News ► KINGDOM HEARTS Dark Road introduces new characters!

[GreyouTT]

Oh wait... Bragi. Has a fur coat. Very strikingly different for a Kingdom Hearts character...

But we have seen a fur coat before in Kingdom Hearts, right? In Verum Rex, one of Yozora's allies has a hat and a similar fur coat concept. And both are reminescent of Final Fantasy XV's Ardyn, and the same character from Versus XIII...

And that character is theoretically the "Magi" that Rex mentioned (in relation to Donald) in the cut line from Toy Box. Goofy was also called "Aegis".

I think Hermod, Vor, Urd, and Bragi are going to end up as the leadway into the Yozora stuff while also giving Xehanort a reason to do what he did.

Leon has fur on his jacket.

 

[2 quid is good]

Leon has fur on his jacket.

He's not exactly a KH character, as much as I love him and appreciate his growth in personality from FF8, he's still an FF design

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

Oh wait... Bragi. Has a fur coat. Very strikingly different for a Kingdom Hearts character...

But we have seen a fur coat before in Kingdom Hearts, right? In Verum Rex, one of Yozora's allies has a hat and a similar fur coat concept. And both are reminescent of Final Fantasy XV's Ardyn, and the same character from Versus XIII...

I checked and Magia doesn't have a fur coat.

Or any coat, actually.

 

[*TwilightNight*]

In BBS they had some reason for going to Ansem's castle that wasn't revealed. I will put that less to suddenly being there and more that it was explained too late.

They have alluded to something between the two of them several times. Their back and forth in Days, and in BbS when they talk about a mission they're on and look at the castle.

Except as someone mentioned, that had nothing to do with Subject X, since she appeared after BBS and in a time when Xehanort was within the castle. Furthermore, ample time was given to indirectly or directly mention her via 358/2 Days, BBS, and DDD if she really was ever a thing. But fact of the matter is she was never a thing. Like Xion. And Nomura decided by KHIII that it was going to be about Subject X despite a long window of opportunity to present this in a more believable way and with some actual basis other than something ambiguous that Isa and Lea were sneaking in the castle for. Which could have been anything. That tends to be how Nomura works if he wants to insert whatever comes to his mind - see if there's a gap he left and implant it without any previous references. Then the players are left to simply accept them.

It's even more daunting when Ansem and Ansem SoD suddenly talk about her existence as if it was so important when they never paid attention to it in legit...what, KHII, 358/2 Days, and DDD. That's three games.

The entire abrupt inclusion of her from the tendrils of Nothingness, and the way it mattered to both of them and Isa, should have had acknowledgement before if she was really that big of a deal. Especially if it supposedly affected Isa that badly that we had to sit through him being a simp over this girl as he disappears in what was a weak attempt at a "redemption arc".

Well he was dead for most of those and while it is out of nowhere it kind of makes sense that he wants to take his suffering and make it work for him.

He wasn't "dead", he was inside Sora. He flashes over him twice in KHIII when he gets emotionally triggered within him (i.e. the only times we see he gives a damn about HPO and Naminé in the game before he got TRIOed off). It doesn't make sense that he appeared in DDD, got an entire game to himself in 358/2 Days, and appeared post-merge with Sora in TWTNW in KHII. Including the KHII:FM scene on the clock tower with Axel. Once more, ample, ample, ample time to mention anything about this Sigil that he comes out with from left field that he had never thought about, mentioned, or cared for. At all. None of them. There's no excuse.

Hell, how does Roxas even know anything at all? When did he suddenly know that you can reclaim the Sigil? How did he know he needed Sora's help as if he understood what to do? How did he know anything about the replica process and who was behind it in general? What, did he get filled in on that .01 millisecond it took for him to shoot out of Sora's chest and storm the Keyblade Graveyard right after?

You can't answer those questions because there isn't an official explanation. KH fans just brainstorm possible ones to fill in the blatant holes Nomura leaves with his terrible narrative work. No build ups, no basis, nothing. Which is what's being done now. Why not just accept that it was random and sudden instead of working to find some sort of defense for it?

It's nonsensical, it's random, and whether or not it makes sense in context, it was never there as anything of value and importance throughout the entirety of Roxas' journey and appearances before KHIII. Not even. Before Re:Mind.

