What is Kingdom Hearts about?

[Gangstalker #32194]

Mickey and Goofy team up with Final Fantasy characters to fight something called The Darkness but I'm a little hazy on the details any further than that

 

[Chainsaw Man]

Ten years have passed since the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard with Master Xehanort. On the sleepy little world of the Destiny Islands, the trio of friends – Sora, Riku and Kairi – dream of leaving their world and going on adventures. They get their wish in a most unfortunate way, as a man in a brown robe tells Sora that their world has been “connected” and is attacked by black creatures known as Heartless. Kairi mysteriously vanishes when she is thrown by a blast of wind into Sora and Riku invites Sora to come with him and that they shouldn’t fear the darkness because it is their way to other worlds. Sora on the other hand resists the siren’s call of the darkness and calls upon a fabled weapon to fight back – a Keyblade.

However, his efforts are for naught as the Islands are still consumed and Sora is tossed to a world for those who have lost theirs – Traverse Town. There Sora encounters Leon, Yuffie, Cid and Aerith – survivors from another world – who tell him about the Keyblade. How it can open any lock, how it can vanquish the darkness, but at the same time the Heartless crave it and will continue to hunt Sora and his strong heart so long as he carries it. Sora then also meets Donald and Goofy, servants and pals of the now King Mickey Mouse, who came to find a keyblade wielder to help save the worlds. Sora, Donald and Goofy decide to travel together and try to help the worlds and search for Sora’s friends along the way.

As they journey to different worlds, they learn of a plot by the villains from many worlds uniting to capture the Princesses of Heart – seven maidens without darkness in their hearts – and of the man named Ansem who once studied the Heartless before being consumed by the darkness himself. Sora reunites with Riku only to find that his old friend is much more cold hearted and antagonistic towards Sora, mocking him for abandoning his friends to run around with Donald and Goofy with his shiny new keyblade. Meanwhile, Riku has been searching for a way to help Kairi, who he has found with the aid of his new ally – Maleficent, the leader of the villains – only Kairi is trapped in a coma without a heart.

This confrontation comes to a head at the world of Hollow Bastion, former home world of characters like Cloud, Leon, Yuffie and Cid and their once ruler Ansem, who experimented with Darkness and eventually unleashed the Heartless on the worlds. Riku confronts Sora and proves that he has the stronger heart and thus takes the keyblade away from Sora. Donald and Goofy likewise abandon Sora because they are under orders to follow the Keyblade Wielder. Sora chooses to persevere regardless of having a weapon, and finds his way into the castle where he confronts Riku once more. Riku laughs at Sora’s pathetic attempts and attempts to strike down his former friend but Goofy blocks it saying that while he would prefer not to disobey King Mickey, he refuses to abandon his friends either. Donald then joins them as well, and using the strength of his friends to bolster his heart Sora wins back the keyblade.

Riku in a panic flees and stumbles upon a brown robed man in the deep halls of Hollow Bastion. The cloaked figure explains that in order for Riku to succeed, he must give in completely and open his heart to the darkness and forges his own keyblade using the hearts of the six Princesses of Heart gathered thus far. Sora arrives and Riku explains that Kairi’s heart is trapped within Sora and that he will use his Keyblade to open Sora’s heart and take it so that Riku can open the Door to Darkness to find Kingdom Hearts. Riku reveals that he is no longer Riku but Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness. Sora manages to defeat Ansem-Riku, but then decides to use Riku’s keyblade on himself to free Kairi’s heart. Kairi awakens just in time to see Sora vanish and turn into a Heartless. Fortunately, Kairi is able to call Sora’s heart back from the Darkness and return him to normal.

Now all that’s left is for Sora, Donald and Goofy to travel to the End of All Worlds and face off against Ansem a final time. They defeat him at the gates of what they believe is Kingdom Hearts, but is actually the Door to the realm of darkness. There they find Riku and Mickey who help to close the door and seal it once and for all. Kairi and Sora share a final goodbye as the worlds consumed by Darkness begin to rebuild themselves and Sora, Donald and Goofy depart once more to find Riku and King Mickey.

