Kingdom Hearts 3 Story Discussion

[Alpha Baymax]

The concepts of worldlines has me intrigued... if it only it was explained during the game itself as opposed to being regulated to Secret Reports.

 

[Zettaflare]

I just realized another thing I hate about the Zettaflare scene.

Donald not only killed Terranort, he killed Terra in general thus making him lose any chance of reuniting with his friends until the rewind.

Spoiler Show

its unfortunate that Terra had to die before the rewind but at the same time I can hardly fault Donald. Terranort was slaughtering everyone else and he could just stand there and do nothing.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Spoiler Show

You mean like Riku and Mickey in that scene?

 

[Divine Past]

Anyone else think the way Aqua says “Good morning, Ven” is kind of hot, or am I just a sick person?

Well the internet seems to agree with you. I did not notice it on my first play through.

 

[Askelon]

The concepts of worldlines has me intrigued... if it only it was explained during the game itself as opposed to being regulated to Secret Reports.

We're Steins Gate now.

I hope the next game explain more about Scala and why it was the seat of power of Keyblade's wielder.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Well the internet seems to agree with you. I did not notice it on my first play through.

Which part of the internet, dare I ask?

 

[alexis.anagram]

Anyone else think the way Aqua says “Good morning, Ven” is kind of hot, or am I just a sick person?

I'd definitely ship this over Aqua/Terra if only because it confers a different dynamic to the usual het romance and I can already see what's coming down the line by positioning her romantically with Terra. But then I saw what was going to happen with Aqua the minute she was turned into trailer bait so that would be in keeping with this new tradition for her.

Plus Ven is actually pretty stable and seems like an emotionally dependable person whereas I wouldn't trust Terra to endure a lengthy conversation much less assist Aqua with her suicidal depression and PTSD.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Summarized nicely. Terra is basically Riku except even less emotionally mature and half as many brain cells.

As for Venqua, well...the height difference is what makes it especially adorable.
I know people tend to see more of a 'sibling' dynamic between them, but I honestly see that more with her and Terra. Terra's like the freeloading brother who has to live with his sister Aqua and sponge off of her because he keeps losing jobs since he keeps falling to darkness.

This is not the thread to discuss shipping...but I suppose I've ended up taking this moment to express a soft spot for Venqua. Or Aquen?

 

[alexis.anagram]

Ha, that's an excellent way to put it. I agree, the trouble with Terra is that there was an opportunity there to distance his storyline from Riku's because, from the beginning, it casts his relationship to the darkness as almost an inversion of Riku's. Whereas KH1 Riku was a cynical, two timing twig, Terra is (or was) trusting and, more importantly, loyal to a fault. But because KH3 is such an excellent story it relegates any and all development for him to off screen events that are badly expounded upon or future titles where he's probably just going to be determined retroactively competent enough to stand as the main character of Team LoD with little to no discussion about the fact that it's his fault things went so wrong and set off this cascade of events that has impacted everyone in the KH Universe. Oh well, like father like son I suppose.

Aqua literally couldn't do better for herself, I hope she gets rewarded with a total chad like Terra, it's all she deserves after 10 years of misery and near self-annihilation. Not getting her Keyblade back. Or killing the man/men responsible for her near death experiences. Or being recognized as the real MVP by Eraqus, who is also her Master although she's not a boy so he can't be too proud of her or something. Nope, best she can hope for is to keep lighting Terra's way and maybe she'll make him a cute ornament so that he'll think of her when he inevitably goes off to "find himself" or whatever.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Yes, I loved Eraqus’ “Terra, take care of them”.

