Quadratum, the World of Square?
Note: This post will include spoilers for the ending of Kingdom Hearts III as well as the ending of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
So after the wild Kingdom Hearts III secret ending, everyone wanted to know just what that mysterious modern-day city was.
It appeared to be Shibuya, leading to a popular theory that Sora would participate in the Reaper’s Game from The World Ends With You, especially since he promised to visit Neku in Shibuya after they met in Dream Drop Distance, but interviews soon suggested that wasn’t the case.
The presence of Yozora also complicated things. Yozora had appeared in Kingdom Hearts III as a character in the in-universe video game Verum Rex, found in the Toy Box world. Yet there he was, apparently a real person in this new city.
Well, Melody of Memory revealed the truth: that city is part of a world on the “other side” of everything we’ve seen in Kingdom Hearts so far, a world that isn’t of light or darkness but rather is a fictional world, and the city itself is called Quadratum.
There’s a lot to talk about here, such as how the Kingdom Hearts universe has a fictional world that appears to be our real world, but for now let’s focus on Quadratum.
Another popular theory after Kingdom Hearts III was that future Kingdom Hearts games would focus on other Square Enix properties instead of Disney worlds. This came from both the Shibuya connection to The World Ends With You and Verum Rex’s suspicious similarities with Final Fantasy Versus XIII.
Nomura has denied that Verum Rex is Versus XIII, but it’s still likely that he took some of his unused ideas from that game to use here.
Anyway, a lot of fans started discussing the possibility that the next Kingdom Hearts saga would feature Square Enix IPs more heavily. Aligning the city in the secret ending with the real Shibuya also made it appear as though the Master of Masters was standing on the roof of Square Enix’s headquarters.
And that brings us back to Quadratum.
“Quadratum” is a Latin word that means “square.”
That’s right, the city in Kingdom Hearts III’s secret ending is literally named square.
Putting that together with the Master of Masters standing on the Square Enix building, Verum Rex mirroring Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Sora promising to visit a character from a Square Enix game, and Melody of Memory making such a big deal out of how Quadratum is in a completely separate world… maybe they’re really going to do it.
While the normal Kingdom Hearts universe is made up of Disney worlds, maybe the “other side” universe is made up of Square Enix worlds.
What do you think? Does the name “Quadratum” mean Square Enix properties will play a central role in upcoming Kingdom Hearts games? Share your thoughts and theories in the comments!
Tags: quadratum, yozora