Kingdom Hearts 3 - The Mysterious Prologue EXPLAINED

[@KageTheKiwi]

Nomura was DEFINITELY using the allegory of "Sleep is the cousin of death"

[@Solarray1245]

I mean technically, he's not wrong.

[@KageTheKiwi]

@Solarray1245 not at all! Kingdom Hearts draws a lot of references from other source material (Joseph Campbell, Carl Jungs archetypes etc)

[@donovan.d]

"So don't close your eyes, not just yet, sleep is just a cousin of death"

[@DeVanMSX]

Used the word allegory incorrectly

[@KageTheKiwi]

@@DeVanMSX Meant as in like Plato's allegory of the cave 🤣 my bad though! Should've said "example"

[@vincentadamsvga]

I always though KHIII's Dive to the Heart took place right after Riku saved Sora from falling into darkness at the end of DDD, and that it acted as a refresher for him as he recovers and recollects himself from what almost became of him. And since he's recollecting himself, he experiences similar events as his KHI Dive to the Heart as it slowly mixes with his memories of everything up to DDD.

[@reidpattis3127]

I think the Darkseid is still one of the least understood entities in the Kingdom Hearts universe. They have different versions, from perhaps the earliest points in time to the present.

[@JetYabuki]

@@reidpattis3127 how? 😭 it’s literally the manifestation of one’s own darkness. That’s why Mickey said the stronger your light, the bigger your shadow becomes.

[@Xalvalis]

Dark side. Not dc my friend haha, but.....pure blood evolved heartless like the phantom, have some disturbing implications like dark inferno, and data sora dark side.

[@GipsyD-z1i]

Did you spell Darkside as the DC villain Darkseid? 😂😂😂😂

[@leonoliveira8652]

@@JetYabuki Why did Aqua find dozens of them in the Realm of Darkness then? They need to be brough forward by the darkness of a person's heart, but Aqua was the only one there most of the time. There were all sorts of heartless in there, some even more vicious (BBSFM final boss on the WoD scene) but Darksides are special ones - only a handful of pureblood heartless have the heart shaped hole, specifically only humanoid ones, and not even all of them afaik.

[@bornsinner_8092]

I think this takes place after Re:Mind when Sora is banished from reality and before he reaches Quadratum. There’s a theory called Sora’s Presence in Unreality by Noir Lilbomber that goes deep into detail and further explains it. I highly recommend giving it a watch.

[@sh4d0wfl4re]

I enjoy the Sleeping Realm Theory’s take on this scene: that Sora had already died once and had gone back to the most convenient time he was deep asleep to charge up the Power of Waking while revisiting the events that lead to his death… in order to understand what choices lead to his demise and find new better choices to overwrite them with Edit. Further the Darkside is a shade of death akin to the Lich, reflecting Sora’s death from the dark Tide

[@wrathofawe]

Would love to see more videos like this. A lot of mystery in the Kingdom Hearts world and would love to hear more theories and explanations.

[@Amongusboy69]

Watching this makes me nostalgic for watching your KH3 playthrough and the old KH2 days. I remember Eps.1 dropped and I was just left glued to the screen waiting for more. Keep up the great work! Crazy to think I've been watching the channel for 10 years. Much love.

[@KaimArgonarEyyyy]

This Darkside during Critical with Pro Codes enabled is a fucking beast

[@DanielAnnear]

Spoilers. The Fairy Godmother - specifically works with granting wishes and dreams. So thus the ability - to be able to transport Riku and Kairi. As both had 'died' by this point and brought back by Sora - this is why they are able to travel seamlessly

[@Lillymu961]

