Heart: Difference between revisions

According to legend, the χ-blade shattered into twenty pieces, seven of which were of light. These seven pieces then became hearts of pure light. The bearers of these hearts are known as "Princesses of Heart," because they are always female, for reasons unknown. Because they are needed to access Kingdom Hearts, the Princesses were sought by selfish and villainous beings who wished to rule all the worlds; [[Maleficent]] and [[Master Xehanort]] in particular. Kingdom Hearts could only be accessed by the completion of a Keyhole, which required all seven pure hearts to be joined as one in the [[Keyblade of heart]]. These hearts were released, however, due to Sora keeping Kingdom Hearts out of the villains' reach.

In ''[[Kingdom Hearts III]]'', it is revealed that the seven lights are not the hearts of the [[Princesses of Heart]] for their whole lives. Once they have served their purpose of opening the Final Keyhole, they can be released by the princesses' choice to find new hosts, confirming that the seven lights reincarnate. The [[real Organization XIII]] spent some of the game trying to find the six new hosts, as [[Kairi]] did not pass on her power. While not confirmed, they believe [[Rapunzel]], [[Elsa]], and [[Anna]] are three of the "[[New Seven Hearts]]".

{{-}}

==Powers and Abilities==

A cherished element throughout the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, hearts possess many unique powers and abilities. It is for this reason that antagonists seek them. Hearts are able to produce emotion, something that members of Organization XIII crave. Strong hearts are also able to feel the emotions of those connected with them, demonstrated many times by Sora, who has unconsciously felt the sadness of Roxas, Ventus, and Xion, as well as Vanitas, who was able to feel some of what Ventus felt. As shown with [[Kairi]] and Ventus, if one's body remains intact when the heart is lost and is not turned into a Nobody, the person will enter a state similar to catatonia until the heart is restored. Ventus, in particular, has been in this state for over a decade, without a change in his health, despite there being no one to look after him. It is unclear if he has aged.

==When Hearts are Broken==

There are various catastrophic effects when a heart is damaged. The most obvious example is when the heart is consumed by darkness, becoming a [[Heartless]].

==Heartless==

When a being, be they good or evil, gives in to the darkness in their heart, their heart is consumed by it and becomes a [[Heartless]]. This new entity separates from the body and soul, which fade into darkness, and begins to act on a primal instinct to gather other hearts and corrupt them.<ref>'''''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''''', '''Yen Sid:''' ""If one such as you, Donald, yields to the darkness in their heart, they too will become a Heartless. But you know this. The Heartless are always lurking and ever seeking to capture new hearts."</ref> This instinct results in Heartless attacking other beings to increase their numbers, and attacking the heart of a world by means of the [[Keyhole]], causing it to be completely overwhelmed by darkness.<ref>'''''[[Ansem's Report 10]]''''': Just as people have hearts, so do worlds. The same can be said of stars in the night sky. And deep within each world lies a door to its heart. The Heartless desire those hearts. Born out of the darkness in people's hearts, they seek to return to a greater heart.</ref> Of course, as dictated by their instinct, the Heartless seek out the biggest heart of all: Kingdom Hearts.

The amount of darkness in the heart, as well as the strength of the heart, seems to dictate the strength of the Heartless formed. As the Princesses of Heart contained no darkness in their hearts, they could not create Heartless. Likewise, Sora's heart contained so little darkness, he became a small [[Shadow]], though his heart was immensely strong. This lets him keep his emotions and memories instead of fading to the darkness, and though it could not speak, his heartless displayed no aggression and merely sought out his friends. Xehanort's heart was so strong and full of darkness that he was able to fully retain his sense of self, and his heartless took on his original form when not in his incorporeal state. This heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, has been implied to be the most powerful heartless currently in the Realm of Light, if not the most powerful heartless of all. The Heartless are arranged in a hierarchical society, with the most powerful Heartless directing the others' actions. This theory was proven by [[Xehanort]] whose [[Ansem, Seeker of Darkness|Heartless]] went on to control all others.

==Nobodies==

When a particularly strong heart is turned into a Heartless, the body it leaves behind begins to act of its own accord due to the strong will it possesses, becoming a [[Nobody]].<ref>'''''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''''', '''Yen Sid:''' "At times, if someone with a strong heart and will---be they evil or good---becomes a Heartless, the empty shell they leave behind begins to act with a will of its own."</ref> The body of a Nobody may be warped to a degree from its original form, depending on the strength of its heart. Members of Organization XIII all possessed remarkably strong hearts, allowing their Nobodies to retain their human appearance with only minor changes. Due to a lack of a heart, a Nobody cannot truly feel emotions; many members of Organization XIII often pretend that they can, following their memories of their human selves. The weaker Nobodies lose their sense of self, are made subservient to the Organization, and can even be modified beyond their original forms. A notable exception to this rule was Sora due to having his and Ventus's heart within him. As a result, his body retained Ventus's heart, resulting in his Nobody, Roxas, to look identical to Ventus rather than Sora.

===Heart Collection===

In ''Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days'', Organization XIII's heart collection process was greatly elaborated upon. While on several missions to various worlds, Nobodies of the Organization would seek out as many Emblem Heartless as possible, obtaining a captive heart from those they defeated. The captive hearts would then be absorbed by Kingdom Hearts, more specifically, [[Xemnas]]'s synthetic incarnation of the world, immediately afterward. Organization XIII completely ignored Pureblood Heartless, as they lacked the hearts they sought. The heart collection field was strictly where Xemnas found a use for [[Roxas]], Sora's Nobody being the only one amongst their ranks able to actually release hearts, as he wielded the Keyblade. Any other Organization member simply caused a Heartless to fade back into darkness when it was defeated, without the released heart side-effect. [[Xion]] also possessed this power, as she was Sora, and to a lesser extent, Roxas's replica. While Xemnas planned on having Xion absorb Roxas so he could have the full power of Sora's Keyblade in the end, he desperately wished to reclaim Roxas after Xion was defeated and Roxas fled the Organization. He did not count on Roxas being captured by Riku in the Nobody's attempt to free Kingdom Hearts. This forced Xemnas to use Sora himself as an alternative.

==Unversed==

Unlike other enemies seen throughout the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, the [[Unversed]] lack a direct connection to the heart. Instead, they are the embodiment of negative emotions, produced when Ventus's heart was split in half by Master Xehanort to create [[Vanitas]]. It is implied that they feed off of negative emotions let off from the hearts of others, growing stronger, and in turn make Vanitas stronger when they are slain and flow back into him.

{{-}}

==Keyblades==

To wield a [[Keyblade]], one must have a strong heart, whether it be a heart of darkness or light, and they must have [[Bequeathing|touched a Keyblade before]] or inherited the ability from one who has. Roxas could wield a Keyblade even though he did not remember his time as Sora, but it took an effort to get it to materialize in the beginning, and he was not aware of all of its properties, such as returning to the wielder's hand when called. Xemnas, however, did not wield a Keyblade, which remains a mystery. Nomura has implied that he intentionally wasn't using one, which some have taken to mean that Terra prevented it.