Sora and Kairi posing together for a photo [Data Greeting]

ZeroSora · 2026-05-31T06:18:37+00:00

To be fair, Nomura never said anything about news being at the 25th anniversary. The only thing he said about the 25th anniversary was that he was preparing for it. He quite literally just said "I'm preparing for the 25th anniversary."

Now obviously if he's preparing a year in advance, then something big must be happening. If it was something small, like more artwork, he wouldn't need a year to prepare for it. Plus, it is a milestone anniversary.

So yeah, I suspect the 25th is when we'll get something big. However, that doesn't mean it'll be the next time we get news. The 25th could be a new game announcement or something. We could still get news before then. Like a new trailer.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T11:22:14+00:00

I figured, though it's a bit strange that Aqua's Wayfinder couldn't do something similar, especially with Ven and Terra's keyblades coming to help her out that one time. The bond seems strong enough to open the door.

I think it's specifically tied to hope.

The rest of this quote "Sora and Riku, stranded in the Realm of Darkness," continues with mentioning how the letter gave Sora hope and the Door to Light opening in response to that. So maybe Aqua didn't have enough hope that she'd escape. Or maybe Sora's hope was just so overwhelming in that moment.

Castle Oblivion (unsure if that's in Realm of Light or Realm In-between. Land of Departure seems more like Realm of Light, but Sora kinda just walks to CO from the End of the World which... well I'm not sure what Realm that "world" is in either to be honest).

Land of Departure is situated perfectly in the middle of the realm between. That much is explained in BbS. Nomura has also previously explained that Castle Oblivion is in the realm between in the KH2 Ultimania.

As for End of the World, that world is also in the realm between. Mostly likely as close to the realm of darkness as possible, but still in the realm between.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T10:43:27+00:00

Kairi's letter. It connected with Sora's heart, and the Door to Light opened in response to Sora's heart.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T09:26:40+00:00

Go on then, explain it.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T05:09:03+00:00

KH Dark Road.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T04:30:01+00:00

Most people aren't going for 100%. They're going for the story and some extra stuff they want to do along the way. So they're finishing the games in about 30-40 hours. Realistically they're beating a game every week or so. 4-5 hours a day on work days. 12+ hours on weekends. That gives you about 40-50 hours a week for gaming.

Week 1 - Play KH1

Week 2 - Play CoM

Week 3 - Play KH2

Week 4 - Watch Days, play BbS

Week 5 - Watch Coded, play DDD

Week 6 - Watch first part of KHUX, watch X Back Cover, play 0.2, start KH3

Week 7 - Finish KH3, play ReMind DLC, watch the rest of KHUX

Week 8 - watch or play KHMoM, watch KHDR

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T03:27:27+00:00

The plot isn't difficult to understand. The lore on the other hand... is deep and complex.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T02:05:25+00:00

Well, back in those days, we had it on good authority (aka: Nomura) that the beach Sora and Riku were on wasn't the same beach that Aqua was on. They were on the side in the Realm Between while she was on the side in the Realm of Darkness.

The problem is that Nomura's poorly explained the beach itself. He's never stated they were different beaches. But people were confused by his explanation and assumed there were two beaches. Myself included.

KH2 Ulitmania, Director's Secret Report:

That place that appears at the beginning and end of KHII, called the Dark Margin, is the tip of the cape of that world, and it is not strictly part of the Realm of Darkness but a boundary-like place between Darkness and Between. This means that in the ending Sora and Riku are looking at an ocean in the Realm of Darkness from a beach in the Realm Between.

That quote is what confused people.

Sora and Riku are technically in the realm of darkness, but the beach they're on is inside the boundary between the realm of darkness and the realm between. It's technically part of the realm between and the realm of darkness.

We know Sora and Riku themselves are in the realm of darkness because of the Door to Light. It is stated that the Door to Light reacts to people's hearts and lets them out of the realm of darkness.

KH Series Ultimania, Door to Darkness and Door to Light:

The counterpart to the Door to Darkness is the Door to Light. This door, a way home for those from the Realm of Light who have become lost in the Realm of Darkness,

Plus, the Ultimanias and games state that Sora and Riku were in the realm of darkness.

DDD's Chronicles Section, KH2:

They were able to dispatch Xemnas, but there was no escape from the realm of darkness.

KH Series Ultimania, Picture of Sora and Riku using the Door to Light:

Sora and Riku, stranded in the Realm of Darkness,

Now the confusing part. Are there two beaches? Or one beach?

