The Story of Kingdom Hearts

[Slimybug]

So as a massive Disney fan, I finally decided to delve in to the 20-year old game Kingdom Hearts. Only to find the story is nigh-indecipherable. So I've prepared a LENGTHY post showing my confusion in the first third of the game alone! And I'm told this is the SIMPLEST story of the games!

Chapter 1: Destiny Islands

Sora, Riku, and Kairi are friends on an island called Destiny Island. They talk about how Kairi is from another town, and how they want to travel to see what else is out there. They talk about “other worlds,” saying things like “If there are other worlds out there, why’d we end up on this one.” This makes it very confusing what they’re talking about. Are they just talking about other places, beyond the sea, or do they already know about the literal other worlds that will factor into this story? I’d like to know more about these characters and the world they already inhabit, and how much they know of the world, or worlds, outside it.Heck, Sora has a mother there that makes a brief voice appearance, only to never be heard from again!

Meanwhile, in a kingdom ruled by King Mickey, the king departs unexpectedly, only leaving a note. “Not sure why, but the stars have been blinking out, one by one. And that means disaster can’t be far behind. I hate to leave you all, but I’ve got to check into it. There’s someone with a “key.” The key to our survival. So I need you and Goofy to find him and stick with him. Got it? We need the key or we’re doomed. So go to Traverse Town and find Leon. He’ll point you in the right direction.”

Okay, so clearly Mickey knows more about what’s going on here, like what this key is and why it’s their salvation, but he doesn’t say, and I’m not sure its ever explained. 

Goofy and Donald get in a “gummi ship” to go to a place called Traverse Town, taking with them Jiminy Cricket. Jiminy says his world has disappeared. So it seems that when a star blinks out, a world goes with it, indicating these worlds are different planets we’re going to be travelling to. Still, Goofy & Donald talk about how they can’t let on where their from to protect the “World Order.”

Then one day on Destiny Island, a darkness overtakes the land, with a giant black orb floating above it. Riku cryptically states “The door has opened. Now we can go to the outside world! Riku wants to step through the orb. But then he disappears, and suddenly Sora has a giant sword in his hand shaped like a key! Then he too gets absorbed into the black hole.

 

Chapter 2: Traverse Town

Goofy and Donald witness a star go out just as the darkness consumes Sora’s world.

Sora wakes up on a new world called Traverse Town. So if this darkness is what’s destroying worlds, why did it transport Sora somewhere else? And Riku too, apparently. Riku wasn’t talking like the world was being destroyed, just like they were going somewhere. So is it a destroyer of worlds aor a transporter? And when Sora appears in Traverse Town, he says “I’m on another world,” like he immediately knows he’s been transported to another planet, not just somewhere not his home (see the opening paragraph as to why this is confusing.) In fact, when he asks Cid the store manager if he’s in another world, Cid says “Not sure what you’re talking about, but this aint your island!”

Sora sees those same creatures appear and literally steal a person’s heart before he and Donald and Goofy all run into Leon and his friends, Yuffie and Aerith. So here’s the explanation, right?

They tell us the creatures are called the Heartless, and that they are attracted by the darkness in everyone’s heart. They tell of a man named Ansem who was studying the Heartless and wrote down a report whose pages have been scattered all over the worlds. King Mickey is apparently looking for these pages. Meanwhile, the keyblade is a weapon against the Heartless that chooses its master, having chosen Sora.

So...There’s some species that are randomly attacking worlds, and some guy from somewhere who was studying them, who Mickey somehow heard about and decided to chase down his notebook pages across the world, while instructing Goofy and Donald to go after the guy who has a special weapon, giving them 1/10th of the information he knew about it? And he knew about all of this how? And do Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith, know about all this? What more can they tell us? Who are they (I know they’re from Final Fantasy) and how do they know Mickey? Mickey actually told Donald & Goofy to find Leon, because he would point him “in the right direction” to find the Keyblade. But near as I can tell, they all, (Donald, Goofy, Leon & co.) find Sora completely by accident. Sora doesn’t ask these questions, of course.. But because he is the keyblade wielder, Donald & Goofy ask him to come with him looking for the king.

So the basic story for now is that Sora is travelling from world to world with Donald and Goofy, them looking for the king, him looking for his friends. Just randomly looking in entire planets.

