#also why does she hold her keyblade Like That in kh3. this is a direct response to how she holds her keyblade in kh3

[golbiey]

we could have had it all

[daylighteclipsed]

you know I've read your tags for "gayblade has paopu fruit" and now all I think about is nomura being like "yea we can go with riku being gay and having an unrequited crush on sora" and sora, hijacking the writing process: "unrequited crush? not on my watch :)" this boy istg

It took me a good minute to realize what tags you were talking about lmao

Sooo. If we go off of accurately-translated CoM, Riku’s crush on Sora has been requited since at least 2004.

Even excluding the famous “aitsu,” there’s too much in CoM to not be deliberate. From Namine overwriting memories of Kairi and then one memory of Riku that officially flips a switch in Sora’s brain from I really want to find Namine to I need to find Namine, she is the most important person in the world to me. To how it’s never stated that Riku is the one in that memory; it’s something you have to piece together using context clues (Namine replaces Riku as the precious person Sora’s looking for in Castle Oblivion; Repliku has the same memory of the meteor shower Sora does), prev knowledge (Kairi arrived during the meteor shower this promise was made; ergo it can’t be her), hindsight (Namine can only access memories that Sora is connected to and she doesn’t erase or create them from scratch), and an understanding of WHY who is in this memory is left ambiguous…

Because there are romantic implications. What Sora feels for Namine (and what Repliku feels for Namine) in CoM seems to be romantic, so there’s absolutely no way Nomura could’ve come out and said Sora and Riku made that promise to protect each other. It’s left ambiguous because this way there’s plausible deniability; the general audience can assume that it was Kairi and both boys are into her… when actually, for whatever reason, Nomura used Namine to cleverly imply that Sora has confusing feelings for Kairi and Riku, and that Riku is in love with Sora.

And I’m almost positive this is why there are plot threads from CoM that still need tied up almost 20 years later.

Particularly Sora’s side of CoM; Riku’s side more or less wraps up in KH3 with his making peace with Repliku, helping Namine, and accepting his feelings for Sora. In order to wrap up Sora’s side, Sora not only has to thank Namine, but we also have to… address all those confusing feelings. Which KH3 hints may happen soon with Sora wondering what love is, the whole paopu fruit scene with Kairi, Riku’s heart shining with True Love’s light, whatever Sora first sees in the tunnel of light and what he realizes that he forgets — just all of it, honestly.

Now, I doubt Nomura wrote CoM thinking that Sora/Riku could or would ever go somewhere. It was 2004. But CoM creates, I guess, this subtle subversive path… so if he ever could or wanted to go in this direction later, he had a way of doing that. I dunno if that was planned... But, either way, 20 years is an awfully long time to go without addressing a memory so important to your main characters. With all the games released since then, he’s had more than enough chances to do it.

So he’s been holding off. For some reason.

Personally, I don’t think Nomura made a decision about Sora/Riku until he started working on DDD. Everything before that, including CoM, feels pretty ‘ehh who knows.’ But DDD really feels like a turning point in the series, for Sora and Riku’s dynamic. And a lot of players, even casual fans, pick up on this when they play the game — even if they don’t quite understand or like what they’re feeling.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many players, including me, walked away from this game seeing a romance between Sora and Riku where previously we didn’t. And now, knowing the likelihood that Nomura initially imagined Oathkeeper, the Sora/Kairi Keyblade, having a paopu fruit keychain, only to put it on the Sora/Riku gayblade a decade later… in addition to Nomura nearly not having Sora and Kairi share paopu in KH3… it really makes me feel like some decision was made irt shipping.

All this is to say, if Sora or Riku hijacked the writing, it would’ve been early on before CoM (whether to imply they have feelings for each other or not) and/or sometime after CoM (whether to portray these feelings more explicitly and do something w them or not).

And in the last decade, Nomura’s been able to do that a little more in each game. We most obviously see this through Riku getting closer and closer to articulating what he feels for Sora. But, like I said, KH3 shows Sora starting to figure some things out, too. Even if Sora/Riku wasn’t planned at all, I really do think it’s leading somewhere now.

[a-crack-in-the-universe]

KHUX Finale Part 2 Theories and Predictions

*Spoilers below*

About Ephemer

I get the impression from the last words between Brain and Ephemer that this will be the last time they see each other. There’s something about their farewell that is very final.

I don’t think Ephemer will give back both the Book of Prophecies and Master’s Defender. I have no clue about the keyblade, but I think Ephemer will keep the Book of Prophecies with him post-khux. We know Ephemer helps Sora during KH3, and it’s possible he used the Book of Prophecies to do that. Also Brain tells Ephemer ‘if you’re ever lost, don’t hesitate to have a look’ and ‘it’ll help you when you need it most’. These feel like advice for the long-term, and not just for whatever’s about to happen. Also, it seems kind of pointless to make a big deal out of Ephemer getting the BoP and Master’s Defender and then have him give them both back almost straight away.

For now Master’s Defender is staying with Ephemer in the data world. But Master’s Defender needs to be in the real world so that it can be passed down to Eraqus. So, either Ephemer actually manages to escape the data world, or he stays behind and Master’s Defender somehow gets brought back to the real world. I’m not sure which possibility is more likely. I think Ephemer returning to the real world is very slim possibility, but it feels weird that he would get handed a keyblade that was meant to be his only to give it back a short time later. 

It’s also possible that Ephemer will die. However, Brain’s final words to him make me think Ephemer will survive though separated from the other leaders.  

About Skuld

I honestly did not expect Skuld to stay behind, but I am delighted the writers chose to go in this direction because it 100% fits with what we know about her character. It’s also really fitting and heartwarming that Skuld, Ephemer and Player will face the end of the data world together.  

I don’t have much to say about Skuld, since we already know her eventual fate and it’s obvious that she will leave the data world at some point either via the lifeboat or some other method of travel. She has to make it out in order to become Subject X.

Her leaving the data world will probably be against her will. She will want to stay with Ephemer and Player, but something will force her to go without them. I’m not sure what. If other people are right about Ephemer deciding to give Master’s Defender back to Brain, then maybe Skuld will use the remaining pod to deliver it to him. Or it could be something else entirely.

The KH3 secret reports state that Skuld departed her homeworld with others. Which suggests that she was able to escape to the real Daybreak Town where she and four others used the pods there to flee to a new worldline.          

Another thing is what Skuld remembers post-khux. When I read the KH3 secret report written by Subject X, I got the impression that the ‘four friends and a key’ memory happened right before she and four others left for the new worldline, since it’s the last and only thing she remembers. I do like the idea of the scene in the latest khux update being the ‘four friends and a key’ memory, but I’m not sure it fits well enough. I think there could be another moment that fits better during the next update.      

About Player

Player will either go to sleep in the data world or escape to Game Central Station. I can’t see them returning to the real world.

Player might sacrifice themselves by holding off Darkness to let Skuld and everyone else escape the data world.  

About Brain, Lauriam, Ventus, Elrena and Luxu

Brain, Lauriam, Ventus and Elrena will probably arrive in the real Daybreak Town safely, likely in the aftermath of Luxu’s fight with Darkness. Should be interesting.

People have been speculating that Luxu and Darkness’ fight might destroy a pod in the real world. I don’t think this is very likely, because one of the KH3 secret reports states that Luxu observed the Five departing to a new worldline, most likely in the pods.  

Luxu will bequeath No Name to Brain. It makes sense seeing how Brain doesn’t have a keyblade now.

Brain promised Ephemer, Skuld and Player that he will come back for them. I get this really bad feeling that it will go awry somehow, and something will prevent him from rescuing all of them.

We know Lauriam, Elrena and Ventus will each use one of the lifeboats in the real Daybreak Town. I’m going to guess that Luxu will tell the gang that Strelitzia was sent to the future using one of the lifeboats. This could motivate Lauriam and Elrena into using a lifeboat to find her.

Seriously, Brain’s final words to Ephemer are really final. Like he knows that he’s probably not going to see Ephemer again. It’s also really interesting that he gives Ephemer the Book and Master’s Defender now, since it suggests that Brain thinks he might not get another chance. I think that Brain knows that this might be the last time he sees Ephemer and that’s why he acts the way he does during that moment.      

Other

I believe that the Book of Prophecies and Master’s Defender will end up being important during the next update. How, I don’t know. Maybe they’ll play a role in Skuld, Ephemer and the Player defeating the four Darknesses that remain in the data world, or they could help the Dandelions escape the data world.

‘It’ll help you when you need it most’: It’s possible the Book of Prophecies will help Ephemer and the Dandelions in their hour of need to escape the data town before it is consumed by Darkness. 

I think there’s a strong possibility that Ephemer or the Player could sacrifice themselves to save everyone else. Think about it:

One of the KH3 secret reports states that the Five were able to escape to a new worldline but with great cost, which suggests there was some sort of sacrifice. We also know that there are four Darknesses left in the data world which Skuld, Ephemer and Player may have to confront.   

In Wreck-It-Ralph, Sugar Rush was ending because it was being eaten up by the Cybugs. All its inhabitants except Vanellope were able to escape, because Vanellope was a glitch and technically not part of the game, so she couldn’t leave it. Ralph managed to find a way to save Sugar Rush, but he had to make a heroic sacrifice in the process (he would’ve died if Vanellope hadn’t teleported to his rescue). Like Sugar Rush, Data Daybreak Town is being destroyed by Darkness. It’s possible that Ephemer will find a way to escape the data town and/or defeat Darkness, but it will involve either Ephemer or Player sacrificing themselves.

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

finally got to watch Melody of Memory’s cutscenes and man, do I have thoughts

so I definitely went into this knowing that we wouldn’t be getting too much new content but wow, this might be a new record for the least new content in a game so far

that being said, this game is also definitely meant to set up the bigger storyline, acting as a transition kind of like 0.2 did, so it’s understandable that there’s less and it’s a bit slower in pace

I loved how Kairi stood up to Xehanort and was even able to go toe to toe with him for the most part. It shows that her character arc is starting to go in an interesting direction despite this Xehanort only being a figment of her memory but geez louise it’s still going at a snail’s pace when it’s already been established in kh3 that she trained a lot.

oh yeah, that line about her having to train more really rubbed me the wrong way, as I’m sure it did for many of you as well. Considering that she’s put next to Sora and Riku, characters who could hold their own in dangerous situations long before they had any sort of formal ‘training’, that line really just came off sounding like a double standard, making Kairi have to work for what the boys already had innately or got to achieve thanks to firsthand experiences on their journeys. How much more training does Kairi have to go through before she can actually have her own journey and be seen as a valuable force?

first Sora’s form takes over for the Xehanort fight when it could’ve been executed in so many other better ways, then Riku’s the one who gets to go to Quadratum without her....agghhhh why do the writers shaft her each and every time...she’s almost 20 years overdue for her time to shine

Riku and Kairi interacting with each other, we love to see it. But it felt so disheartening to see Riku turn her down before heading off to Quadratum alone. It’s almost an exact parallel to Sora’s infamous “you’d kind of be in my way” line from kh1 except this time Kairi’s the one who says that she’s not strong enough....ghhhggghhg Nomura

but I digress

not gonna lie, when “fictional worlds” were mentioned, the first thing I thought of was the 100 acre wood and that Sora ended up in there again somehow

also wasn’t it established that everyone has gummi phones now??? Why can’t we use those to tell everybody else what’s going on instead of venturing out to find them in person?

idk man there were a lot of strange storytelling/exposition devices used here and idk how to feel about them. Like Fairy Godmother is a nice character to have around, but she feels so disjointed from the plot, just slapped in there with so much knowledge this time around compared to what she stuck to in ReMind, which was dreams, her forte

I don’t know why exactly Kairi wants to train with Aqua (maybe she feels at ease with her given the connection she has to her, or she thinks Aqua’s RoD experience can help toughen her up), but I’m here for it. Now let me see the two of them team up in a game!!

okay believe me when I say I’m trying so hard to be invested in the Verum Rex/Quadratum plotline and maybe I will be someday, but as it stands now, I’m far more interested in how khux’s story will progress and what the foretellers will be up to

Also curious what the sea salt and wayfinder trios will do now that they’re not going to be helping find Sora using their original methods anymore. Maybe they’ll try something different, or join in on Mickey’s ancient keyblade masters quest? I wouldn’t mind a game about the seven of them working stuff out

For my final thought...since unreality/fictional worlds are for the most part inaccessible...maybe the MoM’s black box acts as a way to get into those worlds. Heck, maybe he or other chi characters are from that kind of unreality too, since they’re from an age called the Age of Fairy Tales aka fiction?

[nadziejastar]

do you think larxene and marluxia in some way mirror young axel and saïx? i always thought they were both very similar. (i’m not entirely read up on kh lore, so this might be a reach lol)

—When Larxene said, "I was really just along for the ride," she must have meant with…

Nomura: Marluxia. It's not certain whether Larxene has her old memories, but she was interested in Marluxia to a degree for some reason, and became his partner in his plan to overthrow the old Organization XIII.

Yeah, there are similarities. Marluxia and Larxene were both partners in crime who were plotting against the organization and knew each other as humans, just like Axel and Saix. 

Ugh. Not having a heart is way more fun. You can just go about your day without developing special feelings for randos. Loving things only ends up hurting.

I also think Nomura wanted to send subtle hints that Larxene has romantic feelings for Marluxia.

Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It's a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don't feel like it anymore. It's strange, but I'm content with just missing what's gone. I'm not the one who changed. You did.

I will say, it does seem like Nomura is using the original concept of Isa/Saix and giving it to Marluxia now. It seems like Marluxia is going to get a free pass for being a villain by using the possession angle, which I find a little strange.

Axel stared at the stubborn set of his shoulders. Both of them had changed. 

“Wonder which one of us is more different now,” Axel said under his breath. 

Just for an instant, he saw a twitch in Saïx’s shoulders. But he wasn’t about to hold his breath for more. Axel showed himself out.

Marluxia was never implied to be Norted or possessed in CoM. He acted pretty normal. He has a sad backstory already, losing his sister. So, he could have been redeemed naturally. I don’t see why they had to resort to him having his heart replaced the whole time. I doesn’t fit him. With Saix, that makes total sense, especially since Saix was a lot colder and always had the pointy ears and yellow eyes.

“We don’t need them both. Just one. And pretending won’t change it. Think about that.” 

The set of his shoulders told him plainly what the answer would be. 

Axel realized how great the rift was between how he remembered their past and what he saw now. Why am I even here? I don’t know anymore. What am I trying to do?

Saix was always the one who seemed like he had his heart replaced and changed beyond recognition. Honestly, the first time I played KH3, I thought that the Nameless Star might be referring to Isa. But it’s obviously meant to be Marluxia’s sister. But if Marluxia was supposedly changed beyond recognition the whole time he was a Nobody, Larxene never acted bothered by it, the way Axel did with Saix. It seems weird. Marluxia and Larxene were chummy. Saix always acted cold and distant with everyone, even Axel. 

I am on the cusp of reclaiming my identity… My purpose for being…

Before, I had lost everything—even my name—to oblivion. I was filled with unease. I was exactly like Roxas when he first joined the Organization. I did, however, have power.

Ironically, I was put in charge of the castle that ruled memory. I knew it was possible for memories to be lost upon losing flesh and becoming a Nobody. It is why I was eager to lend my hand to the research on memories. I also hoped it could lead to the return of the ones I've lost. Memories rule the heart, the heart is built from memories. A heart with no memories is nothing more than an empty husk. By rearranging chains of memories, you can control people in any way you wish.

I suppose that appointing my amnesiac self as the leader of Castle Oblivion was part of someone's plan. But whose? Well, not that it helps me to know now.

Marluxia’s Character File honestly sounds like it was meant to be Isa’s original backstory. Saix was also the one who lost his purpose and forgot how to feel. 

I could not even recall my name. I was simply called "X" there.

Isa, if he had been Subject X, would have lost his memories and name to oblivion. He would have been like Roxas in the beginning if he’d been the subject of mind control experiments. 

Alone, Marluxia walked in the world that never was. The inside of this castle is so boring. I thought I could escape this boredom if I came to the organisation. But, the truth is, it’s the same everywhere. Maybe my memories of the time I was human are making me think so, but I still haven’t been a nobody, without a heart, for long, and I don’t really understand what it means.

“Hey, Marluxia.”

At the call from behind, Marluxia stopped walking. A woman’s voice—in this castle, there was only one woman. Marluxia turned around.

“What do you want, Larxene,” he directed at the golden-haired, tough-minded looking woman.

I never EVER got the sense that Marluxia was an amnesiac during CoM. He didn’t act like it. And in the novels, he still had his human memories.

“Treasonous?” Axel repeated, cockily feigning innocence. “Whatever do you mean?” 

“Why would you let Naminé go?! If it weren’t for you and your needless meddling, the Keyblade master would already be ours to command!” Marluxia trembled with rage. But what was rage to the nonexistent heart of a Nobody? Once, they had known anger and laughter and tears. Furious shaking was no more than an instinctive response ingrained in the patterns of memory.

He also remembered having emotions and was able to feel rage. I think Marluxia was another character who inherited a lot of Isa’s backstory once BBSV2 was cancelled.

[khdiscussions]

Huge Breakdown: Sleeping Realms Theory

 Tl:dr, I still don’t like the theory, and my rebuttal had almost zero points proven otherwise and you can read the whole thing below of my liveblogging.

The fact that they call Riku’s act an “Act of true love” first of all makes me believe this is meant to sell canon SoRiku and I’m already unimpressed. It shows biased phrasing and takes away from any credibility this theory could ever have with anybody who isn’t a SoRiku shipper because it is ultimately pushing that Sora and Riku are going to be romantically involved and as somebody who really needs to edit her ship list and remove SoRiku...no.

...Okay so the Ultimania already proved this wrong I don’t even have to go through the rest.

Before I go into it, I can see how from just reading their summary, you can fall into the trap, however, the Realm of Sleep and Dreaming Worlds are ultimately the same thing. You cannot enter the Realm of Sleep without Dreaming Worlds unless you are coming to the brink between it and death. As such, it would still require every world Sora visits to be a Dreaming World, and thus have fallen into darkness. Since we know this isn’t the case, my “Alpha Timeline” and “Beta Timeline” labels are fully and 100% accurate. Even the way they describe it “World Line” implies and Alpha and Beta Timeline. If we ignore that KHUx is confirmed to be taking place in data still, the world lines cannot be in the same timeline, as they’d be two separate universes. Meaning the events of Alpha Timeline and Beta Timeline are two separate entities and cannot be condensed into the same Realm.

