As a WMG subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
Given his nature, this seems counter intuitive. However, wrath is the sin that is the most likely to be caused by good intentions. Back Cover shows that the whole downward spiral leading to the Keyblade War starts because Ira briefly lost his cool and jumped to conclusions after he freaked out over the existence of a Nightmare Chirithy. What does that brief irrational act albeit good intended act spell? Wrath.
- My money is going on Ursus' Foreteller, whom Anguis' leader was fighting.
- Seems unlikely now; Ava personally vetted him to lead the Dandelions in her stead. Skuld also joined the Dandelions just before the Keyblade War.
- Jossed, Nightmare Chirithy is the MC's second Chirithy, born from darkness.
- Back Cover and dialogue between Luxu and Ava imply otherwise. Luxu's role was to leave with the Keyblade that would become Xehanort's, so he's following his orders exactly. That said, this doesn't confirm or deny anything.
- Jossed. Luxu isn't the traitor and the prophecy seems to have been referring to the new Union leaders.
- Confirmed, actually, by the Union X finale. The Master of Masters invented the line about a traitor among the Foretellers to sow seeds of paranoia, anger, and other emotions that would allow them to fall prey to Darkness. When Luxu silently leaves after the Master reveals this to him, the Master calls Luxu the traitor.
- Given the appearance of said Keyblade hanging in the Land of Departure when Xehanort and Eraqus were being trained there in the KH3 trailer, it's possible the sixth apprentice survived the Keyblade War and the destruction of the worlds, and began training apprentices to continue the tradition afterwards.
- Confirmed.
- Jossed.
- Jossed. Back Cover reveals that Gula is the one in possession of the lost page—not because he stole it, but because it was given to him by the Master of Masters before the events of the story.
- Ava is the traitor because Luxu influenced her. Why else would he draw his weapon
◊ against her? Mission 425 will involve a boss fight with Foreteller Ava and it will come with Sad Battle Music.- Jossed. Ava made the Dandelions because the Master told her to and the two times you fight her she's just testing the PC.
- Close. It incites the Keyblade War between all of the Unions.
- Possibly confirmed, as it seems the prophecy was referring to a traitor among the new Union leaders.
- Slightly confirmed for the sixth apprentice's name. It's Luxu.
- Close. They help in one of the boss battles in the Keyblade Graveyard as their Keyblades.
- Jossed: She doesn't appear to exhibit any malevolent ulterior motives in Back Cover.
- As of III, Luxu is loyal to the Master and it's looking that the Master and the Foretellers including Luxu (who is Braig/Xigbar) are the bad guys.
- The Master of Master answers this in Back Cover—Luxu was assigned to carry around the Master's Keyblade (which would one day become Xehanort's), which had the Master's eye embedded in it, so that he could see and record the future in the Books of Prophecies. Giving Luxu the Keyblade and a Book would be inviting temporal paradoxes.
Each Child is being used as a Living Battery, with their consciousness hooked up to a Layered World created by a Foretellers book. We know you can enter books because Maleficent and Pete did it in Coded. Originally, there are no Heartless per se, they're just images of the future made real. But to make it "real", the simulated Daybreak town and each of the future worlds are tied to the true world of Daybreak Town. When one of the children kill a Heartless, this tells the universe that -1 has become 0. However, there is no -1, but the universe adds 1 anyways. Lux. But you CANNOT break the law of Conversion of Matter and Energy. The universe resorts to Equivalent Exchange, and in the "real" Daybreak Town, something that is 1 becomes 0. A tree, a lake, a dog, a person...
- Incidentally, this is why DiZ was so adamant about the Munny Pouch that Riku stole be "destroyed" (really, sent back to the Fake Twilight Town.)
The Foretellers are channeling the Children's Lux in order to fight the The X-Blade in order to get at Kingdom Hearts. This is why there are no adults in Daybreak Town, they're all in the "real" War. But they're fighting each other too. (Yes, a Child gets Lux too, but this is really just the tailings.) If she really is a good person, Ava has moved her Dandelions to hibernation pods.
Incidentally, the Darklings that attack the character and Skuld are the start of the first true Heartless. The fake Heartless are so authentic that they still eat hearts and convert people.
- As of the III release, we now know that Luxu has lived multiple reincarnations before becoming Braig/Xigbar, so it's not out of the realm of possibility.
- The sixth apprentice's name is Luxu, a completely new character.
- Close. Luxu is Braig/Xigbar. Luxord doesn't know anything.
- "Nah, not possible". According to Tetsuya Nomura the Master of Masters appeared in a "black coat" so unless the sixth apprentice also wears a black coat it is more likely the figure who appeared in the trailer for Back Cover is The Master of Masters.
- The guy in the black coat, when talking about the Keyblade War and holding the white clover in the beginning of the trailer, does sound a bit different than later on when talking to Ira; especially in the Japanese version of the trailer, where they sound nothing alike.
- The sixth apprentice does wear a black coat, but the figure seen in the trailer is confirmed to be the Master of Masters.
- Ira started the rumor. Aced calls Ira a fool for revealing the existence of a traitor to the entire group. But how does Ira know about it? Ira just made it up to mess with everyone.
- Whether or not there's a traitor is still up in the air, but Ira definitely didn't make it up. The missing page of the Book of Prophecies centers around the idea of a traitor, something Ira had no access to before coming to his conclusion. If the traitor is fictional, then the person turning the Foretellers against one another is the Master of Masters.
