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demispark · 29 days

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Donald Duck Is Among The Strongest Mages in the Final Fantasy Universe (Who Rivals the Divine)

I am, perhaps, the least qualified person for this task, but I love mentioning it and @ancestorlegacy said this should've been an option in my poll for KH topics to explain to my friends who nothing about it, and I just couldn't resist.

I have no idea how long whichever post I'll write when the poll is over will be, so writing this in advance means I'll still be able to post a Kingdom Hearts infodump on April 1st like I wanted to.

(After writing this, it's getting a little long, so if you don't want to read the whole thing, I'll put a TL;DR at the end of the post.)

Donald has a tendency to die quickly, misuse magic by hitting enemies with their elemental affinities (causing them to be healed), and often doesn't heal Sora when most needed.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR - Kingdom Hearts III, Bravely Default, Final Fantasy XVI, as well as some non-story spoilers for Kingdom Hearts I & II

The beginning of this story is immensely funny. Remember how the title of this post says that Donald Duck is an incredibly strong mage? That tends not to be the case for most of the series.

Whether he is or isn't powerful, he is highly unreliable. He has, however, been known to throw a good Flare spell in his time.

Allow me to introduce Flare Force, a Limit in Kingdom Hearts II and a Situation Command in Kingdom Hearts III.

This whole maneuver is called "Flare Force", but Donald's firework-summoning spells themselves are known as "Duck Flare", "Rocket Flare", and "Megaduck Flare", respectively.

With that "Mega-", now seems like a good time to explain the various Flare Spells for context.

In the Final Fantasy franchise, Flare is a high-level magic spell. One of the "ultimate" Black Mage spells, in fact. It's often non-elemental magic, but is also the final form in the line of Fire magic in others.

I'll refrain from discussing all of the different offshoots of Flare, and just discuss the relevant upgraded forms.

Still with me? Great.

Higher forms of Flare tend to be given metric prefixes:

- Nanoflare = one-billionth (10^-9)

- Megaflare = one million (10^6)

- Gigaflare = one billion (10^9)

- Teraflare = one trillion (10^12)

- Exaflare = one quintillion (10^18)

- Zettaflare = one sextillion (10^21)

Now, setting aside the discussion of how these firework Flare spells compare to Flare and Megaflare, we can now get to what you've all been waiting for: Donald Duck vaporizing a final boss-level opponent with some of the highest grade Black Magic in the FF Universe!

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Golly, wasn't that amazing? Now, we can FINALLY get into why this scene makes Donald one of the strongest mages ever.

Recall how I said that Flare is an "ultimate" Black Magic spell. Donald cast a spell equivalent to ONE SEXTILLION of an endgame offensive spell.

I mean, he appears to have either passed out for exertion or straight-up died from the effort of casting it, but that's not important. Why? Because now I can finally explain what the last part of the title of this post means.

While Donald now shares the title of strongest mage with two others to date, there is one difference: he's just a mage.

First up: Airy the Fairy.

She was a companion-turned-major antagonist in Bravely Default. While her master plan involved successfully destroying dimensions, this wasn't a direct result of her own power. Furthermore, she was a servant of the God of Destruction, Ouroboros, and was being powered-up and supported by the god during the fight in which she uses Zettaflare. Therefore, I do not believe that she can be compared to Donald's sheer might.

No, the only true comparison is to the one who is so strongly associated with Megaflare and its associated variations: Bahamut.

In case you hadn't heard, Final Fantasy XIV's original launch was so bad that they destroyed the setting of the game in canon. Bahamut's Teraflare was the cause.

Bahamut obliterated an entire continent with one spell, and Donald's spell was many, many orders of magnitude higher.

Fast forward to Final Fantasy XVI, however, and it seems that the legendary King of Dragons may have finally become a match for our feathered Flare-casting friend!

... Or maybe not. See, I haven't played Final Fantasy XIV. In fact, the only games mentioned in this post that I have played is the main one the post is about, the Kingdom Hearts series.

I'm a little hazy on the details because of that, so forgive me if I have gotten anything wrong, but Bahamut's Zettaflare failed. I mean, Airy's clearly did too since she was defeated by the protagonists of the game she was in, but Bahamut is THE Megaflare guy. Gigaflare, Teraflare, Exaflare, all used by Bahamut or some version of Bahamut.

Outplayed by Donald fucking Duck. Thank you for coming to my TEDtalk.

TL;DR - Despite being typically unreliable, Donald Duck successfully vaporized a major foe with the absurdly high-level Zettaflare spell. Airy (a fairy backed by a God of Destruction) from Bravely Default and Bahamut (A massively powerful and legendary dragon who is a staple of the FF series) from Final Fantasy XVI have also used Zettaflare, but to much less effectiveness compared to the mortal duck mage.

#Kingdom Hearts #I know I talked about other games but theyre just here for potentially out-of-context spoilers so I ain't tagging em #donald duck #kingdom hearts iii #kingdom hearts 3 #Mickey has also casted extremely high-level spells but they didn't work both times so Donald reigns supreme #This took hours but holy shit it was fun to write!!!#I might just have to start doing stuff like this more often :3 #Youtube #Spotify

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maryse127 · 10 months

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So in Kingdom Hearts III Donald fucking Duck casts Zettaflare which made him the most powerful mage in Final Fantasy history but now in Final Fantasy XVI there is finally a second instance of the spell being cast and I absolutely love this video edit about it XD

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#this part of the game is absolutely epic btw but i also could only think of donald when i saw bahamut cast zettaflare #final fantasy xvi #kingdom hearts iii #ffxvi spoilers #ff16 spoilers #final fantasy xvi spoilers #Youtube

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passsmash · 4 months

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#submission #is this spoilers . the games been out for likeeee 5 years now #character polls #kh3 #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts iii #kingdom hearts 3 #dark inferno kh3 #spoilers #???#maybe???

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angelthefandomobsessed · 1 year

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Where Kingdom Hearts III Went 'Wrong'

I should probably open this by saying that I love Kingdom Hearts III. I love KH for what it is, and the usual "Omg it's so weird, the plot doesn't make sense, eVeRyOnE iS sOrA" thing doesn't strike me as the best form of criticism for the series.

Instead, I wanted to highlight why things got so convoluted (in my opinion, anyway, it's not like I was in the writer's room or anything). I think the direction KH has gone (and is going) serves as a good lesson for any aspiring writers out there - we can learn from these shortcomings and love a series. Wild, right?

So... where did KH3 go 'wrong'?

The writers wrote themselves into a corner in DDD. That's it. It doesn't seem like a lack of planning that came back to bite them, but rather, that they went about planning in an inefficient way.

Let's look at the conflict of KH3.

(Warning: There will be a few spoilers for KH3 ahead!)

Xehanort has put together the 'real organisation' so that he can do a keyblade war reenactment, forge the χ-blade and summon Kingdom Hearts. His main goal (as I understand it, which might be very, very incorrect) is to create a new world where darkness and light can be equal, quashing the imbalance of power that is skewed towards light.

