#thederim

[phoenix-downer]

Now that we know for a fact that Xehanort not only knew Kairi was alive and didn't senselessly murder her for the sake of his plan in KH3, but was continuing to use her as his final insurance, how well does the English version of his speech hold up on its own?

I’m guessing you mean his speech to Sora at the end of the game? I’ll go ahead and link the post I made for it after KH3 came out here because I have an analysis of the English version, the Japanese version, and a more literal translation included in that post.

Looking back over it, I don’t think the new reveals in Re:Mind about Kairi’s fate change anything about the speech itself. Xehanort’s motivations are still the same; he still wants to start the world over because he thinks it’s corrupt. If anything affected the interpretation of this scene, I’d say it’s the new scene where the MoM talks to Young Xehanort, because it establishes where Xehanort is coming from when he talks to Sora during his speech. 

(I think I must’ve missed a line of dialogue here maybe, but anyway, continuing on): 

(Okay but I have to wonder, why is the MoM shown grasping his hands here when Xehanort says this last part? I have so many questions. Is he “a sheep pretending to be a wolf” as well? Who knows. “Wolf in sheep’s clothing” is a common metaphor in English, and it’s interesting how Xehanort flips it on his head to talk about sheep in wolves’ clothing. I’d need to look at this scene again more closely to be able to speculate about it better). 

But going back to Xehanort, purging the world of the weak because they have darkness in their hearts and giving the World a fresh start has been his motivation all along, ever since he was young. Granted, I think it’s a retcon and isn’t very consistent with how he was in BBS and DDD, IMO, but that’s getting more into my personal opinion/interpretation. This is what Xehanort’s motivation will be going forward from the sounds of it, so I’ll interpret his actions in light of that. 

As a side note, Nomura seems to be going with the “Xehanort was corrupted” angle now, which makes sense. He’s like KH Lucifer/Satan, right down to the goat armor, and considering who goat imagery is associated with, it checks out. 

Xehanort the corrupted light-bearer is an interesting angle, and I’m curious if Nomura will explore it more. 

Notice how Xehanort’s eyes only have a little bit of gold around his pupils in this shot, to tease at his temptation/corruption. His irises still have a little bit of the original silver color left. Again, I’m getting super “Xehanort has acquired the knowledge of good and evil” vibes from this scene. 

Now, addressing what happened to Kairi. This is a bit of a personal tangent and only sort of related to your question, but I wanted to talk about it anyway. Does knowing that Xehanort didn’t actually kill her make his actions less “bad”? 

No. Absolutely not. He let Sora think he murdered her and didn’t correct him. That is a horrible thing to do to someone, and Sora is clearly traumatized over it:

Xehanort purposely let Sora think she was dead to motivate him, showing a callous disregard for Sora as a person as well as Kairi, who he still just treats like a tool instead of a human being:

JP きっかけを与えよう

EN You require motivation.

TR I’ll give you motivation. / Let’s give you motivation, shall we?

Xehanort used Sora’s suffering to further his own ends, so yeah, still terrible behavior. Plus, I know Kairi was asleep while this happened, but I still think that getting your heart shattered into seven pieces would suck. 

That is not the pose of someone who is okay. And we know Ven getting his heart shattered resulted in him falling into a decade plus coma, so without Sora’s intervention, Kairi could’ve been stuck in seven different pieces indefinitely, which is pretty horrifying when you think about it. She was as good as dead once Xehanort was gone and before Sora began his journey to rescue her, because she couldn’t just put herself back together, and Xehanort had the only key to her whereabouts until Sora found it.    

Plus, Sora had to relive watching what happened to Kairi all over again. Even though he knows there’s a chance of saving her, even though he’s lived through this before, his heart speeds up as he watches what happens again. 

If that’s not a metaphor for PTSD and re-experiencing trauma, I don’t know what is. He’s literally reliving a horribly painful experience, and he feels it so deeply it makes his heart race. 

That’s not to go into all the other anguish and suffering he went through during Re:Mind to save Kairi, which makes Xehanort look even worse… but it also reveals Sora’s true nature. We’ve now seen proof of the lengths he would go to save Kairi, and it demonstrates how much he loves her and how willing he is to sacrifice himself for her and put her needs above his own. By showing how horrible Xehanort is, we better appreciate how wonderful Sora is. We also better understand the depths of his love for Kairi, and I think that’s why KH3 feels so much more satisfying for me now with the addition of Re:Mind. 

Thanks for the ask!