Can you spare a heart? ~Theory Time~

[JustSnilloc]

Ah, the heart. A thing so central to this series, that it can even be found as part of the title. What exactly is it though? What does it do? Since the release of the first title in the Kingdom Hearts series we've been fed information about it, and with each new title we learn a little more. We've come a long way since the beginning, but what have we learned? Can you spare a heart?

As it turns out... apparently you can. You see, long ago I formed a theory concerning how hearts could form imprints of themselves on various things. That theory is what I had used to explain various aspects of Kingdom Hearts, such as Terra's Lingering Sentiment, Nobodies, and even Xehanort's influence. Revisiting this theory with what we learned in DDD has given me a great revelation about the inner workings of the heart.


The Old Theory

"Heart Imprints" are the faded images of a heart, these images are but a shallow reflection of the true thing. It should be noted however, that these fledgling images are enough to imitate a heart. The most common example of hearts leaving imprints is during the creation of Nobodies where a heart does such to it's own body. If it were a weak imprint, a normal nobody would be created. If it were a strong imprint it'd create a human like nobody.

There's a bit more to it, but let's move on...


The New Theory

The heart imprints? You may have guessed their true nature already - they're fragments of a heart. Master Xehanort was aware of how the heart was capable of such a thing, and naturally took advantage of it. What really happens when a nobody is formed? A piece of the original heart is left behind.

Think about it, that would clarify every potential problem with nobodies. The tiniest fragment of a heart - containing nothing but the will to live, would give rise to a regular nobody. A larger fragment, containing more "data" (for lack of a better word) would create a human-like nobody. That also explains how some of the members of the organization started growing hearts of their own, as Xemnas states...

A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement. Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.

So hearts can leave fragments, what does this mean? Well as we already know, Xehanort used this process to create more of himself. This is also a possible answer for how nobodies are formed, but what else? What more can this theory offer? Answers, that's what.

The mystery that is Terra's Lingering Sentiment can be explained by this. The unversed can be explained by this. Ansem SoD's shadow remaining in Riku can be explained by this. Heck, this might even offer some insight on the experiments done by Ansem the Wise to Apprentice Xehanort.

Thus, to answer my own question once more - Yes, you can spare a heart... part of one at least.

...

I believe that covers it, comments and critique are welcome. ^_^

 

[Gram]

Soooooo basically the heart can imprint itself on something else? I definitely agree with that. Going by my own theory about the mind I just posted it'd make perfect sense for the Lingering Sentiment which Nomura said was Terra's "lingering thoughts".
As we seen with the LS battle in KH2FM the said thoughts was those of hatred for Xehanort.

If "mind" equals the hearts sense of identity and "thoughts" are a product of that mind then it makes sense when applied to LS.
It also explains the unversed which Vanitas described as being born from him and Ventus' separation, the negativity of it.

It also explains nobodies because the "imprint" left on them is the memories of their human life.

So all in all I think it's a possible and likely theory and I would even go as far to say that the heart can leave "imprints" on something using various parts of itself such as the memories in the case of nobodies and thoughts in the form of the LS.

 

[JustSnilloc]

Soooooo basically the heart can imprint itself on something else? I definitely agree with that. Going by my own theory about the mind I just posted it'd make perfect sense for the Lingering Sentiment which Nomura said was Terra's "lingering thoughts".
As we seen with the LS battle in KH2FM the said thoughts was those of hatred for Xehanort.

If "mind" equals the hearts sense of identity and "thoughts" are a product of that mind then it makes sense when applied to LS.
It also explains the unversed which Vanitas described as being born from him and Ventus' separation, the negativity of it.

It also explains nobodies because the "imprint" left on them is the memories of their human life.

So all in all I think it's a possible and likely theory and I would even go as far to say that the heart can leave "imprints" on something using various parts of itself such as the memories in the case of nobodies and thoughts in the form of the LS.

Pretty much, yeah. The primary difference between the original theory and the new one though is that the imprints are actually heart fragments. It works essentially the same way, just that instead of a hollow imprint being left behind, it's a heart fragment.

It does make a notable difference however, because a heart fragment allows for a great many things that an imprint wouldn't. (I'm going to use the word "data" again,) See the data held within a heart fragment could contain much more than a mere imprint could, and it's also a sort of "heart bud", that could potentially grow a whole heart.

The data held within that heart fragment? Well, it could be the will to live, memories, the entire mind, etc.

 

[Gram]

Pretty much, yeah. The primary difference between the original theory and the new one though is that the imprints are actually heart fragments. It works essentially the same way, just that instead of a hollow imprint being left behind, it's a heart fragment.

It does make a notable difference however, because a heart fragment allows for a great many things that an imprint wouldn't. (I'm going to use the word "data" again,) See the data held within a heart fragment could contain much more than a mere imprint could, and it's also a sort of "heart bud", that could potentially grow a whole heart.

The data held within that heart fragment? Well, it could be the will to live, memories, the entire mind, etc.

I see. This definitely makes sense when you apply the fact that MX has somehow found a way to leave such fragments/imprints of himself in others that gradually overrides the host.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

I see. This definitely makes sense when you apply the fact that MX has somehow found a way to leave such fragments/imprints of himself in others that gradually overrides the host.

Yea, that would most likely be because in each fragment/imprint Xehanort leaves behind he also left a part of his will, or rather, a thought.
That would be the will to dominate and control everything that there is (if there's already another heart present) or anything that will eventually develop.

Just like the Lingering Will is infused with the thoughts of Terra's hatred for Xehanort, the fragments/imprints/"seeds" (as Nomura called them) of Xehanort are infused with the thoughts of dominating and controlling everything they are placed within.
The way Ansem SoD in CoM repeatedly tries to control Riku (and is repelled by Mickey more than once) also points in that direction.

