Go, pinky! Mow his ass to the ground! Show no mercy! Finish him!

Seriously though, I'm glad the main quests are becoming relevant again, even if updating them takes forever.

nomura makin the girls fight for his birthday

hmm, still need next month it seems
okay, blaine speculated what darkness wants is to spread fear, anger and elements that will make their bonds fall apart and ven said he is the one that killed strelitizia though in the end there is someone saying thats not it and darkness appears
How long will this drag on?

OMG what a tease! Excited to see those translations.

I just want these updates to come faster, I can't keep waiting a month between cutscenes.

The tease at the end.. classic lol
waiting till next month is gonna be painful.
lauriam punching (?) ephemer was pretty hailarious

I wonder what the translations are, if the music for this scene wasn't tearful enough, I'm not ready for the translations at all.

just rough translation for the last part
ven comes in and say that he is the one killed strelitizia while ephemer and skuld says its not
lauriam then demands answer from ventus
ven faints and darkness appears
blaine said so you are darkness
darkness said you have finally grasped what us is

Speaking of the music, what was the first track again?
The second one is obviously Ven's theme, but right now I can't recall the first one.

That's "Scent of Silence" from the CoM soundtrack.

Things are certainly getting interesting with the main story, and I'm eager to see the translated scene. I just wish it hadn't taken so long to get here.

Gonna be a bit longer for videos but I've added translations to the OP, thanks to goldpanner as always!

in b4 ppl calling Lauriam OOC bc he was the chill one of his duo with Larxene.

Dude, he has been consistently shown to GREATLY care about Strelitzia,he already lost his shit once when he storms that warehouse,are you seriously expecting someone who is currently desperate for some news of his lost loved person wouldn't act violently to the idea of her killed?

First, silly Lauriam! You are not supposed to hit Ephemer, but to hit on him!

Second, and more seriously, the Darkness we have seen so far is still messing with Maleficent. This means there are (at least) two of them. Now, who the second one is and how does this fit into the big picture?

Third, this looks like setup for a bossfight. The Player will return just in time to turn the tide...

Yeah I was thinking the same unless it can teleport directly into Ven's room to have possessed him again, it seems like we might be dealing with more than just one Darkness. Or maybe a being that can be in to places at once?

Ah ,thanks.

The pacing of UX was and is the most atrocious I've ever seen in a KH game so far. Even Browser Chi was (marginally) better.


Yay, that was fast.
Many thanks.


Imho everyone reacts naturally and understandable here from what we already know of their personalities.

Lauriam is in desperation and great emotional pain, you can see that despite the chibi art style. The way he first approaches Ven is also telling in that he only wants an explanation and is at first disbelieving at Ven's statements, still calling him by his nickname. It's only when he still gets no info at all that he starts getting more aggressive and calls Ven by his full name but it is all desperation, not malice or hate.
Skuld and Ephemer too react completely in character trying to defuse and deescalate the situation. Knowing both Lauriam and Ven are not in their right mind at the moment Ephemer does the only viable thing and gets between them.

Again, I have to tip my hat at the new Union Leaders handling a bad and stressful situation much better than the Foretellers.

Even Brain going on mostly in a calm manner and confronting Darkness with a smug "so there you finally are!"-approach is in character as is Ven despairing and blaming himself despite there being more to the whole issue.


Lol, I'd say he's right now totally not in the mood for flirting.

As for multiple "Darkness" figures being around, who's going along with the bet that there are exactly 13 of them?

Looks like Darkness is a species in the Kingdom Hearts franchise after all. That was an intensive scene between the gang.

Videos are up!

As excited as I am for the cinnamon roll finally getting his head bashed in (or stabbed to the heart, whichever’s good), did the Darkness certainly actually use “we/us”?

Because that opens a whole new can of worms, and I want to be certain since Japanese speech is notorious for its severe lack of self-efficacy.

我々 is the language they used, I believe this is the first time they referred to themselves as such.

