Debunking Kingdom Hearts Myths, Rumors, & Misconceptions

[@RegularPat]

Sources (in order of usage): www.khinsider.com/news/New-KINGDOM-HEARTS-3-info-from-SE-Cafe-Osaka-Preview-Night-10468 www.khinsider.com/news/KINGDOM-HEARTS-3-featured-in-the-latest-issue-of-Famitsu-12533 www.usgamer.net/articles/tetsuya-nomura-kingdom-hearts-3-interview www.ign.com/articles/2006/10/30/nomura-on-kingdom-hearts-iii www.psu.com/news/kingdom-hearts-3-was-announced-too-early-says-tetsuya-nomura/ www.kh13.com/news/update-kingdom-hearts-perfect-book-interview-with-actress-haru-minami-and-tetsuya-nomura-reveals-more-about-the-future-of-kingdom-hearts-r2789/ www.khinsider.com/news/Latest-Dengeki-issue-features-interview-with-Nomura-on-Frozen-Gummi-Ships-Chikai-12649 kh-vids.net/threads/new-interview-hq-images-kingdom-hearts-coded.31468/ www.famitsu.com/interview/article/1211400_1493.html www.khinsider.com/news/BBS-Ultimania-20-Mysteries-Solved-2546 www.khinsider.com/news/Full-Nomura-Interview-20-KH-Mysteries-Solved-1366 www.gameinformer.com/exclusive-interview/2022/06/14/nomura-reveals-more-on-kingdom-hearts-iv-and-the-series-future-with twitter.com/kh_2021_11/status/1552326283845021696?s=20&t=Ytc_B61Wi0T7t5rH2iZBPQ www.khinsider.com/news/Famitsu-interviews-Nomura-on-Kingdom-Hearts-4-and-Missing-Link-19005 Special thanks to my voiceover guests: David Russell / Green Requiem kzbin.info Chaineh / Azure Allegro kzbin.info/door/g3V... Aeba / Absolutely Everything About kzbin.info... Kinode kzbin.info Super SpikeGhetti Bros. kzbin.info... Nicole / awesomeinmyworld kzbin.info... Bio-Roxas kzbin.info PJ twitter.com/cabletownart PreferredWhale6 kzbin.info... WaterKH kzbin.info

[@miralyk]

Always a fan of not just your analyses, but the lengths you go to give credit and link sources, provide captions and chapters sections, the whole shebang! It’s really cool especially for someone mostly working solo to share fun discussion, but make it more accessible too \o/

[@LightSpeedDX]

love you (for putting the link to the sources)

[@EWH815]

12:14 Riku literally comes out of Riku and tells Riku that the other Riku isn't him(Riku), but is actually himself(Riku). Kingdom Hearts is amazing.

[@Rockman9830]

Reminds me of dmc5, the game where Vergil hires Vergil's brother and Vergil's son to defeat Vergil so that Vergil can become Vergil featuring Vergil.

[@xlro8f853]

Peak Fiction.

[@ExaltedUriel]

@@Rockman9830 Urizen and V are literally Vergil's Heartless and Nobody respectively, normies have been exposed to KH wackiness and were none the wiser

[@Dreigonix]

So the supposed Ansem!Riku in True Organization 13 was a replica of Repliku. _He was Replirepliku._

[@nekurokitsuraage3984]

the fact that i understood this might finally mean that im a full fleged kingdom hearts enjoyer

[@ChrisPyre]

the inclusion of the staircase rumor is a deeply under appreciated bit. I cackled.

[@ZeranZeran]

that is hilariously stupid im glad it was included too. People are silly.

[@h2dfives799]

Whenever I hear the word "cackle" I immediately picture Grunty from Banjo Kazooie

[@evilmandrake]

I can actually explain how this one started, without knowing the context of the rumor. In short, it's the same as the real life version in every Japanese "Seven Wonders of the School," where the steps are counted differently up and down. This happens because going up you count every step up, but the step down from the landing pad is skipped by the brain.

[@paulmendez5608]

Rai can't count lol

[@Vulnresati]

Narrator: He cackled

[@TheRealJohnnyHendo]

In regards to why Aqua says Mickey abandoned her for 10 years in the Realm of Darkness, she was corrupted by darkness and the corruption was affecting her mind. Warping her thoughts and making her blame Mickey even though he didn't know Aqua was there for all of that time. He only knew for like a year and a half.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

KH3 Randys can't understand emotions or the complexity of speech. they believe everything at face value.

[@vixiestarfire]

I always thought that it was because aqua felt the darkness in her heart so deeply that she finally fell over the edge and fell to darkness

[@metuos.3651]

I'm pretty sure there was a detail about time itself flowing differently in the Realm of Darkness.

[@socialistbcrumb]

Yeah I think you can just take it as her lashing out because he technically could have helped her, even if logically he likely never would have found her by just taking a shot in the dark (pun somewhat intended).

[@deceitfulmat2411]

You are completely right but Mickey is a bitch for leaving her there for so long, even if it wasn't nearly as long as she said

[@jacobhays8678]

Regarding the Nobody Hearts twist, even if it was a retcon, I honestly would’ve been fine with it, because even back then, I totally believed that Xemnas, and by extension, Xehanort, would brainwash and gaslight the original Organization members into believing they were incapable of having hearts.

[@Azurald55]

I think Roxas was the proof that Nobodies can have hearts from his debut. He is a special Nobody who is basically a new being since he is born without Sora's complete memories or heart. He was empty in the beginning but slowly started to grow throughout his first year of life to the point were in the opening of kh2 he is just as normal as his friends in data Twilight Town.

[@wrmsnicket]

I don’t get why the fandom cares if something is a retcon or not. Retcons are an unavoidable part of any longstanding serialized story. And they’re often not literal changes to previous events but usually recontexualizations that change how past events are to be interpreted. This is not only standard practice for literally all forms of media, but even single entry franchises. There are movies where the entire premise is centered around the idea of multiple characters interpreting an event differently, adding more context or flat out contradicting previously established talking points. Is that single movie retconning itself every 20 minutes?

[@sixthcairn]

Wait, are you telling us, that the literal CULT LEADER, who has zero qualms about BRAINWASHING CHILDREN, could possibly ever LIE to reach his true goals?! 😲 Absolutely preposterous! 😩

[@seantheimp]

@@wrmsnicket This is exactly it! Retcon isn't a dirty word. Something can be a retcon, and that doesn't make the thing good or bad by itself. I do believe that the "Nobodys grow new hearts" thing IS a retcon, but honestly it's a retcon that makes Xehanort/Xemnas that much more insidious and the story of KH2/Days/the Seasalt Trio that much more heartbreaking. That said, there are other retcons from DDD that _are_ bad, like the time traveling Xehanort on Destiny Islands or the whole "X=Recusant" thing, which was dumb.

[@couchpotato3197]

@Declan McKenna Everyone except Demyx apparently lol

[@rokudamia2767]

On the mickey being the voice in kh1: in the Japanese version it's pretty clear the voice is mickey. The voice actually uses the Japanese pronoun Boku to refer to himself and ends a few of their sentences with Kai. Only Mickey talks like this in Japanese.

[@GayLPer]

...That's freaking adorable.

[@jennytulls6369]

It's such a shame this was lost in translation. The English voices talks nothing like Mickey does in English

[@DarkOverlord96]

@jennytulls6369 I don't think it was lost in translation, I think it was done like that intentionally because they probably didn't want to ruin the ominous tutorial with Mickey Mouse going "Gosh pal huh-hah!"

[@LC-id6wx]

The biggest misconception is the idea that Kairi was somehow "unconscious" during the first game, even though it was the exact opposite. She was with Sora and aware of everything.

[@Thechaosmaster1997]

Not to mention, very easy to miss, for a brief moment in Hook's Ship, Kairi's fingers twitch ever so slightly.

