setsugekka

I came up with an explanation for this a while ago, but I have no idea if it's actually correct or not. lol I thought they might've been a version of Mickey, Donald, and Goofy from the age of fairytales. You know, when the world ends, it starts over again. All the people in those worlds also gradually return and continue their lives as they had before. So, isn't it possible that they DID exist in the age of fairytales, but then they simply forgot about what happened when the world started over? Er... Well... Okay, the more I think about it, the more unsure I am again. We know that the worlds were all connected as one during that time, but even that seems confusing to me now... We apparently had to use the BoP to visit future versions of those worlds for a reason, right? Hm... Well, it's a thought. I recently acquired an issue of Famitsu from 2006 which contains their first feature of the Fabula Nova Crystallis. I translated all of the parts about Agito XIII. You can read that here. I noticed a few interesting things... It seems like there really were supposed to be 13 characters. Famitsu noted the absence of the 13th member in the character art as something conspicuous. (I assume the 13th was going to be Lean Joker. This makes him seem really important, imo.) You could only pick ONE character to play as, as opposed to being able to use all of the 14 characters in Type-0. The characters didn't have names. You would name them yourself. This gives me new thoughts where the MoM's name is concerned. Tabata once again mentions the "blood pacts" with the Crystals. In the first Agito XIII trailer, the room where Ace forges one of those pacts with the Crystal is the same room in Type-0 where you choose to accept the Crystal's offer to become a l'Cie. The Riplai book stated that the pacts would provide the students with various blessings, such as weapons. That's how Ace receives his cards in the trailer. I think it's more than that, though. Seems like another l'Cie situation to me. I mean, it's... It's a BLOOD pact. That feels like you're signing away or soul or something. Have I mentioned that the ending where you choose to become l'Cie and obey the will of the Crystal is called "The Chapter of Darkness"? Here's a screenshot of Jack looking really cool as a l'Cie. Very Darkness. (I finally got the gold uniforms!) I tried to fight the Rursus for as long as I could... It was exhausting. I understand why you're tired, MoM. Beating them is impossible because they never stop coming and they just keep getting stronger. Eventually, they're able to 1-shot you with every hit... This game does such a good job of making you feel like everything you do is meaningless. lol After about an hour, I gave up and let the world end. Speaking of the blood pacts and obeying the Crystal... There's a part of me that wonders if that's what Demyx was talking about in his character file. When he wonders what's guiding him, I think the natural first thought is that he was referring to being guided by a keyblade or possibly even his own heart. I haven't given up on the thought of there being a Crystal inside the black box, or the MoM being a something like a l'Cie in general. When you become a l'Cie, you give up your free will. Even regular people who aren't l'Cie rely so much on the Crystals that they tell each other "May the Crystal guide you." The Chapter of Darkness is the bad ending because you're supposed to think for yourself and choose to NOT become a l'Cie. So, what if Demyx's Somebody (MoM or otherwise) was completely beholden to a Crystal before he became Demyx? Or, y'know, something like this where he didn't have the choice to guide himself. Anyway. I get the feeling that I've been sort of overlooking the fact that Agito XIII was a mobile game. The fact that Demyx suddenly has a gummiphone (bruh, we haven't even seen him use it. Why does he have that? lol), and the fact that the Foretellers are standing on the NTT Docomo building (a cellphone carrier) in the KH3 boxart, seem like things that could go together. Like, if Demyx is the MoM or whatever, it seems totally appropriate for him to have a phone. Those articles I translated really hammer in the fact that the mobile platform was the most INTEGRAL part of Agito XIII as a game. I still feel stupid about getting confused by those parts of Demyx's character file. I was thinking too hard. lol Those sentences were more literal than I realized. I'm not completely happy with their translation, but it's fine. I think the things about the No Name and Ven's keyblade sound more perplexing than they really are. For instance, I think Ven's is just referring to how his heart will be shattered and he'll have to join with Sora. It's not literally being prophetic. It's just artistic. The No Name one is a little weird??? I think that Xigbar's hubris might come back to bite him. Xehanort was clearly a scapegoat, but Xigbar doesn't seem that different when you think about it. So maybe that's what it was getting at. *shrug* Yeah, it seems like everybody was right. lol I'm curious about what the story is going to be like. Oh! Speaking of new games! We actually finally got a visual for Tabata's two new games! I think the top one is the one "like FFXV" and the bottom one is the one "like Type-0" that he mentioned. The quality of this artwork feels a little iffy to me, but then I remember that these are both supposed to be AAA titles in collaboration with another major company, so I can't let my first impression be everything. The top one does indeed look like a "nomadic" type of game where you fight giant enemies like in FFXV, and the bottom one seems to be featuring weapons and armor potentially belonging to many different characters. Interesting! Can't wait to see how similar they are to those FF games. I'm personally excited to see the harp and samurai gear (Actually, it looks like there's a katana on the left in addition to the samurai armor on the right), so that means there could be characters like Deuce and Jack, my two favs to play as.

*crawls out of the earth* Hello. Look at this. For a longass time, I was worried that they were just going to rip off Type-0 without acknowledging how similar these two are, but here we go. Why did it take me so long to notice this one? idk, I'm blind. I'm glad I noticed, though. I've probably shared it before, but Ava's is my favorite. And it's relevant, because... These are the renders they used for Jack & Deuce's chapter in the novel, Change the World -The Answer-. I got my own copy! Jack's characterization in this is so MoM-like... I am TORMENTED. This is a direct ASSAULT on my sanity. There's some very faint text in the bottom right corner of that image... See it? Final Fantasy Agito XIII. This was the concept art for the ending of Agito XIII. I got this from the Type-0 artbook. In the pic, it looks like Cater is holding one of the other girls as the light is leaving her and floating away. You can faintly see Akademeia in the distance, toward the rising sun. Meanwhile, the members of Class Zero are trapped in the foreground with the darkness as they await their fate. You can see Jack in his signature pose, standing with his hands behind his head. This is a moment of tragedy and he's still pretending to be relaxed... I can't handle this, man. 😭 There might be more that I'm forgetting, but those are the two new things that Actually feel like something to me at the moment.

Sorry for disappearing for a long time again. lol I didn't have many new thoughts. HMM... I'm pretty sure Pete also met the person... So it couldn't have happened in the age of fairytales, right? I still think Xigbar is probably the most likely answer right now. I think that the worlds in Re:Coded were probably looping like that. I can't remember if they mentioned it in the game, but I would assume that's the case. They were based on what was in the journal, so they would probably only encompass the time the journal recorded. It is kinda funny how the journal makes Jiminy sound like he has so much unexplainable knowledge. lol Jiminy is the MoM. I did some more translating. Just the tail end of Vexen's character file where he talks about Demyx. Cherrim's was pretty different here. Gotta wonder how much of this is going to be relevant to anything going forward. I'm not even sure how to take this since I don't think Demyx knows anything about who he really is. khfsjddfjh LIKE. AM I WRONG??? LMAO idk, maybe it'll become ironic later on, like he was more like "himself" when he didn't know about himself. That'd be interesting. Actually. Sudden thought. If this is suggesting that Demyx never loses sight of himself, doesn't that sound like how the Foretellers are able to resist the Darkness...? Huh.......... Now I'm wondering what would've happened if Xehanort had tried to use Demyx as one of his 13. Maybe it's not that deep. But now I wanna know. lol It also sort of reminds me of how Jack told the Agito Player that they wouldn't change, even if they lost their memories. I just played NEO: TWEWY! Before it came out, there were some people who had theories that it was connected to Kingdom Hearts. Nomura came out and said that it was unrelated. Nevertheless, people continued to craft theories anyway because they think that Nomura's playing 4D chess 24/7 and they refuse to take anything he says at face value. The question is... Was Nomura telling the truth? Does it REALLY have nothing to do with KH? Only some very minor spoilers here, but I'm going to hide it anyway. There's also something I want to talk about in regards to Square-Enix's marketing and the things they show in trailers. If you intend to play ntwewy and haven't watched the trailers yet... Don't watch them. They had the same problem as KH3's trailers where they gave away too much - which is why I didn't pay much attention to them before playing. However, there is something I found interesting, and it has to do with a particular reveal. This one is a definite spoiler. I fear what the next KH game trailers will be like.

