So, I recently read a post on Tumblr about Kingdom Hearts that caught my interest. It compared the KH series after the first one to the likes of Assassin's Creed III, where lazy writing dictates that the main character are part of crucial parts of other peoples' stories and...awkwardly stand there. Or they're just kind of participating in a huge thing that they don't do much with.

 

For those of you who don't know, Assassin's Creed III take place during the American Revolution. You play as a Native American Assassin named Connor who is a crucial cog in the war who gets stuff done. However, due to what can be called lazy writing, sometimes during big events (such as the signing of the Declaration of Independance) Connor is...just kinda there. He doesn't sign it, he doesn't say anything, he's just observing the whole thing. The obvious reason for this is that the character of Connor doesn't exist and having him be one of the dudes who signed the Declaration of Independance is weird, so, instead of just cutting the scene out entirely, they kept it in and just let him hang around while it happened.

 

The examples of KHII and BBS doing stuff like this are 'when Mushu and Mulan meet, Sora is just watching.' Even though that scene never occurred as when the KH trio show up, Mushu and Mulan are preparing to enter the army, and you have to come around by that point or else you won't meet Mulan to join your party. 

 

Then the scene where Cinderella gets in her pumpkin carriage and Terra watches...awkwardly staring. I don't see a problem with this given the fact that the whole point of the world was to have each of the main characters help her along to get to the ball, anyway. It's not like Terra just showed up and went, 'Oh, there's Cinderella. Weird.' He was actively participating in the events going on with the Unversed and whatnot.

 

I think this comparison is ridiculous and kind of insulting to the series for calling it 'lazy writing', but what do you guys think? I'm really curious to know if this is a common thought or not.

Edited August 29, 201411 yr by Kaweebo

I can't really think of that many insistence from when that happens.  I can think of a few of them but they have a reason for that.  Like in Kingdom Hearts 2 at the end of the first visit to Port Royal where Sora Donald and Goofy are just standing their watching Elizabeth and Will embracing each other but they technically haven't opened the gate yet.  Another place is in the second visit to Halloween Town where Sora is just watching Jack and Sally dancing but then he's imagining its him and Kairi so who knows other then those two I don't think of any.

Hmm. I can see the view point, but I wouldn't say it was that lazy of writing in either case. I think in Assassin's Creed 3 and the KH series, moments like Conner watching the Declaration being sighed and Terra watching Cinderella are to link the new story to something we already know. For those who know the Cinderella story well, you can tell at what point in the story Terra sees her at, allowing a timeline form in the mind. Same with Conner being there for the signing. It might not be the most exciting story telling option, but it allows storytellers to tack onto stories we already know.

well, i guess that in the writing there are scenes you just can't stick Sora and Co. into. Lol

Yeah, it's not like any of the characters can be taken out of the picture and nothing will change. To me, Sora and co. always had plenty involvement with the Disney worlds, whether running around in the movie's plot or just bodyguarding the characters so the plot can run. The only exception is in Days where the characters are supposed to be incognito, anyway.