Did you ever wonder how do Keyblade wielders know, pretty much...

[Enturax]

...every single type of magic? How does that even work? Sora just randomly learns it, even in the Manga, I think.
That may be kind of an outdated and boring question but, from what I remember, not even once the idea behind magic or even the word "magic" itself has been said in this series in a literal way (excluding the Disney characters' magic).

The truth is that vast majority of the time characters refuse to even use magic during cutscenes, even during the moments when they clearly are screwed without it; remember Aqua protecting Kairi scene (BTW it was seriously pathetic...)? Or her and Mickey being owned by Vanitas? Sora being constantly owned in DDD? Or whichever scene where main character's trying to catch someone running away from him/her (even though they can move faster than an eye can see, ffs)? I know, I know; it's typical for japanese games and Anime... which is ironic because characters always seem much more OP there than in western animation.

 

[Deleted member 246005]

I think its exists more as a game mechanic than an in-story device. Granted there are characters that can use magic freely like Merlin but i guess he exists just to justify certain scenarios.

 

[Enturax]

I thought the same but sometimes even Sora used some magic, like when he moved some big blocks in Tron's world in KH2. And, ofc, Aqua clearly knows it too.

 

[Veevee]

...every single type of magic? How does that even work? Sora just randomly learns it, even in the Manga, I think.
That may be kind of an outdated and boring question but, from what I remember, not even once the idea behind magic or even the word "magic" itself has been said in this series in a literal way (excluding the Disney characters' magic).

The truth is that vast majority of the time characters refuse to even use magic during cutscenes, even during the moments when they clearly are screwed without it; remember Aqua protecting Kairi scene (BTW it was seriously pathetic...)? Or her and Mickey being owned by Vanitas? Sora being constantly owned in DDD? Or whichever scene where main character's trying to catch someone running away from him/her (even though they can move faster than an eye can see, ffs)? I know, I know; it's typical for japanese games and Anime... which is ironic because characters always seem much more OP there than in western animation.

I always suspected that the basic ability to use magic is inherent to every keyblade wielder and that a mix of focus on what you want to cast combined with the keyblade which might work as a channeling device spawns magic. Since they refer to Sora being stripped of all his "abilities", I guess they consider it more as a combat ability than actual magic. On the other hand, Donald is considered to be the royal magician, so they must know about magic.

Mickey healed Ventus with magic when he was attacked by Vanitas and it was clearly visible. Aqua worked some magic on Terra to protect him from the barrage of swords; she is seen working magic into Kairi's charm; she is seen to put Terra and Ven into some kind of protection during the opening scene of 0.2. I don't know why you consider the protection scene pathetic, it's usually a good idea to show a scared kid that you're going to defend her and to put yourself between the kid and the danger is a normal reaction, I think.
Other than that, hmm ... Mickey using Stop in DDD, Riku throwing some dark ball at Saix, Eraqus using some light stuff to attack Ventus, Terra shooting some dark firaga stuff at Braig. Even in the opening scene of KH2, Donald uses magic to defeat the heartless, so I would say we see a lot of magic, especially in the cutscenes. As for why they don't use magic when someone is running away - Mickey used Stop in DDD which did nearly nothing, so I guess stronger foes (like the Organisatin 13) have a resistance to some types of magic or at least it doesn't work too well on them.

 

[Launchpad]

I think magic is a skill in KH, granted under certain circumstances, or by people who know it. It's a little loosey goosey. Phil taught Sora thunder. Sora was able to cast magic without the Keyblade in KH1.

 

[Hirokey123]

I think the KH universe regular magic just largely isn't that special. Seems pretty much anyone can learn it wielder or not, and in this series spells can be freely transmitted to others bestowing them with the power to use that magic instantly. However magic takes time, energy, and often in those scenes you specify it wouldn't really do a whole lot of good. Whacking things with a weapon close up is a lot more convenient in regular combat.

 

[DraceEmpressa]

I mean, even Terra can use it despite it is clear Aqua is way better than him in magic. So it just seems being a keyblader always come with basic knowledge of magic.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

I'd say it goes even beyond basic. Terra's supposed to be the least talented in magic, yet he casts Meteor, Earthquake, Vanish and can learn Megaflare.
By Final Fantasy standards he's one of the most powerful magic entities.

