#as lauriam

[thetwilightroadtonightfall]

y’all. We need to have a talk about the union leaders’ keyblades

okay, so the first thing you have to know is that khx and khux’s keyblades are different. khux introduced new keyblades that weren’t included in khx originally, but! khux also made some changes to the keyblades that were originally in khx. Namely, it removed some of the in-between forms of each keyblade

(credit to this image via @appre-chi-ation)

As seen above, khx’s Starlight originally had these 5 forms in khx. The base form, plus its 4 upgrade forms.

But khux’s Starlight only has these forms, essentially having its upgrade line cut in half, and the addition of a new final form (sorta lol, it just glows)

This is the same for all the khx-khux keyblades. Starlight, Treasure Trove, Lady Luck, Three Wishes, Olympia, Divine Rose, and Moogle O’Glory all have their upgrade lines essentially compressed in khux.

Now, why does this matter? Ephemera, Skuld and Strelitzia wield this Starlight form in particular:

This is Starlight upgrade 3 / 4th form overall. It only exists in khx.

And Lauriam wields this:

Divine Rose upgrade 3 / 4th form overall. It also only exists in khx.

Since we know that the chi saga (and kh in general but chi specifically) is really great at tying gameplay mechanics and lore together, I think I actually understand the potential lore significance of this now.

These four were wielders before the war and were chosen to be union leaders. Putting Strelitzia aside for obvious reasons, Ephemera, Skuld and Lauriam escape to the new world wielding a form of their respective keyblades that actually doesn’t exist there. Now we don’t actually know why these forms don’t exist in this world from a narrative standpoint, but it might have to do with everyone’s memories being overwritten except theirs, or maybe it’s a glitch in the data that wasn’t taken into consideration (or maybe it was placed there on purpose? 👀 but this is just speculation).

Whatever the reason is, the fact that they wield non-existent keyblade forms from a forgotten reality could potentially explain why their keyblades never get upgraded past that, despite them being union leaders. You’d think that they would upgrade to the strongest form, right? Maybe going to the new world/reality stunted their keyblades’ evolution, and they’re just stuck with what they came with because they weren’t able to finish maxing out their keyblades before the war. (This is why you always do your materials quests, kids!)

Now, the reason they don’t just choose to wield a different, stronger keyblade instead is a whole other thing. Amongst the “new” keyblades brought into khux (Stroke of Midnight, Sleeping Lion, Counterpoint, Fenrir, Darkgnaw, Missing Ache, Fairy Stars, and Diamond Dust [Bad Guy Breaker is a special case]), they certainly have a lot to choose from.

My guess is either A. they simply can’t, as in, they’re physically unable to switch their particular keyblades in for a different one because of the circumstances of data Daybreak Town or because of something Ava did, or B. they chose not to, in order to just have a memento of the pre-war world, before their life changed drastically. I’m leaning towards the latter, since Blaine gives Ephemera Master’s Defender while they’re in data Daybreak Town and it wouldn’t make sense if there was even a possibility that Ephemera wouldn’t be able to use it there. This opens up a whole conversation about keyblade lore and how keyblades themselves change overtime and in different circumstances, along with how data worlds might affect keyblades. But that’s a whole other can of worms.

Anyways, here’s the most interesting part about all this…

Ven.

He wields Missing Ache upgrade 2 / 3rd form overall.

Already right from the get-go, you can see that this is different from the “formula” the other leaders are following (except Blaine, who’s the exception here, as he is to many things). Unlike the other leaders, Ven wields a keyblade that wasn’t in khx, but is included in khux as a “new” keyblade. He’s wielding a keyblade that was only put into use in the new world where everyone had their memories wiped in some capacity, including him. His keyblade is an anomaly. It may have very well been a big hint about him being an anomaly amongst the other union leaders!

tl;dr the union leaders were nerfed, the hints about Ven being a fake leader were there all along, and we need more keyblade lore. Thanks for coming to my ted talk ✌️

(an additional P.S.: Eph and Skuld were introduced in khx, so it’s possible that the main reason they were given their particular Starlight form was so they could be relative to Player’s hypothetical strength level at the time they’re introduced. But I still like to believe that there’s this additional significance to it)

[aleksiremesart]

Marluxia – Lord of the Castle / Kingdom Hearts

[cherryblossmsofjupiter]

They all deserved better.

[espurr-roba]

only two of them are on the ball and it's anyone's guess which two it is

Bonus:

Now with Part 2!

[penini-art]

Even more KHUX

[haunted-xander]

Here lies paradise

[yomipurge]

quick (theoretical) post kh3 designs i sketched out for an aqualarx (or well. aqua/elrena) animatic im working on :)

i only had a design for elrena and lauriam in mind.. so everone else was made up on the spot or just slightly modified

[rosie-kairi]

Average Union Leader Meeting (Redraw of this 2022 piece)

[dawning-skye]

some older KH zine pieces

[gulava]

That criminal's to be hanged for his crimes. Now, now, it's all right. Listen to me. All of this is as it should be.

[kwoojii]

Can I ask for lauriam and ventus interacting?

lemonade and pink lemonade boys! I am enjoying the khux kids requests a lot hehe

[redxiii]

missing you

[mangobirb222]

POV: You think the mobile games are unimportant to the Kingdom Hearts storyline

[cherryblossmsofjupiter]

Got into Kingdom Hearts. Thinking a lot about the little brother of all time not being allowed to keep his friends/older siblings without darkness taking them away. He’s so lonely :(

[fisherrprince]

back on my bs

[haunted-xander]

Chibibibibibi