(SPOILERS) Union X: Confrontation

[Ballad of Caius]

Translation are up; Brain summoning the Masters' Keep

 

[Cumguardian69]

Oh. My. GLOBNESS. uWu

I can't believe Brain is wielding MASTER'S DEFENDER. And his smile he had when he learned that Dorkness was the only one present, it almost looked sadistic. Like he was READY TO INFLICT PAIN on this dorkness feller. Can we say that light doesn't mean good, or was that a misdirection via animation? Who knows. I can't wait for the next episode to come along in January/February. This is doubleplus exciting!!!!


yall really fighting each other over translations? come taf on. we're supposed to be rejoicing over another 5 minute textscene.

Moving on

 

[isakiri]

Ephemer: Friends? Was the Master working with the darkness?

Darkness: We don't need to work with people like you.

This part kinda disproves the whole "since darkness isn't human and the MoM is 'old friends' with darkness then MoM must also not be a human" thing. Since he includes the Master in the category of "people like you" then I assume the Master is a human and not just a manifestation of light or whatever so that's nice to hear.

Really makes me wonder if the Master is going to be the villain of the saga after all or if whatever is behind darkness is going to be the actual villain. Could really see it going either way.

This also backs up Vanitas being darkness as well. The darkness says "we" meaning there are multiple of them. Vanitas could very well just be one instance of darkness.

 

[the red monster]

Ephemer: Friends? Was the Master working with the darkness?

Darkness: We don't need to work with people like you.

This part kinda disproves the whole "since darkness isn't human and the MoM is 'old friends' with darkness then MoM must also not be a human" thing. Since he includes the Master in the category of "people like you" then I assume the Master is a human and not just a manifestation of light or whatever so that's nice to hear.

Really makes me wonder if the Master is going to be the villain of the saga after all or if whatever is behind darkness is going to be the actual villain. Could really see it going either way.

This also backs up Vanitas being darkness as well. The darkness says "we" meaning there are multiple of them. Vanitas could very well just be one instance of darkness.

I think MoM and darkness fighting will damage the KH universe so sora will have to stop both. making them both a villain

 

[Idreamaboutcats]

Hmmm…

I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed with this update. It’s a main scenario update but there’s nothing particularly new to gloss over, just slightly clearer expositions of what we already know or can guess.

We already know Darkness and the Master know each other, or at least are aware of each other.

There’s been a lot of talk on how Eraqus resembles Brain quite a lot.

Ven’s there because he needs to be flung to the future with amnesia.

There’s nothing that’s surprising or twisty at all. I’m thankful for the translations and all, but this update has been rather lackluster. I have to say, I hope they don’t prolong the drip feed much more, but they most likely will because DR won’t survive on its own as a pseudo-idle game…

 

[Alpha Baymax]

The Master of Masters continues to be an entertaining character. When you think you figured him out, he throws another curveball.

 

[isakiri]

Hmmm…

I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed with this update. It’s a main scenario update but there’s nothing particularly new to gloss over, just slightly clearer expositions of what we already know or can guess.

We already know Darkness and the Master know each other, or at least are aware of each other.

There’s been a lot of talk on how Eraqus resembles Brain quite a lot.

Ven’s there because he needs to be flung to the future with amnesia.

There’s nothing that’s surprising or twisty at all. I’m thankful for the translations and all, but this update has been rather lackluster. I have to say, I hope they don’t prolong the drip feed much more, but they most likely will because DR won’t survive on its own as a pseudo-idle game…

Yeah. Getting really sick of these updates that tell us barely anything. It's such a slow burn and I hate it. I really wish that they would just finish off the UX story already but at this rate it's going to still be receiving story updates 5 years from now.

What makes matters worse about UX is that we already know where all of these characters end up. It's just a matter of us finding out how they got there. We don't even need this story information in order to understand future games but we just want to know more about the backstory. It also bothers me that we don't really know how far we are from the end of the story of UX. They stated like a year ago that we're in the "final chapter" of the game but who knows how long that final chapter is going to be.

