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065: Untangling the Kingdom Hearts Saga Part 10 (The Story So Far)

065: Untangling the Kingdom Hearts Saga Part 10 (The Story So Far)

SoraRabbit
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Mysterious! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Understatement. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

When I first set out to write about Kingdom Hearts, years ago, I thought it would be one post, two maybe. And here we are, twelve posts in! I hope you all are still enjoying this. I really wanted to lay out the— at times confusing— story of Kingdom Hearts in a ordered and easy to read manner. It’s up to you all to decide if I did a good job or just made things more confusing.

This last group of posts started with the long and important story of Union Cross. Then the next post dealt with Dark Road. Now, for this one, I plan to discuss how Union Cross and Dark Road tie into each other and the rest of the series. Then I will move on to the latest content— the story portions of Kingdom Hearts III’s epilogue, the re:Mind DLC cut scenes, and Melody of Memories. I’ll also talk about the series and story as a whole, my thoughts, some questions that have been left unanswered, and speculations on the future. As always, spoilers follow for all the games I will be discussing. It’s a lot to get through, so here we go!

Look at that fuzzy baby! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Union Cross and Dark Road filled in a lot of the backstory of the Kingdom Hearts world and set up the motivations of Xehanort and the Master of Masters. (Although his true plan and reasonings are still shrouded in mystery.) Out of the entire series of games and media, Union Cross will have the most bearing on the next saga and the game Missing Link.

Rude, but understandable. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Union Cross showed the earliest plot in the Kingdom Hearts series. It began with Master of Masters, his apprentices, and the Book of Prophecies. Although the Union Leaders tried in their own ways to prevent the predestined Keyblade War, it happened anyway, killing off most of the young Keyblade wielders, forming the Keyblade Graveyard we see in later games, and setting into motion all the events that follow. It’s made clear as the story unfolds that all this is part of MoM’s secret plans, but just what he’s trying to accomplish is not clear. Master Ava (the one Lost Master we have not seen since the events of Union Cross) formed the Dandelions, who in turn formed new Unions. Unknown to them, they had been placed within a data world, a simulation, forced to play out their past memories and forge forward into the future. Working behind the scenes a formerly united group of formless shadowy entities known as True Darkness have been causing trouble. One used poor Ventus as a vessel to infiltrate the Union Leaders and seemingly killed one of them, a girl named Strelitizia. The wielder’s actions in the data world do not stem the destruction of their world and at the end of it all, True Darkness is trapped in various places, most of the Dandelions are either reborn or go to sleep and live on as Dream Eaters, and the new Union Leaders are scattered throughout time and space.

I miss Player. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Union Cross painted a picture of a unified world, one which was bigger but also seemed smaller. Much of their society seemed to revolve around the Keyblade wielders and the collection of Lux, light fragments. All this was set into motion by MoM and his apprentices, and in a very dark twist, all of it was doomed from the start… the wielder’s actions were never meant to save the world and conquer darkness… the Union Leader’s actions were never meant to protect the young wielders in their Unions… everything was designed to purposely cause the Keyblade War, the end of the unified world, and the splitting of reality into the isolated claustrophobic worlds we see in the later games.

Evil kitty. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

This game, while at first seeming to be just a vehicle for KH to get into the mobile game sector, turned out to be crucial to the rest of the series and the future. Here we saw the previously mentioned Keyblade War. Here we met important characters like Ventus and Marluxia. Here we saw Maleficent learn about the Book of Prophecies and met True Darkness, also learning how she came back to life in Part 2. We also got to see the events which form the memories absorbed by Xehanort in Dark Road, the memories and experiences that formed the basis for who he was and much of his motivations.

Old man Player and lil Xehanort. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Dark Road told the story of Master Xehanort, from his leaving Destiny Islands to his slow descent into darkness. Xehanort’s story showed that while True Darkness is a great danger, it may not be the greatest threat to those who walk in the light. The darkness that dwells in all our hearts can be just as bad, sowing discord and chaos, spreading pain and isolation. We all have the capabilities to turn to darkness and hurt others, and that choice is ours alone to make. We saw in Union Cross that loneliness and ambition can invite darkness in. Dark Road shows that loss and spite work just as well to draw out the darkness already within us. This game showed that things aren’t just black and white, dark and light… there are shades of grays which can be either tool or trap.

Dark Road introduced the concept of the Child of Destiny… a person who connects with people through their hearts, shares their memories and emotions. It was posed that Xehanort was the fated Child, but everyone who’s played the other games know that it’s actually Sora. A big twist from this game was the idea that the Player character from Union Cross was reborn as Xehanort’s guardian and that X actually comes from the bloodline of Ephemer. We know from the Union Cross epilogue that Ephemer built Scala ad Caelum from the wreckage of Daybreak Town and now we know he apparently went off to live a fruitful life and continue his line. (I guess white-gray hair runs in the family.)

MoM knows what he wants. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

A significant event in this game was the meeting between Young Xehanort and the Master of Masters. Here we got to see more of MoM’s manipulations, as he set Xehanort on a path to seek answers. Answers that MoM himself steered the young man towards. These are arguably the most important scenes not just in Dark Road but to date, as they show MoM leave the shadows long enough to interject himself into the story, nudging Xehanort in the needed direction to cause the events of the main trilogy. Without these scenes, Xehanort may have just become a villain like his fellow student Baldr, or a teacher like his dear friend Eraqus. This is exactly what the reborn Player (Robe Guy) meant when he said not all the people Xehanort meets will be good for him.

Hehe. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

And so then, as brief a recap as possible, everything else happens. In a so far untold era of the timeline, Xehanort grows to old age, continuing to research and study darkness. At some point Scala ad Caelum fell. Master Eraqus takes up Odin’s mantle and trains Keyblade wielders, eventually taking on Aqua and Terra as apprentices. (I’m unsure if Xehanort ever had any apprentices, but that would be interesting to find out.) At some point Master Xehanort went to the Keyblade Graveyard and found the time-displaced Ventus, along with his stowaway, one of the True Darknesses. (If you recall, this is where his pod ended up at the end of Union Cross.) Old Man X split the Darkness from Ventus to create a new being named Vanitus, then took the shell-shocked Ventus to Eraqus for training where he came out of his stupor and became good friends with Aqua and Terra.

This was all set up for Birth By Sleep, the Zero Chapter of Kingdom Hearts. In a tragic adventure, Terra fell to darkness, becoming possessed by Xehanort. Master Eraqus was killed by Xehanort. Ventus nearly died. Aqua hid his heart in Sora (who she’d met on Destiny Islands) and his body in their old home of the Land of Departure, which transformed into Castle Oblivion, which later became one of the bases of operation of Organization XIII. Aqua goes off to find Terra and is lost in the Realm of Darkness.

After this, Terra/Xehanort loses his memories and finds himself in Radiant Garden where he becomes an apprentice of Ansem the Wise. He cranks up his experiments on darkness, creating the Emblem Heartless. He also wins over Ansem’s other apprentices, stealing them along with the scientist’s name. The apprentices are made into Nobodies, which are vessels without hearts. One of these was Xehanort’s henchman Braig, who became Xigbar. (But who was previously Brain and Bragi and before all that, the lost apprentice Luxu. Confused? That’s normal, just go with it.) Radiant Garden is given to Maleficent, who makes it into the dark and twisted Hollow Bastion. This also forces the inhabitants of that world to flee, some to Traverse Town, where Sora first meets Donald and Goofy.

Then the first Kingdom Hearts happens. During Sora’s adventure, his childhood friend Kairi (who we also met in Birth By Sleep) is revealed to be one of the Princesses of Heart, which are the precious lights of the world. Conversely, Riku is tempted by darkness and plays the role of henchman to Maleficent, who hopes to rule the darkness. Maleficent is, of course being controlled by Ansem, Xehanort’s Heartless, who wants to activate Kingdom Hearts and remake the worlds in his vision of order and control. To save Kairi, Sora releases his heart (which had been sheltering her heart) and is split into a Heartless and the Nobody Roxas, who is recruited into Organization XIII. Sora finds his way back to his body and defeats Ansem, saving all the Princesses.

