Episode 54 - Kingdom Hearts Deep Dive

- Tune in every Monday for a new episode of "The Saints That Serve Podcast" -

Join Jonny and Jarus as they dive into the tangled world of Kingdom Hearts, gaming’s most famously complex story. From the Destiny Islands to Castle Oblivion, they follow Sora, Donald, and Goofy through Disney worlds, battling Heartless, Nobodies, and Organization XIII while unraveling the eternal clash of light and darkness.

Along the way, they spotlight unforgettable characters, wild plot twists, and legendary voice actors like Haley Joel Osment, Mark Hamill, Christopher Lee, and Leonard Nimoy. Whether you’re a seasoned Keyblade wielder or just Kingdom Hearts-curious, Jonny and Jarus break down the beautiful chaos of this iconic Disney x Square Enix franchise.

 #SaintsThatServe #SaintsThatServePodcast #JonnyAndJarus #KingdomHearts #DisneyGames #SquareEnix #JRPGPodcast #Sora #Keyblade #Heartless #Nobodies #OrganizationXIII #Riku #Kairi #KingdomHeartsExplained #KingdomHeartsLore #KingdomHeartsTimeline #HaleyJoelOsment #MarkHamill #ChristopherLee #LeonardNimoy #GamingPodcast #VideoGameDeepDive #ChristianPodcast #FaithAndPopCulture 

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_03 (00:01):
Welcome to the Saints That Serve podcast, where
each week your hosts dive intothe crossroads of faith,
culture, and the unknown.
Christ is Lord and the kingdomis now.
We are the Saints that serve.

SPEAKER_02 (00:27):
Hey everyone, welcome to the Saints that serve
podcast.
And this is episode 54.
We're right at the beginning ofseason two, and we are excited.
So excited.
So we're kind of in a prime upfor spooky season.
It's coming up, it'll be herebefore you know it.

(00:49):
But this week we're going to bedoing a one-off super special
time.
We're going to be talking aboutone of our favorite video games,
specifically Jaris's favoritevideo game.
That's right.
And we're the entire time isdedicated to it.
So there's not multiple segmentsor segments or anything.
We're going to be spending theentire time talking about this.

(01:11):
So, real quick, if you needprayer for anything, please
reach out to us.
You can do so through socialmedia.
Pray for you Friday.
That's right.
We pray for you every Friday.
So reach out.
You can email us atSaintsThatserve at gmail.com, or
there's a link at the bottom ofthe notes.
You can use that link to messageus.

(01:31):
Uh, and we're praying for youevery Friday.
So outside of that, we're Tyler,we're gonna transition into our
topic for tonight.
We are talking about Man, we'regetting into it quick tonight.
I want to make sure we spend allof our time getting through all
the information.
But tonight we're talking aboutKingdom Hearts.

SPEAKER_03 (01:53):
Kingdom Hearts.
So, right off the bat,disclaimer, uh, warning, all of
that fun stuff, we are going tobe talking about deep, deep
spoilers, getting deep into theweeds.
So if you are currently playing,we're gonna talk about
everything, all the games.
Lore master.

(02:13):
Lore master, that's me.
All right.
So we're gonna get into it.
So if you are currently playingthe series, you know.
Turn it off.
Turn this episode off.
Ashley, stop listening.
I was about to say the nextthing is if you are my wife,
Ashley, turn this episode offright now.
We are going to be playing thisgame together, my wife.

(02:34):
So you will need to uh go infresh on that.
But if your name is not Ashley,or your name is Ashley and not
my wife, no.
Keep listening.

SPEAKER_02 (02:47):
Yeah, I was actually surprised that they started
making the games because Ididn't think that the movie did
like that well.
What?
I mean, I think that OrlandoBloom did well portraying the
main character.

SPEAKER_04 (03:00):
Huh?
But you can't keep a straightface.

SPEAKER_02 (03:05):
I was gonna keep going, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 (03:06):
Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of Heaven, Kingdom of
Heaven of Heaven.
What?

SPEAKER_03 (03:12):
Goodness.
There's a video game calledKingdom of Paradise that has
nothing to do with either one ofthese franchises.
Oh.
But you know what does haveOrlando Bloom in it?

SPEAKER_02 (03:24):
Pirates of the Caribbean.

SPEAKER_03 (03:26):
You know what is Pirate Jack Sparrow.
Yes.
Kingdom Hearts has a Pirates ofthe Caribbean world in one of
the games that you go to.

SPEAKER_02 (03:36):
Yeah, so we we need to go ahead and just So that's
great segue.
So there you go.

SPEAKER_03 (03:42):
We need to get into what is Kingdom Hearts?
Kingdom Hearts is a video gamefranchise that was made by at
the time, uh Square was the nameof the company.
I believe Square.
They sound like they're on theup and up.
They're pretty hip.

SPEAKER_02 (04:00):
It just sounds like a whole bunch of right angles.
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (04:04):
They're all right.
So it's a company that makesJRPGs.
Okay.
So Square is the company.

SPEAKER_02 (04:15):
Pause.

SPEAKER_03 (04:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (04:16):
Explain what a JRPG is for everyone.
I was about to.

SPEAKER_03 (04:20):
Okay.
A Japanese role-playing game.
Okay.
So, you know, you just it's madein Japan and it is uh you are in
a role and you're playing thegame.
Got it.
The Square is really big formaking the Final Fantasy series.
Yes.
So eventually they became SquareSoft, and then from there they
became Square Enix.

(04:42):
Okay.
And that's how we all know themtoday.
Gotcha.
Uh other game franchises theymade, uh, Final Fantasy said
that already.
Uh Dragon Quest.
They've also, I believe DragonQuest.
Maybe I'm crazy.
Anyways, they're really big onthe RPGs uh series, and they
made a lot of good ones.
So Kingdom Hearts is a videogame crossover between Square

(05:07):
Enix and Disney.
Disney.
So kind of like a quick littlehistory of that.
Okay.
Uh the concept for KingdomHearts began with Square, now
Square Enix, and Disney.
They shared an office buildingin Japan.
Okay.
In a chance elevatorconversation between Square

(05:28):
producer Shinji Hashimoto and aDisney executive sparked the
idea of making a game with bothcompanies' characters.

SPEAKER_02 (05:36):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (05:38):
So they got a hold of a guy named Tetsuya Namura,
who was a character designer forFinal Fantasy, and he designed
the characters, the biggest oneshe designed them for was Final
Fantasy VII, which a lot ofpeople consider the best Final
Fantasy game.

SPEAKER_02 (05:56):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (05:57):
I I I played the remakes of those of it.
It's good.
It's really good.

SPEAKER_02 (06:03):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (06:04):
But he was chosen to direct the project.
This was his first time as adirector.
The goal was to create an actionRPG that combined the
storytelling depth of FinalFantasy with the accessible,
family-friendly worlds ofDisney.
Right?
Wow.
That's great.
Yeah.
How how how how far?
I'm trying to be careful not toget on too many tangents.

SPEAKER_02 (06:26):
No, I think you need to get in on all the tangents.
So, okay.
The game, there's 13 differentgames you can play now, right?

SPEAKER_03 (06:38):
Yes, yes.
Okay.
Um now, when you say now, someare no longer playable.
Just because they've outdatedlike the consoles that no play
because they were mobile gamesand they were games as a service
and they've been shut down.
Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 (06:54):
All right.
So, but there's bit they'vecreated up to 13 games.

SPEAKER_03 (06:59):
Right.
And with uh several, several,several re-releases of those
games.
Okay.
With whether they be incompilations or being part of
like, okay, here's an example.
And this is really big of howthey do this.
Like, they'll release a game inJapan, right?

(07:20):
And then later on, they willre-release that game under like
a kind of like, okay, KingdomHearts final mix.
Yeah.
So they'll re-release the gamewith added cutscenes, new
quests, new this, new that, andthey will have extra bosses in
the enemies.
They do like they'll just do alot of little things that

(07:42):
doesn't really fully change theoverall story, but will change
your gaming experience.

SPEAKER_02 (07:46):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (07:47):
So they did that a few times.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (07:52):
The main character, is it the same character played
through all the games?
Do you play the same characterall the way through, or is each
game have its own maincharacter?

SPEAKER_03 (08:02):
So the there is an overall story that begins with
your main character.
Okay.
His name is Sora.
Okay.
But you don't play as Sora inevery game.

SPEAKER_02 (08:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (08:16):
But if you aren't playing as Sora, you are playing
as a character connected toSora's story.

SPEAKER_02 (08:24):
Okay, but playable characters, are they all made
for the game, or are some ofthem like creative licensed from
Disney?