1.5) Chain of Memories​

Sora, Donald and Goofy’s journey to find the King and Riku takes them to a world steeped in darkness known as Castle Oblivion where they encounter the black hooded figures known as Organization XIII. The Organization explains that Castle Oblivion holds the answers that Sora seeks but in order to find them he must forget. Unsure of what that means and spurred on by his resolve, Sora begins to climb the Castle floor by floor with each taking the shape and form of a world he had previously visited. With each floor however, Sora’s memories begin to change. His lucky wayfinder, given to him by Kairi, Sora now claims was given to him by a girl he had completely forgotten back on the Destiny Islands named Namine. In truth, Namine is a girl described by the Organization as a “Witch” that has power over Sora’s heart and is being used to rewrite his memories so that he serves their purposes.

However, things are not that clear cut within the Organization as it is revealed that the small number that occupies Castle Oblivion are actually a splinter group that seeks to take control of Sora and overthrow Organization XIII proper. One member of the Organization named Axel is one by one either eliminating the traitorous members or is allowing them to be destroyed.

Sora meanwhile continues his journey through the Castle. He is confronted several times by what he thinks is his dear friend Riku, but is infact a cloned duplicate created by members of the Organization. The Clone Riku further fuels Sora’s determination by mocking his attempts and claiming that he and not Sora will be the one to protect Namine. Sora’s drive becomes so volatilely single-minded that he even lashes out at Donald and Goofy when they begin to question the changing nature of Sora and his memories. Ultimately, Sora defeats Marluxia – the leader of the splinter group – and finds Namine who profusely apologizes for what has happened to Sora. She explains everything and her part in the plan. That she had been dismantling the chains that connect everyone to Sora’s heart, causing him and them to forget about Sora. However, she says she can rewrite Sora’s memories to the way they were and reconnect all the chains inside his Heart. The trade-off being that it would take nearly a year to do it all and Sora would have no memory of what happened inside Castle Oblivion. Torn between losing Namine, and remembering the others, Sora eventually agrees and is sealed within a chamber to sleep.

Meanwhile, in the basement of Castle Oblivion, Riku awakens from slumber after having drifted here following closing the Door to Darkness. He begins his own journey down through the lower floors of the Castle where he confronts other members of the Organization whose battles with Riku are recorded as data that is utilized to create the Riku Clone. However, his greatest challenge comes in the form of facing off with the spectre of Ansem that still lingers within Riku’s heart and forced to face the darkness within him. Along with Ansem is a red-clad man who calls himself DiZ, who demands that Riku pick a side: Darkness or Light. With Namine’s help, Riku realizes that just because he uses the Darkness does not mean it has to control him, that it’s as much a part of him as the Light and that he mustn’t fear it. Riku’s awakens to using the powers of darkness and light to defeat the Ansem within himself and rejoins King Mickey, donning the same black coats as the Organization uses to travel through the Darkness, on their journey. They meet with DiZ on the road who claims Riku has chosen the path to dusk, to which Riku smiles and responds that it’s not dusk, it’s the road to dawn.

1.5) 358/2 Days​

At the same time that Riku and Sora are navigating Castle Oblivion, another story is taking place within Organization XIII. This story is about a young man who has the power to wield the keyblade named Roxas, member number 13 of the Organization. Roxas was found by the Organization is a world called Twilight Town that rests on the border between the Light and Darkness, there he was discovered and given his name by the leader of Organization XIII: Xemnas. Xemnas explains to Roxas that he is a Nobody, the physical form left behind when a person becomes a Heartless, and that Roxas in particular is special because he is a Nobody that can wield a keyblade because he is Sora’s Nobody created when Sora became a Heartless to save Kairi in Hollow Bastion.

Roxas is tasked by the Organization to carry out missions to eliminate Heartless with the keyblade which will release the Hearts and cause them to form Kingdom Hearts which the Organization will use to create new hearts and become whole people once more. While out on his missions, Roxas befriends a fellow Organization member named Axel who joins him on daily post-mission ice cream sessions.

As time passes, a handful of members from the Organization are picked to carry out a special mission in Castle Oblivion, with Axel among the numbers. With so many of the Organization going, Roxas is paired up with a mysterious fourteenth member: Xion. The two work together to carry out missions that reveal that Xion too can wield a keyblade & Roxas eventually sees her face which appears as a black-haired incarnation of Kairi. The two begin to share post-mission ice cream just as Roxas had with Axel and they become close friends. Not shortly after that, around the time Sora’s memories are being reconstructed by Namine, Roxas falls into a deep sleep.

