There has been a theory I have been sitting on since Nomura revealed that KHX had cannon elements to it. One thing that struck my interest in particular were the six Fortellers and the five Tome of Prophecy.
Chirithy: Before my master, He who created me disappeared, He bestowed His six followers with new names and, gave them a tome of prophecy. These five followers, who were to become the Foretellers, read the future in the tome. Apparently a passage on the last page shocked them." The war in that place will lead to the defeat of the Light. The World will be enveloped in eternal Darkness"
The tome apparently foretold of the Keyblade War and the victory of the Darkness over the Light. In an attempt to prevent this future the Foretellers tapped into the power of the future(via the cards) contained in the tomes and as we know eventually the War took place resulting in the structure of the worlds as we know them now.
Now fast forward to the era of Xehanort, Eraqus, and Yen Sid and we have some instances that have lead me to believe that certain parties knew more then they let on. In particular I speak of both Eraqus and Xehanort both whom I believe have read the tome of prophecy(The latter on a much greater scale.)
In the Kingdom Hearts III Teaser trailer we see a conversation between what we can safely assume is between Xehanort and Eraqus.
Xehanort: Have you heard of the ancient Keyblade War? Many years ago Keyblade wielders started a war over ownership of the light.
Eraqus: Yep the Master loves telling that story.
Xehanort: Then I take it you know of the "Lost Masters"?
Eraqus: Nope where did you hear about that?
Xehanort: "On that land darkness shall prevail and light shall expire".....But you knew that didn't you?
Now in typical Nomura fashion this 40 second teaser brings up millions of questions. However looking back the teaser along with the KHX content also brings us some insight to things that did not quite make sense to me.
Eraqus Analysis
[*]In the scene where Eraqus receives his trademark scar he explains that the precepts have reasoning for preventing them from seeking the knowledge surrounding the Keyblade War. When Xehanort reveals his intention to forge the X-Blade and reignite the Keyblade War he turns his Keyblade on his former friend and immediately resorts to violence. Taken at face value one could argue that it was Eraqus's fear of the darkness that led to such a reaction but based on his reaction after Xehanort revealed his intentions suggests to me that what he really feared was the Keyblade War and what follows afterward.
[*]Eraqus acted in the same manner upon realizing Xehanort planned to use Ventus as raw materials for the X-Blade. His immediate reaction was to eliminate Ventus and was willing to eliminate him at the cost of Terra's life as well. Again we could argue that it was Eraqus's fear of darkness that drove him to such lengths but even in that murdering two innocent kids both whom you raised as sons is not an logical immediate reaction to anything. However if Eraqus at the very least knew of the last page in the Tome of Prophecy then that would explain both his fear of the Darkness and his harsh reaction to the methods of Xehanort.
[*]Upon awarding Aqua the title of Master and choosing her as the Heir of the Land of Departure he explains that she is entitled to certain knowledge we are then presented with a short silent cut scene in which Eraqus speaks with Aqua. We later learn that during that conversation he shared with her the secret to protecting LoD from the darkness in form of it's transformation mechanics. Despite later given explanations is that all he shared with her or had he planned on sharing with her more information before the jaws of fate snatched her up.
[*]The reason I ask is because Eraqus was also chosen as the Successor and perhaps among that "certain knowledge" that he received was the final page of the Tome of Prophecy. If the conversation in the KH III teaser trailer took place after Eraqus was named Successor then that would explain why Xehanort would say "But you knew that didn't you?"
[*]I would also like to note that in the discussion in which Eraqus receives his scar he mentions the "precepts" having reasoning for barring them from the knowledge revolving the Keyblade War Implying that Eraqus knows what those reasons are.
Xehanort Analysis
[*]Master Xehanort the man with the plan.....and the backup plan.......and the backup plan for the backup plan (Just joking :I)
[*]On a serious note Xehanort is noted by even Yen Sid to be a wielder of prodigious skill and unparalleled power. He is arguably the most powerful wielder in the series and easily has the most extensive knowledge of Keyblade lore (beat out only by Flaming Lea and narrowly Nomura ). His methodical planning is such that he always appears to be ten steps ahead of everyone else.
[*]It's at a point where the only reason his plans fail is because he fails to take in to account random acts of free will. He did not count on Terra still existing within once he possessed his body. He did not count on Ventus/Vanitas to fail from the combined efforts of Aqua and Ven (*cough* retcon *cough). He did not account for Aqua to slap him around a couple times. He failed to account for variables that might change the desired outcome of his plans.
[*]Now to me this suggests one of two things. For one thing we can take it as face value and argue that Xehanort simply was arrogant and thought he was destined to succeed. However the fact that even in his many failures he still remained confident that his plans would succeed and he hardly took into account numerous independent variables suggests the he believed he would succeed because his end goal was already foretold.
