#alter: data riku

[system-of-a-feather]

On other notes, I'm realizing with this fusion that there are just somethings that are dumb that I just have to do to or can't do in order to feel sane and function as a unified whole and that it's honestly okay when moderated.

Cause sometimes I wonder if Data and I even properly fused, partially because I say "Data and I", but then I remember we were always very very similar in resting personality when we were both not particularly high or low in mood / stress levels. The only difference is that Data was so excruciatingly always in a low mood and overwhelmed stress / sensory wise that our personalities appeared heavily divergent.

I don't think it is shocking that on a personality / identity level the "I" that persists still primarily identifies as Riku because 1) we both went by Riku, the "Data" name was a short hand signifier for a subsystem part and the name "Data Riku" 2) Save for dysregulation we have always been hard to tell apart, there is no good reason to say that we should look drastically different if we never did even when split as two seperate parts

But good god, sometimes I sit here and go "ah. theres the data brain in my brain" cause the sheer "I can not do that" or "I have to do this" or an intense rage and frustration at having to work with and rely on people that are "incompetent" and just the general moments when I feel my stress / stimuli levels splash against the rim of my window of tolerance.

I guess in a way Riku 1.0's functional "immunity" to sensing stress and inability to sense / process anger / rage probably is extremely helpful here cause it does allow me to step back and redirect myself nicely.

In a weird way, as a multiple fused part, I can still very much call upon each individual part's "brain" to help the others in a way where communication is not so needed, but I can still feel and see my experiences and go "ah yes Data brain" "riku 1.0 brain" "arya brain" "Riku TM brain"

Fusion is an interesting thing honesty.

[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

[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. )

[system-of-a-feather]

ME AS RIKU 1.0 ME AS RIKU 1.0 ME AS RIKU 1.0

ME AS RIKU TM / 2.0 ME AS RIKU TM ME AS RIKU TM

ME AS DATA ME AS DATA ME AS DATA

Please look at this trend and please have faith that as Riku 3.0 I am not doing this anymore 😂😂😂😂😂

I swear I am 1/3rd or 1/4th (depending on how you do alter math) a part that did not do this I can lean into it 😂😂😂😂😂

The irony is like 9/10 times I was also the part not doing well but LISTEN

I was clinically the worst at this. Being a previous caretaker / protector and turning host is wild cause literally sitting there being like *looks at everyone else* "Okay why is everyone not happy Ive done everything"

And 9/10 times its either cause I was a stressed McGee or repressing / unintentionally silencing parts that were struggling or experiencing things to "make them better" 😂

Called tf out

[underrated-kh-blorbo]

Where do I start. Okay so Repliku was a lab experiment created by Vexen from Riku's "data" whatever that means. He was created with false memories that turned him against someone who would otherwise be his friend if the "data" wasn't manipulated in that way, leading to hostility and a lot of crises when faced with confusion. Made as an altered replica, he faced the real Riku and quickly lost because he didn't have the skill despite the pressure to fight and Larxene treated him very poorly for that.

Marluxia exploited him and played him like a puppet with the intent of furthering the manipulation of Sora, who didn't actually know much of anything about this puppet, and tried to use the way he wielded darkness to give him an upper hand. He was turned against someone who in his pre-rewritten memory, was a friend.

After being freed of the control Vexen had over him for some time, the memory alteration had gone too far and he saw Sora as a legitimate threat, even when posed with the option to work together.

Then: his false memories are shattered, leaving him with nothing but a promise he never truly made up until that point. He then leaves the one he chose to save with the one he had been regularly fighting with the entire time over her, saying that he was a fake and didn't deserve it.

He chooses to challenge Riku, trying to remove him from the equation so he could take his place, and upon losing admits his defeat and questions where his heart would go, now that he's dying. Riku reassured him and he got a somewhat peaceful death

Fast forward to KH3, he had at some point, before his false memory shattered, had his heart snatched by a Xehanort and was returned as a member of the real Org.XIII, once again pitted against those he would have once considered friends. The "spirit" of his true self from when he died the first time defeated him for good, and once again aided to bring Namine back.

