Sora

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

- Sora in Kingdom Hearts

Sora is the main protagonist of the Disney/Square Enix video game series Kingdom Hearts. Sora is a teenager who originates from Destiny Islands but obtains the Keyblade, a weapons used to fight creatures known as the Heartless. In order to find the King, Donald Duck and Goofy recruit him in their journey across various worlds to save them from darkness, as well as find Sora's friends. Throughout the games, Sora journeys throughout worlds, interacting with various Disney characters as he gains experience with the Keyblade as well as his growth as its wielder. He is voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English version and Miyu Irino in the Japanese version.

Development
Sora was designed by Tetsuya Nomura as the main protagonist of Kingdom Hearts. However, he was not originally slated to be the main protagonist as Disney wanted Donald Duck to be the main protagonist of the game while Square wanted to have Mickey Mouse as the main protagonist. Nomura wanted neither as the protagonist of the game and went on to design his own main protagonist with the concepts of the Disney characters in mind which resulted in the creation of Sora. Sora originally wielded a weapon resembling a chainsaw; however, the weapon was not well received by Disney which led Nomura to redesign the weapon into a Keyblade. Sora's original outfit in Kingdom Hearts was also designed with Mickey Mouse in mind with Mickey Mouse's trademark white gloves, red shorts and giant yellow shoes due to Square's original preference to have Mickey as the main character of the game. The tail was removed because the staff found his design to be similar to the one of the Final Fantasy IX protagonist Zidane Tribal who also had a tail. After a talk with the Disney staff, the design was further reworked, and Nomura finished it after a night's worth of work.

One of the main concepts of Sora's character in the series is that, according to Nomura, he is a normal boy instead of a supernatural being even though he is deeply connected with other characters from the series. With Sora, Nomura wants to give players the message that even though they are not important people, they can have the opportunity to accomplish notable actions. This was emphasized in  Birth by Sleep' s secret ending, game in which he hoped players would like to see him. In early versions of development of Birth by Sleep, Nomura thought that Ventus would actually be Sora before being reborn, but due to overseas opinions, such portrayal was discarded. Nomura has stated that Sora's name can be interpreted as "sky" as his name, means sky in Japanese and was also chosen by Nomura to symbolize his role as well as personality in the story.

Personality
Sora is a brave and heroic boy who is extremely loyal to his friends, valuing his friendship with them above all else. He is an optimist and has a strong sense of justice, enabling him to take charge of his group when no one else can. However, he is rather oblivious at times, and is often quick to anger whenever he's confused, and is quite childish at times. He is also quite impulsive, as he tends to jump into things without thinking them through beforehand.

In addition, a recurring trait Sora possesses is competitiveness, which has often pitted him against fights with those stronger than him, to the point this has grown to a level of arrogance witnessed in Dream Drop Distance when Sora claims that he is already unbeatable even after the threat of Master Xehanort has been explained to him. When Sora is captured and nearly converted into a pawn of Xehanort, Sora remembers his humility and learns of his limits that he humbly accepts his failure of the exam.

Despite his flaws, Sora is dedicated and kind, making up for his weaknesses with his benevolent and endearing personality. As such, his ability to forgive is incredible along with his ability to connect to others and quickly befriend them. As the series progresses, Sora learns from his past mistakes and becomes less selfish over time as he learns how powerful the heart can be and fight with this in mind.

Physical appearance
In most of his appearances, Sora is a slender teenager with spiky brown hair (later becoming a caramel color), peach skin, and blue eyes. When he was fourteen, Sora's attire based around Mickey Mouse's; he had a red jumpsuit with puffy shorts with a long zipper, white gloves with blue, black and yellow straps, and large black-and-yellow shoes. In addition, he wore a black hoodie with white sleeves and a blue inside over his jumpsuit and a loose blue belt with a crown-chain hanging on the left side of his shorts. He wears the crown pendant around his neck.

At age fifteen in Kingdom Hearts II, Sora undergoes a growth spurt, but his appearance does not change that much other than having more matured looks. Sora wears a new outfit that is a black edition of his previous clothing, with the exception of the undershirt; the hoodie is completely black with white lining, but has silver patches on his shoulder. His black pants have yellow straps across them along with a patch of navy blue and silver edges. His undershirt is navy blue with a red patch in the center with a black belt under it. Red pockets appear on the sides of the pants with a black cross over them. His gloves, now black, have a white inside with a yellow line running around them. His shoes remain with a similar color scheme to his previous outfit, but with a few modifications; the black-and-yellow pattern is reversed and now has a zipper running across the top with white edges along the rim.

