#also it's too much to go into here right now but knowing that xehanort and even the foretellers before him went through the very same shit

[skerplesc]

wanna take a bit to talk about the lingering will fights from the perspective of someone just finishing kh2 without having the context from bbs. (very long post warning)

i personally only was able to play the main games in order after 1.5 + 2.5 was released. the viewpoint that i'm working off of here is that of a person who knows that there is more context, but does not know what that context is.

so let's take it from the top here. you are [PLAYER NAME] and you have just kicked good 'ol Mansex's ass into double nothingness. you boot up your save, it's a kingdom hearts game so obviously there's going to be wild shit, but the info you get is that something is up in disney castle, of all places. adding to that you also know that's where the cornerstone is. you know. the thing that doinked you back into the goddamn '20s. so you decide to check it out. load into the hall of the cornerstone and you find a portal. cool! where does it lead?

fucking nowhere!!! :D

it's worthy of pointing out that everything has gone dead silent, save for an ominous blowing wind a cloud of dust kicks up in front you, and within it resides a man in armor with a keyblade you've never seen before (note that this is before the point in the franchise before you learn that they used to hand the things out like candy). this man starts "talking" to you incredibly slowly, and i say "talking" because he's just making noises like the goddamn Skyrim perk screen.

he starts out by naming two other folks by the names of "Aqua" and "Ven", and for anyone who knows their classical elements this should immediately set off massive red flags because that's the same name scheme that Sora and Co. work off of. at first he thinks he's met you, but then corrects himself, saying "you're not the one i chose". before you have time to question ANY of this shit, he's accusing you of being the Big Man himself, Xehanort and gets his ass up.

what ensues is a world record speedrun in throwing your head to the pavement. hard.

whatever happened here was SERIOUSLY not good, and clearly ended with the result of this guy, at the very least, letting Xehanort get away. the dude that just made you eat a full serving of dirt is AT MOST equal to Xehanort in power, and could very well be weaker than him. you have no idea if this happened in the past, or that portal just took you here. hell, maybe the reason why the cornerstone took you here is because this hasn't even happened yet and you're going to have to stop it. the armor certainly looks more advanced than anything you've seen so far and he's got attacks where his keyblade transforms into a massive cannon like some Iron Man shit.

so, having just experienced that, you get to the grind. you hit level 99. you take care of the Absent Silhouettes. you take care of Mushroom XIII. you take care of Sephiroth. hell, you potentially even take care of the entire Data Organization, and this guy is still probably kicking your ass.

here's where i want to stop talking about the fight itself being and start talking about the music. Rage Awakened, the song that plays in the fight against the man who you will come to know as The Lingering Will, is. fucking. ballin'. maybe the only theme to a fight that i like more is Dismiss, but that's an essay for another day. It obviously captures the typical sense of grandiosity that songs that Yoko Shimomura is known for, but unlike, say, A Fight to the Death (the song that plays in the fight against the mech that Xemnas summons and the subsequent Armored Controller forms), Rage Awakened is sadder. look, i'm not a music guy, i don't know literally anything about musical theory, but all the string instruments used in it almost make it sound like the song itself is crying. I'm also not sure if it's intentional or not (it isn't mentioned in the khwiki article), but to me at least it sounds similar to the motif from Dearly Beloved. i'm not great at making audio comparisons, but take a listen:

and this is why i wanted to bother making this long-winded essay in the first place: it's no deep analysis to get any of this. the design of the game itself, in the aspects of the gameplay, the writing, and the music, convey all of the prior 729 words i have written here without you even really consciously realizing it. it's so meticulously planned and designed to convey the idea that something awful happened, and it happen to a group of friends clearly not unlike your own. you can immediately sympathize with whatever this guy went through without knowing so much as a lick of it. and knowing that it's the product of the very same guy that tried to do the very same shit to your own friend group is the icing on the cake. there's a fantastic sense of solidarity between the different eras. it feels like a lived-in universe with things going on everywhere all the time. you're not alone in the experience you've been through and you're not alone in experiencing the same conviction to protect your friends. tl;dr, kingdom hearts game design good :)

[liquidorcard]

Lily can't keep her own "Sympathetic" Villains rule straight: Crimson Ender edition

As a reminder, Lily's rules are the villain has to:

1. Have a point

2. Successfully navigate still being a villain

3. Are written well

*She made up these rules AFTER Ant and Crim responded.

Here's Lily's response to Crim's list:

*I'll be indicating I haven't seen/read/etc a thing with N/A. This isn't going to be a totally valid review of course, since I haven't seen everything Crim has. Lily will be docked points for not having seen something if they still fit her rules. To balance it out I will give her points for being accidentally right, or Crim having named a villain who wouldn't fit Lily's criteria, even if Lily wouldn't know that. This is to take the piss, not really serious criticism.

1. N/A

2. As was pointed out on Ant's stream, V is way more morally questionable in the comic. Since Crim indicated he hasn't read the comic (we shall forgive Crim for his sins, for now), we'll go with movie V. A story can have more than one villian, Lily. -1 bullet-proof idea

3. "The Japanese justice system is broken," is a point. Even if Light's solution is bad. -1 potato chip

4. Carry on my wayward son still slaps. And Crowley was introduced in the good seasons. -1 Misha

5. Never played FF7. -1 wing

6. JESUS CHRIST LILY. -1 sick motorcycle slide.

7. OH MY GOD THAT'S HOT TOPIC HEISENBERG'S NAME!? That's like a noise you'd make while sneezing and wonder if you've never seen a doctor. I still can't remember what his deal is, so I'll give it to her. +1 Heart

UPDATE: Xehanort follows Lily's rules. -1 Heart

8. How is Zuko being abused a reason for him but not for Azula? Her father's approval. She's been conditioned her whole life to get it at all costs. -1 Pheonix king

9. Not the protagonist. -1 both ways.

10. He fucking burns the magic flowers and gets his girlfriend killed. -1 auntie

11. N/A

12. N/A

13. N/A

14. Nope. Read a comic. -1 fucking death kiss Lily

15. Gollum doesn't fit Lily's criteria, though he is a sympathetic villain. Fuck you very much for that cute little jab. Can't help yourself, can you Lily? +1 Lily being vile.

16. He's not letting her die in peace Lily and his grief is hurting everyone around him. -1 Nora

17. You heard him. Read a book Lily. -1 paradise

18. N/a

19. THE GREEK GOD LILY. -1 Pomegranate seed

20. I don't remember which Eric this is supposed to be. Crim if you see this comment and I'll update. For now N/A

Update: Phantom. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Poorly aged stereotype.

21. Queer and doesn't watch AHS. -1 pride

22. Don't know which Johnny this is. Again, Crim, comment if you see this. N/A

Update: Johnny the homicidal maniac. Doesn't follow Lily's rules. +1 animal nailed to the wall

23. YOU HAVEN'T SEEN DWP EITHER? -1 Lily hates the gays

24. Lily's arguing with a fictional character's anger management problems. -1 Joanna

25. Misogyny. Cheating. Sister who betrays her own kin. This should be familiar ground for you Lily. -1 ice

26. N/a

27. N/a

28. No surprise there honestly. -1 Eclipse

29. Manger la merde. -1 Day Moooooore

30. Again, doesn't really fit Lily's criteria, but Starscream is sympathetic. -1 Megatron WHICH MAKES ME THE LEADER OF THE DECEPTICONS!!

31. --->"BROTHERHOOD OF EVIL MUNTANTS"<--- Also She's infamously comics most hot mess mom. READ A COMIC. -1 "She's Nightcrawler's mother, AND MY MOTHER TOO!!"

32. Doesn't fit Lily's criteria, isn't really sympathetic . . . But is a loveable idiot. I wouldn't blame someone for considering him sympathetic. +1 bacon in the soap

33. Depends on the version. I'd agree with Lily the doctor is the villain in the original novel. That doesn't justify Lily unjustifiably Crim meant the original novel just to make that snide remark. I bet my ass she can't tell you what the actual title of Mary Shelley's book is. Most people would assume the 1931 film, where The Monster both is a sympathetic antagonist, and fit's Lily's criteria. I'll give Lily a half point. +0.5 dead women

34. I don't feel confident enough in my homestuck lore knowledge to comment. Haven't read it, but have learned an unreasonable amount through cultural osmosis. N/a

35. N/A

36. The book is better. -1 Gravity

37. Codependency issues are your bread and butter, I wouldn't be making that argument if I were you. -1 Cat

38. N/a

39. N/a

40. I don't remember if these characters have a reason for fucking about as they do, but they are sympathetic(ish). There's no way Lily has seen anything other than the dic dub though so she's more lucky than right.+1 Magical Girl transformation

41. Again, sympathetic, doesn't fit Lily's criteria. +1 cockadoodie car

42. N/a (I've been meaning to watch this though.)

43. Once more, sympathetic, doesn't follow Lily's bullshit rules. +1 jar of dirt

44. Yes. -1 Elf Callum

45. Not sure which Kagura this is, but if it's either of the two I'm thinking of, N/A

Update: Kagura from Inuyasha. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Sit

46. I'm guessing Crim didn't mean the Omega Man one. N/a

Update: Gargoyles. Follows Lily's rules. -1 Goliath

47. OH MY GOD LILY FOR FUCKS SAKE YOU CAN'T WATCH THE FUCKING NOLAN FILMS AND ASSUME THAT'S SUFFICIENT TO MAKE YOU AN EXPERT ON ALL OF BATMAN. -1 READ👏 A👏 FUCKING👏 COMIC👏

48. Sympathetic, doesn't fit Lily's criteria. +1 fat panda

49. Lily gets another point on a technicality. +1 dream of electric sheep.

50. Again, not a surprise. -1 Pizza Hut

LILY'S SCORE: 29.5/50

59% - C-

Got 29 wrong.

