Keyblade Graveyard

First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS II (2006)

The thirteen seekers of darkness and seven guardians of light convened in the Keyblade Graveyard, and the Keyblade War began anew.

Sora and the others cut through legions of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed, oblivious to the true dangers that awaited them. Terra-Xehanort appeared, and single-handedly struck down Ventus and Axel. Donald mustered all of his magicial might to blast Terra-Xehanort away, but collapsed from the exhaustion afterwards.

Then, a Demon Tide broke loose from the realm of darkness and consumed the guardians. The light expired before it could so much as flicker. Crushed, Sora wept. “Alone, I’m worthless. We’ve lost.”

But as a shadow washed over him, Riku reminded his friend: “You don’t believe that. I know you don’t.”

Sora awoke in a world of nothing but sea and sky. He’d seen this place in his dreams before. But this wasn’t sleep.

He encountered a strange creature named Chirithy, who told him he was in The Final World. While Sora’s heart had survived utter destruction, his physical form had been fragmented, and so he set about piecing himself back together.

Whole once more, he wished with all his heart to save his friends, and returned to the legion of shadow that had consumed him.

Jiminy, it turns out, had remained by Sora’s side. He encouraged Sora to explore the worlds they had been to and free the hearts of their lost friends.

Sora pursued his friends’ captor through dark corridor after dark corridor, freeing their hearts one by one – all except Kairi’s. It was then that Chip and Dale told them the way to the Keyblade Graveyard had reopened.

Before they could look for Kairi, though, Young Xehanort appeared and offered up a cryptic warning: that Sora was misusing the power of waking, and would pay a high price for it. What did he mean?

They returned to the site of their defeat, where Sora was reunited with Kairi amidst the Demon Tide’s darkness. Kairi never stopped believing in Sora, and the pure light within her – one of the New Seven Hearts – was what kept his heart from being extinguished. She took his hand and, together, they left the dark to a familiar sight: the Keyblade Graveyard, shortly before they made their last stand.

A heart of light, so long as it retains even the faintest glow, will always rise to banish the darkness, as such as dawn sweeps away the night.

So it was that Terra’s lingering will awakened and began wrestling control of his body back from Xehanort. So it was that Keyblade wielders from the past came and fought alongside Sora against the great Demon Tide. And so it was that Yen Sid, Donald, and Goofy stood bravely against a sea of Heartless.

The many bonds they shared became their courage and their armour as they pressed on to settle things with Organization XIII once and for all.

Riku had been holding his own against Dark Riku and Xigbar – and Ansem, who retreated when Sora joined the fight.

The two friends defeated Dark Riku, who insisted the Riku on the side of light was the fake. But the final judgment was rendered by a third Riku – the replica inside Riku’s heart. He could have seized Dark Riku’s body for his own, but instead the replica sacrificed himself in order to tear Dark Riku free of the vessel, so that it could be saved for Naminé.

Xigbar was defeated as well, asserting with his final words that he too was worthy of wielding a Keyblade. With the present fight ended, Riku took off after Ansem, while Sora pressed onward to the next battle.

Sora arrived to find the King single-handedly facing Marluxia, Larxene, Luxord, and Xemnas. Seeing the tide of battle shift, Xemnas made a hasty retreat, leaving his fellow Organization members to be defeated one by one.

Luxord, empowered by Xemnas, trapped the King in a card and challenged Sora to one final game. Sora saw through the ruse and emerged victorious. With his final breath, Luxord offered praise for the young Keyblade wielder. As for Larxene, she claimed she’d never truly been in Master Xehanort’s corner, but was sticking by someone else. And Marluxia’s defeat seemed to kindle his heart and trigger memories of who he once was.

Another small battle had been won. King Mickey went after Xemnas after Xemnas, and Sora continued on to help the others.

Ventus and Aqua were waging their own battles: he against Vanitas, and she against Terra-Xehanort. Sora arrived just in time to level the playing field.

Vanitas’s mask was shattered, revealing a face identical to Sora’s beneath it. Even as he perished, he refused to come into the light, insisting the light is defined by shadow.

As for Terra-Xehanort, Aqua and Ventus were careful not to harm their friend’s body too gravely, but Terra-Xehanort refused to cease his vicious onslaught. Thankfully, their bonds of friendship won out. With a rasp, Terra spoke his own voice for the first time in forever, and he banished Xehanort from his body once and for all. The three friends, battered but unbroken, celebrated their long overdue reunion while Sora pushed onward to the next battle.

Axel and Kairi were still new to the Keyblade, and it was showing as they tried to fend off Saïx and another black coat.

As Xemnas prepared to finish off the “traitor” Axel, the mysterious third figure came to Axel’s defense. Her name was Xion, and the connection that she and Axel shared was finally enough to awaken Roxas from within Sora and to call him back into this world.

Sora and the others now held the advantage, but Xemnas refused a peaceful end. He grabbed Kairi and fled. Roxas and Xion took Axel and Kairi’s place in battle and helped Sora tame Saïx’s rage. Before expiring, Saïx rekindled his friendship with Axel. Kairi’s abduction was a crushing blow, but Sora knew he had to keep going.

With the gauntlet of battles fought and won, Sora rejoined Riku and the King. The three of them faced off against Xehanort in his various forms; they had no choice, now that Kairi was Xehanort’s hostage.

With one light or another, Xehanort was determined to open Kingdom Hearts.

Sora, Riku, and Mickey showed tremendous courage as they defeated Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort. But these were the very clashes Master Xehanort needed to create the x-blade. He required just one more.

Sora watched in horror as Master Xehanort struck Kairi down.

Sora and his friends were filled with rage, and yet the moment they struck back at Xehanort, the clash between thirteen darknesses and seven lights was complete, and the x-blade was forged.

Kingdom Hearts was steeped in darkness, and the world around the guardians began to crumble, yet still the guardians of light refused to give up. King Mickey explained that if Xehanort could be drawn away from Kingdom Hearts, its power could be contained by the Keyblade for a time. Sora volunteered to take on Xehanort.

With Donald and Goofy by his side – two faithful friends who had stuck with him through countless adventures – Sora leapt toward Xehanort to cast the old Master through his own portal.