descendant-of-truth

[descendant-of-truth]

Y'know what, I think we should be making even wilder theories about Missing Link before it comes out. I'm gonna go first and say that Terra will be revealed to be a digitally-made person created by the one of the science teams in Scala, for research purposes. Can't test an artificial Keyblade without a wielder, right?

The only thing this serves to explain is why his Keyblade summoning animation looks so digital compared to everyone else's, but still, he and Aqua do have suspiciously absent backstories... anything is possible

[descendant-of-truth]

No way no way I just realized that in the KH2 memory recaps they show Sora smiling before he stabs himself with the special Keyblade and they show it leaving him but they DON'T SHOW HIM ACTUALLY DOING IT

Like they just. cut that part out. That feels so deliberate, like Sora can't bear to think about that one moment, even when it's Roxas who's getting the memories

He can remember being abandoned by Donald and Goofy even though it's painful but he can't think about how he hurt himself.... he just focuses on how it helped Kairi......

[descendant-of-truth]

I've had this song in my head for so many years without knowing its name, and I only know it at all because it was used in a 358/2 Days anime video that I can no longer find on youtube.

The original was sung in Japanese, and it had kind of a... rock/pop energy, I think? I'm not always great at identifying genres, but it wouldn't surprise me if it actually was the opening to an anime. If anyone recognizes this from my attempt at humming it, PLEASE tell me so that I can listen to it again, I really liked it!

[descendant-of-truth]

He wants you to get him some trail mix down from the cupboard

[descendant-of-truth]

Something I'm still a bit confused about is how long it actually took for CoM to happen, because despite having a timeline in Days to work off of, the framing still makes it unclear.

Axel leaves for Castle Oblivion on Day 23, and there are reports of at least one of the Organization's members being terminated by Day 26. So your first thought might be, okay, so CoM takes three or four days to happen in full.

But when Roxas faints on that same day, we're told that Roxas will probably only wake up if Sora loses all his memories, and Xemnas says that "much hinges on Castle Oblivion." Meaning... CoM is still going on? And it only took a few days for one member to be defeated?

We get a blurry cutscene of Sora's pod closing, and only then does Roxas wake up, but that happens on Day 50! There's no way that CoM takes almost a full month, right? But... Sora was only losing his memories during CoM, after that he should be getting them put back together. So, if Sora needs to lose his memories for Roxas to wake up, how did he wake up at all?

Did Roxas faint at the same time Sora went into the pod, or is that when he woke up? If it's the former, then what was happening in the proceeding 24 days Roxas was asleep that was keeping him asleep? What woke him up, and for that matter, what actually caused him to faint in the first place?

And for that matter, Axel only returns on Day 71! What was he doing this whole time if CoM only took a few days??

I don't know why this specific part of the game is confusing me so much but it is and I need answers

[descendant-of-truth]

Interesting addendum to this that I wasn't expecting: in the English version of Days, whenever Roxas talks about Sora, he's always clearly framed as a person. "Who is Sora," "I don't even know a Sora," etc.

In Japanese, he initially asks about who Sora is, but then switches to asking what Sora is. And it seems to happen not too long after Xemnas describes Sora as "the connection" between him and Xion.

He proceeds to wonder to himself what Sora is, and who exactly that makes him, before going to ask Axel about it. And during that conversation with Axel, he doesn't say "I don't even know a Sora," he instead just repeats the question of "but what even is Sora?"

Which I think adds an extra nuance to the narrative that gets lost in the official translation. Roxas instinctively thinks of Sora as a person, because why wouldn't he, but none of the answers he gets about him frames him as such. So, perhaps subconsciously, he starts seeing Sora less as a person and more of a mystery, this obstacle to his and Xion's lives that he can't seem to get answers about.

And normally, you'd think Roxas wouldn't fall into this trap, right? He's always been the most adamant about defending Xion's personhood, shouting at people when she's referred to as a puppet or an "it." His whole storyline is about asserting himself in the face of nearly everyone he knows dehumanizing him and trying to take away his autonomy.

Plus, he has Sora's memories! If he remembers things that Sora's done, and things that Sora's felt, how could he not see him as a person?

But I think that's a testament to how insidious the Organization's manipulation is. Roxas and his best friend are discriminated against, they're "othered" in a way that's unfair and it makes him justifiably ticked off. But that's the thing: he knows Xion, he cares about her, and of course he knows himself. He remembers things about Sora, but he doesn't really understand him - we never see him processing the memories he has very well.

So it becomes very easy for Sora to be presented as the "other." He doesn't stand up for Sora's personhood because he hasn't seen it, and frankly, he has bigger things in his home life to care about than whether some random guy he knows random things about is being treated well. Sora, reportedly, is half the reason he has so many problems anyway, and at this point in his life he just wants someone to blame.

