Honestly, I do wish I had more academic familiarity with Buddhist themes and imagery than just "have absorbed awareness of the themes and imagery through regularly consuming Japanese media for 20 years" because I wish I could speak with more authority on the Buddhist themes around Xehanort, because they feel. Strong.
Like the whole head shaving thing 100% has Buddhist connotations of taking on the role of a monk to dedicate himself to the Path. The fact that Old Man Xehanort systematically destroys his attachments (but in a toxic way), that he sees this as necessary for his mission, that he can't complete his path without cutting down Eraqus, his very last attachment. That the diagram of the fall of Daybreak Town in Scala in Re:Mind is portrayed as a wheel, that it visually resembles a bhavacakra representing samsara (the cycle of reincarnation central to Buddhist beliefs). That Xehanort is very literally subject to endless wandering in his search for a means to end this cycle of repeated events and themes that causes human suffering.
IDK again I don't really have the knowledge base to speak on this with any authority, but Dark Road and Re:Mind seem to be saying that Xehanort has decided he needs to find a way to free the world from the cycle of samsara, that he has determined attachments to be the root of suffering, that his callous treatment of Ven and Eraqus and his dream friends and all that is in pursuit of freeing himself from attachments so he can bring about a state of nirvana for the world in its entirety, that he has shaved his head as a symbol of devotion to this path.
Like the themes and imagery seem really Very Buddhist But Xehanort Taking Them Too Far and I wish I could more clearly lay them out but I cannot, somebody help me here lmao tell me if I'm an idiot or if these themes are in fact present.
thank you so much for the support over the last three days! i got over 10k hits on the website!!!
i wish i could upload faster/more often but i have been busy & tired. i did make a number of small updates today though! including links to VPN leak checks, where to find roms and emulators, more torrenting sites, and a small dictionary section that has VERY SIMPLE definitions of some words that i used.
Timelines, timeloops, and time travel, oh my! - A (mostly) comprehensive breakdown of timelines in ORV
The following is a presentation I made for a powerpoint party that included some people who have never heard of ORV before, so I’ve replaced the character names with nicknames for simplicity, so don’t mind the nicknames all over the images because I am not redrawing them. Also, all the diagrams were drawn with a mouse in MS paint, which doesn’t allow editing of things already drawn, so please cut me some slack if stuff doesn’t make as much sense lol.
Before we begin, please note that this breakdown will contain both major novel spoilers—which is expected for something like this—as well as major Side Story spoilers—but I will mark where those begin for anyone who would rather not get spoiled if you haven’t read or gotten up to date on it yet. Also, I’m not perfect, and I definitely might have forgotten something as I was going through and making this presentation because this was done entirely from memory, so forgive me if that’s the case.
Since everyone reading this already knows what ORV is about (or, I certainly hope so), I’m obviously not going to explain it the way I did when I gave this presentation. However, because this is necessary context, just know that the nicknames I used for the rest of the presentation are squid, sunfish, and cat to represent Kim Dokja, Yoo Joonghyuk, and Han Sooyoung respectively.
For reference, this is how I described ORV to them lol.
(Art by theta_draw on twitter and u/crimsonsecret7)
Part 1: The Basics
As you can see above, we have one, simple timeline that goes from 1 to 1863, representing the regressions in TWSA. How simple. How neat. Very understandable. You all know this part because it really is ORV basics, so let’s move on to:
Part 2 - The Complicated
This is what the previous timeline would actually look like if I drew them out how they actually work in canon. The very first line on the top is technically the 0th regression, and every time Yoo Joonghyuk regresses, he creates a new branching timeline/worldline from the exact same point of his life—namely, around 7 pm on the day the apocalypse begins. He has only one life where he experienced the world before the scenarios, so that specific part of the line doesn’t exist anywhere else. Of course, trying to portray the regressions in this manner would make this diagram extremely messy to draw (as well as annoying), so let’s look at this from a different perspective.
Instead, we’re going to draw this timeline from Yoo Joonghyuk’s perspective as one very long life where the end of the 1st regression leads directly into the beginning of the 2nd, the 2nd into the 3rd, and so on, all the way until his 1863rd regression just to make it easier to draw. I hope you all understand why I did this, especially since I need to branch off of it for the rest of the diagram.
Part 3: The events of ORV’s main story
ORV begins in an altered version of TWSA’s 3rd round where suddenly all these people from the “real world” have now been introduced to events that previously only existed in the novel. As a result, this is not the original 3rd round, but a copy of it, that we can call Alt-3 for now. The original 3rd round from TWSA remains unchanged, and this round doesn’t replace it completely either. For the purposes of this diagram, these alternate rounds will be drawn parallel to the original timeline.
