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#thinking also about Xigbar's character file
omnificent-orion · 2 years
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hope, a seed a lock and key
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nadziejastar · 1 year
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Do you think the the black box contents were originally supposed to be revealed in KH3? Do you see a place it would have fit into the story? I thought maybe as a way to defeat the darknesses in their final form since that would be a reason for MoM to want it available in the future. Like if it was pandora's box and now the darkness has to go back inside.
Do you think the black box contents were originally supposed to be revealed in KH3?
Yes, I do. There was an interview with Nomura (Famitsu January 2017) that implied that, too. Here is an excerpt:
Famitsu: The Master appears to be quite the important character, will we find out the reason for his disappearance in [KHIII]?
Nomura: Some of the story developments from [KHxBC] will be touched upon in some way or shape in [KHIII], but the Master won’t make an appearance. As for his “surprise” on the other hand…
Famitsu: By that are you talking about the box that the Master called a “Suprii~se!” and entrusted to Luxu along with the Keyblade? There was also something written on it…
Nomura: The perceptive fan may have already worked it out but, it still remains a secret. In [KHIII], a certain person is looking for that box…
Famitsu: So the box’s contents will be revealed in [KHIII]…
At the time KH Back Cover was released, I think we were supposed to learn what the big "surprise" was inside the black box in KH3, but the story was changed later on. Like with FFXV, the development of KH3 seemed to be a mess and the story was constantly being rewritten late into development.
After reading the Character Files book, I believe there are enough clues to ascertain what was inside the black box. Here is an excerpt from the official localization of Xigbar's short story, entitled, "The Fool":
"Now, as for that box, do you want to know why it's gone? You want to ask something? But there are limits to what I can say right now. It's that difference between knowing and understanding. And, of course, there's the possibility of secrets that no one knows, like the contents of the box. You could say it's a surprise."
"Say, if someone told you the world would end tomorrow, what would you do? Would you think there's nothing you can do about it, or would you try to do something about it? Remember what I said about that black box. No one knows what shade of black it is."
The card that Luxord gives to Sora is the wild card. In the tarot, this is The Fool arcana. In the tarot, The Fool can be placed either at the beginning of the Major Arcana or at the end. It represents new beginnings and is the number 0. It is empty, yet signifies infinite possibilities. Because of this, I believe the box WAS EMPTY. Luxord was told that it contains "hope". And figuratively speaking, it does, because there are infinite possibilities about what's inside. IMO, Xigbar knew that it was empty. But Luxord was desperate for a way to change fate, so he used the black box as a way to convince him to join the New Organization XIII.
Do you see a place it would have fit into the story?
Yes, I think it could have fit. Perhaps Xigbar, bereft of all hope of acquiring the Keyblade, realizes that he had been played for a fool. And with nothing left to lose, he would tell Sora and Riku about the empty box before taking his own life. (Yes, I think Xigbar was actually supposed to die during that scene and his role in the story was done). That is one possibility. Or it could have been shown in a flashback.
At the very least, narratively, I absolutely think it would have made the most sense for the box's contents to be revealed in KH3, and here's why. The box was a red herring. Sora is actually "The Fool". He was the child of destiny, able to change fate, even when the Book of Prophecies had predicted Light would expire.
I thought maybe as a way to defeat the darknesses in their final form since that would be a reason for MoM to want it available in the future. Like if it was pandora's box and now the darkness has to go back inside.
I think that is the right idea. The black box was definitely meant to be a parallel to Pandora's Box. In the myth, all the evils of the world had been let out into the world and all that was left inside the Pandora's Box was hope.
On the black box was written "Xsuper". Superbia=Pride, the deadliest sin/darkness. IMO, the ending of KH3 was meant to convey a certain idea. Eraqus was sure he had won when he confronted Xehanort with the words:
"There’s more to light than meets the eye. As I told you."
It was a reference to the chess game from their childhood where Eraqus told him:
"There’s more to light than meets the eye. You might be surprised".
Eraqus beat him at their chess game, and Xehanort admitted defeat. He told Eraqus that when the world needed a defender, it would choose him. Xehanort probably thought that Eraqus was the child of prophecy. And child Eraqus acts surprised. Now, consider this exchange between Sora and Xehanort:
"The world needs someone to stand up and lead. Someone strong to stop the weak from polluting the world with their endless darkness. Someone to dictate their destiny."
"If so…you’re not that person, Xehanort. A real leader knows destiny is beyond his control…and accepts that."
"You…make me think of an old friend."
How did Sora react when he realized destiny was beyond his control?
"Without them… I… All my strength came from them. They gave me all of it. Alone, I’m worthless. We’ve lost… It’s over."
He GAVE UP!
"What do you think the power of waking is? It’s for traversing hearts to reach worlds. Not for traversing worlds to reach hearts. There’s a high price to pay for wielding such power foolishly."
Objectively speaking, Sora was A FOOL! Vexen's short story really drives this idea home.
The popular idea in the fandom is that Xehanort surrendered because he had been backed into a corner and had no choice but to admit defeat. I disagree. Xehanort had won. He chose to give the X-blade to Sora because he was able to admit defeat. Sora gave Xehanort more hope than Kingdom hearts did. He genuinely believed that Sora deserved to be the world's defender more than himself, because Sora was the person Eraqus was as a child. This action humiliates Eraqus, who then goes on to say:
"Terra, Aqua, Ven. Forgive your foolish teacher."
There's that "Fool" symbolism again.
"The world began in darkness. And from that darkness came light. From the light came the people, and the people had hearts. Evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness. And that darkness spread across the world like a plague. The light, the symbol of the world’s hope, was devoured by shadow, leaving nothing but ruin… An utter failure. But the first light—the light of Kingdom Hearts—it can give us a new start. An empty world, pure and bright…"
And here it is again, too. Kingdom Hearts was the world's hope. It is empty, but represents infinite possibilities. It is like the number 0. Just like The Fool. And just like the black box. Ergo, the black box was a key part of KH3's narrative.
Sora would not defeat Xehanort outright; rather he would defeat the pride of Xehanort. A "surprise" ending. I think this idea was not realized because there was too much necessary groundwork for KH3 to cover for this ending to make sense. The stuff with the seven deadly sins/darknesses, the child of destiny, Scala ad Caelum's history, Xehanort's backstory and his relationship with Eraqus, Luxord's backstory and how he knew of the Book of Prophecies, etc.
In August 2016. Nomura said KH3's story was "overwhelmingly big". The KH3 team didn't have time to incorporate all of this plot into the game. I suspect that there was an internal decision at Square-Enix for the KH3 team to just focus on the "bare necessities" like bringing back Roxas and company and to save all of the rest of the main plot for a new story arc. Unfortunately, this left KH3 an unfinished product and not much of a finale.
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nanakibh · 3 years
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Until Further Notice, Demyx is Still MoM
(khux spoilers here within~ I hope I tagged it enough, sorry!)
So, anyone remember this part of Demyx’s character file?
I never would’ve expected Vexen to reach out to me for help. I don’t like bothersome things, but things already seemed pretty bothersome as they were. So, like, carrying stuff sounded like a job I was more suited for.
Oh, right, right– It’s just like that guy would always say. That “May your heart be your guiding whatever” guy?
Now that I think about it, what exactly was guiding me, again?
Like a year ago, I was saying that it made sense for Xehanort to have Player’s memories if he was actually the reincarnation of Player.
I also said that Demyx probably knows MoM for the same reason. (Post-KHDR edit: And although we were wrong about Xehanort being Player, the fact that Player still got reincarnated is true, so...)
I enjoy the implication that MoM’s idea of taking a break is to commit sudoku so he can sleep the good sleep in the Unseen Realm. He came back right on time.
Demyx really rolled up to the Organization and thought to himself “What if I had thirteen friends of darkness? idk, I just feel like that would be kinda neat or something.” And then he makes note of the fact that the only person he really hung out with in the end was Xigbar of all people. (The translation of that part is questionable, but Very Cool If True.)
idk, maybe the best part is the fact that Demyx is saying that his phrase (”Demyx time!” = “This is up my alley/what I’m suited for!” in JP) is just like what the MoM would always say. If only he could remember the whole phrase...
This would explain quite a number of things... Why he “thinks” he joined Organization XIII because he wanted friends, yet he also wants to be left alone to enjoy his own peace and quiet. His particular fondness for Xigbar. His endless desire for break time. Not to mention his general behavior and exaggerated mannerisms, the part everyone’s noticed. It would also explain why Larxene seems to have an instinctual hatred for him.
Oh, and of course... Every single one of Demyx’s lines from KH3.
This is without mentioning the Foretellers’ connections to Final Fantasy Agito XIII... The one about the endless spiral of war and the end of the world, in which reincarnation was also a big deal. The one with Jack, who’s already the perfect combination of MoM and Demyx. Please play Final Fantasy Type-0, I’m begging everyone, Please.
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kyzveryown · 3 years
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RE:Observations KH Character Files — Part II [OLD POST]
I recently went over some of my thoughts on Xigbar/Luxu and Marluxia’s files in the Kingdom Hearts Character Files book. For this one, I’m going to cover some of my thoughts on Demyx, Larxene and Luxord’s files. Note: This is an update of an old post from last year.
Larxene’s file doesn’t have much. All you need to know is that she hates everyone and everything, which basically translates to “I don’t know how to deal with my feelings because I’m emotionally damaged”. She mentioned something about people in white lab coats, which initially lead me to think she was one of Ansem’s subjects. It’s likely just an observation of what she was seeing, which could mean she's in Radiant Garden.
We don’t know where the hell Elrena or Lauriam are. I always thought they’d reawaken in Traverse Town since that’s where people without worlds end up. Although that’s assuming the worlds they appeared in currently don’t exist anymore. Ventus is the only one accounted for. My guess is Luxu eventually found them and hid them somewhere like he did with Skuld/Subject X until he needed them. That raises questions about his intentions concerning Skuld though. There’s bit at the end of her profile where she alludes to her feelings for Lauriam even though she regrets ‘going along with him’. So, it's likely he persuades her to follow him at some point during the end of KHUX.
I don’t know what to say about Luxord’s file. It’s too cryptic and vague. What did stand out to me was when he spoke about going against people wagering their lives, and how difficult it is facing such opponents. There’s also the part at the end, “You should not endeavor to turn the tables at the last second to bring about crushing defeat, but to steadily rack up smaller victories along the way”. There nothing else noteworthy beyond that though.
