Constructing Kingdoms: Episode 04 - Kingdom Hearts and the Heroine's Journey

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  • เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ต.ค. 2024

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  • @PaintSplashProductions
    @PaintSplashProductions 2 ปีที่แล้ว +63

    Sora is my favourite Disney Princess

  • @gothwolf13
    @gothwolf13 ปีที่แล้ว +27

    I keep coming back to this video its so good. KH as a story about a male character learning to value empathy and his innate qualities over the traditional Masculine Ideal is such a good story concept masterfully executed. KH3 really drove this home with all the "just be yourself" and "follow your heart" dialogue directed at Sora (which also fits amazingly well as a coming out narrative).

  • @HolyDemonSnap
    @HolyDemonSnap ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Funny how the "Awaken to Feelings of Spiritual Aridity" step also coincides with the moment heartless/nobodies becoming human again and then time travel gets introduced.

  • @normal6483
    @normal6483 ปีที่แล้ว +35

    Considering the strong ties Kingdom Hearts has with Disney Princess movies, it makes sense that it follows the Heroine's Journey! What is the raft building portion of KH1 but an "I want more" song translated into a tutorial level?

  • @HolyDemonSnap
    @HolyDemonSnap ปีที่แล้ว +19

    Reminds me of how I always had a feeling Sora was supposed to go from day to night when Riku was going from night to day. Riku going from Dark to Light, Sora going from Light to Dark, but both of them still keeping the other side of themselves at the ready. Whereas Riku is a brilliant blinding light, Sora instead, while probably mostly wielding darkness to an extent and his feminine self, will be balanced, integrated, and resonant. Leading to him feedback looping into himself, him into his friends, and his friends back into him so that he may properly take on the final challenge and changing the world. Harmony, peace, love - rather than fear (like the MoM's fears).

  • @StormyBuckets
    @StormyBuckets 2 ปีที่แล้ว +28

    "KH is Connected to Twewy and Uses that connection to set up the connection to the Real World Location of Shibuya to act as 'the Underworld" Is so Kingdom Hearts and i love it so goddamn much.

    • @rosegacha8
      @rosegacha8 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

      It's *special* underworld for people who aren't dead but have died, this has happened twice in the story.

    • @Fragmentsinfractals488
      @Fragmentsinfractals488 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Well, if you played Dark Road spoilers
      Hades's Underworld is a Portal to the Final World. A Way to bridge the gap.

  • @shinichi4476
    @shinichi4476 ปีที่แล้ว +18

    Rewatching all the series to prepare for this weekend’s new episode, and I REALLY want a repeat of the Iconic “I searched everywhere for you” scene. But with the roles reversed of course.

  • @HolyDemonSnap
    @HolyDemonSnap ปีที่แล้ว +19

    It's pretty clear that Riku is the masculine archetype that Sora wishes he was, and Sora is the feminine archetype that Riku wishes he could be. It's why RIku knows that Sora can do far more than he can, and pushes himself to be stronger and achieve balance within himself like Riku has gradually done as well. To properly confront himself, even if not all of his friends - as I for one think Donald Duck isn't quite the type of person to admit he fucked up as a friend to Sora. Goofy more likely to do so.

  • @JapanFreak2595
    @JapanFreak2595 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    It’ll be interesting to see how much Missing Link will add since it’s stated that it’ll fill in some mysteries that were left unsolved in the series. And considering how much new context Dark Road provided, it’ll be really fascinating to see it’ll piece together.

  • @CryptidCritter
    @CryptidCritter ปีที่แล้ว +22

    Interesting to learn about the Heroine's Journey! From the first two steps alone, I feel do much more connected to the Heroine's Journey rather than the Hero's journey: it feels so much more like the experiences that those of us who are Minorities (whether we are women, POC, Queer, etc.) experience.

