#we need Luxu to give No Name to somebody

[nyctoheart]

supposedly khux has only a few updates left before it’s union leader story is closed, but like honestly... they better be some long fucking story scenes cause we got a lotta ground to cover.... 

[kitsoa]

So, about your Theory ...

So, we talked on Reddit a while ago, Kitsoa, and I have some more thoughts about your theory. It’s more rambling and longer than what I previously intended – my apologies for this.

Kitsoa- Hello again! I’ll reply in brief through quotes though I’m not interested in doing a solid defense of my theory. Mostly it’s a lot of creative stretching using the crumbs of the narrative and I’m not feeling particularly impassioned to bring out the counter citations nor do I think it necessary.

Also: I have written and re-iterated upon this meta theory of mine multiple times so if I am not referencing the correct Original Post in question that’s probably because I never bothered to do a big manifesto and I will take the fall for that confusion.

It’s certainly very interesting but parts of it seem to not only be unsupported but outright contradicted by the games. For instance, take your surmise that Xehanort’s villainy is motivated by his knowledge of the KH world as fictional and his self-knowledge that he has to play the role of the villain to create a conflict and thus sustain the universe. His actual speech in Re:Mind after Dark Road’s world tour points to something else:

“All around the world people live seemingly peaceful lives. They believe themselves to be moral and virtuous, but it’s all an act. Darkness lurks in the pit of everyone’s heart. Their light is a total farce. Those who are weak, and who desire greater power, simply strip the strong of their power, and convince themselves they’ve earned it. That’s how people become tainted by darkness. They believe what they want them to believe, using hollow reasons as justification. They repeat this cycle, and their darkness grows. No, its better they be ruled by darkness. People carry delusions of having power, but it’s a lie. They are but sheep pretending to be wolves. Though I can admit, I can understand why.”

This edgy little diatribe isn’t about the nature of the universe or Xehanort’s own origin … it’s about his view of human (or talking animal, w/e) nature. It’s a similar theme to his final speech in KH3, and ends not with him concluding that he needs to play the role of a villain to create conflict ,,, but that to prevent the KH universe collapsing into chaos, he needs to become its absolute godlike ruler. Which is what sets up the conflict, yes, but his goal isn’t explicitly to create conflict to keep the universe going.

Re: Xehanorts motive aligning with a meta-awareness on his ‘role’ as a villain. This is a theme I was definitely playing with. Xehanort is clearly symbolic of the corrupting pursuit of knowledge and we have a god-like encounter spark stranger behavior yet. It’s a fascinating trope yes? Corrupted by the Truth. Saving the world by sacrificing the world. That was my angle. The World Tour from Re:mind had him summarizing his villainous disdain and I’ll agree that it gives him no direction towards a ‘role’. But I also take note of the fact that this enlightenment comes directly from the actions of the chessmaster MoM who could feasibly manipulate Xehanort towards a conflict-sparking war. If Xehanort isn’t directly and consciously responsible for fulfilling the metacontextual requirements for a ‘story’ then MoM is. And as I’ve stated it probably comes from a more experimental god-mode type motive.

And again, your argument that time doesn’t really exist in the Disney worlds until Sora arrives and this is related to them literally being stories that he’s diving into. I don’t know where you get this from, at all. We go into Disney worlds and experience plots unrelated to the films (KH1 Olympus, Halloween Town); we go into Disney worlds in medias res (too many to count); we go into Disney worlds before the movie’s events take place (BBS Deep Space, Neverland); we even go into Disney worlds in-between or after the movies’ events (KH3 Toy Box, San Fransokyo). Which rather gets in the way of a simplistic “Sora arrives in the Disney world, time starts flowing forward and the movie starts” look at things. You’d previously characterized this as “every world has its unique story” which IMO would be a more reasonable way to look at things rather than the stronger “the worlds literally are the stories and nothing else”.

I’ll defend this a little. The entire concept of the Worlds as Stories demands only that we recognize a higher reality. A reader/audience/ creator relationship with the happenings. When I say ‘time doesn’t exist’ I’m saying it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is the time spent there by Sora (or his subsidiaries). Time is going to move between visits but not at a pace that runs independently of Sora (and co). And all of the events within those worlds are unique to the source material-- on the virtue of having Sora. But when I say the worlds are the stories, I mean it... metaphysically. The relationship between the greater kh multi-verse (and no greater) and these literal planet world island things is that of stories given form. Most all of my KH musings come from the very simple concept that formless metaphysical concepts like love, bonds, imagination, memories etc are literal, tangible things. Tangible. In this, Worlds are not so much another universe equal to other universes. They are a story, fictional and potentially subservient to a greater reality. It’s only from that understanding that I add the extra layer upon KH (and Quadratum by later extension) itself. 

The exact logic behind this reasoning is cyclic. KH is a fictional story to the literal higher reality (us) and seeing how there's a parallel within the narrative, I just applied that logic within the universe and used my understanding of the ‘literal metaphysics’ theme going on with other lore concepts.

Power of Waking ejecting Sora into “real reality”: This analysis is based on the idea that Sora is “waking himself up” out of dream states until he “wakes up” out of KH reality into “real reality”. But YMX tells him (and implicitly us, via the conventions of this kind of villainous exposition) that Sora is repeating the same error he made in 3D and sending himself into the abyss at the bottom of the Realm of Darkness, not doing the opposite thing and “waking himself up” out of KH reality.

I’ll just punt Power of Waking stuff. There is a lot of stuff with the power but I take most of the speculation from the name and the results. There’s a big interweave of darkness that can support or deny my thoughts within the next sentence and I’m electing now to wait and see. Sora abuses the power of waking-- ends up in another reality. Waking--> realities--> dreams--> sleep. Run with the word association. I like to think the ambiguity with sleep and the darkness of abyss has more to say about the nature of reality as a whole ergo: “everything is a dream” concepts that are hard to swallow. What is waking up, if you find yourself deeper in sleep? Nonesense stuff like that.

MoM as Creator of the KH universe/Quadratum as the “higher reality”: Not only is he presented as a clear villain figure; given that the rest of the Foretellers are based on the Seven Deadly Sins, MoM as their leader would clearly represent the sin of pride. We also have him saying in Back Cover that he “might” disappear from the KH world, suggesting that it was beyond his control; and Luxu’s report suggests that the KH3 Keyblade War was engineered to open a means for him to return to the KH universe, presumably via Sora going to where he is in Quadratum/”unreality”.

I believe strongly in this still. MoM can be a villainous figure and at the mercy of universal laws while still being the Creator and denizen of a higher plane. I try not to dig into scenarios too much but follow me here: Creator of the world, literally self-inserts himself into a world of his own creation. He’s a verified Mad Scientist who of course likes to experiment and test his creations and he does so directly, physically, to them. There, he put them on auto-pilot and is watching Characterization carry on. I am not claiming that he is breaking the rules of his own universe and traveling in and out with ease. Nor am I saying if he is exercising any sort of Creator-granted power over their will. He’s there, he’s interacting with them, and he’s watching them. I find it to be an intentional obstaining of power. Self imposed limitations OR an understood sacrifice for this meddling (think, giving up ‘divine’ form to live amongst his ‘mortal’ creations in divine parallel. he is at the will of his universe but not out of control.)

When he says he ‘might’ disappear not only is he being vague on purpose to terrorize his high-strung apprentices but he’s made no indication that it’s something against his intention. And the actions taken by Luxu in formulating his return mean nothing to his plan or his ability or his potential Creator status. I can’t stress how Long Game I perceive MoM’s actions to be. All in the effort to observe, toy, and curate the perfect... something. And since I am talking about the literal nature of stories, I mean the ‘perfect’ story.

Also, we may note that if it was truly a “higher reality”, Quadratum wouldn’t be noted as the fictional Verum Rex video game in KH3 – there’d be no explicit sign at all of its existence, as it would be the higher reality generating the lower one. Which suggests that what may actually be the case, if the series is going meta, is that KH-verse and Quadratum view each other as fictional – in which case MoM would be somebody falsely claiming or believing to be the Creator, which makes sense in relation to the sin he represents.

