Body, Heart, and Soul, which is better to have?

[Aqua]

I have been thinking about this for a while. Nobodies are said not to exist. In the Ansem reports from the first Kingdom Hearts Final Mix nobodies are described as having an "An in-between existence. Cast off by the heart, a mere shell, one who begrudges both the darkness and the light. This mystery cannot be easily resolved. The relationship between the heart and the flesh is a complex one. But since we exist here, they cannot be termed as existent. Therefore I shall call them... 'The non-existent ones.'"
Maybe this is not what was meant in the game and I am overanalyzing the situation, but in the game Heartless seemingly are given more value than Nobodies. They exist, while nobodies do not. Yet, I would tend to think that it would be better to be a Nobody. I think this for two reasons. (1) First, an in game reason. In the Kingdom Heart II Ansem Reports, Ansem the Wise states that "Three elements combine to create life: a heart, a soul, and a body. When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives away to death, but what about when the heart leaves? A being does not perish when it heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness." Life can continue without the heart, but not the soul; and the Nobody is the one that keeps the soul. (2) My second reason comes from philosophy. I had to take a philosophy class once, and I could not help compare the three part being of Plato's to Kingdom Hearts. Plato says a soul has three parts. Appetites are instincts and drives. Emotion is feeling or desire. Reason is are ability to think and make rational decisions. Plato believed for a person to be happy reason needed to be in control of the other two. Now, I will admit this is Plato's division of the soul, and in Kingdom Hearts they are talking about the whole person-soul, body, and heart; but I still believe a comparison can be made. In Kingdom Hearts, a being cannot feel without a heart, so heart=emotion. The body is closest to Appetities, and the soul is closest to reason. Plato believed that reason is superior, and I believe that in the Kingdom Hearts universe the soul would again be the most important thing to have.
Any thoughts, comments, criticisms?

 

[SifeOner]

So the soul might be the thing that bonds the body to the heart! So, wait. If a Nobody were to bond with a Heartless, it would need a..."Non-Existing One" to make themselves one. But what will come out of it? Their human form that was turned into them? But then why is a human weaker than a Heartless or Nobody or whatever? Maybe they would get "superhuman abilities" like what Ansem the Wise said about Xehanort when he was still his apprentice.

 

[enigmaticchaser]

That's an awesome theory.

 

[tetraalmasy]

I say soul becuase what's a body with out a soul? whats a heart with out a soul? you can still be you.
being a body is just an empty shell. being a heart without the rest will turn you over to the darkness.
Just my say.

 

[BlackmageAp]

I had to take a philosophy class once, and I could not help compare the three part being of Plato's to Kingdom Hearts. Plato says a soul has three parts. Appetites are instincts and drives. Emotion is feeling or desire. Reason is are ability to think and make rational decisions. Plato believed for a person to be happy reason needed to be in control of the other two. Now, I will admit this is Plato's division of the soul, and in Kingdom Hearts they are talking about the whole person-soul, body, and heart; but I still believe a comparison can be made. In Kingdom Hearts, a being cannot feel without a heart, so heart=emotion. The body is closest to Appetites, and the soul is closest to reason. Plato believed that reason is superior, and I believe that in the Kingdom Hearts universe the soul would again be the most important thing to have.

This is an excellent comparison that you have here. I'd say it might actually tie into what the writers used as a basis for how heartless and nobodies work. Although, something still confuses me a bit (sorry to nitpick). You say that the body would equal appetites, so when a heartless is born, it's not the body, so then why would it go on the instinct to gather hearts? I believe that perhaps reason belongs to the body and that appetites belongs to the soul. I think this only because the nobodies can make more rational thought than the heartless can (Xenonhort being an exception), and the heartless go by pure instinct or command to fetch hearts. But both the heartless and nobodies lack emotions, so I think the heart is right on. Anyway, that's just my intake one it, but as I said before, it's an excellent theory, wonderful thoughts.

So the soul might be the thing that bonds the body to the heart! So, wait. If a Nobody were to bond with a Heartless, it would need a..."Non-Existing One" to make themselves one. But what will come out of it? Their human form that was turned into them? But then why is a human weaker than a Heartless or Nobody or whatever? Maybe they would get "superhuman abilities" like what Ansem the Wise said about Xehanort when he was still his apprentice.

I believe that they would need the original heart along with the heartless and nobodies in order to make a human, moogle, duck, whatever back to what it was once before. And I think the main answer to the human < heartless question is still based on the theory. The heartless go on instinct to kill and get more hearts, so they do not stop to question anything. They simply attack and attack, so most people without fighting experience do the first thing that they can when a strange being appears and runs. Every time a heartless gains a heart, it becomes stronger I believe, that and the are also artificially made, so I'd imagine that strength would be something the creator added.

 

[Aqua]

This is an excellent comparison that you have here. I'd say it might actually tie into what the writers used as a basis for how heartless and nobodies work. Although, something still confuses me a bit (sorry to nitpick). You say that the body would equal appetites, so when a heartless is born, it's not the body, so then why would it go on the instinct to gather hearts? I believe that perhaps reason belongs to the body and that appetites belongs to the soul. I think this only because the nobodies can make more rational thought than the heartless can (Xenonhort being an exception), and the heartless go by pure instinct or command to fetch hearts. But both the heartless and nobodies lack emotions, so I think the heart is right on. Anyway, that's just my intake one it, but as I said before, it's an excellent theory, wonderful thoughts.

Wow, you have a good point. The heartless do operate on instinct, and the appetites according to Plato are basic instinctual drives (like hunger, thirst). The reason I put the appetites with the body are because they tend to be more physical pleasures, such as to eat. Yet, that still leaves me to explain where the instinct to gather more hearts for the heartless comes from, because the heartless has the heart, and not either the body or the soul. Maybe the instinct to gather more hearts comes from the darkness in the heart that takes over the heart when it becomes a heartless and not the heart itself. I think this makes sense because the Princesses of Heart had hearts without darkness, and I do not believe their hearts showed this instinct.

 

[♫]

_O:

Wow very good theory!