Maybe darkness will incapacitate all of the dandelion leaders and then Luxu will step in after his conversation that he just had with the Master and he'll save them by throwing them in the arcs and tossing them into the future. Who knows! One can hope that this happens and they finally move on to something else instead of seeing these goofs stand around in a room for another 10 story updates.

 

[The_Echo]

Hmmm…

I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed with this update. It’s a main scenario update but there’s nothing particularly new to gloss over, just slightly clearer expositions of what we already know or can guess.

We already know Darkness and the Master know each other, or at least are aware of each other.

There’s been a lot of talk on how Eraqus resembles Brain quite a lot.

Ven’s there because he needs to be flung to the future with amnesia.

There’s nothing that’s surprising or twisty at all. I’m thankful for the translations and all, but this update has been rather lackluster. I have to say, I hope they don’t prolong the drip feed much more, but they most likely will because DR won’t survive on its own as a pseudo-idle game…

I don't think every update needs to have a big twist. It might feel like you want the next big moment because it's been X amount of time since the last update, but when you consider the story as a whole, that kind of delivery would just make it exhausting and repetitive.

That said, it's not like we didn't learn anything.
Brain having Master Keeper isn't a huge shock to anyone paying attention, but it's nice to have it finally confirmed.
And we got to learn more about Darkness and how it operates, as well as its relationship with the Master.

Also, I really like that Streltizia's death was completely arbitrary. Not some cog in a Machiavellian scheme. Just the wrong place and wrong time. Amplifies the tragedy of it.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Yeah. Getting really sick of these updates that tell us barely anything. It's such a slow burn and I hate it. I really wish that they would just finish off the UX story already but at this rate it's going to still be receiving story updates 5 years from now.

The Kingdom Hearts team confirmed that the story of UX will come to a close in 2021, I don't see the player character visiting any new Disney worlds from this point onwards and I think Square Enix would rather have all of the UX team focus on Dark Road.

 

[isakiri]

The Kingdom Hearts team confirmed that the story of UX will come to a close in 2021, I don't see the player character visiting any new Disney worlds from this point onwards and I think Square Enix would rather have all of the UX team focus on Dark Road.

What a relief to hear this. Thank the lord. And yeah, for a game that's just starting out, Dark Road has had very little story development so far. I mean, the first bit of it had a lot of story development but now it has most definitely stagnated and I find myself rarely playing the game anymore. Would be nice to see what they could accomplish with all of their effort put into Dark Road.

 

[LoneFox]

Master: Hmm…… Well, it's not much of a conversationalist. Isn't great at communicating either. It doesn't think like your average Joe.
Luxu: Sounds just like you, Master.
Master: Bwuh?! (The Master is taken aback and falls over in his seat.)

This is easily one of the most hilarious scenes in the whole series. Luxu by accident came a bit too close to the Truth about the Master of Masters. I don't think MoM is one of the Darknesses himself, but he may be responsible for their existence, and definitely was on their side in the previous Keyblade War.

Darkness: True, he didn't know her. But there was something he wanted: power. So, we put it in his hands. The the power of a Union Leader.
Skuld: Ven would never want that!
Darkness: But he got it, didn't he?

Like the Devil reading the Bible...
(Is this saying known in the English-speaking world? It means intentionally misinterpreting something to support one's own point.)

Darkness: That he'd be the one to harbor darkness.
Brain: Are you saying it was set in stone? That Ven was meant to be a vessel for darkness?
Darkness: Exactly. The fated child as written in the Book of Prophecies.

This reminds me of a discussion with @Sephiroth0812 a few months ago about the events that led to Eraqus attacking Ven:

Eraqus needed to know what the X-blade is and have some kind of understanding of how it is created, and those come from the lore. If Vanitas was part of MoM's plan, then the whole thing including Ven obviously is in the book (Xehanort used the No Name keyblade to do it, so the Eye saw it for sure), but that hasn't been confirmed. Also, we don't know how much of the Book's text they have and how accurate it is. So, Eraqus could have known more than what was shown on the screen, but he didn't need to.