Lol Player getting cut off before they can say any lines

That’s plural efficacy alright. It uses the old form of “we” too.

I hate how the updates are this small since they switched from 15 to 5.

QFT. In fact, I think Lauriam is more in character here than he has been in the whole story so far. As I said, him hitting Ephemer does feel wrong, but that is based more on my headcanon than on anything we have seen on screen.


I'm quite worried about this possibility, because it would almost automatically mean that the story, or at least the murder mystery and its solution part of it, is poorly written and bad. It was supposed to be about MoM's unneeded secrecy and the foretellers' stupidity, not some unknown third party.

Ugh will Brain ever summon his keyblade?! I am beginning to think he's not even an actual wielder. Everyone else pulled up against darkness and Brain is sitting there arms crossed all chill like "so you're darkness how nice to finally meet you".

Also just seeing all five together again was amazing when was the last time they were all in the same room lol. Sparks were flying in this update. Beginning to feel like Darkness is some sort of god. The they refer to themselves as us and seem to have so much knowledge and live for so long, maybe it and the MoM are something more than human after all.

Really good. I love how they had Lauriam inching towards people before he grabs them. It was so creepy, it ReMinded me this is the man who will eventually become Marluxia and that's good. Everyone reacted well. Seeing Emphemer and Lauriam cross blades even if briefly was intense. And finally Darkness coming out making itself known.

As said above, the Union Leaders seem to have better heads on their shoulders then the Foretellers. Can't wait to see what happens next.

God, this story would have been done so much more justice in a real game. *sigh*...

Anyway, I've got two theories as to that last little "we/us" reveal:
1) So, I've been saying for a while that I believe the entity we call "Darkness" is not actually a singular entity, but the sentient embodiment of the darkness in EVERYONE's hearts, not just Ventus', and that, for whatever reason, that darkness is able to acquire sentience in this world though not in the future worlds of the main series.
2) It's possible, like someone else in this thread suggested, that there may be 13 of these Darkness entities, and that these 13 would be the 13 shards of darkness correspondent to the seven Princesses of Heart that were created after the breaking of the X-Blade following the initial Keyblade War. The timing is perfect for it, and unlike the Princesses, we've never gotten an explanation as to whatever happened to the 13 shards of darkness. These guys might finally be our answer.

I'm almost positive that Brain's Keyblade is the Master's Defender (or a primitive version of it) and it'll be used to reveal that Brain is in fact Eraqus's ancestor.

Probably not, but what if Brain is a younger Odin?

This is above our average KH story. It's really good!
I'm loving all the scheming we're getting.

I guess some people are upset that there are multiple versions of darkness now. I don't really understand the hate, it doesn't really change anything. I will say though that this development sort of undermines what the master implied in back cover - which was that they lived in a world without darkness and that when someone falls to darkness the culprit's chirithy would change it's appearance. This new development and some other vids with MoM talking with Luxu instead implies that darkness had existed there all along, which would mean the Master deliberately mislead the union leaders.

Not that it wasn't already obvious, but it's just more evidence that he wanted to expedite the war.

Now given this somewhat new development between Ven and Laurium, the question must be asked: why did the master of masters suggest placing brother and sister as dandelion leaders given their close connection? Obviously because of this connection, if something happened to one or the other it would cause negative feelings to emerge, so it can only be that the MoM expected this to happen. Strelitzia was obvious bait for Darkness. And that would mean he expected Strelitzia to die and for a replacement to be named by Darkness. Assuming this is true, we can also assume he picked Ava knowing that she would choose a "virus" to be placed among the dandelion leaders, and we can know this because he had told Ava that her job was to preserve the light by taking the dandelions to another world despite knowing they would be infiltrated by darkness.

As convoluted as it is, it also explains why the dandelion leaders weren't made aware of each other prior to the keyblade war. The only explanation is that the MoM wanted Darkness' vessel and the virus chosen by Ava to both have legitimacy among the leaders. Otherwise, all of this suspicion would have been avoided had the dandelion leaders met beforehand.

