Tumgik
#kh meta
dominicsorel · 1 month
Text
Xigbar's nicknames for Roxas are actually puns in Japanese.
Tiger is pronounced as "Tora". Tora, Sora.
Kiddo is pronounced as "Key-to". Key, Keyblade. Key, X.
And Roxas does not like being called either.
285 notes · View notes
verathena14 · 5 days
Text
yknow i'd always had a headcanon that sora was a lot more proficient with magic than riku, but playing Re:CoM really solidified that for me with the difference between their playstyles.
when you play as sora, you have this massive variety of different sleights and spells and summons you can use, which from an in-world perspective, could read as him just... modifying the spells for his own use. I think it would be super funny if he talks to like. Aqua for example and she's like "wait how did you do that. thats not supposed to happen, that's not how magic works-?" but anyway! the point is that Sora's gameplay has a lot of variety and magic woven into it
whereas with riku, not only can he not edit his deck, but almost all of his sleights are locked behind Darkness-Murder Mode™️. So a lot of Riku's gameplay is just "hit things until they die" (also i feel like there's something to be said about the difference between Holy Spiral and Inverse Spiral, which are basically the same attack except HS is when Riku's not in Dark Mode and IS is when he is, something about HS lasting much less time than IS because riku's light magic isn't as powerful perhaps?)
ANYWAYS. i just think it's neat :)
168 notes · View notes
holleighgram · 8 months
Text
Tumblr media
518 notes · View notes
dizzybevvie · 7 months
Text
Tumblr media
Super bad quality meme i made earlier
309 notes · View notes
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media
yall ever just
1K notes · View notes
andrewwtca · 7 months
Text
Maybe I'm just looking way too deep into this, but I think the reason that BBS uses a command system instead of letting you freely use skills and magic because Masterhood requires you to discipline yourself and do things 'by the book'
And that's why in both BBS and DDD a command system is used, because the primary goals is to become a Master. You want to do things 'correctly' so that you can prove that you really understand how a Keyblade works.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
(and also, funnily enough, the ones who seem to have the most freedom in this rigid system is Ven and Sora, who only want to be Masters by association of their friends)
And then in KH3, even though Sora was technically trying to be a Keyblade Master alongside Riku, he goes back to the normal action commands menu, because Sora never truly cared for being a master. But.... even then...
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The game lets you play as Riku and Aqua, who have become Keyblade Masters, and the combat system doesn't change (and don't you dare stop me here and say, 'Andrew that's because it would be silly to change a combat system for two briefly playable characters' BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE POINT). They've grown from the games where they achieved Masterhood and they realized the limitations of their teachers and of Mastery itself.
Aqua realized how fragile the balance truly is and Riku, time and time again, learned that doing things 'by the book' entails completely denying the darkness. Both of their struggles stem from darkness - Aqua rejecting it and Riku being unable to reject it. And they learn that the books were wrong: darkness can't be eliminated. They realize how their teachers have failed them, to an extent, and don't hold themselves to their exact teachings.
But, this is only a small example of breaking the toxic cycle their Masters taught them and RIKU IS STILL THE PRIMARY ONE TO LEAD THE CHANGE TO TRULY ACCEPTING BOTH LIGHT AND DARK (ROAD TO DAWN), AND OF COURSE, RIKU ONLY FINDS THE LIGHT BECAUSE OF SORA AND SORA ALSO HAS DARKNESS HE NEEDS TO ACCEPT, SO THEY'RE BOTH THE ONES TO LEAD THE CHANGE, SO THE COMMAND SYSTEM ACTUALLY PROVES SORIKU ENDGAME ANDliterary analysis is my special interest
Tumblr media
299 notes · View notes
isan0rt · 1 year
Text
So today I was explaining some stuff about khux to a friend who hasn't played any of the mobile games, and he asked me if the game ever 'gets meta' about the fact that you the player are exerting your will on this avatar that is pretty much a vessel for your choices.
