Is Master Xehanort Still Using Terra’s Body?

The ending of Dream Drop Distance left fans with many questions, including one about our favorite evil Keyblade Master. Why did Master Xehanort come back in his old body?

Master Xehanort went through a lot of trouble in Birth By Sleep to cast off his old body and steal Terra’s, in order to prolong his life. Terra-Xehanort later split into a Heartless (Ansem, Seeker of Darkness) and a Nobody (Xemnas).

When someone’s Heartless and Nobody are both destroyed, the original person can return. However, “Terranort” didn’t return. Master Xehanort did. A few things, such as Young Xehanort calling him “my most future self,” confirm he isn’t a time traveler. He is the Xehanort who re-formed as a human. But why? And where is Terra in Dream Drop Distance?

There are a couple of theories, but this first one is simple: Terra-Xehanort did return when Ansem and Xemnas were destroyed. He just looks like Master Xehanort.

It seems like a bit of a stretch until you remember we’ve seen Xehanort do this before. When he first became a Heartless, he didn’t look like the Ansem we see most often. He didn’t have a proper body.

The brown-robed figure is the initial form of Xehanort’s Heartless. Since he didn’t have a body of his own, he possessed Riku, which also allowed him to wield a Keyblade.

Ansem-possessing-Riku still looks like Riku for a time, because it’s Riku’s body. However, he later takes on an appearance similar to his past self.

But it’s still Riku’s body. Ansem casts out Riku’s heart, but Riku doesn’t get his body back until Ansem is defeated. (Just like a destroyed Nobody’s body will try to reunite with its heart, Riku’s body reunited with its heart.)

So Ansem changed the physical appearance of Riku’s body to look like himself.

We also have a non-Xehanort example in Ansem the Wise. In his disguise as DiZ, most of his face is covered, but just enough of his skin is visible to show that he has a different skin tone than he does in his undisguised state.

What if Master Xehanort did the same thing? What if Terra-Xehanort reformed after the destruction of his Heartless and Nobody, but decided he wanted to look like his old self? Terra isn’t missing. He’s right there, with his body still under Xehanort’s control.

This is one theory to explain Master Xehanort’s return and Terra’s current whereabouts. Next week, we’ll look at an alternate theory… although things still don’t look good for Terra.

Tags: master xehanort, terra-xehanort, xehanort