[@blueshellincident]

I always saw the BBS trio as having different kinds of "disconnect" from each other. Terra was proud and trusting of Xehanort, which made him upset at Aqua. Ventus has a childish, innocent perspective on things so he doesn't think things through rationally, more so like a younger brother. Aqua was dogshit at explaining herself which didn't help with Terra's Pride and Ventus' childlike perspective. I wouldn't really call them dumb, just young and perhaps ignorant in certain ways.

[@nineinchthread]

And flaws as people are not perfect.

[@plaip6404]

Thank you so much for clarifying the Nobody Heart “Retcon”! To me, this is clearly a case of the game deliberately lying to make a point - and people cynically chose to see it as a retcon. Xemnas needs the Organization to believe they don’t have hearts so that they’ll follow his plan, and I see their obvious emotions as proof of how good his manipulation is. Every second the organization blatantly proves that they have hearts and yet they continue to believe Xemnas is right. To me this only enhances the story, both by showing how devious of a villain Xemnas is and adding to the tragedy of the Organization as a whole. Xemnas successfully bullshitted both his underlings and the audience, and I think that’s a really cool and impactful reveal.

[@austinleach1307]

Not sure how Xehanort's schemes to put himself in 13 other bodies works, but it definitely seems like that would be more easily accomplished if you tell your vessels they have no hope of regaining a heart except if they follow him and thus they never try to work out how to grow a heart on their own.

[@AudoPlay]

@kollie79 Well they actually ARE born without hearts. Like there's truth to it. It's just that the heart is able to be regrown based on various factors. So it's likely easier for them to believe because when they are born as Nobodies they truly do not have a heart and thus would feel its absence. Then in the cases where they seemed to display emotions, they believed it was because of their memories. Roxas, being the first Nobody to not have his memories, is the first time they really have proof otherwise and thus start to doubt it.

[@austinleach1307]

@kollie79 I don't think it's that unreasonable to believe they could all be tricked into thinking they don't have hearts, considering Nobodies canonically don't have hearts when they first come into existence. The point of contention is whether they could actually have hearts again, which Xemnas tells them they can't and that anything resembling emotions is more you just remembering what that feels like. Considering Xemnas is their only readily available source of information on what they are, I again don't think it's that weird to think they'd all get fooled. There's enough truth within the lies. As for Ansem the Wise, he is portrayed as someone with a hostile and vengeful attitude towards Nobodies, he can't be taken as an unbiased source. At best, he could just be ill-informed, not unlike how the characters in KH1 imply Sora being a Keyblade wielder is some Chosen One thing.

[@austinleach1307]

@kollie79 "Having memories doesn't work like that" I mean we're dealing with magical fantasy concepts of how hearts, memories, and person-hood work, I don't think we can just write off anything as "not working like that". Nobodies aren't real, they can work however Nomura says they work.

[@creature6715]

@kollie79 cults irl do this kind of shit all the time though, its not unrealistic in the slightest you could gaslight a group of people into believing something completely absurd

[@Nemo12417]

Regarding Ventus not being why Sora can use the Keyblade, I'd also point out that when Aqua meets the two boys on Destiny Islands, she immediately registers that Riku has been given "the power" and deduces that it was Terra who did so. She briefly considers passing the power to generate a Keyblade onto Sora, but decides against it, saying she wouldn't wish "our" (the Wayfinder Trio's) lives on anyone. Since Ventus had already formed a connection with Sora years prior, if Ventus is the reason Sora can use a Keyblade, Aqua should have sensed that potential in him.

[@lilli7040]

Not necessarily the case because Sora was the one who had a big influence on Ven, not the other way. People assume that Ven being the reason Sora can use it is because Ven was actively within Sora's heart which was after the events of BBS

[@Nemo12417]

No, Sora and Ventus formed their connection before the events of BBS, when Xehanort took Ventus to the Destiny Islands just after the creation of Vanitas left Ventus in a dying state and he wanted to give Ventus a somewhat respectable death. It was there that Ventus forged a D Link with Sora who was nearby, which is when he suddenly summoned his Keyblade and Xehanort realized that Ventus was going to make it. That's why Vanitas's face looked like Sora's during the final battle of BBS.

[@GayLPer]

Riku was granted the power to wield a keyblade by a keyblade master (whether you believe he earned the title or not) However, nobody said that was the *only* way to earn the right to wield a keyblade.

[@AshleyoftheSwiftspear-pb8cs]

@@GayLPerhell we know for a fact that doing the ritual isn’t even a guarantee that you’ll get a keyblade, seeing as Riku totally could have never gotten his road to dawn after losing the kingdom key to sora.

[@LastGreatDen]

Also re: Sora's age, in James Cricket's journal, it states that Hayner, Pence and Ollette are in the same summer vacation as the start of 2 (note! Data Twilight Town's summer vacation does not necessarily line up with Real Twilight Town's vacay) If we combine this with Axel saying summer vacation is "about a month" in Days (and IRL Japanese summer vacation being about 40 days long) we can safely assume no more than 6 weeks pass between Sora waking up in 2 and Sora disappearing at the end of 3.

[@KingRynoD.LeonhartTMB]

Just to back up your statement, in the real Twilight Town when Sora, Donald and Goofy wake up and meet the gang Ollette asks them if they finished the summer homework meaning the timeline of the data and real world likely lined up.

[@LastGreatDen]

@@KingRynoD.LeonhartTMB Oh, for sure, HPO **are** on summer vacation at the start of KH2. I was more pointing out that just because Data!TT is set during the last 7 days of summer vacation, that doesn't necessarily have any bearing on how far along Real!TT's summer vacation is when Sora wakes up.

[@ignightroad]

It's confirmed that two weeks after KH2 was the Mastery Exam, so you're correct. Between 2 and 3 took a month of real time.

[@elipticalecliptic481]

fucking hell, 2 AND DDD AND 3 within a month or two? these kids need therapy so bad

[@KingRynoD.LeonhartTMB]

@@ignightroad Where was that confirmed?

[@nickkuroshi0]

For me the Nobody Heart was never a retcon, because even in KH2, a lot of the Nobodies and artificial beings are shown demonstrating emotions and what not. The good guys all talk about the Nobodies from Ansem the Wise's perspective, a guy who is explicitly motivated by anger and revenge against Nobodies, looking to use Sora as a means to an end. The Nobodies talk about themselves from Xemnas's perspective, a villain who runs an organization that functions off of coercion and manipulation. Of course, the characters were being lied to.

[@GayLPer]

What's funny is, when you re-read Ansem the Wise's journal entries, a lot of what he describes about Nobodies... is based off of what they're saying about themselves. He's literally using Xemnas' own propaganda as a reference point, without even realizing it. Kind of like how there's this belief people have about the Nazis were advancing science and technology because of their complete disregard for ethics, when the truth was they actually set science and technology back by several decades for themselves, since they had executed Germany's best scientists for being Jewish, but they had utterly convinced THEMSELVES of their superiority.

[@ewwmorons5573]

@@GayLPer Okay, just making things up I see. Nazis were directly responsible for nearly all of our advances in rocketry leading up to and during the Cold War.

[@gunnarschlichting9886]

@@ewwmorons5573 He's talking about the scientists while they were in Nazi Germany, not what the scientists may have contributed after the war.

[@BananaGatorProds]

I think the real issue here revolves entirely around the line about how they remember what emotions feel like. Its very obviously just a bandaid fix so the writers could have an excuse to let the organization have distinct and likable characters instead of boring emotionless husks. Seriously try to imagine if every member was exactly like Xemnas. It would be fucking horrible.

[@AeonKnigh432]

I literally just thought Roxas could duel wield because he just can. Like. Why not? He's just a cool guy like that.

