Naminé feat. Sonny Novus - How powerful is a memory?

An angelic presence amongst a sea of black darkness; a witch with the power to unfurl and orchestrate memories. On this episode, we're joined by YouTube's Sonny Novus to discuss one of the most enigmatic presences in the Kingdom Hearts series: Naminé.

CW: light discussion of abusive dynamics.

Sonny Novus YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@SonnyNovus
(SPOILER WARNING: Sonny's videos are for those who are caught up with the series!)

Thank you to Adrian, Lucas, Aric, and Razblue for your questions on this episode!

Next episode: Riku, Ansem, and scent. Send your questions to sheddingstarlight@gmail.com 

Shedding Starlight YouTube: https://youtube.com/@SheddingStarlight
Hannah's Twitter: https://twitter.com/hanmckinley
Mel's Twitter: https://twitter.com/KHNyctophiliac
The Secret Reports Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@TheSecretReports
Hannah's YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/@hanmckinley

Transcript

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a curious Castle stands in a desolate hellscape a quiet girl sits alone the only color in a pure white room after images of friends pressed on blank walls and what was once a charm of sea shells now reflects as a yellow star today we are discussing Nam a witch with the power over memories welcome to shutting staright[Music] Nam is a little girl found at Castle[Music] Oblivion her clothes fit the Castle's aesthetic wearing a white dress and sandals accented with flowers but whether she always resided within the castle or if the organization brought her there is unknown either possibility might explain her intentions as she's tortured with loneliness Nam also seems to have a connection to Kyrie Nam described herself as the shadow of Kyrie and there is imagery comparing the two like when nomina disguised herself as Kyrie to encourage rku to use the power of darkness in his own way or when one of the two illusions of Nom changed to Kyrie during sora's visit to the card world of Destiny Islands because these two girls are connected Nam says that any attempt to replace Kyrie will be in vain in our episode on Castle Oblivion we mentioned that while it can project memories readed from cards it's not responsible for Our Heroes forgetting things and for sora's false memories rather Castle oblivion's supposed rule in this place to find is to lose and to lose is to find is a false impression marusia told Sora to deter him the others from suspicion so if Sora forgetting the truth and remembering the non-existent is truly due to nomina let's examine her powers and the full extent of her abilities Nom's Powers over memories are quite extensive the one she's most known for her ability to rearrange memories we'll explore last loene says Nom can enter memories like when Sora falsely recalls her sitting at the beaches of Destiny Islands drawing instead of swimming with the others but Laine says she can also conjure up entirely new memories of things that never happened for example the memory of either Sora or the Riku replica insisting they observed a meteor shower with Nam fans discuss if this memory was completely fabricated or if Nam simply inserted herself as we've discussed in our very first episode that there was indeed a meteor shower on Destiny Islands when Sora and rku were children for now it seems Nam can manipulate more than just sora's memories for one thing Jiminy Donald and Goofy also forget things from their first Adventure like the name of Hollow Bastion there's also Axel copying sora's memories of Destiny Islands or in his words Sora and riku's home with nam's power the organization uses those memories to make the rku replica genuinely believe he's[Music] reku while memories are abstract mental images representing the past they have a surprising physical influence on the present nomina is seen drawing various illustrations throughout the game some are explainable like near the beginning of the game when she sketches Castle Oblivion however she also has a sketch of Sora before ever meeting him and at another Point she draws herself holding hands with Sora Kyrie andriu in the following scene Sora falsely recalls her living on Destiny Islands so it's unknown if the act of drawing itself is what manipulates memories or if namina simply draws memories she sees in her Mind's Eye be they genuine or fabricated whether or not nomina Sketchbook has a role in influencing memories either way memories can influence objects for example at one point Jiminy opens his journal that recorded Our Hero's first Adventure only to find it entirely blank somehow Nina erasing Our Heroes memories also erased physical writings this isn't Just an Illusion of perception the journal truly is blank another example is how nomina transform two different objects into similar yellow star charms one charm was originally a card with sora's memory of Destiny islands and the other was originally Kyrie's lucky charm and again the way larine applauds Nomine for this incredible power makes it sound like it's not just an illusion but a real physical transformation at the end of sora's Journey Through The Castle Namine offers to reconstruct his memories as they were before she reveals that she doesn't actually erase memories but rather rearranges them further into your subconscious if memories are a chain we can imagine the links in front are remembered first and the further down the chain the memory is the more difficult it is to recall it's similar to real life when you suddenly recall a moment you hadn't thought about in years that memory was never gone only buried when you remember one thing that leads to remembering another and then another and then another nine reconstructing sora's memories seems to require more effort than when she deconstructed them Sora was active during his relatively short journey through Castle Oblivion but Nam implies that in order to restore his memories she needs him to sleep for a long period of time it might take some time but I think it might work it's my turn to look after you unfortunately putting the links of sora's original Memories Back in the beginning of the chain means his memories of Castle Oblivion will be attached to the end almost impossible to recall in other words Sora won't remember any of the organization nor nomina herself Nom while small in frame and meek in personality has incredible powers and abilities over memories although surrounded by organization members she was alone and in that loneliness she tried to make Sora her friend in the only way she knew how but to correct her mistakes she chose to tolerate the loneliness and put Sora to sleep so she could restore his original memory Alo Sor won't remember her when he wakes up at least he'll have the note written by Jiminy in his journal to thank[Music] nomin welcome back everyone to shedding Starlight and we have with us today not only the famous Mel of secret reports Fame but we have our very first guest with us today everyone please welcome Mr Sunny nois of YouTube channel Sunny noice Fame Sunny welome hello this is crazy like What a Feeling what an honor thank you so much for having I'm just smiling right now I'm just yeah I'm so stuck to be here thank you so much of course we're so glad to have you and for such an apt episode episode Mr Sunny recently released a YouTube video about who we're talking about today which is our favorite girl Nomine mhm so yeah we decided that we thought it would be very appropriate for sunny to