Not that I’m saying KH-verse isn’t generated by a higher reality/being; but I don’t feel that the higher reality is Quadratum or that the higher being is MoM. There was a fairly interesting post on Reddit comparing KH to Plato’s world of the forms; in which case Kingdom Hearts would be the higher reality from which both regular KH-verse and Quadratum are generated. Or “unreality” really is a “lower reality” than the regular KH-verse, which TBF seems a bit less likely than “’reg. KH-verse’ and ‘unreality’ view each other as mutually fictional but are actually ontologically equal”.

I think my theory posts predate most of the Quadratum reveal so the details of the reveal haven’t been accounted for in my words but I did call it when breaking down Remind’s Yozora scenario. That said yes, I think there is a higher reality and I feel like you mentioned it outright. I see KH and Quadratum as equal fictional realities, segregated but connected through creator. Some of my earlier meta posts before re:mind saw Quadratum as the “higher reality” (or like “host reality”) until the presence of an author between them became apparent enough. We can potentially consider MoM=the author as a separate subject in this respect as it’s not entirely dependant on that reveal. Ultimately, my point in this caveat of the theory is that the relationship between KH and Quadratum strikes an intentionally meta-referential parallel to the actual creator Nomura. That’s an angle that is very audacious and I have full understanding in the denial but it’s my supporting evidence to a higher power within the re:mind secret episode alone.  As for the ‘unreality’ I literally think that is just a way for them to say ‘fictional’ without saying the word, not necessarily an indication of ‘rank’ (for lack of a better word). I use a little reverse logic on the reveal in Melody of Memory when I claim they are ‘equal fictional realities’. No one thinks to assume that they themselves are also “fake” so it;s not a stretch to believe that the reverse assumption could be true. This putting KH and Quadratum on the same level and almost guaranteeing a connection through a mutual creator. 

Now, you also talk about the Whispers in FF7R, but in that they’re in-universe contextualised as “guardians of destiny”, essentially manifestations of the Will of the Planet. Which just goes to show what I talked about earlier – the meta-level of a story can’t exist without a surface-level narrative. We know that the Whispers out-of-universe represent fan anger at changes to the plotline; but they’re presented as something in-universe, which can be defeated by in-universe forces (another reason I doubt it as it seems to leave no room for our heroes’ victory in the confrontation with MoM that’s being teased as the next saga).

I bring up the Whispers to note a synonymous use of the words ‘destiny’ and ‘fate’ to ‘story and ‘narrative’ Not explicitly of course, that would break the 4th wall, but its a subtext that's easier seen in a ‘remake’ because of direct references and deviations being drawn. I think the same synonymous use can be applied when brought up in KH because of their common creative entity.

Finally: How do you see this “metapocalypse” of yours playing out as an actual KH game? We know the conventions well enough by now – a trip through Disney worlds fighting monsters and villains in flashy shonen-style combat, being stalked and looked over ominously from afar by a council of villains with mysterious schemes. Then an invasion of the villains’ lair by the heroes with a final serving of flashy, SFX-heavy boss battles, a number of dramatic plot twists and arc resolutions, and an ending with the villains’ schemes having been at least forestalled. Then we get the ending credits; with an epilogue, a superboss and a secret ending all hinting at more to come.

Well I’m glad you asked! Honestly, I’m basically writing a fanfiction about it. I’m writing the story in part to engage some of these theories/speculations into a serviceable game narrative. So I’ll be vague:

Thematically: This breaking the 4th wall has the power to thematically drive home concepts of free will, defining your personhood and defying expectations. Furthermore, you have questions like... what makes something real? What makes it matter and what’s important? With growing up and the sanctity of youth being a constant struggle as the series and the characters age, the reverence in imagination and growing connections to things that aren’t stereotypically ‘real’ is a strong concept. If I were to break down the big message simply: As long as it’s real in your heart it doesn’t matter.

Overall, the reveal doesn’t really have to impact the basic formula. You can have Disney World Hopping and Villainous characters scheming and manipulating a greater force. I personally think the world-hopping parallel can become more direct with the context of it being movies/stories adding a different understanding of the process of visiting those worlds and meeting those characters. The episodes can be more about fate and predestination and can speak directly to the importance of the connections to those worlds. And the dramatic stakes are the literal threads of reality and godhood! 

If I am to be more detailed and imaginative (without substantial evidence)  I might say... MoM’s experiments in manipulating his own created world(s) are aiming to shape Sora (or 2nd favorite son Yozora) into some kind of perfect conduit for the marraige of reality and fiction and the success or failure of that process might weaponize his ability to connect with other hearts... real and not, all to the greater ascention of one chessmaster. 

(That’s not even mentioning how I have a personal reason to dislike it as it reminds me of an old theory that the KH plot was actually SRK imagining it all up in their childhood games or to put a darker twist on that idea, Sora dreaming it all up in a coma or while dying. I hated reading those ideas when I was younger and still do.)

I’m gonna sympathize hard with this. I hate ‘it was all just a dream’ theories. They are cheap and they trivialize the journey. That is not what this theory is saying. There is a higher reality in this concept and that is used as a proxy for our relationship with the series. The imagery of dreams is only a small facet of the reality/unreality theme so there is no ‘waking up’ or ‘end of story, goodbye’ attitude. The commentary is broader and it can potentially speak on the power of dreams and reality. The ‘realness’ of fake things. I’m sort of calling out KH for what it is: an imaginative story that expands upon what it means to truly experience stories.  Anyway, I rambled more than I thought. I haven’t written anything about KH in months so this was a little caffine shot for me. I’m not gonna be too stuck in the details and nor do I care exactly. I’m a story teller first and I just so happened to have predicted some things not so much because of the hints being dropped but because I understand some of the thematic intent behind the lore and certain narrative beats. The rest is just me having fun and finding the best reading. Sometimes I’m right. 

[kcystotheheart]

{🍎} I don’t feel like i got all of them but MASSIVE TAG DROP/DUMP

♡ Home is where the Heart is... {IC}

✧ I foresee the end of all I know... {Ava}

#☪︎I'm howling with the wolves {Fida}

#✦ Breaking Traditions {Sub Alt V.} ⚔︎

#☮︎You are the future; the hope of this world... {Hope}

#♟Hidden from the rest of the World… Until now {Wandering V.} ✧

#🍎of someone's eye {Mun}

#✎ We may feel out of place; but we fit together so perfectly... {X Ventus} #♔♡ Eventually we all return to it... Kingdom Hearts {S A V E D} #⚖︎ I will keep a just and fair eye... {Invi} #♘ They look to me for Guidance... {Ira} #Heartless; Dusks; Unversed? All the same {Anon} #❥ ANSWERED

#✎ He's a work in progress and that's what matters! {Vanitas/tenebrxsus}

#✎ The Light to my Darkness; he makes up what I lack... {X Vanitas}

#✧ He may be all brawn; but he has the biggest heart {Aced/ursaced}

#✧ You wouldn't hurt me; I know... {X Aced} #✦ The Beginning of it all… {Past V.} ♙ #➳ All right; No more playing around! {Hayner} #♡ It's time to strike {Open Starter} #♔ Beyond the realms... {OOC} #♥︎ I'll find my way... {Riku} #✎ Let's make a promise; To hold each other through it all {X Riku} #♤ I won't fade away so easily! {Lingering Remnant!Vanitas} #♠︎ Different from the rest... {Springy/Hareraiser} #♥︎ Once a Somebody... now a Nobody {Nobody V.} ♤ #✦ A little Generosity never hurt nobody~ {Cari} #✦ He thinks he's sooo good; but I know he's bad~ {Indus/ursaced} #✦ Momma I'm in love with a criminal; I'm the bad guy duh~ {X Indus} #♡ We'll never let the darkness consume us... {Queue}

🎲 May Lady Luck be on your side~ {Fortune} 💘 No matter what happens i’ll always be by your side {Faith} ⚔️ That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers! {Seifer} ⌨️ Cracking the {Code} 🌱Rough around the edges by soft on the inside [Jagged} 🌿 My Strength will help support them… {Aced} 🌟 I will always help the weak {Starlight} 🍃I’ll sweep you up and leave your head spinnin’! {Wind} 🛡 I will always defend them {Keeper} 🃏 Care to take a Gamble? {Luxord/Ordul} 🎵I can drop a beat {Demyx/Dyme}  🎼 Let me play a song for you~ {Arpeggio}

