Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep - Story Explained

[@LoreDump]

*DISCLAIMER* Thanks for being here! This episode is a reupload, transferring our backlog of Lore Dumps from the Monty Zander youtube channel.

[@Juli0P12]

*slight laughter* "They are both...good guys." *uncontrolled laughter* Chase my beloved.

[@trentfowler1335]

I can't believe Chase failed to mention this with all of the Sith jokes thrown around, but Master Eraqus is voiced by Mark Hammil. So, in fact, we have Spock and Luke Skywalker interacting quite frequently in this game!

[@Sumguyinavan_]

seriously, this point should have blown minds as much as all the convoluted stuff that makes them drink their adult juices and shout "NEXT!"

[@Eques_Umbra]

And this is the closest we'll ever get to a Star Wars/Star Trek crossover.

[@manganimesYT]

Oh man I was gonna comment this !, it’s been bothering me the longest it goes untold 😂😂

[@steviejones9053]

"Does Xehonort have a key!!!" Not gonna lie the Demented Donald Duck impressions are 80% of the reason I'm watching these over 2 days lol 🤣

[@Sumguyinavan_]

Its only fitting that the character voice acted by Mark Hamill would raise a student who turns to darkness and destroys everything setting off a chain of events that he cannot end himself, but that his other pupil will manage to solve by returning the emo kid to the light side.

[@stancal9249]

The guys ask why, after the Mark of Mastery test, doesn't Eraqus pull Terra aside and talk to him. There actually is a brief scene where they talk and it's absolutely hilarious. To summarize, Eraqus is like "I love you like a son, and I'd absolutely love to name you a Keyblade Master. But how can I when you're so obsessed with strength? You have to learn to let go of such obsessions and don't be afraid of failure." And Terra, lovable dope that he is, goes like "I completely understand, Master. I just have to get strong enough to crush the darkness. I swear to you that I will never fail you again!" He bows and walks away while Eraqus sighs and facepalms. It's hilarious and I love it, but it also explains a bit why Terra is such a dense and easily manipulated fool with a heart filled with good intentions. It also makes sense that he is so single minded about becoming stronger and being so hard on himself to avoid failure when Eraqus is shown to be so dogmatic in terms of "any amount of darkness is unacceptable." Related vis a vis the talk about "darkness is bad and is shown to have world-devouring creatures", I think the way to explain it is along the lines of "Darkness and Light are fundamental forces. To deny darkness is to deny existence, and eliminating all darkness is to disrupt the balance of the universe." Furthermore, the series loves to toy with the concept of "the brightest lights cast the darkest shadows". Take the ladies Tremaine. They'd probably always be evil, but their proximity to the beautiful and kind Cinderella provided a focus for their darkness and drove them to be even more cruel. Or, put another way, in The Dark Knight, they talk about the fact that Batman is such a strong force of light that he invited the coalescing and creation of an equally strong and opposing force of darkness. As for "eliminating all darkness shouldn't be a bad thing, we can see that it's an evil force", take a look at Terra's MoM exam. His darkness only flashed in his hand for a moment, to which Terra immediately squashed it and refused to use it, but Eraqus' dogmatic crusade to eliminate all darkness wherever he sees it led him to auto-fail Terra on the spot. If you're looking for a devil's advocate for Eraqus' viewpoint being wrong, it's that he drives his pupil away by refusing to acknowledge even that brief flicker of darkness as being acceptable or capable in a Keyblade Master.

[@lizabee484]

Think this is my 4th time watching/listening to this video series all the way through, and I swear EVERY TIME I learn something about KH that I never even noticed during previous watches/listens.

[@Cyrus21100]

Fun fact: Xemnas ends up using Master Xehanort's Keyblade armor in the Dragon battleship fight in KH2. Which makes some form of sense. Xemnas was the body after all.

