I just wanted the communities opinion on this. I know that in Birth by Sleep, we see each heroes perspective fairly equally, but I really feel as though it is Aqua that truly has the spotlight. What are your thoughts on this?

Edited April 10, 20169 yr by Guest

I wouldn't say Aqua is the protagonist, but she definitely has more spotlight than the other two, especially with the Final and Secret Episode. But the main story evolves around all three of them.

The Final and Secret Episodes do make it seem like she is the Main Character of BBS, but since the main portion of the game relegates her to just cleaning up after the dumb messy boys, her involvement almost seems like and after thought honestly.Still love her though!

I don't think there's a main character in BBS. It's just that her part after all three stories is to connect the game with the rest of the saga.

I would say they all are equally important. All of them are the main protagonists. Aqua may have some more content since we have the Final and Secret Episodes, but still, the three of them are the main protagonists.

Personally I'd say Terra is the main character of BBS,because almost everything revolves around him.Xehanort,Braig and Vanitas want to turn him to the dark side,Ven is looking for him,Aqua is watching him,Eraqus tries to protect him from the darkness.Of course there's probably not a definitive answer to that question because Ven is also a central piece to Xehanort's plan,everybody cares about him and he's connected to Sora,the main character of the series and Aqua is also very important

lol it's tied 13 - 13.

 

While I can see the argument that Aqua is the main character since she's ultimately the one who survives, I don't think it's really accurate just because she has more screentime. Ultimately, all three stories focus on each character and just because Aqua continues into the Final Episode doesn't mean that makes her the main character of the whole game. BBS is about TAV regardless of which character you get to play as the longest. 

Just cause she gets a little more time afterwards doesn't make her any more primary of a protagonist than Terra or Ven. Even though Riku managed to accomplish the most and got more final level events, people still tend to generally agree that Dream Drop Distance was fairly even on Sora and Riku both being equal protagonists, so I feel the same should apply to Birth by Sleep. Aqua will definitely be the primary protagonist of 0.2, seeing as how she's the only one we follow in that story, but any game that is following the perspective of any character for a whole game's length should be considered an equivalent protagonist, especially if they are playable.

I was actually just thinking about this, While Terra initiates everything and Ven is the reason Sora has a keyblade I feel Aqua is the main protagonist of that story.

I am honestly surprised at this division of opinions. As of writing this, it's an equal split. But then I had a deep think about all the key trios and their common theme.

 

The heroic one

Sora

Roxas

Aqua

 

The manipulated and decieved one

Riku

Axel

Terra

 

The "connection" to set events in motion

Kairi

Xion

Ventus

Edited April 10, 20169 yr by Guest

She's definitely one of the protagonists, but I think the game is just as much about Ventus and Terra as it is about her. True she does have a lot more screen time (probably because she's the best of the three lol) but I think this is because one of the characters needed to wrap things up and as the master and arguably the most mature/qualified of the three she fit the bill.

Of course she's the main character, she is the only one out of the three who is actually a keyblade master. LOL

While I do agree that Aqua dose steal the show at the end, Terra and Ven are equally important to the events of the series and why there were the way they were in KH. Aqua was pretty much a bystander who got cought up in all the chaos. She saved Terranort because she knew that Terra was still fighting MX. This is why Terranort ended up in Raident garden where he was taken in by Ansem the Wise and began the experiments that led to the events of KHI and the formation of Organization XIII. Ven, on the other hand, ended up with a damaged heart after his internal battle with Vanitus (did I spell that right?) and remained sleeping while his heart went inside Sora to heal. This is why, when Sora sacrificed himself to save Kari, his Nobody came into the world not only with a different appearance, but also with a heart. This allowed Roxas to influence his friends, which resulted in Axel changing from a self centered Nobody to a decent person who cared about his friends. Terra and Ven have impacted the story as much as Aqua has. This is why they are all equally important.

When you put her next to a bumbling idiot like Terra and a childish pest like Ven, Aqua seems to be the only with sense. Although she's not exactly perfect herself. To some extent she is the main protagonist, but the other 2 are also the main protagonists.

