#the keys of destiny (roxas)

[muses-of-the-memory]

Happy 6th Anniversary, Kingdom Hearts III!

[xfortunearcana]

ROXAS

[warraigoe]

ix.

—  ❛❛  //  roxas.   ¦   the key of destiny.

—  ❛❛  //  roxas.   ¦   i am me. nobody else. ・ 「 in ! 」

—  ❛❛  //  roxas.   ¦   maybe today we'll finally hit the beach !. ・ 「 images ! 」

—  ❛❛  //  roxas.   ¦   i'm dreaming but which parts are the dream ? ・ 「 musings ! 」

[rikusahoge]

"But be safe. No reckless stunts."

On Sora and Riku's respective recklessness as showcased in the series, and what it means for their relationship

Under readmore because i am going to talk a lot

As an aside: Im going to be pulling from the Japanese text, though I am not a native speaker or really any kind of speaker, so take what I say with a decent amount of scrutiny. I'm more than willing to be corrected on these conclusions!

One line that has stood out to me in kingdom hearts is the repetition of "no reckless stunts!" and similar phrases. If you examine the original text, three slightly different words have been used to mean "reckless", which I'll include below (pulled definitions from Jisho, mostly)

無謀 (mubou): reckless, foolhardy, rash, ill-advised, mad (scheme)

無茶 (mucha): reckless, absurd, unreasonable, ridiculous

無理 (muri): impossible, unreasonable, unjustifiable

Importantly for what i want to talk about is how "muri" is used in situations where a character wants to express that something is impossible (think of a character giving up all hope due to an insermountable obstacle in front of them, they may mutter something like "muri da...") keep a pin in this, it will matter toward the end.

Also note that each of these words starts with "無" (mu), which usually means nothingness or absence of something. The definition of this kanji isnt super important, it's more important that its presence ties these three phrases together in a really unique way as i hope to demonstrate.

what i propose is that both Sora and Riku are depicted as reckless characters, albeit in different ways. The established pattern I've noticed is that Sora: "mucha" & Riku: "muri". I will tentatively refer to "mucha" as "rash" and "muri" as "impossible" (despite that it does also mean other things in some cases! bare with me it'll make sense)

Dialing back a bit, we have seen countless moments of Sora acting rashly. It is one of his key character traits and it tends to get him in trouble. He has a big heart, and is quick to anger.

Sora's response to loved ones and helpless innocents that have been put in harm's way is to repetitively bash things with his keyblade (and ask questions later).

It's Sora's rashness that allows Org 13 to use him to complete kingdom hearts. The extreme end of his rashness is showcased when he stabs himself to release Kairi from his heart.

Tldr. I think it's pretty well established and easy to argue that Sora is one to leap before he looks.

Now, Riku might be a little harder to sell as reckless, because of how well he tends to hide it. He carries himself as a role model for Sora, and tries to be the responsible friend. But if we look at his patterns of behavior, despite how he carries himself, he is quite reckless!

Without thinking of the consequences, he rushes the open door when destiny islands falls to darkness, eventually succumbing to it himself. He lashes out several times at Sora, particularly dangerously when he fires off a dark firaga in Hollow Bastion. He closes the door to darkness with Sora without knowing what would happen to him if he was trapped in the realm of darkness. When Sora is asleep, he sacrifices his form to defeat Roxas, without any assurance that he would ever be able to get his old form back.

We see Riku's recklessness too in the fight against Xemnas. He recklessly throws himself in front of Xemnas twice, hurling Sora away from danger and taking a very nasty blow to the hip. I'd count his dive to save Sora in DDD among these, mostly due to his risk taking behavior when it comes to saving Sora. Finally of course we see it in KH3, with his ultimate sacrifice. (but i think importantly, this scene isn't just recklessness, but I'll explain in a bit)

So tldr. Despite Riku's mask of level headedness and resolve, he has been shown over and over to take massive risks without caring for the consequences. Which is pretty reckless, in my opinion!

Sora and Riku's recklessness, mind you, is also called into question by Yen Sid, who tells Riku the reason he kept Aqua's fate a secret was to keep Riku and Sora from staging a "half-baked attempt at rescue"

He says similar in Japanese, but i want to just note the word he uses when he describes the rescue attempt as reckless (highlighted for ur convenience):

(the highlighted word here is "mubou", it will come back later in an Important way, so keep it in mind)

he's *basically* saying that if Riku, or worse, Sora, knew about Aqua, they would have recklessly marched into the realm of darkness to rescue her. Because he knows they are both ... Like that.

I would be remiss to not mention that Sora's impulsivity and recklessness is something Riku admires! After Yen Sid tells riku not to be rash, and Riku excitedly tells Mickey he's ready to help save Aqua, Kairi observes that Riku has changed, and he's more like Sora. Riku asks if that's a compliment, but I think it's clear that he feels it is. He says it's more Fun to just follow his heart, which is sora-esque. (;_;) This is also something he brings up to Sora when they're on the dark margin together, that he's jealous of how Sora can just follow his heart. It's clear Riku has started to embrace his more impulsive side, to follow his heart like sora does. This is important later!

So now that I have my premise Mostly set up, I'd like to highlight a handful of scenes that I thought were really telling about how Sora and Riku relate to the terms "mucha" and "muri", respectively.

Let's start with Sora and "mucha".

The first instance i have found "mucha" used is in Olympus Colliseum.

lets recall How Herc initially loses his power in KH2, and compare it to the movie.

In KH2, Herc is tricked into leaving the colliseum unguarded by capturing Meg and hiding her in the underworld so that Herc and Sora must go to her rescue. Hades sends a hydra in to destroy the colliseum while Sora and Herc are busy fighting heartless and Pete and rescuing Meg.

Upon seeing the destruction in the colliseum, Herc falls to his knees, and you can visibly see his colors fade to a more ashen complexion, similar to his appearance without his powers in the movie. He calls himself a piece of shit basically and Meg helps him up to limp to safety, leaving Sora to defeat the Hydra (ahem sora helping riku walk in twtnw after xemnas fight anyone)

(Herc even has a second journal entry for his Desaturared form.)

You leave the world after defeating the hydra and jumping up on its back a few times, and after sora d & g are named true heros. Yay. But Herc doesn't have his power back yet, which will later be addressed in the second episode.

Herc's loss of power is much different from the movie. In the movie, he agrees to let Hades take his strength for a day in order to keep Meg from harm, and release her from the contract she had entered with Hades (iirc). This was all so Herc wouldn't get the chance to save Olympus from the titans that Hades revives in order to take Zeus' throne for himself.

Herc still tries to wonderboy his way into rescuing the town, and fights a giant cyclops. While he lacks physical strength and gets pretty much Pummeled, he ends up beating the cyclops with his wit - but in doing so, a pillar is knocked over. It is about to crush Herc, but Meg pushes him out of the way, and is crushed to death.

She gives her life to save him, which in turn returns strength to Herc, because the contract was only good if Meg remained unharmed.

What I'm mostly trying to say here on this tangent is Herc's loss of power in KH2 specifically is very reminiscent of Sora losing his keyblade in Hollow Bastion, which is later echoed in the keyblade graveyard when he feels he loses his strength to fight after losing his friends. I bring up the movie to show how bizarrely different it is from the Kh2 plot, perhaps precisely to make the parallel between Sora and Herc stronger (and the parallel between Herc and Riku, by the way - Herc falling to his knees, losing his power, and giving up, only for Meg to walk him to safety, is a parallel to Riku losing his will to fight and press on after the battle with Xemnas - Sora refuses to let him and in the same Exact way he helps Riku walk on)

So Hercules, when faced with the impossible wavers, and loses his strength and will to fight. This is important so keep it in mind. Impossible/Muri isn't stated here as far as i know, but it's important that he is feeling utterly defeated and unable to win.

The second visit to the world is when we first see the term "mucha"/reckless used as far as I was able to find. Hades casts Meg into the Soul Hole and Herc dives in to save her without hesitating (mechanically to write Herc out of the boss fight, but)

We later see Herc emerge with Meg, his godly aura restored (he is Radiant!) something that *should* have killed him. and should have been impossible. But his desire to save her was so great, he recklessly dives in, without knowing that he will succeed. Luckily, all he had to do to prove he was worthy of godhood and power in both the game and the movie was to use the strength of his Heart rather than his fists, as a true hero does:

Sora scolds him and tells him not to do anymore crazy stunts after this reckless dive to save Meg (screenshot makes it look like herc is saying it sorry lol) and that is where we can see the term "mucha" being used in Japanese:

instead of crazy stunts, Sora moreso says "but don't be reckless (mucha)":

to which herc responds:

"people always do stupid things when they're in love" (note he doesn't repeat reckless, he says "baka" lol)

so here we have a direct link between herc's sacrifice when he dove in to save Meg, the restoration of his power/Godhood, and acting recklessly (mucha), without Fear or Doubt, to save someone he is In Love With. put a pin in this because it's all connected.

Now moving onto KH2.9 and KH3. From the start of the game we are told Sora has lost the Power of Waking, and his Entire goal in the game is to regain it, wake Ventus, and prepare for the battle in the KBG with Xehanort.

The Power of Waking is already a very vague, disney-esque power, essentially the power to free sleeping hearts from slumber (and first introduced to us in DDD, particularly in terms of Riku waking Sora up in a sleeping beauty retelling but I'm getting ahead of myself)

Yen Sid suggests that Sora go to Olympus for clues to regain his power, as Just Like Sora, Hercules also lost his power, but was able to regain it.

It's pretty straightforward, but in the interest of not making this post a fucking novel ill try to keep it short. Herc tells Sora he's not sure just *how* he got his powers back, just that he wanted to save Meg with all his heart when he (recklessly) dove in to save her. The game is trying to tell Sora that it's the Power of Love that brought back Herc's strength, and that Love will be key in bringing Sora's PoW back, too.

Specifically, I think that Herc's story and the other worlds Sora visits are saying that it's True Love that will bring Sora's powers back. Acts of true love in KH3 are framed as courageous, selfless, and performed unconditionally.

Despite the visit to see Hercules, Sora still doesn't gain the PoW. He has an idea of what he needs to regain it, but he has to visit multiple Disney worlds to learn more about the power of true love and sacrifice (well also separation but thats not as important to this post) before he's ready to test it out for himself.

