bambii

Woah, this is awesome!

Never thought anyone would come close to Nimoy, but then along came Christopher Lloyd. They’re neck-and-neck for me, Lloyd really knocked it out the park and gave Master Xehanort new life and energy IMO. In some ways, I prefer Lloyd’s spin because he dials down the deviousness ever so slightly in favor of whimsy and a hint of levity, which is a dimension to MX’s character that I enjoy.
Hauer was OK but slightly disappointing—he lacked the gnarled sense of mischievousness that’s core to Master Xehanort’s character. Made MX sound a tad tired and worn out. 

Leonard Nimoy will always have a special place in my heart as the OG Xehanort, but Christopher Lloyd absolutely nailed it in ReMind and Melody of Memory. He is an outstanding replacement and I wish they got him before Rutger Hauer, tbh. No disrespect to the man and may he rest in peace, but I was never a fan of his portrayal. 

With the recent release of NEOTWEWY, I've been thiking a lot about how Ishimoto's music sounds different across different franchises, and why that might be- I've recorded a new episode of my podcast where I go over how Ishimoto went about making some of his music for NEO and share some very sincere opinions of whether I feel he is a good composer or not. Hopefully this video will show that while I am critical of Ishimoto, there is nothing wrong with enjoying his music, and why I think it's important to pay attention to where certain elements from people's music can originate from!
 

Who knows? But for the last 8-10 years, we tend to get news related to Kingdom Hearts in the month of June around E3 (which has become a standard since the Kingdom Hearts III E3 announcement teaser in June 2013 and especially the KH3 Orchestra Trailer back in June 2017), during Tokyo Game Show in September and Jump Festa in December, so It's possible we might get an announcement trailer/teaser related to the next new KH game this year with a release in 2022, as next year is the 20th Anniversary of the first KH game and the Kingdom Hearts franchise as a whole.

Whether it be around next month during E3 2021 which coincides around the time the final chapter of Union χ ends or during TGS 2021 is up in the air, but I wouldn't rule out KH related news completely. The ONLY times we didn't get KH-related news was back at E3 2011 (since they wanted to save most of Dream Drop Distance's info at TGS 2011) and especially TGS 2017 & Jump Festa 2018 (Due to the release of the D23 KH3 Toy Story Trailer back in July 2017 and we didn't get brand new KH news until D23 Japan 2018 in February 2018 7-8 months later). Plus, we usually get a new KH game every 1 to 2 years in between going by the release pattern of every KH title.

Yea, I think it's definitely meant to be happening simultaneously with or around the same time as when the Dandelions are fighting Darkness in the data world. The other key indicator here is that flashback scenes in Ux are usually (always?) framed with a vignette effect/dark border, which is not the case in this scene.

*Spoilers* for the most recent Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] update.
 

 
So, many people are very confused as to when the scene of Luxu and Darkness' conversation took place. There are, however, already clues as to when it occurred.
(I should point out that this scene takes place in the real world, as the room is not damaged like the data world.)
First, the rightmost lifeboat is missing, meaning that Maleficent already left. Thus, the scene must have started not too long after Maleficent departed.
The other clue is what Luxu said:
From the conversations between the Master and Luxu, we know that Luxu is sincerely and very concerned about the Dandelions. The Master allowed Luxu to watch over them, and from the Kingdom Hearts III Secret Reports, we can discern that he's been watching the Union Leaders' every move. From the aforementioned line, Luxu observed the Union Leaders' meeting with Darkness, as he quotes how the Darkness described its relationship with the Master to Ephemer and co; it says he is an 'old friend'. 
With these two clues, we can estimate that the Luxu-and-Darkness scene took place after Maleficent left and after Darkness said the Master was a friend. But a question that will surely arise is: did this occur while the Union Leaders' were still fighting Darkness? Well, from Luxu's concern about the Dandelions and Union Leaders', I think we can safely assume he watched the whole event; from when Brain, Skuld, and Ephemer first started discussing the Darkness inside Ven, 'till after Ven's strike at Darkness (and who knows, there might be more action happening after Ven's move, so Luxu could've waited to see what occurred next). I think. 

Going chronologically:
KH1’s Hollow Bastion’s labyrinthine structure and puzzle mechanics stay with me even after 2 decades. Hard to beat.
KH2’s environments aren’t particularly noteworthy, but Twilight Town and TWTNW absolutely nail a sense of place-making. They’re both highly believable and immersive locales. I would’ve liked to spend more time in them.
Can’t say I remember BBS’s maps well enough, as I haven’t actually played it in some time.
DDD’s Symphony of Sorcery may well be my favorite KH world in terms of design and mechanics. It’s an absolute joy to explore, and everything from the musical sound fx replacing normal attack fx, seamless integration of flowmotion into its vast and vertical environments, and the way new areas open make it pretty magical IMO. I also love DDD’s take on TWTNW, it’s so vast and surreal.
KH3 - Toy Box takes the cake. Really imaginative, varied, makes you actually feel like a kid in a toy store. 

ReMind’s Scala also set a new marker for the franchise in terms of sandbox exploration IMO, though I feel like they could have done a little more with it mechanically. The traversal railways are really neat though.
EDIT: I just remembered Space Paranoids, that definitely belongs here. The Grid is pretty rad too.

Going chronologically:
KH1’s Hollow Bastion’s labyrinthine structure and puzzle mechanics stay with me even after 2 decades. Hard to beat.
KH2’s environments aren’t particularly noteworthy, but Twilight Town and TWTNW absolutely nail a sense of place-making. They’re both highly believable and immersive locales. I would’ve liked to spend more time in them.
Can’t say I remember BBS’s maps well enough, as I haven’t actually played it in some time.
DDD’s Symphony of Sorcery may well be my favorite KH world in terms of design and mechanics. It’s an absolute joy to explore, and everything from the musical sound fx replacing normal attack fx, seamless integration of flowmotion into its vast and vertical environments, and the way new areas open make it pretty magical IMO. I also love DDD’s take on TWTNW, it’s so vast and surreal.
KH3 - Toy Box takes the cake. Really imaginative, varied, makes you actually feel like a kid in a toy store. 

ReMind’s Scala also set a new marker for the franchise in terms of sandbox exploration IMO, though I feel like they could have done a little more with it mechanically. The traversal railways are really neat though.
EDIT: I just remembered Space Paranoids, that definitely belongs here. The Grid is pretty rad too.

Halloween Town KH2 - I loved seeing how they recreated one of my favourite films in Kingdom Hearts. I really like how they matched the locations in the film and for the parts that weren’t in the film they definitely fit in with the rest of the world. I also really the idea of Halloween Town and Christmas Town atmosphere being complete opposite of each other while still being apart of the same world and not feeling out of place.
The World That Never Was-I just like everything about the design of this world and it actually hard for me to think of one specific thing I liked as I really liked all of it.
KH3 Tangled world - It’s just so much fun to explore as the environment looks really nice.
KH3 Pirates of the Caribbean world - I think the underwater parts were really well designed and I really like how explorable the parts where you were on the sea travelling to all the different islands felt.
KH3 Keyblade Graveyard and Scala ad Caelum - I just love the design of both of these worlds and how they definitely suit the role of being the final two worlds of the game as the worlds atmosphere feels like it really matches the situation that is happening.
KH3 Final World - Although there wasn’t much in this world the environment just looked really pretty.
 

Going chronologically:
KH1’s Hollow Bastion’s labyrinthine structure and puzzle mechanics stay with me even after 2 decades. Hard to beat.
KH2’s environments aren’t particularly noteworthy, but Twilight Town and TWTNW absolutely nail a sense of place-making. They’re both highly believable and immersive locales. I would’ve liked to spend more time in them.
Can’t say I remember BBS’s maps well enough, as I haven’t actually played it in some time.
DDD’s Symphony of Sorcery may well be my favorite KH world in terms of design and mechanics. It’s an absolute joy to explore, and everything from the musical sound fx replacing normal attack fx, seamless integration of flowmotion into its vast and vertical environments, and the way new areas open make it pretty magical IMO. I also love DDD’s take on TWTNW, it’s so vast and surreal.
KH3 - Toy Box takes the cake. Really imaginative, varied, makes you actually feel like a kid in a toy store. 

