edited by Skitts Skittery and Toki
There are many worlds, but they all share the same sky.
One sky, one destiny…
Boy has happy life at home, yet wishes to leave. Boy is forced to leave, separated from anything he was once familiar with. Boy is assigned quest as protector of the light and wielder of the Keyblade. Boy saves worlds while looking for his friends. Boy finds friends, but things are not what they once were. Boy meets the face of evil and defeats him, closing the door known as Kingdom Hearts. But boy has not yet opened the door to the light, his goal is not yet reached.
But the storyline of Kingdom Hearts is not that simple.
“I’ve been having these weird thoughts lately…
Like, is any of this for real? Or not?”
The story opens with the main character, Sora; he is falling in a dream. He suddenly stops and opens his eyes to see he is on his island. Not far off, we see a boy standing in the ocean, whom is later to be addressed as Riku, Sora's best friend. Riku's calm attitude as the tidal wave approaches and knocks Sora away parallels the later events of the island being destroyed. Sora surfaces from the wave and wades to shore to meet Kairi, the mysterious girl who washed up on their island all those years ago. Kairi points and Sora is horrified to see himself falling from the sky. He then proceeds to fall from the ground where he is standing. His falling from Kairi shows separation and she is helpless to stop it.
“Nothing’s like before…”
From a strange, dark abyss, a mysterious voice allows Sora to choose his weapons and learn to fight, eventually coming face-to-face with an enormous creature that he cannot defeat. A voice tells him that he should not be afraid, that he will open the door. Sora's fate has been predetermined and he does not even know it yet. He falls into the darkness.
Waking on the beach, Sora is confronted by Kairi and Riku, who are both excited about building a raft that they hope will let them explore new worlds. As a day full of gathering supplies for the raft wears on, the trio gathers on Paopu Island to discuss their plans. Insight into Riku's character is evident as he wrestles with the feelings in his heart. Riku feels that the three friends could have easily wound up somewhere else, playing with thoughts of destiny and fate. His yearning for such knowledge makes him more passionate than his two comrades, who seem content with the idea of an adventure. Kairi is displayed as a bouncy, young girl and Sora as a naïve teenager; Riku's intellectual difference could be due to his older age or simply his personality.
The teens call it a day, but before leaving Riku tosses Sora a paopu fruit and explains that if two people share it their destinies become intertwined forever. Sora is caught off-guard with Riku's playful nature and discards the fruit, taking Riku's words as a joke.
The following morning, Sora once agaisn finds himself on a mission to find supplies for the raft. He enters a cave, once his, Riku, and Kairi’s “secret place,” and is approached by a figure in a dark robe. The stranger proceeds to taunt Sora and reveals mysterious clues. Sora doesn't really understand what he is told and characteristically brushes it off once the figure disappears.
Later in the day, Sora and Riku race for the privilege of naming their completed raft. Riku raises the stakes and announces that the winner will also share a paopu with Kairi. Once again weirded out by Riku's comments, Sora goes into the race slightly unbalanced. After the race is over, Riku says that he was kidding about the paopu fruit and that Sora should lighten up.
Clearly, the boys' competitive spirits shows through. With a history of childish rivalry, the competition changes as Riku is raising the stakes for something more adult. Maturity has changed Riku's ambitions, and Sora finds that he no longer shares all the same interests. This troubles Sora, but once again he shrugs this feelings off.
As this sun sets on the island, Sora and Kairi sit on the docks pensive about the journey they will soon start. Kairi remarks that Riku has changed and suddenly suggests that she and Sora should leave alone on an adventure. She quickly admits she was kidding, a little bemused by her true feelings. Baffle by her thoughts, Sora believes that Kairi is the one who has changed.
That evening, a storm approaches, provoking Sora into leaving his house to check on the rafts. Upon reaching the island, Sora notices the creatures he had fought in his dream, but is powerless against them. He runs to Paopu Island where Riku is standing. Riku explains door is now open, and that they can look for other worlds. In an errie dejavu of Sora's dream, Riku extends his hand out for Sora to take it.
