#fan interpretation

It's a message. Sure enough there's a little text on the bottom left of the picture. I'll dive into each part beginning by the text itself.

"25同年に向かって 頑張り中です 応爰ありがとうございます"

"We are working hard towards the 25th anniversary Thank you for your support"

A direct acknowledgement of the anniversary, a professional and proper thank you to the community.

But I believe there's more, ooohhhh yes. That's just the official surface part. Because it's Nomura, everything is subtle, hidden, smart.

And that's why we'll turn our attention towards, not Young Xehanort yet, but the flowers.

Yes, that's not the first time we have a flower on an official artwork.

There was a bleeding heart (and a dandelion) on a KH Uχ 2nd anniversary artwork. And while I don't quite remember its meaning, I know there's always deep symbolism associated to flowers.

So I looked for the hortensia (hydrangea in english) flower meaning on the internet. And lo and behold, the results we're quite interesting!

"deep gratitude", "sincere apology", "metamorphosis".

Now that's promising. But is it Xehanort who's apologizing? Perhaps. But remember, Nomura said that he relates more to Xehanort that Sora himself. Maybe it's a message from both of them, toward a different person? Xehanort towards Sora(?) or Eraqus (??), and Nomura towards the fans.

Those hydrangea are blue purple-ish, which of course means something different for each color: -Blue: inner peace, forgiveness, introspection -Purple: spiritual transformation, strong emotions (!!)

Let's keep in mind that's it's the western meaning, so let's look at the japanese meaning of the flower (it's one of the most popular flower in Japan):

"an awkward sincerity", "gratitude after making a mistake", "June's rain" The first one is similar but the second one? Is Xehanort apologizing and acknowledging that he made a mistake?

Also the website mentions that the hydrangea blooms during June.

That would explain the umbrella and raincoat! And the rainy weather on both artwork in general. But this time he's not facing us. His face is hidden. Thoughtful? Ashamed? Crying, perhaps? Hence the rain pattern.

Well the flower website seems to hold the answer:

"It (the flower) is often gifted to say 'I am sorry' or 'thank you for staying despite my silence'.

Through Xehanort, Nomura is apologizing for the long periods of silence while thanking us for staying tuned and engaged in the series despite it all. As for the 'mistake', I'm not sure if it's for the early reveal of KH4 or for the silence itself.

But it might call for a 'metamorphosis' as mentioned earlier in this post. A transitional period. A new self blooming, while the other is washed away by the rain~

Another website mentions that "others think the hydrangea earned its name because the flower requires so much water to thrive."

One could thrive with an emotional release, cleansed and healed by the rain perhaps? Xehanort sure isn't shielding himself from the rain this time around, but rather facing it. (kinda remind of KH3 where Roxas and Axel symbolically fight each other under a heavy rain, while Utada Hikaru sings 'let me face my fears')

Anyhow, this hidden message would explain the 'awkward sincerity' part of the flower meaning. Something that he couldn't express directly, so he chose Xehanort and this illustration to do so.

While the KH lore bits have to be heavily taken with a pinch of salt (mainly due to speculations without concrete proof) I strongly believe the emotions put into this message are sincere.

At the risk of paraphrasing the website, here's the conclusion to this post and message:

"Gifting a hydrangea, it is to leave a breath of emotion on the doorstep. To say "I'm listening" without a word. It is to invite tranquility, a soft transformation, listening to yourself. In a world in constant rush, the hygrangea whispers that we can also love in silence."

Anyway it was a blast trying to decipher the hidden message behind this artwork 😊 I was so excited to be one of the first to understand it, and being able to rely his feelings to the other fans.

TL;DR: Tetsuya Nomura thanks the fans for their support, along with a hidden message in the flowers aiming to apologize for the long periods of silence, but also perhaps inviting everyone to look inside and appreciate the series in a calmer manner.