Organization XIII - What truths lie in their shadows?

Your favorite villains from Chain of Memories have returned, and with a vengeance. The shells of Ansem the Wise's former apprentices are after the ultimate goal of Kingdom Hearts; and they're going to look hot doing it.

Thank you to K, Adrian, Kronsi, Kole, and Dragon Saver for your questions on this episode!

Next episode: Radiant Garden. Send your questions to sheddingstarlight@gmail.com 

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Transcript

0:26

Hello and welcome to Shedding Starlight. Last week we started off on our new season on Kingdom Hearts 2 with the character Xehanort and all that this game reveals about him. Today, we're going to branch out from Xehanort onto his nobody, the leader of Organization XIII. We're going to discuss this league, its agenda, and its individual members in today's episode. The Organization is composed completely of nobodies, and their primary objective is to regain the hearts they lost when they became nobodies. This would be granted by Kingdom Hearts, which, as we've discussed before, was created with the collected hearts freed from Emblem Heartless defeated throughout Kingdom Hearts 2 and the first Kingdom Hearts as well. But before we discuss the organization as a whole, it's important to help new fans remember these characters as individuals. We met six of the thirteen members in Chain of Memories. So let's greet the remaining members. The leader of Organization XIII, referred to as the Superior in Chain of Memories, is Xemnas. Anger and hate are supreme. We discussed in the previous episode that he's the nobody of the first game's antagonist, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness. These villains are two sides of the same coin, as they originate from Xemnas. From one man Zan art. Second in command is Zig bar, the old coot with an eye patch as if he has power over dimensions so he can warp space to teleport. He uses two crossbow like weapons that can be combined to be a sniper. Zig bar is among the six. founding members of the organization, and some of the Wise's previous apprentices. His name used to be Braig. Ranked number three is Zuldan, the large man with dreadlocks at Beast's castle. Who could ever love a beast? He fights with multiple lances and the power of wind. Another ex apprentice, his human name was Dylan. And then we have number four, Vexen. who was named Evan, number five Lexius, who was named Aelius, and number six Zexion, who was named Ianzo. These three all died at Castle Oblivion. Ranked seven is Saix, a blue haired grump who often manipulated Sora. Moon, shine down! He's in the JRPG class Berserker. and his weapon is a large claymore. His power comes from the moon, and one could interpret that to mean the moon in general, or specifically Kingdom Hearts itself as a moon. Because he was not one of Ansem the Wise's original apprentices, we don't know his original name, nor the members who joined after him. Next is a familiar face, Axel. Got it memorized? In Chain of Memories, Axel had an agenda to take out multiple members of the organization. And in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts 2, he was still following orders when trying to retrieve Roxas. But at some point, Axel deserts the organization to revive Roxas by his own means. After Axel, is Demyx at rank 9. Did they ever pick the wrong guy for this one? With a blonde mullet and blue satar, he can create clones of himself composed of water. Dem is a fun character because he's in way over his head. He reads instructions on cue cards and is prone to panicking after Demmick, but a lot more competent than him is lard, the platinum lawn who may have a British accent, but. Only speaks the language of gambling there. The dice have been cast. He uses the power of time as a gimmick in his battles. Numbers 11 and 12 are Mar Lucia and Laxing who also died a castle oblivion. And last but not least, we have Oxis who was ranked as the final 13th member. I don't know, maybe it's Destiny Rox with the power over life. Wields two key blades. While he was one of the newest members of the organization, it only took about a year before he left it, which made him vulnerable to Diz. Enrique kidnapping him and using him to awaken Sora. So R'S departure was the drop that caused the expanding ripple. That is kingdom hearts too. You may have noticed. Every member of the organization has the letter X in their name, no exception. Again, the original names of the founding members, before they became nobodies, were Xehanort, Bragg, Dylan, Evan, Alias, and Ienzo. Ansem the Wise, using the alias Diz, mentioned this in his third report. And of course, there's Roxas, whose name is an anagram of Sora. Now that we've covered the individual members, we can return to discussing the organization as a whole. There are two major classes of Nobodies, Greater and Lesser. Unlike Lesser Nobodies, Greater Nobodies were born from someone with a strong heart, as Ansem the Wise writes in Kingdom Hearts 2's seventh report. A great number of Nobodies have lost human form, as have the Heartless. Yet the nobody born of someone with a strong heart retains its shape with, but the faintest visible changes greater nobodies resemble the way their original human selves look. And