There has been some deaths at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, but there are two particular characters that I believe we haven't seen the last of them at all. Two characters that apparently, nobody has thought about them; but I have my suspictions about their potential return in the future. These characters are:  
  
1º) RIKU REPLICA: Yes, I know we saw him disappear after freeing the Replica body of his dark self; but maybe we haven't seen "the whole picture". From the beginning, I suspected Riku Replica could be still alive somehow after his ultimate defeat in Castle Oblivion at the hands of the real Riku. Why?, well, because he had an ace under his sleeve. Remember, before his last battle against the real Riku, Riku Replica absorved Zexion into himself; which means he could have adquired Zexion's powers over Illusion. Not to mention he may also have absorved part of Zexion's personality in a try to be his own person again. Well, apparently I was wrong about this; but I was right about the Riku Replica's return. Well, the point is, Riku Replica removed his dark self from the Replica body to save Namine; and then, he dissolved himself into a pilar of Light (himself) and Darkness (his dark self). But when I saw this, I thought about someone else: Ventus. Remember, Ventus was separated into Light (himself) and Darkness (Vanitas); but I believe that when Riku Replica dissolved himself with his dark selve, we saw just the opposite thing. Riku Replica became a Light, dissolved himself with his dark self; and if we add the possibility of still having absorved part of Zexion's essence, this could lead Riku Replica to be "reborn" as an all-new all-different person, not just a Replica of someone else. That way, he could be reunited with his beloved Namine.   
  
2º) VANITAS: I knew from the very beginning that Vanitas would return. Remember, Light can't exist without Darkness, and it works the other way around. So, as long as Ventus (and probably Sora) is still alive, there's surely no way Vanitas can be completely destroyed. His role is that of a tragic villain, and his obsession to be reunited with Ventus (although with he taking control) was actually just a wish to be whole again. So, I think Vanitas WILL return once again, but I think there's a chance he can be "redeemed"; and for that, we would need ANOTHER character almost forgotten: Data-Sora. You see, Data-Sora lives inside a computer, he's aware of his nature as a digital replica but he doesn't care at all. I believe, at some point, Data-Sora will be able to exist in the real world somehow; as his journey made him evolve into something more that just a bunch of data. And to live in the real world, maybe he will gain a Replica body or something. Well, anyway, Data-Sora is a Light, so he could find his match on Vanitas, a Darkness with Sora's face. So, in order for Vanitas to be stopped once and for all, Data-Sora could merge with Vanitas; turning them into a whole new person, with a chance for a new life. It would be similar to when Xehanort transfered his heart into Terra, but with a better goel in mind.   
  
Well, what do you think?

6 hours ago, Ursalink said:

There has been some deaths at the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, but there are two particular characters that I believe we haven't seen the last of them at all. Two characters that apparently, nobody has thought about them; but I have my suspictions about their potential return in the future. These characters are:  
  
1º) RIKU REPLICA: Yes, I know we saw him disappear after freeing the Replica body of his dark self; but maybe we haven't seen "the whole picture". From the beginning, I suspected Riku Replica could be still alive somehow after his ultimate defeat in Castle Oblivion at the hands of the real Riku. Why?, well, because he had an ace under his sleeve. Remember, before his last battle against the real Riku, Riku Replica absorved Zexion into himself; which means he could have adquired Zexion's powers over Illusion. Not to mention he may also have absorved part of Zexion's personality in a try to be his own person again. Well, apparently I was wrong about this; but I was right about the Riku Replica's return. Well, the point is, Riku Replica removed his dark self from the Replica body to save Namine; and then, he dissolved himself into a pilar of Light (himself) and Darkness (his dark self). But when I saw this, I thought about someone else: Ventus. Remember, Ventus was separated into Light (himself) and Darkness (Vanitas); but I believe that when Riku Replica dissolved himself with his dark selve, we saw just the opposite thing. Riku Replica became a Light, dissolved himself with his dark self; and if we add the possibility of still having absorved part of Zexion's essence, this could lead Riku Replica to be "reborn" as an all-new all-different person, not just a Replica of someone else. That way, he could be reunited with his beloved Namine.   
  
2º) VANITAS: I knew from the very beginning that Vanitas would return. Remember, Light can't exist without Darkness, and it works the other way around. So, as long as Ventus (and probably Sora) is still alive, there's surely no way Vanitas can be completely destroyed. His role is that of a tragic villain, and his obsession to be reunited with Ventus (although with he taking control) was actually just a wish to be whole again. So, I think Vanitas WILL return once again, but I think there's a chance he can be "redeemed"; and for that, we would need ANOTHER character almost forgotten: Data-Sora. You see, Data-Sora lives inside a computer, he's aware of his nature as a digital replica but he doesn't care at all. I believe, at some point, Data-Sora will be able to exist in the real world somehow; as his journey made him evolve into something more that just a bunch of data. And to live in the real world, maybe he will gain a Replica body or something. Well, anyway, Data-Sora is a Light, so he could find his match on Vanitas, a Darkness with Sora's face. So, in order for Vanitas to be stopped once and for all, Data-Sora could merge with Vanitas; turning them into a whole new person, with a chance for a new life. It would be similar to when Xehanort transfered his heart into Terra, but with a better goel in mind.   
  
Well, what do you think?

I agree completely. 100%. The thing about these two is that in many ways they are special form of Nobodies. Heck, even in 358/2 Days one of Vexen's journal entries points out that the replicas could be classified as a special form of nobody. The Riku Replica was brought to life as a result of data that Vexen extracted from Riku. As a result, when he died that data just returned to Riku, and so did Repliku. I imagine that we'll see him again and at some point he'll be able to obtain a vessel. I do love your theory that he absorbed some of Zexion's essence.

