Hi, Im Kaci. I play too much Kingdom Hearts. If you've got questions, I've got answers.

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Mickey & Minnie HSC Guide!

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New High Score Challenge!  Though this HSC actually has a pretty fun design, SENA keeps our spirits low with terrible multipliers, no mercy pulls, and only two chances at trait rolls.

Rewards:

Mickey & Minnie and Pluto B.  M&M is General Defense Down by two tiers for one turn.  Which is great.  But it’s single target.  Pluto B is Power Defense Up by two tiers for one turn.  In short, M&M is pretty damn good (situationally) and Pluto is pretty damn bad (situationally).

To get M&M, score in the top 5k.  To roll for traits, you need 8 million, which will probably land you in the top 1k for guilt.

To get Pluto, just score a million points.  It’s pretty easy.  To guilt Pluto, score 4.5 million and land in the top 2k.  

Honestly, neither of these medals are going to do you any good guilted.  You’re basically fighting for the right to have a chance at rolling the Extra Attack trait.

Multipliers:

Five medals you’ll never get and one 14% medal you can snag for 3k jewels.

I’m a little upset over the “no mercy” for HD Namine or Illustrated Roxas (21% each).  But I’m even more upset that the other three newbies (Yaoi Hand Ansem, Cat, and Ugly People; 10%) aren’t even guaranteed!  AND I AM EVEN MORE UPSET that we have no 7% multipliers!!

Anyway.  The enemy list:

First Room:
Lv. 50 Shadow [P]
Lv. 50 Soldier [S]
Lv. 50 Blue Rhapsody [M]

Pick your path:

Power
Lv. 100 Dire Plant x3
Lv. 150 Large Body x3
Lv. 200 Armored Knight x2
Lv. 250 Mega-Shadow
Lv. 300 Large Armor x2
Lv. 400 Morning Star
Lv. 500 Red Copter Fleet

Speed
Lv. 100 Chomper Egg x3
Lv. 150 Wibble Wobble x3
Lv. 200 Armored Archer x2
Lv. 250 Stinging Bee
Lv. 300 Aeroplane x2
Lv. 400 Cannon Gun
Lv. 500 Yellow Copter Fleet

Magic
Lv. 100 Bag O’ Coal x3
Lv. 150 Darkball x3
Lv. 200 Wizard x2
Lv. 250 White Rose
Lv. 300 Fire Plant x2
Lv. 400 Dark Plant
Lv. 500 Blue Copter Fleet

~*Target*~ Lv. 50 Shadow [P]

I didn’t mark down buffs and debuffs this time because by now we are all pretty well-acquainted with these enemies.  I’ll say that the Speed path definitely has the most buffs, so bring a cleanse if you think you’ll need it.  Other than that, go with whatever works best for you.  The Copter Fleet is obviously the biggest hurdle: Second Chance and really strong single target will be your go-to for this one.  Remember to build as much Str Up and Def Down as possible.  Take a friend’s KDG if you aren’t using a multiplier friend medal.  

My 0% run ended at 4.78 million.  Based on the magic of math, that means you’ll need 67%, but I’m sure absolutely no one will agree with me.  Since there is no guarantee in the entire medal draw this time around, getting anything over 14% (35% with a friend medal) is just sheer luck.  And for what?  Two chances at rolling Extra Attack on M&M?  I dunno.  Doesn’t seem like very good odds.  Even at 1900 jewels per pull, it’s still littered with Tier 2s.  

And so continues my unending decline into pessimism.  These HSC used to be fun, right?  Right…?

<3 KCM

Someone on Reddit was asking about keyblades:

waithwat:

kingdomheartsfaq:

The way I always saw it…

THIS IS ALL SPECULATION AND OH MY DAYS SO MANY SPOILERS!!

The Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D are two unique blades the way that the x-blade was. They aren’t a representation of one’s heart, but constants that need to exist. This is probably because the x-blade was shattered or something. When the worlds became a realm of darkness and a realm of light, the KK was the light’s half of the x-blade and the KKD was the darkness’s half. They probably weren’t made from the x-blade themselves, but came to exist because of the state of the universe, much the way the x-blade did.