And then there’s Demyx. The second half of his file re-establishes the fact he’s lazy and wants a stress-free life. I can’t help but draw a comparison to the Master of Masters, who is just as lazy and flaunts that aspect of himself proudly. Remember what he told Luxu? “Eh, I’m gonna sit this one out. You handle it from here, m’kay!” Or what he told Xehanort? “Why not just sit back and watch it play out?” He doesn’t do much but chill on the sidelines and observe until he absolutely has to intervene - just like Demyx.
Demyx echoes the same sentiment when speaking to Larxene, “I can be extremely imposing...when I want to be”. Demyx also recalls a memory of that guy and something he used to say, “may your heart be your guiding key”. Who else would say that? Luxu wanted to keep his past hidden, so he couldn't be him. It could also be Eraqus and Xehanort’s master though that's assuming Demyx shows up in KHDR. The only other person would be The Master of Masters. If it turns out that he does know the Master of Masters, then that begs the question of how? Either way, Demyx does have some importance to the story. I’m just excited to see what’s in store for him.
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valorxdrive · 2 years
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In all honesty KH faithful, I’m gaining further confidence that Xigbar is either gaining a closer touch to the truth or already figured out the anomaly factor when it comes to the Black Box. While a lot of clues were already laid out there, in particular, some diving and cross referencing really led to some revelations when I look back to his character files.
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From Xigbar’s character files.
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Wiki’s sect about abstract concepts of the Black Box.
So that leads to the question in how such a thing is even existing that holds this level of influence. I’m coming to believe that the Data aspects of KH mythos alongside the MoM’s ability to project future worlds via the Book of Prophecies are a lot close then we can come to think. From KHUX (and likely further back) alllll the way to KH3 Re:Mind we can see how technological pursuits play an essential part in both the heroes and villains sides.
While the idea we’ll come to see the raw extent of this Box’s tricks and Xigbar’s current line of discoveries far off, I also want to leave another particular note for study.
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From the way they both behave and how I’m really getting the idea of how they play to a similar theory to the Black Box in terms of actions, there may be a correlating link. After all, dependency on these signals, using emotions bred from Hearts as a central signal to follow in order to spread their infection, that tidbit about input and output principle may be why it’s literally impossible to even align their way of thinking to humanity.
Sentiment and emotion are stimuli for them compared to very important aspects to living beings that hold hearts.
Tl;dr: The following events may reveal light on how someone took the conceptual power of hearts and strewn it out into such a computerized looking fashion. It also may have a central link to the MoM’s creation powers with the book.
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revengerevisited · 4 years
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@noneofthismakessensetome KHUX is really hard to explain, and I don’t really understand it myself despite watching every update, but the most that I can glean from it is that it’s set in the past in a place called Daybreak Town, right before the Keyblade War. (How far in the past is unknown, not helped by the fact that time travels differently in each World, but it was definitely before Xehanort was born).
There was this guy named the Master of Masters, and he’s supposedly been fighting a war against darkness for a very long time. (No idea if that’s the elemental concept of darkness, or Darkness the character). He’s the person who invented Keyblades (or one of the people. KHUX is extremely vague and likes to throw little doubts in just to make you question everything), and he gathered six apprentices (all named after one of the Seven Deadly Sins). Luxu, aka Xigbar, is one of the six. The only other relevant one is Ava. 
Five of these apprentices (not Luxu) become the Foretellers, leaders of these different Unions of ‘Keykids’ (which I don’t think is an official term, but that’s what the fandom calls them so I will too) who wield Keyblades against the Heartless to collect Lux (which is some sort of light energy). Each of them is also given a Chirithy Spirit created by the Master of Masters. 
The Master of Masters, aka MoM, can see into the future, because he put his ‘eye’ into the Keyblade No Name (Master Xehanort’s Keyblade), as well as other Keyblades like Riku’s Way to the Dawn and Vanitas’s Void Gear (if that is the name of Vanitas’s Keyblade...). Because these ‘eyes’ exist in the future, the MoM is able to ‘see’ into the future, and writes all future events down in the Book of Prophecies. He then gives copies of the Book of Prophecies to the Foretellers (not Luxu), but leaves out a certain page. He then sows distrust through the five by telling them one of them is a traitor.
The Foretellers all mistrust each other, and through a chain of events this leads to the Keyblade War, where all the ‘Keykids’ kill each other and the World is rift apart. The only ones who survive are the Dandelions, a special group of ‘Keykids’ the MoM told Ava to form, who hide in a Data version of Daybreak Town. The Dandelions have their minds wiped of the Keyblade War by the Chirithies and believe they are in the real Daybreak Town, except for the five Union Leaders, who were chosen by the MoM and given Books of Prophecy by Ava (more on that in a second...). 
In the latest KHUX update, the MoM says that it will take multiple lifetimes to defeat darkness (or Darkness), and this is probably why Luxu (Xigbar) has been hopping from body to body for all these years (centuries?). The MoM gave Luxu the Black Box (without telling him what’s inside) and No Name (to be passed down through the generations of Keyblade Wielders and eventually wind up with Xehanort before going back to Luxu). By having No Name be passed down into the future, the MoM can see through its ‘eye’ and write down future events.
So about the Union Leaders of the Dandelions, the ones the MoM told Ava to pick were Ephemer, Skuld, Brain, Lauriam (Marluxia), and Strelitzia. However, (as we saw with the most recent update) a shadowy being named Darkness killed Strelitzia and gave Ventus her copy of the Book of Prophecies instead. Ventus was in some kind of trance or had his memory wiped, and didn’t remember Strelitzia’s death until now. 
Darkness has also been helping Maleficent, because for some reason after her defeat in KH1 she wound up in the past in Data Daybreak Town, and Darkness wants to help her get back to the future (KH2) with a time machine. (The time machine, called the Ark or the Lifeboat in different translations, is the same machine used by Terra-Xehanort to send five-year-old Kairi to Destiny Islands, although in that case she was transported through space, not time). It seems that Darkness wants some of the ‘Keykids’ (Ventus, Lauriam (Marluxia), Elrena (Larxene), and Skuld (who is probably Subject X)) to be transported to the future, and somehow Maleficent will serve as their Waypoint. (I don’t understand how time-travel in KH works, nor why Darkness wants to send the ‘Keykids’ to the future, but that’s the best explanation I can give).
Anyway, the whole murder mystery about ‘who killed Strelitzia?’ has been the biggest fandom mystery in KH for a long time (I’m talking like, three years). And unfortunately, it’s still not solved because it’s still not clear just who/what Darkness is. Some believe that Darkness is Ava, who is actually the ‘traitor’ trying to stop the MoM’s plan, because she believes his plan will end in the destruction of the World (which it kinda did). This is because Darkness takes the form of Ava to speak to Ventus after killing Strelitzia, and tells him that he’s a Union Leader (when really he’s the ‘imposter’). Ava is known to have the power of illusion, which is why some fans think she may have taken the form of Darkness to disguise herself. (Just a note on all this, I can’t remember exactly what all the fan-theories about Ava are, and I may have gotten something wrong here. But the basic gist is that some fans believe Ava is Darkness).
Then there’s the second theory, which unfortunately in my opinion is the more likely of the two. We know from Re:Mind that a being calling itself Darkness is hiding within Ven’s heart, and in KHUX Brain says that Darkness (or darkness) can hide inside people. Combine this with Vanitas’s speech to Ventus in Re:Mind, about how he and Ven ‘aren’t the same like he thinks’ and how he was just ‘hidden inside Ven until Xehanort tore him out’, it seems to imply that Vanitas is actually Darkness (or a piece of Darkness) who was hidden inside of Ven, and not the dark half of Ven’s heart like we’ve believed for the past decade. Basically, if this theory is true, it completely re-writes Vanitas’s entire character, motivations, and origins, while also retroactively making him a child-murderer, and I’m sure you all already know how I feel about that.
Now, literally nothing outside of Re:Mind implies that Vanitas is Darkness, and in fact the scene in the Keyblade Graveyard with Vanitas, Ventus, and Sora right after the scene in Re:Mind seems to contradict this theory, as well as every piece of material on Vanitas released both before and after Re:Mind including his character file, so this all may be just one big misunderstanding, but that doesn’t dissuade the fact that there is literally an entity calling itself Darkness inside Ven’s heart. I can’t even begin to imagine how it got there, unless 1. It’s Vanitas after returning to Ven’s heart after his defeat in BBS or 2. Darkness somehow got into Ven’s heart while he was sleeping in Castle Oblivion. 
This is all pure fan-theory, but since the Vanitas in KH3 is a time traveling version of Vanitas from the past, it could be that the ‘real’ Vanitas is still living inside Ven’s heart (like how Roxas was still inside Sora’s heart), and if the ‘real’ Vanitas is now calling himself Darkness, then it’s possible that Vanitas was either lying about being half of Ventus this entire time or is only now just remembering his memories of being Darkness. Either way, if Vanitas really does turn out to be Darkness, then I can only imagine his entire personality will be overwritten by Darkness’s and Vanitas will basically cease to exist as a character. As in, he won’t just be dead, he’ll have never truly existed in the first place. 
And that, my friends, is why I’ve been in a constant state of anxiety, stress, and depression for the past year, and the reason I haven’t updated A Heart and a Half, because I’m having trouble reconciling the Vanitas from the BBS Novel (an abused, neglected child manipulated from birth to be a weapon) with what is potentially his true identity as Darkness (an ancient, child-murdering demonic entity). Once again, it’s still just a fan-theory... But a very plausible fan-theory.
Anyway, the third theory is that Darkness isn’t secretly some other character, but instead is exactly what it says it is— a sapient amalgamation of the elemental force of darkness. Darkness tells Maleficent that she should think of it as an ‘old friend’, leading some to believe it’s someone Maleficent knows from the future. However, it could be that Darkness ‘knows’ Maleficent because it itself is the embodiment of elemental darkness, and Maleficent is a darkness-user. In that case, it could be said Darkness is a ‘friend’ to all people who use darkness. 
Unfortunately, before anyone says this line of dialogue proves that Vanitas can’t be Darkness because Vanitas never met Maleficent, Vanitas did meet Maleficent... in the BBS Novel. In the BBS Novel, Maleficent asks Vanitas if he’s a ‘friend’ of Xehanort’s. Vanitas hesitantly says yes (because his abuser isn’t exactly a friend to him), simply because he and Xehanort are allies. He then asks Maleficent if she’s ‘friends’ with Xehanort, and she says yes (in the sense that they are allies). In this roundabout way, it could be construed that if Vanitas is Xehanort’s friend, and Maleficent is Xehanort’s friend, then that makes Vanitas Maleficent’s friend, which still fits in with the theory that Vanitas is Darkness if Darkness is Maleficent’s friend.
