Fridge / Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep

Per wiki policy, Spoilers Off applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

Looking for Fridge Logic and such for the rest of the series, excluding Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep? Check here. Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days has its own page here, Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] goes here, and Kingdom Hearts 0.2: Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- is available here.

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Fridge Horror

• In the first game, one of the first lines is "The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes." Then we find out that this was Ven speaking. He had firsthand experience in this lesson, courtesy of Eraqus
  • Actually, it turns out it was Mickey speaking... but this could mean that Mickey was still talking of Eraqus
• This one is more like Fridge Despair. The end montage of all the worlds that had been visited becomes a lot less happy when you remember that only about half of them will make it to KH1 unscathed. At least we know they get better thanks to Sora and company.
• Braig's eye damage. Eeew....
  • Eye Scream is bad enough, but let's make it even worse: the fountain of darkness that erupted from it when he was hit kind of implied that it was burned out. It doesn't help that the dark smoke kind of looked rust red instead of purple due to the yellow background...
    • This might be considered awesome in hindsight when one looks at further games. In Kingdom Hearts 3, it's revealed that Braig/Xigbar is actually Luxu, one of the ancient Keyblade Foretellers! Terra was strong enough to put out the eye of a foreteller! Or Luxu was going along with the act of appearing weak, but in any case it's clearly cool.
• Even before Ventus was stripped of all his darkness, he showed that Dark Is Not Evil by still being the same person. If his darkness gave birth to Vanitas, what would happen in the case of a ''legitimately'' evil being?
  • An optimistic interpretation is that Vanitas really couldn't have been anything but a monster, given that he was darkness.
  • Going off of that, Vanitas is technically The Faceless. Nomura states that Vanitas looks like Sora because Ven linked his heart to that of the young Keyblade Master. Should he have been aided by a different benefactor, Vanitas would have taken the attributes of said person. In other words, Vanitas could have been Evil!Anyone.
• In Cinderella's world, Ven basically took over all roles that Gus had in the actual movie. So, what happened to Gus? For that matter, where are the other mice? The Doylist reason is that Sora took over the role instead; they were adapated out. The Watsonian reason is still missing.
• There's a very good reason Never Say "Die" is averted in this game. Remember this games occurs before Xehanort begins his experiments on the Heartless and they invade the realm of light. The Heartless stole hearts from their victims, but the Unversed are just monsters. Sure they feed on negative emotions but it's never shown they were stealing hearts or transforming other people into Unversed, in fact the latter would go against their creation story. Never Say Die is averted because death is what actually happens to victims of Unversed. Losing your heart to a Heartless and being transformed into one is unheard of in this world, "death" is the only way to describe what occurs to people who, well, die.
  • Remember in the first Kingdom Hearts and its sequel, when you lost Sora was shown floating in a black void with his heart hovering over him. Birth By Sleep shows you floating in a black void, no heart overheard. Think about what has actually happened to your character when they run of out HP in this game with the knowledge that the Unversed have no interest in taking their heart...
• Ventus was about Sora's age in KH1 during the majority of BBS, right? And if this took place about 10 years before KH1, then Sora was of course 4. So if the opening scene occurred on the day Sora was born, then Ventus was only ten when Master Xehanort tried to make him command the Heartless, ripped out part of his heart to make Vanitas and left him for dead on Destiny Islands. Training from Hell much?
• What if Lady Tremaine and her daughters actually succeeded in harming, or worse, killing Cinderella? Considering that she's a Princess of Heart, and the trio's hearts are now 100% darkness, this clash could've ended up creating the χ-Blade very early on, even though Cinderella didn't fight back, nor did any of them use Keyblades (though Aqua was present). Chances are unlikely, though, but there's still a chance. Not only that, Cinderella's murder would've resulted in unspeakable chaos (unless her pure heart reincarnated into another girl). Who knows what would've happened if it were not for Aqua pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment.
  • Her fate remains ambitious, but what if Lady Tremaine didn't go directly to Hell? The Castle of Dreams is one of the first known worlds destroyed (alongside Radiant Garden and, possibly, Space Paranoids), as the Final Mix version reveals. It's confirmed that the Heartless existed before the Unversed, and it's possible for one to be turned into a Pureblood. That's right: Lady Tremaine (and possibly her daughters) didn't perish; they were turned into Heartless, and captured Cinderella and intentionally destroyed their world (and then possibly millions of others) as payback! Bonus points if they became Darksides. More bonus points if they were the Darksides Sora fought in the first game (as one destroyed his world)!
  • If the idea of Princesses of Heart passing on their light to another girl without dying once they have completed their purpose, which Kingdom Hearts III implies, is true, then it is clear that Cinderella just became a Princess. Unlike Aurora, Snow White, or Kairi, no one commented that her heart was pure light. This adds another layer into her stepfamily suddenly becoming 100% darkness.
• If the apprentices became Nobodies a year later, then their bodies aged at least nine years. If Nobodies didn't age, could Riku or Sora even consider killing a kid (Zexion/Ienzo)? We know it didn't matter to Saix and Axel, and probably DiZ as well.
• Be glad that Terra was present in the Castle of Dreams, otherwise Cinderella would've died from Despair Event Horizon (which summoned the Unversed) before the Fairy Godmother appeared. Be even more glad that Terra followed her to the ball, as not only would he not have been present to stop the Symphony Armor, but by the time Aqua arrived, everyone would have been massacred by it... except for the sadistic Black Widow Aristocrat and her selfish daughters (who summoned it from their hatred, according to a journal entry).
  • If you pay close attention, Cinderella is the main target of the Unversed! They attacked her during her near-Despair Event Horizon, and a whole army of them tried to prevent her from reaching the ball, but once she got there, nothing bad happens again until the monsters who happen to be her stepfamily recognize her. Terra spots them spawning on a balcony near the trio, and he goes after them, only for the Symphony Armor to spawn and attempt a massacre against everyone except the Tremaines.
    The Grand Duke mentions that the Unversed came when Vanitas visited the world. If you think about it, he may have allied himself with the trio, maybe for an experiment of Xehanort to see what happens if a Princess of Heart is murdered. After they destroyed the dress, it might be possible that Lady Tremaine sent some Unversed to kill Cinderella while she's at her worst, but failed because of Terra. They chase her towards the castle, but again fail, and once she's reached the ball, no attacks occur again. Lady Tremaine then identifies her, and realizes that someone with a Keyblade helped her, and summoned some Unversed onto the balcony to distract them as she and her daughter summon the Symphony Armor with The Power of Hate.
    Again, a failure. Once Lady Tremaine returns home, she locks her stepdaughter in the tower to die, and have the Unversed guard her while the Grand Duke visits. Aqua saves her, and helps her get downstairs to try on the slipper, saving the Princess of Heart from a domestic tyranny second only to James Henry Trotter's evil aunts. That is when the Tremaines snap and summon the Cursed Coach, which is most likely a last resort that Vanitas gave them. They fail and either enter the fiery pits of Hell or become terrifying Heartless (and Nobodies, maybe), and Cinderella marries her prince.
    And then Vanitas alerts Xehanort on the failure of the Tremaines to murder a Princess of Heart. And he, in return, tells Maleficent about Cinderella.
