It does beg the question though, where is Terra's body at this point? Is it technically the body that comprises Xemnas, but with some newly generated heart like he describes to Sora, or am I missing something? On that note, I'm assuming that Ansem (Heartless) and Xemnas were just brought there from their respective time periods and not actually revived. But, if that's the case, then it really doesn't make sense that old man Xehanort is the one that regenerates at the end of Dream Drop Distance. But that opens up another problem. Ansem (Heartless) technically only had a body at all because of Riku, which is created at the moment Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive at the fractured Destiny Islands at the end of the first game (since before then he was just using Riku's body directly), so when did Ansem have time to be whisked away to the future?
Sorry, I didn't get around to this game until recently, and none of this makes any sense to me.
No one knows and that's the point of it. It is an intentional mystery slated to be cleared up later as stated in the DDD Ultimania:
DDD Ultimania said:
Q: What happened to Terra's heart and body?
A: In this game, Master Xehanort does not appear in the form of Terra-Xehanort when he transferred his heart, but as the old man he was before he took control of Terra's body. During the revival, what happened to Terra's body, and Terra's heart that was in opposition to Xehanort's control? In Kingdom Hearts, Birth by Sleep, it is to be considered that it was thought the whereabouts of the heart of Terra's master, Eraqus rested within his body.
As for Ansem SoD and Xemnas, how exactly they are present is not completely made clear apart from the fact that Young Xehanort served as a "portal" for them using Ansem SoD's borrowed time travel powers.
For further reading, I've resort again to the Ultimania and an Famitsu interview for more clarification since the game itself failed to present it properly, a common problem of the whole series I might add:
DDD Ultimania said:
— In other words, Ansem and Xemnas were, at the same time, existing in the time and space of KH3D as well as having returned to their true human form after being destroyed?
Nomura: Yes, it does turn out that way. However, as I said before, ‘The World That Never Was’, where the thirteen all met, is a special space. The mechanics behind how they were all able to exist at the same time is a mystery. From KH1 on, Ansem has returned no matter how many times he has been defeated, perhaps the same sort of thing happened.
Famitsu interview said:
— What about Xemnas and Ansem, essentially they weren’t inside anyone, was it due to circumstances of the worlds of sleep?
Nomura: First off, when Young Xehanort made contact with the Brown Robed Figure, that is to say, the Xehanort who called himself Ansem, his abilities were transferred to him. As a result of Master Xehanort tossing his physical body, he was able to exceed time, and this power was carried into the Brown Robed Figure. Thus when Young Xehanort made contact with him, he gained this power. Possessing this power. Young Xehanort functioned as a “portalâ€, summoning Xemnas and Ansem each time they appeared. That’s why Young Xehanort was there whenever they appeared. Additionally, when Sora and Riku dropped into the worlds of sleep, simultaneously Young Xehanort himself goes into the world of sleep.
— After generating and before attacking Sora, were Xemnas and Ansem somewhere that exceeded beyond time?
Nomura: That’s right.
Or to say it a little shorter: The exact status of Ansem SoD and Xemnas is currently unknown, but Nomura's answer to the last question in the quote's indicates that they somewhere "beyond time" (aka a place or realm where time doesn't flow/exists).
I don't understand though why it would make even less sense of Xehanort returning as a full person during the end of DDD as the time-travel shenanigans of Young Xehanort, Ansem and Xemnas have no influence or importance on the restoration process which, as I explained earlier, brings together all the parts belonging to the existence in question.
That existence is Xehanort, as in all parts that are Xehanortâ„¢ and
not any stolen/occupied parts that are actually Terraâ„¢ or Eraqusâ„¢.
Xehanort regenerates in his original body because that's where his main heart
belongs, not in a different body he merely piggybacked in without permission.
This is what I am longing to know tbh. Where does Xehanort's body come from when he actually left it behind back in BBS? It's like it materialized itself. And I do wonder whether Xehanort has Terra and what condition he's in. I mean with the First Breath Concert, we know Nomura didn't forget about the Lingering Will and that means part of Terra is still missing from his Body and Heart (and soul?). Without his will, he might actually be a vessel.
I mean it makes sense, but fact is like Scatterbrained mentioned, the original body was Terra's after all, that's why Xemnas looks so much like an older Terra with some minor Xehanort features. Xehanort's body was gone for 13 years while Terra's existed in the form of Xemnas. How can it be then that Xehanort returns? His body should have rotten in theory (I mean I suppose KH doesn't work that way lol).
That is exactly what Xehanort's body did. It simply rematerialized.
In BBS the body disappears in sparkles and that's it. It doesn't "die" or wither away or something, it simply goes into stasis somewhere in the Darkness as the body doesn't die just because the
heart leaves it.
The KH II Ansem Reports actually explain this. "Death" only may occur if the
soul and the body are separated.
And to directly clarify that as well: No, that doesn't mean Xehanort's old body turned into a Nobody because a Nobody is only created if the heart belonging to the body is lost to Darkness (either succumbing to it itself or being stolen/devoured by a Heartless). In Xehanort's case though, he let his heart leave
willingly practically simply stuffing his old body in the fridge for storage.
The Lingering Will is only a piece of animated armor powered by left over thoughts/memories/emotions, it doesn't hold any of the three "vital" parts of Terra's existence and the actual whereabouts of his body/soul (those form one entity, they aren't separated or Terra's body would be dead and rot away) and heart are a deliberate mystery.
Terra's body was the "original" in the sense of that it was the starting point the split occured from, but that doesn't make the body suddenly a natural part of Xehanort. The restoration process takes the
freed parts of an existence and puts them back together as they belong.
Xehanort's body didn't rot away because Xehanort's soul is still in it, it is just placed in suspension. It was "only" Xehanort's
heart that left. Without it the body can't function, but it doesn't get any lasting damage from it.
Looking through the scripts of both Re: Coded and DDD though I realize the games
yet again fail to make this clear in any form and I have again to resort to secondary sources to get the point across.
Small warning though as this information is something that was revealed already in
March 2007, in the so-called "Director's Secret Report XIII" which was a book released with the original KH 2 Final Mix and yep, you guessed it, only in Japan:
Director's Secret Report said:
VIII. When you defeat Heartless, what happens to the hearts they have stolen? Also, when Nobodies and members of Organisation XIII are defeated, do they return to their original forms?
When a Heartless is defeated, essentially, the owner of that heart returns to life somewhere in the Realm with the body that had once disappeared.
Some facts about where hearts go were also established in KHII, but those were exceptional circumstances brought about by the Organisation.
However, there is the rare case in which a body changes into a Nobody. If that has happened, without the vessel it ought to return to the heart will go into a suspended state.
When a Nobody is defeated, it's a little complicated. If the heart has been released they will return to their original form as mentioned above, but if the heart is still dispossessed by a Heartless, the Nobody will be swallowed by darkness. If their heart, wherever it is in the realm, could be taken back perhaps they could return to their original human form.
As can be seen the concept itself has been there already in 2007, but it was brought up in the actual main medium the games only in the secret ending of Re: Coded (when Yen Sid speaks about Master Xehanort returning, note how there they also already show
old Xehanort and not Apprentice/Terra-Xehanort) and actually shown in action during DDD.
What the games themselves however again failed to do was
explain how it happened, hence why these questions tend to pop up again and again.
Oh, and if you want to read the whole Director's Report, which our renowned member
goldpanner took quite some effort to fully translate,
here is the full version of it.
I think Terra has a complicated case. We can assume a plethora of things:
* Xemnas is actually Terra with a well developed Xehanort seed inside of him;
* Master Xehanort doesn't have a body and is actually projecting an image of his body with his heart, while Terra is one of the hooded figures and is being kept a mystery for the sake of the narration;
* The MX we see in Where Nothing Gathers is actually from the future and decided to come to that specific point in time because it's all part of his grand scheme, in a future where he is Apprentice Xehanort/Terranort.
Plenty. From the point he gains a physical appearance, to before he's destroyed. Ansem doesn't have a body, he's just projecting an image the same way Sora did up until Roxas reunited with him in the start of KH2.
This is a stretch, but what if the Master Xehanort we see in DDD is actually either his Nobody, or he's actually from the future?
I mean, maybe Xehanort did return as Terranort, but decided to leave Terra's body momentarily for the sake of the heroes seeing him personally. Or maybe Terra is in a stasis the same way some of Ansem's apprentices are. I don't know. At this point in time, Terra's fate is an enigma.
All these theories about that Xehanort being a Nobody, also a time traveler or whatever can essentially also be thrown into the fridge because it has been confirmed that it is indeed Xehanort's true body that has returned, and actually
both in-game and in secondary sources:
Master Xehanort himself states in DDD:
Master Xehanort said:
My twelve selves would welcome me here on this day, when I would return a complete person.
He says complete person, not Nobody or any conglomerate-mumbo-jumbo stuff, meaning he's the pure unaltered Xehanortâ„¢ with all the original parts.
As for secondary sources, beyond the snippet I already posted from the DDD Ultimania speaking about Terra which also states that Old Xehanort did return, it gets again confirmed in the KH Memorial Ultimania which was released in October 2014 in the full two-page diagram dedicated to Xehanort:
KH Memorial Ultimania said:
Doesn't get much more clear than this, and yet I still can understand people scratching their heads over such topics because
all this information cannot be easily deciphered from the games themselves.
Yep, Terra's fate is an enigma, but not by oversight or laziness, but by design.