#kh chess

[cloudofash]

Kingdom Hearts is Like a Chess Game...And It Explains the Characters' Story Arcs

If you've played the series up until KH3 you should know that the story of Kingdom Hearts and the characters within our current tale are likened to pieces on a chess board an ample amount of times, especially where Eraqus and Xehanort's chess-like game are a literal re-enactment of the events of the KH3 Keyblade Graveyard war between Light and Darkness.

Despite Kingdom Hearts' chess-like game being well...chess-like and and not an exact 1:1 of chess, we know at the very least that there is a "King" piece within the Kingdom Hearts' chess game. With the introduction of Verum Rex (Verum meaning true Rex meaning King) in KH3 as well as one of the secret endings with Yozora in Re:Mind being titled "Falsus Rex" (False King) entertains the idea that our KH chess game maintains the same (or similar) chess pieces that regular chess has. That is, a King piece, Queen piece, 2 Rooks, 2 Knights, 2 Bishops and 8 Pawns.

This being said, I want to explore which Kingdom Hearts character is which chess piece.

We know there is a Verum Rex/True King and a Falsus Rex/False King. Yozora is the True King of his Quadratum Universe. The Kingdom Hearts universe is the unreality-reality mirror to Quadratum, meaning that there must be a True King in the Kingdom Hearts universe as well. The true "King" of the KH Realm is most likely Riku, the Keyblade's original and true chosen and he looks nearly identical to Yozora as opposite Kings on a chessboard would. The False King, in this particular case, would be Sora since he wasn't the Keyblade's true chosen and only obtained the power because Riku fell to darkness and his heart's light passed the Keyblade to Sora making him the replacement/fake. However, I don't believe being a False King is Sora's true role in the Kingdom Hearts game of chess. I believe that if Riku's heart never fell to darkness, Sora would be a completely different chess piece that I will get to later.

The other pieces contain a Queen, 2 Rooks, 2 Bishops, 2 Knights and 8 Pawns, giving us a 15 pieces (16 total if you include the King). Now in the Kingdom Hearts game of chess there are only 7 (original) Light Guardians, however in the final battle there are actually 10 Total Guardians: King Mickey, Sora, Aqua, Ventus, Axel, Kairi, (and Riku) are the original 7 and then Terra, Roxas and Xion join the fight after being saved. 12 if we count Donald and Goofy and 13 if we count Riku Replica, but it doesn't stop there. Namine made an appearance as well and helped shift the tide by finding Terra's Lingering Will and connecting him to the battle, and Master Yen Sid also joined the fight in the graveyard. The final piece and final character to help in the war is the light from the past, Ephemer.

In other words, we actually have all 16 chess pieces present in the Keyblade War (on both sides if we include Demyx, Vexen and the Xehanort Replicas as the final 3 to the 13 Darknesses). If we match the pieces with the characters I believe it goes something like this based not only on their role within the War but also their importance and contribution to the overall story. Please know that some of these positions can be debated:

Terra - Rook. Terra reconnecting with his Will and Body drastically alter the events of the Graveyard. TerraNort single-handedly defeated all of the Guardians and Terra's intervention stopped them from losing and altered the timeline altogether. Plus, Terra was also carrying the Heart of Master Eraqus who ultimately ended the war by stopping Xehanort. Considering Terra's value to the War, I can't view him as any piece less than a Rook.

Ephemer - Rook. Though he plays a minimal role in the entire Keyblade Graveyard war and no role at all in the entire Xehanort Saga, his small appearance is what saves the wielders from total demise yet again to the Giant Demon Tide. Since he saved Light from expiring at the part in time where they were destined to expire he is a crucial chess piece. And for those who know chess, the Rook piece is required for a "castling" a move that saves the King (or again, the False King) which is exactly, to me, what Ephemer did.

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Namine - Bishop. Her action of calling Terra changed the tide drastically. However, I will place her position as debateable as there may be others who you could count as a Bishop.

Yen Sid - Bishop. He saves the wielders from the Heartless Army, ultimately saving Light from expiring making him a key player in the War. Without him they most likely would have lost the war or would have been severely weakened and incapable of winning the war.

