Sora

"I've been having these weird thoughts lately.... Like, is any of this for real... or not?"

—Sora in Kingdom Hearts

Sora is the hero and main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series. Sora is voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English versions and Miyu Irino in the Japanese versions. He is an upbeat teenager who may seem simple minded at times, but realizes the importance of his quest. He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. At times, he is impulsive and quick to anger, but he is always sincere about what he says and does.

Sora is fourteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and lives on Destiny Islands with his best friends Riku and Kairi, and others including Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Sora, Riku, and Kairi wish to escape from the Destiny Islands, and find out what lies beyond. On the night before they leave a huge storm comes. The storm turns out to be the Heartless destroying the heart of the world.

His name is derived from the Japanese word for sky.

Journal Entry

Kingdom Hearts

The one who fights the Heartless. Upon reclaiming the Keyblade from his rival Riku, Sora sacrificed his heart to free Kairi and became a Heartless. Kairi's deep feelings for Sora restored him. Now he must confront Ansem, the seeker of darkness.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Sora's story

A bright and spirited boy chosen by the Keyblade to battle the Heartless. It was Sora who defeated Ansem, ending his plan to shroud the world in darkness. However, Sora continued his journey, seeking the friends he lost during the struggle.

Kingdom Hearts II

First

A boy chosen by the Keyblade, a mysterious weapon. Not long ago, Sora journeyed with Donald and Goofy in search of his longtime friend Kairi, who had been spirited away into the darkness.In the end, they saved the world of all worlds from the darkness that was closing in. Then, somewhere along the way, Sora fell into a deep slumber. Now that he is awake, he can't recall why he fell asleep to begin with.

Second

A boy chosen by the Keyblade, a mysterious weapon. Not long ago, Sora journeyed with Donald and Goofy in search of his longtime friend Kairi, who had been spirited away into the darkness. In the end, they saved the world of all worlds from the darkness that was closing in. After that, Sora continued journeying in search of Riku, his best friend who was trapped on the other side of the door to darkness. And somewhere along the way, Sora fell into a deep slumber. With a new outfit and strengthened resolve, Sora has set out once more on a search for his friend Riku.

Story

Kingdom Hearts

File:YoungSora.jpg

A younger Sora.

Sora and his friends lived in the isolated world of The Destiny Islands, and so often wondered about the outside world. They decided to build a raft to sail to other lands. However, the day before they were set to sail, a storm ravaged the island, along with a strange dark force. His friend Riku succumbed to the force, while Sora remained stoic. Sora was swept off the island and thrown into the Corridor of Darkness, which ended up in a place called Traverse Town.

There he meets Donald Duck and Goofy, the respective Royal Court Magician and Captain of the Royal Guard of Disney Castle. Under orders from King Mickey, the pair were searching for two things - a mysterious 'key' and a man called Leon. As the King has disappeared in his own quest, Donald and Goofy accompanied Sora and they started searching for their respective friends. In addition to that, Sora found himself wielding the Keyblade - perhaps the mysterious key the King had asked them to find.

Sora discovered that Riku was also searching for Kairi, though neither of them could find her. Maleficent saw her chance and used her magic to poison Riku's mind against Sora, saying that befriending Donald and Goofy was a betrayal to Riku and Kairi. With this false knowledge, he set out to find Kairi on his own, as Sora travels to a huge amount of worlds to stop the Heartless. Sora from there on unlocks the doors between the worlds, and locks them out from the reach of the Darkness.

Upon reaching Hollow Bastion, Riku confronts Sora, and takes back the Keyblade. Donald and Goofy are forced to abandon Sora because of the King's orders, to stay with whoever has the Keyblade. However, when Sora goes to fight Riku, they rejoin their old friend after he has strengthened his heart. The Keyblade was sent back to Sora because his friendship with Donald and Goofy gave strength to his heart, stronger than Riku's. Enraged, Riku fights Sora and loses.

After this, the party encountered Maleficent. She was defeated and was given the power of darkness by Riku who is now possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, who was known as Ansem. Again she is defeated. Next Sora fights with Riku, who speaks as Ansem, and wins after a difficult battle with is old friend.

Kairi is revealed to be one of the Seven Princesses of Heart, but the door to Kingdom Hearts cannot open because her heart was within Sora. In order to return her heart to herself and wake her up, Sora uses a dark Keyblade that Riku had to remove both their hearts, sacrificing his humanity and becoming a Heartless himself for a short period of time. Kairi, who then possessed both their hearts, uses her power to return his heart to his body.

After regrouping in Traverse Town, Kairi gave Sora her lucky charm (Oathkeeper's keychain) since he insisted that she should stay behind while he tried to get Riku back.

