A strange plothole I noticed

[AR829038]

I realized a very strange plothole in the KH series yesterday that almost nobody ever seems to talk about.

In KH1, it's explicitly stated that the Keyblade is the only weapon that can destroy the Heartless. But throughout the series, we see TONS of examples of non-Keyblade wielding characters managing to fight back and even kill Heartless about as easily as Sora can. Even non-magic users like Jack Sparrow, Beast, and Goofy, just to name a few. So what's the deal? To my knowledge, the only time we're ever really shown normal weapons being useless against the Heartless is in KH1 when Sora has to use the wooden sword. Other than that, non-Keyblade wielders seem to manage Heartless just as well as anybody with a Keyblade.

 

[Absent]

Most weapons can destroy a heartless. The Keyblade is the ONLY weapon that can release the hearts, which is what really stops the heartless from manifesting again.

“The rest of us can defeat Heartless, but we have no way of collecting the hearts they release. Eventually, the hearts will turn right back into Heartless. You see, then, how special you are?"
— Marluxia.

 

[Face My Fears]

I realized a very strange plothole in the KH series yesterday that almost nobody ever seems to talk about.

In KH1, it's explicitly stated that the Keyblade is the only weapon that can destroy the Heartless. But throughout the series, we see TONS of examples of non-Keyblade wielding characters managing to fight back and even kill Heartless about as easily as Sora can. Even non-magic users like Jack Sparrow, Beast, and Goofy, just to name a few. So what's the deal? To my knowledge, the only time we're ever really shown normal weapons being useless against the Heartless is in KH1 when Sora has to use the wooden sword. Other than that, non-Keyblade wielders seem to manage Heartless just as well as anybody with a Keyblade.

The keyblade will release the hearts from the heartless, while other characters will just temporarily destroy the heartless.

You can actually see this detail while playing. If you let a party member kill a heartless, no heart will be released, but if you kill one with a keyblade you will se a heart.

This also (in my head) explains why there are so many heartless in the worlds. Only the ones that Sora kill actually go away.

BUT... this now created another plothole... the Organization members were all recompleted because their heartless were presumably killed immediately Whose keyblade killed those heartless to release their hearts? I guess the easy answer is Master Xehanort, but he didn't exist until after Xemnas died.

 

[AR829038]

Most weapons can destroy a heartless. The Keyblade is the ONLY weapon that can release the hearts, which is what really stops the heartless from manifesting again.

“The rest of us can defeat Heartless, but we have no way of collecting the hearts they release. Eventually, the hearts will turn right back into Heartless. You see, then, how special you are?"
— Marluxia.

Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I think I remember that line from Marluxia from Days, but Days is one of those games that I only ever played like once or twice, so I don't (*Axel voice*) got it memorized like the rest of the series.

You can actually see this detail while playing. If you let a party member kill a heartless, no heart will be released, but if you kill one with a keyblade you will se a heart.

No way!! That's awesome! That's like the hundredth thing I never realized I didn't know about the original KH. How is that game STILL surprising me after all these years?

BUT... this now created another plothole... the Organization members were all recompleted because their heartless were presumably killed immediately Whose keyblade killed those heartless to release their hearts? I guess the easy answer is Master Xehanort, but he didn't exist until after Xemnas died.

I think I remember hearing somewhere that Sora destroyed all their Heartless, but it took some time for their hearts to find their bodies after their Nobodies were destroyed. It's pretty arbitrary and clearly an excuse as to why they didn't just rematerialize right after Sora destroyed their Nobodies, but whatever.