One of the most intriguing questions in Kingdom Hearts is not whether destiny exists – the series makes clear that predetermined events are a fundamental part of its reality – but rather who or what is responsible for creating and maintaining that destiny. Throughout the series, we see evidence of extensive planning, prophetic knowledge, and seemingly inescapable predetermined outcomes. Yet the source of this predetermination remains deliberately ambiguous, leaving room for multiple interpretations about the true nature of fate in the Kingdom Hearts universe.
Understanding who controls destiny has profound implications for characters’ agency, the possibility of genuine choice, and the meaning of their struggles against predetermined outcomes. Three primary theories emerge from the evidence presented in the series, each offering a different perspective on the relationship between fate, free will, and the power to shape reality.
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The Question of Who or What Creates “Destiny” in Kingdom Hearts
Before examining the theories, it’s important to understand what we mean by “destiny” in Kingdom Hearts. The series presents destiny as more than abstract fate – it’s a concrete system with observable rules and predictable outcomes. Characters experience predetermined events that unfold with clockwork precision, often despite their best efforts to change them.
However, the series leaves crucial questions unanswered: Is this predetermination the result of conscious planning by an intelligent being? Is it a natural law of the Kingdom Hearts universe, like gravity or time? Or is it something else entirely? The answer to these questions fundamentally shapes how we understand characters’ struggles and the possibility of meaningful choice within the series.
The Stakes of the Question
The identity of destiny’s architect matters because it determines the scope and nature of any potential escape. If destiny is created by a character, then other characters might find ways to outmaneuver or surprise that architect. If destiny is a cosmic force, then escape might require fundamentally different approaches – or might be impossible altogether. If multiple destiny systems exist, then characters might have options between different predetermined paths.
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Option 1: The Master of Masters as Destiny’s Architect
The first theory suggests that what characters experience as “destiny” is actually the result of the Master of Masters’ extensive planning, foresight, and manipulation of events across time and space.
Evidence of His Extensive Planning and Foresight
The Master of Masters demonstrates unprecedented knowledge of future events through his Gazing Eye, which allows him to observe the timeline as it unfolds. This knowledge enables him to create detailed plans that span centuries, positioning characters and events with remarkable precision.
His influence can be traced through virtually every major event in the Kingdom Hearts series:
- The training and positioning of the Foretellers
- The orchestration of the original Keyblade War
- The manipulation of events that lead to Xehanort’s rise
- The preparation of the Dandelions and their escape to other worldlines
- Even seemingly random encounters between characters often serve his larger design
The Master’s planning operates on multiple temporal levels simultaneously. He doesn’t just predict future events – he actively shapes the conditions that will make those events inevitable, creating self-fulfilling prophecies on a massive scale.
His Role in Creating Predetermined Events
Rather than simply observing a predetermined timeline, the Master appears to be actively constructing it. His Book of Prophecies doesn’t just record future events – it enables their manifestation through the power of the Foretellers’ actions. The “prophecies” become instructions that ensure specific outcomes occur.
This suggests that much of what characters experience as inescapable destiny is actually the result of the Master’s deliberate engineering. Events feel predetermined because they are predetermined – by him. Characters struggle against fate not because fate is a cosmic force, but because they’re struggling against the Master’s incredibly sophisticated planning.
How Worldlines Could Escape His Specific Schemes
If the Master is indeed destiny’s architect, then worldlines could represent genuine escape routes from his predetermined designs. There are several ways this could work:
Knowledge Limitations: Despite his extensive foresight, the Master admits to limitations in his knowledge. His statement about seeing “a world I can’t even conceive” suggests there are aspects of reality beyond his understanding or control. Worldlines might exist in these blind spots of his awareness.
Planning Scope: The Master’s plans, while extensive, appear focused on specific timelines and outcomes. If worldlines represent alternate realities with different fundamental rules, his plans might not extend to or account for these alternative systems.
Temporal Constraints: The Master’s knowledge comes through the Gazing Eye, which observes events as they’re experienced by the No Name Keyblade. If worldlines exist outside this observational network, they might operate beyond his awareness and influence.
