What if there are seven guardians of light because that’s neutral on the pH scale and they try to keep balance between light and dark?? And there are thirteen darknesses because they’re all basic bitches.
So after going through the entire Kingdom Hearts series, I’ve noticed
something. King Mickey was not born royalty; he married into royalty by
screwing around with the world order.
Mickey originally comes
from Timeless River, the “Steamboat Willie”-themed world where he’s a
deckhand with a reputation for being a lazy troublemaker. Nobody
mentions any kind of existing royalty in that world, and certainly
nobody treats Mickey like a prince, lazy or otherwise. We see early
versions of Pete, Horace Horsecollar, Clara Cluck, etc. but do you notice someone missing?
Minnie.
Minnie is not from Timeless River.
Minnie is princess of the Country
of the Musketeers, the “Three Musketeers”-themed world from Dream Drop Distance. We see
a younger Mickey here training to be a Musketeer on princess guard duty
but we know he isn’t native because he tells Sora as much. He doesn’t
understand when Sora calls him “Your Majesty”. If Mickey was a prince of
any kind, that title wouldn’t be weird. It’s also clear that this world
is not a version of Timeless River. (Though it does have a version of
Pete, which may or may not be the same Pete from the rest of the series considering he has a
peg leg in Country of the Musketeers. It’s kinda hard to grow back a leg. Then again, this is a series that runs on bloodless carnage and where people regularly come back from the dead, so who knows?)
Sometime
later, in Yen Sid’s tower, we see an inexperienced Mickey as the
sorcerer’s apprentice. Again, Sora instinctively starts with “Your
Majesty” and Mickey is confused.
By the time Birth By Sleep rolls
around, Mickey is still an apprentice to Yen Sid but he’s a king now. He
and Minnie rule over Disney Town during the Million Dreams Festival, which is the newer incarnation of
Timeless River. And is not at all a shameless plug for Disneyland or reference to the Disney parks’ Year of a Million Dreams, up to
and including Ven being given actual goddamn park tickets.
(No I will not get over the blatant self-advertising.)
Disney Town goes on to become Disney Castle from KH1
on.
So basically, Mickey pulled Minnie out of her own world and
back to his, where she reigned as queen and he married her and became
king. So that means that all these regal-looking pictures of mice on the
walls…
…are MINNIE’S ancestors, not Mickey’s. And also, since Disney
Castle was not inherited but was built during their lifetime, those
little 3-circle mouse heads everywhere?
Either it’s Mickey being phenomenally narcissistic, or more likely, they’re the royal seal of
MINNIE’S family.
So the worlds have to stay separated and their existences have to stay secret, right, Mick?
Unless you find a hot girl. Then you can totally bring her back to yours.
This is a theory I’ve believed in for a long time. Also, it makes sense that Minnie’s home world is the home world of Donald and Goofy too, and that’s where Mickey first meets them! :D
Though I always thought the pictures throughout the castle were Mickey’s ancestors, but just like… normal people. Not royalty or anything. Just a map-maker or a notary or something. But I like the Minnie’s ancestors idea too!
After Xehanort passes on his heart to Sora, he confronts the two former members of the Organization in his heart, making it unable to completely finish the process of converting the boy into a piece of darkness. The two put up a good fight. But as time went on, they failed in protecting Sora’s heart and became corrupt under Xehanort’s control.
The Kingdom Hearts franchise is particularly well-known, not only to be a ridiculous combination of Final Fantasy and Disney, but to be a series that doesn’t know the definition of what a side-game really is.
In case you’ve lost track over the years, here’s a list of every single Kingdom Hearts game, excluding re-releases.
Kingdom Hearts
Chain of Memories
Kingdom Hearts II
358/2 Days
Birth by Sleep
Coded
Dream Drop Distance
0.2 Fragmentary Passage
Unchained X/Union Cross/Back Cover
That’s a… lot of games.
Only 2 of these are actual numbered titles, supposedly the “main” branch of the game. This being said, the other games should only have little details and aren’t exactly necessary to understanding the plot of the games.
Now, any self-respecting Kingdom Hearts player knows this is bullshit. If I had to pick only one side game you absolutely needed to understand, I wouldn’t be able to. Each of them is vital to understanding the “bigger story” in Kingdom Hearts. If they’re meant to be side-games, spin-offs that are unnecessary to the plot and would provide little information towards the main story, they failed horrifically.
Now here’s where these side-games do their job.
@derekscorner was one to point this out. They only mentioned Coded, but this can apply to all of the side-games that were released.
A side-game is meant to extend the story away from the bigger plot, focusing on things that they couldn’t fit into a main game because it wouldn’t be relevant.
Chain of Memories takes your focus away from Sora’s fight against the Heartless to his journey to find Riku and this new mysterious girl from Sora’s past.
358/2 Days gives you more story on Roxas, who he was and how he came to betray the Organization while also characterizing Axel and introducing Xion.
Birth by Sleep gave you backstory on Xehanort, what he did to end up betraying Ansem, and what happened to make him lose his memory in the first place. It also gives more detail about how the Keyblade came to be such a scarce weapon, introducing new characters that are tied into it’s violent history.
Coded, probably the best to define as a side-game, took you completely away from the main plot, delving into what happened with the journal, how Naminé is connected to it, and what Sora’s true purpose is.
Dream Drop Distance tells you about the exam Sora and Riku must take in preparation for the battle with Xehanort and what exactly Xehanort intends to do to achieve his goals.
0.2 Fragmentary Passage tells about Aqua’s time in the Realm of Darkness and how she played a pivotal role in helping seal the Door to Darkness. It also helps set up for Kingdom Hearts III.
Union Cross gives backstory on the Keyblade War, further delving into how the weapon managed to start a war and what exactly happened to the worlds to separate them all.
In honesty, the games do a really good job of keeping most plot-heavy stuff to the numbered titles. The only time it seems to ignore this principle is in Birth by Sleep with the introduction of several new characters whom we’ve never seen in any of the other games and how important they are going to be in the upcoming titles.
Kingdom Hearts, while every game is sorta important to understand in order to enjoy the story to it’s fullest, does keep it’s most important information in the numbered titles.
This post did an amazing job explaining the roles of side-games within the KH franchise, but please do not mistake “most important information in numbered titles” for “you will understand KH3 if you play 1 and 2”. The whole plot of KH3 is spun around Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance. 1 and 2 are probably less important than those two titles for the upcoming story.
R O X A S , Y O U ’ R E Y O U . W E ’ R E N O T T H E S A M E . I W A N T E D T O T E L L Y O U T H A T . T H A T Y O U D E S E R V E A S M U C H A S I D O T O B E Y O U R O W N P E R S O N .