setsugekka

Exaaactly. I think that's why we got that whole scene of him meeting Riku in Re:Mind. If Demyx is the MoM and Riku met him in Quadratum, there wouldn't be any impact for Riku if he'd never met Demyx before. He'd just stare at him like "Okay. Who're you?" But now he'll be like "wtf, DEMYX?" (And then Xigbar takes the phone to talk to Riku because he's the tsukkomi of this duo.) SPEAKING OF WHICH. Another thing I enjoyed about this new khux update is how the MoM said that Darkness doesn't follow a regular human train of thought and Luxu pointed out that the MoM has that in common with him. Vanitas is clearly very hard for Sora and Ventus to talk to. lol If you think about the way that everyone reacts to Demyx, they think he isn't normal. Sora's first reaction is even "You're bizarre." I don't think it's a coincidence that Xigbar is the only person who seems unfazed by his strangeness. He already gets it. MoM and Demyx are like... Borderline denpa. They aren't stupid. They're just........... From a different universe. (Maybe literally.)

You know he totally got that Gummiphone so Riku can receive a mysterious call in Quadratum. And then he answers it. And it's Demyx. LOL "HEEEEEEEY, RIKU! Remember me~? Uwaaah, I can see you all the way from here! See, I'm waving! Can you see me?? LOOK UP!!" "...Demyx??? Why the heck are YOU here?"

I think that's just supposed to be Demyx as the MoM, so yeah... lol I don't think Demyx would let Xigbar run off without him. ...But also, we don't know if he's currently there. The secret endings are like previews and things don't always happen the way they're shown. There was a two-year gap between the end of KH3 and the part of Re:Mind where they were still looking for Sora. Demyx could've been doing a lot of catching up. He's been eating cake with the Foretellers or whatever.

I forgot he said it like that... That sounds like you're right and that makes this idea feel even realer. Ahhhhhh... I remember Nomura saying something like that. I'll have to figure out where the quote was. If this is the case, then Xehanort must've felt something or remembered something upon seeing Ventus. How spooky. I'm just like... If Demyx is a reincarnation, does that mean that the MoM DIED? If he made some kind of deal or "truce" with Darkness, then my assumption is that he was like a Judge. He could've been the first Judge of the first world - which would totally explain why the MoM knows how all of this works. And since Re:Mind showed us that people can turn into crystal in KH, then... Maybe the Gazing Eye really was like a Secundus l'Cie power. And by accomplishing his "role" (his Focus), he crystalized and was reborn. In the Agito universe, when someone crystalizes, it's called "sublimation" (shouka). Another word for it would be "elevation." Ages ago, I saw someone point out that the back of the Verum Rex box in Toy Box mentions karma. The English doesn't sound perfect... But, seeing as how karma is related to reincarnation, this makes me think. I mean.......... Is this what we're doing now? Is this what's up?? lol

I'm always thinking about that whole situation... I think that Demyx might've been experiencing the same sort of thing. I still can't believe that Xehanort could be reincarnated Player, but I don't know what else to think. Why else would he be having dreams about Player's life? So... If that IS the case, Demyx dreaming about the MoM and thinking he's someone else seems very reasonable to me. Xehanort could've been looking for his friends, but I think he was looking for the MoM, especially after that one scene where he wistfully talked about how he never saw him again, kinda like he was hoping that he would. Hoketsu means "substitute", but it's also what you'd call a sports player who's sitting on the bench, so that's how they came up with "benched member" for the localization. Either word works, though I do wonder if it has an additional meaning for him. Right?? I figure that it's him, and that's all I really need to know. "He's a reincarnation" seems like a strong guess right now, but there are still a lot of questions. Like... How did he even get to the Organization? I can't answer that, so I'll just think about the things that seem possible to answer with the other clues I've found. lol I wish I knew less. lol Sometimes things aren't necessarily mistranslated. It's just that so much of KH is written in an intentionally vague way, it's extra easy to write something in English that ends up having the wrong connotation. If it weren't an ongoing series, we might not have this problem because then we'd have the benefit of knowing what was meant instead of trying to guess.

I'm one of the few who translated that, actually. So I can tell you that it was written very, very vaguely, in a way that sounds like a red herring to me. If there were ever a red herring... It's this. Full offense, but every video I've seen about this was suffering from serious brain rot. He refers to the other Organization members by name. He refers to Xigbar as "the old man", which is what he calls him in the Japanese version of Days. So it's like they wanted to be a little sneaky about who he was referring to there, but if you've played Days, you'd know that they hung out. Why would they decide to make THAT ambiguous, right? We know that it's Xigbar. Why try to obscure the fact that they have a connection? I haven't heard anyone else talk about this point when it seems like one of the biggest, most obvious indicators that Demyx is the MoM. (It's because nobody else wants to say it or even see it. lmao) Demyx groups the other "friends" together like this; Axel & Saix, Zexion & Vexen, Xaldin & Lexaeus, and Marluxia & Larxene. We know that all of these pairs are connected in meaningful ways, so it's like his story is begging us to wonder what connection Demyx has with Xigbar. It feels like he brushes it off like "I guess I hung around with him the most" like there's something there, but he isn't aware of its importance. It's like, whoa, buddy! That's Master Luxu you're talking about right there! What do you mean "I GUESS"???? Don't you realize who that IS???? In contrast, the way he refers to the MoM is like how you'd talk about someone you're aware of but haven't met or aren't personally acquainted with. Again, this seems like a mundane thing to him, like he has no idea how important the MoM is. It's a good thing he never talked about it in front of Xehanort, right? The thought apparently never occurred to him. I think he's totally the one Xehanort was looking for. (God, the "keyblade legacy" thing is another mistranslation... Lord, help me... I explain that one over here.) Demyx doesn't know his name. It seems like he might not even remember the full phrase because he leaves out the word "key." (Everybody else ignored that part in their translations for some reason... The phrase is "kagi ga michibiku kokoro no mama ni" but he leaves out the "kagi ga" part. Uh... idk, this seems important to me.) So when he tries to remember what's "guiding him", I took that to mean that he was trying to remember the word "key." (Not "heart", mind you.) It's kind of ominous. It feels like he's on the edge of remembering something very important at the end. Assuming I'm reading it the way they intended, then it gives me the impression that he'll remember who he is if he can remember that word and say the whole phrase. It's like he's not even allowed to say the whole thing yet. Gotta save it for that special moment. For now, they're just teasing you with it. So here's what I think we're actually supposed to take away from his character file: He has a connection to Xigbar. The only thing we know that he remembers is an incomplete version of the MoM's phrase. He knows that somebody said it, but his memory seems to go on the fritz when he tries to remember what it means. It's himself. He's... He's just remembering himself. He probably also knows who Luxu is, but he doesn't realize that he's Xigbar because he doesn't look the same - but he ended up becoming Xigbar's nakama anyway because he (as the MoM) either arranged for it to be that way or it's just beautiful destiny. edit: Okay, I said that he became Xigbar's nakama, but... Did he? I don't think he's as close to Xigbar as he wants to be. In all their interactions, you can see how hard he's trying. Too hard. Xigbar was always amused by him, but I don't think he ever took him seriously enough or looked at him the way Demyx wanted him to. The whole reason Jack couldn't save the world is because he lacked the Power of Bonds, so......... In a narrative sense, Demyx has a connection to Xigbar that surely doesn't end here, but their hearts were never connected, were they........ ...........idk, is nobody thinking about how FRIENDS have major significance in the series, too? Friends are literally Sora's power. Demyx wants friends. These dots aren't that far apart. lol edit edit: I keep thinking of things to add to this i'm so sorry. kjhgg BUT. *cries* Why is this so reliant on understanding what he means in Japanese........ "kokoro no mama ni" means to do as your heart desires. So, it sounds like he took it to mean "do what you want" or "do what feels right." Then he remembered the "michibiku" part and went "Wait, what? Oh yeah, something's supposed to be something guiding in that phrase. ...What was the rest?" I feel like there's no ideal way to translate this... What a mess. lmao There's even a really long space where the "kagi ga" part should be... The fact that he totally misunderstood it from the beginning seems to mean that he... may not have even KNOWN the phrase until it suddenly came back to him right at that moment. Nonetheless here's my re-attempt: Right, right. It's just like that guy would say. That "..........guide you as your heart desires" guy? Now that I think about it, what was supposed to be 'guiding', again...? ? You can do it, Demyx! You can put it together! D... Do you even know that there's a "guy"...? Are you okay? LOL Also, the whole middle paragraph about how he'd rather just have fun is 100% Jack content. Which, again... Jack... MoM.............. Demyx. My guess is that he has the MoM's memories to some degree (like how Jack could remember his own past lives to some degree) but he doesn't recognize himself for the same reason he doesn't recognize Luxu. I don't think you need to think about it that hard, though. Just look at them. It's like how everybody knew that Ventus killed Strelitzia and Brain is Eraqus's ancestor. It's right there. Don't let Demyx's character file story fool you with its highly intentional ambiguity. lol edit: Thought of something else to add to this. The title of his story is "Tweet of a Substitute." That seems to be some kind of mistranslation. (The title is actually in English to begin with.) In Japanese, the word for "tweet" (like to send a tweet on Twitter) is tsubuyaki. That word also means "muttering" or talking to one's self. I'm not sure if they used google translate or what... But the title is almost certainly meant to be Hoketsu no Tsubuyaki, "The Substitute's Mutterings." On that note, the Type-0 Ultimania has a section on Jack's page called Jack no Tsubuyaki which includes all of the voice lines he says to himself when you examine things around Akademeia. I don't know if this is just a coincidence, but it's weird.

