Mickey Mouse

**Mickey Mouse**, also often referred to as **King Mickey, The King, His Highness, Your Highness,** or more commonly **as Your Majesty,** is the king of Disney Castle in Disney Town and Queen Minnie's husband. He travels the worlds battling the forces of darkness and is a Keyblade Master, and the chosen Keyblade wielder for the Realm of Darkness, though he follows the path of light. Originally believing that the darkness had to be eliminated, he eventually realized that light and darkness are interdependent and cannot exist without the other due to his encounters with Riku. Due to his quests—and thus, being away from his queen—he has no known children that will become the heirs to his kingdom.

Though he is known as the King of Disney Castle, his true name is Mickey Mouse.

While only being 2' 3" (69 cm) tall, King Mickey is an incredibly powerful character in the *Kingdom Hearts*universe, as shown when he defeated three Darkside Heartless in a single blow whilst inside the Realm of Darkness. First studying under Yen Sid, Mickey is possibly the inventor of Gummi Ships. He is the first to realize the threat of darkness spreading between worlds, and one of the characters most strongly affiliated with light, including Sora. His strength is not always readily apparent, as his character remains very simple spoken, colloquial, and lighthearted, but contrary to this appearance, King Mickey has played a major role in every *Kingdom Hearts* game. Mickey, and he is an animated character created by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. A cheerful anthropomorphic mouse, Mickey made his first public appearance in *Steamboat Willie*, on November 18, 1928. Estimated as standing 2' 3" (68.58 centimeters) and weighing 23 pounds (10 kilograms), Mickey is easily identified by his round ears, red shorts, white gloves, and yellow shoes. He speaks in a falsetto voice, and his speech is typically infused with 1930's slang like "*swell*" and "*gee*". The essence of Mickey’s character is based around the underdog archetype. Described as a “little guy”, Mickey must compensate for his small size by using his quick-wit and athleticism to overcome larger-than-life adversity. With characteristics inspired by vaudeville comics and swashbucklers from the silent film era, Mickey is depicted as a lovable rogue—being bodacious and optimistic, but also mischievous and ungainly. Mickey was popularized by his long-running short film series. His simplistic, "rubberhose" design allows for both relatable emotion, and exaggerated physical gags. Mickey’s versatility, meanwhile, enables him to slip into any profession, location, or time period, while maintaining his core characteristics. Mickey steadily branched into other mediums over the years, beginning with a comic strip by cartoonist Floyd Gottfredson in 1930. In 1940, Mickey made his feature-length film debut with *Fantasia*, for which he was given his modern redesign by animator Fred Moore. In the 1950’s, Mickey became a television mainstay with the premiere of *The Mickey Mouse Club*, as well as an icon for the Disney theme parks with the opening of Disneyland. Mickey has also featured prominently in critically acclaimed video games such as 1990’s *Castle of Illusion* and the *Kingdom Hearts* series.

Upon his inception, Mickey rapidly rose to the pinnacle of American culture, becoming the most popular and recognizable cartoon character in the world, and the prime influence of following cartoons. The character was especially treasured by Walt Disney, himself. The two were widely regarded as "alter-egos" by peers and historians, a perception supported by Walt originating Mickey’s voice. Disney once attributed his success to the advent of Mickey, famously proclaiming that, “it was all started by a mouse”.

As its most famous character, Mickey serves as the mascot of the Walt Disney Company. He has appeared in over 130 films, for which he received numerous accolades. In 1932, Walt Disney was presented an honorary Academy Award for the creation of Mickey Mouse. In 1978, Mickey became the first animated character to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Today, Mickey stands as the highest-grossing animated character of all time, and the 4th highest-grossing media franchise overall.

## Appearance

Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse with black fur, round ears of the same color, and a thin, long, black tail. His usual outfit in the *Kingdom Hearts* series is a modified version of the one he wears in modern Disney cartoons. He wears a short-sleeved jacket with white lining. The top half of this jacket is black, while the bottom half is red, and there are two yellow straps dangling in front of it. His pants are red and sport a zipper going down the front of each leg. Each leg also has a yellow pouch with a black strap that partially cover the zipper, as well as a blue strap on the outer side of each pant leg. Mickey wears very large, yellow shoes with grey backs and two orange, intersecting straps attached to the front of each shoe.

This design was eventually used as a base to create Sora's outfit in the first *Kingdom Hearts*. As he is not physically present until the final cutscene, at which point he is still only a silhouette, Jiminy was incapable of recording the King's outfit in the journal. However, if one looks closely, Mickey is wearing his normal Disney attire from his cartoons.

In *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories*, Mickey wears a black vest with white lining, two yellow buttons near the bottom, and a zipper that only reaches about halfway down the vest. Under this vest he wears a short-sleeved shirt that is seems to be the same black, white-lined color scheme as his vest, though the cuffs of the sleeves are red. His pants are red and quite baggy. The pockets have white lining. Similar to Goofy, the front of Mickey's pant legs are pulled up slightly by elastic, blue straps. Mickey's shoes here are also yellow, but the tips and lower halves are black and the soles are white. Each shoe has two blue straps that intersect over the top of the shoe.

While training under Yen Sid during *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, Mickey's outfit is virtually identical to the way it looks in *Kingdom Hearts II*, except for the color: Mickey's clothing is colored in grey-scale, losing all the colors it had, save for black, white, and grey, making it similar to Sora's outfit in *Kingdom Hearts II*. He also attacks using the teeth of his Star Seeker as opposed to the broad edge of the Kingdom Key D in *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, adding more contrast between his appearances in both games.

During *Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days* and the early stages of *Kingdom Hearts II*, Mickey wears the black coat, gloves, and shoes that Organization XIII members wear. Though largely the same as the other coats, Mickey's apparently has contortions in the hood for his ears, and the drawstrings on his version sport Hidden Mickey symbols on the tips. In all of his appearances, except for when he wears the black coat, Mickey dons the famous, white gloves common to most older Disney characters.

In *Kingdom Hearts III*, Mickey wears a black, hooded jacket that he keeps unzipped, with short sleeves, silver buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a grey shirt with a V-neck. He also wears red cropped trousers that are hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket and yellow and grey shoes.

## Personality

Although initially a mischievous individual who would often skip work and perform acts that almost always got him in trouble, even at those times Mickey displays bravery and dedication to his goals, as he never gives up as a musketeer despite his sword skills not being excellent and would save Sora from a Heartless ambush despite later on leaving in a hurry whenever in trouble so Sora could solve it himself.

By the time he became Yen Sid's apprentice and the King of the Disney Castle, Mickey has matured considerably, becoming a kind, brave, and noble king, no longer being afraid to fight for the side of good and fully willing to defend those who needed it, although it borders on the level of recklessness as he disobeyed Yen Sid to help the worlds upon learning of the danger that is occurring, but he also was willing to accept whatever punishment Yen Sid has for him afterwards by handing over his Keyblade believing he would be disqualified with dignity despite being sad. This trait later on becomes more of a tactical last resort, as he enters a Corridor of Darkness into the Realm of Darkness at Twilight Town as it was the only way with all the points to enter the Realm of Darkness disabled and has already planned ahead to stop the chaos.

Mickey values above all else friendship and integrity much more highly than others. He has little care for his noble position and often prefers his closest friends to address him by his name, such as when he and Riku bonded during their adventure in Castle Oblivion, but at the same time he can command respect and loyalty from his subjects, ruling his world unchallenged and with Donald and Goofy obeying his mysterious orders upon his disappearance. Although Goofy and Donald have implied that he is not above punishing his subjects for disobedience, Mickey is shown to be rather flexible in that he is left impressed by Donald and Goofy's loyalty to Sora by disobeying his orders to leave Hollow Bastion and lets them off with a smile. When his friends are hurt, Mickey is fully capable of getting serious and displaying actual anger, as seen during the Battle of 1000 Heartless; he took a role on the battlefield after Goofy was presumed dead, although when push comes to shove, he can, albeit with reluctance, abandon his friends when the situation is truly extremely dire, as he left Aqua in the Realm of Darkness to save all the worlds from the danger of being completely taken over by darkness.

