#if anything it would make the luxu reveal even more interesting

[goldensunset]

i confess i am starting to fall into the 'team khdr before kh3' pit despite everything i said earlier

[catboygirljoker]

because it was last year when i got into kingdom hearts, i had all of the (current) kingdom hearts story available to me at once. i didnt really avoid spoilers at first because i assumed it wouldn't matter to me. so i knew about xigbar being luxu before i really knew xigbar at all—i knew about xigbar being luxu before i knew who vanitas was! i found out about this in the context of looking up kingdom hearts character names in order to make an oc; i saw that Xigbar also went by the names Braig and Luxu. i was like, huh, thats weird, and looked it up.

and i found out that he was an immortal body hopping prophet who had been forced to bear witness to the slaughter of countless child soldiers and whose entire life's purpose is to ensure the second coming of the man who orchestrated that slaughter.

and at first i thought it was boring.

like. i actively thought it was a bad, uninteresting writing choice. now, [gestures,] CLEARLY i dont think that. and because this is my damn house and i feel like it, i wanna make a post about why i thought what i did and why i changed my mind.

at the time, i had never played any of the games and assumed i never would. i'd only ever watched cutscene compilations and a couple of streams, up to DDD, not including KHUX. i hadn't paid very close attention to xigbar, beyond the impression that he was a weirdo and an asshole and pretty fuckin ugly*¹ but also kind of a silly goofster who's fun to watch and maybe he can get it idk.

so i found out about the luxu reveal by reading wikis and posts. and the way the luxu information was presented was this: his entire personality was fake. that he was only putting on an act this entire time. "xigbar" was a persona, and "luxu" was the real person.

i. think that's wrong. and also boring. i think it's boring because that means that we've spent several games getting to know this iconically weird dickish character, forming—well, not necessarily an attachment to him, i know a lot of people think he's annoying in a way that doesnt fill them with unbridled lust—but some kind of connection with him, some kind of idea of him. and if his whole personality is fake, that means that that connection didn't mean anything. he was a blank void this entire time, we know nothing about him. where there was an interesting, memorable character, there's now a stranger instead.

i think it's wrong for a few reasons. one, even if the luxu we see in KHUX isn't very much like xigbar, there are still glimpses of xigbar. the veneer of cold pragmatism in the face of the keyblade war when we first meet him, the bit where he's with the master of masters and goes "sigh.......sigh..........SIGH—" trying to get his attention. he's more innocent and bright-eyed for sure, but he's still kind of a little shit! and is it not believable to think that over the hundreds or thousands*² of years his personality would change?

and also . if his personality were fake. if it were a ruse, if he had put on a character just to hide his true identity and fit in with the organization and carry out his plans. wouldn't he. i dunno. pick a better personality? like wouldn't he be less of a shithead? wouldn't he try harder to get along with people and ingratiate himself to them so they'd spill their secrets or stay loyal to him or whatever?

the reason i changed my mind on whether the luxu reveal is boring/uninteresting is because, well, for one, we do get to meet luxu before it's revealed that he ends up being xigbar. it's shockingly difficult for me to get the timeline on when different story updates in KHUX happened, but at the very very least we get his first scene, and in that scene, him wearing the black coat and holding the Gazing Eye is a pretty compelling introduction. he's not some rando, he has significance in the story, he raises a bunch of questions. (i assume we got a lot more of him before the luxubar reveal, but my point remains.)

also, having paid more attention to xigbar, there are absolutely indications for the entire series that he has More Going On. it's difficult for me to be "objective" about this, as someone who started paying attention to him after i found out what that More was, but ive seen a lot of anecdotes from people who picked up on there being something weird about him, wondering why he has so much presence and significance and power. it may or may not have been setup for luxubar. but him turning out to be a primary antagonist for the next arc of the series doesn't come out of nowhere and isn't a sudden jump in his importance or change in his role. he goes from being a lynchpin in one antagonist's master plan to being a lynchpin in another. he goes from being weird and mysterious to being even weirder and more mysterious. he's had a significant role in every game he's appeared in, and his role remains significant.*³

in conclusion, it was the thing that made me write a fic about him.

[or start writing. ive got 20 pages in that notes document and counting.]

ENDNOTES:

*¹—at the time i couldn't tell the difference between any of his models (besides 3 versus not 3, ofc) and conflated all of them with his model in 2, which, i am world number 1 fucked up old man xigbar simp, and man. his model in 2 is jacked up. i try&try and still have a lot of trouble finding him hot in that game. sad! oh well. there's other games

*²—i dont think it's been thousands of years. or i hope it hasn't. A Thousand Years is a comically long amount of time and multiple of that is kind of ridiculous. i'm willing to accept a few hundred. maybe one thousand at the MOST. ah well, its not that important

*³—in contrast to this, i do not . personally think that "demyx is the master of master" theory is very good. i think that if it were to happen it'd be bad writing. i will spare you my paragraph about this.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Hi, I’m really enjoying reading your theories for UX and I think they make a lot of sense. So, I’m curious: what do you think the likelihood is for that “Demyx is the MoM” theory? Personally, I hate it, and it would ruin everything that I love about him as a character. But I’m getting nervous because he hasn’t shown up yet and he’s supposed to be from this era.

Thanks so much! I’m glad you enjoyed it!

I’m actually not a fan of any of the “X character is secretly Y character” theories floating about in the fandom, especially any involving the Master of Masters, who I feel works much better as a wholly new entity unconnected to any preexisting characters. Most of them are entirely unsubstantiated beyond surface-level similarities, and Demyx being the MoM is no different!

Hopefully it’ll be a relief for you to hear that it was actually never said that Demyx was originally from the Age of Fairytales. That has only ever been a fan assumption, and one that’s probably going to be proven wrong in a couple of weeks if he doesn’t make an appearance in the KHUx finale. And I expect that he won’t, because the numbers can’t work if he does

So why did people think he was supposed to be from the Age of Fairytales anyway? It’s all based on a single line from Xemnas in KH3:

You four are going to reveal your greatest secret: the ancient Keyblade legacy that slumbers within you.

People assumed that this meant that Demyx and Luxord were from the Age of Fairytales both because that was the only “ancient” past that we knew of at the time KH3 came out, and because they’re told this alongside Marluxia and Larxene, who are from the Age of Fairytales. But Xemnas never actually said that they were all from that time period, simply that they were all connected to it. With Luxord being hinted at either originating from or simply ending up in Quadratum as well as the fact that the Foretellers have been implied to end up there, this opens up other avenues for the two of them to still be a part of that ancient Keyblade legacy without being from the Age of Fairytales

One possibility may simply be that Demyx’s original self was either from Quadratum or visited it and met one of the Foretellers! So him not showing up in KHUx is probably not a hint to anything

One other thing to note about Demyx being the MoM is that it was proposed under the assumption that the Master of Masters would use the same method of getting to the future as Luxu did: body hopping. While technically the fact that we know he time travels to Xehanort’s time doesn’t exclude him from body hopping (to end up in the present after that), his appearance in the KH3 Secret Ending does imply that he didn’t. Because, you see, Re:Mind canonized that ending as something that Riku actually experienced in a dream. And Nomura confirmed that the cloaked figure in it was the Master of Masters. Everyone in Riku’s dream retained their actual appearances (as far as we know), yes? So we can probably assume that that’s what the Master of Masters actually looks like right now, and he doesn’t have Demyx’s iconic pointed shoulders, but looks like his real self instead. So he’s not in Demyx’s body right now, and likely never was because there’s no evidence besides “body language” (the fandom loves that as evidence and it’s SO WEAK) substantiating the idea that he ever was

Especially since he’s never talked about body hopping once. All of his dialogue has been directed towards the idea of using a lifeboat to time travel and an interest in Quadratum, which the secret ending strongly implies that he ended up in. The Foretellers all had a non-time-travel method of getting to the future without aging or losing their bodies; there’s no reason to assume that the same option wasn’t open to their own master

Not to mention that it just wouldn’t make sense from a writing standpoint. There’s no foreshadowing the idea that Demyx and the MoM are connected at all, and all of Xigbar/Luxu’s suspicions have been directed towards Luxord. It would be a terrible decision to have Demyx suddenly be important and have Luxord be a red herring without even hinting at Demyx maybe knowing more than he should or... having any actual connection to the MoM or Luxu

[cori-writes-fanfic]

I have a lot of Thoughts after the reveal of the new Dark Road kids, and most of it isn’t directly about the kids themselves and more kind of crazy predictions about how the story will go.  (This may be a little bit of a jumbled mess as I try to organize my thoughts, so…bear with me.)

So we know that:

We don’t really see any of the Dark Road kids in the future besides Xehanort and Eraqus (or, at least, that we know of).

Eraqus is stationed at The Land of Departure, rather than Scala.

Literally nobody talks about Scala in the future.

Eraqus was a ���blue blood”—i.e. descended directly from Keyblade wielders (most likely Brain)—and Xehanort was an off-worlder who was made an apprentice and desperate to Eraqus’s equal.

We don’t really know much about what Scala was like, but we can guess, based on the size, structure, and the information about Eraqus’s family that it was likely a thriving city at one point.  We know that it was built on the ruins of Daybreak Town, and that many of the citizens were likely descendants of Dandelions.  I’m running on the assumption that not every citizen in the city would be a Keyblade wielder (though many are, and the “blue bloods” are often expected to take up the blade).  That said, my guess would be that many times masters would take townspeople as apprentices, and they’d only really take on off-worlders if they showed a lot of potential (which would really drive Xehanort’s desperation to prove himself).

As for the kids themselves, I’m going to jump on the bandwagon for two of them: Bragi being Luxu and Vor being Kairi’s grandmother.  For the first, I think it’d be interesting to see Luxu interact with the other apprentices, knowing what he does.  …Well, that, and the name is way too similar to Braig, so if they’re not the same person, I’m likely just going to get them confused.  For the second, it’d give an explanation for why Kairi’s grandmother knows that story about the Dandelions (not that it’s technically needed, but it’d be kind of fun).  That said, I’m thinking they aren’t blue bloods like Eraqus, but from regular families around the city (and I’m sure that’s going to be proven wrong soon, but…oh well).

Story-wise, I’m kind of predicting that things will start off mostly with just general training, we’ll get some references to the Dandelions/X-blade/etc. through Bragi, and MoM will pop up at some point to speak cryptically to Xehanort and stoke his ambition/fear.  I’d guess that The Land of Departure is some sort of outpost for the Keyblade wielders (perhaps one of many) that either a) a couple of masters and apprentices live at full time, or b) masters and apprentices are on a rotating schedule for who stays at an outpost and maintains it at any given time.

At any rate, about half way through the story is when I think the big “Scala calamity” is going to go down.  Essentially, I’m guessing that Bragi/Luxu is going to spur this on (presumably in order to make sure Xehanort ends up as the “scape goat” for whatever his plan is, though I’m not sure how exactly that would work).  This ends up killing and/or scattering the Keyblade wielders, and either flat out destroying Scala or basically taking it out of this plane of existence.  Xehanort, Eraqus, Urd, Hermod, and Eraqus’s/Xehanort’s master manage to escape together and head to The Land of Departure for safety, hoping to find other Keyblade wielders there. When they don’t after a time, the master head’s off to check the other outposts.

Meanwhile, the kids are stressed because they’ve just had their home destroyed, many Keyblade wielders are missing—including one of their closest friends—and the other betrayed them.  Xehanort is particularly antsy, which is partly because he’s feeling somewhat inadequate; he wanted to prove that he was good enough to be a Keyblade wielder, but he couldn’t do anything to stop Bragi, couldn’t protect his new home and friends, and now he’s not even allowed to look for them and Eraqus is insisting that they stay here because the master ordered them two, and Xehanort just doesn’t understand—

And then MoM shows up again. Xehanort vents his frustrations, and MoM does his usual thing and kind of manipulates Xehanort into leaving.  This is ultimately what ends up prompting Xehanort’s “world tour” as he calls it in Re:mind; his desperate attempt to find what Keyblade wielders are still out there, and to prove that he’s still good enough.  Unfortunately, none of this actually gives him the time to, you know…process the traumatic event that he and his friends have just gone through.  So when he travels the world, he can’t help but notice the bad things; how so many people will lie and go behind the backs of people that they claimed to love (like Bragi), how so many people claimed to be strong but when it came down to it they couldn’t protect anyone (like him), and how sometimes those mistakes end up leading to dire consequences (like what happened to his home).  Ultimately, this is what ends up fueling his philosophy that the world needs to be restarted, even if his reasoning is faulty; if people are horrible, and they’re just going to cause more suffering (and force others to go through what he did), then they should just be saved the trouble.  And he’s going to do things right this time. He’s going to make it better.  He’s going to prove he’s not weak and maybe be able to make sure nothing like this ever happens to him again.

Back at The Land of Departure, the kid’s master has basically decided to take up permanent residence there.  He hasn’t had much like finding other Keyblade wielders; he only found one, a young master named Yen Sid, who was so traumatized by the fall of Scala that he decided to give up the Keyblade, though he’s promise to keep an eye out for other Keyblade wielders and send along any information he could get.  The master decides that the best thing he can do is keep this outpost in good condition and train his apprentices in order to make sure they’re prepared to go out into the worlds on their own. Eraqus, in particular, works like crazy in training, and adheres to his master’s teachings almost religiously; like Xehanort, he’s still grieving from an event that none of them have properly worked through, he’s just handling it in vastly different ways.  His family’s the one that was descended from the Union Leaders; he’s the one who needs to pick up the slack, to lead, to make sure that everyone’s okay.  He can’t let the others know how bothered he is by all this; he has to be strong for them. (But in the back of his mind, he’s still thinking about the darkness that Bragi brought to their shared home, and how it had destroyed everything he’d loved.  He still has nightmares about it.  It terrifies him.)

After Urd and Hermod become masters, they decide to travel the worlds, like Xehanort, with the purpose of both trying to protect people and see if they can find other Keyblade wielders (even if, by this point, they know it’s unlikely).  Eraqus wants to come with them, but they gently refuse; the master is growing weaker, and someone needs to make sure this outpost stays standing.  If anyone should be taking charge of this, it’s Eraqus.  He agrees, albeit reluctantly, and his friends head off.

Urd and Hermod visit The Land of Departure much more than Xehanort does (though all of them return for the master’s passing).  At different points, the two appear with a child in tow (Terra and Aqua).  Maybe one or both of them are their kids; maybe they just found them.  Regardless, they can’t bring them with them, and the kids have nowhere else to stay, so they have to come to The Land of Departure.  Then, at some point, Urd and Hernod just…stop coming back.

And Eraqus is troubled. He’s worried for his friends, but he can’t leave to look for them, not when he has two very young children to look after, not when for all he knows he’s the only Keyblade Master left. So he stays in The Land of Departure, and he raises—and later trains—Terra and Aqua.  He never talks about Scala; Terra and Aqua never experienced the place, never had to deal with the heritage they’d lost, and he can’t bring himself to burden them with his own traumatic memories.  (Though, if he’s truthful with himself, he can admit that’s partially because he doesn’t want to relive them, either.)

And then Xehanort reappears. Out of the blue, like nothing’s changed. Eraqus is overjoyed.  He hasn’t seen any of his friends in years, he thought he was the only one left, but now one of his friends has returned, and he’s desperate to learn more about what’s happened in the outside world.