Meaning even if this is Beta Timeline, Alpha Timeline and anything that happened in it are factually irrelevant, because when Sora and co. slip into the alternate Worldline, because essentially the events of it don’t come to pass or matter. If this was real parallel worlds split, then even if Sora is now inhabiting the mind of his Beta Timeline counterpart (which for the record, he should have his memories if he’s the one who brought them all back) there still needs to be a Beta Riku, a Beta Kairi, etc, otherwise there wouldn’t be Xehanort attacking and even then.

If this is a separate worldline then that still wouldn’t be counted as the same timeline, however. Which the Ultimania directly argues against in its pages when things occur in a single timeline, but I digress.

Other things I find directly wrong as conflicting with power is Sora directly states in KH3 that it was Kairi’s faith in him and her light (her powers alone) that helped him hold his form. Not the PoH’s.

“Riku’s strength comes from his love for Sora”

Actually, in that scene they’re talking about how Riku wants to rescue Aqua, and that’s his desire to “protect what matters.” This is a line that has been paralleled in several games from Riku (most notably in which is Kingdom Hearts 3D) and given the line makes him flashback to Terra, it’s likely that his strength is actually being explained as coming from protecting the people he cared about. Aqua, who gave him the chance to escape the RoD (who he’s trying to protect), Terra, who gave him the Keyblade in the first place, and Sora and Kairi, his two best friends.

When facing the same way, there are also several difference in KH3D’s and KH3′s hair that stand out. They aren’t the same and they point that out in the theory. In this case I don’t think it’s similar enough to be of note.

Second, this does not explain how and why Riku dropped and since he is still dropping a) In the Realm of Darkness into a different realm and different World Line and b) Into a completely separate World Line when he should still be alive in the first. At this point, Riku is alive in the Alpha Timeline and would have no idea of his impending death. A drop should not be necessary. So my Riku point questioning why is still valid.

Xigbar cutting out is also a direct easter egg to us, the viewers to keep us from understanding what’s happening, and not what actually occurs in the game. 

...I want to quit at the logo having bad graphics gradient being used as evidence but I’ll keep going but this kind of shady business practice would likely cause such an amount in distrust that sales after KH3 would plummet and anybody who buys what is the biggest release of the series to be told it’s only that in technicality has no standards. I’m sorry. If this is actually technically KHII.9 my trust in Square and Disney (especially Disney is important, because you should know I am Disney stan 69 and see them as good) is gone. Just poof, gone. No more. And I wouldn’t want to invest in the next big entry because what if it’s just another lie.

(Nitpick: Nomura said an early world in KH3 would be Twilight Town, not that it would be the very first world. Even then, had 0.2 been packaged with KH3 like initially planned, it’s highly likely it and Olympus would’ve been 2.9 anyways.)

(More nitpicks, the TWEWY explanation does not account for the fact that Joshua actually has power to bring people back to life so long as a shred of their soul exists. It sounds like Shibuya got destroyed and Josh saved what little was left of his friends to take to somewhere they could be safe, not necessarily that the Sleeping Realm in specific called out to him. This is again Nitpicking.)

Ansem Reports foreshadow an old plot twist that’s not even valid. Aqua’s magic is now the source that rescued Kairi, not Xehanort’s experiments sending her away. Kairi being flung out the door is also representative of the events of the Island falling and them losing their safety and shelter. It’s not Kairi herself, but Ansem’s arrival on the islands that Xehanort is talking about.

Everything about this seems like it’s trying to invalidate SoKai with the Paopu fruit scene. She eats the fruit. Maybe if you hadn’t opened with “Riku loves Sora and this is Riku’s act of true love” I’d buy that this is real but as it stands the authors come off as salty that SoKai got a Paopu sharing scene.

Kairi’s death is the release of her heart as Nomura called it directly in the Ultimania. I know this was written before the Ultimania’s release but moving on it’s not a death sequence. Even then her death resembles Xion’s so it’d be more inline with the Replica theory floating around, so not a Dream Eater.

“Kairi is the Darkside in the Dive” No.

Even if Kairi did die, her heart has no darkness, all that would happen is she’d fade into darkness. She cannot physically form any dark entity, let alone one that has always been connected to the darkness in Sora’s heart. And yes I read how they point out that it’s made of water but that’s because it’s literally made from the Final World itself. As for where Kairi’s heart is, canon answers this. It’s waiting for Sora, because the Heartless cannot kill or steal her heart through the Lich. Remember back to KH1? Kairi had lost her heart, but rather than form a Heartless, all we got is a body. 

More Ultimania tidbits disproving this, but the Dive to the Heart is meant to take place after the entirety of KH3. This means it’s after Sora leaves to rescue Kairi and has beaten Xehanort.

Kairi being a Chirithy theory my points are still valid on because it doesn’t work. Kairi cannot be a Chirithy because we see her after the drop point in her KH2 outfit. Therefore meaning the cat ears have nothing to do with her after the drop point.

Point on the Dream Portals is accurate and inaccurate. It says they’re ways to travel to other worlds, but everytime they’re used it’s in exactly that way in game. The two pink locations bring Sora closer to the Realm of Light after the Final World, and the second portal takes him into Scala ad Caelum, another world. It ain’t that deep.

More points, Dream Eaters don’t just exist in the Realm of Sleep. Summoning Meow Wow and friends does not matter if they can exist outside of the Realm of Sleep. Scala ad Caelum is implied to be a special world to begin with and I’ll be honest, the Caribbean is probably for ease of gameplay. If anything, I would be more curious in how water in the Realm of Sleep (and memories re:CoM) allows people to walk.

“Gayblade” Your SoRiku bias is showing. (Also Nomura violated a lot of things for rule of cool. You think a gameplay mechanic showing up means something?)

Comparing what happened to Sora and Aqua is very different. Aqua had darkness shoved into her (Nort lite) while Sora actively fell into the deep darkness he was surrounded by. Aqua could’ve emerged from the water, but did not. Sora chased darkness, and fell right in. As for how they saved Aqua in the Alpha Timeline, this wouldn’t have changed? It was Sora using his light to reach Aqua as she fell in the darkness similar to Mickey doing so for her in 0.2, now that she was free of the extra darkness Ansem shoved in her for some fun. It had nothing to do with darkness or sleep.

So we’re talking Toy Story here and his “Not this time” doesn’t add up because if Alpha Timeline is dead and Beta Timeline are a second chance then Xehanort should not have any recollection of the initial timeline/worldline because you still don’t explain why he bothered with following Sora down instead of leaving him to just stay trapped in the Realm of Darkness. There’s no strategic reason to it and Xehanort is a chess master.

“Hey let’s explain shit” Okay first of all the Goofy reference was a way to include the new arc words but without that, the others are all ways to catch up new players so they’d have an idea of what’s going on. There is no in universe reason for it. All of this was excuses for filling in new players. (As for the Unversed: Just because we only see Donald and Goofy at Yen Sid’s Tower does not mean we see what happened to them before they arrived there, jsing. Mickey may have also shown them things. Just because we don’t see it doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.) Most of the other memory shenanigans are either just springboards for banter or, in Riku’s case, save your energy for the battle against Xehanort ahead.

The Station of Awakening line is pointless since Sora has visited his dive multiple times in the series. As Roxas and as himself in KH2 and KH1 respectively and a final time in 3D when his heart was taken in by Ven’s armor. The Station of Awakening after all, is essentially the stained glass hearts.

Heffalumps stopped only appearing in dreams when they showed up in Winnie the Pooh. Also the promotional material quotes Nomura admitted using because they sounded cool.

Yellow Kingdom Hearts is on KH1′s cover as well. It’s had more appearances. Stands to reason it’s the more official color. Could also be be based on who, what, and how it’s summoned. 

Keyholes: Both Scala Ad Caelum (born from Xehanort’s heart and Kingdom Hearts) and the final Keyhole are forged to deal with sleeping. It makes sense they’d be the same.

YMX’s warnings are referencing exactly what KH3D Sora did. No more complicated theory necessary.

Skipping the Disney world synopsis because I know these worlds far too well at this point for my own Disney sanity.

Pulling symbolism from KH1 when KH2 wasn’t even planned by this point is wrong and also Riku being true love and light reeks very much of that SoRiku bias I mentioned. Okay skipping all this it’s literally just SoRiku and I’m not here for that. I’m here for the theory, not “Why Riku is Sora’s true love.”

“Riku and Kairi both helped Sora hang around” Except Riku dies at this point in the timeline. You can’t make an argument he’s alive because his heart is guided over by the Lich. What’s helping Sora hold on has nothing to do with what it is, otherwise he would just be another shapeless star, like Namine, the Nameless Stars, or the rest. It’s Kairi’s life that gives him the form to come back to life. Saving his heart has nothing to do with it and it just reeks of that same ship bias that was why I skipped the whole section on sacrifice. These 70 pages are irrelevant because all they do is take importance away from Kairi completely in the story, meaning she’s fundamentally useless besides a dark force. Which means Kairi literally doesn’t matter and can be written out of the story.

Kairi’s heart being lost is a full stop. Her heart was released at the end of the game. Saying it’s lost in the Lich sequence makes no sense, especially when she’s the one who guides him back in what is, as noted by PhoenixDowner’s translations, one of the more romantically weighted scenes of the game.

Summary of the more recent pages “SoKai is noncanon and you’re just being mislead it’s actually SoRiku that’s canon” and I’m starting to see where that anon came from...you could’ve saved this theory a hundred pages if you ignored the shipper stuff.

Everything in this ending is literally saying “Kairi doesn’t matter” and “Sora doesn’t care about bringing Kairi back” what the actual fuck?

Okay so I see a lot of talk about Sora and Riku being in the Sleeping Realms (which for the record that secret ending does not tease that but okay) but it still doesn’t explain how the events actually happened. The events of the Sleeping Realms are not the true reality. They’re Beta Timeline but if they never leave the Beta Timeline then the Alpha Timeline is still lost and legitimately none of this matters because at some point they have to leave the Sleeping Worlds, because at the end of the day the Realm of Sleep is still a dream. It still doesn’t happen?

Rage Form is Sora harnessing his darkness.

Rikunort is KH1′s Riku’s heart after he fell to darkness traveling to the awaiting vessel in the future. He’s not Data Riku, and the scene cited from Re:coded is actually a Riku memory held within the Journal’s data, not something happening to Data Riku at all.

In conclusion: I don’t think it’s all a garbage SoRiku fanfiction.

But I think way too much effort went into proving SoRiku was canon.

And also most of the holes I poked in the theory are still pretty valid. 

And now I also know it’s contradicted by several Ultimania interviews whether the original writers acknowledge it or not.

But whatever, it’s not my cup of tea, you guys can still like it.

[hakurion]

The Master of Masters identity I The secret of the black box

Here is my take on this.

This is a very long post and maybe somewhat confused to you, so I divided it into many parts, I’m totally aware of this having flaws somewhere. I’d be glad if somebody helps me research more. I’ll update if there’s more detail come in time.

Behind the Foretellers masks

Luxu’s true identity

Dive to the Heart

The secret movie, Shibuya

Who is the Master of Masters?

This is based on evidences the game provides for us, so I don’t think any of this is meant to be a coincidence.

The MoMs characteristic is particularly playful and the way he speaks very much more like a mature version of Sora. And there’s more than that.

When it is revealed that Sora has more hearts beside his own, Donald teased Sora that he has so much hearts that he can’t bear to count. Who has the same characteristic? The MoM.

The MoM, seemingly, joked that Luxu was thinking he has many hearts that himself can’t even count. Hinting that the MoM and Sora all have the power of hearts connection.

The MoM has 6 disciples connected to his heart, each of them represents for 7 deadly sins :

Ira : Unicorn - Anger (Wrath)

Invi : Snake - Jealousy (Invidia)

Aced : Bear - Sloth (Acedia)

Ava : Fox - Greed (Avaritia)

Gula : Leopard - Gluttony (Gula)

Luxu : Goat - Lust (Luxuria)

Super : Lion - Pride (Superbia). This is the MoM’s name which is engraved on the black box.

--------------------

All the 6 disciples were given their Keyblades by the Master who united them. We could say they, as the Masters hearts, receive his power. The Foretellers situation is extremely similar to the ones who connected with Sora’s heart, however, unline the Foretellers with virtues, the ones connected with Sora’s heart leaning toward the meaning of 7 deadly sins :

Roxas (Anger) : Roxas is easy to get angry, he is a very hot-tempered character. Very quick trying to attack Riku & DiZ who persuaded him return to Sora. Showing data-Sora the real hurt. And he got the Keyblade as Sora’s Nobody.

Namine (Jealousy) : She is, indeed, jealous of Kairi, she can’t stay being alone for so long, that she replaced herself with Kairi inside Sora’s memories in COM. Even she didn’t admit it but that is what her true feeling to Sora. As a Nobody of Kairi’s heart and Sora’s body and soul, Kairi can use the Keyblade after Namine returned to her heart. It is self-understanding that Sora gave Kairi the Keyblade’s power through Namine because she’s connected to his heart.

Ventus (Sloth) : Sleep within 11 years. Ven wasn’t able to use the Keyblade during his training with Xehanort until he merged his heart with Sora’s brand new heart. Xehanort might have known Sora is the Master of Masters heart, which is why he brought Ven to the Destiny Island, so that the MoM could reach to his broken heart and made it whole again. I mean, how does Sora speak to Ven when he was such a baby? It does not sound like a newborn baby at all. The MoM became Sora’s heart when he talked to Ven, Sora is the MoM’s alter-ego. After they joined hearts each other, Ven is able to use his Keyblade, due the MoM bestowed his power as a part of Ven’s heart.

Plus :

We know that Ven used to live in the Age of Fairy Tales (KHX) and was chosen to be a leader in one of Five Dandelions. I’m sure Ven is the chosen one inheriting the Book of Prophecy in mention. What kind of book can shape worlds? I would say it is like the MoM’s heart, well, it is said you can shape worlds through your heart and dream. Same case with Sora’s Journal, which contains everything inside his heart.

Take this into account, the MoM meant Ven would be the one inheriting his heart (aka Sora). There’s one scene Vanitas says to Sora (KH3): “I am the shadow that you cast”, but Vanitas is supposed to be Ven’s darkness before he merged his heart with Sora’s newborn heart. How could he be Sora’s shadow? So due to the fact that Ven inherited the Book of Prophecy, he inheriting the MoM’s heart similar to a spiritual ceremony passing the ability to wield the keyblade. That made Ven’s heart and the MoM’s united as one, it’s why Vanitas was born as Sora and Ven’s shadow at the same time. So Vanitas is also like the MoM’s shadow.

It is dangerous to let anyone else sees the book beside Ven. What if Xehanort discovered this secret? It is strange that Xehanort aimed at Ven from beginning and he made Ven’s heart broken. As the one inherited the Book of Prophecy, the MoM can seek for Ven’s broken heart and combine with him. So there is possiblity the MoM’s heart is what forged the X-blade. Ven + Vanitas = X-blade.

Master Xehanort, the man who gets bored with such a small world. By using Ven, the boy inherited Sora’s heart (the soul of the Book of Prophecy) finally can open the door. As you can see, Ven pointed his Keyblade forward the sky, this action is shaping a totally grand new world thank to Ven’s heart carries the heart of the Book of Prophecy, exactly as Master Xehanort wishes, he wants to get out of a small and empty world, his smile shows you that. Oh, very likely Xehanort is the one causing Sora’s birth in the Destiny Island.

KHI - Coded - DDD

We have the same familiar line “This world has been connected.” All started at the Destiny Island.

KHI : The Real World

Coded : Datascape

DDD : Sleeping Worlds

Isn’t it obvious that Sora is the one who connects every world he goes to, see? Because he is the heart of the Book of Propecies, and the one who writes the books is the MoM. It is outright to you that their hearts are one and the same.

In KHUX, we heard Blaine explaining : Before the Keyblade War, Book of Prophecies pulled the projected worlds from the future, the worlds which are real. Worlds that never real in the first place weren’t being pulled, they stay in the books and still existed, joined to Daybreak Town, only time set in the past, ie you can’t change the events, that is datascape. And after the Keyblade War, these worlds that were once joined together were scattered apart, so in order for “worlds from the future” to be projected into Daybreak Town without the Book of Prophecies, several worlds were converted to data. From real worlds to data worlds. Daybreak Town should be the real world, but a data world phenomenon is happening there. ‘The Grid’ in DDD is an example of a data world within a real world.

Link KHUX World Explanation : https://twitter.com/Daybreak_Town/status/1117926949337174016

So in summary, it’s likely Sora and the others come from the worlds are also data and their datascape is supposed to be ‘datas within a data’!? But this is just still unclear, at least until the Dandelions done with their investigation.

Lea (Greed) : Desire to get his friends back, no matter how it cost, to the point he betrayed the Organization countless times. Lea did pick up Ven’s wooden keyblade in BBS, this act similar to the ceremony to pass the ability to wield the Keyblade. Sora’s heart gave Ven one, then Ven gave to Lea. Lea received the Keyblade when he decided to become a guardian of light.

Xion (Gluttony) : she absorbed almost of Sora’s memories through Roxas and started to become Sora herself. Can use the Keyblade due to her direct connection with Sora’s heart. I always find it strange that Xion was picked to replace Sora as the real Organization, whether she bears Xehanort’s essence or not, there is one holding the Kingdom Key in Scala ad Caelum. So if Xehanort inherited the MoM’s No Name, which means he united with the MoM’s heart and power through the spiritual ceremony. That makes Xion suitable enough, because she was created from Sora’s heart and Sora’s heart is the MoM’s heart.

Vanitas / Xehanort (Lust) : I include both because these two similar in this part. Vanitas always desire to be united with Ven’s heart, to become one soul with him. Vanitas got the Keyblade because he is originally Ven’s heart. After Ven united his heart with Sora, Sora influences on Vanitas too, thus Sora’s heart is the one who gave Vanitas the Keyblade. Xehanort seeks for bodies/vessels to implant his essence, lust for power.

Sora (Pride) : In a positive connotation, Sora’s pride expresses his connection toward hearts. Their choices and actions independent his self-reflection, and a fulfilled feeling of belonging. Sora’s original design is a hybrid-lion, an embodiment of Pride, like the MoM.