- It's probably confirmed that there was no traitor among the Foretellers and that it was actually referring to one among the new Union leaders.
- Confirmed. Specifically, the plan was to allow Darkness to foment in their powerful hearts.
- Just being called "The Master of Masters" would seem to have prideful implications.
- Hybris would also work since the Pride that is deadly is referred to as Hubris which is related to Futility. The Master despite knowing the death and destruction coming does nothing to stop it, dismisses his apprentices' desire to stop it and may be actively trying to get them to fight each other with the traitor nonsense.
- Possibly jossed. He was ordered by the Master to simply watch events happen for his Magical Eye to see the future.
, she chooses Keyblade wielders who "cannot be swallowed by a little darkness to be dandelions". This all sounds well and good until one realizes the implications: she is taking all the powerful Keyblade wielders who can resist the temptation of the darkness and leaving only those Keyblade wielders who can't. So when those first few Keyblade wielders start going bad naturally, they'll corrupt all the other Keyblade wielders around them, with very few able to resist. Soon enough, the darkness will spread like the plague, and then it will only be a matter of time before they destroy each other.- This would explain why she's "Avaritia", Greed.
- As it turns out, it's certainly not helped—word of the Dandelions has spread to the point that the other Foretellers have even found out. It only causes rising tension amongst the Unions and their Keyblade wielders.
- Confirmed, as seen in III.
- Luxu's Keyblade was displayed pretty prominently in the Land of Departure before Xehanort stole it, which would be a strange thing to do if Luxu were the traitor, considering it must have been put there by whatever survivor of the war started training new Keyblade Wielders to navigate and protect the worlds.
- "I swore I would survive... and be there to see what awaited beyond the Keyblade War!" If Luxu is the traitor and was trying to start the Keyblade War like Master Xehanort is (differences in motivations and methods being functionally irrelevant), then he may have some method planned to survive it just as Master Xehanort apparently does.
- Looking confirmed. He's been following the Master's orders this whole time and his Secret Reports in III show that he had no interest in betraying the Foretellers. Plus, it would seem that this was referring to the new Union leaders.
- The person who tells you what is written is whoever your Union Foreteller leader is. In that sense, they all are.
- Nope, the browser game's finale and Back Cover both show Gula in possession of the lost page. To answer the original WMG, it's because the page was given to him by the Master of Masters.
- The person who tells you what is written is whoever your Union Foreteller leader is. In that sense, they all are.
Eraqus: What's that?
Young Xehanort: They're the ones who started the Keyblade War.
Eraqus: Never heard of them.
Young Xehanort: No, more like, it was for their sake… I think.
The Keyblade War the MC fights in in was still a simulation of the future. The real plan was to create a generation of Children who by seeing the Keyblade war would either reject the Darkness, or be resistant to it. They would be transferred into Foreteller Books and activated to recreate the worlds. But some of the books were lost. One couldn't be used at all, it was too computer-like for the methods used by the Foretellers. (It would become Jiminy's Diary.) One couldn't support more than one human at a time, it was too pure, too untouched by Darkness. It would become the book of Winnie the Pooh. And one was lost, nobody knows what happened. This is the one the MC was transferred into. Epherema and Skuld didn't realize it was lost when they came for the MC (at the time, the books were all connected to the "Daybreak Town hub") Everyone in it slept...for a long, long time. But Maleficent found it.
- The Nightmare Chirithy's battle music is actually "The Dread of Night" from Dream Drop Distance, so...
- Noctis and Luna Avatar Boards
- Moana-themed medals
- Confirmed officially on November 25, 2016; a Moana Avatar Board was also released.
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Pirates of the Caribbean-themed medals and/or a Jack Sparrow Avatar Board, to promote Dead Men Tell No Tales
- Partly confirmed; Jack Sparrow and Carina Smyth Avatar Boards were added on May 25, 2017.
- Final Fantasy XII-themed medals or Avatar Boards to promote The Zodiac Age.
- Frozen-themed medals or Avatar Boards to promote Olaf's Frozen Adventure.
- Jossed, but they would be released for the winter season in November/December 2018.
- The Incredibles-themed medals to promote Incredibles 2.
- Confirmed.
- Wreck-It Ralph-themed medals and/or Avatar Boards to promote Ralph Breaks the Internet.
- The King of Fighters, Art of Fighting, Metal Slug, Ikari Warriors, Fatal Fury and Samurai Shodown themed avatars, medals, Avatar Boards and the music of these properties appearing, since it would be fantastic to see a fight against Omega Rugal within the game in addition to being the first Guest Fighter franchises within the game.
- Ephemer's only scene in Back Cover is his scene with Ava at the fountain plaza, lifted almost straight from X/Unchained. No mention of his Union allegiance is made.
- Enchanted Dominion
- Confirmed.
- Neverland
- 100 Acre Wood
- La Cité des Cloches
- Prankster's Paradise
- Arendelle
- The Sword in the Stone
- Dumbo
- The Black Cauldron, though with a lot of Adaptation Expansion things in addition to the problems being fixed. Also, it'll be awesome to see a Supernatural themed Kingdom Hearts world.
