My Problem with Keyblades

[gameguy23]

And honestly, correct me if I'm wrong about this cause my lore is not entirely up to speed. But I've recently been thinking about something that's been bothering me lately. This is not meant to be a critique of the series as a whole nowadays, just what I don't like about keyblades anymore.

Whenever I play KH1 it seems obvious to me that the keyblade is established to essentially be like an excalibur. It's a weapon that chooses its user and chooses the one worthy enough. Yuffie says this almost literally. The title of the keybearer is heavily implied to be one of honor and exclusivity. It means you are special. One of the best twists in the first game is how Sora was not actually meant to be the keybearer. He wasn't strong enough. Riku takes it from him, but in a surprising twist of fate, Sora rises above his own insecurities and personal demons to become the bearer of the keyblade, and he does so through the connections he's made with his friends. It's really powerful stuff, honestly. Riku later does something very similar. He only becomes a keybearer once he realizes that his weakness can be a strength in Chain of Memories. It's arguably even more powerful. He rises above the demon that plagues him and exclaims he's on his way to dawn. That's why when he gets a keyblade thereafter it is literally called that.

But then it Birth by Sleep and as the series progressed this entire idea was retconned to make it so much less interesting to me. Now you simply become a keybearer if you touch the keyblade. And it really turns out Sora didn't earn the right at all, he can simply use it because Ven's heart is inside of him. I don't know, it just doesn't feel as impactful at all to me. In reality, now anyone can use one. Kairi can use it simply because she accidentally touched Aqua's keyblade. I actually don't see why they can't just give one to Donald and Goofy. Might make them even more useful. To me, it just kind of simplified everything and took away a lot of the beauty of what it represented. Heck, if they didn't already have Kairi as a keyblade user you could have used the opportunity to have her become one in the next game after she overcomes this new feeling of being useless (ever since KH3) That could have really brought back the power the keyblade has as a symbol of triumph. But I guess not. Curious to hear if others feel the same.

 

[HakaishinChampa]

to be fair, Mickey had a Keyblade too during KH1

 

[Soldier]

Remember that in KH1, a lot of what they did for that game was an experiment to test the waters. The house of mouse wasn't going to give them a lot of freedom with their IPs, as evidenced by the restrictions like Mickey being available for only ONE scene and that's it. They didn't know the franchise would grow to this size, as it was mostly wishful thinking. So establishing that there are very few keyblades out there (Sora's, the keyblade formed from the seven princesses, and then the Kingdom Key D) still makes it special to a degree. As the series progressed and the need to tackle the why and how before the first game, they needed more Keyblade wielders so the BBS trio was created to fill that void.

(Also, Riku doesn't obtain Way to the Dawn until the very end of KH2) until then it's still the Soul Eater which he would use from KH 1 until KH2).

 

[MATGSY]

I liked the old theory about 1 keyblade per realm. Sora had the Realm of Light, Mickey the Realm of Darkness. KH2 introducing Nothingness & the in-between gave justification for Riku & Kairi picking up new blades while there. More realms like Sleep in DDD still open up possibilities for more keyblade wielders without diminishing their value.

 

[Chie]

I think the point of keyblades is that keyblade society used to be this massive, thriving thing and then slowly died out over the years until only a few random kids were left to carry on their legacy. As such in KH1 there are only a few keyblades and the very few of the chosen have to kind of compete and show "strength" to be able to use this ancient power that people were originally actually trained in.

It's not "there were always tons of keyblades and KH1 is retconned to mean nothing", it's "wielding a keyblade means something very different in BBS than it does in KH1", for both theme and plot reasons.

 

[Sign]

KH1 had multiple active Keyblade wielders on its own (Mickey, Sora, Riku), along with numerous references to there being more of them out there.

Yuffie is not an expert on Keyblade wielders. All the information she has is through hearsay from other non-wielders. No one should be taking her word as the absolute truth.

KH1 made it clear that Riku was the intended owner of the Kingdom Key, and the only reason Sora got it in the first place was because he was in the right place at the right time to be able to leech off of Riku for 80% of the game. Riku takes it from Sora because not only was his heart stronger, but again, the KK still belonged to him at the time.

The Rite of Succession introduced in BBS does not guarantee Keyblades to prospective wielders. If performed properly by a Keyblade Master or a wielder of Master-level, and the successor's heart is strong enough, the rite grants them the ability to wield and then acts as a letter of recommendation so that they may one day receive a Keyblade of their own.

