Hollow Bastion

Hollow Bastion is a World from Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Not based on a Disney film, though showing Disney influence, Hollow Bastion is a colossal castle that towers above the rest of its world, the Radiant Garden. At one point, it was the only remaining part of the world, along with the waterways beneath it. Because of this, the world itself was known as "Hollow Bastion" in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and most of Kingdom Hearts II. However, it regains its original name by the end of Kingdom Hearts II.

Unlike the rest of the Radiant Garden, which poses as Final Fantasy's world, Hollow Bastion has no relation to Final Fantasy whatsoever. Many point out Hollow Bastion is reminicent of two Disney movies, Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. However, it is mentioned that both actual worlds were destroyed, and Beast's Castle serves as a world on its own in Kingdom Hearts II.

The theme music for this world is "Hollow Bastion" in the first game and "Reviving Hollow Bastion" in the second. The battle theme for both games is "Scherzo Di Notte", with slightly different arrangements in each game.

Kingdom Hearts
Sora and the rest of the party enter Hollow Bastion at the Rising Falls, appropriately named as there are waterfalls that run up instead of down. Jumping on mystical floating rocks and ledges takes the party to the first of many magical platforms that are scattered throughout the castle. The platform takes Sora to the Castle Gates, the main entrance of Hollow Bastion which is made up of a set of balconies and lifts running outside the castle. From here, the party can travel down into the underground water system or enter the castle itself.

Going down the nearby platform or leaping off the edge of the balcony takes the party to Base Level, an area full of ledges, switches, and enemies. Succesfully climbing to the balcony near the entrance earns extra treasures, while taking a nearby bubble carries them to the Waterway, where a series of gates, switches, and bubbles must be navigated to operate the castle gate controls. Off of the Waterway is a small room, the Dungeon.

Going in the doors at the other end of the Castle Gates area takes the party to the massive two-level Entrance Hall, where a large puzzle must be solved to continue up the castle by allowing access to the second half of the Castle Gates area. Going left takes the party to the Library, also the site of a large puzzle involving organizing misplaced books ; Belle and Aerith can later be found here after the Hollow Bastion Keyhole is locked. Also accessible from the Library is the first of many entrances to the Lift Stop, a series of magic lifts separated by mystical barriers.

Continuing up the castle by taking the lift on the other side of the Castle Gates area is the Great Crest, where the largest of the magic lifts is located. After a long and slow journey across the front of the bastion, the party is dropped on the other side, where they can take the Lift Stop to the next area, the High Tower, where the crest can be moved to create a way up to the upper levels of the castle. Through the Lift Stop at the opposite end of the High Tower is the entrance to the castle Chapel, where the confrontations with Maleficent take place. Once passed, the final area holding Hollow Bastion's Keyhole and the Princesses of Heart, the Grand Hall is open to confront Riku in. Eventually, the Keyhole here can be sealed.

Promotional images and movies for Kingdom Hearts II depict Sora, Donald and Goofy in battle in the High Tower area of the castle as it appeared in this game, as well as five Organization members at an unspecified location outside the castle ; however, these areas are inaccessible in the second game.

Kingdom Hearts II
Because of the damage to Hollow Bastion in the first game, much of the focus in Hollow Bastion the second time around is on the village that surrounds the bottom of the castle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy arrive in the Marketplace, which houses the world's Moogle shop, as well as Uncle Scrooge and his venturing nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Past the Marketplace is the Borough, which sits next to one of the massive walls of the village defenses. From there, the party can drop in on their friends at Merlin's House or continue to the Bailey, which eventually suffers a bit of damage at the hands of the Heartless.

The good news is the damage to the Bailey allows access to the remains of the Castle by opening up an entrance to the Restoration Site. Fighting their way through this area in turn takes them to the Postern, site of a save point and the entrance to the bastion itself. Going inside, the party must navigate the twisting Corridors before reaching the end at Ansem's study, where many of the mysteries surrounding Ansem can be solved, but many more created. Going through the hidden entrance finally takes the party to the computer that serves as the entrance to Space Paranoids. On the other side of the computer room is the small, but often missed Heartless Manufactory.

After the Bailey is damaged, one final area opens up, where the battle against the Heartless culminates. Leaving the Restoration Site by going through the hole in the fort wall leads to the Ravine Trail for a series of battles against the masses of Heartless with help from a few surprising friends. From the trail, the party can enter the Crystal Fissure, use the save point, and travel on to The Great Maw, a massive canyon, and from there, The Dark Depths, a cliff where several important confrontations take place.