As for Vanitas, like you said Light can't exist without Darkness, so there's no way for Vanitas to completely destroy Ventus and vice versa. I think that Vanitas lives on inside Ventus and he'll eventually resurface. I also love your theory that he'll merge with Data-Sora. I feel like Data- Sora will become relevant again at some point, either to bring back Sora or, like you said, to make Vanitas a whole being of both light and darkness.

vanitas isnt a tragic villain he made it clear that the awful things he does was all his own choice and not to do with being made from darkness

7 hours ago, Allwil13 said:

I agree completely. 100%. The thing about these two is that in many ways they are special form of Nobodies. Heck, even in 358/2 Days one of Vexen's journal entries points out that the replicas could be classified as a special form of nobody. The Riku Replica was brought to life as a result of data that Vexen extracted from Riku. As a result, when he died that data just returned to Riku, and so did Repliku. I imagine that we'll see him again and at some point he'll be able to obtain a vessel. I do love your theory that he absorbed some of Zexion's essence.

As for Vanitas, like you said Light can't exist without Darkness, so there's no way for Vanitas to completely destroy Ventus and vice versa. I think that Vanitas lives on inside Ventus and he'll eventually resurface. I also love your theory that he'll merge with Data-Sora. I feel like Data- Sora will become relevant again at some point, either to bring back Sora or, like you said, to make Vanitas a whole being of both light and darkness.

This would be a great solution for them!

11 hours ago, ocean's rage said:

vanitas isnt a tragic villain he made it clear that the awful things he does was all his own choice and not to do with being made from darkness

Data revealed on Reports and interviews with Nomura confirm that Vanitas turned into what he is because of the lack of Light in his heart and the pain of have been separated from Ventus (his other half). 

9 hours ago, Ursalink said:

Data revealed on Reports and interviews with Nomura confirm that Vanitas turned into what he is because of the lack of Light in his heart and the pain of have been separated from Ventus (his other half). 

you sure? i cant find these things anywhere and everything i read says this all comes from the novel, the only normua stuff i can find are about his face name and voice

i assume you have a link to the interview

To be completely honest, I do not want to see much of the Riku Replica(s) again. I felt that KH3 gave them a perfect sendoff and was a great way to end his/their story. I do look forward to Vanitas re-appearing. I'm hoping that he becomes a sort of anti-hero throughout the later games. I imagine he'll just randomly re-appear to make fun Ven or Sora and hint at something bigger that's going on in the story without actually revealing anything. He might even pop in to help for a quick minute before betraying everyone again. Those are always my favorite kind of characters, ones that just march to the beat of their drum lol.

Riku Replica feels done. He had a noble sacrifice and his final worlds gave the impression that he doesn't want to come back. I really like Riku Replica, but there's not much left for him to do in the series. I wouldn't mind references to him every now and again, but not much you can do with him going forward beyond support backup.

Vanitas I could see return, but in a much smaller role, maybe even optional boss context. Storyline wise Vanitas also feels done, unless they do something with Ventus's story that requires him. That I could see happening. With Vanitas it's not really about "how" he'll comeback it's more of a "will" he comeback.

On 4/23/2019 at 4:48 AM, SweetYetSalty said:

Riku Replica feels done. He had a noble sacrifice and his final worlds gave the impression that he doesn't want to come back. I really like Riku Replica, but there's not much left for him to do in the series. I wouldn't mind references to him every now and again, but not much you can do with him going forward beyond support backup.

Vanitas I could see return, but in a much smaller role, maybe even optional boss context. Storyline wise Vanitas also feels done, unless they do something with Ventus's story that requires him. That I could see happening. With Vanitas it's not really about "how" he'll comeback it's more of a "will" he comeback.

Vanitas is tied up with the Xehanort saga as far as we know, so unless there's an aspect to Vanitas that links to the Union Cross story, I don't think we'll see him again.

One theory I do have is that even back in the Union Cross days Vanitas existed as a split personality within Ventus, a Jeykll and Hyde scenario. Ventus is actually scared of his Vanitas side, which is why he doesn't fight back against the Neo-Shadows that Xehanort has set against him in his Birth by Sleep backstory. It'd have been interesting if the story had gone along the lines of Star Trek's The Enemy Within, where Vanitas and Ventus need to be together to survive, just as the two Kirks represented a collection of character traits that needed the traits the other Kirk had to balance out.

9 hours ago, jbmasta said:

Vanitas is tied up with the Xehanort saga as far as we know, so unless there's an aspect to Vanitas that links to the Union Cross story, I don't think we'll see him again.

One theory I do have is that even back in the Union Cross days Vanitas existed as a split personality within Ventus, a Jeykll and Hyde scenario. Ventus is actually scared of his Vanitas side, which is why he doesn't fight back against the Neo-Shadows that Xehanort has set against him in his Birth by Sleep backstory. It'd have been interesting if the story had gone along the lines of Star Trek's The Enemy Within, where Vanitas and Ventus need to be together to survive, just as the two Kirks represented a collection of character traits that needed the traits the other Kirk had to balance out.

To be honest, the mysterious guy that appeared in front of Maleficent in UX after her defeat, I suspect it could be Vanitas somehow; especially when he said "he was Darkness". It would have more sense to be Luxu, I know, but I can't shake that feeling.