Don't worry about it. Real life has been kinda stressful lately, so I haven't even been thinking about KH stuff as much as usual. Nice catch. I think I saw that before but I brushed it off because I didn't understand. It probably wasn't a dream so much as him accidentally visiting the Final World in his sleep... Or being pulled toward it, possibly by someone. Hm... Hmmmmmm... I don't know if you heard about this, but we got some pretty big news recently. Apparently Tabata has been working on two big titles with his new company. And apparently they're working together with another "major company." Here's an article about it. One has already finished pre-production, and he described it as being like Type-0. The other is a "nomadic" game like FFXV. Naturally, everyone in the Type-0 discord were losing their minds. We're hoping that Tabata's trying to beat Nomura at his own game. It'd be awesome if these new games are basically sequels or spin-offs but with all the names changed for copyright reasons. lol Oh, here's a fun lil thing I did recently. KH2FM added this scene where Demyx comes right back to tell Sora about the Absent Silhouettes. I retranslated it. I just love the characterization here. The reason I retranslated it was because I thought something about the localization sounded weird. There are some differences, but... Surprisingly, he really sounded like that. Very un-Demyx-ish. If I didn't know who was talking, I would've thought this was someone else. Someone from the Type-0 community shared her collection of miscellaneous Agito screenshots with me. There were a couple interesting tidbits in there. I'm thinking about making a tumblr post with those. The really exciting thing she gave me... Was the Agito novel!!! Finally, I get to read it!! I've been totally blown away by how much its descriptions of Lean sound like Luxu. It's so good... I love that creepy, sneaky little guy.

It's strange... In the regular world of Toy Story, all of the toys can move and talk on their own. That's normal in their world. But in the "copy" world, Buzz is able to use his blaster and the Gigas are also able to shoot their laser cannons as if they were real. So even though the world is a copy, it seems to be making them all more "real" somehow... I'm sure it's supposed to mean something, but I don't know what. lol Maybe that there's no difference? Something like that? Or the whole "It's a matter of perception" thing again. Well... It seems like too much of a coincidence to believe that the video game version of Verum Rex has nothing to do with the "real" world of Verum Rex. Reminds me of that idea I had about "Kingdom Hearts" (the world) actually being a video game. (Because it really is a video game irl. lol We're playing it.) If that's not where Nomura goes with it, then that seems like a missed opportunity to me. If he doesn't use this opportunity to make a point about the game itself, then what IS the point?? (Not that there ever HAS to be a point... But it's always satisfying when there is one, especially if it's delivered well.) Xion's death is also still really strange and interesting, too... Watching it again, it looks like an early PS2-era imagining of the crystallizations seen in the FNC. I just rambled about it for like two paragraphs, but none of it was helpful or interesting. lol I dunno! I just dunno! All I can say is that I feel like we will get an explanation for that at some point. EDIT: So I just need to meeeention something... I spent a long time yesterday staring at Demyx's character file in Japanese. I basically retranslated the whole second paragraph. Originally, Cherrim and I both read the last line of this paragraph the same way, assuming that it was "In the end, I hung out with the old guy a lot." But the grammar on it is very........... *squints* I think it's very understandable how we both came to that conclusion, but I think we were wrong. idk if you want me to explain the grammar. lol It truly bended my brain for hours. So, this is a painful blow to me because it means he probably wasn't referring to Xigbar... But it's not like I'm totally disappointed with the new interpretation this gives me. I'm still intrigued by the fact that he isn't mentioning any of these "old guys" by name. It feels like he's totally overlooking them. Since it seems like this is about the original Organization, the old guys would be Xigbar, Luxord, and Xemnas - the three older guys who didn't seem to be friends with anyone else. My original point still stands; the fact that Demyx noticed that there were already a lot of friend pairs in the Organization lends to the question, "Well, who's supposed to be the friend HE'S paired up with?" (softly) I don't trust the person who wrote these... The bright side is that nothing has changed about my impression of the last paragraph. Unless there's some other guy he knew who was always saying "May your heart be your guiding key", that part's still about the MoM. idk, maybe Cherrim and I were right to begin with and I'm overthinking it. The official English copy is still a ways away... We'll have to see what they think. (If they change something about that last paragraph, I'd lose my mind since I'm 100% sure on that part. lmao) Edit #2: Actually..... Technically... Since "yatsu" is such a flexible word, he could be saying "That 'may your heart be your guiding whatever' THING" instead of "guy." BUT, he does say "aitsu" which is definitely "he", a specific guy. I'm looking at twitter again and I'm happy to see that Japanese fans were also going "Wait, who would Demyx know who says that all the time??" God bless. lmao But seriously, the person who wrote these wrote his voice in the most casual way possible and it's infuriating. He doesn't sound like this in the game.

Hmm... I'm not sure if it's meant to be taken that literally. When I watched Wreck-It Ralph, I assumed that their world encompassed ALL games. I'm not sure if it's just arcade games, since there also seemed to be some references to games that were on home console systems. Remember, even though Yozora is from a fictional world, Verum Rex is ALSO definitely a video game, at least within the world of Toy Box. iirc, when YMX sends Sora into Beat of Lead, he tells him something like "In this world, you come from a video game." I feel like that must MEAN something, but ugh... My brain hurts... It's like... There's gotta be a connection between fictional worlds and "video game" worlds, right?? Well, I'm definitely still considering the possibility that he isn't from the fictional world. I'm not sure how Xehanort knew about it, but there's nothing that suggests that he ever personally went there. Everything we've seen so far seems to suggest that the members of Organization XIII were recruited, so even though I like the idea of Demyx and/or Luxord showing up and asking to join, I'm not sure if that's in the cards, as Luxord would say... Nevertheless, here are my baseless guesses for both of them... Demyx: Knocked on the door of the Castle That Never Was and asked if anyone would like to play. Randomly materialized in The Hall of Empty Melodies. Found wandering the dark shore in the realm of darkness. Discovered by Xemnas on a nostalgic trip to Destiny Islands. Luxord: Potentially also knocked on the door, looking for someone to play cards with him. "Just happened to be" at the right place at the right time. (HE'S A SPY FROM THE FUTURE.) Was a natural resident of Port Royal who liked to gamble in one of the local bars. Lost a bet against Xigbar and had to join the Organization. Something really severe happened to him in the fictional world, launching him straight into a different world as a Nobody. (idk, don't ask me. This is my brain attempting to connect the dots. lol) btw, I made a post on tumblr comparing a number of the Nobody death sequences from KH2. I totally see what people were talking about when they said that Demyx's death looks different from the others. I never realized that you could see light in Xigbar's darkness, so that's neat. Everything about Demyx's death is strange compared to the others. The only thing they have in common is the fact that his body itself is disintegrating with flecks of darkness, but then the rest of his sequence is made up of light and water. Even the sound effects for it are noticeably different. It sort of reminds me of the light sfx when Sora seals a keyhole. You can hear some bubble sfx, too. ...But we know he's MoM, amirite? Nothing surprising here. Except for the fact that this is from KH2. That's the really surprising part. But I'm also kinda curious about the way Luxord dies... Without me even mentioning it, I saw someone else comment about how Luxord's seems so much darker than anyone else's. It makes me think of FFO Jack again... Is Luxord actually, like, someone super evil...? Uuugh, he's so suspicious!!

