The Other Side of Reality (SPOILERS FOR KH MoM)
In this post, I’m going to talk about a theory of mine that may not impact our understandings of the KH universe that much but one that I think is important to discuss. I’m not necessarily making hard claims about what is or isn’t happening (such as Kairi being a Chirithy or Xehanort being Riku’s dad), but trying to clarify the stuff happening in between. Warning again: Spoilers for KH MoM ahead!
As I said in a previous post, memories in Kingdom Hearts are almost like the existential glue of reality. They are what ties beings to reality and to their full selves. Nobodies require their memories (at least some of them) to be able to pursue re-completion. Memories can rescue someone from the brink of falling into the darkness (Sora, Aqua, Ventus and Terra). In the absence of memories, one could legitimately fade from existence (Xion being the notable example, and also Sora while he’s in Castle Oblivion).
This all ties into a theory I have about Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory’s basic premise and its connection to Sora’s fate. People have been speculating about what the actual nature of Sora’s disappearance is, especially since Chirithy provided critical details as to the costs Sora incurred at the end of KH3 and Re:Mind. Then we get Apprentice Xehanort (aka Terra-Xehanort) telling us about a “world that’s neither of light and darkness”. Ansem the Wise interprets this to mean a realm that is on the reverse of reality: unreality, or fiction.
Some believe that this is a meta-comment on Sora’s transportation to a possible proxy for the real world. However, Yozora and the Verum Rex-FF Versus XIII connection make this less likely to me. I found some interesting speculation on YouTube about the latter, namely that Quadratum could be the world of FF Versus XIII repurposed (since it became FFXV, Versus XIII never came to be, hence unreality). Then we have the original epilogue of KH3, where the Lost Masters (minus Ava) return. Where they come from is not known, but as Yen Sid remarks at the end of Melody of Memory, the ancient masters (presumably people in Union Cross, if not only the Masters) had the ability to travel to other realms beyond the universe of Kingdom Hearts.
But what does this add up to for Sora? I believe that Sora has not been erased (as Xion was) and that it is indeed possible for him to return. My theory consists of three connected premises:
Sora still “exists” within the ambit of Kingdom Hearts (the embodiment of all hearts, not the universe; I’m going to use KH as the abbreviation for the latter)
Kairi and Riku both use the power of waking the wrong way
Quadratum exists on flipside of Kingdom Hearts
I’m going to call this the Other Side of Reality theory for convenience (OSR). Without further ado, let’s get into it!
1. Sora exists accessibly
Before anything else, we need to establish conclusively that Sora actually exists in an accessible way (please note my previous post about access to hearts and memories).
In my previous post on memories, I attempted to show that memories are proof of someone’s existence. Xion is the best example, as she literally disappears from people’s consciousnesses despite the mark she left on many characters like Roxas, Riku and Axel. Sora also similarly vanishes as he progresses through Castle Oblivion, though this is more due to Naminé’s magic than the castle itself. In the strictest sense, Naminé is not eliminating but tangling and obscuring Sora’s memories (and she can only do this to Sora). Therefore, we can say that if someone remembers an individual, that person has and does exist materially and metaphysically.
Sora is clearly not forgotten given that his friends are searching desperately for him. This, all despite Chirithy and Young Xehanort’s warnings about how misusing the power of waking would cost him greatly. In the end, Sora is shown to disappear from the world, but as I theorize, not from existence. Hearts are also the fundamental necessity to exist, which themselves require memories to take form. Sora’s accessibility is demonstrated by the fact that Riku is able to travel to Quadratum through the Nameless Star’s heart-portal.
The notion of accessibility is important, because Kingdom Hearts is the bedrock of reality. Sora cannot be found or even known to exist if Kingdom Hearts does not encompass him in itself. Worlds and beings all arise from Kingdom Hearts, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make this claim. Anything in Kingdom Hearts’ sphere of influence (or rather all things that it creates) are accessible by beings within it, which includes those beings themselves. I believe that this is the premise of the power of waking, as one might say that the user “awakens” to the nature of reality through its use.
This brings me to my next point:
2. Kairi is using the power of waking in MoM, and Riku is too; but both are using it the wrong way
MoM takes place as Kairi traverses her memories of all the events of the Xehanort Saga. It is important to note that this is from her perspective, not a simple recap of everything that has happened in the Kingdom Hearts games to date. We’re explicitly told that this takes place over the year when the Guardians of Light are searching for Sora.
However, there are potentially some discrepancies here. Many of the events displayed in the cutscenes are not things that Kairi could have personally witnessed (even as a disembodied heart inside Sora). However, if we consider that Kairi’s Nobody, Naminé, is able to manipulate memories connected to Sora’s (a power no other character is known to have), this may make more sense. Because Naminé is her Nobody, I believe that the power of memories is tied to Kairi somehow (since Sora can’t do it), which isn’t outlandish considering she has a unique Nobody despite being a Princess of Heart. Kairi is then traveling the links of memories connected to her, even if they are not her own. Now, what does this sound a lot like? The power of waking.
The power of waking (PoW) is described by Yen Sid in KH3D as freeing a heart from sleep. However Young Xehanort goes further, describing it as the power to traverse hearts to find worlds, contrasted with traversing worlds to find hearts. Multiple characters, but particularly Young Xehanort, point out that the latter is a “misuse” of the PoW, which Sora does when he rescues his friends in KH3. This is because it is essentially the inverse of the normal PoW, as he rapidly traverses worlds in search of his friends’ hearts and apparently across time. It is stated by Chirithy that the inverted PoW transgresses the laws of nature by altering history.