- The King of Fighters, as if Square-Enix and SNK are doing well collaborating together, then why not? It'll also be the first Guest Fighter world in the franchise, since lots of SNK franchises will be added into the mix.
- Pocahontas
- Phineas and Ferb
- Moana
- The Jungle Book
- The Owl House
- Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Nomura has said that one of the worlds in III would be in X.
- Confirmed. What Nomura actually said was that a summon from III would come from a new Disney world in X. And that proved to be the case when Game Central Station and Niceville showed up in the story in April 2019 (in the Japanese version) after Ralph was a summon in III.
How does this apply to the situation in Kingdom Hearts X? Here, the first time the "Riddle of the Traitor" was told (namely from the Back Cover) is from the Master himself, telling Gula that there's a traitor amongst them and to figure it out. Now, if they learned it on their own or without one of them being told, there would be no problem and the idea of a traitor seems to follow the "riddle" as if it were using the road sign to explain the rules. However, the Master EXPLICITLY told Gula that a traitor existed, making it the latter case where 'someone capable of lying is telling the riddle'. Therefore, it's possible that the Master is lying about there being a Traitor in the first place. This would make the "riddle" of a traitor being amongst them being a moot point because the Master wanted to make it seem that way.
For more support, all of the Foretellers serve their appropriate roles and do not deviate from them. Even Aced, who while wanting to break the rules the Master set up, is still following his role of "Forcing Ira to act", and even Luxu who was simply ordered to survive. Therefore, it seems heavily unlikely that any of them are a traitor.
The only question is why would the Master want to pull at their strings like that? As it seems, his own machinations had lead to tensions happening and causing the Keyblade War to happen in the first place. The only reason it feels like he would do such a thing is if he were tainted by darkness.
Also, a bit of Fridge Logic and Paranoia Fuel. His Magical Eye is the Eye of Darkness, seen on several keyblades including Terra's Chaos Ripper and Darkgnaw, Riku's Soul Eater and Way to the Dawn, Sora and Riku's End of Pain, and on Xehanort's Keyblade. Along with the name "Eye of Darkness" and almost all of the weapons listed having ties to characters who use Darkness, it doesn't feel like much of a stretch if it's dark connotations aren't simply for show. Paranoia Fuel factors in that he can see the future through the eye, so what if he can see through anything bearing that sigil? Another thing that's interesting is that the betrayal is caused by "The one who bears the sigil". Given that the Eye of Darkness being the Master's Eye, it's his Sigil and thus by all accounts he could be the very traitor described. Not to mention his scene with Luxu and the box have sinister undertones (especially with the Master not giving him a book of Prophecies, so Luxu can't cause any "paradoxes"), and he can come off a bit as a Troll with the other Foretellers.
And a bit of Fridge Horror along with "Seeing the future through the sigil". We know that Xehanort is a Manipulative Bastard who is capable of using Time Travel and turning things to his advantage. What if he learned of the Eye of Darkness's significance? And found a way to reach BACK? What if he was the one who tainted the Master with Darkness, rather than the Master being dark in the first place?
- Further, it appears that the Master chose people for each position that would only have been the best candidates if the goal was to instigate the Keyblade War, deliberately throwing them the Idiot Ball and poisoning them against each other. Think about it:
- Ira is the most perceptive and well-meaning, but has the worst communication skills. He begins throwing accusations around with very little explanation or evidence, on little more than a hunch, making himself appear paranoid. Putting him in The Leadership role put him in a position to spread his own seeds of doubt to the other Foretellers, and almost immediately caused the groups to treat him as the enemy.
- Aced appears to be the most hot-blooded and volatile of the apprentices, and the Master accuses him of being jealous of Ira. Despite this supposed jealousy, he's told to be The Lancer of the group, and playfully encouraged to be The Starscream if he doubts Ira's ability to lead. The Master explicitly said he was given "the most important position" of "spurring the others into action" — which he does by causing the initial conflicts through his hostility and zeal.
- Invi is given the role of mediating between the Foretellers, but she elevates the task of watching over the group to the point of spying on them and betraying each of their secrets to Ira. Because she tried to address conflicts covertly, her mediation took the appearance of sabotage, leading to the first bout of open combat between Foretellers.
- Gula shows himself to be one of the more logical and level-headed Foretellers, and the Master playfully accuses him of being a showoff. He's the one the Master explicitly tells that there is a traitor in a blatant appeal to his ego, thus tainting his thought processes to run on the premise that there is a traitor among them, and preventing him from questioning the validity of the statement until it was too late to stop the conflict. Gula's attempts to find the traitor run on Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, essentially encouraging Aced's suspicious actions.
- Ava was the most personable of the Foretellers, and as pointed out by Invi, her task involved sending away each Union's strongest fighters and best Lux gatherers. She's arguably the most trusting and trustworthy member of the group, but she received the most secretive and suspicious mission, and was given the task that most explicitly works against the others.
- We still don't know the full purpose of the Dandelions (especially as they were put to sleep before the War and apparently only awakened at some point after Kingdom Hearts II at the earliest, so it's evident that they weren't the ones to reassemble the world after the War), but it's possible her faith in the Master was completely abused to set up the 7 Lights vs 13 Darknesses scheme.
- Luxu appears to be the most easily cowed by the Master and to bear the least willpower, which made him the perfect tripod for the Gazing Eye for the rest of his life. Due to his fatal lack of suspicion, he'd be virtually useless to fan the flames of conflict, which is why he was chosen to keep away from the others.