After this, two separate adventures happen. Sora, Donald, and Goofy are lured into Castle Oblivion where they lose their memories and powers and battle Organization XII for the first time. One of the members, Marluxia (who in Union Cross was the Union leader Laurium) wants to take over and has turned some of the members against their leader Xemnas. (Who is the Nobody of Xehanort.) To accomplish his plans he uses the white witch Namine, who later is revealed to be the Nobody of Kairi. (Interesting how the Nobodies are able to remain alive after the hearts are reunited with their bodies.) Sora defeats the rogue Organization XIII members, including, seemingly, Axel. He also battles a Replicant of Riku, who is based on Riku during his dark phase. While this is going on, the real Riku is struggling with his darkness and working his way up from the basement of that same castle. He is assisted by King Mickey, and the two of them go off on an adventure together.

The other thing that happens during all this is Roxas is recruited into Organization XIII. He becomes good friends with Axel and we learn Axel survived his battle with Sora. He also meets the newest member, a mysterious girl named Xion. Xion turns out to be a replicant created using Sora’s extracted memories of Kairi. Riku starts sniffing around, wearing his own black coat. See, Ansem the Wise is not actually dead and has taken on the identity of DiZ (Darkness in Zero). He is working on recreating Sora’s memories and has put him and his Disney friends into stasis pods. However, in order to finish the work, they need the memories Xion is comprised of, as well as Roxas. Xion glitches out and Roxas has to leave the Organization to defeat/save her. This breaks Axel’s heart (which he didn’t realize he had… it turns out Nobodies aren’t actually heartless… they grow new hearts over time.)

Kingdom Hearts II happens here. Roxas is stuck in a data world based on Twilight Town, living through the last week of his summer vacation with friends based on Haynor, Pence, and Olette. (We later find out that not only do the town and the kids actually exist, somehow the data world impacted them, leaving them with half-remembered memories of their time with Roxas. Yeah, I know, I don’t get it either.) After a lengthy stint as Roxas, Sora awakens with his memories restored, but his abilities gone and his level conveniently set back to 1. As he explores the worlds and searches for Riku and King Mickey, the remaining members of Organization XIII cause trouble for them. Reuniting with their friends and saving Kairi, Sora Donald and Goofy eliminate the other members of Organization XIII (Axel gets the chance to redeem himself and dies as a good guy), faces his memories of Roxas, and defeats Xemnas with Riku’s assistance.

Sora’s Station. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After this we get two more side games. In re:Coded, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy Cricket try to decipher an odd message in the journals that just says “Thank Namine”. Since their time in Castle Oblivion was wiped clean, no one can recall who Namine is. Using a datascape, a digitized version of Sora is created who tries to eliminate to corruption in the journal and finds the truth about their missing time. The important parts of this game are that Maleficent and Pete appear and reveal that they are now searching for the Book of Prophecies (because of what Maleficent learned while travelling through time in Union Cross) and that the secrets of Chain of Memories are uncovered. They learn that there are other hearts within Sora’s. Mickey becomes determined to find the missing wielders from Birth By Sleep, and Master Yensid reveals that since Ansem and Xemnas were both defeated (in Part 1 and Part 2 respectively), Xehanort would be restored to life.

In Dream Drop Distance, Sora and Riku are sent off to the Sleeping Worlds to earn their Mark of Mastery, thereby becoming Keyblade Masters. In this adventure they team up with mysterious creatures called Dream Eaters, which we now know are the sleeping hearts of the ancient Keyblade wielders from Union Cross. In the course of their travels, Sora goes too deep into sleep, causing Riku to act as his Dream Eater. Sora is nearly recruited as a vessel for Master Xehanort, who is going throughout time and creating his new Organization XIII. Sora is saved, but again lost all his powers. (I like how they find a way to keep rebooting him before the main installments.) Riku is declared a Keyblade Master. Axel, reborn as Lea, goes off to train with Kairi so they can both become proper Keyblade wielders. Mickey and Riku decide to go into the Realm of Darkness to find Aqua. (We found out Mickey found her there in the brief game Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep – A Fragmentary Passage.) Sora’s job is to find the Power of Waking, a mysterious ability that is never fully clarified.

I love the imagery of Kingdom Hearts. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

And finally we’ve come to Kingdom Hearts III. In this game everything came together. Aqua, Terra, and Ventus were found. Roxas and Namine were given replica bodies. Xion regained her memories and identity. Some members of Organization XIII turned on Xehanort, while others were defeated again, restored to human. In the climactic battle which took place in the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora and friends were defeated. Sora, with the help of Ventus’s Cirithy, was able to hit the reset button and give them another chance at success. Ephemer arrived leading an army of the sleeping ancient Keyblade wielders and Master Eraqus emerged from his place within Terra’s heart to talk Xehanort back from the edge. Ultimately Xehanort was defeated, the corrupted Kingdom Hearts was closed, and everyone appeared victiorious. However, Kairi was lost, used again as bait to draw Sora into battle. Sora decided to use the Power of Waking— at great risk to himself— to save his beloved. As everyone relaxed on Destiny Islands, Kairi reappeared, but Sora, who had brought her back, fades away without a trace, destination unknown.

Good ol’ Luxu. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

So what happened? How did Sora get her back? And where did he go? Well, this is where the re:Mind DLC takes place. First we need to cover the Epilogue and Secret Movie, both of which I saved for this post. The No Name Keyblade lands in the Keyblade Graveyard. A black-coated individual picks it up, reclaiming it after some time. We’re at the same crossroad shown in Birth By Sleep. Shockingly, four of the Foretellers walk up, all except for Master Ava. They realize the man who summoned them there was Luxu, their long-lost fellow apprentice. He looks different though. He removes his hood and reveals himself to be Xigbar.

GASP. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

He says he hasn’t heard the name Luxu in a long while. He’s had to jump from body to body over the years. Aced (the ever grumpy Foreteller with the bear hood) demands to know what’s going on and why they’ve been called there. Luxu explains that he had a role to play and it’s finally done. We see Maleficent and Pete looking at them from a high point far in the distance. Luxu/Xigbar says that he invited Ava too, but she had her own mission, which she’s already carried out. Aced asks what Luxu’s role was. He looks down at the black box and says “I hope you like long stories.“

Then we see a chess game between Young Xehanort and Eraqus. Shockingly, Eraqus has won. (It was established in Dark Road that he rarely wins.) Xehanort regards his fallen king thoughtfully as Eraqus smilingly looks out the window. Eraqus seems to remember something and says he wants to play a new game. He places seven black pieces. (Some of which bear images of the animals of the Lost Masters.) Xehanort asks what’s next. Eraqus places one white piece, saying “Just watch!”

I can’t wait to be set loose in Quadratum. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

In the Secret Movie, which is unlocked by finding a certain number of hidden Mickey Emblems— the number of which is dependent on the difficulty you play on— we see Sora awaken on a rainy street in a brightly-lit city unlike any he’s seen before. Riku awakens elsewhere in that city. We see modern streetlights, billboards, and cars. A building labelled 104 is shown prominently. They look around in shock and the view zooms out to show the city is huge. Riku walks down the street and from a rooftop he’s watched by Yozora. On another rooftop the Master of Masters looks at the moon and makes the shape of a heart with his hands, seemingly indicating that he’s planning to summon Kingdom Hearts.