SPEAKER_03 (08:33):
All of the characters you play as are all
original characters for thisfranchise.

SPEAKER_02 (08:39):
Okay.
So the Disney licensed likecharacters, they're like support
character NPCs?
Yes.
Okay.
Gotcha.
What what are your favorite NPCsin all of the games?

SPEAKER_03 (08:55):
All the games.
There is I guess like what arc?
I want to be careful because I'drather like get into the
stories.

SPEAKER_02 (09:02):
Okay.
Okay, let's get it.

SPEAKER_03 (09:03):
Because if we do that, then we can talk about
these characters.
Because if I just call outnames, you're not going to who
know who I'm talking about.
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (09:08):
Good.
Let's get into the story then sowe can get to that question.

SPEAKER_03 (09:11):
Okay, great.
So we are going to be talkingabout.
I'm I'm going to go in releaseorder.

SPEAKER_02 (09:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (09:19):
So in doing that, okay, so the stories aren't
necessarily in order.

SPEAKER_02 (09:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (09:27):
What I'm necessarily.
The stories are not in order.
Yeah.
Uh there is a game that takesplace ten years before the first
game, another one that takesplace hundreds of years before
the first game.
Okay.
Uh there's games that will comeout and take place between other
games that have already beencome out.

(09:47):
So let's just let's do this.

SPEAKER_02 (09:50):
I just for everyone listening.
If we if you could be in theroom, like every single time
Jerus is about to start talkingabout something, he's got this
huge smile on his face.
Like he's ready to talk aboutall of this.

SPEAKER_03 (10:04):
I am not stumbling over my words because I don't
know what to say.
I'm stumbling over my wordsbecause I want to portray how
great this is to me.
Yeah.
I'm being I'm trying to slowdown because when I start
talking about something I'mexcited about, and you can ask
John, I really start talkingquicker and I'll start stumbling
over my words a little bit morebecause I'm going faster than my

(10:28):
brain can keep up with.
Yeah.
All right.
Let's get into it.
All right.
Kingdom Hearts one.
Meanwhile.
Yep.
That was an accident.
Which one were you going toactually try to do?
No, I I was moving pages and Iaccidentally hit.
Meanwhile.
Alright.

(10:49):
So we are in the first gameintroduced to our three
characters.
It is Sora, Riku, and Kyrie.

SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (10:58):
Uh Sora and Riku are two boys, and then Kyrie is a
girl.

SPEAKER_02 (11:03):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (11:04):
The reason why I clarify that is because in a
Final Fantasy, I think it's 10,there is a Riku and it's female.
She is female.

SPEAKER_04 (11:11):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (11:12):
So in this, Riku is a boy.
Gotcha.
So they live on a um.
It's in this, it's portrayed asan island, and they're just
staying on it.
But really, it's they live on a,I don't, what is the phrase for
it?
It's a coastal peninsula?

(11:32):
I guess so.
What are you trying to explainit?
It's just a shoreline, likethey're the main mainland.
Coastline.
And then what they do is theyget on these boats and they go
out to this island and they playall day on this little little
island.
It's called Destiny Island.
Okay.
So yeah, they just live on thecoast.
Uh-huh.
So they go out every day andthey'll play on the island with
their friends and whatnot.

(11:53):
So they're going there andthey've made a plan that they're
going to build a raft and leave.
They're just like, there's somany great places out there.
I want to go on an adventure.
Yeah.
Right.
So, you know, they're preparingthe raft, and there's a cutaway,
and then it you see uh it'sDisney, a Disney castle.
It's like, you know, from afteryou're a couple of days on the

(12:15):
island, it cuts, and it's aDisney castle, and you um it's
Donald Duck, and he goes andhe's gonna go talk to Mickey
Mouse.
Now, mind you, this isn't likethe Donald Duck and Goofy silly.
Yeah.
They're not like overly likeserious or hardcore or anything
like that.
But don't picture them likecartoony.

(12:39):
There's not a lot of that.
Okay.
Uh it's a kingdom, right?
So like Goofy is the head of theknights, and Donald is the lead
magician, right?
He's the court magician.
And then Mickey Mouse is theking of the kingdom.
Okay, right?
He's King Mickey.

SPEAKER_01 (12:58):
King Mickey.

SPEAKER_03 (13:00):
And so they find out that Mickey's just gone.
Okay.
He's left a letter behindsaying, Hey, I gotta go, I gotta
dip.
Because the worlds are slowlydisappearing.

SPEAKER_02 (13:18):
Ooh.

SPEAKER_03 (13:18):
The worlds are slowly disappearing, getting
swallowed up by darkness, and Igotta go figure out why.
Okay.
He says in his letter, Donaldand Goofy, you need to go find
the key.

SPEAKER_02 (13:30):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (13:31):
And that's all they it says, find the key to help me
save these worlds.
Yeah.
So then it cuts back and theyget the raft built.
And I'm I'm gonna be a littlewrong here just for the sake of
telling the story.

SPEAKER_02 (13:47):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (13:48):
But as they're going to leave uh Riku, Kyrie, and
Sora, a darkness overtakes theisland, and it's slowly being
sucked up into this dark, darkblack hole, and they're trying
to they're trying to get out.
And so Sora finds Kyrie andshe's she's standing there,

(14:11):
she's kind of like just I don'tknow how to explain it, but just
kind of like deadpan.
She's just like almost soulless,and this explosion happens and
she just gets blown away, likeher body gets blown away, and it
kind of like goes over to Sora,passes through Sora, and she
just disappears.
Oh.
And so he's like, What's goingon?

(14:32):
So he starts trying to find her,and he finds Riku, which is his
best friend, and he's like,Riku's like, I did it.
I opened the gate, we can leavenow.

unknown (14:40):
What?

SPEAKER_03 (14:42):
And Sora and Riku start kind of getting swallowed
up by this darkness, and thenall of a sudden a light shines,
and Sora wakes up and he's nowholding a weapon.

SPEAKER_02 (14:52):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (14:52):
And it's a they call it a keyblade.

SPEAKER_02 (14:55):
Yeah, keyblade.

SPEAKER_03 (14:56):
It's a key blade.

SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
And that's the iconic, like Kingdom Hearts,
Kingdom Hearts.

SPEAKER_03 (15:00):
Right.
So he's now holding it.
He don't know why why he has it,yeah, where it came from, but he
has it, and these dark creaturesare showing up everywhere.
You find out what they're calledlater on, but they're called
heartless.
So before Sora's trying to fighthim with a stick, and he
couldn't hit them, but thatweren't doing any damage.
But he got the keyblade, and nowhe's able to harm these
creatures.

(15:21):
Okay.
So you go through this bossbattle of this giant heartless,
you defeat it, and the wholeisland gets swallowed up.

SPEAKER_02 (15:28):
Wait, I'm sorry.
What's the heartless?

SPEAKER_03 (15:31):
They are just creatures, dark creatures.

SPEAKER_02 (15:33):
Okay.
So they're the bad guys.
Yes.
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 (15:37):
So no, sorry.
In the letter, they tell him,they tell Donald Goofy to find
Leon.
Leon.
Find Leon.
And so Sora, after the planetblows up, he wakes up in a new
place.

SPEAKER_02 (15:51):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (15:52):
And they find, and so and also Donald Goofy
happened to be there.
And through this whole world,the place is called Traverstown.
Travelers or Travers Traverse.
Travers.
Traverstown.
Okay.
And so they go through thiswhole, like, you go through this
whole thing where you're kind ofmeeting up with people, kind of
giving you backstory.
They tell you about theHeartless.

(16:13):
And really, it's kind of likethis kind of silly game.
No, it's not silly, but it'skind of like, oh I got you
again, kind of like tricksterthing where it's like you almost
meet up with Donald and Goofyand you always keep barely
missing them.

SPEAKER_02 (16:23):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (16:24):
And so, but you find out from Leon, you you find
Leon.
Leon fights you.
Yeah.
And he's like, essentiallybecause the Heartless keep
coming after Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (16:34):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (16:35):
And it's fine, like, I had to knock you out because
they wouldn't stop coming afteryou.
Gotcha.
And so they give the backstory,they explain what the Heartless
are, all this stuff.
And then the Heartless end upinvading the room they're in, so
he has to take off again.
Sora does.
And so you're going throughTraverstown and you end up
running into Donald and Goofy,and then there's this big boss

(16:55):
fight.
And so they meet him and they'relike, hey, here's the key.
We found the key.
You need to come with us, youknow, that kind of thing.
And so you do.
So you leave and you go off.
And at that point, I did allthat kind of to summarize.
It's kind of an introduction.
And the rest of the game is asyou go into these different
places, right?
And they call them worlds, andthey're all Disney properties.

