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Katabasis - A Descent Into the Underworld

If you're interested, this post will follow up a little on this post, and to a smaller extent this one, making some loose connections from things I found interesting.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katabasis:

The trip to the underworld is a mytheme of comparative mythology found in a diverse number of religions from around the world. The hero or upper-world deity journeys to the underworld or to the land of the dead and returns, often with a quest-object or a loved one, or with heightened knowledge. The ability to enter the realm of the dead while still alive, and to return, is a proof of the classical hero's exceptional status as more than mortal. A deity who returns from the underworld demonstrates eschatological themes such as the cyclical nature of time and existence, or the defeat of death and the possibility of immortality.

Katabasis is the epic convention of the hero's trip into the underworld. In Greek mythology, for example, Orpheus enters the underworld in order to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.

Most katabases take place in a supernatural underworld, such as Hades or Hell — as in Nekyia, the 11th book of the Odyssey, which describes Odysseus's descent to the underworld. However, katabasis can also refer to a journey through other dystopic areas, like those Odysseus encounters on his 10-year journey back from Troy to Ithaca. Pilar Serrano allows the term katabasis to encompass brief or chronic stays in the underworld, including those of Lazarus, and Castor and Pollux. In this case, however, the katabasis must be followed by an anabasis (a going or marching up) in order to be considered a true katabasis instead of a death.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphism_(religion):

When the deceased arrives in the underworld, he is expected to confront obstacles. He must take care not to drink of Lethe ("Forgetfulness"), but of the pool of Mnemosyne ("Memory").

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lethe:

In Classical Greek, the word lethe (λήθη) literally means "oblivion", "forgetfulness", or "concealment". It is related to the Greek word for "truth", aletheia (ἀλήθεια), which through the privative alpha literally means "un-forgetfulness" or "un-concealment".

The shades of the dead were required to drink the waters of the Lethe in order to forget their earthly life. In the Aeneid (VI.703-751), Virgil writes that it is only when the dead have had their memories erased by the Lethe that they may be reincarnated.

Role in religion and philosophy

Some ancient Greeks believed that souls were made to drink from the river before being reincarnated, so that they would not remember their past lives. The Myth of Er in Book X of Plato's Republic tells of the dead arriving at a barren waste called the "plain of Lethe", through which the river Ameles ("careless") runs. "Of this they were all obliged to drink a certain quantity," Plato wrote, "and those who were not saved by wisdom drank more than was necessary; and each one as he drank forgot all things." A few mystery religions taught the existence of another river, the Mnemosyne; those who drank from the Mnemosyne would remember everything and attain omniscience. Initiates were taught that they would receive a choice of rivers to drink from after death, and to drink from Mnemosyne instead of Lethe.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenpass:

Totenpass (plural Totenpässe) is a German term sometimes used for inscribed tablets or metal leaves found in burials primarily of those presumed to be initiates into Orphic, Dionysiac, and some ancient Egyptian and Semitic religions. The term may be understood in English as a "passport for the dead". The so-called Orphic gold tablets are perhaps the best-known example.

Totenpässe are placed on or near the body as a phylactery, or rolled and inserted into a capsule often worn around the neck as an amulet. The inscription instructs the initiate on how to navigate the afterlife, including directions for avoiding hazards in the landscape of the dead and formulaic responses to the underworld judges.

You will find on the right in Hades' halls a spring, and by it stands a ghostly cypress-tree, where the dead souls descending wash away their lives. Do not even draw nigh this spring. Further on you will find chill water flowing from the pool of Memory: over this stand guardians. They will ask you with keen mind what is your quest in the gloom of deadly Hades. They will ask you for what reason you have come. Tell them the whole truth straight out. Say: 'I am the son of Earth and starry Heaven, but of Heaven is my birth: this you know yourselves. I am parched with thirst and perishing: give me quickly chill water flowing from the pool of Memory.' Assuredly the kings of the underworld take pity on you, and will themselves give you water from the spring divine; then you, when you have drunk, traverse the holy path which other initiates and bacchants tread in glory. After that you will rule amongst the other heroes.