[*]His methodology revolves around a notion that his end game has already been foretold and that its already destined to happen. His mistake is in the fact that the time that has been foretold might not have matched up with the time he has forced destiny to occur.
[*]In Dream Drop Distance upon the realization that Xehanort had hijacked the Mark of Mastery Exam he reacted in shock. Even further he remarks in awe at the fact that Xehanort would posses that much cunning and foresight.
[*]Yen Sid immediately dismissing the idea of Xehanort even be able to hijack the test combined with the shock that he actually planned far enough to do so suggests to me that it would be nigh impossible for him to predict that far ahead without inside info.
[*]Also throughout DDD Sora repeatedly asks Young Xehanort how he was sure Sora would appear at that moment in time. YX brushes it off by saying Ansem had possessed Riku and saw his experience in real time. Sora surprisingly counters the logic with a very good point " So that would only tell you so much."
[*]As Sora fell to darkness YX tells him that the simple fact that he followed his destined path is proof and was looking at Sora right then and there is proof that it was destined to happen. Master Xehanort further elaborates that the only thing undecided is what lies beyond the clash of the Darknesses and the Lights.
[*]If we run on the assumption that Xehanort somehow managed to get a hold of the Tome of Prophecy and used it to plan in advance. We now have an explanation on Xehanort was able to forsee ten plus years worth of events.
[*]Further evidence of this lies in the cards within KHX. As we know the Foretellers in a attempt to prevent the foretold collapse of the coveted light. They tapped into the power of the future which takes form as the cards we use in KHX gameplay. On these cards we see depictions of Sora and his friends in various future scenario. As we know that the Foretellers modeled them after the future we can perhaps assume that within the Tome of Prophecy lies the chronicles of Sora and Co in their struggles against the forces of darkness.
We now interrupt this seemingly endless post with a funny video of people falling down https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSNzg6-n7s We now return to the previously scheduled program.
The Five Foretellers,The Sixth Apprentice, and The Future.
Chirithy explains that her master gave each of his six apprentices new names and tomes to five of them. Five of them became the Fortellers who in turned used the power of the future to attempt to prevent the foretold prophecy. The Master dissapeared and the sixth Apprentice was not mentioned again(perhaps becoming the first seeker of darkness). It would appear to me that The Master was attempting to groom the Seven Guardians of Light but possibly came up short due to the Sixth Apprentice. In which case the Foretellers themselves began to groom and seek for Guardians of Light. Eventually as we know the wielders fought over possession of the light and the Keyblade War blanketed the world in darkness and shattered the X-Blade into twenty pieces 7 light and thirteen of Darkness.
So by now you're probably wondering what the firetruck this has to do with anything so I shall attempt to elaborate. As I mentioned earlier the Foretellers were seeking out to groom Guardians of Light most likely in response to the prophecy. If we assume that they were successful what role did they play afterwards did they battle alongside the light or did they much like Ansem's apprentices joining Xehanort seek knowledge and join the sixth follower. If so what happened to them after the world was lost to darkness?
Possibilities
[*]Up until recently I was against the notion that the Foretellers could be apart of Xehanort's thirteen Darknesses. The reason being was because I could not see a viable way for them to have survived that long. However in a prior discussion with Flaming Lea on a completely different note led to an idea that could allow the possibility(So partial credit).
[*]We discussed the possibility that MX and Terra had recompleted simultaneously Terra in his own body and Xehanort in his old man body upon the destruction of Xemnas and Ansem.
[*]The idea was that when Master Xehanort possessed Terra his body (which was not destroyed) acted within the same rules rules as a Nobody that was destroyed before it's Heartless counterpart.
[*]For those of you who don't know when a Nobody is destroyed before the Heartless the body is swallowed by the darkness where it waits for the heart to return to it. This is risky because there is only a chance the recompletion would occur after the Heartless is slain.
[*]Master Xehanort whose body remained whole upon possession of Terra could have followed those same properties.
[*]Xemnas who admitted to growing his own heart would then recomplete as Terra only for Terra to be reborn completely norted by Xemnas's heart while Master Xehanort's heart returned to his own body.
[*]Now perhaps when the world collapsed into darkness during the First Keyblade War the hearts of the Foretellers were parts of the Seven Guardians of Light and their hearts were shattered and forcibly ejected from their bodies with the X-Blade. Those fragments could have found their way in seven pure maidens creating all the source of light in the world. Meanwhile their bodies could have been swallowed by the darkness waiting to be reunited with their hearts hence "The lost masters"
The Sixth Follower
Obviously the Sixth Follower is a crucial point in the whole Keyblade War especially the parallels drawn between the Sixth follower and Xehanort. So how do they tie together? What could bridge the gap between the the original Keyblade War and The impending Second Keyblade War?
