Goofy

Goofy is a major supporting protagonist that appears in the  series. Goofy is Captain of the Royal Knights of King Mickey's court. He and Disney Castle's court magician Donald Duck went out to search for the King, and ends up teaming with Sora for the rest of their journey.

Despite his position at Disney Castle, Goofy dislikes using weapons, instead using a simple in combat, and attempts to avoid fighting whenever possible, preferring to find peaceful solutions to problems. Though simple-minded and clumsy as always, and constantly the butt of comic relief, Goofy is the constant voice of optimism and, surprisingly, selectively perceptive, often noticing things others miss and keeping his cool when Sora and Donald lose it. True to his depiction in other Disney media, Goofy is a steadfast and reliable friend.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Goofy serves as the King's Captain of the Royal Guard. During this time, he and Donald watch King Mickey practice to harness his Keyblade under Master Yen Sid's teaching at the Mysterious Tower. When Ventus uses the Star Shard that Yen Sid gave Mickey to transport to the Mysterious Tower, Yen Sid uses magic to tell Ventus of Mickey's whereabouts and precarious condition. Seeing their king is in trouble, Donald and Goofy prepare to depart for the Keyblade Graveyard and save Mickey from Master Xehanort. Yen Sid stops them, knowing that they are no match for Master Xehanort. Ven instead goes alone, leaving Donald and Goofy visibly upset.

When Mickey returns to the Mysterious Tower, Goofy observes with Donald as Mickey hands in the Star Fragment and his Keyblade, thinking he had failed to reach his goal, and is overly thrilled when Yen Sid returns the weapon to his king.

Kingdom Hearts
Goofy's role began when Donald rushes to tell him about the disappearance of King Mickey, but the secret is quickly discovered by Queen Minnie and Daisy.

King Mickey's letter explains that darkness is threatening the worlds, which appear as stars in the night sky, and have been blinking out one by one. Therefore, he left in order to study and counter the threat, and provides Donald and Goofy with the mission to seek out the "key to their survival". To start, they should head to a world called Traverse Town, and find a man named Leon.

Donald and Goofy, loyal to their king and concerned about his welfare as well as the worlds', agree to take on the mission. Queen Minnie also introduces them to another traveling companion, Jiminy Cricket, who will chronicle their travels in his journal. With the three of them as well as Pluto, they take the Gummi Ship and begin their journey.

Donald and Goofy soon arrive in Traverse Town, having gained new, more casual, clothes. They set out in search of Leon and the key, but end up meeting Aerith, a friend of Leon's. She explains to them the situation with the Heartless, the Keyblade, and the Ansem Reports, a document written by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness that details his findings on the Heartless. They also believe that the King might be searching for them.

However, things take a turn when Heartless attack the hotel that Donald and the others are in, including Leon, Yuffie and Sora, the Keyblade wielder they have been searching for, in the next room. Donald and Goofy are about to speak to Leon, but Yuffie dashes out of the room and crushes Donald with the door in her haste. Donald and Goofy arrive in the Third District, where they attempt to fight some Heartless, but are unable to defeat them, and a massive explosion sends them flying through the air and right on top of Sora, where they immediately recognize the Keyblade in his hand. However, before they have a chance to formally introduce themselves, they are attacked by a giant Heartless known as the Guard Armor, starting a fight that they manage to win.

After the battle, the three introduce themselves. Donald and Goofy explain that they have been searching for Sora, and that if he travels with them, they can go search for the King as well as Sora's friends Riku and Kairi; however, Donald secretly tells Goofy that he doesn't really know if they'll find Sora's friends, but he does know that they need him in order to find the King. Donald tells a depressed Sora to cheer up, and, with humorous results, Sora attempts to do so, and agrees to go with them.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy set off to many worlds, defeating Heartless, the Disney villains, and sealing keyholes that lead towards the hearts to worlds, as well as making many new friends.

However, the group's friendship was put to the test when they traveled to Hollow Bastion, Maleficent's base of operations and the place where the Heartless plague began. They arrive just as Riku, working for Maleficent, has beaten an offworlder named Beast, who was trying to rescue his kidnapped love, Belle. When they go to Beast's aid, Riku reveals himself to be the true owner of Sora's Kingdom Key, and the Keyblade returns to him. Having been explicitly ordered to follow the Key, Donald and Goofy have no choice but to leave Sora and follow Riku, much to their regret. But eventually, with the aid of Beast, Sora catches up with Riku. With the Beast lured away by a Heartless feigning to be his beloved Belle, Riku attempts to eliminate Sora once and for all with an energy bolt. However, Goofy goes to the rescue and blocks the attack, finding himself unable to betray Sora after all that they have been through together, and Donald also rejoins them, despite their knowledge that they are disobeying King Mickey by turning on the Keyblade Master. With the strength of their friendship strengthening Sora's heart, he regains the Keyblade, meaning that Donald and Goofy are no longer going against orders.