After Sora and Riku close the Door to Darkness, and Kairi tearfully completes the drawing in the cave, the very next shot is a sideways pan of cypress trees.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupressus_sempervirens:

In classical antiquity, the cypress was a symbol of mourning and in the modern era it remains the principal cemetery tree in both the Muslim world and Europe. In the classical tradition, the cypress was associated with death and the underworld because it failed to regenerate when cut back too severely. Athenian households in mourning were garlanded with boughs of cypress. Cypress was used to fumigate the air during cremations. It was among the plants that were suitable for making wreaths to adorn statues of Pluto, the classical ruler of the underworld.

In an almost cheeky way, Pluto struts across the screen. I can only guess if the play on Pluto was intentional.

Now, I don't think Sora, Donald, and Goofy are "dead" here lol, but more like they've just been reincarnated into their next journey, which will proceed as Chain of Memories as they search for Riku and The King. Note that Donald and Goofy are wearing their normal clothes, signifying a change/rebirth.

I'd say a "katabasis" occurs in every Kingdom Hearts game, hence the journey. They usually end with the main characters bringing their loved ones home, or at least with some kind of new knowledge gained.

So the next katabasis will take place in Quadratum as Riku looks to retrieve Sora. I wonder if Sora's necklace will function in a similar way to the totenpass, guiding him to recall important memories... What new knowledge will be gained?

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Theory: Yozora (Why he looks like Riku, why he acts the way he does)

https://twitter.com/steamwhistler2/status/1324875337805819905?s=21

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There’s this one scene in KH1 that I feel is often overlooked, only remembered as the scene where Kairi gives Sora her oathkeeper charm.  Sora finds Kairi in the cave and is set on going back to rescue Riku:

But Kairi seems unsure:

Sora: “When I turned into a Heartless, you saved me, remember?  I was lost in the darkness.  I couldn’t find my way.  As I stumbled through the dark I started forgetting things…my friends, who I was.  The darkness almost swallowed me.  But then I heard a voice- your voice.  You brought me back.“ Kairi: “I didn’t want to just forget about you.  I couldn’t.”

Sora: “That’s it!  Our hearts are connected.  And the light from our hearts broke through the darkness.  I saw that light.  I think that’s what saved me.”

Sora is explaining how her light and connection to him helped guide him out of the dark when he was a heartless, and the reason he’s saying all that is because he believes he can save Riku in the same way, by being Riku’s light.  And he was: “Riku was freed by Sora’s light.”

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Guys I’m not gonna lie to you, last night I had a dream that Yozora was talking to me about Sora and Riku. It was so casual, it was like he’d known them his whole life — or had been watching over them for a long time.

The one thing that confused me was he kept talking about a fucking mural back when “Sora and Riku were younger,” and I was like “boy what the hell are you talking about?”

He legit took out two photos and was like “these.”

Guys. Guess what he fucking hands me.

A picture of these two little shits. I about lost my mind.

Then, Yozora had the gall to say “yeah, they represent the two of them, but I think it went over your head.”

Like… wtf kind of dream??? Is that???

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The Light Obscured

Call me delusional, but I read the glowing mural as being a stand-in for Riku. I never thought of it before I read the novel section. It's also interesting how Sora compares the waterway with the cave on DI, which I don't recall him doing in the game. It's almost as if the glowing light is like a faint memory... trying to remind Sora of something important.

KH1 Novel:

Shielding Kairi, Sora fought through the Heartless in the Second District, and they ran into the secret waterway. It was deserted and dim, but the murals on the walls gave off a soft glow. “Places like this are always kind of exciting, huh?” said Kairi, looking up at the murals. “It’s like that cave back on our island!” “Yeah… Look at this mural. It’s almost hypnotizing, isn’t it?” The painting of the sun seemed to gaze down on them with a mysterious warmth. As Sora walked closer, the sun began to shine. “Wow…it’s so pretty!” Kairi gazed at it, wide-eyed. A beam of light fell into Sora’s hand, and the sun changed into a crescent moon. The light that fell into his hand was a Gummi block. “Is that a Gummi?” asked Kairi. “Yeah. We’d better hurry up and take it back to Cid.” Kairi looked up again at the moon. “A light deep within the darkness…”