Limitations to His Knowledge and Control
Several key pieces of evidence suggest that the Master’s power and knowledge have boundaries:
Uncertainty About Outcomes: Despite his extensive planning, the Master sometimes expresses uncertainty about whether his plans will succeed. This suggests he’s working within constraints rather than exercising absolute control.
Reactive Elements: Some of his plans appear to be reactions to threats or challenges he didn’t create, such as the Darkness entities. This implies he’s working within a system he didn’t design rather than being the system’s ultimate architect.
Collaborative Requirements: Many of his plans require the cooperation and specific actions of other characters. If he had absolute control over destiny, such collaboration would be unnecessary.
Option 2: Cosmic Universal Force
The second theory proposes that destiny in Kingdom Hearts operates as a fundamental cosmic force, similar to natural laws like physics or causality, with the Master of Masters being merely a very skilled observer and manipulator of this existing system.
The Unfalsifiable Nature of Cosmic Predetermination
If destiny operates as a universal cosmic force that predetermines all events, then this creates what philosophers call an “unfalsifiable” theory. No matter what happens – including apparent escapes from destiny – it can always be explained as having been predetermined by the cosmic force.
This presents several logical problems:
- Any evidence of characters “escaping” destiny can be dismissed as part of the larger predetermined plan
- Even the Master’s seemingly independent planning could be predetermined by the cosmic force
- Characters’ experiences of choice and agency could be illusions created by the predetermined system
- The very discussion of escape becomes meaningless if escape itself is predetermined
Why This Makes “Escape” Philosophically Meaningless
Under this theory, the concept of escape loses all practical meaning. If a cosmic force predetermines everything, then:
- Characters cannot genuinely choose to escape because their “choice” was predetermined
- Any successful escape was always meant to happen as part of the larger design
- Even awareness of the predetermined system was predetermined to occur
- Resistance to destiny becomes just another predetermined element
This creates a philosophical dead end where the concept of meaningful choice disappears entirely. Characters become puppets acting out a script they cannot deviate from, regardless of their apparent agency or struggle.
BUT: The Subjective Experience Argument
However, this philosophical dead end might miss the point of what actually matters about choice and freedom. Even if cosmic predetermination is true, characters still experience making choices, feeling agency, and believing in their ability to affect outcomes.
This subjective experience argument suggests that the feeling of freedom and choice is itself meaningful, regardless of the objective metaphysical reality. Characters who believe they’re escaping destiny and experience the satisfaction of overcoming predetermined obstacles are gaining something real and valuable, even if their escape was predetermined.
How Feeling Free Matters More Than Being Objectively Free
From this perspective, the important question isn’t whether characters are objectively free from cosmic predetermination, but whether they experience meaningful agency and choice in their lives. The subjective experience of freedom provides:
Motivation and Hope: Characters who believe they can affect outcomes are more likely to take actions that improve their circumstances Moral Responsibility: The experience of choice makes characters’ moral decisions meaningful to them and others Emotional Satisfaction: The feeling of overcoming obstacles and achieving goals provides genuine fulfillment Relationship Meaning: Choices about loyalty, friendship, and sacrifice feel significant regardless of predetermination
Under this interpretation, worldlines could represent meaningful escape even within a cosmically predetermined system, because they provide characters with the experience of choice and alternative possibilities.
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Option 3: Multiple Destiny Systems
The third theory suggests that different worldlines and universes operate under different destiny systems, each with its own predetermined rules and limitations, allowing for genuine choice between different predetermined paths.
Each Worldline and Universe Having Its Own Predetermined Rules
Rather than one universal destiny system, this theory proposes that each worldline and universe functions as its own distinct reality with unique rules governing predetermination. Some worldlines might operate under strict predetermination, others might allow more flexibility, and some might function under entirely different systems of causality.
Evidence for this approach includes:
- References to worldlines with different fundamental outcomes (like “a worldline with no Keyblade War”)
- Quadratum, a different realm or universe entirely and is different from worldlines functions as an “unreality” operating under different rules than the light/darkness framework of the original universe of Kingdom Hearts.