I could just hear Donald cracking “Yeah, ‘cause he’s been doing a great job of that so far!” while Aqua and Ven roll their eyes. Terra’s the favorite kid that gets all the love and attention and privileges, while Aqua and Ven do the work and have to routinely hear Eraqus ask “Why can’t you two look up to Terra more? Now there’s a REAL master!”.
Aqua should just dump Terra out on the streets, tell him to go get a real job and sponge off someone else and move in with Ven and they go dancing in Corona. Then she can grab a beer with Donald and they can share rants about how much Mickey sucks.
Donald: Some king! Leaves an entire kingdom behind with instructions that couldn’t possibly be more cryptic and vague if he had tried!
Aqua: What is he even king of, anyway?! Disney Castle had no civilians!
Donald: Beats the shit outta me, toots!
Aqua: Also, I love that Yen Sid was clearly capable of getting out of his chair and actually DOING something all along, but sends his apprentice to come get me out of the realm of darkness instead.
Donald: A job that took my kid Sora, what, five minutes? If I had known it was that easy..

 

[Zettaflare]

How is Terra supposed to become a master at this point? I thought Eraqus would give him the title before passing on but I guess not, lol

 

[alexis.anagram]

Terra’s the favorite kid that gets all the love and attention and privileges, while Aqua and Ven do the work and have to routinely hear Eraqus ask “Why can’t you two look up to Terra more? Now there’s a REAL master!”.

Haha truth. I mean while we're assigning mental health diagnoses to the KH cast, the BBS trio gives me a lot of Adult Children of Alcoholics vibes. Terra's whole demeanor and lack of understanding as to the consequences of his destructive actions put the lives of his family and potentially the entire universe at risk but Eraqus just keeps rewarding him for it, like in BBS he sees that Terra is struggling with the darkness so instead of addressing that and having an honest conversation he sends him away to prove himself by taking on a role he isn't prepared for. And Eraqus knows Terra isn't so he sets his children against each other by making Aqua (the more capable but less personable and therefore less loved sibling who always has to earn his praise) follow Terra around and babysit Ven, a task she clearly resents given how she passive aggressively sabotages the mission by refusing to make sure Ven goes home when told. Then he actually tries to kill Ven, the youngest, when he fails to stay in line with the parental authority Eraqus needs to assert in order to make himself feel like a man.

Like I'm fairly certain the real reason Aqua tries to kill herself in the RoD is because she's subconsciously certain she can't actually rely on any of these broken people, lol. Donald's gonna be doubling as a drinking buddy and a therapist.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Not to mention Ven having to be “babysat” even though he never screws up on anywhere near the same level as Terra. I can imagine both resenting such...even if it birthed Ven fetishistically calling Aqua “mom”. I’m going to Hell, aren’t I?

 

[alexis.anagram]

I mean I personally don't subscribe to the idea that there's anything inherently fetishistic about a guy dating a woman who is older than him, it's really just another nasty double standard society burdens women with while normalizing and institutionalizing the reverse. And the fact that people frame it as predatory when the difference in age between Aqua and Ven is situationally no stranger than two people who started dating in high school when one was a junior and the other was a freshman just makes me roll my eyes. But then I shamelessly ship Roxas and Axel so maybe I just have a thing for anime twinks in compromising age gap relationships o:
We'll go (to Hell) together!

Anyway I guess this is the kind of discussion KH3 fosters. I hope Nomura is happy.

 

[kaseykockroach]

I’m saying the fetish was birthed from Aqua being seen as his babysitter.

This discussion is of much greater intrigue and delight to me than figuring out why Roxas and Ven are twins!

 

[alexis.anagram]

This discussion is of much greater intrigue and delight to me than figuring out why Roxas and Ven are twins!

It's an utter mystery given that Roxas is clearly a Kakkoi Buaiso and Toshishita Seme while Ven is all Tennin Genki Uke, and one would think yaoi tropes in KH characters derive from the heart's spiritual phenotype just like appearance and vocal register. I guess it says something about the kinds of genetics Roxas inherited from Sora. But what does that mean for Sora considering he's been brushing hearts with three people! No wonder he thinks about Riku all the time even though Nomura keeps trying to nudge him another way.

 

[kaseykockroach]

Sora x Riku is pretty cute and I completely understand why that ship’s a thing...even if I’m not entirely sure Riku really makes for the best boyfriend. But what the hey, if there’s anyone for him, it’s certainly Sora.

