#verum rex: reclaim ur braincells my gosh

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

another ramble about data riku

recoded, kh3 spoilers:

this is rambling about me forcing data riku to fit the god riku agenda

Ramblings about how data riku is a god of the datascape, and if it could connect to the riku in real life.

So, imma be calling data riku just “riku” a lot in this. If i ever talk about the real life riku, i’ll specify that i’m referring to the “irl riku” lol. Oops for any confusion.

So.

Data Riku is kind of a god, right. The god of his realm, the journal’s datascape. I’ll get to that eventually, but first I’ll ramble about how he was the vessel chosen to protect it, by literally hosting the entirety of the journal within him.

First, an aside, even though it’s the beginning of the post. What or who chose Riku to be the vessel? Because I assumed it was the data itself, but there were also some lines that made me consider, maybe, it could have been Namine. (And she’s a whole other side of this whole thing because, what power would she have to have to do that? If it wasn’t her, what power does she have? Is it no more than any other data character? Or could she have more influence on the data because it revolves around Sora, who’s memories she can manipulate? We do see her affect the journal, so.)

But anyway. Riku is the journal, and all its data is inside him. But he can also exist within the datascape. I’m assuming because there are two separate levels to the datascape.

In-game, there is a clear ��outside world” datascape, and an “inside Riku” datascape. So there is some separation here, and Riku (and everything else) can exist in both. But it’s not that there are two sets of data. I don’t think so, at least. The datascape Sora walks around in-game, both in and out of Riku’s datascape, that’s all still Riku.

And that’s why infecting Riku with bugs directly affects the entirety of the journal’s datascape, and not just Riku himself. Because Riku’s at the center, at the core, of the whole datascape. Riku is the datascape, literally, and in essence.

But there is that separation I mentioned before. The “outside world” datascape, and the “inside Riku” datascape. Like I said, I think the data of these two are one and the same, it’s just that the outside world is just a projection of the inner one.

So. About the inside of Riku’s datascape. It’s specifically the inside. We literally go inside Riku, hence the meme. So it’s implying the worlds of the first part of Recoded are outside of Riku’s datascape. And travelling into Riku takes us to the inside of his datascape.

But all the worlds are in there anyway. Because, like I said, I don’t think there are two sets of the same data. The worlds Sora visits in Riku’s datascape are the exact same set of data as the worlds Sora visits outside of Riku. Data Riku talks about them as if they’re the same places. So in my opinion, this makes the outside worlds projections of the worlds within Riku. Not duplicates.

But apparently, you can get stuck within Riku, hence that one escape scene. So even though I think the data is one and the same, there are separations between the inside of Riku, and the projection outside.

I focus on the idea of projections because I’m thinking of all this in relation to Riku IRL, and people’s (namely steam’s and databoyreekoo’s) theories that Riku is connected to the Final World. I remember seeing someone say something like, how the Final World could be a projection of Riku’s heart? Or some sort of manifestation of it, connected to it, etc. It might have come up during a talk about how Kingdom Hearts (the game) could end up being the dream of someone, such as MoM or Sora, etc.

So, we’ve covered that Data Riku was chosen as a vessel, part of what that means in regards to the datascape, and how that could reflect the real world. We haven’t covered what “Riku being the vessel” means in regards to his power over the datascape, or why he was chosen.

I’ve said a couple times in this that Riku is a god of the journal’s datascape, by way of him being the vessel for it and therefore containing all its data. I haven’t explained why I think he isn’t just a vessel, though. I don’t think I need to, we can see it in Recoded itself. But because I love to ramble: Riku can control and manipulate everything.

Like I talked about in another post, Riku can project whatever he’s currently seeing onto monitors. He can turn invisible, possibly doesn’t even have to be physically present for his mind to observe things from any point in space. He can enable and disable access to the real, non-data world. He can travel within any aspect of the datascape at whim by summoning/creating doorways (again, at will.)

Sora needed to use keyholes, and Riku was the one who found Pete and Maleficent caught in “a rift” in the data, when previously, they had disappeared and Sora couldn’t see them, and probably wouldn’t have been able to reach/access them anyway.

Anyway, the point is, Riku, being the journal itself, can manipulate the journal’s original data at will. As I like to think, he is the god of the datascape.

Not his datascape, the datascape. I make this distinction because you could assume, “duh he’s the god of the datascape, if the data is in him, it’s his data.” But it’s not, though! It’s not Riku’s data. That would be more like the data Sora from limit cut. That was Sora’s data.

I will admit, I don’t know for sure how much control someone’s data version of themselves would have over their own data. I don’t. But I assume you would have control of it similarly to how Data Riku has control of the journal’s datascape.

But again, the reason Riku has such control, such power, over the datascape is not because it’s his data. He was chosen as a vessel for the data, and granted power over it.

