Kingdom hearts Story explained in a nutshell

Now I recently wrote this as an email to a friend who was totally lost in the KH story so I called this "The greatest Disney story never made"


so far there have been six different kingdom hearts games but here they are in order of which they were released:


Kingdom Hearts is known as the Heart of all worlds. Sora(voice by Haley joel Osment) and his friends riku and kairi are going through their adolecent years and decide one day to leave their peacful islands to go adventuring to other worlds. But on a stormy night Soras nightmare comes true, and the world he knew is filled with darkness and "heartless"(beings that have lost their hearts and hold on to the hearts of others). He is given the power of light and his old wooden sword turn into a sword called the keyblade, and he is its chosen weilder. He ends up in a place called "traverse town" and runs into two unsuspecting characters, first pluto, then goofy and donald, whom at the same time left on a journey to find a boy with a keyblade. That boy turns out to be Sora, and the three(accompanied by Jimminy Cricket) go on an amazing adventure together as companions. sora to look for his friends and Donald and goofy to look for their king and best friend, Mickey(played by Wayne Allwine). They travel world to world by a ship called the gummie ship. they meet people like Tarzan and Pinocchio on the way. Sora turns himself into a heartless in order to save kairi and the seven princesses of heart(the princesses are Alice, Jasmine, Belle, Aurora, snow white, and cinderella, including kari), and then kairi revives him. They run into a Man filled with darkness name Ansem the Heartless who want to take control of a system called Kingdom Hearts. They defeat him and sora and King Mickey using his keyblade finally close the door to darkness. but sora, donald and goofy are seperated from mickey and riku, and Kairi is left on the Islands alone. The three then go to find Mickey and riku.


Sora, Donald and Goofy (accompanied by Jimminy Cricket who records their adventure in his notes) go on to a place called Castle Oblivion, there they all search for mickey but in time loose their memories, then a new enemy called the Organization interfere and create a chain of memories with soras most precious memories. Namine a mysterious girl with power over the memories of sora and his friends. when the three get to the end of the castle sora fights Marluxia (an organization member) and talks about his memories with Namine, she agrees to restore his memories, but in doing so he will not remember her. Jimminy writes in his journal to thank Namine. Sora and his Co. step into pods and sleep for a year long until Namine finishes. Meanwhile Riku ends up at the other side of the castle and meets with Mickey (but only as his consience. Riku is constantly fighting with the darkness within him, and eventually owns up to it and takes on a shadow of Ansem.


After a year of trial and error, Roxas( voice by Jesse Mcartney) an anxious boy who lives in twilight town is awaiting the end of his summer vacation every after noon him and his friends would go out for sea salt ice cream. And he keeps having flashbacks of a boy named sora. However he finds out what he must do in order to save save sora someone he hardly knows. He finds out that he was set up, and none of his memories were real. Roxas is a boy who appeared after sora turned in to a heartless and then back into a human, with no memories of his past he joined a system called organization XIII. But he hardly remembers his time with the orginization. He awakens sora by reuniting his heart with Sora. Roxas vanishes into sora and then Sora finally wakes up. Now 15 years old he has outgrown his cloths, goofy and donald team up with him once more to fight a new enemy called the Nobodies(beings who have no heart) He encounters 6 organization members including one named Axel (voiced by Quinton Flynn). On his journey he meets even more faces like Jack Sparrow and Mulan. He even goes back in time into disney towns past (timeless river) to see the king of old (steamboat willie). they meet donalds uncle scrooge, and he sells to them ice cream(name sea salt ice cream). they get to a point in a place called "the world that Never Was" and find all kinds of answers. Riku (who now looks like Ansem from the first game) explains how he needed to use the power of darkness to defeat a kid named roxas in order to restore soras memories, but in doing so he had to become darkness itself. Sora finds out Roxas was "his" nobody and with that he runs into a man named "Ansem the Wise"(voiced by Christopher Lee) an old friend of Mickeys'. Ansem is the one who claims is responsible to opening the door that sould have never been opened and distorting Kingdom Hearts. He says Xehanort( The REAL name of Ansem the heartless) took everything from him including his name and banished him into the "Realm of Darkness". Ansem only thought of revenge so he became disguised as a man named "Diz"(also voiced by Christopher Lee). He sacrifices himself to turn riku back to normal and take back kingdom hearts from Xehanort (whos Nobody is now Xemnas) Sora fights Xemnas and wins, so he thinks. kairi and the other go home but riku and sora are left to face the real Xemnas. After an outstanding battle they defeat xemnas once and for all and return home to the Islands at last. About 3 months later Kairi recives a letter from the king(mickey) and sora and riku read it. Its contents are unknown.