Beautiful. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

This city is Quadratum, and we’ll learn more about it in Kingdom Hearts IV. Seems like an interesting confrontation will take place there. But what about that epilogue? So yeah, Xigbar was Luxu all along, just as he was Brain at the end of Union Cross and Bragi in Dark Road. This puts an interesting spin on his appearances in the previous games, especially Birth By Sleep when he appeared as Braig and coveted the heroes’ Keyblades.

The Secret Reports located throughout the game (a staple in the main installments) fill in several interesting tidbits. We hear the story of a girl held in a cell by researchers. This is the girl mentioned in Birth By Sleep by the still-human Isa and Lea. She talks about how all she remembers is four friends and a key. She doesn’t even recall her name. She was called “X”. Her only solace are the two boys who would come and visit her. One day a man with an eyepatch came to save her. (Xigbar, of course.) We learn that X was 15 and departed her world with others. Terra-Xehanort, still missing his memories, studies her and determines she came from the Age of Fairy Tales. Ansem the Wise ordered the experiments stopped and set X free, so Xehanort decided to take her place as the first new subject of the experiments.

Some other interesting things revealed: Eraqus was descended from the very first Keyblade Masters of the Age of Fairy Tales. Xion’s replica designation was “No. i” which is why her name was changed to Xion when she became a member of the Organization. Since Xehanort was returned to humanity, his Heartless and Nobody could no longer exist, and so they were brought forward in time and placed in Replicas. Ienzo has found three hearts held within Sora’s. (Weird, we only knew of two…)

The final reports were written by Luxu. He reveals that he gave his Keyblade to one of the new Union leaders. (Brain, I’m assuming, as we see him at the end of Union Cross with Luxu’s coat and Keyblade.) He talks about his role of jumping from body to body, watching the new worldline that the Union Leaders escaped to, waiting for one who will take up his former Keyblade to start a new Keyblade War. And then he can awaken the Lost Masters. From what he says, several generations passed between Union Cross and Kingdom Hearts III. The end result of his role is to summon the Lost Masters and then cause “his” return. (Probably the Master of Masters, since he used his apprentices as waypoints.)

Awww. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

And now we come to the cut scenes in the re:Mind DLC. Xigbar watches Maleficent and Pete walk away, still searching for the black box. Luxord teleports in, speaking in riddles and revealing that he’s figured out Xigbar isn’t who he says he is. He also speculates why the black box is so important if the contents are unknown, and who gave the order to find it? It doesn’t seem to be something Xehanort would care about since his whole deal is summoning Kingdom Hearts. Without getting any straight answers from Xigbar, Luxord teleports away, leaving Xibar wondering just who his ally really is. (Gooood question.)

Then we pick up where Part III ended. We see Sora setting off to find Kairi. His journey started by losing her, and he’s not going to lose her again. Donald and Goofy want to help him, but he refuses, saying he has to go alone. Mickey warns him the Power of Waking shouldn’t be used that way, but Sora promises to be back with Kairi soon. Riku convinces Mickey to have faith in Sora. Sora raises his Keyblade to begin.

I’m so curious about MoM. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

In the desert, a place where we see the rock columns that the Organization have met on previously, two black coated figures meet. The approaching one reveals himself as Young Xehanort, meeting with the Master of Masters. (We saw this scene in Dark Road, which I already discussed in a previous post.) This is the end of Xehanort’s journey preparing for the Mark of Mastery. He came to all the conclusions that Master of Masters wanted him to… the people of the worlds are weak, tainted by darkness, and need someone to rule them, to impose order on them. One interesting note… when MoM says his name, in Dark Road it was shown as a dash. here it’s shown as a freeze frame in bright light… as though it’s a glitch in the data. Xehanort’s eyes widen as though he recognizes the name, but he clearly doesn’t know who the Lost Masters are.

After this scene we jump 75 years later to show Old Man Xehanort meeting with his new Organization. He mentions his meeting all those years ago, stating he never really found out who his benefactor was, but that he sees the truth of all he told him. This scene is mainly a recap of who the members are. Xehanort talks about how he was restored to his true form after Xemnas and Ansem were destroyed. Sora was meant to be their thirteenth (see Dream Drop Distance) but that plan was foiled. They still want to give the last replica to a heart connected to Sora. They decide on Xion. While her memories were returned to complete Sora, her data still exists.

Chrithy is cool. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

That was all introduction. In the story proper, Sora returns to the Last World. The same Chirithy he met previously shows up to guide him. (The one that belongs to Ventus.) Sora explains why he’s there and Chirithy says even with the Power of Waking he can’t just bring someone back. It’s meant to restore sleeping hearts, not hearts that have faded from existence. He’s already done this when he brought all his friends back to life during the climactic Keyblade War in Part 3. He’s broken a nature taboo. The price will be the loss of his powers, including the Power of Waking. He will then be banished from this world with no way to return. Sora doesn’t care. All he cares about is saving Kairi.

Chirithy advises Sora that he will return to the past but be unable to rewrite it. He has to witness the events, jumping from one heart to another. He must travel through each heart of the Guardians of Light, seeing what they saw, feeling what they felt, and eventually reaching Kairi. He only has until he reaches the end of the War. He returns right back to where they were returned when he last used the Power of Waking.

Sora leaves his body as Ventus is struck by Terra/Xehanort. He finds himself in Ventus’s heart and faces the darkness within him. The True Darkness from the Age of Fairy Tales. It seemingly takes the form of Dark Inferno X. After this we see more of the past battle. Axel protects Kairi from the possessed Terra and then Sora holds her close in protection. Goofy is knocked back and Donald goes Super Saiyan with his Zeta Flare that promptly knocks the poor duck out.

Sora’s heart leaves Ven and goes into Aqua’s. Where Ven’s heart was peaceful, Aqua’s is full of fear. Sora, Riku, and Aqua face the Demon Tower while the rest of them protect the wounded. Aqua sees the Heartless in the Demon Tower as herself, corrupted by darkness. Sora experiences her fear. He has to face the Dark Aqua again. (This is where everyone was swept away after being defeated in Part 3.)

Namine is back! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Sora passes through the tear in reality where he saved everyone and finds himself in his Station in the Dive to the Heart. (The stained glass realm.) Namine arrives. He asks why she isn’t in Kairi’s heart. She says she’s unable to return. But she heard Terra calling out to her. She couldn’t reach his heart, but got his sadness, anger, lament. His Lingering Will. (Yes, that’s right, Namine is the one who brought the Lingering Will to the battle as we saw in Part 3.) We see scenes from that battle again. Sora asks Namine to leave so she’ll be safe. He then jumps out into the battle long enough to protect Lingering Will and taunt Terra/Xehanort. The armor is destroyed and Sora has to battle Terra/Xehanort.

Luxord is another one I’m curious about. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

We then revisit Sora and Riku’s battles against Xigbar and the Riku Replica. Riku Replica leaves Riku’s heart (where he’s apparently been all this time) and takes the Past Riku out of the Replica, leaving the empty vessel for Namine, who lost her body when Kairi was restored. We also see Xigbar falling, and this scene means so much more now that we know Xigbar was Luxu all along. (Sora saying that he’s not worthy for his own Keyblade, not knowing he’s one of the oldest still-living wielders.)

The next battle we revisit was Sora and Mickey versus Marluxia, Luxord, and Larxene. (This is where Luxord gives Sora the Wild Card. More on that later.)

Next: Aqua and Ventus versus Terra/Xehanort and Vanitus. (Man this was a tough battle. You had to play as Aqua and it was challenging.) We get to see what happened before Sora arrived. Vanitus reveals to Ventus that he’s not really his darkness… he was an entity who lived inside him. (Makes me wonder if Xehanort was aware of this. He seemed to believe he split Ventus into his light and dark sides.) Sora arrives and the battles go as they did before. Vanitus explains that he has Sora’s face because he’s the piece taken from Ventus and Sora was the piece he needed to become whole again. (So basically Vanitus was faceless until Ventus hid in Sora’s heart.) At the end of this, Terra is put back in his own body, because all along the Dark Figure (Ansem’s Guardian) was Terra’s Heart.