After Arendelle (i think) we get to another important cutscene where Riku, Sora, donald, goofy, & mickey meet up with Yen Sid to discuss the progress they've made on their respective journeys. Sora wants to go to the Realm of Darkness with Riku & Mickey because he's worried, but they Won't let him because he doesn't have the PoW. Riku does the fondest laugh known to man, eliciting a bit of anger from Sora, but explains it's because of what Yen Sid had told him earlier - that had Sora or Riku known about Aqua being trapped in the RoD, they would have recklessly gone in to save her.

he's pretty much directly quoting yen sid here, just like he does in English (saying half-baked instead of reckless too). So basically saying here Sora would have marched into (the dark world) recklessly (had he known where Aqua was) - again using "mubou" like master yen sid.

Interestingly, when we get to Sora telling Riku to not be reckless in the dark world to Riku, he's not repeating the same word for Reckless that Riku is using (Now this might be just a flow of the conversation thing, which i certainly cant confirm as a non-native speaker but i think it's still notable)

Sora says something similar to what is said in English; with a few distinctions. A rough translation would be "but don't overdo it, call me if anything happens" (need I gripe one more time that english localization cuts out sora telling Riku to call him; which is why he spends the rest of the time apart from Riku wanting a call, and why its so unhinged that Riku triangles for sora and basically summons him. I DIGRESS)

This line is translated as "but be safe, no reckless stunts" in English, which serves as a callback to what Sora tells to Hercules in KH2, (further solidifying a herc/riku parallel) but IMPORTANTLY, Sora is NOT even saying the same thing he said to Hercules in the Japanese script. He's saying something else - 無理しないで (muri shinai de), which is usually translated as don't overdo it - but literally means "don't do the impossible". This will be important later when I talk more about Riku so keep this in mind.

We immediately get Donald saying "Sora's the reckless (muri) one" (abbreviating for simplicity) but Jiminy disagrees. In English he says "He's not reckless, he just doesn't think!" but in Japanese he says this:

Which i know im going to butcher any translation I do, but Jiminy is basically saying "[Sora's] not muri he's mucha". That distinction is important enough for Jiminy to make a joke about it. That Riku might actually be the one who is overdoing it/trying to do the impossible (muri), while Sora is the one who runs headfirst into danger recklessly (mucha). Which, i think, is quite fitting, given the actions theyve done through the series.

Importantly we get one more instance of "mucha" which I think really ties Sora's trait "recklessness" together nicely, and puts into perspective what the repetition of these phrases is doing from a story telling perspective.

After Sora finishes up the remaining Disney world visits, S, D, & G find out that Chip & Dale have lost contact with Riku & Mickey. Sora is very upset at this, and is Determined to save them (Riku) (with all his heart). Sora has NOT GAINED THE POW at this point, and they don't know how to even get into the RoD, so Sora opts to "let his heart be his guiding key" to find his way to Riku and the RoD. (Recklessly I might add, he hasn't called or talked to Yen Sid or consulted anyone about it lol)

He arrives at Destiny Islands and mysteriously finds Master's Defender which happens to be the key to getting him into the RoD. Right? Well. We know from the glossary that the established method of reaching the RoD is with a keyblade of darkness, through dark corridors, or with the Power of Waking.

Others have argued this (see SRT) but it's heavily implied that Sora regained the PoW on his way to rescue Riku. That he used it explicitly to get into the RoD is where people tend to be a little caught up in the details, because it *does* seem like Master's Defender plays a role, which begs the questions - is it a keyblade of darkness? What the fuck was it doing there? etc. (literally saw on a kh wiki that sora got into the RoD because Masters defender was a keyblade of darkness, which is unconfirmed currently lol) It's also not traditionally what the PoW looks like. There's a huge door that appears, Sora isn't using the kingdom key, he doesn't burst out of Riku's chest. Etc.

HOWEVER. I think with the context of the narrative arc Sora is going through, the foreshadowing present in the game, and The Reckless Rescue angle can at least prove that he DID regain his power here, regardless of whether or not he explicitly used it to get into the RoD. I'll try to briefly summarize the points I've seen made before I add my own.

After the visit to Olympus, Sora explains to Yen sid that he didn't regain his power but he still learned a lot. Yen sid stresses again that sora needs the PoW, Sora gets pouty, and Goofy cheers him up by saying "maybe something will trigger it real soon". Shortly after a bit of banter, there is a knock at the door, and Riku and Mickey walk in. The camera kmakes a point to show Mickey off to the side, then pan up to Riku as he walks in to close the door, who is centered in the view (almost as if we are watching from Sora's POV, who is anticipating Riku's appearance in the door).

Putting this side by side is a little unfair, since it's not an immediate jump from Goofy saying this to Riku's entrance, but it's pretty in your face about just what (or who) might be key to reawakening sora's PoW.

We also get some heavy handed foreshadowing in the next visit to Yen Sid's tower, right before Sora tells Riku to not overdo it:

Yeah. and he does, importantly, get the power of waking, not BEFORE he comes to the rescue, but BECAUSE he comes to the rescue.

Now for my contribution since I stole the last two/three points from other posts. Just before Sora enters the RoD, he tells D & G to stay behind and that he has to go alone. (Sigh, yes, this scene is a parallel to Riku using the PoW to save Sora in DDD - it *has* to be him, and him alone) D& G protest, but eventually relent. But Donald doesn't let Sora go without saying this:

(In English, Donald says "you promise to be good?" inexplicably) but in Japanese he tells sora (basically) "Don't be reckless" - aka. No Reckless Stunts, complete with the use of "mucha" (recall Donald in the previous scene was the one to call Sora "muri" before being corrected by Jiminy). This is similar to what Sora tells to herc, so we are pretty much full circle on this scene being a callback to Herc rescuing Meg in KH2.

Like Herc, Sora does the reckless thing. Like Herc, he heroically dives into the abyss to rescue his loved one with all his heart.

Like Herc, Sora regains his power the moment he resolves to rescue Riku, even if it is not made explicitly clear to Sora OR the audience (perhaps the fact that he regained the PoW is why he is able to save aqua, too)

I could probably go on about this and what it means for Sora for a long time, but I think it's high time I actually wrote about "muri" and Riku's recklessness, so let's rewind a little.

I've already brought up how Riku relates to Herc in terms of his recklessness and heroics, but theres a few more things to add. of course. I'll recap with pictures of one of the parallels i've already discussed:

So here i think at least metaphorically, we can argue that Riku has lost a bit of his "power"- or rather, his drive. After everything is over, he just collapses, ready to die or be left behind. Sora WONT let that happen. So Riku asks Sora to lead. He confesses to some of the jealousy and superiority he'd been feeling over Sora for the past few years, and seems to be trying to find a new direction in his life, having now repented Quite a bit for the sins he committed in KH1.

Riku's entire purpose for fighting after KH CoM and KH2 was to wake Sora up, keep him safe while he does his keyblade weilder duties, reunite him with Kairi, and send him on his merry way. Sora refuses to let him leave, and demands that he comes home with him. So he does. but without his jealousy over his feelings toward Sora, or without his feelings of guilt and feeling he needs to make it up to Sora, what is left to drive him to keep fighting?

DDD gives him a pretty strong answer - it's where he both rediscovers his sense of purpose and gains the Power of Waking in the process. And his dream eater powers too. btw

Riku's journey in DDD is, simply put, not really about passing the mark of mastery exam and becoming a keyblade master. it's about remembering What he lives for. remembering his promise to Terra, and how those feelings have evolved - from wanting strength to protect the Stuff that matters as a child, to, in DDD, discovering that the "stuff that matters, like his friends" was Sora the Whole time, and that Sora is actually a "precious best friend" that he wants to protect. It's About recovering his strength, like Herc needs to do in KH2.

So how does Riku regain his "strength"? By Sora-style taking a reckless dive into the deep abyss of Sora's heart to wake him using the PoW.

(Not once was I able to find any mention of "recklessness" here, or any particular language that ties this moment together cleanly with what happens in Olympus Colliseum in KH2, but the repetition of diving down into an abyss to rescue someone (with all your heart. etc) is Enough of a parallel to make the connection between this scene and Herc's dive to save Meg)

It is within the deepest depth of Sora's heart where Riku is interrogated by three pieces of Sora's heart about what he's afraid of, what he cares about more than anything else, and what he wishes - All canon answers involve the mention of "precious" - "taisetsu" (sorry im not explaining this one im going to just assume you know what im talking about if you are a soriku that reads meta you should know.) - to lose something precious, my precious best friend (fuck da english localization for this one), to recover something precious that I lost. It is here that we see Riku's simple "protecting important stuff" become "protecting something precious/my precious best friend" (note that this hasn't quite become "taisetsu na hito"/precious person but hes getting there)

Ansem the wise is there i guess and he tells Riku that his 3 answers are what were the key to waking sora up, and I think, importantly, are what give Riku his "strength" back. He has rediscovered his purpose, which is, to him, protecting Sora (with all his heart)

Continuing into KH2.9 we have another couple scenes that will both complete Riku's development from protecting stuff that matters to protecting a precious person and also continue to make a strong connection between him and Hercules.

It's been pretty well established that these two scenes are deceptively mistranslated, but i'll go over it again

Herc here is saying "taisetsu na hito" which is translated to "person I love most"

The EXACT phrase Mickey uses to tell Riku why he's feeling more powerful and fearless in the RoD, in the literal next scene in 2.9. They were supposed to be VERY CLEAR hit you over the head parallels but, well. SENA said fuck gay people i guess.

Riku repeats what Mickey says into his hand ("strength to protect my precious person") and recalls his promise to Terra, to protect the things that matter. (again it's implied it's always been about protecting sora, he just didn't have the language or understanding of himself yet to know how to say it)

There is absolutely no room for nuance here. This is explicitly framing Riku's feelings for Sora on par with Herc's feelings for Meg eg. explicitly romantic. And that it's his ROMANTIC LOVE for Sora that is what gives him his strength - not just to protect Sora, but also to do THE IMPOSSIBLE

phase ??? of my argument will now commence hang on to your butts. (i wrote this all in one night im tired)

Now that ive Exhaustively set that up. lets actually get back into discussing what I initially set up - riku doing the impossible "muri" thing.

As a reminder, Sora tells Riku to not "attempt the impossible/overdo it" in the RoD. And to call him if he needs him.

So Riku, instead of attempting the impossible in the RoD by facing the demon tide, does call Sora, which ends up being what saves the day! Yay!

I have bad news though! Riku is terrible at listening to advice when Sora is in trouble.