⚠︎ You make me feel things I thought were lost {X Lauriam} ♟ More alike than you know {Rei/solaimaginem} ✎ Even after all this time… we’re connected. {Terra/willfulwayfarer} ✎ We’ll find new secrets to discover… together! {Pence/dxgstreet} ✎ I want to capture this moment {X Pence} ➸✮ Blessed or Cursed with magic that runs within him {Magia} #🎐My Lazy Companion {Sir Snugglesopholis the Flood} #♝ I will prove my worth... {Xionort} #𝒳 No one will know... {Subject X V.} ⭑ #No longer Lost {Naminé; Vanitas & Repliku } #✎ We've had tough pasts but we can move forward {Aiden/lethargic-hunter} #♟We've cut our own strings and now we're free {Xion & Repliku} #Made a sacrifice {Repliku} #Always busy saving everyone else... {Aqua} #☯︎ Disciplinary Committee {Fuu; Seifer & Rai} #yOU leFT mE... {Nightmare Chirithy}

#Why does everything involve running? {Pence}

#Not your Typical Princess... {Kairi}

#Fun and Playful; Strong and Powerful {Ventus}

#♠︎ A little noisy... {Skitters/Flood}

#☓ Always watching; always seeing~ {Master of Masters}

#⭑ How bright is the future? {Skuld}

#♚ Stuck in Between Worlds... {Lingering V.} ♤

#✨I'll learn to use my magic for good {Apprentice V.} ✎

#✎ He understands me like no one else does {Max/pageofgoof}

#🍀I've got a present too; for all of us! {Olette}

#He once wandered the darkness seeking light; only to find he was the light {Riku}

#His smile brings about other people's happiness {Sora}

#👁‍🗨If only I could stand in her light... {Ava/verumheart}

#👁‍🗨If I could begin to be; half of what you think of me I'd do about anything {X Ava}

#🍀She sits by the Seashore {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#✎ I'll never forget you; promise? {X Sora}

#♜ We all have our Roles to Play... {Foreteller V.} ♠︎

#♗ I have made mistakes & have more regrets than you could imagine {Master Eraqus}

#One of the strongest wielders there is {Terra}

#🎐My lovely little Pearl... {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#♡ Something that simply resonates with me... {Aesthetic}

#➦ Portal Time {Shooter}

#➥ Eagle Eyes {Sharp}

#🌪Whispers on the Wind {Gale}

#♤ The Nobody that never was... {Kuxir}

#🎐When things are tough; I'll always welcome you home... {Ansem/afoolelopedindarkness}

#✦ I have to complete my role... {Sacrificed V.} ✧

#♡♔ Kingdom FARTS {Crack}

#♟No longer just a vessel... {Xion}

#♣︎ No one would miss me... And yet... {Roxas}

#☀︎ I always keep my promises... {Axel}

#⌁ I have to uncover the truth... {Gula}

#⚠︎ I will find a way to rewrite my Fate {Brain}

#☆⭒ A lost little Star {Strelitzia}

#♚ The Darkness has consumed us… {Alt V.} ♥︎

#{Headcanons}

#☁︎ Where there's rain; there's a storm {Rain}

#🌸As Pretty as a Flower but twice as Dangerous {Song}

#✴︎ May the Tears of Heaven hear my call... {Sterling}

#❅ Her Colours are a reflection of who she is {Aurora}

#✵ Hear my prayer O'Morning Star {Ivory}

#♾You'll never hear their name on the wind... {No Name}

#⚡️The Eye of the Storm {Tempest}

#✑ You write down your feelings on paper {Memoire}

#☆⭒ A Light in the Dark... {Roxas/aftrliight}

#👁‍🗨 It's a heavy burden to carry... {Luxu}

#♥︎ He has every right to be mad at me; but i had to do it {Roxas/caelumobscura}

#♥︎ Twilight and Dawn... What an interesting combination {X Roxas}

#☘︎Oh Look- Nope it's just them... {Dani}

#♣︎ There's just something about him that i hate... and i love {X Riku}

#✎ You remember me; the way I remember you {X Roxas}

#☆⭒ He gives me the courage I need; she is always so kind... {X Roxas}

#☆⭒ Let's go to the garden... {Lauriam/lordofoblivion}

#✘ There is always something worth fighting for... {Kohaku}

#♡ No longer just a Copy... {Repliku/Kouki}

#⚙︎Just because I'm not a 'True' Keyblade doesn't mean I can't kill you {Void}

#♥︎ You and I; were intertwined from the start... {X Kairi}

#♡ These will make anyone laugh! {Memes}

#✬ Here to help! {Chirithy}

#🌼You'll never learn from your mistakes if you don't make them {Ayaka/Roxas' mom}

#♔♡ The Mark of a Master~ {P R O M O}

#✿ Thinking of you wherever you are... {Hana/Sora's Mom}

#♤☆ When the Light embraced the Dark... {Mending Hearts V.} ★♠

#✎ He wants to break the mold {Roxas/serendimpetus}

#🗝🖤The Kingdom's Protector and the Original Blade {Chi}

#♔ Mirrored Reflections; Two in the Same {Twin V.} ♡

#★ I'll be there to hide your light when you need it {Dusk}

#♻︎ I'm not even the real thing...And yet in my soul it says otherwise {Soul}

#✩*~ I'll unlock the mysteries of the world {Ephemer}

#♠︎ Made completely out of Darkness {Vanitas}

#✩*~ We'll meet where the darkness meets the light {X Vanitas}

#➳ Skateboard tricks and Sea Salt Icecream... {X Roxas}

#♡ Let's line up the pieces... Together {Main V.} ♔

#❁ He'll always be my little Sprout... {Kasumi/Riku's mother}

#❁ To trust or not to trust is the question... {Xemnas/potestasaeterna}

#♘ He trusts me to look after everyone; but who's going to look after him? {X Master}

#♘ Always one step ahead... or two- or three {Master/masterxmasters}

#☾ The path between Night and Day... {Dawn}

#♡ A Watchful eye... {Dash Commentary}

#☯︎ Total Annihilation {Fuu}

#✎ Don't forget me... {Naminé}

#☄️ I will always rise up from the Ashes {Libra}

#🔥Better watch out because I always bounce back {Ember}

#💥I will burn Eternally {Flame}

#♕ Together we'll protect the world! {Kiki}

#♛ We'll free their hearts and consume the world in darkness... {Heart!Kiki}

#🍨Not just a sweet treat~ {Sweetie}

#♜ I'll protect you from the Shadows {Oblivion}

#♖ Just follow my Light {Oathkeeper}

#♥︎ No matter the Nightmare; I'll be there {X Ventus}

#♠︎ A little noisy... {Skitters/Flood}

#🎐When you feel it in your heart; you know that your home {Mitsuki/Kairi's Grandma}

