Long time no talk, let me talk KH3D

[croixsouillees]

So… Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance. After the second trailer, I found myself drawing about twenty-some pages worth of doujinshi, full of speculation and ponderings that sent me into fits and bouts of giddiness that were seriously fits: nausea, fever and the like. Now that the full trailer and a release date has been announced and I feel feverish, ill and like I want to blow my lunch and last night’s dinner, I shall put in my thoughts and speculah in one place before I go nuts and make another doujin in three months.

For the record, some of the things I guessed about came true. As for what bits those were… buy my doujin. B<

So we have Nami’s KH3D Analysis. Spoilers for all of KH exists, as well as TWEWY.

Where we’re at…
After the end of KH2 and tying up with the events of Coded, Mickey thinks it’s time for the history of Xehanort and the fate of the last batch of Keybearers (hello, Terra, Ven, Aqua) to be revealed to the Destiny Trio. After consulting with his beloved Master Yen Sid, Mickey sends Sora, Riku and Kairi a cryptic message calling the two boys to another adventure. With little else to do, Sora and Riku decide to go and Kairi hands off her lucky charm (or, for non-Destiny Islanders, Wayfinder) to Sora.

After Riku gets a canon haircut and what I hope to be (clearly, fanon) Kairi’s motherly but utterly deserved looks and seminars about her boys taking care of each other, but considering how smart this girl is, she’ll probably figure out they’ll do something stupid like get separated, to take care of themselves [1] – they go and see Master Yen Sid.

Master Yen Sid, in the previous trailer and in reCoded, tasked Mickey to call the two for a Mark of Mastery Exam. He may or may not explain Master Xehanort, his manifestation in what we know as Xehanort, Ansem’s Apprentice (lovingly dubbed Terranort) who was once the body of the Keybearer Terra with the heart of Master Xehanort, his connection to Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Terranort’s Heartless) and Xemnas/Xehanort, his Nobody. He may or may not explain Ventus, whose heart went into deep sleep. He may or may not mention the Keyblade Master Aqua, who disappeared.

Knowing him, he might gloss over it. He will probably not mention a single thing. [2] Word of God says that he wants them to take the Mark of Mastery to test their skills. As they were masterless, they have some Keybearer skills they don’t have and may have learned some tricks that they really shouldn't have, thus the de-aging. After seeing the BbS Trio in action, I would have to agree that there are some cool things that they lack. However, I don’t think that this is the complete truth. Mostly, I think that Master Yen Sid is trying to hit as many birds as he can with two stones. Which are the following:

1) Test the two kids.
2) Wake the sleeping worlds and return the world of Light into some semblance of order.
3) Retrieve the heart of the Keybearers Ventus and Terra.
4) Retrieve the Keyblade Master Xehanort from his scattered incarnations to stop the threat completely.

Things Left for Square-Enix to Explain
/retcon/leave hanging. I might forget lots of stuff here.

1. So when a Somebody’s heart is taken, he might have a Nobody and a Heartless. It may disappoint lots of people to see two dissonant characters melding into one because “augh, MY FANFIC PLANS!!!” but I really do want to see what they’ll do with it. More on this under “Characters – Lea”
2. Namine. Can someone explain her, please.
3. Birth by Sleep Trio.
4. What do when the split is a bit more complicated, such is the case of Ventus/Vanitas/Sora/Roxas/Xion/(Namine).
Considering that this is Disney and they promised Happy End for Everyone in Coded, this might be a bit impossible.

The Hypothetical Premise:
The exam is as following: To wake the worlds of sleep. If they are able to return from the world of sleep, [Yen Sid] will consider them [Keyblade] Masters.

Seems easy-peasy. Wake up worlds by opening their keyholes, travel to another and continue. Sounds like the Darkness. But then again, what makes these sleeping worlds so distinct from the worlds that were submerged by darkness?

And then there’s the ominous undertone: If Sora and Riku themselves are unable to wake up…

Setting:
My theory is that the worlds of sleep are those that fall under certain categories, not just Yen Sid’s definition of worlds that were saved from the darkness and remained slumbering bit. These are, and I’m borrowing Meru’s definition since it’s clearer than my own, worlds that are “not quite real. Hovering between reality and being gone. A forgotten place.” My definition is looser, but will add to it, “worlds that are forgotten, overlooked or places where time has stopped.”