ReMind’s Scala also set a new marker for the franchise in terms of sandbox exploration IMO, though I feel like they could have done a little more with it mechanically. The traversal railways are really neat though.
EDIT: I just remembered Space Paranoids, that definitely belongs here. The Grid is pretty rad too.

As the title says, what are your favorite worlds in terms of the design? Not factoring in story or characters, purely the environments you walk around in and sometimes interact with. Maybe it's just really fun to wander around in, or it's a faithful recreation of your favorite Disney film. Perhaps it's ambitious in terms of what you can do or how you move about.
Dream Drop Distance is quite good at this, with the help of reality shifts. The Grid where you can manipulate coding (and the code that appears upon completion of the reality shift makes logical sense in computer terms), or Symphony of Sorcery's unique soundscape and the way Melody Catcher opens up new paths. Atlantica, mainly the first game is a world I admire the ambition in because while the underwater controls and combat aren't entirely intuitive, it's at least ambitious and makes the areas more three dimensional without resorting to platforming. Not to say that platforming is bad, but swimming offers variation. For sheer size and beauty, the Caribbean. It properly feels like exploration and you immerse yourself in the islands and the water. The islands are visually distinct, it's not the same basic asset copy and pasted for quantity over quality.

There have been significances of colors in the Kingdom Hearts series, such as the distinct gold. If someone had golden eyes, one could immediately assume they held a fragment of Xehanort or were of the darkness. 
One particular character's eye colors stand out. This character, Yozora, has the condition heterochromia iridium; one of his eyes is blue and the other is red. I've heard people saying that it may be because in one of the trailers of the cancelled Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Noctis's eyes turn from blue to red. That could be a reason, but there could also be something else. There have been two occurrences of red in Kingdom Hearts III and Re:Mind. 

This is when Young Xehanort blasts Sora into the game of Verum Rex in Toy Box. I've recently been wondering: why was the color of the force Young Xehanort used red? It could have easily been the color of KH darkness. 

This is during the Armored Xehanort fight when he does that meteor attack. The red can be seen on the No Names and inside the keyholes.
Wait a sec...why are the eyes red??? The Master of Master's eyes are red....
The strange thing about these scenes is that they both have to do with Yozora's [seemingly] home world: Quadratum. Young Xehanort blasts Sora into the world of Verum Rex/Quadratum, which is where Yozora comes from. And, the scene with Armored Xehanort has to do with the Kingdom Hearts III Secret Ending. In this attack, he strangely summons a moon. If the player were to turn around, they would see Kingdom Hearts on the other side in the sky. That phrase, 'on the other side', has been used in Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory to describe the world of unreality/fiction, which is what Quadratum is a part of. But that phrase can be used to describe the placement of the moon in that battle. The moon, then, could have a connection to unreality. In the secret ending and in Quadratum, the Master of Masters makes a heart shape with his hands at a moon.
Edit: I just realized that the meteors are only on the side of the moon; they're never on the side of Kingdom Hearts. Also, the sky in that battle has a setting of a night sky. Speaking of Yozora...(whose name means 'night sky')
This red also reminds me of something else: the Reality Stone from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It shares the red color.
(For those of you who don't know anything about the MCU, the universe in the MCU is made of seven stones, one of them being the Reality Stone, which represents the fragment of reality)
Nomura wanted (I think, I'm not sure) to have the MCU in Kingdom Hearts, but it didn't work out because of complications between companies or something. It wouldn't really be surprising if he 'inputted' an MCU element, right? 
This red, which seems to symbolize reality/unreality, could have some significance in the future. Maybe.
 

Whether it's in the form of Roxas or The Other Promise, one thing is true-- if there's one theme in this franchise that everyone loves, it's this one. But what makes it work, and how do all the different versions across the years set each other apart? Who were the musicians besides Shimomura who contributed to building some of its most iconic renditions? What is the legacy of Roxas's theme when it comes to the music of Kingdom Hearts as a whole?
Today, I'll be going through the answers to all of these different questions!

Hey people,
I hope this isn't against the rules, but I just wanted to drop a vanity post to say that my book, Melodies of Life: A Final Fantasy IX Retrospect and Analysis, is out now in paperback. The kindle edition is open to pre-orders, and will be released 31/01/2020. (links at the bottom of post)

I thought I'd drop the contents breakdown here, so if you're interested in checking it out - you have an idea of what you might be in for:
 
  Contents:
 
A Voice From the Past, Joining Yours and Mine...

Foreword

Introduction

The Party

Plot Summary

What it Means to be Alive

Authenticity & The Artificial

Either You Do, Or You Don't

The Iifa Tree & The Angels of Death

Identity & Autonomy

Raison D'être

Vivi: Golem Among Golems

The Genomes With Soul: Zidane, Kuja and Mikoto

Garnet x2 (or x3 or x4!)

A Knight's Duty

Lost & Forgotten

Music & Narrative

Echoes, Reflections and Foreshadowing

Not Alone

Melodies of Life

Something to Protect

The Storybook Motif & Nostalgia

Legend, Lore and Callbacks

Life's a Play, The World a Stage

Who's the Bad Guy?

Hierarchy & Rebellion

Decadent Jesters

The Will to Live vs. The Will to Power

Et Tu, Kuja?

Life Cycles & Internal and External Conflict

Gaia & Terra

Eternal Life/Strife

Existentialism: The Reality of Mortality

Love, Fealty & Self-Determination

Relationships

Why These Characters Work (And Work Together)

Romance

Personal Influence

Respect

Camaraderie

And So it Goes, On and On...

Afterword

A Few Things You May Know...

Acknowledgments


Thanks for indulging me, and I hope this of some interest! A lot of work went into it, and any feedback/criticism is welcome. I am going to take a nap now....

US link: https://www.amazon.com/Melodies-Lif...keywords=jamie+L+cruise&qid=1611656028&sr=8-2
UK link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08TS5DY7B/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1611577360&sr=8-2
DE link: https://www.amazon.de/dp/B08TW5GTM2/ref=sr_1_2?__mk_de_DE=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&dchild=1&keywords=jamie+L.+Cruise&qid=1611656250&sr=8-2

 

I think this makes perfect sense. In truth, what are all the Disney worlds our beloved characters romp through but actual children's storybooks come to life? They can be read over and over, with the same fundamental structures of plot in place but with variations based on who "opens" the book (or, in KH lore, who travels to that "world"), which could be understood as a metaphor for the imagination and the imaginative process. It's no coincidence that many of the same Disney worlds keep appearing time and again, with the same essential stories playing out as though on loop (e.g., Wonderland, Agrabah, Neverland, Enchanted Dominion, Dwarf Woodlands, Castle of Dreams). This idea is beginning to be addressed/confirmed in Dark Road with all the talk of how different worlds have their own temporality and rules/laws. 
I've always thought that the Book of Prophecies was a variation on that same theme, only at a higher meta/narrative level: treating the story of Kingdom Hearts *itself* as an in-world storybook (hence: Unreality, World of Fiction, blah blah blah). Re:Coded also plays on the same theme with Jiminy's Journal and I think this was clearly meant to be a subtle nod/foreshadowing of the future of the series. Maleficent even directly realizes and makes note of this connection between Jiminy's Journal and the Book of Prophecies. Union Cross makes this all the more explicit by literally imbuing the Book of Prophecies with the power to project these storyworlds (as projection in χ and as data in Union Cross - which Maleficent confirms, saying it's said the Book has the power to "conjure." It's the power of the imagination/fiction, folks!).
So yeah, good catch. I think the opening of DDD is 100% a play on this very same idea. It's also no coincidence that in the same game, we have that scene between Young Xehanort and Sora in which YX points out how Sora has relived his visit to Traverse Town time and time again, in many different ways. The fundamental/archetypal "storybook" of Kingdom Hearts itself is opened and closed then reopened over and over - in memory, in data, in dreams, etc etc. 