Oooo. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After this battle, Sora is sinking in what looks like water. He was lost during the fight against Terra/Xehanort way earlier, protected by Terra’s heart. (So current time Sora sat out all those replay battles and has now connected with three hearts in his journey.)

The next battle is Axel and Kairi versus Xion and Saix. Xemnas reveals everyone forgot about Xion after she was returned to Sora. Xion starts to remember Axel and Roxas. Sora arrives to help and the battle really begins. Xemnas arrives to belittle Axel and destroys his Keyblade. Before Xemnas can kill Axel, Xion protects him. Xemnas orders her to kill Axel and Sora stops her, speaking with Roxas’s voice. Inside Sora’s heart, current time Sora connects with Roxas. Xion’s memories return and Axel remembers her too. Roxas asks for Sora’s help and Sora unlocks him, releasing him into the real world. This is where Roxas enters battle in his shiny new Replica body. Roxas and Xion face off against Xemnas, their old boss. Kairi jumps into the fray too, holding her own until she’s bound by Xemnas’s darkness threads. Roxas, Axel, and Xion get their sigils back from Xemnas. (The Mark of the Recusant, the X in their names. Their long-lost connection.) Xemnas makes off with Kairi and they defeat Saix.

Are we ever going to get to Kingdom Hearts? (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Back in his heart, Sora reflects that he’s connected with five guardians (if you include himself). He still needs two more to find Kairi. In the next battle, Sora, Riku, and Mickey face Xehanort, who shows them the nine keys already created by the battles. Kairi is being held prisoner to force them to create the last four keys. This is where Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort are defeated. Xehanort strikes Kairi down with his Keyblade to drive Sora to attack. Just as in the main game, the others stay behind to keep Kingdom Hearts closed while Sora heads off for the final confrontation with Xehanort. Current Sora worries that there isn’t any more time left to find Kairi, but then his heart enters the portal they opened within Master Xehanort.

This is an interesting layout for a city. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

And now we’ve reached the end of Sora’s journey. He finds himself back in Scala ad Caelum before his past self arrived for the final boss battle. After a few battles with Heartless and Nobodies, Sora gathers the seven pieces of Kairi’s heart. (They look like little pink flower petals.) Sora is confronted by Xehanort who again states that Sora is going to pay the ultimate price. He also says Sora is too late… his past self has arrived with Donald and Goofy. Xehanort, seemingly knowing exactly what’s going on, tells Sora that there is no time left since he had to find Kairi before the end of the final battle. Present Sora re-enters his past self and things happen as they did before… the armor minions, the confrontation with Xehanort in the streets of his old city… preparing for the final boss battle.

Riku’s Station. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Inside his past self, Present Sora is back in the Station in his heart. He realizes what he needs is to trace two more Guardian hearts. He finds Riku’s station and we finally get to see what the other Guardians did during the final battle against Xehanort. They all hold their Keyblades aloft, keeping Kingdom Hearts from opening. The last of Kingdom Heart’s light is covered with darkness. This is when Xehanort summoned the X-Blade and used Kingdom Hearts itself as a weapon against Sora.

Xehanort armors come from Kingdom Hearts and keyholes open throughout the sky. The Guardians are pulled into Kingdom Hearts where a crazy battle begins against the Replica Xehanort armors. The controls keep switching between characters and you have to alternate attacking and defending. Then there’s a solo battle with Mickey and a minigame with Sora connecting keyholes using reaction commands.

Go Kairi! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Present Sora sees Kairi coming from a keyhole, reforming into her physical form. Sora and Kairi have to face off against Armored Xehanort themselves. (This was a tough battle. I talked about it in the previous post.)

So many keys. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Combining their power, Sora and Kairi are able to draw the Guardians back from Kingdom Hearts. Everyone focuses their Keyblades on Armored Xehanort and the combined light destroys him. We rejoin the actual boss battle just in time to see Sora, Donald, and Goofy doing their Trinity finishing move. The Guardians wonder where Sora and Kairi went.

So sad. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

In the epilogue we get to see Sora and Kairi as they return to where we saw her appear on Destiny Islands at the end of Part 3. They return to the Final World and Sora sees he’s starting to fade away. He puts on a happy face for her and calls for Chirithy. The little kitty teleports in and meets Kairi. Sora asks him to join them back to the real world so he can go see his friend. This makes Chirithy cry.

From here we see the ending movie as it originally happened, but we see that Sora and Kairi were secretly at each location: Disney Castle watching the fireworks, at the Land of Departure where Chirithy reunites with Ventus. Back in Twilight Town, where Roxas and his crew have sea salt ice cream, Sora and Kairi secretly sit higher on the clock tower with their own ice cream. Namine is restored and Riku takes her to Destiny Islands. Everyone celebrates there and Kairi reappears, Sora vanishing from existence, paying the ultimate price to restore Kairi.

I DID IT!!! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After completing the re:Mind episode, the Limit Cut episode opens up. I talked at length about this in a previous post, so I’ll just focus on the brief bit of story attached to this. But I will also mention that these were highly challenging and strategic battles that took all my Keyblade skill to master. I had not completed the battles before doing my KH3 post, but I have as of now.

After Sora’s disappearance, Riku visits the Final Fantasy gang, who were noticeably absent from Part 3 proper. It was nice to see them again, but they sadly didn’t get to do much. They’re all sad about Sora being gone and Cid creates a new Data Sora to delve into his digitized memories for clues. Riku pilots the Data Sora and revisits the Organization XIII battles but at a much more extreme difficulty.

This was the Final Fantasy character’s only appearance. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After fighting all the Limit Cut bosses, the program ends and everyone is disappointed that they found nothing about Sora. (I’m not sure what they expected…) Fairy Godmother appears suddenly and asks for Riku. She says that Master Yen Sid and Merlin asked her to check into Riku’s dreams. See, since he’d been in Sora’s dreams before, he may be the key to finding the missing wielder. Him, and the other two. It flashes to show Kairi sleeping in a lab and we see the Final World. This sets up Melody of Memory. But first there’s one more element to the DLC to look at…

A new challenger approaches. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After completing the Limit Cut episode, a secret boss opens up. Sora awakens in what looks like a nighttime version of the Final World. The sky and ground are dark and star-filled. Sora is surprised to find himself still alive and with a body. He shouts for someone, anyone to answer and someone does. He runs to see who else is in the void with him and is surprised to find Yozora, who is in turn surprised that Sora knows who he is. If you recall, Yozora was a character in a video game in the Toy Story world of KH3. He was also mentioned by a heart that Sora met in the Final World. He looks suspiciously like Riku, even down to his fashion sense.

Uh oh. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

When Sora reveals his name to Yozora, the mysterious man perks up. He states that they’re not in the real world and this isn’t what he really looks like. He demands to know how Sora knows him as Yozora in that form. He expresses doubt that Sora is who he says he is, also hinting that he knows Sora somehow. He summons a cross-bow gun as though it were a Keyblade and levels the sight on Sora. The ground becomes Sora’s Station and then a building rooftop at night in a busy modern-looking city. Yozora says that he accidentally wandered into this place and went through some trials. Then he was told to “save Sora”. He summons a high-tech red laser sword. Sora asks if he’s supposed to save him, then what’s with the weapons? Yozora’s only answer is, “It’s time to end this.“ The battle begins.