The trio then make their way through Hollow Bastion, confronting Maleficent as well as Riku, who is now possessed by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and wields a Keyblade forged from the hearts of six of the seven Princesses of Heart. When they encounter the possessed Riku, Goofy is humorously deflected by a barrier, and Donald is soon separated from Sora through the duration of the battle as well.

They also come across Kairi's body, devoid of her heart. When Sora discovers that Kairi's heart rests within his own, he chooses to release it by stabbing himself with the dark Keyblade left behind by Riku, despite Donald and Goofy's protests. Though Kairi is revived, Sora loses his heart to the darkness and becomes a Heartless, much to the dismay of Donald and Goofy.

Ansem makes his reappearance, now in nearly total control of Riku's body, soon afterwards. Though Donald and Goofy are no match for Ansem's great power, Riku is able to gain control for a few moments, holding back Ansem temporarily. Donald and Goofy then attempt to escape with Kairi. While Goofy is still concerned about the Final Keyhole, Donald is more concerned with getting out of Hollow Bastion alive. At the foyer of the castle, Heartless block their path. However, another Heartless, seemingly without hostile intentions, arrives. Kairi realizes it is Sora, and is able to revive him, much to Donald and Goofy's relief. The four then make their escape.

Later, the trio make their way back to Hollow Bastion, fighting their way through Heartless and sealing up the Keyhole opened up by the seven princesses. They then journey to the End of the World. There, they confront Ansem at the remains of Destiny Islands, and then at the endless abyss, where the Door to Darkness that leads to Kingdom Hearts itself resides. After Ansem's defeat, Sora, Donald, and Goofy attempt to seal the door, but their efforts are futile.

But then, the King makes his appearance, wielding the Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness. With the two Keyblades and the assistance of Riku, the Door to Darkness is sealed, and the worlds are restored. However, the King and Riku are sealed in the Realm of Darkness, though the King tells them that there will always be a door to the light.

After sealing Kingdom Hearts the group is sent to a field where they discuss what to do next. When they are left without answers, Pluto appears with a note from the king that leads them straight towards Castle Oblivion.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
Sora, having encountered a mysterious figure, goes with Donald and Goofy to Castle Oblivion. Inside, they discuss going further into the castle, realizing that all four of them, including Jiminy, feel that Riku and the King are in the castle. Before they can progress, they meet the mysterious man once more. Donald, assuming the man to be a Heartless, attacks, but finds out that none of his spells will function. The man reveals that Sora and his friends forgot every single ability they knew as soon as they entered the castle. In addition, the figure remarks that in this castle, they will find someone they know. Granting Sora a card, the figure leaves, and the others are compelled to follow.

Sora, using the card, goes deeper into the castle, only to find that he is in Traverse Town. In addition, Donald and Goofy have disappeared, being at the mercy of the cards that control Castle Oblivion. After learning to battle, Sora reunites with Donald and Goofy, who have also gained new clothes. The three continue on, meeting memory versions of the people they have encountered on their previous journey.

Unfortunately, as they progress through the castle, they find that their memories are slowly fading due to Naminé's manipulations. Soon, they begin to encounter members of Organization XIII, including Axel, Larxene, and Vexen, and are left with cryptic remarks about the nature of Castle Oblivion, including memories and the other half of Sora's heart. Eventually, they also encounter Riku, who apparently is also striving to reach Naminé, but has once again turned on Sora. Donald and Goofy reason that Riku just forgot that Sora and he are friends, but Sora still slowly succumbs to anger at all the things that have been happening to him.

