Kingdom Hearts

Gaiva · Fri Dec 29, 2006 12:32 am Kingdom Hearts::. Character/Story review

Kingdom Hearts or KH I begins on the Destiny Islands where 3 friends along with some other children hang out and interract with each other. The Destiny Islands is composed of 3 islands: 1. The mainland, 2. The islet where the children go to play and 3. a smaller island with a paopu tree on it that Kairi, Riku and Sora often go to and sit out to watch the ocean.

The three main characters the story folds around are Sora, Kairi and Riku. Sora is the main hero and he is a friendly, though somewhat naive boy. He has a great heart and is very caring and compassionate. He sometimes gets a bit jealous of Riku but they are also the strongest of friends. Kairi is a girl who appeared on the islands at about the age of 7 years old and she was adopted by the mayor of the Destiny Islands. She is friendly and gentle and has a pure heart, which means a lot later on in the tales. She also likes Sora and Riku and the three have formed a special bond. The two boys sometimes compete for her affections, which she does not seem to mind much. Riku is the last of the three and he becomes the anti-hero of the series, though at first meeting him you'd never guess why. He is calm and strong and seems to also be down to earth. Ironically, the names for the 3 - Sora, Kairi and Riku, are in meaning symbolic to 'air', 'water' and 'earth', respectively.

The children of ages 14-15 enjoy each other's companies on the beach tropical island setting and do things such as wandering the island, playing games and sparring. Three other children frequent there with them which are Wakka, Tidus and Selphie. Wakka and Riku are both 15 while Tidus, Sora and Selphie are 14. Often, Riku is seen as the best at nearly everything but despite this he seems to be more of a tutor and is humble, not arrogant, as he plays around with them. Wakka is often seen as an older brother sort of person there, and so is Riku. Sora spars and does pretty well against them and can sometimes seem to pull out some victories on Riku, who when he loses he just shrugs and waits for the next time. Riku playfully teased Sora, who he knew had a thing for Kairi (as did he) that he should give her a Paopu Fruit because the legend was if you shared a Paopu Fruit with someone, your futures were intertwined from that moment forth. Sora resigned to not do this and tossed it.

Riku, Sora and Kairi wished to journey away from the islands; especially Riku, who seemed motivated because he knew Kairi was from elsewhere. Kairi had no memories of her life before Destiny Islands and no one was exactly sure how she got there. Riku was bored with his life there and sought the answer to comprehending where it was Kairi had originated from. The three children built a raft together, though it seems Riku did most of the work. The other two set up preparations so that they could leave the following day.

Sora first is dreaming. The dream is very vivid to him and it shows that his friend Riku seeks him to join him in the water, but a giant tidal wave is about to take him under. Sora tries to get to Riku but the two get separated. He then is ashore and sees Kairi but he then looks up at a vision of himself falling into the water and looses his balance, falling into the water and far below, and Kairi searches for him. The dream tells him to not be afraid of the Darkness and to keep hope.

It is important to note that there is a historic scene where Sora and Riku are seemingly around 8 and 7 years old, and Kairi had been taken to the mayor's home to reside. They were in the Secret Cave and Riku mentions that he wants to explore farther than what their islands have to offer. Sora seems neutral and maybe for it but they both agree they want to go meet the new girl and talk to her. Sora departs the cave and as he leaves, Riku, who is now alone, turns to face the doorway in the cave and it glows. This suggests that Riku may have had contact with forces such as Xehanort prior to anyone's knowledge.

The two boys later that day have a race since Riku wants to name the raft they have made, but so does Sora. Depending on who wins, the raft is named for what they wanted. Riku also tossed in to the wager playfully that whoever won could give Kairi a Paopu Fruit to share with her. Whether Sora wins or loses, Riku tells Sora that he was joking about that and to not take him so seriously. Kairi does a countdown and determines the winner. Later, Sora goes to the cave and though he is shy, he draws a Paopu Fruit with chalk from his picture to Kairi's in a symbolism he gave it to her. After this and some gathering of items for the journey from Sora, the children head home.

Sora later is awakened as his mother calls him down for dinner but as he looks out his window, he can see a massive storm brewing over the islet where he had been earlier and he was worried about the raft, so he went out to see if it was alright.

