Hearts, Souls, and Memories

[Kali]

Just a handful of questions regarding hearts, souls, and memories...

-What does it mean exactly to have a heart in the KH universe?

-Ansem the Wise discovered that anything can grow a heart. What triggers the process of growing one?

-Can/Do keyblades grow/have hearts?

-Do memories reside exclusively within the heart?

-Is it possible that Namine is a nobody partly created from Sora's memories (which would explain her ability to manipulate it)?

-Are hearts created from experiences (memories) of the body and soul?

-Are memories and hearts one in the same?

Thanks to the people in advanced who decide to take the time and answer these questions (if any).

 

[Sephiroth0812]

Ok, let's tackle this.

- To having a heart in KH practically means that the entity in question as a true spirit/sense of self, it's a "proof of life" so to speak.

- Besides Ansem the Wise, Braig/Xigbar, Xemnas and Master Xehanort also know about this. In Dream Drop Distance, both Xemnas and Ansem the Wise explain how it works:

A heart is never lost for good. There may have been variances in our dispositions, but a number of us unquestionably showed signs of a burgeoning replacement. Once born, the heart can also be nurtured. Our experiments creating Heartless were attempts to control the mind, and convince it to renounce its sense of self. But understand, one can banish the heart from the body, but the body will try to replace it the first chance it gets, for as many times as it takes. And so I knew, even after we were divided into Heartless and Nobodies, it was just a temporary separation.

The heart has always been quick to grow. Each exposure to light, to the natural world, to other people, shapes this most malleable part inside of us. Nobodies are not different from us in that manner.

Basically, the growing of a heart is triggered mainly by connecting with other entities and with the world itself. Every experience an entity has creates memories, and memories are an integral part of the heart.
Thus, the more memories are created, the more experiences an entity has and the more self-aware the being becomes, the more a heart is shaped.

- That is unknown up to now, the only thing we know is that Keyblades are sentient to a degree and that they choose their masters. There are various theories also indicating that Keyblades may be extensions of hearts etc., but that is all just theorizing.

- Memories have not to exclusively be situated in a heart, but they are an integral part of any heart, and thus of any sentient being.
Even if Memories are not within a heart though, if enough of Memories are gathered together they can eventually form a new heart.

- In terms of what type of being she is, Naminé is one of the biggest enigmas of the whole series. She was born from Kairi's heart using Sora's body and soul as an intermediary, that is all that is known for sure about her.

- That's how it is explained, hearts grow and get shaped by experiences and memories.

- No, Memories are an integral part of the heart, but the heart itself is much more than that and cannot be fully understood as Ansem the Wise admitted during the end of KH 2.

 

[Kali]

Ah, make perfect sense now! Thank you very much for the info!