An Exhaustive Discussion of Kingdom Hearts Dark Road - State of The Heart #1

[@yeetusvanitas9800]

One thing I realized: It’s always been weird how Yen Sid’s exam was vastly more difficult than Eraqus’. People always rag on yen Sid saying that he’s overly demanding, but I think that now with context from Dark Road we see that Yen Sid’s exam is probably the real standard, and Eraqus’ exam was actually atypically easy. This is probably because Eraqus saw what happened to the upperclassmen and that trauma prevents him from wanting to put Terra and Aqua through the same thing.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

You are correct. Part of the Mark is "exploring the Worlds to broaden your Horizons" However, Eraqus knows Terra has Darkness, and Ventus is a X Blade maker. He also knows the outside has Darkness, and he doesn't want the thing that happened to happen. Namely the Darkness using his students as flesh shields and making the X Blade.

[@AskWaffles]

Actually, I think Eraqus wasn't even planning on having an exam at all. It was actually Xehanort in his letter to Eraqus, who suggested Eraqus to give the "traditional examination". So either Eraqus already determined Terra and Aqua showed the mark of mastery beforehand through some other exam (possibly one thats of appropriate difficulty), or he just decided to not test them at all.

[@29Blockhead]

@@AskWaffles so the dream eaters being the kids from UX hearts combined with their Chirithy, does Xehanort, Eraqus and Yen Sid know that? Or do the Scala teachers know that?

[@AskWaffles]

@@29Blockhead There's no way anyone knows that except for the Master of Masters and maybe Luxu imo

[@malpercio123]

Eraquas was just traumatized so he gave a sanitized test

[@Crescendo961]

Luxu is to "As If" as Axel is to "Got it Memorized?" They dont say it all the time, but when they did it left enough of an impression that youd know it was them even if youre just casually attentive

[@McMarioG]

And by this point it should be especially clear to anyone who played BBS. I can’t believe I didn’t catch Bragi was the Braig anagram until he said as if…. It was right there!

[@NathanTheCuber]

There's literally an video of all the times he's said it, because everyone knows that's his line. Idk why Damo thinks people wouldn't associate "as if" with Luxu

[@artist-gj]

So my thing with Xehanort, I feel it was always hinted at that his motives aren't necessarily evil, even back in Birth By Sleep, he wants to rebalance the world, and even calls Eraqus out for being corrupted by light, and we see that both in BBS and even Dark Road, Eraqus is much too consumed by the idea that all darkness must be purged. This thing that is ultimately a fundamental part of life and reality, that exists in all things. He's so consumed by this hatred of darkness he lets the darkness in Terra, blind him to the fact that Terra is worthy, and this pushes Terra directly into Xehanort's arms. Also while Xehanort's motives aren't evil, his actions definitely are, and the series doesn't forgive him for that, no one does. None of the good guys, forgive Xehanort, in fact Sora basically calls him out for being full of himself. And even post KH3 we see in MoM, and even ReMind no one is giving Xehanort a free pass.

[@ultimateshadeofwar]

Exactly

[@mattcamp480]

💯💯💯

[@Growmetheus]

Let me just holocaust 100,000 people in the name of a greater plan and then not follow through on it. I’m such a good guy for that

[@ZeranZeran]

Yes! I've been saying this since the finale came out. They made it a point to show us that Eraqus is not perfect, infact, he can be just as evil as Xehanort.

[@Ghostel3591]

@@ZeranZeran I mean man was "Damn, I failed you my apprentices... I will have to put you out of your misery... - But Master we are fine and let's talk about it fi-... - NO IT IS TOO LATE! MERCY KILLING TIME IT IS!"

[@McMarioG]

Thank you for being such a great fan of the series! We’re all in this together.

[@Fannintendociccio1]

Ok so I haven't really finished the video yet, barely started (so if you guys realize this later on, my bad) but I hear you guys explaining how the passage of time worked in dark road and being weird compared to bbs, when actually the way it's handled is way more clever and interesting than what appeared to be. When in enchanted dominion the upperclassmen say maleficent cursed aurora, they aren't talking about being put to sleep, but about aurora being cursed as an infant to die at 16 years old, so it's years before bbs, aurora was just born and brought to live with the fairies in the cottage (hence why we don't get to see them inside since they would have to make a baby aurora sprite probably). The upperclassmen were essentially trying to derail the movie's plot by confronting maleficent and avoid the actual curse to take place in the future. In beast's castle the time is during the many years when beast was cursed before belle. In agrabah, we see just jafar's many attempts to get the lamp before Aladdin and jasmine are around/old enough to be active players in the plot. In dwarf's woodlands, it takes place in the years when the queen had no rivalry with snowhite, since she wasn't around yet, since she does not ask the mirror about who is the fairer in the land and gets the negative answer. In wonderland, Alice is not here of course. It's all very very cool, it's all basically taking place in hypothetical prequel times.