• In the beginning of the game, we see a cutscene of Xehanort leaving a dying Ventus on Destiny Islands, with Ven half naked and wrapped in a sheet. Later on, we find out that Ventus was dying on account of getting his heart ripped in half. Which he was fully clothed for. The horror here being, what happened between those two scenes that Xehanort felt taking off Ventus's clothing was a necessary step? Especially considering Xehanort is clearly established as viewing Ventus as a very convenient tool, and feeling no remorse for anything he's done to him. Can't forget that creepy smile at the beginning either...
  • Though it could be something less creepy (but still creepy, nonetheless) such as Vanitas trying to attack the helpless Ventus and damage/destroy his clothes.
• What would've happened if Maleficent succeeded in killing everyone inside the castle with an Unversed after stealing Aurora's heart? If the theory of reincarnation is true, would she have lost Aurora's heart to a newborn girl? Or would said girl be mistaken as stillborn because someone took her heart from her previous incarnation?
• How do you think Terra felt about his body being controlled for an entire decade? He had to watch Xehanort commit horrible atrocities for years and he couldn't do anything about it. What makes this more horrifying, is that KH 3 reveals that Terra's heart was inside the guardian heartless. Meaning he had to do Xehanort's bidding against his will. With him powerless to fight back.

Fridge Brilliance

• In an interesting case of Real-Life Relative as well, apparently, using Akio Ōtsuka as Xehanort all this time was leading up to Chikao Ohtsuka (Akio's father) as Master Xehanort all for the sake of an age-affected variant of Voices Are Mental when he commits Grand Theft Me on Terra.
• "Ventus is still working out the kinks of interdimensional travel." - So says the guide book. This makes perfect sense in retrospect; Ven is still in-training. He wasn't supposed to leave home in the first place. He's lucky it only happened once.
• At the Castle of Dreams when you play as Aqua. You need to protect Jaq from the Unversed while he carries the key that'll unlock the door to free Cinderella. One may wonder, couldn't it have been a LOT easier of Aqua just used her Keyblade to unlock the door? She's trying to keep the Keyblade a secret. Whenever possible, a keyblade master should protected the order of the world they're visiting, which means keeping secret the nature of the world and the keyblade's power. Besides, she would still have to protect Jaq from the Unversed.
• The χ-Blade. χ is the first letter of the Greek spelling of Christ, and the Keychain resembles the symbol of the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven—which are also represented by the Kingdom Key (silver-shafted key) and Kingdom Key-D (gold-shafted key) that open Kingdom Hearts. Basically, all the meaningless symbolism—and several things which didn't even look like it—have been transformed into half-obvious references to Catholicism. Nomura didn't plan this out from the beginning?
  • It gets even better when you remember that Nomura was the creative producer of The World Ends with You, which also took a lot of inspiration from Catholic theology. Also, the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven can be found in the Hierophant tarot card, which features a man in a throne. At the end of the game, where is Ventus's body? On a throne.
• You know how every main game has a fight with the reflection of the character at the Awakening taking the form of the enemy introduced in said game? Birth by Sleep notably doesn't do this until you learn that it DOES, only at the end of the game instead of the beginning. Vanitas is fought at Ventus' Awakening and is his Enemy Without.
• Doesn't what Pete get banished for seem rather petty? Just trying to steal some prize? Look carefully at his stance, at what he was doing when he was trying to steal the prize. He was about to assault a city official. Not just any official, but the QUEEN. He was going to attack Minnie just to get the Million Dreams Prize. Not only does it make more sense and fit more with what was said in past games, but it also fits his petty, selfish character. Yes, that's right, he was about to beat up Minnie Mouse for ICE CREAM.
• Tinkerbell's actions in 358/2 days make a lot of sense after you play this game. For some reason, Tinkerbell seemed really insistent about Roxas going somewhere and was always seeking him out. Birth By Sleep establishes that Ventus (Whose appearance Roxas shares) had been present in Neverland - meaning that Tinker Bell should recognize him. (After all, ten years passing and someone having the same appearance would be normal for her.) There are two rather brilliant things that come out of this:
  • Tinker Bell's speech in the movie, the play, and the Kingdom Hearts themselves are somewhat Painting the Medium - The audience doesn't understand what Tinker Bell says, meaning that when Tinker Bell ran into Roxas in Days, she was probably saying something along the lines of "Ventus! It's been awhile! How're you doing? Hey, Peter Pan is here". Not only does the audience not understand Tinker Bell, but neither does Roxas - Ventus probably does, meaning Tinker Bell could have been frustrated that "Ventus" apparently forgot how to understand her.
  • During Birth by Sleep, Ventus met Peter Pan - Peter Pan never shows up in Days at all. Peter Pan would most definitely recognize Roxas as "Ven", and unlike Tinker Bell would be able to spoil crucial details to the audience. On top of that, Captain Hook is present in Days, but note how he never turns around to see Roxas at all. Roxas looks exactly like Ven - and Captain Hook would immediately recognise him as the person who kicked his ass ten years ago. Puts a whole new perspective on Neverland's involvement, doesn't it?
• The Very Definitely Final Dungeon of the first game, End Of The World, had some parts of Snow White's, Cinderella's and Sleeping Beauty's worlds, that by now we know as Dwarf Woodlands, Castle of Dreams and Enchanted Dominion respectively. These three worlds are all next to each other, and next to Mirage Arena, where the teleport that links the save point with the main room works like the so-called "prison of the worlds" in End Of The World. This may lead us to think that Mirage Arena, Dwarf Woodlands, Castle of Dreams and Enchanted Dominion actually are End Of The World as it was in the beginning, since it's a chaotic mash-up of them. Now stop for a moment to think about one of the closest worlds to this mash-up: the fact that Radiant Garden was next to the then-future End Of The World creates a striking parallel with the fact that Hollow Bastion was also next to it in the first game, making the left half of the Birth By Sleep world map the past of the right half of the Kingdom Hearts world map, while the other world next to the then-future End Of The World is the world which became Castle Oblivion, that is the place Sora went to right after his visit to End Of The World, thus happening between the first KH and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
  • Also, we finally get to see Destiny Islands' relative position to Radiant Garden, and it turns out it's just south of there, putting it just within range of The End of the World. Fitting, since it's the last world to get sucked in.
    • It's like the world map of BBS literally mirrors the one from the first game. Disney Castle and Olympus Colosseum were in the left edge of the world map in the first game. BBS places them in the right edge.
    • Remember in Kingdom Hearts 1, after you rescue Kairi? Cid says the former gummi ship path to Hollow Bastion is too dangerous to take... so he shows you a back door that leads straight to it from Traverse Town. Now, Disney Castle is right beside Traverse Town, so if one looked at the map from the new path's perspective... then it would appear that Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden really IS right beside Disney Castle. It would make sense too, how Cid would bring the refugees to the closest world and then close off the path, thus making anyone who wanted to follow have to take the long way around. The Fridge Brilliance works! ^note  In KHI even though the world map says Neverland, you only actually go to Hook's ship in the middle of the ocean and Big Ben. Even then you can only go to Big Ben (initially) because of Tinker Bell. That would mean that Sora and co. never actually travel to the real Neverland (though Roxas does)
    • To add further proof....Mirage Arena is the basis for the "prisons of the worlds" section of End Of The World, right? And guess who's the resident, this-world-only Unversed boss? Iron Imprisoner.
• How about this:
  • Ventus, Green, Dwarf Woodlands, Snow White, The 1st Dive to the Heart.
  • Aqua, Blue, Castle of Dreams, Cinderella, The 2nd Dive to the Heart.