But Xehanort…isn’t quite like Eraqus remembered him.  He’s talking about bring about another Keyblade War, about whether or not they’re worthy (he’s worthy), and Eraqus doesn’t understand.  (Why would you want to force others to go through the same thing they went through?)  Xehanort doesn’t really explain, and of course, Eraqus attacks him, and Xehanort gives him his scars.  (It’s like Bragi all over again.  The darkness corrupts people.  It takes his loved ones away from him.)

Xehanort, of course, disappears for a few years, and then comes back with a young boy named Ven. Eraqus…isn’t quite sure what to make of this, this time.  He’s not going to turn the boy away (and maybe even recognizes the name, depending on how much Bragi/Luxu told them), but he’s also…a little wary after the last meeting with Xehanort.  But…Xehanort is also the only other Keyblade wielder he knows, besides his apprentices. The last member of their group still standing.  And no matter what Xehanort had done, he can’t bring himself to completely sever that friendship.  He doesn’t entirely believe Xehanort’s given up his plan, but—maybe if he keeps a close eye on Ven, then he can make sure it never works out.  And maybe if Ven is here, the last of his friends will stop by more, and he can try and change his mind.  It doesn’t work.  It was never going to work, but how could he have known that then?

…Aaaand I’m going to leave it there because this got…really out of hand.  This is almost definitely not going to be canon, but, hey; it’s fun to think about.

[psianabel]

Dark Road and the Book of Prophecies and its Final Passage

Ever since the very first story content from Dark Road, I can’t stop thinking about this.

The fact that the Book of Prophecies is common knowledge, or at least, something that keyblade wielders get taught about, is really something that took me out. 

In Dark Road we encounter Emblem Heartless, even though they technically wouldn’t exist for at least about 65 years in the future, making us believe that the Book of Prophecies projects them into these not-yet-recompleted worlds until they are recompleted.  (The worlds in Birth by Sleep are recompleted. They inhabit no Heartless anymore, somewhere between Dark Road and Birth by Sleep the projection ended and all worlds were recompleted. Pureblood Heartless only appear in the Realm of Darkness / Dark Corridors.)

That means the Book is still around in Dark Road, yes? Where is it and what actually got passed down from it? And where is it now? What does that Final Passage even mean? First things first. (Read More! it’s going to be long.)

I shouldn’t have been that surprised that the Book of Prophecies is apparently something Eraqus and Xehanort know about. Xehanort directly quotes it in KH3.

Which is actually more phrasing than anything else, because if Xehanort means the Final Passage from it, then it would be:

That it is not a direct quote from it might actually be important.

Emblem Heartless, as we know from KH2′s Secret Ansem Report 5, were made by Xehanort. Now we don’t know how much in detail the Book of Prophecies mentions events, because we ... really don’t get to know any quotes from it except the Final Passage. But if we assume the Book mentions at least the broader details of things, it makes me wonder if the Book namedrops Xehanort in combination with the Emblem Heartless?

Where am I going with this?

The Book of Prophecies was only for the eyes of the person who got it. Foretellers and Brain. The Foretellers are long gone and so are their Books, the only remaining Book would be Brain’s. We know Brain immediately took the Book and never let anyone else on it, keeping it to himself only. (Heck, in the scene where Brain reveals that Ventus isn’t on the Union Leader list, Skuld is astonished that Brain even has the Book, after all these years they were together.) Brain was secretive about his Book. Well, Ava told him he should keep it to himself (even though she could have only meant the List, but here it reads to me she means the Book and the List.), which makes sense if she wants to push Brain into the direction of changing fate. 

So, if Brain ended up in Scala after Daybreak Town fell and took his Book with him, then he may have continued to be so secretive about it, never telling anyone about its contents. However, what he does mention is its abilities. He didn’t shy away from that.

But. 

The Keyblade War was supposed to be “forgotten”, the Dandelions weren’t supposed to remember that, yet somehow that knowledge about it got passed down. Vague, and some details aren’t quite correct if we compare it to what we’ve seen in KHUx. Which, I guess, makes sense that parts of it get lost through history. 

(Either Brain ended up talking about the keyblade war to others just to meddle with stuff, because he wasn’t supposed to and was set on the path to change fate, or someone did get a hold of the Book and passed that knowledge down, (Or Luxu did, who knows, he must be around somewhere in Scala) as well as mentioned what the No Name keyblade does. But that’s another story there.)

What I’m saying is that the actual contents of the Book never really surfaced and only its abilities were truly important knowledge worthy of teaching. 

Just like the keyblade wielders in Scala got taught apparently. They know about the Book, what it can do. However, no one else has read it, no one else knows the future except for the last sentences. 

So, where is it now? Scala fell, worlds got recompleted and thus the projection of the Book ended. Is it gone, lost forever?

It can’t really be. We know Maleficent is searching for it as she mentions it in the Re:Coded movie (as well as the Box, but that’s beside the point here.) I don’t think they will drop this plot point just like that, especially now that the whole Black Box - Foretellers - Luxu - Return of the Master of Masters plot point will be relevant in the future soon. 

The Book can still be around. As of right now, the only “survivors” of Scala we know are Eraqus and Xehanort. If someone took it, then it could be them. 

We know Xehanort gets No Name eventually and gets it somewhere after his time travel shenanigans (because he mentions in the Re:Coded movie secret ending how it has yet to become a reality for him), and those time travel shenanigans happen some time after he met the Master of Masters.  In the Re:Coded Secret Ending, Xehanort quite obviously states he follows his destined path accurately. He does not want to meddle outside of it. He does what he feels like he is supposed to do.  Would be benefit from the Book of Prophecies here? No, not really. He follows it and there is that. Besides, if he had the Book of Prophecies, wouldn’t he know what “happens beyond the keyblade war”? He would get all the answers he wanted. But he didn’t had these answers and thus did his thing.

The person who doesn’t want to follow “destiny” is Eraqus. And he even mentions that in KH3.

We know that Eraqus eventually becomes quite light obsessed. And if we look at Dark Road, we slowly might see why. 

The whole plot point of the missing upperclassmen, how they (probably) vanished because of some darkness force - (probably) his classmates dying also because of some darkness. Eraqus becomes wary about the outside worlds, tries to hinder Xehanort from leaving for another journey

We know from Dark Road that it was a common practise that keyblade wielders who were about to take their Mark of Mastery soon, to leave for the outside worlds to broaden their horizon etc. (1, 2) and while Eraqus says their Mark of Mastery isn’t so soonish, Xehanort leaves anyways. And we also know that Eraqus asks to leave as well eventually (according to the KH3 Secret Report from Xehanort in his Mark of Mastery Journal), but that happens after Xehanort did his world tour.

However, I do believe something must have happened that Eraqus becomes so ... against visiting the outside worlds. 

I do believe it has something to do with the darkness in Xehanort, or that Eraqus also saw the darkness which Xehanort saw as well. Except Eraqus’s response was to close himself off and never interact with it again, while Xehanort got interested in the darkness. 

Eraqus, as we know him from Birth by Sleep, does not follow these customs from Scala anymore. He does not let Aqua and Terra to the outside worlds in preparation for their Mark of Mastery (and let’s not even mention Ventus here). Seeing the darkness in the outside worlds, losing his friends and upperclassmen made him fully invest in the light instead - while he always preached about balance, his only focus was light. The same as Xehanort, except he as well didn’t find the balance and ended up using darkness instead. 

So, what does this have to do with the Book of Prophecies? 

Eraqus knows of the Final Passage. He is scared of the darkness, what it can do. His teachings of light express that very well. Darkness cannot prevail if there isn’t any, so he only focused on the light, trying to block out that darkness can and is a natural occurence. After all, running away from his problems is what he does best ... 

While Xehanort followed his destiny, Eraqus tried to do the opposite. Again: “Who is to say I can’t change it? And maybe light will prevail.” 

... Which really is some neat parallel to Brain here.

So I believe Eraqus ended up with the Book of Prophecies, took it with him to the Land of Departure and hid it there in hopes to change what was written on that Final Passage. 

If he used it, or read it, is something I question. If he did read it, then he had too much fear to talk about it, because I don’t think he mentioned anything to the Wayfinder trio at all. 

However, just for the train of thought:  What if Xehanort ended up with the Book of Prophecies anyways? 

Xehanort could potentially have profited from it as well, even if he didn’t end up reading it at all. As mentioned earlier, the abilities of the Book were known, were taught. It can project things from the future, be it enemies or worlds. 

Interestingly enough, we know in KH3, Young Xehanort was able to create a copy of the Toy Box world. 

... Which, I guess, could be possible with the Book of Prophecies? For that he didn’t even have to read it, but to use its abilities.

Another instance where this happened was DDD and Traverse Town. There are two copies of it as well. If there is a connection between that and Toy Box, I don’t know. 

But maybe that is something to think about as well. 

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

One Final Thing: What does the Final Passage even mean? Why does the Book end there?

“On that fated land, a great war shall transpire. Darkness will prevail and the light expire.”

A keyblade war, obviously. The ongoing battle between light and dark finds its conclusion. There is a winner this time, one side - darkness - won, and light lost. 

You know, just like in the first round of KH3. It even gets directly mentioned.

And just like that, it ends. 

We know it didn’t, Eraqus pulled the chess piece back, Sora went through the tear in the fabric and activly changed destiny, and called upon the Light of the Past. 

... So, what about the Book of Prophecies? 

Did it change its text? Does it continue further from here on now? 

We know changing destiny is a thing, even back in Union Cross, as Ava decided to give Brain the Book and not the one the Master of Masters circled in red. Ava and Brain question even back then what happens to the Book if a person does not follow their destiny. (1 , 2 , 3 , 4)

... We just don’t know, yet, what happens to the Book, the most sense would be that it does indeed change its text the second something gets altered. Though, wouldn’t that mean that the Master of Masters would know this beforehand, if ... he can see the future?

It’s a paradox I can’t explain in Kingdom Hearts terms. At this point I would say ... altering futures are a big thing coming to KH in future games, but who knows, really. 

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

Regardless what is true what I mentioned in this post, I am very excited to see what future KH plot will bring. There is so much on it, so much to think about ... 

There are a few more things in my head that don’t really have something to do with all that, but I think that’s enough for now, thank you for reading :D

[tapioca-puddingg]

Back on my bullshit part 2: Talking about the Master of Masters and Young Xehanort

Yo! I'm back with another KH3 Re:Mind hot take. This time, i wanna talk about the cutscene with the Master of Masters and young Xehanort. There's a lot to unpack in this scene, so this post may be long as well. Just for convenience's sake, I'm gonna be referring to the Master of Masters as 'MoM' and young Xehanort as 'YX'.

I think i may have said this before, but the fact that two such powerful characters are even talking to each other so casually is crazy to me. In both cases they're meeting someone extraordinary; MoM's eye can see into the future, so he knows exactly who Xehanort is and knows that he's the one that's gonna initiate the next keyblade war. And for YX, he's meeting one of the lost masters, or rather the very master of those masters. On top of that, Xehanort unknowingly works with Luxu himself many years later, whom also happened to be there when old man nort recalls the moment in hindsight. I just wonder; was MoM supposed to be here at this point in time to talk to Xehanort or did he just insert himself in the situation? How'd he even get here?

As the scene starts, MoM is casually sitting on a rock, waiting for YX to arrive. As I said in my analysis of the very first Re:Mind trailer, they have most definitely spoken before, and probably in the exact same spot, too. This isn't anything important, but it's a little funny to me how smol YX looks as he's standing in front of MoM, whom is still sitting.

Then we get the part from the trailer where MoM asks YX how his tour of the worlds went, and he goes on to elaborate his observations. I'm gonna do my best to summarize his beliefs cus if I quoted him word for word, we'd be here all day. As of right now, it's unclear what worlds he went to or, more importantly, what he saw, but I'm sure we'll get more information in Kingdom Hearts: Dark Road. For those of you who might be unaware, Dark Road is an upcoming KH mobile game that is supposed to be going more detail about Xehanort's backstory.

Back on topic, YX makes 2 observations:

People live their lives and believe that they are moral and virtuous, when they're really fooling themselves.

Those that are weak take power from the strong ones and try to justify their actions to say that they've earned that power, and repeat this cycle. Thus, darkness is created.

The whole time YX is speaking his observations, MoM never outright confirms or denies them and chooses to stay neutral. This is probably to ensure that he doesn't interfere too much with the future. Or rather, to not directly influence YX's decision. He does repeat his words back to him to make sure they're on the same page, and does make comments here and there to challenge his beliefs. All the while, YX knows that he doesn't agree with this 'false light' concept but doesn't know what he should do about it. And he knows that if left alone, the world would go to shit, so he's kinda going in circles with himself.

The last point of interest in their exchange is the reveal of MoM's name. Well, the reveal to YX anyways, we don't get to hear what he says. As expected, it's never that easy is it? It's perfectly hidden too, since the audio is cut off on top of the fact that we can't read his lips because of a lack of a face. So his name is completely up in the air. But because of YX's shocked expression, some have speculated that MoM's real name is Sora. There's a reason as to why I don't think it is:

Xehanort, at this point in time, had not yet been corrupted by darkness. I didn't mention this earlier, but he has his original grey eyes in this scene. This is years before he enacts his plan of starting the keyblade war, decades before Sora or the BBS trio are even born. Well, Aqua and Terra that is. If you've been keeping up on Union X, you already know the deal with Ventus. Then again, the logic I've been telling myself is that if they're going out of their way to keep his name a secret, it must be the name of someone we already know.

But who knows with Nomura? This could be some kind of bait to make us think he's someone we already know just to throw us for a loop Demyx. Or maybe he's a completely new character and just wants to save his identity reveal for later. He can't give us all the answers, after all.

As always, thank you for reading this far. If there's anything I said that was incorrect, be sure to let me know. Feel free to share any thoughts you have. See guys you in the next post o/

[kitsoa]

Meta reality anon: Well when it comes to Yozora we'll know better (or won't) in a couple of days. ;) Yeah something like that. I do think the merging and confusion between fiction and reality will be a major theme in the upcoming saga. After all it's been built up since COM in various ways: false memories vs real. Nobodies. Data and Dream worlds. Woldlines. Different realities w/different versions (video game Yozora and real Yozora). I do think MoM will toy w/this a lot. I think I'm pretty -

2 pretty focused on those dark beings MoM told Luxu about in Union X. He made them seem very different from what Sora and anyone else besides MoM has encountered so far. More intelligent. More scary. I'm wondering if MoM isn't the only mastermind in the shadows. Like those dark beings he mentioned are beyond anything even existing in the Realm of Darkness and they're pulling their own strings to keep this war cycle going. Shoot for all we know they messed w/reality first and MoM got in-

3  on it later on. There's a lot to unpack and a lot we don't know. But I do think those dark beings are going to be a huge deal: possibly the true final bosses of the saga (not that I think MoM will be a blameless saint unless some epic twist is made. He's definitely a shifty guy just for what he put Luxu and all the other Keyblade weilders through. Good intentions or not). They say there was darkness before light and all light must have a source. Maybe we'll learn about the first clash-

4 between light and dark, battling for supremacy as reality was taking shape. MoM could be a ancient being as well from around that time. As one reality fell to darkness. People learned to create new realities like storybook tales. Ansem said a heart like Sora's could breathe life into anything, from wind to a puppet. Maybe MoM also had a heart like that. One that could create whole realities even. The heart is the most powerful and mysterious thing in KH. Kingdom Hearts itself will make anyone-

5 a god who opens it successfully. Kingdom Hearts is a character all on it's own. It's the one that truly decides what is or can be real. It certainly seems far less inflexible them most Keyblade weilders are. W/this in mind Kingdom Hearts already has a very mysterious connection or interest in both Sora and MoM. Maybe KH is more active then we think? Everyone just sees it as this thing to attain or protect. But maybe it uses the Keyblades as its eyes to watch all these realities w/hearts 

6 I'm not sure if this whole kh universe is MoM's creation or if it's Kingdom Hearts. But I do think MoM is fascinated w/ideas of what's real or not on many different meta levels. I think to a degree Sora (and Yozora) is too. Sora's very first lines are questioning if what he knows is real. He also thought more deeply about the nature of nobodies and found out they are real. Not to mention, again, Ansem's insight that Sora empathy allows his heart to create hearts in others. What's real again?-

7 In KH Idk. Honestly the very idea of questioning reality to this extent is unthinkable. You'd almost feel detached like you were in a constant dream. Then to suddenly to yoinked to another Final World when you're existence was suppose to vanish. That's insane. Do you think the MoM's and Sora's actions are causing a ripple effect on KH? One that's warping fact and fiction. MoM and Sora were brought to a world: Fantasy based on Reality (FF13V's original tagline). What does KH consider not real?