#❁ He's my stubborn Rock. {Roxas/aftrliight}

#💥She rises with the moon {Luna/verumheart}

#♧ Even in your dreams... {Dream Eater V.} ♥︎

#🍡 Cheeky Cheel {Leche}

#❦ There's more to Light than meets the eye {Young Eraqus}

#❦ And that's checkmate I win; Hold on it's still my turn {X Young Xehanort}

#The Copycat Trio {Repliku; Vanitas and Xion}

#Created with a purpose {Vanitas}

#🐶Watch out for the Mad Dog~ {Mady}

#➸✮ Reliable and Sturdy as the Shield he carries {Aegis/verumrook}

#➸✮ I shouldn't feel this way but I do... And I don't want to stop {X Aegis}

#✘ ...I will protect his light with my life... {Artemis/keyfamilia}

#✘ I don't know what he sees in me... but i'm grateful {X Artemis}

#🗝🖤A shroud of Mystery and Darkness {Master of Masters/eyesofparoxysm}

#🗝🖤The one who compliments me; who truly understands {X Master of Masters}

#✧ He's a good listener and a good friend {Luxu/gravitasfatum}

#✎ What did I do to deserve you...? {Riku/darkheartedprince}

#♔♡ It rests now within us all... {Drabble}

#💚As playful as a breeze; but as strong as a gale wind {Ventus}

#💫Not even the Night Sky could contain her Light... {Astraea}

#🍏A Bad Apple spoils the bunch {Negative Thoughts}

#☀︎ Set me ablaze; start a fire in me {X Terra}

#☀︎ He's my pillar when I'm not strong {Terra/willfulfwayfarer}

#🎐Just like the Stars; He will burn long after... {Yen Sid/omnipotentmxster}

#☀︎ Never expected to fall for a flower {X Marluxia}

#☀︎ Every Flower has it's thorns and he's full of them {Marluxia/lordofoblivion}

#✿ My Little Sparrow {Sora/lightheartedwarrior}

#❁ My Little Sprout {Riku/darkheartedprince}

#🎐If we keep each other in our hearts; we'll always be strong {Young Mitsuki}

#🎐The Stars align when he smiles... {Young Yen Sid/omnipotentmxster}

#⚚ I'm sending a message to you and I hope that it makes it through {Hermod}

#⭑ He could light the sky with his colours {Sora/valorxdrive}

#⭑ He's my knight and I'm his princess {X Sora}

#⭑ We both just wanted a friend... {Blaine/virusplanted}

#⭑ The future may be uncertain; but I'm certain of us {X Blaine}

#🧶Tying the knot {Married V.}

#♔ In another World; another Time or another Place {AU V.} ♡

#⚖︎She moves with the beauty and grace of her namesake {Aqua/theheartstreasure}

#⚖︎I certainly don't know what I did to deserve you; but i'm grateful {X Aqua}

#⌁ The only one I'll always trust {Ava/starshold}

#❀ Careful the Flowers have ears {Foxglove}

#☆⭒ He's my bookworm... {Blaine/virusplanted}

#☆⭒ One day I saw him there and couldn't help but gravitate towards him {X Blaine}

#♔ A World without Magic... {Modern V.} ♡

#🎐An old friend and fellow Master {Eraqus/eraqus-the-defender}

#❦ I wish I was enough to keep you from the Darkness... {Young Xehanort/iuvienis}

#🌕A place where all hearts are one... {Kingdom Hearts}

#🔮The Mistress of Darkness {Maleficent}

#🐚Overcame the Impossible {Maryllis/Kairi's Mother}

#🌊I will do my duty to protect the people {Nalani/Destiny Islands Mayor}

#🥀Poison runs through their veins {Vera}

#✩*~ He's the smartest guy I know {Brain/virusplanted}

#✩*~ We'll always be connected; no matter where we fly too {X Brain}

#🐚His Majesty and My King {Ansem/afoolelopedindarkness}

#🐚Two halves of a whole {X Ansem The Wise}

#✩*~ Flowers can be strong so long as you let them {Lauriam/lordofoblivion}

#🐚My Precious Treasure {Kairi/thalassicradiance}

#🐚Like Mother like daughter {Maryllis and Kairi}

#🎶Listen to my Melody {Maestro}

#Before Summer Vacation is over; we should go to the beach! {Twilight Town Gang}

#♘ More important than he realizes {Kage/thechessboard}

#✩*~ I use to think Dandelions were just weeds; I think they're beautiful {X Lauriam}

#📓Don't always believe what you see... {Lexicon}

#🌹Strong and Elegant {Rose}

#⚠︎ Infuriating and yet... He's Mi Rosa {Lauriam/rxsoideae}

#✧ She's as strong as she is beautiful {Aqua/theheartstreasure}

#✧ She makes me feel like a princess; she gives me hope {X Aqua}

#✎ We will always have each other's backs {Naminé and Aiden}

#☆⭒ Wallflower friends {Luxu and Strelitzia}

#The Darkness gave us purpose... {Dark Repliku; Vanitas & Xionort}

#Let's go to the beach {Axel; Xion & Roxas}

#⚔︎Childhood rivals to lovers {X Hayner}

#⭑★ Fallen Hearts turn to Dark Stars… {Darkling V.} ❤︎♥︎

#⭑ ...Unknowingly My Protector... {Braig/freeshooterxig}

#🍀We're stronger than we look {X Kairi}

#♟He isn't all darkness... {Vanitas/unversedshadow}

#✧ My precious Snowflake Dandelion... {Theo/keytosolidarity}

#✎ She was my light; He was my knight {X Repliku}

[nyctospoilers]

The Power of Waking and how I believe it affects Sora, Young Xehanort, Luxu, the Master of Masters and destiny.

So I was GOING to say all this in an answer to an ask. But I decided to post it as it’s own so that I can cover more topics then the question itself. And then, I’ll go back to questions in my inbox and answer them with reference to this post.

—————————–—————————–

Sora and the Power of Waking

Before I say anything, I want to list off the rules of time travel stated by Young Xehanort in Dream Drop Distance

First, you must leave your body behind to do it.

Then, there must be a version of you waiting at the destination.

Upon arrival, you can only move forward as per the laws of time.

And you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen.

The Power of Waking has let Sora reverse time and change events that were fated to happen. This goes directly against the fourth rule. Young Xehanort has always been able to travel with his body intact, and that goes against the second rule. So how are these laws, these restrictions, able to be broken? I believe that the Power of Waking is a power that allows you to break the restrictions of time travel, and it is a power that Young Xehanort has used (or still uses) himself (and possibly forgets about when he returns to his own time to grow into Master Xehanort, as MX never mentions it once ever). Let’s see word for word how Young Xehanort describes the Power of Waking after Sora fights the Lich:

“It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds, not for traversing worlds to reach hearts.”

Something we need to ask ourselves is- how does YX know this? Even Yen Sid describes the Power of Waking as simply that- the power to awaken people’s hearts. But YX clearly knows more about how it works and how it can affect other things.

Let’s take a look at each technique. “Traversing worlds to each hearts” is what Sora had just done before this conversation. He traverses the Stations of Awakening of worlds to reach his friends’ hearts and recovers them. That in turn, saves them from the destiny of “light expiring” like the prophecy states. I think it’s important to note that the worlds he arrives in may not actually be those worlds though, but rather something similar to say, the world revisits in The End of the World in KH1. I’ll expand more about KH1 in the next paragraph.

Now let’s take a took at “Traversing hearts to reach worlds”. In my opinion, this is like Sora opening a portal in Master Xehanort to reach Scala ad Caelum. But I don’t think that was actual Scala ad Caelum, but rather a memory or dream of it. Similar to Riku opening a portal in Sora to reach his memory/dream of Destiny Islands. [[ And I also think this is similar to another instance of KH1: Sora having a flashback to Kairi in Hollow Bastion with her grandmother. I recognized instantly from KH3 the Sora gliding through the star field sort of thing. I said “Hey this is like when he see’s Kairi’s memory in KH1!” and sure enough, later he does it and once again is joined by Kairi herself. My point here is, these two scenes of Sora gliding through that space in KH3, I believe is Nomura trying to hint at us that Sora traversed through Kairi’s heart to reach her memory/dream of Hollow Bastion in KH1. In other words, Sora’s been able to use the Power of Awakening since KH1 ]]

—————————–—————————–

The Master of Masters and Destiny

Before I said that the Power of Waking has let Sora change events that were fated to happen. Sora changed destiny, and supposedly there were repercussions to that. But why? Let’s look at what Kingdom Hearts defines destiny as. One of the best examples is Xehanort during his final speech in KH3:

“The World needs someone to stand up and lead. Someone strong, to stop the weak from polluting the World with their endless darkness. Someone to dictate their destiny.”

This connects to Xehanort’s past revelations in his reports:

Xehanort’s Report IV excerpt: And when Kingdom Hearts is complete, it is said the one who opens its door will bring about the creation of the Next World. Such a feat is above any human. Or, to put it a different way: whoever opens that door will be reborn as something far greater than human.

Xehanort’s Report VI excerpt: And, as stated before, opening this door arguably gives that person control over all worlds and all people.

Xehanort’s statements say that the person who opens Kingdom Hearts will give them supernatural powers, allowing them to oversee the World and it’s destiny.

Now tell me, who does that sound like to you?

