Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

is the protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series. He is an upbeat teenager and though he may seem simple minded and naïve at times, he possesses a strong sense of justice and an unwavering heart. At times, he is impulsive and quick to anger, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. He comes from Destiny Islands and is close friends with Riku and Kairi. Sora is derived from the Japanese word for , in comparison with and .

He is voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English versions of the Kingdom Hearts video games and by Miyu Irino in the Japanese versions.

Kingdom Hearts

Sora is fourteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and lives on the Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi, and others including, Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Sora and his two close friends seek to see the world beyond the islands and begin to build a raft. However, a strange dark force storms the islands and Sora is swept away from his home and separated from his friends. He drifted though the corridors of darkness, an interdimensional pathway, and ended up at a place known as Traverse Town.

Here he meets Donald Duck and Goofy, the respective Royal Court Magician and Captain of the Royal Guard of Disney Castle. They are under direct orders found in a letter left behind by their king, Mickey, who has mysteriously disappeared and is on his own mission conducing an investigation into the darkness that is slowly swallowing world after world, to find Leon and a mysterious "key". The three of them decide to look for their friends together, especially since Donald and Goofy believe Sora will be the one to defeat the dark force because he bears a weapon known as the Keyblade.

In Traverse Town, Sora finds Riku and discovers that neither of them can find Kairi. Riku, seeing that Sora has befriended Donald and Goofy, comes to believe that Sora has forgotten about him and Kairi and decides to find Kairi on his own. Sora ends up traversing multiple worlds to stop the Heartless, the creatures that embody the darkness, and also rescue the Seven Princesses of Heart, who are the key to opening the final keyhole that will unlock Kingdom Hearts, the objective of the villains controlling the Heartless.

After reaching Hollow Bastion, Sora loses the keyblade to Riku after he was revealed to be the rightful keyblade master. This in turn causes Donald & Goofy to abandon him for Riku as per their orders but loyalty soon brings them back to Sora. Riku loses the keyblade to Sora after he choses darkness over light of his own free will. Enraged he fights Sora but is defeated.

When Kairi is revealed to be one of the Seven Princesses of Heart, Sora discovers that Riku believes that her heart has been stolen by the Heartless. In reality, Sora has held Kairi's heart within him since she passed through him in the very beginning. In order to return her heart Sora uses a dark Keyblade to remove his heart and hers, becoming a Heartless himself for a short period before being restored to normal. Maleficent is defeated by Sora shortly after Riku is possessed by Ansem, the true villain of the game. Sora and his friends manage to defeat Ansem at The End of the World. As Sora investigates the door to darkness, Riku and King Mickey appear on the other side of the door and together they seal it from both sides; with Sora's Keyblade from the realm of light and Mickey's Keyblade from the realm of darkness.

As the worlds begin to restore themselves, Kairi and Sora are separated. Sora promises to return to her as soon as he finds Riku and the doorway to light.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

After being separated from his friends, Sora wandered down on a long, meandering path with Donald and Goofy searching for 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 informed Sora that "ahead lies something you need, but to claim it, you must lose something dear." The man disappears and only one path remains. The trio follows 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, the more memories they lose and the more uncertain they become.

Little do they know, their memories are being manipulated by a mysterious organization that seeks to capture and manipulate Sora. To do this, they use Naminé, a young witch who can rearrange the chains of memories and create new links. In order to make Sora forget Kairi, Naminé begins to replace his memories of her with herself. Meanwhile, a conflict between the Organization's members leads to several encounters between Sora and Riku, whose memories of Kairi also have been replaced with ones containing Naminé.

Their uncertainty builds to a point where they end up in Twilight Town, a place that Sora is fairly certain that he has never been in, thus should not exist in his memory. Organization member number 4,Vexen, revealed that it is a place that exists on the other side of Sora's heart, but is eliminated by Axel, the 8th 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, intended to use Sora to overthrow the Organization. Axel manipulated Naminé into doing what she believes was right. She revealed to Sora that she never existed in his memory and that she has been replacing the person most important to him. Riku appears to them again and is defeated by Sora. When Sora tries to help the injured Riku, he attacks Sora. Naminé uses her power to break Riku's memory, 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.

Sora defeats Larxene and 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 when Marluxia uses Namine as a human shield Sora steps in and defeats Axel. Once Marluxia is defeated, Naminé asks that they step into machines that will 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 will sleep as their memories are slowly restored. While they know that they will forget Naminé, Sora promises her that while she is forgotten, she will remain in his heart, never lost.

