Aurora

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This article is about the princess of Enchanted Dominion, also known as "Sleeping Beauty". You may be looking for the princess of Beast's Castle, also known as "Beauty".

"I'm just glad he didn't steal my heart like Princess Whatever-It-Was."

—Braig to Master Xehanort about Aurora.

Aurora, also known as Briar Rose, is a princess and one of the Princesses of Heart from the Kingdom Hearts series. Her appearance is taken directly from Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Although her original voice actress, Mary Costa, was alive at the time of Kingdom Hearts development (and is still alive today), Aurora spoke in dialogue boxes for her first appearance, and Jennifer Hale replaced Costa for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.

Story

Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Aurora was born as the princess of Enchanted Dominion. At infancy, the evil fairy Maleficent laid a curse on the infant. The three good fairies (Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather) bestowed the princess the gifts of beauty, singing voice, and a ray of hope. To keep her safe, she was renamed "Briar Rose" and relocated to the forest of her world with the three fairies caring for her. On a chance meeting, Aurora encountered Prince Phillip, to whom she had several dreams of. When the fairies took her back to her kingdom on her sixteenth birthday, the witch put her under a spell to prick her finger on a spindle and placed her in the tallest tower of the castle where she slumbered. At the same time, Prince Phillip was captured and taken to Maleficent's castle to keep the princess from ever awakening.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Phillip kisses Aurora and breaks the spell keeping her asleep.

By the time Terra arrives at the Enchanted Dominion, Aurora has already been placed in a deep slumber under the influence of the curse laid by Maleficent. When Terra reaches the tower and meets Maleficent, she uses the darkness in his heart to temporarily take control of his body and forces him to take Aurora's heart. Her heart was kept in Maleficent's castle until Ventus comes to retrieve it with the three fairies. Although her heart returned, the curse is not broken. Prince Phillip eventually escapes with Aqua's aid and reaches the tower where he kisses Aurora and breaks the spell.

Some time after the battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, she and Prince Phillip are seen dancing in the audience chamber of the castle. Feeling disapproval over their respective colors, the two fairies, Flora and Merryweather, relentlessly change the color on her dress with magic.

Kingdom Hearts

Sometime years later, Aurora is captured once more and her world was devoured by the darkness.

Aurora's likeness is seen on one of the pillars in Sora's Dive to the Heart. She is depicted in a state of sleep, as Maleficent had already imprisoned and captured her.

She is first seen in Hollow Bastion when Maleficent attempts to open the Final Keyhole. Maleficent had placed Aurora in a standing glass case in the wall, alongside the other Princesses of Heart. Her heart leaves her when the Keyhole is partly opened, but is returned to her when Sora sacrifices his own heart to save her and the other Princesses, particularly Kairi. Upon awaking, Aurora stays in Hollow Bastion with the other five Princesses to keep the darkness from consuming the world. She also reveals Maleficent's origins to Sora. After Sora sealed the Keyhole, she and the other princesses remain in Hollow Bastion to protect it, along with the Beast, Yuffie, Leon, and Aerith.

When Sora finally seals Kingdom Hearts, Aurora is returned to the Enchanted Dominion.

Kingdom Hearts II

The DTD dataspace in Space Paranoids is sealed with a password composed of the seven Princesses' names: "Belle, Snow White, Aurora, Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, Kairi".

Appearance

Aurora is a fair-skinned woman with indigo eyes and waist-length, curly, blonde hair. In Kingdom Hearts, Aurora's hair was a brighter shade of blonde.

As the princess, Aurora wears a long-sleeved, strapless and pleated sky-blue dress with a white collar, as well as a gold necklace and tiara crafted by her three fairy godmothers. The Station depicting Aurora in Sora's Dive to the Heart depicts Aurora in a black headband and a similar dress that has a purple midsection, violet arms, and a violet lower half.

As Briar Rose, Aurora is barefoot, and wears a three-quarter sleeved grey dress with a folded, white collar and a black corset, as well as a black headband.

Aurora does not appear to age throughout the ten years between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts.

As with several other characters, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX reused the Birth by Sleep character model for Aurora in its port of Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

Abilities

As a Princess of Heart, the purity of the light in her heart makes her immune to the darkness, to the point that she can not only brave locations like the Corridors of Darkness that would normally engulf a heart, but even sense and push back darkness that threatens to overwhelm others. Furthermore, when united with the other princesses, her heart is an essential ingredient in summoning the Keyblade of heart and opening the Final Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts.

In addition, she has the power to provide magical power to others, as shown when she provided a Fire element to Sora.

Origin

Aurora is inspired by the titular character of the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, written by Charles Perrault. While her inspiration was unnamed in the original tale, her real name, Aurora, comes from the ballet adaptation The Sleeping Beauty by Tchaikovsky, while her name under the fairies' care, "Briar Rose," stems from the Brothers Grimm retelling.

In the film, Aurora is the only child of King Stefan and Queen Leah. At infancy, Maleficent curses her so that, on her sixteenth birthday, Aurora would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Thanks to the aid of the three good fairies, Aurora's curse is softened. Rather than die, Aurora would fall into a deep sleep, one which she could only be awoken from by "true love's kiss". To keep her safe, she is renamed Briar Rose and relocated to the forest of her world with the three fairies caring for her. On a chance meeting, Aurora encounters Prince Phillip, to whom she was betrothed (unbeknownst to her). Upon learning the truth about her foster parents, Aurora is led to the castle, where Maleficent leads her to the spindle, and when Aurora falls asleep, she is put in the tallest tower. However, Prince Phillip eventually defeats Maleficent and saves Aurora. The film ends with Aurora and Phillip dancing together.

Trivia

• Strangely, in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, if Terra or Ventus return to her world after completing their respective scenarios, Aurora's bed vanishes, as does Aurora herself. This is probably because Aurora is awake due to Aqua helping Prince Phillip rescuing her.