..Chain of Memories. He had promised to protect her, first because of her memory powers but later by his own will. I don't know if you would classify their relationship as "strong" but he decided to keep his promise to her once again.

The responses to this just strengthens my argument further. It's about Riku Replica, not about Naminé. The issue stands that Nomura tries not only to paint Riku Replica's end as sweet and touching when it shouldn't be (he's the result of an utter mind screw that ends with him denying his individuality and leads to him choosing to die), he tries to make it look mutual instead of one-sided when there's no build up to that whatsoever.

Let's look at Naminé. Girl brainwashes him, under duress, certainly, but he's still brainwashed by her, literally short circuits his brain accidentally because he was going to attack Sora, and aside from an admittance of guilt and regret that she was the cause of his hurt, there's nothing else there for this "strong connection". But I guess brainwashing someone equates to a "strong connection"...who knew. Post-CoM? Where did she mention him? When was he important? Where is the basis for what Nomura stated? There was Days, KHII, Coded/Re:Coded...where is this connection he speaks of.

In fact, how did Sora even know about Riku and Riku Replica in the first place to say anything to Naminé at all about the situation in the Final World if it occurs later on? Lol. It's simply... incomprehensible. Characters just have random knowledge about things they shouldn't have knowledge of. Sora should have just shut up and only stuck with "it's not true". He lists all these characters that miss her, yet the game (coughnomuracough) doesn't follow up on that at all and she never interacts with anyone to prove his statements. Except Sora himself. And Riku. But Riku forgot she existed until Riku Replica was, "yo, dude, she exists, make sure she returns bruh". Then Riku does a Pikachu surprised face.

In my view, their special connection is shown in CoM. IIRC Naminé removes the false memories she had implanted in the replica, shattering his heart. However, he wakes up, driven by his desire to protect her, even though the feeling initially came from the false memories. It's a bit messed up but clearly there's is a powerful connection there (though Naminé reciprocating is new, I could understand her having affection for him after that).

Naminé never removed those false memories. It took Sora a pod and months to fully recover his real memories and to fix him. Naminé isn't able to take an hour, let alone a day, to reverse the brainwashing she had done to Riku Replica. The guy was still deluded into false events that didn't happen and weren't his, along with a faux promise to protect her that she placed in there. He held unto it because he had nothing else to hold unto. He only knew they were fake memories because he realized they were when told.

Yeah, the whole Subject X thing was ridiculous. My statement is more towards saying that memory wipe can't be used as a convenient excuse every time, rather than saying the Subject X route is better or anything.

The better route for DR would have been properly setting up those characters beforehand, but if that wasn't possible then...just don't include them? It's not like the relationship between Eraqus and Xehanort was over-explored and dry, there was still plenty to uncover just between the two of them.

And imo Nomura's writing has always been miles better between duos than trios, Sora-Riku being a glaring example.

Yeah, I know it was about the memory wipe. But what I'm saying is that Nomura doesn't care about covering up his tracks with that anymore, as we see with Subject X. So I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about. Eraqus and Xehanort are dead already. The only possible role this group of characters will have with the current cast is either through metaphysical relation or being descendants of KHUx characters. Unless one of them is Luxu, MoM, or Kairi's grandmother, which goes back to the aforementioned point.

As for Nomura, I would correct this and say he only knows how to do a duo of male friendships.

But he certainly can do a big cast with strong interrelations, as KHUx showed, because they are not tethered by a trio. They can explore out of that zone. Notice how none of the characters have been excluded from one another. Sans Elrena. I still don't know what the purpose of her is, as much as I love Larxene.

Funny thing about this, my mind thought "princess of heart hax" for a moment.

Except the princesses themselves explicitly state in KH1FM that while they can hold back darkness, this "strange new force"(the in-between/nothingness) is something they have no power over.

I thought the same thing and came to the same conclusion. I think we were supposed to be impressed and marvel at how badass she is or something, lol. No matter how forced it was. Having wielders with more experience jobbing to show that she's not useless is not how you fix a character, Nomura.

 

[GrandMaster_Chris]

Alright guys, placing bets on which of these fine ladies we think is Kairi's grandmother.

