How Did Sora Become Human Again

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All the Kingdom Hearts backstory you need to fully understand Kingdom Hearts 3

Buckle upwardly for ten games' worth of story

By Jan 28, 2019, v:38pm EST

Delving into Kingdom Hearts for a newcomer is, in a word, overwhelming. The backstory spans about 17 years, more than seven games, and as many as 6 unlike video game systems. Adding complication, the series' release society doesn't mirror its in-universe chronology.

And so: What the heck even happens in Kingdom Hearts? We've done our best to clarify that on the eve of Kingdom Hearts 3, the game we've long waited for to complete this sprawling saga. If you're a newcomer, a dabbler, or a fan, we're hither to explicate Kingdom Hearts in equally much item equally you care to accept.

Kingdom Hearts in 100 words

Need the shorthand version? Here'southward our best try:

An ancient battle betwixt low-cal and night fractured the world. Now, an evil wizard, Xehanort, aims to re-create that historic battle — the Keyblade War — to forge the 10-blade and proceeds access to the ability of the Kingdom Hearts. Sora, Donald, Goofy, King Mickey, and their allies band together equally the Guardians of Light and take out Xehanort and his 12 allies before they can proceeds access to the knowledge and power that lies inside Kingdom Hearts. But outset they demand to discover new allies and rescue some one-time Keyblade students: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

Struggling to understand even one-half of those made-upwardly words? Keep reading. Yous've got a lot to learn.

First, the timeline

Y'all may think that this ancient battle begins in the original Kingdom Hearts. Simply the story of Kingdom Hearts does not brainstorm with the game Kingdom Hearts. And Kingdom Hearts three is not, in fact, the third Kingdom Hearts game — it's the 10th in the series.

It's not like Square Enix and Disney rolled out the story in a chronological manner, either. Behold, the Kingdom Hearts game timeline, compressed into i handy prototype by YouTuber Everglow:

In that location are tons of games that don't take numbers attached but are very much important to the overarching story. We telephone call them spinoffs, because they deviate from the cardinal plot of Sora's journey, as depicted in the cadre games. But many of these games have bearing on the events of Kingdom Hearts iii.

The beginning

We'll outset with Kingdom Hearts χ . Everything begins generations before Sora, the immature protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts serial, existed. A sage known as the Principal of Masters foretells that a boxing between light and night volition happen, and trusts their apprentices, known as the Foretellers, to protect the lite above all else. The Primary of Masters and so disappears, seemingly forever.

The Foretellers go along on peacefully, but several members begin to doubtable that one among them intends to betray the lodge. The group splinters and a war betwixt them boils to the surface — instigating the cataclysmic event they were supposed to protect the earth against. The state of war between the Foretellers will become known every bit the Keyblade War, named later on the weapons they each wield.

The ultra-powerful X-bract is to arraign for the Keyblade State of war.

Square Enix

Keyblades are weapons extracted from the centre of a warrior. The stronger the heart, the stronger the Keyblade. The strongest of them all is the X-bract, the only tool capable of accessing Kingdom Hearts — a repository of all the hearts (nosotros'd telephone call them souls) of beings and worlds. Whoever controls Kingdom Hearts has unlimited power, knowledge, and all the other stuff that good guys typically protect from bad guys in stories similar this.

During the Keyblade War, the X-bract is fractured into 20 pieces: 13 dark pieces, and seven calorie-free pieces. The Keyblade State of war ends the known universe, but the hopes of children (seriously), as well as a hidden Foreteller and their followers — they call themselves Dandelions — live on to rebuild the world.

Introducing Master Xehanort

Next is Kingdom Hearts: Nascence By Sleep . Now it's fourth dimension to skip into the future — not quite to Sora, merely nosotros're getting there. Xehanort is a creepy dude living on the Destiny Islands. Being a general creep and all-around villain, Xehanort decides that he wants to re-create the Keyblade War in club to bring back the X-blade and merits the legendary Kingdom Hearts for himself.