Got 8.5 right.

Taking away the ones I didn't know: 7.5/33

22% - F

Removing the points Lily lost/gained for things she hasn't seen:

19.5/33

59% - C-

Removing the ones we both haven't seen:

8.5/38

22% - F

[dreamerswriter]

Book 6 Finale

Leona threw gold into hell. Also, I thought Leona was going to kill Ortho for that. And I out of the teams, besides Vil’s, Leona and Jamil’s team is the best. I love this group so much. Especially with what Leona did. He didn’t have to help Jamil, but he did. I want an anaylsis. Leona is one of the best characters in this app. 

I.... this was translated for me. I love this so much. Also, those mini games were a lot of fun! I loved it! That and fighting and searching. I love those kinds of mini-games! 

Hahah! Even Azul can only handle Riddle for so long! 

.......... I think in a fist fight, yes, Azul could take down Riddle. 

I loved how both were so happy to take down the titan. They had so much fun. This is true friendship right here. Also, I just noticed this, but Azul’s hat and Riddle’s crown are gone after that fight. 

No, I am with Vil on this. Rook is supposed to look after the dorm if anything happened to the house warden. Sure, Rook went to save his husband, but Vil’s right. Those students must’ve freaked out about this. 

He’s really laying on Rook. I agree with him still. 

Oh wow. Dang. 

Sir, I’ve played through the KH series, I will be fine. (And others, but I see my Yuu as the player who failed to raise Xehanort). 

I really like this. Gods, I can’t get over Vil. He’s such a good character. He takes his position as the dorm leader very seriously. 

Aw....That’s sweet. 

The fans rejoiced! I was blushing too. It isn’t every day someone like Vil does this, and he means it too. More importantly, ROOKVIL KISS?! 

Proud apple child right here. 

That’s not the best success rate.... 

So... Ariel ran a non profit organization.... You didn’t believe that and searched... Realizing it was true. Your mind went “FREE!” Fricken same. Especially in this economy... 

They were so close. I really do feel bad for them, but this wasn’t good either. 

They really did help the students. 

School traditions are stronger and more impactful. Love how Rook agrees. 

That is terrifying. They’re 18-16, and they know this. But gosh darn, this is written so well. I cannot wait for Book 7 with this level of writing. It is going to be immaculate. 

Yes, yes, yes! 

I still can’t believe Vil is a Xiao build. Rook, yes, but Vil? Well, yes... Beanfest proves this. Never mind, I am wrong. 

Hot dang! Yes! 

That is final boss dialogue, and I love it so much! Vil got his wish too! He’s a hero! 

Ok, so I love stats, but Idia not only gives himself a boost in fire magic, but he also gets a healing factor too in grass. I love Hades and Persephone, so I am going to believe that’s why he has it. 

HE JUMPED AND FELL TO THE BOTTOM AND AFTER IDIA, ORTHO, AND GRIM! 

This hurts so much. Out of all the Overblots, Idia’s is the most tragic. Riddle, Leona, and Azul are relatable. Vil’s kind of, and I hope to gods no one is in Jamil’s situation. Idia’s backstory is tragic.... I was so silent. He’s been carrying that pain, guilt, and not grieving for so long.... No one should ever have to do that. If you are suffering, please talk to someone. You deserve to be happy and not go through anything like this alone. I love you all and hugs all around. 

THANK YOU FOR NOT TRANSLATING THIS ONE WIERDLY! I WAS SO WORRIED! NO, BESIDES AZUL’S, I LOVE HIS! THAT SOUNDS SO EPIC AND AWESOME TO ME! 

Welcome! We love to have you! You have friends now! 

Idia, you nearly destroyed the world. Azul, you saved it. HOW ARE YOU BOTH ARGUING ABOUT CHESS?! Oh, Azul got his hat back. 

I am surprised they even let you back onto the premise after this. I didn’t think they would either. 

Hahah! 

Do not get me wrong, this was sad. But also, Hercules turned old. You know who else did and scarificed their beauty? The Evil Queen! She’s an amazing writer! 

Can you blame him? He lost his dream and lively hood there.

FORESHADOWING! I’M CALLING IT! Also, thanks for helping Vil, Malleus! 

HE’S A REAL BOY! I AM SO HAPPY FOR HIM! HE’S A REAL BOY! 

Also, yes, Crowley, Silver and the mirror, Lilia’s old speech, and Malleus’ thoughts are so suspicious. I cannot wait for the next book! We get to fight a dragon prince who is suffering from loneliness and realizing he’s going to outlive his friends! YAHOO! I really want to fight the dragon! LET ME FIGHT THE DRAGON! 

Welp! That’s it for me! I’ll work on Harveston next, but please be patient! Final month for me, and I can’t wait! So, that is all! Thanks everyone! And remeber to love your friends and family and those important to you. We love you and will always be there to listen if you need it! I love you all! Thanks! See ya soon! 

[rosie-kairi]

Other possibility of the Lauriam and Ven travel together AU so like a different branch if you will.

I personally love the theory that Kairi's grandma is master ava (I also make Lea Kairi's older brother and a keyblade wielder already I love tragic siblings what can I say) so when Lauriam gets blasted off he ends up in Radiant Garden and meets up with his old master.

Ava has tried to live a peaceful quiet life and so when she has a daughter she purposely didn't make her a keyblade wielder, teach her about light and darkness or the keyblade war. She wanted her daughter and by extension grandson to live in peace. However things go wrong when she's pregnant with Kairi and goes into labor. Her pure light attracts all sorts or heartless and darkness trying to snuff Kairi's light before she's born. Ava has no choice but to fend off the attack leaving a 12 year old Lea to be midwife and deliver his sister. Unfortunately the strain of the attack and darkness trying to extinguish light means his moms light get taken instead. Her heart passes moments later. Ava blames herself, had she not let fear take hold in her heart perhaps her daughter would have been able to fend off the darkness and not leave her children orphaned. After checking over kairi Ava realizes she's one of the 7 pure lights and realizes in despair she'll be hunted down by darkness. With little choice she tells Lea about her past and begins training him do he can protect his sister.

Lauriam shows up not long after. He fills Ava in on what's happened and the two start piecing things together. Ava realizes MoM orchestrated all this and she was too blind to see the red flags. She promises to help find Ven and properly train Lauriam.

Lauriam becomes a master in those 4 years and looks high and low for Strelitzia and Ven as well as any of the fore tellers and Xehanort but they all seem to be hidden well. He starts hearing rumors of 3 keyblade wielders traveling the worlds and tries to track them down but he's just one step behind.

Lea is getting ready to take his own mark of mastery, he and Lauriam have formed a close friendship, he remind him of Ven and watching Lea take care of Kairi reminds him of being his own sisters caretaker.

By the time Lauriam makes it to the keyblade graveyard the battle is over. Frustration builds he doesn't understand why all his loved ones are out of his reach.

Over the next year he hears Lea and Isa talk about a girl and hope flares that maybe it's skuld. But before he can properly investigate xehanort plunges the world into darkness. Ava teller Lauriam to take the kids and run while she holds off the heartless but even he knows she'll be overwhelmed. He tells Lea and Isa to take Kairi (sadly their 3 fates are sealed) and run but he ends up running into Luxu, same thing happens as before Luxu has been keeping an eye on Lauriam waiting for the right moment and now here it is. He doesn't beat him in a fight Lauriam is much stronger here but he leads Lauriam to think Ven is tied up in the basement. He desperately goes to find him but it's a trap and gets attacked by terranort. As he's becoming a nobody all he can think about is how no matter how strong he gets it's never enough.

Marluxia has only one name in his head that he can remember, Ventus. He doesn't know why being around Roxas is familiar and painful. Being at CO however ironically stirs up his forgotten memories and while he can't find Ven hidden in the chamber he just knows he's there and suddenly understands why Xemnas sent half of them here. So Marluxia purposely plays the villain he doesn't trust himself to protect Ven this time and thinks being killed will be the better option. Sleeping away Ven's heart inside Sora responds to Marluxia making Sora very confused because he hates Marluxia but he also has a deep longing to be with the lord of the castle. Marluxia's final moments are praying Ven and the others are safe and silently apologizes for all his failures.

He has zero memories at the keyblade graveyard it's not until his second death does he remember and thanks sora for "protecting him when he could not" once again confusing sora.

MoM is watching all this and is like hmmmm that Ven and Lauriam maaaaaay be of use to the next phase of my plans. (He's such an asshole).

Basically what if Lauriam went to RG met up with Ava and even though he gets stronger it's still not enough and he's still chasing ghosts and being a step behind just a minute too late to make a difference.

Anon, if you're going to hurt me like this, I'd much prefer you come to my house and shoot me directly rather than torture me psychologically over tumblr asks.

