Sora

Sora is the main protagonist of the  series. He is a playable character in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, and Kingdom Hearts III. In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, he is only playable in Mission Mode. In Kingdom Hearts coded, a virtual version of him is the protagonist.

He lives on the Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi, and all three of them dream of venturing from Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond. His home was consumed by darkness, sending him on a journey to many worlds across the Realm of Light. An upbeat youth, he travels with his new friends Goofy and Donald Duck in search of his missing friends, and uses his newly acquired weapon, the Keyblade, to put an end to the threats that destroyed his world.

Sora is the original persona of his own Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, the bearer of Ventus's heart and the physical template of Vanitas.

Development
Although Square Enix originally wanted Mickey Mouse to be the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, and Disney wanted Donald Duck as the protagonist, the role was eventually set as Sora, because Tetsuya Nomura wanted a human protagonist. Early on, Sora was designed as a young lion/human hybrid, wielding a chainsaw-like weapon with a lion's head Keychain. The merging of Sora's design with elements from Square's proposal is referenced by his original costume, which shares many elements with Mickey's. Sora's final design in the first Kingdom Hearts has a color scheme which evokes Mickey's, seen as their white gloves, red shorts, and yellow shoes.

Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
After Ventus's heart is damaged by the creation of Vanitas, Master Xehanort brings the unconscious Ventus to the Destiny Islands. Here, Sora's newly born heart encounters Ven in his Dive to the Heart. He offers to join hearts with Ven to prevent his heart from deteriorating any further until Ven's heart can heal on its own. This connection mends Ven's damaged Station, and as a side effect, it causes Vanitas's face to resemble Sora's.

Sora and Riku grow up together on the Destiny Islands as best friends and rivals. They are often seen around the islands battling with wooden swords, racing, and competing in any other way they can think of.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
When Sora is four years old, he encounters Terra and Aqua, two Keyblade wielders, on separate occasions. He never speaks with Terra, but they see each other from a distance. Terra shows no interest in Sora because he is unable to sense his potential, and is instead attracted to Riku. When Aqua meets Sora and Riku, she senses that their friendship parallels that of Ventus and Terra, and she tells Sora to protect Riku if he ever falls into darkness. Sora, despite his confusion, agrees.

Later on, Sora and Riku rest on a beach. When they prepare to go home, Sora suddenly feels sad due to having sensed Ventus's pain from their previous encounter. Riku tells him that maybe someone in another world is in pain and encourages him to reach out with his heart. Sora successfully calls to Ventus, whose heart has been lost after the destruction of Vanitas and the χ-blade. Ven's heart makes its way to Sora's Station in the Dive to the Heart, and Ven asks if it can stay with Sora while he sleeps. Sora, wanting to make Ven better, happily accepts, and Ven's heart merges with him.

Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Sometime later, a young girl named Kairi arrives at the Destiny Islands from another world during a nighttime meteor shower. Not long after that night, Sora and Riku explore a small, hidden cave on their islands, in search of a "howling monster". They are disappointed to find only a featureless door in the "Secret Place", and they decide to someday leave the island and have real adventures. As they leave, they decide to go see "the new girl", and Riku, unbeknownst to Sora, looks back at the door to see the Keyhole of the Destiny Islands.

Sora and Riku befriend Kairi, and the three quickly become inseparable as they play together on the islands. Sora and Kairi draw pictures of themselves in the Secret Place. During the next several years, they often wonder about what lies beyond their small world, prompted by the mystery of Kairi's forgotten home.

Kingdom Hearts
Several years later, Sora, Riku, and Kairi start building a raft, in the hopes of sailing to other worlds. Sometime during construction, Sora dozes off on the beach, and has an odd, prescient dream, in which a mysterious voice guides him through a dark realm where he fights strange monsters. Sora is awakened by Kairi, and he resumes helping with the preparations for their voyage. Over the next couple days, he searches the island for building materials and provisions, while taking the time to play-fight with his friends and compete with Riku. Riku repeatedly teases Sora over his relationship with Kairi, and tells him to share a paopu fruit with her. Sora enters the Secret Place while foraging, and draws himself giving a paopu fruit to Kairi on the wall. He suddenly encounters a shadowy figure who speaks of the world being consumed by darkness and taunts Sora about his ignorance of the outside world before disappearing.

That night, an severe storm hits the small island. Sora comes to check on the raft, and he finds a strange, dark force hovering overhead, and the islands overrun with Shadows. He finds Riku, who simply tells him that the door has been opened to the outside world and that he is not afraid of the darkness beyond it. As Sora tries to reach towards Riku, the two begin sinking into darkness. However, before Sora is swallowed by darkness, he receives the Kingdom Key, which dispels the darkness around him. He uses it to fight his way to the Secret Place, where he finds Kairi in a daze. Before he can get to her, the mysterious door bursts open with a blast of dark wind. Kairi disappears and Sora is blown outside, where he faces a Darkside on the rapidly disintegrating island. The two are swept away into the darkness.

Sora falls through a Corridor of Darkness into Traverse Town, where he finds more Heartless before meeting Leon and Yuffie, who explain the nature of the Keyblade, the Heartless, and Ansem to him. When they are attacked by Heartless, Sora is forced to part with Leon and Yuffie. He makes his way to the town's Third District where he meets Donald Duck and Goofy, and the three of them take down a swarm of Heartless and the Guard Armor. After introductions, Donald and Goofy ask Sora to come with them to other worlds, as per King Mickey's request, and Sora agrees, hoping to find Riku and Kairi.

After traveling to numerous worlds, they find Riku on a return trip to Traverse Town. Sora discovers that Riku is also searching for Kairi. Riku shows a surprising affinity for the Keyblade, taking it from Sora right from under his nose, before returning it at will. Sora and Donald argue about whether Riku can travel with them, but Riku disappears. Satisfied with the knowledge that Riku is fine, Sora resumes his quest to find Kairi, unaware that Riku is slowly being turned against him by Maleficent.