Well, after the recent khux update (beware spoilers), it would appear that I should finally share these thoughts because it would appear that they might be correct. Ages ago, the MoM mentioned that the war never ends, but it's possible to form a "truce" with the darkness. Nothing escapes me. lol From then on, I kind of had the impression that the MoM may have been cooperating with Darkness in order to stab him in the back. Combined with the fact that eyes are a symbol of the Judge, this gave me the impression that the Gazing Eye was a gift from Darkness that would help the MoM find "Agito." If the Gazing Eye made him connected to Darkness, then... that was probably a bad thing. Darkness is his enemy. So in order to remove that connection.......... I think he just frickin' disappeared to escape from Darkness's control and started himself over again as Demyx. This is an assumption I've had for a while and it hasn't done me dirty yet. The Gazing Eye is such a stupidly overpowered ability, I don't think it exists anymore. I don't think Demyx has the Gazing Eye. It wouldn't even be necessary anymore. So it's gone. lol It's hard to write a story where someone has that type of power without it causing huge plot contrivances, so it's honestly for the best if he doesn't have that power anymore. I mentioned how Ace is "The One Closest to Agito" and how that makes Ventus special, right? khux was like "Yeah." lmao Apparently the MoM used a lot of ~ these ~ in this update. What do you call them? Tildes? I hadn't mentioned it, but you probably noticed it in all of the Jack quotes I shared. The way you can tell when Jack is joking/not being super serious is when he's using those. When he doesn't use them, that's how you know he's trying to be serious. Meow. There was this one part that seems to have confused people. I don't know how the youtube subbing circles are going to handle this, but I'll explain it for you... Both of the words here mean "friend." It's just that the word Ephemer uses comes with a different connotation. A "yuujin" is just a friend. "Nakama" could be a lot more than just a friend. It could be a companion, a compatriot, a partner, a teammate, someone you really trust, someone who's got your back, etc. (If you're into One Piece, you probably get it. lol) Darkness isn't the MoM's "nakama." In Demyx's character file story, he said he thinks he joined the Organization because he wanted "nakama." Is this related? Not sure. Could be. He did say that Xigbar was the person he hung out with the most. Does that make Xigbar his nakama? I just have a feeling that Darkness making a big deal out of that word means that that word is a big deal. Anyway, I've seen people interpreting that line to mean that the MoM isn't human, but I don't think that's what it's saying. It sounds to me like Darkness was objecting to Ephemer's word choice because he wouldn't be nakama with humans... Meaning that the MoM is human. (There's no distinction of plural or singular here, so he might mean "A HUMAN.") I mean, we know that the MoM was a "young boy" in his past, so... He ages. That sounds pretty human to me. ...Not like this really makes a difference to me. Demyx could be an SCP if he wanted and I'd believe it. The MoM's baka energy was off the charts in this update. As Jack would say "It'll all work out somehow~"

DON'T MIND ME, JUST ADDING SOMETHING AGAIN... A pal on tumblr translated a bit of the French version of one of the Type-0 novels because there were some things they thought I'd enjoy. The conversations between Jack and Deuce are amazing. Their interactions are just like what I'd expect from MoM and Ava. BEHOLD THE CHARACTERIZATION. I am once again thinking about the scene from khux where the MoM tells Ava about his plan to make the wielders forget about the war... Still not sure what the point of that was, exactly. But there's gotta be a correlation here somewhere. Then there's the flashback from when Deuce joined the orphanage and he made her smile by dancing to her flute. Very wholesome. Then, after that: That line about his smile concealing a cold abyss... Such MoM energy. I'm shooketh. I asked what the word was for "strange", and it seems like it really was just "strange" in French. So I imagine the original was focusing on some unusual/mysterious quality in the way he was looking at her. Jack... Why are you so mysterious...? What was he thinking about while watching her?? It's so easy to draw a comparison to khux here... I get the impression that Jack was thinking about what the war might do to Deuce and her kindness. (Deuce's power is the Power of Kindness.) In Agito, Jack states that he believes that in the midst of war, the world needs kindness more than anything. I don't think the MoM was ever trying to hurt Ava - probably the opposite. He seems especially kind towards her, almost sad, showing what seems like more real emotion than he does with anyone else. He wanted her to avoid engaging in any battles... What Jack meant is that there's no one like Deuce. There's no one as kind as her. So of course... Ava was the only one for that role. Demyx, play The Forlorn Heart. Anyhow. Then, a bit later, from right before Jack sacrificed himself to protect her from Ines' mech... Tears running down my face... My pal said that they thought I'd enjoy this part because you can interpret it as an example of Jack seeing "reality." Which seems true, even if it's just in a figurative, emotional sense and not in the hyper-literal KH way. All the time, you can tell that Jack sees things in a clear, simple way. Here, he understands the futility of trying to reason with someone who has no intention of listening. But, on an even deeper level, he knows that two people can never truly see anything from the same perspective. You'd have to, like, literally BE the other person for that to be possible. So it's another case of how each person has their own concept of "reality." To them, Ines is the enemy, but Ines surely sees herself as the hero of her own story, protecting Milites from the "red demons." We're treated to the story of Type-0 from the perspective of Class Zero. The moment you start looking at it from the perspective of the other nations, you realize that Class Zero might not... be very good people... So what is the truth? What is reality? WHAT IS THE CHEESE, KANEKI-KUN?? Deuce has a kizuna event where she thinks about what the war must be like for the people of Milites. As soon as she starts humanizing them in her mind, it gets harder for her to see them as being any different from them. She may not have put two and two together, but her own concept of reality had changed. It made it harder for her to see herself as a hero. How could anyone become Agito when they doubt whether they're doing the right thing? So, of course, I'm sure that Ava was experiencing the same sort of internal turmoil as the keyblade war commenced. "Am I the enemy now...?" Ava tried so hard to get everyone to stop. She tried to understand everyone. But it was never going to work... But is it right to be like Jack and say that it was pointless? If you can't see eye to eye, is it meaningless to even attempt to understand how someone feels? Maybe it is. But maybe there's something to be said for trying to understand people anyway. Even if they failed, I think that's the importance of Deuce and Ava. Because if there weren't people who tried to be kind, then the world would be an even crueler place. Be kind, even if the world isn't kind to you in return. That sort of moral. I fear that the Foretellers will once again find themselves back in the disaster zone if they trust Demyx. He's been empowered by Vexen, so now he seems to believe he can be a good guy like Riku and the others, but with how insensitive and emotionally dense he is....... No matter how good his intentions are, something bad is bound to happen again. Demyx clearly didn't understand Riku's feelings when he took the replica. Riku stressed that it contained important feelings. Riku, he doesn't know what those are. LOL ("Didn't Riku say 'memories'?" No. The localization strikes again.) Where was I going with this? idk. I hope you enjoyed this impromptu MoM & Ava meta.

