358/2 Days Riku, Mickey and DiZ remember Sora?

There are a lot of potential spoilers below. Read on only if you know how the game plays out/ends.

This seemed like the right game to ask this question in since the topic of Sora's memories comes up a lot in KH358/2. We learn that if Sora's memories aren't restored, he could wake up and find that no one remembers him. Kairi is an obvious example of one who forgets, and we also see in KH2 that everyone in Hollow Bastion forgot as well.

So here's what I never really understood: Why do Riku, Mickey and DiZ remember Sora? Are they somehow immune to the effects of Sora's lost memories? At the end of 358, Riku is shown to be immune to Xion's lost memories, because unlike Roxas, Riku doesn't struggle to remember her name at all. So clearly it seems intentional that Riku should be immune to the effects, but do any of the games ever expand on why this is?

If the answer to this involves spoilers in another game, please warn which game the spoilers may be coming from. I haven't played through all of the games yet (the hand-held games specifically, besides 358).

 

Actually in DDD

Spoiler

Riku actually reveals he forgot who Xion was

My guess is that since they were actually at Castle Oblivion when Sora was undergoing the memory restoration they knew what happened to Sora and were able to gain an immunity to the memory loss. Another guess is that the memory loss merely effected those that weren't really tied to Sora at the time (Kairi and the other just went off and lived their lives and a year is a very long time)

Though my main guess is that is just a plot hole

 

I thought Riku did forget Xion, he was only temporarily reminded of her when he grabbed one of Roxas' keyblades.

See for yourself, at 09:48.

Shortly after that they all forgot her for good, but if memory serves in Re-Coded ...

Spoiler

Mickey is notified of her previous existence by Data Namine (he still doesn' t remember her though).
I' m not sure why it' s possible though because as I understand any mention of her existence should have been erased from the journal as well. Bit of a convenient miracle exemption if you ask me, but then Re-Coded' plot as a whole asks players to suspend their disbelief in exponential proportions.

 

Axel91:

I didn't remember Riku saying that in KH2 (I still can't recall him saying that, but I trust that he did).

Your reasons help to smooth out the inconsistencies axel, but it doesn't seem to fully explain why anyone but Namine would remember Sora at all. Keep in mind that everyone in Hollow Bastion completely forgot about Sora and well as everyone on Destiny Island, with the exception of Kairi, who only had a feeling that someone was there but had no idea who. And unless I'm mistaken, that feeling she had only started developing while the link between Sora and Roxas was becoming stronger during the final 7 days of Roxas's summer vacation.

In other words, the loss of Sora's memories made him completely disappear for almost everyone that knew him. Even if Riku, Mickey and DiZ didn't have strong memories of Sora, they still had memories of him. Namine could have helped with that, but it feels like a loose-fitting plug in an otherwise gaping plot hole.

Then there's the fact that Organization XIII had no problem at all knowing who Sora was. Their ability to remember him can't be because they're Nobodies. If being a Nobody made them immune to the memory loss, then Roxas shouldn't have forgotten about Xion so easily while she was disappearing. And I doubt Namine would have specifically done anything to help O-XIII remember.

Patman:

Great points. It didn't occur to me that the keyblade helped Riku remember. I thought that scene was a little strange when I saw it (his sudden moment of clarity/confusion when grabbing the keyblade), but it didn't occur to me that it represented memories coming back to him that were lost.

 

I remember that quote from KH2. It could be my interpretation of it is different than yours, but we also learn in KH2 that Riku sort of lost himself when he became Ansem and for a period of time he only knew himself as Ansem; so when they said those lines, I got the impression Riku was referring to all of his memories and not just to Sora.

As for DiZ, you could be right. It's kind of a complicated issue, though. Consider, for example, that he's trying to get Sora's memories back so that Sora can be the keyblade master again. How does he know that Sora was the keyblade master? Did Namine tell him? Because there has to be knowledge of that fact available, and knowledge of that fact represents knowledge or memory of Sora, which is the very thing that should have disappeared when Sora lost his memories. I would think Sora losing his memories erases his entire existence, not just the events in KH1/CoM. And that leads me to believe that even the knowledge of Sora's existence, of him having been the keyblade master, etc, should have been erased as well. DiZ should have had no idea who Sora was, and therefore should have had no reason to try to restore his memories.

And in KH 358/2, there's a cutscene between Riku and Mickey where they talk about Sora, meaning Mickey obviously knows who Sora is, and also knows what happened to him. Even if their interactions were brief in KH1, that doesn't explain why any memory of those interactions and any knowledge of Sora remains.

Btw, I agree with you that it makes sense that Namine wouldn't be affected by the lost memories. Like you said, she's the only person who should be immune.

 

I think is plot-holeish.. but It was stated a huge number of times through the series that things that are forgoten aren't lost. The hole plot of recodded is that the book itself had been erased, but the information was still inside it somehow.. like a computer that changed its algorythm of something... that's why they were able to make a digital copy and recover the journal to its previous state, not only that to gain access to "memories of the journal" and not of Jimminy... that is what I don't understand at all.. like that memorie of Ansem encountring Riku, Sora didn't see it, Jiminy wasn't there, and not even the Journal, how could that memorie been there?
Naminé also said before fixing Sora's memories that "Your memories are mixed, but not lost, you just have to remmember the one you care the most and your memories will be back".

Also in castle oblivion people in there remembered Sora, because Sora remembered them so his heart "infected theirs with memories".
So it's understandable that people lost different fragments of memory and stuff like that because the memories were still in them, they just need it a little kick to remember, not only that memories are like a stream of energy that conects hearts in someway..

 

I was thinking only the people Sora forgot were the ones who forgot him. Sora's memories of Kairi were replaced by Namine, and Kairi mostly forgot Sora. But Sora still remembered Riku, so Riku still remembered Sora. Since Sora had never met DiZ, there were no memories of him to forget, thus, DiZ didn't forget Sora. By the end of the first or second floor of Castle Oblivion, Sora had pretty much forgotten all of his friends, save Riku and Kairi, and they forgot him.
And Xion was forgotten because she was just a big pile of Sora's memories. When the memories return to Sora, the memories of the memory would go away. Namine wouldn't forget either of them since she's in charge of Sora's memories. She can't forget Xion, since Xion's memories are inside of Sora.
And this is just to explain why in Re:Coded

Spoiler

memories of Xion were in Jiminy's journal. Namine put a data version of herself in the journal when she was almost done in order to inform them of the memories inside Sora's heart that weren't actually his.

 

I think Zelda is right, I never gave much thought about it, but it makes sense..

 

Well--it's pretty obvious that they'll remember Sora because Namine probably told Diz about Sora. King Mickey already knew about him because I think at first he knew that Sora would be the keyblade master before sending Goofy and Donald to fetch him at Twilightown.