- Keep in mind that none of the other apprentices thought for a second that he might be the traitor, only that it must have been one of them. He was a complete wallflower, which made him the perfect spy for the Master.
- The Master was the one who forbid everyone from forming Alliances, despite the fact that each of them was otherwise willing to if not for this teaching, because it was the smart thing to do. He encouraged them to create the Unions and to compete against one another to gather the Light, which could only escalate into turning against one another rather than fighting the Darkness.
- A simultaneous alternative and expansion to the above: Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance] established that one of the rules for traveling through time is that you must cast away your body and have a vessel waiting for you at the other end. Two important things are noted about the Master of Masters in Back Cover: First, that he can only see into the future through his Keyblade, which he goes so far as to say contains his own eye. Second, that he completely faded away without a trace prior to the events of X. It's entirely possible that he is using/has already used his Keyblade as a means to time travel into the future to the point where "light expires" (having infused it with a physical part of himself in order to turn it into a viable vessel), or worse, that the Keyblade itself is capable of corrupting its wielders into becoming his vessels (including Luxu and Xehanort). He frequently stated that he didn't know if he would disappear at all, but this may be because he hadn't yet foreseen his opening to travel forward.
- Alternate explanation: He says at the very beginning of Back Cover that you can't stop everything they have from falling into darkness. If that's the case, he could be purposely manipulating events so that even if you can't prevent it, it'll happen on his terms.
- And only has one eye, for that matter, since he said the eye in the keyblade was his?
- Didn't Terra blast it out in BBS when he blasted Braig in the face with darkness? Wouldn't the eye blasted from Braig's head be basically non-functional?
- Braig's missing eye is indeed the result of Terra's actions in BBS.
- Didn't Terra blast it out in BBS when he blasted Braig in the face with darkness? Wouldn't the eye blasted from Braig's head be basically non-functional?
- Close. Luxu is Braig/Xigbar.
It was also said that he made the Book of Prophecies based on what he saw of the future, and he didn't give one to Luxu because he said it would cause "Temporal paradoxes". What if he were lying about that as well, and that disrupting one of his "prophecies" wouldn't cause any ultimate harm? Let's bring in a hypothetical scenario. If Luxu had a copy of the Book and disrupted one of the prophecies within, he would be changing what the Master saw, and therefore change the future, which would render the Book of Prophecies as meaningless chicken scratch. So long as nobody knows of the Prophecies or what they exactly entail, the prophecies would still act out accordingly because the Master knew it would happen, not because it was fated to! In a way, it sort of makes the Foreteller's strict adherence to not disrupting the prophecies an almost fitting form of Self-Fulfilling Prophecy because they'd make the Keyblade war happen anyhow by not resisting it!
Going by all of this, what if the themes of destiny in Kingdom Hearts were basically coincidental circumstances that just happened to work for the benefit of the characters? The troper isn't doubting the factor that there is power behind the bonds of friendship in the series, he's simply bringing up the idea that there is no ultimate fate that ties them all together and that it was made up from the get go.
This idea also gives some hope for Kingdom Hearts 3. After all, "Darkness will prevail and Light will expire" is the last prophecy in the book. The factor of it not being real whatsoever (just what would most likely happen from what the Master said) would give loads of hope to the series in general.
- The mere fact that the Master of Masters mentions temporal paradoxes as the reasoning why Luxu didn't receive a copy of the book means the future written in it can't be set in stone. It certainly begs the question of what his intentions are, given that his preventative measure (keeping Luxu from changing the future) is seemingly at odds with his statement that the Keyblade War was inevitable...
- In the Japanese version of Back Cover, Gula explicitly says "Recusant's Sigil (異端の印)" rather than "sigil", lending heavy credence to this theory.
- It's worth noting that at several points the Master of Masters makes it clear that he considers himself a part of the group, and not above and apart from it. "You six plus me is seven. Wait, don't tell me I don't count!" If the prophecy on the Lost Page says anything along the lines of "One of them will betray the others" the ambiguity in the wording would certainly (deliberately) leave the Master as an option.
- I think the key is the confrontation between Ava and Luxu. When she demanded him if he's the traitor, he summons his keyblade before the scene Fade to Black. In the next scene, Luxu already told Ava about the traitor (but not to the player) and Ava seems shocked and her reaction is basically "This Cannot Be!". She wouldn't react that way if the traitor is either her or Luxu — she would've been angry otherwise, either because she thinks she's being falsely accused or that Luxu had been playing them while being the traitor. If the traitor is among one of the other four Foretellers, Ava wouldn't continue attacking Luxu. So the answer? The traitor is the Master of the Masters. Ava is, of course, shocked that the man she trusted the most are betraying them. Luxu already knew and let it be Because Destiny Says So or to create a Stable Time Loop of sorts so everything is still according to what is written in the Book of Prophecies.
This theory is somewhat based on the idea of the phrase "Chain of Memories", which involves puns on it, different meanings and the like on it. Here, Medals = Memories from the various Kingdom Hearts games and what they represent. Why are Medals memories? Well, for the most part the way the Union Keybladers are getting their Lux is from projections/memories of a world, not from the actual world themselves. Who's to say that the Medals aren't simply representations of the World's Memories given form? And these medals give power to you and your keyblade.
