When you know Replica Riku has Sora’s memories too and his final words to Riku are “Good luck” after helping protect Riku in the Dark World and Riku helps him not give up by being his light in the darkness

Kingdom Hearts 4 - Thoughts, Predictions and Ramblings

I've had a mountain of thoughts collecting in my brain since Melody of Memory but I never could find a way to express them properly. Before I knew it UX had ended, Dark Road came and ended and now Missing Link is on it's way and the only thing I can think is how this all ties together and will lead into Kingdom Hearts 4 and the series going forward. I decided not to wait any longer, sorry if I can't present a coherent post here but I'd rather get all these thoughts out than let them fester any longer! 😆

Melody of Memory

Thanks to MoM's ending we know Riku ventures to Quadratum alone to find Sora, Kairi stays behind to train with Aqua and Donald and Goofy head to the Underworld to most likely ask Hades about Sora's whereabouts.

With Riku, I predict we'll get a Dream Drop style in KH4 where we switch back and forth between him and Sora, though I doubt they'll drop this time and will be very much awake. (Soriku stans we in there ayeee!! DDD 2!!).

If Yozora stands in Sora's way (whether initually or eventually) and traps him in crystal as the bad ending of Limit Cut suggested, that means Riku will most likely be the one to free him. And booooy the implications that has, especially when you consider Disney films like Atlantis the Lost Empire and Frozen where the main character had to fight for their loved one to free them from their frozen state. It would be a glorious parallel and would make for a tender moment between the two, something I believe is much needed after Riku was left out of sharing the Paopu Fruit and his rescue was forgotten by Sora. Not to mention Riku himself believed nothing he did was enough for Sora, not becoming a Keyblade Master, nor becoming a leader amongst his peers or even connecting himself to Sora and dreaming of his exact location for a year after being lost. Riku needs affirmation that he's needed by Sora, and Sora needs a reminder of who his Light is.

I love the idea of Kairi making potential friends outside the trio, thus I love the idea of her spending time with and possibly bonding with Aqua. Hopefully after their training sessions, Kairi will finally become a Team Player no longer dumped to the side. I think this will give her character the desperate boost it needs.

And finally, thanks to context from Dark Road we now know the dead can be contacted from the Underworld. However, I feel only those whose hearts are in The Final World can be contacted, not those whose hearts transferred to the other side of reality. I'd be surprised if Hades could reach hearts even on the opposite side of reality, but I won't completely rule it out. The Underworld could become useful for contacting Nameless Star in the future so they don't have to keep traveling to The Final World, and her human form may be revealed here (as we saw in Dark Road, the dead reappear in their original human forms rather than in the Final World's transparent stars). I expect that her human form won't look the same as her Quadratum form since it appears the "Somebody" who unalived her took "everything about her" which may include her original body, similarly to how Yozora's body was also taken and his heart was replaced.

Only time will tell and I can't wait for KH4 to come! When the next trailer drops I'll probably melt into a bowl of ice cream.🫠

Dark Road / Missing Link

Dark Road had a LOT of content in it but what I want to take away most from it for future titles is reincarnation (player character) and family lineages (Xehanort being Ephemer's great-great grandson or so) which we know will be touched upon in Missing Link (per an interview with Nomura). This can lead to an interesting dynamic between all the characters as we discover who comes from what lineage and which characters may even be distant relatives.

Aside from Xehanort, everyone else's lineage is up in the air aside from one other character, Riku. If the Crown Necklace Theory proves true then that means Riku, who had the Crown Necklace since he was a baby, is of royal blood through one of his parents or at least a descendant of a prestigious family. Given his silver hair and blue eyes, the only line I can imagine he comes from is Ephemer's. And this is also shown through Xehanort who descends from Ephemer and is also constantly represented with a crown.

If Ephemer's line are represented by crowns it's fair to assume he and his descendants are considered "royalty". And what could this mean for Riku in KH4 and the future? As Kingdom Hearts characters are constantly represented by Chess Pieces, the Ephemer descendants are the King pieces of the story so to speak. It all adds up when you consider Riku was not only initially the Keyblade's Chosen and the initial bearer of the Crown Necklace but now Yozora has seemingly come into the series as the opposite King on the chest board from the dimension of fantasy. And who does Yozora resemble most? Riku. Learning Riku's lineage is important as it could very well further point to Riku being the "True King" of the Kingdom Hearts dimension. It'd all tie together. But I have a theory on the Verum Rex, Falsus Rex discussion that I will save for a future time.

Aside from Riku, there aren't any other characters with even a hint about who they might be.

The only other candidate for Royalty is Kairi, not only being a Princess of Heart but she was raised in a castle by her Grandmother who may have been Queen of Radiant Garden, or they were at least of a high social class. If Kairi also comes from Royalty, is it the same Royal line as Ephemer's descendants? Her relationship with Xehanort seems to have started when she was only 4, he chose her as the vessel who would find and connect with the Keyblade Wielder for a reason. It would be interesting if he chose Kairi due to her being from his family line. The only evidence I have that points Kairi to being a Descendant lf Ephemer aside from possibly being royalty is that her Grandmother is the one who retells the story of how the Dandelions scattered across the worlds in search of light. Her Grandmother may have learned that from her ancestors, one being Ephemer, but it's also possible it was just a common children's story told to everyone regardless of lineage. But all of this assumes she descends from Ephemer and not a potential secondary Royal line. Her family is only from Radiant Garden as far as we know not Scala ad Caelum/Daybreak Town so it's very possible she has nothing to do any of the Dandelions and simply descends from the (speculated) Radiant Garden Royal family. Only time will tell and I'm very excited to learn more about her and her family.

As for Sora, there are no hints about his family lineage at all, aside from one line from his mother far back in KH1 we don't know anything about his father or any other family members (if we don't focus on the manga which mentions his uncle). He doesn't have a crown necklace of his own like Riku, he doesn't come from a castle like Kairi so we can assume he doesn't come from any Royalty. For Sora, I can only make an educated guess and I think he may come from Brain's line. If Xehanort and Riku come from Ephemer's line and Eraqus is rumored to have come from Brain's line, then I would expect Sora to also come from Brain's line since Eraqus is to Xehanort what Sora is to Riku, in a sense.

Also in learning which characters descend from which line, we can discover who is related to who. If Riku does in fact also directly descend from Ephemer then that would mean he and Xehanort are relatives - distant cousins. And the same would be true for Eraqus and Sora if they both descend from Brain. And if Kairi descends from either of these lines, that would make her a distant relative of either Sora or Riku. Her being distant cousins with Riku would be very interesting to their relationship, but her being distant cousins with Sora...well, talk about awkward.

But I'm jumping way ahead here. We'll have to wait for Missing Link to come out to see who comes from what family and I absolutely can't wait to see how it all plays out and how it ties to the plot of Kingdom Hearts 4 and the series' future!

So I watched Frozen 2. It was...ok. Not good, not bad. But very pretty. Had to skip some of the songs because it was just too much for me lol but yes I can see some very juicy parallels that could be used in kh4. It’s sort of like how I feel about Lion King 2. As a movie on its own I don’t even think it’s that good but I would kill for it to be in kh4 because of all the potential soriku and thematic parallels.