Mickey Mouse

King Mickey, simply referred to as The King (王様), His Highness or Your Highness or more commonly as "Your Majesty" is the king of Disney Castle and a recurring character in the Kingdom Hearts series. He travels the worlds battling the forces of darkness, and is 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.

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. He has appeared in all currently released Kingdom Hearts games and will be in all announced games. First studying under Yen Sid, Mickey is possibly the inventor of Gummi Ships, the first to realize the threat of darkness spreading between worlds, and one of the characters most strongly affiliated with light, including Sora. This 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 all Kingdom Hearts games. So far Mickey has been in all of the Kingdom Hearts games, excluding Kingdom Hearts V CAST.

Kingdom Hearts
''King of Disney Castle. He set out to learn more about the darkness, and left instructions for Donald and Goofy to find and follow the key bearer. No one knows where King Mickey is now, but they are determined to find him.''

He made his debut in "Steamboat Willie" (1928).

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The king who reigns over Disney Castle.

He set off alone to protect his world and all worlds from the dominion of the dark.

When Riku fell into the realm of darkness, the king showed him the way, but the two were separated when the door to darkness was closed.

Kingdom Hearts II

 * First Entry

Steamboat Willie (1928)

''The king of Disney Castle. It's been a while since he set off alone to fight the darkness threatening the worlds.''

King Mickey and Riku stayed behind the realm of darkness to keep the Heartless from escaping again.

Donald, Goofy, and Sora will keep searching until they're reunited with the King.


 * Second Entry

Steamboat Willie (1928)

''The king of Disney Castle. He was the first to realize what a threat the darkness was, and the first to act. King Mickey travels across the worlds, battling the Heartless and searching for an answer to the riddle of Organization XIII and the Nobodies.''

After many great battles, the King seems even more determined than ever to fight against the darkness.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
While Terra, Ventus, and Aqua search for Master Xehanort and Vanitas, King Mickey trains under Yen Sid at the Mysterious Tower to be a Keyblade Master while Donald and Goofy look on. Even Terra witnesses the King train with his Star Seeker when he visits the tower. Mickey teams up with Aqua at one point in the story at Radiant Garden, rescuing a young Kairi. He was shown helping Ventus fighting Vanitas but was knocked unconscious. How he effects the storyline beyond what has been revealed remains unknown.

Story between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Upon realizing the threat the darkness presented, Mickey sought out help for his concerns, and the danger he seemed to expect. By using the barrier's material itself to make a Gummi Ship, Mickey traveled to Radiant Garden and met Ansem the Wise. Mickey befriended Ansem, and told Ansem of his concern of the growing darkness between the worlds. It was also here that Mickey met Xehanort. Meeting him seemed to disturb the King.

Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts marks the first appearance of Mickey in the series. Before actually appearing onscreen, Mickey gives instructions to his subjects through a message from Pluto. Not seen until the end of the game, in Kingdom Hearts, King Mickey left his home, Disney Castle, leaving a note instructing Donald and Goofy to "find the Key". In his journeys, King Mickey had passed the Corridor of Darkness at Traverse Town and found the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness. Within the realm of darkness, he meets Riku, asking him about his heart. At the end of Kingdom Hearts, he helps Sora to seal Kingdom Hearts to prevent the Heartless from escaping it. It was the choice of Mickey and Riku to stay behind in the Realm of Darkness that started Sora, Donald and Goofy on their quests in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Sora, Donald and Goofy initially enter Castle Oblivion believing the King to be there, but that is not the case until Riku follows. He appears many times to Riku while he battles his inner darkness as his light, until they come face to face. Meeting DiZ, Mickey begins to suspect his true identity.

After leaving the Castle, the King and Riku eventually part ways.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
King Mickey appears in the Twilight Town woods facing Riku, who has taken on the form of Xehanort's Heartless. Mickey readies to attack as Riku calmly ties his blindfold into place, and looks shocked at Riku changing appearance. Then they make a promise not to tell Sora what happened to him when he wakes up.

King Mickey is playable in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days's Multiplayer Mode, wearing his Organization XIII cloak. To unlock him, complete every mission, which will make the item "Return of the King" available from the Moogle shop.

Kingdom Hearts II
In Kingdom Hearts II, Mickey appears far more often then he had in the previous Kingdom Hearts games. He is a playable character under certain circumstances.

Sometime after Riku left DiZ's employ, he encounters Mickey and gives him the munny pouch that he had stolen from Roxas in the Simulated Twilight Town. Not wanting Sora and Kairi to know about his condition, Riku pleads with Mickey not to reveal his whereabouts or his condition to Sora, and Mickey reluctantly agrees.

Mickey later arrives to help Sora fend off the Nobodies that attacked them in Twilight Town posing as somewhat of a fake Organization XIII member. After the battle, he hands Sora the pouch of munny Riku gave him and instructs him to visit his mentor, Yen Sid, running off afterward. Yen Sid reveals that Mickey's reasons for leaving Disney Castle in the first game was to investigate the mysterious outbreak of Heartless and the more mysterious Organization. Mickey makes several appearances throughout the game, and is even playable when Sora is defeated in certain boss battles; if Sora is defeated in these boss battles, Mickey appears and fights the boss until he himself is defeated or Sora is revived; in either event, he leaves the battlefield as quickly as he arrived.