[@jexusdomel5194]

i mean , you say that but it doesnt quite add up, i have a hard time believing that jafar was already a grown man and hes still looks the same like 73 years later or something (i guess iago isnt there tho), and the beast had a timed cursed, that rose took its sweet time to wither. Like if that ends up being what nomura wanted ill let it slide, but i think they are kinda sleeping worlds, where people are placed to fufill the stories that should happen, but these worlds are still half completed, so its only jafar there, or hades just puts on a tournament in the phil area for no reason, no phil to object (why not the underdome?). they say in this game that people are the last things to be placed in a world, but they didnt say that it needed to be all of them at the same time, thats what im betting on

[@Fannintendociccio1]

@@jexusdomel5194 oh wait, what I was implying is, like Nomura said the worlds have their own time flow and they each start when they need to, but having the world's be considerably in the past compared to bbs makes a lot more sense than having them be 5 minutes before terra, ventus and aqua arrive. For the Disney worlds it's like 16/10/a couple of years, while scala and other original worlds have much longer time that passed, but that does check out with how time flow in the worlds was said to work.

[@jexusdomel5194]

@Franci & Drake oooh I see, you were arguing that it wasn't such a big difference in time like they said, understood. Tho that still would be a huge gap, like I could believe maybe close to 20 years for Agrabah, but beast maybe 50 of difference, still hard to believe, but far more reasonable imo

[@quicksam9941]

what if all of the world's throughout the entire dark seeker saga are actually dream worlds, which is why the Disney worlds seem doomed to play out the same story over and over again? like, in reality, it's probably just that Nomura doesn't have alot of creative freedom with the Disney worlds, and is mostly restricted to doing the movie plots, but I wouldn't put it past him to justify that with an extreme reveal that everything was happening in a dream world. I admit it's a dumb theory, but it did come to mind while watching through dark road lol

[@Fannintendociccio1]

@@quicksam9941 as far as we know, the story here don't actually repeat continuously like in the dream worlds, we see even what happens past the end of the story after all. But the doom factor is present in the sense that the story these Disney worlds are living incarnations of cannot be deviated from, because it's Disney but also because these worlds are here because the book of prophecies describes their fairy tales and so they become real, that's the order that various characters remind us that need to be respected. The upperclassmen tried to completely render null the story of sleeping beauty by trying to kill maleficent before Aurora was 16, and then tried to steal essential items that are required for their plot to happen, and we saw what happened to them because of this lol

[@yeetusvanitas9800]

At the end of the day I think all my biggest questions around dark road stem from Odin. He is very mysterious. Obviously there are so many parallels to the Master of Masters. He only has a single eye showing (a pattern repeated by Luxu once he becomes xigbar). This is also a reference to the mythological Odin, who sacrificed one of his eyes in exchange for omniscience. This is also clearly the inspiration for the Master of Masters himself. Nomura said we would learn more about Odin in Missing Link so I’m looking forward to that.

[@keeks2472]

Interesting, I didn't even consider Odin's one eye in mythology.

[@ZeranZeran]

Odin and Baldr are evil

[@keeks2472]

@@ZeranZeran Looking into the etymology of Odin's name breaks it down to "leader of the possessed" and "lord of frenzy" and roots of it being "seer, sooth-sayer" and "prophet." So, he could be a villain, MoM or he could just be a red herring. We'll see.

[@ZeranZeran]

@@keeks2472 Check out the name of the final heartless we fight in KHDR. "Hringhorn" - AKA Baldr's Ship he used to fly between worlds in Norse mythology.

[@keeks2472]

@@ZeranZeran pretty cool since he was a vessel for darkness himself

[@kaison12205]

Honestly the one thing I wish we got a scene expansion on was xehanort killing eraques even just to see his internal psychology there

[@sonicjr53]

I think I interpreted what happened in enchanted Dominion with the upperclassmen, was they they found the fairies and princess aurora as a baby, and not after the sleep spell was cast. We dont have confirmation on when the upperclassmen arrive, but My idea feels like it'd make more sense than them arriving later. IIRC, Maleficent cast a death curse on aurora as a baby, and it was the fairy Merryweather that changed the death curse into a curse of eternal sleep until true loves kiss happens.

[@adencurry3727]

Thank you for pointing this out. That’s how I read it too.

[@Growmetheus]

“muscle and sinew that once obeyed you now rebels against you; how you remain here at all confounds the mind.“ Xehanort said peoples heart are cast out of their body. Thats what happened with Brain and Luxu.

[@ZeranZeran]

this sounds like something out of the bible. its creepy. I love it. "“muscle and sinew that once obeyed you now rebels against you."

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

@@ZeranZeran A lot of the symbols in Kingdom Heart are biblical. For example, the recusant sigils (X) is like the Mark of Cain. Specifically, on Saix. The X is craved into his Forehead, so everyone knows he is a Betrayer, and a Dark Vessel.

[@siegfried7988]

Imma need more exhausting discussions.

