Time to get on with boring yet related drivel! Huzzah! So, in the past week-and-a-half-ish, there has been no news. Bothersome. So instead of doing another analysis thingy for a random KH-vid (due to my being on my sister's laptop at the mo and not being able to find the volume...), I thought it might be fun for a theory post. Specifically, a theory post relating to Naminé, one of the most mind-screwing characters in the entire series because of her mere existence. Hilarity ensues. (This entire thing is rather SPOILER if you haven't played BBS yet, so go do that first. Also, I've already posted this before on the forums at KHInsider, so some repetition is bound to occur. Considering I haven't changed the theory at all, and whatnot.)
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So, Naminé. Just...what? She's supposed to be Kairi's Nobody, but she's obviously special-case considering Kairi's still there, along with her body, soul and heart. So, what's left over for Naminé? Personally, as I shall explain, I think she shares more in common with Vanitas than a regular Nobody in terms of what she is made of, as in I believe her to be a shard of Kairi's heart in a similar vein to Vanitas being a shard of Ven's heart. Confusing, huh? Onwards to the theory!
KHI, Sora stabs himself with the Keyblade of People's Hearts. This releases Kairi's heart, turns him into a Heartless and sends his body and soul off to Twilight Town along with Ven's heart to form his Nobody Roxas. Fun times. Now, Naminé was also formed amidst all this confusion. Basically, I'm thinking that Sora accidentally tore off a small shard of Kairi's heart in the process of releasing it and that this shard went off to Castle Oblivion to form Naminé. Sora was using the Keyblade of People's Hearts (the one formed from six of the seven Princesses of Heart), which unlocks a person's darkness. Kairi, being the last PoH, has no darkness. Maybe that Keyblade has another effect on a heart of pure light and merely tears it a bit? I think that's...possible, right? Certainly by KH's standards of logic, at any rate.
Now, you may be disagreeing with me already. 'How can Kairi be up and at it between KHI and II without a bit of her heart? When Ven's heart was split, he was sent into a coma. Explain THAT, Random Fangirl on the Interwebs!' And indeed I shall, Imaginary Interwebs Complainer Guy! (...Man, I am NOT articulate this early in the morning. Damn you, Pottermore and your lack of punctuality!) Kairi and Ven were in a very different set of circumstances at their respective heart-shearing. Ven had just been fought by a huge pack of Neoshadows and was on the brink of death, thus rendering him a lot weaker at the time than Kairi, whose heart had been chillin' inside Sora for a good while at that stage. Ven was also about 11 at the time, whereas Kairi was 14. Not a significant difference, but enough to be noted... I'm also thinking that Naminé would have been a very small shard. DiZ said in the Secret Ansem Reports that she was an "extremely unstable being", whereas Vanitas was around for four years before the main events of BBS, which seems fairly stable to me. Naminé being a smaller shard would probably have put less strain on Kairi and prevent her going comatose again. However, I think that the most significant difference is that Master Xehanort forcibly ripped Ven's heart out of his body and tore off the darkness. Ouch. However, according to this theory, the shard of Kairi's heart would have already been taken off before it returned to her body, meaning she didn't have to go through that pain and perhaps saving her from staying in a coma. Also, she's a Princess of Heart. They're always doin' crazy stuff. ...Yeah, I dunno.
Continuing. Naminé is obviously something of Kairi because at the end of KHII she returns to Kairi, not Sora or anyone else. If she was just an entity of nothingness born out of a loophole, she wouldn't have had to return to anyone at all. Naminé had to have borrowed something of Kairi's and needed to return it. Now, we know Naminé can't be anything to do with Kairi's body or soul, due to those being comatose a short distance away when Sora stabbed himself. The only thing of Kairi's involved in the whole stabbing shenanigan was her heart. Therefore, it makes sense that Naminé was formed from her heart. Kairi wouldn't have woken up without her heart, so Naminé can't be the entire thing. Rather, I think she's just a shard that projected its own body. We know that this can happen in the KH-universe due to Vanitas's entire existence. So far, so plausible.
Now, similarities between Naminé and Vanitas. Let's start with appearances, shall we? Again, I'm on my sister's laptop at the moment, and I am awful at all things laptop, so sorry for the lack of pretty pictures. :c You know what they look like anyway. First, Vanitas. Black hair, amber eyes, black outfit with bits of red... Very 'dark'-looking, if you ask me. Fitting, considering he is the darkness of Ven's heart. So now we know that people made from shards of other people's hearts look like what the shard is made of. Or something. In stark contrast we have Naminé with blonde hair, blue eyes and a plain white dress. Of course, Kairi is a PoH, so her heart has no darkness. This means that were a shard to be taken from her heart, it would be made of light. Naminé seems very 'light'-looking. Coincidence? Could be. But for the sake of this theory, I THINK NOT! Yes, I realize that my logic is basically 'Naminé looks like a light shard, ERGO Naminé IS a light shard.' Don't worry, there's more damning evidence to come.
Moving swiftly on to personality. Vanitas is cruel, sarcastic, cunning and pretty much evil. Again, very 'dark'. His personality reflects him being a composition of a dark shard of Ven's heart. Slightly more articulate than last time, but still not making much sense... Anywho, Naminé is very different. She's remorseful, innocent, humble, fragile... Very 'light' to me.
Next up, emotions. Regular ol' Nobodies can't feel emotions, which further proves that Naminé ain't no ordinary Nobody. She obviously can feel, one of the most prominent examples being when she cries as she puts Sora into his pod-thing at the end of Chain of Memories. You need to have a heart to feel emotions, or at least a shard. Vanitas shows that even a shard of a heart has feelings; the Unversed are, after all, negative emotions. So, Naminé feeling emotions can be easily explained if she's a heart shard. Theory's still good!
Onwards to the shakier bits of the theory. First off, why was she born in Castle Oblivion? When Vanitas was created, he was intentionally extracted from Ven's heart, meaning he was just there in the Keyblade Graveyard. However, Naminé? She was more of a by-product, completely unintentional. DiZ kept saying in the Secret Ansem Report that the only thing Naminé had in common with a regular Nobody was the way in which she was born; that is, when a heart left a body (Kairi's from Sora's). When Nobodies are born, they get whoosed off to a world in the Realm of In-Between, neither light or darkness. CO just so happens to be one of those worlds. Maybe that's why she was born there? As for why she was born in CO specifically, I don't think there has to be an answer, but let's go for one! Maybe Kairi's connection to Aqua, after she cast the protection spell on her, is what made Naminé show up in Aqua's home town Land of Departure, which is now CO. Maybe Kairi's heart became connected to Ven's when they were roomies in Sora's, thus connecting Kairi to CO, etc. But again, I don't think the specific world Naminé's born in really matters, just the fact that she was born in the Realm of In-Between.
Now, why did Naminé have control over Sora's memories? ...Yeeaahh, I got nothin'. Well, Vanitas had control over the Unversed, which are negative emotions. Emotions come from the heart, which Vanitas is a shard of. Maybe being a heart shard gives you special heart powers? Memories are also stored in the heart, which could have given Naminé memory-powers. I reeaally don't like that explanation, though; far too...loose, I guess, and very ass-pull-ish. Why would being a heart shard suddenly give you super powers? I never really understood the Unversed though, or quite how Vanitas was able to make them...
Anyway, why did Naminé have power over Sora specifically? Well, she was born through Sora. ...*cough* Again, I have no clue. Her shard may have connected with Sora's heart when leaving his body, thus granting her memory-morphing powers... What I never got with Naminé is why she also had power over Donald and Goofy's memories as well and having to put them into those pods to restore them after CoM. I think I remember someone saying that Naminé had power over Sora's memories and those close to him. I have literally no explanation for that, not even an ass-pull. Well, maybe one. Sora is supposed to be the key that connects everything, so maybe by connecting with his heart Naminé was connected to everyone else as well. ...Ugh, I dunno.
Now, similarities between Naminé and Vanitas. Let's start with appearances, shall we? Again, I'm on my sister's laptop at the moment, and I am awful at all things laptop, so sorry for the lack of pretty pictures. :c You know what they look like anyway. First, Vanitas. Black hair, amber eyes, black outfit with bits of red... Very 'dark'-looking, if you ask me. Fitting, considering he is the darkness of Ven's heart. So now we know that people made from shards of other people's hearts look like what the shard is made of. Or something. In stark contrast we have Naminé with blonde hair, blue eyes and a plain white dress. Of course, Kairi is a PoH, so her heart has no darkness. This means that were a shard to be taken from her heart, it would be made of light. Naminé seems very 'light'-looking. Coincidence? Could be. But for the sake of this theory, I THINK NOT! Yes, I realize that my logic is basically 'Naminé looks like a light shard, ERGO Naminé IS a light shard.' Don't worry, there's more damning evidence to come.
Moving swiftly on to personality. Vanitas is cruel, sarcastic, cunning and pretty much evil. Again, very 'dark'. His personality reflects him being a composition of a dark shard of Ven's heart. Slightly more articulate than last time, but still not making much sense... Anywho, Naminé is very different. She's remorseful, innocent, humble, fragile... Very 'light' to me.
Next up, emotions. Regular ol' Nobodies can't feel emotions, which further proves that Naminé ain't no ordinary Nobody. She obviously can feel, one of the most prominent examples being when she cries as she puts Sora into his pod-thing at the end of Chain of Memories. You need to have a heart to feel emotions, or at least a shard. Vanitas shows that even a shard of a heart has feelings; the Unversed are, after all, negative emotions. So, Naminé feeling emotions can be easily explained if she's a heart shard. Theory's still good!
Onwards to the shakier bits of the theory. First off, why was she born in Castle Oblivion? When Vanitas was created, he was intentionally extracted from Ven's heart, meaning he was just there in the Keyblade Graveyard. However, Naminé? She was more of a by-product, completely unintentional. DiZ kept saying in the Secret Ansem Report that the only thing Naminé had in common with a regular Nobody was the way in which she was born; that is, when a heart left a body (Kairi's from Sora's). When Nobodies are born, they get whoosed off to a world in the Realm of In-Between, neither light or darkness. CO just so happens to be one of those worlds. Maybe that's why she was born there? As for why she was born in CO specifically, I don't think there has to be an answer, but let's go for one! Maybe Kairi's connection to Aqua, after she cast the protection spell on her, is what made Naminé show up in Aqua's home town Land of Departure, which is now CO. Maybe Kairi's heart became connected to Ven's when they were roomies in Sora's, thus connecting Kairi to CO, etc. But again, I don't think the specific world Naminé's born in really matters, just the fact that she was born in the Realm of In-Between.
Now, why did Naminé have control over Sora's memories? ...Yeeaahh, I got nothin'. Well, Vanitas had control over the Unversed, which are negative emotions. Emotions come from the heart, which Vanitas is a shard of. Maybe being a heart shard gives you special heart powers? Memories are also stored in the heart, which could have given Naminé memory-powers. I reeaally don't like that explanation, though; far too...loose, I guess, and very ass-pull-ish. Why would being a heart shard suddenly give you super powers? I never really understood the Unversed though, or quite how Vanitas was able to make them...
Anyway, why did Naminé have power over Sora specifically? Well, she was born through Sora. ...*cough* Again, I have no clue. Her shard may have connected with Sora's heart when leaving his body, thus granting her memory-morphing powers... What I never got with Naminé is why she also had power over Donald and Goofy's memories as well and having to put them into those pods to restore them after CoM. I think I remember someone saying that Naminé had power over Sora's memories and those close to him. I have literally no explanation for that, not even an ass-pull. Well, maybe one. Sora is supposed to be the key that connects everything, so maybe by connecting with his heart Naminé was connected to everyone else as well. ...Ugh, I dunno.
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And on that optimistic note, I think I shall take my leave.
tl;dr: I think Naminé is a light shard of Kairi's heart in a similar vein to Vanitas being a dark shard of Ven's. Savvy?
Jeez, this one took me forever to write. I've been stealing my sister's laptop on and off for the past three days just to finish this... I have my early registration place thing for Pottermore, by the by, which is AWESOME. Still have no idea what Pottermore is, exactly, but I still want to get in first. :3
Laters.
Interesting, but I find it to be very possible, considering it's about the world of Kingdom Hearts. :) Nice job.
ReplyDeleteHaha, thanks! I'm just hoping that there's a better explanation for Naminé's existence other than 'She's a Nobody, except, y'know, not really.' And as you said, we're talking about Kingdom Hearts here; anything's possible.
ReplyDeleteAgain, thanks! :D
Love that theory. Makes so much more sense than the "She's a special nobody" nonsense that DiZ spouted. I really pray it's true.
ReplyDeleteAw, thank you! c: I really hope that they don't just leave her as a special Nobody, 'cause that really makes very little sense. I'm hoping that whenever we next see Naminé, most probably in Dream Drop Distance, they'll elaborate a bit. Sure, it doesn't really matter all that much at this point, but it'd be nice to have an explanation that's at least a little bit plausible. Maybe just even in an interview with Nomura if they don't deem it mportant enough to address in-game... [/rambling]
ReplyDeleteThanks again!