#kh project xehanort

[lumisparks]

Please. Please help them :,)

[cielomist]

personal interpretation of radiant garden unethical science polycule:

even and aeleus were married first and dilan got absorbed into the marriage later. braig was their collective sidepiece bc he had no interest in committing

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Ahh! Green Requiem saying something like, "Why do I now feel like notes from Destati--which is Kingdom Hearts' "Darkness" song-- being in the Foretellers' theme was hinting that they were vessels of Darkness? (Because it was.)," is now making me feel and think so much.

[apricotopera]

there’s an interesting trend in kh of worlds and the way they change mirroring characters and the way they change that i really love - destiny islands which tends to be in and out of danger depending on how sora, riku, and kairi are doing, hollow bastion’s revival happening as riku gets away from ansem’s influence and starts slowly doing better, castle oblivion being a blank slate until aqua comes home (which there’s a mechanical reason for, sure, but the land of departure returning alongside the wayfinder trio also has a real thematic resonance), aquas exploration of the castle of dreams in 0.2 mirroring her view of the things that just happened to her, daybreak town not destroyed when its group is scattered but instead becoming the invisible scaffolding that the future is built on…etc etc! there’s a lot of cool examples of this! and the thing i’ve been thinking of all morning is that it makes the vision of scala in kh3 kind of devastatingly sad.

it’s…unclear at best if the scala we visit in kh3 is the real city, or some sort of dream or memory projection from xehanort (being literally inside the generally-not-well-understood kingdom hearts makes it a bit complicated) but it’s so strikingly empty and quiet. again this is partially mechanical - it’s a boss arena - but still. all the little details of life in the environment design, the little market you visit in remind, the chairs and cafes and posters make it feel lived in, but there’s no one there. it’s just xehanort. this final, terrible reflection of his childhood home, preserved perfectly, and he is the solitary person in it. it’s so fucking sad!

i think the end of kh3 does a decent job of humanizing xehanort even before we know him in dark road and even while he’s at his most villainous, and i think scala is a big part of that. like that intro cutscene of him just walking slowly through the streets…..gah. peepaw :(

[catboygirljoker]

What were your thoughts about KHearts before you got into it vs Now having been into it? Also late welcome to the community hope you've had fun!

thankyou :D!! i have had fun, sitting in my little crevice and exporting my xigbar images and xigbar posts. im happy that people have connected with it in some way :]

thoughts about KH before i got into it:

for some reason i was under the impression that the games were about a boy who has dreams about disney worlds. and he has regular size feet in the real world and only has big feet in the dream world. i also think he traveled with mickey and not donald or goofy

also for some reason i was under the impression that ventus was sora's dad. it was not until i actually watched the cutscenes in birth by sleep and saw lea and isa that i realized OH. this is NOT as far back on the timeline as i thought it was

images of a spiky red boy and a spiky blond boy and a black haired depressed girl eating ice cream together with lots&lots of people sobbing in the replies. (REALLY emphasized the slow creeping emotional dread of that game for me. like golly i sure hope i dont get emotionally destroyed like all those other people! and then i , was)

when i was in middle/high school i had friends who were super into it, but i was never able to play it because my parents had a policy of No Consoles. we were allowed to have handhelds, though, because my family took frequent road trips, so when i found out that there was a KH game for DS i said to a friend "oh, cool! dyou think id be able to play it without playing the other games?" and she looked at me, and looked at her copy of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and said "........no"

only ~15 years later do i realize how funny of a question that was

thoughts about KH as i was getting into it:

too numerous to count. i shall attempt to keep it moderately brief

last year my husband listened to a podcast called "lore dump" where people explain the lore of different media to each other, and they did an episode/series on kingdom hearts, and i heard some pretty WaCkY sTuFf (i specifically remember them explaining what the recusant's sigil is, in the context of xigbar explaining that they'd been tracking sora and riku through the story of DDD)

found a vod of one of my favorite streamers streaming 1 and 2 to benefit abortion rights in texas, and i was like, well, here's my chance, heh, im gonna understand all of the WaCkY LoRe

i start up the stream. within the first 15 minutes i Get it. like it feels very dated in a lot of ways but i instantly understood what made people connect so strongly with this series. even as someone who didn't grow up with any attachment to it, and was a little put off of it even by how into it my friends were, to me kh1 is just pure high octane nostalgia. the tone is so specific and warm and bittersweet. i cried multiple times during the ending. it just really got to me! i was hooked!

when i fixate on a media property i like to have a hot person to chew on. i really. really thought it was gonna be axel. he is exactly the kind of character i would've fixated on when i was younger, when i had friends who were into KH. older mentor figure character who takes younger characters under his wing. associated with fire. projects brash confidence. k,ills people. he's a really good character! i love him a lot! every time he appears on screen i get on all fours and start barking! and there's all this fanart and merch and...then i got distracted......

hey blake in early 2023. it's me, blake in late 2024. have you heard of kingdom hearts. yeah. yeah youre gonna get really into it. yeah youre gonna have the longest running blorbo since you mega-fixated on the tenth doctor when you were 14. yeah. yeah um. you know the clip where the guy says "me? i'm already half xehanort!" and sora says "that's..nuts!"? yeah that guy? yeah. yeah. that guy. the half xehanort guy. yeah youre gonna make a fool of yourself online for that guy.