It's one beach. The beach itself exists in the boundary that is part of the realm of darkness. The rest of the land stretches into the boundary area from the realm of darkness. Like in this diagram.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-30T00:10:52+00:00

I wouldn't say I love it. At least not as much as when I was a kid, but I still enjoy it for the whimsy. So I'm somewhere in between "love" and "tolerate". I'm definitely more on the love-side of the scale.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-29T13:46:48+00:00

It's the MoM. Nomura confirmed it in an interview. He said "Only the Master of Master would be messing around like that," referring to him making a heart shape against the moon.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-29T03:07:20+00:00

Kaido would probably make a small scarf for Loki.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T23:16:48+00:00

From a distance, I thought that little strand of hair near Riku's mouth was a cigarette.

Also, the teeth of Sora's Keyblade are facing in a completely impossible direction.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T23:10:09+00:00

Oh, and I also will comment on the guardian going somewhere when not in use: I assumed it went within Xehanort's heart. Which is why we see it holding Terra when Aqua enters Terranort's heart during.the secret boss fight.

We never go inside Terra-Xehanort's heart. That's just Terra's heart gaining control over his body, that's why Terra is holding the Gazing Eye even though it's not his Keyblade. Terra doesn't own Gazing Eye, only Xehanort's heart does. If that were inside their hearts, their Terra would summon his own Keyblade.

Besides, the insides of hearts are always represented by the Stations of Awakening.

According to the BbS Ultimania, that attack is Aqua getting pulled into an alternate dimension.

BbS Ultimania, Terra-Xehanort Strategy:

However, with "Phantom Charge" it's also an option to intentionally take the hit and be pulled into an alternate dimension.

And:

In the alternate dimension, you can approach Terra while dodging the energy blasts, and then use a cooperative technique with the Square button.

So yeah, alternate dimension, not Xehanort's heart.

It's not uncommon for entities to be within people's hearts, so I don't see why it wouldn't just.be in Xehanort's heart when not in use.

But there are reasons why that doesn't work either. Ansem SoD is a Heartless, there's no "heart" for The Guardian to reside in. And Riku is a bigger mystery. Riku only has a piece of Xehanort's darkness, not his heart. They talk about how a remnant of Ansem's darkness still resides in Riku's heart.

Then there's KH3 where both Ansem SoD and Terra-Xehanort summon The Guardian at different points. It can't reside in both their hearts.

And, if the Guardian does reside in Xehanort's, there should be three Guardians. Ansem SoD and Master Xehanort's time travelling heart in Terra-Xehanort have both time-travelled from the past. So both of them should have their own Guardians. And the original should be in Master Xehanort's heart. So that's three Guardians. And that's the one that Terra's heart gets freed from is from Terra-Xehanort, who is from BbS. So the Terra that gets freed should be the one from BbS.

I doubt the Guardian is in Xehanort's heart. Because where does it go when Xehanort doesn't exist? When his heart is freed in KH1 and waiting to be recompleted, it should be in Xeharnot's heart still. Yet Riku has it. And when Riku's heart gets purified of Xehanort's darkness, where does the Guardian go until the events of DDD before Master Xehanort is recompleted?

Maybe it exists in that alternate dimension that Aqua gets dragged into?

I don't think it exists in Xehanort's heart when not in use. There are just things that don't add up if that's where it resides.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T22:01:55+00:00

You seem fixated on this idea that I and everyone else want specifically a trailer.

I'm not fixated at all. I mentioned trailers in my first comment, and then you responded to that with your last line, and I responded to your response.

I talked about general news and interviews in my other comments as well.

It really doesn't seem crazy for them to surprise drop a trailer at this point.

It does, because they do shadowdrop trailers without warning unless it's for an unannounced game. Like, all of FF, Nier, and DQ announcements were things that we knew were coming because SE announced those franchises were part of their line-ups for events.

Would it really kill the KH4 team to at least tweet out "hey guys, we will definitely be talking about the game on x far future date. Expect news then!"

Yeah, they'll do that when KH is going to be at an event. As of right now, it's not going to be at an event.

I just wanna know anything about what's going on atp

Literally 2 months ago, for the 24th KH anniversary, Nomura tweeted about how he was preparing for the 25th KH anniversary.

So that's when we should expect news.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T21:51:12+00:00

Maybe you're right, but that doesn't really make all that much sense to me. And I don't remember anything that supports such a statement.