  • Terra, Brown (Or Red), Enchanted Dominion, Aurora, The 4th Dive to the Heart.
    • Lampshaded in the Opening, when the trio's charms turn into the respective stations.
    • The fates of the three princesses in their movies also resemble the fates of the trio. Terra and Ven are lost to a slumber of some kind, like how Aurora and Snow White are killed in their movies. After reaching the apex of her power Aqua is forced to disappear and is hidden from everyone else by malevolent forces, like how Lady Tremaine tried to hide Cinderella from the Prince in her movie.
• Xehanort's past goes a long way towards explaining why Xemnas was wearing armor when he went One-Winged Angel in Kingdom Hearts II. Confirmed in the Final Mix version where Master Xehanort's Keyblade Armor is fought as a boss, and it looks just like the armor Xemnas wore.
• Aqua's main element is water, but her only water attack is a Shotlock, why? Because Aqua's ultimate exclusive spells are fire and ice spells. When you combine fire and ice you get water. Shown more so when she gets her Bladecharge command style (which is powered up through fire, and ice attacks) at the same place that Ven, and Terra get their elemental command styles.
• Vanitas takes off his mask and looks like Sora after Ven meets Sora. For all we know, Vanitas didn't have a face before Ven met Sora, and Vanitas gained his appearance from Ven's memories! - Darkaros
  • A hint given to Vanitas's appearance beneath his mask shows up during the actual gameplay: one of Vanitas's battle cries during any of his fight before the unveiling? "See ya!" Now, what chipper, spiky-haired, lovable goofball says the same thing during HIS combo strings?
    • Another major hint is that, when masked Vanitas is about to perform his strongest attack during your fights with him, he uses the exact same "transformation" animation as Sora did when using Drive Forms in Kingdom Hearts II.
  • The novels confirm the part about Vanitas not having a face until Sora's heart merged with Ven's.
• Each of the three main characters, at the end, wind up in a different realm - Aqua in the realm of darkness, Ventus at Castle Oblivion in the realm of in-between, and Terra (at least initially) at Radiant Garden in the realm of light. "The Gathering" promo video of them, where each of them takes up one of the three main keyblades - Aqua takes the Kingdom Key D for the realm of darkness, Ventus takes Way to Dawn for the realm of in-between (or balance between light and dark), and Terra takes the Kingdom Key for the realm of light! It all makes SENSE!
• Kingdom Hearts' subjects Cloud to Flanderization, which makes him basically nothing but an Emo Teen Adult and an unkind loner with hardly any justification, and making him just a hardly likable Flat Character that fans would only be happy to have because it's pure Fanservice. Now, while his perception of Cloud hasn't improved much, he may have found some reasoning behind all this in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, no less. The ending credit sequence shows us a moment with Zack, and a black feather flies close to him, which has already sprayed around the likely correct Wild Mass Guess that Sephiroth killed Zack in this continuity. Now, add to this all the implications during Kingdom Hearts II that Sephiroth is Cloud's Enemy Without, and you can see QUITE a reason for Cloud wanting to keep everyone as far away as possible from him, and his stoicism being fueled by an immense sense of guilt, nonetheless. (Admitedly, this is a bit of Wild Mass Guessing on its own, but hey, you can see where I'm coming from, right?)
• BBS's battle system is a case of this. The battle systems in the previous games, while playing as Sora/Riku/Roxas, were pretty straightforward with abilities simply complimenting a basic style of combat (Castle Oblivion aside). BBS's battle system on the other hand is extremely dynamic, relying on a combination of various techniques, spells and abilites to create an adaptive combat style. Not to mention the extra additions like evolving finishers, command styles and Shotlocks. At first, this may just seem like an altered gameplay to change things up, but in the context of the story, it makes perfect sense. Terra, Aqua and Ven had years of training compared to Sora and Riku who more or less taught themselves. This becomes especially apparent when you remember that Terra's lingering sentiment was the toughest boss we had ever faced, and in BBS you could learn pretty of his moves. The altered battle system is giving us an idea of what the Keyblade can really do.
  Xigbar:"I guess that must be why the Keyblade chose you. But MAN, did it pick a dud this time. You don't look like you're half the hero the others were."
  • Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories also makes sense from this explanation. Sora, being so close to Ventus's body, ended up unlocking some of Ven's skills. Thus letting him do crazy stuff that he hasn't been able to do before!
  • In regards to what Sora can do in II, there is one word, Mana. While Sora MAY have stronger spells, his fighting style is not as refined. It's similar to how Xehanort can destroy a whole world with one move in a cutscene but he never uses it in a fight. why? It's Awesome, but Impractical to throw around. Which is probably why Sora ran out of mana in the first place, he was throwing everything he had.
• This game turned being a Keyblade bearer into something that anyone with a strong heart can do as opposed to a skill only Sora possessed. But if you think about it this makes Sora the "last survivor of an ancient warrior culture which aligns itself to light and opposes darkness". Considering that the English dub got Mark Hamill as a voice actor, is Sora a reference to Luke '''Sky'''walker.
  • Apparently, Mark Hamill and Leonard Nimoy were chosen for their roles almost specifically because they were in Star Wars and Star Trek. We're just surprised we haven't heard any comments about Star Trek being "The Dark Side".
• Sora caused everything. No, really. Alright, Master Xehanort might've had a more obvious hand in everything, but, had Sora not fused his heart to Ven's, Ven would have died. Had Xehanort not taken the alive - but nearly comatose - Ven to the Land of Departure, Xehanort might not have ever never returned there. Thus, he might never have met Terra, and thus never have decided to use Terra as his vessel for his Grand Theft Me scheme. True, as the secret ending hinted, he had other options, but Sora's interference changed things.
• Terra's penultimate and final bosses. Think about it. In the preceding cutscene, Terra goes into full darkness rage mode. Master Xehanort is trying to goad him into darkness. During the battle, Master Xehanort is pretty passive. He sometimes teleports in to smack you, but largely he lets you come to him. Thus, Terra is fighting in a very aggressive darkness way. When Terra gets possessed and you fight as the Lingering Sentiment, this way of fighting will get you killed. Terranort is aggressive and can counterattack most of your standard attacks. The best tactic? Sitting back and guarding all his darkness projectiles back at him or countering his physical attacks - the exact opposite of the fight with Master Xehanort.
  • What makes Terra-Xehanort such a tough opponent, both in Terra's story and the Final Episode? Inescapable Keyblade combos, flashy special moves, constant dodging and guarding of attacks followed by counters, healing at will, and a Shotlock and Command Style to boot. In other words, everything you've been doing the whole game, now turned against you.
• There's a good reason why the Fairy Godmother won't allow Aqua to assassinate Lady Tremaine. Aqua was about to charge into the Tremaine household with the full intention of harming (and possibly killing) three people who, horribleness towards Cinderella aside, really haven't done anything. The Fairy Godmother might have intervened not just to help Cinderella, but to prevent Aqua from turning into a Knight Templar. Her sending Aqua to help Jaq could've been her way of showing Aqua that there are other ways of protecting the light aside from simply "destroying the darkness", and her speech about light and darkness going hand-in-hand could have been her way of warning Aqua that she could take her dedication to protecting the Realm of Light too far if she's not careful.