Now, I ask why. Why was Riku chosen as the vessel? Why is it important that he was chosen to be its vessel in the first place?

It’s like that meme about “this being x’s world and we’re just living in it”. That, but with Riku.

It stands out to me because—the game didn’t have to do that. Riku could have just been another data character. He could still have been our Guy In The Chair, the role of support. We could have still gotten the same thing with Riku getting corrupted and Sora having to fight him. We could have gone through the segment of saving him from the bugs, both for the sake of helping Riku and because, as a data character, letting him get overrun by bugs would let the bugs spread, putting the datascape at risk.

He could have just been another data character, and everyone assumes that’s what he is! But no. Riku specifies that he is the journal itself. He contains it all. He basically pulls that mistranslated Sephiroth line from FF7R: “I am your everything.”

BUT WHY THOUGH. I’m telling you, it wasn’t that necessary! He didn’t have to be the vessel of the entire data world. He didn’t have to be the god of the journal’s datascape. (justapancake’s recoded video be like)

Okay, maybe it wasn’t necessary to make Riku the journal. But he is. And he’s the god of the journal’s datascape. Why am I stuck on that?

Because he’s the god of something that wasn’t originally his! I can’t forget that! He ends up being the journal, but the journal, before being converted into data, was its own thing. Everything in the journal revolved around Sora, even! (Of course Riku was chosen to protect it.) So why wasn’t Sora the god of the data about himself? What is arguably his own data?

This gets into the king shit. Yup, I’m on my crown bs again.

Because. Verum Rex. Falsus Rex. True King. False King.

If Yozora is a “false” king, even a “false” true king—

Who is the true king?

The most obvious answer is Sora. And I agree. To a degree. Sora does have all the crowns, all the king imagery, the throne, the kingdom key, the crown necklace—

The kingdom key. The crown necklace. Both of these things were passed down to Sora by Riku. Riku passed down the crown.

Now I’m far from the only person to suggest that Riku is in some way, the original true king. The actual chosen one. The intended. A god.

I’m just here to scream about how there is one time where we do see Riku in his intended place. Recoded.

Data Riku is a very obvious version of himself where he is a god. Or ruler. Of himself, except “himself” is also The Whole World. (In Recoded context, I mean. The world being the journal’s datascape.)

Riku Being The World isn’t something I talked about to a fuller extent when I brought it up before, I don’t think. I talked about how Data Riku is the journal’s datascape, but the reason I made such a big fuss over it is because, how could that reflect on Riku in real life?

A more extreme theory I mentioned already was the idea that the KH world/universe could end up being someone’s dream. I’ve heard people guess that it could be the dream of actual Kingdom Hearts specifically, and I’m not ruling it out or ridiculing that idea at all here bc, this game could make it work somehow lmao. And another variant of that idea i’ve heard is that the Final World, or KH in general, is a dream of Riku’s or an extension or projection of Riku’s heart, which I’ve already mentioned.

If it doesn’t go that far, the main point I personally fixate on is Data Riku being the world. Because even if it doesn’t translate to IRL Riku word for word, Data Riku is also just the god of the datascape. Which could represent the possibility of Riku being the god, or a god, of the real world. Or something similar.

And about how it could relate to the fake/true/original king stuff. In Recoded, the world revolves around Sora, but Riku ends up being the god of that world regardless. In real life, what if the situation was similar, only Riku passed down his power and/or title to Sora at some point instead? Sora, as Riku’s chosen one?

At this point, it devolves into mindless rambling lmao. Like, the thing I can’t let go of is the fact that, because Riku was chosen as a vessel for the data (regardless of who or what granted him that status), he therefore is the data. He is everything in the scope of Recoded. He is the world. Like, is it alluding to something else? Idk! But like, if you want god riku stuff to overthink like me lmao, Data Riku is right there! The concept that the world revolves around Sora, but Riku was still the one chosen to contain that world, to guard and protect that world, to hold immense power in it and over it—! Like I’ve been seeing the idea becoming more prevalent and Recoded is right there like—perceive it lmao. And it has Namine? Like what more could you want, tbh. Bonus, Data Riku holds Mickey hostage.

Here’s some extra stuff I scribbled of mostly me just looking for aesthetic similarities between the inside of Riku’s datascape and the nighttime Final World of Yozora’s dream. This is super messy oops:

i remembered one of steam’s (i think?) posts. about the connection between riku and the final world. about how it could be that it runs deeper than just parallels and metaphorical connections.

riku, in the DTTH in kh3, is the light, and that light ends up being the literal sun of the final world.

And i think databoyreekoo was someone who made the connection between riku’s footsteps before his sacrifice, and the water ripples in the final world title card.

These were both ideas about how deeply connected riku really could be to the final world.

So imma go ahead and ramble about data riku’s datascape, compared to the nighttime final world.