Sometime before we meet Han Sooyoung as a character in ORV, Han Sooyoung uses [Avatar] and her avatar that contains 50% of her memories (50% cat/1863 Han Sooyoung) goes rogue, makes a deal with the Secretive Plotter, and gets sent to the 1863rd round of TWSA to fulfill their covenant and gain the right and power to create her own world.
Naturally, her presence there was not part of the original 1863rd round, so a copy of 1863 (Alt-1863) gets created as a result. None of her actions in this round have any effect on the original 1863rd round since they have diverged. This is the round where 1863 Han Sooyoung essentially hijacks the story, paints Yoo Joonghyuk as the villain, and proceeds with her plans until the 95th scenario unhindered.
Unfortunately, 1863 Han Sooyoung is not left alone for long, because our dear squid gets sent there later in Alt-3’s timeline, and he arrives in Alt-1863’s 95th scenario, spending maybe a couple of weeks there. Overall, Kim Dokja isn’t there for long because of the 95th scenario involving the Apocalypse Dragon, and he thwarts 1863 Han Sooyoung’s plans.
Due to the meeting between Kim Dokja and 1863 Yoo Joonghyuk (1863), 1863 gains the [Avatar] ability and splits himself in two. One half of himself dies, while the other regresses and moves on to a round that Kim Dokja doesn’t know—1864.
What is discovered later is that the 50% of 1863 that regressed remembered that Kim Dokja said that the round he comes from definitely exists, and had enough desire to go there himself that OD got curious about that story. As a result, the worldline where he went “replaced” the 3rd turn that Secretive plotter had been observing until now.
Because of this 1863 essentially combines himself with the Yoo Joonghyuk in that round—think of it as being the 3rd turn’s body, but with the fragmented memories of half of 1863 mixed into his own. This is the reason why “3rd Yoo Joonghyuk” had memories of events that shouldn’t have happened yet while still completely believing that it is actually the 3rd turn, and why someone like Anna Croft didn’t already know either. It’s revealed that ORV’s timeline is actually the 1864th regression.
Then, Kim Dokja returns from Alt-1863 and discovers that 3 years have passed since he left due to time between worldlines passing at different speeds.
We also learn later on that the Secretive Plotter went back to the 999th regression and either was always part of that round’s tragedy or took the place of the outer god that 999 Yoo Joonghyuk made a deal with. I still decided to include it, but it overall doesn’t have too much impact on the rest of our diagram (for now) because it’s essentially its own self-contained loop.
Now, we have the infamous 51/49 split. 51% of Kim Dokja stayed behind in the train as the Oldest Dream, and 49% went back to 1864 with the rest of the group. After an amount of time I didn’t want to draw, Kim Dokja essentially created a 0th round completely disconnected from the events of TWSA (since the events of the original 0th that SP would have experienced were briefly described in the novel). In this round, Kim Dokja writes his attempt at a fix-it fanfiction, but never once considers what the characters actually want, or that his meddling will affect those wants.
I say that Kim Dokja 'created' it here because the worldline was “given the power of life from his consciousness”, so technically a better way of drawing it would have been a line for yjh's life before the scenarios splitting into the two 0s eventually connecting to the beginning of 1, but this diagram is messy enough already and this was an easier spot to put it.
Meanwhile, Kimcom have been left behind in 1864 and have a disaster of a picnic. As a result, they make the decision to do the group regression, leading to the creation of 1865. 1865, unlike other regressions, is instead specifically repeating the beginning conditions of alt-3/1864, therefore allowing “non-characters” to participate in the group regression, so long as they existed at the beginning of the scenarios.
Unfortunately, even after speedrunning the scenarios in record time, 1865 doesn’t work the way they want it to. Both 49% and 51% Kim Dokjas scatter into fragments across the universe, and kimcom returns to 1864 (1864 pt 2), now 20 years after they originally left.
By now, I’m sure this is probably exactly how I seem with all these diagrams (and trust me, this is what I looked like while presenting it irl), but don’t worry, it gets worse :)
All this worldline stuff is complicated enough as it is, but what’s that you ask? Another timeline?
Buckle up, everyone, it’s time to look at:
Part 4: What do you mean there are two 2s? ***SIDE STORY SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT***
One of the big things we know about TWSA is that the future Shin Yoosung aka the Disaster of Floods (DoF) appeared in Yoo Joonghyuk’s 2nd round to tell him information from the 41st round. However, she did not appear in the 1st round, which tells us that there must have been a timeline (Timeline A) where the DoF was not the fifth disaster in the 5th scenario—this theory was confirmed by the Side Story, though we never see what disaster was there in her place (because our dear main character had fainted, as usual).