--------------------

The MoM bestowed the Keyblades to his 6 disciples, in case those 6 disciples are connected to his heart, or the Five Foretellers are the MoM himself. It is exactly the same with Sora, who bestowed the keyblades power to 6 people who connected to him, 5 among them are Sora himself.

Furthermore, Sora was able to use a Keyblade from the start without being bequeathed by anyone through a spiritual ceremony because he’s naturally the Master of Masters who owned No Name as the most ancient keyblade.

Sora is an unique person who can return to his human form after he became a Heartless and needlessly destroying his Nobody. So if the MoM could give himself a new life form (newborn Sora), why couldn’t Sora? In the MoM’s case, he shaped his life form thank to Ven’s light, as the result they joined hearts each other. As for Sora, he regained his form thank to Kairi’s light. Basically, their hearts can shape everything into their own forms, even a lifeless object or an empty puppet and give them hearts.

The MoM can create Dream Eaters (Chirithy). Sora has a strong relationship with Dream Eaters, he can enter the Realm of Sleep whenever he wishes. So who says the MoM can’t enter the Realm of Sleep and recontruct the worlds called “Unchained Realm”, gathering every remnants of light in order of conserving the balance and erasing the memories of Tragedy? If Sora could time-travel back to the Age of Fairy Tales (KHX) to reset everything and make the world better like he wants.

I’ll give a way how Sora could travel back to the past even if no version of him exist there :

“Worlds from the future” are the worlds that Sora and his friends come from. He can easily go back to the Age of Fairy Tales if his world is converted to data, but that world must be connected to Daybreak Town. As you already knew in Coded, real people also would be able to go inside datascape without having themselves converted to data, like Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Pete and Maleficent. If Sora’s datascape is projected as an entrance/portal in Daybreak Town, then it wouldn’t be hard for him going back to such an ancient time. Remember the Destiny Island was hinted to be connected to Daybreak Town (where connects to other worlds according to the Book of Prophecies) in everytime Sora presenting here. And Maleficent hinted us there’s a link between the Book of Prophecies and Sora’s Journal as well.

Anyway, the MoM seems very sinister and sharp, those are the opposites with Sora, but we all know Sora’s growth throughout KH3, his connection with his friends get weaker (100 Acre Wood). After his experiences in the Keyblade War, would his heart and mind still the same like before? He felt loss and he felt that strong connection would lead to some broken hearts, that’s why the Master gives each of his apprentices differrent roles, differrent unions and does not allow them cooperate each other, even making them doubt each other through claiming there’s a traitor. That is the proof showing his mind became twisted, his intention gets darker, it is the mark calls out his growth. So the MoM fits to Sora’s future self.

The Keyblade “No Name” has a lion head, goat horns and dragon wings, the “Gazing Eye” looks like a snake eye. It is a Chimera that has a body of a lion, a goat emerges from its back and a snake as its tail, which also at one point was a symbol of Lucifer the being who represents the sin of Pride. The dragon wings is symbolic of power and influence, and dragon is arguably the most ancient and imposing. Chimera is an organism that contains cells or tissues from two or more different species. The animal being a Chimera also fits with Sora having many hearts joined to his as he isn’t just a single person any more. 

The sight of a Chimera was an omen for disaster. As in KH universe, it may describes a strong connection will bring disaster, as Luxu warned Sora “if you put too much that power in one place, some of those hearts might ended up breaking.” This happened during his first visit of Keyblade Graveyard (KH3), however, the MoM carefully orchestrated everything by using his connections towards the Foretellers to gain his goal, a mastermind plan.

Its keychain is symbolic of a six-winged angel. A six winged angel is a seraph or seraphim. They are heavenly attendants to God on his throne. It also represents for Lucifer as the "Morning Star" and the strongest seraph, the highest ranked angel serving God prior his fall from grace.

Lucifer’s human element is wisdom or applied knowledge, with time, study and practice it is believe that man can attain the Lucifer state, this only through applied knowledge or wisdom. By all the mean, through the learning of wisdom, ‘an ordinary boy’ like Sora can also attain Lucifer state, transforming into the being called ‘the Master of Masters’.

The ‘Gazing Eye’ is a symbolism regard of ‘All-Seeing Eye’ :

The Eye of Providence (or the all-seeing eye of God) is a symbol, having its origin in Christian iconography, showing an eye often surrounded by rays of light or a glory and usually enclosed by a triangle. It represents the eye of God watching over humanity (the concept of divine providence).

One of the key symbols of the New World Order (NWO) is the eye. Jesus said in Matthew 6:22, “The light of the body is the eye...” It is through the eye that light, or in a spiritual sense, KNOWLEDGE, enters the body. This is the spiritual sense of the word. There are 33 different degrees in the Masonic order. Each new level entitles the participant to acquire additional occult KNOWLEDGE. Occultists view Lucifer as the good god who gives knowledge.

The All-Seeing Eye symbolizes Lucifer, but it represents the spiritual knowledge of good and evil which the serpent promised to Eve if she disobeyed God. This knowledge includes the knowledge that Satan is the god of this world, who rewards them that serve and worship him (Matthew 4:8-10). The average person is woefully ignorant of spiritual matters, because they do not know Jesus Christ as their personal Savior (1st Corinthians 2:14-16). This is why tens-of-thousands of celebrities, corporate big shots, religious leaders and famous people flash El Diablo signs, darkening one of their eyes (see below) and displaying occult pyramids and eyes on their works. Sadly, most Christians are also ignorant, because they are not interested in the truth.

The eye is symbolic of secret societies; but moreover, the eye represents the forming New World Order and the rulers of the darkness of this world (Ephesians 6:12), and ultimately Satan himself.

Carefully notice that the New World Order is symbolized with ONE eye; but God gave us TWO eyes to see the truth for ourselves if we truly want to see it. Think about that.

He, being the Master of Masters has an eye capable to see the future, the ‘Gazing Eye’ has the same meaning with the ‘Eye of Providence’, which is believed to be the eye of Lucifer. The ‘Gazing Eye’ surrounded by keys and enclosed by the Keyblade ‘No Name’. So he is like a God watching over all the future of humanity, desire to see how they would guide the keys more than the fate of the world. In other words, the MoM’s true purpose is establish a ‘New World Order’ after the Keyblade War.

Doves flying in the Station of Awakening has a meaning :

The dove was associated with one of the mother figures, Venus. Lucifer’s planetary element is Venus, Lucifer being known as the “Morning Star” or first star of morning, otherwise known as Venus. Venus, known as the “Planet of Love” represents the beauty of Lux Ferre (Latin for light bearer/bringer or Lucifer).

The dove is Lucifer’s animal symbol when he was an angel, whose real name is Helel (Shining Star or Morning Star). He was created to be the highest spiritual power of heaven.

The dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, because of Matt. 3:16 "And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. " NRSV.

Btw, the “End of Pain” Keyblade (DDD) obtained after you completing all Special Portals has a similar design to “No Name” and it looks similar to Sora’s outfit design in KH3 :

Its animal is a ram and the keychain looks like a butterfly.

The Ram is a male of the sheep and allied animals. The Ram Christian Symbol represents protection as the ram protected the herd and also symbolises sacrifice as the ram was one of the first animals to be sacrificed on alters, hence their Latin name Aries which comes from aris meaning "alters".. It is a symbol for Christ taken from the Old Testament.

In KH case, it might referred Sora is a sacrifice for his friends sake and Riku is a protection for Sora as his Dream Eater.

In many cultures the butterfly is associated with the soul – further linking our meaning of faith with the butterfly.

In Greek myth, Psyche (which literally translates to mean “soul”) is represented in the form of a butterfly. Befittingly, Psyche is forever linked with love as she and Eros (the Greek god of love, also known in Roman myth as Cupid) shared an endlessly passionate bond together – both hopelessly in love with the other.

Also, the design of the inner of the butterfly looks like flowers petals with pink color, and flowers link to the design of Kairi’s keyblade. The butterfly keychain is associated with the soul, meaning Sora and Kairi shared an endlessly passionate bond together and very possible in love with the other.

In Christianity, the butterfly symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.

Beside that, the End of Pain keychain is attached a gazing eye in it, which is noteworthy, because we merely see the MoM and Foretellers keychains having gazing eyes so far. And since “No Name” keychain is a six-winged being, this may be a reference to ‘Revelation's four living beings’ :

Revelation 4:6-8 New International Version (NIV)

Also in front of the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures, and they were covered with eyes, in front and in back. The first living creature was like a lion, the second was like an ox, the third had a face like a man, the fourth was like a flying eagle. Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings. Day and night they never stop saying:

“‘Holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty,’

who was, and is, and is to come.”

The MoM’s animal symbol is a lion and this refers he is a lion with 6 wings and covered with eyes (in this case, the gazing eye). With this meaning, the Keyblades have more than one gazing eye must be related to MoM or they’re part of the MoM’s essense. And remember 6 winged-being also represents for seraphim, extension of Lucifer’s symbol. The lion and the gazing eye on “No Name” all have bright blue eyes, it is the MoM’s eyes color.

Sora has the same bright blue eyes and Sora’s embodiment is also a lion. His theme is same with MoM as Lucifer is the “Morning Star”, a Light Bearer, who is a six-winged angel, the strongest seraph. Since I’ve explained 5 Foretellers are the MoM’s vessels, same situation with Sora, who also got 5 vessels containing his essence. This must be the reason all of them (the MoM/Sora and Foretellers) has a ‘gazing eye’ attached on their keychains.

Lucifer’s color is blue, blue being the color of the sky and water representing that Lucifer is all around and within us. That Lucifer is the prime element/energy that motivates and cultivates our world. The blue’s literally linked to Sora, as his name in japanese means ‘sky’ (Sora = 空 = sky). It’s very fit to him being the MoM’s incarnation. His keyblade ‘End of Pain’ has similar design to ‘No Name’, which Riku can also wield as Sora’s Dream Eater.

‘End of Pain’ Keyblade’s design can also be viewed as a Gargoyle (Ram Horned Gargoyle with Demon Wings). 

Gargoyles are figures often carved into the architecture of old churches. Some believe gargoyles on a church were meant to ward off evil; it’s also possible that the gargoyles symbolized evil spirits, monstrous entities, and damned souls. The thinking was that the church offered spiritual safety for those who accepted its authority, but outside the church was spiritual danger. The gargoyles were thus a warning to the populace that it was better to be inside the church than outside. It’s also possible that the thinking behind gargoyles was to create a symbolic representation of hell; again, the outside of the church was contrasted with the inside.

Describing Sora was inside of hell and Riku was outside of hell, in order to fighting off evil from Sora’s nightmare.

This might be a stretch but I think the blade of ‘No Name’ symbolizing Gemini zodiac sign :

Gemini means “the twins” in Latin. A Gemini is a mix of the yin and yang, so they’re represented perfectly by the twins. They can easily see both sides of an issue, a wonderfully practical quality.

So since the lion symbolizing Sora and the goat symbolizing Xehanort, Gemini is known for having two opposite personalities that converge in one soul, the Chimera aka the MoM or rather Soranort. Gemini also fits Sora very well for being empowered by the presence of others hearts inside him, like The Lovers fills his need.

Gemini’s glyph looks like the Roman numberal for two because, as you know, a Gemini thinks there’s nothing quite as sad as being lonely. Like its ruling tarot card, the Lovers, Gemini is as a symbol for opposing forces like light and dark or true and false, each of which can’t exist without the other.

As ‘No Name’ had been passed through generations, like a way that the MoM trying to communicate his inheritors with its power, so ‘No Name’ gives the way they communicate and absorbs great amounts of information through the Gazing Eye watching over the future of humanity. It identifies the MoM’s mind and how well he can relay messages to others carrying ‘No Name’.

The name Sora (空) also stands for 空中, meaning air. And how well it fits to an obverser of the world around them, like the MoM, as well as the sky always connects everything.

Yellow is typically attributed to Gemini, which certainly fits its sunny, friendly personality, it does match with Sora’s personality ultimately.

The Gemini constellation represents the twins Castor and Pollux (Polydeuces), also known as the Dioscuri in ancient times, in Greek mythology. Gemini is known mainly for its two bright stars, Castor and Pollux, the neutron star Geminga, and several notable deep sky objects. One is immortal, the other mortal. Herein lies the very cool duplicity of Gemini.

Take that Sora being Castor and Xehanort being Pollux in our situation, as Luxu (the first incarnation of Xehanort) places his heart into vessels in order to continue living throughout centuries, so Luxu is kind of immortal twin and Sora doesn’t, so he is mortal twin, therefore, they fit to The Twins symbol. As the event of DDD shown, Sora witnessing his own dream, everytime he “dies”, he always being brought back to life, as if someone having the power of time reversing to save his life and knowing how much Sora has been repeating this again and again like deja-vu, that person is no one else but Young Xehanort. So they’re, no doubt, have a strong connection like the twins brothers, Castor and Pollux.

One interesting thing is if you try to invert Sora and Xehanort’s colors, you would have their inverted colors match the others original colors :

Sora’s inverted colors : white (mix with blue) hair + yellow eyes + dark skin

YX’s inverted colors : brown hair + blue eyes + light skin

Plus, blue and yellow colors mix together would create green, and the Gazing Eye has a green surrounding the pupil as well. Sora and Xehanort are very similar to Gemini, they’re like yin and yang, light and dark, two sides of one coin, two personalities of one person.

Gemini also represents for Ventus and Vanitas being The Twins, as their combined hearts giving birth to sort of yin and yang symbol, Ven being the pure light and Vanitas being the pure darkness :

Extreme similar to Sora and Xehanort’s union would’ve made a perfect yin and yang symbol.

When Sora’s new heart reached to Ven’s light and became one soul with him as one pure light, and also thank to Sora’s light, Ven’s heart was mended to becoming whole as an individual heart again in KH3.

Link gif : https://giphy.com/gifs/hQocbtrfymNPxxMsUy/html5

The dove is the symbol of Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is referred to as "the Lord, the Giver of Life" in the Nicene Creed, as Sora’s heart gave Ven the second change of life. Thus Sora’s heart is like a universal creator of giving life to everything.

And Vanitas, being the pure darkness, reached to Xehanort’s side after being defeated by Ven :

Vanitas connects to Xehanort by soul and heart, as the part of yin (dark). Just like how Ven has a strong bond with Vanitas, Xehanort has a strong bond with Sora in similar way. They both make a balance of light and dark, which is the inseparableness of life. A human made of 50% good and 50% bad. The duality. The Twins (Gemini).

The Foretellers animal masks and Keyblade animals also represent their sins. Luxu is the only one receiving “No Name” from the Master, as Luxu’s sin is ‘Lust’ whose animal is a goat, which also resides in “No Name” as the lion with goat horns. They both formed a secret relationship, that Luxu and the MoM’s connection just like Xehanort and Sora.

The head’s shape of ‘No Name’ looks similar to an eagle spreading wings :

In early Christianity the eagle was seen as a symbol of hope and strength, representing salvation. The eagle appears twice in the book of Revelation; both times in a context that suggests it is on the side of God. 

The eagle is the chief over all the winged creatures. Eagle conveys the powers and messages of the spirit; it is man's connection to the divine because it flies higher than any other bird. The eagle brings the message of renewed life because it is associated with the east winds - the direction of spring, dawn and rebirth.

As an ancient symbol the eagle is associated to solar and the Greeks regarded it as the sacred emblem of Zeus and as the highest god by the Druids. For those fighting for freedom, the Eagle's ability to fly high to the tops of mountains and silently into valleys, makes it associated to a free spirit. In myth and legend, the Eagle represents the Sun God who symbolizes light and power fire and water as its elements. It is also a symbol of spiritual power and courage because it does not fear thunder and lightning.

Eagle is spiritual symbol of the ruler of the skies. As eagle soars through skies... he owns the skies, he is the ruler of the skies as he is one of the largest birds capable of taking flight.

An eagle flies in the sky and Zeus is the god of the skies. An eagle is a very fierce, majestic, strong bird and a ruler of the universe would want a symbol that matches him and Zeus is fierce and strong.

Who fits to the “sky” symbol more than Sora?

Symbolism of ‘sky’ and ‘ReMind’

About the traitor in KHUX :

The Foretellers Book of Prophecies all missing a page which divulges the info about the traitor. The most suspicious person who owns the full book, as well as the Lost Page, is the Master of Masters only, who plotted everything.

The traitor in question is the one who bears the sigil and they are unable to permit disharmony. In other words, they can’t accept the unbalance between light and dark (sounds very similar to Master Xehanort). That’s why the traitor was trying to end the world by starting the Keyblade War, which is the Master of Masters doings, who sow seeds of doubt on his disciples. Ava seems to know who this text is talking about but she’s hard to believe it.

I have a feeling the Foretellers all cast their suspicious on the MoM but they just don’t want to believe it since they wholeheartedly trust their Master’s teachings.

It is clear that the MoM is the traitor who wants to preserve the balance between light and dark, which is why each of unions have to act alone and trust no one but themselves. Remind me of the loss in Sora’s past, he put too much light in one place and unfortunately, those hearts lack the balance to resist darkness, it is the reason their hearts were easily torn apart by heartless. And the MoM fully acknowledged this as if it was his past experiences.

Also, the MoM’s name is engraved on the black box, ”X Super”. The MoM represents for the sin of Pride by the lion’s head Keyblade (No Name) and in Latin : Pride = Superbia.

What about the “X” stands before his name? The sigil X seems to be a symbol for the MoM which ties close to his name. Therefore, the Master of Masters has full potential to be the traitor in question.

The name of Lucifer, the embodiment of Pride reveals some point :

Lucifer means Light Bringer, from the Latin lux “light” and ferre “to bear or bring.” The word Lucifer is found in only one place in the Bible — Isaiah 14:12 — but only in the King James and related versions: “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! . . .”  In other translations we find: “O shining star of the dawn!” (Moffatt) or “O morning-star, son of the dawn!” (Hebrew Bible). The King James Version is based on the Vulgate, the Latin translation of Jerome. Jerome translated the Hebrew helel (bright or brilliant one) as “Lucifer,” which was a reasonable Latin equivalent. And yet it is this Lucifer, the bright one or light bearer, that came to be understood by so many as the name for Satan, Lord of Darkness.

Sora has always been a hero of light, a Light Bearer aka Lucifer. And the word lux (aka light) in Lucifer’s name which bears the letter X on it, so essentially, light is integrally linked to the sigil X.