TL;DR version - Repliku was created and used as a tool with everything driving him being manufactured memories until they weren't. And he still saved someone he cared about dearly, fake memories or not, more than once. In the end, he still let himself fade away with a smile on his face.

He knows deep down, he's so much more than everything he's been forced into! He fought so hard to make his own choices, even though he had so very little of anything to become his own person! But he did it anyway!

I wanna adopt him so he can finally live his own life on his own terms with all the love and support a kid could ask for <3

[eggs-can-draw]

None of my irl friends have played Omori so tumblr is plagued with my kingdom hearts Omori au thoughts. Cut so that I don’t clog up dashboards, Spoilers for both KH and Omori obviously.

If you want the TL;DR here you go: Roxas commits atrocities, Naminé helps cover it up, Sora dies, implied SoRiku, Kairi Is Not Coping Well, and Xion and Riku sibling dynamic because this is my au and I make the rules.

(TW: self harm and suicide, cat death, child death, Arachnophobia, Claustrophobia, Thalassophobia, Trypophobia, descriptions of blood and gore, drowning, general violence, and body disfigurement)

NOW THE TIME HAS AREIVED. THE MEAT OF THE AU. In terms of role slots, here’s the layman’s terms:

Sunny/Omori —> Roxas/Data!Roxas

Mari —> Sora

Basil —> Naminé

Aubrey —> Kairi

Kel —> Xion

Hero —> Riku

Kim —> Vanitas

Vance —> Ven

The rest of the hooligans —> Twilight Town Trio Trade Mark

Ages have been sliiiightly altered from the OMO source material, with Roxas, Naminé, and Xion being 12 during the incident, Sora and Kairi being 14, and Riku being 15 (hey look their kh1 ages) Riku is Xion’s older brother, Sora is Roxas’s older brother, and Kairi and Naminé were friends before joining the friend group. (Funny Lea/Isa shitpost idea: Isa is Xion and Riku’s single dad, Lea is Sora and Roxas’s single dad, they are Competitive Soccer Parents to lovers to messy kind of break up to good ending exclusive lovers again.) Just like Aubrey, Kairi has an ambiguous but bad mom, and Naminé does indeed have a set of parents, but they are very busy and can’t take care of her so she lives with her grandma Ava and her caretaker Strelitzia. Kairi and Sora also make a deal that after Sora’s recital they’re gonna die their hair; Sora with blue and Kairi with pink

Ok timeline time. Sora knows how to play piano and Roxas is learning violin so that he can join Sora in recitals, and so that he can spend more time with his brother, who has gotten pretty busy now that he’s in High School. On top of this, Sora is both very repressive of his own negative feelings and has a lot of pressure out on him to do well in just about everything. So yeah he’s not as outward about things having to be perfect like Mari is, but when you’re friends and family shit talk you endlessly every time you make a mistake, you start to reeeeally dislike making mistakes. So inevitably, Sora and Roxas get in a fight. Just like in Omori, Roxas throws his violin down the stairs, shattering it on the ground, Sora gets mad and starts arguing with Roxas who then tries to leave, but when he tries to go down the stairs Sora moves to block his path and ends up pushed down the stairs. Naminé ends up witnessing this, and to help Roxas avoid consequences, decides to frame it as suicide. This is a spot where I’m undecided, either they frame it as a hanging like in Omori, or they frame it as a stabbing in reference to that one time Sora actually commit suicide. Either way, as things were before, the friend squad finds out, Roxas becomes a shut in, Naminé gets achievement get: suicidal, Riku buries himself into his schoolwork to avoid thinking about it, and both Xion and Kairi end up in new friend groups (albeit Kairi also becomes a lot more violent and angry since she feels like she was abandoned by everyone)

Bonus delinquent Kairi design (also, I’m gonna explain the Real World plot and then the head space plot just because one of them has a lot more thought out into it than the other lol)

Ok fun times in depression land four years later, Roxas and his dad Lea are moving in a few days so Xion decides to try reaching out to Roxas again and knocks on his door. Holy bees for the first time in four years Roxas actually opens the door. Xion mentions that Riku is coming home for college for break in a few days and says she’d like to hang out before she has to see Roxas go. They pick up some stuff for Isa and then decide to hang out. While at the park, they find Kairi and the hooligans bullying Naminé! When the duo tries to help save Namine, everyone goes holy shit because “HOLY SHIT ROXAS WHY DO YOU HAVE A STEAK KNIFE” Kairi runs away, Xion takes away Roxas’s knife privileges, and they walk Naminé home.

