Kingdom Hearts 3D/WMG

Wild Mass Guessing for Kingdom Hearts 3D.

As darkness becomes light, light falls into darkness

Sora and Riku embark on the Mark of Mastery Exam, a journey both inside and outside to improve their skills and remedy the darkness inside them. The drop mechanic is a measure of immersion, how far they are within themselves. In each world they will journey from the obvious world to the internal world/memories/heart. In doing so they prove their mastery of the keyblade, while exorcising their own inner darkness. At first, this will be Riku, but as they fight the dark within him, Vanitas/All Hell will break loose within Sora. This may/will lead to battles of the past combined with battles of the present being fought at the same time. (Including just back to back Xemnas and Ansem and possibly a reprised Organization XIII). Riku and Sora will develop trust for each other/serious bromance. Oh, and inside Sora is where a lot of fun characters are kept, ie Roxas, Xion, Ven, and Vanitas, maybe even Axel (within Roxas' memories, another level of dream.) Also expect a journey to the Realm of Darkness for Aqua and the real Ansem. Finally, a race with Vanitas/Xehanort to save the princesses of the heart/Kairi. This allows a full cast revival as well as a setup for epic battles in Kingdom Hearts 3. There's going to be a lot of heads to get inside. Finally, you get to watch the game get inside your head. Some other speculated events: A battle between Sora and Riku for Kairi, Watch Roxas wipe the floor with the entire universe to help rescue Namine and Xion. In fact, I can safely say I'm not alone in hoping for badass from start to finish. Oh, and in conclusion, they pass the exam.

• Judging by the boxart and the recent trailer, I think the tagline refers to Riku's venture into the light coming full circle, whereas Sora somehow falls to the lure of The Dark Side, most likely manipulated by Xehanort himself.

The meaning of "not the same Sora we know"

. . .Is alluding that Sora will not be acting as his plucky, cheerful, confident self, and will instead be very serious, irritated, impatient, and use strongarm tactics so he can get saving Terra, Aqua, and Ven over with and go back home with Kairi and Riku.

• Or that this Sora is more serious, arrogant, and dismotivated.
  • A change in personality is possible, but I doubt he'll turn arrogant or ruthless. Considering his heart's supposed to have almost no darkness and all..
  • Then again, Darkness can grow. Antiform is evidence of some dark influence. And while Sora may have nearly the strongest Heart shown in the K Hverse, he was designed from the start to be nowhere near as natural a hero as Riku.
  • On that note, while he wasn't overly serious (which in itself could be a coping mechanism), Sora was fairly impatient and more willing to use violence in KH 2.
  • I figured Anti Form was more of a stress thing than darkness. But if not, it's proven in the series that all that's bad about darkness is bad people using it. Since Sora's good, maybe it means the player can have him use dark powers for good?

On a similar note, something terrible is going to happen to Sora.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. The change in personality previously mentioned could bring about or be a result of this something terrible. Personally, I think this event will completely come out of left field and not even the players will see it coming with plenty of Nightmare Fuel. Or at least I hope so. Ultimately, it could possibly halt the exam and define the following game.

• CONFIRMED. Sora's heart becomes shattered towards the end of the game, and it looks like we'll have another Ventus(quite hilarious considering all the other similarites betwen them). At least until Riku comes along and restores Sora's heart, with the end having Sora back in the realm of sleep as a Friend to all Dream-Eaters and showing Ventus, who actually fidgets a bit in his sleep.

What 3D possibly means.

First things first: we know for a fact from Word of God that it's not Third Dimension nor does it refer to the game being the third main game of the series.

"Three Dimensions", alluding to the Realm of Light/Darkness and the Realm Between. "Three Destinies", alluding to the Trio from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep or the main trio. "Three Doors"? The Door to Darkness and Door to Light (and a possible third door, maybe to Kingdom Hearts). It could have something to do with Darkness (King Mickey's Keyblade is called "Kingdom Key D", referring to the fact that it's a Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness). "Three Districts"? Hey it's a stretch but we do get a trip back to Traverse Town... "Three Dreams"? Not quite "dream" so much as "Awakenings", which Sora has had one and his Nobody had one... Would the battle with Roxas count as one? Personally, I'm leaning towards "Destinies" and "Doors" as those would probably be the most likely of all of these.

• Jossed, the subtitle is Dream Drop Distance.
  • Well, maybe...

Now that the full title is out, a new speculation on the meaning

The game depicts in full the Mark of Mastery Exam, but the whole thing is a Lotus Eater Machine-esque simulation run by Yen Sid. Something goes wrong, however, and the simulation begins to meld with the real world. To sum it up, the game is a dream that drops its distance from reality.

• The title can also be taken as a meta-joke; a work of fiction as the "dream" and the true 3D as it coming closer to reality.
• Jossed: Nomura stated that the title means something like "the distance that you drop into your dreams" — a better English "translation" would be something like "how deeply you fall into your dreams". Nomura admitted the English isn't perfect, but the words were chosen for how they sound.

The prominent "trust" theme will be about trusting yourself.

Riku, despite being more-or-less purged of his darkness, still has doubts, and Ansem manifests and taunts him for it. In Sora's case, at some point in the interim, Mickey tells him about the events of coded. The tale of the plucky computer program who saved the worlds or something by doing things decidedly impossible for his programming makes Sora question whether or not it was right to blindly genocide the Nobodies, a notion that leaves him teetering on the edge of Heroic BSOD for a good deal of the game; this allows a facsimile of Xemnas to appear and attack Sora.

• Make this happen Nomura! Sora's in desperate need of some doubt to line the boundless confidence.
• Remember this line from Xemnas? (Granted, it's a hard-to-hear battle quote, but it's certainly jarring to those who catch it)

Sora... are you certain you can trust Riku?

• I fully expect that to rear its head again.
• The idea of trusting others seems to be supported by the appearance of Neku, since trust was the main theme in The World Ends With You.
• The recent trailer from Jump Festa also hints at this. It shows Ansem Seeker of Darkness picking up a sword while Riku asks him why he's here. Later on, Xemnas is shown questioning how a "heartless doll" can have a heart, to which Sora responds "Don't you all have hearts too?". Seems odd that he'd be asking a Nobody that question, considering how gung ho he was about the whole "Nobodies don't have hearts" stance in KHII.

The game is not so much the Mark of Mastery Exam...

...as it is a way for Sora and Riku to reset their levels and learn proper, non-hack-and-slash Keyblade mastery similar to Ven's, Terra's, and Aqua's abilities. Afterward, they'll get a proper Mark of Mastery Exam, which will either be the endgame (or, more likely, some sort of Big Bad will interrupt the whole thing and Yen Sid will make them Masters anyway because the incident proved their worth) or a between-game Noodle Incident.

• If it's not this, Yen Sid is gonna come off as a massive prick for making Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam insanely hard, when all Aqua and Terra had to do was smash around some light orbs and then duel for a bit.
  • The point of their exam being simpler is that they'd been training under Eraqus their whole lives; he knows if they're ready or not.
• Going by KH 2, Sora is an insanely skilled fighter. Sora and Riku don't need to re-learn self-defense.
  • Eh, he really isn't "insanely" good. He's basically hack-and-slash while throwing around magic. Even in 2, and that was when he was mainly relying on hack-and-slash and his forms. Sora kinda needs to relearn. Riku, however, is pretty good.
  • Riku likely learned a little from Mickey. It's obvious, however, that though Riku is more precise and elegant, Sora's speed, magic, and power is enormous.
• Jossed in that the TGS trailer specifies that Sora and Riku will be granted Master titles upon completing the dream world (i.e. the game's main plot is the exam); however, the "deliberate Bag of Spilling" point may still stand.

Each world in the title represents one protagonist.

• Dream: Sora, the one who has to save everyone from their birth by sleep.
• Drop: Something to do with Riku.
• Distance: The distance between Kairi and the boys, there will possibly be a secret Kairi mode where she'll try to catch up with Sora and Riku after finding something out leading to her becoming an Action Girl.
  • Maybe not "save" them from birth by sleep. Ansem made it sound like a good thing.
    • This is the same guy that thought it'd be a good thing to start research into the Heart. Granted, he stopped when he got the first Heartless, but still... Also the same guy was thought it was good to stick someone in a digital copy of a real world and hurt Namine when she tried to give Roxas words of comfort. Also the same guy that made a giant "digitalizer" thing and ended up exploding the World that Never Was' Kingdom Hearts. ... Okay, that last one was a good thing, but he didn't plan any protective measures.
      • "So many are still waiting for their new beginning. Their birth by sleep." Clearly he just meant bringing them back. Birth by sleep isn't a thing. It's just another term he used for "new beginning."

If and when you battle Frollo, the battle theme will be a mix of "Destati" and "Hellfire."

There are similarities between the songs. Plus, both are generally accepted to be Crowning Music of Awesome.

Hellfire will find its way into the game.

It is just that awesome. Plus, some fan made musics are already posted on Youtube!

Possible Disney worlds

There's definitely going to be a Princess and The Frog world, which may or may not involve turning to a frog. Other possibilities?

• Lilo and Stitch seems likely, since there was a Stitch space world in BBS. This time it'll most likely be in Hawaii, though.
  • Never say never, but it seems unlikely. TAV filled Lilo's role of ridding Stitch of his Crush! Kill! Destroy! mindset. This is coupled with the fact that the general Japanese feelings about Lilo are... mixed at best.
• Robin Hood, where you become an anthro animal, most likely a fox (although Riku could be a wolf).
  • Um... nope. Because that would mean more "fans".
    • Too late to worry about that. Sora turned into a merboy in the first game and a lion in the second. And Sora would probably turn into a lion again. The mane would work well with his spiky hair.
• The Emperors New Groove?
  • As a Breather Level, perhaps?
• Pocahontas. It's one of the most famous movies not yet used.
• We might as well include the entire Disney Animated Canon that hasn't yet appeared for possibilities.
• Nomura mentioned that the new Disney worlds would be the ones most requested by the fans. So, probably the most popular movies in the Disney Animated Canon will appear, basically. Which means no The Black Cauldron, I guess...
  • Then a good question would be "which Disney movies are popular in Japan?"
  • You make a good point. I just hope they save some good Disney animated canon films for KH 3. Or bring ALL the current and upcoming worlds into 3.
  • Aww, no The Black Cauldron? I wanna beat up that weird skeleton dude!
• Pinocchio. Mostly just to beat the living crap out of the coachman.
  • This is supported by the fact that a Pinocchio world was left out of Days.
  • Confirmed: Prankster's Paradise.
• The Jungle Book. Especially considering the Dummied Out data of it found in Birth by Sleep.
• The Muppets, probably following either the original The Muppet Movie or the upcoming one. Hey, they're the property of Disney, have been appearing at the theme parks since 1990, and are extremely popular.
  • Which means Sora might turn into a Muppet. That is just Crazy Awesome.
    • It worked with Smile Time. Muppet Sora... heck yeah!
      • It could even be the new Hundred Acre Wood, themed around the concept of an episode of The Muppet Show with Sora and/or Riku as the guest star(s). It could have various minigames based on segments from the show (Atlantica-like musical numbers, Swedish Chef's kitchen, Pigs in Space, Fozzie's comedy acts, Gonzo's stunts, etc.) It also gives the opportunity for hilarious, "Muppety" bits such as Miss Piggy dressing up as Kairi and trying to woo our heroes!
• The Great Mouse Detective, which will culminate in a battle on Big Ben, much like the movie.
• Tangled. Rapunzel would make an awesome party member. And considering that it's now one of Disney's most successful animated movies...
• Oliver and Company. Hey, it could happen.
• Treasure Planet and/or Atlantis: The Lost Empire because that would be awesome.
• There will be a full-fledged Fantasia area, with Toccata and Fugue being some sort of Mushroom Samba level, Rite of Spring taking the bulk of the area, a possible Arcadia area for the Pastoral Symphony, and The Firebird being the boss.
  • Confirmed: Symphony of Sorcery (no word on whether Fantasia 2000 material like the Firebird will appear, though).
• Is everyone forgetting that you actually see snaps of Sora in The Hunchback of Notre Dame's world?
  • No; since it's been confirmed, it isn't exactly a "possible" world, now is it? It's a confirmed world.
• Gonna go for the greedy and impossible wish here: Sora enters a new world full of smoke and steel and tall glass towers. And as the sun sets, the statues around him come to life.
  • Oh, if only. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Word of God said they're only using movies. No TV shows.
  • And for a little extra greed, Spider-man shows up too... hey, they ARE owned by Disney now.
  • Add another extra greed! Even though the series was made by Bandai. Legendz!
• While their respective movies perhaps wouldn't work all too well as their own worlds, boss fights with the Firebird and the Headless Horseman would be fantastic. As for other potential worlds, I could see The Wind in the Willows potentially working. And if they only focused on the cartoon sections like Splash Mountain does, I could even see a Song of the South world similar to the Winnie the Pooh segments in previous games.
• What about some Pixar worlds? Andy's Bedroom, Monstropolis, The Axiom, and The Scottish Highlands could all make very neat levels.
• The Marvel universe... or at the very least, Deadpool as a Bonus Boss.
  • The most likely incarnation would be Spider-Man or Wolverine as a summon.
• Live Action Alice in Wonderland, introduced in order to bring up a plot point about how there can be multiple versions of the same world.
  • As of now, the newly revealed world based on The Three Musketeers seems to support this theory about multiple words. Given we know nothing about it, though, nobody knows.
• St Canard is unlikely, but one can dream.
• Paradise Falls!
• Oakey Oaks. A Sora that falls.
• The Death Star. This would be a pretty big stretch, but might happen considering how much Disney Theme Parks involvement the Star Wars franchise has. If Star Wars did appear in the game (whether as a world or just as a bunch of characters/summons), Darth Vader would probably be a Maleficent-like major villain, maybe even a new, more competent Dragon to Maleficent herself if Pete stays dead or stays good — but it looks like he's alive and back to his old self in the trailer.