In DDD, before fighting Xemnas, he says to Sora “As the Flash bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that of a recusant.” He referred Sora’s flash or light (meaning lux in latin) contains the sigil X, this also links to the MoM whose name including a recusant’s sigil : X Super. It basically confirms Sora and the MoM are one and the same.

And one more thing is the boxes colors seem to match Sora’s clothes as well, especially in DDD :

Sora wears black and red clothes, and bears the sigil X on his chest, which matches the box with same colors. And the inner of the mark looks very much like a lion’s head, which also fits well with Sora’s spiky hair.

Stretch the meaning of the colors :

The color black symbolizes suffering and death in the Bible.

Red symbolizes atonement, sacrifice, life, death, and flesh.

The color white is the presence of all the light in the visible spectrum.

The color white is the color of the sigil X on Sora’s shirt, it is the symbol of lux/light in this case. The red indicates Sora will voluntarily sacrifice for anyone as a hero of light and the black symbolic of his death or in other words, the expiry of the light, as the white of X (lux) lies in the black of death. As in- light falls into darkness.

There are a total of 13 spikes that point out the inner and 7 spikes of the inside. 13 darknesses and 7 lights forging the X-blade, the counterpart of the true Kingdom Hearts. It alludes to Sora being the personification of the X-blade and also the true Kingdom Hearts.

Furthermore, Sora’s hair shape is extremely suitable for the pattern of the X-blade, both shaping into a triangle :

I think this pattern is a symbol of Halo. Halo, also called nimbus,  in art, radiant circle or disk surrounding the head of a holy person, a representation of spiritual character through the symbolism of light. It does pretty fit to Sora being the symbolism of light and also the X-blade personification.

Besides, talk about X-blade and Ultima Keyblades, I think their shapes taking the form of Phoenix’s wings :

The mythical phoenix animal totem is the keeper of the fire in all of creation. It represents transformation, death, and rebirth in its fire. As a powerful spiritual totem, the phoenix is the ultimate symbol of strength and renewal. As both a fire and solar symbol, the phoenix animal guide is symbolic of the sun, which “dies” in setting each night only to be reborn in rising the next morning. In this sense, it never truly dies; rather, it is an immortal creature continually rising from the ashes. All of its attributes stay on theme with these ideas. In addition to the above mentioned traits of power, transformation, rebirth and life, the phoenix spirit totem is also widely regarded as a prominent symbol of season, coherence, longevity, imagination and protection.

The phoenix’s ability to sacrifice itself willingly to death only to be reborn was a strong representation of Jesus for Christians. Even up until the Middle Ages, people of this region associated the phoenix in ashes with Christ dying on the cross and returning from the dead after three days.

The legendary phoenix is a large, grand bird, much like an eagle or peacock. It is brilliantly coloured in reds, purples and yellows, as it is associated with the rising sun and fire. Sometimes, a nimbus will surround it, illuminating it in the sky. Its eyes are blue and shine like sapphires. It builds its own funeral pyre or nest, or ignites it with a single clap of its wings. After death, it rises gloriously from the ashes and flies away.

So if the Ultima Keyblade is Sora’s strongest weapon as the figure of the Phoenix folding down its wings, then the X-blade is highly possible his true Ultima weapon as the Phoenix with wings out stretched and also associated with Jesus on the cross. The Phoenix always being resurrected from its ashes and never truly dies, it will be reborn over and over, the Phoenix represents the idea that the end is only the beginning. It seems like KH3 is the end of Sora’s journey with his disappearance, in fact, it is a fresh beginning for a new chapter.

Read about Ultima Weapons reference to Kairi’s keyblade here.

Also, I found an interesting info that might be the origin of X-blade, as well as how the true Kingdom Hearts was created in the first place :

God promised Abraham that if he found only twenty righteous people in Sodom and Gomorrah, he would not destroy both cities. Solomon spent 7 years building the house of God in Jerusalem and another 13 years building his own home for a total number of 20 years. After he had completed both buildings, Solomon gave Hiram, the king of Tyre, twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

If you take Sora as the thirteen darkness. The number XIII of one tarot card, it symbolizes “Death”. The tarot card “Death” means : Endings, Severe illness, Profound change, Letting go of attachments, Failure, Mortality.

All of these words describe the major turning point of Sora’s fate. Especially his fate in KH3 : his ending, his mortality, his loose of connections towards everyone he loves... ect...

Death Tarot Card Meanings and Description :

The Death card shows the Messenger of Death – a skeleton dressed in black armour, riding a white horse. The skeleton represents the part of the body which survives long after life has left it; the armour symbolises invincibility and that death will come no matter what. Its dark colour is that of mourning and the mysterious, while the horse is the colour of purity and acts as a symbol of strength and power. Death carries a black flag decorated with a white, five-petal rose, reflecting beauty, purification and immortality and the number five representing change. Together, these symbols reveal that death isn’t just about life ending. Death is about endings and beginnings, birth and rebirth, change and transformation. There is beauty in death, and it is an inherent part of being alive.

A royal figure appears to be dead on the ground, while a young woman, child and bishop plead with the skeletal figure to spare them. But, as we all know, death spares no one.

In the background, a boat floats down the river, akin to the mythological boats escorting the dead to the afterlife. On the horizon, the sun sets between two towers (which also appear in the Moon Tarot card), in a sense dying each night and being reborn every morning.

As applying to KH meaning of ‘death’, like Sora’s disappearance in KH3. This card does not foretell physical death, but deaths of other kinds: spiritual, mental, emotional. While it is associated with foreboding and doom, Death Arcana also symbolizes metamorphosis and deep change, regeneration and cycles. So the fact that Sora misused the power of waking to put everyone’s heart back to the original states meaning the fate has dealt his Death, but it is the path of his choosing whether to avert or accept the fate that allowed him to go so far, hinting that Death may be Sora's true arcana.

However, while Death depicts inevitable change arising from endings, it is important to understand the card also holds the seeds of something new; new life imagery is as abundant in the Death card as images of endings. Therefore, while things inevitably end, they also clear the way for something new. With this mean, Sora completed a chapter in his life, putting the past behind him and creating a whole new life for himself. Free himself from a past that no longer serves him well and proceed toward the future.

And one more thing is Death tarot’s element being Water. Like if someone falls in the state of sleep and find themselves drowning in water or darkness, which also mean ‘death’ is getting close to them.

That being said, the Darkside made of water symbolizes Sora’s death as he stepping in the Final World (where I believe Kairi’s heart was there too after she was taken by the swarm of shadows). And after being struck by Xehanort, Kairi’s body turned into completely water, same situation applies to Xion (being Kairi in Sora’s memories), whilst they were touching ‘death’. Though, I think Kairi and Xion’s deaths are the exceptional case, because Kairi is the most special one to Sora. Then like, they share one soul / heart, making her ‘death’ too, having the form of water, similar to him. So on, the Darkside merely got its upper in water and the lower part is black, meaning Sora hadn’t completely died yet due to Kairi holding him back to this world as she was staying with him in that Darkside form.

“Some say “kye”, but the meaning is the same. Death... A letter that spells endings.”

Exactly the same meaning with ‘Death’ arcana. Spelling the ending of Keyblade War, including Sora’s ending, thus, ‘X’ tied close to Sora’s fate. It is not a coincidence Xehanort picked Sora being the thirteen member to fulfill his goal. The number XIII is the ‘Death’ arcanas number. Sora sacrified his life to save everyone, which in turn, spelled out the ending for him but also a new beginning for the world, as Master Xehanort’s wish is to restart the world to its original state began in darkness, also a new beginning for everything, a new start.... so this means Master Xehanort actually the one who won in the end, all of this already decided in his plan.

Let’s connect the dots :

X Super = Lux Superbia = Lucifer Pride = MoM = Sora

Another meaning is Lux also stands for Luxu, full name is Luxuria (Lust). And “Lust” is the embodiment of Xehanort’s sin, because the goat’s head symbolizes Young Xehanort’s Keyblade and Master Xehanort’s chess piece and his armor (in Scala ad Caelum) also have the form of a goat-head. Therefore :

X Super = Luxu Superbia = Xehanort MoM = Xehanort Sora

Btw, Xehanort or ‘No Heart’ without the letter X in anagram has different meanings. As in- ‘Another’ or ‘A Thorne’. Thorne comes from the Old English or Old Norse words which mean thorn.

’Xehanort Sora’ means ‘Another Sora’, or ‘A thorn in Sora’s heart’ or ‘A thorn in the lion’s paw’. Indicating the MoM is Another Sora with twisted mind. He’s certain that you can’t change destinies, no matter how hard you tries, as he said he just need the world after prophecy, no need the world before it and he was waiting for THAT future comes. Xehanort (A Thorne) has always been a thorn under Sora’s paw, under Sora’s control and also causing the pain for Sora. It basically confirms the MoM coaxed Luxu (the previous incarnation of Xehanort) into fulfilling the future, and no Book of Prophecy for him causing any paradox. Ordinarily, a paradox is impossible since we were informed that destiny can’t be altered in any way and we all know that multi-worldline can be contructed within KH universe.

To be more specific, the laws of causality do not allow contradiction to occur. If the result of the event - the effect - is changed, the event itself - the cause - also changes to prevent a paradox. Whenever a major event causes divergence to change, the timeline is reconstructed to prevent paradoxes from occurring. For example, let’s say that a major event causes this worldline to diverge into a new worldline, call it worldline B. On worldline B, Sora won his battle against Xehanort. As the timeline is recontructed, all of your memories of the tragedy and light expiry will disappear, to be replaced by memories of you doing something else. In other words, by changing the present, you change the past. And it should be impossible for you to retain memories of a previous worldline. Unless you too are a time traveler. Young Xehanort is an example of a time-traveler, that’s why he keeps the memories of everything Sora has done when he altered the present, including how many time Sora was stucked in time-loop.

I’m thinking that by changing the present of his friends hearts being torn apart, Sora even altered the past of this timeline. His doing did reconstruct the entire timeline from past to present, that would be sense about Young Xehanort playing chess in Scala ad Caelum looks younger than Young Xehanort in DDD who still lived in the Destiny Island. Because they are Xehanorts from different-worldlines.

Unless you let your past self knowing about you in the future, seeing what you do, well yes, that could cause a major time paradox. Because of that, the MoM doesn’t give Luxu a copy of the Book of Prophecy to preventing Luxu would divulge that info to Sora (the MoM’s past self). Plus, the MoM doesn’t want to let Master Xehanort know that himself (as Sora) can overwrite realities in some way, so this means except Young Xehanort, no one else knows Sora changing the past. The MoM just needs the fate of the world come after prophecy, after all. It is a loop. A complex conflict between Sora and Xehanort, they are in quantum entanglement until the cycle is broken. Luxu has a connection to Xehanort, since he is responsible for passing down ‘No Name’ to his apprentices through ages. And the MoM has a strong connection to Sora. In other words, the two of them is like two sides in one coin. Sora is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.

The fact that the black box is eerily similar to DDD Sora must mean something... Why Sora materializes his dreams inside the Realm of Sleep and why Riku could gain the ability to dive in Sora’s dream as his Dream Eater? Remember Sora’s dreams are EXTREMELY similar with the Sleeping Worlds that can also be unlocked through Sleeping Key Holes. Not to mention Sleeping Worlds are the worlds that fall into darkness. So does this mean Sora’s heart has always been in the state of sleep from the start? Those are suspicious situations, no matter how you think of it. And remember what Young Xehanort told Riku :”How did you get here? By choice or change? You cannot control what you’re not aware of. This wakeless sleep will be your prison... to wander forever” sounds very fishy. He’s wondering why Riku was sent to Sora’s dream, more than that, why does he say for sure as if Sora has been in a wakeless sleep and will never waking up? He even said Sora’s heart’ll sleep forever in darkness and no way for him returning to the original world, Sora being the 13th darkness is already decided, what’s destined to be happen can’t be changed. This guy knows a lot of things about Sora that no one does. And consider that Sora went to the Final World at the start of KH3 and some strange situation leads Riku suddenly got a new haircut, did timelines swap? ...possibly something happened between those timelines that leads to a divergence of universe?

Continue from here : How do worldlines work in KH universe?

And there Sora’s words expressing his feelings after the ending :

“They can take your world.”

Their world was plunged into darkness in the Keyblade Graveyard.

“They can take your heart, cut you loose from all you know.”

By abusing the power of waking, Sora used all of his heart to save every hearts connected to him. Per the result, he was cut loose from all of his connections. This is what the Organization wanted, isolate Sora’s heart from all he knows.

“But if it’s your fate, then every step forward will always be a step closer to home.”

“Home” here means ‘Shibuya’ in the secret ending, right? Due to the fact Sora and the MoM were in that same place after Sora disappeared, indicates that was their ‘home’ before they went apart.

Now think about it, the MoM kept saying “The thing about me disappearing is not decided” until all of his apprentices actually understood their roles, then the Foretellers started the Keyblade War, after that time, the MoM truly disappeared. EXTREMELY similar to Sora, who also disappeared after the Keyblade War. Sora and the MoM share the same fate.

---------------------------------

What’s inside the black box?

The Book of Prophecy, or rather, the MoM’s heart. Similar situation to Sora’s journal, KH Coded does explain this :

The Book of Prophecy and the MoM’s heart are deeply connected. It is why I said the book and the MoM’s memories / heart are one and the same.

What was locked inside the box is, likely, the MoM’s memories. Or rather, the MoM locked his old memories away. The heart locked everyone important to him, it is Sora.

Sora’s journal and the Book of Prophecy all can create data-scape, like “shaping worlds”.

As the journal and the Book of Prophecy represent their hearts, Sora’s heart is similar to the MoM, they all can create events or even worlds that not yet take place. The MoM shapes the world through the Book of Prophecies. Sora overwrites realities or shapes a new worldline. In other words, both can create a new reality.

There’s more reference than that :

The covers of the Book of Prophecies have the mark of a demon-wing and an angel-wing on each side, and the heart shape inbetween them. Riku’s “Way to Dawn” Keyblade also has an angel-wing and a demon-wing with its heart-shape keychain. This decribes the balance between light and dark (yin-yang) and the MoM definitely requires the balance of all the worlds.

Sora shaped the Sleeping Worlds through his dream and Riku dives in Sora’s dream, since both of them are the necessary of making sure the worlds wouldn’t lack the balance. And due YX split the worlds, they had to separate each other. During this time, both worlds exist parallel together and they can all be viewed as Meta-Worlds.

The black box works same with Schroedinger's CatBox in a meta-way. Until the box is opened, multi-worlds/possibilities all exist at the same time and when the cat is revealed, only one state will become true.

The universe of Kingdom Hearts held in Meta dramatizes the struggle between consistent histories and the re-coherence of opposing observers into one 'true' observation. The black box does not exist until the end of the Keyblade War, as Maleficent states :

“I mean the box does not exist now. Light and darkness are fated to clash. A Keyblade War is upon us. We need only wait for that destined moment. No matter the victors, the box will be revealed.”

That is the moment one history becomes the truth inside the black box (because the Book of Prophecy shaping it through Sora’s dream). Sora altered the fate of light from being expired by shaping his dream as an opposing observer of the former reality into one ‘true’ observation : Xehanorts losed in the Keyblade War and his friends were saved.

This message is trying to tell you that “The future in the Book of Prophecy is already seen by your eyes, but you are the ones who shape your dreams and dive along with it, in order to make it becomes a new truth. A new future.”

Also, Luxord mentioned “the box contains hope”. Easy to see that, because it can create a new future. “In every heart, there’s hope.” - Sora (San Fransokyo).

Sounds familiar with Pandora’s box :

According to Greek legend, the first woman, Pandora, was actually sent as a curse to Zues' men (See, you knew it was true, guys) and was given a present upon her marriage. The present was a box that she was told never to open. Needless to say her curiosity got the better of her (like eating forbidden fruit) and she unleashed eight demons unto the world. The first seven being the seven deadly sins, and the last, which she managed to capture, was hope.

The box contains a heart, the MoM (aka Sora)’s heart. Sora is the Hope that looking for the light in the darkness, one absorb despair and return it to hope.

In short : Sora’s heart = the Book of Prophecy = the MoM’s heart.

The Master of Masters is like the creator of Kingdom Hearts universe, he wrote the entire book and make sure it goes along well with his script without any mistake. His eye can see through the future, none of the events beyond his Gazing Eye, so he is like an Omnipresent being, the God of Kingdom Hearts. Sora is the only one who can perform reality-warping / rewrite the script of the MoM, so he is indeed at the level of God. It is self-aware to see that they are the same person, because only the creator himself is entitled to rewrite his script for whatever he wishes to change.

More crazy twist : inside the box is the entire Kingdom Hearts universe we have been witnessing. It doesn’t sound so surprise since we all know that the book can truly make up an entire world, like a fairy tale. Some evidences showing this is : when Luxu was asked what his mission is, he looked at the box and said “it’s a long story”. So we can guess that the events he has been travelling all lying inside the box. Luxu actually disappeared in the box, that’s why the MoM had to reveal the secret of the box to Luxu and also why Luxu brought it along with him before he disappeared and reappeared again with the box beside him at the Keyblade Graveyard.

The MoM set everything in motion beforehand for his younger self going to the future and finish it for the MoM returning in Shibuya. The X-blade returned to Sora (the MoM), which forged from “No Name”, presumedly it would turn back into “No Name” after Sora closed Kingdom Hearts. It is why Luxu could take it back in the Secret Ending. And yet, Verum Rex’s maybe one of the worlds that never existed in timeline that Blaine mentioned, same as we got Wreck-It-Ralph in KHUX, the worlds of video games now in account of breaking 4th wall and were connected to the data-world within the real world. They’re gonna bring up more and more layers of fiction here.

The Book of Prophecy stored inside the box is part of plan to conserve the MoMs old memories and possible to come back in the future by putting his own memories back and revived. I think 'Shibuya’ is not a world pulled from Book of Prophecies, but a video game connected with some data-world, just like Wreck-It-Ralph, and it probably influences on the real world if they’re gonna make it becomes a ‘break 4th-wall’ phenomenon. The reason why the MoM and Sora ended up in ‘Shibuya’ together might because he was separated from Sora’s heart after he overusing PoW, possibly he would merge with Sora (the memories he locked away) to be completed. To that end, the MoM would be awaken and return to his apprentices.

