Right off the bat, this is in fact a THEORY post, but I think there is enough evidence now to say with a high degree of certainty that we can conclude who the killer is.
While a lot of people I think are on the right track here, I will go ahead and say that I also believe that Ventus is the killer. However, that is not the complete story. Everywhere I look, I see people beginning to put two and two together but so far I've yet to see anyone really grasp the larger narrative that I think is at play here. So this post will outline and give evidence for what I believe to be the complete truth.
I'll start by going over the timeline of events leading up to Strelitzia's death.
Kingdom Hearts X[chi] - Strelitzia's Perspective
Reference Video
-The tragedy of Strelitzia's character is introduced to us with a scene that tells us that she has been watching us progress through our adventures and that she began to admire us. Sadly she could never work up the courage to approach us and ask to be friends despite having many opportunities to do so.
-One day, Strelitzia is approached by master Ava and recruited into the Dandelions. Additionally she is told that she is to become one of the 5 new Union leaders and is given her rulebook.
-Later that night, Strelitzia is speaking with Chirithy about her new responsibilities and comes to the realization that anyone who is not part of the Dandelions will not survive the coming Keyblade war. This would mean that the one Keyblade wielder she had been admiring all this time (the player character) was going to die as they were not chosen to join the Dandelions. She decides that she will wake up early the next morning and wait for the player to arrive at the fountain square and finally speak to them face to face and ask them to join the Dandelions in order to save their life.
-The following morning, Strelitzia waits for the player to arrive, but they are no where to be found. Suddenly Chirithy appears and alerts Strelitzia that they spotted the player nearby. The two of them rush over to try and catch the player. When they arrive, they search a house for the player but the house appears to be empty. Then, a shadowy figure emerges and the screen fades to black. We see that Strelitzia was fatally attacked and lies helpless on the floor. She grasps her Chirithy and laments that she was never able to speak to the player before fading away. We see her heart float away, and then the screen pans back to her rulebook on the floor which is then taken by her shadowy assailant.
Kingdom Hearts X[Chi] - Player's Perspective
Reference Video Pt.1
Reference Video Pt.2
-Events start off with a scene where the player comes upon two keyblade wielders getting into an argument. The player steps in to try and stop the conflict. A crowd of other keyblade wielders forms and finally Aced appears to confront the player. Aced goes off saying that he will form his own legion of Keyblade wielders and rule over all of the unions himself. Ira then appears and challenges Aced, calling his idea foolish. The two then disappear through a portal and the crowd disperses.
-After the events at fountain square, the player had collapsed and was brought back to their room by Skuld recover. While the player is sleeping, Skuld is conversing with Chirithy about how bad the conflict has become between all the unions. She goes on to state that the Dandelions are beginning to lose their focus due to Master Ava's absence. Chirithy comments that no one knows where she is and hasn't been seen for some time. Chirithy then suggests that perhaps master Gula may know something of Ava's whereabouts as the two of them were very close. The player, Skuld, and Chirithy then head off to look for master Gula.
-Chirithy then leads the player and Skuld to an area where Gula is known to be seen frequently. Chirithy comments that he's usually around here more than the clock tower. The group then enters a house and find Gula inside. Gula observes that we are not out collecting lux and assumes we must be a Dandelion. He asks if we are searching for Master Ava and wonders if we are going to ask her to do something about the war. Gula goes on to say that no one can do anything about the war except the Master of Masters who has disappeared recently. Gula states that he and Ava searched for the Master together but were unable to find him. Together they determined that Luxu may be the only one who knows where the Master might be and that Ava has gone looking for Luxu on her own.
-In the next scene we see Ava has located Luxu on top of the hill overlooking Daybreak Town. Ava asks Luxu what he has been doing all this time, to which he responds that he has been observing and that is his role. Luxu suspects the reason why Ava was searching for him was indeed so that he could lead her to the Master of Masters to try and stop the war from happening. Luxu informs her that he can't help her and that the world is meant to end. Ava then questions how Luxu knows all this and he answers that it is written on the Lost Page and that it contains the Master's true intentions. Ava refuses to believe that the Master intended for the war to happen and didn't care about what happened to the world and suspects that Luxu has simply misinterpreted what was written on the Lost Page. She demands to know what was written on the page and accuses Luxu of being the traitor.
