Ansem the Wise Lost His Memory Twice?
You know I have some suspicions about Ansem the Wise, mainly thanks to his orange-red eyes.
But there’s one more thing about Ansem that puzzles me, and it has to do with something he says to Aqua in the “Blank Points” secret ending of Birth By Sleep.
Ansem the Wise has lost much of his memory thanks to his Encoder machine exploding and sending him to the Realm of Darkness, so he can’t tell Aqua a lot about what has happened in the past ten years.
(Note: the Ansem the Wise who appears in Dream Drop Distance is actually data he put in Sora’s memories, which is why he remembers everything there.)
However, when he explains his memory loss, he says:
“I can tell you this is my second time on these shores. But unfortunately, much like the first, I do not remember who I am or whence I came.”
Much like the first?
Ansem the Wise says this is the second time he’s been in the Realm of Darkness and he lost his memory both times. But this doesn’t quite match what we know about him.
Originally, it was believed that Ansem’s apprentices banished him to the Realm of Nothingness. Even if we assume this was a mistranslation (or retcon) and they banished him to the Realm of Darkness, or that he went from the Realm of Nothingness to the Realm of Darkness… he didn’t lose his memories.
When Ansem the Wise was banished by his apprentices, he started calling himself DiZ, but he knew exactly who he was, where he came from, and how he got there. He was hell-bent on revenge, no memory loss involved.
So why does he tell Aqua this is the second time he lost his memories in the Realm of Darkness? Is this line a mistake?
Or is Ansem telling the truth? It’s possible that this is actually a hint to part of Ansem the Wise’s story we don’t know about. Maybe he forgot something critical when his apprentices banished him, even though most of his memory remained intact. Maybe he went to the Realm of Darkness at an earlier point, and there is much more to his past than we know.
Together with his orange eyes, Ansem the Wise’s comment to Aqua makes me think his role in the story isn’t over yet. What do you think? Why does Ansem say he lost his memory twice, and what does it mean? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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