Dark Road ► Dark Road Finale Megathread

[Chaser]

Heart goes to Heartless, body goes to Nobodies, peaceful resolve goes to Kingdom Hearts, scholars go to Hades hell, altering reality and having orange hair goes to Quadratum, bones go to Coco's world.

Lock it in, Eddie.

 

[Zackarix]

So Sora went from being an ordinary kid to a destined child meant to save the world. Not sure how I feel about both Xehanort and Sora going from ordinary islanders, choosing radically different paths, to being prophesized instigators.

Spoiler Show

 

[The_Echo]

Overall, I really liked Dark Road.
It is 100% the best implementation of Disney worlds in a KH narrative thus far, by a wide margin.
I definitely feel that if service hadn't closed, the story would've gone on longer and been more in-depth, but what we have is still good and feels like a proper "Reverse/Rebirth" for UX.
I saw Baldr being the final boss coming a mile away, though... I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the boss itself being him turned into a Heartless.
Nomura gaslit this entire fanbase into thinking Player reincarnated as Xehanort with nothing but a camera. God damn him but also great job.
Maybe the biggest surprise for me is that everyone died. I really thought some of the classmates would make it and just die in the interim of various normal reasons before BbS or KH1.
And yes I am mad that the "too obvious to be real" Bragi=Braig was, in fact, real. Played me like a fiddle.

Now I patiently await Re:UXDR

Wonder what are the circumstances that dictate where people will end up when they die in this series? On one hand we have Xehanort, Eraqus, and Player who all went to Kingdom Hearts or whatever, and on the other we have the upperclassmen who ended up in Hades's Underworld. Is the difference whether you go peacefully or not? But then what about someone like Strelitzia, whose death was no different from the upperclassmen yet she wound up all the way in Quadratum?

When they speak to the upperclassmen, they actually describe arriving at the Final World, having lost their bodies and only remaining as hearts.
That being the case, it seems to me that the Underworld is somewhere "close" to the Final World, and this allows Hades access to the people lingering there.

Spoiler Show

I want to say that I don't see it that way.
First of all, the way the Book functions--that the Master's eye sees the "future" in real time--is more similar to a journal than prophecy. It's not that Sora was born with his future already decided for him, it's that the Master's eye witnessed his achievement, and relayed that information backwards.
Second, the concept of a "chosen one" seems to have been born within the Scalan society. There's an air of ideology to it, and I have no doubt that Xehanort being of Ephemera's bloodline is related to him having been believed to be "chosen." Like others before them, they read the vague entries in the Book and fill in the blanks with their biases.
And finally, typically a "chosen one" is the "only one." They do what no one else can, which is why they are chosen. But Sora's ability is something which isn't unique to him. Baldr, Xehanort, and who knows how many others.

 

[LucemFerto]

I'm not really sure about the Spoiler Policy in this thread, so I'm just going to be safe and spoiler everything:

Spoiler Show

This game was very good overall. Some stuff I'm disappointed by - I really, really wanna see more of the upper classmen and honestly also Xehanort's classmates - but I have trust that Nomura will not be able to help himself and bring them back. Please, I want to see more of them, even just the little things I've seen of Helgi, Heimdall and Sigrun made me really like them.

On a similar note, this game's characterization is crazy better than ANYTHING in Union χ, it's kinda insane. Like, it's not the best of the best, but it's at least on par with an enjoyable anime, I'd say. Impressive for how little actual cutscene time they had.

I'm very disappointed that Vor didn't turn out to be Kairi's Grandma. I know it's a very silly twist, BUT C'MON. IT'S KINGDOM HEARTS! Kingdom Hearts is very silly, Xehanort is apparently Ephemer's Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandfather or something and that's VERY SILLY. I really thought they were building up to it with Vor and her desertion getting so much attention early on.

Also, and I knew Disney would never allow it, no genuine hopes here, but I really wanted Hermod to be Yen-Sid. WHERE IS HE, DISNEY

Master Odin is an absolute fucking dumbass and I hate him with a burning passion. Good to see that stupidity runs in this mentor-student line, Eraqus had to have gotten it from somewhere.

I think I need to re-read the entire ending bit, because I don't think I have correctly figured out the Seeker of Darkness/Child of Destiny-who-believes-who-is-who. From what I gathered, Master Odin thought Baldr was the Child of Destiny, Blue Robe (because of their giant crush on Ephemer) thought it was Xehanort, Luxu thought Baldr was the Dark Seeker, after the game changed his mind to Xehanort, Xehanort told Eraqus that Ventus was the child of destiny but really believed he himself was said child.