Kingdom Hearts II

One year after the events of Chain of Memories, Sora, Donald and Goofy awake in Twilight Town with their memories restored, although they cannot remember what happened in Castle Oblivion. Continuing their journey to find Riku and King Mickey, they set out travel across new worlds, meeting old friends and enemies from the original Kingdom Hearts game, battling the Heartless and 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 Tower and Sora obtains new attire—on the advice of master sorcerer Yen Sid—from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather, the fairies from Sleeping Beauty. In a nod to the film, the three fairies at first all want Sora's new outfit to be their respective color, until finally Sora convinces them to stop fooling around. The new outfit enables Sora to transform into new forms and attain special powers for each of them. The source of the clothing's magic is linked to Sora's heart connected to everyone he had befriended as well as Donald and Goofy, being referred to as "key that connects everything" by Yen Sid; this is how Naminé's memory manipulation also works.

Throughout the game, Sora expresses his determination to bring Riku back home with him to Destiny Islands, where Kairi is patiently waiting for them. The quest gets more complicated when Kairi herself is 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. Also throughout the game Sora becomes rather intruiged and interested in the romances between some of his friends, such as Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner; hinting romantic feelings for Kairi, which Donald and Goofy smugly joke about. Kairi is also hinted to have similar feelings for Sora.

Eventually, Sora, with the help of the Twilight Town kids (three friends of Roxas in Diz's simulated Twilight Town) and Axel, manages to find the route to "The World That Never Was": the stronghold of the Organization, where Kingdom Hearts itself resides. Soon after entering the world however, Sora's group is ambushed by 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). Afterwards, Sora, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey storm the castle in search of their friends. Soon reunited with his friends Riku and Kairi, he and the others attempt to stop Xemnas, the leader of the Organization. After they seemingly defeat Xemnas, Namine and Roxas emerge to speak with each other before fusing with Kairi and Sora to complete themselves.

Sora and Riku are separated from King Mickey, Goofy, Kairi and Donald. They fight Xemnas again on their own and defeat him, though they remain stranded in The World That Never Was with Riku slightly injured. As Sora and Riku share their thoughts about their adventure and friendship, they come to the conclusion that "if worlds were made of light and darkness, they'll be the darkness since the light realm is safe". As they listen to the waves, a bottle containing Kairi’s letter washes onto the shore. The door to light appears, and both Sora and Riku use it to return to their homeworld: Destiny Islands.

Having brought Riku back home, fused with Roxas and reunited at last with all his friends, Sora returns Kairi's lucky charm with Kairi saying "You're home." At the end of the credits, another FMV shows Sora asking 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 and give them a bottle she found, containing a letter from King Mickey. The trio reads the letter, its contents a mystery to the player.

World transformations

When Sora enters certain worlds in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, his appearance changes to make him able to travel in that particular land.

In Hollow Bastion during the first game, Sora is turned into a Shadow Heartless after giving up his heart to free Kairi from her comatose state. While in this form, Sora is unable to do anything except jump and move around. Luckily, there are no random enemy encounters while he is in this state. Sora is returned to normal upon arriving in the Entrance Hall.

In Atlantica from The Little Mermaid, Sora becomes a dolphin-like merman. He has no shirt , and his body from the waist down transforms into a dolphin tail. This version of Sora has unique swimming abilities, and is able to breathe underwater. Sora cannot Drive in this form. Dialogue prior to entering Atlantica in the first game reveals that Donald is the one who transforms Sora into that form. Also, some abilities in the first game are unable to be used while in Atlantica.

In Halloween Town from The Nightmare Before Christmas, Sora dons a Halloween costume, making him appear to be a vampire-like creature. If not for his fearsome appearance, the macabre inhabitants of the town would not receive him. Sora has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, his mask changes rather than his clothes. In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also changes to grey-ish tones to match the surroundings of Halloween Town.

In Space Paranoids, inspired by Tron, Sora appears in robot-like armor, gray in color with glowing cyan circuit lines; essentially the appearance of nearly all non-evil human being or program in the computer world of the Tron universe. 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, blue for Wisdom Form, etc.). In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also is changed to have glowing blue circuit lines as well.

In Timeless River, inspired by Steamboat Willie, Sora's costume and his appearance turn black and white, and his face, arms, and figure take on characteristics of 1920's cartoon characters. Also, like everyone else inside of Timeless River, he is in his first appearance design (from the first Kingdom Hearts game). He has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, the icon by the HP Bar tints color slightly to reflect the Form transformed into.

