Sora

"I don't need a weapon! My friends are my power!"

—Sora

Sora is the hero and the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, as well as a Keyblade master. He is an upbeat teenager who may seem simple minded at times, but is very aware of the importance of his quest. He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. At times he is impulsive and quick to anger, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. He is also best friends with Riku and Kairi.

Sora is four during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, fourteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and fifteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts II. He lives on Destiny Islands with his best friends Kairi and Riku, and all three of them dream to venture from Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond. Sora is also the complete being of Sora's Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, and the carrier of Ventus's heart.

Story

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Kingdom Hearts coded

File:Coded 06.jpg

The message that started it all.

In Kingdom Hearts coded, a Sora made of data is created by King Mickey to go on a mission: to solve a mysterious message written in Jiminy's Journal saying "We must return to free them from their torment". The journal is corrupted by computer bugs in the form of data blocks, and the Data Sora is created to destroy them.

The actual Sora does not appear until the final scene of the game, where he receives the letter sent to him by Mickey at the end of Kingdom Hearts II, informing Sora that he is the "Key that connects everything" and that he must venture on another quest to save Roxas, Naminé, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua, and Ventus from their individual fates.

Blank Points

File:Sora jumpfesta10.JPG

Sora in Blank Points.

A while after the final scene of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts coded, Sora sits on the Paopu tree while holding the message from King Mickey, staring off into the sunset. It is revealed that he is to go out on a new mission to put back everything that is connected to him, or to "Reconnect". He is then confronted by Riku who asks him if he has decided, and Sora says that he has. Kairi walks up to him and Sora tells her that everyone is suffering and waiting, and that he has to put back everything that is connected to him. She then hands him her lucky charm and tells him to hurry back.

Personality

Sora has a typical brave and heroic personality, meaning he'll willingly risk his life, even for people he doesn't even know yet. He's extremely loyal to his friends, and has shown to be extremely forgiving to Riku (even forgiving Riku for the times he's tried to kill him) and highly protective of Kairi. He constantly "thinks positive" and is therefore highly optimistic.

Sora is an upbeat person, although he is simple minded at times he has a strong sense of justice. Sora has matured over a year's time, for instance when battling enemies he has more serious expression on his face. Sora is more confident than before and takes charge of his group. He has also taught some of his friends a lesson like when Beast quit after Xaldin stole his rose. He reassured him that they would get it back.

Sora seems to have a remarkable capacity to forgive, even to his sworn enemies; when Maleficent loses control of the Heartless to Organization XIII and is overwhelmed by Dusks in order to allow Sora's group to escape, Sora is clearly concerned for her and is only stopped from helping her by being restrained by Donald. Another prominent example is when he forgives Naminé for rewriting the majority of his memories, despite the severity of her doings. One more example would be when he is willing to forgive Xehanort's Heartless for all the harm he had caused for saving Kairi's life, unaware that it is actually a disguised Riku.

File:Kh2intro sora kairi riku.jpg

Sora, Riku and Kairi

He puts Kairi and Riku above all else; when he tells Tarzan what friends he is missing, he begins to say that he is looking for Donald and Goofy, but then stops himself and says that he is looking for Kairi and Riku instead.

However, another reason for this could be that he had an argument with Donald before crashing into the tree house, which is further expanded on by the fact that he refers to Donald as "the loud one". However, he and Donald at first appear to be genuinely happy to see each other after they reunite at Jane Porter's campsite before turning their backs on each other, proving once more his capacity to forgive. In Kingdom Hearts II, he puts all four of them on an equal level. A prominent example of this is when Goofy is apparently fatally injured after getting hit in the head by a rock in the Battle of Hollow Bastion; Sora is clearly traumatized by Goofy's apparent death and utters, "This is not happening. It can't be happening. It can't."

Like most children his age, Sora shows a highly competitive streak, as he often competes with Riku over numerous things, mostly for Kairi's affection and attention. Also, when he asks to fight Hercules alone in the Hercules Cup, Donald calls him a show-off, and Goofy says in Chain of Memories, "Whenever there's a contest, you're always rarin' to sign up." He doesn't like to be called a kid but prefers to be called Sora.

