The Meanings of Light and Darkness

[Dave 5,715]

I think the meanings of Light and Darkness has altered drastically from when Kingdom Hearts first began to where it is now.

 

In the first game, I took Light to be a blanket term refering to multiple virtues, such as courage, kindness, generosity, etc., and Darkness to be primarily concerned with corruptive forces in the spirit, such as greed, jealousy, anger. At least, looking at Darkness is this fashion explains Riku's arc in the game: aspects of his character while still in Light consist of a friendly rivalry with Sora, love and compassion for Kairi, and the desire to protect his friends. Once he starts to embrace Darkness, however, these traits begin to become corrupted: the rivalry becomes jealousy, love and compassion becomes a brooding obsession, and protection of others becomes giving himself a monopoly on power and force. It's not just a matter of "going over to the side of Dark," it's losing what it meant to be in the Light in the first place. Darkness as corruption also adds to the fates of the Disney villains: each of them fail to keep their hubris in check, and each fall as their ambitions and anger become exagerated, engulphing them entirely. By the same token, Light being the absence of this corruption and negative virtue is what makes Kairi and the Princesses good people: it's not because they're on the right side, but because they are devoid of any and all negative aspects which define the Darkness. At the end of the game, when Sora announces that Kingdom Hearts is Light, what he is refering to is the idea that there is one part of this universe which cannot be corrupted, and therefore Ansem, with all of his anger and hatred (negative emotions) could not bear to see it, and why Sora, with his kindness and courage (positive emotions), could.

 

But then, come further games, it seems that Light and Dark have become grossly simplified and made into concrete terms. King Mickey ponders why people fear the Darkness, indicating that Darkness has nothing inherently negative about it; Sora accepts that he and Riku will be the Darkness, as if there is nothing to fear; and Birth By Sleep has countless examples of Dark and Light being refered to as if they were arbitrary titles, simply refering to two factions in a feud. Light and Dark go from something abstract and symbolic to something grounded and simple. It's no longer about conflict within one's self, it's about conflict between seperate persons, very much a Light vs Dark rather than trying to control the Dark within yourself.

 

Discuss. No right or wrong answers, just something to think about.

[Jim 2,990]

I don't really have anything to add to this, except that I like this interpretation. Good job.

[BurningKey 13]

No no no. Your first idea is right. It became Concrete terms through evolution of the games. When Mickey pondered "Why we are afraid of the dark?", It's because His time with Riku has shown that you can't have the dark/shadows the brighten the Light. Riku was the only one who had to fight the Darkness inside him. It's always been light vs Darkness. Least thats what I think

[NightfallXIII 68]

Darkness, yeah!

[animemylove 439]

In the first title Riku never really embraced darkness, he gave into it and became corrupted by Maleficent. His anger and jealousy towards Sora began when Maleficent convinced him that his best friend had betrayed both him and Kairi and replaced them with Donald and Goofy. It was after the events with Ansem that Riku decided he would no longer fear the darkness within him and looked to find a way to control it.

BBS had the story about how the universe was born from light and how darkness arose from it, so I don't think they want people to believe darkness and light is the same as good vs evil. Even when Ansem opened the DTD and it was revealed to be light, the realm of darkness was right alongside it. Each side holds a story, even MX grew up as a fellow pupil of Eraqus so I like to see where the story unfolds.