In regards, to the dark beings mentioned in the flashback, I’ve basically said my piece in my analysis of the scene. I personally don’t think he’s talking about an actual force of darkness. I think he’s taking advantage of the double meaning in KH terminology to make us think there’s another force of evil out there. I think he’s actually just explaining his ‘sympathetic’ back story. The reason for the smoke and mirrors is because it’d be in dramatic character, point to the themes of fantasy as a coping mechanism, and the reality of it being the interpretation of real world evil would give away the twist. 

That’s my meta reality lens. If we limit our ideas here, then yeah, MoM could be talking about a new dark force in the lore. I just think we have all the lore pieces in terms of opposition laid out before us.

And having someone behind MoM is always a possibility but it’d be a little tired due to MoM’s reveal that he’s basically behind the entire first saga too. Motive is one thing but I personally am not a fan of last minute villains. MoM’s being established as a villain for years now and it’d be a little low to change that in the finale. 

Ultimately if you view the KH world as an entirely fictional beast, the subjects within it unaware, then you can essentially explain any plot holes and contrivance as a “meddling god” or author. I’ve always been one to try to understand the inner mechanisms of mythological physics which is why I’ve gravitated to this reading. Making real that which isn’t. I refer to my interpretation of the Replica situation to best describe the entire function of the kh world. 

Replicas are objects imbued with data. Cold hard facts and information. A heart is the force that sparks that data into life. Whether its a heart placed in the object or born from surrounding relationship, the heart is the sole requirement to be considered an existing person. And by nature of this very basic law the object miraculously becomes the intended person down to the blood pumping in their body. It’s not magic, it’s like… the actual physics. Because this is a reality that is subservient to the emotions and those emotions are born from the story told. The fantasy being presented. I go into this in my Worlds as Stories theory but it’s the reason why I see these grand entities like Kingdom Hearts as simply the embodiment of the entire fictional realm. 

I think the 4th wall is going to be broken soon. That Sora is going to discover his origins and have to grapple with his philosophies of existence being put to the test. This could very well change the entire fabric of the KH universe as a result. I mean you can't undo that knowledge once it happens. (i mean unless you forget which could happen). I’m the weird one saying that I don’t think Sora and Yozora are in the world of Verum Rex but in the real world. Because if Yozora dwells in a Fantasy based on Reality. Then Sora exists in a Reality based on Fantasy.

[nyctospoilers]

idk watching demyx makes me think I get the feeling he knows more than what he puts on and if Luxu managed to get into the orginization what makes you think the MoM wasn’t keeping close watch from within the fact demyx kept emphasizing he’s the least expected to be on radar for anything suspicious made me put him at the top of my list 🤔🤔🤔

Honestly this reminds me of back in 2012 after DDD, I said “Yo I think Demyx is gonna be a nort! He knew from the beginning that nobodies have hearts” and I remember being shut down with that theory. So take THAT rude youtube comment from 2012!!

I’m still not quite sold on the Demyx being MoM, but I’m not against the theory either. The reason why I’ve yet to jump onto the Demyx is MoM train is because while from Demyx’s side, the theory looks promising, I believe that from the MoM side, there are things set in place that don’t quite line up with the theory. Either way, let’s play with it a bit:

The thing about the “Demyx is actually MoM” theory and how it’s affected by the confirmed “Xigbar is actually Luxu” reality is that now, the possibility of this theory can go two ways. One way, that Nomura already used the “suspicious character is actually of major importance” trope and thus wants to avoid using it a second time. The second way, is that Xigbar-while he actually is luxu- is still, in a way, a distraction, so that we are so focused on his big role that we glance over another character. Clearly, the attempt of Xigbar being a distraction didn’t work, as I’ve seen the “Demyx could be MoM” theory pop up a LOT since KH3′s epilogue came out.

((this actually came out longer then expected so I’m finally putting an analysis on this blog under a read-more lmaoo))

From Demyx’s side:

No matter what, we know what Demyx can use the keyblade, thanks to the revelation from Xemnas. However, we don’t know if he and Luxord are dandelions like Marluxia and Larxene, as they’ve yet to appear in KHUX. And we can’t forget that it’s still possible for current people to use keyblades, like Axel and Riku. I feel like it’s important to distinguish that just because Demyx and Luxord are worthy of the keyblade and are in the organization, that does not confirm they are dandelions or from the Age of Fairytales in general. Taking this into account, we also have to be careful that any future indication of Demyx using the keyblade is not necessarily the same as Demyx being the MoM. So for future KH material, let’s take that into account.

But that’s for the future. Let’s talk about the now and the past.

Demyx and MoM do share a lot of personality traits, but I remember the same thing being said about Xigbar and MoM. Still, for debates sake, let’s address these. As I said earlier, Demyx knows about nobodies having hearts as he states so before fighting Sora in Hollow Bastion in KH2. This may be a throw away line, or it only started out as one, and is now something Nomura would like to touch on in the future with Demyx’s character. In this same scene, we have a silly character who panics at the idea of work. But then he suddenly gets his act together with “Silence, traitor.” There’s also his line in KH3 of “I can be imposing... when I want to be.” MoM shared a similar character trait of overall being silly (but let’s note that he wasn’t necessarily lazy like demyx) and taking a sudden serious tone. 

We can also talk about the similarities between Demyx and Xigbar: one is that neither characters faded away on screen like everyone else. Xigbar’s was suspicious as hell, falling behind a wall and that’s it. Demyx, was even ever seen again after delivering Ansem to Ienzo -or when Xemnas revealed Demyx and Luxord could use the keyblade, i can’t remember which cutscene came second. Either way, the fact that we have no clue what happened to him raises suspicion. Demyx sits in a weird place. He was benched like Vexen. Vexen was able to regain himself (he has green eyes in KH3′s ending when waking up Namine) without us ever actually killing him, so it’s possibly that Demyx was able to do the same. And it’s possible we never see Demyx in KH3′s ending because his level of importance is [currently] equal to that of Luxord, who, even though we DID fight, we never see him in the ending either. So Demyx and his current canon position sits between Vexen (not being beat by sora) and Luxord (not being seen in the ending).

From Master of Masters’s side:

We, of course, don’t know exactly what happened to the MoM. All we know is that he “vanished, dimmed, andfaded” without a trace. From the current Kingdom Hearts logic that we know of, there are a few options of what this annoyingly vague phrase is referring to:

MoM time traveled to the future (either without a body like Ansem SoD, or with a body like YX)

MoM waited in a different realm OR worldline. Note realm and worldline are two different things. realm refers to the Realm of Darkness or Sleeping Realm, and then worldline refers to something similar to where the Dandelions went to. I’m also putting what happened to the Foretellers in this section, though we don’t know where they resided up until being summoned back

MoM took the Luxu approach, and actually lived all these going from vessel to vessel

[There is also the idea that the MoM as lived all these years in his own body, but seeing as we’ve yet to see something like that happen in KH, i’m not going to rule it as a possibility. let’s work with what we already are familiar with in kh]

I’m assuming that when people are suspicious of Demyx, it’s that he’s in a similar situation to that of Braig, and that Demyx’s body was overtaken by the heart of MoM. But it’s this exact theory that I believe goes against what we know about MoM.

Why would the MoM give Luxu his keyblade and box, and then do exactly what Luxu did and watch over the ages himself? They Gazing Eye exists so that the MoM can still see the future, while not necessarily being there. Otherwise, it’s completely redundant, no?

The MoM wasn’t even sure if he would disappear- which is in-and-of itself something extremely interesting. The MoM can see the future, so why did he say "I might disappear one day” and that it’s “anyone’s guess right now” (he said those to Aced). If the MoM was only going to jump vessel to vessel, only to end up in Demyx’s body, it sounds a lot more definite, in my opinion.

However, there is the option that as a heart, he traveled to the future, and then took over Demyx’s body. But even then, Luxu states that everything with Xehanort, the reenactment of the keyblade war, the summoning of the foretellers, all of THAT was to bring back the MoM. If the MoM just time traveled to the future to then possessed Demyx, then all of Luxu’s role was a complete waste.

[[and here I went to use the restroom, and lost my complete focus and train of thought OTL so I hope it’s okay I post this as is]]

[nadziejastar]

I don't know about any previous drafts, but it seems clear to me that in KH3 Braig was the one who saved Subject X. Ansem certainly has no idea what happened to her. And with the Luxu reveal (which was probably planned for years) it makes sense that he'd have his own agenda regarding an amnesiac Skuld/Ava.

With this new power, I uncovered a “corridor of darkness” that connects the realm of nothingness to the outside world. While it is still difficult to come and go as I please, my banishment is now a thing of the past. To deceive Xehanort and my apprentices, I first used my power to change form before returning to the realm of light. As I had suspected, Xehanort had become a Heartless. Under my name, he commanded other Heartless in quests to snatch away the hearts of many different worlds. At the center of the heart Xehanort has stolen was “Kingdom Hearts,” which attracts tremendous darkness itself and attempts to send any and all matter back into its depths.

Yeah, I agree. I think Braig/Luxu is the one who knows where she is. Ansem the Wise was banished to the Realm of Darkness for like 10 years. By the time he came back to the Realm of Light the first time, Xehanort had already plunged many worlds to darkness and Sora was a Keyblade wielder. How would he even be able to personally keep track of that girl over such a long period of time? Unless she was kept in stasis or something.

Even now, years on, I feel no closer to understanding who or what I am. May my heart be my guiding key.

But in her writings she says that it’s been years and she still doesn’t remember who she is. So that wasn’t the case. Not to mention that Ansem the Wise was supposed to have lost all of his memories except those concerning Sora. 

Ansem: Well…I can tell you this is my second time on these shores. But unfortunately, much like the first, I do not remember who I am or whence I came. Everything was washed away in whatever currents carried me here.

When Aqua spoke to him in Blank Points, he said he didn’t remember who he was or from whence he came. They clearly dropped that idea, but it shows just how little planning this whole “Subject X” girl had in the story. I can’t even really speculate much about her or Luxu because NONE of this stuff was consistent with what we learned in the previous games.

Xemnas: Students do take after their teachers. Only a fool would be your apprentice. After all, none of this would have happened without you. YOU are the source of all Heartless. It was your research that inspired me to go further than you ever dared.

Ansem the Wise: I admit…my disregard brought chaos to more worlds than one. But what were YOU seeking? You erased me from the world, only to take my name and continue research better left forgotten… Is this the answer you’ve been looking for?

Xemnas: All that and more. I’m carrying on what you yourself began, and I’m creating a brand new world, one heart at a time. I thought you’d praise me, but all you ever do is hold me back. I understand, though. Unlike me, you have a heart. And you’re powerless to control it. Consumed, by the jealousy you feel toward the student who surpassed you.

The story of Ansem and the apprentices made no sense to me in KH3. In KH2, Ansem was clearly someone who had no idea unethical research was taking place. He was devastated to find out that his apprentices were performing experiments on unwilling subjects. Xemnas was bragging that he went further than Ansem ever dared. And everything we saw was consistent with that. 

Ansem: Please. I have created enough victims.

Xehanort’s Heartless: Yes, you have. All the children sacrificed in the name of your research…So make things right.

Ansem: I told you I did not taker her. Her disappearance is why I put a stop to the research.

Xehanort’s Heartless: And that makes you honorable? You used Roxas and Naminé and threw them away. I doubt there’s a merciful bone in your body.

Yet in KH3, Ansem is made out to be some child-sacrificing monster, and Xehanort is scolding HIM for how merciless he is? And Ansem said that he stopped the experiments because this girl disappeared? That doesn’t even make sense. 

My pilot studies used a handful of subjects, but none possessed the fortitude to endure them. Ultimately, all suffered mental collapse. I knew it would be a heavy blow to lose a subject as unique as she. Upon discovering the tests I’ve been conducting, my master demanded that I cease my work immediately and destroy what research I have compiled. Worse still, he ordered the release of my remaining subjects. She is gone.

Even in KH3, Xehanort wrote that Ansem called off all the research because Xehanort was abusing people. THEN all of the subjects were released and  Subject X was taken away. So Ansem would have stopped his experiments already, before she disappeared. I’m sure the implication is that Luxu took her.

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

But still. All of this is so different from the story we had before that I can’t even really make sense of it or contextualize it. It’s just a brand-new story that’s totally disconnected from the old one. How are you just going to blatantly change established so much established story at the drop of a hat like that? Are we just supposed to ignore all the atrocities Apprentice Xehanort committed now? Do the experiments on the darkness of the heart not exist in canon anymore? They seemed to have been replaced with these vague memory experiments. I can’t really speculate much on canon regarding Subject X, since everything about her story is so inconsistent with what we saw before. I can only speculate on what I think was originally planned.

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

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

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

Young Xehanort: Simple.

Sora: Kairi!

And it definitely involves another mysterious amnesiac girl who MAY have been able to time-travel. And that’s Kairi. There was so much left unexplained about her and and Naminé. I think the new Subject X mystery girl simply replaced and tweaked their original story, along with Isa’s backstory. Apparently Kairi was the reason Xehanort knew Sora would be there in KH3D. But this is never followed up on.

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

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

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

Kairi apparently went through the Door to Darkness in Radiant Garden and wound up on Destiny Islands. At first she retained her memories, but by the time she meets Sora and Riku, she has no memories of her original home world. And her body was intact. Aqua’s magic was involved somehow.

Riku: When we grow up, let’s get off this island. We’ll go on real adventures, not this kid stuff!

Sora: Sure. But isn’t there anything fun to do now? Hey, you know the new girl at the mayor’s house? She arrived on the night of the meteor shower!

Destiny Island’s Keyhole had opened, and there was a meteor shower the night Kairi arrived. It was just like when Xehanort opened Radiant Garden’s Keyhole. Riku definitely wasn’t the one who opened the door. And Kairi was standing at the Keyhole door when Destiny Islands fell.

Aeleus: But, that boy…

Even: Never you worry about him. He’s a special case.

There’s no evidence that Kairi was actually a princess. Yet she was allowed inside the castle along with her grandma. Even could sense Ven’s heart of pure light as soon as he encountered him. Well…he probably could with Kairi, too. She would have been a subject of interest to Ansem, who was obsessed with the darkness of the heart.

“What in the world were they talking about?” said Even, who had been trying to eavesdrop.

Xehanort ignored him and continued down the stairs to the basement laboratory. He flung open the door, and the others all turned to him at once.

“Aeleus, where is the girl?” Xehanort asked.

