#alter: data riku

[system-of-a-feather]

Me: You know if we are polyfragmented its strange we never had one of those 'frayed' splits where a part splits into multiple parts

Chunn: Well I found a Third Data a few days ago

Another Data: Hey I just got here, we talking about another Data? *squints eyes at me* Wait am I not riku

Me: no, cause Im Riku

Another Data: lol ok then who am I, am I Chunn

Chunn: no, I'm Chunn

Another Data: Well Im not original or new Data soooo

Chunn: and you are obligatorily feminine which is none of us

Another Data: good point and-

Me: *banging my head against a wall* WHY DID HE SPLIT INTO FOUR AND COUNTING

[mattapparentlystumbltourneys]

BRACKET REVEAL

Alright. At long last, I present to you the bracket...or should I say...*BRACKETS* for the Virtual Character Tournament!

Given the scale, the first round is going to be one bracket per week, 4 a day, with each lasting 24 hours. I know that this is still tight, but given how many contestants there are, along with the necessary inclusions of images and propaganda (oh and I guess also my job), it's what I can do to keep this semi-manageable. There's also no redemption round this time. It's gonna be a single elimination tournament. Be kind to your peers. This is not but a drop in the infinite ocean of the internet.

...oh yeah the brackets themselves. We'll be going in order over the course of 4 weeks. I'll make proper announcements for them as they commence. Given how many there are and what I want to get done beforehand, Bracket 1 will likely begin some time this week. But for the matchups...

Bracket 1:

Hatsune Miku (Vocaloid) vs. Elohim (The Talos Principle)

Flame (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRains) vs. The Supervisor/Mouthless (Tenkuu Shinpan)

XANA (Code Lyoko) vs. MetalMan.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network)

9-Jack-9 (Zot!) vs Poppy Pipopapo (Kamen Rider Ex Aid)

Sage (Sonic Frontiers) vs Mektryllis (Fate/Extra CCC)

Dot Matrix (Reboot) vs V Flower (Vocaloid)

Wizardmon (Digimon) vs Delta (Red Vs. Blue)

Sora (Ever17) vs Kasane Teto (UTAU)

The Doctor/EMH (Star Trek Voyager) vs Crash (Awful Hospital)

Burroughs (Shin Megami Tensei IV) vs Quorra (Tron Legacy)

The Machine (Person of Interest) vs The Rocket Dex (Pokemon)

P03 (Inscription) vs. M.X.E.S (FNAF Security Breach: Ruins)

Hakuno Kishinami (Fate/EXTRA) vs Data Riku (Kingdom Hearts)

Samaritan (Person of Interest) vs ART (The Murderbot Diaries)

Cortana (Halo) vs M-Bot (Skyward)

Mitsuko Miyazumi (Archer) vs Ritsu (Assassination Classroom)

Bracket B:

Ene (Kagerou Project) vs The Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe)

Amadeus (Steins; Gate 0) vs D.O.M (The Adventure Zone)

AM (I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream) vs Theo (Meta Runner)

Colonel.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network) vs Daia (Kiratto PriChan)

Agumon (Digimon) vs The Bobbiedots (FNAF Fazbear Frights)

Felix the Desktop Cat (Real Life) vs SHODAN (System Shock)

MegaMan.EXE (Mega Man Battle Network) vs Church (Red vs. Blue)

Shepherd (ENA) vs Dr. Coomer (Half Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware)

Sophie/Sophia (Persona 5 Strikers) vs Dizzy (Beyblade)

Miss J/SCP 5094 (SCP) vs Ultraman X (Ultraman X)

SAYU (No Straight Roads) vs Falulu (Pripara)

Incarceron (Incarceron) vs Benry (Half Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware)

Lea (Crosscode) vs Kiracchu (Kiratto PriChan)

Dragon (Prahumans) vs Murder-Bot 2.0 (The Murderbot Diaries)

Ai (Yu-Gi-Oh! VRains) vs Glitch Slime (Slime Rancher)

Eris (Wolf 359) vs Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club)

Bracket III:

Hera (Wolf 359) vs Shin AI (Your Turn to Die)

Alba (Star Twinkle Pretty Cure) vs The Denpa Men (The Denpa Men)

Guy (Free Guy) vs EDI (Mass Effect)

Aetna (Lore Olympus) vs Yui (Sword Art Online)

Nicole the Holo-Lynx (Archie Sonic) vs Gabumon (Digimon)

Jacqueline Box (Pripara) vs Mamechi (Tamagotchi)

Vanellope von Shweetz (Wreck-It Ralph) vs Cleverbot (Real Life)

The Phantom Virus (Scooby-Doo) vs Chiaki Nanami (Danganronpa)

Alter Ego (Danganronpa) vs Digit (Cyberchase)

Simulcast (Reflection TTRPG) vs SARA (Toonami)

Lumina Ichihoshi (Dig Delight Direct Drive DJ) vs The World Machine (OneShot)

Rumble McSkirmish (Gravity Falls) vs Holly (Red Dwarf)

HAL 9000 (2001: A Space Odyssey) vs Samantha (Her)

PAMA (Minecraft Story Mode) vs Noah Kaiba (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

Agent Smith (The Matrix) vs O.R.C.A (Splatoon)

Spunc (Alpha Betas) vs Porygon (Pokemon)

Bracket Delta:

GIFanny (Gravity Falls) vs Coco (Aikatsu Friends)

Vic Fontaine (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) vs Red One (The Last Angel)

Glitchtrap (FNAF Help Wanted) vs Holo (My Holo Love)

Avina (Mass Effect) vs Light Hope (She-Ra)

Motherboard (Cyberchase) vs Aya (Green Lantern: The Animated Series)

Bonzi Buddy (Real Life) vs Tama (AI The Somnium Files)

Dragon (Worm) vs Bip (Runway to the Stars)

Failsafe (Destiny) vs J.A.R.V.I.S (Marvel Cinematic Universe)

Aiba (AI: The Somnium Files) vs CanHaz (DC Comics)

SAYER (SAYER) vs Fey (Welcome to Night Vale)

Buddy (Buddy Simulator 1984) vs Ziggy (Quantum Leap)

Maggy (Hellspark) vs The Squip (Be More Chill)

Lyla (Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse) vs Durandal (Marathon)

Beta Jay 137 (Ninjago) vs Zero III (Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward)

Sergey Ushanka (The Magnus Archines) vs Demetra (Spy Kids 3: GAME OVER)

Alie (The 100) vs Lil' Hal (Homestuck)

As always, thank you for bearing with me during this long and arduous process. Sorry for the hassle, and be prepared, as it is almost upon us.

[runabout-river]

Do you mind if I ask your top 10 favorite characters (can be male or female) from all of the media that you loved (can be anime/manga, books, movies or tv series)? And why do you love them? Sorry if you've answered this question before.....Thanks....

Hohohoho, this list is going to be colourful.

Favorite character in Demon Slayer but only after his backstory was revealed and he got to shine in the future season 4. He's a little crazy, has a cool design, a sad backstory and is absolutely loyal (to the people he doesn't hate). I actually have a fic planned about him (in the far future) where he gets turned into half a demon as a child.

Kai Hiwatari from Beyblade, an oldie here. Cool design, cold personality, hidden depth, intriguing backstory. You won't believe how many fic I've read as a teen about his forgotten past in Russia where he had to grow up in an abusive abbey.

Ling Xiaoyu from Tekken. Not because of her backstory obviously, that's barely existent, but because she's the character I learned all the movesets to. Even years later, every time I get to play the game, my muscle memory activates and I perform her best moves on the spot.

Zack Fair from Crisis Core. I played that game in school between classes. Absolutely love him and his personality even though he's the opposite of the characters I normaly like. That's most likely because the world of FFVII:CC is already gloomy enough without an equally gloomy protagonist. Honorouble mention goes to Terra from KH:BBS.

Texas form Red vs. Blue. I'm guessing that most people from the animanga community have no idea about RvB or only ever heard of it in passing while they watch RWBY. But the series (not the latest seasons or whatever goes on there) holds a special place in my heart. For everyone interested, this is the episode that got me hooked, featuring Texas and Monty Oum's animation, and this is the complete first season on Youtube (made with ingame graphics).

Dr Bashir from ST:DS9. Is attractive, passionate, a little silly often times and has a tragic/intriguing backstory. I always love seening him on screen. Between TNG, VOY and DS9 he's my favorite with Data and Chakotey coming next.

Nightwing (and Robin) from DC comics. I was a fan of Teen Titans, then of Young Justice, then of the comic books and now I have two stacks of graphic novels on the shelfs. I couldn't keep up with the comics anymore, but Nightwing is here to stay. Jason was the runner up.

Heroes of Might and Magic 3. Yeah it's not a character but saying Shakti from the Dungeon doesn't mean much here. I was introduced to this game by my uncle while a kid and even in university I found my first friends by talking about this ancient game. Nearly didn't start writing fanfic because I was just about have another months long playing session with this.