I somehow went this whole time without mentioning one of the most obvious visual similarities. As far as I'm aware, this is one of the oldest pieces of keyart for Agito XIII. Jack is the cool one on the right with the sword. I remember thinking that these guys looked like "Organization XIII rip-offs" because they each use different weapons and wear these hooded coats. Now I am the fool. Oh yeah, when speaking of the world's "authorship", there is yet another way you could interpret it. The idea from the original tagline persists in Type-0. Near the end of the game, Arecia tells them that the last page of the Akashic Records hasn't been written and it's for them to decide. They discuss the page here. They each have their own idea for how they should face the end of the world. Of course, Jack says that it's ridiculous to think that they could stop the end of the world and suggests running away. Very intriguing. The last page of the Akashic Records being written by Class Zero and the last page of the Book of Prophecies having "already been written" (and needing to be overwritten) makes me go "HMM?" It's like the end of Type-0 was what ended up being written there and now it had to be rewritten... Am I supposed to interpret it that way? I don't know, but I made myself sad. On that note... Just when you get done watching the very sad ending and you're thinking to yourself "Well, maybe it's okay. Maybe they all became Agito in spirit and now the world will be safe." Nah. And now I literally just remembered that this is what made me think that there could be a Crystal in the box. Totally forgot they mentioned "hope" here. lol The Crystals are also referred to as the light of hope. Without them, the world falls to darkness. So that's........ Something.

Added a link to my blog in the first post, but sharing it here, too. Here's the whole index. I'm still adding new things all the time. There are still many Kizuna events I'm missing... My Jack collection isn't complete yet... These are the Jack events I know I'm missing because I saw a partial list of titles, but there's even MORE out there. Just by looking at these titles, I think you can see why some of these are of big interest to me... もしも別の世界があったら - Say, If There Were Other Worlds... 魔導院バンド結成？ - The Formation of the Akademeia Band? 貸った本を探そう - Let's Look For the Book I Was Lent かすかな素顔 - A Faint Glimpse of His True Face 微笑みの奥で - Behind the Smile 彼の守りたい世界 - The World He Wants to Protect *cries* That's SO MANY. I think that most of these came from the third cycle when the game was close to being shut down and there were fewer people playing...

Even Agito is kind of ambiguous about what causes the end of the world, tbh. lol I would say that it's the Judge (traitor), but I'm not sure what they actually DO to make it end. That might be what Kingdom Hearts is for. It sounded like that was what Xehanort was going to use it for, right? There are probably a lot of older bits of info in the series that don't quite fit anymore... I'm not sure what Kingdom Hearts was originally intended to be. I think it might be something different now. If I'm not mistaken, the "light" that rains down to destroy the world comes from Etro's Gate. It's a giant eye in the sky. Etro's Gate and Kingdom Hearts always sounded like the same thing to me. Maybe Nomura realized that and started nudging it in that direction... I'm learning to accept that not everything has to fit perfectly. Even if it seems like Etro's Gate and has some things in common with it, Kingdom Hearts probably works differently and has a different purpose. Your guess is as good as mine. Tempus Finis always comes after the war. The end of the war is what triggers it. Gala awakens along with the Rursus Crystal and he chooses a Judge. In spirit, I'd say that Salsa Night has already begun, but there could still be time until the sky turns red, if it's going to. I really hope it does, but I wonder if it would make things too obvious... Anyone who's played Type-0 would have to notice at that point. Maybe it's too much. Yes. Kind of. If anyone, I think that would be Arecia. I assume that the MoM is partially picking up her role. She's also known as "Mother." (...MoM. Mother. Heehee.) She's the creator of the world. She has some control over how the world works, but she can't do things like end it herself. However, when the world ends, she has the authority to say whether it's finally over forever. (She refers to the Spiral - the cycle as a whole - as an "experiment.") By my estimation, there's nobody else in Kingdom Hearts who's like her. The MoM certainly doesn't act like her. I'd describe her as... Calm, mature, suave, and terse. She's always working behind the scenes in Type-0, but I think you could be forgiven for forgetting that she exists in Agito. She doesn't really need to be there, tbh. So if she and Jack were turned into one character for Kingdom Hearts purposes, that makes sense to me. Arecia is just a god in service of other gods, btw. If you zoom out, the world of Orience just looks like a sphere being held by a pair of gods called Diva. As you can tell by the name, Diva "sings" the story of Type-0. The wiki refers to HER as the creator, but Agito explicitly refers to Arecia as the creator, so I don't know what to believe. I guess it depends on which game you ask. There's a book in Type-0 which is VERY similar to the Book of Prophecies called "the Nameless Tome", but its author is unknown. All we know is that Tabata said that Arecia isn't the one who wrote it and she didn't instruct anyone to write it. Vewwy mystewious. Most of what I know about Arecia and the Nameless Tome comes from Type-0, though, so all of that might be unreliable if we're only supposed to be thinking about ideas that existed with Agito XIII. Anyway, from the Nameless Tome: So, in a sense... *glances suspiciously at Melody of Memory* The whole history of the world is an endlessly repeating song.

ok, Strelitzia time. I will attempt to explain, but here's what you need to know first: Machina=Lauriam, Rem=Elrena, Izana=Strelitzia, Ace=Ventus Izana is Machina's older brother. He's a foot soldier in the legion and he's one of the caretakers of the military Chocobos at the Chocobo ranch. He has a big brotherly aura, but he's also just a really nice guy. Whenever Player talks to him in Agito, I'm overwhelmed by how sweet he is. He's the type of person you wanna protect. It's too bad they live in a world of war. Ace likes to visit the Chocobo ranch, so he becomes acquaintances with Izana. In Type-0, he invites Izana to join Class Zero in their next mission, not knowing that their next mission would end up being a fullscale operation to defend Akademeia against an unexpected Militesi invasion. The commander of the legion hadn't approved for Izana to go, but Class Zero have special privileges, so since Ace wanted Izana to go, Izana was sent. Izana is given the task of delivering enemy intel to Class Zero. He rides his Chocobo through the town and gets gunned down before he can reach them. Ace is too late to help him. Izana dies together with his Chocobo in the saddest intro sequence to a game I've ever seen. Seriously, it's what made me originally put down the game and refuse to play it. I was so shook. He's in so much pain and anguish and his Chocobo is trying to comfort him despite also being gravely injured, and I....... JUST THINKING ABOUT IT MAKES ME WANNA CRY. Because of how memories are erased in this world, Machina loses his memories of Izana, but he can tell that something's missing. Ace also forgets, but he finds out that he was involved in Izana's deployment and blames himself. Feeling guilty and realizing how badly it would hurt Machina, he hides the truth from him. However, the commandant tells Machina about what happened and uses that opportunity to place the blame on Class Zero. This leads Machina to blame them for Izana's death and turn against them. You know, like how Lauriam lost his mind when he found out "what Ventus did." Something similar happens in the first cycle of the world, but Ace apologized that time. It's not always the same. Sometimes, Izana survives all the way to the end. In the second cycle, he goes outside with the legion to investigate the mysterious creatures that suddenly appeared at the end of the world. He promises to return, but he never does... Marluxia also loses his memories of Strelitzia and he feels like something's missing. It's all very familiar. It seems like no matter what cycle, though, Machina always ends up becoming obsessed with finding out what happened to Izana. *cries* In the first cycle, he goes all over Akademeia, asking everyone if they can remember anything about him. MACHINA... LAURIAM... Elrena and Ventus are the ones you have to protect now!! ?? I guess it's possible that Strelitzia could've still been alive in some other world line, but at the point that Sora saved the world, I get the feeling that other world lines might not exist anymore... Machina's power is "The Power of Fear." He becomes deathly terrified of losing the people he's close to, particularly Rem, his childhood friend. I could see Lauriam developing the same sort of protectiveness of Elrena. I-in the third world, she dies as he's holding her and he immediately loses his memories and can't even recognize the person he's holding...... But he can sense that she was important to him and promises to "return" to her... *sits in the corner of sadness* Rem's power is "The Power of Love." *UGLY CRYING* ELRENA HAS STOOD BY HIM THIS WHOLE TIME. I'M IN A GLASS CASE OF EMOTION!!!!! Opera Omnia gave Machina his own arc where he was finally able to reconcile with Ace after Type-0. Lauriam and Ventus will make up and I'll get emotional all over again. Additionally, this just kind of amuses me, but I think Lauriam's young hairstyle was based on Machina's. lol

