The Twilight Town trio of Hayner, Pence, and Olette are somewhat the odd duck as far as the Kingdom Hearts original cast goes. While nearly every other trio we've met over the course of the series seems destined for great things, with their inclusion in the plot somehow tying in to either Kingdom Hearts itself or one of Team Xehanort's machinations, the Twilight Town gang seems to stay separate from it all, their sphere of influence not really spreading much further than what we saw in KH2. What you see is what you get: they are just three local kids who live in Twilight Town, and spend their lazy days together, pursuing whatever chore needs accomplishing. But even if they don't become anything more than what they already are, there is still something incredibly enduring about the kids, making the memories spent with them just as lasting as any of the other moments in Kingdom Hearts. The underlying message of friendship that is present in every game is most prominent with them, perhaps more than any of the main characters. We get to see how Hayner, Pence, and Olette interact with each other every day for nearly a week, what they do with their time, and, well, actually be friends.
I think it’s significant that Roxas gets to spend his last remaining days with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, whom he only knew fleetingly during his missions in Twilight Town on behalf of the Organization. It’s unclear how much DiZ had to do with making him friends with them in the digital recreation of Twilight Town, or whether Roxas’s own mind wanted to be with these people. What matters is that in this realm designed to keep him complacent, Roxas finds himself hanging out with a group of people who are more than willing to call him a friend. And more importantly, that friendship is shown and reinforced multiple times. When the rumors about stolen photographs appear, the gang sticks together and tries to clear their names. They won’t go to the beach without Roxas because, “It wouldn’t be the same without [him].” Even when Hayner is having a spat with Roxas, the gang refuses to forsake their friendship, and when asked who she’s cheering for during the Struggle Tournament, Olette immediately replies, “Both, silly!” What Roxas can take away from all this is the knowledge that he won’t be left behind, that his friends are there for him, and even if they do fight from time to time, it’s possible that they can still be friends afterwards, and let bygones be bygones. Even the fact that Hayner lets Roxas know that he’s miffed is, in many ways, more healthy than the passive aggressiveness and secrecy that we see so often in the series, from Riku’s resentment of Sora to Terra’s refusal to listen to be open about how he feels with Ven and Aqua. Most important of all, their relationship is good enough that Roxas can say he’s sorry, and Hayner is willing to accept the apology and move on, still friends to the end.
Most important of all, it becomes clear that Roxas WANTS to be in this relationship. He genuinely feels bad about forgetting to go to the beach, and that he made Hayner upset. When in his moments of duress, he tries to snap himself back to reality by calling out their names, as though they are all that really matters to him. When he loses his crystal, he is sad that he feels left out of the closeness the other three are experiencing by still hanging on to theirs. It is that closeness, that unwavering companionship, the desire to not only see others smile, but to smile along with them, that Roxas wants more than anything else. He doesn’t need to be perceived as tough like Seifer, or famous like Setzer. The only thing he wants is the opportunity to spend time with people who want to spend time with him.
This longing and the reasoning behind it becomes clear when we look at Roxas’s time in Organization XIII. In spite of living with twelve other people day in and day out, at no time did Roxas ever get a sense of companionship from any of the Nobodies, outside of Axel and Xion. The only time he worked together with the others was when Saix scheduled it, not because the other person wanted to help Roxas or be on a team. Not to mention that they would only ever work in a maximum group number of two at a time, a far cry from how Hayner, Pence, and Olette insist on sticking together through thick and thin. And as far as caring about watching each other’s backs, the Organization practically has a mantra of leaving people behind. No tears are shed for those lost at Castle Oblivion, and Demyx is sent on what can only be assumed is a suicide mission from those in-the-know. The Organization, in spite of its claims to be working in union, was never the team Roxas wanted, and were certainly never his friends. Throughout his short existence, Roxas was surrounded and sought out only by those who wanted to use him: Xemnas for his keyblade, DiZ and Riku for the wakening of Sora. He is thought of as a tool, a means to an end, anything other than a friend and neighbor.
Which brings us to Axel and Xion, the two people who Roxas believes he can trust. Axel takes him under his wing during day 1, and acts as the mentor and guide Roxas needs to understand the world, and to learn what friendship even is. And Roxas feels that he knows enough about the subject that he’s willing to try and extend that notion to the newcomer, Xion. And for a while, it seems that Roxas has what he wants: people he can just sit and eat ice cream with, who want nothing more from him than just his companionship, his conversation, and even just his presence. But this all falls apart, as both Xion and Axel begin to shatter that ideal. Not only is Xion revealed to more or less be a siphon designed to destroy Roxas, but the fact that she keeps running off without a word of explanation makes it hard to feel like she can be relied on. Axel’s own duplicitous nature eventually catches up with him, as its revealed that he’s been keeping a number of secrets from Roxas, breaking any trust that the two might have had between them. By the end of his time in the Organization, Roxas is as alone as the day he was recruited.
