Xehanort's Report VIII
Xehanort's Report X
Xehanort thought it was very important to go through with his plan but he still cared enough about Ventus to take him to DI for the pure reason that it would be a good final resting world.
About the interview I Might look it up tomorrow but it will be hard to find and I need to go to sleep now.
That's what Xehanort states to be his "belief", and we also do not know when exactly he wrote that. Not to mention that a "tyranny of light" doesn't exist and the worlds were perfectly fine until Xehanort started to mess things up and he himself in the same paragraph of the report states that the entire universe must be "reorganized" (which in essence means destroyed) around
darkness.
This one sentence can be interpreted very differently and it doesn't imply any emphatic feelings for the kid at all, because if he had such feelings he would never have damaged him like that in the first place.
In-game, Xehanort's opinion on his homeworld is said in his own world pretty differently:
There, you see? An empty world, like a prison. I imagine you'll be
right at home.
Xehanort dumped Ven on Destiny Islands because he saw no more use for him, not because he has any friendly feelings.
The best first address to look would be the KHInsider main site since it has most of the interviews archived sorted by game.
The main reason I asked for it is because I know most of the interviews (not all, but most) and I doubt that such a statement of Nomura would have slipped my radar.
Very good observation! And idk about "bringing him along," but he's there in the corner of their hearts and minds, regardless. Lost, never forgotten.
That's the thing about Vanitas, though; Ven's heart hadn't even come into contact with Sora's heart yet at the time of his birth (that we know of). There's a piece of THIS puzzle that we're missing, still. That's why I brought up a possible connection between Sora and Vanitas through Ven. Why did Nomura decide to make Vanitas look like Sora if the two HAVE never and never WILL have a connection?
Of COURSE Ven truly exists right now! All you need is a heart, and his may be broken, but it still exists! And I don't even think you need a heart; Xemnas doesn't have one. Xemnas has a possible "replacement heart" that Nobodies get, which is a lot weaker than even a real heart fragment, in my book.
I don't think Xehanort is totally evil, either. He's a good actor, and he may NOT give a hoot about light/dark equilibrium after all. But my first impression: NOT EVIL. He's a bad guy, yes. But I think he DID care for Ven. In a weird way. He's a scientist who just has something to prove. Don't we ALL have something that we want to see?
It's nearly obvious that Vanitas will play some role, in whatever fashion. Him being one (or becoming one) of the thirteen seekers is however one of the most plausible possibilities out there. Considering that Ven's heart survived the destruction of the proto-X-blade in BBS, it can be safely assumed that Vanitas' heart may have survived as well, even if badly mauled.
Nope, that was already resolved somewhere along the way, as Vanitas never took off his helmet before Sora connected with Ven (which was shortly after Vanitas' creation, since Xehanort took him to DI not long after the split happened), it can be safely assumed that he either had no face or was simply a black-haired Ven before.
There is a bit of information about that from the novels (totally black face and red eyes, like an Unversed), but since the novels are of ambigious canon value, we cannot just take it as given fact.
Why did Nomura do that? Because of shock value of course.
If you want to be technical you can say Sora and Vanitas are connected by proxy through Ven, but they do not have anything to do with each other directly.
That's what Nomura himself had to say about it:
BBS Ultimania said:
I knew that Ventus should look either like Sora or Roxas, and I wasn't sure which one to go with, but I thought Vanitas looking like Sora would have a bigger impact so I had Ventus look like Roxas instead. And there is a reason that Vanitas looks like Sora. As Sora filled in Ventus' fractured heart, the fractured part (Vanitas) was effected by Sora and ended up with Sora's face. So if it had been Riku who had filled in Ventus' heart, Vanitas would have looked like Riku.
Going by this, Vanitas' looks have really nothing more to go with it than to show who helped Ventus' heart survive, as the Riku-example used by Nomura shows.
"Existence" in terms of how the universe of KH works means to
physically exist as a full being in the Realm of Light and Ventus is neither at the moment. His heart is hidden away in Sora while his body is sealed away in a special chamber in the Realm of In-between. A heart alone isn't enough, not to mention that in Ven's case, the heart is buried and hidden elsewhere.
I also don't get what this has to do with Xemnas.
He has a heart, period, it being a new one grown as a replacement is no different to a "normal" heart, heart is heart, there is no difference in their make up, only maybe in their degree of development.
Nonetheless, Xemnas was brought forth from the past by Young Xehanort, so regardless where his heart is now, he doesn't exist per se anymore in the present in the definition of what a full existence means.
Roxas, Naminé and Xion also do not exist right now despite them having hearts and their spirits/consciousnesses still being there.
I'd say to each his own interpretation, although I really don't see from where you get the impression that he ever
genuinely cared for Ventus at all, as even Xehanort's own reports indicate otherwise:
So there I stood, with vast knowledge in one gnarled, dying hand, and newfound purpose in the other. The next step was clear: I needed a new vessel.
And that was when I met Ventus and made him my pupil. We were destined to meet, and I could sense the potential within him, but the boy was too benign for his own good. I came to the conclusion he was too frail to serve as a vessel, and decided to use him for a second purpose I had in mind.
The recount of when he met the kid are framed by two clear statements by him that he only saw him as a tool to use for his own gain, he even flat out says "use".
The so-often recited episode that he left him on Destiny Islands is the only (arguably) more human action shown from Xehanort, and really ambigious at best, it being already disqualified anyways because he caused the predicament himself and there is no other hint or indication anywhere during the series that he cares about any other sentient being than himself.
I've been saying all this time that the apparition of Vanitas can be interpreted as an attempt to bring Vanitas forward in time (but failing).