[*]Following the lines of the Foretellers perhaps the Seekers of Darkness hearts were also shatter and instead of their hearts just seeking shelter in others they remained in the realm of darkness.
[*]Call it a theory within a theory but I believe all the pure blood heartless that reside in the realm of darkness belong to the Keyblade wielders from the first Keyblade War. Perhaps there are more powerful ones like Red Eyes(BBS Final Mix) that belong to the original Seekers of Darkness.
[*]Now I take you all the way back to Xehanort's departure from Destiny Islands.In which the big question is how did he get off the island.
[*]Judging by Nomura's point to parallel Riku and Xehanort I would say that Xehanort somehow managed to open a Corridor of Darkness. Or did he do as the Sora, Riku, Kairi planned on doing and voyage through the sea and cross through via the Dark Margin. Is it possible that during the time he wondered through the darkness he encountered the heart of the sixth follower? If Xehanort knowingly or unknowingly harbored the heart of the sixth Forteller that would explain why Xehanort's keyblade matches the motif of the other Foretellers as well as the Xehanort's obsession with the Keyblade War.
[*]If I were to take an extremely educated guess I probably could tell you the Name of the Sixth Apprentice.
I would like to thank for reading this absurdly long post and hope you found it interesting hope to see some discussion on this.
There has been a theory I have been sitting on since Nomura revealed that KHX had cannon elements to it. One thing that struck my interest in particular were the six Fortellers and the five Tome of Prophecy.
Chirithy: Before my master, He who created me disappeared, He bestowed His six followers with new names and, gave them a tome of prophecy. These five followers, who were to become the Foretellers, read the future in the tome. Apparently a passage on the last page shocked them." The war in that place will lead to the defeat of the Light. The World will be enveloped in eternal Darkness"
The tome apparently foretold of the Keyblade War and the victory of the Darkness over the Light. In an attempt to prevent this future the Foretellers tapped into the power of the future(via the cards) contained in the tomes and as we know eventually the War took place resulting in the structure of the worlds as we know them now.
Now fast forward to the era of Xehanort, Eraqus, and Yen Sid and we have some instances that have lead me to believe that certain parties knew more then they let on. In particular I speak of both Eraqus and Xehanort both whom I believe have read the tome of prophecy(The latter on a much greater scale.)
In the Kingdom Hearts III Teaser trailer we see a conversation between what we can safely assume is between Xehanort and Eraqus.
Xehanort: Have you heard of the ancient Keyblade War? Many years ago Keyblade wielders started a war over ownership of the light.
Eraqus: Yep the Master loves telling that story.
Xehanort: Then I take it you know of the "Lost Masters"?
Eraqus: Nope where did you hear about that?
Xehanort: "On that land darkness shall prevail and light shall expire".....But you knew that didn't you?
Now in typical Nomura fashion this 40 second teaser brings up millions of questions. However looking back the teaser along with the KHX content also brings us some insight to things that did not quite make sense to me.
Eraqus Analysis
Xehanort Analysis
We now interrupt this seemingly endless post with a funny video of people falling down
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhSNzg6-n7s
We now return to the previously scheduled program.
The Five Foretellers,The Sixth Apprentice, and The Future.
Chirithy explains that her master gave each of his six apprentices new names and tomes to five of them. Five of them became the Fortellers who in turned used the power of the future to attempt to prevent the foretold prophecy. The Master dissapeared and the sixth Apprentice was not mentioned again(perhaps becoming the first seeker of darkness). It would appear to me that The Master was attempting to groom the Seven Guardians of Light but possibly came up short due to the Sixth Apprentice. In which case the Foretellers themselves began to groom and seek for Guardians of Light. Eventually as we know the wielders fought over possession of the light and the Keyblade War blanketed the world in darkness and shattered the X-Blade into twenty pieces 7 light and thirteen of Darkness.
So by now you're probably wondering what the firetruck this has to do with anything so I shall attempt to elaborate. As I mentioned earlier the Foretellers were seeking out to groom Guardians of Light most likely in response to the prophecy. If we assume that they were successful what role did they play afterwards did they battle alongside the light or did they much like Ansem's apprentices joining Xehanort seek knowledge and join the sixth follower. If so what happened to them after the world was lost to darkness?
Possibilities
The Sixth Follower
Obviously the Sixth Follower is a crucial point in the whole Keyblade War especially the parallels drawn between the Sixth follower and Xehanort. So how do they tie together? What could bridge the gap between the the original Keyblade War and The impending Second Keyblade War?
I would like to thank for reading this absurdly long post and hope you found it interesting hope to see some discussion on this.
Edited by devereauxr