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Mickey - Knight. I give Mickey Knight status due to his Last Stand where he single-handedly pushed back all of the 13 Xehanort Replicas and saved everyone. It may not be timeline altering but it is still a contribution nonetheless.

Aqua - Knight. Debateable position, however Aqua took the lead at several points in the battle and barked battle instructions, almost acting like a military general. Thus I rank her above some of the others.

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Roxas - Pawn. Originally a pawn to Org 13, although he went through an incredibly journey he ended up locked away back into Sora's heart and wasn't able to participate or contribute to the war or storyline until he received a Replica body and Sora's connection.

Xion - Pawn. She was used as the 13th Darkness until Sora connected with her and helped Axel remember her.

Ventus - Pawn. He contributed to the war as an Original of the 7 Lights, but he did not alter the timeline nor save the Lights from expiring, nor did he take any lead during the war thus can only be considered a Pawn piece. Not to mention, he took an enormous backseat as a character after being asleep for 11 years. As such he hasn't had much time to shine since his Union Cross days. That may change in the next Arc, especially since he has ties to the Lost Masters.

Axel/Lea - Pawn. A literal Pawn to Org 13 for most of his story until the end when he final joins the the Guardians of Light. In fact, Xemnas even makes a chess analogy when calling Axel a "pawn" during his fight against Isa and Xion.

Donald - Pawn (extension of Sora)

Goofy - Pawn (extension of Sora)

Riku Replica - Pawn (extension of Riku)

And I know many will not like this, but I place Kairi as a Pawn. The reason isn't to shoot the character down, but I believe within the story she is literally treated like a Pawn. Her entire story begins with Xehanort treating her like a Pawn to get to the Keyblade Wielder. Narratively she is only used to push the stories further, constantly getting kidnapped or harmed. Some of the other characters are debateable but I stand firmly in that Kairi is a Pawn piece and it explains why she feels lackluster. She is meant to be, it's simply her role in the KH Chess Game. This doesn’t mean she'll stay a Pawn, as the Lost Master's Arc is starting a "new" KH chess game and thus the roles of many of the chess pieces (sans Riku and Sora) will change. I believe she'll be a Bishop in the Lost Master's Arc but as of the Xehanort Saga Kairi is only a Pawn.

But if Kairi is not the Queen piece, as I'm sure many of you initially thought, then who is?

I'm sure you noticed I skipped a character. That's right: Sora. Sora is the Queen piece in this game. A Queen piece acting in the place of the King, a false king. If you know chess you know that the Queen piece can move in any direction she wants as many spaces which is exactly what Sora is and what he can do. Sora is ridiculously OP as a character to the point he is often considered the most powerful and it's the Queen piece that is the most powerful, not the King piece as some unfamiliar with chess may believe. Sora can move any which way he pleases, even traverse time, travels worlds through hearts and hearts through worlds and even moves between Realms to save Riku from Dark Aqua as a Queen piece would rush to the save the King piece. All of which is reminiscent of a Queen moving all around a board in any way.

Riku is the King piece which is why the battle in the Keyblade graveyard wasn't considered over until Riku was defeated or checkmate'd. After Riku was defeated by the Demon Tide Storm, Sora was instantly knocked off the board. Also again, he is a mirror of Yozora much like the White and Black Kings in chess mirror each other. And if we think about the King piece in chess, Riku makes the most sense. The King is the most important piece and often times Riku is the most important to the story (especially Dream Drop Distance and now post Re:Mind) hence his character development and getting more development than Sora in many ways. In the Keyblade Graveyard War, he IS the most important as its his sacrifice that changes the timeline altogether and saves Light from Expiring. Without his sacrifice, the 13 Darknesses would have won and Light would have remained expired. It doesn't get any more important than that. In addition, if the Crown Necklace theory is proven true and Sora acquired his crown necklace chain from Riku, that means Riku was the original bearer of the Crown and most likely descends from Ephemer's Royal Line (which is all but confirmed, he literally looks like Ephemer) making him make even more sense as the King Piece.

