In the newest KH3 trailer, we saw some very interesting scenes regarding Sora & Roxas, and Ventus & Vanitas. One openly, and one quietly, but both display brotherly affections. For this particular thread, we'll be focusing on Sora and Vani before we circle back to others.
Let's start by looking at Sora. Very early on in the trailer, we see Sora, along with Hiro, GoGo, and Beymax sitting atop the main bridge connecting to San Fransokyo. Hiro discusses how Big Hero 6 came to be, and how feels that his older brother, Tadashi, lives on in him and his friends. For those of you that don't know, Hiro's older brother Tadashi, was incredibly close to the members of Big Hero 6, and in the film his death served as the main motivator for the teams formation. Upon hearing the story for the first time, Sora agrees and states that when they're not strong enough, then his (Tadashi's) strength can make up the difference. In other words, Sora openly acknowledges that even through death, those close to you can still lend you there strength, even if only in memory. He say's this in a quiet, almost somber way. Like he himself is familiar with that concept and was silently mourning someone. Whats more fascinating was as he said this, his face blinked into Roxas and briefly saw visions of Hayner, Pence, & Ollette. That's not the kind of symbolism that goes unused, and the fact that this was shown as Sora was saying that statement is rather telling. When I first saw this scene, I could tell right away that Sora was comparing Hiro's brother to Roxas. The very way it was framed seemed to communicate that message. We may not hear him say it, but for him(Roxas) to be the person Sora thinks of when discussing a friend's deceased sibling, to me, means he likely sees Roxas as a brother of some kind (at least the closest thing he's got). It also says something that both Roxas and Tadashi perished for the sake of someone else under false understanding of their circumstances, and both served as a key motivator and reminder of past regrets for Sora and Hiro respectively. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it clicked for Sora.
*Edit: It's also worth mentioning that in the movie when Hiro learns the truth about the circumstances surrounding his brother's death, he becomes consumed by anger and revenge, at least for a short while, leading him to do questionable things. It wasn't until his friends came to comfort him that he was able to bounce back. Similarly, when Sora found out the truth regarding Roxas, and how he was able to feel real emotions, it serves as one of the key factors that pushes Sora into fighting Xemnas and allowing the organization to strong arm him into the dark abyss until he was rescued by his many friends.*
Personally, I find the fact that Sora sees Roxas as family in that way, despite only speaking with him once(knowingly at least), to be really sweet. Such a cinnamon role.
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Moving on to Vanitas, it's rather self exclamatory. He openly acknowledges Ventus as his brother, and though it's unknown if this is his first time doing so, it's certainly our first time hearing it. And all in all, it makes sense. Vanitas, by nature, could always feel what Ventus felt ever since his creation and was seemingly jealous of his friendships with Terra and Aqua (implied by his constant teasing and name calling, which is something he never did quite as frequently if at all with other characters). Vanitas always saw both himself and Ventus as one in the same to some extent, as he calls themselves both "halves," and seeks to be "whole." Regardless if this is truly what's going on, it certainly appears that Vanitas viewed them both that way. It's not unreasonable that after believing you're bound to someone who's so different from you and in such a significant way (both physically and emotionally in this case), coupled with the fact that you never had any friends or familial bonds with people your whole life (he never liked Xehanort at any point in his life), you'd start to seek that out eventually, if not for the sake of jealousy, then for the sake of having someone to belong with. Anyway, if we assume Vani has felt this way for a decent amount of time, then the aforementioned name calling/teasing can be compared to that of a condescending older brother who hides his true feelings. Not that I'm saying Vanitas is a nice person by any means, but it certainly adds some layers to his character overall. It's also pretty telling that he's just choosing to sit with his brother and chat in the middle of a game like this.
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As for Roxas and Ventus themselves, I'm not really sure, but I'd imagine they probably feel the same way, or at least I think they will by the end. Nomura said in a relatively recent interview that one of the main things we'll see in Kingdom Hearts 3 is how each of the characters feel about each other. I'm, of course, paraphrasing, but the message is the same. I imagine at some point down the line, the relationships between these four will blossom into a true sibling relationship, in which all of them openly acknowledge it to one another.
To sum up, it really seems like we'll be exploring many potential familial themes in KH3, and I'm a huge fan of that. Family is important, and something that should be explored more in a "friendship" heavy series like this. Please let me know your thoughts on the topic, as well as your different interpretations of these scenes. Do you think they'll end up being siblings together? It's ok if you don't agree, I love hearing everyone's opinion! And thank you for reading to the end =).
Let's start by looking at Sora. Very early on in the trailer, we see Sora, along with Hiro, GoGo, and Beymax sitting atop the main bridge connecting to San Fransokyo. Hiro discusses how Big Hero 6 came to be, and how feels that his older brother, Tadashi, lives on in him and his friends. For those of you that don't know, Hiro's older brother Tadashi, was incredibly close to the members of Big Hero 6, and in the film his death served as the main motivator for the teams formation. Upon hearing the story for the first time, Sora agrees and states that when they're not strong enough, then his (Tadashi's) strength can make up the difference. In other words, Sora openly acknowledges that even through death, those close to you can still lend you there strength, even if only in memory. He say's this in a quiet, almost somber way. Like he himself is familiar with that concept and was silently mourning someone. Whats more fascinating was as he said this, his face blinked into Roxas and briefly saw visions of Hayner, Pence, & Ollette. That's not the kind of symbolism that goes unused, and the fact that this was shown as Sora was saying that statement is rather telling. When I first saw this scene, I could tell right away that Sora was comparing Hiro's brother to Roxas. The very way it was framed seemed to communicate that message. We may not hear him say it, but for him(Roxas) to be the person Sora thinks of when discussing a friend's deceased sibling, to me, means he likely sees Roxas as a brother of some kind (at least the closest thing he's got). It also says something that both Roxas and Tadashi perished for the sake of someone else under false understanding of their circumstances, and both served as a key motivator and reminder of past regrets for Sora and Hiro respectively. I wouldn't be surprised if that's how it clicked for Sora.
*Edit: It's also worth mentioning that in the movie when Hiro learns the truth about the circumstances surrounding his brother's death, he becomes consumed by anger and revenge, at least for a short while, leading him to do questionable things. It wasn't until his friends came to comfort him that he was able to bounce back. Similarly, when Sora found out the truth regarding Roxas, and how he was able to feel real emotions, it serves as one of the key factors that pushes Sora into fighting Xemnas and allowing the organization to strong arm him into the dark abyss until he was rescued by his many friends.*
Personally, I find the fact that Sora sees Roxas as family in that way, despite only speaking with him once(knowingly at least), to be really sweet. Such a cinnamon role.
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Moving on to Vanitas, it's rather self exclamatory. He openly acknowledges Ventus as his brother, and though it's unknown if this is his first time doing so, it's certainly our first time hearing it. And all in all, it makes sense. Vanitas, by nature, could always feel what Ventus felt ever since his creation and was seemingly jealous of his friendships with Terra and Aqua (implied by his constant teasing and name calling, which is something he never did quite as frequently if at all with other characters). Vanitas always saw both himself and Ventus as one in the same to some extent, as he calls themselves both "halves," and seeks to be "whole." Regardless if this is truly what's going on, it certainly appears that Vanitas viewed them both that way. It's not unreasonable that after believing you're bound to someone who's so different from you and in such a significant way (both physically and emotionally in this case), coupled with the fact that you never had any friends or familial bonds with people your whole life (he never liked Xehanort at any point in his life), you'd start to seek that out eventually, if not for the sake of jealousy, then for the sake of having someone to belong with. Anyway, if we assume Vani has felt this way for a decent amount of time, then the aforementioned name calling/teasing can be compared to that of a condescending older brother who hides his true feelings. Not that I'm saying Vanitas is a nice person by any means, but it certainly adds some layers to his character overall. It's also pretty telling that he's just choosing to sit with his brother and chat in the middle of a game like this.
-
As for Roxas and Ventus themselves, I'm not really sure, but I'd imagine they probably feel the same way, or at least I think they will by the end. Nomura said in a relatively recent interview that one of the main things we'll see in Kingdom Hearts 3 is how each of the characters feel about each other. I'm, of course, paraphrasing, but the message is the same. I imagine at some point down the line, the relationships between these four will blossom into a true sibling relationship, in which all of them openly acknowledge it to one another.
To sum up, it really seems like we'll be exploring many potential familial themes in KH3, and I'm a huge fan of that. Family is important, and something that should be explored more in a "friendship" heavy series like this. Please let me know your thoughts on the topic, as well as your different interpretations of these scenes. Do you think they'll end up being siblings together? It's ok if you don't agree, I love hearing everyone's opinion! And thank you for reading to the end =).
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