(That is to say, this is great keep it coming)

[talyns-fanfics]

All I Want For Christmas Is You

Kingdom Hearts

How a Few of My Favorite Kingdom Hearts Characters Would Spend Christmas With Their SO

My Christmas Special

Characters: Sora, Heart Hotel, Demyx, Ava, Player

I would have added more characters, but mobile Tumblr wouldn’t let me. I’m still salty about it.

Sora

Now, this depends on which Sora we’re talking about. There are multiples.

Sora would go all out for his S/O. He’d wanna decorate the house, dress the tree, bake cookies, wrap presents for friends, caroling (even though he can’t sing). He’d wanna do all of it with them. Christmas morning is no different. He’d get his S/O a lot of stuff from many different worlds. He’s stuck to them like glue. Christmas is a second Valentine’s Day to him.

Roxas is less exaggerative than his counterpart, but still wants his S/O to know he thought of them this time of year. The most he’d go for is the tree and some presents. Maybe stockings. All he wants is time with them. If his S/O wanted to watch the Disney Christmas Sing-a-Long (From All of Us to All of You) he’d definitely sing along to that last song. If you know, you know.

Xion was excited about Christmas every year, but got even more excited when she realized she’d wanna spend it with her S/O. Like Sora, this is a second Valentine’s Day for her. But unlike Sora, she wouldn’t go overboard with the gifts to the point that there is no room for them. 10 gift max from her.

Ventus is the sweetest this season, despite the fact he still believes in Santa Clause. (I hope we’re on the same page here and I didn’t just make a kid cry.) Not to say Sora got his want of sticking to his S/O’s side from Ventus, but come on. I’d be lying. Rather than buying stuff from random stores, he’d make something for his S/O. He definitely didn’t ask Aqua to put magic on it. What are you thinking?

Naminé doesn’t completely understand Christmas. She’d buy her S/O a few gifts but get completely flustered (the good kind) when her S/O gets her at least one. She’d also wanna spend time with her S/O on Christmas, just in a comfortable silence.

Vanitas is an odd case. From what I can tell, he’s very tsundere with Christmas. He’ll get his S/O one thing and absolutely refuse anything in return. But that one thing holds a lot of depth, so they know he got it right. Still, very tsundere towards Christmas. Think The Beast in Belle’s Enchanted Christmas, but less angry.

Data-Sora is a sweet boy. Considering nothing about Christmas was written in the journal, he probably doesn’t know about it, but he’s eager to learn. Again, this is a second Valentine’s Day for him. Just a time to let Data-S/O know how much he cares about them. Since he’s still new to Christmas, he’s not gonna go overboard like Sora does. He wouldn’t do the bare minimum, but not too much either. A few gifts he knows his S/O would like, Christmas pajamas, Christmas morning cuddles after presents. Sweet boy.

Demyx

Demyx is a lazy bum, but will do something nice for his S/O on Christmas. He’s not heartless. Not saying he’d do a full on candlelight dinner nice, but a few gifts.

Ava

Ava is very sweet. Ventus probably got his sweetness from her. From most Forteller fics I read, romantic attachment is forbidden to The Fortellers (*cough* Jedi Order *cough*). So she can’t really shout her love for her S/O to the heavens and it kills her. She still wants to make their Christmas special, but she’d be sneaky about it. She sneak a few presents into their house and not leave her name on the tags, but her S/O knows it’s from her.

Player/Pre-Xehanort

Player is like a more introverted Sora. He/She does care for his/her S/O, but still wouldn’t go overboard with gifts and traditions. Tree? Yes. House lights? Think of the light bill. Stockings? Adorable. Presents? Definitely. He/She would get his/her S/O a few good one he/she knows his/her S/O would like.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

So... I was thinking about it the other day, and I think I might be somewhat (not too seriously, but maybe partly. I don't know. I don't know if I'm really big on KH theorizing anymore) back on my "Yozora is the Master of Masters" theory train again.

Why? Well, because I do think it's suspicious that we've never seen the two of them together at the same time. Even the KHIII secret ending that featured the both of them in Quadratum showed them separately. (I also find it weird--that even though we don't know much about KHIV now, and perhaps that's the explanation--it's seeming like there might be a possibility now that we might not be getting both the MoM and Yozora in the same game now. If that does happen, maybe it's just because it would be too much to juggle. Or because Nomura's waiting to do the Yozora stuff until the Verum Rex game, but hmm...)

But that's not what got me thinking again. If anything, that may just still be in support of the theory, perhaps.

A lot of people think that the Master of Masters' real name is "Light" based on the scene where he tells Xehanort his name, but you don't hear it, but there's a shock of light over his face/the screen. And I do think people are right to theorize this/that there might be something there.

How does this tie to Yozora, you ask? Who is Yozora a remake of? Nomura's character that he lost: Noctis Lucis Caelum, whose name meant: Night Light Sky (I feel like they fudged the Latin, and it was probably supposed to be "Light of the Night Sky", but that's neither here nor there).

But the point is the "Lucis"/"Light" part of Noctis' name. Now he's made the character Yozora to live out all that he wanted to with Noctis, since that character was essentially stolen away from him. Yozora's name means "Night Sky" in Japanese, like Noctis Caelum did in Latin. But though this hasn't been confirmed yet, I would not be surprised if Yozora has more to his name that we don't know of yet--a last name, perhaps--to give him the "Light" part of it he's missing (and make him more 1:1 Noctis, like Nomura clearly wants him to be), and fit this idea about the Master of Master's name being "Light," or perhaps part of his name being that.

Furthermore, what does Yozora say when Sora meets him in Re:Mind that's had people scratching their heads for so long? "This isn't what I normally look like. How would you recognize me as Yozora?" I think he's either saying here that he usually looks like the Master of Masters. Or people who have theorized that eventually Nomura is literally going to make Yozora look like Noctis, and thus Yozora's saying his Yozora appearance is "wrong" because he's supposed to look like "Noctis," are right... Which would be just too fitting in the same game where Nameless Star was saying her name and everything was taken from her. *cough* when Nomura got kicked off of Final Fantasy Versus XIII/Final Fantasy XV, and Tabata changed the story some, and now Nomura has to put some of his ideas from it into KH to reach his vision at all. *cough* Either way, you want to look at why he said what he did, Yozora could still be the Master of Masters with these explanations.

Also, there's that whole thing with the Master of Master's gazing eye, that's in "No Name" and allows it to see the future--and don't forget there was stuff with Noctis' eyes in Versus XIII: like how his one eye would be red at times, while the other would remain its natural blue.

The real kicker if all of this is true, is that Ray Chase--the English version of Noctis--voicing the Master of Masters seems like it's just a coincidence. o_0 As Noctis' VA doesn't voice him in any other version of the game, I don't think. Unless Square Enix NA knew that was where the story was going--if it is--and decided to just go ahead and cast Ray Chase as the Master of Masters partially for that added bonus. LOL

[strangefellows]

I've run out of FGO characters I know so I'm going to pull a reverse uno and say the rest of the Foretellers, MoM included.

EDIT BC I FORGOT MOM WHOOPS

First impression

I'll combine them here and say for the most part, I didn't have too much of an initial opinion on them? They blurred together to me at first because KHUX didn't quite do a good job fleshing them out at first XD

As for MoM he gave me Bad Vibes but also ‘he reminds me of Braig’ vibes WHICH PAID OFF AFTER KH3 JFC LORD

Impression now

I like them! I still don't have as big an opinion on them as most, because they're still minor in comparison to the rest of the cast, and we'll probably get more in this next KH arc, but I do like them! Ava's my favorite.

As for MoM, I DO NOT LIKE HIM. AT ALL. I don’t. He skeeves me out hardcore. I don’t like what he’s done I don’t trust what he’s doing.

Favorite moment

Besides Aced being absolutely fucking insane and beating the shit out of us? I love most of Ava's scenes, she's got a lot of personality. Their scenes with MoM are good too, but in a sort of. Oh God The Gaslighting, Someone Save These Kids way.

MoM? Nahhhhhhh. Though admittedly his scene with Young Xehanort is really funny. I love Ray Chase’s VA work in general with MoM even if I don’t like the character.

Idea for a story

Give me more to go on for them! Flesh them out! How did MoM find them, how did they get on before the war, etc. Also PLEASE address MoM's awful gaslighting of them dear lord mercy. God, just. WHO IS THIS MAN WHAT IS HIS DEAL

Unpopular opinion

TBH as much as I do like them...I don't find them quite as interesting as I know a lot of the fandom does. They have a lot of POTENTIAL, though, don't get me wrong! I'm hoping we get a lot more coming up, but right now I'm still not quite as enthusiastic about them >>

As for MoM; I think that I extremely dislike him is unpopular XD I just do not like him. And also I absolutely loathe the MoM-is-Demyx theory it’s ridiculous and undermines Luxu’s entire character arc.

Favorite relationship

Each other! Ava and Ephemer is cute, though, too, and I'd like to know if the others had any favorite kids.

MoM and Xehanort is frankly hilarious, I guess XD

Favorite headcanon

I have my own appearance hcs for them that I really like; Ava's a redhead, Invi is Asian, Gula is a tanned blond, Ira has white hair, Aced is darker! Also, Ava and Luxu are the closest both in age and as siblings.

I admit I do like the eldritch abomination MoM HCs, I lean towards those myself.