As his journey continues, Sora makes many new friends throughout many worlds, and he becomes much closer to Donald and Goofy as well. He also repeatedly crosses paths with an increasingly hostile Riku, and in Neverland, Riku finally turns on Sora, revealing that he has been given the power of darkness and has found Kairi, before summoning AntiSora and throwing Sora into the hold of Captain Hook's ship.

Sora, undeterred, continues on to Hollow Bastion, where he encounters Riku once again. Riku reveals that he is the true master of Sora's Keyblade, taking it for his own. Donald and Goofy reluctantly follow Riku, as per King Mickey's instructions, and Sora is left alone with the Beast, armed with only a Wooden Sword. The two make their way into the Entrance Hall of the castle, where they are temporarily separated. Riku confronts Sora again, accompanied by Donald and Goofy. When Sora refuses to back down, Donald and Goofy step in to defend him from Riku's attacks. With his heart strengthened by his bonds of friendship, Sora reclaims the Keyblade, and the three defeat Riku, who retreats. Continuing through the hordes of Heartless infesting the castle, they make their way to the Chapel, where they fight and defeat Maleficent.

When they reach the Grand Hall, they find Kairi's supine body. Riku, now possessed by Ansem, reveals that Kairi has lost her heart, and that it is inside Sora. Ansem attempts to extract Kairi's heart from Sora with the Keyblade of heart, in order to complete the final Keyhole. Sora fights back and defeats Ansem, but in order to save Kairi, Sora stabs himself in the chest with Ansem's Keyblade, freeing Kairi's heart and turning Sora into a Heartless. While in his Heartless state, Sora follows Donald, Goofy, and Kairi as they leave the castle. Kairi is somehow able to recognize him and restore him to his body. The group flee the growing flood of Heartless and retreat to Traverse Town, where Sora prepares to return to Hollow Bastion and free Riku from Ansem. Kairi gives Sora her Lucky Charm, and tells him that she will be with him wherever he goes.

Sora returns to Hollow Bastion and successfully seals the final Keyhole. He is then reunited with Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith, who tell him that Hollow Bastion was their previous home. The newly revived Princesses of Heart tell Sora that Ansem has departed for another world. Sora and company track Ansem to the End of the World, a Heartless world made of the remnants of all the worlds destroyed by the darkness. Sora, Donald, and Goofy find Ansem on the remains of Destiny Islands, where they fight with him. Their battle brings them to the endless abyss just outside the Door to Kingdom Hearts, where they finally defeat Ansem and his World of Chaos. In desperation, Ansem tries to open Kingdom Hearts, but as Sora realizes that beyond the door is light, that light bursts out and seemingly destroys Ansem.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy attempt to close the door before the Heartless can come through from the Realm of Darkness, and they are helped from the other side of the door by a freed Riku, as well as King Mickey, who holds back the Heartless. As the door closes, Riku asks Sora to take care of Kairi, and Sora and Mickey use their Keyblades to seal the Door to Darkness, leaving Riku and Mickey on the other side. As the End of the World breaks apart, Sora finds Kairi and promises to return to her before they are separated once again, with Kairi returning to Destiny Islands. Sora, Donald, and Goofy end up on a path in a grassy field, thinking about how to find Riku and Mickey, when Pluto appears with a letter from Mickey, and they follow him into the distance with renewed hope.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
After following Pluto all day, Sora, Donald, and Goofy set camp on the path. During the night, Sora wakes up and follows the path to a crossroads. A mysterious man in a hooded black coat appears and tells him, "Along the road ahead lies something you need. However in order to claim it you must lose something that is dear to you". The man disappears down a path, and Sora, followed by Donald and Goofy, follows the path to Castle Oblivion. When they suddenly get the feeling that their missing friends are inside the castle, they enter, and the stranger reappears to introduce them to the castle's strange mechanics.

The three travel from floor to floor, exploring memory-based facsimiles of worlds they have visited in the past, and learning lessons about memory from their residents. They eventually discover that their memories are disappearing as they continue, along with the contents of Jiminy's Journal. They also encounter other members of the mysterious Organization XIII, who taunt and coax Sora along the way. Gradually, Sora begins to remember a girl he once knew on the Destiny Islands, Naminé. As his memories paradoxically become stronger, and upon discovering from Larxene that Naminé is being held in the castle, Sora becomes determined to find her.

After Sora clears the seventh floor of Castle Oblivion, he encounters Riku, who declares that he will be the one to rescue Naminé and that she doesn't want to see Sora. The two fight multiple times in the castle's halls, with increasing ferocity. As Sora's memories of Naminé become stronger, and as his memories of Kairi fade away, Sora becomes obsessed with finding Naminé. Vexen, hoping to undermine Marluxia's plans, warns Sora not to blindly trust his memory, after luring him into a memory-based Twilight Town; however, before Vexen can tell Sora about the memories from "the other side of [his] heart" and the existence of Roxas, he is eliminated by Axel.

Riku appears before Sora again, as he leaves the eleventh floor. They discover that they both have exactly the same memories of Naminé, as well as identical charms, supposedly given by Naminé. Riku angrily fights Sora, calling his charm fake, and runs off after being defeated. Sora becomes even more fixated on finding Naminé, and Donald and Goofy worriedly warn Sora to be careful. Sora runs off in a fury and enters the next memory-world, Destiny Islands, alone. After defeating the Darkside, Sora finally meets Naminé, who has escaped Marluxia's custody at Axel's prompting. Naminé tries to remind Sora of Kairi, but Riku interrupts, challenging Sora again for the right to protect Naminé. In order to stop Riku, Naminé breaks the memories in his heart. Larxene arrives, and she reveals that Riku is a replica created by Vexen and that Naminé has been manipulating both his and Sora's memories as part of Marluxia's plot to take control of the Organization by controlling Sora. When Larxene attacks, Donald and Goofy arrive to support Sora, who manages to eliminate her.

Naminé explains how she manipulated everyone's memories at Marluxia's command, but Sora forgives her, stating that his feelings are real, even if his memories aren't. Sora, Donald, and Goofy head for the thirteenth floor to face Marluxia, so that Naminé can restore their memories, while Naminé stays behind with the Riku Replica. Upon entering the thirteenth floor, the three promise to stick together, even if they lose the rest of their memories. They eventually come across a battle between Axel and Marluxia, arriving in time to see Axel preparing to attack Marluxia through his shield, Naminé. Sora challenges Axel, after saying that Marluxia will be next. Marluxia escapes during the battle, as does Axel upon his defeat.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy track down Marluxia, who commands Naminé to erase Sora's memory and destroy his heart. Naminé refuses, but Sora tells her to do so in order to protect herself. The Riku Replica arrives, having come to his senses, and he separates Naminé from Marluxia while Sora takes him on. Although Sora wins, Marluxia reveals that he was fighting a decoy. Sora leaves Naminé in the Riku Replica's protection while he, Donald, and Goofy enter Marluxia's room to face him. After a grueling battle, Marluxia is destroyed, and Sora locks the door to the room. The Riku Replica leaves, and Naminé has Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter Memory Pods so that they can sleep while she reassembles their memories. Although the process will cause them to forget Naminé, Sora promises that the memory of her will stay in his heart and that he'll find her again. Right before he goes to sleep, Naminé tells Sora to focus on remembering Kairi, as the memory of her will illuminate his other memories, which are lost in shadow.

In the meantime, the real Riku, who has appeared in the lowest basement of Castle Oblivion and made his way up to the second basement, meets Naminé, who brings him to where Sora's Memory Pod is. Riku refuses her offer to seal his darkness inside his heart, saying jokingly that he can't tell off Sora for sleeping if he himself is asleep. He leaves, telling Naminé to take care of Sora.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Several weeks after Sora goes to sleep, Naminé and DiZ move the Memory Pods to Twilight Town's Old Mansion, making it their base of operations. During the course of restoring Sora's memories, Naminé discovers that some memories are not returning. She realizes that the cause is the existence of Roxas, Sora's Nobody, and Xion, a replica of Roxas created by Organization XIII. Xion, designed to become a duplicate of Sora, absorbs Sora's memories through Roxas, which causes her to dream, to collapse during missions, and, eventually, to take Sora's form. Eventually, the flow of memories slows to a stop, even after Xion is defeated and absorbed by Roxas. In response, DiZ sends Riku to capture Roxas, with the intention of merging him with Sora.

Kingdom Hearts II
During Roxas's six days in the Simulated Twilight Town, Sora's restoration picks up dramatically, causing Roxas to dream every night and to black out randomly during the day. Late in the first day, Sora subconsciously reaches out to Roxas, and on the fourth day, he speaks to Kairi when Roxas accidentally connects with her. Roxas finally sees Sora on the sixth day, when he finds the Memory Pods in the Mansion's basement.

After sleeping for most of a year, Sora, Donald, and Goofy awaken in the basement of the Old Mansion with their memories from before Castle Oblivion restored. They leave and explore Twilight Town, with Sora feeling a strange familiarity with the town. They meet Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who claim to have seen Mickey near the Train Station. They are ambushed at the station by Dusks, but they are saved by Mickey, who dispatches the creatures and directs them to board a specific train. Hayner, Pence, and Olette arrive to see Sora off, and Sora is briefly overcome by emotion.

The train takes them to the Mysterious Tower, where they encounter Pete, who has been working under Maleficent. After defeating Pete's squad of Heartless, they ascend the tower to meet the sorcerer Yen Sid. Yen Sid fills the trio in on the current state of the worlds, as well as introducing them to the Nobodies and Organization XIII. Afterwards, Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather provide Sora with new clothes containing new powers, and Yen Sid sends them on their way in the Gummi Ship.

Their first stop is Hollow Bastion, currently being reconstructed by the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, made up of Leon and company. Organization XIII sets a group of Nobodies on the town, but Sora and Leon drive off the attackers. The members of the Organization appear briefly to confront Sora before leaving, except for Xigbar, who hangs back to comment cryptically about Sora's similarity to Ventus before exiting. Shortly after, the Keyblade opens the path to the next world, and Sora and company head out. They visit a number of worlds, defeating the Heartless unleashed upon them by the Organization and Pete, as well as meeting old and new friends.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy are summoned to Disney Castle which is under attack by the resurrected Maleficent, who has sent Pete into the past to destroy the castle's Cornerstone of Light, which protects it from darkness. With Merlin's help, Sora ventures into the past and manages to stop Pete, saving Disney Castle from being taken over by Maleficent.

On a return trip to Twilight Town, they fight off a horde of Nobodies led by Saïx. Saïx expresses concern for Sora's safety, informing him that his fellow member, Axel, intends to turn him into a Heartless, and warning him not to be reckless, lest he end up like Riku. After Saïx leaves, Hayner, Pence, and Olette find Sora and tell him about Kairi appearing in Twilight Town before being taken away by Axel. Sora leaves for the next world, resolving to find Kairi and Riku.

After visiting several worlds, Sora returns to Hollow Bastion to find even more Heartless and Nobodies running rampant. He, Donald, and Goofy head to Ansem's study, where Leon has discovered the computer of Ansem the Wise. When Sora and Donald are careless with the terminal, the Master Control Program digitizes the trio and sends them into Space Paranoids, where they meet Tron. Tron helps Sora, Donald, and Goofy open a path back to the outside, and with the help of King Mickey, who has come to Ansem's study, they help Tron access Ansem's dataspace, the DTD. Along the way, they thwart the efforts of the MCP to hijack the dataspace and destroy Hollow Bastion, taking out the Hostile Program in the process. After exiting the system, Sora, Donald, and Goofy speak with Mickey, who reveals to them that the "Ansem" they defeated was a Heartless who had been impersonating Ansem the Wise, and that his Nobody counterpart heads Organization XIII.