Sora and Riku are the only two who I believe will keep consistent Chess roles as the King and Queen pieces. That's what their relationship is to one another. The only change I can see is Riku and Sora themselves officially swapping roles, with Sora becoming the True King and Riku relinquishing his role as King to become Queen. Considering the way Riku rushes to save Sora and how he travels to all ends to do so (including traveling to an entirely new universe just to save him once more and traveling between dreams to become a Dream Eater to save Sora), it almost is like he is beginning to move all around the "board" and could very well be showing signs of becoming a Queen piece to protect Sora, who would then become the new King piece.

We will have to wait and see which way this chess game goes in KH4 and beyond to confirm or deny any of this theory.

Anyway, that's all I have I hope you all feel free to share your thoughts. If you have alternate Chess Rankings, please feel free to share!

#kingdom hearts #soriku #kh #kh chess #sora is the queen #riku is the king #kingdom hearts chess

[goldensunset]

actually the only kh games that are plot relevant are none of them. the unaired pilot of the kingdom hearts tv show is all that counts. who's ansem

the only true canon piece of kingdom hearts media is the overpriced chess set. if you can figure out how to play it you'll be able to unlock the entire story basically. it's all just symbolism

#chess sweep!!!!! #asks #ngc-5194 #kingdom hearts #mine: kh

[pepperfellover]

A little Valentine's Day Comission 💌

for my beloved @scribbat of young Eraqus and Xehanort, back in their prime (before the horrors of being doomed by the narrative).

#kingdom hearts 3 #dark roads #kh #comission #art #Eraqus #xehanort #nort #kh2 #kingdom hearts #eraqus x xehanort #sun and moon dynamics #we play chess as a metaphor for supressed feelings #my art #i took inspiration from boys over flowers yet another illness #xehaqus #master xehanort #master eraqus #polariod #birth by sleep #Valentine #valentine's day #gift

[lightandfellowship]

[Image description: Digital KHDR fanart depicting the upperclassmen as chess pieces. At the very bottom of the image are four chess pieces representing Hoder, Heimdall, Sigrun, and Helgi. They are upside down and silhouetted in black against a white background. Above them are two rows of black and white squares forming a chess board pattern. Above that are three pedestals holding up Vali, Vidar, and Vala's chess pieces, with Vidar's piece resting on the tallest pedestal in the middle. Both the chess pieces and the pedestals are silhouetted in white against a black background. Above them is a white heart with Baldr's hand silhouetted in black inside of it. He holds the iconic Kingdom Hearts crown in-between his index finger and thumb, posed to place it on Vidar's chess piece. End image description.]

"I paved a path for him to succeed, if he had only followed it to the end."

#khdr #kingdom hearts dark road #kingdom hearts #kh baldr #kh vidar #making kh art #So to explain the concept: at the end of the game before the final battle Baldr gives a speech where he uses a chess metaphor throughout #And when talking about Vidar in the above quote it brought to mind a chess piece being moved on a set path #from one side of the board to the other. And upon reaching the end getting 'promoted' to a better piece #In the case of checkers: getting crowned as a King. In chess: a Queen or other piece. #Baldr's goal was to get Vidar to summon Kingdom Hearts. And in a way become a 'king'. #Baldr 'captures' the pieces of the upperclassmen and clears the way for Vidar (thus why the bottom pieces are silhouetted black) #Vidar's path is paved with the deaths of his friends #Vali and Vala are of course at Vidar's side but it is Vidar who Baldr is targeting with his manipulation and schemes #khdr spoilers

[trashcantasch]

Mickey what are those two guys doing

#kingdom hearts #xehanort #kh xehanort #eraqus #kh eraqus #aqua #kh aqua #mickey mouse #art #i didn't feel like drawing the scala building #they're just playing their weird chess in a white void now

[reallydumbkingdomheartsaus]

Kingdom Hearts 3 au where instead of fake Chess, Xehanort and Eraqus are playing Kingdom Hearts Perilous Pursuit in the beginning cutscene.