Sora and his friends manage to defeat Xehanort's Heartless at End of the World, the ‘heartless’ of all the worlds that fell into darkness. As Sora investigates the door to darkness, Riku and King Mickey appear on the other side of the door and together King Mickey and Sora seal it from both sides; with Sora's Keyblade from the realm of light and Mickey's Keyblade from the realm of darkness. However, Mickey and Riku are trapped behind the door, and Riku’s last words before it closes are “Take care of her”, referring to Kairi.

As the worlds begin to restore themselves, Kairi and Sora are separated. Sora promises to return to her as soon as he finds Riku and Mickey.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

File:KHCoM-Sora.jpg

Sora from Chain of Memories

After being separated from his friends, Sora wandered down on a long, meandering path with Donald and Goofy searching for way to find Riku and Mickey, encountering Pluto on the way. When they reach a crossroad and call it a night, a mysterious man in a long black hooded cloak appears and informed Sora that "ahead lies something you need, but to claim it, you must lose something dear." The man disappears and only one path remains. The trio follows the path which leads them to a mysterious castle known as Castle Oblivion. They enter the castle hoping to pick up some clues as to the whereabouts of their friends only to discover as they ascend the floors of the fortress, they begin to lose memories and become more and more uncertain of themselves.

Little do they know, their memories are being manipulated by a mysterious organization that seeks to capture and manipulate Sora. To do this, they use Naminé, a young witch who can rearrange the chains of memories and create new links. In order to make Sora forget Kairi, Naminé begins to replace his memories of her with herself. Meanwhile, a conflict between the Organization's members leads to several encounters between Sora and Riku, whose memories of Kairi also have been replaced with ones containing Naminé.

The trio's uncertainty builds to a point where they end up in Twilight Town, a place that Sora is fairly certain that he has never been in, thus should not exist in his memory. Organization member IV, Vexen, reveals that it is a place that exists on the other side of Sora's heart, but is eliminated by Axel, another member of the Organization, before he can explain anything.

Axel ends up betraying Marluxia, the lord of Castle Oblivion, revealing that Marluxia and Larxene, the newest members of their group, intended to use Sora to overthrow the Organization. Axel manipulated Naminé into doing what she believes was right. She revealed to Sora that she never existed in his memory and that she has been replacing the person most important to him. Riku appears to them again and is defeated by Sora. When Sora tries to help the injured Riku, he attacks Sora. Naminé uses her power to break Riku's memory, and it causes him to collapse. Larxene comes forth to eliminate Sora and Riku, who is revealed to actually be a Riku Replica, created by Vexen.

Sora defeats Larxene and forgives a regretful Naminé for her actions. She promises to restore the memories of the trio once they reach the 13th Floor of Castle Oblivion, where Marluxia is waiting for them. Axel attempts to destroy Marluxia himself but when Marluxia uses Naminé as a human shield. Sora steps in and defeats Axel. Once Marluxia is defeated, Naminé asks that they step into machines that will rearrange their memories back to the way they were at the cost of breaking the links she created. She also informs him that the process will take some time, during which Sora, Donald, and Goofy will sleep as their memories are slowly restored. While they know that they will forget Naminé, Sora promises her that while she is forgotten, she will remain in his heart, never lost.

Kingdom Hearts II

File:Sora Kingdom Hearts II.jpg

Sora, with his new Kingdom Hearts II clothes.

One year after the events of Chain of Memories, Sora, Donald and Goofy awake in Twilight Town with their memories restored, although they cannot remember what happened in Castle Oblivion. Continuing their journey to find Riku and King Mickey, they set out traveling across new worlds, meeting old friends and enemies from the original Kingdom Hearts game, battling the Heartless and a new threat, the remaining members of the Organization they encountered in Chain of Memories.

Soon after exploring Twilight Town, Sora and company head off to the Tower and Sora obtains new attire—on the advice of master sorcerer Yen Sid considering Sora's first game outfit to be "too small"—from Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. The new outfit enables Sora to transform into new forms and attain special powers for each of them. The source of the clothing's magic is linked to Sora's heart, which is connected to everyone Sora had befriended including Donald and Goofy. Sora was referred to as the "key that connects everything" by Yen Sid which is how Naminé's memory manipulation works.

Throughout the game, Sora expresses his determination to bring Riku back home with him to Destiny Islands, where Kairi is patiently waiting for them. The quest gets more complicated when Kairi herself is kidnapped by Axel. Pete (who works for the resurrected Maleficent) and Organization XIII are causing trouble in the other worlds, and King Mickey refuses to give information regarding Riku. Sora must also discover why some of the members of Organization XIII address him as Roxas even after he clearly states his name is Sora. Also throughout the game Sora becomes rather intrigued and interested in the romances between some of his friends, showing a greater level of maturity.

File:Sora-KH Awakening Emblem.jpg

Sora's awakening emblem, as seen in Roxas's awakening.