Organization XIII sets off a massive invasion of Hollow Bastion, and the residents start taking on waves of Heartless and Nobodies. Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter the battle, against King Mickey's orders, and they fight and defeat Organization member Demyx. However, while defending Mickey, Goofy is struck by a boulder sent flying by a Heartless, and he appears to have been killed. Enraged, the group forges on without him, fighting through swarms of Heartless, but Goofy soon comes to and rejoins them. After taking on a massive army of Heartless, Sora confronts the Organization's leader, Xemnas, who Mickey realizes is the Nobody of Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. Xemnas retreats, with Mickey right behind, and Axel appears before Sora, and he reveals that Xemnas's plan is for Sora to release hearts by defeating Heartless. Before he can say more, he is interrupted by Saïx and flees. Saïx informs Sora that he has custody of Kairi and that the goal of the Organization is the formation of Kingdom Hearts. Sora is overwhelmed by despair, but Maleficent's intervention allows Sora, Donald, and Goofy to escape. Sora then resumes his quest, determined to find Riku and Kairi and stop Xemnas once and for all.

The trio resume their travels across the worlds, hoping to find a way to Organization XIII's headquarters, and despite Sora's worries about using the Keyblade, they continue taking out the Heartless and Nobodies the Organization has released into the worlds. They also counter a number of Organization members' plots, eliminating Xaldin along the way. Eventually, they return to Twilight Town, where they find Hayner, Pence, and Olette at the Old Mansion, looking for clues leading to an alternate Twilight Town. They are ambushed by Nobodies, but Mickey arrives to assist. They enter the mansion and use the basement computer to enter the simulated Twilight Town's mansion, where they find a passageway. They are ambushed within by a horde of Nobodies, but Axel arrives to help, and he sacrifices himself to wipe out the enemies. As he lays fading away, Axel apologizes for kidnapping Kairi and opens a portal to the Organization's world, The World That Never Was.

While traveling through the Dark City, Sora is confronted by Roxas, who transports them to his Station of Awakening. Roxas attacks Sora relentlessly out of anger, demanding to know why Axel chose to help Sora rather than transform Sora into a Heartless and revive Roxas as he originally planned. After Sora defeats Roxas, he returns to the real world to rejoin Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. They make their way to the Organization's castle, where Kingdom Hearts is nearly complete. Sora makes his way through the castle with Donald and Goofy while Mickey goes ahead. Saïx corners the three in the Hall of Empty Melodies and sets a massive swarm of Heartless on them, but the battle is joined on the upper level by Kairi, who was freed by Naminé, and Riku, in the form of Xehanort's Heartless, while Maleficent and Pete take the opportunity to infiltrate the castle. While Mickey reunites with DiZ, really Ansem the Wise, Xigbar takes out the remaining Heartless and challenges Sora, while calling him by Roxas's name and cryptically comparing him to his predecessors. Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat him and work their way to the upper level, where Sora is reunited with his friends. Together, the group continue onward, and Sora encounters and destroys Luxord and Saïx. They then reach Mickey and Ansem, who tries and fails to seal Kingdom Hearts by encoding it as data. The encoder explodes, severely damaging Kingdom Hearts, restoring Riku to his true form, and apparently killing Ansem. The damage to Kingdom Hearts causes an endless wave of Heartless to spawn, but Maleficent and Pete hold them off while everyone heads for Xemnas.

At the Alter of Naught, at the top of the castle, the group confronts Xemnas as he contemplates the broken Kingdom Hearts. Sora fights Xemnas one on one in Memory's Contortion, and defeats him. Xemnas then merges with the remains of Kingdom Hearts, transforming the interior into a facsimile of the World that Never Was. Sora and company pursue him and manage to defeat him and his draconian fortress. While Xemnas apparently fades back into darkness, Roxas and Naminé appear before Sora and Kairi before merging with them. While everyone starts leaving through Naminé's Corridor of Darkness, the portal suddenly closes, stranding Sora and Riku. Xemnas reappears, but after a series of grueling battles, they finally destroy him. Sora and Riku wander until they reach the Dark Margin, where Sora reads a bottled letter from Kairi that has washed onto the shore. The Door to Light appears before them and sends them back to the Destiny Islands, where they are reunited with Kairi, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey. Sora happily returns Kairi's Lucky Charm to her. Sometime later, Sora returns to the Secret Place and sees Kairi's drawing giving him a paopu fruit.

Kingdom Hearts coded
Mickey digitizes Jiminy's Journal in order to find the source of a mysterious message, and creates a Sora made of data in order to rid the journal of countless bugs. Eventually, Data-Sora and Mickey find a data version of Naminé, who reveals that she was responsible and the message is for the real Sora, who as the "Key that Connects Everything", must venture out on another quest to find and rescue those connected to his heart who are suffering, namely the real Naminé, Roxas, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Mickey sends Sora a bottled letter to inform him.

On Destiny Islands, Sora asks Riku what he thinks the door to light was. Riku replies that it was Sora's heart; "It's always closer than you think". Kairi runs up to them breathlessly with Mickey's bottled letter, which Sora reads with Riku and Kairi.

Blank Points


Having read Mickey's letter, Sora decides to venture out to find Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Kairi loans him her Wayfinder once again.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
In response to the imminent return of Master Xehanort, Sora and Riku are summoned to the Mysterious Tower in order to take the Mark of Mastery exam and become Keyblade Masters. Despite having the enormity of Master Xehanort explained to him, Sora initially objects, convinced that he can already defeat Master Xehanort, but when Riku agrees to the exam as a way of proving that he has overcome his darkness, Sora also agrees. Yen Sid sets the pair the task of entering the Sleeping Worlds and awakening seven worlds which were left submerged in sleep following Ansem's defeat.

Sora and Riku's journey begins on Destiny Islands, on the day it sunk into the Sleeping Worlds, but they soon move on and Sora finds himself in Traverse Town, where he discovers his new attire and abilities. After meeting up with Neku Sakuraba, Joshua and Rhyme who tutor him, Sora leaves on his new journey, venturing across more sleeping worlds, meeting new friends, and battling new villains. However, several times along the way, Sora comes into contact with a mysterious young man with ties to Master Xehanort, who is accompanied by figures like Ansem and Xemnas, whom Sora believed to have been defeated long ago.