Now recall what I mentioned earlier about the fall of the guardians in the KBG and Sora's subsequent breakdown being a parallel to Herc losing his power in KH2. Sora *fails* everyone here, and he explicitly states he is worthless, without strength, when he loses them. It's very in line with Herc losing his powers in KH2.

(just putting these in here to hurt you and myself)

So, we get the Herc parallel, but it stops here for Sora. He doesn't do some grand self sacrifice for Riku to prove his heroism and regain his "power", but i think theres a reason for that beyond it just being Riku's time for the spotlight but I am getting there.

In the english localization, Sora says "we've lost, it's over". It's a subtle change from the Japanese, where instead of "it's over", Sora simply utters "muri da--" ("its impossible") (in the wettest saddest voice you can imagine)

It's at this moment where I do truly think we're meant to make the connection between Sora saying "its impossible" and Sora telling Riku to not attempt the impossible. It fits in nicely with Sora telling Herc to not do reckless stunts, with the slight change in language from "reckless" to "impossible", and with the impending self sacrifice. Riku knows that beating back the demon tide is impossible. But he does it anyway (compare to how, when faced with a much smaller demon tide, and he was losing, he listened to Sora's advice and called Sora for help instead of attempting the impossible)

So we have Riku's ultimate true love sacrifice for Sora, which both takes his life and grants him a spot upon an alter in Olympus, perhaps symbolically giving him some sort of ascension for his heroic deed. And again tying his sacrifice intimately to Herc's.

Because Sora and Riku are both "herc" and "meg" here I am going to make a little bit of a reach. Recall that I went through the effort of recapping the climax of the hercules movie. for no reason. There is a connection though even if it's loose, and i would kick myself for not including it.

In the movie, Meg, like Riku, protects a powerless Hercules from impending danger in her own act of true loves sacrifice. Her death gives Hercules his strength back (partly due to contract BS but it's still a romantic moment). And her death is what drives Hercules to dive into the Soul Hole to rescue her soul at a potentially great cost, which is what ultimately restores his godhood (showing his strength of heart). Riku sacrificing himself for Sora can be seen to be more like the events of the Hercules movie, Riku standing in for Meg - Sora does have to restore Riku's heart after it's been taken by the Lich, after all, much like Hercules brings Meg's soul out from the Hole. And Riku's sacrifice is what gives Sora the resolve to keep fighting. (not arguing with anyone who thinks it was only kairi because it wasnt lol)

So Riku attempts the impossible here, and ultimately he is rewarded. An interesting nuance is that the phrase "attempting the impossible" isn't meant to be taken as a challenge. From what ive read from native speakers, the phrase Sora uses really is better translated as "don't overdo it" as it is less about proving yourself to be able to overcome crazy obstacles and more about keeping your expectations in check. But Riku is reckless, and following his heart, which he learned from Sora.

I hope I've properly illustrated how Sora and Riku are both painted as reckless in different ways, and how the language used in KH3 is making direct references to Herc's reckless heroics in KH2 and in the actual Disney movie. And how these reckless acts are showcasing how much these two love each other, because I still have one more point to make. Namely, how this ties into Cinderella, and ultimately KH4.

In Terra's route of Birth By Sleep, he happens upon a distraught Cinderella, who has had her dress torn up by her step sisters. She was planning to go to the ball, but cannot, because it is "impossible" (muri)

Terra tries to console her. It's all very reminiscent of the scenes of Herc's, Sora's, and Riku's defeats.

After Terra fights off the unversed summoned by Cinderella's negativity (toxic much..), Out of the blue, the fairy godmother appears and makes everything better. She fixes up Cinderella with a dress and a ride to the ball, and sends her on her merry way.

She explains to Terra that she appeared to Cinderella to show her that her dreams *can* come true and that she typically appears only to people that have a strong belief in their dreams. Terra says he believes in dreams but you have to work for them, to which FGM responds that simply believing in dreams is already a difficult thing on its own. (Ventus also compares Terra to Cinderella. btw. because of his strong dreams)

Now. Sigh. Im not the only person that has pointed this out. The FGM quite literally appears to Riku, but only after a year has passed and they have no leads on Sora, and after it's implied that Riku is starting to lose hope.

In the limit cut, you can see Riku's sad wet puppy dog face as he talks about how hard everyone is working, and how they haven't found anything at all. He says "if Sora is really out there, don't you think we would have found something by now?" - Again, he's losing faith in his dreams of Sora's return. This is important.

I do not have the strength to go through and find all the times Riku told everyone to believe in Sora in KH3. It's a lot. And the last thing we hear him say Near Sora, is to let him go on his suicide mission to save Kairi - to BELIEVE in Sora (#wish).

So one, we know the dream Riku believes in is Sora, and two, we know he is starting to lose his belief in his dreams, like Cinderella before the ball, when he dress is destroyed.

Right after it's clear their is no lead through the data from Org 13, FGM appears, just like she did for Cinderella. And she tells Riku that His Dreams Are Literally A Key To Find Sora (that hes quite literally been #dream drop distancing into sora's dreams while hes in unreality is already so much without the FGM being there to explain this to him but KH is crazy!)

One last thing to really drive this home. The FGM brings Riku and Kairi to the nameless star to bring the three keys together.

And what does she tell Riku, before he leaves?

"Be careful. Do not attempt to do the impossible."

---------

if you read this whole thing... well... im proud of you. I know i definitely missed stuff, because it would be so hard to go through all the games and really dig for the use of this term especially when I dont speak japanese at all. and because i wrote this all in one night. But dont hesitate to comment or reblog if you have anything to add. I freaking love kingdom hearts

[therealhepcat]

Ventus: The Divine Wind in Kingdom Hearts

In Christianity, wind is a symbol of God's power, the unpredictable potency of the Holy Spirit, and an agent of divine judgment. The name Ventus is Latin for wind.

In fact, wind has always been associated with divine power across different mythologies. In particular, it is often seen as a messenger of gods, a force of fate, or a guide between realms.

Greek Mythology: The Anemoi (Wind Gods) – These gods controlled the four winds, each representing different aspects of fate

Japanese Mythology: Fujin, the Wind God – A chaotic yet powerful force that shapes the battlefield and moves unseen through history

Norse Mythology: Odin and the Wind – The Allfather is tied to the winds, often taking the form of a wanderer whose influence is felt across time

You could argue that Ventus is the Divine Wind in Kingdom Hearts.

Also, Ventus' most defining characteristic is his prolonged slumber after the battle with Vanitas. This mirrors mythological figures who "sleep" but are destined to return in a future time of crisis.

King Arthur (British Mythology): Said to be asleep in Avalon, waiting for the time he is needed most.

Buddhist Legends: Some bodhisattvas enter a deep slumber, only to return when their wisdom is needed.

Ventus is not just asleep—he is waiting, like a mythical hero whose story is not yet finished.

Example (credit to brimstoneclub):

Except, it's not the end, it’s just been put on pause for Sora and Riku to start their journey.

But wait there’s more, Ventus’ involvement in the forging of the X-Blade and his connection to the heart of all worlds (Kingdom Hearts itself) gives him an almost divine purpose in the grand cosmic conflict. The X-Blade is a sacred, godlike weapon, and Ventus is at the very center of its creation.

He is one of the only beings tied directly to the X-Blade, making him a key figure in the battle over divine power.  

His heart’s purity makes him a natural guardian against those who seek ultimate control, much like a divine warrior chosen to protect balance.  

He stops the X-Blade from fully forming, preventing Xehanort from seizing godlike power and altering the fate of all worlds.

Kingdom Hearts itself is often depicted as a divine, godlike entity—a source of light, knowledge, and power beyond mortal comprehension. If we take this idea further, could Ventus have a deeper connection to it than we realize?

Ventus and Kingdom Hearts share a connection through the X-Blade.

As we know, the X-Blade is the only weapon that can unlock Kingdom Hearts, and Ventus was essential in its formation and destruction.

If the X-Blade is the "key to divinity," Ventus was meant to be part of that divine plan, whether he wanted to be or not?

The answer is yes

Even more, his heart acts like Kingdom Hearts itself—capable of joining with others.

Ventus, uniquely, has a heart that blends and connects with others, shaping their destinies. His heart entered Sora, birthed Vanitas and Roxas, and still retains its own light, much like how Kingdom Hearts exists within all beings.

Other important connections are his with Terra, Aqua, Chirithy, Master Eraqus, Master Xehanort, Axel/Lea, Xemnas, Luxu/Xigbar, Ephemer, Skuld, Brain, Lauriam/Marluxia, and Strelitzia.

Ventus is also the only character in Kingdom Hearts to have “Dearly Beloved” in his character theme.

The term “dearly beloved” means someone who is very much loved, much like how Kingdom Hearts is loved by so many people to the point they fought over it, resulting in it vanishing and the world fractured.

Sound familiar?

After his fight with Vanitas, Ventus seemingly vanished from the world (although we all know he was actually hidden in Castle Oblivion) meanwhile his heart was fractured.

If Kingdom Hearts is the ultimate source of light, then Ventus may be a fragment of that power, unknowingly shaping fate across the series.

His very existence alters destiny, much like how divine forces in mythology influence mortal affairs.

While Kingdom Hearts doesn’t explicitly call Ventus a god, his story follows the archetypes of divine warriors, sleeping gods, and celestial forces found in mythology.

A wind god or divine messenger – shaping destiny unseen, carrying the hearts of others.  

A chosen guardian of cosmic balance – preventing Xehanort’s plan from succeeding.  

A sleeping warrior meant to return – waiting for the moment his presence is needed most.  

A fragment of Kingdom Hearts itself – unknowingly carrying the power of light in his heart.

Now I wanna talk about Ventus’ keychain for Wayward Wind, but first and foremost, I want credit @manysad for pointing this out.

Ventus’ keychain for Wayward Wind kinda looks like a caduceus.

Picture for comparison:

Why does this matter? Well it’s a symbol of the god Hermes, the god known for speed and wings.

“As a symbolic object, it represents Hermes (or the Roman Mercury), and by extension trades, occupations, or undertakings associated with the god. In later Antiquity, the Caduceus provided the basis for the astrological symbol representing the planet Mercury. Thus, through its use in astrology, alchemy, and astronomy it has come to denote the planet and elemental metal of the same name. It is said the wand would wake the sleeping and send the awake to sleep. If applied to the dying, their death was gentle; if applied to the dead, they returned to life.” - Wikipedia 

Dead return to life, huh?

