Background
Feb. 1st, 2013 10:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
inversepsychiatryEven in The World Ends with You, Joshua's full background is never revealed and barely even hinted at. As the Composer, his role is to oversee the Shibuya Reapers' Game and judge the worth of man, but exactly how old he is and how long he's held the position are never touched upon. Some things are inferred though, such as his loneliness from lack of friends or others in general. The Composer is only allowed to interact with the Conductor and the Producer...and only with the Producer to have things commissioned during the Reaper's Game. He also couldn't be perceived by Reapers below the rank of Conductor at his natural level anyway. In addition, it was implied that his ability to see the UG and Reapers' Game even while alive somewhat alienated him from others because it made him so different. If the latter is true, then he wasn't always the Composer of Shibuya and had to have come into the position, likely after dying and entering the Game himself, by defeating the previous Composer. And upon taking control of the Shibuya UG, he got to reshape the rules and so change how the UG worked.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance introduced him almost right from the start, when he witnessed Riku's arrival in the sleeping version of Traverse Town formed from Sora's dreams and greeted him. The fact that the personalities of the TWEWY cast are pretty toned down versions of them at the start of TWEWY, makes it possible that Joshua hadn't killed Neku and something else had threatened the existence of the Players and possibly of the version of Shibuya within the KH universe during the current Reapers' Game...which would then explain Joshua needing to seek a solution away from Shibuya in the first place. Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme all had their existences ended somehow and Joshua had then gathered the remains of their dreams and sought a place to keep them safe. This led him to Traverse Town, which he was able to enter with the help of Rhyme's dreams.
Upon learning that dreams took physical form there, which also gave Neku and the others a form of existence again, he began to think that somehow he could use this to make them whole again. By continuing the Reapers' Game in Traverse Town so that they might win their complete existence again, he sought to accomplish this. There was no risk for him, as the Dream Eaters that were everywhere didn't bother with him, but did the Players which made Traverse Town a good place to test them. He somehow figured out the Nightmares only attacked dreamers, which he found odd didn't include someone like him, who had lots of dreams. But it's likely that his being who and what he was meant he wasn't a dreamer.
Not long after this, Traverse Town was split into two versions somehow, and the Players were separated from their proper partners, intentionally or by accident as a consequence. Joshua, Beat, and Shiki wound up in one version while Rhyme and Neku were in the other. Joshua at this time had thought them to be parallel worlds and simply kept his focus on the matter at hand, needing both to find Rhyme so that he could use her dreams for his Portal and to get the Players back to their correct partners so the Game could be played...though apparently someone else tried to interfere by tricking Beat into trying to take him out in exchange for a ticket home for him and Rhyme.
A short time after this, a new face appeared in the Third District...a boy named Riku who wielded a weapon called a keyblade. Curious because Riku had simply appeared there without the use of a Portal, and seeing the potential of getting some help from him, Joshua greeted Riku and asked about said lack of Portal...which was how he traveled between Grounds himself. He also took the time to explain the fact that there were currently two Traverse Towns, as it had apparently been split in a sense. Then he said he had an errand for Riku, who immediately blew him off because he didn't trust him. Asking him to at least hear him out, Joshua told him that he was looking for Rhyme because she was the key to the Portal. He gained Riku's help by mentioning the possibility that his friend, Sora, might be on the other side and they moved on to the Second District.
Upon being asked by Riku why the Nightmares never attacked him, Joshua responded that it was because they only attacked dreamers, also mentioning surprisingly seriously that it was odd because he had plenty of dreams. As the conversation continued, he revealed that Riku reminded him of someone who said he'd never dreamed of anything but had the most powerful dreams of all, with that person likely being Neku...hinting that they had at least known each other more than passingly before all of this. He then offered to help Riku's dreams take shape as a Spirit Dream Eater that would help him fight.
