#khsp

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Friendly reminder that Donald and Goofy teasing Sora about a certain crush is completely absent from kh3, distinctly in places where it would have been the perfect opportunity to do so, yet they do tease him about Riku...

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I cannot emphasize enough that Riku loving Sora in a VERY heavily implied romantic way and getting his strength from that love, and Riku’s sacrifice literally being portrayed as an “Act of True Love” with the power of revival is very much canon and explicit in kh3.  This should have been absolutely explosive news, but because of some pretty questionable translation choices in this one very particular area, this really hasn’t gotten through to people.

I’m getting really tired of seeing certain people act like pointing out that the original wording is far more explicit about this aspect is somehow “toxic” and “disrespectful” when in reality, not only is knowing this information important for understanding Riku as a character, understanding his motivations, and even the story of kh3 itself (because believe me, there’s far more to his sacrifice than people realize at the moment, to the point where kh3 might literally hinge on it.)...not only is it important for all that, it’s important because we explicitly, canonically have a main male character of a major video game franchise owned by fucking DISNEY, whose love for another main male character is being textually portrayed as True Love on the level of classic romantic fairy tales (and tbh, far more well developed than any other singular Disney portrayal of “True Love”).  I don’t know about you but I think that is pretty damn important to know.

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Hey i saw you tag a gifset of riku reaching out to the moon as serenity and endymion and was wondering if you could elaborate on the comparison between sora and riku and serenity and endymion?

Oh, it’s actually something a friend brought my attention to and it’ll be worth keeping an eye out for in the future.  At the moment most of the connections are tenuous (except one major one) but put a pin in it for later.  For now this is just for fun, not a serious analysis or anything.  I know very little about Sailor Moon myself but just from reading some of the wiki I found some interesting things.

In this case, Riku=Endymion, prince of the Earth and “Moonlight Knight” and Sora=Serenity, princess of the Moon.  Endymion and Serenity fell in love despite their relationship being forbidden, and Endymion died protecting Serenity, who then fell into despair and committed suicide.  The two were reborn as Mamoru Chiba (aka “Tuxedo Mask”) and Usagi/Sailor Moon.  You might think of this as connecting with the idea of Sora as king/prince of Kingdom Hearts (the moon/sky) and Riku as a the x-blade knight, connected with Earth (perhaps a prince himself ;), reincarnated into the Sora and Riku we know and love.

In terms of possible references/inspiration that have already been in the series, remember this synthesis material from kh3 called the “Illusory Crystal” (which looks nothing like a crystal)?

The description says: “A miraculous crystal formed of unspeakable thoughts.”  And it just so happens to look exactly like Riku’s silver chess piece.   Well get a load of this:

The Silver Crystal, or in Japanese, the Maboroshi no Ginzuishou (幻の銀水晶; often translated as Illusionary Silver Crystal), was an object of great power in the Sailor Moon storyline. This crystal originally belonged to Queen Serenity, who ruled the Solar System from the Moon Kingdom during the era of the Silver Millennium. By the power of the Silver Crystal, the people of the Moon were able to enjoy long, peaceful lives. The Moon Kingdom watched over the planet Earth and the Solar System in this time of peace.

Definitely seems like a reference to me- the Illusory Crystal, the Illusionary Silver Crystal.  Also, the Silver Crystal is often depicted as a Lotus- a symbol now shared between Sora and Riku.

Another possible source of inspiration:

In the anime, the Silver Crystal was split into seven Rainbow Crystals in order to seal away the Seven Great Youma, who were later reborn on Earth as humans. After the Rainbow Crystals had been collected together, a tear shed by Sailor Moon called to them, and they combined with her tear to form the Silver Crystal.

An object of power split into 7, like the 7 shards of pure light from the x-blade which went to the 7 princesses of heart, who, gathered together create the keyblade of heart.  There’s also the fact that Mamoru and Sailor Moon together through their love find that they are able to create a weapon made of their “combined power”, the “Legendary Spiral Heart Moon Rod” (the creation of which leads to the awakening of memories of their past life)

Funnily enough the Heart Moon Rod is also topped with a crown over a heart, just like the Combined Keyblade ;) 

One last thing: There is also a constellation in KH3 you can find called “Endymion” (Though this is probably mostly a reference to the Endymion ship from “Einhander”, since the same people who made that game helped create the gummi ship sections.  Still, it’s a nice coincidence, and both Sailor Moon and Einhander take inspiration from the Greek myth of Endymion and Selene, the moon goddess)

I’m sure people more familiar with Sailor Moon would be able to find a lot more connections and references.