that's because they remember what it was like to have hearts. True, we don't have hearts, but we remember what it was like. That's what makes us special. Greater Nobodies resembling their human selves is but the first link in the connection between memories and appearance that runs throughout the Kingdom Hearts series. Of course, this makes the enigmas of Naminé, Roxas, and arguably Xemnas not looking exactly like their counterparts quite the anomalies to be explored in future episodes. The organization, composed entirely of greater nobodies, controls the lesser nobodies. Each member is specifically designated to lead a certain type of lesser nobody. Xemnas leads the sorcerer nobodies, Xigbar leads the snipers, Xaldin the dragoons, Saix the berserkers, Axel the assassins, Demix the dancers, Luxord the gamblers, and Roxas led the samurais. when he was still part of the organization. The exception to this are Dusks, which are so low in the pecking order that they follow the commands of all organization members. This is why they call Roxas My Liege when attempting to kidnap him under Axel's command. And it seems the highest members of the organization can turn the lower members into lesser nobodies. You know what you must do. Or you will face the consequences. So you'll turn me into a dusk. Throughout Kingdom Hearts 2, in the intricate tapestry woven by the higher members of the organization, there are tears. You will For example, Saïx explains that when the Keyblade releases hearts trapped within Emblem Heartless, they collect to build up the Kingdom Hearts visible in the world that never was. Using Kingdom Hearts, they will all be granted hearts once more and exist as people again. The rage of the Keyblade releases those hearts. They gather in darkness, masterless and free, until they weave together to make Kingdom Hearts. And when that time comes, we can truly, finally exist. Why, Kingdom Hearts, where is my heart? But taking into account the goals and acts of Xehanort's Heartless and some from the first game, there's much more at stake than just restoring a handful of absent hearts. Xehanort, as he wrote in Kingdom Hearts 1's reports, desired endless knowledge and wisdom, desired Kingdom Hearts, before becoming a Heartless and nobody to begin with, when he already had a heart. Whatever Xehanort's Heartless and Nobody were seeking, whatever they were striving for, began before the organization was even conceived. All that and more. I'm carrying on what you yourself began, and I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time. While this conspiracy starts at the top of the organization, it trickles down to the lower ranks. In a flashback, around the time that the organization established a base at Castle Oblivion, Xigbar, who's second in command, asks Zexion about Xemnas's secret. And later, at the time of Chain of Memories, Axel kills Zexion because he found out way too much. So what else is brewing so deep within the organization that infighting causes its few members to be further cut down? These are not the actions of an organization that simply desires to be human again. Organization XIII is a league of elite nobodies who, on the surface, have a desire to regain their humanity through the means of Kingdom Hearts. But just as each nobody has a heartless, each member has their shadow. Starting with six apprentices who betrayed their master, even when they grew to 13, each member still held cards close to their hollow chest. The superior most of all. The organization. The organization, the organization area. These are the bitches that got me into this fucking series, Hannah. Like. I, Yeah, they're so interesting. They're so interesting. They're so mysterious. They're so cool. They all got crazy hair. They all got crazy names. Yeah, you would think with 13 members, there would be one that I wouldn't like, but I really love them all. I really do. Yeah. It's so good. They all, yeah, I, They really, like, because they all have to wear the same outfit, they really made up for it with their personality and all their hair choices and their faces. So they're all very distinct. And memorable, which is great. I have, um, I accidentally closed it down, so let me bring it back up. So I have, um, tips to remember each of their names. And I was gonna include this in the actual presentation, but I think some of them made me, like, laugh and giggle, that I was like, well, I might as well do it in the In the discussion, in case Hannah also giggles. The one, the one line that made me laugh, and you can hear me laugh a little bit in the presentation is, Um, Uh, Luxord who speaks the language of gambling. I'm kind of proud of that line. I was, I was kind of proud of it. God, it's literally, it's, he literally, he has to bring up cards or dice or jams, like, he, like, Luke's here to go five minutes without talking about gambling, challenge, no, he'll die, he'll suffocate, impossible. Okay, so, To remember Xemnas's name, of course you have the anagram of Xemna of Ansem with the letter X, right? Mm hmm. Or, the iconic, the classic way to remember his name. It's an anagram of man sex. I didn't know if you were going to say that or not. I was like, are you going to? Oh my God. I remember seeing that on a YouTube poop so long ago. Listen, listen, if