It's not a bad conflict to have. KH has very strong motifs of 'light vs dark', and having a villain fight the inequality between these sides is interesting.

The big problem is the setup behind it. The complicated, hard-to-grasp, tedious setup.

Thirteen darknesses have to fight seven lights. Cool, okay, we can see the imbalance between the sides, we have slots for our characters to fill, roles for them to play... Except, there's not enough room in the plot for them all. By sectioning off each side with neat, numerical values, the bloatedness of the cast becomes obvious.

There are seven lights:

Sora has to be one of them. He's the main character, not to mention the poster child for the light.

Riku's been there since the start, plus he's had the most fleshed-out arc by far, having overcome his own darkness. He's a worthy guardian of light and a true keyblade master.

Kairi is a princess of heart and has been there from the start. This ties a bow on our three main-est characters.

Mickey Mouse. He kind of has to be there, it's a Disney game, right?

Axel/Lea. Roxas and Xion are out of the picture, and he's a fan favourite, so sure, why not?

Aqua. A keyblade master who's suffered for ten years, torn apart from her best friends... Sure, maybe a war isn't great for her right now, but she's a lost master, so she should be.

Ventus. Pure cinnamon roll Ven, newly awakened and ready to beat up some Xehanorts.

Okay, but... what about Donald and Goofy? Oh, okay, they can just... hang out with the seven lights. As moral support, I guess? At that point, why not make it nine lights?

Double but - what about Terra? He's going to be saved at some point, so he can just... join the herd. And Roxas? And Xion? Eh, they can act as sub-ins in case anyone accidentally dies.

Oh, what's that? Kairi's dead? Wow, sucks for her, call in the reserves. Wait... If the 'Guardians of Light' can be swapped out, then what's the point in having a set number of them?

It's almost like it's entirely arbitrary.

Right. So our seven lights are more like ten-ish lights + friends. It happens, maths is hard! How do our darknesses fare?

The thirteen darknesses are (in no particular order):

Xehanort

Xemnas

Ansem

Young Xehanort

Terra Xehanort

Riku Replica

Saix

Vanitas

Marluxia

Larxene

Luxord

Xigbar

Xion

Somewhat hilariously, the dark side also has a team of reserves.

Demyx

Vexen

The wiki lists 'Replica Xehanorts' as reserves, but I'm not about to unpack that one

Imagine being Vexen, the guy responsible for dealing with replicas, the invention sustaining this organisation, and being benched in favour of teenage angst incarnate Replica Riku. Ouch.

By this point, you might be wondering how this use of arbitrary numbers actually impacted the storytelling. Organisation XIII only had thirteen members for like, a week, so clearly counting isn't a strong suit of Xehanort's.

It all falls apart when the writers say (in DDD):

"KH3 will be about this, where this happens, with this many people, at this specific place, so get your popcorn and buckle in!"

On its own, that's not a problem. But when there's a giant pile of other plot points to worry about (Aqua's in Disney hell, Ventus is napping, Terra is somehow, kinda sorta, three different people whilst also being trapped in heartless thingy (whilst also being a suit of armour, but not quite), Roxas is stuck in Sora's heart, Xion has been wiped off the face of the earth via memory nuke, Naminé is in Kairi's heart, Sora needs to discover the mystical (and vague) 'power of waking' to deal with half these problems, Lea and Kairi need to train, and Riku needs to go to the 'Heartless Barbershop in Disney Hell' (the most relevant plot point of all)).

What we get is a tangle of 'this can happen when this happens, but first we need to do this one thing, and to do that we need this other thing' (i.e. "To find Ven we need to find Aqua, who is evil and needs to be good again, and Sora needs the power of waking to deal with this... probably, let's put a pin in it and hang out with Buzz Lightyear").

The plot is murky. The plot is confusing.

This entire plot raises the question of 'Why don't Sora and co. just... not go?' That's a good question, which should have a simple answer (if they don't, the org will do baaaaad things, wooOOOoooOOO), but instead what we get is "If they don't, Xehanort will use the new seven hearts (because there are new ones now for some reason, but Kairi's still one of them, dw about it) instead, guaranteeing bad things... probably?"

Xehanort's a bad guy who needs to be stopped. That's it, that's all we needed. But that avenue was closed off once they said 'nah, it's more complex because of prophecies, I guess'.

So, what's the moral of this long, drawn-out post?

Sometimes, it might seem like a super cool idea to have a group of characters band together to defeat evil. Sometimes mashing them into a prophecy can seem appealing (the five great owls will do the unholy hoot, defeating the nine-and-a-half orange rats at sundown in Mississippi). But sometimes, this kind of self-restriction won't work for you.

KH3 could have just had 'the bad guys' and 'the good guys', and nobody would have to worry about the arbitrary parameters set by the writers.

Keep your options open and don't overcomplicate things just for the sake of it! It'll only give you and your consumer a headache.

All that being said, KH3 really delivered on the emotional payoffs so like, forget the randomly numbered groups, let's appreciate the joy that (most of) these characters are allowed to feel now.

#kingdom hearts #kh #kingdom hearts iii #kh3 #writing advice #spoilers #xehanort and his ridiculous plan #man really said “I'll just confuse them into doing what I want”

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underthebluerain · 1 year

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I finally finished playing kh3

yes I know it’s been almost 4 years

no I don’t have an explanation other than I played slowly, then got sad when I figured I was near the end bc I expected it to be longer and got kind of overwhelmed and just. stopped. and then there were. so many things going on.

I’m... I had envisioned making this post in all caps bc I just knew I was gonna be excited and a little sad but... turns out I was wrong. I’m honestly not excited or happy or even conflicted. I’m just upset.

this hurts me to say bc I’ve literally loved this saga since 2002. and I honestly never thought I’d say this. but it’s not that I’m feeling melancholic, it’s just sad, because honestly, what was this ending.

I’m also very upset at the terrible treatment of kairi, however, that I expected. but the ending??? what the hell??? literally all they had to do was get the trio back to destiny islands and have them be happy and together. and they didn’t do that.

they can’t even claim the usual bullshit like “we wrote ourselves into a corner” or “it’s impossible to please every fan” bc the ending everyone wanted was the simplest one. and given the amount of nonsensical events and characters coming back against all odds, it makes no sense that they killed sora off except for cheap drama. offscreen too. after making kairi a damsel in distress again and not even saving her onscreen.

I can’t believe this. if it was gonna end like this, the saga should’ve ended in kh II. I just cannot believe my final feeling about this saga is disappointment.

I honestly don’t care if later games fix this, I assume they do bc death is cheap in this universe and also bc obviously they wanna keep milking it all (when honestly, kh III should have been the end, a good end). the fact is they completely ruined it for me.

I’m just sad.