The next day, Xion comes by Roxas’s soon to be not his house again! She explains that Riku and offers to hang out before then. Roxas accepts and they. Do in fact! When they walk past the park they find a secret spot with a lake they used to hand out in and also find Kairi and The Hooligans bullying Naminé again. Eventually, Xion gets the hooligans to leave but once they’re gone Kairi begins to freak out. She’s angry, angry that NOW they decide to rejoin her life, that everyone is acting like they never abandoned her and are just gonna go back to being best buddies, and like Sora never died. In her rage, she accidentally pushes Naminé into the lake. Namine…cannot swim. YEAH SO EVERYONE STARTS PANICKING. Xion and Kairi start fighting and Roxas jumps in for Naminé. Roxas. Also cannot swim. He has a trauma sequence and when he’s done, he finds Riku pulling him and Naminé out of the water. Naminé is passed out so Riku, Xion, and Roxas all take her back to her home. Kairi stays at the lake. Roxas has dinner with Riku and Xion, and they decide to have a sleepover at Roxas’s soon to be not his house.

Day three!! Roxas wakes up to Riku making breakfast and Xion eating breakfast. They decide to check on Namine and when Strelitzia greets them at the door, Xion suggests they get out Namine’s journal so they can look back before Roxas has to leave. Strelitzia explains she would, but Kairi stole has been bullying Naminé for a while and stole the journal. So, they look for Kairi, have a cool climactic boss fight, pressure her out of a church, rummage through her garbage, clean up the journal, confront Kairi again, get the pictures and sketches with Sora in them back, hang out in the treehouse behind Roxas’s soon to be not his house, and then head over to Naminé’s house to return the journal. When Strelitzia says that Naminé hasn’t left her room since yesterday, they decide to stay over for the night, and Omori/Headata!Roxas ig squares up for an intense mental fight.

Roxas wakes up in the middle of the night. He reminisces on how much he’s going to miss his friends, and decides to check on Naminé. When he finds her, they begin to have a bit of a confrontation. A lot of yelling and crying and shared trauma dumps later and Roxas gets a pair of shears to the eye.

Now here is where things divide: if Roxas loses to Headata!Roxas then just like in the OMO source material, he jumps off the roof of the hospital. If Roxas wins however, he finds his friends and explains the truth.

Headspace time!! First off, white space is a blank heart station and black space is Sora’s heart station but shattered, with each of the doors being held on pieces of the station. The main/hub area of headspace is based on Twilight Town, and The Neighbors room is a mix of the destiny islands secret place and the usual spot in Twilight Town. Since Sora is taking Mari’s place, he still mans the picnic save spots and will heal you with sea salt ice cream. The ice cream starts out really sweet and barely salty, in the hikikomori route, the further in Roxas gets the more the ice cream loses its taste, in the normal route, the closer Roxas gets to the truth the more overwhelming the salty taste becomes. The phobias stay the same but some of their causes get changed. Something in the dark is because a) heights killed Sora and b) when he was younger he fell off the treehouse. Something in the water doesn’t change, but Something in the walls now finds it’s origins in Roxas falling through a spiderweb when he fell off the treehouse and coming to find a giant spider on his face when he hit the ground.

There is probably a whole bunch of stuff I’m missing or mixing up, but it’s almost midnight in my timezone so when we cross those bridges I will simply pull a Nomura and retcon some things. Like I said, it’s almost midnight so good bye and good night!

[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.

[system-of-a-feather]

This just had me thinking and wanting to explain a little bit on our personal experience with subsystems.