Even if we ignore the (technically non-canon) BBS Novel scenes of Xehanort kicking twelve-year-old Vanitas in the face and beating him with his Keyblade until he cried and leaving him isolated in a wasteland for weeks on end, and just go off of the games’ canon, the story of Ventus and Vanitas can still be seen as both literal and metaphorical child abuse, with Ven being the part of the victim who represses the trauma and Vanitas being the part of the victim who lashes out. Of course, if Vanitas does turn out to be Darkness, then he will be retconned from a victim into a scheming child-murderer just as evil as his abuser and the demon/abomination/empty creature that Xehanort always said he was! (Maybe that’s why Vanitas had such a mental breakdown in Re:Mind... he realized every horrible thing Xehanort ever told him about himself was true...). Which is why, as you can imagine, this theory causes me a lot of stress! 
Anyway, that’s the story of KHUX and the reason why I turn into a big ball of anxiety every time a new update occurs. I literally wouldn’t care about KHUX at all if Ven wasn’t in it, but he is, and everything that happens to Ven in the past is something that will effect him and Vanitas in the future, whether Vanitas is confirmed to be Darkness or not. We now know that Ven has had even more trauma forced upon him than he’d had with Xehanort, and I now have a suspicion that the reason Ven refused to create the X-Blade by using the darkness in his heart in the BBS flashback scenes was because he remembered what darkness and/or Darkness did to Strelitzia.
I really can’t imagine why Ven is in KHUX other than to connect him to this Darkness character in some way. Some fans still claim that Ven is the one who killed Strelitzia because they think he was ‘possessed’ by Darkness, but it seems pretty clear that Darkness was the culprit while Ven just stood there in a trance. Even so, I suspect that Ven blames himself for what happened anyway, even though it wasn’t his fault. I don’t know how this will play out with the future/current Ven. Is he suddenly going to remember his past and think he killed Strelitzia? Why? For the angst? Is he going to realize that Vanitas is (or is a part of) Darkness and therefore the murderer of some random girl Ven barely knows? Is Darkness just going to pop out of Ven when he’s in the Realm of Darkness with Aqua and Terra and... I don’t even know. Fight him? Gloat? Enact his evil scheme of destroying the World because you see, Vanitas never really wanted his light back, he never really wanted friends (page 378 of the BBS Novel), he was lying the entire time! Yes, he’s totally this evil monster who just wants to kill people because he’s evil~!
...Alright, I’ll stop. But seriously, I don’t know where this story is headed, guys. This update basically had the MoM tell us to stop trying to figure things out or theorize and that we shouldn’t want to know everything that’s going to happen, so who knows. Next update might throw us a curveball and reveal Darkness was secretly... idk Pete the entire time. He’s Maleficent’s friend! Or maybe it’s just Xehanort again, who knows. I just feel... really tired of KH, and I don’t really know where I’m going to go from here. Hopefully this is the last time I rant about this subject, though, because I really feel like I’ve already said all there is to say.
I want to finish A Heart and a Half, but I also feel hampered by everything that might happen with Vanitas. I also feel like managing my Tumblr blogs is causing me too much stress and distracting me from doing other things (including writing my fanfics), so I’ve been thinking of putting them both on a more ‘permanent’ hiatus after their queues run out sometime later this month. I dunno how everyone would feel about that, though, nor how long that hiatus would be. I’d certainly miss talking to everyone, and you guys make me smile whenever I get a comment or a question from you all! But I also feel like I need to focus on my health (both physical and mental) and work on things that don’t involve social media. I guess I just need a little more time to think about it.
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nyctoheart · 4 years
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Thoughts on xigbar's character file?
So I didn’t realize KHinsider had a translation too, so I’m basing this post off of that version.
Xigbar seems to be implying a few things from his file, IMO (( though I’m not willing die on any of these hills, I could totally be persuaded to think otherwise, this is just initial thoughts ))
The Box is carrying information FOR another person, and the information is too sensitive be learned by anyone else except the person it’s made for. I’m taking this from the goat-letter analogy.
The black goat seems to be the MoM. But I can’t tell if Luxu, in this case, is the white goat, OR, if he’s the “delivery man”. If Luxu’s only the delivery man, then we know that there’s another person who obtains the box, and opens it to see it’s contents-- the white goat searching for the letter so he doesn’t immediately eat it like before.
The Box may have magical properties. It may change shape, its appearance may depend on whoever’s looking at it (like, maybe it’s black if you have darkness in your heart, but if you have a pure heart it’s white, i dont fucking know), maybe it turns invisible. MAYBE the box is completely data, like Data Olette’s money bag that Sora got in KH2 (which proves data can exist in the real world). And parsing the data is “reading the letter”.
I also realized that Luxu may be “the delivery man” because I’m pretty sure Luxu goes back to RETRIEVE the box before hiding it again. Here’s a timeline of Luxu throughout KH, and when he does or does NOT have the box:
X [chi]    1.  MoM gives Luxu his role ( given box )    2.  MoM gives Ava her role    3.  MoM tells Luxu about the battle of his youth ( no box )    4.  Ava fights Luxu ( part 2 ) ( no box )    5.  Luxu observes the Keyblade War ( has box )
UNION CROSS ( box is unknown at the moment )    6.  Luxu tells Time Travel Maleficent about the box
BBS THROUGH KH3 ( no box )    7.  Maleficent continues searching for box Coded, DDD, KH3    8.  KH3 main story ( looking for box )    9.  KH3 epilogue ( has box )
So, my initial thought on why Luxu has the box again while observing the Keyblade Graveyard, is that Luxu may have needed to protect the box so that when the Wold ends after the War, the box is still safe. HOWEVER, now that we have the goat/letter analogy, it could be that when we see the MoM give Luxu the box in Case of Luxu, the contents within the box is completely different from LATER when Luxu has the box with in when observing the Keyblade Graveyard after the war. This is because, Luxu would be delivering “letters”, aka, secret contents.
i DONT know how reliable this is. There is not ANY in game evidence for this at ALL as of Vanilla KH3. This is all from this character file, and I don’t even know how reliable it is. But, you ask for my thoughts, so here we are.
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chroniccombustion · 4 years
Text
River Stones, Volcanic Glass
Genre: implied romance, friendship, angst Rated: K+ Characters: Demyx, Axel, Organization XIII Warnings: implied Nobody death Status: oneshot, complete
(Written for the Missed Connections: KH Rarepair Zine)
Axel is assigned to be your trainer, for lack of a better term. He takes you on missions with him, has you follow him around as he instructs you how to summon your weapon on command, how to control the lesser Nobodies, and all the while he watches you with an appraising eye. You know that he’s assessing you, know that he’s both teaching you how to fight and also reporting back to Saix about your progress. You have no doubt you'll be disposed of should you turn out to be a waste of time, so you listen closely to what Axel tells you and make sure he has something favorable to say about you at the end of the day.
You join Organization XIII with surprisingly little fanfare. With as dramatic as the apparent leader seems to be, you were honestly expecting an uncomfortably invasive amount of attention directed at you. Thankfully this isn’t the case.
Instead it’s almost the opposite. There's a small measure of interest paid upon your initial introduction, but from what you can gather at a glance the entire group – eight, now nine with the inclusion of yourself – seems too focused on their own daily routines to give you much more than a few moments of interaction. You file away what information you can and stay quiet, still unsure how to act around your new coworkers. Better to play it safe, to pretend you’re still disoriented from your sudden transformation from human to Nobody, and form your outward personality accordingly once you know more.
A few of the other members seem friendly enough; the ones called Lexaeus and Zexion are quiet and a little stony, but cordial when they do speak, so you suppose it’s just in their nature to observe rather than interact. You like that, you think.
Then there’s Xigbar, who is handsier than you’d expected and it tinges on unpleasant. You think maybe, had you been given the chance to acclimate a bit more, the over-familiarity might not be so bad. As it stands, you can’t help but tense whenever Number II slaps you on the back in greeting.
The rest of the Organization doesn't interact with you much. Xaldin is… interesting. He has a hidden flair for the melodramatic but, again, he’s relatively personable when he isn’t busy. Vexen is about as arrogant as you’d have expected and you'd been hoping maybe there’d be more to pick apart, but no; he really is as boring as he seems. Xemnas is like a ghost that doesn’t entirely recognize his surroundings, or that there are even other people around him at all. Honestly though, that’s fine, because if he barely pays anyone any attention then it just makes you easier to overlook. You’re perfectly happy staying under the leader’s radar until you know more about what your situation.
It’s Saix, though, that you learn you need to watch out for. He's cold, monotone, and constantly glaring indifferently at whomever is in his vicinity. If there was anyone in the Organization capable of tearing out someone’s throat with their teeth, you’d bet munny it’d be him.
 (You decide to stay out of Saix’s line of sight as much as possible, and respond in nods and single-word answers when he speaks to you directly.)
The last member of the Organization, the one that claims the number directly before yours, you don’t even properly meet until about two weeks after you arrive. They come striding into the common room in a whirl of shadows and ash, darkness trailing off their shoulders like the smoke you can smell all over them, combined with the frigid scent of the Dark Corridors. You’ve taken to watching everyone’s movements when they walk, when they gesture; it’s how you’ve managed to identify them all with their hoods up. You memorized each and every body shape within days of arriving, so when an unfamiliar figure in a too-familiar coat appears in the corner of the room, you tick your eyes over to watch in wary interest.
You observe them silently, taking in as many details as you can before you have to play dumb; a tall build with thin limbs and a skinny torso means they’re probably not a purely physical fighter. Their coat is different, too, with tapered sleeves instead of the usual bell shape – they likely use a weapon that could get caught on loose fabric, or maybe a power that requires more dexterous use of their hands. The bonfire scent hanging around them means they’ve either just come from someplace that’s been burning, or they themself are cloaked in cinders. Fire magic? you wonder briefly, and given that you’ve seen just about every other type of element in this place, it wouldn’t be much of a reach.
The figure stretches their lanky arms over their head, rolling their broad shoulders until you can hear a deep ‘pop’. You stay quiet on the couch and keep your head down as if you’re busy tuning the sitar lying across your lap.