The boys are both enveloped in the darkness before Sora can reach Riku's hand. Sora wakes up back on the island; Riku does not. Riku chose darkness from the beginning and allowed it to carry him away. Sora, on the other hand, chose light and the Keyblade went to protect him from the darkness. The light itself gives Sora that weapon. With the ability to hack into the shadow creatures, Sora runs to find Kairi in the secret cave, while fighting off the shadow creatures. He finds her there, but something is different. The unknown door in the cave opens, flinging Kairi into Sora. Before he can catch her, though, she disappears and seems to pass through him.
The wind from the door knocks Sora out of the secret cave and onto what is left of the island. Sora must once again fight the huge shadow creature from his dream. Before dealing a final blow both are sucked into a huge vortex in the sky.
Meanwhile in another unspecified world, Donald Duck and Goofy find a letter left behind by their king, Mickey Mouse. He tells them that stars are blinking out and that the worlds are in danger. They must find someone with a key to their survival. With good wishes from Minnie Mouse and Daisy, the strange knight and ill-tempered mage set off to Traverse Town to find Leon and begin their search for the key. Pluto also joins them as a stow-away. The mystery behind Mickey and his part in this game is not revealed.
Donald and Goofy arrive in Traverse Town and begin their search. Simultaneously, Sora is dropped into the streets of the world as well. He is eventually “captured” by Leon and Yuffie, two humans who have also been stranded on this world. They take the unconscious Sora to a hotel. Upon waking, Sora mistakes Yuffie for Kairi, showing that her safety is his main priority. He is corrected by the spunky ninja who, along with Leon , explains about the Keyblade.
At the same time, Aeris, a woman with long brown hair and pink dress, finds Donald and Goofy and takes them to an adjacent room in the hotel and explains what she knows about their quest.
A scene is played out switching between the two hotel rooms, revealing more and more about the Keyblade. Turns out that the creatures after Sora are called Heartless. They are tracking Sora by his heart. As the Keyblade Master, they both fear and wish to control him. Also mentioned, is a man named Ansem, who was studied the Heartless and wrote detailed reports on them. It is thought that King Mickey went to find these reports in order to find a way to defeat the Heartless. Sora is told that he was chosen to be the master of the Keyblade and that the Heartless would continue to hunt him until they had the weapon. He wonders about what has happened to his home. No one has an answer for him.
Sora is now set as the reluctant hero in a foreign world. He follows Leon out of the hotel in order to hack through some Heartless. On the way, Donald and Goofy come crashing down onto him from a balcony overhead. The two are in awe once they see Sora possesses the key. The three cannot be formally introduced as they are forced to exterminate a huge Heartless that seems to be the leader in Traverse Town . Working together they defeat the Heartless, restoring some marginal order to the town.
Sora is convinced by his new allies to go on a ship with Donald and Goofy to visit other worlds. He is bribed to go with the two by promises of having a better chance at finding his friends. Their tone of voice states that they think it unlikely that Sora will ever see his friends again, the boy is convinced. He joins the king’s warriors on their journey.
A scene plays and we see and variety of Disney villains watching Sora and his new comrades. They identify him as the wielder of the Keyblade, the one to defeat the darkness. These nemeses seem to be using this darkness to benefit themselves, but more on them is revealed later.
Back in Traverse Town , Sora, Goofy and Donald prepare to leave. Once they have entered the Gummi ship, they begin heading to new worlds. Sora fights the Heartless and locks keyholes. By locking keyholes, the world is safe from the heartless trying to get in to destroy the world. He also notices that young girls, starting with Alice in the wonderland world, are taken from their worlds. At this time, he has no idea why or where they hail from.
One of the important people Sora meets is Cloud, while battling at the coliseum. Cloud is employed by Hades in return for help in finding someone. It’s suggested that he is looking for Aeris, one of the only other FFVII characters in the game, but Tifa or Sephiroth are also likely candidates. Tifa is not seen, but Sephiroth does make an appearance. In the final mix of the game, Cloud and Sephiroth meet up and have a massive battle, the outcome of which is not revealed. What is noticeable, however, is the single black wing emerging out of Cloud's left shoulder blade, and an identical black wing out of Sephiroth's right. Many theories of fallen angels, partners in destiny et. al. have arisen from the unexplained and corresponding appendages.
There the Disney villians are shown again, poking fun at Clayton, a now perished hunter from a world Sora visited and closed. They reveal that they are working on a plan involving “princesses” who are falling into their hands one-by-one. Alice shows up scared; she is one of those whom the villains are collecting.
