Dagesh Lene

I agree with some of these, but I think others are just wishes that are not likely to happen.
I think there are two things that we really need in order for Kingdom Hearts IV to be an improvement: a better paced story and gameplay that is more fun.
The pacing of the story was my main issue with Kingdom Hearts III. It felt like it started right in the middle of a story, with Master Yen Sid explaining Sora's mission to him. It also felt like most of the important stuff didn't happen until the end of the game. Finally, the ending of the story felt very abrupt and made it feel more like a cliffhanger ending than a conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga, an issue that I felt was fixed with Re:MIND.
While I personally did not have an issue with the gameplay, once I played the game with the new abilities that we got in the free update, I could never go back to the old way of playing.

Dark Road has come to an end, and with it, we got new revelations into what led Xehanort down his dark path to become a seeker of darkness. However, not everything was revealed and some questions remain. This was even brought up in a recent Q&A for Dark Road:
Therefore, knowing what we do know, I will attempt to put together a timeline of Xehanort's life together, starting with when he was born and ending with Birth by Sleep since I feel that after that the events of his life become pretty straightforward. During that time, I will point out when I believe Xehanort became the seeker of darkness.

That is the part that always bugged me about the timeline, until I finally found that basically the YX we see meet Ansem in DDD has the appeareance of Xehanort AFTER the main story of Dark Road (notice the hair bangs)

compared to DR where in that same meeting Xehanort has his first hair style (let's call him Student Xehanort)

So I spent a long time thinking that they actually meet twice, and the meeting in DDD takes place after the mains story of DR since we do see Student Xehanort sporting the hair bangs in the time skips, but apparently nope, the Xehanort in the DDD screenshot should've always been Student Xehanort, not enough time to do that extra model I guess (could've fixed for the HD and saved me a headache though!)
But considering YX is supposed to be the correct model with the hair bangs (only the one in the cutscene above is wrong) Student Xehanort at Scala should NOT have experienced the events of DDD yet or YX in DDD and KH3 would have student's Xehanort hair, I think that when Ansem came back to "set him in the appointed path and gave him the ability to move through time" it was still a long while until he went on with the mission Ansem gave him, up until he already was studying darkness I think one day (after already growing into the age of Young Xehanort) the dormant memory/mission/piece of future Xehanort inside him just "awakened" and that's when he started recruiting the other selves, and probably got his Yellow Eyes (after the main story but before he is named master and recieves no name since he uses another keyblade in DDD and KH3)
 
Another thing is I think the whole game was made to show the folly of blindy following a fate that wasn't meant for you, there are many clues that Xehanort was NOT the child of prophecy, or rather he could've been but failed
Just because he can connect and feel others' hearts would mean that he is one, as Baldr also had that ability, and that's what caused his downfall
To be precise, Xehanort doesn't "hail from the isles of destiny" yes, he spent his childhood there, but wasn't BORN there, he "hails" from Scala, this might be a nitpick if you think that because he lived 99% of his life in DI he hails from them but could also be taken as a clue that Blue Robe guy was trying to "force" the prophecy into being about him, which brings us to...
Blue Robe guy expresses their own doubts about Xehanort being the child, at first he is all like "IT'S NO DOUBT YOU ARE IT" but by the end of the conversation he says it might be too soon (Xehanort is shown asleep by this point so he wouldn't hear that part 

And of course we have the hindsight of knowing what ends up being of Xehanort's life, he Blue Robe's words about how the Child of Destiny would be the one who can feel and connect with others' heart and become one with them, he kinda does that but in an evil way, using others hearts to manipulate them and even take over their bodies, he doesn't care about connecting with others, even in KH3 he is shown that he doesn't particularly care for the wellbeing of the people who are his vessels, he doesn't fight to defeat darkness but to manipulate it, while the true Child would be the one who actually connects with people, who accepts their hearts into himself and uses those connections to increase his power and the one who truly hails from destiny islands, fighting to keep the light safe and fend off darkness, Sora
 