So, something just occurred to me while watching this. What if the water Darkside is from a reflection of Yozora rather than Sora? He meets Yozora in a version of the Final World shrouded in darkness. Yozora's dialogue after his boss battle, is the same opening lines Sora spoke in KH1 which would add context for why we start the KH3 dive to the heart as KH1 Sora. Unreality, in KH terms anyway, is basically a mirror of reality, right? Sora is the light, signified by the white coloring of the Darkside and Yozora is not necessarily darkness, but he is the night sky. That's represented by the black shimmer this Darkside has. So maybe the point of the sequence was foreshadowing to Yozora and how this dive to the heart sequence is more of a premonition of what's to come in Sora's future. The choices he makes in this game lead him to facing a distorted reflection, a version of himself that provides a different kind of light for others. The night sky on clear nights is full of stars that provide their own light. Yozora has his own connections that stretch across universes, and that could be represented by those stars in the night version of the Final World. Night and Day are fundamentally different, but they're also two fundamental pieces of a day. Even now, it's nighttime somewhere even though the sun is up somewhere else. Night and day coexist without ever touching generally speaking. Under differentcircumstances, Sora and Yozora would have never met, but Sora committed a nature taboo. That's why he's part of Unreality now and is probably a catalyst for the ultimate plan the M.O.M. is plotting. It may also be the reason Luxord gave Sora the wild card. He has some type of awareness of what's coming because he knows where he came from and can probably recognize elements of Yozora in Sora. It would also give some extra weight to the Demnyx is M.O.M. theory, not only because of how he just disappears from KH3 like the M.O.M. disappears from Back Cover or because of their similar lackadaisical attitudes hiding something more sinister, but because Demnyx could from Unreality. In terms of facial structure he looks like the Prompto character stand-in from the Toy Box commercial. And in Versus 13, Prompto was supposed to be a sort of secret villain that betrayed Noctic and company. Given how Demnyx pointed the finger at Sora/Roxas and called them a traitor...it would be ironic if he was the real traitor. If his Somebody is actually the fedora wearing, pink-haired Prompto...who became M.O.M. or was guided to become M.O.M. by his future self...well that would tie a lot together for me. That is to say, this is just my wild theory of what the water Darkside could mean based on random KH facts I can remember off the top of my head and decided to type out. If this mess actually comes to fruition later, feel free to pin this comment then as definitive proof that I called it and totally owned you lamers.😂😂😂 Or don't. I don't actually care. I just want some news about KH4 because all the silence is driving me crazy. 🤪🤪🤪 Anyway, great video. Best wishes and God bless you.

[@Salikino]

To my watch later list

[@Xjoker44]

Great vid! Even years later and I'm learning more about the lore. Thanks!

[@aeon87]

Imagine the final game in the series with the prologue as the final battle stage.

[@magicvalgirl]

About time we talked about this...

[@TonyMendozaPrime]

9:00 Reflections can be light bouncing off an object (like water). So that theory sounds reasonable

[@bbatz5534]

The watery Darkside can be understood through an understanding of symbolism. Square games for a long time have referenced many esoteric concepts. If you understand the symbolism behind the elements you will know that water symbolizes emotions and the subconscious mind. When things are submerged in water, this symbolically represents something being in the unconscious out of our awareness. The watery Darkside represents painful emotions or trauma that have been suppressed, and when it emerges from the water it is moving from the unconscious into the conscious mind to be confronted. I hope this helps 💕

[@Shiny_luxray_master]

I’ve said for a long time that the tidal wave in five to heart with the light floating before it is likely a hint at Riku casting his form aside to chase Sora into the unreality realm. I’ve even seen it theorized that the Darkside from KHIV trailer could potentially be Riku’s heartless. Though as with all KH theories, take it with a grain of salt because things don’t need to make sense, and ultimately Nomura will decide. However it’s an interesting theory, especially taking into account the way the team has hinted at things like this in the past. Things like the covers of each game fitting the theme of the next game and such, there’s always been a sense of “we’ve planned ahead…at least a bit.” For some things that could be key points in the story such as Riku having to now find Sora and rescue him

[@leonoliveira8652]

Wait, the darkside model is WOBBLY, pretty much like nobodies - specially the big one at Roxas' dive to heart on KH2.

[@TheFroman11]

Love these lore videos

[@RandomVids0987]

Maybe it’s the “big black thing swallowed me up” he mentioned while in his dream to Kairi in the first game.