Thanks and credit to this post https://twitter.com/anotherside420/status/1496715502021918725 for finding what I'd consider a bombshell:

CoM Novel:

“Try too hard to remember, and your memory might lie…” But how could memories be lies? Maybe…if a person couldn’t remember something and somebody lied to them about it, then they might believe that was true. Like that time. When Sora had turned into a Heartless…he couldn’t remember it very well. All he really knew was that Kairi had saved him. But…he only believed that because when he got his body back, Kairi had been holding him. What if it had really been someone else who saved him? “That’s all I can say,” the Cheshire Cat told them. “The rest is for you to figure out.”

Sora says "I think that's what saved me." So he's not entirely sure, and Kairi never really confirms that it was her who saved Sora. And, it's almost as if he's clutching his necklace.

By the way, this post isn't an attack on Kairi or Namine. They're playing some kind of mysterious role we don't know about yet, and I believe they genuinely care about Sora and don't intend to do him any harm.

Kairi moves in front of the light, and is not the source it's emanating from. Again she doesn't exactly confirm it was her who saved Sora.

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Sora as the Morning Star

By chance I was browsing the official art hosted at Khinsider and something really caught my eye. There is a piece in the Chain of Memories section titled "Crossroads - Morning Star":

And of course, "Crossroads - Dawn":

Both of them together, "Crossroads":

These pieces have been around for a long time, but I've never seen (what I assume) are their official names. I think this must be a new revelation from the recent Ultimania but I haven't confirmed any of this.

Most of us already know Riku's association with the Dawn, but let's look at this idea of Sora being associated with the Morning Star.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucifer:

In Roman folklore, Lucifer ("light-bringer" in Latin) was the name of the planet Venus, though it was often personified as a male figure bearing a torch. The Greek name for this planet was variously Phosphoros (also meaning "light-bringer") or Heosphoros (meaning "dawn-bringer"). Lucifer was said to be "the fabled son of Aurora and Cephalus, and father of Ceyx". He was often presented in poetry as heralding the dawn.

As a name for the planet in its morning aspect, "Lucifer" (Light-Bringer) is a proper noun and is capitalized in English. In Greco-Roman civilization, it was often personified and considered a god and in some versions considered a son of Aurora (the Dawn). A similar name used by the Roman poet Catullus for the planet in its evening aspect is "Noctifer" (Night-Bringer).

The Latin poet Ovid, in his first-century epic Metamorphoses, describes Lucifer as ordering the heavens:

"Aurora, watchful in the reddening dawn, threw wide her crimson doors and rose-filled halls; the Stellae took flight, in marshaled order set by Lucifer who left his station last."

The redness of dawn gives way to the blue daylight sky, which then becomes red again as the sun sets, which leads into the blue night. Sora and Riku are always handing off to eachother.

Goddess Inanna/Ishtar

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_in_culture:

The Sumerians associated the planet with the goddess Inanna, who was known as Ishtar by the later Akkadians and Babylonians. She had a dual role as a goddess of both love and war, thereby representing a deity that presided over birth and death.

The discontinuous movements of Venus relate to both Inanna's mythology as well as her dual nature. Inanna's actions in several of her myths, including Inanna and Shukaletuda and Inanna's Descent into the Underworld appear to parallel the motion of the planet Venus as it progresses through its synodic cycle. For example, in Inanna's Descent to the Underworld, Inanna is able to descend into the netherworld, where she is killed, and then resurrected three days later to return to the heavens. An interpretation of this myth by Clyde Hostetter holds that it is an allegory for the movements of the planet Venus, beginning with the spring equinox and concluding with a meteor shower near the end of one synodic period of Venus.

(I couldn't find more on this meteor shower so it's probably a hopeful coincidence lol).

[Innana] was associated with the planet Venus and her most prominent symbols included the lion and the eight-pointed star.

