#All/mostly Foreteller and KHuX based!!!!!!

[luxusdollhouse]

HEY

you wanna read drabbles of mine ???? Oh you wanna do that???? WELL do I have GOOD NEWS FOR YOU,

I am posting them on ao3 :] varying quality and warnings and ratings in the chapter summaries !!!!! Here you (tosses it to you in pieces like you’re a duck I am feeding good nutritional food to) https://archiveofourown.org/works/42166926/chapters/105866823

[nadziejastar]

Imo Kingdom Hearts could have been a lot different if Disney was never involved or if it was it's entire own francise with no crossover with FF or Disney, imo that would have been great. Since KH1, the Disney-worlds had barely to no connection or revelance to the main-plot anymore, Sora just travels to the worlds because he can, in KH1 there was more at stake in those worlds too, now they just feel like filler, as much as SE has tried up untill KH3.

Well, “Quadratum” means “Square”. It’s possible that Nomura wants to move away from Disney worlds and focus more on Square worlds. Although I like the Disney worlds, and think they help give the series a unique identity, I can understand that Disney is a is large, powerful, greedy corporation. And Nomura’s relationship with them has changed over time.

It’s telling that instead of coming up with a new plot that gives us a good reason to travel to the Disney worlds again (the real ones, not data worlds, memory worlds, dream worlds, etc.) he’s sending Sora and Riku off to a new alternate dimension based on Versus XIII—a Square property. It may indicate that he’s tired of Disney worlds and they will be getting less focus from now on.

KH1

As the series has gone on, the implementation of the Disney worlds has become worse and worse as Nomura has struggled to come up with reasons to travel to them. I think you’re right that KH1 did the best with incorporating the worlds into the plot. Sora was trying to seal all the Keyholes, giving him a good reason to be in each one. He was looking for Riku and Kairi, which was a more personal goal. And then you had the seven princesses and the villain alliance. And each world contributed to the overall theme of the story.

KH CoM

Pinocchio: Gee, Riku, don’t you have a Jiminy like I do? He’s my conscience. He’s taught me all kinds of important stuff. Maybe you just need somebody to show you what’s right and wrong.

Jiminy: Sure. You can’t shoulder all your problems alone, ya know. You must have somebody–a friend you can talk to?

In CoM, the Disney worlds were pure filler. Only existed for gameplay. On Sora’s side, the story within them was almost the exact same as it was in KH1. Even on Riku’s side, the Disney worlds were pointless. For instance, the whole Monstro level in KH3D could have happened in Re:CoM, since it’s basically reliving Riku’s memories from KH1, but having him make a different choice that time.

KH2

Iago: I wanna be a good friend, like Genie, but I can't do anything to help you. What kind of a friend is that?

Sora: Oh, no---it's not like that, Iago. Friends don't have to "do" stuff. As long as you have fun hanging out together, that's all that matters.

In KH2, the worlds are a mix of new and old. But they’re not really important to the plot. Sora’s just looking for Riku and the King, they’re not there, you participate in the movie’s plot, then move onto the next one. All the actual story happens in Twilight Town, Hollow Bastion, or TWTNW. Each world usually has a theme and a moral lesson, but it doesn’t always relate to Sora that much, so they feel filler-ish. In the second half, the organization appears in the worlds, which makes them a little more relevant to the story. But not much. They were still fun levels, though.

358/2 Days

Roxas had a good reason to go to the worlds, to collect hearts for the organization. I don’t mind if the Disney worlds aren’t directly plot-related, as long as there’s character development in them. I like that they took certain worlds from KH2 that felt like filler and expanded on the main theme of them, contributing to character development, particularly for Axel. For instance, in KH2′s Agrabah, the moral lesson was: best friends don’t have to be “useful”. This idea doesn’t have much to do with Sora, though, so it felt kinda pointless to his quest.

If you didn’t need me, then I no longer held meaning. However, reality is different. It wasn’t about whether I was needed or not. If I could just connect to others’ hearts, that would be enough.

But it was implied that this idea was very relevant to Axel’s memories of his past and his best friend. 

“Because they copied my powers, the Keyblade’s power, and then they didn’t need me anymore— is that it?” Roxas spat. 

He couldn’t bring himself to confirm it. 

“I guess you felt the same way, huh, Axel?” 

At those words, something wrenched in his chest, and he could hardly breathe. No, not me. I wasn’t thinking like that. I would never. “That’s not true. You—you’re my best friend.” The words spilled out of him.

The story of Days was all about how Roxas and Xion help Axel remember his past and what it felt like to have a best friend (an idea that connects to CoM). And the Disney worlds at least contributed to that idea in a meaningful way.

“Set in a circus and playing off the story of Pinocchio, a puppet with a heart, and the Nobodies who possess no heart, we planned for a sad episode with Roxas and Xion looking for hope for themselves”.

I would have preferred Prankster’s Paradise as a world, though, instead of, say, Halloween Town. It sounds like Roxas and Xion would have developed more in that world and it would have been more relevant to the story. Plus, it would have been new. But I think Days did a decent enough job with the Disney worlds. At least Roxas learned something new when he went to them, spurring on interesting discussions with Axel about friendship, love, the heart, etc.

KHBBS

Bagheera: It was bound to happen. Mowgli is where he belongs now.

Three new characters. In each world, the character learned something new and developed slightly. The worlds were mostly new, too. I don’t have a problem with BBS’s Disney worlds. I do wish they would have kept the Jungle Book worlds in, though.

“Riku… Do you think Nobodies have a home? Somewhere we belong?” Naminé wondered.

Having a home, somewhere to belong, was one of the main themes of the Xehanort Saga.

Master Xehanort: Darkness that you channeled.

Terra: No, I succumbed to it. Just like when I stole Princess Aurora’s heart of light. I can never return home now. I’m a failure.

Terra felt like a failure, and that he could never return home. And Aqua was tasked with bringing Ven home. This world could have been really good in BBS.

