A lot of this has been posted on the GameFAQs boards, and this whole writeup is an extension therein. I'm largely using data and conclusions reached from there to form my argument and am pretty much avoiding using "phrases of the day" as were cropping up there.
As such, I don't have the proper names "Aqua" and "Ven" in here. I will say somethings which may or may not have been posted on these boards. I may be posting stuff which is totally off base with information you people have found. Please do not flame me, correct me if I've got misinformation floating in here, and if you want to discuss it let's do it witch civility?
1 - We know the three "knights" are new people, Nomura said as much. I don't think he's lying, because if we assume he WAS then why do we trust any of his answers in that interview anyway? Appearances relative to existing characters is likely important but not supposed to reflect they are the ACTUAL characters we know (ie the knight who looks like Roxas). But on the same note, Nomura said nothing about the two "adversaries" being new characters, did he? If anyone is supposed to be "Xehanort", it would more than likely be one of these two beings.
2 - It's been fairly well established the bald man's outfit looks quite similar to what "Ansem" wears in the first game (AND CoM), except for a few changes. Someone with sharp eyes can catalogue them, I'm not going to bother for you. They're similar ENOUGH to suggest there's a relation between the two. It's also interesting how the "double" looks almost exactly like Riku's "Heartless knight" form. They both use keyblades, but this is relative likely to the fact one is a double (Roxas can use keyblades since he is Sora's Nobody). But does it have a meaning in itself, how he can use one? And what is that meaning?
3 - Xemnas has either the body, the armor, or the living knight in captivity, seen in Final Mix +. He sits down and says something similar to: "It's been a long time my friend". But people so often refer to their nemesis as "friends"; I could cite examples but it's common enough. It's not sarcasm per se, but it's a nod to the fact the two have grown close through chasing each other and so many battles they know more about each other than friends. I think that is the case here, Xemnas is not an ALLY, he is an ENEMY of the knights. For whatever reason.
4 - None of the knights' keyblades have chains on them. The "Lingering Spirit" also does not have a chain on his. People have taken this to mean these are not "true" keyblades. HOWEVER he is quite strong for some sort of "fake" keyblade. I think what you are seeing are the original keyblades, the first three to exist, their "core essence" if you will. To answer the question ahead of time: "so why does the Kingdom Key say it's the true form of the keyblade?"
Why? Because if you don't attach a keychain to alter the power from it, you have that form. Every cutscene where they use a "Default" keyblade, that's what they use. That's supposed to reflect THAT keyblade may take on many appearances but it will always be the Kingdom Key. These knights' keyblades are similarly the "core essence" of their keyblades. They don't have a chain attached, so they have no other shape.
(I think the reason the Kingdom Key is shown with a keychain is for model reasons when animating Sora, more than a real conceptual reason. Why? It's the simplest answer when you take a step back and consider it, that's why. I don't HAVE a better answer there.)
5 - Why are the three keyblades from "Sunset Horizons" not in the "Birth by Sleep" animation? It's almost seamless for the two to meet up right -there-. Want an example of how I mean that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGcQDI_odmk
Some nice fellow put the two back to back.
So why do the keyblades not appear? I think they're actually supposed to be two seperate visions of the same point in time. The reason they're not there is because they're not REALLY there, you see?
Or, another possibility is that the bald man had come there for one of those keyblades, himself. He HAS a keyblade and chain already, I shall note; perhaps he already is the owner of one of those keyblades. And we see Mickey at the last frames, with Star Seeker. What if the Kingdom Key is in his hands when the knights and the old man clash, because he finally had gained it? As for the third, well, who knows? We do know people have referred to the three keyblades as the keyblades of "light, twilight, and dark", but I don't know if that's official. If it is, the "dark" keyblade is likely the one the bald man is using.
It can be said the three knights picked up blades with some importance: the "Lingering Spirit" knight picked up the Kingdom Key, the female picked up a completely silver keyblade, and the last one picked up "The Path to the Dawn". Does this mean anything? I don't know; they aren't using them when all heck breaks loose though so probably not. There's one person who can say for sure and he's not telling.
6 - The spell he uses is more than likely a version of "Blizzard", as the visual effect is more akin to frost than stone. And both the female knight and the "double" use it as well as a "Thunder" spell. I'd say the female knight is the most powerful spellcaster there besides the bald man, which is why she doesn't jump in to fight; that's not what she's good at.
But as for the young knight who looks like Roxas, after he falls (and the flash-frozen keyblade shatters on the way down) his eyes are still moving. He's alive for what happened next.