be on our episode today to talk about n um we just did like a I think it was a shorter presentation like probably seven minutes 7 eight minute presentation on Nom um to to talk about her um yeah so yeah let's let's just go uh around the room and say what our favorite thing about n is how about that yeah go for it I'll start I'll start yeah I love that she's an artist because when I was younger I was like oh my god I'm an artist like we're the same she's blonde I'm blonde like we're the same person wow all right Sunny your turn um you know what uh uh wow mean what a question um I I'm putting you on the spot yeah I I think honestly I I don't know if this is going to be cliche or anything but um I think her personality and I think there's a lot of depth and Nuance to uh her character and and her reactions to certain things and her attitude and um you know I I think that can be overlooked sometimes and I think that Nam is such a precious precious little Stone and I yeah I I love that about her and that kind of persists you know like a lot of characters in Kingdom Hearts they kind of fluctuate in terms of temperament but Nam she's always going to be Nam no matter where she is who she's with and I think that you know is is worthy of admiration I just yeah so true so so true okay so my favorite thing about Nom is how relatable she is because if I had a chance to write myself into sora's memories you know I would [ __ ] do it I would [ __ ] do it let's just be real she does self-insert fanfiction fan art whatever literally she better work so when I was writing this I'm not going to lie like I started getting a little lump in my throat because she's just so little and nobody that little and that small and that cute should go through so much nobody she doesn't deserve it she just a little girl and she's being so brave classic Kingdom Hearts right just classic just just children going through traumatic events it's just yes what a sight to behold we love children being traumatized we love it for our entertainment um yeah she's so little and like just to kind of dive into our first talking point here we in our past few episodes we t talked so much about like all of the visual contrast that exists in Castle Oblivion with like their coats and like it's so apt to have all of these big tall giant people dressed in black around Nam who is Tiny and little and a brave little girl she's wearing a tiny little white dress and she like she matches the castle but like the people who are controlling her just have this crazy contrast to her and like I was looking at um like a YouTube video of her Cuts scene specifically and a lot of people in the comments were describing her as Angelic and I think that is so and she even has like a little angel like plush of her sometimes which is H it's so like she's an angel we love her I'm going to cry I love her so much yeah you know that plush would be like hundreds of dollars if squarex relas like camic on eBay genu [ __ ] buy it I want too it's so cute a key chain of that that would be so amazing oh that would be so cute yeah she's just she's like the the crazy visual contrast that especially with like all of these um Concepts being introduced in this game that are carried on for the rest of the series it's it's very interesting to set up all of these characters this way and to just show her as this little soft white very blonde hair just soft in every way yeah you know in contrast to everything else around sort in the gang yeah totally I mean like there's such a stark contrast between Kingdom Hearts 1 going into chain of Memories there's like this tonal shift that at at the beginning kind of it it goes underbelly you know and then like it seeps through uh the more you progress through the castle and I think that's so indicative of the characters that you meet because you have n and then you have literally everyone else who's just like washed in total black and um you know especially with the names as well if if if Keeny players would would play through the game for the first time they would notice that all of these villains have an ex in their name you have maluia you have loine and zexian and characters like that and then you have Nam who kind of sticks out like a sore thumb much like the accent on the end of her e you know it's like is just there and um even though she is in white much like the castle uh and kind of designed like this Apparition this kind of ethereal ghost that just roams around um it just feels like the organization members are haunting her space it feels like you know they they are Intruders in in her world and it kind of going back to what Mel said about the lump in the throat it's like it just without Nam even being present in the scene you just kind of feel her presence within the castle itself it's like it's almost like an extension of her you know yeah totally part of me wonders if like that is what their original intention was was to have like such a strong connection between Nam and Castle Oblivion and there still is but within just chain of Memories itself and the visual cues and the visual similarities between the two yeah they really are so similar they feel like they go hand in hand yeah they're like they are both these you know white entities that can manipulate the things around them which is affecting wild it cuz like they both have influence over memories and so like I wrote here like we talked about how how you know Castle so Castle Oblivion can like project memories of past worlds and like show you things of the past and then we also talked about in this presentation how Nom it seems like she can change like the actual physical a physical object by manipulating memories and so that is something that like you know Castle Oblivion doesn't do exactly that but it's that's just one of the things that in my head like you would think they would go hand in hand and that they would be connected or like she like lives there or like the Castle's like in her name or something you know but yeah anyway so um my whole my whole point about nominate changing objects and [ __ ] is that cuz at one point in the beginning of Traver town so so in the beginning of chain of Memories sort of Donald and Goofy are back in like their normal Disney clothes and then they go through the card world of Travers town and then their clothes change and they kind they don't talk about it in voed cutcenes but in text dialog they're like hey our clothes are different you know and so with Nom being able to use memories to manipulate the way objects appear my only thought process was like and you know the thing about jimin's Journal is that jimin journal is still blank by the end of the game it doesn't get restored and so my thought process was like maybe that's why Donald and Goofy's clothes changed like maybe she did something to manipulate it and they just never went back like the journal mhm yeah I we got a few email questions about that I think not maybe for this episode but for other episodes on like why did their clothes change what's going on there yeah um but something I wanted to mention is that like there was there's a scene with nomina and larine where larine is like oh you changed the the charm what a good touch which makes me think like okay so namina chose to do that on her own so she's choosing to do a good job which is just like she's really trying hard to to make this like believable like this yeah she's a natural artist really yeah yeah she like it reminds me of another scene that Lark scene says to nominate she's like oh behind