#sora character study

[embraceyourdestiny]

It’s literally so sick that the entire arc of forgetting and remembering sora in the kh1 to kh2 transition (and even the greater whole of sora’s character) is that sora is not a person you can forget. Even if the world is against you, even if he is purposely rewritten out of history, even if he dies and the universe says it’s time to let him go, sora will be remembered. He will always come back. He is that faint, pleasant memory in the back of your head. That even if you can’t remember the specifics of, you still remember how that memory made you feel. How the sunshine felt that day. Sora makes everything so real that even memories of him can be actual wishes to reunite with him one day, and a wish that will be granted by some miracle of the universe down the road. Sora is special; because he’s sora.

[cureskies]

i love your smile, mashiro. so let's part ways smiling!

[arolegos]

piss on titans

[holleighgram]

Hold onto your keyboards, cause I'm about to get ✨️controversial ✨️

I'd like to preface this by saying all interpretations/ headcanons/ readings/ etc. Are valid and I'm in no way discouraging anyone to change their ways.

I watched (and enjoyed) Baloney's "The Truth About Kingdom Hearts!" And I absolutely adored their take on the series, but one line stuck out to me that I really want to expand on because I don't see it being talked about as often as it should.

Kairi doesn't like Riku.

And I think this is a very RICH and IMPORTANT aspect of the Destiny Trio dynamic. It adds to the complexity of these characters, but especially Kairi.

(Another shout out to @violethowler and their INCREDIBLE Constructing Kingdoms series. The video on"The Girl Who Never Grew Up" made me like and understand Kairi so much more. Highly recommend checking it out.)

Kairi doesn't like Riku, and with some pretty valid reasons, but I'll get to that after I compile all the evidence towards this:

In KH:

Kairi likes her life the way it is. She doesn't desire change, but Riku wants nothing but change. He wants to grow up and move on and see the outside world.

And because Sora looks up to him, Sora has jumped on the bandwagon too. Kairi is going along because Sora is. But it is clear that for Kairi, change =/= good. So what does she say?

"You know, Riku's changed."

Sora asks her how, and she kinda bites her tongue. Clearly she had opinions, but doesn't want to badmouth Soras best friend to him. Later she says, "Sora, don't ever change."

Later, after everything, when Kairi is restored and in Travers Town, she doubts that Riku can be saved, despite the fact that she LITERALLY saved Sora from being a heartless. She almost seems like she's trying to convince Sora not to go, or to at least let her come with-- not to save Riku but because she wants to be there with Sora.

At the end of the game, she obviously return to destiny islands and draws the paopu.

During Chain of Memories, everyone forgets about Sora, but the memories of Riku stay intact. For a year. Kairi is well aware that her "friend" is missing. In fact, last she knew of him, he was still taken by Ansem and presumably dead or at least suffering. She doesn't know.

She knows she's a Princess of Heart and has powers thay can help (as she restored Sora after being a heartless). But the most we get is "he's far away, but I know we'll see him again." Like, do you?

I mean, SELPHIE is the one that says "I sure miss him." That's way more than we EVER get from Kairi.

So for a YEAR, she doesn't spare Riku a single thought. But the SECOND she remembers Sora, she is willing to do anything to see him again.

Here's a little bit of speculation for WHY she doesn't like Riku:

1) Perhaps when she first met them as kids, he reminder her of Xehenort, who kidnapped her and yeeted her into space.

2) Kairi wanted to be best friends with SORA, but not Riku. She's afraid that Sora will follow Riku to the outside worlds (where she doesn't want to go) and leave her behind. If it wasn't for Riku, Sora wouldn't want to leave at all.

3) He (as far as we know) opened the door and damned their home into Darkness. That's probably a point of contention for her. Even though Sora so forgiving.

4) He hurt Sora in KH1, but Sora is still loyal to him. She probably sees that as him taking advantage of Sora-- the person she cares most about.

5) He's the reason Sora never came home. If it wasn't for him, they would have gone home at the end of KH1 together.

I can't say for sure how Riku feels about Kairi. He DID drag her corpse around and give into the darkness to save her, but that can be interpreted as solely wanting to "beat " Sora at being the hero. Even still, we get moment in COM where he reflects on missing her. We even see Namine come to his rescue in her form. I definitely feel like there is less animosity there, but who knows.

That's all.

Roast me, Kairi stans, but I love the depth this reading gives to the story and the potential for arcs and character growth for her and she is forced to face who she is without Sora.

[yoroshiu]

Sora: Expectations vs Reality (Coded vs KH1, CoM, and 3D)

Another Sora analysis because I can't help myself haha (help). But there's been a couple of posts that talked about this topic and it's really rewired my brain, so I also want to take a stab at it. I feel like this isn't something that's looked into/analyzed as much compared to other interpretations of KH's narrative, especially in terms of Sora, or at least I haven't seen it as much across platforms in a mainstream sense (though I do think it's been on the rise in recent times).

So if you're willing to bear with me, then get ready for another long post!

As the title indicates, and as mentioned, other people have brought up, Data-Sora creates an in-universe (and IRL) set of expectations for the actual Sora. While Coded is technically a rehash of KH1 and CoM's plot to an extent (hence its reputation besides its amazing gameplay), the point is to gather and present the stakes KH2, Days, and BBS introduced and set up what Sora's goals are going to be leading into 3D and 3.

The way it chooses to do so is to put a simulated Sora to the test, to see if he can "handle the hurt" and while he manages to do so, as many others have pointed out, Data-Sora's decision about remembering the pain to connect to others contradicts Sora's decision to forget at the end of CoM. Coded dictates that Sora can handle the pain of those within him and/or those who need to be saved. But 3D contradicts that as well. Many say that this indicates a potential point in Sora's development as a character and person, and while I agree, I want to focus on what has shaped him to this point in the first place. I must add, though, that Sora in 3, in terms of what he knows/is aware of by the end, understands a lot more than I've seen some people give him credit for, but this is another opinion in of itself.

Reading full-on long paragraphs might make this even harder to get through so I'll try to place some parts in bullet points (I get info-overloaded easily sometimes due to long paragraphs too ToT):

Coded, as said before, while initially having Data-Sora find/fix the missing/corrupted data in Jiminy's Journal (KH1 aspect), turns into a test to see if Sora can handle the "hurt" of the people he needs to save (CoM aspect).

Data-Sora proves he is willing to take on that "hurt" and can handle it. Which Sora by KH3/ReMind also manages to show.

But this neglects a few things about Sora's character before that point:

Data-Sora in the first part of Coded has guidance from Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Data-Riku especially D and G who have experienced their KH1 development and are currently ride-or-die for him. The KH1 experience ends up being different for him.

Even though he fights Data-Riku, it can be chalked up to the bugs/possession rather than anything malicious, which contrasts with real Riku before the Ansem possession.

Data-Sora losing his keyblade happened due to Maleficent rather than Riku. Rather than Goofy and Donald leaving him, he's the one that storms off and even then they go after him.

When we get to the CoM portion, Data-Sora doesn't have his memories of what happened in the first half, hence he goes straight to Castle Oblivion without the KH1 experience (also he's initially guided by Mickey, Data-Riku, and Data-Roxas)

In this case, it's a test of strength rather than what happened in CoM where Marluxia and Larxene hoped to break Sora to make him their puppet.

Data-Sora went to the KH1 worlds in each room and was made to forget right after getting through each one

But Sora had his memories from even before the first game actively messed with, while also being made to believe that it was the real Riku attacking him. All of that happened without much guidance from anyone.

