A piece of promotional artwork for Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ that showcases the main characters of the series; Sora appears twice in the center in two different outfits. He is flanked by Roxas (left) and Riku with the members of Organization XIII at the bottom of the image.
Kingdom Hearts is a series of action role-playing video games developed and published by Square Enix (formerly Square). It is the result of a collaboration between Square and Disney Interactive Studios. Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. The series features a mixture of familiar Disney and Final Fantasy characters, as well as several new characters designed and created by Tetsuya Nomura. In addition, it has an all-star voice cast which includes many of the Disney characters' official voice actors.
The series centers around the main character Sora's search for his friends and his encounters with Disney and Final Fantasy characters on their worlds. There are few playable characters in the games , though there are numerous characters that are able to join Sora's party as computer controlled members. The majority of the characters were introduced in the first games , Kingdom Hearts. Several new characters were introduced in the sequel, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, which also featured alternate versions of previous characters created from Sora's memories. The third games , Kingdom Hearts II, added more Disney and Final Fantasy characters as well as introduced new antagonists
Creation and influences
Concept art of Riku, Kairi, and Sora; original characters created for the series.
The Kingdom Hearts series is directed by Tetsuya Nomura, who also works as the character designer of the games. Nomura has stated that unlike working with Final Fantasy characters, keeping the main character Sora alive and interesting over multiple games is a challenge. He has also stated that though many of the Disney characters are not normally dark and serious, there were not many challenges making them so for the story, and despite this, their personalities shine because they maintain their own characteristics. Though Disney gave Nomura freedom in the characters and worlds used for the games , he and his staff tried to stay within the established roles of characters and boundaries of the worlds. When deciding which worlds to include in the game, the development staff tried to take into account worlds with Disney characters that would be interesting.
The inclusion of specific Final Fantasy characters was based on the opinions of both fans and staff. Another criteria for inclusion was whether the staff felt the characters would fit into the storyline and in the Kingdom Hearts universe. Initially, Nomura was hesitant to use characters he did not design, because he was unfamiliar with the background work of those characters. For Kingdom Hearts II, he changed his mind after receiving pressure from his staff. Throughout the development of the games , Nomura has often left certain events and connections between characters unexplained until the release of future games . Nomura did this because he feels that games should have room for fans to speculate and use their imagination. He stated that with speculation, even though a game gets old, people can still be happy with it.
Main protagonists
Sora
Sora (ソラ, Sora?) is the primary protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, and the character that the player has direct control over throughout almost the entire series. He is an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura for the Kingdom Hearts series. Sora's weapon is the Keyblade. Though not the original wielder of the Keyblade, Sora was chosen over Riku because Sora chose light, while Riku opened himself to darkness Nomura has stated that Sora's name can be seen as "sky".
the Japanese word for sky is sora (空, sora?). Over the course of the games, Sora grows older and matures. Nomura wanted to help illustrate this by having his fighting style in Kingdom Hearts II reflect his maturity. The combat system was completely reworked in the game for this. He is voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English version and Miyu Irino in the Japanese version.
At the beginning of the series, Sora is 14 years old and lives on Destiny Islands along with his two friends, Riku and Kairi. When their world is attacked by a group of corrupted hearts known as the Heartless, the three are separated. During the invasion, he obtains the Keyblade. Soon after, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy, who join him on his search for his friends. To blend in with the inhabitants of the various worlds they visit, the group's appearances are altered by either Donald's magic or, in Kingdom Hearts II, by Sora's magical clothes. Some examples include a dolphin-like merman and a brown lion cub. Sora later meets Riku on several occasions, but the two clash over saving Kairi. Riku is later possessed by Ansem, Xehanort's Heartless. After fighting him, Sora sacrifices himself to restore Kairi's heart to her body, and becomes a Heartless. Soon after, he is brought back by Kairi. Sora, Donald, and Goofy then fight and defeat Ansem, and with the help of Riku and King Mickey on the other side, they seal the door to Kingdom Hearts.