And really, it's Sora, everyone knows it's Sora.

Also, I did not really get Baldr's Darkness-deal. I get it's not one of the 13 Primordials, but ... he said a lot of things that seemed contradictory. Is it his own, is it a Darkness-"being" that possessed him, is he just on his edgy boy arc and delusional? Did Maleficent actually kill Hoder (and Heimdall, Sigrun and Helgi) or was that Baldr/Baldr's Darkness/Whatever that was.

I definitely need to rewatch.

And finally ... LUXU IS BRAGI, I CALLED IT (many people called it) BUT I CALLED IT ALSO!

Good game. More thoughts to come, probably.

 

[LoneFox]

OK, time for some LoneFoxAnalysis!

The whole story is basically a deconstruction of the idea of light and darkness (or absolute good and absolute evil) and the paradox that inevitably follows from such a worldview. KH has been trying to do this since the beginning, but never before has it been this straightforward. I guess Nomura put it here in this form because he is not allowed to put it into a more mainstream game. It is reasonably well made (except for the Master of Masters being badly out of character by saying things that actually make sense ), but the fact that this worldview is the true one in KH universe, and therefore cannot be completely debunked within it, makes the whole thing feel a bit incomplete and outdated.

Now, observations about the story...

Spoiler Show

Xehanort being Ephemer's descendant was the most obvious thing ever, but him knowing about it already before he left Destiny Islands is a retcon. The Xehanort reports in BBS tell that he was jealous of Eraqus's ancestry, which doesn't make sense if he knows that he is from even more important family. And there is absolutely nothing about the whole Succession thing that was supposed to be a big deal.

Xehanort seems to be the seventh generation counting from Ephemer. Is this the reason why the timeline was shrunk from 1000+ years to less than three centuries?

It turned out that the Player's heart didn't go into Xehanort after all. The UX Player and ML Player being the same makes a lot of sense, but the way this was done is not cool. They talked about a brand new heart, and then showed us a baby, and remember that ML hadn't been revealed back then. I think it isn't wrong to call this cheating, is it?

One thing about the Player I expected, but we didn't get, is the truth about the another heart. That thing seemed to be specifically added for DR, since it was ignored for a long time in the UX story, and then reappeared when DR became a thing.

Baldr becoming a rival was another really obvious thing, but it happened in a completely different way than what I expected. Basically I assumed that he was the guy who replaced Xehanort as the Successor (which implies them being close relatives), and they would start a fight over that once Xehanort found it out. Now, the question is, will we see him again? To my understanding, his namesake in the Norse mythology is mainly famous for surviving Ragnarök by being already dead when it happens...

Speaking of dead people, several upperclassmen ended up in the Final World. Are they still there or did they move on after the situation in Scala resolved?

Bragi being Luxu makes much more sense now than before. He is breaking the rules of his role by becoming a keyblade wielder, but he did it because he was tracking Baldr and wanted to be closer to him than he could without a keyblade.

Vidar's Team V is clearly meant to be a prototype for Organization XIII.

The Vanitas scene looks a bit worrisome at first, but turns out to not contain anything new at all. He is still mostly Ven's own darkness, enhanced by the remains of the Darkness that got beaten and almost destroyed by Ven in UX. And that's how it should stay until Ven finds a way to redeem what belongs to him.

The stuff about a destined child saving the world is not from the Book. The Final Prophecy is called that for a reason, cancelling it was not supposed to happen. I suspect someone who has been in the future brought this information to the past and added it to the story from the Book. In fact, it sounds exactly like what the norn of the future would do...

Xehanort's "thirteen lifetimes, no, fourteen" set off my reference detector. So, let's count: KH1, CoM, KH2, Days, BBS, Coded, DDD, 0.2, KH3, ReMind, MoM, UX, DR. That's 13 games where he has been in some form (and it's also all of KH canon except for Back Cover). I think we can assume that KH4, where a completely new world is explored, will be the 14th and final one.

 

[PikaPal]

Finally, Xehanort managed to make his way past the Dark Road he was lost in just in time for the finale.

Glad they worked things out for the old dude.

 

[Chaser]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1563166420401553409

Miyashita Park is right off of the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1563166420401553409

Miyashita Park is right off of the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

Guess that semi-confirms Xehanort still being around in some form, huh?

