http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kingdom-hearts-final-mix.jpg
[[caption-width:510:For your information, [[MemeticMutation the number of pouches, belts and zippers in this series is]] [[OverNineThousand over 9000]]. And yes, it's Tetsuya Nomura's doing]]

->''"I've been having these weird thoughts lately, like is any of this for real or not?"''
-->--'''Sora'''

->''"The worlds are made of Light '''and''' Darkness. You can't have one without the other."''
-->--'''King Mickey'''

Upon hearing the premise of the game, even the very concept, fans had very mixed expectations.

The king of the {{RPG}}, [=SquareSoft=] (now [=Square-Enix=]), was to team up with Disney to produce the ultimate CrossOver game. Characters from [[DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's beloved animated classics]] would join forces with characters from Square's ''FinalFantasy'' series, in a game equivalent of the TrappedInTVLand trope. An Anime-esque hero named Sora in Mickey Mouse pants hits inky black creatures with a giant key. He joins forces with Donald Duck and Goofy to fight evil in settings from Disney's library of classics. If anyone but Square had been involved, it would have been laughed off as some fluke, a crazy marketing synergy strategy given life in a boardroom.

[[CueCullen And then it was released.]]

RPG fans and newcomers alike fell in love with it. The characters are true to their origins while still fitting in to the larger world, partly due to how iconic both universes have become. The story is heartwarming, exciting, and emotional. The combat is bloodless, yet action-oriented and extremely fun.

Its content is appropriate for any age, but the difficulty and some subject matter [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids may be too much for the youngest]].

Proving incredibly popular, it has now become one of SquareEnix's flagship series.
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The series consists of the following games:
* ''[[{{Game/Kingdom Hearts}} Kingdom Hearts]]'' (2002, PlayStation2)
* ''[=~Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories~=]'' (2004, GameBoyAdvance)
** ''[[UpdatedRerelease Re: Chain of Memories]]'' (2007, PlayStation2)
* ''KingdomHeartsII'' (2005, PlayStation2)
* ''[=~Kingdom Hearts coded~=]'' (2008, mobile phone, [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] for now)
* ''[[KingdomHearts358DaysOver2 Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days]]'' (2009, NintendoDS)
* ''[=~Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep~=]'' (2010, PlayStationPortable)

The series contains appearances by characters and locations from the following games, films and franchises:
* ''FinalFantasyVI''
* ''FinalFantasyVII''
* ''FinalFantasyVIII''
* ''FinalFantasyIX''
* ''FinalFantasyX''
* ''FinalFantasyX2''
* ClassicDisneyShorts
* ''SnowWhite''
* ''{{Pinocchio}}''
* ''{{Fantasia}}''
* ''{{Dumbo}}''
* ''{{Bambi}}''
* ''{{Cinderella}}''
* ''AliceInWonderland''
* ''PeterPan''
* ''LadyAndTheTramp''[[hottip:*: In [[Game/KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts]], go to the final district in Traverse Town and look at the fountain. Lady and Tramp are the designs there.]]
* ''SleepingBeauty''
* ''OneHundredAndOneDalmatians''
* ''TheSwordInTheStone''
* ''WinnieThePooh''
* ''TheLittleMermaid''
* ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast Beauty And The Beast]]''
* ''{{Disney/Aladdin}}''
* ''TheLionKing''
* ''{{Disney/Hercules}}''
* ''{{Mulan}}''
* ''{{Film/Tarzan}}''
* ''{{Tron}}''
* ''LiloAndStitch''
* ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean''
* ''ChickenLittle''
* ''DuckTales''

This series has a [[Characters/KingdomHearts character sheet]].
----
!!This series as a whole provides examples of:

* AdaptationDecay: The ''Kingdom Hearts'' manga and novelizations.
** In a recent interview, Nomura comments on this; saying that the manga and novels come out of the authors' requests that Square then grants, but that there's always the trouble of game canon contradicting it as the games continue developing. Of course, there were some parts of the novels that ended up [[AscendedFanon integrated into canon]] as ''Final Mix'' cutscenes, albeit differently portrayed.