Sometime before Kingdom hearts 2... Roxas is another story in the series, he was created when sora used the keyblade to to restore the princesses of heart and kairi. he has a long talk with Xemnas. Xemnas tells him if he seeks answers, he can give him purpose. And so Xemnas give roxas the name Roxas, and recruits him. Now Roxas can use the keyblade like sora and mickey. There Roxas meets his "new best friend" Axel, who mentors him through all the worlds. A new member named Xion, who can also use a keyblade, joins the organization. However Xion happens to be a replica of roxas originally called No. I. Roxas, Xion and Axel go on several different missions to bring back "hearts" to fufill kingdom hearts and after every mission they go out for Ice cream. Xemnas the leader of the organization claims with KH completed they will finally be complete and will no longer need hearts. But this is a plan to have KH for himself. there are 13 members of the Organization, Xemnas, Xigbar, Xalden, Vexen, Lexeaus, Zexion, Saix, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Luxord, Larxene, Roxas. Now Xion being a fourteenth member grows to become a problem. And Roxas tries desperatley to help her. Roxas is told Nobodies cannot feel. But Roxas become true friends with Xion and axel. The Story takes a turn when Riku interferes. Diz with feelings of vengence tell riku he must seek out a boy named Roxas. The organization reveals their true plan and Xion was actually created to trumph Roxas actions. Xion then attacks Roxas unwillingly (but this tests his true power), and roxas needles to say wins. Xion collapses to the ground, and roxas catches her. She tell him that he must set kingdom hearts free, find sora, and free the hearts. She disperses into shards and returns to sora. Roxas finds out she was created from the Precious Memories sora had lost in castle oblivion. Xion gives Roxas her Keyblade. Roxas then return to the world that never was. Riku sees roxas from atop a building, and roxas weilding now two keyblades, strikes at riku, yelling that he must find sora in order to get his life back. Roxas defeats riku leaving him wounded. Riku embraces roxas to strike again and riku puts roxas down. Riku knowing he cannot defeat roxas alone uses the power of darkness, an tranforms into Ansem/riku, and looking and sounding like ansem he puts roxas to sleep by using darkness. Diz and Ansem/Riku replaces roxas' memories with new ones and puts him in a simulation town that mirrors a real town called Twilight town. Roxas wakes up on a new day and hopes that maybe today will be the day he gets to go to the beach with his friends.


