#Yeah Roxas and Xion growing hearts just because they're just friends?

[starfiresky]

Separated at dawn

[phoenix-downer]

Oh yeah, forgot. Which character(s) in KH are you most interested in seeing saved? Most fans are either excited to play as Sora to how Roxas and/or Aqua get saved. But there's also Xion, Terra, Namine and Ven who called out to Sora and we have no clue either how they're coming back.

Hmmm. great question anon! (and yes I’m still gonna get around to answering your other questions, too!)

Here be serious KH3 spoilers that include the most recent promotional material.

Not gonna lie, because of Blank Points and because of Sora’s connection to Ven, I am pretty excited to see Aqua’s rescue. I’ve been meaning to write a post saying why Aqua’s rescue has been set up so well (and why Sora should be the one to do it), but it’s gotten put on the back burner a bit. Can you imagine her looking in the eyes of the boy who has done so much for the worlds, the boy who made her smile and cry, smiling and crying at her because he’s so happy she’s safe? Because he longed to save her and Ven inside his heart longed to save her, too? KH3 is going to leave me an emotional wreck, you guys, because this has all been set up so well.

Also, she looks like she’s turning into a Heartless (a Darkling, to be exact) in the most recent promotional material. Sora has been a Heartless. He knows exactly how she feels, and that means he’ll have a good idea how to help her, too.

But Sora wanting to save Roxas has been set up really well in Re:coded and DDD, too, and in that Famitsu article from E3 it said that Sora will be doing everything he can to rescue Roxas. Xemnas and Ansem tempt him to give into the darkness in several trailers, and that temptation would mean nothing if Sora didn’t care deeply about Roxas and about saving him. I can imagine it now, Sora torn between doing the smart thing and doing what his heart is begging him to do. Roxas’s fate hurts him deeply, and he is not okay with his current state and will do everything he can to fix that. So I’m pretty excited about that rescue, too.

And Sora has his promise to Naminé to thank her that’s been a thing since KH2. When he tried to in DDD, the anguish in his voice, the emotion - argh, I know I want to see him rescue Naminé, too. I want him to remember her as well, if that’s at all possible.

As I’m saying this, though - I want to make it clear that while I want Sora to have a role in saving all of them, I don’t think he’ll do it singlehandedly. He will absolutely have the help of his friends, and that’s the whole point. I don’t think him saving them will rain on Riku’s parade or make him seem incompetent or unworthy of his title of Keyblade Master. I’ve seen some concern that Sora will steal Riku’s spotlight, and all I can say is, we actually know surprisingly little about Riku’s role at this point, other than that he and Mickey initially search for Aqua, at some point he gets a new Keyblade, etc., etc. I doubt the deuteragonist of this series, who Nomura has done a great job of developing thus far, is going to be pushed to the sidelines :) And Kairi is… well, pretty much required to save Naminé, since Naminé’s heart is inside hers and all. No, this won’t be a solo effort, not at all :)

Anyway, continuing on. I also want Sora to rescue Xion because he would be so touched by her sacrifice. Sora really gets what it means to sacrifice yourself for the sake of someone you love, having firsthand experience and all, and I just get the feeling she would be so precious to him? He loves all his friends, of course, but I think he would have a special place in his heart for Xion. 

And Ven. Ven, his oldest friend, the person he’s known since the day he was born. Ven has shaped Sora into who he is today, and Sora literally does not remember a time in his life without him. I don’t think he even knows yet that Ven is inside his heart, but once he does, you better believe he’ll try to save him. And Ven has such a special bond with him, the part where he smiles at the end of DDD as Sora is playing with the Dream Eaters is just such a parental thing to do and it warms my heart.

Terra is the real wild card here. We’ve seen a few milliseconds blip of him so far and we have no clue as to how he might be rescued. I think he and Sora might bond over the fact that they failed to achieve the Mark of Mastery on their first go around, that they have to deal with this darkness inside of them. If anyone gets a critical role in saving Terra besides Sora, it’ll probably be Riku, since they already have that connection.

But then again, Young Xehanort did use Terra-Xehanort’s chess piece to checkmate Sora’s… hmmm…

I think we’ve seen so little of Terra because his rescue will happen near the end, if not last. If we assume that he is still Terranort after Xemnas and Ansem SOD were restored, un-norting someone sounds incredibly difficult. Like… how are they going to get Xehanort’s heart out of him? Xehanort isn’t going to willingly release Terra, that’s for sure. Either Terra is going to fight it and free himself or Xehanort is going to change his mind and release him. I don’t think the latter would happen unless someone strikes a bargain for his freedom. 

Or I could be totally off base and Terra’s rescue happens early? I don’t know though, of all the characters, Terra seems like the most difficult to save. Xehanort has his claws sunk into him and he is not about to let his prized possession be snatched away. Terranort is the body he wanted to use to see the future. He doesn’t even see Terra as a person anymore, just a tool.

Since we really don’t know about Terra yet, I’m pretty curious to see his rescue… and what it might cost the Guardians of Light.

So to answer your question, anon, I’m looking forward to seeing all of their rescues :) I think we’re in for a real treat with KH3, because we have watched these characters that are so near and dear to our hearts suffer and feel despair, and now it looks like we’ll finally get to watch Sora, the character we’ve witnessed grow into the dearest one of them all, save them and bring them hope and healing.

Thanks for the ask!