7 - The Japanese text has been translated in the trailer:
"The sealed tale of truth" [When the opening starts]
"There's no such thing as coincidence in fate" [When the knight removes his helmet]
"All the fates have been set" [As they flash to the "stone castle" which had been the battleground with the symbol glowing in the sky]
"After a long time. Each fate..." "...Will await the awakening of a new tale" [When they are showing Mickey]
Cite my source!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05lrvXaCoT8
I take this to mean this is in the PAST, and these things have happened before as the first step in the Kingdom Hearts saga. The Keyblade War referred to is just ending with this last battle. The symbol in the sky is Kingdom Hearts, which is summoned by the bald man and for the first time "unlocked". And (conjecture here) Mickey has been trained by Yensid to be a guardian of Kingdom Hearts and prevent people from subverting the immense power it contains.
I'll also support one other thing on these statements: "There's no such thing as coincidence in fate" and "all the fates have been set" leads me to believe the three knights are defeated here and yet manage to push Kingdom Hearts back out of the worlds to wherever it is supposed to be.
8 - On the subject of names. The names of two of the nights other than the Lingering Spirit are known through the Japanese translation: Aqua and Ven. Who knows if those will remain to be the same names they have IF/WHEN Final Mix + makes it out in a NA/PAL release. (I'm not gonna hold my breath for it, though I'll state my opinion this is VERY likely since they left the English audio in the game Disney may push for it.)
Does THIS have any meaning? Possibly, I'd say the Lingering Spirit would have one of the other "four elements" as a name. We can't be sure yet.
Xehanort's name itself is a scramble with an X added; it can either unscramble to "ANOTHER" or "NO HEART". However, how could he become a Heartless and Nobody if he had no heart in the first place? I'd say if you assume this has a meaning, then it should be "ANOTHER" . . . but another WHAT?
9 - There's been a lot of noise made that Xehanort had no memory when Ansem found him, but I'll point out by the time he has his 5 apprentices he is DRIVEN hard to complete the experiments Ansem balked at. He's willing to work using Ansem's name to cover his tracks and identify himself now. There is not much known about the time between that and the Organization, what the apprentices do other than serve. But once the Organization starts up, they begin searching for new members. New Nobodies who are powerful enough to serve as potent allies towards some end. (Note: not FRIENDS since the Nobodies have no hearts, they have no feelings, including friendship.)
We see Xemnas has access to a secret chamber in Ansem's lab, which we don't see completely . . . but the "Room of Sleep" has a chain motif on the walls and floor, with the armor of a knight on the ground. It's said he's looking for the "Room of Awakening" which nobody remembers who created it . . . what is that supposed to mean? $10 says it's connected to the PHRASE "Birth by Sleep" and not the video per se.
10 - The English text in "Sunset Horizons" was collected as well. I'm putting it in here in the order of appearance.
"The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power / One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says he wrought chaos and ruin upon it / I must know what this Keyblade is . . . A key opens doors." [An excerpt from the Ansem Report, specifically stated]
"Master of keyblade"
"The lost two"
"Memory of Xehanort"
"Chasers"
"The Keyblade War"
"It all began with . . ."
"birth by sleep" [Yes, it's lowercase]
Has anyone brought these things together? And noticed "Endless" does NOT appear in this text? (Where did people start getting that phrase from, anyway?)
11 - The fight with the Lingering Spirit in Final Mix+ is fraught with frustrating glimpses of actual speech; far as I can tell he attacks Sora expecting he is Xehanort or connected to him. Afterwards, you can choose to rematch him and he says something like "all I have left to give is my hatred of Xehanort". I don't know what that's supposed to mean, yet, but it's clear those knights are enemies of Xehanort through those statements. Something happened, to put that in motion . . . and why is this "Lingering Spirit" connected to the Cornerstone of Light?
Is it possible that's where Mickey got it, and brought it from? Remember, it was said the Cornerstone made absolutely certain no darkness could attack the castle, it made it perfectly safe. How is that, and how is it the Cornerstone appears not as a STONE which part of construction (what a "cornerstone" is) but as a construct of light itself? Does THIS have any meaning at all?
12 - The two knights who were shown in the video with blue eyes are almost certainly brother/sister . . . and at the same time younger than the taller knight. He's protecting them, it would seem, when he rushes out against the bald man and his double. Likely that is where the "hatred" begins . . .
What if that bald man was another of the knights (explaining where he got his keyblade) and betrayed them to seek Kingdom Hearts? That could be how the Keyblade War started, a struggle of keyblade master against keyblade master which by its very nature attracted enough power to allow Kingdom Hearts to be "unlocked".
13 - Yes, I pushed it to 13, just for this question in particular: Is there any significance to the chosen number of the Organization, "13"? Why did Xemnas want Roxas badly enough to recruit him personally? What made him want a keyblade master in the Organization, what purpose would that serve? And for that matter, why is it the Organization seemed determined at the outset to try to "wake up" Roxas inside of Sora and only considered destroying him when Sora proved unwilling to cooperate? WHAT did Xenmas NEED a keyblade for?
