[DesCoteaux-Complex]

So as we all know, Nobodies have no hearts.
But what I want to ask is... is this only metaphorical or do they really not have a physical heart? Or any other organs for that matter. I don't know what spurred me to think of this, it was something in-game...

Anyways, discuss.

[Vaerli]

I always thought they were something like Flame Haze, if you've ever seen Shakugan no Shana. They just have their outside form, and then inside is just mass, or whatever.

[Sorkairiku]

I'm pretty sure the "heart" they speak of is the spiritual (or magical or whatever) heart. I don't know about you guys, but I don't feel emotions with my blood pumping organ.

And technically, since Nobodies are the bodies left behind, they should have all their organs. How else could they eat ice cream?
Heartless, on the other hand, are just gooey(?) masses of darkness with a captured heart (again, spiritual) inside.

Of course, the Nobodies must lose something, because when you kill them they just disintegrate. Again, this is probably because of the magical loss of a magical heart, and the fact that the game wouldn't be child-friendly if they actually "died" like normal people.

Then, of course, there's Sora. I don't know what he was made of during Chain of Memories, while his body (Roxas) was out elsewhere... but I guess he's just special like that.

[Grassy]

This is one of those real word vs KH mythos issues.

There's never going to be any discernment between the heart as the essence of the person and the blood pumping organ in the series. You're just thinking too literally.

Still, I think this calls for a quote from Nomura:

–What is the definition of a heart in Kingdom Hearts?
Nomura: It is the theme of the series. To explain it simply, a person has a body, a soul, and a heart. As an image, the soul is the life source, without it a person would be dead. Since the heart doesn’t have a form, memories play an important part in forming a heart. Also, the heart isn’t limited to people, but to all things. I tried to explain this concept to Disney, and they merely said that it must be an Eastern way of thinking. It may be interesting how overseas players think of it.

If anything, think of it as more of a metaphysical concept.

[7Knight-Wolf]

I usually just think of it like this because that's what I really believe, in a non-physical, oragns-disincluded way:

Soul: the spiritual next-life god-link
Body: the passion, luster of immediate wants, short-term, seat of personality
Heart: the center of deep meaning, logic, delayed gratification, steers away from the body and toward the soul.

I also connect these three nonphysical elements with the parts of the brain. I need to brush up on my science, I know...but I remember from studying the human brain that the "Pleasure Center" is the part of your brain that calls for immediate needs and wants, a sort of survival-programmed part. When the brain is stressed, the "Pleasure Center" is isolated from other parts of the brain that control delayed gratification and deeper meaning. That's literally why you can't think when you're stressed. A human is in its most powerful state when all parts of the brain are connected: passion, logic, and deeper meaning.

So by way of thinking, nobodies live in a perpetual state of isolated brain. They have souls, but they are not connected to it, and they don't have hearts to tell them any deeper meaning. Fpr nobodies, the body is the boss, and it lusts only for survival and power.

However, this makes no sense at all considering that a few nobodies, like Axel, have clearly shown a deep emotional attachment to another person (Roxas). This would not happen if a nobody truly lived isolated from deeper meaning. So my theory shoots itself in the foot...unless of course, we say that Axel managed to be reconected with his soul enough to deeply love another being.

[Denizen]

So as we all know, Nobodies have no hearts.
But what I want to ask is... is this only metaphorical or do they really not have a physical heart? Or any other organs for that matter. I don't know what spurred me to think of this, it was something in-game...

Anyways, discuss.

I don't even think the original characters of the series have actual organs. I mean, has anyone except for Elizabeth Swan even bled in the series? Grassy's quote is really the most relevant to the series, and pretty factual seeing as it's a quote from the man himself. I totally lol'd at "Eastern thinking." Alas, there really isn't a 'discussion' to be had here. I guess that there must be some remnants of a Heart for Nobodies to remember what it was like to be human, but I doubt that they have anything close to a complete Heart.

[Neo Hartless]

I think the heart you're speaking of alreadu]y classifies in the "Body" category.

[Video Gamer]

I think that the nobodies do indeed have physical bodies. Organization XIII, the most human-looking of all nobodies, probably have all the same organs that we do, too, since their powerful souls were able to remain on the physical plain of existence and create a body around itself.

Let me explain.

Like the rest of you, I believe that all the characters in the Kingdom Hearts series are basically composed of three parts:

Soul/mind: Where rote memory, logic, and basic thoughts reside
Heart: Where emotions originate
Body: What we think of as "the body."

When a character is killed by a Heartless and the character's heart is taken, the body dies, and the soul escapes the body.
Due to the Darkness involved in the process, however, the body is transformed into what we know as The Heartless today. The newly-created Heartless is only the Body that was left behind. The Darkness that holds the now soul-less and heart-less body together forces it to go after other beings with Hearts, in an eternal search for it's original heart.

The soul, though...that's where things get sketchy.
I think that seeing the soul is impossible, just like it is in real life. I think that the soul is more or less a ghost, and it might follow the Heart that was taken from it, or it might go somewhere else entirely. Keep in mind that it DOES NOT "pass on," because otherwise, when Kingdom Hearts is sealed and all worlds are restored, the Heart will have nothing to return to. When Kingdom Hearts is sealed and all worlds are restored, I think the Soul and Heart recombine and create a new, identical Body to the one that was left behind, thus restoring the character to their original status.
As to the many forms of "pure-blood" heartless, I think they are created out of multiple bodies.

Anyway, obviously there's going to be an exception for Nobodies.
Nobodies, I believe, are a combination of a Body (not necessarily the original) and a Soul, usually a very strong soul.

Souls have the ability to recall their human forms and create bodies for themselves based on these memories. However, the strength of the soul determines just how well that body will resemble it's original form. This is why ALL the nobodies have humanoid forms. However, only the most powerful souls are able to recall enough of their original forms to make themselves resemble themselves, and thusly have the ability to think, talk, walk, etc.
Weaker souls do not embody themselves into Nobodies, maybe because they cannot recall their original forms, or maybe because they simply don't wish to.
Also keep in mind what Nomura said: It's possible for ANYTHING to have a heart. Maybe a "heart" is only a combination of the emotions, feelings, and connection one has with the world, and a "heart" is created for other objects/animals whenever something dramatic happens around it.
Maybe that's how the "Door-Heartless" in Beast's Castle was created: The door, for some reason, has a lot of emotion attached to it, and the Heartless took that emotion, and the Darkness transmorgified the door into the heartless we know.
What do you guys think?

[7Knight-Wolf]

Hey video gamer, doesn't Ansem Report say that Nobodies and Heartless have souls? I'm pretty sure he disguises between the three, but then, it's been a while since I've read them. (That's the Secret Asnem Report, I mean.)

[Video Gamer]

You mean the Ansem Reports in Kingdom Hearts II?
I honestly don't remember, but since I'm re-playing the game right now, I'll make sure to read them extra careful.

[7Knight-Wolf]

You mean the Ansem Reports in Kingdom Hearts II?
I honestly don't remember, but since I'm re-playing the game right now, I'll make sure to read them extra careful.

Oh good! Why don't you post the results here so we can all see and discus it. I'd love to read all the reports again but I'm so insanely busy with college!

[Video Gamer]

Alright. I'll edit this post as I find them.