When speaking of the location itself, I feel like Scala is something new. I'm just not as sure about it as I am with other things. I ran around there a lot, looking around for things that might tip off my Agito radar. There are only two things I feel faaairly sure about. First, there's the obvious, which is the clock tower underwater. When the world ends in the Agito universe, the island with Akademeia is shown sinking into the ocean. Surprisingly, this is something you can see happening in the very first Agito XIII trailer as well. The artbook illustrates it this way: "Light fell/rained down from the heavens and the world fell to ruin..." To me, it sort of looks like what Luxu stayed behind to witness with the Gazing Eye. In the Agito universe, when the world starts over, it literally starts over and everything gets restored to the way it was before, but since it seems like new worlds just replace old ones in Kingdom Hearts, it's like Daybreak Town sunk and stayed sunk and a new world was built on top of it. All of the magic circles used in the Xehanort fight remind me of things from Type-0, though none of them are exactly the same. For instance, this one looked so much like something from the fight, I got confused and thought it actually WAS a Kingdom Hearts screenshot. lol But it's not. It's from when Arecia summons Bahamut during the fight against Celestia's dragon form. Point is, though, I feel like there's something going on with the way Scala is built and controlled by magic. Like, it doesn't feel like a real place to me, if that makes sense...? The way it can be manipulated seems strange and reminds me of Alexander. Alexander starts out underground, but when it's summoned, it flips upright. In the scene where it's summoned, a whole bunch of magic circles appear in the sky. Like, I could be totally wrong here, but since the summoning of Alexander is such an iconic scene for Type-0, it just wouldn't surprise me if Scala ad Caelum is some kind of "living" place that can move and become something completely different in a similar way. Scala ended up getting totally destroyed in the fight against Xehanort, but if it's controlled by magic like Akademeia is, it could probably be restored in some very simple, magic-related way. At the beginning of Type-0, Akademeia is brought to a similar state of ruin, but Arecia is able to fix it right up. The other thing that really catches my attention is this: This is from that weird machine at the center of Scala with all the dials. This seems like a reference to Tempus Finis to me. During Tempus Finis, the view of Akademeia from Pandaemonium looks like this: I've seen people speculate about what the black part underneath the clock tower might be, since it does kiiind of look like it's trying to be something. If it is something, it reminds me of how the Vermilion Bird statue looks during Tempus Finis. So, if nothing else, I think we can assume that the Daybreak Town setting on the machine is represented by the way it looked at the end of the world. I hope this means we'll get to see Salsa Night in khux. lol This is also a very important thing at the back of my mind, but I just don't know what to do with it... When you first meet Xehanort in Scala ad Caelum, his image sort of flickers or glitches out. The same thing happens again in Melody of Memory. On a similar note, when he uses the No Name to raise up the labyrinth in the Keyblade Graveyard, there are glowing lines in the ground that seem to activate like circuitry. When you begin the fight with Yozora, the Final World also transitions into Quadratum in a very digital style which assuredly wasn't just a "cool transition." I don't want to say that everything is fake, but......... I think that everything (literally everything) is a game, so reality is relative for everyone. I think Yozora might have been confused about Sora because he also thought that Sora wasn't real. If Sora's name is like "Agito", then hearing someone say "Yeah, I'm Sora" would sound like a ridiculous lie. YOU'RE Agito? Even though the Agito cadets are trying to become Agito, most of them think that Agito is just a legend or something figurative. Heck, many fans come away believing that Agito is something figurative, but Tabata was like "Nah, it's a real person. lol" In fact... And this is very sad... Unlike Luxu, Lean and Tohno were never given the promise that they'll accomplish their mission. They spend eternity looking for Agito, always aware of the possibility that Agito might not even be real. Anyway, there's a chance that Brain and the others never actually left Data Daybreak Town. We'll have to see. But if that's the case, it could end up meaning a lot of things about the nature of the world we thought we knew this whole time. There could be more than one Judge, but where Xehanort is concerned... Miyu may have been possessed by Gala, but she was still consciously working for Arecia's side. Instead of letting Darkness choose someone at random to manipulate, I think the MoM chose to send Xehanort down that path so he would have someone of his own choosing in that position. Xehanort wanted to start the world over for his own reasons, but if he succeeded in "raising" Sora up to a level where Sora could defeat him, then that would be the outcome the MoM was hoping for. Xehanort was basically like a really intense challenge to turn Sora into the world's savior. That's why the MoM asked Xehanort if it was okay to let the future be dictated by false light. That's actually another reference. Time for another tangent. Each of the main cadets occupy a "seat of power." (I know, interesting word choice...) As I mentioned, the true Agito is "The Power of Bonds." Jack is "The Power of Ignorance" and Lean is "The Power of Suffering." Arecia thought that she could create Agito by combining all the other powers, but that obviously wasn't going to work. I think you could say that anyone who doesn't have Sora's ability to form connections and use the Power of Waking the particular way he does is a "false light" who can't save the world, no matter how much they want to. I think Xehanort might have more in common with Cid Aulstyne, who was also a Judge. But you get the idea. Apart from the true Agito representing hope, I don't think hope was ever mentioned anywhere else in a significant way. I also haven't seen anything that even remotely looks like the box. Xigbar's character file calls everything about the box into question, even its appearance. He implies that it might not be black. It might not even be a box. I'm not sure if he was just trying to make a point about how reality is subjective or if he means that the box can LITERALLY look different. lol Yeah, I'm still stumped. My best guesses include... A Crystal. The Book of Prophecies. The MoM's heart. And, uhhh yeah that's all I've got. *shrugs* Oh boy, this just reminded me of something I noticed. In the scene where the MoM tells Luxu about his past, there's a crimson-colored table with a golden gear on it. I know it might look like "just a gear", but that's part of the emblem of Rubrum. It's a very specific gear, and those are the school colors. Then I noticed that that table isn't there anymore by the time Ventus and the others reach that room. It looks like it was hiding something underneath it. There's another gear symbol on the ground, like a hatch or an elevator panel. The MoM was able to make everyone forget about the war somehow. In the Agito universe, the Vermilion Bird Crystal controls a power called "the Oblivion of Death" which erases the memories of the dead from the living. The Crystal is kept in the Peristylium. We never see where it's located exactly, but they say it's "under Akademeia, underground." I think that might be a hatch to the Peristylium. If the MoM DOES have a Crystal that can control memories, that would totally be something you'd want to lock in a box. The Crystal is sentient, but it's defenseless, so it needs people to protect it. For that purpose, it can turn people into l'Cie and grant them extreme power. However, l'Cie are bound to the Crystal and can't save the world. It's a dangerous double-edged sword. (In this world, l'Cie are highly respected and it's considered an honor to serve the Crystal.) This is the Peristylium. You can also see it in the first Agito XIII trailer. Ace walks right up to it and activates the machine in front of it by placing his thumb on a sensor. This isn't something the cadets are even allowed to go near in Type-0, so....... Its original purpose is a mystery to me. Listen, there's something under that table. And I think it's a Crystal. LOL They actually do mention that other worlds exist outside of their world! But we don't get to see any of them. lol Apparently the Moogles were summoned from another world and weren't able to return to their world for some reason. The Nox Suzaku (which, in Japanese, is literally called "The Darkness of the Dominion") is a veeeeeeeeeeeery strange and mysterious creature that came from another world. Fans have been desperate to find out more about it for as long as the game has existed... I think that Game Central Station might be more important than we realize. And I think that the Dissidia display in Toy Box might've been more than just a reference. My thoughts go in so many directions where that's concerned... Since the world started over so many times in Agito and was never saved, I could see this being one of its many cycles. (Pretty sure "cycles" and "world lines" are the same thing.) I can't really prove that that's NOT the case. lol This is getting long and I have to eat at some point, so I'll come back to elaborate on Strelitzia's connection.

2.4.2022: I've collected all of the most relevant information and put it into one comprehensive doc. It's 95 pages, but it's an enjoyable ready if I do say so myself. This is going to include a lot of Final Fantasy Agito and Type-0 spoilers. Probably no Melody of Memory spoilers? I'm going to dissect the MoM's identity at length. idk if you could interpret that concept as a spoiler, so... Use your discretion. Like Final Fantasy Versus XIII which became Final Fantasy XV, Final Fantasy Agito XIII became "Final Fantasy Type-0." The game was part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis series and was meant to serve as the "ancient past" of Versus XIII. Needless to say, that never came to be the case when the Fabula Nova Crystallis was broken apart. In 2014, a mobile game called "Final Fantasy Agito" was released. It followed the original concept of Agito XIII. It was discontinued in 2015 without reaching its proper ending and the Vita port which had been planned was cancelled for reasons unexplained. The game is now a piece of lost media, but Japanese transcriptions of the main story as well as various screenshots of character events still exist online. I've taken the liberty to translate the whole main story on my tumblr blog (nanakibh) and I've been trying to translate as many of the character events as I can find, but a lot of it is just gone and will probably never be seen again. In a sentence, the game is about a war that continually ends the world. This is going to take a little while, but I'm going to explain the whole thing. Because why not? You need to know this. I'm tired of seeing people not know this. Feel free to tell your local YouTube Men about this so that everybody can know. It's gonna be a while until the next game, so I wanna save you some time thinking about theories that go nowhere. The MoM did a fairly decent job of spoiling the ending of Agito when he told Luxu about his past. I've seen people try to squint and apply it to things we've already seen in Kingdom Hearts, but... No, that was really a word-for-word description of stuff that happens in the climax of this story. In the world of Agito, there are Agito cadets, candidates who aim to become "Agito", the name of the legendary savior of the world. Which is to say, (Phil voice) they all wanna be HEROES. The cadets attend a school on an island. The school, town, and island are collectively known as Akademeia. Akademeia is in the country of Rubrum. Time for a little tour of the most khux-relevant places. When you arrive at Akademeia, you'll see a fountain in front of you. It's a common meeting place for students. Many conversations are held here. At the center of the fountain is a phoenix, "the Vermilion Bird", the animal symbol of Rubrum. Each country is represented by one of the four mythical Chinese beasts. You know, like Unions. Though, I think that each cadet class is more along the lines of being what Unions are. They're all kind of competing and working towards the same goal. There are thirteen cadet classes with 0 being the most auspicious and 12 being, like, the loser bin. When the Player joins Akademeia, they're welcomed into Class Twelfth. In the first world, Tohno and Jack are members of Class Twelfth. When you enter the main hall, there's a prominent clock. What's it for? I don't know. But time is a very relevant symbol. I can tell you right now that time is a lie. I've pointed this out before, but I'm bringing it back. It's always worth bringing this back. This is a window from the Chancellor's room, located on another floor of Akademeia that the player can't access. You can see it in cutscenes in Type-0, most notably the opening sequence. It's the same design as the Daybreak Town clock tower. If more people had taken this as the clue it's clearly meant to be, we could've all solved this a lot faster. Come on, folks, there are more games in the FNC than just Versus XIII. lol You can also find this design in the artbook. Another variation of the design is found at the back of the classroom. The classroom is where lectures are held, but it's also where students frequently have to meet to receive mission briefings. There are also hearts on those banners. *shrugs* Because sure, why not. Kingdom Hearts. Behind the classroom, there's a garden. That's where you'll find Deuce, tending to her flowers. She grows special white flowers that mean "the arrival of happiness" and "reuniting with someone you love." Familiar concept. Behind the garden is the cemetery where they bury those who die in the war. That's where you'll usually find Tohno, a mysterious girl with long black hair. When the world ends and starts over, everyone forgets, but there are a few who remember, and she's one of them. Her memories are of great interest to the resident scientist, Kazusa. (She's the "Skuld" one, clearly.) Out on the terrace, you can see the whole town down below. That's where you'll always find Jack, standing in his signature pose with his hands behind his head. This is who we're looking for! This is the boy!! Ahhh, what a cutie. If you couldn't already tell, he looks a lot like Demyx. He also has the same voice actor in Japanese. See, conceptually, it's just... You get it? Yeah. Nomura's a funny man. The final battle that ends the world also happens to take place on that terrace. Final Fantasy Agito begins at the start of the first war. Type-0 takes place in the 600+ MILLIONTH world, so Agito's really goin' all the way back to the beginning. Just when it looks like the war has come to a close, the sky suddenly turns red. Mysterious creatures appear from nowhere and begin slaughtering everyone indiscriminately. No one knows what they are. Monsters? Soldiers? Nobody knows. And they're never given any answers. Because they die. (God, I recommend reading this part the most. I cry every time, especially in the third world when Lean is with them... The hopelessness is real.) At that time, Jack is the only one who notices that there's something wrong with Miyu, the Cadet Representative, the girl who acted as the cadets' leader. Alas, even if he'd spoken up sooner, that wouldn't have changed anything... Miyu had been possessed by an unknown entity. The entity (Gala) is never given a name in Agito. It's just referred to as just "???" When it isn't possessing someone, it looks like formless darkness. In Type-0, Gala has a masked form similar to Vanitas, but he has no form in Agito like Darkness. Miyu was transformed into a type of l'Cie known as the "Judge." The Judge's Focus, also known as a "role" (seriously, it's the same word in Japanese), was to conduct trials to test whether the real Agito (the savior of the world) had been born in that world. If they hadn't, it was the Judge's job to end the world and make it start all over again in the hopes that Agito would be born the next time. Eyes are a symbol of the Judge. They're all over the place in the final dungeon of Type-0. In Agito, the Judge's l'Cie brand appears over their eye. The Judge is different every time. So, say, even if Jack managed to remember that Miyu was the one who became the Judge, he would've been wrong about who the traitor was in the second world. Ace was the one who got possessed instead. Tohno had her eye on Miyu, so she was totally thrown off guard when it turned out to be Ace. I've got a lot of thoughts about Darkness here, but I'm gonna keep them to myself and continue with the story. So just a quick recap: Miyu is the traitor of the first world. Ace is the traitor of the second world. I know that's just two worlds, but it's a lot to think about. Corporate needs you to find the difference between these two images. Ace shares a number of similarities with Ventus, so seeing him getting possessed by Ye Olde Unknown Entity is kind of amusing. Ace was known as "the one closest to (becoming) Agito." In a Kingdom Hearts sense, that's gonna make sense in a second and should illuminate the reason why Ventus is so special. Anyway. Even if they defeat the Judge, it isn't enough to prove that they have the power the Judge is looking for - the "Power of Bonds", a power that connects people together. (It's Sora's version of the Power of Waking. Like, you get it, right?) Supposedly, the power can reveal the gateway between the mortal world and the Unseen Realm. The only person who has that power is the Player, but... Well, I mentioned that this game was discontinued, right? So the Player is never able to use their power. By the way, don't get the Agito Player and khux Player confused. They're totally unrelated. I sense no connection. I'm pretty sure that Sora is supposed to be the Agito Player because, like, he changes destiny. That's why he's so Special And Important to Xehanort and the MoM. So you see, the entity and the cadets both want Agito. For the entity, Agito's power can help them reach the Unseen Realm. For the cadets, Agito's power can free them from their destiny of war. The war basically exists to find Agito, so........ I wonder how this info would make Sora feel. Jack is Very Angery that he can't become Agito. But he kind of resigns himself to that fact pretty quickly and decides that the world he'll protect is "the world within the distance his blade can reach." In the worlds to follow, he just straight-up says NAH, WE CAN'T DO IT. In Type-0, it's unclear, but in Agito, it seems pretty obvious to me that he's that resigned because he remembers what happened. Final Fantasy Agito was supposed to "rewrite" the ending of Type-0 where Class Zero all die. But since the true Agito never arrived to save them, you can assume that they were trapped in a continuous spiral of war forever. More specifically, Tabata said that he wanted "the past to save the future." Sooo... Isn't that KH3? Lean and Tohno put on cloaks and step outside of time in search of the one who could overwrite the world's destiny of destruction. So, now you understand why Luxu encouraged Sora to use the Power of Waking, right? Lean and Luxu had the same mission. I feel like I could write a whole post just about Lean because he's a very entertaining dude. Suffice it to say that he's the perfect combination of young Luxu and older Luxu. He's the "token evil member" of Class Zero. (Depending on how you look at it, they're all evil.) Since they didn't have the time to reach the proper ending, Player doesn't succeed in becoming Agito, but Lean expresses his belief in them. Luxu seems weirdly fixated on Sora and Ventus's eyes and I think this is probably why. Their eyes have the "light of hope." When Xehanort referred to Sora as their "hope" I was like THERE IT IS! Now, back to our boy Jack. He's interesting because he's one of the few who seem to remember the things that happened in previous worlds. I unfortunately don't have it, but by the third world, he has an event called "Say, if there were other worlds..." in which he almost assuredly talks about what he remembers and what he's probably figured out about the nature of the world. Jack is determined to keep everything he knows to himself, though. He doesn't want anyone to worry. As a result. he ends up losing his ability to feel emotions. This explains a lot of things, but it also makes him sound so sad........ Jack is always easygoing and cheerful, but apparently that's just an act. The reason why he acts so cartoonishy over-the-top must be because he's overcompensating. I feel like this would explain why the MoM sounds legit morose when Young Xehanort talks about how he feels it's important to understand the emotions within hearts. (Is this why the Book of Prophecies emblem looks like a Nobody emblem...?) The fact that Jack can't understand emotions is one of the reasons why he fails as an Agito candidate and can't save the world. He can't form genuine connections. The only one who can connect with him is Player, and, as I've said..... That'd be Sora. I don't know the context behind Player making Jack feel anger, but we sure have already seen Sora make Demyx display anger. Everybody's gotta start somewhere. They started on the wrong foot. lol btw, the character events are known as "Kizuna events." Kizuna means "bond." So, literally, it's an event where the Player forms connections with characters. There's a little timed section where you would rapidly tap a heart to earn kizuna points, and the heart looks like THIS: Is Kingdom Hearts Agito or is Agito Kingdom Hearts? Who can say, tbh. Anyhow, I think that having no emotions might also be smart for the MoM. In the case of khux, Darkness can possess people and manipulate them by using their emotions against them. If the MoM doesn't have emotions, Darkness can't use him. When they were little, Jack brought back Deuce's smile by doing a silly dance. Ever since then, she trusted his optimism. In the novels, she finds out that his smiles are fake and it makes her feel like everything she knows is a lie. Likewise, he believes in her kindness, but she secretly doesn't believe she's really as kind as people think she is because she has to kill people in the war. So, y'see, MoM and Ava both admire something fake about each other. It's disastrous. *chef kiss* ...Have I mentioned the band yet? I HAVEN'T MENTIONED THE BAND. God, I'm sorry. There's just so much going on here. It's hard for me to even tell where to start. I don't have the full scene, but I have enough to know that it sure did exist. lol Jack enlisted Player's help to find people who would form a band with him. It seems like he really wanted to call himself "Angel Jack" as his stage name. Kinda ironic, but cute. I'm not sure what instrument he played in this world, but in the alternate ending world of Type-0, he plays drums. Theoretically, he could've played a different instrument in every world. I'm also very amused by the fact that Jack is canonically the strongest cadet. Possibly the strongest human character. For real, it says this in his profile, and the Ultimania shows his strength stat going to the edge of the grid. lol He mastered the blade -- Jigen-ryuu sword style in specific, a style that focuses on beheading the enemy with one powerful downward strike across the neck from the shoulder. The style teaches that one should ALWAYS keep their blade sheathed to avoid killing at all costs. It's not a style made for long, sustained battles. Jack acts like a coward, but............ Rest assured, if he wanted someone dead, they'd be dead. He just can't do anything in between. It's all or nothing. He's most useful for taking down large enemies with a lot of HP. He does have one special move called "Transience" (JP, "Transient Crimson Blizzard", evoking the image of a shower of blood.) that can instantly wipe out a whole field of smaller enemies, but it costs him everything but 1 HP. For that move, he plunges a hand into his chest to grab his heart and forges a phantom blade in his other hand out of his SOUL. One of his profiles says that he avoids using that move in front of others because he knows how it would make them worry. idk, I think this more than explains how the MoM forges keyblades. lol Battle of a thousand Heartless? u are like little baby, Sora, watch THIS. *kills all the Heartless and frickin' dies* Since he isn't built for running around, most of his other moves involve watching and predicting the enemy's movements to deliver 1HKO's. When he counters, he excitedly shouts, "I predicted that!" (The word he uses for "predicted" combines the kanji for "seeing" and "cutting." Neat.) The original Japanese names of his counter moves are "Clear Mirror, Still Water" and "All-Seeing." The localized names are incorrect. Don't trust them. Yozora's fighting style seems really similar to Noctis's, so I'm going to guess that MoM's similar to Jack. So he's a glass cannon. But battles with him would probably be frustrating and short. I would expect to die a lot. Frequently. I hope he stays "on our side", like Demyx told Riku. lol He's part of the idiot trio; him, Cinque, and Nine. They're all a different type of idiot. Just by reading what I already posted, I think you can tell that Jack isn't actually stupid, though. He can erase things from his mind. Having an empty mind is actually really important for his technique. Jigen-ryuu incorporates "munen-muso" which means "no desire, no thought." The idea is that the body can move freely and react more quickly when unencumbered by the processes of conscious thinking. On the battlefield, he's an emotionless murder machine! This is cute, so I feel like sharing it. His fear of Queen is amusingly similar to Demyx's fear of Saix in the KH manga. Queen also happens to be a berserker... Interesting. She's also the one who seems like Invi, so now I'm just going to be waiting for Invi to go feral. This reminds me of another very relevant similarity... Jack is a frequent practitioner of the tactical retreat. Most of the time, if he shows up in someone else's event, he causes problems and then exits by running away. Usually, the problems he causes lead to GOOD things happening. That's why nobody outright hates him. He's not trying to do bad things just to mess with people. In most cases, he's actually trying to do good things. It's just hard because he doesn't have real emotions and he doesn't know what's appropriate. It seems like Seven is among the few who figured out what's going on with his emotions, so even if she's strict with him, she's sympathetic. Now, as for the rest of the Foretellers. Consider the following... Deuce, The Power of Kindness Deuce is the aforementioned friend of Jack who spends her time tending flowers in the garden. Fellow lover of music. Her weapon is a flute. She's known for being kind and docile, but she can also be firm. Because of how close she is to Jack, she's one of the few people who can break through his act and really make him be serious. Jack mostly keeps a watch on her from a distance, probably because he's afraid of hurting her. He encourages Player to be her friend. Eight, The Power of Tranquility Eight is a discerning lad who likes to visit the garden occasionally to check on Deuce. One time, he stepped on her flowers and he was just about ready to commit seppuku to atone for it. Seeing her cry is just too much for him to handle. Nice guy, but can also be a bit of a snarky asshole, especially towards Nine. He's known for being the calm, rational one, but once he thinks he's right, his judgement gets clouded by his own prejudices. Nine, The Power of Action Nine is a big questioner of authority. Strong but stupid. Always acts before he thinks. If Jack has a stupid plan, he makes Nine take the fall for him. In a way, I'm totally not surprised by how things turned out for Aced. Even the way the MoM acts a little annoyed with him is so... Jack. Yeah. I feel bad for him. At one point, Nine stands up for himself and actually tells Jack that he won't let him use him, but it totally goes over Jack's head because - reminder - Jack doesn't have emotions. He can't comprehend when he's hurting someone. Aced, Nine, I'm sorry you have to deal with him. btw, he has a move called "Primal Roar." So when Ava suggested that he "growl at them"......... That actually would work. He yells loudly and it does damage. Queen, The Power of Wisdom Oh, Ms. Student Council President... I guess I've come to the conclusion that Queen is the female equivalent of Saix. lol She's one of the few people who can keep Jack under control. She's good at filling the role of an authority figure, but she's bad at controlling her emotions, so if she gets heated, she'll snap at people, and that leads to some very unfortunate situations. Trey, The Power of Knowledge This is Trey. He knows a lot. He probably knows more than anyone. But Jack knows things I'm sure Trey doesn't know. And that's scary. On Jack's behalf, I would like to apologize to everyone. Are you getting the theme here yet? Jack lowkey treats everyone like shit and they're just like "Well, that's Jack. He means well, I think." But anyway, you can usually find Trey in the Crystarium, aka the library. He loves books. It drives him nuts if there's something he doesn't know. Ira's whole reaction to the Book of Prophecies is textbook Trey behavior. If there's someone who knows something he doesn't know, that's the most frustrating thing in the world to him. Lean Joker, The Power of Suffering I don't have conveniently matching images of Luxu and Lean because Lean got horribly shafted in the transition to Type-0 and he barely even appears in that game. He didn't even HAVE a face until Agito... ("Mother!" lmao do you get it? I'm gonna launch Nomura into the sun.) (edit) I feel like my description wasn't sufficient before, amusing as it was... So here you go. I've rewritten it. This is the most elaborate description you'll find of Lean Joker anywhere. Originally known as Lean Hampelmann, Lean is the adopted son of Marshal Cid Aulstyne. He's known to be the greatest engineering genius Milites has ever seen. Members of the military seem to think of Cid like their own father, so some members, such as Qun'mi, resent Lean and feel jealous of his close relationship with him. She's willing to do everything for Cid, including sacrificing her own life. Despite her resentment of him, Lean thinks of her as a sister and is terribly distraught when she does go off to sacrifice herself for the sake of fulfilling Cid's will. That's a concept that Lean also seems to be obsessed with - fulfilling Cid's will, to unify all of Orience under the banner of the White Tiger. Essentially, to eliminate war and bring peace. But, like, by force. He creates the Ultima Bomb, a nuke so powerful, it wipes out the entire massive country of Lorica. In nearly every cycle. Out of all of the millions of cycles. He's also the one responsible for most of the Empire's Magitek Armor units. Even in the cycles where he doesn't take part in the war, his creations still somehow come into existence which seems to suggest that they were part of the world's destiny... And it makes his existence seem futile. Even if he isn't the one doing evil, the evil finds a way to bring itself into existence. In front of Cid and the rest of the military, Lean acts like a dutiful, respectful son. He's usually very softspoken, anxious, and timid. But when he's out in the field, he discards that side of himself and becomes like a totally different person. He taunts the Rubrum cadets with a cocky attitude and seems to take pleasure in causing them distress. Like the cadets, Lean also aims to become Agito. Of course, the cadets don't understand how a sadistic person like him could ever become the savior of the world. Lean thinks of them as his rivals and displays a certain level of respect for them as a result. In the Agito gaiden chapter which was meant to serve as an abridgment of the game's third cycle, Lean comes to Akademeia as a goodwill ambassador from Milites. Most of students seem to like him because he's friendly enough, but his timid side lets him get pushed around a little. When Tempus Finis comes, he goes to Milites with Machina, Rem, and Player. Even though there were too many Rursan soldiers for them to fight, Lean refused to leave his Militesi comrades behind... Rem and Machina had to tear him away because he was so distraught, he was unable to even realize that the Militesi soldiers were already dead. This goes to prove that he isn't as cut out for fighting as he pretends to be -- he's actually a weak, emotional person at heart. After that cycle, Arecia decides to "discard" him, ordering him and Tohno to wander forward to find the true Agito in one of the future cycles. As a result, Class Zero forget who they are and their identities remain a secret forever after. His Power of Suffering seems to represent the pain he feels as he watches the war repeat every cycle. The Nameless Tome declares the Power of Suffering unnecessary because "the divine spirits did not desire to ascend." In the cycle of reincarnation, suffering brings one closer to enlightenment, whereas ignorance distances one from enlightenment. Although he has a lot in common with Jack, this is one area where they're very different. Jack feels nothing, but Lean seems to feel EVERYTHING. He was probably able to understand why Class Zero were incapable of saving the world, seeing their flaws, watching them fight each other, but he and Tohno were powerless to change destiny. Because Lean is just a scientist, he doesn't do a lot of fighting. But when he does, he pilots a Magitek Armor unit he built himself called "Leraje." (It shares its name with a demon. It's pronounced leh-RAH-jay.) He's shown to have a katana in artwork, but he never seems to actually use it. In Type-0, he only uses projectile magic. As long as you have the "Tiz's Prayer" key item, he'll randomly come to Class Zero's aid as an SP unit. His stats show that his blade is named "Unknown." (Yes, that's literally the name. It's written in katakana as アンノウン.) He's a master of disguise, choosing the appropriate attire to hide his identity wherever he goes. When he appears before Machina in Milites, he wears the masked Militesi uniform. In Rubrum, he wears one of their long, hooded cloaks. When he joins you in battle, he's equipped with an Invisibility Cloak that always makes him totally invisible besides a faint outline. Even if you have Tiz's Prayer, the odds of having him join you are VERY, VERY RARE. Here's a clip of him in battle. It took me hours to get this. lol When he joins, he says "Jeez, you're hopeless." It's a little hard to see him due to his invisibility status, so look for his outline. He really ran in and completed the mission for me... Jack, The Power of Ignorance We already talked about this guy. Total cryptid. Definitely Demyx. lol I think that everyone who's into Type-0 would agree that Jack is a genius. He doesn't have conventional intelligence like Lean. He doesn't have a lot of textbook knowledge like Trey. He doesn't have Queen's mature wisdom. But he's crafty and manipulative af. Serious cult leader vibes. Very lovable, but also...... The scariest character due to sheer deadly potential and unpredictability. Nevertheless, I would trust him. Despite his laziness, Jack has a heroic side. It's complicated because even that is just an act. He WANTS to be a hero, but he has no choice but to pretend to be one because he can't really BE anything. He's just constantly swapping masks and one happens to be "hero." There's another scene I unfortunately don't have, but apparently he admits to having no strong sense of self. He has to ask Player what they think he's like because he doesn't know. And then he tells them something along the lines of "I guess I'm whatever each person thinks I am." *gestures at the MoM's convo with YMX* In Agito, he has a persona he refers to as "the gallant, unknown swordsman" who's like a mysterious hero who randomly jumps to the rescue of others. In Opera Omnia, he expresses a similar interest; "Being the cool leader type is good, but being a nameless hero who rescues people from the shadows ain't so bad, either!" The characters from other games encourage him to try, even though the ones who know him doubt whether he could pull it off. The characters from other games also actually admire his laziness and recognize his brilliance because of how cleverly he bends people to his will to get what he wants while avoiding trouble. Speaking of Opera Omnia, when Jack was first introduced, the others only saw the large slash marks left in the ground from his sword along with the dead bodies of dozens of giant monsters. They consult Cloud at first, thinking it was a sign that they were going to run into Sephiroth. Cloud can tell that it wasn't the work of Sephiroth because Sephiroth would never create so much carnage without a reason. ...Jack was just bored, so he slaughtered the local monster population. Here's a small Jack compilation from Type-0 if you wanna hear what he sounds like. Considering the overall serious tone of the game, his silliness is a hilarious tone-breaker. I feel like I should give King an honorable mention. I'm preeetty sure King was one of Nomura's favorites because when Nomura appears as an SP Unit (Random NPC units that can assist you in battle. Most are named after staff members.) he's represented by King's model. King and the MoM share the same Japanese voice. The MoM and King aren't alike in any other way, though. Oh, want another fun Jack fact? Deuce is associated with white flowers, but Jack is associated with clover. Like Deuce's flowers, white clover means "happiness" and "think of me" in hanakotoba. I guess that makes it an honorary reunion flower. It's drawn a bit abstractly, but I'm preeetty sure the MoM is holding a white clover on the KH2.8 boxart, too. Could be a dandelion, but... Placing my bets on clover, seeing as how there's that whole scene in Back Cover where he picks one. Sice finds a four-leaf clover and gives it to Player because she heard from Jack that it's good luck. She also picked a flower by the road on her way back from a mission to give to Player after asking Deuce what the flower meant. It's just cute to see them spreading this flower-related superstition around the school. lol Strangely, besides Ace, Jack is also the only cadet to be mentioned in an Agito chapter title; "The Carefree Cadet's Departure For the Frontlines." The chapter is about how his fake smiles fail to keep everyone calm as the war begins to turn against them in the second world. More MoM behavior. Ugh, I love him. Okay, this post is huge. I didn't even get to talking about Ven and Lauriam. And Strelitzia... But if I keep going, I'll be here all day. If somebody wants me to explain that connection, let me know. So what's the conclusion? Demyx is the young version of the MoM from the first world. Probably. That's the vibe I get from this. I have no idea what the MoM plans to do in the future. Maybe we'll finally find out how Agito XIII and Versus XIII were supposed to be related. The shot of the MoM standing in the city is very similar to concept art from the cancelled Type-0 sequel, Type-Next. So, whatever's going on, I think that was always meant to be the next stage in a way. iirc, the city in the Type-Next art is Hong Kong, so, like Shibuya in KH, it was based on a real place. The person in the Type-Next stuff looks like Ace, but he's wearing samurai gear. tbh, it makes more sense for Jaaack to be in samurai gear, but... Whatever. We don't even know if that was really Ace. It might've been a different Ace, like an Ace from the past or future or another world. So on that note, Demyx and the MoM could be the same guy, but from two different times or worlds, existing separately in the same space. But I think it's way simpler to assume that Demyx is just the MoM now. I don't wanna complicate it in my mind more than I have to. lol Also, obviously, I'm not saying that the MoM IS Jack 100%, just like how Yozora probably isn't 100% like Noctis. But he SURE IS SIMILAR SO FAR. Needless to say, I recommend reading FF Agito on my blog. I also recommend playing Type-0, but it's not the same game AT ALL. Part of me wonders if Agito and khux ran concurrently because Nomura wanted people to figure this out. But OH WELL. IT'S GONE NOW. I could probably keep going, but omg... I'm done, I swear. I'm forcing this post to end now.

More major Type-0 spoilers here. Warning for you. I sat and thought about this for a long time and basically came to the conclusion that the MoM seems a lot like Dr. Al-Rashia. It's almost like after she left, he resumed her experiment. We're just collecting "Lux" now instead of Phantoma. (I'm also amused by this thought because she was called "Mother" and we call him... "MoM".) Nomura came up with the concept of "13 students" who would be represented by different virtues. Sounds a lot like the 7 Foretellers who represent the deadly sins. Al-Rashia was trying to create Agito (the messiah who could break through Etro's Gate to the unseen realm) from her students. For millions of spirals, they were always selfless and would choose to obey, but their attempts never succeeded. What the MoM has done seems similar, but it's like he's going in the opposite direction, choosing self-centered people as his apprentices. Orrrr maybe the MoM is from a spiral where Jack (or whoever) did become Agito. The MoM has a lot of "messiah" imagery going on, so I can't tell if he IS a god or if he just fancies himself a god. However, if that IS the case, that might explain where he got the power to see the future. Tabata apparently wanted there to be a sequel which is why there was a secret ending. That ending was really interesting because it showed Ace being resurrected in some kind of samurai armor in a shrine, presumably in Japan or China. There was also some promotional artwork of him standing in a realistic-looking Hong Kong city. Reminds me of how we have a very realistic depiction of Shibuya in KH now. In that ending, it seemed like Ace was being revived by the spirit of the Vermilion Bird crystal. So the crystals are still around. They just disappeared for that one spiral when Al-Rashia left. Without her in the world anymore to compete with Gala over Etro's Gate, someone would have to defend the crystals. Like a warrior of light. Like, you know... Someone who's really into light. Possibly someone who considers themselves the true light. lol (If we find out that the crystal actually is in the clock tower somewhere, I'll lose my mind.) Also, these colors remind me of the secret ending: With Yozora on one side of Shibuya and the MoM in the other, this does make it seem like Sora and Riku have found themselves between Versus XIII and Type-0. (Or "Agito XIII"? Nomura definitely cared more about the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythos than Tabata, so I'm sure he had his own ideas for it.) Okay, one more thing... I just find it interesting that Jack's eyes are blue and King's are red. Reminds me of Yozora and it also reminds me of how the Gazing Eye is normally blue, but in battle it can turn red. It might also just be a l'Cie thing. When any of the Class Zero students became l'Cie, their eyes would change to a glowing red.