Hollow Bastion
At Hollow Bastion, Mickey reveals the truth about Ansem, but is reluctant to reveal any information on Riku. He then aides the group in fending off the Heartless that Maleficent has summoned to destroy Radiant Garden. Initially, he orders Sora, Donald, and Goofy to leave Hollow Bastion and leave the Heartless to them, but Donald and Goofy go against his orders when they realize how desperate Sora is to help Leon. He later confronts them after they defeat Demyx, at first appearing angry, but soon simply decides to allow them to help. When Goofy apparently dies after taking a nasty blow to the head while saving Mickey from the same fate, Mickey swears that the Heartless would pay and permanently discards his Organization XIII disguise, and they are all relieved to discover that Goofy was only unconscious. When he and Sora confront Xemnas, he jumps after Xemnas into a corridor of darkness before it closed, thus preventing Sora, Donald and Goofy from going after him, but since he appears later in Twilight Town, it is apparent that he could not follow Xemnas all the way.

The Ultimate Battle
Sora and the others meet him in Twilight Town, where they find a way into the World That Never Was through the Virtual Twilight Town DiZ had created. When they enter the world, Mickey goes ahead of Sora to look for Ansem the Wise. He eventually finds him, and rescues him from death. Ansem then attempts to use his machine to convert Kingdom Hearts into data, but was unsuccessful and dies when the machine explodes. Mickey then confronts Xemnas with Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy, and watches as Xemnas opens Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas then blocks out King Mickey and Kairi from participating in the final fight, first by launching a building at him and Kairi, closing Kingdom Hearts, and then closing the dark portal to the Destiny Islands, preventing Mickey, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy from returning to aid Sora and Riku.

Peace Restored
After Sora and Riku end the Organization's plot, Mickey waits with Donald, Goofy, and Kairi on Destiny Islands for their return. Once they do, he runs to Riku and congratulates them both for defeating Organization XIII. During the end credits, King Mickey is seen returning with Donald, Goofy, Scrooge McDuck, Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Pluto, and Jiminy to Disney Castle, where he reunites with his wife Queen Minnie.

They share a cartoonish kiss, ending the sequence for Disney Castle.After the credits, it is revealed that he has sent Sora, Riku and Kairi a bottled letter, although its contents are left a mystery to the player.

Kingdom Hearts coded
King Mickey reappears again in Kingdom Hearts coded. He is the one who digitizes Jiminy's Journal to unfold a mysterious message saying: "We must return to free them from their torment". The screen shots have shown him in game play along with the digital Sora. The two of them are shown jumping on red and black blocks. The screen shot to the left shows Mickey with what seems to be the Star Seeker Keyblade. It was also revealed in a trailer for the game that Mickey was present in Traverse Town during the events of Sora's first visit after the destruction of Destiny Islands.

Following the digital Sora's time in Traverse Town, he is attacked by Heartless. After disposing of them, he tries to leave the library to check the castle, but finds himself locked in, along with Jiminy, Donald, and Goofy. It is revealed that, in fact, the trio was somehow transported into the digital journal itself.

Powers and Abilities
King Mickey is extremely skilled with a Keyblade. He uses his size and agility to maximize his advantages and wear down his foes, flipping and spinning attacks, and finishing them with wide strokes of his blade. It is possible to assume he gained his abilities from his training with Yen Sid. It's also known that Mickey has used two Keyblades: Star Seeker and the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness (Kingdom Key D), which is sometimes known as Darkside. Due to his small size, Mickey has also shown to have great agility, as he is usually seen doing back flips while using his Keyblade.

In terms of magic, Mickey is also very apt. Kingdom Hearts II demonstrated Mickey's ability to use "Pearl," a clearly light based spell.

Mickey is very able outside of combat, as well. He has spent a large amount of time in the Dark Realm, and his Keyblade seems to be the opposite of Sora's. As a testament to his heart's strength, Mickey has never once fought with his inner darkness. He can travel easily within the Corridor of Darkness and seems to be completely unaffected by it. Based on the Ansem Reports, Mickey is said to have discovered the properties of Gummi material and used it to travel to other worlds.

Kingdom Hearts
When Sora and the others try to seal the Door to Darkness they see King Mickey destroy Darkside Heartless with ease.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories
The King is a friend card used solely by Riku in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Re:Chain of Memories.

This card will summon King Mickey, healing Riku slightly, hurting all enemies and stunning them for a short time, and restocking Riku's deck. Stocking these cards will allow you to use the only sleight you can as regular Riku, MM Miracle. It increases the amount you are healed and the damage done to enemies. It is one of the few ways Riku can heal himself, the other being the Oogie Boogie enemy card.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, using The King's friend card along with two Soul Eater cards while Riku is in his normal form will trigger the Holy Burst Sleight. During Holy Burst, The King and Riku can move around the field back-to-back, shooting balls of Light from their Keyblades.