[@tayuyamajik6525]

True

[@AskWaffles]

I am so happy you're doing this. I've genuinely been on a hunt for a KH Podcast that talks about the lore and theories, because that's my favorite part of KH.

[@Khfan_98]

Look at you, Damo! Always coming through with this awesome content!

[@ames354]

Yo this is amazing. Thanks Damo and Water for this content and all the other things you guys do for the KH community.

[@NocturnalNed.]

You are straight up the best kingdom hearts dude on KZbin. Thank you for being cool.

[@MyKingofdiamonds]

I was surprised Dark Road didn’t talk about Xehanort’s travel to the future at all. What happened that made him decide to go to the future. And why does he have yellow eyes in the future when he still has silver eyes when he’s given No Name? On the topic of the Book of Prophecies changing, I rewatched Back Cover and noticed something interesting. When the MoM is giving Ira his role and he says “do you really think the world can be saved by 7 people,” I think Ira suggests gathering more keyblade wielders, like X/UX was initially his idea. But he had already read the Book, so why wouldn’t he have known about all the X kids? Did Ira’s actions change the Book or was that just something the Master didn’t include?

[@LunarFTW]

I believe the reason he has yellow eyes in the future is because he has part of his older self's heart injected into him, just like the rest of the real Org 13. When he goes back to the past post KH3, it likely corrects itself and he just has his own normal heart, so it goes back to silver until he eventually gets the yellow ones later

[@jexusdomel5194]

@@LunarFTW so its a temporal paradox? he only got yellow eyes because of the future, and that in turn made that future occur? maybe. i think nomura will probably elaborate about the eyes later on, riku changing eye color wasnt explained in kh3 (blue to green), so theres probably more than just being norted (like not something xehanort exclusive)

[@LunarFTW]

@@jexusdomel5194 We've seen time loops before. The whole reason Xehanort even left Destiny Islands is thanks to Ansem SoD going back in time to take him to Scala and whatnot The eye color might have to do with "allignment", darkness being yellow, pure light being blue and everything in-between any color

[@felinefancy9233]

I realize I'm coming into the discussion here fairly late, but when it comes to what you both discussed about watch order, I honestly think that going in release order is best. Here's why I say that: as a fan who grew up on these games and had the wait, the reveals at the end of both KH3 and Dark Road give you a reason to replay the series and look for those small moments throughout the series where with the knowledge of a player fully caught up, you can truly start to connect the dots and see just how far in advance things were planned. The small Easter eggs that you wouldn't normally look for become something that you and your friends will spend your late nights talking about and you realize, as we're told in KH1, how little we truly know. Myself and a friend of mine are currently deep diving the series and even in just the first 30 minutes of the first game we were spending time just looking at the carvings in the cave on Destiny Islands and seeing the foreshadowing to come was something neither of us had done. Yes you could start with Union Cross and Dark Road, and BBS/0.2 Fragmentary Passage, but after that, we lose those characters for 5-6 games straight before they would come back around. I think by going in release order, we slowly get the picture of the past without it being too much where brains will melt at the amount of info that's dropped.

[@seemangalbj]

I think the Luxu stuff in Dark Road is vague enough for new people to not be spoiled or understand what's going on, so I can see myself recommending it before 3 tbh. Really engaging convo too, looking forward to more episodes.

[@engbob1258]

This was awesome, I've always wanted to listen to a podcast that just gushes over KH lore, I'm keen to hear more!

[@TheBossVongola27]

I loved how organic the conversation was, just the flow of the back and forth was great!

[@jeskerjames3260]

I'm still wondering where Yen-Sid as a Keyblade wielder fits into this timeline. I was thinking at the end Eraqus was going to say in the graveyard to Xehanort: "Master Odin has taken on another apprentice, a boy named Yen-Sid. The master says he will be his final apprentice. Says there should be at least three wielders at any given time. Then he wants to leave the legacy of the Keyblade in our hands and retire to a quit world to live out the rest of his days."

[@x3AmberLovex3]

For a moment, I thought that Odin would become Yen Sid later down the line. But I’m not sure if Disney would allow that.

[@jeskerjames3260]

@@x3AmberLovex3 Before the names got revealed I thought Hermod was Yen Sid. I think having a mention at the end of Dark Road about Odin taking on a final student before retiring and that being Yen Sid, would have been the best way to do it since there is no official look for young Yen Sid and I don’t know if Disney would have let Nomura create a look from scratch.

[@x3AmberLovex3]

@@jeskerjames3260 Totally! I enjoy your theory more than Odin straight-up being Yen Sid.

[@DavidRussell323]

Very excited to have this big boy to listen to tomorrow. Looking forward to future episodes!

[@xandardorf6365]

When Baldr meets with the gang in Scala before Olympus, I noticed something rewatching that scene. While Baldr tells the others about what he's been up to, Xehanort closes his eyes and crosses his arms. He already felt something fishy going on with Baldr.