After locking a Keyhole or two, Sora and crew head back to Traverse Town to get a Navi-gummi installed on their ship so they can venture to other worlds. They also run an errand for Cid, the gummi ship go-to guy, and deliver an ancient book to an old mage named Merlin. Sora has another flashback of Kairi while in the old cave, but he quickly realizes that she is not really there.
Once the trio resurfaces, Riku appears, who is slightly shocked that Sora has been up to so much. The sword that he carries is never explained, although he may have obtained it while looking for Sora and Kairi. The Keyblade weilder invites Riku to tag along, but Donald won’t allow it. Sora argues, but the older boy has vanished by then. Sora shrugs it off and goes to find Leon and the others. Sora's nonchalant attitude after seeing his friend seems a little out of character. He simply walks off once his friend has disappeared, content in finding him alive and well.
Riku notices Sora's seemingly uncaring attitude as well. Maleficent points it out to him when the two watch Sora inside the old house with his new friends. Maleficent tells Riku that his friendship has merely been replaced, convincing him to join her. Riku seems very strong and independent, but he becomes upset at the thought of Sora replacing him. Riku's inclination towards the darkness is apparent from the time he lets it take him from the Destiny Islands.
Inside an old house, Leon and Co. explain that their world was destroyed several years ago and that the ruler of their world was Ansem. They make it clear that Ansem was a good man and that finding his reports on the heartless are essential. They also warn Sora of Maleficent. Sora continues on to lock Traverse Town and explore the new worlds which are now available to him.
Shortly after visiting Agrabah, the first new world Sora visits, there is another scene with Riku in the same room as the Disney villains. Riku has taken a part in capturing Jasmine from her home world, and now his wish is to be granted. He sees an image of Kairi laying unconscious and leaves to retrieve her.
Riku turns finding Kairi into another competition with Sora, wanting to beat Sora at his own game. One could also argue that he has a romantic interest in Kairi as well and wants to find her for that reason. However, it seems more likely that the drive behind most of the things Riku does is to get back at Sora and prove he's the best.
The two boys meet again in the belly of Monstro, a giant whale, and Riku grabs Pinocchio, the puppet boy, and runs off. Riku's teasing words claiming to have found Kairi provokes Sora into following him. Once again Riku seems to enjoy irking Sora and pushing him to the limit. Before Sora catches up to Riku, Maleficent visits the older boy and warns him of the darkness in his heart; she asks why he bothers caring about Sora. Riku answers that he doesn't have any feelings for his friend, although his shiftiness reveal that is a lie. Maleficent leaves and Sora enters, furious at Riku. After a series of events, Pinocchio is captured by a heartless. The two boys join forces momentarily to save Pinocchio from the Heartless.
After the Heartless releases Pinocchio, Riku grabs him and reveals that he wishes to use he hostage in order to save Kairi. Riku offers Sora a chance to join him in saving Kairi. Sora refuses and raises his weapon against Riku. The giant Heartless comes back, and Riku dodges out. Sora defeats the heartless alone; Riku is nowhere to be found. Sora still calls for his comrade despite the fact that it has become painfully clear that they are now enemies.
Meanwhile, Riku stands over Kairi's unconscious body, telling her that it won't be long before she is alright again. Apparently, the seven princesses of heart hold the key to open the door to all worlds. Riku gains the power to control the Heartless. Riku's possesion of Kairi puts him ahead of the game he has created. Now that he has found Kairi, he seems to have little interest in Sora. This may have sprouted from jealousy of Sora and Kairi's relationship, which interfered with Riku and Sora's own relationship. Jealousy could fit into Riku's persona quite well, although it is hard to find an exact reason for his behavior. He may simply want revenge for Sora ignoring him back at Traverse Town , or just the need to prove he's the best once again.
Sora continues to travel between worlds, defeating Heartless and locking Keyholes. He meets up with Riku again while aboard Captain Hook's ship in Neverland. He sees that Riku has Kairi, who is in bad shape. Sora chastises Riku for siding with the darkness. Riku brushes it off and sends Sora down into the holding area of the ship. He commands Captain Hook to make sure Sora goes nowhere near Kairi until they land.