Case and point: Ventus may not be a god in name, but he fits the mythological role of a divine force shaping the world without realizing it. His connection to the X-Blade, Kingdom Hearts, and the winds of fate make him one of the most important figures in the entire saga.

So why can someone of a pure light, Ventus, decide what’s right and wrong?

It’s because “Light begets Darkness, Darkness covets Light”.

As the darkness said to Sora in Re:mind, “He is too pure. It's because he's so pure that he has many gaps”, gaps the Darkness can slip itself into and hide without notice.

The World needs Light and Darkness, and Ventus possesses both, meaning he possesses the two forces the world needs to exist in balance.

Remember that Sora described Ventus’ heart as peaceful not long after his dive into in Kingdom Hearts Re:mind.

The X-blade is made of Pure Light and Darkness as well, in perfect balance.

A pure heart of light can decide what’s wrong and what’s right because light creates the shadows, and therefore creates balance in the universe.

TL;DR: Ventus’ impact on the overarching story to Kingdom Hearts is similar to that of a divinity and due to his heart of pure light, it harbors the darkness and creates balance in the universe, therefore giving the ultimate position to say in manners of right or wrong.

[lockandkeyblade]

#3 Sora

drabble challenge

3. He's been gone for quite a while

Sora's saved the universe. Twice.

He's fought armies of Heartless. Legions of Nobodies. He's fought for his life- killed for it, too. He grew a whole six inches without being conscious to see it. He's lost his Heart and found it again, lost his body and had it returned. Gained a piece of himself that hurts and aches, even now, even after Roxas has come to accept him.

He's talked with royalty. So much royalty. He knows, is respected by, some of the most important people in the entire universe. And the actual most important people in the universe?

Well, they're right behind him, aren't they? Riku and Kairi stand at the very edge of the garden, both giving him an encouraging smile when he glances back uncertainly. They look entirely at ease; completely unafraid. Like the way this is going to turn out was decided ages ago, and it's all going to be okay.

Sora really wishes he shared that confidence. If nothing else, it does bolster his spine a little, lets him take a deep breath before turning back to the door in front of him, one he could open, if he wanted to. It probably isn't locked.

Even if it was, he has the Keyblade. Even if he didn't, the spare key is probably still under that flowerpot. The one he finger painted when he was six.

Sora's opened some really, really important doors, these past two years.

He knocks on this one.

Listens to the rap of his knuckles against the wood echo through the corridor behind, knows that sound carries throughout the entire house. He can hear the clink of something being set down in the kitchen, the tell-tale creak of the floorboards under the pressure of bare feet as they pad towards the source of the- interruption. The intrusion.

Man, is it just really hot, or something? Maybe he's not used to Destiny Island's climate anymore- he's sweating. His palms are damp beneath his gloves. Breathing is kind of, difficult.

This isn't the right time, is it? He should go. Come back later, when he's more prepared. When he's figured out what to say, when his tongue doesn't feel like a useless weight in his mouth. Sora should leave; he makes to do just that. Shifts his weight and takes a half step away from that door before it opens, freezing him in place.

He stares, wide eyed, into eyes that are the exact same shape as his own. Funny- they're level now. They're eye to eye.

When did that happen?

"I, uh-" He's not prepared for this. His fingers twitch, the urge to rub at the back of his neck rising as he stares, and she stares, and she isn't saying a word. "H-hi, mom?"

Oh, that was lame. That was really lame; she's gonna be so mad if that's all he can think to say to her. Sora's been gone for like, ever, and the best he can do is hi?

He scrambles, for a moment, on all the other things he could say. Sorry he left? Sorry he- came back? Sorry he didn't call, or write a letter, or make sure she knew he was fine. Eyes the exact same shape as his own stare at him as he flounders, stuttering out a few inane words that might've built into a sentence eventually, but never have the chance to.

Because one second he's standing in front of an open door, struggling with his words, and the next, his face is pressed up against his mother's shoulder, an arm pressing into his back so, so tightly, a hand shakily running through his hair, and the only words being said aren't coming from him at all.

His mom is sobbing, great heaving tears as she says things, over and over again. My boy. My baby boy. Oh, my little man. Which is about as much as Sora hears before he's clutching her back just as tightly, to hold her up, or himself- or both of them.

They don't manage to stay up anyway. He doesn't even register the sting when his knees hit the porch deck, not when there's hands on his cheeks and eyes looking him over as his face is tilted every which way, a feverish attempt to look at all of him, memorize every inch.

The next words to come out of his mouth are just as stupid as the first.

"I'm late for dinner."

His mother chokes out a laugh, eyes shining and cheeks wet. Her touch gentles, cradling his face as she leans in, pressing her lips to his forehead.

"Better late than never, sweetheart."

[strayheartless]

Things heard in the Land of Departure Pt. 4:

1 | 2 | 3 | extra

Aqua: Oh please, My mastery credentials are just a scrap of notebook paper that say “can hit orb with giant key,” I am in no way qualified to mediate a fight to the death!

Sora: Hi Terra any advice for your students?

Terra: Give up, it’s safer for everyone involved.

Roxas: Gee thanks…😐

Riku: In times of crisis always remember, if it ain’t your circus you cannot be held responsible for the actions of those monkeys.

Ventus: *staring at the ceiling* please for the love of the gods, I’m begging you with every fibre of my being, just let me sleep!

Roxas: who are you talking to?

Vanitas: *from under the bed* me.

Roxas: THE FUCK?!?!

Xion: todays the day I train without embarrassing myself! *immediately trips and face plants Terras chest*

Vanitas: so you all just… try to murder eachother?

Sora: with boundaries.

Vanitas: murder with boundaries ?

Sora: yeah I heard it as soon as I said it.

Lea: if I can’t see it I didn’t set it on fire.

Kairi: hypothetically, you could use your keyblade as a giant shish kabob!

Riku: hypothetically you could not.

Sora: I don’t suffer from foot in mouth disease, I excel at it!

Isa: I’ve done many things in my life: I’ve been the right hand of a mad man; I’ve mutilated my own face out of loyalty; I’ve tripped headfirst into love the minute I regained a heart; and insulted Squall Leonhart to his face… yet nothing has this far terrified me quite like the 4”11, red headed, ball of female rage I currently have to train with.

Riku: you are a fuck head Roxas! A fuck fuck fuckety fuck head from fuck ville fuckania… and so’s your dad!

Roxas: *mouthing silently* Woooow

Vanitas: I don’t know whether to be impressed that I’m not the most psychotic person here or disturbed…

Ventus: I like having Van here, it means I can exact my revenge outside of the reach of the law!

Terra: how’s it going boys?

Riku: *laying on the floor next to Vanitas* We are barely holding on. The worlds are still in disarray, and we are still crippled by the weight of our past transgressions. If we are left unchecked we will decend once more into the depths of darkness never to return.

Terra: I meant how is cleaning going?

Vanitas: badly

Xion: *to Naminé* we’ve totally nailed sneaking you into training Aqua hasn’t even noticed!

Aqua: *without looking up* I noticed.

Naminé and Xion: fuck.

Sora: Riku said he didn’t love me anymore!😭

Riku: No, I said you couldn’t justifiably knock yourself out with a sleep spell every time you encounter a minor inconvenience…

Lea: on a scale of one to fuck I am a solid “can’t feel my toes”

Kairi: what did we learn?!

Vanitas: that your a fucking lunatic?!?

Kairi: And??

Vanitas: Zehanort didn’t fucking know what he was unleashing on the world!

Isa: I would like to go on record here and say that never in my life have I called someone a cotton headed ninny muggins, but I’m about to!

Roxas: run be over I can take it!

Xion: No! He can’t take it!

Naminé: Aqua I want to be a keyblade wielder

Aqua: And I want a house on destiny islands with a shirtless Terra to fan and feed me grapes!

Naminé: …

Aqua: Oh you were serious?!

[mythicalartistx]

Why Mickey is not to blame for leaving Aqua in the realm of darkness — He was busy

All the time I see people say how it's Mickey's fault for leaving her there for ten years— No doubt Anti-Aqua says that and makes him feel bad.

But the thing is he actually only left her there for 1.5 years if you want to say he left her there.

Cause he didn't know where she was for ten years. Ven was hidden and his heart has been lost, but nobody knew where he was except for Aqua. Aqua and Terra went missing and there was no sign of them.

Nobody was that close to Terra that realized Oh he and that person with no memory look oddly similar except he has silver hair.

Mickey didn't know Terra, he only knew Aqua and Ven. The closest people who would know his appearance well were dead, missing, or wouldn't help cause they're antagonists.

So for several years they probably searched and had no clues also around that time Maleficent was cause chaos with the start of gathering the first few princesses of light' hearts. So Mickey probably had to deal with that.

Then when he realized what was going on and worlds being disappearing he took an opportunity to go to a world that's heart been lost and jump into the door of darkness to find the key that will help close the door

That's when he first finds Aqua and it's been ten years.

She sacrifices herself for Riku and then Mickey and Riku go through the realm of darkness until they get separated somehow. Riku reaches castle oblivion and then Mickey soon helps him and officially becomes his dad.

Then while Sora is asleep, Riku protects Sora and does everything he can to try and help him wake up.

During this part Mickey and Riku separate for a bit. Mickey probably went to Yen Sid and was like Aqua is actually in the realm of darkness we need to save her.

And Yen Sid probably was like we don't have the capabilities or strength to do that, it's way too dangerous.

He probably also told Mickey about Organization 13 and how they're dangerous and needs to be stopped.

Once Sora wakes up he must make pathways to the other worlds and stop organization 13. Mickey also is trying to find Ansem the wise. So after all that happens they finally go back to the islands and Mickey is probably going to try to see what can be done about Aqua.

But then wait Jiminy Cricket runs in and tells him about his journal. So they spend time doing that.

After all the journal stuff is over, Mickey informs Master Yen Sid and sends a letter to the destiny Trio that explained what happened.

Master Yen Sid then tells Mickey because of the stuff they discovered through the data in the journal that Riku and Sora must take the M.O.M. Exam because they fear of darkness uprising.

Then while they are taking the Exam, Mickey goes back to his castle cause Maleficent and Pete captured Minnie. Lea/Axel appears saves the day and then saves Sora from being turned to Darkness. And they realized what Xehanort is planning. They finally have the abilities to find Aqua now. Mickey is now free.