(All 5 characters in the game are the same. Eraqus wants to know who are these 3 children & duck & dog)

#kingdom hearts #garbage au #mod donald #kh #sora #riku #Kairi #Donald #goofy #Xehanort #Eraqus #kh3 #perilous pursuit #board games #chess

[autumn-may]

thinking about the chess game in kh3 and yes I know it’s symbolism but honestly what the frick even was that. Imagine you’re playing chess with your bestie and after you beat him he just says ‘there’s more to light than meets the eye 😈’ and takes his king and moves it back to the beginning??? And puts seven more pieces on the board?? And Xehanorts just like cool with it???? Honestly if I was Xehanort and Eraqus did that to me I wouldn’t even have waited 64 years I would have taken him out right then and there

#And for you people saying that this isn’t chess and the rules are different it’s very clear Xehanort had no freaking clue that could happen #Hc that’s how eraqus wins half his games once xehanort is good enough to beat him #He just goes ‘um actually there’s a secret rule that lets me put all my pieces back because this one brought their hearts back from death’ #‘And also two of your pieces aren’t evil anymore they were double agents so they’re on my side now’ #‘And the double agents were working to make replicas for my dead pieces so I get three more’ #‘Sorry sucks to suck’ #And Xehanorts just like ok #Kingdom hearts #kh3 #xehanort #eraqus #kh

[mythicalartistx]

The conversations between Eraqus and Xehanort are crazy, they foreshadow and parallel things so much.

Thirteen lifetimes huh?

Thirteen vessels for Xehanort from organization XIII, Xion being number 14.

Oh Eraqus you have no idea what he has planned...

I think it's amazing how much is foreshadowed through their chess conversations and how they parallel other characters.

In a different world that would be Sora and Riku.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts dark road #kingdom hearts 3 #organization 13 #eraqus #Xehanort #young eraqus #young xehanort #kh Xehanort #kh Eraqus #this foreshadowing so much #their chess conversations are filled with so much lore of things thst might happen #or even parallels to other characters #Eraqus is kinda like Sora #and Xehanort is like Riku #sora #riku #dark road #Xehaqus

[dominicsorel]

Maybe I won't go as far as you. When the World needs a defender, they'll pick you, Eraqus.

#the chess game was totally a metaphor for their mastery exam tbh #kingdom hearts #soriku #xehaqus #kh sora #kh xehanort #kh riku #kh eraqus #sora #xehanort #riku #eraqus

[natileroxs]

So eraqus totally could have fallen out that window, right?

or, worse still, one of those expensive, extremely rare chess pieces gets knocked out the window to Eraqus's upset and Xehanort's horror

#kingdom hearts #kh3 #kh xehanort #kh eraqus #xehanort's psyche never recovered after that #imagine if it was brain's chess set that he left for eraqus #they spend days searching for it #when brain finally comes back in current times and they dig out the old chess set that eraqus kept #brain is horrified to find one of the pieces missing #on the other hand #eraqus falling out the window is almost funnier #serves him right for leaving that window open

[mushroom-winners-proof]

Can we get Middle Aged Xehanort and Middle Aged Eraqus together? That would be too powerful.

theyre having a post-divorce game of chess 

#kh #kh dr #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts dark road #kh bbs #kingdom hearts birth by sleep #master eraqus #master xehanort #eraqus #xehanort #snap sketches #take my word for it i would rather die than draw all those chess pieces #thank you to everyone who said what i should draw them as but like two people said chess so it's chess time

[dualdeixis]

[Image description: Two digital drawings in black and white. In the first, Vanitas and Ventus are standing in the center of an Alba & Ater board. They face each other stoically, their fists clenched. Vanitas is wearing his mask and Ventus’s eyes aren’t visible, though he has a small frown. From above, Xehanort’s large, gloved hands reach down as if to pick them up by their heads.