  • @Fragmentsinfractals488
    @Fragmentsinfractals488 ปีที่แล้ว +14

    I just realized, (surprised I didn't think of it this way), Ansem, Seeker of Darkness is literally Riku's Shadow. He lived in the World of Darkness in Riku's Heart, and he was constantly poking at Riku's shame about what he did to Sora and the Islands. He tries to get Riku to believe he belongs to Darkness because Sora doesn't want him.
    But in KH3, Ansem Seeker of Darkness admits Riku's Strength is "vaster than Darkness" and that Riku doesn't need him anymore. But... Riku recognizes that Ansem was "sneak mentoring him", and will miss him.

  • @ladyweirdo6035
    @ladyweirdo6035 3 ปีที่แล้ว +44

    Great video dude. I remember reading your original Tumblr post, and I loved it. It really made me consider Sora in a new light. The most interesting part of this though is how Sora performing the hypermasculine hero archetype has taken a toll on him and how that plays into the heroine's journey. People don't give him enough credit for being a critique on the happy go luck hero character, though I understand because as of right now, he is mostly that character.

  • @HolyDemonSnap
    @HolyDemonSnap ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Love how Riku and Roxas are both the most blatant forms of "shadow" that Sora has, coupled with Ventus and Xion but to a lesser extent. Likely a microcosm of what's to come, I'm sure. :^)

    • @Fragmentsinfractals488
      @Fragmentsinfractals488 ปีที่แล้ว

      "the closer you get the Light" first comes to Sora in a Dream that symbolically tells the game of Kingdom Heart 1, and implied to be about Riku because of the Darkside he invokes to Destiny Islands to get off it.

  • @Dawn_Epiphany
    @Dawn_Epiphany 3 ปีที่แล้ว +26

    Excellent point, especially about Riku and Sora needing to have a bigger talk than they had in KH2. I really hope we see that callback to their scene on the Dark Margin. I think that's what I want to see more than anything else in future games.

  • @Phoenix_of_a_Down
    @Phoenix_of_a_Down 3 ปีที่แล้ว +32

    15:45 fingers crossed on how sora will *cough integrate cough* with his animus

  • @nataliet4293
    @nataliet4293 ปีที่แล้ว +17

    lmaaao. Pulled up the heroine's journey diagram. Man. Man.
    Was it specifically underlined that Sora's keyblade doesn't belong to Riku anymore? Because I ALWAYS kind of thought the joke was that Sora was literally holding Riku's heart in his hands in kh1.

  • @Fragmentsinfractals488
    @Fragmentsinfractals488 2 ปีที่แล้ว +9

    Funny thing, with the Spoilers of Dark Road:
    The Master seems to be using Sora's Child of Destiny empath power to "guide him". May your Heart be your guiding Key. Mom is sending Sora down Xehanort's path using Xehanort himself.
    Interestingly, the Master of Masters also does this with Riku using Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

  • @Rxypup
    @Rxypup ปีที่แล้ว +21

    If I didn't already know you, I'd likely click the video because "princess Sora".
    It's so unfortunate that the only literary template I learned in school was the Hero's Journey, and I imagine it's the same for a lot of others unless they specifically go into writing. I wonder if that's part of the reason why some people have such trouble analyzing certain stories because if it doesn't fit into x sort of storytelling, then it must be bad/does not make sense.

    • @SweetOrangeGirl
      @SweetOrangeGirl ปีที่แล้ว +7

      That would be me because I don’t think I learned about microcosms and macrocosms until I saw his video about those terms and how they apply to the Kingdom Hearts lore.

    • @Rxypup
      @Rxypup ปีที่แล้ว +2

      @@SweetOrangeGirl I feel that so hard. I had an assignment in high school about reading a book and then presenting the steps and how it followed the Hero's Journey. I managed to find a book that had an atypical story structure and procrastinated so hard until right before the deadline where I just gave up and asked the teacher for an extension on the presentation just because I was having trouble fitting the story beats to the template. In the end, I managed to cobble together SOMETHING and scored an A but... I still look back and wonder what was going on with that story and had a hard time deciding if it was good or not.
      Now knowing that other literary templates exist, I still can't say if it was good or not, but it was certainly entertaining (a girl flew away on bedsheets and an entire village just watched).