Using this card along with two Soul Eater cards while Riku is in Dark Mode will trigger Inverse Burst Sleight. Inverse Burst is relatively the same as Holy Burst, but The King will still shoot balls of Light, whereas Riku will shoot balls of Darkness.

Kingdom Hearts coded
He wields Star Seeker and use it the same as he did in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. It is unknown where Kingdom Key D is or if Mickey will even use it.

Kingdom Hearts II
In certain battles against bosses, if Sora is defeated, an alternate menu option will appear. Instead of the normal "Continue" and "Load Game," Sora is then given the options "I won't give up!" and "It's over..". If "I won't give up!" is chosen, the player will be able to play as Mickey temporarily.

In battle, Mickey can perform two attacks: the first being simply Attack, and the other being Pearl, a magical attack that damages the opponent with a homing ball of light. Like Sora, allows the player to jump and  performs reaction commands. However, Mickey's only reaction command is to slowly charge his Drive Gauge. Once the Drive Gauge is full, Mickey can activate Healing Light, which will fully recover Sora's HP and MP and causes the player to continue playing as Sora. If Mickey is defeated before using Healing Light, Sora will still regain half of his HP, and his MP will remain the way it was before he was defeated.

While Mickey can deal damage, it is impossible to actually defeat a boss as Mickey due to the fact that he lacks a finishing move. However, Mickey is very powerful and it's wise to use him to beat the boss to the point where only Sora can finish the battle before reviving Sora.

Battles Available
These are the battles in which King Mickey appears.


 * Shan-Yu
 * Thresholder and Possessor
 * Shadow Stalker/Dark Thorn
 * Cerberus
 * Hydra
 * Blizzard Lord and Volcano Lord
 * Storm Rider
 * Xaldin
 * Grim Reaper (Battle 1)
 * Armored Xemnas (Battle 1)

Final Visit to Twilight Town
When Sora, Donald and Goofy revisit Twilight Town to find the mansion from a photo they got from Riku, they are overrun by Nobodies and King Mickey appears to give them assistance. This is the only occasion that King Mickey becomes a helpful ally instead of replacing Sora in a boss battle.

Playing As The King
In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Mickey is a secret character, unlocked by purchasing "Return of the King" from the Moogle Shop after getting all missions finished. He uses his small size to his maximum advantage, swiftly evading enemy attacks while exploiting enemy openings likewise with wide, fast strokes of his Keyblade. He is customized via Gears, having the Pearl ability from Kingdom Hearts II as a Limit Break.

Kingdom Hearts
"Don't worry, there will always be a door to the light."

"Donald, Goofy, thank you." "Now Sora, lets close this door for good."

Kingdom Hearts II
"That's just what I'm trying to figure out."

"Donald, Goofy, take Sora and get going!"

"Time to weigh anchor, Captain Pete."

"Donald, Goofy, thank you."

"Please, Sora, I made a promise."

"Gosh....I can't remember."

"Remember where we are. This is their stronghold."

"Looks like we gotta start by helping out here."

Battle Quotes
"Sora!"

"My turn!"

"I'll help you!"

"Light, give me power!"

"Wow!"

"You gotta wake up!"

"Come On!"

"The rest is up to you."

Trivia

 * Originally, Mickey was planned to be the main character in Kingdom Hearts. As a tribute, Sora bears much of Mickey's trademark apparel, such as white gloves, round red shorts, and big yellow shoes.


 * Although in Kingdom Hearts Mickey is credited to having first appeared in the Disney short "Steamboat Willie", his first performance is actually in "Plane Crazy", but "Steamboat Willie" is often considered his first notable performance, as he was characterized very differently in "Plane Crazy".


 * In the first game, Mickey was (barely) seen in his traditional casual clothing, a pair of red shorts with two white buttons and large yellow shoes. (If you looked carefully at him while they were closing the Door to Darkness, however, aside from Timeless River, this is the only time he's seen with his trademark outfit.) However, in later games, his attire resembled, more or less, like his original attire but were more akin to the clothes worn by Sora in the same game.


 * Mickey is the only character in the Kingdom Hearts journal to not have a picture of himself.


 * Like Sora who donned some of Mickey's patterns in his garments, Mickey's appearance in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep has him wearing black and gray clothing similar to Sora's outfit in Kingdom Hearts II.


 * King Mickey actually gets a biography inside the revised instruction manual of Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories.


 * On May 18, 2009, Mickey's voice actor, Wayne Allwine, passed away from complications due to diabetes. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days became the last work in which Allwine provided the voice of King Mickey (and his final performance overall), and the English versions of the game were dedicated in his memory; the new official voice actor for him is Bret Iwan who give his first full performance as Mickey in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.


 * King Mickey is currently the only Disney character to wield a Keyblade.

Gallery
Roi Mickey