#sora is alice

[hollowwhisperings]

KH Spec: Princesses of Heart as Stars, part 3/?

Part 1 went into some of the symbolism of Stars in KH, as derived from Paopu Fruit & Wayfinders. Part 2 went in-depth on the Founding Princesses (Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora) & how they connect to each other through songs, key themes & the film Pinnochio. Part 3 will be an 'interlude' that is not so-much about the non-character that is 'Alice' but on the purpose of an "Alice-Role" within the KH series & setting. But before ditching Alice-the-Character, let there be a bullet point compilation!

The Key Themes that make a Princess of Heart thus far have been:

Dreams (Wishes your Heart makes)

Dreams Becoming Reality

True Love, the Most Powerful Magic of All (Resurrection/the power of Awakening)

Hearts that Inspire Love in others (Found Family, Fairies, & Anonymous Princes Charming)

having a Magical Setting

thematic resonance with the "Wish Upon A Star" song from 'Pinnochio' (& thus Stars)

Alice: An Exceptional Interlude

Alice is an oddity amongst the Original Disney 6: her "royal" status is non-existent in her Disney film, achieved in her second book. Even then, rather than a becoming a 'princess', Alice crossed a chessboard & was a 'Pawn' promoted to 'Queen'.

Like 'Pinnochio', 'Alice in Wonderland' is a Narrative Lynchpin of the KH series as a whole: where 'Pinnochio' was used to foreshadow the nature of Hearts & thematically connect the earliest works in the Disney Animated Canon (tying together wishes, stars, dreams, true love & miracles), 'Alice in Wonderland' (or, rather, its books) has served to hint at the nature of 'Light' and 'Darkness'. It is also, very probably, a reference to Sora's role in regards to Kingdom Hearts itself.

Alice, the character, barely appears in the KH series at all: this makes sense given her role is largely thematic in purpose and that she is a Literal Child. Not a young teenager like Sora, not an "ambiguously aged & timelooping young girl" like Snow White: Alice is, like, 10. It is also very pertinent to her story that, bizzare adventures ended, Alice 'wakes up' to her home in mundane England.

Alice herself is not 'relevant' to the KH series: her setting is, and, just like Christopher Robin, Alice is less a 'character' and more a 'role' (a role that Sora and, to a lesser extent, Kairi conveniently fulfil without being aware of it).

All that said, going into the Themes of Alice in Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass is something that can never truly be exhausted as Theory Fuel with respect to the KH series. Thusly, I'll do a vague list of bullet points & go take a nap.

The Alice Role

hearts, heartless, & the manipulations thereof

un/reality & "waking up"

blatant lies, truths hidden in plain sight & misdirection

game of cards = CoM

game of chess = KH3

Disney's Queen of Hearts was a combination of said queen from Alice's 1st book & the Red Queen in her 2nd

queen of hearts "painting the roses red" = red queen converting pieces?

the "normal" [youth] put in a magical setting

sora through the looking glass (kh3 is a reflection)

relationship of dreamer & dream

pawn promoted to queen

sora is alice, just as he is christopher robin

wishes & cryptic sorcerers

[avfanatics]

▶︎ Sakakibara Moe 榊原萌 S1

▶︎ Nozaka Hiyori 乃坂ひより S1

▶︎ Izumi Momoka 泉ももか MOODYZ

▶︎ Ishida Karen 石田佳蓮 MUTEKI

▶︎ Asami Shio 朝海汐 DAHLIA

▶︎ Shaku Alice 釈アリス PRESTIGE

▶︎ Furuya Asuka 降矢あすか FALENO

▶︎ Eren Sora 絵恋空 FALENO

AV DEBUT SEPTEMBER 2024

[no-context-kh]

[prepolls]

Precure Fist Fight : FINAL Round

[allykakamatsu]

Twisted Hearts 1 Chapter 1: 1, 2, 3, 4, Cat, King

<Previous> <Next>

Story Summary: When an unknown incident lands the students of NRC in a strange new world, they have to travel across worlds to find each other as well as trying to vanquish the darkness. Sounds.... easier than most of what they've been through this school year at least, but nothing is ever that simple, and a pair or adopted siblings will once again find themselves at odds.

