Belle

One of the Princesses of Heart who appeared in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. She is originally from the Disney animated film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). For Kingdom Hearts, she spoke using dialogue boxes, but in Kingdom Hearts II her role was greatly expanded and she was thus voiced by her original voice actress, Paige O'Hara.

Kingdom Hearts

Belle's first appearance was a stained-glass likeness of her depicted on top of a yellow-colored pillar in the Awakening world. She was asleep in the artwork, suggesting that she had already been captured by Maleficent at that time.

Belle had been living somewhat happily at the Beast's Castle, becoming closer to the Beast everyday, despite his hideous form and uneven temperament. One day, however, Belle was kidnapped by Maleficent as part of the plot to obtain Kingdom Hearts. The Heartless consumed her world, causing all of its enchanted inhabitants to disappear into darkness. But the Beast managed to survive the destruction of his world, and pursued Belle, using corridors of darkness to reach her at Hollow Bastion.

Maleficent put Belle into an enchanted sleep and placed her in an upstanding glass case alongside the other Princesses of Heart. She then used all of the Princesses hearts to open the Final Keyhole. At the same time, the Beast witnessed a vision of Belle transforming into a Heartless (although this is not what actually occured, as the Princesses lack darkness in their hearts, and cannot become Heartless).

Belle's heart was later restored by the bravery of Sora, and she was released from her enchantment. She seperated from her fellow Princesses and, due to her passion for books, went to Hollow Bastion's library in search of ways to stop the darkness. Happily reunited with the Beast at last, she explained as best she could to Sora what had occured in Hollow Bastion during his brief departure, and then gave him the Divine Rose keychain. When Sora finally sealed Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast returned home together.

Kingdom Hearts II

A year after the events of Kingdom Hearts, Belle and the Beast were attempting to return back to their normal lives at the Beast's Castle. However, the peace was soon disrupted by Organization XIII member Xaldin. Xaldin began playing on the Beast's anger, attempting to enrage him to the point that his heart would be drenched in darkness, thus spawning an extremely powerful Heartless and Nobody variation of the Beast for the Organization to use. In an attempt to keep them safe, the Beast forced the majority of his servants into the castle's dungeon. Belle, not knowing what to do and fearing the Beast's sudden surge of rage, hid in her room in fear. She was overjoyed when Sora, Donald and Goofy happened to drop by.

Once Sora freed the servants from the dungeon and utilized their aid to make the Beast calm down, the Beast realized he had been rude to Belle in his blind rage. Hoping to apologize, he headed off with Sora to find her, only to hear her muffled voice in the Castle's Ballroom. Belle had taken it upon herself to confront Xaldin on her own, threatening him to keep away from the Beast. Xaldin, used his influence of the darkness to set a Shadow Stalker on Belle. She managed to evade it, escaping to the castle balcony. After the creature was defeated, the Beast apologized to Belle, who accepted his kind words but reprimanded him for not trusting her.

Sora later returned to find Belle and the Beast in the middle of a date. As the couple began a romantic dance in the ballroom, Xaldin interrupted the celebration, much to Belle's displeasure. She was forced to briefly retreat as Xaldin sent a horde of Nobodies after Sora and the Beast. When the enemies were defeated, Belle returned only to find the Beast in great distress about his enchanted rose. Following him upstairs, she pleaded the Beast to explain what was wrong, but the Beast's frustration simply lead him to order Belle and Sora to leave the castle.

Belle retreated to her room in despair, eventually going out to the balcony to mull things over. When she later spotted the Beast, along with Sora, Goofy and Donald, emerging into the castle courtyard she headed back inside, but on her way spotted the rose sitting near the door. Happily showing off the rose to her companions below, she soon realized the whole thing was a setup as Xaldin grabbed her from behind and flew her to the bridge outside the Beast's Castle. As Xaldin offered the Beast a choice between Belle or the rose, Belle showed Xaldin she was not just a simple village girl. She elbowed the Organization XIII member hard in the stomach and, smiling to herself, ran back to the castle clutching the rose in its bell jar.

Once the Beast and Sora defeated Xaldin, Belle gladly returned the rose to the Beast. He nervously asked her to stay with him in his castle, to which she happily agreed.

At the conclusion of Sora's adventure in Kingdom Hearts II, it was revealed that the Beast had transformed back into Prince Adam, effectively ending the Beauty and the Beast story arc in Kingdom Hearts, although Belle's status as one of the Princesses of Heart may still tie her in to future Kingdom Hearts adventures.