Thought of uploading this specific cutscene separately as well, in order to make it more accessible and easier to watch, share and discuss about. I'll take this as a chance to share my own thoughts about the whole finale now that I'm at it. I guess we weren't expecting to see so many little hearts leaving the bodies of 12 kids today! Was it worth it playing the finale yourself? Yes, but only if you were fully prepared and had a stacked deck beforehand. There's no need to grind for hours for an offline game with no incentives or rewards. I had tons of BP I could exchange with all the cards I wanted, so it was a breeze. Going back to Dark Road after 21 months was kind of odd, as I totally forgot what cards I had as well as most of their effects. But then again, I can confirm the gameplay could have a good potential, but it was still requiring too much speed from the player. Which didn't really make me enjoy it, as I am always too focused on my cards and I barely looked at my enemies during battles. Still, I'm glad it finally got its own ending, although we all probably expected to last way longer. This gives me good hope for Missing Link, which should be released pretty soon. I would talk more about the ending here, but I've been working on this all day long no stop and I think I need some... sleepzzzZZzZz... - - Kingdom Hearts Dark Road playlist: kzfaq.info/sun/PLhcSrKyqhfh6KtymEp7GpkwvLVK2Cu-Vp - Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] Playlist: kzfaq.info/sun/PLhcSrKyqhfh4fLr4-fzIIeeaMG2RdgPGH Want to show your support? Please have a look at my Patreon page! www.patreon.com/everglow Follow me on Twitter to get in touch with me! twitter.com/everglow8444

That moment when not being Xehanort is a bigger plot twist than being Xehanort

2021 Tetsuya: basically you are all Xehanort! 2022 Tetsuya: Just Kidding you are all the old man with blue robe the whole time! The king of trolls!!!

Xehanort : "I want to meet mommy" Sora : "I have a mom?"

Little Xehanort is so adorable. 😊

Some say that Sora being "the child of destiny" feels cheap because he was destined to become it, but honestly, if that "prophecy" is something that came from the MoM, it would make a lot of sense, since he basically knows it will happen and saw it in 4K.

Makes you wonder if being able to recall someone else's memories is the same as having 'these weird thoughts lately'. Sora could be one but perhaps Yozora is this too?

At least blue coat, who seems to be our player's second life got to live until old age and not perish as a child solider again. I loved that we saw Ephemer in the final moments. Missing Link is going to be hype

Missing Links setup is going to go crazy. Brain, Ephemers current descendant in that time, who is Xehanort's mom, what's Luxu doing in that time, and will the missing True Darkness make an appearance there? It's honestly true uncharted territory.

I nearly cried when I discovered that the figure in the blue cloak was us, the player. Possibly from the future. Or past? But even still, filled me with hope.

Okay, so there's a lot of thoughts stirring for me right now. But honestly, what comes to mind the most is the fact that Nomura originally wanted to make Dark Road an actual game before KH3 was released. When he first said this, I kinda shrugged it off, but now...man, just binging this whole story the past two days has kinda made me feel burned. Ultimately, I still think it was for the best that Nomura wrapped up the Dark Seeker Saga sooner rather than later, but I can't' deny that KH3 would have hit a lot harder had this come before it. Not to mention that the quality of Dark Road's story itself is very deserving of console quality. And that's even referenced in Nomura's most recent interview, as he mentions that he had to scale down the content of Dark Road's finale "to the essentials" due to size limitations. And that's really depressing, because I really think this was some of the series' finest story-telling. It felt very mature in how it approached its central conflict of light vs darkness, as opposed to how other games just go "darkness bad friendship good." The insane bodycount was kinda crazy too. Though of course not inherently essential to a story being "mature," I think the way the deaths were used-and the role they had in deepening the bond between Eraqus and Xehanort-was raw in a way we haven't seen in KH before. And I think the bond between Xehanort in Eraqus is probably what I'm thinking about the most right now. In that same commemorative interview, Nomura mentioned that although he had to scale back Dark Road's finale, he was glad to finally show the bond between Xehanort and Eraqus. And I really think this is where KH3 suffered the most as a result of Nomura shelving Dark Road until now, because it's very apparent that there was dissonance between Nomura and us. Xehanort's conclusion and the sudden focus on his relationship with Eraqus in KH3 now feel like things that Nomura included with his vision of Dark Road mind. Stuff that we, of course, wouldn't have known. In the little foreword for the KH3 artbook Nomura wrote, he said something to effect of him thinking that KH3 was truly complete when what we felt while playing the game and "[his] thoughts that [he] secretly placed in game" match up together. I can't help but wonder if that foreword was referencing, among other things, the story of Xehanort and Eraqus. But yeah. Good story. Nomura mentioned that Dark Road will have some pertinence to KHIV, but I'm honestly struggling to determine in what regard. For a KH game, it felt very conclusive. It led pretty clearly into BBS, after all. The obvious guess is the people who died will show up in Quadratum, but in that same commemorative interview, Nomura said that despite how badly he wants to do more with the characters, it's difficult for him to fit them into the future stories. Which I think is a shame, personally.

