• Hello everybody! We have tons of new awards for the new year that can be requested through our Awards System thanks to Antifa Lockhart! Some are limited-time awards so go claim them before they are gone forever...

    CLICK HERE FOR AWARDS

Fess Up: Who You Thought Would Be In The Real Organization XIII



REGISTER TO REMOVE ADS

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
It's been more than a year since KH3's release. I remember the collective groan of "fans" when they found out that the Real Organization XIII would be an Organization rehash. I also remember people actually wondering who could be in the Real Organization XIII. From Aqua, to Sephiroth, to Disney characters... there was a lot of speculation. The thing is, looking at how things turned out, would anything besides an Organization rehash have worked?

Hear me out: People complained that there are way too many original characters, so introducing new characters to be in the Real Organization can't work or the fans will become furious. DISNEY probably had major restrictions and forbade Nomura from using them beyond their own world, so DISNEY characters are out (even Darth Vader). Nomura had his feelings hurt by Final Fantasy, so there was no way that any of those characters would have been in the Organization. Who does that leave?

Not only do the members that they chose work, but they also had a storyline to - the redemption plot that Demyx, Vexen, and Saix were all a part of. It's presumable that Marluxia, Larxene, and Luxord's reason for joining will be expanded upon in later games.

So who did you think should have been in the Real Organization XIII? That was actually one of the things I was most excited about going into KH3 was finding out who was going to be in it. I had hoped Darth Vader and Sephiroth would have been members.
 

Elysium

Be Wiser Than the Serpent
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
3,772
Awards
37
I can’t quite remember who all I thought would be in it. I remember I did HOPE Marluxia, Larxene, and Vexen would be a part of it, and they were. Xaldin is the only one I believe I thought would be a part of it that wasn’t. I definitely did not expect a slot to be wasted on Demyx.
 

Oracle Spockanort

written in the stars
Staff member
Joined
Jul 13, 2008
Messages
35,552
Awards
96
Age
32
Location
California
Website
twitter.com
I expected Riku from KH1, not freaking Replica Riku that shit doesn't make sense ughhhhhh

I can say who I didn't think would be in: Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx. Why the hell did Xemnas have a criteria but then Xehanort is like "nah fuck that we'll choose the weak of body and weak of trust just cuz" like Nomura come on now stop making these rules just to throw them in the trash.
 

Zettaflare

Shibuya
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
11,819
Awards
5
Location
California
I thought Xaldin was a prime canidate since he was said to be unstable in DDD. The big mystery though was who was going to be Sora's replacement. I figured it would go to a new OC
 

Foxycian

Active member
Joined
Aug 1, 2016
Messages
881
Awards
3
Silly it may be but I thought
1. A new characters
2. The foretellers
 

Face My Fears

She's not an "it"!
Joined
Apr 9, 2007
Messages
5,386
Awards
19
I expected Riku from KH1, not freaking Replica Riku that shit doesn't make sense ughhhhhh

I can say who I didn't think would be in: Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx. Why the hell did Xemnas have a criteria but then Xehanort is like "nah fuck that we'll choose the weak of body and weak of trust just cuz" like Nomura come on now stop making these rules just to throw them in the trash.
Well he glossed over their return, even though they betrayed him, with their newfound keyblade legacy. Which bears the question: Did Xemnas know when he recruited them the first time or did Xehanort figure it out and that's why he recruited them the second time?

Even though I liked Riku Replica's story ending in KHCoM and never expected him back, I kind of like that they gave him a happy ending... even though they jumped through logical hoops to make sense of his return.

I definitely think that Xaldin was a prime suspect. It's odd that he was so loyal and persistent in KH2, you would think that he would rejoin in a heartbeat. I'm now imagining his boss fight in the KH3 Data Organization... OMG.

Would fans have bought new characters in the Organization? There were protests against the huge number of original characters, so more new characters made just to be killed off in KH3 had the potential to anger people even more.