“She’s asleep…” Aeleus pointed to the capsule room in the back.

The girl was very particular—unique among people. They had not been able to create any Heartless using her heart. Perhaps because she was too young, or perhaps…Xehanort disappeared into the capsule room.

While eavesdropping, it’s revealed that the apprentices had Kairi in a pod. This is during Micky’s visit in KH2. So this is after Ansem found out about the experiments and released all the subjects.

It was too dim to make out her features. We spoke to her in hushed whispers. Who was she? Why was she imprisoned here? She had no answers for us. Had no memories at all. She was an enigma, but I knew I wanted to help her.

Xehanort tried to turn Kairi into a Heartless, but was unable to. I would guess that this is probably when Lea and Isa found her. She was imprisoned in an attempt to get her to succumb to darkness and become a Heartless.

Ansem’s Report 11

Opening the door to a world’s heart causes its walls to crumble. These fragments are seen as shooting stars. This explains why these “gummi blocks” can travel freely to other worlds. I know the catalyst of this collapse—the appearance of the Heartless. However, it will take time search out the worlds’ doors and to retrieve each heart. Furthermore, the doors can be locked using a Keyblade, making the heart forever unattainable. I must take action before the wielder of the key appears in this world.If the princesses and the Keyblade are connected, they should resonate. I’ve chosen a girl. I don’t know if she holds the princesses’ powers, but I will find out. She may lead me to the key bearer. I shall set her free and observe.

After he eavesdropped on Mickey and Ansem’s conversation, Xehanort wrote that he “set her free”. So he extracted her heart, I’m assuming?

Ansem’s Report 12

The body is gone; the heart should have returned to the Heartless. And yet, nothing. This one is unlike any other. Its memories remain and it has yet to take the form of a Heartless. A close eye must be kept on the situation. Much is still unknown. To get to the realm of Darkness, one must go through the doors of Kingdom Hearts, the place where the world’s hearts connect. Beyond this world is a place in which darkness reigns. (Details shall be archived in a separate report.) There are many worlds in existence, some of which we know nothing about. The world in which we live. The realm of Darkness. The realm of Light. And the world in between. Wherein lies true nirvana?

But she didn’t turn into a Heartless. Her body disappeared, though. She retained her memories. So…what exactly was she at that point? There was something really unusual going on with Kairi, that’s for sure. Maybe it was similar to the Robed Figure.

Ansem’s Report 13

Where does the body go when it separates from the heart? If the soul remains within the body, is it still considered to be deceased? When the heart returns to the Heartless, the physical form disappears. But that is merely true in this world. Perhaps the body exists in another form in another world. If that is the case, then it is possible for one to exist in two worlds. A being that is neither darkness nor light; belonging nowhere; abandoned by its heart; a mere shell of its former self. The relation between the heart and body is complex. However, I am certain that if your self exists here, then by definition, the other cannot truly “exist.“ The other, the one which does not exist, shall be dubbed, "Nobody.”

I think there was a very important connection between apprentice Xehanort and Kairi. He cast away his body, and could time travel. Something special must have happened with Kairi after she was “set free”.

Naminé is a Nobody, created when a young girl’s heart left her body. Yet she has no corresponding Heartless. This is because the "young girl” in this case was a princess. Kairi, a resident of Radiant Garden over which I had ruled, was one of the Seven Princesses that uphold the realm of light. With no darkness in her heart, Kairi produced no Heartless, and instead of vanishing, her body remained in the realm of light. In other words, both the Nobody called Naminé and the Heartless—proof of a lost heart—are extremely unstable beings who lack the bodies needed to produce a Nobody. Therefore, they also lack Kairi’s memories. One reason for this maybe that Kairi’s heart did not return to the darkness when separated from her body, but rather migrated to another vessel…deep within Sora’s heart.

Ansem knew Kairi was from Radiant Garden somehow in KH2. 

Sora: Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up.

Kairi: I’ve told you before, I don’t remember.

Sora: Nothing at all?

Kairi: Nothing.

Yet, Kairi was NOT aware that she was from Radiant Garden. So, she wouldn’t have been able to tell Ansem or anyone else. Mickey didn’t remember that the little girl he saved in BBS was Kairi. Aqua didn’t know about Kairi’s fate until she was rescued. So, I would imagine that the only way Ansem the Wise would have known about Kairi’s past is if he remembered her, due to how special she was.He described her as simply a resident—not related to him.

Ansem: If you do find the girl, what is it that you expect will happen?

Xehanort’s Heartless: The child’s memory holds a mystery to unravel—one concerning the battle we seek between light and darkness. You know something and that…is why you stopped the experiments.

Ansem: You are completely deluded, Xehanort.

Was the special mystery girl originally Kairi? Or Naminé? It could be why Ansem was taken to the mansion and stared at the curtain. Naminé was the ghost girl, after all.

But DiZ had hurt Roxas—even let him be destroyed—to wake Sora up.

Roxas had to disappear. I know that. I understand it, but something inside me makes me reject that.

Did he really have to disappear?

The heart probably had secrets unknown even to DiZ. The Heartless were an embodiment of the darkness in the heart. When a Heartless was born, it created a Nobody, too—an empty physical form.

Then…a Nobody is……

Sora had to be the one who held the key. By coming into contact with him, the heart would awaken.

And that means……

I’m sure there was a lot more we were supposed to learn about Naminé. She always knew more about the heart than the others did in the novels. And she did spend a lot of time with DiZ, who was researching the heart and emotions. The Organization had a special interest in her. In the novels, Axel even doubted if she was actually a Nobody.

“…It’s salty…but sweet,” Naminé murmured after taking a bite of the ice cream.

“Sea-salt ice cream and a photo…” With the ice pop in his hand, Riku eyed the transporter device in the center of the room. “Is he saying to give it to Sora…? As a hint pointing to this place?”

Naminé nodded. “That might be it. I think DiZ—I mean, Ansem the Wise—has some kind of plan.”

“Hey, Naminé… Is there something you haven’t told me—well, haven’t told us?”

She looked at the floor. “…I’m not sure of it yet. The secrets of the heart…aren’t something I can talk about, not yet,” she told him in a tiny voice and took another bite of ice cream.

She knew abut the heart’s ability to be nurtured. But for some reason she couldn’t talk about the “secrets”.

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

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

“You haven’t even noticed yet…that you have a heart.” Several Nobodies emerged from a rift out of the corridors.

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

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

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

“Now I understand…,” she murmured.

“Naminé…? You understand what?”

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

She somehow knew Nobodies had hearts. And she also could tell there was something unique about Saïx. In KH3, the scene about the mystery girl involves Hayner, Pence, and Olette. I think that the whole scenario was probably inspired by something involving Kairi/Naminé and was rewritten to involve the new girl much later.

[precuretwinkle]

On the topic of those kh3 secret reports regarding KHUx

(khux talk, kh3 spoilers)

Subject X was likely to be Skuld. But Ava could be a possibility too. My thoughts:

Secret Report 1 is written by them but they cannot recall their name or anything else about themself. the clue is 4 friends and a key (including subject would make 5, aka the number of the union leaders) but still not enough evidence. she is caged in a cell.... aka is imprisoned there. They mention that one day a man came to break them out, and although they could not see in the dark they did see the man was wearing an eyepatch... They reveal that years have since passed from the day they were freed but they are still “no closer to understanding who or what I am. May your heart be your guiding key”

prior to this, we know of subject x from kh3 in bits but it’s confirmed she’s a girl. out of the new union leaders Skuld is the only girl. (If it’s not her, that would make it the Foretellers either Ava or Invi). we also learned prior to the reports that she was Ansem the Wise’s “guinea pig” and “lab rat”. which is horrifying.

in secret report 3 it’s written from terra-xehanort’s perspective as a young man apprentice to Ansem the wise. he tells us that subject x has amnesia and had departed her world with her companians but can’t remember their names. he says she’s like him when he arrived, “devoid of memories” and makes an argument as to why she;s perfect for the human experiments. 

secret report 4 researcher xehanort hasn’t made much progress with the girl but has been able to deduce the minor tidbit convos “evoke a bygone world, like one out of fairy tales...” This is absolutely refering to khx/kux/daybreak town time period. And it IS in the past. he reveals the other human test subjects he’d been using all had a mental collapse with his experiments.... and when Ansem found out he ordered him to stop and then hid the girl. which goes back to Xemnas/Ansem part in kh3 in twilight town with Ansem the Wise and they are interrogating him about where he hid the girl. it ends with him saying he’ll just use himself for what he has planned...

secret report 5 Isa and Lea sneak into the castle to see the truth about the rumors of the castle. “By night, the muffled sounds of human wails emerged. There was talk of dangerous human experiments” LINES LIKE THIS AND ANSEM’S SOMBERNESS ABOUT HAVING TO ATONE THROUGHOUT KH2 AND KH3 ARE A LOT. About all the children he experimented on. what the fuck. but I digress. what’s important is that they ended up finding her caged up in a cell.

secret report 6 Isa and Lea continue to sneak into the castle just to meet the girl, “that was the only comfort two children like us could offer her.” jesus. they don’t know what she looks like because it’s so dark. one night they decide to act on Lea’s suggestion of breaking her from her prison but when they get there she is gone. they went back many times hoping to find her but to no avail. soon after Isa and Lea decide to become apprentices to Ansem the Wise BUT it’s to find out what happened to the girl. this connects to the way BBS left off with young Isa and Lea after Ven met them.

secret report 11 is clearly Luxu writing. he talks about how he suceeded in the first part of his mission, seeing the keyblade war unfold and is now ready for the next phase: choosing an apprentice from the new union leaders. however there is a problem, he notes that one of them is an imposter and not chosen originally. he describes the imposter as “a virus in the program [the master]  so carefully wrote” He describes as the imposters plans already moving and the reckless plan to do ANOTHER transfer but that bc these new union leaders are kids, and no keyblade masters, and would not be able to pull this off “unless a lady of magic summoned here from the future knows more than I do”. Although the new union leader stuff was supposed to go by the book Luxu wonders if this was all planned by the Master anyway.

prior to this, here is where intimate knowledge of the khux basics becomes important and backcover too. What each foreteller role was, Luxu’s task and the box, etc. KHx and KHUX are not the same. In KHx the keyblade war occured and Master Ava set up the Dandelions. This group of keyblade weilders would TRANSFER OVER to a new world/timeline where the war did not happen. And thus, KHUX was born. However before the end, Foreteller Ava set out find 5 keyblade wielders that were written by the Master as becoming the new union leaders and to inherit their tombs. Their names: Ephamer, Skuld, Ventus, Brain, and Lauriam.... but there was a problem... on the eve of the war, one of the destined new leaders was murdered (her name was Strelizia, and she was Lauriam/Marluxia’s little sister) and thus the imposter took her place and her book.... Now in the timeline of our current game KHUX, “worldline” as Luxu dubs, there is a problem. New union leader Ephemer and Skuld noticed that there’s a new ominous darkness in this worldline we transfered too... So basically Luxu’s entry confirms Ephemer’s feeling by revealing that something BIG is about to happen in KHUX. but just as important, his phrase gave us the clue to figure out who the imposter in KHUX is because the khux jp story update gave us one of the new union leaders calling THEMSELF the virus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyC3XXcDTS4

secret report 12 Luxu confirms there was a new darkness in the worldline, one that would lead to the demise of the peace we thought we had now in khux bc we avoided the war. He is writing this as whatever darkness is about to happen is taking over this world line, and says that “amid the chaos I bequaethed my keyblade [the No Name] to one of the Union Leaders like the Master instructed and watched as the Five were sent to another worldline--at no small cost--ensuing the line of Keyblade wielders will live on”. He then writes he too will depart soon and cast off his form into a new vessels throughout time in order to continue to watch over the successors of the No Name and wait for the one who will renact the keyblade war and when that happens he will take the stage once more and finish his task....

secret report 13 Luxu writing as Braig/Xigbar says this body and this name will be his last. he notes how successfully the No Name has been passed down and that at last a wielder devoted to darkness arose to take up the mantle. Now instead of passively watching, it’s his time to participate by passing off as an ally to the wielder and playing the part of a fool who just wants a keyblade (the No Name) of his own. He talks about how the Masters gazing eye has been peering into the future through the No Name and himself watching everything come to pass. Luxu says the length in time that has passed is too long for him to express and that all the lives he lived could fill up volumes. The keyblade war will start again and a new true Kingdom Hearts will open. He mentions that he will soon be reunited with his old companions (khx,khux: The Foretellers) and that “in the moment my long vigil ends. He will return”

prior to this, in the epilogue we see that Xigbar confirms himself to be Luxu. and SOMEHOW he was able to summon the foretellers into the future. in khux we assumed them to have perished in the war. however, only 4 Foretellers return. Ava is missing... but Luxu laughs and is not worried about her. It ends with him about to tell him the long story of how he got there and the box he was also tasked to guard is now unlocked....

--------

From this info im deducing it was Skuld because in Secret Report 11 Luxu said he saw the 5 of them off to the next worldline. At a high cost. And hear me out, what if the cost was their bonds, their memories, of their friends and most importantly they lost who they were (amnesia). Their next location could have also been random. Since Skuld is the only girl in the new Union leaders from the era of fairy tales, and test subject x is a girl thats speculated to come from a time already gone-the era of fairy tales-- I think she has a high probability of being Skuld. And of the price each leader had to pay was every thing they had, everything they were, in order to ensure the safety of the remaining keykids. I think that would explain the amnesia. AND I think this could explain how Laurium and Ventus also ended up in the future even though they are also from this era. This makes things kinda interesting on Ven’s side because he ended up unknowlingly being friends with someone who was the forebarer of No Name keyblade aka the keyblade Xehanort was destined to recieve and Ventus ended up being found & apprentieced by him. Only for old Xehanort to break him via heart experiments and split his light and dark sides.

Also it fucks me up that Skuld (or Ava) was being experimented on and imprisoned at Radiant Garden for weeks and disappeared/was hidden away just before Ventus was destined to arrive... and that she was the catalyst for Lea and Isa joining the apprentices.... just to figure out what happened to her only to lead up to their ill fated transformation into nobodies for about half of their lives.

But what of Laurium, Ephamer, and Brain? Which of them was the one Luxu gave No Name too? Did he give it to the imposter anyway? Or not?

However there is a chance that girl could be Ava. The line “May your heart be your guiding key” in the first secret report is a quote I think suits Ava more to hold onto than Skuld especially going of of KHUx backcover, aaaaat least where things are as of 2/2/2019 in the khux jp and worldwide story. Who knows if this will be a quote Skuld will learn from Ephemer and then keep as a motto later. There’s also the fact that it’s hinted that Braig/Xigbar/Luxu is the one that broke her out. Perhaps he did this bc he recognized Ava? But if this is the case, why does Xehanort think Ansem the Wise hid her? Does Ansem the Wise KNOW where she is now years later or not?

For now I like how this plays out if the subject was Skuld. There’s also another mysterious line Luxu talks about in secret report 11 is about a certain magical lady from the future helping out the Union Leaders do a worldline transfer. Who from the future is he talking about? Ava is certainly magical but she’s in the past and MIA currently. Perhaps it’s bc she helped them that she ended up paying whatever the price was as well and thats how she ended up as text subject x. Meanwhile, Aqua IS magical too but how would she know to travel to the past to help the Union Leaders?

