(SPOILERS) Union X: Shift Pride & Meeting ??????

[Sephiroth0812]

Reading the whole translated video (thanks!), even the talk between the Leaders is kinda interesting:

- The data animations in PvP turned out to be an actual clue, nice
- "Shift Pride" is an actual proper noun? Well, obviously "Pride" is a dead giveaway to anyone who's keeping track of the MoM and the cardinal sins.
- I swear, Brain could push any other Leader in a dark alley, pull out a bloody knife and say "I will kill you in your sleep" and they would still laugh it off "Ohhh, Brain, you never change!"
Seriously, he's so blatantly suspicious and with a morally grey mindset.
- So, is Lauriam meeting Elrena, or a data version of Elrena? It's not clear, but I gotta assume she's the real one since Daybreak Town *shouldn't* be made of data.
If so, are Dandelions free from the Unchained loop and are just hanging around in DT or did Lauriam insert himself in the supposed sleep?
Man.

I've watched the video more times by now and I too found the scenes of the leader discussion quite enlightening also on their overall stances and general personality outlook.
Despite the chibi art style you can observe their current mood and feelings partially from body language.

I'm in no way claiming my observations as being factual, but from what I gathered:

- Blaine seems to be truly the only one actually comfortable with the role of leader given to him, generally subtly but definitely moving the meeting (and the agenda) along. He also tends to subtly place more pressure on Ephemer by continuously referring to him as the overall leader and leaving the last choice often to him which clearly seems to make Ephemer uncomfortable.
- Ventus has outright stated before he's uncomfortable being in a leader role and (possibly due to being the youngest) doesn't even understand quite some parts of the terminology or what certain parts of the rule book even mean despite having read it, yet when it comes to a topic that somehow "ticks something off" inside him he's quick to jump up and voice his disapproval.
When he hears about "Keyblade Wielders fighting each other" he literally jumps out of his seat in shock and is obviously upset. His vehemence surprises Blaine indicating the others haven't seen him this assertive before.
- Skuld seems to be accepting yet certainly not enthusiastic with her role as a leader and while she has her emotions more under control, she's certainly as upset about the whole "Shift Pride"-issue as Ven is indicated by her flashback to the original world where the infighting symbolized the opening stages of the war.
- Lauriam seems to just "go along for the ride" but doesn't really actively participate in his leading role. He isn't uncomfortable like Ven is but also doesn't seem really into it like Blaine is. Him not participating in a meeting is one thing and can even be excused when personal matters are at hand but him declaring that his vote can always be counted as the one Ephemer makes somehow doesn't sit well with me yet I can't really explain why. It's just somehow weird and I don't fully buy Blaine's "Guess he trusts you, Leader."-explanation.

- now last but not least, Ephemer. I've spent at least three times watching the video observing solely his body language and facial expressions and ho boy, I dunno if it's only my observation but he does seem very nervous, stressed and insecure about everything.
He admits to Lauriam in the Flashback that maybe he's overwhelmed by all the Union Leader stuff and yep, I think that's definitely a thing.
Ephemer's expression changes the most over a short time throughout the meeting, he's more often "kneading" his hands together indicating a sort of anxiety and makes more pauses than usual when speaking which is a notable contrast to the curious, friendly and inquisitive boy the Player Avatar met in the original Chi.
Blaine apparently often going on with that "overall leader" thing on him doesn't help things either and neither does the fact that he seems to take the initiative/control of the debate right away like the "Something wrong with that?" bit right at the start.

Looking at it overall, Ephemer seems to be as much if not more uncomfortable with the whole situation than Ventus is, especially since there seem to be quite some things in Ava's rule book which go against his personal assessment of right and wrong, but doesn't show it as openly, also often trying to laugh tension away.

According to the translation, Lauriam says the person he's looking for should be among the Dandelions, but he hasn't met them yet.
Was he talking about Strelitzia, or was he already on Elrena's track? I feel like this is just a nitpick, but could prove useful.

If he was talking about Strelitzia it would mean she isn't his sister as "hasn't met them yet" would not be appropriate except if they mean to tell us that her and Lauriam lived in the same city before the Keyblade War yet despite being siblings never even met once.

