What does this mean?

[Elfdemon_ 695]

I understand time travel in Dream Drop Distance for the most part, but there's always been this one thing that I don't really understand. in the game, we are told that the Robed Figure passed on the ability to time travel to Young Xehanort, so that Young Xehanort doesn't have to get rid of his body or something like that. I was confused as to how you can just simply "give" someone the ability to time travel, so I looked into it. I found a Nomura interview where he says this: "to transcend time one must ‘first’ discard their form. As a result of the actions of the Brown Robed Figure, they all were in a state where they had gained the power to transcend time. The Brown Robed Figure explains the facts. The thirteen were summoned at the same time, this time thanks to Young Xehanort who borrowed that power."

 

What does this mean exactly? Am I the only one who has no idea what he's saying here? Could it be the translation that's making it more confusing that it actually is, because I'm not sure what he's trying to say? It seems like he's saying that they all gained the ability to time travel because the Robed Figure was Xehanort reduced to just a heart, but how does that make it so they all have the ability to time travel? Sora and Riku have both been reduced to just a heart before, but they can't just randomly time travel as they please, they need Yen Sid's magic in order to time travel. I thought that you actually need to be a heart while you're time travelling, because that's what Yen Sid said, but Nomura's making it sound like all you need to do in order to be able to time travel is you have to have been just a heart once in your lifetime. That seems way too OP. Plus, it completely contradicts what Yen Sid said. Since this is the case, it makes me believe that's not really what Nomura's saying here, so is there any other way to interpret what he's saying?

 

EDIT: After doing some more digging, I found this in the KH Ultimania:

• "Discarded his body and became able to travel through time.
  
• Traveled back in time to the Destiny Islands and gave Young Xehanort some of his own power.
  
• Due to discarding his body and becoming the Robed Figure, all incarnations of Xehanort gained the ability to travel through time. However, the only ones actually able to do so were the Robed Figure and the one he had given his power to, Young Xehanort."
  

I guess it sort of works like how Keyblades work. Just because you have the ability to wield a Keyblade, doesn't mean you have a Keyblade/doesn't mean you know how to summon a Keyblade.. Similarly, just because you have the ability to time travel, doesn't mean you can time travel/doesn't mean you know how to time travel. And what the game really meant by "the Robed Figure gave Young Xehanort the ability to travel through time" is "the Robed Figure shared some of his powers with Young Xehanort".

 

So, it all makes sense...I guess? It "makes sense" in a very Kingdom Heartsy kind of way lol

 

EDIT: Just found this interview with Nomura. What he says he throws me back into confusion:

 

"Nomura: First off, when Young Xehanort made contact with the Brown Robed Figure, that is to say, the Xehanort who called himself Ansem, his abilities were transferred to him. As a result of Master Xehanort tossing his physical body, he was able to exceed time, and this power was carried into the Brown Robed Figure. Thus when Young Xehanort made contact with him, he gained this power. Possessing this power. Young Xehanort functioned as a “portal”, summoning Xemnas and Ansem each time they appeared. That’s why Young Xehanort was there whenever they appeared. Additionally, when Sora and Riku dropped into the worlds of sleep, simultaneously Young Xehanort himself goes into the world of sleep.'

 

I have no idea what Nomura is saying at this point. I really really really hope this gets cleared up in KH3.

Edited January 18, 2017 by Elfdemon_

[Felixx 6,646]

To gain the ability of Time Traveling you have to leave your body behind. Willingly.

Sora and Riku never did that, but Ansem SoD did. He traveled back in time then and gave Young Xehanort the power to time travel, so he can gather all the 13 Seekers of Darkness.

[neil98 313]

I think i just got it for the first time ever. See, when apprentice xeganort travelled back in time and gave young xehanort his power, this meant that all future young xehanort forms would be able to travel through time, but only the apprentice xehanort form would be able to travel through time, or else we'd have a paradox. And time itself is immovable and unchangeable. Its sort of like a loop: young xehanort gains the power of time travel to pass it on to apprentice xehanort, which makes apprentice xehanort go back to give the power to young xehanort. I dont know if i was clear with the answer, but for me nomura's time travel makes much more sense now.