The mysterious pile up for KHUx to answer right now. About Luxord, Demyx, why did Elrena/Larxene and Laurium/Marluxia become so callous? How did all these parties forget about their past life? How did Xehanort find them? We know why he picked them but the details are fuzzy. What happened to Strelitzia? Is she the mystery girl in The Final World? Or is it someone else from KHUx? Now that Lauriam is back, is he still going to be looking for his sister? Was that what he was doing the whole time prior to becoming a nobody? Was Brain really the murderer? Where did Luxu hide the box and why was he making Luxord and the others look for it if he knew where it was? What did malificent mean that the box didnt exist yet?

So many more questions, but one thing is clear: Something big is about to happen in KHUx.

And as for the future of kh, “He will return.” 

miscellaneous:

secret report 2: Eraqus is a “blueblood” in the world of kh according to a young Xehanort. “descended from the very first masters in the age of fairytales [aka khx/khux]”. Eraqus can’t have been related to the foretellers then cuz they didnt have kids, they were kids themselves to young teens i think. Which leaves the new union leaders but... they went missing? at least Luxu doesnt seem to know where 4 of them went according to secret report 12. I say 4 bc he had to be watching the 5th person since they had the No Name keyblade and that was kinda his task for a long ass time right. So I think he just kept track of that Union Leader. I remember wondering if Eraqus was a direct descendent of a wielder that’s important to the khux story and I thought since Skuld has black hair Eraqus could be her descendent, maybe along with with Ephemer too. Brain has black hair too and his sprite looks kinda like Eraqus? maybe? Who the heck is Eraqus DIRECTLY descended from that was a first master in the age of fairy tale????

[madfictionland]

KHIII - Strengths and Weaknesses of Nomura’s Insanity

1. Xehanort Saga’s Closure

Great:

- Axel vs Xemnas sequence and that entire battle alongside Xion and Roxas, with Shimomura’s orchestrated music - Sea Salt Ice Cream Rules!

it was just golden and weighted heavily on me! Lots of emotions and great closure there

- Xemnas and Ansem... being awkward... it was extremely weird at first, seeing them on strange errands, behaving the way they did, no Darkness lines for Ansem, and overall the two of them kind of less important than Xigbar, for example.

But it was actually perfect and then it all came full closure with their defeats! They were taken from their own timelines (in which they were soon to be defeated or right before the final blow?), briefed on the current situation and assigned tasks under MX. And Ansem being the most awkward because...

no madness, no darkness showdown! Being approached by some children! it’s just aren’t his thing, clearly... Oh, and Xemnas handling the “benched” Norts as if they were his students, something that he does proudly. Pretty much the only thing that gives them both purpose after that time travel ordeal is the sense of companionship and MX’s goal which they feel obliged to pursue “because they are him” - only not really, actually. Because as it turns out... they found they did not really care, in the end.

So yeah, in the end it’s actually pretty sad... and they fade away to be ultimately defeated in their own timelines!

- Young Xehanort being an utter dickhead of darkness (although the bad thing is... no more backstory, explanation and only minimal amount of screen time for him, damn)

I mean, seriously, I enjoy the fact he turns out to be one of the most engaging KH3 villains, so focused and bitter. When you think about it, then it makes sense since he was given great power early on and explored through time... obtaining even more power. He never met Eraqus, he never created his bizarre self-rightous grand goals to begin with... He was just... alone, traveling through time, and exploring the outside world through darkness and his dark future selfs, the future that he embraces fully. He is the embodiment of everything what’s dark about Xehanort, in some aspects perhaps even more souless than the old man himself, and we even have him take on Ansem’s role... lol

I like his interactions with Sora, especially here.

- Goofy being smart in the Xehanort’s plot business, lol and they’re always debriefing Sora on Mickey’s encounters from BBS. Nice!

- Finally we know how Axel and Saix got turned into Nobodies - we really needed that backstory...

- The replica research plays a big part here and it serves to create vessels for hearts... with data!memories... and we even get glimpses of artificial hearts being researched now... nice, it REALLY does bring into closure all this data madness that Nomura had started

- Vanitas regenerated through negative emotions of children’s screams in the Monster world + his entire ending with Sora/Ven which was amazing - Vanitas was darkness and it was his own choice because his very nature was darkness... he wouldn’t have it any other way! but despite this, he appears to be actually humanized in the end, at least as much as a rebelious pure darkness plucked from someone’s heart can be

- Terra reveal and him being Ansem SoD/Terranort’s sidekick pet all this damn time... like, I never thought that’s a possibility... even though it does make sense...

Now that’s the kind of crazy Nomura reveal that I like!

- Yen Sid finally takes action! WOOOOW

- final battle with 3 main Norts, and Master Xehanort doing a fingers thingy!

With a glorious MAD score and mix of all three bosses themes! YESSS

Bad:

- Kairi situation... although to be honest it was expected so it doesn’t weight on me too heavily, personally

- very few cutscenes/very few long dialogues and NO backstory cutscenes... now that’s a BIG flaw

- none of the time travelling stuff from DDD gets explained... we don’t know why Young Xehanort is still here despite (apparently) dispersing at the end of DDD... and we don’t even know which Norts are time travelers... and we don’t know their backstories either... how they got Norted? When? How many are there??? It’s not even clear if all of them (those that we meet in game and cutscenes) are present at the final battle because 13 figures showcased with MX prior to battle... all of them with hoods! And we know Demyx is not one for fight so maybe he bailed? Plus Vexen betrayed them? Also, Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx and Luxord were all secondary vessels... kept only due to their Keyblade War connection... so I would assume they had other more serious Norts in store? So who exactly was fighting and who wasn’t? Who was a time traveler and who wasn’t? Who was in a replica body and who wasn’t? Also, is Xigbar a Nobody or somebody Braig with Xigbar’s features? Just FUCK IT. I really like all these convoluted little details but none of this was discussed... which is so unlike Nomura...

- very little presence for MX, no backstory explored and... overall VERY anticlimatic final boss fight and weak ultimate resolution to his “big” saga

- Vexen is just too good at pretending... he really does seem like a bad guy again, who just wants to do research, I don’t buy his sudden redemption and I actually thought he was going to double cross Ansem and use him as his puppet! How can Vexen even feel anything, especially redemption desire, as a freshly cooked Nobody? lol

- Big big flaw is that many Norts were... not really Norts. What’s the point of them getting Norted if they don’t get a slight change in personality and aren’t driven by Xehanort’s purpose? It worked so well with Saix... only think what kind of Demyx or Larxene we could get if they were actually Norts. Seriously, that was disappointing. Frankly enough, we even have Demyx say this line...

which is EXACTLY the case, he would make an interesting vessel, and I assume one capable of good fighting skills or intimidation... if only they were influenced by the entire process and written as actual Norts - important to the plot - not just some toys and Keyblade War Legacy research project for Xemnas...

2. Union X / more...

Good:

- Ephemer and all the Keyblade wielders coming to help! With players’ names shown! Just wow, this was super powerful, and great soundtrack for it too. Also, it kind of confirms my suspicion there were two Keyblade Wars? The “Lost Masters” one and “Union Leaders” (the one in which Ephemer fell, thus he is there with the “spirits” of the wielders).

- Ven’s Chirithy, such a cute little detail :)

- The Final World - atmoshere, music and design... all of them GREAT. It makes sense in the lore + some of its design/animation reminds me of data worlds... Hmmm, could it be... some kind of bin folder on the MoM desktop?

In any case, the future of Nomura Mindfuck seems bright

- the ending with Sora vanishing (to another plane/world?) and Secret Movie with MoM fucking conceptualizing Kingdom Hearts under the normal’s moon light, all of it in a remake of the newest FF title......

I mean, we are one step closer to ultimate shit, right? Which would be Nomura self-inserting himself into the game as Master of Masters... and I’m all for it! XD

- seems like the time travelling Ven + other guys from Union Cross will be progressing places... diferent worlds, planes, realities? And I like it, this seems more interesting and like a fresh surge of madness from Nomura that he kind of wanted to do with Xehanort (hence time travel) but wasn’t really able... in the end. So maybe, just maybe... MoM will get a better conclusion?

- Xigbar makes it to another game. What can I say? I like him, he’s entertaining, that’s all

Bad:

- Xigbar being Luxu seems to be poorly explained, like... he ONLY pretends? Even in those Braig scenes from BBS? And when talking with YX? Really? Even though his BBS scenes were short and we knew nothing about him... it could have been done better, like maybe Luxu planted a piece of himself into Braig and pointed him towards Xehanort, but he wasn’t actually Braig? Hence the guy who gets Norted - Braig - isn’t Luxu? At least not yet? But then Luxu can take over? Well, I think that would be much better... unless there is more to it that we don’t know but i really doubt

- Maleficent, the Box, Xigbar searching for the Box... (wtf even? what MX has to say about this? what’s that box Xigbar? and how dare you hide shit from me?)

All of this... is quite different than earlier KH hints or reveals. It’s just extremely CRYPTIC. It leaves you with nothingness because the characters themselves feel like nothingness when they are forced to speak about this. I could understand it if it contributed to KH3 plot in any major way, like the box being a catalyst in MX’s plans maybe, but it wasn’t - it was pointless, so the attention it got, and they always speak about it in such vague terms... what’s the point? because that’s hardly a surprise and we knew about the box...

- Maleficent and Pete are pointless, especially pointless because the only way for Maleficent to be interesting was to explore some of her hidden (?) memories regarding her time travel experience (which she does not remember, I assume?). Instead, something was “etched”... and a black coat told them about the box... and replica Riku has an akward encounter with them... but nothing is explained or actually said in clear terms. OK, so it sucks, why don’t you skip their cutscenes then - it does NOT create a *Nomura mystery*, it just says “here is some random gibberish that won’t be ever explained because it doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t introduce anything new” A Nomura mystery would be to explain to us whether Maleficent actually remembers the box from her time travel experiences and THEN introduce a new solid mystery, like: she doesn’t remember, but there was a mysterious black coat guy who said there was a box (and there would be a flashback of this past encounter!). But at this point it seems like Nomura just completely doesn’t care, at least not in KH3

The Final Judgment: KH3 was quite a letdown (as the Xehanort’s saga conclusion) but still enjoyable and with grand potential for better mad shit in the future.

PS: Also, it delivered the greatest score in the history of KH... so that’s a win!

[bluerosesburnblue]

Actually, @oveliagirlhaditright, while I’m in a Xehanort’s Apprentice AU mood, I know how much you love parallels in fiction and you said that you really liked Xigbar’s relationship with Sanya, so you’d probably be interested to hear that I intentionally set Sanya up to be the Luxu analogue of the Union Leaders group. It’s part of why I did so much with their relationship in the first place

Xigbar/Luxu is, in a lot of ways, the “sixth” Foreteller, but he’s also a major outlier, right? As much as he’s considered an equal of the Foretellers, he’s not one. He doesn’t have a Union that he’s in charge of, he doesn’t have access to the Book of Prophecies, and despite the Foretellers being probably the closest thing to a family that we know he has, they don’t really have time to interact with him and he’s not supposed to interact with them

Sanya is in pretty much the same situation, as she can be considered part of the Union Leaders’ group, but she’s not actually one. She’s not in charge of managing anything, she doesn’t have access to any of the Union Leaders’ resources (including memories of the past, in contrast to Luxu being the only one to lack knowledge of the future), and she doesn’t get to interact with the Union Leaders as frequently as they do with each other because she has her own missions to attend to

There’s also their personalities to contend with. Both can be very snarky, casual, and clever, and both do not like sacrificing others for their goals and will attempt to minimize casualties, but will still endanger others if they feel they have no other choice but to (at least, I assume that’s true of Luxu because he didn’t have to try to protect the Union Leaders the way that he did and he called the MoM’s plan out, but he still went along with it. He got especially callous once he joined up with Xehanort). They’re also both completely loyal to one person (MoM, Xehanort) and, while they’ll call that person out if they disagree, they will still usually go along with that person’s overall plan

The twists come in the times where their actions and motivations are the exact opposite of one another, simply due to the fact that the “sides” their true loyalties lie with are opposed to each other

Luxu sticks to his promise to keep watch and mostly leaves the Foretellers to their own devices, even though he has the information to stop them, while Sanya goes out of her way to get involved with the Union Leaders and given them a “person of the ground” to keep them up to date on everything. One hoards information, the other shares. Luxu ducked out of the Keyblade War, which all of the other Foretellers fought in, because it needed to happen in the Master’s plan, while Sanya chose to be a part of it in a desperate attempt to try to stop it, even though she could have fled with the Dandelions (which includes the Union Leaders). Luxu rejected the plan to have the Foretellers and himself house the Darknesses but seems to be thriving with the condition, while Sanya accepted it willingly to save her friends and is struggling to deal with the consequences of it

Heck, both of them even go by another name at some point! Luxu starts out with his true name, then takes on the aliases of “Braig” and “Xigbar,” while Sanya originally starts her journey as a Keyblade Wielder using “Blue” as a pseudonym and only starts using her real name in the present... coincidentally, at roughly the same time that Luxu takes Braig’s name. I could even make a case for Luxu’s body-swapping being a contrasting point, as he’s willing to throw his identity away for the sake of the plan, while Sanya strongly objects to the body-swapping that Xehanort is doing on principle and, even though she struggles with self loathing, is still fiercely protective of her own identity (in a very Shiki Misaki kind of way)

They’re two sides of the same coin in a lot of ways. The same object, but opposite halves. That’s why I thought it would be poignant to have their destinies so intertwined with one another. Luxu is the one to strike Sanya down, giving her a path to the future. Luxu is the one whose memories bring her back. Luxu is the reason her plans in BBS fail (physically, anyway. You could also claim it’s Xehanort’s fault since his time travel ensured that it had to fail for KH3 to happen). Luxu is the one who finally takes her out at the end of the events of KH3. Sanya owes him her life, but she also owes him for all of the suffering he lets her go through in the name of the MoM’s plans

I even incorporated the parallels into Sanya’s fighting style, which I rarely have reason to describe. While there’s a lot that she does that Xigbar doesn’t do and vice-versa, she’s just as prone to teleporting in at strange angles to make herself unpredictable. Her favored Keyblade transformation is just like Sora’s dual-pistols to mirror Xigbar’s dual-arrowguns. She’ll sometimes just slowly walk around to bait opponents into attacking so that she can counter or otherwise throw off their rhythm the way that Xigbar does in his Limit Cut fight. Sanya also likes changing up the field to her advantage, though she does this through barriers as opposed to Xigbar warping space

All of this is also why I had Luxu decide to keep Sanya alive at the end of the KH3 rewrite, so that I could eventually do more in the future with them. At present, Sanya doesn’t even know that Xigbar is Luxu, and there’s a lot that I can do with the fallout of that reveal

[trans-girl-sora]

So now that I'm awake and coherent, I have Thoughts. I will need to rewatch it soon, so take it with a grain of salt, and obviously spoilers for Dark Road

Did I like it? Yeah I guess so lmao, like... it gave some resolution for Luxu and Player (thank god, I hated Xeha-Player so much), and the Baldr story was VERY good especially in the back half after the Big Reveal.

That reveal made me retroactively like the rest of the story because up until then it just felt really.. hollow? I didnt really understand that it was a MYSTERY mystery, like a true Whodunnit, though i guess i did kinda breeze through it thanks to Everglow's cutscenes (god bless Everglow)

The dialogue was good! "Walking like a carpet" was VERY funny and all the dialogue with MoM was very good and interesting (no name reveal though. SIGH.) I think the dialogue being interesting is kind of the problem I had with Dark Road, though.