    • @rirururu4697
      @rirururu4697 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      I agree. Then people who don't know other templates play KH and complain about why the series is still going or why Sora and Riku are still the protagonists.

  • @Raku-q4f
    @Raku-q4f 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +3

    It's really neat learning what the heroine's journey is! ✨️

  • @Bravidunno
    @Bravidunno 2 หลายเดือนก่อน +5

    Have you wondered what narrative symbolic Rage Form has with Sora in KH3? You activate it by choice, and, maybe so does Sora.

  • @Fannintendociccio1
    @Fannintendociccio1 3 ปีที่แล้ว +23

    It's HEREEEEE!! Yes!! It was really fun seeing the updated first essay you posted, but then you revealed your secret exclusive ace card, Riku's heroine journey??? Amazing
    Also 10/10 on that sarcasm about Riku thinking everything was good without Sora akdkkwkc

  • @Ingisen
    @Ingisen ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Another great video!
    Interesting to think that both Xehanort and Sora are empaths by nature.

  • @Limit02
    @Limit02 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Recently got recommended this channel and it’s been really interesting hearing new ideas on the series I’d never thought of before (maybe due to being a relatively new fan of about 4-5 years)
    I literally had no idea the heroine’s journey even existed as a concept, so I was kind of floored by how much it connects to the series, great video!

  • @chihuahuarocks9664
    @chihuahuarocks9664 2 ปีที่แล้ว +15

    IM LOSING MY MIND. With the reveal of KH4, your reference toward Quadratum as being an underworld has pretty much been confirmed. Holy fuck.

  • @Bardic_Knowledge
    @Bardic_Knowledge 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Fun Fact: the animus is noted in Jungian psychology as the masculine spirit, while the anima is the feminine.

  • @veryvanii
    @veryvanii 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    i am so invested in this series thank you for making it!

  • @wrmsnicket
    @wrmsnicket ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Honestly, the heroine’s journey should just be the new monomyth standard. It has so much more wiggle room and the steps themselves demonstrate the importance of themes and parallels. I feel like the importance of overarching themes is something that is often lost, so it would be nice to have the basic blueprint for how we tell stories highlight their importance.

  • @AuroraPeachy
    @AuroraPeachy 2 ปีที่แล้ว +12

    Fantastic video, Howler!!

  • @tetitous
    @tetitous 2 ปีที่แล้ว +10

    Me, waking up this morning : hold on, does that mean Gurren Lagann follows the Heroine's Journey template?
    (Yeah I'm thinking about this video quite a bit)

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  2 ปีที่แล้ว +5

      This reply is several months late, but I did want to weigh in on this after putting some more thought into it. To the best of my knowledge, Gurren Lagann does not follow the Heroine’s Journey template. While the heroes might accomplish their initial goal halfway through the series and then face new challenges, their lack of preparedness for those new obstacles is largely from having grown complacent in peacetime rather than their initial methods not being the right fit for the new challenges. The message of perseverance and continuing to move forward in the face of adversity that is embodied by all the drill symbolism doesn’t quite fit with the structure or themes of the Heroine's Journey. While I could see an argument being made for it having similar beats to Schdmit’s model, Simon lacks the specific internal conflicts that define the protagonist of a Heroine’s Journey. His struggle is learning to have confidence and believe in himself, but there's no inner struggle between who he is on the inside and who society says he should be, nor does he hinge his validation on his ability to meet such expectations.

    • @tetitous
      @tetitous 2 ปีที่แล้ว +3

      @@The_Violet_Howler woah didn't quite expect an answer, but it's very clearly put, thanks!

  • @SweetOrangeGirl
    @SweetOrangeGirl ปีที่แล้ว +5

    Once I saw that graph about the hero’s journey (or monomyth), I got so excited because I loved learning about it in English (even though the class was a little hard for me-).