What this shows is that while Data-Sora is the ideal outcome of Sora's development, I think as a narrative that presents trauma (intentionally and unintentionally), it emphasizes what the real Sora has been through. Theoretically, had things gone differently for Sora, and he had a proper support system on these journies, he would have been able to make the "right" choice. But he didn't have that. He had to figure a lot of things out and had to pull himself through. In a way, it feels unfair to some extent and it creates the expectations vs reality aspect.

And I believe this comes to fruition in 3D:

Organization XIII successfully overwhelms Sora, his heart ends up breaking under the emotional stress of all the people he's connected to as he's pulled into deeper sleep.

It especially sucks considering that the Mark of Mastery Exam was actively messed with in an outright attempt to break Sora (again).

His failure of the exam makes sense considering he couldn't overcome the Darkness in this real-world application like Riku, but it leaves such a bitter taste, right?

(The logistics of the exam can be argued ngl. Isn't it wild that all cases of the exam we've seen have had an external force get involved and have irrevocable damage on the test takers? Taking lives and souls fr.)

So what we get is a failure of those expectations (at least initially). Reality is much more harrowing and vicious. And that's such an interesting thing to do narratively, it feels purposeful. It establishes a depth to Sora that isn't fully seen and even adds to the concept of Data-Sora being his own existence by extension. By KH3, Sora's low self-esteem is directly shown to us and stems from the reality of his journey. He has a lot of unaddressed scars and while the characters view him as a beacon of hope out of love and respect, many of us acknowledge how harmful that's been to him in the most specific ways.

I really, really hope that the upcoming games build on this and address it, because it'd be so satisfying to see all of this acknowledged and explored! It would feel fitting for Sora to go to Unreality and face the reality of himself.

(I'm sorry if this was incoherent, I'm bad at collecting my thoughts on the spot...I'm open to corrections and additional thoughts!)

[elijones94]

🦁 Sora as a lion cub 🐾

[braveheartstoryteller]

"Actually, we kind of like gettin' dragged into your messes." Goofy in Re:coded Playing Re:coded added to my understanding of both the story of Re:coded (which the cutscene version does not do justice), and of the character of Sora. In light of one of my recent posts, I'd like to take a look at Sora through the lens of this story. From what I can tell, both Sora and Data-Sora share the same backstory. Kairi isn't mentioned, but I think it is safe to assume she'd be a part of that story. This is important to me, because it shows that Data-Sora's characterization is the same as Sora's. But from there, Data-Sora's story diverges, and because of that divergence, he changes. As an aside, as a storyteller I find the comparison between Sora and Data-Sora interesting because it shows how a character's journey changes them. But anyway I digress, let's look at the divergence. After gaining a keyblade, Data-Sora finds himself on his island, now full of bugblox. While looking around, wondering what to do, he hears a voice, the voice of Mickey. Who then guides him in what to do, and tells Data-Sora that if he needs help, he only has to call for it. This stays as bit of a constant through the story, except for the very end. Eventually, like the original, Data-Sora loses the keyblade. But unlike Sora's short experience without it, and with a side of betrayal and loneliness, Data-Sora choses to go off alone in search of Data-Riku who has been now captured by Maleficent. This sets off a sequence of events that was to me the coolest part of the game: Data-Sora's discovery of what it means to rely on others. First off, the game hits it home just how powerless Data-Sora is at that time without the keyblade by trapping him in a prison of Blox and heartless, conjured by Pete. Goofy then comes to his rescue, freeing him from his prison. However, when confronted by Goofy about his actions, he apologizes, clearly showing remorse for his actions. Goofy on the other hand, is actually here to help, and won't hear of it, to the point that when Data-Sora makes to leave the castle, Goofy is surprised. Data-Sora himself is surprised and relieved that Goofy isn't mad and follows him. This starts a time, that which goes on a while, where Data-Sora is forced to rely on Goofy and then Donald, for protection and support. It is fascinating to me just how it felt to play through this. Instead of fighting directly, you're watching the other's health, directing them where they need to go and do, and to top it all off, in the English version of the game, the command "ask for help" replaces the normal attack command. In fact the sequence accumulates to a point where you have this prolonged battle, which you have to play support to Donald and Goofy and try not to die yourself in that time. It works so well to drive home this idea of reliance on others. An idea, that Data-Sora seems to take to heart. At the end the sequence, Data-Sora gets his keyblade back when he needs to help others the most, and only then. It is that connection with the others, who he now knows will support him even when he fails them, that he finds his own strength to protect who matter to him. He seems to know, in my mind at least that "my friends are my power, and I'm theirs." In fact in the game Donald and Goofy tell Data-Sora just that. "Our friend is our power! And we'll always be his!" It's right after this that Data-Sora regains the power of the keyblade. Seemingly connecting these two ideas together.