Possible future characters, both Disney and Final Fantasy

• Since Notredame is confirmed: Quasimodo, Esmeralda, Frollo, the goat (Djali), Phoebus.
  • Possibly Kefka.
    • Someone like Kefka can fit in pretty well in a place like 16th Century France. It would also be awesome to see two of the most sadistic bastards from their respective franchises in the same screen. Maybe have a funny exchange like this:

Kefka/Frollo: Wow, you are just evil.

• • • ...Oh God. Oh God, oh God. Do we really need to upstage Xehanort, now?!?
    • Kefka could fit in with THBOND, but I think that if he ever appears in a KH game, he'd be Sephiroth's replacement, being That One Boss from the Final Fantasy series.
    • Kefka and Frollo would be unlikely to get along if they met. Kefka is nothing if not Chaotic Evil while Frollo is almost certainly Lawful Evil. Frollo is likely to see use of magic as a good thing only because it means he can then execute the magic user in question without too many people bitching. Kefka would fit very well with the court of miracles, as I could definitely see KH!Kefka as a gypsy or jester who has been hunted by Frollo for quite some time, and driven sort of loopy by it.
  • What about Kefka and Deadpool?
    • The latter? Fourth Wall-breaking Bonus Boss-turned Optional Party Member. Hilariawesome? I think so.
• Exdeath. GET THE FRUIT!
  • But isn't Xemnas more or less the KH equivalent of Exdeath?
• Ashley Riot, possibly to teach Sora and/or Riku how to chain, as he did in Vagrant Story
• Chaos, likely his Dissidia incarnation, as a Bonus Boss.

Sora and Riku will get Keyblade Armor.

• With the possibility of Sora and Riku getting an outfit update, this seems like a given.
  • For added awesome, Sora's armor could resemble that of Xion's.
  • Sora's should be a mix between Xion's, Ven's, and Vanitas's, while Riku's should be a mix between his own dark mode, Terra's, Xehanort's, and maybe Eraqus's.
• If they're only getting one new outfit each, this is Jossed. Now that some artwork and newer screenshots are working their way onto the internet, their new outfits seem like nothing more than very slight redesigns with new colors.
• Turns out it's not as jossed as the above guy thinks it is, Sora is given Ven's Keyblade Armor for protection against the darkness when he falls into the awakening... And ends up getting controlled by it.

The Gameplay of Kingdom Hearts 3 D

• What's the gameplay going to be this time?
  • A combination of all the precursors.
    • So the new "Drop" gauge seen in the trailer is going to act similar to the "Drive" gauge?
    • Re:Coded already did that.
      • ...so what?

The game will feature a a battle within Sora's heart

• In order to save Ventus, Sora will have to do something similar to a dive to the heart.
  • With Roxas or Xion as a party member.
    • And Vanitas as a boss.
• Confirmed;the last battle is Nightmare Armor Ventus inside Sora's darnkened heart; you fight as Riku.

The game takes place in a datascape like coded

Either the datascape of a hidden set of files on Ansem's computer, or the research notes Ansem said he hid in Jiminy's diary. The new worlds are there because instead of going to simulations of worlds based on Sora's memories to recover what happened to him, they're going through recreations of where Ansem had gone to recover where Ansem went and what happened to him, in an attempt to recover some lost clues about the Birth by Sleep trio that Ansem had discovered — probably relating to Terra's heart locked away within Terranort.

• It's also worth noting that the computer files containing the details of Xion's existence, purpose, and person could still be out there, and Sora is supposed to do something about that. The computer might be the best place to go.
• Jossed; the game's setting is sleep/dream-based.

The Mark of Mastery exam will act as a tutorial.

Since the Mark of Mastery was such a small part of Birth By Sleep gameplay-wise, and you can't really stretch it to fill an entire game's plot, it will only act as a tutorial device, like the Dives to the Heart in games 1 and 2, before kicking off the main plot.

• Jossed; the whole plot covers the exam.

There will be a new class of enemies.

Looking at the japanese website, we've got all our usual insignias as well as a new symbol that one might not catch at first glance. Seeing as to how every other new symbol was added, this symbol will be what distinguishes it from the Heartless.

• According to The Other Wiki, you might be right...
• Confirmed. They're called Dream Eaters.

Kairi, while not playable, will finally show some level of fighting ability in this game

How? At one point during the game, Sora and/or Riku and/or Mickey will bust Aqua out of the Realm of Darkness. Following that, Aqua will train Kairi, since not only is Aqua eligible to train due to her master status, she unknowingly passed down her Keyblade-wielding ability to Kairi back in Birth By Sleep. Towards the middle of end of the game, Kairi will show up and likely be an optional party member for either Sora or Riku, or may fight alongside them as an NPC for the final boss battle.

Sora will fail the Mark of Mastery Exam

During KH 2, Co M, and Bb S, several characters had mentioned that Darkness itself isn't bad and that there must be a balance of light and darkness. Because of this, maybe Sora's possible overabundance of the light will cause Yen Sid to think that Sora is not yet worthy of the title Keyblade Master.

• Kind of doubtful. Sora clearly has darkness in his heart, as demonstrated by the presence of Anti-Form. Sure, he's clearly got more light than darkness, but that's just who he is, and you can't really fault someone for being who they are so long as they acknowledge the need for balance.
  • Well... there's a rumor going around about the ending and this is the very outcome. Riku becomes a master, and Sora doesn't. For currently unknown reasons, Sora leaves to go on his own(also very vague right now)adventure.
    • CONFIRMED. Don't blame Sora, though; he had to be escorted out after Xehanort broke his heart, literally.

Cyan, Gabranth, Cid Raines, and Shantotto will appear to emphasize various aspects that Sora and Riku need to learn.

(Please note for Gabranth and Shantotto I am going by Dissidia incarnations)

Cyan is there to emphasize patience, motive, and tragedy. His fighting style requires him to wait to dish out power attacks (patience), Motive is to keep Sora from fighting senseless battles (See Cyan just after Doma vs End Game Cyan), and Tragedy is to remind Sora that no matter what, things can end badly and you must be prepared. (And I'm a total Cyan fangirl)

Gabranth is about judgement and despair. No matter what, someone will claim power over you and you can do very little about it. Even if you fight against it, you may only be delaying the inevitable. (Gabranth will also judge Sora at a point).

Cid Raines is about manipulation, grey morality, and redemption. Sora has a tendency to have things work in his favor. Cid is there to show him what happens when it doesn't. Sora may also have to realize that people may do the wrong things for the right reasons or the right things for the wrong reasons (See Cid attacking the XIII group to save Cocoon), but in the end, Sora will also relearn that everyone can be redeemed.

Finally, Shantotto is magic and to not judge by appearances. Sora's not very good at magic (especially advanced ones unless he's in an alternate form), so Shantotto will teach him the more advanced spells. Sora may eventually laugh her off due to her size and rhyming style of speech... until she demolishes him in a fight.

Sora will cease to exist partway through/after the mark of mastery (or become comatose or become Vanitas)

Due to the fact that he has about five different personalities in him (Sora, Ven, Roxas, Vanitas, and Xion) and Ven is his emotional/heart cornerstone, once Ven is removed (either naturally or by force) his own identity will break apart, leading to him either turning into a "Blank" (like an unformed Xion) or Vanitas taking over due to Ven not keeping his darkness in check.

• • Confirmed; Sora's heart is shattered, though it is repaired. Happens near the end though.

Frollo will hold Sora on trial

After seeing him either draw his keyblade or do a fire spell, he would believe that Sora is a witch.

• Alternatively, he might believe Dream Eaters to be demons, and be out to destroy both types; along with anyone who associates with them.
• Jossed, Frollo actually uses the dream eaters to help him. Sora doesn't get a trial, but he does get into a small bit of trouble, with a Lampshade thrown on how well his outfit fits in 14th century Paris.

Sora will have a massive change of heart

If you'll pardon the pun. As stated, Sora has about 5 personalities, and considering one's going to be removed soon, it's quite possible Sora will merge and become a totally different person, possibly a slow change throughout the game. This may be used to set up a Darker and Edgier KH 3.

• Doubtful, I'd expect it to be the other way around. They become less a part of his heart because they're all gonna be removed.

Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnas are illusions

Sora and Riku fight them as part of their Mark of Mastery Exam.

Possible voice actors for Frollo

Due to the tragic passing of Tony Jay, it would be impossible to find someone to emulate his voice. However, here are some potential VAs:

• Corey Burton — After hearing him as Sark and Shockwave, he has potential.
• Kelsey Grammer — This AMV gave me the idea.

• • Jossed: It's Jim Cummings.

The Reaper's game isn't quite the same at the one shown in TWEWY

• The... Square cameos are never a straight up lift from the character's canon. And death doesn't work the same way in the two canons. So it stands to reason that the Reaper's game will be at least somewhat different in KH verse.
  • If the translations are correct, Neku is talking about dying rather then Erasement. Maybe his actual life is on the line?
  • Um, erasure equals dying in TWEWY, too. But I agree that the rules are slightly different in KH 3D. For example, when Neku first approaches Sora, his timer is on and running. And he seems to know the rules already (i.e. the fact that this it the Game and he must avoid dying). His human partner is nowhere to be seen, however, it's implied that he fights alongside a catlike Dream Eater. Oddly enough, while this couldn't be any further than week one day four because Rhyme is still around, Neku seems to be a lot more sociable than he was in his own game.

This is the only game that non FF characters will appear in.

• TGS confirmed that at least part of this game (the part with Neku) is some sort of illusion. As a result, this gives Square a chance to put non FF characters in the game without messing the plot up. Since the worlds don't completely/really exist, the character options are more fluid. If this is true, expect other characters like Crono, Nier, and Aya. Cosmos is another possibility.
  • Characters designed by Nomura are probably the most likely on either side of the FF fence.

The old Tagline from the original will return this time.

• New worlds, a non FF or Disney character, the walrus and bat, the perspective shifts, and other known info. Lots of things seem new, so unlike the last few, it seems this time, "You never know who you'll run into next."
  • Now it's a bit of a stretch, but 2012 marking the tenth anniversary of the whole series supports this theory.

Riku cut his hair as a way to symbolically distance himself from the past.

• It just seems like a thing he would do.
  • Actually, this could likely be the case. In Japan, it's commonly known that cutting one's hair usually coincides with wanting to forget past mistakes and starting a new life as a better person (see Important Haircut).

Sora's and Riku's dream eater companions will eventually evolve into either powerful beasts or Eldritch Abominations.

• It's highly doubtful that Nomura, the person who designed threatening creatures like the heartless, unversed, and nobodies, would leave us with partners named "Bark-da-Meow" and "Bat Bat" for the entire game. Other than leading us to the "keyhole of sleep," there has to be something more to them than just being "cute fighter pets."

The Composer from the World Ends With You transported Neku into the Kingdom Hearts universe by the request of Yen Sid.

• Being a powerful wizard, Yen Sid tapped into another dimension to seek help from a certain all-powerful being, ie the Composer, to help with Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exams. The Composer complies and drops Neku into the dreamworld's Traverse Town to aid Sora. Since "trust" seems to be the main focus of this game, he chose an antisocial person like Neku as a means of letting Sora question his trust for Riku.
• Or a (slightly) alternate theory...

The Composer, having the ability to travel between different dimensions, decided to stop by the Kingdom Hearts universe to check around for a bit. Unfortunately, he brought Neku with him.

• Being informed about the dilemma befalling the Worlds, he brings along his proxy Mr. Emo and puts him in the Reaper's Game to help out Sora. Unless Nomura alters the Game's rules, he'll be the one taking Neku's entry fee and will be closely watching them from the sidelines. Thus, not only will Neku make an appearance, but the Composer as well. ...Hee hee~
• Given all of the Christian symbolism popping up in KH, it wouldn't be out of place. JESUS BEAM!

The Neku here is from a different Alternate Universe than the main story or Another Day.

• He'll be a total Jerkass without Character Development or Tin Pin Slammer. Not only that, but Composers, Angels, and Higher Beings from the main The World Ends With You storyline can travel to this dimension. Cameos of the Composer and Producer are to be expected.

The Realm of Sleep Sora and Riku will travel through will allow access into the subconsciousness of the worlds.