#kh #kingdom hearts III #my post #as usual i finish something so much later than everybody else and everybody must have moved on #but i'm feeling it now so #just unblocked all the tags i had blocked to avoid spoilers. all 34 of them (only half joking)#also consider this your announcement that i'm gonna start blogging like crazy about it #anyway I’m gonna go watch all the cutscenes from re: mind and melody of memory and see if they improve my mood

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bobgoesw00t · 1 year

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Top 10 Video Games of All Time: bobgoesw00t Edition (Part 05)

OK people, WE’RE OFFICIALLY HALFWAY THROUGH THIS LIST!!! Not gonna waste any time here, so my Number 06 Video Game of All Time is:

FINAL FANTASY XV

This takes the spot as it’s the Final Fantasy that I personally was waiting for. The first main entry in the franchise to have a 100% real time, action combat system. The previous games in the franchise had battles in real time, yes, but not in the same vain as the Star Ocean or Tales of series. The game was basically a hybrid of real time but with turn-based inputs and while that can make things intense, NOTHING beats being able to run circles around the enemy and hitting the ever loving shit out of them while having to avoid/guard any attacks they might throw your way. So when it was first revealed that combat for this title would be similar to Kingdom Hearts and the other two JRPG series I mentioned, I was FUCKING ECSTATIC!

The story is also one of my favorites in the series as it starts off with, “ROAD TRIP!!!” but quickly becomes a tale of taking back everything that was taken from Noctis while becoming the standard “Save the World” ending at a pace that’s just PERFECT!!! There are also subtle little changes in the game that you literally don’t notice unless someone brings it up, the big one being that as the game progresses, the days steadily become shorter. The party will wake up at a later hour after resting, and the nights come quicker, leaving more time for the demons to play. It’s literally so fucking subtle that after watching a video that mentions it on YouTube, I CAN’T UN-SEE THE CHANGE!!!!!

Of course, this being a Final Fantasy game, it wouldn’t be complete without Chocobos, which are SO MUCH FUN TO RIDE!!! One of the quickest/cheapest ways to get an asston of EXP is take a bunch of bounties, park the car on the road and then use the Chocobos to run around and kill the monsters (usually staying awake for the night as the Demons do give a good amount of EXP), then fast traveling back to the car and turning the quests in.

As for the car, that’s one of the best parts of the game IMO cause after you’ve cleared the story, IT TURNS INTO THE AIRSHIP FOR THE GAME. YOU LITERALLY GET A FLYING CAR AND IT’S ;OGVHJASPGAUGHPAO H SO AWESOME!!!!!!! It’s surprisingly relaxing to just take off in the car, listen to some of music from the previous games and just fly around for a bit.

FFXV is also one of the easier games to get the Platinum Trophy (or every Achievement if your on Xbox) on and it’s one nine games I’ve gotten the Platinum for (the others being Assassin’s Creed Origins, Odyssey and Valhalla, Batman Arkham Knight, Ghost of Tsushima, Kingdom Hearts III, Resident Evil 6 on the PS4 and Pider-Man), making it a good choice for anyone looking to get the final trophy. The only real roadblock you’ll encounter will be killing the Adamantoisem, which isn’t that hard to kill. It’s mostly time consuming due to it’s MASSIVE health pool and if Noctis and friends are under-leveled, it’ll be an uphill battle for sure. I waited until Noctis was around Level 110 I think, and the rest of the part was over Level 99, took some spells that had the “Limit Break” perk on them so they could deal insane damage and then made sure to go after the things eyes. Also helps out if you’ve unlocked the “Air Dance” ability and use a sword so you can keep the pressure on the beast, and use any summon that decides to help you to chop a chunk of it’s health off. It ended up taking me about 90 minutes to kill the Adamantoise and nail the Platinum Trophy which was a far cry from the “72 real life hours” that people were saying in some previews. That being said, if you try to kill the fucker at any point prior to the post game…it could potentially take that long.

Also want to give a shout out to Yoko Shimomura for NAILING the soundtrack for the game, with MASSIVE props to two songs in particular, Apocalypse Noctis and APOCALYPSE AQUARIUS which play during the boss fight against Titan and Leviathan respectively. Fighting against two MASSIVE DEITIES that could EASILY squish you if they really wanted to WHILE THE ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR ARE GOING BALLISTIC IS ONE OF THE MOST INTENSE MOMENTS I’VE EVER HAD PLAYING A VIDEO GAME!!! And it’s somehow EVEN MORE INTENSE AND EPIC during the Trial of Leviathan because Noctis will spend the majority of the fight IN FUCKING GOD MODE!!! HE’S LITERALLY JUST WARPING AROUND THE PLACE FLINGING THE ROYAL ARMS AT THE SEA GODDESS AND BREAKING HER FINS WHILE THE SAME SONG FROM THE TRIAL OF TITAN IS BLASTING BUT WITH ADDED ELECTRIC GUITARS FOR EXTRA “OOMPH”!!!!! I STILL don’t know how she managed to top the insanity that was Apocalypse Noctis with APOCALYPSE AQUARIUS but SHE FUCKING DID!!!!!!!!!! I ALWAYS look forward to those boss fights and get goosebumps when the songs start up and I HAVE to BLAST IT AS LOUD AS I CAN STAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

…OK, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I want to mention how this is first game that I literally have ZERO issues with. I didn’t have an issue with only being able to control Noctis before they added the ability to switch to the other three characters and I HIGHLY suggest getting the Royal Package/Edition so you can get the accessories for the other characters that can totally BREAK THE GAME when you control them. The one that gives Prompto infinite ammo for his SMG lets you just SHRED enemies to bits and it’s stupidly fun to just sit back and go, ‘PEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEWPEW!!!!!“ while the enemy sort of just flails about.

So from a great story with perfect pacing IMO, to an battle system that’s actually, real time action oriented, one of the greatest casts of characters in the series, and probably the best soundtrack in a Final Fantasy game from Yoko Shimomura, this otaku give Final Fantasy XV Five Warp Strikes out of Five: 5/5

Honorable Mentions:

Final Fantasy XII:This is the only other game in the series that I feel had a perfect balance between the battle system, the various gameplay systems, story, cast, music and level of enjoyment.