Roronoa Zoro from One Piece. He's awesome and the epitome of cool while still a victim of extremely goofy scenes. He's cool headed, has bloodlust, is reserved and also passionate and loyal. I've watched One Piece since the first episode aired in Germany. This guy is part of my DNA.

Riku from Kingdom Hearts. Every KH fan will tell you that playing these games will alter your brain chemistry. Not necessarily in a good way but they still shake your world upside down. Riku has good character development throughout the games and I like his design, his cool demeaner and his drive to help his friends.

I kept JJK characters out of this list of course becuase I already talk about them constantly, and I definitely forgot entire series and movies and whatnot while thinking of these characters but these ones were the first on my mind so there.

[keybladeboy]

Well I don't just mean the drive forms. I also mean the magic Donald used so you could shape shift! M!a- You get to have the shape shifting magics again! Small caveat, like the other magics you gotta train yourself to do better and longer forms of glamour.

𝐎𝐁𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 [Drive Forms: Valor, Wisdom, Limit] 𝐎𝐁𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐃 [World Forms: Lion, Merman, Retro, Data, Toy, Vampire / Christmas, Pirate, Monster]

instinctually, sora knows his abilities have been altered. he doesn't dare test them, not yet. honestly, he's just sitting on the couch. he doesn't want to scare strelitzia while they're enjoying a movie (or god forbid yozora, he might shoot him again) when it really hits him. and indeed, it happens all at once, the feeling of his magic power increasing trifold. it's almost too much — but it's as exciting as it is scary.

it's a feeling he typically chocks up to adrenaline, or donald deeming him worthy of more responsibility, or even the natural evolution of his practical experience. back when things made sense, he'd feel that gut churning after taking down some gargantuan heartless in a strange world he'd only just started exploring. this new lost trio he's found himself in — he, strelitzia, and yozora — haven't encountered that many heartless in the year he's been here, so it honestly leaves him wondering where this sudden burst of power came from. why now? what changed? maybe later, when strelitzia is sound asleep and yozora is off doing... whatever he does at night, sora can explore the city and test his abilities to their ( current ) full extent. sora doesn't like keeping secrets... but it would be hard to explain this sudden burst of magic power. it's not like he'd be able to adequately explain, anyway — someone online did it... maybe? they'd think he's officially lost it. he already won't stop yapping about his old friends, ten times as much as they do. ( strelitzia may find his rambling entertaining, at least. ) distantly, sora wonders if it's the result of his friends reaching out to him in their own ways. maybe they're helping him in spirit, if not in person. is it donald, continuing to protect him with his strong magic? is it yen sid, trying to help him find his way back? is it kairi, ensuring her light shines through to him like it did before? is it riku, using his new strength as a keyblade master to push past the boundaries of the worlds to ensure he's safe? ( he tries not to dwell on all the questions in his head, but admittedly it does help him sleep that night; no matter who is responsible, at the very least, he will be better equipped to protect the people in this strange new world he's in. )

[khtrinityftw]

Translation:

VEXEN - Weapon: Shield / Attribute: Ice

A veteran Organization member dispatched to the basement of Castle Oblivion. He enjoys controlling the power of ice and collecting data on his opponents while protecting himself with a giant shield. When he found out that Sora and Riku had come to Castle Oblivion, he plotted to use Riku to thwart Marluxia's plot against Sora. However, this was used against him and he was manipulated by the other Organization members, and was eliminated as a traitor.

Image 1: He is extremely enthusiastic about experiments and research, and cannot help but check out anything that interests him.

Image 2: Although he considers himself a scholar, he is short-tempered and narrow-minded, which leads to him being ridiculed by Larxene.

Image 3: He considers combat to be a part of his research, and hides behind a shield that imbues him with the power of ice, attacking as if to test his opponents.

Image 4: He seems to be very particular about his number within the Organization, and often acts like a senior to those with lower numbers.

VEXEN TIMELINE:

-After banishing Ansem the Wise alongside his five fellow disciples, he was born as a Nobody and began preparing for experimentation in Castle Oblivion.

-He senses that Sora and Riku have appeared at Castle Oblivion, where he was dispatched, and shows an interest in Riku.

-He creates Riku Replica from the data he obtains from a match with Riku, and has him fight against Sora but ends up failing.

-Encouraged by Marluxia, he goes head-to-head with Sora but is defeated. He is dealt the final blow by Axel and disappears.

SORA TIMELINE:

-Invited by Marluxia, he arrives at Castle Oblivion, where his memories are altered by Namine.

-Riku battles Vexen on the 11th basement floor of Castle Oblivion and data is collected.

-Defeats Vexen on the 11th floor of Castle Oblivion.

LEXAEUS - Weapon: Axe Sword / Attribute: Earth

A veteran member of the Organization, he is a large man who was dispatched to the basement of Castle Oblivion. He freely uses the power of earth and is skilled at fighting in a powerful way that suits his large physique. He has a strict personality and prefers to show his will through actions rather than words. In case Sora falls into Marluxia's hands, he tries to make Riku obey him, but is defeated by Ansem who has taken control of Riku's body.

Image 1: As his rough appearance suggests, he values actions over words, and tries to subdue Riku by force.

Image 2: He has a calm and collected temperament and does not rush into things, but rather tries to access the situation first.

Image 3: He swings his giant axe sword with ease and mercilessly crushes his enemies.

Image 4: In order to deal with the situation where Marluxia gets his hands on Sora, he tries to get Riku in his hands, but is defeated.

LEXAEUS TIMELINE:

-After banishing Ansem the Wise alongside his five fellow disciples, he was born as a Nobody and began preparing for experimentation in Castle Oblivion.

-He is dispatched to Castle Oblivion, where he conducts research on the heart and memory alongside Vexen and Zexion.

-He senses that Sora and Riku have appeared at Castle Oblivion, and is suspicious of Marluxia's actions, so he watches over the situation.

-He tries to forcefully recruit Riku into his group, but is killed in return and disappears.

SORA TIMELINE:

-Invited by Marluxia, he arrives at Castle Oblivion, where his memories are altered by Namine.

-Riku engages in combat with Lexaeus, temporarily awakening the Ansem within him.

KH2FM Ultimania: Vexen + Lexaeus.

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

Re:MIND Made the Meteor Shower from CoM Relevant Again

There’s one scene from Re:MIND that has been driving me crazy since it came out and I haven’t really seen anyone talk about it.

When Demyx arrives at the Keyblade Graveyard to retrieve the replica for Naminé, Riku tells him the vessel is filled with “important memories”.

When I first heard this, I thought, (“lmao why is riku so expressive?”) “What is Riku talking about? What ‘important memories’?”

Well, the only memories Riku could be talking about are Repliku’s memories, right? This makes sense when you think about how Riku and Repliku had that talk on the beach, in which Repliku references his promise to Naminé. Remember that Repliku had his heart broken by Naminé in CoM which wiped him clean of all of his memories except for the fake memories Naminé imprinted on him, including the meteor shower promise (which I’ll get back to in a minute). This means he would only have the fake memories and memories of the events preceding his heart being broken. Repliku mentions this himself at the end of CoM:

Riku Replica: Not Riku. I’m a fake. I can’t remember why i was created or where or when... All that’s inside of me— is time with you and  Naminé. But I know those memories are not real.

(source)

Thus, if Repliku did leave behind his memories in the replica, it would make sense for Riku to call them “important” since he understood how special Naminé was to him. 

So let’s run on the assumption that Repliku left his memories inside the replica after he disappeared. From a meta perspective, what does this serve? Why would Nomura hint that Repliku’s memories were inside that replica and now they’re with Naminé?

One possibility is that Naminé may be able to use those memories to bring back Repliku. This seems unlikely, however. For one, Repliku’s goodbye was pretty definitive. He was okay with disappearing if it meant Naminé could have a body. Moreover, a whole year has gone by at the end of Re:MIND and we more or less know what every character was up to during that year and yet there’s no mention of Repliku. If the meta purpose of having those memories in Naminé’s replica was to bring back Repliku, why didn’t they do it during that year? It seemed that putting Naminé and the rest of the organization in replicas was easy enough. Moreover, it doesn’t seem to matter that they only have memories to reconstructure Repliku because people can be reconstructed from Data, a source similar to memories (Data seems to be based on memories, anyway).

So… Naminé has Repliku’s memories… but it’s not to bring back Repliku?

But then the question remains, why hint that Repliku’s memories are now with Naminé?

Well, let’s think about the content of those memories. Like I said, Repliku’s memories would consist of the fake memories Naminé implanted in him, including the meteor shower promise, and his memories of events after his heart was broken. As I’m sure you remember, the meteor shower promise played a key role in CoM. To summarize, both Sora and Repliku believed that they had made a promise to protect Naminé on the night of the meteor shower and this leads to antagonism between the two (that and Repliku being angry that Sora is constantly trying to “worm” his way into his heart). We are meant to believe that the meteor shower memory is just made up by Naminé, but that doesn’t seem likely, especially when you consider how Naminé’s memory manipulation works.

