Kingdom Hearts (Universe)

***Kingdom Hearts*** (キングダムハーツ, *Kingudamu Hātsu*) universe is a franchise centered around a series of video games that was first created and owned by Square Enix (was originally by Square), and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square Enix character designer. It primarily centers on the main character Sora and his both journey and experiences with various *Disney*, *Final Fantasy*, and *The World Ends with You* characters, whilst stopping the various incarnations of the primary antagonist Xehanort throughout the series.

"*.*"

—About the Kingdom Keymasters Universe.

## Gallery

### Characters

#### Allies

Master Eraqus
(Deceased)Kairi

## History

### Past

#### The Three Keyblade users

Three Keyblade apprentices, Terra, Aqua and Ventus, train under Master Eraqus to one day become Keyblade Masters. However, when Aqua is named Keyblade Master after passing her Mark of Mastery, Eraqus's fellow Keyblade Master Master Xehanort mysteriously disappears as monsters called the Unversed begin spreading throughout the worlds. Terra is sent to defeat the Unversed and locate Master Xehanort. Ventus is goaded into following Terra by Xehanort's enigmatic apprentice, Vanitas, and Aqua is instructed by Eraqus to bring Ventus back home. Along the way, Terra slowly begins to lose control in the darkness inside his heart, but finds solace with Master Xehanort, who appears to understand him.

Terra crosses paths with a young boy named Riku and chooses him as his successor. Ventus befriends fellow Keyblade apprentice, Mickey Mouse, and crosses paths several times with Vanitas. He eventually learns that Vanitas is actually the embodiment of the darkness inside him, extracted by Master Xehanort as part of his plan to forge the legendary χ-blade, capable of unlocking Kingdom Hearts itself. Ventus confronts Master Eraqus about this, who attempts to destroy him to stop the χ-blade's creation, but falls at the hands of Terra and Master Xehanort, the latter whom reveals his true intentions afterward.

Terra, Aqua and Ventus eventually battle both Master Xehanort and Vanitas in the Keyblade Graveyard, where Ventus and Terra's fates are sealed: Terra converted into Xehanort's vessel while his mind took residence in his discarded suit of armor, Vanitas merging back into Ventus and taking brief control over his body in a fight with Aqua and Mickey physically before the χ-blade he used is imperfect as the fusion is revealed to be. In his mind, Ventus sacrifices himself to destroy Vantias. However, as Aqua placed Ventus
comatose body to rest inside the Land of Departure, reformatted as Castle Oblivion, Ventus's heart makes contact with the heart of a young boy named Sora, entering the boy's body.

While looking for Terra, Aqua finds Xehanort in the Radiant Garden, where he was sent following the χ-blade's destruction, and battles him in an attempt to rescue Terra. As Xehanort begins to sink into the Realm of Darkness, Aqua follows and sacrifices her armor and Keyblade to save Terra's body while she remains in the darkness. Xehanort, now with amnesia, is found by the sage king of Radiant Garden, Ansem the Wise, and taken in as his apprentice. However, with the aid of his ally Braig, Xehanort unknowingly embarks on a back-up part he arranged if his plan had failed. By that time, Mickey passes his Mark of Mastery under Yen Sid and is awarded the title of Keyblade Master.

## Synopsis

### Sora's Journey

Ten years later, the story focus shifts to Sora, Riku, and their friend, Kairi (a former resident of Radiant Garden and who incidentally became Aqua's successor ten years before). The first game shows how Sora is separated from his friends when their world, Destiny Islands, is invaded by creatures known as the Heartless. During the invasion, losing Kairi, Sora obtains the Keyblade, as Ventus's heart is still within him while Riku accepted darkness and was dragged into the abyss. Soon after finding himself in Traverse Town, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy, two emissaries from Disney Castle searching for the "key" per instructions from Mickey, their King. The three band together and travel across the worlds, sealing the Keyholes to the hearts of the worlds to prevent more Heartless invasions.

Along the way, they encounter a group of Disney villains that are using the Heartless led by Maleficent, a sorceress that Master Xehanort revealed the nature of the worlds to and inspired her to conquer them by finding Kingdom Hearts, a door which holds the hearts of all worlds, by gathering the seven Princesses of Hearts. Furthermore, Riku is helping Maleficent in hopes that she can restore Kairi's heart as her body has been in a comatose state since the islands were gone. Though they eventually defeat Maleficent, the three discover that Ansem, who has apparently succumbed to the darkness, is the true mastermind and possessed Riku's body after he briefly obtained Sora's Keyblade. Ansem's plan is to open "Kingdom Hearts" in the hopes of attaining eternal darkness. Furthermore, learning that Kairi's heart was in his body prior to her fading away, Sora sacrifices himself to restore her while he became a Heartless prior to Kairi restoring him to normal. After Sora makes his way to the End of the World to Ansem and seal the door with the help of Riku and King Mickey on the other side.

After sealing the door to Kingdom Hearts, Sora, Donald, and Goofy begin searching for Riku and King Mickey, finding themselves heading towards a mysterious fortress called Castle Oblivion. Upon entering the fortress, they begin to lose their memories. The three encounter a group of dark hooded villains, part of a mysterious Organization. In the castle, Sora learns his memories have been manipulated by a girl named Naminé who was being held captive by the Organization's Marluxia, who is acting against the group's interest for his own agenda. Sora, Donald and Goofy fight their way through Castle Oblivion and eventually encounter and destroy Marluxia. To allow them to regain their memories, Naminé puts Sora, Donald, and Goofy to sleep for a year; in the process, they must lose the memories of their experience in Castle Oblivion.

### Riku's Journey

As Sora traveled up Castle Oblivion's floors, Riku found himself in the basement of the castle and begins traveling to the first floor with the aid of King Mickey. Riku fights the Organization's Vexen and Lexaeus while dealing with both a Replica the former made in his image and what remained of Ansem within his heart. During his fight with Zexion, Riku learned to accept darkness and use for good. Allying himself with the mysterious DiZ after defeating his Replica, who became jaded and hateful after learning that Naminé was forced by Marluxia to place him under the delusion that he was the original, Riku defeated Ansem with Mickey's help as he ultimately suppressed the villain. However, knowing that Ansem still existed within him, Riku parted ways with Mickey and aids DiZ in safe-guarding Sora as Naminé restores his memories over the months that followed. However, a snag in the plan forces Riku to go after a young man named Roxas, the thirteenth member of the Organization who is also Sora's Nobody.

Created when Sora became a Heartless, Roxas was found by the Organization's leader Xemnas and was entrusted to Axel. While Axel was sent to Castle Oblivion to deal with Marluxia and meeting Sora in the process, Roxas befriended the group's new member Xion. When Axel returned, three members dealt with by Sora and Riku and two by Axel himself, the three became good friends as they three spend their breaks from missions together. However, when Xion is revealed to a replica created from Sora's memories, Roxas defected from the Organization after doubting their true motives and desiring to meet Sora in person. However, being reprogrammed, Xion is made to attack Roxas who is forced to mortally wound her. Entrusting Roxas with her being and Keyblade, her memory in everyone slowly fading, Roxas attempted to go after Xemnas. However, Roxas encounters Riku who succumbs to the Darkness inside him and takes on the appearance of Ansem. With his newfound power, Riku subdues Roxas and takes him to DiZ, but the ordeal leaves him stuck in Ansem's form. With their plan successful, DiZ orders Riku to eliminate Naminé, but Riku refuses, and instead lets Naminé go with Axel.

### Sora's Journey, Part 2

Seven days after Riku's success, with Roxas absorbed back into him, Sora awakens in Twilight Town after a year of rest. With no memory of their time at Castle Oblivion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy resume their search for Riku and King Mickey. They learn of the Nobodies and are re-familiarized with their leaders, Organization XIII. Afterwards, Maleficent is resurrected and joins with Pete, a resident of Donald and Goofy's world, to find a new base of operations before resuming her quest for power and revenge on Sora. Sora once again travels to many worlds and resolves the troubles caused by not just Maleficent and Pete, but also Organization XIII, referred by some of them as "Roxas", and a mysterious man in their attire. Meanwhile, wanting to see Roxas again, Kairi is kidnapped by the now-rogue Axel who is pursued by the Organization.

While in Hollow Bastion, Sora's group finds King Mickey, who reveals that the "Ansem" Sora defeated was actually the Heartless of Xehanort, who, sometime after being found by Ansem the Wise, betrayed his master and stole his name, and since then, the real Ansem has been missing. Furthermore, they learn that Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas, is the leader of Organization XIII. While fighting the invading hordes of Heartless, Sora learns from an Organization member named Saix that he is helping in their agenda to obtain Kingdom Hearts by destroying Emblem Heartless with his Keyblade, releasing their captive hearts to be absorbed into their Kingdom Hearts. As further incentive, Saix reveals that he abducted Kairi from Axel to force Sora into continuing fight Heartless for them.

Eventually, Sora and his group arrive at the headquarters of Organization XIII, The World That Never Was, with their own artificial Kingdom Hearts looming overhead, crafted from all the Heartless Sora has defeated. Sora defeats one of the remaining Organization members Xigbar, (who cryptically compares Sora to Terra, Aqua and Ventus due to his previous existence as Braig) as he is finally reunited with Kairi, who obtained her Keyblade, and Riku, who was the mysterious hooded man and reveals Roxas's identity to him. While Sora's group defeats Saix, Mickey finds DiZ, revealed to be a disguised Ansem, with a device to digitize some of Kingdom Hearts' power; as the others arrive, the system overload causes the machine to explode with Ansem consumed in the blast while purging "Ansem" from Riku to restore him to his original state.

At the top of the castle, Sora and his friends battle Xemnas, who uses the remnants of Kingdom Hearts to fight them. Refusing to accept defeat, Xemnas separates Sora and Riku from the others to fight them in a final battle that ends with his demise. Though trapped in the Realm of Darkness, Sora and Riku are able to return to their world via the Door to Light, which was mysteriously triggered from Sora's heart. Reunited with their friends, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy return to their world. However, while reviewing the journals, Jiminy finds a shocking discovery.

### The Key that Connects Everything

With the threat of the Heartless and Nobodies apparently over, Mickey, Donald and Goofy return to Disney Castle. There they stumble across a mysterious message written in Jiminy Cricket's Journal, "*Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it*". Mickey digitizes the journal and creates a Sora made from Data to uncover the mystery.

Following the journal's debugging, Mickey and Data-Sora find the source of the sentence: it was a message from Naminé. She had integrated a data version of herself into the journal to inform Sora that he is the "Key that connects everything". Showing images of those with deep ties to Sora's heart namely the real Naminé, Roxas, Xion, and Axel, Data-Naminé explains the message is related to three figures tied to distant past: Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Soon after, Mickey also receives the news from Yen Sid that the destruction of "Ansem" and Xemnas has led to the return of Xehanort and will eventually bring back Master Xehanort. Yen Sid orders Mickey to summon Sora and Riku to him to undertake a Mark of Mastery Exam to properly combat Xehanort. On Destiny Islands, receiving Mickey's letter, Sora and Riku make the decision to venture out to find and rescue their predecessors.

By that time, in the Realm of Darkness, Aqua stumbles across Ansem the Wise, who survived the explosion of the Kingdom Hearts Encoder, which sent him there. Ansem, with few of his memories remaining, fills Aqua in about his experiences with Sora, which brings Aqua to tears of joy, believing Sora will come and rescue her and her friends.

### Return of Xehanort

Riku and Sora are summoned to Yen Sid, who tells them about the threat of Master Xehanort and that they would need the individuals ( Terra, Aqua and Ventus) who King Mickey mentioned in his letter. In order to save them, they must unlock seven sleeping keyholes inside the Realm of Sleep, where a few worlds that were supposed to be released from darkness when "Ansem" was defeated are in a state of rest. As Sora and Riku start their journey, ending up in Traverse Town, they learn that world has been split in two by a hooded man and remain separated from each other. While travelling to many worlds, they eventually meet this mysterious figure, who can summon past figures like Xemnas and "Ansem" from the darkness.

Meanwhile at Radiant Garden, Lea, Axel's original persona, is restored along with Ansem's apprentices. However, only Braig and Isa, the original selves of Xigbar and Saix, have not returned. As Lea resolves to track his friend and Braig down, Mickey receives Minnie's tiara from Diablo and he returns to Disney Castle where Maleficent unveils her plan. Lea appears, driving Maleficent off before asking an audience with Yen Sid to receive a Keyblade.

After all sleeping worlds have been restored, Sora and Riku are called into the World That Never Was, where Sora learns the mysterious figure is actually a youthful incarnation of Xehanort from an alternate timeline. Before being captured, Sora learns the true purpose of Organization XIII from Xemnas and Xigbar: to collect ideal vessels for Master Xehanort's heart. However, when the plan failed, Young Xehanort uses his temporal powers to gather various incarnations of Xehanort from across time to create a new Organization to represent the "13 Darknesses."

Riku and Mickey confront this Organization while rescuing Sora, witnessing Master Xehanort's return prior to him revealing how the events of Sora's adventure were all arranged so that the 13 Darknesses collide with The Seven Lights in a fool-proof plan to create the x-blade and trigger a new Keyblade War. Though Riku was supposed to be the 13th vessel for a piece of Master Xehanort's heart, his ability to contain darkness forced Xehanort to use Sora, as both his Nobody was a member of the previous Organization and he possesses Ventus's heart. But at the last second, Lea comes to the rescue with the new Organization XIII taking their leave. After Riku travels inside Sora's heart to restore him, Yen Sid names him a Keyblade Master while Sora returns to the Realm of Sleep to attempt the Mark of Mastery once more. With Lea offering to aid them in fighting Xehanort, Yen Sid has Riku bring Kairi to him in order to train her in using her Keyblade.

## External links

* RWBY *Wikipedia*
* RWBY *RWBY Wiki*