your cute little face you do awful things like she's right she's not wrong she's not wrong yeah it's crazy and yeah it just kind of shows like how lonely she really is how desperate she really is that she wants to you know convince these two that she is their friend she was their friend nomin literally did nothing wrong she did it she's a victim it's true it's true yeah it's like she's she's capable of so much and the more you think about it within the context of chain of Memories it's almost terrifying it's like what if she wasn't manipulated by these people and she you know got to live her life normally and kind of find herself by herself uh what she would be capable of it's like you know yeah talking about um you know changing the appearance of physical objects it's like the lucky charm uh from from Kyrie right it's like if if she can change something like that to that extent um like what is this hypothetical limit so to speak like what else could she change and and yeah for how many people um and and it's just kind of baffling to think about like um you know the like if if she could do that to Sora and and rku replica and characters like that then um you know knowing how many characters you know Sora has met along his journey and and and become accustomed to what else can n do it's it's like n can pretty much rewrite sora's entire existence and keep it that way if she so desired and yeah um in a like she doesn't need to have um you know some sort of you magical Scythe or you know kunai knives to be cool you know it's like I think that she is so powerful in and of herself and um yeah that's just another little reason why I like her I think yeah yeah yeah I I want to bring it to something that you wrote down here sunny when she broke replica rku [ __ ] crazy [ __ ] it looks like he took us like a sniper shot to the Head did that that is the fastest KO I mean like I've seen challenge runs of of Kingdom Hearts and you know speed runs and and bus challenges but like that I mean that's world record that has that has to be some sort of world record about like soloing like that is CRA like she incapacitates him literally immediately like how insane is that to me like she's holding back like she's wearing the weight she's like not using her full power right now to me it goes to show like I hope this isn't too heavy but like it kind of shows like the power of unbalanced Dynamics or abusive relationships where it's like you could have physical power and the ability to stop it but like the organization has such a manipulative hold on her that she wouldn't [ __ ] dare touch like any of the organization members because like the first what's that quote like the first step to to giving up your power is believing you don't have any and so like so she probably is like she could I think she could take on the organization a th% oh yeah and she doesn't because like I said of this manipulative hold that they have on her yeah just scream stop and you know that's it world record is fine for real God okay anyway so um at one point in this script somewhere in it I don't remember where I just read it but whatever um I'm like Sora [ __ ] like 5 seconds ago I don't remember what I was doing but anyway where am I hey so Nom episode we just don't remember anything it's fine she's messing with us right now me anyway um at one point nomina is like she says that she doesn't erase memories she just kind of rearranges them and that kind of leads you to like temporarily forget and that line always reminds me of the movie Spirited Away have either of you guys seen that movie yeah it's saw stage play um wow on Thursday yeah yeah cool that's crazy I forgot to mention that I saw it a long time ago so I really don't remember much of it well at one point this lady says like once you meet someone you never really forget them it just takes a while for the memory to return and I don't know if that's like a word for word quote that's just what Google said but I don't Google as dumb as ass H but um and so that's I that's what I really like about Kingdom Hearts is this idea that like anything that happens to a character stays within them and you still kind of see like the ripples of those effects throughout the whole series of different things that happened to them and like Sor may not remember Castle Oblivion but we are going to see so I think like the whole point of Spirited Away is that I think at the end of the movie the girl doesn't remember her Adventure but the lesson she learned and the wisdom she gained she is still within her heart and so that kind of reminds me of Sora in Castle Oblivion like Sora won't remember Castle Oblivion but he'll still like obtain the lessons he learned of befriending Nom and overcoming his own doubt and that will always stay with him and I just think that that I love like I understand the frustration of characters forgetting the journey like I get it but for some reason with chain of Memories the idea of of all the emotional aspects remaining within him I like that I don't know I do yeah it's incredible and I I really enjoy this concept of how memory Works in this how they introduce memory working in this cuz I I feel like a lot of the like Concepts in Kingdom Hearts are kind of like just kind of made to be Fantastical and magical but like to me with memory I feel like this is is you know the developers the writers really trying to find a way to actually kind of describe this phenomen on in real life of like how memory actually works because like whenever you think about something you really can't like if you haven't thought about it for years and years it's still there and then something makes you think of it and then you're like oh my God literally this happened to me last night I want to talk about it I was streaming with one of our friends and he started talking about this Lego game he used to play and I was like oh my God we had a Lego game we used to play on our computer and someone said the name of it and I googled it I'm like oh my God that's it that's it we used to play this game and I haven't I literally haven't thought of it and I don't know how long like it's not even something that's nostalgic for me it's just something that was literally just dragged to the front of my memory and I think this is like a great way to like I don't know illustrate that kind of feeling yeah to like real life experiences which I think is really cool yeah I completely agree yeah like I it's so funny that you say that like um so I I got back from work today and um uh my dad was was talking to me and uh he said uh do you remember this kid uh from back on the estate that you grew up with um and I was like vaguely and um he was like yeah I uh I I saw him at the store with like his his mom and stuff like that and the more he spoke about him the more my childhood came out and yeah I I was kind of thinking about that for like an hour or two and like um it's it's so insane how just hearing someone's name can can affect you and and can reawaken something within you that you thought you lost a long time ago or like seeing someone's face or like you know um hearing a piece of music and like Nostalgia is such a powerful motivator and um almost like a like a state of mind like happiness or or sorrow like Nostalgia this kind of melancholic feeling of like oh this person used to exist maybe they don't anymore or maybe they do and you know maybe they're just inside you or or maybe they're inside the people connected to you and they have to kind of reawaken it for you and you know I