Powers and abilities
Sora's primary strength lies in his ability to use the Keyblade, which not only allows him to vanquish the Heartless and other Darkness-based beings, but also acts as his primary weapon against foes big and small. Although Sora was not chosen to inherit one like most wielders, Ventus' heart granted this ability, as well as fast experience in using it. Over the course of the series, Sora becomes a skilled fighter and has triumphed in various feats against the most dangerous of the game's enemies.

Sora is also knowledgeable with magic, which allows him to cast various spells to aid him or cause damage onto foes. He can also use spells to heal himself and his allies or revive them whenever they fall in battle. Applying magic with his fighting skill, Sora can access other magical abilities that affect his own physical prowess, such as Drive Forms. However, these abilities only last for short periods of time.

Sora is also able to fight in combined attacks with allies or other characters. With allies, Sora can perform special attacks known as Limits in combat. In cases when the character is not physically available, Sora has the ability to summon them via Summon Gem, card or charm for a temporary time.

Kingdom Hearts
In the Destiny Islands, Sora and his two friends, Riku and Kairi begin work on a raft, hoping to leave the island and sail to new worlds. One day while exploring, Sora rediscovers the "Secret Place" he and Riku found when they were young. On the wall, he draws himself giving a paopu fruit to Kairi. Unexpectedly, an unknown figure warns Sora that the world will be consumed by darkness.

That night, when a great storm hits the island, Sora checks the raft. He sees a dark cloud in the sky and notices that the islands are being overrun with Heartless. As the island is being devoured by the darkness, Sora searches for his friends and finds Riku. Although Sora wishes to get Riku to safety, Riku refuses, and tells Sora that the door to other worlds has been opened and that he does not fear the darkness on the other side. As Sora reaches towards his friend, they both sink into the darkness. Before Sora is consumed, he receives the Keyblade, which chooses him as it wielder and frees him from the darkness. Using the keyblade, Sora fights the Heartless and reaches the Secret Place, finding Kairi. Before he can help, the door flies open. Kairi disappears and Sora is blown outside where he disappears into the darkness.

Pluto licking his face, Sora comes to in Traverse Town. After Pluto runs off, Sora meets Leon and Yuffie. The two explain the Keyblade and the Heartless to him. Next, he meets Donald and Goofy. The three fight numerous surrounding Heartless. After they introduce themselves, Donald and Goofy invite Sora to travel to other worlds with them, because of King Mickey's request. Hoping to find his friends, Sora agrees to accompany them.

Sora begins travelling through many worlds, becoming good friends with Donald and Goofy and making other friends also. Sora encounters Riku, who is being manipulated by Maleficent, numerous times and each time he sees Riku, his old friend becomes increasingly more aggressive. Riku eventually turns against Sora, leaves him alone to fight off Heartless, and takes Kairi with him. Fighting courageously, Sora goes on to Hollow Bastion. Again, he encounters Riku, who has just defeated the Beast. Defending the Beast, Sora stands against Riku. However, Riku takes control of Sora's keyblade, claiming that he is the true master of the keyblade. Reluctantly, Donald and Goofy go with Riku, because of the King's instructions to stay with the keyblade. Sora is left alone with the Beast, but the two join forces and go into the castle. When they are separated, Riku, along with Donald and Goofy, confronts Sora again, but Sora will not give in to Riku. Donald and Goofy choose to abandon Riku and go with Sora because of their friendship with him. Because he has his friends, his heart finds new strength, allowing Sora to take the Keyblade back, and brings down Riku, who draws back. When the group find a comatose Kairi with the rest of the princesses, Sora rushes to her to wake her up. Riku (now possessed by Ansem) appears and reveals that Kairi is asleep because her heart was within Sora the whole time, and proceeds to extract it from Sora. After defeating Ansem, Sora stabs himself with Ansem's Keyblade in order to release Kairi and the rest of the princesses' hearts, causing Sora to fade away and turn into a Heartless. Although confused in his new form, Sora follows Donald, Goofy and Kairi until Kairi is able to recognize him and manages to turn Sora back to normal. However, the group is forced to flee as Heartless begin to flood, placing Kairi in the safety of Traverse Town while the trio returns to close the final Keyhole. Although successful, they discover that Ansem has departed to open Kingdom Hearts itself. Sora and company proceed to track Ansem down to the Door to Darkness and defeat him. Ansem, in desperation, tries to open the door, but Sora states that behind the door is light, which vaporizes Ansem. Unfortunately, with the door opened, Heartless begin appearing. Sora, Donald and Goofy attempt to close the door before the Heartless can come through, and receive help from the other side by Riku and King Mickey, where Sora and Mickey use their Keyblades to seal the Door to Darkness, leaving Riku and Mickey on the other side.