Chapter Summary: The quartet makes their first stop on their saving the world field trip, leading to some reunions, as well as some unexpected turns in perspective, particularly from a certain red haired Housewarden.

(Chapter underneath read more)

POV, Silver:

“HEY! WAKE UP!!” !!!

“Huh?!?! Oh, are we almost there?” I ask as I wake up. I don’t remember falling asleep but I’m not surprised, and at least Sora, Goofy and Donald being here means that I didn’t get hit with a sleeping curse for what would be the fourth time now.

“Hyuck, yup,” Goofy confirms as Sora gets back to his seat after waking me up, “surprised you slept through the whole flight though, it was pretty bumpy.”

“Not to mention you were sitting next to mister screamer.” Donald adds sounding annoyed.

“Hey! We were firing lasers at Heartless in space, you try staying calm during your first time doing that!” Sora fires back with a pout.

“I’m just used to loud noises I guess, my best friend is pretty loud after all.” I admit with a small smile. By the Seven I hope I find Sebek soon, along with Father and Malleus.

“You two will get along great then…” Donald groans and I can’t help but smile as Sora and Goofy laugh.

“Anyway, hold on everyone, I’m gonna pull us in to land!” Goofy tells us as I feel the Gumi Ship lurch down onto a red checkered patterned planet, or world as everyone’s been calling it, and after a minute we’re well… parked for lack of a better word.

“Alright, let’s get going!,” Sora says excitedly as we all get off the ship, “what did you guys say this world was called again?”

“Wonderland” Donald answers- wait, what?

“Wonderland?,” I ask to make sure I didn’t mishear things, “as in, the Queen of Hearts Wonderland?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” Goofy confirms as we keep making our way through the corridor while I’m trying to process this.

“She… she’s one of the Seven historical figures who are worshiped in my world.” I answer making everyone stare at me like I have two heads again.

“WHAT?!?!” Donald and Goofy shout, and after recovering from his shock Sora just grins.

“That’s nuts,” he admits, “but hey, now you have one heck of a story to tell your friends when you get back!”

“Heh, I suppose that’s one word for it” I admit wondering if we’ll run into the Queen or any other members of the Seven…. And I’m suddenly not sure if I want to because the last thing I want is to make a fool out of myself in front of any of them, especially Maleficent-

“WHY WON’T THEY DIE?!?!” !! Wait… is that…?

“I DON’T KNOW BUT WHAT YOU’RE DOING ISN’T HELPING SO JUST STAY BACK ACE!!!!” Oh by the Seven it is!

“What the-?! Hey!” Donald asks as I summon my Keyblade and run into what I can only assume is a kitchen where I see a bunch of heartless on the floor, and just like I thought, I also see Ace and Deuce though they’re both shrunk down to a height barely above my ankles.

“Stand back you two!” I tell the two freshmen as I quickly kill the Heartless with my Keyblade. Thankfully they’re pretty weak and go down quickly, but I know thanks to Sebek and Riddle that Deuce and Ace aren’t pushovers so if they were struggling to kill these things then Keyblades must be really special huh?

“!! Silver-Senpai!” Deuce shouts in relief as I pick up him and Ace and put the pair on the table so I can at least look at them in the eye. 

“How the hell did you deal with them so easily?” Ace grumbles, getting him a shove from his dorm-mate.

“This, they’re made specifically to kill Heartless,” I explain as I show the pair my Keyblade, “the fact I’m my usual height probably helps too.”

“HEY!! It’s not our fault we need to be this tall to go into Wonderland!” Ace shouts to defend himself-

“AGH!! GIANTS!!!!” Deuce screams as he points next to me-? Oh the others caught up.

“Oh, don’t worry, these guys are with me,” I assure the freaked out pair as I do introductions, “Ace, Deuce, these are Sora, Donald and Goofy. Guys, these are Ace and Deuce, they’re freshmen at my school.”

“Hi!” Sora says cheerfully and Goofy also waves and smiles, but Donald just huffs and turns away.

“Ehe, nice to meet you… sorry for the screaming…” Deuce apologises awkwardly.

“Don’t worry about it, I guess we all must look a bit scary given the height thing.” Sora assures him with his usual smile.

“Now that’s settled,” I say changing topics and turn back to the Heartslaybul first years, “what are you two doing here? Did you just get here?”