think Nam is so indicative of that because om Hearts is what a 20s something year old series now and a lot of us grew up with characters like n like Sora like rku like Kyrie and like even now in the year what year is it 2024 gez getting on now yeah um even now it's like I've had so many friends that have come and gone in my life and some have stayed and you know n is kind of of the ultimate representation of just that state of mind that Nostalgia and and and that kind of uh Rose tinted shading of the past um and uh I you know kind of forgot the point I was trying to make that's pretty cool we have been there so many times don't worry yeah it's cool it's it's for the runtime it's for the ad Revenue it's fine um but that um you talking about that made me make a connection in my head that is not written down here anywhere um but the concept of uh smell like I know it's something that is brought up in this game but like I think people say that like smell can be the most like the most memory inducing like sense that you have you know like smelling mom smelling Mom's Apple Pie or whatever that she made when you were seven years old that sort of thing so that that connection was made in my mind just now you talking about that that you know maybe there's a reason for you know the game about memory introducing stuff about smell and like using your sense you know yeah uh in relation to that yeah that's interesting I thought about that which like uh if you're listening we do plan on talking about smile and sensing power in other people in a future episode but not okay okay but still that's a great opportunity to bring it up now because you're right like there are things where I smell and I'm like wow I'm literally on the beach at a family reunion like I found my aunt who is a way older now but here she is young in her prime you know it's crazy smell is kind of nuts yeah I moved out of my uh parents house what eight years ago now and now every time I go back to visit I'll bring back like my suitcase of clothes back to my home now and I'll be like oh this smells like my parents house oh this smells like my mom like it's just like a a Remnant but here's a question what do you think castal Oblivion smells like like I I just think of like the super clinical like yeah like a doctor's office to me it smells like bleach like a pool or something yeah just like polish like a the dentists I feel like the dentist always has a very particular smell yeah that's such a great question that's definitely a question com below no honestly like that's a great call to action thank you s tell us what you think Castle Oblivion smells like um but yeah like again we should save this for the this the sensing and smelling episode but like you know being able to smell darkness and all these beings of Darkness walking around but the castle itself is like white and like Nom is white and like I you know I don't know it's interesting to think about just like what it smells like I know that the organization just smells like hot leather like ABS couch the leather that's what they smell like to me absolutely true have you guys ever been to like a Halloween store and like like like The Masks like those rubber masks these like latex like they have this this smell this odor to them when you put them on I just feel like the organization members just smell like that just like they just wreak it's just it's not like like oh they stink stink but it's like I don't I don't you know it's that factory smell yeah yeah like elastic Castle Oblivion smells like a spear Halloween so fitting um okay where should we where should we drop to next Mel what do you think um we could talk about the end and how she sent to sleep if you want oh my God that's a great idea God literally like that is where I started getting a lump in my throat is when n was like it's just so sad Hannah I think you were saying the other day where yeah you would think well I'll let you say it cuz it's your thought yeah so um I think this is the point you're talking about where I was saying like in this type of like game that's geared towards children and like is it pretty generally happy go-lucky type of game it like in a normal series I feel like they would come to some sort of compromise where Sora wouldn't have to completely forget Nam and still be able to get his memories back but they chose to go a more kind of realistic gritty route with it where he's like I want to be the way I was he's not happy about it but like you know it's like it's hard to accept it's hard to swallow you got the lump in your throat yeah um that's what you're talking about right that's the point exactly you know me so well but yeah it's just it's so tough cuz again you know Nom is this Angelic girly little figure that we all love so much and she's tortured and we you know get tortured even more by this ending of Sora being like I want to you know be who I was I want to remember who I had for yeah and it's I'm going to choose them over over you yeah it reminds me of what you said a little bit earlier about how cast how chain of Memories and its attitude towards memory is kind of indicative of real life and that kind of reminds me of you know like the pain of like your friend making a decision but you know that it's the decision that's best for them and so you kind of have to like accept it like yeah let's say like a friend moving away like maybe they're going to a better school when you're really young or something and you're sad but it's like but I know this is what's best for them but I have to like accept it I feel like chain of Memories itself I kind of forgot this but revisiting it these last few weeks it's such a mature game like the way it handles and addresses certain things and even like the dialogue is dialogue that I do not feel like reads that Kingdom Hearts games have like it'll like at one point a character in a recent Kingdom of Hearts game says like the word also ran and I feel like that's an obscure word but I feel like chain of meries itself has like a lot of dialogue that is more mature and that I just would not hear in a New Kingdom Hearts game and that like I remember I wanted to rant about this to you Mel eventually and I forgot to but um and this is a little bit of a tangent but like there's this whole kind of like I aide on the internet that like whoa mature things are happening in this game this game isn't for kids blah blah blah blah blah and I saw a whole so I don't really want to put this random person on blast but like I saw like an article if you even want to call it that it was more like a blog post of someone being like this is why Kingdom Hearts isn't for kids and it was basically like them just listing all of the the mature things that happen in the series and to me that's that's why it is for kids that's why it should be for kids because kids need like a good vehicle to learn about these types of things they need stories like this to help them develop their brain so they know like when stuff like this happens in real life and that's what you're talking about Mel like you know if they were to come across that sort of hard decision of like a friend needing to move schools then they can remember Sora and be like oh yeah Sora had to you know forget so he could move forward with his life so he could you know get better or whatever like it's necessary like I've been like so in raptured with children's media for a lot of my life and I like I'm very gung-ho about this that like kids deserve good media kids deserve like good stories so they can