[@DorienTheHeroOfTheArts]

Facts, Roxas is just built different

[@Road_to_Dawn]

I feel like this was probably originally the idea behind it, before Birth by Sleep came out lol

[@PixilatedPickle]

I mean he still can in 3 after everyone's hearts/keyblades are back with their own bodies so at this point that seems to be why lol

[@thisisasupersayin376]

Honestly, It should've been obvious that the chair hights aren't related to any ranking of imortance considering Roxas' chair is so short and he's the one that can actually do the thing that the organization was organized for

[@GayLPer]

Indeed. Especially since Roxas, himself, doesn't seem to have the greatest self esteem, so it makes sense he would keep the chair as low as possible.

[@Jotari]

The organisation chair heights are based on preference! Well now I'm just imagining them starting with a reasonable round table formation, only Xaldin started raising his chair higher and higher to be over Xehanort which prompted Xehanort to raise his to be on top until they're left at a ridiculous situation where they're ten meters off the ground.

[@couver73]

I honestly don't know how people can assume the whole "Nobodies can regrow their own hearts" thing was a retcon. Like, people don't pay attention to these games. Despite Ansem the Wise early on saying that "A Nobody cannot feel anything." he has been proven wrong time and time again, because some emotions that characters like Axel, Roxas, and the like aren't facsimiles of who they were in their complete selves. It's creating a twist that Xemnas was far more manipulative, gaslighting the Organization into thinking they're hollow to stay in line.

[@walter4180]

Yes but when you think on it, it makes no sense and is something Nomura just made up as he went along Why would they be stupid enough to be like "huh but I can feel emotions. Like a lot a lot of emotions. That's weird..." But rarely if ever allude to questioning it. People pay attention if they're invested in these games. People also know that Nomura clearly didn't have much of a plan.

[@AudoPlay]

@@walter4180 "Yes but when you think on it, it makes no sense and is something Nomura just made up as he went along " KH2FM literally has a scene with Axel going "Roxas are you really sure you don't have a heart? Is it possible that we all have one?" and you think it's something he made up way later? C'mon. There are tons of scenes in KH2 that are meant to make you question if Nobodies really are incapable of having a heart.

[@Yurikon3]

@@AudoPlay To be fair, that was Final Mix cutscene. I don't remember original KH2 having it.

[@mellemadswoestenburg1296]

​@@AudoPlay And in COM when Axel laughs and is shocked that he can genuinely laugh. "Wait... i'm enjoying this!" As he literally puts his hand on his heart as he realizes that. They have been hinting at this literally since the very beginning.

[@KrytenKoro]

Because nomura and the authors explicitly said it was pretend. Over and over. I remember back in 2007 saying "these are the most emotional people without emotions I've ever seen", but I still have to acknowledge that we had an "official" answer. It was a badly concealed "twist".

[@holleighgram]

26:58 objection, your honor- After Roxas's return in KH iii He is STILL dual wielding despite all of the Sortas being seperate and having their own hearts vessels.

[@ChaosEternalRE]

In regards to the Nobodies having hearts, in cutscene 22 of the Japanese version of Days, Axel says "どうして俺は" which more or less translates to "Why is it that I...?" . This seems to imply that he's questioning why he feels so hurt despite supposedly lacking a heart. Unfortunately, this detail was completely lost in the English version where the line was changed to "How did this happen?".

[@ribbonfly]

I love the TWEWY crew and really hope that they appear again. Thank you for explaining the ages, things gotten more complicated since each world's time flows differently.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I had a weird idea of them getting involved with a Fantasia 2000 world. Dunno if that'd be a reality, but whatever.

[@phantom-X2086]

With NEO now being a thing, they would definitely need to meet Rindo, Fret, and Nagi

[@HolyChesusCrust]

It confuses me because at the end of KH3, it shows the 104 building which I thought was only in TWEWY world? Its no wonder people thought it was going to be a thing :(

[@Ricepudiing]

Nothing hits better than hearing the opening jingle of a Regular Pat video

[@Shoulderpads-mcgee]

I love love love the reveal about how Nobodies CAN regrow hearts. It’s such a good twist because it’s been very clear from the start that the Nobodies do exhibit emotion, and while early on you could chalk it up to just playing the part and expressing what how you think you’re supposed to, it’s very obvious that the Seasalt Trio’s feelings in Days are very real. Prior to 3D’s release, it was kind of a meme to bring up how Nobodies “can’t feel” and then immediately show an example of them feeling. So this certainly doesn’t feel out of nowhere like you said. It’s a moment I come back to a lot because of just how good it is. It’s cathartic to reveal that everything you’ve experienced with these characters is real but it also makes Xemnas and the Organization as a concept so much more sinister. It really flips the table and makes numbers 3-14 all victims of a brainwashing cult where they’ve been gaslit in extreme ways. This is good because from this point in the series on, you are meant to sympathize with all the Nobody Organization members. It’s just a lot to think about, spending up to 11 years under the thumb of a cult leader who makes you think you can’t even feel. That’s so messed up. And Sora’s lines and voice work are just fantastic in the scene, he’s so incredibly upset that Xemnas was lying to them all. And the amount of distress he’s in over this reveal makes me love his character even more. He’s so compassionate, shocked, and heartbroken for these people who were being used. Not just for a hollow promise of a goal they could achieve on their own but the fact they were actually being groomed to be used as Xehanort’s meat bag puppets. It’s just. A really good moment. People give 3D a lot a flack but it has some of the best written moments of the series and some of the best tension and stakes. I was never worried truly for Kairi in KH3, but I was worried for Sora in 3D.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I think some beings like Pinocchio, Tron, and Data-Sora also play into this concept. Especially the later, who had to use a data construct of a Keyblade until he eventually found the means - a heart - to manifest his own genuine key.

[@spacecadetkaito]

This sums up my thoughts on it perfectly. When i got into KH i was surprised at how it portrays a cultlike organization so simply but accurately in a children's anime disney game. I wasn't really expecting much depth like that. Plus it lines up with everything we've seen before, they literally scream in fear, get angry, cry, etc. but that's all just "memories"? Maybe if they were only showing a little bit of emotions, but they were basically no different from real people the entire time, so i dont see why its such a stretch to believe they regained their hearts. It felt like it was clearly leading up to that sort of reveal.

[@Shoulderpads-mcgee]

@@MrAuthor3DS very true! If all of them can grow a heart, why not nobodies?

[@walter4180]

When I read stuff like this i just laugh as I know for a fact Nomura didn't think of half this shit lmao

[@Shoulderpads-mcgee]

@@walter4180 ok so? Just because you didn’t think of something at the absolute start doesn’t mean it’s bad writing? Or if you’re saying someone else thought of it, so? I never said anything about nomura. If he didn’t think of it, whoever did, did a good job.

[@rieiid5867]

Hot take, people differentiate Axel and Lea as 2 different people. Axel had some faint memories of being Lea still even while he was a nobody, and he still acts the same even when he becomes a somebody again. They are the same person. A lot of other people are different when they're a nobody compared to a somebody, but for some reason Axel seems to have maintained his sense of self a decent bit as a nobody. I count Lea and Axel as one in the same person.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I think among the named Nobodies, almost all of them are pretty much the same people that they were before, just lacking certain feelings. Xemnas, Roxas, and Namine are the sole special cases, likely because the people they were spawned from were harboring mismatched hearts at the time of their heart/body splits (Terra with Xehanort, and Sora with Ventus and Kairi).

[@heartles_xyz]

Spot on. This feels exceptionally obvious if you look at the Nobodies as a metaphor for trauma: after experiencing a traumatic event, someone might still be the same person but also be substantially changed, might not even feel real, might lock themselves down and suppress their emotions.

