Sora

Sora is the main protagonist in the Disney/Square Kingdom Hearts video game series, as well as a Keyblade wielder. 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 when defending his friends, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. He has also been best friends with Riku and Kairi since he was a small boy.

Sora is four during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, fourteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, fifteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts II , Blank Points and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. 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 original persona of Sora's Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, and the carrier of Ventus's heart. Sora's name is derived from the Japanese word for "sky".

Story
At the beginning of the first game, Sora is fourteen years old and lives on Destiny Islands along with his two best friends, Riku and Kairi. The three friends origially planned to leave the islands to explore new worlds and have prepared a raft for this purpose. However, their plans were destroyed when their world is attacked by a group of dark beings known as the Heartless, which results in the separation of the three. During the invasion, he obtains the Keyblade. After the invasion, Sora drifts off to a town known as Traverse Town, where he meets Leon, who explains to him the true nature of the Keyblade and the power of the weapon against the Heartless. Soon after, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy Goof, who join forces in search of their friends, with Sora looking for Riku and Kairi while helping Donald and Goofy look for Mickey Mouse. To blend in with the inhabitants of the various worlds they visit, the group is occasionally transformed by Donald's magic. They travel from world to world in search of Sora's friends in their Gummi Ship, as well as sealing the keyholes of worlds along the way to protect them from being consumed by the darkness of the Heartless. However, they are often opposed by an alliance of Disney Villains led by Maleficent, who are seeking out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the final Keyhole that leads to "Kingdom Hearts": a repository of knowledge and power and the source of all hearts. Maleficent then sows discord into Riku, telling him that Sora has abandoned him and Kairi for new friends and the Keyblade. This causes the two to clash over saving Kairi when Sora later meets Riku on several occasions.

Sora and his friends eventually arrive at Hollow Bastion, headquarters to Maleficent, where he meets Riku as he takes the Keyblade. It is then revealed that Sora only received the keyblade in Riku's absence and that Riku was the true Keyblade master. However, stating that his heart derives strength from his friends, which caused the Keyblade to return to his possession, Sora regains the Keyblade and defeats Riku before fighting Maleficent. However, when he finds Kairi, Sora encounters Riku after he unknowningly allowed himself to be possessed by Ansem, allowing him to wield a powerful dark Keyblade that unlocks hearts. Ansem explains that Kairi is a Princess of Heart, and that her heart has been hiding within Sora's body since the Destiny Islands were destroyed.

In order to return Kairi's heart, Sora impales himself with Riku's dark Keyblade, committing assited suicide and releasing both his and Kairi's heart. Kairi's heart returns to her, causing her to awaken from her catatonic state; she later saves Sora by leading him back into the light after turning into a Heartless due to losing his heart. In the process of becoming a Heartless, Sora created two Nobodies: his counterpart, Roxas (who bears the spitting image of Ventus), and Kairi's nobody, Naminé. After taking her to safety before returning to Hollow Bastion, Kairi loans to Sora her lucky charm (which she had made back on the Destiny Islands), having him promise to return the charm to her.

Shortly afterwards, Sora and company confront Ansem at the End of the World, which is the combined remnants of fallen worlds. Defeated, Ansem opened the Door to Darkness, but was obliterated by overwhelming light inside it. Beyond the door were King Mickey and Riku, who kept the Heartless inside from getting out as Mickey and Sora used their Keyblades to lock the door. The worlds lost to the Heartless reconstructed themselves; as the Destiny Islands reformed, Kairi returns there while Sora is forced to part with her. The game concludes as Sora, Donald, and Goofy resolve to find Riku and Mickey, chasing after Pluto when they find him with a letter from Mickey.undefined