relate them to their life and help their brains develop and like kids are people is what I'm saying yeah they deserve good stories and I like you know the fact that this is all happening to kids you know just helps it connect with kids and it's four kids and it's mature stuff for kids yeah cuz it's happening to kids so it's like G I love that I love that about this it's incredible yeah kids AR over yeah uh n that that was amazing um kids aren't just impressionable they're just also very intelligent and it's so easy in like the jaded mind of an adult to kind of Overlook that and and to kind of add to this uh notion that like kids need this kind of media um something else that Nam is representative of is having a healthy outlet for that trauma because what Nam goes through is is something that I wouldn't wish upon uh you know any anyone right it's like she is so diligently bludgeoned by by these people um that like one of her only Outlets is drawing and I think that is so beautiful because like nobody taught her how to do that that's just something that's a gift that she has always had right and I I I think that if any kid needs to learn about that you know that's that's the place to learn it and and you know in in a piece of media like Kingdom Hearts which is so kind of geared toward that and especially with chain of Memories like it it is such a distinctly mature game with its themes and and how kind of volatile and um what's the word I'm looking for like Sora is is like a firecracker in chain of Memories as opposed to Kingdom Hearts 1 where like yeah sure rku would do something and he'd call him an idiot or something uh and but like with with Castle Oblivion I don't know what it is but something happens to Sora throughout that Journey that that really does kind of affect him and I think inadvertently that is I mean I guess directly it is because of N and her abilities and it's not just about you know his memories but also just his mood and um I guess yeah uh going on that she's just really powerful and that's it yeah like it must be so frustrating to lose your like to walk through a castle and realize that you are forgetting things and you can't remember that yeah like I'm sure that has to contribute to that just how frustrating that experience might be especially because thinking of it another way like the things he thinks he's forgetting aren't even real cuz he thinks he's forgetting Nom and he wants to remember nominee more he wants to remember this childhood girl that he forgot about who's always drawing on the islands and so it kind of Rems me of like I mean okay maybe I shouldn't say this this is kind of [ __ ] crazy but it kind it reminds me of like unfortunately like people okay I realize this is not what's happening in Castle oblivian but emotionally it reminds me of people who are in Cults who get like really passionate about something and it's not even real but they're so convinced and so that's what emotionally I yeah I feel like Sora is going through where he wants to remember this girl from his childhood that he's convinced was there and she literally was not there yeah it's just yearning for that sense of belonging you know and I think that anyone can attest to that no matter what age you are or or where you're from um when Sora Donald and Goofy go through that castle uh you know things are well I mean Sora specifically you and you know namina and and stuff like that you know things are torn away from them and there's one scene between Nam and Sora uh which always sticks out to me and it's I think near the end of the game where Sora has to make that decision and and Nam presents him with this ultimatum of like hey um you can go to sleep but uh you need to do that in order to bring back what's true because you want to remember her right you want to remember Kyrie um or you can just go on living um and keep me a part of your memory too along those lines anyway and Sora kind of has to make that choice and throughout the game we've we we kind of learned that you know nobody's aren't really like people so to speak they kind of have these sadistic Tendencies and chain of Memories is just such a sadistic themed game honestly like a lot of characters die in the most gruesome way possible um but Nam just kind of looks off to the side there's a slight pause and she turns around and she smiles because she is genuinely I think happy for Sora despite yeah knowing that you know what she's done to him and implanted all of these kind of fake scenarios but whatever was fake to Sora was genuinely real to her and I think that is such a mature thing for Nam to do and I always think about that and honestly top three scenes for me I think uh phenomen just just giving Sora that choice because again we know how powerful Nam is if she had an inkling of selfishness within her truly she could just not decide to tell Sora this and just let him be this broken mess but she genuinely does care and I think that's what uh makes her so special yeah yeah we were talking about that exact scene I think a few episodes ago of like how hard-hitting it is and how like like her reaction is so like when when Sora makes the choice of like make me the way I was she's like I want to hug her I just want a hug her yeah she's like oh yeah that's what anyone would choose anyone would want to remember their real memories right it's like oh my God she's so little I hate this game we have to move on to emails or else I'm literally going to cry okay she's just everything she is everything we love her so much okay so we have a lot of questions about n which is amazing and incredible because everyone loves her just as much as we do um so this first one we got a couple from Adrian I literally went our email and I searched Nom and a bunch of emails came up so these might be scattered from a couple different people um but the first one's from Adrien do you think sora's subconscious or maybe even Nom might have been trying to give Sora and Co a warning through some of the friends of sora's memory I vaguely remember getting that feeling in a replay um I wrote just a few notes of like stuff that I noticed kind of uh you know maybe cluing into this there's a scene I think when they're first in Travers town where aith like calls after sore when they're about to leave and she's like things aren't as they seem be careful or something like that I really don't remember the the um exact dialogue um but what do you guys think about this yeah I I think I remember um we once got an email of someone comparing so in Hollow Bastion in chain of Memories like anthem's not there the princesses of heart aren't there it's literally just Maleficent Bell and Beast and they have their own little storyline where Belle is trying to lie to Beast to save him and so she's like leave me alone like I don't want you anymore I don't love you which isn't true but she's trying to save him and so I do remember we got an email of comparing that to the rku replica where at this point he's convinced he's the real rku and so he's like you got to leave Sora like go away [ __ ] off we're over we're done zo and so I don't really know if I agree that that was the intention of that Hollow Bastian World setting but I do know that there are fans who have caught on to similarities between that that's all I can remember because like I don't [ __ ] remember the Disney plots of the like I don't real talk real talk yeah I don't like I know I'm a Kingdom Hearts A Nerd and like o I'm a l Master but like I don't care I don't [ __ ] care I said it I don't