Anyway, KK and KKD are special. They reside in their respective realms to protect it. They have their own “consciousness” as it is, where they can choose their wielders. In my head, I always thought that they wouldn’t choose a wielder unless their realm was in peril. So when all the worlds start vanishing in KH1, the KK is like “woah hey what? damnit I better find myself a wielder”. It found Riku - one of few already anointed with using a keyblade - and I was like “sure this kid seems legit”. Then Riku went all darkness and the key was like “damnit, and I came all the way out here”. But he sees Sora, who has the heart of a keyblade wielder (Ven) and is like “actually this kid might work instead”. Then in Hallow Bastion it sees Riku again and is like “you’re that kid!” and goes with him. Then KK is like “actually you’re a dick and I like the other kid more” and goes back to Sora. And that’s the story of the KK.

So then there’s the KKD, chillin’ in darkness like “yeah man lovin’ this darkness gonna stay here forever” and then a mouse comes and picks it up. And the KKD is like “well, I mean, it’s been a while since like. I’ve done anything. Might as well.” and sticks with Mickey. But if it ever wanted to leave it probably could. Though I think the KKD and KK are both in this for the same reason: they want balance. Neither wants to see Light or Darkness consume everything. That’s why KKD stays with Mickey.

So, now let’s delve into keyblades as a whole. They were said to be “forged in reverence of the x-blade”, which is sort of weird since the x-blade looks dumb as hell and the keyblades look pretty rad most of the time. Maybe it’s like how an artist sees someone’s work and thinks “ha, I could do that, but better”. Anyway. “Forged” here is a pretty loose term, since hearts forge keyblades, but also like… you could just forge them out of metal, right? For the sake of simplicity and in the continuity of the franchise, let’s just define “forged” as “created with one’s heart”. This materializes a keyblade for the use of its owner. BUT it seems like whenever the owner dies, the keyblade can continue to exist. Since you know. The graveyard. This basically defies everything I know about creating and destroying matter but whatever.

So anyway. Wielders make keyblades with strong hearts. Are they blessed or something? IMO, it seems sort of like “forging a keyblade” was pretty damn easy before the world fell apart (KHUX). Maybe this is like a defense mechanism? Kingdom Hearts is like “well shit, I see what you guys do when keyblades are dime a dozen - you start wars! So you know what. New universe, new rules. No keyblades for anybody. Except these two new ones, KKL and KKD. No more wars. Stop it.” To which the very few keyblade wielders who survived the sundering were like “right, but how about we make a ceremony that lets us pass on the keyblade powers to new people, since like, we totally learned our lesson and won’t start another war”. So then the Ceremony came to be (which is just touching a keyblade apparently?? I think here’s more to it, but I’ll get to that in a minute).

So here we are in the new universe and we’ve got a few keys. The x-blade is broke, but that doesn’t matter until it becomes an essential and awkwardly convenient plot point. The KK and KKD are newly born. And I guess No Name (Xehanort’s blade in BBS and Master of Masters’ blade in Back Cover) survived, because why not. And then there’s the Dandelions. And that’s it. All the other keyblades are inert, since their wielders are dead. So someone passes the power of the keyblades onto Eraqus, Xehanort, and Yen Sid. Hopefully this gets revealed in KH3 since we got that awesome chess scene with chubby baby Eraqus. Yen Sid trains Mickey, then retires. Xehanort trains Ven, then fucks up literally everything. Eraqus trains Terra and Aqua, then dies. So we’ve gone from three to four wielders in one generation, since Eraqus thinks he’s special. I don’t know what “retiring” means in terms of using a keyblade, but it’s pretty safe to assume Yen Sid isn’t going to do anything but talk for the whole franchise. Xehanort takes over Terra. So we’re sitting at four wielders and six keyblades (since Terra/Xehanort each have one, and Aqua has Eraqus’s).

This brings about a whole other argument. Though the wielders die (Eraqus & in theory, No Name) the keyblades retain their power. Which is sort of in conflict with the keyblade graveyard. I think this has a lot to do with intent. Eraqus had always intended his keyblade to be passed down to Aqua in case he fell. MoM had always intended No Name to move forward through time. Each served their master’s purpose even after the master’s demise, so… in a way, they still had the heart of their master. I think this also explains why Aqua can’t summon her own keyblade anymore after the end of BBS. Her intent for her keyblade was to watch over Terra. It’s still doing that, in the Chamber of Repose. Then again, maybe keyblades can’t be summoned into the Realm of Darkness if they preside in the Realm of Light? Who knows.