Vanitas is ventus’s darkness but I Believe his not truly The darkness like many claim but just a fragment of darkness.

I truly believe that darkness is vantitas now. and this story update was amazing!! i need more!!

"Us"? This last line is SO exciting. I love that there's a whole bunch of them!

I'm waiting to hear "We're Venom" at some point from that.

I think it makes sense that Darkness isn't just one individual. Something that can be lurking everywhere and in everything isn't a singular person. It also goes back to what MoM said to Luxu about the darkness in the war he fought in, being monsters with a human form. Well, here they are.

Also I want to give an extra shoutout to goldpanner. 2 years ago, when Darkness was first introduced, she opted to use plural pronouns for them as a precaution since we lacked context and the dialogue was too vague. Now we know that was the right call. GP is the best <3

I know this might be a way off, but if one of the Darkness' has been in Ventus the whole time, could it possibly play a role in why Xehanort finds and recruits Ventus? Yeah, you can say it would be a retcon, but that's common with the series. What if in addition to splitting Ven to forge the X-Blade, Darkness was trying to free itself from Ventus, only to form Vanitas. Isn't the KH3 Vanitas time traveled from the past, meaning current day Vanitas is still in Ven? This is all assuming Vanitas is part of Darkness, and it would be hard to debate why he wouldn't be.

"us"
Maybe darkness is literally dark inferno since ReMind really hinted on it. we know there's multiple of them.
unless i'm not remembering something that confirms it's not.

It is an exceptional situation either way. Lauriam hitting/attacking Ephemer, Brain and Ven is technically all wrong when taken as actions by themselves, but given the circumstances they're understandable to a degree and, I think, forgivable.
Also when looking at the fact that both Skuld and Ephemer intervene before any damage that possibly can't be remedied is done.

Brain also lives up to his name again by immediately deducing that "Darkness" wants them to quarrel and strike against each other.
Classical divide-and-conquer strategy and by now I am almost sure "Darkness" also had a hand in making the quarrels among the Foretellers worse somehow.
Ven blaming himself despite not actually being the murderer, heck not even lifting a hand, is also so painfully in-character. I'm just waiting now for a re-enactment of the first meeting at the Keyblade Graveyard in BBS where he asked Terra and Aqua to "put an end to him", only this time with the other Union Leaders.




Not necessarily. There being multiple "Darknesses" was a realistic possibility from the start.
I remember from the very first main story quests of the original Browser Chi that Chirithy mentioned there being several "Seekers of Darkness" posing as Keyblade Wielders (dunno if that part was taken over into Unchained/Union X), there was one scene imagined by Player with nine black coats standing against thirteen on the Keyblade Graveyard and there's also the possibility of multiple Dark Chirithys.

Do we actually know for a fact that the story is "supposedly" about the MoM's unneeded secrecy and the "stupidity" of the Foretellers though?
The mysteries behind the story of the original Browser Chi/The Foretellers and the actual reasons for the whole chain of events leading to the war, including the "traitor", were never made fully clear to begin with.

The "murder mystery" might actually be just one part of the overall plan of the "Darknesses", even Brain's assumption that it was done "just" to disrupt the connections between the Union Leaders and shatter their unity so that they can be dealt with easier is a plausible explanation.

Damn, son. Lauriam ain't kidding:



Lowkey, Lauriam's walk was too long (it lasts 11 seconds):

I'm starting to think that the "Traitor" is actually the one that succumbs to Darkness and unleashes hell all over Daybreak Town. Maybe Lauriam is the traitor?


Like a fellow member said: I think we'll have 13 Darknesses. Maybe the bodies that Darkness posses are the Seekers. Maybe Darkness are the original Seekers of Darkness. Perhaps the Seeker part is due to them seeking to plunge the World in Darkness?

