setsugekka

That's a really good question. I always assumed that they were all like Roxas. The founding members were in a similar situation where they had to be there whether they liked it or not. I assume that Saix and Axel were turned into Nobodies at the same time because they decided to become apprentices to Ansem the Wise. Marluxia and Larxene had their plan to stage a coup to take over the Organization which makes it seem like they may not have been there by choice. But then there's Demyx and Luxord who both seem... kinda comfortable with being there? Demyx was the first to be recruited after the Radiant Garden members which makes me wonder if he was some kind of priority. idk. Something about his position as the first new member probably makes him special. When he talks to Ienzo in KH3, there's this one line that always stood out to me... (Translation because they completely changed this in English.) I guess you could write it off as Demyx being eccentric and asking a weird question, but......... That's a WEIRD question. The vibe I get from this is that he wasn't bothered about becoming a Nobody. There's being easygoing and chill, and then there's whatever Demyx is. LMAO Knowing how cowardly he usually acts, wouldn't you expect him to be scared of becoming a Nobody?? It's like a decision on the same level as choosing which socks to wear. Well, yes, contextually, that would be the reason. But I'm talking about it from a meta perspective - what was Nomura trying to tell us by making them wear the coats? He chose a design we would be familiar with, that would make us think certain things. Just looking at the coat, I think he expected people to immediately think of a few characters: Xehanort, Ansem the Wise, and Riku. Xehanort had the same keyblade. Ansem the Wise is a scientist and he holds his hands behind his back the same way. Riku's keyblades had the Gazing Eye. Demyx also wears the coat, but unless you were specifically looking for someone who matched the MoM's personality, you wouldn't think of him first. And even if someone did think of him, there were YEARS where we thought that Demyx wasn't coming back. It wasn't until after KH3 that everyone collectively went "...Wait, is Demyx is the MoM?" So basically, I think the MoM's coat is trying to tell us that he's someone who has worn the coat, but it's probably not who people would've immediately thought of. So... Demyx. ? For example, it would be weird if the MoM was a new character because the black coat wouldn't have any meaning for somebody new. Why the black coat then? Just make a new design, lazy. lol A lot of fairytales are REALLY MESSED UP... Have you never heard of Grimms' fairy tales? The original versions of many of their stories are reeeally dark. Snow White and Cinderalla are part of the Grimm fairy tales collection. I've been assuming that that's why the past is called "the age of fairytales", since it included some of those classic stories. The worlds aren't all based on stories from the Grimm collection, but the other stories like Aladdin, Alice in Wonderland, Hercules, etc could be considered modern fairy tales; they're Disney's own interpretation of popular old stories. But, by referring to the past that way, it makes it sound like the worlds of the past weren't real - like they were just made-up fairy tales. My friend also pointed out how khux begins with a pop-up book introduction. iirc, a similar style was used in the 1.5 opening video when they showed Destiny Islands...

I have no idea if my crazy idea is even possible, but if we're gonna humor it like this... I like the thought of them being created from his imagination. Demyx said he wanted friends, so they could be his "imaginary friends." lol That's kinda sad, actually. Hm, speaking of which... Isn't it kinda weird that Demyx thought he'd have a chance of making friends in the Organization? I know we talked about this a little before, but unless it was destiny blindly leading him to Xigbar, I gotta wonder what gave him the impression that he could make friends by joining the Organization... He sounded unsure about his reason at first, though. He was probably right about why he joined in a vague/general sense, but maybe he wasn't entirely correct. He kept stressing that it was just what he was assuming, like he couldn't even totally remember why he joined. So weird... HMMM...... Yeeeah... The Foretellers are the MoM's apprentices, but he does have a friendly relationship with them, especially Luxu. After Demyx says that he thinks he wanted friends, he defensively admitted that that must've made him sound lame/uncool. It's like, maybe the MoM wouldn't have wanted to admit that he thought of them as friends because then he wouldn't have the same authoritative image as their master (ie, his pride getting in the way), but Demyx recognized that internalized desire for friendship for what it was. If he knew about the MoM in any capacity, he would've been familiar with the Organization's black coats. I've always wondered about why the MoM and Luxu were the only two Foretellers who wore those coats. Like, there's gotta be a reason... Until they showed up, those coats were always associated with just the Organization. I think that's what they were supposed to make us think of, especially now that we know for sure that one of them WAS in the Organization. Anyway, point is, maybe the Organization's coats were familiar to Demyx. That could've affected his decision to join. ANYWAY. I had some other thoughts. I just realized that if the Age of Fairytales is based on Agito, then it isn't too far-fetched to think that Daybreak Town could've been a fictional world like Verum Rex. But it's so hard to make sense of it when the Age of Fairytales is supposed to be the past of the "real world"... Unless nothing has ever been real. lmao NA khux updated last night. Here's what they did with the "that's just plain rude" line: I'm sad they didn't work the Demyx line into there somehow, but I understand. It would've required some wiggling, and they probably had no idea whether it was a real reference or not - assuming they even noticed it. I think what they came up with is an excellent alterative, though. It captures how defensive and offended the MoM sounded which is something some fan translations failed on. Personally, I'm a big fan of this exchange: A friend called this MoM's "high WIS, low INT build." tbh, I think the MoM is actually one of these. ("Oddly enough, his advice is almost always spot on, because the real problems are actually very simple — so simple that everyone has been overlooking the answers all along." YEAH, LIKE THAT. The whole page sounds just like him to me.) Also, remember that line where we were questioning whether the MoM said "we" or not when referring to ending the world? The localization also went with "we." That just leaves things ambiguous. lol It's still unclear who was going to do the actual world-ending.

Well, he was talking about Quadratum there. Or the dream version of Quadratum, whichever it is. All the people in the Game Central Station worlds seem to know that they're from video games, so I wouldn't say it's impossible for people in the fictional world to not know that they aren't "real." But yeah, I think he probably just said that because it was a dream at the time. In particular, I'm thinking about how some characters will be one way in the real world, but then their avatar in the game is something totally different, usually the opposite of how they are in real life. So if the MoM is Demyx's dream/fictional self, it reminds me of the type of character who's a loser who gets picked on in real life, but then they're Super Awesome And Powerful in the game. So being sucked into the game is like a wish fulfillment story. ngl, that would be an extremely funny twist. The concept of MoM Demyx is already funny, but it would be turbo funny to me if he was only awesome in his own imagination. Yeah, it's like he and YMX both knew that they had to push Sora towards making the choice that would save the world. The line about the "reward" isn't there in Japanese, though. He says "The goal (finish line) might be surprisingly closer than you think." That stupid line in English had people thinking that Sora would get some kind of treasure out of this in the end. Nope. Hm... I'm really not sure. I'm inclined to believe that he's talking to the reader. This sounds like the kind of writing from the khx novel which always referred to the Player as "you." I heard that the person who wrote the character files stories is the same author. So....... It sounds to me like he was talking to Player - the novel version of Player who's supposed to be us. Once again, I'm questioning how much they knew about the future of the series. If I'm right, then this all doesn't make a whole lot of sense since Player is probably Xehanort. But it's like the author didn't know that. Like you said, this line ("And so, I’ve always watched over you guys—or rather, watched over the Keyblade.") is the one that confuses me the most. It makes it sound like he's specifically talking to one of the new union leaders... But there's a LOT of conflicting factors. It's garbage. I think it's just trash writing, tbh. LMAO I'm willing to take the L if this ends up making sense somewhere down the line, but I'm taking this one with the BIGGEST grain of salt. Some things might be important, like time being non-linear and the box having something deceptive about it, but besides that... I'm tuning out the rest.