On a further note, I wonder if Lauriam's quest to look into the data will have any chance of succeeding at all due to two possible obstacles.
The first one is obvious: Strelitzia's death was shown in a flashback that supposedly took place still in the original world, the one which was lost due to the Keyblade War. Since she perished before the Dandelions set out to the other world it is possible that her data wasn't even recorded.
The second one is more ambiguous but that new Coaty who met with Maleficent mentioned there being certain restrictions on the data so if Strelitzia's data exists it may also be part of the restricted datapool.

 

[ImVentus]

Ehhh, I think TAV only loses to RAX in how much it tries to show friendship down our gullets. The only familiar parallels there would be Eraqus being Terra's surrogate father and Xehanort's training brother, but even then they were very transitional moments.
Kairi's Grandma and Sora's disembodied voice of a mother (oh, and Riku's invisible father) are the only traces of blood-related family in the series thus far, so if anything I think this Strelitzia reveal is the refreshing one.

On the TAV relationship everyone seems mixed. I also should have been more specific that I meant,
it's not a familiar sight for non-blood related characters to form their own family. Mainly cause I believe family can be more than what it's perceived as. I just like that they show traits such as supportive, coaching and affectionate. That alone can make for a relatable and positive perspective what family can mean for those that have found families in other ways of life. Those that came from abusive backgrounds. Admittingly, TAV isn't the best example, since there's still signs of scolding and overprotectiveness. RAX could be a slight better take. But I still stand for their deep bond, and all the painful damage they have faced just to reunite at peace.

It might be new to see blood related connections for this series (Sora's mom, much) But what KH introduced as just friendship, grew into something more complex. Well that's how I see it.

 

[Alpha Baymax]

You know if Nomura is finally putting actual blood siblings in his series the idea of Lea and Kairi being related sounds like a possibility now.

Terra being Sora's half-brother would be an intriguing plot twist. Have the Master of Masters be the father of both characters, because why not.

About Lea and Kairi, I'm 50/50. Elrena and Strelitzia being related is plausible because they share the same iris colour and Larxene is in Arendelle (Disney world plots have always been thematic for every Organization XIII member thus far in Kingdom Hearts III).

 

[Sign]

According to the translation, Lauriam says the person he's looking for should be among the Dandelions, but he hasn't met them yet.
Was he talking about Strelitzia, or was he already on Elrena's track? I feel like this is just a nitpick, but could prove useful.

If he was talking about Strelitzia it would mean she isn't his sister as "hasn't met them yet" would not be appropriate except if they mean to tell us that her and Lauriam lived in the same city before the Keyblade War yet despite being siblings never even met once.

Translation is that Lauriam hasn't seen them yet, not that he hasn't met them. Two different things.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

Oh, I'm sorry, I meant meeting with her *yet*, not meeting with her at all.
So yeah, seeing her basically

 

[Luminary]

I think Elrena is who he was looking for. That would fit with the structure of the scene where they’re talking about who he is looking for and then he finds Elrena in the next scene. I think he knows Strelitzia is dead since he probably killed her, but there’s some information he needs about her. So he’s searching for her sister who might have the answers he needs.

I could obviously be wrong since it’s not clear either way. But I like the idea of Lauriam having the reaper theme because he took Strelitzia’s life and the Specter is a representation of her death lingering over him. Then if she’s Larxene’s sister, there’s the Frozen parallel. Since this storybwas developed by KH3 staff, it makes sense that they would set this up.

 

[Zettaflare]

So we don't know if Strelitzia is Lauriam or Elrena's sister? Cause if she is Lauriam's then the connection to Arendelle aren't as strong unless both of them had a sisterly sort of bond in the past.

 

[DarkosOverlord]

If Strelitzia was not included in Lauriam's words then Elrena would also be the one who "joined the Dandelions".
Maybe it's a useless point, but considering there's an unknown killer who could've been from outside the whole Dandelion faction knowing Elrena could still be a legit member might eventually matter.