This means that the round where Shin Yoosung was sent back by Yoo Joonghyuk was not the same 41st regression as the one that appeared in TWSA (though according to the Dumplings made by others oneshot side story, SP and the 41 kkoma have basically no memories of that round, and it was not fully written in TWSA either). However, it is likely that the information on the round had some degree of influence on Yoo Joonghyuk’s choices once he actually got to the 41st round, such as using the spear because the 41 in [Hell of Eternity] also used a spear.
So, the Shin Yoosung of timeline A’s 41st regression was turned into the DoF and sent back to the second round, therefore creating a split timeline (Timeline B), and this timeline is where TWSA takes place. Other than the brief mentions of that 41st regression by the DoF, the ORV main story contains basically no information about timeline A.
So, let’s begin with our dear old man 0, who signed a sponsor contract with 51% Kim Dokja and ended up losing the majority of memories so he could essentially “overwrite” the original TWSA 0th round and join up with the 1st regression. These memories would eventually return to 1864, and it’s unclear if SP got the same memories, since technically he would have experienced the TWSA round 0 instead—the one recorded in the 4th wall library (chapter 266). As of right now, there is no evidence that SP has any of the memories of the 0 that Kim Dokja created, so I can’t conclusively say whether he is considered to have lived through this version or not.
On the other hand, because 49% Kim Dokja and 51% Kim Dokja both fragmented at the end of 1865 (I just really didn’t want to draw all the time in the train for 51% or all the fragments bc that is exhausting), parts of them went flying everywhere to all kinds of faraway worldlines. In particular, a meteor containing the soul of 49% Kim Dokja crash-landed in the Z865123 planetary system. This will be important later.
At the end of Alt-1863, 1863 Han Sooyoung and the dokkaebi king of that worldline travelled to the 1st worldline (hereby labelled with baby squid). I am sorry that it is yellow, MS paint only has so many colours and I was struggling.
Anyway, this 1st worldline is essentially the “real world” before the apocalypse, where Kim Dokja, Yoo Sangah, Han Sooyoung, and Lee Gilyoung come from. This is the worldline where 1863 Han Sooyoung possesses her younger self and becomes tls123, fulfilling her dream of writing a story that will change someone’s life (paraphrased) and saves younger Kim Dokja in the process, therefore facilitating his ascent to the position of Oldest Dream and the continuation of the cycle. This isn’t pictured on the diagram, but the day before the apocalypse, 1863 Han Sooyoung’s consciousness fully disappears from this worldline, and those memories are sent back to 1864 Han Sooyoung.
*Important Note: There are some discrepancies in the timeline between the novel and manhwa versions here that I felt were important to mention.
In the novel: The day before the apocalypse, the final chapter of TWSA is published, Kim Dokja has the conversation with tls123 where he’s told that the epilogue will be posted at 7 pm the next day, and he attempts to recommend the novel on a forum (ORV’s prologue).
In the manhwa: The scene of Kim Dokja reading the final chapter of TWSA is located before the title card, and it’s unclear if this happens the previous day or not. Unlike the novel, his conversation with tls123 happens on the same day as the apocalypse, shortly before 7 pm (webtoon episode 1).
But what does this mean? This means that the scene where 1863 Han Sooyoung reaches out to Kim Dokja on the train platform at the end of Author’s Words before her consciousness fully disappears does not happen on the day of the apocalypse in the novel, but it’s unclear in the manhwa when the final chapter was completed and posted. However, Kim Dokja was messaging the Dokkaebi King and not 1863 Han Sooyoung in both cases, since she would have disappeared by then.
At the end of ORV, Yoo Joonghyuk leaves 1864’s worldline to distribute the copies of ORV to other worldlines, and his first named stop is the Z865123 planetary system, where he connects the struggling web novel author Lee Hakhyun to the [Cloud System] before leaving to distribute the copies elsewhere (not pictured). He drifts around for a while too, and though it’s also not pictured bc I forgot to put the other arrowhead on the line, he eventually returns to 1864 just in time for something to happen in Kim Dokja’s hospital room.
Now, we get to the official beginning of the Side Story. Through an ORV fandom event, Lee Hakhyun and multiple ORV readers get sent to the 41st regression of timeline A, therefore creating Alt-41. Most members of kimcom also end up connecting to or observing the worldline in various different ways (with the exception of Lee Hyunsung and Jung Heewon, who are somewhere else).
Lee Hakhyun is also revealed to be the reincarnation of 49% Kim Dokja, who had wished to be reborn as anyone other than Kim Dokja in his next life as he was vanishing in the train at the end of 1865.