I have to wonder about the "we/us" thing. Do they refer to themselves as a collective hive mind a la Xehanort replicas, or a bunch of individuals that grouped together for a common goal but retained independent agency?

I suspect that the Master anticipated this, and his own end-goal is just as destructive as the Darkness', perhaps he planned to find perfect vessels for the darkness like MX did over the course of time, and once there's enough of them, he might force his hand so those vessels gather in one place and kill them once and for all. Sacrifice the lives of the few for the good of the many.

There's no way he couldn't have known none of these would happen, the unions falling apart, Ava's disobedience, Ven...

The man's a megalomaniac, but he's a smart megalomaniac. I have to admire him for that, at least.

Well, I do prefer the 13 darkness theory than darkness is just vanitas more

If we're lucky, we'll get the next DR update at the end of the month. Maybe there will be a more substantial hint about Darkness there.

If not, at least we get to see a new classmate.

Well all the hints I gathered seem to point that it’s not vanitas

1. Darkness spoke with Sora within Ventus despite vanitas no longer being part of Ventus

2. Darkness keeps referring to itself as we/us so vanitas isn’t darkness but him being born from darkness makes him a part (or fragment) of This Darkness entity, basically like all the darkness’s inside of people

I hope it is like that
I just don't feel comfortable when people automatically assume darkness must means Vanitas

It's definitely going to be an issue going forward especially for all the people who aren't following UX and make assumptions based on what few elements have been incorporated into the console games. Might be alleviated some once Global gets the quests though.

UX desperately needs a Back Cover. Fully voiced 3D in UE4 if not UE5. Holy smokes this update was positively spicy. Ephemer got flung by Lauri's already weakened fist. Guess hes a lightweight lmao. Seeing him draw his blade on Ven too has me wondering - was he going for the KILL MOVE a la Terrranort or was he going to bash Venty-wenty's head in?

Something to remember too is that the Master of Masters has said that the Keyblade War against Light and Darkness has been going on for ages. Since he was a kid, even. Luxu hears this and thinks that all they're essentially doing is running away, because this is an enemy that supposedly hasn't been beaten this whole time. A realistic conclusion to come to, because how in the world do you manage against an enemy like that for THAT long???

Wars tend to not last super long because you only have so many able-bodied people that are willing to put themselves in harm's way (and only so many able-bodied people that can be drafted). If two sides are evenly matched for so long, it sooner or later becomes a literal War of Attrition -- whoever gives out first loses. Whatever the hell these "monsters of darkness" are, they clearly seem strong and resilient enough for the MoM to feel like he has to put this entire plan into action. He made Luxu pass on No Name throughout time just so the MoM can see what happens beyond KH3's Keyblade War. He even says in Back Cover, "You really think the world can be saved with just seven people??" He was being coy there, but maybe there was more to it. A LOT more.

It's possible that he didn't tell the Foretellers anything not because of manipulation, but because he was right: there really wouldn't be anything they can do to change that fate, besides what's been already been told in the Book of Prophecies. With how the Black Box supposedly is containing "hope" inside it, and the MoM told Luxu not to open it under any circumstances (but then told him "You'll see", as if Luxu will eventually know why the box contains what it does)... I wouldn't be surprised if the box just contained light. But not just any light -- Light that could wipe the entire universe, and it's been collecting light throughout multiple eras this entire time. Like a Spirit Bomb. If all these actions are supposedly being taken in order to defeat "Darkness" (whatever it/they are), then it makes sense that they'd need some sort of weapon of light. Something that couldn't have been used in the Chi era, but possibly can be in this current Post-KH3 era.

So if anything, yeah, I agree. I think it's always been a possibility that this would be the road we'd eventually go down.

I don’t remember a scene like that in the original browser, but it has been a looong time. I do remember Chirithy making us dream about the Master convening a meeting with the foretellers though. I also remember the Seekers of Darkness thing.

It makes sense, masquerade as the enemy and enact a subterfuge. Meanwhile, turn the enemy to your side (i.e. Darklings) and amass those numbers.