I put stress on the word manipulation because that seems to be what Naminé does. She manipulates preexisting memories by messing with their links, moving, removing, and inserting things into the chain as she sees fit. This means Naminé could manipulate true memories and not just manufacture them. She actually explains this to Sora and the gang at the end of CoM:

Naminé: Of course. It’s my fault, after all. I took people and memories that re inside Sora’s heart... and little by little, I replaced them with false memories.

Donald: Hey... What about Sora’s promise?

Naminé: Made up. It was fake. Sora never really promised me anything. me being with him on the islands— that was a lie, just like everything else. We never met. I was never Sora’s friend—

Sora: And you were never anything more— either...

Naminé: No. You see, in all of your memories, I was never really there.

(another scene)

Naminé: When you remember one thing, that leads to remembering another— and then another and then another. Our memories are connected. Many pieces are linked together like they’re in a chain— that makes up each of us. I don’t actually erase any memories— just take apart links and rearrange them. You still have all your memories.

(source) 

For instance, this promise obviously occurred during a meteor shower. The only confirmed meteor shower we know of on the Islands was the night that Kairi arrived (reference). Since Kairi came on that night, it is, for obvious reasons, very unlikely Sora made the promise to her. Moreover, let us consider that Repliku was made using Riku’s memories. Naminé tells Repliku this in the CoM novel (please excuse my notes lol).

This suggests that the way Naminé’s memory manipulation works is that she takes pre existing memories and inserts herself within them, making false memories. If this is true, then we can imply that the meteor shower promise was actually something Sora experienced with someone.

This isn’t a new theory, of course. Most prominently, Blowingoffsteam2 suggested that the meteor shower was a real memory in this post. They also suggest that Sora shared this memory with Riku, which if this is a real memory, would make the most sense.

For instance, this promise obviously occurred during a meteor shower. The only confirmed meteor shower we know of on the Islands was the night that Kairi arrived (reference). Since Kairi came on that night, it is, for obvious reasons, very unlikely Sora made the promise to her. Moreover, let us consider that Repliku was made using Riku’s memories. Naminé tells Repliku this in the CoM novel (please excuse my notes lol).

(pg. 357)

This suggests that Riku also had a memory of the meteor shower, which was implanted in Repliku. This suggests that the meteor shower that exists within Naminé’s replica (as in the replica she takes for herself at the end of 3)  is Riku’s version of the meteor shower memory. Sora had his own version of the memory that was altered by Naminé. The fact that this memory was taken from Riku is also consistent with the CoM poems, specifically written by Nomura, which appear at the end of Sora and Riku’s stories. In Riku’s poem, it talks about a “forgotten promise”.

Beyond the path without you

is a forgotten promise to keep.

We may have walked side by side,

but now we go back to back.

And though our paths may not cross,

all paths are connected somewhere.

When I arrive at where you are,

we may not appear to be as we were...

But we’ll make another promise to keep.

(source)

Seeing as Repliku may have his memory of the meteor shower, it would make sense that Riku forgot this “promise”. All of this evidence suggests that if the promise did in fact take place, it would have had to occur between Sora and Riku as Steam suggests.

Alright, so now that we have all of this information, let’s try to organize some conclusions. The main conclusion we can make is that it appears Naminé is once again in possession of Riku’s version of the meteor shower scene.

But the question still stands… Why would Nomura bring all of this up? What’s the purpose?

Well, let’s consider how powerful the meteor shower memory is. It’s so powerful that even after Repliku accepts that the memory isn’t his, he still believes Naminé is his most precious person and he’s willing to sacrifice himself so she can have a body again.

If the memory were to return to Riku, what would happen? Could it help bring Sora back? Does Sora remember the meteor shower?

I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

[casualtheoriesandthoughts]

The Other Side of Reality (SPOILERS FOR KH MoM)

In this post, I’m going to talk about a theory of mine that may not impact our understandings of the KH universe that much but one that I think is important to discuss. I’m not necessarily making hard claims about what is or isn’t happening (such as Kairi being a Chirithy or Xehanort being Riku’s dad), but trying to clarify the stuff happening in between. Warning again: Spoilers for KH MoM ahead!

As I said in a previous post, memories in Kingdom Hearts are almost like the existential glue of reality. They are what ties beings to reality and to their full selves. Nobodies require their memories (at least some of them) to be able to pursue re-completion. Memories can rescue someone from the brink of falling into the darkness (Sora, Aqua, Ventus and Terra). In the absence of memories, one could legitimately fade from existence (Xion being the notable example, and also Sora while he’s in Castle Oblivion).

This all ties into a theory I have about Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory’s  basic premise and its connection to Sora’s fate. People have been speculating about what the actual nature of Sora’s disappearance is, especially since Chirithy provided critical details as to the costs Sora incurred at the end of KH3 and Re:Mind. Then we get Apprentice Xehanort (aka Terra-Xehanort) telling us about a “world that’s neither of light and darkness”. Ansem the Wise interprets this to mean a realm that is on the reverse of reality: unreality, or fiction. 

Some believe that this is a meta-comment on Sora’s transportation to a possible proxy for the real world. However, Yozora and the Verum Rex-FF Versus XIII connection make this less likely to me. I found some interesting speculation on YouTube about the latter, namely that Quadratum could be the world of FF Versus XIII repurposed (since it became FFXV, Versus XIII never came to be, hence unreality). Then we have the original epilogue of KH3, where the Lost Masters (minus Ava) return. Where they come from is not known, but as Yen Sid remarks at the end of Melody of Memory, the ancient masters (presumably people in Union Cross, if not only the Masters) had the ability to travel to other realms beyond the universe of Kingdom Hearts.

But what does this add up to for Sora? I believe that Sora has not been erased (as Xion was) and that it is indeed possible for him to return. My theory consists of three connected premises:

Sora still “exists” within the ambit of Kingdom Hearts (the embodiment of all hearts, not the universe; I’m going to use KH as the abbreviation for the latter)

Kairi and Riku both use the power of waking the wrong way

Quadratum exists on flipside of Kingdom Hearts

I’m going to call this the Other Side of Reality theory for convenience (OSR). Without further ado, let’s get into it!

1. Sora exists accessibly

Before anything else, we need to establish conclusively that Sora actually exists in an accessible way (please note my previous post about access to hearts and memories). 

In my previous post on memories, I attempted to show that memories are proof of someone’s existence. Xion is the best example, as she literally disappears from people’s consciousnesses despite the mark she left on many characters like Roxas, Riku and Axel. Sora also similarly vanishes as he progresses through Castle Oblivion, though this is more due to Naminé’s magic than the castle itself. In the strictest sense, Naminé is not eliminating but tangling and obscuring Sora’s memories (and she can only do this to Sora). Therefore, we can say that if someone remembers an individual, that person has and does exist materially and metaphysically.

Sora is clearly not forgotten given that his friends are searching desperately for him. This, all despite Chirithy and Young Xehanort’s warnings about how misusing the power of waking would cost him greatly. In the end, Sora is shown to disappear from the world, but as I theorize, not from existence. Hearts are also the fundamental necessity to exist, which themselves require memories to take form. Sora’s accessibility is demonstrated by the fact that Riku is able to travel to Quadratum through the Nameless Star’s heart-portal.

The notion of accessibility is important, because Kingdom Hearts is the bedrock of reality. Sora cannot be found or even known to exist if Kingdom Hearts does not encompass him in itself. Worlds and beings all arise from Kingdom Hearts, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make this claim. Anything in Kingdom Hearts’ sphere of influence (or rather all things that it creates) are accessible by beings within it, which includes those beings themselves. I believe that this is the premise of the power of waking, as one might say that the user “awakens” to the nature of reality through its use. 

This brings me to my next point:

2. Kairi is using the power of waking in MoM, and Riku is too; but both are using it the wrong way

MoM takes place as Kairi traverses her memories of all the events of the Xehanort Saga. It is important to note that this is from her perspective, not a simple recap of everything that has happened in the Kingdom Hearts games to date. We’re explicitly told that this takes place over the year when the Guardians of Light are searching for Sora. 

However, there are potentially some discrepancies here. Many of the events displayed in the cutscenes are not things that Kairi could have personally witnessed (even as a disembodied heart inside Sora). However, if we consider that Kairi’s Nobody, Naminé, is able to manipulate memories connected to Sora’s (a power no other character is known to have), this may make more sense. Because Naminé is her Nobody, I believe that the power of memories is tied to Kairi somehow (since Sora can’t do it), which isn’t outlandish considering she has a unique Nobody despite being a Princess of Heart. Kairi is then traveling the links of memories connected to her, even if they are not her own. Now, what does this sound a lot like? The power of waking. 