* AllThereInTheManual: Much of explanations for the ''Kingdom Hearts'' mysteries are in the ''Ultimania'' guides which, surprise surprise, will [[NoExportForYou never see the light of day outside of Japan.]]
**One of the most prominent examples being cutscenes from ''KH2: Final Mix+'' being included in the opening for ''358/2 Days'', as well as mention of [[spoiler: the Chambers of Repose and Waking]]. Which were also only mentioned in ''Final Mix+''. Which was only released in Japan. It seems a lot of the time like Square just assumes the player finds out about all this elsewhere.
* AlternateContinuity: All characters from previous works.
* AnachronicOrder: The (Secret) Ansem Reports. You never collect them in numerical order, leaving holes in the story for earlier entries to fill in. It either makes them confusing or deeper. Your choice.
* AnimatedArmor
* {{Anvilicious}}: About all of its moral messages, even the... [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop unusual ones]]
* AuthorAppeal: Tetsuya Nomura's obsession with zippers and belts is all over the games.
** Similarly, after Nomura had tried some Sea-Salt Ice Cream at a Disney resort, he liked it so much that he worked it into Kingdom Hearts II as a recurring thing.
* AwesomeByAnalysis: Sora's universe saving feats and daring swordplay are made even more impressive when you realize that unlike his predecessors, he is completely self-taught in using his Keyblade. Oh, and he defeats evil forces such as Maleficent that the protagonists of Birth By Sleep were apparently unable to do as well as beating the Lingering Sentiment.
* BadassLongcoat: Mickey Mouse(!)
* BeehiveBarrier: Protective spells and other areas
* BetaTestBaddie: Organization XIII.
* BetterThanItSounds: A fusion between Final Fantasy and ''Disney'', a lot of Final Fantasy fans hated it right off the bat and didn't even want to look at it. Then they played it.
* BigBad: Ansem in the first and Xemnas in the second.
* BishonenLine: Nobodies are stated to take forms closer to their original bodies as they grow more powerful with the weakest looking like twitching white jumpsuits and the very strongest being physically indistinguishable from normal humans.
* BlackCloak
* BlackMagic: The ever-vague 'darkness' everyone keeps talking about can be controlled by strong people, but for [[EvilIsNotAToy those who aren't...]]
* BlueBishonenGhetto: Despite [[ViewerGenderConfusion many players' first impressions]], only one [[spoiler:or is it two, now?]] of Organization XIII is actually a girl. Good luck guessing which one!
* CargoShip: Xemnas/[[MacGuffin Kingdom Hearts]] and Sora/[[EmpathicWeapon Keyblade]]
* CerebusSyndrome
* ChainedByFashion: The Shadow Stalker/Dark Thorn boss
* ChaosArchitecture: ''Kingdom Hearts II''; Same worlds, radically different layout
** ''358/2 Days''. Same worlds, just plain ''smaller'' (and entirely new in Neverland's case.)
* CherryBlossoms: Part of Marluxia's power. Apparently, ''[[GratuitousJapanese sakura]]'' symbolize death among other things, so this is [[SinisterScythe actually appropriate]] in a WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic kind of way. Or they're just rose petals. The jury's still out on that.
* TheChrisCarterEffect: Good luck trying to make sense of the cosmology, especially when the characters who would theoretically be best qualified to explain are of somewhat questionable sanity.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: Organization XIII has a real problem with this.
* CollectibleCardGame: Both as a gameplay mechanic in ''Chain of Memories'' and as an actual collectible card game
* ContinuityLockOut: If you start the series from a later game you may be a bit lost when it comes to the plot.
* CosmicKeystone: The Keyholes serve this purpose for each individual world.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Demyx
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome
* CueCullen: [[ChristopherLee Christopher. Fucking. Lee.]] That is all.
* CuteShotaroBoy: Sora and Roxas.
* CutsceneIncompetence: Sora is a big offender of this, while Goofy is not.
* DarkActionGirl: Larxene
* DarkIsNotEvil: From the first game to the end of ''Kingdom Hearts II''.
** It just happens to attract a lot of bad guys, is all.
* DisneyDeath: Well, Disney ''did'' help produce the game.