Sora dies. Again. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

The first time you die, a short scene plays where Yozora approaches the defeated Sora saying, “Sorry, but I don’t lose.” Sora freezes into what looks like crystal. Yozora touches the sculpture with what looks like regret and says “I will save you.” There’s a flash and Yozora is standing in the Final World. Then he awakens in the back of a limousine and thinks some very familiar words… as he thinks them his voice becomes that of Roxas at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. “I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately. Like, is any of this for real or not? None of this makes sense to me.“

After viewing this, the Secret Episode is available to play, which consists only of the Yozora battle. So that was, I guess, the standard ending. In order to get the good ending and the secret movie you have to actually defeat Yozora, which is easier said than done.

Heyyy, that’s my Keyblade! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Yozora is easily the most annoying enemy in Kingdom Hearts III, and that includes the Limit Cut remix bosses. The problem with him is that he has several lethal moves and a desperation move like all bosses… but he can do them in any order and at any time. Which means if you get supremely unlucky his first move can be his desperation move. Adding to the annoyance, he has moves that can steal your items— including your Kupa Coin, which he WILL use if you manage to defeat him— and a move that permanently lowers your maximum hit point bar, adding the hit points to his own total. And worst of all, he can steal your Keyblade and use it against you. All you can do if you get hit with this move is dodge roll and wait for the timer to run out so you can get your Keyblade back. (The only option left to you is Item, which proves that for all the times Sora says his friends are his power… nope. It was his Keyblade.)

Ooooh. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

If you manage to defeat Yozora, you get the good ending to the Secret Episode. It works like a reverse of the bad ending… instead of Sora being turned to crystal, Yozora dissolves into crystal fragments. He says, “I guess my powers aren’t needed yet.“ Sora asks what he means and Yozora actually has a little ghost of a smile and says “Never mind.” He again wakes up in the limo, but this time with someone muffled saying, “Commander! Commander!” We see someone with blonde hair driving the limo, but we can’t see his face, even in the rearview mirror. However when he speaks, it’s with a familiar voice. The unmistakable accent of Luxord says “Impressive, is it not?“ Then it goes back to the Roxas quote like the other ending.

All done. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Thoughts: It was nice to see Kingdom Hearts DLC, but I do agree with the critics that it could have been handled better. One of the big criticisms of the re:Mind episode is that it didn’t contain much original content, but was instead a retread of the events in the last quarter of the main game. It was sort of like a boss rush mode broken up with cutscenes. This is fair criticism. There are so many locations and characters and so much unexplored story in the Kingdom Hearts universe that it would have been easy to give us new stuff instead of a cheap recycling of the existing assets. At the very least it should have been less expensive for the little content we got.

That said, I did have a blast with it… it was fun seeing the battles ramped up in challenge with new angles taken. Any time we got a chance to play as someone other than Sora I took that chance, even though it made the battles that much more difficult. Although it was satisfying to learn the strategies and defeat the Limit Cut bosses, the difficulty of those fights veered into frustrating territory far too often for my tastes. And the most frustrating and unforgiving fight of all was Yozora. After all the leveling, the grinding for strength and defense boosters, gathering recipes and experimenting with meals, and watching videos to get my strategy together, it still took a ridiculous amount of time to beat Yozora. That’s the main reason this post took so long to complete. Most of the times when I tried to get myself to go try the battle some more so that I could see the secret movie and finish this post, I just couldn’t get up the patience and energy for it. It was an annoying, unfair, and downright infuriating battle. I thought Lingering Will in Kingdom Hearts II was bad. This was way, way worse. But I did it, it’s over. I will never do that battle again. Also, while the hint about Luxord was tantalizing, the good ending was hardly different from the bad ending, making the frustration seem pointless.

Go little Gummi ship! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

The latest installment in the franchise is Melody of Memory. (I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the initials of this game are MoM, the same as Master of Masters. OH! And Mark of Mastery… I didn’t catch that before.) After Sora’s disappearance, Kairi delves into her memories, searching for clues on where he went.

This game is different from the others, in that it’s a rhythm game. For those unfamiliar, this is a genre where the gameplay focuses on music and pressing buttons in the correct order to match the beat of the music. (An example of this type of game is the excellent Final Fantasy Theaterhythm series.) This was a very welcome game for me since, although I typically don’t like rhythm games, I did enjoy Theaterhythm and Kingdom Hearts has amazing music. Plus I’m a big fan of Kairi and it was nice to see her do something… sort of.

Theater mode. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

The gameplay of this game, in brief, involves forming a group of three characters— set groups, not mix and match— and playing through levels based on each previous game in the series, all to the tune of the game’s music. Your team moves down a track that looks like a music staff, pressing the displayed buttons to defeat Heartless. Pressing the right buttons as they appear increases your score at the end. Pressing the wrong buttons or missing a button detracts from your score and costs you hit points. If you run out of hit points, you fail the stage. You can level up your characters to increase their hit points and there are also consumable items to collect and use in the stages. There are achievements in the game, collectable cards, item synthesis, and more.

Kairi in her pod. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

As for the story, there honestly isn’t much new material here, but I’ll go over what there was. Kairi serves as the narrator, recapping the story so far (except for Union Cross and Dark Road). After completing the story recap for Kingdom Hearts III, Kairi reaches her lost memories.

The viewscreen goes to static and we hear the scientists talking about shutting it down. Kairi finds herself in the blue and white scenery of the Final World. She then has a flashback to herself as a little girl in Radiant Garden. She runs from Heartless and is found by Terra-Xehanort. We cut to a dimly-lit lab where the villain talks about how he wants to use the power of the Princess of Heart within her. Her heart will resonate with a Keyblade wielder and she can lead him to that new world. (Note that here he’s talking about a Waypoint, a concept we learned about in Union Cross that allows for time travel.) He talks about sending her to another world. He warns her that if she arrives in a world that is neither light nor darkness, but somewhere on the other side of those concepts, her task will be far from easy. The search will need to be abandoned, because they have failed. He walks away and the camera pans out to show little Kairi asleep in a pod that looks very much like the lifeboats in Union Cross.

Poor Kairi. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Back in the Final World, Kairi is showing signs of pain… uncovering the memories must cause psychic distress. She finds the crystal flower that Sora used to piece her heart back together but when she tries to touch it, it splits apart and the petals fly off. She flies off after them, and when catching one, she is approached by a man in a black coat, who reveals himself to be old man Xehanort. Or at least her memory of him. She confronts him for ruining everyone’s lives, summoning her Keyblade. He agrees that he did set her adrift to a world that was not her own. (Destiny Islands.) He says that destroying her paved the way for Sora’s disappearance.

Stranger danger! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

His words provoke Kairi to attack him. In a cool battle, she attempts to land a hit on him, but is clearly outclassed. She does surprise him a few times and he comments that Master Yen Sid prepared her well. Xehanort explains to her that she’s searching her own memories for clues to Sora’s whereabouts, but she’ll find nothing in the worlds she constructed. The answers she seeks lie in memories that are long gone.

They fight more and Xehanort throws her aside. Before he can make his killing blow, Kairi summons Sora’s Keyblade (!) and is replaced by him. Xehanort says that his voice can’t reach them from where he is and now he’s certain he knows where Sora has gone. After they fight, Xehanort’s heart leaves his body, but it’s just another one of Kairi’s crystal petals. Sora reclaims it and becomes Kairi again. A staticky Xehanort appears and asks if she remembers what he said to her after sending her from her world. That is the answer she needs. He becomes Xemnas, then Ansem, then his robed heart form and finally Terra-Xehanort. If she arrives in a world that is neither light nor dark, her task will be far from easy.

Fairy Godmother always looks out of place. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Kairi awakens and we see she’s in a lab with Ansem the Wise, Ienzo, and Vexen. (All of who were restored to life in the course of KH3.) They ponder what Kairi has discovered, speculating that Sora is not in the realm of darkness— he’s on the other side of their world, a place of unreality, a fictional world.