 

[Face My Fears]

Oh dang, all this Bragi is Braig/Luxu talk is giving me flashbacks to before Days was released, where everyone thought that Xion and Zexion would be connected simply because Zexion had the xion part in his name...

Honestly, I don't think any of these characters are going to be strongly connected to any present day characters. As someone pointed out earlier, Luxu's secret reports seem to confirm that he knew nothing of Xehanort during his youth. I am actually looking forward to see what effect these characters have on Xehanort. If anything, it would help build Xehanort up as the antithesis of Sora. Unlike Sora, whose connections with friends are his main source of power, Xehanort does not seem to share this opinion, considering his view of the darkness of being alone being a greater power. Especially seeing as Eraqus seems to be the only one he considered a true friend.

OMFG! I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THE ZEXION/XION CONNECTION LOL.

 

[DrShimo]

Except as someone mentioned, that had nothing to do with Subject X, since she appeared after BBS and in a time when Xehanort was within the castle. Furthermore, ample time was given to indirectly or directly mention her via 358/2 Days, BBS, and DDD if she really was ever a thing. But fact of the matter is she was never a thing. Like Xion. And Nomura decided by KHIII that it was going to be about Subject X despite a long window of opportunity to present this in a more believable way and with some actual basis other than something ambiguous that Isa and Lea were sneaking in the castle for. Which could have been anything. That tends to be how Nomura works if he wants to insert whatever comes to his mind - see if there's a gap he left and implant it without any previous references. Then the players are left to simply accept them.

It's even more daunting when Ansem and Ansem SoD suddenly talk about her existence as if it was so important when they never paid attention to it in legit...what, KHII, 358/2 Days, and DDD. That's three games.

The entire abrupt inclusion of her from the tendrils of Nothingness, and the way it mattered to both of them and Isa, should have had acknowledgement before if she was really that big of a deal. Especially if it supposedly affected Isa that badly that we had to sit through him being a simp over this girl as he disappears in what was a weak attempt at a "redemption arc".



He wasn't "dead", he was inside Sora. He flashes over him twice in KHIII when he gets emotionally triggered within him (i.e. the only times we see he gives a damn about HPO and Naminé in the game before he got TRIOed off). It doesn't make sense that he appeared in DDD, got an entire game to himself in 358/2 Days, and appeared post-merge with Sora in TWTNW in KHII. Including the KHII:FM scene on the clock tower with Axel. Once more, ample, ample, ample time to mention anything about this Sigil that he comes out with from left field that he had never thought about, mentioned, or cared for. At all. None of them. There's no excuse.

Hell, how does Roxas even know anything at all? When did he suddenly know that you can reclaim the Sigil? How did he know he needed Sora's help as if he understood what to do? How did he know anything about the replica process and who was behind it in general? What, did he get filled in on that .01 millisecond it took for him to shoot out of Sora's chest and storm the Keyblade Graveyard right after?

You can't answer those questions because there isn't an official explanation. KH fans just brainstorm possible ones to fill in the blatant holes Nomura leaves with his terrible narrative work. No build ups, no basis, nothing. Which is what's being done now. Why not just accept that it was random and sudden instead of working to find some sort of defense for it?

It's nonsensical, it's random, and whether or not it makes sense in context, it was never there as anything of value and importance throughout the entirety of Roxas' journey and appearances before KHIII. Not even. Before Re:Mind.



The responses to this just strengthens my argument further. It's about Riku Replica, not about Naminé. The issue stands that Nomura tries not only to paint Riku Replica's end as sweet and touching when it shouldn't be (he's the result of an utter mind screw that ends with him denying his individuality and leads to him choosing to die), he tries to make it look mutual instead of one-sided when there's no build up to that whatsoever.

Let's look at Naminé. Girl brainwashes him, under duress, certainly, but he's still brainwashed by her, literally short circuits his brain accidentally because he was going to attack Sora, and aside from an admittance of guilt and regret that she was the cause of his hurt, there's nothing else there for this "strong connection". But I guess brainwashing someone equates to a "strong connection"...who knew. Post-CoM? Where did she mention him? When was he important? Where is the basis for what Nomura stated? There was Days, KHII, Coded/Re:Coded...where is this connection he speaks of.

