#dark road spoilers

[invidiatechdemo]

did you forget?

that your sister is a human being?

that she's capable of being mad? mad at You, even?

[xehabaldera]

i did some research this morning regarding a KH theory i've had for a while..... the twitter thread was absolute incoherent insanity because it was me livetweeting as i read, so i summarized it when talking about it on discord.

i guess it's no surprise that the guy with mythology autism and nordic heritage (me,) is The Dark Road Guy, but it's a very funny surprise that a tagging mishap led to remembering a specific line from a post made by a blog i first found out about through a dark road meme about another post from the same blog. so basically, you can all thank tom hiddleston being ugly and being loki for these thoughts.

(the source of most of the mythology knowledge in summary comes from this wonderful page, which reiterates details in short form often, which helps me get it memorized! thanks to whoever runs it :p)

[kitkat-the-muffin]

If you asked me to explain my Baldr brainrot I would have no answers for you

It's probably something to do with him being named after a deity of pure light and goodness but he himself is incredibly flawed and susceptible to darkness

He's an empath who can see the good in others that he cannot see in himself and that comparison drove him to feelings of inferiority, especially when compared to his sister who's heart shown with great light

He saw himself in Xehanort, a being filled with both light and darkness, one he could relate to as they both tried to understand the ways of the keyblade

But then his sister was taken from him, and he felt the light vanish from his heart in an instant. He took three lives before being admitted into the school's hospital

Or more like psych ward as that place was filled with zero enrichment, the perfect place for Darkness to get comfortable and worm its way into his heart permanently

And once he released himself, he went after them all. His friends, his classmates, his sister's closest allies... he killed them all one by one. Why did he do it? Because to him a world without his sister is a world not worth living in... also to summon Kingdom Hearts obviously, the Darkness inside him was trying to start another keyblade war

Of course then Xehanort approached him and Baldr had a "we're not so different you and I" villain speech and then Hoder's ghost pops out of Xehanort's heart to try and calm her brother down

And it works... for a moment. He was reaching for her hand, she was offering him forgiveness, mercy, salvation... and then she took out her weapon, and aimed for his neck. His quick reaction speed saved him as he did the same, and suddenly they were in this stalemate of betrayal

Hoder believed darkness has no place in the world and she was willing to purge her brother's life for that cause... while Baldr was willing to purge all life for her in the name of justice for an unjust world...

They were buried in the same grave

Mmm... brainrot

[infinitelilith]

The clock on Young Xehanort's keyblade has struck midnight which means it's now officially the 26th of August where I live, so HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO THE DARK ROAD FINALE!!!!!!

Although I was skeptical about this game when it started, it eventually turned itself into an interesting foundation for the Lost Masters Arc as well as a thought-provoking recontextualisation of Xehanort's journey through light and darkness. Xehanort was already one of my favourite fictional characters of all time, and the fact that this game made him EVEN BETTER is incredible. The true accomplishment of Dark Road, however, is what it does for Eraqus: For a while he was one of my least favourite characters in the series, but this game almost singlehandedly turned him into one of the most tragic and complex characters in KH. I fucking love that guy. I'm also even more of a Xehaqus truther now, so that's another reason to love this game.

I love the way it uses its Disney worlds, I'm still processing everything about Baldr, I like almost all of the Scala students (which makes their fates even more shocking) and the Bragi and Ephemer reveals literally made me scream out loud; Thanks, Dark Road. A lot of people are going to overlook this one, but it's their loss if they miss out on all of the special things this story has to offer

:)

NOW WHERE THE FUCK IS MISSING LINK

I NEED MISSING LINK RIGHT NOW

PLEASE I'VE BEEN SOSOSOSO PATIENT

[freyja-official]

KHDR Spoilers!

Freyja tweening with his actual art?? Wow... I miss Dark Road :(

[moonknightproductions]

Ref sheet for Re:Formed Vanitas (feat. a tiny Ven). Came about from the idea of "what if Van lost his memories and, to help get them back and maybe show him that life isn't so bad and that even if he's darkness (or Darkness with a capital D) he doesn't have to be antagonistic or evil, the Wayfinder Trio befriend him and train him?" Alternate under the cut with no jacket or weird half-cape thing (idk what to call it)

[fangirlynjunk]

Man the tragic irony I should have seen coming but didn't with Baldur is so good.

Baldur is the golden child, brought down low by Loki and a mistletoe spear. his one weakness, in the hands of Hoder, blind to the one item that could hurt Baldur being in his hands.

Baldur is a child of destiny, brought down by his own darkness, his one weakness, and Hoder being too blind to her brothers struggles wasn't able to help him as the one person who might have been able to.

Granted Odin didn't see any of this shit coming either time so I guess the All Father and the Headmaster are blind as hell out of their one good eye

[pretty-weird-ideas]

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road explained all of Xehanort and Eraqus' significant motifs and thought processes succinctly despite the situation is very important. It's very important to ME.

hrrnrrgh.

[lightandfellowship]

Lyrics from "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" by Kate Bush.

Image descriptions in ALT.

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts 3 - Scala ad Caelum

[lunarcrown]

OLLD drawing I can share now of Timmy after recovery and care from staying on double life and being looked after by the box boys~

He’s healthier, happier, his hair and wings have grown back out and have a pretty blue-black sheen to them (that he never knew he had bc in hels his diet and environment only let them be dull) and he just heard the sound of a portal opening for someone to come visit~!

[invidiatechdemo]

there's something deadly in the way that you move

there's something sickly in the words that you told

[xehabaldera]

terrible realization i just had while listening to the Radical Highway But Black Doom Is Replaced By His Fandub Counterpart, Da Devil From Da Bible cover again:

baldr kingdomheartsdarkroad has the same tragic backstory as shadow but is shadow if he wasn't convinced to Not Let Humanity Die

all it took was "Why'd you bring me back into my darkest hour? Why'd you bring me back to cables, cars, and towers!?" reminding me of how people used to call scala ad caelum "cable town" in the early KH3 hype days for me to realize LOL

[cayala-xiii]

What a polite looking guy, I'm sure nothing has gone wrong with him ever :D

[sixisnotaprettynumber]

Let Ben Hargreeves be an imperfect person.

Let him nag people to death as he sits on his moral high horse. Let him be snarky and bitter and jealous of the fact that he never got to live his life. Let him be immature and refuse to admit his own faults. Let him be frustrated with Klaus because he made the choice to stick around and not go into the light. Let him fail at being the voice of reason because honestly he’s been dead for seventeen years and doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

Let him be a condescending, selfish hypocrite who is desperate for control. Let him be the type of person who hates losing. Let him call his siblings “narcs” and “narcissists” when he doesn’t agree with them. Let him be the type of scummy jerkwad that starts a crypto scam and helps his brother start a cult. Let him act like a miserable little pessimist who hates not getting his way. Let him be utterly pathetic and awkward and just kinda suck.

Let him be a Hargreeves.

[edge-of-ultima]

You ever think about how the 2nd Save Point in the series is in the main villain's house?