[@tsyumamatsuthehavenofguard32]

So i have to address the idea of strange oddities within this franchise that i admittedly understood. This whole dive into the heart thing is supposed to be a second gateway into the final world right, because that's the explanation chirithy gives into kh3, because ventus sorta forced himself into sora's heart before he died and basically left the opening into the great beyond open... So how did roxas end up there in kh2?

[@sorachaosblade7537]

Hmm imagine if Ephemer or Strelitzia ending up teaching Sora how to diversify the transformations for his keyblade during Quadratum, it would be interesting if one of the reason Sora is able to keep his keyblade would be from having connected with Ephemer after beating his heartless and nobody earlier without knowing, I'd guess a full revival for Ephemer wouldn't be possible with Ventus not remembering his time in Daybreak town so only briefly manifesting from the faint connections between the ancient keyblades and taking refuge in Sora's heart thinking if some of Ventus's memories might've been left there or taken by Vanitas. Still its just an idea if those play a part in keeping the Final world's door open to Sora. We have come across many instances where Sora helps fighting and bringing back people consumed by darkness back to light but knowing moments he's briefly been shrouded in darkness too but we've yet to see Sora truly give in unlike his rage/anti forms. Plus considering he has no access to those who support him can give him proper character development past his feeling of inadequacy without others.

[@thegummicontroller580]

Great video

[@JetYabuki]

Riku is the Light!

[@misterfevillord1588]

Isn't it kairi?

[@JetYabuki]

@@misterfevillord1588 two things can be true at once. But look at the beginning of kh3. What replaces Riku in the water?

[@jamiehunt2306]

good video bud

[@Nickname71399]

Also in a scene on KH DDD Joshua says that he knew someone who never remembered his dreams but this same person had the strongest ones... Maybe it's related?

[@DunCcanST4R]

Sick theory about why that darkside looks the way it does with it being made from the reflection rather than the shadow. I consider it to be canon from this point on 👍🏼

[@j_mix_media]

Where does sora end up in the secret episode in kh3 and when in that episode why does his station of awakening appear then immediately transition to quadaratum?

[@ventusthekey5187]

I like your Darkside theory. It makes a lot of sense.

[@Star-eg3qt]

The Darkseid from what I can tell has a very complex and complicated lore

[@Alfrodo8]

This a VERY interesting take, but I can't agree. - For starters, I do believe the prologue of the game takes place near the end. The "there are 7 hearts to save" feels like more than Sora just going down memory lane. Also about the outfit change, it's a dream, we literally see KH1 Sora go through a mirror and KH2 Sora come out of it, you can't take the outfit as proof of when this happens. In my opinion tho, this happens AFTER Riku's sacrifice and BEFORE Sora gets his KH3 outfit at the start of the game :D (aka Sleeping Realm Theory) - Also, yes, the Darkside in the prologue does have a water-like design and it's probably for a canon reason, but if the CANON EXPLANATION for the "mystery" of why that is was just "there are no shadows for Sora's silhouette to cast and he's standing on water so it's instead formed from his reflection" I'd be really disappointed XD All in all, read the Sleeping Realm Theory, it's REAAAALLY interesting and my favorite take on this scene, but Cynical's take is interesting too and I will be taking note of it

[@dantealighieri850]

Dude by the time this series is up, sora will know how to use haki, will have a light saber, can turn ss blue, while high fiving superman.

[@lbstiger]

What do you think about the sleeping realm theory???

[@HemisphereCinema]

maybe the darkside existed through sora it was feeding of the living and sora being in a semi state of limbo changed it's appearance as well like a symbiote so it exist in both worlds like shadows was formed.

[@KKO_FLUM]

I have been a fan of you since we got the first kh3 trailer. Same age but from Sweden. 🎉 love your videos and just wanted to say that your doing great! I remember x-keepers and it would be great to see you, HMK, soralam1 or sky do a video again, 😊 (not going to mention the last guy lol )

[@JimWill_Dta]

Amazing indeed!