- The apparent ability of characters to transfer between worldlines with different predetermined possibilities
Freedom as Choosing Between Different Predetermined Paths
Under this theory, freedom doesn’t mean escape from all predetermination, but rather the ability to choose which predetermined path to follow. Characters gain agency by selecting between different available destinies rather than trying to write their own destiny from scratch.
This approach preserves meaningful choice while acknowledging the reality of predetermined systems. Characters cannot escape predetermination entirely, but they can escape specific predetermined outcomes by accessing worldlines with different predetermined possibilities.
How This Preserves Meaningful Choice Within Deterministic Systems
This theory resolves many of the philosophical problems with the other approaches:
Genuine Alternatives: Characters face real choices between different predetermined options Achievable Escape: Escape from specific destinies is possible through worldline transfer Preserved Agency: Characters maintain meaningful control over which predetermined path they follow Logical Consistency: The system avoids the unfalsifiability problems of cosmic predetermination while acknowledging the reality of predetermined events
Evaluating the Evidence: What Kingdom Hearts Actually Shows Us
When examining the actual evidence from the Kingdom Hearts series, elements supporting each theory can be found, suggesting the reality might be more complex than any single explanation.
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Evidence Supporting the Master as Architect:
- His demonstrated ability to plan events across centuries
- The apparent success of his complex schemes
- His role in positioning key characters and orchestrating major events
- His limitations and expressions of uncertainty about outcomes
Evidence Supporting Cosmic Predetermination:
- The stable time loop system that operates independently of any character’s knowledge
- Predetermined events that occur despite characters’ efforts to prevent them
- The apparent inevitability of certain outcomes regardless of intervention
- The suggestion that even the Master operates within constraints he didn’t create
Evidence Supporting Multiple Destiny Systems:
- References to different worldlines with different predetermined outcomes
- The ability of characters to transfer between worldlines
- Quadratum’s status as an “unreality” with different rules
- The suggestion that escape from specific destinies is possible
The Complexity of Reality
The evidence suggests that the truth might involve elements from all three theories. The Master might be the architect of destiny within specific worldlines while operating within larger cosmic constraints, and different worldlines might operate under different destiny systems with varying degrees of predetermination.
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Conclusion: Why the Answer Might Matter Less Than the Experience of Choice
Perhaps the most important insight from examining these theories is that the practical effects of destiny on characters’ lives might be more important than the theoretical source of that destiny.
What Matters Most to Characters
Regardless of whether destiny comes from the Master’s planning, cosmic forces, or multiple worldline systems, characters care most about:
- Whether they can affect outcomes that matter to them
- Whether their choices feel meaningful and significant
- Whether they can protect the people and things they value
- Whether they can find hope and purpose in their struggles
The Practical Effects
Each theory offers different possibilities for character agency:
- If the Master is destiny’s architect, characters might outmaneuver his plans or find his blind spots
- If cosmic predetermination is true, characters can still find meaning in their subjective experiences
- If multiple destiny systems exist, characters can choose between different predetermined paths
The Ultimate Question
Rather than asking “Who controls destiny?” the more important question might be “How can characters find meaningful agency within whatever system controls destiny?” The Kingdom Hearts series seems to suggest that the answer lies not in escaping all constraints, but in finding ways to make meaningful choices within whatever constraints exist.
The Power of Hope
Ultimately, the most powerful force in Kingdom Hearts might not be destiny itself, but characters’ refusal to accept that their situation is hopeless. Whether they’re fighting against the Master’s plans, cosmic predetermination, or the limits of their current worldline, their struggle to find agency and meaning provides its own form of freedom.
The three theories about destiny’s source each offer different paths to hope and agency. Perhaps the series’ greatest wisdom lies not in choosing between these theories, but in recognizing that meaningful choice and genuine agency can exist regardless of which theory proves correct. Characters who believe in their ability to affect outcomes and who refuse to surrender to despair create their own form of freedom, regardless of the metaphysical nature of the system they inhabit.
In Kingdom Hearts, the power of the heart – the capacity for hope, determination, and connection – might ultimately prove stronger than any system of predetermination, no matter who or what created it.
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