The power of waking (PoW) is described by Yen Sid in KH3D as freeing a heart from sleep. However Young Xehanort goes further, describing it as the power to traverse hearts to find worlds, contrasted with traversing worlds to find hearts. Multiple characters, but particularly Young Xehanort, point out that the latter is a “misuse” of the PoW, which Sora does when he rescues his friends in KH3. This is because it is essentially the inverse of the normal PoW, as he rapidly traverses worlds in search of his friends’ hearts and apparently across time. It is stated by Chirithy that the inverted PoW transgresses the laws of nature by altering history.  

Memory Master Xehanort (the apparition in the Final World Kairi encounters in MoM; MMX) says that Kairi’s journey took place across her own memories and her own heart. However, that doesn’t explain why she witnesses events that didn't happen in connection to her (ex. BBS and 358/2 Days). Sora also travels back in time and witnesses events from his friends’ hearts, which makes many important events in the final chapter of KH3 happen. Chirithy even states that this much closer to the true PoW, but still isn’t because he causes an event to happen that wouldn’t have happened otherwise (Kairi remaining whole). If we accept that Kairi traveled across memories and events that didn’t happen to her, like Sora did, it makes sense to suggest that she is also using the PoW improperly (albeit much more safely since she doesn’t alter any events). 

This reveals important information about where Sora is metaphysically because Kairi embarked on her journey under the assumption that Sora’s heart could be found in her memories (and those of others). Chirithy mentions that Sora can only return from the other side of reality through the PoW which would ordinarily suggest that Quadratum is in the Realm of Sleep. However, let us remember that Kairi is using the PoW the wrong way, and was attempting to find Sora but failed to do so. MMX’s statement about where Sora is suggests that the version of the PoW Kairi was using was the right one but not in the right place. 

This brings us to Riku, who travels to Quadratum to find Sora. Quadratum cannot be in the Realm of Sleep because it is implied by Ansem the Wise to be on the other side of reality, at the exclusion of the worlds of data, dreams and memories (as well as of darkness, nothingness and light). Therefore, Riku isn’t using the ordinary PoW to reach Quadratum. He seems to successfully arrive in Quadratum after using the PoW through the Nameless Star. Even though he’s using the heart-portal of the Nameless Star, he is also traveling across the boundary of reality and unreality to find Sora’s heart. He is deliberately using the PoW the inverted way to find Sora. 

The million-dollar question is: where is that? My claim is essentially that Sora must return through his novel, “inverted” use of the PoW, which is why Kairi and Riku were using it the way they did. 

3. Quadratum and the flipside of Kingdom Hearts

This may come across as the most bizarre part of my theory, but bear with me! I believe that Quadratum is located on another side of Kingdom Hearts, not unlike the allusions to Roxas being the other side of Sora’s heart in Re:CoM. 

Despite the numerous attempts to summon and control Kingdom Hearts’ power, we never actually witness what it is. Not even in KH1, where Ansem SoD vainly calls to Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness. That door in the abyss of the End of the World is the Door to Darkness, a gateway to the Realm of Darkness. It seems that Kingdom Hearts shined its light from within, perhaps as the manifestation of the hearts lost in the depths.

But we are left without any clues as to what Kingdom Hearts might be, other than the collection of all hearts that exist. It manifests as a heart-shaped moon, though likely as a representation of the greater reality. It seems most accurate to say that Kingdom Hearts is the “heart” of existence, through which any of the realms may accessed. This is the reason it can be witnessed in the Realm of Light and Nothingness, and why Xehanort believes it can grant the ability to literally unmake and remake the universe. 

Quadratum is anchored to Kingdom Hearts in a realm of its own, precisely because it can be accessed through the inverted PoW. That anchoring is clearly demonstrated by the fact that Sora still exists throughout the various realms as the chain of memories that bind him to his loved ones is intact (and that he can project his “voice” across the boundary to fight MMX for Kairi). Just as the Realm of Darkness, Nothingness, Memories, Data and Sleep all require special means to be entered (and conversely, this is true of re-entering the Realm of Light, as seen in KH2′s ending), Quadratum’s own realm can only be accessed by the inverted PoW.

Clearly this realm is special, not being accessed ordinarily by the PoW and Sora needing to disappear to go there. However, it’s not as if no one knew about it. Xehanort apparently was aware that it might exist, and Yen Sid’s comments about the ancient masters suggest that the Lost Masters could freely travel to it by special means. It even seems that the Lost Masters were sent into hiding  as Luxu mentions in KH3 Secret Reports 12 and 13. In Secret Report 12, Luxu writes that the “The Lost Masters will awaken” (emphasis added). 

This suggests the Lost Masters are dormant or otherwise sequestered, perhaps not totally free to traverse from their present positions to the Realm of Light or other realms for that matter. This is suggested by the fact that Luxu summons the Lost Masters, which indicates he has the power to beckon to beings across realms, like the Master of Masters (who appears in the alt-Shibuya in which Riku and Sora find themselves). 

The Lost Masters’ unreachability by most characters in the main realms further points to a connection between Sora and the Lost Masters’ conditions. That said, I’m not necessarily suggesting that the Lost Masters’ used the inverted PoW themselves, though this is possible seeing as Ava “didn’t make it”. The Lost Page of the Book of Prophecies may have something to do with it, as Luxu states that he disclosed his own role to Ava, which prompted her to take action of her own. This could mean Ava is on the move elsewhere, or has perished in the conclusion of her own role. On a related note, the reappearance of the Lost Masters in the ending of KH3 is the second reason that Quadratum must be in a unique realm, as time flows differently between realms and none of the foretellers aged (from what we can tell). Similarly, Aqua didn’t age at all despite spending ten years in the Realm of Darkness.  

If all the known realms are existentially anchored to Kingdom Hearts, the nature of Quadratum becomes more plausible. 

Concluding thoughts

Only time will tell whether or not Quadratum is going to be the start of a more Square-Enix-leaning KH multiverse with more Final Fantasy characters. Although Nomura might have gone and dashed this idea by saying NEO TWEWY and KH3′s ending aren’t connected at all. 

Personally, I have a head-canon where FF characters in KH are in fact from across the boundary and that their appearances and forms are changed in the process of coming to the KH universe. 

This is a working theory, and there’s stuff I still need to learn/incorporate from KHUx Dark Road, so that’s all for now! Hope this theory interests some people!

[jellyfishvibes]

Many thoughts about keyblades and how they were made, that in daybreak town there was an original forger (MoM? Who knows)of alot of the designs, like keys do personalise to the heart they come from but the world keys? Keys like ultima and Starlight? Those were forged for specific reasons, Starlights being essentially like the wooden training keys for the kids of daybreak town, Ultima designed with a 'will' that chooses only those worthy of welding it (along with like hc that sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond weopan also exist as keyblades)

Idk I've thought about the keyblades too much

reblog with your favourite kingdom hearts theories and headcannons RIGHT NOW i want you to RAMBLE

[system-of-a-feather]

Short Term Memory + CDD; Survey Data Analysis

Hey its been a while XD I finally am getting around to computing some of the data analysis while I have time during my recovery from top surgery. With that being said, to increase the likliness of putting *anything* out, as I crunch the numbers and what not, I'll post them in updates.

With that being said, while I'd like to invest the time into doing proper statistic measures to test statistical significance, I am currently Too Lazy to do that for a small fun project. Maybe if I get bored and have time I will properly run those statistics, but for now, yall can get what you get

[radiantresplendence]

Naminé Deserved Better

Out of all of the characters in the Kingdom Hearts series, I think that Naminé has been treated the worst, especially in context to her story importance and number of appearances. She’s been a major character in the series since the second entry (Chain of Memories for the gameboy advanced), yet in KH3 she’s been sidelined for the majority of the game and in RE-MIND’s Data Greeting mode, she’s limited to a measly two poses. Let’s take a minute and explore how she got to this point.

Here’s how Naminé’s life has gone, in a nutshell:

She comes into existence at roughly the same time as Roxas, though presumably at a different location. Keep in mind that she’s essentially a monster of nothingness with no memories of her past life. (Largely because she’s a Special Nobody who’s not directly derived from one person and has less of a right to exist than a standard Nobody.)

She’s captured by the Organization XIII. Rather than being made a member and given some autonomy, she is taken by the turncoat faction to Castle Oblivion and is blackmailed and exploited for her powers upon fear of death. Her only refuge in this scenario is her art which she uses to depict moments from other’s memories that she’s seen with her witchcraft. (If you take a closer look at some of her art, you’ll notice that at one point she draws herself with Sora and Riku, only to scribble herself out with blue, which is totally not depressing.)

In the castle, she is forced to manipulate Sora with her powers, a boy she quickly develops feelings for and secretly hopes will save her.

When she meets up with Sora, she comes clean that his memories of her are fabricated and that to fix his altered memories, she’s have to erase his real memories of her in the castle. Sora says that it’s okay because deep down, he’ll never really forget her and that he’s going to save her anyways. (Spoilers, he forgets her and never winds up saving her from her fate.)

