(I'm not going to continually bump this thread, but this is probably one of the last things I have to say on the topic, and I'd rather have it all in one spot).
So to the whole idea that Vanitas' heart is in Riku, I was thinking about Sora and Riku's struggle over the KK in KH1.
Don't you find that odd? That two separate beings, both with hearts powerful enough to wield a keyblade, had to fight over
one keyblade.
Nomura has said on many occasions that there are just as many keyblades as there are potential wielders. In other words, a keyblade for every heart that's chosen. So WHY did the KK flip flop between Sora and Riku in KH1?
It has nothing to do with Riku's darkness, as the Keyblade can be used for either light or darkness, regardless of its exterior (be it from the realm of light or the realm of darkness).
The idea that both Sora and Riku were somehow chosen for the Kingdom Key suggests that they are bound by one chosen heart.
So stop and think. If Sora has Ventus' heart and Riku has Vanitas' heart, two halves to a whole heart, doesn't it make sense that they'd both be chosen wielders to the same key? It's a chain reaction:
Riku became a potential wielder after the rite performed by Terra. He was then chosen by the KK. Since Vanitas became a part of his heart, this allowed Vanitas' heart to become chosen for the KK as well. In turn, since Vanitas is the other half of Ventus' heart, so too did Ventus' heart become the KK's master (at least, after it could have connected with Vanitas' heart when Sora connects to Riku's heart prior to Destiny Islands being destroyed). Finally, with Ventus' heart in Sora's, Sora became elligible as its chosen wielder. Ventus and Vanitas' hearts bridge the gap between the wielding of the KK for Sora and RIku.
I'd like to also point out something interesting:
Compare
this scene with
this one.
It's very clear that Maleficent is doing the same to Riku as she did to Terra, unlocking the sleeping darkness. Note, too, what she says to Terra:
"I am able to control that which sleeps. I will awaken your true heart."
The same could be said for Riku. She awakens his "true heart," the sleeping darkness. Just like Ventus' heart sleeps in Sora, Vanitas' heart slept in Riku, until Maleficent awoke its power. And what was the result? After that, Riku could take the Kingdom Key from Sora and use his dark suit, one extremely similar to Vanitas'.
Now I'd like to examine a couple quotes on the matter:
In the Destiny Islands when Riku is swallowed by the darkness, there's a sparkle of light, and next comes the scene where Sora first gets the Keyblade, right? In my setting, the darkness wrapping itself around those two is the darkness of Riku's heart. At the moment when Sora enters that darkness, the light you can see is the light of the heart.
So Sora's heart connects with Riku's. And when their hearts connect, so too do Ventus and Vanitas' hearts, providing for the initial transfer of the keyblade
Q5: Why was Riku chosen as the original wielder of the keyblade?
A: Because he was chosen by Terra to inherit.
To use a keyblade you must have been chosen to inherit as well as been chosen by the keyblade itself. In BbS you could see that Terra performed the ceremony with Riku, and that is why Riku was able to take the keyblade that Sora used.
Riku taking the keyblade because of being chosen by Terra is only half the story. It explains why
he could take it. He was its original master. But it doesn't explain why
Sora could take it.
If it just were a matter of Sora's heart being stronger than Riku's, and vice versa, then that begs the question of why this is the only case where that's occurred. Surely MX could have stolen someone else's keyblade if that were the case, no?
It's one thing to use someone else's keyblade momentarily, which we know is possible. It's another when that person
takes the keyblade permanently, which is what Sora inevitably ended up doing. Riku was its original wielder, and Sora robbed him.
As that answer says, you must also be chosen by the keyblade itself. So does a keyblade change masters willy nilly based on who has a stronger heart? No, we'd have keyblades going back and forth all the time. In this case, the KK changed to the heart of another wielder by a technicality, since both Sora and Riku hold parts of the same heart within themselves.
