File:KH2 Kairi.jpg
Kairi, the only Princess of Heart created exclusively for the Kingdom Hearts series.

The seven Princesses of Heart (心のプリンセス Kokoro no Purinsesu?) are maidens devoid of darkness in their Heart that first appear in Kingdom Hearts. They appear to be the only people in the universe whose hearts are free of darkness. If they are all brought together, the Door to Darkness will open. Princesses who lose their hearts do not become Heartless because they have no darkness within to trigger the process. However, it is possible for the Princesses to create Nobodies on special occasions, proven by the existence of Kairi's Nobody, Naminé.

Members

The seven Princesses of Heart are:

Five of the the Princesses of Heart are also a part of the Disney Princess franchise. Alice and Kairi are not officially part of the Disney Princesses, although Alice has occasionally appeared alongside them. Notably, Ariel and Mulan are Disney Princesses, but are not Princesses of Heart, perhaps as they are instead used as Party Members. The only official Disney Princesses who have yet to appear in the series are Pocahontas, from the 1995 film, Pocahontas, and Tiana, from the 2009 film, The Princess and the Frog. It is unknown if they will appear in a future game in the series.

Story

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Master Xehanort, from the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, searches for the Princesses of Heart. His reason to search for these princesses is currently unknown.

Four of the seven princesses, Kairi, Snow White, Aurora and Cinderella, appear in the game, in their home worlds:

  • A four-year-old Kairi, who was still living in the Radiant Garden with her grandmother at that time, is shown being protected by King Mickey and Aqua when she is chased by Unversed.
  • Aurora is cursed in a slumber state in the highest tower of the Enchanted Dominion, but not before she meets Prince Phillip. Eventually, her curse is lifted and she is able to live with her prince and reunite with her family.
  • Snow White talks to Terra while picking flowers, stating that she has yet to run for the deeper part of the forest and meet the Seven Dwarfs. After she bit the poison apple given by the Queen, her body remains in a dormant state until the Prince kisses her on the lips and breaks the spell.
  • In the Castle of Dreams, Ven will help Jaq and the other mice find tools and cloths needed to make a princess gown for Cinderella. At the castle, she is hunted by Unversed, only to be protected by Terra. She leaves the castle at midnight, by which the magic ends. When her stepmother finds out about her presence at the ball, she locks her in the tower before the Grand Duke arrives. But Jaq and Aqua come together and release her, eventually aiding her in trying the glass slipper that she'd lost when she left the ball. Lady Tremaine then summons a powerful Unversed to eliminate her, but Aqua manages to destroy and bring the maiden to Prince Charming.
File:Awakening Princess.jpg
The Awakening window representing the free Princesses of Heart at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts

Kingdom Hearts

The Princesses of Heart make their first appearance in the very beginning of the game, during Sora's Awakening. There are four stained glass windows representing the four princesses who have been captured before the game's start, Belle, Cinderella, Aurora, and Snow White. There is also a fifth window with three stylized princess silhouettes on it representing the three free princesses, Alice, Jasmine, and Kairi.

In order to open the Final Keyhole, Maleficent, the Heartless and Riku kidnapped each of the princesses from their respective worlds throughout Kingdom Hearts. During this kidnapping spree, Riku went to Neverland with Captain Hook under the belief that Wendy was the final Princess of Heart. Upon meeting her, Maleficent determined that Wendy was a false lead and Kairi was actually the final princess. But because Kairi had given her heart to Sora in the chaos of Destiny Island's destruction, the power of the princesses' hearts could not be fully utilized.

Changing his plans, Ansem used the hearts of the remaining six princesses to create the Keyblade of People's Hearts, which could release Kairi's heart from inside Sora. When confronted later, Ansem (via Riku's body) told Sora about Kairi's heartless state. When Sora realized the truth, he stabbed himself with the Keyblade to free Kairi's Heart, an action that also revived the other six princesses. The Princesses remained in Hollow Bastion to stop the flow of darkness that had begun to seep from the still open Keyhole until Sora could return. Once the Keyhole was sealed, the princesses patiently awaited his victory against Ansem so that they could return home, which finally happened when Kingdom Hearts was sealed and the worlds restored.

If you finish the story of Deep Jungle before Wonderland, during the cutscene discussing Maleficent's plans for the Princesses, Snow White will appear as the victim instead of Alice, as Alice has not been captured yet.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories

Alice, Jasmine, Belle and Kairi all appeared in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as figments of Sora's memories from the events in Kingdom Hearts. Also, by re-remembering Kairi, Sora started regaining his lost memories that had been torn away by Naminé. In Riku's story, Naminé appears as Kairi to tell Riku not to hide from the darkness in his heart.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days

Jasmine and Belle appear in their worlds with minor roles in this game. Kairi is mentioned various times by Xion and Naminé, as well as reflected in Xion's appearance to Roxas. Wonderland appears, but Alice does not.

Kingdom Hearts II

Belle and Jasmine once again play prominent roles in their respective worlds, but not as Princesses of Heart. In Tron's world, Space Paranoids, the password to the DTD Dataspace was the names of the seven princesses.

Kairi was the princess with the largest role; she was captured by Organization XIII in their attempt to raise Sora's anger, causing him to kill more Heartless and release more hearts to fuel the reconstruction of Kingdom Hearts.

Kingdom Hearts coded

The data versions of Alice and Jasmine appear in their respective worlds, also data created from Jiminy's Journal. In an early trailer, a data-based Kairi was shown in Neverland, but the cutscene was deleted in the game.

Powers and Abilities

Joint Powers

The seven Princesses possess only light within their hearts. These hearts of pure light allow them to open the Final Keyhole in Hollow Bastion, which is supposed to hold absolute power. However, it can only be opened when they are all gathered together. The purity of their hearts also grants them abilities to keep darkness away or hold it back temporarily. In addition, they can sense darkness, as shown when five of the princesses tell Sora of a great darkness nearby.

They can also upgrade Sora's powers, granting him Firaga magic in Kingdom Hearts.

Keyblade Wielding

It is a possibility that the Princesses of Heart can wield a Keyblade temporarily to fight, as proven when Riku hands Kairi a Keyblade called "Destiny Place" during a fight in The World That Never Was.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Cinderella and Snow White become D-Links for Terra, Ventus and Aqua in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep after the events of their respective worlds. Terra and Cinderella have an combined move called "Dream Waltz".

Gallery