[bluerosesburnblue]

@oveliagirlhaditright I'm putting my Missing Link thoughts in another post because it would be too long, and honestly I have SO MANY thoughts about why the basic premise of KHML was a bad idea (completely separate from my own distaste for the "Ephemer is Xehanort's ancestor" stuff that might be in it)

Because you're right to mention Pokemon Go and it really, REALLY feels to me like it's just trying to ride the hype from the mobile ARG boom that started with Pokemon Go a whole eight years ago. Because KHML as a concept doesn't even seem to be utilizing any of the unique features of an ARG that make them appealing

There's two real franchise-based mobile ARGs that I ever remember hearing about: Pokemon Go and Harry Potter: Wizards Unite*. These two projects do make sense to me, as opposed to KHML because of the way that both franchises make use of the central concept of the augmented reality feature. They're additions to reality, which both series already played around with. HP takes place in our reality, but with a "what if magic was real and just hidden" premise, so it's insanely easy to make an ARG that's just "yeah, you're one of the people in on the secret magical society that always existed in the real world." Pokemon takes place in an alternate version of our world; every location in Pokemon is based on a real-world location. So that's also a natural progression for it, and it's easy to pretend that the "reality" you see in the ARG is just the Pokemon world. Other than location names and the presence of Pokemon, the Pokemon world is practically identical to reality

That is literally the central concept of an ARG. To make the game part of reality. And that just doesn't work with KH, a game about flying through space to reach Disney worlds. Sure, some of us might have wanted to pretend to be Keyblade wielders as kids, but did we want to be wielders in our small backyards? Not even imagining that they were another location, but the yards as they were? No! We wanted to be in the Disney worlds! Or Traverse Town! The central facet of ARG gameplay doesn't mesh with the functionality of a story-based canonical title. And so what do they do to force it to work? Complicate the lore with the Astral Planes, which completely take the "reality" out of Augmented Reality aside from... a map? Like, it might have worked with Quadratum depending on how much of "our reality" that ends up being, but that's not at all what they're doing

Additionally, ARGs are not conducive to story-heavy games! You're supposed to play them while walking around town, maybe stopping for a few minutes to take a break. Or you play them on work/school breaks. You need to be able to pick them up, play a bit for 10 minutes, and put them down. The typical gameplay cycle for most ARG players does not include 20 minutes just to watch cutscenes to get the Exclusive Lore before being able to do anything, and the people who like KH for the story aren't going to want to wait all the time for their mobile game energy to recharge before they can get their cutscenes (a thing that even KHUx did away with for story chapters after some time!)

The entire decision to make KHML an ARG, to me, feels like corporate checking off a box of "style of game that got popular in recent memory" and trying to copy it rather than thinking of the gameplay as a medium in and of itself to tell a story. Nothing about the ARG concept works with what KH is at its core, and I honestly feel like they unintentionally admitted that when it was announced that you'd be able to play it without leaving home. What is the point of making it an ARG at all if you're going to remove literally the only benefit that it has as a medium, as opposed to something that could benefit the story you're trying to tell? We are a long way from the days of TWEWY making revolutionary use of the DS technology to have its gameplay tell a significant part of its story

In an ideal world, I think that KHML should have been an MMO like we thought KHx was going to be back when it was announced. They wouldn't have to mess with the lore to make it work, other players running around would help to "populate" Scala ad Caelum in a natural way, people could form "families" with their friends to further the bloodlines narrative, and MMOs can function on the drip-fed narrative style that they wanted. It doesn't even have to be a big-budget MMO like FF14, because I actually do like KH3's artstyle and KHML's simpler usage of it (it manages to be distinctive and colorful, working in hallmarks of Nomura's hand-drawn style while still being more detailed than the PS2-era). It could just be... basically what it is now, but they add in new Disney worlds every couple of months to keep the story going

And now here we are, with a game that was supposed to be out by the end of 2023 still missing (lol) and only having had two betas by the near-midpoint of 2024 because they're having developmental issues that I would personally guess have to do with the game's self-defeating nature. I find it very frustrating

*Adding in, Wizards Unite literally ran for less than three years (June 2019 - Jan 2022) before shutting down so even being tied to a big-name franchise couldn't save it. I have a strong hunch that the Covid-19 lockdowns played a huge part in killing the ARG boom so it's doubly insane to me why Square Enix thought trying to bring it back was a good idea

[sailforvalinor]

Unhinged thoughts I've had recently about Ienzo/Zexion in no particular order:

We learn from Even in BBS that Ienzo was adopted by Ansem the Wise at a young age after something happened to his parents and he was orphaned. However, for Ienzo's parents to even be mentioned here is really Odd for Kingdom Hearts--we've never seen a canonical appearance of a character's parent in any of the games, and there are only a handful of times they've even been mentioned (Riku mentions that Sora's dad usually takes them out on the boats in BBS, Terra calls Eraqus his father but is not related to him by blood, Sora's mom notoriously calls him in to dinner in KH1, and Kairi had a grandmother in Radiant Garden if you want to count that). The only time we've ever seen the canonical appearance of a parent in the games is Xehanort's mother in KHUX/Dark Road, and that was extremely recent and considered very abnormal. Kingdom Hearts, up until KHUX, was always very unconcerned with the concept of blood family, so the fact that this bit of dialogue was included about Ienzo feels way too out of place not to be deliberate, especially since no other Organization member's parents are ever discussed (even though Lea and Isa were also kids). Given that Nomura seems particularly intent on exploring bloodlines in his current and future KH projects, I wonder if this detail will turn out to be something significant.