So several months ago I started Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. And I noticed in the opening that Sora and the others pop out of books. When I first watched this several years ago(on Youtube lol), I thought the appearance of these books seemed out of place. But now it reminds me of Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]. The medals in Union χ[Cross] are physical manifestations of power from the future created by Moogles through the Book of Prophecies. And if you've ever played Union χ[Cross] and purchased(with jewels not real money) a medal banner in the shop, a little cutscene of a Moogle appears with the Book of Prophecies. The pages of the Book fly out and one of them transforms into a medal, similar to how Sora and the others pop out of books(Sora pops out of a picture of himself which was on a page). So anyway I went to rewatch the opening of DDD and paused the video to observe the pages and there was a picture of Ven, Terra, and Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard from BBS on one side of the page and world story descriptions of Enchanted Dominion, Neverland, and something else, which was cut off from the screen, on the other side, but these describe the story of these worlds during BBS. This is the Neverland one:
I saw other world descriptions on the other papers but most were too small to read. 
The scattered pages assemble and return to a book. IT IS A BOOK OF PROPHECIES!!! The pages describe the story of the characters' journeys!!! In Union χ[Cross], Ephemer describes the Book of Prophecies as a sort of pop-up book and guess what? The book in the DDD opening opens as a pop-up of Destiny Islands!!! Also, it makes complete sense that there are pictures; from the glimpses seen of the Book in Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, there are pictures of a Darkside, the Emblem Heartless symbol, the Kingdom Key, a Shadow, and more which are all from the future! 
I thought this was a cool discovery and just wanted to share it! 

Hm. That's possible. It's really hard to figure out what it means. I remember seeing someone assume that the wave represented Riku because of the waves that appear in the other openings. But I think that the light Sora started chasing after was probably supposed to be Riku and/or Kairi, not the wave itself. Sora reached out for Riku's hand in the other openings, but then the wave tore them apart. It feels like there's something antagonistic about it.
In general, water has been used a lot of ways throughout KH, so I can't say that it has one meaning above all others. One could say it's flexible... Ever-changing... As ambiguous as the MoM himself. (I rest my case. lol)
If it was just a tutorial, that would be a lot less confusing, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the "tutorial" part really is something that actually happened. But the question is... WHEN did that scene happen? In another world line?
On a tangentially-related note... I can't wait to find out what happened to Ephemer. I heard someone suggest that Sora might be Ephemer, and, like, I... can't... say that they're wrong?? I'm curious what it means to "become unchained." Does it have something to do with reincarnation? Did Ephemer and the Player just... transcend?? Is that what the MoM did, too? Did he really go "Time to take a break!" and yeet himself into his next life???

It's time for me to decode more things. *poses*
I promise this is relevant to everything I've been talking about and you're going to enjoy it.
When Luxord shows up in Re:Mind and starts talking about goats and letters, he's making a reference to the children's song Yagisan Yubin.
Translated, the song goes like this:
A letter arrived from Mr. White Goat,
But Mr. Black Goat ate it.
Mr. Black Goat had no choice but to write a new letter.
"What did the previous letter say...?"
A letter arrived from Mr. Black Goat,
But Mr. White Goat ate it.
Mr. White Goat had no choice but to write a new letter.
"What did the previous letter say...?"
It's a song that never ends. Yes, it goes on and on, my friends. Each letter asks for what was written in the previous letter, so they're eternally getting farther and farther away from the contents of the first letter.
When you read Xigbar's character file story, it becomes a little clearer what Luxord was probably implying with that analogy.
(Translation from Cherrim.)
First is the almost word-for-word repeating of Demyx's line from KH2. But secondly, and most importantly, it sounds like Xigbar's talking about "maya." In Hinduism, maya is the illusion that prevents people from seeing the truth of reality. The illusion encompasses everything from physical form to sensation to consciousness itself. Dispelling the illusion is necessary to reach enlightenment.
Xigbar seems aware that there are things he doesn't understand. He knows that he lost the box, obviously, but he doesn't understand why or how. Since he doesn't understand, telling anyone else to look for it is pointless. It's the blind leading the blind. Xigbar's like Mr. Black Goat sending the worthless return letter.
I was watching Jujutsu Kaisen and I heard one of the characters use the phrase "black box" to mean "something we aren't even equipped to understand." Pretty sure that's what "black box" means here. Will this help us figure out what's IN the box? Probably not. lol Just thought it was interesting.
Moving along. I became curious about how music might be related to this. After all, Nomura said that the abbreviation of "Melody of Memory" is supposed to make us think about the MoM. (But the MoM wasn't IN the game...) In the context of the game, since the game is like one big recap episode, I think it might be implying that the series itself was "composed" by the MoM. (The characters are literally running along a music staff, so the metaphor seems a bit on the nose, imo.) But I wanted to figure out what significance music holds for the MoM himself.
Basically, why does Demyx have a sitar?
It always seemed like an odd choice of instrument to me, but maybe it's not that strange anymore. The sitar is a classical Hindustani instrument used for meditation.
Here’s a quote from one of the world's most renowned sitar masters, Ravi Shankar:
That fits so perfectly, it makes me suspicious.
I still feel like the Gazing Eye is connected to darkness, so I think it may have come from Darkness, but there's another possibility I have in mind. (And I guess it's also possible for the two possibilities to coexist.)
If there's anyone who can look at the box and "understand" what it really is, I'd expect it to be the guy who's been vibing out this whole time. Also, I just gotta say, Demyx has a lot of forehead real estate. Perfect place for a third eye.
Like Vexen said in his own story, there's a difference between being smart and being wise. There are limits to knowledge. Vexen was held back by the limits of what he could learn from books. That was another type of illusion. He thought he was wise, but he only knew a lot of facts. He discovered that "fools" like Sora and Demyx are the ones who are actually wise.
When Demyx's line from KH2 appears in Xigbar's story to characterize the black box, that seems like a metaphor to me. You can't judge the box by its appearance the same way you can't judge Demyx by his appearance. Which is to say, "Demyx" is an illusion. He's like the black box. The fact that Demyx knows that you can't apprehend the real truth of a thing by using your eyes is a big flag to me. At this point, that seems like a "This guy knows things even if he doesn't know that he knows things" flag.
Like the MoM said, he could be so many things. If he (metaphorically???) embodies the illusion that veils reality, then of course it's impossible to tell anyone who he is or what he's like. Each person's eyes will determine their own truth. Speaking of which, I feel like the English translation was a little Eh on that one line from Re:Mind, so here you go:
自らの目で見た事実だけを真実とすればいい。
"The truth doesn't have to be more than the reality each person sees for themselves." Or like, "It's okay if the truth is just the reality each person sees." Orrrr, "Only the facts each person sees with their own eyes needs to be the truth."
Wow, I just looked back at what the localization was and that's actually way different. rip. But basically... Most of the time, you aren't questioning reality, right? And that's fine. I think that's what he was saying. Then again, I've thought of multiple interpretations for this line, so it could be a self-demonstrating line. lol "Let it go, Xehanort-kun. Not everybody needs to understand the crippling truth of reality~ Whatever you think is true right now is sufficient~"
Will we ever know what MoM/Demyx is really like...?
Of course. Sora's a fellow fool, so he'll be able to see the truth. He already did. He called out Demyx's ruse. I find it Quite Interesting that Sora hasn't encountered him since then. Hasn't even heard about him. (tbh, I don't think Sora even knows Demyx's name. LOL)
Time is another illusion. In Xigbar's story, he also asks the reader to question when certain events happened throughout the history of the series. There's a good story in this video (53:58) about maya that seems to illustrate the same point. This could be how the MoM performed that trick where he suddenly "warped" behind Luxu without visibly moving. I think they both perceived time differently. Seeing through the illusion of time, the MoM probably calmly moved himself behind Luxu. Fooled by the illusion of time, Luxu was unable to perceive the moment between point A and point B.
Xigbar more or less states that time isn't linear??? I try not to think about that because... it's exhausting. I just tried to write an explanation of what I think it means in context, but... *shakes head in confusion*
Anyway. If nothing else, I hope everyone appreciates the fact that I found a way to make sense of this nonsense whether it's correct or not. lol

Hey everyone! It's been a while since the previous episodes, but I was fighting to release the best result against all odds haha. This one was really fun to record and Bio and Aeba were amazing guests! In this episode we go a bit off-rails and talk more about the game side of melody of Memory, and rather than just talking about the new music in it, we focused on talking about how the music-gameplay was handled and our thoughts on the game as a whole. I hopey ou enjoy it! Below is a trailer for the episode to pique your interest, and then the episode itself