Sora getting the Keyblade has nothing to do with Ven.

 

[Face My Fears]

I think that you're processing the idea of keyblades and keyblade wielders without taking into account the keyblade's role chronologically.

KHUX to BbS maintained the idea that keyblade wielders were in abundance and it was a sort of tradition/heritage. The "class difference" between Eraqus and Xehanort comes to mind. Then some sort of tragedy happened during Dark Road that led to most other wielders perishing. Aqua and Terra were probably chosen by the keyblade; thus Eraqus found them and took them in to keep the legacy going.

After Master Xehanort's actions in BbS, there's effectively no known keyblade wielders besides King Mickey for like 10 years. Whether the Final Fantasy gang even knew Mickey had a keyblade of his own is questionable. So Riku (and subsequently Sora) appearing with a keyblade after 10 years of no one seeing one is pretty noteworthy... let alone the fact that most characters don't even know what a keyblade is. So the ones that do know about it, like Triton, are pretty surprised to see it appear.

Even though Terra did give Riku the passing down ceremony, that wasn't a guarantee that he would become a wielder. Also, I don't think Aqua had anything to do with Kairi being able to wield a keyblade. The only thing that Aqua is confirmed to have done is cast a protection spell which allowed Kairi's heart to go into Sora's in KH1. I believe Kairi can wield a keyblade because she is a Princess of Heart. Sora was also actually chosen to wield the keyblade, when Riku turned to the darkness, it decided to go with Sora - NOT because of Ven's heart being present. Ven's heart allowed Sora/Roxas to dual wield after Roxas/Xion were created.

I definitely don't think your theory of "if you touch the keyblade, you get one" is true. Otherwise Jack Sparrow and Leon would be keyblade wielders.

 

[Absent]

I'm just here to add that the Keyblade ceremony is easily BBS's greatest sin to the series. Also once again we get soo hung up on lore that we don't discuss the story and practical reasons as to why many people see the Keyblade's value as lesser to its origin game.

I brought up the Excalibur comparison a while ago because KH1 sets it up as such, even despite two more existing in that entry. The Keyblade is more than a weapon in KH1, its a conflict and path for the character to transform with. Other entries forgot about that which is why it doesn't feel special.

 

[Launchpad]

I definitely agree that the SOUL, the WILL of the Keyblade is a sorely missed element of the series. I miss it a lot. You wouldn't want the Keyblade 'expressing' itself too much, but it'd be nice if its relationship to Sora could be somewhat further elaborated upon. It definitively spoke to Sora in KH1, if only speaking its own name.

However, I'll point out that Ven had nothing to do with Sora inheriting Riku's Keyblade. Riku's heart was extremely weak in KH1. It's like Ansem said, only a heart that's strong and true shall wield the Keyblade. Riku was a whiny little bitch and Sora was completely stanced up against him, no weapon or anything. The Keyblade may have been intended for Riku, but it returned to the only person in the room worthy to wield it.

Well, the only other person worthy, Goofy's hand was occupied by that shield.

 

[AmaryllisMoth]

You are slightly misunderstanding the lore which is I think the cause of your strife here. You don't get a Keyblade just because you touched one.

It's exposure PLUS having some up to now unquantified amount of "worthiness" that lets it actually stick with you. While I can understand not liking the addition of the exposure rule, it still jives with what you enjoyed about the first game.

Sora gained 'exposure' because of reaching out and snagging the Keyblade while Riku got sucked into black portal of doom and gloom but Sora was able to keep it (albeit with a bit of a back and forth between him and Riku for a while) because of his proven worthiness. That didn't have anything to do with Ven.

Jack Sparrow was given the Keyblade in KH2 briefly and was deemed considerably not worthy and that went nowhere. He isn't just gonna suddenly break out wielding one because of that scene.

So you can still think of it like Excalibur if you prefer, nothing about the "touch" rule invalidates that. The Keyblade or whatever divining force decides if you can get one uses that touch to determine if you would be an acceptable master of sorts and judges the hell out of you. If it decides no go, its no go. If it decides yeah, maybe you got potential, then you have a foot in the door.

The reason why the touch rule is actually beneficial is two-fold, imo:
1) Meta reason-- It can be used to explain why very strong-hearted people (aka some FF characters or fan-favorites of other series' who might appear) who maybe COULD wield a Keyblade don't have one (because they haven't been exposed to one) without the writers having to essentially admit that the KH characters are "better" somehow. Just don't have those character touch the Keyblade and then welp, easy explanation whenever a fan is like "but why can't so-and-so use one?"