(17:17):
So there's Tarzan, Alice inWonderland, Aladdin, Hercules.

SPEAKER_02 (17:21):
Kind of set up like the parks where different parts
of the park are a world.

SPEAKER_03 (17:27):
Yes, in that sense that like you have different
areas, but like a few key thingsis like when you they're
traveling in a spaceship, right?
Okay.
Donald Goofy are traveling in aspaceship.
The other worlds are notsupposed to know about one
another.
Oh.
So you're there and the worldsdon't know about each other.
They're separated from oneanother.

SPEAKER_02 (17:48):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (17:49):
So as you're going to world to world, you find out
that the heartless are trying toovertake the planet, envelop it
in darkness, and that's whathappened to yours.
And to stop that from happening,you have to seal up the keyhole
of each world.
So you're trying to find thekeyhole, and it's usually you do
it after you fight a boss.

SPEAKER_02 (18:08):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (18:09):
And so you also find out that Maleficent from Sleepin
Beauty.
That nasty lady.
That nasty lady has formed acouncil of villains.
Uh oh.
And so they are also, they arewanting what they're calling the
seven princesses of heart.

SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (18:30):
And so it kind of correlates to the Disney
princesses to some degree.
Though for some reason, in thegame, Ariel is in it and she's
not one, but Alice from Alice inWonderland is a princess of
heart.
Okay.
So it gets if this sounds weird,it gets even more confusing
later on.

(18:50):
But this is the most basic ofthe games.
So they have like the council ofpeople trying to gather
essentially to unlock this doorthat'll get them great power.
Yeah.
That's what Maleficent is after.

SPEAKER_02 (19:07):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (19:07):
So as you go to different worlds, uh, you just
kind of get that central story,like or a condensed story.
And it's sometimes it followsthe story of the movie itself.
And then sometimes it followskind of you're just here and
you're experiencing things.
Like it's not always exactly theplot beat by beat to the movie

(19:30):
that you're in.

SPEAKER_02 (19:31):
So does Maleficent know about the different worlds?
She does.
Okay.
And the Council of Villains.
They also know.
They know.
Okay.
And they're breaking the barrierand they're not supposed to.

SPEAKER_03 (19:41):
Correct.
Gotcha.
And you find out later how sheknows.
Okay.
But at this point, you're goingplace to place.

SPEAKER_01 (19:49):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (19:50):
And you find out that Riku has found Kyrie's
body.
Okay.
Because you're separated fromyour friends.
You run into Riku and he's madat Sora.
Because he thinks that he'sabandoned Kyrie.
Okay.
He's like, well, you're out heregoofing off with your friends,
going having adventures like wewere supposed to.

(20:13):
Yeah.
And you didn't try to helpKyrie, and here I am helping
Kyrie.
So Maleficent was helping Riku,like essentially trying to like
get him on her side.
Yeah.
And so they found the body, andhe's like, now I'm going to
Hollobastion to help her.
That's what he calls it.
He says, I'm going toHollobastion to help her.

(20:34):
And so from that point, andagain, I'm skipping over a lot
of stuff.
Yeah.
I'm trying to give the mo thekey plot points here.
So you follow Riku toHollobastion.
Okay.
And Hollobastion is the kind ofthe headquarters of the
villains.

SPEAKER_02 (20:52):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (20:53):
And so The The Council of Villains.
The Council of Villains.
Gotcha.
What did I say?
No, no, no.
I'm just clarifying.
Oh, yeah.
The Council of Villains.
Yeah, yeah.
So Riku like confronts Sora andis like, hey, like, that's mine.
Yeah.
He's like, that's mine.
It was meant for me.
And he just reaches his hand outand he reclaims the keyblade

(21:16):
from Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (21:17):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (21:18):
Because initially it was Sora, it was Riku's
keyblade.
But because he gave into thedarkness on the island, it went
to the next post, which wasSora.
Sora.
Okay.
And Donald Goofer, like, sorry,we're supposed to follow the
key.
And they abandoned Sora.
Dang.
Dang.
That's outside the castle.

(21:38):
So they go into the castle, andRiku's like, How dare you keep
trying to follow me?
I'm trying to help Kyrie.
I'm trying to save Kyrie.
Yeah.
And so he shoots a fireball atSora, intending to kill him.
Fireball! And Goofy's uh islike, no, I'll protect you.
So I I failed to mention this.
Uh Goofy has a shield, that'shis weapon, and then Donald has

(22:00):
like a staff.

SPEAKER_02 (22:01):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (22:02):
So he shields Sora from the fire blast, and they
fight and beat the snot out ofRiku.

SPEAKER_02 (22:08):
So Goofy's the heavy.

SPEAKER_03 (22:11):
Yes.
He's the tank.

SPEAKER_02 (22:13):
And then Donald is the magician.
And Sora's the warrior?
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
Gotcha.
So they're just missing aArcher.

SPEAKER_03 (22:25):
Uh everything in Kingdom Hearts is done in trios.
Trios.
Trios.
So Riku retreats deeper into thecastle.
Okay.
And he runs into like a hooded,mysterious figure.
And he's like, really deepvoice, like, I can help you.
Okay.
And so this he's like, I'll giveyou all this power.

(22:46):
And he possesses Riku.
And so you fight Maleficent, andthen you fight her again as in a
dragon form.
Because.
Because Disney.
Yeah.
Sora reclaimed the Keyblade inthat first fight.

SPEAKER_04 (23:01):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (23:01):
So it's back, it's back to his and his friends are
back with him.
And they travel further down in.
And so you go and you find,like, you know, as you travel,
you go and you find theessentially it's like almost
like a final boss room typething.
And it is, you see on the like,like kind of like not plastered
up on the wall, but like incases, it's all of the

(23:23):
princesses.
Mm-hmm.
And then you see Kyrie laying onthe floor.
And Riku is standing there, andhe's got a keyblade.
He's got a different keyblade.
Okay.
It's like this evil keyblade.
Yeah.
And he's like, You need to giveit back.
It's a different person now, butit's like you need to give it

(23:43):
back.
Yeah.
You stole Kyrie's heart.
So again, uh, so Kingdom Heartsis like a uh a lot of
terminology of things, but aheart in Kingdom Hearts is like
the soul.

SPEAKER_02 (23:56):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (23:58):
So he's like, you need to give it back.
You stole her heart.
And so it's like her lifelessbody there, but she's not dead.

SPEAKER_02 (24:05):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (24:06):
And so he's like, and I have this keyblade that
can unlock people's hearts.
And so you fight this uh evilRiku, and it's revealed that
this guy, uh, his name is Ansom.
Ansom.
His name is Ansom, and he is theone who was pulling the strings
the whole time, who was leakinginformation to Maleficent, and

(24:28):
all what he wanted to do wasgather the seven princes of
heart to open up a door toKingdom Hearts, an ultimate
power.

SPEAKER_02 (24:37):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (24:38):
So he was pulling the strings from behind the
scenes all the time.
Ansom is a original characterfor Kingdom Hearts.
Yeah.
So you fight that Riku, and heis kind of wait, sorry.
It I I it's been a minute sinceI played the first one.

SPEAKER_02 (24:52):
And that's just a healthy reminder to everybody.
This is just the first game.

SPEAKER_03 (24:56):
And I'm trying to speed through it because it gets
worse.
So I think it's important tohave a heavy foundation because
even though this game is notconvoluted, it's a heavy
foundation for everything else.
Yeah.
So you beat Riku, and Sora issitting there and he's they're
contemplating what is going on.
Like, Kyrie, wake up, you know,what is going on?

(25:19):
And so Riku disappeared afteryou beat him, kind of revealing
also Anselman kind of giving hisbackstory, and they both
disappear.
And Sora's like, oh, a key thatcan unlock people's hearts, and
he stabs himself with it.

SPEAKER_02 (25:33):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (25:34):
And in doing so, inside it was that keyblade was
the princesses of hearts,hearts.
And they go back into them, theywake up, and inside Sora was his
heart and Kyrie's.
So whenever that explosionhappened, her heart went to Sora
to protect herself.
Okay.

(25:54):
Kind of like as a a bastion.
Yeah, yeah.
So when he does that, Soradisappears and turns into an
Heartless.
Dang.
And so Goofy and Donald leavewith Kyrie, like running out of
this place.
Because after he does that, abunch of Heartless are swarming
where they were at.
Okay.
And then you control a Heartlessfor a little while.

(26:17):
Alright.
And then like uh you run backinto Kyrie and they're like,
kill it, you know, kill that,kill that Heartless.
You know, get it.
And Kyrie's like, no, I know whothat is, and she hugs him and he
turns back into Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (26:29):
Aww.
Aww.
So all the heartless need isjust a little bit of love.