As Kairi is wondering whether or not Mickey or Yen Sid would know more, Riku shows up. He found his own info about Sora (in re:Mind’s Limit Cut.) The Fairy Godmother teleports in, saying that Yen Sid summoned her. She says that in order to find Sora they need three keys. (How does she know this? Magic, I guess.) The first two keys were Riku’s dreams and Kairi’s memories. Kairi learned of a world on the other side of theirs not of darkness or light. Riku’s dream was about a big city of bright lights. That must be that place outside of reality. Unreality… fiction.

So who’s the third key? Someone with a strong will and precious light. F.G. will introduce them.

A new adventure begins. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

The three of them arrive in the Final World, which Kairi explains she has been to before. They see the sparkling stars of strong hearts all around them. (The ones Sora spoke with in KH3.) Fairy Godmother explains that strong hearts gather here after death until they’re ready to move on. The final key is one of them. They find her and she mentions meeting Sora. She is the one Sora spoke with in Kingdom Hearts III… Yozora’s friend. Her form was taken from her but she was able to find her way to the Final World. She can never return to her own world without her heart being stolen. Riku, however, can use the Power of Waking to get to her world. Riku asks about the city from his dream and she says it sounds like where she came from— Quadratum. They decide this must be where Sora is. The nameless girl agrees to help and Riku uses his power to turn her into one of the spiky orb gate things from KH3. Kairi wants to go with him but they both know she can’t— she has to finish her training. She promises to get stronger so that next time she can fight alongside Sora and Riku. Riku says he believes in her. She tells him she will fill the others in on what’s going on. Riku heads off on his next adventure.

Donald just looks like he’s tired of all these cut scenes and wants to kill Heartless. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

After this, Kairi is in Master Yen Sid’s tower, explaining what they learned. Mickey freaks out and tries to run off to help Riku, but is stopped by Donald and Goofy. Yen Sid reasons that according to Kairi’s resurfaced memories, Xehanort knew about Quadratum all along. But he’s been defeated… who else could they ask about it? He then remembers the Lost Masters, who were rumored to have crossed over into another world. So everyone gets their tasks: Donald and Goofy have to travel to Radiant Garden, the Land of Departure, and Twilight Town to tell the others what’s going on. And Kairi declines to study further with Master Yen Sid, wanting instead to learn from Master Aqua. Mickey’s job is to find the Lost Masters and learn about Quadratum. Where? In Scala ad Caelum.

This would make a good poster. Or tapestry. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Thoughts: This was an entertaining game, although the controls are much more awkward than Theaterhythm. (I played it on the PS5… the Switch may have been a better choice.) With the different difficulties, achievements, and card collectables, this game has a lot of replay value. As for the cut scenes, most of them rehashed the previous games and the new content we did get were mainly to set up the sequel(s) and move the pieces on the board to set up for Kingdom Hearts IV. (Which leaves me hopeful that it’s coming up very soon. The cut scenes gave me Dream Drop Distance vibes, as that game was really meant to put everything in place for Part 3.)

Still, there were a few interesting revelations. Now we know how Kairi ended up on Destiny Islands after her time as a little girl in Radiant Garden. (Although we’re left with more unanswered questions than answers regarding Kairi. More on that later.) But does this mean that the little girl that Lea and Isa (Axel and Saix) made friends with in the castle was actually Kairi? If you recall, that girl was being held captive and experimented on and lost her memories. She was the whole reason the two boys became apprentices and consequently Nobodies to begin with… in the hopes they could smuggle her out to safety. Unfortunately she disappeared before they could save her. After thinking on it a bit, I would have to say that’s a no. In the Secret Reports, it was mentioned there were several test subjects. The Reports also mentioned X was 15, and Kairi was much younger than that… maybe 4 or 5. And due to some of the dialogue in re:Mind which showed that no one has figured out where Subject X actually went, we know it can’t be Kairi. When Ansem kidnapped her at the start of KH1, he would have recognized her right away. No, I think he abducted a little girl off the streets of Radiant Garden and realized she was a Princess of Heart and knew he had to make use of her. Terra/Xehanort/Ansem did experiments on her… maybe creating that big gate we saw in Part 1 that was tuned to Princess Heart Power. Then he sent her away to Destiny Island so she could find the Keyblade wielder her heart is connected to… Sora. (Likely because Aqua met both Sora and Kairi when they were kids in Birth By Sleep, forging a connection between them.)

We also discovered that Xehanort knew about Quadratum, just not how to get there. He didn’t seem to want to muck with it, but it’s hard to say. (He did say if she ended up there, they would have failed.) But this leads us smoothly into the next section.

The Final World would be so disorienting to visit. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

If you’ve read any of my other Kingdom Hearts posts (and you probably did… unless you typically start with Part 10 of a series! If you do, that’s fine. I won’t judge.) you know what’s next. That’s right… unanswered questions. Some of these I touched on earlier. Did Master Xehanort ever train Keyblade wielders? What happened to Scala ad Caelum to make it deserted and ruined, as we saw in Kingdom Hearts III? Where did Master Ava go?

Bye Sora! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

The Secret Reports brought up its own questions. We still don’t know exactly who X was, unless it was Skuld. We never did see where she went, although we know that she likely found her way back to Scala ad Caelum at some point to continue her bloodline, as she resembles Xehanort’s mother. We know it can’t be Kairi for the reasons I outlined above. It’s possible it could be the mystery girl from the Final World who has ties to Yozora. The other options would be Strelitizia (who is going to be a major character in Kingdom Hearts IV) or Master Ava. Ava disappeared after the Keyblade War and was not with the other Masters when they met at the crossroad. Due to her mask, it’s hard to tell if she was 15 at the time of the Keyblade War, but it’s possible. She did have four friends… the other Union Leaders. Of course, this also makes Strelitzia a valid option. She was one of the new Union Leaders, and Laurium/Marluxia’s sister. She was abducted by the darkness hiding within Ventus so that Ventus could take her place. The last we saw for sure was her appearing to Laurium in a white robe.

So what do I think? I think it’s very likely that Strelitzia is X and now she’s in Quadratum. Since time is meaningless in the Final World, she could also be the nameless heart. Or the nameless heart could be Ava, and if she ever leaves Final World she could be roped into the next big conflict like her friends were. For all we know, she left alone, not with others, so yeah, I think Strelitizia is X. (Of course, in regular KH fashion, X could be someone we haven’t even met yet. Time will tell.)

Ienzo located three hearts held within Sora’s. Who are they? This part was vague, but we can dissect it. There was Roxas and Ventus, of course. Then another one that’s been within Sora nearly as long as Roxas. It took me a minute, but I think this is referring to Xion. There’s no one else it could be. So this means that even when her memories were given back to Sora, she continued to exist inside his heart just like Roxas did. (Look at Sora, over here making whole damn other people like a good Mister Sinister.)

I really got sick of this battle. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Union Cross and Dark Road cleared up many of the mysteries in Kingdom Hearts to this point, but also set up so many more. How did Laurium and Elrena die? Where did Skuld’s pod go? Where did the Union Leader’s Chirithys go? (For that matter what happened to Player’s Chirithy when he was reborn?) Ventus’s was in the Final World, but we haven’t seen anyone else’s. Where have the Foretellers been all this time? Where is Master Ava? Why do we never get to see any of the Foreteller’s faces? (There has to be a reason they always kept their animal masks on. We didn’t get to see Luxu’s true face either before he started jumping bodies.) What’s in the Black Box? Who exactly is the Master of Masters and what is his endgame? How did Brain get to Scala ad Caelum in the Union Cross epilogue? We last saw him staying behind in the Data World and had a chat with Luxu. He had no lifeboat and no way out. (More on this in the next section.)