you're listening and you are brave enough to go on Kingdom Hearts YouTube without fear of spoilers, and you haven't heard You haven't seen the video where someone rearranged Axel spelling out Xemnas name to spell out Mansex? That's your, you need to do that right now. You need to do that right now. If you're too worried about spoilers, ask a friend, okay? It's Iconique. Okay, Iconique. Okay. And then my tip to remember Xigbar's name. This, I don't laugh anymore because I've already laughed about it for like five minutes, but this fucking killed me, okay? So, Xigbar looks like he would drunkenly zigzag out of a bar. And picturing Xigbar just drunk as fuck, not even able to like walk in a straight line, that killed me. It absolutely killed me. He also kind of has the Jack Sparrow kind of movement with his body, you know? He like talks with his hands, you know? Yeah. I love Xigbar because He looks like a pirate, but also like a biker, but he also talks like a surfer, but he fights like a cowboy. Like, he's literally everything. He's everything. He's all of Party City all in one, bitch. Like, he's it. Okay, so I, I tried so hard to think of a tip for Zaldin, which is the guy from Beast's Castle, and the only thing I could think of, have you ever seen National Treasure? National Treasure. So at one point in National Treasure, the main girl of that movie, who's like the museum curator, I don't remember what the fuck she is, she's like a historian. Yeah, yeah. And she's running from the bad guy's goons. And she jumps over like this deli or this bakery counter. Uh huh, uh huh. And this lady is like, can I help you? And the blonde girl's like, um, yeah, I'm running from my ex husband. Yeah. She's like, yeah. And she looks at this scary bald guy. And she's like, okay, you can stay here as long as you like, because if that's your ex husband, that is scary and I don't blame you, right? But that bald guy is Zaldin's voice actor! Oh! I didn't know that! Yes! So! The only way I can remember Zaldin's name is if I think of the Baldin guy from that movie, because he's bald in that movie. Oh my god. And that's it. That's the best tip I could fucking come up with. So. Oh my god. That's fucking funny. Psy X, you gave us the tip for Psy X, because I couldn't think of one at first. Uh huh. Yeah, so, yeah. I, I just said, uh, you know, he's kind of miserable all the time. Not miserable. But I was like, Psy X and Psy ing. He's probably Psy ing, you know? Like, he's just kinda, he's got that attitude. I was like, there's gotta be something there. Psy X is Psy ing. Which gave me the idea of people calling him X behind his back because of the X on his forehead. And people just being like, ugh, like, X is here, like, X just walked in. And the idea of people sighing and then going, ugh, X. Like, I think that's so funny. The idea that people do not like him. Like, probably Demmix, probably Demmix and Xigbar like shit talk him or something, I love it. That's good. Okay, and my tip for Demix was that he would choose perfect songs to make you Demix of all time. I know, stupid. Demix of all time. Oh my god. Okay, and then Luke Cern, I wrote, it might be Might be easier to remember his name as Luxord, because he's a gambler, but it's officially pronounced Luxord, which many fans think is an absurd way of pronouncing his name. And that's the only thing I can think of with that fucking bitch. Yeah, I do still see people upset about that to this day, which is funny. Yeah, but yeah, which really makes me realize like so I think the protagonist of Final Fantasy 10 his name is Tidus But nobody ever knows his name because it's like link. It's a name you can insert yourself. And so Nobody says his name aloud in the game, so I always thought it was Tidus, and then I found out it was Tidus, and I was like, what? So anyway, and then of course, the final member is Roxas, and if you can't remember Roxas name, that's on on your own for this one. Yeah, you're on your own. And that's it. That's all the tips I could think of. Yay! Yay! Those were all great. Thank you. Those were amazing. Thank you. Okay. The thing about Kingdom Hearts and the fanbase is that there are some trivias that everybody knows. But then, when you ask for the source, here's what they're gonna say. I swear to you, this is what they're gonna say. I think Nomura said it once. That's their fucking source, right? And so I have to go through and actually look and find where the fuck things are said, right? So, the idea that each organization member leads one of the lesser nobodies is one of those kind of Kingdom Hearts trivia things that everybody knows but nobody really knows where it's from, right? So I looked it up. It's from the Kingdom Hearts 2 Ultimania. And the lesser nobodies are called subordinate nobodies. And that's how we kind of know for a fact. That each organization member leads one of those lesser ones. Which, like, you can always take, like, um, what's the word for when you I guess environmental storytelling, but maybe that's not quite what I'm trying to go for. But, you know, at the worlds that you go to where organization members are specifically at, you're always going to find their subordinate nobody there. So you could kind of piece that together yourself, but like, I personally would not have