“Nope, we’ve been in Wonderland for a while,” Ace explains before pouting, “but Trey-Senpai made us both wait out here while the trial was happening because it’s ‘too dangerous’.”

“Trial? What trial?” Goofy asks and I’m wondering how Trey got caught up in something like that.

“Those…. Silver-Senpai you called them Heartless right?,” Deuce asks and I nod to confirm before he explains, “Alright, well a good few of them attacked the Queen. She was fine in the end, but she’s blaming the whole thing on Riddle-Senpai and Alice, so right now everyone is preparing for a trial to stop them from getting beheaded!” !!

“Alright, how do we get into Wonderland, I want to help.” I tell the pair firmly because I am not letting Riddle get beheaded over something he didn’t do!

“WHAT?!,” Donald shouts getting pissed, “we can’t go meddling in other worlds! We have to protect the world order!”

“And just let two innocent people get killed?! No way!,” Sora refutes backing me up, “I’m with Silver, how do we get in?!”

“Don’t tell him!” Donald shouts at the tiny freshmen.

“Oh, I’m gonna tell him!” Ace fires back with a, to quote what I heard Idia say one time, shit eating grin-

“Um, guys.” Goofy chimes in, ending the argument as he shows us a photo of a very tall person in a black cloak summoning Heartless?! 

“This… this is hard evidence!,” Deuce gasps in shock, “we have to get this to Trey-Senpai and the others, this is our way to prove Riddle-Senpai and Alice are innocent!”

“Guess we’re going in then after all,” I say making Sora smirk and Donald groan, “how do we get in?”

“You guys have gotta drink this,” Ace explains while pointing at a bottle labelled ‘drink me’, “but can you get me and Deuce down here first, it’s a pretty far jump from our height.”

“Sure thing!,” Sora agrees as he puts the pair back on the floor before picking up the bottle, “bottoms up!” With that he drinks it and hands me the bottle, and right as he does he shrinks down to the same size as Ace and Deuce.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this…” Donald grumbles as he takes the bottle from me and chugs before passing it to Goofy before he shrinks, and then Goofy does the same but passes it back to me.

“Here goes” I say as I take a gulp, no one was screaming while they shrunk so this should be fine-!

“Was not… expecting that…” I groan as I recover and I see I’ve been shrunk down like everyone else. Nothing hurts thankfully but that made my stomach lurch and I do not like it.

“Are you alright Silver?” Sora asks as he and Deuce help me back to my feet.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” I assure him because I do feel better now, “now, let’s get in.”

“Finally…. I was getting tired of being benched.” Ace sighs  in relief as he opens the door and we all head in, and for Wonderland it does seem to be pretty tame, there’s a lot of oversized flowers and leaves but it’s nothing too strange… that or everything I’ve experienced lately has desensitised me to weirdness….  Now that I think about it it’s probably the latter, nothing is as weird as buff Epel.

“I’ve never seen plants like these beFORE!!” Sora comments as he sniffs one of the flowers before being pulled out of the way from said flower slapping him by Deuce?

“Sorry Gertrude!,” Deuce apologises to the flower before turning to the rest of us, “the flowers don’t like being sniffed so, don’t do that please.”

“Right, my bad!” Sora agrees as he apologises to the flower and we all keep moving.

“The flowers talk now…?” Donald half asks half grumbles.

“Makes sense to me.” Goofy replies as cheerful as ever.

“We are in Wonderland after all, we should expect things to be different.” I add as we keep following Ace and Deuce until we make it to a small clearing in the back where a familiar pair of senpai are looking over a lot of papers.

“Ugh, none of this is making any sense-!,” Trey groans before seeing us and going into about twenty stages of panic, “Ace, Deuce?! I told you to wait outside until this was over-! Silver?! It’s good to see you but how did you get here?! And I mean this in the nicest way possible, but who in the name of the Queen of Hearts are you three?!”

“I’m Sora, and that’s Donald and Goofy, nice to meet you!” Sora introduces, almost oblivious to the tension and while all this is happening I can just about see Cater who looks torn between laughing and screaming.

“I came with those three to find f-Lilia, Malleus and Sebek, and this was our first stop,” I continue as I answer the questions in reverse order before handing Trey the photo, “and in Ace and Deuce’s defence, we found this and we had to get it to you. It might be able to prove Riddle’s innocent.”