I could be wrong, but at the moment I believe that long ago, the Master of Masters was the last person to open Kingdom Hearts, and since then has overseen destiny. This is backed up by various lines of KHX, Ava asking Luxu if this was all the Master’s “intentions” the whole time. In Luxu’s Observation excerpts, asking “Are these new events just another phase in the Master’s grand plan?”

Taking this into account, Sora defying destiny and changing it is seen differently. Sora isn’t defying some insentient force. Sora is defying a person- a person with a plan that they desire to come to fruition.

And I think that is the repercussion. I believe, that Sora won’t just fade away because it’s the law of the universe that if you disobey destiny too many times you’ll be punished. I think that when the MoM returns, he himself will punish Sora for defying his will. That is what Young Xehanort is playfully warning him about.

—————————–—————————–

Young Xehanort and Luxu

So what about Young Xehanort? He’s able to time travel with his body. He knows about the potential of the Power of Waking, and he warns Sora about repercussions [not to help Sora, but more to amuse himself], and not at all worried about himself.

I think Young Xehanort is purposely following the Master’s destiny rather than defying it like Sora. I think somehow, Young Xehanort has a piece of vital information that he forgets when he returns to his time. So there is something that Young Xehanort knows, that Master Xehanort does not. And I believe it is Luxu who tells him, possibly during the time that YX traveled with him during DDD.

I think for this, it’s good to refer back to Luxu’s Observation excerpts form KH3:

Observations excerpt 2 “Somewhere in this cyclical history of bequeathings, a chosen one will appear and reenact the Keyblade War. When this scapegoat arrives and takes my Keyblade in hand, that will be the time to take the stage and finish my role.”

Observations’s third excerpt is interesting to me, as it seems to be written at different points of time. Here is the entire excerpt. I will bold important words.

Observations excerpt 3 It seems this body, this name will be my last. The lives I have lived over the ages could fill volumes, but for now I must focus on what matters most.     The Keyblade has been successfully passed down, generation to generation, and it seems a Keyblade Master devoted to the darkness may finally arise. Until now, I have watched over the course of events from a distance. Perhaps the time has come to intervene. I need only play the role of a fool desirous of the Keyblade’s power. I will don the mask of his ally in order to keep watch over my Keyblade from close by.      The Gazing Eye: a Keyblade forged from the eye of the Master of Masters. He passed it to me, as I have to others, and through it he can see the future – all that will ever come to pass. Spanning the ages in body after body, life after life, my task has been to keep vigil over the Eye as it passes from hand to hand. It has been a long time. Longer than I can express.     But now at last the Keyblade War has begun, and Kingdom Hearts will open – a true and complete Kingdom Hearts, born of the clash between darkness and light. I will soon be reunited with my old companions, and in that moment my long vigil will reach its end. He will return…

Excerpt 3 starts off sounding like it’s written during BbS, when Braig meets Xehanort. But then it says the Keyblade War HAS begun. Perhaps Braig is only referring to when Terra, Ven, and Aqua are fighting in BbS’s ending. But I think Luxu knows better, I think he knows it’s the next battle at the Keyblade War that reunites him with his old companions.

I think this Observation was written around the time of Re:Coded’s secret ending, titled ‘Destiny’. That cutscene takes place during DDD, before Lea and the others wake up as somebodies again. However, the Braig we see is his BbS appearance, not his DDD appearance as Xigbar. So we know this Braig time traveled, and being accompanied by Young Xehanort, we can assume they traveled together (notice neither had to give up their hearts). I believe that is why Young Xehanort appears in Birth by Sleep as the Mysterious Figure, to visit Luxu during the time of BbS. And it is AFTER Young Xehanort’s visit in BbS is when ‘Destiny’ takes place.

Why do I say after and not before? Because in BbS Young Xehanort does not use a keyblade (We are given a keyblade when beating him, but it is noticeably different). In ‘Destiny’ Young Xehanort says him having MoM’s No Name is yet to be a reality. BUT, Young Xehanort DOES have a keyblade in DDD, which, like I said, takes place soon after ‘Destiny’. And not only that, his keyblade (notably also named No Name) in DDD is the one we recieve from him in BbS- but now has decorations similar to that of the MoM’s No Name- a goat head and the gazing eye. After ‘Destiny’ Luxu (as BbS Braig, not DDD Xigbar) gives Young Xehanort that keyblade.

THAT is when Luxu writes Observation 3. “Keyblade Master devoted to the darkness may finally arise.” Refers to Young Xehanort, even if he’s in modern times. “I need only play the role of a fool desirous of the Keyblade’s power.” Refers to the way he behaves in ‘Destiny’ and in BbS when he returns. And “But now at last the Keyblade War has begun” refers to the situation of all 12 darkness being assembled (think back to his line in Destiny when he says “The party’s already begun, huh?”).

This is what leads me to believe that whatever Young Xehanort learns that Master Xehanort does not, he was taught to it by Luxu. And what was Young Xehanort taught? We see in KH3 he now knows about the Power of Waking, he continuously teases Sora about his dark fate. I believe Luxu tells Young Xehanort about The Master of Masters and the role he gave him. Even if Luxu returns back to the time of BbS, YX remains with this new information until Sora defeats him near the end of KH3.

We MUST remember this however: Young Xehanort was still able to time travel to BbS in the first place as the mysterious figure. Which means there is an event during the times of Young Xehanort and Young Eraqus at Scala ad Caelum that sets all these events in motion, as Ansem the Seeker of Darkness did not make it so YX could time travel like fan speculation suggests. I believe all Ansem did was give YX the opportunity to cross worlds, leaving Destiny Islands and arrive in Scala ad Caelum.

We must also remember that Xigbar (not BbS Braig) says in DDD that he is already half Xehanort, with an emphasis on his golden eye. We never completely defeated Xigbar in KH3, and he still has his golden eye in KH3′s epilogue. So, Young Xehanort could very well be able to travel forward past KH3. If we find out that he for sure does, it will explain why YX knows so much about Sora’s tragic fate that he warns him about many times in KH3.

—————————–—————————–

The conclusion 

I practically spent all day writing this post. I understand that the Young Xehanort/Luxu part is by far the longest, and for that I apologize. I wrote the other two sections a couple times before in drafts (now deleted) so I already had a better idea on how to condense all that important information. I was realizing things about YX and Luxu while writing this, and that’s why those details seem much longer.

I have a headache now so I’m not really in the mood to properly close this off, I hope you’ll forgive me :’) but now, i WILL answer other asks about this. So if you want more, look at my tag #analysis 

[nanakibh]

Do I really need to explain how Demyx being the MoM makes sense? Still?

We can cross Luxord off the list now. I had him on the list, but he was never a strong contender anyway. I always figured he would be something "different", so now it makes sense for him to be the Player. Honestly, I should have seen that coming.

I've seen some people acting like the presence of the MoM in the DLC trailer somehow proves that he isn't Demyx, and... No??

The scene between Young Master Xehanort and the MoM in the trailer most likely takes place right after YMX's Mark of Mastery exam. We can infer this because he refers to the exam as a "tour of the worlds" in his secret reports.

The theory I came up with ages ago to explain how Demyx is the MoM still works, now more than ever.

First important note, however:

If you want to stress less, stop thinking of Demyx and the MoM as the same person. If I'm right, they aren't!

Demyx is a Nobody.

Like Marluxia and Larxene, he probably doesn't have any memories. The fact that he acts so much like the MoM can be explained simply by him being his Nobody.

Why hasn't Xigbar figured it out? Because Demyx seems harmless. They lampshaded this when Demyx said he was "under the radar". Even if Xigbar had suspicions about him, Demyx wouldn't even be able to give himself away. ("I don't have to be smart!") People have compared Xigbar to Ocelot, but this trick is an actual Ocelot move. lol Don't want someone to figure out who you are? Lose your memories!

So, how'd the MoM do it?

The MoM separated his heart from his body, creating a Nobody (Demyx) that got punted into the future. He put his heart in the box and gave it to Luxu to carry with him. THIS IS WHY LUXU'S ROLE WAS ESSENTIAL. With the box existing from the age of fairytales to the time of KH3, the MoM could time travel to the FUTURE, a feat that otherwise wouldn't normally be possible. I don't know which part of him exactly was doing the time traveling, but I'd assume that this was a trick he couldn't sustain for long. Note that we've only ever seen him in the black coat. There might not be a physical body in there. The MoM we see in Back Cover might have been his Heartless and the one in the DLC trailer could be some amorphous consciousness ball or some shit.