But similarly in line with some of the reasons for subsystems mentioned above but not quite sure which one, but the Riku subsystem (ie the host bunch here that honestly posts more than our overall system at this point) due to both external and internal demands for me / "Riku" to be front as well as keep a very pure bright exterior. In order to both meet the demands of how frequently I was called to the front as myself and the demand to maintain a pure shiny exterior 24/7 - instead of splitting into fully identifiable different alters - we more so just grew a habit of rapidly "shedding" as we'd like to call it. Each shed would end up gaining a seperate sentience usually holding one or two emotions / functions / thought line and most looking mostly indistinguishable

Like a few of our subsystem members - after realizing that it was separate parts - were notably distinct and identifiable and more like "typical alters" (XIV over there) or through recovery and healing work have become a little more distinct as a part of working on communication with the "larger" fragments (Data for example) - but the large majority of this subsystem is literally just - and I say this with love in my heart - a conglomerate of shed variants that have very limited distinguishing traits from each other, enough so that we just count them as one part cause we can't even find a reliable way to count them if we tried.

That said, I'm a Host squared with my only "flexible" role being caretaker for a specific set of traumatized "kiddos" so other than the need to know of how things operate generally, I put an active effort to keep my nose where it belongs until a top gatekeeper asks me to look at something or gives me clearance.

I don't really remember the details of the events that made us a subsystem or much of any of the specifics other than the *points to the general knowledge of history book in our brain* that this is what it is according to the great Protector and Gatekeeper gods above /hj /lh

Really though if there is anything to take from this whole post, I really do think the main take away that OP also said is to don't go digging or looking for things and that things will fall into place when they fall into place.

While it might be intimidating and scary, do keep in mind that you've lived this long without knowing it and that being aware of it in itself doesn't innately change your situation. If you've managed to get by this long not knowing it, knowing it - on it's own - won't likely inherently impact you. It'll all come at it's own time so its important to just continue on with life and recovery and let the concern and details of having a larger system than expected come at their own natural times.

I've gotten clearance to state and admit that we are probably polyfragmented 😂 Which still means just about as much to me as it did before cause I Do Not Look beyond going "ah thanks for the cool fact guys im not gonna look deeper than that being a Cool Fact 👍"

-Riku

Do you have any advice for how to approach a situation where you find out that the system is much bigger than you originally thought and there has been like another group of people functioning deeper inside your mind because I just found out that our system runs so much deeper than I thought it did and it's kinda freaking me out.

Thanks

(Also I love your blog)

Hey anon,

I've had this in my ask box for a few days trying to figure out how to answer this in a way that would be helpful and insightful. A big goal of mine for my future is to be able to educate people and help people with and without CDDs who are in places that I or my wife/friends may have been in the past. This situation you're describing is something I went through right around mid August. The only reason I actually know when I started learning these things was because I have a frantic email I sent my therapist with the subject line "Ah shit, here we go again" with a screenshot of that very quote from GTA. It's an inside joke between our therapist and I because it seems like whenever something really wild happens that I really didn't see coming I preface with "Ah shit, here we go again." and that's how she knows it's going to be a doozy of a session or email.

(small TW ahead for mentions of unaliving oneself, nothing detailed, just mentioned)

So in all honesty I feel like I don't have super proper advice for you in this regard. Not in the way you may have been hoping or wanting, as I am still new to learning parts and subsystems. I know about four subsystems right now, other parts keep alluding to something else that's hidden from me that's like a Big thing, and it's a...it's a lot! I understand how you're feeling to some degree here. The very first time I started piecing together the subsystem stuff I swore I was ready to do the unalive. And uh, unfortunately, I almost did because of parts who were created to commit suicide in this very instance. I wasn't supposed to know about that stuff. Past suicide attempts seem to line up with that same narrative. Every time I was learning something I was not supposed to know, one of our secondary gatekeepers would throw a suicidal alter into the front and essentially let it happen. Thankfully, we've had either our spouse or other alters be able to step in at the last second, parts that don't want these things to occur. We're working on deconstructing that particular program now and it's been fairly successful, thankfully.