care no I I did a let's play of Kingdom Hearts 1 not too long ago and I was like Hey guys is is Winnie the Poo in this game so I look I don't know real I'm just a sh yeah like if it's not directly in front of me I just instantly forget it nomin heyo yeah there we go there we go own it back oh wait did was there's also a Tex nominee yeah I what I didn't really recall the whole context of this exact scene so we don't have to discuss it but there's a point where she says where he we're there in the black void together at one point and she appears behind him he does not see her but she says Sora I'm so sorry all this because of me and then she disappears so like see and that you know what that is another [ __ ] power that I did think about and I was like I can't write this this is too much but she literally like projects herself into people's minds or like observes people cuz she does it with sort multiple times she does it with Reiko and it's like that's even more powers and abilities that like we don't even have time to open the [ __ ] can for it's crazy yeah anyway Adrian's also asks we always see her drawing do you think these drawings are part of her powers to change memories or just a hobby to make her captivity more bearable right now the only note that I have is like I love that her drawing style is like super messy and colorful as such like a contrast to like this[ __ ] I call it the Kim Kardashian Castle cuz it's like just so white and like so but um yeah anyway what do you guys think cuz I kind of wrote my opinion in the script of like it could be either or but cuz like maybe it is and I just like didn't connect it because I'm dumb or something I don't know um in my through the context that I have grown up with n and that's all the detail I'm going to go into on that um I always linked the two together in my head like that's how she does it M like that they are directly related she draws to change the change the change the change see that's why I'm not sure because in certain scenes of what you're talking about that you're avoiding she's not holding a sketch pad it's nowhere near she's just standing there so that's why I'm like a little what go go ahead sorry no that's why I just can't make up my mind on whether it is or not yeah cuz like also with you know replica rku she doesn't she doesn't draw him dead she just Thanos snaps his ass and he's on the floor like so I don't know like maybe some of her powers like don't need it maybe it's like a muse to make it stronger I like I don't know I think the way is that like she she does the memory manipulation and then afterwards maybe directly after or sometime after she will draw what she's done to kind of reflect that or cope with it kind of that's so sad yeah that's also great yeah great way to think of it you know we we see that with plenty of characters um in in n's drawings and maybe in a scene directly after we see this drawing something kind of related to that happens maybe it's a flashback or something like that and yeah it's yeah you're right because in the beginning of the game I think it's near the beginning we do see her drawing Castle Oblivion itself right and then it kind of Fades in and S and Donald walk into the castle and then they're like this is familiar I've never been here but I feel like I have so maybe you're right maybe the drawing is which like is just so interesting on how something physical can have a an effect on someone's abstract memories like that's something that I love about Kingdom Hearts so when I was a kid I read the book Peter Pan and I remember the book describes abstract things in physical ways so like one line I remember is like it talks about how fairies were born because a baby laughed and that laughed shattered and started dancing around and it became a fairy and that's why I feel like Kingdom Hearts that's raw's hell isn't that [ __ ] cool literally never never forgot that and that's what I feel like Kingdom Hearts does is it takes really abstract things and connects them in such a physical way yeah that it's just cool anyway adrianne's last message or question was also seeing as she can use items to manifest objects from memories be they real or fake I can't REM I can't help but wonder if her powers are similar to those of the castle as we talked about well okay wait so so I also had this question I wrote it up above but I knew this was a question coming so I just kind of waited but like it's they kind of had like her using her powers to change something into something else while underneath it's still the same thing like with the with the star charm I don't know like I feel like that further cements in a connection with her in the castle and its abilities um like does she does the castle help her out to do that like but here's what here's what I can't decide is like if it was the castle then jimin's Journal would go back to normal after everything wouldn't it the I think that is what trips me up so much is the fact that jimin's journal remains blank and then future games we see how that kind of has like a small Ripple into other things that have nothing to do with Castle Oblivion right and so that's why I'm like [ __ ] like is it an illusion or is it [ __ ] real like it's just so weird yeah I think uh either Mel or Hannah said it at the beginning um that like even though characters forget those scars are ever present in the entirety of the series they kind of show up they fester in plenty of different ways and um yeah that's I yeah that's are you saying like when objects change there's like a like a remnant of the original object is that what you're saying or yeah well like not not just with like jiminy's Journal but like also just words and phrases or or you know um characters faces uh you know yeah Lucas hi Lucas thank you for your question hey as us if the organization made Sora lose his abilities via nominee is this through Nomine through why did they let him win his abilities back before controlling them could they give Sora abilities he's never had with memories of battles that never happened what do you guys think of this this could be so fun to play around with that could be cool I mean like I guess if you want to stretch the logic that far maybe um that could be something to to think about but I guess it's just like one of those questions where it's like because it didn't happen like there's not much to say you know and also like I I also with this think about like game play like you know winning your abilities back is just you know him you know messing with memory and stuff from stuff that he learned in the first game um so yeah I don't know like he could it's a video game first and foremost so like there's no reason for him to get abilities he's never had I guess unless that could be like a cool story point where he borrows memories from like Ru or something and like learn something that rku learned I don't know that's just me writing fanfiction in my head but like it could just be a case could be cool yeah it it could just be a case of Sora just being strong willed enough to kind of earn it back and kind of break n spell if briefly H yeah it is interesting that the organization like in the very beginning was like haha you forget everything now here's the card with f or whatever like isn't this fun fire remember this they're [ __ ] digging their own Graves like hello do you have a thought on it Mel I mean like I guess like my stupid annoying self would be like technically doesn't so remember he just uses cards that Grant him the power but like