  • @finnianheart
    @finnianheart 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    i remember reading the essay! it was so good and i'm so glad you made a video about it now, great job!!

  • @xrubyxlightx
    @xrubyxlightx 2 ปีที่แล้ว +7

    Thank you for uploading these. I loved reading them on tumblr.
    Personally im glad that the series is following the heroine's journey bc it makes it even more unique and special. Whilst, yeah, it wouldve been "Simple and Clean" had the series ended at kh2, it also wouldve been less interesting and feel incomplete

  • @tatisakura81
    @tatisakura81 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    This is so nice howler. I really liked to watched this video after I read your essay on Tumblr.

  • @fightingmedialounge519
    @fightingmedialounge519 2 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    While Nomura may have had general ideas about what he wanted to do if the series continued past 1, I wouldn't say he he had an exact direction for the series. Especially since he wasn't exactly sure that kh1 was going to get a sequel

  • @rokudamia2767
    @rokudamia2767 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

    Very good analysis

  • @Fragmentsinfractals488
    @Fragmentsinfractals488 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    Also, Sora's heart connected with Ventus right as Sora was being born. Almost as though Destined.

  • @slateoffate9812
    @slateoffate9812 3 ปีที่แล้ว +8

    8:14 While gameplay wise Sora wins that fight, I think canonically Sora lost. It's strange that there are so few scripted loses.

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      I had always thought that Sora had won but overexerted himself to make it a Pyrrhic victory, but it could be that he had lost the fight and Xemnas simply left him there for Young Xehanort to monologue to

    • @Rxypup
      @Rxypup 3 ปีที่แล้ว +7

      th-cam.com/video/idL-hEDRS6g/w-d-xo.html
      Sora does win this fight against Xemnas. He has just dived too far in the dream to be able to get back out on his own at this point.

    • @eddog6666
      @eddog6666 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Winx club is the heroine’s journey.
      Bloom and Icy are two sides of the same coin.
      At first it is Bloom is the hero because she’s a fairy and Icy is a villain because she’s a witch. Bloom’s origin is explained in season 1 Daphne her older sister sacrificed herself to make sure bloom was safe. In season 2 Bloom is spelled to be evil. However due to a magical item she was able to break free of the spell but this happens while the trix distract Darkar and you only hear Icy’s voice. It is the first time Icy is willingly to work together with the Winx.
      In season 3 we see Dark Bloom is still alive within Bloom. In episode 13 one last fluttering of wings a teammate makes the sacrifice play. Due to cold being deadly to fairies they automatically assume she’s dead. This leads into the next episode titled Fury! In the episode the group decides to end the friendship after one last mission. They go attack the villain rationalizing that Revenge is justice and preventing more deaths. When the teachers realize what was happening and save Bloom she’s desperately try to escape to get revenge and her eyes become cat eyes. Showing Dark Bloom is trying take control.
      However due to faragonda sending her to a place where you must focus on survival or choices death. The show does it really well
      Early in the season her boy is spelled but it’s gets broken however they can’t stay. At the end of fury her boyfriends arrives just minutes after she leaves two of her closest friends tell sky the truth and corrects him when he asked when will she be back? The music stops and this line is shared between the two closest friends. It’s not when…Sky it’s if.
      The two girls are downcast with frowns on their faces yet Sky’s face is surprise.
      Not even hearing that Tecna is alive still doesn’t fully cheer them up. It’s not until Bloom and Tecna rescues them. And the girls finally celebrate a reunion as a godray of sunlight shines down foreshadowing the movie where the heroes become New Stars shining bright as the new company of light. They bring magic back to earth but not before losing a teammate to the darkness and actually have to fight her for a bit. The biggest villain returns valtor for season 8 however the trix have to go to one planet that Icy isn’t ready for however it is revealed that icy is a princess and her home was frozen too. However it was her younger sister to the sacrifice play. Angry that no fairies came to help she vowed to be the most powerful witch ever.
      At the end icy and bloom figured out that they needed the rivalry and bloom secretly promised icy that she would help when the time comes.