Keeping the theme of intent, I think it has a lot to do with the Keyblade Ceremony. In every instance of the ceremony, the master intends to give the power away (Terra to Riku, for instance). So I think there’s more to it than just “touching the blade”. The only circumstance that defies this rule is Aqua to Kairi, but Kairi is a Princess of Heart so she can do whatever the hell she wants. So by the end of BBS, we’re sitting at six (potential) keyblade wielders and eight keyblades. Cue KK and KKD, makes ten. Actually, if we want to get technical, Xehanort might have been able to summon his own keyblade before being given No Name. So maybe eleven? At this point, the original Kingdom Hearts must be pretty pissed off.

So then there’s Sora. Who never had his own keyblade. Which I think is pretty cool. KK is Sora’s bro after KH1, so he never really needs one. And he was never given the ceremony officially. Though it could be argued that by housing Ven’s heart, it gave Sora the ability to have his own keyblade, but just the same it could be argued that once Ven’s heart is gone Sora might not be able to hold a keyblade at all. (I doubt that’ll be the case, but it’s funny to think about.) What are we at? Seven wielders, ten (possibly 11) blades?

Sora goes all sleepy time, so Roxas steals his Kingdom Key. KK is probably like “this is Sora! Feels like Sora. Probably Sora. I wish I had a glowing blue eye so I could be sure, but hey, whatever”. Xion “copies” Roxas’s key, explaining the two KKs at the same time. This is probably Ven’s keyblade since she’s siphoning parts of Sora out of Roxas, and the KK appearance is an illusion created from copying Roxas.

Xion dies. Roxas gets her keyblade (which was Ven’s). Dual wielding ass kicking ensues. Then when Sora wakes up, he can dual wield because Roxas - who is a part of him - unlocked that power for him. I think this is a really cool plot point actually, because it means when Ven gets his heart back, Sora will need to learn to manifest a keyblade of his own (not the KK) in order to dual wield again!! :D I’m all about Sora learning how to forge his own keyblade.

Let’s see. Lea gets a keyblade from Yen Sid’s ceremony. Bringing our total wielder count to eight: Destiny trio, Wayfinder trio, Mickey, Lea. Eleven keyblades: listed above (including KK for Sora), KKD (which means Mickey can probably dual wield), Master Defender (hopefully dual wielding Aqua in the future?!), and No Name (Terranort can officially dual wield..?).

Then keychains. Don’t worry, I’m almost done. “Keychains” modify the appearance of an existing keyblade. I actually don’t think keychains are actual keychains in most cases. It’s just that certain memories and experiences can color your heart, changing the appearance of your keyblade. The exception to this could possibly be Oathkeeper, since Kairi actually gives Sora a charm. But I don’t think he clips that thing on the end of his keyblade - I think just the memories of her and stuff bring about the transformation. Or maybe they are real keychains, but they are made when the heart remembers those memories? Because honestly, obtaining actual magical keychains seems absurd to me. This really isn’t elaborated on in any way.

Importantly, however! there are no keychains on the keyblades in the Graveyard. So maybe keychains are tied to a wielder’s heart, and when the wielder dies, the keyblade can be left behind but not the keychain itself. Again, there are exceptions with Master Defender (Eraqus) and No Name, since there is still intent in these blades. It’s interesting to think about. Also the Keyblade of Heart (forged from the seven princesses) doesn’t have a keychain. Maybe because it has no wielder? It’s a combination of seven hearts, rather than one? I don’t know.