The scene in KHII Final Mix where Xigbar interrogates Zexion about what Xemnas is up to in the Chamber of Repose rings especially strange now that we know that Xigbar is actually Luxu (and additionally because the scene was not originally in the game and added to Final Mix, though probably this was to set up plotlines for BBS). What did Luxu think Zexion knew? He doesn't appear to actually glean any information from him--it's Zexion who gets information in this scene, he learns that Xemnas is looking for Ventus. Additionally, if Luxu already knew that Xemnas was looking for the Chamber of Waking to find Ven, he definitely knew that he was talking to Aqua in some way in the Chamber of Repose--my guess is that he was trying to learn from Zexion whether Xemnas had actually captured Aqua herself. (Luxu's ultimate goal here, remember, is to get Xehanort to act as the "scapegoat" and recreate the Keyblade War, and he's trying to keep as close of tabs on his progress as possible. Xemnas was trying to track down more ancient Keyblade wielders at this point--Luxu having just recruited Lauriam--and he likely wanted to know if he had managed to turn Aqua to their cause.) However, as Luxu is almost as inscrutable as MoM himself and his motives are extremely difficult to read, it is possible there's something else that he was trying to learn from him. If this is the case, I'd say that it was probably something that Zexion didn't even know he knew, or else he probably would have told Sora in KH3 if he had deemed it important.

Additionally, this exchange makes one question why Luxu would go to Zexion for this information in the first place, as he had already instated himself as Xemnas' right-hand man and is the person Xemnas would be most likely to tell this information. Nomura has stated in the past that Xemnas and Zexion shared a sort of "master-servant or teacher-student" relationship, which would likely explain this. This also explains why Saix believed that he was a threat to his rise to prominence within the Organization, even though he was a lesser number than him, and had Axel eliminate him in Castle Oblivion. It's kind of a shame that we never got to see this dynamic.

It does seem odd that Xemnas would deliberately mentor Zexion, a non-Keyblade wielder, if he was deliberately looking for Keyblade wielders of old to be his vessels. However, since Ienzo was only around eight or nine years old when he was manipulated into becoming a Nobody (which, side note, that's messed up), it's possible that he believed he might grow to have this potential--or, more likely, he knows what happened to his parents and believes him to have some connection to or be descended from a Keyblade wielder of old.

Zexion is the only Nobody besides Roxas and Namine to have a complete opposite personality to their recompleted self--while Zexion is reserved, terse, manipulative, and delights in cruelty and deception, Ienzo is warm, helpful, and borderline extroverted. While his lack of evil intent and fanatical devotion to the Organization's goals can be chalked up to his being recompleted, just as the other recompleted Organization members are no longer evil, it can't be denied that the difference between Ienzo and Zexion is like night and day. (Take Axel and Aeleus, for example--though they are no longer Nobodies and their goals are different, their personalities remain the same for all intents and purposes.) Ienzo mentions to Sora that they are no longer evil because they were out from under Xemnas's influence, so it's possible that we could ascribe this personality shift to that, especially as we know that he and Xemnas had a mentor-student relationship, and because we know that Ienzo was lied to as a child and made to believe that Ansem the Wise (his guardian) had gone mad and abandoned them (he says that "they" told him this, but it seems likely that this was Xehanort himself, which might be why he became closer to him rather than Vexen). However, as Ienzo does not learn that this information was false until late in KH3, this seems unlikely--and honestly, that drastic of a personality shift still seems unlikely in the short amount of time (at least, to him) between his being killed in CoM and recompleted in DDD. This makes me wonder if, like Roxas and Namine, his transformation from a human into a Nobody was somehow abnormal, though in what way I'm not sure.

Zexion's lexicon is called "The Book of Retribution," and I'm desperate to know why. Retribution for what? His guardian abandoning him?

[agermanpotatoe]

A Kingdom Hearts - What if...? This is actually part of a different project which I'm not willing to share with people (cough), but goofing around with the Data Greetings made me think once more. Looking at the Dark Inferno(?) heartless, which is known as a special boss in KH, I thought of an alternate battle strategy used by Anti-Aqua. In this case, we don't really just have a darkling Aqua, but a corrupted Aqua that has strong hints of Xehanort/Ansem in her. After losing her Keyblade she doesn't use the Demon Tower but instead her own heartless, a Guardian wielding two blades (a nod to her own and Eraqus' blade). Riku and Sora fight Aqua together in the beginning, Riku with his original Keyblade which shatters in this fight. Sora will use the Master's Defender which seems to send some of Aqua's and Eraqus' thoughts and feelings to his heart. But after a while, the Guardian enters stage two, a cold, blue state that enhances its speed and agility. Riku will take the blow that is meant for Sora, losing consciousness and his Keyblade. Sora screaming for Riku is making the Guardian hesitant. Aquanort chuckles at Sora's attempt to fight with an old and used blade like the Master's Defender and scoffs at Aqua's attempt to summon them of all people as help. Sora is not having it though, determined to save Riku and get Aqua's body back. Aquanort starts another attack, increasing the level once more, making the guardian almost explode with dark power. But Sora realizes that the Guardian is reluctant, even fighting against the commands the corrupted Master is giving it. In a split second, the Guardian seems to slightly redirect its attack, so Sora can find the heart in the body of darkness. It sends its light and power out to Sora, reassuring him that he can win and that it'll help him. It jumps back, keeping Aquanort and itself in place, refusing to lift the empty blades. Xehanort's angry words curse the Guardian for its uselessness, taunting and belittling it for still failing its one mission (tapping into the darkness that would constantly grow in Aqua). But Sora stops him, claiming the light the Guardian had passed onto him. Instead of holding the Master's Defender, Rainfell appears in a gush of water, his magic increasing heavily, even changing his clothes. The key reacts to its owner's heart, and Sora can feel the warmth of the light guiding his actions. A beam of light touches the Guardian. Aquanort tries to stop it, but the Guardian grabs her, forcing the both of them to disintegrate in the light, taking the darkness away with them, leaving Sora on the unending ocean, surrounded by stars.