The box was hidden either in the Keyblade Graveyard or in Scala ad Caelum. The Keyblade Graveyard is where we see the MoM speaking to YMX. SOOOOO... Bam, there you go. He went directly from point A to point B.

After Luxu asked the MoM "why" he put what he put in the box, the MoM told him "You'll see." (In Japanese: "It's a surprise!") That implies that Xigbar will be surprised when the box is opened. A lil' gag, if you will.

The MoM's gonna shock that poor guy into a coma...

Anyway, all the similarities between Demyx and the MoM don't prove that Demyx IS the MoM. But it is enough to conclude that he's the MoM's Nobody and that's really all you need.

I rest my case!

One more thing. I don’t think Demyx ended up in the Organization by coincidence. Most likely, the MoM wanted him to be there to witness the events from that time period in which the No Name keyblade was absent. By Demyx successfully accepting the MoM’s heart in the future, that would close a circuit that would give the MoM access to Demyx’s sight/memories from around KH2. Whether Demyx realizes it or not, that’s gotta be why he’s just..... there.

......OK, JUST ONE MORE THING-- This is why you guys really need to stop examining Demyx’s shoulder pads. They aren’t hiding any secrets. It’s just a different coat. LOL Somebodies and Nobodies are separate entities, you know. Demyx is just... wearing his own coat... Like.......... Please. sdfkjhdg

Oh hell, I’ll just keep this post going while I’m at it... I know that some people are worried about Demyx being the MoM because it would “change” him or something. I don’t think so. They already act really similar. If they merge, Demyx will still be Demyx -- he’ll just have the KNOWLEDGE OF THE UNIVERSE. And he’ll have six apprentices who love and appreciate him, so it’s a big win for Demyx in general. u should be happy for him. This is the justice he deserves.

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

The new trailer has me thinking a lot.

People are already speculating that the Keyblade Graveyard or wherever it is that the “final battle” takes place is most likely Scala ad Caelum. This is due to the fact that the Keyblade Graveyard (in recent trailer scenes) shares symbols with Scala ad Caelum (as seen from this image below from reddit)

This would seem to suggest that the Scala ad Caelum we see at the end of the last trailer must be a version of it from the past. It’s Keyblade Graveyard form must then be its present form or a later form in general after a great war took place.

Moreover, Scala ad Caleum seems to be the place where Master Xehanort and Master Eraqus trained as young keyblade wielders (see this reddit post)

This also points to time traveling. This would mean that Sora and Xehanort, after everyone disappears in the final battle, somehow time travel to Scala ad Caelum.

How did they time travel?

We already know Xehanort and all his other version can time travel courtesy of Dream Drop Distance.

But Sora has never really time traveled the same way. He time travels in the dream world with the use of magic. However, technically speaking, Sora does have the ability to time travel as Xehanort can.

Let's review the rules of time travel as they’re given to us in Dream Drop Distance (again this is from reddit):

How does somebody time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe? First, you must abandon your body and become just a heart. One way to become just a heart is to extract your heart with a Keyblade. Another method would be to become a Heartless, since Heartless are technically just corrupted hearts. Once you become just a heart, then you have the ability to move through time.

Becoming just a heart also gives all versions of yourself from across time the ability to time travel. But, they're not actually able to do so without assistance from someone who actually has a time travel power. Just because you have the ability to travel through time, doesn't mean you're actually able to do so. You can only time travel if you are just a heart, or if you have the time travel ability plus assistance. I will elaborate what I mean by "assistance" later in this post.

What are the laws of time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe? You are only able to travel through time if there is a version of yourself present at the time you want to travel to. Also, you cannot change what is destined to happen. All that really means though is that you cannot change the future, because everything is already set in stone. Once you return back to your respective time, you will forget everything that has happened during your experience time traveling. However, these memories and experiences will be etched into your heart and could influence your decisions and the paths you take.

Since you lose your memories after you get back to your respective time, there would be no point in traveling to the future to try and find out what happens.

That is what we know so far about time travel in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Now, I will explain various characters' involvements with time travel.

...

Sora and Riku In the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku traveled back in time to the day Destiny Islands fell to darkness. They had the ability to move through time because both of them have become just hearts at one point in the first Kingdom Hearts. Sora became just a heart/a Heartless when he stabbed himself with the Keyblade of Heart, and Riku became just a heart when his heart was sort of kicked out of his body into the Realm of Darkness when he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. This caused all versions of Sora and Riku from throughout time to gain the ability to time travel. But, they weren't able to do so without assistance, so Yen Sid assisted them. Yen Sid used magic to send them back in time, which is a different method of time travel than Xehanort's method. Instead of becoming just a heart and going back in time to give a version of themself the time travel power in order to assist other versions of themself through time, Yen Sid just assisted them by using time travel magic to send them back in time. Characters like Yen Sid and Merlin have time magic. But, Yen Sid's time travel magic still follows the rules of time travel that this post has been explaining. He could only send Sora and Riku back in time to a point in time where versions of them existed/were present.

Sora and Riku are younger in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance simply because of Yen Sid's magic as well. He used his magic to make them younger again in order to sort of help with the whole starting over from scratch for the Mark of Mastery exam thing. They didn't inhabit their younger bodies contrary to popular belief. They didn't need to become just hearts in order to time travel, because they had the time travel ability plus assistance. Them becoming just hearts would've been a big mess as well. They would've turned into Heartless/Nobodies.

In short, Sora and Riku have the ability to time travel because they were once hearts. They are able to time travel without reverting to a “just a heart” status due to Master Yen Sid’s magic. They also didn’t have to inherit time travel from a “heart” version of themselves like the Xehanorts.

With that context in mind, Sora can very well time travel like Xehanort. But we have two problems:

1. How did he time travel without Master Yen Sid’s assistance and without turning into a pure heart?

2. If Scala ad Caelum is in the past when Master Xehanort existed, how is Sora there if he is significantly younger than Master Xehanort?

The first question is less of a problem I think. If Master Yen Sid’s time travel magic helped Sora go back to the past, I am sure Master Xehanort has similar magic.

The second question gets sticky because the only explanation would be that Sora existed in that timeline. Or someone extremely connected to his heart existed in that timeline.

Why do I say that? Well keep in mind people like Terranort and Saix can time travel, yet they technically have hearts of their own which are in essence under control by parts of Xehanort’s heart. Having part of Xehanort's heart is enough to allow them to time travel.

This would suggest that someone from that timeline, someone who coexisted with young Xehanort and young Eraqus is connected to Sora’s heart, enough so that in essence their hearts are intertwined.

Who is that person? Three possibilities:

1. Master Eraqus

2. Eraqus and Xehanort’s Master

3. Xehanort

Master Eraqus is a likely candidate because the scene where him and Master Xehanort are playing chess implies he knows more than he lets on. He might have some knowledge of who Sora is and what is to come, but that seems like a stretch because he is seemingly swept up into Master Xehanort’s plan in Birth by Sleep

Eraqus and Xehanort’s Master is a complete mystery for the most part. We can imply that his master is somehow connected to Luxu, since No Name appears in one of the chess game trailer scenes. Other than that, we know nothing about this figure

It would seem his connection to Xehanort is what allows him to go to Scala ad Caelum

Xehanort requires 13 vessels. In this scene, there are only 12 vessels shown here. That would make Sora the 13th vessel.

This would imply that either at the end of Dream Drop Distance, Sora is fully or partially norted, despite Lea blocking the blast. That, or Sora somehow gets norted at some other point in Kingdom Hearts 3.

I still have a feeling something bigger is happening here though. I cannot shake the fact that Sora is not only connected to Master Xehanort, but the other perhaps even greater puppetmaster of this series. But as the Master of Master once said himself:

[slightly-gay-pogohammer]

IOK OK OKok ok oko kokokokokokok i know that when i finish games i usually go “hey lemme comment this” but yknow what? screw it kh3 is a solid 8/10, still not better than the first game but i loved it with all my heart (hehe) and made me cry for a solid entire hour LET ME THEORY THIS SHIT UP

spoilers under cut of course and a lot of me rambling,

OK FIRST OF ALL.

first of all.

im post shower but im still shaking so uuuuuuuuuuh let me just. think.

