Dark skin= evil??

[Yessir_23]

Has anyone else noticed this?

Obviously, Xehanort's heartless, is brown, as well as Xemnas (in comparison to the rest of Org XIII), which isn't really a big deal except that Terra is in no way dark-skinned until he turns evil!

When I saw MX in the KH2 final mix ending I liked how they were introducing a cool new bad guy, and even he seemed darker in the game than the secret ending :/

Then there's Xion, who is white as snow, except for when she's got her hood on to make her look mysterious and sinister...

Worst of all is Ansem the Wise. As DiZ, he has brown bits of skin exposed under his mask. When he reveals himself, the "blackness" seemingly evaporates into the ether. I guess ol' Nomura made DiZ darker to make him look more monstrous...

The only non-white character's I recall are pre-designed Disney ones. Even so, when I reached Agrabah in KH2, I was kind of expecting Sora to give Aladdin the cold shoulder!

What do you think, am I looking too much into it?

 

[ultima-demi]

Kingdom hearts is racist!

 

[XIII Heartless]

Yeah, I'm sure you're looking too much into this. I'm black, I'd be the first one to want to agree with you, but there's nothing meaningful behind it. Hell, didn't Tetsuya say Sazh is his favorite XIII character?

 

[Dentim]

Yeah, I'm sure you're looking too much into this. I'm black, I'd be the first one to want to agree with you, but there's nothing meaningful behind it. Hell, didn't Tetsuya say Sazh is his favorite XIII character?

Do not be fooled by Nomuras blackhearted lies. It's obvious he only said that in order to appease the fans so they would buy more of his products and thus quell his dark desire for more munny.

 

[Sephiroth0812]

You're definitely looking too much into it as we have actual "evil" doers who go completely against the concept of all of them having "tanned" (not "brown/black") skin.

Braig and Xigbar also fall clearly into the villain/evil category and they don't have darkened skin.

Riku while "evil" in KH 1 hasn't that either and Terra-Xehanort himself also wasn't that much darker after MX's heart possessed Terra's body.

Then there's Vanitas, who's actually the friggin opposite with a more pale skin color than normal.

The only ones who truly have this are Master Xehanort himself, Ansem SoD, Xemnas and DiZ in his camouflage-outfit.

 

[JTD95]

Has anyone else noticed this?

Obviously, Xehanort's heartless, is brown, as well as Xemnas (in comparison to the rest of Org XIII), which isn't really a big deal except that Terra is in no way dark-skinned until he turns evil!

Terra becomes dark-skinned and gets grey hair after being possessed by Master Xehanort because he was dark-skinned and grey haired.
Ansem and Xemnas are dark-skinned because their complete self was dark-skinned.

When I saw MX in the KH2 final mix ending I liked how they were introducing a cool new bad guy, and even he seemed darker in the game than the secret ending :/

The KH2FM secret ending was a concept video, they changed several things in the final product of the game.
Also, Master Xehanort doesn't look dark-skinned in the KH3D Jump Festa trailer, could just be the lighting.

Then there's Xion, who is white as snow, except for when she's got her hood on to make her look mysterious and sinister...

Her hood is blocking the some of the sun light, hench the shadow in her face.

Worst of all is Ansem the Wise. As DiZ, he has brown bits of skin exposed under his mask. When he reveals himself, the "blackness" seemingly evaporates into the ether. I guess ol' Nomura made DiZ darker to make him look more monstrous...

Ansem the Wise was wearing a disguise, the more you can do to make yourself look less like yourself the better.
He was probably designed that way so that people would suspect him to be Ansem, Seeker of Darkness or at least have some connection to him.

The only non-white character's I recall are pre-designed Disney ones. Even so, when I reached Agrabah in KH2, I was kind of expecting Sora to give Aladdin the cold shoulder!

We also have Wakka who's a Square Enix character.

What do you think, am I looking too much into it?

Yes, yes you are. Though, I used to think similarly when I was younger.

 

[Yessir_23]

Ansem the Wise was wearing a disguise, the more you can do to make yourself look less like yourself the better.
He was probably designed that way so that people would suspect him to be Ansem, Seeker of Darkness or at least have some connection to him.

Good point, although the yellow eyes are arguably enough to make this connection. Also, how would he suddenly look normal after taking off the mask and revealing his benevolence?

We also have Wakka who's a Square Enix character.

But again, he's was already designed before KH.

You're definitely looking too much into it as we have actual "evil" doers who go completely against the concept of all of them having "tanned" (not "brown/black") skin.