Also, Merlin appears in Traverse Town, saying he’s been asked by the king to teach Sora magic. Meanwhile, we get a scene showing that a collection of Disney villains are somehow behind the darkness/Heartless, led by Maleficent.

 

Chapter 3: Travelling worlds

While in Wonderland, Sora sees Alice, but she mysteriously disappears. He then finds a special keyhole that he sort of instinctively points his keyblade at, firing a laser-like beam into it.

In Tarzan’s jungle, Sora once again finds a keyhole and shoots a laser into it. We then cach a glimpse of the Disney villains saying that the boy remains “blissfully unaware of our other plan.” Wait, were we supposed to be aware of their first plan? I thought the Heartless were just randomly destroying (or not destroying?) worlds.

So Sora goes back to Traverse town and only NOW do Leon and the others tell him that these keyholes are found in every world, leading to the heart of the world. The worlds are separated from each other, but opening the world's keyhole will allow other beings to enter.These are what the Heartless come through, and that Sora can lock them to prevent the Heartless from coming through and destroying the worlds.

Riku then shows up, with no explanation of where he’s been or what he knows, and promptly vanishes again.

The FF characters then tell Sora about Maleficent...sorta. They say she’s a witch who’s been “using the Heartless for years,” and that she’s the reason they lost their world. Doesn’t really explain anything, but okay.

They do at least mention that Ansem was actually the ruler of their world. Maleficent, meanwhile, has Riku by her side, spying on the group, seeing that Sora’s *gasp* with other people, meaning he must have replaced Riku, and just like that he’s apparently on her side...Doing what, I don’t know. But Sora seals up Traverse Town’s keyhole.

 

Jafar and Maleficent appear saying this world will be theirs as soon as they find the keyhole (because the Heartless will be able to take it over???), but they need all 7 princesses of heart to open the final door. Whatever that all means. Still not sure what these two are using the Heartless for.

Sora seals the keyhole in Agrabah, but Jasmine, one of the seven princesses, is kidnapped by Riku. In return, Malfeicent shows Riku Kairi and tells him to go to her.

The team gets swallowed by Monstro-in-space. Riku shows up and tries to kidnap Pinocchio, saying he can help Kairi, who has apparently lost her heart (???). Riku goes to Hook’s ship where Kairi is, comatose. Maleficent says the Heartless took her heart, but he can help her by helping them find the 7 Princesses of Heart, to open a door to the Heart of all worlds.

Well, that finally explains what Maleficent’s plot is, a bit. But it doesn’t seemt to have anything to do with the Heartless attacacking and destroying worlds. However, Maleficent seems to have the power to control the Heartless, which she gives to Riku.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Slimybug

[Crazycrab]

I was on another forum once and somone there tried to explain Kingdom Hearts... and my brain started to melt from the heat!  It seems weird say that a franchise with characters from Disney children's films is more complicated than the Saturn V Rocket that took man to the moon, but it totally is!

[Slimybug]

Riku says he sides with the Heartless because “they obey me now.”

Wait, so he thinks the Heartless stole Kairi’s heart, so he takes the power to control them from Maleficent? Wouldn’t it then seem to him like Maleficent’s the cause of all these shenanigans, if she can control the creatures that are causing all the problems? And shouldn’t he be able to put her heart back then, if he controls the creatures who took it? Also, doesn’t he realize they’re still destroying worlds? Couldn’t he stop that if he wanted to? 

Obviously, Maleficent is lying to Riku, and they truly want to collect the 7 Princesses of Heart to open the gate the Heart of All Worlds for their own purposes. I just still don’t understand if Maleficent has caused all this, or is merely taking advantage of it.

Okay, so just to sum up some of the points, and reiterate what I’m confused on.

The Heartless are attacking worlds, destroying them in the end. Only the weilder of the Keyblade can close the keyhole to each world and save it from the Heartless. Sora has that Keymaster.

Maleficent and her group of villains want to kidnap the 7 Princesses of Heart and use them to open a gate to the Heart of all Worlds. For what purpose, we don’t know. But they’re PROBABLY the ones who took Kairi’s heart to begin with.

My main question remains, is Maleficent the cause of the Heartless’ attacks, or is she just taking advantage of it? She now appears to have the power to control the Heartless, which she gives to Riku.

Chapter 4: More Worlds

Sora arrives on Captain Hook’s ship just in time to see Riku take Kairi’s comatose body to Maleficent’s home base of Hollow Bastion.