Marluxia and the traitors are defeated; Naminé teams up with DiZ and vows to fix Sora. This process takes like 6 months. 

DiZ, who is openly a huge racist to Nobodies like Naminé keeps her locked up in a room in Twilight Town’s old mansion and isolates her from the outside world. She spends the duration of her time her feeling guilty and starting to swoon over Roxas for the fact that both their original selves are romantically involved and they have similar situations. During this time, only Riku really treats her like a real person and he’s not around much. 

Riku vanishes mysteriously only to have Ansem, Seeker of Darkness return with Roxas right around the time that the captive memories Naminé needed to complete Sora were released. 

DiZ gaslights Roxas in a VR world for a week while Naminé finishes her work. During that time, she meets with Roxas on the down-low and he kinda sorta reciprocates her feelings. (Largely because he doesn’t remember his real girlfriend who he killed who greatly resembles Naminé.)

Roxas’s memories are returned to Sora and he stops being an active participant in the real world. 

Kingdom Hearts II happens. At the end, Naminé chooses to merge with Kairi and “be completed” based on incomplete information. Naminé ceases to exist and is fragmented in The Final World due to her heart’s strong connections to the living. 

Despite this, as shown in RE-MIND, Naminé continues to try and tug on people’s hearts to get a good outcome to events. 

Sora is fragmented in The Final World and meets Naminé there. Sora tells her that he and others want her to be revived.

The Researchers of the Heart are able to use a Replica doll that was stolen from the True Organization XIII to revive her. She is met by Riku in Radiant Garden instead of Sora, meets up with everyone on Destiny Islands, is present when Sora dies and agrees to help find a way to save him. 

Basically Naminé can’t catch a break. Not only was she underused in KH3 despite playing a small role in RE-MIND, but I don’t think she’s ever been allowed to be happy for more than like 5 seconds. Most of her existence has been either being strong-armed into causing problems or working overtime to fix them. Sure things are looking up with the implication being that she’s going to wind up with Riku, but it’s too little after 15 years or so of being dragged around by the plot through bad situations. She didn’t even get a causal redesign like the other Nobodies in the resolution after the final boss. It says a lot when Xion gets treated better than you in both the main game and the DLC, despite Xion basically being a D-tier fanfiction character.

That’s my rant. I like Naminé a lot and I like Kingdom Hearts too, but jeez the female characters could use some work. Naminé just gets the shortest end of the stick, I guess. 

[system-of-a-feather]

Those two are the really common big ones. Other ones are stuff like how you feel about your current state of life and the direction its going (complacency, wanting more, wanting less, wanting nothing, etc); drive for comfort and to be around people (including new people or strangers); ways specific emotions that are complex or associated with trauma and coping and how those are processed

Sometimes - its less consistent - but you might find weird music or food differences but those are hardly "diagnostic"

A lot of the time, I don't know if you've done CBT, but there are a thing called "core beliefs / values" that underline how individuals interact and interpret their internal environment, external environment, and self and we find that a lot of the time different parts can be noticed by incongruent core beliefs and / or reflexive coping mechanisms that oppose. (Data when stressed would HARDCORE isolate to minimize variables and increase a sense of control, Riku TM / (maybe I? fusion status pending /j) would jump into social situations and form shallow friendships as a means of distraction - the two were/are indistinguishable in most ways before noticing that difference. ((Also i apologize if this went down the shitter in legibility I randomly got a dissociative fog in my brain from probably trying to determine if Im Riku TM or Riku 3.0 😅 Still not sure 😅))

I've come to find that there is not a single resource I've been able to find online that talks about how the fuck you figure out who and what your alters are. Like from complete scratch, essentially. Where you just know absolutely nothing and most of your alters don't know anything either, they don't know themselves any more than other parts do, and you have to do so much detective work trying to overanalyze your behaviors, feelings, etc. just to look for patterns. I have yet to meet another system that has had to struggle with this.

It's always advice about internal communication and journaling, but every single one of these relies on you already knowing your alters. What if you literally don't know a single alter of yours? What if your internal communication is practically nonexistent? I find it so frustrating. And they always rely on huge overt differences too, like it feels like every system online trying to give advice expects the reader to already know who their alters are and to already have some kind of communication and to even have HUGE, overt differences.

Like I'm sorry but alter differences are more than just "this alter likes this name and this alter likes these hobbies and this alter likes this set of pronouns"

I'm, like, 2/3 years into still trying to figure things out (I was questioning until in recent months got diagnosed) and I still couldn't really tell you who I am at any given moment. I am just Ethan? I am a guy. I just exist I guess, I am navigating the world. I am here. What specific alter I am is completely up in the air, fuck if I know, fuck if I ever know. I never see people talk about this - I see people talk about not knowing who they are and blurriness, but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Literally not knowing any of yourselves at all not even a little bit. Not knowing your name, if you have any, if you're a specific alter different from others, what your "function" is, just literally anything. I don't know how anyone knows this stuff about themselves/their own alters right off the bat or how they were able to figure out this stuff without already having some kind of knowledge about themselves/their system/alters.

[kayura-sanada]

Wait a minute there everyone! I want Namin�� interact with Disney characters too! I really want her to meet Cinderella! They have so many similirities! DOES ANYONE THOGHT ABOUT THAT? TELL ME I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE, PLS ;-;

You are in fact not the only one, nonny, I promise! Part of my ideas for rewriting Kingdom Hearts has included altering re:Coded to be, not about Data-Sora and Data-Riku (who were cute but served little new purpose), but about Namine.

I wanted the story to center around Namine searching through Sora’s memories. Instead of having her give us an info dump at the end of a boring story, I wanted us to watch her travel through the worlds of these peoples’ minds. I wanted her to start traveling through Sora’s mind, to go through specifically the Coliseum (to meet Meg and see a woman who had joined with the baddie, only to choose a better path when she met Herc and saw how good he was) and Agrabah (to meet Iago and begin the thought process in him that would spiral into Aladdin 2).

I wanted Namine to find parts of Sora’s heart in Monstro, where she found how hurt and upset he was with Riku for taking Pinocchio; she could see Sora say that the puppet boy was real and didn’t deserve what Riku was doing, and it could have helped her feel that, to Sora, she was real, too. I wanted her to go to Neverland and see Sora chase Riku again, wanted her to come face to face with Kairi as she slept, and have her wonder if being real could mean that she could exist without Kairi somehow… then tell herself it didn’t matter, that she had to return to Kairi, anyway.

I wanted her to dive into Hollow Bastion and feel the call of another heart. I wanted her to follow that thread, thinking she might find herself or, perhaps, the Nobody that might lead her to finding Sora’s lost memories - only to find herself looking at the memories of a young man named Ventus. I wanted her to follow that thread through the Castle of Dreams, listening to Cinderella say that dreams can come true if you believe. I wanted her to see what happened in Enchanted Dominion, to see what Terra had gone through, and for Namine to reveal what we already knew - that Xehanort had in fact been the one to take Aurora’s heart.

I wanted her to go to Radiant Garden and see what happened to all three of the Wayfinder Trio. I wanted her to reach through the ‘hurt’ that Ven and Terra and Aqua went through, to let it lead her to the Keyblade Graveyard, where she would see what Xehanort’s plans had been and what had happened to the trio because of him. I wanted her to feel fear, and horror, and worry. I wanted her decision to save Sora become a Paramount Importance not just because Sora was her friend and she wanted to help him, but because she believed that Sora was both good enough and strong enough to help these other people and gather everyone together to stop Xehanort.

I wanted her to search along Sora’s path and return to Hollow Bastion, where she would feel the moment Sora lost his heart and would follow that to Roxas. I wanted her to see Roxas meet Axel - Axel, the guy she’d seen in Radiant Garden in Ven’s memories. I wanted her to watch as Roxas went to those worlds she knew from walking Sora’s path, until she felt as at home in Twilight Town as Roxas had. I want her to meet Xion in Roxas’ memories. I absolutely want her to watch Xion from the girl’s perspective as she struggled to become real. I want Namine to moon over her, to watch Xion laugh with her friends. I want Namine to reach out and try to touch Xion, only for her hand to pass through, because she was merely an observer of the past here and could not touch.

I wanted Namine to watch Xion meet her all over again. I wanted her to realize that the reason she’d felt all right in Twilight Town had been because a part of her had already walked here, as she did now. Or was she looking into the future now? I wanted her to get confused and muddled over the timey-wimeyness of it all, only to stop caring because she was able to see Xion’s journey, and her pain, and she was forced to watch Xion’s death. I want Namine to cry over it. I want her to fall to her knees and weep over Xion’s body as she fades away. I want her to shout out that she’s there, that she’s with her, only for Xion to not hear her. I want Namine to promise to do everything she could to bring Xion back. To make her real, because puppets were people, too. Sora had said so.