This part made me lol. I can't really tell if you were being serious because this sounds like a mind screw to me, but it also sounds kinda legit and I would enjoy that.

I already figured that it wouldn't be Yozora because Yozora seems like a good guy to me. (In the Verum Rex commercial, he was trying to save that girl.) I'm sure they could make up a reason why we'd fight him, but I just don't see a reason right now. You make a really interesting point about Sora losing his powers. I hadn't thought about it like that. I thought he might just lose some of his powers, like how he had to relearn some things at the beginning of KH3. But yeah, maybe he totally lost the ability to use the keyblade... Hm. Maybe we'll fight Demyx as Riku. lol (Seriously, I really want this... I really want a KH3 Demyx battle...)

As some have already noticed, 9/9 is Demyx Day. I wonder if that will mean anything with the trailer.

I know what you mean, but I think it depends for me. From what we've seen so far with the Luxord and Xigbar stuff, I'd be okay with that being put separately/to be played after the game because I think it feels like a "Here's what was happening when no one was looking" sort of scenario. But it sounds like we might get scenes with Xion, too, and that seems like something that would feel more cohesive if it were integrated into the main game. I recall reading a quote that gave me the impression that it will all be accessed from the start menu, though... Like, that's not a deal-breaker for me. I'll still want it. But I agree that it's probably not the perfect way for it to be done.

We do kind of know what's in the DLC, though. They already gave us a basic outline of the contents. I hesitate to hear more because I don't want them to spoil us. Nomura said Demyx will be there. That's all I need to know to fork over my munny. lol All I want now is a release date.

It's my dream to see the Master of Masters sing "Trust in Me" from the Jungle Book. So yeah. I'd be down with this idea. lol Especially if he's Demyx? Dude. It would just be a missed opportunity if they didn't have some musical numbers involved. I even remember Nomura saying that he wanted to turn the game into a whole musical one time, but Yoko Shimomura steered him away from the idea. A shame, if you ask me. Maybe he'll finally get his wish... Maybe Atlantica and Frozen were just the start... I'd like it if they were cutscenes integrating with the story, but I wouldn't say no to rhythm game sections. A lot of people disliked Atlantica's gameplay... And I can understand why... It was really basic. I can't say it was especially fuuuun... But I know that they could do better now. Square-Enix made Theatrhythm. They know how to make a rhythm game. They could figure something out.

Yeah, I don't see a problem with that. (Although my first reaction was "Wait, is this old news?") You either provide a demo of something or you don't. Might as well show what you have, right? Personally, I'd still be interested in playing that demo since it had some little differences compared to the final game - assuming it's still the same old demo. I don't think they could share a demo of the DLC, so I hope nobody's expecting that. It would most definitely have major spoilers for anyone who hasn't played the full game yet. For now, they just want to keep KH3 in people's minds. (Re:Minding them, if you will.)

Personally, I think the MoM time traveled by putting his heart in the box, and that's why he disappeared. The power of waking isn't the same as time travel. It seems more like time manipulation. (Power of waking: Time moves while you stay in place. Time travel: You move as time stays in place.) We saw the MoM in the DLC trailer talking to YMX, so I don't think he abused the power of waking like Sora did. I think you're right about Xehanort and Eraqus, though. Particularly Xehanort. As an old man, he was just a puppet of the MoM and Luxu, but I think that once YMX was brought back from the past and saw what was happening, he realized how he was being used. That's probably why he was encouraging Sora to find the hearts joined to his. There was definitely something going on with him. He didn't seem to be 100% into what they were doing. Now that I think about it, the MoM might have wanted someone like Sora to use the power of waking so he didn't have to. LOL Wow, what a jerk.

Okay, true. Xehanort was, himself, the portal. lol Either way, what I'm saying is that the MoM must have seen all of this in the future and planned accordingly.

If you're talking about the 2nd keyblade war, I wanna say no because I feel like it must have occurred for an even bigger reason... But I think that the war might have been partially necessary to the Master of Masters' revival for at least one reason. This is just a theory, but people have assumed that the black box was hidden somewhere in the keyblade graveyard or in Scala ad Caelum. One of the lines Maleficent says to Pete implies that they were having trouble finding the box because it must have been hidden in another time. During the keyblade war, Xehanort opened a portal to Scala ad Caelum. Xigbar could have dragged it out from there, or something else about the war caused the box to reappear in the keyblade graveyard. During the final stage of the fight with Xehanort, as you're fighting on top of the tower, there are these huge summon circle things that appear on the ground. (And even before that, enveloping all of Scala ad Caelum, iirc.) The summon circle things have the emblems of the Foretellers on them, including a goat to represent either Luxu or the MoM. I wouldn't be surprised if that had something to do with their return as well. Combined with the fact that the Daybreak Town clock tower is under the water there, Scala ad Caelum definitely has a connection to everything. I kinda get the impression that the first keyblade war was used to set everything in motion, and then the second war was to restore things to the way that they were. (For the MoM and the Foretellers, at least.) Xehanort used the war for his own plans, of course, but the MoM probably had his own use for it.