"We only need his heart to form the key. We do not need his soul."
I'm still building my understanding of what darkness really is in the world of Kingdom Hearts. I've talked about its fundamental properties, so the next step is understanding its role in hearts.
Light is digital storage. Its power suffuses the wielder's image of reality with positive emotions and records it in a still frame. The continuity between the records comprises memory, identity, and every heart's chosen form.
If light is a "save" function, darkness is a "delete" function. It erodes stored memories and suffuses them with negative emotions, attempting to make them irretrievable.
In the heart, this is the magical essence of denial. Darkness feeds on what the heart throws away and is born from the desire to run from increasingly desperate feelings.
This function is necessary to live as a conscious person. As living things grow, our vulnerable minds take in all that the world and human beings do and feel for each other. Facing these frightening circumstances, children invariably feel fear, pain, and stress that threaten the integrity of their precious memories.
Darkness appears in the heart in order to protect the story the child holds dear. Xehanort's kidnapping of a young Kairi was buried incredibly deep for this reason. Riku opening the door to darkness on Destiny Islands follows the same pattern, just wielded or of proportion.
Kairi threw away a bunch of scary Heartless memories and Xehanort ramblings in order to keep her spirit. But Riku threw away his home to spare his feelings of inferiority. To throw away the source of one's fear can let you once again feel fearless, and so it goes that the power of darkness stokes grandiose confidence in its abusers, but healing separation in children who just need time to grow into their experiences.
In the end, though, being separated too long from an essential part of your own narrative can only lead to tragedy. Yet this is the promise of darkness, and the curse both borne and inflicted by Xemnas. To abandon all connection to your memories until the loss becomes your identity.
That's what Xemnas meant to do to Lea, and what he succeeded in doing to Saix. Axel struggled with his feelings, but he ultimately accepted them. Saix could not overcome his jealousy and gave his heart to darkness rather than admit the truth, almost to the point of losing his soul. His Berserk fighting reflects that, making it genuinely impossible to communicate with Saix when his emotions are finally released.
This is probably also the mechanism Xemnas used to modify Xion and the source of his constant threar of turning Nobodies into Dusks. What the heart uses to protect its core stories, Xemnas uses to take those stories from the disobedient.
Thus, nothingness is the magical expression of alienation. It begins in one's heart and spreads because the user of nothingness has nothing to offer others except their wound. A master of narcissistic abuse like Xemnas lives in that paradox: the pain of emptiness and loneliness that comes from being unable to connect with oneself can only be soothed by inflicting it on others. Self-pity fuels external cruelty, resolving nothing.
I’m honestly surprised the black coat isn’t limited to the Master of Masters (and maybe Luxu/Xigbar) in KH4. The girl in the black coat at the start of the trailer, and the Hugin/Munin looking ass black coat in the trailer completely blindsided me. Despite being the new main antagonist, he’s hardly visually distinct. I suspect there is a reason for this choice. Maybe MoM’s identity reveal will happen via a character revealing they were the MoM the whole time, not that the MoM reveals who he is, if this makes sense.
After reading this post the other day, I got to thinking about Sora. What exactly does Sora think he doesn’t deserve?
Then it hit me tonight. In my view he doesn’t think he deserves to be his own person. This is in stark contrast to what he’d say to others. Yet when you look at his actions, as he thoughtlessly throws himself away, it becomes clear.
Gives his whole meeting with Roxas a whole another flavor, doesn’t it?
Hey everyone! I finally rubbed my two brain cells together and managed to make a video essay. It’s an in-depth queer analysis of the KH4 trailer, complete with speculation about the future of the series and an exploration of the Sleeping Beauty parallel contained within it. It’ll be coming out on June 13th at 7PM ET. I hope you give it a watch!
Watch on my new youtube channel when it goes live: https://www.youtube.com/@gabbygirlhorse
Thumbnail art was done by the amazing CanaryWitch!
https://canarywitch.carrd.co/
A Super Brief...Briefing...on my theory on the 7 and 13 motif in the Kingdom Hearts Series, just jotting down thoughts before I have to go cook:
Seven is the lucky number in western culture. Like on most slot machines, it's three sevens for a jackpot, etc.