* DracoInLeatherPants: '''All''' of Organization XIII. Ye gods. There are fans who think ''[[DieForOurShip Kairi]]'' is more evil than the Organization.
** Nomura has confirmed in an interview that, though several members of the Organization have sympathetic motives, their goal to claim Kingdom Hearts was little different from what the Heartless was doing and was, in fact, EVIL. Not that FanDumb will listen...
* DreamMirror: Everyone has a Heart, Soul and Body.
* DuelBoss
* EldritchAbomination: The Heartless are some of the cutest ones ever.
** It really depends on how you ''play'' them out to be. Shadow Heartless jumping around? Freaking adorable. A Knight Heartless ripping someone's heart out? [[NightmareFuel Holy cow]]...
** The Nobodies are worse. Even by the cosmology of the series, it's stated that their existence simply doesn't make sense. It doesn't help that most of them look and move like animated clothing.
* ElementalPowers: Organization XIII. Most of them. Their individual powers are accurately "attributes", or themes to their abilities. This gets corrupted into "elements" by fans.
** Some of them aren't quite what they're made out to be anyway. For example: Xemnas has "Nothingness" and Luxord has "Time", but they turn out to be more like "YinYangBomb" and "TimedMission" in practice.
** However, the ones who indeed have traditional elements as their "attributes" (Axel, Demyx, Larxene, Xaldin, Lexeaus, Vexen, and Roxas to a certain extent) have traditional elemental powers.
* EmpathicWeapon: The Keyblades
* EvilMakeover: All of Organization XIII
* {{Expy}}: The recently revealed master of Terra, Aqua, and Ven, who bears a ''[[http://i722.photobucket.com/albums/ww225/Lissar/master.jpg very]]'' [[http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2007/03/sakaguchihahahaha.jpg striking]] resemblance to Squaresoft founder and ''FinalFantasy'' creator, Hironobu Sakaguchi. And to further drive the point home, guess what his name is. Master Eraqus. [[SquareEnix Now unscramble those letters and guess what it says]].
* FanDumb: Don't get us ''started''....
* FightingFromTheInside: Riku
* FiveBadBand: Kingdom Hearts likes this trope.
** The Disney villains form one in the first game:
*** BigBad - Maleficent
*** TheDragon - Captain Hook
*** TheBrute - Oogie Boogie
*** [[EvilGenius The Evil Genius]] - Jafar
*** TheDarkChick - Ursula
*** [[SixthColumn The Sixth Column]] - Hades
** The Organization members in Chain of Memories:
*** BigBad - Marluxia
*** TheDragon - Larxene
*** TheBrute - Lexaeus
*** [[EvilGenius The Evil Genius]] - Vexen
*** TheDarkChick - Zexion
*** [[SixthColumn The Sixth Column]] - Axel
**** Technically, only Marluxia, Larxene, and Vexen screw with Sora, so if you take the other half and add Vexen, you'd have to make a whole 'nother list. And seriously, in Riku's story, Zexion is the BigBad and EvilGenius combined. For the Organization, at least.
** The Organization members in Kingdom Hearts 2:
*** BigBad - Xemnas
*** TheDragon - Saix
*** TheBrute - Xaldin
*** [[EvilGenius The Evil Genius]] - Luxord
*** TheDarkChick - Demyx
*** [[SixthColumn The Sixth Column]] - Axel (Again); later Xigbar
* FiveManBand: The heroes form one at the end of the second game.
** TheHero - Sora
** TheLancer - Riku
** TheBigGuy - Goofy
** TheSmartGuy - Donald
** TheChick - Kairi
** TheSixthRanger - Mickey
* TheForce: The Light; among other possibilities, this is the stuff of which worlds and people are made. It's apparently also the source and distributor of the Keyblades and Sora's initial visions. Can also impart Mysterious Monologues with the best of them.
* FunnyAnimal: Mickey and Co.
* GoddamnOrks: While they are also obviously {{The Heartless}}, the Heartless and Nobodies are also {{Goddamn Orks}}.
* GoodIsDumb: Riku's [[AmbitionIsEvil ambition]] and [[JumpedAtTheCall independence]] radically decreases with each game until he's perfectly content to play the MysteriousProtector and wait for Sora to finish the ''real'' work. This stems from a not inconsiderable amount of shame from failing to control the darkness and being possessed by Ansem in the first game, and from the Keyblade quite pointedly rejecting him in favor of Sora.
** While they don't turn good, the Organization XIII members that you control in mission/multiplayer mode in ''358/2 Days'' are a good deal weaker than their incarnations as boss-fights in ''Chain of Memories'' and ''[=KH2=]''. Most of them have their signature attacks reduced to only being used as their LimitBreak, and some abilities (Larxene's after-images, Demyx's water-clones, Xaldin's whirlwind-spear-dragon) are missing entirely.
* GreenLanternCorps: If the previews are anything to go by, Keyblade wielders were a knighthood.
* GuestStarPartyMember: Most worlds have one
* HammerSpace: Where else do you think the Keyblade goes when Sora's not carrying it?
** Completely [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in Roxas' case. [[spoiler:The intelligent Nobodies can call forth spiritual weapons at will, or at least most of them can. Naturally, Roxas' would be the Kingdom Key.]]
* HartmanHips: It's kind of hard to tell under the cloak, but [[spoiler:Larxene]], the only actual female in Organization XIII ([[spoiler:most of the time]]).
** Hilariously, Sora gets these when he's in his mer-dolphin Atlantica form.
* TheHeartless: The creatures from which [[TropeNamer the trope is named.]]
* HeroesWantRedheads: Kairi
* HeyItsThatVoice: Ye gods, this. One of the games' most acclaimed features, in fact.
* HijackedByGanon: If something's going wrong, nine times out of ten, Xehanort (in some for or another) is behind it.
* IdiosyncraticDifficultyLevels: Beginner, Standard, Hard, Proud, and Critical.
* ImpossiblyCoolClothes: Zippers galore, even on hats!
* ImprobableWeaponUser: Sora's giant key, Goofy's shield, Demyx's sitar, Zexion's lexicon...
* InstrumentOfMurder: Demyx's sitar.
* InternetBackdraft: Even TV Tropes is not immune.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Donald Duck.
* KidHero: Sora
* KudzuPlot: Just try to figure things out without a wiki and mastery of string theory.
* TheLancer: Though they only technically "meet" once, Roxas manages to be this to Sora.
* {{Leitmotif}}: Kairi, Sora, Riku, Roxas, Namine, and Xion all have their own theme tunes. Battles against Riku and/or "Ansem" in the first two games also open with identical organ chords. The vast majority of tunes related to Organization XIII use some part of "Another Side"'s melody, as well.
** All of the Nobodies' themes seem to be the normal characters' themes (for those that have them) slightly altered.
* LetterMotif: X for Organization XIII.
** LetXBeTheUnknown
* LiteralSplitPersonality: Sora from the first game ends up being split into "Heartfull/Heartless" Sora (his Heart), and Roxas (body and soul) [[spoiler:plus Xion absorbing his memories]]. They're put back together in one being by the end, but Roxas and [[spoiler:Xion]] still exist somewhere in Sora, somehow - but the games never really explore any possible future consequences of Sora having two extra people inside of him might have. [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse Hopefully this will eventually be expanded upon, maybe.]]
** Some argue that he can communicate with Roxas, as Naminé told him that he will not fade but be whole. [[spoiler:Xion seems pretty dead / absorbed, though.]]
*** Actually, [[spoiler:in ''358/2 Days'', we can actually hear Xion communicating with Riku even after having been dead/absorbed.]] So it seems her consciousness is still there somewhere.
**** On the upside, Sora will never be lonely again. On the downside, he is now, medically speaking, suffering from a mix of dissociative identity disorder and schizophrenia. Better hope the three don't converse in public.
* LivingShadow: The Heartless, some varieties moreso than others
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Mostly from the DisneyAnimatedCanon.
* MagicKnight: All keyblade wielders and most of Organization XIII.
* MassiveMultiplayerCrossover: Between Disney and Square Enix
* MeaningfulName: Sora means sky, the "kai" in Kairi means sea, and Riku means land. Also, the Keyblade Knights in ''Birth by Sleep'' happen to be called Ven(tus), Aqua, and Terra. ''[[TheUntwist Hmmmmm.]]'')
** There's also Namine. "Nami" is a word for "ocean wave". Remember whose Nobody she is?
*** The first part of Xion's name- "shio"- is the word for "tide".
** To be specific, Ventus, Aqua, and Terra stand for air, water, and earth respectively.
** "There are many worlds, but they all share the same [[TheHero sky]]."
*** Which is technically untrue.
* MetalSlime: White Mushrooms and Rare Truffes to some degree, Black Fungus all the way
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: All of the X obsessed Organization XIII
* NightmareFuel: As long as Disney is involved, there's bound to be ''some'' NightmareFuel/((Disney)). That's not even including the bizarre Nobodies.
** Check [[NightmareFuel/KingdomHearts here for more info or its own page]].
* NoExportForYou: Kingdom Hearts owns this trope (unfortunately). It's not just a few bosses added, it's entirely new playable areas that set up the sequels ([=KH1=]) and an entire UpdatedRerelease to Chain of Memories attached to the ''other'' UpdatedRerelease {[=KH2=]}
* NonElemental
* NonLethalKO: Party members just get dazed when defeated. After a breather (or some healing) they'll be ready for action again. This doesn't apply to Sora unless it's a battle Mickey shows up in.
* NowWhereWasIGoingAgain: Jiminy Cricket's Journal
* TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness: In the first game, ''Chain of Memories'', and ''II Final Mix'', overlaps with the LegionOfDoom.
* OneWingedAngel: Most final bosses do this at least once. [[FinalFantasyVII Sephiroth]] notably does ''not'' (though he does have one angel wing.) His regular form is enough to constitute a BonusBoss.
* TheOtherDarrin: Quite a few. A bad example being Mandy Moore replaced by the absolutely wooden Mena Suvari. A good example would be Lance Bass being replaced by George Newbern (who made it clear that the line is "Descend, Heartless Angel", not "Sin Harvest" as Bass' rushed delivery had many believing.)
* PintsizedPowerhouse: King Mickey
* PlayingWithFire: Axel
* PeekABangs: Zexion
* PortmanteauCoupleName: [=AkuRoku=] for Axel/Roxas.
* ThePowerOfFriendship: This concept is key to the series, but it's done in such a well-executed manner as to still feel natural, despite being idealistic. Keyblades in particular appear to be drawn to individuals who have strong hearts, and thus, exemplify this trope.
* PowerTrio: Sora! Donald! Goofy! [[CombinationAttack Trinity Attack!]]
* PrimeDirective: Mentioned a couple times, but it's violated ''so thoroughly'' that nobody even cares anymore.
**Ah, yes, the all important "no meddling," last referenced in the SECOND WORLD in the first game...
**It should be noted, however, that the Organization members, aside from Roxas, seem to be more serious about their "this is a stealth operation" directive.
* RealWomenNeverWearDresses: A "justification" for bashing toward Kairi and Namine.
* RelationshipWritingFumble: The series kinda overdoes it with some of the [[HoYay deeper male friendships]]. The [[YaoiFangirl shippers]] [[{{Understatement}} have noticed]].
* RetGone: A LOT of it.
** One example of the trope occurs with [[spoiler:Sora]] during the year between ''Chain of Memories'' and ''KingdomHearts II'': [[spoiler:while Sora is sleeping and Namine is reconstructing his memories, everyone who knew him forgets that he existed until he awakens again.]]
*RoaringRampageOfRevenge: For the ''player'' rather than anyone in the game. Seriously, name something from a Disney film that scared the bejeezus out of you as a kid. Maleficent, Chernobog, Ursula, Oogie Boogie... odds are good that whatever you named, you're gonna get to dish out some long overdue payback on.
* RonTheDeathEater: Sora for rabid Organization XIII fans and Kairi for rabid yaoi fans.
* RuleOfThree: There are apparently three enemy types, but we only know that Nobodies are the third (Unversed and Heartless are, presumably, the first two).
* SavingTheWorld: ''Worlds'', plural
* TheScrappy: Kairi, usually for DieForOurShip reasons. Namine has been known to be this as well, and Xion is a very controversial character too. Generally, female characters don't get it too good in the fandom.
** [[YaoiFangirl Not entirely surprising, however.]]
** This troper would like to point out that both Kairi and Xion are torpedoed for non-yaoi related reasons and by non-yaoi fans. Naminé, for some reason, managed to escape all of this, and more, soon enough.
* SelfImposedChallenge: The Critical Mode (NintendoHard) Lvl. 1 Challenge with NO DAMAGE for scripted fights, boss fights and Data battles (''more'' NintendoHard) from KHIIFM+.
** Enter [[http://www.youtube.com/user/Bizkit047 Bizkit047]], who meets the above description and has ''more restrictions'' for several of these fights.
*** Want to get an idea of what it takes to be this good? Watch some of these hard Lvl. 1 CM no damage fights with restrictions: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DG1UGrpfLRY&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=113 Terra]] and [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYxuneOic_0&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=101 Saïx Data]].
*** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xlYZotba7U&feature=PlayList&p=9698BB755A437CB9&index=94 Xigbar Data]]with all these restrictions is simply insane.
*** Do not forget his several hacked fights. One Sephiroth? Make it [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=engLExDtZto&feature=related two]]. Watch this [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-HgzQ0d-4 Xigbar x2 + Xaldin fight]]. Make sure to look at related videos and look at the other hacked fights from there (such as triple Sephiroth and quintuple Sephiroth/Terra).
** In ''Re:Chain of Memories'', Bizkit047 also takes up the no HP+ Challenge on Proud.
**Meanwhile, [[http://www.youtube.com/user/apulapul2000 apulapul2000]] has some very good time attack videos.
*** Try beating KHIIFM+ Sephiroth in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li87nZcMgL4&feature=PlayList&p=EF4AFFD3D42F20DC&index=0 37 seconds]].
** ''358/2 Days'': Everything is equipped in the panel grid, including level ups, so it's quite easy to impose a level 1 challenge on yourself, among other things.
* SequelHook: The HundredPercentCompletion secret movies
* SequentialBoss: No self-respecting final boss in this series would be caught dead without at least three forms.
** Except for Marluxia before the UpdatedRerelease.
* ShipTease: ''Kingdom Hearts II'' in particular.
* ShipToShipCombat: Particularly in regards to the HoYay.
* ShipSinking: [[spoiler:Xemnas/Saïx is torpedoed in ''358/2 Days''.]]
** [[spoiler: It kind of sinks Axel/Roxas as well, as Axel specifically states that he considers romantic love (the kind between Belle and Beast being the topic-starter) and love between best friends to be completely separate. But will this stop AkuRoku from being shipped in the fandom? Veeeeeeery slim chance there...]]
*** [[spoiler:After all the HoYay? No chance at all.]]
* ShootEmUps: With the gummi ships.
* ShoutOut: The majority of Nobodies are named after the various job classes in the FinalFantasy series, and often behave as such.
* SigilSpam: The Heartless emblem and the Nobody sigil both show up on pretty much anything connected to their groups.
** And you can pretty much bet on the Unversed sigil getting the same treatment.
** Curiously enough, Hayner's T-Shirt has a skull-and-crossbones designed the same way as the Heartless emblem.
* SignificantAnagram: All of Organization XIII. Leads to EpilepticTrees about the original names of the "other" members.
* SinisterScythe: Marluxia
** Uh... "sinister"? That thing is pink and has a flower motif.
*** And can hit you with [[OneHitKill Doom.]] It's [[GrimReaper thematically appropriate]], anyway.
* SlasherSmile: See the Tokyo Game Show 2003 Trailer. [[spoiler:Axel, when he's facing Roxas in the final tutorial battle.]] He does do a milder version in the actual game.
* {{SORAS}}: No, not a cameo from a double-vision-affected [=~BRIAN BLESSED~=]. Just some tinkering with the ''FinalFantasy'' characters.
* TheSoulless: Well heartless, if you want to get technical, but the Nobodies fit this like a glove.
* SpiritualSuccessor: The ManaSeries was succeeded by KingdomHearts, more or less. And now it looks like ''[[http://dsn.91.com/ Disney Fantasy Online]]'' will be a spiritual successor to KingdomHearts, as it's essentially KingdomHearts online with the SquareEnix properties filed off but with the Nomura art style and core concepts retained.