Kingdom Hearts III:The epic conclusion to the Dark Seeker Saga, with the best combat the series has ever had, DLC that extends the ending PERFECTLY while also giving us some more questions about the future of the franchise, awesome music also from Yoko Shimomura, my favorite World Map and Gummi Ship, an ending theme from Hikaru Utada that makes me cry every time I play the game (Don’t Think Twice is the best theme she’s provided IMO) and my favorite part…NOMURA CONTINUING TO BE THE BIGGEST TROLL IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE!!!!! INSANE SPOILERS FOR ANYONE THAT STILL HAVEN’T BEATEN KINGDOM HEARTS III BY NOW…like by best friend Nolan cause he insisted on playing all the previous games IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER WHICH YOU SHOULDN’T DO EVER!!! Nomura making the Black Box seem like a big deal for a good chunk of the game, it FINALLY SHOWS UP IN THE EPILOGUE and we’re about to find out something…CUT TO BLACK AND WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK IS IN THAT FUCKING BOX!!!!!!! Also have to mention: Kingdom Hearts II.9 (we see what you did there Nomura >_<), Sora and the other half-pints breaking the fourth wall in Olympus about the lack of a fanfare and probably the best troll moment in the ENTIRE GAME…putting Let It Go almost FRAME FOR FRAME AS IT APPEARS IN FROZEN ROUGHLY HALFWAY THROUGH DERPENDELLE!!!!!!! You just KNOW everyone LOVED getting that song stuck in their head for the millionth time…NOT!!!!!!! I was also torn between having this game or FFXV at Number 06 but I went with the latter cause I got he Platinum for it first xD

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hubakon1368 · 2 years

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DISClAIMER: This post is not from the author of the fic. If anyone knows the author’s tumblr (if they have one), please let me know.

Chapters: 21/? Fandom: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Lea & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Isa & Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Hayner & Olette & Pence & Roxas & Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi & Riku & Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua & Terra & Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé & Riku Replica (Kingdom Hearts), Isa & Pence (Kingdom Hearts) Characters: Lea (Kingdom Hearts), Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), Xion (Kingdom Hearts), Isa (Kingdom Hearts), Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Hayner (Kingdom Hearts), Pence (Kingdom Hearts), Olette (Kingdom Hearts), Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Riku Replica (Kingdom Hearts), Terra (Kingdom Hearts), Aqua (Kingdom Hearts), Ventus (Kingdom Hearts), Ansem the Wise | DiZ, Ienzo (Kingdom Hearts), Naminé (Kingdom Hearts) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Spoilers - Kingdom Hearts III, Twilight Town (Kingdom Hearts), Parental/Big Brother Lea/Axel, Axel Made Mistakes, Riku Replica Lives, not re:mind compliant, References To Experiments On Hearts, Bad Things Happened In Radiant Garden, Friends as Family, Platonic Cuddling, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Love, Literal Sleeping Together, past trauma, Protectiveness, Friendship, Nightmares, Domestic Fluff, Guilt, Atonement - Freeform, Worldbuilding, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Sora is Missing (Kingdom Hearts), Magic and Science, Hugs, Sea Salt Family (Kingdom Hearts), Forgiveness, Separation Anxiety, Puberty, Blood, Menstration, The Talk, Panic, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Roxas and Xion Are Teenage Toddlers, Fight Scenes, Heartless (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Bullying, Day At The Beach, Drowning, Apologies, Everyone Has Issues, Fire Series: Part 2 of Instinctively Family Summary:

The Keyblade War is over, Xehanort is gone, and bringing Sora back is going to take time and patience. And for the first time in their entire existences, Roxas and Xion don't have a mission. They finally have the chance to be regular kids with normal lives. And Lea is going to give that to them. He's going to give them everything that they deserve and that they've been denied. And he's going to help Isa now that his friend has his heart back.

Lea nearly lost everything that he cared about once before. He's not going to make the same mistakes again. He's going to take this second chance. He can't be selfish this time. He'll be the friend that they deserve.

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riitah · 1 year

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[lover's quarrel] - gojo satoru x fem!reader

*sorry, i forgot to tag this: spoilers for jjk 0, but it's only mentioned in like one sentence and it's a very small detail SYNOPSIS: you and gojo got into your first argument as a couple, but you didn't expect him to come forward to apologize first. WORD COUNT: 1.3k HONORABLE MENTION: special thanks to my beta reader “henry rumpelstiltskin III of the nuclear sock kingdom”! :DD AUTHOR'S NOTE: egocentric fictional men who apologize first>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> - (he'd apologize first because I said so) - (he'd also be so embarrassed about it because i said so) - (because y'know. he probably never apologizes first. except this time.) - (holy crap i hope this isn't too ooc like i've never seen him get into an argument with anyone before 😭😭😭)

You. The couch. And the deafening silence.

It wasn't like you and Satoru haven't gotten into arguments before; back in high school, he loved to bother the crap out of you when you were busy doing something that required your full attention, and many of these button-pushing sessions led to full-blown arguments where the two of you hurled insult after insult at each other (though they were more of a one-sided thing, because he just laughed at you and your reddening face, asking if that was all you got). And Shoko and Suguru would watch all the while, one enjoying the entertainment she was getting and the other patiently waiting for a moment where he could calm the both of you down.

But this argument was different. It wasn't some small fight between teenagers that the two of you would forget in a few days. Heck, it might even last a few days instead, now that Suguru wasn't here.

Suguru.

You sighed, remembering that you fought with him, too. Figuratively and literally.

You sunk into the soft seat and leaned your head against the back cushion, letting out a loud groan.

Should I just apologize and get this over with?

After all, knowing your boyfriend, he'd be way too prideful to say sorry first.

Right. Boyfriend. Maybe even soon-to-be ex-boyfriend.

You tightly clutched the hem of your shirt at the thought, your heart feeling heavy. The remnants of the feud buried themselves deep into your chest, pulling and clawing at it as if it was trying to rip something out of there. It hurt knowing that the relationship you were once so happy to establish might not last as long as you thought it would.

Your best friend and your boyfriend; two heartbreaks, two people lost.

You bit your lip, trying to hold back tears. The room gradually grew darker and darker as the sun set in the distance, a painful reminder to you that Satoru had been gone for hours. Pulling your knees to your chest, you rocked back and forth, wondering where he could be this late.

Certainly not at some club, right...?

Your stomach twisted in a way you couldn't explain, and you let out a choked sob.

He can't be. He's not like that.

But Satoru had never been romantically involved with anyone before you. So how did you know what to expect?

You felt your fingernails digging into your skin, hard enough to make it bleed. You hated the way the scenarios were running through your head, the way none of them were him coming home to you without smelling of sickly sweet perfume and without having lipstick stains all over his neck. It was truly a different kind of pain knowing that someone who had declared his love for you merely six hours before could take it all back in an instant.

This is all so, so stupid. Maybe this was a mistake from the start.

Grabbing your coat that was lying right next to you, you stood up to leave.

Maybe a break would serve the both of us some good.

You put it on, not bothering to zip up the front.

I never should've said yes.

You walked towards the door, your footsteps soft, hesitant, and gradually slowing down to a stop when you arrived. You reached for the doorknob, still unsure of your decision. Your hand hovered in midair as you looked down at your feet, warm tears still streaking down your cheeks.

Is this really the right thing to do?

You couldn't think straight, or pinpoint what exactly you felt. Anger? Worry? Dread? The different emotions were all mixed into one, forced down your throat and into the pit of your stomach, with the sole purpose of breaking you from inside out.

You didn't want to think about anything anymore.

Closing your eyes, you took a deep breath before wrapping your hand around the doorknob, and--

The door flew backwards, striking against your palm. Your eyes opened in surprise, darting from the doorknob to the tall man that stood in front of you.

