The main protagonist of theKingdom Heartsseries, Sora, has a long and storied history at this point. After appearing in nearly every game in the franchise, it would make sense that he could be one of themost powerful keyblade wieldersaround, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case. Despite always somehow saving the day, Sora is still ranked below Riku, Mickey, and other characters in the game, likely in part due to a nasty habit he has of losing all of his power. The first time this happened, fans were able to write it off, butKingdom Hearts 4really needs to break the pattern and not reset Sora’s strength again.
For reference, at the start of almost every game featuring Sora as the main character, there’s some kind of explanation that reveals he lost the power he’d gained from the previous game. The necessity for this sort of thing is clear, as Sora needs to start back over at level one and that wouldn’t make much sense in lore without an explanation, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. WithKingdom Hearts 3ending after Sora disappears and the others start searching for him, the next game in theKingdom Heartsfranchise needs to avoid making Sora lose all of his power again.
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Kingdom Hearts 1 to Kingdom Hearts 2
During the time skip between the firstKingdom Heartsgame and its direct sequel, Sora traverses through Castle Oblivion. As a result of this journey, many of his memories are rewritten, and he eventually falls asleep for a full year. Upon waking up, Sora’s power has seemingly been reset, and he’s much weaker than he was at the end ofKingdom Hearts.As a result, Sora has to travel around to various Disney worlds in order to gain enough power totake down Xemnas and the rest of the Organization XIII.
By the end ofKingdom Hearts 2, Sora has gained back his power and then some. Arguably, this is Sora in his strongest state, as his mastery over the Valor, Wisdom, Limit, Master, Final, and even Anti forms is beyond anything he’s been able to accomplish since, and he even had access topowerful spells like Reflegathat haven’t made a return in the series since then. For this reason, it’s understandable that fans were a little bummed when Sora was revealed to have lost all of his powers again.
Kingdom Hearts 2 to Kingdom Hearts 3
In betweenKingdom Hearts 2andKingdom Hearts 3, Sora and Riku take the Mark of Mastery exam at the behest of Yen Sid, sending the two through a variety of dream worlds. By the end of this adventure, Sora nearly loses his heart to the darkness and almost becomes the new vessel for Xehanort, an experience that is apparently very taxing. As a result, when fans next seeSora inKingdom Hearts 3, Yen Sid reveals that he not only failed to learn the power of waking but also lost all the abilities he gained over the course ofKingdom Hearts 2. This marks yet another time that Sora has to relearn everything again.
This one is especially sad, though, as Sora never regains the ability to enter his various drive forms again.Kingdom Hearts 3sees him gain new powers such as the Power of Waking andactivating each Keyblade’s unique formchange, but these aren’t quite the same. By the end ofKingdom Hearts 3, Sora shows that he has become powerful again, as it is ultimately him that is able to rescue everyone and finally defeat Xehanort once and for all, but fans can’t help but wonder how long this power will last.
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Kingdom Hearts 3’s Ending
Sora’s extensive use of the Power of Waking allows him to rescue Kairi but at a steep price. In the end, he disappears, seemingly fading away from existence, but thestory ofMelody of Memoryhas since revealed that he is in fact still alive. In order to rescue Sora, Riku and Kairi must travel to the world of Fiction (or Unreality), and this will likely be the basis of the next game. It seems probable thatKingdom Hearts 4will actually focus on characters besides Sora, but if he is included, it would be too easy to reset him back to level 1.
Sora’s disappearance could easily explain the time traveling hero losing his powers yet again, but that’s the last thing fans want to see. There’s nothing wrong with him starting at level 1 in the next title, but there doesn’t always need to be a story explanation for it. There are plenty of otherthings that don’t make sense aboutKingdom Hearts, so why this has to be one thing that is always canonically explained is strange. Instead, Sora’s next appearance as protagonist of aKingdom Heartsgame should see him start with at least some of the powers from previous games like the ability to cast basic spells and change forms.
Kingdom Hearts Protagonists
Alternatively, it may be time for theKingdom Heartsfranchise to move on from Sora altogether. He’ll always be an important part of the franchise, but to many, it may feel as though his story has run its course. Sora has gone from a naive boy living on Destiny Island to the Keyblade’s Chosen One inKingdom Hearts. He defeated the entirety of Organization XIII and prevented them from summoning Kingdom Hearts inKingdom Hearts 2, and now in the most recent installment of the game, hedefeated Master Xehanortand even learned how to basically time travel.
There are no doubt still ways this character could be used, but there are plenty of others that deserve a spotlight.Axel and Kairi formed a strong bondwhile training to wield Keyblades together, but were sorely misused during the game’s climax. Perhaps a new title focusing on them would be welcome. Likewise, Riku has always been a popular character and a sort of antithesis to Sora, so it would be fun to see more of him as well. One thing’s for certain though, Sora shouldn’t lose all his power again.
Kingdom Hearts 3is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
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