Yeah, the pattern is just adding 5 each time and it starts over from 1 whenever it reaches 12. I think it was just a good way to mix up the order of the numbers. Which reminds me, what do you think the MoM's animal would be? I wonder if we're ever going to find out (if he has one at all)... Based on Agito, my bets are either a phoenix like the Vermilion Bird or a black lion like the Judge's Eidolon. My non-Agito prediction would be a peacock. *strokes chin* Are we suuure about that? I think he's part of the fictional world. I think he just seems real because it turned out that the fictional world is real. (It's hard to talk about all this real and fictional stuff, isn't it? lol Confusing.) Sora knew Yozora from the video game, Verum Rex. So he was surprised to see that he was "real", but it's just that the video game world is a "real" place in the fictional world. The whole fictional world could be the collection of everyone's imaginations, so it includes the worlds of video games. Have you ever watched any isekai anime? The kind like Sword Art Online or .hack where the characters get sucked into a video game? That's what this is all reminding me of right now. Remember what Dark Chirithy said about meeting again "in another dream"? I'm always thinking about that. It made it sound like they were already in a dream to start with. With the way that the war kept repeating ever since the MoM was young, it makes me wonder if the world was a sleeping world because those would also keep repeating the same events over and over. A friend also suggested that Daybreak Town could be a fictional world, since "the age of fairytales" and "Back Cover" make it sound like a book. It's confusing... I'm not sure exactly how to make sense of it, but I also reeeally get the feeling that it isn't a normal world... The fact that Ephemer was reaching out to Player through their dreams... There really is something going on with all this dream stuff. It's all connected somehow. Ages ago, I was assuming that EVERYTHING was a video game. Until we learn more, even that still sounds possible to me. I can't tell what's really real anymore. LOL

The fact that the clock goes to 13 is interesting. I assume it's because 7 is a number associated with light and 13 is darkness, but it also makes me think of FFVII and FFXIII. I wonder if that's just a coincidence. The numbers are all arranged out of order, too. A while back, I saw that someone figured out the pattern of how they were arranged. Makes me think of how Xigbar said that time isn't linear. Like the Daybreak Town clock tower, it might be a clock that doesn't tell time in a traditional way. The large clock in Akademeia's main hall also goes to 13. It's probably something that stayed in the game ever since it was called Agito XIII, so it's probably a reference to the former title. On at least one occasion, Arecia mentioned something called "the world clock" and I'm still not sure what that is. Maybe it's this clock in the main hall? I looked at the artbook, but the notes about the entrance don't mention the clock at all. Maybe she was just being figuratively and talking about destiny as if it were a clock...? Makes me wonder why Arecia chose to name her kids after cards. LOL The Foretellers' names seem ironic to me. They're supposed to be seven lights, but they're named after sins. I think the average person probably wouldn't even realize it at first because the names are in Latin. The characters themselves haven't talked about the meaning of their names, so it gives me the feeling that they aren't conscious of what they actually represent. It's something for the audience. I've seen people try to figure out things like how Gula represents gluttony and how Invi is envy, but I don't think it's that deep... Like at all... kgjhfjk Unless we see some scenes in the future which connect their names to their behavior in more clear, concrete ways, I don't think their names are indicators of their behavior/personalities. Except for Demyx. He's already done a good job of representing pride. I think that must mean that they made it back to the real version of their world in the end. When Sora goes to Toy Box, Woody and the others explain how they were separated from the rest of the toys in Andy's room. The world they were taken to didn't have any people. It was like a parallel world... or a dream. If they were in a dream, that would explain why Buzz's blaster could function like a real laser. This just makes me wonder even more about Quadratum... Is the fictional world all one big dream world?? Hm... There's definitely some kind of relationship between dreams and fiction. Maybe dreams are what give life to fictional things? Yeah... I'm also wondering when he would've had the dream. I thought Riku had his dream after Sora disappeared, but if Sora thought he'd seen Quadratum in a dream, then Sora obviously must've had the dream before he went there. lol I guess it's possible that he and Riku had the same dream, but they didn't have it at the same time. Or I got the wrong impression and Riku's dreams weren't as recent as I thought. He mentioned them after there was that 2-year time skip where they were looking for Sora. That was a really good find, though. I'm glad you pointed that out. I hate how convoluted it is, but at least now it seems like we might know what the secret ending was. Hm... HMM... Rather than reincarnations... Maybe Xehanort is the real person version of Player who was just a dream. This gets complicated because then what about the others like Ventus? Are they dream-people who escaped into the real world? If Sora looks like Sora in his own dreams, then what about Ephemer? Is he not Sora like I thought? ...Is the MoM who Demyx is when he's dreaming? That's one way to explain how the MoM can get around so fast. (Assuming that all the places where we've seen him have been dream worlds, including Daybreak Town and Scala.) But this idea seems to have a few conflicting points, so I'm not sure if it could be correct... Or maybe it is right and I'm just overly attached to the idea of Sora being Ephemer. If I get rid of that idea, then the rest seems possible. Right??

I kept thinking about Luxord whenever I'd look at Ace... I kept trying to figure out if there was a connection anywhere there, but I don't think there is. Some of his moves involve an element of random chance and luck, but gambling doesn't have anything to do with his character. Kinda surprising, tbh... I wouldn't even group him in with other gamblers. He's just... a guy who fights with cards. Luxord has more in common with Setzer from FFVI. I'm guessing that Luxord is supposed to be the equivalent of Noctis's driver from the original Versus XIII trailer. We never even found out what that guy's name was... I heard somewhere that his design ended up turning into Cor Leonis, but I don't know if that's actually true. I can see a similarity, though. I think about the wildcard all the time... What could it be...? It's gotta end up having something to do with Luxord, right? ...Maybe not. If Sora whipped it out during his fight with Yozora, that might've helped. Yozora might've looked at it and been like, "Oh, that's one of (Luxord's real name)'s cards. Huh. You must be alright. Sorry for the trouble." sjkghfgk I've wondered about that, too. It could've been for animation purposes, letting her show more expression during an important scene. Or maybe she wears the scarf because she doesn't want people to see the part of her face that her mask can't hide, but she's comfortable enough with the MoM to let him see. *shrug* Whatever the reason, I thought it was cute. ? Okay, idk if you've ever heard of this, but in movies/games/advertisement/etc, whenever they show a clock or a watch, unless it's supposed to be at a specific time for a reason, the hands will usually be making a 90 degree angle. It's just more appealing to look at. In the case of advertisements, it clearly shows you what the hands look like. I think that's the case with the book. A book looks more attractive when it's open in the middle. I really think that's all it is. lol Personally, I'm more interested in the fact that apparently the MoM is a really good artist??? I assume he drew those illustrations himself. Impressive. She's Class Zero's adoptive mother. It seems like most of them were abandoned or lost their biological parents to violence/war. (Jack saw his parents get murdered in front of him by burglars. Even if he can't remember them, the incident definitely messed him up. Add that to the list of potential reasons why Demyx hates fighting. There could be so many reasons. I desire... backstory...) Apparently Arecia is the one who gave them their names. The exceptions are Rem Tokimiya and Machina Kunagiri because they aren't her kids. Everybody else has a card-related name. Even Lean was renamed from Lean Hampelmann to Lean Joker. Tohno Mahoroha was renamed Tiz. Somewhere near the beginning of khx, I recall Chirithy saying that the MoM gave the Foretellers their names. I mean, that makes sense... It would be too much of a coincidence if all these people named after the seven deadly sins ended up in a group together. lol We never found out what Class Zero's real names were, so I unfortunately doubt we'll find out what Luxu's ORIGINAL-original name was... Whu... Does this mean that Sora was dreaming of Quadratum the same way that Riku was? So the secret ending was a dream for everybody? I feel like that's probably the most likely answer. I just don't know what it meeeeans. lol Or maybe it's only referring to the time when YMX threw him into the Verum Rex game. Remember, we still haven't figured out what that whole world was in Toy Box. I know it's a stretch, but I think of YMX as being related to dreams as a theme because he made his big debut in DDD, so if that alternate Toy Box world was a dream, then maybe that's why YMX was chosen for that world. Sora says that it (Quadratum) looks different, but that could just be because the version he was thrown into before was a video game. Still a dream, but also a game. A game in a dream. tbh, it seems pretty fair to assume that Sora would've been able to recognize Quadratum from a dream if he had the same dreams as Riku. I guess I don't think about those two quite enough to have come to that conclusion yet, but it makes sense. Demyx... You got any dreams you wanna tell us about...? Buddy...? Speaking of Demyx, is he in that novel? I'd be eternally grateful if you share any tidbits. (He really is KH's most well-kept secret, isn't he? Gosh, that's not suspicious at ALL...... /sarcasm)

