#KH3 theory

[nireey]

Master of Masters?

[dotted-clouds]

Replaced.

[melasy]

[sweetheartsora]

the question of riku’s lapel buttons always plagued me. why did it seem like he was missing one? what an odd design choice.

“…there are several theories. One of these is that each button on a uniform has its own meaning, and the second button is for “the most important person”. Another theory is that receiving one’s second button means receiving their heart, as this button is next to this vital organ. A third explanation suggests that gakusei fuku or gaku ran dates back to when young soldiers went off to war, claiming that they gave the second button of their military uniform as a gift to the most important person in their life. Soldiers knew that they would be in trouble if their top button disappeared, but a missing second button could go unnoticed.” (quote pulled from here)

most important person?! are you kidding me?!

riku, of course, is not wearing a gakuran in kh3, nor would he have the same number of buttons as one, if he did “give a button away”. (The act of giving would be metaphorical here, since there are no signs of popping a button off — Riku’s uniform has five buttons from the start.) I do wonder regardless if there is a reference to the tradition in his character design.

y’know. since his whole thing in KH3 is realizing that he finally has the strength to protect his most important person.

then he does it.

anyway. i saw a video that mentioned the button tradition and i thought of riku immediately. brainrot is real folks.

as a treat, here’s xanthe’s comic of a similar nature.

[nyctoheart]

[holleighgram]

Would be pretty wild if Sora's memories of Riku are his light, and be losing them, he is also losing the light in his heart that makes him the loving Sora we all know?

Take Repliku for example- there was no Ansem in Repliku. The main thing about Repliku was that his memories of Sora were messed with.

And it made him a MASSIVE dick that just wanted marinate in Darkness.

Memories of Sora are integral to him being a good person.

What if the reverse is the same?

We all know Sora's Darkness is more prominent the more the story progresses and it's gearing up to be something he is going to grapple with. Sora has been burying trauma and hurt. He has actively been CHOOSING to forget these heartbreaking memories.

In fact, I think this memories loss/light loss is going to be a VERY important theme in the next saga.

This story is about balancing extremes.

Sora WANTS to forget the "Dark" parts of his and Riku’s relationship. But he cant just sift memories of Riku apart to forget the "Dark" and keep only the "Light".

So by willing away those Dark memories, he's unwittingly willing away Light memories as well.

Which is why we see him forget Riku's Sacrifice, and then also Riku's Light leading him back to the Graveyard.

A "Dark" memory is repressed, and so is a "Light" one.

SO

If, for whatever reason, Sora IS losing his memories of Riku-- particularly the memories of Riku being his light- it has a very negative affect on his heart? We could even see Sora temporarily becoming an antagonist.

We've fought Riku as Sora so many times. It would just be a sweet thematic balance to be able to fight Sora as Riku in order to save him.

It's been said over and over that these two art intertwined-- that they balance each other. Their memories of eachother a formative peices of their hearts. They have each shaped eachother into the person they are.

And imnlaying it all out on the table here: this is why I (personally) feel their relationship (romantic or platonic) is the central theme of the story rather than any other characters:

They are eachorher's light AND their darkness.

Their greatest joy and deepest sorrow.

Their best friend and hardest enemy. (Fighting Ansem and Xehenort weren't nearly as emotionally arduous to fight)

This is a story about accepting both, because that means accepting the entirety of the people you love-- the good and the bad. The light and the dark.

This post got away from me. What was I saying?

[mythicalartistx]

The Quadratum being planned since day 1 is So Much more important than you think:

Everyone knows the creator of Kingdom Hearts has always planned for things ahead of time but for something that was recently added at the final game to be thought of since the beginning is even crazier. It would make sense to be thought of around kh2 or BBS and have plans for it, but this early is actually very interesting.

And there are so many hints and things that could relate to this.

For example the unreality being stated in regards to the world that never was. Ansem often used the terms unreality and fictional world in reference to things, however, people just assumed it had to do with The World That Never Was for the most part.

Xehanort did create TWTNW from a memory of another world and TWTNW was never an actual place or city. It's probably why the sea salt trio along with the other nobodies were often in Twilight Town. The other world could be quadratum.

That is in KH2, but let's take a look at the very first game.

The first game has the opening line, I've been having these weird thoughts lately. Like is any of this for real or not?

Alone the line could refer to the being in a world that makes actually be fake. However knowing that Yozora also says this line at the end of Re:Mind and that the quadratum was thought of since day one makes it so much more important.

