#and that's why the keyblade war is synonymous with conflict because the story cannot exist without the central conflict

[kitsoa]

The Master’s Figurative Language

A Breakdown of the Flashback in KHUX’s chapter “Cornerstones of Rebirth” 

----

The Keyblade War began when MoM was a child. 

MoM describes the Keyblade Wars of Old as a battle between light and dark. A description that matches the stories of the war in the series proper. But when asked if the forces of light and darkness resemble keyblade and heartless clash from Luxu’s understanding-- MoM’s response is more vague. 

Luxu:“The light? Were there other keyblade wielders besides you, Master?” 

MoM: “Hmm, I guess, but it’s not out of the question for there to be others besides me.”

What a strange answer. ‘Others besides me?’ 

Wait up. MoM created the modern keyblade. He modeled it off of the X-blade. 

Does he mean ‘others who created a keyblade to battle the darkness?’

There being others to have created the keyblade seems both unlikely and entirely impossible to be unsure of. Therefore we are not talking about a standard definition war and most definitely we are not talking about a kh style conflict.

So I’m lead to believe that MoM is referring to the ‘Keyblade’ as a figurative tool. After all, the keyblade has never been a mere object... it’s an extension of the heart. It’s the strength of the heart and the forces wielding the blades are many in that they are worthy to ‘fight with all their hearts’ so to speak. Therefore: ‘other’s like him’, can mean others who ‘wielded their hearts’ against the darkness. 

The Heart turns into the figurative heart. Emotion, passion, the self. 

The Darkness by proxy becomes figurative. Evil, negativity, hatred, violence, destruction. 

I believe MoM is equating the actions and purpose of a keyblade wielder (that Luxu understands) to a more general defiance against evil in his conversation. “I guess” is his casual admission to this. Therefore, the term Keyblade War isn’t defined as a clash between countless keyblades but a catch-all term to describe the universal conflict of good and evil. 

Luxu: “And the darkness? Were there the same monsters as there are now?”

Luxu’s understanding of the ‘monsters of darkness’ are simply the heartless from the books illusions. The heartless are the assumed opponents in the fated Keyblade War so their presumed involvement in this older war is a valid question.

MoM: “Well, if you ask if the darkness they fought was comprised of monsters... maybe so. They looked the same as us, so it’s a bit different from now.”

MoM isn’t saying that the forces of darkness in the ‘old war’ were the heartless. He’s equating them to the heartless. MoM is referring to the darkness not as a tangible force we are familiar with but as a figurative entity. And he’s saying that they are essentially monsters. 

Figurative Monsters. Savage, amoral, heartless. 

And they looked human. Monsters that look human. Again MoM is describing a very... general truth about evil in the world. The evil of our fellow man. The evil that makes them equal to monsters. MoM sticks by his insult though.

MoM: “Nah, I’m not saying they were humans...”

So we have a very... realistic depiction of the battle between light and darkness. MoM’s Keyblade War is not a fantastical battle... at least... it doesn’t have to be fantastical. It’s simply the passionate defenders of good values against a general evil. 

MoM: “Well, ever since they appeared in that form The Keyblade War continued on.”

'Ever since the forces of darkness appeared human’ The Keyblade War continued on. The War is clearly as stand-in for a grander, more universal idea. Now we have to reason that MoM is describing a turning point to a personal philosophy as opposed to an actual event. The ongoing Keyblade War is representative of the human struggle proper. 

And if I could play doctor to baby MoM. I’d say he is referencing the start of his personal, none-stop, ‘Keyblade War’. Perhaps he experienced a betrayal. Darkness in human form that has since sparked the war of what is good and what is bad. 

“The darkness changes forms. That’s why it can hide inside humans. That’s why this Keyblade War has raged endlessly.”

What is evil will destroy everything. What is good will bring it back.

The cycle of death and rebirth.

Which brings us to MoM’s goal to stop this. These ‘wars’ that are actually just battles in the endless war within MoM himself. He describes to Luxu exactly what happens in X. The battle commences. The world is destroyed. The light survives in the heart of children. That’s the light that will revive the world. 

