Reasons why thinking about it all is giving me a headache. Bowing out of the discussion after this reply.
What is strong incentive is a matter of opinion.
Trying to point out something as less likely is trying to sway the subject your addressing. Just a round about way of trying to sway my opinion.
Not a bad thing in of itself but it isn't going to work when you keep pointing out to me it is ambiguous. If you find your own stance ambiguous I have no reason to take your idea over the other four I have seen.
Then what about the other theories I have seen? I have come across four so far.
1.) Xehanort is still using Terra's body BUT is altering it like Ansem did Riku.
2.) Your theory.
3.) The notion Terra is in Riku explaining why Xehanort seemingly returned alone. This only went as far as Terra's heart being in Riku though. The theory didn't touch on subject of body.
4.) Xehanort did return with Terra but abandoned him willingly to increase seat count.
I done tried looking form another angle and ended up in this discussion with you. Now I am not sure if I even want to continue. I'll reply but I can't say I still have much interest.
(and I feel kinda bad for derailing the persons thread)
Hmm...what I remember of the thread I saw is....well I linkd it once but no one read it so here:
http://forums.khinsider.com/kingdom-hearts-iii/202692-think-still-relevant.html I think someone added on with that scene of Ansem's guardian reaching out to Riku. I do not see anything saying it is not possible so there is no incentive saying no even if you think there is no incentive saying yes.
I already listed the four outcomes I saw the day before yesterday.
I already listed the others he could mean twice. He says two on Mickey's list belong to him but it is not specified how. For Sora he meant as a vessel but Terra's ambiguous condition and Ven's presence in Sora leaves it open I thought?
I'm far from wanting to make you feel uncomfortable, lol, but the one coming might either clear up some things for you or cause even more WTF, so I'll warn about it in advance.
There is this thing called the Memorial Ultimania which was released alongside 2.5 HD Remix in Japan (sadly these books never leave Japan though) which has a huge pile of facts and knowledge about the whole series so far, including hearts, worlds, characters etc.
The most important thing for this topic however is the "Xehanort Experience Record" which tracks all forms and movements of "The Xehanorts" so far in the series.
Here's the whole thing if there's interest:
Xehanort Experience Record
Let's see if we can bring some more light into this with its help.
It seems more to me that we consider different things to be ambigious due to differing interpretations of offered material, but that's completely ok.
By the way, as I do not to adorn myself with borrowed plumes, I have to point out that the variant I am mostly advocating here wasn't really brought forth by me originally but another member.
It's simply the one I find to be most probable so far.
Now getting on to the other theories.
The 1st one can be completely ruled out thanks to the Memorial Ultimania:
Here it says that Young Xehanort witnessed the revival of MX's true body.
2nd has been already discussed.
3rd I guess speculates on that side note made in the BBS Ultimania as to why the Robed Figure appeared on Destiny Islands in KH 1, and Nomura entertained some speculation about Robed Figure/Ansem having some of Terra's memories. Of course this can be theorized further to Terra's complete heart as it was together with Xehanort's (the core of Ansem the Heartless) since BBS. This however would still not count out "Terra" as belonging to Xehanort for the same reason as in Theory 4, Xemnas was Terra's body and anything Xemnas may have developed (a Xehanort seed) could be used by Xehanort to control the body. That thread you linked even points this out, that if Terra is with Riku, his body would be even more easy to control for Xehanort, giving him one more vessel for sure.
Terra's heart being in Riku would then have the same meaning as Ventus' being in Sora as in both being irrelevant to the issue because Xehanort doesn't care about the hearts, he wants the bodies to pursue his plan.
Unlike with Ventus however, Xehanort
would have the body to make a vessel out of, thus making him counting Terra in true.
4th actually has a very high possibility due to 1st being made impossible.
This reminds me of another
thread that was made in this vein in which I didn't participate in, but had a much similar debate to what we have here with both stances present.
It addressed this subject by also counting in a possible newly grown "Xemnas"-heart which would be a Xehanort-seed by default. Xemnas' primary "asset" in the whole Xehanort/Terra/Eraqus mess was Terra's body, so anything that developed within Xemnas would remain inside Terra's body once recompletion kicks in and Xehanort's main heart returns to its true body.
There's also the possibility that when the Ansem/Xemnas split happened, Terra's heart actually stayed in its body (which would be Xemnas) where it belongs or was even left there on purpose while Ansem took only some memories with him. As Nomura points out, the way how memories, powers and hearts of Xehanort and Terra (possibly even Eraqus, as i.e. how would Xemnas be able to create the chamber of Repose in a similar layout to the chamber of awakening? Only Aqua and Eraqus know about the secret mechanism) were divided between Ansem and Xemnas are still a mystery, so the question as to where Terra's heart ultimatively ended up is indeed completely subject to debate.
This is also what I think is the core of the discrepancy we have here at hand, as the different parts of Terra may be located on different sides of the conflicting factions and a central part of saving him would be to gather all parts together to finally restore him for good without any Xehanort-influence.
After going through all four with the 1st being made impossible, I'd say that for me both 2nd and 4th would make the most sense.
3rd is also a possibility to keep in mind, although due to Xemnas originally being Terra's body, it would not change the meaning of Xehanort's claims that Terra "belongs to him" alongside Sora.
In the end it could even lead to a battle against Terra's controlled body in order to purge the Xehanort part and then put Terra's heart back there.
You technically aren't derailing the persons thread as it still pertains to the question of the 13 darknesses. If we would really count out Terra or any possible form of him, that would leave another spot among the thirteen open again.
You're speaking of the scene in DDD where Riku blocks the Guardian by raising his Keyblade?
I honestly never gave it that much of an importance as the Guardian could be simply reaching towards Riku in order to squash him like a bug with Riku just going "nope, want another piece of this?" by raising his Keyblade.
Riku recalling his early memory about meeting Terra can be seen as an indicator of Ansem truly having some of Terra's memories though which then resonate with Riku as suggested in that old BBS interview from Nomura.
See, and that's where I get the problem of understanding the reasoning. Why would Xehanort mean one of them as a vessel and the other not when he's counting them in the same sentence? What meaning would it have in-universe for Xehanort to make such a distinction?
If he meant Ven, Mickey and co. would not be three, but four Guardians short because no one knows about Terra's whereabouts as Yen Sid confirms during the Re: Coded secret ending, the only available Guardians would then be Aqua, Riku and Mickey himself as Ventus would be out of the picture completely for both sides.
We can however definitely leave things if you don't like picking things apart too much. ^__^