When Roxas awakens, he discovers that all the members of the Organization that went to Castle Oblivion save Axel are dead. However, as Sora’s memory reconstruction proceeds under the watch of Namine and a red-clad figure named DiZ who have relocated the sleeping Sora to Twilight Town, Roxas’ own memories of his past existence begin to stir as well. Xion is beginning to have doubts about herself as well after a confrontation with Riku where he proclaims her and her keyblade to be a fake. Riku suggests that if she wants to be real, she should leave the Organization and merge with her true self. Xion turns to the Organization in search of answers and learns that she was created as a clone of Roxas using stolen leaked memories from Sora so that the Organization had a backup in case Sora proved uncooperative or useless to Xemnas’ plans. Xion’s appearance resembling Kairi was in fact due to Sora’s strong memories of Kairi, but now that Namine has begun to weave the memories back together, Xion begins to take on the form of Sora more and more. However, Xion’s appearance also changes from person to person. For instance, Xigbar – the nobody of the former Radiant Gardens guard, Braig – sees Ventus whenever he looks at her. Others just see a hooded figure because they don’t view her as a person. Faced with this truth, Xion flees Organization XIII.

The story comes to a head when Roxas and Xion confront each other once more. Xion – now taken on Sora’s appearance completely – has become fixated on becoming a whole and real person, and seeks to consume Roxas to do so. However, Xion’s true plan is to get Roxas to put an end to her existence and free her from her torture but knowing neither he nor Axel would do so willingly, she forces them into a confrontation. Ultimately, she perishes and allows herself to be absorbed into Roxas and thus halts both Sora’s memory restoration by trapping her stolen memories within Roxas and Xemnas’ plans. With Xion absorbed within him, Roxas gains the ability to wield a second keyblade and he sets off on a mission to fulfill Xion’s last wish: free the hearts being used to form Kingdom Hearts. On his way, he confronts Riku who has been sent by DiZ to bring Roxas in. Roxas defeats Riku and forces Riku to unleash the full power of his inner darkness on Roxas, transforming his body once more into the form of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Using his full power, Riku manages to defeat Roxas and bring the Nobody to DiZ who digitizes him into a virtual version of Twilight Town so that they can force the trapped memories out of Roxas and back into Sora. The story ends with Roxas talking with a trio of kids – Hayner, Pence, and Olette – as they make plans for the final days of their summer vacation.

2.0) Kingdom Hearts II​

The prologue of Kingdom Hearts II follows the final week of Roxas’ existence in the Virtual Traverse Town. He is confronted by Axel who is under orders to try and bring him back or barring that not working, just destroy Roxas to free Sora’s remaining memories. Either way, Xemnas wishes to have a tool to finish Kingdom Hearts. Roxas – completely unaware of his true existence and only possessing the fake identity DiZ implanted into him – struggles to maintain his grasp on reality as Sora’s restoration nears completion. At one point, his heart actually contacts Kairi’s, triggering her to remember Sora after forgetting him for a year and convincing her to begin her own search for Sora. Namine attempts to interfere by hopefully convincing Roxas to willingly go with the plan by explaining that Nobodies shouldn’t really exist and that by merging with Sora, Roxas wouldn’t be destroyed – he’d become whole again. Roxas however rejects this as he believes himself to be his own person. However, Roxas is ultimately tricked by DiZ and Riku, who has now become so steeped in his own darkness that he only remembers himself as Ansem, into activating the final step and merging with Sora.

Sora awakens along with Donald and Goofy in Twilight Town with no memory of anything beyond the events that occurred at the end of Kingdom Hearts. With no other leads beyond a mysterious entry in their journal to ‘Thank Namine’, they set back on their mission to find Riku and King Mickey. It turns out that King Mickey is right there and offers them aid in dispatching a group of low ranking nobodies – Dusks – before ushering them onto a train with a promise of meeting again soon. Sora and his friends then ride the train to the tower of Master Yen Sid, Mickey’s former master when he was training with a keyblade, where Sora bumps into Pete. Pete is a former resident of Disney Castle before he was banished by King Mickey and joined forces with Maleficent. However, it appears that he is quite behind in the news since he is unaware of Maleficent’s destruction a year ago. Sora, Donald and Goofy scare off Pete and his heartless minions before meeting with Yen Sid who explains that Sora is needed to travel across the worlds once more and protect them from both the heartless and the nobodies. However, no sooner than they leave it is revealed that Maleficent has resurrected herself and is out for revenge.