It's only probably been a year and a half since. 1-2 is a year. The events of 2 probably took like a few months, coded probably took 1 month, DDD probably took 1-2 months. And 3 probably took about a few months too.

Reminder that Sora is in 15 for KH2 and KH3.

But they realize they need 7 lights and it's now their mission to find Aqua have Sora get the power awakening to wake up lost friends like Roxas.

Mickey and Riku goes to find Aqua.

And Aqua at the beach, she has trauma being there so long but when she sees ANSEM she says I'm staying here they'll come for me.

And the words she speaks to Mickey in her antiform are only half right. She was possessed by darkness of course she going to say the worse things. Like I don't think she really blames anyone.

It's kinda like people trying to blame one of the trio members in BBS— you can't.

But it wasn't Mickey's fault.

He was busy and they did it as soon as they could which was about a year afterwards.

She has trauma but she was in there for about a decade. Nobody knew where she was for 10 of those years and then the remaining few years they tried at the best time to get her out

When I first saw things relating I was like that's kinda plot hole, they didn't mention them before and was now just added but more I think about it. It kinda makes sense.

I feel like they could have gotten her out when Riku and Sora went to kh2 but she probably was at a deeper part of the dark world. But the point is they were all busy dealing with other things.

Yen Sid probably didn't want Mickey going alone. And Riku was literally using darkness and his form was Ansem, who knows what that would do to him if he went there and if he would ever get it back.

So after passing the exam, Riku went with Mickey where Sora eventually helped them out too

And It wasn't Mickey's fault.

[jashmmunnity]

Welcome to Jashmmunnity!!

A Jashling ask blog (like…the 100th one.) Consisting of…well..Jashlings to ask questions, make chaos reign from above, and probably find more out. Who knows! I sure don’t.

☆-----------------------------------------------☆

Important notice:

No inappropriate/NSFW of any kind.

Relationships are vague on purpose, while I don’t necessarily dislike Jashipping, I’m keeping it vague and unlabeled for the sake of anyone’s comfortability. (Everything is mostly platonic.)

Though, HMS, Fine, Dea, 20 & Roxas are depicted as siblings. So yeah.

Asks will be drawn in any medium (so burnout doesn’t happen), or be answered with written dialogue. And will be answered in a timely manner. (So it isn’t stressful. Stuff won’t be answered immediately is what I’m saying.)

This is all for fun. :]

Without further ado…

Jashling list (lengthy)

☆-----------------------------------------------☆

Artwork for reference

☆-----------------------------------------------☆

CCCC (Chonny’s Charming Chaos Compendium)

Whole/Harmonia/Harmony (He/him)

Heart/Artemis/Lune/Mr.Moon/Moon/Juno (He/they)

Mind/Mr.Mind/Sol/Apollo/Logic/Sun (He/it/she)

Soul/Atlas/Reasons/Star (He/they/it/she)

Therapy (They/them || CCCC oc)

Soul2 (He/any)

☆----------------------------------------------------☆

Rest of them:

20XX/20 (He/him) -(20XX)

Fin (He/she) -(Fine I’m fine)

Dea (He/him) -(To toe deadlines)

Roxas (He/they) -(This Sisyphean Nightmare)

Pit (He/it) -(The Before)

60 (He/him) -(Mario is dead)

Moss/Cid (He/him) -(Covered in discontent)

Scrap (He/him) -(The Scrapyard: tutorial level)

Charlotte (He/him) -(CJ drum covers/Charlotte)

Hickory/green (He/him), Ember/red (They/he), Pine/blue (He/they) -(The forest for the trees)

Wicked (He/him) -(Ain’t no rest for the wicked)

Louis (He/him) -(You Sound Like Louis Burdett)

A.J. (He/him) -(K.K. Suite)

Count Eleven/Mr.Eleven (He/him) -(Count Eleven)

April (He/him) -(April’s Fool)

Announcer/???? (He/him) -(GW)

“Theseus” (Any) -(The Ship Of Theseus)

Poor Artists (He/him)

Will (He/any) -(With What We Are)

Destiny (He/him) -(The ultimate showdown of ultimate destiny)

☆----------------------------------------------------☆

Tiny Man Band:

Cedar Jacks (He/him) (main vocal)

Key (He/him) (Keyboard)

Uni (He/him) (Ukulele)

Brass (They/them) (Bass)

Bum (He/him) (Percussion)

☆----------------------------------------------------☆

Power Hours:

Dev/Devin (He/they) -(That Handsome Devil PH//

Dev Inferno/Twist the knife)

Ego Spirit (Any), Funky (He/him) -(Tim Minchin PH)

Mori (any) -(Will Wood PH)

Hope (He/him) -(CJPH)

☆----------------------------------------------------☆

Encore:

Beauty (He/him)

Cotard (He/it) -(Cotard’s Solution)

Rus (He/him) -(Wings of wax)

☆----------------------------------------------------☆

(If I think of anything else, this’ll be updated)

But uh, *Coughing noises*

[solxr-flare]

Ventus Verse Info–Band AU

Reminder: For all modern/modern adjacent aus, Ventus' last name is Awen and unless interacting with a mun that disagrees, Roxas is his younger brother.

TLDR: The bass player in the very popular band WayFinder. For someone in a band, he certainly knows how to sing and dance.

Notable Physical Differences:

This verse can take place at many different times, a (13-14 year old) Ven part of the global-pop group DANDELIONZ (more info below), a (16-17) Ven post accident with little memories and early WayFinder popularity, a 20’s aged Ven with mostly recovered memories when WayFinder has been popular for a while and they are mentoring the new band Destiny’s Key, and of course anywhere in between.

Ven here has a more hidden muscular build from idol group training, and can do many different kinds of dances because of it. He’s also a quick learner!

My headcanon looks still apply here, green eyes, wayyyy too many freckles, a lighter blonde than he is in game, etc

Backstory (DANDELIONZ): TRIGGER WARNINGS: Vehicle Accidents, Memory Loss I will warn when these come up in the backstory.

Ven was originally a part of the idol global-pop group DANDELIONZ. (think like, KATSEYE where its a group of people from completely different nationalities, and its like... k-pop adjacent.) The other members were Ephemer, Brain, Skuld, Strelitza, Lauriam, and Elrena, who were all 17~~ (ish is what i mean), and at the time Ven was 13-14. They were a very popular group, enough to do world tours and have millions of fans. Ava was their manager, and they were very much a family to each other–which was good, considering they were always together.

Ventus, although young, was a great singer, but his talent really shone with his dancing and personality on stage! On the other hand, he was the youngest out of everybody, and often was left out in a lot of things.

TW WARNINGS APPLY HERE: Unfortunately, at the height of DANDELIONZ's fame, their band vehicle got into an accident, cause unknown. 5 were injured, and 2 were missing–group members Strelitza and Ventus. Ventus has suffered damage to the head in the accident that left him with no memories other than his name, and hazy dreams of the stage.

Ven ended up finding shelter where a young duo band partially in training, partially releasing music lived with their mentor. (Terra + Aqua, and Eraqus)

Backstory (WayFinder):

The group let him stay, as long as he wanted to or until he recovered his missing memories.

After a bit of nothing changing, Ven got interested in music and picked up learning bass guitar, being professionally taught by Eraqus how to do so. He ends up being... pretty good at it, and Terra and Aqua let him join their band, WayFinder!

They start to gain more traction, and release a few hit songs, but nothing compared to other popular bands.

At the same time, a mysterious masked music artist became a hit, and he was an electric guitar player, something Ven knew that the WayFinders needed. He ended up getting to know him in private, and after a while he found out he was Vanitas (and im not gonna go into the details as to why he wears a mask all the time, ask Myst, i forgot lmao) (long story short his career got ruined when he was younger)

After some serious convincing on Ven's part, Aqua and Terra agreed to let Vanitas join the band as his new artist persona.

They had a full band now, with a wide variety of genres, and they became an extremely popular band.

At some point, the original fans of DANDELIONZ found out about WayFinder, and to sum it up Ven found out about his past, and started to deal with some unruly paparazzi and fans, and WayFinder (much to the surprise of the group) gained a whole new following.

With all the interviews and videos and other things Ven started to look into, he started to recover his memories.

Current (WayFinder collaborating with Destiny's Key):

WayFinder became an extremely popular band, on par with what the DANDELIONZ were.

Apparently, unbeknownst to Ven, when Terra and Aqua had first started touring, back when Ven was part of the Dandelionz, Terra had taught some tips to Riku (a member of a new band called Destiny's Key).

They all decided to do a collab together, and all the while, WayFinder members would teach Destiny's Key members how to be a great band. Unlike Aqua, Terra, and Vanitas, Ven didn't play an instrument that any of the other's group members did. However, what he taught them was how to have a presence on stage, and some dances, and how to choreograph a dance even when using an instrument.

And that's all for now! If I think of anything I'll add it here.

[muses-of-the-memory]

Happy 19th Anniversary, Kingdom Hearts II!

Today is the 19th Anniversary of...

Kingdom Hearts 2!

It has now been 19 years since we seen the story of the Kingdom Hearts 2 continue from the first game, Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days put together.

It started out with Roxas, No. XIII, Sora's Nobody have his time in the Simulated Twilight Town on a summer vacation, but has gotten some of Sora's lost memories of his past adventures.

Now awakened, Sora, Donald and Goofy continue their search for Riku and King Mickey, even exploring some worlds of old friends that had returned from the darkness after Ansem... which was Xehanort's Heartless were restored.

But along the way, Maleficent had revived and has gotten Pete to go out into other worlds for her Heartless army.

Then, Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas, was revealed to be the Organization's leader using Sora's Keyblade to get the hearts from the Heartless, to create Kingdom Hearts to make them whole. But their efforts were thwarted with the help of Riku, Axel, Naminé, and Kairi who became a Keyblade wielder since then.

And in the end, Sora, Kairi and Riku returned home to Destiny Islands, and King Mickey and the others back to Disney Castle.

