Kingdom Hearts III: My Five BIGGEST Questions

Considering this is a film review site, I'm sure you're wondering why quite a few of my posts (including a fanfic) have been about a video game series, Kingdom Hearts?  In case you haven't seen my Let's Play of Kingdom Hearts I on YouTube, all I'll say is that if there was a video game series that meant more to me on a personal level far more than even some of my favorite films have, it'd be Kingdom Hearts.  And, having spent the last 14 years of my life playing, dreaming, thinking, watching and living this series, the first arc is coming to an end in 2018, when Kingdom Hearts III finally comes out.

The game is going to have to answer many questions the fans have had over the years, while still moving the story along to a place it deserves to rest.  Despite my eternal love for this series (which unlike some of it's contemporaries like Mario, Halo, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, among others has not yet become stale, although it's probably because it's been three years since the last major title in the series), I might call it quits after this game.  This is the movie fan in me, who would like to end a story with a satisfying conclusion.  This is why films like The Fellowship of the Ring and The Empire Strikes Back don't bug me as much as they do others, because I knew that there would always be the next chapter to answer these questions for me.  And considering Tetsuya Nomura has announced that this will be the finale to what he calls the "Xehanort Saga", I think this game will have a very satisfying conclusion to it (and not suffer from Return of the Jedi Syndrome).

But as time passes, I still have some questions, some that I would like to have answered when the games come out.  You might have your own questions should you be a fan of the series, and hopefully yours and mine are both answered.  In this blurb, I will be speculating on the five most gut wrenching questions I have that I hope get answered in this game:

WARNING: The following speculation contains spoilers for ALL Kingdom Hearts games made to this point, including Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Birth By Sleep, II, and Dream Drop Distance, which I am currently Let's Playing and plan to Let's Play.  If you do not want to learn the story ahead of time, please look away now.

1. Who is the Narrator?  

Considering this series extreme attention to detail, be it the obsession with Sea Salt Ice Cream, or the connections between Kairi's good luck charm and the Wayfinders, or even something as simple as why certain characters are where they are.  But this is one question that I don't see many people asking, and ever since I first played Kingdom Hearts I, I've been wondering.  At first, I thought it was King Mickey, but the voice doesn't always speak the way Mickey Mouse does in the series, so it couldn't be him.  I do have several theories behind them, but no matter where they go, they all lead to failure in one way or another.  This isn't one of the most pressing questions I have to ask, but it is one I would like answered regardless.  Especially considering how much effort was put into this game by all parties involved...

2. Who are the Thirteen Seekers and the Seven Guardians?  

According to Master Xehanort, the X-blade cannot be forged until Seven Guardians of Light and Thirteen Seekers of Darkness have merged and clashed with one another.  In Dream Drop Distance, we discover a handful of Xehanort's Seekers, including himself, his Heartless, Xemnas, Xigbar, Isa, and his younger self, but the rest are left in shadows.  We also speculate that Riku, King Mickey, Sora, Aqua, among others are viable candidates to be one of the Seven Guardians of Light.  However, the light seems to have an abundance of potential guardians, which could also include Terra, Ventus, Kairi, Lea, and any of the warriors seen in Kingdom Hearts Unchained.  This could mean that some of the heroes listed above won't be considered real guardians and some might not appear at all, or could perhaps be trapped as one of Xehanort's puppets.  The events of DDD also say that Xehanort sought Sora to be the Thirteenth Seeker, but failed when Lea intervened.  Could this be a harbinger of things to come, or could it be that once again, Xehanort knows more than he is letting on?  Either way, however this plays out will be interesting.

3. What became of Xion?  

While definitely not their flashiest or most unique of titles, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is arguably the best in terms of character development.  It's crowning achievement is, of course, in the character of Xion, the puppet Organization XIII made to copy Roxas's powers and drain Sora of his strength and memories.  But what they didn't count on was how powerful her connection to Roxas and Axel would be.  However, at the end of Days, Roxas is forced to destroy her and set things right by wiping out the Organization, setting in motion the events of Kingdom Hearts II.  Her death is still one of the most painful to experience in my game playing career.  However, in DDD, we learn that she is one of the many hearts connected to Sora's that he has to save.  We are not told why she's there or what her ultimate purpose will be to either good or evil, All we know is that she, along with Roxas and Axel, all need him.  This will definitely be one of the questions I would like answered, as she did develop as a strong character by the end of the game.