Long before sora was chosen by the keyblade, 10 years earlier....
The story begins in the Land of Departure, where a trio of friends and Keyblade wielders—Terra, Aqua, and Ventus (Ven for short)—train under the Keyblade Master Eraqus to become Keyblade Masters themselves. Terra and Aqua take an exam to achieve the Mark of Mastery, but while Aqua passes, Terra fails due to the abundant darkness in his heart. Shortly after the test, another Keyblade Master, Xehanort, disappears, and a hoard of mysterious creatures called the Unversed begin to appear throughout the worlds. Eraqus sends Terra to destroy the Unversed and find Xehanort. Ven is goaded into following Terra by Vanitas, Xehanort's enigmatic apprentice, against Eraqus's wishes. To watch over Terra and bring Ven back to the Land of Departure, Aqua is sent out to track her friends down.
Upon arriving in several worlds, Terra, Aqua, and Ven encounter various Disney characters, fighting off hoards of Unversed along the way. Among the characters they meet is Mickey Mouse, the apprentice of the sorcerer Yen Sid, who is also on a mission to destroy the Unversed. Terra ends up attracting the attention of several Disney villains, who offer him the whereabouts of Xehanort in exchange for assistance in their own dark agendas. Terra reasons that Xehanort is after the seven Princesses of Heart—maidens who lack darkness in their hearts—and encourages Aqua to help them strengthen the light in their hearts, hoping it will draw Xehanort out. However, Aqua and Ven grow increasingly concerned for Terra when they hear rumors of him committing sinister deeds throughout other worlds. The three briefly reunite at Radiant Garden, where Aqua meets Kairi, a young girl containing a strong and pure light in the heart of her royal blood, and helps strengthen her light. Aqua and Ven also confront Terra, who distances himself from them to keep them out of the way of his increasingly dangerous dark powers. Terra and Aqua try to convince Ven to return to the Land of Departure, but he refuses until he is certain Terra will not fall into darkness.
Terra and Aqua eventually find themselves at Destiny Islands where they encounter two young boys, Sora and Riku. Terra sees potential within Riku and deems him worthy of one day wielding the Keyblade, while Aqua senses strong ties with Sora and Riku to Ven and Terra, respectively. Ven, meanwhile, comes across Xehanort, who reveals his intentions to use Ven's heart to create a final Keyblade known as the Χ-Blade, something Xehanort says Master Eraqus had known all along. Ven returns to the Land of Departure to confront Eraqus, who tries to erase Ven to prevent Xehanort's plans from succeeding. However, Terra, who had been sent there by Xehanort, attacks Eraqus and teleports Ven to safety to protect him. Upon his defeat, Eraqus is vanquished by Xehanort, who tells Terra to go to the Keyblade Graveyard and leaves the Land of Departure to be consumed by darkness. At Destiny Islands, Ven once again encounters Vanitas and learns of his past: Ven was once Xehanort's apprentice, but his heart was deemed too weak for Xehanort to use him as he intended, so he extracted the darkness in Ven's heart and used it to create Vanitas. As with Terra before him, Ven is instructed by Vanitas to go to the Keyblade Graveyard. Aqua, in the meantime, learns of Eraqus's defeat from Yen Sid, who tells her to go to the Keyblade Graveyard as well.
Terra, Aqua, and Ventus gather at the Keyblade Graveyard, where the remains of the mysterious Keyblade War are found. Xehanort appears with Vanitas and reveals his plan to use the Χ-Blade to unlock Kingdom Hearts and unleash the forbidden secrets of the Keyblade War onto the various worlds, as well as to use Terra's body as a new vessel for his own heart so that he may survive long enough to see his plans come to fruition. In the ensuing battle, the enraged Terra unleashes the darkness in his heart and is possessed by Xehanort, but his strong will remains within his discarded suit of armor, which comes to life as the Lingering Sentiment and defeats Xehanort, knocking him unconscious. Meanwhile, Vanitas fuses with Ven to create the Χ-Blade and battles Aqua alongside Mickey while Ven fights him from within. Aqua shatters the Χ-Blade as Ven destroys Vanitas, though Ven's heart is lost in the process. The destroyed Χ-Blade unleashes a burst of light, which consumes everyone present and scatters them to the corridors of space, save for the Lingering Sentiment, which remains in the Keyblade Graveyard.
Mickey saves Aqua and Ventus and brings them to Yen Sid's tower, where Aqua learns that Ven has lost his heart and will not be revived until his heart returns. Aqua brings Ven back to the ruins of the Land of Departure, where she unlocks the Chamber of Waking and creates Castle Oblivion from the ruins using Master Eraqus's Keyblade. After leaving Ven within the chamber, Aqua goes to Radiant Garden where she encounters and defeats Xehanort, who has lost his memories but still possesses Terra's body. Terra then attempts to stop Xehanort from within by sending himself into the Realm of Darkness, but Aqua dives into the darkness and saves Terra from disappearing with her armor and Keyblade. She ends up getting trapped in the Realm of Darkness and beginning a journey to return to her friends. Xehanort is discovered and taken in by Ansem the Wise, ruler of Radiant Garden, as his apprentice. Ven's heart of light then finds its way to Sora is able to merge with his heart.
After the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Aqua comes across Ansem in the Realm of Darkness with only a few of his memories remaining. He tells Aqua all about his encounters with Sora and that Sora is now the only one who can stop the worlds from being engulfed in darkness and save those connected to his heart, including Terra and Ven. Sora, having now read the letter from King Mickey, bids farewell to Kairi as he prepares to depart on another journey to save everyone who is connected to him.