I talk about that not because I think all systems with subsystems or whatever happens going on in your system have suicide programs, but because this information you are suddenly learning is likely meant to be hidden. Subsystems typically don't occur for shits and giggles. From my limited knowledge (reminder, I am not a professional at this so if anyone has better info than me or any additional info or resources, please say so) of subsystems, typically they form for specific purposes. One purpose could be to separate various traumas at different time periods of the system's life. So for example, we have an entire subsystem (our largest subsystem as far as I know) dedicated to our very early life trauma that began long before our RAMCOA type abuse occurred. Those things happened likely around the ages of 3 to 5. The RAMCOA abuse occurred around age 7 or so, as far as I'm aware. None of the main system or any of the other subsystems were aware of the early life subsystem, only our gatekeepers knew about them.

Other reasons subsystems can occur is to separate a specific type of abuse that the system/brain finds particularly disturbing and needs to be separated from the rest of the system. We don't have these, but I've heard of folks whose main system typically has the "less severe" trauma and subsystems hold "more severe" trauma OR trauma that needs to be kept completely deep down and away from the front area, like CSEM production OR incest with a member of their household that they have to live with all the time. If you're around that family member all the time you're not going to be able to function if you have even an inkling of those things occurring, so your brain might separate all of that into a subsystem to keep the rest of the system safe. While the rest of the system might deal with other forms of trauma such as neglect, medical trauma, emotional abuse/manipulation, bullying, etc.

The last reason that subsystems might exist, and this is only our personal experience because I have never met another system whose subsystems are like this, but subsystems may exist to keep certain parts of memories separate from the rest of the system. Which, I've mentioned I was going to go into our system structure in more detail before and so I'm not going to do a deep dive in this ask, but essentially as abuse was escalating, our system realized that a single alter cannot hold the entire memory of abuse that was occurring, and so what happened was we'd split a fragment (which our system labels as "china dolls" even though they're really not that) and they get cracked apart and split up, essentially. So one subsystem holds only the pain of that particular memory, another subsystem holds only the emotional toll of that particular memory, another subsystem holds only the visual or auditory sensations of that particular memory, etc. So, in essence, for a single occurrence of trauma, a splitting pattern happens where we end up splitting anywhere from 2-5 fragments to hold bits and pieces of a single memory. So those subsystems keep those fragments separated so that we don't have to be overwhelmed by the entire memory being whole.

From all of the above information it's probably going to make subsystems sound like a super horrific thing, and while I really want to be comforting and help you through this with some encouragement, subsystems are typically because something happened that needed to be kept completely separate from the rest of the system, which is usually not a good thing.

However, to actually answer your question, how to cope? Um. Good question, because I'm barely coping with my own situation right now. BUT, one thing that has helped me kind of stop freaking out about it is that I have accepted that I will learn things when the time is right. Every time I've tried to go digging or I got curious or something I regretted it. I learned very quickly WHY these things are separate. I learned as a host that I really really should not fuck around because I WILL find out, and it has pretty much every single time been far more devastating that I could have even imagined.

So my advice to you is "Don't go digging!" Because often, system information (especially if you're currently in therapy with a specialist) will become known with time. Be patient. Don't do the "nosy host" thing unless you are in an environment where you have someone who knows what's going on and can keep you safe in case you learn something very distressing that will make you want to go down the sewer slide. Being a system is not a fun time when you're discovering this stuff. I'm very open about loving our system and loving our parts and thanking them for what they've done for me, but that doesn't erase how difficult and scary it can be when you start learning things that you never knew you never knew. Hang in there, anon. DMs are open if you want to discuss this further. Anyone is free to DM or send asks about these things and I'll answer when I can. :)

-Dorian

(Note: Endos please do not interact with this post, as subsystems are a product of serious trauma and are not something that I think could ever be replicated in the way that a traumagenic system's subsystems would occur. They require extreme levels of amnesia and are typically complex, something that a created system would very likely not be able to replicate in the way like OP and I are talking about. This post is for folks with trauma-based CDDs only, not other forms of plurality.)

[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

[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!

[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.

[nadziejastar]

I pretty much agree with all the points. I hate how Xion essentially replaced Kairi in KH3. Replicas now just do whatever the plot needs them to. Namine’s connection to Roxas was eclipsed once Xion was created.