After Sora seals all seven keyholes in the Sleeping Worlds, he finds himself in The World That Never Was instead of the Realm of Light, and he is confronted by Xigbar, who explains that he and his companions had been engineering Sora's arrival in their domain from the start. Placed within a dream version of the Dark City, Sora speaks with the mysterious young man, who reveals that he is actually the younger self of Master Xehanort, who was paid a visit long ago by the disembodied Ansem, via time travel. Ansem had then sent Young Xehanort through time to gather many different incarnations of Xehanort while arranging Sora's journey. As he travels through the dream city, Sora encounters illusions of Naminé, Xion, Roxas, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus along the way, occasionally hearing Riku's voice encouraging him not to fall for the illusions and stay awake. Eventually, Sora approaches the castle and encounters both Xemnas and Xigbar, who explain that the true purpose of Organization XIII was to create thirteen vessels to harbor the essence of Master Xehanort, and their intended thirteenth vessel is Sora himself. Sora refuses to allow it, and, spurred on by the thoughts of those connected to him, he fights and defeats Xemnas. However, Sora's heart is badly weakened, and he falls into a deep sleep, while Young Xehanort takes him to the Castle That Never Was. As he drops into the darkness, Ventus's heart envelops him in Ven's Keyblade Armor.

Riku tracks Sora to the castle and only barely manages to save Sora from the newly-revived Master Xehanort, with help from Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and Lea. Sora, still comatose, is brought back to the Mysterious Tower, where Yen Sid tells Riku he now has the power to wake Sora up. Riku dives into Sora's Dive to the Heart, where he captures the fragments of Sora's shattered heart and battles Sora in Ventus's armor, which has been possessed by a Nightmare. Riku defeats the Nightmare, then meets projections of Roxas, Ventus, and Xion, deep inside Sora's heart. A projection of Ansem the Wise informs Riku that Sora has awakened and tells him about the data he hid inside Sora, and about Sora's power to connect with people's hearts. Riku returns to the real world and reunites with Sora.

With the exam at an end, Yen Sid names Riku as a Keyblade Master, and, despite having failed, Sora congratulates Riku. Shortly afterwards, Sora leaves on a new journey, traveling to the sleeping Traverse Town, where he is reunited with the Spirit Dream Eaters.

Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-
After finishing thanking all the Spirits for their help in the Sleeping Worlds, Sora returns to the Mysterious Tower. Donald and Goofy ask Sora what took him so long, but he decides to tease them and tell them it is a secret. Upon entering Yen Sid's study, Sora learns from Yen Sid that Lea, Riku, and Mickey had departed to fulfill their own tasks. Disappointed, Sora is scolded by Donald for taking too long to say good-bye to the Dream Eaters. Yen Sid then informs Sora that nearly being turned into a vessel for Xehanort has robbed him of most of his powers and strength and advises Sora to seek training with Hercules, who had also lost and regained his strength.

In the Gummi Ship, Sora contemplates on how to reach other worlds now that all the highways they used are closed, leaving them unable to travel anywhere except Disney Castle and Destiny Islands. While stumped as to what to do, Sora hears Goofy recall Yen Sid saying "let your heart be your guiding key". This inspires Sora to use his Keyblade to open a Gate. Excited to have finally made progress, Sora announces that their next destination is Olympus Coliseum.

Kingdom Hearts III
Per Master Yen Sid's instructions, Sora, Donald, and Goofy travel to Olympus Coliseum to seek training from Hercules. As they reach the world, they encounter Hades, who uses the titans to attack Thebes and claim his place in Olympus. As they form an alliance to save the civilians from the Heartless, Sora asked Hercules how he regains his strength to save the people he loves. Hercules replies that he regains his strength when Megara is in danger. After saving the civilians from the heartless, Megara comes back with Pegasus to inform Hercules that Olympus is in danger and he immediately heads back to Olympus to save Zeus and the rest of the Gods. When they reach Olympus, they see Hades and the rest of the Titans, who plan to confine Zeus and the rest of the Gods with ice and lava. After rescuing Zeus and the rest of the Gods, Hercules punches Hades on the face before he leaves Olympus. As Hercules wanted to answer Sora's question, he realizes that he should figure out his own ways to regain his strength by fighting "with all his heart".

In Mysterious Tower, Sora reported to Yen Sid that he might not be able to regain his strength at the time being. Despite of the worries of acquiring the power of the waking, he remains optimistic and believe that he can relearn his powers and skills. They are greeted by Riku and Mickey, who is assigned to find Aqua in the Dark World but no avail. As they suspect that Aqua might have fallen into the great abyss of darkness, Sora volunteers to save Aqua from the Dark World. After receiving his new garments from Yen Sid and the fairies, he receives a heartbinder as a good luck charm before travelling to another world. In the gummi ship, Chip and Dale report to Sora, Donald and Goofy, via Gummiphone, with new instruction on using the Gummiphone and a brief conversation with Ienzo. As Donald and Goofy learn that Sora has another heart resided inside of him, who Sora believes it belongs to Roxas', Ienzo decides to further study Sora's physical condition and the other heart that resides in him since Birth by Sleep.

Sora proceeds to Twilight Town to initially create a data and a vessel for Roxas. As they are walking around the town, they recollect old memories of encountering Maleficent, Xigbar and Pete as well as Sora's encounter with Roxas in the data Sleeping Worlds. Goofy explains the data Sleeping Worlds is part of the test to see whether Sora is able to face his fears and past hurts. Sora further explains that losing friends and "having no one to turn to was the worst kind of hurt" but it is a process to appreciate his friendships with Riku and Kairi. As Sora is determined to find Roxas, his conversation is cut short by Nobodies and hordes of Heartless. After saving Hayner, Pence and Olette, they begin to ask for Roxas' whereabouts but they couldn't remember him until Goofy shows a photo them with Roxas together. They told them that that was the other digital version of Twilight Town, where their data version of themselves meeting Roxas in person. As Sora and the rest of the friends enter the Old Mansion, Pence enters the Door of Darkness system to activate the transporter to access into the virtual Twilight Tower. Ienzo helps the rest of them to enter into the system to allow Sora to enter into virtual Twilight world. Inside the virtual world, he plans to rebuild Roxas by decoding Ansem the Wise's data. After pressured by both Xemnas and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Sora chooses to restore Roxas into the real Twilight Town. As he converses with Riku regarding the replica program, Sora learns that Roxas can only be resurrected by making a vessel for him to live. Without Even's help, Sora's plan to revive Roxas might not happen.

