Kingdom Hearts/Headscratchers/Headscratchers Two

See also


 * Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
 * Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
 * Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
 * Kingdom Hearts II
 * Kingdom Hearts coded
 * Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance


 * Kingdom Hearts
 * Kingdom Hearts


 * I don't know if this was ever explained somewhere and I just missed it, but what exactly is the nature of Kingdom Hearts? It's played up to be this big, important... thing, but what is it?
 * The Kingdom Hearts is a multiverse that contains both every single Disney Movie ever made, and every single Final Fantasy game ever made. That's why all the different Disney characters gather at the House of Mouse: the House is located in an empty world in the middle of the Kingdom Hearts.
 * It's afterlife. For hearts. Also, full of The Force.
 * According to 358/2, it's where hearts go after Heartless are seized by the Keyblade. So, afterlife for hearts, yeah.
 * It's whatever the plot currently needs it to be.
 * It's the title of the series.
 * It's Deus Ex MacGuffin.
 * Probably the source of all existence or something generic like that.
 * I always thought that it was the light from before the worlds separated.
 * Kingdom Hearts is the heart of all worlds. In a way, it is its life source. It sustains the universe.
 * It is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, and penetrates us. It holds the universe together.
 * It's a door. Simple as that. What's behind the door? Darkness, or light, or an endless supply of hearts, depending on who you believe.
 * The fact that Kingdom Hearts is essentially a giant crossover fanfiction on an endless canon-raping spree starring an OC bugs me. Am I the only one?
 * That was probably the most common complaint prior to its release. After, not so much, although I imagine there are others who feel that way. Personally, I think the story would have been much stronger without the Disney elements or at least nixing the Disney worlds and replacing them with original ones.
 * And as far as I'm concerned the original story gets in the way of the crossover fun (which isn't erasing the original stories from canon and is generally consistent with their spirit, even when changing the events, so phooey to you). Different people play the game for different reasons, I guess.
 * Kingdom Hearts without Disney or "nixing Disney in favour of original elements" would not be Kingdom Hearts!, Fan Dumb!
 * If Atlantica is one big fish-bowl, like it looks from orbit, where did Ariel's gallery of human artifacts come from?
 * There must be a very psychotic Space Giant somewhere/Crashed Gummi ships/It's all from the topside of that world/Monstro (Although, that Monstro bit wouldn't exactly fit, would it?)
 * Worlds don't look the same from the inside as they do from the outside. From beyond the dimensional barrier, you only see the important bits, which is why everything looks so improbably small.
 * Why does nobody in the games -- except for Leon -- have a last name?
 * Cloud STRIFE, Tifa LOCKHEART, Aerith GAINSBOROUGH, Yuffie KISARAGI... Yeah. More of them have last names than you might think. It's just not very important mid-game to mention their last names when it's faster and saves space to just call them by first name.
 * They do. They're just not mentioned.
 * Sora's name means sky. Kairi's means ocean. Riku's means land. If Riku's means land, why do Soul Eater and Way to the Dawn have wing motifs?
 * Because he feels grounded and wants to stretch his pretty wings? lol (actually that almost makes sense, considering his little speech about Destiny Islands being way too small)
 * Don't think of it as a wing motif, think of it as demonic/angelic. While Riku is an evil dick, it's the demon wing-shaped Soul Eater; after he takes up the path of Twilight towards Light, it becomes the Way to Dawn and gains angelic features. It's representative of his redemption from the Darkness's control.
 * Absurd attempts at non-violence:
 * When you look really closely at any of the Kingdom Hearts games, Sora never hits anything with the sharp side of the keyblade. It's always the blunt side. So you aren't slicing up any heartless, you're beating them into submission! I guess this is to make the game less violent, but then we have jack-in-the-boxes shooting at us with shot guns and slicing us with sickles.
 * You've never played Clue, have you? Ever stop to think how the keyblade can essentially be a giant Candlestick and give someone a nice skull fracture?