This is Master Xehanort — clearly a very evil guy.

Square Enix

Xehanort befriends a fellow Keyblade wielder named Eraqus, and tells him of his plot to re-create the Ten-blade. Eraqus thinks that Xehanort'south ideas are unsafe, then the two function means. Eraqus opens up a school to teach students how to become Keyblade masters, while Xehanort attempts to discover a pupil of his own whom he intends to swap bodies with. Being creepy, former, and villainous in both mind and body tin simply accept you so far.

Xehanort recruits a nice boyfriend named Ventus, who turns out to exist too weak to serve every bit Xehanort'due south new host. So Xehanort changes his plans and unlocks the darkness in Ventus' heart, splitting him into the light-filled Ventus and the nighttime-filled Vanitas. But this exhausts Ventus, and he falls into a coma.

Aqua is one of the strongest Keyblade wielders effectually.

Square Enix

Xehanort takes Ventus to Destiny Islands, assuming he's on his final legs. This is when something very important happens: the first appearance of Sora. Xehanort and Ventus cross paths with newborn Sora, and his pure, good heart finds an instant connectedness with Ventus'. As a outcome of their newly forged eye-bond, Ventus regains consciousness. This impresses Xehanort, who had been convinced he was leaving Ventus for expressionless. He decides that Ventus may able to learn the means of the Keyblade later on all — just not nether his tutelage.

Xehanort somewhen drops off a half-hearted Ventus with his old buddy Eraqus to train him, assuasive Xehanort to focus on Vanitas. Xehanort acts remorseful when he runs into Eraqus, leading Eraqus to recollect that Xehanort is no longer after Kingdom Hearts. Here, Ventus makes some new friends: Aqua and Terra, Eraqus' other students. Aqua is an incredible Keyblade wielder, but Terra is filled with too much darkness in his current state to ever become a true master. Before Xehanort leaves Ventus behind, he senses within Terra an opportunity for a new host.

Xehanort recruits Terra, preparing him to get another new vessel. Vanitas convinces Ventus to follow after his friend — luring him into a trap. Aqua leaves Eraqus to save her friends. Terra eventually figures out that Xehanort is a total weirdo, and leaves the wizard's service.

During this fourth dimension, Terra and Aqua separately run into a young male child from Destiny Islands, Riku, and a young girl from Radiant Garden, Kairi. Terra bequeaths his Keyblade to Riku, sensing that the male child volition grow upwardly to exist a worthy Keyblade wielder. As a consequence, Riku will be able to admission a Keyblade of his own when he's older. Aqua, even so, accidentally bequeaths her Keyblade to Kairi when Kairi touches it, meaning she'll also receive a blade when she grows. (One year later this, Kairi is sent to alive on Destiny Island after her world is all but destroyed by darkness, and she meets her fellow hereafter Keyblade primary Riku, forth with his all-time friend, a boy named Sora.)

Terra (left) encourages baby Riku to bank check out the Keyblade that the young boy will one day wield himself.

Square Enix

All of that will affair much later on, just for now, nosotros take to get dorsum to Eraqus and Xehanort.

Eraqus figures out pretty chop-chop after this that Xehanort hasn't inverse his ways at all. In an effort to save everyone, Eraqus tries to kill Ventus to terminate Xehanort's plan, since Ventus has now grown stiff enough to pose a threat. But Terra rescues his friend Ventus. While he's distracted, Xehanort kills Eraqus.

Information technology seems like every fourth dimension Ventus gets upward, he'due south knocked back down.

Square Enix

Terra, Aqua, and Ventus endeavour to avenge their main, but Xehanort takes over Terra, who becomes Terra-Xehanort. Ventus and Vanitas finally square off and are evenly matched. They forge the 10-bract briefly and combine to become 1 being. But the two have another fight inside their newly combined center, and Ventus wins the battle, splitting them again. He destroys the Ten-blade and loses his center in the process, which puts him into a coma. Merely even in his sleep, Ventus' heart remembers the connexion it made with Sora'southward, and his spirit travels to live within Sora'southward heart. (This volition allow Sora to utilise the Keyblade later on, by the way!)