This line refers to quadratum or Sora's world. Quadratum is said to be a fictional world but what if Sora's world was like that instead because from Sora's perspective Quadratum is fiction.

Now when taking a lot at the beta trailer of kh1, there are a lot of lines that relate to kh3 and beyond.

First we have the opening quote which I already discussed, then we have "Your body, your soul, your whole existence.. they're all going to disappear." This refers to Sora going to quadratum at the end of kh3, this hint being planned at the start is just something else.

Next is another line about saving Sora and Sora leaving and we have to question why. There could have just been random lines but with the knowledge of Yozora and Quadratum being there since the beginning it's mostly likely having to do with that.

Now in the secret ending of KH1, we have a moment where phrases pop up and one of them is A world between= forgotten world The gathering and if TWTNW actually has to do with Quadratum instead it would makes sense for it to be a forgotten world from a memory of Quadratum that Xehanort had. The opening of kh2 A far off memory that is like a scattered dream. Xehanort had a dream and wanted to change the world where he would have 13 lives to fix it and a 14th to finally see the world — the world where he saw was quadratum, also there is a possibility another version of Xehanort lives in Quadratum

And finally I recently saw a part of the KH1 Ultimania where there is a statement from Tetsuya Nomura that the words that appear in the opening was originally going to be said by a certain character.

Now in KH3, Yozora says those exact same lines and a lot of them point to Yozora which is why I have the belief Yozora has been at the beginning for a long time.

And finally the kh3 opening line— They can take your heart. Cut you loose from all you know. But if it's your fate...then every step forward will always be a step closer to home.

If Sora says if it's your fate to be cut from everything you know which refers to going to quadratum. Then he says if that's the fate it will be a step forward to home cause what if being home is actually Quadratum because it's not actually fiction but the KH worlds are fiction.

Since to KH people they know of their worlds but what if Xehanort figured that out. He was researching and studying for awhile after all and Ansem did seem to know of an unreality.

Cause if it's actually the case, and if the real reason they can cross into datascapes such as Tron, Jimminy's Journal and a fake versions such as Twilight Town and Daybreak Town; and because of a book of prophecies that foretold everything which could have been created by someone in Quadratum.

Since Yozora seems to know about this and is going to actually be way more important than some people originally thought. He understands that his world and Quadratum is an unreality which probably means it is another reality and make their world become fake.

There are still so many questions and so many theories that it remains endless, is the KH worlds fiction to them just as Quadratum is a fake reality? Are these hints actual hints that relate to the Quadratum really being there or are they just unsolved questions and theories.

But all we know is that the ideas for Quadratum and Yozora have been ideas since the beginning.

[starlightwayfinder]

I decided to watch some old KH trailers in honor of the anniversary today, and I have to admit, I don’t think I ever rewatched this one after the release of Melody of Memory. When it was first revealed, we were under the assumption that the Master of Masters was the opponent Kairi was facing, but as we now know, it was actually Master Xehanort. While we were aware that the Master of Masters has more plans and tricks up his sleeve, to think of this line in the context of Xehanort is a little different. It brought to mind an old theory of mine, so I decided to go back to KH3, Re:Mind, KHDR, and MoM to compile as much evidence as possible for it.

(As a disclaimer, it slightly undermines the authenticity of his ‘conclusion’ in KH3, so if you’re a big fan of that scene, feel free to skip this one.)

This line in KH3 is a good place to start. From the get go, it was established that Xehanort planned for nearly every possible outcome of the Keyblade War. I also think it’s safe to say that every action he made was an intentional choice based on these plans. So the question is, what is the “final plan” referenced in Melody of Memory’s trailer? I think the game gave us the answer:

It may be easy to jump to the conclusion that this was just a plan for revenge, since Sora is the one who stopped Xehanort to begin with. However, I want to reaffirm that every action he takes is for a reason that serves his goals. It wasn’t just a plan to make Sora disappear, but likely to make him disappear to Quadratum specifically.

This was even foreshadowed in KH3’s Toy Box world. Young Xehanort sends Sora to the world of Verum Rex—though it’s probably closer to a “data” version in this instance:

YX in particular is very confident that Sora’s overuse of the Power of Waking will lead to his disappearance:

And MX has a similar line in Re:Mind:

Except this is where things get interesting. The Sora in Re:Mind is time-traveling from a point in time after he defeated Xehanort.