-We then return to the scene of Skuld and the player speaking with Gula in the house in Daybreak Town. Gula begins reciting a passage from the Lost page which reads:
"Imbalance observed, strength misplaced, a future filled with sorrow."
"Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow."
Gula asks the player "who do you think this could be pointing to?" and the scene immediately switches back to Ava and Luxu on the hilltop. Luxu tells Ava "Now that you know who the traitor is, can you accept it", to which Ava responds, "That can't be true". Luxu suggests that the Master was never interested in what happens to the world, but rather how the Foretellers would respond and follow their hearts in his absence. Ava says that it's ridiculous that the Master would be only interested in the actions of the Foretellers themselves rather than be concerned with the fate of the world. She draws her keyblade towards Luxu stating that "This can't be what he wanted!".
-The scene switches again back to Gula, player, and Skuld in the house. Gula states that "The traitor is the catalyst that leads to the world's end." He says that he thought he knew who the traitor was, but was unable to stop them. Skuld then repeats the line from the Lost Page "Words of truth misunderstood, as they explore the secret of tomorrow." and wonders what it could mean. Gula then reveals another passage from the Lost Page which states "With a single strike, toll the bells and herald the end ... bringing war upon us as fate did intend." and immediately we are shown Ava leaping to strike against Luxu with her Keyblade. Back in the house, we can hear bells ringing, and Gula states "and, there it is." The signal that the keyblade war was upon them.
-Finally we see Skuld and the player leave the house. Skuld decides to leave to go join the other Dandelions, and the player stays behind to talk with Chirithy. Player asks what would happen to Chirithy if they disappeared and Chirithy answers that they would disappear as well. Suddenly a voice is heard in the distance which is revealed to be Dark Chirithy. Dark Chirithy states that they belong to the player and a battle ensues. After the battle, Dark Chirithy states that the bond between itself and the player is now broken.
Kingdom Hearts Union X - Filling in the gaps.
Reference Video
-During union cross we are given a quest with Lauriam and Elrena where it is revealed that Elrena was an acquaintance of Strelitzia's and that they would sometimes talk about missions. Elrena remembers that her Chirithy and Strelitzia's would often talk together as well. Elrena calls her Chirithy and asks if they know anything about what happened to Strelitzia. Elrena's Chirithy tells them about a time where they were talking on the roof of a house together. Chirithy is talking about how Strelitzia is always going on about a certain player who has caught her eye. The screen pans down to show the player and Skuld entering a familiar house. Suddenly Chirithy becomes very excited and says that he has to leave to go find Strelitzia and he disappears.
Putting the pieces together.
So with all of these events, we finally have a complete timeline of events leading up to Strelitzia's death which can be summarized as follows.
1. Strelitzia becomes infatuated with the player after watching them from afar.
2. Strelitzia is recruited into the Dandelions by Ava, and is appointed Union leader.
3. Strelitzia realizes that the player will be killed in the Keyblade war if they do not join the Dandelions.
4. Strelitzia tries to recruit the player to the Dandelions in order to save their life and waits for them to show up at the Fountain Square.
5. The player and Skuld visit Gula in the house in Daybreak Town.
6. Strelitzia's Chirithy notices player entering the house with Skuld, and leaves to go find Strelitzia.
6. During the visit with Gula, Ava is confronting Luxu on the hilltop.
7. Ava begins the Keyblade war as foretold on the Lost page by striking her Keyblade against Luxu's.
8. Player and Skuld leave the house. Skuld leaves to go join the other Dandelions, while the player goes to battle Dark Chirithy.
9. Strelitzia's Chirithy informs Strelitzia that they saw the player nearby and leads her back to the house that the player and Skuld entered moments ago.
10. When Strelitzia and Chirithy arrive at the house, the player and Skuld have already left.
11. A shadowy figure emerges, strikes down Strelitzia, and takes her rulebook.
Knowing this sequence of events I think we can very squarely point the finger at one individual. Master Gula.
The amount of time between chirithy leaving the rooftop, teleporting to Strelitzia's location, leading her back to the house, and arriving to find no one there, suggests that she must have arrived immediately after the player had left. If this is the case, it's very likely that Gula never left that house and he was still inside when Strelitzia arrived. Furthermore if we look at the way the scenes play out we can infer several clues which point to Gula being the perpetrator:
Firstly, Chirithy's statement that Gula is usually found in this house more often than in the Clock Tower, which is the Foretellers main office of operations so to speak. This suggests that Gula was likely to stay in the area even after Skuld and the Player had left.