Yeah, I always wondered about that... The thought I always had was that it was the darknesses who did that themselves, but after that last update, I'm not sure if they'd be capable of doing something like that without the help of someone else. The fact that they don't have bodies is a bit of a problem for them. Hm... I'm really not sure. I don't believe the MoM would've helped them out. It seems like he knew that they were going to find a way in without him. So then, who...? ......Ava?? The darkness in her could've made her do that as well. So, I've been watching Demyx Time again. (I can't help it. I love this show. lol) There's an episode where Luxord uses his power to travel back in time to stop Larxene from sleeping with everyone so she won't become pregnant. (Again, I love this show.) The fact that this homemade cosplay show actually used Luxord's time powers more than the games is so funny... After he changes the past, he comes back to find that Demyx is a genius now. It's great. Anyway, this made me think about Luxord's time powers... (Or maybe I should say "attribute of time", since it's totally unclear what his powers actually ARE.) Do you think that's ever going to be explained? I thought it was funny how the end of khux showed Lauriam waking up in a bed of flowers and Larxene waking up during a lightning storm, as if that explains where their affinities came from. If Demyx can control those new Heartless, then his water affinity seems like it'll be justified. idk if it's a longshot, but I'm also hoping that he's another character from Destiny Islands. Alternatively, I still love the idea of him coming into existence on the shore of the realm of darkness which was opposite the shore of Destiny Islands. But back to Luxord. Are you familiar with the original story of FF1 at all? I played it ages ago, so I just had to watch a recap. lol I kinda forgot that there was time travel... The four warriors of light fight Garland in the beginning and defeat him, but it turns out he was actually sent back to the past by his minions when he was on the brink of death, allowing him to live forever by repeating the loop. The four heroes are eventually able to go back in time to defeat him. I just keep wondering why the MC of FF Origin looks like Luxord... Is this it? Is it the time travel? lol

Have I not mentioned this? lol I had a whole collection of Demyxes going until I finally decided that Jack was The One. I think Nomura must like this design and this type of character more than people realize. The collection includes: Jack, Zell, Gippal, Roche, and Ray Jack. Jack and Gippal get a special gold star next to them for even having the same JP voice as Demyx. lol I feel like you figured it out for a second and then made yourself confused. lol I don't think there's any distinction between fictional worlds and unreality. I'm pretty sure they're the same thing. Correct me if I'm wrong. What you said about Game Central Station sounded right to me. Quadratum is a fictional world. I think Nomura's using fictional in the same sense as "false". It's not real. It's not even imagined. That's why I keep comparing it to the Unseen Realm. It's an oxymoronic idea when you actually SHOW the place, though - because then it IS real. It CAN be imagined. So the whole concept is kinda stupid, but... I think I understand the idea. It's like trying to imagine "nothing." Even if you try to imagine it, you'll still probably be picturing something like a black void. It's impossible to imagine what "nothing" really is. This is why they NEVER show the Unseen Realm in any of the games. They had to come up with Valhalla so that there could be a place like the Unseen Realm that could be perceived. *DEEP BREATH* I think he's making it more complicated than it actually is.............. If we could compare it to anything, it might be like Tokimeki Akademeia which was labeled as fictional. Even if it exists as a concept, it's not a real game. You can't play it. You also can't play Versus XIII or Agito XIII. They don't exist. There. I solved the mystery.

Wow, that one is a lot bigger than I think I even realized. lol One of the regular-sized ones is also in the shot, so you can really tell how BIG it is. Reminds me of the Brionac, the massive arsenal MA which could carry and launch eight nuclear bombs from long range. ...Wait, didn't the Verum Rex box say something about a warhead? Uh. Hm. "In the light of the warhead in the night sky, they chose to fight while feeling the pain of their hearts..." Is this connected or am I just really good at finding things that sound like other things? lol The thing about the Ultima Bomb is that it was unavoidably dropped in nearly EVERY cycle, wiping out Lorica and sometimes Concordia as well. Lean was the one who created the bomb, but even in the cycles where he's removed from the Spiral (such as Type-0 where he and Tohno are simply observing Class Zero), the bomb is STILL dropped. Who created it in those cycles?? It's like the bomb became ingrained in the world's destiny. So, idk, maybe Verum Rex has their own version of an unavoidable nuclear attack or something like that. Or maybe it's just one line on the back of a box that won't mean anything. Anyway, I remembered that I actually know of another Jack. Before I started this whole thread, I had gathered together a collection of Guys Who Resemble Demyx. YOU'RE GONNA LOVE THIS ONE. IT'S GOOD. Even if it's not related, it's like....... Wow. lol Ray Jack, from King's Knight. You know. KING'S KNIGHT. The game the guys play together in FFXV. I tried to find out more about this game, but it's a little hard since it's also been shut down. I never personally played it, but I was able to find some screenshots and videos. One of the fun things in the game was the fact that the FFXV characters would send you messages AS the characters of King's Knight. Noctis is Ray Jack, Ignis is Kaliva (the wizard), Prompto is Toby (the thief), and Gladio is Barusa (the lizard man.) Their usernames were Prince, Ignis, LOKTON, and Henruit respectively. I feel like there's probably nothing here, but it does follow the concept of "a game within a game." Speaking of which... I still have some questions about Game Central Station. Like............ What? Huh?? Is that NOT a fictional world? They're all video games. HM???