It doesn't matter that Sora wasn't personally responsible for anything that happened to Roxas. He doesn't know what Sora did or didn't do when it comes to him and Xion, but everyone's telling him he's responsible, he's the connection, he's the reason everything is happening to him. And so, Roxas's anger is directed at an innocent person, someone who's really not much more privileged than he is, instead of solely at his oppressors.

Honestly, the way Roxas views Sora over time deserves a post all on its own, because it's not even necessarily as straightforward as "and then he saw Sora exactly for who he is once they joined together for a while and he got over his resentment." It's more like, his resentment turned into genuine respect, and then into this weird, resigned hero-worship for a bit, before they seemed to get on equal terms towards the end of KH3.

But my point is, Roxas plays a very interesting role in this pattern of Sora being dehumanized, because he ends up contributing to it for completely different reasons than everyone else, and it's not even on purpose. DiZ and the Organization see Sora as a tool, Namine and especially Riku care more about waking him up than how he'd feel about their methods.

To Roxas, Sora is the reason he lost everything. Sora is "what it was all for," which starts as something he hates, and becomes something that gives him a certain degree of comfort.

Because Sora will be the one to figure it all out, right? He can depend on Sora, just like everybody else, because that's what Sora's here for. He's a good guy, he'll find a way to make things right again.

He ends up being correct, but man. At what cost

Anyone else find it fascinating that whenever we're shown Roxas's feelings through Sora, it's just kind of melancholic and wistful, but the reverse scenario always feels like you just walked into a psychological horror?

Seriously, the way it's presented, it's like we're meant to see Roxas as an old friend that we miss talking to, but Sora - our original "old friend" that we would have reasons to miss - is hardly even shown as a person. The contents of his memories feel less important than the effect they're having on Roxas, which is usually Extreme Distress and/or physical pain.

And it's insane to me because KH1 was so whimsical! The memories that Roxas and Xion are experiencing are literal Disney magic! But the way they're shown, with the fuzzy filters and the glitch effects, sort of removes the emotions you associate with them and makes them come across as eerie and unsettling.

Not to mention, Sora's memories rarely prompt any feelings of happiness, the way Roxas's might make Sora extra fond of the Twilight Town crew... which might say more about how KH1 affected Sora's mental health than anything.

(I personally stand by the idea that the story revisits it so much as an analogy for how repeating events in your head over and over can alter your perception of them)

But like. how wild is it that this series found a way to take its cheerful protagonist, and without changing anything about him, turned him into this constant, unnerving presence that haunts the lives of two other characters?

And I think another reason Roxas doesn't feel like he haunts Sora in the same way is because no one really... treats Sora like a person while he's asleep. He's either a tool or an object of affection, and regardless of which you pick, his feelings are seen as secondary to the goal of waking him up. As a result, the narrative focuses entirely on Roxas and Xion's personhood, and unlike Sora, they never stop being treated like people once they're made inaccessible due to the plot.

It's probably a bit late in the story to bring it up by now, but I still wonder if we'll ever see Sora be upset with Riku for sacrificing people in his name. Sure, it worked out in the end, and I'm not sure if Sora's even aware of what happened (how likely is it that he's properly sifted through all of Roxas's memories at this point?) but there's a list of things he could still conceivably be mad at Riku about that he hasn't processed, and I want this to be one of them

[descendant-of-truth]

Thought to myself "why don't I make the version of Sonic I want to see" and then this happened

Not a lot of details on this AU so far, but it seems like a mysterious ring from a lake has attached itself to Sonic's wrist all of a sudden. He's not too happy about it, but he's got bigger problems - like that Robotnik guy who's been tearing through South Island lately...

[descendant-of-truth]

I tend to get kind of irked whenever I hear people talk at length about how Sonic is a "static character" who "isn't supposed to change" and I think I've finally figured out why that is.

Because the thing is, I actually agree with a lot of what people mean when they say this! Sonic has worked extraordinarily well in games where he doesn't have an arc, and instead inspires other people to be their best selves. He's introduced as someone who's already got himself figured out, so he doesn't need to learn a lot of traditional lessons the way a lot of other characters do.

And I also agree that going out of your way to change his core traits to fit him into a more traditional protagonist box that he wasn't made for is doing him a disservice. I may love Sonic in the movies and Prime, but if I was in charge of writing an official story for the series, I wouldn't have thought to make him this hyperactive blabbermouth who's super open with his feelings. They well-written characters, but they don't tend to capture what makes Sonic unique.