Second, if we compare the scenes with the player, with Strelitzia's scene we can see some similarities.
Reference Images
When the player enters the house, Gula emerges from the left side of the screen which is shrouded from view. When Strelitzia's killer appears, he emerges from the same side of the screen which is again shrouded from view. This would seem to paint a very obvious picture that Gula was at the right place at the right time to be the killer.
So we can place him at the crime scene at the time the murder took place, but what about his motivation ? What reason does Gula have to kill Strelitzia and take her place as a Dandelion leader ?
Let's remember that, first and foremost, Gula is one of the Master of Master's apprentices, who like all the Foretellers, was given a very specific role. Gula's role was to "find the traitor and stop them before it's too late." In addition, Gula was given the "Lost Page" of the Book of Prophecies in order to help him discover the traitor's identity. Furthermore, the Master told him that he should "Act normal and keep focused. Trust no one but yourself."
Armed with this information, let's look at some of Gula's dialogue when speaking with the player in Union Cross.
Keyblade War Pt.1 13:19
The scene starts out with Gula observing that we aren't out collecting Lux like your average keyblade wielder and infers that Skuld must be a Dandelion. From this he gathers that we've come to him looking for Ava. He additionally surmises that we are looking for her to ask how to prevent the keyblade war. He tells us that Ava doesn't have the power to do that and goes on to say that we shouldn't even bother asking her what's going on, because knowing will change nothing and there's nothing we can do. Skuld replies that she can't just sit back and do nothing and Gula comments that he can see why Ava chose Skuld to be a Dandelion, as she's just like Ava always trying to do the right thing. He then says that even doing the right thing won't be able to save the world.
KHX Back Cover: Case of Gula 11:56
Compare his tone to this scene, which begins off with Gula realizing that blindly following the Master's instructions won't lead him to fulfilling his role stating "I'm a fool for basing my actions on what was written on that lost page. Everything in the passage in ambiguous at best." And after confronting Aced, he realized even if he could understand the passage and find the traitor, he would be too weak to be able to stop them on his own. He decides that he needs the Master to return as he is the only one who will have the power and wisdom to be able to put him on the right path. In his desperation, he declares he is going to summon Kingdom Hearts, because it is forbidden and the only way to make the Master return is to "break the rules" and "If things don't change, the world is doomed." In order to achieve this, he asks Ava to help him gather Lux because she "Always does the right thing."
The contrast between the two scenes is that in the first scene, Gula seems to have given up hope of being able to change fate, whereas in the second scene he seems to believe that there is hope to prevent the keyblade war if only they can bring back the Master. Most notably however, he believes that the only way to change fate is to "break the rules".
The scene then concludes with Ava refusing to help Gula gather enough Lux to summon Kingdom Hearts. Gula then walks off on his own stating "May your heart be your guiding key."
It's evident that Gula believed that there was only one person with the power to change fate, that being the Master of Masters, and that the key to making him return was to "break the rules" that had been laid out for them. This belief, coupled with a feeling of isolation after being rejected by Ava, his closest friend, as well as his imperative given by the Master of Masters to "trust no one but yourself", is what sets him on the path to murdering Strelitzia.
Fast forward back to the scene in the house with the player just before Strelitzia's death, and we can now analyze the scene within the context of Gula's current state of mind.
Keyblade War Pt.2 1:47
Gula begins by reciting lines from the Lost page to the player. He asks us who do you think this could be pointing to ? and the scene immediately switches to Ava and Luxu back on the hilltop. This is meant to illustrate that the passage is referring to this exact moment of the conflict between Ava and Luxu. The line "Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow." is referencing the fact that both Ava and Luxu interpreted the words written on the Lost page and came to their own conclusions without either of them fully understanding the meaning. This inevitably leads to their conflict which initiates the keyblade war, as spelled out in the later passage "With a single strike, toll the bells and herald the end ... bringing war upon us as fate did intend."