They're the ones I compared the Foretellers to on the first page of this thread. In Agito, they're all from different classes, so I technically couldn't call them "Class Zero." In Type-0, they're all part of the same class. Those renders look really similar and their personalities fit to a weirdly specific degree, but the thing that actually convinces me the most is their heights. lol Deuce and Eight are REALLY SMALL next to Jack. Trey and Nine are the tallest and Queen is somewhere in between, so seeing them together really feels like looking at the Foretellers. (Lean - the Luxu one - can't be here because he's from a different school...) I'd be happy if the Foretellers look more like how Class Zero looked in Agito XIII, though. For some reason, most of the guys ended up with just blond hair in Type-0, but in the Agito XIII art, you can tell that they all have different shades. And Eight's hair is fire engine red instead of brown. lol The other half of the class doesn't seem to match anyone in KH. I kinda hope that characters like them might show up in the MoM's past if we ever get to see his backstory or something. That's FOUR GIRLS... Jeez. They have very strong personalities that would fit with KH. They deserve a second chance, too! I think that the Book of Prophecies probably didn't say as much as we've always thought. In one of the recent updates, the MoM told Luxu that he didn't even bother looking at the specific things that happen to each person. So I think that the book probably included very broad information, like which worlds would be in the future and who was there and the general story of the things that happen, all of which culminates in the world falling to darkness. So... I'm not sure what she meant. Without being able to read the book for ourselves, it's a mystery. Maybe the book said something about them that she wanted to avoid happening? Or maybe by "fate", she didn't mean anything especially ominous and was referring to how they would all end up surviving the war and becoming leaders. In any case, I meant her job of rounding up all the other Dandelions, not just the new leaders. It seems like they were all her own choosing. Fun facts about her. I think I already mentioned how they call her "Mother" and how "Master of Masters" is abbreviated as "MoM." So that's amusing. Never gets old. I think the MoM occupies her role as the one who works with and against Gala to open Etro's Gate. She's a doctor (a doctor of science) who studies magic. Her office also doubles as her lab. The area her office is located in is called the "Sorcery" in the localization. iirc, it was something like "the Magic Research Division" in Japanese. Left middle is the final design of her lab. (Right of that is Central Command.) The three images on bottom are old concepts for her lab. (Apparently the bottom right is a weapon storage vault.) I don't really have anything else to add here. I just assume that this is why the MoM is like a magic scientist. Sorcery would develop new summons. Knowing that the Moogles of Type-0 are summons, it makes me wonder if they're essentially the same as Chirithies. Each class has their own Moogle who's like a headmaster and they all dress up in unique ways. You know, like Chirithies. The MoM seems like what it would be like if Jack took after Arecia and followed in her footsteps... I don't think Lauriam will forgive him before they leave in the pods, but he'll probably come to terms with it in the future. Marluxia has a soft spot deep down. The old Lauriam is still in there. It was the circumstances that made him act in such twisted and devious ways as a Nobody. And it was raw anger and grief that made him attack Ventus without taking the time to look at the situation from any other perspective. After time has passed, I think he'll see Ventus as another victim like Strelitzia. In the end, they were all taken advantage of. I think he'll understand that. And it'll be sad. And I'll love it. lol

Mm, yes, suffering over Izana is the true Type-0 experience. Okay, let's see...... I don't think she's coming back. I just sat here for like an hour considering the possibilities, but... Here's how I see it... The idealistic part of me wants to think that this is a FF7R situation where they have the chance to fix all of the tragedies that happened in Type-0. It seems like the real Agito appeared and saved the world. And if I'm right about the Foretellers looking like Class Zero under those masks, then it's like half of Class Zero was rescued in spirit. Awesome. That makes me happy. BUT... This is still a story. It's probably not just Nomura's fix-it fic. Assuming that the MoM's plan worked the way it was supposed to, he had to treat people like disposable pawns. Strelitzia appears to be one of the casualties of the plan. He would probably argue that he couldn't be blamed for something that Darkness did, but it's not like the MoM did anything to stop all those other kids from getting killed in the war, either. Lauriam basically deserves to yell something like "Who gave you the right to decide?!" Why was it okay to make sure that the Foretellers would be safe but it was okay for Strelitzia to die? If I had the chance to rewrite Type-0 and fix things, of course I'd want to save Class Zero, but what about everyone else...? If the war was truly inevitable, then how could you save everyone? On that note, I hope that Ava realizes that she shares the blame, too. Her role was literally to decide who deserved to live. That's messed up. lol Also, this reminds me of how Arecia was the one who supported Ace's decision to ask Izana to join the battle. The Commandant was enraged by the decision because he lost a good soldier for no reason because of Ace's whim. It wasn't a tactical decision. But Arecia allowed it because she wanted to see how it would make Ace grow. To her, it was a mere matter of gains and losses - and her own interest. (Here's that part if you haven't seen it.) Lauriam probably won't care about how successful the plan was. It could be a miracle that they saved the world, but it cost him his sister for no good reason. If she does come back, it would have to be a looong time from now, otherwise it would eliminate the reason for all of his anger and sadness. If she could be brought back that easily, it would make it seem like the MoM's choices weren't that hard. You could bring back ALL the keyblade wielders who died in the war then. All I know is that they gotta get their full mileage out of Strelitzia's death before they even think about bringing her back. Personally, I think that Lauriam could benefit from learning to love and appreciate the people who are still with him like Elrena and Ventus. He was totally preoccupied with looking for Strelitzia in the past. It seems like a part of him was still fixated. Did he ever notice how much Elrena cared about him? Hopefully he'll notice. And hopefully it won't turn into a Machina/Rem situation where Lauriam will constantly be living in fear of Elrena dying, too. ??

Ha, that's interesting. I have mixed feelings about any worlds based on live-action things, but the Caribbean ended up being one of my favorite worlds in KH3. (Well, the world. I still feel kinda weird about seeing Donald Duck next to Johnny Depp.) Maybe they could use the animated versions of the characters instead? But the movies are what most people would be familiar with, so they'd probably want to use the real people...... That would fit with things ironically looking more realistic in the fictional world, too... lol Oh no. Well, if he's the MoM, then he BETTER BE. I wanna know what he knows. BREAK TIME'S OVER, BUDDY. Hmm... Reminds me of that scene with Yuna again where she says "So people really are connected." I never know what to make of these novels. They're written so carefully and manage to say just enough without really saying anything. lol I was just thinking about another thing Xehanort said in Dark Road... "I never really thought about who I was. Not until I began to wonder who others were." All I know is that it would be weird if Xehanort was the only one who was some kind of reincarnation or whatever, especially with a line like this. ? I already love wherever this is going...