Now that Riku has established his superiority over Sora by finding Kairi and by receiving the power to control the Heartless, he acts different. His bitter actions towards Sora are fueled by anger and spite; he seems to want nothing to do with his once-friend. Riku feels that Sora is nothing more than a immature child compared to himself and wishes to make Sora realize such.
At the bottom of the ship with Goofy and Donald, Sora focuses on his happiness at seeing Kairi instead of Riku's nasty attitude towards him. This says a lot about Sora's character and his ability to perpetually look on the bright side. He finally makes his way to the cabin, where he sees Riku carrying the lifeless girl. He pleads for Riku to stop, but the older boy dissappears, leaving Sora to battle a Heartless version of himself. After all is said and done, Sora finds out where Riku is heading and sets off to find Kair.
The relationship between Sora and Riku has come to a point where neither is looking out for each other's best interest. Previously, Sora searched for Riku and Kairi, whereas now he only seems to care about Kairi. Riku has also proven that all he cares about is Kairi. Both boys could be using her to get back at the other. Or they are so furious at one another that they truly don't care anymore. But the latter is hard to prove as it seems they each (Sora especially) seem to care for each other.
Sora follows Riku to Hollow Bastion, only to be met with a nasty surprise: Riku has injured the Beast pretty badly. When Sora confronts the older boy, he takes the Keyblade. This twist on events leaves many jaws on the floor: the game had led us to believe that there was only one Keyblade Master. Once Riku has taken the Keyblade and left Sora alone with the Beast, the misconceptions of more than one Keyblade Master are resolved.
Riku mocks Sora and throws him a wooden sword, one they had fought with back on the island. Riku's finishing move tries to prove to Sora that he is better. Donald and Goofy are forced to leave with the new Keyblade Master due to the King's orders. Sora's spirit is not broken, (major points in the character department), and he continues on to find Kairi with the Beast at his side.
Eventually, Sora meets up with Riku again and regains his two comrades. They fight and defeat Riku, who runs off. Riku is weak, and meets up with the creepy, hooded figure from Destiny Islands . The hooded man offers Riku more power and, desperate to defeat Sora, Riku accepts. Accepting candy from strangers is a bad idea, true, but Riku is driven to the point of needing to beat Sora.
Sora fights his way towards Kairi, kicking Maleficent's butt in the process. Maleficent goes towards the inner-chamber, gasping for breath; Riku sees her and offers help. Sora and Co. arrive, getting a good view of Riku's new toy. Not only does he sound different, but he has a Darkblade as well. This type of Keyblade is a weapon to unlocks a person's heart. As an example, he plunges it into Maleficent's chest, releasing the “true darkness” in her heart. Riku runs off while Sora is left to battle the new dragon Maleficent.
After acquiring burns from his most recent battle, Sora meets up with Riku, who, upon being threatened by Sora for Kairi's heart back, explains that the girls heart resides in Sora.
"...huh?"
Thinking back to the night Destiny Islands was destroyed, remember that Kairi disappeared right before she would have collided into Sora. A "logical" explanation for this whole Kairi's-heart-was-in-Sora-all-along scenario could be that the night the island went “poof“, Kairi was in danger of losing her heart. Instead of simply losing it like anyone else would, she placed it in Sora, who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. This can explain why she moved a little back on Hook's ship when Sora reached to touch her: her heart was near, so she could move.
Anyway, we also find out that Kairi is the final Princess of Heart, necessary to open the keyhole in Hollow Bastion. Riku reveals himself as Ansem, shocking the heck out of Sora. The hooded man was Ansem all along. Riku is about to release Kairi's heart from Sora, but Sora is moved to defend himself upon hearing Kairi's voice. The two boys battle alone and Sora wins. Riku disappears, leaving the Darkblade behind.
Rejoined by Donald and Goofy, Sora thinks of a way to give Kairi her heart back. Spotting the Darkblade that supposedly releases a person's hearts, he decides to stick it in his own chest. As Sora falls, Kairi rises. She runs to catch Sora, but he disappears. The Darkblade disintegrates into the six hearts belonging to the six other princesses. The keyhole was still completed, and the place begins to overflow with Heartless. Ansem appears, excited to see that the final princess has woken.