Sora proceeds to the Dark World and only to see Riku and Mickey battle with Anti-Aqua, who has succumbed to the Darkness. He helps both Riku and Mickey to save Aqua and bring her back to the Destiny Islands. Sora, Donald, Goofy and Aqua then venture out to Castle Oblivion of which Sora, Donald and Goofy have lost their memories. Aqua summons the Master Keeper Keyblade and unlocks Castle Oblivion transforming it to its original form, the Land of Departure.

Together, they enter the main hall to find Ventus, still sleeping due to his heart residing inside Sora. Vanitas soon arrives to complement Aqua on her "neat trick" as no one was able to find Ventus in over ten years. Aqua takes it upon herself to battle Vanitas while ensuring Sora, Donald and Goofy remain out of the battle. After the fight, Vanitas attempts to break the barrier surrounding them both with Aqua intervening just before it broke. Sora, in a desperate attempt to help Aqua, manages to unlock Ventus's heart from within himself and wakes Ventus from his comatose state, saving Aqua and forcing Vanitas to retreat.

The group return to the Mysterious Tower to rendezvous with Riku, Mickey, Kairi and Lea. Aqua reminiscences over Sora and Kairi having met them when they were children. Lea and Ventus also have a reunion with Ventus learning that Lea is now a Keyblade Wielder. Sora mentions to the group that he wishes that Terra, Roxas and Naminé could be there with them whilst Aqua, Ventus, Lea and Kairi taking responsibility for each missing person. Yen Sid tells the group to prepare for the final battle to come. Sora, Riku and Kairi return to the Destiny Islands for one last moment of peace where Kairi asks Sora to share a paopu fruit. They tell each other about wanting to keep the other safe in the battle.

The seven guardians of light along with Donald and Goofy arrive at the Keyblade Graveyard, ready to clash with the thirteen seekers of darkness. They are greeted by Master Xehanort. Gradually, Xemnas, Ansem, Vanitas and Young Xehanort also arrive to taunt the seven guardians of their impending failure. The seekers of darkness then unleash a massive swarm of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed for the Guardians to fight.

After defeating the swarm of enemies, Sora, Donald and Goofy catch up to the other guardians of light. The guardians come across Terra still under Xehanort's control but before they have time to act, Terra overpowers the guardians and proceeds to kill Sora only to be stopped by Donald and Goofy. After the attack and seeing Donald, Ventus and Axel injured, Sora begins to doubt himself but then suddenly a massive swarm of Heartless form a huge tornado that sucks up all the guardians except for Sora and Riku. After seeing this, Sora breaks down in tears and says that his friends gave him strength and he's useless on his own. Riku tells Sora that he doesn't believe any of that before he takes a stand and blocks the swarm of Heartless to defend Sora. This ultimately ends in Riku getting consumed by the Heartless and then the Heartless proceed to attack Sora.

Sora wakes up in The Final World. He encounters the Nameless Star as well as a bodiless Naminé. Sora is guided back to the realm of light with the help of Kairi and Chirithy and uses the power of waking to revive his friends. However, Young Xehanort warns that abusing this power will result in him losing his own heart again.

Returning moments before their defeat, the guardians of light eliminate most of the Organization's members; in the process, Terra, his heart revealed to be inside Xehanort's guardian, regains control of his body and reunites with Aqua and Ventus, while Lea reunites with Xion, whom Vexen restored for the Organization, and Roxas, who regains his own heart to protect Lea and Xion.

When only Xehanort remains, he provokes Sora into attacking him by destroying Kairi's body, allowing Xehanort to acquire the χ-blade and summon Kingdom Hearts. Using Xehanort's power of time travel against him, Sora, Donald, and Goofy transport him to his boyhood training grounds of Scala ad Caelum, where they defeat him. After the other Keyblade wielders rejoin the trio, Eraqus's spirit emerges from Terra's body and convinces Xehanort to surrender. Xehanort and Eraqus depart together to Kingdom Hearts, while Sora and his friends use the χ-blade to close Kingdom Hearts and return to their own time.

Trying to save Kairi, Sora uses the power of waking again to revive her; despite the risk of becoming lost forever, Sora promises to return. Sora's friends gather at the Destiny Islands, where Kairi stays beside Sora before he fades away.

Yozora
After fading, Sora awakens in a world that looks like Shibuya.

World of Final Fantasy
Sora appears in     as a downloadable Summon, and was added to the game to commemorate the release of Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. He wears his KH3D outfit and wields the Kingdom Key, and when summoned, he fires Blizzard to freeze the enemies, strikes them with his Keyblade, then finishes them off with a fusillade of Ragnarok.

Yozora
Sora, awakens in an unknown world. Disoriented, he walks the streets observing where he is, eventually finding himself at a staring at a.

Design
Sora's birthday is March 28, the out-of-universe date when Kingdom Hearts was first released. Sora is four years old during the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, fourteen during Kingdom Hearts through Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, and fifteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

According to Tetsuya Nomura, Sora is 160cm (5'3"), but he did not specify which game. However, Sora seems to be on the short side no matter the game, even around other teenagers and adults.

Sora is a teenage boy with spiky brown hair (although in Kingdom Hearts II his hair does change from a dark brown to a more caramel color), blue eyes, tanned skin, and lanky build. Sora's general appearance does not change that much throughout the series, but he does grow taller, gained a slightly different hair style, tanner skin, a slightly deeper voice, and more matured looks. Sora goes through many costume changes throughout the series. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and certain scenes in Kingdom Hearts, a younger version of Sora appears. As a child, Sora's hair was lighter than it was in Kingdom Hearts, more closely resembling his hair color in Kingdom Hearts II, and it was not as spiky.

Sora's name is Japanese for "Sky" (空).