The scene continues with Luxu revealing to Ava who he believes to be the traitor, which Ava refuses to believe. From everything we know so far we can make an educated guess that Luxu told Ava that she herself was the traitor and was unwilling to accept the reality of the situation in the moment. As the scene progresses, we continue to switch back and forth between Gula explaining what was foretold on the Lost page and the events playing out exactly as described back on the hilltop. I believe we are shown this to imply that Gula had already worked out that Ava, his best friend, was ultimately the traitor he was meant to find. Unwilling to do what was necessary to put a stop to her as was instructed by the Master of Masters, Gula resigned himself to the reality that the keyblade war was now inevitable. Feeling the weight of his failure, he secluded himself to this house and waited for the end to arrive. This is evidenced by Gula's dialogue "The traitor is the catalyst that leads to the world's end. I thought I knew who it was, but I couldn't stop them." The player then asks if Gula is allowed to tell us about such a significant passage from the Lost page. To which Gula replies " No. But does it even matter ? Knowing what I told you won't change anything." At this moment the clock tower bells start ringing, signifying that the Keyblade war has started and Gula states "And there it is." It is at this precise moment that Gula arrives at his lowest point. He feels the weight of the inevitable end of the world coming to pass just as the Master said it would. All the while being completely powerless to do anything about it. Gula tells the player and Skuld they should leave, as the Union leaders will probably call for an assembly soon, and the player and Skuld exit the house.
And finally the critical moment arrives. Strelitzia walks into the house.
Revised Theory after 4/2/20 JP update:
-After the 4/2 update, it's become very apparent that Ventus's memories have been altered. This makes the likelyhood that Dark Chirithy is involved with the events surrounding Strelitzia's death to be almost a certainty at this point. We know that Chirithy has the ability to manipulate people's memories, as they erased all the Dandelion's memories of the keyblade war upon arriving in the new worldline. If Dark Chirithy also has this ability, then I think I now have a better grasp of what happened.
Immediately after battling our player character, and breaking the bond with us, Dark Chirithy now had it's own free will to do as it pleased. Being born of Darkness, Dark Chirithy desired to persist after the world's destruction as a result of the Keyblade War. Sensing the darkness in Gula's heart nearby as he sat in despair, Dark Chirithy saw a suitable vessel for itself and took residence in Gula's heart. Moment's later, Strelitzia walks into the room. Knowing that Strelitzia was a Dandelion, Dark Chirithy took control of Gula's body and forced him to strike her down. Gula now would take Strelitzia's place as a Dandelion, ensuring that Darkness would survive the destruction of the world, and persist into the new worldline in which only Light was meant to survive. Dark Chirithy would then erase all of Gula's memories prior to the Keyblade war, and instead plant false memories as a means of manipulating him and averting suspicion. Thus, Master Gula the Foreteller was erased from memory and replaced with the false memories of a naive boy named Ventus, who would serve as a vessel for Dark Chirithy, aka 'Darkness' who would continue to manipulate events behind the scenes to ensure its own survival and continue to spread darkness throughout the new worldline.
Caveats:
At the end of KH3 we see Gula has returned with the other foretellers after being summoned by Luxu. If Ventus is Gula, how is it that they can both exist at the same time ? This is because the Gula that was summoned is from a different point in time than the real Gula aka Ventus. We see that this is possible in KH3 when Master Xehanort summons Dark Riku from the past to the present as well as others including Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas who while being technically the same person are able to coexist at the same moment in time with the real Master Xehanort.
Loose ends:
Why does Luxu know the contents of the Lost Page if the page was given only to Gula by the Master ? I believe it's likely that at some point between X back cover and the events of the keyblade war, Gula sought out Luxu seeking a way to find the Master just as Ava was doing right before the Keyblade war. Seeking advice on what to do, Gula revealed the contents of the Lost page to Luxu. Perhaps their conversation is how Gula was able to discover that Ava was the traitor. Afterall it was Luxu who revealed this to Ava herself. Ultimately, Luxu told Gula the same thing that he told Ava, that he couldn't help him and that the war was inevitable. This furthered Gula down the path towards despair leading up to Strelitzia's final moments. A big clue that Gula and Luxu have a history together is given to us in 358/2 days, when Xigbar looks at Xion and sees Ventus's face. Reference video
So anyways, let me know what you guys think. Sorry it was really long but I felt it was necessary to go over the timeline completely in order to properly follow my train of thought.
