- Joined
- Oct 13, 2007
- Messages
- 1,517
The question of just who Apprentice!Xehanort used to be is probably one of the biggest mysteries of Birth by Sleep, and there are good arguments for quite a few characters out there - Terra, Master Xehanort, Vanitas, or any combination of the three.
I'm not going to make a case for any one of those possibilities. I'm just going to raise a different one: the thing we know as "Xehanort" is an evil spirit that lingers on from the end of the Keyblade Wars, and moves from host to host, collecting aspects of each as it goes.
There are several advantages to this, as I see it. First and foremost, it provides a link between the Keyblade Wars and the current events of the series that has been missing in most of the speculation I've seen. Second, if "Xehanort" is something that gets passed between people, it would be possible for the massive timeline troubles caused by Apprentice!Xehanort having been a student of Ansem's for several years despite the fact that the end of Birth by Sleep can only be a few months before the destruction of Radiant Garden. Third, it would help explain some of the uniqueness of Xehanort's Heartless, particularly its ability to possess others and change their physical shape to suit itself. And finally, it would give a good reason as to why "Xehanort traits" show up in multiple characters, rather than being focused on any particular character.
I'm not going to make a case for any one of those possibilities. I'm just going to raise a different one: the thing we know as "Xehanort" is an evil spirit that lingers on from the end of the Keyblade Wars, and moves from host to host, collecting aspects of each as it goes.
There are several advantages to this, as I see it. First and foremost, it provides a link between the Keyblade Wars and the current events of the series that has been missing in most of the speculation I've seen. Second, if "Xehanort" is something that gets passed between people, it would be possible for the massive timeline troubles caused by Apprentice!Xehanort having been a student of Ansem's for several years despite the fact that the end of Birth by Sleep can only be a few months before the destruction of Radiant Garden. Third, it would help explain some of the uniqueness of Xehanort's Heartless, particularly its ability to possess others and change their physical shape to suit itself. And finally, it would give a good reason as to why "Xehanort traits" show up in multiple characters, rather than being focused on any particular character.