Sora, Donald, and Goofy then resolve to find Riku and the King. While traveling they find a fortress known as Castle Oblivion. Upon entering, they begin to lose their memories and Sora's memories begin to be manipulated by the Organization that is controlling the castle. The Organization use Naminé to make Sora forget Kairi and replace his memories of her with herself. Sora discovers the truth behind the events that have taken place and after defeating the Organization members, he meets with Naminé. She puts Sora, Donald, and Goofy to sleep for one year to restore his memories to their state prior to entering Castle Oblivion. The three awake a year later in Twilight Town and learn about the Nobodies and Organization XIII. Sora also obtains a new ability, "Drive Form", from the fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, which allows him to transform into more powerful forms and access to new abilities. Sora and the others begin their quest to confront Organization XIII. They eventually find King Mickey and Riku who assist in fighting the organization's leader, Xemnas. Sora and Riku are separated from the others to fight Xemnas one last time. After defeating him they find their way back to Destiny Islands, where they are reunited with Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Mickey.
Donald Duck
Donald Duck is the court wizard of Disney Castle and a loyal servant to King Mickey. Donald is voiced by Tony Anselmo in the English version and Kōichi Yamadera in the Japanese version. He is a short-tempered, powerful magician on a quest to find King Mickey Mouse. In Kingdom Hearts, he and Goofy embark on a journey to carry out the missing king’s orders to follow the Keyblade wielder. Donald is one of Sora's two companions who go with him to every world. At the end of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he, Sora, and Goofy are put to sleep for a year while their memories are fixed by Naminé. In Kingdom Hearts II, he awakens with his friends and continues to fight the Heartless along with the Nobodies and Organization XIII. This version of Donald, like Sora and Goofy, undergoes several transformations on different worlds to blend in with the inhabitants.
Goofy
Goofy is the captain of the Royal Knights of Disney Castle. Goofy is voiced by Bill Farmer in the English version and Yū Shimaka in the Japanese version. Under the king’s orders, he accompanies Donald on the quest to find the key. In Kingdom Hearts, he and Donald embark on a journey to carry out the missing king’s orders to follow the Keyblade wielder. Goofy is one of Sora's two companions who go with him to every world. At the end of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, he, Sora, and Donald are put to sleep for a year while their memories are fixed by Naminé. In Kingdom Hearts II, he awakens with his friends and continues to fight the Heartless along with the Nobodies and Organization XIII. This version of Goofy, like Sora and Donald, undergoes several transformations on different worlds to blend in with the inhabitants.
Kairi
Kairi (カイリ, Kairi?) is a friend of Sora and Riku, and one of the seven "Princesses of Heart". She is an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura for the Kingdom Hearts series. Nomura has stated that Kairi's name can be seen as "sea"; the Japanese on'yomi pronunciation of sea is kai (海, kai?). Kairi is featured in both Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. She is voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the English version and Risa Uchida in the Japanese version.
She is originally a resident of Hollow Bastion, but she was sent to the Destiny Islands by Xehanort a few years before the events of Kingdom Hearts. At the beginning of the series, she is 14 years old. During the events of the first game, her heart was separated from her body which led to Sora and Riku both searching for a way to revive her. Kairi's heart was discovered to be in Sora's body, at which point he gives up his heart in order to restore hers, transforming himself into a Heartless. Soon after, Kairi finds Sora's Heartless and restores him back to human form. After Ansem's defeat, Kairi is left behind on the reforming Destiny Islands and separated from Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts. Sora promises to return to her with Riku, and Kairi waits on the island for their return.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi and all of Sora's friends slowly begin to remember Sora. After Sora's memories had been restored by Naminé, Kairi sends the letter drifting to the sea in hopes of that it will find its way to him. She is later confronted by Axel, who hopes to use Kairi to lure Sora to him. With the help of Pluto, Kairi evades him and heads to Twilight Town, but is captured by Axel soon after. However, Saïx takes Kairi from Axel and imprisons her and Pluto in a jail cell in The World That Never Was. She escapes her cell with the help of Naminé and they are saved from Saïx by Riku, in the guise of Xehanort's Heartless. Riku gives her a Keyblade which she uses to fight off the Heartless that Saïx summons.