ANYWAY. This was a lot longer than I wanted it to be, but I think about keyblades a lot. If anyone has anything to add or correct me on, PLEASE tell me because I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF!!! :D

<3 KCM

N I C E
This is pretty much how I see a lot of it too. A few things I wanna add tho:
A lot of keyblades do look really different than the X-Blade ofc, but all the wielders in Daybreak Town have Starlight at first, which looks like the Kingdom Key, which make up part of the X-blade, so that’s likely where the “in its image” comes from.
Also Terranort probably can’t dual wield, since the Lingering Will has Terra’s keyblade.
Also Data-Sora has a real keyblade that’s also a copy of the kingdom key like Xion’s. This also prolly means Roxas and Xion will forge their own when they and Ven are eventually revived. I kinda headcanon Zero/One being the proper true form of Data-Sora’s, even if in game you get it after he gets his real keyblade :v
I kinda hope Roxas or Xion have Two Become One when they get their own keyblades, but brand new ones would be cool too.
Oh also a lot of the keychains in KH1 seem to be physically given to Sora or gotten from a chest, while in every other game they just magically appear somehow.

Oh you’re right about Lingering Will and Terra’s keyblade!! O_O  So no dual wielding for Mr. Bodysnatcher.

On keychains: three of them come from chests in KH1, and Kairi gives her charm.  So it could be argued that at least four real life keychains actually exist?  Also what about like, really weird keychains.  Kingdom Key’s chain is literally Mickey’s head.  I just imagine there was a conversation between Mickey and Sora, like:

Sora: “So, this keychain sort of looks like you??”

Mickey: “Oh, the three circles?  Yeah, that’s the Kingdom’s Mark.  It’s on the KKD too.  I actually stamp all my letters with that symbol and have a huge banner over my throne.  You know, to show respect.”

Sora: “Right??  But.  It’s.  Shaped like your head??”

Mickey: “What?”

Sora: “Well you know.  The ears, and… I mean it looks just like you.”

Mickey: “………”

Sora: “And you know, doesn’t it look like your wife, too?  Minnie, right?”

Mickey: “……………….”

Sora: “I mean, you’ve known about this mark for a long time.  So when you saw Minnie, and the shape of her head, maybe you subconsciously–”

Mickey: “I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT THIS ANYMORE”

Anyway… maybe the keychains should just be completely overlooked.  You know.  For our sanity.

mysticalflyte:

I think Sora’s new design is slowly growing on me.  (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧

Hello! I have a question. Is the Final Form Sora [M] medal good when not guilted? And how good/useful is it compared to a non guilted SP Roxas [M]?

Well, two things to start with:

  1. Since FFS is Upright and SPR is Reversed, they aren’t really comparable.  They will fit different places in your keyblade.  
  2. At this point in the game, the only not-guilted medals that will be good are buff medals.  Neither of these are buffs so they won’t really help you on difficult missions.

That being said, SPR is better than FFS.  SPR is a Tier 4 guilt, where FFS is a Tier 3.  SPR has a higher multiplier and doesn’t take away your health.  SPR is single target though, while FFS is multi target.  Also, because FFS is a Tier 3, he will be easier to guilt: you’re more likely to pull him from medal draws.

Both when guilted are pretty good medals.  High strength, high multipliers.  But unfortunately, without guilt, just about any other medal that has guilt will be better.

Hope this helps!  Thanks for the question! 

<3 KCM

  radicalaf-x said:
Isn't it alluded in bbs that part of Eraqus is in Terra (which is why the chains appear around him. Those are a signature of Eraqus i think)? So could it be that his keyblade retains its power because he's alive in Terra's heart? This would also imply that No Name retains its power because either MoM or Luxu are alive in some form.

the-sayuri-rin:

kingdomheartsfaq:

Uhhhh I am really not sure! o_o That’s not something I say about KH a lot.  I don’t know what allusion you’re talking about with Eraqus being part of Terra - I don’t remember anything like that in BBS.  I know Aqua uses those chains in 0.2, but she’s also using Master Defender.  I, personally, never attributed the chains to Eraqus.  It’s a pretty common motif (the Castle that Never Was, the final reality shift in DDD), but I can’t say with certainty that it isn’t a signature of Eraqus.

As for No Name, MoM would probably still have to be alive, because even though the keyblade was passed down to Luxu, it’s still a representation of MoM’s heart.  Unless, it’s like the x-blade, KK, and KKD, in which it’s not forged, and then… well that’s a whole other thing.  We don’t know a lot about No Name other than it being very old.  Either way, I don’t think MoM is around anymore.  And if he is, I don’t think he’s going to reappear.  I think he was just used as a kicking off point for the series and now he’s going to fade away into mystery.