I just got real confused for a hot second, but I think I understand where the confusion's coming from... It sounds like you're thinking that there's more than one Quadratum; a "real" one and one in Yozora's dreams. But I think that the one that Sora and Yozora were in IS the "real" one and the way to get there is by dreaming or dying or whatever, since it seems like Quadratum must exist somewhere along that precarious border. Dang, you could be right, though. I hadn't even considered that, and I'm not sure if there's any way I can say that the way you interpreted it is wrong. lol QUADRATUM IS SO CONFUSING. Believe it or not, I haven't watched a single Avengers movie. lol But that would be cool. A lot of people want Marvel in KH now. If we find out that they'll be in the next game, I'll have to watch all the movies. Because she doesn't like him. lol Okay, well... I think we can at least assume that she doesn't trust him. If I were her, I'd be like "Why's that guy calling me? Some kind of trap? Uhhh... No thanks." And yeah, idk if she would've known that the others had been called. They arrived at the same time, but they came to the keyblade graveyard from different portals. *shrugs* What Gula said does make it sound like they were called individually. I can't imagine her getting back together with them or even being comfortable as part of the group without seeking answers from the one who was responsible for everything. When she talked to Ephemer, you could see how obedient she was to the MoM's teachings, but there was already a part of her that wanted to question things. Her encounter with Luxu was probably like the last straw. She accused him of twisting the MoM's intentions, but she probably also realized that the MoM hadn't given her the full truth and worried about the possibility that Luxu was right. Her decisions to go against destiny seem like an act of rebellion to me, like she couldn't just sit there anymore and pretend like things were the way she wanted them to be. As things are now, she can't go back with them and be the same Ava she was in the beginning. There's too much tension. *picks Demyx up and rattles him around* Come on, we know you've got MoM memories in there! Tell the girl what she wants to know! Basically what I want is like that part from the novel where Jack tells Deuce the unexpectedly horrible-sounding things he's really thinking but then also proves that he's still the same person she thought he was despite that. It's easy to trust someone like Demyx when he seems so non-threatening on the surface. But it also opens up other interesting avenues..... Like, I imagine he could also be like "So that's why he, er, that's why I did what I did... But I'm a new me! You can't blame me for the stuff that the old me did! I deserve another chance! ?" And Ava being Ava would be like "Well... I guess that's true..." So she gets back together with them, but then she gets to be proven right all over again later when it turns out that Demyx is still just as toxic as he was as the MoM. *nods to self*

Again, until we actually see him there, I don't think he was there at the same time as Yozora and Sora. I think the secret ending was just artistically indicating that the MoM would be there, not that he was there already. However, I think that your point inadvertently assists this point. Although I don't personally understand it, the things Yen Sid said at the end of KHMoM did make it sound like the Foretellers were in Quadratum. It doesn't make sense to me, so I want to think that's wrong, but let's assume it's right for a second. If they were there, then it's unlikely that the MoM was there yet. I wonder when the fight between Yozora and Sora was supposed to take place, though. If any of them were there, it must not have been at the same time, otherwise they would've seen that fight taking place, right? I guess it's a big city and they might've been in another part of the city, so they wouldn't have been in distance to see the fight, but... This is a story, not real life. lol We can't prove that the MoM and Foretellers had been there at all yet, though. Yen Sid's words are the strongest indication we have that at least the Foretellers had been. The secret ending is too abstract for me to rely on. If Quadratum is a timeless realm like Valhalla, then I guess that would clear up a part of the confusion I had. If they went there, no time would have passed for them while Luxu could have been experiencing thousands of years on the outside. That would explain why it looked like they hadn't aged at all and why they acted like they had just seen Luxu. But then, this also raises the question of how Xigbar was able to summon them. A second ago, I was thinking that he couldn't reach Ava if she was in Quadratum. If the others were there, how could he reach them but not her? lol See, that's contradictory. Maybe that's just a thing he can do and she's missing for another reason. However, I was wondering if it's possible that she just... ignored him. The others might've gone when they were summoned, but she might've chosen to stay there. If she's the one who told Yozora to save Sora, then this fits. The word they use for "summon" is the same as to "call out" for someone, which makes it sound like she might've had the choice to answer or not. I'm not sure if that explains the ominousness of Xigbar's last line, though, unless it simply sounded more dramatic than was necessary. Maybe he was saying that this was also part of her role. You know, there's also the chance that something happened to her that we can't predict at all because we're currently lacking the necessary information. We might've already figured it out with one of these things or we're actually lightyears away. There are definitely things we're missing. In my wildest dreams, I like to imagine that she's the one who finds Demyx. I just really wanna see Ava go crazy and seek revenge. It's what she deserves. lol They're both missing! It could happen! Sounds like a great opportunity for him to realize who he is. Yeah, I read that part again and that's why I agree. Sounds right. I kept reading his one line ("I told her what my role was, though.") last night, wondering how I should translate his "dakedo na" and I just realized it should probably come out sounding like "All I did was tell her what my role was." I knew in my heart, yet I couldn't put it into words. lol I was technically correct, but it's like he was trying to make it sound not so bad. So yeah, just a little more clarity. Kinda adds to my impression that she might've chosen to ignore him because that moment where he told her his role made her distrust him.

It must've been Brain. At first, I thought it seemed impossible for Luxu to have trained Brain if Brain left in the pod, BUT... Since Luxu did eventually end up in the same world line that Brain was sent to, I guess he really could've become the one who taught him. I mean, I assume Luxu ended up in that world line. Probably. Seems likely. I feel like he probably went everywhere. (The thought of him unknowingly being in the same world line as the MoM at some point makes me scream, though. The MoM went to talk to YMX and then he didn't even stop to say hi to Luxu? Ugh, that's too rude.) I'm not sure that that's what that means. Originally, I thought that line was talking about the Foretellers, but I think you might be right about it referring to the dandelion leaders. Interesting observation there. I think he was talking about how he would inevitably see them again in his travels because he was bound to find the world line(s) they were sent to. It doesn't necessarily mean that he would see them all together at the same time, though. I'm not sure if this helps, but I wanted to see it, so here's that part again, translated literally... I feel like "I guess Ava didn't make it after all" could tell a whole different story. ("As expected" could also be "after all" or "like I figured." I think it's up to you to determine whether that means that he was positive that she'd show up or not. I feel like he was a little surprised, even if it's what he ultimately expected.) I haven't forgotten that the word for "role" is the same as "Focus"... Always thinkin' about that... The last line makes it sound like her fulfilling her role is the reason why she's not there. The MoM told her, "The mission I give you may become the hope of avoiding the destiny of annihilation." That's the "You might just be the only hope of keeping light from expiring" line. But better. Well, we know that she was successful. But at WHAT COST? Tonight's mood is: Ira Final Fantasy.