I haven't made the last part into a comic, but I thought this says it all. Just another What if...? from Andrea's book. Huge thank you to @drangeax for always pushing me into these sorts of directions (and beyond *cough*). Mods used: Expanded Data Greetings Expanded Boundaries Data Greeting Plus Fully playable Terra and Variants Happy weekend everybody and hugs and kisses <3

[dullahandyke]

i have a lot of kh thoughts but my favourite au is also the stupidest one where vanitas and only vanitas speaks latin frequently

watsonian explanation is something something age of fairytales something something xehanort is weird

doylist explanation that hes already the edgiest black-and-red motherfucker on this side of shadow the hedgehog and i think giving him latin would enable that

also i know latin and am projecting

if i cant get all of kh canon to stop calling him 'vaneetis' i can get him to call himself 'wahnitass'. same goes for 'venntis' and 'wehntoos'

(sidenote because of this, 'venty-wenty' becomes 'wenty-wenty'. ive made the executive decision to replace this with 'ventule' [wehntoolay], the word for 'little wind')

he also makes use of all the words ive alchemised for the vanific because im proud of those. in the time since i last posted ive come up w 'peregrinis' which is actually a literal noun that means 'unversed' but also i saw it and immediately went to peregrine falcons. which is cool so i had to use it

xehanort and ventus deffo know latin and understand what hes saying, tho ventus doesnt remember learning latin. decent odds that aqua and terra have some idea what hes saying bcos i can imagine their keyblade training including studying ancient tomes

(usually i would be more hesitant to say latin is omnipresent in a japanese property. but their names are aqua terra ventus and eraqus which isnt a latin word but fits the construction)

[themattress]

Clips from the videos I recently linked to.

First worth noting is how Nomura gradually lost his innocence and succumbed to darkness while working on the KH series, to the point where before he said he identified with Sora, he now openly identifies with Xehanort and views Sora as an "enemy". But more importantly than that, the importance to the KH series that the debacle that was Final Fantasy Versus XIII's development had cannot be overstated. Nomura's passion project fell apart in the exact same year the game setting up KH3, Dream Drop Distance, was released. Now, had the Osaka Team been able to develop KH3 much more quickly and it was released in 2015 for the PS3 as the original intent seemed to be, it would have been different. The lore from the X sub-series would not have grown to the point of infesting the game and Nomura likely would not be able to get away with the "Verum Rex" stuff given that Final Fantasy XV hadn't even been released yet, so we still could have had a game more focused on wrapping up the Dark Seeker Saga. But instead, the game we got in 2019 reflected Nomura's mindset of just not caring about the Dark Seeker Saga anymore, or the KH series in general for that matter. His real interest and passion was in setting up Kingdom Hearts IV...which via the increasingly convoluted even-by-KH-standards lore of the X sub-series and "Verum Rex", he is able to use to turn the KH series into Versus XIII. And if that's a series you want to follow, great. More power to you. But I agree with JebTube - for me, the KH series concluded with Kingdom Hearts II. Everything afterward up through KH3's Re:Mind expansion is just a big "What If?" for me, fun for playing through but not caring about narratively. And everything after that?

[nadziejastar]

When did Kh go to complete shit in your opinion

The short answer is that the series experienced a gradual decline after the release of BBS. I think it officially went to shit with Union X, particularly the story arc that started after the Keyblade War. The longer answer will be under the cut.

KH2FM/Days/BBS (2007-2010)

Since Birth by Sleep is the first part of the Kingdom Hearts storyline, I'd like if you considered it as Kingdom Hearts, "Episode 0". This title isn't placed as a side story, with its storyline and battle system, it is substantial like that of a numbered title.

During this time, the series was extremely healthy and at its peak of popularity, with a bright future. KH2 was a beloved JRPG classic (and still is). The Final Mix introduced interesting new mysteries surrounding Xemnas and solid gameplay extras like the Lingering Will. Days was a side game, but it gave more development to fan favorites Roxas and Axel. The PSP wasn't the most popular system in the West, but BBS still sold quite well. It was a bit of a downgrade from KH2 due to the lesser hardware, but it was still a true mainline numbered sequel in the spirit of KH2 and was well received by fans. Tbh, I'd consider BBS the last truly great game in the series.

Re:Coded (2010)

After BBS the next new installment was...a filler game in the spirit of CoM. Recycled Disney plots, and an even more nonsense story with the datascape stuff. But it was just a DS port of a Japanese flip-phone game. It was a title that you could completely ignore and not really lose out on anything. Still, it is a low-quality title that didn't need to exist and wasn't doing the reputation of the series any favors.

Birth By Sleep Final Mix+ (2011)

[D]uring that movie there were the words ‘A fragmentary passage’, weren’t there? That means a ‘bits and pieces of something whole’. In short, a story for ‘Volume Two’ exists that ought to be told, but the story cuts off with those scenes. Because of that, I won’t say there is absolutely no chance that we will produce a title to follow KHBBS, but there are no plans as of now.