This isn't the first time where memory has played a part in how much power and skill one owns. In most games, the characters are freshly starting out. They have no experience or the like about the world(s) and they lack wider connections on said worlds. But as they explore more and make more memories, their keyblades get stronger and they learn new skills and magic and whatnot. There is a few special cases where some characters (namely Sora and Riku) had their "slates" wiped clean (Sora had lost his memories in Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 2, and they both had to start back from the beginning in their Keyblade Mastery test). This could also explain how Roxas had less power than most nobodies, he has no memories to draw strength from.
Now let's look at how memories manifest as Medals in game. As we know from Chain of Memories, it uses a system akin to the Medals: Cards. Cards can be used for, like medals, magical attacks and invoking skills. When you start out in game, when Sora had lost all skills and such, he's stuck with the Kingdom Key cards. Yet as he goes through the floors and deals with people within his memories, he gains more cards for both magic and keyblades even upon major events. As such, cards and medals could be equated to skills and special attacks.
Hence, the more memories a Keyblade wielder has, the more skills and abilities they're able to pull out, grow into and develop. The less memories they have made for or with other people or places, the more weak their Keyblade is bound to be.
- Ira for Wrath. As a WMG says above, Wrath is the most easily acted upon by those with good intentions. He revealed the existence of the "Traitor" (if one did exist) in a moment of impulse. However, Wrath isn't just impulsiveness. It's hatred and anger as well. In Kingdom Hearts UX, it's very visible that he and Aced butt heads against each other, to which he seems to always appear just to put down Aced or the like. This befits Hatred, which includes spitefulness and the like. As for Anger, this is best seen after Aced tells him about Gula having the missing pace, to which he seems to be absolutely seething with Tranquil Fury even as he meets Ava and unwilling to hear explanations. Such actions are befitting someone guilty of wrath.
- Invi for Envy. As we know of her, she fervently follows the Master and works as a watcher/mediator in the group. However, Envy is the sin of spitefulness at another's advantage or joy, and the very idea of bringing others down to your level as a curse. She's the one who broke up the alliance between Gula and Aced while the other Foretellers were singular in their missions. Plus her job is one that matches up well with the stereotype of how the Green-Eyed Monster acts: watching in the background and waiting for a perfect time to act.
- Gula for Gluttony. He was entrusted with the Lost Page and finding out the Traitor. However, Gluttony is the sin of overindulgence/overconsumption to the point of wastefulness. It doesn't apply to just food. Since Gula was told there was a Traitor, he could've tried finding someone he can trust and work with them. However, he decided that there was NOBODY he could trust and keeping to himself at almost all times. As a result, he started to overindulge in acting alone and he became a problem (aka a waste) in the other's eyes since Ira gave the idea that the one with the Lost Page would be the traitor. He's also the one who starts to attempt gaining loads of Lux to summon Kingdom Hearts, becoming gluttonous in his desire for Lux.
- Aced for Sloth. He was entrusted with being the number two to Ira, making him go into action. And as is noted, he seems to fit the title for Wrath better than Ira. However, Sloth is the sin of laziness of all physical, mental and spiritual things. He uses force to make his own path, never even considering taking other ways to deal with people or fix things. He's also the one to suggest going against the Master's teachings, which fits in with the old version of Sloth's meaning as a sin ("not taking joy in god's creation", which here would translate to "not following the master"). His lack of creativity and unwillingness to follow the master is fitting for Sloth, because he's not wasting the effort to even think or do differently.
- Ava for Greed. She's the reason the Dandelions exist, to keep the light safe and alive for when the Keyblade war strikes. Befittingly, this sin is akin to Gluttony (aka Gula), in that Greed is a sin of Desire. However, it's the sin of craving temporal things and the sin of hoarding. Even though the Dandelions were made for a greater good, she's still hoarding all of the keyblade wielders who have the best resistance to the Darkness, which leaves behind the Keyblade wielders who are susceptible to Darkness in the other Unions and thus weakening them. There's also the factor that she doesn't consider simply letting everyone in, and she only takes in those who fits her quota best. In this way, even she still exemplifies Greed.
- Luxu for Lust. We see of his character that his desire is to follow out the Master's orders and see the very end of the Keyblade War and the history that lies beyond. As a result, he somewhat fits Lust well enough as the Sin of Desire, which for him would be to follow the Master of course. Another fitting point in the words of Henry Edward is that lust makes one "a slave of the devil". And his keyblade? It has the picture of a goat on it, which are stereotypically associated with the Devil which leads us to...
- The Master for Pride. As we know of him, he likes having people pay attention to him, complains when one of his students doesn't react appropriately to him. He's also theorized to be leading the Foretellers on a wild goose chase in concerns to the Keyblade War. All of these actions are befitting of the stereotypical "Devil", which is fitting with the sin of pride. Not to mention he makes heavy use of a well used trope with Pride which is "Self-Fulfilling Prophecy", except unlike those stories, he's the one playing the "god" who creates the prophecies. Taking the matter of punishing hubris into his own hands sounds very prideful. Finally, there's the factor that if he is evil and truly manipulating his own students, his callous disregard for others fits an It's All About Me mindset.
- As of III, the one about Luxu is close. It would seem that it's about his lost lust for life, since he's tired of living so long and carrying out the Master's plan that he just wants to see his friends again.