Now we have evidence that this stuff was in the Book, and we can assume that Brain will do his best to pass it on to future generations, so it's likely that Eraqus did know it as well. Also, note how Brain will be able to confirm the story, because he's got the Book. At the same time, both candidates for the person who was supposed to have it at this point are knocked out. So, if things had been as planned, Brain would have had little reason to believe what the Darkness told him. This may well be the scene where the Masterplan went off the tracks!

 

[Squood!]

The Kingdom Hearts team confirmed that the story of UX will come to a close in 2021, I don't see the player character visiting any new Disney worlds from this point onwards and I think Square Enix would rather have all of the UX team focus on Dark Road.

...they did? I don't remember that.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

...they did? I don't remember that.

 

[Idreamaboutcats]

Wanna know the worst part? I can’t remember who said it, it might be Nomura, or another dev, but someone once said that they wanted to use a powerful engine (or console) to show the atrocity of the Keyblade War. You know what we got? Flash animations on web browsers then mobile on a bunch of chibi kids duking it out with shiny glowy sticks.

Here’s the clincher, the weapon the games were named after, you know the one everyone supposedly fought over, the χ-blade, to get to the macguffin that is Kingdom Hearts, has yet to appear. It didn’t appear in the original, not in unchained, and not now.

I’m barely hanging on as it is, but we’re getting off topic and I’m just ranting now.

MoM’s theme definitely implies he’s crazy...or possibly a functioning sociopath.

 

[Squood!]

Um...nothing about this says it'll end in 2021 tho.

 

[LoneFox]

Here’s the clincher, the weapon the games were named after, you know the one everyone supposedly fought over, the χ-blade, to get to the macguffin that is Kingdom Hearts, has yet to appear. It didn’t appear in the original, not in unchained, and not now.

That's because it was not in the Keyblade War that happened in UX, but in the previous one that MoM told about. In the modern timeline, the lore has mixed the two wars together.

 

[Hirokey123]

So I have thoughts....

First it definitely seems to be painting the idea that Darkness isn't actually evil, evil is something done with conscious intent. Both it and the MoM say it has no goals so I doubt we are meant to doubt that. From the sound of it darkness just wants to understand beings of light but it can't and in that lack of understanding it causes harm. It reacts to the negativity in a person, it feels their desires, and in doing so it tries to help in its own way by letting them act on those desires. But it doesn't understand the morality element of all this nor does it feel empathy or love it just...reacts and watches the reaction. Which mean Darkness isn't really the issue it's people that are, darkness only reacts but the selfish actions of murder, power grabbing, greed, hate those come from the beings of light. That would sort of account for why Xehanort wanted to go so far, the core issue is people themselves how do you fix that? Well one way is definitely to start the world over as blank and create new life that is compatible with darkness.

I definitely get the sense Darkness is being painted almost sympathetic here while the MoM is...concerning. He talks about how they are too different, that understanding or in other words balance can not be reached, and thus he seems to seek their destruction. That IMO completely flies in the face of a hero like Sora and a story like KH which is all about reaching out to people and making connections with them no matter how impossible it seems. I get the sense the direction the story is going is that Sora is going to ultimately broker an understanding with Darkness and the MoM will be a villain that needs to be stopped because he is going to try some kind of mass genocide of an entire sentient species (maybe all of reality really) because he thinks co-existence is impossible.

More than ever though I am doubling back down on my theory that Xemnas was talking to "a" Darkness in the chamber of repose. Especially now that it's confirmed Darkness as a species can turn invisible and that it can choose when it takes corporeal form or has a voice. It would explain everything honestly, Xemnas constructs a room where Darkness can appear in visible form to speak with it, and when he leaves darkness can just hide itself so if anyone goes poking around in the room they won't find anything. Xigbar/Luxu spying on Xemnas trying to find out what he is doing is because Luxu knows about Darkness's abilities and he may have suspected that Xemnas was talking with Darkness.

