noiX

short answer: yes slightly longer but still short answer: yes he needs a keyblade, it's so he can get his friends back (Roxas and Xion)

It is Xion SP.

Well, no. Xion does exist still, in Sora's heart along with Ven and Roxas, it's more like no one remembers her. Bringing her and Roxas back would be practically the same thing, except people still remember Roxas. What you call "a barrage of ice cream scenes" is totally development, you get to see how Roxas shaped himself, from a blank slate to a fully functional being that has his own emotions and thoughts through out the game, the same goes for Xion, a blank slate in the beginning, but as the game carried on you could see her develop and shape into a being with her own feelings and thoughts, she was able to think for herself and really question if what they were doing was right. Ultimately it led to the question, did they really have hearts? And in KH3D our questions were answered, they did! Xion may have been an empty puppet at first, but through her own memories and experiences she eventually shaped her own heart. She is the only character in the series to actually say in words that she loves someone, (see Days secret reports, Day 352). Also, the same can be said for Roxas, all of his experiences with friendship, memories and the natural world had shaped a heart inside of him. Lea has his keyblade to bring Roxas and Xion back, and maybe Isa (who knows). He may not remember Xion but the memories are still buried deep down within him, that's probably why when he was dreaming of Roxas in KH3D before he woke up Roxas said "You made us a promise" notice how he says "Us", that signals that Lea still has the memories and emotions of Xion locked inside of him, they just need to be awakened, same with Roxas.

I rewatched the KH 2.8 trailer from this E3 and it got me thinking, could they be planning to give a release window/release date? At the end of the trailer it says "Upcoming announcements this winter", it doesn't say news, or something similar to news, but announcements? Could this mean that they are planning to give a release window for KH3 this winter? Or maybe they could be revealing more worlds, or both? Post your thoughts!

why would they build up all of this stuff about reconnecting lost hearts and bringing everyone back just to kill people lol. I don't know why you would want people to die, it would just invalidate the ending of KH3D with Ansem, Blank Points, and the scene with Data Namine at the end of RE:Coded, it just doesn't make sense to me. The way things are building up it seems like KH3 is gonna be one of the only/few KH stories with a happy ending to end the dark seeker saga. If they were to kill off a character or multiple characters the first thing those characters would wanna do would be to bring back the characters that "died" in the next saga, sounds stupid to kill anyone in my opinion.

Don't worry, I think she's gonna come back from what hints we've gotten from the games. Then she can live the life her, Roxas, and Lea deserved.

Xion is best girl character, Roxas is best boy character. This may sound biased since Days is my favorite game, but w/e. It's not like I don't like the other female characters. Anyways, yeah it's Xion.

Okay, and thanks.

I understood, I was just adding on to what you said, sorry for making it unclear

Yeah but wouldn't it be hard for Riku to infiltrate the organization especially when they spotted him and warned the whole organization about an impostor. I mean he could do it while Roxas was on a mission but maybe he wouldn't be convinced or something, idk. You have a valid point though. I think that Xion is in the same boat as the other characters who are lost, she's not any different. They all played roles in the story (Important or not) and they all gave up their existences/regular lives for a greater purpose. I don't see why it's fanservice when she's in the same situation as the other characters, you can't just conclude her story just because she did what she needed to do, if you have this ultimate sacrifice rule then it should apply to other characters aswell. If you think Xion fading away would be cheapened and think she shouldn't return that means Roxas' merge with Sora would be cheapened and he shouldn't return. I've said this so many times on this thread but here I go repeating it again. Her and ALL the other characters sacrifices are not to be made in vain, they shall be redeemed as symbolically shown in Blank Points.

But don't you think that she was the influence in Roxas deserting the organization? How would have Roxas have left the organization without her telling him to not let Xemnas have his way and free kingdom hearts. Xion questioning her own existence led to Roxas questioning his own, but without her questioning her existence why would Roxas have questioned his own without any thing to really spark the question?

Didn't I post that first? ((

"that would imply he planned this when KH1 was just coming out," I'm pretty sure he mean't since Days. I'm not against what you're saying or anything like that but you could argue that Xion influenced Roxas to desert the organization and ultimately return to Sora. I think that without her Roxas could have been a vessel, Riku wouldn't have been able to retrieve him if he didn't leave. Without that final fight and her telling him to free kingdom hearts he wouldn't have left, she left a very heavy emotional impact on him.

My thoughts exactly, like I said in my earlier post; not fanservice, but redemption. Her sacrifice wont go in vain and her re-uniting with Roxas and Lea will be some much needed closure. Even if they don't play a big role in the future KH games who's to say that they shouldn't be re-united when S/R/K and most likely T/A/V will be re-united. They're friends and they proved their existence/right to be their own person. If they have their own hearts then why should they be trapped in the shadow of another complete person?

Sorry, I only linked you to the creator of the game telling us that everything can grow a heart but if you don't want to believe then be my guest.

http://kh13.com/forum/topic/34430-spoilers-kingdom-hearts-3d-ultimania-nomura-interviews-completely-translated/ there it is. And also it's not fanservice, it's more redemption; Blank Points shows that. When it shows the characters all saying "Sora" all those characters are waiting for Sora to save them, it's kinda like symbolically showing that their sacrifices have not been made in vain and that they will be redeemed, I wouldn't really call it fanservice for ANY of the characters who need to be reconnected.

I made an account to reply to this, Xion most likely grew her own heart as memories shape the heart as does exposure to the natural world, other people, and light. It was confirmed by Nomura in the DDD ultimania that EVERYTHING can grow a heart and as I just said Xion probably had one or was growing a heart. Also, if Xion becomes her own person I don't think she will need to sap Sora's memories/Roxas' power anymore considering the fact the she has a heart of her own. Oh and here's the quote from Nomura; — It was declared from Ansem the Wise’s own mouth that everything can grow a heart. Nomura: Yes it was, I thought I’d leave it clear in this title.