This is something I think about every once in a while and finally decided to make into a post, but it is so fascinating the way kh media characterize Ansem and Even as Ienzo’s parents. Like everything just has Ansem’s level of parenting seemingly begin and end at eating ice cream with Ienzo while Even seems to have done the actual childcare? There are a few lines saying that the other apprentices helped out, but these two are the only ones really directly called parents by Ienzo. I guess the other apprentices didn’t really have the same impact on Ienzo as those two did and thus he didn’t really form a similar bond with them, making him view them less as dads and more as just his occasional babysitters.
And this leads to the question of what exactly is Ansem doing that leads to him barely being there for his adopted son? Like yes he is both the king and a scientist, but like what could even be happening with Radiant Garden that involves him to have that many royal duties? The science front is even stranger because he has 5 other guys, including aforementioned son and co-parent, to help out with it, so like is he just really bad at time and work management?
So then what is Even doing during this time? Before Xehanort showed up, it seems like he was the apprentice who was mainly doing the research, yet as mentioned he also seemed to do most of the watching over Ienzo, including teaching him. Ienzo doesn’t have any memories of his parents, so he probably lost them when he was pretty young and likely got adopted around that time too. Unless Ienzo became an apprentice right off the bat, which honestly does seem like something Ansem would do as he does tend to make questionable choices but also that would be pretty ridiculous so I’ll give him the
benefit of doubt and say he didn’t, there were at least a few years where Even probably didn’t have him tagging along during research. If that’s the case then I guess Even just did like 50/50 split as Even doesn’t seem like he would half ass his duties, whether it be research or childcare. Once Ienzo becomes an apprentice it was probably easier since Even could just bring him along during research as part of his training. Both of these would explain why Ienzo scampers off so often as he probably had ample opportunities to sneak out when things were especially busy.
Undeniably there was a pretty big gap in the amount of parenting Even and Ansem did. They also have a fun parent (Ansem) and serious parent (Even) thing going on, with Ansem being fun to be around but not there that often and Even being stern but still very caring. Ienzo doesn’t seem to hold anything against either of them as parents. The closest he has to anything resembling a grudge is calling Even a “devious researcher” in that one scene, but that’s it really
as it doesn’t come up again.
I don’t even have a clue what went on parenting-wise once Ansem got sent to the realm of darkness. It may have been business as usual except with less ice cream and completely immoral research, instead of questionable light and darkness research. Going off of where they were lying when they were turning into Nobodies it does seem like Even tried to protect Ienzo from getting stabbed so he did seem to still care about his well-being.
That’s about all I really have to say. Sorry this is kind of a dumb mess, this was just something I was thinking about and wanted to type out. Obviously the answer to all of this is that these are just background details that we’re not meant to think about too deeply, at the moment at least things could change later who knows, but help to flesh out the series’s characters and world, which is a neat thing to have.
Had some thoughts about extremely minor Kingdom Hearts details
#Vexen #Zexion