2) In-lore reason-- It gives a possible meaning to "no meddling". Back in the glory day of wielders it seemed they really wanted to be particular about who was actually able to be running around with Keyblades. There were rules, classes and such you had to actually pass, different levels of ranks, etc. This makes sense, its a very powerful and influential tool and they don't want unsupervised people running around messing things up. Therefore actually sanctified wielders would have had to be VERY careful to limit their contact with other people so they didn't unintentionally create unsupervised wielders every world they visited. It means being a Keyblade wielder, especially a Master, was about learning responsibility not only for the job, but for your equipment.

 

[Keyblade Knight 1st Class]

I like to think that Keyblades are a bit of a mix between The Force from Star Wars and Wands from Harry Potter. Only so many people in the universe are worthy of a Keyblade (comparable to Force sensitives), and a Keyblade has to choose it's wielder ("The Wand chooses the Wizard").

 

[AdrianXXII]

Also, I don't think Aqua had anything to do with Kairi being able to wield a keyblade. The only thing that Aqua is confirmed to have done is cast a protection spell which allowed Kairi's heart to go into Sora's in KH1. I believe Kairi can wield a keyblade because she is a Princess of Heart.

Actually in the BBS Ultimania Nomura confirmed that Aqua performed an unintentional Rite of Succession with Kairi back when Kairi held the Keyblade. That said Kairi's heart had to proof itself strong and worthy enough to gain her own Keyblade.

BBS Ultimania 20 Mysteries Solved

Q7: Why can Kairi use a keyblade?
A: Because she was touched by Aqua’s keyblade.

The keyblade inheritance ceremony is performed with a keyblade master touches someone using a keyblade. When Kairi was running away from the Unversed in BbS she grabbed Aqua’s keyblade, which performed the ceremony. That is why she is able to use a keyblade in KHII to help Sora.

[picture: Little Kairi and Aqua]

Kairi touching Aqua’s keyblade.

[pictures: Kairi with keyblade, Aqua with keyblade]

The keyblade Kairi uses is the same with Aqua receives after talking to Kairi: Destiny Place.

Personally I wish the series would return focus on the Keyblades having a bit of a mind of its own, and reaffirm that to wield a Keyblade, the Keyblade has to find you worthy.
I honestly think Aqua should not have been able to wield the Star Cluster in KH3, why would a Keyblade allow itself to be wielded by someone fighting against it's chosen wielder? I guess it can be hand waved and explained with Mickey didn't want to take the keyblade from Aqua because he was guilty and the Keyblade reacted to those feelings... but I'm not a fan of it.

I also feel like it was a missed opportunity to have keyblade transformations not explained as a result of a deepening connection between wielder and blade.

 

[Face My Fears]

Actually in the BBS Ultimania Nomura confirmed that Aqua performed an unintentional Rite of Succession with Kairi back when Kairi held the Keyblade. That said Kairi's heart had to proof itself strong and worthy enough to gain her own Keyblade.



Personally I wish the series would return focus on the Keyblades having a bit of a mind of its own, and reaffirm that to wield a Keyblade, the Keyblade has to find you worthy.
I honestly think Aqua should not have been able to wield the Star Cluster in KH3, why would a Keyblade allow itself to be wielded by someone fighting against it's chosen wielder? I guess it can be hand waved and explained with Mickey didn't want to take the keyblade from Aqua because he was guilty and the Keyblade reacted to those feelings... but I'm not a fan of it.

I also feel like it was a missed opportunity to have keyblade transformations not explained as a result of a deepening connection between wielder and blade.

I didn't know that he confirmed it was an unintentional rite of succession on Kairi by Aqua. Now that I'm reading that, I have to ask if Nomura actually explained the rite in-depth? Or is it really just that someone has to touch the keyblade and you get one?

I know this is a long stretch and I have no idea why this was my first thought when I saw Aqua using the Star Cluster, but... when I first saw that fight happening, I assumed that the Kingdom Key D being the "keyblade from the realm of darkness" would have favoured someone using darkness and defaulted to Aqua (at the moment). Since Star Cluster is a fusion of Kingdom Key D and Star Seeker, I kind of assumed Kingdom Key D was the dominant keyblade in the fusion.