Coded

Mickey: Yen Sid… I think we’re finally close to figuring out where Ven’s heart is.

Here’s where things start going off the rails. In Coded, Disney worlds are yet again retreads of KH1, only this time they’re data instead of memories. The whole purpose of the plot was to explain why Mickey sent Sora, Riku, and Kairi that letter at the end of KH2. But you didn’t really need a whole game of travelling through virtual Disney worlds for that, especially involving convoluted ideas like data Namine implanting bug blocks in the journal or Jiminy’s Journal embodying itself as Riku (WTF?). You could have just added a scene into KH2FM+ like the above one from the manga. When Mickey saw the photo of Roxas, he recognized him as Ventus. Then he tells Master Yen Sid about it later, leading to Coded’s ending and him writing the letter. 

KHUX

Ephemer: The worlds we visit—the worlds of fairy tales—are nothing more than holograms. You know, projections. The light we collect there is actually this world’s light. To put it simply: There are lots of worlds, right? And they’re all connected by land. But it’s impossible to go around all of them. That’s why there’s a mechanism that projects those worlds here and allows us to collect Lux from faraway lands. I’m gathering information, trying to figure out how the whole thing works. My hunch is that the Book of Prophecies held by the Foretellers is what’s creating these holograms.

The Disney worlds were extremely boring to play through. More than any other KH game, they have scenes that are just copy/pasted straight from the movies. Your main character, since they are mute, has little involvement. They do not grow, change, or develop, after any of these worlds. They have nothing interesting to say and they can barely interact with anyone (Chirithy does it for you). 

And all, except for Wreck-It-Ralph, are just retreads of plots that we already experienced in other games. The worlds are digital holograms of the future generated from the Book of Prophecies. It’s all a VERY convoluted excuse to have you play through the same old plots from the Disney worlds. AGAIN. Only with a FAR less interesting main character. Since this was supposed to be just a F2P gacha with little story, it could have been excused. But since KHUX has become so important to the main story, it is inexcusable how poor of a game it is.

KH3D

Sora: I get it now. After this, Pinocchio and Jiminy’s world gets dragged into darkness, and they end up cast into the sea between worlds, along with Monstro. And then…they end up in Traverse Town, and the belly of the whale. That’s when we meet for real. It’s like Master Yen Sid said–I’m in the dream Pinocchio’s world is dreaming. And that world will never be right again until it wakes from sleep.

I don’t have any real issue with a game focusing on the mark of mastery exam, where Sora and Riku travel through Disney worlds. Riku develops along the way in a satisfying way. It’s the first time you actually go to new worlds as him. The test was for Sora and Riku to acquire the power of waking, so they had to go to dream worlds. Fantasia was perfect for this idea.

But the concept of Sleeping Worlds is convoluted and confusing. They’re dream versions of the worlds? Who is dreaming them? The Dandelions? They’re stuck in a time loop of the past? But visiting the Sleeping Worlds doesn’t rewrite the present. So, are they connected to the datascape? Again, it’s so convoluted, because there really is no reason that Sora and Riku would have to go on another adventure in the REAL world. Again, I would have preferred Prankster’s Paradise in Days. Pinocchio would be a human, it’d be set in the present timeline so no awkward dialogue, and Honest John and Gideon would be involved, giving it more of a plot.

KH3

The game’s worlds could have been okay if Sora wasn’t just wandering about aimlessly. And if they had developed the power of waking better. The power of waking is essentially the power to wake a sleeping heart by connecting with it. It’s the power of love, basically. Most of the Disney worlds are about love. And also, a member of the organization appears in each one.

Dark Road

In BBS, it’s revealed that Xehanort wants to open KH to create a new world. But in KH3, he wants to reset the world. How is this different?

Nomura: The most essential part is that he thinks the current world is a failure, and wants to remake it.

I’m interested to know why Xehanort came to think that way (that the world should be remade).

Nomura: Initially, I wanted to dive deeper into the naive, untainted Xehanort who we see playing chess in the next installment (before KH3 was made), but if I did that, the dark seeker arc wouldn’t have ended (lol), so I decided to shelve it for now.

Wonderland is the only Disney world that has had a plot so far. But this was still the most interesting usage of Wonderland in the series, IMO.

Envy (Latin, invidia): Invi Gluttony (Latin, gula): Gula Lust (Latin, luxuria): Luxu. Anger, or Wrath (Latin, ira): Ira Greed, or Avarice (Latin, avaritia): Ava Sloth, or Laziness (Latin, acedia): Aced

The Foretellers are named after the seven deadly sins.

Nomura: As I was writing the scenario for Kingdom Hearts Back Cover, I was careful so as to make each character look neither like a hero nor a villain, however in the end it seems that only Ava was received as a good girl (laughs). At any rate, if you think of the story progression as a gun, where Ava is the only one with the capacity to pull that gun’s trigger, I’m not so sure about how devoid of sin she really is…

I think there were a lot of parallels between the age of fairytales and the Book of Genesis.

Pride (Latin: superbia) is considered, on almost every list, the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins. Out of the seven, it is the most angelical, or demonic. It is also thought to be the source of the other capital sins.

The MoM is probably really Darkness, the original sin, Superbia. And Xehanort has his Keyblade, becoming his successor. Pride was his deadly sin. He could never admit that he lost to Eraqus at chess because of his pride. In the Bible, the source of sin was the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. After acquiring knowledge of good and evil, he developed a god complex. Pride is the ultimate sin, where all the other sins originate from.

I need only play the role of a fool desirous of the Keyblade’s power.

Luxu is lust and Braig lusted for Xehanort’s power (as Luxu probably did with the MoM). The story in Dark Road is actually interesting. Xehanort is a FAR more interesting protagonist that the Avatar in Union X. As a wielder in training, he actually has a good reason to travel the worlds, and develops as a character along the way. I think Dark Road deserved to be its own real KH game, released on the Vita or 3DS a long time ago. It’s a shame it’s only a mobile game.

