Looking for FridgeLogic and such for the rest of the series, excluding ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2''? [[Fridge/KingdomHearts Check here]]. ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' has its own page [[Fridge/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep here]]. [[Fridge/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance as does]] ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance''.

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!!FridgeBrilliance

* So, if Axel's such a jerk, why did he choose to be so nice to Roxas, of all people? [[spoiler:Lea met Ventus. Axel retains those memories. Boom, friendship. Though seeing as the meeting between Lea and Ven was only for a few minutes, that it can spark a "best friendship" with Roxas is... strange, to say the least.]]
** He was just acting like one for the sake of his goals. Underneath it, he's a pretty laid back guy.
** It also has to do with how [[spoiler: Nobody's can grow hearts to begin with: Light, the natural world, and other people. While the majority of the Organization spends their time in the world that never was doing their own things; alone, in a world that's near pitch black, and all skyscrapers... Axel spent his time taking Roxas to Twilight town after missions. Since Roxas wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders when he first showed up, someone needed to make sure he didn't hurt himself on missions at first (or frankly at all: it took him a week to even speak his first full sentence). So Roxas' formative moments were him eating Ice cream with someone while watching the sunset. So not only do we get an explanation for why Axel is a much more... colorful character than the other Organization members, but we also get a partial explanation for why Roxas was so oddly emotional for someone with no recollection of what emotions even ARE.]]
** Let's review the people who met both Roxas and Ventus. Lea, who didn't meet Ven for long enough to remember him, but did develop enough of a connection to piggyback some rudimentary emotions off of Roxas from Ven's semi-inert heart shaping Roxas; [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Tinker Bell]], who, for all intents and purposes, is incapable of speaking (but not communicating), and so might have actually noticed something, but couldn't say so; [[WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}} Philoteces]] (AKA: Phil), who wasn't paying much attention when he met Ven, and would only really remember Terra the Hero and maybe Sexy Aqua (Herc would recognize him, but a big deal was made about how Roxas kept juuust missing him). 358/2 was, it appears, carefully planned so that Roxas either gets sent only to places where Ven didn't go, or to places where Ven went but only at times when the people who could say something weren't there. Braig/Xigbar probably knew the entire time, but didn't say anything out of fear of waking Ven's memories up, since he knew that would be a Bad Thing.
*** Tinker Bell almost certainly remembered -- she latched onto Roxas immediately and repeatedly. Not to mention that Roxas remaining eternally young would be perfectly normal for her. Not only that, but Ven had probably been in Neverland long enough to at least begin to understand Tinker Bell - ''not'' Roxas.
*** And another bit of Fridge Brilliance there - Ventus met Tinker Bell, but he also met Peter Pan. Peter Pan was intentionally kept out of the game because otherwise he'd become a WalkingSpoiler.
* On a related note, the fact that [[WesternAnimation/BeautyandtheBeast Beast's Castle]] is the world where Riku meets Xion and is also [[spoiler: the place where he sees her for the last time]] has a lot of potential for Fridge Brilliance. Think about it. During this game, Riku's wearing a blindfold to prevent himself from turning into Ansem, which kind of parallels the Beast in a way... While Xion ends up being held against her will by the Organization, not unlike Belle.
* About Roxas's Keyblades... Oblivion represents the awareness that he is incomplete, and his destruction would leave nothing behind. However, his Oathkeeper represents the duty of taking down Orginization XIII that he feels so obligated towards on behalf of Xion. His dual-wield is basically making the statement "Yeah, what happens to me doesn't matter, and I've got nothing to lose. But I have a promise to keep."
** Rather, look at it this way: we can theorize that, out of Roxas's two Keyblades, Oblivion is Xion's, because when Riku is holding it, he gets flashes of her memories and can remember her more clearly than Roxas. Roxas's Keyblade, therefore, is the one that became Oathkeeper. Roxas had to keep his promise to Xion, while Xion faded away into a more profound nothingness than the rest of Organization XIII, she fell into true oblivion.