Riku
Riku (リク, Riku?) is Sora and Kairi's best friend and an original character created by Tetsuya Nomura for the Kingdom Hearts series. Nomura has stated that Riku's name can be seen as "land";the Japanese on'yomi pronunciation of land is riku (陸, riku?). Riku is voiced by David Gallagher in the English version and Mamoru Miyano in the Japanese version. He is playable in the second story mode of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and as a world-specific ally in Kingdom Hearts II.
At the beginning of the series, he is 15 years old and lives on Destiny Islands with his friends. When their world is attacked by the Heartless, the three are separated. Riku ends up at Hollow Bastion where he is found by Maleficent. Under her influence, he becomes an antagonist to help Kairi. Riku eventually becomes possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, the main antagonist of the first gmaes , and is sent to the realm of darkness, where he helps Sora seal the door to the realm of darkness.
In Chain of Memories, he awakes in the same fortress Sora had arrived at and begins traversing to the top from the basement. Along the way, Riku confronts the remaining darkness in his heart, and also encountered DiZ, a mysterious stranger. Upon reaching the top he finds Naminé, who is attending to a sleeping Sora to restore his memories. Riku then chose to find a balance between his light and darkness. A replica of Riku was created by Vexen in Castle Oblivion during the events of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and was referred to simply as the Riku Replica.
After the events in Chain of Memories, Riku confronted Roxas in order to assist DiZ in reuniting him with Sora. During the fight, he used the power of darkness, which converted Riku into the form of Xehanort's Heartless. For most of the story, Riku remains in this form, helping Sora in secret and never showing his face, not wanting Sora or anyone else to discover what had become of him. Riku returns to his original form by the destruction of a machine intended to convert Kingdom Hearts into data. Afterwards, Riku and Sora battle and defeat Xemnas. In the end, they end up on a dark beach, and discuss how strong their friendship is and how much each of them wanted to be like the other, before a portal opens to Destiny Islands. The two use the portal and are sent home.
King Mickey
King Mickey is the ruler of Disney Castle.King Mickey is voiced by Wayne Allwine in the English version and Takashi Aoyagi in the Japanese version. He is only playable in certain boss battles in Kingdom Hearts II; if Sora and his friends are defeated, King Mickey will step in to fight in Sora's place until he is defeated or resurrects Sora. Mickey's inclusion in the series was initially restricted to a small cameo for only one scene. The larger role he played in the sequels first required the approval of Disney. He left his world when the Heartless began to attack. While he had Donald and Goofy find and protect the Keyblade Master, Mickey was on a mission of his own. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II, he returns wielding the Keyblade of the dark realm. His story will be further explored in the upcoming mobile phone gmaes Kingdom Hearts coded as well as Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
DiZ
DiZ (ディズ, Dizu?) is an original character created for the Kingdom Hearts series. He first appeared in the Reverse/Rebirth mode of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and appeared again in Kingdom Hearts II. His name "DiZ" is an acronym for "Darkness in Zero". DiZ is voiced by Christopher Lee in the English version and Genzō Wakayama in the Japanese version. DiZ was formerly Ansem the Wise (賢者アンセム, Kenja Ansemu?), a respected sage and ruler of the Radiant Garden. As a researcher and ruler of his world, DiZ studied the heart and delved into the many secrets of the worlds prior to the events of the first games . He and his apprentice, Xehanort, believed that darkness could spread into and take control of the heart. In order to bolster defenses against the darkness threatening his world, the two researched the heart. He experimented on Xehanort, who was believed to be Ansem in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.
After meeting with King Mickey, Ansem ceased the experiments. He later found his Report on the experiments was given new entries by Xehanort, now using the name Ansem as his own. At that time, Ansem's apprentices betrayed him and banished him to a world of nothingness, where he took on the name DiZ. From that point on, until he cleared his name, Ansem wore concealing red robes and covered most of his face with red bandages. Using the corridors of darkness to arrive at Twilight Town, he took refuge in an abandoned mansion in the forest.
