I discovered something in Dream Drop Distance's opening!

[Double OKP 171]

So several months ago I started Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance. And I noticed in the opening that Sora and the others pop out of books. When I first watched this several years ago(on Youtube lol), I thought the appearance of these books seemed out of place. But now it reminds me of Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]. The medals in Union χ[Cross] are physical manifestations of power from the future created by Moogles through the Book of Prophecies. And if you've ever played Union χ[Cross] and purchased(with jewels not real money) a medal banner in the shop, a little cutscene of a Moogle appears with the Book of Prophecies. The pages of the Book fly out and one of them transforms into a medal, similar to how Sora and the others pop out of books(Sora pops out of a picture of himself which was on a page). So anyway I went to rewatch the opening of DDD and paused the video to observe the pages and there was a picture of Ven, Terra, and Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard from BBS on one side of the page and world story descriptions of Enchanted Dominion, Neverland, and something else, which was cut off from the screen, on the other side, but these describe the story of these worlds during BBS. This is the Neverland one:

Quote

Led by Peter Pan, Ventus, Terra, and Aqua get caught up in an adventure to steal the pirates treasures. But Peter Pan's good friend Tinker Bell is captured by Captain Hook.

I saw other world descriptions on the other papers but most were too small to read. 

The scattered pages assemble and return to a book. IT IS A BOOK OF PROPHECIES!!! The pages describe the story of the characters' journeys!!! In Union χ[Cross], Ephemer describes the Book of Prophecies as a sort of pop-up book and guess what? The book in the DDD opening opens as a pop-up of Destiny Islands!!! Also, it makes complete sense that there are pictures; from the glimpses seen of the Book in Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, there are pictures of a Darkside, the Emblem Heartless symbol, the Kingdom Key, a Shadow, and more which are all from the future! 

I thought this was a cool discovery and just wanted to share it! 

Edited January 9, 2021 by Double OKP

[WakelessDream 2,278]

I really thought the whole book motif with Mickey in that opening was just meant to mirror Fantasia’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (there’s a book that Mickey messes with in that too). 
 

I’m kind of more inclined to believe that it’s that over the Book of Prophecies, but I definitely think it’s an interesting theory! Kingdom Hearts X (the PC browser game) did release the year following KH3D’s release so maybe it’s not so far-fetched to say they had the concept in mind.

[Double OKP 171]

14 minutes ago, WakelessDream said:

I really thought the whole book motif with Mickey in that opening was just meant to mirror Fantasia’s Sorcerer’s Apprentice (there’s a book that Mickey messes with in that too).

Oh really? To be honest I've never heard of that movie. Compared to the majority of people, I've hardly watched any Disney movies lol.

[WakelessDream 2,278]

10 hours ago, Double OKP said:

Oh really? To be honest I've never heard of that movie. Compared to the majority of people, I've hardly watched any Disney movies lol.

Yeah! Well I haven’t seen it either but it’s the movie Yen Sid is originally from, and since you’re very fond of KHUX the movie the Mickey and Brooms medal is based on.

Giant book at about the 1:26 mark. If you go back to part 2 which is also on the user’s channel you’ll see that a lot of the hand gestures Mickey uses in it are very similar if not the same to the Mickey silhouette in the KH3D opening. 
 

I still think it being the Book of Prophecies would be cool though. There’s nothing confirming or denying it so who knows? Plus the Fantasia short doesn’t really account for the scattered pages.  

[bambii 34]

I think this makes perfect sense. In truth, what are all the Disney worlds our beloved characters romp through but actual children's storybooks come to life? They can be read over and over, with the same fundamental structures of plot in place but with variations based on who "opens" the book (or, in KH lore, who travels to that "world"), which could be understood as a metaphor for the imagination and the imaginative process. It's no coincidence that many of the same Disney worlds keep appearing time and again, with the same essential stories playing out as though on loop (e.g., Wonderland, Agrabah, Neverland, Enchanted Dominion, Dwarf Woodlands, Castle of Dreams). This idea is beginning to be addressed/confirmed in Dark Road with all the talk of how different worlds have their own temporality and rules/laws. 

I've always thought that the Book of Prophecies was a variation on that same theme, only at a higher meta/narrative level: treating the story of Kingdom Hearts *itself* as an in-world storybook (hence: Unreality, World of Fiction, blah blah blah). Re:Coded also plays on the same theme with Jiminy's Journal and I think this was clearly meant to be a subtle nod/foreshadowing of the future of the series. Maleficent even directly realizes and makes note of this connection between Jiminy's Journal and the Book of Prophecies. Union Cross makes this all the more explicit by literally imbuing the Book of Prophecies with the power to project these storyworlds (as projection in χ and as data in Union Cross - which Maleficent confirms, saying it's said the Book has the power to "conjure." It's the power of the imagination/fiction, folks!).

So yeah, good catch. I think the opening of DDD is 100% a play on this very same idea. It's also no coincidence that in the same game, we have that scene between Young Xehanort and Sora in which YX points out how Sora has relived his visit to Traverse Town time and time again, in many different ways. The fundamental/archetypal "storybook" of Kingdom Hearts itself is opened and closed then reopened over and over - in memory, in data, in dreams, etc etc. 

Edited January 12, 2021 by bambii