And yet, I cannot be too upset at Xion’s creation or her role in Days. In KH3, I agree she shouldn’t exist anymore and should have stayed disappeared. But in Days, I liked her presence. Her existence is extremely convoluted. But she added something important the trio.

She existed for Axel’s benefit. Xion was the foundation for Lea’s future friendship with Kairi. Without her as the link, we get…well KH3, where Lea and Kairi have a casual friendship that’s not very deep or meaningful.

– How did you come up with Xion, who became such a key person in the storyline? 

 Nomura: We showed how Roxas left Organization XIII in KH2. At the same time as we were polishing off the KH2 project, we had assumed to a certain extent what Roxas’ movements were during the time period when Days happens, and thought that “Roxas definitely left the Organization because of the influence of someone close to him.” And, we thought that “someone” should be a girl his own age. Flowing from that, we began to construct the storyline, beginning with Xion’s existence.

Xion existed also for Roxas’s benefit. I was happy that she took on the role of “most important person to Roxas” in Days. Even in KH2, it was clear that Roxas was not nearly as emotionally invested in his friendship with Axel as Axel was. They weren’t really super close. Roxas left the organization due to a girl his own age. Someone he would have been closer to.

IMO, it would have been boring to have a whole game about Roxas and Axel’s duo relationship. They didn’t know each other that well. Axel never talked about himself. He kept Roxas at a distance and kept his secrets to himself. So, I was glad Xion existed to offer Roxas a peer.

Xion really reinforced the idea that Roxas and Axel weren’t really peers. Roxas cared about Axel, but he took him for granted, too. He blamed him for everything that was happening. Roxas couldn’t understand how Axel basically sacrificed his own friendship with him, all so that he wouldn’t have to be the one to destroy Xion himself. Axel decided to get his hands dirty so Roxas wouldn’t have to, knowing Roxas would hate him for it. Roxas didn’t truly appreciate Axel or understand him.

And I actually loved this a LOT. It felt a lot more realistic, considering the age gap. And it fit the way they were portrayed in KH2 way more than “Roxas and Axel are BFFs!” So, I liked the trio dynamic in Days more than I would have liked the Roxas/Axel duo dynamic. I also think without Xion, way too many people would have misinterpreted Axel’s interest in Roxas as romantic, which I don’t think Nomura wanted AT ALL.

Roxas put Xion on a pedestal, and obsessed over her, like a normal straight teenage boy would. But he kept forgetting to give Axel the ‘Winner’ stick until the very end. Roxas essentially treated him like a mentor or a friendly coworker. Roxas cared about Axel and enjoyed talking to him, but he was not really as excited to hang out with him as a true peer. Roxas was waaaay more excited to hang out with Xion than Axel.

Due to the way Roxas and Axel were portrayed in KH2, that’s also why I was happy to see Axel’s relationship with Saix take precedence. Axel was more emotionally invested in his relationship with Saix (his peer) than his relationship with Roxas (not his peer). It balanced out the imbalance of Roxas and Axel’s KH2 relationship.

In Days, he says to Xion that she and Roxas can “keep on running, but I’ll always be there to bring you back!” In context, this was a selfish, possessive threat. It was Axel saying “Screw what you two want or need! I want and need you at my side in the Organization and I’ll drag you back there against your will no matter how many times you try to escape!”

But once Axel is revived as Lea in 3D, the narrative pretends that wasn’t the case and now insists that it’s a noble pledge, a promise to “always bring his friends back” when they disappear, and that it’s legitimately what they want him to do. An interesting, morally gray character was totally whitewashed so that he deserves the ideal happy ending that he receives. All from something he said to Xion.

I agree with this. Axel was morally gray and his promise was not 100% noble. When he pledged to bring Xion back, it was for his own selfish reasons. 

Axel didn’t care anymore about what the Organization needed, what Xion or Roxas wanted, or even what was supposed to be good for the worlds. He had been using the Organization for his own ends from the start. The only thing that had changed in the meantime was who it was all for. Maybe Saïx would call that a betrayal. But his world had changed.

