Heartless Ramblings: The girl born of nothing
The only true nobody
Hello again (yes I'm pretending we've met) I was reading some old stuff of mine at work since I was 1) bored and 2) I like to reread to see if I still agree with a younger more hateful me.
That's when I realized something, I've never talked about Namine before. Some comments here and there but I've never really put thought to word about how fascinating I find her existence.
Have you ever thought about how odd she is? No not her personality. She's a rather sweet soul in all regards. What's odd is that she exists.
And from what I've seen of newer fans on the hell sites that are Tumblr and Twitter I realize that few people truly grasp how unique she is.
So if you're curious (or bored) why not follow me down the Namine rabbit hole.
Some Basics
Of course, to explain Namine I have to go over some basics of what Nobodies even are. Yes, yes I'm sure you know how they work but humor me. Namine's oddities will stand out to you better with this contrast I promise you.
I especially need to go over this because some fans don't seem to know how souls work in Kingdom Hearts which is fair. What I'm going to talk about is something you see put down in Ansem Reports or even stuff Nomura says.
And I can fully understand someone hating the idea of needing Nomura's interviews to grasp a story. It is bad form and even I do not follow new ones. (though I will read them as I make this to make sure what I'm typing is still correct)
You see, a core aspect of what allows nobodies to exist is the soul itself.
This is actually first brought up in KH1 Final Mix. The game had many additions from the original KH1 but the one important to our topic here is the added Ansem Report.
Which is fascinating when you realize that Xehanort's heartless was writing reports 2 to 13 meaning he wrote this not long before he became a heartless or not long after the fact. But Xehanort is a headache for another day.
Let us now bring up the reports written by the true Ansem in KH2 which are where we get the most info of a nobody and even Namine.
Though, for now, let us focus on an average nobody:
These three entries (4, 6, & 7) more or less repeat the same key factor. Life in the Kingdom Hearts universe is made of three 'main elements'.
The Heart: the essence of your being
The Body: the vessel that holds that essence
The Soul: which gives life to that vessel
Death as it typically occurs is when the soul is severed from the body. In other words, the energy or spirit keeping your body running is gone.
Once that happens the soul goes wherever it does which seems to be the Underworld since Hades underworld literally has souls floating around in KH2. It's actually the only place we've seen a soul in KH so far.
The body, obviously, just dies and decomposes returning to it's base elements. Or in the case of Eraqus, one of the few real deaths we've seen on screen, you dissolve into light/dust. (to keep it PG)
Now before someone mentions the mind or memories, do keep in mind these are the three "main" elements of life. Things like memories, mind, and will are a by product of that life.
And they even impact a nobody.
"What makes us special"
As pointed out by Saix in KH2, the key difference in what makes a nobody is the strength of the heart they lost. The will of that heart to not fade away.
Yen Sid explains it bluntly in KH2 and I couldn't find anything contradicting that in later games/interviews.
You see not every person makes a nobody. Every nobody has a heartless but not every heartless has a nobody to match it.
What decides a nobodies birth is the heart's strength and the shape that nobody takes is indicative of the strength the heart possessed.
Most nobodies come out looking like Dusks while the most powerful look human.
And going by Saix's statement it's likely the divide between common nobody and humanoid is that human-like nobodies remember what feelings were like.
In other words a nobody is a being that's not technically dead because it's body and soul are still connected yet they have lost their hearts.
If that heart was strong and had the willpower to resist that living yet vacant body will turn into a nobody. It's shape, powers, and personality will be shaped by the memories it retains.
In every sense of the word it is what's left of a person. An imprint of ones heart if you will.
As pointed out in the KH3 (left) and DDD (right) glossary these facts are still a thing. Even in this era of KH these are the rules a normal nobody operates on.
Now before I move onto Namine there is another thing we should discuss, her "twin" Roxas.
"Special Nobodies"
And yes, what you're thinking is right, there are nobodies that are "special" in that they were born through the process that makes a nobody but they operate on different rules or they have unique properties to them due to the person that spawned them.
In the series three of these types exist. Technically Namine IS one of them however she's such an oddity that she stands out even among this trinity.
The other two of that trifecta is Xemnas and Roxas. Xemnas, like Xehanort in general, is a headache we wont tackle right now.
But a rundown of what makes Xemnas special is that he was a nobody born from Terra's body & soul but the heart he lost was compounded.
Terra, Eraqus, and Xehanort were vying for control of the body and to this very day we do not know how those three hearts impacted the split into Ansem and Xemnas. We only know that both know things they shouldn't and that Ansem retained his human mind.
But even then, Xemnas has a body, soul, and heart. A heartless and a nobody that we can track down.
Roxas is by far the "simplest" special nobody in this category but even then he's got a lot going on and I'm forced to bring him up because Roxas was born at the same moment Namine was.
The same event led to their birth even if what made them tick was ultimately different. So I beg you to keep with me a bit longer if you've followed me this far.
To explain Namine you need to know Roxas and what we know of Roxas is key to contrast Namine. For that let us look at their birth:
Boy literally gave birth to two beings here
If you've played the series you know that Sora, in this moment above, had three hearts inside him.
His own
Kairi's seeking shelter
Ven's slumbering
Kairi's heart was the one he was hoping to release but the special keyblade he used also plunged his own into darkness.
In that moment that Sora disappeared you see Kairi's heart leave his body and return to her own while Sora vanishes to become a heartless.
In Ven's case his heart remained in the body as it vanished. It was for this reason that Roxas was born with Ventus' face. A well known fact for any fan.