“Ahhh,” the stranger drawls, and the voice is masculine, a nasally tenor, and you’re momentarily caught off guard by how young they sound. Even Zexion, youngest of the group so far, has a way of speaking that makes him seem older. The rest are all older than you are, from what you can tell, but the voice currently huffing out a low sound of amusement seems… almost exactly your age. Then again, none of you are human anymore, you’ve been told, so you’re still trying to figure out how age works in this liminal, lifeless city.
The figure steps closer, rounding the couch opposite you and planting a hand on a cocked hip. He seems to study you for a moment, head tilting, and you look up with your expression perfectly blank. You don’t know him yet – best not to give him anything to work with.
“I heard we were getting a new guy,” he says, and there is clearly a smile in his tone. You don’t know if you like the sound of it, unable to see what sort of smile it really is.
He reaches up with long fingers and finally pulls back the hood still covering his face. You’re greeted by a set of acid-green eyes, framed by hair the color of fire and fresh blood, with inverted teardrops, purple like old bruises, sitting just below his eerily vibrant gaze. He smiles at you, and it’s far too sharp for a smile that isn’t showing any teeth.
“I’m Axel,” he says, with tiny pinpoints of yellow and orange crackling at the edges of his lips like dying sparks. “A-X-E-L. Got it memorized?”
You don’t have a title yet, but you slowly tell him your name is apparently Demyx now, and Axel’s smile widens into a wolfish grin.
---      
Axel is assigned to be your trainer, for lack of a better term. He takes you on missions with him, has you follow him around as he instructs you how to summon your weapon on command, how to control the lesser Nobodies, and all the while he watches you with an appraising eye. You know that he’s assessing you, know that he’s both teaching you how to fight and also reporting back to Saix about your progress. You have no doubt you'll be disposed of should you turn out to be a waste of time, so you listen closely to what Axel tells you and make sure he has something favorable to say about you at the end of the day.
You also make it a point to watch him as much as he watches you, though you keep your observations to yourself unless they’re mission-related, and keep up the act that you’re more naive than you really are. You watch the way he fights, how he moves, his facial expressions as he talks; at first glance he seems friendly, but you don’t yet trust anyone, let alone someone obviously tasked with making sure you’re worth keeping around. You can’t be sure how deep in Saix’s pocket he is, either, and that’s the part that worries you most.
As you observe him you start to notice just how like a chameleon your new field partner really is. In the Castle, Axel is easy-going, languid, all snarky comments and lazy grins. His body language is relaxed and his dialogue bordering on flippant and you wonder just how he manages to get away with it around someone as severe as Saix.
On your missions together, Axel is brighter, more vibrant in his movements and speech. He’s beautiful in battle, as fierce as his fire is hot, and you don't miss the gleam in his venomous eyes as he burns his enemies to dust. The first few times you go up against a handful of Heartless, Axel annihilates most of them with a flourish, leaving the rest for you to practice on. “Show me what you’ve got,” he says.
So you do. You barely have to strum your sitar’s strings for the water that flows through your music to slam into their wriggling, yellow-eyed bodies and rip them apart. You could do more, but you don’t; you keep your real strength hidden. You even pretend not to notice one of the larger Heartless behind you, letting it get almost too close just to make it seem like you’re not as aware as you are. You feign surprise when it swipes at you from the side, flinch appropriately when a flaming chakram comes flying past and slices the Heartless in half. Axel gives you an odd look afterwards and you wonder if you’ve made the wrong move after all.
(During the next few missions he lets you fight them all on your own, never once stepping in to help, and while you don’t pull the same stunt a second time, you do let the battle drag on for longer than you really need to, just to keep up the illusion. You look to Axel for approval once the Heartless are dead; he gives you a quirked brow and a slow, strange grin in return.)
It’s not until about a month into your missions with Axel that you get to see an entirely different version of him altogether – and for all of your careful observations, you’re entirely unprepared.
The mission is a simple one this time. Some of the more intelligent Heartless had been stockpiling items in the train tunnels beneath the world called Twilight Town and you'd both been charged with flushing them out and collecting whatever useful things they'd left behind. You actually find a decent amount of stuff you can take back to the Castle, too, though it doesn't escape your notice that Axel seems more interested in you than the mountain of potions tucked away in a shadowy corner. He lets you stuff everything into a backpack, just watching, until you finish and turn silently to face him.
He smirks. “Come on,” he says, gesturing with his chin back towards the way you'd entered. “I wanna show you something.”
Wary, you follow him up out of the dank tunnels where all the world's rainwater seems to collect, and down the winding streets to the center of town. He approaches the vender in a small shop while you hang back; minutes later, he's reappearing with two blue bars in his gloved hands.
“One more stop,” he says.
You're left with little choice but to keep following.
He takes you up to the top of the massive clock tower that shadows the streets below. From way up near the horizon, almost touching the sky itself, you look down at the ground and see nothing but rooftops shrouded by haze. But it's when you look out and above, over the rooftops and the stretching edge of the world, that you see it. You lose your breath at the sight of the sunset, glowing every shade of warmth and summer that you can name, with vibrant splashes of gold and scarlet painted across the clouds.
“It's beautiful, isn't it?”
You look over. Axel has taken a seat beside you on the rim of the tower, one foot propped up on the ledge with his elbow resting on a bent knee. You frown. It seems entirely unsafe.
He grins up at you and gestures for you to join him. Tentatively, acutely aware that he could easily shove you off and to your probable doom if he chooses, you lower yourself to the ground and sit beside him. He doesn't push you off. Instead, he reaches over and holds out one of the blue bars from earlier.
Taking it, you stare at him in confusion.
“It's ice cream,” he says with an amused chuckle.
You narrow your eyes. “I know what it is.”
His head tilts, catlike, and those green eyes that see far too much stare directly into you. You stare back just as intently, trying to read him the same way he seems to be reading you. He smiles, which unnerves you a little bit because it's a much different kind of smile than you're used to and for a moment you wonder if maybe you've already screwed up, if maybe you've somehow played right into a trap. Because that smile is not one of his usual smirks, nor is it any kind of friendly; it's knowing.  
“Do you now?” he drawls.
You feel the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.
Axel chuckles again, leaning back on his hand and finally looking away out across the horizon. “You know a lot, I think. More than you let on.” He takes a huge bite out of his own ice cream and glances back over at you, chewing through his renewed smirk.
You stay silent, stunned.
He turns away once more. “It's alright,” he says with a shrug, the motion, awkward due to the way he's leaning on his one free hand. “Your secret's safe with me.”
You don't trust that. Eyes narrowing further, you drop enough of your act to square your shoulders out of the usual slouch and peer at him with open suspicion on your face. “What do you want?” you ask flatly.
Axel just gives another shrug. “You know, normally I would probably try and blackmail you, but now? Eh. Not really interested.” Another sidelong smirk in your direction. “Why? You got something you wanna offer?”
You scowl at him and he laughs out loud. “No, but in all seriousness, I don't want anything.”
You find that hard to believe; you tell him so.
“Fair,” he replies. “I honestly wouldn't trust me either.”
“Then what are you doing?”
This seems to stall him. He looks out over the town below your dangling feet and nibbles at his ice cream in apparent thought. A full minute passes in silence before he speaks again. “You're like me.”
He pops the rest of his ice cream into his mouth and scrutinizes the wooden stick. Sighing through his nose, he tosses the stick off somewhere behind him before flopping backwards and staring straight up at the sky with his hands folded behind his back. You wait, and your quietude is rewarded when he heaves another sigh.
“How so?” you dare to press.
Axel hums. “You and me? We're both really good at pretending.” Green eyes close. “I'm the Organization's assassin,” he admits quietly. “Everybody has a role to play here, if you don't fulfill it then they cut you out. That's just the way it is. My role is to kill stuff, get things done...” He cracks one eye open and peers at you with a quirked brow. “...Training the newbies, apparently. My point is, all they need me to be is my assigned role. That's it. I get too smart or too good then they can just pile on the workload until I'm too much of a liability to keep around. Gotta find that balance there, walk the line between juuuuust useful enough and nothing more. So I pretend.”
He turns his head to look at you fully, gaze too green and too sharp. You don't know how to react.
It's unnerving, how succinct he is; you never would have expected this from him with the kind of facade he usually wears. But then again you suppose that's the point. Axel has you pegged because he, too, likes to observe, likes to play at being something to underestimate. You can't believe you went and fell for the same trick you've been trying to pull the entire time you've been here.
As if sensing your disturbance, Axel hefts himself back up into a sitting position and nods at the ice cream still untouched in your left hand. “You should hurry up and eat that.”
You blink down at it, having pretty much forgotten its existence, and make a face. “I don't really want it.”
He shrugs yet again – apparently a favorite gesture of his – and holds out his hand. You pass it to him without hesitation.
“Suit yourself,” he says, and proceeds to run his tongue over it to keep it from dripping all over his fingers.
You turn away and find yourself watching the sinking of the sun, red like the heart you’ve lost. As you process Axel's words you realize that, while you should be tensing with fight or flight instincts right about now, you're strangely not. You're wary, yes, and certainly caught off guard, but there's something about the way Axel had said what he did about playing pretend that... sticks in your head. Would it be so bad, you wonder, if there was another member you could relax around? If only just a little. Admittedly, the last few months have left you with a proverbial crick in your neck from constantly being on edge, holding yourself in check so that no one figures you out before you can do the same to them. It's exhausting.
“Alright,” you tell him, still looking ahead. “I'll bite, what are you proposing here?”
Axel full-on grins. “Knew you were smart,” he breathes. “I like you. Well,” he huffs, the sound more sardonic than actually amused; “as much as a Nobody can like anything.” He waves a hand. “Point is, I think you and I are gonna get along, yeah? And I don't particularly feel like being the one getting stuck executing you if you turn out to be something they can't exploit, so! We're gonna find you a role to fill.” He grins wider, and it's nearly feral in its intensity.
“Oh?” you say, because that's all you really can.
Axel nods. “You're observant. You're clever, too, and yeah, you can fight but why waste you on battle missions when they've already got a ton of us to do that anyway?”
“...Like you?”
He scoffs, a bitter, hollow kind of laugh. “Yeah,” he agrees. “Like me. Don't need another one of me around, I can tell you that. Anywaaaaay...”
White teeth flash as he bites off the last of the ice cream bar – once more taking a moment to inspect the stick – and you let yourself pick the action apart. It's casual, almost deliberately so; like he's still playing, still pretending. You realize that he must not trust you either, despite having said everything he has. He could blackmail you probably, but what would be the point of that if it meant throwing himself under the bus as well? And that, that is what makes everything click in your brain about what Axel is up to.
