A few things I don't quite understand

[Sacred X]

Normally I don't ask questions until at least playing through the game a second or third time, but since it's going to be a while before that happens, I'll ask now.

1. Precisely why can't Roxas remember the first week of his entrance to Organization XIII, but can remember things fine on day 7 onwards, when Xion was introduced? I think I know the answer to this one, but I want confirmation.

2. Why does Xion look like Sora before the actual fight? Normally her look varies depending on who's looking at her, but at this point it seemed both Axel and Roxas (and possibly anyone else who "would've" looked at her?) were able to see Sora. I used to know this one, but it slipped my mind for a moment. But more importantly:

3. Right before her final form, and after the battle, Xion looks like her normal self again. Why does she no longer look like Sora?

4. I understand why Roxas can dual wield, but why can Xion's Final Form dual wield as well? Surely she's holding the (ugly 358/2 Day's exclusive) Keyblades on both her hands. Some people say she has some of Riku's memories because he's connected to Sora, and since Riku was supposed to be the original Keyblade wielder, perhaps having memories of two wielders allows her wield two Keyblades? But, that feels like it's really pushing it.

5. This may or may not answer question 4. Is Xion's Keyblade real? I want to say yes due to Sora's memories, and it pretty much did EVERYTHING a real Keyblade would've which is why the Organization found her useful, but I just wanted to be certain.

6. The Destiny Islands scene with the Organization Trio, did that happen or was it just a dream? That whole scene seemed entirely confusing.

That's about all I can think of. Thanks in advance.

[*TwilightNight*]

I'm not entirely sure on 5, so you might want to look at the Nomura interview here: 358/2 Days Scenario Interview*-*Kingdom Hearts Insider

It explicitly states time and again that Xion copied Roxas's power, and that Roxas was using a real Keyblade, while it seems Xion was imitating him. Hence, Riku's shock. Might be due to the memories, it's not outright stated.

And for 4, the machine forms, there's no real explanation as to why they take on dual-wielding. But honestly, I think it was mostly design and aesthetics. If you want to ask that, you also have to question as to why Xion took a KH2 Sora likeness when that's the future, and it hasn't happened yet.

Originally Posted by Sacred X

1. Precisely why can't Roxas remember the first week of his entrance to Organization XIII, but can remember things fine on day 7 onwards, when Xion was introduced? I think I know the answer to this one, but I want confirmation.

Well, it's not exactly confirmed anywhere, truthfully. So you can't get an exact fact. But the answer you might be thinking can be actually right. It's quite a bit apparent with the circumstances. Xion being the clone of Sora and his memories, Roxas having memory problems, etc.

2. Why does Xion look like Sora before the actual fight? Normally her look varies depending on who's looking at her, but at this point it seemed both Axel and Roxas (and possibly anyone else who "would've" looked at her?) were able to see Sora. I used to know this one, but it slipped my mind for a moment. But more importantly:

3. Right before her final form, and after the battle, Xion looks like her normal self again. Why does she no longer look like Sora?

Spoilers – Not really, just an interview part. Don't want to quote…

- Xion’s outside form changes depending on who is looking at her. Is what we see in the game the same as what Roxas is seeing?

Ishida: Well, to be more accurate what we see is “Sora’s memories of Kairi that are flowing into Roxas.” Then it widens to include Axel and Xigbar, and finally after Xion’s “self” took on a life of it’s own we see her as a different person. Xigbar calls her “Puu-chan”, which comes from the French word “Poupee”, meaning doll.

Sato: Really? And here I thought he saw her as Winnie the Pooh (laugh)

Ishida: We made it look like different people were seeing her differently by using cut-scenes of her both wearing and not wearing her hood. When she is speaking with Saix, or others who don’t see her as a girl, she is wearing her hood. We had to intrude on h.a.n.d to explain to the people working in Events the rules of how she should look.

It's kind of an open ended subject still, but from what I've gotten, what Roxas sees is Sora's memories of Kairi flowing into him, and inevitably, into Xion. Nomura also mentioned, which is not there above, that through connection to Roxas, once Xion "deemed" Axel as trustworthy, he saw the same image as he did. Any time when Xion is hooded, it's when she's not a girl, nor a guy. Just the doll. Saïx views her that way. Xemnas that, and Ven. Xigbar got Xion hooded for awhile, but then eventually witnessed Ven at one point. A mirror that reflects. More so if you have connections to anything Sora. However, once Sora's memories start to flow more and more within her by Roxas, she started to be "solid", for lack of a better word. As meant to be, being a Sora clone. So the haywire aspect of people experiencing contrasting appearances when they see her is put to a stop because now Xion is getting more complete, a more permanent form that everyone sees. If you understand what I mean.

When Roxas defeats her, it kind of goes back to square one all over again, because at that point, she was slowly disintegrating (when Roxas catches her from falling, she's already spurting sparkles), and the memories of Sora were returning to their proper place with Sora.

6. The Destiny Islands scene with the Organization Trio, did that happen or was it just a dream? That whole scene seemed entirely confusing.

Dream.

[goldpanner]

1. I'm translating the Days novel at the moment, and I know it's not canon, but they mention 'newly-awakened nobodies' being weak and vague quite a few times... perhaps his bad memory is a combination of him being just-born, and having no Sora-memories to start with? Think about it... how much do you remember from your first days of life XDDD

[Smile]

Originally Posted by Sacred X

1. Precisely why can't Roxas remember the first week of his entrance to Organization XIII, but can remember things fine on day 7 onwards, when Xion was introduced? I think I know the answer to this one, but I want confirmation.

I think it has to do with his Memory issues more than anything. He couldn't quite talk during that first week, so putting Memories into words for even he himself would be problematic.

2. Why does Xion look like Sora before the actual fight? Normally her look varies depending on who's looking at her, but at this point it seemed both Axel and Roxas (and possibly anyone else who "would've" looked at her?) were able to see Sora. I used to know this one, but it slipped my mind for a moment. But more importantly:

She said that if Roxas saw the face of a boy, she was almost 'done'. That meant she absorbed as much as she could - and Roxas was the final piece left to complete the puzzle.

3. Right before her final form, and after the battle, Xion looks like her normal self again. Why does she no longer look like Sora?

The Memories were fading out of her, leaving her rather incomplete as far as being 'Sora' goes. Hence she went back a few steps to a form Roxas himself could relate to more - being the girl he knew for the past year.

4. I understand why Roxas can dual wield, but why can Xion's Final Form dual wield as well? Surely she's holding the (ugly 358/2 Day's exclusive) Keyblades on both her hands. Some people say she has some of Riku's memories because he's connected to Sora, and since Riku was supposed to be the original Keyblade wielder, perhaps having memories of two wielders allows her wield two Keyblades? But, that feels like it's really pushing it.

I'd sooner connect it to what she is and being tweaked by it. In Agrabah she had a lot more than just two swords. And I kind of remembered more in the last fight, too.
She does have memories of Riku but I'd wait for quite a while before saying it had anything to do with her wielding. If anything, I'd say Xion affected HIS wielding abilities later on.

5. This may or may not answer question 4. Is Xion's Keyblade real? I want to say yes due to Sora's memories, and it pretty much did EVERYTHING a real Keyblade would've which is why the Organization found her useful, but I just wanted to be certain.

Nope. Nomura confirmed Xion's Keyblade is an imitation. She managed to copy both the shape and abilities of a real Keyblade, but hasn't one of her own. Hence why she awakened the ability to Duel Wield inside Roxas, instead of letting him 'inherit' her Keyblade like Roxas did for Sora upon fusion.

6. The Destiny Islands scene with the Organization Trio, did that happen or was it just a dream? That whole scene seemed entirely confusing.

The cutscene's title in Theater Mode is "Xion's Dream".

[T0ybox]

now i finally understand why xion kept doing a hood trick x]

[SuperSailorEarth]

oh! I have one i wanna add...

With Namine at the end of the game, saying that Roxas shouldn't be sad and that they will remember each other and all that, they never actually met in game right? Then why would she say that if the events of the second games hadn't happened yet?

[Smile]

.....that wasn't Namine. That was Xion talking o.o;

[SuperSailorEarth]

Ah. That makes a lot more sense. It just sounds SO close to what Namine says at the end of RE:COM.

[Smile]

Because they share the same concept. The Memories of them are disconnected inside the Hearts of those that remembered them. Xion was trying to comfort Roxas by saying she wouldn't really be gone, but that's how it's supposed to be for the sake of everyone.

Though ironically Xion is how I think Sora ended up remembering Namine in the FM+. Xion was absorbed into Roxas who was then absorbed into Sora and then the Memories were re-linked - seeing how Xion had his Memories of Castle Oblivion.

[Monkey]

The organization creates Xion to A) prevent sora from ever awakening because he cant merge back with roxas if all the memories are not intact, and b) to obtain their own keyblade wielder

I believe Roxas sees Xion the way he does because Xion is the embodiment of Sora's memories of Kairi, hence why she looks like Kairi.

When she decides to release these memories for the betterment of Sora and Roxas (ie, allowing Roxas to get those memories back, so he and Sora can be one again), Roxas sees Sora, because he's gaining those memories of Sora?

I think that's kind of in the ballparkish?

[Smile]

Originally Posted by Monkey

The organization creates Xion to A) prevent sora from ever awakening because he cant merge back with roxas if all the memories are not intact, and b) to obtain their own keyblade wielder

Reason A is actually an unplanned side effect. They wanted to have it as B, saw that Xion was becoming her own person, considered scrapping the entire project, but then realized they could reach A.

I believe Roxas sees Xion the way he does because Xion is the embodiment of Sora's memories of Kairi, hence why she looks like Kairi.

That's what they say in-game, not much point in what you think about it. She attained a face about the same time in CoM where Sora moved from talking about him, Riku, Kairi and Namine to just talking about him, Riku and Namine. The Memories of Kairi moved out to shape Xion by then.
Timeline adds up seeing how this happened next to Vexen's death, which seemingly is about when Xion unhoods herself to Roxas.

When she decides to release these memories for the betterment of Sora and Roxas (ie, allowing Roxas to get those memories back, so he and Sora can be one again), Roxas sees Sora, because he's gaining those memories of Sora?

Not quite. To start off, Xemnas gave her a new body, going by the Ultimania. That could've created complications. Second, it was the end of the year. Aside from what Roxas might've kept inside him, all of Sora's Memories should've been absorbed by Xion. She was, for better or worse, Sora, minus what Xemnas sent her out to absorb back from Roxas (ironic then that what kept her from reaching that goal were the Memories of Riku Roxas had with him. Memories of Kairi are the ROOT OF ALL EVIL! >:C).
Once the Memories began returning, she reverted back to a form Roxas himself could relate to more - being the Kairi.

[alex=axel]

maybe roxas starts taking awhile to remember stuff because wasnt sora's death messed up somehow (i forgot the actual events, been awhile) but since it was messed up maybe he took awhile to develop.

[Grace Assassin]

You know what I didn't understand?

Roxas' convoluted motives at the end of the game.
He gets sick of hearing about "Sora, Sora, Sora" yet he "has to find this Sora person, and freeing Kingdom Hearts is the only way." By doing so, he'll get Xion and his life back. Or so he says.

It took me a while to figure this out for some reason, but I understand why he thinks seeing Sora will get Xion back..... because, you know, Xion told him she was returning to Sora.

But I don't see what freeing Kingdom Hearts and meeting Sora have anything to do with each other. Sure, Xion told him to free the hearts, but how did he draw the connection between KH and meeting Sora? I don't get it.

And to make things more complicated is the fact that Roxas and Riku are essentially fighting for nothing. Roxas wants to meet Sora. Riku wants to bring Roxas to Sora. How 'bout a compromise?
I mean, I know Roxas didn't intend on being absorbed by Sora at that point (he just wanted to meet him to free Xion and find out why he can wield the Keyblade), but, something in me keeps saying, "Riku, just tell Roxas a white lie. Tell him you can bring him to meet Sora. You won't be lying about that, at least." It makes the whole fight seem so unnecessary.

Overall, it was much simpler when Roxas' motives revolved around Sora and not XIon.




Also, there's the whole issue with Xion's connection to Oblivion.

It still holds true that Oblivion represents Riku and Oathkeeper represents Kairi. Clearly, Roxas uses these two Keyblades because he inherited the memories of Riku and Kairi, Sora's two most important people, from Sora and Xion.

So why, then, does Xion (some of her memories, I presume), end up in Oblivion and not Oathkeeper? Wouldn't it make sense that her memories would stick with the ones that had spawned her (memories of Kairi in the Oathkeeper)?

I suppose this could be answered with the fact that Xion had some sort of special connection with Riku's memories- as we see in the scene where she receives some of his on DI. But I still say that's no excuse for the fact that her memories didn't mingle with the memories of Kairi, ones that she was replicated from. How could any connection with Riku be more important than that? And, what's more, we don't even know what that connection between Xion and Riku is. We're very much left in the dark about the scene where she experiences Riku's memories.

I've thought and thought and thought to try and come up with an explanation. And the only thing I can come up with is this:

When Sora's memories flow out and into Xion, they're like free links coming from a chain. When she meets Riku, a person that Sora has memories of, the links of Sora's memories of Riku connected to Riku's memories. The connection between Sora's memories of Riku and Riku's own memories allow Xion to vicariously experience Riku's memories.

But that just begs the question... why wouldn't they explain this in-game? This is presumably Xion's only game, you'd figure they shouldn't leave something like this out. And, if this were the case, it still doesn't warrant memories of RIku being more important to XIon than the memories of Kairi.

[Smile]

Originally Posted by Grace Assassin

So why, then, does Xion (some of her memories, I presume), end up in Oblivion and not Oathkeeper? Wouldn't it make sense that her memories would stick with the ones that had spawned her (memories of Kairi in the Oathkeeper)?

:\ lousy retconning would be the #1 reason. They created her with links to Kairi but the Keyblade that was thrown to Riku was the Oblivion.
Nomura did say he wanted to create a link between Xion and what the Oblivion can stand for, or something of that sort. Half assedness as that explanation seems to be at this point in time.

I suppose this could be answered with the fact that Xion had some sort of special connection with Riku's memories- as we see in the scene where she receives some of his on DI.

The thing is, how would that link her to Sora's Memories of Riku, seeing how what she saw were Riku's own Memories?
Unless once he took hold of the Oblivion it all came meshing together. No better explanation.

But I still say that's no excuse for the fact that her memories didn't mingle with the memories of Kairi, ones that she was replicated from.

And at that point in time had so much more to her :\ though to be nitpicky, I'll agree. The one with the Memories of Riku was Roxas, not Xion o_o; I wonder if that in and of itself didn't have to do with this whole mess though.

When Sora's memories flow out and into Xion, they're like free links coming from a chain. When she meets Riku, a person that Sora has memories of, the links of Sora's memories of Riku connected to Riku's memories. The connection between Sora's memories of Riku and Riku's own memories allow Xion to vicariously experience Riku's memories.

The only thing I have against that is that again - the one with the Memories of Riku was Roxas. Xion seemed to 'remember' the Memories she received of Sora, so I think she wouldn't have needed to ask Riku neither who he was nor why he saved her, if she 'remembered' him.
Roxas on the other hand was the one that dreamed about Riku taking away Sora's Keyblade and then that line from the end of KH1 that made Sora fly again, and got Roxas waking up, crying out Riku's name in the process (I laughed oh so very hard at that scene...).

But that just begs the question... why wouldn't they explain this in-game? This is presumably Xion's only game, you'd figure they shouldn't leave something like this out. And, if this were the case, it still doesn't warrant memories of RIku being more important to XIon than the memories of Kairi.

Lol, wait for her in Riku's flashed-back to Destati on the painted glass. So called it.
Either that or Final Mix.
Hey I heard they were working on Days novels, after all.
And I disagree about that last part of the importance. Xion was made up of Memories of Kairi, but that only means she's made up of them. We didn't really get to see what went on between her and Riku. Maybe she was 'more comfortable' with Memories of someone she actually knew compared to someone she was supposed to look like.

[Ralor Penwat]

What if Oblivion wasn't Riku so much as the ones they feel they have lost, Riku was lost as far as Sora knew, and he knew Kairi was safe.