I find it strange how simalar Riku and MX are both in appearance and in thought.

MX and Riku both wanted to leave the islands and neither shun the darkness.

Not to mention they both have white/grayish hair. Some people say that there is some sort of family connection, but Nomura has said there will be no strange family ties in Kingdom Hearts. There is only one other explanation that I can think of and it is that when MX went to Destiny Islands to drop off Ven, he also willingly split part of his heart while he was there. He then managed to place it inside 1 year old Riku. This explains why Riku looks so much like young Xehanort. There is obvioulsy some sort of physical change when another heart enters someone else's body which is proved in Aprentice Xehanort. This could also explain how Riku knew of the outside worlds and wanted to go to them. More evidence is that this how Ansem SoD found Riku in the first place. If Ansem SoD could recognize part of his own heart, he could have used the part of MX heart to sway Riku to darkness in KH1. MX's heart is also how the darkness of Ansem SoD still hid in Riku's heart in CoM. When Riku used the darkness to defeat Roxas, he used not only his own darkness but MX's as well. He only appeared to be Ansem SoD because of it being Ansem SoD who activated the MX's darkness in the first place. If my theory is correct, than this could be what MX meant by having many roads to take. MX could use his heart in Aprentice Xehanort's body to transfer over to Riku using the piece of his heart he left behind in Riku. This would turn him into MX's new host and he would continue to be young and have time to acomplish his plans. In short, part of MX still lives inside Riku and could be used to help MX countinue to be young in some future game.

Yeah, what Flaming Lea said.  p:

Added connection of Young Master Xehanort and Riku sharing voices actors.

 

 

The main thing I can guess is that they are, in essence, the same person, different paths. No, I'm not saying that Riku and Xehanort are the same person. I'm speaking metaphorically. They both share similar origins, that of a restless youth and desire to leave what is, in their eyes, a confining place. From there, their paths diverge and we see the effect of others on their lives.

In someways, I expect at least one if not both of them to look at the other and see what he could have become.

A theory I've had for a while now is that Riku is Xehanort's grandson.

Let that go. There is no true concept of family in KH. 

What is this thread? *cries*

What is this thread? *cries*

All of your fears brought to life.

A theory I've had for a while now is that Riku is Xehanort's grandson.

Yeah, I've partly wondered the same thing, though chances are it's probably not the case.   I do think they're connected somehow though, given the fact that Riku's voice actor played YMX in BbS.  Perhaps their only connection is that they played similar roles in their youth; Xehanort was desperate to leave the islands, as was Riku.  Another thought I had is if Xehanort sort of chose him as a prodigy, in a way, though I'm not too sure how that'd work either.

 

Overall, they probably just have similarities because Tetsuya Nomura overlapped their character designs; it might not be a connection with the characters.

Yeah, I've partly wondered the same thing, though chances are it's probably not the case.   I do think they're connected somehow though, given the fact that Riku's voice actor played YMX in BbS.  Perhaps their only connection is that they played similar roles in their youth; Xehanort was desperate to leave the islands, as was Riku.  Another thought I had is if Xehanort sort of chose him as a prodigy, in a way, though I'm not too sure how that'd work either.

 

Overall, they probably just have similarities because Tetsuya Nomura overlapped their character designs; it might not be a connection with the characters.

-- What's the meaning behind the several puzzling images in Terra's chapter where we cross over into his mind?

 

Nomura:

Firstly, when he hears the name of the masked boy from Master Xehanort

at the mysterious wasteland, and we see an image of Aqua and Ventus

defeated, that's a hint of the future. On the Destiny Islands, when he

makes Riku his successor, he has a special view of him and catches a

glimpse of his future. However, this isn't to say that Terra has the

ability to see the future - it was a directive nuance intended to

portray the future connection between Terra and Riku.