Now, he doesn’t reveal it here, but MoM actually orchestrates the parameters that bring about this battle. He pits his apprentices again a fake a traitor. He plants the seeds of tension and distrust. He assures their destruction. And assures their rebirth through the Dandelions.

“We can’t erase the world and it’s stories that are left in the hearts of children. As long as that is left in their hearts, the world can be reborn. And in the same way we can’t erase darkness. But we CAN take a temporary break.”

I’ve had a long theory explain the figurative use of the lore term Worlds and how that word is synonymous with stories. Here we see that figurative language used in direct force. It’s not the abstract light in the hearts of the children, but the living stories within them that make them immortal. 

But that same immortal story brings with it the same immortal end. And the cycle never ends. 

So MoM’s reference of a ‘temporary break’ is strange as it is not a solution to the endless war but an escape. Flash forward to Union Cross and the Union Leaders have come to the harrowing realization that they are trapped in this digital reality. They have not yet fulfilled the cycle and revived the world from the destruction of X. They are simply trapped, playing house. Taking a break from the war.

“I know I’m tired, I want to rest soon too. From being a bystander at least.”

This line gets me. Bystanders are defined as people who watch. The Master watches when he vanishes and it is assumed that the presence of the gazing eye makes him a bystander to the war. But the rest he references is ‘soon’-- an allusion to his fading? It seems backwards. Unless he is looking farther ahead than his most immediate actions at the time of the flashback. Unless he is looking at a point in time more relevant to us players. The time where the Master stops watching and jumps into actions. An allusion for whats to come. 

MoM wraps up the conversation with a very on the nose and cryptic run down of exactly the Dandelion’s journey.

“Yep, that’s why I told Ava to gather the best of the best. The starting point in X. Their training in Unchained. The real deal in Union Cross. They ought to become very important cornerstones to the rebirth of this world.”

The Dandelion’s start and originate from X. That’s the original run. But in Unchained, as they go through the same events of X they are training. What they are training for isn’t clear but seeing how the ‘real deal’ is the phase where the world breaks away from the original run, we can assume that MoM is preparing them to break the cycle. Unchained has the Dandelion’s guided along their fates and eased them all the way to the big break that was the war itself. Now that the war is avoided, they must resist the war from cropping up again or fail the grand experiment. 

MoM wants the cycle of Darkness and Light to end... or at least he wants to see if it can end. Clearly, the Dandelion’s have a wealth of elements stacked up against them in their temporary break from the cycle. The insistence on Unions. The secret Book of Prophecies. The erased memories and encouragement to turn their blades on the image of their fellows. We can’t say at all that MoM was intending on them being successful.Or maybe there were more phases to this plot than just that of x, Unchained and Ux--

Actually of course there are more phases to his plot. Kingdom Hearts happened.

The conversation finally ends with a little foreshadowing. 

Luxu: “They’ll  be able to return to this world after its rebirth using the world borders, right?”

Luxu brings up what we understand is going to happen in UX. The light from after the war has to return to the ruins according to MoM’s cycle. Their temporary break will have to end. And as Luxu describes they will ‘use the world borders’ to do so. The exact nature and importance of this distinction is one to be contemplated but ultimately the return is nigh. We understand that Scala ad Caelum is built upon the ruins of Daybreak Town. We know the Dandelion’s will escape the program and rebuild the war. And we know they will eventually build the empire that creates Xehanort who will start the cycle anew. 

“Hmmm, Well it’ll be difficult for ALL of them.”

MoM is cryptically referencing that not every Dandelion will return. Some will get left behind. Or perhaps they won’t make it to the correct time (a reference to the time displaced Dandelions). Luxu makes a reference that the Leaders were the ones hatching the escapes which suggests that only the leaders return to the real world... which doesn’t seem accurate to what actually transpires. Grant it. We must consider the following:

The temporary break from the cycle must end.

The Dandelion’s are fighting to defy the fate of the War. 

The War is inevitable. 

So in final, this scene is extremely enlightening toward the Master’s motives and goal and hints to what will ultimately occur in the KHUX storyline. It is important to consider the figurative angle that the Master is potentially going on about. Because as we are consistently reminded, KH is a series that plays on the fact that it’s language has lore implications as well as thematic implications. 

There is a greater message in a ll of this.