There is much more to Data-Sora's story, but this is to me the crux of the difference between Data-Sora and Sora. Just the fact he knows what it means to be supported, makes all the difference.

[firehcart]

𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐔𝐌𝐀. — Let’s talk trauma. It’s pretty obvious for anyone who has read Throne of Glass that Aelin suffers through various kinds of traumas and a degree of mental illness through the series – I’m going to break down the main ones I’ll be referencing throughout my own writing, featuring spoilers. It’s worth noting that even with the below, Aelin never lets the majority of this show. Most of the time, this will feature in introspection – please never presume your character is aware of everything, though she’s likely to show hints and symptoms along the way. She keeps the walls up, and holds trauma close.

—  oo1. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder:

This does not occur from one isolated incident in her life. There is a long series of history here dating back to her childhood and the trauma of being afraid of her own powers and the extent of her abilities, which we see the King of Ardalan take advantage of and weaponise against her to make her paranoid extend to her own form of control – this manifests during her adolescence and training in Wendlyn with Rowan, where she is terrified to truly unleash without hurting anyone. It’s severe training that allows her to overcome this particular fear.

We then have the trauma she undergoes in her time in the Assassin’s Guild – what is essentially grooming from Arobynn, the deep seated trust issues she forms after his betrayal, and also from the atrocities she commits as Celaena Sardothien who I firmly believe she has partially disengaged from our own self as Aelin. We even see her reluctance later to adopt the identity again, and the visible difference in how she acts when she does slip back into the character ( though if I’m honest, this a whole meta on its own ).

The most obvious of her trauma occurs in the Salt Mines of Endovier – we know she spends one year in the mines where most only survive three months within the prisons there, endured frequent beatings, and is responsible for killing over twenty-four guards on the anniversary of her parent’s death, the same day she attempt suicide. We know during this time she witness physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as being exposed to unbearable living conditions, the verge of starvation, and being broken down so physically that most would have died long since. It is the Salt Mines of Endovier that generated her absolute hatred of slavers, and her fear of whips ( which we reference when Rowan threatens to lash her in her disrespect during training, and later when Maeve uses this fear against her ) ; even now she can’t stand the sound of a lash.

Let’s then factor in the experience she has at the hands of Maeve, and specifically Cairn. We know in that time that she endures broken bones, kneeling in broken glass, being flayed, at minimum – the extent of what she goes through is only hinted in various chapters, and witnessed by Fenrys. I think the most interesting moment of this abuse is when he threatens to use fire against her, and we see a moment in which Aelin realises if he uses fire against her, she will fear it, and in doing so, fear part of herself. I think this introspection confirms she knows at least to some extent how traumatised she is, and what wounds linger.

At the end of all of this, she has a long list of triggers, and a very damaged psyche ( largely masked by her sarcasm and her attempts to push people away ). Even after the series ends, that trauma lingers – and factors into each of the issues I’ll list below. Her months spent disassociating during her time with Maeve ( no doubt a tactic partially employed in past torture ) mean she does occasionally revert to that mindset without realising, and most commonly in silent communication with Fenrys without realising. Touches without her consent – ie. coming up behind her without warning – likely yield a violent response due to shock. Crowds place her on alert because she’s so used to looking for danger. This kind of trauma manifests in social withdrawal ( not externally, she’s good at a mask, so it’s internal – she’ll pretend she’s fine while suffering in her own head ), emotional detachment on occasion, and throwing herself into distractions like physical training in effort to remove from the demons in her mind. Time does not heal this trauma entirely, though time does bring closure and allow her to live with it.