• How come that the True Final Boss in the Final Mix version, a giant Heartless, is more difficult than, say, Xehanort or Vanitas? Well, you must consider that both Xehanort and Vanitas were in new bodies, but the previous tenants (Terra and Ven) were Fighting from the Inside. Also, in Ventus' Episode, the last battle is a Battle in the Center of the Mind, and Vanitas is using a damaged X-Blade, something he shouldn't have been able to control easily. Meanwhile, in the secret episode, Aqua has been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for at least a year. Besides the home advantage the Heartless has, Dark Hide isn't unreasonably stronger, it's Aqua who was short of energies at the time.
• Stitch undergoes character development within this game similarly to how he underwent character development during the events of Lilo & Stitch. If you assume that the events of the game takes place after Jamba and Stitch's trial but before Stitch escapes to planet Earth, it's easy to picture the events of Lilo and Stitch as being canon to the Kingdom Hearts universe as well. Aqua, Terra and Ventus planted the seeds that would cause Stitch to mature into a likable character, and Lilo made it grow. Even Jumba's reaction to Stitch being hesitant on obeying his destructive instincts can be chalked up as it not occurring to him at the time that Stitch would figure out there's more to life than destroying things, something Jumba would only notice within the film proper while he was watching Stitch when he was within Lilo's room.
• Experiment 626 made his own Wayfinder by patchwork. He stitched it together.
• The Keyblade Armor is where the defensive stat in the games comes from and why every protagonist is Made of Iron; they actually have Super-Toughness. As a Keyblade Wielder gets stronger, the armor becomes more and more defensive and thus able to block stronger and stronger attacks, just like the Keyblade itself becomes capable of causing more and more damage. Even if the person does not manifest it or aren't currently wearing it, the Keyblade Armor still protects them, which is also why the Keyblade Armor doesn't increase their defense against direct attacks for the protagonists in Birth By Sleep when they are wearing it, it's already protecting them as much as it can, wearing the armor only protects them from free floating and nondirected darkness rather than from deliberate attack by it. In other words, the Keyblade Armor only seems useless, it's not actually useless.

• Considering that the purpose of Keyblade wielders is to go to the innumerable worlds to protect them from the darkness and evil, many of those worlds being dark and evil looking but perfectly fine like Halloween Town for instance as well as the opposite, it makes sense that Terra, Aqua, and Ventus would have had "don't judge a book by it's cover" very very insistently hammered into them during their entire training. Therefore it's actually Fridge Brilliance that Terra trusts most of the villains right off (which is actually really blown out of proportion by the fandom) when they're Obviously Evil, they aren't to HIM because he's been raised not to judge people by what they look like, and unlike the viewers doesn't have the foreknowledge to know these people are evil. Terra isn't an idiot, he's simply unlucky enough to be manipulated by villains including Master Xehanort that haven't actually done anything evil yet when he interacts with them until the very end if ever, while the other 2 are fortunate enough to run into these villains when they have heard of or witnessed them actually doing something evil and thus they "appear" smarter when they would have done the exact same thing if their situation and Terra's were reversed.
  • It also makes sense why nobody suspected Xehanort until it's too late if one takes into account the comparisons between him and Palpatine. Palpatine was the leader of the Galactic Republic for just over a decade, and was able to mask his dark side power so well that not even YODA knew that he was a Sith. Even when they were suspicious of Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith, they just thought he was a corrupt politician being manipulated by a Sith Lord. They didn't realize he actually was the Sith Lord they were looking for. Compared to that, Xehanort pulling off the same feat long enough to convince Eraqus and the Wayfinder trio that he's a harmless old man seems like its almost too easy.
• Aqua turning the Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion explains the gameplay changes between it and elsewhere in the series. It was something done to protect the land and Ventus from exploitation by Xehanort and other intruders, and as the creator Aqua herself probably doesn't have to deal with the annoying card system to fight while any foreigners would have to, allowing her to fight any intruders at full strength while everyone else would have to be significantly gimped by the card system. This also explains why despite supposedly being the Lord of the Castle even Marluxia has to deal with the limitations of the card system, despite having found a few workarounds for it, he's not REALLY the Lord of the Castle.
• Wondering why Aqua is locked into using the Master's Defender in the Secret Episode when she has several Keychains she could use? Throughout her adventure, when she acquired Keychains, they linked themselves with the Rainfell/Stormfall, her current Keyblade. When she sacrificed the Stormfall to save Terra-Xehanort, she lost the other Keychains in the process. As such, she has no other Keychain to replace that of the Master's Defender.
• In future reference, it is fun to think back and see how the three Nobodies that Xemnas, the Nobody of the one who stole Terra's body and heart, keeps closest or has some sort of special preference for are the blue haired intensely loyal soldier (Saix), the older one whose face was scarred by darkness (Xigbar), and the blond boy with the power to summon and use the Keyblade of the realm of light (Roxas). Don't they sound oddly familiar? As in, the happy little family of Aqua, Eraqus and Ventus?
• Eraqus says that Yen Sid still keeps an eye on the forces of Darkness, despite not being a master anymore. Guess that explains why his castle is sitting in the middle of nowhere - he's sitting between light and darkness. Any changes to either have to come past him, so then he can immediately alert the required people to sort out the mess.
• When facing Maleficent as Ven, she actually makes use of her sleeping curse as an attack. Why doesn't she use this in any of the other games? Well, she said right before her bossfight that "I was asked to bring you unharmed...", so it makes sense that she'd use it to ensure she could take Ven out without much of a fight. Not to mention it seems to rely on being charged to be used, and compared to her meteors attack in Kingdom Hearts 1, it'd be unreliable when she was getting wacked away by a Keyblade.
• Abit of Fridge Logic. Take note in the beginning how Aqua's holding the Wayfinders. She has Terra's and Ven's together in one hand with hers alone in the other. She ends up alone in the end, stranded in the Realm of Darkness, with Ven and Terra both lost in Castle Oblivion and to Xehanort respectively.
• The nature of Lea and Ventus's brief interaction is more or less the opposite of interaction between Axel and Roxas in Days. Lea and Ventus only interact a little, but they became fast friends and split up in friendly terms. Axel and Roxas had been friends for months, only for said friendship to tragically end after one or more Poor Communication Kills and they split up not in friendly terms. Also, note that when Ventus lightly tries to prevent Lea from leaving, Lea looks at him over his shoulder and assures him that they will meet again because they're friends now. Ventus smiles in response and he becomes brighter than before. In contrast, when Axel tries to prevent Roxas from leaving, Roxas looks at him over his shoulder and coldly says no one would miss him, effectively ending their friendship. Axel is depressed and dejectedly says Roxas was wrong and that he (Axel) would miss him.
• Xehanort believes that light is overpowering the cosmic balance. Of course he does- he, like every other human, was born in the Realm of Light, which contains only a few shards of darkness. Even if he could somehow measure the Realm of Darkness or the truly (D)ark creatures within, it would seem weaker to him because he lived in Light for years. Some scientist.
• Vanitas decides to keep Aqua around as a "spare" after she proves herself by defeating him, implicitly in case Ven doesn't get strong enough to fuse with him to make the χ-Blade. That doesn't quite make sense at first glance - if Vanitas doesn't need Ven specifically and only needs someone strong with a heart of mostly light, why didn't he just decide to fuse with Aqua and kill Ven instead of wasting time waiting and hoping for Ven to get strong enough? It makes more sense when later games reveal there was an alternate way of forging the χ-Blade using Seven Guardians of Light and Thirteen Seekers of Darkness all along. Vanitas had Aqua earmarked as a Guardian of Light for Plan B if Plan A with Ven didn't pan out, but having to find six more lights and eleven more darknesses who meet that criteria and are strong enough for that goal and then figure out how to manipulate them into falling for the plan, would take a long time. Suddenly focusing on just one kid doesn't seem so bad.
