Symphony of Sorcery
Symphony of Sorcery is a Sleeping World that is featured in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, the second to be based on the Disney film, Fantasia. Like Timeless River and Country of the Musketeers, Symphony of Sorcery is a world from Mickey's past, in particular during the period where Mickey was Yen Sid's apprentice. As a world based on music, all the sounds of battle are replaced with musical notes, and dialogue is only present in specific cutscenes.
Development
Since the conception of the first Kingdom Hearts, Tetsuya Nomura had wanted to include a world based on Fantasia, but was unable to and ended up only including Chernabog as a boss in End of the World, though in a battlefield very similar to the Night on Bald Mountain segment.[1]
Setting and Areas
The Symphony of Sorcery is a world composed of the dreams of the Mysterious Tower's past. New to the familiar tower are Mickey's songbooks, which serve as portals to three new, beautiful locations.
For Sora, Mickey summons a pink songbook based on The Pastoral Symphony. It leads to the Cloudwalk, an expanse of clouds and rocky pillars connected by rainbows, beneath a brilliant blue sky. The Cloudwalk connects to a forested Glen filled with twisters and stormclouds, which itself ends at the stormy Fields, a rainbow-colored field dotted with pavilions and the hiding place of the first Sound Idea.
For Riku, Mickey summons a blue songbook based on the Nutcracker Suite, where everything is larger-than-life. The songbook opens up on the Moonlight Wood, a patch of flowers in the midst of night. Across a shining lake lies the Golden Wood, where the leaves themselves sprinkle pieces of Munny. At the top of that forest is a path to the wintry Snowgleam Wood, a frozen landscape containing icy slides, floating snowflakes, chilly ponds, and the second Sound Idea. However, once Riku retrieves the Sound Idea, Young Xehanort appears and casts him into the Bald Mountain, lair of the demon Chernabog.
The final red songbook, based on The Sorcerer's Apprentice, contains a simple Precipice above the sea where the Spellican lurks. When Sora arrives, he chases the Nightmare onto a starry road flowing through the sky, which also contains a miniature arena filled with multicolored asteroids and a stellar river.
The Symphony of Sorcery's Reality Shift, Melody Catcher, is vital for exploring the realm of the songbooks. It allows Sora to summon new clouds and rainbows in the Cloudwalk, calm the twisters in the Glen, and sweep away the stormy night in the Fields. Conversely, Riku uses the technique to open flower buds and part weeds in the Moonlight Wood, sprout a bower of leaves in the Golden Wood, and summon giant snowflakes in the Snowgleam Wood.
Story
Between Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts
Sometime after Terra-Xehanort's descent into darkness, his Heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, attacked many worlds. These worlds were consequently swallowed by the darkness. One of these worlds was Symphony of Sorcery. Although it was restored after Sora defeated Ansem and destroyed the End of the World, Symphony of Sorcery remained in a state of deep sleep, rather than returning to the Realm of Light. Trapped within the Realm of Sleep, it was plagued by Nightmare Dream Eaters.