If anyone has any more information on this stuff please send me a message because I’m actually very curious! 

<3 KCM

Edit: The more I look into this the more I like the idea of those chains being something that is Eraqus specific!  I don’t think part of him is in Terra, but the chains thing is really cool.

In Blank points, xehanort hinted or sensed that Eraqus had entered Terra’s heart. I think this is what they are referring to 

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Oh damn.  Well.

I’ve actually been thinking about this a lot and I am officially jumping on the “chains are Eraqus’s signature” bandwagon.  It makes sense in 0.2 when Aqua uses them because she has MD, and then when Terra uses them because of this scene.  I do wonder about “set foot in your heart” because honestly I’m getting really tired of all this “hearts in people’s bodies” thing.  Like, this should not be a plot point that reoccurs this often.  Hopefully Eraqus has impacted Terra’s heart or something, and Eraqus isn’t really alive inside Terra like Xehanort is.

Can’t anyone in this series ever die?  It really cheapens the characters when they get brought back to life every game.

Guide to Traits

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EDIT 10/30/18:
For PVP, EA is everything.
STR +1000 after that, then Ground. 

EDIT 5/14/18:
~Ground and Air are necessary and are the best traits in the game.
~EA for all buff medals.
~STR to fill in the blanks.
~Gauges on Reverse medals.
~HP > DEF

The Union x update to KHUX brought with it a new system called Traits.  Basically this is another level of randomness, because guilt rolls and 3000 jewel pulls wasn’t enough. >_<  Any time you add a medal to another medal with the same ID, it will roll a trait (as well as put a guilt dot into it, as described here).  

A down arrow (the up arrow in the picture above) has been added to the bottom of the medal screen.  This shows the medal’s traits.  Guilt Tier 1, 2, and 3 get one trait, while Guilt Tier 4 and 5 get two traits.  If you roll another trait and you don’t have room for it on the medal, you can replace one of the current traits with the new one or choose to keep the ones currently on the medal.

So how many traits are there and which ones do you want?

Five traits affect the keyblade as a whole:

  • Max Gauges +2: Increases maximum gauges by two
  • HP +800: Increases maximum HP by 800
  • Poison Resist 20%: 20% less likely to be poisoned by an enemy
  • Sleep Resist 20%: 20% less likely to be put to sleep by an enemy
  • Paralysis Resist 20%: 20% less likely to be paralyzed by an enemy

Six traits affect only the medal in question:

  • Strength +1000: Increases Strength by 1000
  • Defense +2000: Increases Defense by 2000
  • Ground Enemy DEF -60%: Decreases defense of ground enemies by 60%
  • Aerial Enemy DEF -60%: Decreases defense of flying enemies by 60%
  • Damage in Raids +40%: Deals 40% more damage against raid bosses
  • Extra Attack: 40% Power: Allows the medal to be used twice, though the second one is at only 40% power

The absolute best ones you can get are Extra Attack and Str+1000. (Edit: Enemy DEF traits too!) 

For buff medals (let’s say Illustrated Kairi), having Extra Attack means doubling the effectiveness: +3 Str turns into +6 Str.  The downside is that it doubles the Special cost as well: 3 gauges turns into 6 gauges.  But with gauge restore medals and Cost skills, gauges are a lot easier to manage. 

With damage medals, Extra Attack is a little less useful.  Damage is depreciated to 40% of its original damage, where buffs are not.  Here’s some math.  Eraqus at lv. 100 is 7245 Str x 4.58 multiplier x 2 (100% guilt) = 66,364.  x1.4 for Extra Attack is 92,910.  Str+1000 is 8245 x 4.58 x 2 = 75,524.  So your choice here would be 100% damage for 10 gauges, or 81.3% damage for 5 gauges.  Either 10% damage per gauge or 16.3% damage per gauge effectiveness.  Also the higher Strength does more damage against high level defense enemies.