[zolupine]

KINGDOM HEARTS X HITACHIIN TWINS : WHY

heres something absolutely no one asked for. this is crossposted on twitter i just need to know someone else understands . my vision? my delusion? whatever. ENJOY! ___

i wanna talk about this because its been on my mind all fucking day.  thus begins the insane hitachiin kingdom hearts thread.

i gave kaoru's keyblade the name twin blade of the early spring in reference to his spring birthday, his ending of his arc with hikaru (two huge flowers will bloom) and the fact that he's considered the mature brother despite being younger. thats just the simple explanation.

moreover the keyblade hes holding is not the one id give him, i drew this in class and literally only know what the kingdom key looks like off the top of my head minus the chain because ive been thinking about the papou fruit a lot recently, but thats besides the point

i kind of go into it in the margins but there are a lot of "twin" narratives within kingdom hearts, or i suppose quintuplets? if we count xion. this will take a minute to explain so i'll do my best to simplify it. the main dude in kh is named sora, in kh one he tried +

to kill himself kind of not really but did anyway and separated his heart and his soul. his HEART became a heartless (which was retconned because kairi- another of the destiny island trio member was like wow i love you bro bro come back to life and he did.) and his nobody-

became a seperate being that will soon be known as roxas. the reaason why he's roxas and not "sora's nobody" is because basically he was manipulated by this dude named Xemnas whos High key EVIL and put a tracking x in his name yes that is the reason behind the x's in all the +

organization XIII members because thats just the way it goes. Thats why axel is lea, etc. MOVING ON! Roxas as Sora's nobody, possesses a striking resemblance to a guy named ventus. this is where it starts to get messy. ventus is ANOTHER parallel to sora, but like way in the past+

hes the protag of one of the games called birth by sleep which contextualizes a lot of the lore in kingdom hearts but whatever thats not important right now, the important thing is that ventus has his "Darkness" extracted by him and thus forms vanitas- who looks suspiciously +

like sora. So now we've established our parallels. Ventus and Sora are the "True" bodies so to speak, and Vanitas and Roxas are offshoots of their original selves. Got it memorized? I would explain more but this is turning into me reciting basic information about kh and not ouran

im also skipping xion because . im Sorry. i dont know where they fit in the narrative im making up on the spot. ok back to hitachiin land i think that it would be completely unfair and a disservice to their characters to make them a nobody and a heartless respectively

also quick note, hikaru also has a keyblade called the twin blade of the late bloom (similar reasoning to kaoru, spring birthday, the tie in to the ending, and late bloom representing hikaru's late development within his narrative, his obliviousness, his rashness, etc.)

i dont think either of the twins parallel any of the residents of sora's heart hotel, but that doesnt mean i can't try. on one hand i could go the route that kaoru is sora and roxas is kaoru. although they no longer posses the "identical" twin trope, something thats very common

within roxas's narrative is that he's constantly confused for sora because he technically, IS sora, he's not real. this mirrors the line in the manga "the one not me is hikaru and the one not hikaru is me. we are seperate individuals, this is absolute"

ok continuing the roxas shit, i think its uber funny because finally there's something outside of the manga that i want to touch on and it's both kaoru's and roxas's  desire to keep their found family despite knowing it'll all fall apart.  that's right. the carriage.

Episode 21 of Ouran, titles “Before it Becomes a Pumpkin,” is all about kaoru and his relationship with the people around him, providing an introspective look on his relationship with the rest of the host club and his reference to cinderella in possibly the best possible way.

kaoru understands more than ANYONE that this isnt permanent. this different with roxas is, is that roxas is forced to forget due to being placed in a simulation, watching xion die, etc. he too experiences that idea of realizing change must come but through his own death

roxas's carriage so to speak is his summer vacation, as seen at the end of kingdom hearts too in which "I guess summer vacation is ... over." in which summer vacation is his idealized life with axel and xion- even as a member of organization xiii, they were his family above all +

else, just in the way that kaoru has his family within the host club, and he doesn't want to let that go. "but still, one of these days, it'll all turn back into a grubby pumpkin again." i think these lines parallel each other ENOUGH to draw a connection, but not something

definitive. its almost a reverse of their narratives which. is pretty goddamn cool. and about hikaru being sora? it's more of a reach than roxas. i think that hikaru is too impulsive and Mean Spirited and self isolating to be sora, who believes his friends are his power

hikaru does too, but he doesn't like opening up to ANYONE. except for mori i guess. i mean if we're taking into consideration the start of hikaru pursuing haruhi arc he doesnt talk to kaoru, tamaki, and does his whole schitchk with haruhi so its whatevs. but yeah

and little sidenote, i think that if haruhi HAD to play a role in this silly narrative ive created, it'd be kiari, or xion : ) yay i'm very tired and this thread is very long! ive you've made it this far- awesome follow me if you like kingdom hearts and or ouran

[allykakamatsu]

KH X GI Character Profiles, Liyue

Mondstat/Liyue/Inazuma/Sumeru/Fontaine

"Didn't know what to make of the kid when he asked me to smuggle him into Inazuma of all places, but I wasn't gonna shut him down outright, so I told him if he could keep up with the crew until the Rite of Descension I'd take him along. I expected him to quit after a week but, turns out he's got a lot more determination than I thought. I don't know where it came from but, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed." -Captain Beidou

*Name: Lea Axel (only Isa can call him Lea now)

*Title: Passion of an Afternoon Flame

*Former Nobody from another world and part time member of the Crux.

*Vision: Pyro

*Constellation: Piger Meridiem

"Nobody really knows where he came from, but it wasn't long before it started feeling like he was here the whole time. If I didn't know better and the fact we’re friends instead of him avoiding me I'd swear he was a spirit. Still, spectre or not, he is a great friend, though I'm curious why he always spends his Sunday nights at Wangshu Inn" -Chongyun

*Name: Roxas

*Title: Dual Wielding Key of Destiny

*A reborn Nobody from another world.

*Vision: Geo

*Constellation: Lusiurandum Oblivionis

Please support me on ko-fi here

[video-game-kids-tournament]

MEET YOUR CONTESTANTS!

Kingdom Hearts under the cut!

Name: Sora

Age: 14

Gender + Pronouns: Male, he/him

Video Game: Kingdom Hearts

Backstory: “The short version is his world was getting consumed by darkness and he was chosen by the keyblade so he set off on a quest to find his missing friends and eventually save all the worlds from being consumed by darkness”

• "Sora wanted to leave the remote islands he grew up on with his two friends and explore other worlds. However, a storm (and monsters) came and 1. he got separated from his friends 2. he got a giant key sword 3. his world was destroyed. Next thing he knows, he's in a strange town, and Donald Duck and Goofy Goof are telling him to come with them to kill monsters with his key and look for Mickey Mouse and also his friends if he HAS TO. He kills a bunch of monsters in increasingly incredible ways, finds his friends and the mouse, but then has to do it all again and again bc the game was a financial success so new problems keep arising."

• “Oh fuck I'm just going to copy from KH Wiki if that's okay- “Sora lives on the Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi, and all three of them dream of venturing from Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond. His home was consumed by darkness, sending him on a journey to many worlds across the Realm of Light. An upbeat youth, he travels with his new friends Goofy and Donald Duck in search of his missing friends, and uses his newly acquired weapon, the Keyblade, to put an end to the threats that destroyed his world. Sora is the original persona of his own Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, the source of Naminé's original body, the former bearer of Ventus's heart, and the physical template of Vanitas.””

Why should they win the tournament?: “He is a very good boy. He doesn't even know what the Internet is and he'd still be so so happy about winning this tournament”

• “He's a self-taught magical girl murder machine who's powered up by friendship! His key sword is a blunt metal object that can turn into a bunch of other things, including guns! He can do high elemental magic and summon (for example) Simba from Lion King to the battleground! He's very slippery and can fly, run up walls, jump infinitely up and off walls, dodge roll like there's no tomorrow and doesn't take fall damage. He's also a very good boy.”

• “Because he's my sunshine and I love him. He also needed one more submission as of when I sent this, so I hope he gets in!”

[kuningaskunta-sielut]

Kaikilla Organisaation jäsenillä (poislukien Xion) on numeron lisäksi joku titteli/lisänimi, ja Daysin manga päätti olla niin kiltti että se esittelee meille joka ikisen niistä. Ja sehän meinaa sitä, että mun täytyy höpöttää niistä kaikista ja mitä mieltä oon niiden suomennoksista, tosin joistain ei mulla ole hirveästi sanottavaa. Toisaalta tasapainon ylläpitämiseksi joistain taas sitten on ehkä vähän liikaakin sanottavaa.

Heti alkuun tällanen "ei paljon sanottavaa" -tapaus: Xemnas on japaniksi 狭間の指導者/Hazama no Shidōsha, mikä kääntyy suurin piirtein suoraan juurikin Välitilan herraksi. Enkuksi se on Superior of the In-Between, joten se on yksi harvoja organisaatiolaisia, joilla on käytännössä kaikilla kolmella kielellä sama titteli.

Jos nyt oikein pilkkua haluaa viilata - ja ainahan minä haluan - niin Chain of Memoriesin mangassa Zexion puhuu suomeksi Organisaation "johtajasta", mutta japaniksi ja enkuksi se käyttää tuota termiä Shidōsha/Superior. Eli pieni epäjohdonmukaisuus tässä on, kun Xemnasin arvonimi on päässyt suomennoksessa muuttumaan näiden kahden mangan välillä.

Kuten yleensä, tää suomennos noudattaa alkuperäistä japaninkielistä versiota myös näiden Organisaation tittelien kanssa (ainakin yleensä, mut siitä lisää myöhemmin), joten Roxas on Kohtaamisten avain eli japaniksi めぐりあう鍵/Meguriau Kagi, kun taas enkuksi se on Key of Destiny. Sellanen vivahde-ero tuossa suomennoksessa on alkuperäiseen verrattuna, että meguriau viittaa nimenomaan johonkin onnekkaaseen ja sattumalta tapahtuvaan kohtaamiseen, mutta mielestäni tää on ihan hyväksyttävä käännös. Joku "Onnekkaiden kohtaamisten avain" olisi kai ollut kirjaimellisempi käännös, mutta se on ehkä vähän kömpelön kuuloinen.

Noniin, nythän sitä vauhtiin päästään! Xigbar on japaniksi 魔弾の射手/Madan no Shashu (kirjaimellisesti "taikaluotien ampuja") ja enkuksi Freeshooter, jotka ovat molemmat viittauksia oopperaan Der Freischütz. Kyseinen ooppera puolestaan pohjautuu samannimiseen saksalaiseen kansantaruun, josta on useita eri variaatioita (kuten kansantaruista nyt yleensä tuppaa olemaan), mutta pääjuoni pysyy suurin piirtein samana: metsästäjä tai joku muu pyssymies saa käsiinsä taikaluoteja, jotka osuvat aina tasan tarkkaan siihen, mihin ampuja haluaa, mutta yksi tai useampi luodeista onkin paholaisen hallinnassa. Lopulta ampujalle käy tavalla tai toisella hullusti, kun paholainen sitten leikin lopuksi tappaa ohjaamallaan luodilla joko ampujan itse tai jonkun tämän läheisen.