In the Old Babylonian period, the planet Venus was known as Ninsi'anna, and later as Dilbat. " Ninsi'anna" translates to "divine lady, illumination of heaven", which refers to Venus as the brightest visible "star". Earlier spellings of the name were written with the cuneiform sign si4 (= SU, meaning "to be red"), and the original meaning may have been "divine lady of the redness of heaven", in reference to the color of the morning and evening sky.

Some more tidbits from the same page:

In Vietnamese folklore, the planet was regarded as two separate bodies: the morning star (sao Mai) and the evening star (sao Hôm). Due to the position of these supposedly distinct bodies in the sky, they went down in folk poetry as a metaphor for separation, especially that between lovers.

When it was in the opposite direction of the Moon, the planet was also known as sao Vượt (the climbing/passing star, also spelled as sao Vược due to different Quốc ngữ interpretations of one Nôm character). Such an opposition, much like that between the morning star and the evening star, has also been likened in folk poetry to the separation of ill-fated lovers, as evidenced by this lục bát couplet:

"Mình đi có nhớ ta chăng? Ta như sao Vượt chờ trăng giữa trời." (When you go, do you miss me? I am the climbing star waiting for the moon in the sky.)

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Promises Kept and the Blue Crystal

"A pretty crystal. It sparkles brightly when held up to the sun."

-- Crystal Orb item description

“A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory... a far-off memory that's like a scattered dream... I want to line the pieces up... yours and mine.”

Interesting that Pence says this to Sora just before he leaves for the Mysterious Tower. Notice how he refers to a single person and not a group? This comment doesn't seem to relate to Pence's character so I think it might be an insight into how Sora feels - he had to part from Riku when they closed the Door to Darkness together.

Does he feel the sadness of Roxas departing from his friends? Or is it "someone" he especially misses?

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More parallels?

Day 1 in Simulated Twilight Town

Day 2 (I put these here because I think they imply Riku-Ansem was the light that blinded Roxas on Day 1)

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

The key for Roxas to access DiZ's lab where Sora's memory restoration has been taking place is to draw the crown symbol with one of Namine's crayons.

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Possible parallel?

Note the above two shots - they look different, but Riku is the light source in both. I also believe that the "mirroring" going on is symbolically intended, to represent an "alternate reality".

The night of the storm has some visual parallels with the KH1 opening so that's why I've included it. I would've added more but image limit.

Why did they choose this visual parallel?

From https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/kingdom-hearts-3-ultimania-scenario-mysteries-interview-translated.219167/

Riku is there on behalf of Repliku, whose altered memories had lead him to believe that the promise Real Thing exchanged on the night of the meteor shower was with Namine, while in reality it must've been Sora.

The significance of Riku's "presenting" gesture is still a mystery, but my speculation is that it has something to do with the meteor shower promise, probably to take Sora's hand, symbolizing their heart's connection, and also the making of the promise.

It's meaningful that the hands of Riku and Namine actually touch, symbolizing a connection and the fulfillment of a promise, while Sora tries but fails to reach Riku's hand, both on the night of the storm and in the KH1 opening. Riku and Namine's hands are set to a bright sunny day, while Sora and Riku's are set to a stormy night (or underwater in the opening). So the situation between Sora and Riku has yet to be resolved.

---Even though Riku was the rightful owner of the Keyblade, then why did Sora obtain the Keyblade in the beginning?

Nomura: Even though I would like to keep that obscure, there is a scene in Destiny islands where Riku is being swallowed by darkness, a light appears, and Sora first obtains the keyblade. With the setting I created, the darkness that surrounds them is Riku’s heart’s darkness. At that moment, Sora enters the darkness, and the light he sees inside is Riku’s heart’s light. Sora, who was squirming in the darkness to save Riku, touched the light and temporarily obtained the Keyblade from Riku.

From the KH1 Ultimania, https://kh-ultimania.livejournal.com/3508.html

Many times we see memories depicted as light, so I wonder if in this moment, this light in Riku's heart, is actually the memory of the meteor shower promise, and in respecting it, the keyblade is bequeathed to Sora in order to protect him.