“Hmm… yeah that is way too tall to be Riddle or Alice alright,” Cater comments as he and Trey look at the photo before giving us a relieved smile, “this might just do the trick. You guys are #Life-Savers for real.”

“I know right?” Ace quips with a smirk which gets a facepalm from Deuce in response.

“I’m still annoyed that you two didn’t just ask Silver and his new friends to drop this off,” Trey tells the first years before sighing, “but this is important so I’ll let it slide this time, but Seven forbid this happens again you’d better listen to me.”

“Got it Trey-Senpai.” Deuce agrees and Ace also nods in agreement, though I see him put his hands in his pocket when he does it so knowing him, there’s a non zero chance he crossed his fingers.

“So, when’s the trial-?” Sora shouts but gets cut off by a lot of incomprehensible yelling from the distance.

“If I had to take a guess, now,” Cater answers as the Heartslaybul students turn panicked, “we gotta head over there like, right now”

“Let’s get going then fellas, hyuck!” Goofy says as we all follow the juniors to what looks like the centre of a hedge maze where the Queen of Hearts herself is standing behind the judges stand….. alright, time to hopefully not make a fool out of myself-

“Silver?!,” Riddle shouts as he sees me, “Silver what are you doing here-?!”

“SILENCE!!,” the Queen screams before I can respond, “the suspects aren’t allowed to speak!” Okay that seems unreasonable- why is Riddle freezing up?

“Your majesty that hasn’t been in the rules before-“ Trey tries to interject but gets cut off by the Queen hammering in a gavel.

“It is now!!,” She shouts in anger, “now, present your evidence, or it’s off with all of your heads!”

“Oh my, what an unpleasant lady.” Alice scoffs quietly as Cater very awkwardly puts the picture along with four other pieces of evidence he and Trey found into boxes by the Queen’s stand.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of this,” I tell her which makes Alice smile before I turn to Riddle, “are you alright?”

“… No,” he whispers after a moment likely to not anger the Queen, “being blamed for an attack unjustly is one thing but, her Majesty has been bending the rules and inventing new ones on the spot just to condemn myself and Liddell-san without giving us a chance to defend ourselves. Myself and the others have been in Wonderland for a while, and seeing her Majesty up close has not been what I was hoping for, but this? This goes against everything I and her tenants stand for. I just… I don’t know what to make of all of this….”

“You look up to her this much and she’s blaming you for this mess?,” Alice asks with an appalled expression as I try to figure out what to say, “that is horrible! You should tell her off!”

“Tell off the Queen, are you insane?!,” Riddle hisses back before calming down, “I appreciate your concern Liddell-san, but I’m trying to avoid making this situation worse…. Though right now I have no idea what to do admittedly…..”

“….. I’m not sure if this will help,” I say after I finally come up with something, “but if there’s one thing I’ve learned recently, is that you can still admire someone while calling them out when they do something wrong. If you think her Majesty is making a mistake, bring it up.” 

This makes Alice nod in agreement, but before Riddle can respond the Queen bangs down her gavel.

“SILENCE!!,” she screams, “all non-defendants step away from the defendants podium or it’s off with your head!!” 

“We go this.” I assure Riddle before I step away and he gives me a somewhat nervous nod in response.

“Alright,” Sora says, “I watched a law show once, and while I slept through most of it, I’m pretty sure we have to call witnesses or present evidence now?” 

“Correct,” the Queen confirms… right before clapping her hands and the evidence boxes get shuffled?, “pick which piece of evidence to present, that will decide the defendants fates.”

“WHAT?!?!” Donald screams what we’re all thinking because, what?

“T That’s not in the rules, I think-!” Deuce adds nervously but gets cut off by the Queen banging on her gavel.

“My word is the law!!,” the Queen shouts and I see Riddle tense up at that, “now, choose!!”

“Well, I didn’t want to do this,” Trey states as he adjusts his glasses, “but looks like we’ll need plan B after all.”

“Plan B?” Goofy asks-

“AGH!!! Get it off, GET IT OFF!!” The Queen screams as something invisible with a purple tail lands on her head and starts running around the booth?!

