Kingdom of Corona

The Kingdom of Corona is a world in Kingdom Hearts III. It is based on the Disney film, . It is a coastal kingdom whose princess, Rapunzel, was kidnapped by the witch Mother Gothel.

Development
During Square Enix's E3 Conference on June 16, 2015, Sora was shown exploring areas of Kingdom of Corona. During the Square Enix Presents segment of E3 2015, Kingdom Hearts III director Tetsuya Nomura revealed that the Kingdom of Corona was one of the first worlds to be considered for Kingdom Hearts III.

During the D23 Expo Japan 2018 convention, Tetsuya Nomura explained that gameplay footage of Kingdom of Corona was delayed due to needing time to refine the rendering of Rapunzel's hair, which is designed to interact with the terrain of the world.

Settings and Areas
Sora, Donald and Goofy arrive in a forest. Rapunzel's tower is nearby, although it cannot be entered.

The world mainly consists of forests. At one point, there is an small cave which can be entered.

The town of Corona that surrounds the castle can be explored to an extent.

Before Kingdom Hearts III
Born with the golden hair with healing magic, Rapunzel was kidnapped by Mother Gothel ever since Rapunzel was a baby. Mother Gothel raised Rapunzel ever since, warning Rapunzel of the dangers of the outside world. This eventually led to Mother Gothel psychologically manipulating Rapunzel to stay in a hidden tower and never set foot outside. Every year on her birthday, Rapunzel would secretly peer out through the tower window to view the floating lanterns. Unknown to Rapunzel, the floating lanterns were set by Rapunzel's biological parents, the king and queen of Corona.

Kingdom Hearts III
Sora, Donald, and Goofy idly wander through the forest of Corona, not knowing their reason in visiting such a tranquil world. The trio runs into Flynn Rider, who is trying to escape from a group of Heartless. As the trio prepares to take down the Heartless, Flynn quickly flees.

After taking down the group of Heartless, Sora wonders where Flynn went, and the trio backtrack to a dead end of the forest. Presumed that Flynn escaped safely, Sora accidentally discovers a secret passage hidden by foliage. The trio follows the secret passage to the hidden tower, where Flynn is being held captured by Rapunzel. Rapunzel makes a deal with Flynn, by returning his satchel in exchanged for a safe round journey to view the floating lanterns.

As Sora, Donald, and Goofy reunite with Flynn, Rapunzel for the first time sets foot outside. Though she is initially elated at being outside for the first time, she quickly gets into an internal war with herself while Flynn recruits Sora and company as his "sidekicks" to fight the Heartless. During their journey, Sora helps Rapunzel enjoy the outside world, such as playing in the water and saving a group of rabbits. Meanwhile, Gothel discovers that Rapunzel has gone missing and encounters Marluxia, who strikes a deal with her to find Rapunzel.

The group stumble upon a flower-like pod, which soon reveals itself to be a Reaper Nobody. Rapunzel and Flynn flee the scene as Sora and company fight the Nobodies. The Reapers' master, Marluxia, arrives and advises Sora to keep an eye out for Rapunzel. Sora and company then search for Rapunzel in a marsh and encounter Gothel, who deems them useless after they tell her they have no idea where Rapunzel is.

At a campsite, Rapunzel and Flynn encounter Maximus, a horse who was chasing after Flynn, and convince him to join them on their journey. Sora and company reunite with Rapunzel and Flynn, and make their way towards the Kingdom. During the Kingdom's festival, Rapunzel encounters a mural displaying the Kingdom's lost princess. Following a dance in the town square, the town releases the lanterns as Rapunzel and Flynn watch. However, Flynn leaves Rapunzel due to having to do something important, and Rapunzel, after encountering Marluxia, is "saved" by Mother Gothel.

Meanwhile, Sora, Donald, and Goofy encounter Nobodies during the festival. Taking notice of Gothel abducting Rapunzel, the trio pursue her, but Marluxia blocks their path, explaining that Rapunzel is one of the New Seven Hearts, a group of seven maidens who inherited the light of the Princesses of Heart, and knocks Sora out to prevent him from saving Rapunzel. Back at Gothel's tower, Rapunzel realizes that she is the lost princess and attempts to relinquish herself from Gothel's control, but Gothel explains that Flynn is under arrest and thus cannot save her.

The next day, Flynn escapes captivity and rides on Maximus to save Rapunzel from Gothel, awaking Sora in the process. Arriving at Gothel's tower, Flynn attempts to save Rapunzel, but Gothel stabs Flynn. Rapunzel offers to save his life, but he uses a shard of broken glass to cut off her hair, causing Gothel to wither to old age and fall off the tower as she disintegrates. Marluxia then appears and turns Gothel into the Grim Guardianess, deeming her presence a threat to the Organization's plans, but Sora and company vanquish the Grim Guardianess.

Back inside the tower, Rapunzel attempts to heal Flynn, her tears containing the remnants of her hair's powers and reviving him. The two reunite with Sora and company, with Rapunzel planning to return to her real family and Flynn embracing his birth name of Eugene Fitzherbert.

Sometime after Xehanort's defeat, Rapunzel and Eugene embrace in the town square.

Characters

 * The King and the Queen are shown on a in the kingdom.

Trivia

 * This is the first world in the series where a party member is no longer available after the world is completed.

Notes and references
Kingdom of Corona Kingdom of Corona