[@lukasruston8618]

And also, you can fight the Keyblade Armour in BBS as a secret boss where it has the name 'No Heart', not only is that an anagram of 'Xehanort' (without the X), it makes even more sense as to why Xemnas uses it since Nobodies lack hearts (at least when they're first created they do)

[@96ace96]

I don't think you mentioned Terranort's amnesia after Aqua kicked his ass. That's pretty important, since because of that he's essentially an entirely different person. He has drives from both Xehanort and Terra. That's why he's looking for Aqua and Ventus while performing irredeemably evil experiments. That's the person who became Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas. Not Xehanort himself. (If you want to make that distinction - which I think is fair)

[@thehatman7051]

"what about some of those *awesome* straight to DVD sequels?" I mean, the plot of the Aladdin world in 2 is actually the plot of Aladdin 2: return of Jafar funnily enough. Still a crime that we got a plot based on fucking Return of Jafar and not one based on king of thieves

[@NightWorldWorshipper]

I LOVED KING OF THIEVES GROWING UP!

[@robyhughes91]

Just so Chase can have some validation lol: "ThAtS NOt RoXAs!" And I don't know if it was mentioned in the original video, but Xehanort and Eraqus are actually anagrams as well. Xehanort can be changed to No Heart which is the name of his secret boss armor in BbS. And Eraqus is able to become Square. So not only do you have Master Disney (Yen Sid) but you also have Master Square (Eraqus).

[@ChamiKhan13]

So what I'm hearing is Eraqus is a block head

[@lightlati7496]

16:50 I love how he delivered this line. Its what happened, for sure, but it sounds so ridiculous that I cant help but laugh along

[@AshenVictor]

Xehanort has different voices every time he appears, and they're all completely extra in entirely different directions.

[@whym6438]

2:08:00 Languages and writing are my autistic obsession, so I got this.The Greek letter chi was pronounced like a k in ancient Greek, and in modern Greek, it's pronounced like the "ch" in "loch". Edit: And no, it's not the oldest letter. In fact, it's younger than most of the other Greek letters, because it was created for the Greek alphabet (along with phi, psi, and omega) instead of being borrowed from the Phoenician alphabet, which ultimately comes from Egyptian hieroglyphs. Egyptian hieroglyphs do have an X-shaped hieroglyph that means "destroy", but that one got turned 45 degrees and evolved into the letter tau (Τ), not chi. tl;dr: Kingdom Hearts lore gets the Greek alphabet wrong, but in an interesting way.

[@abysskun9518]

"So far Eraqus has been a bad teacher and Terra has gotten the short end of the straw", I think that sums up pretty nicely the whole of Terra's plot in BBS

[@Senfree]

So... With the whole "hearts connected" thing. Presumably, Venitas either didn't have a face, or looked like Ventus until after Sora healed Ventus' heart, and because Sora filled the part that was Venitas, the connection Venitas has to Ventus' heart caused him to look like Sora. So it was a matter of connection, rather than him always looking like that. Similarity to Xion not having a unique face until she started to get memories, making her a connection of Kairi through Sora's memories.

[@SPIKEYROXAS]

Thats right. Vanitas resembling soras likeness is a side effect of sora joining with vens heart just like how soras nobody looking like ventus is a side effect of ven joining with soras heart again at the end and being there since

[@rwbybomb2160]

all i took from this is : Aqua: cleans up everyone's mess and tries to stop them from doing Bad Things (TM) Terra: a complete moron that would believe the word of a man with a dark coat, yellow eyes, and control over Darkness, over his literal lifelong friends Ventus: an idiot, but he's like five so it's forgivable.

[@Ronin11111111]

*SPOILER* More like 5*10^3. Though he's kind of in the quantum state of also simultaneously being just a teen so it checks out.

[@AshenVictor]

Basically the trio have two braincells between them and they're both Aqua's. Unfortunately, since she's a female character in a Nomura game under the bus she goes...

[@bbro43]

When Ventas had his darkness ripped out of his heart, he was taken to Destiny Island to die. Sora was born and Ventas connects with Sora to fill the hole in his heart. Vinitas is also missing half a heart, since he's only half of Ventas. Since Soras heart was filling the hole in Ventas, Vinita being Vens dark shadow reflected Soras appearance.