Edited April 22, 20169 yr by Shinobi Palace

I feel that, had the story been structured around one character, Aqua might be the main character if only because she's in a position to observe and piece together what's happening with everyone else. She has the benefit of having a distinct questline (which she fails to accomplish totally, but alas): bring back Ven, tail Terra, and find out what Xehanort is up to, whereas Ven's quest is generally to sort of wander around for a bit, and Terra's role as a pawn is among one of the least satisfying things to play as. Aqua at least is set up to be active and somewhat outside of the grand plan, giving her a chance to disrupt Xehanort's plot and give the player a sense of agency which the others do not.

All three of them are the main characters and neither one is less important than the other two. That said, I do feel like Aqua will be the bigger character of the trio by the end of it all.

 

 

 

Not to mention she's also easily the best character of the three. /shotsfired

 

 

I don't think there's a main character in BBS. It's just that her part after all three stories is to connect the game with the rest of the saga.

This. The bulk of the game focuses on Terra and Ven pretty evenly, and she really only risws to that level near the end.

Well, while it's true that we do see a lot of things with Aqua, I do feel as though all three of them play an important role in the game, and thus, I believe all three of them are the main protagonists, ya know?  With Terra, we get to see how Xehanort continued on with his plans and therefore clashed with Sora!  With Ventus, we saw how he stopped the X-Blade from being forged, therefore averting a Keyblade War!  Plus, we get to see why Roxas looks like Ventus!  And with Aqua, we get to see how Castle Oblivion was formed, and how things ended up with Terra and Ventus, ya know?

 

So yeah, all three of them had a role to play!  The broken boy who failed to be the blade...the misguided master who sacrificed herself for a friend, and the feckless youth who became Xehanort's new vessel!  Yep, that's the simple and clean of it!

Interesting, we still have a tie here. The silent majority still believe that Aqua is the protagonist of the BBS trio yet most of the responses are highlighting the equal importance of all three characters in the trio.

Interesting, we still have a tie here. The silent majority still believe that Aqua is the protagonist of the BBS trio yet most of the responses are highlighting the equal importance of all three characters in the trio.

Each character is important for sure, but I would consider Aqua the equivalent of the main protagonist. Riku's the protagonist of Dream Drop Distance, but Sora's role is still clear for example. Birth by Sleep wasn't exactly structured in a way were you're meant to look through the lens of the protagonist, and was instead built in a way were you play as a different character who deals with the problem at hand with a different perspective making it an incomplete story if you only see one. That being said, if I were to choose the protagonist or the ' Sora' of the game, it'd be Aqua. She's really the only character who actually accomplishes something against the antagonists of the game, and it speaks volumes to me.

That's just my interpretation though. I didn't feel the need to comment because I figured others would vocalize the same. But hey, if no one else is saying something I'll give my perspective X)

Each character is important for sure, but I would consider Aqua the equivalent of the main protagonist. Riku's the protagonist of Dream Drop Distance, but Sora's role is still clear for example. Birth by Sleep wasn't exactly structured in a way were you're meant to look through the lens of the protagonist, and was instead built in a way were you play as a different character who deals with the problem at hand with a different perspective making it an incomplete story if you only see one. That being said, if I were to choose the protagonist or the ' Sora' of the game, it'd be Aqua. She's really the only character who actually accomplishes something against the antagonists of the game, and it speaks volumes to me.

That's just my interpretation though. I didn't feel the need to comment because I figured others would vocalize the same. But hey, if no one else is saying something I'll give my perspective X)

 

That's exactly the reason as to why I consider Aqua to be the leader of the Trio, and by that default, the Birth by Sleep protagonist: not only is she the most mature but she's the one who accomplishes the most out of the three.

I think she's the main character or at least can be seen as the main one. Just because Ventus is tied to Sora doesn't make him the main lead. Sora himself hasn't even been the lead for half the titles. Like how Riku was more of the lead in KH3D.

 

I remember seeing a thing about it on tumblr somewhere too. A Nomura snip it or something.