History
Hollow Bastion was once a glorious castle towering over the Radiant Garden and owned by a king, Ansem the Wise. Much of the history of the castle is unknown, other than that Ansem ruled from it. However, eventually Ansem's apprentice Xehanort overthrew his former mentor, and remodeled the castle to include mechanical components. The result was a twisted bastion ; half beautiful castle, half distorted factory. According to Leon, Maleficent invaded Hollow Bastion's world with her Heartless nine years before the events of Kingdom Hearts. Some residents managed to escape, many of whom ended up in Traverse Town. During her reign in the castle as one of Ansem's minions, it is probable that she either created or remodeled the castle's keep, which has decorations and models of roses and her thorned plants.

Kingdom Hearts
Sora, Donald and Goofy arrive at Hollow Bastion in time to find Riku attacking another intruder, the Beast. Sora, Donald, and Goofy confront Riku, but he declares he is the Keyblade's true holder; it jumps into his possession, leaving Sora defenseless except for his old wooden sword. Because Donald and Goofy had instructions to follow the Keyblade bearer, they reluctantly leave Sora for Riku. Sora goes to help the injured Beast, and taking up his old wooden sword, the two team up to enter the castle.

After traversing the castle waterways to unlock the main door, Sora and Beast enter Hollow Bastion. Beast is tricked away from Sora by an illusion of Belle. Riku, Donald, and Goofy appear soon after, where Riku further taunts Sora and shows he has embraced his dark side by attempting to blast Sora with his dark powers. Goofy blocks the blast, and he and Donald decide to rejoin Sora's side. Sora's strength of heart with his friends back by his side pulls the Keyblade away from Riku and back to him. After a fierce battle, Riku is defeated and flees. Beast rejoins the party after watching the encounter, observing that Sora's heart was what helped him win.

Riku is upset at losing the Keyblade, but encounters Xehanort's Heartless, who promises him that he can make Riku's heart stronger through darkness and allow him to regain possession of the Keyblade. Riku succumbs to his's pledge and powers, and becomes consumed by the darkness. In the meantime, Maleficent has attempted to use the gathered Princesses of Heart to open the Bastion's Keyhole. The Heartless-possessed Riku meets with her to check her progress, where Maleficent declares she will control and use the darkness for her own purposes ; however, she or Ansem-Riku cannot unlock the Keyhole without Kairi's missing heart.

Sora and friends manage to travel through the labrynthian castle to reach the chapel ; there they meet with and confront Maleficent. Overconfident in her abilities, she is soundly defeated. Escaping back to Riku for help, she is stabbed through the heart by his Dark Keyblade, made from the hearts of the six Princesses. It unlocks the darkest parts of her heart and allows her to transform into a large, powerful dragon ; however, Sora's party defeat her again, and she is consumed and burned away by the darkness. Riku disappears after her defeat, and Sora and company travel to the Grand Hall, where the Keyhole and Princesses are located, to find and confront him. There, Sora finds Kairi unconscious on the floor in front of the partially opened Keyhole. He tries to wake her, but Riku appears to tell Sora her heart is missing. Through Riku's information and attitude, Sora figures out that Kairi is one of the princesses, and that Riku is no longer in control of his own body. Riku then tries to pull Kairi's heart out of Sora, where it took refuge during the attack on Destiny Islands. Sora is weakened, allowing Riku to attack Sora with the Dark Keyblade. Sora blocks the strike in time, and the two fight one-on-one for possession of Kairi's heart, with the result that Sora is again triumphant.

Riku disappears, but the Keyhole begins reacting to the presence of Kairi's heart. Sora attempts to lock the Keyhole, but without Kairi's heart, it is not complete and cannot be sealed. Sora puts two and two together and figures out the only way to free Kairi's heart is to stab himself with the Dark Keyblade. It works ; Kairi's and the other Princesses' hearts are freed and the Keyhole opens, but Sora falls into darkness, becoming a Heartless himself.

Kairi wakes just in time to see Sora disappear. Xehanort's Heartless, now in full possession of Riku's body, appears to gloat over the completed Keyhole, but Riku temporarily takes control of his body to warn Kairi and the others the Heartless called by Xehanort's Heartless will soon overrun the castle ; she is forced to escape with Donald and Goofy. The three return to the entrance, and hesitate, wondering if they should go back to close the Keyhole. There, they meet up with a Heartless that Kairi realizes is Sora. Sora's heart, placed in her body by the unlocking, and her own heart restore Sora to his body. Beast stays behind to hold off the Heartless and continue looking for Belle, and so the group departs Hollow Bastion.