[@Cloud-dt6xb]

Thank you for addressing the Mickey and Aqua thing it's so irritating to keep hearing. Not only does Yen sid explain why he did'nt let Mickey tell Sora or Riku, Aqua made the choice to NOT tell him she found Terra all on her own which is a recurring charachter flaw of her's. She really does'nt like accepting help and that ends up biting her in the ass even in Kingdom hearts 3. It's not a bad thing she has this flaw but this does make it her fault and as you said Mickey had no clue where she was until the events of the first game. And then almost instantly after chain of memories happens and from then on he had to focus on that.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

- In retrospect, Dark Riku's behavior does seem closer to how he acted before he was modified for Sora's part of the story - extra-arrogant and all. So of course he'd be a far cry from Riku Replica's current wisened self. - With Nobodies and hearts, I think it makes sense. Look at the cult-like way that Organization XIII is run - it may be to keep its members from accepting the "self-awareness". Of course, some like Xion, Axel, and then Roxas do end up becoming more and more self-aware, leading them to diverge from the Organization's plans. (And then there's cases of other "empty" beings that develop their own genuine hearts, like Pinocchio, Tron, and Data-Sora.) - What about the misconceptions about Xehanort's goals, which were in his reports in BBS and restated at the end of KH3? How so many people thought he was a "misunderstood good guy"? That's not what I got from it at all - he was well-intentioned, sure, but still an extremist. He thought the universe as it was was too corrupt to be fixed, so the best course of action (in his mind) was to wipe the slate clean and start it all anew. And because it was all already "bad", it didn't matter what bad things he did to it. - ...I think a lot of the misconceptions may have also come from him saying "An empty World, pure and bright", misunderstanding what "pure" usually means in JP-writing.

[@Avalinara]

I always really appreciate the editing of the background clips in your video. It’s such a subtle thing that they’re always relevant to what you’re saying even when you’re not actively making a point about any particular scene. I love it

[@RegularPat]

i always really appreciate when people notice because I spend entirely too long thinking about it

[@Bobby_Corwen]

I honestly like that it wasn't just the same clip played over and over again. That's very distracting.

[@Gamelover254]

They also mention Riku Replica in the Re:Mind scene where they name all 13 darknesses in the makeshift organization meeting room in the keyblade graveyard.

[@thisorthat7746]

The 13th Struggle will always be Axel's theme to me. It just feels wrong to hear it play without the iconic "I'M SOO FLATTERED! But you're too late!" before it.

[@leonardodelimaferreira8509]

Another thing about Aqua's quote is that it may not be directed at mickey, but more that she's putting the blame on him, like, she knew he didn't know she was there for 10 years, but the fact that she stayed there for almost 11 years still remains, and she just put the entire blame on him

[@koumori9214]

thanks for the sustenance pat

[@erazor251]

I think something that's interesting about Xemnas gaslighting the original Organization 13 into thinking they don't and can't have hearts without Kingdom Hearts is that Xemnas himself is implied to never have developed a replacement on his own until his death in KH3. I'd say he's also the most like a theoretical Nobody personality-wise. Even when getting beat by Sora and Riku or confronting Axel, he always seems so aloof to the situation despite things not going his way. Even more interesting when considering he's the oldest known Nobody that he managed to stay so stagnant and consistent

[@davidjimenez3822]

or maybe he had a heart all along. It would show just despicable of a human being Xehanort/Xemnas was that he consciously chose to groom a group of pretty much newborn people for over a decade just so he can enact Young Xehanort's plan eventually

[@GayLPer]

I think he was actively resisting the regrowing of a heart, himself. Because he wanted to replace it with Kingdom Hearts.

[@Evnyofdeath]

He grew a heart at the climax of KH2 after channeling the power of Kingdom Hearts. Thats how he was able to be time travelled to the events of KH3.

[@patrickripleyiii134]

I feel like you need connections to regrow a heart, and he just didn't make any, kind of a microcosm of his original self xehanort being a bad person who saw no worth in true human connection

[@uknownada]

The Nobody heart "retcon" has always been interesting to me, because it's explored very subtly in 358/2 Days. The whole thing is an unreliable narrator, and you can put pieces together based on how Roxas and Xion develop. It's my belief that all living beings have hearts, even dusks. But the strength of the heart depends on your connection with others. There's a cutscene in Days where the Seasalt Trio are on the clock tower, and Xion has her hood off whenever she talks to Roxas. But for some reason, between shots, the hood is back up again whenever she talks to Axel. At the end of the scene, when they consider each other friends, that's when Xion keeps her hood down for him, showing her whole face. I totally bet that this directly ties with the idea that Nobodies have hearts, and the hearts grow stronger with new friends. It's beautiful visual storytelling, honestly. Also: This is why toys can talk.

[@couchpotato3197]

I'm at the part about Aqua's eyes not meaning she was norted and I just realized how ironic it was that the Heartless have yellow glowing eyes...its light. It's like what Kairi's grandma says within the deepest darkness was light. So it seems in a way it was foreshadowing of the end of KH1 or at least irony. It also reminds me of Chernobog (Disney Satan) and Final Fantasy black mage eyes too. It's pretty great how they can match darkness related FF and Disney things. But yeah I dont think it means she was Norted either.

[@pascalsimioli6777]

Boy you're really suffering from ad hoc rationalization...

[@pseudomaso]

@@pascalsimioli6777 But if you ask yourself if shitting your pants is an issue of necessity you will always come to a conclusion that you could shit your pants but you shouldn't.

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I think this might help illuminate another big difference between Heartless and certain other darkness-made monsters - Unversed and Nightmares. These two kinds are only made of darkness, and they both have solid red eyes.

[@davesinsanestudio8072]

I really hope this reaches most of the fanbase. I love jokes like Mickey left Aqua for 10 years, but some people really use these misconceptions as canon and then get angry when something they thought was true when they were 15 was never true, and then can't get over it.

[@Redxan600]

I highly doubt they'll listen. Heck, there was even someone going after me after I said that the Disney worlds matter and contributed to the plot. And he said they don't. After sending him to the Disney world video that Mr. Regular made, I got called a fanboy. People just don't wanna accept the facts. All they do is just put their fingers in their ears and go, "lalalalalala can't hear you!"

[@pascalsimioli6777]

@@Redxan600 Your criticism can work for both sides. Also, no, Disney worlds do not matter in any game except KH 1. Sora going through worlds in KH3 to kill time until the plot decides it's time for a showdown it's useless and no amount of post rationalization will save your childhood, stop making the work for the writers.

[@Redxan600]

@@pascalsimioli6777 Watch Pat's video about Disney worlds being relevant to the story. After that, watch Titan Trainer video about KH3 Disney worlds being important to the narrative and character development for Sora. If you ignored those and still have that maiden-less behavior, then you're just proving my point.

[@ajshiro3957]

Sora's inclusion in Smash, and knowing that Disney was onboard with the idea really blew my mind. I thought Disney was going to be really picky and restrictive like with "another crossover game" they were involved in.

[@redstreak9430]

I know what you mean. I mean, considering they told Square they didn’t want a KH fighting game and that’s what became Dissida Final Fantasy because of that decision showed they must have lightened up on the idea at some point.

[@LastGreatDen]

@@redstreak9430 That's also a bit of a misconception. It wasn't Disney saying "No!" to KH Dissidia, it was Nomura himself who just knew Disney wouldn't go for a game where Goofy could beat up Mickey and decided to not even bother asking, and just change the project into something that he/Square had more control over.

[@NeroLeMorte]

@@LastGreatDen this.

[@redstreak9430]

@@LastGreatDen Aw, I gotcha. Still, with the cast of OG KH Characters expanded since, I suppose nothing is stopping them from trying again to avoid the issue probably with the minimum of Mickey, Donald and Goofy being playable. Then again, idk how much of a possibility it is nowadays considering Dissida NT crashed and burned hard…

[@kanenums8888]

@@redstreak9430 I think Disney knows Smash makes a buttload of money. Who would turn down more money?

[@aguywithgames3135]

Just hearing anything close to “the rat did nothing wrong” unironically makes my day at this point. At least one guy is on your side, your Majesty! AT LEAST ONE!!

[@aguywithgames3135]

@@gregoryford2532 My standards for people taking the King’s side is so low (due to how many fans genuinely believe this lie as far as I’ve seen) that I can accept that.

[@andrewstephenson5825]

I feel like a lot of people's view of Mickey is tainted by him being the icon of a massive corporation whose public opinion has steadily been getting worse and worse. I mean, it's Mickey freakin' Mouse, why would you assume from the get-go that he's egotistical, selfish, lazy, and cruel?

[@daniellemurnett2534]

Regular Pat turning into a Mickey apologist these past few videos is probably one of the best anime arcs of all time

[@homestuck_official]

This is pure speculation but I do 100% believe that the "Ice Labyrinth" in Arandelle was originally meant to be Elsa's castle, even if the change may not have been because of Disney restrictions

[@ChangedMyNameFinally69]

Yeah no it's definitely because the plot of Frozen changed or he decided he didn't want a corrupted Elsa boss battle.

[@homestuck_official]

@AT Productions Well yeah, it's a castle

[@DarkOverlord96]

I know it's a castle but the labyrinth is honestly way too big given how the castle looks on the outside.

[@TheLazySage7]

The little relatable quotes between each segment are really cute. Great stuff Pat, ty.

[@KanaIzumiya]

_Indeed._

[@telliusbian]

Honestly I always thought revealing that "Nobodies can have hearts, they're just lied to" was a genius move. Xemnas honestly did not come off as super threatening to me in KIngdom Hearts II and Days. Sure he's a final boss but he didn't get enough time to really shine in comparison to the other more active members. I liked the reframing of him being close to a cult leader. The slow manipulation of Saix whose planning a mutiny who ends up being his right hand man and biggest supporter when he can't rely on Axel is pretty scary. Its also close to how BBS Xehanort acted with Terra. Coldly taking advantage of other's desperation for his own goals. Its also something we know he does in Kingdom Hearts II because he even taunts Sora and Riku about their friendship in his battle lines and goads the Organization members about their pasts during cutscenes. The one scene where he was describing it in detail in such a cold way in Dream Drop Distance really sold me on his character.

[@GayLPer]

In retrospect, looking back at KH2 after Days and especially 3, you get the impression Saix's mutiny went up in flames with Axel's "betrayal" in favor of Roxas. And after that point... he just stopped resisting.

[@blueshellincident]

One thing to note about nobodies' emotions is that their "fake" emotions are supposed to come from their memories, essentially being a facsimile of real emotion based on what they remember, but obviously Roxas and Xion exhibiting emotion despite not having any memory of themselves expressing emotion flies in the face of that. It's not *likely* to be a retcon, just people believing things and not digging deeply into it. I do wonder if Xemnas ever had a heart. From KH3's ending, it seems like he feels something for the first time, and he's pretty monotone the rest of the series. That's a debate for sure.

[@AudoPlay]

@@gregoryford2532 Xemnas states pretty clearly in DDD that he was well aware that Nobodies could and would regrow their hearts.

[@KHloreExpert]

In KH3 all of the Nobodies in the Real Organization weren't from the past like the other members but rather recreated in the present... except for Xemnas. The recompleted Master Xehanort is the version that belongs in the present meaning Terranort's Heartless and Nobody (Ansem and Xemnas) are no more and thus they had to time travel to KH3. Whether or not he'd felt anything with it before that point in KH3 Xemnas must have had enough of a Heart to send forward in time by whatever point in his finite timeline he was pulled from.

[@meteornome2556]

I think the closest Xemans does feel prior to KH3 is Anger, since he seems to be both obsessed with that and thinking that's the source of the Hearts power. Maybe it's a leftover of Terra's feelings inside Apprenticenort.

[@GayLPer]

@@meteornome2556 ...That's actually an excellent point. Xemnas' body is Terra's. Meaning he's kind of Terra's nobody rather than Xehanort's. If he were to regrow a heart... it would be Terra's heart. Not Xehanort's. And he'd want to resist that at all costs.

[@herovill9629]

Honestly yeah, the Nobodies being able to grow hearts being a retcon was always so annoying to me when people complained, cause even if it /was/ a retcon it’s such a GOOD one cause nothing really contradicts it. In fact it actively makes Days better

[@kevinbell5674]

The thing about the Riku Replica that was a part of the Organization, not only did I not buy for a second that he was Riku possessed by Ansem but also when the reveal happened I assumed that he was specifically Riku Replica from before Namine tampered with his memories. I saw that scene as RR as he was at that start of CoM being defeated by him as was by the end of it.

[@Semudara]

Oh, I like that interpretation!

[@kevinbell5674]

@@Semudara I found that how he acts in 3 matches almost perfectly with Riku's first encounter with him in CoM. The chraracter the replica becomes by the end of CoM doesn't quite match the darkness loving dick we got in 3.

[@unit220]

Love the vid, also love the editing in this one. Good info, and good gags. The “Faster!” put over Xemnas’ monologue took me off guard and was particularly funny haha.

[@AtomicF0x]

The ones I was most interested to learn were the segments on Dark Riku (Real Org. 13), The Mysterious Voice being Mickey and The Nobody Heart Retcon. For Dark Riku, I fell for the misdirect that he was past Riku possessed by Ansem, but I'm glad I at least knew the Dark Riku in real Riku was the reformed Repliku. For the Mysterious Voice, I can accept it was Mickey, although I guess I sort of liked it being unknown much more. Before, the voice seemed omnipotent and wondrous. Now that I know it's _Michael Mouse_ though...I can't help but feel disappointed. For the Nobody Heart Retcon, I at first thought it was a cheap cop-out. I accepted the fact long ago that Nobodies had no hearts and were indeed acting on emotional-memory, both because it sort of worked out for thematic conveyance and also, it would be boring/uncompelling to watch the unfeeling/robotic alternative in game. _And yet!_ The idea of Xemnas lying to each of his subordinates does in fact have credence, as he has been known to withhold information from them, ala when he sneaks off to visit the Chamber of Repose to talk to Aqua's armor. Because when you find out he lied to the other members about their hearts, you sort of feel like Xemnas lied to us the players too. Adds a curiously villainous feel to him that I can also accept. I tend to doubt it was _always_ the plan, but it does fit.

[@Vigriff]

I would have preferred if it was Rikunort(my name for Dark Riku) instead of Repliku, namely to show how far he has grown from KH1. I mean, how many times did we kick Repliku's ass in CoM?

[@NeroLeMorte]

You know michael mouse... could be a good mame for the master of masters.

[@DarkOverlord96]

It should be noted that in the Japanese version of KH1 it's more clear that it's Mickey talking since he talks in the Japanese equivalent of his "Hiya, pal!" voice so it's not really a retcon.

[@skepticmantis]

4:56 Constructing Kingdoms' second video "The Importance of Accurate Translations" specifically discusses how many other ideas and dialogue in the KH series have been misrepresented due to faulty translations. Found that interesting.

[@pjcalamity]

The amount of vitriol towards the translators and his particular snide affect makes that a yikes for me, dog.

[@skepticmantis]

@@pjcalamity *shrugs* I just found that aspect of the translations contributing to certain misconceptions interesting.

[@mudkipconoissuer6201]

@@pjcalamity I mean considering that that they completely changed an entire report from days even though they’re job is to translate it, I feel like being a little bitter is understandable

[@pjcalamity]

@@mudkipconoissuer6201 I've been more bitter about less, so I agree, but man. Just bad vibes.

[@mudkipconoissuer6201]

@@pjcalamity that’s fair I just didn’t mind it as much because I found the mistranslations interesting but I guess not everyone wants to listen to someone rant about accurate translations

[@royalknightsleipmon2345]

With Nomura so specifically saying that Sora is just meant to be a totally ordinary boy, I seriously hope they keep to that as the series goes forward. Especially given what was talked about in the flashbacks at the end of Dark Road.