Though he is far from stupid, Sora has often seen to be highly gullible and oblivious to what should be obvious. For example, he fell for Mulan's attempt at passing for a man; proceeding this, Mushu stated that Sora "could fall for anything". Ironically, he doesn't let his enemies fool him as easily. An example would be when he didn't fall for Xemnas's attempt to play on Sora's sympathetic side, which was far more convincing than Mulan's attempt to appear as a man. Despite Sora's good nature, he appears to sometimes hold long grudges, since he seemed to go after Xemnas merely out of spite for him and his misdeeds. Sora is often quick to anger whenever he's confused, and is quite childish at times. He can also be seen as quite impulsive, as he tends to jump into things without thinking them through beforehand. While simple-minded at times, he has a strong sense of justice.

Sora also shows somewhat of an admiration of sea pirates during their first visit to Port Royal, wherein he is excited to meet Captain Jack Sparrow and even states that he hopes that they would be able to "take a pirate ship out for a spin" (though he tells Donald and Goofy that he was merely joking about it). Of course, he likely gets over this after Barbossa double-crosses them. Strangely enough he doesn't show this admiration for Captain Hook or his pirate ship, possibly since he was willing to tell Kairi about this, making him likely to meet pirates again. He was also eager to meet Santa Claus during their first visit to Halloween Town in Kingdom Hearts II (showing lots of disappointment when Santa told him about the time he announced to everybody that he did not believe in Santa Claus).

Also, Sora does not seem to keep up with technological changes, as evidenced in the episodes in Radiant Garden and Space Paranoids - he hits the computer keyboard hard while in Radiant Garden, and whilst he was in Space Paranoids, he did not understand a single word Tron said, as it all appeared to be tech jargon (although, to be fair, Donald and Goofy had no idea what he was saying either). However, he does at least seem to know how to use a computer, but with very little skill, as he is shown to type with only one finger each instead of using all five each, and a Journal page of the story calls him "hardly computer-savvy.

On occasion in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora seems to unintentionally show somewhat of a disrespect towards people of higher authority than himself upon meeting them. For example, when meeting Yen Sid, Donald and Goofy respectively bow to him, while Sora greets him by simply saying, "Hey there!". Goofy is clearly shocked by this, and Donald shouts at him to show some respect. When meeting Queen Minnie, Sora simply asks, "Where's the King?". This leads to Donald grabbing him by the ear and asking Minnie to excuse him. When Sora and King Mickey were disputing about Ansem's identity, Sora, thinking that he has forgotten who Ansem is, drags King Mickey by the hood of his black cloak in order to show him the portrait of Xehanort in Hollow Bastion. However, when meeting Princess Jasmine again in Kingdom Hearts II, he respectfully bows to her along with Donald and Goofy. He, Donald and Goofy also bow in respect to Simba as the new king during their second visit to the Pride Lands.

It has been hinted many times in the games that Sora harbors romantic feelings for Kairi, though nothing has come of it as of yet.

Appearance

Sora first starts off appearing tanner and somewhat more lanky than his rival Riku. He seems to portray more of a typical teenage boy's looks. Sora has spiky brown hair (although in Kingdom Hearts II his hair does change from a dark brown to a more caramel color) along with blue eyes. Sora's appearance does not change that much throughout the series besides growing taller, a slightly different hair style, tanner skin, and having more matured looks. Surprisingly, with all the Heartless fought by Sora, he does not appear much more muscular than he did in the original game and still seems less muscular than Riku. Sora goes through many costume changes throughout the series.

His original outfit consisted of a Mickey Mouse style outfit, containing large yellow shoes, a white and black overjacket as well as a red jumpsuit and a pair of white with yellow gloves with his signature crown necklace and crown chain. This outfit is the main outfit in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Interestingly, after Sora uses the Keyblade of People's Hearts to free Kairi's heart, his hair appears to be lighter. Using Donald's magic, his appearance is changed to that of Vampire Form and Merman Form in certain worlds.

