Brotherly Affection

[kirabook]

Thing is, I think Vanitas' character is awesome. I find his character interesting and his connection to Ven quite engaging.

But Vanitas is a villain. His attitude, his actions, and everything he does to antagonize the good guys despite being the other half of a good guy is what makes him interesting. I like him because he's a villain.

When I think about a "redeemed" Vanitas, I don't think about the light side forgiving and accepting him. I see him finally breaking his chains and throwing insults at Xehanort. I imagine him kicking and screaming for his freedom wile also not accepting help from the light side (as if they'd grant it). Redemption for Vanitas is finding his own path and living his own life.

Vanitas is an entirely different beast compared to characters like Riku or Axel. He's not like Roxas either. He's Vanitas. A jackass you love to hate, in a good way. I mean, maybe I'm sadistic but I don't mind his antagonism towards my favorite character. While I'm booing him with my mouth, I'm silently cheering in my head.

When thinking of redemption guys, think about what that really means. Not everyone needs to be a Riku and not everyone is Riku. Let's see a different kind of redemption story for Vanitas. The rogue anti-hero that would rather die than pay Ven a genuine compliment or help him in any way shape or form.

 

[FudgemintGuardian]

While I obviously can only speculate, I am someone who considers Vanitas' theme's rather surprising appearance at the end of the Heroes and Heroines medley to be very deliberate and hinting a turn in him. Not becoming a full-fledged good guy skipping merrily about how awesome friendship is, but, as someone who already defies Xehanort, becomes a "hero" in that he'll eventually assist Sora's crew to fight against Xehanort, for his own reasons. Xehanort possibly not even considering a being of pure Darkness being on the side of the 7 Lights (I don't mean as one the 7 but as someone helping them.)

I feel like part of why some of us have become so intrigued by Vanitas' choice of words has to do with the trailer it came from. With Hiro's talk about Tadashi to Sora sitting down with Anna, the trailer gave a sense that sibling bonds will play a part in Sora's journey, and how even if Sora and Roxas aren't brothers in the literal sense, that's now how Sora sees him as.

Vanitas using "brother"/"kyodai" I see as similar, in that he sees Ventus at least a little differently now than how he did in Birth By Sleep. However, whereas Sora is seeing Roxas as a brother in a positive sense and putting them as equals, Vanitas, being the negative noodle that he is, is contrasting Sora by using that as another way to try to dominate Ventus, and how this can play a big role in Sora's side of the story.

If done right, I can see Sora trying to talk and connect with Vanitas (much to Vanitas' annoyance of course) and the events throughout the game possibly giving a spark of change in Vanitas (and, I mean, you probably can't kill the guy because wouldn't that kill Ven too? So something would need to happen so he's still around but the good guys don't feel like killing him.)