Winnie the Pooh

Winnie the Pooh is the main character of the Hundred Acre Wood world of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. In the games, he is voiced by his current voice actor, Jim Cummings. He is based on his apperance in Disney's Winnie the Pooh franchise. Pooh's role is very unique to the Kingdom Hearts universe, as he lives in a world within a world, whose inhabitants are blissfully unaware of the battles waged outside of their peaceful forest.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, Cid asked Sora to deliver a very special book that he had repaired to his friend, Merlin. After Sora did so, Merlin revealed that the book had special properties, and suggested that Sora take a closer look at it. Upon doing so, Sora found himself standing on the pages of the book, considerably smaller than his usual size. Walking over to one of the book's drawings, Sora ended up in a meadow, where Pooh sat on a log talking to himself. Once Sora introduced himself to Pooh, the bear detailed his sad news to Sora that all of his forest friends had disappeared, along with his favorite honey tree (among other locations), and that he had been left all alone (and very hungry) in the Hundred-Acre Wood. As Sora journeyed to other worlds, he found additional pages of Pooh's book, which the Heartless (for unknown reasons) had torn out of the book. When Sora added the last page to the book, reuniting Pooh with all of his friends, Pooh expressed his wish for Sora to stay with him. Sora explained as best he could to Pooh that they would always be linked through their hearts and memories of each other, which Pooh accepted, allowing Sora to depart the book.

Kingdom Hearts II
Prior to events in Kingdom Hearts II, Merlin apparently lost Pooh's book, but found it in one of the districts of Hollow Bastion. Sora eagerly jumped in to visit Pooh while Merlin was away, leaving Goofy and Donald to watch over the book from the outside world. As Pooh asked Sora to join him in his exercises, he suddenly froze in mid-action, leaving Sora momentarily confused before he was forced out of Pooh's book. It was soon revealed that the Heartless had attacked Donald and Goofy. As Sora exited Merlin's house to assist his friends, a group of Soldier Heartless made to steal Pooh's book, ripping pages out in the process. However, Sora managed to take the damaged book back from the Heartless. When Sora returned to the Hundred-Acre Wood to check on Pooh, he discovered that the traumatic forces that had been imposed on the book had given Pooh amnesia. To remedy this, Sora once again collected the scattered pages of the book and assisted Pooh's friends in helping Pooh gain back his memories of them. Certain actions in each area triggered Pooh's memories, but he did not remember Sora until nearly all the pages were recollected. And, as was the case in the ending of Kingdom Hearts, Pooh begged Sora to stay with him, and again Sora explained that he had to leave but that he and Pooh would always have a special connection through their hearts.

Personality
Pooh is extremely innocent, having never been exposed to the harsher realities of life outside of his world in the Hundred-Acre Wood, and also due to being a product of Christopher Robin's imagination. He is very forgetful, being "a bear of very little brain", and can often be found at his "thinking spot" muttering "Think, think, think!" in an attempt to remember what he's forgotten. Pooh often allows his stomach to guide him, letting his hunger for honey (spelled as "hunny" by the forest's residents) get the best of him in many situations. Despite some of his more uncomplimentary qualities, Pooh is extremely well-liked by his friends, who seem to consider him their leader; the closest and best of his friends is the little Piglet. Pooh is very loyal to all of his comrades, and forms very close attatchments to almost anyone he comes across, including Sora, who he treats as a sort of Christopher Robin character in the Kingdom Hearts series.

Appearance
Pooh's fur is gold in color, similar to his favorite food. His only attire is a red t-shirt that he wears all the time. He is occasionally seen with a honey pot, either in his hands or stuck on his head from his attempts to get every last drop of honey.

Abilites
Pooh has no apparent abilities, which is probably a result of the Heartless' inability to invade his world. However, he seems to have a very high tolerance for pain, as he can take a fall from several stories up and be unharmed (which is probably a result of his being stuffed with fluff).

Origin
The verion of Pooh used in the Kingdom Hearts series is based on his apperance in the 1966 film "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree" and all of the Pooh adventures that followed. Pooh was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway (who also voiced the Cheshire Cat in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland"). Pooh was originally a character created by the real life Christopher Robin; the character was expanded upon by Christopher's father, A. A. Milne, and Pooh made his first apperance in London's "Evening Post" in 1925, going on to appear in the books Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Corner.

Trivia
Jim Cummings, the voice of Pooh, also performs the voices of Tigger and Pete, as well as many background characters for Disney and the Kingdom Hearts series.