** Maybe it was the beginning of Sora influencing Roxas, like the dreams Roxas has at the beginning of [=KH2=]. Oathkeeper being Sora's promise to Kairi, and Oblivion representing Riku, who, when he and Sora parted ways at the end of the first game, was [[spoiler: trapped in the dark realm]].
** Much simpler explanation: Roxas wields the Oathkeeper beause he's trying to keep his promise to [[spoiler:Xion]] and the Oblivion because he's forgetting about [[spoiler:her]].
*** WordOfGod states that Oathkeeper and Oblivion represent Sora's memories of Kairi (Light = Oathkeeper) and Riku (Dark = Oblivion).
*** That doesn't necessarily say that's the only explanation. it's known that multiple things in the series, like Xion's name, [[TakeAThirdOption are supposed to mean multiple things]].
** Oblivion could also represent Roxas's connection with Axel.
*** The logic can be seen, only, to expand, it could represent the Oblivion of his friendship with both Axel and Xion (even though, technically, they never stopped being friends).
** There are two other possible interpretations. One is that Roxas' Oathkeeper represents Xion, and his Oblivion represents Axel: which mirrors how Sora's Oathkeeper and Oblivion represent Kairi and Riku respectively (and Xion/Axel are counterparts of Kairi/Riku). But, in Roxas' case, you can invert the Keyblades: Oblivion represents Xion's decision to erase herself from everyone's memories, while Oathkeeper represents Axel's determination to bring back his friends no matter what.
** This troper recently realized exactly why Roxas wields Oathkeeper and Oblivion: namely, because it reflects his thoughts on himself.
* At some point early in the game, Roxas gets the day off. He generally spends this day derping around and trying to figure out what he's supposed to do with himself, but that's beside the point. This vacation occurs on Day 118 of Roxas's time in the Organization. Now, it would seem that Kingdom Hearts 2 has always taken place in late Summer/early Fall, as we see, during the course of [=KH2=], the Struggle Match, which according to the residents of [[spoiler: the digital]] Twilight Town, always happens right before school starts. Since Roxas spent exactly one year as a separate being from Sora, this means he was born some time in late summer/early fall. There are exactly 116 days between September 1 and December 25. That's right, Xemnas gave the Organization a Christmas/New Year's vacation.
** By taking that date into account, Roxas joined the organization on August 29, Xion arrived on September 5, Axel and Roxas' conversation on the color of the sunset is on May 11, and Deep Drive occurs on August 22.
** It's stated that the events of Halloween Town in the first game took place 36 days (September 25) before Halloween; meaning Roxas was created around late September/early October. And in some countries, Summer ends around mid September. All that's know about the timeline is that Sora woke up just two days before the beginning of the school year, and Xemnas was defeated shortly after Christmas.
** That's 36 Days till Halloween by Halloween Town's timeline. All the worlds run at different speeds...which kind of makes the entire point moot. Still, one would think Xemnas gave them a day off based on the Twilight Town Calendar that The World That Never Was shares.
* After completing the Neverland stage in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', Tinker Bell seems to be so insistent on getting Roxas to go somewhere in ''358/2'' because he looks ''exactly'' like Ventus, and Tinker Bell ''knew'' Ventus from 10 years ago, which is probably also why Peter Pan never appeared in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' (other than the fact that they were supposed to operate in stealth). Because if Tink remembered Roxas as Ventus, so would Peter Pan. And Peter Pan would probably wind up giving away some of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'''s plot, even if the Neverland portion was relatively minor, which is probably why Tink never thought of saying "Hey Peter Pan! Ventus is back! Remember him from 10 years ago?!". That's also probably why we're lucky that Captain Hook never looked over in Roxas's direction -- because he looks ''just'' like Ventus, the kid who defeated him 10 years ago (after slowing him, that is.)
* Axel and Saïx are sun and moon. Saïx obviously draws power from the moon and that's the symbolism there, but what's Axel's? Look at his weapon - The chakrams actually look like a sun. And the sun is often associated with fire...
** An extension of this: Axel's "You know why the sun sets red?" talk... He was talking about ''himself'': He's the color red, the one member of the Organization, who "travelled the farthest", ergo, got closest to regaining his heart: By forming a friendship with Roxas and becoming a piece of his/Ventus' heart.
