#which is what ymx doesn’t seem to understand

[daylighteclipsed]

YES BITCH

[kitsoa]

So, about your Theory ...

So, we talked on Reddit a while ago, Kitsoa, and I have some more thoughts about your theory. It’s more rambling and longer than what I previously intended – my apologies for this.

Kitsoa- Hello again! I’ll reply in brief through quotes though I’m not interested in doing a solid defense of my theory. Mostly it’s a lot of creative stretching using the crumbs of the narrative and I’m not feeling particularly impassioned to bring out the counter citations nor do I think it necessary.

Also: I have written and re-iterated upon this meta theory of mine multiple times so if I am not referencing the correct Original Post in question that’s probably because I never bothered to do a big manifesto and I will take the fall for that confusion.

It’s certainly very interesting but parts of it seem to not only be unsupported but outright contradicted by the games. For instance, take your surmise that Xehanort’s villainy is motivated by his knowledge of the KH world as fictional and his self-knowledge that he has to play the role of the villain to create a conflict and thus sustain the universe. His actual speech in Re:Mind after Dark Road’s world tour points to something else:

“All around the world people live seemingly peaceful lives. They believe themselves to be moral and virtuous, but it’s all an act. Darkness lurks in the pit of everyone’s heart. Their light is a total farce. Those who are weak, and who desire greater power, simply strip the strong of their power, and convince themselves they’ve earned it. That’s how people become tainted by darkness. They believe what they want them to believe, using hollow reasons as justification. They repeat this cycle, and their darkness grows. No, its better they be ruled by darkness. People carry delusions of having power, but it’s a lie. They are but sheep pretending to be wolves. Though I can admit, I can understand why.”

This edgy little diatribe isn’t about the nature of the universe or Xehanort’s own origin … it’s about his view of human (or talking animal, w/e) nature. It’s a similar theme to his final speech in KH3, and ends not with him concluding that he needs to play the role of a villain to create conflict ,,, but that to prevent the KH universe collapsing into chaos, he needs to become its absolute godlike ruler. Which is what sets up the conflict, yes, but his goal isn’t explicitly to create conflict to keep the universe going.

Re: Xehanorts motive aligning with a meta-awareness on his ‘role’ as a villain. This is a theme I was definitely playing with. Xehanort is clearly symbolic of the corrupting pursuit of knowledge and we have a god-like encounter spark stranger behavior yet. It’s a fascinating trope yes? Corrupted by the Truth. Saving the world by sacrificing the world. That was my angle. The World Tour from Re:mind had him summarizing his villainous disdain and I’ll agree that it gives him no direction towards a ‘role’. But I also take note of the fact that this enlightenment comes directly from the actions of the chessmaster MoM who could feasibly manipulate Xehanort towards a conflict-sparking war. If Xehanort isn’t directly and consciously responsible for fulfilling the metacontextual requirements for a ‘story’ then MoM is. And as I’ve stated it probably comes from a more experimental god-mode type motive.

And again, your argument that time doesn’t really exist in the Disney worlds until Sora arrives and this is related to them literally being stories that he’s diving into. I don’t know where you get this from, at all. We go into Disney worlds and experience plots unrelated to the films (KH1 Olympus, Halloween Town); we go into Disney worlds in medias res (too many to count); we go into Disney worlds before the movie’s events take place (BBS Deep Space, Neverland); we even go into Disney worlds in-between or after the movies’ events (KH3 Toy Box, San Fransokyo). Which rather gets in the way of a simplistic “Sora arrives in the Disney world, time starts flowing forward and the movie starts” look at things. You’d previously characterized this as “every world has its unique story” which IMO would be a more reasonable way to look at things rather than the stronger “the worlds literally are the stories and nothing else”.

I’ll defend this a little. The entire concept of the Worlds as Stories demands only that we recognize a higher reality. A reader/audience/ creator relationship with the happenings. When I say ‘time doesn’t exist’ I’m saying it doesn’t matter. The only thing that does matter is the time spent there by Sora (or his subsidiaries). Time is going to move between visits but not at a pace that runs independently of Sora (and co). And all of the events within those worlds are unique to the source material-- on the virtue of having Sora. But when I say the worlds are the stories, I mean it... metaphysically. The relationship between the greater kh multi-verse (and no greater) and these literal planet world island things is that of stories given form. Most all of my KH musings come from the very simple concept that formless metaphysical concepts like love, bonds, imagination, memories etc are literal, tangible things. Tangible. In this, Worlds are not so much another universe equal to other universes. They are a story, fictional and potentially subservient to a greater reality. It’s only from that understanding that I add the extra layer upon KH (and Quadratum by later extension) itself. 

The exact logic behind this reasoning is cyclic. KH is a fictional story to the literal higher reality (us) and seeing how there's a parallel within the narrative, I just applied that logic within the universe and used my understanding of the ‘literal metaphysics’ theme going on with other lore concepts.

Power of Waking ejecting Sora into “real reality”: This analysis is based on the idea that Sora is “waking himself up” out of dream states until he “wakes up” out of KH reality into “real reality”. But YMX tells him (and implicitly us, via the conventions of this kind of villainous exposition) that Sora is repeating the same error he made in 3D and sending himself into the abyss at the bottom of the Realm of Darkness, not doing the opposite thing and “waking himself up” out of KH reality.