Neither of you said a word.

You were rooted to the spot, your legs frozen. Beads of sweat rolled down your back, tickling you, futilely trying to distract you from the situation at hand. Your hands felt clammy, your breath was stuck uncomfortably in your throat, and a single tear awkwardly slid its way down the side of your face, seemingly not getting the memo.

Satoru stared back at you, his sunglasses sitting on the bridge of his nose, slightly crooked. His blue eyes blinked at you, with a hint of confusion behind them. He was also slightly panting, you realized as you saw his shoulders slightly heave up and down from the corner of your eye.

"...(Y/N)?" His voice was gentle, void of any anger, unlike the tone he had used with you just hours before.

You didn't reply in fear of breaking down in front of him, in fear of coming off as some kind of victim when the fault was yours as much as it was his.

"What are you... Were you leaving? Were you crying?"

He sounded so confused, so worried. He touched your wet cheek, brushing against it with his calloused hand.

"Toru, where were you?" Your voice was barely audible.

One second passed. And then two.

Please tell me that you didn't give up on us.

And then three. And four.

The silence dragged on. And your hope dwindled along with it.

"Toru, I..." you said hoarsely.

Your heart dropped when you finally smelled the faint trace of perfume. The very same sickly-sweet smell you had been afraid of.

It can't be.

Can it?

"Were you...kissing some other girl?" Your voice cracked a little.

"What?! No!" His eyes widened as he frantically shook his head, and then he exhaled and furrowed his brows. "Was that why you were crying?"

You nodded meekly, feeling as though you were about to cry all over again. "I thought you'd want to break up with me."

"I'd never." You felt his lips press against your forehead, the warmth still lingering even after he pulled away. "And..." He dropped his hand to his side and glanced away, preoccupied with something on the floor, his voice quiet, sincere. "I'm...sorry."

Now it was your turn to widen your eyes. Did he just...apologize?

He peeked at you, and then grinned when he saw your expression. "Dumbfounded, aren't you? You should be honored to be the first and only person I've ever apologized t--mmph!"

All of the sadness seemed to have evaporated from your body as you grabbed his face with one hand, bringing it close. "Do that again."

He squinted at you. "I got you flowers," he suggested, squirming in your grasp. "And perfume too, so if you smell that on me, that's probably from the shop." A pause, waiting for you to let go. "And chocolate." Another pause, a smirk forming on his face. "Sexy lingeri--?"

You gave him a deadpan stare before he could finish.

"Kidding, kidding! Obviously." He laughed, the sound filling your stomach with butterflies. "So does that mean you forgive me?"

You sighed, nodding, letting go of him. "I'm really sorry, too. It was a stupid thing to argue over."

"Well, that marks the end of our first lover's quarrel!" He readjusted his glasses and smiled at you before bringing his left hand out from behind his back. "Good thing, because my arm was about to start cramping--"

You didn't register the rest of his words as he showed off the items he bought for you, your mind still trying to process what had just happened.

Toru knows how to apologize...

Surprised? Happy? Maybe giddy? Or all three?

You let a giggle slip, and he turned to you, the bouquet of flowers in his hands raised like a trophy.

"What're you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

You pulled in by the collar for a taste of his soft lips, whispering against them a quiet "I love you."

#gojo satoru x reader #gojo x you #gojo x female reader #gojo satoru x female reader #gojo x reader #gojo #gojo satoru #jjk imagines #gojo satoru x you #jjk x you #jujutsu kaisen #jujutsu kaisen x reader #oneshot #this was so anticlimatic holy crap #but i hope you enjoyed

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silence-traitor · 2 years

Photo

#khgraphics #khgifs #sora kh #sora #kingdom hearts #kh3 #kh3 spoilers #kingdom hearts iii #kingdom hearts iii spoilers #made by morgan

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lucemferto · 1 year

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Sometimes I just look at people's opinions and I am just amazed by how ludicrously wrong I find them to be.

Case in point: The assertion that the Kingdom Hearts series is moving away from Disney. I mean ... have we played the same series?

Kingdom Hearts III is such a love letter to the Disney properties it represents - in fact, I'd argue that KHIII represents the series moving closer to Disney compared to KHII. The Disney worlds are realised with a stunning attention to detail, the cutscenes are lavish and extravagant and - most of all - the worlds are MASSIVE.

They easily make up 90% of the game and are written with an energy - with the exception of maybe Arendelle - that is completely missing in whatever meagre scraps the original content gets.

I mean, think about it: Kingdom Hearts I had four original worlds, which includes the massive Hollow Bastion as well two decently sized worlds in Traverse Town and The End of the World.

Meanwhile, Kingdom Hearts III has two relatively small original worlds in Twilight Town and the amalgamation of the Keybalde Graveyard, the Final World and Scala Ad Caelum. As well as an in-cutscenes only Hub World where exposition is relayed to us as flatly as possible, while Arendelle gets a whole Let It Go number.

#kingdom hearts spoilers #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts III #kingdom hearts 3 #khiii #kh3

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pix3lplays · 11 months

Text

Blog intro!

Hi! I’m Pixel!

this is where I’ll be writing Honkai: Star Rail, Genshin Impact, Dr. Stone! (Spoilers for Dr. Stone’s manga are on this blog) One Piece, Hades, Kingdom Hearts, and Triangle Strategy

here are my rules:

-I only write the male characters (Aeons get a pass for this rule)

-Only x readers, no ships

-no nsfw, although sometimes I’ll be a little suggestive haha

-I also don’t write polygamy, sorry

-please specify which men you want! Putting “the Hsr men” will result in me defaulting to whoever I feel like. No longer doing ‘All Men’ since there’s too many, thanks for understanding

-I only write Yanqing and Arlan platonically.

-Please no body based requests such as certain physical characteristics, I’m just uncomfortable writing about that. Plus sized!reader is allowed though!

-No self-harm topics please!

-No child!reader please! I’m just not interested in writing it.

-Only fem! Or GN!reader since I’m a woman and that’s what feels comfortable for me, thank you for understanding!

-Here’s the Dr. Stone characters I will write:

Senku Ishigami (in the chapters where he’s an adult) Hyoga Akatsuki Tsukasa Shishio Ryusui Nanami Stanley Snyder Dr. Xeno Houston Wingfield (I will love you forever if you send a Stanley or a Dr. Xeno request oh my gosh)

Ok so I’m not Incredibly far into the One Piece anime yet, and the freshest scenes in my mind are the Live Action stuff so please keep that in mind, try to keep spoilers to a minimum please! Anyways here’s the One Piece characters I’ll write:

Roronoa Zoro Sanji Vinsmoke Sir Crocodile Captain Smoker Portgas D. Ace Red-Haired Shanks Dracule Mihawk

So yeah, feel free to send a request for any of these characters!

I will be taking a break from Genshin

I will also write fire emblem three houses boys! I love them very much!

Added the Buddy Daddies to my list!