- The Master of Masters himself. The events he wrote into the Book were meant to come about once he disappeared. He knew he was going to disappear, even. So how did he disappear? He put himself in a box and cast a stasis spell on it, to be awoken when the time was right (as seen by his Gazing Eye). Luxu was baffled as to why the Master would shut himself in a cramped little box like that.
- As for how he would fit in that cramped little box, it's because the box was intended to keep only his heart instead of his whole body. That's right, the Masters of Masters had separated his own heart to become his own Nobody long before Xemnas did, and that box was intended to hold his heart in a Stopza spell that lasts for as long as it was kept shut. This also explain why Maleficent is after the box. After all, Pete had attempted to turn Yen Sid into a Heartless, and Maleficent nearly managed to turn Santa Claus into one. Having a Heartless born from the heart of a Keyblade Master (and the most powerful one at that) is more than tempting enough for Maleficent's goals.
- An alternate reason for the box carrying the Master of Masters' body is for the sake of Time Travel. As Dream Drop Distance explains, one of the laws of time travel in Kingdom Hearts is that you can only travel to points in time you've been in physically. By Having Luxu carry his body and his Gazing Eye to all the pivotal points in the history of the World, the Master of Masters could then travel through time to those specific points for any number of reasons he desires.
- Lea
- New original characters
- Confirmed for both of them; one is a boy named Blaine and the other is a girl named Strelitzia.
- Subverted: Strelitzia was assassinated two weeks after being revealed and replaced by a boy named Lauriam - the Somebody of Marluxia.
- Confirmed for both of them; one is a boy named Blaine and the other is a girl named Strelitzia.
When you dream, you can accept without question that you live in a completely different time and place than your waking reality. The Chirithys have already proven they can alter the Dandelions' memories in order to (mostly) erase the War, so rewriting Ventus' memory within the dream to believe he was part of the Dandelions before the War is entirely plausible.
Once Sora awakens Ven in the present timeline, Ven will be instrumental in freeing the rest of the Dandelions (including Ephemer and Skuld) from their slumber as well, bringing a population of powerful Keyblade wielders back to defend the Realm of Light from the darkness once again.
- Possibly confirmed? In a scene near the end of III, Ventus tells Aqua that he also dreamt about “people and creatures that he doesn’t know” during his sleeping time.
But let's think about it first. For one, we aren't shown who was responsible for killing Strelitzia and taking her book. For another, we know from 358/2 Days that Marluxia had his own reasons for betraying the Organization 13, mainly that he knows it doesn't have their best interests at heart and for the most part, he's right! Thirdly, the factor of him being the traitor feels simply too obvious. Finally, we have the idea that it could be any one of the other new leaders.
- Well we know it's not Ephemer or Skuld since since we saw him be given his book by Ava and Skuld be picked for the Dandelions and she wouldn't do something like kill Strelitzia. We didn't actually see Ava pick Ven, Blaine or Lauriam or be given books so it's easy to conclude that one of them killed Strelitzia and took her book and replaced her. Or it's none of them and the Master did it to set up the leaders to turn on each other.
◊ may mean something. While admittedly the evidence behind it is flimsy at best, Blaine stands at Ephemer's side, like Skuld. Skuld stands at Ephemer's side because she's his closest friend. To apply a similar thought of alliance to Blaine is to suggest he is Ephemer's/the group's protector. (Ventus is also the only one sitting, but I'm not sure what it could mean. He's not actually committed to the Dandelions, perhaps? As sitting implies a resting state rather than jumping to action, which would be easier to do if you were standing. Plus, his presence in the image looks forced, like the artist forgot to draw him in a place of equal power to the others.)Since Ventus has amnesia in the present era, maybe he has it for a reason. It would be the opposite of expectations—Lauriam being a Fallen Hero while Ventus is some sort of Classical Anti-Hero.
- One cutscene DOES have Ventus say that he's barely ever spoken with Ava...
- Confirmed...in part. Ventus is the Union leader replacing Strelitzia, but Brain doesn't believe that Ventus knew he was replacing someone, which would mean that there's another manipulator at play. This was later shown to be Darkness.
- Seems to be confirmed as of III. Luxu complains about a traitor among the new Union leaders being an obstacle in the plan.
Given the evidence we have here, it's simple to see that the only ones who could've known of Strelitzia's status was Ava and the Master of Masters. Therefore, the Master of Masters could've killed Strelitzia and taken her place, reappearing (perhaps changing his appearance to boot) to do so. But how does this tie in with Lauriam and his nobody's lack of a keyblade (and fascination of it?
To answer why Marluxia wasn't able to wield a keyblade, let's look at two scenarios where a person wasn't able to wield their own Keyblade. As we have seen with Aqua giving her Keyblade to Terranort, keyblades that were given away cannot be regained normally and had to use Eraqus's Keyblade instead. We also know that Sora's keyblade was meant for Riku, but then the Keyblade chose Sora over Riku due to the strength of Sora's heart, meaning Riku had to forge/gain his own Keyblade. If Lauriam is the Master of Masters, then this explains why he doesn't wield a keyblade, he gave it away to Luxu!
This also gives a more factual motive for Marluxia wanting to take over the Organization other than his 358/2 Day's journal justification: he wanted to defeat Xemnas, who could use the Master's Keyblade but hid that fact, to regain his keyblade!