[@EE-jp5ev]

I know that's the explanation but it still doesn't make sense to me all these years later. If anything, to my mind, Ventus now having a full heart between him and Sora should mean Vanitas has no connection to Sora. Like it's one of those details for me that works if you don't think about it too hard and it's not a big enough deal to get bent out of shape about with the lore (all my ire goes towards the keyblade being able to be passed on by a single touch instead of the keyblade choosing people) but it does stick out a bit

[@vergilsparda8431]

For those curious the actual explanation for why Vanitis looks like Sora is because Soras Japanese VA asked Nomura if he could voice a villain in the next Kingdom Hearts game and Nomura said yes

[@opinionpaladin6007]

To be fair. I never connected the Terra-nort hair thing on first playthrough years ago. I appreciate the holding of the reigns on telling future spoilers when the are right on the money with guesses

[@lockequaman523]

No that is not the original voice actress for maleficent. The actress Eleanor Audley past away in 1991.

[@Merlin_From_Shrek_3]

Still did a good job

[@lockequaman523]

Oh no doubt about that I only found out when looking to see if she was the original actress myself

[@thomascorrick5122]

This entire playlist is pure entertainment. Listening to it as I wrap xmas gifts. Thank you guys

[@PITAchic84]

Again, just going through this playlist again for the lolz and the end of all three of our lads happily counting out the xehonort reports in happy madness is *chefs kiss*

[@KING_SKAF]

Vanitas had a blank face like xion. The reason he looks like sora is because a part of sorts heart is in ven. It's the same reason why Roxas looks like ven and not sora

[@stangerr0267]

I'm sad the ending cutscene or Aqua's adventure in the RoD wasn't covered. It's very moving.

[@wrightmissemma]

I’m so happy I found this series

[@mrfreddorenton]

Neil came up with that slave of the mirror rhyme so quickly!

[@animatorsje]

So I know its a wee bit late and I'm terribly sorry to Monty to bring it back up, I know it only causes pain, but I always thought that right at the start when "a brand new heart" (Sora) mends Ven's heart, he's just been or is about to be born, and so his heart moulds into what's missing from Ven, meaning that Vanitas doesn't look like Sora, Sora grows up to look like Vanitas due to his heart moulding into that shape. I know thats not much better but it makes more sense to me atleast!

[@orriomarsson9406]

I think you have that backwards, Vanitas had a blank face like Xion but as Sora fills up the part of Vens heart that was Vanitas’, Vanitas takes Soras appearence

[@lukasruston8618]

@@orriomarsson9406 There is absolutely nothing that states that Vanitas has a blank face at any point, the only reason Xion did was because she was a replica moulded by the hearts of those around her. The games literally explain what happened in KH3: Vanitas has that appearance because of Sora, yes, but he ALWAYS looked like that. It's constantly stated that the heart is what shapes the appearance of the body in this series so if Vanitas and Sora's hearts fill the same gap in Ventus' heart then obviously they look similar, the only difference being that Vanitas has black hair and yellow eyes because of his relation to darkness whilst Sora is a mixture of both light and darkness so he lacks those features.

[@numberhunter62]

@@lukasruston8618 There was an interview with Nomura talking about why Vanitas looks like Sora and it was mentioned that prior to Ven connecting with Sora's heart Vanitas was a humanoid creature like a Heartless but with red eyes. Of course I don't have the source for the interview so take my point with a grain of salt.

[@ElectricBookWorm]

Comment for the comment gods. I've been binging this series at work. Hope this channel the attention it deserves this videos are great.

[@jerbear8884]

55:17 commenting for the algorithm, but also for clarity the Tremaine's die from the carriage Unversed blowing them up in the crossfire

[@Xehanort10]

47:27 BBS's plot is just Terra, Aqua and Ventus bumbling around and trusting clearly evil people.

[@squirrelwithabanana]

3:00:30 this is not xigbar just joining the organization nor is he unnamed. Xigbar was the second member to join the organization as evidenced be his number being II

[@AVN_Raptor]

I've been binging these videos all day y'all are fuckin great.