Ehkä vähän randominkuuloinen viittaus, ja kenties tässä ei mitään syvällisempää ole takana kuin että Madan no Shashu vaan kuulosti siistiltä lisänimeltä, mutta kyllä se mun mielestä tavallaan sopii Xigbarille. Ainakin kuvaannollisesti "diili paholaisen kanssa" kuvailee aika hyvin useampaa kuin yhtä asiaa, mitä kyseinen äijä on ehtinyt elämässään saamaan aikaan. Oli miten oli, suomennoksen geneerinen Tarkka-ampuja kuulostaa suoraansanottuna aika tylsältä; Wikipedian mukaan Der Freischütz on suomennettu ainakin Taika-ampuja, Noita-ampuja ja Paholaisen palkka-ampuja, joten joku noista olisi mun mielestä ollut paljon parempi vaihtoehto (ja vaikka Paholaisen palkka-ampuja onkin ehdottomasti siistein noista kolmesta, on se ehkä vähän liian pitkä, joten henk. koht. oisin valinnut Taika-ampujan).

Ja jos taas tahtoo viilata pilkkua, niin Tarkka-ampuja on senkin vuoksi tässä vähän hassu nimivalinta, koska geneeriset tarkka-ampujat eli Sniperit on niitä Xigbarin käskyttämiä pikkuperkelenobodyjä. Ja jos oikein tahtoo viilata pilkkua, niin se sanan "tarkka-ampuja" toinen enkunkielinen vastine eli Sharpshooter puolestaan on Xigbarin aseiden nimi.

(Mikä hitto Xigbarissa oikeen on, kun oon saanut vasta yhden osan Daysista käytyä läpi ja mä olen jo joutunut kirjoittamaan tyyliin kolme eri esseetä siihen liittyen?)

Tässä on kyllä vedetty mutkat suoriksi, ja ehkä ihan syystäkin. Xaldin on japaniksi 旋風の六槍/Senpū no Rokusō, mikä on kirjaimellisesti "Pyörremyrskyn kuusi keihästä" tai "Kuusi pyörremyrskykeihästä", jotka molemmat kuulostavat suomeksi vähän hassuilta. Suomentaja on sitten päätynyt tällaiseen luovempaan ratkaisuun, missä on samat peruselementit (eli myrsky ja keihäät) kuin alkuperäisessä tittelissä, mutta lopputulos on aika erinäköinen. Todennäköisesti enkkuversion kääntäjilläkin on ollut sama logiikka, kun aikoinaan päättivät että englanniksi Xaldin on Whirlwind Lancer.

Noh, kuten sanottua, kirjaimellinen käännös olisi varmaan ollut aika kökkö vaihtoehto tässä tilanteessa, joten musta tuo on ihan käypä suomennos. Jos pitäisi valita, niin mun mielestä tuo Whirlwind Lancer on piirun verran parempi, koska Keihäsmyrsky kuulostaa ehkä vähän kuvaannollisemmalta. Eli siis siitä on mun mielestä vähän vaikeampi hoksata, että tällä äijällä on jotain tekemistä ihan kirjaimellistenkin myrskyjen kanssa.

Vexenistä ei mulla oikeesti oo paljoa sanottavaa: japaniksi sen titteli on いてつく学究/Itetsuku Gakkyū, jolle sekä suomenkielinen Jääkylmä tiedemies että enkkuversion Chilly Academic ovat melko suoria käännöksiä.

Lexaeuksen kanssa suomentaja on taas joutunut käyttämään vähän luovuutta, koska sen japaninkielinen titteli 静かなる豪傑/Shizuka-naru Gōketsu on aika hankalaa kääntää suoraan. Ongelma on lähinnä tuo sana gōketsu, mille ei suoraa vastinetta suomen kielessä ole ja jisho.org tarjoaa sille enkuksikin monenlaista käännöstä, mitkä liippaa läheltä muttei kuitenkaan sataprosenttisesti vastaa sitä merkitykseltään. Japaninkielinen Weblio määrittelee sen tarkoittavan (vapaasti suomennettuna) ihmistä, joka on erityisen älykäs, rohkea ja taitava taistelemaan, ja mä en ainakaan keksi tuolle mitään näpsäkkää, yksisanaista vastinetta suomeksi. Ainoa minkä näin äkkiseltään keksin on "suurmies" ja sekin on korkeintaan vähän sinnepäin. Ymmärrän ihan hyvin, että suomentaja ei lopulta edes yrittänyt keksiä mitään suht kirjaimellista käännöstä, vaan vaihtoikin tittelin merkityksen henkisestä suuruudesta fyysiseen suuruuteen ja lopputuloksena saatiin Hiljainen jätti. Close enough!

Enkkuversiollakin on ollut vähän vaikeuksia tän Lexaeuksen tittelin kanssa, sillä sehän oli alunperin KH2:ssa Silent Hero, mutta siinä Daysin cutscenekoosteversiossa, joka oli mukana 1.5 HD Remixissä, se olikin Taciturn Stalwart. Tykkään kyllä ite enemmän Silent Herosta ja onhan se nyt vähän outoa, että se virallinen käännös päätettiin yhtäkkiä muuttaa, mutta toisaalta ymmärrän, jos tuota alkuperäistä pidettiin vähän harhaanjohtavana. Lexaeus kyllä on Organisaation mittapuulla varmaan sieltä vähemmän ilkeästä päästä, mutta ei sitä oikein sankarilliseksikaan voi kuvailla (esmes Daysin peliversiossahan se täräyttää Roxasia surutta turpaan antaessaan sille työhönopastusta, mikä on aika vittumaisesti tehty), joten ymmärrän kyllä jos enkkukääntäjät päätti, että joku vähemmän hyviksen kuuloinen titteli sopisi tyypille paremmin.

Mut joo, tiivistettynä tää kyseinen lisänimi tuntuu aiheuttavan kääntäjille päänvaivaa ihan kielestä riippumatta.

Ja sitten taas vaihteeksi tällanen suht suoraan käännetty keissi: japaniksi Zexion on 影歩む策士/Kageayumu Sakushi, mikä on suoraan suomennettuna juurikin Varjoissa kulkeva strategi. Enkkuversion Cloaked Schemer on vähän ylimalkaisempi, sillä siitä on jätetty tuo nimenomaan varjoissa piileskely pois, mutta musta on myös mielenkiintoista, kuinka siinä on suomennettuun versioon verrattuna vähän negatiivinen kalskahdus. Sakushin voi kääntää useammallakin tavalla, joihin kuuluu mm. just "strategi" tai "juonittelija", ja vaikka ne tarkoittaakin periaatteessa samaa asiaa niin pieni vivahde-ero niissä kuitenkin on. Kaipa tää on taas näitä makuasioita, mutta musta "juonittelija" sopii paremmin yhteen tuon varjoissakulkemisen sekä ylipäätään Zexionin metkujen kanssa.

Ja nyt menee ohi aiheen ja lujaa, mutta tahdon vaan ottaa puheeksi, että jotenkin toi puhekuplan teksti kuulostaa mun korvaan vähän hassulta, eikä vaan sen takia että tän suomennoksen sielu/sydän vekslaus ottaa mua edelleen nuppiin enemmän kuin laki sallii. Toi repla on lainattu suoraan pelistä siitä kohtaa, kun Zexion selittää Roxasille Nobodyn merkitystä, ja jostain syystä toi suomennos kuulostaa musta enemmän siltä, että Zexion puhuu enemmän nimenomaan Roxasista kuin Nobodyista yleensä; Roxashan syntyi Nobodyna ja on täten ollut "syntymästä saakka vailla sielua", mutta muut Nobodyt syntyi ihan ihmisinä ja menetti "sielunsa" vasta myöhemmin. Suomennoksen puolustukseksi todettakoon, että ensinnäkin tää repla on kokonaan irrotettu asiayhteydestään, joten siitä voi olla hankala sanoa, mistä siinä tarkalleen ottaen on puhe, ja toisekseen "syntymästä saakka" on aika suora käännös sille, miten asia on japaniksi esitetty. Alunperin tuossa on käytetty ilmausta この世界に生まれた時から/kono sekai ni umareta toki kara, mikä on kirjaimellisesti käännettynä "siitä hetkestä asti, kun on syntynyt tähän maailmaan" (tai oikeestaan sen pitäisi olla "kun synnyimme", mutta tosta japaninkielisestä lauseesta ei käy ilmi, että Zexion puhuu itsestään ja muista Nobodyista), mikä on periaatteessa sama kuin "syntymästä asti" ja siitä on vaan jätetty se "tähän maailmaan" osa pois.

Olisiko sitten "Olemme olleet sydämettömiä siitä hetkestä asti, kun synnyimme tähän maailmaan" loppujen lopuksi ollut selvemmin ilmaistu? Emt, ainakin siitä käy selväksi, että Zexion puhuu nimenomaan Nobodyista, mutta minkäs teet kun konteksti puuttuu tästä lähes kokonaan. Tykkään, kuinka enkkukäännös hoiti tämän käyttämällä syntymän sijaan kiertoilmausta "entered the world", koska se kuulostaa vähän vähemmän siltä, että puhuttaisiin kirjaimellisesti fyysisestä syntymästä.

Joo jospa sitten palattaisiin asiaan.

Mä alussa mainitsin, että tää suomennos tapansa mukaan yleensä noudattaa alkuperäistä japanilaista tekstiä myös näiden Organisaation tittelien osalta, mutta mä kyllä syön sukkani jos tässä Saïxin kohdalla suomentaja ei ole vähintään ottanut mallia enkkuversion Luna Diviner -käännöksestä. Molemmat on kyllä suht ironisia nimityksiä, koska Saïx harvemmin turvautuu taikuuteen ja taistelussa suosii melko pitkälti "berserkkiraivo päälle ja vastustaja(t) jauhelihoiksi" -taktiikkaa (ja itse asiassa Magic on Daysissä sen statseista kaikkein huonoin), mutta suomennoksen puolustukseksi todettakoon, että ainakin se velhomaisesti osaa taikoa esim. just Daysin Mission Modessa. Tota enkkuversiota taasen mä en oo ikinä oikein ymmärtänyt, koska diviner tarkoittaa ennustajaa, mikä ei ainakaan mun mielestä kuvaa Saïxia oikein millään lailla.