In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories he helped guide Riku through his encounters in Castle Oblivion. DiZ explains that he will watch and see if Riku's decision to fight "Ansem" was the right one. DiZ's role in Kingdom Hearts II was to destroy Organization XIII, while at the same time helping Roxas reunite with Sora with the help of Riku and Naminé. However, flaws arose in his plan when Naminé started acting on her own to help Roxas, and Riku declined to help him in his revenge. As he observed Riku's loyalty to Sora, DiZ lost his lust for revenge and grew regretful of the events in his past. Near the end of the games , he attempts to digitally seal away Kingdom Hearts. However, the hearts prove unpredictable and overload the machine, causing it to self-destruct and take a large chunk of Kingdom Hearts and Ansem himself with it.
Naminé
Naminé (ナミネ, Namine?) is an original character created for the Kingdom Hearts series. She has the ability to change memories of those in relation to Sora by rearranging them and creating new links between them. Naminé is voiced by Brittany Snow in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II and Iku Nakahara in the Japanese version. Naminé first appeared in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Under orders from the Organization, she altered Sora's memories to remember her as a close friend from Destiny Islands, and eventually replacing Kairi. She almost completed her task until Axel allows her to leave his sight. Naminé then manages to reveal herself and the truth to Sora. Once Marluxia is defeated, Naminé has Sora, Donald, and Goofy step into devices that will put them to sleep for a year so she can rearrange the chains of their memories, but break the ones that she created. As a result, Sora's memories of Naminé will be erased. Naminé also helps save Riku in Reverse/Rebirth from Zexion by taking on Kairi's appearance to convince Riku not to refuse the darkness within his heart while drowning in light. When they meet in person, she offers to lock away the darkness of his heart so that it can never hurt him again, but he refuses the offer, opting to battle the darkness. Afterwards she contacted DiZ to help protect Sora, Donald and Goofy.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Naminé is revealed to be a "special Nobody" born from Kairi's heart when it left Sora's body. As Kairi had no darkness in her heart, her heart hid within Sora's body instead of becoming a Heartless when Destiny Islands was consumed by darkness. When Sora impaled himself with the dark Keyblade, his body and soul were used to create not only Roxas, but Naminé as well. As a result of this, she has none of Kairi's memories. Naminé's special birth in conjunction with the fact that Kairi's heart had been in direct contact with Sora's is why, DiZ states, that Naminé's special powers could only affect the memories of Sora and those whose hearts are connected to his, which was why she was used by Organization XIII. Despite DiZ's orders, Naminé visits Roxas in Twilight Town. She appears to him several times, often before he is attacked by Nobodies, acting somewhat as a guide to him. Riku was instructed by DiZ to destroy Naminé since he has no more need of her. However, as seen in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, Riku decided to let her go with Axel to repay the favor to her for Castle Oblivion. She is not seen again until near the end of the game where she frees Kairi and Pluto from imprisonment and they attempt to escape from the Organization's stronghold. Naminé gives up her own existence as an independent entity and fuses with Kairi to complete her.
Roxas
Roxas (ロクサス, Rokusasu?) is Sora's Nobody who was created when Sora became a Heartless to save Kairi. He was first featured at the end of Riku's ending in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and is playable in the beginning portion of Kingdom Hearts II. Roxas is voiced by Jesse McCartney in the English version and Koki Uchiyama in the Japanese version. Roxas joined Organization XIII when he was found by Xemnas in Twilight Town. Unlike the other Organization members, he lacks memories of his previous life. During Roxas's time in the Organization, he and Axel became friends, but Roxas leaves to find answers as to why he possesses the Keyblade. After leaving, he was confronted by Riku who defeated him to have Roxas rejoin with Sora. Roxas' story will be further explored in the upcoming Nintendo DS game, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment