH3 that he's capable of putting someone to sleep with the flick of his wrist.

You know, for someone who supposedly dies BEFORE Sora goes to sleep...He's sure smug about this. The fact that he knows about this at all is quite curious! Not to mention, Marluxia is the first person Sora encounters in COM even before he reaches Castle Oblivion. Could Marluxia have done this without them realizing it?

And what about the Nightmare Riku has to face off against in 3D? Does it kind of look...reminiscent of someone to you?

Now to Riku.

Chirithy (Dream Eaters) are capable of discerning scents of both light and darkness. From the get-go of Riku's entrance to COM, he has the ability to smell light and darkness.

Often joked about, this is actually one of the biggest hints that Riku has been a Dream Eater for longer than we think.

And he continues this chain of behavior in Days while Sora sleeps. So if Riku shows some weird sign(s) of Dream Eater powers like smelling light and darkness or helping wake people like Xion up from horrible nightmares (Zexion was Riku's "twofold nightmare" in COM), odds are Sora is sleeping somewhere offscreen!

Finally, the lesson to be taken from this.

With COM elements being brought up again after KH3, I think more may be revealed with time.

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I can’t believe how genius and sad it was to make Cal a scrapper on Bracca. He’s literally working in a graveyard of his old life, breaking it apart piece by piece. Then the Empire uses the scraps to build his oppression.

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battered and bruised