*** Saix is blue, Xigbar is purple, and Xemnas is purple/black (or rather, ultraviolet), the colors that travel the shortest, and ''why'' does red light travel the farthest? Because it doesn't scatter in the atmosphere as quickly as blue and violet do. [[spoiler: Thanks in part to Roxas and Xion, Axel kept the most of his sense of self out of all the "true" nobodies in Organization XIII, while Saix, Xigbar, and especially Xemnas became little more than vessels for Xehanort's heart.]]
* Why did Riku call Xion and her keyblade a sham? We know about Xion, but what about her keyblade? Answer: It's a counterfeit Kingdom Key, a pale imitation of the real Kingdom Key. Assuming the Kingdom Key of Light is indeed half of the X-blade, there can't be two of them. Therefore, Xion's Kingdom Key of Light must be a fake.
** Unfortunately, there must be two of them, because Roxas was also using the Kingdom Key for the period of time between the end of KHI and the end of [=CoM=]... at the same time as Sora. Nomura had reportedly confirmed that they were using the same Keyblade. Besides, how would Riku know about the X-blade, much less about the Kingdom Key being half of it?
*** However, Xion's keyblade is indeed a fake. Xion being a [[spoiler:replica of Sora's memories, his memories of being a keyblade spawned a replica of one for her to use.]]
*** There's a pretty brilliant explanation for all this, if not, as usual, a little [[KudzuPlot convoluted.]] [[spoiler: Between Sora, Xion, Ventus, and Roxas, at any given time, there are only two Keyblades between them. (Ven's, and Riku's original Keyblade.) During the start of Days, Sora is still awake, so Roxas has one Keyblade, Sora has the other. The only time we see Xion use the Keyblade while Sora is awake is when Roxas drops his, and she picks it up, all in a cutscene. After this, we have the section where Xion 'forgets' how to use her Keyblade. But then, [[KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories some things happen]], Sora is asleep, and Xion uses Sora's Keyblade. Roxas is only able to duel-wield later because Xion, Ven, and Sora are asleep or, [[RetGone well]]...]]
* [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep Birth By Sleep]] reveals that Roxas [[spoiler: performed a Rite Of Sucession on Xion.]] And Xion was already a Keyblade Wielder. That means [[spoiler:Roxas gave Xion innate dual weilding abilities.]] Therefore [[spoiler:both of Roxas's Keyblades belong to Roxas!]]
* In the scene where Roxas and Xion meet [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Genie]], Genie remarks that they could do better than a simple, "Nice to meet you too," kind of thing. The Tearjerker comes in when you realize that because they're Nobodies, they actually CAN'T do better. Whenever they go into worlds and meet people with Hearts, they're doomed to see everyone around them all enthusiastic and happy/sad/angry/etc while they themselves cannot. The Fridge Brilliance comes in when you realize that it may be one of the reasons they are to remain stealthy. Interacting with normal people, with the Tearjerker in mind, would most definitely lower morale in the group.
** But if they don't have emotions, how can they have morale?
** ''Dream Drop Distance'' answers that question: [[spoiler: Because for one, they ''can'' have emotions. The real reason the Organization is required to stay away from non-members is to prevent them from forming friendships outside the group, which would make them recover their hearts faster (which is bad for Xehanort because he needs his vessels to stay empty).]]
* [[spoiler:Xion is indeed yelling generic taunts to Roxas... but in actuality she's committing SuicideByCop. She knows she's the irregular who isn't supposed to exist; whereas Roxas won't cause any more harm by being alive. So she wants to die, but she can't do it herself, as Roxas needs to inherit her abilities. She's close enough to Roxas that she wants to die for his sake; and she knows that she can't just walk up to Roxas and say, "Kill me. Please. It's for your own good". Thus, she pretends to go AxeCrazy and makes Roxas kill her out of self-defense, and taunts to make him think she really ''is'' AxeCrazy when inside, she's probably tearing herself up with every Ragnarok she throws at Roxas.]]