I was literally having dreams about FF Origin last night. lmao Did you see the edit I made to my comment? I think Nomura's really good at taking something that isn't THAT mysterious and making it sound more mysterious than it really is. So if their names are all real names that you'd hear in the REAL WORLD, I think that's probably the "secret meaning", even if it seems plainly obvious. lol ...Did you know that mechs are a big deal in Type-0? I might've mentioned it, but I don't think I talked about it much. Milites, the main antagonists of Type-0 and Agito, have a crystal that allows them to make lots of powerful machinery. (Rubrum's crystal gives them the power of magic. Concordia's gives them the power to control dragons and other beasts. And Lorica's grants them tough crystal armor.) Lean is the Empire's top engineer. Instead of fighting you with his katana, he pilots a Magitek Armor unit called Leraje. It's named after an obscure demon, but apparently it's well known enough to also be a demon in the Shin Megami Tensei series. Their wiki says this: "He causes great battles and disputes, can cause arrow wounds to develop gangrene and has the power of driving away mobs. He is depicted as a gallant and handsome archer wearing green clothes and carrying a bow and arrows." Feels fitting for Lean and Luxu. lol It's similar to Qator's Gabriel unit. *coughs* I just wanted to talk about the Leraje. Look at it. Wow. Lean's so cool. But Magitek Armor units are ALSO in FFXV. I remember seeing some early trailers where Noctis would be able to hijack a small unit to ride around the city while it was under attack. That sure never happened in the final game. I am very curious about WHO the Verum Rex guys were fighting. The fact that the Gigas had that symbol on them is interesting... There's so much we don't know. But when I think about it, it feels totally possible that there could be a bunch of characters we haven't seen yet who are involved with the Gigas. The MoM basically left to go take a vacation, so I kiiind of doubt that he was ever personally in conflict with Yozora & The Boys unless THEY decided to pick a fight with him for some reason. So I think the Gigas are related to a different enemy Yozora was fighting. Possibly related to the darkness/chaos? Possibly. There's a lot that could be possible when we know so little about Verum Rex. If they're like the ones in Toy Box, they might be controlled with the darkness/chaos instead of having real pilots inside them. But, again, I don't think the MoM was there to do any fighting, so... (When I put it like that, he really does come out sounding like Demyx. lol) If some of the "chaos" was seeping out from Quadratum, then maybe I'm overestimating how much control he has over it -- assuming that it's related to him in the first place, of course. Hm... They do have some similarities. On the right is Colonel Faith's Blackburn model. The feet and hands stand out the most to me. I was just thinking about how all of Milites' units have the Empire's emblem on them. It's kinda hard to see from this angle. There, you can see it really clearly on Nimbus's outfit. I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. Maybe a very abstract M? You can also see Nimbus's take on the white tiger mask here~ Point is, that symbol is on all of their mechs, armor, etc. I'm still not sure the symbol on the Gigas is supposed to be the Unversed emblem, but it is similar. Reminds me of how the zipper pull on the Organization's coats all soooort of look like the Unversed emblem... That one's closer, but it's also not exact. You might be onto something, though. It could be a new emblem related to the new type of Heartless. It definitely feels like it's supposed to be something, even if it's something we haven't seen until now.

Speaking of killing Chaos, there's an interview with Nomura from Famitsu... First of all, it confirms that this IS some kind of isekai. Jack and the others aren't from this world. In fact, based on what Nomura says here, this isn't even really the world of FF1. It's just using FF1 as a "motif." So it's not a sequel or a remake or anything like that. imo, that makes me feel like it's not even really a reimagining. What does THIS mean??? Needless to say, I'm VERY familiar with the meaning of the name "Jack." I've thought about that one a little bit TOO much, even. But I can't say I know how it's connected to "Ash" and "Jed." At first, I thought he meant that they mean the same thing, but that doesn't make sense. I looked around to see if there are any other FF characters with those names, but... Nope. There are a few characters with names that can be shortened to "Ash", but there aren't any other Jeds. I'm really stumped... I have one friend who seemed really insistent that they figured out the meaning behind the name Jack and how it connects to the MoM's real name, but they said they couldn't explain right now, so... Alright. lol I'm skeptical, but curious to see what they think. edit: Is it just that they're "real names"? They aren't things like Xemnas, Xigbar, Vexen, Zexion, etc. He didn't come out and say that they're from the REAL world, but I think that's what he's suggesting. Prepare your butt for more people who look like other people, I guess. I just hope there are some girls. I'm still skeptical that this has anything to do with Kingdom Hearts, but Nomura's definitely pulling his usual mysterious nonsense. I really wish he'd just come straight out and tell us if it's related or not, like how he did with NEO TWEWY. lol Apparently this game is coming out next year, so at least we know we won't be waiting indefinitely to find out what this is all about. Anyway, I've been thinking about FFXIII. There's this one scene in Lightning Returns which is probably one of my favorite pieces of dialog ever. idk, I could just keep watching this forever. I love Caius/Yeul. lol Strong stuff. Corporate wants you to find the difference between these images. (They're the same image.) Lightning was dragged into Valhalla (the step before the Unseen Realm) by some of Yeul's chaos which had seeped out from the Unseen Realm. I mentioned the Darkside again before, but this is really what's selling me on the Darkside being from the MoM's darkness in Quadratum. I also had another thought that my friends seemed to enjoy. Remember this part of Demyx's character file? The MoM's phrase is a little different in Japanese, but I'm not sure if that should change how I interpret this... Like, what do YOU think would be guiding him? His key or his heart? The Japanese phrase sounds more like "May your key guide you as your heart desires." So it really goes either way, imo. But he DID forget the word, "key"... And we do have keyblades like the Master's Defender which are referred to as "guiding keys'... It also occurred to me that Demyx never really said that he wanted "friends" PLURAL. He may have been happy with just one. A friend. "Nakama ga hoshiikatta" could just be "I wanted a friend." *stares into the camera* We Are All Stupid. LOL (I can't help it. Personally, when I hear "nakama", I think of the crew from One Piece, so it's just naturally a plural-sounding word to me. But apparently I wasn't the only person who interpreted it that way. Can't wait to see what the Dark Horse translation will say.) After Luxu leaves with the box, the MoM says "You will become the key to everything." (Which the English version translated as "key to the future"... Uuughghghh... Please, someone stop them...) *puts on my shipping goggles and turns the focus to 200%* Luxu is the key? IS LUXU THE KEY DEMYX WAS FORGETTING???? THE ONE THAT WAS GUIDING HIM????? This series is so dang confusing, but when I focus on one thing at a time, it feels like I can see things really clearly. AM I RIGHT? THIS SOUNDS RIGHT TO ME. LOL I know that there are other ways to look at this. Like, maybe Demyx just forgot that he has a keyblade? But then I remember the fact that he knows the MoM's phrase and that sends me back in a loop. This would certainly be one way to unify every idea in Demyx's character file story. (If the No Name is the MoM's keyblade and not just Luxu's, then that could be two birds with one stone.) If I'm right about this, I simply want it to be on the record. lol I'm willing to sound like an obsessed shipper for one second if it means I'm going to be right later down the line. ?

No, I don't think you're being stupid at all! That's a GREAT example of how their characterization is similar. I think I just never looked at Brain that way. It's sort of like how I never thought about Ephemer as being like Sora, but once I considered it, I started to notice similarities everywhere. I'll have take another look at some of Brain's scenes with that in mind. But seriously, that's a great find. I think that line felt familiar to me for some reason, but I couldn't figure out who it reminded me of. Someone also pointed out how Ephemer says something like "It's not over until it's over" which sounds like one of Luxord's lines, BUT that's only in the English version. For some reason, the localization person added that on their own. Just had to mention that one since it's already caused quite a bit of confusion on twitter. To make things even more confusing, that line was also in one of the fake Instagram posts in KH3, one of the ones from "???" (probably Eraqus?), but apparently that was ALSO a line that wasn't there in Japanese. imo, it feels like somebody on the localization team THINKS they know what's going on and they're trying to make their own references and callbacks. ? Yeah....... That never became clear in the game. lol So, I wonder what he meant by that... Every time there was an update, I had my fingers crossed, hoping that we wouldn't see them. If we didn't see Demyx, that made it more likely that he was the MoM and not some unrelated keykid from the past. It just would've made it more difficult to believe that they were the same person if we saw the two of them in the same place at the same time, y'know? At the same time, whenever people would say "We haven't seen Demyx", I'd think "Yeah we have" because I was assuming that he was the MoM somehow. lol If I apply the same thinking to Luxord, then... Yeah. The alternative would be that neither of them are from khux and aren't from the past. But I don't think he would've answered the question that way if that were the case. He didn't deny that they were connected to the past, that's for sure. I don't know why/how Luxord is in Yozora's world, but reincarnation would definitely explain how someone in that world could be one of the ancient keyblade wielders. Moreover, I feel like they must have a connection to Xehanort, since it seems like he was making it his mission to find all of the people he knew in his past life. That's one thing about Luxord which always stood out as strange to me. If he wasn't someone Xehanort knew in the past, then why was he even there? As a guy from Yozora's world, I rationalized it by assuming that Xehanort just had an interest in the fictional world. Hm........ Maybe... Maybe Luxord isn't FROM the fictional world. Maybe he just regained his memories and then went there. *stares into space* wtf. (Luxord voice) I WILL KILL CHAOS!!! *FLIES TO QUADRATUM* FORREAL. WHAT IF WE'VE BEEN MISLED BY THAT SCENE OF HIM IN THE CAR THIS WHOLE TIME??? WAIT, NO, SERIOUSLY. HE ISN'T EVEN IN THE VERUM REX TRAILER.