[@stevenhiggins3055]

With the way KH works, Sora can be both an ordinary boy _and_ the Child of Destiny. The only reason the Book of Prophecies exists is because the events recorded happened. So the reason Sora would be the Child of Destiny isn't because he's some chosen one, but because the Gazing Eye saw what he did and sent that information back to the Master, and the Master decided to call him that.

[@FiveToedSloth]

Each video makes me love Kingdom Hearts even more!

[@Zebra0189]

I’ve missed these so much. Wishing you an easy, speedy recovery.

[@austinleach1307]

It's probably worth considering the effect ProZD might have had on the "Aqua Got Norted" thing, because that was a central joke in his video about the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer (for those who don't know, he plays the part of a casual fan who mainly focuses on how cool it is that Arendelle is in the game, then he plays a more hardcore fan who is instead all like "AQUA GOT NORTED"). My friends only really know about Kingdom Hearts through me talking about it, but they've seen the ProZD video and understand the reference. ProZD having a viral video where he says Aqua was Norted probably helped cement perception that that's what happened.

[@UnrebornMortuus]

Roxas gained the ability to dual wield after Xion, because Xion was using either ven's or sora's keyblade. Remember the mission where you use a stick until ROXAS magically summons another keyblade? To put it simply, Roxas hands Xion sora's keyblade, then eventually learns to summon ven's keyblade. Once xion's dead, roxas regains sora's keyblade, which is why he pops out two kingom keys before he re-chains them (chains i hope get lore expanson some day)

[@faelsafe]

As far as the Nobody Heart "Retcon" I've always considered the entire thing closer to Xemnas just gaslighting the entire Organization to keep them under his control. It's easy to create an us vs them mentality when you have a group who literally thinks that they're sub-human after their deaths, and it makes them more vulnerable to getting norted if they think they don't have a heart to begin with.

[@VGInterviews]

Don't think Ansem SoD was ever trying to "nort" Aqua for many reasons (that is if he even COULD do that) That attack doesn't look anything like how Xehanort took over Terra or tried to make Sora into a vessel in DDD Xehanort himself WANTS the 7 lights to gather and face him, and he knows Aqua is being considered as part of that team And as you said, yellow eyes just mean darkness, not just specifically Xehanort

[@MrAuthor3DS]

Furthering this, Young Xehanort only seems to have golden eyes when he's on his time-traveling trip - this is likely because he's incubating another fragment of Master Xehanort's darkness during this journey.

[@struanpeat5116]

In relation to the aqua yellow eyes, i see it as the eyes of someone who's given in to darkness, because ansem the wise has yellow eyes after his first trip to the realm of darkness

[@stevenhiggins3055]

KH3 has kind of debunked that by making all the Org (and Anti-Aqua's) eyes the same golden gue, while AtW still has orange eyes. That would suggest that Ataw didn't give into darkness the same way Xehanort and Aqua did.

[@finalsurvivor1]

On the Quadratum/TWEWY thing, something really important to note regarding it is the 104 Building, which is the main reason people think there's a connection. The building is based off the real-life 109 Building, but - and here's where it gets tricky to understand for the casual westerner - 109, specifically in regards to that building, is under copyright. Japanese has a system called Goroawase which can be used to turn words into numbers, and 109 just so happens to be Goroawase for the company that owns the building. 104 is just a way to avoid getting sued, and its use in KH is just reusing a perfectly good solution to a problem that came up in another game

[@jacksonpekny431]

I will point out that the KH3 track Hearts as One remixes the character themes of Roxas, Xion, and even Sora - and also The 13th Struggle (in a funky new 5/4 time signature!). Notably absent is The 13th Dilemma, which was used in every previous Saïx fight.

[@RheaStorm]

Nice video :) Definitely nice to have someone willing to put the work in to clear up a few misconceptions surrounding the series!

[@amatsukitsune515]

Not even a headsplitting migraine will stop me from watching a new regular pat upload. This is a fun one for sure! I tend to like the kind of stuff that’s not super long (ie two hours or so) but still not that short either, so this is a great sweet spot in length. It was fun to learn some new stuff, especially the KH1 world stuff :)! Didn’t know you could do Any Two from the circle before Neverland. I wonder if the idea of skipping neverland and Atlantica that I’d heard about and mentioned before comes from thinking Agrabah counts under that circle as well… I do miss when there was more room for mystery and intrigue for this kind of thing. While there’s still myths like what was listed for frozen, nothing really hits the same as back in the 2000s and even early 2010s.

[@TyeTaylor]

Bro really hit us with the Victorious clip of her saying they're all singers when he said they're all Xemnas 💀 I feel like I'm 1 of 5 people that would understand that reference lmao

[@misseli1]

Plot twist: The yellow eyes are actually a sign of jaundice, not darkness

[@zaqareemalcolm]

darkness is actually nomura's metaphor for crippling hepatitis

[@EM-gz6cq]

Best wishes for a safe and swift recovery

[@Ronin-errante]

about Anti-Aqua, I think the description on the Journal explicit says that she is Aqua taken by the darkness... no Xehanort mentioned... I mean, if we can't trust on the knowledge of a talking cricket, what would we trust?

[@Alex-lc5dz]

I thought "I waited for kh3 for 13 years" was just the whole "i want kh3 already", rather than the development cycle.

[@AudoPlay]

A lot of people genuinely believed it had been in development for 13 years.

[@DarkOverlord96]

Both are right, some people were just waiting for the next "main game" but others really thought it was in development since 2005. Not that it really mattered since we still got new games that advanced the story so it's not like people had to wait 13 years for a sequel, unlike other games.

[@flagfighter]

One that annoys me is when people think that Demyx saying "We do too have hearts" was an indication that he knew that Nobodies have hearts. That was just a lie. He was lying. Could Nomura say that Demyx always knew later? Maybe. But until then, it seems pretty clear in that situation that Demyx was just trying to say something that would make Sora reconsider fighting him.

[@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz]

not to mention when the party denies it demyx hard breaks character and goes terminator mode. like why'd he do that if he actually believed it?

[@theforgotton_mle3903]

Tbh Idk if i would buy this "he lied" idea I find it more plausible that he followed his heart and it told him he had one and from there demyx just guessed all the others had one too and shared this information with sora and when he go it incorrect but of course sora wouldn't believe him because organization XIII are liars as he (sora) was primed to believe that by yensid who in all likelihood was just incorrect himself and it's not like he's (yensid) never been just incorrect before also demyx himself has never been known to be a liar in fact I don't think any of the organization actively lied (outside of castle oblivion) to really anyone I think any instance of a lie from an organization member either happened in castle oblivion or was just plain incorrect on the characters' part like I said before lying doesn't fit demyx as a character as for his outburst after sora mocks him he did it cause he was mad that sora the traitor had the nerve to call him (demyx) a liar no more no less

[@flagfighter]

@@theforgotton_mle3903 The 358/2 Days Ultmania describe him as "slippery" and "devilishly cunning/deceitful", specifically when it comes to tricking people into doing things for him. (It gives the example of him lying to get Roxas to take over his work in Olympus. He says he'll take care of the Heartless outside, but he really intends to take a nap.) The Memorial Ultimania specifies that the way he acts in front of Sora seems intentional or fake. He'll just do *anything* to avoid fighting. I think his character file is suggesting that "Demyx time" is basically the same thing as "May your heart..." Whenever he says that he's "not cut out" for something, I think that's him trying to follow his heart. So, in that scene, in order to follow his heart, he had to lie. Even if his heart was guiding him in that moment, I don't believe that he KNEW that he had a heart. Besides, I think that scene seems abnormally grimdark if you assume that Sora decided to attack him if Demyx was being truthful. Tonally, it makes more sense that Sora attacked him because he saw through Demyx's lies. edit: I should add - the "Silence, traitor" thing was being directed at Roxas, not Sora. (This is something I also see people getting wrong every now and then.) The way he begs Roxas to come back to them in the Underworld sounded very fake because he was pretending to be nice the whole time. When he calls him a traitor... Big surprise: It's because he really considered Roxas a traitor.