To be honest I’m just glad the “whodunit” part of Strelitzia’s murder has been brought to a close. It answers one question…raises so many others.

There definitely was a traitor though, from the looks of it, and the Master might’ve already known from the get go but never did anything about it, because of the long haul.

That's what I'm thinking too. Either it was out of his ability to do something now, OR he could've BUT it would've been pointless, as it wouldn't have changed anything in the grand scheme of things -- delaying the inevitable, basically.

Like I said above, the fact that his master plan involved passing down a Keyblade through multiple eras in order for it to reach beyond KH3's Keyblade War, it pretty much gives weight to idea that he wasn't able to do anything at that time. If he was, why didn't he do it? Why is the Book of Prophecies so powerful, why does it matter so much?

He's quite obviously not just some any old dude if he's able to pluck out an eye, put it in a Keyblade, and it somehow is able to see events well beyond the current era... If we're to take what he said literally. It really makes me wonder exactly what he experienced in his youth, what's his backstory? (Assuming the guy isn't somehow Sora lmao) Whatever happened to him back in the day, it must've been nuts, because somehow he's doing things that seem outright impossible to anyone else so far.

If there are possible 13 Darknesses like there are seven lights, would that make Ventus the Kairi of the Darknesses, especially if they are in Disney villains like people are making theories of, and we see Xehanort is able to see Darkness from the Queen of Hearts. This is why I think he'll see Darkness when he meets Ventus.

Looking at the conversations between the MoM and Luxu, plus Luxu's conversation with Ava, I think the MoM planned for the world to end and the traitor, as part of his plan to defeat the darkness. He said to Luxu that to defeat the darkness 'we will end the world' and thereby 'discard' time and the borders of the world.

That makes sense to me. In his BBS report, Xehanort does say he felt he and Ventus were 'destined to meet' and it seemed odd that he would think meek and gentle Ventus had enough darkness to serve his purposes for no reason. This is why I've always been throught that Ven's appearance in UX isn't one of Nomura's most wild retcons but that's just me.

I think we will get one relatively soon as the Union leaders chapter is about to end. If I recall correctly we got Back Cover when the mobile App was still unchained X, right right before the Uion leaders chapter begins. If we get Kingdom Hearts 3.5, that'll be the third part of the game, the second being Melody of Memory.

Let's return to that old question: How did this Darkness know that Strelitzia is one of the new leaders? Isn't the most likely answer now that the Darkness is connected to the Master of Masters (possibly even created by him) and got the information directly from him?

It’s as you say, it’s most likely a War of Attrition. Honestly, what I want to understand is his motive. Why is he dealing in absolutes like Eraqus, forcing a plan that would eradicate the Darkness rather than accepting it as a coexistence with the Light? Did he suffer some sort of trauma? Was it dogmatic influence? Hypnosis?

The BoP is powerful alright, even into the current age it can bring about leftover projections on the worlds’ reconstruction, long after the first war ended and fractured the original World. In that case, the question turns from why didn’t he do it to why he did. If he didn’t write the book and mislead his apprentices, didn’t give tacit approval to the formation of unions, didn’t force Luxu to pass on No Name through the ages, none of it would’ve happened. The answer to that is that in any other worldline where the war didn’t occur, something disastrous still happens. It was a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation. It brings about another question, was the War a necessity in comparison to the disaster that fell on the worldline where it didn’t happen?

With an eye like that though, the Master is definitely something not human, or at least, ordinarily human.

Let me answer that question with another question, or rather, add on to it.

What was the sentient Darkness before it was the Heartless in the current age?

The Master did create a darkness, Chirithy, a dream eater, the darkness manifested during sleep as opposed to the waking world, but somehow exists in waking. Even in darkness, it is a friendly creature, but once it gets a taste of malice, become a corruptible thing, and so do all dream eaters that it sired and were created from its blueprints. But discarding almost all of it, let me ask another question and compound to it.

