Something that I thought about after replaying KH3 was the inconsistency of the whole broken keyblade thing. When Riku and Mickey broke their keyblades, they were forged new ones. When Axel got his keyblade broken by Xemnas, he was no longer a guardian of light (in Xemnas' words) but was later shown using it in Scala ad Caelum. This also got me thinking about the keyblade graveyard. We've seen before that when a person wielding the keyblade gets defeated, the key just dematerializes, but the keyblade graveyard contains "lifeless keys." Maybe I'm missing something so can someone clarify?

Yeah I found that weird too. Why did Riku's break and stay broken while Axel's just re-materialized later? The only explanation I could think of was that maybe Xemnas didn't actually break Axel's, maybe he was able to just banish it for a short time or something. 

In regards to the lifeless keys, I think that when a keyblade wielder legitimately dies, their keyblade is abandoned but never fades away, which would explain why the keyblade graveyard is full of forgotten keyblades. Alternatively, it could be that because their souls remained in the keyblade graveyard, the keyblades stayed there to be close to their masters.

12 minutes ago, Allwil13 said:

In regards to the lifeless keys, I think that when a keyblade wielder legitimately dies, their keyblade is abandoned but never fades away, which would explain why the keyblade graveyard is full of forgotten keyblades. Alternatively, it could be that because their souls remained in the keyblade graveyard, the keyblades stayed there to be close to their masters.

Do you think that a non-wielding person could pick up that key to use it then?

4 minutes ago, Mkucherina said:

Do you think that a non-wielding person could pick up that key to use it then?

I suppose it's possible, but I doubt it. I feel like if a non-wielder were to pick it up it would dematerialize and return to where it was before. Especially if my theory about them remaining loyal to their masters even after death is true.

Or maybe it would be like the sword in the stone and they just can't lift it.

I believe that those keyblades could be wielded by another user given that their heart is stronger than the current wielder dead or alive, plus Master Eraqus's keyblade was taken by Aqua and she was able to call it whenever she wanted. The situation might be different surrounding some keyblades like Terranort not being able to call Terra's keyblade because his soul was strong enough to continue holding the keyblade.

11 minutes ago, Robaki said:

I believe that those keyblades could be wielded by another user given that their heart is stronger than the current wielder dead or alive, plus Master Eraqus's keyblade was taken by Aqua and she was able to call it whenever she wanted. The situation might be different surrounding some keyblades like Terranort not being able to call Terra's keyblade because his soul was strong enough to continue holding the keyblade.

By another keyblade wielder, maybe. I mean, during the KHII secret ending Terra, Aqua and Ventus were all able to pick up the three keyblades in the keyblade graveyard. But I don't think someone whose heart is too weak to wield a keyblade would be able to wield one.

When it comes to Riku, personally I think they just wanted to give Riku a new Keyblade for whatever reason. As for Axel's Keyblade. You think maybe during the time Sora left, Axel ran back to Yen Sid and begged him to reforge his Keyblade? He did say some plot points needed ironing out. Maybe the dlc will explain the mystery of Axel's Keyblade. Unless it's just a error and they forgot his Keyblade broke when he resummoned it. Hey if Riku can pull Kairi's Keyblade out of nowhere, then surely Axel can do the same right?

11 minutes ago, SweetYetSalty said:

When it comes to Riku, personally I think they just wanted to give Riku a new Keyblade for whatever reason. As for Axel's Keyblade. You think maybe during the time Sora left, Axel ran back to Yen Sid and begged him to reforge his Keyblade? He did say some plot points needed ironing out. Maybe the dlc will explain the mystery of Axel's Keyblade. Unless it's just a error and they forgot his Keyblade broke when he resummoned it. Hey if Riku can pull Kairi's Keyblade out of nowhere, then surely Axel can do the same right?

LOL I completely forgot about Kairi's keyblade. It's funny that KH1 centered around the fact that Sora was the chosen one, but in KH2 Kairi was just randomly handed one.

8 hours ago, Allwil13 said:

Yeah I found that weird too. Why did Riku's break and stay broken while Axel's just re-materialized later? The only explanation I could think of was that maybe Xemnas didn't actually break Axel's, maybe he was able to just banish it for a short time or something. 

im with you on that one, i meant it was never actually shown breaking only vanishing 

Axels keyblade probably just got sent back to wherever keyblades go when not in use and he couldn’t summon it back becuase the event had caused him to grow unsure of his own ability which made his heart too weak to wield 

What I dislike are the implications it makes in terms of Mickey's keyblade now that Keyblades can magically break after all these installments in the series. It's clearly established Kingdom Key D is the safest way to travel to the RoD, if he can still use it to travel there after getting his keyblade broken by merging parts of it with another keyblade, why doesn't he break all the parts of it and give it to everyone? 

 

Wouldn't it make sense that everyone has the power to travel to the RoD safely? Why keep that power to himself instead of giving it to Riku at the very least?

 

What's stopping them from destroying all the keyblades in the graveyard and forging their own broken powerful keyblade

3 hours ago, Techsoly said:

What I dislike are the implications it makes in terms of Mickey's keyblade now that Keyblades can magically break after all these installments in the series. It's clearly established Kingdom Key D is the safest way to travel to the RoD, if he can still use it to travel there after getting his keyblade broken by merging parts of it with another keyblade, why doesn't he break all the parts of it and give it to everyone? 

 

Wouldn't it make sense that everyone has the power to travel to the RoD safely? Why keep that power to himself instead of giving it to Riku at the very least?

 

What's stopping them from destroying all the keyblades in the graveyard and forging their own broken powerful keyblade

whats to say that the power would transfer if they did that

Also the keyblade he has now isn't knew one when keyblades are powered up they change design and looks

On 5/3/2019 at 4:58 AM, Mkucherina said:

LOL I completely forgot about Kairi's keyblade. It's funny that KH1 centered around the fact that Sora was the chosen one, but in KH2 Kairi was just randomly handed one.

The whole thing about Sora being the Chosen One was retconned certainly by Birth by Sleep, and well broken by Dream Drop Distance when Lea of all people gained a keyblade.

The Way to the Dawn breaking might have something to do with Riku's character development, as it represents his atonement after his temptation and fall in Kingdom Hearts 1. By coming to terms with the darkness in him, particularly by giving Ansem yet another beat down, Riku proves worthy of the Mark of Mastery. He's outgrown it so when it breaks, he doesn't need it anymore and passes it on to his replica who has his own arc that he uses the Way to the Dawn to complete.

3 hours ago, jbmasta said:

The Way to the Dawn breaking might have something to do with Riku's character development, as it represents his atonement after his temptation and fall in Kingdom Hearts 1. By coming to terms with the darkness in him, particularly by giving Ansem yet another beat down, Riku proves worthy of the Mark of Mastery. He's outgrown it so when it breaks, he doesn't need it anymore and passes it on to his replica who has his own arc that he uses the Way to the Dawn to complete.

This is an answer that very much makes sense. I never thought about it that way.