He's tossing himself onto the tracks alongside you – willing to risk personal injury because you know he can hurt you back if you try anything funny. Oh, you think. Well played.  
For the first time since your arrival you feel your face twist into a wide, amused smile. “You need a recon agent?” you ask, allowing your voice to come out unhindered, no longer stifled and purposefully monotoned. “I look, you shoot?”
Axel laughs. “Oh hell yeah.” He reaches out a leather-clad hand towards you, grin stretching impossibly wider, growing more real as you clasp his hand in your own and shake. “Stick close to me,” he says, “and I'll make sure you stay alive, okay, Demyx?”
Something about the sound of your new name on his tongue makes you shiver. All you can do is nod.
---      
He keeps his promise.
Time crawls slowly in the World That Never Was; days and months and years becoming completely indistinguishable from each other in a place without seasons. You think maybe it's been a while, but you can't be sure; you can only mark the passage of, well, anything by the way the sky looks on other worlds.
Twilight Town, though, is liminal in another way. Instead of constant, stagnant darkness, there's an eternal dusk – that sort of heavy amber glow that hangs like a veil over the whole city but is still better than the moonlit void outside the windows of the Castle. It's another place where time seems to stand still, but instead of stifling... Well. You're not sure you can name what it makes you feel.
 Because you do feel, no matter what Xemnas has decided or what Axel seems to believe of himself.
And what you feel in the shadowy, goldenrod light up on the highest rooftops and the longest alleyways of that town, when you sit together after a mission or hide from your duties in the shade of the clocktower for just a little longer, is something good. Time suspended in the Castle is suffocating; time suspended in Twilight Town, with Axel's red hair like fire in the sunset, is something closer to hope, to quietude. It feels like the kind of day that can last forever, a little bubble of something just for the two of you that you never have to give up, never have to leave. Even if you know you only have so long before you have to blink away the dream and report in.
But it isn't the town that makes you feel this, you slowly come to realize over weeks and months of countless extra hours stolen away after missions while you're still pretending to be inept. It's not the sunsets or the quiet moments, it's Axel. Axel, who treats you like a person despite being convinced that none of you are anymore. Axel, who doesn't see you as lazy or stupid, doesn't mock you but teases you with a smirk that sparks a flutter in your supposedly empty chest.
And you think he might possibly think the same, because there are moments when you can't tell if your mind is playing tricks on you or if you really do see him watching you out of the corner of your eye. It's not the same as his original calculating stares; it's softer, almost fond, and maybe it's because he's comfortable enough around you to be like this, but you'd like to believe it's also something more. You can't help but hope – so hope, you do.
Despite the hope, however, you cannot shake the underlying current of anxiety and sorrow. For all the horrible things Axel's done throughout his time in the Castle, (which he slowly confesses as trust between you builds) there is good beneath it. It's obvious that he thinks there isn't, but you fervently disagree. He's seen through your act and knows just how capable you really are; he helps you hide it so that you don't get exploited like he's been.
You don't like what they've made him into. An assassin, a killer, something you with your uncanny observance can see wears him down like river water over stones. It eats at him, chips away at that harlequin smile until the edges are crumbling and you hate, hate, hate the emptiness behind those glass-green eyes every time he comes back from a mission you're not allowed to join him on. And the worst part is that you can tell that he believes it all. Axel believes that he's a monster, that he's inhuman, that the only way to ever be real again is to do what they tell him to, no matter how much it destroys him. You wonder what kind of person he was before this, mourn them as dead inside the Organization's No. VIII, smothered and murdered by Xemnas' hands.
You try to tell him that it isn't true, that he's still redeemable without the Organization, that you both could leave and start over, be anyone you wanted to be, even your old selves.
He just smiles at you with a deep, deep sorrow he claims he cannot feel, and reminds you that he's been sent to annihilate others that had similar thoughts of running.  “You're not the first No. IX,” he admits, choking on the words like they're poison. “And I doubt I'm valuable enough to bring back alive.”
You hold your tongue after that – almost as tightly as you hold his shaking hand.
 ---
One by one by one, your comrades are destroyed. They're beaten, scattered, silenced, until you have no idea where anyone is or who is even left alive to return once their missions end. It's only a matter of time before Xemnas runs out of fighters; only a matter of time before you're deployed as a last resort.
You miss Axel. You miss the whispered conversations, the feel of his gloveless fingers laced with yours. You miss the time spent talking in your room after you'd both come back from separate worlds, now no longer paired together like you once were in days long passed. You miss him, but Axel is gone.
Saix calls him a traitor, though you know that Axel wouldn't run the way they said he has; you know because you've been trying to get him to run away with you for years. No, Axel hasn't run. Instead, he's gone to find the one that did.     It's Roxas that's fled, that's turned against the Organization and disappeared. Axel left to bring him back, desperate to keep the boy alive, to never again have to cover his hands in the proverbial blood of a teammate.
(Axel told you what he'd done in Castle Oblivion, and though he'd claimed it had been easy for him you can see the hairline cracks below the surface as he speaks. More scars on his volcanic-glass heart.)
You cling to the hope – it's all you have now – that Axel is still alive somehow, that Roxas' Somebody hasn't found him and torn him apart. You wish he'd taken you with him, wish you could find him, wish that there were more members left for Xemnas to focus on so that you could get away to actually search.  
But you can't. And by the time you're finally sent out to play the good soldier, you've nearly succumbed to the reality of never seeing your friend again in this lifetime.
I'll find you again, you tell him in your heart, praying he can hear you though you know he likely can't.
You kept your promise, now I'll keep mine. I'll find you.  
 It’s that thought that keeps you going as Sora stares you down.
 ---
You wake up face down in a back alley of Twilight Town, chest aching. You don’t know how you got there or how long it’s been since you died, but you’re not really too invested in finding out. What matters is the weight you can feel behind your ribs, the stuttering, physical beat of a brand new heart where only a phantom one used to be - still capable of emotion but intangible and therefore the perfect collateral to be used against you. But not anymore.
It’s with a feral grin and a hand to your sternum that you stumble your way out into the amber-lit city that holds your best memories, not as Demyx, but as you. The Organization took your life from you for a decade, you name, your identity. Never again.
On instinct you turn over your shoulder to grin at Axel…
only to startle when he isn’t there.
Suddenly your resurrection isn’t quite so joyous. You’re used to the feeling of hollowness, of the dullness inside your chest as your heart grew back in, but this is somehow deeper, stronger. You don’t like it; it hurts in a way you didn’t think possible. It takes you an embarrassingly long time to pinpoint the sensation as grief.                    
Fear comes next, along with desperation as you scour the streets, the tunnels, the woods, everywhere, and still cannot find him. It's not long before panic sets in as well, because once it's obvious that Axel isn't anywhere in Twilight Town you realize that you have absolutely no idea where else to even begin looking. You also realize you don't know which is a worse thought: that he's possibly been destroyed and not reconstructed, or that he isn't destroyed and is still under the Organization's thumb. What do you do then?
You don’t know - and that’s the truly scary part.
You allow yourself a minor breakdown on top of the clocktower, arms wrapped around your knees like you’ve seen him sit a thousand times before. Tears stream hot and salty down your face, the first in a very long time, and as you stare out at the gold-and-red horizon you let out everything that’s been building up inside you for a decade, for a day. You’re exhausted by the time you’re done, but beyond the headache and the stuffy nose you feel a determined sense of calm.
For the past ten years you’ve survived under the guise of incompetence, of naivety - at this point it would be like second nature to you. No one would notice. If anything is left of Organization XIII, who’s to say you couldn’t infiltrate them? Use their resources? Find a way to hack back into one of their computers, track someone down?
You were a Nobody for a long time. What’s a little longer in the black leather coat?
Besides, you think as you stand on surprisingly steady legs; what good is having your heart back if the one you gave it to forever ago isn’t there to give you his?
Wait for me, Axel, you tell him, reaching out with the steady rhythm in your chest as you summon a Dark Corridor and step into it, bound for what remains of the World That Never Was.
I’ll be there soon. I promise.  
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swankymcgilligan · 5 years
Text
Namine and the Nameless Star
I’ve been thinking about the Nameless Star a bit. Most people seem to think she’s Strelitzia, but I really don’t think so. The stuff she says doesn’t really match up imo. For example, she says that the reason her heart was taken away was because it “pines for another”.
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Which doesn’t really match up with what happened to Strelitzia. Sure, you could say that she was “pining” for |Player|, but that wasn’t really what lead to her demise. She was killed because Brain wanted to take her position as Union Leader, |Player| didn’t really have anything to do with it. 
I think the Nameless Star is connected to Namine. I don’t think it was just a coincidence that the Nameless Star and Namine were both in the Final World together. There was the reason they were the only two stars with spoken dialog. When I listen to the way the NS talks, it really reminds me of Namine. They’re both soft spoken and gentle-toned, the way the NS giggled even reminds me of Namine’s giggle. And then even a lot of the phrases they use or that are spoken to them are similar: 
1.
Sora and NS in KH3:
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Sora and Namine in CoM:
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2.
NS about her unnamed friend in KH3:
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Namine about Sora in KH2:
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3.
NS to Sora in KH3:
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Namine to Sora in KH3:
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Namine’s origins have always been a bit of a mystery. Even Ansem the Wise was baffled by her existence. Kairi, being a PoH, shouldn’t have really been able to produce a Nobody.  We’ve also never really found out why Namine has blonde hair. We know Roxas got his gold-blonde hair from Ven, but what about her? Where did her platinum-blonde hair come from? There’s also this mysterious file of Vexen’s that Axel found in Days, whose contents still haven’t been revealed:
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So I think we’ve had more than enough hints that, rather like how Roxas is part Sora, part Ven, Namine is also not 100% Kairi. Which leads me to suspect that the Nameless Star is in fact the person that Namine got her blonde hair from. So we can rule out Strelitzia and Skuld. And, although we don’t know her hair color, I think we can also rule out Invi, since she appeared in the epilogue. That leaves us with only two possibilities as to her identity:
1. Ava
2. A completely new character
Evidence for NS being Ava:
As others have pointed out, there’s a few similarities between Ava and Namine. They both have a habit of clasping their hands, they both have the power to change their appearance (Namine taking the form of Kairi in CoM, Ava taking the form of another foreteller in KHX), and they both seem to have memory manipulation powers, as I believe Ava was the one who erased the Dandelions’ memories. There’s also the matter of Namine’s almost total exclusion from KH3. She didn’t appear in any of the trailers. She didn’t appear in the opening sequence. She only had a single, optional cutscene where she actually speaks. She doesn’t even appear properly until the end of the game. 
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It made me wonder, is this bit of dialog between Xigbar/Luxu and Gula a hint that Ava is the reason that Namine was excluded from KH3?
One final idea I had; NS claims that her name and “everything about her” was taken away. If we assume that Ava is also Subject X, then that would certainly explain why Saix and Axel were never able to find a single trace of her, even after 10+ years. 
Evidence for NS NOT being Ava/ being a new character:
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NS says they took away her name, yet Xigbar/Luxu was able to say Ava’s name at the end. Although to be fair, we don’t really know how this whole “name taking” works, so if Xigbar took away Ava’s name, it might stand to reason that he’d be the only one who could still say it. I couldn’t help but notice that none of the foretellers actually try to say her name out loud... Gula simply refers to Ava as “her”. 
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bluerosesburnblue · 5 years
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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!
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nadziejastar · 4 years
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– Considering the conversation between Sora and Ventus in the ending of the Last Episode, is this saying that the “just-born heart” that Ventus connects with in the opening is Sora’s?
Nomura: Yes. At first we supposed that it could be Sora before he was born, but because of opinions from overseas that “the heart doesn’t exist until after birth”, we discarded that portrayal.
Interesting post. I actually do remember when they were referred to as Unbirths in the promotional material. I think the theory from that post is a lot more interesting than the canon explanation where they just come from the negativity in Vanitas after he was split from Ventus. I always thought that was kinda lame, honestly. I didn’t even know that the Magic Mirror was supposed to be an Unversed originally.
BBS and the Dark Seeker Saga is all about the cycle of life, death, and rebirth. So it makes total sense that unversed involved the concept of death/anti-life. Ventus was originally supposed to connect to Sora’s heart before he was born, which probably was supposed to be important. It makes sense for Vanitas and the Unversed/Unbirths to be connected to that. I wish they had kept that idea in. I honestly don’t know why it’s so hard to believe that the heart could exist before birth.
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There’s also the unexplored concept of the Void. When Nomura said there’s more to the Unversed than we know, perhaps that was what he meant. Vanitas’s Keylade is called “Void Gear” and the song that plays during his Lingering Will boss fight is called “Enter the Void”. And the way Xemnas says “those who have returned to the void” in the manga does make it sound like the void is where hearts originate from, maybe before birth. And that was probably what Master Xehanort was referring to when he got into that argument with Eraqus.
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It was darkness. Just darkness. Well, no, not even darkness.
If Aqua sank into the Realm of Darkness, then where had I been? Did I even exist? I’m sure I… Yeah, I know I existed. But I have no idea where I was. I was imprisoned behind Xehanort, but my consciousness—my heart—was sealed away. So, where was my heart? It wasn’t in the darkness, so maybe it was just in a world of “nothingness”. A world without Darkness or Light. You can’t have light without darkness and you can’t have darkness without light. It was somewhere like that.
I wasn’t asleep like Ven was. It wasn’t the Realm of Sleep—I wasn’t dreaming, I was just in a world of nothingness. And that void became pain and sorrow and anger that rushed over me. All I could do is writhe in its grasp. Maybe that place was like the world where Unversed came from. A void that only takes in grief and suffering. A world where hope and joy could never exist.
The void was like the darkness, but also not. Nothing could spring forth from there. And all I could do in that world is wait. I can no longer remember what I thought, what I did, in that world; I just waited. No, that’s not quite right. I believed. In our promise.
Like Vanitas, Terra has a Lingering Will, too. In Terra’s character file story he talks about how he was in the void and how that was like the world where the Unversed came from. It was not a world of darkness, just a world of nothingness.
“You know, right, because you all have hearts!” Sora said, testing Xigbar. “Axel and Roxas and Naminé, and that other girl. I felt what Roxas felt and…they laughed together, got mad, and they grieved.” The ache in his heart belonged to everyone. “You have to have a heart to cry.”
Xigbar snorted derisively. “It’s about time you noticed.”
All the organization members had hearts. Xigbar took that fact for granted, like it was just obvious.
“Oh, the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.
“Don’t let us down now, kiddo. Shouldn’t be too much trouble without a heart,” Xigbar told Saïx.
The exception to that was always Saïx. Xigbar knew some secret about him. If Isa’s heart was in the void like Terra’s, that might explain it. Saïx could only feel negative emotions like rage, but he didn’t have a heart. If it’s in the void, the world of nothingness. 
When he was recompleted in KH3D, it seemed like MX was controlling him like a puppet, unlike with Xigbar. And then in KH3, it didn’t seem like he had any self-awareness while he was in his berserk state fighting Lea. The only other one who had that blank look was Terra. So, I think those two were probably the only ones who became vessels without any choice or free will. Their hearts weren’t merged with Xehanort’s, it was sent to the void. And unlike with the others, the power of waking would need to be used on them.
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Then there’s the Lich. The word “lich” is from Old English meaning “corpse”. It carried the hearts of Sora’s friends through the Sleeping Worlds and its purpose was to usher hearts down to the deepest abyss. Is the abyss the same thing as the void? Is the Lich taking people’s hearts into the void, making it so that they have “died”, giving them an “un-birth” so to speak? Then they can possess the “corpse” that is left behind? The “X” put into the organization’s names means “death” and Nobodies are empty shells, or corpses.
We Keyblade Masters have a special gift. We can extract a heart, be it our own or that of another. By continuing this cycle, it is possible to remain in the world of the living forever.
Master Xehanort adopted a very Lich-like technique.
It seems this body, this name will be my last. The lives I have lived over the ages could fill volumes, but for now, I must focus on what matters most.The Keyblade has been successfully passed down, generation to generation, and it seems a Keyblade Master devoted to the darkness may finally arise. Until now, I have watched over the course of events from a distance. Perhaps the time has come to intervene.
There’s also Luxu and the Master of Masters. We know Luxu has been body hopping, effectively remaining immortal since the time of the Keyblade War. This is very Lich-like behavior, too. I doubt the Master or Master or even Luxu are human.
Saïx: Pitiful Heartless, mindlessly collecting hearts. And yet they know not the true power of what they hold. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free…until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist.
I still think Saïx was speaking as some kind of non-human entity here, even if he wasn’t aware of it. Whatever entity was possessing him wanted to “truly, finally exist”. Is that what Luxu and/or the MoM were really after?
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nanakibh · 4 years
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Sora & Demyx: The Fools of KH
There’s a thing I noticed... I haven’t personally seen anyone else talk about it, so. I shall~
In the KH character files, Sora, Xigbar, and Demyx are referred to as “fools”. It’s like a new keyword they want us to pay attention to. Vexen’s character file established what it means for a character to be a “fool”, using Sora as his example.
(Credit to Cherrim for the translations.)
Sometimes, the Keyblade Hero takes seemingly foolish actions. But is that foolishness truly at odds with wisdom? I did not think it likely. In terms of sheer results, those foolish actions may in fact have led to the most ideal outcome. If that is the case, then I have started to think that perhaps being wise is a deceitful concept, and it is the fools who are truly the wise among us.
In other words, intelligence is not the same as wisdom, and ignorance is not the same as stupidity.
Because of what he learned by observing Sora, Vexen had a gigabrain moment and realized the true value of Demyx.
I arrived at my conclusion, that the most foolish person of all is actually the wisest, thanks to the Keyblade Hero.
“Yes! Demyx time!” the fool exclaimed. There is no one more important than him. This is perfectly suited for him, after all. Yes, that is the marker of a wise person. Be honest about yourself and don’t lose sight of who you are.
Ultimately, Vexen decided to become a fool as well, finally trusting his heart to decide what was right instead of making decisions based on strict logic. That change in his character was why Xehanort wasn’t able to predict his betrayal.
Xigbar knew about Sora’s tendency to follow his heart. As long as Sora acted predictably, he expected Sora’s heart to guide him toward the outcome that he and the MoM desired. Similarly, it seems like Vexen noticed that similarity between Demyx and Sora, so he decided to rely on Demyx’s own tendency to, uh, do whatever he likes. lol
Xigbar’s own character file is called “The Fool”. Unlike Sora and Demyx, however, he’s simply using the facade of ignorance to hide the truth about himself.
And so, I’ve always watched over you guys—or rather, watched over the Keyblade. I just played the part of a fool who wanted the power of the Keyblade for myself.
In Olympus, Xigbar criticizes the way Sora lets his heart lead him to do reckless things. Like he narrates in his character file, “I’ve seen more than enough of you go down the path of self-sacrifice and it never ends well.” From Xigbar’s perspective, people like Sora who recklessly follow their hearts seem naive. Naivety is something that can be taken advantage of. So, of course he wants Sora to stay that way so they can use him, even if it’s painful for him to watch. ("Still, Sora, that doesn’t mean you should change.") Xigbar’s character file recapped the whole Olympus scene between him and Sora, so I gotta assume that his observations there were important.
Demyx’s character file connects with Vexen’s. Besides Vexen, it seems like there was another person who was expecting Demyx to follow his heart.
I never thought Vexen would ask me for help and I mean, I can’t say I’m a fan of, you know, doing things, but I figured it’s better than sitting around on the bench like that. So, just carrying stuff around? I can do that! It’s Demyx time! But yeah, it’s just like he was always saying—y’know, the “may your heart be your guiding key” guy? Hey, but wait, what’s it supposed to be guiding me to again?
Here, it sounds like he agreed to help Vexen because he was simply following his heart - just like “that guy” would say. First of all, I’m impressed that Demyx can be that self-aware. But second of all... It sounds like the MoM may have been relying on Demyx to be himself the same way Xigbar relied on Sora to be himself. In their own ways, Sora and Demyx are predictable. Predictability is good if you expect someone to follow a plan.
What part did Demyx play in the MoM’s plan? Who knows. But there is one thing I definitely got out of these character files:
For Some Reason, they want us to know that Sora and Demyx are similar in a seemingly important way.
Parallels are made for comparing and contrasting. Despite the similarity they share, I think the thing that separates them is the fact that Sora is self-sacrificing and Demyx isn’t. He only agrees to help Vexen once he’s assured that he won’t have to fight. In his character file, he talks about how his safety and happiness are his priorities.