gotten that Roxas led the Samurai Nobodies, personally. Um, but that reminds me of how, when we were doing Chain of Memories, our Chain of Memories season, people asked us, like, Why do all these organization members have different elements? And so I kind of wonder if, like, The members of the organization are, like, evolved versions of their subordinate nobodies. And so a way that I compared it to was, like, Digimon. How Digimon start off being really creature esque, but as they get more powerful, they kind of start developing more human people traits. They turn into hot anime women. Yes! Exactly! The organization members composed of hot anime women. Yeah, exactly! Exactly! Um, that's an interesting thought. I didn't think of it like that, but, um. I'm glad you actually like went and dug up the actual source. That's how you know, that's, that's why you're here. We are here with the real shit, not the theory shit. We're here with the real facts and the figures for everyone to hear. We do the work. We put in the work. Mel puts in the work. I'll, I'll say that much. Mel puts in the work. Well, you put it all together. I would not, literally people would have to read everything and not listen to anything. So there we go. We balance each other out. Yeah, exactly. And that's why we're here. That's why Shining Starlight exists. So, you're welcome. Yes. Okay, and then, um, I do think it's a shame, speaking of Chain of Memories, that we didn't get to see, like, Vexen's subordinate nobody, or Larxene's. So that's a missed opportunity, unfortunately. And the last thing that I have written. is the very popular kind of question that fans might ask is, are the Mushroom Heartless that you find and fight throughout Kingdom Hearts 2, do are they the Heartless of the organization members? And the answer is no. And one of the reasons why we know that is because there's 13 Mushroom Heartless, but we have to remember that Roxas is Heartless. is Sora's Heartless, and Xemnas Heartless is Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. And so, the Mushroom Heartless would only be 11, not 13. So the fact that there's 13, and they're also really weak Heartless, and you would think that a strong heart creating a strong nobody would also create a strong Heartless. And these little guys, you know. They're cute, you know, but they're, you know, some of them cry and like weep when you defeat them, you know what I mean? Hey, Demmix would cry if you put them in the right situation. Okay, Demmix is heartless, might be a mushroom heartless, but he's the only one. That is so interesting, I never thought of Uh, thinking about that as, like, cause they are wearing little organization coats, aren't they? Mm hmm. That's cute and fun. Um. It is very cute. Maybe they're just admirers. Maybe they're the fan club. That would be good. I mean, I did bring up a topic at the end, um, that I put at the end, where Saïx had a quote. There's a scene where it's between Sora and Donald and Goofy and Saïx and Maleficent where, um, it's the scene where Maleficent helps Sora get away. Saïx summons Heartless in that scene. Twice, two or three times, I think. And it's just, it's interesting, and he, the way he explains it, it says, the Heartless ally with whoever is strongest. So that's, that's an interesting thing. It's like, I don't know, I guess that makes sense, given, like, the whole context of Kingdom Hearts 1, where it's like, if you submit to darkness, then, and you're strong enough, then you can control Heartless, but like, I don't know. Yeah, it's still, it's still interesting when you Xemnas describes himself as like, neither of light or darkness, but the people in between. How the Heartless are still just willing to side with people not technically quote unquote of darkness, but are still just so powerful that they're drawn to them. It is also interesting because Maleficent summons her own Heartless in that same scene, and they like, fight each other. So it's like, what's the truth? So, like, some Heartless ally with some people, and then some ally with other people, depending on who they think is strongest. That's interesting. What's the deal there? Um. Yeah, you're right. Especially with Pete. I mean this is gonna be, this is in my head because I was writing about this the other day, but this is gonna be an episode we're gonna talk about eventually. Is how Pete was kind of making his own army of Heartless. Um, but Pete is like a dingus, you know, like, I feel like a Jedi mind trick would work on Pete, you know what I mean? And so I wouldn't necessarily say that he has a strong heart or like a strong will, so I don't know why they're following him. That makes me wonder, I, like, I don't want to dote on this too long because we'll have an episode about it, but he would probably be, like, The strongest villain in like the Disney world, like Disney castle world, I guess? I don't know. I would think of him as like the strongest dark presence there. But, yeah, I don't know. That's a speculation for another episode. Yeah. Okay. But, yeah. So, to continue on with my discussion points. Um, we mentioned Naminé in the script, um, and I want to talk about her, and we got at least one question about her in our emails, but we're saving it for another episode, because yes, she's going