In fact, how did Sora even know about Riku and Riku Replica in the first place to say anything to Naminé at all about the situation in the Final World if it occurs later on? Lol. It's simply... incomprehensible. Characters just have random knowledge about things they shouldn't have knowledge of. Sora should have just shut up and only stuck with "it's not true". He lists all these characters that miss her, yet the game (coughnomuracough) doesn't follow up on that at all and she never interacts with anyone to prove his statements. Except Sora himself. And Riku. But Riku forgot she existed until Riku Replica was, "yo, dude, she exists, make sure she returns bruh". Then Riku does a Pikachu surprised face.






Naminé never removed those false memories. It took Sora a pod and months to fully recover his real memories and to fix him. Naminé isn't able to take an hour, let alone a day, to reverse the brainwashing she had done to Riku Replica. The guy was still deluded into false events that didn't happen and weren't his, along with a faux promise to protect her that she placed in there. He held unto it because he had nothing else to hold unto. He only knew they were fake memories because he realized they were when told.





Yeah, I know it was about the memory wipe. But what I'm saying is that Nomura doesn't care about covering up his tracks with that anymore, as we see with Subject X. So I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about. Eraqus and Xehanort are dead already. The only possible role this group of characters will have with the current cast is either through metaphysical relation or being descendants of KHUx characters. Unless one of them is Luxu, MoM, or Kairi's grandmother, which goes back to the aforementioned point.

As for Nomura, I would correct this and say he only knows how to do a duo of male friendships.

But he certainly can do a big cast with strong interrelations, as KHUx showed, because they are not tethered by a trio. They can explore out of that zone. Notice how none of the characters have been excluded from one another. Sans Elrena. I still don't know what the purpose of her is, as much as I love Larxene.



I thought the same thing and came to the same conclusion. I think we were supposed to be impressed and marvel at how badass she is or something, lol. No matter how forced it was. Having wielders with more experience jobbing to show that she's not useless is not how you fix a character, Nomura.

Honestly it makes you wonder why Nomura didn’t use the HD collections to add in some small new scenes to fill the gaps himself. Nothing big needed tbh

 

[SweetYetSalty]

Alright guys, placing bets on which of these fine ladies we think is Kairi's grandmother.

Kairi has like three different grandmothers right now lol.

OMFG! I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THE ZEXION/XION CONNECTION LOL.

I actually never made that connection either. I didn't even realize her name was in Zexion. I must now surrender my 'Xion fan badge', as I'm unworthy of it for never even realizing such a obvious thing name thing.

 

[Sign]

Honestly it makes you wonder why Nomura didn’t use the HD collections to add in some small new scenes to fill the gaps himself. Nothing big needed tbh

It was difficult enough with the team having to multitask on KH3 and all the remasters as they learned to adapt to development on modern consoles and a new engine. Nomura being Nomura would have had his hands full with FFXV, 7R etc. Hindsight is 20/20.

 

[DrShimo]

It was difficult enough with the team having to multitask on KH3 and all the remasters as they learned to adapt to development on modern consoles and a new engine. Nomura being Nomura would have had his hands full with FFXV, 7R etc. Hindsight is 20/20.

This is very true, and I’ll give him that. I’m just glad we even got the fight scene with Xion added in 358/2, a little short but I loved it.

 

[GreyouTT]

He's not exactly a KH character, as much as I love him and appreciate his growth in personality from FF8, he's still an FF design

They just said 'in KH' so I didn't think we were limiting the pool of characters.

 

[SweetYetSalty]

I know we mainly talk about the effects the new characters will have on Xehanort. However there is something else to consider. What effects will they have on Eraqus? Eraqus seems to be in Xehanort's words 'corrupted by the light' what if the fate of these new friends plays a role in that?

Example let's say one of them was also a light user but fell to darkness and it has a impact on Eraqus. He then doubles down on his belief of light vs dark without a gray area and never tolerates darkness due to what happened to one of their Scala friends. This could give some insight on his actions regarding Terra and Ventus and how he trained and raised his students.

 

[Eonstar890]

I know we mainly talk about the effects the new characters will have on Xehanort. However there is something else to consider. What effects will they have on Eraqus? Eraqus seems to be in Xehanort's words 'corrupted by the light' what if the fate of these new friends plays a role in that?

