Kingdom Hearts Time Theory

============================
.:: | EXPLANATION | ::.
============================

I believe that Kingdom Hearts has a metaphor with times of day depicting how far you are on your journey. The quest is three days long. Keep in mind that these aren't actual 24-hour days; it's more like 'morning' and 'day' are easy parts of the journey, while 'evening' and 'night' involve the difficult parts.

DAY 1
You begin in the 'morning' on Destiny Islands, and go through a whole day there. It is 'night' when Darkside attacks and the island is swallowed up.

DAY 2
When you arrive at Traverse Town, it is midnight--the beginning of a new 'day'. You remain in this 'day' for a loooong time. You reach 'midday' at Deep Jungle, steadily progress to 'evening', battle Riku in Hollow Bastion at 'night', and finally, after rescuing Kairi and going back to Traverse Town, this long 'day' ends and a new one starts.

DAY 3
The third 'day' breezes by. It is mostly trekking through The End of the World. When you face the boss Chernabog, it is 'morning.' By the time you reach the final boss fight against Ansem on Destiny Islands, it is 'evening'.

You may be wondering how I came to these conclusions. If you are interested, please read on and find out :)

============================
.:: | DAWN, NIGHT, MIDDAY | ::.
============================

[NOTE: This part is NOT theory, but definite fact. Read here for more info.]

You may already know this, but I'll say it anyway for those who don't... At the very beginning of the game (the Dream Sequence), you are told one of these three statements depending on how you answer a few questions. (And yes, this is relevant.)

-----------------------------------------------
-~- Your adventure begins at midday. Keep a steady pace and you'll come through fine. (If you get this, you'll level up evenly throughout the game.)

-~- Your adventure begins in the dead of night. Your road won't be easy, but a rising sun awaits your journey's end. (If you get this, you'll level up slowly at first, then faster after you reach level 40.)

-~- You adventure begins at dawn. As long as the sun is shining, your journey should be a pleasant one. (If you get this, you'll level up quickly at first, but slower after you reach level 40.)
-----------------------------------------------


[NOTE: Here's where my insignificant little theory starts to tie in.]

• Those 'Dead of Night' people will start leveling faster around the third 'day' of the game.
• The 'Dawn' people level faster on the second 'day.' (I won't include Day 1 because it's just Destiny Islands, and there isn't much leveling to be done there, anyway.)
• The balanced 'Midday' people level evenly throughout both days.

This can be a metaphor within a metaphor (eesh!)--if 'night' represents difficult confrontations, you level up faster towards the end of the game because that's when most of the major fights are. 'Dawn' is all the piece-of-cake Disney worlds. lol.

Remember the cutscene with Kairi in Traverse Town when you get the Oathkeeper keychain, and that sun on the wall changes into a moon? It represents one 'day' changing into another. (Not entirely related, but that's also when you Dead of Night people begin to level up faster, because this cutscene occurs when the player is around level 40.)

That does NOT mean that the game has been 'day' the entire time so far; it simply represents the fact that a new 'day' will soon be approaching. (Am I rambling, or does that actually make sense? XD)

============================
.:: | HOTEL PAINTINGS | ::.
============================

The dawn/night/midday metaphor is also mentioned on the paintings in the Hotel (Second District, Traverse Town). Coincidence? I think not.

The paintings I am referring to are: "Midsummer Dawn", "Midday Jungle", and "The Autumn Dusk." Go into the Hotel and examine the pictures on the wall if you don't know what I'm talking about. ^_^ Anyway, this is how they are related:

-----------------------------------------------
Your journey begins at midday = Midday Jungle
Your journey begins in the dead of night = The Autumn Dusk
Your journey begins at dawn = Midsummer Dawn
------------------------------------------------

• I infer "Midsummer Dawn" to represent Sora's time spent on Destiny Islands.
• "Midday Jungle" is pretty straightforward--it's describing Tarzan's world, Deep Jungle.
• And "The Autumn Dusk" represents the end of Sora's struggle--the last battle against Ansem.

Not too difficult to understand, right? =]

-------------------------------------------------
Midsummer Dawn = time spent on Destiny Islands
Midday Jungle = time spent in Deep Jungle
The Autumn Dusk = final boss battle against Ansem
--------------------------------------------------


==============================================

There are two other paintings hanging in the Hotel (in the Green Room, to be exact). They are labeled "18:00 in the Past -Time Flies-" and "Bald Mountain -7:00am-". These are a little trickier to figure out.

18:00 in the Past -Time Flies-
If you can read military time, then you know that 18:00 is equivalent to 6:00pm. So what does "in the Past" mean? It is referring to Sora going back to Destiny Islands at the end of the game. He's not literally going back in time, of course, just going back to where the game started.

Bald Mountain -7:00am-
If you've ever seen Fantasia, you may recognize the huge black winged boss (Chernabog) you face towards the end of the game at the End of the World. In the background, a song called "Night on Bald Mountain" is playing. So according to the painting, you have this boss battle at 7:00am.

==============================================

So far, we have theorized that the paintings fall in this order:

-----------------------------------------------

• Midsummer Dawn (Destiny Islands) --------------------------- approx. 6:30am
• *new day starts* --------------------------- 12:00am
• Midday Jungle (Deep Jungle) ----------------------------------- approx. 12:00pm
• *new day starts* --------------------------- 12:00am
• Bald Mountain -7:00am- (battle against Fantasia boss) ---- 7:00am
• 18:00 in the Past -Time Flies- (back to Destiny Islands) -- 6:00pm
• The Autumn Dusk (Ansem fight) -------------------------------- approx. 6:30pm

------------------------------------------------

============================
.:: | CLOCK IN GREEN ROOM | ::.
============================

In the Green Room of the Hotel in Traverse Town, there's a clock hanging up above the door that goes *ding* when you hit it enough times. It is originally set on 9:35, but when you whack it with the Keyblade the time is altered. With one hit, it goes to 10:00, then 11:00, and when it hits 12:00, it *dings.*

The trend continues, and every time you abuse the defenseless clock, the time skips ahead one hour. It then *dings* at 6:00, and at 7:00, you get a treasure chest. Pretty nifty, no? But there is also a meaning behind this (I think).

• The *ding* at 12:00 probably represents revisiting all of the worlds at The End of the World. You know, when you beam into the 'world', pulverize a few heartless, maybe nab a treasure, then beam right back to The End of the World. There's no other big significant event that occurs at this time that I can think of.
• The *ding* at 6:00 represents the coming of the final battle against Ansem.
• The treasure chest appearing at 7:00 represents beating the game.


It's just a bit of fun symbolizing. Obviously, you don't have to understand the concept of the *ding*ing to get the treasure chest. Most people just bash the clock, get their treasure, and leave, not particularly caring about the specific times that it *ding*ed at.

The *ding*ing fits in with the Hotel Painting timeline: ------------------------------------------------
DAY 1
6:30am (Midsummer Dawn/Destiny Islands)
DAY 2
12:00pm (Midday Jungle/Deep Jungle)
DAY 3
7:00am (Bald Mountain -7:00am-/Chernabog fight)
9:35am (Green Room clock default time before you whack the hell out of it)
10:00 (Whack!)
11:00 (Whack!)
12:00pm *ding*(dawdling around The End of the World)
1:00 (Whack!)
2:00 (Whack!)
3:00 (Whack!)
4:00 (Whack!)
5:00 (Whack!)
6:00pm *ding* (18:00 in the Past -Time Flies-/Destiny Islands)
6:30pm (The Autumn Dusk/Ansem fight)
7:00pm Do-do-doo-doo-do! and a treasure chest! (You win the game!!)
--------------------------------------------------

============================
.:: | GIZMO SHOP | ::.
============================

When you first get to Traverse Town, the Gizmo Shop's clock displays a time of 12:00. Then, after you make way for Atlantica, it freezes at 6:54. Why? Because this time foreshadows a main point of the game--your fight against the skirt-wearing evil-itized Riku a.k.a. Ansem a.k.a. Xehanort's heartless a.k.a. the Ansem the Wise imposter a.k.a....oh, forget it! XD

The original time the Gizmo Shop clock displayed, 12:00, means Sora's arrival at Traverse Town. In other words, it's when he left Destiny Islands, when Day 2 began (at 12:00 midnight).

Here's how the Gizmo Shop clock fits in the chart with the Hotel Paintings:

----------------------------------------------------

• Midsummer Dawn (Destiny Islands) ------------------------------- approx. 6:30am
• *new day starts* (original Gizmo Shop clock time) -------------------- 12:00am
• Midday Jungle (Deep Jungle) -------------------------------------- approx. 12:00pm
• *new day starts* --------------------------- 12:00am
• frozen Gizmo Shop clock (Riku fight) ---------------------------------- 6:54am
• Bald Mountain -7:00am- (battle against Fantasia boss) --------- 7:00am
• 18:00 in the Past -Time Flies- (back to Destiny Islands) -------- 6:00pm
• The Autumn Dusk (Ansem fight) ------------------------------------ approx. 6:30pm

------------------------------------------------------

============================
.:: | OTHER CLOCKS | ::.
============================

So far, I've focused on a few clocks in Traverse Town and some Hotel Paintings. However, there are a gazillion OTHER clocks in Traverse Town, and plenty of time keepers dotting other worlds as well.

I figured out an 'order' for every clock to be found in the game, but I don't feel like making a chart of it 'cause: one, most of it is probably meaningless; two, my fingers hurt; and three, I'm lazy. Cut me some slack--there's over twenty clocks in the game. Twenty! So anyway, instead, I listed the locations of the other clocks in the worlds.

TRAVERSE TOWN
Traverse Town is the mother-load of clocks. It's ridiculous how many there are! One in the Item Shop, two in the Dalmatian's House, one above and one inside the Gizmo Shop, one in the Green Room, too many to count in Geppetto's house.... Go ahead, I dare you to try to find others.

WONDERLAND
When you're falling in the first cutscene of this world, a clock on the wall displays a time of approximately 10:08-ish. Once you've landed, you can see the White Rabbit's clock in the rabbit's hole, claiming it's 7:00. (Sora must have been falling for an awfully long time, or else Wonderland's time is really screwy!) A clock in the bizzare room claims it's 9:00.

DEEP JUNGLE
This world has two clocks, one outside the Tent and one inside. Plus, there's the Hotel Painting in Traverse Town to represent it--Midday Jungle.

ATLANTICA
How can there be clocks under water?! Well, there's one in Ariel's Grotto, but it's probably water-logged. =P It says its 4:58.

NEVERLAND
Uh, duh. Giant somewhat-disfunctional Big Ben quad-clock. All of the clocks read 12:15 except the one defective one that claims it's 11:45. That incorrect time is probably Phantom's fault. (Phantom is the optional boss battle fought at Big Ben. He manipulates time and is a pain in the arse to beat!) After you defeat Phantom, the clock says it's 12:00, except for one that has 7:27 as the time (that defective one acting up again).

LIST OF WORLDS WITHOUT CLOCKS
The following worlds don't have any way to tell the time of day:

• Olympus Coliseum
• Agrabah
• Monstro
• Halloweentown
• Hollow Bastion
• The End of the World

In other words, most worlds DON'T possess clocks. This is probably due to the fact that some of them technically can't. Did ancient Greeks have clocks? No. Would the inside of a whale have a clock? Geez, I hope not.

============================
.:: | KINGDOM HEARTS 2 | ::.
============================

The second Kingdom Hearts game doesn't go as in-depth with the clocks as the first game does. I'll briefly discuss it in this section.

The only clocks I could locate in the game are as follows:

Cogsworth (from Beast's Castle)
is obviously a clock himself. His mustache makes the hands of the clock. The time he displays is either 3:40 or 8:15. (Most likely, it is 3:40, since the other clock of Beast's Castle (in Beast's Room) reads 3:00.) It's the same time that he displays in the Beauty and the Beast movie, so it probably has little relevance.

Twilight Town
Every single clock here displays 10:10 for the time. This is generally considered a "default time" in watch commercials, so maybe the time has no importance. But yeah, ALL OF THEM say 10:10. The clock in Roxas's bedroom, the clock at Central Station, the clock at the Station Plaza, the clock in the Mansion Dining Room... This unchanging time could be there to emphasize the fact that Twilight Town is enshrowded in continual twilight. Who knows?

Timeless River
There's a clock in Mickey's House that either says 11:05 or 1:55. The big hand and the little hand are the same length, so it's impossible to tell them apart.

As you can see, KHKHII has fewer worlds with clocks. So there isn't really much to analyze. This may be due to the fact that a lot of the worlds CAN'T have clocks. Land of Dragons can't have a clock because...well, there weren't clocks in ancient China. The same situation applies for Pride Rock, Olympus Coliseum, Agrabah, etc.

============================
.:: | DONE, FINALLY | ::.
============================

That's all, folks! I hope I've enlightened you a little bit, if not confused you entirely. And to answer a few questions: YES, it took forever to find the clocks (like a needle in a freakin' haystack!!); YES, completing this theory took a long time; and YES, I know I have no life. Thank you.

KHshortfuse helped during information gathering (hunting down clocks, figuring out the 'order' of things, instructed how to read military time XD, etc.).

dragonwind15 (me :D) organized the info, made the Web page, and wrote everything down in a comprehensive (?) manner in order to share the theory with others. To contact me, send an e-mail to dragonwind15@yahoo.com. I'd love to hear opinions, criticism, spelling error observations, anything. ^^ Be mature; no junk mail please. Be forewarned, I rarely check my e-mail. >_>;