As the End of the World breaks apart, Sora finds Kairi and promises to return to her before they are separated, with Kairi returning to Destiny Islands. The game concludes with Sora, Donald and Goofy ending up in a grassy field when Pluto appears with a letter from Mickey, causing the trio to chase after the dog.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Continuing from Kingdom Hearts, Sora appears alongside Donald and Goofy chasing after Pluto. After losing the dog, the group stumbles upon the mysterious Castle Oblivion. After entering it, the trio finds themselves trapped in it and have forgotten their abilities. In order to restore them, they will need to go through the castle and pass every floor. On each floor, figments of Sora's memories are used to create memory-based duplicates of worlds they have visited in the past, interacting with the fascimiles. As they journey, Sora begins to "remember" a girl named Naminé, and becomes obsessed with finding her. However, when he finally meets Naminé, Naminé tries to remind Sora of Kairi, but the Riku Replica interrupts. In order to stop him fromfighting, Naminé breaks the memories in his heart. Larxene arrives and reveals that the Riku that Sora was fighting is actually a replica created by Vexen and that Naminé has been manipulating both his and Sora's memories as part of Marluxia's plot to take control of the Organization by controlling Sora. After the defeat of Larxene, Naminé explains her wrongdoings to the group, but Sora forgives her. On the thirteenth floor, the group comes to face Marluxia, so that Naminé can restore their memories. When the trio confront Marluxia, they find aid from Riku Replica who protects Naminé from the final battle while Sora takes Marluxia. Although destroying Marluxia's decoy and the real one, Naminé has Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter Memory Pods where they will sleep in order to restore their memories. Although the process will cause them to forget Naminé, Sora promises that her memory will stay in his heart and he will find her again.

Kingdom Hearts II
Sora awakens from his year-long slumber in Castle Oblivion following the merging of him and Roxas, his Nobody. After visiting Master Yen Sid (and a brief encounter with Mickey and Pete beforehand), Sora embarks on a new quest to defeat Heartless remaining in the worlds and meet friends old and new. As the journey progresses, Sora vows to find both Kairi and Riku after learning that Kairi was spotted in Twilight Town.

In Hollow Bastion, Sora, Donald and Goofy reunite with Mickey, who reveals to them that the "Ansem" they defeated was a Heartless who had been impersonating Ansem the Wise and that his Nobody counterpart heads Organization XIII. As the realization dawns upon the group, Organization XIII begins a massive invasion of Hollow Bastion and the residents start taking on waves of Heartless and Nobodies. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey enter the battle until Sora confronts the Organization's leader, Xemnas, who Mickey realizes is the Nobody of Ansem's apprentice, Xehanort. Xemnas retreats, with Mickey following after him. Saïx informs Sora that he has custody of Kairi and that the goal of the Organization is the formation of Kingdom Hearts, which Sora is helping to complete by slaying many Heartless. Sora is conflicted by this, but is able to escape the battle with unlikely help from Maleficent. Afterwards, Sora becomes determined to find Riku and Kairi and stop the Organization, despite Sora's worries about using the Keyblade.

Eventually, the group encounters Axel in Twilight Town, who sacrifices himself to wipe out the Nobodies ambushing them. As he lays fading away, Axel apologizes for kidnapping Kairi and opens a portal to the Organization's world, The World That Never Was.

Once inside the Organization's castle, the group fights their way through the castle until Sora reunites with Kairi and Riku, the latter in the form of Xehanort's Heartless, on the castle's upper level. Together, the group continue onward and destroy the remaining Organization members. When they reach Mickey and Ansem, Ansem tries to seal Kingdom Hearts by encoding it as data. The encoder explodes, severely damaging Kingdom Hearts, which restores Riku to his true form but causes Ansem to disappear. The damage causes Heartless to spawn, but Maleficent and Pete hold them off while everyone heads for Xemnas. At the top of the castle, the group confronts Xemnas, who begins to fight Sora. After defeat, Xemnas merges with the remains of Kingdom Hearts, forcing Sora and company to pursue him and manage to defeat him. After Xemnas' apparent death, Roxas and Naminé appear before Sora and Kairi before returning to them. While everyone begins evacuating from the world through Naminé's Corridor of Darkness, the portal suddenly closes on Sora and Riku and Xemnas reappears to them, forcing them into battling him. After many battles, the duo finally destroys him. Trapped in the Realm of Darkness, Sora and Riku wander until they finds a bottled letter from Kairi. Reading the letter, the Door to Light appears before them and sends them back to Destiny Islands, where they are reunited with Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Mickey. Sora returns Kairi's Lucky Charm to her, happy to be back.