 * Were we playing the same games? The back of the keyblade is always the side with an edge, if it currently has one. This is most noticeable on Two Across, which looks most like a sword, and Ultima Weapon in KHI, which has an actual sword embedded in the back of it. See: . That said, the majority of Keyblades don't have an edge, so you really are bludgeoning everything to death for the most part.
 * Agreed. The part that looks like it should be the head on an axe is what normal keys use for manipulating lock (note that whenever Sora uses the "locking beam", he holds it the other way), the bulky part is mostly decorative, while the "back" is the blade.
 * Oh, and none of the pirates in KHII actually fire their guns.
 * Only in the American version. In the uncut Japanese versions, they fire their guns. In the American version, they fire crossbows. With unmistakable gunshot noises.
 * And, at least in Chain Of Memories I'm sure, Riku's batblade also only hits stuff with the dull side. At least that looks more like a sword and it STILL doesn't slice anything! And yet Sephiroth...
 * Uh, the outwardly curved part of the sword is the sharp side. Curved swords are curved for a reason; the curve makes the motion of slicing and slashing much easier, as opposed to chopping and stabbing. It's not like Marluxia's scythe, whose blade is on the inward curve, (because scythes are made for cutting down grass and the like, rather than cutting people). Scythes do not make good weapons, you see.
 * In The Manga, a person's heart turns into a Soldier, an emblem heartless. Emblem Heartless are all machine-made. Did Shiro Amano even bother to finish the game, or did he just get a DVD of the important cut-scenes? (see also Extreme Smile Power, Go For The Eyes, and nearly all of the rest of the series).
 * This happens within the first game. An NPC is attacked by a Soldier and becomes one himself. Presumably Emblem Heartless create more Emblems (as mentioned several times above this).
 * It seems that what kind of Heartless is created stems from the heart's innate strength and darkness content. Most likely, Emblem Heartless can be created only if the heart is taken unnaturally (like by another Heartless), while Purebloods are made if the heart is lost to darkness itself.
 * So, where did the big island with many people and most if not all of the houses in KHII come from? It wasn't mentioned. Also, why does everyone live on the small island if it was there? Do not tell me that they lived on the big island and sailed out in the middle of a heavy storm to try and save... a raft which they should be able to acquire with little to no troubles (which also raises the question of why they need to build a raft themselves...). And while I'm at it, everyone's favourite, Sora's parents?
 * They lived on the larger island all along - in the cutscene where Sora's mother has her one and only line, Sora looks out of the window and sees the small island off in the distance. On top of that, the world is identified as Destiny Islands, plural.
 * So, they indeed got a boat and sailed off to the small island in the middle of a storm... to save a raft? When they can clearly get one with no troubles, late at night? What?
 * Sentimental value. They built it themselves, after all. And they might have needed it to store enough supplies for a long-term voyage.
 * Why does King Mickey babble about the balance of Light and Darkness when Kairi's grandma said originally there was only Light?
 * Kairi's grandma was talking to a small child and might not exactly be in the loop of how the worlds work.
 * Kairi's grandma was telling a fairy tale. It has very little truth to it, according to Word of God anyway.
 * But the reports in BBS confirm that the Keyblade War was the fighting over the light that Kairi's grandma mentioned in 1. I'd hardly call it a fairy tale.
 * Kairi's grandma is/was a crazy old bag, how 'bout that?
 * Overtime Fairy tales/legends while they usually start out something close to an event but, change over time. It's the reason why you there are some many versions King Arthur. Something similar probably happen to the story Kairi's Grandma told her.
 * When you defeat Boss Emblem Heartless (Kurt Zisa, Phantom, Trickmaster, Guard Armor, Groundshaker, The Dragon), they release humongous hearts. Who, or what, did those hearts come from? Are they hearts of the worlds the Heartless have taken? Hearts of extremely strong-willed people (which makes me theorize that the Heartless Bosses are the Heartless of the Organization XIII members, sans Xehanort)? Or a bunch of small hearts combined into a large heart?
 * Maybe hearts from beings that are just really large (think Monstro)?
 * My thoughts? Either really powerful hearts, or lots of hearts together that take the form of one large heart when they're combined like that. Remember how Kingdom Hearts takes the shape of a moon-sized heart?