(Also, just in case this gets shared on twitter: I'd prefer if it got tagged with @GlassOstinato , which is my account for Sound Ideas stuff uwu)

I briefly mentioned the Nox Suzaku before (aka, "the Darkness of the Dominion" or however you want to translate its original name), but there's a lot more I could say about it.
The Nox Suzaku is exclusive to Type-0. I mentioned that it's an entity from another world. It seems like it was attracted to the world of Orience because of its war - particularly, because of the amount of death it causes. When a living creature dies, it releases "phantoma", which is like soul energy. The average person doesn't know about phantoma, but Class Zero know about it and are able to harvest it... Kinda like Lux. So whenever you kill any living person or creature, you can extract the phantoma from their corpse.
Eventually, the Nox Suzaku will start stealing ALL of the phantoma before you can collect any of it. At which point, you either have to find it with the airship and fight it or... Keep feeding it phantoma until it's satisfied.
So, that........... gives me some thoughts...
Like, what IS the importance of Lux?
Class Zero collect phantoma because Mother can use it to repopulate the world after it starts over. At the end of the world, the Rursus slaughter everyone because (short of acquiring Agito), Gala intended to use the influx of soul energy to reveal Etro's Gate. The latter sounds very keyblade war.
I'm not sure what's what here... But I'm feeling something.
Anyway, LOOK AT THIS!

(Name is "The Extinguished (Jack)")

Here's a better look at the model. There's one for each cadet. I'm just using Jack as an example. The aesthetic makes me think of the Anti-Black Coat and the Darklings combined.
When you engage the Nox Suzaku, you're sucked into its void. Inside the void are the souls it's consumed, and some of them appear to be the souls of the cadets from previous cycles. (Well, that's just a theory. But what ELSE would they be??) In the game, they look like transparent SP units, but the Ultimania shows the unused models that were supposed to be there along with all of their stats.
Kinda freaky to think about there being cycles where the Nox Suzaku captured the cadets and turned them into those things...
You can only fight the Nox Suzaku on your second playthrough. It shows up at the beginning of the game in the first playthrough, but then it kinda disappears forever... But then it comes back in your second playthrough and becomes a constant menace where it's always trying to steal phantoma. And it's all unexplained!! There's no explanation for this thing!! It has NOTHING to do with the plot!!
In Terra's character file story, he talks about what happened to him after Xehanort took over his body...
(Translation from Cherrim.)
Sounds like the Nox Suzaku's void if you ask me. The game calls the area inside of it "Abyssal Darkness." I forget what it was called exactly, but the water in the Realm of Darkness where Aqua fell in and turned into Dark Aqua has a similar-sounding name, though it's only mentioned in the Japanese version. YMX seems to be talking about the same place when he tells Sora what will happen to him if he abuses the Power of Waking.
*Petscop clap sfx* "A void that only takes in grief and suffering"... *looks at Demyx's story where he talks about only wanting to do things he finds enjoyable* ...Hm. If nothing else, I would say that the natures of Demyx and Vanitas are diametrically opposed. Not sure if there's something else there... Suspicious.
There's this one interpretation of the Nox Suzaku that I really enjoy, which is that it's called the "Darkness of the Dominion" because it's literally an accumulation of Rubrum's own darkness. The reason it's so powerful is because it's been feasting on the souls of all the people killed by Rubrum. It's not called "the Darkness of Milites" or "the Darkness of Concordia." Regardless of its origins, it's RUBRUM'S own personal darkness now. It won't leave them alone and it's threatening the whole world now because tHEY JUST CAN'T STOP KILLING PEOPLE.
tbh, fighting the Nox Suzaku is so hard, I personally find it easier to just let it keep stealing phantoma from me. When I did that, it made me think about the MoM's "truce" with Darkness again. Like, should I feel bad for letting it take these souls? lol I got tired of fighting it, though. It always comes back. You can't permanently defeat it. I feel like the Nox Suzaku would start calling me its "friend", too, if I started willingly feeding it souls to keep it away...
I'm not even kidding when I say that the game suggests this as a VIABLE COURSE OF ACTION.

Go ahead! SEE WHAT HAPPENS! lol The thought of the MoM sacrificing kids to Darkness to appease it is both terrifying and kinda hilarious. Maybe it started with Lux from Heartless and then got out of control...?
So, idk if this one is just a coincidence, but I could see KH's Darkness being a combination of Gala and the Nox Suzaku.
Hey, speaking of darkness, there's this one quote I found from Agito. I don't think there's more to it. Pretty sure this is it. But it gives me serious questions.
Haha whaaaat... What do you MEAN they're of "synonymous existence"...? You can't just drop a line like that on me and shut the game down!!
Anyhow, I'm a little hesitant to believe that the Nox Suzaku is involved in the khux recipe because it's not in Agito. But I'm also not going to count it out, especially when it seems SO suspicious. It's helpful to have all the pieces even if some of them don't end up fitting the puzzle. (Sorry, that metaphor doesn't make sense, but you get the idea.) Now if we find out that the MoM has been sacrificing kids to Darkness to maintain the status quo or something, you won't be surprised. The possibility is there~
I can't really end this without showing you what the Nox Suzaku looks like.

Its heads look like phoenixes because Suzaku is a phoenix. Its legs are spiderlike. Its, uh, interior?? is filled with eyes... And the whole deal is held together inside a cage made of red gears. I don't remember if this was just a theory or something official, but I remember hearing that it might look this way because it was trying to mimic something familiar to the world of Orience. It tried to look like Rubrum's phoenix, but.......... Good Lord.
IN CONCLUSION...

When speaking of the location itself, I feel like Scala is something new. I'm just not as sure about it as I am with other things. I ran around there a lot, looking around for things that might tip off my Agito radar. There are only two things I feel faaairly sure about.
First, there's the obvious, which is the clock tower underwater. When the world ends in the Agito universe, the island with Akademeia is shown sinking into the ocean. Surprisingly, this is something you can see happening in the very first Agito XIII trailer as well. The artbook illustrates it this way:

"Light fell/rained down from the heavens and the world fell to ruin..."
To me, it sort of looks like what Luxu stayed behind to witness with the Gazing Eye. In the Agito universe, when the world starts over, it literally starts over and everything gets restored to the way it was before, but since it seems like new worlds just replace old ones in Kingdom Hearts, it's like Daybreak Town sunk and stayed sunk and a new world was built on top of it.
All of the magic circles used in the Xehanort fight remind me of things from Type-0, though none of them are exactly the same. For instance, this one looked so much like something from the fight, I got confused and thought it actually WAS a Kingdom Hearts screenshot. lol

But it's not. It's from when Arecia summons Bahamut during the fight against Celestia's dragon form. Point is, though, I feel like there's something going on with the way Scala is built and controlled by magic. Like, it doesn't feel like a real place to me, if that makes sense...? The way it can be manipulated seems strange and reminds me of Alexander.

Alexander starts out underground, but when it's summoned, it flips upright. In the scene where it's summoned, a whole bunch of magic circles appear in the sky. Like, I could be totally wrong here, but since the summoning of Alexander is such an iconic scene for Type-0, it just wouldn't surprise me if Scala ad Caelum is some kind of "living" place that can move and become something completely different in a similar way. Scala ended up getting totally destroyed in the fight against Xehanort, but if it's controlled by magic like Akademeia is, it could probably be restored in some very simple, magic-related way. At the beginning of Type-0, Akademeia is brought to a similar state of ruin, but Arecia is able to fix it right up.
The other thing that really catches my attention is this:

This is from that weird machine at the center of Scala with all the dials. This seems like a reference to Tempus Finis to me. During Tempus Finis, the view of Akademeia from Pandaemonium looks like this:

I've seen people speculate about what the black part underneath the clock tower might be, since it does kiiind of look like it's trying to be something. If it is something, it reminds me of how the Vermilion Bird statue looks during Tempus Finis.

