“Although the lotus has its roots in the mud at the bottom of a pond, its flower lies immaculate above the water.”
In Kingdom Hearts openings, the ocean/water is often used as a visual metaphor for darkness, showing characters who have fallen or will fall to darkness being submerged.
Sora and Riku in KH1, and Riku again in KH2:
Aqua, Terra, and Ven, and the wayfinders that represent them are constantly shown submerged in water in 0.2′s opening:
It’s interesting to me then that the first shot of the KH3 opening shows us Sora standing on water…and when I saw this image my mind immediately went to lotus symbolism- something that’s been used multiple times in KH before:
CoM/KH2 (Those green circles on the floor that have light moving in them also a representation of ripples of water around the lotus):
Dream Drop Distance (Curaga and the Combined Keyblade):
The lotus symbolizes purity because it grows in dark, muddy water, but blooms above the water unstained by the mud. My hope is that this image of Sora standing on the water is foreshadowing Sora learning to overcome the darkness and grow from it like Riku did, while still accepting that darkness is half of everything. And…there’s also the possibility that the lotus symbolism might be even more relevant to the plot of KH3 and Sora’s destiny:
“The lotus flower is one of the Ashtamangala of Buddhism, representative of creation and cosmic renewal and “primordial purity”“
“And when Kingdom Hearts is complete, it is said the one who opens its
door will bring about the creation of the Next World. Such a feat is
above any human. Or, to put it a different way: whoever opens that door
will be reborn as something far greater than human.”