[@theforgotton_mle3903]

@@flagfighter ok so we gotta get something straightened out there's a difference between the words "know" and "believe" I think that he believes he has a heart and therefore came to the conclusion that the others might have one too this does not mean he knows he's right just suspects that he may be at least enough to correct Sora who at this point may have been seen as being clearly lied to by somebody already Clearly his anger was directed at Roxas and not sora at this point in the story there is no difference between the two most of the organization address roxas directly either at the beginning or the end of their respective fights and every one has a reason for doing it things like anger, sorrow, boastfulness, surprise,(in demyx's case while in the underworld) my point being who he was actually addressing is irrelevant as opposed to what emotion he was displaying which was anger seems seems genuine and if I'm reading what you said correctly this is what convinced you that demyx was lying to me the logic doesn't line up cause to say demyx was lying about the belief that Nobodies possess hearts then gets mad (if you believe the emotional response equals having a heart) is like saying someone stating their belief of having a gun you calling them a liar they shoot you and you with a bullet in your arm still calling them a liar even though they just proved at the very least that they weren't lying about believing he had a gun even though he has zero reason to lie at all also it is supposed to be kinda dark when sora basically becomes the bully in this situation and attacks demyx for 1 being a member of the organization 2 "lying" about having a heart 3 and biggest reason of all they were in the middle of a siege on hollow bastion this fight was going to happen regardless of whether or not he told the truth so why would he lie at all about something he may believe is true Demyx didn't lie because he has no reason to do so whatsoever especially during the siege on hollow bastion I think he believed what he said regardless of its correctness Also Nomura said so...through narrative in case that got lost in translation

[@flagfighter]

​@@theforgotton_mle3903 Yeah, I think that you're somehow still misinterpreting what I'm saying. I'm going go full fanfic mode and fill in all the blanks so you understand how the scene looks to me. I've thought about this scene way more than any sane person should, so I feel like this is 100% correct: "Who is this kook?" Sora wondered, bewildered by Demyx's conflicting behavior. "Remember," Goofy warned him, "the Organization's made up of Nobodies." "Right," Sora said, realizing that Demyx's actions were a ruse. "No hearts!" Realizing that he was failing to get Sora's trust, Demyx had to think quickly. "We do too have hearts! Don't be mad," he said as a last-ditch effort. "You can't trick us!" Donald proclaimed, solidifying the fact that they could not be tricked by Demyx's deceitful nature. Demyx's smile immediately fell into an annoyed grimace. Understanding that there was no point in continuing his charade, he turned away for a moment to collect himself before pointing at the trio with narrowed eyes, revealing his true self. "Silence, traitor!" Sora was startled when he saw what was hiding beneath Demyx's act. That's all there is to it. With the way that the scene was constructed to illustrate Demyx as a liar, it can't be used as conclusive proof that Demyx knew that they had hearts. I'm a Japanese translator, so I can confirm that nothing was lost in translation. This scene was actually translated very faithfully. The only thing we lost was Suzumura Kenichi's masterful performance as Demyx. lol

[@KHGuides]

Thanks for clearing up the record on these, Pat! Excellent video - and major props to all who assisted in researching these!

[@MikeKennedyNFL]

I feel like at least once per Regular Pat video, there’s a subtle joke that makes me spit out my water. Sora’s “Faster!” during Xemnas’ DDD speech was that for this vid.

[@pantarhei8457]

Subtle? It was about as subtle as a train wreck. Although I have to admit I had this on as background noise and thought Sora swore at Xemnas at first. Now that was funny.

[@kevinbell5674]

Rather then Mickey, I always thought the voice speaking to Sora was Kingdom Hearts itself. And after learning that the ones in KH and KH2 are artificial, that just solidified that interpretation for me.

[@chrisdaughen5257]

I thought it may have been Ventus, but it could very well be someone from Verum Rex or Ux. The voice keeps saying Sora will "open the door," but in KH1 he closed the DTD. He did reopen the DTD to fight Xemnas in KH2, but that event is so minor in the grand scheme of things, it can't have been referring to that. Which means the moment those words are foreshadowing haven't happened yet...

[@kevinbell5674]

@@chrisdaughen5257 Since it's the first game, it would probably be best to speculate with what we know from just that game. As you brought up, none of those things existed when KH was made so The Voice can't be any of them. Unless Nomura decides to give a definitive answer on it, we shouldn't use knowledge from future games to guess what The Voice is.

[@hanakoisbestgirl4752]

I love introducing friends and other new people to kingdom hearts. Playing the games in release order and telling them during the finale of KH1, telling them to remember about mickey not having a shirt on because its actually important

[@Thebrotherhoodofgaming]

Thank you for doing this. i was literally going to start working on a video like this myself because i too kinda got tired of hearing the rumors and misconceptions that had been presented as fact such as Mickey leaving Aqua stranded for 10 years+. Which honestly confused me because if you actually paid attention to the games, it's pretty clear that for those first 10 years, NO ONE knows where Aqua is. For all they knew, she was dead. the 1 to 2 years after the decade when Mickey in fact does learn about Aqua's survival in the Dark Realm is a bit iffy because yeah even i think 1 to 2 years being left in there is too long but i can concede and come to an easy conclusion the lore does make clear in cases that it is very true that getting into and out of the dark realm is a very tricky, dangerous, and not entirely a sure thing scenario that is just too risky to do. you really do risk getting yourself lost or stuck in the process.

[@keiths2902]

Thank you for ”taking your time and reminisce(ing)”. I love longform content and all the vids I’ve binged these past few days are so entertaining and high quality! Keep up the great work my dude!

[@Charnel_Heart]

One of the most important things I find about the aqua spending 10 years in The realm of darkness story, is the fact that her epilog in the final mix ends where 0.2 starts. So while we always knew that time passed differently in the ROD, what this seems to imply is that her stay there was subjectively a few hours

[@MrAuthor3DS]

I sorta figured that her relative time in the realm of darkness would have been about...two and a half months. Let's look at Sora's and Riku's journey in the realm of darkness in Dream Drop Distance for a comparison - mainly from Sora's side, since he's technically the only one present in reality at the time. Most world visits don't seem to take any longer than a few hours (especially The Grid, since Sam's stay couldn't be any longer than 8 hours), though some seem to take about two days (namely, La Cite des Cloches and Country of the Musketeers). It seems as if Sora was only in the realm of darkness for roughly a week's time before ending up in The World That Never Was (a between-realm world) - which happens to line up with present day, when Master Xehanort himself came back together (and Mickey infiltrated just after discussing the chance that Xehanort was there to sabotage the exam). These two points are just a little over a year apart, so we could probably estimate about a week in the dark realm equaling a year in the light realm. So yeah, 11 weeks. That's roughly two and a half months.

[@vulpinitemplar5036]

I think it's pretty cool of an idea that Xion is wielding either Sora's or Ventus' keyblade, in a way Roxas ends up dual wielding post Xion because whatever memories she was holding onto he absorbs or something so I suppose it just makes sense to me.

[@zankudragon]

I will die on the hill that Roxas can only dual wield because of Xion. He gets the ability directly because of her. In game. In the literal text of the game, this is fact. I don't care how many outside sources try to dispute this. I don't care if Nomura originally intended for another truth. What we ended up getting was what was in the text of the game. So that is canon.

[@JazzyWaffles]

"I think we're ALL Xemnas" That is not the reference I was expecting to see today, haha

[@henryaggerate9669]

The two things that I didn’t know were the required KH2 worlds (always 100% my playthroughs) and the chair heights. For over a decade I thought Vexen was canonically considered the worst Orgy XIII member by the rest, so they stuck him on the bottom

[@jasonsmith8802]

I'm surprised for the Nobody-heart-regrow bit, you didn't include Axel in CoM saying "Hey... wait... I'm enjoying this. You guys ARE something else" while in private, since it confirms that Nobody weren't unable to feel emotions long before DDD.

