Ansem SoD NOT being Ansem a Retcon or a Plot Twist?

[Deleted member 246005]

TBH the fake Ansem the wise plot was my favorite reveal in the series. The line where he calls Xemnas's efforts in the World that Never was a monument to ignorance still stands out in my mind.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Fair enough, I keep forgetting that he writes about Mickey as well, despite the fact that he didn't have the conversation with him. Xehanort listened to the conversations between Ansem and Mickey and then wrote as if he was part of them.

To be fair, Ansem the Wise did notice the diaries that were written at the time. From Ansem's Secret Report #2:



So Xehanort wrote the Diaries up until number 8 before banishing Ansem The Wise, so I stand corrected: in a way, he thought of himself as "Ansem" before putting his plan in motion.
And... I guess Ansem was banished before he could lock Xehanort in an asylum?

He didn't have the conversation with Mickey personally, but he was present for at least one and could easily have eavesdropped on what he shared with the "real Ansem".
Furthermore, Mickey apparently shared several warnings with Ansem so it is also entirely possible that Ansem in turn spoke with Xehanort about the same things to try and make him see reason in order to abandon the experiments.

It's also noteworthy that the mentioning of Mickey happens in Ansem Report part 9 while the secret Report you quoted speaks about Ansem the Wise discovering the "name theft" when Xehanort had only finished Reports 1 to 8 so far.
DiZ with the power of Darkness could "disguise" himself as Ansem SoD which only Riku eventually saw through so who says Xehanort couldn't have taken on Ansem the Wise's appearance if it suited him?

Another question is if Xehanort even openly referred to himself as "Ansem" or if he only did so in the written reports. In the opening scene of DDD Braig seems to not have been privy to Xehanort calling himself "Ansem" as he addresses him as Xehanort.

Ansem the Wise could not admit to himself/actually believe that his beloved apprentices turned into questionable personas until it was too late, I think that was also made rather clear in the secret reports.

TBH the fake Ansem the wise plot was my favorite reveal in the series. The line where he calls Xemnas's efforts in the World that Never was a monument to ignorance still stands out in my mind.

Funny thing is that this applies not only to Xemnas but actually to Xehanort as a whole.
For all the knowledge and "forbidden" things he has learned and explored, as a whole Xehanort is still pretty ignorant and certainly not "wise".

 

[Not Ienzo]

Honestly after playing 3D I'm confused why he even took Ansem's name in the first place.

I don't really see how it could have been an identity crisis since 3D revealed that he never even lost his memory and he was self-aware of who he was (then again maybe it was Braig assuming things...? I don't even know anymore honestly). Was it all just to spite him?

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Honestly after playing 3D I'm confused why he even took Ansem's name in the first place.

I don't really see how it could have been an identity crisis since 3D revealed that he never even lost his memory and he was self-aware of who he was (then again maybe it was Braig assuming things...? I don't even know anymore honestly). Was it all just to spite him?

Whether the memory loss was real or made up, he definitely never truly believed he was Ansem. He took Ansem's name and research upon him, while knowing he was a different person.
Why exactly did he do this, aside from offering a plot twist in KH II and some metaphorical stuff... is something that could need some more depth.
Like, we can speculate that it was spite (Xemnas does seems to take pleasure in stating he was just like Ansem The Wise, but better), or that he was enamored by Ansem's research, possibly because it helped him remembering Master Xehanort's ambition, or even a way to try and confuse Mickey and Yen Sid for a while by not acting as "Xehanort", but there's no real confirmation of anything right now.

Btw, I didn't say it before because it's not something I myself take THAT seriously, but now I might as well: "Ansem" is the anagram for "names".
Maybe it's a coincidence, maybe the whole identity thing was decided from the get-go.