I think the Sora replacement being Xion is logical... yet weird. I mean, I loved it, but it was kinda weird hearing that Xion was "completely forgotten" and a huge deal was made out of it (to add to her emotional death which I cry to whenever I see it), to simply say "oh yeah Vexen had full details on her in the lab" when they needed to bring her back. Nomura's style is "dead until I need him" or "completely forgotten until I need her".
 

legacier

Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2019
Messages
53
Awards
2
I have to say, I wasn't upset about the "Organization rehash." The ancient keyblade wielders had no backstory at all, as opposed to the rest of the original Organization members, so excluding them would've been a wasted opportunity to learn more about them. Other than that, Disney and Final Fantasy characters were always obviously out of the question, and I never expected (let alone wanted) them to introduce brand new characters, so their options were kinda limited.

As others have said, using past Riku would have made more sense than Riku Replica... so in regard to that, I'm pretending that's what really happened. Canon? Never heard of it. It really was Riku's past self, but it looks like Square didn't know that. How embarrassing for them.

Other than that, I expected them to try to either make a new Sora replica or kidnap and corrupt a past version of him. I wasn't totally wrong. I also expected them to use more actual Xehanorts, like maybe a middle-aged one or the extra-young one from Scala ad Caelum. And I thought they might include Eraqus as a "twist." Even now, I still think that would've a pretty good idea.

As a side note, there's one person in particular that I fully expected (but did not want) to be a member—Luxord, the most annoying character in the original Organization. Maybe even the entire game. We get it, you like gambling and forced metaphors. Everyone else has a gimmick too, but they don't feel the need to bring it up in every conversation. And that stupid smug face... but apparently the odds are in his favor now, because it looks like he's going to become a major character.
 

alexis.anagram

pajamaモード
Joined
Dec 14, 2011
Messages
2,450
Awards
6
Age
31
Location
somewhere near Marseille
I don't recall if I had any specific notions about who would make the cut but like others I didn't expect the Castle Oblivion crew to show up again (as Org members). Marluxia in particular elicited an eyeroll.

Looking at how things turned out, it might have been better if Nomura had written some one-off OC grunts instead of using the New Organization as a backdoor to Ux spinoff bait that siphoned attention away from the actual original ensemble that needed to be sharpened and brought to closure. Or he could have used (some of) the Foretellers like a lot of people suspected he would so that their connection to the Age of Gachaland wouldn't require any exposition. Stick Skuld or Ava or whoever in there so the "Mysterious Girl" plot actually carries weight, I dunno.

Recycling Larxene but with the quality of writing women in the series receive now just contributed to the overall sense of disillusionment. Were these villains ever threatening? I mean, setting Luxord aside, of course.
 

redcrown

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 21, 2015
Messages
1,005
Awards
6
I was hoping Larxene and Marluxia wouldn't be part of it, an early trailer had shown the latter with his original eye color, but nope they got in.

I never thought of Xaldin, but that would have fit really well, since his glimmers of personality from Days showed he was already similar to Xehanort in a lot of ways. Seeing love as weekness, pulling long con manipulations on the Beast, etc.

Was Ansem the Wise Norted? His subplot was such a forgettable mess I hardly remember what went on with him. I half expected to him to be for more shock value, and his story was so tied to Xehanort.

This is putting aside how the whole "Norting" thing was a bad idea in the first place, since it really cheapened the weight of the impact it had when it was only Riku and Terra, and killed any originality and potential the Norted characters had left in them.
 

Xblade13

The Cleric of Flamesgrace
Joined
Oct 2, 2012
Messages
2,012
Awards
8
Age
31
Location
Kakariko Village
I expected Riku from KH1, not freaking Replica Riku that shit doesn't make sense ughhhhhh

I can say who I didn't think would be in: Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx. Why the hell did Xemnas have a criteria but then Xehanort is like "nah fuck that we'll choose the weak of body and weak of trust just cuz" like Nomura come on now stop making these rules just to throw them in the trash.
I had a fan theory a while back (after DDD revealing the whole 'Nort thing) that Riku Replica took the piece of Xehanort that was in Zexion as his own when Axel had him slain at the end of CoM. Basically, Riku Replica wanted power that could surpass Riku, wanted to be his own person, but still felt empty and not whole, unaware that he does indeed have a heart (Or rather, assuming his is fake). So he accepted Xehanort's darkness (which wouldn't appear much different from Ansem SoD in Riku himself) by accident.