So, the main thing I've been thinking about is reincarnation. Xehanort can't be the only one. I wouldn't expect a concept like reincarnation to be introduced if it was only going to apply to one character. I cannot stress how much I've been thinking about this. I nearly drove myself insane, twisting my brain into a pretzel to consider possibilities that I had written off before. My conclusions... Xehanort is Player (confirmed) Demyx is MoM Sora is Ephemer Luxord is Brain (Maybe.) Sora shares so many similarities with Ephemer. I've talked about it before. Unless the intention is for them to simply be parallels of each other, it seems to me like Sora IS Ephemer's new self. Xehanort (Player) took up the role of darkness so that Sora could be light. Not just any light! He's THE light - the hero Daybreak Town was lacking. There's just... There's just SO MUCH. There's an OVERWHELMING AMOUNT of evidence to suggest that Sora is Ephemer. If you just go through KH3 while thinking "Sora is Ephemer" it's like... Wow. Now that we're sure of reincarnation, I've also been able to reanalyze Demyx's scenes. I'm positive that Demyx is suffering from the effects of bad karma brought upon him by the MoM's actions. (As the Verum Rex box states: ”But the “KARMA” that sleeps in humans will accelerate further.”) When Vexen asks for his help, he tells Demyx that he could receive forgiveness, but Demyx can’t think of anything he would require forgiveness for. To make him understand, Vexen describes the personal mistakes he made as a scientist. However, because Demyx isn’t a scientist (any longer), he thinks the subject is irrelevant to him and uses that as an excuse to dismiss the conversation. Later, Ienzo apologizes for not having trusted Ansem the the Wise, misled by the circumstances that caused him to doubt his intentions, but Ansem says that he’s the one who should apologize instead for having failed him as his mentor. It’s extremely easy to read Ansem and his apprentices as parallels of the MoM and the Foretellers, especially when Ansem is standing there in the black coat with his hands behind his back. Demyx interrupts their reconciliation, again, because he thinks it isn't relevant to him. Even the scene where he meets Riku becomes more interesting. He tries to prove to Riku that he isn't a threat, but Riku remains distrustful of him, almost like he can sense something about him. I adore this scene... So much... By this point, Demyx thinks he's one of the good guys, but he hasn't acknowledged that there's anything he's done wrong. Imagine for a second that it's been confirmed that Demyx is MoM. Now think about how this scene would look. Riku's reactions would feel totally justified, right? lol Being a good guy isn't that easy, Demyx. You won't be forgiven for anything just because you carried one replica, especially if you haven't apologized for WHAT YOU DID WRONG. It's embarrassing. This scene is pure secondhand embarrassment and I love it. How does he know of the MoM, though? Is it dreams like Xehanort's? Visions like Sora's vision of Ephemer? Either way, I can think of reasons for why Demyx would assume that the MoM must be a separate guy. Now, Luxord....... Is he the reincarnation of Brain? I'm just feeling a vibe here. I know that other people have definitely thought about this one before, but I think most people dropped it once they saw him in Yozora's world. I think that could be intentionally misleading, though. Although Xemnas's line about the "keyblade legacy" wasn't well translated, the original line still DID leave the possibility that all four of them WERE somehow "ancient keyblade wielders." If that IS true, then......... Well, which ancient keyblade wielder would Luxord be? We may not have SEEN Demyx in khux, but if he's MoM's reincarnation, then he's technically covered. "How did Xehanort know who they were?" An important question. But I think it's in reverse. I think that they came to him, guided by... y'know, destiny or whatever. Type-0 would attribute a coincidence like this to the Spiral. (If it wasn't obvious, the Spiral represents the cycle of samsara. Even if they're reborn, they'll still tend to perform the same actions and follow the same course in life.) So, here are some things of interest... He might be an "ancient keyblade wielder." His strong drive to find the box and discover what's inside. He cares about it more than anyone else. His suspicion of Xigbar and his curiosity about his true identity and motives. His friendliness towards Sora and his willingness to help him. (Giving him the card.) The fact that you fight Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene together. I don't know... Am I missing something? It feels like it could fit, but it feels like I'm missing something. Or maybe the whole gambling thing is obscuring my focus. Though, to be honest, that might also be another point of interest. In his character file story, the way he talks about gambling and challenging opponents reminds me of the game played between Xehanort and Eraqus. If Eraqus IS a descendent of Brain, then it might make sense for Luxord, his reincarnation, to also have a preoccupation with games where he carefully studies his opponent's moves. Rereading his character file story made me feel exhausted. I think I hate gambling metaphors. lol In any case, it doesn't feel as obvious to me as Sora and Demyx, so I'm not as confident. Maybe there's something else that you've noticed. When I think about this and then I think about FF Origin Jack, I feel... Something. That Jack (Not My Jack) is SO obsessed with killing Chaos. It reminds me of how Eraqus and his family basically held "Darkness = Evil" as a prime principle. As BBS showed us, having such an intense fear and hatred of darkness just leads to BAD THINGS. I would be unsurprised if Brain (Luxord, perhaps) accidentally slips into darkness without even realizing. Speaking of chaos, I'm feeling even more confident that Demyx's water power IS chaos. I don't know if they'll call it that in KH, but I don't see why not. lol That would explain the light/dark Darkside that looks like a water clone. MoM has one of the darknesses in him. Like he told Luxu, they're the source of the Heartless. If he was in a place devoid of light or darkness, then... Look, I can't put these pieces together perfectly without all the details, but I feel like I'm really on the right track here. lol Like, idk, did his soul recycling turn the darkness into something ELSE?? Cuz if Demyx can use it, then that means that chaos is chaos even outside of Quadratum (or wherever.) Like, it didn't turn back into just plain darkness in the real world. Chaos itself isn't always "evil." In the Fabula Nova Crystallis, it's a force that has no will of its own. It creates and it destroys. It sounds like the type of force you'd find in the place the MoM described. In the secret ending, everything in Quadratum looks wet. *leans close to the mic* It's CHAOS..... As I've noted before, Valhalla was surrounded by a sea of chaos - which also happened to have the power to make people reincarnate. Like here, when Caius lowered Yeul into the water, her soul was returned to the mortal world as a new Yeul. It's the perfect power for the MoM to have, imo. It represents a force that is neither light nor darkness, and it also symbolizes destruction and rebirth. ...But it's still dangerous, especially in the hands of someone as careless as Demyx. ...Is there a word for someone who does bad things but doesn't realize their own guilt? (Hey, another khux keyword.) I guess you could call it ignorance (hello again, Jack Type-0), but I think I'm looking for another word. lol MoMyx is a special type of frustrating. HE'S NOT EVIL, but you just want him to stop DOING STUFF because you know it might not be GOOD. Truly chaotic. lmao