All the while, Aqua is fighting Terra-Xehanort. Before she loses, King Mickey — a Keyblade master who trained under the highly respected sorcerer Yen Sid — jumps in to help her. (King Mickey, past the style, is Mickey Mouse. He'due south the get-go Disney character to announced in this Disney character-heavy franchise, and no, it'due south never explained why he or any of the other Disney folks are involved. They just ... are.)

Meanwhile, Aqua takes up Eraqus' keyblade and fights Terra-Xehanort some more. The X-blade is shattered once more, and its destruction sends Terra-Xehanort and Aqua hurtling across worlds. Aqua ends up trapped in the world of darkness, while Xehanort gets transported to a globe called Radiant Garden, where Kairi is from.

Nascence of the Nobodies

In Radiant Garden, Terra-Xehanort meets Ansem the Wise, a scientist who studies Hearts. Terra-Xehanort becomes Ansem's amateur, joining a big existing coiffure. Ansem is blissfully unaware of how evil his new trainee is. This ends badly for Ansem. Terra-Xehanort and the other apprentices lead a coup against Ansem the Wise — who barely escapes, hiding his face and renaming himself Diz.

Terra-Xehanort and his new cronies determine to use Ansem's research to create what are the nigh prevalent monsters in the earth of the Kingdom Hearts franchise: Heartless and Nobodies. A Heartless is created by cultivating the darkness inside the hearts of living things, which leaves behind a husk. For most beings, this husk disappears, leaving the Heartless to shamble on. Only when a middle is removed entirely from a torso, that husk becomes a sentient being of its own, called a Nobody.

A classic case of a Heartless.

Square Enix

Nobodies are even more powerful than Heartless, then Terra-Xehanort wants to become ane. When Terra-Xehanort splits his body to become a Nobody, he creates an uncommonly powerful Heartless at the aforementioned time. This being steals the proper noun of Xehanort's previous principal, referring to himself as Ansem. This Heartless will eventually be the terminal boss of Kingdom Hearts , while Xehanort'southward Nobody, Xemnas, will be the final dominate for Kingdom Hearts 2 .

And now, the get-go Kingdom Hearts

Around this fourth dimension, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty discovers the ability to control the Heartless. She uses this newfound ability to destroy Radiant Garden. Its inhabitants, which include characters from Final Fantasy — for also unexplained reasons, there are Last Fantasy characters in these games — are transported to Traverse Town, a habitation for wayward souls. Maleficent takes over Radiant Garden as her own realm, which she calls Hollow Bastion.

The infestation of Heartless in the universe leads King Mickey to leave his palace in an effort to solve the problem. He fails to tell anyone that he's leaving, however, and his mage, Donald, and helm of the baby-sit, Goofy, are shocked to discover that he has disappeared. Thankfully, Mickey wrote them a annotation earlier he took off, asking them to runway down someone who wields an unspecified "key to their survival." All they know is that they take to head to a place chosen Traverse Boondocks.

Sora, Kairi, and Riku are lifelong best friends, until their lives are torn disconnected because of the Heartless.

Foursquare Enix

Back on Destiny Island, Riku, Sora, and Kairi concur to explore the world together. Riku finds a fashion to make their dream a reality: He accesses a door to some other world, which will let them to leave their home for places unknown. Just it turns out the door leads them straight into a realm of darkness — so,non exactly the earth-hopping journey Sora and Kairi were looking for.

Riku, however, is undeterred, and beckons his friends to go through the door with him. Sora and Kairi refuse, leaving Riku to pass through the door alone. He's immediately captivated by the darkness lurking backside information technology; it's the aforementioned energy that produced the Heartless that are breeding beyond the entire universe. A brewing storm grows fiercer, and Kairi shortly vanishes. Riku's bequeathed Keyblade remains hidden, notwithstanding, and, realizing that Sora's middle is stronger, it choses Sora to wield it instead of Riku. Sora is now alone on Destiny Isle, but not for long: The darkness blows Sora clean out of his globe and into Traverse Town.

