King Mickey

King Mickey, simply referred to as 王様, His Highness or Your Highness 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.

Though he is known as the King of Disney Castle, his true name is Mickey Mouse.

King Mickey is an incredibly powerful character in the KH 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 the characters most strongly affiliated with light, including Sora. This is not always readily apparent, as his character remains very simple spoken, colloquial, and light-hearted. But contrary to this appearance, King Mickey has played a major role in all Kingdom Hearts games.

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 II
''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
King Mickey will be appearing in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. A screenshot has shown him with the Star Seeker Keyblade, protecting Ven.

As seen in the Birth By Sleep secret video in Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix, Mickey was a witness to a fight between Terra, Ven, and Aqua and Master Xehanort and His Apprentice, with Star Seeker in hand. In the trailer, he sees the blue, Kingdom Hearts Esq symbol in the sky and seems very concerned by it.

In this game, he is still an apprentice of Master Yen Sid and is wielding the Star Seeker. Mickey, along with Master Xehanort (and possibly Master Xehanort's Apprentice), seems to be the only Keyblade wielder among the ones in Birth By Sleep whose Keyblade has a Keychain. Whether or not this has any true importance is not yet known.

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 from 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
In Chain of Memories, Mickey does not appear in Sora's storyline (though he is mentioned) but instead appears in Riku's. In Riku's storyline, he helps Riku to fight off the influence of Ansem, who had made attempts to take over Riku's body as he did in the first Kingdom Hearts. He is also the first to meet DiZ, Ansem the Wise in disguise, although he does not remember who he is. He chooses to join Riku on his path to "the dawn", taking with him a robe of Organization XIII.

Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days


King Mickey will be appearing in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. Screenshots have shown him dressed in his Organization XIII robe. He was also shown 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 Mickey notices something as Riku vanishes into a corridor of darkness.

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.

Mickey first appears to help Sora to fend off the Nobodies that attacked them in Twilight Town posing as somewhat of a fake Organization XIII member. After the battle, he handed Sora a money pouch and instructed him to visit his mentor, Yen Sid. Yen Sid revealed 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. He wields an alternate version of the Kingdom Key.

At Hollow Bastion, Mickey revealed the truth about Ansem, but was reluctant to reveal any info 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 nose 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, but since he appears later in Twilight Town, it is apparent that he could not follow Xemnas all the way. When Sora meets him in Twilight Town, 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 and Riku, and watches as Xemnas opens Kingdom Hearts. Xemnas then blocks out King Mickey from participating in the final fight, first by launching a building at him and Kairi, closing Kingdom Hearts, and then closes the dark portal to the Destiny Islands, so Mickey, Donald, and Goofy could not return to aid Sora and Riku.

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 then runs to Riku and congratulates them both for defeating Organization XIII. During the end credits, King Mickey is seen returning with Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy to Disney Castle, where he reunites with his wife Queen Minnie where they share a cartoonish kiss and their tails form a heart ending the sequence for Disney Castle.

After the credits, it is revealed that he had left a message in a bottle for Sora, Riku, and Kairi before he, Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy departed the Destiny Islands, though its contents are unknown.

Kingdom Hearts coded
King Mickey is also going to reappear in Kingdom Hearts coded. He is the one who digitalized Jiminy's Journal. He, Jiminy Cricket, Donald, and Goofy are trying to solve the mystery of the the journal's odd entries. The screenshots have shown him in gameplay along with the digital Sora. The two of them are shown jumping on red and black blocks. The screenshot to the right 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.

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, Darkside.

In terms of magic, Mickey is also very apt. Kingdom Hearts II demonstrated Mickey's ability to use "Pearl," a clearly light based spell. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories he aids Riku by restoring his deck and healing his HP when summoned, as well as by performing the light-based attack Holy Burst and the light/dark attack Inverse Burst alongside Riku.

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 Darknesss 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.

Playing as the King
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 option "I won't give up...". If this option 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. Like Sora, the circle button allows the player to jump and the triangle button preforms reaction commands. However, Mickey's only reaction command is to slowly charge his Drive Gauge. Once 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, but no MP. 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
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)

Battle Quotes

 * "Sora!"
 * "My turn!"
 * "I'll help you out!"
 * "Light, give me power!"
 * "Wow!"
 * "You gotta wake up!"

Final Visit to Twilight Town
When Sora, Donald and Goofy revisit Twilight Town to find the mansion of a photo they got from Riku, they were 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.

Trivia

 * Mickey was originally intended to be the main protagonist of the series with Donald and Goofy by his side, but Square insisted on a human protagonist and Sora, along with Riku and Kairi, were born. He bears much of Mickey's trademark apparel, such as white gloves and big yellow shoes.


 * Mickey's  Pearl  is a variant of the recurring Final Fantasy spell  Holy , which has been translated in various titles as  Fade ,  White , and  Pearl  due to a barring of religious imagery America by Nintendo, then the publisher of Square's games. In Final Fantasy VI, released in the US first as Final Fantasy III, the spell that read in Japanese as  Holy  was translated as  Pearl , though it is unclear whether this was simply for creative reasons (the spell actually resembles three pearls that descend upon the enemy and explode) or because of censorship issues.


 * In the world of Kingdom Hearts, it appears as though the spells  Pearl , as cast by Mickey Mouse, and  Holy , as cast by Sora in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, are two distinct spells, though in Final Fantasy titles they are two differing translations of the same spell.
 * Although in Kingdom Hearts Mickey is credited as having first appeared in the Disney short "Steamboat Willie", this is incorrect. Mickey first appeared in "Plane Crazy", but "Steamboat Willie" is often considered his first notable performance, as he was characterized very differently in "Plane Crazy".


 * Riku is the only character who calls Mickey by his name, at his request.


 * Apparently, Donald is Mickey's best friend.


 * In the first game, Mickey could (barely) be seen in his casual clothing. However, in later games, his attire resembled, more or less, like his original attire.


 * Mickey is the only Disney character (besides Donald and Goofy) who has clothes resembling Final Fantasy characters rather than a previous outfit. (It should also be noted that they have weapons that have never before appeared with them).