Sora arrives at the islet from a small rowboat and looks around. He finds odd creatures that seem to be unaffected by anything he can toss at them; his first encounter with Shadows. He runs to the raft and there finds Riku, who tells him to be unafraid of the Darkness. Sora takes Riku's hand and Riku ends up vanishing after being wrapped in darkness tendrils. Sora reappears on the beach and finds a new weapon to use that actually does damage to the Heartless; the Kingdom Keyblade.

Sora enters the Secret Cave where he, Riku and Kairi would draw images on the stone walls with chalk. Notable is a picture of Kairi and Sora facing one another, that the opposite person drew. The door glows as Sora enters and a man in a brown cloak who later is identified as 'Ansem' (or Xehanort for those who know of his taking Ansem's name) tells Sora that the Door is Open. Kairi is standing by the door and and turns very hallucinagenically towards Sora and calls out his name. Her heart enters Sora but through much of the game, he does not realize this. He is blown out of the cave as the door opens fully.

Sora uses the Keyblade and fights many Heartless but this effort is nearly in vain as a giant Heartless shows up and literally is tearing the island apart, consuming it. He defeats this foe but the world is gone and Sora is sent once again into a dreaming state as darkness overtakes him and he struggles against it.

He awakens in Traverse Town, which is an area where it seems all travelers go to whose worlds were consumed by the Heartless. This town seems to have fragments of buildings from other places, but mainly later turns into Hollow Bastion. The people here are plagued by Heartless that are known by Leon to have been delivered there by Maleficent.

In another region, just prior to Sora ending up in Traverse Town, Donald and Goofy discover that the King (Mickey) has taken off to investigate things and that he needs their aid. The castle is worried and the two take off to try to discover his whereabouts. They turn up at Traverse Town. As Sora awakens, by Pluto (The King's trusted dog) licking his face, he gets up and wanders. He encounters Leon, who is a man who lost his world and is determined to try to stop the Heartless from taking others if he can, Yuffie, and Aerith. They inform Sora that he has the Keyblade and the Heartless will stop at nothing to get to it and him. They are drawn to it, but it also can destroy them. As he goes to leave in search of Riku and Kairi, he gets dropped on from above by Goofy and Donald. They all agree that if they work together, they can find the King and his two friends so they form an alliance.

Going back a bit in time to Riku's predicament. Riku awakened in Hollow Bastion, on a floating iceberg. He stood up and looked around, searching for Kairi and Sora, and hoping that they had come with him. It was apparent that Riku unlocked the door to Destiny Islands and connected it to the other worlds and thus, to the Heartless. He did not realize his error was so great but it was going to become apparent. Soon, Maleficent found the boy, since she had taken over the great technological wonder that was the castle there. She told Riku she would help him find his friends, but she knew she was going to use the boy, who was the true Keyblade Master, to unlock Kingdom Hearts and the Door to Darkness. She took him to Traverse Town, where she was sure at least one of the two would be, since survivors of worlds went there. Kairi was not to be found, but Sora was there. Maleficent unleashed Heartless on the realm, but Riku was oblivious to this. She told the boy that his friend had new friends now and did not need him anymore. Riku went to go see Sora briefly, and cleared out some Heartless that were going to attack him. Sora was elated to see his friend and asked if Riku was going to join them. Donald however was insistent he not go. Sora basically tried to calmly explain but when he turned around, Riku was gone.

Riku met back with Maleficent while Sora went to talk with Aerith, Leon and Yuffie again on the mission he needed to do to stop the Heartless and gather information from Ansem the Wise's notes. He would also have to lock world's doors to the Hearts of the planets so that the Heartless could not take them completely. Riku watched outside with Maleficent as she explained he had new friends and Riku's friendship would go unappreciated now. Riku then set out to try to find Kairi, upset his friend Sora was not going to go with him. Maleficent ascertained she would assist him in this endeavor and the two departed.

Sora, after speaking with the three, took off with Donald and Goofy to try to find Riku again and Kairi now who he knew was not with Riku. They journeyed first to Wonderland, where they encountered the Queen of Hearts, who was holding Alice as a prisoner, and said that she was guilty of theft. Sora and the party knew Alice was innocent after speaking with the girl who was locked in a cage, awaiting her trial and set out to clear her name. They found 5 boxes of clues and presented them before the Queen of Hearts and even with the evidence of the Heartless being there and having done the deed, Alice was still going to pay for the crime. Fortunately, or unfortunately, Alice was kidnapped and the group left after sealing the door to Wonderland's heart.

The three left onto the next world where they would encounter gorillas and a man raised by gorillas named Tarzan. A woman named Jane worked and studied the gorillas while others in her party seemed intent on killing them. Clayton strikes a deal with Maleficent and gains Heartless control as well as abilities, but in the end, he is taken down by Sora, Tarzan and his friends. Sora is then guided by the leader of the gorillas who sends him up to a secret grove where Sora finds the next keyhole and locks it, sealing the world from the Heartless invasion. He then moves on.

The next world Sora went to was the Olympus Colliseum. Here, he would meet up with Hercules and also Cloud, who was looking for his light. He told Sora that he should not lose his light. Cloud was contracted by Hades to eliminate Hercules but fails to do so, since Sora defeats him. Sora was trained more by Phil and later he is named as a Junior Hero, along with Donald and Goofy. Later, Sora would return and fight Hades himself, which ironically, Hades is the one who gave Sora a pass to get into the colliseum so that the evil committee could get rid of the keyblader. Instead, it made him stronger. Kudos to Hades.

Sora departed this world after finding the keyhole to the doorway of the Heart of the World and sealed it, and then went to Atlantica. Here, he encountered Ariel, who had dreams of seeing other worlds, or at least the one where people walked around on above her own. Her father was greatly displeased by this and did about all he could to stop her from this behavior, but her dreams were her own. He was not happy when he met with Sora and discerned him as a Keyblade Bearer. He wanted nothing to do with them and said that the Keyblade Bearers brought good or bad to worlds and he should leave. Despite this, Sora remained to find the heart of the world after dealing with Ursula, who was attempting to make life a living hell for Triton and Ariel. Sora and Ariel, along with the others, fought to save their world from a very overgrown Ursula and in the end sealed the world and departed, not so happy with Triton's words to them.

After, Sora would go to Agrabah and face the evil of Jafar. Jafar was with the evil council under Maleficent's guiding hand and he was aiming on getting Jasmine. He also was on a power quest and managed to figure out how to change into a genie. Unfortunately for him, he had to face off against Aladdin, Genie, Sora and the crew and ended up getting trapped in a lamp, which as Genie says is the condemnation of being a genie: Ultimate cosmic power and a tiny living space" or something to that effect. Sora managed to seal this world, but Riku, as a favor to Maleficent for helping him find Kairi, took Jasmine to Hollow Bastion.

After leaving here, Sora would end up on a journey to the next world but instead of getting there was caught by Monstro, a giant whale. Inside, he encountered Pinochio and Gepetto. He also encountered Riku and a shallow form of Kairi who just sat there, unable to motivate herself to do anything. Riku attempted to study Pinochio, assuming he had lost his heart to the Heartless but in the end he was mistaken. He had hopes of trying to find a cure for Kairi and assisted Sora in a battle with a monster but in the end he took off after Sora accused him of fighting for the wrong side. He was right but Riku was falling hard into darkness due to being desperate to try to save and restore Kairi. He took her and vanished. Sora helped Gepetto and Pinochio, who was unharmed, to Traverse Town, and then found the heart to that world and sealed it. After, he spoke to Cid on improving his ship and as Cid took off, Sora drifted in a zone and saw Kairi's form and she spoke to him. It was soon over and he was baffled. He then took off again to hunt for Riku and Kairi.

On their way back to their destination, they ran into a pirate ship that belonged to Captain Hook. Hook assumed Wendy was important but Riku, from Maleficent's words, informed Hook he was mistaken. Hook told Riku that it was hopeless to save Kairi and he should give up because her heart was taken by the Heartless and was irretrievable. Riku's resolve though would not be shaken and he was determined to enter Darkness itself to save her if need be. Sora arrived and Riku revealed to him the sorry state Kairi was in, chastizing him for galavanting around with Donald and Goofy while Kairi needed them both so badly. He then took off, using his darkness powers awakened in him to portal back to Hollow Bastion, which would be terribly draining on him. Maleficent there told the boy he should be careful but Riku did not trust her and was angry at the situation he was in. He would do what he had to, but he knew somewhere along the line he was being duped. There just were no alternatives to him available.

Sora was taken to a holding area where he encountered Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, who freed them. The group fought Captain Hook after going against droves of Heartless pirates and then they returned Wendy to her world from Neverland. They found the keyhole to this world on the giant clocktower (Big Ben) and locked it and were off again.

The next world was Halloween Town, in which going here disguised the heroes in attire befitting the scenery of scariness. They encountered Jack Skellington, who was attempting to do a great Halloween bash but then things were interrupted by the many Heartless that invaded under Oogie Boogie's command. Sora agreed to help set things right and the group went to defeat Oogie Boogie at his manor and then had to fight the manor itself. Once Oogie Boogie was downed, they sealed this world's heart as well and were on their way to Hollow Bastion.

At Hollow Bastion, which appeared to be a broken world with large floating ice glaciers and a humungous palace with super odd technology and magic, Sora would first encounter Beast, who tried to attack Riku, who held him off from getting to Belle, who was kidnapped. Riku made short work of Beast but Sora stood up to his friend and tried to reason. Riku had learned from Maleficent that he was the true Keyblade Master and that Sora had been a secondary person to wield it when Riku had ended up in Hollow Bastion instead of remaining on Destiny Islands to receive it. Riku took the Keyblade from Sora and then tossed a wooden sword (akin to what they had trained with on the Islands) at the ground before Sora and turned and departed after the tease. Riku needed the keyblade to open the door to darkness so he could save Kairi, as he believed any way.

Sora encountered many Heartless and traveled around with Beast in the search for Riku, Kairi and an end to this whole thing. He had to let Beast do much of the fighting since he had no weapon that could do them harm, but Riku once again was sent to deal with him. Donald and Goofy were not sure who to go with and told Sora they had to be with the Keyblade Bearer to find the King, but then when Riku lashed out at Sora and Sora stood to take it in disbelief and horror, Goofy came to his rescue and shielded the darkness blast. Donald also rejoined Sora and they said they would not betray a friend. Because Riku chose darkness instead of light in his desperation, the Keyblade vanished from him and went back to Sora, choosing him. Sora then fought Riku who was armed with Soul Eater, a mysterious sword, and Riku was defeated by Donald, Goofy and Sora together. He then ran off. Sora went to the library and met Belle and Aerith who spoke to him and told him of the predicament of the castle. After, he saw an image of history he was not sure where it was from, but he saw an elderly woman sitting at the table in the Libary speaking to a young Kairi. This would be her only memory she had retained or was unlocked from her and the woman spoke of the child's heart and that it was Light and should remain pure.

Riku was gravely troubled and at a loss. He could not fathom why Sora would not want to help Kairi and the same cloaked figure that appeared to Sora earlier revealed itself to Riku and told him that if he wanted true power and a way to save Kairi, he would give himself up. Riku surrendered to the being, which would be called Ansem (or Xehanort in truth), and Ansem took him over.

Maleficent then believed all preparations were set and there were 7 Princesses of Heart gathered. The Princesses of Heart were needed to form a special Keyblade called the Dark Keyblade, which had the power to unlock hearts of people and the Door to Darkness which would lead to Kingdom Hearts doorway and this is what Maleficent wished to open because it would control the power to hold dominion over all worlds. The 7 Princesses were Jasmine, Alice, Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora and lastly Kairi, whom Riku had not known was a part of this plan, and she had been laying on the ground near the doorway as Riku was preparing to open it. The other princesses had been sealed in crystal and their hearts were brought together to form the Dark Keyblade, which now was in the hands of Riku/Ansem. Ansem needed a diversion and so he used Maleficent as one, striking the blade into her heart and unlocking her full darkness potential. He then went to prepare.

Maleficent turned into a great dragon and Sora had to fight her with the others in a magnificent battle. She was assumed dead but would later show up to trouble them in the future. Riku/Ansem sat in wait for Sora and then while speaking with both Riku's voice and his own eerily, he told Sora the truth of where Kairi's heart was. It had resided in Sora all along, safe and now it was needed for the ritual. Ansem then leapt down and attacked Sora, but Kairi's voice spoke out to him to snap him out of the effects of Ansem, and Sora and the man in Riku's form fought. Sora won but it was not a total defeat and Ansem parted briefly.

Sora then picked up the Dark Keyblade and knew what he had to do. He stabbed himself with it and freed the hearts of the Princesses, including Kairi's, and also his own. His sacrifice turned him into a Heartless Shadow. Kairi awakened and was saddened greatly that Sora was gone, and then Ansem showed up to put Kairi back down. Now that Sora was out of the way, there was nothing to stop him, so he believed. Riku, seeing the betrayal and not wishing others to be harmed now reached out with his own heart and held Ansem at bay. His spirit came before Ansem and he told Kairi, Donald and Goofy to flee as he held Ansem back.