He originally was very biased towards light, believing that Darkness, and everything that resided in it, was evil and needed to be wiped out, but his encounters with Riku taught him that light and darkness are in balance with each other, and one cannot exist without the other. Like Sora, Mickey has shown some concern for his foes, such as Maleficent and Pete, whom helped them reach the top of the Castle that Never Was. Mickey has had a reoccurring case of not remembering a person's face and name as was the case of Terra-Xehanort, feeling guilty of not figuring out his true identity and agenda in time.

*Steamboat Willie* establishes Mickey’s core characteristics. He is cheerful in spirit, yet roughish in complexion. He ignored the commands of his overbearing boss for the sake of gallivanting around the steamboat. His mentality mirrored that of a rebellious child, as he mocked his superiors and threw a tantrum when others rebuked his merriment. Though impishly self-serving, he showed empathy and chivalry by forgoing protocol to aid Minnie during her time of need. With an air of valiance in spite of his diminutive stature and put-upon background, Mickey is an underdog with a heart of gold. By the high society denizens seen in *Society Dog Show*, Mickey is regarded as riff raff. In *The Klondike Kid*, Mickey describes himself as “a nobody”. Pete often refers to Mickey as “Runt”, a derogative term meaning an undersized or weak person. Regardless, Mickey remains jovial. His rebellious and independent mien allows him to take his downtrodden lot in life in stride with a smile and laugh.

Walt Disney once explained that elements of Mickey’s character were derived from comic actor Charlie Chaplin, stating, “I think we were rather indebted to Charlie Chaplin for the idea. We wanted something appealing and we thought of a tiny bit of a mouse that would have something of the wistfulness of Chaplin ... a little fellow trying to do the best he could.” Iwerks described Mickey’s characterization as having been inspired by Douglas Fairbanks. Iwerks once wrote, “He was the super-hero of his day, always winning, gallant and swashbuckling. Mickey’s action was in that vein. He was never intended to be a sissy, he was always an adventurous character. I thought of him in that respect, and I had him do naturally the sort of thing Doug Fairbanks would do.” In addition to Chaplin and Fairbanks, Disney has attributed the development of Mickey’s personality to other Hollywood figures, as well, such as Fred Astaire and Harold Lloyd.

With limited resources to his name, Mickey’s greatest attribute is his wit. He is a thinker and schemer, being able to construct quick plots and ploys to advance his ambitions. This is prominently displayed in times of crises, in which Mickey must come up with hasty solutions to rescue his friends from such perils as natural disasters, or his nemesis Pete.[38] When paired with Donald and Goofy, Mickey serves as the resourceful “brains” of the trio by coming up with the plans and directing his companions to their desired goals. However, Mickey’s schemes are often hindered by his own clumsiness and reckless abandon. Though he presents himself as slick and confident, Mickey is awkward and bumbling in actuality. In *Fantasia*, Mickey carried himself with a mighty air while donning Yen Sid’s sorcerer hat, but fumbled with his oversized clothing and bungled his magic spells. He enjoys dressing in dapper attire to imitate high society as seen in such cartoons as *Mickey Steps Out* and *Mickey's Delayed Date*, only to trip over himself while showing off. When exposed for the little guy he is, Mickey’s typical response is a sheepish, self-reflecting grin.

Even with his foibles, Mickey retains a can-do spirit that allows him to smile in the face of danger and move passed his mistakes. He gets by through optimism and has a positive outlook on the world and himself, often displayed by his jovial demeanor. Mickey’s optimism is a double-edged sword, however, as while it pushes him to pursue his goals, it also causes him to underestimate trouble under the belief that he can do anything. In ”Mickey's Piano Lesson”, in fact, he justified his insolence by arrogantly proclaiming, “I’m Mickey Mouse!”. Mickey is quick to share his positivity with others, to keep their spirits high during low times. At times, Mickey’s buoyancy can be invasive. In such cartoons as “The Adorable Couple”, he attempts to force his positive demeanor onto Donald and Daisy, to disastrous results.

For all his juvenile mischief, Mickey is a reliable leader. When put in charge of a production, for example (such as a stage show or the House of Mouse nightclub theater) he is professional and composed, even when inconveniences get in the way. In addition to being a strong leader, Mickey is a devoted friend. He has, on numerous occasions, risked his life for the safety of others while never expecting recompense. This is most prominently seen with Minnie, for whom Mickey has often felt inclined to sacrifice his own happiness as seen in *Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas*. He is charitable and selfless, looking out for the less fortunate despite often being in undesirable predicaments, himself. In *Mickey's Good Deed*, Mickey sold Pluto to a wealthy household and used the money to supply a poor family with food and Christmas gifts—despite being homeless and hungry, himself. In *Epic Mickey*, Mickey sacrificed his only chance of escaping the Wasteland to rescue Oswald and Gus from danger, both of whom he had just met. A hero at his core, Mickey takes charge without second thought when trouble arises. In such cartoons as *Gulliver Mickey* and *Runaway Brain*, he fearlessly fought against monsters to protect the people around him.

Occasionally, Mickey can be *too* caring towards others, which can drive him to disregard his own needs. At times, his empathetic heart blinds his better judgment, resulting in Mickey being taken advantage of by malicious forces. There have also been instances where Mickey’s desire to help can be excessive to the point of being intrusive, thus causing even more trouble in the long run.

Mickey's temper can be rather explosive after being pushed to a certain limit.When faced with his two most frequent adversaries, Pete and Mortimer Mouse for example, Mickey tends to act irritable and churlish. He is also relentless when it comes to getting back at his foes for their harassment. In some cases, instead of outright giving his enemies satisfaction by losing his temper, Mickey would resort to sly pranks and trickery to best his foes—this being a way to one-up them, while also getting in a few laughs at the same time. Because of his laid-back nature, however, Mickey is usually remorseful after letting his anger get the best of him, and does all that he can to remedy affected feelings, if any.

Mickey evidently struggles with insecurity to some extent. In "Goofy for a Day", he panicked at the prospect of losing his hosting job at the House of Mouse, believing "show business" is the only profession that he's actually good at. His popularity seems to act as a double-edged sword. While he typically enjoys the attention, Mickey also feels a sense of pressure from the public to always be at his very best. This is most notably seen when Mickey is tasked with hosting live entertainment in front of a large audience. In which, he becomes short-fused and anxious. His insecurities are also apparent in his relationship with Minnie, as Mickey has repeatedly gone to great lengths to impress her—typically out of fear of losing her, as seen in “Mickey's Rival Returns” and "Mickey Tries to Cook". Some cartoons suggest that Mickey has commitment issues. In “A Midsummer Night's Dream”, Mickey exclaims, “I just had the scariest dream!” after waking from a dream in which he married Minnie. The cartoon *Mickey's Nightmare* highlighted Mickey’s apprehensions regarding parenthood.

In spite of being an anthropomorphic mouse, Mickey has the tendencies to act with his animal nature, including the fact that being a mouse, he loves cheese. In the television series *House of Mouse*, Mickey, being a mouse, is made fun of when he is shown to exercise on a hamster wheel and drink from a rodent drinking bottle (like the ones found in a hamster cage). These particular facts seem to only exist in the *House of Mouse*and haven't been shown again, proving to have been used for brief gags only.

## Powers and Abilities

Despite his small size, having been trained by Yen Sid, who was considered to be a great Keyblade Master, King Mickey wields tremendous skill with his Keyblade. He very effectively uses the advantages afforded by his size and agility to the maximum in order to easily counter and wear down his foes, flipping and spinning attacks, and finishing them with wide strokes of his blade and his body possesses the strength to deal crushing blows despite his size. Even with his training being incomplete, he could effectively fight side-by-side alongside Aqua and Ventus, both of whom being exceptional Keyblade wielders in their own right, in aiding them against Vanitas, successfully forcing Vanitas to flee, with Vanitas later resorting to surprising Mickey rather than taking him on directly to capture him in Neverland, although when Vanitas had the X-Blade, Mickey was forced back. At the present, as a full-fledged Keyblade Master, Mickey's level of prowess with his Keyblade is described as being superior to the likes of Sora and Riku at one point due to their lack of experience compared to Mickey. He is powerful enough to easily destroy 3 Darkside Heartless with a single blow, indicating the gap between him and Sora at the time of the first game was great due to Sora being a mere fledgling despite his already considerable abilities, and has been seen to easily take down many Nobodies and Heartless with a single attack from his Keyblade. In *Kingdom Hearts III*, after Riku gets knocked out by the Demon Tower in the Realm of Darkness, Mickey alone was able to single-handedly force the powerful Heartless to retreat, killing off half of the Heartless composing it and freeing Riku. He was even able to take on Marluxia, Larxene and Luxord by himself with masterful efficiency, quickly forcing back Marluxia and Larxene in close combat after only several clashes while parrying Luxord's magic cards, sustaining no injuries until Sora came to aid him, after which their combined strength were able to swiftly push back the three powerful Nobodies and after being freed from being briefly trapped by Luxord, he and Sora quickly overpowered and defeated Marluxia and Larxene without any scratches done to them. He would proceed to aid Sora and Riku into defeating Xemnas, Ansem and Young Xehanort and remained standing quite well while Riku was kneeling. The most prominent display of Mickey's skill was how Mickey single-handedly fended off the attacks of all Replica Xehanorts despite being injured. Mickey is also perfectly capable of using Keyblades other than his own, as in addition to using his Star Seeker, upon finding the Kingdom Key D, a Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness, he proved capable of making use of it effectively as well.

Although Mickey prefers swordsmanship over Magic, he is by no means incompetent in the use of magic in combat and proves to be a considerably powerful and adept spellcaster. His strong connection to Light makes him capable of making good use of it in combat, with just about all his offensive spells and even supportive ones being based on the element of light, ranging from projecting homing balls of bluish energy in the form of the spell "Pearl" to even using the ultimate light-magic spell "Holy" in 358/2 Days as his Limit Break, where he surrounds himself with hovering balls of light that acts as a shield and fires beams of light that can be charged to make one large beam and 3 thinner beams surrounding in a triangle formation and his final limit summons a storm of light rays and two orbs of light, as well as firing orbs and showers of light and manifesting a burst of light capable of both stunning enemies and healing Riku. Mickey is also capable of using Light to perform a special form of healing spell called "Healing Light" that would fully heal Sora both in HP and MP. In *Kingdom Hearts III*, Mickey even proves capable of casting a light-elemental version of "Ultima" that, while not completely cast, projected a wide orb of light that Xehanort had to use the most powerful of Stop spells to counter and even then it should be noted Mickey had managed to pressure and greatly wane the spell's strength as he seemed to be successfully clashing with and pushing the elderly Keyblade Master's Stopza back a bit before ultimately being overcame and although the spell still reached far enough to immobilize Riku, Mickey was successful enough to allow his and Riku's recovery to be far faster than when he stopped the Organization XIII with the same spell. Although not displayed often, Mickey is also capable of using Light to empower his physical attacks and greatly enhance his speed, as shown in *Kingdom Hearts 2.8*, where he can warp and deal blows able to instantly finish off Heartlesses in the Realm of Darkness when using "Wayfinder". When facing the Replica Xehanorts, Mickey displayed the enormous level of power he has over Light by being able to, despite being injured, repel the foes with a burst of light and also block and cut through their blasts with an orb of light. He was even able to simultaneously shield against all 13 of their blasts and with help from Sora, eventually overpower the attack, proceeding ti empower his Keyblade so much that he was able to create a large blade of light that cut down the Replica Xehanorts instantly and blast the rest to oblivion with a large beam of light. He is also capable of using the normal "Cure" quite well, instantly healing Ventus from the severe beating Vanitas put on him and is capable of casting Curaga in *Kingdom Hearts III* to restore a huge portion of his and his allies health. Mickey has also displayed incredible expertise in the use of time-based Magic, capable of casting an extremely powerful Stopza spell, the most powerful variant of Stop currently active, as shown in *Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance*, where he cast a Stopza spell strong enough to hold the resurrection of Xehanort and the rest of the Organization XIII for a considerable length of time to try to save Sora and only Young Xehanort is able to break free and only because of his powers over time and even then he still briefly froze and he was confident he could freeze all the Heartless and Nobodies attacking them in the final battle, although Riku stated he would be exhausted from doing so. He was also proficient with the Reflect magic, able to help Aqua and Xion in casting the powerful Refleza spell, blocking the attacks of the Replica Xehanorts before being broken through in the end.