** [[spoiler: It also explains why she never fights Roxas in her normal form. She's pulling an [[VideoGame/CrisisCore Angeal]], deliberately taking on a monstrous form to make it easier for Roxas to kill her.]]
* Saix is pretty much the biggest douche in the game, but when you think about how [[spoiler:Roxas (and Xion) strain and ultimately ruin his long-time friendship with Axel, it becomes pretty clear. The fact that Axel ultimately choses the two newcomers over him and the plan that they had worked on for who-knows-how long must have made him less-than-approving (if he had a heart, I'd say he'd be furious/feel betrayed) of Roxas and Xion]].
** Playing Dream Drop Distance, it's even ''worse'' because [[spoiler:it turns out Saix was one of the ones to undergo the multiple Xehanort plan and so his personality changes were partly due to Xehanort slowly hijacking his brain. It's unclear if Saix was aware of what was being done to himself, but Axel notices the changes to his friend and...wrote it off as Saix just turning into a bigger jerk and ditched him for Xion and Roxas. ''Ouch''.]]
** It's actually apparent in game that Saix doesn't know anything beyond what Xemnas tells him, and he strongly believed Axel was the one who had changed, not him.[[spoiler: Saix was suspicious of Xemnas's goals and generally wanted to take over the organisation with Axel to get their hearts back. So he couldn't have wanted or even realized he was slowly turning into a vessel for xehanort. Heck even Xemnas at the time didn't know about Xehanort since he's basically possessed Terra's amnesiac body.]] Xigbar was basically the only member...actually, the ONLY person in the game who knew exactly what was going on.
** Technically Xemnas [[spoiler:knew full well about Xehanort's plan to create the χ-blade to create a new world as shown by Dream Drop Distance even if he didn't have any memories of his life before becoming a Nobody]].
* During the boss battle with [[spoiler:Xion, she dons armor in several new forms. It is confusing how she can do so while no other nobodies can. While most people would chalk that up to her being a weird nobody being formed from Sora's memories, the real reason comes from Birth by Sleep. Xemnas's armor in Kingdom Hearts 2 can be explained the same way. They were wearing the armor of Keyblade wielders. Xemnas got his from being the Nobody of Terra being possessed by Xehanort, giving him armor almost identical to Xehanort's, but it is still altered due to the fact it is Terra's body. But where does Xion get hers? Well she gets hers from Sora, who inadvertently also contains the heart of Ventus within his heart. Xion is able to wield the armor because she has memories from Sora, who in turn may have obtained memories from Ventus by accident. Through this she knew how to wield Keyblade armor, but due to the fact she is based on Sora's memories, and because Sora had no training with wielding Keyblade armor, she donned a demented version of real keyblade armor. Each transformation was an attempt to recreate the Keyblade armor correctly so as to protect herself from Roxas properly. However in the end she just couldn't recreate it properly.]]
* Xion's existence explains a lot of things about Axel's interaction with Roxas at the beginning of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. His complete obsession with Roxas wasn't because they were [[HoYay really close]], but rather because Axel was remembering his friendship with two people squeezed into one. In other words, [[{{Irony}} the fangirls were hating the very thing that gave them the pairing that they love so much]].
** Considering Axel was writing that "[He'd] do anything to stop Roxas from being erased" even before Xion died it's possible they were that close and Xion had nothing to do with it.
*** Not really. Considering Dream Drop Distance and [[spoiler:Lea's dream]] interactions with Roxas, I'd say the original troper has a valid point, And remember, he said he also can't just standby and let Xion disappear either.
*** It's extremely conspicuous that Lea dreams of [[spoiler: Roxas reminding him about a promise that Axel ''explicitly made to Xion'']], implying that Axel's memories of Xion were likely overwritten with Roxas in her place to some sort of extent after she died. Whether fans view it in a platonic or romantic light, the reality is that Axel deeply cared for both of them.
*** And while WordofGod states that Axel views Roxas as a friend and not a lover, enough people believe otherwise that ho-yay has been scattered throughout every game featuring them together. Seriously, yaoi-glasses are barely needed with some of their banter.