I think we can consider Brain part of that group, too. It seems like he lived a normal life and died. lol THAT'S WEIRD, THOUGH, ISN'T IT? Who gets to live a normal life in this series?? I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back as a new character. But for now, it appears that he had a normal life. I hope Ava went all Knight of Etro like Lightning and now she's just the lone resident of Quadratum. We've got some thoughts that seem like they could be connected; Quadratum, becoming "unchained"/defying destiny, and reincarnation. We probably don't even need to figure out the intricacies for now. As long as these things ARE connected, then it gives us the possibility that Ava could have ended up in Quadratum. You know how Xehanort said that Sora was in a place where their voices couldn't reach him? Well, Xigbar made it sound like he didn't intentionally leave Ava out. So, what if he tried to summon her like the Foretellers, but he just wasn't able to reach her?

Oh, speaking of Lauriam's dream... That whole part reminded me of something else. The field of flowers where he talks with Strelitzia looked like the Farplane from FFX. idk if you know anything about FFX, but the Farplane is where souls go when they die. I thought about this quite a bit when I played FFX-2 a while ago. After Yuna acquires the Songstress dressphere (an outfit) which originally belonged to a girl named Lenne, she has a dream where she and Tidus are running away from some soldiers. The dream is actually the ancient memory of Lenne and Shuyin. Later, in the Farplane, Yuna meets the soul of Shuyin who speaks to her as if she's Lenne. Yuna can't tell whether her feelings are Lenne's or her own. Shuyin looks exactly like Tidus, and Yuna looks a lot like Lenne, but it's never explained why... Although there is one character who suggests that Yuna and Lenne could be the same somehow. Following that, Yuna says "So people really are connected." Apparently the concept of the Spirals from Type-0 originated with FFX. For what it's worth, KH1, FFX-2, and the FNC were conceptualized at the same time. Uhhh... I'll also just make a note here that FFVII and FFX are apparently the same world/universe. Oh yeah, and in that video with Shuyin, Gippal shows up. He's another guy who looks similar to Demyx and has the same Japanese voice actor. Is this guy just... in every universe?? tbh, he's the reason I played FFX-2. I didn't expect to run into all this other stuff. I also feel like there are a lot of similarities between Sora & Kairi and Tidus & Yuna, especially with the way Sora and Tidus both disappear and then the girls go looking for them... I just...?? Do I write this one off as being similar because it's made by the same people? Or is there something going on here?? I feel like it could definitely have something to do with FF7R, but... Could it ALSO be related to KH? I mean, if we decide that these things ARE connected, there's a lot more to do with dreams in FFX. There's a whole ancient dream city. Who knows. But I recommend playing FFX-2 anyway. Because it's really good and has a lot of mysterious KH vibes. lol There are also some scenes in Type-0 and Agito where Ace dreams about seeing Izana again after he died. The dream he has in Type-0 seems to be a memory, which is interesting because the Crystals are supposed to erase their memories. In Agito, his dream seems like more than just a memory. It's like Izana actually came to talk to him in a dream. (Reminder that Izana is the one Strelitzia seems to correspond with.) Well, I'm glad I asked because that's pretty different from what I was thinking. I took "forbidden path" to mean a path that would lead Sora to discovering the truth about the world/reality, sort of like how Ephemer was doing his own thing with his investigations. Entering the clock tower was forbidden and many of the things he wanted to know were secrets. So, idk... Maybe, just in a very general sense, Xehanort meant that he and Sora were heading in the same direction. I wonder if it has something to do with being "unchained." Maybe it's like... going against destiny? Breaking away from its "chains"? That sounds like it could be described as "forbidden." I assume he was talking about the part of DDD when Riku had to rescue Sora with the Power of Waking. Remember, there was that one part where Xigbar told Sora that they were luring him into a deeper sleep, so there was a point where he was going into dreams inside of dreams. So I think YMX was being like "Hey, don't you remember what happened that time? You know that this is like that, right? And you're just going to do it anyway?" Sora's attitude is that he survived it before, so he can do it again. Maybe he said that because he understands that Sora already made up his mind? Or... Maybe he's talking to/about Ephemer... ? If we're going to question this, then I'd also like to know what was going on with Toy Box. Could be the same sort of thing. Wow, nice catch. I hadn't thought about it, but that makes sense. It was probably chosen for its visual similarity to Quadratum. It fits too well to be a coincidence.

Oh? Is it anything in particular? OH YEAH. I thought I remembered that line, I just forgot who said it. That would make sense... For some reason, I hadn't even considered that he could've been talking about himself. I probably overlooked it because we didn't know anything about Xehanort that would've made sense with that line before. But now it seems like we do. Hm... What do you think "the forbidden path" is referring to in specific? I have my own ideas, but I'd rather hear your take first. Back on the topic of dreams, I started reconsidering Dark Chirithy's line about meeting again in "another dream." Since the Nightmare Chirithy shares the boss theme with Anti Black Coat, I thought that meant that they were the same thing. Well... I guess that could still be the case, but I'm wondering if the Dark Chirithy might've meant something more with that line. ANOTHER dream...? Suspicious. I theorized about it for like a paragraph, but it was all convoluted and sounded like dreamception. *shakes head* Confusing. btw, I saw someone make this comparison and it made me excited. lol

Yeah, I just rewatched that part and that's how it sounded to me, too. It's too hard to tell from that. These games sure love being vague... I guess the fact that she's familiar with Quadratum is a certain point of interest, at least. Hm... Probably between? By the way, speaking of the star girl's "dream"... I rewatched Leslie's scenes from FF7R. In the flashback with his fiancée, she says "It was all just a dream, wasn't it... But one day... No. Time to wake up. And forget." Leslie was from one of the novels, but it seems like they totally changed the story of him and the girl to be more like Yozora and the star girl. I knew that her lines sounded mysterious, but now it's even MORE mysterious. What did she mean?! Maybe she isn't dead like Leslie thinks, but maybe she isn't in their world anymore... It feels kinda extreme to assume something like that, but there's some WEIRD stuff going on in FF7R, so it might not be as extreme as I think. If you haven't seen those scenes yet, you should check it out. I talked about Roche before, but here are his scenes in case I didn't share them yet. Watching them again, he really does seem like extra-crazy FF7 Demyx. The part that makes me the most curious now is when he says "There are higher heights to which you and I can still soar..." Where is this going? Andrea gives me Luxord vibes, but I'm not sure if there's enough to make me feel like he's as connected as the other two. Now I'm going to have to rewatch his scenes, too. lol I think we're getting the second part of FF7R before the next main KH installment, so now I'm just looking forward to whatever abstract clue FF7R will lay on us next. The end of the game also has some implications and imagery that feels KH-ish to, like, everyone who's played it. It's a little concerning. I'm glad that I'm mostly focused on KH, because I can see how crazy FF7R is making people as they try to figure out what's going on. There's even less clues than what we have with KH. It feels like anybody's guess to me.