[cq-studios]

Okay, now that it’s been around a bit I want to infodump about it because I put a lot of thought into it lol

And side note, thank you everyone for all the compliments I’m glad it’s resonating with y’all ^^

Spoilers/answers underneath

So, the idea for this actually came from a dream I had last night, where I was doing a quiz and it slowly became a narrative/comic. In the dream it was about Riku, I think, but I don’t really remember, and I couldn’t think of any ideas for him, so I shifted gears to KHUX.

The first thing that came to me was the “What’s most important?” bit at the end. And I wanted to include the “What are you going to do?” “Save myself”. Which is why I chose Brain. I feel like that encapsulates his situation better than anyone’s (if he’s not possessed)

I feel like Brain is also the best character for this due to his association with computers and the fact that he’s the guy with all the info

I wanted the result to be the same no matter what percentage you got because it didn’t matter how much information he had the end result would’ve been the same (inescapable destiny and all)

I also loved the idea of using a quiz with correct and incorrect answers because I like that it gives the illusion of choice

I also used a multiple choice question for the “Who did you leave behind?” instead of all of the above so you really feel the number, the weight of each person

I didn’t do the same for the “Who comes with you?” question to show how he underplays his own achievements

In “Do you save them?” I put three “No”s as answers, one for each person he send off. It’s like that because they each end up in Xehanort’s clutches with no memories, even though he does technically save them

The correct answer to “Would it matter if you did?” is “I don’t have time to think about this right now” because in my head it takes place as Luxu was approaching him

The “Would it matter if you did?” question is also fun because it makes all the emotional responses you (and Brain) are more inclined to choose incorrect, because honestly he doesn’t have time to think about it

I had an alternate version of the first 5 questions where it was like the rest of the quiz and you could see his thoughts but I decided to change it because I wanted it to still start kind of normal. I also really liked the idea of having the thoughts come in after he would’ve opened up to the other NULs a bit, and I also think only having his thoughts/emotions show after the questioner asks how he feels was fun

I love using repetition to reinforce ideas and imply stress. I’m sure you can see that. I do it quite frequently throughout the quiz but especially in the last 4 questions.

I chose to ask and answer the questions in first person and present tense because I felt it’d make it easier/faster to connect to

As soon as I saw that I could add an explanation I knew I had to use that to my advantage. The “coward” comment was originally going to be one of the answers but I felt the explanation was a perfect place to put it

I don’t know who the questioner is exactly. I kinda vibe with the idea of it being Luxu or maybe Darkness, but there’s no one really set in stone

The majority of the result text is in all caps and brackets to make it seem more like a prompt than a conversation, more inhuman. I made the text more normal for the last line since it’s not certain and set in stone.

The last line of the result text is in reference to Missing Link coming out… at some point

The result text wouldn’t format the way I wanted it to but I was too happy with it to change it, so here it is the way it should be

[NO AMOUNT OF KNOWLEDGE COULD SAVE YOU FROM YOUR FATE]

[THERE WAS NOTHING YOU COULD DO]

[WILL YOU MOVE ON? FIND A NEW LIFE?]

…

…

…

We’ll see soon enough I suppose…

Made a little Quiz about Brain, not too hard but I hope y’all enjoy it anyways ^^

[kayura-sanada]

How Dark Road Destroyed the Last Vestige of Good KH Storytelling, or, alternatively, Why, As a Huge Fan of Birth By Sleep, the Kingdom Hearts Series Should Have Ended With Kingdom Hearts 2

So firstly, I will say that followers of my blog have seen me lose my mind to all of this before, and some of these followers have outright asked me to rant about this, so here I am. The summaries they've sent me (because I have no intention of losing hours of my life to this) were long, and since this is going to be long enough, I will only be referencing what they told me instead of posting it all, because... guys, it's a lot.

Obviously, there are going to be spoilers here. A lot of them.

I honestly don't know where to start, so I'll start where a couple of these summaries started: Xehanort's childhood.

First, I need to admit here that I don't care. Nobody needs to know the backstory of a character who has spent thirteen games torturing teenagers. But here we go.

So Xehanort was a kid being raised on Destiny Islands - information we already had - but he was born in Scala ad Caelum. And his guardian was actually our player character from UX! Guys. This alone is going to be a long rant.

Firstly, again, let dead people stay dead. I don't know about anyone else, but I never expected nor wanted my character to show up in the storyline after UX. There's no need for that.

But! Apparently there is! Because my character, who has already been demoted to 'parental figure' - a position about as useful to the player character as it was to Sora's mother - had memories. And because Xehanort is so sensitive, he dreams those memories.

Guys, this is so much, and it's all bullshit.

Suddenly the greatest contribution our player character can say to have given is helping make Xehanort evil. We are, after all, responsible for the source of information that leads Xehanort to the decisions he makes in the future. Our character exists just to accidentally screw over everyone in the future? Excuse me? May I just delete my damn character, then?

But also, let's dig into this 'sensitive heart' bullshit that Xehanort suddenly has. It's something he and "Baldr" (it's fucking Luxu, and of course Nomura thinks he's clever by naming him after the most well-known god of light in any pantheon, sigh, sorry but God of War is bringing out its second game, you are not going to use Norse mythology better than God of War, Nomura, shove off) apparently have, just like Sora. Only we've seen countless signs of Sora having a sensitive heart. There have been no signs whatsoever of Luxu or Xehanort having the same thing. Not once! Not once! But suddenly Xehanort is such a nice guy it left him vulnerable to falling to darkness.

So really, he didn't fall to darkness because he wanted more power, or because he wanted to find out what happened during the Keyblade War to the point where he was all right killing Ven and Aqua and taking over Terra's body against his consent, oh no! It's not because he willingly made himself a heartless or studied hearts until he created nobodies out of himself and a bunch of innocent people, including children and young teens, oh no! And it certainly wasn't because he manipulated a fifteen-year-old into sending his world to darkness or trying to use said teen's body to kill his friends, oh no! It was because he is just too kind and sensitive to others' hearts.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, I have spoken before on how obvious it is that Nomura likes Xehanort, but never in my life did I think I would see the day when he would take the characteristics that make up his main character and Gary Stu them into his fave. But here we are.

In fact, due to these changes, we ourselves, our own player characters, now exist as angst fodder for Xehanort. We exist for Xehanort's pain.

(And in fact they're talking about a game focusing on our player character, or something? So we really will exist for Xehanort, and our main story will be about how we affect him. Ugh.)

(Also, a prequel of a prequel? Please, someone stop Nomura.)

And it seems Ephemer also existed for Xehanort! Because now Xehanort has a lineage. And that always seems to happen when bad writers want to write stories that span generations, doesn't it? Everyone has to secretly be related to everyone else, because only a handful of people exist in the world, and only those descended from those people could ever be important or make history.

(And this makes me highly uncomfortable, thinking about how Ephemer randomly cameo'd in KH3. Is that now all about Xehanort, too?)

Not to be That Person, but the idea that someone is inherently meant to be an important hero, based on nothing more than their ancestor, only to fall to darkness because they have such a sensitive heart and were made vulnerable to the darkness... didn't Star Wars already do this better? With a character that hasn't been known as absolutely awful for over a decade, by the way.

Just saying.

But sure! Luxu and Xehanort are both just so kind, so sensitive, that they fell to darkness. Because they were such good people. Being that good made their hearts weak to darkness, and that's why they fell. Sure.

(Again, nevermind everything they've done that would explain how they fell, or the goals Xehanort explicitly stated he had over the course of the games that also would explain why he fell. Nope! He did all of that because he was a good guy.)

In fact, of all the things he did, one was to save Ven from Vanitas. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, the thing we feared to be true really happened! Vanitas is an evil being of darkness, and Xehanort saved Ven by splitting them apart. In fact, the only reason he even went to Ven was because of those pesky, pesky dreams our main character accidentally gave him by being so close to his heart. (I just can't; this has never been a thing before despite Kairi's heart having been inside Sora's; Sora never remembered any of Roxas' or Ven's memories, Xion was somehow forgotten entirely despite being close to Axel and Roxas, but sure!!!! Sure!!!!)

So according to Birth By Sleep, Vanitas was a part of Ven's heart, and Xehanort even told him flat-out to use more darkness, then got rid of him because he didn't have enough, abandoning him to die on Destiny Islands, then siccing the very creature of darkness he'd created from Ven's heart back on Ven in order to create the X-Blade, but apparently! Apparently this was all for Ven's sake! He was saving Ven that day! He did it all to save Ven from Vanitas, even though he then sent Vanitas to attack Ven again! It's not a retcon at all! This! This is good storytelling!!!

And yes! This means that Vanitas is a two-dimensional creature of pure evil, because again! All darkness is bad! And all light is good! The best kind of storytelling!

So how is it that we all know how amazing and special Xehanort is? Perhaps it was something so obvious that people knew when Xehanort was born and perhaps there was a prophecy about it!!!

A prophecy. No. Specifically, another fucking prophecy. And it's from the very useful Book of Prophecies, which included a story about a traitor that was absolutely accurate and not a self-fulfilling prophecy (do you get the pun??? DO YOU?!?!?!) clearly created by a hack writer who hadn't thought far enough ahead to choose who was going to be the bad guy! So the answer is 'nobody! Except darkness!'

But yes! Another prophecy! This time about the prophesized child who's going to unite the villages worlds and bring peace! (It's nothing like Naruto don't bother trying to compare.) And it turns out that everyone thought the person who became a villain was actually the prophesized child, but it was actually the main character all along! (Stop comparing; they're nothing alike.)