Their choices of worlds seem to support this theory. Traverse Town, the world that was never consumed by the Heartless in KH1 but was forgotten in KH2 with an added carnival feature. Pranksters Paradise, Pinocchio’s world with the carnival. Then there’s Notre Dame and the gypsies… I’m seeing a pattern here. Three Musketeers, though, I’m still waiting on that.

I’m sure many people are sick of The World Ends with You references, but sadly, it seems to be the likeliest canon to explain the phenomenon occurring in KH:DDD. And for people who keep complaining that they never played the game, play it. It’s one of the most profound games that I’ve ever played. While the world of TWEWY/Shibuya itself does not appear, there are overall themes that seem to be borrowed:

The first is the duality of worlds: two worlds that seem the same, but not. TWEWY was set in the world of the UG, the same Shibuya, just on a different frequency, because of the… natural state they were in. The fact remains, though, that in most mythologies, sleep and death were so related, it might as well be incest. [3][4] The second one would be their version of Heartless, the Dream Eaters. They get their own category.

By game standards, since this is Kingdom Hearts, it will probably gloss over the horrific details, but man, what a thing to think about...

Dream Eaters: Spirits and Nightmares
It is… Pokemon? Nintendogs/cats? Whatever it is, it’s cute in either incarnation. Dream Eaters have monopoly over the network of sleeping worlds, not allowing things like Heartless to come in. This, however, I think, is a bit too loose in definition. This might just limit the Lesser Heartless and even the Lesser Nobodies. But personally, by nature of what counts as “sleeping” in this case, the more developed ones like Xehanort’s Heartless and Nobodies like Xemnas are free to stay.

After all, it seems like that it’s in the world of sleep where these pieces of a whole actually come together.

Well, back to Dream Eaters. Fundamentally, they are not like Unversed, which are negativity spawning from a pure(ly Dark) being [5] They’re not genetically enhanced or life-source dependent, which makes me think that they’re all-natural. They consume dreams, whether good or bad, which occur naturally. Which makes me wonder what threat they pose as a whole. Is it a Spirit vs Nightmare thing, wherein there is a conflict in their diet? Is there someone who controls them? I think they’re pretty ambivalent creatures.

Then again, since there are actual physical worlds that are asleep, I suppose they can be consumed too… fridge horror go.[6]

[1] If I were Kairi, I would have sighed, tied both of my boys to the island and went off to save the world on my own. It’s certainly a better alternative to the inevitable Sora mindfuck and Riku trying to do the sacrificial lamb thing. As it is, I’m glad that Kingdom Hearts is still partially Disney, as it stops Square-Enix from killing Kairi off in an altogether touching and altruistic self-sacrifice that will actually save the world.

[2] Meru has reacted quite nicely, quote: “Scumbag Yen Sid!!” More on Yen Sid on the characters list.

[3] That the main cast of TWEWY appears in DDD raises my alarm, considering that they’re all dead and are playing a game that would be modern-day purgatory.

[4] It’s only in TWEWY that I can stomach the following: sleep kink, dead body kink and pedo. I never actually realized it until I found myself drawing a lot of sleeping!badtouch. Just… don’t over-think it.

[5] Vanitas, after being ripped away from Ventus. Which now makes me ponder Vanitas x Master Xehanort hatesex. After all, when something bad happens to someone, the victim often blames themselves first (in this case, Ventus for being weak) since the real source is unreachable (Master Xehanort.)

[6] Funnily enough, when I started drawing my doujinshi, the Dream Eaters were a main part of the plot. I thought, AUGH HOW DO I DRAW THESE CUTE THINGS. When I got around to drawing them for real, though, I found myself thoroughly creeped out...


Part 2

Comments

[starcrossed-sky.livejournal.com]

I often find myself looking at the Vanitas/MX Relationship through the goggles of "abused kid and the only parent they've ever known." It's turned up to fifty zillion, but it's definitely there.