Talk:Vanitas

Nomura Interview
I finished adding proper citations to Vanitas's page, but I'm having trouble tracking one of the interviews down. In Vanitas's Trivia section, there is a line that states: "Nomura also stated in another interview that Vanitas's identity was familiar and perhaps also shocking."

However, I spent days combing through the KHInsider's archives for the interviews and I've tried Google-ing, but I can't seen to find the interview where Nomura-sensei said that Vanita's face is supposed to "shock" fans, which is stated as part of the interview. I tried going back to the Keyhole where that trivia was first inserted into the page, but I got nothing. When I tried typing keywords in the search engine, I couldn't find anything. Does anyone remember which interview Nomura-sensei said that? Was it in a video interview or at a con where one of the trailers were shown? I took the sentence out of the trivia section, because unless it's sourced, it doesn't really belong there. Besides, I don't think it fitted well since it had more to do Vanitas's voice.-- 23:10, 19 February 2018 (UTC)

Monstropolis pre-3D
"he says his heart needed to be reconstructed using negative emotions, meaning he was collected at some point after his battle with Ventus (as that was when his heart was shattered). His journal entry also refers to him as being from after BBS"


 * No, it doesn't. It means that he, currently, is after KHBBS. Nothing more.
 * His journal entry absolutely does not say that. It says:


 * A member of the real Organization XIII.
 * This is the pure darkness that Master Xehanort extracted from Ventus's heart. He was pitted against Ventus in order to forge the X-blade, but Ventus prevailed and Vanitas ceased to exist.
 * Now that he is back, he continues to seek his "brother," Ventus.

This is exactly parallel to all of the other Org profiles talking about how Sora or Riku killed them. Xemnas's profile talks about they "put an end to his plans and Xemnas himself." Ansem's talks about him being destroyed. They both also say how, despite their destruction, they've returned.

There is nothing in the journal that indicates that Vanitas came back into existence on his own, instead of being snatched before his death in BBS, just like the other org members were. 21:52, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

His heart was shattered at the end of BBS, why would it need to be reconstructed in Monstropolis if he was snatched from before it being shattered? The journal saying "now that he is back, he continues to seek his "brother," Ventus" is different from the others ("despite this Ansem/Xemnas has returned") as his refers to him as being back from his defeat and continuing with his prior task. --Vanitas (talk) 21:57, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Because it was already damaged by the climax of KHBBS. In addition, with the events following. Vanitas was originally unstable until Sora's heart connected with Ventus's -- if that link has been tampered with (CoM, etc.), even if the heart is taken to the future, you'd expect there to be instability again.
 * referring to him being back from his defeat is the same language used for Ansem and Xemnas.
 * It refers to him continuing his task, because its his own task apart from the organization's plans. He's one of the few Organization members doing his own thing.
 * The Ultimania specifically says this is Vanitas "from the past", and the events with Randall are implied to have just happened, based on the fact that Sully, who works at Monsters Inc. every day, was not aware anything was amiss at first.
 * There is no mechanism provided anywhere in the series for him to have just "come back", and if he had, what would be the point of snatching him from the past? He'd already be there. Snatching from the past was only supposed to be a mechanism for retrieving those who were irretrievably destroyed. 22:11, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Also, I have no idea where all this is from:
 * "Vanitas's fractured heart met the monster Randall, who told him about Monstropolis and how it was powered by the screams of children thanks to Monsters Inc. collecting it as a source of energy. Learning that Randall had been banished from his world after he refused to accept a new energy source in the form of children's laughter, Vanitas manipulates Randall using his desire for revenge"
 * If it was explicitly mentioned in the scenes, fine, but I don't recall anything indicating that Vanitas found Randall in Louisiana and had this conversation with him. 22:16, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Wasn't his heart only fragmented after his final fight with Ventus in BBS? It wouldn't need to be reconstructed otherwise. Vanitas implies to Mike that the Unversed and Randall have been working behind the scenes, making canisters of scream energy under their noses. He also did say that he found Randall. He could have been picked up from the past because they could not obtain him in the present, like Xion. --Vanitas (talk) 22:51, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Xion was taken from the past so that they'd have an obedient version -- and even with being taken from her puppet days, she still had links of friendship to Sora and Lea.
 * His heart was damaged from the very moment of his creation. That's why the Unversed existed to begin with. 23:04, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

They also collected every member of the org via time travel in DDD even though most existed in the present. Anyhow, maybe it would be best to just put the info back in the KHIII section and not mention what point in the past he was collected from. --Vanitas (talk) 23:09, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
 * No, they didn't. The KH3D and KH3 Ultimania explicitly say they didn't. The ones that existed in the present just showed up on their own.
 * The KH3 Ultimania explicitly says that the replica contains the heart of "Vanitas from the past". That only makes sense as being a reference to BBS.
 * Also, I need to rephrase what I said about Xion -- they picked a certain point in time to pluck her from because that was when she was most pliant, but the reason they needed to use time travel in the first place is that she had already reunited with Sora. 23:18, 4 March 2019 (UTC)