I wanted her to gather up all those memories, all those people, with tear tracks still on her cheeks. I wanted her to create a safe place in Sora’s heart for them all. Sora would take care of them. Sora would make them real. Sora would help them. She just needed to leave a message, and Sora would come. She knew he would.

I wanted her to leave that message in Jiminy’s Journal. Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it. I wanted her to lock a memory of herself away, standing as a guardian to those memories inside of Sora’s mind. I wanted her to look at that memory of hers, to stare into her own eyes, and make a quiet wish - a wish, or a dream, that could, if Cinderella had been right, maybe even come true. I want to be real, too. Then she leaves, ready to find Kairi and return to her - for now. Hoping - no, knowing - that Sora would find her message and save them all. Save everyone. Maybe even save her.

Jiminy’s Journal closes. Sora sleeps on in his stasis chamber. For now.

[epic-evan94]

Reborn Through Sacrifice

————————————

(This is how I would’ve liked Roxas and Namine’s reunion to be. I’m sure they interacted and were reunited off screen but I would’ve loved for Nomura to address their relationship which was established in KH2. This is my first attempt at writing fan-fiction. It’s not perfect but I hope you enjoy)

———————————————————————————————————

It was like waking up from a dream. The first thing Namine saw when she opened her eyes were Zexion and Vexen who had been recompleted again as humans and their master, Ansem the Wise whom she previously knew as DiZ. They looked down on her as the light shined from the door behind them. She stood herself up and breathed in through her nose like a baby who’s just been born.

“DiZ, Zexion, Vexen” she said with a tired voice, she was still groggy from waking up.

“You are half correct” said the wise Ansem, happy to see the good witch awake. “I’m glad to see you again my child”

“What happened, where am I” Namine looked around her environment which she didn’t recognize. All she remembered was a war in a wasteland covered with Keyblades, a tornado of shadows, and a realm with an expansive sea and sky. Finally the girl mustered the strength to speak more clearly. “What happened to Kairi?” As soon as she finished her sentence, Ansem’s smile turned into a frown.

“Kairi heart has left this world, so I’m told” those words tore into Namine like a dagger. “No” she wept as her heart raced. That’s when it hit her and she gasped. “What is this? This pounding in chest? What’s happening to me!!!” Namine said with a tremble. “That is your heart” Ansem said with a renewed smile “but I have no heart” said Namine with shock and confusion.

Namine held her hand to her chest abd closed her eyes and felt it. The pounding of her heart. As she listens more with her eyes closed a menagerie of thoughts raced through her head, she thought of Sora and Kairi, whom she and Roxas gave up their existences to so they could be whole. She opened her eyes to release her tears and looked at Ansem. “Kairi’s gone?” Ansem nodded in response. “And what about Sora” said Namine. “Has he...” Ansem took Namine’s hand to calm her as Even and Ienzo watched. “No no, he has gone to find her, but I’m afraid I have some more troubling news” Ansem looked into Namine’s eyes. “Riku, not the Riku known to Sora and Kairi, the one created by Even has left this world too” Namine’s jaw dropped in shock. She pulled her legs close to her and weeped into her knees.

Namine thought about everything she had been through up to this point, but back then she didn’t cry because she didn’t have the heart to do it. After all Nobodies don’t have hearts, without a heart you cannot “be” anyone in the first place. It wasn’t until she met Sora that she learned to feel and it wasn’t until she met Roxas that she learned to love. Finally she met her original self, Kairi whom she learned to be selfless from. In all the time she had in this world she had gone from a meek servant for Xemnas, to a strong women who had found something to truly live for, two things to be precise, she restored the memories Sora had lost and she gave and helped Roxas through existential crisis. But now that was all over and she finally had a body of her own. But with the two people she sacrificed everything for now gone, what was her reason now for living?

Finally she brought her head up and looked directly at Ansem “what do I do now?” Said Namine with a lump in her throat. Ansem put his finger under her chin and said softly “you must live, Namine” the wiseman said while holding back his tears. “I don’t claim to have known Sora and Kairi for long but I know one thing... everything they did, they did for you and Roxas. Because to them you aren’t their Nobodies, your their equals. They gave their lives so the two of you could be your own individuals. All that’s left now is for you to live. That’s the meaning of life, to just live it.” Namine let the words of Ansem the Wise sink into her head. “Live Namine, that’s all I can say to you, you must live as Kairi and Sora wanted” he kissed her forehead and stood up an extended his hand to her. “Come” said Ansem who lifted her out of the chair.

Namine was lead outside where she was greeted by Lexaeus and Xaldin who had reverted back to their true selves, Aeleus and Dilan. She looked up to the beautiful sky’s of Radiant Garden to see the Gummi Ship and as it landed, a swarm of flowed petals flooded the air. The cockpit of the ship opened to reveal Riku and with that she forgot all about her heartache an hour ago. Riku extevded his hand inviting her aboard the Gummi ship. “Where are we going” She asked, “you’ll soon find out” said Riku with a grin.

The two traveled through the lanes between until finally they arrived at Destiny Islands. Namine looked out the window to see three familiar faces. To her surprise and shock it was Roxas, Xion, and Axel and Saix who had gone back to being Lea and Isa. They were were joined by Hayner, Pence, Olette and Donald, Goofy and the King as well as Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Riku hastilly landed the ship in the ocean shore and the cockpit opened to release a very excited Namine. Roxas, who had not seen Namine in so long jolted towards her in joy, as did Namine. He lifted her up from the ocean water in a warm embrace. The two hugged as their large group of friends looked on, feeling happy for them.

“Is this real” said Roxas who like Namine was not used to being his own individual “or is it another dream”. Namine ad Roxas released themselves from their embrace as the girl wrapped her arms around her lovers neck “does this feel real”. The two younger lovers stared deeply into each others eyes “I told you, you’d be whole” said Namine, who reminded Roxas what she told him in the data Twilight Town. “And you were right” Namine and Roxas affectionately touched foreheads as their friends looked on in awe and cheered with joy as the two lovers were lost in their reunion. The once former Nobodies, now Somebodies could finally live their own lives, together forever.

“Why are we here” said Roxas “we’ve been reborn. Reborn through sacrifice” said Namine with a smile. “It was Sora and Kairi wasn’t it” said Roxas. “Yes. They brought us back, so we could live”

Little did Roxas and Namine know that their saviors and alter egos we’re sitting off in the distance by the Paopu tree. Happy to see that their shadows were finally independent.

[khtrinityftw]

Translation:

1st floor entrance hall / Traverse Town - The man in the black coat (Marluxia) explains to Sora the rules of the cards and the world of memories.

Image: From the opening scene, Sora and his friends are guided by Marluxia, the Lord of Castle Oblivion and the central figure in this plan.

1st floor exit hall - After seeing Sora's strength, Axel warns him "You've lost sight of the light within the darkness", then leaves.

Image: Axel's warning to Sora is an independent action that deviates from Marluxia and the others' rebellious plan to use Sora.

A room in the basement of the castle - Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion sense Riku's presence, though they are unable to determine his true identity and conclude that his scent is almost identical to that of their leader.

Image: Vexen, who is particular about numbers, emphasizes his superiority to Zexion, also an original member of the Organization.

A room in the castle - Namine continues to alter Sora's memories.

A room in the castle - Axel and Larxene discuss the secrets of Sora's heart and how he retained his will even after becoming a Heartless.

Image: "One other man" besides Sora refers to Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Xehanort's Heartlesss), the final boss of KHI.

A room in the castle - Namine further alters Sora's memories.

A room in the basement of the castle - Zexion and the others discover that the intruder is Riku. Vexen, who has become interested in Riku, tells Zexion and Lexaeus that Marluxia and his cohorts are trying to use Namine to manipulate Sora, and that they should get Riku.

Image: The members of the Organizations in the castle basement learn that this is Sora's first visit to the castle, and become suspicious of Marluxia's unilateral actions.

B10 entrance hall - Vexen battles Riku and obtains data for research.

Image: The leader of the Organization, Xemnas, is one half of the Ansem that Riku knows, so Vexen says that Riku's accusation that he is working with Ansem is only half true.

A room in the castle - Axel and Larxene notice that Sora's false memories are beginning to take hold, so Larxene decides to go pay him a visit.

Image: From Larxene's reaction to the words "Sora is the key to helping us take the Organization", Larxene becomes convinced of her intent to betray the Organization.

A room in the basement of the castle - Zexion feels suspicious of Marluxia and the others as they continue to work on Sora, and tells Lexaeus that they should use Vexen and his Riku Replica, which is the product of his research, against Marluxia.

Image: Zexion tries to use Vexen, who was his superior when they were both disciples.

B8 exit hall - Riku Replica, born from Vexen's hands, fights against Riku.

A room in the basement of the castle - When Riku Replica returns from the fight, Vexen instructs it to fight Sora.

6th floor exit hall - Larxene appears before Sora and uses Namine's power to change the appearance of the amulet that was a promise to Kairi, making Sora "remember" the name "Namine" and leading him to follow after her.

