Dark Road has come to an end, and with it, we got new revelations into what led Xehanort down his dark path to become a seeker of darkness. However, not everything was revealed and some questions remain. This was even brought up in a recent Q&A for Dark Road:

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Question 7: Xehanort’s full descent into darkness wasn’t fully explained, was it?

Nomura: There might’ve been some missing spots, but I believe I managed to depict the beginning of his entrance into the path of darkness really well.

Therefore, knowing what we do know, I will attempt to put together a timeline of Xehanort's life together, starting with when he was born and ending with Birth by Sleep since I feel that after that the events of his life become pretty straightforward. During that time, I will point out when I believe Xehanort became the seeker of darkness.

 

Xehanort was born in Scala ad Caelum but was raised on Destiny Islands because he was believed to be the child of destiny, a person who would be raised on Destiny Islands, eventually leave Destiny Islands and connect with many people's hearts, and prevent the foretold expiration of light during the fated clash between light and darkness. Xehanort learned all of this from his first mentor, the blue robed figure who raised him on Destiny Islands, in addition to learning that the child of destiny would also be a dark vessel.

Xehanort's heart connected with the heart of the blue robed figure, allowing him to see worlds he'd never been to and friends he'd never met in his dreams. Xehanort longed to see those worlds and meet those friends.

One day, the brown robed figure appeared (his Heartless from the future) and gave him a way to achieve these desires. First, he passed on his ability to travel through time to him and gave him the mission to assist his future self in achieving his goals. Upon returning to this time with the memories of what he just did lost, the brown robed figure opened a corridor of darkness for him, which allowed him to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds.

In the corridor of darkness, Xehanort recognizes that darkness can be mastered as if by instinct (this instinct being the future that was etched into his heart).

Xehanort appeared at Scala ad Caelum (not knowing that this was the world on which he was born) where was raised to be a Keyblade wielder, along with 6 others, by Master Odin and formed a close friendship with Eraqus.

When Master Odin tasked Xehanort and his other friends (with the exception of Baldr) to find their missing upperclassmen, Xehanort began to realize that things weren't as black and white as they were initially taught since they discovered that darkness was at times necessary to maintaining the world order.

Xehanort and his friends discovered that some of their upperclassmen were lost to darkness and that the remaining ones were attempting to upset the world order in order to bring out seven pure lights in an attempt to summon Kingdom Hearts, which they believed would defeat true darkness (Xehanort's friend Vor left them to help the upperclassmen achieve this goal in her pursuits to become a Keyblade Master). Master Odin further tells them that it is believed that summoning Kingdom Hearts could purge the World of true darkness for good.

After Xehanort and Eraqus were the only ones of their friends to return from the Underworld, Baldr, overtaken by the darkness, attacked Scala ad Caelum and, after striking down the remaining upperclassmen and Vor, revealed that summoning Kingdom Hearts would not purge the World of true darkness but would rather cause the World to be reborn through darkness. Baldr also tells Xehanort that they are both the same: they both harbor light and darkness and are both be viewed as being overtaken by darkness when they do what is necessary to achieve their goals. Then, before Xehanort strikes Baldr down, he tells him to seek answers to the unjust ways of the world and to darkness.

Sometime during the next year, Xehanort comes to the conclusion that light and darkness must exist in balance and decides to learn to wield light and darkness in equal shares in order to be Eraqus' equal.

During his world tour (his trip to broaden his horizons in preparation for the Mark of Mastery exam), Xehanort decided to take off his armor within the corridors of darkness and embrace it, believing that he had the strength to overcome it (his mentor, the blue robed figure, had told him that he had to remain on Destiny Islands until he had the strength to overcome the darkness). However, the darkness was too much for him, and he was saved by the Master of Masters, who, after giving him one of the black coats that repels darkness, gave him the mission to use his ability to connect with the hearts of others to look into the hearts of those who lived in the worlds he would visit during his world tour.

Upon returning from his world tour, Xehanort told the Master of Masters that, by looking into the hearts of others, he realized that they were ruled by darkness while believing that they were ruled by light (a "false light"). After coming to this realization, Xehanort came to conclusion that it was his destiny to act.

Three years later, Xehanort makes the decision to finally do as Baldr told him to do and seek answers to the unjust ways of the world and to darkness. He did this while still being trained by Master Odin along with Eraqus. It was most likely during this time that Xehanort decided to become the seeker of darkness. 

After he found the answers he sought and recalling that the blue robed figure told him it was his destiny to save the light, Xehanort came to the conclusion that purging the World by summoning Kingdom Hearts was the only way to bring an end to the tyranny of light (the "false light") and wanted to rebuild the World in such a way so that light and darkness would be in perfect balance and so that he could dictate the destines of the people living in the New World. He also came to the conclusion that he was going to need more than one lifetime to achieve his goals (he figured that he would need thirteen lifetimes to rebuild the World and one more lifetime to explore it).

Two years later, Xehanort and Eraqus were made Keyblade Masters. Eraqus was made Master Odin's successor, and Xehanort inherited the No Name Keyblade (or the Gazing Eye).

One year later, Xehanort revealed his intentions to summon Kingdom Hearts to Eraqus, and they clashed. The outcome of this clash is unknown, but we do know that Xehanort shaved his head to show his dedication to his goal.

During the many years that followed, Xehanort sought answers that would help him achieve his goal. During this time, he uncovered the secrets of the χ-Blade and that one could forge it by having a heart of light clash with a heart of darkness (this would be a faster way to summon Kingdom Hearts than with the clash between light and darkness that the blue robed figure told him about). He also clashes with Eraqus again, this time leaving him scarred, and afterward discovered from the Magic Mirror in Dwarf Woodlands where one of the friends from his dreams was and went to find him, that person being Ventus. He decided to use Ventus in his plans, first to be his vessel, and then, after coming to the conclusion that Ventus does not have the fortitude for such a task, to separate the darkness from his heart and have Ventus' light side and dark side clash to forge the χ-Blade, which brings us to Birth by Sleep.

Even with this explanation of Xehanort's timeline, I feel that there are still some questions that need answering. How much did what the blue robed figure reveal to Xehanort about his future lead him down his path? How much did knowing that the child of destiny was a dark vessel lead Xehanort to embrace the darkness and how much did his research into the truth about darkness lead him to embrace the darkness? Maybe some more of our questions will be answered at future times or maybe they will forever remain mysteries. However, as of right now, I think this is what most makes sense. What do you think?

Edited September 5, 20223 yr by Dagesh Lene

On 9/5/2022 at 2:26 PM, Dagesh Lene said:

One day, the brown robed figure appeared (his Heartless from the future) and gave him a way to achieve these desires. First, he passed on his ability to travel through time to him and gave him the mission to assist his future self in achieving his goals. Upon returning to this time with the memories of what he just did lost, the brown robed figure opened a corridor of darkness for him, which allowed him to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds.

That is the part that always bugged me about the timeline, until I finally found that basically the YX we see meet Ansem in DDD has the appeareance of Xehanort AFTER the main story of Dark Road (notice the hair bangs)

compared to DR where in that same meeting Xehanort has his first hair style (let's call him Student Xehanort)

So I spent a long time thinking that they actually meet twice, and the meeting in DDD takes place after the mains story of DR since we do see Student Xehanort sporting the hair bangs in the time skips, but apparently nope, the Xehanort in the DDD screenshot should've always been Student Xehanort, not enough time to do that extra model I guess (could've fixed for the HD and saved me a headache though!)

But considering YX is supposed to be the correct model with the hair bangs (only the one in the cutscene above is wrong) Student Xehanort at Scala should NOT have experienced the events of DDD yet or YX in DDD and KH3 would have student's Xehanort hair, I think that when Ansem came back to "set him in the appointed path and gave him the ability to move through time" it was still a long while until he went on with the mission Ansem gave him, up until he already was studying darkness I think one day (after already growing into the age of Young Xehanort) the dormant memory/mission/piece of future Xehanort inside him just "awakened" and that's when he started recruiting the other selves, and probably got his Yellow Eyes (after the main story but before he is named master and recieves no name since he uses another keyblade in DDD and KH3)

 

Another thing is I think the whole game was made to show the folly of blindy following a fate that wasn't meant for you, there are many clues that Xehanort was NOT the child of prophecy, or rather he could've been but failed

Just because he can connect and feel others' hearts would mean that he is one, as Baldr also had that ability, and that's what caused his downfall

To be precise, Xehanort doesn't "hail from the isles of destiny" yes, he spent his childhood there, but wasn't BORN there, he "hails" from Scala, this might be a nitpick if you think that because he lived 99% of his life in DI he hails from them but could also be taken as a clue that Blue Robe guy was trying to "force" the prophecy into being about him, which brings us to...

Blue Robe guy expresses their own doubts about Xehanort being the child, at first he is all like "IT'S NO DOUBT YOU ARE IT" but by the end of the conversation he says it might be too soon (Xehanort is shown asleep by this point so he wouldn't hear that part 

And of course we have the hindsight of knowing what ends up being of Xehanort's life, he Blue Robe's words about how the Child of Destiny would be the one who can feel and connect with others' heart and become one with them, he kinda does that but in an evil way, using others hearts to manipulate them and even take over their bodies, he doesn't care about connecting with others, even in KH3 he is shown that he doesn't particularly care for the wellbeing of the people who are his vessels, he doesn't fight to defeat darkness but to manipulate it, while the true Child would be the one who actually connects with people, who accepts their hearts into himself and uses those connections to increase his power and the one who truly hails from destiny islands, fighting to keep the light safe and fend off darkness, Sora

 

Going back to what I said before Xehanort COULD have been the child of prophecy but his destiny was altered, as you mention Blue Robe explains that he was taken to the islands to hide him from darkness until he was strong enough, but he only leaves the islands because Ansem appears and opens the portal to the other worlds, so we can't be sure that Xehanort was truly ready to leave the islands, that could've been the first step to have darkness be drawn to him and start his downfall (poison his heart as blue robe says it), Xehanort only knows that he is a special child destined for greatness so in his mind whatever path he takes must be the righteous one which eventually evolves into his complex of:

"everyone else is weak, and those who think they are strong are faking it, only some people (me) are truly strong"

"I've learned the reason for my existance"

"the world needs someone to stand up and lead"

 

Not to mention that I think MoM also kinda sabotaged Xehanort a little bit, I think he planed to have him be a vessel for the last remaining darkness that we now know must be out there, that's why he spured him into going out and see the world, to learn how to resist darkness with the coat and then outgrowing it, having him experience conflict the same way he did with the foretellers in UX, so that he would become the perfect bait for darkness to try to get inside him

Would explain MoM's line of "a keyblade wielder willing to side with the darkness?????" he even says it in such a cheeky way, like he was taunting him, MoM's methods may be considered ruthless and too pragmatic but if there is one thing we know is that everything he does it in order to defeat the primordial darknesses, no matter what it takes, so him just being OK with a strong wielder like Xehanort to side with his true enemy, darkness, always seem weird....... that is, unless he wanted Xehanort to feel the need to understand and get closer to darkness so he could be the final vessel to hold them in place until they can be truly defeated, basically the goal of the next Saga

 

 

 

 

You bring up a good point that I didn't consider. After reading in the recent Q&A with Nomura that Young Xehanort should have had his even younger appearance in Dream Drop Distance when we see the flashback of the brown robed figure approaching him, but they just weren't able to make another model for him, I assumed that Young Xehanort must have begun his mission to gather his other selves from throughout time in his even younger form. However, it completely slipped my mind that what this actually implies is that Young Xehanort did not start his time traveling mission until several years after the brown robed figure helped him leave Destiny Islands. That just leaves the question: when did he begin that mission? It had to have been sometime before his World Tour, since he tells the Master of Masters that he feels like he is destined to do this, hinting that its been etched into his heart by that point. However, when would he have gotten the mission and the ability to time travel from the brown robed figure? Could it have been right at the beginning of his World Tour? After all, he could have revisited Destiny Islands during his World Tour, so maybe that was one of the first worlds he visited, if not his first world. That's my best guess at least.

Also, while it is possible that the blue robed figure could have mistaken Xehanort for the Child of Destiny when he really wasn't, there is one bit that gets me. We find out from old man Xehanort that the blue robed figure told him that he would be a dark vessel. What could that mean if Xehanort isn't the Child of Destiny? It could tie in to your theory that the Master of Masters wanted Xehanort to be the final vessel for the final true darkness, but if Xehanort isn't the Child of Destiny, does that mean that the actually Child of Destiny (most likely Sora) is fated for that?