 

[ZeVaine]

Spoiler Show

The hint about the "14th vessel" who is going to stay around after the new world is completed... seems to suggest a piece of Xehanort is out there somewhere. Also, Xehanort, by nature, was this guy who put himself in so many places, it would literally be easy as hell to write him back into the story using any of the already aviliable means in this story, from his heart being in another vessel, to memories, to a replica, to all kinds of crazy crap because the latest name of the game has been deconstructing the laws and rules of the universe as being "light propaganda", so who knows.

Also, of course Nomura decides "don't worry, that stuff you don't understand yet will be revealed in Missing Link", but I have a feeling we'll get a glimpse of some answers in Missing Link that will be super cool just like in DR, and then be told "this will actually be explained in KH4", but then it still won't be answered completely and Nomura will be like "well, KH4 was just the start of the new Arc, so really look forward to KH5 or our next Switch exlusive offshoot title, thank you"

AND I'LL JUST KEEP BUYING THE NEXT ONES LIKE A FOOL

 

[LucemFerto]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1563166420401553409

Miyashita Park is right off of the Scramble Crossing in Shibuya.

I really hope this doesn't mean that Xehanort sticks around. I know it's inevitable, but I really ... don't want it.

 

[Chaser]

Spoiler Show

The hint about the "14th vessel" who is going to stay around after the new world is completed... seems to suggest a piece of Xehanort is out there somewhere. Also, Xehanort, by nature, was this guy who put himself in so many places, it would literally be easy as hell to write him back into the story using any of the already aviliable means in this story, from his heart being in another vessel, to memories, to a replica, to all kinds of crazy crap because the latest name of the game has been deconstructing the laws and rules of the universe as being "light propaganda", so who knows.

Spoiler Show

I mean, there is a certain version of Xehanort that mysteriously never reappeared until a flashback scene in MoM when he started talking about the fictional world...

 

[darknessofheart]

Something I forgot to mention in my initial post, I wished we got clarification on a few aspects:

• When does Xehanort actually time travel? The implication is it's around the period he was touring the worlds, but having a scene where he meets his heartless again would've been cool.
  
  
• What exactly is the Land of Departure and its relation to Scala? Are they the same world transformed or is the LOD just the outskirts of it? I could've easily missed a line of dialogue that clarified this.
  
  
• Xehanort and Braig meeting for the first time.

 

[NoWay]

We really need another names to refer to the Darkness antagonists in DR and Ux. I mean, the formless shadowy beings are “True Darkness” that can talk, do things and whatever. But then we also have the general concept of the metaphysical Darkness that the KH lore established. It’s really confusing if we are talking about “Darkness corrupting one’s heart”. Which Darkness is doing what?

And why is Eraqus such a Darkness racist?
I mean Xehanort said so often that everything is a matter of the perspective which is absolutely right considering characters like Riku, Eraqus himself, Axel, Roxas or Terra.
It would have been so more interesting if the story expanded more on the “perspective aspect”!of Light and Darkness. I mean, although Eraqus seems to fight for the light, his actions in BBS don’t seem right or “good” to me. Riku uses Darkness but isn’t “bad” either.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

We really need another names to refer to the Darkness antagonists in DR and Ux. I mean, the formless shadowy beings are “True Darkness” that can talk, do things and whatever. But then we also have the general concept of the metaphysical Darkness that the KH lore established. It’s really confusing if we are talking about “Darkness corrupting one’s heart”. Which Darkness is doing what?

And why is Eraqus such a Darkness racist?
I mean Xehanort said so often that everything is a matter of the perspective which is absolutely right considering characters like Riku, Eraqus himself, Axel, Roxas or Terra.
It would have been so more interesting if the story expanded more on the “perspective aspect”!of Light and Darkness. I mean, although Eraqus seems to fight for the light, his actions in BBS don’t seem right or “good” to me. Riku uses Darkness but isn’t “bad” either.

From what I've gathered from Everglow's translated videos they do not have catchy distinct names in-universe either which is why Master Odin states the whole issue being so confusing and complex when he talks about observing and learning to differentiate between the different forms of darkness/shadow.
When they talk in class about it Bragi also complains about the murky nomenclature and how distinguishing and even comprehending which form of darkness/shadow other people you talk with mean gets even more difficult.

Eraqus isn't exactly racist but one to have a black and white-thinking mixed with a hawkish stance.
His main problem is that he does apparently not even make serious efforts to distinguish between the different forms of darkness/shadow which Master Odin stressed to be so important.
Xehanort does that indeed better throughout DR as he's more perceptive, yet as we see in BBS and throughout the entire first saga of the series he turned into a far more dangerous threat to the worlds and their inhabitants than Eraqus.

