History Fridge / KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep

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

*** 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 [[ThatOneBoss bo]][[BonusBoss ss]]? '''[[MeaningfulName Iron Imprisoner.]]'''

* Just as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Re:coded]]'' let us experience a boss battle against Roxas, previously only seen in the [[NoExportForYou Final Mix]] version of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the [[BonusBoss bonus bosses]] in BBS seem to be [[AuthorsSavingThrow another apology to us non-japanese fans]] by Creator/TetsuyaNomura. 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 [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Absent_Silhouette "Absent Silhouettes"]]) seen in ''Final Mix (KHII)'', and the Unknown (BBS) standing for Xemnas as fought in ''Final Mix (KHI).

** If the idea of Princesses of Heart passing on their light to another girl without dying, which ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'' 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 [[CreateYourOwnVillain another layer into her stepfamily suddenly becoming 100% darkness]].

* In the opening, Ven's Awakening station is shattered by Sora's Kingdom Key and Riku's Soul Eater. Most of the [[DoingItForTheArt 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 ThemeNaming 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[[/note]]).

* 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 Creator/MarkHamill as a voice actor, is Sora a reference to [[StarWars Luke '''Sky'''walker.]]
** Apparently, Mark Hamill and Creator/LeonardNimoy were chosen for their roles almost specifically because they were in ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Series/{{Star Trek|The Original Series}}''. We're just surprised we haven't heard any comments about Star Trek being "The Dark Side."

* 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 MessianicArchetype, but all the symbolism and use of doors as plot devices calls to mind a quote from the [[Literature/TheBible 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 an interesting case of RealLifeRelative as well, apparently, using Creator/AkioOhtsuka as Xehanort all this time was leading up to Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka (Akio's father) as Master Xehanort all for the sake of an age-affected variant of VoicesAreMental when he commits GrandTheftMe on Terra.

* This Troper had a bit of FridgeLogic over the new [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} 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 ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', Monstro could of easily gotten into space in that time.

** Experiment 626 made his own Wayfinder by patchwork. ''[[CallForward He]]'' '''[[StealthPun stitched]]''' ''[[CallForward it together.]]''

* Abit of FridgeLogic, HarsherInHindsight and Foreshadowing. 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.

** In a bit of FridgeBrilliance 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 superboss from KH-2 "Lingering Will" as he dons his armor to leave. "Not as weak as you think" indeed!

* The Unversed, while looking more in line with the worlds they are in than the Nobodies, are also much more uncanny than the Heartless. They have sharp designs compared to the softer designs of their later foes for example. Heartless are natural creatures after all, just ones not meant to be in the realm of light. The Unversed are not natural lifeforms and don't look it, even more so than the Nobodies even when they do make more of an effort to match the worlds around them.

*** I think the OP of this entry was CompletelyMissingThePoint of Xehanort's letter. 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.

** If you pay close attention, Cinderella is the ''main target'' of the Universed! They attacked her during her near-DespairEventHorizon, 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.\\

*** 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.

* 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. TrainingFromHell much?

* 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.]

** 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 VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of the [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI 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 VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories.

*** 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]] n ''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) [[/note]]

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''[='=] subjects Cloud to {{Flanderization}}, which makes him basically nothing but an [[EmoTeen Emo]] [[strike:[[EmoTeen Teen]]]] [[EmoTeen Adult]] and [[LonersAreFreaks an unkind loner]] with hardly any justification, and making him just a hardly likable FlatCharacter 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 ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', 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 [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guess that Sephiroth killed Zack in this continuity]]. Now, add to this all the implications during ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' that Sephiroth is Cloud�s ''EnemyWithout'', 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 WildMassGuessing on its own, but hey, you can see where I'm coming from, right?)

** VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories 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!

--->'''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 mostly correct, with the major exception that [[SinisterScimitar Soul]] [[CoolSword 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.[[/note]] It's originally a dark [[HeroesPreferSwords sword]] that Riku [[SpontaneousWeaponCreation 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 [[EvolvingWeapon 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[[/note]]) and is instead an embodiment of Riku's character arc itself makes it even more of a Fridge Tearjerker when he finally manifests it.
* In the opening, Ven's Awakening station is shattered by Sora's Kingdom Key and Riku's Soul Eater. Most of the [[DoingItForTheArt 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 ThemeNaming 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[[noteRiku starts using Way to the Dawn teeth-up, but that's probably for the blade edge from Soul Eater[[/note]]).]]

** EyeScream is bad enough, but let's make it even worse: [[spoiler: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. [[spoiler: 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.]]
* [[spoiler:Even before Ventus was stripped of all his darkness, he showed that DarkIsNotEvil by still being [[NiceGuy the same person]]. If his darkness gave birth to Vanitas, what would happen in the case of a ''legitimately'' evil being?]]
** [[spoiler: An optimistic interpretation is that Vanitas really couldn't have been anything ''but'' a monster, given that he was darkness.]]
** [[spoiler:Going off of that, Vanitas is technically TheFaceless. 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. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse 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.

