I thought I would never say this but…

[Iscreamer1 100]

I’m starting to think that 358/2 Days could have worked without Xion based on the observations of this user TheJackSage on YouTube among others. See if you can answer the three questions in this image to prove them wrong.

[ocean's rage 772]

1: i believe xion was brought forward via time travel like many of the others. having developed her own heart separate from sora she then was merged with the repilca sending her controlled past self back 

2: namine was being manipulated by marluxia to control sora. where as xemnas wanted xion, theres no indication that xemnas ever needed namine

3: xion was created as a back up should they be unable to control roxas. so theyd have a keyblade wielder regardless. 

[Movies798 1,358]

1.) Vexen had already created replicas (puppets) for the Organization 13 during his time when he was Nobody, and he already written his notes about his research before his death in Chain of Memories. Plus, Vexen created Riku-Replica so it makes sense that he already created Xion. He's a mad scientist after all. And Namine said that after she put Sora to sleep in Twilight Town most of his strongest memories of Kairi were leaked, and they found it's way into Xion. That's how Xion is connected to Sora because she was original faceless puppet until she unknowingly inherited Sora's memories. And because she inherited Sora's memories Xemnas had plans to use her as a fail-safe.

2.) Xemnas was only using Namine due to her connection to Sora because her ability to control Sora's memories. He was using Namine as a way to make Sora a puppet, and make him his slave as one of vessels for Master Xehanort. Plus, Xemnas put Marluxia in charge of Namine after he assign him Larxene, Vexen, Zexion, and Lexaeus to Castle Oblivion. However, Marluxia had plans of his own. Marluxia began using Namine for his plans to control Sora's memories and to take over Organization 13. Marluxia's plans was to use Sora his puppet to take control of Organization 13 and overthrow Xemnas in Chain of Memories.

3.) Like I said in Question 1 Xion was created as a fail-safe just in case both Sora and Roxas were not useful to Xemnas's plans for the Organization. Xemnas's plans was to use 13 members of Organization 13 to become vessels for Master Xehanort. They were going to divide Master Xehanort's heart into 13 pieces, and place them into 13 vessels so they can turn them into Xehanorts. Xion was created as a back up plan if they fail to use Sora and Roxas as Master Xehanort's vessels for The Real Organization 13.

[SweetYetSalty 330]

I was going to answer but It would mostly be what Movies798 already said. But I'll do it anyway XD

1.) Basically everything Movies798 said. The notes that created Xion still exist. The Xion in the KG was essentially a 2.0 body. 

2.) I don't understand this question. Namine had nothing to do with the Replica Program and none of Xemnas's personal plans ever needed her. Namine was a Marluxia project for his own goals.

3.) Because Replicas were the Organizations biggest pet project outside gaining hearts. It might seem redundant now because literally everyone has a Keyblade, but back in the early days of KH Sora was the only Keyblade Wielder around, so cloning him for that power was smart. If one Sora breaks down for the Organization another takes it's place to keep the job going, just like in a office building with multiple computers. And when Organization XIII got rebranded in DDD and KH3, the Replicas surpassed Nobodies in terms of importance. The only reason it didn't take off with the original Organization is because Vexen was killed early.

Edited December 7, 2021 by SweetYetSalty

[FadedSparkle 18]

Days definitely could've worked without Xion. Primarily because if what they wanted was to tell a story of another two boys and a girl trio they already had a female in the Organization to tell the story with in Larxene. Imagine how much depth the story could contain if they had to write Roxas coping with the death Larxene after the Castle Oblivion mission if she had been in Xion's place in the Seasalt trio instead of Xion. This would also have added more weight to Axel having to ensure the traitors to the organization didn't come back from the Castle Oblivion mission in that he'd be having to ensure that Larxene, now a friend wasn't coming back even if this would ultimately be helping another friend Saix/Isa out (as we now know from information revealed in KH3).

On the front of keyblades after Vexen's death they would still have had Repliku's data available to mess with, essentially being able to make as many copies of him as they wanted. He could then wield a Kingdom Key for them en masse and even if he for some plot contriving reason couldn't wield that every time Soul Eater is used against a heartless it does the same thing a bonafide keyblade does releasing the captive heart so the organization could still have used him for collecting hearts for their artificial Kingdom Hearts.