Going back to what I said before Xehanort COULD have been the child of prophecy but his destiny was altered, as you mention Blue Robe explains that he was taken to the islands to hide him from darkness until he was strong enough, but he only leaves the islands because Ansem appears and opens the portal to the other worlds, so we can't be sure that Xehanort was truly ready to leave the islands, that could've been the first step to have darkness be drawn to him and start his downfall (poison his heart as blue robe says it), Xehanort only knows that he is a special child destined for greatness so in his mind whatever path he takes must be the righteous one which eventually evolves into his complex of:
"everyone else is weak, and those who think they are strong are faking it, only some people (me) are truly strong"
"I've learned the reason for my existance"
"the world needs someone to stand up and lead"
 
Not to mention that I think MoM also kinda sabotaged Xehanort a little bit, I think he planed to have him be a vessel for the last remaining darkness that we now know must be out there, that's why he spured him into going out and see the world, to learn how to resist darkness with the coat and then outgrowing it, having him experience conflict the same way he did with the foretellers in UX, so that he would become the perfect bait for darkness to try to get inside him
Would explain MoM's line of "a keyblade wielder willing to side with the darkness?????" he even says it in such a cheeky way, like he was taunting him, MoM's methods may be considered ruthless and too pragmatic but if there is one thing we know is that everything he does it in order to defeat the primordial darknesses, no matter what it takes, so him just being OK with a strong wielder like Xehanort to side with his true enemy, darkness, always seem weird....... that is, unless he wanted Xehanort to feel the need to understand and get closer to darkness so he could be the final vessel to hold them in place until they can be truly defeated, basically the goal of the next Saga
 
 
 
 

I realistically see a mid-late 2024 release for Kingdom Hearts IV.

I agree with some of these, but I think others are just wishes that are not likely to happen.
I think there are two things that we really need in order for Kingdom Hearts IV to be an improvement: a better paced story and gameplay that is more fun.
The pacing of the story was my main issue with Kingdom Hearts III. It felt like it started right in the middle of a story, with Master Yen Sid explaining Sora's mission to him. It also felt like most of the important stuff didn't happen until the end of the game. Finally, the ending of the story felt very abrupt and made it feel more like a cliffhanger ending than a conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga, an issue that I felt was fixed with Re:MIND.
While I personally did not have an issue with the gameplay, once I played the game with the new abilities that we got in the free update, I could never go back to the old way of playing.

Haven't posted here in a while, but made this piece recently and thought I'd share! Hope you all like it!
 

Here's the sequel to the first Kingdom Hearts 1 piece I made! This one is the climax for Kingdom Hearts 2!
I post alot of my art on Instagram: Chris.Arts5
 
 
 

And the final (Maybe) in the series of pieces showing off the final battle of the mainline Kingdom Hearts games, we have Kingdom Hearts 3! Hope you all like it!

I think that, if Demyx is going to be revealed to be anyone, it will be the Master of Masters. It would be nice if MoM was his own character, but I think that it is extremely unlikely. Why put someone in a black coat if they aren't going to have a dramatic reveal when the hood comes off? And the only way for it to be a dramatic reveal is if it's a character we already know. I really hate the idea of MoM being Sora. I hope that he isn't him. Plus, I believe that Nomura has said in the past that Sora will always be the hero, although he could always change his mind. But assuming that Sora will always be the hero, the only other person I could see being MoM is Demyx, unless he is a character we haven't been introduced to yet. I suppose there is a chance that MoM is the embodiment of Light, kind of like how we have now been introduced to the embodiment of Darkness, but I don't think that is as likely.

There are a lot of songs that I would have liked in the game, but I would like to focus on the boss themes.
For the main boss fights in the game, I would have focused on the different forms of Xehanort: Ansem, Xemnas, Young Xehanort, and Master Xehanort. I would have changed Ansem's theme to Forze Del Male instead of Guardando nel buio, kept Xemnas' theme the same (Darkness of the Unknown), and given Young Xehanort his theme (L'Impeto Oscuro). Then, I would have added one more fight before the final boss fight, which would have been fighting all three of them together to Forza Finale, with each of them attacking you and getting defeated during their part of the theme.
For Disney bosses, I would have kept the Maleficent fight and added a Pete fight, which would be fought to Rowdy Rumble.
Then, for the final boss fight, I would have added a second phase to it. The first phase would have been to Critical Crossroad, and you would have played as Kairi during it. Then, the second phase would be the same with you playing as Sora to Dark Domination.
I also would have added three bonus bosses, Unknown, Lingering Will, and Mysterious Figure. Unknown would have been fought to Disappeared, Lingering Will would have been fought to Rage Awakened, and Mysterious Figure would have been fought to Dark Impetus.
There are a lot of other bosses that could be added to this game, but these are the ones that I would add.