to have her own episode again, because she deserves it. Of course. Because she's, she's weird, she's different, she's cool, she's awesome. Yeah. We, that's, you know, cause like we said, we will talk about them again later, but it is really interesting that Naminé and Roxas, you know, we talked about how Ansem the Wise is like, greater nobodies look like their original selves. But Naminé does not look like Kairi. She has blonde hair. And Roxas does not look like Sora. So there's clearly something else going on. Going on, especially because if it's memories, if having memories of your past life is what makes you look like your, your original self, Naminé knows about Kairi, but Naminé doesn't talk about Kairi as if, like, it's her past self. She talks about Kairi like it's a different person. And Roxas kind of does the same thing, where Roxas is like, another dream about him, not my past life, you know? So, they both got main character syndrome happening here. Yeah, they do. They're different. They do. But yeah, it's definitely interesting. I can't wait to talk about them. I love, like Roxas and Naminé in this game are one of my favorite parts. Them reuniting at the end credit scene always makes me cry. It always makes me cry. It really gets me. I love both of them so much. Another thing I wanted to bring up. I just think it's gonna be something that's so interesting about this organization and something that's gonna be fun to look forward to is figuring out why, who the other, um, who the non original six members, are. How did they get to where they are? Like, what's their history? We know the Ansem, the wise apprentices, we know how they got here. But like, how did the others get here? What is their history? What promises were they made? Because we also touched on how There's a little bit of, uh, deception going on here within this organization. So like, I don't know, we're like, individual promises made to each person, depending on what they wanted or needed. Um, it's interesting to think about, like, these original six, like, why did they need, why do they need more than just the six of them? Like, having Roxas is obviously helpful, But, why do you need 13 of you? Like, why are you recruiting new people? You obviously all have like, this bond to begin with. So it's like, oh, is it just going to be helpful to have more people? I'm like, do you really need Demyx? Do you really? Yeah, exactly. Like, why do they, why, why is he here? I can't remember. Do you remember when Demyx is reading cue cards in Olympus Coliseum? I don't remember if this is fact or if it's like implied in the manga or if it's like a fan thing. But there is the idea out there that it was. It was Saïx who had to write him the cue card and the idea of Saïx sitting at a desk writing like, if subject fails to respond, use aggression, like, it's so fucking funny. Like, why is this guy in the organization? Yeah. Why is he here? Which I'm not complaining because I love him. I love this character. Yeah. He's great. Like, I, like, I remember. hating him so much as a child because his fight is so hard. Yeah, it's bullshit. His fight is so difficult and that's why I, whenever I was editing, editing the presentation, I did not want to use the dance water dance quote because I didn't want to trick everybody. And I'm so glad. It's like you read my mind. But yeah, it's, it's interesting to think about and um, I won't say too much, but something we're still kind of figuring out in the present day about all of these characters. Yeah. Like, in the present day of the series. Which is cool to me. I mean, it's like we said before, I think, um, the last episode, where Kingdom Hearts 2 and what it reveals and what it shows us is not forgotten. Even with all of these different Kingdom Hearts games out, like, we still come, like, if, like, we say this, like, every season, but it, like, nothing in Kingdom Hearts is forgotten. Everything kind of keeps building up in its relevancy. And so, it's such an interesting It's just good to know. It's good to know that things that you think are interesting, you just have to be patient. You just have to be patient because it'll all come back. Boomerang, bitch. Yeah. Truly, yeah. But speaking of the recruitment process of like, why bring in more? Like, what is the point? We have some emails on this process as well. So our first question about this recruitment process is from Cole on Patreon. Woo! Patreon! Yeah! Patreon subscriber, thanks Cole! Thank you Cole. So, Cole. commented something I've always wondered with the organization when I played through Kingdom Hearts 2, was do they go out looking for new recruits? Or are the full bodies just drawn to organization for some reason? And then on top of that, Kranze from our emails asked, are there other nobodies with the same traits but outside the organization? And how do you think their recruitment process goes? Do they have some sort of nobody detection? Is it sheer luck? Maybe some sort of LinkedIn page? Do they interview them and test them? Or are the new recruits welcomed with open arms? Transcribed And this is, so there's a flashback in Kingdom Hearts 2 where you see Xigbar, we kind of mentioned this, but we mentioned a flashback of Xigbar talking with Zexion. And this cutscene is really interesting