But in reality! Not only was Xehanort considered the child of prophecy and thus taken from Scala ad Caelum to Destiny Islands to protect him (Sleeping Beauty? What?), but he also acted out in order to fulfill the prophecy and bring peace!!

That's right! I was right in my previous rants; Xehanort opened Kingdom Hearts, destroying countless worlds and torturing and killing countless innocent people, all in order to save everyone!!! He sacrificed himself to open Kingdom Hearts so he could end the existence of Darkness (you know, that thing that exists in everyone's hearts, but is now also a race of thirteen Super Evil Creatures that have no feelings and are evil, this is nothing like KH2 don't compare) and bring peace to the World! Also Eraqus knew all about this, and though he felt like Xehanort's methods were too extreme, he swore to always be there to bring him back just like Axel did with Roxas and Xion but in a less interesting way and thus wasn't murdered but willingly sacrificed himself! Yeah!! That's it! Xehanort didn't actually kill his friend at all, he's such a good guy actually!!!

So it was egregious enough that Eraqus chose to side with Xehanort at the end, thus ignoring everything Xehanort had done not just to him, but to his students he purportedly cares about, but now it turns out he was never really on his students' side at all! He was always on Xehanort's side, despite the huge fights and the blatant distrust and the animosity that seemed obvious in Birth By Sleep; no no!! Eraqus has always watched out for Xehanort (doing a bad job of that in the process, lol) and was apparently okay with being killed? Perhaps even went with it? Who knows, but yeah, solid friendship brotherhood whatever. (Or, as much of fandom sees it, romance. Have fun, guys; definitely not my cup of tea, but have at. Only fandom can fix this fustercluck.)

So really, with this all said and done, Xehanort has never been a bad guy! Ignore everything he did in previous games, because it was all due to his being super sensitive to others' hearts, just like Sora apparently but with absolutely zero foreshadowing, which led to him being vulnerable to outside forces, which is what darkness is, nothing to do with one's inner self or one's own emotions or goals or anything, no, darkness is an evil entity with its own mind, you can't help falling to it (unless you're Terra, fandom's still going to say Terra falling to darkness was all his own fault somehow). And everything he did was actually in sacrifice for the greater good! He's just so misunderstood, you guys. Really you should love and pity him.

I have more to say about this bullshit but I am Tired and this should be enough of a rant to keep you all satisfied for now. This is so bad it's somehow worse than Kishimoto's writing.

Suffice it to say, Xehanort should not be suddenly made to be a good guy who's just misunderstood and has been Trying His Best. Darkness should not be a physical entity that exists as some evil boogeyman to erase all fault or responsibility from people who fall to darkness. Scala ad Caelum shouldn't exist. The reveal of Kingdom Hearst shouldn't have been so underwhelming. It's nothing more than a lead-in to more UX nonsense, ffs. Union X should never have existed. Hell, Birth By Sleep, in bringing such wonderful characters and in-depth, complex ideas about light and darkness, should never exist in the same universe as this bullshit. The storyline was only marginally cohesive through KH2; afterward it became a tangled mess. (Hell, KH2 tangled it quite a bit with Roxas, but at least that storyline reached a conclusion, too, with Roxas' and Namine's existences shown to match between Sora and Kairi.)

If Kingdom Hearts ended with KH2, it would have been remembered as a weird, interesting story with engaging characters and a fun plotline. Nothing deep, but a great experience nonetheless. Instead we have this - a storyline you can't follow logically and characters so twisted and contorted, not just around each other but around their own selves, that you can't straighten them out anymore. It's so bad. I officially gave up on Kingdom Hearts after the third game, but I am truly, honestly telling people that it's better to just step away from it entirely.

I might write my own version of Kingdom Hearts one day, but if I do, it will look nothing like the original, because I demand cohesion in my narratives.

To anyone still following Kingdom Hearts, good luck. You're going to need it.

[fisherrprince]

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

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Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

.

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

.

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

[trans-girl-sora]

ANYWAY here’s a HUGE write-up of the various stuff we saw in the Kingdom Hearts 20th Anniversary video

First, Dark Road Stuff: 

First: Xehanort KNOWS he was Player??? THAT’S fucked up lmao 

A new cast of Dark Road characters!! I don’t think any of these we saw previously, which is fun!

We see Xehanort’s keyblade armor, and it looks like the No Heart BBS fight! So it’s just always had the little crown motif which is kinda cute. Also one of the original capital-d Darknesses is there, and evidently killed all the other students l o l. 

God the jpeg artifacts on this game. It really was built in flash, huh

I’m curious to see who he’s mourning in this shot - is it his mom that we saw at the end of khux? Is it the master who maybe dies at the end? Who Knows

Missing Link Stuff:

As much as I’ve been wanting a khux mmo for a while, I wasn’t expecting............. this. Whatever Missing Link is. Because I have some Theories. 

Specifically this shot. This is definitely in the early alpha stages because beta signups are opening later this year but like... to ME, the overhead shots of this game feels. Like a augmented reality map game?? Like Pokemon Go or Pikmin Bloom?? I hope to GOD it’s not but it feels like a legitimate city with the little Large Body in the bottom right and the little green markers, it feels like a real life walk game and I’d HATE that. I’m sure it isn’t but. Man. Dystopian thoughts.

But hey check it out we get THREE new keyblades! A red and black one that feels like a gear, a green and gray one with what looks like a wire mesh around a lantern, and a sharp one that looks kind of between Starlight and Missing Ache. I have a feeling there’s some sort of class system that encourages the multiplayer that we see near the end of the trailer here: 

Also my boy Brain is there!! And I refused to call him Blaine, you can pry Brain from my cold dead hands. 

And now, of course, Kingdom Hearts 4 Stuff: 

So this feels deliberate, right? Like this is a very obvious message, displayed a couple of times in different areas, written in the in-universe KH alphabet. The first character in the first word is A, the last character is 7, and in the second word there’s a punctuation mark and then a 3. But a lot of it I don’t know, and people haven’t translated yet :( 

Also this is the first we start seeing of the dark force in the trailer, which I’m gonna tentatively call the “Heartless” for now. Which I have my doubts about. 

Also yeah that’s Endor LOL

MY SLEEPY GIRL also jesus her feet are big, I can see why her yellow shoes are so HUGE now, wearing Size 20s out here

MY OTHER SLEEPY GIRL who looks rough but she has been dead for like a thousand years so. Sleep it off, Strel

They feel TINY compared to the doors and deck lmao, like look how little bitty they are

THIS is interesting, we see English script alongside the Scala script. Which... is weird. Also the D-Dream and D-Eater is very interesting and fun lol, it’s another parallel to DDD alongside Missing Link using a cover of the DDD version of Dearly Beloved

And of course, our Baddy. Who actually looks a lot like Dark Inferno! There’s some differences - no weapons, no glow, no bandana - but it’s got a lot of visual similarities. Also, interestingly, Re:Mind’s Dark Inferno χ is stated to be a “Darkness” sleeping inside of Ven, maybe Vanitas, so it’s possible this is another original Darkness as well? We do see MoM and Luxu here in a second so it could track. 

The grapple is SICK and very interesting, almost a fleur de lis? 

SORA’S GOT HIS BUILDING SKATING POWERS BACK 

We see Luxu and MoM (assumedly, because of the posture? The rightmost one is at least MoM for sure)

And I really like the font!! It’s different, a little more clean than the one in the Dark Seeker Saga. 

And of course Goofy and Donald looking for Hades because Sora literally died. 

Also this is just a funny smear frame but it’s nice to see they’re embracing the more comical side of things too! They’re making sure it stays cartoony which I like 

Anyway that’s all I’ve got for now and tomorrow I’ll ramble more 

[snowflake-of-destruction]

can you explain the grass is greener universe? what’s the story? how is everything connected? i’m vv interested. one of the best kh aus!

First off, I am extremely flattered. I adore the Grass is Greener verse, and I know it’s one of Shaky’s favorites too. It was just a fun soap opera mess--which was the original point, to make a melodrama with as many tangled ships as possible.

Let me try and remember and explain.

Roxas and Isa are married. Isa is a high powered lawyer, a partner in a practice with Marluxia and Xemnas. Are Xemnas and Isa having an affair? Is Marluxia seeing his assistant, Namine? Not currently, but they do have a history. Which couple? Yes.

Xion is Roxas’s best friend and engaged to his twin brother, Ventus. Ventus and Xion were engaged once before, but Xion went runaway bride...running away right into Namine’s car. Namine and Xion didn’t last either in the end, but lasted long enough for Ventus and Vanitas to have a vicious on and off again relationship until Vanitas met Kairi during one of Vanven’s “off” periods and married her after knowing her for only 48 hours. Ventus also had a brief fling with Hayner. Somehow, after all this, when Ventus and Xion rekindled their relationship, and, after a too brief attempt at dating again decided to rush back to being engaged...a clear mistake, especially since Kairi and Xion met through Vanitas and Ventus (since the guys work together and Vanitas keeps stubbornly mixing in Ventus’s life even though they are both otherwise attached and don’t get along anymore--except when they do).

Kairi and Vanitas are currently living apart and attending marriage counseling with Riku, who is married to Sora in this AU, not that Kairi knows that. She only knows Sora as her yoga instructor--who she is also having an affair with. Oh what a tangled web we weave. Riku’s biggest secret is that he and Sora actually have a pretty open marriage. In fact, he knows about Sora and Kairi, just like Sora knows Riku is seeing Namine (and that Riku hopes Namine isn’t actually seeing Marluxia), though he doesn’t know Sora’s Kairi is also the Kairi he’s counseling with Vanitas. Soriku are great communicators and negotiators but if all were to come to public light, Riku’s reputation as a couple’s therapist would probably take a dive.

Axel is Kairi’s brother and Roxas and Isa’s landscaper. You’ll never guess what happens when Axel gets close to bored house husband Roxas. Go on. Guess.

Aqua and Terra have been married since right out of high school and are everyone’s couple goals on the outside and miserable on the inside. Ansem and Xemnas are Aqua’s brothers. The three of them are Xehanort and Eraqus’s kids, technically a blended family, Ansem and Xemnas being Xehanort’s kids from a previous marriage and Aqua being adopted later but the family itself makes no such distinctions. Not much has been written about Aqua and Terra yet (or about Aqua’s brothers) but much was planned.

NOW, IF ALL THAT WASN’T ENOUGH, WE HAVE A MISSING PERSON ON OUR HANDS

Strelizia, Marluxia’s younger sister, sweet university student with a known crush on Professor Ventus Cole who also might have been the last known person to see her alive. Or maybe it was her employer, Axel Emberson.

She sent an odd text message her brother doubted was from her and then vanished in the middle of a school semester.

Maybe Xigbar Luxu knows something. He was a client of Lawn and Order (Axel’s landscaping company) and it wouldn’t be the first time he was linked to a potential murder case….though he was supposedly found innocent in the case of Ephemer

All this and more was told in loose connected and often out of order snippets written by me and art drawn by Shaky Mayhem @shaky-mayhemm

….And with all these feelings stirred up, the chances of the world being revisited are pretty high.

Tags are mostly ordered.

Between THE AO3 COLLECTION , HERE, AND HERE

[cute-angi]

Tagged by @esperata​

Rule: list your favorite (male) characters from ten different fandoms

That's very difficult

SSDD - Same Shit Different Day

Stephen King's Dreamcatcher - Douglas Cavell

Duddits! There's no explanation there. It's Duddits! Love him!

The Riddler: Edward Nashton (Nigma)

I don't think it needs a big announcement that this was coming. As soon as I lost myself in Arkham and heard his transmissions, I was blown away. That's when I fell in love with him.

Final Fantasy XV - Verstael Besithia

I know what everyone is thinking right now. Why doesn't it say Ardyn? He's the cool villain after all. Or where are the chocobros? Nope... I already liked grumpy Verstael and then episode Ardyn just made me see pink-red as soon as I saw the trailer. (My interpretation of him, of course, has only become so "cold-hearted" over the years. You know how it is with fangirls...)

''The artist has a duty to seduce the ear and delight the spirit.... Say hello to an evening with Sander Cohen!''

Bioshock - Sander Cohen

I thought about it for a long time. And first I wanted to mention the Lutece twins. Those two are always my favorites. Then I thought of Augustus Sinclair. A man of honor! I love Sinclair. And Bioshock contains so many more brilliant characters. There are no bad ones. But then I just had to go with Cohen, because Fort Frolic won't let me go. Especially after reading Rapture and having more insight into his character. This man just so often reflects what most of us are like at our core. We are artists of the world and so vulnerable because of it. We walk the narrow path between madness and genius.

Because we're talking about artists...

The Evil Within - Stefano Valentini

I am, after all, someone who likes Tchaikovsky. And yes, of course the first game, was often better than the second. The second one didn't cost me much effort. I hardly managed the first one on easy at first. And Ruvik is one of the most interesting characters ever. But Stefano, like Cohen, has something ... strangely great about him.

Strange... I'm about to be hated by everyone.

Avatar The Last Airbender - Long Feng

Okay... okay... listen to me, please. Of course Iroh is the best character in the series and has helped me through so many stages of life.But I have a thing for really bad guys and as I get older, tastes change. Well, Long Feng is just sneaky? But he runs the Dai Li and through it he owns Ba Sing Se!  Hello? Of course I watch AsianDramas and yes please make me your queen. So I finally live behind safe walls.

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se" Okay... can the Dai li please adopt me as a lost princess?

Now that we have the embarrassing behind us, here comes something all too understandable:

Resident Evil (Village) - Karl Heisenberg

Instead of Male Characters, the rules should say, "Favorite Daddy Characters."

Okay...I have to do it...break the rules....

Mommy? Can I please stay up late and play with Bela, Cassandra and Daniela? I love this woman. Mommy!

Okay...don't forget the love for Donna!!!! Donna Beneviento~!!!!

Let's get serious again.

1, 2, 3, 4... Did you miss me, Monte d'Or?

Professor Layton - Descole

I triggered you guys with that quote, didn't I? Randal is really wonderful.I have just replayed Miracle Mask. But I've been in love with that damn guy since part 4. Descole is My childhood love that comes back every year.

Kingdom Hearts - Xehanort (And Eraqus)

Here again my love for evil. I never dared to admit that I love "Ansem" so much in the first game. Well..... now I'm allowed to and it's just the character around Xehanort that enchants me. But Xehanort doesn't exist on its own either. Only with the best of the best: Eraqus!

And now we come to the anime track:

Attack on Titan - Willy Tybur

I really like Levi a lot. But I'm also someone who tries to jump off the hype train. I like Levi. And I love Zeke Yeager. But with the first appearance of Willy Tybur in the manga... phew my heart. I was hoping at the time that he would still be the Warhammer. There' s a lot of content lost on his family.

Because we are talking about manga:

Naruto - Tobirama Senju (and Izuna Uchiha)

It's been a long time since I watched or read Naruto. But it helped me through my "most difficult time". I have the sign of the Senju clan tattooed on my back. And it always gives me strength to get through everything. And with Tobirama you also have to like Izuna. With him you love Madara and with this Hashirama. Oh these four... my heart.

[kimium]

For that ask game: Kingdom Hearts💜🥰

(From the ask meme HERE.)

Thank you so much friend!!! I am so excited to jabber on about Kingdom Hearts!

I'm going to set some rules before I answer this. One, I'll focus on KH characters only (so little Disney or Final Fantasy). Also, there will be spoilers for all the games thus far.

1) The character I least understand

This is a little nitpicky, but the character I least understand is Namine. Don't get me wrong, I like her a lot and I understand her function in the story. However, Namine, so far to me, has been more of a plot device character than an actual character. I'd really love to see her more. Perhaps now that she has her own body she can have a little more agency and scenes.

2) Interactions I enjoyed the most

I love:

-Any and all interactions with Xigbar. He's a riot but also my favourite character archetype (smug and more important to the plot than he lets on)

-Sora/Riku/Kairi always have some wholesome but also deep, emotional moments. I love that they have a lot of duality with their moments.

-Sora, Donald, and Goofy have some hilarious moments too

- Axel and Saix have some very deep, emotionally charged moments that I find a delight.

- Vanitas and Ventus also have some wonderful interactions.

- Axel and Kairi's interactions in KH3 were very cute and sweet.

- I also love any moment with Terra, Aqua, Ventus

-In Dream Drop Distance the interactions with Riku and Joshua were so hilarious and my favourite.

3) The character who scares me the most

Honestly... Master Xehanort. The way he planned everything, and played 5D chess... the lengths he went through to try and summon Kingdom Hearts... truly horrific. How many worlds did he let die to darkness for his goals? How many people had he hurt and ruined their lives? There are so many and he did it without a second thought.

4) The character who is mostly like me

I think Xion is most like me. Desperate to find her place in the world and secure who she really is and find her self worth. Feeling pressured by others to be a certain way or act a certain way. I relate to those feelings a lot.

5) Hottest looks character

For females the hottest character by far is Aqua. She's gorgeous and also strong... 👀

For males the hottest character is a toss between Saix and long haired Riku in KH2 (bring back his long hair, Nomura!!)

(Also, I would have said Axel but people would think I'm making a pun and I'd never make a pun.)

6) One thing I dislike about my favourite character

Okay. My favourite character is Xigbar and I cannot think of something I dislike about him. Sorry. I think it's hard to say because I'm not sure where his character arc is going/all of his backstory. Maybe once we know I'll have something.

7) One thing I like about my hated character

(For the record I don't hate anyone in KH. Just like some characters less.)

My least favourite character is Ansem the Wise but one thing I like about him is how simple his motivations are. He was fueled by hatred and betrayal over his research and identity being stolen. Revenge is a great motivator. I also like that he sees the error of his ways and realizes some of the things he did weren't right.

8) A quote or scene that haunts me

I have a lot. Sorry. I'm unable to pick a single favourite so I listed all of them.

- "May your heart be your guiding key" is easily one of my favourite quotes in the series. No, I don't care if it's cheesy or an obvious choice.

- That line from Terra that was something along the lines of "Was my Master, no my father not enough?"

- "GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK" lives absolutely rent free in my brain. I hate it.

- That line from Xigbar when Sora says the keyblade would never choose him and he replies with "Oh, I am worthy".

- "Which one will you choose? Some make believe friendship? Or a real one?" is such a gut puncher when you learn more about Axel and Saix's past and relationship.