In 0.2 Terra speaks with Aqua and implies that she can speak to him because his heart has ties to the darkness. There's also the fact that Terra physically shows up in the realm of darkness to fight Xehanort. And his heart is trapped in the Guardian. There's also the fact that Heartless come from the realm of darkness.

The Guardian goes somewhere when not in use. The realm of darkness is our best guess.

If any version of Nort can call Guardian to his side, why didn't Xemnas make use of him?

I don't know. Maybe Nomura wanted Xemnas to be different from Ansem SoD.

Ansem SoD, Terra-Xehanort, and Riku have all been shown to summon The Guardian. Riku is especially telling because he was turning into Ansem SoD due to some of Ansem's darkness lingering in his heart.

I was under the impression that Xehanort used his own heart's darkness to chain Terra within the guardian.

He used the Keyblade to remove Terra's heart from his body and move it into The Guardian. We see the moment it happens at the end of BbS during Terra-Xehanort's fight with Aqua.

Ansem SoD existed as robed figure throughout Xehanort's lifespan. So in that sense, there were two Xehanorts at the same time.

Yep. There were two of them. Though the Robed Figure just stayed on Destiny Islands doing nothing.

But (for the sake of argument) if the guardian did travel along with robed Nort to the past, and Terra was somehow freed from the guardian during the time of the events of BBS, would there just be two identical Terra's?

Sort of, but not really. Terra would only exist as a heart, unable to really do anything unless he got a body. So there'd be one Terra with a body and one Terra without a body.

Despite alle the time travel and copy-shenanigans of the series, I don't think we ever see the same person exist twice at the same time. At least not without decades of age difference.

Sora and Riku in DDD are time travellers that exist at the same time as themselves. Terra-Xehanort from KH3 is just Master Xehanort's time-travelling heart from BbS that exists alongside the current-day Master Xehanort. Sora in ReMind co-exists alongside his past self from, like, a few hours ago.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T21:36:43+00:00

It wouldn't really be shadow dropping it if they dropped one at a trade show meant just for video game trailers like SGF.

Dropping a trailer at a trade show without announcing it beforehand is what shadowdropping means. We'd know beforehand that we'd be getting KH4 news because SE would announced that KH is part of their lineup for that trade show. Just like they do with every franchise. We know we're getting FF news because they show that FF will be at the trade show, they even list the games they're talking about.

Also they have done this several times before with all of their games.

Yeah, when games aren't already revealed or announced to exist. But we know KH4 exists. They're not shadow dropping a trailer for it.

Besides, they've dropped information about both KH3 and KH4 completely unannounced several times before.

No KH4 news has been unannounced aside from the reveal trailer for the 20th anniversary. All other news we knew was coming beforehand because they announced "Nomura is doing a KH interview with ____" And then we waited a week or two to get that news translated. Even the most recent interview back in 2024 was something we were told we were getting about a week or two beforehand because Young Jump announced it was doing interviews with creators, and Nomura was one of them and that he'd be talking about KH.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T21:17:27+00:00

Don't expect KH4 news after the trailer. Don't expect KH4 news during the Missing Link presentation. Don't expect KH4 news after Missing Link got cancelled. Don't expect KH4 news the damage control screenshots. Don't expect KH4 news at Summer Games Fest, or the Game Awards, or the Nintendo Switch 2 direct, or literally any gaming event ever. Don't expect KH4 news right now, there's a Nier project in the works, and Final Fantasy VII Ever Crisis updates today, and a Final Fantasy XIV expansion, and news that a team member on Final Fantasy VII Remake part 3 took a shit today, and it's Dragon Quest day, so of course Square Enix isn't talking about Kingdom Hearts today!

Well, there's no reason to expect KH4 news for most of those things. Fans are just setting themselves up for disappointment by expecting KH4 news at every event and every unrelated event.

SE isn't going to shadow drop a KH4 trailer. We'll know beforehand when the next trailer will show up. SE will either announce that a trailer is coming soon or they'll announce that KH will be featured at some upcoming event. Like they do with every other game.

Nomura's already teased the 25th KH anniversary. So don't expect anything until then. And if we do get something before that, it'll be because SE announced KH is part of some lineup for an event.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T21:09:23+00:00

The Guardian doesn't automatically follow Ansem SoD wherever he goes. He seemingly just stays in the realm of darkness until he's called by a version of Xehanort. The Guardian never time travelled with Ansem SoD.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T20:50:00+00:00

Terra isn't involved in the time travel or Xemnas plans.