Of course, not all the evil guys are black! I'm just saying, Nomura hasn't created a black character who hasn't represented the "darkness" in some way.

Then there's Vanitas, who's actually the friggin opposite with a more pale skin color than normal.

Erm, that's probably because if Nomura took the good old aryan Sora model, changed the blue eyes, gave him black hair and brown skin, there'd be no maybe about it. :tongue:

 

[JTD95]

Good point, although the yellow eyes are arguably enough to make this connection.

What yellow eyes? Both Ansem the Wise and Ansem the Seeker of Darkness has orange eyes.

Also, how would he suddenly look normal after taking off the mask and revealing his benevolence?

The make-up faded away when he revealed his face.

 

[Mr Yippie]

always though it weird that a bunch of island kids are barely tanned at all but it doesn't matter

 

[Gray Aria]

Isn't it a known fact that in Kingdom Hearts, the tanning of the skin and gold/amber eyes are a side-effect of embracing darkness too much? MX had been embracing the darkness for many years so it's only natural that he looks the way he does. Riku was involved with the darkness for a relatively much shorter time so the side-effects haven't shown on him.

Erm, that's probably because if Nomura took the good old aryan Sora model, changed the blue eyes, gave him black hair and brown skin, there'd be no maybe about it. :tongue:

Aryan? All the orignal characters are most likely Asian.

 

[kingudamu]

nope. at current, the two characteristics of characters who are "evil" is yellow/golden eyes and pointed ears. xehanort is natually dark skinned, since his time in DI. Three othere main villians (saix, xigbar and vanitas) are actually quite pale (especially vanitas) but all share the eyes and (supposedly) ears. Xion is not evil, she is one of the main protangonist, and is pale as well and has blue eyes. also, isnt it natural to look darker/shaded under a hood? Diz, rather ansem, is pretty tricky. the only explaination i could have is that the "dark mist" around his skin is appart of his disguise, to hide from those fimiliar to him (ie, mickey, any of the senior members of the organixation, ect) dark skin doesnt make you evil, xehanort was just working on his tan for way too long~

 

[blueheart]

And I thought I asked dumb questions.

 

[Rydgea]

always though it weird that a bunch of island kids are barely tanned at all but it doesn't matter

This. I mean they're only out there every day, but instead of looking sun-kissed, Kairi looks like some farmer boy's alabaster dream. Perhaps her princess powers of pure light permeate her skin or exude some sort of SPF shield for those within close range to her. Selphie is too white for an islander too. I'm not buying "They use sunblock". Can Japanese culture just not accept tanned women? Hurhur. ;p

As for the op, the reverberating theme of light vs. dark will all come to a head when we face the final boss of the series - Sora's own, white-devil self! *Nomura makes arc about civil rights movements, features Song of the South as the hub world, the Aristocats characters are forced to get along with the 101 Dalmations, etc* 6__6

 

[alexis.anagram]

What do you think, am I looking too much into it?

No. This is something that has generally bothered me as well, and while there are many justifications within the story for this (all of which have been cited already), I thought I should at least mention that I share your sentiment. Of course, white skin is often observed as a standard of appearance within animation, which is a pity; it only comes off as that much worse when the only dark skinned character in the game is the main villain. :/

 

[blueheart]

God forbid the dark=evil & light=good is just that and has nothing to do with skin color.

 

[Rydgea]

God forbid the dark=evil & light=good is just that and has nothing to do with skin color.

God forbid people should blindly accept that and look a bit deeper.

 

[alexis.anagram]

God forbid the dark=evil & light=good is just that and has nothing to do with skin color.

But that's wrong. Darkness in Kingdom Hearts does not equate to evil and light does not equate to good. Both are capable of corrupting those with vulnerable Hearts; both can be used to honorable ends. To begin with, your argument doesn't lend in any way to the justification of a visual dichotomy in the form of skin color.

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

Darkness =/= evil
Light =/= good

Dark skin =/= evil
Light skin =/= good

:\

 

[SeaSalt]

wakkaa
vivi
mickey
minnie

all darker skinned good people

youre right that a lot of the bad guys have darker skin but if youre looking for physical traits of bad guys you got the golden eyes and the pointy ears

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

wakkaa
vivi
mickey
minnie

all darker skinned good people

youre right that a lot of the bad guys have darker skin but if youre looking for physical traits of bad guys you got the golden eyes and the pointy ears

Actually, that is only a trait of people connected to Xehanort.