Example let's say one of them was also a light user but fell to darkness and it has a impact on Eraqus. He then doubles down on his belief of light vs dark without a gray area and never tolerates darkness due to what happened to one of their Scala friends. This could give some insight on his actions regarding Terra and Ventus and how he trained and raised his students.

Your example kinda fits Xehanort to the tee lol. In BBS we see the rift form between them when Xehanort attacks Eraqus permanently scarring him and I think that scene represents apart of why he become so obsessed with pushing down the darkness.
So if anything Eraqus will probably be most affected by Xehanorts actions as he begins his Dark road

 

[Deleted member 252753]

Great points about Eraqus. I wonder if we'll see more of the master strategist he is made out to he in KH3 (after BBS where he seemed something of a gullible fool).

 

[Violet Pluto]

Except as someone mentioned, that had nothing to do with Subject X, since she appeared after BBS and in a time when Xehanort was within the castle. Furthermore, ample time was given to indirectly or directly mention her via 358/2 Days, BBS, and DDD if she really was ever a thing. But fact of the matter is she was never a thing. Like Xion. And Nomura decided by KHIII that it was going to be about Subject X despite a long window of opportunity to present this in a more believable way and with some actual basis other than something ambiguous that Isa and Lea were sneaking in the castle for. Which could have been anything. That tends to be how Nomura works if he wants to insert whatever comes to his mind - see if there's a gap he left and implant it without any previous references. Then the players are left to simply accept them.

It's even more daunting when Ansem and Ansem SoD suddenly talk about her existence as if it was so important when they never paid attention to it in legit...what, KHII, 358/2 Days, and DDD. That's three games.

The entire abrupt inclusion of her from the tendrils of Nothingness, and the way it mattered to both of them and Isa, should have had acknowledgement before if she was really that big of a deal. Especially if it supposedly affected Isa that badly that we had to sit through him being a simp over this girl as he disappears in what was a weak attempt at a "redemption arc".

Eh, I would say that you are right but that doesn't mean that I'm wrong either. He very well could have had an idea of Subject X but later decided to change the timeline for that plot. Also on your second point I know that she should have come up if had the Ansems ever spoken in the previous games... Which they didn't so, meh; but literally going through the story there is no actual point where it would naturally come up, or where Ansem would plot dump it.

I mean Days would be a good place for Isa and Axel to talk about it but that game is more about RAX and not about Axel's relationship with Isa, which is a point of contention in KHIII between them especially because they had already started to grow apart before. Hey, that's actually good writing! Subject X is less of a problem than you seem to be arguing and actually helps give some more context to the problems between Alex and Isa which in turn makes it more of a developed plotline.

Also I would say that trying to find out anything about a friend that might be still able to be saved has absolutely nothing to do with "Simping." I use that word, but come on; it has a meaning and it doesn't mean that.

It doesn't make sense that he appeared in DDD, got an entire game to himself in 358/2 Days, and appeared post-merge with Sora in TWTNW in KHII. Including the KHII:FM scene on the clock tower with Axel. Once more, ample, ample, ample time to mention anything about this Sigil that he comes out with from left field that he had never thought about, mentioned, or cared for. At all. None of them. There's no excuse.

Yes there is. The sigil is something he was branded with and marks him as a member of the Organization. Even though the one he was a part of is gone, the Organization is the thing that brought him to his first friends and was the gateway to who he is now, even though I think it was delivered a bit clunkily I got that he basically wanted to take the thing that made him a member and make it his own. I won't get into specific examples because that could get a bit heated but people in history have done much the same, including a number of Pirates in the 15-1800s.

Spoiler Show

Hell, how does Roxas even know anything at all? When did he suddenly know that you can reclaim the Sigil? How did he know he needed Sora's help as if he understood what to do? How did he know anything about the replica process and who was behind it in general? What, did he get filled in on that .01 millisecond it took for him to shoot out of Sora's chest and storm the Keyblade Graveyard right after?

You can't answer those questions because there isn't an official explanation. KH fans just brainstorm possible ones to fill in the blatant holes Nomura leaves with his terrible narrative work. No build ups, no basis, nothing. Which is what's being done now. Why not just accept that it was random and sudden instead of working to find some sort of defense for it?

It's nonsensical, it's random, and whether or not it makes sense in context, it was never there as anything of value and importance throughout the entirety of Roxas' journey and appearances before KHIII. Not even. Before Re:Mind.