It's already been established that worlds have hearts like people, so why can't they have memories as well? Memories have factored heavily into the series in the past, and I'm pretty sure many have heard the "unconscious mind is an iceberg" metaphor: our conscious thoughts, feelings, and memories only make up a small fraction of our mind, with the rest of the "iceberg" being a large mass that lies beneath the surface. Thus, the Mark of Mastery Exam has another motive besides preparing Sora and Riku for the inevitable battle against Xehanort, one that Yen Sid is most likely aware of and counting on: it is through this plane of existence that Sora and Riku will learn the history of the Land of Departure (namely Xehanort submerging the world in darkness, Aqua restructuring it into Castle Oblivion, and Aqua leaving the comatose Ven in the Chamber of Waking), thus providing them with clues as to how Sora will help save everyone.

• This seems to be the case. In the Jump Festa 2012 trailer, Sora thinks that Mickey is in the Three Musketeers world because "it's a place the king traveled to, some time he doesn't know about." It looks like the Realm of Sleep worlds will be "past" versions, not taking place in the present; so the Pinocchio world, for example, will be before it got destroyed pre-KH 1. Dream!Jiminy won't know Sora.

Sora and Riku are actually traveling through the Realm of Sleep in order to wake Ven up

The room Aqua left Ven's body in is called the chamber of Awakening. Something tells me that the Chamber of Awakening is closely connected to the Realm of Sleep; I mean, it's right there in the name!

Oswald will appear and is revealed to be sealed in the realm of sleep

To put this simply, he was Yen Sid's first apprentice, but struck out on his own when he heard of trouble, caused possibly by Master Xehanort, and he was sealed in the realm of sleep. When Sora and Riku drop in that realm, Oswald will show up and see a connection between the Masters to be and the one who sealed him there. In addition, all the worlds encountered will be worlds that are awaiting their second chance, their Birth By Sleep, after having been destroyed by the Heartless and having not been restored. Oswald being in the game will make a reference to how those worlds were forgotten. He may be working with the Dream Eater leader (named Hypnos for fun) to merge all the worlds in the Realm of Sleep into one Kingdom.

• Jossed

Instead of of Oswald, a certain feline will appear

Julius the Cat to be precise, or maybe as a Joke Boss.

• As in the Julius from Runaway Brain? If so:CONFIRMED

Possible Worlds

• Notre Dame is a given, as it's already confirmed.
• Camelot as seen in The Sceptre and the Kingdom along side Notre Dame.
  • Will also explain why Merlin is in Hollow Bastion.
• Jungle Book's world for some fun.
• Chicken Little's world
  • a sora that falls. haha.
• Dumbo's world
• Bambi's world (for a breather)
• Tokyo(Neku's homeworld)
  • Why not Land of the Rising Sun, Land of Dragon was called Lo D but they explicitly say China in the world itself (particularly Mushu and The Emporer)
    • I agree that some kind of made-up name would be involved, the "Land of the Rising Sun" evokes old Japan more than shiny modern fashionista Shibuya.
• Atlantis
  • Named the lost Empire
• New York or Hero City(Oliver and Company or Marvel)
• Tresure Planet world(done similar to Port Royal)
• The Bayou(Princess and the Frog)
• The New World(Pocahontus. Name will also be lampshaded)
• The Wasteland(Oswald's homeworld)(Boss:Phantom Blot)
• Andy's Room (Toy Story), if only to put the jossed designs for Wooody and Buzz to good use.
• Lady and the Tramp(Traverse Town); not necessarily a world, but maybe as a cameo/sidequest similar to the dalmations.
• Pinocchio's world
  • Comfirmed as Prankster's Paradise. Now let's wait for the song parody.
• Keyblade Graveyard
  • Technically it might be already confirmed as Kingdom Hearts original worlds to the series are returning. Depends on if they mean the series or original game by Kingdom Hearts
• The Kingdom of the Sun(The Emporer's New Groove)
• Hawaii(Lilo and Stitch)- Deep Space was pre-Lilo and Stitch was a summon in KHII so this could explain why he was a summon.
• End of the World- it is the heartless of the worlds yes, but it is also a world that has ceases to be, and since nothing is ever truly destroyed in the Kingdom Hearts Universe, plus the fact that the game involves worlds that were not restored after KHI, this seems very likely.

The Key of Sleep will be...

• The X-Blade. Or at least, a replica of it. And the Keyhole of Sleep will be unlocking Ventus's memories (maybe even Vanitas, Xion, and Roxas's too) and allowing Sora to realize what he has to do to save them all.
• Jossed

Sho Minamimoto will appear.

• It's been confirmed that Neku is in the middle of playing The Game as shown by his timer. Logically, there must be a Gamemaster. It can't be the Composer, as he's too imbalanced for the Game to be fair. However, in TWEWY, Sho left behind a body while every other reaper faded upon death. It's been theorized before that he was kept alive by the Composer as he's entertaining. It makes sense that he'd be used as the Gamemaster, being one of the highest ranked reapers at the end of TWEWY.
  • I don't know about that. TWEWY was basically confirmed to one day get a sequel (you can see it on its page). They'd most likely keep Sho for the sequel. I don't totally discount the thought that he may be in the game, but it'd have to end with him escaping again. Assuming TWEWY and Kingdom Hearts are in the same continuity.
  • WMG seconded by User:Alex Sora 89. So far, confirmed TWEWY characters are Neku, Shiki, Joshua, Beat, and Rhyme. Given this is already awesome and rejoice-inducing by itself, we could say that we already have enough characters, considering TWEWY characters only have cameos and therefore aren't going to be central to the plot, as Kingdom Hearts I did the same with characters from Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. However, with that said, such a large amount of returning characters needs a villain from their same world (even if it's just for an early subplot), so Square Enix is likely to be Genre Savvy enough to pick up an Ensemble Darkhorse like Sho Minamimoto in order to make the rejoicing begin anew.
  • Sho or any other Gamemaster might make an appearance. Much like any Disney world, where the player (Sora or the trio from BBS) more or less followed the events of the original movie, Sora and Riku here seems to be following the events of the original Game (i.e. these are not post-TWEWY events, these are TWEWY events set in KH universe). For example, Shiki still looks like Eri, and Rhyme doesn't have any memories whatsoever. Also, Joshua says the exact same line he told Neku at the end of the week 2, when Sho was around.
  • On the other hand, Xemnas/Xehanort might take the entire role of a Gamemaster, setting the rules of the Game (Neku at one point is seen charging at a hooded figure yelling "This is not what we agreed on!") — but then it's unclear what would that make of Joshua's role.

TWEWY is now part of the Kingdom Hearts Universe

• The theory explains itself. The only problem is whether it'll actually get a world of it's own (which creates its own problem — would it be Shibuya or "Earth"?) or whether Neku showing up in Traverse Town means that his world is destroyed. That's what Traverse Town was in Kingdom Hearts 1 — a world that housed people whose own worlds were destroyed.
  • By the fact that Shibuya isn't seen in the Realm of Sleep (where all the worlds that weren't perfectly restored went) it see like Shibuya is restored.

Rescuing Ventus will be one of the main objectives for this game.

Warning: Many Unmarked Spoilers for BBS. Read at own risk.

• From Aqua's ending in Birth by Sleep:

Yensid: The boy's heart is sleeping. Yensid: It sleeps in the place between light and darkness. From all I can perceive, that means he will be looking for a friend --- one who believes in him, to show him the way home. Just as long as you (Aqua) love him, then Ventus will be able to find you when he wakes. He can follow that love back to where he belongs --- the realm of light.

Alright, so Ven's heart is "sleeping" within a place "between light and darkness." The game's premise is set within a "dream," where Sora and Riku have to travel through incomplete worlds lying in stasis "between light and darkness". I think you can see where I'm going with this.

To elaborate, Ventus' heart is somewhere deep inside the Dreamworld, most likely beyond the Keyhole of Sleep. However, because Ventus is presently inside Sora's heart, I'm going to say that this will only take place in Sora's story, since Riku shouldn't have any bonds/affiliations with him. It's stated by Yen Sid that Ven will need his friends (Aqua, Terra, and Mickey) to help him wake up. Unfortunately, Aqua is out of commission, Terra is having his own problems, and Mickey can't really do much of anything (I'd imagine it'd be very complicated, and painful, to separate a person from their heart, especially one with multiple hearts) This leaves the task to Sora, who will have to look within himself, aka go inside his dreams, and become the "friend" that Ventus needs to guide him back to the realm of light.

The game's secondary theme is Setting Right what once went wrong.

The worlds in the game were destroyed by the heartless but not restored with the closing of the door to darkness. Sora and Riku will arrive at a point in the world's dream that matches the events of that world's destruction but with the dream eaters in place of the heartless. By defeating the main Dream Eater there and sealing the Keyhole of Sleep(notice the similarities to the original Kingdom Hearts) the world will be restored.

The Leader of the Dream Eaters

Is neither Xehanort's Heartles nor Xemnas. It could be Master Xehanort, but it might be a completely new character. If it is a new character his/her name might be related to sleep.

On that note maybe the Keyblade master of sleep.

• It's quite possible that the leader could be the Mysterious Figure seen in Birth by Sleep.
  • CONFIRMED. The Mysterious Figure is the head of all of this.

A riku that soars, a sora that falls

Isn't talking about the characters. It was said in that way to avoid people realizing he was talking about worlds.

A Sora that falls. Sora means sky. A sky that falls. Chicken Little World.

A Riku that soars. Riku means Land. A land that falls... Few ideas but none specific.

• I think you mean a land that soars. Hmm...Neverland, maybe?
  • You try writing a WMG at 3 in the morning with 0 sleep for a week. Also yeah maybe but the worlds are the ones that were destroyed by the heartless and not restore when the door to darkness was sealed thus they are still in a state of stasis as was explained for inhabitants in KHI Never Land was active in KHI.
  • Oh, well sorry to hear that. But I still think Neverland is possible world. Yes, it was intact in KH 1 and 358/2 Days, but there's no telling that it was succumbed by the darkness shortly before KH 2. (It's keyhole wasn't sealed either...unless London counts?) Besides, Peter was a summon in KH 2, so something must have happened to him.
  • I think you've quite nailed it in advance!

The Pinocchio world will have you fight the Coachman

An opportunity to fight one of the biggest Karma Houdinis in the Disney Animated Canon? It must be done..

The Coachman will die in a cutscene

It happened with Tremaine and her daughters in BBS, so why not?

• Alternatively, he'll turn into a donkey.

The Riku that soars and a Sora that falls is not the two teens

Instead the phrase is talking about two characters. These character will be Terra and Ventus, considering that Terra fell last time it would be symbolic that he soars this time and a similar situation with Ventus. He will show up with everyone who knows Roxas thinking he's Roxas but wondering why he looks so different(clothing). It might also have a connection to Re:Coded's opening where he disappears from the Chamber of Waking.

• • As said above, User:Alex Sora 89 thinks this theory is pretty much confirmed, except it's really Riku and Sora.

Sora and Riku will eventually learn how to use the more versatile aspects of the Keyblade thanks to Yen Sid's training.

BBS confirms that Yen Sid is a retired Keyblade Master, and he's the only character on the side of good who's 1) not out of commission and 2) hails from the time when Keyblade wielders (the ones we know of, anyway) were able to transform their Keyblades into... well, stuff other than Keyblades. It wouldn't make sense for Yen Sid to not share the secrets of the Keyblade, especially if it could help prepare them for the future and the battle with Xehanort.

What vehicle will Sora's Keyblade be able to turn into? A skateboard. And not just any skateboard, a lifting hoverboard. With Weaponized Exhaust.

• And one assumes that Riku gets a hoverbike?
  • Given the final battle in II, most certainly.

The location of Terra is known all along simply due to a thread of connection

This hit like a ton of bricks. Terra and Riku share many similarities right? Both are named for the earth in some way. Both are the big brother of their group. Both relie on power more than their friends. They also were body-jacked by the same being in two different states of bodilessness.They also have one more similarity:

• Remember how at the end of Birth By Sleep that the talk Terra and Xehanort have in the heart that Terra is harboring Eraqus within him. Okay heres the fun part, Riku was possessed by the heartless of the Xehanort created when Master Xehanort possessed Terra, a two for one heartless if you will, and when the encoded blew up kingdom hearts at World that Never Was he was purged of darkness, keep in mind that Terra's heart was not purely darkness. The similarities shown seem to imply Terra did to Riku what Eraqus did to him. Shielding him from being completely overwhelmed by Xehanort darkness.

Explination of Three Musketeer's World being present

Okay. Let's assume, for a moment and the purposes of this, that Epic Mickey is, in some form, a prequel to Kingdom Hearts, from before Mickey started his Keyblade Apprenticeship. He was a regular mouse (who would one day be King) and stumbled into a world full of forgotten cartoons (and seriously screwed things up before putting them right again). How many of us really liked the Disney 3 Musketeers movie? It was a Direct to DVD release that most of us probably passed by. Automatically forgotten in favor of whatever else was coming out that year. I saw it once, only because they showed it on Disney Channel, and sort of just went "Meh. It was okay." before rewatching Labyrinth or something on Nickelodeon and moving on. In Epic Mickey there were, as I recall, originally plans to have multiples of characters from different cartoons — the original Goofy, as well as Robot!Goofy, etc. Maybe, some time after Epic Mickey, Yen Sid decided it would be safer for Oswald if his world were more secluded from the rest of the world. And so, he put the world to Sleep and let it dream. All the inhabitants relatively safe, but new ones joining all the time. Different versions of beloved characters who just weren't quite as loved as their normal selves. And so Oswald's world expanded, off shoots of the main hub (The world we explore in Epic Mickey) to whole worlds that were forgotten.