I’ll just punt Power of Waking stuff. There is a lot of stuff with the power but I take most of the speculation from the name and the results. There’s a big interweave of darkness that can support or deny my thoughts within the next sentence and I’m electing now to wait and see. Sora abuses the power of waking-- ends up in another reality. Waking--> realities--> dreams--> sleep. Run with the word association. I like to think the ambiguity with sleep and the darkness of abyss has more to say about the nature of reality as a whole ergo: “everything is a dream” concepts that are hard to swallow. What is waking up, if you find yourself deeper in sleep? Nonesense stuff like that.

MoM as Creator of the KH universe/Quadratum as the “higher reality”: Not only is he presented as a clear villain figure; given that the rest of the Foretellers are based on the Seven Deadly Sins, MoM as their leader would clearly represent the sin of pride. We also have him saying in Back Cover that he “might” disappear from the KH world, suggesting that it was beyond his control; and Luxu’s report suggests that the KH3 Keyblade War was engineered to open a means for him to return to the KH universe, presumably via Sora going to where he is in Quadratum/”unreality”.

I believe strongly in this still. MoM can be a villainous figure and at the mercy of universal laws while still being the Creator and denizen of a higher plane. I try not to dig into scenarios too much but follow me here: Creator of the world, literally self-inserts himself into a world of his own creation. He’s a verified Mad Scientist who of course likes to experiment and test his creations and he does so directly, physically, to them. There, he put them on auto-pilot and is watching Characterization carry on. I am not claiming that he is breaking the rules of his own universe and traveling in and out with ease. Nor am I saying if he is exercising any sort of Creator-granted power over their will. He’s there, he’s interacting with them, and he’s watching them. I find it to be an intentional obstaining of power. Self imposed limitations OR an understood sacrifice for this meddling (think, giving up ‘divine’ form to live amongst his ‘mortal’ creations in divine parallel. he is at the will of his universe but not out of control.)

When he says he ‘might’ disappear not only is he being vague on purpose to terrorize his high-strung apprentices but he’s made no indication that it’s something against his intention. And the actions taken by Luxu in formulating his return mean nothing to his plan or his ability or his potential Creator status. I can’t stress how Long Game I perceive MoM’s actions to be. All in the effort to observe, toy, and curate the perfect... something. And since I am talking about the literal nature of stories, I mean the ‘perfect’ story.

Also, we may note that if it was truly a “higher reality”, Quadratum wouldn’t be noted as the fictional Verum Rex video game in KH3 – there’d be no explicit sign at all of its existence, as it would be the higher reality generating the lower one. Which suggests that what may actually be the case, if the series is going meta, is that KH-verse and Quadratum view each other as fictional – in which case MoM would be somebody falsely claiming or believing to be the Creator, which makes sense in relation to the sin he represents.

Not that I’m saying KH-verse isn’t generated by a higher reality/being; but I don’t feel that the higher reality is Quadratum or that the higher being is MoM. There was a fairly interesting post on Reddit comparing KH to Plato’s world of the forms; in which case Kingdom Hearts would be the higher reality from which both regular KH-verse and Quadratum are generated. Or “unreality” really is a “lower reality” than the regular KH-verse, which TBF seems a bit less likely than “’reg. KH-verse’ and ‘unreality’ view each other as mutually fictional but are actually ontologically equal”.

I think my theory posts predate most of the Quadratum reveal so the details of the reveal haven’t been accounted for in my words but I did call it when breaking down Remind’s Yozora scenario. That said yes, I think there is a higher reality and I feel like you mentioned it outright. I see KH and Quadratum as equal fictional realities, segregated but connected through creator. Some of my earlier meta posts before re:mind saw Quadratum as the “higher reality” (or like “host reality”) until the presence of an author between them became apparent enough. We can potentially consider MoM=the author as a separate subject in this respect as it’s not entirely dependant on that reveal. Ultimately, my point in this caveat of the theory is that the relationship between KH and Quadratum strikes an intentionally meta-referential parallel to the actual creator Nomura. That’s an angle that is very audacious and I have full understanding in the denial but it’s my supporting evidence to a higher power within the re:mind secret episode alone.  As for the ‘unreality’ I literally think that is just a way for them to say ‘fictional’ without saying the word, not necessarily an indication of ‘rank’ (for lack of a better word). I use a little reverse logic on the reveal in Melody of Memory when I claim they are ‘equal fictional realities’. No one thinks to assume that they themselves are also “fake” so it;s not a stretch to believe that the reverse assumption could be true. This putting KH and Quadratum on the same level and almost guaranteeing a connection through a mutual creator. 

Now, you also talk about the Whispers in FF7R, but in that they’re in-universe contextualised as “guardians of destiny”, essentially manifestations of the Will of the Planet. Which just goes to show what I talked about earlier – the meta-level of a story can’t exist without a surface-level narrative. We know that the Whispers out-of-universe represent fan anger at changes to the plotline; but they’re presented as something in-universe, which can be defeated by in-universe forces (another reason I doubt it as it seems to leave no room for our heroes’ victory in the confrontation with MoM that’s being teased as the next saga).

I bring up the Whispers to note a synonymous use of the words ‘destiny’ and ‘fate’ to ‘story and ‘narrative’ Not explicitly of course, that would break the 4th wall, but its a subtext that's easier seen in a ‘remake’ because of direct references and deviations being drawn. I think the same synonymous use can be applied when brought up in KH because of their common creative entity.

Finally: How do you see this “metapocalypse” of yours playing out as an actual KH game? We know the conventions well enough by now – a trip through Disney worlds fighting monsters and villains in flashy shonen-style combat, being stalked and looked over ominously from afar by a council of villains with mysterious schemes. Then an invasion of the villains’ lair by the heroes with a final serving of flashy, SFX-heavy boss battles, a number of dramatic plot twists and arc resolutions, and an ending with the villains’ schemes having been at least forestalled. Then we get the ending credits; with an epilogue, a superboss and a secret ending all hinting at more to come.