But what about SP1?  Now you’re doing 92,910 for 2 Special!  Or you could use AB4 and Str+1000 and get 135,942 for 5.  Then there’s AB+SP0 and stuff…

The point here is that the more SP a medal cost, the less efficient Extra Attack is.  Of course, if you’re not doing any damage (Illustrated Belle & Beast is 5 cost, but its a buff medal), then SP1 and Extra Attack is the way to go!

Now that enemy levels are through the roof, sometimes the only way you can do really good damage is with the Enemy DEF traits.  That’s because Defense Down is capped, so the only way to exceed that cap is with those traits.  Honestly, they are probably the best traits in the game right now.

I wish I could calculate the +800 Health vs. the +2000 Def, but I honestly think it’s too situational.  Defense is great up until a point, but it’s also worthless beyond that point.  Health is just a flat increase, which sounds better, unless you happen to be fighting one of those enemies with an attack that falls in the range of where +2000 Def would help you… if you had to choose between them, I’d probably take the +800 Health.

So some general rules on Traits:

  1. For Buff medals, always Extra Attack.  Def+2000, HP+800, and +2 Gauges are good secondaries.
  2. For damage medals that cost 3 or less gauges, always Extra Attack
  3. For damage medals that cost 4 or more gauges, Str+1000 is probably more realistic.
  4. For damage medals, -60% Def (Ground or Aerial) are great and are probably going to be necessary for high ranking Coliseum.
  5. For medals you never use, +2 Max Gauges can be helpful for Proud quest rules.
  6. For medals you never use, the Resists are worth having one of each.
  7. For your raiding medals, +40% raid damage is amazing AND it stacks so get two or three!!

On a final and very important note:
Fantasia Mickey B (Mickey & Brooms) DOES NOT give you a trait!

<3 KCM

  radicalaf-x said:
Isn't it alluded in bbs that part of Eraqus is in Terra (which is why the chains appear around him. Those are a signature of Eraqus i think)? So could it be that his keyblade retains its power because he's alive in Terra's heart? This would also imply that No Name retains its power because either MoM or Luxu are alive in some form.

Uhhhh I am really not sure! o_o That’s not something I say about KH a lot.  I don’t know what allusion you’re talking about with Eraqus being part of Terra - I don’t remember anything like that in BBS.  I know Aqua uses those chains in 0.2, but she’s also using Master Defender.  I, personally, never attributed the chains to Eraqus.  It’s a pretty common motif (the Castle that Never Was, the final reality shift in DDD), but I can’t say with certainty that it isn’t a signature of Eraqus.

As for No Name, MoM would probably still have to be alive, because even though the keyblade was passed down to Luxu, it’s still a representation of MoM’s heart.  Unless, it’s like the x-blade, KK, and KKD, in which it’s not forged, and then… well that’s a whole other thing.  We don’t know a lot about No Name other than it being very old.  Either way, I don’t think MoM is around anymore.  And if he is, I don’t think he’s going to reappear.  I think he was just used as a kicking off point for the series and now he’s going to fade away into mystery.

If anyone has any more information on this stuff please send me a message because I’m actually very curious! 

<3 KCM

Edit: The more I look into this the more I like the idea of those chains being something that is Eraqus specific!  I don’t think part of him is in Terra, but the chains thing is really cool.

Someone on Reddit was asking about keyblades:

The way I always saw it…

THIS IS ALL SPECULATION AND OH MY DAYS SO MANY SPOILERS!!

The Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D are two unique blades the way that the x-blade was. They aren’t a representation of one’s heart, but constants that need to exist. This is probably because the x-blade was shattered or something. When the worlds became a realm of darkness and a realm of light, the KK was the light’s half of the x-blade and the KKD was the darkness’s half. They probably weren’t made from the x-blade themselves, but came to exist because of the state of the universe, much the way the x-blade did.

Anyway, KK and KKD are special. They reside in their respective realms to protect it. They have their own “consciousness” as it is, where they can choose their wielders. In my head, I always thought that they wouldn’t choose a wielder unless their realm was in peril. So when all the worlds start vanishing in KH1, the KK is like “woah hey what? damnit I better find myself a wielder”. It found Riku - one of few already anointed with using a keyblade - and I was like “sure this kid seems legit”. Then Riku went all darkness and the key was like “damnit, and I came all the way out here”. But he sees Sora, who has the heart of a keyblade wielder (Ven) and is like “actually this kid might work instead”. Then in Hallow Bastion it sees Riku again and is like “you’re that kid!” and goes with him. Then KK is like “actually you’re a dick and I like the other kid more” and goes back to Sora. And that’s the story of the KK.

