How does Riku redefine darkness? - Riku & Ansem | Shedding Starlight Podcast

The beloved older brother figure to Sora has some complicated traumas to work through on his journey throughout Castle Oblivion; one of which being that he is tied to the Seeker of Darkness himself. This week, join us as we talk about Riku and Ansem.
Thank you to Josh and Adrian for your questions on this episode!
Next episode: Riku Replica. Send your questions to [e-mail]
0:00 Intro
1:01 Overcoming darkness
2:12 Ansem
4:03 The Superior
5:21 Overcoming loneliness
6:37 Summary
7:18 Discussion
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[@Slater2113]

Possible minor spoiler . . . . . . . Without getting into specifics I’m pretty sure they’re smelling Ansem within Riku when comparing his scent to the Superior.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

The Ansem, Seeker of Darkness in Chain of Memories is Riku's Darkness trying to shift back into the "Real" Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. To mimic the imprint left in the World of Darkness inside Riku, I speculate.

[@AzazinNote]

The GBA version is mostly the same. MOst of the line differences sounds like alternative translations to me. Biggest changes on the remake are the entire 100 ancre woods wolrd, the addition of Marluxias 3rd form and Zexions boss fight, and, more relevant to this conversation,the outcome of the fight between Riku and Lexaeus, changing it from Lexeaus using his last strenghts to banish Riku to the Darkness in the gba ( kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWmclmqYl52NraM) to him beating Riku until Ansem posses him and kill Lexeaus in the remake. There are other stuff, like some new moves/ cards, high jump and glide, and Riku's duel system gameplay wise, while storywise theres stuff like Axel killing Vexen by stabing/slashing him instead of burning him, and while the final scene with Riku and Mickey wearing the Organization clothes was in the original, the one where DiZ gives it to then and explain why they should wear then was added in the remake.

[@Slater2113]

I think the entire GBA script was relocalized due to them not wanting to lipsync the English release. In 358, you get that scene between zexion and Riku on Destiny Islands and they interestingly have him re-record his monologue following the GBA script instead of the PS2 version of the same scene- at least from what I recall.

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

About the illusion of Maleficent and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Riku manifested the illusion of Maleficent from his Heart and Memory. The Shadow of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness manifests from Riku's Darkness (Heart) and Memory. And that Shadow of "Ansem" Spoilers.... smells kind of like Xemnas (The Superior). but not exactly, because Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is Apprentice Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas is Apprentice Xehanort's Nobody. And Nobodies vibe different that Heartless do. (See the princesses in KH1 talking about how Unknown[Xemnas] feels different then the Darkness from the Keyhole)

[@Sousw]

This comment goes much much into the future: · · · · · · · · · · · The comment about Naminé being the one who told Riku that he can use darkness as his own power to do good things, and that there are more than two roads to chose from, it made me wonder how much different things could have been for Terra if he had that third option. His two options were "you have darkness you bad" and "use your darkness in a dark way, darkness, darkness, χ-blade, darkness". That in turn got me thinking "gosh I wish he could have interacted with Naminé at least once". And then I immediately thought of the one little talk they had in KH3 (I mean, in the concert...) that literally changed the fate of the whole World. So yeah, this episode and the previous one really made me appreciate Naminé a lot more as someone that has a major influence on the big picture.

[@circleofscorn]

One interesting change from the GBA version is when Axel has Repliku kill Zexion, he says “Sorry, Zexy. Saving you doesn't seem half as entertaining as observing Sora and Riku.” instead of the line in the PS2 remake where he says Zexion “found out way too much”. the GBA one gives him more chessmaster vibes which is kinda weird in hindsight haha

[@adrianXXII]

Someone correct me, if I am wrong, but to my knowledge they retranslated some bits of CoM for ReCoM, which is why in ReCoM it's "Got it memorized" like in the rest of the series and not "Commit to memory". They also altered some things like adding a fight with Zexion, which probably also added some bits of their interaction on the Destiny Islands.

[@couchkidspodcast]

YES! I was about to comment that this is my favorite change. The GBA version makes Axel sound ~fancier~

[@adrianXXII]

@@couchkidspodcast yeah, I find Commit to Memory rather charming, and have actually caught myself using variants of it, like "i didnt commit that to memory" once or twice.

[@sdgaara2]

I disagree. I think Riku IS afraid of Ansem returning deep down, despite what he goes through in Chain of Memories. Just look at how he acts throughout the majority of KH2 before he gets his body back.

[@BondforgedSky]

I like the idea that light and darkness are representations of selflessness and selflessness respectively. And too much of either can hinder you from living your live in balance. And I think Sora and Riku I think parallel that. With Sora being too selfless, and Riku being too selfish. And part of me hopes for future games in the series that those roles get kinda reversed. Don't wanna say too much for newcomers, but recent games do hint at that being a possibility.

[@johanstenfelt1206]

Hm, Riku Replica, huh? What a interesting Character, i wonder how things would’ve been like if his Memories hadn’t been tampered with?

[@sithapprentic03]

Do you think riku's overall arch and story is just him struggling wiht his vulnerability?

[@DyxoXinoro]

Its really funny YuGiOh GX got brought up here. I finally watched it last year cause a friend of mine sat me down and mademe binge it, and the whole time I kept making jokes about how "This is literally just Kingdom Hearts, isn't it?" Bro didn't deny a damn thing lol.

[@vitrincreates]

Yes I miss "superior" so much 😢

[@faelsafe]

Spoilers, But only for things that were already in this episode. . . . . . . I feel like there was one big point of confusion in this episode about Lexaeus's lines before he dies. With the context of everything that happens before and after what he's drawing connection to isn't RIKU and the Superior but Ansem and the Superior - longer explanation up next. After you beat Lexaeus (game-mechanically) the cutscene goes forward with Lexaeus basically get pissed at Riku for beating him without using the darkness, saying he won't lose to a coward. He bludgeons Riku so hard he hits the ceiling and then falls the rest of the way to the ground. After that happens darkness overtakes Riku, and he teleport-kills Lexaeus, speaking in the same possessed double layered voice as when Ansem possessed him in KH1. THIS is when Lexaeus makes his comment, recognizing that "You [aka the "smell" they had already noticed inside Riku] really are the Superior's..." Then the next scene we get is the internal scene between Riku and Ansem (Which is the first time the real one appears, all other times before this were DiZ disguised as Ansem).

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

I think the full line would be "You are..... the Superior's ..... Other..." Which is what Roxas is called in relation to Sora and vice versa. Riku contains the Shadow of Apprentice Xehanort's Heart. The Other to Xemnas's body. So, basically, Lexaeus believes right before he fades, that Riku is just a Mask Ansem, Seeker of Darkness Wears, and that he should have just left "Riku" alone because he would have moved to Xehanort's plan. Of course, he isn't right but what can you do?

[@yosharioIII]

No need to apologize I fully new I wrote too much :) And yessss I loooove that you brought up Yugioh because they also do that with light and darkness!!!

[@adrianXXII]

Dude I feel you. Everytime I write them I feel like I am sending them a novella and hope that at least some of the questions have an interesting angle to them.

[@SheddingStarlight]

I promise we read and love every single email!! We absolutely love the enthusiasm, keep them coming!! - Hannah :)

[@Tylerthephantom]

Anyone else get an "abusive father" vibe from Ansem when it comes to Riku?

[@Tylerthephantom]

Anyone else get an "abusive father" vibe from Ansem?

[@dragonwatter]

Have you not played kh2

[@SheddingStarlight]

Shedding Starlight is a podcast that purposely avoids discussing titles past the current one, so that way new fans can listen and theorize without being spoiled :)

[@Fragmentsinfractals488]

Spoiler explanation for why Diz looks like Ansem. Diz ( Darkness in Zero) is Ansem the Wise channeling Darkness. It changed his skin tone. Also, because of the Darkness's shapeshifting properties, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness changed his Eye color to look like Ansem the Wise's to mock him.