Ansem & Xemnas I mean. These two beings come from a very mixed mess of origin. Though they are dominantly Xehanort they also have Terra and Eraqus in this mix and Xemnas at the very least is confirmed to draw from Terra as well as MX.
Then there's even more given the possible 4th persona that was the Apprentice Xehanort that split into Ansem/Xemnas.
Quite frankly these two beings are a mess but at the same time they arguable MX's greatest pawns. They were the ones to fulfill his KH1/2 plans of finding 7 pure lights and 13 vessels. They were the ones that did more damage in ten years to the worlds than MX ever did personally. And even in their failures they still provided MX with enough to still yet continue his plans after their defeat.
They were quite frankly his best seeds/seekers/slaves of any person he's possessed in this series run.
But therein lies the uncertainty of their defeat, the mixed nature.
To delve into what I'm getting at here let's remember what 'recompletion' is:
In normal cases when a body loses the heart it does one of two things:
1) It "extinguishes" and stays as such until the heart is free to return to it once more.
2) It becomes a nobody because of that persons strong will and heart to carry on.
This process was the catalyst for many characters return in DDD. Axel, Even, Ienzo, and all the other apprentices of Ansem the Wise were reborn thanks to this however not just them but also Xehanort.
Now, once again in normal cases, the nobody and the lost heart seem to become one individual even if the nobody itself formed a new heart.
We see this with Lea/Axel, Ienzo/Zexion, and Aeleous/Lexeaus.
Just as the memories of their human life made their nobodies nearly identical to themselves, the memories of their nobody life followed them back as they became human again making who they was as human and who they became as a nobody the same person.
Granted this is the only three cases we have right now as Dilan and Even as said to be in an "unstable" state still and Xigbar and Saix are an unknown to us at current since they didn't appear with the apprentices at all as they were supposed to.
There's more going on with these four people than we know of at current.
However the point I'm making is that in normal cases of shown so far, barring a seed of MX's heart or lack of human memories into the equation (like Roxas), the two beings become one upon revival.
This however is were the complexity of Ansem & Xemnas comes into play. Unlike Axel or the apprentices who were identical to their human lives and unlike Roxas who had no memory of his human life, they in fact not only remember their human lives but at the same time the memories they hold aren't from a singular heart but three.
MX, Terra and Eraqus were the hearts that gave rise to Ansem & Xemnas and we see this in their natures even if Nomura has yet to tell us in what portions.
What we know is that Apprentice Xehanort released these hearts and this action birthed Ansem & Xemnas.
Therein lies the issue of revival for Ansem and Xemnas though. Logically speaking it would be impossible for them to return to MX, Terra or even Eraqus because they weren't born one single entity but all three.
This means that they can't "pull and Axel" and become one with their human self because they have more than one human self.
This gives rise to the second issue of a revival for them. Not only do they have no one heart they can return to but they also have no body to return too.
Recompletion returns all that is divided back to the whole. The body that was Xemnas' body was actually Terra's. Going by the laws of recompletion that means that Terra's heart would naturally go back to his body.
And of course they can't return to MX's body because MX's body wasn't even in their makeup because MX abandoned it to possess Terra.
So do you see what I'm getting at? The hearts of Ansem and Xemnas can't return to the heart of their somebody because they have no singular somebody like Axel did nor can their hearts return to a body because they never truly had a body of their own because Ansem stole Riku's which was returned to Riku and Xemnas was inhabiting Terra's which should've rejoined with Terra's heart.
Ansem & Xemnas can't be "recompleted" because everything about them and what they had from their original selves would go back to those original selves, Terra & MX.
So now the big question of this theory. "If they can't return to MX, Terra or a body then where did they go?"
What has happened to the hearts that held the individual yet MX controlled personalities of Ansem and Xemnas?
Well I propose to you a notion, a very much simple notion, that they have "fallen into sleep".
Dream Drop Distance itself is set in the "Realm of Sleep". A realm that is made up from worlds fallen into sleep. Of course worlds too have hearts and like any living being with a heart those worlds dream but not just them but the being inhabiting that those worlds.
Every person you meet in DDD is either a fabrication of the sleeping world to fill the void of those who escaped its' destruction or people who fell with that world and that are now trapped with it in sleep.
Basically put people too can fall into sleep. Sora & Riku willingly dived into this sleep to venture to these worlds and Joshua brought the TWEWY crew into this sleep as well.
Anything holding a heart can fall into sleep essentially.
Just think about that for a second, take a look at the sleeping worlds of DDD. These worlds too underwent a type of "recompleteion". Their hearts was taken by heartless between BBS and KH1 and then those hearts was freed after Ansem's defeat at the end of KH1.
Once freed most of these worlds returned, in a sense their hearts and the remnants of the physical planet returned to normal. Pretty much a universal scale version of what recompletion is to normal people, they body vanishes and the heart is lost then the body comes back once the heart is saved.
And it was some of these worlds saved and restored in KH1 that was unable to leave sleep for unknown reasons.
Would this not parallel Ansem & Xemnas? Just think of it. They too underwent completion however as the "remnants" of who they were reformed the hearts they formed for themselves was trapped in sleep since all the "remnants" of who they were didn't even belong to them to start with.
To further add to the mystery there's this curious statement:
Which is even curiouser when you add Yen Sid's remark:
Didn't no one else find it odd that Ansem would need Young Xehanort to come get him each time he traveled? Ansem, as the Robed Figure, was the first Xehanort to time travel even give the boy this very power:
So why would he need help to travel time now? It's said YX gained this power via contact with Ansem but it's never said Ansem transferred it to him completely.
Going by the line of thought of this theory it'd make sense that Ansem can't travel on his own anymore because the Ansem we see in DDD was the present version lost to the Realm of Sleep in which "real time does not flow".
So by being in sleep Ansem and Xemnas are thus in a place that exceeds beyond time itself because the Realm of Sleep does not have a flow of time!
----------------------------------
Long theory made sort, Ansem & Xemnas, having nowhere else to go during MX's revival, fell into a state of sleep were they were then trapped in that Realm which exceeds times flow.
YX, having gained both time travel and a means to enter the dream realm thanks to Robed Figure (KH1 bodiless Ansem), is now able to freely locate and retrieve present Ansem & Xemnas.
*looks at clock* Holy crap it's 2:15am....I'm betting I'll be editing a good bit of this tomorrow, sleepy brain is in affect....oh well tell me what ya think. xD And please be gentle I'm sure there's bumps in it somewhere given the time it is as I type it.
Then there's even more given the possible 4th persona that was the Apprentice Xehanort that split into Ansem/Xemnas.
Quite frankly these two beings are a mess but at the same time they arguable MX's greatest pawns. They were the ones to fulfill his KH1/2 plans of finding 7 pure lights and 13 vessels. They were the ones that did more damage in ten years to the worlds than MX ever did personally. And even in their failures they still provided MX with enough to still yet continue his plans after their defeat.
They were quite frankly his best seeds/seekers/slaves of any person he's possessed in this series run.
But therein lies the uncertainty of their defeat, the mixed nature.
To delve into what I'm getting at here let's remember what 'recompletion' is:
Nomura said:VIII. When the heartless are defeated, what becomes of the stolen hearts? Also, when members of Organization XIII and other Nobodies are defeated, do they return to their original form?
When heartless are defeated, essentially the owner's hearts are rejoined with their once extinguished body, whichever world it may be on. As for the whereabouts of hearts in KHII that turn up, this time they remarkably went to the Organization (there is a foot note here that says "In Kingdom Hearts II after heartless were defeated, the many hearts were absorbed by the Kingdom Hearts of "people's hearts"). However, in the rare case that the body changed into a Nobody and when there is no container for the heart, it resorts to a state of suspension.
In the case of a Nobody being defeated, it's a little more complicated. If the above mentioned hearts are liberated, they return to their original form. However, if the heart is still stolen by the heartless, the Nobody's body is swallowed by darkness. If somewhere in the world their hearts are taken back, perhaps they might be able to return to their original human form.
In normal cases when a body loses the heart it does one of two things:
1) It "extinguishes" and stays as such until the heart is free to return to it once more.
2) It becomes a nobody because of that persons strong will and heart to carry on.
This process was the catalyst for many characters return in DDD. Axel, Even, Ienzo, and all the other apprentices of Ansem the Wise were reborn thanks to this however not just them but also Xehanort.
Now, once again in normal cases, the nobody and the lost heart seem to become one individual even if the nobody itself formed a new heart.
We see this with Lea/Axel, Ienzo/Zexion, and Aeleous/Lexeaus.
Just as the memories of their human life made their nobodies nearly identical to themselves, the memories of their nobody life followed them back as they became human again making who they was as human and who they became as a nobody the same person.
Granted this is the only three cases we have right now as Dilan and Even as said to be in an "unstable" state still and Xigbar and Saix are an unknown to us at current since they didn't appear with the apprentices at all as they were supposed to.
There's more going on with these four people than we know of at current.
However the point I'm making is that in normal cases of shown so far, barring a seed of MX's heart or lack of human memories into the equation (like Roxas), the two beings become one upon revival.
This however is were the complexity of Ansem & Xemnas comes into play. Unlike Axel or the apprentices who were identical to their human lives and unlike Roxas who had no memory of his human life, they in fact not only remember their human lives but at the same time the memories they hold aren't from a singular heart but three.
MX, Terra and Eraqus were the hearts that gave rise to Ansem & Xemnas and we see this in their natures even if Nomura has yet to tell us in what portions.
What we know is that Apprentice Xehanort released these hearts and this action birthed Ansem & Xemnas.
Therein lies the issue of revival for Ansem and Xemnas though. Logically speaking it would be impossible for them to return to MX, Terra or even Eraqus because they weren't born one single entity but all three.
This means that they can't "pull and Axel" and become one with their human self because they have more than one human self.
This gives rise to the second issue of a revival for them. Not only do they have no one heart they can return to but they also have no body to return too.
Recompletion returns all that is divided back to the whole. The body that was Xemnas' body was actually Terra's. Going by the laws of recompletion that means that Terra's heart would naturally go back to his body.
And of course they can't return to MX's body because MX's body wasn't even in their makeup because MX abandoned it to possess Terra.
So do you see what I'm getting at? The hearts of Ansem and Xemnas can't return to the heart of their somebody because they have no singular somebody like Axel did nor can their hearts return to a body because they never truly had a body of their own because Ansem stole Riku's which was returned to Riku and Xemnas was inhabiting Terra's which should've rejoined with Terra's heart.
Ansem & Xemnas can't be "recompleted" because everything about them and what they had from their original selves would go back to those original selves, Terra & MX.
So now the big question of this theory. "If they can't return to MX, Terra or a body then where did they go?"
What has happened to the hearts that held the individual yet MX controlled personalities of Ansem and Xemnas?
Well I propose to you a notion, a very much simple notion, that they have "fallen into sleep".
Dream Drop Distance itself is set in the "Realm of Sleep". A realm that is made up from worlds fallen into sleep. Of course worlds too have hearts and like any living being with a heart those worlds dream but not just them but the being inhabiting that those worlds.
Every person you meet in DDD is either a fabrication of the sleeping world to fill the void of those who escaped its' destruction or people who fell with that world and that are now trapped with it in sleep.
Basically put people too can fall into sleep. Sora & Riku willingly dived into this sleep to venture to these worlds and Joshua brought the TWEWY crew into this sleep as well.
Anything holding a heart can fall into sleep essentially.
Just think about that for a second, take a look at the sleeping worlds of DDD. These worlds too underwent a type of "recompleteion". Their hearts was taken by heartless between BBS and KH1 and then those hearts was freed after Ansem's defeat at the end of KH1.
Once freed most of these worlds returned, in a sense their hearts and the remnants of the physical planet returned to normal. Pretty much a universal scale version of what recompletion is to normal people, they body vanishes and the heart is lost then the body comes back once the heart is saved.
And it was some of these worlds saved and restored in KH1 that was unable to leave sleep for unknown reasons.
Would this not parallel Ansem & Xemnas? Just think of it. They too underwent completion however as the "remnants" of who they were reformed the hearts they formed for themselves was trapped in sleep since all the "remnants" of who they were didn't even belong to them to start with.
To further add to the mystery there's this curious statement:
— After generating and before attacking Sora, were Xemnas and Ansem somewhere that exceeded beyond time?
Nomura: That’s right.
Which is even curiouser when you add Yen Sid's remark:
Yen Sid said:In the Sleeping Worlds, real time does not flow. Unless one restores the world by waking it from its slumber, it will stay locked in a dream forever.
Didn't no one else find it odd that Ansem would need Young Xehanort to come get him each time he traveled? Ansem, as the Robed Figure, was the first Xehanort to time travel even give the boy this very power:
Nomura said:First off, when Young Xehanort made contact with the Brown Robed Figure, that is to say, the Xehanort who called himself Ansem, his abilities were transferred to him. As a result of Master Xehanort tossing his physical body, he was able to exceed time, and this power was carried into the Brown Robed Figure. Thus when Young Xehanort made contact with him, he gained this power. Possessing this power. Young Xehanort functioned as a “portal”, summoning Xemnas and Ansem each time they appeared. That’s why Young Xehanort was there whenever they appeared. Additionally, when Sora and Riku dropped into the worlds of sleep, simultaneously Young Xehanort himself goes into the world of sleep.
So why would he need help to travel time now? It's said YX gained this power via contact with Ansem but it's never said Ansem transferred it to him completely.
Going by the line of thought of this theory it'd make sense that Ansem can't travel on his own anymore because the Ansem we see in DDD was the present version lost to the Realm of Sleep in which "real time does not flow".
So by being in sleep Ansem and Xemnas are thus in a place that exceeds beyond time itself because the Realm of Sleep does not have a flow of time!
----------------------------------
Long theory made sort, Ansem & Xemnas, having nowhere else to go during MX's revival, fell into a state of sleep were they were then trapped in that Realm which exceeds times flow.
YX, having gained both time travel and a means to enter the dream realm thanks to Robed Figure (KH1 bodiless Ansem), is now able to freely locate and retrieve present Ansem & Xemnas.
*looks at clock* Holy crap it's 2:15am....I'm betting I'll be editing a good bit of this tomorrow, sleepy brain is in affect....oh well tell me what ya think. xD And please be gentle I'm sure there's bumps in it somewhere given the time it is as I type it.