His outfit considerably changes in Kingdom Hearts II as it turns into a black and silver outfit that, while remaining baggy, is like his original outfit. It contains a darker style using many zippers and extra leggings but still retains his crown necklace. For a short while in Twilight Town, he does wear his first outfit. With the institution of Drive Forms, his outfit can turn into different appearances for Valor Form, Limit Form, Anti Form, Wisdom Form, Master Form, and Final Form. As he travels to certain worlds, his appearance changes to that of Data Form, Lion Form, Santa Form, and Retro Form.

In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep and certain scenes in Kingdom Hearts, a younger version of Sora appears. As a child, Sora's hair was lighter than it was in Kingdom Hearts, more closely resembling his hair color in Kingdom Hearts II, and it was not as spiky. Clothing-wise, Sora wore what looks like a white polo shirt with blue lining, albeit without the collar present on most polo shirts. He also wore red shorts with a maroon pocket on each leg, as well as brown sandals with yellow straps.

Abilities

"Explosion" redirects here. You may have been looking for Axel's Limit Break.

Sora appears to be a natural swordsman, most likely due to all his training against his friends on Destiny Islands. His skill with the Keyblade increased greatly over his journey, and he has become a Keyblade master.

Sora wields his Keyblade with a two-handed style during his initial strikes, although he often finishes with one handed swings. He is also known to use the 'teeth' of his Keyblade in some attacks, an example is when using the Sliding Dash ability in Kingdom Hearts II. While Roxas and Riku rely on speed and hit-and-run tactics, Sora is more of a "heavy hitter", which is somewhat strange, given that his thin build would make him unsuited for such a style. He uses strong swings and slashes and powerful finishes to damage his enemies, and repeatedly attacks until his opponent succumbs to his blows. Sora is still fairly fast, however. He is able to quickly dash through enemies, and his mobility increases with various upgrades in both games. Like his Nobody, Sora also wields the element of Light as a weapon, but not to the extent and level that Roxas can. He can use light to augment his Keyblade swings during combos, and can finish combos with bursts, balls, and waves of light that encircle him.

File:Kingdom Key.png

Sora's Kingdom Key

Sora can also wield two Keyblades at once in Kingdom Hearts II, due to the Synch Blade ability. The reason that Sora is able to dual-wield his Keyblades is because that he has another keyblade wielder's heart inside of his heart: Ventus's heart. It is because of this that Sora's Nobody, Roxas, can also dual-wield his Keyblades.

Sora is also very skilled in various magic spells, even more so after training with Merlin. In Kingdom Hearts II, his basic combo is much stronger and he gains the Drive Form ability after obtaining new clothes, which give him even more mastery over his strengths. In addition to the abilities that each form grants him, Sora's speed and strength are also increased.

Sora has become very powerful over the length of the series: being able to slay over a thousand Heartless without rest but slightly tiring after, fight and defeat all but a few members, who Riku or Axel defeated, of the powerful Organization XIII (all thirteen if Absent Silhouettes are counted), go head-to-head against legendary swordsmen such as Cloud, Leon, and even Sephiroth (although, in their encounter in the second game, Sephiroth seems uninjured after the battle, even though he supposedly lost and admits that Sora is "very skilled"), and fight and defeat the countless Disney villains that have faced him (even gods like Hades and Chernabog). In the manga, Sora defeats Guard Armor and Cerberus in a single blow (though the latter had already been worn down by Hercules before Sora entered the fight). The Trick Master also faces the same fate in Wonderland. He becomes even more powerful if he use his Drive Forms, which unlock some of his hidden power, though he requires the power of his party members to do this. After he defeats Roxas, he unlocks Final Form, gaining his full power as the Keyblade master of the Realm of Light, also Roxas's awakening from his slumber inside Sora, which also awakens the other half of his power.