Almost as soon as the Komory Bat was made, Beat came running up with the intent to take Joshua out. Exasperated, Joshua tried to reason with him because Beat had been tricked by a man in a black coat...alluding to the fact that it also wasn't Beat's first attempt at this, but Beat wouldn't hear it and summoned his Kooma Panda to battle...though the Spirit was more interested in playing with Riku's Komory Bat, much to Riku's confusion and Joshua's amusement. Nightmares attacked in the midst of this and Riku defeated them, along with Beat's Spirit, and Beat was forced to concede defeat. He had only taken what was at the time a glimmer of hope to protect Rhyme. Joshua didn't hold it against him though.
Riku abruptly passed out and fell asleep after that, though neither Joshua nor Beat seemed to notice at the time, and Joshua presumably continued his search for Rhyme alone after this as he wasn't seen again until after Sora defeated the Hockomockey in the other Traverse Town. He found her with Sora and Neku on the roof of the gardens in the Fifth District of that Traverse Town before that and drew her into the Portal for her safety, just as the man in the black coat appeared to them, but didn't interfere with the events immediately after.
Once Sora defeated the summoned Hokomonkey, a projection showing what was happening with Riku, Shiki, and Beat appeared, and Joshua appeared to explain a little of what had been happening to Sora. Everything he understood of the situation, including that the cloaked man was somehow responsible for the state of Traverse Town was explained. Once Riku had defeated the other version of the summoned Hockomonkey, Joshua explained to them together what had happened to his friends and what he was trying to do here, as well as the fact the two of them had played a big part in things. Upon being asked about who he really was, he gave a cryptic answer and flew away.
After Sora and Riku had moved on, he was able to help the Players reunite with their partners and the Game continued, but he had noticed that each of their remaining mission timer counts was different. This led him to seriously rethink what was going on with the two Traverse Towns until he came to a conclusion that they couldn't be parallel worlds and that one or both might be a dream.
When the current mission to defeat the Nightmare, Spellican, was proving too difficult for the Players to handle, Joshua made sure to catch Sora and Riku when they returned to Traverse Town...though it's also likely that he somehow summoned them back himself, asking them to help in destroying the Dream Eater. The Spellican could summon countless powerful Nightmares, as well as pass between the two Traverse Towns at will and so the Players were unable to handle it.
Sora arrived first and, after a short conversation about the nature of the Reapers' Game and what it meant to Neku and the others...as well as whether or not Riku was actually with Sora in which the keybearer remainined perfectly optimistic, Joshua sent him to the Fountain Plaza from where he arrived in the Fifth District to help Neku and Shiki. Then he moved to the other Traverse Town to wait for Riku.
When Riku arrived in the First District, the Spellican had just arrived as well so he also sent him to the Fountain Plaza in order to help Beat and Rhyme...but only after sharing his concerns about the Traverse Towns with him, feeling that it was an important clue for Sora and Riku. Once Riku left for the Fountain Plaza, Joshua returned to Neku and the others, suggesting that they trap the Nightmare in the Third District on both worlds. Neku paused to ask him if they'd really make it home, to which Joshua replied that he thought Neku couldn't afford to lose and that if he gave up on himself he was giving up on the world. Neku thanked him and expressed the desire to see him when they returned home, because they were friends and it was Joshua's home too...leading Joshua to consider that maybe Neku was becoming more like Sora. Then he caught up to Riku, who was pursuing the Nightmare through the Back Alley to tell him the plan before quickly jumping Grounds again and arriving in the Third District with Sora, Neku, and Shiki. Once the Spellican switched worlds again and summoned more Nightmares to be fought, Joshua jumped back to Riku and the others where he dropped in on the conversation from a nearby roof.