“The Cheshire Cat?” Alice asks as everyone besides Trey is either stunned in shock or is panicking.

“No, but not far off,” Riddle admits going pale, “Trey what in the Queen’s name did you set up?”

“A backup.” Trey answers with a smug expression as he quickly checks the evidence boxes which makes Cater barely hold back a laugh.

“One of us should’ve recorded this.” Ace jokes as Trey finishes checking the boxes right as the ‘cat’ disappears.

“UGH!! I swear when I find that cat it will be off with his head!!,” the Queen groans before turning back to us, “now, choose or it’s off with all of your heads!!”

“Of course your majesty.” Trey replies as he goes for the box in the middle, presenting the photo like he didn’t just cause.… whatever that was.

“Hmm….,” the Queen hums as she takes the photo and examines it with a comically large magnifying glass, “interesting…. SUSPECTS!! Line up underneath my podium!!”

“Y Yes your majesty!” Riddle agrees as he rushes into position, with a less eager Alice being not too far behind, and once they’re both lined up the Queen looks back and forward between the pair and the photo.

“Were any stilts found at the crime scene?,” the Queen asks and we all shake our heads to say no, “well, that is grounds enough for the boy to go… the girl though, I’ve heard stories of her changing her size on a whim, how can I be sure she didn’t just do that again?!”

“I can’t just do it whenever I want!,” Alice interjects, “I can only do it when I’ve eaten part of a mushroom, and I’ve run o-!!” 

“WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE DEFENDANTS TALKING?!?!” The Queen screams and now I’m scrambling to come up with something because this is bad. How did the Queen end up becoming one of the Seven exactly?

“….. Your majesty, you said I am ‘off the hook’ now, so that means I’m no longer a defendant and can speak, as per your rules,” Riddle states after a moment and while the Queen is still annoyed she bites her tongue and lets him speak, “and while I can testify to Liddell-san being a bit of a brat, she’s also a child who has no clue about anything in Wonderland. More importantly, I can also testify to her needing specific food and beverages to change size, and she hasn’t had any on her since long before the incident, so if those are the grounds you’re using to accuse her then… then….”

“Then what?” The Queen asks with a growl, and with that a nervous Riddle turns to look at me and I give him the most encouraging nod I can, and everyone else does the same, well besides from Donald who’s groaning and Ace who’s giving a pair of thumbs up instead.

“Then….,” Riddle continues as he takes a deep breath, “then I’m afraid your conclusion about her is wrong your majesty!!!”

“You go Rids!!” Cater cheers as the Queen and the card soldiers are left stunned and start murmuring among themselves, trying to decide what to do.

“I cannot believe I just did that….” Riddle mumbles in disbelief.

“Well it was awesome, you sure showed her!” Sora replies with a smile.

“Agreed, and I very much appreciate you standing up for me, even if I could’ve done without the brat line.” Alice adds with a slightly cheeky smile.

“Um, guys,” Goofy tells us sounding worried, “I think we should get out of here.”

“Huh, why-?” Trey asks as we all turn to where Goofy is pointing…. And see that the Queen’s face is turning a shade of red that would be comical if this wasn’t very bad news.

“RULE TWENTY NINE!!! ALL WHO DEFY ME ARE GUILTY!!! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!!!!!!!!!!” The Queen screams so loudly that I’m surprised she didn’t loose her voice as the card soldiers turn their spears on us.

“Zooterkins,” I swear as I draw my Keyblade and everyone else gets into a fighting stance, “someone stay back and protect Alice, we’ll-!”

“You…,” Riddle groans as he cuts me off, “you’re condemning us for defending ourselves, even going against your own rules to do it. You are not the Queen of Hearts I’ve read about, you’re no better than what I used to be. So, how about to teach you a lesson, I give you a taste of your own medicine, then maybe you’ll learn to become the Queen your subjects look up to your majesty!”

“GET THEM!!” The Queen screams as the card soldiers start to charge, but Riddle just draws his magic pen without flinching.

“Riddle?!” Sora asks in confusion but the Housewarden doesn’t even flinch and instead goes to cast.

“I’ll hand down my sentence,” Riddle chants with a determined expression, “The verdict comes afterwards. Are you ready? Off With Your Head!!!” 

