Alternative Time

Since I posted the other two I minds well add this one. o-o Please move or delete if it's in the wrong spot or too much.



Now that I’ve explained Xehanort’s method lets explore the other ones. We know that Xehanort’s power isn’t the only single version of time alteration. We’ve seen many others. The one most pointed out by fans is Timeless River but others exist too.

First and foremost let’s start with the most complicated one;

The Realm of Sleep



As Yen Sid explains the Realm of Sleep has no real flow of time. Instead worlds within this realm have a flow of a dream. They relive their memories.
This offers a rather unique setting. Regardless of what point in your own history that you enter this realm your effectively in a place outside times standard flow once in.

The only issue is the odds are that if your or your world is trapped within sleep then so are you. Worse yet your likely now a heartless or flung to God knows where upon your worlds fall into darkness and sleep.

Either way in this realm time is all but nonexistent.

Although time still seems to exist in some form for beings aware they’re in a dream such as Sora, Riku and TWEWY gang with their hand timers. The world is trapped in a dreams flow but these people aren’t.

Times between worlds
This one is detailed in an exchange between Riku and KHVerse’s version of Joshua:



Simply put each world has it’s own time axis. Similar to how our own real world has varying time zones. Sometimes that time frame is close, sometimes it’s vastly different.

Time in the Realm of Darkness



This one is explained by Nomura:

link-http://khcorner.tumblr.com/post/150134341085/at-one-point-in-khii-ansem-the-wise-escapes

Basically put. Time in the Realm of Darkness is slower thus Aqua barely aged in there.

Timeless River



The poster boy for confusion over the topic second only to Xehanort.

Whether you think of this as a “special world” which Yen Sid calls it, the past which Goofy discovers it to be, or something similar to the past worlds we met of Mickey in KHDDD it’s honestly a lot more simple to explain.

It’s just bluntly a different form of time travel. The door used to reach this world is a very unique one, there’s only two. Exactly how it works or why it exists in-story are unknown but honestly it’s just a ploy for Nomura to use this era of Disney as a level.

It makes even more sense when you take into account Merlin. I dont know how many of you have seen Sword in the Stone but in it Merlin (he’s from this movie) is a time traveler. He can come and go as he pleases.

This world is calling back to that as it’s Merlin who knew of the second door and how to summon it. A special time door found by a special time traveling wizard.

Xehanort’s Time Travel

I already covered that in another thread but his time travel basically boils down to a temporal loop or paradox. Either term works. It's not meant to make sense it just kinda exists with no real clear point of origin or end since this loop is what creates the history Xehanort can't alter.

Magic



This is a form of time alteration you see all the time. Time spells. Everyone from Sora to the mighty Yen Sid know this power.

Yen sid’s power over it was so great that he was able to send Sora & Riku back in time to when the Destiny Islands fell to darkness. Although it is clarified in-game that Yen Sid was only able to perform this level of feat because he sent them to a point in time which Sora & Riku existed.

Meaning even though Yen Sid has the power to send you into the past he is still limited by the rule of a version of you already existing there.

Merlin also has magical powers over time. It was thanks to him and the three fairies using their time magic that Lea was able to train and awaken a keyblade so shortly.

Welp that covers it for Kh’s various uses of time so far. Hope you enjoyed. Now excuse me as I hibernate from deep KH lore again for nearly a year. Spending too long in it feels me full of negative feelz. 8D