I know it's not confirmed to be the case but if the wanted to use a Riku that wasn't OUR Riku, then that'd be the smart, Harry Potter-esque small-details-that-hinted-at-crap way to do it.

That and if KH1 Riku was a Darkness, it seems silly that they'd want to use grown up KH2-DDD Riku too. Knowing full well that he became more capable after CoM handling the darkness.

---

That being said I definitely agree about Marluxia and Larxene. Demyx I feel can get a pass because technically he was loyal, even if he was lazy (not to mention an unknown past and all that). Marluxia and Larxene openly betrayed the Organization though. I thought we'd have some cool plot twist in 3 with Marluxia making a counter-Organization to go against Xehanort's, but sadly that was before they changed his freaking eye color.
 

SweetYetSalty

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 20, 2018
Messages
2,166
Awards
12
Age
34
This was something I thought about for years actually. Who would be deemed worthy and then taking in the whole 'norting brainwashing' aspect. Let me just get this out of the way, I never expected Marluxia and Larxene. They made no sense and go against what Xemnas said in DDD. Luxord and Demyx were half and half. They were loyal but didn't seem really evil as shown in Days. Demyx in particular didn't like fighting so not a good candidate. Like Xigbar and Saix make complete sense as people Xehanort would want. Luxord and Demyx? Again they are loyal but don't feel like true villains.

I never expected Disney characters either. Look at those cloaked bodies in DDD. Not a single one of them can house a Disney character. Granted Vanitas, Dark Riku, and Larxene are in those groups. I didn't expect FF villains either, because they never use them for the main story. No reason to think they'd start now. The only reason they would be there is if Leon, Cloud, Auron or Zack were going to be Guardians of Light and I knew right out the gate they were not.

Now for the ones I considered and speculated. I'll list them off here.

1. Vantias: Makes as much sense as Xigbar and Saix. Evil, powerful, thinks like Xehanort. And has his own Keyblade. I would have been shocked if he didn't make it in.

2. Apprentice Xehanort: I actually thought most of the new Organization was going to be different stages of Xehanort in his life. This one counts as Xehanort in Terra. I actually thought this version would have been used over Terranort or both would be used. With his time with Ansem the Wise he'd have more resources then just being the 'brute' of the group.

3. Vexen: One of the few old Organization members I felt would be deemed worthy by Xehanort due to his Replica Program. It was too big a project to just forget so to me Vexen would have been one of the first people Xemnas would want. They just need a way to control their Replicas once they make them.

4. Xaldin: I didn't care if he made it in or not, but he seemed like a guy Xehanort would want. He's high ranking like Xigbar and ruthless as Saix. He had no problems wanting to destroy traitors even their younger members, everything shown about him in Beast Castle implies he sees humanity as weakness, and he was ridiculously powerful as a fighter. I'm a little shocked he wasn't even considered a backup but Demyx was.

5. Xion 2.0: When Young Xehanort said Roxas was worthy as a candidate I always wondered if that was a subtle hint of Xion being a option. Then Xemnas's 'puppet is the worthy vessel' line gained attention and theories on why the Organization was in the Toy Story world started to pop up and everything started to click. However I thought the Xion they'd make would be completely different. She would not look like herself, not talk like herself, and with no Roxas and Axel to bond with she or 'it' would be what Xemnas had originally made her for. Load Roxas's battle data in her and she would even copy dual wielding. The perfect Sora/Roxas replacement.

6. Dark Riku: Whether it was a brainwashed Repliku or time traveled KH1 Riku (they are practically the same person like that) it made sense for Xehanort to want a Riku of his own, just like he'd want a Sora.

7. Prime Xehanort: Xehanort at his peak of power as a full grown adult without the crippling old age to hold him back. This would basically be the 'Terranort' of the org. Able to defeat the Guardians of Light all by himself with little to no effort. It would take the entire cast of heroes to beat him. He would fight in the 'No Heart' armor.

Combined those 7 with the Xehanort, Ansem, Xemnas, Young Xehanort, Saix, and Xigbar and I believe that is 13? Should they have a secret 14th member? I feel that is mandatory.
 