With that the spell collars the Queen and makes her fall over in shock, which makes the Card soldiers freeze up in confusion, but before they can do anything Riddle summons…. What I can best describe as an oversized claymore on a short stick which he uses to knock a lot of them back.

“Holy cow!!” Sora says in amazement as the rest of us are frozen in either shock or joy, Trey being the latter but he recovers first and he quickly casts a flora spell to stun the few soldiers Riddle didn’t hit.

“That was amazing, but we should probably run!” Trey points out, making Riddle snap out of his adrenaline filled trace to nod as we all make a break for the door.

Masterpost

Buy me a coffee

Commission Prices

[monorays]

fixed! 05.19.24

[cloudysx]

Return to Wonderland

[small-world-au]

(I saw this meme on the internet and felt like it fits the two so much)

(Alice and Gideon has cookies)

Alice: Look! *Gives Sora a cookie* This one’s a heart, that’s how I feel about you (IN A PLATONIC WAY)

Gideon: *Gives Stone a cookie* This one’s like Michigan, that’s how I feel about you…

🍪(You can search the meme up cuz I think it’s funnier on how you know the reactions) 🍪

Sora to Alice: “AWWWWW!!! Gracias mija!” 🥺🥺🥺

Stone to Gideon: “WTF DOES THAT MEAN-“

[twewycrim3s]

WIP

Alice in Wonderland Sora

[alangdorf]

Yearly costume roundup!! Sora cosplay year 5 (actually done this time!) + demonstration of last-minute Adeleine costume for my husband (I lent him my sweatshirt and made the beret) + potential Touhou cosplay plans for myself and @just-my-narratives and my husband + coping with not having the resources for making a new full cosplay this year by spending the day planning out a Magolor

[hollowwhisperings]

Kingdom Key & Kingdom Hearts: A SoRiku Theory

The Kingdom Hearts series (& its creators) actively emphasizes the ways that its primary protagonist, Sora, is a "normal, ordinary boy". Yet Sora wields the iconic Kingdom Key, the Ultima Keyblade & even a x-blade (as forged by Xehanort): Sora's Story has been that of a Chosen One, even as he fits the archetype of one "Unchosen".

This theory explores the nature of Choice within the KH series, specifically in the context of "Destiny" and prophecies. It employs the "Riku is The Light" & "Necklace" theories, as well as elements of "Sleeping Realm". It also casts Riku as one of those Strange Women in Ponds who Distribute Swords as a Basis of [Galactic World Order].

Sora's story seemingly begins as a Classic Hero's Journey only for such a reading to fall flat when Expectations such as "Getting The Girl" and "Becoming a Keyblade Master" pointedly do not happen.

The driving force of the KH series has always been Riku: Riku wished to see worlds beyond his home, knowing the truth of the KH Multiverse well before proof literally crashlanded in the form of Kairi (a literal shooting star).

It is Riku's Heart that drew the attention of the Worlds at large to the Destiny Islands: the brightness of his light lead Terra, Aqua & Xehanort to meeting Sora in the first place.

Terra chooses Riku as a future Keyblade Master.

Aqua chooses Sora for the sake of preserving Riku's Light, the events of BBS teaching her that the strongest lights cast the longest shadows.

Xehanort chooses Riku as a Dark Vessel, whispering to him & encouraging him to doubt, to mistrust.

It is assumed, by Sora and by Riku, that Riku was also the person responsible for "opening the door" to the Darkness that felled the Destiny Islands. Yet throughout his childhood, each attempt by Riku to open the mysterious door on the play island failed and, when Darkness Falls, it is Kairi who is found at its source (Kairi, who had been expelled from her home by a version of Xehanort & whose heart harboured yet another fragment of the Seeker of Darkness).

Regardless of whether he truly opened the Destiny Islands to Darkness, Riku believed it & through Darkness did he find "freedom" to explore the Worlds Beyond, just as he had always dreamed... except for one, rather significant detail becoming derailed: Sora's presence by Riku's Side.

The two were separated and Sora was almost lost: even with Darkness swallowing Riku whole, the light within his Heart acted in time to save Sora by entrusting to him 'Kingdom Key'. Riku's Keyblade. A physical manifestation of Riku's Heart.