* 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 [[spoiler: 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]]. TrainingFromHell much?

* In an interesting case of [[spoiler: RealLifeRelative]] as well, apparently, using Creator/AkioOhtsuka as Xehanort all this time was leading up to [[spoiler:Creator/ChikaoOhtsuka (Akio's father) as Master Xehanort all for the sake of an age-affected variant of VoicesAreMental when he commits GrandTheftMe on Terra]].

* [[spoiler: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.]] [[TheChessmaster Nomura]] ''didn't'' [[CrazyPrepared plan]] [[ContrivedCoincidence this]] [[XanatosSpeedChess out]] from the beginning?
** It gets even better when you remember that Nomura was the creative producer of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', which also took a lot of inspiration from Catholic theology. Also, the [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler:it DOES, only at the end of the game instead of the beginning. Vanitas is fought at Ventus' Awakening and is his EnemyWithout.]]

** Also, [[spoiler: 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.

*** The fates of the three princesses in their movies also resemble the fates of the trio. [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: Xemnas was wearing armor]] when he went OneWingedAngel in ''Kingdom Hearts II''. [[spoiler: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.]]

* Vanitas takes off his mask and looks like [[spoiler: 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!" [[spoiler: Now, what chipper, spiky-haired, lovable goofball says the same thing during HIS combo strings?]]
** The [[AllThereInTheManual novels]] confirm the part about Vanitas [[spoiler:not having a face until Sora's heart merged with Ven's]].
* [[spoiler: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!
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''[='=] subjects Cloud to {{Flanderization}}, which makes him basically nothing but an [[EmoTeen Emo]] [[strike:[[EmoTeen Teen]]]] [[EmoTeen Adult]] and [[LonersAreFreaks an unkind loner]] with hardly any justification, and making him just a hardly likable FlatCharacter 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 ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', no less. The ending credit sequence shows us [[spoiler:a moment with Zack, and a black feather flies close to him, which has already sprayed around the likely correct [[WildMassGuessing Wild Mass Guess]] that Sephiroth killed Zack in this continuity]]. Now, add to this all the implications during ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' that [[spoiler:Sephiroth is Cloud’s ''EnemyWithout'', 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 WildMassGuessing on its own, but hey, you can see where I'm coming from, right?)

* Sora caused everything. No, really. Alright, Master Xehanort might've had a more obvious hand in everything, ''but'', [[spoiler: 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 GrandTheftMe 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. [[spoiler:When Terra gets possessed and you fight as the Lingering Sentiment,]] this way of fighting will get you killed. [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: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.

* How come that the TrueFinalBoss 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 [[spoiler:were in new bodies, but the previous tenants (Terra and Ven) were FightingFromTheInside]]. Also, in Ventus' Episode, [[spoiler:the last battle is a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, 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 [[spoiler: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.

* Wondering why [[spoiler: 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, [[spoiler: the Nobody of the one who stole Terra's body and heart,]] keeps closest or has some sort of special preference for are [[spoiler: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?]]

* Abit of FridgeLogic, HarsherInHindsight and Foreshadowing. 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. [[spoiler: 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.]]

* 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 [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:a heart of mostly light]], why didn't he just decide to [[spoiler:fuse with]] Aqua and kill Ven instead of wasting time waiting and hoping for Ven to get strong enough? It makes more sense when [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance later]] [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII games]] reveal there was an alternate way of [[spoiler:forging the χ-Blade using Seven Guardians of Light and Thirteen Seekers of Darkness]] all along. Vanitas had Aqua earmarked as a [[spoiler:Guardian of Light]] for Plan B if Plan A with Ven didn't pan out, but having to [[spoiler: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, [[spoiler:Xemnas was more of a TragicVillain 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 [[spoiler:Aqua and Ven]] seems to only be for the sake of [[spoiler:Xehanort's EvilPlan]]. This makes more sense when taking into account that Nobodies are comprised of a person's body ''and'' soul. [[spoiler: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 FridgeBrilliance 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[[spoiler: And revealing that he's the superboss from KH-2 "Lingering Will" 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: [[spoiler: that Nobodies can regrow new hearts]], and [[spoiler: that Ventus did not age in Castle Oblivion while his heart was inside Sora]]. The WordOfGod is still true, just FromACertainPointOfView: A body without a heart does not age, but once a Nobody [[spoiler: starts to grow a replacement]], they begin to age again.