By looking at this, I assume that what becomes/develops of each fragment/imprint left behind depends on the contents it is left with either intentionally (like Xehanort does) or unintentionally.
If a fragment has no already established content at all nor any "orders" in form of infused thoughts, you get the possibility of a completely new being to develop.

This happens most likely when Sora became a Heartless, as he also left behind a fragment, but one that was completely empty and what eventually then developed into the being we know nowadays as Roxas.
Ven's heart, being completely inactive, was most likely left latched to that fragment when Sora's "main" heart left due to becoming a Heartless.

Interestingly, this whole concept also works with data very well, as Ansem the Wise explains in KH II:

The process of encoding hearts is incalculable. The inhabitants of my Twilight Town were data created from real hearts.

Creating these data replicas by using real hearts, Ansem practically performed an imprinting/left behind fragments inside the computer that was connected to Sora.

Data-Sora is an example too.
He got an imprint/fragment that was created from the memories and data stored in Jiminy's KH 1 Journal which was further filled and developed throughout his adventures in Coded and due to his connections with Mickey, Goofy, Donald and the Data-Riku.
Heck, practically every data-being can be an example of this.
The parallels to Tron are also astounding, as Kevin Flynn explains to Sam that while some of Quorra's code (the initial fragment in this case) was made/programmed by him, the rest is beyond him.

Just like Ansem says in KH 2 as well:

I was convinced that they would think and behave the way I had envisioned---but I couldn't have been more wrong. A heart is so much more than any system.

---

Xehanort. Foolish apprentice of a foolish man.
You have surpassed nothing---only proved how little we both know.
We may profess to know the heart, but its essence is beyond our reach. We're both ignorant---as oblivious as when we began.

Ansem realized that his original views and assumptions were flawed, just like Kevin Flynn realized how flawed his were, with CLU being the living embodiment of those flawed views Flynn had when he was younger.
In a way, the relationship between Ansem the Wise and Xehanort somehow also mirrors the one between Flynn and CLU.

All this opens however up quite some interesting possibilities for the future.
What both Kevin Flynn and Ansem the Wise practically propose (and what was shown by the Riku Replica, Xion as well as Ansem's Twilight Town data beings acting not "as envisioned" by their creators) is that while one may lay out the foundation and some initial construct, there is always an unknown factor that may cause the fragment as it develops to act not as planned.
Now, who is the one who doesn't believe that and is conceited enough to believe that he can control every aspect and development of a heart?
The one who Ansem the Wise calls the true fool and the one who would create an empire of ignorance, the one who is accused even by Sora to be ignorant of a heart's true worth (treating them like bottles on a shelf!)?

Yep, it's our very main antagonist Xehanort who still pursues a state of mind and chain of thought that both Ansem and Kevin Flynn already came to realize as flawed, one that someone like Sora instinctively already knows as being flawed.
There may be several reasons and factors that will in the end cause Xehanort's downfall, yet I dare to propose that his ignorance of the true potential of what hearts are capable of will also be one of those factors.

 

[Master Sora]

Sorry that I'm a little behind on this. . .

So in a sense this explains why certain nobodies have memories of their past lives or at least fragments of them. Since they held a strong heart to begin with that heart left a big imprint on them leaving a lingering memory and/or feeling of what it was like to have a heart of their own. The longer they continue to not exist, that imprint becomes stronger and a new heart feeds on that and slowly grows as their own. They say nobodies don't truly exist, but I think that it was a big understatement. As when someone dies all of their being was suppose to disappear, but in this case their will to live still existed. With the shell it has, another heart is sheltered and begins to grow inside of it along with new memories.

Ansem thought hearts were a simple tool of living. A system that's calculated through physics and psychological states, but the heart is way more than that. That's why it is what it is. Our mind does hold the memories, but it's the heart that makes those memories special, the emotions behind it that makes us stronger. Throughout the years Master Xehanort learned how to manipulate a heart and leave an imprint of himself on others just so he can live on to find Kingdom Hearts for himself. Where there's great strength, there's also a great weakness. There's still so much left unanswered and Master Xehanort's plan is to know everything the power of a heart holds most likely sleeping within Kingdom hearts.

 

[Gram]

By looking at this, I assume that what becomes/develops of each fragment/imprint left behind depends on the contents it is left with either intentionally (like Xehanort does) or unintentionally.
If a fragment has no already established content at all nor any "orders" in form of infused thoughts, you get the possibility of a completely new being to develop.

That's a valid point to make as well. What fragment or thought MX leaves behind turns a person into himself rather than developing into a person of their own.
The memories a nobody inherits makes them nearly, or mabye even entirely, like the person they formed from because the heart developed by both is based on the same memory chain.

It's also why Roxas, being an anomaly to the standard procedure, would develop as he did since he and Sora don't share the same memory chain.
It'd also explain why the LS acts more akin to an extension of Terra himself rather than literally being Terra or forming a new self.

There may be several reasons and factors that will in the end cause Xehanort's downfall, yet I dare to propose that his ignorance of the true potential of what hearts are capable of will also be one of those factors.

If it's not one of those factors I will be eternally disappoint.

Also, just realized the title of this thread is a Xemnas quote. lol

 

[yamibakura]

The heart iin KH series is ambiguous.In Ansems study its more like an organ but in the rest of the series its more like navi from zelda.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

The heart iin KH series is ambiguous.In Ansems study its more like an organ but in the rest of the series its more like navi from zelda.

Except it isn't ambiguous. Hearts can be contained within various kinds of vessels be they glass containers, giant machines, giant fake moons, digital converters, computers, and people themselves.

Ansem doesn't treat hearts like organs. I'm not sure where you got that from. The only reference to the organ was in Birth By Sleep when the Evil Queen wanted Terra to cut Snow White's physical heart out.