I recognize that a lot of this shit is probably not exactly how it is in the og game (i’ve seen re:coded for the ds but my memory, y’know) like, you can barely tell wtf the rose door is supposed to be in re:coded game but WHATEVER this is speculationnn

when sora goes inside riku. It's just a night sky full of stars, with no floor or ceiling. the only difference between this and nighttime final world is there doesn’t seem to be a water-floor, and the fact that rikus datascape has lines of code drifting in and out of sight.

but then again, the nighttime final world also flickers before loading in all the buildings of other-shibuya, so it also has data/pixel elements, they were just. hidden. or presenting themselves as something else. As pixels do.

while we’re comparing the two, i’m looking at the way sora’s heart station appears in the secret episode. it’s different from how the buildings appear. The first signs of the heart station appearing are these particles of light, and then a glowing circle appears before it fades into sora’s heart station. it’s smooth, even like when it fades out, it’s smooth, not a pixelated thing like the buildings.

in recoded, i looked at two doorways riku summoned/created First, the doorways he creates inside his datascape that lead to the worlds sora has to clear of bugs. These doorways appear first with pixels. so it appears first with a few pixels outlining the doorframe. the door glows, and it becomes a doorway of light, again, still surrounded by pixels and such.

Second, riku makes another type of door. one that leads to the outside of his datascape. there’s like a circle, or oval? (it’s hard to tell from the cameras perspective) of light on the ground. the shape of a door appears, as light. a glowing doorway basically. then it fades and becomes like a stained glass looking door? (and instead of pixels or round particles of light, we see like big shards of glass floating around the door) depicting a bunch of roses. (which, bruh)

The reason im grasping at straws to find connections between the datascape and unreality is, i’m trying to strengthen the connection between riku and yozora, therefor true king/false king, crowns, titles, etc.

i mention this bc if data riku is like the god of his world, the datascape, and yozora’s dream lands him in a similar looking place, plus the idea that /unreality could be data/ or data-esque, leading yozoras dream to have data/pixel elements— I’m desperate for the data connections so that the data riku god stuff translates with it lmao.

i mean, clearly there’s gonna be SOME kind of parallel/connection between riku and yozora. no fucking duh. But a lot of theories lean in the direction of yozora’s resemblance to riku as being meant mostly to mislead, to throw us off the idea that yozora is actually more closely related to Sora. sort of like a xion situation, where she looks like kairi, and it IS caused by sora’s memories of /kairi/ specifically, but xion ends up being an extension, a replica, of /sora/ instead.

so far the theories i’ve heard, like i said, bypass yozora’s riku aspect entirely bc, idk, red herring? but!

even if yozora is more of a sora parallel or ends up being “alternate dimension sora”. obv there’s still SOMEthing about riku there. And i am /reaching/

edit (adding more unorganized bs): i don’t think it makes sense that data riku, having all of the journals data inside him, the full set, could realistically kill himself, and the journal would still be fine. how does that make sense. how would that work. i think this is a case of riku not realizing how important he really is, both literally and metaphorically??

i know we can clear the outside world, the projection, of bugs, while riku at his core is still infected. bc riku, the core, was the thing that got filled with bugs by pete.

but like he says, if he doesn’t kill himself soon, the bugs, the infection, will leak into the outside world eventually, and soon. he says he’s controlling the bugs for now, holding them back. hes literally keeping the door closed between himself and the projection so the bugs don’t appear there before he kills them off, and himself with them.

but if i stick with my logic, that wouldn’t make sense. killing himself off, when he’s literally the vessel for the journals data, would probably just offline the whole world. idk how he wouldn’t realize this, but that was my above point. riku, in his ever suicidal ways, doesn’t realize his life means more than he knows.

(but like what i’m saying here is that i don’t need my projection idea to be true, because even if riku as the core and the world outside are two separate sets of data, riku literally is the journal. bc he’s its vessel. so no matter what, it wouldn’t make sense)

possibly, at this point the bugs were more isolated to the riku aspect of data riku, and so riku’s data was the part of data riku/the journal that would have been killed. leaving the journal riku-less. no aspect of riku or his data or his presence in the journals entries would be left at all.

but the part of data riku we heal is, well, all of himself. the worlds inside him are still afflicted. so if he did plan to yeet his riku aspect into darkness, how/when would he intend to encapsulate all the bugs into that part of himself, to be destroyed in isolation??

HIS MEMORIES. THESE ARE HIS MEMORY WORLDS. IT /IS/ HIS RIKU ASPECT WHAT THE FUCK—

so he’s containing the bugs to his riku aspect before it leaks to the journal aspect, therefor affecting the journal as a whole, including the projection that makes up the Outside.

killing his riku aspect with all the bugs inside would mean riku as a vessel WORKED. Riku as a vessel DID HIS JOB and sacrificed himself so the JOURNAL could live. he protected it, shielded it from corruption.