Memory Master Xehanort (the apparition in the Final World Kairi encounters in MoM; MMX) says that Kairi’s journey took place across her own memories and her own heart. However, that doesn’t explain why she witnesses events that didn't happen in connection to her (ex. BBS and 358/2 Days). Sora also travels back in time and witnesses events from his friends’ hearts, which makes many important events in the final chapter of KH3 happen. Chirithy even states that this much closer to the true PoW, but still isn’t because he causes an event to happen that wouldn’t have happened otherwise (Kairi remaining whole). If we accept that Kairi traveled across memories and events that didn’t happen to her, like Sora did, it makes sense to suggest that she is also using the PoW improperly (albeit much more safely since she doesn’t alter any events).
This reveals important information about where Sora is metaphysically because Kairi embarked on her journey under the assumption that Sora’s heart could be found in her memories (and those of others). Chirithy mentions that Sora can only return from the other side of reality through the PoW which would ordinarily suggest that Quadratum is in the Realm of Sleep. However, let us remember that Kairi is using the PoW the wrong way, and was attempting to find Sora but failed to do so. MMX’s statement about where Sora is suggests that the version of the PoW Kairi was using was the right one but not in the right place.
This brings us to Riku, who travels to Quadratum to find Sora. Quadratum cannot be in the Realm of Sleep because it is implied by Ansem the Wise to be on the other side of reality, at the exclusion of the worlds of data, dreams and memories (as well as of darkness, nothingness and light). Therefore, Riku isn’t using the ordinary PoW to reach Quadratum. He seems to successfully arrive in Quadratum after using the PoW through the Nameless Star. Even though he’s using the heart-portal of the Nameless Star, he is also traveling across the boundary of reality and unreality to find Sora’s heart. He is deliberately using the PoW the inverted way to find Sora.
The million-dollar question is: where is that? My claim is essentially that Sora must return through his novel, “inverted” use of the PoW, which is why Kairi and Riku were using it the way they did.
3. Quadratum and the flipside of Kingdom Hearts
This may come across as the most bizarre part of my theory, but bear with me! I believe that Quadratum is located on another side of Kingdom Hearts, not unlike the allusions to Roxas being the other side of Sora’s heart in Re:CoM.
Despite the numerous attempts to summon and control Kingdom Hearts’ power, we never actually witness what it is. Not even in KH1, where Ansem SoD vainly calls to Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness. That door in the abyss of the End of the World is the Door to Darkness, a gateway to the Realm of Darkness. It seems that Kingdom Hearts shined its light from within, perhaps as the manifestation of the hearts lost in the depths.
But we are left without any clues as to what Kingdom Hearts might be, other than the collection of all hearts that exist. It manifests as a heart-shaped moon, though likely as a representation of the greater reality. It seems most accurate to say that Kingdom Hearts is the “heart” of existence, through which any of the realms may accessed. This is the reason it can be witnessed in the Realm of Light and Nothingness, and why Xehanort believes it can grant the ability to literally unmake and remake the universe.
Quadratum is anchored to Kingdom Hearts in a realm of its own, precisely because it can be accessed through the inverted PoW. That anchoring is clearly demonstrated by the fact that Sora still exists throughout the various realms as the chain of memories that bind him to his loved ones is intact (and that he can project his “voice” across the boundary to fight MMX for Kairi). Just as the Realm of Darkness, Nothingness, Memories, Data and Sleep all require special means to be entered (and conversely, this is true of re-entering the Realm of Light, as seen in KH2′s ending), Quadratum’s own realm can only be accessed by the inverted PoW.
Clearly this realm is special, not being accessed ordinarily by the PoW and Sora needing to disappear to go there. However, it’s not as if no one knew about it. Xehanort apparently was aware that it might exist, and Yen Sid’s comments about the ancient masters suggest that the Lost Masters could freely travel to it by special means. It even seems that the Lost Masters were sent into hiding as Luxu mentions in KH3 Secret Reports 12 and 13. In Secret Report 12, Luxu writes that the “The Lost Masters will awaken” (emphasis added).
This suggests the Lost Masters are dormant or otherwise sequestered, perhaps not totally free to traverse from their present positions to the Realm of Light or other realms for that matter. This is suggested by the fact that Luxu summons the Lost Masters, which indicates he has the power to beckon to beings across realms, like the Master of Masters (who appears in the alt-Shibuya in which Riku and Sora find themselves).
The Lost Masters’ unreachability by most characters in the main realms further points to a connection between Sora and the Lost Masters’ conditions. That said, I’m not necessarily suggesting that the Lost Masters’ used the inverted PoW themselves, though this is possible seeing as Ava “didn’t make it”. The Lost Page of the Book of Prophecies may have something to do with it, as Luxu states that he disclosed his own role to Ava, which prompted her to take action of her own. This could mean Ava is on the move elsewhere, or has perished in the conclusion of her own role. On a related note, the reappearance of the Lost Masters in the ending of KH3 is the second reason that Quadratum must be in a unique realm, as time flows differently between realms and none of the foretellers aged (from what we can tell). Similarly, Aqua didn’t age at all despite spending ten years in the Realm of Darkness.
If all the known realms are existentially anchored to Kingdom Hearts, the nature of Quadratum becomes more plausible.
Concluding thoughts
Only time will tell whether or not Quadratum is going to be the start of a more Square-Enix-leaning KH multiverse with more Final Fantasy characters. Although Nomura might have gone and dashed this idea by saying NEO TWEWY and KH3′s ending aren’t connected at all.
Personally, I have a head-canon where FF characters in KH are in fact from across the boundary and that their appearances and forms are changed in the process of coming to the KH universe.
This is a working theory, and there’s stuff I still need to learn/incorporate from KHUx Dark Road, so that’s all for now! Hope this theory interests some people!