Universe of Kingdom Hearts: Difference between revisions

Sora, Donald, Goofy visit the Realm of Darkness after being saved from [[Saïx]] by [[Maleficent]] in [[Hollow Bastion]], where they encounter a man in a black cloak, later revealed to be Riku. Riku leaves a box with a picture of [[Hayner]], [[Pence]], [[Olette]], and [[Roxas]] and a bar of [[sea-salt ice cream]]. In this same realm, the Keyblade reacts to the ice-cream and Sora opens a pathway. This is the first time that Sora, Donald, and Goofy are able to make their way to the Realm of Darkness in ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''.

Other characters who have used these corridors include [[Riku]], [[Naminé]], [[Ansem the Wise|DiZ]] and even [[Pluto]]. Of these, only Riku, Naminé and DiZ have been responsible for summoning the portals, and only those lacking hearts to corrupt ([[Nobody|Nobodies]]), and those who are darkness ([[Heartless]]) aren't affected, with two noted exceptions; According to Nomura in the [[Director's Secret Report XIII]], Riku and Mickey aren't affected by darkness at all, due to some "''secret similarities''". Ironically, in the first ''Kingdom Hearts'', after the faceoff in Neverland, Riku's heart was significantly weakened as he carelessly used a Corridor of Darkness to return to Hollow Bastion. Nomura goes further to state that DiZ and the Beast can successfully use the Corridors of Darkness, and perhaps open them, due to their particularly strong feelings or hatred. Furthermore, despite [[Sora]] having used the Corridors of Darkness several times before, he has not used them frequently enough to allow the Darkness to stain his heart, and the influential power of Darkness depends on the strength of a person's heart.

[[Maleficent]] is also believed to travel the Corridors. Though she does not show the physical changes. This could be due to her trying to command the Darkness, instead of becoming one with it. It is also know that [[Pete]] travels the Corridors as well. He is known to be protected by the Darkness by Maleficent's magic.

A {{nihongo|'''World'''|ワールド|Wārudo}} is a location that appears in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series. Serving as the "levels" for the games, [[Sora]] and other characters are charged with visiting and protecting them through the course of the series. By defending the worlds from the [[Heartless]], [[Nobody|Nobodies]], or other enemies, Sora keeps the [[Darkness]] from spreading and the worlds from being manipulated or destroyed.

Each world that appears in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series has its own distinct look, and for the most part hold true to the movies and cartoons they are based off of. Often the plot of the game in that world will be based on its original source. Almost all worlds can be visited in the course of the game and are part of the playthrough; there are exceptions, though, since some places can be seen in cinematics but not actually accessed by Sora's party.

There are over twenty worlds that have appeared in the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series so far. Most of them are based on [[wikipedia:The Walt Disney Company|Disney]]'s animated features and contain locations and characters from or inspired by the films. As a result, worlds are greatly varied in appearance, style, and nature, as their sources range from the oldest cartoons created by Disney to more current movies in the Disney canon. The oldest source is the 1928 cartoon "[[wikipedia:Steamboat Willie|Steamboat Willie]]", used as a basis for [[Timeless River]], while the most recent inspiration for a world from Disney's animated features is 2002's Lilo and Stitch, the source for [[Deep Space]]. In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', two live-action films, ''[[wikipedia:Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl|Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl]]'' and ''[[wikipedia:Tron (film)|Tron]]'' served as the foundation for the worlds [[Port Royal]] and [[Space Paranoids]].

In addition to the Disney-based worlds, eight worlds are exclusives that were created by game developers [[wikipedia:Square-Enix|Square-Enix]] just for the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series. They are not part of the Disney film canon, nor Square-Enix's games canon, but do tend to be populated with Square-Enix characters, especially from the ''[[w:c:finalfantasy:Main_Page|Final Fantasy]]'' series, as well as the occasional Disney character or original characters created just for ''Kingdom Hearts''.

Some worlds have names that don't seem to accurately reflect what is found there. A famous example is [[Neverland]] in ''Kingdom Hearts''; Sora and company get to go through [[Captain Hook]]'s ship and fly around the Clock Tower, but never actually reach the island Neverland where [[Peter Pan]] and [[Tinker Bell]] live. To further confuse things, some worlds in ''Kingdom Hearts II'' contain what could almost be considered sublevels or second worlds within them, such as the [[Underworld]] at [[Olympus Coliseum]] or [[Christmas Town]] in [[Halloween Town]].

In ''Kingdom Hearts'' and ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', [[Sora]], [[Donald]], and [[Goofy]] use the [[Gummi Ship]] to travel between worlds on the World Map, an event that serves as a mini-game between areas. Some worlds require certain special [[Gummi Blocks]] to access; for example, a special Navigation Gummi must be installed by [[Cid]] to unlock a second set of worlds in ''Kingdom Hearts''. Once they reach them, the party can enter and then depart each world through its [[Save Point]]s.

Prior to ''[[Kingdom Hearts (game)|Kingdom Hearts]]'', the worlds were surrounded by barriers, to prevent outside interference, making it impossible for different worlds to have contact. The arrival of the [[Heartless]] caused the barriers between the worlds to crumble and disappear, and some worlds were even consumed by the Heartless. [[Gummi Blocks]] are actually pieces of these broken barriers. The metaphysics of this prior to ''Kingdom Hearts'' is unknown, but will probably be revealed in ''[[Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep]]''.