And one of those worlds is Disney's The Three Musketeers.

Another explanation for Three Musketeer's World

Mickey, Donald, or Goofy are dreaming, that world is their dream. Problem solved.

Instead of Yen Sid, Namine is actually the one responsible for keeping Sora and Riku in the Realm of Sleep.

Namine has control over memories. Since dreams are technically our subconcious thoughts influenced by our own memories, I can see Namine having control over the worlds' dreams as well, putting the protagonists through their Mark of Mastery by merging their dreams with the worlds' dreams using the sleeping pods at the Abandoned Mansion. Based on the fact that 3D's opening has Kairi changing into Namine, Namine(through Kairi) will somehow use her powers to manipulate Sora and Riku into each world's dream, thus explaining why no one recognizes them; the world can't remember them, since they're not part of their memories. This theory also explains why Kairi and the Twilight Town gang (whom I'm guessing got involved) were looking up at the mansion in Zero Points.(00:28) They will be using the sleeping pods as I mentioned above.

• Now, if we assume that the world's memories/dreams are actually the world's depictions of past events prior to being destroyed, Namine could very much be literally rewriting history itself. There's no telling what this could lead to...
  • Jossed.

In the world based on The Three Musketeers, there will be Dream Eaters wearing Pete masks

If Rule of Funny doesn't already justify this, awesome Shout-Outs do. And maybe we'll get to hear the line, "We dropped the safe on the princess of heart!"

The data inside Sora explains how Xehanort killed Ansem's apprentices

The scene of Xehanort killing the other members (well, really just removing their hearts) seem like they would make the most sense if they were in the data Ansem put in Sora. Otherwise, they would just randomly appear out of nowhere.

Nobodies cannot remember what happened when they fell to darkness

Okay, so even though in the TGS trailer it seems that Xehanort killed Ansem's apprentices, they still follow him. Also, Xehanort doesn't use a Keyblade in nobody or heartless form, and he also doesn't seem to have any of his past memories. So, what probably happened was Xehanort tampered with the darkness, unlocking his memories of being Master Xehanort, and the Amnesiac Dissonance caused him to temporarily go crazy and kill the others. Then either his darkness overtook him or he killed himself as well. The splitting process removed everyone's memories. This means that Ansem's apprentices will probably have Heel Face Turns if they return. Also, since Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and Xenmas are dead, the combined form will have Master Xehanort's memories.

• That is feasible. In KHII, when who Roxas is was explained to Sora he didn't remember being turned into a heartless at first, it's possible that they do have the memory but a little prodding is all that is really needed to remember for the whole being to remember.
• or maybe some of Terra since Terranort shows up in the trailer.
  • I'm pretty sure that's Young Master Xehanort.

The worlds are "sleeping" because they're damaged in some way, and aren't necessarily limited to the ones submerged in darkness before Kingdom Hearts I

Now, it's quite possible that La Cite de Cloches and Prankster's Paradise were swallowed by the darkness, since we haven't seen them before. But what about The Country of the Musketeers and the TRON: Legacy world? We've seen worlds using their characters (or at least, from similar backgrounds) before, and even been to them, and it doesn't seem likely Disney Castle or Space Paranoids were submerged in darkness after KHII. According to the Famitsu article after the Tokyo Game Show, the dreams of the worlds submerged in sleep are the setting, and once the keyhole of sleep in each world is found, they will be restored to their original form. Also in the trailer, Yen Sid says that the worlds that are asleep cannot be reached by the Heartless... we already know that the Heartless can't enter Disney Castle under normal circumstances (due to the Cornerstone of Light), and we've never seen Heartless get into Space Paranoids, except for the program Heartless generated internally by the MCP. We also know that in Kingdom Hearts, sleep is often a medium for recovery... perhaps these worlds we've seen in 3D are secretly damaged and trying to heal.

• To add to this, any damage to Space Paranoids is likely due to internal causes (probably something similar to whatever caused the change between the first Tron movie and Tron: Legacy...so I couldn't sit through Tron: Legacy and find out everything, sue me) as opposed to Xehanort's influence.
  • On that note it was mention(I believe by Tron himself) that the Space Paranoids in Ansem's computer is nothing more than a copy that was made by a thief. Maybe the game will also explain that.

The Xehanorts in the realm of sleep

Everyone is jumping to the conclusion that the young xehanort at the end of the Jump Festa trailer is Terranort but he's not. First he seems too young(as in his design seems younger than Terra's) more like what one would imagine riku would look like if he was possessed by MX in current day. This seems to implie that he is in fact the Master Xehanort restored to a more youthful body. just compare to Xemnas or even Terra, even the hairstyle from the back seems more in line with the young Xehanort we've seen in the flashback. It just seems that there is more to it after all they are in a world of sleep.

• On that note, when they save the sleeping worlds MX will be restored as well but at the same time there will also be a Terranort, each symbolising Xehanort's Heartless and Xemnes respectively to go with what Yen Sid said in Signs of What's Next.
• Seconded by User:Alex Sora 89. In the trailer, the first Xehanort seen is Terranort, while the hairstyle of the second (the one appearing alongside Vanitas) makes it pretty clear that's Young Master Xehanort.

Sora takes Sam's place

in the Tron Legacy world.

• Jossed

All the worlds/characters have something to do with trust, since it's the main theme of the game

Self-explanitory but let's go deeper. Also the TWEWY characters are in the game and there was a similar theme in their game.

• La Cite des Cloches: Quasimodo trusts Frollo
• Pranksters' Paradise: Pinochio is trustful of everyone.
• The Country of the Musketeers: The trio trust each other for starters.
• Tron Legacy: Sam trusted Castor(the guy working with Gem)... okay technically he trusted Gem.
  • A bigger one from Tron Legacy would be that Kevin trusted CLU.
    • True but the only confirmed character is Rinzler which would lead to a bit of a tear jerker for Sora(we should all know why). Also there was the trust between Sam and Quorra.

There are two Mickeys

The one seen in The Country of the Musketeers is the King but what about the proper one of that world. Simple they pulled a Prince and the Pauper. Make sense don't it.

• • Well, this would also mean a world based on the actual Disney version of The Prince and The Pauper is a no-go. What a pity... no, seriously. Except this is unlikely, because 1) Disney rarely misses cash-cow-milking chances, and 2) in the 8-minute trailer, Mickey clearly shows to know Sora.
    • 1)No no they could still have a prince and the pauper world but this way if they never use it they have a reference to it. 2) I agree there and 3) The Mickey in T Cot M knows of the keyblade not of Sora, so this Dream-Mickey is most likely between his apprenticeship to Yen Sid and leaving Disney Castle to stop the heartless.

The Cloaked Riku from the Jump 2012 Trailer

Is not the Riku-Replica... It's Jiminy's Journal.

• Seconded by User:Alex Sora 89. Repliku didn't have any cloak. JJ did, though. However, both were seen and fought in their Dark Mode, so who knows...
• Thirded. While I don't know abut Repliku much, JJ does look exactly like this Cloaked Riku from Jump trailer.
  • I disagree. Jiminy's Journal uses a data field thingy to remove his hood. In the trailer, Cloaked Riku uses his hands.

Pride Lands will make an appearance

If a Pinochio based world can be in the game with the well known cricket despite Jiminy being in the real world then Pride Lands can be in the game as well. Though it will deal with a younger Simba.

• • But the Pride Lands have already shown up, and this time it's all new worlds.
    • What you'd rather see a bambi world or a dumbo world? Besides Space Paranoids is returning.
      • We don't actually know that Space Paranoids is returning, just that There will be a world based on Tron:Legacy. In KH 2 Tron mentioned that Ansem based Space Paranoids on some other computer system, this might have something to do with that.
  • Dunno if it actually is Pride Lands, but a very Pride Lands-ish world appears in the new gameplay videos on the game website. Although Sora is a human and they may just have used Pride Lands for the sake of demonstration.

The series already pulled many homage shots in order to replicate moments from Disney movies despite Sora replacing the characters seen in said movies because he's their equivalent; this game will do the same with The World Ends With You as well, though.

Just look at this. It's the very same pose Neku had in one of his standard mugshots.

Tetsuya Nomura has been so generous about characters from The World Ends With You because there aren't going to be any Final Fantasy characters in the game.

This is because FF characters haven't popped up yet despite the game supposedly coming out in March 2012, and in order to keep Final Fantasy cameos exclusive to Playstation installments of the Kingdom Hearts series from now on, while The World Ends With You will appear on Nintendo KH games instead. Despite this isn't entirely true since there's a "Final Fantasy All-stars" game coming out for the 3DS (namely Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, featuring the entire cast of Dissidia Final Fantasy), the possibility is bound to turn the TWEWY characters from ATFR-inducing into replacement-scrappies, especially for the series' Fan Dumb. This troper is calling it right now.

• Another thing this very same troper forgot to mention was the fact that all Disney worlds will be new, making this the very first game without Olympus Colosseum. This world has always been present thanks to a very japanese trope, the same trope that made many FF characters' appearances (the most notable of which being Sephiroth, Auron and Zack) a whole lot more plausible. This only further screws up FF characters' chances to appear in 3D. Except for Moogles, already seen in the Jump Festa trailers, but they appeared in every game in the KH series, including Days, the other KH game without any other FF characters. Again, calling it right now.
  • • I Knew It!! It's been basically confirmed in the Nintendo Power interview: "In previous games in the Kingdom Hearts series, Final Fantasy characters made appearances and gave Sora guidance to help with his adventure. This time, it’s characters from The World Ends with You who perform that role". On the good side, this implies the characters' roles will be far more relevant to the story than just mere cameos, but on the bad side... just, damn it, Nomura.

Time Travel may be involved in this game.

As a wild idea for why some of the past villains have returned.

• Wait you mean in the possible real world sequences right?
• I support the theory, but don't want to state why because I already did previously in another WMG you can find in the Kingdom Hearts page, namely the one about the Mysterious Figure from Birth by Sleep being Luxord.

We'll see more of the organization members revived

If the scene between Lea, Ienzo and Aeleus takes place in the real world (of the kingdom heart games) then it is likely other apprentices will be revived as well. This leads to some problematic situation involving Braig though. That means we'll also learn the real names of the Demyx through to Larxene.

• Confirmed by Nomura in an Famitsu interview. He does not reveal who else, but the other Apprentices are almost a given.

Vanitas will try a Grand Theft Me on Sora

If he does show up in the game other than the freaky double talking with Xehanort he'll troll Sora as much as he did Ven. It's a bonus if he is Sora's final boss though but that seems unlikely.

• yep, it's Jossed

We will see Shiki Misaki's Real-Self.

Well that have Shiki Misaki in the Games, So it would be Something if her Real-Self is fully show in this Games.

After all if thay going to be 2nd The World Ends With You they will be no way that She'll look like Eri again.

• O RLY? Because, if the 8-minute official trailer is anything to go by, that's exactly what's gonna happen.
  • Really? Becasue I didn't see her Real-Self in the Trailer.
    • That's what I meant with the bullet point above yours. Shiki looking like Eri again is what's going to happen because the TWEWY characters are faithful to their portrayal in the original game, rather than advancing their own story (they need their own game to do so). So, Shiki sports her usual look, rather than her raven-haired look that's barely even seen in TWEWY's ending. Hence my sarcastic "O RLY?".
      • I meant we're going to get to see the Real Shiki in this Game, Before the Next TWEWY's Games happen. I know she still look like Eri, You just Miss My Point.

Xion will somewhat take Shiki's Realself form.

Why? Becasue she a Doll that have No form, so she take her form of Shiki's Realself before Sore/Roxas remember her again.

Riku's story will end with Riku sacrificing himself in order to free Terra from Xehanort's control.

Riku will stab Terranort in the chest with Way To The Dawn, but while this will release Terra, Xehanort's heart will possess Riku in the process, thus starting everything since BBS until KHcoded again. Maybe it'd be a bit bleak considering Sora's story is likely to end a bit better, but given the handheld installments of the series have quite a tendency to avoid legitimately happy endings ( except for one), this outcome is really easy to imagine. What makes even more sense about it is that history repeating would make Kingdom Hearts III a fitting Grand Finale, complete with basically the events of Birth by Sleep with enough Genre Savvy by the protagonists to allow them to avoid making mistakes. In short, III would abridge the KH series much like Dragon Ball KAI abridged the original DBZ series.

• • So you want Terra to be freed and Riku to be possessed(again), isn't that a bit redundent. I doubt they would do something like that because the two have so many similarities already and it would wear thin with many fans. On that note the Xehanort in the 2012 Jump trailer is a young MX thus being likely that he will be reborn like that rather than possess someone else again.
    • Ugh, hell no. When I stated my theory, I didn't mean it was something I wanted by that. It's just something I feared.
      • Okay I understand now, I guess I need to work on my reading of syntax. Then it's agreed it would be redundant.