Tobi

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
Messages
55
Awards
1
Would fans have bought new characters in the Organization? There were protests against the huge number of original characters, so more new characters made just to be killed off in KH3 had the potential to anger people even more.
Personally, yes. A single spot would have been fine for me. The original Organization had only new faces and it was exciting to meet a new one. Also it would have sparked interest for this unknown member, no one had heard of before. But this could have only worked if the other seats had been filled with characters who "deserved" it. I too found the inclusion of Marluxia and Larxene strange. When i saw them in the trailers I thought Xehanort had somewhat of a control over them so they don't even think about trying to become traitors again. And then Larxene said her things...

For the real Organization I had Vanitas, Terranort, Repliku (yes not KH1 Riku, because Repliku was both able to behave like that version of Riku, but was also able to focus on CoM stuff, what the real KH1 Riku couldn't), Xion and Xaldin. I didn't thought about Vexen, since I categorized him into the "weakness of body". The same cas ecan be said about Ansem the Wise although I did think Xehanort would nort both of them anyway, but not giving them immediately a seat in the real Organization. They had utility. Vexen for reasons we know and Ansem the Wise because I saw him as an illusionist like Zexion (disguised himself as Ansem SoD and was able to create holograms of himself). Also for Ansem the Wise, I thought his eye color resembled the orange of Xemnas and his weakening mind was a sign of him slowly losing the fight against a Xehanort heartpiece inside him.
 

Eonstar890

Active member
Joined
Jun 25, 2018
Messages
209
Awards
20
Location
Florida
My perfect organization would have been as follows:
(Note that this list does not include Ansem or Xemnas because I largely disagree with bringing them back like this to be such a minor part of the story. This also means that the events of DDD would have had to play out quite differently, but hey the point of this post isn't to write about what did happen but what I wish happened.)
  1. Terra-Xehanort
  2. Braig
  3. Even
  4. Isa
  5. Young Xehanort
  6. Nightmare given Form
  7. Riku Replica
  8. Xion
  9. Anti-Aqua
  10. Ventus-Vanitas
  11. Roxas
  12. Vanitas (True Form)
  13. Xehanort (True Form)
1-4:
These four would be the first to join immediately after being recompleted from the previous organization. Personally I don't understand why Braig, Isa, and Even had to become nobodies again to join the organization and overall I really wish instead of calling them the "true" organization they had been called the Seekers of Darkness. Anywho, when recompleted Terra-Xehanort would immediately begin working on his new group, and the most viable candidates would be Braig and Isa, his most "loyal" of assistants. Even would also make sense to recruit for the use of Replicas. I still like the idea of Even deciding to betray the SoD.

5 and 6:
Young Xehanort is the only character I will allow to use time travel. Its his whole gimmick and therefore acceptable (Unlike the half of the org that currently does it). Number 6 to me would be the creation we first met in DDD. A being formed from the darkness of nightmares given form thanks to a replica body. This nightmare makes the perfect vessel, a being of total darkness with no identity of its own to resist. (If anyone here has played hollow knight, think of the vessels from that game.

7 and 8:
Throughout the game we got hints that the org was trying to recreate a lost darkness, and I really liked that aspect and wish it was expanded on more. That lost darkness being the old replicas Xion and Replica Riku.

9 and 10:
I would have LOVED this so much. To see the way finder trio be used by darkness would have been so tragic and really pulled at the heartstrings. They already had Aqua fall to darkness, and Xehanort KNEW she was the key to finding Ventus (he finds out in 0.2) Anti-Aqua should have been recruited and then used to locate Ventus. Once found they would use his body as the perfect vessel to bring back Vanitas.

11 - 13:
Okay so for these three, this is a bit more of a complex idea that to me makes more sense logically than what actually happens during the Keyblade War. To me this feels like the type of backup plan that Xehanort would totally plot. So the original story behind the creation of the X-blade (or I guess destruction of it) was 7 pieces of light, and 13 pieces of darkness. So to me, what matters most in the new war is 7 hearts with ties to the light and 13 with ties to the darkness, not so much 13 xehanorts. And during the war these 20 hearts would need to meet in a "clash". Now, logically speaking, it wouldn't make sense for our guardians to just go along with Xehanort plan and fulfill his wish so willingly. But if they thought that the old man didn't have his thirteen maybe they would confront him try and stop him before he got them, and also to save Terra, Aqua, and Ven. So at the start of the war, Xehanort would only have 10 Seekers, and the guardians would think they have already succeeded in foiling his plan. But in reality, what matters mists not 20 bodies, but 20 hearts. And right now Sora would harbor two, and so does Terra and Ventus. Meaning that there exists the numbers needed.