The crux of Kingdom Hearts' gameplay involves traveling to Disney-themed worlds, which is as endearing as information technology is perplexing. This is Sora with Hercules, who becomes 1 of his closest allies.

Square Enix

Hither, Sora runs into Donald and Goofy — who claim that Sora is the one they're looking for. They grade a trio, promising to aid each other on their missions. Sora is looking for Riku and Kairi, while Donald and Goofy are hunting down Mickey. They make up one's mind to travel through Disney worlds together — similar Neverland, Halloween Town, and Wonderland — in search of their friends. This leads them to Maleficent's Hollow Bastion, where Riku and Kairi reunite with Sora.

Just the darkness that absorbed Riku besides changed him, allowing Ansem the Heartless to possess his heart. Ansem reveals that he'southward been creating an artificial Kingdom Hearts using a grouping of women known as the seven Princesses of Heart (Kairi, Snow White, Belle, Jasmine, Aurora, Alice, and Cinderella). Each ane carries one of the the seven light pieces of the Ten-blade that broke off years earlier, when the legendary weapon shattered.

This is Ansem the Heartless. Looks way different than ol' Ansem the Wise, whose name he stole!

Foursquare Enix

At Hollow Bastion, Sora finds out that a piece of Kairi'south middle is buried within him. Realizing that he's been the key to finding Kairi all along, Sora stabs himself, releasing his heart, Ventus' heart, and Kairi's heart into the world. Sora becomes a Heartless, only Kairi uses her Princess of Heart powers to revert him to normal.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy chase Ansem the Heartless to a level chosen Cease of the Globe. Hither, they all face off against the large-bad in a serial of dominate fights, with aid from Riku and Mickey. In a last-ditch try, Ansem the Heartless opens upwardly his own creation of Kingdom Hearts, expecting the nature of all things to be evil and grant him unlimited darkness powers. But it's actually filled with lite, and Ansem the Heartless disintegrates.

Defeating Ansem relieves the world of darkness — with one big exception. In order to aid Sora defeat the powerful Heartless, Riku and Mickey shove him through the door of calorie-free. But they get stuck on the wrong side of the door, trapping them inside the darkness that remains. They must find their fashion out, while Sora, Donald, and Goofy become off on other adventures and go along to wait for Kairi.

Sora loses his memory, and Roxas is reborn

This takes usa to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories . When Sora opened his heart to complimentary Kairi, something unexpected happened: Two Nobodies were created. Roxas is the combined Nobody of Sora and Ventus, while Naminé is the Nobody of Kairi. Simply equally a Princess of Center, Kairi isn't supposed to be capable of producing a Nobody or a Heartless. Since Naminé was created out of a workaround with Sora, she has some retentiveness powers.

Unlike the other Nobodies, Naminé'southward name isn't an anagram!

Square Enix

Meanwhile, the Nobody apprentices of Ansem the Wise form a group of powerful Nobodies called Organization Thirteen, named for the 13 dark fragments of the Ten-blade. The goal of the Arrangement is to return all these Nobodies to their man bodies, which involves collecting as many hearts as possible.

The Organization has two members who lead a separate team to stop Sora, Donald, and Goofy: Marluxia and Larxene. They lure the team to a location called Castle Oblivion. Hither, they've captured Naminé in an endeavour to utilize her powers to alter Sora's memories. Naminé is able to warn Sora, Donald, and Goofy, helping them avoid Marluxia and Larxene'south plot. But their memories are still all messed up, and so Naminé puts all three of them in stasis in order to fix their brains.

In the meantime, Diz (formerly Ansem the Wise) helps Mickey and Riku escape. Aqua sacrifices herself in the process to salvage Riku, which locks her in the realm of darkness. But a still-recovering Riku wears a blindfold and barely speaks, because he'due south still trying rid himself of the remaining darkness within him.