So then there’s the KKD, chillin’ in darkness like “yeah man lovin’ this darkness gonna stay here forever” and then a mouse comes and picks it up. And the KKD is like “well, I mean, it’s been a while since like. I’ve done anything. Might as well.” and sticks with Mickey. But if it ever wanted to leave it probably could. Though I think the KKD and KK are both in this for the same reason: they want balance. Neither wants to see Light or Darkness consume everything. That’s why KKD stays with Mickey.

So, now let’s delve into keyblades as a whole. They were said to be “forged in reverence of the x-blade”, which is sort of weird since the x-blade looks dumb as hell and the keyblades look pretty rad most of the time. Maybe it’s like how an artist sees someone’s work and thinks “ha, I could do that, but better”. Anyway. “Forged” here is a pretty loose term, since hearts forge keyblades, but also like… you could just forge them out of metal, right? For the sake of simplicity and in the continuity of the franchise, let’s just define “forged” as “created with one’s heart”. This materializes a keyblade for the use of its owner. BUT it seems like whenever the owner dies, the keyblade can continue to exist. Since you know. The graveyard. This basically defies everything I know about creating and destroying matter but whatever.

So anyway. Wielders make keyblades with strong hearts. Are they blessed or something? IMO, it seems sort of like “forging a keyblade” was pretty damn easy before the world fell apart (KHUX). Maybe this is like a defense mechanism? Kingdom Hearts is like “well shit, I see what you guys do when keyblades are dime a dozen - you start wars! So you know what. New universe, new rules. No keyblades for anybody. Except these two new ones, KKL and KKD. No more wars. Stop it.” To which the very few keyblade wielders who survived the sundering were like “right, but how about we make a ceremony that lets us pass on the keyblade powers to new people, since like, we totally learned our lesson and won’t start another war”. So then the Ceremony came to be (which is just touching a keyblade apparently?? I think here’s more to it, but I’ll get to that in a minute).

So here we are in the new universe and we’ve got a few keys. The x-blade is broke, but that doesn’t matter until it becomes an essential and awkwardly convenient plot point. The KK and KKD are newly born. And I guess No Name (Xehanort’s blade in BBS and Master of Masters’ blade in Back Cover) survived, because why not. And then there’s the Dandelions. And that’s it. All the other keyblades are inert, since their wielders are dead. So someone passes the power of the keyblades onto Eraqus, Xehanort, and Yen Sid. Hopefully this gets revealed in KH3 since we got that awesome chess scene with chubby baby Eraqus. Yen Sid trains Mickey, then retires. Xehanort trains Ven, then fucks up literally everything. Eraqus trains Terra and Aqua, then dies. So we’ve gone from three to four wielders in one generation, since Eraqus thinks he’s special. I don’t know what “retiring” means in terms of using a keyblade, but it’s pretty safe to assume Yen Sid isn’t going to do anything but talk for the whole franchise. Xehanort takes over Terra. So we’re sitting at four wielders and six keyblades (since Terra/Xehanort each have one, and Aqua has Eraqus’s).

This brings about a whole other argument. Though the wielders die (Eraqus & in theory, No Name) the keyblades retain their power. Which is sort of in conflict with the keyblade graveyard. I think this has a lot to do with intent. Eraqus had always intended his keyblade to be passed down to Aqua in case he fell. MoM had always intended No Name to move forward through time. Each served their master’s purpose even after the master’s demise, so… in a way, they still had the heart of their master. I think this also explains why Aqua can’t summon her own keyblade anymore after the end of BBS. Her intent for her keyblade was to watch over Terra. It’s still doing that, in the Chamber of Repose. Then again, maybe keyblades can’t be summoned into the Realm of Darkness if they preside in the Realm of Light? Who knows.