4. Will Sora and Kairi ever end up together?  

What was once Sora's greatest motivator has been thrown to the side and really should be addressed in this game.  It was abundantly clear that Sora had at least a crush on Kairi and she reciprocated the feelings.  But with Kairi taking a backseat to other characters, her romance with Sora has been shelved for quite a few games, only being brought up by characters like King Mickey and Riku and usually in a expository dialogue.  Hopefully, Kairi will get a much larger role in this final game and I also hope that she and Sora finally end up together.  This is something I have waited to see since 2002 and I will not be satisfied until I see it happen.  Granted, the final question I have might just make this question null and void, but I still would like to see some kind of development of their emotions, as it seems Kairi will always be more of a motivator instead of a character that needs motivation...

5. Will a Good Guy Die?

Answering this question would obviously need more of a story input than anything else.  But, given our only evidence is the previous games, we have quite a bit to speculate on.  Firstly, since the games have progressed, they have become much darker and have even killed off a few side characters and in Xion's case, a main character.  But Kingdom Hearts III's main storyline will involve the infamous Keyblade War, and in wars, not everybody generally makes it out okay.  While most stories that involve war will only kill off side characters or lesser ones, the most personal and the ones that hurt the most are the ones that do not hesitate to kill off a main character.  Secondly, to kill off one of the central characters, aside from Xehanort or Maleficent of course, we would have to take a look at several factors, the most important being both character arc and character importance.

An arc is the emotional journey a character takes, which will often lead to a dynamic change in their physical or emotional presence.  In terms of this factor, not too many have completed their arcs, and the ones that have are already gone.  Of the two character that remain that have completed theirs, Riku and Aqua, we can look and analyze which is likeliest to bite the big one in this final showdown.  Aqua's entire goal in life is to reunite with Terra and Ventus, though both are currently unable to see her due to Ventus's hearts resting within Sora's and Terra being a puppet of Xehanort.  If she were to die beforehand, this would keep her from completing a personal journey, and I don't think that's where Aqua was meant to go, if she is at all.  Riku, conversely, has been around for many games and has completed the journey from curious child, to rebellious adolescent, to living shadow, to determined and powerful Keyblade Master.  However, aside from his attachments to Sora and Kairi, his role in the story is a very hazy one moving forward.  With his main arc completed, are we going to see a repeat of Aqua's arc, or are we going to see a repeat of Axel's?  Is it possible to create a new arc for one who has completed a large one already?  Personally, I doubt it.  Riku's death would definitely make the series much darker and more adult moving forward, and could perhaps be a rallying point for the heroes.

Importance involves the relevance to the overall plot.  In this case, the most important character is Sora and will likely continue to be so, as long as Disney and Square intend on continuing the series past III.  With this information, Sora is arguably the least likely to die, along with Donald, Goofy and Mickey (who wouldn't die in a Disney game).  This does add concern for Kairi, however, as her role as a Princess of Heart and a potential Guardian of Light could make her a ripe target to be slain.  This would emotionally destroy Sora, I believe, and like in Riku's death, could propel him and the series to newer territories.


But if I was a betting man, the two heroes most likely to perish would be Lea or Terra.  Terra in particular, has undergone a similar character arc to that of Anakin Skywalker, even becoming the very evil he desperately tried to destroy.  So, it stands to reason that Terra would overcome the shackles Xehanort has over his heart and banish the fiend from within it, even destroying himself if he has to.  He cares about Aqua and Ventus too much to be willing to lose them again.

Lea, on the other hand, could be an easy choice to kill off because of how little we really know about him.  He is no longer his Nobody, Axel.  Could he retain memories of Xion and Roxas?  What about his previous friendship with Isa/Saix?  Could this be a motivator for him in the game?  Or is he just destined to follow the path of fallen lesser heroes?  Only time will tell...


These were my Five Biggest Questions.  Maybe, when the game comes out, I will get a satisfying answer to these.  What are your questions?  Leave them in the comments so we could perhaps discuss...