Anger is manifested in the individual who spurns love and opts instead for fury. It is also known as Wrath.

Pride is excessive belief in one’s own abilities, that interferes with the individual’s recognition of the grace of God. It has been called the sin from which all others arise. Pride is also known as Vanity.

Envy is the desire for others’ traits, status, abilities, or situation.

Gluttony is an inordinate desire to consume more than that which one requires.

Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasures of the body.

Greed is the desire for material wealth or gain, ignoring the realm of the spiritual. It is also called Avarice or Covetousness.

Sloth is the avoidance of physical or spiritual work.

The story of Dark Road will likely be Xehanort encountering the seven deadly sins as manifested in Disney villains and coming to the conclusion that the world is too corrupt and needs to be reset. That is actually a decent enough plot and good justification for travelling through the Disney worlds. It’d be cool if they added new worlds. Maybe like Pocahontas, and Governor Radcliffe could be Greed, etc.

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

“Is Any of This Real... or Not?”: Exploring the Possibility that Kingdom Hearts is Set in a Meta-Reality, Pt. 3

Part 1     Part 2

In the previous part, I explained how one of the final scenes from Sora’s story in Dream Drop Distance suggests that the events of the Kingdom Hearts are entrapped in a meta-reality or a video game/simulation. This scene being the one where we see many falling Soras (in a pose similar to the Game Over screen) and a scene where Mickey glitches out into the next area. 

I then posed these questions:

But why do we have Continues in video games anyways? Because the video game has a particular path and narrative it wants you to follow. A story the player must uncover. This must happen in a particular way. In the way it was fated to happen; the way it was prophesied to happen. Like in the Book of Prophecies. Is the series just contained within the Book of Prophecies? How does that work?

To answer these questions, let’s look at Jiminy’s Journal again. 

Data-Sora visits the worlds of Real Sora’s journey in a specific order, because that is how it is written in the Journal and thus, Data-Sora is trapped in that path and cannot deviate from it. Similarly, Sora must progress through Pooh’s story by collecting the Torn Pages in a particular sequence. He cannot just find the last page and call it a day. The book has a particular format or fate it compels its characters to adhere to. The Book of Prophecies is no different. The Master of Masters is quick to remind Ira that what is fated to happen, what is written in that book, must come to pass no matter what. The foretellers believe their actions will stop this fate, but it only accelerates it in an Oedipean conundrum.  

Furthermore, we have confirmation from KHUX that the story of Data Worlds cannot be overwritten after they are made and remain “fixed”. The “Darkness” figure who speaks to Maleficent tells us this. This would confirm that whatever is written is fated to happen.

We even have characters who directly compare Jiminy’s Journal and the Book of Prophecies. In Re:Coded, Maleficent is interested in the Journal because she believes it may have some connection to the Book of Prophecies. Ironically, Pete even calls such a proposition at first “fairy tale stuff”, like the Age of Fairy Tales.

Even more interesting about this comparison between the Book of Prophecies and Jiminy's Journal is that both serve to record the same timeline of events. Both are seemingly a record of Sora’s journeys. Sora and the other protagonists like Ven, Aqua, Terra, etc., but mostly Sora’s. Could the Book of Prophecies just be Jiminy’s Journal or an advanced version of it? Maybe the Book of Prophecies is a compendium of all the records (or books as they are shown in the DDD opening like I mentioned in Part 2) from the 8 games so far? They both have similar operations and data from worlds visited throughout the series so this proposal would not be too far-fetched. Perhaps the Master of Masters just used this information and rewrote it into the Book of Prophecies. That would, however, negate the necessity of the Gazing Eye, to supposedly see the events of the future. For all we know though, the Gazing Eye could have just been the Master of Masters way of just making sure things were occurring as they should be and not necessarily a way for him to based his writings in the Book of Prophecies.

Let’s go back to KHUX. Again, we know there are crafted worlds that are based on the Book of Prophecies. Moreover, the Dandelions are strictly monitoring these Data Worlds, in order to ensure no one remembers the Keyblade War.

I stated before that every Data World has a sort of author and a controller. Xehanort seems to be in control of all the events of the series, but he didn’t write the Book of Prophecies, nor does it seem he has possession of it. If he did have this book, he wouldn’t need the use of vessels to experience all the events of the series, as the Book of Prophecies would tell him everything he would need to know. The controller of the Data Worlds created by the Book of Prophecies would then have to be the person who wrote the Book of Prophecies himself, the Master of Masters. The ultimate puppetmaster of the series and the constructor and conductor of the reality of the series, the catalyst of all the events so far and even into the future.

This would also seemingly explain the disembodied voice from Kingdom Hearts 1. The Master of Masters may have a special interest in Sora because he is a boy who follows his heart. In other words, Sora’s heart is his “guiding key”. (Refer to this post) As I mention in that post, following your heart would coincide with following fate and thus fulfilling the Book of Prophecies or the script he has prepared for the characters of the series.

