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Looong Kingdom Hearts theories
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maiki, Axel tells us in the KH2 novel that Nobodies can, in fact, feel emotions. Why, then, does everyone seem so certain that they can't?
I should include an index for this thing.
1: Memories (or, how Xemnas was totally fooled about the emotion gig)
2: Dusks (or, how to turn Axel into a Dusk in one easy step)
3: Special (or, yet another testimony as to Roxas being kickass)
(No spoilers beyond the prologue of KH2... I think.)
.memories.
A Nobody is a person whose heart was stolen and was too stubborn to lay down and die: even with the heart gone, they got back up and kept going. The reason they did this was because even without their hearts, their sheer willpower was too much to let them tamely fade away. Now the body and soul lives on -- doesn't look like the person they used to be, doesn't feel like the person they used to be, but still alive.
But imagine waking up as a Nobody after you have just been killed by Heartless.
You're a Nobody, not the human you used to be. You don't look the same. You don't feel the same. You have all your memories, but you look back on that life you used to lead and you don't care.
Then you say, "Hmm. So this is what it's like to not have a heart. I can't feel anything." Or Xemnas says it to you. It eventually gets into your head.
You think you have no emotions. Anyone who knew you before and knows you now thinks that you're heartless and probably a bastard. But that's not necessarily true.
Maybe it's just that the Nobody remembers that life but is distant from it. After all, Xemnas isn't Xehanort anymore. Why should he care about Xehanort? But he remembers being that person, so it seems reasonable for him to look back and think, I can't feel emotions, I remember that happening, I remember what it felt like, it happened to me but I just don't care.
But Nobodies do care about things. Vexen is extremely dedicated to his research and touchy when it's mocked. Demyx cares very deeply for his continued good health and gets nervous about starting fights or otherwise getting hurt. Xigbar is clearly a terminal nutjob who is way too easily amused.
And Axel ♥ Roxas.
So now we have a lot of OXIII members who think that they're emotionless, especially the ones who don't care as such, like Vexen or Xaldin. Emotionless, okay, whatever. Then you have ones like Axel and Demyx who don't believe it -- well, they're not all that similar, probably Axel has his doubts based on his observations and Demyx just goes with whatever feels right.
Maybe they don't have hearts, but they definitely do feel something. But that initial waking-up experience could convince them... and DiZ... that they are unfeeling shells that only mimic emotions.
.dusks.
A person who is too strong-willed to die but too weak to retain a sense of self becomes a Dusk. The higher-ranking a Nobody is, the more human-like they are. Which means that the highest ranks are the ones with the strongest identities... Which, kind of, indicates that a Dusk has very little sense of self, just a will to survive.
(This would be why they make excellent, if not terribly intelligent, servants. That will to survive keeps them obedient to someone much more powerful, in this case the OXIII bosses, but they don't have OPINIONS or EMOTIONS enough to defy them. They only know that defiance will hurt, so they obey. And unlike the Heartless, they don't just gravitate to any power; they're aware enough to recognize those who are Not Like Them. After all, they're still human-ish, and humans are social animals.)
But there's a world of difference between a creepy zippery silver slinky thing and an Axel. So how can Axel become a Dusk, as he feared would happen if he disobeyed Xemnas? (See Day Six of the prologue to KH2)
...Take away his memories. He's not connected to the person he used to be, but those memories helped shape who he is now -- and the memories of who he is now are what he lives for, the life he's carved for himself out of being nothing more than Nobody.
Then what is he? Empty. Survival instinct on legs. He has no sense of identity because you've deconstructed it. He retained it the first time, but now that it's been deliberately removed, well... What is he if not a Dusk?
.special.
Of course, this all makes Roxas and Namine really, really fucking weird. They were both created in strange circumstances, and they both still have living "Others"... But that's not what makes them special.
What makes them unusual is the fact that neither of them have memories (because of the strange circumstances of their creations) and yet they each have a sense of self strong enough to keep them fully human. Any other Nobody who woke up with no heart and no memories would be a Dusk: insignificant, mindless struggle against dying, because he doesn't know who he is.
But even though he doesn't know who he is, Roxas still has a strong sense of identity -- perhaps because his Other is still alive? perhaps because of the keyblade? perhaps because he was created voluntarily (after all, Sora's Heartless was still self-aware) -- and so he doesn't become a Dusk. Even though he should be empty, even though there should be nothing to give him the kind of definition required to create a humanish Nobody -- one of the commanders of OXIII.
It all fits together pretty nicely, I'm pleased with it. XD
Potential flaw: Jason submits that this definition they might not really BE Nobodies, if they're humanlike because they still have a connection to their previous lives.
maiki, Axel tells us in the KH2 novel that Nobodies can, in fact, feel emotions. Why, then, does everyone seem so certain that they can't?I should include an index for this thing.