Eventually, Sora, with the help of the Twilight Town kids (three friends of Roxas in DiZ's simulated Twilight Town) and Axel, manages to find the route to The World That Never Was: the stronghold of the Organization, where a copy of Kingdom Hearts, created by gathering many hearts from the Heartless slain by Sora's Keyblade, resides. Soon after entering the world however, in the area of Memory Skyscraper, Sora's group is ambushed by Samurai Nobodies and Sora is forced into a showdown with an Organization member, who turns out to be Roxas (disguised in his former Organization XIII cloak) on a platform of Dive to the Heart, finally awakening after witnessing Axel's death through Sora with Sora slaying the Nobody impressing Roxas who says that "you make a good other." Afterwards, Sora, Donald, Goofy and King Mickey storm the castle in search of their friends. There, Sora finds Kairi and Riku (having Xehanort's Heartless appearance) and the mysteries of Roxas' identity and King Mickey's secrets are finally solved. Riku's appearance then reverts to the way it should and he and the others attempt to stop Xemnas, the leader of the Organization. After they seemingly defeat the Organization leader Xemnas, Roxas emerges from Sora's body to speak with Namine before she fuses with Kairi to complete herself, while Roxas returns to Sora's body making Sora whole.

Sora and Riku are separated from King Mickey, Goofy, Kairi and Donald. They fight Xemnas again on their own and defeat him, though they remain stranded in the dark side of The World That Never Was with Riku slightly injured. As Sora and Riku share their thoughts about their adventure and friendship, they come to the conclusion that "if worlds were made of light and darkness, [they'll] be the darkness" since the light realm is safe. As they listen to the waves, a bottle containing Kairi’s letter washes onto the shore. The door to light appears, and both Sora and Riku use it to return to their home world: Destiny Islands.

Having brought Riku back home and reunited at last with all his friends in one piece, Sora returns Kairi's lucky charm with Kairi saying "You're home." During the credits, Sora is walking around in the Secret Place. He smiles while looking at all the pictures he and Kairi had drawn over the years. He glances down at the picture of Kairi and himself. He sees that Kairi drew the other half of a paopu fruit, and smiles to himself.

At the end of the credits, another FMV shows Sora asking 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 and give them a bottle she found, containing a letter from King Mickey. The trio reads the letter, its contents a mystery to the player.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep

A younger version of Sora has been seen in screenshots of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, training with a younger Riku on the islands.

Kingdom Hearts coded

Sora has been seen in screenshots of Kingdom Hearts coded. He was seen in gameplay jumping on red and black blocks with King Mickey. He is also seen in an alley with Pluto in Traverse Town. It has been reported that Sora in this game is a data version, and that the actual character does not appear.

Personality

File:KH-Artwork.jpg

Sora has a typical brave and heroic personality, meaning he'll willingly risk his life for people he doesn't even know. He's extremely loyal to his friends, and has shown to be extremely forgiving to Riku (even forgiving Riku for the times he's tried to kill him). He constantly "thinks positive" and is therefore highly optimistic.

Sora has shown a large amount of gullibility. For example, he fell for Mulan's (extremely poor) attempt at passing for a man. Ironically, he doesn't let his enemies fool as easily, since he didn't fall for Xemnas's (which was much more convincing) attempt to play on Sora's sympathetic side. Despite Sora's good nature, he appears to sometimes hold grudges, since he seemed to go after Xemnas merely out of spite for him. Sora is also often quick to anger whenever he's confused.

Abilities

See also: Kingdom Hearts Abilities
See also: Trinity Limit

File:Kh-sora-model.jpg

Sora in Kingdom Hearts

Sora appears to be a natural swordsman, most likely due to all his training against his friends on Destiny Islands. His skill with the Keyblade increased greatly over his journey, and he has become a master with the weapon. Sora's skill is so great that he has even be able to go head-to-head against legendary swordsmen such as Cloud, Leon, and even Sephiroth (although in their encounter in the second game Sephiroth seems uninjured after the battle, even though he supposedly lost and admits that Sora is "very skilled").

Sora is also well-versed in various magic spells, even more so after training with Merlin. In Kingdom Hearts II, his basic combo is much stronger and he gains the Drive ability after obtaining new clothes, which give him even more mastery over his strengths. However, some aspects of Sora's abilities are ambiguous because of the reaction commands in Kingdom Hearts II. The most notable of these is during one of the reaction commands he cuts through a large building, yet in both games it takes him several hits just to break a wooden barrel. Again, this is probably due to the developers making the reaction commands epic for most of them.

However, Sora is nearly helpless without his Keyblade. Even Shadow Heartless take a huge number of hits for him to kill without it, and that's only after he had gotten stronger on all his adventures before he reached Hollow Bastion (when he first encountered them on the Destiny Islands, Sora couldn't even damage the heartless without the Keyblade). However, he is not utterly useless in real combat without it; he is still able to cast magic with no major decrease in power, Keyblade or not (as long as he knows how).

Trivia

• Although none of the parents of the characters on the Destiny Islands are shown on screen, Sora's mother can be heard calling for him during the calamity in the first game.