 

[Hirokey123]

It would have been wildly inappropriate for Eraqus to tell anyone else there to take care of them. Terra absolutely is the favorite child and that's why before this he had no real burden or responsibility placed on him beyond Eraqus's basic expectations of all their students. Meanwhile Eraqus thrust everything upon Aqua, he told her to bring back Ven, watch over Terra, and protect their home. That's a lot to throw onto one person and he paid no mind to how unfair it was to expect her to do that. I can't express how plain terrible it would have been to ask Aqua to continue looking after the other two after all that, telling Terra to take responsibility is the nicest and most thoughtful thing he's ever done for Aqua. As for Ventus he's the youngest of the group and still very much a child in general, he's not in a position to be the caretaker of anyone let alone to adults who are supposed to be HIS caretakers, and this isn't even diving into how utterly inappropriate it be for Eraqus to request Ventus do ANYTHING for him. Meanwhile Terra's biggest issue was that he believed Eraqus had no faith in him, that Eraqus didn't trust him, and so hearing Eraqus trust him with something as important as caring after Aqua and Ventus is huge to Terra and exactly the kind of thing he needed.

Aqua ended up getting some of her burden lifted and Eraqus finally acknowledging how much he put on her
Ventus ended up hearing how Eraqus was remorseful for what he put Ven through
Terra ended up finally being given a shred of trust and responsibility by Eraqus

That was the perfect way to end their story with him IMO.

 

[kaseykockroach]

“Take care of them, Aqua”
“Yeah, thanks, I’ve been doing that”
“...Well, then, keep up the good work! Buh-bye!”

 

[alexis.anagram]

It would have been wildly inappropriate for Eraqus to tell anyone else there to take care of them. Terra absolutely is the favorite child and that's why before this he had no real burden or responsibility placed on him beyond Eraqus's basic expectations of all their students. Meanwhile Eraqus thrust everything upon Aqua, he told her to bring back Ven, watch over Terra, and protect their home. That's a lot to throw onto one person and he paid no mind to how unfair it was to expect her to do that. I can't express how plain terrible it would have been to ask Aqua to continue looking after the other two after all that, telling Terra to take responsibility is the nicest and most thoughtful thing he's ever done for Aqua. As for Ventus he's the youngest of the group and still very much a child in general, he's not in a position to be the caretaker of anyone let alone to adults who are supposed to be HIS caretakers, and this isn't even diving into how utterly inappropriate it be for Eraqus to request Ventus do ANYTHING for him. Meanwhile Terra's biggest issue was that he believed Eraqus had no faith in him, that Eraqus didn't trust him, and so hearing Eraqus trust him with something as important as caring after Aqua and Ventus is huge to Terra and exactly the kind of thing he needed.

Aqua ended up getting some of her burden lifted and Eraqus finally acknowledging how much he put on her
Ventus ended up hearing how Eraqus was remorseful for what he put Ven through
Terra ended up finally being given a shred of trust and responsibility by Eraqus

That was the perfect way to end their story with him IMO.

Nah, it's silly, hackneyed and distractingly unearned. Ventus embraces his would-be murderer without even a mention of how "wildly inappropriate" that is, and the fact that Aqua isn't ever acknowledged by Eraqus given how much of a burden he placed on her is also wildly inappropriate. If the intent behind the scene was to relieve her of that and bring closure to her struggle (which it obviously wasn't), then that needed to be addressed and brought into focus through her, because only Aqua can effectively convey that sense of liberation. Instead, the scene is clearly centered around Eraqus and Terra, and then it's about Eraqus and Xehanort: Ven and Aqua are relegated to observers, not participants in the moment, and that means neither of them are done any justice by it.

The perfect way to end their story would have been for him to reinhabit his role as their Master and recognize each of them in turn for their bravery and their endurance in spite of his failures and his own ignorance. That would give the audience and the characters an opportunity to reflect on the hardships they've been through. Then he would simply ask all of them to take care of each other. Literalizing it down to logical details like Ven's relative age to theirs is just a terrible way to write drama, who cares. It's about reaffirming their bonds with each other and giving each of them an equal return on the love and gratitude they've been lacking for so long, the kind which only they can provide for one another.