Keeping the theme of intent, I think it has a lot to do with the Keyblade Ceremony. In every instance of the ceremony, the master intends to give the power away (Terra to Riku, for instance). So I think there’s more to it than just “touching the blade”. The only circumstance that defies this rule is Aqua to Kairi, but Kairi is a Princess of Heart so she can do whatever the hell she wants. So by the end of BBS, we’re sitting at six (potential) keyblade wielders and eight keyblades. Cue KK and KKD, makes ten. Actually, if we want to get technical, Xehanort might have been able to summon his own keyblade before being given No Name. So maybe eleven? At this point, the original Kingdom Hearts must be pretty pissed off.

So then there’s Sora. Who never had his own keyblade. Which I think is pretty cool. KK is Sora’s bro after KH1, so he never really needs one. And he was never given the ceremony officially. Though it could be argued that by housing Ven’s heart, it gave Sora the ability to have his own keyblade, but just the same it could be argued that once Ven’s heart is gone Sora might not be able to hold a keyblade at all. (I doubt that’ll be the case, but it’s funny to think about.) What are we at? Seven wielders, ten (possibly 11) blades?

Sora goes all sleepy time, so Roxas steals his Kingdom Key. KK is probably like “this is Sora! Feels like Sora. Probably Sora. I wish I had a glowing blue eye so I could be sure, but hey, whatever”. Xion “copies” Roxas’s key, explaining the two KKs at the same time. This is probably Ven’s keyblade since she’s siphoning parts of Sora out of Roxas, and the KK appearance is an illusion created from copying Roxas.

Xion dies. Roxas gets her keyblade (which was Ven’s). Dual wielding ass kicking ensues. Then when Sora wakes up, he can dual wield because Roxas - who is a part of him - unlocked that power for him. I think this is a really cool plot point actually, because it means when Ven gets his heart back, Sora will need to learn to manifest a keyblade of his own (not the KK) in order to dual wield again!! :D I’m all about Sora learning how to forge his own keyblade.

Let’s see. Lea gets a keyblade from Yen Sid’s ceremony. Bringing our total wielder count to eight: Destiny trio, Wayfinder trio, Mickey, Lea. Eleven keyblades: listed above (including KK for Sora), KKD (which means Mickey can probably dual wield), Master Defender (hopefully dual wielding Aqua in the future?!), and No Name (Terranort can officially dual wield..?).

Then keychains. Don’t worry, I’m almost done. “Keychains” modify the appearance of an existing keyblade. I actually don’t think keychains are actual keychains in most cases. It’s just that certain memories and experiences can color your heart, changing the appearance of your keyblade. The exception to this could possibly be Oathkeeper, since Kairi actually gives Sora a charm. But I don’t think he clips that thing on the end of his keyblade - I think just the memories of her and stuff bring about the transformation. Or maybe they are real keychains, but they are made when the heart remembers those memories? Because honestly, obtaining actual magical keychains seems absurd to me. This really isn’t elaborated on in any way.

Importantly, however! there are no keychains on the keyblades in the Graveyard. So maybe keychains are tied to a wielder’s heart, and when the wielder dies, the keyblade can be left behind but not the keychain itself. Again, there are exceptions with Master Defender (Eraqus) and No Name, since there is still intent in these blades. It’s interesting to think about. Also the Keyblade of Heart (forged from the seven princesses) doesn’t have a keychain. Maybe because it has no wielder? It’s a combination of seven hearts, rather than one? I don’t know.

ANYWAY. This was a lot longer than I wanted it to be, but I think about keyblades a lot. If anyone has anything to add or correct me on, PLEASE tell me because I LOVE TALKING ABOUT THIS STUFF!!! :D

<3 KCM

kh13:

Kingdom Hearts 15th Anniversary limited merchandise, including iPhone cases, stationary, and more, is available for pre-order from 7Net!

this is weird, I've just seen a guy with two WoFF medals WITH TRAITS¡! do you think those medals are available from the old high scores banner, or he just had two spares of those medals¿? q

They aren’t in the current banners.  They are probably held onto from the previous event.  Honestly, because they are PSM Str +1 or Def -1, a lot of people held onto extras for that buff.  One of my party members did that.  Unfortunately, I didn’t. ;_; 

Hope this helps!!

<3 KCM