I agree with you that it would be nice for the series to go back to the keyblade having a mind of its own. Not saying that you did this, but some people comment that there was way more consistency with keyblade "logic" in KH1 than in other games. Just like the example you used there about Star Cluster and Aqua, why would the keyblade choose to go along with Riku at the peak of his immersion in darkness at Hollow Bastion instead of sticking with Sora? I get that that moment was more about Sora getting his own strength and thus reclaiming the keyblade, but why would the Kingdom Key even go to Riku at that moment? (This conversation now has me curious whether Riku can still take away the Kingdom Key from Sora).

Regarding the keyblade transformations, I would have loved if they did what you said. It would make the extras abilities that each character can do seem more unique and show their connection. I also would like to see a keyblade no longer work for some characters and actually get a storyline out of it. Even though I love Xion and want her to be used more, it would be interesting to see her heart no longer want to be a keyblade wielder, even though her mind insists on helping her friends, which then causes the keyblade to not work for her. Then she goes on to have a normal life.

 

[AdrianXXII]

I didn't know that he confirmed it was an unintentional rite of succession on Kairi by Aqua. Now that I'm reading that, I have to ask if Nomura actually explained the rite in-depth? Or is it really just that someone has to touch the keyblade and you get one?

I can't find the interview right now, but he does talk about it in a few and I remember him once describing it as a sort of letter of recommendation. Other times he said the wielder had to be on the level of a Master and the one touching the keyblade would have to have a worthy heart.

I agree with you that it would be nice for the series to go back to the keyblade having a mind of its own. Not saying that you did this, but some people comment that there was way more consistency with keyblade "logic" in KH1 than in other games. Just like the example you used there about Star Cluster and Aqua, why would the keyblade choose to go along with Riku at the peak of his immersion in darkness at Hollow Bastion instead of sticking with Sora? I get that that moment was more about Sora getting his own strength and thus reclaiming the keyblade, but why would the Kingdom Key even go to Riku at that moment? (This conversation now has me curious whether Riku can still take away the Kingdom Key from Sora).

In this case I kind of get it, the keyblade still saw Riku as it's rightful wielder and Riku hadn't quite passed the threshold yet and could still end up turning around and saving the worlds. He was being consumed by jealousy, but he still was trying to save his friend. It turn away from him once he chose he'd be willing to kill his best friend and Sora proved he'd go one even without the keyblade.

 

[gameguy523]

Thank you for all the replies so far, everyone! Glad to have some of my lore understanding straightened out. I think it comes down to a mix of the right of succession and actually being worthy then. Sadly I still prefer it to just be the latter, but I suppose it doesn't completely ruin the original game's soul.

 

[Chie]

I would consider "keyblade society" to ultimately be a negative force in-universe too. I wonder if the way it works in KH1 is the more "natural" state of things and the succession stuff is more a part of MoM's scenario.

 

[Mexican Sora]

We literally had 4 wielders in KH1. Sora with KK, Riku with KK, Mickey with KKD, and Riku-Ansem with Keyblade of People's hearts.

 

[Elysium]

I agree with you completely, they've pretty much sucked out everything interesting about the Keyblade. I loved when it was a special weapon, one per realm; it was deliberately compared to the trident, which, also like Excalibur, was one of a kind and can do great good or great harm depending on the character of the person holding it. Not only are they a dime a dozen now, they don't even have the characters lock Keyholes anymore--the whole purpose of the Keyblade! To the point it almost feels stupid the characters don't just wield swords because there's nothing about the current plot that would explain to new players who jump in at 3 or whatever why they're carrying around a giant key.

We don't have to pin it all on BbS because the derailing began in KH2. I so agree with whoever said they might as well give Donald and Goofy one at this point since everyone else has one. It doesn't really make sense in-story for them not to get one; it only makes sense to us looking in that they don't have them because they're Disney characters.

EDIT: Thinking about it on the fly here, since the series included time travel later on anyway, a fix to the story would've been for Xehanort to have been a previous wielder of the Keyblade from the far, far, far distant past who was power-obsessed and used it unwisely unlike Sora, and his original self that could wield the Keyblade time travels to Sora's time in 3 (not being of the present thus explaining how two can exist at once). And then the mystery of the Organization is that he farmed other wielders between his time and Sora's into the same place in order to attain Kingdom Hearts. Ansem SOD and Xemnas would still have been a product of him throwing off his own heart, only in this case he had to do so in order to "exist" to the present day in a form that didn't block the continued lineage of the Keyblade (a heart being needed to wield, others would come into being while he lacked a heart even though he wasn't dead) and "see" who other wielders would be after him in order to know when to time jump the misc. wielders needed for the 13 v. 7 battle to and fro.