After Dark Road, what Xemnas said made a lot of sense. Master Xehanort reused Marluxia and Larxene as vessels because he recognized Elrena and Lauriam, two ancient keyblade wielders! That's how Master Xehanort knew about the Union Leaders and all. That begs the question... WHO THE HELL ARE LUXORD AND DEMYX?!

HOLD THE PHONE THE PLAYER WASNT XEHANORT IT WAS THE PERSON TAKING CARE OF HIM WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!!?!????

What I see from this is since xehanort allowed himself to fall into darkness. Destiny moved down the list to riku. Then once riku fell towards darkness. Destiny did what the keyblade did and moved again down the list to sora? Just a theory but very cool to think about

This entire thing...just wow. I'm amazed with all that we've seen in Dark Road.

Sora -The Child of Destiny Roxas- The Key of Destiny Ventus - DA SAD LITTLE BOI

Sora's been wasting his time with the Mark of Mastery exam, now that I think about it. He doesn't need to be a Keyblade master, he's already a child of destiny!

I think, after this seeing this and remembering KH3 ending, Xehanort while maybe he was the child of destiny, he then saw that when Sora defeated him, maybe Xehanort knew. That it was time to pass this commitment to Sora, trusting him then with the fate of the worlds. I mean, he did say, everything he has done was to rewrite the fate of their star- universe. I mean, thats my opinion. Sometimes I forget, even Xehanort was once a kid, but he was misguided or doing what he was told, etc.

Thank you so much for all your hard work making these video's! :D

Thank you so much for your efforts !!!

Thank you so much for bring us all this content so quick!!😁😁😁

So the player character raised Xehanort on D. Island, neat.

On thing I keep thinking about is how Xehanort dreams about the union leader's only when he was at destiny island. The fact that he can feel others hearts and the player is apparently the only one with xehanort there at the time means.... we as the player are just thinking about our friend's in union X and xehanort feels it ;-;

I'm with people in thinking the Missing Link player is the same UX one, but after Nomura managed to trick us again with this scene, I'm more convinced that it might be untrue. Nomura could easily expect us to assume the Missing Link player is the same one, and then he opens the curtain and we find out the player was someone else lol I'm expecting to find out our player is the villain of Missing Link at this point 😂

This final cutscene really feels like both a parallel and mirror to Blank Points. After all the pain this story took me through, watching this cutscene and knowing that there always IS hope really made me remember what Kingdom Hearts is about. There's always hope, even in the darkest moments, there's that small light to guide you. Big parallel to Blank Points there. (And this cutscene also refers to Sora being the child of destiny, which is what Blank Points did! Unless of course Sora isn't the child of destiny, as it's not confirmed yet.) However.. this being at the END of Xehanort's story, (unless we meet this supposed 14th vessel in Quadratum somewhere), really mirrors Blank Points. That, despite the Union X's best efforts, hopes, and sacrifices of his friends, to help Xehanort become the child of destiny, it really all meant nothing in the end, and only caused even more pain? It cuts deep knowing that our protagonist died with a false hope. And it's got a version of the main theme playing, with an old man (or woman) giving hope to someone who desperately needs it.

Always thanks for the explaining the plot same as all of the unions games.

I can never look at that small shack the same way again.

So, if the blue coat elder is the "player" in their second life and they take baby Xehanort from the same looking Scala ad Caelum from the upcoming Missing Link, those this may imply that they're also the playable character from Missing Link? Makes sense that the avatar from Union and Missing Link are the same being from different lifetimes.

Worth the wait!

This confirms that subject x is skuld and explains why he took on ventus as an apprentice. Subject x is someone that terra-xehanort would recognize and find familiar when he found her. Who else but someone who looks like skuld. Xehanort had recognized ventus as one of his caregivers' comrades. Ventus is a remnant of that Era and holds valuable information for xehanort's plan.

2:26 At first I was thinking about "Wait, those kids Xehanort mentioned doesn't fit with Eraqus and the others", and then the "a skinny boy with pink hair“ aka Marluxia/Lauriam brought me into the mind that he actually referring Ephemer and the others.

