On Nobodies and emotions
I know what you're thinking...uh oh, it's one of those rants again! Actually, not so, it's more discussion/theory than actual rant. So feel free to throw around your own ideas, too. :3
Anyways, there seems to be this point of constant arguing over what Nobodies can or can't do/feel/experience as Nobodies. I think we can all agree that they don't have hearts, as they wouldn't be Nobodies otherwise, and they wouldn't be working so dang hard to get them back if they weren't missing in the first place. With the exception of Roxas and Namine (who really are huge execptions to a lot of the "rules,") Nobodies do retain their memories, and if they're extraordinarily strong or lucky, a human form.
Where everyone seems to get into huge hissy fits about is whether or not they can feel emotions. Canon says they cannot feel, but then we see them doing things like being happy, sad, excited, nervous, or even crying (and no, Axel is not the only Nobody to do that, kthx.) So people get all up in arms: can they feel or not? If they have emotions, does this mean they have hearts all along, since emotions come from a heart? *Build your own wank here!*
My theory is that when it comes to hearts = feeling emotions, what Nobodies are really lacking is nothing so surface as just emotions. Let's get back to basics! After all, what do we hear over and over and over from canon about hearts?
"Our hearts are connected."
"Distant hearts, when joined as one..."
"As long as you're in my heart, I'll never forget you." Etc. etc.
There's nothing about "Hearts are how you feel emotions." The huge deal about hearts in KH, and what they really are, is the connections between people. Passing acquaintance, friendship, romantic love; it doesn't matter: KH shows us that a heart enables you to empathize and sympathize, to care about how another is feeling, to put others before yourself, and to gain strength through others.
So that is what the Organization is ultimately lacking. Not the ability to feel, but the ability to feel for others. All of their emotions are self-centered; they can say "I am sad," but they can't say "I am sad for you. Because they're missing that important part that enables them to connect with other hearts. This is why they can so easily go out and kill hundreds while still taunting Sora, whether they do it cheerfully, grudgingly, seriously, or maliciously. Their only concern is how their actions affect them. The only ones who seem to break this mold at all are Roxas and Namine, who manage to take selfless actions (although Roxas only seems to do it when his personality is rewritten for Twilight Town). Namine seems to be the best as being the most "human," really. And Roxas and Namine being special cases can be chalked up to Sora's influence, considering they both came from him and Sora's heart is literally the strongest when it comes to making connections.
In fandom, the whole connections between hearts deal seems to be watered down or shallowed out to the point where the only real connection that matters is the sex, or it's just plain forgotten, so fans may not think it's "that big a deal" for the Organization. But considering their entire purpose revolves around getting their hearts back, it is a huge deal. That need for connection is so strong they're willing to break all connections on all other worlds just to hotwire themselves into it.
In that sense, it's almost a blessing that the Organization were destroyed without getting their hearts back. Can you imagine the guilt and horror they would have felt at themselves once they had the hearts to feel empathy? I suspect that for some of the members, it would be absolutely unbearable.
So rantwise, what does this mean? It means that if you're writing Nobodies in the canon universe, there is essentially only one major rule that you have to follow in order to keep them in character. (Aside from all the normal characterizations of each individual) and that is that, no matter what they do, they always do things for selfish reasons. Unless it's Roxas or Namine under particular circumstances, the Nobodies are incapable of empathizing with others because they lack the heart to empathize with. So when you're writing the Organization, whether just puttering around or in a relationship, the fastest way to make them OOC is to have any of them say "I care about you." Because, truthfully, they don't. I think that may also be why so much of AkuRoku (since it's the most popular Org. pairing and all) is so often OOC: people have mistaken Axel saying things like "I would miss you" as "I would miss you because I care about you" as opposed to the more accurate "I miss you because you make me happy." And yes, there is a difference there. Axel is a Nobody; he lacks a heart (he says so himself!) and regardless of whether his relationship with Roxas is friendship or something more, it's still driven by selfishness.