* Why does the Moogle still want your Heart points (the money) after you leave the castle?
** Black market double dealing would be ''entirely'' in character for a black cloak wearing shop-moogle. And according to the game, Roxas was the only one who actually bought anything from the Org-Moogle.
%%* The [[BlindIdiotTranslation infamous translation errors between]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI KH1]] [[BlindIdiotTranslation and]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII KH2]] may seem particularly odd at first... until you realise they ''aren't'' translation miscues. Would Organization 13 have known or cared about what Jiminy Cricket named the Heartless? Nope. They named them what they wanted.
* The Organization's policy of avoiding contact with others while on a mission makes a lot more sense given [[spoiler:the revelation in 3D about Nobodies being able to form new hearts. Xemnas's goal was to create thirteen empty vessels for Xehanort's heart, right? Well, as Roxas, Data-Sora, and various others have demonstrated, people seem to gain hearts when they form connections with others, so Xemnas attempted to isolate the Organization members from other people in order to keep them from gaining new hearts!]]
* So Xion [[spoiler:has many faces because she's made up of Sora's memories, right? But her true form that only her best friends can see really resembles Kairi.]] The reason for that is that when Xion [[spoiler:started absorbing Sora's memories, she first picked up his strongest memories, which are that of Kairi.]] Now think forward to ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' at the beginning of the game when Roxas sees Sora's memories in dreams. The very last memories to come back, that keep getting cut off throughout the process, are those of Kairi because [[spoiler:they were the first ones to be lost!]] Whether that's a coincidence or if it was planned out from the beginning, it's still pretty brilliant.
** Sora's memories of Kairi go through a lot of mangling in this series - they were the only ones Naminé intentionally manipulated; the rest are implied to have been an accident. Or perhaps they were a direct but unintended consequence, since finding Kairi again was a big reason why Sora took up adventuring in the first place. Without that motivation, all the other memories seem less important, and they start to fall apart from there.
* [[spoiler:When Xion starts to be forgotten]] Roxas goes kind've crazy... why? [[spoiler:Xion and Roxas are essentially Sora's two halves right? A lot of people point this toward Xion just being his feminine side, but then you realize that Xion's appearance is so similar to how he would remember Kairi.]] This means that Roxas isn't going crazy just because he's [[spoiler:losing Xion, but because Roxas, the Sora half of Sora, is losing his other half, Kairi. Essentially the scene is showing what would happen if Sora lost Kairi, showing just how much he cares about her.]]
* When you watch the opening to Kingdom Hearts II, the game chronologically right after 358/2 Days, the very first scene with the seashell washing away suddenly holds some meaning...
* Why does Demyx not only want to do just reconnaissance missions but also actually enjoy them? We know he likes playing his sitar during missions (according to Xion), so he's actually using his observations as inspiration!
* I was just listening to Xion's theme when I was hit with the realization that like the themes of Ven, Aqua, and Vanitas in Birth by Sleep, her theme contains elements of other themes in the series. The most notable one is Kairi's theme, as she mostly resembles her [[spoiler:due to being based on Sora's memories of her acting as a sort of template]]. Then when she is [[spoiler:fought at the end of the game]], ''Dearly Beloved'' plays in the stead of Kairi's theme, reflecting the love that blossomed between Sora and Kairi and then Roxas and Xion.
* ''Days'' is the only KH game with a real DesperationAttack mechanic, the Limits. Think about it: Nobodies are connected to Nothingness. When they die, they dissolve into Nothing. Of course being on the brink of death would make them more powerful.
* The panel system seems like the odd one out in this series, seeing as in every other game all the player has to do to become stronger is fight enemies and level up through the resulting experience, including Kingdom Hearts 2 which chronologically takes place after this and Roxas can still become stronger without it. However, it's actually the Organization that is behind this and thus when he's no longer under their thumb he's able to level up and grow stronger more naturally in Kingdom Hearts 2. By making sure that Roxas can only grow more powerful by unlocking and placing panels they ensure he only becomes stronger at the rate they want him to, and thus they make sure he never becomes so strong that he can just slaughter his way through the entire Organization if he decides to turn on them as he does at the end of the game. Therefore, Xemnas makes sure Roxas does his dirty work for him but is still far too weak to ever challenge him. The other members probably have to deal with the same sort of thing, thus Xemnas makes sure he remains the strongest member of the Organization by far and can beat down any potential insurrection.