Well I’m glad you asked! Honestly, I’m basically writing a fanfiction about it. I’m writing the story in part to engage some of these theories/speculations into a serviceable game narrative. So I’ll be vague:

Thematically: This breaking the 4th wall has the power to thematically drive home concepts of free will, defining your personhood and defying expectations. Furthermore, you have questions like... what makes something real? What makes it matter and what’s important? With growing up and the sanctity of youth being a constant struggle as the series and the characters age, the reverence in imagination and growing connections to things that aren’t stereotypically ‘real’ is a strong concept. If I were to break down the big message simply: As long as it’s real in your heart it doesn’t matter.

Overall, the reveal doesn’t really have to impact the basic formula. You can have Disney World Hopping and Villainous characters scheming and manipulating a greater force. I personally think the world-hopping parallel can become more direct with the context of it being movies/stories adding a different understanding of the process of visiting those worlds and meeting those characters. The episodes can be more about fate and predestination and can speak directly to the importance of the connections to those worlds. And the dramatic stakes are the literal threads of reality and godhood! 

If I am to be more detailed and imaginative (without substantial evidence)  I might say... MoM’s experiments in manipulating his own created world(s) are aiming to shape Sora (or 2nd favorite son Yozora) into some kind of perfect conduit for the marraige of reality and fiction and the success or failure of that process might weaponize his ability to connect with other hearts... real and not, all to the greater ascention of one chessmaster. 

(That’s not even mentioning how I have a personal reason to dislike it as it reminds me of an old theory that the KH plot was actually SRK imagining it all up in their childhood games or to put a darker twist on that idea, Sora dreaming it all up in a coma or while dying. I hated reading those ideas when I was younger and still do.)

I’m gonna sympathize hard with this. I hate ‘it was all just a dream’ theories. They are cheap and they trivialize the journey. That is not what this theory is saying. There is a higher reality in this concept and that is used as a proxy for our relationship with the series. The imagery of dreams is only a small facet of the reality/unreality theme so there is no ‘waking up’ or ‘end of story, goodbye’ attitude. The commentary is broader and it can potentially speak on the power of dreams and reality. The ‘realness’ of fake things. I’m sort of calling out KH for what it is: an imaginative story that expands upon what it means to truly experience stories.  Anyway, I rambled more than I thought. I haven’t written anything about KH in months so this was a little caffine shot for me. I’m not gonna be too stuck in the details and nor do I care exactly. I’m a story teller first and I just so happened to have predicted some things not so much because of the hints being dropped but because I understand some of the thematic intent behind the lore and certain narrative beats. The rest is just me having fun and finding the best reading. Sometimes I’m right. 

[iamoncewas]

So I looked into Deep Dive, and other stuff, and dear god, what did I get myself into? Tons of things I'm still making sense of, so I apologize if this is disjointed or unclear. Gonna be more, it's just a lot of thangs XP It doesn't exactly change a whole lot per se, but my perspective has shifted greatly, and now I have to look at things differently. It mostly just adds... more levels to what's going on. Pretty sure I killed my own MoM theory XD But I do like where this is going even better.

The scene in Days/KH2 and the scene in Deep Dive aren't the same scene. 1) The conversation is different 2) In KH2/Days, Roxas appears through a dark portal, this doesn't happen in Deep Dive, and 3) again, Roxas doesn't have yellow eyes. The differences and similarities are intentional however.

Before going into yellow-eyed "Sora" in Deep Dive, I have to talk about the other buddy. This is something I had never considered being... a thing, but I'm pretty sure, he's Riku's Nobody.

... I know right? I suppose I should start with logistics and why exactly I think so.

I believe he was created right after Sora defeated Ansem-possessed Riku. There were two hearts in Riku's body until this moment, signified by their overlapping voices. This is when they separated. Riku's body seems to just sink into the ground, and his [extremely bright white] heart vanishes.

Sora then stabs himself with the Keyblade of Heart that Riku forged, creating Naminé, Roxas, and his Heartless.

Ansem then manifests from a Dark Portal as his physical self, completed by Riku's darkness (since all a Heartless's body is, is the darkness of the heart made physical), and Riku's heart momentarily manifests to prevent him from pursuing Kairi and the others. After they escape, Riku's heart then goes to "a place of darkness where hearts are gathered." And Mickey tells him it was "too late for his body." 

By this point Riku's body and soul had already become his Nobody, and his heart couldn't return to it, even though his heart had overpowered Ansem's. Riku's heart "won the battle against darkness", so he wasn't taken over permanently by Xehanort like Terra was, which is why Terra never created a Heartless or a Nobody. His heart remained in the Guardian, enslaved by Xehanort, and his body was taken over. His spirit went into Lingering Will.

So then, the nature of Riku's Nobody's birth, and that of Ansem SoD, is unique. Riku and Xehanort's hearts were merged, and Riku's body held both of them simultaneously. After Sora defeated his body, Riku forced Ansem from his heart, succeeding in taking it back, but his body was already occupied. Not by Ansem though, because his body is Riku's darkness made physical, wrapped around Xehanort's heart. [So like Riku asks in his Kingstagram post, he is indeed the reason Ansem looks the way he does.] This is where Terra failed, his heart couldn't overpower Xehanort's. 

This "place of darkness where hearts are gathered" is Kingdom Hearts. The Door to Darkness was the door to Kingdom Hearts. Everything Ansem said about Kingdom Hearts in KH1 was true. He just doesn't understand the other side of it, what it is that creates light in the heart. KH3 immediately references KH1 because it turns out KH1 is like... everything.

Kingdom Hearts is the conglomerate of all hearts, and is therefore connected to all hearts. The darkness in every single heart, is the realm of Kingdom Hearts. "All hearts begin in darkness, and all so end." Truth bro.

The light doesn't come from Kingdom Hearts, the light comes from us and our bonds to the things we cherish.

When the Door to Darkness opens, you can see darkness start flooding from it. But when Sora states his belief that Kingdom Hearts is light, light floods from the door. Not because this was really the Door to Light, but because that light behind the door was created by Sora's belief in the light. His belief in Riku. Their bond.

When Sora believed in the light, and it consumed Ansem, it returned Riku's physical body back to him, like Kairi's belief in Sora returned his body when he became a Shadow ["Consume the darkness, return it to light."]. And like Sora and Kairi, Riku returned to his human form without destroying his Nobody. This is also exactly how Riku got his body back from "Ansem" in KH2. Being bathed in the light of Kingdom Hearts, after protecting the others.

From Ansem/Riku's KH2 journal entry:

“Riku began calling himself “Ansem”, perhaps as a sign of resolve. He would live in darkness if that’s what it took to wake Sora.”

“He had clad himself in darkness in order to wield it, and had even changed in appearance. But when the real Ansem’s Kingdom Hearts Encoder exploded, Riku returned to his old form. You could say it was a miracle -- worked by a heart no darkness could eclipse.”

Ansem was shocked to see light flood from the DtD, because he was not expecting Sora and Riku's bond to create such light, given what had just happened between them. He knows the darkness in Riku's heart, it's what he's made from. And he knows exactly where it comes from. The desire to possess Sora’s heart, and his fears about telling him so.

Riku admitted on two occasions after this, to feeling like a "nobody." (ie: Like he had no heart, no emotion, no purpose. As if he didn't matter.) First to Xion, and then to Sora and Kairi during the Reunion.

Castaway - Lost or unclaimed person or thing; Person who is unwanted, not accepted; Thrown away; Abandoned

Out of all the characters, I think Riku's situation embodies most what it means to feel like a nobody. He gave up everything, including his own emotions [his heart], even his form, so that Sora could be happy, which he believes Sora will be, with Kairi. So he hides his own feelings for Sora, resolving instead to keep him safe. "He would live in darkness if that's what it took to wake Sora." Literal and proverbial darkness. [This is why, in the KG after everyone else dies, he reached out his hand, about to comfort Sora physically, but he decided against it. Instead, he protected him. I actually started bawling while writing this, thinking, Of course Riku would have a Nobody.]

Xehanort's heart was within Riku's body when his Nobody was created, like Ventus was within Sora when Roxas was created. So I think he looks exactly like Young Master Xehanort, but his skin, hair, and eyes are the same colour as Riku's. The body and soul he was made from however, are Riku's, and he would therefore identify with Riku. Even though I believe he looks just like YMX. This is why both Terra and Sora have had visions of Riku becoming young Xehanort and vice versa. Not Ansem, YMX specifically.

In DDD, YMX straight up told Riku that he wanted him as a vessel. So, in the added scene with Xemnas in KH1.5FM, I don't think he was comparing Sora to Roxas. He was comparing him to Riku's Nobody. Whom I believe he fought and attempted to recruit into the Organization, but failed. Sora was later their target as one of Xehanort's vessels, because, like YMX said, they moved down the list. Riku’s Nobody doesn’t have the air of hopelessness that Roxas did when he was created, because he knows that his “heart”, his purpose, is the same as his Somebody’s: protecting Sora.

In -Another Side, Another Story-, a heart appears around Roxas, seemingly at Riku's whim, creating a barrier between him and the Neoshadows. This is the same heart from his Dark Mode, the Heartless symbol without the X inside. This is the symbol used on his chess piece in KH3, and it's also Way to the Dawn's token. The symbol we most associate with Riku. Granted, you cant see the bottom three points, but you can tell its elongated at the bottom, and therefore must make the symbol. This isn't associated with Roxas, it's associated with Riku, so he must have made it appear.

In Deep Dive, this symbol also appears. In light, of all things. Riku made the symbol appear around Roxas, Sora's Nobody, and he made it appear here too, on... yellow-eyed "Sora".

"Even in the deepest darkness, a light always shines through." A connection.

Then there's the framing of this shot. The light. There's a similar shot in Yozora. [Almost looks like the bright white light of his heart]

He also sits at the Dark Margin, the shores of which touch that of the Destiny Islands. Even though hes a Nobody, rejected by the RoD and the RoL, he sits right in the center. Twilight and dawn, the middle road.

Riku was pretty down to chill at the Dark Margin in KH2 too, and this is where he and Sora saw the door to light.

Gotta stop here though cuz no more room for pics and I neeeeed them XD

[bluerosesburnblue]

Alright, finished up the Re:Mind scenario and started Limit Cut (but been spoiled on the secret boss stuff, so there’s, like, no plot things I don’t know about now), so just... some assorted thoughts

Okay, seriously, I’m glad we’re getting a Xehanort side game because what the absolute FUCK is his timeline? Like, actually what the fuck is happening there? When Xehanort meets the Master of Masters, he has silver eyes. Which implies that this is pre-YMX time-travel Nort because Baby Nort in Scala also had silver eyes and YMX has gold. So you’d assume that this scene is between those points. But then Xehanort goes on about his memories and doing things that feel “familiar” and like he has to do them, which would make this post-YMX time-travel shenanigans. So what’s the deal? Were the gold eyes because YMX held a piece of Old Nort’s heart? But if that’s the case, when did Old Nort get gold eyes and why was Xehanort retconned into having naturally silver eyes? Why does he keep flipping eye colors???