Hayner, Pence, and Olette are important to Roxas because they are the friends that he wishes he could have had in his real life. People he could hang out with, have fun with, and if they have problems with each other, they’re able to air out their grievances, get over it, and still call each other friend at the end of it. Neither Xion nor Axel were able to give this kind of stability, trust, and honesty to him, and it was only in the recesses of his mind that he was able to find that kind of love that was denied him in his fleeting existence.
In the real world, the Twilight Town gang are still as good as their digital recreations, and also have a chance to show their worth to Sora. After Kairi flees from Axel, she appears in the gang’s Usual Spot, where they’re more than happy to talk with her, going so far as to try and fend off Axel when he returns for her. Though they fail in this regard, they continue to put themselves in harms way later on in an attempt to try and find out where Kairi has gone. When Sora tells them that they didn’t have to do that, Hayner responds that “Kairi is our friend too, you know.” This is kind of a neat point, because up until then, the only idea we really had of friendship crossing through various worlds and people was Sora himself. Yet, when met with the earnest good will of Hayner, Pence, and Olette, we can see that this concept of making a stranger a friend isn’t limited to just Sora. We know that he would, and does, go through great lengths for his buddies, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that others might do the same. Sora laments at one point in Port Royal that he’s always just passing through, but as Hayner points out, that doesn’t mean that no lasting impression is made. We aren’t all just strangers in our own worlds, incapable of meeting and liking those from others. You don’t have to just be a fleeting shadow, brushing by and forgetting people. Sora, Kairi, and Roxas only had Hayner, Pence, and Olette in their lives for a short period of time, but the time that WAS spent was meaningful. And to see them acting out in the same open hearted manner that Sora shows on a regular basis is a good way of reaffirming that a little bit of kindness can go a long way.
There’s a humble kind of truth about the trio. They aren’t destined for great things, they aren’t seeking great power, and they aren’t out saving the world, and yet that might be what’s most important about them after all: They can offer a world worth saving. They can offer unconditional friendship and peace, and the idea that you can be happy in the presence of people who want nothing else but to hang out with you.
The Twilight Town trio of Hayner, Pence, and Olette are somewhat the odd duck as far as the Kingdom Hearts original cast goes. While nearly every other trio we've met over the course of the series seems destined for great things, with their inclusion in the plot somehow tying in to either Kingdom Hearts itself or one of Team Xehanort's machinations, the Twilight Town gang seems to stay separate from it all, their sphere of influence not really spreading much further than what we saw in KH2. What you see is what you get: they are just three local kids who live in Twilight Town, and spend their lazy days together, pursuing whatever chore needs accomplishing. But even if they don't become anything more than what they already are, there is still something incredibly enduring about the kids, making the memories spent with them just as lasting as any of the other moments in Kingdom Hearts. The underlying message of friendship that is present in every game is most prominent with them, perhaps more than any of the main characters. We get to see how Hayner, Pence, and Olette interact with each other every day for nearly a week, what they do with their time, and, well, actually be friends.
I think it’s significant that Roxas gets to spend his last remaining days with Hayner, Pence, and Olette, whom he only knew fleetingly during his missions in Twilight Town on behalf of the Organization. It’s unclear how much DiZ had to do with making him friends with them in the digital recreation of Twilight Town, or whether Roxas’s own mind wanted to be with these people. What matters is that in this realm designed to keep him complacent, Roxas finds himself hanging out with a group of people who are more than willing to call him a friend. And more importantly, that friendship is shown and reinforced multiple times. When the rumors about stolen photographs appear, the gang sticks together and tries to clear their names. They won’t go to the beach without Roxas because, “It wouldn’t be the same without [him].” Even when Hayner is having a spat with Roxas, the gang refuses to forsake their friendship, and when asked who she’s cheering for during the Struggle Tournament, Olette immediately replies, “Both, silly!” What Roxas can take away from all this is the knowledge that he won’t be left behind, that his friends are there for him, and even if they do fight from time to time, it’s possible that they can still be friends afterwards, and let bygones be bygones. Even the fact that Hayner lets Roxas know that he’s miffed is, in many ways, more healthy than the passive aggressiveness and secrecy that we see so often in the series, from Riku’s resentment of Sora to Terra’s refusal to listen to be open about how he feels with Ven and Aqua. Most important of all, their relationship is good enough that Roxas can say he’s sorry, and Hayner is willing to accept the apology and move on, still friends to the end.