• After this game, many fans concluded that unlike Xehanort's Heartless, Xemnas was more of a Tragic Villain due to technically being Terra's amnesiac Nobody working off Terra-Xehanort's memories, and therefore more Terra than Xehanort. Later installments don't follow this as the spoilered character remains a cold, cruel villain whose interest in Aqua and Ven seems to only be for the sake of Xehanort's Evil Plan. This makes more sense when taking into account that Nobodies are comprised of a person's body and soul. Terra's soul left his body from the get-go to become the Lingering Will and his heart was later separated from his body when his and Xehanort's Heartless were created, meaning Xemnas has always been Terra's otherwise empty body possessed by only Xehanort's soul.
  • In a bit of Fridge Brilliance during Aqua's private talk with Master Eraqus, as she is delivering her "promise" to keep Terra from slipping into darkness she ends the scene with the phrase "He's not as weak as you think". Cut to the next scene with Terra leaving the Land of Departure and revealing that he's the "Lingering Will" from KH-2 as he dons his armor to leave. "Not as weak as you think" indeed!
• The fact that Birth by Sleep shows Ienzo as a child and Isa and Lea as teenagers seemingly contradicts Nomura's statement that Nobodies don't age. But then Dream Drop Distance revealed two bombshells: that Nobodies can regrow new hearts, and that Ventus did not age in Castle Oblivion while his heart was inside Sora. The Word of God is still true, just From a Certain Point of View: A body without a heart does not age, but once a Nobody starts to grow a replacement, they begin to age again.
• Ven having the highest Defense stat out of him, Terra, and Aqua may raise some eyebrows at first; one, Ven has been training for less time than they have (at least that he remembers), and two, he's younger, shorter, and scrawnier than them, so how can he be tougher than them, especially Terra? That's when it clicks - Ven has the highest Defense because he's the fastest of the three and In-Universe he can dodge out of the way of attacks faster than Terra or even Aqua can. There's no Speed stat, so calling it Defense and making it his best stat is how Ven's skills at evading attacks gets conveyed to the player!
• When making D-Links, one has to note that they're bonds of unbreakable connections, usually helpful characters that come to the person's aid in some shape or form. Which makes it odd on why Terra, a protagonist and hero, gains a D-Link to Maleficent, an antagonist and villain who has screwed him over in a fashion. But consider this: In Sleeping Beauty and this game, it's mentioned that Maleficent is a fairy. In both legends and Sleeping Beauty, fairies are said to follow codes of conduct and violating them earns people their wrath while following them tends to be rewarding. Terra had unintentionally aided Maleficent and was polite to her in their meeting, unlike her being uninvited to the christening of Sleeping Beauty. Therefore, whereas she cursed Aurora for being snubbed, it makes sense that she would bless Terra and grant him use of her powers in spite of being in an antagonistic relationship with her, she's repaying him for his help in Sleeping Dominion!
• Master Xehanort speaks of wanting a stronger body than his own, and you can see it in the level caps. The original Xehanort himself, like most Birth by Sleep bosses, are beaten at a lower level cap than his alter egos Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas, or those spawned by their plans like Marluxia and Riku. He does in fact get that stronger form, and the darkness is stronger in later games.
  • Another way of looking at it is that, as properly trained keyblade wielders, Terra, Aqua, and Ven are able to reach the strength of a end boss with less 'leveling up' than someone without their training like Sora or Roxas.
• Why did Hercules never give a comment like Xigbar or Triton of knowing keyblade users before Sora? Simple: he knows what it is like to be looked upon as something green or less strong compared to others, and didn't want to put Sora through that.
• The English dub voices of the titular trio are often noted as being somewhat dull and lacking while the rest of the cast lacks this issue. As the game has a few elements of Star Wars homaging, this may be an attempt to reference the prequel Jedi who, trained in a isolated temple, sometimes came off as lacking in social grace and seeming 'off' compared to others around them. The (English Dub) trio seem to also have this issue, making them stand out compared to those they meet in more active and bustling worlds, as well as Sora, Riku, and Kairi who were raised on a more bustling world in the Destiny Islands and thus were more socialized.
• Why was Aqua successful in delaying Xehanort’s plans? Because in the grand scheme of things, he considered her inconsequential to his plans when compared to Terra and Ventus, seeing her as a mere obstacle to deal with at his leisure. This ends up biting him on the ass when he realizes too little too late how much of a threat she is to his plans.
• When Aqua meets Sora and Riku on Destiny Islands, she asks Sora to protect Riku from darkness when she realizes the latter received the power of the Keyblade. As she is saying this, Sora is standing in the sunlight while Riku is in the shade, foreshadowing their fates in first game.

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Unsorted

• Let's think about something here. Roxas looks like Ventus. Roxas is Sora's Nobody. Sora and Roxas are identical in appearance, particularly their facial features, which means that Sora and Ven are also identical. Coincidence? I think not. Before he was born, Sora used his own heart to fix Ven's. Since then, they formed a connection. As a result, Sora received some of Ven's traits as well, particularly his facial features, and that's why they look so similar!
  • Not only that. Sora is also identical in everything but hair and eye color to Vanitas. After Vanitas was separated from Ven, Ven's heart was damaged. Sora's heart healed it. It's as if Sora filled the hole that Vanitas left, hence their identical appearance.
    • I stared at the screen in shock (and then laughed hysterically) when Vanitas's face was revealed to be identical to Sora. But then it got me thinking about Kingdom Hearts II. Vanitas looks just like Sora does in Kingdom Hearts II. We all know that Vanitas's appearance was influenced by Sora when his heart merged with Ven's to repair it. In the first Kingdom Hearts, Sora does look a bit like Ven (and he really DOES look like a spitting image of Ven when he's four years old. It just takes a while to see it). But when he wakes up in Kingdom Hearts II, he's identical to Vanitas save for the eye, skin, and hair color. Now before you accuse me of going in a sort of circle-like line of reasoning, during the time Sora was asleep, his Nobody, Roxas was running around. Whatever part of Ven he had inside of him was gone. It's possible that the Vanitas part began to influence his appearances, and if this is the case, imagine how differently Sora would've acted if Roxas didn't reunite with him when he did. It would explain the sudden new hair style, as well as how he managed to get those muscles he showed off in Atlantica after taking a nap for a year. - Yuuaku
    • I really always thought that the reason Sora looks that way was because of Ventus. At the time Sora was born, he didn't have many features, and looked like a baby. Then Ventus came along, and as Sora imprinted himself on Ventus, Ventus did the same with Sora, that's why I though Vanitas looked just like Sora.
  • Have noticed that, Ventus Put his hands behind his head just like Sora? And when Aqua- and also Terra- saw them, Sora didn't do this. In the Ending of the Final Episodes, when Sora accepted Ven into his heart, he DID it for the first time. oh gosh. - Mirrelle 94 Dancer
• Didn't think about it before, but in the beginning of the game, Aqua startles Ven who dozed off while star-gazing and called him a "hopeless sleepyhead". Guess what happened to him after defeating Vanitas.
