okay so my dear moot @transcaptainleviathan tagged a certain theory in a reblog and??? it's so obvious I can't believe I didn't put it together sooner, and now I need to yap about it.
so! let's talk about Soriku being Kingdom Hearts (or at least, deeply connected to it). I have a lot to say, so buckle up lol
for a long time I've been theorizing that the combined Keyblade could be a type of X-blade that is formed from harmony (the power of love if you will) rather than conflict. my first clue for this was that the general aesthetics of the combined Keyblade match up with Xehanort's X-blade (the same multicolored, intricate, criss-crossing shapes appear on both Keyblades). also the imagery of two Kingdom Keys crossing and forming a large, unwieldy, messily-constructed Keyblade is the exact opposite of the combined Keyblade, which is made of two parts that slot together perfectly and can function as two separate Keyblades. so visually speaking, the X-blade and the combined Keyblade are polar opposites. but at the same time they're so similar that it has to mean something, right? just look at them side by side!
then there's the stained glass motif on the combined Keyblade, something that is notably absent on Xehanort's X-blade. we have only seen stained glass in two other important places in the series: the Stations of Awakening, and the door to Kingdom Hearts. this is fascinating to me because Xehanort's X-blade is supposedly a recreation of the original key to the true Kingdom Hearts. if his X-blade is meant to be the key to Kingdom Hearts, how come we never see the same stained glass on either of his attempts at creating an X-blade? not only that, but we never see the X-blade used on the actual door to Kingdom Hearts, only the heart-moon in the sky. they don't even show up in the same games. KH1 and KH2 both have the door, but there's no X-blade in sight.
however... there is one thing. in Dream Drop Distance, the first time we see the combined Keyblade, we also learn of Xehanort's plans to create a true X-blade using seven lights and thirteen darknesses.
really quick, I want to talk about Ven and Vanitas. in BBS, they are two halves of a whole that were forcefully separated and seem to struggle without one another. Ven is missing his memories and Vanitas is... a disaster, to say the least. they are a messy, codependent duo that are shown over and over again to be toxic and unstable all the way up until the end of the game (and it's entirely Vanitas's fault, but I digress). so when Xehanort has them merge to create the X-blade, this supposedly ultimate Keyblade shatters the moment Ven tears his heart away from Vanitas's. a blade forged in conflict is brittle, after all. meanwhile, Dream Drop Distance shows us that even worlds apart, Sora and Riku have an unbreakable bond (BBS reference heh) that protects both of them equally. as Mickey put it, their hearts are in tune, so they're free to sing. and what do we get right after Symphony of Sorcery? The World That Never Was, and the combined Keyblade.
I bring all of this up to say that Ven and Vanitas are the exact opposite of Sora and Riku, just as the X-blade and combined Keyblade are the exact opposite of each other.
also, the X-blade that Xehanort created being two Kingdom Keys crossed and welded together is... telling, to say the least. the Kingdom Key was originally Riku's, and now it belongs to Sora. so... why is the false X-blade made of two Kingdom Keys? could it be that the wielders of the Kingdom Key hold some intrinsic connection to Kingdom Hearts, and could theoretically be the "key" to summoning a true X-blade? then maybe the two Kingdom Keys being in conflict with one another (shown by them being crossed rather than side-by-side) is what caused Xehanort's X-blade to fail. he always thought that Kingdom Hearts was something he could control- be it darkness, conflict, or something else- but each time, he was proven wrong by none other than Sora, the wielder of the Kingdom Key. further proving my point about the Kingdom Key's wielders being very deeply connected to the true Kingdom Hearts, as well as all of its smaller forms.
one last thing: the crown symbol. not only is it part of the Kingdom Key's design, it also appears when Sora seals certain Keyholes or even Kingdom Hearts itself. it's also on Sora's necklace, the decorative chain on his hip in KH1, and the keychain for Oblivion/Passing Memories/the Riku Keyblade. and most importantly, it shows up on the combined Keyblade, when both halves are connected to form a heart at the top. so many things connecting Sora and Riku to this symbol, and this symbol to Kingdom Hearts...
the way I see it, this is an intentional web of connections created to tell us something very important about Sora and Riku. whatever it is that binds them together, it's powerful enough to connect them even across separate realities, and it allows them to save the worlds over and over again. and this idea was set up all the way back in KH1, when Riku and Sora closed the door to Kingdom Hearts together.
perhaps the real key to Kingdom Hearts has always been two hearts in tune, free to sing. :)