Mickey is capable of levitating himself above the ground, doing so in most of his coordinated attacks with allies. He can even actually fly, although it remains unknown how he is able to do so, as he was able to fly all the way to Aqua in the Dark Realm and keep them in the air until finding soft ground.

Despite his small body, Mickey has displayed astonishing resilience and durability beyond that of any normal person of his size and body, as shown by how he survives a powerful lunging attack from the Demon Tower that ripped his clothes and violently threw him to the ground with no injury and quickly stands back up and later on when he is able to survive being constantly spin around by the Demon Tide while restrained and remain conscious, surviving being once again violently knocked down after being freed and quickly regaining consciousness soon after. Mickey was even so resillient that despite having been considerably injured, he was able to stand up twice and fight against the Replica Xehanort until defeating before collapsing and even then was able to retain consciousness and swiftly recover to help the Guardians deliver the fatal blow to Armored Xehanort.

Among the strongest proponents of the light, in addition to his previously stated abilities to control light in combat, the strength of Mickey's heart is so great that not only has he never fought with his inner darkness, but the large amount of time he spent in the Dark Realm as well as wielding his Dark Realm Keyblade, the Kingdom Key D, is a polar opposite to Sora's Light Realm Keyblade, the Kingdom Key has no effect on him. Traveling with the Corridor of Darknessalso completely has no effect on him. Mickey's strength in the light is even great enough that while trapped in the Realm of Darkness, he can still project a portion of himself that can still use a rather formidable level of power over light to aid Riku, even capable of supressing Ansem long enough for Riku to regain consciousness after he only barely defeated Lexaeus with Dark Mode. Upon managing to return fully, he easily prevents Ansem from possessing Riku forcibly when he was nearly overwhelmed. Later on, Mickey was able to hold the massive projection of Sora's Heartless at bay with a beam of light long enough for Sora to destroy the actual form of the heartless. Mickey has the capability to coat himself with light to survive in the Lanes Between even when unconscious and is also capable of traveling through worlds using light, as he easily reaches Riku before Sora could be turned into a vessel of Xehanort. With the Kingdom Key D, he also has the power to open doors to the realm of darkness and can combine this with the power of waking to enter and leave with others trapped inside the realm unharmed.

Although Mickey is more prominently known for his combat abilities, his intellectual talents are also noteworthy. Known as a great king, Mickey is an excellent leader capable of commanding respect from all his denizens for his leadership over Disney Castle. Although his first attempts of using the Star Shard ended rashly, over time, Mickey became a skilled enough of a scientist and mechanic to discover it's Gummi nature and with it build a ship capable of transporting from world to world. He is also an excellent strategist, further backed up by his willingness to use drastic measures if needed, with a sharp eye for details, as shown by how he is the only one apart from Yen Sid to recognize the disturbances of the worlds as being potentially devastating and the involvement of the mysterious Organization XIII and managed to neutralize the first threat by first taking advantage of a Corridor of Darkness left behind by the Guard Armor to enter the Realm of Darkness and after entering, despite the rashness of his methods to enter the dark realm that he and Aqua had to acknowledge, he quickly developed a plan to find the keyblade of the realm of darkness to seal the door to the realm of darkness. After coming out, he was able to stay out of the Organization's eyes while simultaneously keeping watch of some of their activities without requiring aid from Riku or his allies, knowing enough to be able to deduce the Organization was planning to stall time, although due to having only himself to rely on, he was not able to gather as much information on their activities as Riku could with DIZ helping him.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

Mickey is once again a protagonist in this show, often serving as a guide for Sora and friends. It is also revealed in Sora's Adventures in the Wasteland that Mickey gained the throne of Disney Castle in Disney Town from his older brother Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, who is also a Keyblade Master and ruling the Wasteland alongside his wife Ortensia.