Sora

"I don't need a weapon! My friends are my power!"
:—Sora to Riku
Sora is the main protagonist in the Kingdom Hearts (series) as well as a Keyblade wielder. He is an upbeat teenager who may seem simple-minded at times, but is very aware of the importance of his quest. He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. At times, he is impulsive and quick to anger when defending his friends, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. He has been best friends with Riku and Kairi since he was a small boy.
Sora is four during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, fourteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, fifteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts II, and sixteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. He lives on Destiny Islands with his best friends Kairi and Riku, and all three of them dream to venture from Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond. Sora is also the original persona of his own Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, and the carrier of Ventus's heart. Sora's name is derived from the Japanese word for "sky".
==Journal entries==
===Kingdom Hearts===
;First entry
A spirited youth. He was cast into an unknown world when a swarm of Heartless raided his island. He battles the Heartless with a mysterious weapon called the Keyblade as he searches for his friends Kairi and Riku.
;Second entry
The one who fights the Heartless. Upon reclaiming the Keyblade from his rival, Riku, Sora sacrificed his heart to free Kairi and became a Heartless. Kairi's deep feelings for Sora restored him. Now he must confront Ansem, the seeker of darkness.
===Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories===
;Sora's Story
A bright and spirited boy chosen by the Keyblade to battle the Heartless.
It was Sora who defeated Ansem, ending his plan to shroud the world in darkness.
However, Sora continued his journey, seeking the friends he lost during the struggle.
;Reverse/Rebirth
Riku's childhood friend, and the hero of light chosen by the Keyblade to stand against the darkness.
Riku fought Sora while bridled by darkness, but their friendship proved stronger, and they ultimately worked together to close the door to darkness.
===Kingdom Hearts II===
;First entry
A boy chosen by the Keyblade, a mysterious weapon.
Not long ago, Sora journeyed with Donald and Goofy in search of his longtime friend Kairi, who had been spirited away into the darkness.
In the end, they saved the world of all worlds from the darkness that was closing in.
Then, somewhere along the way, Sora fell into a deep slumber.
Now that he is awake, he can't recall why he fell asleep to begin with.
;Second entry
A boy chosen by the Keyblade, a mysterious weapon.
Not long ago, Sora journeyed with Donald and Goofy in search of his longtime friend Kairi, who had been spirited away into the darkness.
In the end, they saved the world of all worlds from the darkness that was closing in.
After that, Sora continued journeying in search of Riku, who was trapped on the other side of the door to darkness. And somewhere along the way, Sora fell into a deep slumber.
With a new outfit and strengthened resolve, Sora has set out once more on a search for his friend Riku.
===Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep===
A cheerful, energetic little boy.
He and his friend Riku always play together out on the island.
===Kingdom Hearts Re:coded===
A boy chosen by a strange sword called a "Keyblade." After his island home was lost to the darkness, he joined forces with Donald, Goofy, and Mickey and saved all worlds. All these adventures were carefully recorded in Jiminy's Journals.
Inside the datascape generated within the computer, a digital version of the real Sora (Data-Sora) quests in our hero's stead.
===Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance===
A boy who wields a Keyblade. He has used its power to save the worlds from crisis more than once.
Now, he has agreed to take the Mark of Mastery examination in order to retrieve a new power.
==Development==
Although Square Enix originally wanted Mickey Mouse to be the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, and Disney wanted Donald Duck as the protagonist, the role was eventually set as Sora, because Tetsuya Nomura wanted a human protagonist.
Early on, Sora was designed as a young lion/human hybrid, wielding a chainsaw-like weapon with a lion's head keychain. The merging of Sora's design with elements from Square's proposal is referenced by his original costume, which shares many elements with Mickey's.
==Story==
===Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep===
Sora and Riku are shown as best friends and rivals as they grew up. They are often seen around the islands battling with wooden swords, racing, and doing anything else that is competitive.
Some time prior to Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Sora's newly born heart encounters the injured heart of Ventus and mends it, offering to help him restore his broken heart until help is not needed. This allows them to form a connection with one another, and causes Vanitas's face to resemble Sora's.
By the time Sora is four years old, he encounters Terra and Aqua, two Keyblade wielders of the generation before him, on separate occasions. He never spoke with Terra, but they have seen each other on Destiny Islands. Terra shows no interest in Sora because he is unable to sense his potential, and is instead attracted to Riku. Aqua recognizes their friendship as hers to Terra and Ventus and tells Sora to protect Riku if he were to fall into the hands of darkness, which he agrees. Ventus had visited the islands multiple times, but had never met Sora face to face.
Near the ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Sora and Riku rest on a beach. When they prepare to go home, Sora suddenly feels sad and sheds a single tear. Riku tells him that perhaps someone from another world connected to him is sad somewhere and tells him to try to reach him. Sora closes his eyes and reaches out, which results in him being sent to the Awakening and encountering Ventus's lost heart. It had lost its path and must return to slumber, though it is reluctant to do so and asks if it could become a part of Sora's heart. Sora accepts the request saying that as long as he can make it happy by doing so, he is willing to.
===Kingdom Hearts===
:"I've been having these weird thoughts lately… like, is any of this for real… or not?"
:—Sora, in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts
One year after the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a mysterious little girl named Kairi came to their islands from a different place. She was adopted by the mayor, and Sora and Riku quickly became friends with her. Another day, Sora and Riku found a small, hidden cave on their islands. They search the "Secret Place" while discussing Kairi and the meteor shower that had recently fallen. They find a door with no handle at the back of the cave and, because they couldn't open it, they leave, but not before Riku sees the world's Keyhole.
During their childhood, Sora, Riku, and Kairi often wonder about what lay beyond their small world. By the time they reach adolescence, they decide to build a raft, in the hopes of sailing to other worlds. The day when they start construction, Sora dozes off on the shore of the beach, and has an odd dream where he travels through an odd, dark realm and battles a massive dark creature. Sora is awakened by Kairi, and he goes to help get the provisions for the raft. However, the night before they set sail, a storm ravages the island along with a strange, dark force. Riku succumbs to the force, claiming he is not afraid of the darkness it so clearly embodied, while Sora tries and fails to save his friend from the darkness.
However, it is during the tempest that Sora first unlocks his potential as a Keyblade wielder, summoning the power of the Kingdom Key to battle the Heartless that now infested his home. He makes his way to the Secret Place where he finds Kairi, who disappears when their bodies meet, forcing Sora to battle the same dark creature from his dream. Sora defeats the monster, but he is swept off the island and thrown into a Corridor of Darkness, which lands him in a world called Traverse Town.
In Traverse Town, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy, the respective Royal Court Magician and Captain of the Royal Guard of Disney Castle. Under orders from The King, the pair are searching for two things: a mysterious 'key' and a man called Leon. As the King has disappeared in his own quest, Donald and Goofy accompany Sora and they start searching for their respective friends. In addition to that, Sora finds that his Keyblade might perhaps be the mysterious key the King had asked them to find.
Sora discovers that Riku is also searching for Kairi, though neither of them can find her. Maleficent sees her chance and tells Riku that Sora had replaced him and Kairi for Donald, Goofy, and the Keyblade. With this false knowledge, he sets out to find Kairi on his own as Sora travels to a number of worlds to stop the Heartless. From there, Sora locks the Keyholes out from the reach of the Darkness to protect the worlds' hearts.
His quest allows him to make countless new friends while the power of his heart increases, which also improves his Keyblade's power.
Upon reaching Hollow Bastion, Riku confronts Sora and reveals to him that Riku himself was the true Keyblade master, explaining that Sora "was just the delivery boy". Riku then claims the Keyblade for his own. Despite their guilt at doing so, Donald and Goofy are forced to abandon Sora because of the King's orders: to stay with whoever has the Keyblade. When Beast pulls himself up to continue to the castle, Sora tells him to be careful due to his injuries. However, Beast shrugs off Sora's worries, saying that he would not leave before he completed what he'd come there for; to find Belle. When asked what he came for, Sora realizes that he needs to show the same attitude as the Beast, and continues with him into the entrance hall of the castle.