SPEAKER_03 (26:33):
Yeah.
So essentially at that point,Anselm kind of is he was kind of
like a robed figure, but he wasjust kind of like a heart
floating.
Mm-hmm.
And so he starts unleashing abunch of heartless throughout
the world.
Okay.
So you have to go to this lastplace called the final world.

(26:54):
And you travel through it andyou end up fighting Ansom.
Seeker, his name is Ansem theSeeker of Darkness.
The Seeker of Darkness.
Yep.
And so you fight him, you defeathim, and and he's like, No, I'm
gonna like, and there's thedoor.
There's the door to KingdomHearts.
Right.
And he's like, No, I'm gonnaopen the door, and it's gonna

(27:16):
unleash all this darkness, andI'm gonna be powerful.
And Sora's like, after throughall my adventures, I know that
Kingdom Hearts is light, and itopens up, and this big light
beam shells uh shoots out andand destroys Ansem.
Aw.
And so they're like, We still soin this realm of darkness
they're kind of in, they're nowhaving to try to shut this door,

(27:38):
right?
Okay, and they're like, we can'tdo it, we can't shut it.
And on the other side of it isRiku, and he's like, I know I
did wrong.
So he's trying to shut it fromthe inside while you're trying
to shut it from the outside.
Essentially, he's gonna shuthimself in.
Okay.
And on the other side of thedoor, is he's like, I'm I'm here
to help you too.
And it's Mickey Mouse holding athird key blade.

(28:00):
Oh it looks like Sora's, butit's like inverted colors.
Yeah, yeah.
So with the help of Mickey Mouseand Riku, they shut the door,
shutting in Riku and MickeyMouse into this realm of
darkness.
And Sora, Goofy, and Donald arenow on the outside of the door.
They shut it, and uh and theyshow it in the final cut scene

(28:23):
of like Kyrie is back to normal,and she's standing on this like
lake as the worlds are startingto form back because they've
restored the worlds that weredestroyed.
And it's like they're close toone another, but it's really
like a huge rift between them.
And it's like, I can't go withyou.
I have to still find Riku.

SPEAKER_02 (28:40):
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 (28:41):
So uh Kyrie goes back to the island, and Sora and
Donald Goofy continue theiradventure to try to find Riku
and Mickey.
And that's the end of KingdomHearts 1.
Okay.
But okay.
Yep.
Got it.
So uh that was a lot, and I'mgonna go a little bit quicker.
Okay.
I'll try my best because it getseven worse.

(29:03):
And if we run long, we run long.
So here we go.
Uh so what you know what game isafter Kingdom Hearts 1?

SPEAKER_02 (29:09):
Is it Kingdom Hearts 2?

SPEAKER_03 (29:11):
It is not.
Oh so a huge thing about KingdomHearts is that every single game
is important to the lore.
Okay.
But so the next game that cameout was called Kingdom Hearts
Chain of Memories.
All right.
It came out for the Game BoyAdvance, and it's more lore

(29:31):
heavy than Kingdom Hearts one.
Got it.
So as they're walking down, likethey're like, okay, they're now
walking down this path, like,where do we go now?
I don't know, but we're gonnatry to find the King and King
Mickey and Riku.
Yeah.
So this game starts with themstill on that same path, and
this hooded figure appears infront of Sorry and is like, Come

(29:52):
with me, come with me.
So they end up going and findingthis castle called Castle of
Oblivion, where Oh, I love that.
Yeah.
Castle Oblivion?
Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 (30:01):
No, just Oblivion.

SPEAKER_03 (30:02):
Mm-hmm.
So this game, the thing aboutside games with Kingdom Hearts
is they usually have some sortof gimmick and they use reuse
all of the assets from previousgames.
Gotcha.
It's like all the so all of theDisney Worlds you go to in this
are all the same worlds you wentto in the first game.

SPEAKER_04 (30:20):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (30:21):
They remade this.
So this was a pixel art game onthe Game Boy Advance, and they
remade it on the PS2.
So everything is in 3Denvironments with completely
brand new 3D models for allthese characters.
Okay.
So I'm going to try to be quickwith it because it is a lot.
But essentially, inside thiscastle are these root uh robed

(30:42):
figures.
They're all original characters.
And you are slowly moving up thecastle floor by floor.
But they said the guy whointroduces it says, as you move
up further, to gain is to lose,and to lose is to gain.
Okay.
And so as you're moving up thecastle, trying to get to the end

(31:04):
of it, uh, Sora startsremembering somebody he had from
his childhood.

unknown (31:08):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (31:08):
And her it was another girl on the island with
him, and her name was Namine.
Nomine.
So that song that you keepplaying on every single episode
is Namine's theme.
Yeah.
So as you go through in thecastle, you're confronted by
different uh robe figures andyou fight different robe
figures.
So slowly Sora startsremembering Namine and

(31:32):
forgetting Kyrie.

SPEAKER_02 (31:33):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (31:34):
And it's revealed that Namane is a witch who can
manipulate memories.
Okay.
And so she is slowly inputtingher memories into Sora's.

SPEAKER_02 (31:50):
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 (31:50):
Or or the memory of her replacing Kyrie.
Yeah, okay.
So they do that because she iscontrolled being controlled by
these hooded people who aretrying to get control of Sora
because if they if he trustsNamine, he would do whatever she
wants.

(32:11):
And whatever she wants is whatthese hooded people want.
Or being told what that's whatYeah.

SPEAKER_02 (32:17):
And so just real quick though, the relationship
between Sora and what was theother girl that he's forgetting?
Uh Kyrie.
Kyrie, it's a platonicfriendship, right?

SPEAKER_03 (32:29):
Yes.
These are all children, by theway.
Just so we know all thecharacters are at the oldest
point, at the new most recentgame, I think Sora is either 15
or 16.
Okay.
And in this game, he is uh 12 or13, I believe.

SPEAKER_02 (32:46):
So Namane, who's a witch, who's influenced.
Well, they call her a witch.

SPEAKER_03 (32:51):
Okay.

SPEAKER_02 (32:52):
But she has a power, but she has a power, but she's
also a child.
She is also a child, yes.

SPEAKER_03 (32:57):
Okay.
So as Sora traverses up throughthe castle, they learn of the
leader who's Marluxia.
That's his name.
Marluxia.
Marluxia, you meet Axel andLarksine and several others.
As you go through it, you areslowly taking these people out,
and you finally face off againstthe uh main villain, which is uh

(33:21):
Marluxia, and he's got like ascythe.
Okay.
So he's like represented by likethe Grim Reaper type thing.
Gotcha.
And so you defeat him, and it'srevealed that you know Namine
was removing these memories andputting her own against uh
against her will, being forcedto do so.
Yeah.
And so uh she reveals I can helpyou.

(33:44):
Okay, but you will have to getinto this pod and sleep for a
year.
Okay.
I was forced to do this, but Ican re put back together your
memories, but you'll have tolose a year of your life.
Same with Donald and Goofy.
Okay.
So they they choose to do so,and that is the end of Sora's

(34:07):
side of the story on Chain ofMemories because Riku wakes up
in the basement of the castle.
Oh and he also travels throughthe castle, but starting at the
basement level.
The same time Sora's going up,so is Riku going up.
And so he is also facing upagainst other hooded people.

(34:29):
Okay.
Other people who are part ofthis like organized group of
people who are trying toessentially take control of Sora
because they want the keybladeas their power.
Yeah.
So Riku ends up going up againsta clone of himself.
Okay.
And so he fights and defeatsthat clone and then fights up
against the final boss.

(34:50):
And it's more of just extracontent when it comes to Riku.
Yeah.
There is lore there, but not asdeep as uh Sora's lore in this
game.
Yeah.
But yeah, the whole point isthat by the time he gets to the
top, Sora's already in the pod.
He's talking to Nomine, and he'sessentially saying, You watch
over him, and I have to find away to fight this darkness

(35:14):
inside me.

SPEAKER_02 (35:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (35:16):
Because when he accepted Ansom and was
possessed, he became essentiallypartially dark, if that makes
sense.
Yeah.
And so it one of the things thelast boss for him is Ansom
again, but like a, you know,he's fighting that darkness
inside him, that Ansom.
Yeah, yeah.
So, and that's kind of like he'she has a really cool line where

(35:38):
it's like, will you pick the uhpath to uh light or dark?
Essentially, there's a fork inthe road, and this guy's talking
to him.
There's another character I kindof overlooked, but it's it's
fine.
Okay.
Uh, and he says, Neither.
I'm gonna walk forward towardsDawn.
Dawn! Who's he?

(35:59):
Um it's Diz.
B-I-Z.
Diz.
Voiced by Christopher Lee.
Really?
Yep.
That is something I wanted toget into eventually of all the
people who voice characters inKingdom Hearts.
Okay.
I'll do I'll do it later,because I'm on a roll here.
Yeah, yeah.
Kingdom Hearts 2.
Yep.
So you start out, who do youstart playing out as?

(36:21):
Who do you think?

SPEAKER_02 (36:23):
Um The Girl?

SPEAKER_03 (36:26):
You start out as Roxas.
All right, so Roxas.
I don't even know who that is.
Exactly.
So you're a new new character,voiced by Jesse McCartney.
Okay.
The pop singer.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So uh it's kind of starts outvery similar to Kingdom Hearts
1, where you're kind of like ona in an area just kind of going
off uh going about yourbusiness, right?

(36:49):
And as you go through yourbusiness of like just you know,
just having trying to have funon your summer vacation with
your friends, right?
Yeah, things kind of startgetting really weird.
And it's like weird, like theworld starts glitching out, and
this, that kind of stuff.
Yeah.
And at even one point, one ofthe one of the hooded people got
out of the Castle Oblivion, andhis name is Axel.

SPEAKER_02 (37:13):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (37:14):
So Axel keeps telling them, like, hey, you
need to come with me, you can'tcome with me.
And Roxas, like, no, no.
So Axel is kind of like maybe a20-year-old, and Roxas is
probably a 13, 14-year-old.
Okay.
And so as you go through this,it's revealed that Roxas is a
part of Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (37:35):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (37:36):
He was a part of Sora.
So when Sora stabbed himself, hebecame a heartless.
There is a yin and yang to that,where when you stab yourself and
you become a heartless, or whenyou become a heartless, yeah,
you also leave behind an emptyshell.

SPEAKER_02 (37:54):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (37:55):
Because your heart has been taken out, you leave it
behind an empty shell.
Those are called nobodies.
How is that a yin and yang?
Well, though they go hand inhand with one another.
Okay.
It's that when you become aheartless, you also become a
nobody.
Okay.
Typically, most uh heartless andnobodies are kind of animalistic

(38:17):
and have just kind of work offof instinct.
But if somebody is strongenough, they become a more
powerful heartless and leavebehind a nobody.

SPEAKER_02 (38:30):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (38:31):
So Sora's nobody was is Roxas.
Holding Sora's memories, keepinghim from waking up.

SPEAKER_02 (38:38):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (38:38):
So they kidnapped Roxas and they forced him into a
simulation to release thosememories back to Sora, which he
ends up doing, and Sora wakes upand he's now like a year older.
And that's the true beginning ofKingdom Hearts 2.
Okay.
As you progress through thegame, you are it's revealed that

(39:01):
the hooded people are part of alarger organization called
Organization 13.

SPEAKER_02 (39:06):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (39:06):
Roxas is one one of the members of that
organization.
Alright.
Because between that year, thelast seven days of Sora waking
up before he wakes up is theseven days that Roxas is stuck
in that simulation.
Yeah.
So you go through the game andyou it's revealed that the

(39:28):
organization 13 wanted theKeyblade from Sora, from Castle
Oblivion, so that they coulddestroy Heartlesses because they
were trying to create a false ora um manufactured Kingdom Hearts
so that they could become humanagain.
All right.
So they they are like we help wedon't have feelings, we don't

(39:51):
feel anything.
We're not we're nobody, youknow.
And that is all led by a guynamed Zemnus.
He is the leader of Organization13.

SPEAKER_02 (40:01):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (40:02):
So through shenanigans, you keep going
through and somebody keepshelping you, you know, a hooded
person.
Because just because you wear ahood does not necessarily mean
that you are part of theorganization, but the
organization wears the hoodbecause it protects you from the
darkness.
Yeah.
So at one point, Mickey Mouseends up showing up and he's
wearing one of the hoods, yeah,and stuff like that.

(40:24):
So it is revealed that Ansom,the human, okay, split himself
into two parts.
All right, creating Ansom Seekerof Darkness and Zemnus.
Because when you create aHeartless, you create a nobody.
Ansom being the villain from thefirst game was the Heartless.

(40:47):
And so Zemnus is the nobody whois the leader of the
organization.

SPEAKER_02 (40:51):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (40:52):
And so you run into Diz again and talk to him.
That is his true name is Ansomthe Wise.

SPEAKER_02 (41:00):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (41:00):
There's several Ansoms.
It's because he was the leaderof this this city.
And this Ansem, the scientist,or um yeah, his n is they his
true name was Xeonort.
Okay.
And so he was experimenting withturning people into heartless

(41:22):
and doing all this awful stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (41:24):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (41:25):
And so that's where that comes from.
Is so he took he banished Diz orAnsom and took on his uh his
name.
Yeah.
And so that's why he has Ansemand then Zimnus.
Yeah.
So you go to this place calledthe World That Never Was.

(41:46):
This is like the final worldhere.
And as you get there, they theyhad kidnapped Kyrie from the
island, trying to draw in Sora.
Okay.
And from that point, they gothere, they go to save Kyrie,
and Namine shows up and breaksher out.

SPEAKER_02 (42:03):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (42:04):
And it's revealed that Nomine is Kyrie's nobody.
Because she also became aheartless.
But she it's uh but she reallydidn't because her heart didn't
embrace darkness and went intoSora.
So that she doesn't actuallyhave a heartless, but she does
have a nobody because theabsence of the heart in that
body.
Yeah.
Keep in mind, everybody, this isa Disney game.

(42:25):
Yeah, this is I'm almost donewith number two.
There's a lot.
I'm almost done with KingdomHearts 2.

SPEAKER_00 (42:31):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (42:32):
So you go and you you find that the person that
was helping you the whole timereveal removes his hood and his
Antsome Seeker of the Darkness.

SPEAKER_02 (42:41):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (42:42):
But it's truly Riku who fully embraced the dark
power because he had to in afight.
So now he took on the guy whohad possessed him.
Gotcha.
This is crazy.
I know.
I know.
So, anyway, so you go through,you fight Zay uh Zimnus, and you

(43:04):
end up sealing the secondKingdom Hearts, the fake one
this time.
Yeah.
And everybody is together now,not separated, and that is the
end of Kingdom Hearts 2.

SPEAKER_02 (43:14):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (43:15):
Again, greatly skipping over so much stuff.

SPEAKER_02 (43:18):
Yes.
So are we going to talk aboutcoded now?

SPEAKER_03 (43:21):
Uh, we are talking about coded.
I only played coded once.
I don't remember too much aboutit.
Okay.
So I'm just going to read frommy summary.
Okay.
The weird thing about coded isdepending on where you.
So coded was a mobile phone, aflip phone game.

SPEAKER_00 (43:41):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 (43:42):
And then that got discontinued, then re-released
as a DS game.

SPEAKER_02 (43:46):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (43:47):
And by that point, there was another DS game that
came out.
And I think we should go overthat one real quick.

SPEAKER_02 (43:52):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (43:53):
So there's another DS game called Kingdom Hearts
358 over two days.
Wait, what?
Kingdom Hearts 358 over twodays.
Okay.
You play as Roxas.
I see that.
Okay.
So uh essentially it is Roxas'year in the organization.
Okay.
Where he gets recruited into theorganization 13.

(44:14):
Mm-hmm.
And they were they were happy,you know.
Oh, great, we have a Keybladewielder.

SPEAKER_02 (44:19):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (44:20):
It's also so then all of a sudden they have
another Keyblade wielder thatshows up.

SPEAKER_00 (44:24):
Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_03 (44:25):
And her name is Xheon.
So Roxas, Axon, Xion becomegreat friends, like creating
that trio.
Yeah.
And I'm going over this onequickly, but as you progress to
the story, it's revealed thatXion is actually kind of a clone
of some of sorts.

(44:45):
She's just she's replicated andcreated.
A clone of what?
The memories of Sora and Kyrie.
Okay.
She uh she is essentially lookslike Kyrie with black hair.

SPEAKER_02 (44:59):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (45:00):
And slowly she is trying to claim more memories.
And so like she's really trulyfriends with with Roxas and
Axel, but slowly her impulsesare trying to kill them.
Yeah.
And so it ends with Roxas havingto fight her, and and she dies
in his arms.
One of the saddest scenes inKingdom Hearts because it's

(45:22):
like, not only is she a nobody,that's a nominee song.
I don't suppose.
Not only is she a nobody, she isa created nobody in a lab.
Like a test tube baby almost.