And I realized.
Player becomes their own character intentionally. Player going from responding to Chirithy with gestures but no words, to giving their speech to the union leader about how Ephemer made them question doing what they'd always been told without thinking about it, to declining to join the Dandelions and not giving the player the option to join, all of it is Player, the character, developing agency independent of the player pulling them around and directing them. It's Player becoming a character in their own right, because of their connection to Ephemer, then to Skuld, to connecting with others and beginning to become 'real.' And then as their last act, they don't just fool Ephemer.
They fool us.
They seem like they became controlled by Darkness and that's why we've lost control of them and they're attacking their friends, and we the person playing the game think that, until they reveal it was them. It was their choice. They exercised agency and used it to fool even the person playing the game, who controlled their every action until that moment.
They became real. By themselves they were no one, but when Ephemer looked at them and saw someone, that's the moment they started to exist. All they needed was for someone to see them and connect with them. It's all there!! The THEME of Kingdom Hearts, and I never even realized until needing to tell SOMEONE ELSE about it.
Dang.
782 notes · View notes
winter-kh-sideblog · 6 months
Text
The thing with Kairi is, for all of the “she has no autonomy and is barely a character” jokes, she is so so interesting if you are willing to put a little bit of effort into understanding her. And this is kingdom hearts, the fandom of digging through offhand comments from games across every console imaginable to put together snippets of backstories, so like, I KNOW there’s an audience of people willing to put in effort? So here is my little essay on why Kairi has so much potential
I think a lot of people get lost because they assume that Kairi is Sora’s girlfriend? And they say “oh well the narrative doesn’t show that, the narrative is giving us more reasons they should move on than that they should stay togehter” and it’s like!!! You’re correct!!!! The narrative IS saying that!!! This is because Kairi is not, and never was Sora’s girlfriend!!!
Most people (correctly, sadly) get the “thrown to the side, no autonomy, barely a character” vibes from Kairi. But then they just go “oh she’s a one-dimentional stock Woman ™ character” and don’t think farther
i think that, a LOT of Kairi’s canon treatment makes more sense when you realize she’s not the “hot popular girl who’s a prize to be won” trope that people think she is. She’s the dead wife.
This sounds wild at first, because she 
Is a teenager
Has never been in a relationship, let alone married
Is ALIVE
So it’s like. What the heck. How could she be the dead wife. But she IS. and i think it’s impossible to unsee once you realize it.
She’s been dead from the beginning. She’s always haunting the narrative. She’s barely present and doesn’t get to make decisions, but the things that happen to her catalyze the entire plot of almost every game?
The thing is, her stock cliche ending is not, and never was “she ends up with Sora bc she’s the Prize and the symbol of Winning and they live heteronormatively ever after.” Her ending was always. She is perfect and innocent and pure. She dies. Everyone is sad and angry for a bit. They fight for justice. Then they move on. The happy ending is catalyzed by her and she gets credit, but she doesn’t do anything, she doesn’t have autonomy, and she doesn’t get to stick around for the ending. 
And this is a REPEATING motif in her life. When she was FOUR years old she was sent ahead to stop the apocalypse. She is basically dead to her homeworld. They weren’t getting her back. She lost her memories and her family and her life.
In kingdom hearts one, she dies in the apocolypse and becomes motivation and a prop for Sora and Riku. She doesn’t get to fight, she doesn’t get blood on her hands, she isn’t faced with messy decisions.
In kingdom hearts 2, she’s again kidnapped to start the plot. She doesnt get to be with sora or riku or even know what’s happening for most of the game.
And then of course in kingdom hearts 3, she’s literally killed, and it’s like. It’s not even a fight. She’s literally just slaughtered for no reason other than Sora fight motivation.
She’s the symbol of home and family to Sora. It’s not just a matter of romance, there’s not even romance between them? Not really? It’s about childhood and closeness and the promise of forever.