—  oo2. Insomnia.

We already see this several times in canon, that where most sleep, Aelin does not. Most commonly her form of self -soothing when it comes to her own insomnia is to render herself exhausted – not necessarily just by her daily activities, but most of the time we see her roaming at night and often times her plans and plots take form by night, where she will spend hours on end employing tactics when no one else is awake. Most of the time, it’s only by utterly exhausting herself that she manages to find some form of rest. More commonly than not, particularly after her time within captivity in Kingdom of Ash at the hands of Maeve, she has nightmares, and can’t discern if she’s awake or asleep because of the months spent in that nightmare like state. She wakes, and for those few moments she doesn’t know if she’s in the Iron Coffin, or if the darkness is nighttime ; it’s only herself that can bring her mindset back and remember she’s not there, that her dreams are only dreams, and that she’s long since gone from their clutches. And then it’s the realisation that she’ll have the same fears in the next day when she wakes, and however tired she might be, she begins to loathe sleep.

I think, again, this is something that eases with time ; Terrasen is never completely dark, even in the night time, so when she awakes the moon and the stars are always bright enough to pave the starlight through her chambers and ease the fears. But it’s only in time that she begins to properly find some form of rest.

—  oo3. Cleithrophobia.

I’ve been thinking quite a lot about whether or not she suffers from claustrophobia and cleithrophobia and why she may be one more than the other. Where claustrophobia is a fear of enclosed spaces, the latter is a  more specific trauma – that is, the idea of being trapped in any confined space, unable to escape.

After three months spent in an Iron Coffin, with a mask on, literally unable to move, her fear manifests in the second far more than the first. Where claustrophobia indicates an irrational fear of small spaces, her own terror is something based on experience. It’s not the actual space that bothers her ( though I doubt she loves it ) but the very specific situation, that she can’t get free or she can’t escape. Any remnant of that situation likely triggers the same response – panic, in her chest, an almost manic desire to get free, eventual disassociation to cope with the scenario. To put it bluntly, it’s not a situation she ever willingly enters into – small spaces are fine, but if the door were to close behind her, or something blocked her getting free, it’s a deal breaker.  

—  oo4. Thanatophobia.

To be clear, Aelin does not fear death for herself – it’s not something that makes her uncomfortable, given she knows how many people she’s lost along the way, and I believe part of her does have full faith she’ll see them again after her own death. However, the deep seated issues she has in not being able to save the ones she loves, particularly after witnessing some of those deaths, is something that she finds manifested into genuine fear. We witness it constantly in her self sacrificing behaviour – it’s not self destructive as such, but it’s demonstrated in the fact she places everyone else as more important than her own life. We see it when she admits to Rowan she can’t lose anyone else ; it’s not as shallow as not wanting to lose loved ones, it’s that she can’t deal with the loss again, which manifests in her seeing danger to loved ones even when there is none.

—    oo5. Body Dysmorphia.

This develops entirely after Kingdom of Ash, and I think it’s so important to acknowledge here that Aelin was very, very attached to her body. We see her reference her scars repeatedly through the series, the fact that each means something to her, and it helps ground her – physical marks tell her a story of what is real and what was not. I honestly believe this is why she’s so traumatised by the fact her torture at Cairn’s hand results in her entire body being remade over and over for the course of months, that she doesn’t know what was done to her, what was real, what never happened ; there’s nothing to track each injury to the matching wound. Likewise, the years she spent in that body are now remaining only in her own mind.

Not to mention in terms of her physicality, she is suddenly a stranger in her own skin – she knew what her strength was, what her body could handle, had built thick skin, had muscles toned by years of her own training. Suddenly she’s in a body that is untrained, and it’s a blank canvas.