(Everything in the journal revolves around Sora…)

edit: more random stuff i’m adding:

rewatching khux brings me back to my god data riku rambles.

bc it’s right there. the worlds the key kids went to in the original timeline were data worlds, projections of the BoP. something something about the lux collection etc etc

the data worlds were projections of the journal. and riku was it’s vessel.

MoM being the data riku of unreality, if MoM created it. or at least the parts of unreality that we’ve seen so far.

random weirdness about how potentially unreality characters crossed over into kh, like luxord??? wtf

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

POLTERGEIST YOUVE GOT ME SCREAMING

RIKU AND AQUA

BALLERINA BY DAY, SWORDFIGHTER BY NIGHT afternoon bc he’s not allowed to stay out late 😭

But RIKU AND AQUA AHH I WISH with my whole HEART— AHH imagine Aqua recognizing the Cinderella parallels in riku NOO I’m getting off track but there’s just sO much!! aqua and riku cartwheels plsss, aqua and riku bonding over their shared love for soft sappy shit despite people possibly judging them (“isn’t that stuff for little girls” flashbacks)—

Riku being top of his dance class omg, bragging about it as a young teen bc he’s a brat who isn’t ashamed of being a teenage boy doing ballet, then becoming more humble and normal about it as he matures, 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

OMG and soraaaa Sora has NEVER cared what anyone else thinks when it comes to Riku, Rikus opinion is the word of god in his mind lmao. Sora watching Rikus recitals since childhood and watching Riku practice and Riku sometimes including Sora in the practice for fun and—

Imagine Sora seeing Riku get lifted up into the air for a dance and just being on a whole other dimension in his mind where there’s only him and riku, I can’t someone help—

How beautiful is it that riku just gets to have ballerina vibes, like, I love that a boy gets to be that. He gets to be strong in the “big strong man” way but it’s made so much sweeter by the fact that his true strength lies in how secure he is in his non-traditionally masculine traits.

If we take it as far as assuming he strove to be graceful yet buff yet beautiful, to impress sora, like? You see this shit? He didn’t try to impress Sora only by being buff or fast or better at swordfighting. The typical way guys are “supposed” to impress girls. Riku’s teen brain really went “let’s incorporate ‘feminine’ grace and beauty into everything we do” to impress sora and it really says SO much about his character that makes him infinitely more precious and interesting. It’s relatively such a small, singular detail but it’s so FASCINATING

Riku said let boys be pretty and he really set out to do it himself, my goodness

[whyarewecalledtheshipname]

HHHH— SO MUCH. I wanna address. except my brain—too much i’ll come back to this!!

if riku really does remember (as i suspect he does) then t that makes kh1 and com SO MUCH MORE PAINFUL. riku regretted his fall to darkness SO much, and what he did to sora. at the end of com, with his line about a “forgotten promise to keep”—if that really was him reaffirming his like, renewed determination to protect sora—

*breathes in*

Speaking of regaining him memories, what was the number in kh2 again? didnt his loading bar say something like 90%? and that that was enough for sora to wake up? if so, and if sora really didn’t have all of his memories restored then, is it a reference to recoded? where namine reveals she held onto some of sora’s memories? the ones that were too risky to return to him? (the memories and knowledge of ventus’ heart and such, leading to mickey and data sora learning about the way finder trio, leading to mickey sending the letter that informs sora of his heart hotel, MAKING RECODED RELEVANT COUGH)

but yeah, it could be that in my mind? if not tho, or if there are additional painful memories that namine didn’t restore… HMMM (Oh that reminds me of halloween town in CoM! the doctor makes a true memories potion and it completely fucks up the world)

and oh DEFINITELY we are TOTALLY approaching the moment sora understands his feeling for riku. like i said in one of my posts, kh3 planted SO MANY seeds of sora’s feelings for riku being more and more prominent, and i go NUTS wondering about the time those seeds will crop up in future installments like— we deadass got the most blatant confirmation that sora finds riku attractive?? when he’s never had that for any other character? and in case we missed it, donald fucking duck goes and makes fun of sora for it. Just In Case. We missed it.

like that’s the thing about this game: no one says shit for no reason. and if something goes unaddressed, then it’s only gonna come back to kick our asses even harder later on

inhales*

TUNNNELLL SCEENEEEEE

My head is in my hands ,,, RIKU IS THE LIGHT— he has been for so long i— the flashbacks to all the true love sacrifices, anna elsa precious person, rapunzel eugene you-were-my-new-dream AHHHHHHHH

THE FUCKIN—HIS FACE, THE LIGHT, SOMETHING was WRONG but it never gets ADDRESSED like— WE SEE U

IM HAVING NECKLACE THEORY FEELS

I AM HAVING. NECKLACE THEORY FEELS

HOWW COULD YOUU DO THIS TO MEEEE