Earlier Kingdom Hearts ii ...

We're at present at Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days . While all this is going on with Mickey, Sora, and the gang, Roxas gets recruited into Organisation XIII. Roxas and a member of the Organization named Xion become good buddies with another member, Axel.

Best buds (and Organization Xiii members) Axel, Roxas, and Xion do what they usually do: Eat ocean table salt ice cream.

Square Enix

Xion is eventually revealed to be a program, created from the memories and data of Sora. With Roxas' help, Xion can aid bring Sora back to life and assist him call back his task. But she must sacrifice herself to exercise so. While apprehensive at kickoff, she eventually agrees and makes Roxas kill her, returning her memories to Sora. Bummed nigh the whole state of affairs, Roxas leaves the Organization to seek revenge confronting it for Xion's death, which happened considering of the group's plot.

When Roxas goes to attack Xemnas, who concocted the plan, Riku all of a sudden appears and stops him, saying Roxas isn't powerful enough notwithstanding. Roxas and Riku fight, with Roxas wielding the Keyblades of both Ventus and Sora. In social club to win, Riku unleashes the darkness inside of himself — transforming himself to look similar Ansem the Heartless, although he still maintains control.

The Digital Twilight Boondocks

Riku takes Roxas to Diz. In society to stop Roxas from messing with the Organization's plans to have Naminé prepare Sora, Diz traps him inside a digital world called Twilight Town. Roxas hangs out with friends here, and is eventually attacked by Axel, whom the Organization has sent to notice Sora. Just Roxas gets out alive, and eventually finds his fashion to Sora. On the mode, Naminé tells him that he'southward really a Nobody, and the only way that Sora tin can go whole is if they fuse together. Roxas allows this to happen — essentially likewise sacrificing himself — and Sora wakes upwards.

Roxas has a strange feeling that in that location'due south something not quite right well-nigh his life in Twilight Boondocks.

Foursquare Enix

And thus, Kingdom Hearts two really begins. Our heroes continue doing what they did in the commencement game: clearing worlds of Heartless. Axel realizes he misses his good friend Roxas, so he hatches a plan to remember him from his new form as the other one-half of Sora, whom he has now declared war on. He eventually kidnaps Kairi in order to lure Sora to him, but ends up sacrificing himself for Sora and crew, realizing that Sora and Roxas aren't that different later all.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy make it to a identify consumed by darkness chosen the World that Never Was, where the Organization maintains its headquarters. There, they finally come across upwards with Diz, Kairi, Naminé, and Riku, who still looks like Ansem the Heartless. Diz reveals himself to be Ansem the Wise and uses a car to excerpt hearts from the 2d bogus Kingdom Hearts run past the Organization. The machine is overwhelmed past the power of the Kingdom Hearts, causing it to explode. But this explosion cleanses Riku — returning him to normal — while seemingly killing Diz.

Riku and Sora work together to defeat the Organization and Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas. Only at that place's a problem. Turns out, when someone'southward Nobody and Heartless are destroyed, there is a hazard that the original being is created anew. Many of the Organization XIII members re-form as the apprentices of Ansem the Wise, including Xehanort and Axel.

Here they are: every member of Organization Xiii. Yous get used to seeing their faces a lot, fifty-fifty if you lot never retrieve their names.

Square Enix

Time for time travel

And guess what, y'all? To make matters worse, Xehanort tin fourth dimension-travel. That'due south right: As long as a version of Xehanort exists in the timeline he travels to, he can go all over the place. Xehanort so starts rebuilding Organization Xiii with different versions of himself, all with the intention of fighting Sora & co. to re-create the Keyblade War.