The three, after Vexen had been eliminated by Axel, become separated once Sora's anger at the Organization's manipulations overcomes him, leaving Sora to create the memory-product of Destiny Islands unaided. When Sora is caught off guard by Riku, who in turn is knocked unconscious by Naminé shattering Riku's memories apart, Larxene goes in for the kill. Goofy and Donald come in the nick of time, saving Sora and defeating Larxene. It is then that they learn of Naminé's true nature, as well as the fact that the Riku before them is only a replica of the real person. Naminé tells them that she can restore their memories, but only after they defeat Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion, who had been manipulating them the entire time they were in the castle. The three then travel to the 13th floor of Castle Oblivion. By this point, however, Donald and Goofy have forgotten about King Mickey, only recalling that they are looking for someone important.

As they make their way to Marluxia, the three also make an important promise: that no matter how far apart they are from each other, or if they have forgotten each other, they will always be friends. Using that promise as strength, they go on.

The trio then confronts Axel and Marluxia, with Marluxia using Naminé as a human shield. Marluxia escapes, but the three manage to defeat Axel, and soon after chase down and defeat Marluxia. Naminé then leads them to Memory Pods, where they can sleep while Naminé fixes their memories. Donald and Goofy say goodnight, and leave, while Sora and Naminé say goodbye.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Goofy remains asleep while Naminé restores the gang's lost memories.

Kingdom Hearts II
After the events of Castle Oblivion, the three wake up with their memories restored, though they are unable to remember the events of Chain of Memories, including why they fell asleep in the first place. From the train station, they meet the King once more who tells them to go find Yen Sid, and their adventure starts again. Before doing so, they meet the three kids, Hayner, Pence, and Olette, in Twilight Town.

During the Heartless invasion, the trio meets up with King Mickey, a battle involving a Surveillance Robot creates an explosion sending a large rock in the group's direction. Mickey would have been hit had Goofy not pushed him out of the way, but in doing so, he is hit hard on the head instead, leading Sora, Donald, and Mickey to believe that Goofy is dead. After regaining consciousnesses, he meets up with the three of them shortly before the Battle of the 1000 Heartless. Goofy himself is confused as to why they were so relieved to see that he was alive, reminding Mickey of his regular head injuries.

Goofy, along with Sora and Donald travel back to Twilight Town to find the mansion from the picture they found when they were in the realm of darkness. When they finally reach the old mansion, they also meet up with Hayner, Pence and Olette, and later King Mickey. Together they figure out a way to travel to a digital version of Twilight Town. Goofy, King Mickey, Donald and Sora say goodbye to their friends and head off to the digital world where they witness Axel's death. They then journey to The World That Never Was and are reunited with Riku and Kairi after a long battle through the Organization's castle. Goofy helps defeat Xemnas and leaves with Donald, King Mickey, Kairi and Pluto through a portal opened by Naminé. However, Sora and Riku are trapped in The World That Never Was after Xemnas closes it.

After Sora and Riku's battle with Xemnas, Goofy is reunited with them when they return to Destiny Islands. Later, Goofy returns to Disney Castle with Donald, King Mickey, Pluto, Donald's nephews and Scrooge McDuck.

Kingdom Hearts coded
Goofy appears in the library of Disney Castle, along with Donald, to help Jiminy and King Mickey solve a mystery in Jiminy's Journal. To solve the mystery, King Mickey digitizes the journal to make a Data-Sora in order to relive his memories.

As more additions appear in Jiminy's Journal, Heartless suddenly appear behind them. Though King Mickey manages to fend them off, they are unable to leave the library. They eventually find out that they had been transported into the Data World when Data-Sora and Jiminy's Journal in Riku's form appear to them. As they continue to play along, the Journal is captured by the Heartless and controlled by Maleficent from the real world. After Data-Sora's Keyblade is destroyed, Goofy and Donald follow him to Hollow Bastion where they help him fight off the Heartless and destroy the Bug Blox.

At the end of the Hollow Bastion level, they defeat the strongest Bug Blox and Goofy, Donald, Mickey and Jiminy return to the real Disney Castle.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Goofy is present in the Mysterious Tower along with Mickey and Donald when Yen Sid prepares to put Riku and Sora through the Mark of Mastery exam. He accompanies Mickey and Donald to Disney Castle when they receive word that Maleficent has returned and has taken Minnie hostage. The three confront Maleficent and Pete in the castle library, where Maleficent tells them about her first encounter with Master Xehanort and demands access to the Data Worlds. Mickey refuses, and they are saved from battling Maleficent by Lea, Axel's restored original persona, who joins forces with them and accompanies them back to the tower, where he makes a shocking request from Yen Sid.