To further this Darkness would explain a lot on Xehanort's knowledge.

Sora: He knew everything that was going to happen?
YX: No not everything, but remember Ansem possessed Riku and saw his experiences in real time
Sora: So, that could only tell him so much. How did he know I would be here?
YX: Simple *shows image of Kairi's heart flying into Sora's*
*skip to TT*
YX: You've been to this world many times in your memories, in the data, and in your dreams again and again like deja vu.

In other worlds the MoM saw all this happen and wrote it down, then stuff from the book was brought into the world multiple times, and darkness experienced all of this again and again. Just sitting, watching, observing, experimenting to try and understand, and trying to keep things on course like sending Maleficent back. Then at some point it joined with Xehanort, seeking refuge in him like Kairi did to Sora, and in doing so Xehanort gained access to its knowledge and experiences. Maybe that's what the eye color change represents, they eyes of the being called Darkness staring out from within him. Would explain the opening of KH3 with the scene where YX stares into the sky and sees a dark purple flame in the sky that is reflected in his eyes.

Thus I will take it one step further and suggest that Apprentice Xehanort when he said he isn't Xehanort in DDD is true, that Ansem is Darkness or the being of Darkness merged with Xehanort's own darkness. In fact you could take it a step further, continuing the experiment under Ansem's name then taking it himself. If Darkness can sense what a person wants it may literally have just been acting on what it felt from Ansem the Wise. In other words it was doing what Ansem the Wise wanted to do, carrying on the work he wanted, because it doesn't comprehend the morality of why Ansem the Wise stopped. With Xehanort's own desires getting mixed up in there as well.

When Xemnas says he thought he be praised but instead Ansem the Wise kept holding back causing him to want to erase him, it's genuine. It was acting on what AtW wanted and no matter how much it did what he wanted it was met with being told to hold back, to stop. Unable to understand that it saw Ansem as holding himself back so it got rid of him and took his place, but again Xehanort's own desires are mixed in with this to. It's a messy hodgepodge where there is no real distinction where one ends and the other begins.

In way then for a time Xemnas really WAS all that's left of Xehanort. Since darkness is incorporeal unless it chooses to take form the human body is 100% the being of light's. Ergo as the living body of AX he was all that was left of Xehanort (well really all that was left of Terra hijacked by Xehanort but let's not get into that), but you can then see Xehanort's nihilism at work. Taking the name of Xemnas meaning in a way all he ever was, was the husk vessel for Darkness, for Ansem, thus the name Xemnas. Because that's what Young Xehanort ends up believing, that the heart's true essence is darkness, and Xehanort carried that belief with him for the rest of his life. If the heart's true essence is darkness you don't need to fight the darkness you need to embrace it, be one with it, to be true to yourself is to act on those dark desires in your heart not hold them back.

Your light is a farce, you're just a vessel for a darkness you can barely contain with a false light, and that's all you ever will be in this broken ruined failed world. Co-existence is impossible with no leader managing people, they will always be at war because the average person can't comprehend things. They see it black and white, darkness vs light, evil vs good and in that rigid view peace can't be reached so someone who can comprehend it all, like Xehanort believed himself able to become, needs to step up and lead. Start the world over free of preconceived notions and guide it from the beginning to create harmony rather than an endless war. In a way it seems almost noble, in the most absolutely depressing faithless way imaginable. A belief and plan based on assuming/seeing the worst in everyone.

 

[Sign]

Transcript for the one important scene is in the OP. Have to re-export vids due to a minor issue.

 

[Xickin]

1. Can I just say HOLY COW they're milking this Wreck It Ralph scenario
2. Also, weird glitch at 0:52 above MoM
3. If they could give customized Keyblades this whole time (I'm talking about Brain's Master Defender), I wonder why they're still choosing to give a lot of the main characters generic KHUX Keyblades. I feel like there should be some diversity.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

Um...nothing about this says it'll end in 2021 tho.

I don't think they'd be calling it a "Final Chapter" if it wasn't going to be concluded by December 2021 at the very latest.