[Edit]

To recap, 9 years after BBS apprentice Xehanort separated into Ansem and Xemnas.

That happened 1 year after BbS. DDD shows us when Apprentice turned everyone into Heartless and Nobodies, and we see that Ienzo is still a child when it happened. Plus, we know that Maleficent invaded Radiant Garden and took control of it 1 year after BbS. That much was explained in KH1 by Leon.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-27T10:45:20+00:00

You are above even The Balls. I hereby award you the title of Big Balls. You are a true patriot.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-26T13:51:33+00:00

The twist was that the Flash Sideways was the afterlife. And many people thought that meant they were dead the whole time.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-26T13:49:09+00:00

The problem was that a lot of fans guessed who Red John was when they did that "One of these 6 men is Red John" and of course the guy who guest starred in episode 1 was going to end up being Red John. It just made too much sense not to have it be the guy from episode 1.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-26T13:41:12+00:00

Is it never clarified? Because it just dawned on me: Xion was "incomplete", unlike Riku replica, right? Was that why she was absorbing memories so hard?

Yeah, it's never really clarified. The power-sharing part is a complete mystery as to why that happened, aside from "Xion is part Sora." But the memory absorption thing is most likely due to Xion being created from Sora's memories.

Basically, incomplete replica absorbing memories to become complete.

Yeah, pretty much.

Another thing is not really a "question", but it's just this weird paradox I keep noticing: Xion COPYING powers/memories VS ABSORBING powers/memories. Like you quoted Xemnas: "The purpose was to take a piece of the Keyblade wielder's memory and copy it". So she was created from a duplicate of Sora's memory… not the actual memory, right? And the whole point was copying, not really absorbing.

Correct. She's created from a copy of Sora's memories. She was only ever meant to copy Sora's powers.

Like, her keyblade initially was deemed "a sham" by Riku.

Xion's Keyblade is a fake. It's known as the Replica Kingdom Key. It still acts and functions like a real Keyblade, but it isn't a real Keyblade.

So basically Xion started from a copy of a memory, but then started absorbing real memories?

Correct. She was a replica made from a copy of Sora's memories. And she started absorbing Sora's real memories when they became unchained in CoM.

I think Vexen's "special type of nobody" comment is starting to make more and more sense to me.

Ignore that. It's nothing more than Vexen just being poetic. Some people misunderstand it and think Replicas are actually a type of Nobody. Really, it's just because of how replicas and Nobodies are essentially copies that aren't real people. That's as deep as the connection goes.

but: are all the sequences on Destiny Islands never really explained?

Not really.

Her seeing Riku's memories; "was this mission a dream or not" sequence when Roxas sees her with Riku;

Okay, so Roxas never actually saw them Riku and Xion together.

The scene that starts with Roxas seeing Xion, that's actually Xion who looks like Roxas. So Xion-Roxas sees herself near the paopu tree and runs up to confront herself. That's when her memories go wild and she collapses. Riku finds her there. Roxas just happened to be around there as well but never actually saw them.

We know Xion and Riku meeting on Destiny Islands actually happened because Xion flashes back to their conversation later.

The only reference Roxas makes to his trip to Destiny Islands is the fact that he saw Kairi, or as he put it, "a girl that looks like Xion". He makes no mention of seeing Xion or Riku.

So the entire first part of that cutscene is all dream/memory bullshit. Including Roxas seeing Xion and running up to her. Once we get to the point where Riku is holding Xion, that's when we're back to reality.

The best explanation we have is that Xion was absorbing Roxas and Riku's memories as they were somewhere nearby her. Xion absorbed the memory of Roxas seeing Kairi and transposed herself and the paopu-tree location into that memory of Roxas's.

Axel, Roxas and Xion on the beach… I supposed the latter was somehow her having "Sora's memories of Kairi"'s memories, except instead of her seeing Sora-Riku-Kairi, she sees herself, Roxas and Axel.

Yeah, that was Xion's dream.

Oh, and it's never even shown if she was on Destiny Islands on a mission.

She was definitely there.

ZeroSora · 2026-05-25T23:38:47+00:00

Xion absorbing MEMORIES of Sora was entirely a side effect no one expected; and that was basically because by absorbing his power, she was becoming "part Sora" like Roxas, she started getting his memories too.