About a month and a half after Kingdom Hearts II....
the story follows Jiminy Cricket, King Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy in Disney Castle. While organizing the records in Jiminy's journal from his travels with Sora and his friends, Jiminy Cricket's curiosity about the line "thank Naminé" results in him finding a message that he did not write: "We must return to free them from their torment. To investigate this message, King Mickey digitizes the contents of the journal and goes into the simulated world to investigate; awakening a virtual Sora on the virtual Destiny Islands to carry out the contents of the journal to uncover the identity of "them".
As Data Sora awakens on Destiny Islands, he encounters numerous "bugs", which take the form of red and black blocks, covering the whole world. Upon eliminating the Heartless and destroying the bugs, Sora traverses to other worlds infected with bugs to return them to normal, following a mysterious cloaked figure upon orders from King Mickey.
Meanwhile, Heartless begin appearing within Disney Castle, and everyone finds themselves trapped in the room. To their surprise, they are saved by Data Sora. Suddenly, the cloaked figure reveals himself to be Jiminy's Journal taking the form of Riku, and explains that they are no longer in the real world, but the data world. Sora is sent off by the Journal to discover his true identity, only to encounter Maleficent and Pete from the real world. Maleficent destroys Data Sora's Keyblade and summons Heartless to attack him. Mickey and the Journal arrive to save Sora, but the Journal is abducted by Maleficent, with Mickey giving chase. Sora makes his way through Hollow Bastion, aided by Donald and Goofy. They encounter Pete, who summons the Journal and takes control of him with the bugs to fight them, but Sora still manages to defeat the Journal, who falls unconscious.
Mickey arrives and informs Sora that unless the bugs are destroyed, the Journal will never awaken. Sora decides to find a way to awaken the Journal, and enters Riku's data world, losing his abilities in the process. The two visit various worlds from the Data Riku's memory and find their way back to Hollow Bastion, where they fight and defeat Maleficent. Meanwhile, King Mickey discovers that he will be returning soon to the real world, but the Journal, once completed, will have to be erased, which will mean the end of Data Sora's memories. When the time comes, Sora requests more time in order to save Pete and Maleficent, who are still in the data world. Sora finds them fighting Sora's Heartless, but Pete and Maleficent are erased before he can intervene. Sora defeats Sora's Heartless, the cause of the bugs, and Mickey returns to the real world, erasing the Journal. A new message appears claiming that a new door to a new world has been opened, which is the data of the data world added into the Journal. Mickey, realizing that this quest may be too dangerous for Data Sora as he has no memory of it, requests to be taken into the Data World once again.
Finding Data Sora in Traverse Town, Mickey takes him to Castle Oblivion where Data Sora is confronted by a young man wearing a black coat. He tells Sora that if he wants to know the truth, he must move forward on his own through the previous worlds he visited destroying bugs. During this time, he realizes that even if he doesn't remember someone he's met, there's still the sadness of having forgotten them which the figure attempts to warn not to let it consume him. Sora disregards this message and fights the figure, revealed to be Roxas. After losing to Sora, Roxas gives him a card as Mickey appears. Sora opens the next door to find Naminé, who reveals the bugs to have been an unintentional side effect of her attempt to restore Sora's memories. She then reveals Sora's nature as the "Key that connects everything" through his ties with herself, Roxas, Xion, and Axel. Furthermore, Naminé tells Data Sora about three figures also tied to Sora's heart who are the ones referred to in the message and need his help. Mickey bids farewell to the Data Sora and promises Naminé that he will inform the real Sora of this.
In the final scene, Mickey sends Sora a bottled letter, which Sora reads with Riku and Kairi.


hope this ties all the twist people seem to not understand.

We appreciate the effort, but there's a thread for the general discussion of Kingdom Hearts (that was just made, pretty much), so feel free to take this story there.

Also, you may want to shorten it a bit. That's quite the wall of text.