At Maleficent’s headquarters, there’s a new keyhole, or at leat a key-shaped hole, ready to open a portal to the world of the darkness (the master-force of the Heartless) by using the seven princesses of Heart. Maleficent finally details a bit of her scheme: Just as she’s been using the Heartless, she will use the power of the Heart of Worlds to rule all worlds.

Unfortunately, Kairi (the seventh princess)’s lack of heart means she can’t contribute to opening the portal. (so I guess it wasn’t Maleficent who took her heart. So how did that happen again?)

To make things even more complex, Riku is now visited by a mysterious being who tells him to give himself totally over to darkness, which he does, transforming him. When he tells Maleficent to do the same, she becomes her trademark dragon, battling our heroes.

When she dies, Riku reveals the Darkness were using HER (...I guess by somehow manipulating her into opening the gate to the Heart of Worlds?). 

Riku is now possessed by Ansem, the true villain, who tells Sora to give Kairi back her heart because her heart is in HIM. (okay, HUH?). He tries to take Kairi’s heart by killing Sora. Sora defeats him and stabs himself with the keyblade to give Kairi her heart back.

Sora goes back to converse with his friends, who say that the darkness is coming out of that keyhole, so he just needs to seal it. (but wait, how is this gate open when the bad guys trying to open it this whole time?) Sora returns to Hollow Bastion and seals the keyhole. Should be the end, right? But the darkness is growing somewhere else, somehow, wherever Ansem is.

Chapter 5 - The End of the World

Sora tracks Ansem (why is he a bad guy again?) down to a new world, goes through a random door and fights Chernabog,

He then fights Ansem, who spouts some absolute nonsense about how the core of all worlds, Kingdom Hearts, is made of darkness, but Sora says it’s made of light….Okay. This making sense to anyone? Long story short, Sora defeats Ansem, but there’s a literal door that has to be closed to keep the Darkness away. They close King Mickey and Riku (who, remember, was bing possessed by Ansem) behind it. 

Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi, but for some reason, Kairi is transported back to Destiny Islands, and Sora is not. So now they need to find a way BACK to Kingdom Hearts to save Mickey and Riku.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Slimybug

[killamch89]

11 hours ago, Crazycrab said:

I was on another forum once and somone there tried to explain Kingdom Hearts... and my brain started to melt from the heat!  It seems weird say that a franchise with characters from Disney children's films is more complicated than the Saturn V Rocket that took man to the moon, but it totally is!

I've said this in multiple threads - trying to explain the Story of Kingdom Hearts is the equivalent of trying to calculate the size and proving it. It's downright impossible - I've played almost every Kingdom Hearts game and nearly 2 decades later and I still can't explain the basic plot point of the series.

[HowHammerYou]

The KH series is a perfect storm of "I didn't have a long-term plan for making this a series" colliding with "Hey this was successful, we want you guys making more of these games regularly". The sheer amount of fluff that was jammed into the storyline is never more obvious than when you consider that there was a gap of 14 years between the release of KH2 and its sequel KH3, but we were getting new KH games roughly every 2-3 years during that gap. Even though I love KH:BBS, I really do wish the handheld games had never existed due to the irreparable damage they did to the overall story.

Anyhow I got what I wanted out of KH3 (Roxas and Xion finally being freed), so I'm done with the series unless they make another game where Roxas is the main character.

[Clasher]

5 minutes ago, HowHammerYou said:

The KH series is a perfect storm of "I didn't have a long-term plan for making this a series" colliding with "Hey this was successful, we want you guys making more of these games regularly". The sheer amount of fluff that was jammed into the storyline is never more obvious than when you consider that there was a gap of 14 years between the release of KH2 and its sequel KH3, but we were getting new KH games roughly every 2-3 years during that gap. Even though I love KH:BBS, I really do wish the handheld games had never existed due to the irreparable damage they did to the overall story.

Anyhow I got what I wanted out of KH3 (Roxas and Xion finally being freed), so I'm done with the series unless they make another game where Roxas is the main character.

I want a game from kingdom hearts where Roxas is the main character. I don't bother with trying to explain the plot or how the game has transitioned over the years that would be a rather unsuccessful journey as the game itself is a chaotic mix and only a jedi with super human strength can decipher.

KH3 is satisfying but I wouldn't proceed further into other KH game unless as you stated Roxas is made the main character.