- "He said... he said to take two grown ups." The way that line was delivered! Absolutely amazing.

- That scene in KH2 when Sora is finally reunited with Riku and he just... collapses to the floor, clinging to Riku, and crying. Absolutely top tier.

- In 358/2 Days when Xigbar sees Ventus in Xion's stance and has a moment where he laughs.

- When Woody absolutely verbally destroys Young Xehanort. (You know the scene...)

- When Vanitas's helmet fades in KH3 and Sora finally sees his face.

- KH3's post credit scene

9) A death that left me indifferent

I wasn't too moved by a lot of the Organization XIII's "deaths". Mostly because we now know that this means they have a chance to reunite and become whole again.

10) A character I wish died but didn't

No one?

11) My ship that never sailed

Not sure if this means canonically or personally.

Canonically all of my ships haven't sailed because there aren't any "confirmed" ships besides strong hinting. Also, I ship everything Disney would never allow Nomura to make canon (except maybe Terra/Aqua) so no "sailing" or official confirmation of my ships.

If we're talking personally under the assumption "these ships exist but they're not my cup of tea so they'll never sail for me" then I'm not a big fan of Roxas/Namine or Xemnas/Saix.

[embraceyourdestiny]

Theory about Riku’s Darkness and His Ties to Terra

We all know Terra passed his keyblade onto Riku. But what if he didn’t pass on just his keyblade?

Riku is known for embracing the darkness, both falling to it and using it to fight for the light. The way his possession of darkness is talked about within the series is as if it’s inherent, like he has no choice in the matter and is darkness regardless of what he wants or wishes to be. They speak as if he was born with darkness, but what if he wasn’t?

Kingdom Hearts’ attitude towards darkness is confusing, vague, and complicated and is especially so in the case of Riku. Riku is hailed as a being with such powerful darkness, an undesirable “evil” within the world, that even at such a young age he was able to use it at will and control the heartless. Riku is seen as bad and wrong during this time because he uses darkness and ends up hurting people with it. But at the same time and later in the series, Riku is view as good because of how he can also control the darkness in a different way; by keeping it under wraps and using it to protect the light.

Riku, as is his identity as “the one who walks the road to dawn” is smack in the middle of light and darkness, but he is still a being of darkness. He is the only person we see who uses darkness for good and doesn’t let it control him. But, where does his darkness even come from?

Even more confusing than the the conflicting messages around the nature of darkness in Kingdom Hearts (is it good? is it bad? is it neutral? or maybe is it even something else entirely?) is the nature of light and darkness itself. We don’t know where light and darkness come from, how they work, why some people are light and some people are darkness, we know hardly anything about them at all. The nature of light and darkness is vague and shapeless in the Kingdom Hearts universe despite having so much importance. So, as a fun theory, what if similarly to how you can pass on a keyblade through a bequeathing ceremony, you can also pass on your nature, your light or darkness, to someone else, maybe even at the same time?

Children in Kingdom Hearts are told to be, for lack of a better word, True Lights. Their hearts are pure and bright and they are what helped rebuild the worlds after they fell to darkness and destruction. All children are pure and light, but if that’s the case, how does darkness even exist? How do adults possess darkness if they were light as children?

There are two possibilities: either the True Lights that rebuilt the worlds were not only made of light, or children can somehow be influenced by the darkness in possibly a variety of ways. It might honestly even be both.

Instead of children being “pure light,” I think it makes much more sense for them to be “neutral.” Children are innocent and free of evil, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are inherently light. The “middle ground” between darkness and light, night and morning, otherwise called “twilight” in the Kingdom Hearts universe, is a reoccurring and important theme in Kingdom Hearts and I think that the children who originally rebuilt the worlds were not in fact light, but neutral. Twilight. Or, there was a mix of children that were light, darkness, and somewhere in between.

It’s echoed both in Kingdom Hearts and in the real world that nothing can exist without balance. You cannot have too much light and you cannot have too much darkness. If this is the case, a law by nature, why are we led to believe the ones who “saved the worlds�� didn’t have a single speckle of darkness in them? That directly conflicts with the logic of creation and would be otherwise impossible, there has to be darkness and light or whatever you try to create would belong to “unreality.” (Which is something going to be talked about in the future of KH but not here because it’s not necessary to this theory but it is still important background and something to be thought about when navigating the world of Kingdom Hearts and the real world.)

(Tangent: I also believe the reason we’re told it was “children who’s hearts were pure light” that saved the world is because it’s Kingdom Hearts own case of an ahistorical and incorrect telling of events. Kingdom Hearts resides in the Realm of Light and those of light have been in control for a long time, and they therefore have a biased perspective of things. You can see this clearly with Eraqus, a man who was supposedly wise and yet shunned the darkness, called it evil and wrong, and even inflicted this harmful message towards his own students, one of whom actively belonged to the darkness. I think the demonization of the darkness has caused so many problems within the worlds of Kingdom Hearts and this legend of the Worlds is just one example of a ripple effect that having this perspective of darkness has lead to. But this is way too deep and again unnecessary to this theory, just something to think about. Tangent/rant over lmao.)

Now, we go back to Riku. Riku as a child is shown as kind, considerate, brave, a good friend, and even morally upright. These are all told to us to be traits of someone who belongs to the light and are directly conflicting of the traits of what we see those who belong to darkness have; they’re evil, manipulative, dangerous, and they harm people and have little regard for others. Though I don’t agree that either of these lists of traits can only belong to light and darkness, that is how they are portrayed in Kingdom Hearts. So, if Riku’s darkness is inherent, why is he kind to Sora as a kid? Why does he say he’ll protect him, and why, if Riku is evil because he is inherently darknesses, does Riku want strength to protect others? If he is darkness he has no need for friends and shouldn’t want to protect anyone because why would he care about anyone else, right?

This is the attitude he is shown to have when he falls to darkness in KH1 and this is how most people who possess darkness are portrayed. Again, I don’t agree, but that’s how it is. Riku is, once again, the only character who is of darkness that is shown to be darkness and yet not be evil. (I say only because we haven’t see Terra post-Terranort using his darkness freely yet, but even if that does happen and he does embrace it, that is still an exception to the unfortunate rule Kingdom Hearts has created for the darkness.)

So, if Riku wasn’t born with darkness because he wasn’t evil as a kid, where did he get his darkness? Most people would probably say Ansem SOD, and some might even say he had “grown” his own darkness, similar to how Nobodies grew their own hearts, because of his increasingly undesirable life on Destiny Islands, and I have to say both are wrong. The latter option is definitely more correct, since Riku was only preyed on by ASOD because he already had darkness in him and was an easy target, but it’s missing some pieces to make it make sense because again, if children are pure light, how did Riku already have darkness in him/develop darkness as a child?

The most reasonable explanation is this; children are blank slates and they develop into whatever they are shown by those around them. Just like how real kids are a product of their environment, the children of Kingdom Hearts will possess the ability of whatever is shown or given to them by the world. For simplicity and since Kingdom Hearts is all about passing stuff on and less about observing and learning, we will only focus on the “given” aspect of this and disregard the “shown” part.

Riku, like all children, was neutral. He didn’t have overwhelming darkness or light in him, he was simply a kid and that’s it. He had to, at some point, stumble upon darkness or light in order to inherent one or the other, and in his case it was darkness that found him first.

Introduce Terra. Terra, a being of darkness, bequeathes his keyblade to Riku. He passes down his ability to wield the keyblade to Riku, and along with it, his darkness. Riku was still only a child and this event is shown to have significant impact on the rest of his life, so this has to be the first time he even comes into contact with anything so powerful and strong, whether it be darkness or light. Destiny Islands is an extremely relaxed and peaceful place, so though darkness and light both have to exist there, there are no threats or immense stresses that would require such large outputs of either light or darkness, unlike how meeting someone from a different world who has had those stressed would effect a child. (This is also why Sora, who was also neutral because he was a kid, ends up becoming a being of light. Like it’s said many times, Destiny Islands was boring, nothing exciting happened there, so similar to how Terra would’ve been the first time Riku ever encountered such strong darkness, Ventus was the first time Sora encountered such strong light, but back to Riku.)

Now, this doesn’t immediately make Riku “I’m gonna destroy Destiny Islands” Riku. No, that comes much latter, and with influence of someone else. Riku, after his run-in with Terra, and until he is 15 years old, is still just a regular kid, he just now has darkness in him when before he was neutral, which again, isn’t inherently bad. From Sora and Kairi’s accounts, Riku was just a regular kid until he just “changed” one day. He was still kind, he played with the other kids like he always did, after being given darkness Riku didn’t change at all because there was nothing to be changed, darkness isn’t bad so there’s no reason why suddenly Riku would be too.

Enter the other influence; Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness.

Ansem saw that Riku had darkness already in him and used it to his advantage. With proper love and care, even with having darkness in him, Riku would’ve blossomed into a wonderful person who just happened to be of darkness, but Ansem messed that up for him. Ansem, also having a strewed perception of darkness since the one he came from, Xehanort, was the same way, decided to weaken Riku. We don’t know exactly how Ansem influenced Riku but based on the insecurities Riku talks about throughout the series, being jealous of Sora, thinking “the world was too small,” (a quote directly from Xehanort himself, which Ansem he had to have said to Riku since they both say it and Riku ended up believing him and internalizing it), etc, we can tell it wasn’t any good. Ansem planted seeds of doubt in Riku’s mind and then played off the results he knew he would get; Riku pulling away from his friends and becoming bitter to a place he once called home.