However, Sora is nearly helpless without his Keyblade. Even Shadow Heartless take a huge number of hits for him to kill without it. However, before he left the Destiny Islands, he could not even damage the Heartless without the Keyblade. His supposed weakness may be caused by the weapon he wields. When Sora is not in possession of his Keyblade, his only available weapons are the sparring weapons, Wooden Sword and Struggle Bat. If he is given proper "normal" weapons (for example, a normal sword made of steel), he can probably still fight well, although he might not be able to fight as well as when he uses the Keyblade. However, he is not utterly useless in real combat without it; he is still able to cast magic with no major decrease in power, whether he has the Keyblade or not (as long as he knows how).

While not a necessary talent for battle, Sora, as seen during the Kingdom Hearts II visit to Atlantica, is shown to be a talented singer, as he is frequently paired up with Ariel, who is widely renowned in Atlantica for her singing voice, in Sebastian's musical numbers. However, Sora is only heard singing in two songs, namely "Under the Sea" and "A New Day is Dawning", and even then, he only has a few lines for both. He also sings a few lines with Donald and Goofy after opening the pathway in Atlantica.

On many occasions, Sora demonstrates physical abilities that could be considered superhuman (although this could be a result of possessing the Keyblade), a few examples of which are listed here:

• In the Deep Jungle, he has shown great durability when he falls a great distance and crashes headfirst through the roof of the treehouse, emerging alive and uninjured, but slightly dazed. Similarly, when Sabor slashes him with his claws and knocks him back into a wall, he quickly gets up and fights back.
• In the Olympus Coliseum, he has shown to have incredible strength when he is able to lift up crates and boulders without showing any limits due to the possession of the Keyblade.
• He can either glide or actually fly, the latter of which only in Never Land, the End of the World, and the final battle with Ansem.
• He is capable of leaping incredible distances, such as jumping up to the ceiling of the ballroom in Beast's Castle and between buildings and Xemnas's two cannons in the final battle with him in Kingdom Hearts II.
• He can cut through solid concrete and other durable forms of matter, even whole buildings.
• He can either teleport or move too fast to be seen that he when using the "Warp Snipe" reaction command, the Teleport Sleight, or Final Form's Final Arts, (possibly due to his use of light.)

Sora also seems to be capable of bending the universe's laws of nature to an extent:

• After coming into contact with Axel, the Nobody appears to have more emotion.
• Nobodies are to have no heart, yet this is contradicted by Roxas, Sora's Nobody, possessing a heart or something similar to one.
• His memories seem to bind every character in the story; connecting them to himself in some way.
• He is able to pour almost all of his power into his imperfect Replica, Xion, and his Nobody, Roxas, at the same time.

Quotes

• "Weak shit!"
  
• "this is FAKE!"
  
• "Okay, why not? I'll go with you guys."
  

Changes in Worlds

While he retains his typical appearance in most worlds, in certain worlds Sora's appearance is altered, either by Donald's magic or his magical Kingdom Hearts II outfit, in order to allow himself to blend in with the inhabitants of those worlds. His appearance alterations are listed here:

• In Halloween Town, Sora takes on the appearance of a vampire with a pumpkin-like mask over one side of his face, complete with fangs and bat-like wings. This form has no special abilities. When in Drive Form, his mask changes rather than his clothes (a devilish Onion Knight-like Heartless for Valor Form, a Black Mage-like Heartless hat for Wisdom Form, a splicing of both for Master Form, a gold-and-silver crown for Final Form, a heart for Limit Form, and a Shadow Heartless for Anti Form). In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also changes to grey-ish tones to match the surroundings of Halloween Town.

• In Christmas Town in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, his attire changes from a vampire to a black Santa Claus outfit. When in Drive Form, aside from his aura, movement and manner of Keyblade wielding, the color of the hat will slightly tint to match the corresponding Form. Additionally, the symbols of the corresponding Form will appear on the hat: a red fleur-de-lis for Valor, a blue flame for Wisdom, a gold cross for Master, a silver N-shaped rune for Final, a whitish crown for Limit, and a Heartless emblem for Anti Form.

• In Atlantica, Sora takes on the appearance of a merman with a blue dolphin tail rather than a fish tail. While in this form, Sora can breathe underwater and swim much faster than he can in his human form. Sora cannot Drive in this form; in Kingdom Hearts II, he is unable to attack at all, seeing as the world has been altered to progressing the story through musical numbers.