[@kingleonidas2182]

We never really did talk about the Final World Darkside (“Seaside” lmao) did we

[@jcambriz5697]

I just wish we could’ve played as KH1 sora more in the dive to heart section.

[@zydeox1221]

9:14 It looks more cosmic than watery imo.

[@kingleonidas2182]

Hey wait a minute. “Shadows can’t be cast upon water”. I wonder if they considered that when making KH3, seeing as the shadows are now weak to that magic, Aqua’s entire journey, and Yozora using that element as opposed to anything else. Strange coincidences are rarely unintentional in this series so it just might mean something.

[@-RogueBlade-]

I'm honestly mad curious if the darkside in the KH4 trailer has any connection to this. Tho considering how massive they made it and the quote, "the brightest lights cast the biggest shadows"; i cant help to feel that there is a minor connection

[@Megaman.ExE7]

Great vid, I always found the opening of III to be the *oddest* one of all the KH games Especially for it being the III game in the franchise; the way it starts off is just so strange. Despite this, the biggest thing that really gets me is the fact that you unlock water *out of nowhere* lol there is no explanation or anything, Sora can just start using water magic out of nowhere

[@Erikthedood]

Why does there need to be an explanation for that? What’s the lore reason Sora learns reflect magic? There’s no explanation, but we just accept it.

[@westonwilliamson3863]

@@Megaman.ExE7Technically he was driving conversation

[@JonnZth]

A strange game with an odd prologue. Man, this is what shackles me to this series: Even if most mysteries end up being plot holes that they need to bullshit something later to fix, it has so much potential! The KH universe is so simple, and yet there are so many aspects to it that it can create so many possibilities! I really wish that when nomura retires this universe doesnt end up dead as well. Instead I hope that just sora's journey comes to an end, giving way for new stories.

[@swirlofsilliness]

If the darkside is the final form of sora's heartless, then what abt KH4's 'darkside' lol, I wonder if that's a true darkness taken form because of the Master of Masters' influence.

[@Sousw]

Oh boy. It's about time you read the Sleeping Realm Theory for KH3 (or listen to the authors reading it). You're gonna be fliped

[@Captain_Eadana]

my head cannon is this happens as sora dies in kh3

[@longlovelive77]

7:13 Are Very Abnormal this two circumstances (cinematic scenes for thank DreamEaters on a Sleeping in Time Traverse Town; and The Dark Dived Worlds in 0.2) 🔮

[@longlovelive77]

3:49 🌫️Surely you put Ventus Gameplay at the Waking Station because having more content in order to having time for explaining or exposing that different concepts but I though you maybe forgot the Aqua's travels through the Dark World on KH 0.2 & KH3 (I suppose because that two concepts are "tottally different" on Kingdom Hearts Enciclopedia Knowleges...)

[@davidordaz5251]

Cynical going crazy with kh content we need some updates square please give us something anything

[@ChannelJuku]

I so badly want you to see my kh re edit but I don’t know how to contact you. But I’ll find a way to reach you cause I think you’ll find it really nostalgic!

[@Cassius335]

Ok, so Sora was killed by the Demontide and his KH4 situation isn't just the Order being bitchy? Cool.

[@BillyTheKidLawrence]

Don't listen to Cynical. The beginning is the end. The entire game is set in the Realm Of Sleep up until the end. Go read The Sleeping Real Theory and become enlightened.

[@domcarrasquillo2314]

And speaking of Enlightenment, thats pretty much what being a keyblade master is. For one to casually use the power of waking

[@domcarrasquillo2314]

RIKU IS THE MASTER OF MASTERS! shall i explain?😅

[@TophDaGreat]

I thought it was lazy and uncreative. At least when compared to KH1 and KH2.

[@JP-1990]

Personally, I believe that the prologue should've been an abridged version of the first act of Dark Road, with the second and third acts serving as DLC.

[@gigablast4129]

maybe its gona be more relevent in kh4

[@24Months]

KH3 review??????????