So, you see, both Ansem and Terra played a hand in Riku’s darkness. Everyone acknowledges Ansem’s role and you can’t deny that Terra’s appearance affected Riku’s life down the line, but it did much more than make Riku desire strength to protect those that mattered, Terra was the one directly responsible for giving Riku darkness, and it’s very sad because neither of them had to be “evil” just because they had darkness in them. Terra and Riku were both kind, wonderful people before Xehanort interfered with their lives and that negative experience continued to perpetuate the wrong message about darkness, that it’s evil and something to expel or hide away, and that made Terra fear and hate the darkness and Riku half-way ignore a part of him that he cannot change, because even if he uses the darkness still now, he doesn’t embrace it. It is still something to be controlled and feared in both of their eyes because, “what if I hurt someone because of my darkness again?”

This was originally a theory/analysis on Riku but I can’t end this without bringing up the fact that the way darkness is portrayed in Kingdom Hearts, and almost all media honestly, is wrong. The darkness is not bad, it is a requirement to life. Yes, you can do bad things with the darkness, but the same can be said about light. Eraqus harmed three of his students and who knows who else in “the name of light,” and Sora is constantly put at odds because of his “duty” to the light, to the point of being thrown into a war as a child and not only losing all of his friends but even his own life because it’s what he was “supposed to do” as a Guardian of Light.

Neither darkness or light are good or bad, they simply are. What one does with them is what is good or bad, but darkness and light themselves are not evil or right. I hope Kingdom Hearts pushes this message more because there are inklings of it there, Riku if his character developed more, Roxas and Xion’s identity crisis in Days, and honestly the concept of Nobodies as a whole. It’s a message that deserves to see fruition and I hope it does because it would add so much to Kingdom Hearts as a whole if it did.

But to wrap this up, my theory is Riku was originally neutral, Terra bequeathed him both his keyblade and darkness, and, though not a theory, darkness and light are not good or evil, they are meant to coexist together, and hopefully one day we will see that happen in Kingdom Hearts, with Riku possibly and even preferably leading the movement himself.

[beastenraged]

I Think, Therefore I Am (Me)

(Here it is, finally! :D :D :D @hallowed-nebulae )

“And why should I not know? Reincarnation is a skin worn well on both yourself and Ven. Even if the process is different for both.”

Ira’s words ring through my head. Never leaving no matter what. 

Agh, I hate Foretellers. Interfering with...I dunno, my perfectly messy life that I have going on here. The calm before everything goes to Plot Hell. It doesn’t matter that I remember a past life or not, really. No matter what he says. 

I almost want to punch him, I’m so pissed. But I’m also not that stupid, so I won’t. I’ll just run from him instead. A coward like I am with everything else in my life. 

(I don’t care what he said, I’m a coward down to the bones. Being forced to tell a truth among many lies doesn’t make me brave.)

I want to think about Ven and what he/they said about alters because that’s really interesting, a fact of people and real life I hadn’t know about before now and will be good for later. But I’m too distracted trying to fight back the doubts about what they’ll be thinking about me. 

“What he talked about is true, then? You were someone else before being Ruse?” Xion’s question is quiet. Barely hearable. 

I pause. I nod from my place on the bed of the room we share. “Yeah. That’s true. What do you want to know?”

Because this is Xion, and from the start I’ve answered her questions truthfully. No matter the topic. I wait. She doesn’t disappoint. 

“What was it like?”

“Huh.” I tap my head against my bed. “Well. Normal, I guess. That person didn’t know anyone that could do magic or had a Keyblade.”

Xion thinks on this. “That person?”

“Oh right. Well, I see the person before as someone different. I’m Ruse and that person is not. Her name was...” I swallow. “Her name was Harper. And she had a younger sister and went to a college and...did so many things.”

Xion’s purple eyes glow at me in the dark. “Do you think...she would have liked me? Or just to meet me.”

Oh. I almost laugh, but this is a serious question. 

“Xion,” I say, “She would have loved you.”

Did love you, in fact. Year of Xion and all that, years of quietly having Xion be her favorite of the Sea Salt Trio. Yes, Harper loved you, Xion. And maybe that lingers on in me. Isn’t that funny to think about?

What a thought to go to sleep to.

-

Breakfast is a quiet affair. Mostly because I’m trying to figure out what to say. Terra cooked and it’s delicious. 

Once the meal’s done and Even’s out, I try to find my words. For my audience. 

“Sooo...” I tap my fingers on the table between us. “What do you guys want to know?”

Vanitas, unsurprisingly, speaks first. They’re daring like that. “Why’d you lie about it? Is it safer that way?” Yellow eyes gleam with...some heavy emotion. “Or is that all you know how to do, lie?”

Terra narrows his eyes at them. “Vanitas,” he says warningly.

I can’t help but laugh a little at that. Shocking everyone else, I think. Just a little. Except for Ira, who’s as emotionlessly (annoyingly) passive as always in his observation. My grin is wide enough to make my cheeks ache. 

“I guess I just don’t want to talk about it. Don’t want people expecting things from that past self. Plus, it’s kind of an edge?” I shrug, lean back a bit. “People don’t expect either a preteen or a three year old Replica to know as much as they do, so they get careless. And I win.”

The alternate Xehanort seems thoughtful, but I focus mostly on Vanitas. Wanna see how they react to that answer. 

Vanitas grins back at that, seemingly approving of that reasoning. “Hell yeah.”

“You’re only...three.” Terra sighs, dropping his face into a hand. “Of course you are.”

I squint at him. “You gonna do something about that?”

Ven growls across from me, sensing my ire. I stick my tongue out at him because whatever, I know that he slit my tendon over Terra last time. But I’m not being mean this time. I’m just...preparing. 

“...if I do anything that ever makes you uncomfortable, just tell me and I’ll stop,” Terra says. Completely serious.

Uh, what. Okay? I stare at him and nod. Once. “Thanks. That’s very nice of you.”

Ven speaks up, forehead crinkled in thought. “Are you Harper, or did she break apart to make you?”

Huh? “You’ll have to clarify that, sorry.” Probably something to do with alters, it’ll be good to be careful and clear just in case. Don’t want to screw this up. 

He hums quietly. Picking out words. “Once there was a person named Ana. But Ana broke apart to become Simon and Jasn and so many others. But...”

He looks down at his hands. His clawed grey hands. “Only Simon was left. And Simon became...Ven.”

“With other alters,” he clarifies, “but not the same as before, because they were their own people and now they’re...gone.”

Oh. Oh. Gone, huh? And there’s no return for them. 

“Thank you,” I manage. Because that’s pretty personal, and I feel kind of bad for not sharing about myself before. Even if that’s stupid because I know Ven doesn’t expect anything like that from me, they’re too nice like that. 

“Well. I guess Harper broke apart to be ‘me,’ that’s the best way of putting it. I have pieces of what she likes, but I have my own likes different from hers,” I explain. Like Harper would never eat rocks...and that’s sad for being the first example to come to mind. 

Ven looks thoughtful. Or tired. Or maybe both. Hopes that helps?

“How do you know that you’re different from Harper in the first place?” Xehanort asks me. Very seriously, silver eyes hanging on me like the I have the answer to the world’s questions. And I don’t know, maybe in this case I do. 

Hm. I trace one finger along the edges of my scars. When did I know? That’s something I’ve never really...considered beyond the surface before, just that I knew we were different the moment I found out about her. 

But that instinct won’t help this kid, who thinks far too much in comparison about her identity. At least to me. Like with Xion, begging not to be Sora but thinking she had to be. Or Rook with Riku.

Wait. Rook with Riku. That kind of explains my thoughts, doesn’t it?

“Well, it’s kind of what I told Ven. I’m me because I have my own likes that I know Harper didn’t. I’m not Harper because I have different experiences from her. I’m different from her because I want to be.” I pause. 

Say a little more quietly at Xehanort’s kind of shocked face. “You know it’s okay for you to be what you want to be, instead of what someone else wants. People wanted me to be Riku, but I could never be. Xion could never be Sora.”

I swallow. So very aware of all the eyes on me, from both the people asking questions and people who aren’t like Xion or Ira the unicorn dude. 

“It’s okay to be yourself, Xehanort.” I reach out, withdraw my hand before I can touch her shoulder. Don’t know if she’ll go for touching or not. I smile. “You have my permission, even, if that matters.”

Xehanort looks away, but not before I catch watery grey eyes. Ducks into Ira’s cloak-thingy, that he holds out with his arm. He looks at me carefully. Meaning something, I don’t know what. 

“Do you mean any harm to my Vessel?” Ira asks me in the most serious way ever. Also kind of like he already knows the answer to that question, what?

I stare back at him. Adults shouldn’t be this confusing, Harper was an adult once and she kind of passed that down to me. Didn’t she? 

“No?” I hazard. I have no idea what that really means, but I can guess from context it’s probably related to Xehanort in some way. Since the unicorn man showed up for her and all. “I’m only trying to help.”

“I see.” He nods and I feel like he’s...measuring me in some way? Like Even does sometimes and I don’t like that comparison at all, how uncomfortable. 

...I better not be getting another attempted caretaker here, that’s all I’m saying!