Edited January 19, 2017 by neil98

[Elfdemon_ 695]

To gain the ability of Time Traveling you have to leave your body behind. Willingly.

Sora and Riku never did that, but Ansem SoD did. He traveled back in time then and gave Young Xehanort the power to time travel, so he can gather all the 13 Seekers of Darkness.

 

Sora did leave his body behind willingly though. When he stabbed himself with the Keyblade of heart in KH1 and turned into a Heartless. And it was never stated anywhere that you have to leave you body behind willingly to time travel, it was just simply stated you need to leave your body behind.

I think i just got it for the first time ever. See, when apprentice xeganort travelled back in time and gave young xehanort his power, this meant that all future young xehanort forms would be able to travel through time, but only the apprentice xehanort form would be able to travel through time, or else we'd have a paradox. And time itself is immovable and unchangeable. Its sort of like a loop: young xehanort gains the power of time travel to pass it on to apprentice xehanort, which makes apprentice xehanort go back to give the power to young xehanort. I dont know if i was clear with the answer, but for me nomura's time travel makes much more sense now.

 

I have absolutely no idea what you're trying to say.

[The Transcendent Key 12,109]

Yeah, the whole time travel aspect that Dream Drop Distance brought to the table can definitely be a bit confusing, but my two cents from it is that Xehanort, in this case, had succumbed to the darkness, so I believe that in tapping into this dark power, once he was reduced to just a heart, the darkness he attained was so great that he was able to transcend time and space, therefore assuming the role of the brown robed figure, then eventually meeting up with Young Xehanort.  With this dark power he obtained by succumbing to darkness, he passed it on to Young Xehanort so he could be able to travel through time and gather the splintered versions of himself from different timelines!  At least, that's what I got from it!

 

Yeah, I'm sorry if this just confuses you more!

[Headphone Jack 1,147]

it means nomura didn't think things out when he decided to throw in time travel into his story 7 games in. 

 

i'm guessing from his perspective it was the only way to get all the Xehanorts together but because time travel is such a tricky plot device to implement, he had to write it in a way that people couldn't just say "Well gee why didn't Sora just time travel back and stop this all from ever happening?"

 

Nomura had to make the rules so rigid that time travel would only really work in this one situation. i can't imagine they're going to bring back time travel is a large way in KH3 what with how it's written now.

 

he should have tied in time travel with the Realm of Darkness. we know time flows differently there so he should have made the RoD exist outside of time. have time flow forwards and backwards in there. Xehanort learns to use this to his advantage due to how close he is with the darkness and that's how he travels across time to find his past selves. this way we have a reason for why the heroes can't time travel (their light is too strong) and we don't need to learn rocket science to understand the plot. 

[Isamu Kuno 2,512]

I think the brown robed figure was able to transfer the power of time travel to Young Xehanort because they are, in essence, the same person. It may be that Young Xehanort is literally only borrowing the power of another version of himself and that the actual power itself resides in "Ansem", and as Young Xehanort has a body he can onky temporarily use the power, which would explain why Young Xehanort and those he brought with him eventually had to return to their own places in time while the brown robbed "Ansem" was able to exist outside his proper place in time for decades.

Edited January 19, 2017 by Isamu Kuno

[Elfdemon_ 695]

I think the brown robed figure was able to transfer the power of time travel to Young Xehanort because they are, in essence, the same person. It may be that Young Xehanort is literally only borrowing the power of another version of himself and that the actual power itself resides in "Ansem", and as Young Xehanort has a body he can onky temporarily use the power, which would explain why Young Xehanort and those he brought with him eventually had to return to their own places in time while the brown robbed "Ansem" was able to exist outside his proper place in time for decades.

 

Yeah, I think this is probably it. I really hope they clear it all up in KH3 though, because I'm pretty sure there isn't a single person who knows absolutely for sure how it all works.