who[ __ ] cares who cares just a dumb kids game who cares um I mean I guess you know like I said because it doesn't happen there's not much we can say yeah but I think maybe they wanted him to get at least some abilities otherwise like he's weak cuz the organization does need him and they need him alive and so I guess there's no point in having him if he [ __ ] doesn't remember how to [ __ ] walk you know so oh my God that's a that's a scene to think about but um we can move on to the next one from Eric um why didn't nomina manipulate rku since lexius and zexian were trying to get control of rku why didn't they use utilize nomina skills to alter R's memories to help with this see and this is kind of like what we talked before it's like well it didn't happen what else can we say but like I think like first of all I think that the people in the basement other than vexen they did not communicate with the aairs people they said we don't [ __ ] with Marl sh like scine they're annoying we're in two different clicks they're jocks for the Nerds like who cares and but on a more serious note maruia and larine wanted the keyblades power for the what did I write here hold on I have to [ __ ] remember my own brain I think I have a little a little bit of an answer but I don't think it's necessar go ahead like I there's a weird dynamic between the organization members in Castle Oblivion where some of them are in cahoots with each other and then some are trying to uh backstab and and some are trying to get the upper hand or some have their own uh personal agendas and I think that maybe uh some characters even if it's not really like in the Forefront of the plot it could be like the subtextual thing where like they kind of want to use rku for their own benefit or like you know like one thing which blew my mind and I didn't kind of realize this until um uh after I released my nin a video was that zexian outlives malusia like I thought that malusia was the final guy but but zian only appears I believe he only appears outside of the basement after maluia dies and um then he confronts rku and rku is like oh this strong scent it's just disappeared and like Z is like that was the castle Superior and um it's like I think that it could be I'm not necessarily saying this is the case but it could be like this kind of ulterior motive thing going on where like sure some characters like larine love to abuse and manipulate nomina into doing their bidding but like maybe certain characters have certain plans for rku or other characters so like maybe and of course like again the whole video game aspect like rku is just really strong and he just doesn't care rku just does rku things you know like I think that's that needs to be taken into account so yeah I think um maybe this was my original point but like lexius and zexian they only wanted to control rku to counteract marusia and larine they didn't really care about controlling rku in the beginning they were just kind of like observing him right and so I could see that like first of all Nom was probably [ __ ] busy and they probably knew that like the lord of the castle are is controlling n like marusia already has plans with him I'm like don't [ __ ] with Nomine like she's behind on commissions her SLS are filled yeah but I also think like like if Nom if the whole reason why lexius and dexian wanted to control rku was to counteract nomina controlling Sora they I don't think that there would have been any chance to even get nominated to control rku because why have her control two people to to fight each other you know does that make sense yeah yeah I I think so yeah this hypothetical story is getting a little too complicated for me Raz blue I think this is our final question so thank you for all the questions rasl asked my question in regards to Nom focuses on whether her powers over memory can lead to overriding someone's personality or aspects of it as if it happen as if it happened in sora's case I always wondered about the volatile demeanor he shows toward Sora Donald Goofy or Donald sorry oh my God the Habit Donald Goofy and jimy at some point start out the castle is it inherent in sora's self or heart is suppose or is it a byproduct of his memories being tampered with what type of attitude that type of attitude isn't something Sor shows very often at characters he's on friendly terms with throughout the series some dialogue and situations around nominees abilities make me think it's just another faet of them like riku's replica re like the rku replica's heart being remade by having his memories erased for instance so I'm I'm ambivalent about that okay so I wanteded to say that maybe this is just my opinion but I guess I don't like I can we talked about how yeah re Sor is probably irritated in chain of Memories because he's forgetting things and like he wants to remember other things and so but I guess I personally don't feel I'm probably in the vast minority but whatever that's my fate that sort in early games is not as like I described it as chronically happy as he can kind of get in later games and I think it's because I think early Kingdom Hearts had more story writers and I think as Kingdom Hearts gets more and more complex namura had to take more and more of the Reign I feel like I remember reading that in an interview and so I feel like nura's perception of Sora of Sora is that he is a really happy go-lucky guy but I personally feel like Sora and chain of Memories and Sora and even Kingdom Hearts 1 is still like positive but like at one point in Kingdom Hearts 1 he gets in a fight with Donald and he's like [ __ ] you Donald[ __ ] you and your beak like I don't want to be around you right and it lasts for like two worlds and so and I feel like in later games Sor would be like oh he's just being Donal like he's just grumpy but I so I in my opinion Sora kind of acting out in chain of Memories is not all that weird to me personally no yeah no not at all like um I mean like just in the context of Sora and his upbringing I mean I can't imagine he faced too much adversity throughout his life you know being just this simple Islander living on an island and all yeah yeah and just like you know going fishing and and playing with Final Fantasy characters you know it seems pretty good but like I think as soon as sora's World crumbles around him we kind of see this um this other side to him and it is like this kind of um unbridled kind of unseasoned almost childlike anger and this kind of temper tantrum this quick fuse and like when something doesn't go quite his way um I think he kind of snaps just a little bit and maybe like in future games he's just maturing in that sense and just kind of becoming like the best of himself but especially in Kingdom Hearts one you know when he's uh fighting rku and arguing with rku and and uh in in uh in chain of Memories as well um like larine malucha like not Zine but yeah line really really gets to him and like he takes a beating both physically and mentally in that game so it could definitely be that yeah I definitely sometimes I'm like do people forget that like Sora can Sora has always been a little vicious to bad guys like always had a little Sora is like shut up I don't want to listen to you anymore it's so great makes me laugh every time but I kind of want to take an approach on this question a little differently and look at it outside of Sora um cuz this person is asking about like personality and I feel like personality and memory are pretty inherently linked because I feel like a lot of us take