#i know parallels don’t make clones but i already acknowledged that so here’s my screaming

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

saw that one “crack” idea on twitter about riku being MoM’s son lmao buttt it did remind me of a couple thoughts

which are that i fully believe MoM and that one Darkness are ex boyfriends LMAO

and in regards to riku’s parents. he does mention “our parents” in kh1. but the original post on twitter did mention this one line from the novel…

but as always the reason i think about riku’s parentage is bc of hercules lmao i mean??? i’ve posted about this before but—if riku’s parents were higher beings, only for riku to end up on the mortal realm AS a mortal for some reason

and now i’m wondering what that reason could have been. like was it voluntary or not? was it riku’s doing? his choice? cause at first i was thinking about how baby hercules was legit kidnapped

but tHEN i thought about player. bc players two lives feel, different. on one side, Player decided to sacrifice themselves, and be reborn. on the other side, xehanort was born with the memories of his past life, causing him to want to leave the islands.

so like, on players end, the whole thing was “voluntary”, but on xehanorts side, bc he literally doesn’t remember choosing to be reborn, it feels involuntary. like he was born in the wrong place, or like he’s meant to be somewhere else.

like riku’s line from kh1. riku wonders the exact same things, which is part of why i freak out about the riku/xehanort parallel so much.

bc given the fact riku’s lines, riku’s scenes, came first. only for xehanort to parallel them years later, like—both in bbs and khux—esp after khux reveals the reason behind his whole mindset is bc of being a reincarnation—

LIKEEEEE IT IS NOT COINCIDENCE.

???? how are you gonna show me this

riku being all “there have to be other worlds out there. and if there are, why am i here, on this one?”

xehanort, games later: *seems to ponder the exact same thing*

xehanort, games after that: oh the reason he wonders about other worlds and has the desire to leave the islands is bc he is a reincarnation of a whole ass other person who lived a whole ass separate life on another world

LIKE WHAT ABOUT RIKU THEN???

NOT TO MENTION————NOT TO MENTION THAT XEHANORT IS A FUSED HUMAN AND CHIRITHY HEART??? right????? (edit: maaaybe not actually but idfc lol)

WHAT ABOUT RIKU THEN

what about riku’s “chirithy aspect”, as i call it

ofccc these are all questions assuming the riku/xehanort parallel runs THAT deep. but IF IT DOES?????

Edit: because there's also this whole mystery/unanswered question about xehanorts whole ass MOTHER? Tf??

“i need to protect the person who matters, i need to leave this island, i am also a dream eater” BITCH WTF you want me to make of this???????

“what is he?” a reincarnation maybe????

but if he is—who is he a reincarnation of? WHAT is he a reincarnation of??

this circles back to the “riku is MoM’s son” idea LMAO and i support it wholeheartedly don’t get me wrong.

i mean MoM is obv not human, though supposedly he’s currently in a human form. but despite this he can still do shit no human should be able to do. eg. plucking his whole ass eyeball from his being, and continuing to SEE through it till the end of time. (assuming the eye is even his lol rip)

riku, despite being in a human form, also is implied to have abilities no human should have? the way he’s immune to darkness when realistically, all humans should succumb to it in some form or another. not to mention his dream eater bs, his self sacrifice SOMEhow spawning a whole ass NEW timeline for some reason. (i used to accept that it was bc of true love but what if it’s more—)

for a second i was like “wait xehnort fell to darkness tho” but then i remembered player was still just a human so we’re good lmao

ANYWAY i think it took my brain a good while to remember why the riku/xehanort/player parallel bothered me so much like, this has been in my head for a while now but i couldn’t get it out lol

like we’re always asking “what is riku” but my dumb brain keeps spamming “what WAS riku” bc that’s two things now that hint at some form of past life/past form and i don’t know what to think 😭

like you’re really gonna parallel riku and xehanort’s motivations, then drop this bomb about the origin of xehanorts motivations, then just? keep walking?

[gffa]

OH MY GOD THIS SCENE WAS INCREDIBLE.  BECAUSE THIS SEASON HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY REMINDING US THAT WE’RE ONLY A FEW MONTHS AWAY FROM REVENGE OF THE SITH, AKA THAT POINT IN TIME WHERE ANGERY BOI IS GOING TO BECOME THE ANGERIEREST BOI. Now, Anakin’s not really wrong to have killed Trench, he was an enemy combatant and was actively attacking Anakin, but he could have slashed the control or even Trench’s hand, leaving him alive.  And the casual way he does it as well, the fury that’s been written all over his face after he learned about the bomb that’s put Obi-Wan, Mace, and the clones in danger, that he doesn’t even pause to look down at Trench after he kills him, the most he gives him is a jaunty wave and a cheerful, “It’s been fun, Admiral!” as he runs out the door. This is nothing that weighs on Anakin’s soul even for a moment, it’s so easy.  He’s practically whistling cheerfully as he walks away, even! Because this entire scene does not exist without the context of us knowing exactly what’s coming in Revenge of the Sith, that it’s made him one step closer to killing enemies that he could have disarmed instead.  That it doesn’t bother him to kill people.  That, now that he’s taken another half step forward on this dark path, it’s going to be that much easier to justify it the next time. And that’s how we get to Dooku.

Trench and Dooku aren’t entirely the same, one is still actively attacking, the other has stopped and is on his knees. But they are similar in that Anakin has literally disarmed them both in these scenes.  Both Dooku and Trench are on one of their own ships and in the heart of territory that the Republic has control of (now that they’ve taken back Anaxes and taken out all those droids).  They’re both situations where Anakin could have made a different choice. It’s just enough like ROTS that it’s a punch to the gut, because Anakin has done such good in this arc.  He was sweet when talking with Padme.  He’s bantering with Mace in this arc.  He’s giving good advice to Rex about hoping for the best but being prepared for what might happen.  He’s trusting Echo and Rex.  He was doing good! And then he has to deal with people he cares about being in danger, he comes into contact with someone who makes him angry, and he burns with that anger.  Burns with it so casually that he doesn’t even realize he’s already on fire--that he just jauntily looks for the self-destruct switch, grins a little as he says Wrecker’s gonna love this, gives a little quippy goodbye to Trench’s dying form on the floor, and runs off, like this rage storm never happened. Like he didn’t just scream, “I DON’T HAVE SUCH WEAKNESSES!” when Trench said that he was a Jedi and he wouldn’t kill. I mean, honestly, we even get this shot:

The closeup on Anakin lighting the saber.  The full body flinch and half step back both Admiral Trench and  Sors Bandeam as Anakin lights his saber against them. LIKE HOLY FUCK THAT PARALLEL GUTTED ME BECAUSE WE KNOW WHAT’S COMING. WE KNOW WHAT’S COMING FOR THOSE CHILDREN. WE KNOW WHAT’S COMING FOR ANAKIN. WE KNOW THAT THIS ISN’T GOING TO GET BETTER AND EVEN A JUSTIFIABLE SITUATION HERE IS SO DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE BECAUSE IT MAKES THE NEXT TIME A LITTLE EASIER FOR ANAKIN. AND THEN THAT MAKES THE NEXT TIME EASIER, TOO. BECAUSE HE’S SO FULL OF RAGE AND FURY THAT HE NEVER WANTS TO LOOK AT, DOESN’T EVEN ACKNOWLEDGE HOW ANGRY HE WAS HERE, BUT WE SEE IT. AND WE KNOW WHERE IT’S GOING AND IT HURTS.