 * Is there any logical reason why we haven't gotten the Final Mix games, which have new story elements essential to the overall plot of the series, outside of Japan? I thought not.
 * Well, only the Xemnas fight was real important in the first Final Mix (it was even referenced in the NORMAL version of KH2.) The Riku scenes and the Cloud vs. Sephiroth one were fluff. But yeah, the KH2 Final Mix really should have been released outside of Japan.
 * It isn't especially uncommon in Japan. They can be more sure that the Japanese customers will keep buying Final Mix games and they also want to discourage fans from buying the games more cheaply from America and Europe. See Bad Export for You for details.
 * If Pureblood Heartless are corrupted hearts, why don't they release hearts when defeated? Also, if a heartless steals someone's heart, then how can that person be a heartless if the heart isn't there anymore?
 * I'm pretty sure Purebloods are simply embodiments of darkness that eat (and presumably digest in some form) hearts.
 * The Heartless steal people's hearts, turn the captured hearts into more Heartless and then let them go.
 * To elaborate, the Heartless are actually "broken" hearts surrounded by darkness. When they eat a heart, it either merges with them or "breaks" the heart and forms a new heartless. Purebloods seem to be either pure incarnations of darkness or they digest their victims too well to be recovered easily.
 * Pureblood Heartless turn people into Heartless, Emblems absorb their hearts to make themselves stronger.
 * What was Kairi doing in the cave during the storm?
 * Getting out of the rain?
 * As a Princess of Heart, she was drawn to the door to the world's heart, which was about to be consumed by the darkness. That explains the weird trance she was in when Sora enters. She was probably trying to do something about it, but it was too late, and when the darkness ripped through the door, it tore her heart from her body.
 * How come no Pixar worlds yet? Come on: Toy Story, WALL-E, Monsters Inc, The Incredibles, a Bug's Life, these could all be great worlds! You could have an entire new game with nothing but Pixar worlds! On this same topic, we need a Hunchback of Notre Dame world, and more Pirates worlds (tell me Davy Jones and the Kraken wouldn't be great bosses?) Enough of this recycled world crap, there's a gigantic Disney canon to explore!
 * Before 2006 Disney didn't own Pixar, so back then they'd have to pay royalties. Now that's no longer an issue.
 * Out of all the Pixar movies, only Monsters Inc and The Incredibles would work for KH. And I agree, Hunchback needs to come in, and the two Pirates sequels. Personally I'd also like to see The Black Hole included (the boss battle against Maximilian would be nothing short of pure terror/awesome), and some other parts of Fantasia like "Rite of Spring" and "Pastoral Symphony".
 * Congrats! Notre Dame is going to be in KH3D.
 * In addition to the reasons already stated, they also wanted to focus more on Classic Disney before branching out. Word of God says there are going to be many more games after KH3, so if they ever plan on using them, they're probably just saving them for later.
 * The demographic in general. Early game battling giant dark monster in the Deep Dive, giant silver eccentric monster with a ZIPPER who tries to shove a giant nothing ball to Roxas, Sora's suicide-like actions in Hollow Bastion, that woman's heart stolen in Traverse Town, Axel's kamikaze, Zexion's death, Vexen's death, the End of The World in general, THAT GIANT ANSEM MACHINE, Ansem Reports mentioning corrupt live subjects with darkness, ... definitely not suitable for Disney's original demographic.
 * The series is clearly aimed at an older audience. And Disney is no stranger to Nightmare Fuel.
 * Disney's original demographic? You mean age-neutral? (Fun fact: The "G" rating does not mean "For kids and KIDS ONLY, don't let teenage conformity and Fan Haters fool you otherwise) It's pretty age-neutral, although if you wanted to go towards any symbolism or themes... then I wouldn't say young children (Since they wouldn't understand everything).