And the thing is. She clearly doesn’t want to be the dead wife character. I don’t think anyone would??? But it is ALL she’s good at. And that’s the problem. She’s a princess of heart, which is defined by absence. She doesn’t have darkness. She doesn’t have evil or badness or anger or malice or anything. And it’s just so?????? She’s narratively destined to die young before she has the chance to get older and get involved in anything messy or morally dubious. Her “job” is to be perfect and good enough that people miss her when she’s gone.
And then???? They don’t????? That’s the whole thing with melody of memory. They let her stay in a coma for an ENTIRE YEAR. Her friends are upset when she dies, but Sora’s the only one actually fighting to bring her back. No one else makes an effort to be with her???? It doesn’t seem like Riku makes any effort to contact her at all in the time between kh1 and kh2 when Sora’s in a coma for an entire year???? They fight and kill to wake Sora up but not Kairi anymore?????
They can't even make a kairi GAME without making her basically dead because that's her Role.
And it’s like????? What do you do when you’re the dead wife. When everyone theoretically loves you but only for what you’re not. When they love you because you’re fragile and pure and have never done anything wrong. When you’re not allowed the chance to live enough to become anything complicated, and people act like that’s for the best?
What do you do when you’ve been dead since the beginning, when everyone has already mourned you??? When they've all reached the acceptance phase and you're not sure if they want you back? They've spent too long learning to be Without you to remember how to be With you and now you're an inconvenience and a reminder of closed wounds?
What do you do when you’re alive but you never learned How to be alive, because you weren’t Supposed To survive????? What do you do when no one knows what to do with you??????
I think a lot of people who want Kairi to break free from the narrative are the ones who keep saying things like “oh she needs to move on from Sora and get better friends” but Sora is one of the only people who gets it?????? He’s been one of the only people that we see onscreen???? making any kind of attempt????? To love her like she’s alive?????? Its not much but its literally ALL shes given?????? And i dont fault her for holding onto that?????? And cherishing it????
And I do think it can be very cool to see her move on???? But i dont think people understand that,,,, if Sora and Kairi were to end up together, it wouldn’t be playing into the cliche, expected ending. Kairi LIVING is already breaking free of the tropes. Kairi being allowed to be messy and hurt and heartbroken,,,, being allowed to want things for herself,,,, being able to ask for help IN THE MOMENT instead of having people guess what she would have wanted after she’s gone,,,, being loved as a person rather than as an idea,,,,, Thats breaking free of the narrative tropes in such a profound way. And i don’t even think it matters much whether it’s romantic or as bffs or as teammates???? It’s just about being chersished as a human person and given a support system.
So yes, i do want to see Kairi make new friends and get some self confidence and move past her layers and layers of survivors guilt and make an identity for herself that doesn’t revolve around a man???? But also????? I think that its 2023 and people should stop pretending that sokai is inherently the boring or cliche expected ending when they’re LITERALLY doomed by the narrative already. Like do you guys actually not realize how subversive it would be if they were to end up together. The romance of staying alive for each other and breaking the cycle out of pure love and spite. The rebellious act of LIVING and taking up space while you're alive, of being a person instead of a concept to be idealized.
You can ship what you want and whatever sparks joy but PLEASE for the love of everything do not call sokai the boring ending. Please stop saying that letting kairi continue to exist and be alive will make the games suck or be cliche. Please.  Just like put a little bit of effort into themes and narratives i beg of you. It is so much more fun.
139 notes · View notes
hollowwhisperings · 11 months
Text
Kingdom Key & Kingdom Hearts: A SoRiku Theory
The Kingdom Hearts series (& its creators) actively emphasizes the ways that its primary protagonist, Sora, is a "normal, ordinary boy". Yet Sora wields the iconic Kingdom Key, the Ultima Keyblade & even a x-blade (as forged by Xehanort): Sora's Story has been that of a Chosen One, even as he fits the archetype of one "Unchosen".