 

[Face My Fears]

I can't find the interview right now, but he does talk about it in a few and I remember him once describing it as a sort of letter of recommendation. Other times he said the wielder had to be on the level of a Master and the one touching the keyblade would have to have a worthy heart.


In this case I kind of get it, the keyblade still saw Riku as it's rightful wielder and Riku hadn't quite passed the threshold yet and could still end up turning around and saving the worlds. He was being consumed by jealousy, but he still was trying to save his friend. It turn away from him once he chose he'd be willing to kill his best friend and Sora proved he'd go one even without the keyblade.

I agree that the keyblade still saw Riku as its real owner. But if it gave up on Riku at the start because he opened the door to darkness, it's kind of weird that it went back to him so easily. Even after all the exposure and luring towards the darkness by Maleficent (and Ansem in the background). And this now makes me wonder why Riku didn't just try to summon the keyblade back to himself. I can't remember if he was told by someone he was the original owner in KH1. How did he find out he was the owner of Kingdom Key?

I agree with you completely, they've pretty much sucked out everything interesting about the Keyblade. I loved when it was a special weapon, one per realm; it was deliberately compared to the trident, which, also like Excalibur, was one of a kind and can do great good or great harm depending on the character of the person holding it. Not only are they a dime a dozen now, they don't even have the characters lock Keyholes anymore--the whole purpose of the Keyblade! To the point it almost feels stupid the characters don't just wield swords because there's nothing about the current plot that would explain to new players who jump in at 3 or whatever why they're carrying around a giant key.

We don't have to pin it all on BbS because the derailing began in KH2. I so agree with whoever said they might as well give Donald and Goofy one at this point since everyone else has one. It doesn't really make sense in-story for them not to get one; it only makes sense to us looking in that they don't have them because they're Disney characters.

EDIT: Thinking about it on the fly here, since the series included time travel later on anyway, a fix to the story would've been for Xehanort to have been a previous wielder of the Keyblade from the far, far, far distant past who was power-obsessed and used it unwisely unlike Sora, and his original self that could wield the Keyblade time travels to Sora's time in 3 (not being of the present thus explaining how two can exist at once). And then the mystery of the Organization is that he farmed other wielders between his time and Sora's into the same place in order to attain Kingdom Hearts. Ansem SOD and Xemnas would still have been a product of him throwing off his own heart, only in this case he had to do so in order to "exist" to the present day in a form that didn't block the continued lineage of the Keyblade (a heart being needed to wield, others would come into being while he lacked a heart even though he wasn't dead) and "see" who other wielders would be after him in order to know when to time jump the misc. wielders needed for the 13 v. 7 battle to and fro.

Well, I don't think it'd be fun if every game's story was "go lock keyholes". I agree with you that there should be a re-focus on using the keyblade as intended, especially in scenarios when they need a key. Like all those situations in the DISNEY worlds where Sora used the keyblade to unlock or lock things. At least these featured some use of the keyblade like that in KH3 - when Randall was banished to the human world or Mickey and the keyholes in the sky.

There is one thing that can really re-focus the game to the keyblade. I think they should look at why Sora has the Kingdom Key. It's the only "realm of light" keyblade and the only keyblade of that level used by any character. He's the only character to not just get a new keyblade or get handed one. It would be really interesting if they focus on the keyblade lore itself with Quadratum. Which they seem to be doing (or I HOPE they're doing), when Luxord told Yozora "impressive, is it not?" Combined with the fact that Nomura went out of his way to have Yozora able to steal the keyblade, I feel like they're building towards Yozora needing a keyblade for something.

 

[Absent]

Also the whole 3 Keyblades in KH1 counterargument GOTCHA is so meh because they actually focus on what they do and how they serve the story. The KK IS Excalibur and the Keyblade of Heart is Sora's failures to protect the princesses. Riku wielding it is the cherry on top because he's Sora's equal. If he's to clash with the hero what better way to show their equal power than by giving the rival a physical representation of their failure. The KKD and Mickey is the beginning and end meeting, which was set up in the last world. Mickey holding the KKD at the end holds so much impact because of the wait. It ultimately becomes a symbol of hope.

The point is, the Keyblade is obviously more than a weapon in KH1, its the physical manifestation of the Hero's strength. The vehicle from which they reflect their growth and folly. There's grandeur to its presentation, reverence to its meaning and power. Post 1, the Keyblade is merely another Shounen weapon.