I can see why the Luxord and Xigbar scene got cut because oh boy would that have been way too obvious to any KHUx player/Back Cover watcher what they were getting at

I’m so glad that they let Christopher Lloyd ham it up as Xehanort. No idea if Rutger Hauer’s performance was based on his own understanding of the character or a director’s decision, but it just wasn’t Xehanort. I’m sure he gave it his best, I really do, but he embodied a very different tone than every other Xehanort incarnation. Whatever the reason, I think Christopher Lloyd could be very good if Xehanort ever came back, though he was a bit soft for me. Add a little more force to his delivery and I think he’s set

Also on the voice acting, I’m SO GLAD that Haley fixed Vanitas. Holy shit. Not to knock anyone who liked KH3 vanilla’s Vanitas voice, but he sounded like... well, exactly that. A voice. I couldn’t take him seriously because he sounded like someone doing a very distracting, obviously fake voice. The new lines in Re:Mind are a perfect blend of the BBS Vanitas with just a tiny, tiny bit of gruffness and it’s the best he’s sounded yet. So much so that it was jarring when the original scene came in after the fight, but hey. Glad old Vani is back

The two points above lead me to believe that there was a voice direction issue in KH3 and either Re:Mind had a new director or they took feedback, which I appreciate

Did Lingering Will always have those dirt smears on him and I never noticed? I like them. Also liked the effect on the armor shattering. It was just cool to see

I picked the new playable characters every time they were offered just to try them out and... uh... wow it’s a trip to flip between a Level 99 Sora wielding the Ultima Weapon and literally everyone else. And also having different shortcuts. I only died as Kairi and I have no idea if that’s because Xehanort was just a tough fight or I’m very bad as her. She has a great playstyle though! I like how she closes distance, though her dodges are pretty stilted

I’ve seen people saying that Darkness being in Ven confirms the “Ven is Strelitzia’s killer” thing. It doesn’t. It could be a hint, but it’s not confirmation. Especially since Darkness is wandering free outside of Ven as of KHUx’s current updates. Nothing disproving that they’ve been swapping hosts and went from Strelitzia’s killer to wandering around helping Maleficent and then into Ven in what would be a future KHUx update

(I still think the fact that Brain wanted to bring up the Union Leader thing with Ephemer, specifically, seems to point to Skuld since she and Ephemer have a history that Brain knows about and if you found out that a friend’s friend was possibly a traitor, you’d warn them first. Not to mention that Player should not have been with the Dandelions and yet Skuld was the first person on site to save them, which possibly was a point of divergence in the “planned” timeline)

From Vanitas’s new lines, he may be Darkness. And yet, his old lines still indicate that he’s Ven’s darkness. Which got me thinking something wild. No real evidence for this yet, but for some reason I find myself wondering if these “monsters” of Darkness that the Master of Masters mentioned could be a hive mind of sorts. And perhaps they reproduce by planting seeds of Darkness in the hearts of others that “feed off” of the darkness that’s already in there. That would reconcile how Vanitas could be Ven’s “brother” crafted of his darkness, and yet also a separate consciousness

The Sea Salt Trio “reclaiming the Recuscant’s Sigil” was... really dumb. Really, Roxas? Being brought back to life wasn’t good enough? You need to take a magic X, too? You may have been bound to the Organization, but the symbol of your friendship was always the ice cream

Roxas having Reversal was a cute touch. Loved that

The fucking Daybreak Town history mural in Scala ad Caelum reached out and slapped me across the face as someone who’s played KHUx since release day. The way the “BREAK” lingers in the slides was like... ouch. Now make the final Keyblade War missions PLAYABLE so we can see the break!

I think it says something about me that my first thought when looking at the empty fountain was “cast Waterga” instead of “hit giant conspicuous objects surrounding fountain that you can lock onto”

There was so much good Riku+Mickey and Riku+Terra content and I’m just so glad that they remembered the other people Riku loves. The way he gets protective over the Replica body because it has “important memories” in it, which I can only imagine were Repliku’s memories of Namine... boy...

Repliku should’ve just taken the goddamn replica. I’m sorry, but the fact that he doesn’t is silly. They have Even! Even, who made them in the first place. You’re telling me that he couldn’t just make another? Or that no other Organization member dropped a replica body when they were defeated??? No less than six members had replica bodies. Obviously Xion kept hers, but that still leaves five that should’ve been there. None of them could be used for Namine? And if Repliku had taken the body that was already pre-programmed to house his heart, they could’ve had an extra fighter for the side of light. Like there’s just no good reason for Repliku to ditch the replica body for Namine unless they really needed to kill him off for RikuNami content

Riku deserved to have a new little brother as much as Sora and Kairi deserved their new siblings. At the very least, Repliku deserved to survive if they were going to bring him back into the plot for KH3

Bless the Guardians all fighting together, even if I would’ve liked Mickey, Aqua, and Xion to contribute a bit more than Reflect. Still, Lea and Aqua team attack with banter? Xion/Ven/Roxas team attack??? Terra/Riku team attack! Very good, this is exactly what the whole ending sequence should’ve been. All of the heroes engaging in weird team-ups with banter

I swear I felt like I was doing something wrong the entire Mickey sequence. He felt like he was making no progress! Why that mouse gotta be so slow!?

