Ventus is the hero and the true main protagonist of Birth by Sleep. Here’s why.

[Lann 10]

 We know ultimately that it’s all Three Terra, Aqua & Ventus. but Imo It’s Ventus.

1. the Game starts with Ventus as He Dives to the Heart (just like Sora and Roxas), and he’s mainly the Main controllable character in the Prologue.

2. Most artworks of BBS has Ventus sitting in the center

3. The story of Birth by Sleep is mostly about Xehanort wanting to forge The X-blade (Ventus) in order to take control of kingdom hearts. the only reason he even needs a younger body (Terra) is just to make sure he can see his plans come to fruition before his old body gives out.

4. Vanitas and the Unversed came from Ventus, Xehanort tasks Vanitas to spread his Unversed everywhere just to lure Ventus to the outside world, and it also forced Eraqus to send Terra and Aqua to the outside world as well.

5. Ventus has a big connection with Sora and Master Xehanort.

6. He’s at the center of every conflict, everyone is either after him or worried about him. Terra and Aqua trying to protect him, Eraqus is trying to dispose of him for the sake of the world, Xehanort wants him for his big plan, Vanitas wants to fuse with him to obtain the legendary χ-blade.

7. He saves worlds and many people on his journey, and he doesn’t leave any mess behind (similar to Aqua).

8. He Has the most epic flashy cinematic final boss battle among the Wayfinder trio.

9. His heroic sacrifice stopped the X-blade for good.

10. Ventus goes through character development and even faces his obstacles and conquers them, he faces Vanitas and succeeds in destroying the X-blade and ruins Xehanort’s plan (Terra meanwhile does also have some character development in his story, but he fails in conquering his obstacles and gets possessed by the villain and becomes the main antagonist of the Series. and Aqua is like the hero of the trio, but she doesn’t go through a clear character development until the sequel game 0.2, and also in her debuted game she like Terra, failed in conquering her obstacles cause she couldn’t save Ventus from the X-blade, and she let Xehanort roam free with Terra’s body)

Edited August 7, 2022 by Lann

[Guest 3]

yea i can see that, but everyone has different opinion, i see all three as equal protagonists, you play as all of them and each important in the narrative.

[Ventus_ 396]

I noticed all these points as well and while valid, I feel Terra is of equal significance to Ventus as he is the foundation of Sora's conflicts with all of Xehanort's forms (Ansam SOD, Xenmas and the complete Xehanort and his younger version etc.) and if I understand correctly, the ultimate source of Sora's and Riku's powers. Right? Terra bequeathed Riku as a child and Sora had intercepted his calling until he himself was chosen by the Keyblade in Hallow Bastian? At the very least he's the source of Riku's power. 

Aqua, while having a bit less of a direct impact on the overall series plot is something of a guardian character who ultimately assembled the 7 guardians of light by saving Kairi and giving her the pendent that transported her to Destiny Island and by sacrificing herself for Terra-Nort and Riku (saving Terra-Nort also had some obviously terrible consequences but it had to be done for Terra's sake). She's essentially the guardian of the guardians. 

Ventus might have been the center peice but ultimately, all three of them were puzzles pieces that set up the series. 

[Lann 10]

14 hours ago, Ventus_ said:

I noticed all these points as well and while valid, I feel Terra is of equal significance to Ventus as he is the foundation of Sora's conflicts with all of Xehanort's forms (Ansam SOD, Xenmas and the complete Xehanort and his younger version etc.) and if I understand correctly, the ultimate source of Sora's and Riku's powers. Right? Terra bequeathed Riku as a child and Sora had intercepted his calling until he himself was chosen by the Keyblade in Hallow Bastian? At the very least he's the source of Riku's power. 

Aqua, while having a bit less of a direct impact on the overall series plot is something of a guardian character who ultimately assembled the 7 guardians of light by saving Kairi and giving her the pendent that transported her to Destiny Island and by sacrificing herself for Terra-Nort and Riku (saving Terra-Nort also had some obviously terrible consequences but it had to be done for Terra's sake). She's esse

Ventus might have been the center peice but ultimately, all three of them were puzzles pieces that set up the series. 

that’s a fair argument, but I’m not talking about the entire series, I’m mainly just talking about this game BBS. Ventus fits the lead role of BBS the most out of the three due to all the Reasons and evidence that are presented in sight.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Lann

[Ventus_ 396]

6 hours ago, Lann said:

that’s a fair argument, but I’m not talking about the entire series, I’m mainly just talking about this game BBS. Ventus fits the lead role of BBS the most out of the three due to all the Reasons and evidence that are presented in sight.

I understand that the argument here pertains to BBS specifically, obviously Sora is the lead protagonist of the series as a whole but I was examining how their roles in BBS set up the series for Sora and Co as it's the reason for BBS's significance, their significance. 
Again, Ventus might be the center peice of BBS but all three are lead roles.  

[Lann 10]

5 hours ago, Ventus_ said:

I understand that the argument here pertains to BBS specifically, obviously Sora is the lead protagonist of the series as a whole.

Actually that’s not what I meant, I know each of the Wayfinder trio set up the series for Sora, but I’m not talking about their involvement in other games, I’m just merely talking about the plot of BBS as a sole game story, and just looking from each of their roles it’s Ven who fits the leading role the most.

but I do understand what you’re trying to say, all three are indeed the main leads of the game. and you do make fair points overall.

[ocean's rage 772]

technically a protagonist is the character who's perspective the story is told from. so a lead protag would be who ever was playable the most

[Lann 10]

6 minutes ago, ocean's rage said:

technically a protagonist is the character who's perspective the story is told from. so a lead protag would be who ever was playable the most

No not quite, a lead protagonist has many meanings, a lead protagonist also means an important character that drives the story (and Aqua doesn’t drive the story, she’s the least relevant of the three main characters in the story), a main protagonist also means an important person, Aqua meanwhile despite being playable the most she is the third wheel in terms of a story (also the final episode only have her one boss fight, she wasn’t more playable until the secret episode came out)

so no a lead protagonist isn’t just a character you play as the most, just look it up. but if this word is an issue then I’ll simply just change it.

[ocean's rage 772]

1 hour ago, Lann said:

No not quite, a lead protagonist has many meanings, a lead protagonist also means an important character that drives the story (and Aqua doesn’t drive the story, she’s the least relevant of the three main characters in the story), a main protagonist also means an important person, Aqua meanwhile despite being playable the most she is the third wheel in terms of a story (also the final episode only have her one boss fight, she wasn’t more playable until the secret episode came out)

so no a lead protagonist isn’t just a character you play as the most, just look it up. but if this word is an issue then I’ll simply just change it.

strictly speaking protagonist means "one who plays the first part, chief actor" in fact there are multiple kinds of protagonist. a character doesnt need to drive the story to be the protagonist, there is such a thing as a "supporting protagonist" a character from who's perspective the story is told but whom doesnt directly drive the plot. protagonists comes in many forms the only the main thing the definitions have in common is that theyre the one who the story follows. 

[Lann 10]

3 hours ago, ocean's rage said:

strictly speaking protagonist means "one who plays the first part, chief actor" in fact there are multiple kinds of protagonist. a character doesnt need to drive the story to be the protagonist, there is such a thing as a "supporting protagonist" a character from who's perspective the story is told but whom doesnt directly drive the plot. protagonists comes in many forms the only the main thing the definitions have in common is that theyre the one who the story follows. 

I guess each of the three Main characters can fit the position of a protagonist. But if I have to rank them on which category they fit on the most then this is how I place them...

Ventus = Protagonist (or main character?)  

Terra = Main character

Aqua = The Hero

Edited January 1, 2022 by Lann

[ocean's rage 772]

3 hours ago, Lann said:

I guess each of the three Main characters can fit the position of a protagonist. But if I have to rank them on which category they fit on the most then this is how I place them...

Ventus = Protagonist (or main character?)  

Terra = Main character

Aqua = The Hero

thats fair enough

i was trying to voice my own views i wasnt trying to start something btw

[Lann 10]

21 minutes ago, ocean's rage said:

thats fair enough

i was trying to voice my own views i wasnt trying to start something btw

No worries I know that wasn’t your intention.

[Dustin Lübbers 933]

He has for certain the most impact in the Future,while aqua and terra are off the playing field ventus is giving sora advice in the dive to the heart and is responsible (not on purpose but still) for roxas look and personality

[Lann 10]

3 hours ago, Dustin Lübbers said:

He has for certain the most impact in the Future,while aqua and terra are off the playing field ventus is giving sora advice in the dive to the heart and is responsible (not on purpose but still) for roxas look and personality

And dual wield, Ventus is the reason why Sora and Roxas Unlocked Dual wield (and Ventus is also the reason why the organization went to castle oblivion looking for him, basically lots of Lore involves/revolves around him)

[Ventus_ 396]

On 1/1/2022 at 8:02 AM, Lann said:

I guess each of the three Main characters can fit the position of a protagonist. But if I have to rank them on which category they fit on the most then this is how I place them...

Ventus = Protagonist (or main character?)  

Terra = Main character

Aqua = The Hero

Aren't all three of those labels the same thing?
Marriam-Webster's definition of a protagonist is: "an important person who is involved in a competition, conflict, or cause" or "a Principal character". 
Marriam-Webster definition of Principal: "most important, consequential, or influential"

On a larger scale, all three are supporting protagonists to Sora, and in that regard Ventus' connection to Sora does give him an edge but if we're going to be exclusive to BBS all three roles had equal principal.

Ventus could have been the controllable character in the intro because he had a familiar face since he's the source of Roxas' appearance and is the character we meet first as he is certainly the most complex of them. That's the reason he is my favorite. I don't believe we even meet the other two prior to the playable intro so it would have been awkward to have us suddenly controlling them.  

[Lann 10]

2 hours ago, Ventus_ said:

Ventus could have been the controllable character in the intro because he had a familiar face since he's the source of Roxas' appearance and is the character we meet first as he is certainly the most complex of them. That's the reason he is my favorite. I don't believe we even meet the other two prior to the playable intro so it would have been awkward to have us suddenly controlling them.  

KH2 had us control Roxas despite us not knowing who he is, so no I don’t think they went with Ventus first because he looked familiar. they went with him first mostly because of his important role in the story and his history with Xehanort. and also his connection with Sora (diving to the heart and forming a connection with him) is what starts off the game.

but again I’m not disagreeing with you, I agree all three are equally main protagonists, but to me Ventus sticks out more due to all reasons listed above.

Edited January 5, 2022 by Lann

[Keyblade070 5]

I totally agree.

Edited July 9, 2022 by Keyblade070