Who was in the white robe that Luxu sent into the future? I think it can only be Ava or Strelitizia. Strelitizia was shown in a white robe appearing to Laurium in a dream/vision/simulation. So she’s the most likely one… Luxu calls whoever it is a seed to be planted in the future. The True Dandelion. For that matter, how did everyone who used the lifeboats keep their bodies after being sent to the future? It’s been said many times that you have to leave your body behind to travel. Maleficent was told that even if she uses the lifeboat she would need something to recreate her body… but that is likely because her body was destroyed in the battle in KH1. I think, although it hasn’t been confirmed, that the lifeboats allow people to keep their bodies, thereby cheating the KH rules of time travel.

What was Luxu’s role? From everything we have seen, it appears to have been multi-faceted. First, he was meant to view everything that happened, jumping from body to body watching and waiting to provide his Master a waypoint into the future. Also to pass on the Gazing Eye until it comes into the possession of a Keyblade wielder who is not afraid to dwell in the darkness. (Which of course turned out to be Xehanort.) And he was also supposed to gather the Lost Masters at the crossroad after everything was done and keep the black box safe. So, yeah… looks like Luxu was given the most to do out of all the Apprentices.

And possibly the biggest unanswered question from Union Cross… who was the traitor? This was never revealed, and we never got to hear Luxu’s answer which spurred Master Ava into attacking him and kicking off the Keyblade War. Although it’s never been conclusively revealed, I did find many theories online and judging by Ava’s reaction I think we can come to a pretty good conclusion. I believe that Luxu told Ava that she is the traitor. So what made her the traitor? She’d learned at this point that the Master of Masters, who the Foretellers had looked up to and followed without question, didn’t just know the Keyblade War was inevitable… he wanted it to happen and for the world to end. That is why he tasked her with finding the Dandelions, so that some of the wielders could survive after the War. Knowing this, and knowing that the traitor would be the one who goes against the role given to them by MoM, she summoned her Keyblade and attacked Luxu, whose role was to survive and watch everything. In trying to kill him, she was openly betraying the Master and all he’d set into motion. She also disregarded the Master’s order on who would receive the Book of Prophecies, giving it to Brain instead. (We never did find out who was supposed to get it.) Brain having that information ensured that he and the others would survive into the future.

So it seems Master Ava, in following her heart (which she was taught would be her guiding key) became an unwitting traitor and almost derailed MoM’s plans entirely. (Had she managed to kill Luxu, MoM would not have had his universal waypoint and no one could write the Book of Prophecies using the information gathered by the No Name Keyblade.) So yeah, even though it wasn’t said for sure, I think Ava is the logical traitor. And I think MoM knew she would be and factored that into his plans. This was her second role alongside creating the Dandelions, and likely why she never joined the others at the crossroads. However, she certainly still harbors one of the True Darknesses, since there are still some unaccounted for and it was said all the Master’s apprentices were vessels for darkness.

Dynamic duo. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

I mentioned earlier that Kairi’s cutscenes in Melody of Memory brought up some questions. So Kairi was transported to Destiny Islands by Xehanort… I’m assuming he didn’t also send her grandmother, since Kairi was the only one shown in a pod. Upon reaching the Islands, did she live alone? We saw her in Kingdom Hearts II on the mainland… apparently there is a larger island that has a school and houses and the island the kids were on was just a place they went to play. (In fact, we saw Sora in his room looking out at the darkness spreading over their play island.) Anyway, in the scene in Part 2, Kairi was attending school with Selphie and they had uniforms. Did she live with Selphie? Was she considered an orphan? I mean, she would have arrived in Destiny Islands as a 4 or 5 year old girl. Just more details Kingdom Hearts doesn’t seem interested in giving to us. We also learned that Xehanort knew about Quadratum. When did he learn about this? Did the Master of Masters tell him? Is this strange world of fiction what MoM was after all along? My theory is that this entire thing was set up to get Sora to Quadratum so that MoM could have a clear path to get there… through the connections the two of them share, they are now indirectly connected.

Who is Yozora and what does he actually look like? How was fighting Sora “saving” him? And what did he mean when he said his powers weren’t needed “yet”? The Secret Episode just brought in all sorts of questions with no hope of getting answered until Part 4.

Where is the Master of Masters from? He stated that when he was young there were Keyblade wielders and they had their own Kayblade War. He also states that this is where the True Darknesses originated from. What caused them to split and gain sentience and their own identities?

We learned in Dark Road that after the Keyblade War the worlds regenerated at different paces. That explains why, say, Hercules is young in Birth By Sleep but the Princesses are seemingly the same age. Maybe it explains Mickey’s confusing timeline (see my discussion of DDD for more on that) but it does not explain how Maleficent cursed Aurora in both Dark Road and Birth By Sleep. I can’t make that one work no matter how I try.

Here’s a big one… to me at least. Who is Luxord, really? Who was he while he was alive? He doesn’t seem to be one of the wielders we met in the Keyblade War, but it was revealed in Part 3 that he and Demyx were both wielders. We have not yet seen his human self. We don’t even know his real name, just that it’s the letters of Luxord minus the X, since all the Organization used that naming convention. Drulo, maybe? That seems like a solid Kingdom Hearts name. I suspect we’ll see him (and probably Demyx too) in Missing Link. Along with the questions about his identity and his seeming to know more than he’s letting on, he gave Sora something he called a “Wild Card” which is certain to come back in Part 4. Also the fact that the limousine driver in the Secret good ending sounded just like him makes me wonder if he’s somehow in Quadratum. Maybe he came from there to begin with?

Revelations. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

So those are my questions. (There may be more, but this has gone on long enough.) Many of these I can’t even begin to speculate on, and wouldn’t dare even if I felt I had enough information. The twists at the end of Union Cross and Dark Road showed me all over again that Kingdom Hearts is still able to surprise after all these years and installments. Even though there is a lot of content and convoluted plot, we still really only have a fraction of the story. It will just continue to grow and complicate as we enter the second Act. We can speculate on a few things given our current info, but there will be more twists and new revelations in the coming games. The only two we know of so far are Missing Link and Kingdom Hearts IV. What do we know about those?

Missing Link has been said to bridge the time between Union Cross and Dark Road, showing what happens in Scala ad Caelum before Young Xehanort’s time. I assume it will pick up after Brain gets there as shown at the end of Union Cross. How did the small peaceful Daybreak Town become the sprawling city of Scala ad Caelum? There’s still a lot to learn, and I believe Missing Link will connect much of the dangling plot threads. Among the things we for sure need to resolve are where Skuld went. When did Luxu take over Brain’s body? Where were the Lost Masters and how did they keep their bodies after travelling through time? I’m assuming the other Union Leaders kept theirs because they travelled by Science Pod.

Still, the only one shown in a pod at the end of Union Cross was Ephemer. I think this means that he didn’t activate his in time, but he was still protected enough to survive the end of the world. I speculate that while his friends went into the future, he remained in present time and will be the one to build Scala ad Caelum on the wreckage of Daybreak Town. He passed on his knowledge to a new line of Keyblade wielders. I already mentioned we don’t know how Brain got to the future, since he was left behind and didn’t have a pod. I think he died, but at the last minute he launched himself into the future using knowledge from the Book of Prophecies. Or Luxu sent him forward during their last conversation. (He did suggest Brain would need multiple lifetimes.) That would actually make more sense because somehow Ephemer knew when to expect him. (Luxu would still be kicking it in someone’s body so could easily befriend Ephemer and tell him what happened to his friend.) I suspect Ephemer must have found Brain’s hat in the wreckage and kept it as a way to give Brain a new body at the time and place Luxu specified. (Like Maleficent recreated her body using her cloak.) Heck, Luxu could even be Sigurd, who was the hooded figure that greeted Brain. Hooded figures are always significant and generally not who we expected. Or Sigurd is the Player character and is just in a hood because he/she can be customized like Player was. Both options seem equally likely to me at this point.

Edit: I read a theory online that the player character will actually be Player in his second lifetime before he ends up on the island with baby Xehanort. This seems logical.