What Darkness existed back in the Age of Fairy Tales when the war was about to occur, not counting the projections from a book because it isn’t real? First, dream eater Chirithy. Second, darkness that masquerades as humans and is capable of sentience and speech. Third, Darklings, fallen wielders who succumbed to darkness and steal Lux, particles of light which has unclear purpose other than encouraging competition and eventual distrust.

It might have something to do with said "sentient Darkness" latching onto people, as Xehanort in Dark Road says "even completely innocent people who have no malicious intent at all", like a parasite and using those people as a shield in order to commit atrocities like murder, destroying the current world and generally create mistrust, chaos and strife.

You cannot coexist with a force that is constantly trying to undermine, hurt and destroy you and those who are like you. Or to say it with Brains words:

This was the darkness's motive... Anxiety… Fear… Suspicion… Rage... To throw our hearts into disarray, and sever the connections between us...

At least that is the picture that is drawn so far about these "Darknesses". It is similar to what Xehanort does during BBS and also arguably Xemnas as the leader of the original Organisation, but on a vastly bigger scale.

If these "Darknesses" are like this by nature or not cannot really be answered right now, but what we've seen so far of their actions and behavior makes "peaceful coexistence" not really an option.
There is also a difference between an element of nature that might just have some dangerous properties and an actual sentient entity with a will of their own which may intentionally take harmful actions.

Light and darkness are elements of nature, agreed. In current day Kingdom Hearts as evidenced by Ven's shutdown, you can't have one without the other. You'll probably die unless you're a Princess of Heart.

But "Darkness" doesn't seem to be an element of nature. It seems to be a sentiment creature out to cause destruction and harm. I'd say, it's not heartless level "sentient" either which all seem to be mindless creatures wandering around. "Darkness" seems just as human as actual humans.

If the battle of "Light" and "Dark" is actually a battle between mostly normal people and these weird ghouls who call themselves "Darkness", then that's something different. Or maybe, "Darkness" used to be human as well, but lost their physical form to the darkness and inhabit other people instead.

I'm also on the these are either people called Darkness, or the "monsters" from MoM's time which were called Darkness. If these were just manifestations of the same god damn darkness in general that we've talked about for the whole series, that would be... pretty boring?

There’s a possibility, if MoM is playing the long game, he either told Darkness that information or he purposely made sure Darkness knew it someway or another. I’m starting to think this is all part of MoM’s plan somehow, so he’s making sure everyone involved “does their role.”

HmmmMMmMmmMmm..........

I think Darkness is a natural force of nature. Pureblood Heartless are a natural evolution of Darkness in the sense that they're primitive beings that are wild. While the Seekers of Darkness, or the Darknesses, are the more evolved species of Darkness.

This is what the MoM was referencing to Luxu in a previous update: Darkness that took a humanoid form. Perhaps the MoM comes from an age where Darkness made an army of humanoid warriors and devoured everything.

Either a time or a Worldline. Perhaps the MoM's plan is to investigate Worldlines that don't have Darkness taking humanoid forms and figuring out a way to stop this process, and by a long shot, stop this process in every single Worldline.

It wouldn't be farfetched to think that the MoM's grand plan is to fuse all Worldlines and kill the humanoid Darknesses in one fell swoop.

That said, it wouldn't surprise me that the Keyblade was originally a weapon developed by the Darkness in order to control the Light, easy navigate through it and what the MoM did was modify the Keyblade to fight Darkness, and without realizing it, generations of Keyblade Wielders and Masters have been using a weapon that was originally intent to destroy the light.

I guess my problem with "Darkness is literally darkness itself" is that I still believe the idea that darkness and light are just forces. Darkness is a really dangerous force, so it's usually used by people who are reckless or let themselves lose out to it, and thus why the antagonists use it. But I don't know if I can like Kingdom Hearts if it comes down to "darkness is literally evil and light is literally good". But I do agree the Darkness characters are the "monsters" from his past that MoM spoke about (as I've guessed in my thread about the unversed symbol).