When/if Lea runs into Sora and Riku he'll become Team Dad or Big Brother Mentor

Especially if Roxas and Xion become their own persons/people, indivduals separate from Sora and Ven. The reason they (Roxas and Xion) would make him even more qualified for this role is because he basically raised them while he was Axel. Plus Lea seemed like a relatively nice guy in BBS

• He may also try to be this to Sora and Riku as an attempt to redeem himself for the misdeeds he's commited while he was Axel
• well he certainly showed shades of Papa Wolf when he rescued Sora from Xehanort.

Mickey will reveal Xion's existence to Lea

In the trailer Lea is shown defending Mickey and friends from Maleficent. The reason he's there is a mystery to me as of this moment. Maybe Ienzo told him that some of Ansem's Tech is on a world he's never seen before and asked him (Lea) to get it for him(Ienzo), who really knows at this point. After Lea saves Mickey, Mickey will then tell him about Xion. This may have something to do with Xion becoming her own person.

• Interesting theory, but does Mickey even know about her? And even if he did, wouldn't have have forgotten about her like everyone else?
  • He does know about her now. You can just thank Data Naminé for that.
    • Yes, but only as "black-haired girl whose name I don't know". And describing that to Lea probably won't trigger remembering her, to be honest.
    • Remember, her memories were absorbed into Sora. Spending some time with Lea might awaken some of her and Roxas's memories, therefor theres a possibility (which I think is likely) that Sora will learn Xion's name through said memories and the he'll tell Lea. Sora may even force Lea to reanact that tearjerking fight he had with Xion back in Days if it is needed.
    • Well then, I'd be interested to see if they can do that and how.

Vanitas's return will be due to Xehanort.

This troper's theory: From what this troper understands, during the battle in the center of Ventus's heart, when Ventus defeated Vanitas, Vanitas disappeared but lay dormant within his heart, and by extension, Sora's heart. It could explain why Anti-Sora exists. Whenever Sora activates a Drive Form, he taps into Ventus's heart, which is how he could wield two keyblades during those forms (or at least have heightened magic / attack power, in the case of Wisdom and Limit Form). Whenever it backfires, Sora becomes corrupted by the darkness that lay within, which is Vanitas. This in turn, turns him into Anti-Sora.

So, Xehanort, at some point in this game, will unlock or do SOMETHING to Sora's heart that will remove that darkness and revive Vanitas. It'll be up to the creators to figure out how this would affect anything else within Sora, such as Ventus's heart and Sora's own heart. Either way, the darkness that lay within, is Vanitas. And somehow, Vanitas will escape and be reborn.

The TWEWY Players will be allies, and can also be fought later in the game.

At some point in the game, you will fight them all, just like how the player fights Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, and Squall in Kingdom Hearts II.

• This only supports my theory above about TWEWY cameos acting as FF characters' replacements on Nintendo consoles from this game onwards.

Vanitas will attempt to fool Sora into thinking he's his other half or something along those lines

Come on, something has to be made of the identical faces and voices. He may also attempt to fool others that he is Sora gone bad, which would fit in with the trust theme of the game. Given how the only good guys who have seen Vanitas are Mickey, Aqua, and Ventus and the former never saw his face, it may take a while to clear up the confusion.

More Possible Worlds

Ones that aren't already listed above.

• James and the Giant Peach: Sora and Riku could land on the peach during James' travel and the fights could either include ones with the sharks or the pirates.
• The Swan Princess: Given that there is a princess and it is a fantasy world.
• Corpse Bride: Given that it's the successor of The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Lady and the Tramp
• Oliver and Company
• The Aristocats
• The Brave Little Toaster: It's not really a Disney movie but it's one of the classics.
  • How many of these are Disney movies? Classic or not, they kind of have to belong to Disney.
    • Corpse Bride is a Warner Bros movie, so it's kind of a no-go. Despite being made by Tim Burton and all.
• Treasure Planet

The memories of those in the Realm of Sleep are altered

That is why most of them seem to know of the dream eaters. They're memories of the heartless are altered because the Dream Eaters are the form of darkness takes in the realm of sleep.

There will be an ingame explanation for the two types of Dream Eaters

Dream Eaters are the way darkness forms in the Realm of Sleep but there are the kind helpful Spirits that consume nightmares and the antagonistic Nightmares that consume dreams. The most likely explanation for this is Dark Is Not Evil and Yen Sid is trying to show just that.

Every so often we'll see Kairi practicing with her Keyblade

She'll probably will be practicing with Wakka Tidus and Selphie. We may also get a few quick moments in which we play as her to see how much she's progressed. By the end of the game she'll have arouund as much skill Sora had at the end of KH 1.

Lea and Kairi will re-meet....and it'll be awkward as hell

Cause you know Lea (as Axel) kidnapped her in KH 2

Mickey will somehow convince Lea to help train Kairi

And like the above wmg said, it'll be awkward.

The Mysterious Tower was part of Symphony of Sorcery

Until that world was attack and destroyed by the darkness. Yen Sid just worked his magic and turned it into its own world until sos can be restored.

• Alternatively, maybe the Mysterious Tower is the world from which Symphony of Sorcery can be accessed, like how the 100 Acre Wood is accessible from Traverse Town/Hollow Bastion. The one scan shown so far has an image of notes coming out of Yen Sid's book, after all.

The realm of Sleep is the Cartoon Wasteland

that is the only explanation for there to be two worlds with a Mickey Mouse in them.

• Jossed

The multiple Sora's in the demo is a reference to Mickey

why else would we get not only the KH Mickey Mouse, but also the Musketeer Mickey and Sorcerer Mickey? What next Braindrain Mickey?

• Sort-of-Jossed. It's an actual event, the falling Soras thing. Just not a homage to the two other Mickeys.

Kingdom Hearts 3D will have 13 worlds.

Nomura said that 3D will be "on par with a numbered title", meaning that it's essentially a main storyline game, right? Well, so far every main storyline game (and Chain of Memories) has had no fewer than thirteen worlds (KHII had fourteen, if you don't count the Mysterious Tower and Timeless River). 3D will continue this trend.

• Jossed

Trust won't be the only theme.

Love and what a relationship really is will also be prevalent. Sora is 15-16 around this game, so it's not that hard to think he'll be considering hooking up with someone *cough*Kairi*cough*.

• HBoND one of the subtler(or not so subtle) conflicts is how both Quasi, Pheobus, AND Frollo are after the same girl, but which one would end up with her.
• Who could forget about that scene in The Three Musketeers when Mickey and Minnie have a day together and fall in love?

Sora and Riku will find Aqua near the end of the game

And the ending will have Sora transfer Ven's heart back to him(Ven). The game will end with them trying to find out how to save Terra.

• • Alternitivly Sora and Lea will find some way to help Roxas Xion and Namine become their own people.
• Semi-Jossed. Sora remembers Aqua towards the end, and that's about it.

If Roxas and Ven do meet some how it'll end up being one of the funniest moments in the entire series

You know, cause they look exactly the same. Just imagine all the funny things that could come of this.

• • Alternitivly if Ven and Roxas don't meet Ven's first face-to-face meeting with Sora will be played for drama. Ven may mistake Sora for someone else. *Cough Vanitas Cough*
  • Ven meeting Axel and Roxas meeting Aqua would be funny as well.
    • Roxas and Aqua could be a big Tear Jerker... considering how Roxas would have to explain to Aqua that he isn't Ven, which could be a huge letdown to Aqua.
• Jossed

Sora's Anti-Form will get an important role in this game

Sora's growing darkness will get a mention by Yen Sid. How "dark" Sora gets is up to question at this moment but this will end up making Riku be fearful for his friend. The first cutscene(if there is one) that Sora transforms into the Anti-Form will be played for drama. Throughout the game he (in his human form) will get progresivly more angry and violent while fighting. He may be at his angryest when/if he ends up confronting the coachman from the Pinnocio movie. Like an above WMG said; the coachman could die (or be turned into a donkey.) If this does happen it'll be at Sora's hands. He'll turn into Anti-Form in a fit of rage and accidently kill the Coachman. That or Sora will purposly turn him into a donkey as revenge for what the man did to all those young boys.

• Jossed

One of the Bonus Bosses will be Joshua.

And it will be the hardest KH boss ever. Why? Because this time, he's not holding back.

• • Jossed: it's Julius, a disney character.

Lea is Putting the Band Back Together.

That's right. Them (well, most of them, anyway). We already know that Xehanort is Back From the Dead, and thanks to the Jump Festa trailer, so are Lea, Aeleus, and Ienzo. Additionally, Nomura noted in a Famitsu interview (see here) that several other Organization members will appear alongside those last three in-game, which implies that possibly every Org. member not named Roxas or Xion (for obvious reasons) is now whole again. From what we've seen so far, No. V, VI, and VIII all seem to have Heel Face Turned (having a heart would probably do that to you); it's wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that 1) they might want to make up for their actions in the past few titles and 2) most of the others wouldn't feel the same. Thus, Lea is traveling through the worlds in search of everyone not named Xehanort or Braig (again, for obvious reasons). The former Nobodies will put aside their past grudges from CoM and Days (if it's any indication, Ienzo doesn't seem to mind that he [as Zexion] was indirectly killed by Axel) in order to confront a common foe and great evil.

This is why Lea cracks a joke about how he's always stuck with the icky jobs; he has to track down and scout out just about everyone else. This will all be done to set up a Big Damn Heroes by the reformed Organization against Xehanort in III. Cue the shock on the heroes' faces when they realize their enemies from the last game(s) are now on their side. Additionally, for all we know, this neo-Organization could be led by Isa (which would explain why Lea is doing the dirty work in the first place), which would bring Saïx and Axel's original goal to usurp control of the Organization from Xehanort full-circle.

As for Lea's apparent Big Damn Heroes moment where he comes to the aid of Mickey & co. against Maleficent, it's probably a tangentially-related mission. Maleficent might not be as big a threat as Xehanort, but she's still the Mistress of all Evil.

Mickey in the Three Musketeers World and Fantasia World are both King Mickey at different points in his life, and Donald, Goofy and Queen Minnie were originally from the Three Musketeers World

The Jump Festa trailer shows that Mickey from that world knows what a Keyblade is, though he doesn't recognize Sora and he mentions that he's infiltrating that world for some reason. Also, obviously Master Yen Sid is from Fantasia and Mickey's his apprentice. There isn't really any basis for there to be multiple versions of the same characters existing on different worlds in this series anyway, and it would explain why Donald and Goofy didn't realize what was going on in Timeless River right away or that Pete used to be a Steamboat Captain. Really all of this should be pretty obvious when thought about...

Even (assuming he appears) will be the only one to remember the existence of Xion, and may also be her best chance of getting out of Sora.

Let's assume that getting everyone to remember Xion won't be as easy as fan fiction would portray it, and may in fact be near impossible. Let's also assume the we get Even back as part of the resurrected Organization. Now, being a very smart person, Even wouldn't forget about the Replica Program that Vexen researched, (Repliku hasn't been forgotten, y'know) so even if he forgot about Xion, he certainly wouldn't forget spending a lot of time and research on creating a Roxas Replica out of Sora's memories, one so perfect that he named it No. i. Assuming that he is that intelligent, Even would have probably predicted (maybe before Vexen was killed, or after he was resurrected) that a memory being would be forgotten by everyone if it was destroyed, so seeing as Organization XIII was entirely defeated, he can assume that Plan "Make a Keyblade Wielder" didn't go as intended. But it would also mean Even would be the only one aware that inside Sora's memories lies the remnants of a Replica that was reabsorbed upon destruction, yet may have gotten its own memories. And given that Vexen had so little time to study the development of his project due to his untimely defeat, Even might devote some time in bending the KH laws of science just to find out whatever did happen to that Replica Vexen made...

• • Though judging from appearances in the February trailer, Even may not exactly be willing to share this knowledge with the heroes.

The Organization members are trapped inside the Realm of Sleep, and it's up to Sora and Riku to save them.

When a Heartless and its corresponding Nobody are both destroyed, the original Somebody is resurrected into the Realm of Light. That seems to be the case with Lea, Ienzo, Aeleus, and (possibly) Master Xehanort. However, isn't it strange that Ienzo and Aeleus just so happened to appear right during Sora's and Riku's Mark of Mastery Exam? If a person's Somebody was to appear after destroying their Nobody, shouldn't they have appeared in Radiant Garden during Kh2 (or least hinted at in KH 2:FM+)? Their Nobodies were destroyed for an entire year, yet they still weren't found out by Xemnas or the other remaining Org. members.

Speaking of which, where are the other returning members hinted in Nomura's interview? Since all the members are dead, most of them should be back by now. Sure, some of their Heartless could still be running around somewhere, but this doesn't explain Ienzo's and Aelueus' sudden appearances. There's no way for them to just pop in out of nowhere; that's not Nomura's style. It's just too easy. He'll most likely turn them into another plot device like everything else in the series, convoluted or otherwise. And what better way to do that than by putting all of the Organization in the Realm of Sleep?

Honestly, I can't see the them anywhere else other than the Realm of Sleep. Even if they were hiding all this time, all the member's appearances just seem too... coincidental. Also, we have yet to see Young/Old Master Xehanort appear in the Realm of Light yet. He could very well be stuck inside the Realm of Sleep like the rest of Org. 13.

• Axel is only seen in the Realm of Light. In the Febuary trailer he even goes to see Yen Sid.
• Axel officially died in Kingdom Hearts 2 though. My theory is trying to explain that Axel and the rest of the organization are sent to the Realm of Sleep after they are destroyed, and that they come back as their Sombodies once Sora and/or Riku rescue them (somehow). With that said, I can't see how Axel being in the Realm of Light is relevant. Also, I don't remember Axel visiting Yen Sid in any of the trailers, so I'd appreciate a link.
• Lea has not been seen in the Realm of Sleep. At all. He HAS been seen in the Realm of Light however. Also link.
• First off, thanks for the link. Never realized there was a new trailer out. My mind is thoroughly blown. Second, I am aware that Axel was never seen in the Realm of Sleep. Neither was Isa or Aeleus. However, those facts cannot disprove that the organization could be in there. From my understanding, you're saying that Axel ONLY appearing in the Realm of Light proves that he couldn't be in the Realm of Sleep. Or rather, since there was no footage of him in the Realm of Sleep, he therefore could not have revived from the Realm of Sleep. First off, having no footage of him there does not denounce the possibility that he might be in there. Yes, he was seen in the Ro L talking to Yen Sid...and? Having him show up in the Ro L does not prove that he was not previously in the Ro S. I could also argue that he talked to him after being revived from the Ro S (since it's clearly Lea seen in that cutscene), but since I have no visible proof, this is merely based on cicumstancial evidence. In other words, my theory is still plausible.
  • Also, in the new trailer, Ro S!Sora encounters Braig in TWTNW. Again, there's no concrete proof on whether that he is the real Braig or some kind of dream manifestation of him, but based on how he's interacting with Sora, I'll WMG that he's the real Braig. This implies that the organization could very well be in the Ro S after all.
  • That actually looks more like Xigbar, though (longer hair tied in ponytail, grey streaks in hair). It could be Braig, but I doubt that he would have aged that much in the span of a decade (the physical discrepancies between Braig and Xigbar seem to be chalked up to the minor alterations a Nobody goes through when reviving). And seeing as dream and memories are linked together, it's not impossible that a dream version of Braig/Xigbar would still remember what his real self did. Additionally, the trailer shows at least three different incarnations of Xehanort (four if you believe the Mysterious Figure to be Young Master Xehanort) simultaneously existing in the same place when two of them have to be dead in order for Xehanort to come back like Yen Sid said, so nothing's set in stone. The Realm of Sleep seems to very much be a Mind Screw-laden Fisher Kingdom. Nothing in the series (so far, and I stress those words) would seem to suggest that the Realm of Sleep is involved as some intermediary with Somebodies/Heartless/Nobodies, seeing as canonically speaking, a Nobody returns to darkness when killed, only being restored as that person's original self if their Heartless was slain first (as written above). We'll see, but right now, I'm leaning towards no. For all we know, Lea's revival and his meeting with Yen Sid could've happened while Sora & co. were at TWTNW during the end portion of II and we're seeing events out of order and behind the scenes. After all, it took until coded for Yen Sid to figure out that Xehanort came back, and that took place some time after Xemnas was defeated.

Goat Horn is the spawn / fusion of Kazegami and either Sawsbuck or Anteka.

Pure joke, but compare Goat Horn to Kazegami, Sawsbuck, and Anteka.

It'll be revealed that Sora is a plucky goth of sorts

And this "revealing" will be played out through the whole game as moments of funny.

• Extra points if some of this is played out in Halloween Town.
  • For example Sora could describe the people in the town in the most gruesome way possible (and accidentally squicking everyone in the process) and than say something a long the lines of "I think they're all awesome" or "they're real swell guys". Although this may not count as it was shown in themovie saying someone is horrible (or along those lines) is considered a compliment in Halloween Town

Vanitas is Back Because he is the Gurardian

As he is the pure darkness of Ven and was created by Xehanort it is possible he is one of the very first artificial heartless, as Guardian didn't appear until both Xehanort and Vanitas were defeated in the Keyblade Graveyard it could be that there was such a strong force beteen the two that Vanitas became part of Xehanort's being (As he was first shown in the Secret Ending and The Cutscene in the final confrontation in BBS).

The Rinzler in 3D won't be the Rinzler in Legacy

Going with the "World of Tron Legacy is actually a different world from Tron" theory, Rinzler won't be a Brainwashed and crazy Tron.

• Jossed by the Febuary trailer. Sora calls Rinzler Tron. Which means he knows.

The Tron Legacy world

In Kingdom Hearts II, Tron mentions that Space Paranoids was copied by Ansem, and modified to fit Radiant Garden. Logically, this Tron Legacy world is the original. The character designs in the February trailer seem to support this.

The whole game is a quest to awaken Ventus,Terra,Xion and Roxas

Because hey are going to unlock the keyhole of sleep so why not awaken the sleeping characters?

The theme will be a mix of "Hikari" and "Passion"

Both themes have been used in all the trailers so far. And a remix of 'Simple and Clean' and 'Sanctuary' together would be awesome.

• Semi-Jossed. Hikari is the opening, and Passion-After the battle- is the end.

This game might be the biggest Wham! Episode for the franchise.

And considering what's happened in the other games, that might be saying a lot.

This game is going to throw Sora in a coma of sorts

Judging by the box cover and the February trailer, it looks like Sora is going to be out of it. Nice job breaking it Yen Sid.

• • This is possible as Roxas and Xion both went into a coma back in days. And technically Ven will be in one until his heart is returned to him.
• Semi-Confirmed. Sora's heart becomes shattered towards the end, but Riku makes him better.

Sora will go momentarly crazy because of haveing Roxas, Xion's and (possibly) Ven's memories

However he'll need a little push before it actually happens. He may even be forced into antiform because of this.

• Nearly happens in The World That Never Was: Roxas is showing Sora all his memories, and it doesn't look like Sora is having much fun with it.

Ventus isn't actually there

Sora just see's him whenever Xehanort is around because of Ven's heart.

The hooded figures at the end of the February trailer are a new Organization XIII.

Master Xehanort is at the helm, and by saying "We shall go together" to Sora, he means for him to join them as their number XIII.

• If you pause the video after the Arrowgun blasts are fired there are only 12 "blasts" surronding Sora. Take into consideration that 12 of those portal-thingies that the organization use appear, and the fact Sora can be seen sitting in the thrown room twice during the trailer, him joining them (willing or not) seems likely. And the process of this advent will be pure Mind Screw.
• For bonus points, this group will call themselves the Nu Organization.
  • Confirmed.

Lea's quest from Yen Sid will be to get Aqua out of the Realm of Darkness

This is assuming Yen Sid and Mickey have deduced Aqua's location.

Lea will get a Keyblade.

The Feb trailer has him talking with Yen Sid about going on a dangerous journey, which might involve gaining a Keyblade. And if he does, it would be the Bond of Flame or something similar.

• • I was just about to write this :)

But if he doesn't become a keyblade wielder....maybe he'll become a guardian(like Auron) of sorts, but will have to take a test of character before becoming one.

• • • Or maybe the "dangerous journey" will involve bringing Xion, Roxas, and(possibly) Namine back into exsitence but as actual people this time.
• CONFIRMED.

Some serious shit is gonna go down in the Tron:Legacy world

At least for Sora. He A.)has to fight a good friend B.)Gets questioned if he really is the "original" and C.) Young Master Xehanort is there.....yeah something big is deffinetly going to happen

Shits also going to go down in Le Cité des Cloches

Except for Riku and unlike the above it's going to be good happenings, except when Frollo is around of course.

Xehanort is using the Chamber of Repose to enter the Realm of Sleep.

Lea, Aeleus and Ienzo seem to be alive and well in Radiant Garden, where they all first became Heartless. More specifically, the appear to be in Ansem's Study, right next to the Heartless Manufactuary. At the bottom of which is Xehanort's old lab, including the Chamber of Repose.

The hooded figure with red eyes is...

Vanitas. He has been described by Nomura as looking the way he does because of Ventus' connection to Sora. He has also been described as originally looking like a Heartless, but with red eyes. Now look at this this...See the resemblance?

• Jossed. The red-eyed figure is a manifestation of Sora's nightmares.
  • Not Jossed. Vanitas is pure Darkness, there's nothing saying he can't be the darkness that trapped Sora within his nightmare. Anti Black Coat fighting exactly like Vanitas and taking some cues from his design seems to support this idea.

Riku will become the main character for the Next Game

The first clue would be the cover art, Riku ascends, while Sora falls with his eyes closed while Mickey tries to save him. Another clue is the character designs, when a character is usally written off or is going to have him out of commission for a while they usually put less effort into his or her design, Sora's clothes are basically his original clothes just in a red color.

Riku however has a completely new outfit and a new haircut to go along with. Another clue is the last trailer, In the last trailer near the end Xehanort has seemingly convinced Sora to go to with them somewhere and several scenes show Mickey and Riku in the same area trying to save him only to be stopped by Xemnas and Ansem SOD.

• I would dispute the outfit design point. Riku's outfit is hardly completely different; it's very heavily based on his KH 2 outfit just as Sora's is based on his previous outfits.
• Jossed

Donald, Goofy and Mickey are going to be Secret Character Party Members.

Just as in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, in 3D we'll get to see them as unlockable characters, only as party members this time around. How? Well, Tetsuya Nomura has stated himself they wouldn't be party members because he likes "to experiment a bit when not developing a numbered title", and therefore they're not going to be available; however, considering late news about the game showing how recruiting Dream Eaters needs "recipes" to do so, well, it's not hard to imagine a "Donald recipe" or a "Goofy recipe" for Sora or a "Mickey recipe" for Riku, right?

• Oh, shoot. My theory has just been jossed! The last hope is Nomura... well, pulling a Nomura.

The Super Boss will be any of the following:

• Sho Minamimoto. He's a fan favorite, not unlike Sephiroth, and, admit it, you'd want to see what he'd look like in 3D. He could possibly use his Noise Form as a second phase to the fight, and Taboo Sho could be unlocked as another Super Boss after you beat him.
• Another Unknown. It would make a lot of sense, considering that in the other 'main' games (or Final Mixes of said games), there would be an Unknown type of character with insane strength. However, this time, he/she won't be plot relevant.
• A giant Mr. Mew. Shiki and Neku activated their Level 3 Fusion, but something went wrong and Mr. Mew is on a rampage.
• Yen Sid, or his armor. We haven't seen how he fights, and this would be an awesome way to see. Alternatively, they're saving this for KH 3.
• Xion. They'll make you fight her armored forms as a Sequential Boss just like in the end of Days, and even use the same music (or remixes of the tracks) for each phase. However, she'll have some new tricks that require you to take advantage of the Free Flow Action. Alternatively, if the Ursula boss battle being a part of the 'Memoirs' feature is true, this will be part of it too.
• A character from a Pixar movie. As a hint that they're going to start using Pixar worlds soon.
• Sanae Hanekoma as Panthera Cantus. He'll play a similar role to Leon or Cid from the other games, but he'll also be a Super Boss, just like in The World Ends With You. Also, Panthera Cantus will have a redesign to be more original.
• Jossed, the for the first time ever, the Bonus Boss is a Disney Character.
  • Second time, actually. The Ice Titan gives his regards.
  • Also, there's probably going to be a Final Mix type release, so any of these still have a chance.

The young Xehanort/Unknown will be MX's Nobody

Except he never spawned in the realm of light because of MX never became a heartless but he'll have some sort of time travel power allowing him to enter the realm of light before MX possessed Terra. Another theory included, He's what would have been the Possesion of Riku by MX but instead we got Ansem Seeker of Darkness.

Also he's young because his form represents MX's desire to have a young enough body to see the end of the Keyblade War.

• Jossed. He's the Young Xehanort first seen in BBS, convinced by a time-traveling ASOD to kickstart yet another plan that'd make Xanatos proud. It's unknown as to whether we're dealing with alternate timelines (since he was pulled from the past in all) or a Final Fantasy VIII-esque Stable Time Loop.

The dropping like thing in the trailers will be like flying a gummi ship between worlds.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin.

• Confirmed in a somewhat obscure interview that may be older than this WMG.

The game's cover art is major spoilers

Exactly What It Says on the Tin

• I remember Final Fantasy 13 did the same thing with it's cover. But the fact remains that when people first picked up the game, they merely thought it was pretty or cool. It wasn't until after the game did people realize what the cover really showed. It's more of less the same situation here: we don't know if it's spoilers, lying or unrelated, and we won't until it's out.
  • Confirmed in a symbolic way: Sora's heart shatters and he falls into a deep sleep in the darkness. Riku makes him better though.

The secret ending will show older characters getting Keyblades

Most notable the main heroes from each (maybe not all) of the previous worlds and even some surviving main villains. Exactly as [[Chessmaster Master Xehanort planned.

• Jossed

Sora will still manage to save those connected to him

But he'll need to be saved in turn with the biggest Big Damn Hero moment in Kingdom Hearts history.

• CONFIRMED-ish. Sora's heart becomes shattered, and Riku has to save him. We have yet to see anyone else being rescued, though.

Terra and Ven will show up to their younger counterparts

If as memory-esque dreams of events with Sora and Riku watching or as their actually selves unaware of what is going on. If the former it will only increase Sora's ire of Xehanort and make Riku remember Terra. If the latter, come on Riku and Terra fighting along side each other will be awesome.

• Semi-Confirmed. Terra and Aqua shows up to Sora in The World That Never Was.

There are more worlds in the realm of sleep

But seven is the deepest one can go without complete risk of never leaving. or their saving those worlds for someone else.

• By that logic the worlds will hopefully get more and more nonsensical as you progress, with Symphony of Sorcery as the final world before the Paprika-level of absolutely insane Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
  • you can probably go to the worlds freely though, just you can only go to seven worlds because as you go to each it's like you drop deeper into the dreams. Basically seven is the maximum distance you can go.

The Unknown will be another incarnation of Xehanort

Side effect of/ any of: A) He'll have been born when Master Xehanort possessed Terra. B) When Riku was possessed by Ansem Seeker of Darkness. C) When the darkness was purged from Riku by the exploding Kingdom Heart Encoder. D) Some kind of convoluted combination of B and C. E) The destruction of Ansem Seeker of Darkness and Xemnas F) A future incarnation of Xehanort that managed to get away and it trying to prevent his defeat at the hands of Sora and Riku. G) The scariest of all, he's Xehanort Junior.

The Unknown is Master Xehanort time-travelled from the past.

His appearance is identical to young Master Xehanort from the flashback in Birth By Sleep and he has the power to control time.

• CONFIRMED

Vanitas will be a boss fight in the Tron: Legacy world.

His helmeted form even makes him look like Rinzler, which will cause Sora to initially brush him off as one of CLU's Mooks.

Sora: One program? Does CLU really think you're enough to stop me? Vanitas: Program? Ahahahaha! *pulls out Void Gear* Who said anything about me being a program?

• • Jossed: Vanitas never shows up other than as a vision from Young Xehanort, unless you want to consider Anti-Black Coat or Nightmare Armor Ventus forms of Vanitas.

Maleficent's new villain team.

• CLU
• Frollo
• Man
• Rourke
  • Jossed. The various villains have no affiliation with each other, Maleficent only shows up at Disney castle and neither Man nor Rourke show up in the game.

The Unknown that looks like young Xehanort

Is actually Riku's Nobody but a special nobody. When Ansem Seeker of Darkness possessed Riku he forced Riku's heart out, but due to the fact it was a Heartless that possessed him, a special Nobody was formed even more of a Nobody than the others due to the circumstances. Before you ask why he looks older than Riku did at the time, it's never been stated that Nobodies don't age(there's a lot of evidence towards the opposite actually) He also looks around Riku's age while the young Xehanort from BBS looked more older. He also has more influence from Xehanort than Riku but there is enough there such as the extending hand thing which would explain why he's compared to Riku in the Febuary Trailer. It would also explain why he's the one to(as far as we've seen) show up to Sora more than Riku. If he shows up too often to Riku he'll probably be reassimilated but if he shows up to Sora he can mess with his head because of Xehanort's influence.

• To extend on this, there was a Riku wearing a black cloak in earlier trailers. Maybe he isn't what he appears to be(as in not Jiminy's Journal or Repliku)
• Jossed: it really is a younger version of Xehanort.

The Ven with the Dream Eater Symbol on his helmet

is actually Vanitas. After all Dream Eaters are supposed to be the way darkness appears in the realm of sleep and since Vanitas is Ventus' darkness given form it would make sense that he'd have a Dream Eater Form as well. Alternatively he could just be Ventus' consciousness turned into a Spirit(couldn't tell if the Dream Eater symbol was the good one or the bad one)

• It's the Nightmare insignia. This puts a damper on the thought of it being Ven, but nothing's out of the realm of possibility yet...
• Jossed: It's really Sora. Ven lent Sora his armor when Sora's shattered heart began falling into darkness.

The game will end with Sora being lost to the darkness (most likely possession by Vanitas or Xehanort) and Riku returning home by himself, swearing to bring his friend back and if it's the last thing he'll do. Kingdom Hearts 3's protagonist will be Riku with some possible support by a very eager Kairi.

Basically, just a guess I made based on all the evidence that Sora is going to get some harsh beating in this game, the appearance of Xehanort and Vanitas and the fact that Nomura said that Sora won't be the character we will be growing with.

• Semi-Jossed: Sora is lost to the darkness, but Riku brings him back.

The Memoirs feature is going to allow players to re-live classic moments from the past.

At first, the Memoirs feature was announced, and the fact it acted as a recap for the entire series, therefore averting the series' Continuity Lock Out in order to help newcomers understanding the events, made the fandom go wild already. However, the February trailer showed a boss battle against Ursula, that maybe hinted at a world based on The Little Mermaid, just as it happened before. However, her low life bar puzzled some fans who suspected it to be a part of the Memoirs feature, as the menu alluded to a "battle mode" of sorts. Then came the March 15 issue of Famitsu weekly, that showed Ursula again without any sort of context. Considering the announcement of a new world is highly unlikely due to the game coming out — as of this edit (16/05/2012) — in less than two weeks, it's safe to say we can do the math already. Troper User:Alex Sora 89, calling it right now.

• Jossed This baby says otherwise. Apparently during the opening, Sora and Riku use a raft to leave the dream Destiny Islands. On the way, out of no where Ursula comes and tries to kill you. Talk about diving in head first.
  • Heh heh... diving. So this troper's hopes about the rumored "early boss battle" being a Bonus Boss instead have been crushed. Oh well, there's still the "Free Fall Action: Battle" thing about the Memoirs, so it's still anyone's game, I guess.

The Young Xehanort is the memories that got locked away when Terranort caused his amnesia.

• Think about it, sleeping characters, people who hold multiple persona's and the game is about regaining what was once lost, AND this kid has Vanitas with him, so basically, The Young Xehanort is his time as an apprentice given physical form.
  • Jossed. It's Exactly What It Says on the Tin: a younger version of Master Xehanort. In fact, it's the same one we briefly see in flashbacks during BBS.

Axel's keyblade comes from Xehanort.

• How do you obtain a keyblade? Usually, by a Master performing a Rite of Passage. There are exception though; for example, Xehanort retained his keyblade even after possessing Terra's body. Now consider this: what is the objective of Organization XIII? Not "regain their hearts" as everyone believes, but "provide new vessels for Xehanort".

Lea's keyblade comes from Terra, or Master Erauqs.

• Either of those hearts could have gotten to Lea, like Ven's got to Sora. Much like Sora, Lea has already shown in BBS that he doesn't seem to have what it takes to wield a keyblade, much like Sora was shown in KH 1 and described in 3D. Sora only came to wield the keyblade due to the connections and hearts he had within him. Lea may also be as such.
  • Hate to break it to you, but that's not the only way keyblades come around. First off, anyone with a strong heart can wield a keyblade (meaning, anyone who can become/became a Nobody has a strong enough heart already, like Lea). And while it's true the ability can be passed down, the keyblades themselves can chose their users (just look at KH 1, where it briefly went to Riku, then back to Sora. Plus, Riku regained the ability to wield a keyblade, and got a unique one). So unless it's shown/told otherwise, Lea most likely just got his keyblade through hard work, no complicated hearts business.
  • Alternatively, Yen Sid just gave him the ability. As we saw with Terra and Aqua both being Eraqus disciples, the Inheritance Ceremony isn't limited to one person, and Yen Sid is a Keyblade Master who trained Mickey in this continuity. Anyway, the decision Lea didn't have what it takes was a subjective call by the old keyblade wielders, just because they didn't think he could wield one then hardly means it was impossible for him to wield one later in life.
    • I don't think it's been said that it's possible to pass down ownership to more then one person, Yen Sid is Mickey's Master and the one who gave him his original Star Seeker. Lea got a Keyblade due to a strong heart that represents his time as a Nobody and as a human, The Bond of Flame/Frolic Flame hybrid representing it.
    • It hasn't been said that it's not possible either. Besides, if that were the case, Keyblade Masters could only logically have one apprentice. Eraqus had two pupils originally.

Ventus is getting his heart back soon.

• According to Xemnas Nobodies' hearts grow back eventually, then that means Ventus' heart must be the one closest to returning, as he had lost his heart a year sooner than Xehanort. And the best part? No Vanitas. The only problem so far is when he wakes up, and if his new heart will be compatible with the Keyblade.
  • Nobodies can regain their hearts thanks to interactions with others, which Ven isn't having. He's trapped in sleep, much like Sora at the end of this game, he's never going to wake up unless someone else pulls him out.
    • Adding to the above, Ventus wasn't turned into a heartless either, his heart is inside of Sora, it's why Ventus was able to use his keyblade armor to protect Sora.

Vanitas is one of the new Organization members

• WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD
• Sure, he appears only once, but it's with Young!Xehanort. About half of the new members have hoods on, so who knows who these Xehanort-clones used to be, and since Vanitas was with the old geezer, it'd make sense that he'd be joining up with him again.

Master Xehanort

is actually a time lord and his actual goal is instumentality

The World Ends With You Cast will be some of the new Heartless Boss in the next Kingdom Hearts Games.

Well Given that Joshua said that his world was taken by the darkness, It would be a Given that Sora, Riku, Kairi and the Other will have to face Thay Heartless forms, And will become the Recurring Bosses and that at time, Join the side with Sora, And Thay Last Batter will be Heartwarming to at last thay get to be free them from the Darkness.

• But since the Realm of Sleep is where all the worlds that weren't properly restored after KHI went, and Shibuya isn't seen in the Realm of Sleep, wouldn't that imply that Shibuya and its inhabitants were restored?
  • Ha. Then what the Heck is Joshua doing?!

The Thirteenth Vessel will be...

Terra's Lingering Sentiment. It's just a hollow suit of armor with Terra's will. Pretty easy to fill it with darkness for the formation of the X-Blade

• ...That won't end well.
• How would that even work? The Lingering Will doesn't have a corporeal body; it's just Terra's mind/will taking residence in his hollow armor. How could Xehanort transfer a piece of his heart to a being that doesn't have a body?
  • Xehanort doesn't need 13 clones of himself, but 13 darknesses. He just needs 12 clones because his hearts is already darkness; inserting pieces into somebody else's heart and "extinguish" it, which woul make him become the dominant heart and cause it to be a vessel of darkness. For LA, he doesn't need to insert a piece of heart, but rather, fill it with darkness to try and snuff out Terra's will. Whether or not that goes according to plan, however, is another thing. The point though is to achieve a Light to Darkness ratio of 7:13, and vessel of darkness is not necessarily a Xehanort Clone.

Shiki is technically Eri.

She just have Shiki's memory of the Game and she think that she's Shiki.

Wall of Text

This may at first sound like a redundant attempt to save the "Roxas is not a facette of Sora"-brand of theories, especially in the light of Kingdom Hearts 3D, but let me explain. An interesting ammount of evidence can be found to support this theory.

Roxas, soon after his birth, slowly beginns to develope thought processes that would correspond to actual emotions, despite having no memories he could base such thought processes on. This is the basic premise that most of the afformentioned brand of theories were based on to begin with. Now, of course, Dream Drop Distance reveals that Nobodies develope hearts from their thoughts and connections to others over time, the speed varying from person to person, which makes Roxas case seem less strange. However, even in the light of this, Roxas' developement into a feeling being happens with a startling speed, especially compared to the other members of Organization XIII, who have been Nobodies for much longer, yet still seem very fake and hollow, even after having had more than 10 years of time to develope a newborn heart. In fact, Axel's growth of emotional capacity only seems to suddenly skyrocket once Roxas bonds with him, implying that it's Roxas' heart that speeds up his growth, rather than the other way around, which doesn't make sense, considering how young and underdeveloped Roxas' replacement-heart for Sora's should be by this point. A case in point could be made that Xion, as a Replica, might have possessed a much more developed heart to begin with and could have caused both their growths to accelerate, but this idea fails when you realize that she was just as hollow and awkward as Roxas himself in the beginning, albeit in a different way. Seeing how Roxas is the constant between Axel's and Xion's sudden growth, he must be the cause, which would mean his heart must either have had an incredible sudden growth spurt...Or he had a rather developed heart to beginn with and it only needed a "push" to awaken.

Now, the Kingdom Hearts Ultimania Book for Birth by Sleep hints that Ventus' heart might have remained within Roxas and that this might be the cause for him looking exactly like Ventus, but there's one crucial flaw in this: Both, Kingdom Hearts coded and Dream Drop Distance strongly imply that Roxas is to be considered an existence seperate from Ventus. Likewise, Ventus' heart was supposed to be pure light, yet Roxas is capable of opening Corridors of Darkness and his personality, while resembling Ventus' a lot more than Sora's, is also lot more aggressive, moody and overall negative. He does a lot of things that a "Heart of Pure Light" would never do... Like senselessly destroying a computer, just to express his anger. This is something Ventus would have never done, no matter the circumstances. However, it's also made very clear that Roxas' heart is very different from Sora's, which is striking, especially compared to Axel/Lea, who apparently had his old heart and his new heart merge seamlessly upon being turned back to normal. The seamless merging-process failed with Sora, as Roxas clearly retains a seperate conciousness. The question is: Why? If he is neither Ventus, nor a natural recreation of Sora's heart, then what is his heart?