SPEAKER_02 (45:36):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (45:37):
So Roxas being really upset is going to go
storm uh the castle that neverwas.
And that's where Riku shows up,fights Roxas, cannot Riku cannot
uh beat Roxas, embrace that'swhere he embraces the darkness,
permanently becomes Ansom.

(45:58):
Okay.
And by the way, in KingdomHearts 2, Riku ends up becoming
back himself normally.
Yeah.
But embraces the darkness there,becomes Ansem, defeats Roxas,
and that's where they then putRoxas inside that machine so
that they can then recoverSora's memories.
Okay.
So this, so that's this gametakes place between one,

(46:20):
actually, somewhere between onechain of memories and two.
Okay.
Somewhere in that point.
Yeah.
I think it starts after one,after one, because that's when
Sora becomes a nobody or is aheartless and creates that
nobody.
Runs parallel with chain ofmemories up to the beginning of
two.

SPEAKER_02 (46:38):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (46:39):
So then chain of memory, uh yeah, three, five,
eight, or two days, it ends withthe beginning of Kingdom Hearts
to his Roxas starting his summervacation.

SPEAKER_02 (46:49):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (46:50):
And then so uh Roxas is with in Sora's memories now.
So that that is a quick summary.
Okay.
Uh Recoded is coded or recoded.
Coded was the phone game,recoded was the re-release of
that phone game on the DS.
Yes.
It is after Kingdom Hearts II,Jiminy Cricket.

(47:13):
By the way, I forgot aboutJiminy Cricket.
He is with you the whole time.
He is kind of the chronicle ofyour adventures.

SPEAKER_02 (47:19):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (47:20):
So Jiminy Cricket keeps a chronicle in a journal,
and after Nomine puts everybodyto sleep, those chronicle
journals pages disappear.

SPEAKER_02 (47:30):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (47:31):
And he is then it is then found that the pages, uh,
only one page is left, and itsays something along the lines
of help them ease theirsuffering.
So somebody at the Disney Castlecreates a machine that scans the
books, the data within thebooks, even though they're blank

(47:52):
pages, creates these worlds, andyou play as a digitized version
of Sora, not the main Sora.
And you go through and it'sessentially revealed that
there's three people that needhelp.
You need to ease their sufferingand you need to save them.
And that's that's kind ofrecoded.

SPEAKER_00 (48:09):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (48:10):
So I believe, what's after recoded?
I believe it's birth by sleepfinally.

SPEAKER_02 (48:15):
Uh it's uh after coded, it's 358 over two days.
Which we talked about three orfive, eight over two days.

SPEAKER_03 (48:25):
So birth by sleep.
Birth by sleep.
Now, this is the one that mademe cry.
Okay.
This one is a prequel to 10,this is 10 years before the
first Kingdom Hearts game.
Okay.
It it you have your threecharacters, Aqua, Vin, and
Terra.
You play as the same storythrough as each character, and

(48:45):
you'll cross paths with them,but you'll play through going to
different worlds and gettingbits and pieces of the story of
each Kingdom Hearts world.
Okay.
So it's kind of think like funnyenough, Star Wars, where you had
the Keyblade wielders, wereincredibly back in the day fairy
tale kind of story, abundant.

(49:06):
They were thriving.
The Keyblade wielders were.

SPEAKER_02 (49:08):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (49:09):
At this point, now it's only down to there's only
three apprentices left and onemaster.

SPEAKER_02 (49:15):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (49:15):
And then another guy is an old man who is kind of
like gave up being a Keybladewielder.
Okay.
So one of the dudes, Ventus,looks just like Roxas.

SPEAKER_02 (49:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (49:28):
Like same character model and everything.
Then Aqua and Tara are newcharacters.
And Tara, I think Aqua isprobably the oldest character.
I think she's like 19 or 20.

SPEAKER_02 (49:38):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (49:39):
And so you go through the story on this, and
it's um the other guy's guy whois there, the old man's name is
Zayanort.
Okay.
So there's so much lore in thisone.
So much more than any othergame.
Yeah.
But it's essentially shown asyou go through each character,

(50:00):
Aqua runs into Kyrie, then runsinto Sora at one point, and then
uh Tara runs into Riku.
Okay.
And Tara gives Riku the power toinherit the ability of a
Keyblader.
Keyblader.
Yep.
And kind of the same way with uhSora and Kyrie as well.

SPEAKER_01 (50:20):
Do lady.

SPEAKER_03 (50:21):
Yeah.
So there is a person who hasfallen around uh Xeonort, who's
like a dark figure.
His name is Vanitas.
They revealed that his name isVanitas.
He is the negative energy fromVentus because Ventis was
Xyonort's apprentice, but he wastrying to create an ultimate

(50:46):
keyblade called the Keyblade,but spelled KI.
And to do so, he was trying toessentially corrupt Ventus, and
that jacked up Ventus.
But really, it just split outthis dark form, and that was
Venitas.

SPEAKER_02 (51:04):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (51:05):
Uh so you go through the whole thing to find out
their master gets murdered byXeonort.
So funny enough, uh Xeonort inthis is voiced by Leonard Nimoy,
the guy who played Spock.
Okay.
And then the guy who plays theirmaster, Ericus, is Mark Hamill.

(51:28):
Oh.
So Star Trek versus Star Wars.
Gotcha.
So just to kind of sum it up,the big twists in this are Tara
becomes corrupted and possessedby Zayanort and loses.
Okay.
And him losing is revealed thatAnsem, the one that ended up um,

(51:51):
sorry, Xeanort, the one whoended up uh banishing Ansom,
taking on his name, was a younglooking man, not an old man.
It's because it was him andTara's body.

SPEAKER_02 (52:01):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (52:02):
So that's revealed that.
And then Castle of Bliving iscreated because Vin is defeated.

SPEAKER_02 (52:09):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (52:10):
And Aqua puts his bot, creates it's their their
homeland turned into a endlessmaze that she created so that it
would protect Vin's body whilehe was there.

SPEAKER_02 (52:23):
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 (52:24):
And then another key thing is that when Ven's heart
is fractured and jacked up, hegoes and is within Sora's heart
because he met Sora.
Yeah.
Again, play the games, it makesso much more sense.
It's so much better.
And so there's a lot ofinformation and a lot of names
getting thrown out here.
And then Aqua is ends upfighting Terra, but it's they

(52:48):
Taya Zayenort, because he'spossessed, gets banished to the
land of darkness.
So you have three characters.
Aqua is banished to darkness tenyears prior to the first game.
Like they call it the Realm ofDarkness, so it's just an
endless, just dark realm wherethe Heartless kind of reside.
Okay.
So she has to try to survivethere.

(53:09):
And it's been at least 10 yearssince she's been there.
Then is all kinds of jacked up,hidden inside a castle, and then
Tara has been possessed and thenturned into a Heartless, and
nobody is the main seriesvillains because he's got his
Zaya Norted and there you go.
Zaya Norted.
People call it Norted.

(53:29):
Norted.
Yep.
Norted.
Norted out of here.
So Okay.
So the whole reason why hewanted to do that was to create
an ultimate weapon.
And he was looking for power.
The ultimate weapon.
So we are getting actuallyrelatively close, believe it or
not.
So I think we might make this.

(53:50):
So I'm going to kind of readthese summaries on these other
ones.
So you're going to talk aboutDream Drop Distance?
That's right.
3D.
3D.
It's literally Kingdom Hearts3D, Dream Drop Distance became
it because it came out on theNintendo 3DS.
Oh, okay.
So your screen had 3D effects onit.
So at this point, Sora and Rikuhave been resummoned to take

(54:16):
what is called the Mark ofMastery exam.
Because they need to becomeKeyblade Masters because there
is a war coming.
So Sora and Riku take the Markof Mastery exam to become
Keyblade Masters.
They essentially go to sleep andthey are traveling through what
is called the sleeping worlds.
So their test is to revive theseworlds that did not get restored

(54:44):
when they were destroyed.
But they still exist in a newdifferent realm.

SPEAKER_02 (54:49):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (54:49):
So they're traveling to the sleeping worlds to awaken
them.
As you're going through it, youSora starts running into like
this young-looking white-hairedkid who is later on revealed to
be a young Xeonaort.

SPEAKER_01 (55:05):
Xeonaut!

SPEAKER_03 (55:06):
Zenort's back.
The North's back in town.
The Nort is back in town.
So it's revealed thatorganization 13 took advantage
of the market mastery exam, andactually, when they jumped
through the portal to go to thesleeping realms, it was actually

(55:26):
them controlling it to take themand trap them in back in the
world that never was.
So really they wanted Sora.