 * Except in Japan, Disney isn't aimed at young children when you consider what IS aimed at children (Hamtaro, Hello Kitty's show, even). So while they're using America's children toys, they're aiming it at the older, gamer crowd. It's a cross over with Final Fantasy, definitely not aimed at General Audiences, but the gamer crowd. Name too many 7 year olds that can do an active-time battle (not pausing when you're using items or going through menus during a battle). While there's always going to be the exception, it's not like Pokemon, where most people can just jump right in. When I had Riku running at me in the first "level" and I was trying to heal, I was like get away from me ahhh! and I was 15 years old and no stranger to gaming. --seikueon
 * Walt Disney himself said that it's not a good idea to aim exclusively at children. So there you go.
 * Would the Toy Story toys or the robots from WALL-E have hearts? Pinocchio had one despite being artificial, but the Blue Fairy must have given him a heart when she brought him to life. In KH2, Dr. Finkelstein's creation was built without a heart but was still sentient. Going by this logic, the only way the toys and robots could have hearts is if they were built with them or they somehow gained hearts.
 * Honestly, I think if there's any logical way to bring Xion back it will involve the Blue Fairy. The Toy question will likely be brought up if Pixar worlds show up in Kingdom Hearts III. Also, isn't Sally artificial? I think the real question isn't the nature of the being's creation, but whether or not it can feel. This is why Repliku and Xion have hearts.
 * What really confuses me is that in Kingdom Hearts II, Dr. Finkelstein says that Sally was created with a heart. But in Kingdom Hearts, Dr. Finkelstein didn't know how to make a heart! What, did he just find a random, working heart and implant it in Sally?
 * Yes.
 * A heart in the KH universe seams to be similar to the concept of a soul, so yes, they would have them; if it expresses an emotion, it has a heart.
 * Why are Chip and Dale mechanics when Gadget is already an existing Disney character? And for that matter, why are Goofy and Pete both running around being enemies to each other when their sons (Max and PJ) are best friends? If Scrooge McDuck can be running around Radiant Garden inventing skateboards and ice cream (somehow), Return of Jafar can form the basis of KHII's Agrabah plotline, and Nala is pregnant with Kiara over in the Pride Lands, why are certain obvious character references completely ignored?
 * Sequel subplot fodder.
 * Nomura is only using the movies. So don't get your hopes up that any of the cartoons or elements from the cartoons are going to appear.
 * The reason they don't use the shows is because the some of the content in the shows conflict with the canon presented in the films. This troper thinks this is a little silly, seeing as KH itself is an entire alternate universe apart from the Disney and Final Fantasy canons.
 * The games take place before Goofy and Pete have kids? I don't think Pete would be running around with the bad guys if he had a wife and kid.
 * In the beginning of KH1, were Sora, Riku, and Kairi aware that their island was a world? They didn't seem like they wanted to go to another place but another world. They didn't seem to be joking either. Also, what happened to their parents? I doubt they would let a couple of teenagers go on small wooden ships in an ocean with little food and shelter. Plus... Aren't their parents worried about them? Did Sora and Riku's parents
 * A better question would be why their parents didn't tell them the raft idea was insane in the first place. Romantic notions aside, their provisions wouldn't have lasted a full day.
 * I doubt they told their parents. Or maybe their parents are just extreme, stupid, versions of regular RPG parents (letting their kids roam free, etc)
 * Fridge Brilliance: Their parents weren't concerned BECAUSE the provisions wouldn't have lasted a full day, as in, not enough time for them to get far enough out to sea where they could die of dehydration before turning around and returning home. They figured they'd let the kids have their fun and fulfill their dreams of adventure, but that they'd be back the next day when they realized they didn't have enough food and water. Now, if they had supplies for four days, that they'd be concerned about.
 * Well, considering Riku's dialogue in Birth By Sleep (and not to mention that Terra and Aqua seemed really out of place), it seemed that they knew that their island was a world because, word is, some guy left to go travel other worlds when he was younger (which inspired Riku to go see other worlds someday). Maybe he just told everyone? Also, I'm pretty sure Kairi said that she was from another world when she arrived on the islands, which seemed to confirm the fact.