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"I believe that KH3 is truly completed when two thoughts- whatever you feel from playing the game, and my thoughts that I've secretly placed in the game match up together." -Tetsuya Nomura, Message from the Director

He’s telling you to use your brains and think hard and not take things at face value. 

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In addition to the possible connections to Sora/Riku, there are also a lot of visual similarities between the Ultima Weapon/Ultimate Form and the aesthetics of Scala ad Caelum...

Circular designs:

The swords use very similar shapes as what is used in the Scala writing design:

Source

The soft rainbow pastel colors:

Transmutation circles:

And the red/white aesthetic:

So what does this all add up to?  I’m not sure yet, but I think Sora and Riku might have a deeper connection to Scala ad Caelum than we’ve been shown so far.  I don’t think we’ve seen the last of that place.

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ah! riku as the light in darkness was there all along. dawn is just a point of light in the darkness!! road to dawn! (sorry if you’ve said this before n-n;;)

No, that’s a good point! It might be a clever double meaning that Way to Dawn broke in kh3 to show that he has finally reached dawn- “the Break of Dawn”  And the concept of Riku as someone filled with light has been there since KH1, so much so that they show Sora blinded by it in the kh1 opening.  Also, many people forget this, but Nomura has stated in Ultimania that the flash of light you see before Sora gets the keyblade was the light of Riku’s heart:

“There is a scene in Destiny islands where  Riku is being swallowed by darkness, a light appears, and Sora first  obtains the keyblade. With the setting I created, the darkness that  surrounds them is Riku’s heart’s darkness. At that moment, Sora enters  the darkness, and the light he sees inside is Riku’s heart’s light.  Sora, who was squirming in the darkness to save Riku, touched the light  and temporarily obtained the Keyblade from Riku”.- x

Also to add to what @owlforkh pointed out on the analysis, Terra also saw the light in Riku after he was guided there by the light:

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Thank you official Kingdom Hearts Twitter, for spoiling the biggest red herring in kh3, and on Valentine’s Day no less. x

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Ok, let’s try this again, shall we?

An acquaintance of sorts pointed out the origin of the name Scala ad Caelum as being “Jacob’s Ladder” and possible connections to Sora and Riku, spurring my interest to look into it more.

Scala ad Caelum means “Ladder to Heaven” (stairway and sky being interchangeable with ladder and heaven).  This is a reference to the tale of “Jacob’s Ladder” in the Book of Genesis, and there’s certainly good reason they gave Scala ad Caelum its name.

Genesis 28:10 : And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon the place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the LORD stood beside him, and said: ‘I am the LORD, the God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee whithersoever thou goest, and will bring thee back into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.’ And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said: ‘Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.’ And he was afraid, and said: ‘How full of awe is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

“It is the nexus from which all worlds spring.”

Just as in the Jacob’s dream (a dream, huh), “And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south.”.  Scala is the “seed” that gave birth to all other worlds, it’s the origin.  It’s also interesting that despite it being a “stairway to heaven”, it’s as if it hides a portal to hell literally right beneath it.  Daybreak town flipped upside down and drowned in water, or in the symbolic language of Kingdom Hearts, drowned in darkness.  Scala ad Caelum is almost a representation of Yin and Yang in itself, not just the idea of dark and light, but that death gives way to new life.

Back on the topic of Jacob’s ladder, in many interpretations the ladder symbolizes the “bridge” between or reunion of Heaven and Earth:

"Jesus said in John 1:51 "And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man." This statement has been interpreted as associating or implicating Jesus with the mythical ladder, in that Christ bridges the gap between Heaven and Earth. Jesus presents himself as the reality to which the ladder points; as Jacob saw in a dream the reunion of Heaven and Earth, Jesus brought this reunion, metaphorically the ladder, into reality. "

This might seem completely off the wall (though let’s remember what series we are talking about) but if my suspicions about Yozora being some kind of fusion of Sora and Riku are correct, that would literally make him the union of heaven and earth...  And with the heavy association the Ultima weapon has with both Sora/Riku/Yozora and Scala ad Caelum, I’m left wondering just how ancient a being Yozora is...or the heart(s) he is made up of.  I’m almost certain we haven’t seen the last of Scala ad Caelum.