But I think people tend to see all these attempts at giving Sonic an arc where his personality is changed, and come to the conclusion of "he shouldn't have an arc at all because doing so ruins the character." Which is the part that really bothers me.

Yes, Sonic is great when he's the Coolest Guy Ever and is just here to Be Cool and embody the themes of the narrative. Sonic, as a symbol of freedom and self-actualization, has always been inspiring to me.

But symbols are rarely as interesting to me as the people behind them. To say that we shouldn't dedicate time to explore Sonic the Person, and instead only have Sonic the Pedestal, is to say that Sonic is only interesting when we're looking at him from an outsider's perspective, and that there's not much to find if you look any closer.

Because "what you see is what you get," right? He's cool because he doesn't try to make himself cool, there's no image he's trying to maintain.

Except... there kind of is?? Sonic used to be very pointed about not being vulnerable around others. If he truly didn't care about his image or what other people thought of him, then he should have no issue crying in front of them. He should be willing to open up to Amy when she asks him what's wrong after Shadow seemingly died. But he doesn't cry in front of other people. He doesn't confide in Amy.

Even Heroes, the game where Sonic boasts about the Power of Teamwork(TM), shows us that he's not really used to relying on other people. He's starting to let himself be a little more genuine, but it's not really coming naturally to him.

Knuckles: Boy, talk about cutting it close... Sonic: Eeh, not really. Knuckles: Come on, tell me you weren't scared? If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have had a chance. Sonic: Well, maybe you're right. Thanks, Knuckles!

Sonic briefly looks away when admitting that Knuckles was right, and Knuckles is visibly thrown off when Sonic responds with a real "thank you." This is clearly a new step for him. So new, in fact, that even afterwards he still instinctively tries to take on Neo Metal Sonic by himself. Tails and Knuckles have to tell him that they're going with him instead of it naturally being assumed, and Sonic seems a little taken aback by it.

So, no, Sonic doesn't need to learn to trust his friends, and he isn't resistant to people helping him, but he can still be overly independent and doesn't seem to know when to ask for help. Even during his "static character who doesn't have an arc" era, he was still growing and changing, it just wasn't very noticeable. And that's more or less fine, but... honestly, even this era of games got a little stuck on how to balance him being unflappable with being, y'know. A person. Who reacts negatively when bad things happen to him.

I mean, all the potential character development he could've had as a result of Shadow's death was ripped away the second they decided to not make a big deal about his return. How does Sonic handle not being able to save everyone? If he managed to accept Shadow's death in full, how does Shadow coming "back to life" affect him? We'll never know, because Heroes was stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to Shadow's character (needing to acknowledge that he died without making the game unapproachable to newcomers) and it affected Sonic's in turn.

Even Sonic X, for all the praise it gets on how it wrote Sonic (much of which I agree with wholeheartedly), still never quite got us into his head long enough to address his flaws or his deeper, less flattering feelings. So of course people are going to equate him "being static" with "being well-written," because some of his best characterization comes from stories that aren't really about him.

But we've had so many opportunities to change that, and we're still not getting it. Generations doesn't use its time travel setup as a means to explore the ways he's grown over the years. Lost World teaches him a lesson that he should've already known, so it falls flat. Forces locks him up for six months, and beyond all rational thought, it barely affects him at all.

Frontiers is certainly... better, but it ends with such an "and then everything was solved and went back to normal!" tone, it's hard to say he really changed by the end. We didn't even get to see Sonic mourn Sage the way he did with Shadow. Or with Emerl. Or Cosmo.

What is with this new era we've reached where we seem to want to put Sonic through intense physical and emotional pain, and then have him walk out of it completely fine? I don't think that's what being a static character even means?? There's supposed to be a limit to how much you can put a character through before something changes them, and Sonic has easily breached it at this point.

The closest thing to what I want here is in the IDW comics, and I won't lie, they've got me pretty invested. But Sonic himself is just different enough in his speech patterns and overall demeanor for it to feel off. It's not enough to ruin the series for me, but it's yet another example for people to point to and say, "look! They got his personality wrong again! Surely this is because they're making him have a character arc and he's supposed to be incapable of those!"

I don't even want him to have that much development per game or anything. It's just... can we not have room for it? If we're already putting him through these harrowing situations, is it really so much to ask that he be affected by them? Must it ALWAYS be about someone else? Shouldn't he get to be a person sometimes, too?

Sonic can be a static character and have it work. But I really think that, as he was originally written, he has a lot more range than he's given credit for. He doesn't need to be changed into someone else in order to be capable of development, and giving him an arc is not a problem in itself. It's just that most of the time, he's rewritten to make a pre-existing arc work, rather than being given one that works with him as he already is.