This game had an interesting playable secret ending and video. Volume 2 was supposed to be a numbered game (KH0.5), a mainline title that would fill in important gaps from across the timeline. But BBSFM didn't sell well in Japan. Which isn't surprising. Final mixes made sense in the PS2 era. But the extra content for BBS could have been released as DLC. Not many people want to buy the same game again for some new content.

Dream, Drop, Distance (2012)

KH3D was put together relatively quickly, I was still concepting the story when I brought it to the table.

This is when the series started going to shit. It started gaining quite a bad reputation and articles like this began to pop up. Re:Coded could easily be dismissed as filler, but 3D was advertised as more of a mainline game. People were eager for KH3, or at least a game with the same quality as BBS. DDD isn't terrible or anything. But you could tell that it didn't have as much thought put into it as BBS.

It was originally just the beginning part of KH3 that got stretched out into a full game and it shows. The Disney worlds don't fit into the normal timeline, there's fewer of them, Disney party members were replaced with animals, and the drop gimmick was controversial. There's weird time travel stuff that is convoluted and not explained very well. This didn't help with the story's reputation.

I originally planned to make that [a mystery KH title] after KHBBS, but we ended up making KH3D and the project was stopped. It’s a shame, but we won’t be starting that project again.

BBSV2 was planned after BBS. Production stopped to make DDD. The secret ending of DDD showed Young Xehanort on the beach of Destiny Islands, which was one of the events shown during "A Fragmentary Passage". There may have still been plans to start production of BBSV2 again after KH3D finished. But Square changed their minds. I suspect the reason for that has to do with Versus XIII.

Versus was being developed by the Tokyo team which made KH2. BBS was made by the Osaka team, which also made DDD. The original plan was for the Tokyo team to finish Versus and then make KH3. But things were a mess with Versus and eventually it was decided that the Osaka team would make KH3. So, if the Osaka team was busy on KH3, then they wouldn't be able to make BBSV2.

X (2013)

To tell the story about the Keyblade War we need the capacity of hi-spec hardware and we need to accumulate all of our knowledge on this hardware. And in telling this story, we will need to tell it in separate episodes, and how specifically to tell it has yet to be figured out.

There is evidence that X was probably intended to be an MMO on high-spec hardware. Square had a lot of trouble with the transition to HD consoles, so it was downgraded to a minor release on browser. It's an okay title. Interesting lore that expands on the fairy tale of Kairi's grandma. But it's got the typical recycled Disney plots and low-budget gameplay. Not exactly lighting the world on fire for the core audience.

If you do know, then you will enjoy the world of KH all the more, make no mistake. However, you don't have to know everything. The protagonist himself, Sora, doesn't know everything. That said, I'd be happiest if you did play it (laughs). If you do give it a try, I think you'll be surprised at what a rich experience you get for free.

But X was not meant to be a title with an emphasis on story. It was a spin-off, totally separate from the main plot thread. It was written alongside KH3 and the two were intimately related. If you played X, it would enhance your enjoyment (Ephemer cameo), but it was not essential.

X was rebranded as Unchained X and rereleased for mobile in 2015. X was also remade into Back Cover, which was included in the 2.8 HD Remaster collection. People would naturally assume that Back Cover told you everything you needed to know about the X story in preparation for KH3. And maybe at one point, that was the plan...

0.2 A Fragmentary Passage (2017)

As far as content goes, we can’t include a full volume of content to play with like the second chapter of KHBbS, so it’s just a “fragment,” and we left that part of the subtitle. 0.5 is one of the letters and numbers that appeared in the secret episode of KHBbS FM, and that meant full volume, so we decided on 0.2 this time, to indicate that there will be more content to come.

IMO, this is the first high-quality release since BBS. But it's still just a 3-hour prologue instead of a complete game. The events with Aqua are interesting, but they are just one "fragment" of the whole 0.5.

Actually, this was what I worried about the most. We showed this for a bit in the secret episode of [KHBbS FM], but the concept for two chapters of [BbS] is something we've had for a while, and because of problems with time, it's become just a morceau.

Releasing it as a full game on consoles would have delayed progress of KH3. And after nearly a decade of nothing but remasters and low-quality spin-offs, that was the last thing Square wanted. Despite how important 0.5 was, fans would be upset if the next mainline game wasn't KH3.

Union X (2017)

As a gacha with a worldwide audience, X was extremely profitable, so its storyline was extended past its natural ending. Even though X was a complete story that was meant to lead directly into KH3, Nomura retconned the ending, allowing the story of Ephemer and friends to continue in a new story arc called Union X which began in 2017. UX was...strange. It took place in the afterlife? Or the datascape? It had tons of filler, very infrequent story updates that barely progressed anything, and weird retcons, like character backstories that felt like they were in the wrong game (Why tf are Ventus and Marluxia here???).

Unlike X, the story of UX felt like it was being made up on the fly. Also, UX did not directly tie in with KH3 anymore. Its run actually continued past KH3. It was as if Nomura knew there were going to be too many plot holes for KH3 to properly resolve. So, he began using UX to set up the plot of KH4. People who only played the remasters were going to be completely blindsided when they played KH3. It wouldn't conclude anything that was set up in Back Cover, like the black box. KH3 would actually just be one big "to be continued" for KH4 with UX acting a band-aid. IMO, this is the point when the series had officially gone to shit.