Nice list! These are my favorites (I have not played Melody of Memory, so I will not include it in this list; I am also including Back Cover and Dark Road as part of Union χ[Cross]):
1. Kingdom Hearts
The reason why I like this game the best is because it makes the best use of Disney and Final Fantasy as well as having the best world exploration. I also loved the story in this game. The platforming could use some work, but other than that, I think the game is fun to play.
2. Kingdom Hearts II
The gameplay of this game is second to none, but other than that, I felt that KH1 did almost everything else better. However, it is still a really good game and is definitely the most fun to play out of all of them.
3. Kingdom Hearts III
Kingdom Hearts III did so much stuff right. The graphics were beautiful, the worlds were bigger and better than ever, and it had some of the best moments in the entire series. However, it felt less like a finale and more like setup for the next saga, and the stories pacing could have been better. Most of the issues I had with the game were minor, but the thing that I disliked the most was how it ended on a cliffhanger. Thankfully, Re:Mind fixed that for me as well as adding a lot of fun new stuff that almost makes me want to put this game higher on the list, but in the end, I personally like KH1 and KH2 more.
4. Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
I love the use of Disney in this game and story is one of my favorites. I also think that the gameplay is fun. It definitely feels like it deserves to be up there with the numbered titles.
5. Kingdom Hearts [Dream Drop Distance]
I do like the use of Disney and the gameplay. However, the story, while I don't think it's bad, does go off the rails a bit with the introduction of time travel.
6. Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
This game was so fun for being so short and did a great job of giving us a taste of what KH3 was going to be like. If it were longer, it would probably be higher on this list.
7. Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]
Since all of the updates haven't been released yet at the time of me posting this, I don't know for sure where this game will end up, but for now, this is where it is. I think the gameplay is fun and the story is interesting. However, there is way too much filler and the story does go off the rails some more in my opinion. I also wish that the game focused more on the Keyblade War instead of making that part of the story optional event missions.
8. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The story of this game is one of the best, but the gameplay is repetitive and a bit boring. 
9. Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
The story is good, but I am not a fan of the gameplay. I also do not like how the worlds are just the same rooms with different skins and that the Disney worlds just retell the same stories from KH1 for the most part. However, I do like how they tweak the Disney stories to do more with the theme of memories.
10. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
The story is not very good, and I found the gameplay to be annoying because of the data gimmick. Plus, the Disney stories are just worse versions of the KH1 stories again, but unlike CoM, these don't really have much to do with the theme of data other than the fact that the Bugs have corrupted their worlds.

Well, if the Dandelions and Union Leaders are the ancient masters, then I think that it would be safe to say that the stories of them vanishing did pass down since the stories of the ancient masters crossing over into another world would have most likely been about that. No matter who the ancient masters are though, I'm sure that some of the Dandelions or Union Leaders who made it back were the ones who told the stories since they would have been the only Keyblade wielders left that we know of who knew about what happened.

Well, if the Dandelions and Union Leaders are the ancient masters, then I think that it would be safe to say that the stories of them vanishing did pass down since the stories of the ancient masters crossing over into another world would have most likely been about that. No matter who the ancient masters are though, I'm sure that some of the Dandelions or Union Leaders who made it back were the ones who told the stories since they would have been the only Keyblade wielders left that we know of who knew about what happened.

This is a good point. However, in the conversation between Xehanort and Eraqus that you quoted, this is what followed:
I'm not entirely sure what Xehanort was accusing Eraqus of playing dumb about. Was he accusing Eraqus of pretending not to follow his logic? Was he accusing Eraqus of pretending not to know who the Lost Masters are? It's a little confusing to me, but I think it is possible that he may have been accusing Eraqus of playing dumb about the Lost Masters since they were what Xehanort was talking to him about. That being said, it is also possible that Xehanort heard of the Lost Masters for the first time from the Master of Masters, so maybe he was just accusing Eraqus of not following his line of logic. However, Xehanort's shock in that scene in Re:Mind may have been shock that a Lost Master was right in front of him, not that the Lost Masters existed at all, meaning that he may have already known of them by that time. Long story short, I'm not entirely sure that we can say for sure that no one other than Xehanort knows about the Lost Masters.
Additionally, even if no one knows of the Lost Masters, I think it is possible that they still may know them as the ancient masters. I think that they may just not know much about them. They may not have known who the ancient masters were or what they did, they may have just known that they existed and stories of them crossing over into another world may have been one of the only things about them that have been passed down.
I may be wrong about all of this, but I think that it is still a possibility. I also think that it is possible that the ancient masters may be referring to the Union Leaders, and I think that there is evidence for and against both possibilities.