I truly believe this results in a disconnect between her own mental state and her body, and a hypercriticism because her body isn’t as trained, isn’t as fit, isn’t what it was before. Even after resuming her training with Rowan to self correct this, it’s not good enough in her own opinion – it isn’t the same as it was before. Factor into it then that she then loses her mortal body entirely when she forges the Lock ( which is traumatic on another level because her fae form is the one she was reluctant to take for years, and suddenly she’s mourning the loss of her human self, as well as everything she’s been through ), and it takes literal years for her to feel like she’s settled into her skin again in any way shape or form.

[arsenepicaro]

What Sora is like

Honestly, I could rant for about an hour, but I'm not sure ya'll are ready for it.

[heartslight]

i lean full into the abilities and keyblades the games give sora.

attraction flow moves? sora loves to use them whenever possible and his favorites are the pirate ship / splash run / mad tea cups. it takes a lot of his energy to cast mountain coaster, so sora only saves it for very special battles and occasions. if he does end up using mountain coaster, he'll need a few hours before he can cast another one.

his flowmotion? constant use. there is nothing sora loves more to quickly cross distances and jump crazy high with his flowmotion. it does start to wear him out when used too consistently, so sora tries not to lean on it too heavily.

his keyblades? sora stores his keychains in his room in the gummi ship, but he always has at least three on him (per the three equipable keyblades you could have in kh3) plus the ultimate keychain. his current three keyblades are kingdom key, shooting star, and wheel of fate. the ultima keyblade is a last resort, since using that keyblade and its formchange will put sora out of commission for the next few days.

his summons? sora summons his friends whenever he can. he tries not to play favorites but he summons meow wow more often than anyone else. summoning leaves him completely drained of magic but he really doesn't mind, since it's a chance to see old (and new!) friends again!

[modstarfell]

"Akane-san! Come and join us!"

I turned my head to look in the direction of the person shouting. There was no one there. Why did I look? Who... Who is Akane? I felt dumbfounded for a moment before I turned to look back at my pathway. These voices are getting worse... Now they're calling me by a name that I don't even know. I tried to calm myself by taking a deep breath while fiddling with the bow on my shirt. Sometimes it feels like my body is moving on it's own. Like I'm watching it do things I didn't want to do. I've chased after a guy in the streets awhile back. He was robbing someone... Yet I chased him down and knocked him out with one hit. I don't know why. People called me a hero that day but I didn't do anything. A kid fell into a river when I was walking once. Without so much as a second thought, my body reacted and I jumped into save them. It's like a strange force takes over my body... I'm able to do anything when it happens, but I never quite understand what events take place that cause it to happen. Maybe these voices have just given me too much a headache that I just doze out. That has to be the answer right? Then... why did the 'person' from earlier... Feel like an outside familiar voice... I've heard it before. I don't know where. I don't know who it was... A distant past life...

[dreamsy990]

🌹

oh wow this is harder than i thought it would be uhhh. im bad at isolating single sentences so i have a couple from a (slightly old) character study

[coruscantide]