KH3 (2019)

I had quite a tough time writing the story this time around. So many characters appear in this game, with each of them having their own set of problems and needing to choose their own fate. [...] I believe that KINGDOM HEARTS III is truly completed when the two thoughts - whatever you feel from playing the game, and my thoughts that I’ve secretly placed in the game - match up together. I hope that everyone playing the game will complete the game for us.

The long-awaited big budget mainline title on home console was a decent game, but it just wasn't a complete experience like KH2 was. 0.5 should have properly developed the relationships of Lea/Isa, Ansem the Wise/Ienzo, and Xehanort/Eraqus. Instead, these backstories only get lightly touched on in the Secret Reports and then one cutscene was given to "resolve" their problems. The new original world that was shown off in a private trailer in 2014 dubbed "Cable Town" was completely absent from the final game, except as the final battle stage.

KH3 had beautiful production values, solid gameplay, and vastly improved level design. But it didn't capture people's hearts like KH2 did. More incomprehensible time travel, rushed unsatisfying reunions for the trios, plot holes galore, and a cliffhanger ending only made things worse for the reputation of the series. The story is infamous in the gaming community now. A meme. KH4 doesn't have anywhere near as much hype as KH3 did.

Fans all have different favorite characters, so I thought I should give each of them their own time to shine, but because the amount of things needed to be explained was too large, I had to find a way to have Sora move forward, at the very least. Actually, when the scenarios were being written, the Keyblade Graveyard part was the most difficult. If I focused on each character at a time, the progression of events would be quite slow, and the battles involving Sora were necessary to be shown, so making allowances for everything was difficult. The way I imagined it, all of the characters tied to each other should fight in order and put an end to everything [themselves], but if I did that, the explanations would end up being too long.

Re:Mind was content that should have been in the main game, but was removed due to time constraints. For instance, the Final Fantasy characters from RG. Also, being able to play as the various guardians of light in their respective battles, rather than just Sora. Roxas and Xion weren't even supposed to be revived in the middle of Lea and Kairi's fight, but were included to please fans. The focus of the DLC is on Yozora, a new OC reminiscent of Noctis, showing that KH4 will be an attempt to revive the cancelled Versus XIII. The series is just...a hot mess at this point.

Melody of Memory (2020)

Another budget side game nobody wanted. Only has a tiny bit of story at the very end. Similar to Re:Mind, the plot felt like cut content from KH3. Stuff like Kairi's childhood flashbacks of Apprentice Xehanort, her arrival in the Final World to look for Sora's soul, then having a confrontation with old man Xehanort. All stuff that should have been in KH3. Ya know, when Xehanort was still alive...

Dark Road (2020)

I know what you're probably thinking: the Dark Seeker Saga, which depicted the battle against Xehanort, finished with KINGDOM HEARTS III, didn't it? Well, it's a grey area, but I wouldn't call this title part of the Dark Seeker Saga. Why? Because this isn't about battling against Xehanort—it's about the battles of Xehanort. And maybe you're thinking that's a bit of a reach, but… okay, maybe it's a bit of a reach. However, I had the concept in my head for many years. It got shelved because it never really fitted what our team wanted. But around then, I heard from the Union X team that they'd like to do a parallel title with a new protagonist. And, since it seemed there was an unexpected number of Xehanort fans out there, it all came together like it was destined to be.

This story was no doubt one of the missing "fragments" of 0.5. Unlike many KH games, DR has a very solid premise and an interesting storyline. It's just a story that should have been told in a mainline game before the Xehanort saga ended. Because it was rebranded as part of the X series, there were weird retcons like Xehanort being the reincarnation of the UX Player. However, the main problem was the VERY low budget. The chibi pop-up book graphics fit the childish fairy tale story of X, but don't fit this story. Story updates were slow and gameplay was trash. Didn't even last a year. The scenario was truncated, and we got an abrupt ending that didn't even delve into Master Odin, how Xehanort fell to darkness, or how he and Eraqus grew apart. At this point, the state of the series is just pitiful.

Missing Link (2024)

"Kingdom Hearts: Missing Link" is a work that fills in the blanks between the two arcs and acts as a bridge, so it doesn't belong to either the "Dark Seeker" or "Lost Masters" arcs.

When UX finally ended, the Player, who was already dead, dies again. Only, instead of going to the Final World (X's ending) it's implied that they're reborn. This is because Square wanted to make a new UX with a parallel protagonist. But DR flopped. So, they retconned things yet again. No, no. Xehanort wasn't the reincarnation of Player-kun. Rather, it's this new robed person and Xehanort just absorbed their memories. ML is the REAL mobile follow-up to UX.

Honestly, ML doesn't look too bad. Unlike UX, it will be able to deliver a console-like experience (yay controller support!) and the story seems like it will be closer to a mainline game. I imagine most of the unused "fragments" from 0.5 will be included as "missing links" this time around. Better late than never. But fans are definitely burned out from the vast amount of side games and most just want KH4. Fortunately, mobile games only need a few dedicated whales to stay funded. ML won't delay progress of KH4 and it can dole out its story gradually, and it won't have to be rushed or shortened like KH0.2.

[firestorm09890]

kh headcanons i made up because the idea of these things staying mysteries forever makes me bite sheet metal

If Xemnas wanted to remember his (Terra’s) former friends so bad, why didn’t he try to use Castle Oblivion’s memory rooms?