[@ianpaes973]

I dont know about everubody else around here, but i could listen to this kind of conversation at least twice a week

[@grifgaming436]

Around @1:18:00 when you all are talking about playing darkroad before Kh3. I belive that nomura either said in an interview or Kh3’s ultimania, that he wanted to have xehanort’s boyhood be kh3’s prolouge. Similar to roxas’s section in Kh2. I can easily see that being the case.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

Well, about the time mechanic, Aqua goes to the world of Darkness for quite awhile from the Realm of Light's perspective but was in the realm from her perspective a little les than a year.

[@kaison12205]

From aqua’s perspective an eternity passed. The realm of darkness is different from the worlds in the realm of light that have different flows of times the realm of darkness has no flow of tine

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

Hmmmm...you maybe hitting on something here. Maybe the Destiny Island time jump happens when Xehanort is walking through the Dark Corridor.

[@davidtamayo9015]

Thank you guys for doing this! I loved it! Please keep having these conversations. I don’t have any friends who like KH as much as we do so it’s nice to know of other people who like to talk about it in depth and also get some incite and understanding that I may have missed. Especially in the mobile games. Damo I appreciate how much you’ve done for the KH community with recap videos of UX, and just trying to help understand what the heck was going on. I always looked forward to your videos. I can’t wait to hear the next podcast fellas. 😁😁😁

[@tayuyamajik6525]

Yeah like. If ephemer built Scala and had a family that went all the way to his great great grand kids. And then Grey Scala becoming the white scala, 300 years have to gone by at least

[@CosmicTron]

Interesting topic, and I 100% agree Star Wars is definitely similar. We could compare Count Dooku to Xehanort at this point both sided with the darkness or darkside for a reason. Because both believed it was a way of bringing balance and took that path to try and reach their end goal.

[@MrRobot-0]

In other hand any star wars pirist would tell you how the pure light is the way to go while in KH is not really.

[@cadr003]

29:15 In ReCoded, its shown that Sora's ability to take the hurt in his heart to feel closer to other people is what sets him apart.

[@cookiecream1637]

YESSS I CANT WAIT TO WATCH THIS ALL DAY THANK YOU

[@CosmicTron]

I believe that all of them did face off against maleficent. They mentioned she had a form her Dragon form. But she wasn't the one that struck the killing blow. I believe it was a set up by darkness could be that same darkness that sent maleficent to the future and Balder was harboring it.

[@Zetgeist]

glad to see yall keeping after it even when the KH hype is on the back burner for most people. I personally really enjoy this type of content, can't wait for more :)

[@SkyHester135]

Its funny that its called "starte of the heart" cause the heart topic bothers me the most. Seems like every heart having different death... so many ways. To die or not die or getting second life and remember everything. To get lost forever or broken into pieces or falling asleep. Dying and getting sent to "the after life". Its just such headache...

[@kaison12205]

Baldr’s darkness is an amalgam of all the darkness amongst his friends and presumably the people he knows in scala

[@noravanguard]

Nomura is an fan of both Star Wars and Star Trek. That way he had both Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy voice in KH

[@kaison12205]

To me it seems like xehanort killed eraques because eraques would have tried to stop the plan that we now know xehanort thought was the right thing to do. So to xehanort eraques might have been following false light and for the greater good (because eraques was an actual threat to xehanort) he struck him down.

[@andrewwolff7592]

I also thought Xehanort eliminated Eraqus to further fuel Terra's rage and lead him to the Keyblade Graveyard to get revenge so Xehanort could take over his body.

[@kaison12205]

@@andrewwolff7592 I think that was the original intention of the scene based on the acting but we have to add the context of kh3 and dark road showing the nuance of xehanorts thoughts even in his old age

[@tobyblue4318]

The podcast was really thought-provoking, I definitely have more theories rolling through my head now. Side note: Over the past 6 months I've watched someone on Twitch experience the Kingdom Hearts series for the first time, which as you know is the best content. From the highs (KH2/BBS) to the lows (CoM/DDD) for her she was hooked throughout and watching her try to wrap her mind around everything was an amazing journey. So when it came to KH3 she was a bit disappointed by how easy it was on proud, but once she accepted it she had a great time until it came to the moment you two discussed. She really didn't like how the game tried to redeem Xehanort in any way as it came out of nowhere. So your Dark Road before KH3 theory really might hold water. But that isn't why I bring this story up, so she goes through ReMIND next and she becomes more and more frustrated by how much it copies the end of KH3 that she literally just played. The new story additions just confuse her even more just when she felt she had a grasp of it. By the end she was so demoralised by everything she wondered if the future of KH even excited her any more. Things were looking dire, so the last hope we had was that the KHUx story could bring her back in. It could've gone either way but we linked her the 1 hour explainer video you made a year ago, within a few minutes she was pausing the video and going on detailed discussions about a point you made and I knew we were safe. By the time she was freaking out to the Xehanort reveal/misdirection her passion for the series was revitalised. So thank you for being the KHUx king and helping a newcomer to the series with the best explanation of the story possible. I'm really anticipating your video to explain the Dark Road story (which she knows nothing about) so she can be fully ready to experience Missing Link like the rest of us. Cheers Damo!