Well it does not say exactly where in the past he comes from, so we don't need to explicitly say (like how we're not mentioning it with Repliku). Even going by him not existing post-BBS, he could be from pre-BBS. --Vanitas (talk) 23:23, 4 March 2019 (UTC)
 * We know when Repliku is taken from. It's from before Namine undid the brainwashing on him. If it's not in the article, it should be.:: 13:12, 5 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Is it not that Dark Riku is from the time when Ansem possessed Riku, rather than being Riku Replica's Heart? From what I understood that was how it worked and the Replica comment was just concerning the vessel within which Dark Riku's Hearts was within. I also agree with what has been said regarding Vanitas' own Heart. Ultimania states that he's from the past, and i think that the work the Unversed did to collect negative emotions was just to fill out Vanitas' Heart and allow him to be a complete being on his own - since he'd still otherwise lack half a Heart, just like Ventus. But at the same time - he still sought to join his Heart with Ventus's, which would suggest that he is simply restored from post KHBBS. I think it's more of a slip up somewhere on Nomura's part to be honest (Levi657 (talk) 18:28, 5 March 2019 (UTC))
 * No. Both the final death of Dark Riku, and the Ultimania, state that Dark Riku is the Riku Replica from the period of time in which it thought it was Ansem-possessed Riku. 20:01, 5 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Good explanation of scene. 15:01, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

So his fractured heart was picked up after his final battle with Ven by Youngnort, but his fixing of his heart happened after he got a replica body rather than in-between games. That works too. --Vanitas (talk) 18:10, 6 March 2019 (UTC)

Okay, so KH3D might actually inform some of this:


 * https://www.khinsider.com/news/KH3D-Ultimania-Interviews-Translated-2602
 * https://www.khinsider.com/news/KH3D-Famitsu-Weekly-Interview-Translated-2603


 * — Why did Xehanort and co. word things as if to try and wake Ventus who is inside Sora?
 * Nomura: They did so in order to tempt Sora’s heart and have it fall to the darkness. In the story it also talks about how abandoning the self leads to losing the heart. When you see Vanitas (the dark half of Ventus who appeared in KHBBS) overlay Young Xehanort for a moment, that represents Ventus’ heart reacting inside Sora.
 * — What about Vanitas?
 * Nomura: Vanitas is different than Xemnas and Ansem; he doesn’t necessarily have a physical form. He reacted to Ventus within Sora, so that’s how he was visible.

So, especially with the clarification from the Ultimania that Demyx and Vexen were benched during KH3D, I think we can clarify a bit here. Vanitas talks about how his heart is just made of negativity, that the screams and sadness were enough to reconstruct it, that it is still incomplete, and he emphasizes that he's never met Sora in the flesh. So, his weakened heart was brought back from the past, and maybe wasn't strong enough to attach to a replica yet (this is why Vanitas doesn't have a physical form in KH3D). Mike and Sulley are just finishing their playdate with Boo when the Unversed are found, indicating they've just been there for a day (at least, in terms of Monstropolis). So, the implication seems to be (and I don't think is is quite explicit enough to put on the wiki itself, yet), that Vanitas's weak heart was dropped off at Monstropolis, used the Unversed to soak up the remaining surplus of scream energy as well as acquire new screams, and then was strong enough for a Replica. As far as I can tell, we don't even see him physically interacting with anything at Monstropolis until after the Lump of Horror is defeated. 15:28, 12 March 2019 (UTC)


 * To back this up, Vexen says at The Caribbean that not even his finest replica could continue existing without a heart. 15:59, 12 March 2019 (UTC)

Randall
Should probably be rewritten (I just put back what was there before). The only part I think is accurate is that Vanitas finds Randall and helps him get back by fixing the door. --Vanitas (talk) 17:38, 8 March 2019 (UTC)
 * Vanitas encountered the monster Randall, who told him about Monstropolis and how it was powered by the screams of children thanks to Monsters Inc. collecting it as a source of energy.
 * What is the source that Randall specifically informed Vanitas of how screams were used for energy, instead of just negativity being harvested?
 * Learning that Randall had been banished from his world after he refused to accept a new energy source in the form of children's laughter,
 * That's not why Randall was banished in the movie. What is the source for this being the cause in the game?
 * Vanitas encourages Randall's belief that scream power was more reliable,
 * Source? Randall's driving force in the movies was just that scream power made him more important, since it was what he was best at. Randall wants to be the star.
 * stating that if a child's heart was broken over something truly precious to to them, they would be a limitless source of negative emotions.
 * this sounds like script regurgitation.
 * Vanitas repairs the doorway Randall had been banished through using a dark corridor.
 * source? 17:30, 8 March 2019 (UTC)

I rewatched the scenes, and I think this is a good summary (needs to be rewritten for Vanitas PoV):

Fortunately for him, Vanitas found him and decided to exploit his ambition and desire for revenge. Vanitas fixed Randall's door, allowing him to return to Monsters, Inc. and attempt to reclaim his prior prestige. However, believing that laugh power is unsustainable, he still insisted on exploiting negative emotional energy, and allied with Vanitas's Unversed to acquire it. With their help, he infiltrated the factory and weaponized its machinery.

19:35, 18 March 2019 (UTC)

Update "Design" image
I was wondering whether we should keep the current picture or replace it with one from KH3, when Ven sees Sora for the first time and imagines Vanitas's unmasked face, as seen at the very start of this video (it's pretty LQ, but convenient). Immblueversion (talk) 16:46, 16 March 2019 (UTC)