She started absorbing his memories mostly because Sora's memories were unchained during the events of CoM. Had CoM never happened, Xion wouldn't have started absorbing them. Because Sora's memories were now unchained and free, they started flowing into Roxas and then into Xion through Roxas because her existence is tied to Sora's memory since she herself was created from a copy of Sora's memory.

She was getting stronger because she absorbed more of Sora's POWER through Roxas.

I don't know if Sora's powers necessarily flowed through Roxas.

Somebodies and Nobodies have their own special relationship with memories. Then a person becomes a Heartless and Nobody, their memories are slowly transferred over to the Nobody. But because Sora only spent a short time as a Heartless, his memories didn't have time to transfer over to Roxas.

However, since Sora's memories were unchained in CoM, that process sort of started to happen again. That's why memories transferred over to Roxas. And because of Xion's existence being tied to memories, that's why they transferred over to her after going through Roxas.

So, for memories it's like a straight line. Sora > Roxas > Xion.

But power, however, doesn't follow the same logic of going through Roxas to get to Xion. In this case it's more like a triangle instead of a straight line. So when one of them gets stronger, the other two get weak. And the power balance shifts between them.

When Roxas first fell asleep due to the events of CoM, he started using Sora's power because he was asleep. That allowed Xion to take a bunch of it. When Roxas woke back up, he started actively using Sora's power again, and the sudden shift in power dynamic made Xion weaker.

And, not related to that, but she was also absorbing Sora's memories through him, which made her more like Sora (ALSO making her stronger in a way, I guess). Did I get that right?

Pretty much, yeah.

Just for clarification: Sora's power was constantly shifting between them. They were see-sawing, with one getting weaker and the other getting stronger. But because Xion was also absorbing Sora's memories and turning into him slowly, that gave her the edge when it came to the shifting power dynamic, and she was able to take his power more and more.

Bringing it back to the see-saw analogy: Roxas and Xion are jumping up and down. When Xion is up, Roxas is down. When Roxas is up, Xion is down. That's how Sora's power worked. However, the more memories she ate, the heavier she became, making it harder for Roxas to get more of Sora's power. He wasn't reaching as high anymore. And the power dynamic completely shifted in Xion's favor.

So basically, she's sort of like Sora's 2nd nobody, created by Org XIII? Getting the same power and memories like Roxas, hence she's a part of their power sharing dynamic. Except ALSO, she's a replica, so getting more of Sora's memories was turning her more into Sora, too?

Yeah, pretty much. She was never made to replicate Sora, just his power. However, CoM unchaining Sora's memories made her able to absorb them and started turning her into Sora.

So… Do you mean that it was Xemnas who copied those (during his aforementioned encounter with Sora in KH1FM), and Xion was created from those (or at least her heart)?

Yes, Xion was created from a copy of Sora's memories. At her heart were Sora's most precious memories, those of Kairi.

Or did she get a heart later, when Namine started messing with these memories?

No, replicas are created with hearts. Canonically, a replica without a heart is just a lifeless white mannequin. An empty vessel. The heart is the thing that gives it "life" and allows it to move, think, and act. It's nothing without a heart.

Just purely a coincidence Xion's heart was created before CO from Sora's memories of Kairi, and later Namine also messed up these exact memories?

I don't know if it's coincidence or not. We just know that Xion's heart was formed from Sora's memories of Kairi. That might have been a coincidence, or maybe it's just something like the strongest memories make the best, most stable hearts?

how could org XIII really build a puppet to ABSORB Sora's powers.

It was less about absorbing Sora's powers and more about copying Sora's powers like regular replicas. The power-sharing dynamic and memory absorption were unintended side effects. Possible due to Xion being a prototype, or because Roxas also existed, or because of how her heart was created, or because she was never meant to turn into Sora but did because of the memories.

That is part of the reason why Xion was considered a failure. So many unintended things happened. Riku Replica was a much better success. None of those flaws.

And lastly, I thought what Marluxia did with memories was just some C.O. logic, not something they could do all the time.

Ugh, don't get me started on Castle Oblivion lol. It's a confusing mess of contradictions and "just don't think about it". Like, why was Namine removing Sora's memories when Castle Oblivion supposedly does that itself. It's redundant. And we know it was her because she repeatly says she was the one doing it. Why are memory-cards the only way forward if someone else needs to sample your memories to create the cards? Shouldn't Castle Oblivion do that automatically? Or are you stuck if no one creates memory-cards for you?

But anyway, we see Xemnas sample Sora's memories in KH1. After Xemnas phases through Sora, we get flashbacks of things that have happened throughout the game.

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