In the second drawing, the Alba & Ater board has dimmed to a gray color. Vanitas stands off to the left and Ventus to the right, with both now facing the viewer. They each have one arm hanging down and the other folded behind their back. Vanitas’s visor has been cracked to reveal half of his face. He says with a thin smile, “‘All pieces are subject to capture except the king.’” Ventus, still frowning, says, “‘Its life is sacred; the player must defend it, it perishes only when no possible resource can save it from capture.’” In the middle of the board, Sora appears to be stepping off into the air, though he turns his head back as if to glance at the viewer. He has slightly widened eyes, but no mouth. He is drawn only in outline, and dissipating ribbons of light curl off of him. End image description.]

pawns

#kingdom hearts #vanitas kh #ventus kh #xehanort kh #sora kh #drawings #quotes are from some site's rules on chess which had no business being worded that dramatically

[8hitz3n]

YOUNGGHG XEHANOORTTRTT woop woop im so excited for dark road wuhuhuh ive been working on changing some things in my art so this was so kinda play around more but Yes!!!

#kingdom hearts #fanart #art #artwork #video games #kingdom hearts art #kh sora #sora #young xehanort #xehanort #artists on tumblr #disney #kh #square enix #khdr #chess #villian

[mejomonster]

i went down a rabbit hole about how binaural beats may help focus, classical music that switches from like 128 to 132 beats (and apparently classical music takes about 20 minutes to get you into focus zone) like Four Seasons/Mozart/Bach/Hans Zimmer’s Inception music works well for this focus-zone, and gamma OR beta waves may help with focus study/writing wise but i can’t entirely figure out which one it’s supposed to be (but theta waves apparently make you calm/relaxed/sleepy so i guess theta is the way to go if you need to digest/calm your nervous system/sleep). 

and anyway ALL THIS to determine Xion’s Theme from Kingdom Hearts MUST be doing the same stuff the ‘classical music’ that causes a focus-zone does. Because for me personally Xion’s Theme works better than ANY other music i’ve tried (better than Hans Zimmer’s stuff since i used that prior to finding Xions Theme and realizing it worked SO much better for me). also i realized just for me personally a more quicker paced instrumental music works better than anything slower pace - i was looking up audios to potentially use on youtube and just universally anything with a slower beat irritated me too much to be useable for me to study with (it can be nice in certain situations but not as a focus background noise). 

all this is to say 1. if you have adhd (or want to focus better) there are some studies i found that indicated specifically gamma beats seem to help to focus in on something, instrumental music of certain qualities (changes slightly over time but you can ignore it ‘in the background’ while you do something - Four Seasons was a well known example song they named as having these qualities), and binaural beats (which seem to help brain focus and kind of connect easier to itself? i wasn’t clear on why but binaural beats create the same brain pattern as pleasant meditation does so listening to binaural beats can help cause that kind of relaxed focus if you don’t have time to go meditate successfully). so 2. there is some usefulness to the idea sounds can help with focus. 

3. dear god does ANYONE have any music recommendations or suggestions of ANYTHING vaguely similar to Xion’s Theme from Kingdom Hearts? Because yes i can focus to it, but i would very much love to be able to focus to more than just one single song you have to understand im here listening to Xion’s theme for 10 hours straight a day to try and focus. i would Really appreciate a little more variety in my options ;-;

#rant #adhd #music #kh #im serious please suggest to me some other instrumental songs/youtube collections #they can contain binural beats but honestly the music included i personally need #also it is Intensely fascinating the stuff i've read on physics. energy and matter and waves. brain wave frequencies and other matter #frequencies. conciousness as it actually works scientificially #and just jesus christ i feel like im doing 5D chess putting things together but like. woop for me. #even if i vaguely think i see a universal concept of physics forming in my head. im not in college anymore and not doing proofs #so its just self satisfaction for me i guess lol

[nebuvoid]

some of these theory/meta posts are SO fucking obscure man. and yet they make sense is the funny thing. because kh is just like that. like obscure posts like that HAVE been proven right in the past.

sure its a mess of adding and tacking shit on and retconning again and again but. gotta accept it for what it is. its clunky but its charming in its campiness you know

#kh talk #tho i wont deny i wish for a full series remake that smoothes things out lol not that we will ever get that the man is way too busy adding #more complicated 5d chess lore with side games

[kingdomresetkey]

KINGDOM HEARTS: GLOOM VS SOULLESS tags

#:: kh gloom vs soulless #:: the black king #:: the white queen #:: liath #:: the chess game #:: the bedwyr crest #:: the hidaka guild #:: the level 20 cat | auntie #tag save