The detail of Sora and Kairi’s memories making up the feathers of their team attack! An attack called One Heart! That hug where they cradle each others’ heads! The fact that Sora was so on the ball healing me as Kairi because I sucked! Their hearts intertwining and them coming into being in each others’ arms in the Final World! That’s deep love, baby. Ain’t no drifting apart there

When Chirithy cries I cry. I’d die for that little guy. Even if that’s Ven’s Chirithy and my character from KHUx’s that I’m actually attached to is probably dead

We really got nothing extra about those KHUx ties, which is wild but also I guess understandable since the game’s still updating and we need to keep people playing it. More people would play it if the gameplay system was overhauled and I have a list of ways they could do it, but we all know that’s not gonna happen

Limit Cut definitely feels like it’s just an explanation for the Data Fights + Sequel Bait. So far I’ve beaten Repliku and tested out Luxord, which feels beatable once I get the pattern down enough to do it quickly and also don’t use Ultima Weapon because it just hits cards it isn’t supposed to. I... don’t think my strategy of “spam Rage Form and Ultimate Form to abuse i-frames until the magic bar recharges to heal” was the intended way to do that, but it worked

Also Invi’s robes are normal-colored in the Journal entry so I dunno WHAT’S up with the magenta color in the Secret Video! I also found it funny that the Journal describes all four of the Foretellers it lists as “wearing white robes” even though literally only Ira’s robe is white, Invi’s and Aced’s only have whitish-sections but are predominantly another color, and Gula’s has zero white at all. Goooooood job

[excusemewhileiplaykh]

You know what really stings about Kairi's character in KH 3? Is that her only redeeming moment might be taken away from her.

Everyone is saying "Well she didn't get a lot of screentime or get to fight much and you know she was the damsel in distress at the end BUT she saved the Guardians and Sora!"

She might have saved the Guardians. But I don't think Kairi saved Sora.

The implications after Sora and Kairi come back to everyone else is that they are now in a dream.

Why do I say that? Because when you come back "Battlegate 0" is available. Not only that, but you trap Xehanort by using a Dream Portal.

It is also worth noting that YMX tells Sora he is doomed to be trapped in the dream world again because of his recklessness, not once but twice. (First in the dream version of San Fransokyo and after you defeat him).

This would suggest Kairi did not save him which would mean Nomura further assassinated her character.

And I'm furious. I am so furious that he stripped her of all her dignity in this game, especially at the end. She wanted to save Naminé, but instead Repliku does it. She wanted to be with Sora, but Nomura kills him off (and from the secret movie, it would seem she won't have any impact in bringing him back because Riku will do it).

She shares the paupo with Sora, but the way it's framed, its as if she's distracting Sora from worrying about Riku, which would make people dislike her. I'm sure Kairi didn't mean to be insensitive, but it is easy to interpret it this way. And people have been doing it and trashing her for it unnecessarily.

I don't understand why he did this. I don't understand why he would make it seem like Kairi was going to be a fighting force at the end of DDD only to have her be the same weak fragile character she DOES NOT deserve to be. Even her light powers apparently aren't strong enough.

I hope I'm wrong. I hope she did save Sora despite the evidence that says otherwise. I hope she has a major role in saving Sora in the next game.

But I hoped so much that in this game she would be different and she wasn't. And honestly I'm a bit pessimistic. And I really don't want to be.

But all I can say is that if Nomura won't treat Kairi with respect, I hope all of us can. Please don't be mean to her.

I can only hold on to the good moments Kairi did have in this game. She was great with Lea. Her letter writing was so cute and thoughtful.

I hope she saved Sora. I hope Nomura doesn't take that away from her claiming it was all a dream. I hope. I really hope for Kairi.

[bluerosesburnblue]

Hi blue! ❤️ I've been in a lot of discords where alot of the KH fandom confirms their belief in the SRT. I have a pretty decent understanding of lore so far. I got into some nice debates where fans defended the SRT soley off an existence of a different wordline. I'd ask "So if Sora was able to pull all the guardians into a different worldline... Xehanort could've just targeted the princesses of heart - why would he follow them.. if this theory was Canon??" And I'd just watch then hit silence.

To add context to my previous, I don’t understand how Riku being Sora’s light has any reason to even be included in this theory. To me, this theory should’ve had the focal point only on the idea of multiple world-lines, but having looked at all your blogging in that regard, the clear and excessive inconsistencies in their theory shows that the sleeping realm wasn’t the focal point. I follow some of the writers of the theory… And after sharing the doc they only celebrated Riku and nothing else             

Honestly, thank you for your effort in breaking it down. I knew I wasn’t crazy when I thought that something didn’t really seem right with the theory. I watch a lot of KH theory videos on YouTube from small creators with no shipping bias and they’re honestly very creative and genuine with their work. I understand how they feel about their ship, I love Kairi so much and would cry if she got her own game. I just think they should’ve left the Riku thing on its own and kept it away from this theory.             

