Story Overview: It Began with a Letter

STORY OVERVIEW

It Began with a Letter

Kingdom Hearts 1 begins with a dream sequence. A boy wakes up on a pillar of stained glass. In the dream he ventures to many different pillars, learning different ways to fight strange shadow enemies until he comes face to face with an enlarged version of his shadow. Once the shadow is defeated, the boy sinks into a pool of darkness and wakes up.

The boy is named Sora, who resides on Destiny Island with his friends Riku and Kairi. The three children are trying to build a raft and set sail to discover other worlds. While gathering materials for their journey, Sora messes around and plays games with his friends. He has a bit of a rivalry with Riku, who is older and always seems to be better than him at various tasks.

Sora has feelings for Kairi, who he longs to share a paopu fruit with. When two people share a paopu fruit, it is said that they are connected for eternity. Sora visits the secret place where he and Kairi used to draw on the cave walls with rocks, and there he draws himself sharing a paopu fruit with her. Then, a mysterious figure appears. His face is kept hidden beneath a hood and what little he says makes hardly any sense to Sora. He talks of what lies beyond the door and Sora looks over at the mysterious door in the cave with no handle and no lock. It can’t be opened. When he looks back, the man is gone.

Meanwhile, trouble is abrew in another world called Disney Castle. King Mickey has left on an important mission, leaving only a brief letter to explain himself. He tells his royal knight, Goofy, and royal mage, Donald, that the stars in the sky are disappearing one by one. This means trouble and he has gone to investigate. He advises Donald and Goofy to find the person with the “key” by talking to Leon in Traverse Town. The two set off.

Back on Destiny Island, a storm has arrived and the island is littered with the weird shadow creatures from Sora’s dream. Above the island is a large ball of energy. Sora finds Riku beneath the energy and he is acting strange. Riku extends his hand to Sora, saying it is time for them to depart and he is not afraid of the darkness. Sora hesitates as dark matter latches onto Riku like snakes pulling him into the ground. Sora reaches out to his friend but there is a flash of light. Suddenly, Riku is gone and all that is left with Sora is a strange weapon called the keyblade. Sora uses the keyblade to fight his way through the Shadows to a mysterious door in front of the secret place. When he gets inside, he finds Kairi standing in front of the mysterious door. She seems out of it and as Sora walks toward her, the door opens and a gust of wind sends Kairi flying toward Sora. He opens his arms to catch her, but it is almost as if she passes through him before she disappears.

The wind pushes Sora out of the secret place and he lands on the only patch of land left to his home. His enlarged shadow from the dream has returned and now Sora must fight him in real life. After the defeat, the orb of energy in the sky begins to vacuum Destiny Island into its clutches. Sora tries to hold on but gets swept away.

He lands in Traverse Town. The Shadows are here too. After exploring a bit, Sora meets Leon who challenges him to fight. After, Sora collapses. When he wakes, he sees Kairi standing above him. She begins to explain that the weird creatures Sora saw on the island are after him because of the keyblade, but then it is revealed that it isn’t actually Kairi he sees but someone named Yuffie. Leon is also there. They explain that the creatures Sora fought are called the Heartless. They are attracted to the keyblade. Sora is now the chosen keybearer and has to take on the responsibility that comes with that.

Meanwhile in the next room, Donald and Goofy have met Aerith who tells them about the wise ruler, Ansem, who was doing research on the Heartless and kept a detailed report on his findings. With the worlds in turmoil, his reports have been scattered and must be collected.

Suddenly, Heartless attack. Sora flees with Leon. They enter the third district of Traverse Town and meet up with Donald and Goofy just as a giant Heartless appears. The three fight and win. After some introductions, it is agreed that the trio should travel together to find Sora’s friends, find the King, and work to seal the keyholes of each world in order to protect them from being lost to the darkness just like Destiny Island.

The trio visit a variety of worlds and do their best not to meddle in world affairs, but don’t succeed very often. After much exploration, they usually find the hidden keyhole and seal it after battling a bunch of Heartless. They return to Traverse Town where Sora finds Riku. Kairi is not with him. When Riku sees Sora is the master of the keyblade, he becomes noticeably annoyed. It doesn’t help that Donald refuses Sora’s request to bring Riku along with them. Riku then disappears, but Sora is just glad that his friend is safe. They fight some more Heartless and seal the keyhole to Traverse Town. Leon tells Sora about an evil villan named Maleficent and that they should watch out for her. She is behind what is happening to the worlds. They venture off once again.

It is revealed that Maleficent is working with other villains to kidnap select princesses from various worlds known as the princesses of heart. They are the key to their plan, though it is unclear as to why. Maleficent has roped Riku into her company, manipulating his insecurities toward Sora and his desire to find Kairi in order to use him as a pawn. Riku seems reluctant, but falls for her trap.

While visiting other worlds, Sora encounters Riku again. But Riku has changed. He is actively working against Sora and Sora can’t figure out why. He tries to reach his friend, but Riku once again disappears. They find him in another world but this time, he has Kairi. Although she is okay, she seems to be comatose and unresponsive. Sora reaches out to her with little luck. To his dismay, Riku takes Kairi and disappears through a dark portal.

Sora has a strange vision. He is floating in a library that he has never seen before. Kairi is there, though she is a little girl. With her is an old woman presumed to be her grandmother. The grandmother tells Kairi about the origins of the worlds, how long ago people only had the light. When they began to fight over the light, darkness entered the world. A great war was fought and the world fell to darkness, only to be rescued by children who still had light in their hearts. Though the world was renewed, it was split into multiple worlds that were separate from one another.

The trio then find themselves at a place called Hollow Bastion, a place that feels intensely familiar to Sora. They find Riku again, who takes the keyblade from Sora for himself. Although Sora fought here with the keyblade, it belonged to Riku all along. In an attempt to follow the King’s orders, Donald and Goofy go with Riku. They must follow the key. Sora is left without his friends and a wooden sword. Not giving up, he makes his way to the castle to confront Riku. Though Riku taunts him, Sora does not let him win and reminds Riku that his power never came from his weapon but from the strength of his heart. His strength comes from his friends. At this statement, Donald and Goofy return to Sora’s side, as does the keyblade. Sora fights Riku before Riku runs off.

They make their way up the castle and are confronted by the dreaded Maleficent. They battle with her before Riku appears, clearly not himself. He has a different weapon now, a keyblade of his own made from the hearts of the princesses of heart. He claims that it has the power to unlock hearts. With it he stabs Maleficent, telling her to give her heart to the darkness. She transforms into a dragon. Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat her and find Riku. In glass cases are the princesses of heart. Some Sora saw in his dream, their faces on the stained glass pillars. Some he met in other worlds they traversed such as Alice and Jasmine. Kairi is there, laying as if she is asleep on the floor.

Riku appears and Sora tells whoever is possessing Riku to give him back his heart. Riku says he is Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. He tells Sora he first must return the princess’s heart to her. He points the keyblade at Sora’s chest and Sora feels something pang inside him as he realizes Kairi is not only a princess of heart, but her heart rests within him. Riku goes to stab Sora but Sora fights back in the final confrontation between he and his best friend. Once defeated, Riku drops his weapon and disappears. Meanwhile, the keyhole to Hollow Bastion seems dangerously active. Sora tries to seal it but can’t when the princesses are without their hearts. How can he free Kairi’s heart when it is in his own?

Realizing what he must do, Sora picks up Riku’s keyblade and stabs himself with it, opening his heart to the darkness and freeing not just Kairi’s heart but the remaining princesses. Kairi awakes just as Sora disappears. Donald calls out to Sora but it is too late. He is gone. A man appears, claiming the keyhole is complete and that the princesses have served their purpose. He walks toward them when Riku appears, trying to hold the man back. He tells them to run because the Heartless are coming. Kairi leads the way and they flee. As they come to the castle exit, they notice a Heartless following them. In a leap of faith, Kairi believes the Heartless is Sora and runs to protect him. Sora then returns to his body. The four return to Traverse Town and tell Leon what happened.

While Kairi stays behind at Hollow Bastion, the trio return to seal the keyhole and save Riku. Just before they do this, they find Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith who say that this was once their home world where Ansem ruled. They are disappointed at his fate, being the mastermind behind the problems this entire time. They tell Sora that once he seals the keyhole and defeats Ansem, the worlds will go back to as they were. They will never see each other again. Sora says his goodbyes and returns to seal the keyhole. After battling various Heartless, they make their way to a place called the End of the World where fragments of the broken worlds reside. They make their way to what looks to be Destiny Island but it is broken and ruined. Ansem is there and they fight him. He leads them to a place called the Endless Abyss and they fight once more. Sora defeats Ansem.

In his final moments, Ansem reaches out to two large doors that rest on floating rock and claims it to be Kingdom Hearts. He says that Kingdom Hearts is the supreme darkness but Sora says Kingdom Hearts is light! Then the doors open and bright, white light bathes Ansem. He disappears in defeat. Sora, Donald, and Goofy run to the doors to seal them shut but it seems they are too heavy. Inside are a massive amount of Heartless. Their plight seems hopeless. Then Riku appears and tells Sora they can shut the door together. As they shut the door, King Mickey appears on the other side behind Riku with a keyblade and together, he and Sora seal the door from both sides. As the door shuts, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi. The doors disappear. The worlds are returned to their original state. All is as it should be.

Throughout Kingdom Hearts 1 there is an overwhelming lack of focus. The game paces itself fairly well and introduces concepts adeptly, but the execution is what is troubling. The story is solid enough but trying to condense it and make sense of it all can be confusing. Although it shines in comparrison to games that came after, that doesn’t excuse it for the problems it has. While a compelling narrative, there is a lot that needs fixing.

RATING: 3 out of 5

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