As such, I don't have the proper names "Aqua" and "Ven" in here. I will say somethings which may or may not have been posted on these boards. I may be posting stuff which is totally off base with information you people have found. Please do not flame me, correct me if I've got misinformation floating in here, and if you want to discuss it let's do it witch civility?
1 - We know the three "knights" are new people, Nomura said as much. I don't think he's lying, because if we assume he WAS then why do we trust any of his answers in that interview anyway? Appearances relative to existing characters is likely important but not supposed to reflect they are the ACTUAL characters we know (ie the knight who looks like Roxas). But on the same note, Nomura said nothing about the two "adversaries" being new characters, did he? If anyone is supposed to be "Xehanort", it would more than likely be one of these two beings.
2 - It's been fairly well established the bald man's outfit looks quite similar to what "Ansem" wears in the first game (AND CoM), except for a few changes. Someone with sharp eyes can catalogue them, I'm not going to bother for you. They're similar ENOUGH to suggest there's a relation between the two. It's also interesting how the "double" looks almost exactly like Riku's "Heartless knight" form. They both use keyblades, but this is relative likely to the fact one is a double (Roxas can use keyblades since he is Sora's Nobody). But does it have a meaning in itself, how he can use one? And what is that meaning?
3 - Xemnas has either the body, the armor, or the living knight in captivity, seen in Final Mix +. He sits down and says something similar to: "It's been a long time my friend". But people so often refer to their nemesis as "friends"; I could cite examples but it's common enough. It's not sarcasm per se, but it's a nod to the fact the two have grown close through chasing each other and so many battles they know more about each other than friends. I think that is the case here, Xemnas is not an ALLY, he is an ENEMY of the knights. For whatever reason.
4 - None of the knights' keyblades have chains on them. The "Lingering Spirit" also does not have a chain on his. People have taken this to mean these are not "true" keyblades. HOWEVER he is quite strong for some sort of "fake" keyblade. I think what you are seeing are the original keyblades, the first three to exist, their "core essence" if you will. To answer the question ahead of time: "so why does the Kingdom Key say it's the true form of the keyblade?"
Why? Because if you don't attach a keychain to alter the power from it, you have that form. Every cutscene where they use a "Default" keyblade, that's what they use. That's supposed to reflect THAT keyblade may take on many appearances but it will always be the Kingdom Key. These knights' keyblades are similarly the "core essence" of their keyblades. They don't have a chain attached, so they have no other shape.
(I think the reason the Kingdom Key is shown with a keychain is for model reasons when animating Sora, more than a real conceptual reason. Why? It's the simplest answer when you take a step back and consider it, that's why. I don't HAVE a better answer there.)
5 - Why are the three keyblades from "Sunset Horizons" not in the "Birth by Sleep" animation? It's almost seamless for the two to meet up right -there-. Want an example of how I mean that?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGcQDI_odmk
Some nice fellow put the two back to back.
So why do the keyblades not appear? I think they're actually supposed to be two seperate visions of the same point in time. The reason they're not there is because they're not REALLY there, you see?
Or, another possibility is that the bald man had come there for one of those keyblades, himself. He HAS a keyblade and chain already, I shall note; perhaps he already is the owner of one of those keyblades. And we see Mickey at the last frames, with Star Seeker. What if the Kingdom Key is in his hands when the knights and the old man clash, because he finally had gained it? As for the third, well, who knows? We do know people have referred to the three keyblades as the keyblades of "light, twilight, and dark", but I don't know if that's official. If it is, the "dark" keyblade is likely the one the bald man is using.
It can be said the three knights picked up blades with some importance: the "Lingering Spirit" knight picked up the Kingdom Key, the female picked up a completely silver keyblade, and the last one picked up "The Path to the Dawn". Does this mean anything? I don't know; they aren't using them when all heck breaks loose though so probably not. There's one person who can say for sure and he's not telling.
6 - The spell he uses is more than likely a version of "Blizzard", as the visual effect is more akin to frost than stone. And both the female knight and the "double" use it as well as a "Thunder" spell. I'd say the female knight is the most powerful spellcaster there besides the bald man, which is why she doesn't jump in to fight; that's not what she's good at.
But as for the young knight who looks like Roxas, after he falls (and the flash-frozen keyblade shatters on the way down) his eyes are still moving. He's alive for what happened next.
7 - The Japanese text has been translated in the trailer:
"The sealed tale of truth" [When the opening starts]
"There's no such thing as coincidence in fate" [When the knight removes his helmet]
"All the fates have been set" [As they flash to the "stone castle" which had been the battleground with the symbol glowing in the sky]
"After a long time. Each fate..." "...Will await the awakening of a new tale" [When they are showing Mickey]
Cite my source!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05lrvXaCoT8
I take this to mean this is in the PAST, and these things have happened before as the first step in the Kingdom Hearts saga. The Keyblade War referred to is just ending with this last battle. The symbol in the sky is Kingdom Hearts, which is summoned by the bald man and for the first time "unlocked". And (conjecture here) Mickey has been trained by Yensid to be a guardian of Kingdom Hearts and prevent people from subverting the immense power it contains.
I'll also support one other thing on these statements: "There's no such thing as coincidence in fate" and "all the fates have been set" leads me to believe the three knights are defeated here and yet manage to push Kingdom Hearts back out of the worlds to wherever it is supposed to be.
8 - On the subject of names. The names of two of the nights other than the Lingering Spirit are known through the Japanese translation: Aqua and Ven. Who knows if those will remain to be the same names they have IF/WHEN Final Mix + makes it out in a NA/PAL release. (I'm not gonna hold my breath for it, though I'll state my opinion this is VERY likely since they left the English audio in the game Disney may push for it.)
Does THIS have any meaning? Possibly, I'd say the Lingering Spirit would have one of the other "four elements" as a name. We can't be sure yet.
Xehanort's name itself is a scramble with an X added; it can either unscramble to "ANOTHER" or "NO HEART". However, how could he become a Heartless and Nobody if he had no heart in the first place? I'd say if you assume this has a meaning, then it should be "ANOTHER" . . . but another WHAT?
9 - There's been a lot of noise made that Xehanort had no memory when Ansem found him, but I'll point out by the time he has his 5 apprentices he is DRIVEN hard to complete the experiments Ansem balked at. He's willing to work using Ansem's name to cover his tracks and identify himself now. There is not much known about the time between that and the Organization, what the apprentices do other than serve. But once the Organization starts up, they begin searching for new members. New Nobodies who are powerful enough to serve as potent allies towards some end. (Note: not FRIENDS since the Nobodies have no hearts, they have no feelings, including friendship.)
We see Xemnas has access to a secret chamber in Ansem's lab, which we don't see completely . . . but the "Room of Sleep" has a chain motif on the walls and floor, with the armor of a knight on the ground. It's said he's looking for the "Room of Awakening" which nobody remembers who created it . . . what is that supposed to mean? $10 says it's connected to the PHRASE "Birth by Sleep" and not the video per se.
10 - The English text in "Sunset Horizons" was collected as well. I'm putting it in here in the order of appearance.
"The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power / One legend says its wielder saved the world, while another says he wrought chaos and ruin upon it / I must know what this Keyblade is . . . A key opens doors." [An excerpt from the Ansem Report, specifically stated]
"Master of keyblade"
"The lost two"
"Memory of Xehanort"
"Chasers"
"The Keyblade War"
"It all began with . . ."
"birth by sleep" [Yes, it's lowercase]
Has anyone brought these things together? And noticed "Endless" does NOT appear in this text? (Where did people start getting that phrase from, anyway?)
11 - The fight with the Lingering Spirit in Final Mix+ is fraught with frustrating glimpses of actual speech; far as I can tell he attacks Sora expecting he is Xehanort or connected to him. Afterwards, you can choose to rematch him and he says something like "all I have left to give is my hatred of Xehanort". I don't know what that's supposed to mean, yet, but it's clear those knights are enemies of Xehanort through those statements. Something happened, to put that in motion . . . and why is this "Lingering Spirit" connected to the Cornerstone of Light?
Is it possible that's where Mickey got it, and brought it from? Remember, it was said the Cornerstone made absolutely certain no darkness could attack the castle, it made it perfectly safe. How is that, and how is it the Cornerstone appears not as a STONE which part of construction (what a "cornerstone" is) but as a construct of light itself? Does THIS have any meaning at all?
12 - The two knights who were shown in the video with blue eyes are almost certainly brother/sister . . . and at the same time younger than the taller knight. He's protecting them, it would seem, when he rushes out against the bald man and his double. Likely that is where the "hatred" begins . . .
What if that bald man was another of the knights (explaining where he got his keyblade) and betrayed them to seek Kingdom Hearts? That could be how the Keyblade War started, a struggle of keyblade master against keyblade master which by its very nature attracted enough power to allow Kingdom Hearts to be "unlocked".
13 - Yes, I pushed it to 13, just for this question in particular: Is there any significance to the chosen number of the Organization, "13"? Why did Xemnas want Roxas badly enough to recruit him personally? What made him want a keyblade master in the Organization, what purpose would that serve? And for that matter, why is it the Organization seemed determined at the outset to try to "wake up" Roxas inside of Sora and only considered destroying him when Sora proved unwilling to cooperate? WHAT did Xenmas NEED a keyblade for?