Also note that we can see both of Sora and Riku's signature colors, red/gold and blue/silver.

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Kingdom Hearts and the World Egg creation myth

Before we begin, I should establish that Sora and Riku's names seem translatable to "sky/heaven" and "land" respectively. (Disclaimer: I do not know the language!) I think it's within reason that we can think of "land" as synonymous with "earth". (There is another meaning to Sora's name that I want to look at in a later post).

Now, onto the main course!

The World Egg

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_egg:

The world egg, cosmic egg or mundane egg is a mythological motif found in the cosmogonies of many cultures that is present in Proto-Indo-European culture and other cultures and civilizations. Typically, the world egg is a beginning of some sort, and the universe or some primordial being comes into existence by "hatching" from the egg, sometimes lain on the primordial waters of the Earth.

Eggs symbolize the unification of two complementary principles (represented by the egg white and the yolk) from which life or existence, in its most fundamental philosophical sense, emerges.

Vedic mythology

The earliest idea of the "cosmic egg" comes from some of the Sanskrit scriptures. The Sanskrit term for it is Brahmanda (ब्रह्माण्ड) which is derived from two words – 'Brahma' (ब्रह्मा) the 'creator god' in Hinduism and 'anda' (अण्ड) meaning 'egg'. Certain Puranas such as the Brahmanda Purana speak of this in detail.

The Rig Veda (RV 10.121) uses a similar name for the source of the universe: Hiranyagarbha (हिरण्यगर्भ) which literally means "golden fetus" or "golden womb" and is associated with the universal source Brahman where the whole of all existence is believed to be supported. The Upanishads elaborate that the Hiranyagarbha floated around in emptiness for a while, and then broke into two halves which formed Dyaus (the Heavens) and Prithvi (Earth). The Rig Veda has a similar coded description of the division of the universe in its early stages.

Greek/Orphic mythology

The Orphic Egg in the ancient Greek Orphic tradition is the cosmic egg from which hatched the primordial hermaphroditic deity Phanes/Protogonus (variously equated also with Zeus, Pan, Metis, Eros, Erikepaios and Bromius) who in turn created the other gods. The egg is often depicted with a serpent wound around it.

Many threads of earlier myths are apparent in the new tradition. Phanes was believed to have been hatched from the World egg of Chronos (Time) and Ananke (Necessity) or Nyx (Night).

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphic_Egg:

In Greek myth, particularly Orphic thought, Phanes is the golden winged primordial being who was hatched from the shining cosmic egg that was the source of the universe. Called Protogonos (First-Born) and Eros (Love)—being the seed of gods and men—Phanes means "to bring light" or "to shine" and is related to the Greek "to shine forth" as well as the Latin "Lucifer".

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananke:

In Orphic mythology, Ananke is a self-formed being who emerged at the dawn of creation with an incorporeal, serpentine form, her outstretched arms encompassing the cosmos. Ananke and Chronos are mates, mingling together in serpent form as a tie around the universe. Together they have crushed the primal egg of creation of which constituent parts became earth, heaven and sea to form the ordered universe.

"Ananke" is derived from the common Ancient Greek noun ἀνάγκη (Ionic: ἀναγκαίη anankaiē), meaning "force, constraint or necessity." The common noun itself is of uncertain etymology. Homer refers to her being as necessity, often abstracted in modern translation (ἀναγκαίη πολεμίζειν, "ιt is necessary to fight") or force (ἐξ ἀνάγκης, "by force"). In Ancient Greek literature the word is also used meaning "fate" or "destiny" (ἀνάγκη δαιμόνων, "fate by the daemons or by the gods"), and by extension "compulsion or torture by a superior." She appears often in poetry, as Simonides does: "Even the gods don’t fight against ananke".