** To be fair, it appears to just bring the concept to a MMORPG.
* SpotlightStealingSquad: Organization XIII. The image at the top of this page is a terrific illustration.
* SquishyWizard: Donald, ''in spades''
* StandardFemaleGrabArea
* StylisticSuck: Some of Naminé's drawings, which may be forgiveable as she is working in crayon then. In pencil, of course, she's completely amazing.
* TakeMyHand: Seen a lot with Riku and Sora (especially Riku, who makes it his pose in the opening cinematics of both KingdomHearts and KingdomHeartsII.)
* TechnicalPacifist: It's stated [[AllThereInTheManual in the manual]] that Goofy fights with a shield because he dislikes conventional weapons.
* TeensAreShort: Sora, Riku, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, etc... are all shorter than almost ''all'' of the adults in the game. "Shorter than some" would be understandable, as would "slightly shorter than most", but there is a significant height gap most of the way through, at least for the males. Although Riku does hit a growth spurt after ''Chain of Memories'' and becomes "adult height" for ''KingdomHearts II''.
** Sora's growth spurt was nothing to scoff at either. The pants that reached his ankles in the original didn't even pass his knees in the sequel.
** Not really a teen, but seeing Goofy next to some of these other characters makes you realize that he's not so tall as much as all of his friends are just short.
* ThemeNaming
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: Organization XIII.
* TitleDrop: In every game so far.
**Except not quite in 358/2 Days.
* TookALevelInBadass: Mickey is shown to have been clumsy at keyblading when training under Yen Sid in ''Birth By Sleep.'' In the present day, he's the most skilled keyblade wielder of all.
* TwoGuysAndAGirl: Sora, Riku, Kairi; Terra, Ven, Aqua; Hayner, Pence, Olette (if you don't count Roxas); Roxas, Axel, Xion. Not to mention the evil, non-friendship version with Marluxia, Axel, and Larxene in "Chain of Memories". This series loves this trope.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Quite a few characters like sea-salt ice cream, which serves as a minor plot point.
* UpdatedRerelease: Only available in Japan, naturally
* UncannyValley: What the Nobodies, humanlike and otherwise, of Organization XIII are ''supposed'' to be the epitome of -- all attempts to put DracoInLeatherPants aside.
** Even worse are the upcoming Unversed.
** And, just like in their own movie, the characters from [[NightmareBeforeChristmas Halloweentown]] fall here intentionally (after all, it ''is'' supposed to be a scary place). But so do the Christmas Town people
* TheUnchosenOne: Sora. While it is debatable as to whether or not the Keyblade was originally intended for Riku, his theft of it in ''KingdomHearts I'' forced Sora to have to fight to reclaim his title as Keybearer.
* ThirtyXanatosPileup: The sheer amount of scheming going on the background is staggering. At last count, there have been at least ''five'' factions helping or hurting the heroes at any point.
* UnscaledMerfolk: Sora and co when the are in Atlantica.
* UnusuallyUninterestingSight: You'd think someone like Jack Sparrow would say something when faced with an ''anthropomorphic duck''. In fact, someone would probably comment on there being several people looking like they just stepped out of a cartoon in a place that clearly doesn't have that kind of stuff. In fact, if we add the reactions to Barbossa's crew being undead, we've progressed from Epic WeirdnessCensor through FridgeLogic into borderline WallBanger.
** Only once is the fact that Donald and Goofy are anything other than human mentioned at all - Genie refers to Donald as "my fine feathered friend" in the first game.
** Maybe they use some magic to appear human to everyone else other than Sora (and the player)? It wouldn't be strange for KH characters at all, since [[spoiler:Xion looks different to everyone who looks at her as well.]]
*** [[spoiler:Xion]] is completely different and a very unique case. She and the protagonists disguising themselves are completely incomparable.
* ViewerGenderConfusion: Organization XIII. The girl passes for a boy, half the boys [[{{Bishonen}} look like girls]]... Two-dimensional sprite artwork (in Chain of Memories anyway) is partly to blame.