[descendant-of-truth]

...So, 2025. You know what to do

Oh 2024, please gift upon me some kind of news for NiGHTS, Kid Icarus, and/or Star Fox. All I want is to fly around as various quirky fantasy creatures again

[descendant-of-truth]

Okay guys I'm gonna be real with you. I still have no idea how this benefits Xehanort in any way.

Why in the WORLD would he want the seven guardians of light to be "torn heart from body" before they even fight his thirteen darknesses? Terranort says here that the X-blade will still be forged anyway and then doesn't elaborate on how, but isn't the whole point of this battle to... make the seven and thirteen fight??

Killing all the guardians with just one guy and a swarm of Heartless seems directly counterproductive to Xehanort's plans, which is a problem because SO MANY important things happen as a result of it. The emotional intensity of Sora's breakdown and Riku's subsequent sacrifice is always being undercut by my lack of understanding as to why they're even in those situations to begin with.

Furthermore, if fighting Xehanort's thirteen with their own seven will create the X-blade and grant access to Kingdom Hearts, and they don't want this to happen... why did our heroes show up to this battle at all, much less with exactly seven keyblade wielders?

They don't even try to say "well, Donald and Goofy being here throws off the scale and will prevent Xehanort from making the X-blade," because that's not what happens! Donald and Goofy being there does nothing!

The way they talk about it, it doesn't sound like darkness even needs to win for the X-blade to be made, it just needs to "clash" against the light. So wouldn't the only way to keep Xehanort from getting what he wants be to not participate in the battle?

Did I just completely miss the explanations for these things in-game or something?? Why did our main characters go along with Xehanort's plan when they didn't have to, and why was the whole Terranort/Demon Tide thing a part of that plan?

This is like. the only game in the series where I legitimately don't understand what's going on, please help

[descendant-of-truth]

Yeah remember when I said that I edited the KH1 video in a single day? I deceived you all. I actually made TWO videos that day

[descendant-of-truth]

Anyone else find it fascinating that whenever we're shown Roxas's feelings through Sora, it's just kind of melancholic and wistful, but the reverse scenario always feels like you just walked into a psychological horror?

Seriously, the way it's presented, it's like we're meant to see Roxas as an old friend that we miss talking to, but Sora - our original "old friend" that we would have reasons to miss - is hardly even shown as a person. The contents of his memories feel less important than the effect they're having on Roxas, which is usually Extreme Distress and/or physical pain.

And it's insane to me because KH1 was so whimsical! The memories that Roxas and Xion are experiencing are literal Disney magic! But the way they're shown, with the fuzzy filters and the glitch effects, sort of removes the emotions you associate with them and makes them come across as eerie and unsettling.

Not to mention, Sora's memories rarely prompt any feelings of happiness, the way Roxas's might make Sora extra fond of the Twilight Town crew... which might say more about how KH1 affected Sora's mental health than anything.

(I personally stand by the idea that the story revisits it so much as an analogy for how repeating events in your head over and over can alter your perception of them)

But like. how wild is it that this series found a way to take its cheerful protagonist, and without changing anything about him, turned him into this constant, unnerving presence that haunts the lives of two other characters?

And I think another reason Roxas doesn't feel like he haunts Sora in the same way is because no one really... treats Sora like a person while he's asleep. He's either a tool or an object of affection, and regardless of which you pick, his feelings are seen as secondary to the goal of waking him up. As a result, the narrative focuses entirely on Roxas and Xion's personhood, and unlike Sora, they never stop being treated like people once they're made inaccessible due to the plot.

It's probably a bit late in the story to bring it up by now, but I still wonder if we'll ever see Sora be upset with Riku for sacrificing people in his name. Sure, it worked out in the end, and I'm not sure if Sora's even aware of what happened (how likely is it that he's properly sifted through all of Roxas's memories at this point?) but there's a list of things he could still conceivably be mad at Riku about that he hasn't processed, and I want this to be one of them

[descendant-of-truth]

Well guys, I did it. I cut out all the scenes from KH1 that had music in them and was left with a nearly 2 hour video. Behold, the very quiet fruits of my labor

(This was edited in a single day)

[descendant-of-truth]

Why is there so much silence in Deep Jungle

Terrible video idea: a compilation of every Kingdom Hearts moment that doesn't have music

[descendant-of-truth]

Terrible video idea: a compilation of every Kingdom Hearts moment that doesn't have music

[descendant-of-truth]

I'm so obsessed with the modern Twilight Town gang, you guys

[descendant-of-truth]

Strong contender for the highest quality Sonic I've ever drawn at this size (very small)