Instead, if at the time Lauriam was talking to Ephemer he was talking about Strelitzia, and only learnt about Elrena in a second moment, then Strelitzia would've been the one who joined the Dandelions leaving Elrena in a grey area (was she also a Dandelion? Was/Is she not? Is she an infiltrate? I wonder if the Leaders have a list of all the Dandelions members.)
But I also think it was Elrena all along.

 

[Raz]

I'm fascinated to find out what Elrena's personality is like. Was she always a garbage person?

 

[Sign]

I can't believe I'm spending Thanksgiving arguing with people on Twitter and slapping disclaimers on everything because they couldn't be bothered to read the one in the article.

People are raising such a stink about us referring to Strelitzia as Lauriam's sister smh

 

[Alpha Baymax]

People are raising such a stink about us referring to Strelitzia as Lauriam's sister smh

We appreciate the hard work that you and Goldpanner are doing to translate all of this, but wouldn't it have been more convienient to keep the reference of "sister" ambigious? So it's more literal to the translation.

The confusion I'm seeing is that people accepting the assumption that Strelitzia is Lauriam's sister, only to be notified that it's ambigious due to the pronouns (or lack thereof) used.

 

[Sign]

We appreciate the hard work that you and Goldpanner are doing to translate all of this, but wouldn't it have been more convienient to keep the reference of "sister" ambigious? So it's more literal to the translation.

The confusion I'm seeing is that people accepting the assumption that Strelitzia is Lauriam's sister, only to be notified that it's ambigious due to the pronouns (or lack thereof) used.

There's no way you can do that without making the translation poor or omitting the sister part entirely. Lauriam specifically refers to someone's sister, and English requires a pronoun attached to it. Something like "I want to ask you something about sister" doesn't work.

See, I'm not seeing any confusion because the people who accept the Lauriam translation are finding no issue. It's the people who refuse to budge from Elrena that are causing problems.

 

[kirabook]

Yeah, people latched onto them being sisters pretty quickly....

 

[Sign]

Yeah, people latched onto them being sisters pretty quickly....

What's not helping is that in accepting that she and Lauriam are siblings, it requires letting go of the possibility that he murdered her, and everyone's been stewing on that for well over a year.

IDK people are just so set in their ways. The whole Elrena sister thing was debunked in a matter of hours; it's crazy how invested they got in that. Reminds me a whole lot of the Xionnort situation pre-TGS.

If Strelitzia was not included in Lauriam's words then Elrena would also be the one who "joined the Dandelions".
Maybe it's a useless point, but considering there's an unknown killer who could've been from outside the whole Dandelion faction knowing Elrena could still be a legit member might eventually matter.

Instead, if at the time Lauriam was talking to Ephemer he was talking about Strelitzia, and only learnt about Elrena in a second moment, then Strelitzia would've been the one who joined the Dandelions leaving Elrena in a grey area (was she also a Dandelion? Was/Is she not? Is she an infiltrate? I wonder if the Leaders have a list of all the Dandelions members.)
But I also think it was Elrena all along.

If Lauriam is the elder brother, it wouldn't be too farfetched to assume he is somewhat aware of who his little sister is acquainted with.

 

[Leaferian]

I mean, if they used imouto then my understanding from formal Japanese is that it's specifically your own sister unless explicitly stated as "specific person's sister". Maybe conversational Japanese has different rules, but that would be my understanding.

If Strelitzia IS Luariam's sister and he DIDN'T kill her, that leaves us something else to consider: That Lauriam may in fact be a proper keyblade wielder, raising further questions about Marluxia.

 

[kirabook]

I woke up this morning to loads of sister fanart. Came here, read the translations, and became neutral. I'm not exactly a professional at deciphering Japanese, but I thought people these days knew Japanese -> English is not always one to one and some things are left ambiguous or could be confusing. There's that error in KH2 where Roxas asks Sora why "he" chose him or something, it happens.

I don't know where the user got it, but someone posted some concept art of Strelitzia concept art and a lot of the potential outfits resembles Marluxia. (I still am not sure where this is from, so could be BS).

I'm kinda convinced she is Marly's little sister, but if it's the other way around, that's ok too. People make too much of a deal of this honestly.