Over their travels, Sora and his pals learn about Roxas and Organization XIII as well as Maleficent, Pete and their new Heartless army. The journey comes to a head when Hollow Bastion, now renovated into a thriving township by Leon and his gang, discover the laboratory of Ansem – not the one that they defeated a year prior but the real Ansem. It would seem that the Ansem that ruled over Hollow Bastion when it was a thriving city known as Radiant Gardens was Ansem the Wise. The Ansem that Sora fought a year ago was in fact the Heartless of Ansem the Wise’s apprentice – Xehanort or more precisely Xehanort in Terra’s body – who simply stole his mentor’s name. It’s revealed that just as Ansem was Terra-Xehanort’s heartless, he has a Nobody too: Xemnas, leader of Organization XIII. The real Ansem the Wise has been missing for some time. Xemnas however has his own plans in Hollow Bastion where he descends into the depths of the laboratory to a room dubbed The Chamber of Repose where he speaks to an empty suit of armor as if it were a dear friend – Aqua’s armor.

Meanwhile, Axel has been trying to bait Sora into becoming a heartless so that Roxas can be recreated. To drive Sora towards the Darkness, he tries to capture Kairi who escapes with Pluto through the Corridors of Darkness to Twilight Town only for Axel to find her there and bring her back to their Organization’s headquarters.

Sora, Donald and Goofy set out to stop the Organization once and for all. Revisiting world by world until one-by-one they defeat the members of the Organization until finally they are ready to take the battle to Organization XIII’s world – The World That Never Was. They battle through the city and into the floating fortress of the Organization where Sora is finally reunited with Kairi and Riku. They also learn that Roxas and Namine were Sora and Kairi’s nobodies from the times they lost their hearts in Kingdom Hearts. Kairi helps Riku regain his true form. Sora and his friends battle and defeat the remaining members – including Kairi with her very own keyblade – of the Organization until only Xemnas remains. DiZ and King Mickey are trying their luck to destroy Kingdom Hearts by digitizing the hearts that comprise it, and it is revealed that DiZ was actually Ansem the Wise all along. Ansem the Wise tells Mickey to rejoin Sora and the others just before his machine explodes and takes a large chunk of the artificial Kingdom Hearts with it.

The group finally battles Xemnas and defeats the Organization once and for all. Sora, Riku and Kairi are all returned to the Destiny Islands to celebrate. Shortly after however, a bottle with a note bearing the mark of King Mickey arrives on the shore of the island.

 

[AnsemSoD1]

You're CORRECT!

 

[Nick Gars]

"Sora, make sure you defeat Xemnos, and the Darkness, and the No Ones. One day, we will know what the fuck Kingdom Hearts is."

"It's like a... door or something, I don't know. Goofy, stay with us!"

"It's no use Sora, his heart is going through the door of darkness. Soon he will be a... Darkness and his brain will be No One? I don't know."

"Remember this Sora, 358 over 2 days. Goodbye... Sora..."

"Goofy... What does that mean? Three hundred fif- wha-what does that mean? Tha FUCK does that mean?!"

"No one knows Sora. No One knows."

 

[Meat Target]

Mickey and Goofy team up with Final Fantasy characters to fight something called The Darkness but I'm a little hazy on the details any further than that

That's all you really need to know. The rest is details.

 

[Ibanez RG 350EX]

That's all you really need to know. The rest is details.

Unfathomably stupid and poorly-written details.

 

[Yourmissingsock]

It is a game for children, it doesn't matter what it is about.

 

[AnsemSoD1]

Sora fucked a toy and BEEBEOP EPEWOEOAECEBWVOFQRIPEWRFONKWPERQDEFVIOWDRNKQEFOIWKRd I SEXY ASNDREW DTATE TSISIS SFCERY SECYC HAOL @Bargain Bin Laden SORA FUCKED ANIMALS AND CUCK TTIEME SEXY CUCK TIME BOISYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSCDAEVTWRWFCVGERVWFEWDCF SSS DEATH SEBTENCEC BY NDR MATHEW C HARRIS IS SEXY

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

That's all you really need to know. The rest is details.