• Terra can use Darkness and Earth commands. Ven can use Holy and Wind commands. In Christianity, where are Heaven and Hell located?
  • As a side note, Aqua's Ghost Drive could be seen as a purgatory of sort.
• The name of Terra's signature keychain takes on a new meaning in English. Literally, "Ends of the Earth" is another way of saying "Gaia Bane" (the Japanese name), but it also shows the lengths to which Terra is willing to go to protect his friends. As in "I'd go to the Ends of the Earth for you."
  • On another note, he's perfectly willing to destroy his former body, as in becoming his own bane, for them - The Knower
• Fridge Horror in this case. As the secret ending shows, Terra is locked in an And I Must Scream state, alleviated slightly by the fact that Old!Xehanort is the same way. It's implied that the place they are locked in is Terranort's heart. Now, what do you think happened once Terranort lost his heart? True, Terranort's body most likely became Xemnas, but Nobodies don't have hearts. Oh fuck...
  • Uhm, this really doesn't feel particularly frightening. In fact, it rather explains why Terranort's Heartless and Nobody are so different. A Heartless is a heart's darkness given/made flesh, thus, with Master Xehanort being so much more filled with darkness, it's understandable that Terranort's Heartless resembles Xehanort so much more. In the case of Xemnas, you can see some shades of Terra, because it's got memories of both Xehanort and Terra... and perhaps some identity confusion. Terranort had amnesia, so it's unknown how many memories Xemnas carried over.
• Here's one that goes all the way back to the first game. The reason Xehanort's Heartless kicked Riku's heart out of his body when he possessed him in KH1 was to avoid repeating what happened with Terra. Master Xehanort had enough trouble containing Terra's heart; adding Riku's into the mix would have resulted in the two of them rebelling against him (and probably succeeding). And they say villains never learn from their mistakes...
  • I'm confused. When exactly did the Fake Ansem "kick Riku's heart out"? Riku was still there to hold him back enough time for Kairi to escape, and he only returns once Sora defeats him. Even right before fighting the Fake Ansem, he shows up in Riku's form. Besides, in any case, as I replied to the Fridge Horror above, there was really little of Terra in that Ansem.
    • Actually, what the first poster says is true about Riku's heart. Xehanort's heart really did eject Riku's from his body after Riku began fighting back. A scene from the first Final Mix was added in to show that Riku's heart had made it to where the Door to Darkness would appear. That's where he met Mickey and that is why they both appeared on the other side of the door. Xehanort did learn from his mistake with Terra, even if he may or may not have remembered when he did the same thing to Terra that he did to Riku.
• This may be too "obvious" to count as Fridge Brilliance, but as someone who never saw the Disney Version of Snow White as a child and only grew up with the original story, this trooper was very surprised when she, shortly after finishing the Snow White-section of Terra's story, came to realize: "Wait a second... that all seemed kinda famili- Oh my god! Terra has effectively taken the place of the huntsman!!"
• This troper just had a relatively minor realization. Why the Field of Blades that is Keyblade Graveyard has many keyblades from Kingdom Hearts II (like the Follow The Wind or the Fenrir, just to name two) and from the first KH? Call-Forward? No, it's just that those worlds were still existing, and they never got caught in the darkness.
• I hadn't thought about the name of the music that plays when you battle the Lingering Sentiment in KH2:FM+ other than that it was named "Rage Awakened" for the Rule of Cool. Then I saw the scene before the final battle in Terra's story with Terra-Xehanort AS the Lingering Sentiment. Without the song, it would seem like it was just Terra's determination to protect his friends, but the songs name says otherwise. Terra was JUST THAT PISSED OFF. - Brick Buster 90
• Just as Re:coded let us experience a boss battle against Roxas, previously only seen in the Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts II, the Superbosses in BBS seem to be another apology to us non-japanese fans by Tetsuya Nomura. Think about it: Vanitas' Lingering Spirit standing for Terra's Lingering Spirit (both fought at Keyblade Graveyard with the former even being accessed through an orb similar to Org. XIII's "Absent Silhouettes") seen in Final Mix (KHII), and the Unknown (BBS) standing for Xemnas as fought in ''Final Mix (KHI).
• Look carefully at the arena battle during Terra's final battle with Terranort. Notice anything familiar about it? If not, it is almost identical to the pattern used for Master Eraqus's signature move. And when Eraqus died, he fell into Terra's arms and faded almost exactly like Kairi fell and faded in the very first game. And we all know what happened to Kairi's heart then, right? So, this means that its possible that, just as Kairi's dying body sent her heart into Sora, Eraqus' dying body sent his heart into Terra. This actually makes the final battle even more awesome.
  • That's not fridge because it's confirmed in the Blank Points.
• An interesting case with Final Mix's Bonus Boss No Heart. It uses Xehanort's keyblade and is similar to the Lingering Sentiment. Consider what would have happened to "Ansem" in KH I. The heart would have gone to Kingdom Hearts and eventually to Xemnas! Remember the armor he wears after going One-Winged Angel? And then in the final battle he reappears wearing a black and white coat? Guess he did get his heart back.
• This Troper had a bit of Fridge Logic over the new Monstro battle. Why is he in the ocean like the real Pinocchio instead of in space like Kingdom Hearts I? Then it hit me; this is 10 years before Kingdom Hearts, Monstro could have easily gotten into space in that time.
• This troper thought it was Rule of Cool that Ventus held his keyblade backwards. However, when you think of how holding a weapon like that would work, it would make the user's movement come before the weapon's movement, the opposite of holding it the normal way. This makes Ventus' higher agility but weaker blows make much more sense.
• Here's a minor one, but Destiny's Embrace (the keychain Kairi uses in KH2 and the one she gives to Aqua in this game) has the same strength/magic stats as Oathkeeper in KH2.
• This troper just had a moment of Fridge Horror (well, more like Fridge Tearjerker, but there's no page for that...). If he understands how this works correctly, Master Xehanort is in control of Terra's heart. That means that while the actions of "Ansem" from the first Kingdom Hearts could be blamed on Xehanort, Xemnas from KHII, who had no heart? That's Terra. Granted, an emotionless Terra with a severly messed up memory, but the thought that the guy who was so desperate to not be the bad guy in BBS becoming that is kinda depressing.
  • MX specifically says that he controls Terra's body, too. ("Your heart succumbs, your body submits...", "The muscles and sinew that once obeyed now rebel against you" etc.) So yeah, that's either MX making Xemnas evil, or just what happens when you become a Nobody. Not really Terra's fault.
• A bit of Fridge Logic here. In Kingdom Hearts II, at the beginning, remember how depressed Axel looked like when he saw that Roxas forgot him. That's already pretty harsh. But then there is that scene in Birth by Sleep. When Lea says he wants people to remember him, because "as long as they do so, he will be immortal". That's called "athazagoraphobia", the fear of being forgotten... Ouch.
  • Bit of an irony here, actually. Axel seems to remember his past self as Lea, yet does not recall memories of Ventus 10 years prior to his meeting with Ventus's carbon copy, Roxas.
    • Actually, I always took Ventus as the REASON Axel was so friendly. He knew that Roxas was related to Ventus somehow. After Castle Oblivion, he knew that Roxas was the heartless of Sora. I'm guessing somewhere along there there was a faint *click* and he started being really friendly.