No mutta mistä hitosta kumpikaan käännös sitten on tuon velhon tai ennustajan oikein repäissyt? Tässä on taas vähän sama juttu kuin Lexaeuksen kanssa, eli sekaannuksen aiheuttaja on taas japaninkielinen sana, millä ei ole suomeksi tai enkuksi suoraa käännöstä; japaniksi Saïx on 月に舞う魔人/Tsuki ni Mau Majin, ja se päänvaiva tässä on toi vika sana eli majin. Kirjaimellisesti se tarkoittaa "demoni-ihmistä", mutta kuten täällä selitetään, sen voi asiayhteydestä riippuen kääntää monella eri tavalla ja yksi näistä mahdollisista käännöksistä tosiaan on "velho". Oma veikkaukseni on, että enkkukääntäjät eivät aikoinaan oikein tienneet, minkä sortin majin tässä on tarkalleen ottaen kyseessä ja lopulta jotenkin päätyivät siihen tulokseen, että varmaan tässä tarkoitetaan sitä "taikavoimia omaava ihminen" -tyyppistä majinia. Siitä sitten Luna Diviner -nimitys, ja monta vuotta myöhemmin mangan suomentaja törmäsi samaan probleemaan, päätti luntata että miten enkkuversiossa on majin käännetty ja pohjasi käännöksensä sitten siihen, koska kai sen nyt on oltava oikein kun se on se virallinen enkkukäännös. Lopputulos onkin sitten se, että Saïxin titteli ei ole kovin kuvaava enkuksi tai suomeksi. (Toisaalta jos toi enkkukäännös oli alunperin jonkun sortin kämmi, niin miksei ne vaan tehnyt samoin kuin Lexaeuksen kanssa ja korjannut sitä myöhemmin? Joo mä en tiedä kuinka aukoton tää mun teoria viime kädessä on).

Mutta jos nyt leikitään, että mä olisin ollut vastuussa tästä suomennoksesta, niin miten mä olisin tän kääntänyt japanista? Kuten sanottu, suoraa käännöstä ei tässä tilanteessa oikein oo olemassa, mutta oma valintani olisi kaiketi ollut jotain tyyliin "Kuutamossa tanssiva paholainen". Vähän pitkä se on, mutta kyllä se musta kuvaa Saïxia aika hyvin (ja sitä paitsi se kuulostaa siistiltä).

Axel on japaniksi おどる火の風/Odoru Hi no Kaze, minkä voi kääntää kirjaimellisesti joko "tanssivien liekkien tuuli" tai "tanssiva liekkien tuuli", eli enkkuversion Flurry of Dancing Flames on melko suora käännös siitä. Suomennos on vähän lyhentänyt sitä ja jättänyt maininnan tuulesta kokonaan pois, joten nyt Axel on lyhyesti ja ytimekkäästi vaan Liekkien tanssi.

(Kirjotin muuten tässä joku aika takaperin siitä, miten Axel sanoo CoM:issa "Joko muistat?" ja Daysissä siitä onkin tullut "Painoitko mieleen?", mut kyl se näköjään ainakin kerran käyttää vielä Daysissä tota ensimmäistä versiota. Koita nyt päättää, kumpi se on! Ärh.)

Luullakseni Nokturno on melko suora käännös Demyxin japaninkieliselle tittelille, joka on 夜想のしらべ /Yasō no Shirabe - paino sanalla "luullakseni", koska suoraan sanottuna tää menee hitusen yli mun ymmärryksen, mut mä nyt yritän selittää tän niin järkevästi kun osaan.

Japaniksi nokturno on 夜想曲/yasōkyoku, mikä koostuu kolmesta kanjista (夜 "yö", 想 "ajatus", 曲 "laulu/sävellys"), mutta tässä on tuo lopun 曲 eli kyoku napsaistu pois ja tilalle on laitettu shirabe, mikä tarkoittaa melodiaa tai sävelmää. Mun ainoa arvaus sille, että mitä hiivattia tää tarkoittaa, on että merkitys pysyy suht samana, mutta se vaan kuulostaa vähän hienommalta; jos nyt oon oikein ymmärtänyt, niin kyoku viittaa enemmänkin musiikin konseptiin, eli tyyliin sävellyksiin ja nuotteihin, kun taas shirabe viittaa ihan siihen korvilla kuultavaan sävelmään. Eli merkitys on edelleen "nokturno", mutta Yasō no Shirabe on vaan vähän runollisempi kuin yasōkyoku.

Joo en tiiä oliko tossa mitään järkeä. Mä olen kuitenkin melko varma, että enkkuversion Melodious Nocturne ajaa suunnilleen saman asian, ja tykkään siitä kyllä enemmän kuin tuosta suomennoksesta. Pelkkä Nokturno on ehkä vähän liiankin lyhyt ja ytimekäs, minkä takia se kuulostaa mun korvaan vähän liian vakavalta (etenkin kun nyt on kuitenkin Demyxistä puhe). Melodious Nocturne vaan kuulostaa jotenkin kivemmalta... Nyt kun asiaa mietin, niin ehkä yasōkyokun ja Yasō no Shiraben ero on sama kuin Nokturnon ja Melodious Nocturnen. Joo, sovitaan vaikka näin.

Luxord on taas tällanen tapaus, että sekä suomi- että enkkuversiot ovat vaan suoria käännöksiä japanista: se on alunperin 運命を賭す者/Unmei wo Tosumono, mikä on suomeksi juurikin Kohtalon uhkapeluri ja enkuksi Gambler of Fate.

Tässä on suomentaja taas heittäytynyt vähän luovaksi ja todennäköisesti ihan syystäkin. Marluxia on japaniksi 優雅なる凶刃/Yūga-naru Kyōjin, mikä on kirjaimellisesti käännettynä "elegantti salamurhaajan [terä]ase" ja mun ei todennäköisesti tarvi erikseen sanoa, että tuo kuulostaa suomeksi aika kummalliselta. Jopa se enkkuversion Graceful Assassin, joka kyllä kuulostaa paljon paremmalta, on vähän hassu, koska Axelhan se Organisaation päätoiminen salamurhaaja on. Kaiken kaikkiaan Elegantti viikatemies saattaa olla näistä kolmesta mun suosikki, koska Marluxiahan kirjaimellisesti käyttää aseenaan viikatetta, kun taas kuvaannollisesti siihen muutenkin liittyy kuolemaan viittaavia asioita. Puolin ja toisin varsin sopiva lisänimi siis.

Lopuksi sitten vielä yks "tässon sana mille ei ole sun kielessä mitään suoraa vastinetta, onnea vaan käännöksen kanssa" -tapaus: japaniksi Larxene on 非情の妖姫/Hijō no Yōki, ja yōkin merkitys on suurin piirtein "kaunis mutta salaperäisellä tavalla pahaenteisen oloinen nainen". Kuten sanottu, mitään suoraa käännöstä ei tuolle ole, mutta mielestäni sekä suomennoksen Säälimätön dryadi että enkkuversion Savage Nymph ovat ihan fiksuja ratkaisuja. "Kaunis ja yliluonnollinen naisolento" liippaa edes suht läheltä tuota yōkin määritelmää, se pahaenteisyys siitä toki jää vähän uupumaan, mutta tuskin se paljoa haittaa kun siinä on kuitenkin erikseen tuo julmuuteen/säälimättömyyteen viittaava etuliite.

Itse asiassa en suuremmin yllättyisi, jos tässäkin tapauksessa suomennos on ainakin vähän ottanut mallia enkkuversiosta, tosin toisin kuin Saïxin tapauksessa on lopputulos ollut pikkusen parempi.

[lockandkeyblade]

What do you think would have happened if Ventus died that night on Destiny Island?

🐇Bunny

I want you to know how much this ask hurts me Bunny.

Anyway I have thought of this before and a lot could happen so I'm just gonna dot point some reasonable ideas. Because I'm very normal about this concept.

Vanitas would either perish, go off the rails, and/or Xehanort would try and preserve him somehow which would also be Not Great (I'm ignoring you KHUX don't look at me like that in BBS Vanitas very clearly made himself out to be part of Ventus we're sticking with it)

Though Vanitas Remnant as this jittering, ghastly apparition that haunts Aqua and Terra's every step does sound Absolutely Amazing.

The X-blade part of Xehanort's plans would unfortunately have to be put on hold for a while, so BBS would have a huge focus on Terra and his struggles with Darkness versus Aqua and her struggles with her blinkered perceptions of Light. Still ends in tragedy for everyone.

Eraqus' death would be... I'm gonna say it'd have to be in the Keyblade Graveyard. I'm gonna say it's still the key to unlocking Terra's Darkness, but there's no reason for him to be stuck in LoD. He'd probably get a grand sacrifice moment.

Instead of Sora saving Ven with his Birth he probably just...soaks up whatever cosmic stardust is left of him at birth. We're still not sure how much of Sora is Ven, he still gets his link to Vanitas (if Vanitas even survives)

Roxas becomes an even greater question mark at that stage because once again, he's Sora's Nobody. But now he's the Nobody of someone filled with the remnants of the Light of someone's Heart and man

Roxas would be a whole new kettle of fish, huh? If Ven was to have any meaningful impact on the story going forward, beyond whatever the hell happens with Sora and Vanitas, it'd have to be in Roxas. Potentially in some wild "I am almost a reincarnation of this person, I am a blend of two people in a trenchcoat and as I regain Sora's memories There's Something Else There and it is Bad"

Would Castle Oblivion even happen? Would LoD even be locked away? If it was, would Xemnas have any reason to be pursuing it??? What happens to Namine in a world without C.O? What happens to the Org?

Xehanort's whole speech in 3D would be very different too. Talking about the X-blade and how it failed like... god there'd be no attachment from the Light to Ven at all. So they'd probably be hearing for the first time that Xehanort attempted, once, to rip a Heart in half and manufacture it, and it ended in-- immediate failure. With all the fridge horror that implies.

Idk man idk very bad no good things would happen and I don't want to live in a world where Venjamin Kingdom Hearts didn't bless us with his "a meteor shower! :D" in the very opening of the game.

Could you imagine if the only reason we had any link to Ven at all... was because he was a dead narrator talking about how his death spawned... all of this pain? How he wishes he could've made a difference? The lingering regrets of a dead child?

Yeah anyway this ask hurt me.