Personality
Sora has a brave and heroic personality, meaning he will willingly risk his life even for people he barely knows. He is extremely loyal to his friends, and has been shown to be extremely forgiving to Riku (even forgiving Riku for the times he has attacked him), as well as highly protective of Kairi. Sora is an eternal optimist, always looking on the bright side of the situation at hand. Although he can be simple-minded at times, he has a strong sense of justice. Sora has matured over a year's time, shown on the multiple opportunities when he takes charge of his group.

Sora has a remarkable capacity to forgive, even to his sworn enemies; when Maleficent loses control of the Heartless to Organization XIII and is overwhelmed by Dusks in order to allow Sora's group to escape, Sora is clearly concerned for her and is only stopped from helping her by being restrained by Donald. Another prominent example is when he forgives Naminé for rewriting the majority of his memories, despite the severity of her doings. On the other hand, Sora shows little tolerance for cowardice and selfishness, criticizing both Hades and Iago, though ultimately forgiving the latter when he proved genuinely sorry for his actions.

In Kingdom Hearts, he puts Riku and Kairi above all else; when telling Tarzan which friends he is missing, he starts to mention Donald and Goofy, but stops himself and instead says he is looking for Kairi and Riku. However, he and Donald at first appear to be genuinely happy to see each other after they reunite at Jane Porter's campsite before turning their backs on each other, proving once more his capacity to forgive. In Kingdom Hearts II, he puts all four of them on an equal level. A prominent example of this is when Goofy is apparently fatally injured after getting hit in the head by a rock during the Battle of Hollow Bastion; Sora is clearly traumatized by Goofy's apparent death, refusing to believe it. He highly cherishes his friends, and believes that as long he has them by his side, there's nothing he can't do. Even knowing the Keyblade didn't truly choose him, he has confidently declared that his friends are his power.

Sora possesses a rather strong competitive streak, as he often competes with Riku over numerous things, mostly for Kairi's affection and attention. Also, when he asks to fight Hercules alone in the Hercules Cup, Donald calls him a show-off, and Goofy says in Chain of Memories, "Whenever there's a contest, you're always rarin' to sign up". Sora also appears to have confidence in his abilities to the point of slight arrogance; in Dream Drop Distance, Sora initially objects to taking the Mark of Mastery exam under Yen Sid, claiming that he is already unbeatable even after the threat of Master Xehanort has been explained to him. It is only after Master Xehanort damages Sora's heart and almost turns him into a vessel for his own heart when Sora realizes his shortcomings when compared to a Keyblade Master, and humbly accepts his failure of the exam, even after Riku saves him and becomes a Master himself.

Though he is far from stupid, Sora has often been seen to be highly gullible and oblivious to what should be obvious. For example, he fell for Mulan's attempt at passing for a man, to which Mushu stated that Sora "could fall for anything". However, he doesn't let his enemies fool him as easily. An example would be when he didn't fall for Xemnas's attempt to play on Sora's sympathetic side, which was far more convincing than Mulan's attempt to appear as a man. Sora is often quick to anger whenever he's confused, and is quite childish at times. He is also quite impulsive, as he tends to jump into things without thinking them through beforehand.

On occasion in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora often unintentionally shows disrespect towards people of higher authority than himself upon meeting them. For example, when meeting Yen Sid, Donald and Goofy respectfully bow to him, while Sora greets him by simply saying, "Hey there!", to the shock and disappointment of Donald and Goofy. When meeting Queen Minnie, Sora simply asks, "Where's the King?", leading Donald to grab him by the ear and asking Minnie to excuse him. When Sora and King Mickey were disputing about Ansem's identity, Sora, thinking that he has forgotten who Ansem is, drags King Mickey by the arm in order to show him the portrait of Xehanort in Ansem's study. However, when meeting Princess Jasmine again in Kingdom Hearts II, he actually does bow to her, along with Donald and Goofy. He, Donald, and Goofy also bow in respect to Simba as the new king during their second visit to the Pride Lands.

Throughout the series, Sora has been shown to harbor strong romantic feelings for Kairi, and vice versa. This is first shown when Riku teases him by threatening to share a paopu fruit with Kairi if Sora does not, which obviously makes Sora uncomfortable. Even so, he draws himself giving Kairi a paopu fruit on the wall of the Secret Place. Throughout the series Sora's affection for Kairi is hinted numerous times, notably when Sora sees other couples (such as Jack Skellington and Sally, William Turner and Elizabeth Swann, and Mulan and Li Shang) interacting, as well as the fact that Donald and Goofy often point it out. Saïx refers to Kairi as "the fire that feeds Sora's anger", while Naminé refers to her as Sora's light. Xion resembles Kairi due to Sora's strong feelings for her, and Roxas refers to Kairi as "the girl [Sora] likes". When Kairi is apparently saved by Ansem, Sora's feelings for Kairi have become so strong that he is willing to forgive Ansem for all his past wrongdoings, unaware that it is a disguised Riku.

A romantic relationship between the two reached fruition in Kingdom Hearts III; on the day before their final battle with Xehanort, Kairi hands Sora a paopu fruit, stating that she wants to be a part of his life no matter what. They then proceed to share it while promising to keep each other safe. Throughout the following battle with the Heartless and Organization XIII, Kairi is often the first person for whom Sora shows concern, even running to defend her from Terra-Xehanort with his own body. Sora later tells Kairi he feels strong with her. The relationship between the two is evident enough that Xemnas and Xehanort use Kairi as motivation for Sora. Sora also sacrifices his own well-being for hers at the end of the game, leaving to save Kairi using the power of waking and fading away himself in the process.

Keyblade
Sora gained the ability to temporarily wield the Keyblade intended for Riku, Terra's successor, when he reached out and touches the light of Riku's heart during the Heartless invasion of the Destiny Islands. Although Riku takes the Keyblade from him in Hollow Bastion, the strength of Sora's heart allows him to reclaim the Keyblade, permanently.

The default form of Sora's Keyblade is the Kingdom Key, which uses a as its token.

