Kingdom Hearts III [THEORY] Lea will be the 13th Xehanort

One of the fun things about this whole Kingdom Hearts III coming up is figuring out who will be the 7 lights and the 13 darknesses. And while I'm not really partial towards looking into the 13 lights, one of my personal favorite theories has been figuring out who will be the 13 Xehanorts.

In Dream Drop Distance we ended up with a plot line going through the whole thing where Lea wakes up in Radiant Garden with other organization members and notices that Braig and Isa are gone. He goes through trying to figure out how to wield a keyblade and ends up discovering that Isa has become one of Xehanort's thirteen.

"Isa..."
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It's been subtly established since back in 358/2 days that Lea and Isa were best friends that slowly broke apart due to their lack of emotions or perhaps Isa's drive to just keep up with the goal for Kingdom Hearts in KH2. But with a line such as "Which would you rather suffer the loss of: some make believe friendship, or a real one?" Lea and Isa at that point viewed their friendship pre-nobody as more "real" and as a result that connection kept the two in at the very least decent contact with one another until ultimately Isa had to dispatch Lea for trying to help Kairi rather than helping out the organization.

As a result, while I'm not sure what the current feelings for Isa are for Lea, Lea most certainly still is connected to him because... well at one point he was his friend despite their current circumstances. He's gonna want to help Isa. So... let's go in on a bit of setup.

"Which one will it be?"

Sewing the Seed​

While there is just the possibility he knew it would be easier to go with Isa because of his loyalty up until the end other than the others... I feel like there's another motive here. Knowing full well there's a connection between Isa and Lea. I think it's a backup plan, the man with backup plans. I don't think he was initially thinking "I want Lea as my 13th". He still wanted Sora, and Lea unexpectedly interrupted those plans. Xehanort had amusement out of it, smiling as Isa went to go and attack Lea. He did not do that with the intent to interrupt how the story had turned. He did that to get Lea to know he indeed had Isa.

This was the seed planted for Lea to try and save Isa from Xehanort.

He successfully saved Sora (and as a result saved Roxas), but he couldn't save Isa. And he always brings his friends back.

I think Xehanort now knew he had another piece he could go after. An unexpected one that had a deep attachment to friends. And now Lea's goal is going to be without a doubt to help get Isa back.

The Recusant's Sigil
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Here's one of the things I think everyone's kind of reluctant to remember, but I have trouble forgetting now that it's a thing. The sigil is basically Xehanort's way of tracking something he desires to track. And one of the unfortunate things Lea has done is that... he had everyone memorize that his name was Axel.

Axel includes the sigil. As a result, no matter how much he keeps telling people his name is Lea, everyone associates him as Axel. Now that he's defeatedly allowed people to keep calling him Axel, he's unknowingly allowing himself to keep Xehanort's sigil. So Xehanort is going to be able to keep track of Lea through this whether he wants to or not.

This may seem like nothing, but it's also the reason they're probably still able to keep track of Sora, because of Roxas and his own sigil. It may not be the case, but it's odd that it's a little harder for them to find people like Mickey and Riku. But that's the problem with the sigil being a thing.

Now He Has The Makings
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Lea is now able to wield a keyblade, which already puts him a step above someone like Isa or Braig. It was the reason he was going after Sora in the first place was because an ordinary boy was able to wield a keyblade. Well, here's Lea. He's not necessarily ordinary, nor really is Sora, but he's now a wielder. Some people say this puts him in the Lights category but I'm hesitant to include Lea or Kairi in that equation yet.

He's now going through some pretty nice training in order to use the keyblade and be able to fight, which Xehanort might as well let happen. Heck, maybe Xehanort could sense it when he barged in to save Sora.

What I think is going to happen in KH3
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I think most of the plot is going to be dedicated more towards Riku and Sora's ends with occasional pans towards Kairi and Lea training. I think Lea is going to get antsy about saving Isa. And when they're reaching the final war...

I think at that rate the lights are going to have the following: Sora, Riku, Mickey, Aqua, Ven, Roxas, and Xion (possibly Terra).

In this theory, I'm going under the assumption that Xion has become her own person and become their 7th light. Only because I don't think Terra can escape Xehanort until the end of this fight. It could very well be that he got another for the 13th and lost Terra and as a result he ended up with another empty 13th slot. Either way this opens near the final showdown and while the rest of the group is fighting the heartless, Lea is going to try and get Isa out of there before big fight in some sort of behind-the-scenes way. Maybe he's stealthy going in while the others are distracted and trying to get Lea away from the fight. Xehanort at this rate would probably be able to speak through Isa at this point in order to try and tell Lea that he'll "let Isa go" but only if he "gives himself up instead".

I think Lea is the sacrificial type and would take a moment of hestiation before eventually going for it, and releases Isa briefly to ease Lea into a false sense of security, before Master Xehanort gets over there and puts a piece of his heart into Lea and takes back Isa. And that completes the 13 that Xehanort otherwise would not have had after losing Terra. Making it a last minute "wait really? we thought we kept him from getting his 13" and instead Lea is lost.

I don't know what the fate would befall Lea and Isa afterwards. And the events may not play out this way. But I feel pretty confident this is how he gets his 13th.

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Have any comments about this? Want to point out any problems or any additional ideas for this theory? I'd love to see them expanded. This was written out at @Heart ❤ 's request but this is a theory I've had for a couple of years. If other people have written out a theory like this I promise you I have not seen them. It might be more concretely written if others have had it.

 

That would honestly be the most tragic fucking thing ever.

Like Lea has (I'm amusing) worked SO HARD to see Roxas (and by extension Xion) again, to save them and to 'bring them back' as he said in Days. And now when they do come back, he's the one whose gone. And it would make sense because Lea has a keyblade now, he'd be more of a threat to the 'Norts and more of a use to them as well.

Fuck it makes a lot of sense but I DON'T WANT THIS TO MAKE A LOT OF SENSE. I DON"T WANT THIS FOR MY SON