Thanks and hope you enjoyed
While a lot of people I think are on the right track here, I will go ahead and say that I also believe that Ventus is the killer. However, that is not the complete story. Everywhere I look, I see people beginning to put two and two together but so far I've yet to see anyone really grasp the larger narrative that I think is at play here. So this post will outline and give evidence for what I believe to be the complete truth.
I'll start by going over the timeline of events leading up to Strelitzia's death.
Kingdom Hearts X[chi] - Strelitzia's Perspective
Reference Video
-The tragedy of Strelitzia's character is introduced to us with a scene that tells us that she has been watching us progress through our adventures and that she began to admire us. Sadly she could never work up the courage to approach us and ask to be friends despite having many opportunities to do so.
-One day, Strelitzia is approached by master Ava and recruited into the Dandelions. Additionally she is told that she is to become one of the 5 new Union leaders and is given her rulebook.
-Later that night, Strelitzia is speaking with Chirithy about her new responsibilities and comes to the realization that anyone who is not part of the Dandelions will not survive the coming Keyblade war. This would mean that the one Keyblade wielder she had been admiring all this time (the player character) was going to die as they were not chosen to join the Dandelions. She decides that she will wake up early the next morning and wait for the player to arrive at the fountain square and finally speak to them face to face and ask them to join the Dandelions in order to save their life.
-The following morning, Strelitzia waits for the player to arrive, but they are no where to be found. Suddenly Chirithy appears and alerts Strelitzia that they spotted the player nearby. The two of them rush over to try and catch the player. When they arrive, they search a house for the player but the house appears to be empty. Then, a shadowy figure emerges and the screen fades to black. We see that Strelitzia was fatally attacked and lies helpless on the floor. She grasps her Chirithy and laments that she was never able to speak to the player before fading away. We see her heart float away, and then the screen pans back to her rulebook on the floor which is then taken by her shadowy assailant.
Kingdom Hearts X[Chi] - Player's Perspective
Reference Video Pt.1
Reference Video Pt.2
-Events start off with a scene where the player comes upon two keyblade wielders getting into an argument. The player steps in to try and stop the conflict. A crowd of other keyblade wielders forms and finally Aced appears to confront the player. Aced goes off saying that he will form his own legion of Keyblade wielders and rule over all of the unions himself. Ira then appears and challenges Aced, calling his idea foolish. The two then disappear through a portal and the crowd disperses.
-After the events at fountain square, the player had collapsed and was brought back to their room by Skuld recover. While the player is sleeping, Skuld is conversing with Chirithy about how bad the conflict has become between all the unions. She goes on to state that the Dandelions are beginning to lose their focus due to Master Ava's absence. Chirithy comments that no one knows where she is and hasn't been seen for some time. Chirithy then suggests that perhaps master Gula may know something of Ava's whereabouts as the two of them were very close. The player, Skuld, and Chirithy then head off to look for master Gula.
-Chirithy then leads the player and Skuld to an area where Gula is known to be seen frequently. Chirithy comments that he's usually around here more than the clock tower. The group then enters a house and find Gula inside. Gula observes that we are not out collecting lux and assumes we must be a Dandelion. He asks if we are searching for Master Ava and wonders if we are going to ask her to do something about the war. Gula goes on to say that no one can do anything about the war except the Master of Masters who has disappeared recently. Gula states that he and Ava searched for the Master together but were unable to find him. Together they determined that Luxu may be the only one who knows where the Master might be and that Ava has gone looking for Luxu on her own.
-In the next scene we see Ava has located Luxu on top of the hill overlooking Daybreak Town. Ava asks Luxu what he has been doing all this time, to which he responds that he has been observing and that is his role. Luxu suspects the reason why Ava was searching for him was indeed so that he could lead her to the Master of Masters to try and stop the war from happening. Luxu informs her that he can't help her and that the world is meant to end. Ava then questions how Luxu knows all this and he answers that it is written on the Lost Page and that it contains the Master's true intentions. Ava refuses to believe that the Master intended for the war to happen and didn't care about what happened to the world and suspects that Luxu has simply misinterpreted what was written on the Lost Page. She demands to know what was written on the page and accuses Luxu of being the traitor.
