The Kingdom Hearts franchise is not without its… complexities. Newcomers to the lovechild of Disney and Square-Enix generally come away with two thoughts: "The combat's sick," and "What the hell was going on with the plot?" For better or worse, Tetsuya Nomura has weaved a serpentine web of themes and jargon that requires almost thesis-level concentration to keep up with.
This even extends to the series' title. You might think 'Kingdom Hearts' was chosen because it sounds cool and mysterious, and indeed it does; but the truth goes far deeper. Kingdom Hearts is a very real, highly coveted thing, and it lies at the (literal) heart of all the events of the Dark Seeker Saga. But what exactly is it?
A fair warning for those who may just be dipping their zipper-clad toes into Kingdom Hearts for the first time: this article will be riddled with spoilers for the first main 'arc' of the saga . Even Curaga can't fix you once you're spoiled, so be careful!
The True Kingdom Hearts
How Was The Original Kingdom Hearts Formed?
An easy answer to the question of why the series is called 'Kingdom Hearts' is that it's thematically appropriate. After all, the games deal with an assortment of realms (which themselves have hearts; more on that later) populated by individuals, all of whom are rocking at least a 'one' in the heart department. Sora, meanwhile, notches up three or four over the course of the narrative – and it is the connections between everyone's hearts, their bonds of love and friendship, that ultimately save the day.
However, Kingdom Hearts also refers to the metaphysical, celestial entity that governs the conflict between light and dark across the ages. Centuries ago, before humans walked the land, there was nothing but infinite, inky blackness; until a Big Bang of sorts formed the one true Kingdom Hearts — the source of all that is warm and light — from which life was then birthed.
Generally, it manifests as a gigantic, heart-shaped moon that grants untold reality-warping power to whoever unlocks it. As you'd therefore imagine, the villains throughout the series are quite keen to do just that.
The first battle initiated over the rights to Kingdom Hearts took place during the Age of Fairytales, which saw multiple opposing factions going at each others' throats to obtain the χ-blade ("chi-blade"), needed to harness Kingdom Hearts' power.
What Became Of Kingdom Hearts?
Ultimately, the χ-blade would be shattered during this Keyblade War, into twenty pieces: seven of light and thirteen of darkness. Kingdom Hearts itself retreated from view, and would not be unlocked again until centuries later, when the machinations of a certain Master Xehanort sprang into action.
Xehanort, a jaded researcher and former scholar of Keyblades and the Heart, schemed to use Kingdom Hearts to reset the world in his image. He believed that people are inherently corrupted by darkness, and that a balanced equilibrium was necessary to avoid humanity's destruction.
In order to achieve this, he set in motion an intertwining, decades-long plan (which involved time travel, possession, and a huge helping of emotional manipulation; suffice to say it's far too much to get into here).
Eventually, Xehanort would assemble his thirteen dark souls and seven light souls to forge the χ-blade anew. Among the warriors of light were Sora, his friends Riku and Kairi, and a band of secondary faces, including a fair few from the Disney stable. Though Xehanort succeeded in obtaining the χ-blade, he was unable to see his apocalyptic designs through, as Sora took the fight to the old master within Kingdom Hearts itself.
In the end, Xehanort relented, having been shown that the youth of today had more potential to secure a good future than he had been led to believe. Passing on, his spirit ascended with that of his childhood friend, Eraqus, and the one true Kingdom Hearts was saved.
Other Kingdom Hearts(es)
What Was The Heart Of All Worlds?
It is important to make a distinction, however, between the true Kingdom Hearts and the one depicted in… well, Kingdom Hearts (i.e. the first game). This causes a lot of confusion for new players, as it was a retroactive writing decision taken when the broader story began to take shape: the Kingdom Hearts that Ansem, Xehanort's Heartless, is pursuing in KH1 is the Kingdom Hearts of all worlds, not the people.
Formed at the centre of the universe, this Kingdom Hearts is an amalgamation of the life-force of each realm, sapped by the Heartless. Throughout KH1, Sora travels to assorted Disney universes, sealing an oversized keyhole in each; this is directly tied to the 'heart' of that world, powered by the Kingdom Hearts currently in question. Still following?
Once Ansem is defeated, Sora and Riku come upon the Door to Darkness, which leads to the Kingdom Hearts of all worlds. Mickey Mouse (yes) has beaten them there, and he enlists their help to shut the Door before any more Heartless can come pouring out to terrorize folks. The friends manage to do so – and to date, that's the last we see of this version of Kingdom Hearts.
It wouldn't be a surprise to us if this location was never revisited, as it's a messy retcon that muddies players' already-limited understanding of what Kingdom Hearts is.
What Was Organization XII's False Kingdom Hearts?
There's only one other Kingdom Hearts, per se, in the franchise that's worth mentioning. Following the tradition of KH, it requires a bit of context.
As part of his 'forge the χ-blade' plan, Xehanort needed thirteen dark warriors. Initially, he planned to find thirteen naturally evil individuals, until he realised he could cheat the system and simply put fragments of his own heart into others ('Norting' them, if you will.) Hence, Organization XIII was born, headed by Xehanort's Nobody, Xemnas.
According to series lore, when you lose your heart, two beings are spawned. Your heart itself becomes lost to darkness and generates a Heartless, while the remaining physical husk animates as a Nobody.
If you're strong-willed enough, you can retain your human appearance, and pretty much your entire personality, as a Nobody – no harm, no foul. Such was the case with the Organization, which was staffed by thirteen eccentric Nobodies.
Xemnas strung the group of poor souls along, leading them to believe their goal was to gain all of them a new heart (which, technically, was true – he just left out the small print about that heart being Xehanort's.) Desperate to be whole again, the Organization complied, and to this end, they manipulated Sora into slaying as many Heartless as possible by assaulting innocent realms.
When the Heartless were defeated, the Organization hoovered up the dropped hearts left behind and fed them into a false 'Kingdom Hearts' facsimile, constructed at their citadel in The World That Never Was.
Sora did not become aware of the Organization's true intent until their 'Kingdom Hearts' was complete, but the creation didn't last long. Mickey and his old friend, Ansem the Wise (whom Xehanort's Heartless had stolen the identity of) were on hand with a digitizer device, which converted the abomination into computer code.
