Chapter 2: Themes and Structure
I have seen many Kingdom Hearts fans pointing out that the series shares a lot of similarities with Star Wars. Most notably, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep is pretty similar to Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. I will say that is true. Since I am a Star Wars fan, I also love Kingdom Hearts when I learn to understand its story, which is pretty similar to Star Wars. After all, Master Eraqus is voiced by Mark Hamill who plays as Luke Skywalker.
Star Wars is like a fairy tale. It is hopeful, optimistic and āitās a film for 12-year-oldsā as said by George Lucas in Star Wars Celebration 2017. He also said that Star Wars was designed to be a film like mythology. āThis is what we stand for⦠youāre about to enter the real world.ā
Star Wars, as a romantic fantasy, has the potential to serve as a metaphor for many aspects of life. Time and time again, what society needs to hear is simply love and compassion. A compassion-based love benefits both parties in a relationship and allows them to spread compassion towards others. Even though life is full of ups and downs, when you learn about compassion, you will discover a connection with others around you that you never thought possible.
Kingdom Hearts is the same ā it is like a fairy tale and it aims for 12 years old children. Although most of the endings of the games are tragic, the story still remains hopeful and optimistic as the characters wait for their ābirth by sleepā. They know one day, they will be freed from the hurt and suffering they are enduring, and be given a second chance to start over.
Kingdom Hearts also talks about love ā not much of a romantic one, but a platonic one, which is friendship. It teaches you that friendship can strengthen oneās self and other people. For example, Sora is able to strengthen his heart through his ties with people. He treasures those memories with them and perceives them as friends. This allows him to wield a Keyblade despite he is just an ordinary child. Moreover, his connection with many people has also spread to others, teaching them to treasure friendship.
Star Wars has themes of love, forgiveness and redemption throughout the series. Kingdom Hearts has those themes too. The main difference is that the love in Kingdom Hearts is mainly referred to as platonic love (friendship), but it can be familial love (Master Eraqus and Terra).
Like Star Wars, the Kingdom Hearts lore is also a story that is finally becoming an adult. The first Kingdom Hearts game talks about a child setting off for an adventure, which is like a childhood dream. Starting from Kingdom Hearts 2, the story has entered the adolescence stage with the introduction of Roxas, whose personality is different from Sora. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts Re:coded are also placed in this stage. The four games highlight issues of existential crisis, emotional distress, a teenagerās stubbornness, confusion in life and oneās self, relationships with old and new friends, and curiosity of the outside world. The games also tackle on issues regarding responsibility and ways to understand pain and how to deal with it.
The series enters into adulthood starting from Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance when the heroes are going through trials to prepare for the upcoming war. The decision in leaving your home, your family and your friends who are not involved in the war is a pretty mature decision as there is no way for sure to confirm that you would survive in the war. The stories in Kingdom Hearts X [Chi], Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover, Kingdom Hearts Unchained X and Kingdom Hearts Union X [Cross] focus on the Keyblade War. We see how a united land became divided due to different ideologies of the Union leaders, which ultimately led to its demise. The main victims in the Keyblade War were Keyblade wielders who were just children and teenagers. Moreover, the world was destroyed as well. The games show us the devastating effects of a war and we must learn from the past to prevent it from happening again.
Kingdom Hearts has a story that can be served as a metaphor for many aspects of life. The Age of Fairy Tales, when the world was one and full of light referred to the past where the first humans lived together in one land. It was peaceful and harmonious. The Keyblade War refers to the battles and wars carried out by humans. The Keyblade wielders fought for ownership of light, while humans fought for ownership of land and sea. Those battles and wars led to a dark age. The Dandelions represent the survivors of the battles and wars, and they were the ones who rebuilt the damage caused to the world. The rebuild world is the world we currently live. The world that was once a united land is now split into different countries. The countries are separated by borders, similar to the barriers of light separating the worlds in Kingdom Hearts. Each country has its own rules and we are obliged to obey them regardless of our origin. Chaos may ensue if outsiders meddle with the rules of other countries. This is similar to the action in forbidding Keyblade wielders to meddle with the rules of other worlds.
But is there any way to unite the worlds and its inhabitants? In Kingdom Hearts, Xehanort wants to forge the X-blade, and with it, he will take down barriers of light and force the worlds to be united with darkness. With the worlds being united, Keyblade wielders will gather to fight for Kingdom Hearts, perhaps in hopes of saving their lands from darkness, which will create the second Keyblade War. Upon the death of the worlds and living beings, Xehanort believes that he will find Kingdom Hearts that is swallowed by darkness, and uses its power to create a world that has equal light and darkness.
We know Xehanort wants balance, and he is not wrong about it. But is his method in bringing balance to the world even right? He resorts to violence, fear and deception to get what he wants. He wants to destroy the current system of light and establishes a new order. But has he considered about the minds of the people? What if the people cannot change their minds and perspective of light and darkness? The conflict between light and darkness will be eternal and the war will continue to wage on. Even when Xehanort tries to threaten the inhabitants with his weapon the X-blade, there will still be headstrong people who will continue to rebel him. There will be no harmony and peace in the world.
The phrase āI donāt need a weapon. My friends are my power!ā already hints that the way to achieve balance is through friendship. It may sound cheesy but that is what society needs to learn ā to love each other. True friendship is to accept one another regardless of their social background, social status, gender, sexuality, race, religion, ethnicity and ideology. The borders and distance are not obstacles in making friends and maintaining the friendship. When people can accept one another unconditionally, their friendship can become a power that can change the world. A world filled with unconditional love brings harmony and peace. There is no need to use force to make others accept you as you learn to respect one another. By respecting each other, you have learned to accept one another, establishing a connection that you never thought possible.
The physical borders do not always need force to bring them down. Love is what unites people and makes the world whole, even when we are physically separated. The saying āOne sky, one destinyā in Kingdom Hearts fits in our world as we all look up at the same sky that we share. The land and sea may separate us, but the sky always connects us. We all share the same destiny ā to be present in this world and later to leave from this world. If you look through all the differences, you will realize that we are not so different after all.
In Kingdom Hearts, Sora makes a lot of friends and treasures his friendship with them. He still accepts Riku even though he did succumb to the darkness. He forgives Namine and is willing to protect her even though he isnāt happy with her messing up his memories. He remains loyal to Neku even though Neku initially is not fond with him and plans to hand him over to Young Xehanort. He even wants Roxas to be his own person despite everyone says Nobodies should not exist. Sora is optimistic, forgiving and always sees the good in people first. Sometimes, he even wants to help the antagonists. Ansem the Wise says that Sora can save the people from their pain and suffering. He is connected to many people and he understands them well. Once he learns to understand pain and how to handle it, he can save them all. All Sora needs to do is to be himself and follow his heart.
There are rumors talking about Riku being the other playable character in Kingdom Hearts 3. There are fans that are unhappy about it as Riku has been the other playable character in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. They want to play as other characters such as Lea, Kairi, Aqua, Ventus, Master Eraqus, etc. If it is confirmed that Riku is the other playable character in Kingdom Hearts 3, I wonāt be surprised or disappointed.
In Kingdom Hearts 3, the other playable character would give us a different perspective from Sora during the game play. Sora, Donald and Goofy are on an adventure to complete the seven Guardians of Light, save the people from suffering and forge the āKey to Return Heartsā. Meanwhile, Riku and King Mickey search for previous Keyblade wielders who are strong enough to face Xehanort. The previous Keyblade wielders are probably the ones that Sora needs to save: Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Roxas and Xion. Their story perspectives have a connection with each other, which would make Riku as a possible second playable character in the game.
The theme in Kingdom Hearts is friendship. There are many friendships being depicted in the series, but the friendship between Sora and Riku is the main focus. Sora and Riku are very different from each other: Sora is cheerful and easy-going, while Riku is calm and collected. Although they compete and even fight each other, they manage to reconcile their friendship. They do admit that they are jealous at each other and want to be like each other. However, they realize that there is something that they can never imitate: to have each other as a friend.
Sora is known by many as the Hero of Light. Riku is known as the Hero of Darkness by Vexen in Kingdom Hearts re:Chain of Memories. Sora is Rikuās light while Riku is Soraās Darkness. They complete each other. Moreover, it is their friendship that has managed to foil Xehanortās plans. In Kingdom Hearts, Sora and Riku work together to seal the Door to Darkness, and foil the plan of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Later, in Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora and Riku work together to destroy the Hearts of Men and foil Xemnasās plan. The theme of friendship is pretty consistent throughout the games, not just the numeral games. Could this mean that Sora and Riku would work together to defeat Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts 3? Well, we will find out soon enough.