I also think it would have been really cool to have Vanitas and Xehanort be recompleted midwar using backup vessels that were prepped, and also of course Roxas would come back the way he did. So by the end of the war there would be 20 physical forms who participated anyways. Why do I count Roxas as a SoD? To me to be considered a heart of darkness, doesn't necessarily mean having to be a Xehanort clone, but someone who has strong ties to the darkness. Roxas definitely fits the bill acting as Soras "dark side".
 

disney233

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
1,161
Awards
2
Age
26
I dunno. At first I wanted new cast, potentially from Disney or Final Fantasy as well, but now I'm thinking, maybe a new cast was too much to ask. BUT DON'T CALL IT THE 'NEW' ORGANIZATION WHEN IT'S LITERALLY THE SAME CAST!
 

Alpha Baymax

On a scale of α to ζ.
Joined
Sep 5, 2015
Messages
4,782
Awards
23
Age
28
Location
United Kingdom
I was so stubborn in believing that Xaldin would be part of the real Organization XIII. It's a shame that he was relegated to a non-speaking character, Xaldin was a distinct kind of evil.

Although, his interaction's in Beast's Castle was the template to which the Disney and Pixar worlds would work in Kingdom Hearts III so I guess he serves as a precursor to that.

I expected Riku from KH1, not freaking Replica Riku that shit doesn't make sense ughhhhhh

As others have said, using past Riku would have made more sense than Riku Replica... so in regard to that, I'm pretending that's what really happened. Canon? Never heard of it. It really was Riku's past self, but it looks like Square didn't know that. How embarrassing for them.

I disagree with your first point. I loved what they did with Replica Riku. It was a subtle plot twist that was executed really well. He's introduced in such a way that everybody assumes that he's Riku from when he was possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. So once he's revealed to be a time-displaced Replica Riku, it gives Replica Riku a more optimistic conclusion than Chain of Memories.

If an actual time-displaced Riku ended up being a Seeker of Darkness, that would make so many contradictions to Riku's character development.

I can say who I didn't think would be in: Marluxia, Larxene, Demyx. Why the hell did Xemnas have a criteria but then Xehanort is like "nah fuck that we'll choose the weak of body and weak of trust just cuz" like Nomura come on now stop making these rules just to throw them in the trash.

I agree with this point. I don't understand the logic of Demyx, Marluxia and Larxene returning outside of being incubators for Xehanort's heart. All three of the characters contradict Xehanort just like you said, and they only exist to seed the foundations of the future of Kingdom Hearts.
 

Hirokey123

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 16, 2015
Messages
1,059
Awards
5
Honestly the end result we got was almost exactly what I expected.

Dark Riku through me for a loop at first only because I expected it to be KH1 Riku. That's because when Riku saw Dark Riku he brought up how he was possessed and the existence of Repliku, and then said that was himself instead which turned out to be unreliable narration. Thing is I already was pushing it for it to be Repliku just before the game released because the conversation they showed with him in the pre-release didn't make sense. When Sora says the Riku he knows wouldn't do this without a good reason Dark Riku rebuffs him, he says that he never needed a reason to do crappy things and he was just trying to one-up Sora since they were kids. We know what's not the real Riku's backstory, Riku only did bad things when he thought it would help his friends and his one-up of Sora didn't turn toxic until later on, and he specifically was trying to one-up Sora as the hero in KH1 not knowingly think of himself as a villain. In hindsight likewise the real Riku never doubted the idea a puppet could have a heart, that's why he stole Pinocchio.

What Dark Riku says is though IS the backstory that Namine put into Repliku, a cruel selfish parody of the real Riku design in such was he would conflict with Sora constantly and Repliku was always very "fake stuff is real, I'm a puppet my heart is fake,blah blah blah". So by the time of KH3's release I was convinced it was Repliku...until during the game they used unreliable narration from Goofy, Sora, and Dark Riku himself to make me think otherwise. So I was wrong, then right, the wrong.