There Sora meets Riku, Goofy, and Donald once more. Feeling guilty, Donald and Goofy return to Sora's side. Riku then asks Sora, "How do you intend to fight without a weapon?" to which Sora answers, "I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart!". Riku taunts Sora, calling his heart pathetic and weak. Sora proceeds to tell him that his friends strengthen his heart. At this, the Keyblade realizes that Riku has turned to darkness, and Sora's heart is far stronger than Riku's, so it returns to Sora. Enraged, Riku fights Sora and loses. Furious at his weakness, he makes the mistake of listening to a mysterious man. Opening his heart fully to darkness, he allows himself to be possessed by this man.
After this, the party encounter Maleficent and defeat her. Using a Keyblade born of six of the Princesses of Hearts' hearts, Riku unlocks the darkness in her heart before stepping away through a Corridor of Darkness. She transforms into a black, fire-breathing dragon from the proliferation of darkness in her heart, but is again defeated and the Heartless swallow her heart. Further into the depths of Hollow Bastion, Sora encounters Riku once more, and he calls himself "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness", who intends to find Kingdom Hearts itself. Although it is difficult fighting his best friend, Sora emerges victorious in the struggle.
Kairi is revealed to be one of the Seven Princesses of Heart who possess the power to open the Final Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, but because her heart laid within Sora, it cannot open, as explained by "Ansem". In order to return her heart and wake her up, Sora uses the Keyblade of People's Hearts to remove both their hearts, sacrificing his humanity and becoming a Heartless, unknowingly creating Roxas and Naminé, the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi respectively. When he manages to reunite with Kairi after a brief stint as a Heartless, Kairi uses her light to restore his human form.
After regrouping in Traverse Town, Sora decides to return to Hollow Bastion to seal the Final Keyhole while he tries to reclaim Riku from the clutches of "Ansem". Kairi gives Sora her lucky charm (Oathkeeper's keychain) since he insists that she should stay behind, even joking that she would be in his way.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy set sail to Hollow Bastion and seal the Final Keyhole after a battle with a powerful Heartless. The six Princesses of Heart then inform him of a new darkness approaching, and the trio travel to End of the World, the "Heartless world" of all the worlds that fell into darkness, where they confront and defeat "Ansem" once and for all. "Ansem", defeated, calls forth to Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness, but Sora proclaims that Kingdom Hearts is not darkness, but light, and "Ansem" is destroyed by the said light.
However, Heartless begin to swarm inside of the door and Sora, Donald, and Goofy rush forward to close it. As they attempt to close the Door to Darkness, Riku and King Mickey appear on the other side of the door and together, King Mickey and Sora seal it from both sides with Sora's Keyblade from the Realm of light and Mickey's Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness. However, Mickey and Riku become trapped behind the door as it closed shut. Riku's last words to Sora before it closed are "Take care of her", referring to Kairi.
As the worlds begin to restore themselves, Sora sees Kairi on a platform of sand that is drifting away. Kairi and Sora are separated with Kairi going back to Destiny Islands. Sora promises to return to her as soon as he finds Riku and King Mickey.
===Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories===
After being separated from his friends, Sora wanders down on a long, meandering path with Donald and Goofy searching for a way to find Riku and Mickey, encountering Pluto on the way. When they reach a crossroad and call it a night, a mysterious man in a long black hooded cloak appears and informs Sora, "Along the road ahead lies something you need. However in order to claim it you must lose something that is dear to you". The man disappears and only one path remains. The trio follow the path which leads them to a mysterious castle known as Castle Oblivion. They enter the castle hoping to pick up some clues as to the whereabouts of their friends only to discover, as they ascend the floors of the fortress, they are beginning to lose their memories and become more and more uncertain of what they are truly after. Even Jiminy's journal has been erased of its entries.
Little do they know, their memories are being manipulated by a mysterious organization that seek to capture and manipulate Sora. To do this, they use Naminé, a young "witch" who could rearrange the chains of memories in a person's mind and create new links between them. In order to make Sora forget Kairi, Naminé begins to replace his memories of Kairi with herself, partly because she is Kairi's Nobody and so is unable to completely erase her from Sora's memories. Meanwhile, a conflict between the members of the Organization lead to several encounters between Sora and Riku, whose memories of Kairi have also been replaced with ones containing Naminé.
The trio's uncertainty builds up to a point where they end up in Twilight Town, a place that Sora is fairly certain that he has never been in, and thus should not exist in his memory. Organization member IV, Vexen, reveals that it is a place that exists on the other side of Sora's heart, but is eliminated by Axel, another member of the Organization, before he can explain anything.
Axel ends up betraying Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion, revealing that Marluxia and Larxene, the newest members of their group, intend to use Sora to overthrow the Organization. Axel manipulates Naminé into doing what she believes is right. Donald and Goofy try to reason with Sora about the whole situation later, but he is so stubborn that he separates from them to go on his own.
On Destiny Islands, Sora is touched to have finally found Naminé, who tries to make him remember who was truly important to him. After taking one look at the lucky charm, it returns to its original form and Naminé takes the temporary form of Kairi. Sora escapes the memory-based Destiny Islands and confronts Naminé, who reveals that she never existed in Sora's memory and that she has been replacing the person most important to him. Riku appears to them again and is again defeated by Sora. When Sora tries to help the injured Riku, he attacks Sora and gains the upper hand. Having left no choice, Naminé uses her power to break Riku's memories, and it causes him to collapse. Larxene comes forth to eliminate Sora and Riku, who is revealed to actually be a Riku Replica, created by Vexen.
When Larxene is about to eliminate Sora, Donald and Goofy catch up to save him. Although Sora had been a jerk to go on his own, they quickly forgive him and state how they would always stay together. Together, they defeat Larxene and Sora forgives a regretful Naminé for her actions. She promises to restore the memories of the trio once they reach the 13th Floor of Castle Oblivion, where Marluxia is waiting for them. Axel attempts to destroy Marluxia himself, but then Marluxia uses Naminé as a human shield. Sora steps in and defeats Axel. After finally catching up to them, Marluxia orders Naminé to completely erase Sora's memory so he could make Sora his puppet; Naminé refuses, but Sora orders her to do so in order to protect her from Marluxia's wrath. Fortunately, the Riku Replica, its true memories returned after his false ones are broken, arrives and saves Naminé before she was able to do so.
Then Sora, Donald, and Goofy step into the thirteenth floor's dimension where they fight Marluxia in an incredible battle.
Once Marluxia was defeated, Naminé asks that they step into Memory Pods that would rearrange their memories back to the way they were at the cost of breaking the links she created. She also informs him that the process will take some time, during which Sora, Donald, and Goofy would sleep as their memories are slowly restored. While they know that they would forget Naminé, Sora promises her that while she was forgotten, she would remain somewhere in his heart, never lost. And when he wakes up, they would become friends for real.
Right before he went to sleep, Naminé informs him that some of his memories are unreachable and asks him to remember Kairi, because his memory of her is the light that would bring them all back. Sora then uses most of the power of his memories to remember Kairi before going to sleep for real.
===Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days===
Naminé's powers are unable to do much to fix the problems, however, recovery becomes more apparent as they discover the existence of Roxas, Sora's Nobody, and Xion, a replica of Roxas created from his leaked memories. As Roxas and Sora are connected, and Xion is created from their intertwined memories, Sora's lost memory pieces found their way inside Xion through Roxas. This act causes Sora's memory restoration process to come to a complete stop.
The Organization intends to have Xion absorb Roxas, forming a "new Sora" under their control, an act that would erase Roxas and make it impossible for the real Sora to ever awaken. When Xion discovers this truth, she is willing to instead return to Sora, saving him at the cost of her existence.
But before she can, Axel comes to take her back to Organization XIII, starting a fight which Xion loses. During her captivity, she is stored within machine-like devices and given new powers so she may be able to absorb Roxas when the time comes.
Eventually, Roxas and Xion meet on the Clock Tower of Twilight Town, where she removes her hood, revealing that she now completely resembles Sora through the effects of his memory flow. Although she fights with all her strength, Roxas defeats her in the end, and as she disappears and returns to her origin she asks Roxas to free Kingdom Hearts from Xemnas's control.
Although Sora's lost memories are back where they should be, Roxas, Sora's body and soul, is still on the loose, preventing Sora's complete restoration. Riku hunts Roxas down and finds him just as both arrive at Memory's Skyscraper, Roxas having defected from the Organization. After an intense battle, Riku captures Roxas, and brings him back to DiZ and Naminé.
===Kingdom Hearts II===
:"A scattered dream that's like a far-off memory. A far-off memory that's like a scattered dream. I want to line the pieces up... yours and mine."
:—Sora in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II
One year later, Sora, Donald, and Goofy awake in the basement of the Old Mansion located in Twilight Town with their former memories restored, although they cannot remember what happened in Castle Oblivion. But before they awake in Twilight Town, Roxas comes to see Sora and eventually fuses with him. Continuing their journey to find Riku and King Mickey, they set out traveling across new worlds, meeting old friends and enemies from the original Kingdom Hearts game while also making new friends. They continue the battle against the Heartless and now a new threat, the remaining members of the Organization they encountered in Chain of Memories.
Soon after exploring Twilight Town, Sora and company head off to the Mysterious Tower and Sora obtains new attire—on the advice of master sorcerer Yen Sid considering Sora's first game outfit to be "too small"—from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. The new outfit enables Sora to transform into his Drive Form and attain special powers for each of them. The source of the clothing's magic is linked to Sora's heart, which is connected to everyone Sora had befriended including Donald and Goofy. Sora was referred to as the "Key that connects everything" by Yen Sid which is how Naminé's memory manipulation works.
Sora expresses his determination to bring Riku back home with him to Destiny Islands, where Kairi is waiting for them. The quest gets more complicated when Kairi herself gets kidnapped by Axel. Pete (who works for the resurrected Maleficent) and Organization XIII are causing trouble in the other worlds, and King Mickey refuses to give information regarding Riku. Sora must also discover why some of the members of Organization XIII address him as Roxas even after he clearly states his name is Sora. He travels to other worlds to find Riku and the King, help the worlds and stop Organization XIII. His new journey brings him to meet up with some old friends and make new ones.
At one point in the storyline, Donald and Goofy's homeworld becomes infested with Heartless, which is rather unusual considering their world's protection, and Sora visits their castle for the first time. While Donald and Goofy set out to warn the castle's residents about the danger, Sora escorts Queen Minnie to the audience chamber where the Cornerstone of Light is hidden under. He finds out that Pete and Maleficent have found a doorway to Timeless River, a past timeline of their world before the castle was built. With some help from Merlin, Sora, Donald, and Goofy travel through time and manage to stop Pete from destroying the Cornerstone of Light in the past, which also saves the castle for good.
Sora, with the help of the Hayner, Pence, Olette (three friends of Roxas in DiZ's simulated Twilight Town), and Axel (who sacrifices his existence), manages to find the route to the World That Never Was: which is the stronghold of the Organization, where Kingdom Hearts, created by gathering the countless hearts from the Heartless slain by Sora's Keyblade, resides. Soon after entering the world however, in the area of Memory's Skyscraper, Sora's group is ambushed by Samurai Nobodies and Sora is forced into a showdown with an Organization member, who turns out to be Roxas (disguised in his former Organization XIII cloak) on a platform of Awakening.
In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, you can fight Roxas instead of watching the fight between Sora and Roxas as a cutscene. At the start of the fight Sora asks who Roxas is, and he answers "Someone from the dark.", then asks Sora: "Tell me...Tell me why he picked you!".
As Roxas is above and Sora below, he sees the picture of Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy (as the platform's design). Roxas then says, "I see, that's why.", and continues the fight. Roxas knocks the Keyblade out of Sora's grasp, and as he goes to retrieve it, Roxas pins it down with his own Keyblade. Sora then reaches out for his Keyblade, which disappears and reappears in his hands, after which Sora quickly strikes while Roxas stands shocked, not knowing how that happened.
Ultimately, Sora's control over his Keyblade gave him the edge over Roxas, who collapses and reveals his face. As he and the scenery disappear, Roxas says to Sora "You make a good other." Sora reappears next to Donald and Goofy, who tell him that while he disappeared, they had to fight some Nobodies, and they continue towards the massive castle where Kairi awaits them.
Afterwards, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey storm the Castle in search of their friends. They meet Saïx at the Hall of Empty Melodies, who tells that Kingdom Hearts is near completion, and it only needed "one more dose from the Keyblade Bearer." He summons hordes of Shadows and disappears to go after Maleficent and Pete who were also in the castle. The Heartless overpower Sora, but are destroyed by a rain of laser bullets. Sora then engages in a battle with Xigbar and soon defeats him. He finds Kairi and Riku (with the appearance of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, which is the price he paid to help Sora wake up).
Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy make it to the Proof of Existence of the Organization, in which there are only two places to go. They enter one of the odd pathways only to encounter Luxord. Although Luxord traps everyone but Sora in cards, he is still defeated by the Keyblade master. Next they enter Addled Impasse where they find Saïx staring up at the moon. Saïx points out that only Roxas could have made it this far in one piece and Sora gets angry and prepares to attack him. Saïx blows Riku and Kairi away and uses the power of the moon to fight. After one of Sora's most difficult battles, Saïx is finally defeated. Sora then questions who Roxas is and why he was constantly being called by that name, when Riku finally reveals to Sora that Roxas is his Nobody.
With the mysteries of Roxas's identity finally solved, they continue on. Fighting their way up the winding paths of the Castle That Never Was, Sora, Riku, and the others encounter King Mickey and DiZ, now revealed to be the former ruler of Radiant Garden, before it was taken over and renamed Hollow Bastion, Ansem the Wise, who was trying to absorb Kingdom Hearts into his machine and encode it as data. Xemnas appears to see who is tampering with Kingdom Hearts and finds his old teacher. Then Xemnas finally tells Sora and the others of his true plan, to make a Kingdom out of hearts. One that he would rule.
Unfortunately, Kingdom Hearts proved too strong for Ansem's machine, and with his final words, he tells Sora the rest is up to him and tells Roxas, "Roxas, I doubt you can hear me but, I am sorry", before the machine explodes, taking Ansem with it. The energy released in the explosion destroys a good deal of Kingdom Hearts and reverts Riku's appearance to the way it was.
Near the pinnacle of the castle, Heartless appear in vast hordes. Maleficent and Pete show up and stall them while the party heads toward their final battle. When they reach the Altar of Naught at the pinnacle of the castle, they confront Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII. After a short conversation with the Nobody, Sora is taken by Xemnas to the front of Memory's Skyscraper for a one-on-one battle. After an intense fight, Sora defeats Xemnas and is transported back to his friends.
However, Xemnas appears again and, despite the protests of the group, enters and absorbs Kingdom Hearts. The party was in luck though, and by the will of the worlds a door to Kingdom Hearts is made. Sora, Riku and the King open the door with their Keyblades, breaking the barrier separating them from Xemnas. The party enters but Sora, Riku, Donald and Goofy become separated from King Mickey and Kairi because of Xemnas.
Inside, they discover that Kingdom Hearts was made by the Superior to look like the World That Never Was. They charge through and quickly get to Xemnas and battle him, with Xemnas in armor using the tactics of the rest of the Organization. After they seemingly defeat the Organization leader and return to the Altar of Naught, Roxas emerges from Sora's body to speak with Naminé before she fuses with Kairi. Before this, Naminé opens a door to lead them out of the World That Never Was. He informs Sora that whenever he and Kairi are together, Roxas and Naminé will be together as well. Naminé then joins with Kairi to complete herself, while Roxas returns to Sora's body making Sora whole.
Unfortunately, before Sora and Riku can enter the Corridor, Xemnas attacks once again on the Captain's Seat of an enormous Dragon Nobody. In an epic air battle they manage to defeat this form of Xemnas as well. Riku is injured by Xemnas, who strikes at both with his Ethereal Blades. Falling through the air on the brink of defeat, Sora grabs Riku's Keyblade and batters Xemnas with both. Returning it to Riku, they use a bolt of light and dark energy to finish off Xemnas.
Afterwards, Sora must help Riku walk, as he sustained a heavy injury from one of Xemnas's Ethereal Blades. They wander through the eternal abyss, and eventually come to a dark beach under a pale moon, the Dark Margin. Resting at the shoreline, they discuss their adventures and friendship, and come to the conclusion that they did what they set out to do, and agreed that "If worlds are made of light and darkness, we'll be the darkness." The Realm of Light was safe, and they could now sit and let peace envelop them.
As they listen to the waves, a bottle containing a letter that Kairi wrote washes onto the shore. Riku picks it up, and, after reading it, gives it to Sora, believing him to be the proper recipient. The letter reads:
:"Thinking of you, wherever you are.
:We pray for our sorrows to end, and hope that our hearts will blend.
:Now I will step forward to realize this wish.
:And who knows:
:starting a new journey may not be so hard,
:or maybe it has already begun.
:There are many worlds, but they share the same sky —
:one sky, one destiny."
:-Kairi
After Sora reads it, the door to light appears, and both Sora and Riku use it to return to their home world: Destiny Islands.
Having brought Riku back home and reunited at last with all his friends in one piece, Sora is finally able to return Kairi's lucky charm to her, saying "We-We're back!" and Kairi corrects him saying "You're home". Kairi extends her arm to Sora, and he grasps her hand while simultaneously returning the charm he kept for her all this time.
Some time later, Sora is walking around in the Secret Cave. He smiles while looking at all the pictures he and Kairi had drawn over the years. He glances down at the picture of Kairi and himself. He sees that Kairi drew the other half of a paopu fruit, and smiles to himself, mimicking Kairi's actions from a year ago. Sora asks Riku what he thinks the door to light was. Riku replies that it was Sora's heart; "It's always closer than you think". Kairi runs up to them breathlessly and gives them a bottle she found, containing a letter from King Mickey. The trio reads the letter.
===Kingdom Hearts coded===
King Mickey digitizes Jiminy's Journal and creates a digital copy of Sora in order to investigate a strange message Jiminy found within it. The digital journal is corrupted by computer bugs in the form of data blocks, and the Data-Sora goes through and eliminates them all, eventually discovering that it was Sora's own Heartless that had been corrupting the journal.
After defeating the Heartless, the Data-Sora goes even deeper and discovers that Naminé and Ansem had hidden data about those who were in suffering (Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus) within the real Sora's memories. With this knowledge, King Mickey writes a letter to Sora asking for him to go on a mission to save them. Later, Mickey meets with his old Master, Yen Sid, who reveals that with Ansem and Xemnas's defeat, Xehanort has returned, and that Sora and Riku must undergo the Mark of Mastery exam to properly combat him.
===Blank Points===
In Ansem and Aqua's encounter deep within the realm of darkness, it is revealed by Ansem that he has hidden his research (most likely the one concerning Kingdom Hearts and the realms of Light and Darkness) inside of Sora, during his sleep in-between Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. He then proceeds to say that he would like to believe that "this boy" will be the one who will open the "right door" and save all of those whose lives were ruined by his research, including himself and Aqua. Later, after Sora has received Mickey's newest letter, he sits on the paopu tree while holding the message from King Mickey, staring off into the sunset.
It is revealed that he has now read the contents of the message and must venture out on a new quest to find Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, as well as the others connected to him, and save them from their suffering. As he says goodbye to Kairi, she gives Sora her Wayfinder again, telling him, "See you soon".
===Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance===
Sora and Riku are first seen at Destiny Islands in their Kingdom Hearts outfits, having been sent back by Yen Sid to the time shortly before their world falls to sleep. Sora wonders how far the raft can take them. They soon begin to sail on the ocean, but they end up in a storm and undergo an attack by Ursula, whom Sora recognizes. After the battle they end up in a whirlpool and get separated. A keyhole opens, allowing Sora and Riku entrance to the Sleeping Worlds.
After this a conversation between the kids and Yen Sid is shown. Yen Sid tells them about Master Xehanort and that both of them should become Keyblade Masters in order to face this new threat. Sora claims that even without taking the Mark of Mastery exam, no one can beat the two of them. Yen Sid then sends them to the Realm of Sleep.
Sora wakes up in Traverse Town, and immediately goes searching for Riku, though he runs into Neku Sakuraba instead. Neku explains the concept of Dream Eaters to Sora and leads him to the Third District, where a hooded figure attacks them. Sora attempts to help Neku, but eventually falls asleep.
Sora later wakes up and chooses to find Neku, discovering new areas of Traverse Town that he's never seen before. He meets Rhyme, who helps on his search for Neku; when they find him, Neku apologizes to Sora. Rhyme suddenly disappears and more hooded figures appear, only to summon a giant Dream Eater, which Sora defeats. Sora then sees a transparent Riku, who disappears into Young Xehanort. Joshua then appears with Rhyme and Neku, and Sora realizes that he and Riku are parallel to each other.
Sora travels to La Cité des Cloches, where Judge Claude Frollo stops him. He wonders if Sora is a gypsy, because of his unusual clothes and appearance. When Phoebus comes to tell that there are monsters on the loose, Sora runs to fight them and eventually meets Quasimodo, who saves Esmeralda. Sora and Phoebus follows them to Notre Dame's attics. After sometime, Sora meets Phoebus and Quasimodo again and they travel to the Court of Miracles, where Sora gets knocked out by a Dream Eater, while Frollo takes Esmeralda away. Sora wakes up and travels back to city, where Quasimodo saves Esmeralda. Sora destroys a Dream Eater and sees how Frollo falls to his defeat, while Phoebus saves Quasimodo from the same fate. In the cathedral, Sora says farewell to Quasimodo and the others. When he is about to leave, Young Xehanort appears and calls him a hypocrite for freeing one prisoner but keeping another. Vanitas's image also appears besides Young Xehanort, making Sora confused as the villain vanishes to darkness and Keyhole of Sleep appears. Sora unlocks it and wonders what Xehanort meant by saying his heart is a prison.
Sora then travels to The Grid, where he meets guards. When introducing himself, guards try to take him prisoner, but Sora escapes. He meets Rinzler first, then is introduced as well to Kevin, Sam, and Quorra, who inform him that Rinzler is actually Tron. Believing that Tron remembers him, Sora is determined to meet him. With Quorra's help, Sora finds Rinzler and tells him to try and remember him; however, Rinzler attacks him and Quorra before fleeing. Young Xehanort then reappears, this time with Xemnas. Xemnas tells that Sora he has so many memories that can't be his alone. Sora is then sent away by strong wind, while Xemnas and Xehanort disappear. When meeting again with Rinzler and CLU, CLU tells Sora that he will turn Rinzler back to Tron, if Sora hands over his Keyblade. Sora tells that he will not give it up since it gives him the "chance to make everyone happy". CLU then sends Rinzler to attack Sora. After a battle, Sora tries to remind Tron again, but CLU attempts to shoot him, causing Rinzler to push Sora to safety before falling out of sight. CLU is then arrested and Sora unlocks The Grid's Keyhole of Sleep.
When Sora arrives at The World That Never Was, where he lands near Memory's Skyscraper and encounters Xigbar. Xigbar explains that Ansem, the brown robed man, had contact with Sora when he first entered the Sleeping Worlds from Destiny Islands, allowing the Organization to track Sora through his dreams and lead him to this world. Angered, Sora blames Xigbar for what happened and prepares to fight, and Xigbar notes that he is glaring at him like Ventus always did, even calling Sora as "Roxas". He then jumps above Sora and fires twelve arrows around him, eleven of which spawn unknown hooded figures, and the remaining one spawning Young Xehanort, who offers his hand and tells Sora to come with him. Sora then immediately drops.
Sora wakes, realizing he is at Destiny Islands, where Young Xehanort is sitting just next to him. They watch the other Young Xehanort, who meets "Ansem", who grants him abilities to time travel. "Ansem" then approaches Sora, who shouts in fear. In the next scene, Sora and Young Xehanort are still on the islands during nighttime. They see Sora running into the secret cave and they talk a little until Kairi steps out from the cave towards Sora. The next scene shows Sora falling from the air with other Soras. The real Sora lands on his feet and sees the Sora copies moving about Traverse Town. Young Xehanort talks to him about his journeys through Traverse Town.
Sora then wakes up at Dark City back in his Kingdom Hearts II attire. He immediately sees Naminé, who tries to run away from him, but Sora grabs her arm. Namine then turns into Xion. Sora is unaware of her identity, yet unconsciously sheds a tear as she runs off. Sora runs after her, only to meet Roxas. Roxas tells Sora that they should share all memories and emotions, but Sora denies this by saying that Roxas is just Roxas and they are not the same. He also thinks that Roxas should be able to exist by himself. Roxas is surprised, and shares his painful memories with Sora before vanishing. Sora starts to blame Organization XIII for what they have done, but then he hears Riku's voice that warns him about chasing after illusions.
Sora later meets Kairi and Riku who turn into Aqua and Terra. Sora then turns into Ventus and stares at them. Aqua and Terra turn around and walk away and Ventus is trying to reach them, but he slows down and turns back into Sora. Sora then watches as Riku and Kairi vanish, changing into Terra and Aqua for a second. He then remembers his meeting with Aqua, a long time ago.
Sora meets Xigbar and Xemnas again and they have a conversation, where Xemnas reveals that Organization XIII was created in order to form the Thirteen Hearts of Darkness, which Master Xehanort could use in the future. Kingdom Hearts was created in order to move pieces of Xehanort's heart into thirteen vessels. However, Xemnas discovered that Nobodies actually can cultivate new hearts, so he and Xigbar left the others in the dark about this fact to maintain their loyalty to their cause. Xigbar then reveals to Sora that he is chosen to be the final vessel of Xehanort's heart, after which Sora summons his Keyblade, saying "Connected hearts are my power." Then Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Xion, Ventus, Aqua, Terra, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy appear behind him as illusions, stunning Xigbar, who tells Xemnas to take care of Sora. After a fight, Sora is completely tired and lies on the ground with darkness surrounding his body. Young Xehanort then appears, telling him that his clothes feed the darkness within him, since, unlike Riku, Sora never made any protection against his inner darkness.
Sora is then seen sitting at Where Nothing Gathers. Riku and Mickey are attempting to save him, when Master Xehanort attempts to split Sora's heart and make him one of his incarnations. Though Xemnas and Ansem subdue them, Lea appears and blocks Master Xehanort's attack. After that, Master Xehanort, along with his new Organization XIII, vanishes. Riku, Lea, and the others return to the Mysterious Tower, where Yen Sid sends Riku into Sora's heart in order to save him from falling into darkness. Whilst there, Riku discovers that Roxas, Ventus and Xion still reside within Sora's heart, as does a copy of Ansem the Wise.
After that, Sora wakes up and he, Donald, and Goofy have a party; Riku wakes up and Sora hugs him, relieved his friend is okay as well. Yen Sid then tells them that only Riku passed the Mark of Mastery. Sora, however, does not appear to be sad at all, and he even congratulates Riku. Lea then reveals that he also has a Keyblade and that he will help them in the near future. Sora then returns to the Realm of Sleep in order to re-take the test and went else where to train. Upon arriving in Traverse Town, he meets all the Spirit Dream Eaters he became friends with.
===Kingdom Hearts III===
Sora returns to find the Guardians of Light and defeat Master Xehanort once and for all. Having lost most of his abilities following the events of Dream Drop Distance, Sora travels back to Mount Olympus to train with Hercules to regain them. Afterwards, he sets off with visiting new worlds and protecting them from the likes of Master Xehanort and his True Organization XIII, along with the Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, all while trying to reacquire the power of waking he had lost.
His adventures soon lead to him arriving back home on the Destiny Islands, where he comes across Master Eraqus' Keyblade, which allows him to enter the Dark Margin in the Realm of Darkness to rescue Aqua. Riku and King Mickey had previously traveled to the Realm of Darkness to save Aqua, but to no avail. As they finally find her corrupted by darkness as Anti-Aqua, Sora arrives and purifies the darkness within her by defeating her in battle. After bringing her back to the Destiny Islands and reuniting her with Eraqus' Keyblade, Sora joins Aqua as they return to Castle Oblivion to restore it to the Land of Departure. Once there, they are confronted by Vanitas, who had arrived to try and stop them from reviving Ventus, instead wanting to rejoin with his sleeping "brother". Before Aqua is struck down by Vanitas, Sora's power of waking miraculously reawakens inside of him, restoring Ventus' sleeping heart to his body, allowing him to be revived at long last and save Aqua.
With Aqua and Ventus bringing their total Guardians of Light to seven alongside Kairi, Riku, King Mickey, and Lea, Sora heads for the Keyblade Graveyard to confront Master Xehanort. However, before it can happen, Terra-Xehanort and the Demon Tide manage to wipe out the entire team, sans Sora and Riku, leaving Sora devastated. Riku makes a heroic last stand against the Demon Tide before he is claimed by it, and the Demon Tide then goes after Sora. Sora soon finds himself in the Final World, where he discovers that his body and heart were not completely destroyed, having managed to hang on by a thread thanks to Kairi. He encounters Naminé, whom he promised to thank once he sees her again. After managing to recover his body, he sets about rescuing everyone else and reversing time to moments before the encounter with Terra-Xehanort. When Terra-Xehanort tries to repeat history, the Lingering Will appears to stop him, forcing him into retreat, and the support of the Keyblades of fallen Keyblade Warriors from around the Keyblade Graveyard allows Sora to destroy the Demon Tide once and for all. His attempt to win prematurely now lost, Master Xehanort creates a labyrinth for Sora and the others to face off with his thirteen darknesses.
During the battle against Terra-Xehanort and Vanitas, Sora aids Aqua and Ventus in defeating them, but Terra-Xehanort captures them in chains representing their bonds with Terra and prepares to kill Aqua and Ventus, only to be stopped by his own Heartless Guardian, who rescues Aqua and Ventus and frees Sora, before subduing Terra-Xehanort and ripping the straps over its mouth off, allowing it to speak and reveal itself to be Terra's Heartless, who is bent on regaining his body at long last, much to Terra-Xehanort's horror. Sora aids Terra with paralyzing Terra-Xehanort long enough for Terra to release his heart from the Guardian and have it go back to his body, purging it of Xehanort's influence for good. After Terra reunites with Ventus and Aqua, Sora leaves them to reunite as he then moves on to aid Kairi and Lea against Saix and the hooded member of Master Xehanort's group. When the figure hesitates to strike down Lea when given the chance, Sora steps in to talk her down, only for the figure to attack him until he says her name in Roxas' voice, revealing the hooded figure to be Xion in a new body from the Replica Program. Roxas soon arrives in person to save his best friends from Xemnas, but Xemnas manages to grab Kairi and escape, leaving Sora to have to face Saix with Roxas and Xion's support.
After that, Sora meets up with Riku and King Mickey to confront the last of Master Xehanort's pieces of darkness in Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Young Xehanort, and Xemnas. After they are eliminated, Master Xehanort brings out an unconscious Kairi, stating that Sora needs motivation to attack him and reforge the χ-blade, and strikes down Kairi in cold blood, infuriating Sora, Riku, and King Mickey, forcing them to attack him, thus allowing the χ-blade to be reforged. By the time Roxas and Ventus arrives with their friends, it is too late to stop Master Xehanort. However, deciding to use Master Xehanort's power over time against him, with support from his fellow Keyblade bearers, Sora, supported by Donald and Goofy, is able to drag Master Xehanort into Scala ad Caelum, his former home, for their final confrontation. After Master Xehanort is finally bested in combat, and the other Keyblade wielders arrive to join Sora, Eraqus' spirit appears to convince him to stand down and surrender peacefully. Accepting his actions were in error and he had strayed off his intended path, Master Xehanort accepts defeat, entrusts the χ-blade to Sora, and passes peacefully on to the afterlife with Eraqus. Supported by everyone else, Sora uses the χ-blade to close Kingdom Hearts for good before returning to the Keyblade Graveyard.
