A few decades ago the masses believed video games were a waste of time for lackadaisical youths to pacify themselves while ignoring their responsibilities as both kids and young adults. As more and more people started understanding the benefits of gaming so too did the perception of what a video game is and, most importantly, the benefits gaming can bestow on a person’s life changed. Hi, my name is James Bullock and I am a gamer who has spent the better part of his existence testing the laws of physics, exploring the vastness of a world ruined, and been a champion inside various arenas courtesy of digitized worlds both driven by reality and created through pure unbelievable ingenuity unlike anything seen by human eyes. And as a gamer I’ve discovered something else video games provide: life lessons. Today I examine a franchise built on tell its characters & its players they are all someone important, “Kingdom Heart”.
You Are Somebody
The journey & path to self-discovery can be a long & arduous one. For someone to discover who they are and why they mean something in this gigantic world featuring people constantly working toward making their existence better is both grand and miniscule. How could something be grand, yet too be miniscule? Well, for some it’s the little things that turn a nobody into a someone in a person’s life or in the zeitgeist of an entire culture. The “Kingdom Hearts” franchise has a great way of exemplifying what it means to be a nobody with entities literally known as “Nobodies” – beings associated with the shadowy Organization looking to convert & even steal the hearts from those pure individuals looking to help while growing in phenomenal strength a la the series’ protagonist Sora. But in regards to the Nobodies, Xion is a perfect example of what it means to be important when everyone believes you weren’t meant to be of any significance.
Xion, unlike many others converted into or by the Organization, is literally created through a process where Sora’s memories are physically collected & manifested. Eventually Xion encounters and befriends fellow Organization members Roxas and Axel with the prior being the source of discovering she’s more than just some artificial human made for the purposes of theft. Their mutual stances on life & their respective general natures slowly melts away like a Popsicle on a summer’s day; forming a bond that is unbreakable even when Xion has to merge with Sora while sacrificing all the memories of the life she lived with her closest friends. Eventually the impact Xion had on Roxas’ way of thinking actually became the catalyst in Roxas breaking away from the Organization and merging with his anti-shadow, Sora. Without Xion, Roxas would’ve never discovered his purpose; let alone helped Sora become the master keyblade wielder needed to save the world. Axel too is greatly influenced by Xion’s sacrifice and eventually uses his own life to help Sora. Even if you’re told or believed to be a nobody in this world, the truth is you do matter. The effect you have on people’s lives can become the very basis of who they transform into; maybe even changing the world in the process.
Have you learned any major life lessons from playing the “Kingdom Hearts” franchise or any video game for that matter? Leave them in the comments below and, as always, thanks for reading.