 

[Squood!]

I want to say that I don't see it that way.
First of all, the way the Book functions--that the Master's eye sees the "future" in real time--is more similar to a journal than prophecy. It's not that Sora was born with his future already decided for him, it's that the Master's eye witnessed his achievement, and relayed that information backwards.
Second, the concept of a "chosen one" seems to have been born within the Scalan society. There's an air of ideology to it, and I have no doubt that Xehanort being of Ephemera's bloodline is related to him having been believed to be "chosen." Like others before them, they read the vague entries in the Book and fill in the blanks with their biases.
And finally, typically a "chosen one" is the "only one." They do what no one else can, which is why they are chosen. But Sora's ability is something which isn't unique to him. Baldr, Xehanort, and who knows how many others.

Legit, this ain't that kind of destiny where it was written in the friggin stars since the beginning of time.

It's just the MoM writing shit he sees down vaguely and people just interpreting it that way.

There is no chosen one. People in-universe only think there is.

 

[Xagzan]

Something I forgot to mention in my initial post, I wished we got clarification on a few aspects:

• When does Xehanort actually time travel? The implication is it's around the period he was touring the worlds, but having a scene where he meets his heartless again would've been cool.

Ah I see, so the Xehanort game did not in the end address perhaps the major Xehanort plot hole from KH3.

Disappointing but not surprising.

 

[Zackarix]

Spoiler Show

To be completely fair, we don't know that Sora is this Child of Destiny. It sure sounds like him, but with how much this series likes its twists and gotchas it has become clear that we can't rely on implications, nothing is established until it's outright stated and even that can later be revealed to be wrong.

Even this update revealed a "known" fact to be wrong. Turns out that Xehanort didn't inherit Player's heart after all despite KHUX's finale giving that impression

 

[Clue.Less]

Can we talk about how adorable this one is?

Spoiler Show

"He walks like a carpet."

 

[Zettaflare]

Guess that semi-confirms Xehanort still being around in some form, huh?

Guess Nomura just doesn't want to let him go. I wish he would stay gone for good so the Foretellers Saga would feel like a true clean slate. But it looks like Xehanort and Sora could be next door neighbors in KH4

 

[Ballad of Caius]

Oh, Gooooooooood! ;~; Eraqus was Terra's and Xehanort's guiding light. I love how this game adds up to their relationship. It was much needed!

Thirteen Lights?!

Oh, they fought in the same place SDG fought MX in KHIII!

God, the lore behind Kingdom Hearts is messy. So the Darkness thought that by sacrificing Thirteen Lights they could summon KH?

So, calling KH can purge the world? I imagine such tremendous power can do that.

It's weird to see the Pure Darknesses having a physical form, in this case, Hringhorn.

So, in the past, it was Thirteen Lights, the Seven Darknesses won, and not it's Thirteen Darknesses?

So Xehanort is like Sora: he can harbor hearts inside

So, there can be hearts of pure light and pure darkness?

Was that the MoM in Scala?! NOO, LUXU/BRAIG! Bragi was Luxu/Braig all along!!!!!

So Xehanort was just going to be useful for Luxu, but ended up being the vessel?

So wait, Xehanort was a child of destiny that was supposed to save the world? From Darkness?

I wonder fi the old man that raised Xehanort was the MoM and he intervened to try and make a good vessel for his plans.

I wonder if SRK are children of destiny, too.

Babynort basically dreamt of the KHx cast! Must be his connection with Player's heart

Wait, no. I think the person that raises Babynort is Player! Maybe it's why this person is wearing a robe and Xehanort describes them as "kind of like you".

Two lifetimes? Maybe the robed person is a Keyblade Master and they transferred their heart to someone else. Maybe Player did it?

Yeah, I think Xehanort dreamt of the KHx cast because he could feel it from the robed person's heart

I wonder... What if Xehanort was destined to be a Seeker of Darkness in order to cause Sora to save the world from falling into darkness? The first child of destiny was to bring darkness in order for the newer one to save it? Much like how Ardyn was to be the King of Kings in FINAL FANTASY XV, but Noctis saved the world from Daemons

So DESTINY Islands gives birth to the Child of DESTINY

But wait, if Xehanort could alwasy feel another person's heart, and he had seeded Braig's, did he knew all along about the MoM and everything? He of course had met the MoM

So, Xehanort descended from Ephemer, but was raised by Player?