 * Travel between worlds in KH can only be achieved via Gummi Ship or dark magic, right? Well, then how in the hell does Pinocchio show up in Monstro when we see him in Traverse Town earlier? The game gives no explanation as to how he got there and ever since I played this game at 11 that has always bothered me!
 * You... don't see Pinocchio before meeting him in Monstro...
 * Yes you do. You find him in the Accessory Shop in Traverse Town before you go to the Monstro level. The scene seems to be optional (I didn't see it until my second playthrough); however, it's still there and even if you skip it, the characters still seem to act as though it happened once you start the Monstro level (ex. Donald recognizes Pinocchio and Sora even asks him how he got there) and the game doesn't explain how he got out of Traverse Town.
 * It's "force of will" right? That's how Beast got to Hollow Bastion... Maybe he really wanted to see Gepetto and the force of his will led him to Monstro?
 * Well, the Beast's "force of will" was confirmed to be the Dark Corridors.
 * It was never really stated there were only two ways to travel; in fact, many ways have been shown throughout the series (Examples being Merlin's magic, Kairi's magical bottle, ...)
 * This was actually mentioned briefly in KH1. Alice tells the trio about her adventure with the rabbit hole, and Donald remarks on how strange it is that she didn't need a Gummi Ship, then theorizing that maybe there are other ways to travel. So yes, there ARE ways to get from world to world without a ship... just not ones that the higher-ups know about.
 * Hard to believe no one's mentioned this particular complaint yet: Sora knows Super Glide and High Jump in the first game, so when him and Kairi reunite briefly at the end and the ground they're standing on slowly separates, why the heck doesn't he jump over on her side?
 * The implication of that scene is that Sora wanted to stay with Donald and Goofy because he had an obligation to find Riku and Mickey. Heck, if he wanted to he could have hopped a short distance when the pieces of land weren't that far apart.
 * Note to Riku and Mickey: Get out and PUSH the door.
 * Remember, magical door. Normal physics do not apply.
 * Remember, the reason Mickey stayed in the realm of darkness was because he wanted to have the door locked from both sides. As to why Riku stays, it could be suggested that he was still in his rather unstable phase where he believed he truly belonged in the darkness. Also, there's a chance he was staying to protect the King, maybe to make up for the things he did to Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
 * Is it me, or has the Kingdom Hearts series become the only Disney-based video games that Disney fans consider worth talking about? I noticed on the Unofficial (and probably with good reason) Disney Wiki that most of the characters' articles automatically include sections about their Kingdom Hearts appearances separate from their other appearances, regardless of how big their roles in the games are. Plus, the character's info-boxes tend to have the Kingdom Hearts series as their only listed game appearances, practically ignoring any previous games in which they've appeared. I had to add stuff like Capcom's Disney Afternoon games and Virgin's adaptations of the features to those lists myself! Is Kingdom Hearts really so special that all the other Disney games are considered Canon Dis Continuity on the Disney Wiki?
 * Because the KH games are pretty much the only good Disney games made since the SNES era. Hopefully, Epic Mickey will change that.
 * Fan Dumb is still around, they're confusing Epic Mickey for yet another KH game. Especially when they're BELIEVING that Mickey will be training under Yen Sid, the Phantom Blot is a Heartless, the plot point of the villains trying to steal Mickey's heart ties into the KH continuity, etc. Apparently, they need to check that Junction Point, not Square-Enix, is making the game with Disney. Junction Point, guys, not Square.
 * A meta example: It Just Bugs Me that Sega's answer to Kingdom Hearts sucks so badly. Yeah Sei, we're looking at Virtua Quest. It has a lot of really neat ideas (along with the ability to change your form depending on which character you link up with, the year before Kingdom Hearts II was released), but with poor implementation (you can't change it without finishing/exiting a mission). It probably didn't help that, despite the Phantasy Star Online aesthetics of the starting area, you're actually in the future of the Virtua Fighter world, and thus you can't use any magic or weapons other than some admittedly cool martial arts Mega Manned from Virtua Fighter. Not to mention that the goals of the vaguely Organization XIII-esque villains really seem to pale in comparison to the scope of the Kingdom Hearts or Phantasy Star villains, or that the main character seems to be Sora on valium... Okay, deep breaths, deep breaths... think of Xemnas/Dark Falz battles...
