Sora
- For fighter info, seeSora (SSBU).
- For other uses of "Sora", seeSora (disambiguation).
| Sora | |
|---|---|
Official renders of Sora fromKingdom Hearts,Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX,Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance andKingdom Hearts III | |
| Universe | Kingdom Hearts |
| Debut | Kingdom Hearts (2002) |
| Smash Bros. appearances | Ultimate |
| Most recent non-Smash appearance | Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory (2020) |
| Console/platform of origin | PlayStation 2 |
| Species | Human |
| Gender | Male |
| Place of origin | Destiny Islands |
| Created by | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Designed by | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Englishvoice actor | Haley Joel Osment |
| Japanesevoice actor | Miyu Irino |
| Article on Kingdom Hearts Wiki | Sora |
Sora (ソラ,Sora) is the main protagonist of theKingdom Hearts series. Originally a normal boy who sought to venture from his home in theDestiny Islands and explore worlds, Sora embarks on a quest to reunite with his best friends,Kairi andRiku, after their home world was consumed by darkness.
During his quest, Sora obtains a mysterious weapon known as aKeyblade, allies withDonald Duck andGoofy to journey to various worlds in order to help each other reunite with their respective allies, and unravels the mysteries of both the Keyblade and the darkness that consumed the Destiny Islands and numerous other worlds.
Sora debuted in theSuper Smash Bros. series as a playable character as the seventh and final character ofFighters Pass Vol. 2.
Origin[edit]
Sora was born and raised in theDestiny Islands, a group of small tropical islands. As a newborn, Sora's heart would make contact with an unconsciousVentus, whose heart was fractured in an attempt to separate the dark part of his heart from him. Offering to tether their hearts together to save Ventus, Sora was able to rescue Ventus; however, this caused the dark part of Ventus,Vanitas, to bear Sora's facial structure. After the two merge, Ventus' heart clashes with Vanitas. When Ventus' heart is fractured in this battle as a cost of defeating Vanitas, Sora's heart offers for his heart to take shelter in his own body, so Ventus could regain his strength. Meanwhile, Ventus' friend Aqua hides his comatose body in their home, the Land of Departure, and transforms it into a new form calledCastle Oblivion that will allow Ventus to stay hidden until he reawakens.
Unknowing of the decision his heart made, Sora would continue to live peacefully with his friendsKairi andRiku, alongside other children such asTidus,Wakka andSelphie. The trio of friends desired to explore other worlds, so they built a raft to sail away from the Destiny Islands. The night before their voyage, however, an ominous event occurred. A strange darkness overtook the islands, and creatures known as theHeartless appeared. Desperate to protect the raft, Sora went to locate Kairi and Riku, the latter announcing that he was not afraid of the incoming darkness and allowing himself to be sucked into aCorridor of Darkness. However, thanks to Ventus' heart, Sora was then granted a magical weapon called theKeyblade in order to fight the Heartless, and found himself thrown through the universe.
Awakening in a place calledTraverse Town, Sora teamed up withDonald Duck andGoofy to find his friends, as well asKing Mickey. Together, they would venture through various worlds in order to save the universe from the Heartless, led byAnsem, Seeker of Darkness, who sought to open the door toKingdom Hearts, the source of all light. After fighting Ansem, now possessing Riku's body, inHollow Bastion, Sora ends up sacrificing himself to Kairi and the otherPrincesses of Heart, whose power he used to open the door. His sacrifice gives birth to his own Heartless, Kairi's Nobody, and hisNobody,Roxas, sharing the same facial features as Ventus. Sora is able to return from his Heartless form thanks to the bond he shared with Kairi, and with Donald and Goofy, the trio travel to theEnd of the World to defeat Ansem and seal theDoor to Darkness, a doorway leading to the realm of darkness. He and Kairi end up separating, but not before Sora promises to Kairi that he will be back.
While finding a way back, Sora, Donald, and Goofy end up in Castle Oblivion, where they soon find out that their memories are fading or being rewritten. While trying to figure out what is going on, Sora, Donald, and Goofy run into several members ofOrganization XIII that both try to stop and help them along the way. They also come across a girl namedNaminé, Kairi's Nobody that had been hired by Organization XIII to mess up the memories of Sora and his friends for the Organization's plans. After Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat the castle's ruler,Marluxia, Naminé agrees to help restore their memories, but in order for their memories to be fully restored, she has to put them in a coma for one year.
Concurrent to Sora's time in Castle Oblivion and ensuing recovery, Roxas is quickly discovered by the head of Organization XIII,Xemnas, who declares Roxas an Organization member and orders him to do various tasks. He also makes friends with two other members of the Organization:Axel andXion. The latter is later revealed to not be a traditional Nobody, but a puppetReplica created around Sora's memories. Xion is eventually forced by the Organization to kill Roxas and absorb him to become a "complete" Sora, though Roxas reluctantly defeats her and she fades away in his arms. Roxas is then taken captive by Riku, led byAnsem the Wise under the pseudonym DiZ. While initially held in a false virtual reality for seven days with a mostly wiped memory, Roxas eventually realizes that he must cease to exist and merge with Sora to regain his memories. After some initial resistance, Roxas willingly accepts his demise for the greater good.
Sora, now awake and with all of his memories intact, sets out on another adventure to take down the Organization members and Xemnas. Heading toThe World That Never Was, Sora reunites with Riku and the two foil Xemnas's plans to merge with his artificial Kingdom Hearts, and are able to find themselves back home on Destiny Islands, fully reuniting with Kairi. In the process, they learn that Ansem is a separate being from Ansem the Wise, really a pseudonym belonging to aKeyblade Master by the name ofXehanort. Xehanort split himself into two beings: Ansem, his Heartless, and Xemnas, his Nobody, in an attempt to call forth Kingdom Hearts and re-initiate the ancientKeyblade War. Previously, he had attempted this by splitting Ventus and Vanitas apart, allowing them to later fuse to create theχ-blade, the very first Keyblade, which can summon Kingdom Hearts.
Later, Sora and Riku are tasked byYen Sid to complete theMark of Mastery exam to become Keyblade Masters themselves after sensing the return of Xehanort. It is later revealed by copies of Xehanort that he plans to assemble13 Seekers of Darkness that all carry a piece of his soul, becoming the true form of Organization XIII, in order to restart the Keyblade War. While only Riku becomes a Keyblade Master, Sora is still believed to be the one destined to save the day. Vowing to stop Xehanort, Sora manages to save Aqua from theRealm of Darkness, and uses thepower of waking on Ventus in Castle Oblivion, after Aqua reverted it back to the Land of Departure. Together with Donald, Goofy, Mickey, Kairi, Riku, andLea, the true form of Axel, they head to theKeyblade Graveyard to fight Xehanort's clones and his subordinates.
Although the group manages to defeat most of the organization, saveTerra and Xion from Xehanort's grasp, and restore Roxas and his heart, Xemnas kidnaps Kairi and delivers her to Xehanort, who promptly destroys her after the group defeats the last of Xehanort's subordinates in order to craft the χ-blade. Using all their strength, Sora, Donald, and Goofy manage to defeat Xehanort inScala ad Caelum, and stop his plot to reignite the Keyblade War. Sora then travels intoThe Final World in order to save Kairi, but at the cost of supposedly being lost forever.
One year later, Sora awakens in a nighttime version of The Final World and discovers himself intact. He calls for anyone to answer him, and encountersYozora, the protagonist of the fictional video gameVerum Rex who was mentioned by aNameless Star that Sora had met in the Final World. Yozora cryptically claims that he was sent to "save" Sora, and teleports himself and Sora to the city ofQuadratum. A battle ensues in which Sora is the victor, and Yozora fades after realizing his power was not yet needed, something which a confused Sora asks.
Afterwards, Sora returns to the daytime version of the Final World, and his fate after that is unknown as his friends continue to search for him. Kairi learns that Sora has ended up neither in the realm of light nor darkness, but "somewhere on the other side," from which Ansem the Wise gathers that he has landed in the realm of fiction. With the help of theFairy Godmother, the two learn about Quadratum, and Riku leaves for the city in search of Sora while Kairi remains behind in order to train under Aqua.
At some point in time in Quadratum, Sora wakes up in a luxurious apartment and immediately meets Strelitzia, who tells him that he has arrived in Quadratum and has been asleep for a week there. Sora then finds out that the Heartless are invading Quadratum and proceeds to fight a Darkside Heartless in the city.
InSuper Smash Bros. 4[edit]
During Sora's reveal trailer forSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, it was revealed bySuper Smash Bros. series creatorMasahiro Sakurai that Sora was the overall highest-voted character on theSmash Bros. Fighter Ballot.[1][2] On a related note,Bayonetta's reveal trailer in December 2015 declared her as the winner of the Fighter Ballot among "realizable and negotiable characters", implying that Sora's inclusion at the time was impractical for unspecified reasons.
InSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate[edit]
As a playable character[edit]
Sora appears as anewcomer inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate, with his inclusion being announced during aMr. Sakurai Presents presentation on October 5th, 2021.[1] He is the final fighter ofFighters Pass Vol. 2 andUltimate's roster overall, and was released on October 18th, 2021. In addition to confirming Sora's aforementioned status as the Fighter Ballot's overall winner, Masahiro Sakurai revealed that Sora's inclusion was made possible thanks to an encounter with a representative ofDisney at a "certain game awards venue."[3] As a result, Fighters Pass Vol. 2's roster was increased from six fighters to seven to accommodate Sora's inclusion.
Sora's default costume is his normal appearance fromKingdom Hearts, whereas his alternate costumes consist of his normal appearances fromKingdom Hearts II,Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, andKingdom Hearts III, hisTimeless River appearance, hisValor andWisdom Forms fromKingdom Hearts II, and hisUltimate Form fromKingdom Hearts III.[1][2]
Spirits[edit]
Gallery[edit]
Names in other languages[edit]
| Language | Name |
|---|---|
| ソラ,Sora | |
| Sora | |
| Sora | |
| Sora | |
| Sora | |
| Sora | |
| 索拉,Sora | |
| 소라,Sora | |
| Sora | |
| Сора |
Trivia[edit]
- Sora,Banjo,Kazooie andSteve are the only fighters who belong to a non-Japanese company. In Sora's case, he is owned byThe Walt Disney Company.
- Sora is the first and only fighter from a Square Enix-developed series to be fully voiced in both English and Japanese, asCloud Strife,the Luminary, andSephiroth are voiced only by their Japanese voice actors (Takahiro Sakurai, Mitsuki Saiga, and Toshiyuki Morikawa, respectively) instead of also being voiced by their English voice actors (Steve Burton/Cody Christian, Rasmus Hardiker, and George Newbern/Tyler Hoechlin, respectively).
- Due to having all of his voice clips repurposed from preexistingKingdom Hearts games, Sora is also the only fighter from a Square Enix-developed series to lack new voice clips for his appearance in theSuper Smash Bros. series.
- Due to theKingdom Key'sKeychain token being aHidden Mickey, Sora is the only fighter whose model features a reference to a non-gaming icon.
- According toMasahiro Sakurai, Sora's inclusion was made possible thanks to an encounter with a representative of The Walt Disney Company at a "certain game awards venue" (possibly the 2019 Tokyo Game Show, though the interview does not mention it by name). As a result, Fighters Pass Vol. 2's roster was increased from six fighters to seven (countingPyra andMythra separately) to accommodate his addition.[3]
- Coincidentally, theKingdom Hearts series itself was kickstarted by a near-identical circumstance, in which Shinji Hashimoto was able to pitch the idea of a crossover to Disney by stepping into an elevator with a Disney executive.[4]
- Contrary to popular belief, Disney was actually supportive of Sora's inclusion in theSuper Smash Bros. series.[5] According to Tetsuya Nomura, it was he, not Disney, who viewed Sora's inclusion as being difficult to achieve because of his concern over the crossover clashing with theKingdom Hearts series' lore. Ultimately, Nomura viewed Sora's inclusion as "really great" following the outpouring of positive responses from fans.[6]
External links[edit]
- Article on theDisney Wiki
References[edit]
- ^abcSuper Smash Bros.™ Ultimate – Battling with Sora – Nintendo Switch
- ^abSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate: The Final Mr. Sakurai Presents – Information and Reactions
- ^abPushDustIn on Twitter: "But, one day an opportunity came through. At a certain award venue, Sakurai had the chance to meet with a Disney representative. They said it would be great if Sora could get in!".
- ^Kingdom Hearts 3 Executive Producer Shinji Hashimoto Shares a Heartfelt Message to Fans at Launch
- ^Nibellion on Twitter: "Nomura has also commented on Sora's inclusion in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and reveals that Disney has been quite supportive of the idea behind the scenes"
- ^Nomura Reveals More On Kingdom Hearts IV And The Series' Future With Final Fantasy
| Playable characters | |
|---|---|
| Super Smash Bros. | Captain Falcon ·Donkey Kong ·Fox ·Jigglypuff ·Kirby ·Link ·Luigi ·Mario ·Ness ·Pikachu ·Samus ·Yoshi |
| New inMelee | Bowser ·Dr. Mario ·Falco ·Ganondorf ·Ice Climbers ·Marth ·Mewtwo ·Mr. Game & Watch ·Peach ·Pichu ·Roy ·Sheik ·Young Link ·Zelda |
| New inBrawl | Diddy Kong ·Ike ·King Dedede ·Lucario ·Lucas ·Meta Knight ·Olimar (Pikmin) ·Pit ·Pokémon Trainer (Squirtle ·Ivysaur ·Charizard) ·R.O.B. ·Snake ·Sonic ·Toon Link ·Wario ·Wolf ·Zero Suit Samus |
| New inSmash 4 | (Alph) ·Bayonetta ·Bowser Jr. (Koopalings) ·Cloud ·Corrin ·Dark Pit ·Duck Hunt ·Greninja ·Little Mac ·Lucina ·Mega Man ·Mii Brawler ·Mii Gunner ·Mii Swordfighter ·Pac-Man ·Palutena ·Robin ·Rosalina &Luma ·Ryu ·Shulk ·Villager ·Wii Fit Trainer |
| New inUltimate | Banjo &Kazooie ·Byleth ·Chrom ·Daisy ·Dark Samus ·Hero ·Incineroar ·Inkling ·Isabelle ·Joker ·Kazuya ·Ken ·King K. Rool ·Min Min ·Mythra ·Piranha Plant ·Pyra ·Richter ·Ridley ·Sephiroth ·Simon ·Sora ·Steve (Alex,Zombie,Enderman) ·Terry |
| Fighter | Sora (SSBU) |
|---|---|
| Stage | Hollow Bastion |
| Spirits | Spirits |
| Music | Ultimate |
| Related universe | Final Fantasy |