With Xehanort back in the film, Yen Sid and Mickey work together to find Keyblade-wielding champions to be the Guardians of Light. They decide to find Aqua, Ventus, and Terra. They know Aqua is in the darkness earth, and Ventus is causeless comatose somewhere, and so locating Terra is their large focus. After Naminé instructs Sora to participate in finding the legendary trio (in Kingdom Hearts: Coded ), he brings Riku and Kairi along for the next step on their quest.

The mark of mastery

This takes us to Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance . Before they can truly stand a gamble confronting the ultra-powerful Xehanort, Sora and Riku have some serious training to practice. They both wish to get true Keyblade masters earlier the fight, then Yen Sid sends them on a mission to swoop into what are known every bit dream versions of worlds they've traveled to before.

After Sora emerges in the real world from what is essentially grooming while he's asleep, he runs into an quondam member of the Organization: Xigbar, too known as Braig, who has been partially possessed by Xehanort. Xigbar is one of the members Xehanort has already managed to recruit as he rebuilds the coiffure, along with Ansem the Heartless and Xemnas. A young, time-traveled version of Xehanort puts Sora back to slumber, and and so he and what remains of the Arrangement thus far attempt to make Sora some other host for Xehanort.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance shows a starkly different side of Sora, who is driven to become a Keyblade master right alongside his BFF, Riku.

Square Enix

Thankfully, Axel, Donald, and Goofy make it to save Sora, who falls into a blackout from his struggle against Xehanort. Ventus' heart, which you hopefully remember had institute a habitation within Sora's torso, finally emerges to also help protect Sora. Riku is engaged in his ain fight at the aforementioned time, and is able to conquer his inner darkness once and for all past fighting Ansem. Riku is then granted the honor of being a Keyblade master, later he manages to be the merely person who can wake Sora up. Because Sora didn't complete his mission — he fell asleep! — he doesn't get the same title.

Xehanort's rebirth

And now nosotros are here, at Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Nascency By Sleep -A fragmentary passage- . (Yes, that's its name. Yep, it'south dumb.) Sora has lost a swell deal of power because of his battle to prevent Xehanort from taking over his trunk, but he remains committed to helping in the search for Aqua, Ventus, and Terra. Riku and Mickey are sent into the darkness to notice Aqua on their own, and Sora is given a new task: to essentially find himself and activate his latent abilities to reawaken lost hearts. Kairi, who is as well effectually and looking for something to do, is given a Keyblade alongside Axel, and the 2 enter training separately.

Sora likewise has some training to practice. And then he does what he'south e'er done: He travels to a Disney world to get some fighting do in. He makes the most appropriate choice, heading to Olympus, where his former friend Hercules volition certainly help him observe his strength once again.

Wrap-up

And that's it. That's the whole affair. Kingdom Hearts 3 picks up with Sora, Donald, and Goofy headed to come across Herc and Hades for the third fourth dimension.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy: the real heroes of Kingdom Hearts. Conspicuously.

Square Enix

For lovers of the deepest kinds of lore, Kingdom Hearts may be one of the most satisfying stories in games. Only subsequently going through this entire synopsis of everything leading up to the saga's conclusion, nosotros feel comfortable saying that Kingdom Hearts. Is. A. Lot. And mayhap besides much sometimes.

Loving Kingdom Hearts goes hand in paw with loving its complexities and the confusion inherent within them. If you're still dislocated, we'll leave y'all with this concluding summary for what is, in essence, the story of Kingdom Hearts:

Disney heroes team up against evil sorcerer Xehanort as he attempts to re-create an ancient battle and gain access to Kingdom Hearts' power and knowledge combined.

For an even deeper, more visual dive, nosotros recommend a shorter, funnier video from Frustrated Jacob and a longer, more serious video from Suggestive Gaming. Along with the Kingdom Hearts Wiki, they were instrumental in helping us remember the events of the Kingdom Hearts story and then far.

As well, about chiefly, Polygon video producer Brian David Gilbert went alee and unraveled the series with a lore analysis of his own. Please check that out below.

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Source: https://www.polygon.com/2019/1/28/18197797/kingdom-hearts-3-explained-lore-characters