While taking a nap in the subway for plot reasons, Lee Hakhyun ends up spending 3 months in the 40th regression of timeline A, meeting the Yoo Joonghyuk of that round and making a deal with him to be allies in the next regression before returning to Alt-41.
Due to the deal made in the 40th regression, which 41st Yoo Joonghyuk references near the beginning of the Side Story, it can now be determined that the event that created the current worldline was actually Lee Hakhyun’s arrival in the 40th regression, therefore meaning that it was actually Alt-40. The Alt-41st regression was simply created by Alt-40th Yoo Joonghyuk regressing, not the arrival of extra people in the 41st.
Now, you may notice that weird moon-like thing on the right. That’s the Dark Dimension.
The Dark Dimension (where Yoo Joonghyuk trained for 100 years in TWSA’s 2nd regression, as mentioned in the main story) is a domain where time faults exist. The time faults are essentially like simulations of different regression turns in Yoo Joonghyuk’s life, but the events of the real turn are not overwritten by any changes made in the time fault.
So, instead of creating alternate timelines, nothing changes. It’s like going back to re-clear levels of a video game, but it’s impossible for your original score to change, if that comparison makes sense. You’re basically in free play mode, but nothing you do will be saved.
And now:
Part 5: The Complete Diagram
Now, this is what I’d like to call the ‘Complete’ diagram, because it includes instances of characters travelling to/from worldlines that don’t necessarily cause any ripples, but I felt deserved to be there, such as:
The 999 gang travelling to the end of the 1864th regression
The 999 gang, SP, and OD going to a new worldline
The 999 gang and SP going to briefly help Yoo Joonghyuk while he’s floating in space all alone in ORV’s epilogue
After the hospital door is opened, it’s revealed that only 41% of Kim Dokja returned thanks to ORV, and he also goes off to Alt-41 to find the other remaining fragments so he can return to kimcom as 100% of himself so he doesn’t disappoint them again
Lee Hakhyun and 41st Yoo Joonghyuk go to the Dark Dimension for a little bit
41st Yoo Joonghyuk returns from the Dark Dimension (alongside other transcendents), but Lee Hakhyun does not return with him
Instead, Lee Hakhyun ends up in Alt-1863 during the 99th scenario and meets 1863 Han Sooyoung before she becomes tls123. Despite this fact, there are no ripples or different outcomes created as a result of his presence there (as of right now, at least)
Lee Hakhyun leaves Alt-1863 after spending about a month there, and returns to Alt-41, where 8 years have passed
And that is basically everything, up until Side Story chapter 905 (though, as of chapter 922, this still seems to be accurate for the important parts).
Congrats, you survived! I hope you don’t have a headache now, and I’m sorry if you do.
I hope that my diagrams (of questionable quality) and my little explanations made sense, even though I tried to keep certain side story events more vague since I know most people haven’t read it yet. If there’s anything I missed or got wrong, please let me know.
With any luck, this chaotic disaster of a power point was helpful to you, and all my suffering in MS paint was worth it. I would also like to thank my friends in the side story group chat for looking this over and pointing out where I could be clearer, as well as putting up with my rambling for so long, they're all amazing.
One of the reasons why Olympus was chosen as the prologue world for KH3, I imagine—Hades and Xehanort's plans mirror each other quite well. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the Olympus intro was intentionlly written in this specific way in order to parallel Xehanort's antics throughout the series as close as possible.
The image I chose doesn't convey it perfectly, but I also realized the mention of Terra, Cloud, and Auron could be replaced with Terra, Ven, and Aqua, and you get the same idea of a villain trying to manipulate three people into helping them achieve their plans.
hello, lele-san!! i hope you'll get your vacation soon & have some rest. i was wondering was there any nuance in the "love is the most twisted curse" in the word "twisted". what was the japanese for this? what does "twisted" mean, more specifically?
What Gojou said here is 愛ほど歪んだ呪いはない which literally translated to "there's no curse more distorted than love". Twisted or distorted here is 歪んだ (yuganda), the nuance is generally the same as the english, but like in tea ceremony culture, it has nuance to the beauty of slightly deformed forms compared to symmetrical orthodox form.
i mean, if you’d like, he can get super flustered about it and try to pretend he doesn’t, or he can have a huge guilt complex about his desires seemingly being at odds with his own ideal version of himself and how much he loves his partner, but at the end of the day, he’s still got one hand over his mouth to muffle his own whining as he thinks about having them in tears and begging for him to stop. true about all characters who are pure of heart, they told me so themselves