[@Kaitri]

"the rules of dive to heart arent clear" ... the rules of kingdom hearts arent clear! lol

[@Hidden_Christian]

So you’re telling me that I’m a keyblade wielder somewhere in the known multiverse…. Bruh this universe kinda sucks

[@dianceperez8540]

bruh you have to watch the Mobile Games Story Cutscenes to understand why there’s the Real Worlds,Datascape(Data Dimensions)From Coded,Realm Of Sleep(Sleep Dimension) where worlds sleep after darkness has fully put it on complete hibernate mode,which is from DDD…and finally Memory World, which is the Castle Portals from Castle Oblivion that were made by Namine using his powers to be able to manipulate Soras memories of his adventure from kH1 and be able to create World Castle Portals for him to go to?, to fix those memory pieces for himself to remember more cause the whole point of Sora being in Chain Of Memories is for him to reclaim all of his memories back from Namines Curse that she put upon him by the order or Marluxia…..oh yea then a Pocket Dimension which is Winnie The Poohs World that comes from a Book within the KH Universe….then there is Verum Rex World which is in Toy Story World….but also Unreality AKA Fiction Dimension which is just basically Another Universe…..and that’s the REAL Verum Rex World/Universe….and then there is also Time Traveling in KH as well…and they also create branch/alternate timelines as well from why Xehanort succeeded with him plans in DDD & KH3 and then Sora being able to time travel in KH3 Remind But yea there are 4 Dimensions,Multiple Alternate Timelines & Another Universe……..so yea it’s just really Low Multiverse Level to…Standard Multiverse Level at max tbh until we see if there might end up being Final Fantasy Characters appear in Kingdom Hearts 4? Then yea it’ll confirm that Final Fantasy Universe really exists outside of KH Universe but it still has a reach of having a connection to it so there also that too….

[@dianceperez8540]

Oh yea also gotta remember The World Ends With You World in which that’s within there own Universe as well so that’s another reason why Kingdom Hearts is definitely Multiverse Level🤣

[@MrWarners14]

The only reason Sora was tethered to The Final World was because of Kairi. She was the sole reason he was able to save everyone else. They even explain that in the game proper. Anyway, just thought I’d bring that up. Anyway, it’s a great prologue foreshadowing the game’s events.

[@ansemthetrueseekerofdarkne2730]

I honestly assumed that the mysterious voice in the Stations of Awakening was God, afterall, between the Fleur Di Lis, the literal doves, and numerious other things kind of point to some clear religious symbolism of some kind.

[@nikorasukunisada266]

I mean Nomura gave an answer in one of the Ultimatum for Kingdom Hearts that the subtitled voice Sora heard near the start various times was supposedly Mickey in KH1.

[@ansemthetrueseekerofdarkne2730]

@@nikorasukunisada266 That's thousands of times lamer than the more mystical option that would have been thematically appropriate, death of the author.

[@SebastianS-m5q]

Well there isn't an explanation for 3 at least. Or 2 for that matter, and I have NEVER heard anyone talk about the KH2 voice.

[@nikorasukunisada266]

@@ansemthetrueseekerofdarkne2730 Honestly in my Headcanon until I knew the truth only a few years ago, I thought the voice in KH1 could have been Ventus sleeping in Sora's heart trying to keep him safe from the dark. With KH Birth By Sleep with the intro, Trusting a section of this "heart" (soul) to a boy who was just born at the start of the game and then after needing to end himself for the greater good to banish a Manifestation of Pure Darkness (Vanitas) who was using The Face of said Boy like a Parasite. Then To Give that which remained for the Child to keep safe even if it isn't remembered. Then in turn as The Child Grows up Nurturing this Light with his own with It being Threatened Time and Time again even separating briefly to making new life, then lastly with an Armor encasing The Child while itself is being corrupted but keeping The Child Safe No Matter What. If there isn't something vaguely deep or possibly religious in that I don't know what is. Personally It should have been Ventus thematic would have had a far deeper meaning.

[@Evil4Eyes]

We are so pathetically starved for more KH. Hope Nomura Finishes this story for Good before he leaves SE. Still hoping for Versus13 remake/Redux