Cid manages to find a way to allow them to return and seal the Keyhole. They return and help Beast reunite with the re-awakened Belle, and jump through the Keyhole to fight a Behemoth Heartless. After a conversation with Leon's group, who have returned to restore their homeworld, Sora seals the Keyhole at Hollow Bastion.

In the Kingdom Hearts: Final Mix version, Sora also has his first encounter with Organization XIII in the chapel by way of a hooded figure known only as "Unknown". After some cryptic messages, Unknown leaves, revealing in Kingdom Hearts II that he was testing Sora.

First Visit
Sora and his friends reunite with Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid, who have started the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, an organization attempting to rebuild the world that they once lived in. After reuniting with Merlin as well, Leon makes Sora, Donald, and Goofy honorary members of the committee and takes them to view the restoration work on the Bailey. There, after a surprise attack, the party has their first real encounter with Organization XIII in the form of taunts and cryptic messages. After defending the town from Nobodies and unlocking the pathway to other worlds via his committee card, Sora heads out to search for King Mickey and Riku.

The party returns briefly to visit and assist Merlin, who has a surprise : Pooh's book, the entrance to the 100 Acre Wood. However, a raid by Heartless damages the book when they try to steal it from Sora's group, leading to Pooh's amnesia and the search for the book's Torn Pages.

Second Visit
When the party is called again to Hollow Bastion, they reunite with Cloud, who vows to go after Sephiroth. They then are sent by Cid and Merlin to assist Leon in the Bastion itself ; along the way, they meet the Gullwings for the first time. After reaching the Bastion, they first see Ansem's study and are introduced to his seemingly malfunctioning computer system after a brief encounter with Tifa. After an unplanned trip to Space Paranoids courtesy of Stitch, they finally meet with the King in Ansem's study, who promises to talk after they finish helping Tron. Sora and his party copy Tron's scrambled data, finding out about Ansem the Wise.

Mickey explains about Ansem the Wise, his imposter, and the Heartless and Nobodies that resulted, most notably Xemnas. While he explains many things to them, Sora learns that the King can't tell him about Riku. He charges them to go find the missing Riku and Kairi, but there is a sudden explosion outside the Bastion. Heartless and Nobodies are pouring through a hole blown in the outer wall. Sora's party encounter Maleficent, who orders her Heartless to attack, and the Gullwings, who they trick into joining Leon's side. They also find Sephiroth, looking to fight Cloud.

The party makes their way to the Bailey, where they witness the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, the Gullwings, Cloud, and Tifa's attempts to stop the Heartless, as well as an encounter between Cloud and Sephiroth. Mickey orders them to find Riku and Kairi instead of fighting the Heartless, but Sora refuses and leaps into the frey, joined by Donald and Goofy. Their first encounter is with Demyx, who attempts to eliminate Sora again. However, Sora and his group take out Demyx for good. Mickey catches up with them and admits his earlier decision was hasty. An explosion caused by a Heartless causes a boulder to fly at Mickey ; Goofy takes the blow instead and is seemingly killed. Spurred on by his sacrifice, the three jump into the battle, assisted by the other residents of Hollow Bastion. Goofy is alright in the end and reunites with them ; together, they work to halt the Heartless invasion.

They are triumphant in the end, but are confronted by Xemnas and Saïx, who reveals, with help from Axel, Organization XIII's master plot. Maleficent appears and attempts to claim Kingdom Hearts for her own. She helps Sora escape so he can help her find a way to get rid of the Nobodies by sending him and his friends into the Realm of Darkness. There, they find the two clues needed to unlock the identity of Roxas, as well as the way to unlock the second set of adventures in each World.

Third Visit
On the third and final main visit to Hollow Bastion, the MCP has taken over Cid and Ansem the Wise's computers, causing the Claymores in Hollow Bastion to go crazy and attack the residents. Sora, Donald, and Goofy go into Space Paranoids to contact Tron while Cid works on a program to delete the MCP. When downloaded into Tron, the party is able to retake control of Hollow Bastion's computers and restore order. In addition, Tron finds information on Hollow Bastion's existance before the Heartless came, revealing its true name and nature : the Radiant Garden.

Mini-Games

 * In Kingdom Hearts II, a Mini Game with a Skateboard can be unlocked in the Borough by talking to Uncle Scrooge in the Marketplace.

Dalmatians

 * 61, 62, & 63 - Grand Hall on the lefthand ledge near the Keyhole platform.
 * 91, 92, & 93 - On a ledge near the entrance point at Rising Falls.
 * 94, 95, & 96 - Far lefthand platform at the Castle Gates. You will need to take the moving platform or use Glide to get there.
 * 97, 98, & 99 - On a Gravity platform near the entrance of the High Tower.