[@mellemadswoestenburg1296]

And he literally puts his hand on his chest as he says it. Yet another scene that basically confirms that this was a concept Nomura had long ago. It was literally in the first game the organization appeared in.

[@tomadams5800]

Heartless are indeed eternal thanks pat love you x

[@Billyboy2288]

i love your videos, they for some weird reason make me feel safe and give me a really nostalgic vibe. like playing these games felt 20 years ago. love you and take care

[@nasifhaque2922]

We see how the Org XIII chairs rise at the climax of DDD, when Xehanort attempts to make Sora one of the 13 darknesses. So I thought their height being arbitrary was already known. But never knew that they choose the height themselves. Now it makes sense why Saix's chair is so high (as so-called "second-in command") despite being no.7. He views himself as above others. You can really tell who has the biggest egos.

[@fireboltpt]

I still find it funny that theoretically, Ventus is like in his 20s by KH3

[@ImNotAMageImAWizard]

I was starting to starve without my dose of RP KH videos

[@Noisymedal]

I thought the aqua world-of-darkness shtick was that it was a time dilation issue. something like "Time works differently in the world of darkness, while ten years passed out here it's only been a year in there." or something. That was why Aqua hasn't visibly aged much during that 10-year period. This isn't incompatible to what you've shown us today either. Aqua enters the world of darkness, nine years pass for us, nine-tenths of a year passes for her. Mickey meets up with her at Deprestiny Islands, then another year passes in the world of light for aqua to wrap-up her full stay, rounding out to *what appears to be from her perspective- one full year.

[@TimberCreates]

I have been really excited for this vid since it won the bracket! It’s always fun to learn more stuff about my favourite series. Also the stair gag at the end made me laugh way harder then it should have 😂

[@chrisdaughen5257]

Gotta hand it to Aquanort, she gaslit us all into thinking Mickey intentionally abandoned her for a decade. BBS came out 9 years before KH3, and in that time most of us forgot Mickey had no reason to think Aqua was in the realm of darkness.

[@whatisthatjay]

I can appreciate your personal intro. Understandable.

[@contextsensitive8484]

the interview snippet at 28:20 is about to be so damning if the whole "child of destiny" plotline goes where i think it's going

[@RegularPat]

This is why I really want the Child of Destiny to be Kairi

[@dachel683]

Where do you think it's going, exactly?

[@TheKabuto90]

Well remember the Child of Destiny could just as likely be a term made up by the Master of Masters rather than any concrete 'thing'. The book of prophecies records only events that are going to happen so he would know all about Sora and the gang's exploits

[@Vinylmelody1517]

Never realized how slowly xemnas speaks until that but near the end of the video. Man drags out everything eternally

[@saadquad.]

Sora’s “Faster!” sound bite made me scream, really good stuff

[@mechashadow]

13:04 I think you can, I was one of the few who said maybe she fell into the water instead of being norted when that trailer appeared but got overwhelmed by the cacophony of wrong voices.

[@DonutSwordsman]

subbed. so much effort must of went into this, great job thanks for the video!

[@TechnicSky]

30:48 “Minor” **Shows the dwarves mining** Yeah. He’s dope. This is why we’ve subscribed.

[@emilycarbone6604]

I always imagined the KH1 white text voice to sound deep and ominous, and to know that it’s Mickey the Goddamn Mouse… Tragic.

[@TJF588]

Inverse of "The Shadow War" from the Ducktales reboot.

[@ctswag4204]

I always figured the thrones were indicative of the members rank in the Organization. Xemnas's throne being tallest for being Number 1, Roxas's being shortest for being Number 13. Glad to know I was wrong.

[@proudspartan313]

I know this obviously isn't true but I always liked the idea the mysterious voice in KH1 was Kingdom Hearts itself. Idk, I just think that's a neat idea that alludes to what Kingdom Hearts is

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

I hope this video reaches a ton of people, specially those who are doubting if getting into the series or not. Great job!

[@pedrogarcia8706]

For the "Which worlds are optional?" question, we could have just asked the speedrunners. They have a vested interest in knowing how much of the game they can skip.

[@alexstewart9592]

Thing is, Genie himself is absolutely BROKEN in KH2 - you can use him to end and restart your aerial combo without actually interrupting your attacks, which means infinite combos. And that is before accounting for how good some of his attacks are when using him normally.

[@VivBrodock]

personally I think that the dark aqua line of being left for a decade is perfectly fine 1) it's not an objective telling of facts, yes she has been down there a decade, and yes Michael did leave her but she's been taken over by darkness, she doesn't have to be a reliable giver of facts 2) Time in the Realm of Darkness, and the Realm of Light flow differently. given that a year passed in the Realm of Light it's possible Aqua has experienced actually a decade of time since 0.2, we're not exactly aware of what the dilation is presently so who knows. 3) The reason aqua has fallen to darkness is likely the anger/fear of being left behind, since we know 10 years happened in the realm of light while she was is the realm of darkness she probably held off the darkness for a long time between BBS and 0.2 (if it truly is 1 year = 10 years then that would mean she spent a whole century from her perspective before seeing Michael Mouse again). But now things have changed, in BBS she was stuck because she chose to be to save Terra, after 0.2 she's just waiting for the day someone arrives to take her home... which takes a whole year (again from Realm of Light reference frame, no one actually knows how much time she experianced between 0.2 and 3). That would personally make me bit angry/afraid that I've been forgotten which would be how darkness gets into her heart.

[@thantus9315]

12:30 A correction, they do technically mention that Dark Riku is Riku Replica *after* the vanilla fight, but it’s exclusive to Remind. Its in the scene where Master Xehanort, Saïx, and Xigbar are discussing the statuses of the other members in the Organization, at which point Saïx explicitly calls him “Riku Replica.” That said, this information is kinda sandwiched between them explaining how the time-traveling members had to be sorted into Replica bodies, which arguably took the most attention from the players. Going into Anti-Aqua talk for a moment (not as a correction), aside from the prefix “Anti-“ used in reference to a character’s dark self or corrupted self by the darkness instead of anything Xehanort related, there’s also the case that Aqua’s body was being transformed during this process, her skin around her arms and legs turning purple or black. I have my own theories about this process (which is that she’s slowly being turned into a Darkling from KHUX), but I’m pretty sure there are no instances of a character’s body metamorphosing after getting ‘Norted. So it seems clear that Anti-Aqua doesnt correlate to any actual influence from Xehanort.

[@abbymems]

While I hear your anti-aqua point, the very first officially Norted guy was Terra and...well...he definitely didn't have Ansem's skin tone before getting possessed. At the very least, the first trailer anti-aqua was in just showed her with the yellow eyes and tan skin, which was what Terra got after norting, and there was a lot up in the air about who the other darknesses would be. The marketing team was definitely trying to put that idea in our heads.

[@Nada__Mohammed]

Thanks for the incredible video. I love your very matter-of-fact explanations and fully agree with your interpretations of things wherever there's a grey area. Not in like a "kissing up to you" way, just in that we've both come to the same conclusion.

[@BigBossMan538]

I always saw the term somebody on wikis when categorizing enemies in the KH series. Referring to Disney characters, FF characters, and others who aren’t Heartless or whatever

[@KHloreExpert]

It's never been a canon term, or even falsely believed to be one as far as I know unless the wikis and/or knowledgeable fans accidentally made it seem so, but it was quickly determined by the wikis to be the ideal (until an official term exists) short, simple, accurate enough fan term which could be easily interpreted by even the least knowledgeable fan without the need for a glossary of terms.

[@BigBossMan538]

@@KHloreExpert Yeah I understand that now. Just pointing out my experience with the term "somebody".

[@alimahou]

Man, you got me with the "somebody" one. I've been using that as the opposite to Nobody since my forum days back in like 2006.. 😳