He admitted this in the novel. He was always doing everything for himself first and foremost. IMO, it wasn’t Xion’s existence that ruined Axel’s moral grayness. It was Axel’s lack of a backstory with Isa.

“Is it true that I’m not supposed to exist?” she asked quietly.

“Well, what do you want to do, Xion?” said Axel.

She thought for a moment. Now that someone was asking, she could see the answer for the first time. “I want…I want to be with you two.”

I think Axel was genuinely trying very hard to do what was best because he remembered how Isa was. He was trying to be more like him. He spent the entire game sacrificing his desires and trying to do what was “right” for Roxas and Xion. And that was for Xion to go away.

“How will I know? I’m not sure I can promise you I’ll come up with the right answer.” Even her self-doubt was so much like Sora.

“Well, the answer you come up with can’t just be right for just you,” said Riku. “It has to be the one that works best for everybody—you and your friends and everyone else. Just think about it.”

She had to sacrifice what she wanted to do what was right for everyone. Axel’s actions did not really even save her. Quite the opposite. All that happened was that Roxas had to kill her instead of her disappearing peacefully on her own. Axel wound up causing the very thing he spent the whole game trying to prevent. It was his fault Roxas had to destroy Xion with his own two hands. And the outcome actually played right into Xemnas’s hands. I thought it was quite clear that Xion was doing the right thing by going back to Sora. That’s where she belonged. She really wasn’t supposed to exist.

This is the way it has to go, Axel told himself, lying on his bed. This is the right course.

But he was swamped with misgivings, unable to accept his own decisions. How could he choose between Roxas and Xion? And yet, that was exactly what he’d been forced to do. Then Xion had walked away of her own accord. Then again, this did little to alter the big picture. All it meant was that Xion would no longer be draining strength from Roxas. The plan would only suffer a slight delay in progress—nothing more. Although even that slight delay would let Roxas remain himself for a little longer.

And Axel thought so, too. He logically accepted that Xion disappearing would be better for everyone. She was sucking Roxas’s strength. Axel originally let her leave, knowing she would disappear.

“It’s the best thing for everyone,” said Xion.

Everyone? Everyone, who? For us? Or…for someone else? “How do you know that?” Axel demanded. “Everyone thinks they’re right…”

“This is right,” Xion said firmly. “It’s better this way.”

Axel hated that argument. Nothing was better any which way. All it came down to was what you wanted to do and what you didn’t. He’d learned that lesson back when he had a heart.

But…he was being a hypocrite. I think at the end he realized it. Lea was not willing to let Isa sacrifice himself for the greater good. He didn’t care if that was the right thing to do or the best thing for everyone. He was too selfish to let him die.

“Say, Naminé… Are you still going to try to meet Kairi?”

Her head snapped up at the unexpected question. Across from her, Axel met her gaze, grave and earnest. “I have to help her,” she said with a sad smile.

He scowled. “Is that really the best thing?”

“The best thing…?” Naminé set her crayons down on the table, her gaze dropping as she thought for a moment, and then she smiled at him again. “It’s the right thing.”

In response, Axel only leaned back and rocked in the chair again. No one could know what was right or wrong.

IMO, Isa was more selfless than Lea. Axel was a broken person who was very maladjusted. He had unresolved issues with Isa/Saix. He was trying to protect Isa all over again. That was his main motivation for bringing Xion back, despite knowing it wouldn’t really save her.

Axel was selfish when he wanted to bring Roxas back, too. Roxas didn’t want to go back to the organization. Axel knew that he was happier in the data world. Axel wanted him back for selfish reasons. The same reason he always lied to him and refused to tell him about his connection to Sora or Ventus. He lied because he didn’t want Roxas to go vanishing on him. Axel had severe abandonment issues due to his relationship with Isa/Saix. These issues never really got resolved or even addressed in KH3. Giving Axel a happy ending where Roxas and Xion just conveniently poof back into existence really didn’t do his character justice. But Xion’s original creation in Days wasn’t really the problem IMO. It was how everything was handled in KH3 that was the problem.

[kayura-sanada]

Wait a minute there everyone! I want Naminé 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.