tags

✰.⠀⠀ooc ﹕bold of you to assume i’ve reached peak dumbass. ✰.⠀⠀thread ﹕step forward & take the leap. ✰.⠀⠀answered ﹕an unsent letter addressed to you. ✰.⠀⠀queue ﹕there is always sleep between part and meet. ✰.⠀⠀music ﹕our hearts in tune. ✰.⠀⠀aesthetics ﹕a drop in the ocean leaves lucent echoes. ✰.⠀⠀save ﹕treasured keepsakes of precious memories. ✰.⠀⠀dash ﹕scribbles left behind on the wall. ✰.⠀⠀destiny trio ﹕thinking of you wherever you are. ✰.⠀⠀seasalt trio. ﹕seasalt melting under a twilit sun. ✰.⠀⠀worlds ﹕constellations connecting us all. ✰.⠀⠀party members ﹕friends in my heart. ✰.⠀⠀kairi ﹕astraeus heartbeats within the dark. ✰.⠀⠀kairi ﹕in character. ✰.⠀⠀kairi ﹕headcanon. ✰.⠀⠀kairi ﹕study of the heart. ✰.⠀⠀sora ﹕heavy oath lined with pieces of light & hope. ✰.⠀⠀sora ﹕in character. ✰.⠀⠀sora ﹕headcanon. ✰.⠀⠀sora ﹕study of the heart. ✰.⠀⠀riku ﹕a lost dawn breaks over a burdened heart. ✰.⠀⠀riku ﹕in character. ✰.⠀⠀riku ﹕headcanon. ✰.⠀⠀riku ﹕study of the heart.

[candyriku]

I am realizing now that all three of my fics uh. Involve Sora having an Affliction of some kind, with it being the main focus of the Knight/Prince au fic specifically. Um. That was not intentional. I think it comes from a place of my own experience with chronic illness and disability. I promise I will try to move away from that concept with future fics, lol.

[barblaz-arts]

I've come back to drop some Next Gen Nevermore lore, this time about Sora and Regine's parents 💕

Yukiko Toriyama

Because of my love for parallels, she's a doctor to match the adult characters in the show (Principal - Weems/Bianca; Sheriff - Galpin/Walker). She's a surgeon though, not a therapist like Kinbott, but still a doctor!

Yukiko's around Wednesday and co's age, so she was also in Jericho High when they were in Nevermore. She has a huge respect for Outcasts, thinking that they are very cool. In fact, she thought this one siren girl that she first saw during Outreach Day was especially cool. Soon she will find out that her name is Bianca Barclay and that her classmate Lucas Walker will end up dating her.

She met Sora's father some time after graduating from high school. She fell for his confidence, and was especially impressed that he was an Outcast. Unfortunately she realized too late that he's all talk. When she got pregnant with Sora, his rich parents essentially sent her hush money, which she accepted and used to pay for med school. Sora's grandparents helped raise her while Yukiko finished her studies, so she wasn't as present as she probably should have been during Sora's childhood. She tries her best though, really.

Hugo Schuyler

Sora's father. He came from a rich and reputable family of psychics that specialize in spirits, also known as Herons. Because of his family's reputation, he developed a huge ego and has delusions of grandeur.

He's a glutton for attention, a trait that Sora unfortunately inherited as she also always makes an effort to fit in with "the popular crowd" among her peers. However unlike Sora who is ashamed of her outcast status and prefers to hide her power, Hugo has a superiority complex and overcompensates for his weak psychic abilities by being obnoxiously loud about his outcast status and his family's name.

He ends up starting a YouTube channel as a paranormal investigator after Nevermore. When he finds out he has a daughter, he's quick to head over to Nevermore and rope Sora into his paranormal shenanigans. No, it doesn't end up being a cute father-daughter bonding activity.

He sees both Wednesday and Enid as rivals. Wednesday for her formidable psychic powers (and reputation!), Enid for, well, her more successful YouTube channel(which isn't even hers, it's the Wolf Preserve's). Wednesday does not remember him from their high school days though, and Enid purposely mixes him up with Xavier when addressing him.

Vega hates him because he thinks aliens don't exist.

Erica Gutierrez

(I don't have her design and personality fully conceptualized yet, sorry)

Erica is Eugene's ex-wife and is a famous actress who started out when she was a teenager. She used to be a celebrity crush of Eugene's when he was in Nevermore, and dating and marrying her was a dream come true that sadly didn't last.

Erica makes an effort to see Regine when she can, and she usually has her daughter stay with her throughout the summer. Her fame comes with its own cons, particularly the excessive attention she(and by extension her family) gets hugely contributing to Regine's overly reclusive personality.