Image: The promise charm amulet that Kairi made was transformed into a new shape by Namine's power.

A room in the castle - When Larxene returns to Axel, Vexen, who is supposed to be working in the castle's underground, appears and says that he needs to test Sora's abilities using his "research results". Upon hearing this, Axel gives Vexen the Destiny Islands card, which contains the memories of Sora and Riku's homeworld. Axel and Larxene wish to use the Destiny Islands card to alter Riku Replica's memories to resemble the real Riku. Riku Replica refuses, but in the end, his memories are altered.

Image: This card is later used by Zexion as well (see the section on the 3rd basement floor).

A room in the castle - Riku Replica is told he is the real Riku, and has even been given a false promise charm promising that he would protect Namine. Larxene and Namine see him off as he leaves the room declaring that he will keep his promise.

Image: This explains why the shape of Sora's amulet changed in the Sora chapter and why Riku Replica had the same one.

Image: Namine's words "I'm Kairi's shadow" demonstrate the relationship between Namine and Kairi.

7th floor exit hall - Rku Replica fights Sora.

8th floor exit hall - Riku Replica fights Sora again.

A room in the castle - Axel claims he feels sorry for Namine.

Image: Axel's comments that expose Namine's guilt are a setup for her to take action on the 11th floor.

A room in the castle - Vexen's experiment is deemed a failure because the Riku Replica begins to act on its own. Marluxia challenges Vexen to "prove your strength", leading to a fight between Vexen and Sora.

Image: Marluxia gets Sora to get rid of the troublesome Vexen, and at the same time, he convinces Namine that Sora is in danger in an attempt to further alter Sora's memories.

10th floor exit hall - Vexen fights Sora, saying that he must repay him for reuniting him with Riku, and then hints at the existence of hidden memories for Sora.

Image: Sora's hidden memories are those of Sora's other side, Roxas.

A room in the castle - Marluxia brands Vexen a traitor for trying to eliminate Sora without permission and orders Axel to eliminate him.

Image: The order to "eliminate the traitor" comes back around on Marluxia on the 13th floor.

Twilight Town - During his rematch with Sora, Vexen is eliminated by Axel just as he is about to tell Sora that his memories have been manipulated.

Image: Sora thinks that he is talking about Riku himself.

A room in the castle - After confirming Sora's abilities through the incident with Vexen's disappearance, Marluxia and Larxene accept Axel as a member of their team.

Image: Axel has succeeded into getting into the center of Marluxia and Larxene's plan.

A room in the basement of the castle - Zexion and Lexaeus learn that Vexen was defeated by Sora and then eliminated by Axel, so they decide to get Riku in case Sora loses sight of himself after his memories are manipulated by Marluxia.

Image: The leader of the Organization wants Sora, the Hero of Light. This is a hint for the story of KHII.

11th floor exit hall - Riku Replica drops an amulet (which is actually a card) that is a symbol of his promise to Namine.

A room in the castle - Axel persuades Namine to reveal the truth to Sora.

Image: Axel seems to be having fun stirring things up, regardless of Marluxia's plan or the Organization's intentions.

B4 exit hall - Lexaeus tries to take Riku by force, but is destroyed by Ansem, who awakens from the darkness in Riku's heart and temporarily takes over his body. Riku's heart is almost consumed by the darkness, but he is saved by the King.

Image: The awakening of Ansem within Riku was unexpected even for Lexaeus, who knew of the past when Riku and Ansem were assimilated.

Image: The true identity of the Ansem who had been conversing with Riku up until now was DiZ, but the one who appears here is the real "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness".

Destiny Islands - Sora's memories were beginning to become completely distorted, but Namine reminds him of Kairi's existence.

Image: The Namine who is here from the beginning is the Kairi from Sora's memory who has changed to match the false memories. The second Namine is the real one who rushed over from a room in the castle.

12th floor exit hall - When Riku Replica attempts to deliver the final blow to Sora, his heart is broken by Namine. Larxene reveals the truth and tries to kill Sora but is killed in return. Namine tells Sora and the others everything.

Image: Riku Replica's heart was broken because the implanted memories were forcibly erased.

Image: Even after learning the truth, Sora vows to protect Namine.

Castle Oblivion - Axel reveals that he has been investigating on behalf of the Organization and tries to eliminate Marluxia for betraying the Organization, but Marluxia has Sora fight Axel instead. Axel fights Sora and leaves satisfied.

Image: "We have more in common than you think" refers to the fact that Roxas, Sora's Nobody, is a member of the Organization.

A room in the basement of the castle - Zexion and Axel confirm that Lexeaus has been eliminated and that Marluxia's counter-plan has failed, and then Zexion tries to get rid of Riku, who is no longer needed, by using Riku and Sora's memories of their homeworld.

Image: It was Axel who made Vexen disappear and made Namine run, slowing down Marluxia and the others plans, but he tells Zexion about it as if it were someone else's problem.

13th floor exit hall - Namine refuses to follow Marluxia's orders, and Riku Replica joins Sora's side. Marluxia's projection is defeated by Sora.

Image: Riku Replica stands with Sora now, both wanting to protect Namine.

13th floor exit hall - Sora defeats the real Marluxia and closes the lock on the 13th floor. Riku Replica leaves the scene, despite being held back by Sora.

Image: Riku learns that everything about him is fake. After parting ways with Sora and the others, the replica is used by Axel.

B2 floor entrance hall - Zexion tells Riku that Sora is in the castle and invites him to Destiny Islands.

13th floor exit hall - Sora, Donald and Goofy promise to meet Namine again and fall asleep in their pods.

Destiny Islands - Zexion uses light to torment Riku, but with advice from Kairi (or rather, Namine in her guise), Riku uses the power of darkness to break the illusion.

A room in the basement of the castle - Zexion, who ran away from Riku, is used as fuel for Riku Replica by Axel.

Image: Axel eliminates Zexion who "knew too much" and is the only surviving member of the Organization in Castle Oblivion.

Twilight Town - Riku Replica, still not satisfied even after gaining Zexion's power, challenges Riku to a duel in an attempt to become the "real thing", but is defeated and disappears.

Image: In the end, the Riku Replica fails to become the real thing, but after hearing Riku's words, he disappears with a somewhat contented look on his face.

Twilight Town - When Namine meets Riku in front of the pod where Sora is sleeping, she proposes to seal Riku's memory along with his darkness, but Riku refuses, choosing to face up to his own demons.

Image: When Riku meets Namine, he realizes that she was the one who saved him when he was almost consumed by the light on the 3rd basement floor.

Castle Oblivion - Riku defeats Ansem, who lurks in the darkness of his heart, and leaves Castle Oblivion with the King, wearing a black coat.

KH2FM Ultimania: Re:CoM Timeline.

[pippastrelle]

FIXING KINGDOM HEARTS III

Even if I loved KH3, I think everyone will admit it had problems. This is my thought project on how I think those problems could have been fixed without greatly altering any of the main plot points, worlds, or gameplay.

My main problems were:

The pacing, especially with the introductions/impacts of the New Organisation XIII

The aimlessness of Sora’s adventures and how they don’t really explain what the power of waking is for most of the plot

How superfluous Maleficent, Pete, and the box felt

Girl X’s sudden appearance

Fridging Kairi, and the lack of payoff for her and Lea’s training

Set-Up/Overarching Plot

The game’s main story is Team Light’s response to Xehanort’s new Organisation promising a second Keyblade War. They are gathering 13 Darknesses and the only way to fight them is with 7 Lights. Team Light doesn’t want a new Keyblade War. However, this could be their chance to stop Xehanort once and for all. In search of their lights, Team Light also takes this opportunity to rescue Master Eraqus’ pupils: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. Although, they don’t know where Terra is and they know Ventus’ body and heart are both lost. This sets up the three main plot threads:

1) Kairi and Lea deciding to train to be keyblade wielders to be two of the seven guardians of light.

2) Riku and Mickey searching the vast Realm of Darkness for Aqua - she helped both of them and she’s the only one who can find Ventus’ body.

3) Sora working to regain his strength so he can get his power of waking again to recover Ventus’ heart. Here, Yen Sid explains what the power of waking is at the beginning: a way of connecting with and retrieving sleeping/lost hearts that Sora can use because of his strong, connected heart.

(Olympus)

First, Sora goes to Olympus with the hope of training with Phil and regaining his strength that way. Except, he has to deal with Hades instead. The story plays out more or less the same but Xigbar appears more frequently, taunting Sora about Team Light’s attempt to avoid the incoming Keyblade War and how he’ll never be able to resist being the hero. Xigbar turns up with Heartless and Nobodies for Sora to fight to prove his point.

Meanwhile, in the background, Pete and Maleficent look for the black box. At this point, they’re relatively calm about it but their searching does result in one building collapse and an increase of Heartless in the area, which Sora (unknowingly) has to deal with. Xigbar appears soon after to distract him and seemingly explain the Heartless.