 

[Sign]

I woke up this morning to loads of sister fanart. Came here, read the translations, and became neutral. I'm not exactly a professional at deciphering Japanese, but I thought people these days knew Japanese -> English is not always one to one and some things are left ambiguous or could be confusing. There's that error in KH2 where Roxas asks Sora why "he" chose him or something, it happens.

I don't know where the user got it, but someone posted some concept art of Strelitzia concept art and a lot of the potential outfits resembles Marluxia. (I still am not sure where this is from, so could be BS).

I'm kinda convinced she is Marly's little sister, but if it's the other way around, that's ok too. People make too much of a deal of this honestly.

They showed this in presentations during D23 Japan and the Dandelion Meeting! 100% official, don't worry.

 

[Luminary]

What's not helping is that in accepting that she and Lauriam are siblings, it requires letting go of the possibility that he murdered her, and everyone's been stewing on that for well over a year.

IDK people are just so set in their ways. The whole Elrena sister thing was debunked in a matter of hours; it's crazy how invested they got in that. Reminds me a whole lot of the Xionnort situation pre-TGS.



If Lauriam is the elder brother, it wouldn't be too farfetched to assume he is somewhat aware of who his little sister is acquainted with.

If it is still vague, wouldn’t you say it was de-confirmed rather than debunked since the theory can still turn out to be true? Considering it was Lauriam’s shadow in the scene with Strelitzia’s murder, it leads me to believe for now that he was introduced as Stelitzia’s killer turned Union Leader and Elrena is being introduced as Strelitzia’s sister. (Yeah, I know his shadow could have been a placeholder.) So far, there isn’t anything suggesting this can’t be the case and it fits beautifully with the situations both the characters find themselves in later in the series, so it’s what I’ll hope is the case until we get more information. It isn’t that I can’t let go. It’s that I don’t see a reason to without more proof.

Also, the same could also be said about the people who are now set on her being Lauriam’s sister, whom I’ve also seen being obnoxious. I think the problem is more that people can’t accept we don’t have a clear answer yet than anything else.

That all being said, her being Lauriam’s sister could be a cool way to bring in his original concept as a female character. Perhaps Strelitzia is like the realization of that?

 

[Sign]

If it is still vague, wouldn’t you say it was de-confirmed rather than debunked since the theory can still turn out to be true? Considering it was Lauriam’s shadow in the scene with Strelitzia’s murder, it leads me to believe for now that he was introduced as Stelitzia’s killer turned Union Leader and Elrena is being introduced as Strelitzia’s sister. So far, there isn’t anything suggesting this can’t be the case and it fits beautifully with the situations both the characters find themselves in later in the series, so it’s what I’ll hope is the case until we get more information. It isn’t that I can’t let go. It’s that I don’t see a reason to without more proof.

Also, the same could also be said about the people who are now set on her being Lauriam’s sister, whom I’ve also seen being obnoxious. I think the problem is more that people can’t accept we don’t have a clear answer yet than anything else.

That all being said, her being Lauriam’s sister could be a cool way to bring in his original concept as a female character. Perhaps Strelitzia is like the realization of that?

No, because I'm stubborn and have been dealing with this nonsense all day after pulling an all-nighter for this damn video. I have unshakable confidence in goldpanner and I'm choosing to die on the hill of Strelitzia being Lauriam's sister.

But overall, the reception from what I've seen is: Japanese players are leaning Lauriam, western players are leaning Elrena.

 

[kirabook]

Why would Marluxia be looking for Strelitzia if he's the one that murdered her? Why would he be looking for her sister? To murder her too?

We all jumped to the conclusion that it must have been Marly that killed Strelitzia, but I think even that is questionable now. It makes a heap of sense for Marly to have been looking for Strelitzia and his apparent confusion as to why he hasn't found her yet if they're brother and sister. If Elrena is just Strelitzia's friend, it'd make sense why Marly is kinda unfamiliar with her but still comes to question her about it.

I guess I side more with it being Marly's little sister because murder aside, him looking for her and trying to get information about her makes sense, while I can't think of a reason why Marly would still be investigating Strelitzia knowing she was murdered (and no one would know except him if he did it)

It could be the other way around, I know people have big fantasies about it tying into Frozen, but out of this mess of a plot twist, I feel like Marly being a big bro here is the most logical.