But why would Sora have weird thoughts caused by the simulation anyway? We’ll have to look at Re: Coded again. Particularly at the end where Data Sora wanders around Castle Oblivion and meets a hooded Riku. (Which I’ll discuss in Part 4)

[merilly-chan]

About Ven wielding Missing Ache

I've seen many people analyze the newest KHUx update and it seems like more and more people are jumping on the "Ven is the evil traitor" train. While I cannot prove this theory wrong and won't attempt to do so either since such an endeavor would be futile with Nomura and how far the story currently is in JP, I want to present a few interpretations on why they chose Missing Ache for Ven. ●Ventus' name obviously means 'wind' and an attribute associated with it that he displays is speed. He's faster than Aqua and Terra and his attacks are also swift and agile. Since the new union leaders all seem to wield Keyblades which are available to the player so far, it is only natural that Ven should wield a Keyblade befitting his name and fighting style. Not to mention that the image for the gems needed for leveling up the Keyblade is a wing, which is often a sign for wind and speed. That leaves us with three Keyblades that are solely speed-based: Sleeping Lion, Lady Luck and Missing Ache. Sleeping Lion is a Keyblade mostly associated with Leon, Lady Luck is a Keyblade which has a tight connection to Wonderland and Missing Ache originates from 358/2 Days and can be wielded by Roxas and Xion. ●As you can see, Sleeping Lion and Lady Luck aren't the most optimal choices for a speed attribute Keyblade for Ven out of the three we have since his connection to either Wonderland as a Disney world or Leon is rather weak. On the other hand, his bond with Roxas is inevitably fairly strong due to Sora and he's even the reason Roxas looks the way he does. (Duh.) His heart may have even stayed with him for a while if the Ultimania is to be trusted. So Missing Ache is the best choice from a standpoint which simply associates his name/trait and his connection to the characters and the Keyblades. But does it mean he's necessarily the traitor? No. ●Missing Ache may be a mostly reverse medal Keyblade in KHUx but the reason for that could be fairly simple. It's a Days Keyblade. Roxas was part of Organization XIII during that time it could be acquired and regardless of his own tendency, it is connected to the villains of the series. So it is no surprise that they would choose Missing Ache as a Keyblade which focuses on reverse medals. (Of course KHUx plays before Days but it still has its debut in Days which was released before KHUx.) Wielding that Keyblade has nothing to do with the wielder's innate darkness as far as we know at this point, considering many other Keyblades also use reverse slots. We also can't forget that Roxas's base element is light and he is not exactly an antagonist either. Yet, he can still wield Missing Ache just the same without being a vicious villain. I also want to address another theory because I feel like some are 100% certain Ven is actually evil and a traitor. ●There is the distinct possibility that there is no traitor at all. The only evidence there is one is a missing page of the Book of Prophecies which was written by the Master of Masters. People are taking the contents of that book as face value as though there is no possibility at all that the MoM could have lied. The reason would be fairly simple here, too. It creates doubt. The first time the traitor was mentioned was already within the Foretellers-arc and it was one of the main reasons they started distrusting one another and fought against each other. It was one of the reasons the war even happened. But was there actually a traitor among them? We cannot know for sure because the only evidence is that book written by a single person who could have instigated the whole thing to cause a war and follow his own agenda by doing so. The same could be said about the new union leaders. How can we be sure that Strelitzia was murdered by one of them? It could have been a whole other person who murdered her for the sake of either obtaining the book from her and/or in order to plant someone else into their ranks. Possibly without them even being aware that they are being made a pawn. I won't dive further into this because it's pure speculation at this point and we know too little to think about motives or intentions. ●If there is a traitor, they may not be the villain. First of all, the word 'traitor' sounds negative at first but even Axel was also called a traitor for defecting from Organization XIII and then helped Sora in the end. The same could be assumed for KHUx. If we consider the MoM the villain who provided a rulebook to follow, anyone who would diverge from that path could be labeled as a traitor without them having bad intentions toward anyone in particular but rather trying to help 'the good side'. One such example would be Brain. He essentially said he will become the virus which will destroy the system. Virus also sounds relatively bad because we often automatically link it to diseases and computer viruses which steal information or otherwise damage the computer and in consequence us users. But it's a matter of perspective. Let's take an example of an older movie. In Independence Day, the aliens were the aggressors threatening Earth and its populace, and in order to bypass an inpenetrable barrier, they implanted a virus into their system and hence saved the Earth by destroying the attackers. In that case, a virus was used to achieve something good for the heroes, ensuring their survival. As you can see, what sounds negative at first can actually become positive depending on how you look at it. Who's to say the system that was created for them isn't evil and won't lead to disaster? What if the so-called traitor decides to betray the rulebook and the rest because it would have disastrous consequences to follow it? We can already see that this rulebook isn't all sunshine and rainbows and already lead to a conflict whether to follow it. I am personally not too inclined to trust the Master of Masters yet and anyone labeled a traitor in the book he wrote may actually fight for keeping everyone safe. (Without taking this "Darkness" fellow into account just yet.) I know some people are desperate for dark, gloomy tropes because they believe in the one-sided mindset that everything is always better and more profound when it's tragic, twisted and grim dark. But I personally don't see a viable reason to turn a ten year-old into an evil, psychotic kid just to have something become twisted and for the sole purpose of a short-lived shock value. Especially because many assume he would be acting of his own free will and with evil intent instead of being used. Character development only makes sense if there is a necessity and overthrowing a character we've known for 9 years into a complete opposite is, in my opinion, just a cheap method to create a pseudo-depth to a character who was fine to begin with. Of course there are a lot of blank spaces and we know too little about Ven before his memory loss to say he was the cinnamon roll he is in BBS and beyond. Naturally, there is a possibility that he could have a much more sinister nature. As I said, I'm not denying the possibility that those theories are true. But some of these speculations and interpretations are just as vague as mine are. Mainly because they focus a whole lot on Vanitas as well. Once again, I can't say he won't play a role. But it's also possible that fans are overanalyzing it. Vanitas was born out of the darkness of Ven's heart. So of course his nature will encompass what the series has established as emotions nurturing said darkness. But there is no precedence and therefore it's hard to clearly say that just because Vanitas exists the way he does that Ven has been less pure in the past. We have nothing to compare it to. Maybe the same would happen for most other characters as well if they would have their hearts divided. After all, the Heartless are also highly dangerous and are hearts consumed by darkness. We know that darkness exists in every heart except for those of the Princesses of Heart, so Ven is no exception. A person which only has access to the darkness of the heart would likely still only have that negativity to feed on, regardless of how big its part in the original heart was. I'm not trying to claim what is right and what is wrong. Nomura makes some unpredictable decisions at times so it's hard to say what will happen. I just wish that people will not cling to their theories too much or I fear the same will happen as with KH3. Theories are immensely interesting to me and I enjoy other fans' interpretations but depending on how much they work on it, the harder it becomes for some to let go of it and accept a different development due to headcanons and the subjective opinion that this development is for the better. (Which we won't know because we don't know Nomura's plans.) I'm not saying that people were only disappointed because their headcanons weren't fulfilled, but we can't deny that they tend to fuel our expectations for what we perceive to be the ideal development. KH3 does have major flaws, but I dare presume that some overly negative opinions are also caused by overblown expectations because we had plenty of time to come up with all manner of intricate plans. (Which are by no means worse, but sometimes not better either just because they're very detailed.) It's best to remain open for the idea that Ven may just be a cinnamon roll or that his role as a traitor isn't due to a vile motivation but simply to save his friends. I won't discourage anyone from preferring the other options, I'm just saying it might not be as shocking and character changing as some believe. Wanting friends doesn't mean he'll kill everyone just to get some, to put it drastically. I think it's great that people love Vanitas and want to include him more, but I also have to remind people that the backstory in the novel still isn't canon. Books cannot throw around canon and non-canon, sometimes even flat out contradicting, content and pick out whatever aids their case. Fans might not like to hear it, but even if Nomura should have mentioned certain aspects are canon, it doesn't mean everything else is. The moment a novel based on another source contradicts what is established in the source, it cannot be canon anymore. (And I'm not talking about content which fills holes and could have possibly happened/expands the story, but about serious contradictions.) Which doesn't mean that it doesn't contain things that actually happened but overall, it cannot be declared as canon as a whole. All in all, I'd like to present possibilities which provide harmless explanations why certain things are designed the way they are. There doesn't always have to be a dark secret and not every cheerful character needs to be corrupted for the angst-loving part of the fanbase. If people wish for that it is up to them. I won't deny them that pleasure. I just don't want to see anyone attacking Nomura if he doesn't cater to that headcanon. I know most of the people theorizing about this are perfectly harmless and aware of this and are just eager to explore all manner of interesting possibilities. Which is an admirable passion I am not against seeing. I actually think it's great that there are theories like these because they provide interesting material for discussions. I am just more careful about setting on one theory above any other, simply because KHUx has mostly given us questions instead of answers so far. Everything is possible at this point, which is why I want to remain open for as much as possible. The points above are not meant to disprove anything the other theories are suggesting. They are merely a showcase how certain terms can also be interpreted and that there are alternative explanations.