In the Pride Lands from The Lion King, Sora undergoes the most drastic of the World Transformations. He becomes a brown lion cub (with an appearance similar to that of Kovu as a cub), and his hairdo is replaced by a mane; the crown-shaped pendant around his neck is still present, and he runs around with the Keyblade in his mouth. Sora cannot Drive in this form or perform Summons, although he is able to move with increased agility. Donald says that this transformation is due to Sora's new clothes, instead of Donald's magic, like in Atlantica.

Drive

In Kingdom Hearts II, Sora has a new ability; he can transform to take on more powerful forms. Similar to Summoning, a certain party member linked to the Drive is removed until Sora reverts.

Most Forms also grant Sora a special ability he can equip to himself for use in his normal form only, which is received when he upgrades the Form level for that Form to Level 3 (which can be further enhanced at Level 5 and 7). Although these special abilities that Sora can use are not as powerful in his normal form, it enables him to be able to use any of these abilities at any time.

Valor Form, or Brave Form in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts II, is accomplished by Sora's bond with Goofy; Sora dons a red and black outfit and gains the ability to wield two Keyblades. This form of Sora has impressive offense attacks, and his speed is increased greatly, but is unable to use magic. The three fairies give Sora the drive ability for Valor Form.

Wisdom Form is brought about by Sora's bond with Donald; Sora's outfit turns blue and black and his Keyblade grows longer. His physical attack is replaced with a magic blast, called Shoot; Sora's other magical skills are doubled. In Wisdom Form, Sora hovers and glides along the floor instead of standing and walking, letting him attack or use magic while moving. This form is obtained when Sora completes Timeless River.

Master Form is a combination of Valor and Wisdom Forms, achieved by the bonds with both current party members. Sora's clothes are colored yellow and black. In this form, Sora wields two Keyblades. However, unlike the previous Valor Form, Sora's left handed Keyblade floats instead of being held, this allows a longer swinging range and more power. Although both strength and magic is increased in this Form, the boosts are not as high as Valor and Wisdom. This form is obtained after Sora talks to Mickey in Ansem's Study.

Final Form is the most powerful of all of Sora's Drive Forms. As with the other Drives, Sora's clothes go through a drastic change, switching from the standard black to a lustrous silver. As with Valor and Master Forms, Sora wields two Keyblades; they float behind him and are able to attack on their own. Sora is also able to hover, as with Wisdom Form. This form can be obtained after Sora fights Roxas at The World That Never Was, but the first transformation occurs randomly.

Anti Form is triggered by an unseen counter and chance that increases as the player uses drives more often. The chances increase or decrease in certain situations. Anti Form renders Sora completely black with glowing yellow eyes, similar to those of a Heartless. He is seemingly feral; he runs on all fours and attacks with his claws. While in Anti Form, Sora is unable to use many options usually available and he takes more damage than normal. However, Sora's combo potential is drastically increased. Unlike the other forms, Anti Form cannot be leveled and it does not give normal Sora any new abilities.

Other Forms

Card Form occurs when Sora encounters Gambler Nobodies controlled by Organization XIII's tenth member, Luxord, or Luxord himself. When Sora loses against them in a draw of cards, he is transformed into a playing-card version of himself. He cannot use the Keyblade, Magic, Items, Drives, Summons or Limits while in this form, and can only attack by throwing himself at enemies.

Die Form occurs similarly to Card Form; Sora transforms into a die with his face on it by losing a game to a Gambler Nobody or battling Luxord. He has the same limitations as a card, and his only attack is rolling into enemies.

Sora cannot revert from these forms at will; in both cases, he must wait for the onscreen "Form" bar to drop to zero in order to return to his regular form.

Trivia

Based off of his results from gamefaqs character contest, Sora is often regarded is the most popular character from the series.
It's been noted by many that Sora bares a striking resemblance to FF7's Cloud Strife.
Sora's clothes in Kingdom Hearts 2 is very similar to Riku's outfit in Kingdom Hearts 1. The most notable features would be his shoes and his shorts.
The only of Sora's keyblades that return in Kingdom Hearts 2 was Kingdom Key, Oathkeeper, Oblivion, and Ultima Weapon.

Computer and video game protagonists | Kingdom Hearts characters | Fictional messiahs | Fictional psychokineticists | Fictional teenagers