Hey there! And thank you! I’m gonna talk a lot so to keep this from clogging up everyone’s dashboard, it’s going under the cut

I think I may have touched on it a little bit when I was explaining why even if the writers say this isn’t an “it’s all a dream” theory, I still feel like it has enough similarities to be considered one and… you’re absolutely correct. There is no reason for Xehanort to follow the Guardians into a new worldline. We don’t even know if he’s capable of it. We also don’t know if his planned universal reset just works in the worldline he’s in, or if it would erase all of them. We don’t know anything about worldlines other than that it’s a term Luxu used, like, twice

If Sora and Co. hopped worldlines, Xehanort would just grab the Princesses and win. If Sora and Co. hopped into the Sleeping Worlds… then Xehanort would also just grab the Princesses because the heroes still aren’t around to stop him if they’re in the Sleeping Worlds. It might take a little extra time, especially if we go on their assumption that Kairi is dead since now he’s gotta go find Princess #7 again. Because let’s not forget that this theory also claims that Kairi did not hop worldlines and that the Kairi we see is a Chirithy she’s piloting from the other world. That she died in

(Personally, I think there’s a fundamental misunderstanding of Xehanort’s character throughout the whole theory. He’s not a master planner. If he was, none of his plans would have ever failed, and he makes very clear in DDD that the plan to use TAV was intended to succeed. He is a master opportunist who’s excellent at making sure he has just enough irons in the fire that if one plan fails, another’s already going. The issue is most prevalent in the part of the theory where they try to claim that he planned the paopu scene. And uhh… any part where they make it sound like Xehanort has big plans involving Sora. He doesn’t.

His plan in DDD was opportunistic. He never planned for Sora. Sora was this thorn in his side who was constantly messing up his plans. If you know that no matter what you do this boy is going to mess you up, then how do you remove that threat? Either kill him, which is unlikely as Sora also makes for a decent Light if need be, or bring that power onto your side. He also didn’t like… give YMX time travel powers just to get Sora. That was another opportunistic iron to add to the fire. Like, if I knew that I was going to do something that would give me time travel powers and that I could pass that on to other versions of myself, why the hell wouldn’t I go back to the earliest version of me that could make use of that? That way I have the power… literally from a very young age and continue to have it my entire life. It’s a paradox, sure, but a damn effective one. He would’ve had Ansem go back to give YMX the power regardless. Knowing where Sora was at the time was just a byproduct, and one that he later found a use for

But after the plan to force Sora to join the Darknesses fails… Xehanort doesn’t really have to do anything. He knows that Sora’s a meddler who will fight for the light and is easy to goad into emotional actions. That’s one less Light that you have to worry about getting to the battlefield, because the kid will do it himself. There’s no need to have Kairi involved at all in terms of the paopu fruit thing? There’s no need to plan literally since flinging child Kairi into the abyss out of curiosity for her to make Sora fall in love with her. Like, again... he doesn’t really have a grand plan that he’s been implementing from the start so much as he has several plans that all require roughly the same or similar pieces. Xehanort only makes extra effort for himself if he feels like it could serve multiple purposes. He doesn’t see Sora as worthy, so he’s going to expend the most minimal effort on him. That’s one of the things that I think this theory fails to understand most; Xehanort doesn’t really care about or have grand plans for Sora. So long as the boy fights for one side or another, Xehanort’s already got what he wants

So with Xehanort being such an opportunist with so many contingencies... why would he pass up the chance to do things the easy, if more time-consuming, way by just... staying in the world without the heroes and succeeding with Plan B while knowing that there’s no one around to stop you?)

But, rambling about Xehanort’s characterization aside, you bring up something that I was planning to talk about once I finished going through the theory. My plan at the end was to go over what I felt that it did right or wrong writing-wise. And one of the things it does wrong is that it’s actually several mini-theories very loosely tied together that don’t prove each other

Making a theory about what you think a worldline is is its own thing. Making a theory on KH3′s connection to the Sleeping World lore is its own thing. Making a theory that Riku is really Sora’s light is its own thing. Making a theory that Kairi’s been controlled by Xehanort this whole time is its own thing. None of them correlate

The only reason to include all of them together, and this is going to sound really jaded, is if you intend to trick people into believing that your interpretation of Riku’s and Kairi’s contributions is canon. Because if they’re presented together, then it comes with the implication that if you accept that part of their theory is true (the definition of worldlines, the connection to Sleeping Worlds), then you have to accept that all of it is (Riku is the one whose act of true love saved Sora, Kairi’s contributions were all planned by someone else and therefore less legitimate than Riku’s, etc.).

And I don’t think I’m wrong to read that intent into it. From what I’ve read of the theory so far, they’ve made their shipping bias outright clear (calling the video files soriku_sleuthers as though they’re looking for evidence supporting their ship, spending an entire section on proving that Riku’s “most important person” is Sora and that the feelings are romantic...). Spending about .2 seconds on any of the creators’ Twitter accounts also makes the fact that really all they care about KH-wise is Riku’s part in the SoRiku ship (not even Riku as a character, because they get his character so totally wrong in the theory, but just what Riku contributes to the ship)

I don’t know if it was intentionally done by them or not. It’s possible that the natural ship bias clouded how they interpreted events in the game, too, to the point where they legitimately think that their interpretation is just obviously correct because the content that they interact with most and longest leads to that idea. I’ve already talked about how confirmation bias clouds the entire theory so thickly that they unintentionally discredited everything in it by that alone. But the point remains that the only reason that I can see for having an entire section on how perfect Riku is and how pure his love for Sora is, and another on how Kairi is Xehanort’s pawn trapped in another worldline, is because the easiest way to legitimize those as “canon” is to attach them to something that you think you can prove is canon

Except there’s so many holes, so much misinterpretation, and so much... I almost want to say forged evidence because that’s the only way I can describe what they did to Xigbar’s speech on Olympus, that there’s a mountain of things that can be logically and soundly proved to be incorrect and absolutely no decisive evidence so far proving that any part of what they’re saying is true