[khdiscussions]

So, what are you hoping for from Kingdom Hearts III: ReMIND?

I’m trying to keep my expectations low while remaining optimistic (my general policy, never expect the best but hope for it). The people who went in with the highest expectations for KH3 were the ones who were most crushed by the base game and since my Disney world requests were (mostly) hit I can’t say I was super disappointed by the base KH3. But here’s what I’d really like to see in the “Final Mix” expansions:

More content for Xion, Namine, and Kairi (Where are my girls Nomura)

A little more exploration areas in Twilight Town and Arendelle. It doesn’t have to be a lot but I’d love to see a bit more since they were both small and lacking. (Although for Frozen what it was lacking were just things that were personally important to me.) As a note I do not expect extra cutscenes at least in Arendelle itself but please game please I just want to go to Elsa’s Ice Palace this was my only disappointment I’m truly depressed about. (And before people accuse me of joking I went into KH3 assuming it was a given and it was the whole reason I wanted Frozen in KH3. Do not underestimate how much I love Elsa’s Ice Castle I broke down crying because I got to go in it on Frozen Ever After.)

*ahem* Frozen tangent aside, there are a few things I’m a little hazy on details about (The Final World, the Foretellers, Verum Rex) that I’d love an expansion on to help them make more sense. I also think seeing a bit more of the Organization could be a lot of fun. Including learning about Demyx and Luxord.

Then we got my more unrealistic wants I’m gonna touch on before we talk about the special episode:

More secondary playable character segments. If we get even one expansion on gameplay I would love for more characters to be playable, be it Kairi, Ven, or Nomura himself.

More information on Demyx and Luxord and their roll in KHUx.

Seeing Marluxia and Larxene talk about their somebody lives even a bit. We know Elrena has been working with Lauriam for a while and supporting his efforts, but do they even remember what they were searching for anymore? Stuff on this.

Wishful thinking especially is a proper identity for Subject X and Nameless Star. This definitely isn’t going to happen but we’re talking about the unrealistic wants.

And then there’s the added episode that’s going to be attached to all this, so these are the scenarios I think might happen:

Sora’s dive to find Kairi, as he uses the power of waking to bring back her heart.

Riku’s and Kairi’s search for Sora, culminating in them discovering that he is, in fact, within the world of Verum Rex. (Playable Kairi??? Please???)

Riku/Kairi finding Sora and uniting in the world of Verum Rex’s Shibuya, and basically taking the place of the foreshadowed secret ending so KH4 can take place in KH4 and focus completely on the story of Sora taking down the Foretellers, not on Riku/Kairi finding and saving Sora. (TWEWY PLEASE)

The story of Verum Rex. Now I know this one seems weird but it would tie in nicely with the secret ending, give us background on Yozora and his merry crew, and the thing about Verum Rex is an overview of the story could easily cram into an hour or two of gameplay (because unless it’s all one bundle I’d like to think I’m buying an hour or two of DLC for the added episode) Plus it would allow for people who buy the DLC to not be confused if they play it before KH3, which is a thing people would do because like...I’d totally play Prompto’s DLC before going back to FFXV.

As for the rest of stuff with the DLC, I hope the total cost ends up being around 20-30, and I’m expecting we’ll get roughly four hours of content between the episode, the bosses, the storyline expansions, and other little tweaks and additions.