Xehanort must know this, because he sees the real Sora (from this point in time) about to begin the final battle in the distance. He then acknowledges that the Sora he’s speaking to is from the future. Unless he witnesses the present Sora time travel during their final confrontation, he can conclude that Sora survives their fight to time travel later on—meaning his plan doesn’t come to fruition. Sora unknowingly reveals his hand in Re:Mind this way, and opens the door for Xehanort to plan accordingly—which is kind of mind-breaking to think about…

It gets even better here, during Sora’s fight with Terra-Xehanort:

Sora brags that, like Xehanort, he can also time travel. To which Xehanort responds that Sora will then also need to make the “ultimate sacrifice”, or in other words, “pay the ultimate price”, as MX said. “Also”—as in, Xehanort has made this sacrifice as well by time traveling. As in, Xehanort will also disappear to Quadratum.

We have evidence to believe that as well. I also like the interpretation that he intentionally planned this to survive the world being purged, but that’s kind of a separate theory.

So to recap, Xehanort was probably aware that Sora would survive their final confrontation in order to time travel afterwards. He correctly predicts that the consequence for time traveling would be to disappear… specifically to Quadratum—something that Melody of Memory considers his “final plan”.

So… why? Why would he want Sora to also disappear to Quadratum? Trying to answer that question leads to the most controversial part of this theory:

It’s really nice to believe that Xehanort gave Sora the X-blade as an admission of his defeat, and I’m definitely not against that interpretation. But it is a little strange that before—and after—this scene, in Melody of Memory, he continues to act like making Sora disappear was his big plan. It doesn’t feel right, if he was supposed to be letting Sora “win” here.

I’ll be very curious to see if Xehanort has a role in Quadratum, and why exactly he “paved the way” for Sora to be there as well. Either way, I am holding out for a geniune change of heart from him, especially if what we saw in KH3 was more of a manipulation.

[azurajae]

Thinking about the fact that right after Sora finished fighting in what probably a very traumatic war, he fucking time travels to experience it all again, not only as himself, but as different people and inheriting all their pain and trauma in the process. And if you count the first failed attempt, Sora has straight up experienced three different versions of the same damn war and all the trauma that came with all three of them just to make sure everyone he cares about makes it to the end, knowing fully well he was going to "die" in the end.

While everyone else was experiencing their happy ending and a chance to put down their weapons, Sora literally never stopped fighting.

And his reward for all this? Being ripped apart from everyone and everything he knows, with no easy way back home. It's actually incredible that he can still have the mental fortitude to smile in the Secret Episode after all that.

I really hope all this trauma gets unpacked in KH4 or in a future game because I think it's so sad that he has collected all this pain, not only of his own experiences but everyone else's too and now is just holding on to it all.

I want Sora to be happy, but I don't want pain to be hiding behind it.

[hexxter]

Ok but what if Ephemer’s and Player’s hearts are like literally connected (really really literally)

Maybe like, small pieces of each other heart being traded, or i guess other magical ways

So if the theory of Sora being the third reincarnation of the player.. (even tho I don’t like this theory cause both deserves to have their heart, specifically Sora with his heart hotel moments)

Maybe thats how Ephemer soul showed up in KH3? Cause the connection to player that stayed within Sora, this theory pretty common right?

And if thats works one way, could also go the other way no?

Ephemer summoning the Player’s soul with the hearts connection. Maybe even unintentionally, suddenly poof the player is there as a ghost!

Sounds like interesting angst. Maybe thats would be also like.. why the player took pretty long to reincarnated to missing link area cause Ephemer was still around so Player’s soul tied up to his heart.

[starrduzt]

What would Sora's actual keyblade look like??

okay, guys, hear me out.

All the keyblade wielders can manifest a keyblade that is uniquely theirs as a reflection of their heart, marked by their character symbol as the keychain. It doesn't matter if this person was officially bequeathed. Y'know like Kairi, Roxas and Axel.

Now, we know that once it's summoned, the keyblade can be used by anyone. For example, The Master of Masters keyblade being passed down through teachers to their students since ancient times, Eraqus' keyblade to Aqua, and Mickey's keyblade to Riku.

Let's focus on Riku's for a second.

In KH3, Way to the Dawn breaks in the realm of darkness. Then Mickey makes a whole new keyblade and gives it to Riku to use for the time being, so he's got something to fight with. Riku is able to use this keyblade with no issues and no drawbacks - as if it were his own. But what's that on the keychain?