In other words, they differ in the area where Xigbar finds contention with Sora. Xigbar’s ideals seem to align more with Demyx’s cautious, self-centered way of following his heart. I don’t think this is a coincidence, seeing as how Demyx notes in his character file that Xigbar was the person he hung out with most.
So, like... Either Demyx is the MoM and he played himself or he’s going to be the Foretellers’ newest member, right? I’m getting a vibe here. lol
Of course, there are other ways to interpret this. This is just what I’m personally taking away from it.
Also, no, it totally hasn’t escaped me that “fool” might also be related to The Fool in tarot. Do you see how long this post already is? Maybe some other time.
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kyzveryown · 3 years
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RE:Observations KH Character Files — Part I [OLD POST]
I've been reading some of the Kingdom Hearts Character Files translations and there are two that stand out to me - Marluxia and Xigbar. There is some interesting stuff that I want to address and express some of my opinions on. So, here it goes. Note: This is an update of an old post from last year.
Starting off with Marluxia, his file is mostly him contemplating everything that's happened up to him upon being recompleted. One of the things that caught my eye was the fact he didn't remember his own name, but he does (presumably) remember Strelitzia's name. This brings up some questions about The Ark. Marluxia notes that hearts are made of memories. Since one's heart must be separated for someone to time travel in The Ark, then it's possible that a heart can be irreparably damaged in the process. A damaged heart could possibly result in memory loss with the person only retaining fragmentary links to their past. Add in the fact The Ark is incomplete and you've got a reason for why the Union Leaders lost their memories.
But, let's look at this from a different perspective. Consider the possibility that their memory loss is/was intentional. Think back to what happened with the Dandelions. They all lost their memories and it was intentional. The Dandelions were meant to restore the universe after the war. They weren't in the war so their old memories (the frictions between unions, their lost friends, etc.) weren't needed. Everything that's happening in KHUX parrallels everything that's happened in KHχ and Back Cover. In Marluxia's file he talks about his intense feelings of darkness - notably hatred, pain, resentment and loss. He does state that he's done with letting darkness control him despite the pain he's in. I wonder what that'll mean going forward.
Anyway, onto Xigbar (Luxu). The first part takes pieces from the promo file that was released a while back. However, the part that had me bugging was when he admitted to losing the damn Black Box. HOW?! How do you lose a big ass box like that?! Aside from that, there's something odd about Xigbar's file. You don't notice it until near the end of his recollection of confronting Sora in Olympus. He says something strange - "These kids and their heart-guided Keyblades. I’ve seen more than enough of you go down the path of self-sacrifice and it never ends well". It seems like, and I picked up on this when I first played KHIII, he was trying to steer Sora away from the path he was on and redirect him somewhere else.
There's also the fact he talked about defying fate in the beginning. He didn't imply he was, but pondered what one would do if confronted with impending doom. Then he basically says there's no way to know how the world would end. I think Luxu is just confused about everything at this point. All he knows is what the Master of Masters told him to do. Like the Foretellers, he wants answers which I can understand. The Master of Masters was intentionally vague about everything.
Back to Luxu's line about self-sacrifice. Aside from his hint which flew over Sora's head (because he's a dumbass), that line also alludes to the Union Leaders in KHUX. We already know not everyone is going to make it to the future. If we're to take what Luxu said plainly, then that means someone sacrificed themselves so the others could escape. Ventus, Lauriam, Elrena and Skuld (Subject X) are accounted for. Brain will probably get No Name and he'll most likely be Eraqus's ancestor. That leaves Ephemer. It would explain his appearance in KHIII. He's also the type to do something so selfless too.
Luxu mentions something about connected hearts and guided hearts. Sora falls on the connected hearts side of the heart spectrum. Luxu, the Foretellers and the Union Leaders fall on the opposite side; the guided hearts. What's the difference? What is the underlying message here? Is blindly following your heart naive and foolish? Is relying on your connections to other's hearts selfish and reckless? Is one better than the other? Or are they both bad? I think this is something people should pay attention to. It may be the key to what's to come.
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mrsarnasdelicious · 5 years
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The XIII Files: VI Zexion, The Cloaked Schemer
A/N: As for a character that deserves more love
By Vexen [IV]
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Original Name: Ienzo
In his name, the X is pronounces clearly, the I not so much
No known relatives
Elemental Power: Illusion
Level of Elemental Control: 8/10
If one were to ask me, he needs to focus too hard to reach full control over his powers
Weapons of choice: Book of Retribution lexicon 
Note: Melodramatic Much?
Nobodies under his control: Creepers
Zexion prefers to work alone, without any lower nobodies under his command
Nicknamed, as by Xigbar: Sniffer McSnooze
Or Emo boy
Which is also used by some of the other members 
Closest to Lexeaus, Demyx, Roxas and Xaldin
Does not get along with Xigbar [small wonder], Marluxia, Larxene and Luxord
Strengths: Absorbs knowledge like a spongue, able to ‘smell’ other people’s presence, good at manipulating people through his illusions, keeps his thoughts to himself, respectful of other member’s personal space/limitations and absolutely fearless
Weaknesses: Tends to mope about his life lost, far too philosophical for his own good, spends too much time with his nose in a book, tends to get insecure about his own capabilities and has a short temper upon being teased, especially with his height.
His uniform is a bit more tight than the usual grab, with the sleeves of his cloak more bell shaped
He might seem he thinks himself above mingling with the younger members, but nothing is less true
Is, surprisingly a bit of a klutz with digital devices
He is, shall we call it by it’s name, a nerd
His room is stuffed with books, comic and games
But he can rump around with the lads like the best of them
Spares only Demyx, Roxas and Xion from his snide remarks
Everyone else can get it
Even the surperior shan’t be spared from the sting of Zexion’s sarcasm
He is a rather impatient person, when he is working
When experiments or such do not go his way, he is quick to lash out
It is safe to have Lexeaus around in such cases
Somehow Zexion is wise enough not to put his frustrations on him
He is prone to hyperfocus
And once he has bitten himself into a project, he is in it till the end
And mostly forgets all else
This is mostly a desirable trait
Were it not for the fact that he will slightly neglect himself
He’s the type that needs to be reminded to eat and drink
And half of the time he doesn’t take that advice
He is also a regular insomniac
He is sexually inclined towards Lexeaus
Sometimes it might seem Zexion is infatuated with Lexeaus
Not that he can be, for the lack of his heart
It is beyond the explanation of science how those two fit together
Considering Lexeaus is about twice Zexions size
Unless.... But no Zexion does not have the personality for that
Lexeaus is definately the dominant factor
As contribution to the daily grind, Zexion takes care of the library and keeps everything dustfree
Yes he uses a lot of steps and stools
Unless Lexeaus is around
If there is no step of stool around, he will literally climb other members to get to what he needs
LITERALLY
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nanakibh · 4 years
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So yeah, after reading that Final Fantasy Agito gaiden chapter, I think Sora is probably supposed to be “Agito”. (Like Yozora, he’s not literally Agito, but he’s “Agito.”) He did save the world from its destined end, after all. And he did end up in... the world of the dead... The Agito Player was an anomaly in time and space (representing the will of us, the actual players) who held the Power of Bonds, the power to connect people to each other.
If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, check out my previous post.
I just don’t think that’s supposed to be the MoM. At all. Ever. Especially with the MoM’s similarity to Jack... He was a good boy, but Jack failed to become Agito millions of times like his friends. And like Jack, the MoM seems to have comfortably accepted the fact that there are things he has no power to change - such as the end of the world. Is he extremely wise and enlightened for accepting destiny and his place in the universe? Or is he just a quitter? *we shrug* If he’s Demyx, we know that Vexen thinks he’s wise. So that’s one vote of confidence. .....Wait, that totally explains why the MoM would “leave the fate of the world in other people’s hands.”
WAIT, is that why Demyx’s phrase is “That’s something I can do” in Japanese? I’m gonna cry, wtf. There really is no one who knows their limitations better than Demyx... And Jack, of course.
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I know I’ve shared this comparison before, but now I’m, like, reaching gigabrained levels of understanding over here, so. I’m bringing it back. (Even the same hand gesture? Every time? Haha Okay.)
I’ve been derailed by Demyx again.
In Xigbar’s character file, he mentioned there being some kind of difference between “guided hearts” and “connected hearts.” If this is the context, then I feel like I kind of understand what he might’ve meant. He said that the two types of hearts are similar but different. The Power of Bonds seems like it has the power to change destiny. (”It seems as though a new path through history may have been opened because of that child’s involvement here.”) Xigbar’s whole conversation with Sora in Olympus about the hearts connected to Sora’s makes more sense with this... I see why that would’ve been relevant to his interests. Also, in his file, he mentioned that time isn’t linear. Time definitely Was Not Linear in that chapter. Not like I understand. It’s still extremely confusing~
btw, this isn’t to say that Sora is the khux Player. (Though I do still feel like it’s weird for Xehanort to be the Player... I’m skeptical about that.) Sora is “special” and probably represents the change in destiny brought about by the khux Player and the interference of others who were following their hearts, such as Brain and Ava. That’s the main takeaway I’m getting here.
Saving the world is just a byproduct of the birth of Agito, by the way. Arecia said that she didn’t care about whether someone could defeat the Judge and save the world. She would’ve been okay with letting the world end once and for all if Miyu hadn’t shown her that the Player was able to impose change. The real purpose of Agito was to reveal the way to the Unseen Realm, the world of the dead. Which Sora has done, as far as I can tell. Rest in crystals.
We never found out *why* Arecia wanted to open the way to the Unseen Realm. Right?? Maybe there’s someone who knows the FNC mythos better than me who can make a guess here. What the MoM would want with Shibuya is a mystery to me.
Nomura: Nobody will guess what’s going on! Me: I Will Literally Translate A Whole Dead Mobile Game To Figure This Out
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nadziejastar · 4 years
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Have you read isa/saïx’s character file? How do you feel about how he was portrayed and where his character will evolve to from this point?
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One corner of Xigbar’s mouth twitched up in a sneer. “Me? I’m already half Xehanort.”
“That’s…nuts…!”
Xigbar’s golden eye regarded Sora.
It doesn’t make sense. What does he think he can do by throwing away his own heart and becoming Xehanort? I don’t get it. And what is Xehanort after? Why’s he putting his heart in other people?