• In the Timeless River, Sora's appearance changes to mirror the style of 1920s-era Disney cartoons. His skin and clothing are black-and-white, his arms and legs are long and scrawny, and he, like all other characters in this world, has taken on his very first appearance design (from the original Kingdom Hearts). He has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, the icon of Sora by the HP Bar tints color slightly on the outline to reflect the Form transformed into, apart from the aura, manner of movement and Keyblade wielding that each Form displays; red for Valor, blue for Wisdom, yellow for Master, and white for Final. For Anti Form, however, he merely turns into a black cartoonish shadow of himself.

• In Space Paranoids, Sora is converted into a data form, wearing robot-like armor with blue circuit patterns all over his body. In this form, the appearance of Sora's Keyblade also is changed to have glowing blue circuit lines as well. Sora has no special abilities in this form, and when Driving, Sora's circuit lines change color to reflect the Form transformed into (i.e. red for Valor Form, blue for Wisdom Form, yellow for Master form, white for Final Form and black with dark purple circuits for Anti Form. For Limit form, the circuits use Limit Form's colors and, unlike the other forms, are arranged as such, i.e. silver torso, red pants and yellow shoes).

• In the Pride Lands, Sora is transformed into a brown-furred lion cub. His spiky hairdo is now present as a mane, though he retains his crown-shaped necklace. He wields the Keyblade in his mouth. While Sora is unable to Drive or perform Summons in this form, he can move with greatly increased speed and agility. The Dash ability in this form is identical to the Mermaid Kick in Atlantica.

Theme

Kingdom Hearts II

Theme - Sora

File:Sora.ogg

Gallery

• YoungSora.jpg

  Young Sora artwork

• KH Sora.jpg

  Kingdom Hearts Sora artwork

• Sora Kingdom Hearts II.jpg

  Kingdom Hearts II Sora artwork

• Sora (Atlantica) CG.jpg

  Sora in Atlantica

• HalloweenTownSora.png

  Sora in Halloween Town

• KH2-SantaSora.jpg

  Sora in Christmas Town

• TronSora.png

  Sora in Space Paranoids

• TimelessRiverSora.png

  Sora in Timeless River

• Kh2-sora-pride-land CG.jpg

  Sora in Pride Lands

• Valor Form.png

  Sora in Valor Form

• SoraWisdom.jpg

  Sora in Wisdom Form

• MasterFormSora.jpg

  Sora in Master Form

• SoraFinalForm.jpg

  Sora in Final Form

• Limit.png

  Sora in Limit Form

• AntiForm.jpg

  Sora in Anti Form

Trivia

File:Lion-Sora-Chainsaw.jpg

Sora's early design

• Although none of the parents of the characters on the Destiny Islands are shown on screen, Sora's mother can be heard calling him for dinner during the calamity in the first game. Also, in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora mentions both his mother and father while reminiscing about Naminé, and Riku mentions Sora's father to Terra in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
• Square Enix originally wanted Mickey Mouse to be the main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, but Disney wanted Donald Duck as the protagonist, though later the position was given to Sora, because Tetsuya Nomura wanted a human protagonist. Sora was originally designed as a boy who was a lion/human hybrid, wielding a chainsaw-like weapon with a lion's head keychain. This was referenced in the first Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where Sora wore clothes that are similar to Mickey's style.
• If Sora successfully completes the "Duel Stance" Reaction Command when fighting Roxas in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, he steals Roxas's Keyblades, making him the first character to wield three Keyblades at once.
• In Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, during every cutscene involving a Keyblade, Sora wields the Keyblade the player has equipped. The only cutscenes where this doesn't apply are the scenes when Sora and King Mickey seal away Kingdom Hearts, when Riku obtains the Kingdom Key in Hollow Bastion, and before the Battle of 1000 Heartless in which he has the Kingdom Key.

See Also

• Sora's Heartless
• Roxas
• Xion
• Ventus
• Vanitas
• Data Sora