** The main offender of this trope is Marluxia; he's got a feminine name, has pink hair, a pink scythe and flower petals around him. According to Nomura in a Japanese-only publication, the staff actually originally intended for him to be a woman, but when the Organization traitor plotline was thought up, they had to change him to male, otherwise [[UnfortunateImplications it would have been two women trying to oppose a male-dominated group and getting squashed for it in the end.]]
* VillainBasedFranchise: Xehanort (or one component of him) managed to cause every single problem in the series in some manner.
* VillainDecay: One name: Maleficent. She's paired with ''[[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Pete]]'' in the sequel, for gods' sake. Meanwhile Axel passed from being the ManipulativeBastard into a much smaller role, with an [[HoYay unusual fixation on the newest member of the Organization]] in ''Kingdom Hearts II''.
** Maleficent didn't really have much to work with, frankly. After being killed off in the first game, it's doubtful that many of the surviving villains would be flocking back to her side. Thankfully she apparently [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] in ''Coded'', [[http://kh13.com/mybb/showthread.php?tid=2299 just read the last line in this episode 5 summary.]]
* WatchingTheSunset
* WeCouldHaveAvoidedAllThis: So many things could have been made easier if people would just tell Sora and Co. what they want done instead of insisting on using annoying secrecy and dangerous experiments/powers.
* WhatAnIdiot: A lot of examples could be justified. One, however, stands out. At the end of ''Chain of Memories'' Jiminy Cricket knows that Sora and his {{Nakama}}, including Jiminy himself, are going to be out of action for a while, and for certain reasons won't remember any of this. He wants to remember it, though, so he decides to write it in his journal. Since they just beat the BigBad of this game, and they have all the time they need, does he write a complex explanation? No, just two words. "[[spoiler:Thank Naminé.]]" Cue confusion at the beginning of ''Kingdom Hearts 2'' proper.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Hoo boy. The Nobodies. Sora in particular sticks to his "You don't exist, you don't feel anything" mantra right until the end, even after one of them pulls a HeroicSacrifice for his sake... One might think he were speaking directly to Disney's censors. Meanwhile ''other'', non-Nobody villains succumb to TheHeartless, a KarmicDeath, get OneWingedAngel enough to get covered by this trope or survive for a while.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Several--though two or three, depending how you count, are kinda the same person.
* WhiteVoidRoom: Most of the rooms in Castle Oblivion. Most notably Namine's
* WholePlotReference: Several, if not most worlds--but none as strictly as Pirates of the Caribbean, seemingly reconstructed in abridged form with Sora and the Heartless slapdashily thrown in.
* WomanInWhite: Namine
* {{Woolseyism}}
**''[=COM=]''[='s=] "stock techniques" were changed to "sleights" (as in sleight of hand).
**Lots of weapons were renamed, especially in the first game. Some make sense. ("Wonder of Abyss" to "Mysterious Abyss".) Others don't. ("Holy Pumpkin" to "Decisive Pumpkin".)
***"Decisive Pumpkin" actually makes sense if you think about it: the name comes from Jack (Skellington) wanting to combine Christmas with Halloween instead of leaving the Holidays be, and eventually learning that its bst he do his own thing instead of riffing off "Sandy Claws's" holiday.
*** ''Days'' also renamed many weapons, most notably Xaldin's and Lexaeus's, which had a Chinese/Japanese respectively name theme going in the Japanese version.
**Some Heartless got little renames. "Bulk Vendor" to "Bulky Vendor". "Flare Globe" to "Fiery Globe". "Mad Dog" to "Rabid Dog". "Gate Guardian" to "Thresholder".
*** Conversely, ''very many'' Heartless were renamed in ''Days''.
**Xemnas's weapon type got changed from "Aerial Blade" to "Ethereal Blades", which helps get the point across to those who actually speak English.
**Xigbar's title is the Japanese title of the opera ''Der Freischütz'', so his English title is the English translation of the opera's title ("the Freeshooter").
** In a ContinuityNod, [[FinalFantasyVIII Seifer]] still calls you a "chicken-wuss".
* XanatosSpeedChess: Xemnas, DiZ, and even ''Mickey Mouse'' are masters of this.
* XanatosGilligan: Sora and Co. have an amazing ability to tear complicated schemes to pieces by without ever fully understanding them. (Though they do have help.)
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