Memories are constantly linked to hearts in Chain of Memories. Aerith says that the memories in Sora’s heart are resonating with the FF cast, Twilight Town is said to be remembered by the “other side” of Sora’s heart, and again and again people from all over (credible and not) talk about how memories lie within hearts.

Despite that, Organization XIII keeps their memories, even after losing their hearts; I think the implication is that Lesser Nobodies like Dusks don’t keep their memories? Either way, the memories of the Organization are no longer tied to a heart, so the answer to the question is “Castle Oblivion’s mechanics doesn’t work properly on them”.

What the fuck was “Xemnas’s secret” that Zexion knew?

His wishes to remember and be with his old friends, and his thoughts about being something that’s both Terra and Xehanort and neither at the same time. This idea was brought to you by Xigbar neatly sandwiching asking Zexion about the secret between talking about the Chamber of Repose, where Xemnas talked to Aqua’s armor, and talking about the Chamber of Waking, where another “friend” supposedly lay.

What was Zexion researching?

It was something that had to do with memory that required Castle Oblivion’s properties and that, babey, is all we get. Wasn’t even canon. It was in an extra scene in one of the short story novels, which hold more credibility to me than the novels that are straight up adapted from scenes from the games, which is why it staying vague ate at me so much. Anyway, the answer: he was trying to get Castle Oblivion to work with the memories of Nobodies, so that Xemnas could use it to remember more. Look at that! It all ties together!

It was never important enough to have an impact like the replica project did because it was research for one person, for a selfish wish. When Zexion died, the research died too, and it didn’t matter enough to the Big Plan to try to salvage it, or to even acknowledge at all, because it meant nothing to the main story. But yeah that’s what I think

[cloudysx]

Choice comics Kingdom Hearts

I've had lots of ideas for Kingdom Hearts comics for months, but I can never get the motivation to start working because I don't know which one to start with. So I tell myself that making a vote will allow me to start making one. So I'll let you choose! :) Beauty and the Beast (KH version)

I take the original story from the Disney film, with some changing scenes from the film. Sora takes the role of the Beast, Kairi takes the role of Beauty, and Vanitas takes the role of Gaston.

(Don't repost) The Little Merman (KH Version) I take as the main plot the Disney film of The Little Mermaid with a few scenes linked to the world of Atlantica in KH2, with a few bonus scenes. Sora will take the role of Ariel, Kairi that of Prince Eric, Vanitas that of Ursula in her Human form & Xehanort of Ursula.

(Don't repost)

The Legend of Kingdom Hearts Ocarina of Time (KH x Zelda OOT)

This is my biggest comic book project I have to date. This project mixes the Kingdom Hearts & Zelda Ocarina Of Time license. Sora will take the role of Link, Kairi of Zelda, Xehanort that of Ganondorf. And for the wise ones a mix of Disney characters.

(Don't repost)

[ultraericthered]

EVANESSE'

"In a World made up of many other worlds, that itself is just one of many more, does anything truly matter?"

Evanessé is a very different sort of adversary Ephemer finds himself faced with later in his quest, debuting in The Missing Links should you choose the High Route. He is at first not against Ephemer and even helps him out at points, but he never commits himself to joining the side of Ephemer and friends either. He embodies the core theme of that game: the feeling of unfulfillment, like a piece of your heart, of your very self, is "missing" and you're unsure how to even begin to start looking for it, let alone find it. This theme maintains relevance in KH5 too, seen with Evanesse's arc and also the story arc in Rosas.

As it turns out, back during the timeframe of KH3, when Xehanort was inhabiting his new Replica body and planned on becoming a god by merging with Darxomnious, he secretly used the knowledge of Xion’s creation from one cursed timeline as a blueprint to create his own Hollow Replica he planned on reincarnating his human heart into once his power was united with Kingdom Hearts, but it ended up never coming to pass since Darxomnort was destroyed. Evanessé was that unfinished replica, and it ends up being Ephemer’s heart that gives life to him when he's found in his world, making him a Xehanort replica whose essence is but a pale copy of what came from Ephemer’s heart. At first Evanessé seeks only to find his own aim in life and to define his place in a World that seems bent on rejecting him, but he is plagued by self doubt that he can live up to his own expectations for existing and also by a specter of Xehanort that lingers in his DNA (yes, he sees and talks to Xehanort the way Sam Carpenter sees and talks to Billy Loomis), and he soon comes to resent life itself, gaining Xemnas-y powers of nothingness as he decides he just wants everything around him to disappear, hence his thematic name that serves as a foil to Ephemer's own: Evanessé = evanescence: a gradual fading, the condition of lasting for only a short time before disappearing quickly and being soon forgotten.

Some tidbits:

Here's what I can say about Evanessé as a character at this point. I love him, but....has no one yet recognized what an attack on Nomura and his decisions regarding his KH canon Evanessé represents?

He was created by Xehanort, here used as a stand-in for Nomura since Nomura identifies so strongly with Xehanort and made him one of his personalized pet OCs. He's conceptually a repeat of what Xion was, much like how Xion conceptually repeated the beats and qualities of other pre-existing KH OCs and Nomura made the replica concept more overcomplicated through this. He's designed like KH3 Riku, Yozora, and Noctis, more of Nomuras pet OCs. He was created in-universe for the purpose of Xehanort living vicariously through him out in the World while he reigned over it as a god, for the fulfillment of a fantasy that just could not come to be realized, much like how Nomura created Yozora for the purpose of fulfilling his Final Fantasy Versus XIII passion project that just could not come to be realized. And what does his tortured existence drive him to believe? That nothing matters. That in life, there is no meaning, only lore. All the nihilistic sentiments that Nomura's KH canon have been evoking in players for the last decade and going on into this one. And this is why, ultimately, Evanessé has to be struck down during the final battle. And also why it's hinted that Kingdom Hearts grants him divine mercy and salvation, taking him out of that dark, nihilistic place and into the light. It's the Kingdom Hearts of old and what this KH Divergence represents that prevails, not what he represents.