[@KodasGarden]

I really don't know why Chase revealed that the Guardian was Terra all this time, that's a reveal that is only very subtly hinted at throughout the series until it's revealed toward the end of KH3. It is genuinely a very well done reveal that had people guessing what the Guardian was until the day KH3 released, with Terra being the prevailing fan theory since DDD Also the real reason Vanitas looks like Ventus (it's still a bit wishy-washy but not nearly as much) is that when Vanitas was ripped out of Ventus, he was featureless. We even see that as his helmet is on with no visible features at all. When Ventus found himself on his broken heart platform, a new heart, being a baby Sora, helped him recomplete his broken heart. This is the moment that Vanitas got a real form, that being a grown up Sora. The way, he says it "I was the piece of you that was ripped away, and he was what you needed to be whole again. So why shouldn't we look exactly the same (except I'm all dark and edgy and cool)." It doesn't explain the exact mechanism behind why this change occurred, but then again that's rarely explained in this series anyways. Everything just runs off vibes and also child sacrifice.

[@lukasruston8618]

You got the explanation to the facts right but not the actual fact itself. Vanitas always looked like that, there's nothing that states otherwise in the games, that's just a fan theory. It's been constantly stated in the series that hearts dictate the form of a person so since both Vanitas and Sora fill the same gap in Ven's heart, of course they look the same.

[@silverstriker7498]

Ventus states that Sora has healed his heart before which is why Venetus looks like Sora

[@--Avi--]

I'm sure it's been said by now but Vanitas looks like Sora because 'Ven retreating into Sora's heart' at the end of BbS is not the first time he does it. Right at the start, when Xehanort has Ven of Destiny Islands, Ven retreated into a 'brand new heart'. This was Sora, as a baby. It was also before Ven and Vanitas were separated. That's why Vanitas looks like Sora. He carries the influence of Sora's heart within him.

[@BlueberryWizard]

you forget that because Ventus rests within sora.. THATS the reason Sora can call a keyblade. and since you already knew at this point, you could have comfortably said during the explanation of the Chi-Blade ( x-blade) that other keyblades while mimicking the 'first blade' they where created out of peoples hearts.

[@uberfapwashere]

That’s wrong, Ventus is NOT the reason Sora wields the Keyblade.

[@PerpetuallyTired171]

I have watched this series several times and I still have no clue what is going in Kingdom Hearts

[@rangerghost2474]

I’ve listened to this series probably idk 6 times. I’m starting to kinda piece it together😂

[@figga645]

So you’ve come this far and still you understand nothing

[@lockequaman523]

One who knows nothing can understand nothing

[@batteredthem]

“And he’s got a package… that you definitely can’t tell what it is…” Monty: “that’s a person!” Neil: “that has got to be the worst way to carry a person.”

[@speedshoes29]

Good thing paychology of Aqua mentioned Fairy Godmother had an important role with Aqua

[@CassiusStelar]

I like how you never once mentioned that these 3 get stronger by playing Monopoly

[@EE-jp5ev]

1:28 I have been convinced for like 10 years now that Riku was originally supposed to be either Young Xehanort due to time travel, or some kind of sibling to Xehanort, based entirely on this scene. They've got the same white hair, they're from the same place, and Xehanort is shown facing the water with a strong desire to see all the worlds just like Riku. It would have made Ansem SOTD's obsession with Riku make more sense, it would have made Sora pulling Riku out of the darkness more resonant, and i think the original plan was for Sora and Riku to beat Xehanort in KH3 as a symbolic gesture that Xehanort could still be redeemed from his dark path cause hey - here's your younger self that with Sora's influence is a champion of light. Idk where this would have gone off the rails but I'll never be convinved this wasn't the original plan

[@mystireon]

So this is speculation on my end by imo, master Xehanort probably did his experiment on Roxus to create a dark vessel to then take over, only to find ventus' body was too weak and giving up on the experiment. I think him attempting to recreate the X-blade wasnt a thing until he accidentally created two even split beings of light and dark. Alternatively if he was was trying to create the x-blade he did technically only need to turn ventus into a being of pure dark simply because after that he could just joink a princess of light and give them a keyblade ala Kairi, then have the two duke it out

[@Sykroid]

2:41:02 Mysterious Figure beat him so bad he forgot he existed

[@metroguevania]

So much to keep up with

[@ukyoize]

I mean, given that we later learn that hearts can timetravel, maybe if you can collect enough hearts it counts as kingdom hearts?