So, if nothing else, I think we can assume that the Daybreak Town setting on the machine is represented by the way it looked at the end of the world. I hope this means we'll get to see Salsa Night in khux. lol
This is also a very important thing at the back of my mind, but I just don't know what to do with it... When you first meet Xehanort in Scala ad Caelum, his image sort of flickers or glitches out. The same thing happens again in Melody of Memory. On a similar note, when he uses the No Name to raise up the labyrinth in the Keyblade Graveyard, there are glowing lines in the ground that seem to activate like circuitry. When you begin the fight with Yozora, the Final World also transitions into Quadratum in a very digital style which assuredly wasn't just a "cool transition." I don't want to say that everything is fake, but......... I think that everything (literally everything) is a game, so reality is relative for everyone. I think Yozora might have been confused about Sora because he also thought that Sora wasn't real. If Sora's name is like "Agito", then hearing someone say "Yeah, I'm Sora" would sound like a ridiculous lie. YOU'RE Agito? Even though the Agito cadets are trying to become Agito, most of them think that Agito is just a legend or something figurative. Heck, many fans come away believing that Agito is something figurative, but Tabata was like "Nah, it's a real person. lol"
In fact... And this is very sad... Unlike Luxu, Lean and Tohno were never given the promise that they'll accomplish their mission. They spend eternity looking for Agito, always aware of the possibility that Agito might not even be real.
Anyway, there's a chance that Brain and the others never actually left Data Daybreak Town. We'll have to see. But if that's the case, it could end up meaning a lot of things about the nature of the world we thought we knew this whole time.
There could be more than one Judge, but where Xehanort is concerned... Miyu may have been possessed by Gala, but she was still consciously working for Arecia's side. Instead of letting Darkness choose someone at random to manipulate, I think the MoM chose to send Xehanort down that path so he would have someone of his own choosing in that position. Xehanort wanted to start the world over for his own reasons, but if he succeeded in "raising" Sora up to a level where Sora could defeat him, then that would be the outcome the MoM was hoping for. Xehanort was basically like a really intense challenge to turn Sora into the world's savior. That's why the MoM asked Xehanort if it was okay to let the future be dictated by false light.
That's actually another reference. Time for another tangent.
Each of the main cadets occupy a "seat of power." (I know, interesting word choice...) As I mentioned, the true Agito is "The Power of Bonds." Jack is "The Power of Ignorance" and Lean is "The Power of Suffering." Arecia thought that she could create Agito by combining all the other powers, but that obviously wasn't going to work. I think you could say that anyone who doesn't have Sora's ability to form connections and use the Power of Waking the particular way he does is a "false light" who can't save the world, no matter how much they want to.
I think Xehanort might have more in common with Cid Aulstyne, who was also a Judge. But you get the idea.
Apart from the true Agito representing hope, I don't think hope was ever mentioned anywhere else in a significant way. I also haven't seen anything that even remotely looks like the box. Xigbar's character file calls everything about the box into question, even its appearance. He implies that it might not be black. It might not even be a box. I'm not sure if he was just trying to make a point about how reality is subjective or if he means that the box can LITERALLY look different. lol
Yeah, I'm still stumped. My best guesses include... A Crystal. The Book of Prophecies. The MoM's heart. And, uhhh yeah that's all I've got. *shrugs*
Oh boy, this just reminded me of something I noticed.

In the scene where the MoM tells Luxu about his past, there's a crimson-colored table with a golden gear on it. I know it might look like "just a gear", but that's part of the emblem of Rubrum. It's a very specific gear, and those are the school colors.
Then I noticed that that table isn't there anymore by the time Ventus and the others reach that room. It looks like it was hiding something underneath it. There's another gear symbol on the ground, like a hatch or an elevator panel.
The MoM was able to make everyone forget about the war somehow. In the Agito universe, the Vermilion Bird Crystal controls a power called "the Oblivion of Death" which erases the memories of the dead from the living. The Crystal is kept in the Peristylium. We never see where it's located exactly, but they say it's "under Akademeia, underground."
I think that might be a hatch to the Peristylium. If the MoM DOES have a Crystal that can control memories, that would totally be something you'd want to lock in a box. The Crystal is sentient, but it's defenseless, so it needs people to protect it. For that purpose, it can turn people into l'Cie and grant them extreme power. However, l'Cie are bound to the Crystal and can't save the world. It's a dangerous double-edged sword. (In this world, l'Cie are highly respected and it's considered an honor to serve the Crystal.)

This is the Peristylium. You can also see it in the first Agito XIII trailer. Ace walks right up to it and activates the machine in front of it by placing his thumb on a sensor. This isn't something the cadets are even allowed to go near in Type-0, so....... Its original purpose is a mystery to me.
Listen, there's something under that table. And I think it's a Crystal. LOL
They actually do mention that other worlds exist outside of their world! But we don't get to see any of them. lol Apparently the Moogles were summoned from another world and weren't able to return to their world for some reason. The Nox Suzaku (which, in Japanese, is literally called "The Darkness of the Dominion") is a veeeeeeeeeeeery strange and mysterious creature that came from another world. Fans have been desperate to find out more about it for as long as the game has existed...
I think that Game Central Station might be more important than we realize. And I think that the Dissidia display in Toy Box might've been more than just a reference. My thoughts go in so many directions where that's concerned...
Since the world started over so many times in Agito and was never saved, I could see this being one of its many cycles. (Pretty sure "cycles" and "world lines" are the same thing.) I can't really prove that that's NOT the case. lol
This is getting long and I have to eat at some point, so I'll come back to elaborate on Strelitzia's connection.

2.4.2022: I've collected all of the most relevant information and put it into one comprehensive doc.
It's 95 pages,  but it's an enjoyable ready if I do say so myself.
This is going to include a lot of Final Fantasy Agito and Type-0 spoilers. Probably no Melody of Memory spoilers? I'm going to dissect the MoM's identity at length. idk if you could interpret that concept as a spoiler, so... Use your discretion.
Like Final Fantasy Versus XIII which became Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy Agito XIII became "Final Fantasy Type-0." The game was part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series and was meant to serve as the "ancient past" of Versus XIII. Needless to say, that never came to be the case when the Fabula Nova Crystallis was broken apart.
In 2014, a mobile game called "Final Fantasy Agito" was released. It followed the original concept of Agito XIII. It was discontinued in 2015 without reaching its proper ending and the Vita port which had been planned was cancelled for reasons unexplained. The game is now a piece of lost media, but Japanese transcriptions of the main story as well as various screenshots of character events still exist online. I've taken the liberty to translate the whole main story on my tumblr blog (nanakibh) and I've been trying to translate as many of the character events as I can find, but a lot of it is just gone and will probably never be seen again.
In a sentence, the game is about a war that continually ends the world.
This is going to take a little while, but I'm going to explain the whole thing. Because why not? You need to know this. I'm tired of seeing people not know this. Feel free to tell your local YouTube Men about this so that everybody can know. It's gonna be a while until the next game, so I wanna save you some time thinking about theories that go nowhere.
The MoM did a fairly decent job of spoiling the ending of Agito when he told Luxu about his past. I've seen people try to squint and apply it to things we've already seen in Kingdom Hearts, but... No, that was really a word-for-word description of stuff that happens in the climax of this story.
In the world of Agito, there are Agito cadets, candidates who aim to become "Agito", the name of the legendary savior of the world. Which is to say, (Phil voice) they all wanna be HEROES. The cadets attend a school on an island. The school, town, and island are collectively known as Akademeia. Akademeia is in the country of Rubrum.
Time for a little tour of the most khux-relevant places.

When you arrive at Akademeia, you'll see a fountain in front of you. It's a common meeting place for students. Many conversations are held here. At the center of the fountain is a phoenix, "the Vermilion Bird", the animal symbol of Rubrum. Each country is represented by one of the four mythical Chinese beasts. You know, like Unions. Though, I think that each cadet class is more along the lines of being what Unions are. They're all kind of competing and working towards the same goal. There are thirteen cadet classes with 0 being the most auspicious and 12 being, like, the loser bin.
When the Player joins Akademeia, they're welcomed into Class Twelfth. In the first world, Tohno and Jack are members of Class Twelfth.