The star girl came from the fictional world, but she didn't specifically say that she came from Quadratum, did she? Gosh, there are a lot of things I need to rewatch... Quadratum does appear to be the place where Yozora and the others were fighting in the Verum Rex trailer, but it's uncertain if Quadratum is part of the VR world. The stuff that happened in the trailer might've been another representation of things that happened. The trailer was so short and everything happened so quickly. (I get the feeling the Gigas don't actually look the way they look in the trailer. They still look like toys to me there, like they don't really match with the aesthetic of the VR characters.) ...I just realized that Verum Rex has the same abbreviation as "virtual reality." lol I wonder if that was intentional. Yeah, that seems to be the case. Now that you mention that Kairi also got there that way, it seems like Quadratum must be really close to the Final World, close enough for Yozora and Riku to go there in their dreams. (And once again, I'm thinking about how the Final World transitioned into Quadratum with a digital effect... Verum Rex... VR........... It's all a simulation. jk, idk. but maybe.... maybe.) You're right... It's concerning me. LOL I don't know what to make of it!! Right. I think it looks like this: Visible world -- Valhalla -- Unseen Realm Real world -- Final World -- Quadratum -- Fictional world Unless Quadratum IS part of the fictional world, meaning that the Final World is the only bridge between. Quadratum just feels so much like another space between to me. I'll just keep both possibilities in mind. btw, there's also the fact that the Final World is called, well... The FINAL World, like "Final Fantasy." It's like your last stop before Final Fantasy land. lol But it's also literally the final world for hearts that have perished. Multiple meanings. Very fun. Actually, this just reminded me of a page from the Type-0 artbook where they attempt to explain what Arecia and Gala were planning to do with the war. I unfortunately had to shrink the image a bit. The red arrow shows the souls of the dead rising from the visible world. The yellow line in between represents the "door to the unseen realm." Above the yellow line is the Unseen Realm itself. In parentheses, it says "the world of the dead." It says that that's where Etro, the creator of mankind, supposedly resides. The orange arrows from Arecia and Gala both say "Attempt to open the door." (If this were FFXIII, Valhalla would probably be between the door and the Unseen Realm in this diagram.) On the right, it says that the Nox Suzaku is a mysterious existence that grows stronger by absorbing phantoma, the souls of the dead. Is he really part of this? Who knows. He's just hangin' out. Nobody knows. I've reread this one line a number of times and I swear it's suggesting that the Nox Suzaku might've been a result of magic research, but that conflicts with things the game says about it being from another world... This is the only place I've heard magic research mentioned in relation to it. But sure, let's keep that in mind. The MoM did seem to have his hands in some research, so it could end up being related. On the left is Shiva, representing the Eidolons. People have to sacrifice themselves to summon Eidolons in Type-0. This little paragraph is suggesting that there's a connection between Eidolons and the Unseen Realm because of that sacrificial relationship. (btw, the Eidolons of Type-0 are actually called "war gods" in Japanese. idk if that'll be relevant to anything, but I'm putting that out there. They're just called "summons" in JP FFXIII like in any other Final Fantasy. "Eidolons" was something the localization seems to have come up with.) I've gotta go for a bit, but now I'm also curious to see what the part about Cid has to say, since I think Xehanort and Player are most likely related to him.

Well, you know that my recommendations would probably be any of the FNC Final Fantasy games. lol Hehe, yep, that was the idea. If that's the first of many Heartless that look like that, it's hard to imagine Demyx not being involved with them. Imagine him having power over all kinds of water including the waters of chaos (or whatever KH will call it.) That fits with what Xehanort said, doesn't it? Didn't he say that people came from the darkness and then light came from the people...? Makes sense to me unless I'm misremembering. lol But yeah, things are definitely different, even if they sound similar. XIII refers to chaos as "darkness" a lot, but since chaos isn't the same as KH darkness, it gets confusing. I've been meaning to play XIII-2 again. I feel like there might've been a number of times when there's the sound of a bell... Maybe whenever the timeline changed? The ringing of the bell in the keyblade war reminds me of this part from the Nameless Tome in Type-0: This part is about the end of the war when the judgment is supposed to begin, though. The lines seem to mean something a little different in every cycle. Hm... I always thought that Kingdom Hearts (the thing) sounded like Etro's Gate. What Lightning said about causing a flood of souls that would open the gate is also what Gala hoped to accomplish with the war in Type-0. Beyond the gate is the Unseen Realm. Uh... So I guess it's really not unusual to think that Quadratum or the world of fiction could be the "void" YMX was talking about. The name YMX used could've been referring to more than one thing after all. Hmm......... Maybe Quadratum and the realm of darkness have something in common, though. I don't think YMX ever went to Quadratum, but he discovered the "emptiness" and knew enough about it to warn Sora... The visible realm and unseen realm... Reality and fiction... Really makes ya think. Valhalla exists in a space between the realms, so maybe that's what Quadratum is like. Like Quadratum?? Yeah, so the wiki pages for Valhalla and the Unseen Realm have a lot of curious stuff going on.

Hm... You make an interesting point. They could've been talking about different things. Emptiness and fiction (such as the fictional world of Quadratum) could be two separate things that could both be qualified as neither darkness nor light. But maybe they are the same... Maybe the void/abyss has something in common with the fictional world... You know of Chaos from Sonic Adventure, right? He's made of water and can transform into all kinds of different forms. His name and abilities come from the same idea. lol I'm thinking about that one Darkside again... Maybe the prologue was supposed to be a somewhat abstract representation of what was going to happen to Sora after YMX gave him that warning, seeing as how it's similar to the events that occurred then. The Darkside seems like it could be a creature of emptiness, right? It could be made of darkness and light or neither. I was assuming that the Darkside belonged to someone, but maybe it was just being used as an example there to make you think about what it was made out of. Hm. Maybe emptiness is the energy of the fictional world? I feel like that makes sense, especially if it's supposed to be like chaos, since chaos is the fuel of creation. Not to mention, chaos is also a big deal in FFXIII. It's like their version of the darkness except more extreme. It's what things are made of and it has the power to mess with time and stuff... Wait... "The power to remember in your dreams"...? WAIT, HOLD ON, WAIT LOL ok, I already copied like half the wiki page for it, but it's all interesting, so here you go. But yeah, that Darkside... That can't be the only one we'll see. Jiminy's journal does refer to it as a Heartless, but that doesn't automatically mean that it's made of darkness. What if all the Heartless in the fictional world look like that? lol ALL WATER CLONES, ALL THE TIME. If you want to see more about XIII's chaos in context, this was a really good scene. XIII-2 was really good... idk idk. I feel like we've got... something here.

I forget if I mentioned this, but the place YMX mentioned in that scene has a name in Japanese, "yami no shin'en", "the abyss of the darkness." Mickey mentions the same place in one of the conversations in Yen Sid's tower. I'm not sure if this is accurate, but I thiiink it's the name of the shore in the realm of darkness, the place where Aqua got thrown into the water and turned into Dark Aqua. I know it's not the name of the realm of darkness itself. That's literally "the world of darkness." I have no idea if this is right, but Darkness and the MoM give me big "abyss and chaos" symbolism vibes. I mean, we know that Vanitas is associated with the abyss, aka "void." The two things are connected. I gotta sleep, so I'm gonna hand you the whole Wikipedia article about it. Fascinating stuff. It would be pretty sick if Demyx's water power is actually CHAOS.