Also, who is back in the Secret Ending? Luxu and 4 Foretellers. It is a sign that the reincarnated MoM did summon his disciples. Sora overused the Power of Waking to saving the hearts connected to him (aka the MoM) and that brought all of them back. As Luxu told Sora “Accept the power you’re given. Find the hearts joined to yours.” Yes, Sora follows his heart and called Luxu and the Foretellers hearts back through the Power of Waking because he is the MoM’s heart. Sora, the Hope carries the Foretellers moving forward the future.

[thekingdomheartsprincess]

when kairi died part of me felt relieved

very long rant filled with run-on sentences, over-use of bold words, and over-use of italics. you’ve been warned

I’ve been holding off on my full review and thoughts on kh3 until after I get through my second playthrough. I will say, it was an overall great game and I was pleasantly surprised by a lot. I have my issues, but I’d like to hold off until I’m finished with my regular paced play through (not speedplay) before I write all my thoughts. However, one thing I really have to get out now is how absolutely disappointed and disgusted I am by kairi’s entire existence in kh3.

And just an fyi, I set the bar low going into this for her. I wasn’t expecting much, yet somehow, I was still let down harder than I thought was actually possible.To me, the highlight of kairi’s appearance in kh3 was probably going to be because she was training with axel. Therefore, with the reasoning that axel usually gets excessive screen time---you know, the guy that should have fake died twice before his actual fake death (which I’m not complaining about, just saying)...kairi would have by default gotten some of that extra relevance right??

Wrong... in a stunning turn of events they actually left axel to the side as well. He got a few good lines in, but at the end of the day he barely fights, does anything important, and somehow has his keyblade destroyed by xemnas in his first real battle with it. I’ll get back more to the truly ridiculous lack of keyblade skills later. While I’m still on the topic of axel though, let’s talk about kairi’s use as a tool to figure out axel’s feelings and xion. Like, no problems with the whole kidnapping thing, no deep connection making. Did a lot of us expect and fear that kairi would be used as a plot device for axel’s xion memories? Yes. Does it make it any better that we were prepared for it going into kh3? For me, yeah, but the real problem is it doesn’t stop there. And axel’s feelings and memories of xion were poorly included and barely mattered anyhow

Also the whole letter writing thing axel comments on, a sad excuse for not wanting to actually provide sokai interaction. “They’re more for herself”-bullshit tbh. Someone tell square enix that if they make me play another game where my girlfriend writes me letters and I can’t respond I’m gonna lose it. *cough ffxv cough* It was a sad excuse for trying to build up sokai before end game. Plus, bad writing aside, if my girl kairi is gonna be a romantic plot device forever; you could at least let her send sora those stupid letters. The poor girl is talking to him in her head. WHY

So much opportunity here to build up sokai before the end of the game. And you know what? I don’t really care about sokai anymore, or whether its canon, or if they have any moments at all in the game. But it you are going to use it as a plot device, you could at least put some effort into it. Sokai needs to be better if it is going to have such a huge direct impact on the ending of the game. Maybe this was difficult, because this really wasn’t the game for it. Everyone has a lot going on in this game, and for sora, his focus is really on getting the people connected to his heart back. He barely even talks about riku in the game! Which is completely justified, because the boy has a lot of stress on his shoulders and a lot going on. The sokai getting thrown in basically at the last minute of the game, is like white noise in the background...that shouldn’t have been there.

The paopu fruit scene felt uncomfortable and thrown in at the wrong moment. There was opportunity for this scene at the end of kh2, or before sora left the island again for 3d. Or if some effort was put into developing sokai throughout the game (which again, I don’t think this was the game for this) it could have worked. Instead, we got a scene which really wasn’t romantic in the slightest, and pretty much had “somebody or both of them is dying/being separated tomorrow” written all over it. The scene starts out of nowhere basically, riku is quite literally shoved to the side to talk to himself, kairi sort of dismisses romantic intentions when asking sora to share it with her, and sora sort of just nods his head and rolls with it. The best part, is the imagery relating to the drawings in the cave (which is admittedly beautiful). However, this is not the sokai paopu fruit scene 7 yr old me envisioned. While I certainly don’t expect to get what I wanted to see, this is almost an insult to all of the build up to this moment in previous games.

What would have been the only wonderful and meaningful sokai scene in the game, is the one where kairi is able to help sora basically escape death and light his way through the darkness or whatever. The whole “I’m going to keep you safe now” and “you make me feel stronger” thing is really sweet as an out of context scene if I knew nothing else about kh3. The problem is, this isn’t really true. Kairi doesn’t keep sora safe, and the limits of her strength seem to be in that one cutscene. Not to mention, this already happened. We literally saw this same thing happen in kh1-and it was a better scene.

Maybe I could believe kairi’s determination behind her words if she was able to even lift her keyblade when she’s being attacked, or put up a fight against her kidnapper (i mean come on, even belle got to elbow xaldin), or finish a battle against someone who was not an alternate version of herself (or remotely believably on xehanort’s side for more than a second). Seriously, she did more with her keyblade knocking out a few heartless in kh2. That scene was actually cooler. I am truly disgusted that I have to even think that. It’s not that I thought she would go up from kh2, but I surely didn’t think she would go soooooo far down. 

They totally shot themselves in the foot with the whole merlin’s magic excuse. Axel and kairi show up as if they just got the keyblade 20 seconds before the keyblade war, yet supposedly they had unlimited time to train. Maybe we’ll get some bs excuse on how it “wasn’t exactly unlimited time” later, but seriously? If you were going to have both of them fail so miserably, you could have used the short training time as an excuse!! Why would you write yourself out of that excuse, just to give me these pathetic jokes of keyblade wielders. By all logical reasoning, if they had unlimited time to train, they should have both shown up stronger that xehanort and eraqus combined. Like did they just settle after they could shoot magic at x number of moving objects in merlin’s training facility???

She may not have done much, but by the time we saw her get mercilessly stabbed for no real logical reason I was relieved. Relieved that I might finally not have to watch this anymore, and can just go into all future kh games without having to worry about what they will do with her character. I want to say I was pissed, upset even, that they killed her off like that. Confused as to how this helps xehanort’s plan? Absolutely. I mean, wouldn’t that ruin his 7 princesses part 2 backup plan if he needed it? Wouldn’t the last key form as soon as he killed kairi? Were the 7 lights going to stop fighting him there? Was he just being a cruel dick? I don’t have the answers. But I will say that I didn’t actually get angry, until xehanort stole her fucking lines. “One sky, one destiny” She doesn’t even have that anymore. The significance of those lines, now can’t just be kairi’s but has to be shared with the man who killed her. Could it get any worse? Yes! Because sora has to go and do some strongly hinted form of self sacrifice for her again. Turning the shit show writing of kairi into probably the most detrimental part of the story. 

Now, its playing such a huge role in kh3 and future kh games. It makes the major plot point of the ending of the game suffer. There’s no kairi for me to appreciate that would make me care about her dying, the one really good moment sora shares with kairi is hardly based in reality, and what’s supposed to be used as a way for sora to prove himself doesn’t really do that. He already sacrificed himself for kairi. What more is this proving? And with no excuse for kairi’s lack of training or presence in the game, I’m confused as to how this happened or why I’m supposed to care. However Nomura needed this to end up to set up future kh games, was this really the only way to do it? 

I wish I could say I just personally cared this much about feminism in kingdom hearts, and that’s why I’m so disappointed by this complete and utter failure of writing a character, but that’s not even it. When I was little I loved kairi because she was like a new disney princess in a video game, and I was heartbroken when sora told her she couldn’t come with him for the rest of his adventure. That she would just “get in his way.” 23 year old me is still pissed and not letting go. Even more frustrating, is that square enix has (deliberately or not) ignored a large part of the fandom who just asked for a little bit better. The kairi bar was low, and square enix did the limbo rock under it. (bad joke i know, it’s 2:30 am and i should be sleeping)

I’ll shut up now, but be aware i’m screaming “and another thing about kairi in kh3!” every hour on the hour in my mind

[guardianlioness]

KH3 Coco Rewrite Headcanons

Non-canon-compliant and spoilery, a pretty self-indulgent plot summary to work Coco’s theme of memory into Kingdom Hearts via the Sea Salt Trio. 

Or: I want to read this and am too lazy to write the fanfiction.

Below the cut:

Lea and Kairi largely complete their training and begin accompanying missions with Riku and Sora in teams. This allows them to get more experience and allows Sora to have some backup as he’s reacquiring all of his skills.

Riku is sent off on a mission with Kairi.

Meaning Sora is stuck with Lea.

They are tasked with investigating a world that has a strange connection with memory and waking, along with the Final Realm, which Yen Sid and Mickey obliquely reference. It’s being invaded by Heartless, also, so they’re asked to defend it while they search for a way to bring back Sora’s Power of Waking.

The two of them fly over on the Gummi Ship, because though it’s possible to use the Dark Corridors, it requires Lea to numb his emotions, which he doesn’t like, and it’s probably dangerous for Sora, having been nearly Norted in the Sleeping Realms.

They’re shooting the breeze in the ship and laughing, and Sora can feel Roxas’s heart laughing with them.

Lea can tell, and he’s reveling in it, but...he admits to Sora that it does feel like something’s missing.

Roxas quietly agrees, and Sora makes sure Lea knows.

The mission has them fighting Heartless in a world called Santa Cecilia, where the locals are gearing up for some kind of festival.

They meet a boy, Miguel, and his family of shoemakers. The family explains the festival to them. It’s about honoring the people they’ve lost, holding them in memory so that you can see them once again. 

Sora is just grins at Lea, making comments about how getting it memorized must actually work.

Lea huffs, giving him a “yeah, yeah” kind of response, but it’s a fond gesture.

They protect the town until sundown, when the festival starts. 

Miguel doesn’t care much. He’s frustrated at his family because they refuse to allow him to become a musician, even though it is his fondest dream.

The keybladers sympathize, but at the same time, is it that high a price to pay when he has people that love him so much?

After an argument with his family, Miguel runs off into the dark of night where the Heartless are.

Sora runs after him, while Lea stays behind to guard Miguel’s family.

Miguel runs to the local graveyard, and Sora catches up to him just as he steals a guitar from one of the mausoleums. The Heartless start arriving, and Sora reaches out to grab his shoulder when there’s an explosion of flower petals and sound.

Sora and Miguel find themselves unable to speak to anyone or even touch the Heartless until...they run into some skeletons claiming to be Miguel’s family.

Meanwhile, Miguel’s family and Lea are tearing apart the town looking for them. Lea’s newly born heart is about to thump out of his chest in panic, but the whole time he’s leaning into what Miguel’s family said about the festival. If you remember your loved ones, they can find their way back to you.

Sora and Miguel end up in the Land of the Dead with Miguel’s skeletal family and start trying to find a way back. Miguel eventually runs from his family, dragging Sora along with him, and they meet-slash-recruit a man named Hector who helps them disguise themselves as skeletons to better blend in.

Along the way, they fight Nightmares — the Land of the Dead is closer to the realm of Sleep, so they bleed over where the Heartless can’t reach.

They’re helped by some very unusual Dream Eaters that the skeleton locals call “Alebrijes”. They find out each person has a specific one that protects them.

Sora: ”Oh, I have one of those too! Mine is named Riku, except he’s not as colorful as these alebrijes.”

While they’re there, Sora has this uncanny feeling that he’s being watched. He keeps seeing a fading silhouette out of the corner of his eye.

Like someone he should know, or maybe that Roxas should know? Or Ven? He isn’t sure and it’s a mess.

They find out that in the Land of the Dead, if you’re forgotten, you fade. Sora is horrified.

He assumes — correctly — that the silhouette is someone fading, someone that called out to him for help. 

Sora calls out to the silhouette, not knowing its name, but begging it to help him remember so the silhouette won’t fade.

Then he hears it speak. 

It’s a girl’s voice. “It’s okay, Sora. It’s okay if I fade away. I shouldn’t have been here in the first place.”

Sora feels Roxas’ heart twist in utter confusion and alarm, and Sora just begs for her name again. “Who are you? Please! You don’t have much time!”

”I wanted to be with them forever, but...I stole your memories to do it. I can be happy with just protecting them. It’s better if I fade,” the girl says.

Sora and Roxas are in such a state of panic that it’s almost like they really are one person, acting in sync. 

Meanwhile, back at the village, Lea is starting to really worry. His heart’s telling him something is very wrong.

He braces himself for the numbness that he hates so much and opens a Corridor in the direction of his tie with Roxas and Sora.

It can’t get him all the way to the Land of the Dead because it’s blocked off from the dark. It can get him close, though, and that’s a start. 

With his Keyblade, he brute forces himself into the Land of the Dead. He’s an emotional mess even though he’s not entirely sure why.

He bursts in on Sora pleading with a strange figure to stay, Roxas’ voice overlapping with his.

And as Lea turns to look at the silhouette, it hits him.

Her name. Her voice. Her. He can’t stop himself from saying it. “Xion. Xion.”

The figure’s wavering form stops instantly. It becomes more solid, and it lets out a choked sobbing noise.

As if he can’t control his own voice, Lea spills out every memory he has. The first time he saw her face, as a real person. Eating ice cream on the clocktower. Their missions together.

With each one, she becomes more and more solid, more real.

Sora — or Roxas — joins in, desperately spilling out memory after memory. 

And then it’s her, she’s there and real, and Lea has her in a hug, and there are tears dripping from his face —

Meanwhile, Miguel and Hector have made amends with their family, but the Dia De Los Muertos festival is ending, and the living will be trapped if they don’t leave.

Miguel gets his family’s blessing to go home and explore music — just so long as he never forgets his family’s love for him.

Xion, who has been bawling for the last few minutes, starts to give Lea and Sora her blessing so they can escape, but they aren’t having it.

They’re adamant that she needs to leave WITH them.

She hesitantly agrees, but before they can, Lea stops them.

He says that if she’s in Sora’s heart, they might forget her again, because technically, Sora doesn’t have any personal memories of her. 

He's not sure how to suggest it, but he finally gets the idea out.

”Let me be the one to bring you back,” he says. “I can’t...I can’t forget you again. I promised I’d always be there to bring you back home.”

She agrees, and they vanish back to the Land of the Living in a cascade of marigold petals and shards of memory.

Because she now lives in Lea’s heart, she can’t be forgotten, life moves on and the Keyblade wielders continue their plan to bring back Roxas, Naminé, Aqua, Terra, and Ven, but now with Xion in tow.

Kairi, Lea, and Sora are now the “heart holders” club. It’s very exclusive.

Lea tells them all the stories he can about Xion.

The next time he introduces himself to someone, he nearly refers to himself as “Axel” again before sheepishly correcting himself and explaining to Sora that it’s still Xion’s name for him.

Xion hasn’t been revived yet, but there are plans to duplicate the replicas they have set aside for Roxas and Naminé so that she can be her own person again as well.

Lea faces Saïx and Xemnas in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Xemnas shatters his Keyblade in a burst of light, mocking him for his weakness.

Lea’s mouth twitches up in a smirk.

There’s a flare of light as a Kingdom Key materializes in his off hand.

He strikes, leaving Xemnas to the void.

“Nobody axes Axel. Not while he’s got friends looking out for him.”

In his heart, he can hear Xion laughing.

Xion awakes in Radiant Garden with Roxas and Naminé.

And Axel is there to meet them. 

[pmiller1]

Let debunk some Deja Vu. Woah. Deja Vu.

Already I had to debunk and it from Young Xehanort. This could be me, but it seem like talking about the Many Young Sora that is wounding around here.

Kinda surreal if you ask me.

Within Kingdom Hearts, there’s a general rule of thumb that even though the mind may not remember, the heart never forgets. This was established pretty early as a concept with Chain of Memories (imagine, with a name like that).

This specific example is even further proven by being one of the memories Sora can choose from during his Dive to the Heart. Something he otherwise can’t actively recall, but it remains within him.

We doesn’t know if Sora actually remember this. But given this is for the Guardian class so to say. It best bring the idea of when Sora choses to be a guardian for his friend. (This doesn’t really matter)

This is also kind of the idea behind some of the effects of Time Travel. If traveling through and into the future, your experiences and memories don’t come back with you once you return to the past. You continue to live your life, but with an underlying, subliminal need or sense to follow whatever brings you to the future you’ve experienced as “It has been etched” into your heart.

It’s a continuity failsafe.

Time Travel.

So regardless of the means (time travel, memory erasure, etc), having experienced something guarantees that the memory still remains somewhere, deep within your heart.

So the breakdown from this if your Time Travel from another time and once you return from time, you forget everything in that other time, but you hearts will keep on as fate. Given it a subcontinent memory kinda of deal.

Can I just point this memory erasure only happen when you return to own time. Not when you traveling pass time. Or how would Young Xehanort know he from the future, he there to make sure he future action does happen.

And in away, this is going with the idea that Sora and Riku want back in time before the Keyblade War, before Kingdom Hearts III so to say. How would there forget there action. I mean it not like going to the past would remove the memory, Maleficent remember everything before she dead in KH1 when she was in the past in a date of her home world. She try to set plan to get the seven princess of heart, only for the 7th princess Kairi being unable to reach her do not having a date worlds of where she would be. “Darkness” himself told her that.

So the idea is this Deja Vu is already faulty.

We see what seems like evidence of this throughout the game like, a lot. A lot a lot. A notable amount of verbalized forgetting of details, characters reacting to something before it happens or aren’t present for, or unwarranted familiarity with a given situation. In most instances characters even provide an easy to swallow explanation for it, seeming to deliberately hand wave the issue so you don’t take much notice. 

The game begins with a cutscene from the end of 0.2. This functions as a means to refresh players of what Sora needs to do, but they have a very interesting conversation where Goofy brings up the very important phrase “May your heart be your guiding key”. Something they’ve never heard (yet), but Goofy insists he had.

Even with the implication that the timeline restart happens at the end of II.9, we’re still including this scene and how pointedly odd it is.

And here the real reason why Goofy, Our anthropomorphic dog recall Yen-Sid saying “May your heart be your guiding key” where the two doesn’t. He heard it when he mutter, whisper those lined. And Goofy the anthropomorphic dog, pick up it, being a one to pick up noise more better than the other two. Didn’t you see Goofy pick of the little girl screaming for help for away, or when he pick Elsa singing “Let it go?” before the other? Because that seem like the reason.

note: In Jiminy's Journal, it says Hayner, Pence and Olette are “still on their summer vacation”. So it really hasn’t been that long at all.

This does beg the question of how long was Dream Drop Distance? Heck, How long was it between Kingdom Hearts II and III. I know Re:code was there between that, along with DDD and 0.2 where Mickey recalling his time with Aqua.

