I am pretty much fully subscribed to the Broken Heart Theory and believe that if it’s real then it’s going to make KH4 one of the most emotionally charged entries of the KH franchise for me.
(For those who don’t know, Broken Heart Theory is the theory that Sora’s heart is physically broken. Likely having happened when everyone died in the final battle. The cause being years of happy masking, insecurities about himself and his worth, and, well, trauma, catching up to him and having consequences. The kind of consequences speculated to be one or all of these: A poorer connection to the keyblade powers, lost memories, and an ever growing darkness within being too much to repress now. And also probably high functioning depression metaphor.)
I mostly like it because of the potential for a strong character driven psychological narrative, very emotional and raw, but also potential to be a very powerful message about healing and coming to terms with negative emotions. It’s a very natural step of progression for Sora’s character. And I really like the imagery of a KH heart being literally cracked. (I’m sick I know)
I do not think KH4 is gonna be nearly as much darker as I’ve seen some think it will be, rather I think the most darkness tone wise we’re gonna get is the theme of death and afterlife, and potential for major characters narratives to be much more psychological than before. I’m sorry but just because it’s taking place in an unreality that looks like it functions just like our reality, said setting is much greyer, and there’s more final fantasy influence this time, doesn’t make it dark in tone.
Not sure how I feel about the idea that Sora lost his memories after entering Quadratum. Because first of all we’ve done that plot beat before. Second I personally don’t think you NEED to have Sora lose memories for the broken heart theory to work. I think him having moments failing to use his powers properly because of crippling loneliness, and unable to come to terms in any healthy way that he gave up his entire life and existence, is enough to convey a broken heart situation. (Again high functioning depression) At most I can see it being that he forgot his most traumatic memories as a subconscious attempt to spare himself the pain, but that’s it. But even if it is the case that he just forgot a lot of things, it wouldn’t ruin it.
But may I propose an idea that could relate to the broken heart theory?
The idea that the broken heart is the cause of external darkness entering the Quadratum. And Xehanort stated that the darkness of being alone is a power even greater.
And who’s alone without a hope of seeing his loved ones again? Sora
(I mean he’s physically not alone. He has Strelitzia. But these two are strangers. And we don’t know how she’s gonna be characterized in this game. Cannot wait for these two characters to have a dynamic though. I pray she’s not just exposition.)
So it REALLY DEPENDS on what info we get on the dark forces that entered in the Quadratum, specifically WHEN these attacks started showing up. As of, we don’t know, and we don’t know who or what caused it aside from “when we entered this world we carried our old worlds concepts with us”, which doesn’t necessarily translate to “the dark people started spawning darkness attacks”. What do they gain from that? And I doubt characters like Xehanort and Luxord have been in Quadratum that much longer than Sora has aside from, say, a few days apart at most.
But I can see the initial blame being put on Xehanort because, duh, the villain from the last saga. But I can see it being a twist that it really wasn’t his doing. Doubt he’s redeemed enough to switch sides, but maybe just being a neutral party.
But, angsty plot twist, what if this specific dark matter is Sora’s?
Not intentionally or even consciously causing it. Obviously. But because broken heart, and he’s going through a lot of mental pain he’s trying not to deal with. I can see that sort of reveal being devastating. That this whole time, the person making things worse for everyone, and the villain you’ve fought this whole game, was Sora himself. And neither you nor him knew it.
Again, as I said in a previous post, I can see it being a climax of the plot line of Sora being succumbed to that darkness. Unable to fight anymore from being so lost.
But I think while it could for sure be a real intriguing boss fight (playing as someone else of course), I think in the end Sora will get rescued and will be given a positive shift in this character arc where he can finally accept that he needs and wants to take care of himself and learn to be a friend to himself. Which in turn helps him mend his own heart (at least enough so it’s less cracked than before), and regain his powers because his source is redefined. Maybe it’s not even the end of the character arc, I can see it being a “Will Sora find his smile again? Who knows? But he’s going to try and save himself” end. At least for KH4.
One of my personal ideas was a dream vision during or after the fight of Sora reliving the moment in KH1 when his younger self committed sudoku with the keyblade. But this time he’s devastated to see the third person perspective of it. And he takes the moment to either stop the act, or after the act is done he catches his younger self falling into the darkness. And he embraces his younger self tightly, and expresses how much he loves him. (Or rather himself) And apologizes for not treating him well. He’s important too. And he deserves to live a happy fulfilling existence just as much as his friends do.
“You don’t die for your friends. You live for them. Because that future wouldn’t be as happy without you in it.” (Quote from Fairy Tail)
I dont even see his heart being fully fixed to its original state by the end of the game. There could still be cracks. Maybe some other character has a piece of it in them for whatever reason. He’s still traumatized, that doesn’t just go away. But the step forward to trying to heal is enough to ensure he can live with a few cracks.
Now that the KH4 trailer had driven me to a KH obsession and I’m so entranced by this potential storyline and this potential theory, do you want me to make a pre-write fanfic of how I envision this storyline? Cause I can do that. I’ll probably not touch on the Disney worlds or the heavy lore that can easily be retconned when the canon game comes out tho.
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