[bluerosesburnblue]

So a while ago I made bios for my Hogwarts Mystery avatar, Seren, and her older brother. I figured it was only fair to do one for my KHUx keykid, too, especially since I made her first (and actually made her a character instead of just a self-insert weeks before I made Seren)

Now, in honor of Kingdom Hearts III coming out in 23 days, here’s some info about my starlight girl

Name: Blue. It’s a nickname (Yes, she has a real name that is not my name, I just don’t want to say it quite yet. I guess I can give you a hint, though. Starts with an “S”)

Union: Vulpes

Title: Unchained Starlight (“Light’s Apprentice” before the Keyblade War)

Top Keyblades: Starlight*, Divine Rose, Missing Ache

*Like most KHUx avatars, Starlight is her Keyblade’s default form

She always introduces herself as Blue, and then appends “It’s a nickname” to the end in a single breath. It’s almost a running joke among people she knows now. The Moogle Shop owner will call her Miss Itsanickname just to rile her up

So, just a general headcanon, but my personal timeline is that it takes about three years from the start of the Foretellers recruiting for the Keyblade War to happen

They recruit people anywhere from ages, like, 11-19. The Keyblade War was fought primarily by people from ages 17+ (the “older kids” and people who joined as kids but were adults when the war happened) and the Dandelions had a disproportionately large number of “younger kids” from ages 11-14, but people of all ages participated in either the War or the Dandelions

So Blue joined up at age 15 almost as soon as they started recruiting, right in the middle of the age group, and was about 18 by the time the war happened

I also headcanon that most of the kids in Daybreak Town were, like, runaways or abandoned or just otherwise had nowhere else to go (which is why the town is solely populated by unsupervised kids) who found themselves drawn to the light of Daybreak Town

Blue was of the “runaway” variety, and didn’t have any real friends back home. Small town, the “friends” she did have only really hung out because there were few kids in town

Her first real friend in town was @anheiressofasoldier‘s keykid, who went by “Heiress” at the time. Based on how anheiressofasoldier and I met, I imagine that Heiress dropped a journal with her writings in it somewhere in town, and Blue found it and dropped it off at the Moogle shop’s lost-and-found. Heiress hunted her down to thank her and one thing led to another and then Blue became a part of the party Heiress was in and that was that

Personally headcanon her as the youngest person in the party at the time, which makes her eventually being one of the oldest Dandelions and oldest “member” of the Sewer Squad more significant

Player is canonically kind of quiet. Blue doesn’t really go out of her way to chat with people, she mostly keeps to herself. But if you’re her friend, well, get ready for just a constant stream of philosophic ramblings, dorky Keyblade facts, and rants about the Moogle shop

Snarkmaster extraordinaire. Her Chirithy had to get his tendencies from somewhere, after all

Dramatic statements delivered in a deadpan tone. Most of her sense of humor is just downplaying the weirder things that happen to her

Flip-flops wildly between being a pretty chill, helpful, and quiet person and being THE MOST DRAMATIC PERSON YOU HAVE EVER MET IN YOUR LIFE depending on how emotional she is in the moment

Wise well beyond her years. Always has been, but it becomes more pronounced the older she gets and the more open with advice she gets

She probably keeps a few plants in her room. Strelitzia would’ve liked them

Her big thing is Keyblade forging. Crafting Keyblades? Designing the weapons? Running around town for days trying to get the right materials for just one more refinement to her perfect recipe for each keychain? Yuuuuup

Headcanon that she’s the one who created the design for the Missing Ache Keyblade in a fit of sadness after Ephemer fails to show up for their meeting (because it’s unlocked in Proud Mode three missions after he disappears). She started designing it while waiting for him at the fountain about an hour after their meeting time

“Chirithy please, I just need one more Electrum Ore.” “You haven’t slept in two days please stop.” “But I’ve almost got it, buddy!”

She might be the last person left in the Dandelions who knows anything about creating and refining Keyblades and keychains

She frequently takes her forging materials to the fountain or up on the rooftops to work, just because the scenery helps her relax. The Keyblade is a weapon of the heart, so if your heart’s at peace, you’ll get the best results

Related, she likes heights. If you can’t find her, she’s probably on a roof somewhere, either reading, Keyblade crafting, or watching the sky

Would probably die for her Chirithy and then realize later that if she dies so does he and she instantly regret everything. He is, no joke, the best friend she’s ever had and she loves him more than anything

She’d really love to collect souvenirs from every world that she visits, and was really disappointed when the ones that she picked up disappeared when she got back to Daybreak Town. It only made sense later, when she learned that the worlds she was visiting were illusions

I could see her deciding to try foods at each location she visits and deciding to collect recipes on her travels

She’s probably a decent cook. She does live by herself, after all

The fact that she’s not actually visiting other places is the most disappointing thing to her, because she’d love to travel and it turns out she hasn’t been

The Moogle who runs the Moogle Shop is her eternal rival. He makes some really good food and drinks, but his medal banners are NONSEEEEENSE and she refuses to spend money on them. They are constantly heckling each other about it

Clothing-wise, she hates skirts and she hates having her fingers covered. She sighs dramatically every time her reward clothes have a skirt, and cuts the fingers off of any pair of gloves she owns. She used to hate midriff-bearing shirts and sighed when she got them, but tried one out when she got older and they just kind of stuck as part of her style after that point

Started wearing hats to hide her face and her little spiked piece of hair that she was super self conscious about (“It’s the one piece that won’t stay down!”). Stopped wearing them after Ephemer saw her take her hat off and told her the little spike was cute

Frequently throws her Keyblade during fights, and one of her favorite combat techniques is throwing it and letting it fly around and hit things while she goes in for some magically enhanced punching and kicking. Her Keyblade is out of her hand as much as it is in her hand during the course of a fight

Most of my commands tend to be either ice or thunder-based, so I’d say she specializes in Blizzard and Thunder based techniques, with some light-based magic attacks and dark-based physical attacks on the side