Here’s the Hades list:

Zagreus, Thanatos, Hypnos, Dionysus, Ares

New character!! Writing Spike Spiegel!!

Adding the Ace Attorney characters! Basically the main characters and a few villains, go ahead and ask for the character you want, I’ll most likely be confident in writing them since I Love those games and I’ve played all of them completely through except the Edgeworth ones!

Adding Epsilon from Pluto!!

Adding some Kingdom Hearts characters! Here they are: Xemnas, Xigbar, Saïx, Axel, Vexen, Marluxia, and Zexion

Final Fantasy VII characters I’ll write: Cloud, Sephiroth, Rufus, Tseng, Reno, and Reeve

I’ll write Magus from Chrono Trigger

Feel free to send in an ask! Thank you for reading!

Masterlist Masterlist II Masterlist III Masterlist IV

Masterlist V Masterlist VI

Anon list (I’m so sorry if I forgot you just remind me lol): shady anon, 🫛anon, Star Fries anon, Aquarius anon, tulip anon, Star Ruby anon, 🌌 anon, (E), 🤡anon, 🐉anon, ♣️anon, Starcatcher anon, 🌺anon, 🍂anon, 🐞anon, 🎆anon, 🍠anon, 🎲 anon, 👾anon, tea anon, Phoenix anon, top hat anon, 🫶🏻anon, sky-faring anon, 🌱anon, 🦉anon, 🧚‍♀️anon, 🪐anon, ✉️ anon, 🎪anon, 😭anon, 🎭anon, 🦭anon, 🐑anon, Argenti’s Spouse anon, 💮Anon, 🪷anon, 🪄anon, 🍡anon, 💫anon, joke anon, 🍁anon, 📦 anon, 🫧 anon, 🐜antnon, 🦜 anon, 🪽anon, 🪶anon

#Honkai: Star Rail #Honkai: Star Rail x reader #My writing rules #Dr. Stone #Dr. Stone x reader #Buddy Daddies #Buddy Daddies x reader #Ace attorney #Ace attorney x reader

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alieinthemorning · 5 months

Text

Pragma [Furina]

Content: Genshin Impact Version 4.2 Masquerade of the Guilty Spoilers, Kingdom Hearts III Spoilers, Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Soft

Pronouns: None

Reblogs: Let me know that you enjoy my work and want to see more, so don't forget to like and reblog (and comment in the tags. I love seeing people’s rambles in the tags)!

This work's concepts, plot and original characters are my own which means I do not allow any sort of creative theft nor do I allow my work to be entered into any sort of A.I. bots. Thank you for respecting my space and boundaries.

You have always had sensitive hearing. And yet, despite the seriousness of the situation surrounding you—You could hear the faint sound of song. A finale of bittersweet release. And then you felt the urge to dance—to join her on the stage.

You disregarded those around you, disregarded the violent waters that threatened to consume all of Fontaine. All of that disappeared as your dance partner began the final dance of this half a millennium masquerade.

You followed in step, completely in tune with her. You tasted the sweetness of her sacrifice. And the sourness—your hand shot out, unable to reach what was just ahead—of her death. You did not cry. You smiled, just as she had.

And as the song reached its climax, you found yourself ascending the steps of her throne, joined by the beautiful remnants of your dance partner. The remnants reached her before you, but you could still hear the whispers.

"Thank you, Furina. For all you've done. From this moment on, please live happily as a human. Just as I wished we could."

Then as you yourself reached her, you dropped to one knee grabbing her right hand, allowing your lips to just barely brushing against the fabric as you whispered your own words to her.

"What an outstanding performance, Furina. Your time in the spotlight is now complete. Let the rest of the actors finish this tragedy, and when you open your eyes next—the dawn of a new day will come to greet you. And finally, you will be able to take your final bow and receive your roses and standing ovation."

When you opened your eyes, you found that hers were still filled with a pour of tears. Tears that you didn't dare wipe away. After five hundred years of keeping the secrets of an Archon's love, she should be allowed the freedom to finally let it all out. No matter how silent she sounded.

You turned to look back at the spot where Neuvillette, the Traveler and Paimon had been, now gone to take on the All-Devouring Narwhal. Your gaze then flickered toward where the others had been, they too had left. You assumed that they had left to help deal with the storm of sin.

You smiled, turning back to her as you leaned against the balcony's railing.

"Shall I tell you a story, Furina?"

You told her the story of another prophecy—of a boy of light and an old man of darkness. You told her how that boy played into the played into the hands of prophecy even at the very end. The prophecy being conducted by the old man, who had actually been a victim of prophecy himself.

And yet, despite the old man conceding and the darkness receding. There was always a sacrifice that needed collection. The boy had scarified his life for that of his friends, and although he was a bit frightened, he was still okay with the outcome. Because he knew—

"They can take your world. They can take your heart. Cut you loose from all you know. But if it's your fate... then every step forward will always be a step closer to home."

He knew he would return home one day, no mater what.

"So did she, so will I and so will you, Furina."

There will always be those waiting for us with a smile on their face.

When Furina had finally gained the courage to lay eyes on her ruined kingdom, she was quite surprise to see that her people were not dissolved into the waters, bringing the waves of the torment as their final verdict as they plunged her beneath the waters to dissolve in her death sentence.

No, what she saw was quite different from that.

"The prophecy was—" Furina threw a hand up to shield her eyes from the sudden ray of light. And when she removed it, she found you in the sunbeam's place.

"Good morning, Furina." You presented her a hand.

She gave a watery smile, giving you her right hand.

"Yes, it is a good morning indeed."

Furina found you sometime later, telling you that she was going to embark on a journey.

You knew this was to come, so you simply smiled at her, presenting her with a Lakelight Lily.

Neither of you said the usual parting words, already knowing them by heart. Furina did surprise you, however, by grabbing your left hand and pressed a petal-soft kiss to your knuckles. Then with a flourish only a true god could muster did she bow to you and leave with elegance.

You held your left hand to your heart, hoping to cherish its warmth as you waited for Furina's return.

Yeah, this whole AQ fucked me up real good. Highkey wished that Furina came after this version, just so that people could play it and have more time to save for her. Because, like, Furina is my absolute favorite character now. I love her so much (and as a writer/reader you know why this is actually a bad thing :3c ).

Ko-Fi | Commission | Masterlist

#alie ficlets #genshin impact x reader #furina x reader #genshin 4.2 spoilers

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princess-of-the-corner · 4 months

Note

In the Kingdom Hearts fandom the most despised fans would be either "Only the numbered games are required" or "Everything after KH2 is garbage".

Since, y'know, the "everything after KH2 is garbage" crowd decided to LEAK KINGDOM HEARTS III in hopes that they could cause the game to be a commercial failure, often sending spoilers to people in the lead-up of the game's release in hopes that they would lose interest in Kingdom Hearts III and not buy it, to "punish" Square Enix for the direction they took the games in post-KH2.

oh fucking OOF

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 10 months

Text

Psycho Analysis: Master Xehanort & His Many Incarnations

(WARNING! This analysis contains SPOILERS!)