This theory explores the nature of Choice within the KH series, specifically in the context of "Destiny" and prophecies. It employs the "Riku is The Light" & "Necklace" theories, as well as elements of "Sleeping Realm". It also casts Riku as one of those Strange Women in Ponds who Distribute Swords as a Basis of [Galactic World Order].
Sora's story seemingly begins as a Classic Hero's Journey only for such a reading to fall flat when Expectations such as "Getting The Girl" and "Becoming a Keyblade Master" pointedly do not happen.
The driving force of the KH series has always been Riku: Riku wished to see worlds beyond his home, knowing the truth of the KH Multiverse well before proof literally crashlanded in the form of Kairi (a literal shooting star).
It is Riku's Heart that drew the attention of the Worlds at large to the Destiny Islands: the brightness of his light lead Terra, Aqua & Xehanort to meeting Sora in the first place.
Terra chooses Riku as a future Keyblade Master.
Aqua chooses Sora for the sake of preserving Riku's Light, the events of BBS teaching her that the strongest lights cast the longest shadows.
Xehanort chooses Riku as a Dark Vessel, whispering to him & encouraging him to doubt, to mistrust.
It is assumed, by Sora and by Riku, that Riku was also the person responsible for "opening the door" to the Darkness that felled the Destiny Islands. Yet throughout his childhood, each attempt by Riku to open the mysterious door on the play island failed and, when Darkness Falls, it is Kairi who is found at its source (Kairi, who had been expelled from her home by a version of Xehanort & whose heart harboured yet another fragment of the Seeker of Darkness).
Regardless of whether he truly opened the Destiny Islands to Darkness, Riku believed it & through Darkness did he find "freedom" to explore the Worlds Beyond, just as he had always dreamed... except for one, rather significant detail becoming derailed: Sora's presence by Riku's Side.
The two were separated and Sora was almost lost: even with Darkness swallowing Riku whole, the light within his Heart acted in time to save Sora by entrusting to him 'Kingdom Key'. Riku's Keyblade. A physical manifestation of Riku's Heart.
(notably, the "Kingdom Key-D" found by King Mickey was found not too far from the scene where Kingdom Key manifested: it is plausible that this keyblade was also manifested by Riku's Heart, perhaps alongside its 'Light' counterpart - I'd need to check the timeline to see how such a theory holds up)
Kingdom Key was entrusted to Sora, a subconscious act of Riku's Heart that mirrored an earlier act of protection Riku gave to Sora: on the night where Kairi fell to the Destiny Islands, a young Sora felt frightened and a young Riku swore to protect his dearest friend. This oath was sworn in turn sworn by Sora to Riku. They sealed these oaths with tokens they held close: while Sora's charm gifted to Riku remains unknown, Riku entrusted Sora with a crown charm he had had since infancy.
When Riku was 5, Riku entrusted Sora with his Crown. Both boys swore to protect the other.
When Riku was 15, Riku's Heart entrusted itself to Sora in the form of 'Kingdom Key'.
When Riku was ~16, he subconsciously protected Sora by becoming the latter's Dreamel Eater. Within the same timeframe, Riku sacrificed himself entirely to save Sora at the Keyblade Graveyard (an act of sacrifice, an act of True Love).
At every instance where Riku has been at a crossroads, knowingly or not, his Heart has Chosen Sora's: Riku, presumed descendant of Ephemera and a child of the Destiny Islands, has always & continues to choose Sora.
When the pair were reunited in KH2 and confronted the threat of Xemnas, the two fought as one & passed their keyblades between each other intuitively
When the pair existed in parallel realms of Sleep, separated but connected, their heartbeasts joined to form a Waltzing variation of the melody 'Dearly Belove'. They then fought in sync with a Combined Blade, formed from the keyblades "Mirage Split" and "Nightmare's End", acting again as two halves of a whole.