She’s good at changing up her battle style on the fly (based on Player’s ability to easily swap Keyblades and employ magic, power, and speed attacks on any setup in any order)

That being said, she does favor magic, then speed, then power in that order

Very hard to keep down. If she were in a main series KH game, she’d get Once More and Second Chance pretty early on and maybe even Auto-Life by level up

The encounter with Nightmare Chirithy deeply affected her, because it really was the personification of all of her sadness, anger, self-loathing, etc... and yet it made good points that made sense to her and were honestly things she’d been thinking of for a long time. She took its talk of relying too much on the Foretellers’ powers to heart and started training herself to use her own power not long afterwards

She respected Ava a lot. Even when she was starting to get frustrated with all of the Foretellers for just doing what their Master told them to without question, she still had faith in Ava, and spent at least part of the War trying to convince her to just help her stop the fighting, and it broke her heart when Ava refused to help, but told her she was proud of the Keyblade Wielder she’d become

Blue used to actively reject her darkness at the start, but as she started questioning the Foretellers she started being more conflicted about it, shoving it down until Nightmare Chirithy became a problem. She spends a lot of time post-War in a weird depressive state where she can’t remember the war but still feels the emotional effects of it and can’t figure out why, and will eventually become this post once she comes to terms with her emotions post-War. She enters into an almost Riku-like state of being chill with her own darkness, though in her case it’s more of a “just let the emotions happen and use whichever element matches” thing

I’ve named her Spirit after Missile, best doggo and top Pomeranian from Ghost Trick, and I’ve been trying to make the spirit look like him ever since. In-universe, the Spirit dog’s name is Missile thanks to the Blast trick

Ephemer took a liking to her pretty fast because she was the one person who wasn’t even a little lost during his infodumps. And she contributed to his theorizing. She was practically perfect friend material

Mentioned that I ship Ephelayer recently, but I honestly can’t see Blue developing romantic feelings for him unless she sees him again and gets to know him better. She knew him for a day, and while she liked him a lot, that’s not grounds for a romantic relationship. I think of it more as a “they could be good together in the future” sort of thing. As long as Ephemer communicates with her

Ephemer was really special to her, because he was probably the first friend that she actively made on her own. Heiress was the one who hunted her down, but Ephemer was the one that she went and saved on her own and befriended on her own. Which is why it hurt so much when he didn’t show up

Headcanon that meeting Ephemer happens about two years after recruitment starts, so she was 16/17-ish when that happened, and he was about the same

Since time moves weird in the datascape, she may actually be physically older than him at this point since he would have entered it first, about a year or two before the war

Skuld is also one of the best friends she’s ever had, but she can’t remember most of their time together post-War, so she’s not entirely sure why she misses that black-haired girl she barely knew

She starts off as pretty awkward and shy, but by the time the war comes about she’s the Ultimate Big Sis, helping out all of the younger kids and being really nice to the kids who come up to her asking for help

She’d probably have adopted Strelitzia and Ven as younger siblings in a heartbeat

Strelitzia’s crush wasn’t romantic, it was definitely a “cool older kid” crush. Strong “I wish that person was my sibling” vibes. Especially since Blue and Lauriam are probably close in age

I... am not sure that she even knew the Sewer Squad before entering the datascape, so that’s all with 18-year-old, tired and jaded post-War Blue

Her memories being rewritten have actually messed her up way worse than Ephemer, Skuld, and Chirithy were expecting. She can’t remember how old she was at any given point during her time in Daybreak Town anymore, who her old party was (since... I think Player’s whole party canonically dies in the war? So they’ve gotta get erased before Player starts questioning what happened to them), what her life was like before Daybreak Town, or even that Blue isn’t her real name (the last one being what tips Chirithy off that they may have messed up). Her sense of time no longer exists, either

She also sleeps a lot more after the war, which worries Chirithy a lot

Even though they’ve overwritten her memories of the war, the scars still exist in her heart. So it’s honestly worse that she can’t clearly remember, since now she just feels extreme guilt and grief with no discernible source and hides it behind a cheerful facade most of the time since she, like... can’t even justify her own sadness to herself. And she can’t fix the problem by dealing with the trauma because she’s not even sure the trauma existed

She’s not technically a Dandelion, but believes that she is because it’s how her memories have made sense of the whole thing

I called the Sewer Squad her surrogate younger siblings in my post about the Halloween Event, and that’s true. She’s older than all of them, and not even technically a member of their party. She’s an honorary member, and they call her the team Big Sis whenever she joins them

How she takes getting her memories back is going to entirely depend on the situation she remembers them in

[thatwitchrevan]

so here’s a little scene based on the idea of Lea, Isa, and the surviving Dandelions looking for Subject X/Skuld. Lea and Ventus have a little bonding moment and discuss people from the past, including my khux oc. Can Ventus actually draw? I don’t know, but for the purpose of this scene he can I guess.

“What’cha got there, buddy?”

Ventus looked up over the book he was holding to see Lea. Lea smiled and took a seat beside him, leaning over to look at the book. Ven flattened it in his lap so Lea could see the various drawings spread across the white, unlined pages. Some were doodles, but others were portraits of people from the past - Foretellers, Dandelions, mysterious cloaked figures. Lea recognized Lauriam and Elrena, but the others he had no way of knowing.

“Are these all people you knew?”

“Mostly. Some I only met once, but I remembered them. Some were..my only friends for a long time. These two were Union Leaders, along with me and Skuld and Lauriam.” He pointed at a boy with white hair and another with a hat that shadowed his face. “Ephemer and...Brain.”

Lea let the silence rest for a moment. He’d been briefed on these people, he’d just never seen what they looked like. After a moment, he pointed to the most prominent drawing that hadn’t been explained. “Who’s that kid, Ven?”

Ventus sighed. “That...that’s Elias. They were a Dandelion.”

“So this is a friend of yours?”