Eraqus was quite literally bathed in Light with no hint of Darkness in him and was still a tragic hero-turned-villain in BBS for both Ventus and Terra's routes.
The Foretellers are also another case to be made.
So I don't think they necessarily intend to do that.

@ Thread

If my theory of Darkness = The 13 missing pieces of Darkness from the X-Blade split ends up being true somehow even thought Darkness was around before the Keyblade War I will genuinely loose my mind lol

I think I read somewhere that the Keyblades were for fighting over the light, and after the World fell, to protect the light.

About Darkness being a force of nature,




like King Mickey and Riku said, either can’t exist without the other, so it makes one wonder why it’s to be feared. Riku answered it’s because of what’s lurking inside it. By itself, without sentience, darkness has proven itself a benevolent utility, such as Kingdom Key D, resurrection (though this was sadly applied only to villains so far), synthesis materials, abilities like Dark Firaga and others. I would suggest Guilt, but it’s subversive and hinted to actually be harmful, and might be the reason player have a dark Chirithy.

It would make you wonder who or what the traitor is. Going off Back Cover, every Foreteller seems just as lost as the other except for Luxu, but he wasn't present and accounted for during the whole debacle. So it can't be Luxu who's the traitor (obviously). And the MoM caused the discord in the first place, but I don't think he's the traitor either.

Unless one of the Fortellers were a double agent, the traitor may actually be none of them (or all of them) -- it's just whoever Darkness latched onto at the time. Maybe. Idunno. Given how things look, UX wants you to be suspicious of Ava and it kinda lines up that way, but it being Darkness itself somehow latching onto people undetected makes sense. In BC, they did touch on how they found a Dark Chirithy snooping around the tower.

Apparently in UX, that was our Chirithy, but it doesn't make sense because Player never really showed signs of succumbing to darkness. That Dark Chirithy probably was Darkness itself, latching onto people with the host none-the-wiser, and that's how it was able to get information about the Tower, the pods and everything else. Either that, or the traitor is actually someone we know. Hard to say.



If you've been fighting a war all your life against one enemy and you've seen what it's done to your friends, loved ones and comrades... You're probably not going to want to Talk-no-Jutsu your enemies at this point, because too much has been lost, and that's something you try in the beginning -- not when you're losing, the opposition has no reason to listen to the losing party. So the MoM acting in absolutes is probably for that reason, the other options have been long since exhausted and the threat is THAT bad. It's so hard to say though because we know nothing about who the Master is or what his past is like.

In terms of preventing a war in an alternate worldline, maybe the Master was aware. He's probably thinking of how bad the war between Light and Dark is, so any other circumstances that happen in a worldline where it doesn't happen surely can be resolved with easier methods. Or, hopping worldlines is just another method of him buying time so his ultimate solution is ready in time for it to be used. Since he has the BoP, the MoM theoretically had to be aware of pretty much everything relevant up until KH3's Keyblade Graveyard when the Guardians ended up getting killed by the Heartless Tornado. After Sora used the Power of Waking, he rewrote time.

But, Xigbar doesn't seem phased by any of this, so he probably knew that everything was still going according to plan. As long as he ended up getting No Name back, it doesn't look like any major plans changed. So even though Sora overwrote time, it's possible the Master knew about that too. And if THAT'S the case... This guy is somehow seeing multiple Worldlines, because the Guardians falling should've been it. That's power of a God, or some other supernatural force, so it's clear he isn't human.

Although. It's said that Kingdom Hearts can grant untold power, and that's what Xehanort was after. If the Master of Masters was one of the first wielders and somehow was able to use the power of Kingdom Hearts... Maybe that's why he can do these kinds of things like create Keyblades on the spot for people and create Dream Eaters.