Kingdom Hearts is probably one of my favorite series ever made. It is a unique blend of Square’s JRPG goodness and the magical whimsy of Disney in one of the most baffling and unlikely crossovers of all time, and manages to deliver a wild (and occasionally convoluted) story about light, darkness, and the power of friendship that keeps you engaged even when things stop making any fucking sense—a frequent occurrence, especially in the later games.

Ah, but what is a Square JRPG without some hammy villain out to destroy the world? Enter Master Xehanort, the evil old man. A scheming Keyblade master who desires to rewrite reality to balance darkness and light, he is the ultimate enemy Sora, Donald, Goofy, and the rest of the Mouseketeers must gather up their strength to fight. Truly he is a Square villain through and through.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE!

You didn’t think this was going to be so simple, did you? Master Xehanort could give Lord Voldemort a run for his money in the soul-splitting department, because grandpa here is able to make an entire Organization XIII with nothing but himself by Kingdom Hearts III. While some of his Xehanorted followers like Marluxia, Luxord, Larxene, and Xigbar are not going to be discussed here (we’ll be saving them for the inevitable Organization XIII Psycho Analysis somewhere down the line), we will be going over the original game’s villain Ansem, Seeker of Darkness; Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII from Kingdom Hearts II; Young Xehanort, the time traveling bastard version of Master Xehanort; and Terra-Xehanort, the ‘nort who is responsible for the creation of those first two guys.

Also, full disclosure here: I never finished Birth By Sleep and I didn’t play the twelve quadrillion spinoffs between II and III so my knowledge on some of these guys is down to simply reading plot summaries, watching cutscenes, and so on. Still, I can’t let the voters down, so lets dive to the heart of the matter and talk about the convoluted villain from the most convoluted JRPG franchise around.

Motivation/Goals: Somehow Xehanort’s plans are both incredibly simple and also extremely confusing at the same time.

Thanks to Kingdom Hearts being a relatively simple black-and-white conflict where “light = good, dark = bad,” Master Xehanort’s schemes are a lot less confusing than they initially appear. It goes like this: Master Xehanort saw there was too much light everywhere and decided that the universe needed an equal amount of dark and light. To this end he sought out Kingdom Hearts to utilize its limitless power to reshape reality, but as his plan went further along he became corrupted and consumed by darkness, leading to his council of clone nonsense and all the Heartless, Nobodies, and schemes throughout the series as he now sought to end the world and reshape it for seemingly his own amusement.

Real simple, right? WRONG. At the end of the third game he’s confusingly revealed to be a well-intentioned extremist all along, and he just wanted to bring balance after all! Never mind all the fucked up evil shit he did, never mind how obviously sinister the dude is, never mind how his younger self is the most soulless bastard around, just ignore all that because Grandpa was really just trying to help in his own messed up way. And, yeah, this was how he started before every game after showed him going to even more fucked up extremes to achieve his goal, so... yeah. It doesn’t help that the last game tells us he thought the darkness in everyone’s heart was the issue, as opposed to the previously-established “tyranny of light.”

Performance: As if this man wasn’t convoluted enough, his voice actor situation is nothing short of pure insanity.

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness was initially voiced by Billy Zane in Kingdom Hearts. Out of all the ridiculous stunt casting going on in that game, Zane was probably the best actor aside from Hayley Joel Osment and Hayden Panettiere (and certainly a better and more fitting choice than Lance Bass as Sephiroth). Unfortunately, he was one of the big names who was tossed aside when the sequel came out in 2005, which stings really bad considering his career was obliterated a year later for starring in the film Valley of the Wolves: Iraq, a Turkish film that showed the ugly side of the American occupation of Iraq (and also featured Gary Busey as an antisemitic caricature) during the height of the patriotic fervor surrounding the War on Terror. His career has yet to recover to this day, and it’s sad he didn’t have an iconic video game villain role to fall back on.

Of course, it’s not all bad; his replacement, Richard Epcar (Old Man Joseph in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, the title character of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, and Myotismon and Etemon from the first season of Digimon) certainly tore into the role with gusto, hamming it up as Ansem and delivering the sort of magnificent villain performance you would expect from a man who played an evil Elvis monkey. He’s so good in his role they even gave him Terra-Xehanort to play as well! Twice the Richard Epcar for the price of one! Young Xehanort is decidedly less messy, but still changed from David Gallagher in Birth By Sleep to Ben Diskin going forward. Diskin, of course, is most well known for playing Numbuh One in Codename: Kids Next Door and Young Joseph Joestar in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. Kinda funny how both Josephs are playing essentially the same guy at different points in his life.

Master Xehanort’s VA situation is, without a doubt, the biggest tangled mess of them all. When he first appeared in Birth By Sleep, he was portrayed by none other than Leonard Nimoy, a man who needs no introduction and who spent his time going up against the dude voiced by Mark Hamill. Finally we get to see the ultimate battle, Spock vs. Luke Skywalker!

Alas, Leonard Nimoy sadly passed away in 2015, leaving Master Xehanort in an awkward spot. Thankfully, they had an excellent backup in mind for when Kingdom Hearts III finally rolled out: Rutger Hauer, a man who needs no introduction (Ok, maybe he needs one a bit more than Nimoy; he was Roy Batty in Blade Runner and the eponymous character in Hobo with a Shotgun). Unfortunately, his performance wasn’t quite as good as Nimoy’s, though not bad. The fact he was able to carry the burden of voicing a character previously portrayed by a universally beloved actor to a solid finish is an impressive feat only matched by Greg Baldwin wrapping up Iroh and Aku in Mako’s honor. Truly a decent note to go out on!

...Except there was DLC, which featured an appearance from Xehanort. And wouldn’t you know it, Rutger Hauer sadly passed away in 2019, leaving Xehanort voiceless once more. Who could possibly fill the shoes of two incredible sci-fi actors who starred in some of the greatest film and television roles of all time? I’ll tell you who: The guy who voiced Mr. Clipboard in Foodfight, baby!!!

Motherfucking Christopher Lloyd of all goddamn people is now Master Xehanort, and honestly? It’s just perfect. Xehanort looks like he would have that sinister snarl Lloyd gives villains like Rasputin and the aforementioned CGI abomination. This is truly a match made in heaven! Let’s just hope he doesn’t sadly pass away right before he needs to record more lines too.

The only one of these dudes with a consistent VA was Xemnas, who had Paul St. Peter from beginning to end. He previously appeared in a Psycho Analysis when I talked about the Pillar Men, as he voiced the best one (Wammu); it seems playing the best Xehanort squad member was practice for playing the best massive Aztec vampire. You might also know him from Digimon, where he’s played characters such as Wormmon and Leomon. The man has incredible range and never turns in a dull role.

