So would you mind explaining the glorious theory behind why Vanitus says "ventus" and believes that he's the real one? Also I'm totally with you on Xehanort being terrifying. That old fart needs to pay.
//Sure! Now a lot of this is headcanon, but it is rooted in the official Birth By Sleep novels. So let me preface this by point out that UNLIKE the manga, the novels were written by the Kingdom Hearts game creators/scenario writers. Whether or not they are part of the same canon as the games (whereas the manga definitely is NOT canon), they ARE true to the creators’ vision, and originally Nomura himself was going to write them, so canon or not, they are the most official backstory available since the game itself does not expand on Ventus’s past or the 4 years between the split and BBS hardly at all, but the novels do exactly that.
In volume 3 of the BBS novels, there is an entire chapter devoted to describing Vanitas’s creation, narrated by Vanitas. It also has some Xehanort centric moments. In that chapter, it describes him remembering some things from immediately before the split. In fact, the first Unversed is created from the fear he remembers feeling. Ven, of course, cannot remember things from before the split and only eventually recalls the events surrounding it. Events from much earlier are never elaborated on, but now we delve into headcanon territory- I’m reminded of a movie about magic tricks and murder called The Prestige. (spoilers ahead). There is cloning (?) involved, and one thing that always struck me is that the clones (alternates/doubles created with full memories of the original man’s entire life) always assume they are the original because they remember everything. One survives, the other is killed every time. The survivor states that he got lucky and always ended up being the one not to die, every time, but it’s implied that the one that dies also remembers everything- it’s impossible to know if one is real or not. My point, if the average person was suddenly split into two (you, for example), but you didn’t feel any different and haven’t lost any memories, even if you were actually the double, wouldn’t you assume that you were the original, because you remember everything?
My case for the headcanon here is that Vanitas does imply in game (by confronting Ven about the events leading TO their split, which Ven cannot recall at first), and in the novels, that he remembers SOME things from before, and Ven doesn’t, and he KNOWS Ven doesn’t remember- I decided that he would assume (since he remembers being Ventus, and Ven DOESN’T remember being Ventus), that he is still “Ventus” even if he got ripped out of their body. He might also assume that Ven isn’t really the same person, just a new persona that formed in the shell he left behind, from his Light (and the foreign heart that saved him). And in a way, this is VERY VERY TRUE. The novels state that Ventus, prior to the split, had a very different personality from Ven. Ventus was a pessimist, nothing like the mostly cheerful boy we know of the games.
I don’t assume necessarily that Vanitas remembers EVERYTHING from before in canon, but I do feel that it’s not a far stretch at all to decide to write him that way, as the game and novels only have evidence supporting this take, and nothing that really contradicts it. And it’s more interesting from a storytelling standpoint, for me, to write him as an Alter who thinks he is the original and remembers being the original, even if he’s not really any more “Ventus” than Ven himself is. It creates interesting internal and external conflicts for him, also supports his initial loathing and hatred for Ven, to the point that he thinks Xehanort SHOULD take Ven away because Vanitas can’t promise that he won’t kill the comatose boy in a fit of rage.
Also from the novels is the fact that Xehanort does beat Vanitas with his keyblade along with the verbal and emotional abuse, and VEN is also terrified of a raised keyblade when he cannot remember anything and is more or less catatonic, so it’s implied that Xehanort’s abuse goes much further back than the split, to the point that along with his combat skills, Ven has a conditioned fear of keyblades, thanks to Xehanort’s abuse. He gets over it, but still. It’s sad.
I hope that helps explain my reasoning behind my characterization for him!
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