[@moonknightproductions]

Ah yes, the most Star Warsian game in the series. Can’t wait to beat Pan’s ass as Terra! But seriously, this is one of my top three in terms of story, right after Days and 3D. Xehanort is such an intriguing villain, which makes Vanitas all the more dull in comparison 🤣 Might play three separate files in chronological order for the hell of it idk. I love the Radiant Garden gang (since the Org and especially Norty are my favorite characters in the series) and the plot lines are very intriguing. With what we know from Union X, I’m excited to see what happens to Ven next, if we see him in a future game! Also, the way Chase says “Keyblade Graveyard” in the Nort voice makes me laugh every time I think about it or mimic it.

[@jormungandr147]

One Parts of this had me laughing so hard i couldn't catch my breath and almost passed out and two some big issues I'm seeing with this series is one stuff that helps explan/shed more light and insight into things gets left out leading to misunderstandings and annoyance, the fact that monty seems to really dislike nomura, and that they seem to get hung up on things expecting them to be way more complex then they actually are for instance not realizing aqua didn't see what we did she wasn't there when terra was possessed to steal the heart from her perspective this witch just told her her friend who she already knows is struggling with darkness stole a heart AFTER saying her name then followed that up with information about keyblades and worlds something she shouldn't know about at all the logical conclusion would be terra told her but instead they act as if aqua should know terra was possessed dispite not being there

[@WexlerMcGill_ImageConsultants]

KH Mickey Mouse and South Park Mickey Mouse are literally the same character.

[@TheNeoLoneWolf]

So is BBS subtitled 0.2 because he knew he was going to do at least one prequel set before this game I.E. Union Cross, or are we eventually gonna get a 0.1?

[@lockequaman523]

The 0.2 is the tech demo for three that came out in 2017 bbs has a secret ending that is called 0. Making the tech demo a sequel to that secret ending

[@AshenVictor]

No, it's much dumber than that. It's so that there's Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Kingdom Hearts 0.2 so it adds up to 3 before 3 came out.

[@transformersrobotsinyouras5585]

They just did a rise of skywalker!

[@foolishlyfoolishfolly3209]

Algorithm Comment: Terra gets a really bad rap and is a good boi, my favorite of the trio. Ven is my least favorite, sorry not sorry.

[@figga645]

Why don’t you like ven 😂

[@stephenk5455]

Compared to Roxas, Ven is kinda lame

[@evar.7093]

I'm not even all the way through this series and it's making me question if I should play all games again. Just to see if I understand any of this nonsense better.

[@MakooWallinen]

Xikipedia!

[@omnikid]

The eating noises were so distracting

[@Merlin_From_Shrek_3]

Xehonort did nothing wrong

[@imghostly834]

Excuse you Monty aqua is hotter than

[@A_Person5280]

Chase, it’s unprofessional to talk while you are eating. Almost couldn’t finish this video.

[@lukasruston8618]

It's a bunch of friends having fun, they're not trying to be professional so I don't get why you're complaining.

[@A_Person5280]

@@lukasruston8618 Because I have misophonia.

[@lukasruston8618]

@@A_Person5280 Well like I said, they're just trying to have fun, they can't exactly accommodate everyone in these videos without it just being boring

[@A_Person5280]

@@lukasruston8618 My bad. I was super interested in their content, and only wanted to watch without wanting to rip my ears off. I guess I’m just a selfish a** hole for having misophonia. Thanks for making me feel good about myself. Hope you have a nice day

[@lukasruston8618]

@@A_Person5280 Wow, if you're that insecure I can definitely see why you're complaining about this.