“Yeah. Ephemer introduced us. They were real good friends with him and Skuld. When the Dandelions were first being recruited, Ava asked them to join, but they didn’t want to sit out the battle. Said it wasn’t right leaving other friends to die. They tried to stop the fighting, to reason with people, but there was no stopping it. Elias survived, but they were really hurt. They joined the Dandelions after that, and we had to erase everyone’s memory and lie to them all so they wouldn’t have to carry that hurt forever. I always felt bad about not telling them the truth.”

“Hmm. Do you know what happened to them after that?”

“No. I ended up in a different time. Last I saw them, they were okay, but I guess...they’re gone now.”

“At least now you can remember them. They’d appreciate that.”

“Skuld will remember them too.”

Lea frowned. “Yeah...”

Ven gave him a smile. “Come on, Lea. I’m sure she’s out there. We’re going to find her. You’ll see.”

Lea snorted. “You know, there’s a lot of times I would’ve loved to have your optimism.” He leaned back, glancing down at the sketchbook again. “So, got any pictures of her in there?”

Ven nodded, still smiling. “Since she’s the one we’re looking for, Skuld ended up getting her own page.” He turned it over to show a collection of drawings, most of them apparent attempts to capture an accurate likeness of Skuld’s face. To Lea’s admittedly still foggy memory, none of them quite fit, and yet it was heartrending to look at the images and recognize his old friend. Now he sort of knew how Ventus felt.

[disneydreamlights]

1. So uh, even if I enjoy playing UX, I do agree that it should not have been made the way it is. Personally, I would have made it an actual MMO, kept it on PC, and instead of the cutesy storybook art style, use something closer to the main series. Maybe it would be in the same engine as FFIV or something. But aside from that, there are some changes to the gameplay I'd make to compensate for this. The battle system would be similar to the system present in Union Cross quests, but mixed with-

2.-something like the Battle Systems from games like Toontown Online or Wizard 101. Basically, if a player and enemy (such as a Heartless) collide, a battle would start. If another player or enemy enters the battlefield, they'll automatically join the appropriate side. Up to 7 players can face up to 13 enemies. Otherwise, the battle system would be identical to UX, cycling through equipped medals while attacking. Additionally, the game would have little "portals" scattered around the worlds.-

3. The portals would be as follows: Gateways (identical to Savepoints), where the Player can access the shop, Avatar Boards, Event Boards, and upgrade their Keyblades or customize their look. Raid Boss Portals (pools of darkness on the ground), that spawn at the player's feet, up to 7 may enter at a time. Story Portals (red savepoints with a floating Heartless Emblem), where important battles (and boss fights) occur. They're basically the dungeons of the game, with a team of up to 7 players-

4.-may enter a special "instance" cut off from the rest of the server. They are unlocked as the player completes story quests and must be cleared to further the story. Keyblade Portals (blue savepoints with the iconic Key symbol), which the player can only enter with a specific Keyblade to earn synthesis materials, otherwise identical to Story Portals. Exp Portals (cyan savepoints with the heart symbol) where the player can earn EXP and Evolve Medals by defeating all the enemies.-

5. Event Portals (white savepoints with the Hidden Mickey symbol) which are basically where the special bosses and battles of event quests would be hidden to keep low level players from encountering Kurt Zisa level enemies when they're fresh out of the tutorial. The Coliseum Portal (yellow savepoint in the middle of the arena at Olympus Coliseum, with crossed swords floating above it), where the player can climb the ranks of the latest tournament, alone.-

6. And last but not least would be Corridors of Darkness (identical to how they looked in Days, basically two black wisps circling around each other). Utilizing one would drop a player in a random point in the Dark Realm, where Raid Boss Heartless roam free. The player would only be able to remain their until they run out of Light Points, at which point they'll be forcefully returned to the last Gateway they passed before entering the Dark Realm. Aside from that, there'd be some tweaks to the-

7. -story. They'd be basic enough, Strelitzia passing by the player and trying to talk to them only for something to stop her would be a running gag as soon as Ephemer's introductory arc was done, Blaine would be the Keyblade Wielder from another Union that we fight alongside in Beast's Castle, and we'd occasionally get scenes of the Foretellers interacting with each other so that the game isn't just the Ava Show. Aside from that, AP would be spent instead of Jewels to revive on the spot, and-

8. -quests would work differently as well (such as being based on the Overworld and Portals), but I think I've sent you enough asks for one day and will only elaborate if you ask for more details. But still, that's just me what-ifing. Who knows, maybe some borderline psychotic fans will try to create a traditional MMO set in the X-era to replace KHUX once the service is discontinued.

Wow anon you have a lot of thoughts on this. (And I would totally be okay with seeing more.)

Tbh I would love to see some dedicated fans actually make something to replace KHUx because I love the game and would play something a la Toontown online keeping it alive. 

Anyways, I think gameplay would be best if kept like an MMO but if the story worked more in the way of the original JP game. I didn’t really play a lot of it but from what I remember the missions were a lot longer rather than the really short missions of KHUx. I think doing something along the lines of longer missions where you could join up with a member and fling the medals while partnered up with a few people. But I also think that mission gameplay would have to be the main difference. I’ve played both Toontown Online and W101 and the collect an item quests make up a lot of their gameplay and they’re not fun quests because it relies on luck. If KHUx was an MMO, it’d have to be more “Roam Daybreak Town, go to mission point where you can go in alone or with party members.” It’d also be real neat in general to be able to see friends in other unions and do competitions with them and occasionally missions together so long as in the end, you’re not quite allies for all missions.

I’d also love story changes like that, little things so we can see Strelitzia and Blaine and Ven and Lauriam before they go to the unchained part. It’d be really neat if it combined the original X and the new Ux so we don’t get the awkward story transition as well.

Portal idea mostly sounds like the menu, but that’d make sense off of Daybreak Town with portals maybe in the plaza with the fountain.