When Riku was to meet his end in the Realm of Darkness, far within the abyss, Sora appeared to him and they once again wielded their Combined Blade. Beast had once reaponded to a 15 year old Riku's questioning of his impossible arrival to Hollow Bastion, where Beast's Beloved Belle was held hostage, that he had "simply believed": belief brought Sora to Riku in the Realm of Darkness, belief brought Sora to the Final World in the wake of Riku's Ultimate Sacrifice.
The premise of Kingdom Key & its counterpart, Kingdom Key-D, being Manifestations of Riku's Heart & indicative of Riku's being the "Child of Destiny" does run into some Logistical Obstacles.
One, if Riku's Keyblade is being wielded by Sora (& Mickey, assuming the two keys were originally one) then whose keyblade is Riku wielding?
Two, how can Riku's Heart manifest multiple keyblades? Posession by Ansem Seeker of Darkness explains 1 of the "extra" keyblades (the key of "all hearts"). The bequeathing ceremony by Terra could explain another. Kingdom Key-D is definitely connected to Kingdom Key yet never specifically associated with Riku, evem being wielded by King Mickey (a stranger to Riku, at that point).
To the first: if Riku's keyblade is being wielded by Sora (& its counterpart by King Mickey), how can Riku wield another keyblade in KH1 even before getting possessed?
There are several immediate & varyingly plausible explanations: Riku's nature as a "Child of Destiny" allowing his Heart to churn out keyblades on demand like some Fey Lady of Avalon; or the other keyblades were not actually manifested by Riku at all.
While I greatly enjoy the imagery of Riku playing the "Lady of the Lake" to Sora's "Arthur" in KH1, given Sora's opening dream sequence already set Riku as being stuck in a Body Of Water (which is additionally representative of Darkness), it is Stretching Things to assume all other Plot Focused keyblades were ALSO fished out from Riku's Heart.
Perhaps Riku's Heart simply conjured new keyblades in response to Sora's Heart taking in new quests: Riku's Heart supplying keys to the metaphoric doors of Sora's Heart Hotel.
It is more likely, however, that the "new" keyblade wielded by Riku (the one currently known as "Braveheart") is a manifestation of SORA'S Heart: Riku entrusted his crown & his heart to Sora, first on the night of the Meteor Shower & then on the night the Islands Fell; Sora, in turn, entrusted his sword & heart to Riku. It explains how each boy readily wields the keyblade of the other & fits within the theme of their hearts beating in sych.
Riku choosing Sora, Riku's entrusting his Heart (literally & figuratively) with Sora, resulted in Destiny Itself 'choosing' Sora: if Riku represents Kingdom Hearts, the subject of his love would naturally become beloved by the Worlds in turn.
Sora acting as "[the] One Sky, One Destiny" due to Sora having the 'Heart' of Destiny through its child (Riku)'s love.
Sora is not only Riku's Dearly Beloved, Sora is THE "Dearly Beloved": beloved by the Worlds, entrusted with their Hearts & appointed their Savior. And all because, dull and ordinary boy that he may be, it is Sora's naturally normal self that Riku fell in love with. Sora may not be any more innately special than anyone else but Sora is special to RIKU, the love between them (knowingly or not) serving as the driving force of their stories & of Destiny itself.
168 notes · View notes
Text
*shaking nomura and the rest of the kingdom hearts writing team* I need sora to lose it I need him to go absolutely bonkers I need the culmination of all his repression/actively supressing any of negative emotions and covering up anything of the like with a smile to be analyzed and I need Sora’s lack of self worth and his belief in only being loved if he is useful and/or only ever positive to be torn down. I need Quadratum and KH4 to read him for filth about his coping mechanisms and I need his inner darkness to be looked at more because he has it’s there it’ll only get worse as time goes on the longer he pretends it doesn’t exist. I need to see him rage and I need someone to SEE him do so and talk to him about it
Tumblr media Tumblr media
The anger isn’t roxas.
