The Darkness in Kingdom Hearts is in a somewhat middle ground with how it has been defined in the past, both established as a never-ending force of negative energy, but also personified at times. However, while the Heartless that spawn from the Darkness are well established in their many forms, there is a bit of ambiguity when it comes to the singular entity known as The Darkness and the Realm of Darkness.
Since the first Kingdom Hearts, there has been a vague definition of what the Realm of Darkness is and what it’s like while inside of it, apart from having existential conversations about Sora at a beach. The closest look players have gotten in regards to the Realm of Darkness is from 0.8 A Fragmentary Passage, when Aqua became trapped in it and began exploring some of the fallen worlds she had previously visited.
While players have been shown what the Realm of Darkness looks like from time to time, there’s something that hasn’t been explored much throughout the area, mostly due to the whole area being overrun by Heartless. It’s never been properly stated if anything can survive in this mysterious area without be turned into a Heartless, even though there are some entities that seem to have held onto their intelligence. The majority of these characters have appeared in the Kingdom Hearts Union X ancient past storyline, likely leading to a reveal of the series’ future big bad.
To date, there are three prominent figures that have appeared that have managed to maintain their intelligence when either consumed by or born of the Darkness. The first of these would be Ansem Seeker of Darkness, the Terra/Xehanort Heartless that acted as the final boss in the first game in the series, before the names got confusing. However, it has been shown more recently that a Chirithy in Kingdom Hearts Union X has been taken over by the darkness before, technically turning it into a nightmare instead of a Heartless, but still retaining its intellect.
After the Dark Chirithy reveal came a second dark entity, again in Kingdom Hearts Union X as The Darkness, who has more recently taken on the role as that game’s primary antagonist. It’s unclear who or what this figure is from the latest release for the mobile game, but given his connection to Ventus and a key line from Kingdom Hearts 3 Re:Mind, it’s more than likely to be Vanitus. Considering that all three of these characters go against some of the more established rules of dark creatures being mindless, it appears that there is more to the Realm of Darkness than previously seen.
Longtime fans of the Final Fantasy series might have recognized the Realms of Light and Darkness in Kingdom Hearts from Square Enix’s previous games, where these concepts have appeared a number of times. Sometimes taking a biblical inspiration with literal Heavens and Hells, or following closer to the Kingdom Hearts formula with the two sides of the same coin themes, multiple realms are a common thread through the series. Even recent titles like the Final Fantasy 14: Shadowbringers expansion tackle the fight between dark and light, often with a more nuanced take on whether or not the two mean good or evil.
For a time, it seemed as though Square Enix was going to take a similar stance in the Kingdom Hearts series that it had taken before with Final Fantasy‘s multiple Dark Knights. This was seemingly happening with Kingdom Hearts‘ Riku storyline, although his reliance on darkness that became the focal point of his arc in the second title has since been abandoned for a more cut-and-dry hero’s tale. However, Final Fantasy has had heroes that used the dark and were not considered to be evil because of it, sometimes even saving the Realm of Light with dark powers.
The two most notable instances of a Light Realm and Dark Realm in Final Fantasy come from the third and fifth games in the series, with Final Fantasy 3 having the clearest view of the other side of this coin. Veteran players who managed to find one of the few releases of Final Fantasy 3 outside of Japan might recall that the final boss of that game is a strange being known as the Cloud of Darkness that threatens to disrupt the balance of Light and Dark. In order to stop it, the Heroes of Darkness, the opposing forces to the Heroes of Light the player controls, use their own power to help defeat and seal the Cloud of Darkness away.
While this might be the most on the nose moment of light and dark working together for balance, there are other characters that also resemble Kingdom Hearts‘ Riku, namely Final Fantasy 4‘s Cecil. The Dark Knight turned Paladin is one of the strangest omissions from Kingdom Hearts, considering how perfectly his storyline fits into the collaborative world. Including Cecil could be a huge way that Square Enix could keep the Final Fantasy characters relevant to a story that has been quickly leaning away from the connected universe, while enhancing the Light vs Dark conflict within characters.
One of the largest divergences that Kingdom Hearts has taken since the second game is drawing a firmer line in the sand between Light and Dark as Good and Evil. The ending of Kingdom Hearts 2’s final boss fight starts by the characters saying that the Darkness itself isn’t evil, it’s the things lurking around inside of it that is what’s so creepy. This was an interesting take from a series that had been so focused on the Light vs Darkness conflict, but it’s been passed by in recent games, with even Riku completely abandoning the Darkness by Kingdom Hearts 3.
Older Final Fantasy characters like Cecil and the Heroes of Darkness could build on this ambiguity again, by tasking players to enter the Realm of Darkness again and find that there are conflicts happening between them. Even taking the Ventus/Vanitus or Cloud/Sephiroth approach from previous games could work with Cecil’s Paladin and Dark Knight forms fighting each other endlessly. With Kingdom Hearts 4 headed in a bold, new direction, an extensive leaning on Final Fantasy and it’s history in dealing with more ambiguous issues could be a huge growing point for the series.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is available now for PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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