SPEAKER_01 (55:34):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (55:35):
So it is revealed, I kid you not, through time travel
shenanigans that Zaynort planson creating 13 vessels of
darkness to fight against sevenwielders of light, and the clash

(55:55):
between the two will create anew keyblade.
KI blade Keyblade.
Interesting.
So his goal in this was to takeand make Sora a vessel of
darkness.
And it and it fails.
But you end up finding out abouthow his vessels of darkness are

(56:17):
essentially the same way that inHarry Potter, Voldemort creates
pieces of himself.
So he's like, okay, that didn'twork, but you'll still have to
show up to battle me.
Yeah.
And so that's kind of the storyof Dream Drop Distance.
Again, really being kind ofvague about it.
Okay.

(56:37):
But there you go.
That's Dream Drop Distanceleading into Kingdom Hearts 3.
Kingdom Hearts 3.
Uh there are there is like akind of like a tech demo that
came out.
That's it's called KingdomHearts 0.8 a fragmented passage,

(56:58):
which is just it's showing offthe graphics of Kingdom Hearts 3
before it came out, but you'replaying as Aqua navigating the
land of darkness.
Gotcha.
Okay.
So there's that that's thatexists, but it's it's important,
but not important enough to gointo detail here.
0.8?
0.8 a fragmented passage.

SPEAKER_02 (57:20):
Oh, I don't see it on the list here.

SPEAKER_03 (57:22):
Yeah, it's like a tech demo.
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 (57:24):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (57:26):
And so Kingdom Hearts 3 starts out with Sora
being told you need to find acreate obtain the ability to
it's an ability called what isit?
Something of Waking.
Awaking.

SPEAKER_02 (57:42):
Awaking.

SPEAKER_03 (57:43):
I want to actually backtrack real quick to Kingdom
Hearts Cross and Kingdom HeartsUnion Cross, which was like a
browser game.
Yeah.
And a uh it ends up becoming amobile game.
Okay.
That goes into a lot ofbackstory.
That is the land of fairy talewhere the all there's thousands
of heart of uh Keyblade wielderstrying to just fight the

(58:06):
darkness.
Okay.
There's a lot there, but I'm notgoing to talk about it here.
It's important.
It is important, but not for theoverall kind of Sora story.

SPEAKER_02 (58:17):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (58:18):
So the power of waking, by the way.
So Sora, Donald, and Goofy setout together to gather the power
of waking to rescue lostfriends.
They are told that they need toget the seven heroes of light to
fight the 13 darknesses.
Okay.
And they realize we can getAqua, Ven, and Terra to help us.

(58:41):
Yeah.
So uh throughout the game, youare going to different Disney
Worlds, uh, Hercules, like moremodern movies like Frozen and
Tangled.
Okay.
Those kind of places.
This one was very much like agood, a very good game, but it
felt rushed, even though it'sthe big finale of the story that

(59:02):
they're trying to tell.

SPEAKER_02 (59:03):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (59:04):
So you end up gaining the power of waking.
Uh, you save Aqua from the landof darkness, uh, in this, and
then you go and retrieve uh Vin,and you have enough.
They have enough fighters.
Okay.
So it Aqua, Vin, Sora, Kyrie,Lee, who is Axel, turned back to

(59:27):
human.
I forgot to mention that onceyou destroy somebody's heartless
and they're nobody, they arerestored as a person.

SPEAKER_02 (59:34):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (59:35):
So Lee is now a human, but he is on the hero
side.
Kyrie and Riku.
That's seven.
There you go.
They go and they fight.
And uh they all die.
Everybody dies.

SPEAKER_02 (59:50):
Dang.

SPEAKER_03 (59:50):
And Sora activates the power of waking to travel
back in time to then be able tostop.
Everybody from dying, then theyfight everybody.
And in the process of the bigfinal fight, they are able to
bring back Shion, Roxas, andTerra.

(01:00:12):
Okay.
They're all back now, too.
Okay.
They fight all of the people.
And then they uh they beatXanor.
Okay.
And that that's all I can kindof say on that.
You know what I mean?
Without going again into deep,deep detail.

SPEAKER_02 (01:00:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:00:28):
And so there's one more game after this.
Uh so at the end of KingdomHearts 3 and the last second of
the last cutscene, Soradisappears.
And no one knows.
Like it just shows him turningto dust like Thanos just
snapped.
Like a Thanos snap, okay.
Like a Thanos snap.

(01:00:49):
So what it's revealed is becausehe used the power of waking to
save every save everybody andadjust the timeline.
Yeah.
It broke the natural order ofthings and it made Sora
disappear.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:02):
Uh-oh.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:03):
So Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory is a rhythm
game that you don't get any plotto until you fight the last
boss.
So it's just you playing songslike like Guitar Hero.
And then when you get to thefinal boss, is when it's like
you actually get lore about themkind of figuring out what's
going on with Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:23):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:24):
And it ends with Kyrie and Riku kind of getting
an idea of where Sora is at.
Yeah.
And going after him.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:32):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:33):
And so it's the place that he is at is called uh
quadratum.
Quadratum.
Quadratum, something like that.
It is essentially the real worldof Kingdom Hearts.

SPEAKER_02 (01:01:46):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:47):
So it's kind of revealed that this is another
kind of parallel universe ofsorts.
Uh-huh.
This is where he's stuck andit's the real world.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:58):
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_03 (01:01:59):
But so they're like, they know Sora because he's a
video game character.
Okay.
But in their world, in theirworld.
It makes more sense if you'replaying the game.
Yeah, yeah.
But that's kind of the best wayto summarize it.
And we kind of know this morefrom trailers.

SPEAKER_02 (01:02:15):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:16):
Because that's all we have.
So it ended that fight withXeanort.
Mm-hmm.
And it's revealed, I didn't gotoo much into detail, but there
is kind of like a past kind ofwar that triggered all the
Keyblade Willarders todisappear.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:32):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:02:33):
And they had five like masters who were over each
kind of like union.
They call them a union, but it'skind of like a guild.
Yeah.
And then they had above them wasthe master of masters and then
his assistant, Lu Shu.
Okay.
It is revealed that, and I Icompletely over completely went
over uh and didn't talk aboutZigbar, one of the organization

(01:02:56):
members, but he's in like allthe games and he's like in
league with Zayanort.
And it's revealed that he's overlike 200 years old and he is the
Master of Masters assistant, LuSu.
Okay.
Secretly.
So it's kind of like showingthat these uh Master of her
masters from before are nowgoing to go after Sora because

(01:03:16):
he broke the natural order ofthings.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:18):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:18):
And that's kind of where we're at going into
Kingdom Hearts 4, which has notcome out yet.
When does it come out?
I'd love to know.
So they've announced it, they'recoming out with it, but they did
that.
They announced it in 2022.

SPEAKER_02 (01:03:32):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:03:33):
And we got one quick trailer and some screenshots in
the last three years.
Dang.
We were going to get anothermobile game called Kingdom
Hearts Missing Link.
Yeah.
It was supposed to come out lastyear and they canceled it.
They just said, we're not makingthis game anymore.
They were they were to the pointwhere they did beta tests.

(01:03:54):
Yeah.
They did beta tests for this,several testing, public betas,
all this, these testings.
When me and Ashley went on ourhoneymoon to Japan, they had
advertisements for this game upeverywhere.
And just like like we boughtlike these, I bought these pack
of what I thought was KingdomHearts playing cards.
They were like$2 each.
So I've got I bought a wholebunch of them.

(01:04:16):
Yeah.
The guy looked at me like I wascrazy when I was buying them.

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:18):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:19):
And I was like, I'm gonna get all these playing
cards.
Why not?
I opened it up.
Yeah.
It was candy.
Oh.
It was like a it was like awafer cracker.
Yeah.
And in the back was one KingdomHearts trading card.

SPEAKER_02 (01:04:31):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:04:32):
So, but it inside that in the insert was an
advertisement and like scan hereto pre-download Missing Link.
Gotcha.
It's like, so it's like theywere gonna come out with this
game and they just kept pushingit back, pushing it back,
pushing it back.
Yeah.
And they ended up canceling it.
It was like a it was like aPokemon Go-esque thing where you

(01:04:53):
travel, walked around the realworld and interact with things
on your phone to unlock thestory.
Gotcha.
So I was really looking forwardto that game.
What's that kind of game called?
Like a GPS.
A GPS.
It's kind of like a GPS game.

SPEAKER_02 (01:05:07):
Okay.
And do you think the reason theyhaven't released or given an
update on when they're going torelease Kingdom Hearts 4 is just
because of all the stuff thatDisney's going through right
now?