Yozora is a jerk. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

And then there’s Kingdom Hearts IV. Thinking on the long wait and multiple side games between 2 and 3, I suspect there will be more games in there before we get Kingdom Hearts IV, but we did already get a reveal trailer for it. In that trailer we see Sora awaken, still very much alive, in Quadratum and stay at the apartment of none other than Strelitizia! Last we saw her, she was unconscious and sent forward in time by Luxu. Did she go straight to Quadratum or is that even possible? Was she Subject X? How did she get to the “World of Fiction”? Does she remember her previous life?

Hard to say right now, but Strelitzia, Sora, and the other citizens of the city that we saw looked more realistic than anyone shown in KH to date, even the Final Fantasy characters. This lends Quadratum a spooky unreal quality that conflicts with its realistic style. This is, basically “the real world” which in the viewpoint of the Kingdom Hearts people would be “a world of fiction”. Strelitizia compares it to an afterlife for those, like the two of them, who came from other worlds. Sora is seen parkouring around, using his Keyblade as a grappling hook to get close enough to fight a massive Kaiju Heartless that somewhat resembles the Heartless Darkside and Invisible. As he fights it, two gentlemen in Organization XIII coats stand on a building watching him. (MoM and Luxu?) We then cut to Donald and Goofy walking through a dark place looking for someone to give them aid, but it’s clearly someone they’re terrified of. (Hades perhaps?)

Aside from this brief teaser, we know that Quadratum is based on the real-world Shibuya district of Tokya, Japan. We also know that Riku, MoM, and Yozora (and possibly Luxord!) are also in Quadratum. We know Donald and Goofy must somehow find their way there, or join Sora when he leaves for other worlds. Since it’s a Kingdom Hearts game, we know Sora won’t just stay on one world the whole time, so he must find a portal back to their universe… or perhaps Quadratum is split into multiple smaller worlds as well? It’s been revealed that Qudaratum serves as the hub world, so there’s definitely going to be more to explore. (Star Wars and Marvel-based worlds?) We know that the Master of Masters will be central to the plot, and possibly the new main antagonist. Yozora will be important as well, possibly the character we play as in the intro, like Roxas was in Part 2. We know that it’s the first chapter in the Lost Masters Arc, so this is likely going to bring Sora into direct conflict with the Foretellers and the Darknesses trapped within them. One thing to note is that it’s called an “arc” whereas the last portion of the series was labelled “saga”. Does this mean this will be a shorter Act?

One thing I did notice that may or may not be important is Yozora’s eyes. He has one blue eye and one red eye. All his tech operates with glowing red energy. So does this mean his left eye is artificial? Cybernetic? Who else do we know who only has one eye and no, I don’t mean Xigbar. Yep… Master of Masters. We have never seen his face but he did say that one of his eyes is in the No Name Keyblade. Does this mean Yozora is MoM? I don’t think so… but it’s an interesting parallel either way.

Aside from those games there is one more speculation that I haven’t touched on yet from Dark Road. Who was Eraqus’s grandfather? I believe it was Brain. They both have black hair and look similar. Although we only saw Brain summon his Keyblade once, we do know they both wield the same Keyblade— the Master’s Defender. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re related, as Keyblades change their shape based on their keychains and many people have been shown to wield the same Keyblades, but it’s one more clue. The big thing was in Dark Road where Eraqus quoted Brain’s words: “Darkness can hide anywhere, even inside someone.“ It was also stated in the Secret Reports that Eraqus was a descendent of the original Keyblade Masters. It wasn’t stated what happened to his grandfather, but it was strongly implied he fell to darkness. We saw Luxu at the end of Union Cross wearing Brain’s body and then he went on to use similar names… Braig, Bragi. Having your body taken over by a Lost Master would certainly qualify as falling to darkness, I would think.

On to Quadratum! (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

One last thing. This is something that occurred to me while writing this post… it hit me like a revelation, but I don’t know if it’s true or not, so for now it will have to be taken as a fan theory. There are a lot of confusing plot points that I have trouble reconciling in the series. How did Emblem Heartless exist before Ansem/Xehanort created them? How are the characters able to digitize themselves and freely enter data? And here’s a big one, although it didn’t really strike me as strange while I was playing through Kingdom Hearts 2 and 3: How were the Twilight Town kids able to remember their friendship with Roxas, which only existed in a simulation that they were not actively inside? See, their personalities and images were digitized by DiZ/Ansem the Wise in order to ease Roxas into being re-merged with Sora. And yet when they met Sora in KH2 and 3, they remembered Roxas somehow, or at least the feelings they had for him. Feelings that should have existed wholly in a simulation to which their real-life incarnations had no connection to.

It seems like anything and anyone can be digitized and pass between data worlds and the real worlds. In fact, this is where the entirety of Union Cross and much of re:Coded took place. The Grid (Tron’s world) is another form of data world and it’s real enough to have gone to sleep with the other worlds that were conquered by the Heartless. Quadratum, the world that will serve as the focal point of Kingdom Hearts 4 is considered a world of “fiction” and seems to have ties to the video game Verum Rex. Is this another data world?

Or… and here’s my theory… all of Kingdom Hearts takes place in a data world. That’s why there’s so much crossover and bleeding between simulations. Because it’s all simulations in one big simulation and perhaps Quadratum, the purported world of “fiction” is actually the real world that the simulations run in. Going into the Data World or the Realm of Dreams is like going another level deep in the simulation. When Sora sacrificed himself to save Kairi, did he wake up from the simulation that is Kingdom Hearts? Is it all a program created by the Master of Masters to practice on to either save or conquer Quadratum? And is Luxord, who seems to know more than he’s letting on and is obsessed with games, one of the only ones who knows they’re digital avatars? Was Yozora attempting to wake Sora up in the Secret Episode? I don’t know for sure, but it’s an interesting speculation.

Corrupted Kingdom Hearts. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

I guess we’ll see. At any rate, there is still a lot more to learn as the series enters its new phase, which is titled “The Lost Masters Arc”. The only confirmed games we know of in this arc are Kingdom Hearts IV and Missing Link. The latter will be another mobile title and fill in the time between Union Cross and Dark Road. It’s pretty clear that the former apprentices of the Master of Masters will play an important role in this phase and it seems as though the main antagonist will be MoM himself or the True Darknesses.

I am excited to see where the series goes now that the age of Xehanort is over. I won’t gush too much here since I have now spent 12 posts talking about how much the Kingdom Hearts series means to me. But it really is special to me, and that’s why I had to spend all these posts breaking it down and trying to get across my feelings and thoughts. This series has, for many years, given me so much entertainment, made me think and feel things, and inspired me. For all its confusing and unclear parts, for all of its convoluted plot that jumps across worlds and timelines and now even realities, Kingdom Hearts is a fun, deep, engaging series that continues to evolve and reinvent itself as it grows up. I will always love these games, and hopefully over the course of the Untangling series I have adequately gotten that across to you all.

Whew. That was a lot. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

Thank you so much for sticking with me through my extensive Kingdom Hearts coverage. I will, of course, have a Part 11 and 12 of this series for Missing Link and Kingdom Hearts 4, along with whatever other games and material we get for the series. (If Missing Link is anything like Union Cross, it may end up as another trilogy of posts.) But that’s all a ways down the road. For now we can take a long break from Kingdom Hearts coverage. But again, thank you for reading and know that I appreciate you all. I’ll be back soon with something completely different!

The end for now. (Credit: Square Enix, Disney)

066: SoraRabbit Watches: Doctor Who Season Four

066: SoraRabbit Watches: Doctor Who Season Four
064: Untangling the Kingdom Hearts Saga Part 9 (Dark Road)

064: Untangling the Kingdom Hearts Saga Part 9 (Dark Road)

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