a lot of personality traits from other people so like if you were to mess with that memory of you know gaining that personality trait or like the memory of that person you know I feel like it could like mess with that like I don't think we see it I don't think that it happens in this game but like I feel like both of those concepts are like so linked yeah and like your experiences make you who you are you know the people around you make you who you are I mean that's kind of what happens with the rku replica it's like when he's first made in riku's route like he does he's very arrogant like rku is like they're both kind of cocky but at one point when n re makes his heart he's still like really aggressive towards s but he has like a completely different attitude towards Nom because Nom changed his memories and like remade his heart so he does have a new Personality yeah yeah I think that's very interesting a very nature versus nurture type of situation H yeah I love psychology yeah it's pretty crazy right wow well we got through everything which is like sad and happy at the same time cuz episode's over sad but we got to talk about nomina and memory and stuff yay so wipe my memory and do it again yeah we have sorry we have to start over all the audio erase we have to start over again we have to redo it don't jinx it okay so that's all we've got for today um Sunny thank you for joining us yeah this has been so wonderful Sunny having you as our very first guest yes my goodness I mean like incredible like okay so just a bit of context here like this is just crazy right so I was just you know on social media you know as you do I'm just kind of doing my thing and I get uh a message and it's from Han and I'm like oh wow cool and I open it and I'm like I think I was watching one of uh the episodes of the podcast like a day ago before this and uh you know you ask me uh do you want to be on one of the episodes uh coming up and I'm like yeah let me think about that yeah yeah yeah I would that would be great let me I need to read your exact um message back to me which was a bunch of eyeball emojis and in all caps [ __ ] eyeballs which I read in your voice perfectly yeah I mean like there was no reality where I would say no so I'm just so grateful to be here and I mean like people that know me for for my stuff in my channel know the direct effect that Mel has had on uh my my um my work in this space that's a lot of pressure I know but like it's just like people don't know this but Mel was I don't I don't even know if melmo is this but uh they were my first subscriber like literally number one um oh my God yeah and that that a real person investing your ground zero and that is just insane I mean like what an omen like I will say though I love subscribing to really tiny kingdomarts Channels cuz they have such good theories and thoughts but sometimes they just don't have the resources to like present it well and so unfortunately if someone sees something not presented well they're like this is garbage but it's like no you really got to listen to them like give them a chance to grow yeah especially starting out like everyone has something to prove and you can just feel that in like the and like thei people just have like I'm going to get it like they just have this kind of this approach to it but like uh I I just want to say cuz I know we're wrapping up and I don't want to you know take up too much of the screen time but uh like n like I did release a n video not too long ago for March Capri this community ran Kingdom Hearts event yes um shout outs to March Capri um and uh like n is especially like Sunny novas has existed as a channel for a few years now but only after kind of adopting this lens to the series I I realized just how much of a significant effect n had on me and not just as a Kingdom Hearts fan but like during my childhood like it's a weird feeling knowing that uh because my first game in the series was chain of Memories on the Game Boy I was introduced to n way before Kyrie and that kind of changes my dynamic in such a small way because like you know Kyrie Sora KY rku they are such big characters in the series and you kind of you know you you always take them first over many other characters maybe but yeah with n like I didn't have that context of Kyrie so I was almost learning about Kyrie through sora's lack of of memories of her if that makes sense which is such a weird abstract that's like experiencing chain of Memories From sora's perspective to me God yeah that's crazy it's crazy cuz like honestly um like First Impressions and you know how we become introduced to someone or something whether it be a friend from school or a book or a game or a movie or a series or a piece of artwork or anything um I think uh one of you said this earlier like it's just intrinsic with your personality and like memories memories kind of are who you are to a degree you know and it's just like um yeah nman just represents so much of that and yeah it it's just crazy that I I knew who she was and I felt her pain long before I even played Kingdom Hearts 1 you know yeah yeah yeah I love hearing everyone's like individual stories of how they started with Kingdom Hearts cuz I feel like almost no one started with one and then played every game sequentially like as it's meant to be played cuz I certainly didn't start that way um but Sunny talks more about all of that in his video on nomina now I will say unfortunately if you are not caught up with the Kingdom Hearts series all the way up to the new mobile games maybe sit that one out for now get caught up with everything and then go back and check out Sunny's video we will be linking your YouTube channel in the description of course yeah um so Mel what are we talking about next week after this our next episode is not going to be about the replica rku but about rku himself and his relationship with anom and how that still kind of lingers around and this will be the episode that I plan on addressing the smelling [ __ ] and the scent [ __ ] so if you have any questions about any of those three topics we stinky send them in send them in Sunny where should they send their emails to don't do that to shedding shedding Starlight at Starlight shredding. goov yeah you're so close you're so close shedding Starlight gmail.com perfect you nailed it sunny that was my first real answer I will shedding Starlight gmail.com just just throw that in it's fine incredible I will say we did kind of throw I don't know if Hannah would agree but I don't know if I explain like the process of how we record and like how we edit with sunny well enough so he did very well for just he was perfect yeah you were great great first guess you you nailed it you're perfect awesome oh my God I can't wait for the next episode like I know I'm a part of this episode but like Yay like um yeah um so if you liked this episode if you enjoyed our very first guest episode if you enjoyed Sunny's performance on this episode which we haven't edited together the presentation yet but I have a feeling it's going to turn out [ __ ] cool as hell I'm so excited to edit it um if you enjoyed the Sunny's performance today and any of his discussion if you enjoyed our discussion feel free to uh rate and review the podcast five stars on Spotify and apple podcast if you're watching on YouTube like the video throw us a sub tell all your friends all that good stuff um so I think that's it wo all right well everyone thank you all for watching and we'll see you in the staright staright staright[Music]