I've been following every bit of this since it was announced, and I shall give you my take... First of all, I don't think you're crazy. lol I think there's DEFINITELY something weird going on with it, but I'm not sure if it bears any relevance to Kingdom Hearts. I think it's an isekai. I might've mentioned that term before...? But if you aren't familiar, it's where people from the real world are transported into a fantasy world. I saw a translation on twitter which maaay or may nooot have been real. I don't know if this person was just meme'ing, but here it is: I don't know where this came from, but I would believe it. lol It's not that far from what I think the story or "twist" could actually be. The renders of the characters make them all look like regular people from the real world. Details about the story are very sparse. It's like they want you to believe that these characters are part of this universe, but I think everybody's already figured out the twist - that they're from the real world. However, I think there's another twist. There's a female voice over right before Jack (yeah, nice name) faces off with Garland. She describes Garland as being a warrior like Jack who set out on the same journey. Yet now, for some reason, Garland is becoming Chaos. This gives me a few impressions... Most importantly, it seems to me like the "Warrior of Light" in this world isn't set in stone. More than one person has tread this path. Jack is just the latest. (This could be similar to other depictions of the WoL, like in FFXIV where every player can be a WoL, or in DFFOO where the position of WoL is transferred to another character, Onion Knight, when the original WoL vanishes from the world.) Secondly... I'm very uncertain about this, but something tells me that Jack will actually become Chaos himself. Like, maybe that's the true destiny of all WoLs or something. The words from Daisuke Inoue, the director, stand out to me... I think the suggestion is that he looks more like Chaos than a Warrior of Light. Once again... INTERESTING NAME YOU HAVE, JACK... (I'm having flashbacks of FFT0 Jack slashing apart enemies and spraying their blood everywhere.) All the stuff about hearts and light and chaos and the crystals and all of that... If those things weren't in a game related to FF1, I would've been disappointed. That's not just a KH thing. That's classic Final Fantasy. Nothing about that is suspicious to me. All Final Fantasy games sound like that. The thing that IS suspicious is the fact that the main character looks so much like Luxord. lol People have also compared him to Cor Leonis, which is a very apt comparison. I'm pretty sure Luxord IS supposed to be like Cor in Verum Rex. Jed also reeeally looks like a pink version of Prompto. As people have pointed out, if you took off Magia's hat, he might look like Jed. SPEAKING OF JED... I translated Yusuke Suda's description of him: ...? Hm? ?????????? If that post about the ramen shop is true, then this could be funny. Maybe they all woke up in this fantasy world and now they're suffering from amnesia. Whatever the case is, it definitely piques my interest. Very mysterious. NOW LET ME GET TO THE MOST IMPORTANT THING... I'm not sure if this is a real game. I watched someone play the demo for about four hours today. It just... Is that really it? Is that the game? ARE WE SURE? Maybe my expectations are just too high. lol Maybe Nomura has warped my brain to make me doubt everything I see. But I kiiind of feel like this game is actually a front for something ELSE. ........I'm not saying it's actually Verum Rex. Seriously, that's not what I'm saying. lol I'm just not 100% convinced that Stranger in Paradise is a real game. On that note, did you know that there was a fake Final Fantasy Type-0 game? I only just found out about this recently and it blew my mind. It's a 100% fake game set in the same universe as Type-0. And to make it even better, the story from this "game" actually makes an appearance in Agito as the book series "Tokimeki★Akademeia." This is wild... This "fake game" inception thing has been going on for so long. I don't know what's real anymore. LOL Tokimeki★Akademeia has the same relation to Type-0 that Verum Rex (the game) has to the universe of Kingdom Hearts. WHAT'S GOING ON??????? The thing about Tokimeki★Akademeia that stands out the most is the fact that the MC's mission is TO KILL CLASS ZERO. They're the VILLAINS of this universe. LMAO I've been having Many Thoughts since khux ended, but I'll just have to make another comment for those things. This was a lot. edit: Another thing worthy of note... Nomura actually said that he came up with this type of idea around the type of Dissidia Duodecim. That's exactly when I think he started putting together the whole "Kingdom Hearts, but now it's also the Fabula Nova Crystallis" thing. So........ I can't feel confident saying that this is a totally new, unrelated game. Nomura has instilled the fear of god in me.

These questions are all so valid... I think the biggest thing we NEED to see is who Luxu gives the No Name to. I thought it had to be Brain, but Brain already left. So unless Luxu handed it to him at an earlier time off-screen, then... Does he give it to him in the next world? The secret reports seemed to imply that he handed it off before the world ended, though. At least, that was my impression. So........ Was everyone mistaken about who received the No Name? idk, that one's really confusing to me... I'd like to know what happened with Ephemer and Player - and perhaps find out why Xehanort was having dreams of Player's life. Maybe khdr will explain. YEAH. THE GEAR UNDER THE TABLE. WHAT'S UP WITH THAT?????????? MoM implied that he was going to use a pod for himself, but I'd like to actually SEE what he does... I really need something that will help explain how he goes from that body to Demyx. I need something to connect A and B here. lol I know these pieces go together somehow!! I've been thinking about Demyx's character file and how funny it is... They really didn't have to mention the MoM at all, but they did. I'm astounded. I'm sure that the intention was to make people think that MoM and Demyx are separate people. But by mentioning him, it also tells us that they ARE connected which is something we didn't even know for sure before. I get a kick out of it because it reminds me of criminals who talk to the police and media because they think that being so forthright will make them look innocent. Meanwhile, they weren't on anyone's radar until they made themselves known. Incredible. Everybody on twitter keeps going "WHERE'S DEMYX!" but I don't expect to see him at all. (I'd like to, though.) On that note, I've also seen people saying "WHERE'S LUXORD!" but I don't think we'll see him, either. I explained how the "keyblade legacy" line was a mess. I think he's just always been a Verum Rex guy. Man, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself when we finally know everything. I've been thinking about this stuff for so long. ?

I've seen that comparison. If it's the same, that sounds like an appropriate place to see it, so it sounds possible to me. It looks more like a sky inside the orb to me, though. However... THAT orb also reminds me of something else. When you reach Pandaemonium, you see this thing looming in the sky right behind/over the place. I actually have no idea what it's supposed to be... All I know is that it has the Eye of Etro inside it, which is never a good sign. lol That usually means death of some sort. I'm too excited, too. There are all kinds of things I want to happen, but I'm trying not to get ahead of myself. I really hope Zero plays in the end over some credits or something. But I know that copyright would probably never allow it... edit: I asked the Type-0 chat what they think it is. Walking into it is what takes you to the final boss, so it acts like a portal gameplay-wise. So far, theories range from "it's a superior being" to "it's just a portal." To me, it looks like something that was supposed to have a meaning, but then it received no explanation.