Thirteen is the unlucky, 'evil' number. Think Friday the 13th being bad luck. There are other things but my mind is not bringing them up.
Almost consistently, the combination of the numbers are of 'good' being seven and 'bad' being thirteen. Seven lights and thirteen darknesses. Organization XIII.
Anomalies off the top of my head: the seven deadly sins being the fortellers, Luxu, and MoM.
That's all for now, anyone can say something, or else I'll add something later/maybe clean this up and make a fresh post.
Among the many characters from the Age of Fairytales, there is one character more mysterious than any other. They appear in Data Daybreak Town as a limp body in Luxu's arms, dressed in a white robe. Luxu briefly talks with a certain darkness, who asks who the person is. Luxu responds, "the True Dandelion" before sending the person to the future in an ark.
Can we figure out the identity of this mysterious figure?
2.
The Dandelions are a secret group of young Keyblade wielders who were selected by Ava to be secreted away in Data Daybreak Town to escape the Keyblade War. The instruction came from the Master of Masters, with the explicit claim being that the group was a precautionary measure intended to safeguard the light.
In truth, darkness pursued the Dandelions into the data worlds, and most of them either didn't reach the present or fell to darkness. So it would seem the group failed-- except Luxu, who knows the plan better than anyone, calls the white figure "the true Dandelion" in the singular. It's as if he knows the true purpose of the Dandelions was to fail in their mission, with only a single figure carrying light into the future.
3.
The true Dandelion was sent to the future using an ark. These time travel devices work under very specific rules. In order to travel through time, one must meet the following conditions:
1. The traveler must lose their physical form and travel as a heart. This is because time travel is faster than light, stripping all matter away.
2. There must be a vessel or medium for you to incarnate into.
3. There must be memories of you at the other end.
As an example, Maleficent resurrects in KH2 using her cape as a medium. The Fairy Godmothers were talking about her when it happened.
4.
The ones who were there at the True Dandelion's sendoff were Luxu and an unspecified sentient darkness. It is presently unconfirmed which darkness this is, but I suspect that it is the same one which trapped Maleficent in a data world using time travel, given its exposure to the mechanisms. I've assigned this darkness the name No Heart, as it will go on to become the other half of Master Xehanort.
Luxu has existed in every generation, so he doesn't narrow the scope of the question at all. Let's go with No Heart. In order to find the True Dandelion, we need to find a heart of light that only appeared at a location and time when No Heart was present.
Thankfully, due to No Heart's history, this should be possible.
5.
No Heart's chronology is as follows:
1. Stripped from his body by the Master of Masters, heart stored in No Name.
2. Encounters Luxu, the True Dandelion, and Maleficent in Data Worlds as darkness
3. Joins with Young Xehanort, who grows into Master Xehanort. Unable to control Xehanort due to his powerful heart.
4. As Master Xehanort, joins with Terra to become Terra-Xehanort.
5. After Terra's heart and Master Xehanort's memories are removed, No Name asserts his identity and renames himself Ansem.
6. After killing his fellow apprentices and himself, Ansem leaves his body behind and begins to time travel as a heart using his accumulated knowledge.
7. Ansem goes to meet child Xehanort and opens a corridor of darkness for him. After this he remains on Destiny Islands until the events of KH1
8. When Riku is a child, Ansem talks to him and eventually convinces him to open the door to darkness. Then he takes over Riku's body before being destroyed by the light of Kingdom Hearts.
When Ansem traveled through time, he went to the Destiny Islands. Chronologically, he first visited Xehanort, opening a corridor of darkness to allow his past self to leave the islands. At the time, according to Young Xehanort himself, "I still had no idea that I was talking to myself." This means No Heart was able to use Xehanort as a way point due to sharing his darkness, but not because Xehanort possessed memories of him.
However, he then waited on Destiny Islands for generations, until Riku appeared, at which point he began influencing Riku leading to the events of KH1. In short, Ansem could only have been a waypoint for someone from Destiny Islands between the time when Xehanort was a boy and KH1.