This is a good point. However, in the conversation between Xehanort and Eraqus that you quoted, this is what followed:
I'm not entirely sure what Xehanort was accusing Eraqus of playing dumb about. Was he accusing Eraqus of pretending not to follow his logic? Was he accusing Eraqus of pretending not to know who the Lost Masters are? It's a little confusing to me, but I think it is possible that he may have been accusing Eraqus of playing dumb about the Lost Masters since they were what Xehanort was talking to him about. That being said, it is also possible that Xehanort heard of the Lost Masters for the first time from the Master of Masters, so maybe he was just accusing Eraqus of not following his line of logic. However, Xehanort's shock in that scene in Re:Mind may have been shock that a Lost Master was right in front of him, not that the Lost Masters existed at all, meaning that he may have already known of them by that time. Long story short, I'm not entirely sure that we can say for sure that no one other than Xehanort knows about the Lost Masters.
Additionally, even if no one knows of the Lost Masters, I think it is possible that they still may know them as the ancient masters. I think that they may just not know much about them. They may not have known who the ancient masters were or what they did, they may have just known that they existed and stories of them crossing over into another world may have been one of the only things about them that have been passed down.
I may be wrong about all of this, but I think that it is still a possibility. I also think that it is possible that the ancient masters may be referring to the Union Leaders, and I think that there is evidence for and against both possibilities.

This is true. We should never assume that we know where the story is going, but in this case, I think it is safe for us to assume that Ansem the Wise's hypothesis is correct since it seems to be setting up the next game.
As for the original question, I think that the ancient masters are most likely referring to either the Foretellers or the Union Leaders.
Even though the Foretellers are called the lost masters in KH3, it's possible that this may just be another name for them. Plus, Master Yen Sid only told King Mickey to investigate how the new world relates to ancient masters, not to find them and get help from them. So, even if the Foretellers are helping the Master of Masters, it would not interfere with King Mickey's mission.
It is also possible that the Union Leaders are the ancient masters since they are the only ones who we know for sure crossed over into another world. However, what they crossed over into was another worldline, which appears to be part of reality, just an alternate version of it. This does not seem to match up with what Ansem the Wise was describing, so, if I were to make a guess, I would say that the ancient masters are referring to the Foretellers and they were summoned back by Luxu from the other world. Plus, they did fade back into existence, kind of like how Sora faded out of existence, indicating that they may have indeed been returning from the other world.

Yes, I think it is a possibility that many things that are fictional in reality actually exist in unreality. I also think that if this is true, then it would go both ways. What is reality to the people living in one world may be fictional to the people living in the other world and visa versa. Also, even though Ansem the Wise said that it was just a hypothesis, I have no reason to doubt that it is true. After all, why would we be told information that is revealed at the end of game and is clearly setting up for the next game that is not true?

I don't think that just because something is fictional in reality necessarily means that it exists in unreality. I think that all we can say for sure is that something that exists in unreality can manifest in reality as fiction. Also, couldn't Tron also be considered to be a videogame world or sorts? Yet the programs in that world exist in reality and have hearts. Therefore, I don't think we can say for sure that the worlds of Wreck-It Ralph exist in unreality.

Reright all of reality/time or maybe something with dreams because he did create dream eaters in khux.

Personally I think his plan is to use kingdom Hearts to connect unreality with the reality the kingdom Hearts characters know.

The Master Of Masters is probably one of the most interesting characters that Nomura has concocted for the Kingdom Hearts series, and as such, I'm sure Nomura has big plans for him, and I'm excited to see what his true intentions will end up being in the long run.

This post contains spoilers for the latest update to Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross].