Why is Aqua so popular?

[Zul]

I thought their strengths were a simple matter. Terra is the strongest, Ventus is the fastest, and Aqua has the highest magical aptitude.

I have a hard time pinning Aqua as stronger than Terranort though, the most damage you can do to him comes from actually doing a dual-limit with Terra. That's proof to me that the final fight was really Terra and Aqua vs Xehanort. Also it makes little sense that 80-100 years of experience in dark arts merged into a strong body in it's prime youth wouldn't downright steamroll a fresh-off-the-boat master.

Same with Ven-nitas, the after-cutscene shows him blow both her and Mickey away with a single swing, Ventus destroyed the blade from the inside, that's how defeating Venitas was possible.

 

[Ronove]

It's a mix in my opinion. Only after a good deal of Aqua wailing on Terranort was Terra even able to struggle in the first place. You can't do that command until a good bit into the second stage of the fight.

Ditto with Venitus.

 

[Ðari]

Pretty much siding with what Virus said. Its actually rare to see a strong-willed and selfless female lead like Aqua in this series, and given she's the first, the impression sets its own example. Is this not enough?

 

[rac7d]

Pretty much siding with what Virus said. Its actually rare to see a strong-willed and selfless female lead like Aqua in this series, and given she's the first, the impression sets its own example. Is this not enough?

all of this ^ is just so true

 

[Ikkin]

Same with Ven-nitas, the after-cutscene shows him blow both her and Mickey away with a single swing, Ventus destroyed the blade from the inside, that's how defeating Venitas was possible.

Actually, there's significant evidence that Ven didn't wake up until Aqua broke the X-blade.

Here's the X-blade as it appears in Ven's fight:

It's called the Incomplete X-blade, but in visual terms it's clearly broken -- part of the hilt is missing, the ornamental bits up that same side are shaved off, the sword part is dented in two places, and everything that isn't metal looks burnt.

Now, take a look at this:

Aqua strikes the X-blade at the hilt, draws her blade up the crystal ornaments, and presses it into the X-blade's blade until it cracks. Every single bit of the X-blade that's missing in Ven's fight is something that Aqua's strike would have logically damaged in her own fight with Venitas.

The rest of Aqua's story is consistent with Ven fighting Vanitas on the inside, too -- Ven's unconscious for a few minutes while the X-blade sparks ominously, which would give him enough time to have the fight on the inside before the X-blade is fully destroyed. Which would mean, of course, that Ven wasn't helping Aqua in her fight at all, apart from the inspiration that she uses to create the Laser Blade that destroys the X-blade.

 

[Zul]

Yes, I considered that a long while ago, I mentioned it to others myself when everyone "concluded" that they were fighting at the same time.

In fact, I first believed that Ven didn't wake up until Aqua had shattered the X-Blade and that their internal battle took place in that exact moment when Ven was lying down, and ended when Vanitas's clothes came off of Ven.


However, I changed my mind when I noticed that Vanitas did not give any indication of awareness of what was happening outside and because of what he says.

Pay attention to his first line

Vanitas: Our union was not finished.

Indicating clearly that the reason the X-blade was broken was NOT due to external tampering, but because Ventus managed to resist the fusion to a degree. He didn't say "someone has damaged the X-Blade" or anything similar. He pinned it on the fusion process, so I believe "incomplete X-Blade" was named appropriately and that they chose to use the same model, as they didn't want Aqua to hit one end of the X-Blade to have some arbitrary part on the other end break.

In other words, while the X-Blade appeared complete outside, it was always in it's broken/incomplete form on the inside and their battle took place simultaneously. I believe the only reason Aqua was actually able to shatter the X-Blade is because Ventus managed to destroy it's "true" internal form.

 

[Ronove]

Still, Ventus wakes up and meets an already awake Vanitas in his dive to the heart. In my opinion it's a combination of both. First Aqua and Mickey wack on Vanitas, which triggers Ventus's awakening, which then enables the X-blade to be shattered.

It's a bit more of a cut and dry case in the Terranort fight - Aqua's efforts are what enables Terra to struggle, as evidenced by the two stage nature of the fight.

Still, you have to give Aqua credit. Xehanort's plans for her was to kill her. That is the one plan he failed to achieve to some degree.

 

[Zul]

The problem is that Vanitas's line states that the process for completing the X-Blade, their union, was "not finished". So the very process for producing a complete X-Blade never happened, directly from his line.

If there was some indication that it was external tampering that broke the X-Blade, he wouldn't have had that word choice. He has the most credibility in judging whether the X-Blade was fully produced or not, as he's the one who was taught about it first by MX, also being the one who initiated the process.

 

[Ronove]

Well the union could have been incomplete due to Aqua and Mickey's efforts. It was never said that the union had to be instantaneous, after all.

It's still a question of semantics, really. And Ventus is woken up, he doesn't force himself awake. Indicating that something outside of himself is at play.

 

[Odysseus]

Aqua was my least favorite just because her playstyle (reliance on magic) wasn't my cup of tea. I prefer Terra over her.

In terms of characterization, I again like Terra more (despite his terrible English voice acting), but Aqua's not bad. Far from my favorite character, though.

 

[Ronove]

Aqua was my least favorite just because her playstyle (reliance on magic) wasn't my cup of tea. I prefer Terra over her.

In terms of characterization, I again like Terra more (despite his terrible English voice acting), but Aqua's not bad. Far from my favorite character, though.

I loved the concept of Terra, definitely. From the trailer I thought he'd be the fucking man. But the plot sort of dropped the ball on him with both rampant stupidity and just plain destructive decisions. Like, the whole concept of a "balance of Light and Dark" really loses its meaning when darkness does nothing to help anyone in BBS. Which is why I hope Aqua comes to understand darkness, and by proxy Terra's struggles, in BBSv2. Because his struggles were legitimate, but the plot induced stupidity he suffered hurt his potential.

 

[Zul]

Well the union could have been incomplete due to Aqua and Mickey's efforts. It was never said that the union had to be instantaneous, after all.

How? Before Aqua and Mickey fought him, you could clearly see that he had a complete(looking) X-blade, the union ended as soon as the massive pillar of light subsided, that massive light was the visual indication of the union process. The indication that the union happened incorrectly was given internally by Vanitas and indicated by the "Incomplete" X-Blade's name.

It's still a question of semantics, really. And Ventus is woken up, he doesn't force himself awake. Indicating that something outside of himself is at play.

Ventus not "forcing" himself awake doesn't clearly indicate something like that at all, he could simply wake up inside as a result of incomplete fusion.

 

[Ronove]

How? Before Aqua and Mickey fought him, you could clearly see that he had a complete(looking) X-blade, the union ended as soon as the massive pillar of light subsided, that massive light was the visual indication of the union process. The indication that the union happened incorrectly was given internally by Vanitas and indicated by the "Incomplete" X-Blade's name.

Well, that's sort of my point. The blade was complete to Aqua and Mickey. So by them fighting it, they shattered it on the inside for Ventus, giving him a fighting shot. It's sort of a chicken or the egg question, what you bring up can easily be used to support the fact that Aqua and Mickey contributed to Ventus's victory inside.

Ventus not "forcing" himself awake doesn't clearly indicate something like that at all, he could simply wake up inside as a result of incomplete fusion.

He could, but one has to wonder why the fusion was incomplete. If Ventus was the cause behind it, you'd assume that he'd be a bit more proactive than just waking up.

It's neither here nor there though. Without Mickey and Aqua all would have been lost. They bought Ventus the needed time to shattered the X-blade, if they aided him in other ways is a secondary question.

Without stalling Venitus, he would have had ample time to destroy the Universe and begin the keyblade awards anew.

 

[blueheart]

I think people like her for a number of reasons. First, she has actual flaws, ones where sometimes you're really annoyed with her, like how she treats Ven like a toddler,*even though he technically was, but still, he could fight and was fine on his own for the most part*. But most of the time, she was really lovable.

One other reason is her personality. She's mature, but still unsure of herself at times. She strong but not butch, she acts feminine and has a feminine sense of style. She cares for her friends deeply, and wants to do what she can, and thinks she does the right thing most of the time, even though it wasn't helping, *like spying on Terra and releasing Xehanort back to tRoL*. Her interactions with some of the characters were also nice.

She's just one of the most real characters in the series, to me at least.


^
*Aqua fangirl speech*

 

[Ikkin]

How? Before Aqua and Mickey fought him, you could clearly see that he had a complete(looking) X-blade, the union ended as soon as the massive pillar of light subsided, that massive light was the visual indication of the union process. The indication that the union happened incorrectly was given internally by Vanitas and indicated by the "Incomplete" X-Blade's name.

This assumes that Vanitas isn't intentionally obscuring the truth. He has no reason whatsoever to tell Ven anything more than he does -- if he tells Ven that the X-blade was broken by Aqua, it can only work against him. And Vanitas does, in fact, say that the X-blade is broken: "The X-blade shouldn't stay broken like this. Join me now, and we can complete the X-blade!"

Another part of the scenario that you haven't really dealt with is why the X-blade takes so long to fully destruct. If Ven has already destroyed the X-blade on the inside when Aqua strikes it on the outside, Venitas shouldn't have been awake to struggle against her until it cracks, and its destruction should have been immediate rather than delayed.

Because of that, it's utterly impossible for Ven to have broken the internal X-blade at any point before Aqua cracks the external X-blade. You might be able to argue that the two things happen at the exact same moment, but that creates an absurd and unnecessary coincidence that is somewhat less consistent with the way things appeared in Aqua's story than the alternative.

 

[Odysseus]

All of what everyone is saying makes sense, but I find it a little difficult to believe that the X-Blade was broken by Aqua smacking hers against it. Aren't Keyblades supposed to be unbreakable? And isn't the X-Blade the ultimate Keyblade? One that was made to exist alongside Kingdom Hearts? Kind of seems underwhelming that that's all that does it in. Better treat that thing with care, Ven-itus, in the situation you beat Aqua, any other Keyblade wielder can give you the jump and whack it apart.

I don't see how a standard Keyblade hitting it would be able to break it, it doesn't make sense, unless the union wasn't complete, as Vanitas says, in which case he's telling the truth, or it was destroyed on the inside by Ventus first.

 

[Dentim]

Ventus' keyblade broke by falling against a cliffside. So apparently, it can happen (or at least it did in the original Birth By Sleep vid)

 

[Odysseus]

Ventus' keyblade broke by falling against a cliffside. So apparently, it can happen (or at least it did in the original Birth By Sleep vid)

Yes, it did, but that's not canon. In the proper canon version (final battle in BBS), it did not.

One could argue that he needed it to fight Vanitas, so they changed it, but that still doesn't really prove anything.

 

[Ikkin]

All of what everyone is saying makes sense, but I find it a little difficult to believe that the X-Blade was broken by Aqua smacking hers against it. Aren't Keyblades supposed to be unbreakable? And isn't the X-Blade the ultimate Keyblade? One that was made to exist alongside Kingdom Hearts? Kind of seems underwhelming that that's all that does it in. Better treat that thing with care, Ven-itus, in the situation you beat Aqua, any other Keyblade wielder can give you the jump and whack it apart.

I don't think that's actually what happened. Remember, Aqua and Mickey were both thrown back like ragdolls by the X-blade at first, before Aqua called on the strength of her friendships and turned her Keyblade into a Laser Blade. I think the implication is that Aqua didn't just break the X-blade with a normal Keyblade, but with something even more powerful than the X-blade -- friendship.

 

[kupo1121]

something even more powerful than the X-blade -- friendship.

This I think is probably true...if you think about it...friendship seems to be one of, if not the mightiest of all powers in the KH-verse.