This is interesting, from the same page on Ananke:

In Victor Hugo's novel Notre-Dame of Paris, the word "Ananke" is written upon a wall of Notre-Dame by the hand of Dom Claude Frollo. In his Toute la Lyre, Hugo also mentions Ananke as a symbol of love. In 1866, he wrote:

Religion, society, nature; these are the three struggles of man. These three conflicts are, at the same time, his three needs: it is necessary for him to believe, hence the temple; it is necessary for him to create, hence the city; it is necessary for him to live, hence the plow and the ship. But these three solutions contain three conflicts. The mysterious difficulty of life springs from all three. Man has to deal with obstacles under the form of superstition, under the form of prejudice, and under the form of the elements. A triple "ananke" (necessity) weighs upon us, the "ananke" of dogmas, the "ananke" of laws, and the "ananke" of things. In Notre Dame de Paris the author has denounced the first; in Les Misérables he has pointed out the second; in this book (Toilers of the Sea) he indicates the third. With these three fatalities which envelop man is mingled the interior fatality, that supreme ananke, the human heart.

Hauteville House, March, 1866. Victor Hugo, Toilers of the Sea, 1866, p. 5

Throughout the games we see the heart depicted with some kind of "bindings", whether they are thorns, chains, musical score, or even keyblades. The bindings are pretty much always arranged in a "X" shape (which will require a whole other post lol. I believe the X represents the concept of ananke, as being "bound by fate", but also something to do with the anima mundi). But, returning to the wiki page on the World Egg:

Chinese mythology

In the myth of Pangu, developed by Taoist monks hundreds of years after Lao Zi, the universe began as an egg that symbolizes the primordial state of Taiji. A primeval hermaphroditic giant named Pangu, born inside the egg, broke it into two halves: the upper half became the sky, while the lower half became the earth. As the god grew taller, the sky and the earth grew thicker and were separated further. Finally Pangu died and his body parts became different parts of the earth.

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiji_(philosophy):

Taiji or Tai chi (simplified Chinese: 太极; traditional Chinese: 太極; pinyin: tàijí; lit. 'great pole') is a Chinese cosmological term for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which Yin and Yang originate.

Zhuangzi

The Daoist classic Zhuangzi introduced the Taiji concept. One of the (ca. 3rd century BCE) "Inner Chapters" contrasts Taiji 太極 "great ultimate" (tr. "zenith") and Liuji 六極 "six ultimates; six cardinal directions" (tr. "nadir").

The Way has attributes and evidence, but it has no action and no form. It may be transmitted but cannot be received. It may be apprehended but cannot be seen. From the root, from the stock, before there was heaven or earth, for all eternity truly has it existed. It inspirits demons and gods, gives birth to heaven and earth. It lies above the zenith but is not high; it lies beneath the nadir but is not deep. It is prior to heaven and earth, but is not ancient; it is senior to high antiquity, but it is not old.

Finnish mythology

In the Kalevala, the Finnish national epic, there is a myth of the world being created from the fragments of an egg laid by a goldeneye on the knee of Ilmatar, goddess of the air:

One egg's lower half transformed

And became the earth below,

And its upper half transmuted

And became the sky above;

From the yolk the sun was made,

Light of day to shine upon us;

From the white the moon was formed,

Light of night to gleam above us;

All the colored brighter bits

Rose to be the stars of heaven

And the darker crumbs changed into

Clouds and cloudlets in the sky.

I have no idea how much of all this was intentional, but it can't be simple coincidence, right? I couldn't think of anything more romantic... the idea that Sora and Riku's love embodies the totality of life itself. Two halves of a whole heart!

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Symphony of Sorcery Parallels - Sora Side

Interestingly the narrator mentions Morpheus, but in the animation itself we see what looks like the goddess of night, Nyx.

But in the game, Young Xehanort more accurately portrays Morpheus, the shaper of dreams.

From wiki:

Morpheus ('Fashioner', derived from the Ancient Greek: μορφή meaning 'form, shape') is a god associated with sleep and dreams. In Ovid's Metamorphoses he is the son of Somnus and appears in dreams in human form. From the medieval period, the name began to stand more generally for the god of dreams, or of sleep.