Donald and Goofy later use Mickey's old Star Shard to return to The World That Never Was and help Riku, Mickey and Lea in saving Sora from Master Xehanort by striking Ansem's Guardian from behind and knocking it out. They bring Sora's comatose body back to the tower, and Goofy, along with Donald, is overjoyed when Riku succeeds in awakening Sora, and later shocked when Lea brandishes his own Keyblade.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
Goofy and Donald greet Sora when he returns to the Mysterious Tower after a secret mission just as Riku and Mickey leave to rescue Aqua from the Realm of Darkness. As Yen Sid informs Sora of his lost power, Goofy claims that their adventure is going to be fun, and accompanies him, along with Donald, to visit Hercules at the Olympus Coliseum for training.

Kingdom Hearts III
Goofy, along with Mickey and Donald, will journey along with Sora to find seven guardians of light and the Key to return hearts in Kingdom Hearts III.

Appearance
Goofy is an anthropomorphic dog with black fur and droopy ears. His outfit in the Kingdom Hearts series is a modified version of his basic outfit in the modern Disney cartoons; in fact, he wears his normal outfit in the opening of Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories. He has two bucked teeth and three short hairs coming out of the top of his head, just in front of his hat. Goofy's hat is orange, save for a blue band in the middle, and the top is an odd shape, resembling a teardrop placed on its side. There is a small pair of red goggles around the bottom of the hat as well. Strangely, the lenses of these goggles seem to be quite a bit smaller than Goofy's eyes. Goofy wears a green turtleneck sweater with sleeves that bell out slightly and a blue arrow-shaped strap on each cuff. He wears white gloves with a brown band around each wrist. Over the sweater, he wears a sleeveless, black combat vest with grey lining and four pockets of the same color. Goofy's pants are yellow and secured by a thick, black belt. They have rather large pockets and a pouch on each leg with a silver zipper. The legs of his pants have a peculiar style, with the dark orange bottom rims being pulled upward in the front by a brown strap. Goofy has very large shoes which are brown with steel toes on the outside.

In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Goofy is seen training with Donald and Mickey with Yen Sid in a significantly different outfit. His hat is now made of metal and resembles a knight's helmet, and sports a curved blade on the top. He wears armor over his body, though most of it is on his left side, leaving his right side mostly exposed except for a metal armlet on his upper arm. His left arm sports the same armlet, but includes several more pieces of armor, such as a pauldron over his left shoulder, a thick, cylindrical gauntlet covering most of the rest of his arm, and a metal glove overtop his normal white one. Goofy's turtleneck is replaced with a sleeveless, orange shirt with a high, yellow collar. Overtop this, he wears an oblong, blue piece of clothing over his right half, held on by a black strap attached by yellow, star-shaped buttons. He wears a thick, metal belt around his waist with two blue straps looping around the back of it. Goofy's pants are baggy and orange with a noticeable seam down the front of each leg. The bottom of the legs are black with gold lining. Goofy's shoes, while equally as large as the were in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, are made of metal and the toes curl upward.

Personality
While his name might insinuate that he is simple-minded and unintelligent, it is a misnomer as oftentimes Goofy has shown to be the voice of reason for Sora and his companions, and is also amazingly calm and cheerful, retaining his composure when Sora and Donald are completely undone. One example is in the beginning of the Traverse Town section of the original Kingdom Hearts, Goofy states that Pluto might lead to where they need to go, but Donald blows him off when in reality, if they had followed Pluto, they would've found Sora much earlier than they did. He has also proved on occasion to have more common sense than Sora and Donald; in the Land of Dragons, when Sora and Donald mistake Mushu's shadow for a Heartless and try to attack him, Goofy tries to stop them. Goofy also tends to notice things that Sora and Donald do not, such as when they met Mulan and he was the only one of the trio to first notice she was a girl.

However, there have been instances in which Goofy is indeed clumsy, shown when he walks into a cart in Agrabah. Additionally, Goofy occasionally has trouble pronouncing words, such as pronouncing "meddling" as "muddling", and referring to Ventus as "Venquist", "Ventilate", and "Veggie".

On many occasions, he has been shown to be the glue that holds the trio together on their adventures; never getting into an argument with either Sora or Donald. Because of this, he is often the one that Sora seems to look to for reason. He also appears to view his friends in high regards, praising them on numerous occasions. As with this, Goofy is very loyal to his friends, an example being how he saves Sora when Riku tries to kill him. Overall, Goofy is a lovable and friendly person who always looks for the good in others and tries to help them.

