Kingdom Hearts is ironically not a very "simple and clean" sort of story. Nothing simple about it. The franchise has spanned numerous different platforms, gone through various different narrative types, and constantly retcons both past and future events with every new game. Plus, most of the actual "plot-relevant" stuff doesn't usually happen until the latter half of most games (after all the Disney worlds). There's a lot that doesn't quite add up in each Kingdom Hearts game, but we're here today to talk about the few big questions that were either explained in KH: 3, it's Re: Mind DLC, or in the more recent iterations.
10 What Xehanort Was Always Apparently After?
So we're not sure if everyone is aware, but Tetsuya Nomura, the genius behind most of the KH games, came out before KH: 3's release and said that this game marks the end of the "Xehanort Saga." That means that up until now, all of the events of KH were just one "arc." And at the end of the "third" mainline game, we finally found out what Xehanort's goal was, other than re-enacting the Keyblade War for who knows what reason. Turns out the guy wanted to purge this world out of balance using Kingdom Hearts and make himself the "leader" of the new generation because he felt he was the only one who could.
9 How Ventus And Roxas Are Two Different People?
Rather than a person having only a "body" and "soul," it seems like there is a "heart" as well that specifically holds their memories and emotions in the KH lore. So then, how is it Ventus and Roxas can exist with the same appearance? Well, when Roxas was separated from Sora, he technically wasn't Soras "Nobody" because he was still holding Ventus' heart inside him, but, since he went through various experiences that "gave" him a new heart, he gained his own sentience and "soul." So, when Roxas and Sora re-fused, then Sora woke Ventus with the Power of Waking, Ventus' heart when back into his body, and Roxas' heart stayed inside Sora until his replica body showed up. Confusing? Absolutely. But KH is one of the only series that can get away with stuff like this.
8 What Is The Power Of Waking?
What exactly is this power that suddenly became so crucial in Kingdom Hearts 3? Originally, the power of waking was the main element used in Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, so it's understandable if people missed it, but it's absolutely central to the core narrative of the series now. It can be described as a number of things, but it's primarily the ability to track and "wake" a sleeping heart. Now, this sleeping heart could be voluntarily sleeping, sleeping because it lost its body, or sleeping because it's "lost to darkness." But, what becomes clear in KH3 is that if Sora activates the Power of Waking, he's able to follow any heart through any world, which is apparently not its intended purpose.
7 What Do The Gold Iris' Mean?
Ah, the age-old mystery of what these sudden gold iris' mean. Most people understood it eventually thanks to the context in which it usually happened, but a couple of examples in KH3 suddenly made the answer a lot vaguer. For a long time, people assumed that when a character's eye color changed to this saturated gold, they had been "Xehanort'd" and the Keyblade Master had possessed their heart in some way.
But, thanks to Darkness-possessed Aqua in KH3, who clearly wasn't possessed, it's become more likely that this eye change is a sign of a person falling to Darkness.
6 How "Death" Works In The KH Universe?
There are plenty of worlds we wanted to go to in KH3, but we didn't expect the afterlife to be one of them. Basically, this is a Disney franchise, and as such, they tend to avoid hard death as much as possible. Because of this, there is only one person we can think of that straight-up dies in the game, and that is Master Eraqus. Usually, when a person is "slain" in these games, it's by a Keyblade, and the Keyblade doesn't exactly "kill" whatever it slashes, rather it separates their heart from their body. These hearts then join a "collective" that is essentially comparable to death until both their Heartless and Nobody are slain, turning that person into a "somebody". But not Eraqus, he's straight-up dead since we see him as a ghost when he takes Xehanort to the...afterlife?
5 What Ever Happened To Replica Riku?
Let's face it, there are a lot of "non-sentient characters" in KH3 that suddenly get their own bodies and identities. The best part of the Roxas and Namine story was how tragic it was that these genuinely complex characters weren't allowed to have their own lives or happiness. But, KH3 retcons this and gives everyone who ever showed hints of having a "heart" a matching "body" as well, except for Replica Riku, who seemingly dies along with his past version of himself.
And again, for those who are lost deep in the sea of lore between all the different Kingdom Hearts games, Replica Riku is a minor character from Kingdom Hearts: Unchained. this was the "KH 1.5" sequel that bridged the gap between KH1 and KH2. KH3 shows us what happened to this clone character.
4 Who Is The Come Guardian And Where Terra's Heart Was?
So how is it that Terra is "part" of Terra/Xehanort, is the Lingering Will, and is also the Guardian that Ansem Seeker Of Darkness uses? Well, thanks to a reveal in KH3, we now know the answer. The silver-haired Terra is his "body" that is possessed by Xehanort's "heart". The Lingering Will is his "soul" that is still attached to his Keyblade Armor/Keyblade through sheer force of will. And, the Guardian is his "heart" held captive as a heartless outside of his body by Ansem Seeker Of Darkness.
3 Why Braig/Xigbar Being Luxu Is Such A Big Deal
Xigbar was always weirdly given more importance put into his scenes than most other members of Organization XIII. His guns seemed to be more unique than the other weapons, he seemed to know more about the secrets of this world, and he seemed to always have a backup plan ready. Now we know why, it turns out Braig (the "somebody" of Xigbar) is actually Luxu, a mysterious character from the Kingdom Hearts: Cross part of the lore.
For those who follow the lore or know in any way what we're talking about, you understand just how much Braig being Luxu clears things up and also why it gives us a million more questions.
2 Who Was The Guy Flashed At During The Keyblade Tornado?
Again, outside of people who have played every single KH release or watched all the "lore" videos, no one was going to understand the mobile game reference during the Keyblade Storm vs Demon Tide part of the Keyblade Graveyard section. Essentially, all of these Keyblades that Sora throws against the Demon Tide all have names attached to them, and all these names are players who won a contest from playing the mobile game Kingdom Hearts Union Cross. But more than that, the most recognizable character from all the KH: X games is Ephemer, who shows up briefly in this scene.
1 Does Any Of This Really Make Any Sense?
So, at the end of the day, how much sense does Kingdom Hearts really make? Well, Mickey Mouse wears a trenchcoat and needed an entire game to explain why he was shirtless in one scene, so it's kind of a hard thing to answer. These games are a mess of conflicting facts, vague and obtuse concepts, and characters canceling out established norms thanks to their "pure hearts". It's a mess of a story that has so much thought and work put into it we can't help but appreciate it. And, it really is fun trying to follow all the threads and figure out the mystery of this Keyblade world, even if we know we'll never get to a point where we understand it in its entirety.