Oathkeeper, Oblivion And Keychains

Oathkeeper, Oblivion and Keychains

A while ago I answered a question about Roxas’ Oathkeeper and Oblivion, but after the ReMIND trailer released, which showed Sora using Oathkeeper… I started to suspect something about the Keychains we see on Keyblades, and how Roxas can still wield Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

My current theory is, Keychains are physical manifestations of memories associated with a certain world or a certain person. A Keyblade is practically an extension of the heart, and within the heart are memories; the heart and memory being intimately linked with the Keyblade and its Keychain isn’t that far-fetched when you think about it. Keyblades change form and abilities depending on what Keychain is equipped, though we never see Sora being handed a Keychain or exchanging them out himself. Kingdom Hearts III introduced the mechanic of switching Keyblades, which…we know to be able to wield multiple, you’d need to have multiple hearts within you. And yes, during the majority of the game Sora does contain three other hearts — Roxas, Xion and Ventus — meaning he could probably wield up to four Keyblades at once, but we never even see him dual wield a single time in Kingdom Hearts III.

When switching between Keyblades, Sora’s actually calling out to his memories associated with a specific world and it manifests into a different token on his Keychain (and in turn, that alters the appearance and abilities of the Keyblade). That’s why in Kingdom Hearts II, when Sora wakes up, he’s left with nothing but Kairi’s charm. Because her charm is a physical item. During Chain of Memories, he lost memories to gain memories, and gained memories to lose memories. His head was constantly altered and played with; he forgot about the friends he had made and the worlds he had visited. The Keychains were changed into cards for him to use, because — like Marluxia said at the beginning — he, Donald and Goofy forgot every spell and every ability they ever learned. And later down the line, they started forgetting people and places too.

So, why am I bringing this up? Because I think I know what Roxas’ Oathkeeper and Oblivion are and how he can wield them at the same time Sora can.

As Sora’s Nobody, Roxas can wield the Kingdom Key, and as Sora’s replica, Xion can also wield the Kingdom Key. After Xion’s destruction, Ventus’s heart “awakened” within Roxas and provided him the ability to dual wield, with his second Kingdom Key being Xion’s. But, they end up transforming; one becomes Oathkeeper and the other becomes Oblivion, which is strange considering Sora — at this point in time — still has Kairi’s charm with him in the pod.

What I suspect happened is, when Roxas’ Keyblade transformed into Oathkeeper based on his promise to Xion, the token manifested as Kairi’s charm, because in his memories (and Sora’s memories) that was the only symbol of a promise that he knew of. Xion’s Keyblade, Roxas’ second Keyblade, transformed into Oblivion due to Roxas being the one responsible for her destruction. The token manifested as…Riku’s charm? The black crown. It’s origin has yet to be explained.

If Oblivion is the other half of Oathkeeper, but also it’s opposite (light and dark)…it can be seen as “Oathbreaker.” A symbol of a promise that has been broken, forgotten — a “passing memory” of a promise. Of what promise?

The mind may forget, but the heart will forever remember — it has been etched. Memories that have been repressed or forgotten, the heart still remembers. It’s possible that Xion’s death stirred some of Sora’s repressed memories within Roxas, something that this newfound pain could relate to, which caused the Keychain on Xion’s Kingdom Key to take the form of the black crown token. And that in turn transformed it into Oblivion.

“My treasured best friend that I destroyed with this hand of mine.”

Roxas’ Oathkeeper and Oblivion cannot be wielded separately. They’re a duo. I assume that if he were to only have one of the Keyblades in the set, it would take the form of the Kingdom Key, his default Keychain (just like Sora). This means his Oathkeeper and Oblivion are separate from Sora’s, as Sora’s are both connected to physical items (Kairi’s charm and Riku’s charm).

With all that said…how do you suppose Oblivion’s token, the black crown, ended back up in Riku’s hands by the end of Kingdom Hearts II? He must’ve gotten it from someone…after a certain treasured friend was put to sleep, something to remember him by in case things were to go awry, causing Riku to forget? Reuniting with Riku in The World That Never Was rewarded you with Oblivion… Seems like Riku’s been carrying that around for a while… 👀

The thing about Vanitas

So, the kh new has been so exciting, but what caught my eye was Vanitas, not just Vanitas himself though, but the way that SE showed him. So, we all know that Vanitas has always been the type that keeps his cool and always thought of himself as better than others, but in the trailer we got, it was the exact opposite.

See, imagine being put in his shoes, training under a horrible man that tells you repeatedly that you’re an abomination and that the only reason you live is so that you can make a weapon. Now, you see how in BBS Vanitas’ goal was to forge the X-blade with Ventus? And when he got the X-blade, he was defeated right after? Now let’s go to how we see Vanitas in the trailer vs how we see him in BBS.

Vanitas is almost always known for insulting and mocking a person before a fight, and he did insult and mock Ven/Sora in the trailer, but something was off. The first words he said in the trailer was, “I need the half of me that sleeps on inside your heart.” That doesn’t sound like Vanitas at all, well to me. We know that he would’ve said something like, “I’ll be taking my lesser half now,” or something along those lines, but he didn’t. He said he needed Ven, his other half, which once again doesn’t sound like him.

Now let’s talk about his body expression. When Ventus speaks through Sora, Vanitas immediately recognizes and reacts to him, but the way he did isn’t like him. Vanitas’ response was “Ventus. What a strange place to slither off to,” while walking towards Sora. But the way he said it, the way he talked to Ven was so strange. His voice sounded like he was going to laugh or, as if he was relieved to have found him. Now, the way he reached his hand at Sora.

When he reached for Sora, his hand was shaking. His voice was sinister. Everything I saw throughout those last seconds just screamed desperation and instability.

Vanitas is finally reaching his limit. Everything he has gone through with Xehanort, all that pain, just to fail. Now he’s doing it again, he’s obviously getting desperate.

It was great seeing Vanitas in the new trailer, but he isn’t the character we knew in Birth by Sleep.

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sakurarozen

5 years ago

“I Have Twenty-three Tiny Wishes, But You Probably Won’t Remember Them All, So I Put Them All Together

“I have twenty-three tiny wishes, but you probably won’t remember them all, so I put them all together into one…

…I’d like to spend more time with you.”

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sakurarozen

2 years ago

February

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sakurarozen

3 years ago

Sunset pt.3

<< Previous Next>> (coming soon)

Archive/ About / Linktree

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sakurarozen

6 years ago

All I want for Christmas is

the sea salt trio to have their reunion and happy ending ;3;

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, fam. We’re so close to Jan 29.

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sakurarozen

1 year ago

September Art

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sakurarozen

3 years ago

Sunset pt.7

<< Previous Next>> (coming soon)

Archive/ About / Linktree

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sakurarozen

3 years ago

Wild, Sky, and the Master Sword

Character Analysis, Theory, and Ramblings

Going back through the comic I couldn't help but notice the chains varying views towards the Master Sword (and this led me down a rabbit hole of thoughts and theories).

Ranging from favorable

to fairly positive/neutral

to pretty negative

However, out of the last three I find it interesting that Wild is still willing to use the Master Sword. I think Time and Four recognize the Swords power and importance, but they do not wish to ever wield it. Understandable, as Time personally views the Sword as a curse/burden [X] and Four is worried that it could potentially 'change' him [X].

But Wild...

Despite his views he's still willing to use the sword. I believe he's trying to prove to himself that he's worthy. We know that Wild feels like he's to blame for what befell his world (even though no one in the chain blames him). [X]

From his point of view, the one who drew the Sword 100 years prior was a completely different person to who he is now— one he doesn't know how to be again [X]. It seems as though in the past the Sword easily accepted the 12 year old Wild as it's master. But it's not like that anymore.

All he knows now is this Sword hurt him when he tried to draw it again. And even after he proved himself, the Sword breaks but only when he uses it. He probably feels like a disappointment to the Sword, Zelda, and even the Chain.

(Now, a quick side note in defense of the Master Sword: in Skyward Sword we learn that the Hero needs an unbreakable spirit, "But spirit alone wasn’t enough. You had to overcome many trials andawaken the hero within yourself so that you could wield that supreme power." Every hero must go through trials so that they are strong enough for the battle ahead. Fi probably didn't want to see Wild die again.)

But that's likely not how Wild sees it.

Now to get to the point of all this rambling.

All that anger he's been bottling up has been mostly directed at himself, but I can see his bitterness towards the Master Sword lead to spiteful feelings towards a particular someone in the chain.

I wish this old ask got more attention because it's so intriguing! [X]

Who could it possibly be referring to? Is it a chain member? Who in the chain has the potential to rial Wild up to the point where he could say something so cruel?

When I first stumbled across it, I was perplexed because Wild doesn't seem the type. But the more I thought about it and with the recent updates, we've seen Wild is very capable of intense anger.

His self hatred, his bitterness towards the Master Sword, the stress of this new journey, his mentor and friend being injured (and possibly being infected by dark magic 👀) is all culminating to Wild reaching his breaking point.

And I believe that anger is going to be directed towards a chain member that has an opposing view of the Master Sword: Sky (and maaaybe even Sun?)

I don't think it'll be entirely warranted, but it'll be understandable.

It's been hinted at in the comic that Sky is coming to grasp the full extent of Demise's curse

If Sky comes to this realization he's likely to blame himself, maybe even explain and apologize to the chain. He'd minimize his role in stoping the Demon King and claim he could have done more. Or maybe he'll share his worries with Sun (we recently got a Sun design so she could appear in the comic soon) and Wild could overhear their conversation.

And if Sky feels that he is to blame— that all the tragedy that has befallen the rest of the chain and the future was his fault, what's to stop Wild from disagreeing? It'll be like he's been given an out to direct his anger away from himself and towards someone else.

Without having the complete picture, I can totally see Wild snapping due to his bottled stress and anger and exclaiming that he hates Sky.