37 notes · View notes
blowingoffsteam2 · 7 months
Text
Oh yeah another thing about kh maybe going full meta and acknowledging itself as a video game is the weird fact that in the khux finale when we see the khux kids leave the data Daybreak Town and return to the “real world” Daybreak Town, the “real” one actually has a glitching screen effect as it falls to darkness.
Tumblr media
I can’t think of any reason for this other than to imply that the daybreak town they perceived as real was also just another digital creation of some sort. And considering the meta perspective of khux being a video game, then it makes sense for this to be the portrayal of the finale, of the game service literally shutting down. No one can ever play khux again, that world actually died in a real way. But of course, it was “reborn” because khux wasn’t the end of the story. Just the end of that piece of it.
145 notes · View notes
dominicsorel · 1 month
Text
Sora and Riku's Sleeping Destiny
Destiny Islands being revealed as a Sleeping World was absolutely genius. It means the story never played out how it was supposed to. And the only way for a world to wake up from its sleep is...
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
For its story to be allowed to play out correctly.
And how does the story of Destiny Islands start as it "plays out correctly" in Dream Drop Distance?
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Sora and Riku are planning to leave. This means they were always meant to leave Destiny Islands together.
Just the two of them.
199 notes · View notes
verathena14 · 2 months
Text
I JUST HAD THE BIGGEST REALIZATION ABOUT SORA'S POD IN CoM/Re:CoM
(this might be a well-known/widely accepted idea but i have never seen anyone talk about it so im very proud of myself for figuring this out)
So it's a lotus, right?
Tumblr media
For the longest time, that wasn't anything of note. Just "oh okay cool. nice flower."
BUT THERE'S MORE TO IT THAN THAT. I WAS A FOOL, AN ABSOLUTE BUFFOON, TO THINK THAT NOMURA WOULD DO SOMETHING SO SURFACE-LEVEL.
As we know, Nomura <i>looooves</i> to pull from mythology (see: Riku on the Delphic Tripod in Olympus in KH3, the foretellers being the Seven Deadly Sins, Skuld being one of the Norns, literally the entirety of the KHDR cast -- and now the KHML cast) AND THEN I REALIZED.
In the Odyssey, Odysseus and his crew happen upon an island full of people who have forgotten who they are and where they came from-- and this is because of the LOTUS FLOWERS.
YKNOW, LIKE HOW SORA'S FORGETTING LITERALLY EVERYTHING THE LONGER HE SPENDS IN CASTLE OBLIVION!
But what I really like about this allusion is that Nomura turns it on its head-- the lotus, the pod, instead heals Sora's memory.
And guess who set up the whole plot to mess with Sora's memories? That's right, MARLUXIA. WHOSE WHOLE SHTICK IS **FLOWERS**
GOD, I don't know how I didn't notice this earlier but this whole thing is VERY yummy to me, I am SO normal about it.
194 notes · View notes
holleighgram · 11 months
Text
Tumblr media
Inspired by @hollowwhisperings reminding me that Riku may not be entirely human
394 notes · View notes
autumn-may · 1 year
Text
Rewatching the KHDR cutscenes and it really is fascinating how obvious the Bragi/Luxu thing is on a second playthrough. Like we all know the Brain/Bragi/Braig name similarities and stuff but it is very interesting how close Bragi seems to Eraqus.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
It makes a lot of sense if you’re thinking of Luxu, of course he’d want to stay close Eraqus, he’s the living legacy of the keyblade masters of old, it’s a sure bet he’d be important, and isn’t it his role to keep an eye on anything that looks like it matters?
idk just something I’ve been thinking about
149 notes · View notes
Photo
Tumblr media
the way jiminys line is worded in (what i assume is) the yen press release makes it sound like riku was ‘another girl’ sora was friends with
which, coincidentally, lines up with the error in text from the ddd opening:
Tumblr media Tumblr media
so im posting this for all of you trans riku fans 🏳️‍⚧️
the wording is slightly different in the tokyopop release btw:
Tumblr media
(cap taken from the internet archive)
417 notes · View notes