The three did as advised and fled. Ansem then had to contend with Riku and in the end, Riku lost his body to Ansem utterly and his spirit was tossed into Darkness.

Sora returned as a Shadow to the castle and roamed about, finding his way back to Kairi. At first, he was almost attacked but he did not attack back and Kairi sensed it was Sora there and so with the power of her Heart of Light, she called him back to his true form and Sora was restored, Keyblade and all. They headed back to Traverse Town with Kairi and he left her behind. She gave him the Oathkeeper keychain, which to her was a good luck charm, and told him he had to bring it back to her and he promised he would. He and his friends then took off to the End of the World which is where they would face Ansem (Xehanort).

Going here, they faced many Heartless and also noted that this realm had pieces of many worlds here that had been consumed by the Heartless and lost the war. They feared that if they did stop Ansem, they may never see their homes again because they were going to seal this one and it was the final place. They still felt that the sacrifice was worth it and hoped for the best as they moved on and Sora hoped to save Riku somehow, not knowing his fate. At last they came to a strange pink door which Sora had seen before in his dreams and he knew to open it. When he did, he was transported back to Destiny Islands, where he encountered Ansem masquerading in Riku's form, wearing a dark outfit with the emblem of the Heartless on it that Riku had possessed once darkness had made his journey seem irrevocable.

Ansem (Xehanort) taunted Sora saying that Riku was to blame because he was bored with the islands and wanted so much more and now Sora was little better because he could not know what he did not understand. He also said that Kingdom Hearts was darkness and that all life began and ended with darkness. Sora fought him and then had to deal with the same large creature he had met in the beginning that had destroyed his world. After, he ended up in a realm of darkness where he had to fight a very warped and enlarged Ansem that was attached to some great monstrosity of a Heartless. He nearly lost heart but Riku's voice spoke to him and motivated him on to fight and he was victorious. Ansem however would not be stopped from his goal and used the last of his power to force open the door to Kingdom Hearts. It may have been surrounded by darkness and Ansem called out that he wanted it to give him the power of everlasting darkness. Sora, however, called him out and told him that it was light and it was true. Light poured out and removed Ansem, sending him back to the realm of Darkness, where his spirit merged back with Riku, and Riku's body was returned.

Sora tried shutting the door so he could lock it but it was impossible, even with the help of Donald and Goofy. However, Riku appeared on the other side of the door, as did King Mickey, who had retrieved the keyblade he sought in darkness. Riku assisted Sora, Donald and Goofy in sealing the door and told his friend to 'take care of her' before it was closed and Sora affirmed with a nod he would. Riku and King Mickey would remain in darkness even as tons of Heartless and large Heartless emerged likened to what he had fought to try to save the Destiny Islands. Riku could not leave since he held Ansem (Xehanort) within. King Mickey had to stay to lock the door from the inside, and together, Sora and Mickey, on opposite sides of the door, did the deed and sealed the door to Kingdom Hearts.

Sora then would encounter Kairi who reappeared and he rushed over to her. The Islet at Destiny Islands began to reappear and he could have returned with her but he felt strongly that the right thing to do was to seek out Riku and the King to free them. He promised her he'd return and she told him she knew he would and their hands were linked but then they let go and the world separated from them.

Kairi would return to the Secret Cave later and shed tears of joy and sorrow as she saw the Paopu Fruit that Sora had drawn between the pictures of Kairi and Sora they had drawn years before and an arrow to her. She drew another above it from her with an arrow to Sora. Others returned to their worlds but Sora, Donald and Goofy agreed to stay together on their search for the King and Riku.

As they traveled onward, they came to grasslands and they took note of Pluto who had a letter with a seal from the King on it. The three took off after him and their journey would continue...

Axel · Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:05 pm

Wow, that hurts my eyes after reading it for so long, lol.

Gaiva · Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:16 pm

i didnt write that one... XD i kept losing where i was and skipping a line.. LOL :icon_lol37:

Axel · Sat Dec 30, 2006 8:29 pm

Haha, didn't think you did.

Namine · Mon Jan 01, 2007 7:45 pm

I never knew he was capable of copy and paste! :icon_icon_lol:

Axel · Wed Jan 03, 2007 8:13 pm

Haha, I thought everyone was though..