    • @eddog6666
      @eddog6666 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Actually you are wrong. Kairi had just begun her heroine’s journey. KH1 for Kairi is both the illusion of the perfect world and the betrayal of the perfect world. KH2 is Kairi’s awakening. Her trials go beyond remind. So we can probably expect at least one Full Kairi only game.

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  2 ปีที่แล้ว +4

      @@eddog6666 I disagree that KH2 was Kairi’s Awakening and Preparing for the Journey, because while she does express some dissatisfaction with staying behind waiting, as soon as she leaves the island she reverts to passively waiting for others to find her. And her training in KH3 was ordered by Yen Sid rather than something she chose for herself. Melody of Memory reflects the moment where she finally stops passively reacting and makes an active choice for herself.
      But while I’m not getting my hopes up for it, I do feel that there’s enough plot material that the next stages of Kairi’s arc could have a full game focused on it if the developers want to do it that way.

  • @Kevinblue035
    @Kevinblue035 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    so what you're saying isL transgirl sora is real and canon (joking, this is a joke, im just leaving a silly comment cus i like this video and i want to boost your algorithm points, or however it is youtube works)

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +18

      this may have been meant as a joke, but honestly, what I love about the Heroine's Journey is how well it works for non-straight and/or non-cis narratives. The formula is rooted in critiquing gender roles, so it's very easy to put a protagonist who isn't straight or cis through one bc the emotional conflict can be easily framed around them trying to perform to how society expects straight ppl of their assigned-at-birth gender to act.

    • @Kevinblue035
      @Kevinblue035 3 ปีที่แล้ว +11

      @@The_Violet_Howler honestly? you're so right about that, and that's kind of what i love about it, i would love to see more media use the heroine's journey to express non-cishet characters' growth
      maybe that's why us gay people love kingdom hearts so much, because sora's power comes from his ability to express love and empathy, not the usual "get angrier and hit harder" type of thing you see in other anime-ish media

    • @eddog6666
      @eddog6666 2 ปีที่แล้ว

      Winx club is the heroine’s journey. However it add a little clever twist to the story.
      The story links both the heroine and the strongest villain together.
      The whole series is basically Bloom vs Icy.
      Through the first 3 season we learn that Bloom’s realm, Domino was attacked by powerful witches. Her older sister sacrificed herself to make sure Bloom was safe. We immediately assumed that icy is the bad one however in season 8 it is revealed Icy herself is a princess too and her world was turned to ice. But it was her younger sister sapphire making the sacrifice play causing Icy to go the witch side

  • @alexmetaverse
    @alexmetaverse 3 ปีที่แล้ว +6

    Integration of the masculine and feminine?
    So, hes gonna date kairi and riku?
    I can totally get behind that

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      Generally in that stage, it's more common for the animus to represent the masculine and the protagonist themselves to embody the feminine, rather than the protagonist being in the middle with one person representing each "side" so to speak. But the series is not over yet, so nothing is set in stone at this point.
      I'd personally be fine with an SRK ending (my younger self would be thrilled), but most of what's been laid out regarding sora and kairi via disney parallels and comments from Nomura is the theme of childhood friends growing apart as they get older, so if the writers intend to go for the "Sora dates both" route, then they have a lot of work to do adding more material for him and Kairi in order to get their connection to where it would need to be by the time the series reaches that stage of the Heroine's Journey.

    • @Melaphoric
      @Melaphoric 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@The_Violet_Howler So are you saying that Sora won't end up with Kairi at the end?

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +10

      @Melaphoric I'm not saying it's impossible (I can't guarantee 100% accuracy for the more predictive elements of my analysis), but given the details I mentioned, I do believe it's _very_ unlikely.