[ocean's rage 772]

45 minutes ago, FadedSparkle said:

Days definitely could've worked without Xion. Primarily because if what they wanted was to tell a story of another two boys and a girl trio they already had a female in the Organization to tell the story with in Larxene. Imagine how much depth the story could contain if they had to write Roxas coping with the death Larxene after the Castle Oblivion mission if she had been in Xion's place in the Seasalt trio instead of Xion. This would also have added more weight to Axel having to ensure the traitors to the organization didn't come back from the Castle Oblivion mission in that he'd be having to ensure that Larxene, now a friend wasn't coming back even if this would ultimately be helping another friend Saix/Isa out (as we now know from information revealed in KH3).

On the front of keyblades after Vexen's death they would still have had Repliku's data available to mess with, essentially being able to make as many copies of him as they wanted. He could then wield a Kingdom Key for them en masse and even if he for some plot contriving reason couldn't wield that every time Soul Eater is used against a heartless it does the same thing a bonafide keyblade does releasing the captive heart so the organization could still have used him for collecting hearts for their artificial Kingdom Hearts.

well no that wouldnt have work cause larxene was a merciless sadist who cared about no one. what sense would it have made for her to suddenly be friends with roxas. it doesnt fit with the character

that ones incorrect as well. just having the information on the repilca project doesnt mean theyd know how to use it and make more. this is proved by the fact that the real organization had to re recruit even as vexen in order to use the replicas again. it is made very clear that only vexen knew how to make the replicas so that scenario wasnt possible either

[FadedSparkle 18]

Let me ask you something then, the character of Axel as we knew him in Chain of Memories did he make you think he was friend material for Roxas? He was pretty messed up too. The rest of what you said that mostly makes sense as laid out within unfolded canon. Although I don't buy into no-one other than Vexen being smart enough to figure the replica data out and consider it more of KH3's over abundant plot contrivance than anything else that only Vexen knew how to make them. And I'm actually waiting on KH to pull something just for plot's sake where another character randomly knows how to make replicas (likely even better than Vexen). At this point nothing will surprise me about this series.

Edited December 9, 2021 by FadedSparkle

[ocean's rage 772]

11 hours ago, FadedSparkle said:

Let me ask you something then, the character of Axel as we knew him in Chain of Memories did he make you think he was friend material for Roxas? He was pretty messed up too. The rest of what you said that mostly makes sense as laid out within unfolded canon. Although I don't buy into no-one other than Vexen being smart enough to figure the replica data out and consider it more of KH3's over abundant plot contrivance than anything else that only Vexen knew how to make them. And I'm actually waiting on KH to pull something just for plot's sake where another character randomly knows how to make replicas (likely even better than Vexen). At this point nothing will surprise me about this series.

Axel was never as cruel as Larxene. he fought sora sure, but he never tortured him nor enjoyed manipulating him so much. its not a reasonable comparison cause there is a lot of difference between the two characters. 

the replica stuff isnt about being smart enough to understand it, its about a field of expertise. in the same way cant expect a micro biologist to be able to work in the field of quantum physics you cant expect someone who never worked on the replica project to be able to understand it 

[SweetYetSalty 330]

Larxene in the Sea Salt Trio? The only way that would have worked is if it was a parody of Days in the first place and played up for laughs. Like when Larxene dies everyone remembers all the bad times they had with her in the Organization and all the times she put everyone down while playing sad music in the background. It would make a perfect parody if Larxene was in Xion's place, Demyx was in Roxas's place, and Lexaeus was in Axel's place as they sat on the clocktower. When Larxene dies in Demyx's arms he can say "Larxene, who else will compare me to a cereal bowl?" comedy gold right there.

In all seriousness Larxene could never fill that role. As stated she's a sadist who only cares about herself and putting others down. Roxas could never form a "healthy" friendship with her that wasn't played up as a joke.

[FadedSparkle 18]

I distinctly remember that in the Days video game when they send everyone out on missions with Roxas to essentially show him the ropes of the ins and outs of the Organizations daily dealings Larxene actually treats him alright when its her turn. She treats him  almost like an older sister with a kid brother she's not necessarily happy to deal with but not unhappy to have to deal with either. Also the way that Axel kills Vexen especially in ReCoM is super brutal. I don't think there's that huge of a stretch to friend material between him and Larxene especially if they started to explore the Elrena side of Larxene's personality early in Days vs in Union Cross which I don't know nearly enough about given I could really care less about Union Cross but I doubt she was also a Sadist back then.

Also a question about the replicas themselves. They look like store-bought mannequins in their vessel form and all we have to go off of for how they then become proper replicas is that they get data inserted into them that serves as the heart and that data allows them to take on the form of the person their source data came from. None of this sounds like it requires any kind of higher education or special degree. And I'm still banking on someone being able to do it better than Vexen without any so called experience in any special field just because of plot reasons because this is KH where plot contrivance is very very real.

Edited December 12, 2021 by FadedSparkle

[ocean's rage 772]

41 minutes ago, FadedSparkle said:

I distinctly remember that in the Days video game when they send everyone out on missions with Roxas to essentially show him the ropes of the ins and outs of the Organizations daily dealings Larxene actually treats him alright when its her turn. She treats him  almost like an older sister with a kid brother she's not necessarily happy to deal with but not unhappy to have to deal with either. Also the way that Axel kills Vexen especially in ReCoM is super brutal. I don't think there's that huge of a stretch to friend material between him and Larxene especially if they started to explore the Elrena side of Larxene's personality early in Days vs in Union Cross which I don't know nearly enough about given I could really care less about Union Cross but I doubt she was also a Sadist back then.

Also a question about the replicas themselves. They look like store-bought mannequins in their vessel form and all we have to go off of for how they then become proper replicas is that they get data inserted into them that serves as the heart and that data allows them to take on the form of the person their source data came from. None of this sounds like it requires any kind of higher education or special degree. And I'm still banking on someone being able to do it better than Vexen without any so called experience in any special field just because of plot reasons because this is KH where plot contrivance is very very real.

yeah one mission, with contempt. hardly friendship material. if anything for larxene it was just another reason to betray the others. besides you forget the parts where axel admits he doesnt like being the originization's assassin (what did you think he meant by icky jobs) yet larxene took pleasure in what she did. its not an apt comparison at all.

you forget about the bit where they say the replicas are incomplete and they need vexen to upgrade for the time traveling memebers. the blank replicas we see in kh3 are the upgraded and fined tuned versions. it doesnt matter if they knew how to transfer the hearts into the replicas or not cause they didn't know how to finish the replicas for the time traveling hearts. 

[Ventus_ 396]

1. That whole thing is a bit convoluted and my understanding is vague at best but if I am at all correct, Roxas contracted some of Sora's memories, specifically those of Kairi and through him they somehow settled inside of a doll or was it another person? In either case, she therefore didn't need Sora's memories to exist as she had existed without them at some point before I believe. Maybe?

I had thought she was a manifestation of those memories hence her facial resemblance to Kairi but I've been watching this Youtuber who did a KHIII prep playthrough/watchthrough of the entire Story So Far series (excellent series, this guy I believe is a professional video game animator, he knows what he's doing and is very entertaining) and am just finishing the Days portion which has been a huge memory refresher. I haven't had anything to do with Days since I watched the movie in 2.5. Granted I am still a little lost as to how Sora's memories got involved in Xion's creation as it doesn't seem as though the organization intentionally pursued them but I am getting more of an accurate gist at least. I think.

2. Namine was used to control Sora's memories whereas Xion was created as a fail safe should the organization lose Roxas, as only a Keyblade wielder could collect hearts. 
Namine can't use a Keyblade that we are currently aware of therefore she couldn't have served the same purpose Xion did and was otherwise occupied manipulating Sora. 

3. See 2 above. Plus this:

On 12/7/2021 at 7:35 AM, SweetYetSalty said:

Because Replicas were the Organizations biggest pet project outside gaining hearts. It might seem redundant now because literally everyone has a Keyblade, but back in the early days of KH Sora was the only Keyblade Wielder around, so cloning him for that power was smart. If one Sora breaks down for the Organization another takes it's place to keep the job going, just like in a office building with multiple computers. And when Organization XIII got rebranded in DDD and KH3, the Replicas surpassed Nobodies in terms of importance. The only reason it didn't take off with the original Organization is because Vexen was killed early.

The Keyblade is the most powerful tool in the universe and again was necessary for the organization to collect hearts. Pre-BBS, Sora, Riku and Mickey were the only wielders still around but Sora was the one creating a spectacle of it and being an amature despite his impressive feats he was the most manipulatable somewhat similar to Terra.