And with this you can get started more on your Timeline. Heck I bet you can give this scene your special Everglow touch to give it a bigger impact. And since we won’t get an update on Missing Link until d23, we don’t have any new KH stuff to look forward to for 2023

Xehanort is still the child of destiny. He was manipulating the darkness, he knew if he didn't control it the worlds will fall. What he did was terrible, yes? Giving Mark Hamill that scar, just for pity. Taking a young man's life, more than once (Riku and Terra). Sending an innocent girl into a different dimension. I have a theory that Xehanort is either Sora's dad or grandpa, it fits with the story now. Forgot, experimenting on various people and kairi.

I’m happy this game has a post credit scene too😜

So Xehanort WAS a blue blood after all... No wonder Master Odin found something special in him

The whole thing about Sora being a chosen one instead of a "dull ordinary boy" who became important nonetheless is gonna cause some controversy. ...Although perhaps the "child of destiny" might still turn out to be someone else besides Sora...

It’s possible Riku was meant to be the child of destiny but once he fell to darkness, Destiny did what the Keyblade did and moved down the list. So Sora could in fact be an accidental child of destiny.

Xehanort is Ephemer descendant!!!

I find it strange that some people seem to be annoyed by Sora being the child of destiny. I mean he was always portrayed as someone special with a bigger role in the world of KH. I always saw him as the chosen one because of that.

Skuld didn't married with Ephemera. She may have arrived to Scala ad Caelum many years after Ephemera death. Xehanort has a little bit of black skin, both Ephemera and Skuld have white skin, this would not make much sense, if xehanort was their child. Skuld should have married with someone that have the blood of Ephemera and then gave birth to Xehanort. Each character arrive in a specific time. Skuld seen's to be much older than Brain in the scene.

6:54 My Time has come

From my point of view Riku is more probably the Child of Destiny, he was born in destiny island, he can connect with the heart of people (not a the level that Sora does), and he is probably also a descendant of Ephemer, but he needed to fall into darkness to become that, but Sora is probably the next reincarnation of Union protagonist, and he still following and protecting Ephemer family to the point that he took the place of Riku to protect him.

So basically Xehanort is the Anakin of this story, and Sora is Luke.

Seeing the villain as an innocent kid hits so hard

So all this time Xehanort was the great great grandson of ephemer And the player was reincarnated as the stranger in the blue robe who raised Xehanort What a twist! Can’t wait to see what mysteries and secrets will be revealed in missing link

So, he was under the delusion that he was the chosen one

Funny how they thought Xehanort was the child of destiny when he wasn’t born there like sora. Unless sora pulled a kairi and came from else where out of the blue lol.

I think I’m still lost. Did they ever explain how Ventus was from that time and then somehow ended up in BBS?

I still cannot believe that "We" the player character are the ones who raised Xehanort.

So... the player from Union Cross _wasn't_ Xehenort?

Xehanort: one thing that is still bugging me though how did sora get all those past keyblade wielders to help him with the heartless Eraqus: I don’t know *moves chess piece* check Caretaker: i can Xehanort: oh your up here too I see Caretaker: of course I was a keyblade wielder who was friends with your great great grandfather Xehanort: ok so how did sora do it? Caretaker: your great great grandfather Ephemer said it was ok to teach you a lesson Xehanort: …… Eraqus: ouch Caretaker: also he and I both agree your an idiot and no matter how many times your tried your still an idiot for using the darkness Eraqus: oof Xehanort: you more or less raised me though Caretaker: well im sorry I wasn’t by your side to kick your ar*e in those final moments but the only thing I kicked was the bucket everything after that was on you my child. Eraqus: *trying his best poker face but is grinning slightly and trying to hold back the laughter*

So does anyone know when the update actually is since I thought it was today,

The woman giving Xehanort to Player's hair shade is exactly the same as Skuld's. That _has_ to be Ephemer's _and_ Skuld's daughter/granddaughter. Why would they make her hair color/shade the *_exact_* same as Skuld's? Almost the exact same hairstyle too, but a bit longer than Skuld's hair.

I’m a little confused about how player could be alive after Ux and into dr because he got trapped unless someone freed him but that also means that the darknesses are freed as well who freed him and how’d he get out? Where’s the darknesses?

Out of curiosity, do you guys plan to put Missing Link on this channel as well?

I dont know what the hell is going on in this franchise anymore but I wanna know what is happening. Do you guys know a video or link that explains the story of the mobile kingdom hearts games? Please and thank you (Nvm found one)

Are you kidding!? Xehanort is Ephemera's descendant!?

what song plays during this cutscene?

💗

What about the ancient keyblade legacy?!

ok wait the ending of union x made it seem like the player was reincarnated as xehanort. this is the only thing that has me confused. either way missing link should be amazing.

Even if Skuld doesn’t turn out to Subject X, she could be a descendent of Skuld’s. I also think that another copy of the time travel device used at the end of Union Cross will be used at some point in Missing Link. So that, if the human forms of Demyx and Luxord are in Missing Link, it would show how they arrived in the future to join the Organizations.

Nomura, you sly fox

Anyone know the ost playing whenever the upperclassmen shows up?

How did you screen cap this? Dark road isn’t available offline yet.

The destiny's child

Keep in mind everyone, Sora was never dictated to be the "Chosen One." The "child of destiny" prophecy likely exists because it was written in the book of prophecies by the Master of Masters, who can see the future. Which means he personally witnessed Sora's origin story & great accomplishments, and decided to write them down afterwards. Sora has always been an ordinary boy, who the keyblade didn't choose originally. But despite that, his heart, ability, and destiny was amazing enough to catch the eye of this all-knowing robed guy centuries in the past. That's why Sora is special, and why the MOM's grand plan KH4-onwards relies on him.

How did you get this ending?

Fantastic, now we have to wait for missing links and of course the 4. Anyway, I was shocked by them I thought that bragi was the MoM how did you understand that was luxu and not the MoM? The hooded one at the cemetery was the MoM right? So I was shock on that ahaha because i think was MoM and not Luxu

….I’m an uncle

I'm curious as to how Player reincarnated a second time since Chirithy wasn't around this time. I know it's not really important but I hope Missing Link explains that detail.

so the player character becomes exhanort and also becomes ephamer's ancestor

I'm really hoping for the child of destiny not to be Sora, but the story is kind of setting it up that way. My reasoning is that the appeal of Sora to many who started with KH1 (myself included) is that NOT being the Chosen One doesn't mean that you won't be great. Personally, I'm not a fan of Chosen One tropes so it just rubs me the wrong way. Anyways, I hope KH4 brings more interesting characters and written like Dark Road has because it feels like all of the side games just have much more quality to their story writing than the main games due. Especially when it comes to more mature themes; maybe that's a Disney limitation or something. I'm also really sad that Dark Road wasn't a full console game. It probably would've been my favourite KH game along with BbS. I'm a bit disappointed that we weren't Xehanort now though tbh, it was an edgy twist lol. Now it kinda feels like our character from KHUX will always be limited to mobile games where we create our character (Missing Link). I hope they have an actual console/PC multiplayer KH one day with modern aesthetics. I wonder how far along Sora's story will go? I think it's because I'm a 1st gen fan of the game but I really want to see Sora's story end and for someone new to take the spotlight. Disney characters are immortal though so I guess that'll never happen lol. Maybe someone will make a cool KH fangame one day

You mean Xeanorth is the son of Skuld and Ephemer!!!! In other words the first couple to be!!!! Wait if I am wrong X is a grandchild right?

I think that it was a past xehanort traveling back in time to talk to his previous self, I haven’t played most of the game so I can’t say for certain.

So, WE were the old guy… Bahahahahahhaaha…. *Deep breath.* NOMURAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!

I'm too lazy to rewatch the scenes, but why did we the player babysnatched YX from his mum?

So is the hooded figure the player?

To me, this whole story is just like Magical Girl Raising Project/ and MGRP: Restart to me. Bragi is like Cranberry.

All of Nomura's talk about how DR's ending will tell us how Xehanort's hair changed and why, ad we didn't event get an explanation lol

And then everyone died…..literally

Luxu --> ??? --> ??? ---> Bragi --> Braig --> Xigbar--> Whatever suits you.

Maybe the second life of the player is Sigurd (or the protagonist of Missing Link but that would be too obvious after this ending) And then maybe the third Life of the player is Sora

Wait so the player becomes brain and then becomes old man

Nomura: "Wait, you want to see your mom?" Sora: "Yes!!" Such a troll. Lol

Wait, is the player's second lifetime's "Sigurd" ?