 

[catcake]

I think the KH universe regular magic just largely isn't that special. Seems pretty much anyone can learn it wielder or not, and in this series spells can be freely transmitted to others bestowing them with the power to use that magic instantly. However magic takes time, energy, and often in those scenes you specify it wouldn't really do a whole lot of good. Whacking things with a weapon close up is a lot more convenient in regular combat.

This. Sora can use magic even without his keyblade as we see in KH1 Hollow Bastion. Disney party members use magic too, stuff that Sora can't do, but also the same spells like Peter Pan with Stop and Donald with the basic elemental spells. And org members of course too. So yeah, magic is a very common and basic way to do combat in KH universe, keyblade probably makes it stronger, but it's not really tied to it.

 

[Enturax]

Mickey healed Ventus with magic when he was attacked by Vanitas and it was clearly visible. Aqua worked some magic on Terra to protect him from the barrage of swords; she is seen working magic into Kairi's charm; she is seen to put Terra and Ven into some kind of protection during the opening scene of 0.2. I don't know why you consider the protection scene pathetic, it's usually a good idea to show a scared kid that you're going to defend her and to put yourself between the kid and the danger is a normal reaction, I think.
Other than that, hmm ... Mickey using Stop in DDD, Riku throwing some dark ball at Saix, Eraqus using some light stuff to attack Ventus, Terra shooting some dark firaga stuff at Braig. Even in the opening scene of KH2, Donald uses magic to defeat the heartless, so I would say we see a lot of magic, especially in the cutscenes. As for why they don't use magic when someone is running away - Mickey used Stop in DDD which did nearly nothing, so I guess stronger foes (like the Organisatin 13) have a resistance to some types of magic or at least it doesn't work too well on them.

That's why I said "vast majority" not all the time. And I'd not consider light and dark-related "spells" an actual magic as they come out of user's heart.

I hated the scene in which Aqua stands to protect Kairi because just after that Aqua covers herself with hand against a SINGLE Unversed, that jumped on them, c'mon! She should've cast some quick long-ranged spell which would be enough or just try to protect them with her Reflect ability or just raise her guard with Keyblade... But she chose to do literally NOTHING.

The funny thing about Mickey in DDD using probably the most OP spell, is that he used it on the ONLY character that can counter it (because young Xehanort manipulated time). Would anyone use it otherwise? Ofc not... (the scene was very cool though :tongue

 

[Smithee]

The funny thing about Mickey in DDD using probably the most OP spell, is that he used it on the ONLY character that can counter it (because young Xehanort manipulated time).

According to the official explanation, it wasn't YX who countered it; rather, Old Man Aizen took direct control of him and cheesed it away.

 

[Enturax]

According to the official explanation, it wasn't YX who countered it; rather, Old Man Aizen took direct control of him and cheesed it away.

But he wasn't even on-stage yet, so how? (also, I still don't get how the hell Terra beat him )

 

[DarkosOverlord]

But he wasn't even on-stage yet, so how? (also, I still don't get how the hell Terra beat him )

Because his spirit was already there, it was his body that was coming; when Mickey used Stopza, effectively blocking the arrival of Master Xehanort's body, his spirit possessed Young (Nomura here confirmed Xehanort can possess his own vessels at will) and freed himself from the spell.
That's also the entire reason of why Young could use a Keyblade in that fight; Young himself couldn't, for he still did not go under proper training to wield one at the time. That Keyblade was Master Xehanort's No Name with an hourglass as keyholder.
It's one of my favourite moments of DDD and the saga in general and I'm very sad it is nearly impossible to get without Nomura explaining it.

About Terra, this is just guesswork, but let's remember something I think the fans often forget, the entire fight was almost pointless. Xehanort wanted to inhabit Terra's body, it makes little sense that he'd try and injure him or something; plus he needed Terra's darkness to grow stronger by fighting.
It only makes sense that Xehanort was fighting without real intention of winning, and merely letting the boy getting angrier and angrier. In fact, technically speaking the fight was interrupted by the X-Blade anyway, and at that moment Xehanort almost effortlessly took control of Terra, proving he could do that at any moment. I'd hardly say Terra "won" that fight.

"But Xehanort dropped to his knee panting" yeah, well, I'm not saying Terra was THAT weak, he's KH Anakin, he's supposed to be basically a Master power-wise. And Xehanort is old, I can definitely see him being a glass cannon, the "old guy with crazy power but little stamina" trope.

 

[Enturax]

^Hm, that's interesting.

Yeah, well Xehanort could effortlessly create mountains with his hand so I guess his physical limitations could be the reason.