WHERE THE FUCK IS MY SON SORA

in kingdom hearts 4 moving on- ...nah jk as if the fact that he isn’t here didn’t break my heart :^) my money are on the final world. he got stuck there once, he gotta get stuck there once again. especially given that kairi. yknow. died. chirity mentioned how he got in that place already by choice so he might come back, and it’s pretty obvious that he’s the type of guy who doesn’t give a crap about dying. actual jesus sora. i just hope kairi is gonna go looking for him this time around - especially given that they spend a few seconds focusing on the bracelet that’s likely a present from him.

WHATS THE BRACELET???

i don’t know  i don’t know i don’t know i don’t know i don’t know

a lucky charm? i hope.

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

it’s absurd but my first thought was “it’s sora’s heart”.  as soon as the game ended, i thought that sora has something to do with that box. it’s either his heart or his keyblade? given that the new pieces of darkness show the foretellers against a single piece with sora’s crown (as far as we know?) it’s obvious he has something to do with all that mess.

i just hope i get to beat up aced and that it’ll be as satisfying as beating up xehanort and terranort was

HEY MARLUXIA AND CO????

easy. they’re keyblade weilders from the dandelion lmao. easy easy easy.  where did they go, i dont know, let’s hope kh4 or the dlc will answer that. what matters is that they’re all right and that luxord wasn’t luxu as i feared because otherwise it would’ve been way too funny.

SO UH. HOW ABOUT STERLITZIA?

still remembering about my dead daughter here lmao

ok here goes. here goes here goes here goes uuuuuh

1) she’s the memory sora chatted with while in the final world. that chirity wasn’t hers but was the khux main character’s (and by the way, that moment where you beat up the heartlessnado and all the names of the khux players appeared???i cried all my tears that was by far the best scene in the entire franchise. there i said it.), and the person she hoped to see once again was erlene/larxene. after all... she commented about how becoming a somebody would’ve lead to meet someone, isn’t it? somethinglikethat.  2) also luxu is her killer.

LUXU.

yep luxu.

WHAT.

ok ok ok listen. luxu needed ven to be part of the dandelions. yes i still think he’s the +1 that ava didn’t choose - and that’s because lately i’m seeing a theory? where ven is actually gula with either amnesia or just pretending and honestly it sounds really convincing, especially given the ‘relationship’ xigbar has with roxas and i really like it. for this... luxu had to make sure there is an extra space, and sterlitzia was an easy target. i dont know if he’s also brian because, i mean. brain, braig, that sounds too silly even from a game where character’s names are literally anagrams of other character’s names with an X - but brain might have something to do with him and the master of masters anyway.

i mean. he’s called brain and is the only dandelion we don’t know anything about. something’s fishy and i hope that future instalments or simply a continuation of khux will give us answers about this

...SO NOW WHAT?

now i go back finding those stupid lucky emblems to see the secret ending :^)

[madfictionland]

KHIII - Strengths and Weaknesses of Nomura’s Insanity

1. Xehanort Saga’s Closure

Great:

- Axel vs Xemnas sequence and that entire battle alongside Xion and Roxas, with Shimomura’s orchestrated music - Sea Salt Ice Cream Rules!

it was just golden and weighted heavily on me! Lots of emotions and great closure there

- Xemnas and Ansem... being awkward... it was extremely weird at first, seeing them on strange errands, behaving the way they did, no Darkness lines for Ansem, and overall the two of them kind of less important than Xigbar, for example.

But it was actually perfect and then it all came full closure with their defeats! They were taken from their own timelines (in which they were soon to be defeated or right before the final blow?), briefed on the current situation and assigned tasks under MX. And Ansem being the most awkward because...

no madness, no darkness showdown! Being approached by some children! it’s just aren’t his thing, clearly... Oh, and Xemnas handling the “benched” Norts as if they were his students, something that he does proudly. Pretty much the only thing that gives them both purpose after that time travel ordeal is the sense of companionship and MX’s goal which they feel obliged to pursue “because they are him” - only not really, actually. Because as it turns out... they found they did not really care, in the end.

So yeah, in the end it’s actually pretty sad... and they fade away to be ultimately defeated in their own timelines!

- Young Xehanort being an utter dickhead of darkness (although the bad thing is... no more backstory, explanation and only minimal amount of screen time for him, damn)

I mean, seriously, I enjoy the fact he turns out to be one of the most engaging KH3 villains, so focused and bitter. When you think about it, then it makes sense since he was given great power early on and explored through time... obtaining even more power. He never met Eraqus, he never created his bizarre self-rightous grand goals to begin with... He was just... alone, traveling through time, and exploring the outside world through darkness and his dark future selfs, the future that he embraces fully. He is the embodiment of everything what’s dark about Xehanort, in some aspects perhaps even more souless than the old man himself, and we even have him take on Ansem’s role... lol

I like his interactions with Sora, especially here.

- Goofy being smart in the Xehanort’s plot business, lol and they’re always debriefing Sora on Mickey’s encounters from BBS. Nice!

- Finally we know how Axel and Saix got turned into Nobodies - we really needed that backstory...

- The replica research plays a big part here and it serves to create vessels for hearts... with data!memories... and we even get glimpses of artificial hearts being researched now... nice, it REALLY does bring into closure all this data madness that Nomura had started

- Vanitas regenerated through negative emotions of children’s screams in the Monster world + his entire ending with Sora/Ven which was amazing - Vanitas was darkness and it was his own choice because his very nature was darkness... he wouldn’t have it any other way! but despite this, he appears to be actually humanized in the end, at least as much as a rebelious pure darkness plucked from someone’s heart can be

- Terra reveal and him being Ansem SoD/Terranort’s sidekick pet all this damn time... like, I never thought that’s a possibility... even though it does make sense...

Now that’s the kind of crazy Nomura reveal that I like!

- Yen Sid finally takes action! WOOOOW

- final battle with 3 main Norts, and Master Xehanort doing a fingers thingy!

With a glorious MAD score and mix of all three bosses themes! YESSS

Bad:

- Kairi situation... although to be honest it was expected so it doesn’t weight on me too heavily, personally

- very few cutscenes/very few long dialogues and NO backstory cutscenes... now that’s a BIG flaw

- none of the time travelling stuff from DDD gets explained... we don’t know why Young Xehanort is still here despite (apparently) dispersing at the end of DDD... and we don’t even know which Norts are time travelers... and we don’t know their backstories either... how they got Norted? When? How many are there??? It’s not even clear if all of them (those that we meet in game and cutscenes) are present at the final battle because 13 figures showcased with MX prior to battle... all of them with hoods! And we know Demyx is not one for fight so maybe he bailed? Plus Vexen betrayed them? Also, Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx and Luxord were all secondary vessels... kept only due to their Keyblade War connection... so I would assume they had other more serious Norts in store? So who exactly was fighting and who wasn’t? Who was a time traveler and who wasn’t? Who was in a replica body and who wasn’t? Also, is Xigbar a Nobody or somebody Braig with Xigbar’s features? Just FUCK IT. I really like all these convoluted little details but none of this was discussed... which is so unlike Nomura...

- very little presence for MX, no backstory explored and... overall VERY anticlimatic final boss fight and weak ultimate resolution to his “big” saga

- Vexen is just too good at pretending... he really does seem like a bad guy again, who just wants to do research, I don’t buy his sudden redemption and I actually thought he was going to double cross Ansem and use him as his puppet! How can Vexen even feel anything, especially redemption desire, as a freshly cooked Nobody? lol

- Big big flaw is that many Norts were... not really Norts. What’s the point of them getting Norted if they don’t get a slight change in personality and aren’t driven by Xehanort’s purpose? It worked so well with Saix... only think what kind of Demyx or Larxene we could get if they were actually Norts. Seriously, that was disappointing. Frankly enough, we even have Demyx say this line...

which is EXACTLY the case, he would make an interesting vessel, and I assume one capable of good fighting skills or intimidation... if only they were influenced by the entire process and written as actual Norts - important to the plot - not just some toys and Keyblade War Legacy research project for Xemnas...

