Would be pretty wild if Sora’s memories of Riku are his light, and be losing them, he is also losing the light in his heart that makes him the loving Sora we all know?
Take Repliku for example- there was no Ansem in Repliku. The main thing about Repliku was that his memories of Sora were messed with.
And it made him a MASSIVE dick that just wanted marinate in Darkness.
Memories of Sora are integral to him being a good person.
What if the reverse is the same?
We all know Sora’s Darkness is more prominent the more the story progresses and it’s gearing up to be something he is going to grapple with. Sora has been burying trauma and hurt. He has actively been CHOOSING to forget these heartbreaking memories.
In fact, I think this memories loss/light loss is going to be a VERY important theme in the next saga.
This story is about balancing extremes.
Sora WANTS to forget the “Dark” parts of his and Riku’s relationship. But he cant just sift memories of Riku apart to forget the “Dark” and keep only the “Light”.
So by willing away those Dark memories, he’s unwittingly willing away Light memories as well.
Which is why we see him forget Riku’s Sacrifice, and then also Riku’s Light leading him back to the Graveyard.
A “Dark” memory is repressed, and so is a “Light” one.
SO
If, for whatever reason, Sora IS losing his memories of Riku– particularly the memories of Riku being his light- it has a very negative affect on his heart? We could even see Sora temporarily becoming an antagonist.
We’ve fought Riku as Sora so many times. It would just be a sweet thematic balance to be able to fight Sora as Riku in order to save him.
It’s been said over and over that these two art intertwined– that they balance each other. Their memories of eachother a formative peices of their hearts. They have each shaped eachother into the person they are.
And imnlaying it all out on the table here: this is why I (personally) feel their relationship (romantic or platonic) is the central theme of the story rather than any other characters:
They are eachorher’s light AND their darkness.
Their greatest joy and deepest sorrow.
Their best friend and hardest enemy. (Fighting Ansem and Xehenort weren’t nearly as emotionally arduous to fight)
This is a story about accepting both, because that means accepting the entirety of the people you love– the good and the bad. The light and the dark.
The original tweet summarizes it pretty well. Fanfic tends to be popular among certain types of neurodivergent people (aka people most likely to read excessively as a child, and have burnout as an adult) for the same reasons that we tend to hyperfixate–neurochemical signaling (I hope I’m using that phrase correctly). What I mean is, for people who are really dependent on changes in dopamine/serotonin/neurotransmitter levels, who have low levels or wonky neural reward systems (perhaps the most common types of neurodivergence)…people like us rely on dependable external sources of those neurochemicals. In order to function, we spend a lot of our free time trying to level out our brain chemistry using things that can reliably bring us a steady stream of joyful moments (rewards) without costing too much of the mental effort that is already in short supply.
significantly: the investment of reading has to be balanced with a steady “return on investment”–and this return has to start fairly quickly. because again, we don’t have a lot of attention/energy to invest on tiring things. we have perpetual “low batteries” in that regard.
that doesn’t mean these stories are “simple,” or that they lack complexity or value–only that the reward has to come in short regular intervals, and it has to have a low “upfront cost.” these stories are only “easy” to read in the sense that the effort we put into them is rewarded in a timely manner. which is why fanfic stories are so perfectly formulated for neurodivergent readers–they are often beautifully written, but skip a lot of the upfront costs (of introducing new characters, of world-building, of getting the audience emotionally connected to the story elements).
the nature of fanfiction is that the reader has a pre-existing relationship with this world and these characters. that–combined with the shorter average length of fics–means that fan fics very quickly start rewarding the reader in a way that traditional fiction struggles to. that’s not a bad thing! and maybe it’s something more traditionally published writers should be paying attention to.
Fanfic, as a genre, has been uniquely helpful and accessible to many neurodivergent readers who would otherwise struggle to immerse themselves in stories. I’m glad so many of you have found a way to love and enjoy reading again! The important thing is that you are spending time inside stories you love–the way those stories are published or presented to the world is just one detail. The fact that you find joy in the process of reading (or listening!) to stories–that is what matters.
I feel understood 🥰
a bunch of people have reblogged this with the default “i feel called out” reaction….and i know when we say that we mean it tongue-in-cheek….but this comment sorta blew my mind & shifted my perspective up and to the left a little thank you♥
“Bottom line: There are no shortage of sites on the internet that feature
adult content.”
This? In particular? Pisses me off. I hate it.
I hate the implication that all porn is interchangeable and devoid of cultural value, so it’s no big deal when a decade’s worth of creative endeavor produced by a vibrant subculture is destroyed, because, whatever, it’s just dirty pictures.
I hate the disingenuous inability to see a distinction between a website that is about porn only, and a website that allows people to blog about all of their interests and aspects of their lives including sex and porn because those are normal parts of the human experience.
It’s the most tone-deaf bullshit.
This post was made after the porn ban of Dec 2018. I’m reblogging because OP is still right.
do you ever sabotage your own free time? like wtf is that about? i want to play this game or read or do something specific but instead i will just stare out the window or scroll mindlessly???
Jujubee is looking at Brennan behind his DM screen the way you look across the bar at the first bartender who is supportive mean to you, the way you gaze through the window at the line cook who just gruffly handed you fries the time you cried at work. Like I just know she’s envisioning herself as the supportive Queen of Kingdom D20. She’s a single whispering NPC from saying she’ll give him heirs.
drives me crazy when the mdzs fandom still doesn’t understand wwx is just as obsessed with lwj as lwj was with him. dare i say moreso. how am i STILL coming across fics/meta where wwx is dating people after having met lwj. any attempted relationship would end after 2 hours cause he’s incapable of going 15 minutes without talking or thinking about lwj. even if he actually tried going on a date it would be like. he’d sit down sigh and his date would ask what he was thinking about and he’d say i invited lan zhan here last week but he rejected me :(((((( and i was so sincere :((((( and then they order food he’d start smiling to himself and they’d be like what’s up and he’d be like “ahahaha i’m imagining trying to get lan zhan to eat this dish!!” they walk around outside and he grabs a cute little trinket from a market stall and the date is like oh :)) and wwx would be like this is so silly and cute i’m gonna hide it in lan zhan’s bag and see his reaction. pre meeting lwj maybe there is a slim chance but after he sees that :| face it’s over for anyone else
Okay, back on my MXTX bullshit because sometimes I can’t believe the slander. But I wanna talk about why MXTX deserves to get whatever profit and protection from her work that she can (other than the obvious fact that it’s her fucking work, so obviously she should prosper from it, that’s how jobs work?)
So, the thing that drives me insane about MXTX books, and a thing I have talked about on here before, is that she is delivering an overarching message in every book she writes, and the message says: If a system of power is turned against you, no matter how good you are, no matter how strong, or selfless, or kind, or loving, or brave, no matter how perfect you can be, it won’t matter, because the individual is powerless to the system. Systemic change is the only way to protect the ones the current system deems powerless or unnecessary.
And before you come in with, “She was fetishizing gay men,” MXTX literally wrote hundreds of thousands of words characterizing these men and building their relationship and devotion to one another, so much so that fanon has deemed them all aspec in varying ways. She chose to deliver a message about the power of the system to persecute the innocent and the powerless in the form of a story that was 1. Illegal, 2. Humanized a specifically targeted persecuted group, and 3. Gave them all the happy endings they deserved despite all the pain to get there. She showcased the difference that systemic support can make in the life of the persecuted as the closing arc in every single one of her books.
Don’t tell me MXTX doesn’t fucking care. She’s still delivering her message and she’s doing it louder and safer, and i hope she gets every creature comfort the world can offer.