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Symphony of Sorcery Parallels - Riku Side

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The Significance of the Paopu Fruit

Before KH3 came out I became very worried about what might happen next, so a few months before release I tried to gain some foresight by digging into some of the mysteries and symbolisms of KH. One of the first places I wanted to begin was the Paopu fruit. Its importance was a given, but yet we know so little about it. Its star shape stood out to me and seemed to be a good place to start, and it felt obvious that it was based on the real life "star fruit".

Apparently another name for star fruit is "carambola".

According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carambola:

History and Etymology for carambola

"borrowed from Portuguese, probably borrowed from a Konkani equivalent of Marathi karambala, going back to a derivative of Sanskrit karmara- "the fruit or tree Averrhoa carambola" (as karmaraṅga- or karmaphala- —with phalaṃ "fruit"), of uncertain origin"

Now, what does "karmaphala" mean?

From https://www.wisdomlib.org/definition/karmaphala:

Karmaphala (कर्मफल) refers to the “fruits of actions”, according to the Śivapurāṇa 2.2.41.—Accordingly, as Viṣṇu and others eulogized Śiva:—“[...] O lord, the activities of auspicious nature result in happiness to the doer whereas inauspicious activities end in adverse, or in partially good and bad results. You alone are the bestower of the fruits of all actions (i.e., sarva-karmaphala). You are the lord of glorious things according to the Vedas”.

Marathi-English dictionary

karmaphala (कर्मफल).—n (S) The allotment of destiny; the good and evil to be experienced as the consequence or fruit of merit and demerit in former stages of existence.

Sanskrit dictionary

Karmaphala (कर्मफल).—

1) fruit or reward of actions done in a former life; (pain, pleasure); [etc.]

2) the fruit of Averrhoa Carambola (Mar. karmara); also कर्मरङ्ग (karmaraṅga).

The fruits of one's labours, budding on Destiny Island! How appropriate.

To me, it all must be true. The Paopu fruit represents the fruits of one's labours, obtained through the life struggle. On the topic of and in keeping with karmic themes, we can view such a struggle through the lens of "samsara".

From wikipedia:

Saṃsāra (Devanagari: संसार) means "wandering", as well as "world" wherein the term connotes "cyclic change". Saṃsāra, a fundamental concept in all Indian religions, is linked to the karma theory and refers to the belief that all living beings cyclically go through births and rebirths. The term is related to phrases such as "the cycle of successive existence", "transmigration", "karmic cycle", "the wheel of life", and "cyclicality of all life, matter, existence".

The Saṃsāra doctrine is tied to the karma theory of Hinduism, and the liberation from Saṃsāra has been at the core of the spiritual quest of Indian traditions, as well as their internal disagreements. The liberation from Saṃsāra is called Moksha, Nirvana, Mukti or Kaivalya.

There are many worlds in existence, some of which we know nothing about.

The world in which we live. The realm of Darkness. The realm of Light.

And the world in between. Wherein lies true nirvana?

-- From Ansem's Report 12

Young Xehanort to Sora in DDD:

You've been here many times. Your first journey...your voyage through memories...in the datascape...in your dreams. Relived again and again...like déjà vu.

So what is this enlightenment? Let's have a look at "moksha" for some clues.

From wikipedia:

Moksha is derived from the root, muc, which means to free, let go, release, liberate.

Moksha has been defined not merely as absence of suffering and release from bondage to saṃsāra, various schools of Hinduism also explain the concept as presence of the state of paripurna-brahmanubhava (the experience of oneness with Brahman, the One Supreme Self), a state of knowledge, peace and bliss.

A lot more could be said about Moksha and Nirvana but in the case of KH I don't think we really need to dig into all the esoteric details of these concepts, and a general sense of "enlightenment", or even better an "awakening" as Destati implores us, will suffice. Awakening sleeping memories to realize a greater truth...

I believe that this ultimate knowledge, and reward, is true love -- the highest form of love. A love that could only be forged through the life struggle. For Sora, there is really only one person who has undertaken this journey as his equal and that is Riku. This higher love is cultivated between eachother, within themselves, and against outside forces, and this development of theirs is the main focus of Kingdom Hearts.