Wowww... Huh, that's super interesting. I obviously never saw that. That really gives me a good think. idk if I really have anything to add. I just feel bad for not saying anything in this thread for a long time. lol Oh wait, I actually do kind of have something. Not like it's going to matter soon since khux ends tomorrow night, but... This is looking like what I've been saying! Tempus Finis!! To me, it looks like maybe the world was covered with the red sky, and then this is the moment when it all vanished, so the red sky orb is closing, taking everything with it. And then everything that's left collapses and sinks into the ocean. Here was the view of Akademeia during Tempus Finis (the end of the world). And then it all sinks... So, something like this. I mentioned it a while back. There was that one page in the artbook that said that a light from the sky came down, but it looks like debris is being carried up into the sky first. All I know is that seeing any hint of something that looks like a red sky makes me go "I knew it. I was right." lol There's also that one asset from the device in Scala ad Caelum that made it look like the Clock Tower is dyed red for some reason. *stares in Type-0 lore* Right before you see Rem and Machina's crystals, there's also this part where you can see debris floating in the sky around Pandaemonium. It looks like it's just suspended there, like time has stopped in that area. Panadaemonium is a really weird place... There are areas that seem to transport you to totally different places. Bodies of dead cadets are resurrected like zombies to fight you. It's really dark. I don't know if khux is going to go there. lol Pandaemonium wasn't part of Agito, so I don't think it was in the original Agito XIII concept. In Type-0, Pandaemonium rises from the ocean and the cadets have to fly there to face the Judge. In Agito, the Judge seizes Akademeia, the world's last bastion, and the cadets have to fight them on the terrace. Something tells me we won't have any battles, though. I expect it to just be nothing but cutscenes again.

Riiight... I realized that a little while after I said that. Still, I'm kinda concerned about what they were implying when they brought up the fact that copies of themselves still existed in the data world. What purpose is that supposed to serve...? I think he was referring to when he disappeared in BBS. He's saying that he recognized the keyblade graveyard even before then. I think he says "I am half of Ventus" because he's trying to reaffirm his sense of who he believes he is - but he might've been wrong this whole time... I'm getting really excited about the thought of him being "Ace". lol I always loved every member of Class Zero, but now I've got a new interest in them! Wow, that makes sense... It makes me wonder who Odin really is... He couldn't be Brain, right? I still feel pretty sure that Brain was Eraqus's grandpa. But if Odin were Brain, then that should've been obvious by now, right? We've had no indication that Eraqus is related to Odin... I guess Odin could just be a new character who was friends with Brain or something, so he knew about the sleeping world, and he sent the kids there so they could wake the world up. Something like that. LEGIT, I wondered if there could've been two Master's Defenders. LOL But it made my brain twist into a pretzel when I tried to figure out how that would work, so... Yyyeeeah, maybe not... I'm trying not to think too hard about how the keyblade stayed on the shore. lol Like you said, it doesn't make the most sense. Well... Brain said that he would "become the virus in the MoM's program" or whatever. The wording sure makes it sound like Luxu must've been talking about Ventus first... But maybe it's in the sense that Ventus also became like a virus due to Ava and Brain's meddling?? That's kinda convoluted, though. It seems like it's either poorly worded or wrong. If I could find these in Japanese, I'd like to see what they originally say for "the Five." I have a feeling it might've just been "the five" with, like, a lowercase F. Nothing special about it. Just any five kids, not necessarily the five new union leaders. The assumptions of the localizer might've been what messed that one up.

Yeah... Uh... I have some questions about that. That wasn't what we expected, but we did count it as a possibility. lol Mainly, I wanna know if that was the REAL Strelitzia or a data version of her. Since Roxas was reconstructed from data, I'm starting to think that a "data copy" of someone is supposed to be just as good as the original person... even though that gives me a lot of bad existential feelings........... (But if it turns out that EVERYTHING was data anyway, then sure, I guess it really would all be "just as good.") It also turned out that we weren't necessarily wrong about Ephemer and Player being the two left behind. I'm still feeling pretty confident that Skuld will be the one who takes the one remaining pod in that room, leaving the two by themselves in the data world - which will become like a dream world once it enters sleep mode. OH... That's interesting... Very good catch. I hadn't even thought about where they could be right now. But I did think of who they probably originally belonged to. I was wondering what happened to them. It always felt weird to me that Nomura would only take half of this group. So, if this is right, then MoM and his six "old friends" would be Jack, Ace, Cater, Cinque, Sice, Seven, and King - an "original seven", if you will. Remember in the KH3 novels (I think it was that?) how Vanitas remembered something from the distant past where he awoke in the keyblade graveyard, but he felt like he came from someone other than Ventus? Alright, now you remember how Vanitas "disappeared" at the end of KH3? Ten to one, it was only his physical body that was defeated by Sora. That brat's gonna come back looking like Ace. I just know it. lol I like how these are the questions that you have. because I have a totally different set of questions. lol Keep thinking about that, though! I haven't figured that out, either. What *I* wanna know is... Why did EPHEMER receive the Master Defender??? The only thing I thought of was this sequence... So... Alright. It's a "guiding key." It was there for Sora to find. Sora found it after saying "May my heart be my guiding key" or whatever. Listen, I'm... I'm still not entirely unconvinced that Sora and Ephemer aren't the same person. lol If Ephemer and Player stay behind in the data world after it enters sleep mode, then perhaps the sensation Xehanort had of "falling through the sky" was a drop? Sora experienced the same thing. But that would imply that the real world is also a type of dream world. That wouldn't really surprise me. I've been thinking that the war might've been repeating and the world might've kept starting over because it was actually asleep. I don't know why they'd look different, though... I mean, I guess it's possible that they aren't literally the same people, but there definitely seems to be a connection... Whatever's going on with them, I suppose MoM could've done the same thing in order to appear as Demyx. I really don't know how the keyblade went from Ephemer to Eraqus, though... I was reading the secret reports about Subject X again, and I saw this... I assume that the "four friends" must be the ones who left before her in the other pods. The "key" might be referring to the Master Defender. Maybe Ephemer gives it to her to protect her or something, but then it gets lost in transit? lol I really don't know... I doubt that it's simply referring to her own keyblade. edit: Wait... Is SKULD the one Luxu gives the No Name to???????