When you enter the main hall, there's a prominent clock. What's it for? I don't know. But time is a very relevant symbol. I can tell you right now that time is a lie.
  
I've pointed this out before, but I'm bringing it back. It's always worth bringing this back. This is a window from the Chancellor's room, located on another floor of Akademeia that the player can't access. You can see it in cutscenes in Type-0, most notably the opening sequence. It's the same design as the Daybreak Town clock tower. If more people had taken this as the clue it's clearly meant to be, we could've all solved this a lot faster. Come on, folks, there are more games in the FNC than just Versus XIII. lol You can also find this design in the artbook.

Another variation of the design is found at the back of the classroom. The classroom is where lectures are held, but it's also where students frequently have to meet to receive mission briefings. There are also hearts on those banners. *shrugs* Because sure, why not. Kingdom Hearts.

Behind the classroom, there's a garden. That's where you'll find Deuce, tending to her flowers. She grows special white flowers that mean "the arrival of happiness" and "reuniting with someone you love." Familiar concept.

Behind the garden is the cemetery where they bury those who die in the war. That's where you'll usually find Tohno, a mysterious girl with long black hair. When the world ends and starts over, everyone forgets, but there are a few who remember, and she's one of them. Her memories are of great interest to the resident scientist, Kazusa. (She's the "Skuld" one, clearly.)

Out on the terrace, you can see the whole town down below. That's where you'll always find Jack, standing in his signature pose with his hands behind his head. This is who we're looking for! This is the boy!! Ahhh, what a cutie. If you couldn't already tell, he looks a lot like Demyx. He also has the same voice actor in Japanese.

See, conceptually, it's just... You get it? Yeah. Nomura's a funny man.
The final battle that ends the world also happens to take place on that terrace.
Final Fantasy Agito begins at the start of the first war. Type-0 takes place in the 600+ MILLIONTH world, so Agito's really goin' all the way back to the beginning.
Just when it looks like the war has come to a close, the sky suddenly turns red. Mysterious creatures appear from nowhere and begin slaughtering everyone indiscriminately. No one knows what they are. Monsters? Soldiers? Nobody knows. And they're never given any answers. Because they die. (God, I recommend reading this part the most. I cry every time, especially in the third world when Lean is with them... The hopelessness is real.)
At that time, Jack is the only one who notices that there's something wrong with Miyu, the Cadet Representative, the girl who acted as the cadets' leader.

Alas, even if he'd spoken up sooner, that wouldn't have changed anything...

Miyu had been possessed by an unknown entity. The entity (Gala) is never given a name in Agito. It's just referred to as just "???" When it isn't possessing someone, it looks like formless darkness. In Type-0, Gala has a masked form similar to Vanitas, but he has no form in Agito like Darkness.
Miyu was transformed into a type of l'Cie known as the "Judge." The Judge's Focus, also known as a "role" (seriously, it's the same word in Japanese), was to conduct trials to test whether the real Agito (the savior of the world) had been born in that world. If they hadn't, it was the Judge's job to end the world and make it start all over again in the hopes that Agito would be born the next time.
Eyes are a symbol of the Judge. They're all over the place in the final dungeon of Type-0. In Agito, the Judge's l'Cie brand appears over their eye.
The Judge is different every time. So, say, even if Jack managed to remember that Miyu was the one who became the Judge, he would've been wrong about who the traitor was in the second world. Ace was the one who got possessed instead. Tohno had her eye on Miyu, so she was totally thrown off guard when it turned out to be Ace.
I've got a lot of thoughts about Darkness here, but I'm gonna keep them to myself and continue with the story.
So just a quick recap: Miyu is the traitor of the first world. Ace is the traitor of the second world. I know that's just two worlds, but it's a lot to think about.

Corporate needs you to find the difference between these two images.
Ace shares a number of similarities with Ventus, so seeing him getting possessed by Ye Olde Unknown Entity is kind of amusing. Ace was known as "the one closest to (becoming) Agito." In a Kingdom Hearts sense, that's gonna make sense in a second and should illuminate the reason why Ventus is so special.
Anyway. Even if they defeat the Judge, it isn't enough to prove that they have the power the Judge is looking for - the "Power of Bonds", a power that connects people together. (It's Sora's version of the Power of Waking. Like, you get it, right?) Supposedly, the power can reveal the gateway between the mortal world and the Unseen Realm. The only person who has that power is the Player, but... Well, I mentioned that this game was discontinued, right? So the Player is never able to use their power.
By the way, don't get the Agito Player and khux Player confused. They're totally unrelated. I sense no connection. I'm pretty sure that Sora is supposed to be the Agito Player because, like, he changes destiny. That's why he's so Special And Important to Xehanort and the MoM.
So you see, the entity and the cadets both want Agito. For the entity, Agito's power can help them reach the Unseen Realm. For the cadets, Agito's power can free them from their destiny of war.
The war basically exists to find Agito, so........ I wonder how this info would make Sora feel.

Jack is Very Angery that he can't become Agito. But he kind of resigns himself to that fact pretty quickly and decides that the world he'll protect is "the world within the distance his blade can reach." In the worlds to follow, he just straight-up says NAH, WE CAN'T DO IT. In Type-0, it's unclear, but in Agito, it seems pretty obvious to me that he's that resigned because he remembers what happened.
Final Fantasy Agito was supposed to "rewrite" the ending of Type-0 where Class Zero all die. But since the true Agito never arrived to save them, you can assume that they were trapped in a continuous spiral of war forever. More specifically, Tabata said that he wanted "the past to save the future." Sooo... Isn't that KH3?
Lean and Tohno put on cloaks and step outside of time in search of the one who could overwrite the world's destiny of destruction. So, now you understand why Luxu encouraged Sora to use the Power of Waking, right? Lean and Luxu had the same mission. I feel like I could write a whole post just about Lean because he's a very entertaining dude. Suffice it to say that he's the perfect combination of young Luxu and older Luxu. He's the "token evil member" of Class Zero. (Depending on how you look at it, they're all evil.)
Since they didn't have the time to reach the proper ending, Player doesn't succeed in becoming Agito, but Lean expresses his belief in them.
Luxu seems weirdly fixated on Sora and Ventus's eyes and I think this is probably why. Their eyes have the "light of hope." When Xehanort referred to Sora as their "hope" I was like THERE IT IS!
Now, back to our boy Jack.
He's interesting because he's one of the few who seem to remember the things that happened in previous worlds. I unfortunately don't have it, but by the third world, he has an event called "Say, if there were other worlds..." in which he almost assuredly talks about what he remembers and what he's probably figured out about the nature of the world.
Jack is determined to keep everything he knows to himself, though. He doesn't want anyone to worry. As a result. he ends up losing his ability to feel emotions.
This explains a lot of things, but it also makes him sound so sad........ Jack is always easygoing and cheerful, but apparently that's just an act. The reason why he acts so cartoonishy over-the-top must be because he's overcompensating.
I feel like this would explain why the MoM sounds legit morose when Young Xehanort talks about how he feels it's important to understand the emotions within hearts. (Is this why the Book of Prophecies emblem looks like a Nobody emblem...?) The fact that Jack can't understand emotions is one of the reasons why he fails as an Agito candidate and can't save the world. He can't form genuine connections. The only one who can connect with him is Player, and, as I've said..... That'd be Sora.
I don't know the context behind Player making Jack feel anger, but we sure have already seen Sora make Demyx display anger. Everybody's gotta start somewhere. They started on the wrong foot. lol
btw, the character events are known as "Kizuna events." Kizuna means "bond." So, literally, it's an event where the Player forms connections with characters. There's a little timed section where you would rapidly tap a heart to earn kizuna points, and the heart looks like THIS:

Is Kingdom Hearts Agito or is Agito Kingdom Hearts? Who can say, tbh.
Anyhow, I think that having no emotions might also be smart for the MoM. In the case of khux, Darkness can possess people and manipulate them by using their emotions against them. If the MoM doesn't have emotions, Darkness can't use him.
When they were little, Jack brought back Deuce's smile by doing a silly dance. Ever since then, she trusted his optimism. In the novels, she finds out that his smiles are fake and it makes her feel like everything she knows is a lie. Likewise, he believes in her kindness, but she secretly doesn't believe she's really as kind as people think she is because she has to kill people in the war. So, y'see, MoM and Ava both admire something fake about each other. It's disastrous. *chef kiss*
...Have I mentioned the band yet? I HAVEN'T MENTIONED THE BAND. God, I'm sorry. There's just so much going on here. It's hard for me to even tell where to start.
I don't have the full scene, but I have enough to know that it sure did exist. lol Jack enlisted Player's help to find people who would form a band with him. It seems like he really wanted to call himself "Angel Jack" as his stage name. Kinda ironic, but cute. I'm not sure what instrument he played in this world, but in the alternate ending world of Type-0, he plays drums. Theoretically, he could've played a different instrument in every world.
I'm also very amused by the fact that Jack is canonically the strongest cadet. Possibly the strongest human character. For real, it says this in his profile, and the Ultimania shows his strength stat going to the edge of the grid. lol
He mastered the blade -- Jigen-ryuu sword style in specific, a style that focuses on beheading the enemy with one powerful downward strike across the neck from the shoulder. The style teaches that one should ALWAYS keep their blade sheathed to avoid killing at all costs. It's not a style made for long, sustained battles. Jack acts like a coward, but............ Rest assured, if he wanted someone dead, they'd be dead. He just can't do anything in between. It's all or nothing.
He's most useful for taking down large enemies with a lot of HP. He does have one special move called "Transience" (JP, "Transient Crimson Blizzard", evoking the image of a shower of blood.) that can instantly wipe out a whole field of smaller enemies, but it costs him everything but 1 HP. For that move, he plunges a hand into his chest to grab his heart and forges a phantom blade in his other hand out of his SOUL. One of his profiles says that he avoids using that move in front of others because he knows how it would make them worry.

idk, I think this more than explains how the MoM forges keyblades. lol
Battle of a thousand Heartless? u are like little baby, Sora, watch THIS. *kills all the Heartless and frickin' dies*
Since he isn't built for running around, most of his other moves involve watching and predicting the enemy's movements to deliver 1HKO's. When he counters, he excitedly shouts, "I predicted that!" (The word he uses for "predicted" combines the kanji for "seeing" and "cutting." Neat.) The original Japanese names of his counter moves are "Clear Mirror, Still Water" and "All-Seeing." The localized names are incorrect. Don't trust them.
Yozora's fighting style seems really similar to Noctis's, so I'm going to guess that MoM's similar to Jack. So he's a glass cannon. But battles with him would probably be frustrating and short. I would expect to die a lot. Frequently. I hope he stays "on our side", like Demyx told Riku. lol 
He's part of the idiot trio; him, Cinque, and Nine. They're all a different type of idiot. Just by reading what I already posted, I think you can tell that Jack isn't actually stupid, though. He can erase things from his mind. Having an empty mind is actually really important for his technique. Jigen-ryuu incorporates "munen-muso" which means "no desire, no thought." The idea is that the body can move freely and react more quickly when unencumbered by the processes of conscious thinking. On the battlefield, he's an emotionless murder machine!
This is cute, so I feel like sharing it. His fear of Queen is amusingly similar to Demyx's fear of Saix in the KH manga.
Queen also happens to be a berserker... Interesting. She's also the one who seems like Invi, so now I'm just going to be waiting for Invi to go feral.
This reminds me of another very relevant similarity...
Jack is a frequent practitioner of the tactical retreat. Most of the time, if he shows up in someone else's event, he causes problems and then exits by running away.
Usually, the problems he causes lead to GOOD things happening. That's why nobody outright hates him. He's not trying to do bad things just to mess with people. In most cases, he's actually trying to do good things. It's just hard because he doesn't have real emotions and he doesn't know what's appropriate. It seems like Seven is among the few who figured out what's going on with his emotions, so even if she's strict with him, she's sympathetic.
Now, as for the rest of the Foretellers.
Consider the following...

Deuce, The Power of Kindness
Deuce is the aforementioned friend of Jack who spends her time tending flowers in the garden. Fellow lover of music. Her weapon is a flute. She's known for being kind and docile, but she can also be firm. Because of how close she is to Jack, she's one of the few people who can break through his act and really make him be serious. Jack mostly keeps a watch on her from a distance, probably because he's afraid of hurting her. He encourages Player to be her friend.

Eight, The Power of Tranquility
Eight is a discerning lad who likes to visit the garden occasionally to check on Deuce. One time, he stepped on her flowers and he was just about ready to commit seppuku to atone for it. Seeing her cry is just too much for him to handle. Nice guy, but can also be a bit of a snarky asshole, especially towards Nine. He's known for being the calm, rational one, but once he thinks he's right, his judgement gets clouded by his own prejudices.

Nine, The Power of Action
Nine is a big questioner of authority. Strong but stupid. Always acts before he thinks. If Jack has a stupid plan, he makes Nine take the fall for him. In a way, I'm totally not surprised by how things turned out for Aced. Even the way the MoM acts a little annoyed with him is so... Jack. Yeah. I feel bad for him. At one point, Nine stands up for himself and actually tells Jack that he won't let him use him, but it totally goes over Jack's head because - reminder - Jack doesn't have emotions. He can't comprehend when he's hurting someone. Aced, Nine, I'm sorry you have to deal with him.
btw, he has a move called "Primal Roar." So when Ava suggested that he "growl at them"......... That actually would work. He yells loudly and it does damage.

Queen, The Power of Wisdom
Oh, Ms. Student Council President... I guess I've come to the conclusion that Queen is the female equivalent of Saix. lol She's one of the few people who can keep Jack under control. She's good at filling the role of an authority figure, but she's bad at controlling her emotions, so if she gets heated, she'll snap at people, and that leads to some very unfortunate situations.

Trey, The Power of Knowledge
This is Trey. He knows a lot. He probably knows more than anyone. But Jack knows things I'm sure Trey doesn't know. And that's scary.
On Jack's behalf, I would like to apologize to everyone. Are you getting the theme here yet? Jack lowkey treats everyone like shit and they're just like "Well, that's Jack. He means well, I think."
But anyway, you can usually find Trey in the Crystarium, aka the library. He loves books. It drives him nuts if there's something he doesn't know. Ira's whole reaction to the Book of Prophecies is textbook Trey behavior. If there's someone who knows something he doesn't know, that's the most frustrating thing in the world to him.

Lean Joker, The Power of Suffering
I don't have conveniently matching images of Luxu and Lean because Lean got horribly shafted in the transition to Type-0 and he barely even appears in that game. He didn't even HAVE a face until Agito... ("Mother!" lmao do you get it? I'm gonna launch Nomura into the sun.)