Still, Hades was the main source of problems in this world. While Sora was feeling down (in his own way) about his new weaknesses, he learns to get back up on his feet. He and Herc also realise that the best way for Sora to regain his strength is to do what he did to get strong in the first place: travel the worlds, making connections and protecting whoever is in danger, regardless of this new Keyblade War. He’s not going to let this new Organisation threaten people.

The Main Story in the Disney Worlds

The worlds’ stories play out the same way. We still get updates on both Riku and Mickey difficulties in the Realm of Darkness throughout the game too, as well as updates on Ienzo’s mission to find out from Ansem the Wise’s data how they can bring back Roxas and Namine.

(The New Organisation)

Meanwhile, the Organisation continue to antagonist Sora as he travels to whichever worlds need him. They appear more frequently than they do in the game, provoking the characters into driving the plot forwards while providing the occasional miniboss.

1) Xigbar (Olympus), Xemnas and Ansem SoD (Twilight Town), and Vanitus (Monstropolis) taunt Sora about how inevitable the war is and how he will have to play the role they set for him.

2) Similarly, Marluxia (Corona) and Larxene (Arendelle) are sent to threaten some new Princesses of Heart. They set Heartless against them that Sora has to destroy, since these princesses might have to ‘fight’ as the 7 Lights if the Guardians won’t.

3) Meanwhile, Young Xehanort (Toy Box), Vexen and Luxord (The Caribbean), and Riku Replica (Sanfransokyo) spend their time testing theories hearts and puppets. This shows they’re still gathering members through the replica programme and aren’t quite as ready as Larxene said. They are interested in how vessels that might not have had hearts act and they mess with them throughout the worlds to cause conflict.

(The members use their extra screentime to be a bit more fun/characterful as villains. Although, Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx, and Luxord also spend more time raising questions about Xemnas’ choice to bring them back to the Organisation, then their apparent histories as ancient keyblade wielders that none of them can remember. They all go along with the plan for now but they’re curious about what will be unveiled).

(Pete, Maleficent, and the Box)

Pete and Maleficent’s actions are also felt in all the worlds (except Toy Box, Monstropolis, and 100 Acres Woods since they can’t really get to those). They’re actively avoiding Sora, since he ruined all their plans before, but as they get more frustrated, they cause more difficult puzzles for him to overcome. They briefly come into conflict with Luxord in the Caribbean over the box there yet they realise that’s still not the box they need. They’re angry (with Xigbar) and feel like they’ve been on a wild goose chase, until Maleficent realises that this is because the box doesn’t even exist, yet. It need the Keyblade War.

(The Power of Waking)

As Sora defeats the various challenges on each world and connects with the Disney characters (Pooh included), he starts feeling stronger and more confident. Although, he’s still impatient and the fact it hasn’t (noticeably) unlocked the power of waking prevents Yen Sid from letting him join Riku and Mickey’s search for Aqua. It’s this confidence in his heart that leads him to Destiny Islands though and lets him follow everyone into the Realm of Darkness. Then, when he wakes Ventus during the fight with Vanitus, it’s these connections that have strengthened his ability to do so.

As they’ve learnt from Vanitus, the Organisation are ready for the Keyblade War and they are not going to stop. So, Team Light decides they’ll finally ready to just take this opportunity to put an end to them and Xehanort.

Girl X

Ienzo and Vexen both reference their lab’s previous human experimentation, Ienzo with regret and Vexen subtly with Saix. Ansem the Wise is also clearer in referencing her when talking about his regrets. When Saix talks to Lea about it, he more clearly cites her as the reason they were trying to sneak into Ansem the Wise’s laboratory in the first place.

Kairi and Lea’s training

Kairi admit she’s still not brilliant as a keyblade wielder while Lea is also just getting used it, but they want to be able to help. Kairi talks about the bonds they’ve made and how their connections are important, helping them when they might not be able to help themselves. She ties this in to Namine and Roxas (and Xion) and how they’re fighting to save their lost friends.

The Keyblade War Itself

When Xehanort’s 13 members unleash a wave of Heartless on Team Light, it’s as an ‘easy’ way to have light fight darkness. Team Light fends them off though, as predicted. So, Terra(nort) appears to distract both Aqua and Ventus, allowing him to pick several of them off because the Organisation unleashes the new tower of Heartless that finishes the rest off.

In the Final World, it’s no longer an optional scene that Sora talks to Namine and she promises to reach out to Terra to protect them. Meanwhile, Sora uses the power of waking to bring everyone back to their past bodies. He should have lost his own heart in the process but Kairi’s connection with him is enough to bring him back as well. Although, since people lose their memories of the future when they time travel to the past in Kingdom Hearts, it seems they’re doomed to repeat history. Then, the remnants of Terra’s soul in Lingering Will protect them Terranort. This buys enough time for Ephemer and the ancient keyblade wielders to save them from the Heartless, which, in turn, alerts Yen Sid to intervene.

The rest of the finale plays out as it did. Although, this time, Kairi sacrifices herself in the fight against Xemnas. She and Lea had already struggled to fight Xemnas, Saix, and Xion and she didn’t want Lea to be destroyed before he could properly reunite with Roxas and Xion.

In the near-finale confrontation against Xehanort, it’s not just her ‘death’ that motivates Sora either. Kairi tells him to do whatever it takes to defeat Xehanort when he’s unsure whether they should keep fighting (for fear for forging the X-Blade). Lea also repeats a bit of what she told him about Namine and connections when Sora thinks she’s gone.

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

Who is the Riku in San Fransokyo?

As those of you who have read The Sleeping Realm theory know, it has been proposed that the Riku we see in San Fransokyo is actually Data Riku.

I want to examine some evidence that could help support this assumption, the biggest piece of evidence being the presence of the Darkubes.

In game, Hiro explains that these Darkubes were actually created by him as microbots, which can be controlled by a user’s thoughts, through a “neural transmitter”

We can assume this sentence is completed with “what you’re thinking” based on Hiro’s previous statement.

Goodnight Gooby!~

This establishes that the Darkubes react based on a connection to its controller. Interestingly enough, we discover that it is the Norted Riku who controls the Darkubes with the use of bugs (which is evident in the design on the microbots)

We can assume that the bugs have possessed the microbots, and that is how the bugs have been able to manifest in the real world (or at least what we think the real world is).

However, there are some issues here.

We are told in San Fransokyo that this Riku is Riku-Ansem, or the possessed Riku from KH 1 brought to this timeline. This is then taken back, and we are told this is actually Dark Repliku (cuz fuck you that’s why)

However, how would Dark Repliku have access to the Datascape and subsequently to the control of bugs? Moreover, whoever transmitted the bugs onto the microbots would have needed to establish a connection between the Datascape and the real world.

The only Riku we know of who can do this is Data Riku, who we know from Re:Coded, can open portals between the Datascape and the real world and even take those from the real world and insert them into the Datascape. It would not be surprising then for Data Riku to be able to transfer bugs onto real world technology and thus as a being of Data, be able to establish the neural connection necessary to control the bugs in San Fransokyo.

This makes me believe that despite what the game tells us, this Riku in San Fransokyo is objectively Data Riku. The Dark Riku in the Keyblade Graveyard is yet another Riku, Dark Repliku and they are separate beings.

Jeez Sora, how come Nomura let’s you have four Ri-

But this conclusion comes with its own questions.

1) How did Data Riku get to the real world?

We can assume that if Data Riku is in the real world, he was placed into a Replica by the organization. Ienzo was planning to use a Data version of Roxas’ heart to place into a Replica bring him back, so we know this is possible.

2) Why would the organization want him?

This is hard to answer and I will be honest and say I do not have a definitive reason for why they would want him Norted, but we could assume it would have something to do with Jiminy’s Journal (which has been compared in the past to the Book of Prophecies by Maleficient in Re:Coded. Re:Coded is gonna be important guys just you wait)

Moreover, we know from Toy Box, that the Organization was experimenting with Data Worlds for some end.

3)How did they even know about Jiminy’s Journal? Does the organization know about the Datascape?

We know Young Master Xehanort knows about the Datascape, as he references it to Sora in DDD (More on the Datascape and DDD in another post coming soon...)

It would not be surprising if Luxu is especially interested in Jiminy’s Journal as well since there seems to be a connection between the BoP and JJ (This connection stems from their ability to craft words from data)

4) How would they get Jiminy’s Journal?

This is difficult to answer. We know Maleficient tried to seize the journal from Disney Castle but failed when Axel foiled her plans. It would seem almost impossible for the Organization to have infultrated Disney Castle without Chip and Dale immediately altering Sora & Co via Gummiphone. But this is the Organization were talking about...

Moreover, in Re:Coded, we may have been given a hint that something happened to Data Riku...

In the Data Castle Oblivion, a hooded Riku speaks to Sora.

I already spoke about this hooded Riku in this post, but I would like to say more on it... In my next post on this topic.