They enjoyed a friendly moment before a Keyhole appeared, signaling it was time for Riku to move on again. Joshua delayed him for a moment, reminding Riku of their earlier conversation and warning him to be careful because if it really was a dream it would try to lie to him. He then returned to the other Traverse Town to check on the battle, but unfortunately the Spellican escaped Traverse Town altogether through a Keyhole and with even Joshua unable to fix that, the Players could do nothing but admit defeat. As a non-Player, Sora volunteered to bend the rules for them by chasing the Nightmare down and defeating it in their place, and Neku, Shiki, and Joshua saw him off.
The fact that Traverse Town was abandoned at the end of the game likely means that after Sora defeated the Spellican the mission was cleared and everyone returned safely to Shibuya after completing the Game.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance introduced him almost right from the start, when he witnessed Riku's arrival in the sleeping version of Traverse Town formed from Sora's dreams and greeted him. The fact that the personalities of the TWEWY cast are pretty toned down versions of them at the start of TWEWY, makes it possible that Joshua hadn't killed Neku and something else had threatened the existence of the Players and possibly of the version of Shibuya within the KH universe during the current Reapers' Game...which would then explain Joshua needing to seek a solution away from Shibuya in the first place. Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme all had their existences ended somehow and Joshua had then gathered the remains of their dreams and sought a place to keep them safe. This led him to Traverse Town, which he was able to enter with the help of Rhyme's dreams.
Upon learning that dreams took physical form there, which also gave Neku and the others a form of existence again, he began to think that somehow he could use this to make them whole again. By continuing the Reapers' Game in Traverse Town so that they might win their complete existence again, he sought to accomplish this. There was no risk for him, as the Dream Eaters that were everywhere didn't bother with him, but did the Players which made Traverse Town a good place to test them. He somehow figured out the Nightmares only attacked dreamers, which he found odd didn't include someone like him, who had lots of dreams. But it's likely that his being who and what he was meant he wasn't a dreamer.
Not long after this, Traverse Town was split into two versions somehow, and the Players were separated from their proper partners, intentionally or by accident as a consequence. Joshua, Beat, and Shiki wound up in one version while Rhyme and Neku were in the other. Joshua at this time had thought them to be parallel worlds and simply kept his focus on the matter at hand, needing both to find Rhyme so that he could use her dreams for his Portal and to get the Players back to their correct partners so the Game could be played...though apparently someone else tried to interfere by tricking Beat into trying to take him out in exchange for a ticket home for him and Rhyme.
A short time after this, a new face appeared in the Third District...a boy named Riku who wielded a weapon called a keyblade. Curious because Riku had simply appeared there without the use of a Portal, and seeing the potential of getting some help from him, Joshua greeted Riku and asked about said lack of Portal...which was how he traveled between Grounds himself. He also took the time to explain the fact that there were currently two Traverse Towns, as it had apparently been split in a sense. Then he said he had an errand for Riku, who immediately blew him off because he didn't trust him. Asking him to at least hear him out, Joshua told him that he was looking for Rhyme because she was the key to the Portal. He gained Riku's help by mentioning the possibility that his friend, Sora, might be on the other side and they moved on to the Second District.
Upon being asked by Riku why the Nightmares never attacked him, Joshua responded that it was because they only attacked dreamers, also mentioning surprisingly seriously that it was odd because he had plenty of dreams. As the conversation continued, he revealed that Riku reminded him of someone who said he'd never dreamed of anything but had the most powerful dreams of all, with that person likely being Neku...hinting that they had at least known each other more than passingly before all of this. He then offered to help Riku's dreams take shape as a Spirit Dream Eater that would help him fight.
Almost as soon as the Komory Bat was made, Beat came running up with the intent to take Joshua out. Exasperated, Joshua tried to reason with him because Beat had been tricked by a man in a black coat...alluding to the fact that it also wasn't Beat's first attempt at this, but Beat wouldn't hear it and summoned his Kooma Panda to battle...though the Spirit was more interested in playing with Riku's Komory Bat, much to Riku's confusion and Joshua's amusement. Nightmares attacked in the midst of this and Riku defeated them, along with Beat's Spirit, and Beat was forced to concede defeat. He had only taken what was at the time a glimmer of hope to protect Rhyme. Joshua didn't hold it against him though.
