bywa

Now that you’ve pointed it out, this actually explains something I could never quite figure out about Terra failing the Mark of Mastery exam. While I knew the point of the themes and why Eraqus did it from a narrative perspective, I could never understand from an in-universe perspective what Eraqus meant when he said that Terra “failed to keep the darkness within you sufficiently in check.”

For the last 12 years, I thought it just meant Eraqus took that one tiny, brief moment where Terra’s darkness leaked out before Terra quickly dispelled it as proof of “insufficient control”. But now I’m going back and realizing with the mindset of “it’s shameful for a Keyblade Master to wield their key in anger”, I’ve noticed something:

Immediately before Terra’s darkness pops out, he gets visibly angry:

And even as he’s getting rid of the darkness, he still looks pissed:

Since after that the scene cuts away from Terra’s face and then skips ahead to the end of the ceremony, we have no indication that Terra stopped being angry during that fight.

So it wasn’t just Eraqus saying “oh, Terra showed a single visible manifestation of darkness, instant fail.” It was “Terra wielded his Keyblade in anger for like... half the fight. He needs to work on that before he’s ready to be a Master.”

Which makes a hell of a lot more sense than automatically failing Terra over a single tiny moment of darkness.

Maybe… I don’t know. I think even that little bit of visible darkness is grounds for failure. Even if Terra didn’t remain frustrated/angry throughout the rest of the fight, he probably would’ve still failed because of that… If this scene with Terranort and Aqua is any indication, even the smallest display of anger was shameful. This is literally all Aqua says before Terranort makes his remark:

It’s completely composed, righteous anger; she hasn’t even moved to attack — and it’s too much… And I like how it parallels this moment:

Both Aqua and Terra are raising their blades in anger, but it’s to save and protect their friends. We’re clearly seeing how rage can be used to do good and how it doesn’t mean either of them have fallen to darkness. Anger is just an emotion, inherently neutral.

I like how BBS emphasizes that rage, specifically, is seen as darkness. More than any other negative emotion like sadness or fear — though, those are still frowned upon. Terra notices Cinderella crying and, in an attempt to cheer her up, tells her, “Darkness always finds a way into a wounded heart. You have to be strong. Strength of heart will carry you through the hardest of trials.” That reads a little cold, but Terra says it sincerely, kindly. He feels for Cinderella and genuinely believes this will help her… Imagine little Terra or Aqua crying (as children are prone to do) and Eraqus telling them they have to cheer up and be strong or darkness will corrupt their hearts.

And I know I’m getting a little off track here, but it just is so interesting how Terra and Aqua have no frame of reference outside of their Keyblade teachings. As soon as they leave The Land of Departure, they’re fish out of water. Like Aqua planning to break into Cinderella’s house to destroy her step-family just because she senses darkness in them. Aqua and Terra have no concept of moral ambiguity, of nuance. You’re either light or darkness. Which makes it hard for them to understand non-Keyblade wielders, I think, and puts a strain on their own friendship.

Terra confuses Aqua because Terra is good and her precious friend and Terra has noticeable darkness in him. Aqua doubts Terra (“Xehanort is feeding the dark fires within you, making you fight. You’ll go astray again.”) but still loves Terra and wants to help him. Dives in and sacrifices her way out to save Terra from the Realm of Darkness… And I like how her response to ‘anger is shameful’ in KH3 is essentially fuck you. I was trapped in hell for a decade. I fell to darkness, and I clawed my way back to the light. All I want is to save my friend. I don’t care what kind of Master that makes me. “Xehanort, I’m casting you out of Terra forever!” Fuck you.

ANYWAY. The emphasis on rage, specifically, being darkness according to traditional Keyblade Masters makes Rage Form SO interesting… Because it is the antithesis of this mentality. It’s rage and hatred used to defend both Sora and others, darkness in the most significant sense used to fight for what’s important. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, true Keyblade Masters are champions of love not light. And I just love how Riku is the first character we see get that, at the tender age of five. He teaches Terra that, and Terra bases his oath off of that. “So long as you champion the ones you love.” It doesn’t matter if you fight with light or darkness, if you feel joyous or furious. As long as you’re fighting in the name of love.