Final Fate: This is one of the most contentious aspects of the guy. All of the incarnations get a pretty interesting sendoff in the third game as most of them come to some sort of epiphany in regards to their lot in life, with Ansem and Xemnas both getting rather tragic farewells where the heroes feel a bit of sympathy for them and Young Xehanort going out gloating to Sora and being an absolute bastard. But Master Xehanort, the big bad who has tortured and enslaved and destroyed and caused untold chaos and devastation in his quest to create a world that fits his idea of balance? He… peacefully goes into the afterlife with his best friend. Needless to say, gamers were pissed this dude had a peaceful ending despite all of the shit he did, especially when he didn’t really meaningfully redeem himself to earn it.

Best Scene: These are the bad guys in an action RPG series, what do you think their best scene is? Their boss fights, duh! Ansem, Seeker of Darkness has his massive marathon boss fight at the end of the first game, where he summons a Darkside and turns into a giant Heartless ship, and if you’d like to count his time possessing Riku there’s that ball-bustingly difficult battle in Hollow Bastion too; Xemnas has his super hard bonus boss fight in the Final Mix of the first game and then his action-packed final battle in the second one, which features you fighting him while jumping down a skyscraper, slashing buildings in half, and a whole lot of lasers; Young Xehanort has his bonus battle in Birth By Sleep and main story fight in Dream Drop Distance; and then all of them get great final duels in the third game, which culminates in the awesome final battle against Master Xehanort himself. The man is incapable of dropping the ball when it comes to boss battles, no matter which incarnation you’re facing. Plus, you get to live out this memetic SpongeBob quote every single game you beat him up in:

Outside of the fights, I think Young Xehanort takes the cake out of the incarnations with the scene where he is verbally flayed alive by Woody of all fucking characters.

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Final Thoughts & Score: Let’s go one by one, shall we?

Ansem, Seeker of Darkness

The first Xehanort we encounter, and honestly it’s hard not to feel a little nostalgic about him. This was our first Kingdom Hearts villain! He’s the one who got us all stuck for hours in Hollow Bastion as kids because Ansem-Riku was an ungodly pain in the ass! And Billy Zane’s fantastic performance led to an unending avalanche of memes, with basically every single line of dialogue Ansem said becoming a meme; Hell, the reason I didn’t bother with a “Best Quote” segment up there is because I would have just been rambling off quote after quote from this guy. And Richard Epcar was obviously no slouch when he took up the role, keeping this original baddie as cool as ever up until his genuinely sad demise in the third game. He’s essentially your average generic JRPG villain elevated by a great vocal performance, cool design, and interesting twists, and for that I think he deserves a nice, fat 8.5/10. The only downside to him I can really think of is that he is overshadowed by Maleficent (who is a way cooler villain), but being overshadowed by Maleficent is a fate all Disney villains must accept.

Xemnas

Kingdom Hearts II is the best game in the series, and Xemnas is the best Xehanort incarnation of them all. It’s not even particularly close, really. Chronologically your first encounter is that sick bonus boss fight in the first game, and from there he goes into the second game as the big bad and gets the most fucking awesome boss fights imaginable, putting the final battles from the first game to shame. Dude can make lightsabers pop out of his hands, how is he not the best Xehanort? Organization XIII were really cool, and Nobody did it better than Xemnas… which is what I would say if so many of the others didn’t have a lot more personality than him. Yes, he’s a great final boss and he’s super badass and he fits into the big Xehanort scheme, but if I’m being honest he never really felt as compelling as a lot of the other Nobodies. Luxord, Xigbar, Axel, they all felt a little more fleshed out and interesting, y’know? Again, though: Lightsaber hands. You can be as vague a villain as you’d like if you have lightsaber hands. Sometimes a simple and fun villain can be great, and a 9.5/10 is a good score for Mr. Mansex here.

Young Xehanort

There is an inherent tragedy to the other Xehanorts. They lack a heart, they lack emotion, and in their final moments they become aware of their own limitations and reflect on their nature, gaining understanding before dissolving away. But not so with Young Xehanort! Homeboy straight up doesn’t give two shits when he’s beaten, because he knows when he dies he’s just gonna go back to his own time and grow up to be the big bad of the series! If you didn’t get the picture in his final moments, let me spell it out for you: Young Xehanort is an unrepentant cunt, and I love him for it. His unique time powers, the voice performance by Ben Diskin, and the infamous verbal beatdown Woody gives him all help make him one of the more memorable incarnations of Xehanort, and I think that warrants an 8/10 at least.

Terra-Xehanort

This guy is the greater-scope villain for the first few games as he is the source of both Xemnas and Ansem, one of the most hideously powerful incarnations of Xehanort due to being a combo of, well, Terra and Xehanort, and nearly singlehandedly kills all the heroes; Donald has to pull out the God-tier magic of Zettaflare to beat him back. The thing is, as I never played Birth By Sleep all the way through, I don’t really fully grasp the sheer scope of his existence beyond knowing he’s a nasty piece of work. I don’t know if I can fairly rate him without all that context; I think, tentatively he deserves an 8/10 if only for the impact he had on the rest of the series.

Master Xehanort

Finally, we get to the big boss. As I’ve said, I never finished Birth By Sleep, but I did play through the third game and Dream Drop Distance, so that counts for something, right? I don’t hate Master Xehanort or anything—it would be hard to since he’s voiced by three of my favorite actors—and he has excellent boss fights, but I can’t just rank a villain entirely on how fun it is to beat the shit out of them. I think his motivations are stupid and messy and he ends up feeling really nonsensical at the end, with his redemption being so rushed it almost feels like what internet weirdos think Steven Universe is. Without him, none of the assholes above would even exist, and yet he gets to go peacefully into the great beyond while Sora yet again gets cockblocked and tossed into a different dimension. Going into this review, I was certain I’d rate him lower because of how bad his ending was, but… nah. He’s too much fun to beat up and just an enjoyable evil overlord character with one of the most convoluted apocalyptic schemes I’ve ever seen, so while he may be hard for me to love, he’s even harder for me to hate. 7.5/10.

Overall, I’m not sure if I’d necessarily call Xehanort one of the all-time greatest JRPG villains—he doesn’t quite measure up to Square’s iconic enemies like Sephiroth or Kefka—but it is pretty inarguable that he is a great, memorable, and iconic antagonist. Maybe it’s just my nostalgia talking, but kicking the shit out of this dude again and again and again across fifty different bodies he’s jacked for his wacky schemes has been fun from day one. I kind of wish the focus on him didn’t eventually overtake and overshadow the Disney villains like Maleficent and Pete, but for what he is, he’s a fun foe. He doesn’t really keep things simple and clean, but the way he’s making me feel tonight makes it hard to let him go.

#Psycho Analysis #Kingdom Hearts #Master Xehanort #Xemnas #ansem seeker of darkness #young xehanort #Leonard Nimoy #rutger hauer #Christopher Lloyd #paul st. peter #billy zane #Richard Epcar #Ben diskin #terra-xehanort #Youtube

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