But there said that in italic. Meaning there saying it haven’t been a very very long time. Like say a Year. Maybe a week had pass, who know.

Plus, this haven’t been confirmed but the idea of world having there own time is there to. I mean The Caribbean is going by the 3rd movie. At world ends.

Hann: “Yozora!”

Yeah. There point here is that Sora here look like Yozora from the game Verum Rex. Rex even think he is Yozora.

Sora’s mentioning of this line is interesting as a direct reference to DDD. In the Country of Musketeers, Sora runs into Mickey, Donald, and Goofy and has a little difficulty dealing with meeting his friends who don’t know or remember him. Regardless, he keeps the experience and phrase close to his heart, which makes it stand out as he says it to himself like a reassurance.

True. Sora had met the past Mickey, Donald and Goofy in Country of Musketeers. But I think there said “All for One, and one for all”, when there team up back in KH1. I think it more that there are dream of that world past of them that would having a effect of that person heart with the Real One, Given that Tron, even if he isn’t the Tron in Ansem’s computer had somehow able to recall Sora. And I like the think the Real TWEwY gang recall Sora even if he met only the dream memory of them.

Note: We went through BBS and confirmed Donald and Goofy never leave Yen Sid’s tower. They never see the Unversed for themselves. Goofy goes from feeling like he’s “seen them before”, to confirming only Mickey ever fought and told him about them.

You can say it’s just a continuity issue. But BBS and DDD were planned at the same time to lead into KH3, and the series has stayed remarkably consistent with itself especially post-2010. And all of that doesn’t explain why Goofy would contradict himself, in his very next sentence.

By the way. I want to point out, that I’ve check the wiki for this and Donald and Goofy are D-Link in BbS for both Ventus and Aqua. Granted in Story there never leave the tower, but in gameplayed, unless you haven’t made the two use the two d-link, there kinda have fought the Unversed. And there didn’t say there didn’t fought them, just that the King Mickey fought a whole bunch of battles against ‘em.

Pooh being forgetful isn’t anything new, but for what little time we spend here coupled with everyone else struggling to remember what they were even there for, it stands out.

Something there just need a reminder that there here for a harvested. Also, Pooh told his reason once he had his honey and that he felt Sora link lost, that even Sora can tell and fear it.

I mean, why wouldn’t you trust Sora? He that person that you can be friend with. This have nothing to do with Anna and Kristoff having to feeling like there know him already, Just he can be trusted.

Sora’s phantom pain here is probably one of the more interesting and unexplained oddities. It’s hard to believe that it’s just his connection with Anna, seeing as we’ve never seen anything like this with any other character before. He feels the pain at the same moment she was struck, a shot of ice straight to the heart. The mind may forget, but the heart remembers, suggesting that maybe Sora took the blow in the past.

Even within the movie it’s said, “The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded”.

I’m sorry what?! Are you implying that Sora take the blow of Elas cold freak out, instead of Anna?

If so, then how is Sora isn’t dead by a frozen heart? It clear from your Theory (and in Canon) that Sora died in Keyblade Graveyard. And Riku and Kairi wasn’t there to help Sora from that spell by there true loved.

I’m guessing that do to Anna being a Princesses of Heart, made Sora felt the same pain from Kairi Heart back in Hollow Bastion. As he felt Anna pain just then as he did with Kairi.

You know what best about this, Donald really did say “The Sea belong to everyone.” back in Davy Jones Locker.

I let Goofy say the rest for me up there.

Aww. Let Sore be a Teenage Kid. He just excited and want to tell his best friend about the world he at.

I’d bet he gonna call Riku about how awesome Shibuya is, even if he still in the Reaper Game in the 1st day just for humor. Now that I’d love to see.

Emm... Riku is just being caution here. Using the Stop spell would be very costly here and given Donald's Zettaflare just out right cost his own life to cast it. It safe to say that Riku doesn’t want them to pull another powerful spell at the cost of their own life.

Also this after Sora changed fate. So this wouldn’t counded.

“More than once” despite the fact we only visited here during that first dive.

“On your visits to the Station of Awakening.” That mean that the Station of Awakening is part of the Final World. At least I think so.

I like to remind you, the final world is last stop before the afterlife. The people are holding on there life. That remind here before that move on to afterlife or there could come back to life. This is the crossroad between sleep and death.

Also, No I don’t think the final world is a Sleeping World, not even can be part of this “Realm of Sleep” given that is been disproven to be a real thing.

[ice-cream-beat]

#5 Terra and Namine Friendship please :>

I WAS REALLY EXCITED FOR THIS ONE TBH

#05. things you didn’t say at all

summary: She’s so used to adults demanding things of her, with zero regard for her own wishes or comfort, that the drastic change is like a breath of fresh air. He’s giving her time to think, to choose for herself whether she wants to be open with him or not. She decides that she does. [Terra + Naminé, post-KH3.]

Ao3 version here

/ / / / /

She isn’t at all surprised when he finds her.

Even out here, alone on a remote grassy hill in Twilight Town and having told nobody where she’s gone, Naminé doesn’t so much as bat an eye at Terra’s appearance. She doesn’t even raise her head, but keeps on sketching in her pad as she waits for him to speak first; she knows he puts a lot of thought into his words and actions and she doesn’t want to push him one way or the other. She waits.

“Mind if I join you?” he asks after a moment. His tone is gentle, considerate. Manners drive the question but it’s clear he’ll respect whatever answer she gives.

In a heartbeat she turns a pleasant smile towards him. “Please.” She watches as he sits beside her on the soft ground, at the edge of arm’s reach, mimicking her drawn-knees position. If anything, she’s a little surprised by how close he chooses to sit, but then quickly figures she shouldn’t be. The nature of his long struggle aside, he’s still a protector, first and foremost. He looks after people and she’s no exception. (She knows, she felt the pang in his heart the first time he looked at her, every time he looks at Roxas – she knows whom he sees and how it stings for him to think there are people, wielders, he wasn’t there to help–)

For another silent pause Terra only looks out over the view of the town, the tracks, the ocean beyond. Naminé turns back to her drawing, but her pencil is still.

“How is it?” she inquires. She already knows the answer, but she wants to hear it from him. She wants to give him room to speak his thoughts, good or bad or whatever else.

“Better.” Setting an arm across his knees, he loosely clenches and unclenches his fist. “I don’t hear it as much.”

Her smile widens, genuinely happy. “That’s good,” she reassures him. “If you didn’t hear it at all, that would mean you’re pushing it down too hard. It takes time. You’ll get there.”

“Right.” It’s a neutral response, and then he looks at her. “I didn’t come here to talk about me, though.” That catches Naminé off guard in full. Her curiosity shows in the tilt of her head. “I want to say thanks – I want to properly say thanks,” he corrects.

Her smile returns. “You don’t have to. I was glad to help – and you did all of the work,” she reminds him. “I only pointed you in the right direction when you needed it.”

“And I did need it. Badly,” he says seriously. “But you did more than that. When I didn’t hear you… I still felt you, most of the time. You were watching me the whole way, weren’t you?”

Naminé sets her hands against her paper, turning her pencil absently between her fingers. “Most of the way, yes. It wasn’t because I didn’t trust you,” she adds in earnest. “I knew you could make it on your own, as long as you had your friends driving you.” The one she didn’t trust was Xehanort. It ended up being a baseless concern, fortunately; like Riku, Terra’s immunity to darkness made him worthless as a vessel and Xehanort didn’t seem to even entertain the idea of seizing him a second time. Regardless, Naminé kept an eye on him, which ended up working out, anyway – because, also like Riku, Terra’s history isn’t without its lingering scars. Still, she hopes her intrusion doesn’t come off as a lack of faith.

“No,” says Terra, “I’m glad you did. Aqua and Ven… they gave me the strength to keep going. And having you there, even in the background… it helped me see where I was going. It made it that much harder to go astray.”

Naminé looks at him. His face is calm, collected, as he again observes the yellow-orange horizon, but she doesn’t have to touch his memory to sense the weight behind it. She knows he’s strong – she knows he won’t give in to the echoes in his heart, the temptations of a hollow voice he’ll carry for the rest of his life – but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. It doesn’t mean he won’t have moments of weakness and frustration now and again.

To hear from him, then, that she made his rocky path even a little easier… It leaves a bubbly sort of satisfaction in her chest.

“So… thanks, Naminé. For everything.” Terra smiles, shaking off that weight for now, and the expression fits him very well. He’s somebody who likes to smile, who does smile a lot, Naminé can tell, or at least used to. She hopes he does more of it now.

She can also see that it’s no use resisting his gratitude, so she offers a gentle laugh in response. “You’re very welcome, Terra.”

She’s glad when he makes no move to leave right away. Returning to her drawing, she figures he’s said his piece and won’t say much more – so he surprises her a second time a few minutes later. “Can I ask you something? If it’s too personal, you don’t have to answer.”

She can’t think of anything she would be uncomfortable with discussing, so she cheerfully nods without looking up. “Sure.”

“Does anybody know about your Keyblade?”

The silence that follows is broken only by the snap of her pencil lead breaking. For several long seconds Naminé doesn’t even move, her eyes fixed on where she pressed too hard into her paper. When those seconds stretch into half a minute, she realizes she needs to speak. “I…” She frowns. “No.”

“Can I ask why?”

Again she nods, slower and lighter this time, but it precedes another pause. The gentle patience in Terra’s tone is encouraging, at least. She’s so used to adults demanding things of her, with zero regard for her own wishes or comfort, that the drastic change is like a breath of fresh air. He’s giving her time to think, to choose for herself whether she wants to be open with him or not.

She decides that she does.

“I don’t… really think it matters,” she says finally. She bypasses the question of how Terra knows. If anybody would pick up on such a thing, it would be somebody of his caliber, surely. Perhaps Aqua and Ventus did as well. “Even if I am a wielder now, I don’t think I could be of any help that way.”

“You don’t like fighting?” he suggests. Naminé hesitates.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been able to – I’ve never tried. The idea of fighting doesn’t bother me,” she admits. “I know it’s necessary, sometimes. But… I’ve had my role for a while now. And I’m happy with it. I think… that I started to believe that ignoring the Keyblade would mean nothing has to change. If I forgot about it, I could keep doing what I’ve been doing. And not bother anybody with it.”

Terra frowns. “Why would it be a bother?”

Naminé smiles, a sad and sheepish expression. “You and the others… you’re already so good at it. The biggest threats are over, and you all deserve to rest now. Teaching somebody like me… it wouldn’t be easy, and it’s not necessary.” She shrugs, turning her smile to him as it brightens again. “It’s all right, though. Really – I’m happy as I am.” She’s already living her second chance, besides. Sora could have chosen not to trust her after the events in Castle Oblivion. Riku could have abandoned her, DiZ could have disposed of her, Kairi could have rejected her, Roxas could have hated her. But they didn’t, and through stroke after stroke of luck Naminé found some way to help somebody for some purpose. Asking for another such chance… She can’t help but think it would be selfish of her, as though she doesn’t appreciate what she has.

Terra holds her gaze with a searching look, and then finally lets it go with a low, thoughtful sound. “…You know,” he says after another quiet moment, “it’s fine if you’re not a fighter. Not everybody is. But the Keyblade never chooses anybody by accident, either. Wielders do more than kill things – they also keep watch and guide others. And that sounds a lot like what you do already.” He smiles at her again, but Naminé can only blink in response. “Not to mention, there’s more to learn than just fighting techniques,” he adds. “What about healing magic? Is that something you might be interested in?”

Healing magic… Naminé already has magic of her own – it all falls within the same general category of memory manipulation, but it’s magic nonetheless. “Maybe,” she says slowly, uncertainly. “But I wouldn’t want to waste anybody’s time…”

“It wouldn’t be a waste. Besides,” he says cheerfully, “I have a lot of time to spare now.”

Naminé lifts her eyes again, openly surprised.

“If you’re interested, I could teach you,” Terra offers. “Only as much as you’re comfortable with – and if you decide you don’t like it, we don’t have to keep going.” He looks away then, towards the skyline again. Maybe it’s intentional, maybe it isn’t, but it takes some of the pressure off the question. “Either way… if you really don’t want anybody else to know, they don’t have to.”

This pause is the longest one yet. Naminé trusts him; if he says she can learn healing magic without the obligation of anything more than that, she knows he won’t push her. And if he insists she’s no burden on him, then he means it.

She doesn’t hesitate out of doubt. She’s wondering if she can really do half as well – or be half as helpful – as Terra seems to think she can.

He’s the first to break the silence by rising to his feet. “You don’t have to answer now,” he tells her. “Just think about it. You know where to find me.” When he gives her one last smile, Naminé does the same, nodding.

“I will. Thank you, Terra.” She watches him go, back the way he came by. Right when he’s about to disappear below the hill, she sets her sketchpad aside and stands. “Terra!” When he turns back, Naminé looks down at her hands for a moment before shaking off the shy feeling. “If you have time… could you please tell me something, before you go?”

Mildly surprised, Terra nods and makes his way back to her. Again Naminé feels sheepish, and again she pushes it aside. She’s going to have to get used to it. Breathing in deeply, she turns aside and holds out both hands – and with a simple, too-easy thought, there’s a flash of light and the sudden weight of warm steel between her fingers. It’s not too heavy, but it’s still new enough that her arms quickly buckle. In a blink Terra catches her thin wrists in one hand, helping to keep her Keyblade upright.

She gives him a pointed and apologetic look. “How to hold it,” she clarifies. That much, at least, she figures she should know.

Terra looks like he’s holding back some amused sound or remark, but then only nods again. “Sure thing.”

[nadziejastar]

Saïx’s True Purpose & Personality Change

“It’s something powerful, right? Where does it come from?” Roxas was dead serious.

 Love… Huh.

“Love is a special power that only humans have.”

I don’t trust myself to explain this right. But I want to answer Roxas and Xion’s questions about ‘the human heart’ to my best extent.

“So Nobodies don’t have it?”

“You need a heart for it, see.”

“A heart…” Roxas was lost in thought.

Axel kept speaking. “There’s something special only born between people who are even more than friends…that’s love.”

As soon as I beat KH3 and read the secret reports, my first thought was that Isa must have originally been Subject X. And that has been my firm belief ever since. It makes perfect sense. FAR more than him being an apprentice, which was a last minute retcon.

Ansem's Report 2

The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery. I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight. Creatures that seemed born of darkness...What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments? 

During the experiments on the darkness of the heart, all the subjects’ hearts collapsed, even the hearts of the most stalwart.

Secret Ansem Report 2

I have made a grave mistake. My study of the "darkness of the heart" began with a simple psychological test and quickly snowballed. Spurred on by my youngest apprentice, Ienzo, I constructed a massive laboratory in the basement of my castle. Unbeknownst to me, my six apprentices then began collecting a large number of subjects on which to perform dangerous experiments into the "darkness of the heart." As soon as I found out, I called my apprentices together and ordered them not only to cease their studies, but to destroy the results of their research thus far.

Isa was a unique subject. His heart was amazingly strong, due to his feelings for Lea, and it didn’t collapse like all the others.

Secret Report 4: Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 2

My pilot studies used a handful of subjects, but none possessed the fortitude to endure them. Ultimately, all suffered mental collapse. I knew it would be a heavy blow to lose a subject as unique as she. Upon discovering the tests I've been conducting, my master demanded that I cease my work immediately and destroy what research I have compiled. Worse still, he ordered the release of my remaining subjects. She is gone. Where is Subject X now? Has "wise" Master Ansem hidden her away? Whatever the case, I will not be deterred. I will take her place as the first subject in the grand experiment to come.

But it was captured. Xehanort’s goal was to use the power of Isa’s heart as a weapon, and he became a vessel. Saïx was the result.

“I’ll bring him back to our side. Let me—”

“That’s enough.” Saïx turned his head, giving Axel a sidelong look over his shoulder. “Traitor.”

Axel scowled darkly.

“I’m going. You know, don’t you, that you won’t stop me except by force? And even if you tried, you would fail.” Saïx went on his way. 

It’s my memories that are telling me this sort of thing is unpleasant.

The Berserker Nobodies carry cursed hammers. So, Saïx probably carries a cursed claymore. When he grips the claymore, he enters his berserk state. 

“Then let’s skip the conversation,” said Saïx, and just like that he threw his claymore. But, Roxas batted it aside easily. The series of movements was like it was done by a completely different person than yesterday’s Roxas.

Saïx hesitated for a second, and Roxas ran at him.

He blocked the Keyblade.

Long ago—I remember, I didn’t hate fighting. Saïx flung his claymore at Roxas.

And so, Saïx remembered things from a long long time ago.

My theory is that the claymore makes Saïx relive the memories---good or bad---that made his heart so strong, enhancing his fighting ability by going berserk.

Saïx: I passed on the message as you so desired. I told the young Sora to keep defeating the Heartless.

Xemnas: Good. Not only have you the power to inflict pain, you also have the power to plant seeds of doubt in one's receptive heart. Sora will soon begin to doubt himself. It will cause him to hesitate and that hesitation will turn to anger. That anger will fuel him to get rid of his apprehension and move forward. He will pave the way for the future we desire.

Saïx: There's something I've meant to ask.

Xemnas: About Axel? The poor fool. How long will he keep chasing the illusion of friendship, when he himself lacks emotion? Trying so hard to retrieve what he has lost, when it may never have existed in the first place. He deserves nothing more than our pity.

And those memories were of Lea. The heart has a direct connection to memory. Saïx is forced to relive Isa’s memories in order to receive greater power, but he’s convinced that neither he nor Axel can actually feel anything anymore. And he’s tormented by it.

Day 94: All Goes Apace

Author: Saïx

The hearts collected by our two Keyblade wielders, Roxas and Xion, have gathered together; and now, almighty Kingdom Hearts waxes large in the night sky. Our efforts have come to bear fruit, nearly ripe for the plucking. All plans proceed smoothly—alarmingly so, in fact, though this is no time to be deterred by paranoia.

Day 94 ~Hearts~ is when Kingdom Hearts first becomes visible in the sky. They’re sooo close to getting their hearts back, and Saïx is trying not to be paranoid.

Cogsworth: Those horrid creatures plaguing the castle have kept the master from seeing Belle for days… There has to be some way to bring the two of  them together!

Xion: Remember the last time we were here? The candelabra was talking about the same thing. The servants seem awfully interested in making sure Belle and their master get along.

