Birth by Sleep Keyblades, Hearts, Destinies and Dark Helmets; A Theory

Right, new-ish to the forums here. Huzzah for first posts! And of course, my first is a doozy XD.

That's right ladies and gentlemen! Another theory post! 8D *is shot* But in all seriousness, the following is a compilation of theories my brain has hashed together involving Terra, Ven, Aqua, Sora, Roxas, and Xehanort/Ansem/Xemnas. If there are any similarities to any other theories on this board, I apologize. It is not my intent to copy anyone else. I can assure you that aside from a stray thought or two, this is all me.

[Also, sorry in advance for the blocky paragraphs. When I get going....]

Alright, lets begin with all the parallels and similarities rushing around these characters.

I believe that Terra later becomes Ansem the Wise's apprentice Xehanort for many reasons. The first is purely aesthetic , they look alike. Their hair style and body shape are very similar. Hell, at the end of the Final Mix+ secret trailer Terra's eyes become the same shade and hue as Xemnas/Ansem/Xehanort's, and I don't like the idea that it's coincidence. Another reason is the cutscene from Final Mix+ when Xemnas goes all the way back to Hollow Bastion, down into the underground chamber to sit in a throne and starts chatting it up with the crumpled armour that people across the internet have identified as Aqua's. He refers to it as "friend". I think it's pretty obvious he means Aqua, and to our knowledge Terra, Aqua and Ven were all close friends. Terra and Ven were once discribed in a magazine as being "best friends". The last reason that I personally believe Terra will become Xehanort is the pure mind-****ery of it all. Do you honestly think Squenix will pass that up? The fangirls would eat it up and beg, beg, for more! The thought that Terra, a noble, strong warrior, would become Xehanort, the man behind the distruction of the worlds, it's sheer plot-twist brilliance! I can see the angst pilling up!

Okay, lets stop teasing poor Terra, for now. We'll get back to him, I have plenty more theories to ruin his life with XD. Let's move on to Ven and Roxas.

People (here having the meaning of Michelle) keep yelling at me about Ven looking like Roxas, and I keep telling them that it's Roxas who looks like Ven. They then proceed to scream and yell and pout like little children and refuse to listen to what I have to say (yes, I'm looking at you, Mich), so this is the perfect opportunity to get it all out. I am in the belief that Ven's heart, maybe his very being, was crucial to the completion/opening/creation/harnessing of Kingdom Hearts, and that he was aware of this. Knowing what Geezernort (that's Master Xehanort to all those not "in the know") would do if he managed to get ahold of Ven's heart, Ven hid it in a far off corner of the universe, on a peaceful, out-of-the-way world, within a small, almost unnoticible boy, named Sora, perhaps. In doing so, Ven also removed many of his memories and abilities, explaining why Terra when confronting Geezernort (and unaware that it was Ven who did it) demanded to know what Geezernort did to Ven's heart and memories. Ven would have most likely forgotten hiding it and so would've been unable to set Terra straight. Terra would have eventually found out what Ven did which would explain why he went to see Sora, he wanted to see that his friend's heart was being kept safe.

I have more to say on Sora and his being a Keybarer, but I'll hold it in until later. Now I'm moving on to the Secret Trailer. It's been overdone, yes, but bare with me.

So, what do we see in this trailer? Terra, Aqua and Ven fighting Geezernort and the Dark Soldier (or as I like to call him, Dark Helmet. *snicker*). We see a pretty even fight I'd say, until the end when Ven tries to surprise attack Geezernort and ends up getting his soul sucked out of him. Then we see Aqua holding his frozen body and Terra putting in his contact lens while Geezernort decides to part the clouds and moon everyone. (In all seriousness, I need to lay off the 7Up for breakfast...)

What does this mean to me? It means that somehow Geezernort managed to use Ven in exactly the same way Ven anticipated he would, even though his heart had been removed. It means that Geezernort had not actually killed Ven, simply froze him (Ven's eyes darting around when Aqua's holding him indicates that he survived) and that perhaps Ven had become the first Nobody ever. Terra, believing Ven, his very best friend in the whole world, to be dead, goes into a rage, perhaps even sacrificing his own heart to Kingdom Hearts in order to gain the power needed to take out Geezernort and Dark Helmet. He manages to kill them, but loses all his memories and sense of self in the process, and when he awakes the only name he can recall is "Xehanort".

More on Xehanort/Terra later. Back to Aqua.

Seeing that Ven had survived the fall and the ripping of his soul, Aqua takes him away from the battle field where she knows Terra's lost his mind. However, Geezernort didn't get to be a Keyblade Master from siting on his thumbs all day, and his blizzard spell is far too strong for Aqua, a mere apprentice, to break. Not to mention Ven's very soul has been removed, as well as his heart, he's not about to wake up by himself. So I imagine Aqua bidded her time, and watched over Ven's body. She probably also kept watch over Destiny Islands, making sure that Sora was safe. Maybe it was her that guided Kairi to Sora, most likely knowing that a Princess of Heart would be good for the continued safety of Ven's heart.

And now I get to explain my blasphomous belief that Sora was not worthy to wield the Keyblade! 8D I can hear you guys sharpening your pitchforks already!