(notably, the "Kingdom Key-D" found by King Mickey was found not too far from the scene where Kingdom Key manifested: it is plausible that this keyblade was also manifested by Riku's Heart, perhaps alongside its 'Light' counterpart - I'd need to check the timeline to see how such a theory holds up)

Kingdom Key was entrusted to Sora, a subconscious act of Riku's Heart that mirrored an earlier act of protection Riku gave to Sora: on the night where Kairi fell to the Destiny Islands, a young Sora felt frightened and a young Riku swore to protect his dearest friend. This oath was sworn in turn sworn by Sora to Riku. They sealed these oaths with tokens they held close: while Sora's charm gifted to Riku remains unknown, Riku entrusted Sora with a crown charm he had had since infancy.

When Riku was 5, Riku entrusted Sora with his Crown. Both boys swore to protect the other.

When Riku was 15, Riku's Heart entrusted itself to Sora in the form of 'Kingdom Key'.

When Riku was ~16, he subconsciously protected Sora by becoming the latter's Dreamel Eater. Within the same timeframe, Riku sacrificed himself entirely to save Sora at the Keyblade Graveyard (an act of sacrifice, an act of True Love).

At every instance where Riku has been at a crossroads, knowingly or not, his Heart has Chosen Sora's: Riku, presumed descendant of Ephemera and a child of the Destiny Islands, has always & continues to choose Sora.

When the pair were reunited in KH2 and confronted the threat of Xemnas, the two fought as one & passed their keyblades between each other intuitively

When the pair existed in parallel realms of Sleep, separated but connected, their heartbeasts joined to form a Waltzing variation of the melody 'Dearly Belove'. They then fought in sync with a Combined Blade, formed from the keyblades "Mirage Split" and "Nightmare's End", acting again as two halves of a whole.

When Riku was to meet his end in the Realm of Darkness, far within the abyss, Sora appeared to him and they once again wielded their Combined Blade. Beast had once reaponded to a 15 year old Riku's questioning of his impossible arrival to Hollow Bastion, where Beast's Beloved Belle was held hostage, that he had "simply believed": belief brought Sora to Riku in the Realm of Darkness, belief brought Sora to the Final World in the wake of Riku's Ultimate Sacrifice.

The premise of Kingdom Key & its counterpart, Kingdom Key-D, being Manifestations of Riku's Heart & indicative of Riku's being the "Child of Destiny" does run into some Logistical Obstacles.

One, if Riku's Keyblade is being wielded by Sora (& Mickey, assuming the two keys were originally one) then whose keyblade is Riku wielding?

Two, how can Riku's Heart manifest multiple keyblades? Posession by Ansem Seeker of Darkness explains 1 of the "extra" keyblades (the key of "all hearts"). The bequeathing ceremony by Terra could explain another. Kingdom Key-D is definitely connected to Kingdom Key yet never specifically associated with Riku, evem being wielded by King Mickey (a stranger to Riku, at that point).

To the first: if Riku's keyblade is being wielded by Sora (& its counterpart by King Mickey), how can Riku wield another keyblade in KH1 even before getting possessed?

There are several immediate & varyingly plausible explanations: Riku's nature as a "Child of Destiny" allowing his Heart to churn out keyblades on demand like some Fey Lady of Avalon; or the other keyblades were not actually manifested by Riku at all.

While I greatly enjoy the imagery of Riku playing the "Lady of the Lake" to Sora's "Arthur" in KH1, given Sora's opening dream sequence already set Riku as being stuck in a Body Of Water (which is additionally representative of Darkness), it is Stretching Things to assume all other Plot Focused keyblades were ALSO fished out from Riku's Heart.

Perhaps Riku's Heart simply conjured new keyblades in response to Sora's Heart taking in new quests: Riku's Heart supplying keys to the metaphoric doors of Sora's Heart Hotel.

It is more likely, however, that the "new" keyblade wielded by Riku (the one currently known as "Braveheart") is a manifestation of SORA'S Heart: Riku entrusted his crown & his heart to Sora, first on the night of the Meteor Shower & then on the night the Islands Fell; Sora, in turn, entrusted his sword & heart to Riku. It explains how each boy readily wields the keyblade of the other & fits within the theme of their hearts beating in sych.