* 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. [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: Sora]]. But then it got me thinking about Kingdom Hearts II. [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: Vanitas looked just like Sora.]]
** Have noticed that, Ventus [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: Sora accepted Ven into his heart]], he DID it for the first time. oh gosh. - Mirrelle94Dancer
* 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". [[spoiler: Guess what happened to him after defeating Vanitas.]]

* FridgeHorror in this case. As the secret ending shows, [[spoiler: Terra is locked in an AndIMustScream 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.'' [[NightmareFuel Oh fuck...]]

* I hadn't thought about the name of the music that plays when you battle the [[spoiler: Lingering Sentiment]] in [=KH2:FM+=] other than that it was named "Rage Awakened" for the RuleOfCool. Then I saw the scene before the final battle in Terra's story with [[spoiler: Terra-Xehanort]] AS the [[spoiler: 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. - Tropers/BrickBuster90
* Just as ''[[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded Re:coded]]'' let us experience a boss battle against [[spoiler: Roxas]], previously only seen in the [[NoExportForYou Final Mix]] version of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', the [[BonusBoss bonus bosses]] in BBS seem to be [[AuthorsSavingThrow another apology to us non-japanese fans]] by Creator/TetsuyaNomura. Think about it: [[spoiler: Vanitas' Lingering Spirit]] standing for [[spoiler: Terra's Lingering Spirit]] (both fought at Keyblade Graveyard with the former even being accessed through an orb similar to [[spoiler: Org. XIII's [[http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/Absent_Silhouette "Absent Silhouettes"]]]]) seen in ''Final Mix (KHII)'', and [[spoiler: the Unknown (BBS)]] standing for [[spoiler: Xemnas]] as fought in ''Final Mix (KHI).
* Look carefully at the arena battle during Terra's final battle with [[spoiler:Terranort]]. Notice anything familiar about it? If not, [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler:it's confirmed in the Blank Points]].
* An interesting case with Final Mix's Bonus Boss [[spoiler: No Heart]]. It uses Xehanort's keyblade and is similar to the Lingering Sentiment. Consider what would have happened to "Ansem" in KH I. [[spoiler: The heart would have gone to Kingdom Hearts and ''eventually'' to Xemnas! Remember the armor he wears after going OneWingedAngel? And then in the final battle he reappears wearing a black and white coat? Guess he did get his heart back.]]

* Here's a minor one, but Destiny's Embrace [[spoiler:(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 FridgeHorror (well, more like Fridge Tearjerker, but there's no page for that...). If he understands how this works correctly, [[spoiler: 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.]]

* Possibly Fridge Horror. Xehanort's leap off the Slippery Slope seems to have been induced by these factors: [[spoiler: 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 [[spoiler: hold a Mark of Mastery exam]], but nowhere in that letter does he suggest [[spoiler: failing anyone on account of darkness]]! Xehanort is later able to [[spoiler: recruit Terra because Terra is feeling rejected]]. Finally, [[spoiler: 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! [[spoiler: ERAQUS IS!]]

** YMMV; given that Xehanort [[spoiler:clearly manipulates the mark of mastery test and may well be responsible for the flash of darkness from Terra]] and [[spoiler: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 [[spoiler: 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.

** Xehanort actually [[FatalFlaw has a bad habit of this]]. As "Ansem", he tried to off Kairi in ''[=KH1=]'' [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness after she fulfilled her purpose]] in opening the final keyhole, but [[LoveRedeems 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'' [[spoiler: and in ''Dream Drop Distance'']].

* In the Final Mix version, [[spoiler: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 ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy, 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 [[spoiler: an unfamiliar keyblade]], exhausted from her fight with [[spoiler: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.
* 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 [[spoiler:TheUnchosenOne]]. 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 opening, Ven's Awakening station is shattered by Sora's Kingdom Key and Riku's Soul Eater. Most of the [[DoingItForTheArt animation]] in the opening can be ''more or less'' linked to an in-story event, but what the hell is Soul Eater doing there? [[spoiler:It's your first hint to Vanitas' identity. The ThemeNaming 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[[/note]]).]]
* 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 [[ArcNumber thirteen]] each. Of course, he's not trained enough to qualify for the Mark of Mastery exam. [[spoiler:The missing Shotlock could also be to compensate for his exclusive Vanitas D-Link, and its accompanying Dark Link Shotlock]].
* 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. [[spoiler: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 [[MusicalSpoiler "Another Side"]] plays during [[spoiler: Braig's second boss fight]], since Organization XIII hasn't been founded yet. Just a bit of {{Foreshadowing}}, right? [[spoiler: [[VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance Wrong.]] The ''true'' Organization ''has'' been founded, and Braig's gold eye means he just became one of its members.]]

* A tiny thing I noticed in the finale is the way [[spoiler:Aqua turns toward Ventus after beating Braig, when he mentions buying time for Xehanort.]] I was confused by it until I realized [[spoiler: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.]]