While on their search for Riku and Mickey, thanks to the action of Marluxia, the three stumble onto a fortress known as Castle Oblivion. Upon entering, Sora's mind is brainwashed by Naminé, who was held captive by the mysterious Organization XIII who use the castle as their second base of operations. Marluxia has Naminé use her powers to jumble up Sora's memories, making him forget the past as well as replace knowledge of Kairi with herself. However, as Sora travels upwards in the castle, it begins to unravel the truth as he encounters and defeats many members of the Organization on the way. He finally meets up with Naminé, who helps Sora, Donald, and Goofy to restore his memories to their state prior to entering Castle Oblivion, at the cost of losing their memories of the events in the castle. This requires them to sleep for at least one year for the restoration of memories to completed. Taking place a year after Chain of Memories, Sora reawakens along with Donald and Goofy in Twilight Town as a changed fifteen year old. As they explore the town, they encounter Nobodies before being saved by King Mickey, who quickly hurries them to board the train which brings them to visit his master, Yen Sid. Arriving to the tower, the trio confront Peg-Leg Pete and the Heartless before meeting Yen Sid, who explains the existence of the Nobodies as well as reintroduce Sora's group to Organization XIII. Then, Sora (his old outfit having shrunk from the condensation effects of the memory restoration) gains a new outfit by the three fairies Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, bestowing him new powers.

As Sora sets out to find Riku and King Mickey, they traverse new and unfamiliar worlds, where they often encounter the remaining members of the Organization. During this new voyage, Sora and party encounter a resurrected Maleficent and her cohort, Pete the Cat, attempting to take over Disney Castle. Pete almost succeeds by travelling back in time to 1928, but Sora, Donald and Goofy stop him and save Disney Castle.

Later returning to Twillight Town, Sora learns that Kairi was sighted there before being abducted by the rogue Organization member, Axel. Sora later confronts Axel at Hollow Bastion, after finding out the truth behind "Ansem" and encountering his Nobody, Xemnas, learning that the Organization now has Kairi captive to force Sora to gather more hearts for them. Eventually, with Mickey joining them, Sora's group finds a way to the Organization's main base in The World That Never Was, with Axel sacrficing himself to give Sora safe passage. But as Sora enters The World That Never Was, Roxas reawakens and fights Sora in an internal struggle to test Sora's worth before he and his friends enter the Organization's base. As Mickey takes his leave, the group soon reunites with Riku and Kairi as Sora learns the truth behind Roxas after taking out the Organization members, with only Xemnas left.

Though it seemed that they defeated him, Sora and Riku are separated from King Mickey, Goofy, Kairi and Donald as they fight Xemnas for the final time before they ended up in the dark beach with no means of return. As the two sit down and reflect on their friendship, they accepted their fate as long as the realm of light remains safe. Just at that moment, a beam of light appeared in front of them, revealing a passageway back to light; upon entering, the two find themselves back on Destiny Islands where they reunite with all their friends. Sora finally keeps his promise that he made in Kingdom Hearts and returns to Kairi her lucky charm. At an extra scene featured at the end of the credits, Sora is shown asking Riku what he thinks the door to light was. Riku replies that it was the light within Sora's heart. Kairi runs up to them and give them a bottle she found, containing a letter from King Mickey.

During the majority of events during Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, Sora is in a state of sleep as his amnesia is being cured by Namine. Though Sora is not physically present in the story, he is constantly referenced to and is also playable in the game. In Kingdom Hearts coded, Sora, himself, does not appear until the game's final scene, in which he receives King Mickey's letter and reads it with Riku and Kairi. A digital copy of Sora wearing his original Kingdom Hearts outfit serves as the primary protagonist of the game, finding out the truth behind a mysterious message found inside Jiminy's journal.

In the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep's secret ending, set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Ansem tells Aqua all about Sora's adventures, and Aqua utters Sora's name with renewed hope along with images of Ventus, Terra, and the others connected to Sora: Roxas, Xion, Naminé, Axel. The final scene shows Sora, who decides to go help them.

In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Sora is summoned with Riku to Yen Sid to undergo a Mark of Mastery exam in response to Xehanort's coming return. The two are sent to the Dreaming Realm to awaken several worlds submerged in sleep following the defeat of Ansem, but once the task is complete, Sora's heart is poisoned by Xemnas whose companions plan to turn him into the last of Xehanort's thirteen replicas. Riku and his comrades manage to rescue Sora from a fate much worse than death and brings him back to Yen Sid's tower, where he dives into Sora's body and repairs his heart, awakening him from his coma. Once Sora wakes up, Yen Sid only names Riku as a Keyblade Master for his efforts. Sora, showing no remorse over losing, congratulates Riku and departs to continue his training elsewhere.

Disney Theme Parks
Sora briefly appeared as a walkaround character at Magic Kingdom for the 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 was viewable for a month to promote the release of Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded at Tokyo DisneySea.