2. Union X / more...

Good:

- Ephemer and all the Keyblade wielders coming to help! With players’ names shown! Just wow, this was super powerful, and great soundtrack for it too. Also, it kind of confirms my suspicion there were two Keyblade Wars? The “Lost Masters” one and “Union Leaders” (the one in which Ephemer fell, thus he is there with the “spirits” of the wielders).

- Ven’s Chirithy, such a cute little detail :)

- The Final World - atmoshere, music and design... all of them GREAT. It makes sense in the lore + some of its design/animation reminds me of data worlds... Hmmm, could it be... some kind of bin folder on the MoM desktop?

In any case, the future of Nomura Mindfuck seems bright

- the ending with Sora vanishing (to another plane/world?) and Secret Movie with MoM fucking conceptualizing Kingdom Hearts under the normal’s moon light, all of it in a remake of the newest FF title......

I mean, we are one step closer to ultimate shit, right? Which would be Nomura self-inserting himself into the game as Master of Masters... and I’m all for it! XD

- seems like the time travelling Ven + other guys from Union Cross will be progressing places... diferent worlds, planes, realities? And I like it, this seems more interesting and like a fresh surge of madness from Nomura that he kind of wanted to do with Xehanort (hence time travel) but wasn’t really able... in the end. So maybe, just maybe... MoM will get a better conclusion?

- Xigbar makes it to another game. What can I say? I like him, he’s entertaining, that’s all

Bad:

- Xigbar being Luxu seems to be poorly explained, like... he ONLY pretends? Even in those Braig scenes from BBS? And when talking with YX? Really? Even though his BBS scenes were short and we knew nothing about him... it could have been done better, like maybe Luxu planted a piece of himself into Braig and pointed him towards Xehanort, but he wasn’t actually Braig? Hence the guy who gets Norted - Braig - isn’t Luxu? At least not yet? But then Luxu can take over? Well, I think that would be much better... unless there is more to it that we don’t know but i really doubt

- Maleficent, the Box, Xigbar searching for the Box... (wtf even? what MX has to say about this? what’s that box Xigbar? and how dare you hide shit from me?)

All of this... is quite different than earlier KH hints or reveals. It’s just extremely CRYPTIC. It leaves you with nothingness because the characters themselves feel like nothingness when they are forced to speak about this. I could understand it if it contributed to KH3 plot in any major way, like the box being a catalyst in MX’s plans maybe, but it wasn’t - it was pointless, so the attention it got, and they always speak about it in such vague terms... what’s the point? because that’s hardly a surprise and we knew about the box...

- Maleficent and Pete are pointless, especially pointless because the only way for Maleficent to be interesting was to explore some of her hidden (?) memories regarding her time travel experience (which she does not remember, I assume?). Instead, something was “etched”... and a black coat told them about the box... and replica Riku has an akward encounter with them... but nothing is explained or actually said in clear terms. OK, so it sucks, why don’t you skip their cutscenes then - it does NOT create a *Nomura mystery*, it just says “here is some random gibberish that won’t be ever explained because it doesn’t mean anything and doesn’t introduce anything new” A Nomura mystery would be to explain to us whether Maleficent actually remembers the box from her time travel experiences and THEN introduce a new solid mystery, like: she doesn’t remember, but there was a mysterious black coat guy who said there was a box (and there would be a flashback of this past encounter!). But at this point it seems like Nomura just completely doesn’t care, at least not in KH3

The Final Judgment: KH3 was quite a letdown (as the Xehanort’s saga conclusion) but still enjoyable and with grand potential for better mad shit in the future.

PS: Also, it delivered the greatest score in the history of KH... so that’s a win!

[herzblutrose]

Thoughts on the box

My guess is that it contains the Master of Masters’ heartless.

If we assume the motive for his – in my opinion very questionable – actions is, well, scientific interest in the future, then we can conclude that the probability of him wanting to see that future for himself in person, or in fact, to change it to his liking, is quite high.

Now, we know time travel does exist in the Kingdom Hearts universe. The one, big restriction to it is the fact that a version of the person using it, must already exist in the time they wish to travel to. This also means, if one would find a way to create an immortal version of themselves, they could travel into every moment in the future.

To my knowledge, there never was any official statement about whether heartless die of natural causes or not, but I strongly assume they don’t, for various, obvious reasons. (One of them being that it would take the whole drama out of it, if people, who lost their hearts just randomly became “Somebodies” again after both their heartless and their Nobody died of old age.) More importantly though, we were told in the first game, that the only way to kill a heartless is the keyblade. Now, if we were to put a heartless in a place noone could find it, say, a box noone is ever supposed to open, then yes, we can assume this heartless would truly be immortal.

Creating a heartless out of one’s own heart might be a dangerous task, but I am sure it wouldn’t pose much of a problem to a person like the Master of Masters. Also, there seems to be a way to assure the Nobody resulting from extracting a heart would be a high ranked one, seeing how all of Ansem’s apprentices (as well as Lea and Isa, who lost their hearts in the same room, and therefore possibly also at the same time as the others) kept their human forms and memories. Of course the Master of Masters would know about this way, because the keyblade used was his “gazing eye” that allows him to see the future.

Oh, and would you look at which page the Master of Masters has so conveniently opened in the scene we get to see the box.

Plus, the page we are shown, when he explains why Luxu won’t get one of the Books of Prophecies. (*)

By “temporal paradoxes” he might have meant, that he fears Luxu might kill the heartless inside the box if he knew what future would await this world if he does as the Master of Masters tells him to. (**) Namely, not just one, but two keyblade wars.

I originally thought, that Master Xehanort might somehow be the one behind everything, but now I am certain that I was wrong. It’s not Xehanort who started all of this, he couldn’t have travelled into the past, because there was no version of him there. Also, he can’t be the Master of Masters, because we saw him being a child at the same time as Eraqus in the KH3 trailer and they certainly didn’t live since the age of fairy tales.

No, I assume that the brain behind all of it, our real antagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series, is not Xehanort, it’s the Master of Masters. He couldn’t have pulled all of this off alone though, because time is always limited when travelling into the future, so he needed a successor. 

And Xehanort is the one he found.

Notes

(*) Of course, it would be possible to argue that the pages shown are mere coincidence, but I highly doubt that. Both of them were highlighted in the movie (especially the shadow heartless, you can’t overlook it even if you tried) and if it wasn’t for a reason, then why would they have done that?

(**) To be honest, I am a bit unsure about this part, because according to the movie, the Book of Prophecies ends with the beginning of the first keyblade war. Still, there has to be something in it that might give Luxu an idea about the future beyond the keyblade war or he couldn’t possibly cause any temporal paradoxes because of it. Alternatively, he may have been able to prevent the first keyblade war from happening, had he been in possession of the information from the book. I find that unlikely though, because Ira still fell for the Master of Masters’ scheme even with analyzing the book in painstaking detail. Perhaps even because of doing so.

Edit: The label on the box reads Xsuper (as can be seen here). Which contains parts of the word Superbia and an X. This might support the theory of the Master of Masters being a Nobody and the box containing his heartless. (Of course it could also mean, the box contains the Nobody and he is a heartless, but I think it makes more sense the other way around, as the Nobody is usually the entity who still looks and thinks like a whole person.) 

Also, it could be totally unrelated to the whole theory, and the Master of Masters just wanted to mark his belongings, but I do believe, the fact that his name contains an X, where there isn’t supposed to be one, is a hint.

Additional Thoughts

There are still two things that bother me about this movie.

The first one is the symbol both the Master of Masters and Luxu have on the zipper of their coats.

It reminded me of the Unversed insignia, but it might just as well be something completely new.

The second thing is the fact that the Master of Masters’ keyblade is called “No Name” in the movie. Maybe it wasn’t meant as a name by the characters (though it probably was by Luxu, see the capital letters), but it certainly has to be a hint for us. I can only guess, but I think it might have been meant to show the connection to Xehanort, seeing how the “real” No Name keyblade does look similar to the one used by the young Xehanort.