(edit) I feel like my description wasn't sufficient before, amusing as it was... So here you go. I've rewritten it. This is the most elaborate description you'll find of Lean Joker anywhere.
Originally known as Lean Hampelmann, Lean is the adopted son of Marshal Cid Aulstyne. He's known to be the greatest engineering genius Milites has ever seen. Members of the military seem to think of Cid like their own father, so some members, such as Qun'mi, resent Lean and feel jealous of his close relationship with him. She's willing to do everything for Cid, including sacrificing her own life. Despite her resentment of him, Lean thinks of her as a sister and is terribly distraught when she does go off to sacrifice herself for the sake of fulfilling Cid's will. That's a concept that Lean also seems to be obsessed with - fulfilling Cid's will, to unify all of Orience under the banner of the White Tiger. Essentially, to eliminate war and bring peace. But, like, by force.
He creates the Ultima Bomb, a nuke so powerful, it wipes out the entire massive country of Lorica. In nearly every cycle. Out of all of the millions of cycles. He's also the one responsible for most of the Empire's Magitek Armor units. Even in the cycles where he doesn't take part in the war, his creations still somehow come into existence which seems to suggest that they were part of the world's destiny... And it makes his existence seem futile. Even if he isn't the one doing evil, the evil finds a way to bring itself into existence.
In front of Cid and the rest of the military, Lean acts like a dutiful, respectful son. He's usually very softspoken, anxious, and timid. But when he's out in the field, he discards that side of himself and becomes like a totally different person. He taunts the Rubrum cadets with a cocky attitude and seems to take pleasure in causing them distress. Like the cadets, Lean also aims to become Agito. Of course, the cadets don't understand how a sadistic person like him could ever become the savior of the world. Lean thinks of them as his rivals and displays a certain level of respect for them as a result.
In the Agito gaiden chapter which was meant to serve as an abridgment of the game's third cycle, Lean comes to Akademeia as a goodwill ambassador from Milites. Most of students seem to like him because he's friendly enough, but his timid side lets him get pushed around a little. When Tempus Finis comes, he goes to Milites with Machina, Rem, and Player. Even though there were too many Rursan soldiers for them to fight, Lean refused to leave his Militesi comrades behind... Rem and Machina had to tear him away because he was so distraught, he was unable to even realize that the Militesi soldiers were already dead. This goes to prove that he isn't as cut out for fighting as he pretends to be -- he's actually a weak, emotional person at heart.
After that cycle, Arecia decides to "discard" him, ordering him and Tohno to wander forward to find the true Agito in one of the future cycles. As a result, Class Zero forget who they are and their identities remain a secret forever after. His Power of Suffering seems to represent the pain he feels as he watches the war repeat every cycle. The Nameless Tome declares the Power of Suffering unnecessary because "the divine spirits did not desire to ascend." In the cycle of reincarnation, suffering brings one closer to enlightenment, whereas ignorance distances one from enlightenment. Although he has a lot in common with Jack, this is one area where they're very different. Jack feels nothing, but Lean seems to feel EVERYTHING. He was probably able to understand why Class Zero were incapable of saving the world, seeing their flaws, watching them fight each other, but he and Tohno were powerless to change destiny.
Because Lean is just a scientist, he doesn't do a lot of fighting. But when he does, he pilots a Magitek Armor unit he built himself called "Leraje." (It shares its name with a demon. It's pronounced leh-RAH-jay.) He's shown to have a katana in artwork, but he never seems to actually use it. In Type-0, he only uses projectile magic. As long as you have the "Tiz's Prayer" key item, he'll randomly come to Class Zero's aid as an SP unit. His stats show that his blade is named "Unknown." (Yes, that's literally the name. It's written in katakana as アンノウン.) He's a master of disguise, choosing the appropriate attire to hide his identity wherever he goes. When he appears before Machina in Milites, he wears the masked Militesi uniform. In Rubrum, he wears one of their long, hooded cloaks. When he joins you in battle, he's equipped with an Invisibility Cloak that always makes him totally invisible besides a faint outline. Even if you have Tiz's Prayer, the odds of having him join you are VERY, VERY RARE.

Here's a clip of him in battle. It took me hours to get this. lol When he joins, he says "Jeez, you're hopeless." It's a little hard to see him due to his invisibility status, so look for his outline. He really ran in and completed the mission for me...

Jack, The Power of Ignorance
We already talked about this guy. Total cryptid. Definitely Demyx. lol I think that everyone who's into Type-0 would agree that Jack is a genius. He doesn't have conventional intelligence like Lean. He doesn't have a lot of textbook knowledge like Trey. He doesn't have Queen's mature wisdom. But he's crafty and manipulative af. Serious cult leader vibes. Very lovable, but also...... The scariest character due to sheer deadly potential and unpredictability. Nevertheless, I would trust him.
Despite his laziness, Jack has a heroic side. It's complicated because even that is just an act. He WANTS to be a hero, but he has no choice but to pretend to be one because he can't really BE anything. He's just constantly swapping masks and one happens to be "hero." There's another scene I unfortunately don't have, but apparently he admits to having no strong sense of self. He has to ask Player what they think he's like because he doesn't know. And then he tells them something along the lines of "I guess I'm whatever each person thinks I am." *gestures at the MoM's convo with YMX*
In Agito, he has a persona he refers to as "the gallant, unknown swordsman" who's like a mysterious hero who randomly jumps to the rescue of others. In Opera Omnia, he expresses a similar interest; "Being the cool leader type is good, but being a nameless hero who rescues people from the shadows ain't so bad, either!" The characters from other games encourage him to try, even though the ones who know him doubt whether he could pull it off.
The characters from other games also actually admire his laziness and recognize his brilliance because of how cleverly he bends people to his will to get what he wants while avoiding trouble.

Speaking of Opera Omnia, when Jack was first introduced, the others only saw the large slash marks left in the ground from his sword along with the dead bodies of dozens of giant monsters. They consult Cloud at first, thinking it was a sign that they were going to run into Sephiroth. Cloud can tell that it wasn't the work of Sephiroth because Sephiroth would never create so much carnage without a reason. ...Jack was just bored, so he slaughtered the local monster population.
Here's a small Jack compilation from Type-0 if you wanna hear what he sounds like. Considering the overall serious tone of the game, his silliness is a hilarious tone-breaker.
I feel like I should give King an honorable mention. I'm preeetty sure King was one of Nomura's favorites because when Nomura appears as an SP Unit (Random NPC units that can assist you in battle. Most are named after staff members.) he's represented by King's model. King and the MoM share the same Japanese voice. The MoM and King aren't alike in any other way, though.
Oh, want another fun Jack fact? Deuce is associated with white flowers, but Jack is associated with clover.

Like Deuce's flowers, white clover means "happiness" and "think of me" in hanakotoba. I guess that makes it an honorary reunion flower. It's drawn a bit abstractly, but I'm preeetty sure the MoM is holding a white clover on the KH2.8 boxart, too. Could be a dandelion, but... Placing my bets on clover, seeing as how there's that whole scene in Back Cover where he picks one.
Sice finds a four-leaf clover and gives it to Player because she heard from Jack that it's good luck. She also picked a flower by the road on her way back from a mission to give to Player after asking Deuce what the flower meant. It's just cute to see them spreading this flower-related superstition around the school. lol
Strangely, besides Ace, Jack is also the only cadet to be mentioned in an Agito chapter title; "The Carefree Cadet's Departure For the Frontlines." The chapter is about how his fake smiles fail to keep everyone calm as the war begins to turn against them in the second world. More MoM behavior.
Ugh, I love him.
Okay, this post is huge. I didn't even get to talking about Ven and Lauriam. And Strelitzia... But if I keep going, I'll be here all day. If somebody wants me to explain that connection, let me know.
So what's the conclusion?
Demyx is the young version of the MoM from the first world. Probably. That's the vibe I get from this.
I have no idea what the MoM plans to do in the future. Maybe we'll finally find out how Agito XIII and Versus XIII were supposed to be related. The shot of the MoM standing in the city is very similar to concept art from the cancelled Type-0 sequel, Type-Next. So, whatever's going on, I think that was always meant to be the next stage in a way. iirc, the city in the Type-Next art is Hong Kong, so, like Shibuya in KH, it was based on a real place.


The person in the Type-Next stuff looks like Ace, but he's wearing samurai gear. tbh, it makes more sense for Jaaack to be in samurai gear, but... Whatever. We don't even know if that was really Ace. It might've been a different Ace, like an Ace from the past or future or another world. So on that note, Demyx and the MoM could be the same guy, but from two different times or worlds, existing separately in the same space. But I think it's way simpler to assume that Demyx is just the MoM now. I don't wanna complicate it in my mind more than I have to. lol
Also, obviously, I'm not saying that the MoM IS Jack 100%, just like how Yozora probably isn't 100% like Noctis. But he SURE IS SIMILAR SO FAR.
Needless to say, I recommend reading FF Agito on my blog. I also recommend playing Type-0, but it's not the same game AT ALL. Part of me wonders if Agito and khux ran concurrently because Nomura wanted people to figure this out. But OH WELL. IT'S GONE NOW.
I could probably keep going, but omg... I'm done, I swear. I'm forcing this post to end now.

This is awesome and really informative! Look forward to more episodes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yy9n-ZK_H60 


Welcome to episode 1 of Sound Ideas everyone! In this debuting episode, Green Requiem joins me to talk about all the different composers and arrangers involved with the Kingdom Hearts series, as well as some other miscellaneous topics! I have been working on the concept of this series for quite a while, so I'm very happy to finally release the first episode. If you guys like podcasts, I hope you'll give this one a shot and subscribe to the channel