Mickey's character symbol. Sure, Riku's using it just fine, but it's still not his and it's not a reflection of his heart. Thanks to the wayfinder trio in BBS, we know keyblades can grow and change with the wielder's heart, and even old ones can be reforged again when the person really goes deep into their own heart. So Riku has the ability to resummon Way to the Dawn with a few tweaks to match his current self.

Now lets assume Mickey's symbol is also just the overarching world symbol cause ✨️Disney✨️ and alla dat. Sora's keyblade was summoned after touching the light within Riku.

Sora's keyblade is not his, but the Keyblade of the Realm of Light. It's the keyblade born from the realm just as the Kingdom Key D is born from the realm of darkness. (Later on Riku says his keyblade went to Sora, just cause he was the closest nearby BUT in the same breath he also says only one person can wield a keyblade soo.... I'm not inclined to believe him.) This is further supported by the X-Blade, which is supposed to be the ultimate convergence of light and dark, is just two Kingdom Keys. Also the only keyblade that has Sora's character symbol, is associated more closely with Riku so that design is kicked out.

Sooo.... if Sora's keyblade is just being borrowed, what would his own actually look like?

[braveheartstoryteller]

I have a theory, a KH theory, that has shattered my perceptions of the story as a whole. A theory I don't love, in fact, it causes my heart grief, but it makes way too much sense to not be even partly right.

Because I'm kind, I'm going to leave it all under a cut. 

Shall I go for the jugular? My thought was thus: Sora and Riku are two parts of a greater whole: Yozora. I mean, think about Yozora's eyes. They are red and blue, Sora and Riku's colors. Sora and Yozora's names also have a connection as in Japanese Yozora's means dark sky, while Sora means sky. Yozora's appearance also alludes to various connections as well. Rex, in Toy Box, confuses Sora with Yozora. Even though, when the trio finally finds a picture of the character, Sora doesn't really look like Yozora at all. While I don't believe the story says this, I've always personally thought Yozora looks a lot more like Riku. 

And that is just the tip of the iceberg. When I think about the many concepts that the story has played with and talked about over the course of twenty years, it fits way too well.

But then what does that mean, for the story? It means that both Sora and Riku will have to at one point cease to exist as we know them. *sigh*

Talk about shattering the status quo. This is different than a "soft reboot" this is game-changing. And it hurts.

I've spent two days wrestling with these ideas, and I'm torn about how I feel about it.

On one hand, it could be horrible. Everything I've come to love about this series could be shattered in this next story and beyond. But on the other hand, it could be beautiful as well. It could play with the very same themes that are important to me. Such as growing up and connection, core themes that the series has had from the beginning.

I can imagine a future where Yozora is finally smiling, with joyful eyes. All because he finally feels his childlike heart speaking to him for the first time in a long while.

That could make everything worth it. Especially if we are given the chance to get to know Yozora as a character.

Still, it doesn't change the grief I feel. I'd rather be wrong here, but something tells me I am not, at least not completely. I could let it take me away from this series and not deal with that grief it brings my heart (and how it combines with my own grief) or embrace it and let my heart grow in the process. I chose to grow. It won't be easy, but it is good for my heart.

[nikutsuneart]

The Sleeping Realm Theory’s 4th Anniversary!!

Hey everyone, I don’t think i’ve ever made a formal post here (on I guess my art account??) about the good ol Sleepy Boy Theory. I figured I might as well with the anniversary but as of today, it’s 4 years old! Where DOES the time go?

A lot has happened since this bad boy (several releases for one and a global pandemic for two), and as the official keeper of the crypt I’d like to thank everyone who has shared their Love and even their Great Distaste for it over the years. It’s wild to think it still lives on as such a footnote in this series’ history that I still saw people seething about it just last week.

It’s been discussed around the world as well as translated into more than one language! It’s a global reach I’ll never fully grasp, a talking point for people I’ll never meet, and it’s something that I’m immensely proud of!

To this day we’ve made points and discussed findings I still don’t see anybody ever talk about, like the kbg world logo or the location of Kairi’s heart. And if that sounds new to you, may I recommend checking it out once more and peeping those cool updates

~THE OFFICIAL SLEEPY BOY DOCUMENT~

And for those who don’t wanna sit and read, there’s a mostly up to date video format where me and AuroraPeachy read thru it together!