Finally, I'm not sure that the Master of Masters intended to make Xehanort a vessel for the final true darkness. From everything that Luxu has said about the foretold scapegoat, I think that Xehanort was just simply a prophesied Keyblade wielder who was devoted to the darkness and brought about another Keyblade War, which is what the Master of Masters and Luxu have been waiting for. But, as I previously said, I do think it's possible that the Child of Destiny is supposed to be the final dark vessel.

You had some good thoughts and it got me thinking. Thanks!

Edited September 11, 20223 yr by Dagesh Lene

I'm still confused.  Fixed the spoiler.

Spoiler

  Is Xehanort the How is the Blue Robe guy the protagonist from Union Cross?  I thought they decided to die and reincarnate into Xehanort, who happened to be a descendant of Ephemer.  We saw them die at the end of Union Cross.

Spoiler

 

 

 

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by ienzo628

 

On 9/12/2022 at 12:59 AM, ienzo628 said:

I'm still confused.  Is Xehanort the ||SPOILER||How is the Blue Robe guy the protagonist from Union Cross?  I thought they decided to die and reincarnate into Xehanort, who happened to be a descendant of Ephemer.  We saw them die at the end of Union Cross.||/SPOILER/||

You're right, we did see the Player die at the end of Union Cross, and Chirithy told them that they could be reborn. What then followed was a series of scenes focusing an Xehanort as an infant on Scala ad Caelum and growing up on Destiny Islands. This led everyone to believe that the Player was reborn as Xehanort. However, the game never said that the Player was reborn as Xehanort. We just assumed that they were based on what those scenes focused on. What the end of Dark Road does is clarify who the Player was reborn as: the blue robed figure (aka the Player from Missing Link), who we see watching over Xehanort in all of those scenes from the end of Union Cross.

There are still some unanswered questions about the blue robed figure and Xehanort that will hopefully be revealed in the future. Nomura has said that a lot of questions will be answered in Missing Link, so we will have to wait and see if anything else is revealed during that game.

Edited September 14, 20223 yr by Dagesh Lene

10 hours ago, Dagesh Lene said:

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You're right, we did see the Player die at the end of Union Cross, and Chirithy told them that they could be reborn. What then followed was a series of scenes focusing an Xehanort as an infant on Scala ad Caelum and growing up on Destiny Islands. This led everyone to believe that the Player was reborn as Xehanort. However, the game never said that the Player was reborn as Xehanort. We just assumed that they were based on what those scenes focused on. What the end of Dark Road does is clarify who the Player was reborn as: the blue robed figure (aka the Player from Missing Link), who we see watching over Xehanort in all of those scenes from the end of Union Cross.

There are still some unanswered questions about the blue robed figure and Xehanort that will hopefully be revealed in the future. Nomura has said that a lot of questions will be answered in Missing Link, so we will have to wait and see if anything else is revealed during that game.

Here I was hoping both Xehanort and the blue figure were in the same.  I mean, when somebody dies.  Why can't their soul just reincarnate into one or multipe people?

Spoiler

I do have a question.  Why is Xehanort able to recall the Blue Robed figure's memories of Ephemer, Skuld and etc when he was never even there?  Is he like a replica of the Blue Robed figure or is like a Xion situation where she was able to pick up Riku's encounter with Zexion while in Castle Oblivion?

 

Edited September 15, 20223 yr by ienzo628

On 9/14/2022 at 9:48 PM, ienzo628 said:

 

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I do have a question.  Why is Xehanort able to recall the Blue Robed figure's memories of Ephemer, Skuld and etc when he was never even there?  Is he like a replica of the Blue Robed figure or is like a Xion situation where she was able to pick up Riku's encounter with Zexion while in Castle Oblivion?

 

I believe the game says that he has the ability to connect with the hearts of others and even become one with them. This is one of the reasons why the blue robed figure thinks that he is the child of destiny, because the child of destiny has this ability. I also think this is why he is able to sense the darkness in other people's hearts, whereas others don't seem to be able to notice the darkness unless it visibly manifests itself.

27 minutes ago, Dagesh Lene said:

 

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I believe the game says that he has the ability to connect with the hearts of others and even become one with them. This is one of the reasons why the blue robed figure thinks that he is the child of destiny, because the child of destiny has this ability. I also think this is why he is able to sense the darkness in other people's hearts, whereas others don't seem to be able to notice the darkness unless it visibly manifests itself.

 

Point taken, I just wish we weren't duped into thinking that the main character turned into Xehanort at the end of UX.