because it kind of reveals, it gives us an inside look onto how the organization expanded because Zexion is like, Aren't you supposed to be recruiting new members? Like, can you leave me alone? And Xigbar's like, well, I found one the other day, I'll have you know, and he implies it's Marluxia. And so, it's, not only that, but we also have Anson the Wise, let me look and see which report it was. I also do want to mention that that cutscene in particular is in the Final Mix version. So if you grew up playing Vanilla, you will not have seen that cutscene, unfortunately. No. I assume everybody is playing like the PS3 onward version. Yeah, I would hope so. If you're listening to our podcast and you're playing Vanilla King of Hearts 2, what are you doing? I don't even think you can get your hands on it anymore unless you get it like, You know, secondhand from eBay or whatever, but I just did want to point that out, because again, that is how my knowledge of the series is, or at least this game. Um, okay, so the other thing is that in the Kingdom Hearts 2 reports, Ansem the Wise talks about how nobodies are born in Twilight Town. And that's kind of like the game's way of explaining why Roxas showed up there. And not, like, right next to Sora when he stabbed himself with the 1. Which we'll, we will dive into that. We're just kind of laying the groundwork for other things first. Um, but I think it's possible that, like, Xigbar, at the time of scoping out Nobodies, Was, like, located in Twilight Town, and, like, settled there, and was probably observing, like, Oh my god, this person literally just appeared out of nowhere. Like, they're probably a nobody, I'm gonna go talk to them. Or, like, maybe he, like, observes them for a little bit. The weird thing is with Roxas, is that literally, right as Roxas is fucking born, Xemnas goes up to him, and is like, Like, Scary. Yeah, and gives him a new name. So, and especially with Xemnas, like, observing Sora in Hollow Bastion when we fight Xemnas, which like, oh my god, have we even fucking talked about that yet? But how? We now know for a fact that. Xemnas is who we fight in Kingdom Hearts 1. I don't even think we've talked about that. We should have talked about that last episode. That's crazy. Yeah, it's, it's crazy. He's got lightsabers and he's in Kingdom Hearts 1. What's he doing? It goes to show that Xemnas has been keeping an eye on Sora from the shadows For a long time. And so it's possible that, like, right as Sora stabbed himself, Xemnas was like, Okay, I gotta go to Twilight Town. Like, I'm gonna nab his nobody, like, as soon as I fucking can. Um, my dog is snoring, and it might be over my talking, so if you can hear it, I do apologize. But, um, my point is, I assume that that is where all of the other nobodies appeared. And so they didn't have to, like, go world to world to search. They just kind of had to remain. At most, within this Twilight Realm, and then at the very least, just in Twilight Town itself, and kind of look around for weird people. Um, but yeah, maybe that's their version of LinkedIn. They log on in 2004 to the World Wide Web. Can we start saying World Wide Web again, please? Let's start it, you and me. Okay. Bring it back. Yes. Okay, so the other thing that we got a few, uh, emails about is this is a coined term that, uh, someone who goes by Kay in their email coined. And I just thought it was such a funny word that I want to use it. And that's it. Quote unquote, duskification, which is like a greater nobody being put in their place. Duskified. Duskified. Becoming a dusk. And so we got a couple, um, we got a few emails about how does this happen? Has this actually happened? Can they really do this? Is this just a threat? Um. You start answering. That also kind of implies that, like, the organization members are ranked based on their power. And that it's not just an arbitrary numbering process. Right? Like, Well, I would think they got ranked, they got ranked by the time that they joined. Right, so then does that, why would, like, the great, does that give them power, being higher in the ranking? Cause, like, Axel be able to do it too? Zaldin first, you know, like, yeah, that's a good question. But yeah, that's a good question. Uh, I do know that Xemnas, I wonder if maybe Zaldin, it was an empty threat. But for some reason, I do wonder if Xemnas is capable of this because we haven't talked about this yet, because I want to address it in the episode about Diz and Ansem the Wise and like what happens to him. Um, But we are eventually gonna talk about Xemnas banishing him to a realm of nothing, and how it doesn't really seem like that's something other nobodies are able to do. It's like, open a gate to this whole other fucking realm and like, put people there. And, um, I personally think that that's where Riku and Sora fight Xemnas at the end of Kingdom Hearts 2, in like that final white void. I could be wrong, but to me, it just matches the description, so I think that's the same place. But, so I wonder if Xemnas, able to open like a whole other fuckin dimension, it feels like. If he's kind of able to take away people's power. But, um, let me see, who, maybe it was you who brought it up, or let me see if it was an email. Okay, so Kay continues and is like, but we never