Most important of all, it becomes clear that Roxas WANTS to be in this relationship. He genuinely feels bad about forgetting to go to the beach, and that he made Hayner upset. When in his moments of duress, he tries to snap himself back to reality by calling out their names, as though they are all that really matters to him. When he loses his crystal, he is sad that he feels left out of the closeness the other three are experiencing by still hanging on to theirs. It is that closeness, that unwavering companionship, the desire to not only see others smile, but to smile along with them, that Roxas wants more than anything else. He doesn’t need to be perceived as tough like Seifer, or famous like Setzer. The only thing he wants is the opportunity to spend time with people who want to spend time with him.
This longing and the reasoning behind it becomes clear when we look at Roxas’s time in Organization XIII. In spite of living with twelve other people day in and day out, at no time did Roxas ever get a sense of companionship from any of the Nobodies, outside of Axel and Xion. The only time he worked together with the others was when Saix scheduled it, not because the other person wanted to help Roxas or be on a team. Not to mention that they would only ever work in a maximum group number of two at a time, a far cry from how Hayner, Pence, and Olette insist on sticking together through thick and thin. And as far as caring about watching each other’s backs, the Organization practically has a mantra of leaving people behind. No tears are shed for those lost at Castle Oblivion, and Demyx is sent on what can only be assumed is a suicide mission from those in-the-know. The Organization, in spite of its claims to be working in union, was never the team Roxas wanted, and were certainly never his friends. Throughout his short existence, Roxas was surrounded and sought out only by those who wanted to use him: Xemnas for his keyblade, DiZ and Riku for the wakening of Sora. He is thought of as a tool, a means to an end, anything other than a friend and neighbor.
Which brings us to Axel and Xion, the two people who Roxas believes he can trust. Axel takes him under his wing during day 1, and acts as the mentor and guide Roxas needs to understand the world, and to learn what friendship even is. And Roxas feels that he knows enough about the subject that he’s willing to try and extend that notion to the newcomer, Xion. And for a while, it seems that Roxas has what he wants: people he can just sit and eat ice cream with, who want nothing more from him than just his companionship, his conversation, and even just his presence. But this all falls apart, as both Xion and Axel begin to shatter that ideal. Not only is Xion revealed to more or less be a siphon designed to destroy Roxas, but the fact that she keeps running off without a word of explanation makes it hard to feel like she can be relied on. Axel’s own duplicitous nature eventually catches up with him, as its revealed that he’s been keeping a number of secrets from Roxas, breaking any trust that the two might have had between them. By the end of his time in the Organization, Roxas is as alone as the day he was recruited.
Hayner, Pence, and Olette are important to Roxas because they are the friends that he wishes he could have had in his real life. People he could hang out with, have fun with, and if they have problems with each other, they’re able to air out their grievances, get over it, and still call each other friend at the end of it. Neither Xion nor Axel were able to give this kind of stability, trust, and honesty to him, and it was only in the recesses of his mind that he was able to find that kind of love that was denied him in his fleeting existence.
In the real world, the Twilight Town gang are still as good as their digital recreations, and also have a chance to show their worth to Sora. After Kairi flees from Axel, she appears in the gang’s Usual Spot, where they’re more than happy to talk with her, going so far as to try and fend off Axel when he returns for her. Though they fail in this regard, they continue to put themselves in harms way later on in an attempt to try and find out where Kairi has gone. When Sora tells them that they didn’t have to do that, Hayner responds that “Kairi is our friend too, you know.” This is kind of a neat point, because up until then, the only idea we really had of friendship crossing through various worlds and people was Sora himself. Yet, when met with the earnest good will of Hayner, Pence, and Olette, we can see that this concept of making a stranger a friend isn’t limited to just Sora. We know that he would, and does, go through great lengths for his buddies, and sometimes it’s easy to forget that others might do the same. Sora laments at one point in Port Royal that he’s always just passing through, but as Hayner points out, that doesn’t mean that no lasting impression is made. We aren’t all just strangers in our own worlds, incapable of meeting and liking those from others. You don’t have to just be a fleeting shadow, brushing by and forgetting people. Sora, Kairi, and Roxas only had Hayner, Pence, and Olette in their lives for a short period of time, but the time that WAS spent was meaningful. And to see them acting out in the same open hearted manner that Sora shows on a regular basis is a good way of reaffirming that a little bit of kindness can go a long way.
There’s a humble kind of truth about the trio. They aren’t destined for great things, they aren’t seeking great power, and they aren’t out saving the world, and yet that might be what’s most important about them after all: They can offer a world worth saving. They can offer unconditional friendship and peace, and the idea that you can be happy in the presence of people who want nothing else but to hang out with you.
Edited by Dave