The throughlines throughout the game were "dichotomies are BAD. order vs chaos, dark vs light, power vs weakness - if you lean too heavily into any it corrupts and destroys you" even going so far as to bring the concept of false light into play to explain why Eraqus was a bad shitty dad. But then it never.. really delivered? It just said them in passing, never followed up, and moved onto The Actual Story, Baldr.

The Baldr reveal made it all click that this was the Baldr show, like, it was all about him and Hoder the entire time. Which was honestly a good move!! Baldr is a good character with solid motivations and scary intent. Our main character, however, Xehanort, was just.. sort of a prop in the background for everyone else. He's very passive, he goes with whatever anyone (mostly Eraqus) says unless he's making bad decisions to get stronger like a typical shonen protag. It's just like... Xehanort was the weakest part of the Xehanort game

I guess when I went into it I was expecting to find a good motivation, some secret hidden from us, a clue in his past as to why older Xehanort is so... fucking boring and confusing. We never really got that. I kept watching and being like "alright, soon they're gonna show why this funny young Xehanort loses his heart or something and doesn't become older boring Xehanort" and he just didn't. It was a really sad conclusion to Xeha's story. I kept expecting SOMETHING to happen, SOMETHING to make me care, I was trying SO DESPERATELY but just..... nothing.

And I dunno, I should really stop getting my hopes up for KH games to have compelling character arcs and narratives because that died with KH2 but like... for a game about the main antagonist of the last 10 games, you'd think it would explain anything or make anything more clear or interesting, and it really didn't.

Worth watching for Baldr though, will watch again

[keytextsfromkh]

I don’t know if this is considered a spoiler but I’ll mark it so anyway just in case.

So after looking at the scene in X Union where Ven is revealed to be one of the new “leaders” it got me thinking, mostly regarding the scene with Ava and the Master of Masters. It got me thinking about the reincarnation theory that is sort of still around/sort of debunked because I’m thinking, what if it’s not the original leaders who are part of the reincarnation but the new ones who gather after the war.

You have Ephemera who I’ve always seen as the precursor to Xehanort, mostly in the hair and style of clothes and if he has some connection with Luxu (who originally owned Xehanort’s keyblade) we’ll have to see but I wouldn’t be surprised if he is. Of course, I could just be completely wrong.

You have Ven, who we already know about and now that he’s been revealed and is said to be a new Union Leader makes the reincarnation theory a little more interesting because now you could make the argument that Ven is sort of the precursor to Sora (and by extension Roxas) since we know they both share a heart and have connections that go beyond that (hell, it’s the reason why Vanitas looked the way he did).

Finally, you have Skuld who seems like an outsider since she has no real connection to any of the characters we currently know (except maybe Kairi or Xion but even then we’re not too sure) and I’m starting to wonder if that’s intentional. For those who watched the scene in Union, The Master mentions giving one of the new leaders a Book of Prophecies for some reason (I know it’s said but the video I saw made the text a little hard to read so if anyone wants to clarify for me) and I believe he’s talking about Skuld since her name derives from one of the Norns from Norse mythology, specifically, the one who can see into the future. The Master directly says that it’s ok to give the Book to one of the new leaders as long as they’re the only one who knows about it so it’s possible that if Skuld (or someone connected to her) is around, they’ve placed themselves into hiding to keep the knowledge of the book safe and we’ll probably get introduced to them properly in KH3.

There are two more slots to fill for the other leaders so we’ll have to wait for more information (although my money is on one of them being connected to Ansem the Wise)

Now, a while back, I made a theory that part of Xehanort’s goal in Birth By Sleep was to gather the original Union leaders (or their reincarnations) and if that were the case, he would have had (possibly) Luxu (himself), Ven (Gula), Aqua (Invi) and Terra (Aced) but there was one more person present during the Keyblade Graveyard scene and that’s Braig who at this point, now has one eye so in a way, he now fits the role of The Master (going back to that joke idea I made when 2.8 came out). However, this leaves out Ava and Ira who, as part of the theory would be filled by Kairi and Riku respectively. Now try and remember who are the two characters that Xehanort (or rather aspects of him) were trying to either capture or sway over to their side so even when he lost in Brith By Sleep, he still went along with his plans and made the proper calculations to fix his mistake later down the line (as he even says in 3D, he was rash and careless during the BBS events so he admits that in a way, he tried to rush things). It even displays that Sora really was just a wrench in the works in regards to Xehanort’s plan and was never part of it all which is stated countless times that Sora was very much an afterthought and chosen by the keyblade purely by luck and even then, Xehanort worked him into his plan by trying to make him a vessel.

Now, if we make a change and incorporate what we learned in Union, you could say that if Ephemera is connected to Xehanort then Xehanort is trying to not only gather the original Leaders but maybe he’s trying to gather the new ones too, Ven is obvious in that regard as is Ephemera (being Xehanort) but Skuld is still missing and whoever the other two are, we’ll have to wait and see. Now how does that relate to Kingdom Hearts and Xehanort’s plan to use it; in Back Cover, I believe it was Gula who mentioned using Kingdom Hearts to bring back The Master by breaking a big rule which would cause him to return, in that regard, what if Xehanort is trying to do the same thing, create a plan that involves Kingdom Hearts in the hope that someone would come to put an end to it because his official goal (as of 3D) is to create 13 Darknesses and 7 Lights all in the hope of creating the X-Blade that should open Kingdom Hearts. It’s like his goal is not so much to obtain Kingdom hearts but bring about the events that would result in Kingdom Hearts in a hope for someone to stop him

There are a few other little things to add on here, one is that I mentioned out of all the possible links to the Foretellers that appeared in the Keyblade Graveyard, the missing two are Ava and Ira and how I said they would be represented by Kairi and Riku, but as I mentioned once before, there are two others who could also fit the role, solely going on appearance or theme and that’s Isa/Saix and Marluxia. This makes me wonder if the original Organization XIII was not an attempt to find suitable vessels for Xehanort but to weed out anyone who might be connected to the Foretellers or the new Leaders and as a result, he found Saix and Marluxia (and possibly others, we don’t know yet). After all, the tagline for BBS is “Destiny is never left to chance”, in other words, if something is bound to happen, it will happen eventually and if Xehanort knows this, he would set plans in motion to essentially speed up the process. Xehanort has to know that if the original Organization was defeated, the members would still return to their completed selves and so he can still step in to pursuade the important ones to join with him (as he did with Isa).

Another minor thing is how Xehanort (or rather, Xemnas and Ansem) approaches Sora and Riku, with Sora, there is the constant talks of how it’s not that he’s special, it’s the people he’s connected to and for Riku, it’s his connection to the Darkness and how he has to accept it and take it in. In both cases, Xehanort directly talks about both of his objectives that I’ve mentioned here, which is how Xehanort wishes to reconnect those from the Chi period to the modern day in an attempt to create Kingdom Hearts and the other is his wish for Light and Dark to be in balance, so one more Darkness user is beneficial to him.

If I’ve missed anything or if anything I said was wrong, let me know but as of now, this is how I’m seeing things (and to think it all came from a 5 minute cutscene)

[riku7se]

2.8 Impressions (spoilers below cut)

Right so I’m trying to keep my main twitter as spoiler-free as possible but I just wanted to write abt what I liked/what I thought bc I’m going stircrazy not having anyone to talk to about this (HURRY UP GLOBAL LAUNCH!!) so I have come to Tumblr.

So: I liked 0.2/BC a lot.  I rly enjoyed the gameplay in 0.2, and loved being able to choose different situation commands in the chance I had activated more than one. The larger spells (ie, Thundagun/Firagun/Blizzagun) were so fucking great.  The scenery was also super beautiful, and I really don’t have any misgivings about the models anymore, I feel like they did a great job.  I’ve seen some people complain about certain story aspects/answers/reveals, but tbh I’m pretty satisfied (more below the cut.)

EVEN BEGINNER WAS KIND OF A BIT DIFFICULT FOR ME TBH LIKE unless you actively speedrun or do crit lv1 run for fun or something pls make your first play on Beginner lmao.

For BC, I’ve been attached to KHx’s story since it launched way back in 2013, so I was ALL OVER hearing more about the foretellers.  And while there are still some odd scene transitions, I am overall super SUPER pleased with it.  It’s worth noting, though, that the initial scene for BC is actually a snapshot replay of THE ENTIRE BROWSER STORY UP UNTIL THE VERY END, so there are spoilers for that.

I’m in the middle of going through 3D rn, and I had to fuckin....slow down the camera bc it was Too Fast For Me.  Otherwise, it’s very interesting to see how they adapted things like Reality Shifts and Link Portals to only use one screen (look at this. Look At This)

Okay, now for more concrete stuff, in largely worded bullet points, pretty much entirely about 0.2 and BC.

0.2

Hearing that Yen Sid forbade Mickey from talking about Aqua because he figured Sora and Riku would drop everything to go after her actually REALLY satisfied me as an explanation, especially after seeing Riku get his panties in a knot after figuring out she had saved him way back in KH1--he was SO READY to go after her.

On a related note, Mickey told Aqua about Sora and RIku helping him when they found the ruined Destiny Islands.  Which puts BbS’s secret ending in a new light, I suppose--kinda like she was glad to hear that whatever Mickey had planned had succeeded.  That she still remembered their names when Mickey asked who she had met on the island warmed my heart a lil.

WHAT IN THE SHIT WAS KKD DOING BEHIND THE DOOR IN THE SECRET PLACE?? iirc Mickey said something about how, seeing as Sora acquired the Keyblade here, then the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness should be in DI while it, too, is in the RoD...which only brings up questions. 1) Does every Keyblade have a dark counterpart?, or 2) Is Sora’s keyblade actually more special than, say, Aqua’s or Riku’s or Kairi’s?  They do resemble the parts of the x-blade, after all.

The scene with Terra is The Real Terra, but it’s only his heart.  I don’t think he can actually see anything around him so much as feel it??  He can’t see Ven, either, so even Terra proposed that these are illusions that Aqua is conjuring, especially since she is seeing Terra as she once knew him, rather than who he is now.  Speaking of, Xehanort was super using him to get Aqua to reveal where Ven was hiding...I wonder if it was through the armor? This scene also connects to the concert-only sketch with Namine and Terra...hoo boy, though, Terra. It was Terra.  His RAGE AWAKENED chains showed up and I screamed nbd.

THE MUSIC!!! Enchanted Dominion and Dwarf Woodlands had rearrangements of their world theme with the general Dark World theme, and Aqua’s new 0.2 theme (vs Mirror Aqua) sounds like something out of a survival horror game good god. Here’s a playlist.

My only real gameplay complaint was that it sometimes felt like magic took a while to be cast, or that the button presses were unresponsive. I guess it’s kinda like...if you button smash, you can’t interrupt the commands you’ve put in already to case magic??? You gotta let it go through.  Otherwise it controlled really well, and I actually can’t think of a time the camera got in my way.

The game doesn’t tell you that you have to actively jump over the Darkside’s blasts when you’re Flowmotion-ing down the vine, but I actually liked that, you don’t always need a notice for things like that.

They totally remodeled some key scenes (Mickey appearing at the DtD, Aqua walking up to the Dark Margin) and I Got Emo.

THE EFFECTS IN THIS GAME ARE SO NICE you kick up sand clouds when u run on/near DI.....so amaze....fuck this game is beautiful.

There are some light platforming elements back, too! And some really interesting puzzles! Like, one of the challenges in the Castle Town is to get to the highest point there, while Dwarf Woodlands has a puzzle that involves you switching certain set pieces between the “real” and “mirror” worlds, and materializing them from the mirror to where you are in the correct location (using the “reflection” in the mirror) so you can get on them to get to the next area.  For that one, it looks like they can materialize literally ANYWHERE around the mirror, and I’d def do so since you can get to some hidden chests that way.

The red spiky vines in Enchanted Dominion HURT, kill them with fire (literally. don’t physically attack them you risk damage).

THE FINAL BOSS WAS RIDICULOUS, at about 75%-ish health depleted the damn thing goes into the ground, dying it black (and the sky red!!) and it pops back up like some kind of angry cyclone from hell, and the music changes...it was just all really well done and I may have actually vocalized a small “what the FUCK”.

The scenes with Sora were all so good I was grinning like an idiot the entire time...I figured that Sora falling to darkness/nearly being Norted would be KH3′s excuse for pushing him back to level 1, but I never would have expected that a Disney world (Olympus) would actually play a part in Sora getting some of his power back.

Someone translated a pre-release interview saying that we’d see Riku’s new outfit in 0.2 and after looking at the original JP I knew they were wrong....and I was right, that was not what that interview said originally lmao. I’ve already seen people mad about Nomura “lying”, but that was bc the translation was off.

0.2 DEFINITELY infringes a bit on KH3′s territory, which Nomura just said in a recent interview, but I”m glad bc LOOK AT THE BOY.

BC

THE FORETELLERS ARE ALL GOOD KIDS!!! They’re spurned on by uncertainty and fear and all of them, literally all of them, are good children.  Even Aced, who I was prepared not to like, but he just wants to do what’s right and his heart never wavered.

THEY LOVE THEIR MASTER SO MUCH I’M CRY??? A scene with Gula and Ava near the end rly got to me because Gula is just so confused about what he’s meant to do and how he’s meant to do it and he just wants MoM to come back and is willing to summon KH if it means he will.

MoM is a fucking meme lord I love this and I’m sad Nomura said he wouldn’t be showing up in KH3 because WOW is he a meme lord.

I was surprised to hear that MoM was the one that gave Ava the duty to form the Dandelions, since some of the other Foretellers were surprised about it in the game...but that’s because he told them individually, and some of them (Ava’s probably, definitely Gula’s) were meant to be kept on the down low.

Gula’s mission was about the Lost Page, about finding the traitor, who “bears the recusant’s sigil”, and I’m going to punch a MoM because I still don’t know what this means.

The whole traitor thing is wild though, because at this point it’s almost like ALL of them are traitors of some kind by the end, since they all broke apart and were willing to go after each other. But it might also be Gula himself, after going out to collect Lux to summon KH, with Ira and Aced following suit just to try and keep a balance between the unions and then Invi and Ava joining in just to postpone the inevitable.

THE DEARLY BELOVED THEME FOR BC JUST STARTED PLAYING IT’S SO GOOD?? AND SAD, FUCK.

They brought up the strength bangle and the black Chirithy (Thinks about KHx. Dies.) but “Guilt” is called “Strength Bonus” in KHUx global, good job guys.

I cannot believe Luxu is voiced by CV: Tsuda Ken.  What. What.

We still don’t know what’s in that box. In exchange, we now know the eye on “No Name” is, in fact, MoM’s future-seeing eye (and may be...his actual eYE???? DID HE ACTUALLY USE HIS EYE??? I CAN’T TELL WITH MOM HE’S A MEME LORD), which relates to why the Keyblade itself is physically passed down: MoM is using it to see everything that’s happened, which means Luxu was successful in his mission (surviving the war and finding a disciple).  But THE BOX.....MoM just says it can never be opened and when he whispers to Luxu what’s inside Luxu freaks out and asks why.  And Meme Lord Extraordinaire just replies SURPRIIISE.

WHAT WAS LUXU (PROBABLY) DOING AT THE START OF 0.2. WHY R U THERE.

I’M SURE I HAVE SO MANY MORE THOUGHTS but I had so much fun with both 0.2 and BC...I can’t wait until the global release so I can yell abt this with people...

[nadziejastar]

I know u like Isa and Lea, but did you enjoy any other of the Nobodies? Their personalities?