-We then return to the scene of Skuld and the player speaking with Gula in the house in Daybreak Town. Gula begins reciting a passage from the Lost page which reads:
"Imbalance observed, strength misplaced, a future filled with sorrow."
"Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow."
Gula asks the player "who do you think this could be pointing to?" and the scene immediately switches back to Ava and Luxu on the hilltop. Luxu tells Ava "Now that you know who the traitor is, can you accept it", to which Ava responds, "That can't be true". Luxu suggests that the Master was never interested in what happens to the world, but rather how the Foretellers would respond and follow their hearts in his absence. Ava says that it's ridiculous that the Master would be only interested in the actions of the Foretellers themselves rather than be concerned with the fate of the world. She draws her keyblade towards Luxu stating that "This can't be what he wanted!".
-The scene switches again back to Gula, player, and Skuld in the house. Gula states that "The traitor is the catalyst that leads to the world's end." He says that he thought he knew who the traitor was, but was unable to stop them. Skuld then repeats the line from the Lost Page "Words of truth misunderstood, as they explore the secret of tomorrow." and wonders what it could mean. Gula then reveals another passage from the Lost Page which states "With a single strike, toll the bells and herald the end ... bringing war upon us as fate did intend." and immediately we are shown Ava leaping to strike against Luxu with her Keyblade. Back in the house, we can hear bells ringing, and Gula states "and, there it is." The signal that the keyblade war was upon them.
-Finally we see Skuld and the player leave the house. Skuld decides to leave to go join the other Dandelions, and the player stays behind to talk with Chirithy. Player asks what would happen to Chirithy if they disappeared and Chirithy answers that they would disappear as well. Suddenly a voice is heard in the distance which is revealed to be Dark Chirithy. Dark Chirithy states that they belong to the player and a battle ensues. After the battle, Dark Chirithy states that the bond between itself and the player is now broken.
Kingdom Hearts Union X - Filling in the gaps.
Reference Video
-During union cross we are given a quest with Lauriam and Elrena where it is revealed that Elrena was an acquaintance of Strelitzia's and that they would sometimes talk about missions. Elrena remembers that her Chirithy and Strelitzia's would often talk together as well. Elrena calls her Chirithy and asks if they know anything about what happened to Strelitzia. Elrena's Chirithy tells them about a time where they were talking on the roof of a house together. Chirithy is talking about how Strelitzia is always going on about a certain player who has caught her eye. The screen pans down to show the player and Skuld entering a familiar house. Suddenly Chirithy becomes very excited and says that he has to leave to go find Strelitzia and he disappears.
Putting the pieces together.
So with all of these events, we finally have a complete timeline of events leading up to Strelitzia's death which can be summarized as follows.
1. Strelitzia becomes infatuated with the player after watching them from afar.
2. Strelitzia is recruited into the Dandelions by Ava, and is appointed Union leader.
3. Strelitzia realizes that the player will be killed in the Keyblade war if they do not join the Dandelions.
4. Strelitzia tries to recruit the player to the Dandelions in order to save their life and waits for them to show up at the Fountain Square.
5. The player and Skuld visit Gula in the house in Daybreak Town.
6. Strelitzia's Chirithy notices player entering the house with Skuld, and leaves to go find Strelitzia.
6. During the visit with Gula, Ava is confronting Luxu on the hilltop.
7. Ava begins the Keyblade war as foretold on the Lost page by striking her Keyblade against Luxu's.
8. Player and Skuld leave the house. Skuld leaves to go join the other Dandelions, while the player goes to battle Dark Chirithy.
9. Strelitzia's Chirithy informs Strelitzia that they saw the player nearby and leads her back to the house that the player and Skuld entered moments ago.
10. When Strelitzia and Chirithy arrive at the house, the player and Skuld have already left.
11. A shadowy figure emerges, strikes down Strelitzia, and takes her rulebook.
Knowing this sequence of events I think we can very squarely point the finger at one individual. Master Gula.
The amount of time between chirithy leaving the rooftop, teleporting to Strelitzia's location, leading her back to the house, and arriving to find no one there, suggests that she must have arrived immediately after the player had left. If this is the case, it's very likely that Gula never left that house and he was still inside when Strelitzia arrived. Furthermore if we look at the way the scenes play out we can infer several clues which point to Gula being the perpetrator:
Firstly, Chirithy's statement that Gula is usually found in this house more often than in the Clock Tower, which is the Foretellers main office of operations so to speak. This suggests that Gula was likely to stay in the area even after Skuld and the Player had left.
Second, if we compare the scenes with the player, with Strelitzia's scene we can see some similarities.
Reference Images
When the player enters the house, Gula emerges from the left side of the screen which is shrouded from view. When Strelitzia's killer appears, he emerges from the same side of the screen which is again shrouded from view. This would seem to paint a very obvious picture that Gula was at the right place at the right time to be the killer.
So we can place him at the crime scene at the time the murder took place, but what about his motivation ? What reason does Gula have to kill Strelitzia and take her place as a Dandelion leader ?
Let's remember that, first and foremost, Gula is one of the Master of Master's apprentices, who like all the Foretellers, was given a very specific role. Gula's role was to "find the traitor and stop them before it's too late." In addition, Gula was given the "Lost Page" of the Book of Prophecies in order to help him discover the traitor's identity. Furthermore, the Master told him that he should "Act normal and keep focused. Trust no one but yourself."
Armed with this information, let's look at some of Gula's dialogue when speaking with the player in Union Cross.
Keyblade War Pt.1 13:19
The scene starts out with Gula observing that we aren't out collecting Lux like your average keyblade wielder and infers that Skuld must be a Dandelion. From this he gathers that we've come to him looking for Ava. He additionally surmises that we are looking for her to ask how to prevent the keyblade war. He tells us that Ava doesn't have the power to do that and goes on to say that we shouldn't even bother asking her what's going on, because knowing will change nothing and there's nothing we can do. Skuld replies that she can't just sit back and do nothing and Gula comments that he can see why Ava chose Skuld to be a Dandelion, as she's just like Ava always trying to do the right thing. He then says that even doing the right thing won't be able to save the world.
KHX Back Cover: Case of Gula 11:56
Compare his tone to this scene, which begins off with Gula realizing that blindly following the Master's instructions won't lead him to fulfilling his role stating "I'm a fool for basing my actions on what was written on that lost page. Everything in the passage in ambiguous at best." And after confronting Aced, he realized even if he could understand the passage and find the traitor, he would be too weak to be able to stop them on his own. He decides that he needs the Master to return as he is the only one who will have the power and wisdom to be able to put him on the right path. In his desperation, he declares he is going to summon Kingdom Hearts, because it is forbidden and the only way to make the Master return is to "break the rules" and "If things don't change, the world is doomed." In order to achieve this, he asks Ava to help him gather Lux because she "Always does the right thing."
The contrast between the two scenes is that in the first scene, Gula seems to have given up hope of being able to change fate, whereas in the second scene he seems to believe that there is hope to prevent the keyblade war if only they can bring back the Master. Most notably however, he believes that the only way to change fate is to "break the rules".
The scene then concludes with Ava refusing to help Gula gather enough Lux to summon Kingdom Hearts. Gula then walks off on his own stating "May your heart be your guiding key."
It's evident that Gula believed that there was only one person with the power to change fate, that being the Master of Masters, and that the key to making him return was to "break the rules" that had been laid out for them. This belief, coupled with a feeling of isolation after being rejected by Ava, his closest friend, as well as his imperative given by the Master of Masters to "trust no one but yourself", is what sets him on the path to murdering Strelitzia.
Fast forward back to the scene in the house with the player just before Strelitzia's death, and we can now analyze the scene within the context of Gula's current state of mind.
Keyblade War Pt.2 1:47
Gula begins by reciting lines from the Lost page to the player. He asks us who do you think this could be pointing to ? and the scene immediately switches to Ava and Luxu back on the hilltop. This is meant to illustrate that the passage is referring to this exact moment of the conflict between Ava and Luxu. The line "Words of truth misunderstood as they explore the secret of tomorrow." is referencing the fact that both Ava and Luxu interpreted the words written on the Lost page and came to their own conclusions without either of them fully understanding the meaning. This inevitably leads to their conflict which initiates the keyblade war, as spelled out in the later passage "With a single strike, toll the bells and herald the end ... bringing war upon us as fate did intend."
The scene continues with Luxu revealing to Ava who he believes to be the traitor, which Ava refuses to believe. From everything we know so far we can make an educated guess that Luxu told Ava that she herself was the traitor and was unwilling to accept the reality of the situation in the moment. As the scene progresses, we continue to switch back and forth between Gula explaining what was foretold on the Lost page and the events playing out exactly as described back on the hilltop. I believe we are shown this to imply that Gula had already worked out that Ava, his best friend, was ultimately the traitor he was meant to find. Unwilling to do what was necessary to put a stop to her as was instructed by the Master of Masters, Gula resigned himself to the reality that the keyblade war was now inevitable. Feeling the weight of his failure, he secluded himself to this house and waited for the end to arrive. This is evidenced by Gula's dialogue "The traitor is the catalyst that leads to the world's end. I thought I knew who it was, but I couldn't stop them." The player then asks if Gula is allowed to tell us about such a significant passage from the Lost page. To which Gula replies " No. But does it even matter ? Knowing what I told you won't change anything." At this moment the clock tower bells start ringing, signifying that the Keyblade war has started and Gula states "And there it is." It is at this precise moment that Gula arrives at his lowest point. He feels the weight of the inevitable end of the world coming to pass just as the Master said it would. All the while being completely powerless to do anything about it. Gula tells the player and Skuld they should leave, as the Union leaders will probably call for an assembly soon, and the player and Skuld exit the house.
And finally the critical moment arrives. Strelitzia walks into the house.
Revised Theory after 4/2/20 JP update:
-After the 4/2 update, it's become very apparent that Ventus's memories have been altered. This makes the likelyhood that Dark Chirithy is involved with the events surrounding Strelitzia's death to be almost a certainty at this point. We know that Chirithy has the ability to manipulate people's memories, as they erased all the Dandelion's memories of the keyblade war upon arriving in the new worldline. If Dark Chirithy also has this ability, then I think I now have a better grasp of what happened.
Immediately after battling our player character, and breaking the bond with us, Dark Chirithy now had it's own free will to do as it pleased. Being born of Darkness, Dark Chirithy desired to persist after the world's destruction as a result of the Keyblade War. Sensing the darkness in Gula's heart nearby as he sat in despair, Dark Chirithy saw a suitable vessel for itself and took residence in Gula's heart. Moment's later, Strelitzia walks into the room. Knowing that Strelitzia was a Dandelion, Dark Chirithy took control of Gula's body and forced him to strike her down. Gula now would take Strelitzia's place as a Dandelion, ensuring that Darkness would survive the destruction of the world, and persist into the new worldline in which only Light was meant to survive. Dark Chirithy would then erase all of Gula's memories prior to the Keyblade war, and instead plant false memories as a means of manipulating him and averting suspicion. Thus, Master Gula the Foreteller was erased from memory and replaced with the false memories of a naive boy named Ventus, who would serve as a vessel for Dark Chirithy, aka 'Darkness' who would continue to manipulate events behind the scenes to ensure its own survival and continue to spread darkness throughout the new worldline.
Caveats:
At the end of KH3 we see Gula has returned with the other foretellers after being summoned by Luxu. If Ventus is Gula, how is it that they can both exist at the same time ? This is because the Gula that was summoned is from a different point in time than the real Gula aka Ventus. We see that this is possible in KH3 when Master Xehanort summons Dark Riku from the past to the present as well as others including Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas who while being technically the same person are able to coexist at the same moment in time with the real Master Xehanort.
Loose ends:
Why does Luxu know the contents of the Lost Page if the page was given only to Gula by the Master ? I believe it's likely that at some point between X back cover and the events of the keyblade war, Gula sought out Luxu seeking a way to find the Master just as Ava was doing right before the Keyblade war. Seeking advice on what to do, Gula revealed the contents of the Lost page to Luxu. Perhaps their conversation is how Gula was able to discover that Ava was the traitor. Afterall it was Luxu who revealed this to Ava herself. Ultimately, Luxu told Gula the same thing that he told Ava, that he couldn't help him and that the war was inevitable. This furthered Gula down the path towards despair leading up to Strelitzia's final moments. A big clue that Gula and Luxu have a history together is given to us in 358/2 days, when Xigbar looks at Xion and sees Ventus's face. Reference video
So anyways, let me know what you guys think. Sorry it was really long but I felt it was necessary to go over the timeline completely in order to properly follow my train of thought.
Thanks and hope you enjoyed
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