Riku choosing Sora, Riku's entrusting his Heart (literally & figuratively) with Sora, resulted in Destiny Itself 'choosing' Sora: if Riku represents Kingdom Hearts, the subject of his love would naturally become beloved by the Worlds in turn.

Sora acting as "[the] One Sky, One Destiny" due to Sora having the 'Heart' of Destiny through its child (Riku)'s love.

Sora is not only Riku's Dearly Beloved, Sora is THE "Dearly Beloved": beloved by the Worlds, entrusted with their Hearts & appointed their Savior. And all because, dull and ordinary boy that he may be, it is Sora's naturally normal self that Riku fell in love with. Sora may not be any more innately special than anyone else but Sora is special to RIKU, the love between them (knowingly or not) serving as the driving force of their stories & of Destiny itself.

[whosyourfavevoicedby-polls]

[no-context-kh]

[mushi-shield]

[kchasm]

Ryu Number: Alice (i.e. of Wonderland)

Okay, I know what you're thinking. K.C., are you really churning out a post on Alice's Ryu Number? Sora is in Smash, for goodness' sake. That's Kingdom Hearts, which gets you the Disney version split-lickety.

Yeah, that's true. And it would be perfectly reasonable to shut the book on the matter right there and shout, "Problem solved!" But here's a question: Are Alice of Wonderland and Alice Liddell the same person?

That's a rhetorical question, by the way. If a century of Alicologists aren't going to come to an agreement, an opinion off the end of a tumblr post is unlikely to set off a scholarly paradigm shift. For what it's worth, Lewis Carroll himself seemed to consider Liddell and the literary Alice as separate individuals—the latter as more of an idealization than any real person*—but he's got some investment in the matter, so he's not exactly a reliable source.

(This is a joke. Don't at me.)

*Woolf, J. (2010). The Mystery of Lewis Carroll. St. Martin's Press.

... But we're not here for literary analysis, of course. We're here for the Ryu Numbers. So what's Alice Liddell's?

The most obvious route, of course, would be through American McGee's American McGee's Alice and Alice: Madness Returns video games. The lore of the second game straight out gives Alice the surname Liddell...

... and the opening cutscene of the first game features a photograph in Alice's bedroom of someone who might be Lewis Carroll (which is a bit weird, but whatever), as well as an Alice storybook (meaning Alice exists one narrative layer higher than the literary Alice).

...That said, if American McGee did mean for the game Alice Liddell to be the Alice Liddell, that's something it looks like he walked back in game two (or at least went in with plausible deniability about). Game Alice seems to have had just the one sibling, an older sister named Elizabeth, and her father's name was Arthur—the real Alice, on the other hand, had nine siblings in all (jeez), with her only older sister named Lorina and her father named Henry.

(Also all the Wonderland elements explicitly take place in Alice's head, which means technically we shouldn't be counting Wonderland characters any more than we'd count characters that show up in dreams or hallucinations, but I'll pretend not to notice if you pretend not to notice, alright? Call it the Code Name: S.T.E.A.M. precedent.)

To get to something plausibly Liddeller, I'ma jump back to the Apple II/Commodore 64 era.

Wait, the Laurence Yep? Aunno, maybe! I wrote to him once, because I wanted to know if the Charles Edward Stuart that appears in this game is actually Charles Edward Stuart, or just the White King believing himself to be Charles Edward Stuart, both of which seemed likely enough to me given the setting.

I never got an answer back, probably because I couldn't find any contact info for Laurence Yep and ended up writing to the most recent publisher of his works I could find instead. What I'm saying is that I doubt Mr. Yep ever laid eyes on my letter before it was slam-dunked into the nearest wastebin (Mr. Yep if you are reading this please DM me).

Anyway, shortly before Alice falls into the rabbit hole, gets swept up in the usual Wonderland annoyances, then finally makes her way up and out the same rabbit hole (i.e. no "it was all a dream," it's happening for realsies), Alice runs into a dude on a boat. It's Lewis Carroll, and you know he's Lewis Carroll because he says he's Lewis Carroll.

Add that that he's a teller of stories to this Alice, and and it serves as good implication as any that the player character is the historical Alice Liddell.

[allykakamatsu]

When Wonderland sizes being whacky leads to some.... misunderstandings. (They clear things up quickly dw-)

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