Oh yeah. I pretty much liked all the Organization. They just never got developed that much. Heck, even Lea and Isa never got their whole backstory shown and are still underdeveloped as characters. Which is sad. I found the Organization politics so interesting, too. It’s why I became kind of obsessed with the weapons in 358/2 Days. They had such specific names, shapes and colors that I knew they HAD to have some secret deeper meaning. And since BBSV2 was cancelled, I knew that we were most likely NEVER going to learn about what those secrets were. But I wanted to figure it out to learn more about them…all of them.

For instance, Luxord is so cool, yet he’s a total mystery. I like his demeanor and how he was sad when he lost half the poker league in Days. He never truly seemed like a bad guy, either. It’s a shame that we may never get to learn more about him. I’m sure there was stuff to be revealed about him. He was one of Nomura’s favorites, after all. There’s no way I can see him joining the Seekers of Darkness willingly. I think he was always supposed to be in the New Organization, but for a different reason than KH3 gives. Well, KH3 didn’t actually give one, but whatever. I think he wasn’t there willingly, and that’s why he was so happy when Sora defeated him and freed his heart.

I would have loved to learn more about Lexaeus, too. He didn’t seem to be thatbad. He was tending to Even and Dilan after they woke up. And I think he genuinely wanted to help Lea when he was looking for Isa. He seemed like he might have felt guilty about everything that happened. And somewhat concerned when Lea said he was going to go look for them. Ienzo and Lexaeus were rather low-ranking members. Lea seemed tolerate them in a way I doubt he would have with Braig, for instance.

What on earth was happening within the hearts of my six beloved apprentices? While pursuing the mystery of the darkness of the heart, could they themselves have strayed into its depths?

Speaking of Braig…I love Xigbar. He’s such a smug and unapologetic asshole. But he’s so cool at the same time. He always seems like he’s having so much fun. I really hated how it was revealed that he was Luxu because I thought Braig was such an interesting villain. He was just an ordinary guard and apprentice. Probably not a very nice guy, but not actively harming anyone, either. Ansem the Wise cared about all of his apprentices and trusted them. Even Braig. Then Xehanort comes along and offers him power. The Keyblade. And that’s all it takes to turn him into such a monster.

Day 355: Mind

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

He knows full well that Xehanort wants to access Kingdom Hearts and pretty much end the world as we know it. And he doesn’t give a DAMN. This entry is entitled “Mind”. Xigbar talks about Kingdom Hearts having a mind of its own, and rejecting Xehanort. He is aware that what Xemnas is doing is wrong.

And this doesn’t seem to be the first time he has pondered something having a mind of its own, either. The mind of Kingdom Hearts rejects Xehanort. The whole concept is quite similar to the way they tried to get the mind to renounce its sense of self, so that the vessel couldn’t reject Xehanort’s heart. I definitely think this was a subtle reference to the mind control experiments.

Xigbar: Man, does that Xehanort scare me like nobody’s business, the way he can see into minds. And it doesn’t help that no one knows what it is that the old man wants. I wonder if even you know what’s going on inside your own head.

I believed him when he said that Xehanort scared him. He doesn’t know what Xehanort is really after by causing the Apocalypse (we never get to learn either). But he goes along with him for his own selfish reasons. I was very disappointed that Xigbar’s personality was revealed to be Luxu putting on an act the whole time. No, I simply refuse to accept that.

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them. The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

—Revelation 8:6-7

I admit, I couldn’t help but laugh when I read the KHwiki descriptions for some of the characters’ Mystery Gear weapons, which are said to draw forth the wielder’s personality. These were clearly meant to tell you something important about each of them. The wiki description for Xigbar’s Trumpet said that it may be a reference to his tendency to “toot his own horn”.

I think the trumpet had FAR more significance than that. The trumpet is a symbol. It’s the harbinger of the Apocalypse, to be exact. Xigbar and Xemnas are the only ones with Biblical references in their weapons. Even the concept of 7 Lights and 13 Darknesses is mostly Biblical in origin.

Seven is the number of completeness and perfection, both physical and spiritual. It derives much of its meaning from being tied directly to God’s creation of all things. There are 7 days in a week and God’s Sabbath is on the 7th day. The Bible, as a whole, was originally divided into 7 major divisions. The number 13 is symbolic of rebellion and lawlessness. 13 represents all the governments created by men, and inspired by Satan, in outright rebellion against the Eternal.

Ruler of the skies, protector of the stars, the Ultima Weapon will appear and destroy any threat it perceives. It has shot down countless airships, man’s means to reach the heavens. The stars align against us…

Final Weapon is another apocalyptic reference. Its design is based on the Ultima Weapon from FFVII. And we know how fond Nomura is of that game. I am quite fond of it, too. The Ultimate Weapon of Final Fantasy VII is one of the five Weapons created by the planet as a defense mechanism. It was released from its slumber in the North Crater after Sephiroth summons a giant meteor in an attempt to bring about the Apocalypse.

Then there’s Cupid’s Arrow, which is green, possibly as a reference to the Heart chakra. We all know who Cupid is. He shoots people with arrows and they fall in love. However, Cupid also has a devious side. His gold-tipped arrows are what link people in love. However, he can fire lead-tipped arrows, which cause people to feel indifference or hatred. This side of Cupid is not very well-known. As for Xigbar’s weapon, the bullets produce dark sparks on contact with enemies and gold ones on contact with anything else. Hmm.

Recollections

Am I alive? I awoke in a cell, alone until the researchers came with their tests and their prodding to uncover my identity. I had no answer to offer them. Four friends, and a key…that is the sum total of my memory. I could not even recall my name. I was simply called “X” there. My only solace was the time I spent talking with the two boys who would visit from time to time. One day, a man came to take me from the prison. I could not see him for the darkness, save that he wore an eyepatch. Even now, years on, I feel no closer to understanding who or what I am.May my heart be my guiding key.

—Unknown

I make it no secret that I think Isa was originally Subject X. And who is the last person Subject X remembers before their memory cuts off? Braig. Wouldn’t surprise me if Xigbar gave Isa the X-shaped scar. Other than Xemnas, he was the only one in the Organization who was confirmed to know about Xemnas’ desire to turn people into vessels. I think Even probably knew as well, but I just can’t see him giving Isa the scar.

Xemnas disappeared nearly before he heard his order acknowledged.

“Don’t let us down now, kiddo. Shouldn’t be too much trouble without a heart,” Xigbar told Saïx.

Then he was gone, too. Alone in the Round Room, Saïx raised his eyes to the high domed ceiling.

Braig? Definitely. I think he was the main abuser of Isa. I think he used a “lead arrow,” so to speak, and turned Isa’s love into hatred and indifference.

Saïx: Something at Castle Oblivion changed you. Does the past mean nothing to you now?

Since Saïx had Isa’s memories, he no doubt would have told Axel who his main abuser was. Not to mention Braig probably abused Lea as well.

Given the right memories, the Replica could mimic the powers of the original. Which meant that if he were implanted with somebody else’s memories, he would, hypothetically, gain other powers. Somebody’s—or maybe even a Nobody’s. He had one particular Nobody in mind. All the members of the Organization were still influenced by the memories of their human lives.

Personally, I think Axel was talking about Xigbar here in the novel. I definitely think Axel wanted revenge on Xigbar. And I like that Cupid’s Arrow is Ultimate Gear. In that same weapon class is Saïx’s Horoscope, which has the symbols for Venus and Cancer. Venus in Cancer is basically the astrological correspondence of ultimate love and affection. If it shows up in your horoscope, your love life is looking good.

Another one of Xigbar’s weapons is called Crime and Punishment. It refers to an 1866 novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. It is about the mental anguish of a destitute man plotting to murder an unscrupulous pawnbroker who ripped him off, and contemplating whether or not going through with the plan will be worth the risks involved.

He grows increasingly his nihilistic, and believes that killing would benefit society, therefore justifying that crime and others. After committing murders, his isolation grows because of his intense guilt and the half-delirium into which his guilt throws him. Over and over again, the man pushes away the people who are trying to help him, and then suffers the consequences. In the end, he finds the total alienation that he has brought upon himself intolerable.

Day 117: Him and Roxas

Roxas is maturing at an impressive rate. His face, the way he handles the Keyblade, it’s all exactly the same. The worlds seem so divided and alone, but there’s always that steady thread there to connect them. And we Nobodies can never escape the things we did as humans. So it goes.

Xigbar does seem to have some guilt about what he did to Roxas/Ventus deep down. He says that Nobodies can never escape what they did as humans. He knows that what he’s doing is wrong. Everything he did was so that he could gain Master Xehanort’s Keyblade.

Q: What happens to Lea hereafter now that he has become a Keyblade wielder?

A: Lea, having returned to his human form, chosen by the Keyblade. Does him getting a Keyblade have anything to do with his best friend Roxas? And is there a possibility that Lea’s become one of the protectors of Light?

Yet Lea was able to wield because of how strong his heart was, and due to his desire to save his friends, including Roxas/Ventus and Isa, two people whose lives he helped destroy. And although this idea is never followed up on, in the KH3D Ultimania, Nomura suggested that Roxas had something to do with Lea’s ability to wield the Keyblade.

I’m really not convinced that Xigbar’s suicide at the end was always supposed to just be a ruse. In the original version of the story, I think he actually did decide to end his life. And I would have preferred that outcome rather than “Well, he was never really Braig, and he was just pretending to be a power-hungry bastard the whole time, lololol!”

Axel: Try not to bungle everything while I’m gone.

Xion: Now, why would we do that?

Axel: Well, considering your track record…

Xion: Hey! Don’t make me come over there!

I also really liked Roxas and Xion when i played Days. For me, Xion was everything that Kairi should have been from the beginning. The way Kairi was written always felt unintentionally sexist to me. I think the female writer for Days, Tomoco Kanemaki, really helped in the writing of that game’s female protagonist. It was a very good idea to bring her on board. Plus she’s an excellent writer, based on the KH novels.

Axel: Well, even if things change, we’ll never be apart–

Xion: As long as we remember each other…right? Don’t worry, Axel–we got your hokey speech memorized.

Axel: Just checking.

Xion jokes and teases Roxas and Axel, but never in a mean-spirited way. She’s very pure-hearted, sweet, and feminine. Which can often come across as annoying for me, if the writers are not careful. Kairi was a Princess of Heart. She’s very pure and filled with light. But we were mainly TOLD this fact about her character, rather than being able to see it through her actions. Which came across as…kind of annoying.

But Xion’s character never felt sexist to me. Her interactions with her friends felt far more charming and personable than Kairi’s interactions with Sora and Riku ever did. She was written with such sincerity.

Roxas: Just feels strange, that’s all. Usually, I do all the worrying over you. I don’t think it’s ever been the other way around before.

Xion: Well, for your information… I worry about you all the time, Roxas.

I liked how she responded to Roxas. She worries about him all the time. Kairi also worried about Sora, but she always felt like a passive participant in the story, instead of an active one.

Kairi: Who are you? And that’s not my name. I’m Kairi.

Roxas: Kairi… I know you. You’re that girl he likes.

For the most part, Kairi existed in relation to Sora, and only Sora.

Kairi: What are you going to do with us?

Saïx: You’re the fire that feeds Sora’s anger.

Kairi didn’t get to actually DO things. Things happened TO Kairi. Xion had a lot more agency as a character. You’re invited to put yourself in her shoes, and understand how she’s feeling in a way you never are with Kairi. She’s a subject instead of an object.

Kairi: I can’t help?

Sora: You’d kind of be in my way.

Kairi: Hehe. Okay. You win.

I also liked that Xion being able to fight was just taken for granted by the story. It’s not treated like it’s a big deal, just because she’s a girl. It’s just normal, like how it was with Aqua. On the other hand, Kairi always got treated by everyone like she was made of glass.

Day 352: What I Must Do

Riku gave me this time. Axel told me to spend it thinking for myself. The Organization is determined to erase either me or Roxas. They’ll never allow us to coexist. I love Roxas and Axel. I’m sure Saïx would scoff at that. Call it a trick of my artificial memories. But the time I spent on that clock tower was real. I wish the three of us could stay together, just like this, forever. But I have to end this. I’ll never forget today’s sunset. Even if Roxas and Axel do, I won’t forget.

Xion said that she loved Roxas and Axel. I found that really touching. Kairi was introduced to the story in KH1 mainly as the girl that Sora and Riku were competing for. She was more of love interest than a protagonist.

Kairi: You know, Riku has changed.

Sora: What do you mean?

Kairi: Sora, let’s take the raft and go—just the two of us!

Sora: Huh?

Kairi: Just kidding.

She never had any chemistry with Riku as part of their trio, and her role in the story diminished as his grew. In KH1, Sora and Riku’s animosity towards each other is fueled largely by Riku’s possessiveness toward Kairi, which I didn’t like.

Riku: Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi.

Sora: Wha… Wait a minute…

She was treated more like a prize for Sora and Riku to compete over than a valued friend. It just felt sexist to me. And I think it’s why Riku and Kairi barely interacted after KH1. I actually felt very sad when Xion disappeared. I felt an attachment to her, whereas I felt nothing but irritation (at the writers) when Kairi “died”. I connected with Xion in a way I that I was never able to with Kairi, because she was written like a real person instead of love interest.

After playing KH3, my feelings towards Roxas and Xion are…complicated. I know this is kind of an unpopular and controversial opinion in the fandom, but…I didn’t want either Roxas or Xion to come back. Even though I loved them both. Frankly, I don’t think they really “work” as stand-alone characters. Plus I was never fond of all of these identical characters running around simultaneously. Roxas and Sora look and act different enough. But Roxas and Ven? Many people seemed to like the scene where they meet and exchange an awkward glance. But for me it was just…stupid. Plus I think bringing them back ruined the poignancy of their story arcs.

Despite Xion being formed from Sora’s memories of Kairi, she felt very distinct from Kairi, due to the superior dialogue quality in 358/2 Days. This was both a good and bad thing.  

Kairi: Who’s this new Riku and where’s the old one?

Riku: New me?

Kairi: Yeah. You’re more like Sora.

Riku: Should I be flattered? I try too hard to be the role model. It’s more fun to just listen to my heart. Which is Sora-esque.

Kairi: Well, we still like you. Master, I came here because I wanted to help somehow. What can I do?

Honestly, I was just hoping that Kairi would have been written more like Xion going forward. I didn’t actually want to see Xion come back. I think that was always the plan, since Kairi certainly was in need of better characterization. And after Days, Kairi’s personality actually was more like Xion. I found her far more charming in KH2.8 and KH3 than I ever found her to be in any of the other games. They tried to give her more chemistry with Riku, who is supposed to be one of her best friends. I know the damage had been done by this point, but I appreciated scenes like this nonetheless.

Lea: Now that we’re going back, I’m worried about everything.

Kairi: Well, you don’t have to worry alone anymore, Axel.

I found her relationship with Lea so enjoyable, too. She was like his little sister. Kairi’s relationship with Lea felt just like Xion’s relationship with him. Xion promised she’d never forget Axel, after all. Unfortunately, this had the effect of making Xion’s return feel even more unnecessary and redundant to me. I feel the same way about Roxas.

A common opinion I hear is that Roxas is so much “darker” than Ventus, and therefore they cannot possibly be the same person. I agree that Roxas showed a darker side to his personalty than Ventus did. After all, Ventus had his darkness artificially extracted from him. But my response is: that’s what character development is for. What, did everyone think that Ven was going to remain the same naive kid until the very end the story? Even if he regained his memories as Roxas? Even after learning that Xemnas was Terra?