Roxas: You think it’s strange?

Xion: Only that they seem to be in such a rush about it.

That day Roxas and Xion go to the Beast’s Castle for the first time together. And Cogsworth is also trying not to be paranoid since time is running out for them to become human again.

“If he’s taking on the Heartless himself, he must have a reason to fight.”

Xion stared down at the Keyblade. What’s my reason?

“A reason?” Roxas blinked at her, mystified. “Like what?”

Chapter 65 of the KH2 manga is when Sora faces off against Saïx. It’s called “The Reason I Fight”. In 358/2 Days, that’s what the Beast’s Castle was all about, too. 

“Like…maybe he has something he wants to protect,” she said softly.

Xion, in turn, was mystified that Roxas found the idea so strange. As if he had never thought to ask why.

The main thing Roxas wanted to know was why the Beast fought so hard when he was the master of the castle, like Xemnas. He had servants to fight for him (or at least Roxas thought so). Xion suggested that the Beast was fighting so hard because he had something he wanted to protect.

Roxas: I just don’t understand why having a heart is so important. Do you?

Axel: Kind of a strange time to bring it up…

Roxas: But don’t you ever stop and wonder? We’re fighting for something we don’t know anything about.

Axel: Roxas… We’re fighting because we want to know what it’s about.

Roxas: Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right.

After the mission, Roxas was questioning the reason they were all fighting so hard. Axel told him it was to get hearts of their own. Hearts were necessary to experience certain things, and that was the recurring theme of Beast’s Castle.

Meanwhile, Roxas was already in the Beast’s castle with Xaldin. Gashes in the walls told them of a fearsome battle between the Heartless and the castle’s master.

But Roxas had one question for Xaldin. “Why is the Beast fighting so much?”

“That is what we’re here to find out,” said Xaldin. They climbed the stairs from the entrance hall, toward the grand doors, which Roxas was fairly certain led to the ballroom.

I think that world was meant to be a parallel to Axel and Saïx’s backstory. The reason the Beast fights is tied to Isa’s true purpose as a human and Axel’s reason to work so hard to complete Kingdom Hearts.

“Well, it seems important to him…” Roxas looked again at the rose beneath the glass, safe in the back of the chambers. It was somehow sparkling, unlike anything else here.

“Precisely. That is no ordinary rose. The room is in tatters save for one corner—because to him, at least, it is more precious than all the castle’s riches.”

“Is that why he’s fighting the Heartless? He wants to protect the rose?”

“Indeed. It holds some strange power… Perhaps the Heartless are drawn to it as well.”

“Is that the reason he’s fighting so hard…?” But why was the Beast so determined to protect a flower?

The Beast was fighting so hard to protect the rose, which was very dear to him. It was the one thing that was most important to him. Or at least that’s what Xaldin thought.

“Our work here is done,” Xaldin declared. “We have the Beast’s weakness.”

“We do?”

“That which we treasure has power over us, Roxas. His heart is captive to it. And that makes it his weakness.”

“Captive…? I don’t get it.”

Everything Xaldin said only got harder and harder to follow.

“Nor should you. You have no heart to love with. Let’s not linger here.”

Xaldin said that having something you care about is a weakness. It’s they key to capturing the person’s heart. Since Nomura said that those implanted with Xehanort’s heart get their heart captured, this is no doubt what happened to Isa.

“Well, you were right,” Roxas went on. “We figured out what he cares so much about. But Xaldin says that’s a weakness.”

“Why would caring about something be a weakness?” Xion asked, baffled.

Roxas lowered his head. “I don’t know. I didn’t get it, either.”

I’m not the only one surrounded by things I can’t understand, Xion thought. Axel would explain it, though…

“I hope Axel comes back soon,” said Roxas. She nodded. They would have so many things to ask him.

Whenever Roxas went to Beast’s Castle, he’d want to talk to Axel afterwards, to explain things to him. 

“Hmm, this is fascinating,” said Xaldin. “His monstrous form is somehow tied to the rose.”

“You mean, his curse?” Roxas asked, keeping his voice low.

“Yes. It seems that unless he completes some task before the rose withers, he’ll remain a beast forever.” Xaldin smirked at his own cleverness. “A beastly curse and a rose… Heh-heh. This will prove useful.”

“How?”

“Trying to explain it to you would be a waste of time. Let’s go, Roxas. No more dallying.” With that nonanswer, Xaldin left the chambers.

Roxas dallied anyway, peering through the doors again. The rose, the thing he treasures, is his weakness? Nope, I don’t get it. I wonder if Axel will know what it all means…?

And Axel always found it hard to explain. That’s because the concepts Roxas asked about were all things you needed a heart to understand.

“Do you have anything you couldn’tKeybladeo lose?”

Axel shifted in surprise and pulled the ice cream bar out of his mouth. “What? Where’d that come from?”

“I saw someone today and…he was talking about something like that. It was so important he couldn’t even think about losing it. Xaldin told me that’s a weakness. And I started thinking about how I don’t have anything—”

“Yeah, because you don’t have a heart.” Axel sighed, weary of having to point it out.

Roxas thought that Axel would know what Xaldin meant, and I think he was absolutely right.

Young Xehanort: What? “Your friends are your power”? Ah...how very true. But if the light of friendship is a form of power...the darkness of being alone is a power...even greater. Darkness is the hearts true nature. 

I don’t think Isa naturally enjoyed combat, but he did his best to protect Lea. He got better at fighting and even started to enjoy it because it had a purpose. There was meaning in it. Isa couldn’t bear to lose Lea. This was seen as his weakness and exploited during the experiments.

Sora: That’s the hearts true nature. To never, ever let go. Wherever they are, Andy and the other toy haven’t let go either.

Woody: Yeah! You can’t keep us from Andy.

Sora fought to protect his friends, too. It was his weakness and Saïx definitely exploited it during their battle. Sora’s friends were turned into cards, and even when the cards were destroyed, Sora still told Saïx that he wasn’t alone. 

Xigbar: Oh, and you can spare me the usual party line. Yes, hearts are powerful when they’re connected. But if you put too much of that power in one place, some of those hearts might end up breaking.

Saïx got extremely upset by this and was reminded of his fight with Roxas.

After so long, the weight of it was somehow strange in her grip. She thought she could feel the warmth from his hand lingering in the metal.

“Then you can go ahead and use it for the day,” said Roxas.

“But what are you going to use?”

“Well…” A hint of a grin came to his face, and he picked up a makeshift weapon near his feet. “I can improvise.”

“Roxas…that’s a stick.” It couldn’t possibly do any damage to Heartless, Xion thought.

When Xion was trying to regain the use of her Keyblade at the Beast’s Castle, she also said she wasn’t alone. Roxas was right there fighting beside her. He put himself at a disadvantage for her sake.

Roxas: Love? What's that?

Xaldin: It's an emotion. The one deluding those two as we speak.

Roxas: Oh...

Xaldin: They think the power of love will save them? That's the stuff of poetry, not practicality.

Roxas: Love is a power?

Xaldin: None you or I will ever grasp. Nor will they, for long. The love between them will wither and die. Love never lasts.

My theory is that Lea always fought really hard to protect Isa, who probably had never fought a day in his life. Lea enjoyed play fighting and was more equipped to handle himself. He saved Isa from certain death one day by and Isa really wanted to thank him by letting him have a day off to rest. Like Xion, he had been working really hard to become more independent and useful. I think he bungled it and collapsed, but after that, the apprentices viewed him differently. I don’t think he was seen as very useful at first. He was weak. But then they realized how strong his heart was.

Roxas looked bewildered. As he’d expected, he wasn’t doing a very good job explaining it.

“Not that it matters. We’ll never know the difference.”

Roxas wouldn’t let it go. “Do you think I could love somebody, if I had a heart?”

“Once Kingdom Hearts is complete, I bet you’ll be able to figure it out.” 

The magic words again, Axel thought. It’ll all make sense when Kingdom Hearts is complete. But was that true?

No one had ever seen it happen before. So who knew? Still, all they could do was believe in it. Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts…

The Beast’s true purpose was not defending the rose; it was defending Belle. He wanted to protect her because he loved her. I think Isa wanted to protect Lea because he loved him. And I think Axel’s main motivation to complete Kingdom Hearts was that he loved Isa. He wanted him to get his heart back, and he wanted to experience love again. More than anything, Axel wanted love. Someone who thought he was the most important person in the world. This is why Roxas was unable to meet his emotional needs. Axel wanted more than just friendship. He wanted romantic love. That was his motivation for completing Kingdom Hearts. 

“Something you find amusing?”

“Oh, the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.

None of us have hearts, Saïx was about to remind him, when Xemnas spoke again.

Xigbar taunted Saïx for having no heart. It happened more than once in the novel. The first time is when Saïx couldn’t see Xion. 

“…Well, do your best. The best a kid without a heart can do, anyway,” said Xigbar, and he too disappeared.

Xigbar also suggested that Isa lost his heart as a kid. It was no doubt a result of being experimented on. When Axel told Roxas he’d have to work twice as hard to make up Xion’s quota, he called it “doing your best”. And I think that’s why Xigbar said Saïx would have trouble doing that without a heart. He was referring to the “kid without a heart,” Isa. His heart is what gave him strength.

“I feel bad for you, too,” she told him.

“What are you talking about?” Saïx towered over Naminé.

“You haven’t even noticed yet…that you have a heart.”

Several Nobodies emerged from a rift out of the corridors.

“A heart? I have a heart? No one wants your nonsense!” Saïx raised his sword over Naminé—but Riku was there with Soul Eater to intercept the blow.

“Hmph. I don’t have time for these games.” Darkness welled from a rift behind Saïx. “Do your best to help your dear hero.” With that, he disappeared.

“Are you all right?” Riku helped Naminé to her feet.

“Now I understand…,” she murmured.

“Naminé…? You understand what?”

She was silent for a moment and quietly shook her head as she stood. “It’s nothing. We have to find Kairi.”

Despite having such a close bond with Lea as a kid, and desperately wanting a heart more than anyone, Saïx still never displayed any human emotion. There was supposed to be something very unusual about him.

“Looks strong,” Axel remarked from behind them.

“Yeah. He is,” Riku said, sinking into thought.

His heart is even stronger than his body. It’s exactly the kind of heart the organization wants…

“But someone that strong won’t just do whatever the organization says,” Naminé murmured.

“Well, this is their chance to show how persuasive they can be,” Axel said with a bitter smirk.

I don’t think Isa was ever really that great of a fighter. But his heart was stronger than his body (he’d probably be a good fighter if he had a Keyblade). And his strong heart is why he was targeted by the apprentices and became Subject X, Xehanort’s favorite lab rat.

Odr (pronounced “Oh-der,” from Old Norse Óðr, “ecstasy, inspiration, fury, frenzy;” sometimes shortened to Óð or “Od”) is an obscure, seldom-mentioned god. The Old Norse noun óðr means "mind", "soul" or "spirit".  

It is derived from a Proto-Germanic word *wōð- or *wōþ- and it is related to Gothic wôds ("raging", "possessed"), Old High German wuot ("fury" "rage, to be insane") and the Anglo-Saxon words wód ("fury", "rabies") and wóð ("song", "cry", "voice", "poetry", "eloquence"). Old Norse derivations include œði "strong excitation, possession". Ultimately these Germanic words are derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *wāt-, which meant "to blow (on), to fan (flames)", fig. "to inspire".

This backstory also fits with the Norse mythology-inspired concept of Saïx. Berserkers worked themselves up into a rage while focusing on something that gave them “divine inspiration”. They needed a purpose, which was typically Odin. Part of the mythology of berserkers is that they are possessed by animal spirits, like bears or wolves. The wolf is the traditional spirit guide of the hunter, warrior, and magician. The wolf represents a dual nature of nourishing and destruction. I think Saïx would be represented be a wolf (or werewolf).

In Celtic tradition, the Hare is sacred to the Goddess and is the totem animal of many lunar Goddesses - Hecate, Freyja, Selene, Anumati. Freyja is the wife of Odr. She is the headstrong Norse goddess of love, sensuality, and women’s mysteries, was also served by hare attendants. The nocturnal Hare, closely linked to the moon which dies every morning & is resurrected every evening, also represents Immortality & the rebirth of Nature in Spring. It is also a symbol of Abundance as the hare can conceive while pregnant.

On the other hand, I think Isa was possessed by the spirit of a rabbit when he fought. Unfortunately, wolves eat rabbits. Isa’s heart was swallowed by Xehanort’s.

Xemnas: As your flesh bears the sigil, so your name shall be known as that of a recusant.

It makes sense that Saïx was given his scar not long before receiving his new name and new purpose. The third eye chakra is located on the forehead between the eyebrows, exactly where Saïx’s scar is. The scar was something he apparently got as a human, since it stayed after he was recompleted, unlike Axel’s tear marks. The third eye governs one’s ability to think and make decisions, and their connection to their purpose. It also controls extra-sensory perception, which explains why Saïx could not see Xion.

Xemnas: A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement. Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.

Xemnas learned that the heart could not simply be banished. So, in order to create vessels, he resorted to controlling the mind and capturing the heart. This all happened during the experiments on the darkness of the heart.

Outside the window, the moon—the heart-shaped moon—floated. Axel watched it, still sprawled on his bed. There was still a little time before he had to leave on his mission.

To gather hearts, to have hearts of our own, to not let the heart mislead us…

For these past few days, I’ve been thinking about the meaning of Xemnas’ words. To not let the heart mislead us? What does that mean? Whenever I’m alone, these thoughts just float around in my head the whole time. I don’t know why I have to think so much about it. I bet the other Nobodies don’t.

The heart… emotions. I think about their origins. Contemplate it. Reason about it. When did I start doing this?

On Day 117 ~Secrets~, Axel was thinking about Xemnas’s speech before Saïx came in the room. He didn’t know what Xemnas was talking about when he said they wouldn’t let the heart “mislead” them.

Sora: So then, all that stuff I just saw--did you put that in my head?

Xigbar: No. That wasn't "stuff," it was a dream. The falling asleep part was definitely our bad. But we can't put stuff in your head. Hey, I got an idea. Ask your heart. See if it's got a clue. 

Sora: Well...my heart was aching. That's why I kept going. 

Xigbar: Oh... Thank you, Sora's heart, for pushing him right into our clutches. Aren't hearts great? Steer us wrong every time.

When Xigbar found Sora in KH3D, he said something very similar. 

Xemnas: However--through weakness of body...weakness of will...or weakness of trust--most of the original members we had chosen for the Organization were inadequate. Thus, naturally, they never had a chance to attain their goal. Yet, even this was to be expected. We have learned of the heart's folly, and we have achieved our other goals. This last excursion has proven to be a worthy closing assignment for the Organization.

And afterwards, Xemnas showed up and talked about the mind control experiments. He said that they’d learned of the heart’s folly and achieved their other goals. Saïx is no doubt a product of this. 

Day 355: Mind

Author: Xigbar

The gears of Xemnas' plans have begun to spin wild since the loss of half our membership at Castle Oblivion. The results are there, but can this state of affairs fairly be called a success? If Kingdom Hearts can be said to possess a mind of its own, it is surely rejecting Xemnas—no, rejecting Xehanort. Roxas left the Organization today.

Isa was “misled” by his heart, causing him a lot of pain, putting his heart to sleep. Then he got Norted. His mind and heart were replaced with Xehanort's. The same thing was almost done to Sora. He was going to be made into the 13th vessel by mentally fracturing him, and putting his heart to sleep, leaving him without a sense of self.

Xemnas: You seek answers. You feel nothing. Nothing is real. I can give you purpose.

Roxas: Roxas.

Xemnas: That is right–the new you.

Roxas received his new name along with his purpose soon after he was born. When Roxas was leaving the organization, he was rejecting that purpose. He was rejecting Xehanort. And Saïx was unusually angry about it. He even said similar things that Xemnas did, implying that the same thing was told to him when he received his new name and purpose. At that point, Isa's consciousness was gone.

Day 356: Unforeseen Events

Author: Saïx

Our plans never accounted for the possibility of both Xion and Roxas leaving. How did this come to pass? When did Roxas grow strong enough to outmuscle me? What were you really after, Lea? We joined the Organization at the same time, and formulated our plan. At this point, it's just an idle fantasy. Everything changed. You, and me.

Isa’s purpose was protecting Lea. His new purpose was to become stronger, since physically he probably wasn’t that strong. And his priorities drastically changed. He might not have any memory of receiving his purpose. Since he's a Nort, maybe he thought it was something he desired on his own.

Roxas: Yeah, but what is it? “The heart of all hearts”?

Xion: It’s where all the hearts you and I collect wind up.

Axel: Exactly. It’s because of you two and the Keyblade that we’re finally making some progress. We might finally get hearts of our own.

Xion: “The strength of the human heart is vast,” Xemnas said.

Roxas: Yeah, but what do we need with it?

In the prologue of the manga, Axel reminisced with both Roxas and Xion. They got their new names, then watched the sunset together. One of the panels included the scene of Xion questioning her purpose in the organization. Roxas questioned why they were fighting on Day 94, but accepted Axel’s explanation that they’d understand when they had hearts.

Xion: Roxas, why are we doing all this? Working for the Organization?

Roxas: What do you mean, why? So we can get hearts of our own, right?

Xion: Why? What do we need hearts for?

Roxas: I don’t know. But I figure once we have them, we’ll be in a better position to judge. Right?

Xion: Maybe. I just wish I knew what I was doing here.

Xion started questioning why she was fighting on Day 151, after she failed the mission with Riku and was called a failure. Roxas tried to cheer her up, but she ran off. All of this would eventually lead her to run away for good.

Axel ducked into the sweets shop. “One ice cream, please!”

“Here you go.”

Sea-salt ice cream in hand, he meandered toward the clock tower.

I wasn’t expecting to find Riku easily in the first place. I bet Saïx thought the same. But Saïx will probably pull that magnificently horrible face and have a nasty word or two to say if I state that ‘I couldn’t find him’, but then that’s Saïx’s ‘personality’. In short, Saïx pretending to be a human just involves just a whole lot of that kind of thing. It doesn’t mean that he himself is really feeling some kind of displeasure. That too is natural, seeing as he has no heart.

“This is so salty,” Axel muttered just like every time, biting his ice cream as he climbed the slope that led to the station.

After Xion ran off on Day 151, Axel showed up at the clock tower. Just after the scene where Xion ran off, there was an extra scene in the novel. Axel bought some ice cream and was thinking about Saïx’s “personality”.