Afterwards, despite pleas by King Mickey with not going through with it, but encouraged by Riku and everyone else, Sora uses his power of waking once last time to find Kairi and bring her home, but as he had been forewarned by Young Xehanort that overuse of it could prove disastrous to his body and heart, he is only able to spend one last moment with Kairi back on the Destiny Islands before vanishing to parts unknownhttps://www.kh13.com/news/spoilers-the-big-tetsuya-nomura-interview-from-kingdom-hearts-iii-ultimania-has-been-translated-in-full-r2953/ "After disappearing in the ending, Sora arrives in the world shown in the secret movie." ~ Tetsuya Nomura, KH3 Ultimania interview.
==Personality==
Sora has a typical brave and heroic personality, meaning he'll willingly risk his life for people he doesn't even know yet, as shown when he tries to save Ansem the Wise from the explosion, to no avail. He's extremely loyal to his friends, and has been shown to be extremely forgiving to Riku, even forgiving him for the times he has tried to kill him, and very protective of Kairi.
Sora is highly optimistic person, choosing to think positively throughout his journeys. He is an upbeat and brash person, and although he is simple minded at times, he has a strong sense of justice. Sora has matured over a year's time, for instance, when battling enemies in the game, he seems to have a more serious expression on his face. Sora is more confident than before and takes charge of his group. He is also quite caring and reassuring to his other-world friends such as when Beast quits after Xaldin steals his rose. Sora reassured him that they would get it back.
Sora seems to have a remarkable capacity to forgive, even to his sworn enemies; when Maleficent loses control of the Heartless to Organization XIII and is overwhelmed by Dusks in order to allow Sora's group to escape, Sora is clearly concerned for her and is only stopped from helping her by being restrained by Donald.
Another prominent example is when he forgives Naminé for rewriting the majority of his memories, despite the severity of her doings. More examples would be when he shows gratefulness towards Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, despite all the harm he had caused, for saving Kairi's life, unaware that he is actually a disguised Riku, and when he forgives Axel for kidnapping Kairi and even remains by his side as he fades from existence. Sora quickly forgave Neku who was going to hand him over to Young Xehanort as part of their agreement.
Sora seems to have a strong impact on those around him. When Ansem the Wise said a nobody can not have feelings, Roxas cannot hate Sora. Riku stated that if Roxas had met Sora, maybe it would be different. He has strongly impacted the lifes of even his enemies. After Axel had an encounter with Sora, there was a difference in him. Axel seemed to have had gained the ability to feel emotions again after he met Sora. His love is what restored him to being whole again without having to kill Roxas, according to Ansem The Wise. Sora seems to make a new attachment with everyone and sees the good before the bad in them. Sora's bright personality cheers everyone up even in the worst of times.
In Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories he puts Kairi above all his other friends; his main quest in both games is finding her and ensuring her safety, even clashing with Riku over her rescue when he believes Riku's method of helping her is incorrect. He does still care about Riku and values Riku as a friend, trying to help him see the error of his ways; but Riku's plunge into darkness makes him more concerned with Kairi, as he knows she is still on the side of light.
In Kingdom Hearts II, he puts all four of them on an equal level. A prominent example of this is when Goofy is apparently fatally injured after getting hit in the head by a rock during the Battle of Hollow Bastion; Sora is clearly traumatized by Goofy's apparent death, and utters, "This is not happening. It can't be happening. It can't". It is shown that, by Kingdom Hearts II, Sora views all friends equally, no longer holding Kairi above the others. This can be seen when he hesitates to locate Kairi, and instead chooses to help Leon and the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, against King Mickey's wishes. Additionally, he refuses to return to Destiny Islands and rejoin Kairi without finding Riku first.
On the other hand, Sora shows little tolerance for cowardice and selfishness, criticizing both Hades and Iago for being cowardly and selfish, though ultimately forgiving the latter when he proved genuinely sorry for his actions.
Like most children his age, Sora shows a highly competitive streak, as he often competes with Riku over numerous things. When he asks to fight Hercules alone in the Hercules Cup, Donald calls him a show-off, and Goofy says in Chain of Memories, "Whenever there's a contest, you're always rarin' to sign up". He doesn't like to be called a kid, but prefers to be called Sora.
Though he is far from stupid, Sora has often seen to be highly gullible and oblivious to what should be obvious. For example, he fell for Mulan's attempt at passing for a man; proceeding this, Mushu stated that Sora "could fall for anything". Ironically, he doesn't let his enemies fool him as easily. An example would be when he didn't fall for Xemnas's attempt to play on Sora's sympathetic side, which was far more convincing than Mulan's attempt to appear as a man.
Sora is often quick to anger whenever he's confused, and is quite childish and silly at times. He can also be seen as quite impulsive, as he tends to jump into things without thinking them through beforehand. While simple-minded and naive at times, he has a strong sense of justice, like when he proves Alice's innocence by finding pieces of evidence around Wonderland.
Sora also shows somewhat of an admiration of sea pirates during their first visit to Port Royal, wherein he is excited to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and even states that he hopes that they would be able to "take a pirate ship out for a spin" (though he tells Donald and Goofy that he was merely joking about it). Of course, he likely gets over this after Captain Barbossa double-crosses them.
Strangely enough, he doesn't show this admiration for Captain Hook or his pirate ship, probably due to the fact that Hook was holding both Kairi and Wendy captive on the ship. He was also eager to meet Santa Claus during their first visit to Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts II (and he also shows lots of disappointment when Santa told him about the time he announced to everybody that he did not believe in Santa Claus, apparently at the urging of Riku). He also shows an interest of being king when he went to the Pride Lands, showing dismay when he was told that he didn't have the right qualities, and when he was leaving Pride Rock with Nala.
Also, Sora does not seem to have experience with computers, as evidenced in the episodes in Radiant Garden and Space Paranoids—he hits the computer keyboard hard while in Radiant Garden, and whilst he was in Space Paranoids, he did not understand a single word Tron said, as it all appeared to be tech jargon. However, he does at least seem to know how to use a computer, but with very little skill, as a journal page of the story calls him "hardly computer-savvy", this is shown more when he hits the keyboard with his fists, expecting it to do what he wants. This is most likely because he lived on Destiny Islands all his life and probably didn't have access to computers there.
On occasion in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora seems to unintentionally show somewhat of a disrespect towards people of higher authority than himself upon meeting them. For example, when meeting Yen Sid, Donald and Goofy respectfully bow to him, while Sora greets him by simply saying, "Hey there!". Goofy is clearly shocked by this, and Donald shouts at him to show some respect. When meeting Queen Minnie, Sora simply asks, "Where's the King?". This leads to Donald grabbing him by the ear and asking Minnie to excuse him.
When Sora and King Mickey were disputing about Ansem's identity, Sora, thinking that he has forgotten who Ansem is, drags King Mickey by the arm in order to show him the portrait of Xehanort in Ansem's study. However, when meeting Princess Jasmine again in Kingdom Hearts II, he actually does bow to her, along with Donald and Goofy. He, Donald, and Goofy also bow in respect to Simba as the new king during their second visit to the Pride Lands.
==Appearance==
Sora first starts off appearing tanner and somewhat lankier than his rival, Riku. He seems to portray more of a typical teenage boy's looks. Sora has spiky brown hair (although in Kingdom Hearts II, his hair does change from a dark brown to a more caramel color) along with blue eyes. Sora's appearance does not change that much throughout the series besides growing taller, a slightly different hair style, tanner skin, a slightly deeper voice, and having more matured looks. Sora goes through many costume changes throughout the series.
His original outfit consisted of a Mickey Mouse style outfit, containing large yellow shoes, a white and black overjacket as well as a red jumpsuit and a pair of white with yellow gloves with his signature crown necklace and crown chain. This outfit is the main outfit in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Interestingly, after Sora uses the Keyblade of People's Hearts to free Kairi's heart, his hair appears to be lighter. Using Donald's magic, his appearance is changed to that of Vampire Form and Merman Form in certain worlds.
In certain scenes in both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a younger version of Sora appears. As a child, Sora's hair was lighter than it was in Kingdom Hearts, more closely resembling his hair color in Kingdom Hearts II, and it was not as spiky. Clothing-wise, Sora wore what looks like a white T-shirt with blue lining and red shorts with a maroon pocket on each leg, as well as brown sandals with yellow straps.