I get the impression that Darkness calls themselves "we" because they're an embodiment of ALL the Darkness. So it's possible for Vanitas to just be a part of it. I think he wants to join together with Ventus because it seems like all of the darkness (including the Darklings) have a desire for light. ...But also, I'm not sure if we're supposed to take the novels as canon, either. So I can't tell how much of that is word from Nomura and how much is artistic license. This one part makes me the most curious: "Who did that memory belong to? Me? Ventus? Or someone else?" The inclusion of "someone else" makes me wonder if he did originally come from someone else. Ya can't just SAY things like that for no reason. Assuming that the MoM is as much like Jack as he seems, the thought had crossed my mind at one point that Darkness could've been the manifestation of the negative emotions the MoM abandoned like Jack. In Dark Road, Xehanort mentions how "emptiness" is even more terrifying than darkness. That's a lil sus. But on the other hand, maybe I should stop assuming that everything is related to the MoM. LOL I feel like that's everyone's gut reaction to every single unexplained detail and I am also guilty of it. Hopefully we'll receive some clarification on Darkness's origins and his history with the MoM sssssssoon... (That's wishful thinking, huh...) Hm... You're right - I can't imagine her finding it and then not immediately trying to open it. lol But I still think that whoever told her about it was just using her to find it and then they'd probably take it from her. ...But with that in mind, it wouldn't be the MoM, huh? I feel like he would've known where to find his own box - unless it was like you were guessing and he (or whoever) was hoping to lure her into a trap. O-or maybe it was actually just Xigbar and the scene was unnecessarily unclear. That's a much simpler explanation than whatever I was imagining. That's good. Let's go with that for now. Time for another round of "That line doesn't sound the same in Japanese." The English version almost makes it sound like the others wielders from his past didn't even COUNT as keyblade wielders... I think that was just some confusing wording, though. ん〜、いったちゃいたけど、俺以外は論外だね "Nn~ There were others, but everyone besides me is irrelevant." I'm curious if he meant "irrelevant to the story at hand" or if he really meant that nobody else was important so we'll never know about anyone from his past. lol I'm hoping that it makes its way into the English version... But I don't think the localizers are given any special hints about the story, so even if they notice it, they probably won't know for sure if it's a real reference or not... Anyhow, since we're talking about Demyx... I watched some of Days in Japanese and retranslated some scenes. The localization of Days is AMAZING because it adds so much flavor, but... I just enjoy seeing the original so I can tell what's different. This is from Day 224 (or thereabouts), after Roxas unexpectedly had to fight Xigbar in the Coliseum. Once Xigbar leaves, Demyx finally shows back up. When he says "I never know what he's thinking", he actually trails off without finishing the whole sentence as if he's thinking out loud. idk, I don't think I'm even especially reading into this one. It just sounds like Demyx was personally suspicious of Xigbar, but he was keeping his thoughts to himself. Immediately after that, though, he discourages Roxas from thinking about it, like he was trying to defend Xigbar from anyone else's suspicion. He's quite over-the-top about it, too, trying to make Roxas drop it and move along as quickly as possible. If this part doesn't end up getting forgotten, it paints an intriguing picture. I don't even have anything to add. This one just always gets me. Suspicious.

Luxord is actually the MOST mysterious character to me. Like, why was he the one who was the most suspicious of Xigbar? Even Xigbar was like "Who tf is this guy???" I'm not sure if Luxord was especially loyal to Xehanort or if he just really wanted to know about the box for himself. He seemed more interested in it than anyone. His character file gave me an amusing impression, though. It didn't say much, but it made it seem like he realized that Xigbar was somebody he didn't wanna eff around with. But yeah. I think you must be right about Xehanort not knowing. Even though he was also following the MoM's orders, it was only to a degree. It seems like the box was probably something he wasn't allowed to know about. Darkness refers to himself (themselves?) as "we." I don't think I've seen any of the other characters use a pronoun for him yet... I think they've just been calling him "the darkness", so "it" would be appropriate there, but I think that Maleficent would think of him as a "he." Still, Pete said "the guy in the black coat" (I was close before. lol It was even more specific than I remembered.) so that means that it was someone wearing one of the coats. I guess it could've been Vanitas, but that feels strange... I didn't get the impression that Vanitas had memories of the past until later. It's not like that totally rules him out, though. I think that whoever told her about it was probably lying about what was inside. (Well, we basically KNOW that they were lying, seeing as how the contents of the box are supposed to be a secret.) Somebody could've told her that it contained the book to make her more eager to find it. Xigbar told Luxord that it contained "ancient secrets" or whatever, so he isn't above lying about it to generate interest. ...But who would've known that she was interested in the book specifically? I feel like Xigbar wouldn't have wanted to even mention the book to anyone because knowing about something like that would've make him look suspicious. I guess that if Xehanort never found out about him telling Maleficent about it, it wouldn't have been a problem, but would he have taken that risk...? Well... The scene with him and Luxord did make Xigbar look a little clumsy, so MAYBE. Coulda been the MoM. Coulda been Demyx in a dissociative MoM state. LOL ok, I found it. It was from the wiki. Regarding his ability to forge keyblades, they cited an interview with Nomura: Tetsuya Nomura: "The Master knows about its existence. Using the χ-blade as a model, he creates his own Keyblades. Well, by create I don't mean that in the physical sense, such as forging and tempering them, I mean more along the lines of pulling one out from the depths of a heart." I just wrote a lot, but I deleted it because it was a whole lot of confusion. This is a confusing detail. Very "chicken or the egg." Basically, I don't understand how the first keyblade war could've been fought with keyblades at all. Technically, all keyblades were based on the appearance of the X-blade because it was the most ancient keyblade, but doesn't it only appear when there's a keyblade war? So...???? Maybe I'm just not supposed to think about it... That's a good question. It's still in one piece, that's for certain. I lean toward thinking that it went back to where it came from after Sora used it. It exists in tandem with Kingdom Hearts or whatever, so it doesn't seem like something a person could or should just run off with. But idk, I could be wrong. It's not like we saw it disappear, right? If he still has it, why didn't he use it against Yozora? That's what I wanna know. lol It sure would be something if he happens to be good at fighting but never wanted to fight and just got forced into endlessly fighting Darkness until their "truce"... It's really easy to see it that way... I think about this part all the time and I wonder how this didn't register as extreme Demyx energy to everyone, especially with Luxu over there facepalming. Wait, haven't I heard that exact-- Maybe whoever did the localizing for Days was REALLY into that phrase. lol I don't think I've mentioned this yet, but this just reminded me. That? ? Probably just coincidental wording in English. But there is a line that sounds exactly like Demyx. Demyx: 人聞きの悪いこと言うなよ。 ("Now that's just plain rude." Literally, "Don't say rude things about me.") MoM: 逃げるって人聞き悪いなぁ。 ("It's just plain rude to call it 'running away'.") "Hitogiki no warui" just isn't a phrase I hear every day. My brain registers it as a Demyx line. Especially since the MoM was talking about running away... I'm just like......... Are they baiting me?? Are things allowed to be this obvious?? Hmm??? lol