Saïx heaved an exaggerated sigh. In a way, Saïx put more effort than any of them into pretending he had a heart, Axel thought. And yet, he was more lacking than any of them.

Axel remarked several times about Saïx’s lack of human emotion. He did it when he returned from Castle Oblivion on Day 72 ~Change~, when Saïx wasn’t worried about him or grateful to him.

After watching them go, Axel stretched and turned to Saïx, expecting to see a scowl. But the expression had left Saïx’s face, leaving him as dispassionate as usual.

Of course, he had been faking it in the first place. Nobodies had no hearts; they only imitated what emotions they remembered. The very proof of their emptiness showed how desperately they each longed for a heart. Axel probably did the same thing himself without noticing, and yet, for some reason, when Saïx did it—or actually, any of the others—it seemed so out of place.

Maybe because it makes me realize how much effort we put into acting like we’re still human, Axel thought. It’s pointless.

And he did it on Day 96, when he covered for Roxas and Xion so they could go to the Beast’s Castle together. In the manga, Axel said Saïx was like that from the start, so probably ever since he became a Nobody.

Xion: I’m remembering things. About who I was as a human.

Axel: Well, stop remembering. Nothing good will come of it.

Xion ran away on Day 255 because she wanted to know who she was. She wanted a real purpose, not just doing the organization’s bidding. Afterwards, Axel sat with Roxas and couldn’t break the news to him. I think he was remembering how Isa awakened to a new purpose, too. This coincided with his personality change and possibly him regaining his memories. Saïx’s purpose was to become stronger. After that, he became a totally different person. Axel’s biggest source of pain throughout Days was that he thought he would never see the Isa from his memories ever again. The Isa who existed before he awakened to a new purpose.

Axel: You really think the truth is going to make you feel better? It won’t.

Roxas: What makes you so sure? I have a right to know who I am! How did I get here? Why am I special? Where did I learn to use the Keyblade? I deserve those answers!

Axel: Roxas…

Roxas: Are you gonna tell me or not? Axel… Who am I?

The Isa who still loved him and whose purpose was protecting him. He was terribly lonely and was very upset when both Roxas and Xion started questioning who they were, because he knew he would lose them. They'd be destroyed. He had a very strong stance against them regaining their human memories. 

"Axel—please.”

“No ‘please’.”

“But… I…” For a second, Axel thought he saw Xion’s face become Sora’s again. He shook his head slowly. 

“You get it, don’t you, Axel? I can’t live like this.”

“There should be a way for you to keep living as yourself.” Xion pushed Axel back with the Keyblade, jumped back, and readied her stance.

“That’s a lie. On top of this, I don’t want to be used by the Organization for such a thing. I hate that Roxas is being used by the Organization.”

“So do I.”

Axel couldn’t bear to tell Roxas that he might never see Xion again after she left. It’s probably due to what happened to Isa. Subject X was an amnesiac. He probably started to regain his memories, which started after becoming self-aware and telling Lea why the sunset was red. That was the beginning of the end. His heart began to gradually get swallowed by Xehanort. Lea had to witness his friend become a completely different person over time. He was reliving that experience with Xion.

[nadziejastar]

Terra: I just-- When I really need you, Ven, I know you'll be there.

Ven: Well, why wouldn't I? You're my friend.

Terra: Yeah. You're right. Thanks, Ven.

Yeah, Terra’s reunion certainly fared a lot better than Lea and Isa’s. It wasn’t perfect, but it wasn’t a travesty, lol. One of my sisters said it was her favorite part, and we both got a bit teary. She never liked Terra that much, but changed her mind with his reunion scene. Personally, I loved Terra the moment I saw him escort Cinderella to the ball and he bowed to her, like a gentleman. When BBS was first announced, I didn’t expect to like Terra that much. I thought he was going to be very serious and stiff. But I found him so adorable. Like when he called Merlin “Your Elderness”. That was so cute. I mean, he was trying to be respectful.

I thought it was kinda silly that Terranort was actually fighting with those chains, like they were just a physical weapon. I’m pretty sure those chains were supposed to be metaphysical “chains of memory”, lol. Sora may not have had a place in that fight, and we didn’t get to see Ventus use the power of waking, but at least all of the most important themes were kept intact. It didn’t build suspense for something and then totally change directions at the last minute, like with Lea. And Terra actually had a moment of glory to save his best friends.

Terra: There's darkness within me... So what does that matter? I know I'm strong enough to hold it back.

Terra’s Keyblade was called “Ends of the Earth”. He wanted to return to the land he battled Xehanort to set things right. He’d go to any lengths for his friends. Terra was earth-based. His Heartless was the Guardian. The main theme of Terra as a Guardian of Light was “strength”. He was trying to hold back the darkness in him by getting stronger physically. 

Terra: I'm not afraid of what the darkness holds now. Even if you do wrest control of my heart from me--even if you cast me into the deepest, darkest abyss--you'll never sway me from the one cause that pushes me to keep on fighting. Whatever the cost, I'm ready to pay it.

Each Disney world he went to contributed to this theme. Once he started to listen to his heart, he realized that he was gaining power at the expense of his friendships. That was actually causing his heart to become weaker, and fueling his darkness. 

Terra: Funny... This whole time I've been telling myself I want to be stronger, more independent... But the second I let my heart do the talking... I find out how little I really know myself. And how much I miss them.

It was Ven reminding him of his promise that awakened Terra’s heart at the Keyblade Graveyard. I think it was important that Ventus was the one to save Terra because it was a role reversal. 

Terra: Relax, Ven. We're here and we're gonna take care of you.

Ven: I may have to fight Vanitas after all. If I do, guys... I want you to--

Terra: The three of us can never be torn apart, all right? I'll always find a way.

Terra never wanted to admit it, but he needed to feel taken care of too. I don’t talk about this enough, but I truly love Terra, and not being able to see the story of how he became an apprentice really disappointed me. I think that since Terra was the main personality at the beginning, it affected Ansem the Wise’s decision to try and restore his memory. Terra would have been completely sincere and genuine, wanting to remember his past. Then the Xehanort side woke up. It’s not surprising why Ansem felt such betrayal. I can easily imagine him becoming very close to Terra, because he’s so sincere and innocent. Then he changed into a completely different person. I really wish we could have seen that. 

Terra: Strength for what?

Riku: To protect the things that matter. You know, like my friends.

Ansem/Terra was a wasted opportunity. So was Riku/Terra. Riku helped Terra see that strength is about protecting those you love. He was the one who gave Riku his Keyblade. They had a very important relationship. Unfortunately, the relationship between Terra and Riku also got completely ignored in KH3. It was a huge disappointment for me, because that was actually one of the things I was excited about the most. I wasn’t even quite sure if Riku was aware that the missing Keyblade wielder they were looking for was the same guy who gave him the Keybalde as a kid. You think he would have told Mickey that he met Terra, but nope. They didn’t have time for Riku and Terra to exchange a single word. God, I was so pissed.

Terra: Yep, hard to believe there are so many worlds out there besides our own. The light is their hearts, and it's shining down on us like a million lanterns.

Ven: What? I don't get it.

Terra: In other words, they're just like you, Ven.

But at the very least, the scene of Terra’s reunion with his friends seemed to be left mostly intact from how it was originally envisioned. TAV came full circle. They spent the last night together under the light of the stars, which is what their wayfinders were shaped like. Terra’s friends were always lighting his way back, just like the stars. His reunion was one of the highlights of KH3 for me. There was a feeling of sincerity there that was totally absent from Lea and Isa’s awful reunion. 

Xehanort: Oh? So that's how it is, is it? Someone else has set foot in your heart. Eraqus, you sly fox...

I know a lot of people were put off by Eraqus telling Terra to take care of Ventus and Aqua. I understand why. But I feel like we were probably supposed to get a lot more development to Eraqus being inside Terra’s heart. Eraqus and Terra’s final scene just depressed the shit out of me because the last scene they had together was Terra helping Xehanort kill him. I still got the feeling that Terra hadn’t forgiven himself and his relationship with Eraqus was damaged. He acted more happy to see Xehanort than Terra, so it made me sad.

Lingering Will: That’s it. Your power. That’s what I felt within you. The power that connects to Aqua. And to Ven’s heart.

Terra: Where am I...?

Naminé: In your memories. Traces of you were lost, so I found you through memories belonging to those you’ve met in the past.

Terra: Who are you?

Naminé: I’m Naminé. It’s nice to meet you. I’m a witch who can control people’s memories.

Terra: A witch?

Naminé: Right now, you’re bound to two memories. One belongs to an unspeakable darkness---

I was also a little confused by Terra telling Ventus that he “found him”. I didn’t remember Ven ever specifically promising Terra that he’d find him. Sadly, I get the feeling that this promise was something we were supposed to see in BBSV2. Terra was very emotional when he said this. When Ven said he kept his promise, I also think that was referring to this other promise. And Ven was crying, too. 

Terra: ...Master Xehanort.

Naminé: Your heart will soon encounter a familiar light. You must make sure she isn’t lost to the darkness. You must guide her.

Terra: Her? You mean Aqua? I’m not sure what I can do to help, not like this.

Naminé: You must fight, Terra, like the others. You mustn’t let your heart melt into darkness; follow your true memories, and you’ll reach the light. She’s headed there too---to the same place. You must believe in your promise, just as she continues to believe in you.

Terra: Aqua, Ven. One day I’ll---I’ve never forgotten our promise. Never. I will keep fighting.

I think it must have been a promise made when Terra was already lost in darkness, unlike the original one in Radiant Garden. I feel like there was supposed to be a more fleshed out subplot with the Lingering Will and Terra being able to communicate with both Aqua and Ven’s hearts, which is why Nomura felt compelled to show off this one scene of dialogue at an orchestra of all places. He originally said BBSV2 would tell the story of not just Aqua, but all three. And that lack of build up did make the reunion less impactful than it should have been.

[nadziejastar]

— Was Kairi’s arrival to Destiny Islands a coincidence or fate? It’s both. I was not able to illustrate it in the story itself. It is a delicate subject whether or not it is okay to talk about her life situation, but Ansem himself sent out Kairi from Hollow Bastion. The reason why he sent out Kairi was to find the Keyblade. In the End of the The World’s prison, there is evidence that is left behind. Ansem believed that the young princess would end up where the Keyblade was no matter what. Thus the event of Kairi joining Sora and Riku is a coincidence and fate.

— The King seems to come in contact with Kairi, the heroine from Kingdom Hearts I.

Because the story takes place before Kingdom Hearts I, the part about Kairi couldn’t be ignored. However, the cause for her going to Destiny Island and her detailed history are not revealed. It draws on the mysterious special existence.

— Why did Kairi end up with Sora and Riku? It has to do with Aqua’s “magic”. Nine years before KH, Kairi was thrust into the outside world, and found herself on Sora and Riku’s world. Ansem Seeker of Darkness thought that she had been able to search for a Keyblade wielder, but what actually saved her was the magic spell Aqua had put on her.

Well, if there is supposed to be a connection between Skuld and Xion, I imagine it would involve Kairi being experimented on at the same time Skuld was. This was something Nomura mentioned a long time ago. 

Young Xehanort: To move through time, you must leave your body behind. Ansem first sent me on my way, and then placed himself here when the time was right. That was what set all these events in motion.

Sora: What are you saying? That he knew everything that would happen?

Young Xehanort: No, not everything. But remember, Ansem possessed Riku and saw his experiences in real time.

Sora: So? That could only tell him so much. How did he know I would be here today?

Young Xehanort: Simple.

(There is a loud boom and a gust of wind. Kairi's form flies out of the Secret Place)

Sora: Kairi!

And it got hinted at in KH3D, but it never amounted to anything. I’m not sure if it ever will either, because the plot seems to have taken a totally different path from the one that was planned before. Kairi was being experimented on because Xehanort wanted her to lead him to the Keyblade wielder, which she apparently did. But...the Xehanort Saga is totally over and the story now seems to be entirely focused on new stuff, like Subject X’s memories and the return of the foretellers. I don’t even think Kairi has a role in this particular new subplot.

Ansem's Report 11

If the princesses and the Keyblade are connected, they should resonate. I've chosen a girl. I don't know if she holds the princesses' powers, but I will find out. She may lead me to the key bearer. I shall set her free and observe.

Ansem's Report 12

The body is gone; the heart should have returned to the Heartless. And yet, nothing. This one is unlike any other. Its memories remain and it has yet to take the form of a Heartless. A close eye must be kept on the situation. Much is still unknown.

But Kairi did leave her body behind according to these reports. So, I guess she gained some ability to time travel that was supposed to be important. Maybe that area with the six pods is where it happened. To tell the truth, I doubt that there is any real connection between Skuld and Xion, because I honestly don’t think the new plot was planned in advance for very long, nor do I think it is very well thought out. For instance, I don’t think Skuld was planned to be Subject X for very long at all.

Who are the thirteen researchers of darkness?

Thirteen seekers of darkness that share a consciousness and heart with Master Xehanort, serving as raw material for the X-Blade.

What happens to the hearts of those who have had Master Xehanort’s heart planted within them? They’ll gradually be swallowed by it. As for Master Xehanort, he plans to control them completely. The planted parts of the heart are captured rather than disappear.

“X” was the letter added to the organization members’ names because Xemnas planned to turn them all into vessels without telling them, once they completed Kingdom Hearts. The experiments involved mind control to create vessels. That was very important to the original plot, which had been building up for many years. Skuld doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the subplot of creating vessels.

The Real Organization XIII

A new Organization under Master Xehanort’s direct command. It comprises the thirteen pure darknesses he needs to reenact the Keyblade War. Many members are recognizable from the old Organization. Despite regaining their humanity after their defeat, they chose to become Nobodies again. They now scour the worlds for candidates to complete their numbers.

Creating vessels seemed to be entirely dropped as a concept in KH3. All the organization members were apparently volunteers (yeah, whatever). I think Skuld took Isa’s role in the story, and they simply changed a few details around. Once they decided to scrap the original story that had been planned, they just reused the discarded concepts in a rather lazy way. The direction the series is going is like a Frankenstein of old recycled concepts from the unfinished Xehanort Saga and KHUX stuff. So, my expectations for it are not very high.

— Does Xion have anything to do with Birth by Sleep?

I think although many people want Xion to come back once more, I’m afraid to say that it’s difficult.

— Though he’s a member of Organization XIII, Axel is shown in the end of KH Re:coded in the memories of “pain”…

Since healing the necessary “pain” of Axel’s is different than with other people, if he is revived he will take a form like Xehanort’s. In the end of the story, Namine says, “Those whose memories are sleeping inside Sora need relief.” In the KH BbS secret cutscene “Blank Points”, certain characters call out to Sora, however in that scene Axel is the only one who appears and doesn’t say Sora’s name out loud.

In that case, do the characters we see in that scene have a chance of returning? Yes. The data that Ansem has hidden within Sora is the secret to that revival. When Ansem had become DiZ, and studied the heart and emotions, the results he found he hid within Sora. There are a lot of people who thought that Coded was about finding those results, but that’s not true. The ending of Coded was about finding out that DiZ had done something to Sora, as Namine said, finding out about the data that Ansem hid. What that data is will be revealed in the next game. Two more games aside from KHIII are in the works

Secret Report 3: Experiments of the Heart – Notes on Subject X, Excerpt 1

After his initial experiments on me, Ansem the Wise ceased his research into the heart, his hand stayed by some fear I cannot fathom. Yet this new subject is like me: devoid of memories. She is the perfect sample upon which to continue my master's work. She, too, could benefit from it; by traversing the heart, we have a direct path into memory. I myself have begun to reclaim my lost past thanks to these very experiments.

And Xion was obviously meant to serve a completely different purpose in the original plot. It’s why her final boss form was wearing armor that looked like No Heart. She wasn’t supposed to be her own character. That’s why she was said to be Kairi as Sora remembered her. I also don’t think Xion was planned to come back until very late, either. In the secret ending of BBSFM, Kairi was looking at the haunted mansion and the next scene has a similar shot of Sora’s face while Ansem was putting his data into him, implying a connection between these two scenes. Like Hayner, Pence, and Olette, Kairi was supposed to get back her memories back in order to revive Xion. That’s why Nomura said only Axel was supposed to be revived in a physical form, like Xehanort’s. The implication is that Xion, Roxas, and Naminé weren’t. 

I presume Kairi would also gain her memories from her time in Radiant Garden back, giving her even more of a connection to Lea and Isa, and the plot in general. Xion had no relevance anymore. She took Isa’s role in the final battle by rescuing Lea from Xemnas. And then she took Kairi’s role in the fight. There was no room for her in KH3′s plot so she had to take other characters’ spots. That shows how little planning there was to include her. The Keyblade Graveyard fights were conceptualized MANY years in advance, and Xion was never imagined to be there. There was only planned to be 7 Guardians of Light at the end. Bringing her back was just fanservice, nothing more. It’s why DLC needed to be created to explain her return. It wasn’t able to be incorporated into the main story, because she wasn’t supposed to be there. 

Will we see any new Final Fantasy characters?

For a while the previous titles in Kingdom Hearts didn’t have any Final Fantasy characters and I think it’s time to include some.

It didn’t sound like Nomura had any problems considering FF characters when the game was first announced back in 2013.

"But the reason you haven't been shown any Final Fantasy characters is that there are so many original characters that need to resolve their own problems and issues. And because their issues and problems are very difficult, there just hasn't been that much space to fit Final Fantasy characters so far." 

“It was simply that there was no room. There were so many characters appearing in the main story that in the end I wasn't able to create opportunities to use the FF characters. Although, I did have the team make polygon models of Leon and some others just in case. They also made the Fairy Godmother from Cinderella and a few others, but by the end I just couldn't find a place to use them. The production staff were mad at me.”

But then he said he couldn’t include them because there were too many characters. It honestly sounds like he wasn’t expecting to have so many characters to deal with in KH3 when it was first announced. He became confused when he was writing the story because of it. He couldn’t even keep track of who has met who, which is a pretty shocking claim to make about a story that he’s supposed to be passionate about. 

I think the main reason Xion, Roxas, and Naminé came back was so they could make DLC packs with them and make more money. That’s all. I wouldn’t be surprised if Nomura was forced by the higher ups to bring them back, even though he didn’t want to. So, from a plot perspective, I wouldn’t expect very much regarding Xion beyond contrived nonsense.