As a final bit of evidence, we know that the Master's Keyblade had his eye in it. The Eye of Darkness symbol has a single blue eye. Marluxia/Lauriam's eyes are also Blue. This could serve as a tiny bit of visual evidence.
As an addendum for the Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer where Marluxia appears again as a member of the new organization, this theory still holds if he's the Master trying to get his keyblade back. This time he could do it more directly and hopefully not become Marluxianort.
- Small wrinkle in this theory: every time we've met a Somebody, they've had the same voice actor as their Nobody (except for Namine and maybe Roxas), even accounting for age differences. Marluxia's voice actor is Keith Ferguson, not Ray Chase as would be necessary for this theory to work.
- The Master is visibly an adult and Lauriam is visibly a teenager. It's plausible that the Master could've changed his voice as well as his appearance, or the appearance he had when dealing with the foretellers wasn't his true one. Either way, given the guy created Keyblades, it's not much of a stretch to say he could change his voice and/or his appearance to match Lauriam/Marluxia's.
- Looks to be Jossed. In a cutscene, we see Lauriam's thoughts as he tries to puzzle out what happened to his sister—since he has to wonder, he can't have done it, unless we open a whole other can of worms about memories or possession.
- The Secret Reports in Kingdom Hearts III seem to heavily imply this, referring to the traitor as a virus, a description that Brain used for himself.
- Jossed. Brain was chosen by Ava to be a Dandelion leader. However he wasn't meant to receive the Book of Prophecies.
- Brain is the Dandelion leader that has the Book of Prophecies, however the person that Ava was ordered to give the book to is someone else.
- However, in part 1 of the finale, Brain bequeaths the Book to Ephemer. So, ultimately, confirmed!
- Confirmed for Wreck-It Ralph.
- Probably jossed, unless reincarnation is in play here.
- Maybe not Jossed, as the both the trailer for Dark Road as well as the first episode implicitly raise the possibility that Xehanort is indeed a reincarnation of the unnamed χ protagonist, although nothing has been confirmed yet.
- Confirmed. In the finale, the Player chooses to merge with a newborn heart rather than go to sleep with the rest of the Dandelions, and becomes joined with a newborn Xehanort.
- Jossed by Kingdom Hearts III when Gula is brought to the present day in the epilogue alongside Ira, Invi, and Aced.
- The latest set of missions in the JP release seem to give weight to this theory. Some people are unsure if it's said that Strelitzia is the sister of Lauriam or of Larxene's Somebody, who is also introduced.
- Confirmed.
- Jossed. Ventus, under the influence of Darkness, did it.
- Jossed. He's polite and friendly to the PC when they met.
- Lauriam summons his Divine Rose Keyblade when he meets Maleficent.
- Why? Knowing that the Master of Masters is watching, you - the player - deliberately created Nightmare Chirithy to act as your proxies while you yourself are blended with the other Keyblade Wielders with your memories supressed. In other words, while the Foretellers and the MoM are busy trying to pinpoint you among themsleves, Nightmare Chirithy can operate with little difficulty. Once the form is no longer needed, Nightmare Chirithy is likely to appear and use some sort of catalyst (like a code word) to reawaken your real identity.
- Meaning that the boss battle against the Darklings was a False Flag Operation to buy Skuld's trust...
- Strelitzia following you around could have thrown a wrench in the plan, as you were supposed to keep a low profile for most of the time. Hence why she had to be removed from the equation, either by Nightmare Chirithy or personally by your real self.
- It would explain why the Lost Page is so ambiguous: As you are theoretically able to Kill and Replace any Foreteller at any time, there is no merit to specifically namedropping any of them. The sigil probably refers to some inherent flaw of the shapeshifting ability. Had the Master told them about the real nature of the traitor, they'd most likely be even more paranoid and attack each other upon spotting even the slightest change in personality.
Luxord’s Other can be the party’s leader since he’s older than the rest. And with two guys and two girls in the party, they can also serve as an Expy of Daybreak Town Party.
The reason is maybe because Strelitzia is some sort of Apocalypse Maiden in sleep mode, or that she has hidden evil/darkness in her heart that even she didn't know about and is potentially dangerous to the world. More or less like Ventus, who seems very nice yet his heart's darkness creates Vanitas who was indeed very dangerous to the worlds. So in Strelitzia's case, she might have her own version of Vanitas-like entity but much stronger and more dangerous, so Brain is forced to kill her. Basically, the murder is a Shoot the Dog.
Now remember, who once attempted to kill Ventus to prevent him reuniting with Vanitas? Yup, Eraqus. In one of Xehanort's Secret Reports, it's mentioned that Eraqus is descended from one of the chosen five. I assume Eraqus's ancestor is Brain because when Brain lifts his head to reveal his eyes, he appears to look like Young Eraqus. In fact, he does look like Young Eraqus without Samurai-esque clothing.
So, it makes for a Generation Xerox, as Eraqus attempted to kill Ventus just like his ancestor once killed Strelitzia.
- Jossed, Brain is one of the chosen five. Ventus isn't one of the chosen five, but he didn't know this.
Master of the Masters orchestrated Keyblade War to purge those who aren't really worthy to continue wielding the keyblade or whose heart is tainted with enough darkness. On the other hand, he also sent Ava to recruit the best of the best wielders to ensure they are survivors after the war whose hearts are strong with light and enough to resist darkness.