Erica had nothing to do with Outcasts before meeting Eugene and is every bit of a Normie. She and Wednesday never liked each other. She gets along well with Enid because she thinks Enid is normal enough when she isn't wolfed out. Enid likes her for getting her Michelle Yeoh's autograph and a video message as a birthday gift once. (Wednesday hates that Eugene's ex wife of all people showed her up that year)

None of the Nevermore student knew Regine's mother was a celebrity until Erica decided to give her daughter a surprise visit during Family Day(coincidentally the same day Hugo goes to meet Sora. It was a long weekend for the girls)

(masterpost for my AUs here)

EDIT: I ALMOST FORGOT!

Partial credit to @whitebeltwriter for coming up with Yukiko's background with me. I no longer remember which parts were my idea and which is hers, but pls know that it was a collaborative effort

[braveheartstoryteller]

As as storyteller, I find it interesting how the gameplay of Re:coded connects with its story. I've already outlined how one particular part teaches you about reliance. This isn't an isolated incident, as you'll find here. The end of the game does it again, in the form of its card system. If you've seen the cutscene version of the game, which I am assuming you have, you know about Data-Roxas and what he tells Data-Sora. About how everything is an illusion, about the cards, and how Data-Sora will forget everyone he meets. What the cutscenes don't show you, is how the card system works and how the choices you make effect the outcome of the story in each room. In effect, what Data-Roxas tells Data-Sora, you get to experience, if you chose to. For instance in Destiny Islands, you don't just "talk" to everyone as the cutscenes show, you interact with them. You can chose to help them with the Blox that are around, or not. If you don't, however, Tidus gets captured by Blox, and Data-Sora has to rescue him. At the end Data-Sora shows remorse for his actions, realizing everything could have gone better if he'd helped. Of course afterwords he "forgets" but presumably he would still feel it. It is in this way that the game makes you deal with the uncomfortable. By taking Data-Roxas at his word, you get to experience the whole idea he promotes first hand. While the other worlds aren't this dramatic, it still hits home an idea that I am still trying to unpack. All I knew is at the time, it all bugged me. It made me uncomfortable. Perhaps it is the idea that we all forget things, but not always how they feel. The idea is that we're still effected by things that have happened in the past, that we can't remember. Whether this is true or not, depends on who you ask. I think also, in the case of this story, it hits home the idea that Sora has forgotten something important. The story goes out of its way to show, not just tell, what it is talking about. It makes Data-Sora feel what it is like to forget something important, in order to teach him to face that hurt. Just like Sora who will have to face that same hurt. Eventually Data-Sora learns what hurt is, and how to face it, and he gains the final card. There of course we meet Data-Naminé, who tells Data-Sora and Mickey the truth. Unlike the cutscene version, Data-Sora hits home what he's learned throughout the game by saying this to Data-Naminé: "I'm ready to accept them [the memories] no matter how painful they are." Perhaps it is a bit on the nose, but I think it is important. Data-Sora clearly shows he's willing to accept the hurt that is inside Sora's heart. And he also shows that he knows that shared hurt will also make him stronger and allow him connect more deeply with others. It's this view that the game hits home over and over. Unlike other KH games, it seems to have a message in mind, and then communicates it. I find that interesting. The storyteller felt it was important that we, the audience, knew this story first, before KH3D or KH3. Is it perhaps the lens to which view the rest? I'll leave this at that, with one final note, that I feel I need to mention. The cutscene version of the story includes a couple final lines that is not in the game, they are as thus: "Sora, when Naminé's words are passed on to you, when the day comes that you learn of this great unknown and mysterious adventure, it's important you that you understand, that whatever you feel in your heart, that's what "he" felt in his." I still don't know exactly how to read these lines, especially when they are not included in the original game. Is there a connection between Data-Sora and Sora? I mention this for completeness. If you have thoughts, share them! And with that, my overview of the game of Re:coded is complete. However, there is more to cover, some of which will get mentioned in the rest of the posts in this series.