While I can't answer how he knows he can take it, I don't really care as it is obviously a more symbolic thing than something that purely is supposed to make sense, though if it ends up being important that will subtract from point of it. I wasn't going to comment on it because I had already made an argument up there, but I wanted to make that clear.

Spoiler Show

The responses to this just strengthens my argument further. It's about Riku Replica, not about Naminé. The issue stands that Nomura tries not only to paint Riku Replica's end as sweet and touching when it shouldn't be (he's the result of an utter mind screw that ends with him denying his individuality and leads to him choosing to die), he tries to make it look mutual instead of one-sided when there's no build up to that whatsoever.

Let's look at Naminé. Girl brainwashes him, under duress, certainly, but he's still brainwashed by her, literally short circuits his brain accidentally because he was going to attack Sora, and aside from an admittance of guilt and regret that she was the cause of his hurt, there's nothing else there for this "strong connection". But I guess brainwashing someone equates to a "strong connection"...who knew. Post-CoM? Where did she mention him? When was he important? Where is the basis for what Nomura stated? There was Days, KHII, Coded/Re:Coded...where is this connection he speaks of.

In fact, how did Sora even know about Riku and Riku Replica in the first place to say anything to Naminé at all about the situation in the Final World if it occurs later on? Lol. It's simply... incomprehensible. Characters just have random knowledge about things they shouldn't have knowledge of. Sora should have just shut up and only stuck with "it's not true". He lists all these characters that miss her, yet the game (coughnomuracough) doesn't follow up on that at all and she never interacts with anyone to prove his statements. Except Sora himself. And Riku. But Riku forgot she existed until Riku Replica was, "yo, dude, she exists, make sure she returns bruh". Then Riku does a Pikachu surprised face.

Naminé never removed those false memories. It took Sora a pod and months to fully recover his real memories and to fix him. Naminé isn't able to take an hour, let alone a day, to reverse the brainwashing she had done to Riku Replica. The guy was still deluded into false events that didn't happen and weren't his, along with a faux promise to protect her that she placed in there. He held unto it because he had nothing else to hold unto. He only knew they were fake memories because he realized they were when told.

Yeah, I know it was about the memory wipe. But what I'm saying is that Nomura doesn't care about covering up his tracks with that anymore, as we see with Subject X. So I don't think it's anything to be too concerned about. Eraqus and Xehanort are dead already. The only possible role this group of characters will have with the current cast is either through metaphysical relation or being descendants of KHUx characters. Unless one of them is Luxu, MoM, or Kairi's grandmother, which goes back to the aforementioned point.

As for Nomura, I would correct this and say he only knows how to do a duo of male friendships.

But he certainly can do a big cast with strong interrelations, as KHUx showed, because they are not tethered by a trio. They can explore out of that zone. Notice how none of the characters have been excluded from one another. Sans Elrena. I still don't know what the purpose of her is, as much as I love Larxene.

I thought the same thing and came to the same conclusion. I think we were supposed to be impressed and marvel at how badass she is or something, lol. No matter how forced it was. Having wielders with more experience jobbing to show that she's not useless is not how you fix a character, Nomura.

All of this is pretty much stuff I don't want to talk about at 2:00 in the morning after being on the road all day, and I'm finally back home after two weeks so I'll leave it I guess.

 

[KeybladeLordSora]

IIRC Saïx's report in KH3's Secret Reports brought up that he and Lea only met Subject X on the day they finally broke into AtW's castle after multiple failed attempts due to wanting to sate their curiosity about the rumored experiments being held there.

And Subject X only showed up after Xehanort became an apprentice.

So they only met her in the time Apprentice Xehanort was active.

@Violet Pluto About what's in your first spoiler section, remember that Roxas was completely active within Sora. He experiences everything Sora experiences.

 

[MATGSY]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1271885573385404417

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1271885573385404417

I'm lucky I wasn't drinking anything.

I hurt now from laughing so hard.

 

[Zettaflare]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1271885573385404417

Ben Diskin: "Everytime you open you mouth Sora that's what it sounds like"

I mean he's not wrong, lol

 

[U.N. Owen]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1271885573385404417

Okay, I inhaled my drink. Ben wins the internet.