 * "There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky." - this is technically untrue.
 * That Quote was actually kind of a pun on Sora's name which means sky in Japanese. It meant that he was going to set everything right.
 * Why did Donald not allow Riku to join them when Sora and Riku reunite in Traverse Town in KH1? Ignoring the fact that the plot falls apart, it just seems odd that he wouldn't allow Riku, someone Sora's been looking for up to this point, to join them especially without a second thought.
 * He was under strict orders from the King that only the Keyblade Master can travel with them; bringing anyone else along risks "meddling". Donald probably expected Riku, now that they found him, to just stay in Traverse Town with Leon and co.
 * Wait! Does Riku even KNOW Leon and co.?
 * Although their behaviour in later worlds just brings us back to the party being extremely bad at upholding the Alien Non-Interference Clause.
 * Could be they learned from their mistakes that taking the Alien Non-Interference Clause too strictly can cause bad stuff to happen. They learned to say Screw the Rules I'm Doing What's Right as needed to avoid doing something really stupid.
 * Sora and Kairi in KH1. They're 14 years old? They look like eleven-year-olds. Same with Tidus and Selphie, who are likely around their age (a bit younger with the latter). Since when do most teenagers dress and act like that? I'm looking at you Selphie.
 * Given that they are represented in a cartoon-y style, in a cartoon world where many things are kind of deformed compared to our world (big feet and hands, etc.) I think Sora and Kairi do look relatively close to the age they're supposed to portray, especially in a Disney Universe. As for the latter comment... again, this is a Disney Universe. It's not meant to be, oh-so-realistic.
 * Also, considering her behaviour in Final Fantasy VIII, Selphie at least was never the most mature person for her age to begin with.
 * I know this is probably because of Disney marketing's apparent racism towards their own company's products, but... what's to stop Kingdom Hearts from visiting one of the TV cartoons? Surely we'd like to see Sora assisting Kim Possible or Phineas and Ferb.
 * Simplicity of writing, I think. The movies have nice, easily encapsulated plots complex enough for an entire world, but simple enough to be its own mini-arc without dragging or taking too long. The shows' episodes are usually too compressed and/or short for an entire world story with a beginning, middle, and end, and the arcs for shows are too long for one world. They could write entire new plots... but that's a lot harder than sliding the Heartless and Nobodies into pre-existing ones.
 * Also, I don't think they've been up at the time Kingdom Hearts was made. At least Phineas and Ferb, that is.
 * Because the Disney Animated Canon is much, much more iconic. What you grew up with isn't what the previous or later generations grew up with. For instance, Phineas and Ferb is too young for much of the game's market. The Disney Afternoon (Gargoyles, Tale Spin) is relevant to the older generation, but there are also young players who have never seen nor heard of those shows. The animated canon, however, is quite timeless.
 * Okay, three words: The Great Mouse Detective. Seriously. Come on. Why hasn't the greatest film ever made been turned into a KH world yet?
 * Because Sora & co. would call Professor Ratigan a rat and get eaten by his cat.
 * Uh 'three words'?
 * Oh hi, Phil!
 * Because nobody, and I mean NOBODY, could voice Prof. Ratigan anywhere near as well as Vincent Price, the King Ham himself.
 * Are the Japanese voice actors the same as the Japanese dubs for the Disney films? And do either measure up to the English V As (I know the debate's usually the other way around, but this time, the English V As are Disney's originals)?
 * I think the Japanese prefer the English voice acting, which is probably a main reason why the Final Mixes use English voice acting.
 * Kairi. At Destiny Islands, what exactly happened to her heart? Was it taken from Heartless, consumed by darkness? And what part of Kairi was it at Neverland? A heartless body? Wouldn't that count as a Nobody?
 * Her heart went into Sora's body. Since a Nobody only forms when a person becomes a Heartless, and Kairi can't become a Heartless due to having no darkness in her heart, her body just kind of sat there doing nothing. (Remember that Naminé, Kairi's Nobody, is actually formed from Sora's body when he becomes a Heartless, which is even stated in-universe to be some kind of anomaly.)