Abilities
Goofy uses shields, both offensively and defensively. Goofy starts off with his signature Knight's Shield, but he can replace it with more powerful shields throughout his journeys, and his ultimate weapon is the Save the King shield. Goofy is a physical fighter, but also a healer, and his unique abilities include both those that use his shield to knock around enemies for his allies to finish off, as well as those that restore the HP and MP of his allies. This leaves him more geared to supporting his allies rather than defeating enemies directly, in contrast to Donald. Goofy's common and weapon abilities generally focus on defensive skills such as Hyper Healing or Protect.

D-Link
Goofy becomes a D-Link for Ventus and Aqua in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. While in link with Goofy, Ventus and Aqua can perform varied versions of Goofy's attacks, allowing them to spin around in a vortex and catch their enemies, as well as flying around to inflict damage.

Kingdom Hearts
Goofy is the group's main stronghold for defense, due to his protective abilities. He has high defense and HP to make up for his low MP. Goofy attacks using his shield, be it throwing, blocking, or ramming. Along with Donald, Goofy is one of the main party members, allowing him to use shared abilities and learn new abilities when he levels up.

Goofy's combat abilities are a mixture of offensive techniques and restorative skills. He has three special attacks, Rocket, Charge, and Tornado, which are physical attacks carried out with Goofy's shield. His support skills are MP Gift, which transfers MP to another party member, and in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, the healing ability Evolution.

Goofy has access to a number of support abilities, such as Treasure Magnet, Lucky Strike, Second Wind, Second Chance, MP Rage, MP Haste, Berserk and Cheer.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
Goofy's friend card causes him to appear on the field and swing his shield at an enemy, in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, or attack enemies while spinning, in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories. The Goofy card can also be used in a number of sleights, most of which are physical attacks.

In Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, stocking two Goofy cards creates the Goofy Turbo sleight, while stocking three together forms Goofy Tornado. However, in Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, two cards become Goofy Tornado Lv2 and three cards simply become Goofy Tornado Lv3. Also, combining Goofy with a Donald card and a Keyblade card activates Trinity Limit.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, the Goofy Turbo sleight is removed but two new sleights are added. The first involves Goofy being stocked alongside a Keyblade to form Goofy Smash, which is a powerful joint attack between Sora and Goofy. The second is Wild Crush, which is a devastating attack that is created by stocking Goofy, Donald and Keyblade cards together.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Goofy is unlocked as a playable character in Mission Mode, after being promoted to "Master" rank on Day 296. Goofy has high offensive and defensive power, but is rather slow and has low magic ability. His Limit Break is Teamwork, which causes Goofy to launch himself into enemies. His Glide animation consists of swimming motions, unlike the other playable characters.

Kingdom Hearts II
Like in previous games, Goofy wields a shield and is a physical character, often supporting the party in terms of defense. By the end of the game, he unlocks three action abilities, Goofy Bash, Goofy Turbo, and Goofy Tornado, all of which are shield techniques and maneuvers.

Goofy has two limit abilities: Tornado Fusion involves him and Sora spinning rapidly to damage enemies while Teamwork has the pair throwing their weapons at enemies, finishing with Sora launching Goofy like a rocket to ram through opponents.

Additionally, Goofy has access to a number of support abilities, mostly involved with improving his defensive capabilities. These are Draw, Jackpot, Lucky Lucky, Item Boost, MP Rage, Defender, Damage Control, Second Chance, Once More,, Auto Change, Hyper Healing, and Auto Healing.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
In Hollow Bastion I, Goofy joins Data-Sora as a party member when he lacks his Keyblade. Along with Donald, Goofy follows the current order of the Ask for Help. Each of the attack commands in the Command Matrix are substituted with one of two of Goofy's commands, Goofy Turbo and Goofy Tornado.

Origin
Despite that many of Goofy's journal entries state that he debuted in the 1952 short Two Weeks Vacation, likely due to Two Weeks Vacation having a theatrical release despite being only 6 minutes, this is incorrect. Goofy appeared in plenty of shorts before then. His first debut was in the 1932 short Mickey's Revue where he was known as Dippy Dawg. Since then, he was made numerous appearances within Walt Disney's cartoon shorts, appearing along characters such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Pete. A large amount of Goofy's cartoons centered around sports and showing parodies of experiences people faced in the real world with a comic twist. Goofy's character also resulted in an TV series, as well as two movies, starring the character and his son Max.

Notes and references
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