And I give him Dylan Sprouse as his VA, 'cuz he does have potential.

Evanesse' brandishing his Kylo Ren-esque keychained saber.

[justmeinabigolworld]

Kingdom Hearts Canon Divergence AU Fic Announcement Post!

So...

I've said this before, but I have a KH fanfic in the works, one that isn't just crack. I figured cringe culture is stupid, so why not?

The idea is somewhat based on a dream I had, and it involves a divergence around the end of BBS that affects everything to come. Just to warn you, it's hella fucked up, and some unpleasant things happen to characters you may have come to like. Also, though I've read and enjoyed Vanitas redemption fics in the past, this isn't one of them.

The story is called Outgrown Such Childish Things, and the summary goes like this:

Destiny is never left to chance, except when it is.

Xehanort may be dead for good, and much earlier than expected, but a scapegoat is still needed, and so Vanitas finds himself rescued from oblivion.  Seeking a reunion with his light, his search brings him to Destiny Islands, where he meets a young boy with his face — the boy who is hiding Ventus’s heart.  Vanitas takes Sora away through a dark corridor, with Riku in hot pursuit.  

Through the years of utter hell under Vanitas’s “care” that follow, Sora can only keep himself together by thinking of his and Riku’s promise to one day escape and see the worlds together, just as they’d dreamed of before everything started.  

Even so, promises are fragile things, empty more often than not, and the innocent intentions of children can only exist for so long before they become something else entirely.

Chapter one is coming...when I'm finished with it. I'm planning on posting the fic on Ao3 and FFNet. Just to warn you, I'm not good at finishing what I've started, but I've made an outline of sorts with extensive notes, particularly about the beginning part, so maybe things will be different this time around. Then again, maybe they won't.

Either way, I'm excited to share my plot bunnies with you! I've come up with ideas for new Disney/Pixar worlds, different takes on characters (due to changes in the timeline), and lots and lots of trauma...

Update: here it is!

[hollowwhisperings]

A Genuine Question for my Fellow Kingdom Hearts Nerds: are there ANY in-game examples of Riku and Kairi "being friends" outside their shared context of "this is Sora's [Other] Best Friend" or, in the case of Riku, "it's my fault you're in danger so I have to take responsibility and protect you"?

I'm talking actual, genuine moments of Spending Time Together, independently from Sora's presence and outside of Preventing Tragedies.

explanatory elaboration below cut + bonus "did Yen Sid actually do anything Wrong or is the Hate a projection of Sora's Masculine Insecurity in KH3?"

From what I can recall, Riku and Kairi have been Sora's Two Best Friends but THEY each share One Best Friend (Sora).

A LOT of the assumptions made about Kairi & her relationships with others seem to be Assumptions based in Kairi's Being Female: Kairi became the franchise's "Female Lead" by default of being the Only Plot-Adjacent Female in KH1, in addition to the assumption that "Kairi must be the Female Lead because Sora&Riku are Rivals & thus their rivalry must be over Her".

If we change the genders of Kairi or Riku, many Fan Assumptions on their relationship cease to be "logical": if Riku is Female, Kairi's closest female friend is still Selphie & Riku's closest female friend is NAMINÉ (Kairi only held that role in KH1 because, again, they share a best friend in Sora & thus share more onscreen Proximity); if Kairi is Male OR Riku is Female, Sora is both Best Friend and "closest male friend". Changing Kairi or Riku's assumed gender makes a resultant rivalry between the two for Sora's attention More Obvious, whereas Kairi existing as the "Token Female" creates Assumptions of Romantic Tension.

I have been struggling to draft a Theory/Analysis post on Kairi due to my feeling a need to replay every single KH game to REALLY look at the textual Kairi with those CompHet Shipping Goggles we get, as Members Of [This] Society, pointedly set aside.

(I also want to do a replay to just... actually note what Yen Sid CANONICALLY says and does? to figure out why the International Audience seems to hate him so much. he's a very reasonable authority figure, to me? i played BBS back on PSP & thus knew him prior to the "Story So Far" compilation & KH3. and, as far as "mentors in fantasy settings made in East Asia" go, Yen Sid is... pretty reasonable? especially since BBS puts him in "Competition" with Masters Eraqus of "murder for the greater good is fine, apparently" and Xehanort. Yen Sid making Mickey do Chores and Not Passing Sora for an Exam he couldn't actually take is... standard mentor stuff? Sora almost DIED in DDD: of course Yen Sid was strict about his involvement in an upcoming war. The title & subsequent responsibilities of being named a "Master" remains Unclear and Riku's receiving the Title was due to his Extraordinary Success with the Power of Waking. Yen Sid states both Sora & Riku have accomplished great things already, without being Masters & without formal instruction in the Ways of the Keyblade. There is also the Doylist explanation for Sora's Failure: Nomura never intended for Sora to pass the exam at all because Sora is supposed to be an [Unchosen One], someone ordinary who accomplishes extraordinary things BECAUSE he is "ordinary".)