I’ll give them some credit, though. The SoRiku stuff doesn’t take up the bulk of the theory and is apparently subtle enough that even quite a few SoRiku shippers don’t think it’s even really a part of the theory. But that ignores the fact that while they have a ton of “evidence” unrelated to the ship, the inciting incident that the whole theory revolves around is the idea that Riku’s act of true love in sacrificing himself to save Sora (attributing Kairi’s sole salvation of Sora to both Riku and all of the other Princesses of Heart) allowed Sora to transfer everyone (except Kairi) over to a new worldline and also the Sleeping Worlds. It may not harp on it, but the theory absolutely pushes SoRiku as the canon ship if you want to believe that the theory is canon because they wrote it so that the events they’re describing cannot happen if it isn’t

It’s why they couldn’t keep the Riku stuff out of this theory even if they wanted to. Even if it would’ve made for a more believable theory. He’s the only part of this damn thing that they really care about

Again, I’m going to go into everything I think this theory does wrong at some point. And I’m sorry that this got so long and ranty! Seeing old followers go in and reblog the debunk stuff right now, which is attracting new followers like you is actually really fun and heartening to watch and I’m so glad that you liked the content enough to tell me! I wish the theory hadn’t become what it is. I wish this debunk wasn’t something that was even necessary. But I am grateful that it’s given me the opportunity to chat with a lot of people, yourself included, about this fandom! Up until I started this project I was relatively unknown in the KH fandom. I really hope that the upcoming debunk stuff meets everyone’s expectations!

[kitsoa]

In Discworld, Terry Pratchett uses 'waking' to mean things becoming more 'real.' Do you think it's like that in Kingdom Hearts? Once Sora uses the power of waking, Dream worlds become real again. Maybe using too much 'waking' led him to wake up in the real world.

Heee I like how your thinking anon. I really like how you’re thinking.

The vague descriptions of the Power of Waking don’t really help the painfully broad definition it possesses. And it doesn’t help that it’s surrounded by the context of dreams in DDD. Sleeping worlds, eternal sleep, dreams of the heart etc. The ‘waking’ part seems catered to removing the ‘sleep’ aspect in every iteration of the word. So when it starts stretching it’s reach on not sleeping people in KH3 (i.e. dead guardians) we see this as abuse of the power and therefore results in the consequence YMX alludes to. So we ask ourselves why?

 What part of Sora’s use of the power was considered abuse? Knowing his rampant use of the power toward the end, was it a particular, measurable limit to how much abuse he could handle or was it a singular fashion of use that literally ripped him from reality? What determines that limit? Was it an active force in response to his actions or the nature of the universe decreeing this very specific, consequence?

The speculation is endless. I’ve seen it and felt swayed by it all. The Master of Masters actively responded to Sora’s abuse resulting in his fate. The exact nature of Sora’s saving of specifically Kairi is somehow the linchpin that pulls the rug under Sora. Simply put, there is just an arbitrary number of times someone can abuse the power of waking and Sora just so happened to get unlucky. Heck, I even mention in my metacatastrophe theory that I see it as a sort of... exploitation of the objective definition of the word ‘awaken’. Sleep=Death meaning Wake=Revive. A kind of abuse over the poorly defined nature of the power to begin with. But even that’s a little too... coy an understanding of the power and it doesn’t account for the frustrating lack of terms on the abuse stipulation. 

And clearly Sora’s fate is foreshadowed, this consequence is knowledge to someone who understands at least how close Sora was to hitting this obscure ‘limit’. 

But anon. You’ve got something there. Because in all this dream/sleep jazz we fail to consider if everything is already a “dream”. In line with the meta-catastrophe; Kingdom Hearts is entirely fictional, a construct of imagination, concealed behind layers upon layers of fiction. As such, ‘waking’ something up removes that layer of fictitious dreaming, or at least waking someone whose heart is not actually trapped in a layer of fiction. It then probably peels back that veil for the person using the power. Or in-turn wakes them up from the reality as well as you so state. 

Therefore each consecutive abuse chips away at the dream. The limit of times Sora could abuse the power then has a natural boiling point, albeit still unseen. He’s gradually waking up and when he does he slips from the imaginary world and into the real world. This is actually brilliant. 

Consider, YMX could tell Sora was close to ‘waking up’ which is why he gave him that vague threat. (why he can do that has something to do with his unique time displaced relation to dreams. YMX is in on the farce in my theory and can therefore see that relationship that Sora has to the greater dream). And then we have Sora to consider. Based on his dialogue with Xehanort about leaders accepting fate and his behavior both before saving Kairi and dropping her off, there’s good reason to believe he knew exactly what would happen if he saved her one more time.

How? If Sora was ‘waking up’ then he’d probably feel it. While he probably had no concept of where it would lead, Sora probably had a vague inkling as he got closer and closer to the meta-conceptual edge of his fictions boundaries. It’s like becoming aware of when you are dreaming, and feeling your body stir outside you. It just... makes sense. Hell it might even explain how he was able to defy death in the final fight with Xehanort. At that point Sora was so close to the reality that shapes his fictional world that he was able to defy the laws of nature at the beck of his friends.

The layers of fiction can be invoke through the travel to Disney Worlds. As independent works of fiction, they bury Sora deeper into the imagination as the breadth of the universe grows deeper, regardless of if he’s physically there. So by resurrecting his friends with the power of waking, he shakes off that layer of dream/fiction/imagination (symbolically during the lich pursuit in the very fictional disney worlds themselves?) each and every time. 

And I wrote an essay. Pardon me. Thank you anon. This is good stuff.