[@DiZTheDon]

A new KH podcast to add to my collection

[@kaison12205]

Ansem is the inventor of the black coat I believe and the master of masters simply recreated it because he can see the future

[@MonkeysNutsacks]

Fully agree with what waterkh is saying at 6:20. To me, the story of Union Cross through all it's incarnations was the most interesting the KH lore has been in a decade, but being able to experience the vast majority of it through your channel damo279 really brought it to a whole new level. Always look forward to your videos, keep it up bro!

[@ZeranZeran]

I love listening to people talk about game theories, this is awesome. Thanks guys. Also i think you both nailed a lot of it.

[@andrewwolff7592]

Got to listen to this at work today. I'm so excited for future episodes!!

[@chrisburns658]

Thanks for uploading to spotify. 5 star review, my dude. Much easier to consume, because I'm usually on the go with the phone in my pocket. Can't wait for more of these.

[@TheDimensionDweller]

I listened to most of this podcast while making some soup (I am a very slow chef when it comes to new recipes). It kept me wonderfully entertained and scratched my KHDR itch, thank you! It's been a few days, but I think one of you brought up the idea that Baldr did indeed kill Bragi? I like that thought a lot, a very interesting concept that one of the hearts inside Bragi's body could be destroyed while the other persists. Since Baldr was clearly attacking Luxu's back before it cut away and the fight took them to a new area (as shown by Baldr's flashback) where Baldr got a pretty good hit in, I think there's justification for that theory. Now, if only we knew how Luxu's possession works. Until confirmed one way or another, I'm not going to take the idea that Luxu possesses people the same way that Xehanort used on Terra as a given.

[@linklegend7536]

Dude that intro theme with the masters theme creeping in was so cool lmao

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

About Bragi passing but not. My theory is Bragi made a deal with Hades to make Baldr think he passed, and "You" we see Hades comment at before the chapter ends is him . It is why the scene cuts before we see the person. It is how he will fake his passing . It is the reason Hades says "All that angst for nothing." because neither of them are passed, but Hades lied so the classmates fought him.

[@keeks2472]

Bragi spoke to Baldr and said he would just disappear so people will just forget him. Baldr was already being puppeted by darkness so I figured he knew he was still around.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

@@keeks2472 And then Baldr attacks again, and Bragi(with the deal I purposed) appears to pass away, similar to Xigbar in KH3. And because Baldt will appear to the classmates later, Xehanort and Eraqus will assume Bragi passed away.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

@@keeks2472 my theory is also a great way to insure Darkness/Baldr cannot succeed even if he were to beat Xehanort because he didn't beat Bragi, so Darkness would still fail.

[@keeks2472]

@@Fragmentsinfractals488 Okay, I see what you are saying now. I must have missed him striking out again while I was taking notes. haha You're right, that would interfere with the plans to take out 13 lights.

[@musubi8885]

Super excited for this series! I've been wanting a KH content creator to make a series of mysteries and questions that currently exist in the series. Hopefully this series will be a lot of what I'm hoping for! Also, will this series only be on KZbin or will you also put it on other platforms?

[@Axeres]

This is what i need in my life is a kingdom hearts podcast i can just listen to lore for the rest of time

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

The thing about "Baldr's' Darkness is it isn't just his. It is all the classmates Darkness hidden below their False Light. They are the Classmates Fear and Terror mixed with their clinging to The Light. Darkness is "like a plague" and Baldr because of his Empath thing is sensitive to them. So Baldr absorbs the upper classmates Darkness when his sister passes.

[@ozwell1088]

Nice. Love deep Kingdom Hearts discussion. Seen two other channels (Lore Dump and Kingdom Hearts University??? not sure) where a Kingdom Hearts nerd explains, in detail, the entirety of the Kingdom Hearts plot to a few of his friends while making jokes along the way. Their videos and discussions go on for many hours over the course of many videos (they are about to put out another covering everything since Kingdom Hearts 3). They are effing hilarious and a great watch, just in case you guys ever thought of doing something similar.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

You know, I have been looking at the Dark Road cover art, and I realized something that I feel stupid for not noticing .All the classmates are smiling, all except one. Bragi is not smiling. Bragi is smirking.... like the way Xigbar smirks when he knows something you don't... The Truth is what you see with eyes.. HA Ha

[@coltdeedede]

Absolutely love this, great stuff Damo and WaterKH! ❤‍🔥

[@MR-pr5td]

I loved this, if you guys considered releasing these on podcast platforms weekly I’d definitely listen weekly

[@Sousw]

I had a thought while listening: what if the book of prophecies is actually a lie? Like, the whole part of the Master's eye and everything is just invented, and he just wrote what he thought would work to fullfill his plan to eradicate the darkness at the end. As everyone believes him, they tend to actually do what it's written even if they don't want to, like what happened with the foretellers' Keyblade War. MoM actually tells Luxu that the Lost Page about the traitor was explicitely invented to manipulate them into starting the war, so... what is keeping the rest of the book of being lies to manipulate events?

[@generations54]

I always wanted a podcast like state of the arc but for Kingdom hearts, I hope you continue this project.

[@Xrisaac]

I wrote this somewhere else as well, but I think Woody’s monologue in KH3 resonates better knowing the events of KH:Dark Road

[@Viestadisaster]

I loved this soooo much!! Can't wait for more you two!!

[@CosmicTron]

As Doc Brown said in back to the future: It demonstrates precisely how time travel can be mis-used. When you travel between time periods. Thus creating alternate time lines, which is why the time machine was destroyed no one's future was written yet after they fixed that. Same could be said about the book of prophecies if it's destroyed would mean nobody's future is written or set in stone. Definitely getting back to the future vibes.

[@mattpoppenhouse3878]

Baldr has the highest K/D ratio in kingdom hearts

[@liamfitzgerald1400]

Hey! You said rack off! I read an Australian book when I was a kid where the characters said that, and I always thought it was way cool. Thanks for giving me the chance to hear a real Aussie say it lol Wonderful content as always from the both of you!

[@monsieurdorito]

In the case of Enchanted Dominion, Maleficent does not place a curse on the kingdom itself, only Princess Aurora. In Dark Road, I believe it's implied that the Upper Classmen arrive there just after the Good Fairies take her to their cottage to hide her away, and in BBS, she has just turned 16 and the curse has taken effect. Therefore, 16 years (give or take a day or two) have passed in Enchanted Dominion between Dark Road and BBS. (Sorry if this is addressed later, I've only watched a bit of the video so far)

[@xion0713]

Im a big fan of both yourself and waterkh i would love to get more of these

[@elemde689]

Wow that's great damo and water, can't wait to listen to the podcast!

[@bringmethepeace1927]

a good retrospective

[@29Blockhead]

I always been confused about if Scala is the Land of Departure. Like even in Dark Road they showed Aqua and Terra and Eraqus in the building that was the Land of Departure so… Did Scala get worn down to just that last building?

[@cadr003]

The rest might've fallen to darkness or sleep.

[@KevinTriforce]

No they are different worlds in Melody of Memories Yen Sid tells Mickey to go to Scala

[@ZeranZeran]

2 different worlds entirely

[@29Blockhead]

@@KevinTriforce that’s true but then there’s still a gap cause why did Eraqus leave Scala if he has the Master’s Defender the head Keyblade wielders keyblade and Eraqus told Aqua in Birth by Sleep it had been passed down and was linked to this world (Land of Departure).

[@kaielthoth5363]

Late but one theory that's occurred to me is that the Land of Departure is an entrancepoint(the place to depart this world) to one of the Scalas or Unreality(to the place where the Dandelions went), and that's why Eraqus/generations have been the guardians of it.

[@shafootodess]

maleficent curses Aurora the day she was born, so the events of dark road could've happened anywhere during those fifteen years where she was hiding with the three fairies

[@cadr003]

Terra, Aqua, and Ventus go to the Woodlands 60 something years later and it seems nothing since has changed. Timey wimey stuff.

[@Another14-]

After a long day, I come back to this video trying to finish it

[@tayuyamajik6525]

I always though eraqus was killed, cause after losing 2 times to xehanort, he got jacked and could've actually beat him up. So he had Terra weaken him

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

So, what you're saying is, Destiny Island has a very slow time line compared to others? So. Sora can still get that dinner.

[@the1bigbadwolf]

Lmfao. Ain't even cold yet xD

[@tayuyamajik6525]

I cant wait for kh 4

[@crystals4ever]

I'm excited for this podcast

[@CozyWavePotential]

Yas! I've been waiting for this!!

[@Gamelover254]

“ As a boy I dreamed of seeing the farthest reaches of the world. If I only went far enough there had to be a world out there in which no one had ever before set foot. And now I know of just such a world. If I become the first open kingdom hearts’s door I can create a next world in which light and darkness exist in perfect equilibrium.” - Xehanaort Report IX Xehanorts plans in kh3 did NOT come out of nowhere and people really need to go back and read the old reports

[@Alfareon]

Kh3's problem is the end section felt like the midpoint

[@glitchdatabase4033]

I’m sure xehanort killed eraqus in front of terra to piss him off even more. Opening him up to darkness even further. That’s what I originally thought.