 * Where the heck are Sora, Donald, and Goofy at the very end of Kingdom Hearts, and the beginning of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, when they're walking through the grassy pastures, where they find Pluto with a letter from the King? Someone please tell me! Is this a different world or what?
 * Well. Uh. They're in Castle Oblivion's world/, obviously.
 * Given that that's the world where they find Castle Oblivion, it can only be what remains of . What the smeg they're doing there, I have no idea; I suppose Donald thought they'd be able to find some clues there to how to rescue Mickey and Riku from the Darkness. Given that all Donald, not having been very in the loop on the events of Birth By Sleep, would have known about that world is that the Darkness all but took it ten years prior, the thought that there would be some clues as to that Darkness is a logical one.
 * Don't forget all that talk at the end of the first game about how the walls between worlds would go up again and travel between them would be impossible and Gummi Ships wouldn't work anymore. The only ones still able to go between words were DiZ, the Organization, and anyone using Corridors of Darkness. Gummi Ships wouldn't work again until Yen Sid showed Sora the Gates in 2, so it seems that is just where they ended up after defeating Ansem. Why they'd end up there is anyone's guess.
 * Xemnas had probably been watching Sora, so when he saw that Ansem, Seeker of Darkness was destroyed, he opened up a corridor for Sora, Donald, and Goofy to fall into the.
 * It was the closest world to the Door?
 * So I've been reading this page, and several things other tropers said Just Bug Me. First off, people's talk of Light, Darkness, and Twilight as the main elements (or whatever you want to call them) and how Sora/Kairi/Riku don't fit this perfectly. Well, BbS confirms the types of Keyblades are Light, Dark, and HEART, not Twilight. Thus, Sora is Light, Kairi is Heart, and Riku is Darkness, which, IMO, fits perfectly. Next is the matter of who Sora's going to save: while Terra, Aqua, and Ven are obvious, but there's debate about Roxas, Xion, and Axel. Well, Axel never said Sora's name in "Blank Points," plus Word of God is he got his heart back, so Lea will be back on his own. Roxas is still fully aware of what's going on but has no control, even after merging with Sora, so wouldn't that count as "torment"? (Though I'm still unsure whether he'll get his own body, or is just a part of Ven) As for Xion, she is her own being, and isn't necessary to be part of Sora, so she could very easily be given her own body. As for absorbing Sora's memories, I think that was due to Xemnas manipulating her so she could replace Sora. After all, the Riku Replica didn't absorb Riku's memories; in fact, he didn't even believe he was the true Riku until Axel tricked him into killing Zexion. Okay, I'm done now. Did I miss/mess up anything?
 * Yes, Namine had the Riku Replica convinced it was the real Riku the whole time. It was only after he learned the truth that he went Axe Crazy. No, he didn't have Riku's memories, but he thought he did, because he had a whole lot of fake memories created by Namine.
 * Xion can't be brought back. She was an unstable clone of Sora made out of memories. In fact, she's the entire reason Sora took so long to wake up, because she was sapping his memories and possibly everyone else's, Roxas was Sora's Nobody also never coming back. And as for Axel not saying Sora in Blank Points, that was because he isn't related to Sora in any way really, if you notice all the characters that say his name are a part of him or need his help.
 * There's not a single thing in the games that definitively says Roxas and Xion can't be brought back.
 * Besides the fact that it's stated throughout the games they appear in? Xion and unless Sora is willing to give up the memories of, I doubt she will be coming back, Roxas, on the other hand is basically Ven with Sora thrown in there and he's a Nobody. They were both always there in  and are either going to remain there or they'd have to basically turn Sora into a Heartless again and take his memories. And besides, it would completely get rid of the point of their sacrifice in the first place. KH needs them to stay gone, otherwise it would end up with too many lookalikes and all happy pappy Disney, instead of half Square Enix.
 * For one thing, Disney is far from just the "happy pappy" stereotype you stated, and for another, them coming back would be all on Nomura and the blame would lie purely on the Square Enix half, not the Disney half.