* Just a small one, but during the Saix fight, most magic is pretty much worthless on him... but fire magic hits for a decent amount of damage, more then any other kind. Axel's element is fire. Saix's slight weakness to it symbolizes how even though he's being controlled by Xehanort, and doesn't really feel anything anymore, he still has a soft spot for Axel.
* The Aubade Keyblade, Roxas and Xion's shared Mystery Gear weapon, is symbolic of both of them. An aubade is a serenade or poem by lovers parting ways at dawn (continuing the theme naming of their Keyblades associated with various forms of light). You KNOW that choice of name HAD to be deliberate, and sums up [[spoiler: Roxas and Xion's final scene together, their separation via the latter's death and erasure from physical and mnemonic existence at Twilight Town]].
* At the start of the game, a lot of characters are rather flat. But over time, you can see Roxas, Axel and Xion become actual characters. Why? [[spoiler: As noted in 3D, Nobodies can grow Hearts.]] Nobodies ''literally'' go through CharacterDevelopment.
* [[spoiler:Xion's fight has her taking four different forms. Each form except the last is supposed to represent a Birth By Sleep character: First is Ventus (Quite a balanced form), second is Aqua (Focuses on long range and magic), third is Terra (Brute force in every attack). What about the fourth form? Sora.]]
** [[spoiler: This somewhat fits a Command Style each of the BBS characters had. Xion's first form looks like Ventus's Wingblade Command Style, her second could be an allusion to Aqua's Spellweaver Command Style, and her third form could be one to Terra's Rockbreaker Command Style.]]
* When I first played through mission 89, I was initially confused why we had to [[spoiler:fight 7 (for mission completion's sake) giant heartless totally alone]] until I realized it's probably [[spoiler:the Organization's underhanded attempt to kill Roxas, who is certainly weaker due to Xion's growth]]. The earlier attempt, [[spoiler:the illusion fight with Xion,]] failed, and after you RTC, Saix seems awfully unhappy that [[spoiler:you survived]].
* Is it a pure coincidence that Saix is a GameBreaker in a game where he started getting some HiddenDepths? Not only he can make Mission Mode a breeze, he also “break” the expectations of his role in the story. Going by release order, one would think that Saix is just the less important of Xemnas’ CoDragons in contrast to Xigbar, whose importance was ramped-up by [=KH2 FM=]’s extra scenes. And then it turned out that Saix is also important, in ways that no one didn’t expect: he wanted to overthrow Xemnas all along, he was Axel’s best friend, and he’s the HateSink BigBadWannabe of the game.
* A small bit of foreshadowing for one of the reveals of DDD is shown in Neverland. Both Roxas and Axel were able to fly with pixie dust (though Axel had a little trouble getting off the ground at first). Flying with pixie dust, as established in [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan the film]], requires "a happy thought." [[spoiler:Kind of hard to be truly happy without a heart, huh?]]
* Unlike the rest of Organization XIII, Xion isn't considered to have [[KingMook her own subclass of Nobodies to command]] since she isn't ever shown controlling any like the others are in ''II,'' [[spoiler:and she's not really one of them anyway]]. But there is one already existing subclass that would fit for her if she were assigned one - the Creepers, which were the only lesser Nobodies other than the general-use Dusks that weren't assigned to another Organization member. [[spoiler:Like her, they're associated with shapeshifting and copying other Organization members' weapons. Even most other lesser Nobodies have ''something'' for a face, but the Creepers have absolutely nothing there and Xion's true form is also a faceless puppet.]] They're also considered the weakest and lowest level Nobody type, which fits for the lowest ranking member of the Organization who starts off [[TheLoad very weak]] and has to gradually [[TookALevelInBadass get stronger to become capable]].

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