Kingdom Hearts coded
Sora does not appear in the game, but a data version of Sora created by Mickey is sent into Jiminy's Journal to discover the source of the mysterious message and rid the journal of countless bugs. Eventually, Data-Sora and Mickey find Data-Naminé, who reveals that she was responsible and the message is for the real Sora, who must venture out on another quest to save those connected to his heart, namely the real Naminé, Roxas, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua and Ventus. In the real world, Sora is seen receiving the bottled letter from Mickey that had appeared at the end of Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Set during the year after Kingdom Hearts, the game follows Roxas and his time in the Organization XIII. Sora himself appears as a silent character and referenced by other characters. While sleeping, his Memory Pod is moved to Twilight Town's Old Mansion by Naminé and DiZ. When Xion, a replica of Roxas, absorbs Sora's memories through Roxas, she eventually take on Sora's form until she is absorbed by Roxas. To complete Sora, DiZ sends Riku to capture Roxas with the intention of merging him with Sora, which begins the events of Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
In the prequel set ten years before Kingdom Hearts, Sora appears as a 4-year-old found in the Destiny Islands along with a young Riku. During this time, he saw Terra and Aqua, two Keyblade wielders, though he does not communicate with Terra. When Aqua met Sora and Riku, she senses that their friendship parallels that of Ventus and Terra, and she tells Sora to protect Riku if he ever falls into darkness, to which Sora agrees to. It is later revealed that when Sora was born, his heart had joined with Ventus' when the Keyblade wielder was damaged by the creation of Vanitas, enabling Ventus to later contact the young Sora when his heart was lost after the destruction of Vanitas. Wanting to make Ven feel better, Sora accepted the heart and allowed it to merge with him.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
In response to the imminent return of Master Xehanort, Sora and Riku are summoned to the Mysterious Tower in order to take the Mark of Mastery exam and become Keyblade Masters. Sora boasts that he can take down Xehanort without the need of a test, although he follows the task when Yen Sid presents their test to enter the Sleeping Worlds which were left submerged in sleep following Ansem's defeat and awaken them.

At the beginning of his journey, Sora is given a new attire and abilities, including the ability to summon Dream Eaters. After meeting Neku Sakuraba in Traverse Town, Sora begins venturing across more sleeping worlds and sealing their keyholes.

After Sora seals all seven keyholes, he finds himself in The World That Never Was and is confronted by Xigbar, who explains that he and his companions had orchestrated Sora's journey. Eventually, Sora approaches both Xemnas and Xigbar, who explain that the true purpose of Organization XIII was to create thirteen vessels to harbor pieces of Master Xehanort's heart, with Sora being their intended thirteenth vessel. Sora refuses to give in and, motivated by those connected to him, he fights and defeats Xemnas. However, Sora's heart is badly weakened and he falls into a deep sleep, and is taken to the Castle That Never Was.

Riku and Mickey locate Sora in the castle and save him with the help of Donald, Goofy, and Lea. However, Sora is still comatose when he is brought back to the Mysterious Tower, so Riku must dive into Sora's heart and battles Sora enveloped by Ventus's heart, which has been possessed by a Nightmare. Riku defeats the Nightmare, allowing Sora to wake up. Yen Sid concludes the exam with naming Riku as a Keyblade Master. Despite failing, Sora congratulates Riku and decides to embark on a new journey, ending the game by traveling to the sleeping Traverse Town, where he is reunited with the Dream Eaters he had befriended.

Disney Parks
At the Magic Kingdom, Sora briefly appeared as a walkaround character at Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party when Chain of Memories was first released. The costume was used for other promotional events for the series around that time in Japan.

A statue of Sora was viewable for a month to promote the release of Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded at Tokyo DisneySea.

Trivia

 * Sora's name is Japanese for "sky" (空), as part of the name theme he shares with Riku and Kairi. Together, their names make up "Land, Sea, Sky".
 * In English, Sora is voiced by Haley Joel Osment, who has also voiced many other Disney characters:
 * Beary Berrington from The Country Bears.
 * Zephyr from The Hunchback of Notre Dame II.
 * Mowgli from The Jungle Book 2.
 * Chip from Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas.
 * It's possible the Darkside Heartless that constantly attacked Sora in the first game is a reflection of Sora's inner darkness. Evidence supporting this includes Sora's shadow turning into Darkside in Sora's Awakening, and Sora's Heartless transforming into Darkside after collecting enough data in  Re:/Coded' . Also, the Darkside Heartless is currently the only Heartless to appear in every game in the series so far, possibly alluding to the fact that Darkness is never far from the Light. In this case, Sora is Light, and Darkside is Darkness.
 * It was intially believed that Sora was in the Tapper's scene in the 2012 film Wreck-It Ralph, though it was later discovered to actually be a cowboy from Tapper's. Had he appeared, Sora would've been the only Disney character originating from a Disney game to appear in the film, though a graffiti of his crown necklace appears in the portal to Hero's Duty.
 * 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.