Probably just the fact that he's the KH version of Lean. If I were Nomura, I'd be making Joker references all over him. But since that might make the connection to Type-0 too obvious, he picked a different yet equivalent card, The Fool. There are a lot of details associated with the Fool and Joker that make me wonder... Honestly, I don't know what's relevant anymore. lol In particular, those cards have connections to the theories of Carl Jung, Jungian archetypes, and the monomyth. Yep, I'm thinking about Vexen's character file story again, the one where he referred to Sora and Demyx as fools. The Fool is considered the "hero" or protagonist of the tarot. It feels like Nomura's doing something with that, but it's SO incredibly hard to tell if it's intentional because the monomyth itself is universal. It's just a fact that Sora represents the heroic archetype who follows the hero's journey. The question is, is Nomura actually trying to use this fact to make a point? lol For instance, is he trying to express that Sora's existence as a FICTIONAL CHARACTER is inherently tragic because he's fated to follow this archetype as the protagonist? Or am I making this deeper than he is? There's a well known book about the monomyth called "The Hero with a Thousand Faces." HOW DOES THAT TITLE MAKE YOU FEEL? lol (I'm implying that he and Yozora - and even Noctis - are all essentially the same in a narrative sense because of their role as protagonists. One guy. A thousand faces.) ...........I JUST REMEMBERED THAT UNRAVELED MADE A WHOLE VIDEO ABOUT THIS FOR KINGDOM HEARTS. LMAO This, of course, brings me back to what I was saying some time ago about MoM/Demyx being the "trickster" of the story, another interpretation of the Fool. The trickster and hero have some overlap. Sometimes they're the same thing. Jack, Demyx, and the MoM could all be considered tricksters. ...But is Nomura trying to draw our attention to this for a reeeeason?? Actually... Speaking of Jack. One of the words I see frequently in his profiles is douke (道化) which means clown/fool/jester. The English localization decided to make up the title "Class Clown Zero" for him, which... Sounds a little stupid to me, but sure. lol They've got the right idea. The whole "reverse/upright" thing with the khux medals definitely makes me think that this was some intentional lampshading, since it's an obvious tarot reference. Every tarot card has a reverse side with different meanings. Initially, I thought "Sora is the Fool in upright and Demyx is the Fool is reverse." But I could also consider them both being upright with Yozora and MoM as their reverse sides. I DON'T KNOW... Maybe this is all symbolically in service of the new "fictional world" arc. Or maybe it's nothing. *throws my hands in the air* I feel like I'm just rambling and repeating myself because my thoughts keep circling around this same train of thought. Each time, it's just sliiiightly different. (edit) As soon as I hit "post", I remembered this...

Well, I changed "goal" to "finish line" to make it clearer, since "goal" can also mean like... "the goal of the plan" or something. So I see where their mind was with "around the corner", but the part about the "reward" added unnecessary confusion. I still see people wondering what Sora's "reward" was supposed to be... This is another one I can understand, but... I do wonder if there's going to be a distinction later. I know that the word "joker" is interesting to Nomura. I've been having a fun time reading the Type-0 Ultimania and here's something he said... So, you already know what I think - he turned Lean Joker into Luxu. But there are some other interesting things here. First of all, this makes it sound like he came up with Lean's name first, which is wild since Lean wasn't even a playable character in the end. He wasn't even part of the illustration that Nomura was talking about. But also, I feel like he probably used the same method to come up with the Foretellers' names. By the way, the more I read from the Ultimania, the more apparent it is that Type-0 wasn't JUST Tabata's game like most people seem to think. I've had a bunch of people tell me "Ehhh, I don't think this has anything to do with KH because Tabata was the director of that one." Sure, Tabata was the director, but Nomura was still very involved. I just found out that he's also the one who chose the weapons for each character. Apparently he was even present during voice recording. According to this, he was also extremely enamored by the designs of the moogles - so much, he wanted to make matching moogles for Versus XIII. I think I already compared the Type-0 moogles to Chirithies at some point. The way that they're like little guides for the kids and they wear matching clothes... He was really into that. lol Anyway, I still feel like "fool" and "joker" are keywords, but I can't figure out what this is supposed to meeean for the card. The Type-0 Ultimania also said: "Joker, as the name implies, is one who is to be used as a replacement when any of the 12 are missing during the experiment." Which is clever. Almost makes him sound like he's a benched Organization member. But idk if that helps us. lol I'm just throwing things out there and hoping it'll make you think of something.

Yeeeeah... Here's that whole exchange: Sora: But that doesn't change the good intentions of Hercules' actions! Xigbar: When one person's self-sacrifice leads to another person's self-sacrifice, we just call that a chain of losses. Xigbar: If one part of the chain breaks, the whole thing falls apart, one could say. Xigbar: Those connected hearts you love so much are the same way. Xigbar: Oh, of course, I'm sure that they're what "give you strength." Xigbar: But on the other hand, you shouldn't forget the possibility that those who are connected to you might suffer and feel burdened. I feel like they totally botched this metaphor and turned it into something confusing. lol As he's walking away, he tells Sora "In the end, you may even understand your destiny. The finish line might be closer than you realize." I get a stronger impression from this that the "destiny" he was referring to was something predetermined by the MoM's plan. It's really stupid that Sora says "...What reward?" in English. In Japanese, he goes "My destiny...?" Is it any wonder people get confused by so many lines in this game??

It's gotta have something to do with dreams, right...? Hm... And the fact that Yozora seems like he could even be separate from Sora... There's gotta be something we just don't know yet. Like, maybe Yozora was part of Sora at one point, but he got splintered off because of how many hearts-- WAIT. ISN'T THAT WHAT XIGBAR WAS TALKING ABOUT? He said that if Sora kept connecting his heart to other people's, some of those hearts were bound to end up "breaking", right? Am I just suddenly making something out of nothing...? I don't recall us ever finding out exactly what he meant by that... I don't think Xigbar would've known about Yozora or anything, but he might've known that what Sora was doing would have dire consequences for his own heart. (edit) I really got excited there... But I just listened to that scene in Japanese and it's totally different. It sounds like he's just referring to the way that connections can be positive and negative things. OH WELL. idk, I think that's actually a really good point about how the Organization kept calling him "Roxas." I'm surprised I hadn't thought of that similarity. It seems so obvious to me now. Vexen's quotes, though confusing, were probably referring to Roxas at the time. His choice of words also makes me think of "Another side, Another story" which was the secret ending of KH1 featuring Roxas. There's something about that ending that reminds me of the KH3 secret ending... Roxas arrives in the World That Never Was while it's raining. Sora wakes up in Quadratum after it's apparently rained. Riku is standing on top of a building watching Roxas below. MoM and Yozora are standing on top of buildings watching Sora and Riku below. In the end of "deep dive" (Which, thinking about it now, is an interesting name in itself) iirc, Xemnas says to Roxas "I went to see him. He looks just like you." But I always thought that was strange. Roxas and Sora don't look alike, imo. Maybe just the face? idk, it gives more more of those Yozora vibes with how the Toy Box guys seem to think Sora actually LOOKS like him.

Hold on... I think... you're on to something... Why does Sora's station appear when Yozora decides to attack him? And why does the station turn into the roof of a building in Quadratum? In a way, doesn't it seem similar to Sora's fight with Roxas? I mean... Really, that's a good question, isn't it? WHY DID SORA'S STATION APPEAR?? WHY DOES IT TURN INTO SOMETHING FROM YOZORA'S SIDE?? Am I saying that Yozora and Sora are the same? I think I'm saying that they're the same! It would be interesting if we got to play as Yozora for a while in the next game, particularly if the ending where Sora loses was the true ending. If the two are the same, then Yozora's victory could represent him overtaking Sora and becoming the new "him" the way that Player became Xehanort. ...Have I finally gone crazy or does it feel like this is starting to make more sense? I feel like this could actually happen. lol (edit: Still thinking about it. Maybe the reason why there are two endings is because they're the same. Both endings, in a way, are the same if you believe that Sora and Yozora are the same person. This doesn't sound terribly far-fetched to me...) The windows with Sora's memories are interesting, too... Now that my mind is on Roxas, it's making me think of the beginning of KH2 with the machine that was rebuilding Sora's memories. idk if that's what it's supposed to remind me of, though. But it serves a similar purpose in the game bc it makes the players think about all the experiences you've had as Sora in all the games. Thinking about the prologue again just reminded me of that weird Darkside again... My best guess with that thing is still that it's a whole new type of enemy. Hmm...