Tô be honest.. thank god the “player” from KHUX was the old man who raised Xenahort after all… didn’t quite get why everyone thought that the “player” itself was Xenahort even watching many times the final scene from the game…

I'm confused. We all saw "player's" heart going into a newborn Xehanort, now him being family related to Ephemer doesn't make any sense! Also, I thought that the blue robe master was Brain (as we know yet, the only one who survived/went to Scala after Union X), not "player" as somebody else said in the comments, WTF!

nomura please... I dont understand. why is he so circumlocutory?

I didn't onestly liked the update. the 21 months let me forgot almost of the plot, and when i started to play i started to realize the plot added was a complete mess. Nomura wanted to tell a story, but i think he wasn't able to do it because the game was cut down short. The plot we receive with the ""big"" update is actually some sort of summary of what was going to be in this game, the events happens so quickly e so randomically that they left you a feel of emptyness(The "Baldr twist", the death of the others and all the missing pieces that are still missing). The only thing we got is this twist(that i onestly liked more, even if i prefer to think that Xehanort was really the one destinated to save the world and us, the player, fucked it all up)The confirmation that Land of Departure is another land, and knowing that Luxu had a thing for cool young bois, and has evolutions like pokèmon(Brain>Bragi>Braig). And maybe the fact that Skuld arrived in Scala at the same time as Ephemer and started a descendancy with him(remember that only one of the parents is a descentand, so the mother of Xehanort could have been the great-greatgranddaughter of the two, having a resemblance with Skuld but maintining in herself the genes of Ephemer, explaining the white hair). I was hoping in some more world building of Scala, with maybe some look at the popolation, and more insight in the 60 years of Xehanort's life.

How did Xehanort have dreams about his friends if he wasn’t Player?

What I learned from KH: Dark Road: Nomura she like Among US (In the final eppisodi it almost seemed to me that the upper classmates and the lower classmates were all a bit Sus among themselves),The master of masters is none other than one of the 13 darkens and the only survivor after the others disappeared into thin air and persuaded Xeanroth towards the dark path, the darkens need a physical body to manifest and Luxure and the MoMs need Vessel to be able to manifest themselves in the world and unleash chance, Xeanroth is not the player character. Xeanorth is not the child of destiny becose: -She not have brown hair. -she have dark skin and she is bald. -he is not wearing clown shoes. And the most important thing is... "THE PLAYER He is alive and over the centuries he has lived many parallel lives and will continue to do so, thus making us an important part of the series without overshadowing too much the role of sora who is the main protagonist and who perhaps in missing link will be the protagonist of the game... and who knows maybe in the future he will reincarnate in another Keybalde wilder and try to bring order to the world? "

basically guys if you didn’t know vantias is one of the true darkness. That explains the split from ventus and why ventus didn’t turn into a heartless or produce a nobody. Vantias took on form and somewhat emotions because of ventus and Sora. Now why this might be important you might ask? They’re situation is the key. As Odin stated the “ONLY” way to defeat the true darkness is to destroy a vessel. Knowing our boi Sora he wouldn’t want to go this route. So unknowingly xahnort created ANOTHER way via separating the true darkness from the vessel. Basically we are going to be seeing more vantias’s in order to save the vessels like the lost masters. Nort in ventus are definitely going to play a big role in this new saga. The only flaw i see in my theory is if the darkness are similar to vantias with an actual face emotions etc. They still would be difficult to defeat from soras moral standpoint.

Ok. So we the “player” die in front of Xehanort on Destiny Islands. Fine. am I the only one who thinks we’re going to be reborn as Sora ?? I mean Xehanort wants to live 14 lives 😭 so why can’t the player which shares memories with Xehanort be Sora ? Let me stop before I confuse myself even more with questions cuz this ending really hit lmao

Why does Xeha not recognize Bragi? Why does player remember their “first life”? Is that how that works now?

Ok, why we are going to cry always like this! Fuck, Fuck!!! Now what?! Xehanort's mother was indeed Skuld? So we suppose to play Missing Link to have other answers, because the Player from Union X has reborn in the Blue Robe Guy, but who was in the past?

I always thought the old person in the blue robe was a woman when in reality it was a man.

So Xehanort is Ephmer and Skuld's son?

Now can the series stop with the dumbass phone games?

basically we didn’t learn nothing substantial for kh4. Just one true darkness is powerful. I was right about vantias being one of the true darkness. The blue hooded guy was the player (didn’t really care).There’s no secret kh4 or missing link trailer. This final should have been happened. Nort is the grand child of ephemer ( funny how he helped Sora in kh3). Just another bunch of mobile game nonsense AGAIN glad this series is over all these mobile games better be important for kh4 because it definitely mostly wasn’t for kh3. Pls nomera no more mobile after missing link.