 * No, it was only said that Naminé couldn't save them, or didn't know how to. They're still there within Sora, along with the memories of their individual lives ("...the memories themselves will never go away.") As of this point, there is no "they can be brought back" or "they can't be brought back", only a "they need Sora's help in some way, and he's going to do his damnedest."
 * I'm not complaining about this, but it just makes me curious: So, in Kingdom Hearts I and II, we had the choice between strength-magic-defence/items. This choice could also slightly be seen in Chain of Memories with the Martial, Sorcerous, and Alchemic Waking map cards. So, why did Birth by Sleep switch it to strength-magic-speed?
 * Ven is a defensive type; he's just a blink tank rather than a damage soaker. He can dodge roll past anything, he has the best counter-attacks, and his best moves heal him as he uses them. And Statistically Speaking, his defence is the best out of the trio; it's just his HP that's horrible, and the aforementioned healing spells remedy this.
 * Ah, well then... maybe I should do the research next time.
 * What exactly are the Spell Arts that you get from the White Mushrooms? Some sort of trinket? A diploma that says you've mastered the spell? Square-Enix figurines?
 * The spell arts are a collect-em-all type side quest you get one of each of the Spell Arts and take them to Merlin and you get a new weapon for Donald the dram staff.
 * I think he/she was asking what the item is exactly, not what the use of it is. The description says something like "Proof that a White Mushroom acknowledged you" as I recall - I imagine them as some kind of magical orb, possibly coloured based on the element (i.e. red for Fire, blue for Blizzard, etc.).
 * Okay, so The Heartless feed on living hearts and ignore dead ones, right? So what about undead hearts, like Jack and Sally? Are they considered dead hearts, therefore ignored by the Heartless, or living hearts, since they obviously use them? Or are they in the middle, still edible but not as good as a full-blown living heart? To make things more confusing, Jack tries to control the Heartless but fails, yet before that the Heartless doesn't attack him, but then they do attack him and ... AAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!
 * coded seems to indicate that the nature of your body doesn't have any effect on the nature of your heart. Jack and Sally probably have perfectly normal hearts. Now, I don't remember... did the Halloween Town Heartless only go berserk after the artificial heart was employed?
 * If I remember correctly, it was after they created the artificial heart that the heartless started to attack. Maybe they could sense it or something.
 * It's possible that the Heartless can instinctively coexist with inhabitants of such a macabre world or aren't as prone to hunting down such hearts, similar to how users of darkness can command Heartless. It would be an example of Dark Is Not Evil for the Halloween Townies and Heartless. Darkness-users sit on thin ice, though, and the creation of the artificial heart could've similarly disrupted the balance the Townies had with the Heartless. Well, it's all just Wild Mass Guessing anyway.
 * Okay, it making more sense now (even if it's Wild Mass Guessing, I'm taking it), and am I the only that thinks that this could have awesome potential?
 * It's not just you. There is... so very, very much awesome potential.
 * For that matter, I haven't seen Nightmare Before Christmas, but did Jack die and come back, or was he always a skeleton?
 * Jack is a skeleton throughout the entire movie, and there is no evidence that he was ever anything else. But there's nothing saying he wasn't, so the Wild Mass Guessing could go either way.
 * Anyone else completely perturbed with the amount of tech you need just to play all these games? PS 2, PSP, a Nintendo DS, now I need a Nintendo 3DS... I love you, Nomura, and I get that you probably want to reach a wide audience, but I'm a poor college kid! All I have is a PS 2 and it's almost nine years old!
 * I'd start saving up for a PS 3 if I were you; all signs point to KH3 going there.
 * The only sign I can think of it going there is that the past two out of three main series games (BBS counts) were on its predecessor. The way the fan-base is arguing over it, it may go multi-platform.
 * There is the GBA. Oh, wait. Forget it. You can always watch cut-scenes and playthroughs to get the story, although that's not as great as the games themselves.
 * Well, the GBA game can be played on the DS, so you don't need a GBA to play it.