I never compared my theories to ACTUAL chess for some reason. God Iām dumb. All these connections and I missed such an obvious one.
InĀ chess, theĀ kingĀ (ā,ā) is the most importantĀ piece. The object of the game is to threaten the opponentās king in such a way that escape is not possible (checkmate). If a playerās king is threatened with capture, it is said to beĀ inĀ check, and the player must remove the threat ofĀ captureĀ on the next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, resulting in a loss for that player. Although the king is the most important piece, it is usually the weakest piece in the game until a later phase, theĀ endgame.
The King refers to Riku and his true importance. The only part of this that doesnāt fit is the part that says the king is weak until the endgame. Riku has always been strong, in KH1 Tidus mentions how Riku kicked his, Wakkaās, and Selphieās butts simultaneously. The weakness in this case, was Rikuās emotional weakness that led to his jealousy and fall to darkness. When talking to Repliku he even refers to this as his āmoment of weaknessā. He has overcome this now (the endgame) through his desire to protect Sora and achieved true strength (true strength comes from true love).
TheĀ queenĀ (ā, ā) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rankĀ next to the king.
The Queen is Sora. He was meant to be incredibly powerful if he really is the Master of Masters, but destined events led to him being incomplete. And he began the āgameā next to Riku. They have been together since childhood, and if they were made from one heart, they have always been together. Sora is more than he seems, and despite what everyone tells him, he WAS meant to wield the keyblade, and much more.
So if Xehanort killed Riku in the original timeline, that was checkmate. Sora going back in time (able to move any number of squares) started the game over, the King is in check, and now he must remove the threat to the King. Which he did, as we saw, by sacrificing another piece, Kairi. (Kairi in the chess symbolism I believe must be a pawn promoted to a queen, still important, but not the one the game began with. Originally Sora would have let Riku die to save her, but you cannot sacrifice the King) Riku is the most important piece, the True King. And Sora is the most powerful piece, the Master of Masters.
Thereās that crown and heart againā¦