    • @Melaphoric
      @Melaphoric 3 ปีที่แล้ว

      @@The_Violet_Howler So how do you think it will end for the destiny island trio then? If not a Sora x Kairi, then Kairi x Riku, Sora x Riku, just friends for all 3, just 2 friends by then end with 1 leaving, or none being friends at all? You made mention that one of the major themes is how friends grow apart and it came from an interview or something (if I remember correctly), but that seems in opposition to almost literally every other friend group that we ever see in the series. The Wayfinder trio finds their way back together; Donald, Goofy, and Mickey are still friends; the 358 days trio all come together again; the foretellers are back together again; before they became the union leaders, didn't Skuld and Ephemer drift apart only to come back together again as dandelions? The rest of the union leaders will presumably reunite just like Ventus and Chirithy did. Chirithy assumed they'd drifted apart from Ventus, but look what happened there. Even Xehanort and Eraqus got a reunion at the end of KH3. So, no matter how the shipping works out between Sora, Kairi, and Riku, I don't see how they don't remain close friends by the end. If what's happened so far is any indication, then the theme doesn't end when the friends drift apart, it ends with them coming back together again.

    • @The_Violet_Howler
      @The_Violet_Howler  3 ปีที่แล้ว +21

      @@Melaphoric I do personally believe that they will reconnect in _some_ capacity near the end of the series. As was said by Jack Sparrow and was demonstrated by Ventus and Chirithy, it only takes a moment to (re)connect with people you care about. But even if that does happen, I do not believe the SRK trio will ever be _as_ close again as they were in the beginning.
      Other friend groups finding their way back together is not a guarantee that the same will be the case for the Destiny trio. Not every parallel in a narrative is used to provide 1:1 foreshadowing of future events. Some are used to provide contrast in order to highlight differences between some character relationships and others. All of the friend groups that have been drawn back together so far have demonstrated a mutual desire for their respective groups to physically be together. This contrasts with the fact that we don’t see this desire evenly displayed in the Destiny Trio. For example, the Kingstagram posts for ReMind highlight that while Kairi wants to not be physically separated from Sora, Sora himself is content with being apart from her as long as their connection endures. This further contrasts with how he is perfectly fine spending the remainder of his life in the realm of darkness at the end of KH2 as long as he and Riku are together.
      (And what I was mentioning regarding Nomura was a couple of comments that had been made throughout the years. In a 2006 guidebook, Character’s Report, Vol. 1 (translated by goldpanner of KHInsider in the absence of an official English version), he described how Kairi telling Sora not to change in KH1 showcased “her anxiety and loneliness over how as we get older we find a distance growing between us and our close friends”. Then as part of a conversation with IGN at E3 2018, he described KH3 reflecting the trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi in regards to the idea of things changing between a friend group as they get older and things not staying the same. His 2006 comment about Kairi is the only other time I’ve been able to find him discussing this idea of friendships changing as people get older, which, combined with various Disney parallels in KH3 and the Kingstagram loading screens for Remind, indicate that this idea is specifically tied to Kairi and her connection to Sora.
      www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/characters-report-vol-1-translations.195560/
      www.ign.com/articles/2018/06/14/e3-2018-tetsuya-nomura-on-if-kingdom-hearts-3-is-the-end-of-soras-story)
      The way I see things ending wrt the Destiny Trio, is that the Disney parallels, the ideas presented in their individual character arcs, and the patterns of how Heroine’s Journey narratives tend to play out are all pointing toward Sora and Riku becoming a couple. Whether that happens or not, they will most likely go on their own adventures together at the end, while Kairi will go her own way and have her own life set up elsewhere, with the boys making the effort to keep in touch with her, and vice versa, as well as visiting whenever possible. Still friends and part of each others’ lives, but not with all 3 living together like we see the Days and BBS trios do outside of their respective periods of separation.

  • @31-2-5
    @31-2-5 2 ปีที่แล้ว +2

    Hopefully a kairi game