Nomura himself implying that Roxas might hold Ven's heart despite evidence to the contrary seems especially strange, as the Ultimania was likely released in a stage where the plot of Dream Drop Distance had long been written already. So, while Nomura is known to occasionally retcon details, why would he outright lie at the fans? That's where this theory comes into play. What if he didn't lie? What if Roxas did hold on to Ventus' heart- but just not the half of it we assumed it to be?

Due Vanitas' physical appearance, which was caused by Ventus' initial bond to Sora, people often tend to forget that Vanitas is, in fact, not Sora's Evil Twin... He's Ventus'. It has been stated that Vanitas's "true" form is a faceless being simmilar to an heartless and Sora's appearance was only a sideeffect. Note, when Vanitas possesses Ventus, Ventus' hair and face don't change, unlike when Xehanort possesses Terra. Regardless of what he appeared to look like, Vanitas is basically just a disembodied shard of Ventus' heart. Which means that if his heart was to enter a vessel and shape it, it wouldn't end up looking like a black haired Sora. It'd look like Ventus. This would perfectly explain why Sora's body changed the way it did (even if the changes were comparably small), upon becoming Roxas.

Further, let's move on to the next exhibit: The Kingdom Hearts Novels. While generally not considered direct Canon, their content has a certain tendency to be eventually made into Canon. Knowing this, the details the Novels reveal on Vanitas' past are... interesting. They describe his initial personality as very, very simmilar to Ventus', except more aggressive, depressed and moody... Starting to sound like somebody else? The novels further explain that Vanitas only turned into the cruel psychopath he was out of despair, loneliness, and a spiral of selfharm and selfworth issues. Meaning that he, in fact, wasn't "evil" to the core, just "dark", which makes sense. This fits with this theory, since it means that if Vanitas was to start over as a blank, like Ventus did after having his heart shattered, he'd likely start with this very moody-Ventus personality again... Which applies to Roxas. Like Ventus, after the initial seperation, he started Zombie-like and amnesiac before his personality suddenly started to show. Remember, Ventus shattered Vanitas' heart in their Final Battle. It's not far-off to assume that this had a simmilar effect on him as Master Xehanort's initial seperation of them had no Ventus. Very well, let's move on.

In connection with the assumption that Vanitas wasn't evil to the core and deserves to be saved like everybody else connected to Sora... How come he does not show up in Data Naminé's list of people connected to Sora then, when he clearly *is*, through Ventus? The answer is simple: He *does* show up... As Roxas.

Next up, superficialities, aside from his looks: Roxas wields the Keyblade forehanded, rather than backhanded. While he does not employ Riku's battle stance, as Vanitas does, this still closer to him than it is to Ventus, who wields his keyblade backhanded. Of course, this could be a simple effect of his connection to Sora's memories. He is deriving his battle style from Sora's. Still, it's worth mentioning. Something simmilarly insignificant, yet worth mentioning: "Vanitas" means "Emptiness" and Nomura stated this meaning was chosen on purpose, possibly even before it was decided he'd look like Sora. Now, Vanitas, himself, while being called "empty" by Xehanort is clearly not. He has wishes, desires, emotions and a lot of other things that defy the concept of "empty". This bears a striking resemblance to how Nobodies are threated in KH 2, especially Roxas, making it possible that the name was supposed to be a hint. Probably coincidentally, but also worth noticing: Both names end on "as".

Next up: Evidence in Kingdom Hearts 3D (Which I actually played, rather than just reading spoilers, you mind.) Needless to say, this section contains some spoilers, so read with caution. Vanitas appears in the game for all but 2 seconds, talking in unision with Young Master Xehanort. This brief scene is very possibly just a vision Sora has upon hearing YMX speak, though it makes you wonder how active Vanitas' conciousness is within him by that point. Flash foreward to Sora's Mind Screw Royal in The World That Never Was: In his dream, Sora encounters Roxas... Who promptly states that things aren't well the way they are and infuses Sora with his memories. All at once, suddenly, with little explanation and not preparing him at all, playing directly into Xehanort's plans with it. Now... Why would Roxas do this? The "Roxas" Sora meets clearly is completly aware of what is going on and, unlike the other dream-people Sora meets, actually speaks to him for a while, implying he is doing the memory transfer conciously and willingly. However, all the memory transfer accomplishes at that point is to scare Sora so baddly that he goes into an Heroic BSOD and finally has his heart shattered by Xemnas, which benefits Team Xehanort greatly. So if Roxas was even one bit aware of what was going on he knew this was going to happen, and he still did this. Why? Being allied to Xehanort somehow (which is tragic) seems to be the only plausible explanation. Also, look at Roxas face when he transfers the memories. His expression looks surprisingly like Vanitas', when he held the X-Blade and challenged Ventus within their Dive Into Heart and is pretty much identical to Vanitas' expression in afformentioned One-Scene Wonder moment. Even more striking: If you take a close look at the timelines of Riku's and Sora's stories, you will notice that Roxas' disappearance from Sora's dream almost immediately coincides with Riku's battle against Anti Black Coat, a Nightmare-Type Dream Eater, who looks exactly like what Vanitas' "true" form has been described to look like, even featuring a simmilar battle style. A point could be made that for Sora only a few seconds pass between Roxas' disappearance and hearing Riku's post-battle pleas for him to wake up, but remember that Sora is dreaming. It was been outright stated that time doesn't flow normally within his dreams, so the entire battle against Anti Black Coat could easily have taken place in those "few seconds" between Roxas's disappearance and Riku's pleadings. Anti Black Coat being Vanitas is likely, due to all the simmilarities and Vanitas being pure darkness at the core (Though, should this theory be true, it is likely that Roxas' friendships with Axel, Xion and the virtual Twilight Gang gained him a bit of Light), so it would make sense that he'd manifest as a Dream Eater within Sora's dreamworld. After all, Riku, too, manifested as a Dream Eater, albeit as a Spirit-Type, rather than a Nightmare. It would make sense that Roxas, sensing Riku trying to interfere, "beamed out", in order to stall for time while Sora succumbs to his BSOD. Anti Black Coat being slain by Riku means nothing. He might simply have disintegrated to return to the depths of Sora's subconcious... Where Riku later finds Roxas, alongside Ven and Xion.

Summing this theory up, basically Roxas and Vanitas were the same entity all along and Vanitas basically failed twice at living a "complete" life, despite not even being a bad person and genuinely caring for someone the second time around, which would only add insult to the injury. Note how the Birth by Sleep Novels implied that part of Vanitas' issues came from the fact that he found himself unable to touch anything without destroying it by impuls... And now connect this with Roxas' experience of being forced to kill Xion, one of his two dearest friends. It would make his sudden rush of rage even more justified, given that this experience probably ripped open old wounds from his previous life's trauma, even if he didn't remember conciously.

The only thing that appears unclear in this case is Roxas' motivation for aiding the Xehanorts in Dream Drop Distance. Xemnas destroyed his second chance at a life. Why would he want to aid him? The only explanation I can find: He is desperate, realizing that being merged with Sora forever is not a good prospect for him after all, despite what Naminé had said. His dialouge before the Memory Transfer seems to support this. Perhaps he was led to believe that destroying Sora's heart might be his only chance to break free, unable to believe that Sora might be able to rescue him, Xion and Ventus, thus preforming a Face Heel Turn in a desperate attempt to escape Sora's heart? (Possibly taking Xion along with him, seeing how he clearly had the memories of her, if not her name.)

Only time will show if this theory is true, but if it was it would be a genius move by Nomura to create a character that embodies "Dark Does Not Have To Be Evil": Making us sympatize with Roxas for 2 games and then spending an entire other game making us hate Vanitas, while leaving us unaware that the two of them are basically the same person would serve to create a character that perfectly shows one of the central points of the series: Evil does not equal Darkness. Evil is something that can be shaped within the Darkness.

• I'm not necessarily going against your theory, but I have two points to bring up. For one, Nomura said in an interview that Vanitas's brief appearance was caused by Ven's heart within Sora (and the memories it held) resonating with the appearance of Young Xehanort. Two, your theory would imply that upon creating his Nobody when he unlocked his heart with the Keyblade of People's Hearts and turned into a Heartless, not only did Sora's heart splinter, allowing Ven's heart to be released from it like Kairi's was, but Ven's heart subsequently split in half again, with the darkness that comprised Vanitas going straight to Roxas. It's not implausible given the nature of this series to begin with, but it does sound unlikely and/or contrived.
  • This is, of course, true, but my believe in this theory stems partly from my personal opinion that Ventus' "reabsorption" of Vanitas in the end of Birth by Sleep might have been incomplete, due to the fact that, after all that happened, he'd probably never have accepted Vanitas as a part of him willingly. The two halves of his heart might have remained in conflict during their sleep, which would make a second split somewhat more plausible.

Lea's Keyblade comes from either Roxas, Xion or possibly even Ventus.

While Lea never saw Ventus' real Keyblade, he held the wooden one that Ventus got from Terra Given how much Ventus treasured that toy, it might be that to his heart, it was just as real as his actual keyblade and thus had the same effect on Lea as if they had preformed the actual ceremony, making Lea the second accidental Keyblade Wielder created in Radiant Garden that day, after Kairi.

Alternatively, we could go back and look through all off 358/2Days for a scene where Axel holds either Roxas's or Xion's keyblade. Given how much time he spent with them, there's a possibility the power came from them.

In the Kingdom Hearts universe, "sleep" is equal to "death."

This troper realized this quite suddenly when writing a Kingdom Hearts fanfic after playing The World Ends With You. The presence of that, in and of itself, proves this fact. All the characters who are sleeping are technically dead. Think about it.

Nomura-sensei says "there is no concept of death" (or whatever the exact quote was) in Kingdom Hearts. Basically, he has no set afterlife or anything... no one's really died, they've just lost pieces of themselves or vanished, etc. Then 3D comes out and apparently takes place in the "World of Dreams," where we meet the entire cast of TWEWY.

Here's the kicker: The entire plot of TWEWY is all about life and death... Because Neku and the others are playing the Game to return to life. In the trailer for 3D, Neku mentions to Sora that he needs help playing the Game. Implying what? That in Kingdom Hearts, the World of Dreams is basically the equivalent of the afterlife.

I know it's just a theory, and made on a jump of imagination... But it has more support in games that are already out, too. In COM, Riku is offered the choice of "going to sleep forever," and BBS has similar themes (especially with Ven.)

• ...You haven't spoiled the plot of 3D yet, have you? If you did, you'd know The cast of TWEWY in this game aren't the real versions. Except Joshua. He's the one that made the copies, out of memories.

Sora can travel through time.

The condition for gaining the ability to timetravel was explained to be "having given up your body before" (presumably willingly) and the KH Ultimania which came out today seems to imply that this ability remains, even when you regain your body. It has been hinted before that having seperated his heart and body willingly during the first game makes Sora special and now we know why: Sora has unknowingly given himself the ability to timetravel and learn high class Time-Magic. By extension, this also means that Roxas, Xion and even Ventus might possess the same ability now. Who is with me betting that they will use that as a Chekhov's Gun against Xehanort during Kingdom Hearts 3?

The Members of the New Organization XIII.

1. Master Xehanort: The original Xehanort and the mastermind behind all of his incarnations' actions.
2. Young Xehanort: Master Xehanort in his youth, who traveled through time with the assistance of Ansem.
3. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness: Terra-Xehanort's Heartless.
4. Xemnas: Terra-Xehanort's Nobody and the leader of the first Organization XIII.
5. Xigbar/Braig: Member of the first Organization XIII.
6. Saïx/Isa: Member of the first Organization XIII.

These are Canon ones so far. Possible additions:

• Sho Minamimoto: A Reaper from Shibuya. And judged by appearance, he already does look a lot like Xehanort.
• Larxene and Marluxia: I am saying Larxene and Marluxia were turned and are in as well. Nomura said a lot of familiar faces were among the hooded ones.
  • Somehow, considering this Organization 13-2 said they only needed one more vessel because Lea isn't with them, I think the rest of the Organization 13-2 ARE all the other members of Organization 13. And btw, Xigbar and Saix aren't Nobodies anymore, so they go by their original names (Braig and Isa). If the other members are the old Organization, the same applies to them as well.
    • I'll just put the original names with the the Organization Names.
• Terra: It's not confirmed, but Master Xehanort mentioned how one of the missing three protectors of light was on his side, which would hint at Terra(nort) being a prospective member.
• Caius Gallad: Caius's plan in XIII-2 was to basically cause a massive Time Crash in order to stop Yeul from constantly reincarnating and dying. When he finds out that even his plan succeeding did nothing to help him, Xehanort turns out to be the REAL orchestrator behind the events of that game in order to a. gain better control over the spacetime continuum to better accomplish his goals and b. to turn Caius into one of his potential vessels.
• Luxord: He is Nomura's favorite member, So he maybe saving him for this, and it help that he was in The World That Never Was too along with Xigbar and Saïx.

Here's a biggie, and something no one would see coming...

• Kairi: Ansem does have the power to travel through time. Who's to say he didn't bring others with him? During the events of the first game, Kairi was mostly comatose on account of her heart being in Sora's body. In other words, a perfect opportunity to create a sleeper vessel. Xehanort would place a fragment of his Heart into Kairi, and then, when Sora gave her her heart back, no one would suspect one of the Princesses of Heart to be acting as Sealed Evil in a Can.