In the beginning, he wasn't. In the beginning of this whole adventure Sora was just a boy like any other, there was really nothing special about him. Until Ven's heart was hidden within him. After Riku had invited the Darkness into the island, Ven's heart felt the danger to itself and it's current container. Most likely, it was Ven's heart, not Sora's, that resonated with the Kingdom Key and called it. Sora's heart may not have been weak, but it was still the heart of a young, naive boy. So Sora went off on his adventure, being mislead through lack of information that it was his heart that the Keyblade was listening to. Over the course of his journey, Sora's heart grew stronger and stronger, coming very close in level of strength to Ven's. That would be when Sora traveled to Hollow Bastion and saw Riku again. I believe that at that point Riku's heart was indeed stronger than Sora's, and even though Sora still had Ven's heart, the Keyblade went to Riku because it was his own strength, not borrowed like Sora. When Sora was able to call the Keyblade to himself again it was because his heart had finally grown strong enough to match with Ven's. Now, of course, the Keyblade would be easier to use, being that it was listening to Sora directly. When Sora stabbed himself and freed the Princess' hearts, he also freed Ven's. And that being the exact moment Roxas was born, added to the fact that Ven's heart had been inside Sora for so long, Roxas' physical appearance was exceedingly similar to that of Ven's.

And that wraps up the whole Ven/Sora/Roxas connection. Now I wanna play with Terra/Xehanort some more 8D

So there's Terra, lost and alone, no memories except for the name 'Xehanort' and with nothing on him but the battle torn rags on his back. Along comes Ansem the Wise, perhaps surveying the grounds of the bastion and spotting Terra. But how did Terra get there? Simple (for me), Terra, in that last final battle, opened his heart and mind to the Darkness. The only other person we have seen invite in the Darkness was Riku, who, as shown to us in the cutscene from KH1 Final Mix, woke up very close to Hollow Bastion. Personally I think it's safe to assume that those strong enough to survive the journey through the Darkness with their hearts still intact (though Terra no longer had one) would reappear in Hollow Bastion, or, during the time Ansem the Wise was ruler, Radiant Garden. So Ansem the Wise sees Terra appear, wounded and unconcious, and goes to help him. Most likely when Terra awoke, Ansem tried to ask him where he came from, but having lost his memories, Terra would be unable to answer. I imagine the conversation that would follow would bring to light these facts and end up with Terra choosing to call himself 'Xehanort'. Ansem, wanting to keep an eye on Terra (and his mysterious past), would probably offer to take him in as an apprentice. Having nothing else and nowhere else to go, Terra would except.

And now we jump back to Ven and Aqua, because I love to break up the (non)action! 8D *fails at life*

After Sora freed Ven's heart it became possible for Aqua to free him from the Blizzaga spell, 1) because Aqua's magic would've improved at this point, and 2) Ven was aware and concious, and probably able to help now. So Ven is free, with his memories and heart back, and probably a few of Sora's memories as well. All should be well and good, except that Ven, most likely only knowing what had happened to Sora up until he killed himself would be understandibly conserned with the welfare and even the continued existance of the universe. Being that Sora was the one of only two active Keybearer in the past decade, and with the other off god knows where, Ven would probably rush to Hollow Bastion, believing Sora's heart to be lost to the Darkness. By the time he got there, with Aqua in tow, Sora would've already reverted back to a human and already gone to chase 'Ansem' to The End of the World. I think it would be at this point that Ven would've been awake and aware long enought that they would realize that something was wrong with him. Though they thought he was better, whole again, his soul was still missing. He was Heart and Body, but his soul had been sacrificed to Kingdom Hearts and was unretreivable. Which brings to question what he had become. A Heartless is merely a heart given form by the Darkness within it, and a Nobody is an empty body moved only by strength of will and it's soul. Had Ven become that which we believed Ansem to be? A Heartless with human form?

Maybe, though that is not what Terra/Ansem/Xehanort had become. When 'Xehanort' was found a decade ago by the true Ansem, no heart inhabited his body. When the Heartless overcame him and the other apprentinces, what was removed from his body was nothing but the greed, obsession and pride that had filled where his heart should be. What was left, Xehanort's 'Heartless', was not a Heartless at all, but a ghost of cruelty, desire and greed. It could not truly take form on it's own. Why else would it seek out Riku and use his body? Why choose a weak, mortal body of a boy when it could use it's own awesome might as a 'Heartless'? There can be no logical reasoning. 'Xehanort' had no heart to transform into a Heartless, he was perhaps some form of Nobody from the beginning.

Lastly (because I think I've rambled and stalled enough) the scene at the very beginning of KH2 when you see 'Roxas' portal to that dark beach and approach who we now know is Riku, how can we be sure that that's who we're led to believe it is? Why would Riku say that, "I've been to see him. He looks alot like you."? We're led to believe that he is speaking about Sora and Roxas' resemblance, but are we so sure? The voice we identify as Roxas responds from the coat, but Nomura has confirmed that Roxas and Ven will be sharing a voice actor. The 'Roxas' in the coat doesn't know who Riku is, but it's proven in one of the Final Mix+ scene that Roxas was there when Riku transformed into Xehanort and was caught soon after. There would be no time for this scene, that can't logically be Roxas. I believe that it's Ven. Riku is explaining that he's been to see "him", and that they look alike. Who looks more like Ven than Roxas?

Chew on that.