But what many don't know is that Roxas was composed of Sora's body+soul like a proper nobody should be. Something mentioned in the BBS Ultimania from around 2010 to 2011:
Source: https://www.khinsider.com/news/BBS-Ultimania-20-Mysteries-Solved-2546
And I'm sure this confuses you since you saw Sora regain his human form in KH1. And...well to be blunt with you we still do not know what Sora's "body" was from the endgame of KH1 up to the start of KH2.
For the entire time that Roxas existed he was made up of Sora's body and soul and Ven's damaged heart. Remember, a nobody is only alive because the body and soul are still connected.
If Roxas is Sora's body then he's also Sora's soul. This was the source of what made Roxas special. Ven gave him access to a second keyblade and a face.
As for Sora, we just know that Kairi "purified" his heartless. You see it on screen but if it helps there is this old interview as well that states it bluntly:
Source: https://www.khinsider.com/news/A-Look-Back-Director-s-Secret-Report-XIII-4883
Essentially Kairi did something unexplainable and as a result Sora regained human form with his body and soul now running around as Roxas. His existence was effectively split in two.
This was undone in KH2 when Roxas gave up and rejoined with Sora making him whole but what I want you to grasp by seeing this is a type of math equation.
Yes, I'm sure you think I derailed but this does apply to Namine. Just think of the things I've listed in simpler terms.
A nobody is born of a body + soul that's lost it's heart.
Kairi, as a princess of Heart, has no darkness and as a result she can't create a heartless.
Nobodies only come into existence if a heartless is made
Kairi kept her body+soul and regained her heart.
Roxas took Sora's body+soul and came into existence.
Sora gained a new, albeit temporary, form.
Do you see what's missing here? What is left for Namine? How does she exist?
That's right we're finally looping this back around baby
Now we're finally here, now I can finally show why Namine is an oddity among specials. Now I can show why she's fascinating to me to this very day.
She is, quite literally, born from nothing. Namine does not have Kairi's body and soul because they remained in the realm of light during KH1.
Throughout KH1 as Kairi sat around dazed that was her vessel (the body+soul) waiting for it's heart to return. It never became a nobody because it couldn't.
Nobodies need many prerequisites to exist but among them all they can only come to be if a heartless is made. Kairi can not make a heartless due to her lack of darkness.
In fact, when her heart was nearly stolen it immediately jumped into Sora for safety.
One final time this post delve into reports with me. Specifically the KH2 reports 9, 10, & 12.
Most of what we know of Namine's state of being comes entirely from these three reports and even then DiZ himself says it's a hypothesis. He has no way to concretely confirm it.
What he's listing here isnt' false by any means especially when Nomura stated himself that Namine is a "leftover" nobody.
She's the byproduct of a byproduct.
When Kairi's heart left Sora's body he was immediately undergoing the process of becoming a heartless which gave birth to Roxas.
In that moment of exchange Namine literally spawned into existence.
And going by the BBS Ultimania we know the body+soul of Sora went to Roxas yet Sora still acted as an intermediary for her to be born.
Namine only exists because Sora was an extra factor in the equation yet even then she gained nothing from him physically. Sure, her power over his memories is because of this but that's her ability not her physical form.
And even then some fans theorize that her blonde hair is due to Ven's presence in equation. There is no confirmation to it but we know that Namine was also born in Castle Oblivion where Ven was sleeping so it's possible.
Though, again, Roxas inherited Ven's heart. It may have influenced her but only that much since nobodies are always born in a world between light & dark.
Do you want to know something more tragic still? Namine didn't inherit Kairi's memories. She was Kairi's nobody but she wasn't granted anything from her.
After all, her existing at all is Sora's fault. It's unintentional.
Roxas lacking his true selves memories was due to Kairi saving Sora but Namine was just born without anything.
She was even designed pale because Nomura wanted her to seem frail and ephemeral. The poor girl is a nobody in the truest sense of the word.
She does not have her original selves body for form nor her soul for life. She has no memories to give her an identity and the only way she could feel like she belonged in anyone's heart was to write herself into Sora's memories.
Am I rambling now? YES! I want you to grasp this. Namine was literally born from nothingness itself!
She's still tied to Kairi's heart as seen in KH3 but for her brief time existing as her "nobody" she was nothing made real.
To this very day we do not know how that even happened- ok we know how it happened but not how its possible.
Conclusions
Sorry about that. It probably seems like I went rambly towards the end there but it is a topic that fascinates me. (plus I posted this at 3am)
Namine lacks everything that makes a nobody a nobody yet despite that the girl did form a heart and identity of her own and she's had one of the strongest lingering presences in the story after she vanished in KH2.
She summoned the Lingering Will to your aid in Kh3, she undid her damage and restored Sora's memories, and she even freed Kairi in KH2 as we see her visibly begin to vanish.
Hell, she even tried to help from beyond the grave with Coded which did ultimately help at the end Xehanort's saga. The data to make replicas was in part due to her and as any Roxas fan knows once he appeared in KH3 that finale began to shift. (while Sora was rewriting time anyway)
She's a wonderful mystery that yet lingers in the series and she manged to become a person in 3 despite literally having nothing to her name.
...welp rant over. Hopefully I gave you a greater appreciation for how unique her existence is. Remember this next time you replay CoM or Days.
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P.S. Someone usually mentions it when souls are brought up and before you comment it, no, the Lingering Will was not Terra's soul.
Terranort would've dropped dead if he lacked Terra's soul and Xehanort wasn't going to bother with his when his life was nearing it's natural end.
But if you'd argue it even then I shall remind you that this is in KH3: