KH3 Theory Week: Where Is Ventus?

(Josie Sayz: I’m having a ‘Kingdom Hearts’ week! Today’s blog is part of a mini, week-long series that I’m working on, pondering over various theories surrounding the characters and events that may be revealed in ‘Kingdom Hearts III’ when it is released at the end of January next year. These theories are meant to be just light, fun and speculation – none of this if fact nor is it meant to be taken seriously. Today I am going to look into the whereabouts of Ventus and his importance in ‘Kingdom Hearts III’.)

Where is Ventus? Well we know that Aqua hid him in The Land of Departure, which is now known as Castle Oblivion, in The Chamber of Waking, but where is that? Sora, Riku and various members of Organisation XIII have been in Castle Oblivion’s many rooms. Lord Xemnas even had members of Organisation XIII search the castle to try and find the chamber. So where is it?

Aqua said in ‘Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep’ that Ven is safe and that she has to get out of the realm of darkness to wake him up. However, we know from the ‘Kingdom Hearts III’ ‘Frozen’ trailer that Aqua has been norted – her eyes have turned from blue to yellow (the same colour as Master Xehanort’s), however when you freeze the frame she does not appear to have the pointed, elven ears, so has she become one of Master Xehanort’s vessels or has she just given her heart to the darkness? Either way, whether she is a vessel to Master Xehanort or whether she has given herself to the darkness, can Aqua wake up Ven? If Aqua has been taken over by darkness, can she find her way to the land between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness? Even if she does, does she still have what it takes to wake Ventus? If Aqua has become a vessel to Master Xehanort, is he trying to manipulate her into finding The Chamber of Waking and Ventus for him? How much of her is now being controlled by Master Xehanort? What if she does make her way The Chamber of Waking – can she wake Ventus if she is norted? Does she need a pure heart, full of light, love and friendship to wake him?

Will Sora be the one to find Ventus and wake him up, as he holds his heart? This would make sense, as Ventus’ heart lies within Sora – after his heart became separated from his body, following his battle with Vanitas. In order for Ven to fully awaken, he needs his heart back, so it would make sense if Sora were to be the one to awaken him.

Will Riku and King Mickey be the ones to wake up Ventus? Master Yen Sid does send them on the mission to bring Aqua back, but once Riku and King Mickey discover that Aqua’s heart now has ties to the darkness, perhaps they will try to find and awaken Ventus? Riku has been to Castle Oblivion before, so perhaps he may be able to come up with a plan as to where The Chamber of Waking may be. We also saw Replica Riku make an appearance in one of the new, ‘E3’, ‘Kingdom Hearts III’ trailers, so might he know where The Chamber of Waking is?

Will Axel/Lea be the one to wake up Ventus? With Lea now returned to his true form and training to wield his key blade, once Master Yen Sid hears of Aqua turning to the darkness, might he send Lea to return to Castle Oblivion in hopes of locating Ventus? What will happen when Lea finds him? Will Lea think that he has found Roxas? I think that this would be very interesting, seeing as Axel and Roxas were best friends (and Ventus and Roxas look identical). Lea will become confused and memories of Roxas will come flooding back. As Ventus and Roxas’ hearts are both connected through Sora, will Lea’s strong light and friendship for Roxas help in setting Ventus’ heart free and awakening him?

What do I think? Will Aqua, Sora, Riku and King Mickey or Lea find and wake up Ventus? Will Master Xehanort or Lord Xemnas discover The Chamber of Waking first? Will Ven be saved at all? I will definitely be pondering over these thoughts some more, whilst we wait in anticipation for the end of the Xehanort Saga.

- Josie -

Lost in my Head

(Josie Sayz: This is the first time that I have attempted to try and explain what happens in my head sometimes. Although I haven’t felt this way in a while, because things were really starting to improve in my life, something happened last night that resulted in a little blip. I don’t know if it’s only temporary or if it’s here to stay, but this is how I feel.)

It’s dark; it’s cold,
I feel far too old
For this to go on.
I can’t take the pain,
All that’s left is the rain
Too depressed to go on.

I feel so ashamed,
It’s always the same…

Can’t get out of bed.
There’s rocks in my head.
I feel so uptight.
Can’t you turn out the light?
Don’t want to talk – please go away.
Just wanna lie here – waste away the day.
You don’t understand; this is not a trend,
It’s a dreadful feeling I fear will never end.
I’m lost in my head.

I’ve been here so long,
The feeling’s too strong.
Can’t fight it away.
Don’t want it to be,
Please don’t forget me.
I’ll be back someday.

I just can’t explain,
How this feeling became…

Can’t get out of bed.
My head feels like lead.
Try as I might,
I can’t turn on the light.
Every day’s the same – it won’t go away.
Feeling so trapped – I just can’t break away.
They don’t understand; this is not a trend,
It’s a dreadful feeling I fear will never end.
I’m lost in my head.

I’m lost in my head.
Just fills up with dread.
My head feels like lead.
I wish I was dead.
I can’t leave my bed.
I’m lost in my head.
Lost in my head.

- Josie -

Friday 13th – Lucky or Unlucky?

(Josie Sayz: So many stories surround Friday 13^th. Spooky goings on, hauntings, servere bad luck. Some people even go as far as to refuse to leave the house on Friday 13^th – but why? Could something bad not happen by staying indoors? Wouldn’t losing a day’s pay, not getting any fresh air and living in fear all day be considered bad luck, all because of some irrational fear?)

Friday the 13th is considered unlucky in some countries, but lucky in others. I find this concept very strange, having been brought up in a country where some people literally fear the number 13. I used to work in a restaurant and the number of customers who refused table number 13 (and would rather wait over half an hour for another table than sit there) was, to me, surprisingly high. Several people a day would refuse to sit at table 13, claiming that it was unlucky, or it would bring them bad luck. My mum works in a supermarket, as a cashier, and her checkout is number 13. When the store is busy, members of staff have often directed customers towards my mum (as she has won awards for her customer service), yet many customers refuse her service and would often prefer to wait in a long queue than use checkout number 13 in fear that it will bring them bad luck. In such a modern day and age, it surprises me so much that people believe in such silly superstitions.

From a young age, I was always led to believe that 13 was unlucky. I was never quite sure why (although I had a feeling that it had something to do with witchcraft or paganism). It wasn’t until I was at university when I first discovered that in some countries, they view Friday 13^th as lucky. I recall in my second year at university, my Enlightenment lecture fell on a Friday 13^th. Not many people turned up to our lecture and it puzzled my lecturer. Someone joked that we were light on people because it was Friday 13^th and some people were probably too scared to leave their house. My lecturer, who was French, seemed puzzled. She told us that where she grew up, everyone would go out and buy a lottery ticket on Friday 13^th because it was considered to be the luckiest day of the year and she had never heard of (and did not understand) why it was viewed so negatively in Britain – we couldn’t really explain it to her either. I guess it’s just a case of a silly idea being planted in your brain when you are young that can fester and spread into an irrational fear as one grows older. I believe the term for having a phobia over Friday 13^th is: paraskevidekatriaphobia.

Do I believe in Friday 13^th? No. I don’t believe in some random spirit forcing good or negative fortunes upon people. However, I do believe that people choose to play/feed upon the negative connotations connected to the date. I think on Friday 13^th people purposely look for, and take note of, all of the teeny, tiny instances that go wrong and blame it on the day; however, if today was Friday 12^th or 14^th they probably wouldn’t take much (if any) notice. For example, as I was leaving work today, I asked one of my colleagues if she had had a good day (in passing), to which she replied that she had not. She said that she hates Friday the 13^th and so many bad things had happened to her today and that she was going straight home, to bed, and couldn’t wait for it to be tomorrow. Had today’s date been any other date than the 13^th though, I reckon that my colleague would not have been so dramatic, and her day would not have felt as bad. She woke up expecting today to be negative, so she old looked for and took note of all of the negative activity that occurred today.

I feel as though I had a very good day today. I woke up having had the most amazing dream, involving the most special friend that I have even had, even though we currently not talking – I viewed this dream as a pleasant, hopeful, bright light at the end of a dark tunnel. My pet rabbit didn’t wake me up before my alarm went off for the first time in months. At work, I got all of my assignments/projects completed by the end of the day. I saw lots of magpies on the way to work – which is considered good luck in the world of superstition (one for sorrow, two for joy, three for a girl, four for a boy, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret never to be told). I managed to use one of the complicated machines at work, without help, for the first time. I drank more water than normal, which is a big thing for me. I got some good deals at the supermarket, on my way home. I didn’t get wet even though rain was forecast for today. My head feels happy and clear (following from my lovely dream, I have been having happy and positive thoughts about this special friend all day). The more I think about my day, yes, a few bad things did happen – I forgot my ice cube tray so with the temperature being rather hot at the moment, my water was warm, and I hate drinking warm water. The pasta that I had for lunch had gone off. A couple of things during my time a work occurred, preventing me from getting things finished sooner. My rabbit’s dinner had gone soggy in the fridge and he refused to eat it, so I had to go back out and buy him something else and I was running late this morning and forgot to wear my waterproofs shoes (despite seeing the weather forecast predict rain). Yes, a list of negative things happened during my day, but up until I forced myself to think of them just now, I never would have considered today to have been an unlucky day. I think that it just depends on what mind set you follow through the day with. If you begin your day with a negative frame of mind, of course you are going to remember every single negative thing in much detail. Yes, one big, bad thing could happen, but it could also have occurred yesterday, and you wouldn’t go around blaming it on Thursday 12^th now, would you?

I hope that you had a good day, whether you believe in Friday the 13^th or not.

- Josie -