• Possibly Fridge Horror. Xehanort's leap off the Slippery Slope seems to have been induced by these factors: curiosity about darkness he was not allowed to research, a long time spent away from the Land of Departure...as though he'd had good reason to avoid the place, say he'd gotten into A FIGHT with someone...and a later, very canon fight with Eraqus. Now, consider Xehanort's Letter from Ven's story. He says to hold a Mark of Mastery exam, but nowhere in that letter does he suggest failing anyone on account of darkness! Xehanort is later able to recruit Terra because Terra is feeling rejected. Finally, Eraqus dies because Terra and Ven were acting in self-defense/friend-defense against him. Xehanort may be the purposeful wielder of darkness, but he isn't the one to blame for all the stuff that happened! ERAQUS IS!
  • Considering the things Eraqus says during the boss fight with him, that makes a lot of sense - The Knower
  • YMMV; given that Xehanort clearly manipulates the mark of mastery test and may well be responsible for the flash of darkness from Terra and recruited Ventus solely to create a new body for himself and, when that didn't work out, decided on Terra as a backup plan and used Ven so he could get the X-blade. While Eraqus may be to blame for being mistrusting/trusting of the wrong people, and for not flat out explaining things when it would have helped matters greatly, it's hard to blame him for everything.
  • Before Xehanort, Eraqus was going to promote both Aqua and Terra to Mastery without an exam. Xehanort suggested that Terra wasn't ready, and couldn't control his darkness, and advised Eraqus to hold an exam just in case. Eraqus listened to the advice of his friend, who proceeded to rig the exam and force Terra's darkness to the foreground. Xehanort stages every event in Birth By Sleep to get what he wants, the only variables in his plan are Aqua and Mickey, both of whom he immediately attempts to eliminate. One of the things he clearly planned is Terra failing the exam, and another is Terra nearly killing Eraqus.
• The reason that it was Aqua that was so effectively able to derail Xehanort's plan was because she wasn't a part of them. Unlike Ven and Terra, who both had huge roles to play and so Xehanort would have thought out how best to manipulate them, Aqua was just a third wheel and so the only plan Xehanort had for her was to kill her at the opportune moment to better manipulate Ven and Terra. Due to that, Xehanort hadn't factored her into pretty much any of his plans.
  • Xehanort actually has a bad habit of this. As "Ansem", he tried to off Kairi in KH1 after she fulfilled her purpose in opening the final keyhole, but this prompted Riku to rebel against him, buying time for her (and Donald and Goofy) to escape (which consequently led to Sora being revived). As Xemnas, he for the most part left Axel to do his own thing while he was busy dealing with Roxas and Xion, and that came back to bite him in Kingdom Hearts 2 and in Dream Drop Distance.
• Here's something most people didn't see before. In KH2 the book in the Mysterious Tower has three stories, The Beginning, The Interlude and the Future story. Read the Beginning, the first three lines involve journeys and those of light and darkness, then the fourth line about friends who's path differ but share the same bond. Then the last line about doubting the path you've been on. The story was not just talking about Sora, Riku & Kairi but about Terra, Aqua & Ven as well in addition to Master Xehanort and Vanitas. Yen Sid was being extremely subtle about clueing Sora in about what happened years ago. The devs thought of everything
• On that note the Future Story is seems to be talking about what Ansem said in the secret ending 'everyone is waiting for their birth by sleep'.
• Maleficent and Lady Tremaine are portrayed by the same actress in English. Cutting corners? Maybe, but also consider that in the movies the two characters are from, they were both portrayed by Eleanor Audley - so their "Replacement" voice actress carried on the legacy.
• For the longest time, I never liked the design of Ven's Keyblade. I always thought it looked... awkward and incomplete. But then I realized... each Keyblade's default form seems to reflect its user's heart. Of course Ven's would look incomplete, his heart's been fractured!
• Ok, so this may be a bit of a stretch...but in BBS, Isa has no weapon, right? Well, when we see him next, he's wielding a weapon-back handed, JUST LIKE VEN. Maybe he copied Ven?
• Riku tries to cheer Sora up by making a pun about him being the sky that everyone is praying to. I don't know much about Japanese vocabulary, but consider the use of Latin in this game. The kanji, Sora, can be translated into Latin two ways: Vanitas, meaning emptiness, void or vanity (which we are all well aware of as being a pun in this game), and Caeli, meaning sky or heaven. Now rendering Sora in that sentence as "heaven" makes a lot more sense than "sky." Not only does it fit well with the Messianic Archetype, but all the symbolism and use of doors as plot devices calls to mind a quote from the Book of Genesis as rendered in the Latin Vulgate, "Non est hic aliud, nisi domus Dei et porta Caeli." In English, "This is none other than the house of God and door to Heaven," which is why Jacob named the site Bethel, which means "House of God," in Hebrew.
• In the Final Mix version, Aqua gets stuck in the Realm of Darkness and the player is able to play through her wanderings, fighting countless heartless along the way. The thing is, all of the heartless are as powerful as the strongest of Unversed and can easily curbstomp Aqua, including the shadow heartless, who are otherwise the weakest enemies in all the Kingdom Hearts games. At first I thought this was a case of Improbable Power Discrepancy, but then I realized, OF COURSE they are so powerful, you're in the Realm of Darkness, the home turf of the Heartless, and where they have a limitless amount of Darkness to draw power from!
  • Aqua is also using an unfamiliar keyblade, exhausted from her fight with Terranort with no chance to rest, taking on enemies that she has never fought before in territory that weakens her and strengthens them. Given those circumstances, it's impressive that she can put up a fight against them at all.
  • In all other games the Heartless are being faced in areas that, however close to the darkness they might be, are still in the Realm of Light. As strong as the Heartless might actually be in the various games, the protagonists are fighting them in a place that naturally greatly weakens the Heartless. In Final Mix it's backwards, Aqua is fighting the Heartless in a place that no matter how much light might be there, is still the Realm of Darkness. Now the player gets to see what it's like for all those Heartless that are being destroyed left and right.
• At the beginning it didn't make sense how Sora could possibly give Ventus a second chance given the fact he would practically be a newborn when Master Xehanort planned on leaving Ven on Destiny Island, thus not knowing much about what's going on. Then when Kairi's grandmother told the story about how children were the ones who rebuilt the worlds with their light and it adds up. Since throughout the majority of the games we've seen the extent of his kindness, Sora's light at the time of infancy was so strong and pure that on the same day MX left Ven to rest in peace Sora just happened to be born, or at least a few hours/days before, and the first act he did was to repair what's left of Ven's fractured heart. It made this troper look at Sora at a whole different angle than just simply the happy-go-lucky idealist who ended being caught up in the whole mess as The Unchosen One. For all his alternates aside, Sora was meant to meet Ventus not just because he's lucked on it, but because he would've even if he didn't have to.
• In the case of Zack being from Olympus, it's more or less a Continuity Nod towards Crisis Core. Just before the first mission, Zack says that he wants to be a hero, and given that Young Herc is there as a hero-in-training, it starts to make sense.
• The keyblade ritual that Terra does with Riku:
  Terra: In your hand take this key. So long as you have the making, then through this simple act of taking, it's wielder you shall one day be. And you shall find me, friend. No ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love.