And that thar's my thoughts! Yours? :D
Anyways, there seems to be this point of constant arguing over what Nobodies can or can't do/feel/experience as Nobodies. I think we can all agree that they don't have hearts, as they wouldn't be Nobodies otherwise, and they wouldn't be working so dang hard to get them back if they weren't missing in the first place. With the exception of Roxas and Namine (who really are huge execptions to a lot of the "rules,") Nobodies do retain their memories, and if they're extraordinarily strong or lucky, a human form.
Where everyone seems to get into huge hissy fits about is whether or not they can feel emotions. Canon says they cannot feel, but then we see them doing things like being happy, sad, excited, nervous, or even crying (and no, Axel is not the only Nobody to do that, kthx.) So people get all up in arms: can they feel or not? If they have emotions, does this mean they have hearts all along, since emotions come from a heart? *Build your own wank here!*
My theory is that when it comes to hearts = feeling emotions, what Nobodies are really lacking is nothing so surface as just emotions. Let's get back to basics! After all, what do we hear over and over and over from canon about hearts?
"Our hearts are connected."
"Distant hearts, when joined as one..."
"As long as you're in my heart, I'll never forget you." Etc. etc.
There's nothing about "Hearts are how you feel emotions." The huge deal about hearts in KH, and what they really are, is the connections between people. Passing acquaintance, friendship, romantic love; it doesn't matter: KH shows us that a heart enables you to empathize and sympathize, to care about how another is feeling, to put others before yourself, and to gain strength through others.
So that is what the Organization is ultimately lacking. Not the ability to feel, but the ability to feel for others. All of their emotions are self-centered; they can say "I am sad," but they can't say "I am sad for you. Because they're missing that important part that enables them to connect with other hearts. This is why they can so easily go out and kill hundreds while still taunting Sora, whether they do it cheerfully, grudgingly, seriously, or maliciously. Their only concern is how their actions affect them. The only ones who seem to break this mold at all are Roxas and Namine, who manage to take selfless actions (although Roxas only seems to do it when his personality is rewritten for Twilight Town). Namine seems to be the best as being the most "human," really. And Roxas and Namine being special cases can be chalked up to Sora's influence, considering they both came from him and Sora's heart is literally the strongest when it comes to making connections.
In fandom, the whole connections between hearts deal seems to be watered down or shallowed out to the point where the only real connection that matters is the sex, or it's just plain forgotten, so fans may not think it's "that big a deal" for the Organization. But considering their entire purpose revolves around getting their hearts back, it is a huge deal. That need for connection is so strong they're willing to break all connections on all other worlds just to hotwire themselves into it.
In that sense, it's almost a blessing that the Organization were destroyed without getting their hearts back. Can you imagine the guilt and horror they would have felt at themselves once they had the hearts to feel empathy? I suspect that for some of the members, it would be absolutely unbearable.
So rantwise, what does this mean? It means that if you're writing Nobodies in the canon universe, there is essentially only one major rule that you have to follow in order to keep them in character. (Aside from all the normal characterizations of each individual) and that is that, no matter what they do, they always do things for selfish reasons. Unless it's Roxas or Namine under particular circumstances, the Nobodies are incapable of empathizing with others because they lack the heart to empathize with. So when you're writing the Organization, whether just puttering around or in a relationship, the fastest way to make them OOC is to have any of them say "I care about you." Because, truthfully, they don't. I think that may also be why so much of AkuRoku (since it's the most popular Org. pairing and all) is so often OOC: people have mistaken Axel saying things like "I would miss you" as "I would miss you because I care about you" as opposed to the more accurate "I miss you because you make me happy." And yes, there is a difference there. Axel is a Nobody; he lacks a heart (he says so himself!) and regardless of whether his relationship with Roxas is friendship or something more, it's still driven by selfishness.
And that thar's my thoughts! Yours? :D