Opinion Piece - Kingdom Hearts doesn't need Disney Worlds
The following will discuss Kingdom Hearts 3 and it's DLC Re:Mind and Dark Road
Spoilers Ahead for Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy 7
Part of the current situation we all find ourselves in has led me into listening and watching more Kingdom Hearts themed content. Ranging from theories on the future of the franchise to the content released for Kingdom Hearts. While the questions and theories posed are different one underlying thing remains, nobody is talking about Disney worlds. Maybe because the main points of the games going forward aren't around world travelling in that regard. Where is Sora? Who is Yozora and his world as a whole? Who is subject X? What happened to Xehanort's class mates? What will Xigbar and the Foretellers do and what is in that black box?
Gone are the days of speculating what worlds we will see or what Disney properties will be used and how to fit them into the story and honestly I'm glad. I've held the belief for a while even before Kingdom Hearts 3 that the story itself is now strong enough to push forward with its original characters and not need the Disney ones. I think we were given a good send off for Mickey having one last big moment in the Re:Mind DLC and I think the ending of 3 with Sora saying he needs to go alone without Donald & Goofy is a fitting end to the story of the 3 they helped him through all of the Xehanort saga and helped him grow but now he has to face his future alone. Obviously you can't just write them all out right away and we still have some loose ends in the likes of Maleficent to tie up before we move all away from Disney. However, I have felt this to be the case, Kingdom Hearts 3 had the feeling the worlds were a backdrop and honestly didn't contribute much to the game. I personally felt the game really picked up once we were done with them all and from saving Aqua onward was a much better game (a game of two halves so to speak). Thinking about it more would we see any difference by replacing Maleficent and Pete with Sephiroth looking for the box? To me I would like it more and would help add to a new generation experiencing that character for the first time with the Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
With that being said I do expect a slow phasing out of the Disney parts of the games for a number of reasons which I will go over. In my previous work on Kingdom Hearts I used the term 'Nomuraverse' and idea of Tetsuya Nomura setting up all of his creations under one shared universe space whether they be from games he directed or just characters he designed in a way to perhaps look to breath new live into some franchises and to give love to characters he helped design and its this direction I see the series moving into away from Disney. This may however cause some fans concern as it could be seen that we are wiping away a large portion of people and places in the Kingdom Hearts universe to achieve this. In relation to that the main point of this piece is to establish that when subtracting the Disney worlds Kingdom Hearts still contains a wide variety of places (and people) created by the series and as such we can look to move them forward with properties Square own.
Existing Worlds
To begin with it is important to establish what worlds we currently have that are original to Kingdom Hearts. with the universe divided up into three realms (Darkness, Light & In Between we also have the realm of sleep but that's a different story) I want to address that I'm specifically looking at the worlds themselves as to discuss the realms as well would confuse me to no end. However, the realm setting itself allows us to fully justify having extra worlds not yet traversed as the realms we can say are not fully explored, to make matters somewhat easier the existing worlds listed below will be categorised by sub headings of their currently realm placement. Thanks to the Kingdom Hearts Fandom website for helping me break this down
Real of Light
Destiny Islands
Radiant Garden
Keyblade Graveyard
Scala ad Cealum
The Final World
Real of Darkness
Dark World (and the Dark Margin within)
End of the World
Real In Between
Traverse Town
Land of Departure
Twilight Town
The World that Never Was (I am not sure if this world still exists)
While a small amount of worlds we are given a large amount of room to play with. If we say the realms are the same size of a universe we have barley scratched the surface of them especially the Realm of Darkness it may be a chance to add more to that realm as a whole much like the scrapped Crumbling Island. It would help not only flesh out more of the shape of these realms but could help with future stories. Can't find subject X? Well we can say they are now on a world not yet seen. A story heavily wrapped in original characters that started in an original world for the series it would not make sense for subject X to appear in Agrabah for example. By creating more original world it allows it to be worked to be fit for purpose as opposed to using a Disney world with defined characters and their arcs and characteristics to then fit the narrative you want around that world and its characters. It will also allow Nomura to introduce other characters he designed into this universe with Lightning from Final Fantasy 13 which he designed. I've seen Lightning as a character a lot of people have speculated and hoped to see and by bringing in new original worlds it gives a reason for why we haven't seen these characters before if they are introduced.
Side note. I would love them to introduce a Final Fantasy 7 world on the back of the remake. While I doubt it I think it'd be great and can continue the story of Cloud and Sephiroth from Kingdom Hearts 2. As it said they went off to fight a great war with Goofy questioning if they went back to their own world and Tifa was going to track Cloud down it leaves that open to interpretation. This would allow them to tell a new story in that world and with the remake in people minds it would make sense to strike while the iron is somewhat hot. Also by keeping Aerith in Radiant Garden you can get around having to kill her off, tell a new story without her there to just be a plot device. Would be nice to have Cloud & Tifa (and possibly Barrett) as party members.
Disney Interference
Now we get to talk about everyone's favourite topic in corporate meddling. It has been documented before about getting all the rights and copyright sorted for Disney worlds can prove the be the most complicated part of each game. Not only is getting the worlds locked in they are then it can be subjected to Disney interfering in how the world is and the story of the world and the characters. This was mostly seen in the Arendelle world for Frozen. In what seemed to be a massive change to the story in the end Arendelle as a whole felt rushed, the whole story seemed to be leading up to fighting Elsa (seeing as she wasn't the companion added for the world) but in the end that didn't happen and the full Let it Go song was added in and felt unnecessary, the whole thing reeked of Disney not wanting their latest cash cow portrayed in a negative light especially with Frozen 2 right around the corner. So how do you get around issues caused by interference? It's simple to me in creating your own worlds and characters. Disney can't say that you're hurting their brands as you aren't changing how they are portrayed that may effect the image as it would be Square's own in house characters to showcase and promote which would in theory make it easy to get the story as and how you want it without Disney forcing changes.
Final Fantasy Versus 13 Debacle
Now as has been discussed several times before and will be discussed several times since about how Nomura was taken off of Final Fantasy Versus 13 and that game went on to become Final Fantasy 15. It has been heavily implied and feels pretty clear the character of Yozora will borrow elements and ideas from what Nomura wanted with Versus 13 and at least from Noctus, with time and the Final Fantasy 15 full game released Nomura can refine what he wanted in the may his Noctus would've acted in how Yozora is.
This has me thinking, if Yozora is met with a great reception as currently we will need to see him in a more featured role to move on from Re:Mind as currently we have more questions then character intention and motivations. However, if Yozora becomes a hit in the Kingdom Hearts universe I wonder what it can lead to. This could even lead to Nomura looking onto his cutting room floor for other ideas that can work in this universe. I imagine over the years Nomura has ditched characters and setting from other games that he could put in here. If anything Yozora shows that Nomura won't let go of a character and an idea if he feels it could be used in the future wherever it ends up.
End of Copyright
Now we get to talk about copyright law. As far as I am aware Mickey Mouse enters the public domain in 2024 a massive blow to Disney who will no longer be able to claim sole ownership of the Mouse and he will be free to appear for other artists. Now my question is pose to that is other classic Disney characters are not far away from the same fate. To me Disney aren't the team company to play ball with others so anything that using a character that could help other people and their use of Mickey Mouse I don't think they would want to do.
I have to wonder if the change of the Princesses of Heart is related to this. A plot point not fully ironed out and honestly really forgotten. A lot of the original princesses are now in the public domain with Cinderella and Snow Wight as examples. While the worlds were used for 0.2 and how they fell to darkness the characters were not seen, they have seemed to have moved away from the classic princesses appearing or even being used, the worlds are no longer used and buried away in the realm of darkness and the characters roles have been moved onto other newer characters. Now this may be a case of using newer characters that modern audiences will know more at a first glance (especially for younger players) I feel it lends into the idea of moving away from copyright free characters. I know that Rapunzel is also in the public domain so if it is only a case of out with the old in with the new this wouldn't add up. But, if Nomura gets rid of the idea of the princesses of heart idea and in turn the Disney worlds this would help add some clarity as to why that idea was mentioned, dropped and never fully filled out the ranks needed for that idea.
Now I know that Re:Mind used the Fairy Godmother but I believe this is due to a lack of magic users as original characters. We have two ways of world travelling that we see in the Gummi Ship and the Dark Corridors but I think the later is pretty much done with the organisation members restored or killed so with that magic is the next option and no original character introduced fro Kingdom Hearts has this so makes sense to use the Fairy Godmother here as a character known for magic but I expect for some magic users to be introduced going forward they may even add it as something key to help find Sora, I mean we have everything else but full blown magic.
In Re:Mind we are told that the trio of Mickey, Donald and Goofy are travelling to previous Disney worlds to see if they can find Sora, I feel if needs be this can be used as a way to clear them and the Disney worlds out if mentioned a simple 'Mickey and co are there' or 'nothing was found in that world' would help to remove any idea of travelling there for the sake of the plot and also provide a reason why some world would never been seen again as the narratives to be told in them may not work with what the game needs going forward (after the debacle it caused I honestly doubt we will see the Frozen world again)
While these maybe my ramblings and hope for the series going forward we go not know what way it will go. While the series seems to be introducing more original characters and using concepts for Nomura's other games it could still feature the same amount of Disney worlds. Hell we could see Star Wars and Marvel stuff next game if they go the other way to this (copyright agreement permitting). While I don't think we will get answers to this in Melody of Memories I do hope that in weeks and months post that games launch as phase 2 takes shape we see a more clearer idea of what is to follow.
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