1: Memories (or, how Xemnas was totally fooled about the emotion gig)
2: Dusks (or, how to turn Axel into a Dusk in one easy step)
3: Special (or, yet another testimony as to Roxas being kickass)
(No spoilers beyond the prologue of KH2... I think.)
.memories.
A Nobody is a person whose heart was stolen and was too stubborn to lay down and die: even with the heart gone, they got back up and kept going. The reason they did this was because even without their hearts, their sheer willpower was too much to let them tamely fade away. Now the body and soul lives on -- doesn't look like the person they used to be, doesn't feel like the person they used to be, but still alive.
But imagine waking up as a Nobody after you have just been killed by Heartless.
You're a Nobody, not the human you used to be. You don't look the same. You don't feel the same. You have all your memories, but you look back on that life you used to lead and you don't care.
Then you say, "Hmm. So this is what it's like to not have a heart. I can't feel anything." Or Xemnas says it to you. It eventually gets into your head.
You think you have no emotions. Anyone who knew you before and knows you now thinks that you're heartless and probably a bastard. But that's not necessarily true.
Maybe it's just that the Nobody remembers that life but is distant from it. After all, Xemnas isn't Xehanort anymore. Why should he care about Xehanort? But he remembers being that person, so it seems reasonable for him to look back and think, I can't feel emotions, I remember that happening, I remember what it felt like, it happened to me but I just don't care.
But Nobodies do care about things. Vexen is extremely dedicated to his research and touchy when it's mocked. Demyx cares very deeply for his continued good health and gets nervous about starting fights or otherwise getting hurt. Xigbar is clearly a terminal nutjob who is way too easily amused.
And Axel ♥ Roxas.
So now we have a lot of OXIII members who think that they're emotionless, especially the ones who don't care as such, like Vexen or Xaldin. Emotionless, okay, whatever. Then you have ones like Axel and Demyx who don't believe it -- well, they're not all that similar, probably Axel has his doubts based on his observations and Demyx just goes with whatever feels right.
Maybe they don't have hearts, but they definitely do feel something. But that initial waking-up experience could convince them... and DiZ... that they are unfeeling shells that only mimic emotions.
.dusks.
A person who is too strong-willed to die but too weak to retain a sense of self becomes a Dusk. The higher-ranking a Nobody is, the more human-like they are. Which means that the highest ranks are the ones with the strongest identities... Which, kind of, indicates that a Dusk has very little sense of self, just a will to survive.
(This would be why they make excellent, if not terribly intelligent, servants. That will to survive keeps them obedient to someone much more powerful, in this case the OXIII bosses, but they don't have OPINIONS or EMOTIONS enough to defy them. They only know that defiance will hurt, so they obey. And unlike the Heartless, they don't just gravitate to any power; they're aware enough to recognize those who are Not Like Them. After all, they're still human-ish, and humans are social animals.)
But there's a world of difference between a creepy zippery silver slinky thing and an Axel. So how can Axel become a Dusk, as he feared would happen if he disobeyed Xemnas? (See Day Six of the prologue to KH2)
...Take away his memories. He's not connected to the person he used to be, but those memories helped shape who he is now -- and the memories of who he is now are what he lives for, the life he's carved for himself out of being nothing more than Nobody.
Then what is he? Empty. Survival instinct on legs. He has no sense of identity because you've deconstructed it. He retained it the first time, but now that it's been deliberately removed, well... What is he if not a Dusk?
.special.
Of course, this all makes Roxas and Namine really, really fucking weird. They were both created in strange circumstances, and they both still have living "Others"... But that's not what makes them special.
What makes them unusual is the fact that neither of them have memories (because of the strange circumstances of their creations) and yet they each have a sense of self strong enough to keep them fully human. Any other Nobody who woke up with no heart and no memories would be a Dusk: insignificant, mindless struggle against dying, because he doesn't know who he is.
But even though he doesn't know who he is, Roxas still has a strong sense of identity -- perhaps because his Other is still alive? perhaps because of the keyblade? perhaps because he was created voluntarily (after all, Sora's Heartless was still self-aware) -- and so he doesn't become a Dusk. Even though he should be empty, even though there should be nothing to give him the kind of definition required to create a humanish Nobody -- one of the commanders of OXIII.
It all fits together pretty nicely, I'm pleased with it. XD
Potential flaw: Jason submits that this definition they might not really BE Nobodies, if they're humanlike because they still have a connection to their previous lives.
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*posts while still has internet*
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I'll do it tomorrow though. XD I managed to get all my evaluations done today.
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