Hm... Now that you mention it, I'm not sure. Larxene was talking about the box in front of everyone, but that was a few seconds before Xemnas showed up. Still, I feel like he would've known...? But maybe he didn't. It's just kinda weird if the whole Organization was hunting for the box and none of the Xehanorts knew about that. Either way, at this point I'm not sure it makes a difference whether he knew or not. lol This reminds me of something. It's safe to assume that Xigbar didn't want Pete and Maleficent to be the ones who found the box, right? I mean, Xigbar was watching them from a distance and he muttered "May your heart be your guiding key" almost ironically. I dunno. That's the impression I got. In any case, Pete mentioned a "dingbat in black" (simply "the guy in black" in Japanese) who told them about the box. .......Am I just needlessly confused? Did I get the wrong impression? Was Pete talking about Xigbar or was there someone else who told them about the box? Maybe this is like how people had a hard time figuring out that Vexen was talking about Saix when he was talking about who came up with the plan to betray the Organization... I understood, but there are definitely some things that they could've clarified better. Wait, there's actually ANOTHER line that confuses me in the same sort of way. When Vexen is talking to Demyx and he says "Men like us", is he referring to himself and Demyx or himself and... idk, Ansem the Wise?? Demyx responds to him as if he thought Vexen was including him with that statement ("I'm not a scientist.") so I've always been confused. Like, it even made me wonder if Vexen knew something about Demyx that nobody else knew. Like, why would he consider DEMYX a fellow scientist...? I'm definitely not the only person who interpreted it that way, but I also feel like that's not correct?? It's the exact same in Japanese, so that doesn't even help. lol It's probably more likely that Vexen was trying to convince Demyx to help them, but he tried to convince him with a reason that was very personal for him but totally irrelevant to Demyx. I just can't believe that he thought that would work... idk, the more I think about it, though, the stranger that particular conversation becomes. There's this part... Demyx: I mean, what's in it for me? Vexen: Forgiveness. Demyx: Huh? For what? Why is half the conversation spend on that topic? Is it really only relevant to Vexen? If so, why is Demyx involved? Why does Demyx shut up and take him so seriously and then immediately try to leave? W-why does he think he has nothing to atone for? I know Demyx didn't do much, but he was still part of Xehanort's black coat cult. ...And how the heck did he get "sweet-talked" into rejoining the Organization????? Being benched (ie, having an easy job) apparently wouldn't have even been a selling factor for him because he didn't even like being benched - that's why he chooses to help Vexen instead. Man, I have a lot of questions. That's definitely the scene I've read into the most. At this point, I'd be happy to ignore it because I have no idea if I'm reading into it too hard. All I know is that it feels weird, like it's trying to say something without outright saying it. It feels like the kind of scene that's going to have a new meaning after we learn more. There are a lot of scenes that sound different in hindsight but probably weren't done intentionally (like a lot of Xigbar's earlier scenes), but this seems like an intentional attempt at that sort of thing to me. No, old man. Your time is over!! Go back to Heaven with Eraqus!! I'm curious what greater purpose the X-blade is meant to serve. I've thought about it a lot and I don't think I ever felt like I figured out anything new about it. lol All I know is that the MoM was also apparently studying it. On that note... There's this one part from the Days manga where Demyx asked to see Roxas and Xion's keyblades. Xion couldn't use hers at the time, so Roxas whipped his out instead. Just look at the PURE DELIGHT on Demyx's face. Xion was so excited to show it to him when she was able to use it again... But Demyx was Not Impressed. (Hello, Xigbar.) It's too bad the manga isn't canon. (At least, I don't think we're supposed to consider it canon... There are a lot of differences...) I just love this one little piece of characterization so much. I hope it stays in. I think it would be kinda charming if the MoM is just a really big keyblade enthusiast who would rather fawningly study a keyblade than use one. Jack's only interests seemed to include music, napping, collecting naughty books, and studying the blade, so it seems fitting to me.

Oh, I didn't know there was an actual interview. lol I'm pretty sure the statements I was thinking of came from something that was posted on the official Dark Road twitter account right before the game went live. This is interesting. Really reinforces the idea that this story wasn't intended to have an impact on future games. I think he's leaving every possibility open. Even if it's unlikely, when you've got a story as flexible as this one, you never know if you might need a certain character again later... Actually, tbh, even though I was kind of getting tired of Xehanort, I do feel like the story wasn't done with him and the other versions of him. I know I'm not the only person who feels like Xemnas got shafted. He ended up being treated no differently than if he were Xehanort himself, but Xemnas felt like a totally separate person to me. He finally figured out where he went wrong and then he just... died. Not to mention, there was that whole subplot in KH3 where Ansem SoD and Xemnas were looking for Subject X. I can't imagine them showing up again now. They're gone. But it feels WEIRD for that subplot to get resolved without the two who started it. (What WERE they going to do if they found her?? What else was Xehanort planning???) There's also Xehanort's interest in the box. Him gathering Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene. When I was playing KH3 for the first time, I thought that all of these things were somehow related to what he was planning to do with the war, but it seems like it was a totally separate endeavor. He is connected to all of these things (especially if he's Player), but now he's dead, so it's like............... Okay. I guess we can speculate, but now we may never know. I really don't expect him to show up again in a big way. It's just... weird writing. Weird choices were made. Haha it's almost like Xehanort wasn't originally meant to be connected to all this stuff about the past but now he is so Nomura tried to tie it all together at the end and it got really cramped and awkward. Right. Yeah, I think that's actually the thing someone else mentioned to me when I suggested that once. That is a good point. That's would be so funny. gjhfgjhk If it's a disguise, it has to be to hide the fact that he's someone we would recognize. I'm kinda starting to believe that he's just some new old man. lol By the way, have you seen this video? I just saw this and it reminded me of some of the things we were talking about before. Apparently while Noctis was inside the Crystal, he was dreaming of other possible realities. I don't think that this novel is something that was taken into consideration for KH, but this idea certainly makes me think. The Yozora fight has two endings, so maybe the other ending is something Sora saw in a dream while he was crystalized...? Well, maybe not exactly like that, but something like that...

Thaaaank you for finding that for me. As expected, there's no "we." You can read it as an order he's giving to Luxu. I feel you. I'm not caught up in the JP version, so I just wait for Cherrim to livetweet it when it comes out. I'm always sitting on the edge of my seat. (She's @petalscythe if you're ever interested in joining the update night anxiety party. lol) At least ever since I got into Type-0 I feel like I've more or less had a sense of what to expect, so I'm usually not too thrown off guard. Important within the context of Dark Road, at least. I question whether it's even possible for him to be someone from the broader story. Originally, Nomura had this idea for Xehanort's backstory, but he wasn't going to do anything with it. The reason Dark Road was made was because of the insistence of the people who were working on khux who wanted to see it. I can't help but interpret this to mean that Dark Road is a thing that didn't NEED to exist. It's like bonus content to me? The part about Xehanort being Player (or whatever's going on there) seems like something that might also be explained in more depth with the ending of khux when we'll probably find out what happened to Ephemer at the same time, so I don't think Dark Road was even essential for that revelation. That's why, when people were like "Maybe Baldr is DEMYX!" I was just sitting there like....... He's not. Luxord's not going to be in this game, either. I think the history of those two were decided before Dark Road happened. Demyx's character file implied that he has some connection to the MoM, and Luxord appears to be out there in Verum Rex Land being Yozora's uber driver. Something tells me they aren't going to show up in a game about Xehanort's past. The way that they're making Odin sound EXTRA suspicious is what throws me off and makes me wonder. I went back and rewatched the scenes with him and I simply cannot tell. He just seems like a nice old man to me so far. lol Even when Eraqus and Baldr get suspicious about the dangerous Mark of Mastery exam he sent the upperclassmen on, I'm like... Is it REALLY that suspicious?? I can think of some reasons for why he did that. The thing about him that I actually find suspicious is the way he talks about the past. It's not a devious kind of suspicious, though. His expression looked really sad/somber as he was talking about the darkness of the past. It sounded personal for him. If Brain was actually Eraqus's grandpa, then that makes the Age of Fairytales seem a lot more recent than I would've expected. Re:Mind said that the scene where the MoM met YMX took place something like ~70 years ago from present time. If you add another 70~100 years to account for Odin's age, that's still not what I'd call the ancient past. Regardless, if Brain IS Eraqus's grandpa, then I guess it's possible that Odin could've been another Dandelion. It's probably not safe to assume that he isn't Ephemer, but it seems unlikely to me. .......Could he be another one of Luxu's bodies? I can't remember if there was anything that made me rule out that idea. I doubt he's the MoM, seeing as how YMX actually meets the MoM later and it just feels like the MoM would be effing with him to an entirely unnecessary degree if he was ALSO his teacher. tbh, tho? Odin's appearance? It does kinda have "this is a disguise" vibes. I'm not convinced that that's a real old man. lol