see this punishment carried out, and instead traitors at Castle Oblivion are just killed. They're just straight up killed. And it was Axel who killed them, not Xemnas. But they do bring up an interesting point of how, if Xemnas really was fucking tired of people disobeying him, or like, if he was suspicious that people would turn traitor, why didn't he just turn them into a dusk where they would have fun? what seems to be much, much less of like a rebellious will. So I don't know. That's a good question. And I had never really thought of the idea of it being an empty threat or like actually possible, but I almost like don't want to find out. Like it's, there's something about like Um, it reminds me of like, Angela's Grotto, not Angela, who's Angela? Ursula! It reminds me of Ursula's Grotto. I was wondering, I was like, what is this media you're referring to? In The Little Mermaid, when everybody gets turned into like, those little weird little fucking, I don't even know. Deals? Not shrimps, but like, the little, the little guys. The little guys. The bottom feeders, yeah. Yeah, like that almost like, I feel like if that were me, I would just be like, just kill me. Like literally, I'd rather just die. Yeah. And so, I don't know. It's weird. Yeah, it's, it's interesting. It's, yeah. Like, to me, another half of this question is that, like, um, does that imply the desks we see in game used to be members of the organization? I don't think so. I don't think so. But that's just me talking. Um. Because there's a lot. There's a lot of Dusks in this game. But I mean, like we've talked about before, um, if, you know, and this isn't a fact, but if the organization members are like evolved versions of different types of Nobodies, if maybe, like, let's say the previous Berserker got fired. And then they brought in PsyX and was like, okay, you're gonna replace this other guy who was a flop, and this is your job now. Um, I don't know if that's the case, but it's interesting to think about. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, that is interesting to think about. It's like, it's kind of a throwaway line, but it has a lot of implications. Yeah, it does. Yeah. It'd be fun if we get to see something like this in the future, because nobody's haven't gone away, you know, nobody still exists, even like current Kingdom Hearts games, so. Yeah, it'd be really interesting. So, a question that we got from multiple people, um, that we're gonna have for our last question of today. Um, people asked us, what would our organization names be? And I have an answer. I've thought about this a lot. I thought about it today. Surprisingly, it's not really something I've thought about a lot. You'd think for how long I've been a Kingdom Hearts fan that I would think about it more, but I just haven't. Uh huh. Um, but what would yours be? You go first. So, my name is Hannah Foll, but that's, for me, that's too many of the same letters to make a good name, so I often also go by Han, just H A N, and so I would be Nox, N A X H, I think. Okay, that is actually, why would actually we be a really good duo? Because I'm kind of in a similar boat where my name is too long. So I would just go by Mel, and then I think I would be, ugh, not really happy with any of them, but I would be satisfied with Zelm, X E L M. And so Nox and Zelm, like, I feel like we would be two cunty bitches tearing up the place. Here's a, here's a different question. What, so, uh, Ansem talks about in his reports that, uh, the nobodies have a slight physical change to them. What do you think your physical change would be? If I don't get Psyx's pointy ears, what's the fucking point? If I don't get pointy ears, what's the point? Uh, that's good. Or if they made me a little taller, which I think would be so funny. Just make me a little taller, like an inch or two. I really like Axel's little, um, tears on his cheeks. So I feel like I would have some sort of facial markings like that. Um, cause I'm also a big Star Wars fan and I really like, um, what the fuck are they called? The, the species that Ahsoka is, Tigruta. I really like all their cool little facial markings. So I think maybe not, not as much as they do, but something similar to like Axel's, like maybe on the cheeks. Or, like, on the forehead. Uh, something like that. Would you want it to be symmetrical or not symmetrical? I think so. I think of it, I'm imagining it. I don't have a specific imagination of anything right now, but, Yeah, something symmetrical. Okay. So. But, where's the fan art? Oh, wait, they don't know what it's gonna look like. Well, yeah, they do. We could, I could Photoshop it on our fuckin little animation. Yes! Yes! Us in the organization coats, uh, and our little changes, yes! Love it. Speaking of the organization coats, real quick. You, this is how fucked up of a fan I am. So, in Kingdom Hearts 2, every organization member, even though they all have the same coat, they all have different body styles and like different silhouettes. And when they're all hooded, I can still tell who's who. I think maybe the two of them that I get mixed up is Lexaeus and Zaldin, because they're both really burly men. But other than those two, I can literally tell who's who. It's embarrassing. You're cracked in the head. I'm fucking cracked. In case y'all didn't know, Mel was one of the most cracked people about this series that you'll ever meet. It's embarrassing. No, it's great. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Well, that's the organization, the best league ever. Yeah, their most mysterious group of people in black coats that you'll ever meet, that you'll ever see. We love them. We love them. And now, I need all of you listening to this, go to our YouTube, go to Patreon, wherever, um, smash or pass every organization member. The way I would pass all of them! You mean smash all of them? Smash all of them! God. Um, but also like rank. Hottest to least hot. Yeah. In your opinion. I need that. You know what I love? So, Vexen is a character who I've made kind of fun at, fun of for a long time. Like I poke fun at him. He's just so dorky and dweeby and I love it. But there is, there are people out there dedicated to fucking Vexen. And honestly, respect. Respect. I love it. Vexen fuckers are out there. They're real. And they're amazing. They're cryptic, but they're amazing. I'm just kidding. All right. Well. That's the end of the episode, yeah? Yes. So, I just want to make a quick PSA that there's obviously some information in this episode that we talked about that can be linked to future titles. And I want to remind everyone that we are not afraid to delete comments on YouTube. So I would just ask that everyone be incredibly chill about this episode. And if you are one of those people, you know exactly what I'm talking about, so just please be chill. Instead of writing a comment, maybe subscribe and like the video instead. Um, and go to our Patreon and sign up instead of writing that comment. That is so fucking funny. Or, if you really need to type something out, give us a five star review on Apple Podcasts. Yeah. Put that energy somewhere where it's going to be positive and good. Yes. If it's not the organization Smasherpass ranked from hottest to least hot, then I don't want it in my comments. Where are my Luxord fuckers at? Where you at? Um. Um. But that's it. Mel, what are we talking about next episode? So, let me tell you, I'm really putting all the juicy shit, the juicy shit near the end. I know people want to know about Naminé and Roxas and all that good stuff, and we will get there. But, before we get there, I wanted to piggyback off of the organization and mostly Xemnas, and Xehanort as we talked about in the first episode. And next week we're going to talk about Radiant Garden and or Hollow Bastion. We're going to talk about kind of its history and we're also going to talk about All of the different places within that world that are just so mysterious, and we're gonna, we're gonna really dive deep into the locations and the history and, of this world, cause it's such, it's, I literally, it's one of my favorite worlds. I'm so obsessed with how many secrets it has. So yeah, I to hype it up. I've read part of the script already, and I'm so excited to talk about some stuff that I feel like not a lot of people ever talk about, like there's some stuff we're gonna go over that I haven't seen anyone talk about, like, not that I've, you know, dived too far into theory videos on on YouTube, but still, yeah, no, I've said it before. And I've said it again, it feels like there are things That I fixate on that nobody else thinks it's important and I'm just like you just wait But anyway, um, where can they email their questions, Mel? You can email your questions at sheddingstarlight at gmail. com. And while we're on this topic, Hoyanna, I hope it's okay if I say this. So when you email us, don't be afraid to include, like, an alias you want us to call you by. Because sometimes your email will include, like, your first and your last name, and you're like, please don't say this online, you know, please So don't be afraid to give us, like, a username or an alias that you often use online. Just a little, like, say your email, and then, like, the dash, yours truly, you know, sincerely, Dragonslayer. We literally got someone named Dragonslayer, and I love it. Dragonsaver. Dragonsaver. Oh my god, forgive me. Dragonsaver. It's so good, though. It's so good, it's so good, it's so good. It's in our doc. It's written down here. I can't read, sorry. I didn't mention that. We do read, we, like, we get a lot of emails, we get a lot of long emails, and we do read. Every email, bottom to top. Or top to bottom. Not bottom to top. Um, and I do really enjoy reading those. We both really enjoy reading those. So keep them coming. We love them. Also, you can also send your questions to the comment section on our Patreon because we post our episodes there a day early. So if you're on our Patreon, you're hearing this on Sunday instead of Monday. So, um, exciting as a reason why you should, uh, sign up. Um, and yeah, like I said before, don't be spoiling stuff in the comments. Instead, leave us a review, like and subscribe the video, put that energy, that excited energy somewhere where we'll appreciate it and not spoil it for everybody else. Um, and yeah, I think that's it. Anything else, Mel? Um, rate us five stars. Five stars. We talked about that. No, I think that's it. I think that's it. Amazing. Amazing. Alright, well thank you all for watching and we'll see you in the starlight.