In addition, he may also have secret plan that would go easier if he eliminated the "competitions" like potentially troublesome keyblade wielders by purging them.
In the end of III, Ava doesn't appear to reunite with Luxu and the other Foretellers. So, maybe she's considered "traitor" because she left them after the Keyblade War.
Riku/Ira - Riku was supposed to gain Sora's Keyblade. So he could have been The Leader for most of the series had things not turned out the way they did. But ultimately, Riku does act as The Leader in III and pulls it off. Compared to Ira, who was meant to be The Leader but lacked any charisma for it.
Terra/Aced - Both are hard hitters, The Big Guy, with Hair Trigger Tempers. Gula was meant to support Ira's leadership but failed to do that. Terra was the one who gave Riku the ability to use the Keyblade. And Terra eventually realized the damage his temper could do, while Gula, as evident by III never learned this and gets irritated pretty quickly with Luxu while he was playing coy.
Ven/Gula - As someone from the Age of Fairytales, Ven, theoretically, ought to know the most about what's going on, much like Gula who read the missing page in the Book of Prophecies. However, if the theory that Ven was the one who killed Strelitzia is true, then this example might not be as straightforward.
Aqua/Invi - Blue is their signature color. In Birth by Sleep, Aqua was charged with keeping an eye on Terra and bringing Ven back to the Land of Departure. She is accused of spying on Terra for Eraqus but spent the last bit of Birth by Sleep trying to patch things up between her, Terra, and Ven. Meanwhile, Invi drove a wedge further between the Foretellers by actually spying on them and being shown reporting to Ira and the group as a whole never recovers.
Kairi/Ava - Both are pink-clad Nice Girls. Kairi has a heart of pure light, while Ava was instructed to Fling a Light into the Future. However, both are removed for play in III. Kairi was subjected to Literally Shattered Lives while Ava is just simply nowhere to be found. Kairi is one of Sora's biggest supporters through and through, while it's implied Ava is the traitor. (Though what this means exactly is currently unknown)
Mickey/Luxu - Admittedly this one is mostly just a process of elimination and the virtue of Mickey has to be included lest we forget this is a Disney game too. It could be a little meta given Mickey's timelessness and how Luxu's lived countless lives over.
Sora/Master of Master - A simple case of Big Good vs. Big Bad
In Japan's December 2019 story update, we discover that Ava gave the Book of Prophecies to Brain, which contained the list of intended Union leaders. After revealing this to Ephemer, Ven and Skuld are called to meet with the others. We know we can trust Ephemer since Ava told us about him, we know we can trust Lauriam since his thoughts show he didn't know about his sister's death, and we now know we can trust Brain. That just leaves Ventus and Skuld. While we know that Skuld was offered a place in the Dandelions—we as the player character saw this—we never saw her offered a position as a Union leader.
- Jossed, it turns out that the person who's not on the list of Union Leaders is Ventus, and even then, the others believe he didn't do anything to Strelitzia or even know about the change.
A subconscious desire to be The Atoner.
- It's quite possible, but it should be pointed out that Ven isn't the one who killed Strelitzia in the warehouse. He just stood there in a hypnotic daze while Darkness personally attacked and murdered her.
- Confirmed, sort of! Their heart merges with a newborn heart in the real world—Xehanort's.
- Jossed
- Jossed
- Jossed
- Jossed
- Confirmed, it’s Bragi.
I suspect that at some point, the player's heart was separated from Xehanort. Probably in some kind of battle in Xehanort's heart as he goes further and further down the path of megalomania. If this scene is playable, it would be easy to get the Player's appearance. Just copy over the Union X Data in the same app. What happens to player's heart afterword would probably serve as some kind of sequel.
- Jossed
Yeah, what does it has to do with the true darknesses? I'm glad you ask, well, according to what we know, when the darkness's has an untagible body, outside of being invincible it's loses most of it's sappience and then becomes an "animalistic" shell that would become a heartless (mainly pureblood), and in this game, we saw that many disney villains have their own darknesses around it (unless it is just one of the 13 true ones that manage to survive), so... What if Chernabog was once a separated primordial darkness that, after being defeated it fled towards Symphony of Sorcery, and took refuge in The Bald Mountain. years and years and then it's started to lose it's sappience but during sometime, it managed to blend into the surrounding of that world and then became the demon Chernabog as it's permanent form. I'm saying this because since Symphony of Sorcery is part of the Mysterious Tower (who's part of Twilight Town), it's means that it's on the Realm in Between, most importantly near the Realm of Darkness's side (probably neighbouring the Edge of Sea). It's also to know that Young Xehanort had heard of Chernabog before vanishing to let Riku fight the Demon, meaning that out of the story, he heard of Chernabog from Master Odin or from The Master of Masters, and since it's a Primordial Evil that could be related towards the Heartless, yet still be different from them (otherwise, he wouldn't appear in Dream Drop Distance if he was a 100% true heartless, but some sort of derivate), he was confident that Riku would fail to fight agaisnt him, specially since as a being of TRUE DARKNESS, he was certain that Yen Sid wouldn't haven't told Riku (or Sora for that matter) that there were secret hiding in shadows that could be much more dangerous for them to uncover..