Ansem tries to call upon Riku and use him to defeat Sora‘s comrades, but he refuses to be used again. Riku yells at Kairi to leave before disappearing. Donald and Goofy force Kairi out of the room, as she is worried about her friends
As they leave, a simple Heartless is spotted. Now able to control this Heartless, it is obvious that this is Sora. The creature chases after Kairi and Co., eventually catching up. The trio recognizes the Heartless to be Sora, and Kairi embraces him as a Heartless swarm approaches, wanting to protect Sora this time. Kairi's hug, combined with her feelings, somehow returns Sora to normal. The four escape Hollow Bastion.
Later, after the four have returned to Traverse Town , Sora explains to Kairi that she had saved him from the darkness back at Hollow Bastion. As the two sit in the waterway, Sora tells Kairi that he was wandering through the darkness and heard her voice. Her voice had led him to her and saved him. Sora also says that he must go and that Kairi cannot come along. She seems all too content with this decision, later remarking, that she is not worried about Riku and that he can handle himself, if you make Sora visit Kairi in the old house.
Hmm, Kairi's obvious interest in Sora and lack of concern for Riku can mean that she actually believes that Riku is okay, or that she doesn't care for the older boy. This ties into her desire for only Sora and her to leave the island all that time ago.
Against Cid's will, Sora departs for Hollow Bastion to seal the Keyhole and to stop the obnoxiously large flow of Heartless in to all the worlds. After speaking to the Princesses of Heart, Sora prepares to seal the keyhole. Before doing so, though, he is confronted by a group consisting of Leon, Aeris, Cid and Yuffie. They explain that once Sora has defeated Ansem, the worlds will be restored, as will the walls protecting the worlds. Simply, they will probably never see each other again as the Gummi ships will be useless. Sora is slightly upset, but closes the Keyhole anyways.
After getting some advice from the princesses once more, Sora sets off for a place known as the End of the World. It is described as the remnants of all the worlds the Heartless have destroyed. Sora fears for his future once Ansem is defeated, but is reassured by Goofy that their hearts aren't going anywhere.
Sora, Goofy and Donald travel through a maze of danger, eventually reaching a place resembling Sora's home. The island soon changes though, and Riku can be seen. Sora and Co. approach him, when he turns around, becoming Ansem. He explains in response to Sora's cries that Riku cannot hear him, his heart is too far away. He continues on to explain about the darkness always defeating the light and of hearts being born of darkness. Of course, Sora stands up for the light and battles Ansem. Sora has to fight Ansem in multiple forms and in many places. Evetually, Sora has weakened Ansem to an extreme.
Ansem, still believing in the darkness, says that the Keyblade is useless against it. He beckons for Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds, to fill him will darkness. Sora defiantly says that Kingdom Hearts is, in fact, light. The door opens and light pours out causing Ansem to disappear, supposedly for good. Sora, Donald and Goofy run to close the door to Kingdom Hearts. They peek inside and see Heartless swarming all over the place. The theory, (though there are many), that seems to be the most accurate about Kingdom Hearts is that it was a door to the light, but the Heartless had somehow taken over and used it as their breeding ground. Kingdom Hearts is probably not really Kingdom Hearts anymore. Either both the light and the heart of all worlds has moved to a new, uninfested location, or the Heartless inside need to be destroyed in order to return the place to its normal state. In any case, Mickey Mouse and Riku are inside, helping Sora close the door. Mickey also has a Keyblade, An inverse replica of Sora's Keyblade in appearance. The two Keyblades are used together to seal the door. Mickey thanks Donald and Goofy for their work in the journey through the worlds.
And as the door to Kingdom Hearts closes, Riku tells Sora one thing:
"Take care of her…"
With the door to Kingdom Hearts closed, the worlds begin to build up their walls once again. Sora turns to see Kairi where the Destiny Islands to be formed. Sora and Kairi soon begin to drift apart, but not before making a promise of never forgetting each other.
As their hands slip away from each other the theme song plays and the Destiny Islands are restored to their former splendor.
After the credits roll, we see Sora, Donald and Goofy walking along a path unsure of where to go next, but knowing they must find Riku and King Mickey. Before long, they spot Pluto with a letter in his mouth bearing the King’s seal. The three chase Pluto down the road, unsure of where there journey will take them next.
"Remember Sora,
You are the one who will open the door to the light."