Yes, I did read his Character File. Personally, I really don’t like the way Saïx was handled. Not at all. It didn’t seem like he evolved naturally as a character. It seemed more like the writers were very lazy and just wanted to have him redeemed quickly without putting any real effort in. And I also don’t have much faith in his characterization going forward due to the lack of respect his character received in KH3. And here’s why.
“Talking to Roxas and Xion always brings back memories of my human life, back when I was a kid. It’s a weird sensation. I ought to be able to share all this with Saïx, but I just don’t feel like it anymore. It’s strange, but I’m content with just missing what’s gone. I’m not the one who changed. You did.”
“What were you really after, Lea? We joined the Organization at the same time, and formulated our plan. At this point, it’s just an idle fantasy. Everything changed. You, and me.”
I always saw Saïx like this: He was a Nort. An alter ego of Xehanort, no different than Xemnas or Ansem Seeker of Darkness. Saïx absolutely did NOT seem like the same Isa that we saw in BBS. 
“Our efforts have come to bear fruit, nearly ripe for the plucking.”
“Not only have you the power to inflict pain, you also have the power to plant seeds of doubt in one’s receptive heart.”
“It seems we have found a loose thread at which we can tug to unravel Ventus’s heart. The first step is to get Terra alone; then we need to plant the seeds of doubt in Ventus.”
His Machiavellian personality and even his speech patterns were far more similar to Xehanort than Isa. The writers were hinting all along that Saïx was actually Xehanort, not Isa. Look how many times Axel said Saïx had changed. I never got the impression that Isa’s change was natural, either. He changed because he literally became another person—Xehanort. Unlike Braig, there were no hints that Isa ever consented to becoming Norted. 
“Xemnas and Xehanort formed the Organization for a specific reason—round up a bunch of empty husks, hook them up to Kingdom Hearts, then fill them all with the exact same heart and mind,” Xigbar explained behind him.
Sora turned around. Empty husks? Is he saying they’re going to break them with sorrow and put another heart into them…? Or did they already do it?
“Translation—they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort.”
“Make more Xehanorts?” You’re hollowing out people’s hearts to put Xehanort’s inside them?!
I think Isa was originally meant to be a test subject in the experiments. His mind had to be “broken” with sorrow first. His sense of self had to die. The experiments were to control the mind and convince it to renounce its sense of self. Before becoming a vessel, Isa had to be hollowed out. Then, his heart was swallowed by Xehanort’s. By the time he was a Nobody, Saïx’s mind and personality were Xehanort’s. For the most part, it seemed like Isa’s heart was totally dormant inside of Saïx. Asleep, like Venus’s heart was inside of Sora.
“Indeed. A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement.” 
A burgeoning replacement… 
“Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.”
There was a gaping void within Saïx, which caused him immense suffering. He remembered his bond with Lea, but he was literally incapable of feeling it. He couldn’t experience friendship or a connection as a Nobody. He wasn’t like Axel or Xemnas or Xigbar. Since Isa’s heart was captured by Xehanort, Saïx had access to Isa’s memories and could still feel some emotions from Isa’s dormant heart, when something very powerful triggered it, such as Axel leaving the organization. But at the end of the day, Saïx was still Xehanort. He still had Xehanort’s soul/mind, even though he didn’t realize it.
“Things are finally right again,” Saïx went on. “Of course, we’re better off this way.”
Axel had no retort for that. Maybe because he didn’t want to alienate Saïx anymore.
“Xemnas is exasperated from all the ‘fixing’ we’ve had to do. We have to set things right. There is too much on the line…Lea.”
Hearing his old name, Axel glanced up to see Saïx watching him intently. He remembered being human. Memories surged inside him, crowding the space in his chest. For Nobodies, memory had all the weight of a heart.
So, Saïx had Isa’s body, Xehanort’s mind, Isa’s memories, and no heart. That’s how we got the complicated character that he was. He was a fascinating character. But he was a Xehanort; cold and calculating. He manipulated Axel to kill Xion by calling him “Lea”, which was honestly a really depraved thing to do. He preyed on Axel’s memories of their past. Saïx did not like how much power Axel had over him, and tried to brutally kill him. At the same time, Saïx had strong romantic feelings for Axel. But—and this is important—those feelings weren’t really Saïx’s feelings. They truly belonged to Isa. Saïx was experiencing them the same way Sora experienced Roxas/Ventus’s feelings. The relationship was like a parasite siphoning off of its host.
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Three elements combine to create a life: a heart, a soul, and a body. But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost? When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves? A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness.
― Secret Ansem Report 4
Three elements combine to make a life. Xehanort creates vessels by literally replacing their mind/soul/personality and heart with his. By the time we are introduced to Saïx in KH2/Days, two of those elements have already been replaced. Only the body is still Isa’s. The body is the least important part of your identity. So, how could Saïx still even be considered Isa at that point? KH is all about hearts. In metaphysical terms, the heart is simply the relationships you form which give you meaning, purpose, and love.
“Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.”
So, how can KH3 downplay the effect being Norted had on Isa? THE biggest things about Saïx were his lack of purpose and his inability to love.
Yes, I thought you didn’t need me anymore. If you didn’t need me, then I no longer held meaning.
He even said in his Character File that if Lea didn’t need him anymore, his life had no meaning. Saïx longed to have the purpose, meaning, and love that a heart provided. He remembered how much meaning Isa’s life had, because of his love for Lea. But he didn’t have access to that, no matter how much he wanted it.
“Just stop it! You treat people’s hearts like they’re bottles on a shelf, but they’re not!”
Hearts aren’t “foolish,” and other people aren’t tools for you to use.
Sora faced Xemnas and summoned his Keyblade, ready to fight. “Hearts are made of the people we meet and how we feel about them—they’re what ties us together even when we’re apart! They’re what…make me strong.”
If Isa’s heart was swallowed by Xehanort’s, then none of Saïx’s relationships should have any bearing on Isa once he was saved. Isa shouldn’t have to atone for anything Saïx did to Roxas or Xion or Axel, because they had different minds and hearts. Those relationships were totally distinct. Saïx did not even really have a heart. He just had a blank void since Isa’s heart was dormant/asleep.
This whole concept is what made the Axel/Saïx relationship so interesting to me. Axel never knew that his best friend’s heart was replaced, like a bottle on a shelf. Hearts are NOT interchangeable. In KH, the heart is what makes you who you are. It is your core identity. So, Saïx had Isa’s body, but not his heart. Without Isa’s heart, the very essence of their special relationship was gone. Axel never knew why Saïx didn’t feel like Isa any longer. Something was just…missing. If Saïx didn’t have Isa’s heart, that is a HUGE deal. Not something to be glossed over, like it was in KH3. In KH3, Saïx being Norted meant absolutely nothing. It might as well not even have been a plot point.
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Xigbar: If people see with their hearts, Saïx, then you’re even blinder than the rest of us.
Seeing how Axel handled the relationship with his Norted best friend was soooo intriguing to me. It was SUCH a cool idea, that unfortunately went nowhere. Axel did not feel a connection with Saïx. Instead, he relied on his memories. When Axel mentions the red sunset on Day 255, it’s called “The Longest Day”. The summer solstice is the longest day of the year, and is also known as “midsummer”. I believe that the red sunset thing was a precious memory Axel had of Isa telling him that. The scene was inspired by Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”. And I believe the localization team knew that. Versus XIII was inspired by Hamlet, so Nomura obviously likes Shakespeare.
Love… Huh. “It is powerful, but it’s not a power we get to have.” Axel had very little confidence in his ability to explain it. But whenever Roxas or Xion had questions about the mysteries of the human heart, he did his best to answer. 
“Nobodies can’t love?” Roxas asked. 
“Nope. You need a heart for that.”
 “Oh… Right.” Roxas fell quiet, pensive. 
Axel kept talking. “Love is what happens when there’s something really special between people.” 
“More special than friends? Like…if they’re best friends? Inseparable?”
In KH, key memories have the power to awaken a heart, even in Nobodies. Axel was growing a heart throughout the course of the story after he returned from Castle Oblivion. The whole idea was that his newly awakened heart allowed him to transform things “base and vile” to “form and dignity”. Axel’s heart had the power to transform (in his mind) the nasty and cold Nort Saïx into the Isa he loved from his memories. His love for Isa was blind and allowed him to remain intensely loyal to what was, essentially, an impostor. Smoke and mirrors. That is what I saw when I played Days and read the novels.
I love Roxas and Axel. I’m sure Saïx would scoff at that. Call it a trick of my artificial memories.
Saïx, without a heart, had no such power. He could not look at things with the mind. He had a scar on his mind’s eye. He only saw with his eyes. He couldn’t even see Xion, since her appearance was dependent upon the connection she has with the observer. Xemnas and Xigbar could see her, though. So clearly there was something uniquely wrong with Saïx. The most important thing was, Saïx could not love Axel the way Isa could.
“You know, right, because you all have hearts!” Sora said, testing Xigbar.
“Axel and Roxas and Naminé, and that other girl. I felt what Roxas felt and…they laughed together, got mad, and they grieved.” The ache in his heart belonged to everyone. “You have to have a heart to cry.”
Xigbar snorted derisively. “It’s about time you noticed.”
Axel did have a heart. Xemnas and Xigbar had hearts, too.
“Oh, the things you hear from a guy with no heart,” Xigbar said through his hilarity.
None of us have hearts, Saïx was about to remind him, when Xemnas spoke again.
Saïx did NOT have a heart. He was unique compared to the other Nobodies.
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The Tin Man programming is all purpose versatile program for what ever the master needs done, it means that the slave is a well oiled machine. Sometimes the slave is reluctant to do a job but he is being told that he is a well oiled machine.U.S. Sen. Allen Simpson, one of the perpetrators of the Monarch Program, referred to the Tin Man programming when he told a slave “THESE ARE BUT EMPTY SHELLS OF THE LIFE THEY WERE ONCE POSSESSED. LIKE YOU ARE–EMPTY AND VOID OF LIFE.”Certain alters are not given courage and most have their hearts taken from them. The alters who are programmed not to have hearts are hypnotically told the same thing the Tin Man says, “I could be human if I only had a heart.”
—The above are all excerpts from a book about government mind control
Saïx’s canon backstory does absolutely nothing to explain his unique characterization. If you ignore Saïx’s uniqueness, you cannot possibly offer him a decent redemption. And KH3 did a horrendous job redeeming Isa. It’s so bizarre, too, because if he actually had been subjected to mind control experiments, like it was hinted, it would have perfectly explained his weird personality and also created some much needed sympathy for him.
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