What was the whole point of Vanitas then? He’s Ven’s shadow self. These games are heavily inspired by Jungian philosophy, very much like the Persona series actually. Probably why I love both series so much. They even have the yellow eyes thing in common. The boss fight in KH3 was against Aqua’s shadow self. She was the embodiment of all the repressed, subconscious dark thoughts Aqua would be too ashamed to admit consciously.

Part of her IS angry at Mickey for abandoning her back then. She IS filled with so much despair that she wants others to feel it, too. That’s what made her shadow so interesting. I wish we had gotten to fight Shadow Terra, Shadow Riku, Shadow Isa, etc. I’m sure they’d have plenty of interesting things to say.

Quasimodo: Master Frollo–he made me live inside the bell tower, but the real walls were the ones I built around my heart. You helped me see that, Riku.

Riku: I was…speaking from…personal experience.

Phoebus: I’d say you still keep a lot locked inside.

Esmeralda: We all do that sometimes. There are just some things we need to keep separate from the world at large, at least until we have time to figure them out.

Personally, I never felt like Riku was finished dealing with his pain. His character arc was far from over. I think he needed to confront his feelings of jealousy towards Sora and his shame over getting possessed by Xehanort’s Heartless. What Dark Riku was saying in KH3 had some truth to it. Riku was always so competitive towards Sora because he felt inferior to him. Learning his darkness was part-Terra would definitely help him forgive himself. Of course that never happened.

Xehanort: Master Eraqus, you see, is so afraid of darkness, that he too, hassuccumbed–not to darkness, but to light. It shines so bright, he forgets thatlight begets darkness. And Aqua and Ventus, their lights shine too bright. It is only natural that they cast shadows on your heart.

Part of Terra does believe that Aqua and Ven are too bright for him. He pushed them away because they made him feel ashamed of himself. I’m sure his shadow self would try to push Ventus away while he tried to use the power of waking on him.

That would have been the perfect time to introduce the idea of Saïx’s jealousy. Let’s assume they stuck with the idea that Isa sacrificed himself for Lea. I tweaked his dialogue a tiny bit:

Saïx: “I sacrificed everything for you. You’re the one who went off and made other friends. Left me in the dust. I lost…all sense of purpose.”

Personally, I don’t think Saïx himself was jealous of Lea’s friendships with Roxas and Xion. Shadow Isa would be another story entirely, though. His captured heart was influencing Saïx subconsciously. I think that was why Anti-Saïx was included as a boss in 358/2 Days, along with Anti-Riku. 

Saïx:“Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.”

I absolutely think he’d feel abandoned and forgotten by Lea. Axel left the Organization to chase after Roxas, while his heart was still left in Xehanort’s clutches. I think his shadow self would have a lot to say on that matter.

Aqua: A pure heart filled with light… It’s strange, The Master taught medarkness needs to be destroyed. But how, if not with light?

Fairy Godmother: Oh, my dear, you’re too young to know. Experience more things, and you’ll find the answer. Just trust in your dreams.

BBS was trying to send the message that darkness isn’t necessarily bad. OBVIOUSLY Ven was going to have to face his dark side and accept it as part of himself, too. That’s what Jungian psychology is all about. Of course like so many other things, that never happened. Probably because Roxas’ return made it pointless, if he’s supposed to be the “dark” one.

Part of me is surprised (and relieved) they didn’t redeem Vanitas and give HIM his very own replica, too. But yeah. These games are BIG on Jungian philosophy. Well, Xion and Roxas were envisioned as personas of other characters—not unique characters unto themselves. And that’s all they ever felt like to me. I never understood the idea that they deserved to be their “own people”. They already were.

To me, what made Roxas and Xion valuable to the story, was that they were alter egos of two of the main characters: the Guardians of Light, Kairi and Ventus. Even though they disappeared, their character arcs would have continued on. They would have given those two characters SO much additional development if they had been accepted and reintegrated as personas of Ven and Kairi. What does having BOTH Kairi and Xion around offer to the story? What does having BOTH Roxas and Ventus offer?

Naminé: One day, Sora will have to call them to the surface. They’re important memories…but very dangerous ones.

Mickey: Dangerous how?

Naminé: These memories are too painful. Handled the wrong way, they could damage Sora’s heart–even break it. I needed you to find a way to face that kind of hurt. That’s why I left the message.

Sora was supposed to confront the memories in his heart. The people’s whose memories were inside of him needed relief. The memories needed to go back to their rightful place: Kairi and Ventus. And Ansem the Wise’s experiments were all about the heart and its connection to memory. Sora was robbed of meaningful character development because of this, too. He never confronted these painful memories nor did he have the opportunity to grow from it.

I agree with Nomura. I think there ARE “too many” characters. It prevented them from getting properly developed. KH3 had little in the way of meaningful character development. And I doubt Nomura can really give Ven or Kairi much in the way of interesting development now that their alter egos are back. Their relationships with Lea already got sidelined. Ventus’ was even worse than Kairi’s, though.

Ven: Already?

Lea: I’ll see ya when I see ya. After all, we’re friends now. Get it memorized.

Ven: Okay, Lea.

Lea’s comment made Ventus very happy. Immediately afterwards, Lea tells Isa that inside people’s memories, he can live forever. This exchange felt very meaningful. I do believe that Axel took such a liking to Roxas in Days because he recognized him as Ventus. Yet what was the impact of their fateful meeting?

Lea: You remember me?

Ventus: Yeah, ‘course! We’re friends. I can’t believe you became a Keyblade wielder just like me.

Lea: Yeah…

Sora: Axel, you know Ven?

Ventus: Axel? Who’s Axel?

Lea: See, see, see? Major brain-ache.

It was rendered so…pointless thematically. Lea was obviously fine with Ven being Roxas. He was clearly hoping that Ven would remember their time together in the Organization. But ‘twas not to be. It honestly felt to me like much of Axel’s dialogue in KH3 was just Nomura parodying how ridiculous the story has become. Nomura even said in an interview that he has a hard time remembering who’s met who. It’s like he just threw his hands up and didn’t even care anymore. So he’s turning everything into a big joke.

Axel’s whole character arc in KH2 was trying to bring back Roxas, then deciding he had no right to turn Sora back into a Nobody. He sacrificed himself to atone for his actions. Of course, it wouldn’t feel right to simply have Axel form a friendship with Sora to carry on his friendship with Roxas. They were too different. Ventus’ story arc was the perfect way to bring Roxas’ heart back, allowing Lea focus on a new goal this time: bringing back Isa. As I mentioned earlier, Nomura implied that it was Roxas who gave Lea the ability to use the Keyblade.

Roxas: Hey, Axel. You haven’t forgotten? You made us a promise.

Axel: I did?

Roxas: That you’d always be there…to bring us back.

Axel: “Oh yeah…”

Roxas: “Got it memorized?”

Axel: “The promise of two best friends.”

I think that’s why he had a dream of Roxas before he woke up. Roxas’ legacy as a Nobody was to pass on the ability to wield the Keyblade to his best friend Axel. Then Axel would be reborn as Lea and reunite with Roxas, who would be reborn as Ventus. Neither knew each other’s past in Days. Roxas had amnesia and Axel kept everything secret.

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

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

Axel: Roxas…

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

Axel: You’ve just gotta trust me, Roxas.

Roxas: I don’t.

Axel: Hey, c'mon…

Roxas: If I can’t get answers here, I’ll get them somewhere else. Somebody knows where I came from. That’ll be the person I trust.

Axel said that learning about his past wouldn’t make Roxas feel any better. Maybe that’s true. Maybe not. But the real reason Axel didn’t want Roxas to know about his past because he was afraid that Roxas would leave him. Although his reasons were sympathetic, Axel was wrong to lie to Roxas. And he knew he was wrong. He felt guilty about lying. Roxas did have a right to know the truth. This creates a chasm between them and it is the ultimate cause of their relationship falling apart.

Roxas: I wonder what kind of guy I was before…

In KH3, it felt like the characters were being forced into stasis and not allowed to truly grow or mature. If anything, they were regressing. In Days, Roxas didn’t WANT to be his “own person”. He wanted to learn about his life and identity before becoming a Nobody. He was jealous that Axel had memories of his past before the Organization. So the idea of Roxas coming back and having no real past or life history outside of the one year he spent as an Organization member just didn’t sit right with me.  

And Roxas and Axel will never have to overcome the issues that made their relationship fail in the first place. Axel needed to accept that it was okay for Roxas to remember his past before the Organization. And Roxas needed to trust Axel. If Axel was reborn as Lea and Roxas was reborn as Ventus, they’d finally learn each other’s past and find out that they have so much in common. A loved one from their past is being used as Xehanort’s vessel. Then they’d be able to develop a much more open and healthy relationship and grow a lot closer.

Ventus: You’re here…

Terra: I heard you too, Ven. You found me, just like you promised.

Ven made a promise to Terra that he’d be there when Terra really needed him. And Axel made a promise to Roxas that he’d always be there to bring them back. It was a promise of two best friends. Immediately afterwards, Lea goes and searches for Isa. He still didn’t know at that point that Isa was Xehanort’s vessel. But his friendship with Roxas inspired him to not give up on any of his best friends. In KH3, it could be shown that Axel’s loyalty inspired Ventus to keep his promise to Terra, too. Then their meeting in BBS would have actually been meaningful.

In KH3 we just get a rehash of KH2 where Axel is looking for Roxas. Only this time he makes no progress on that goal, nor does he develop as a person along the way like he did in KH2. He just felt so utterly useless to the story. Literally everyone in real life I know who played KH3 complained about how useless and unimportant Axel was. Even Axel acknowledges how useless he is in KH3. My intention is really not to bash Roxas and Xion. I liked them. But since Lea and Isa are my favorite characters, I admit I do have quite a bit of saltiness towards the preferential treatment Roxas and Xion received from the story in KH3.  

Their return just felt so…contrived. I didn’t even find the trio’s reunion emotional due to how forced it was. Xion just randomly shows up out of nowhere and starts bawling, and Axel brings up ice cream. It felt like the writers were trying way too hard to make the scene emotional. But it had the opposite effect on me. That scene came across as cringe-worthy because it felt so pandering and fanservice-y. And now they need DLC just to properly explain why they are back.

—Was Lea insisting on being called Axel so that when Roxas came back he would recognize him?

Nomura: Yes, but also because when he saw Kairi as Xion, he remembered that there was someone he was supposed to remember, which made him feel that being called “Axel” was important.

I also have mixed feelings about Lea wanting to be called “Axel” and staying in his Organization cloak.

Mickey: But gosh, I didn’t expect you to save us…Axel.

Lea: Axel didn’t. My name is Lea.

In KH3D, he made a big deal about his name being “Lea”, not “Axel”.

Lea: Axel? Please. The name’s Lea. Got it memorized?

I don’t think it was really necessary, but I can see him maybe wanting Kairi to call him Axel if he subconsciously remembers her as Xion. But everyone else?

Riku: Why are you here, Axel?

Lea: No, I told you my name’s– Agh, whatever, Axel, fine. Now let’s get outta here!

It annoyed him when they still called him “Axel”. He only tolerated it begrudgingly. After all, it’s the name Xehanort gave him to symbolize the death of “Lea”. I don’t think he’d be too fond of going by that name at all, especially once he learned the full truth about the Recusant’s Sigil.

Originally, I think he wanted to stay in the black cloak because of Isa. That makes total sense to me. But since that idea was scrapped, it felt more like Square was afraid of having his character go by a different name or look too different from before, since people who haven’t played any of the games since KH2 might be put off by that.

Then, there was the final boss battle with Saïx. Roxas and Xion are back now. And honestly I had no idea how the game wanted me to feel about Isa at that point. It may have sounded like an afterthought, but Lea still said he wanted to bring him home, too. Am I supposed to care about him as a friend of Lea? Or am I supposed to take pleasure in seeing Roxas and Xion “clobber” him, the same way I’m supposed to when Sora defeats Xehanort?

Roxas and Xion are popular characters; I get that. I knew how much fan demand there was to bring them back. And it concerned me because I couldn’t imagine how they could return in a way that actually made any sense. And it was as I suspected. We got the stupid Replica nonsense in KH3 to make it happen. But it was way worse than I feared. They had to throw Isa’s entire character arc by the wayside to make room for Roxas and Xion.

Roxas, Axel, and Xion get a tearful reunion, but poor Isa was just left as a vessel… totally forgotten about. Lea said that he never forgot Isa, but he did. Sometime between KH3D and KH3, to be precise. Roxas and Xion even look at him with pity. I almost got the sense that the scene was meta-commentary. Like Roxas and Xion felt guilty about how badly his character had to be destroyed to allow them a place in the story. And Isa certainly did get left in the dust in order to focus on Lea’s other friends, who had more popularity in the fandom.

In canon Isa suffers from a bad reputation, because of how Saïx treated Roxas and Xion. But it was plain as day to me that Isa in BBS was NOTHING like Saïx! I always assumed that was the whole point of meeting Lea and Isa in BBS. To show how different they were as humans—especially Isa. The audience never knew that Saïx in KH2 was just a vessel for Xehanort, and neither did Axel. If the truth had been revealed, it would have been a pretty cool plot twist actually.

Despite it being both obvious and heavily implied, the story never even clearly stated that Isa was NOT Saïx. That he was possessed by Xehanort. That he was a victim. The Recusant’s Sigil on his face literally means “death”. And since that concept got thrown in the trash, so did Isa’s character arc. We are never even told how he got his scar. And his personality never goes back to the way it was in BBS, either. It’s funny to me that people thought Roxas was so different from Ventus that he deserved to be his own person. If there was any character who had nothing in common with their Nobody and deserved to be their own person, it was Isa, not Roxas. Axel and Saïx both admit how much he’s changed.

Even in that short scene, it was not hard to see what kind of person Isa was. He was introverted and had a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. But when he smiled at Lea playing with Ventus, you could tell that he was kindhearted. He was just reserved, and reluctant to express his feelings openly. He’s shy, but with Lea around, he’s able to come out of his shell and share a laugh with Ventus while they tease him. So yeah, in my opinion Isa is dead. In KH3, we get left with a watered down Saïx taking on the role of “Isa”, even though they were nothing alike.

The moment where Xemnas is going to finish off Lea, is when Saïx should have saved him, proving that Isa’s heart was still in there, and that he never forgot Lea, just like he said all those years ago. That was Isa’s crowning moment. The very moment that would earn his place eating ice cream with everyone in the epilogue.

Roxas and Xion stole the thunder from not only Isa, but Kairi too. During what should have been her crowning moment: her first major battle. She was so useless and forgotten in her own fight. Her only real contribution is getting kidnapped. Then she was killed off! Apparently to justify Namine coming back? I guess? I was so looking forward to Kairi finally becoming a more well-rounded character. Man, was that a let down. My sisters despise Kairi. They were raging during the ending. They think she’s such an insult as a female protagonist, lol. I just think it’s sad. Kairi DID have potential. But unfortunately it was mostly all wasted…

I love most of the KH characters. But I have NEVER seen a character get shafted by a story as badly as Isa. Even Kairi was treated (marginally) better by the narrative. It was the main inspiration for this blog and why a disproportionate amount of my posts are about Isa and/or his relationship to Lea. In KH3, Skuld took his backstory, Roxas took his role as the friend who Lea would need to bring back, and Xion took his crowning moment of redemption. It was so insulting how the story treated him. I’m sure even the creator of Xion, Tomoco Kanemaki, would be disappointed in how Isa got treated. I could tell by the way she writes the novels that she liked Isa, as well as Xion.