He didn't even get into the important things.

A long time ago this one black cloaked dude called the Master of Masters, or Mom for short, had six apprentices. They all have nothing going on up there brain-wise and are all basically hard baited by Mom to make a Keyblade War happen. The only two that are important are named Luxu and Ava. Ava, was tasked with making another remote faction to flee once the war started to the world outside and is the only one who questioned Mom. She gave her faction, the Dandelions, a Book of Prophecy that tells the future to betray Mom.

Luxu is the other one, given Mom's Keyblade No Name with his eye embedded in it. He's to pass down No Name to an apprentice and him to his apprentice so on and so forth. Mom also gives him a black box that he can never open. A literal mystery box. However, maybe it's not a box at all. Maybe it just looks like a box. Maybe it's not even black. Maybe it just looks like a black box to the naked eye and is something completely different otherwise. Maybe it's not even real or even present when you look at it. (Yes this is actual lore. I am not making this up.) Anyway, Luxu basically drives the rest of the events of the series by using this body swap move to jump from body to body, using them as his vessel to extend his own lifespan. Something he later teaches Xehanort to do. Anyway, we don't find that out until Kingdom Hearts 3.

The Dandelions wake up in a virtual world after the Keyblade War and one of the five of them is supposed to not be a Dandelion leader. One of them is...a murderer! Dum dum dum! The murderer killed Marluxia's (yes that one) sister, Strelitzia and Skuld, Ephemer, Brain, and Ventus (Jesus Christ these names) have to help him find out who. Turns out it's Ventus. He's possessed by Darkness. Turns out Darkness is a person and there's 7 of them roaming around. Well they can't let any of the Darkness's escape so it turns out You the Player, trap a few of the Darkness's in between worlds and blow everyone up in the fake world while Skuld, Ephemer, Marluxia, and Ventus flee to the real world. Brain meets up with Luxu to get his own way out by trading his body. You find out the rest of the Keyblade wielders you nuked with yourself all merge with their stuffed toys and become the Dream Eaters from Dream Drop Distance. Which on a side note is hilarious in DDD when you grind them into fucking dust, permanently killing them for materials. Yeah turns out they were all once living people who are just sleeping. Anyway....You, the Player however are reincarnated into Xehanort.

At least until it's retconned to be Xehanort's parent because everyone made of fun of Nomura for being retarded. Don't say it wasn't a retcon - we all know better.

 

[Agent Abe Caprine]

That's all you really need to know. The rest is details.

Did you forget how important sea salt ice cream is to the plot? Especially the plot of 358/2 Days? Not joking. Days is basically just a slice of life action game about three friends who enjoy ice cream. It even ends with one character crying about losing one of his ice cream buddies.

I wish Square would remake Days. It was actually really good by DS game standards. They were working on one until they had to completely remake KH1 because they lost the source code. I want to beat Heartless up with pizzas in glorious HD.

Oh. Forgot something. Darkness canonically has a smell. This wasn't a mistranslation only found in the English version of Chain of Memories.

 

[Party Hat Wurmple]

I wish Square would remake Days. It was actually really good by DS game standards. They were working on one until they had to completely remake KH1 because they lost the source code. I want to beat Heartless up with pizzas in glorious HD.

As someone who played Days I can honestly say:

Spoiler

Go fuck yourself. Absolutely not. Fuck this game. Seriously. FUCK this game. I will not expose anyone to the horror that is Leechgrave or Ruler of the Sky.

Oh. Forgot something. Darkness canonically has a smell. This wasn't a mistranslation only found in the English version of Chain of Memories.

Yeah that was a fun retcon.

 

[AnsemSoD1]

As someone who played Days I can honestly say:

Spoiler

Go fuck yourself. Absolutely not. Fuck this game. Seriously. FUCK this game. I will not expose anyone to the horror that is Leechgrave or Ruler of the Sky.

Yeah that was a fun retcon.

They should have just said characters like Riku and Zexion could sense its "aura", which would have sounded a lot less cringe and gay.

 

[Dysnomia]

Xehanort

Sounds like a deathfat man sneezing and coughing at the same time.