You know it's not often remembered, but this would be the exact case of how Nobodies have a hierarchy. Remember how in KH2, Axel said he didn't want to be turned into a Dusk for failing to bring back Roxas? It was also said in KH2 (pretty sure) that generally people with especially strong hearts tend to leave a Nobody behind. But not every Nobody has a humanoid appearance, it's usually those with the strongest wills/hearts that end up retaining their human form. The Humanoid Nobody form seems to be the highest on the rank in terms of how the Nobody species works.

So, who's to say Darkness doesn't have an equivalent? Ansem retained his form, but he had Riku. Even before that though, he had his cloak and sentience, which almost never happens. Sora is the only other known case, and that's because of Kairi's Princess of Heart magic (which she didn't even know how to do, it just happened to restore Sora to his human form).

Speaking of Riku, we never got an explanation for the Dark Suit and why Vanitas's suit looks exactly the same minus the color scheme. Xehanort's Vessels/Replicas in Scala ad Caelum kinda look similar to Vanitas in terms of the color scheme and the metal helmets. They can't be the replicas that Vexen made, because we see how it looks when Roxas takes over a Replica body. So where did those things even come from, and why did it become Xehanort's new armor when he has a Keyblade Armor already? I'm thinking Vanitas's appearance, along with whatever the hell those things were... Might be what this "Darkness" group looks like probably. Riku being possessed, his form turned into what we know as Dark Riku.

Vanitas is literally the darkness from Ven's heart. And seeing as how Vanitas is the only one to have control over the Unversed (he's the source of them)... Maybe the Unversed are a part of what Darkness is. Related, but different. Hmm.

“The closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes.”

“Fear leads to obsession with power, and obsession beckons the Darkness."

“My own heart is darkness.” That’s the last thing he says, in his moment of realization.

Eraqus had darkness in him. That’s the irony of his tragedy. He was dogmatic and confrontational against the darkness that it bore itself within him.
Eraqus is like the prequel Jedi. Guardians who swore themselves to good and light, that ironically become hypocrites and servants of darkness.

The reports written by Luxu state that “peace is but a dream” even in a worldline where the war didn’t occur, so you’re right about that. If Luxu knew that, it’s implied the Master knew too. The question has forked in a different direction, in this case “what was the disaster that occurred in the worldlines where the Keyblade War didn’t happen?” which in turn circles back to the second question of was forcing the war to come to fruition a favorable alternative compared to said disaster. If it wasn’t, then what was his motive? It’s implied from some scenes in χ that in certain different worldlines, a different kind of darkness was lurking about, although just as dangerous. Ephemer seemed particularly wary of this, as are some others, though I don’t remember who they are.

However, I have to wonder that for the Master to use innumerable child soldiers (and probably some adult ones we don’t see) on such a large-scale conflict that literally ended the World…what is the next phase of his plan if Darkness could survive even this?

I think Darkness' saying "us" can refer to the darkness in Ven (IE Vanitas) or Darkness is some sort of species or sentient collective of dark energy.

There must be a difference between a heartless and a being of pure darkness. Ansem: Seeker of Darkness is the only humanoid heartless that we've seen and he was created from the most darkness affiliated character that we know. Vanitas is half of Ven and is only the darkness in him, and the result was humanoid NOT a heartless.

Maybe when darkness is THAT immense, it becomes sentient (like Ansem) and retains a humanoid form. It doesn't explain Darkness' energy form, but maybe it's because he is bound to Ven at the moment and needs to be released?

I'm hoping that Dark Road explores the method Master Xehanort used to split Ven/Vanitas. It may have something to do with "Darkness".

Would be a hilarious yet shocking twist and mind blowing if it turned out that we (the player) are darkness, we already have a nightmare chirithy, either we are darkness or darkness is part of us the player, that’s just my theory.

That could also explain the gender of the Player being male/female.

Somebody's played Nier.

Lmao wait what?! did something like that happened in Nier? Cause I only played Nier Automata.

Time for you to buy Replicant and find out. ;)