Sora is capable of wielding two Keyblades at one time, through the Synch Blade ability, due to his possessing Ventus's heart within his own. While using Drive Forms, he can summon the second Keyblade himself, but he can also wield someone else's Keyblade, such as when Riku lends Sora his Way to the Dawn during their final battle with Xemnas. During his fight with Roxas, Sora can steal Roxas's Keyblades and use them telekinetically, in conjunction with his own Keyblade.

Magic
Sora is also very skilled in various basic magic spells (such as Fire, Blizzard, or Thunder), even more so after training with Merlin. These spells allow him to weaken Heartless that are more vulnerable to certain elements. He can also use Cure to heal himself and his allies from injuries as well as restore HP and revive a fallen party member. In Kingdom Hearts II, his basic combo is much stronger and he gains the Drive Form ability after obtaining new clothes, which give him more mastery over his strengths, speed, magic, and Keyblade. In addition to the abilities that each form grants him, Sora's speed and strength stats are also increased.

In Kingdom Hearts II, he learns to use Limits with party members to form a strong, special type of attack.

With a Summon Gem, card or charm in hand, Sora gains the ability to summon specific characters by calling out to them with his heart, at the temporary sacrifice of his party members, to aid him in combat. Each character has a unique set of skills and powers that prove useful to Sora in his quests. He first gains the ability to Summon in Kingdom Hearts when he is handed the Earthshine gem by Leon, and brings it to the Fairy Godmother, who allows Simba to appear in spirit form at Sora's call and fight beside him; throughout his quest, he finds and restores three further Summon Gems, and can even summon two other characters directly from other worlds, those being Tinker Bell and Genie. He loses all of the Summon Gems when the worlds are restored. In Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, he Summons allies through Cards based on his memories of each character. In this game, he can use all his previous summons, with the addition of Cloud. In Kingdom Hearts II, Merlin gives Sora a Summon Charm, being for Chicken Little, that allows him to call on certain characters from other worlds to aid him in battle. He acquires three further Summon Charms as he traverses the worlds, including those of Genie and Peter Pan.

In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Sora's Limit Break is Ragnarok, which causes Sora to shoot bursts of projectiles from his Keyblade. This attack was first introduced as one of four special abilities that he could perform in the first Kingdom Hearts game.

Fighting style
Originally lacking any formal training, Sora relies on a style developed from his play-fighting days, in which he rests his Keyblade pointing away from him towards his right side and attacks with sweeping, two-handed strikes, similar to a club, to beat his foes into submission. This style is also mimicked by Roxas and Xion. His style has been described as lacking a trained finesse, which has led some unwary opponents to mock his skill. However, his offensive nature and raw determination make him an unstoppable powerhouse, and with the addition of a basic repertoire of techniques and spells, few are able to fight on his level. As he develops as a Keyblade wielder and eventually with proper training, he displays extra finesse and agility with his motions, and is more experienced in using the environment and his enemy's momentum to unleash more powerful techniques, in the form of Reaction Commands and Flowmotion. He also begins to incorporate his spells into his sword techniques, usually favoring light-based magic, to create a plethora of commands that attack on both a physical and magical level.

Miscellaneous
Early on, Sora is nearly helpless without his Keyblade; even Shadow Heartless are basically immune to his Wooden Sword. Despite this, he is eventually able to defeat enemies without the Keyblade while in Anti Form or while using Flowmotion or spells.

Outside of battle, Sora is shown to be have some talent for singing and dancing, as he is frequently paired up in Sebastian's musical numbers with Ariel, who is renowned in Atlantica for her singing voice. He is skilled at dancing on dry land as well, as seen during the festival in The Kingdom of Corona. Sora becomes a skilled cook under Remy's guidance.

Like all Keyblade wielders, Sora demonstrates physical abilities of a superhuman level. In the Deep Jungle, he shows great durability when he falls a great distance and crashes headfirst through the roof of the treehouse, emerging alive and seemingly uninjured, but slightly dazed. Similarly, when Sabor slashes him with his claws and knocks him back into a wall, he quickly gets up and fights back—at one point, Sora is thrown hard enough that the impact demolishes a building, but Sora himself is mostly unharmed. He can glide and in some circumstances fly, the latter of which occurs only in Neverland after Sora returns to the ship's deck, certain parts of End of the World, during the final battle with Ansem, and the fights with Xemnas. He is capable of leaping incredible distances, such as jumping up to the ceiling of the ballroom in Beast's Castle and between buildings and Xemnas's two cannons in the final battle with him in Kingdom Hearts II. Sora is able to cut through solid concrete and other durable forms of matter, even whole buildings. He is also strong enough to spin and throw Jafar in his gargantuan Genie form by grabbing him by the tail. He can teleport when he uses the "Warp Snipe" Reaction Command, the Teleport Sleight, Final Form's Final Arts or the powers of Ultimate Form.

Sora's memories seem to bind every character in the story, connecting them to himself in some way. Ansem the Wise, after the plans he set up for the boy while in sleep go awry, theorized that Sora's selflessness and ability to connect with others' hearts may have been the reason how he returned to his human form after being turned into a Heartless without needing to destroy Roxas prior. Furthermore, Ansem believed that Sora may also have the power to bring back those that have been lost or no longer exist.

Trivia

 * Although none of the parents of the characters on the Destiny Islands are shown on screen, Sora's mother can be heard calling him for dinner during the calamity in the first game. Also, in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories, Sora mentions both his mother and father while reminiscing about Naminé, and Riku mentions Sora's father to Terra in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
 * In Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, during every cutscene involving a Keyblade, Sora wields the Keyblade the player has equipped. The only cutscenes where this doesn't apply are the scenes when Sora and King Mickey seal away Kingdom Hearts, when Riku temporarily takes the Keyblade from Sora in Hollow Bastion, before the Battle of 1000 Heartless in which he has the Kingdom Key, and when Sora returns to the sleeping version of Traverse Town. In the scenes with Riku, the Keyblade retains Sora's Keychain while in Sora's possession but reverts to the Kingdom Key while in Riku's hands.

Notes and references
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