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Anyway all that’s to say happy birthday to what amounts to a kingdom hearts college thesis! Here’s to another year of not being debunked somehow 🥂

[embraceyourdestiny]

tell me about the two vanitases. vaniti

Post I made a while ago about it (might be slightly awkward / messy bc it’s from 2 years ago) :)

Essentially, at the end of bbs Vanitas and ven have a “battle of hearts” (similar to Roxas and sora in kh2) and Vanitas, as the weaker heart, loses and retreats back into his “origin”, ven’s heart. We see sparkles dissipate into vens stain glass, signifying that Vanitas has become embedded into ven’s heart. THEN ven becomes embedded in Sora’s heart, thus making a sort of matryoshka effect inside of sora;

sora<-(inside, ven [<-inside, vanitas])

Cut to ddd where sora is DEEP inside his own heart and thus coming across a lot of shit embedded within. Including Vanitas who appears as a fractured vision saying Sora’s heart is a prison “even if he’s not the prisoner.” Upon hearing this most people’s immediate thought would be *terra/aqua voice* ven!! But most people miss the hidden layer (cleverness intended) that would also mean Vanitas since he’s inside ven. Of course if someone is locked inside a prisoner in jail that also means they’re in the prison, whether them also being locked up was intentional or not

Cut to kh3. The first instance we see Vanitas is monsters inc. but we don’t see Vanitas first, we see the manifestation of his power because as he explains he needed enough energy to come back to life. The clever part about this is this only happens because sora is there with ven in his heart, thus physically bringing Vanitas’s heart to a place where he can regenerate and, if the plan works out, extract himself/ven from Sora’s body. There’s an extra bonus that the power becomes even more potent by upsetting sora and therefor having a STRONG sense of negativity which had been building in our poor boy all game, and as Ansem The Wise said, sora is able to make things be real and that means he was able to make Vanitas come back to life without whatever Xehanort did to make him, even though he didn’t mean to

Then Vanitas gets bodied by scully and thrown into a door, seemingly gone forever

Then like 3 seconds later we see him again in the land of departure. But. Wait. Didn’t scully just throw him to somewhere in Connecticut?

Act II: The second Vanitas

This Vanitas is a replica Xehanort pulled from the post. Xehanort had no fucking clue where Vanitas went after bbs bc he just disappears and honestly he clearly didn’t care because hes always known could just make another one so he does. The reason I know this isn’t monsters inc Vanitas is because one that’s impossible, it was 100% intentional this scene happens after yeetus Vanitas, and two Vanitas acts. Different. For one he’s much more brazen than he was in MI, instead of just his long winded monologuing he’s actually goading them on and being arrogant and feisty and trying to fight, immediately transporting us back to the kind of personality he had before. You know. Ven kicked his ass. And he also teleports and does magic and is way stronger than MI Vanitas because that Vanitas had just formed. There’s no possible way he had all his strength back after being rebirthed for 3 seconds so the fact that he was able to hold his own against aqua who’s been fighting nonstop for 10 years definitely raises an eyebrow and points to this theory because how was that possible and why didn’t he fight in MI if this was the case.

Some people have pointed out that it’s weird Vanitas wears a cloak of darkness in MI and thinking about it I think there’s two answers. The first is he was weak and I think it’s possible the cloak could protect him, esp if he’s not fully darkness anymore bc he has his own heart, has regenerated on his own instead of being extracted by Xehanort’s dark power, and was touched by two very powerful lights for like 10 years (they probably got their light cooties on him lol) and two, I think he was hiding from Xehanort. Vanitas likely knew of his plan since his conception even though he might not have fully understood was it was and therefore he would’ve known what was going on in kh3 and been like “shit. I’m not following the plan bc I’m not even a part of the plan anymore so Xehanort can’t find out.” Because if you remember in com DiZ says the cloaks can hide you from anyone and if Xehanort knew Vanitas was back he would at the very least force him to do his plan again or at the worst destroy him because he’s an unknown factor

Then sora fights replica Vanitas and he goes back into the past and somewhere out there Vanitas is walking around the streets of New York (or shibuya) having no clue what the fuck is going on

So yes. Two Vanitases bc we can’t get enough of this boy. Two of them

[the-blue-wraith]

I still can't let go of my theory that Larxene really never lost her true memories and still remembered everything that happened in KHUX. What if that's her "secret" that she mentioned before vanishing in KH3? What if her memories as Elrena still remained and she still remembered who Marluxia was in the past and that drove her to join in the Organization? What if that was also the reason that drove her to be traitorous partners with him in Castle Oblivion? Since Nomura stated that she was just tagging along with him.