This all makes sense if Riku is the True Dandelion.
6.
Recall that Luxu was holding No Name when he and NH had their talk in Data Daybreak Town. This means the events of their meeting are part of the Book of Prophecies-- insurance to make sure things go according to plan.
To ensure that the light would be there to fight in the scapegoat Keyblade War, the Master and Luxu used No Heart, the darkness who would carry out that war, as the time travel waypoint for the True Dandelion. All to ensure that the child would only be able to appear at the exact right time. They then exposed the child to NH to plant the memory, closing the trap.
The false Dandelions were bait to draw darkness into data worlds or new hosts, while the true Dandelion was a trap made to permanently bind the 13th darkness to its adversary and ensure a Keyblade War.
7.
With this in mind, what does it mean that Riku is the True Dandelion?
It explains exactly why Luxu called the true Dandelion "hope". Riku isn't just any old light to send to the future-- he's the light half of the X-blade of People's Hearts, with the power to become one with others and grant keyblades of light to those connected to him. He's like a weapons locker for the light. Because of that, he's not only the perfect container for a sentient darkness, he can rapidly build the military strength of his allies.
Because Riku appeared to contain Ansem, the light survived long enough to be passed to Sora. That's the beauty of both Riku and Xehanort-- their power to become one with others lets them add new pieces to the board and steal them from the opponent. Sora is simply the manifestation of that power's full potential: a second queen, in chess, or a second king, in the version played at Scala ad Caelum.
Since Sora joined hearts with Riku when they were very young, Sora gained the ability to contain the light of others, resulting in him forming an empathic link to Ventus and later to connect the guardians of light. All that was only possible because Riku was there to share his potential.
Riku being the True Dandelion would also mean he was born in the age of fairy tales, but this isn't surprising. He is the complementary existence of Xehanort, who comes from Scala originally as well. The two may well have been brothers, separated at birth and sent to different times. If not in flesh, certainly in spirit. Riku, the prince of light, was given the crown. Xehanort, the prince of darkness, was given the X. Two brothers, two keys, one destiny.
The connection might also explain why Xehanort tried to Nort Sora, and why it was written that he would be able to. Sora may have inherited Xehanort's mark from Riku when they joined hearts, so he was always going to be a target. Although, it might be inappropriate to call it Xehanort's mark, since X is in engraved in his own name. More likely, it's the mark of the Master -- or rather, the darkness that hides in the unknown and unreal.
8.
Allow this indulgent Master a measure of blorbo time. So far, this report has focused on the True Dandelion and his purpose, but there are more fascinating resonances in the dark.
Who, exactly, is Roxas?
At Hollow Bastion, Sora removed his heart with the Keyblade of Heart. His body fell into the abyss, but came unchained from the memories that constituted "Sora" when Kairi and the newborn Naminé willed it so. "Sora" gained a new body, but the things that fell into the abyss were...
The key of light, given by Riku to someone.
The sleeping light from the past, Ventus.
A discarded body.
A Nobody filled with light took form in Twilight Town. What was left of the boy-king stripped of his identity? A few half-dreamed memories of Ventus's clothes to wear, something like his face. Riku's key. No one's body in particular.
Xemnas appeared to give a name to the contradiction. The mark of the dark prince for another discarded light. X.
"Roxas."
"That is right. The new you."
It makes the seemingly random scene of Roxas, Axel, and Xion taking the mark back from Xemnas by force in Re:Mind incredibly significant. That mark was the final piece that completed Roxas, the final connection that established who he was. It represents the darkness of the unknown at the heart of his identity, all the things he didn't realize he had forgotten. Loss that binds the heart to the void, both ancient and new.
Roxas and Xemnas are brothers because Riku and Xehanort were brothers. They're brothers because Ventus and Terra were brothers. They're brothers because they are the things that fell into the abyss when the true kings no longer needed them. The superior and the chosen one. Number one, number thirteen.
"Who are you?"
"I'm what's left. Or maybe I'm all there ever was."
"I meant your name."
"My name is of no importance.
"And what about you? Do you remember your true name?"