  • This is EXACTLY what happens. Years later the heartless attack Destiny Island, and Riku is finally able to leave and travel to other worlds "no more borders". He also becomes obsessed with saving Kairi above all else, "championing the one he loves" and thus gains his keyblade, the Soul Eater as a result. To combine this with Tearjerker, Riku also finds Terra, though neither realizes it, through finding and being possessed by Ansem, and then eventually meeting Xemnas. This seemingly innocent dialog calls forward to the entire events of Riku's story, and at the same time Riku follows roughly the same path his predecessor did.
    • This is mostly correct, with the major exception that Soul Eater is not a Keyblade.^note Unless you're referring to the fact that he stills calls his Way to the Dawn "Soul Eater" in Kingdom Hearts II, in which case ignore the rest of this post. It's originally a dark sword that Riku learns to manifest to compensate for his lack of a Keyblade. And Riku does not actually have the making in Kingdom Hearts I, as he lets himself get taken by darkness like the rest of Destiny Islands, which is why the Keyblade he was supposed to manifest actually went to Sora instead. He's able to steal it back temporarily when his heart is strengthened by his determination to protect Kairi, but Sora's more numerous connections with others' hearts wins out in the end, leaving Riku unworthy once again. It's not until the end of Kingdom Hearts II, three whole games worth of events later, that his Soul Eater becomes a proper Keyblade. What has he been doing for those three games? Trying his damnedest to do right by his friends. Terra's promise still comes true, but the fact that Way to the Dawn is not the Keyblade that said promise had originally manifested (which is still in Sora's hands to this day^note though some would argue that Sora conjured it on his own or had Ventus's help) and is instead an embodiment of Riku's character arc itself makes it even more of a Fridge Tearjerker when he finally manifests it.
  • The Soul Eater is a Keyblade, it shares all the characteristics of one except for unlocking/locking locks which Riku doesn't have reason to do that we see. The Soul Eater is the form Riku's Keyblade takes upon first manifesting because he is getting closer and closer to the Darkness and thus that effects its form and power. When Riku learns to balance the light and Darkness within him the Soul Eater turns into the Way to Dawn Keyblade. The thing is, Riku never realized the Soul Eater was a Keyblade because Sora got the Kingdom Key and thus Riku fixates on the fact that Sora has "his" Keyblade rather than recognizing that he had his own Keyblade the entire time.
• In the opening, Ven's Awakening station is shattered by Sora's Kingdom Key and Riku's Soul Eater. Most of the animation in the opening can be more or less linked to an in-story event, but what the hell is Soul Eater doing there? It's your first hint to Vanitas' identity. The Theme Naming tells you Terra is Riku's predecessor, but he uses his Keyblade in a completely different style. Vanitas, on the other hand, holds Void Gear similar to how Riku uses Soul Eater and the Kingdom Key: one-handed, out to his side, teeth-down swing with a Keyblade^note Riku starts using Way to the Dawn teeth-up, but that's probably for the blade edge from Soul Eater).
• Ven's unique moveset is curiously smaller than Terra and Aqua's; two unique Shotlocks, neither of which are his default, compared to Terra and Aqua's three each, and eight unique Deck Commands, compared to Terra and Aqua's thirteen each. Of course, he's not trained enough to qualify for the Mark of Mastery exam. The missing Shotlock could also be to compensate for his exclusive Vanitas D-Link, and its accompanying Dark Link Shotlock.
  • It could be the result of Ventus' heart being split as well. Aqua and Terra both have complete hearts, while Ventus had half of his forcibly removed and then another heart "grafted onto" it to keep Ven's heart functional. The power of the Keyblade is the power of the heart, so Ven has less abilities than Terra and Aqua because his heart isn't whole.
• Aqua and Terra share a Command Style that Ven doesn't. Aqua and Ven share a Command Style that Terra doesn't. Terra and Ven do not share a Command Style that Aqua doesn't. Over the course of the story, Terra keeps pushing his friends away, and Aqua makes a conscious effort to mend those bonds.
• It might seem odd that "Another Side" plays during Braig's second boss fight, since Organization XIII hasn't been founded yet. Just a bit of Foreshadowing, right? Wrong. The ''true'' Organization ''has'' been founded, and Braig's gold eye means he just became one of its members.
• Remember how Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II is able to skateboard, and then when he merges with Sora he also gains this ability? Ventus rides his Keyblade in the exact same way.
• In this game, Aqua and Stitch ended becoming friends. In Kingdom Hearts II, Stitch ends up sneaking behind Sora and the gang while they mess around with Ansem's computer. What was Stitch doing there in the first place? Looking for someone? Well consider who's armor and Keyblade is currently stashed there.
• Look carefully at the designs of Terra, Aqua, Ventus, and even Eraqus' outfits. Now flash forward to Dream Drop Distance and Sora's outfit. That's right! They all bear the Recusant's Sigil!
  • Not every X in the series is a Recusant's Sigil, only the ones deliberately added by Xehanort himself or his incarnations.
    • However, consider that Ven has his X straps during his time as Xehanort's apprentice. Xehanort could have placed it on Ventus himself, explaining why Ven could be tracked by MX and Vanitas.
  • Also Aqua has her keyblade master sigil at the center of the X, changing it and countering the Recusant's sigil.
• A tiny thing I noticed in the finale is the way Aqua turns toward Ventus after beating Braig, when he mentions buying time for Xehanort. I was confused by it until I realized she might be concerned Vanitas or Xehanort grabbed the frozen, and therefore defenseless, Ven while she was distracted by Braig so they could fulfill their plans.
• When Ventus lands in the Castle of Dreams, for some reason he's been shrunken down and it's never explained why — even Ven himself is confused! The Fairy Godmother will later also shrink Aqua, but she never mentions doing the same to Ven and he never even knew she existed. So what did it? Well, in the Dwarf Woodlands, Ven can find a chest with the Mini spell in it. Ven's the only one of the three heroes who can find this spell in any world, meaning that odds are you'll get the Mini with him long before you do with Terra or Aqua. This may mean In-Universe that Ven learned Mini before his friends did. Since he's essentially learning a brand-new spell on his own, and with his friends and Master Eraqus for the first time not being around to help, the likeliest explanation for Ven showing up to the Cinderella's world already shrunk down is that his new spell probably backfired on him because he hadn't mastered it yet.
• Much more minor than the examples, but the area you select your character in - a stained-glass Dive-to-the-Heart inspired area with "Destati" playing - makes more sense when you remember that this sort of location is where you choose your character's stats and ability focus in certain other Kingdom Hearts games. In a way, you're still choosing those stats and abilities, but represented by the characters.
• Most of the characters' exclusive Commands are based on their signature element or the way they prefer to fight. Terra's Warp spell is an odd example, though, being a status-changing spell that uses the power of nothingness to wipe enemies from existence - nowhere near his earth-styled, brute-force offense. But who else in the series specialises in nothingness, and used cunning rather than brute force for most of his debut game? Xemnas, Terra-Xehanort's Nobody. Not quite a story-based explanation, but still a nice nod when you think about it.
• When Ven and Vanitas battle for the last time, Ven gives a "My Friends are my Power!" speech, common in Kingdom Hearts games... from Sora mostly. The first time Sora gives his own speech, Riku has taken his Keyblade and the end result is Sora getting his Keyblade back. Sora's ability to wield Keyblades comes from Ven lying dormant inside Sora's heart. Sora's strength of heart wasn't what allowed Sora to wield his Keyblade again, it was because he was showing himself becoming closer to Ventus and thus more worthy of wielding a Keyblade than Riku!

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