[@Billy193]

Ooooo I think I’m gonna like this video already

[@53prime]

The book of procephies isn't "changing," but it's changing because the eye is observing several different outcomes simultaneously. Addendum (cuz I was listening at work) In one of Damo's earlier khux videos I took issue with the point about Ava changing who she gave the rule book to, or maybe the BoP (I can't recall offhand) because that shouldn't be possible. Like whatever she does even if it's different from what's written, is what the MoM's eye would see and then that's what would be written down - if it is in fact a book of direct observations. It is mind scrambling to consider the effects of this; whether the BoP would actually change and if the characters would have memories of prior versions of it or if it would literally alter reality. But if MoM isn't just writing down observations from NoName and the book is actually part of "his plan," then I wonder if we have a clue in the name of Daybreak Town. Day being associated with the sun - it source of light - and break being synonymous with destroy. Destroy Light Town. Darkness will prevail. To back up just a little; I always took issue with the BoP being referred to as MoM's "plan" when it was presented to us as simply a factual book of observations from the future. That's not a plan, that's a reaction. But if there is a MASTER plan I would consider that the BoP may just be a tool to manipulate the character's actions and he lied about writing down what he saw.

[@Manuel1112221]

I loved this whole conversation, looking forward to more! It took me a couple days to get through it; but the last half hour really made me think about what's next for Luxu and how does all of this tie into MoM's plans regarding Luxu and Ava's roles. Which leads me to my question: There is a theory, mentioned in this video, that MoM is future Sora, having traveled back in time to orchestrate everything for some reason. I personally think that specific theory doesn't really fit, seems like a bit of a fever dream. But it made me think about alternatives to Sora, if the MoM is really time hopping back and forth. (PLEASE take all of this with a whole handful of salt, I am most definitely forgetting some lore rules or some obscure details that blow this theory out of the water) Thinking about it, Luxu's role isn't that active when compared to everyone else's. The MoM simply tells him "take my Keyblade, it's got my Eye, pass it on, watch what happens". At some point in the future from this conversation, two people will know exactly the entire timeline of this universe: the MoM, who is "seeing it" through the Eye in the Keyblade, and Luxu who is actually there. No one else in this KH universe will have that knowledge ever. Only these two individuals. What if, and this is my crack theory, you tell me if it has some merit, MoM is future Luxu? Both Luxu and MoM: - Have yet to reveal their original faces, and wear the exact same style of coat (and yes, I am implying it is the actual exact same coat) - Are exceptionally powerful Keyblade wielders (or so we assume, seeing as the MoM never actually showed his fighting powers on camera), capable of fighting the Darknesses (from Luxu's confrontation with the Darkness at the end of Union X and the MoM's reveal about his past) A future Luxu would: - Have knowledge of the entire timeline - Have hundreds of years of practice both as a Keyblade wielder and as someone who trains Keyblade wielders - Have a backstory very much like what the MoM described in Union X So what if this whole time the Eye was a red herring, and the actual way the MoM knows what's gonna happen, and is able to write the Book, is because he actually lived it himself? What if MoM is future Luxu? I dunno man, it's 1 am and I'm on cold meds. XD Looking forward to your next video! Have a good one. :D

[@AxelPRPxx]

When are we gonna talk about the fact that Disney Dreamlight Valley is secretly a Kingdom Hearts game?

[@Alfareon]

anyone else find it weird how the fairy godmother knows so much. also, that the sleeping beauty fairies can make darkness resistant clothing? who makes the black cloaks? who originally made them because the MoM never says he did. also, the similarities between the corridors of darkness in dark road and the Yozora scene. starry, night sky that meets a horizon of dark water. except in the corridors, dark winds swirl across the screen. i think the hints at the four elements via character names and powers-water earth wind fire have yet to be explored fully. also, Yen Sid tells Lea that he can unlock the ability for him to wield a keyblade. so does that mean there are other ways besides bequeathing that maybe only a full fledged master, like Yen Sid/Xehanort/Eraqus level, can do?

[@Alfareon]

rewatched some bbs, lea touches ventus's keyblade when they meet in radiant garden

[@RawRepiCfaiL1]

Recommended video: Analyzing the BBS secret reports with this new context. Because I've always felt like they conflict with KH3s ending, so I'd love to hear some resolution to that.

[@Diamonddeath]

It’s interesting that in Ventus’s backstory, the Neoshadows that Xehanort summoned did not steal his heart. Were they following Xehanort’s orders, or did they not steal Ventus’s heart because they sensed one of the original darknesses in it? If the ladder, was Xehanort aware of this, and was this the reason he wasn’t afraid of them stealing his heart?

[@musubi8885]

One crazy thought I had about Odin is that he seems like he knows a lot of things that would be in the book of prophecies, so it would be cool if Odin is somehow Brain. Either Brain learns about body hopping from Luxu or maybe he reincarnates into Odin's heart like Player does. And with Odin maybe being the owner of the mansion, it would be cool if he eventually becomes Absent the Wise (if Braig = Bragi then why can't Brain = Wise Ansem). It could explain how DiZ knows about the mansion. There's no evidence of this and it's very unlikely, just something crazy I could see happening with how on pace the series has been about doing things no one expects.

[@xandardorf6365]

55:56 That's exactly what I feel about Bragi. He was killed by Baldr, but Luxu survived Bragi's death.

[@danielmaisonet6509]

I’m late to the podcast but could it be possible that Luxu/Bragi made a nobody of himself and that’s what Baldr killed?

[@JoelBurger]

Recommended KH play order: just play the games in order of release. It's not that difficult, and trying to come up with "watch orders" just ends up overthinking things and creating a mess that only works for someone already invested in the thing.

[@drdca8263]

The order I’ve watched in has been, UX, [the movie that goes with UX, I forget the name], birth by sleep, 0.2 , most of KH3, dark road. I feel like “in chronological order” should work? So, [the movie side of UX], UX, (missing link), Dark Road, BBS, and then the rest?

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

There is a theory Xehanort subtly orchestrated Terra's run ins with the villains first to mirror his own path. After all, both Maleficent and Braig are his "dragons". So Xehanort is weaponizing Terra's Destiny against him. In fact, since Eraqus gets in Terra's heart, Terra may have the Empathy power, too. Xehanort "sees" this , and uses Terra's Darkness to make them "become One".

[@CozyWavePotential]

I definitely agree with you damo, kh3 was missing so much context even as someone that knew the story of khux. Dark Road gave us that context and I will recommend my friends do dark road first if they ask.

[@cadr003]

Dark Roads ending spoils Luxu stuff though

[@MR-pr5td]

Oh damn, can’t wait to dig into this one

[@MyKingofdiamonds]

On Brain’s saying he didn’t use the BoP, I wonder if he meant he only read about stuff that already happened and never looked ahead? That would allow for him to still read the book (and possibly guess if the book changes or not) but not actually use it for it’s intended purpose.

[@zero45Gabriel]

Something i've been thinking (i did not read it anywhere, nor heard anyone talking about it, therefore if someone already said it, then i'm sorry). But i think that Sora is probably the player from Chi/Ux and Missing Link, moreover, he is probably a descendant from the Player, to think even more about this, when fighting the Demon Tide and using all the keyblades against it, with the Ux players into the gameplay, furthermore Ephemer helping Sora, is it possible that Sora is a descendant from the Player?

[@uberfreak2]

Regarding black cloaks vs keyblade armor, the impression I got is that the cloaks are better at keeping out darkness, but the armor is better for combat.

[@gracekim1998]

Awesome! I’ll come back soon. Love podcasts 😎

[@Diamonddeath]

I think it’s strange that Xehanort left the island thanks to his future self. It should mean that, had that not happened, he would have eventually found his way to the same or similar future anyway.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

I think Maleficent is fighting Holdr but Darkness jumps in for the Ending Blow. The Darkness between the Classmate and Holdr's Fear end her with Maleficent's assistance. And then Baldr absorbs Them.

[@Gamer-yt3hl]

Oh, my God, I just had an idea. If Brag boys spirit is in the underworld with Hades, we know that spirits can be brought back and reincarnated from the underworld, and we know that godly beings are able to do that. I think there is a way in which theoretically, he could come back from the underworld, or they find his spirit in the underworld, they, I mean, Donald and goofy, while they are hunting around for Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts, 3, and can tie us back into the master of masters Ark from another perspective, I think that would be really cool.

[@munstermunch1]

I'm interested to see why Xehanort still sees Eraqus as a blue blood keyblade wielder despite knowing that he also has pretty prestigious blood running through him. I mean it could be that Player never elaborated on why Ephemer was so great when he was telling Bubba Xehanort about him, but my pet theory is that, in Scala society, Ephemer's blood isn't actually all that special. Player obviously places great stock in it because he spent a whole game making googly eyes at the guy but in wider Scala maybe descendance from Union Leaders isn't that impressive, even if it's the Union Leader that built the city from the ground up. honestly depending on how many people were left when Daybreak Town was destroyed, being descended from Ephemer could be pretty commonplace. While it still makes sense that Brain's descendants could be called blue bloods, given that he shares a rank with Ephemer and could even be less prestigious given he hasn't built a whole damn city. With that in mind, I reckon that the person Eraqus is descended from is Ava, (potentially also Brain, but he's not the impressive one to the broader society) the Foretellers being the only people ranked higher than Union Leaders (that aren't a master of all masters) and Ava being presently unaccounted for. Still amazed we're getting a game to canonise who bonked who but hey, I'm interested. Great podcast, loved the both of you

[@SethMolebaka9491]

It's crazy how xehanort tries to change events and sora complaining but later sora does the same thing he accused Xehanort of doing

[@Another14-]

I appreciate KH fans that appreciate the complex KH story

[@Kurizu204]

Wanted to mention that MoM states in KHUX to on of the Darknesses that one of the important points is when it was written. Then says he didn't write everything down on purpose too. The book just feels like some super long con to get everyone to follow a select future. Also want to bring up the lost page directly calling out Luxu "the traitors name bears the sigil" Feels almost impossible to guess MoM's endgame.