Riku abruptly passed out and fell asleep after that, though neither Joshua nor Beat seemed to notice at the time, and Joshua presumably continued his search for Rhyme alone after this as he wasn't seen again until after Sora defeated the Hockomockey in the other Traverse Town. He found her with Sora and Neku on the roof of the gardens in the Fifth District of that Traverse Town before that and drew her into the Portal for her safety, just as the man in the black coat appeared to them, but didn't interfere with the events immediately after.
Once Sora defeated the summoned Hokomonkey, a projection showing what was happening with Riku, Shiki, and Beat appeared, and Joshua appeared to explain a little of what had been happening to Sora. Everything he understood of the situation, including that the cloaked man was somehow responsible for the state of Traverse Town was explained. Once Riku had defeated the other version of the summoned Hockomonkey, Joshua explained to them together what had happened to his friends and what he was trying to do here, as well as the fact the two of them had played a big part in things. Upon being asked about who he really was, he gave a cryptic answer and flew away.
After Sora and Riku had moved on, he was able to help the Players reunite with their partners and the Game continued, but he had noticed that each of their remaining mission timer counts was different. This led him to seriously rethink what was going on with the two Traverse Towns until he came to a conclusion that they couldn't be parallel worlds and that one or both might be a dream.
When the current mission to defeat the Nightmare, Spellican, was proving too difficult for the Players to handle, Joshua made sure to catch Sora and Riku when they returned to Traverse Town...though it's also likely that he somehow summoned them back himself, asking them to help in destroying the Dream Eater. The Spellican could summon countless powerful Nightmares, as well as pass between the two Traverse Towns at will and so the Players were unable to handle it.
Sora arrived first and, after a short conversation about the nature of the Reapers' Game and what it meant to Neku and the others...as well as whether or not Riku was actually with Sora in which the keybearer remainined perfectly optimistic, Joshua sent him to the Fountain Plaza from where he arrived in the Fifth District to help Neku and Shiki. Then he moved to the other Traverse Town to wait for Riku.
When Riku arrived in the First District, the Spellican had just arrived as well so he also sent him to the Fountain Plaza in order to help Beat and Rhyme...but only after sharing his concerns about the Traverse Towns with him, feeling that it was an important clue for Sora and Riku. Once Riku left for the Fountain Plaza, Joshua returned to Neku and the others, suggesting that they trap the Nightmare in the Third District on both worlds. Neku paused to ask him if they'd really make it home, to which Joshua replied that he thought Neku couldn't afford to lose and that if he gave up on himself he was giving up on the world. Neku thanked him and expressed the desire to see him when they returned home, because they were friends and it was Joshua's home too...leading Joshua to consider that maybe Neku was becoming more like Sora. Then he caught up to Riku, who was pursuing the Nightmare through the Back Alley to tell him the plan before quickly jumping Grounds again and arriving in the Third District with Sora, Neku, and Shiki. Once the Spellican switched worlds again and summoned more Nightmares to be fought, Joshua jumped back to Riku and the others where he dropped in on the conversation from a nearby roof.
They enjoyed a friendly moment before a Keyhole appeared, signaling it was time for Riku to move on again. Joshua delayed him for a moment, reminding Riku of their earlier conversation and warning him to be careful because if it really was a dream it would try to lie to him. He then returned to the other Traverse Town to check on the battle, but unfortunately the Spellican escaped Traverse Town altogether through a Keyhole and with even Joshua unable to fix that, the Players could do nothing but admit defeat. As a non-Player, Sora volunteered to bend the rules for them by chasing the Nightmare down and defeating it in their place, and Neku, Shiki, and Joshua saw him off.
The fact that Traverse Town was abandoned at the end of the game likely means that after Sora defeated the Spellican the mission was cleared and everyone returned safely to Shibuya after completing the Game.