When DDD came out I never took "they were inadequate and thus naturally failed to achieve their goals" as anything more than commentary on why they failed to make it to KH2 endgame and why Xehanort wasn't surprised they did. It never meant they couldn't be in the new org. Furthermore in the DDD interviews Nomura directly stated "you can assume the other org members human selves who didn't appear in DDD were grabbed by Xehanort like Saix" and "there are many familiar faces and everyone is seated appropriately". So I mean that was him stating in not even a coy way that Demyx, Luxord, Marluxia, and Larxene were in the org as they were the only old members that hadn't appeared. I argued that a lot...

DDD told us/showed us Ansem, Xemnas, MX, Xigbar, Vanitas, Saix, YX, and a Riku were in which when coupled with those four left only one single person ambiguous. However because Vanitas wasn't in a physical body I didn't count him. Since one of the pieces were a shield I thought that even though we saw him as a human Vexen would be in the org somehow, I had hoped Terra had become free mostly because he was MIA and I wanted him to actually DO things in the plot and knew if he was possessed he be another guy we don't see till the end, so that was more me just blindly hoping.

So my final thought was the 13th member would either be Xion or Vanitas with Ven's body. As the trailers progressed and we saw more the minute we saw Vanitas standing there with a body in MI my expectation was that the 13th would be Xion. It just makes sense if Riku is such a good vessel that Xehanort wanted him multiple times despite rebelling, Roxas was perfect and he wanted Sora because he wanted something like Roxas so bad. Then he absolutely would go for Xion because she was stated to be an even more worthy vessel than Roxas. When I got to Twilight Town and heard they had other irons in the fire to replace Sora, followed by an indirect exposition on Xion directly after that I had no doubt in my mind the game was trying to be cheeky by subtly explaining to the players what Xemnas was talking about. Toybox cemented it, there is no other reason they be talking about puppets and toys to bring back a heart.

So yeah Dark Riku's twist and Terranort were the only two that caught me off guard, and only because they deliberately lied to you during KH3 and I just REALLY didn't want Terranort to be possessed for KH3.
 

Zettaflare

Shibuya
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
11,819
Awards
5
Location
California
In regards to Terranort when we saw Anti Aqua in the E3 trailer I thought she was he was a red herring and Aqua was the stolen light Xehanort was referring to. That would have been a good twist
 

Elysium

Be Wiser Than the Serpent
Joined
Nov 4, 2012
Messages
3,772
Awards
37
As a side note, there's one person in particular that I fully expected (but did not want) to be a member—Luxord, the most annoying character in the original Organization. Maybe even the entire game. We get it, you like gambling and forced metaphors. Everyone else has a gimmick too, but they don't feel the need to bring it up in every conversation. And that stupid smug face... but apparently the odds are in his favor now, because it looks like he's going to become a major character.
This. I knew Luxord was a lock because Nomura loves him + the dice chess piece, but I find the choice nearly as bizarre as Demyx. In Big Brother terms, those two are floaters.
 

disney233

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 3, 2015
Messages
1,161
Awards
2
Age
26
This. I knew Luxord was a lock because Nomura loves him + the dice chess piece, but I find the choice nearly as bizarre as Demyx. In Big Brother terms, those two are floaters.
Members 9-12 were useless additions to the Organization. I love Luxord in both a story and gameplay perspectivd, but his addition was useless as well. No one can HONESTLY tell me otherwise.
 

Tobi

Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
Messages
55
Awards
1
This. I knew Luxord was a lock because Nomura loves him + the dice chess piece, but I find the choice nearly as bizarre as Demyx. In Big Brother terms, those two are floaters.
Wasn't Luxord one of the most loyal members of the original Organisation? He never attempted to do something fishy, which would make him a understandable choice in MX eyes. Also he wasn't that weak, because afterall he was able to seal away people in his cards. Those two factors let him bring lots of utility to the table, both missionwise and for the big fight (which he proved by sealing away Micky for some time)
 
Back
Top