His outfit considerably changes in Kingdom Hearts II as it turns into a black and silver outfit that, while remaining baggy, is like his original outfit. It contains a darker style using many zippers and extra leggings but still retains his crown necklace. For a short while in Twilight Town, he does wear his first outfit. With the institution of Drive Forms, his outfit can turn into different appearances for Valor Form, Limit Form, Anti Form, Wisdom Form, Master Form, and Final Form.
While he retains his typical appearance in most worlds, in certain worlds Sora's appearance is altered, either by Donald's magic or his magical Kingdom Hearts II outfit, in order to allow himself to blend in with the inhabitants of those worlds.
His appearance alterations are listed here:
*In Atlantica, Sora takes on the appearance of a merman with a blue dolphin tail rather than a fish tail and a dorsal fin. While in this form, Sora can breathe underwater and swim much faster than he can in his human form, and also move up and down. Sora cannot Drive or Summon in this form; in Kingdom Hearts II, he is unable to attack at all, seeing as the world has been altered to progressing the story through musical numbers.
*In Halloween Town, Sora takes on the appearance of a vampire with a pumpkin-like mask over one side of his face, complete with fangs and bat-like wings. This form has no special abilities. When in Drive Form, his mask changes rather than his clothes (a devil-mask slightly reminiscent of a Bomb for Valor Form, a Black Mage-like mask for Wisdom Form, a splicing of both for Master Form, a gold crown for Final Form, a heart for Limit Form, and a Shadow Heartless for Anti Form). In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also changes to greyish tones to match the surroundings of Halloween Town.
*In Christmas Town in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, his attire changes from a vampire to a black Santa Claus outfit. When in Drive Form, aside from his aura, movement and manner of Keyblade wielding, the color of the hat will slightly tint to match the corresponding Form. Additionally, the symbols of the corresponding Form will appear on the hat: a red Fleur-de-lis for Valor, a blue flame for Wisdom, a gold cross for Master, a silver N-shaped rune for Final, a whitish crown for Limit, and a Heartless emblem for Anti Form.
*In the Timeless River, Sora's appearance changes to mirror the style of 1920s-era Disney cartoons. His skin and clothing are black-and-white, his arms and legs are long and scrawny, and he, like all other characters in this world, has taken on his very first appearance design (from the original Kingdom Hearts). He has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, the icon of Sora by the HP Bar tints color slightly on the outline to reflect the Form transformed into, apart from the aura, manner of movement and Keyblade wielding that each Form displays; red for Valor, blue for Wisdom, yellow for Master, and white for Final. For Anti Form, however, he merely turns into a black cartoonish shadow of himself. For Limit Form in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, his icon is tinted purple.
*In the Pride Lands, Sora is transformed into a brown-furred lion cub. His spiky hairstyle is now present as a mane, though he retains his crown-shaped necklace. He wields the Keyblade in his mouth. While Sora is unable to Drive or perform Summons in this form, he can move with greatly increased speed and agility. The Dash ability in this form is identical to the Mermaid Kick in Atlantica.
*In Space Paranoids, Sora is converted into a data form, wearing robot-like armor with blue circuit patterns all over his body. In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also is changed to have glowing blue circuit lines as well. Sora has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, Sora's circuit lines change color to reflect the Form transformed into (i.e. red for Valor Form, dark blue for Wisdom Form, yellow for Master form, white for Final Form and black with dark purple circuits for Anti Form. For Limit form, the circuits use Limit Form's colors and, unlike the other forms, are arranged as such, i.e. silver torso, red pants and yellow shoes).
In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sora's outfit while within the Sleeping World combines elements from his attire in both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The new outfit contains large yellow shoes, a silver and black overjacket with crimson and white trimming, a black vest with an "X" on the front, crimson pants and a pair of black with yellow gloves with his signature crown necklace and crown chain.
==Abilities==
===Keyblade===
Sora gained the ability to wield the Keyblade when he reached out his heart to Ventus after sensing Ventus's shattered heart. By joining his heart with Ventus's he gained the ability to wield his own Keyblade, as well as Ventus's.
Sora's Keyblade is a Keyblade from the Realm of Light, and it appears before him as his home world, Destiny Islands, is consumed by the Heartless. Its default form is the Kingdom Key, which uses a Hidden Mickey as its token.  It then appeared to Sora in a time of need, when darkness took him and Riku. The Keyblade chose Sora because he is pure of heart and was able to adopt Master King Mickey's Kingdom Key from the Realm of Light. It can be assumed that Master King Mickey had chosen Sora as an apprentice by the purity of his heart. As opposed to Riku who allowed darkness at the time. However, Riku is able to wield a Keyblade because of Terra. The Kingdom Key is characterized as Master King Mickey's Keyblade because of it's Keychain. Mastery of ones Keyblade brings forth a keychain. King Mickey was under Yen Sid's instruction and passed the Mark of Mastery. Yen Sid passed down the Star Seeker Keyblade to King Mickey. Upon the Mark of Mastery, the Keyblade Master adopts an apprentice(s) and protects a realm and or travels to other worlds to explore his/her horizons. King Mickey traveled to many worlds, most of his voyages were accidental because he could not control the star shard he "borrowed". It can be deducted that at some point in his voyages Master King Mickey gained the Kingdom Key of the Realm of Light and Mastered it, hence the Hidden Mickey Keychain. Further on, When the worlds first started to disappear, King Mickey realized that Kingdom Hearts was going to be opened, and went to the Realm of Darkness to find its Keyblade, the Kingdom Key-D, with which he could seal the door. However, he would also need someone to use a Keyblade from the Realm of Light in concert with him, so he left a letter for Donald Duck and Goofy, asking them to find the chosen wielder of that Keyblade and assist him in saving the worlds. The Keyblade of Realm of Light, the Kingdom Key in it's default form, presented/chose Sora by his pure heart while in darkness. Sora is able to wield a Keyblade because he sheltered Ventus' shattered heart while only a boy, preserving Ventus' life. Riku later gains a Keychain for his Way to Dawn Keyblade by Master King Mickey's assisted voice in the dark. It can be suggested that both Sora and Riku are Master King Mickey's apprentices' from which both had to learn of light and dark in reverse complimentary orders of gain and loss of the heart and saving friends in need, as well as themselves.
Sora's most notable Keychain's are the Hidden Mickey attached to the Kingdom Key of the Realm of Light, Kairi's Promise Star Fruit attached to the Oath Keeper Keyblade, and a Crown on the Oblivion Keyblade which symbolizes Riku's darkness, or the darkness that Sora learned through Riku's attempt at channeling it. Although Yen Sid declared Riku as the "New True Keyblade Master" after the Mark of Mastery exams, there is a hidden undertone. It does not mean that Sora is not already a Keyblade Master. After all, the Keyblade "chose" him, as an extension of pure heart. A Keyblade Master is capable of awakening worlds and individuals hearts from prisons of slumber. Sora has already done so for every character and world in the series. It is clear that Sora is finally at peace within the inner corridors of his "memories". Sora's character/personality alone only see's good and immediately celebrates Riku's accomplishment, without thought. This only further proves his Mark of Mastery, for which is called great responsibility and wisdom. After all, it is Yen Sid who evaluates. The Mark of Mastery exams were set up to introduce Riku as a Keyblade Master. He mastered himself within and can save, on par with Sora. Sora is sometimes able to use other wielders' Keyblades; for example, when fighting Roxas he is able to steal Roxas's Oathkeeper and Oblivion, for a total of three Keyblades, and at one point during their final battle with Xemnas, Riku lends his Way to the Dawn to Sora.
Sora's battle style primarily consists of strong two-handed strikes.
With his Synch Blade ability, Sora can also wield two Keyblades at once, though he has yet to do so outside of his Drive Forms. Sora's Synch Blade ability stems from his possession of Ventus's heart within his own.[1] As Sora's Nobody, Roxas also possesses Synch Blade.
===Magic===
Sora is very skilled in various basic magic spells (such as Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder), even more so after training with Merlin. These spells allow him to weaken Heartless that are more vulnerable to certain elements. He can also use Cure to heal himself and his allies from injuries as well as restore HP and revive a fallen party member.
In Kingdom Hearts II, his basic combo is much stronger and he gains the Drive Form ability after obtaining new clothes, which give him more mastery over his strengths, speed, magic, and Keyblade. In addition to the abilities that each form grants him, Sora's speed and strength are also increased.
In Kingdom Hearts II, he learns to use Limits with party members to form a strong, special type of attack which takes all of his MP.
With a summon gem, card or charm in hand, Sora learns to the ability to summon a specific character and temporarily aid him in combat. Each character has a special power that makes them helpful. He first learns summon in Kingdom Hearts when he finds Simba's gem after his world was destroyed and brings it to the Fairy Godmother, who helps restore his spirit form; and then, he gathers five other summons, two of which did not start as summon gems.
He loses all of the summon gems when their true forms are restored. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he learns to summon using cards instead of gems. In this game, he can use all previous summons, with one addition: Cloud. In Kingdom Hearts II, Merlin gives him a summon charm that allows him to call for a specific character to aid him. Then, he locates three other summon charms that allow him to summon more powerful characters.
===Miscellaneous===
Sora has become very powerful over the length of the series, being able to slay over a thousand Heartless in a single battle without rest, showing only slight fatigue afterwards; fight and defeat all but a few members, who Riku, the Riku Replica, and Axel defeated, of the powerful Organization XIII. Sora is also able to hold his own against legendary swordsmen such as Cloud, Leon, and even Sephiroth (although, in their encounter in the second game, Sephiroth seems uninjured after the battle, even though he supposedly lost and admits that Sora is "very skilled"), defeat other highly skilled Keyblade wielders, such as Riku, having defeated him on several occasions even when Riku gained a large increase in power when possessed by Ansem, and defeated Roxas who was at full power and before Sora himself gained his full power; and fight and defeat the countless Disney villains that have faced him (even gods like Hades and Chernabog).
In the manga, Sora defeats Guard Armor and Cerberus in a single blow (though the latter had already been worn down by Hercules before Sora entered the fight). The Trick Master also faces the same fate in Wonderland. He becomes even more powerful if he uses his Drive Forms, which unlock some of his hidden power, though he requires the power of his party members to do this. After he defeats Roxas, he unlocks Final Form, gaining his full power as the Keyblade Master of the Realm of Light as well as Roxas's awakening from his slumber inside Sora, which also awakens the other half of his power.
However, Sora is nearly helpless without his Keyblade. Even Shadow Heartless take a huge number of hits for him to kill without it. However, before he left Destiny Islands, he could not even damage the Heartless without the Keyblade. His supposed weakness may be caused by the weapon he wields. When Sora is not in possession of his Keyblade, his only available weapons are the sparring weapons, Wooden Sword and Struggle Bat.
If he is given proper "normal" weapons (for example, a normal sword made of steel), he can probably still fight well, although he might not be able to fight as well as when he uses the Keyblade. However, he is not utterly useless in real combat without it; he is still able to cast magic with no major decrease in power, whether he has the Keyblade or not (as long as he knows how).
While not a necessary talent for battle, Sora, as seen during the Kingdom Hearts II visit to Atlantica, is shown to be a talented singer, as he is frequently paired up with Ariel, who is widely renowned in Atlantica for her singing voice, in Sebastian's musical numbers. However, Sora is only heard singing in two songs, namely "Under the Sea" and "A New Day is Dawning", and even then, he only has a few lines for both. He also sings a few lines with Donald and Goofy after opening the Gate in Atlantica. Sora is also shown to share Roxas's ability with a skateboard, demonstrated in worlds including, but not limited to, Twilight Town and Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden.
On many occasions, Sora demonstrates physical abilities that could be considered superhuman. This is probably the result of possessing the Keyblade. A few examples of of his superhuman abilities are listed here:
*In the Deep Jungle, he has shown great durability when he falls a great distance and crashes headfirst through the roof of the treehouse, emerging alive and uninjured, but slightly dazed. Similarly, when Sabor slashes him with his claws and knocks him back into a wall, he quickly gets up and fights back.
*In the Olympus Coliseum, he has shown to have incredible strength when he is able to lift up crates and barrels without showing any limits due to the possession of the Keyblade. Sora also often overpowers opponents much larger than himself.
*He can either glide or actually fly, the latter of which only in Neverland, the End of the World, and the final battle with Ansem.
*He is capable of leaping incredible distances, such as jumping up to the ceiling of the ballroom in Beast's Castle and between buildings and Xemnas's two cannons in the final battle with him in Kingdom Hearts II.
*He can cut through solid concrete and other durable forms of matter, even whole buildings.
*He can either teleport or move too fast to be seen that he when using the "Warp Snipe" reaction command, the Teleport Sleight, or Final Form's Final Arts.
Sora also seems to be capable of bending the universe's laws of nature to an extent:
*His memories seem to bind every character in the story, connecting them to himself in some way.
*He is able to pour almost all of his power into his Nobody, Roxas and Roxas's imperfect Replica, Xion, at the same time.
==Fanfictions==
There are different Kingdom Hearts Fanfictions that depict Sora in both Canon and Non canon forms. Some fanfictions have him in romantic situations with either Riku, Kairi, or other characters. In other fanfictions, he is mentioned in the plot but never has contact with the OC characters.
In Kingdom Hearts Lost Reason, Sora appears shortly after Taisuke Umbra leaves with Angel in Chapter 8. Neither characters ever interact with each other. However, a mention is given to the OCs about him visiting certain worlds. In Chapter 14, Ariel mentions Sora, Donald, and Goofy to Taisuke after Taisuke accidentally falls off Eric's ship and becomes a merman. It is unknown after Taisuke leaves if Sora, Donald, and Goofy appear shortly after Ariel rescues Eric from drowning. In the fanfiction, Keyblade masters are outlawed in Pangaea and are blamed for the creation of the world to start with. It is not explained on if Sora was in the Great War 50 years before Taisuke's birth.
==Trivia==
*Although none of the parents of the characters on the Destiny Islands are shown on screen, Sora's mother can be heard calling him for dinner during the calamity in the first game. Also, in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora mentions both his mother and father while reminiscing about Naminé, and Riku mentions Sora's father to Terra in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
*In Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Heart 3D: Dream Drop Distance, during every cutscene involving a Keyblade, Sora wields the Keyblade the player has equipped. The only cutscenes where this doesn't apply are the scenes when Sora meets up with Riku during the 2nd visit to Traverse Town, Sora and King Mickey seal away Kingdom Hearts, when Riku temporarily takes the Keyblade from Sora in Hollow Bastion, and before the Battle of 1000 Heartless in which he has the Kingdom Key. In the scenes with Riku, the Keyblade retains Sora's Keychain while in Sora's possession but reverts to the Kingdom Key while in Riku's hands.
*Sora is mistakenly believed to appeared in the Disney movie Wreck-It Ralph as one of the patrons of Tapper's in the 8-bit view. The character in question is actually a cowboy. 
*Though the player can have Sora pick any of the Dream Weapons in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days confirms that Sora canoncially picked the Dream Sword, as it is his final weapon in 358/2 Days.
*It's been unveiled on Oct 5, during the Sakurai Presents Direct, that Sora was chosen as the last DLC in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.
Category:Males
Category:Teenagers
Category:Keyblade Wielders
Category:Characters
Category:Humans
Category:Living characters
Category:Heroes
Category:Princes
Category:Protagonists
Category:Kingdom Hearts
Category:Super Smash Brothers series
Category:Orphans
Category:Animated
Category:Cryokinetic
Category:Elementals
Category:Male Characters
Category:Kids
Category:Children
Category:CGI
Category:Warriors
Category:Guardians
Category:Guardian Warriors
Category:Disney characters
Category:Disney
Category:Crossover Characters
Category:Fighting Game Characters
Category:Aerokinetic
Category:Photokinetic
Category:Electrokinetic
Category:Magic Swordsmen
Category:Successful Heroes
Category:Brunettes
Category:Lawful Good
Category:From Zero to Hero
Category:Cosmic Wielders
Category:Gloved Characters
Category:Adorkable Characters
Category:Determinators
Category:Reality Warper
Category:Pawn of a villain
Category:Photographers
Category:Summoners
Category:Magi-Tech
Category:Vigilantes
Category:Aquatic Divers
Category:Optimists