SPEAKER_03 (01:05:20):
No.
Kingdom Hearts is more of aSquare Enix game than it is a
affiliated with the Disney whenyou're talking about like the
shenanigans of the Disneycompany.
Gotcha.
So yeah, like Kingdom Hearts 1came out, then the next year,
Chain of Memories came out, thentwo came out like two years
later.
And as you get down the line ofall the games, you just get more

(01:05:42):
and more separated of timebetween each Kingdom Hearts
game.
Like there was it was a span of10 years between the last
Kingdom Hearts game and three.
Like between those two.
And then Kingdom Hearts 3 cameout in 2019.
And we here we are in 2000 uh2025.

(01:06:03):
Yeah.
And the last time we heardanything about that was 2022.
Well, we got the trail in 2022,and then the last thing we saw
was when they announced thecancellation of Missing Link.
They are like, okay, we're realsorry.
So here's some screenshots.
And it's like a screenshot of aof a like a of a girl, Sora, and

(01:06:23):
then Mickey Mouse like likeacting all shady, jumping rafter
to rafter in a library.
It's like it doesn't give usanything.
Yeah.
But I'll show you later, but thetrailer for four is so cool.
Dude, it's so cool.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So that that that's my king mysummary of Kingdom Hearts.
You got I know you havequestions.

SPEAKER_02 (01:06:45):
Um well, so I guess what's your out of all the games
you've played over the years,what's been your favorite, I
guess, uh world played on.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:00):
World or game?

SPEAKER_02 (01:07:02):
We'll do okay, we can do game and then like what's
been the most enjoyable orentertaining world, you know,
like Disney themed world.

SPEAKER_03 (01:07:11):
Okay, so it's not a Disney world that I enjoyed the
most.
Okay.
It was the final world ofKingdom Hearts 3 because it was
this big uh come together of allof these things that they led up
to all the villains, all thenonsense, all the hurt and the
pain that this character thisvillain caused.
You know what I mean?

(01:07:31):
Mm-hmm.
To finally this big epic battle.
So the problem with KingdomHearts 3 is there's not a like
you just kind of go to theDisney World and you play out
through the Disney world, andthere's not a like like unlike
past games where there wasconnections to the overall story
within the worlds, yeah, thatdidn't happen that much.

(01:07:54):
And it felt very rushed.
Okay.
And you get to the final worldin this this big epic battle
that actually pays off reallywell.
Okay.
So I really like three, but alot of people didn't.
But I liked it because it paidoff this epic finale of this big
story they've been telling forthe last 20 years.
Yeah.
So there you go.

(01:08:16):
Favorite game though?
Yeah.
Either Birth by Sleep or KingdomHearts 2.
Most people's favorite isKingdom Hearts 2.
I really like Birth by Sleepbecause just the mechanic of it
is a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:27):
Yeah.
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:30):
All right.
Well, do you have anything elsethat you want to throw on top of
that?
I'm looking through my notes.
Uh yeah.
So uh characters voiced bypeople, right?
Yeah.
Uh Haley Joel Osmed is Sora.

SPEAKER_02 (01:08:43):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:08:44):
He is the kid from the sixth sense in AI,
artificial intelligence.
Yeah.
I'm trying to think of otherthings I saw him in, but but he
he plays in, he still acts, youknow.
Yeah, yeah.
Riku is David Gallagher.
Gallagher, who plays uh one ofthe kids in Seventh Heaven.

SPEAKER_02 (01:09:02):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:02):
Uh Kyrie and shlash Shion, because the same voice
actress is Hayden Pinetera.
She is the cheerleader inHeroes.

SPEAKER_02 (01:09:11):
Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:12):
Uh later on, she is replaced by uh Alison Stoner,
who is the one thing youprobably would know her is she's
Isabella in Finishing Ferb.
Like, what you doing?
Okay.
Roxas, like I said, is JesseMcCartney.
And Ansom, the why uh AnselmSeeker Seeker of Darkness in

(01:09:33):
Kingdom Hearts 1 is voiced byBilly Zane.
Wait, who's the what was thename of the actress again?
Sorry.
For who?
For oh, Kyrie.
Uh Alison Stoner.

SPEAKER_02 (01:09:44):
Allison, okay.
I'm trying to think of if I'veseen her in anything besides
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I know who that is.
She was very much so a uh Disneykid.

SPEAKER_03 (01:09:56):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Uh going over a few here, likemore select ones.
Uh Goofy is voiced by BillFarmer, who is the guy who
voices Goofy in a Goofy movie.
Okay.
Essentially, what they did werea lot of these characters is
they brought back thecharacters, the actors from the
movies.
Yeah.
Maleficent is Susan Blakesley,which is who voiced uh her in

(01:10:18):
Sleeping Beauty.

SPEAKER_01 (01:10:20):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:20):
Uh Hades is James Woods.
Genie is not Robin Williams.
This one I always love.
It's Dan Castanellieta.
He voices Homer Simpson in TheSimpsons.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:32):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:33):
And he came back and did Genie in Kingdom Hearts.
What?
Uh Jack Sparrow is James Taylor,who is Obi-Wan in the Clone Wars
TV show.

SPEAKER_02 (01:10:43):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:10:44):
Um, not a Disney character, but Sephiroth is the
villain of um Final Fantasy VII.
And he's like a hidden bossfight in Kingdom Hearts 1.
He's voiced by Lance Bass ofNSYNC.
So random.
But then going into like thesebigger names, right?
Uh Ansome the Wise isChristopher Lee.

(01:11:05):
Yeah.
Uh Master Ericus, which was themaster of the three uh Aqua Vin
and Terra.
That was Mark Hamill.
Master Zayanort was LeonardNimoy.
And then later Leonard Nimoydied, and he was replaced by
Christopher Lloyd from Back tothe Future.
Really?
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
And then I think that is it.

(01:11:26):
Yeah, that's it.
Sorry.
My notes are a little off.
No, that's good.
All right.
Hold on.
I'm seeing if there's anythingelse to talk about.
Here I am, going through papers.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:39):
Here I am once again.
I'm torn into pieces.
Can't deny.
Can't pretend.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:47):
I don't want to get a copy's right strike.

SPEAKER_01 (01:11:49):
I thought you were the one.

SPEAKER_03 (01:11:51):
Um.
That's it.
Kingdom Hearts, everybody.
There you go.
Kingdom Hearts, everybody.
I know I went too deep into it.
What was your first question youasked me that made me spin off
of?

SPEAKER_02 (01:11:59):
Uh, you answered it already.
Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
We're good.
Well, you didn't really answerit, but you answered it because
I was asking, like, what wasyour favorite Disney NPC to play
alongside?
But it sounds like you only playalongside Goofy and Donald.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:15):
Uh, you do when you're Sora or um in 358 over
358 over two days, you kind ofpick up, you pick your squad
between the differentorganization members.
Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 (01:12:27):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:12:28):
Which I completely glossed over.
There's so much there as well.
Yeah.
There's so much going on withthis franchise, dude.
I've been playing it since I was12.
Yeah.
Here I am, 34 now.
Here we are.
Well, guys, that's pretty muchit.
We're gonna uh So in thecomments section, I'll answer
any Kingdom Hearts questions andtell us what you think John's

(01:12:52):
special childhood game orproperty that he's gonna vent
about should be.
What it should be.
Everybody tell us what John isgoing to talk about, about his
favorite property.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:04):
Yeah.
Well, okay, so let's do thatreal quick.
Just real quick.
What are you into right now?
What are you playing right now?

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:12):
Yeah.
What is your favorite childhoodproperty?

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:15):
No, no, I'm asking before we too.
Oh, me?
Yeah, what are you playing rightnow?

SPEAKER_03 (01:13:19):
Uh Hollow Knight Silk Song.
Okay.
I think I talked about it onepisode uh 52.
Yeah, yeah.
Still playing just Hollow KnightSilk Song.
It's so much fun.
Okay.
I am playing Helldivers 2.
Still?
Like you talked about?
It's uh in episode 52.
It's pretty great.
It it is fun.

SPEAKER_02 (01:13:37):
I enjoy it.
We just the uh the game just dida high command for orders to
fight the illuminate.
Oh yeah.
So there's gonna be a lot, and Ilike have played against the
I've done that like once ortwice.
Ever since I started playingagain, I've been playing against
the bugs mostly.
And then they did the majororders for the bots.

(01:13:59):
So we're playing bots for alittle bit, and now we're about
to play the illuminate.
So it's like I haven't evenplayed against the more
difficult levels of Illuminate.
It's been like the basic levels.
Now we're gonna go in and it'sgonna be interesting.
It'll be fun.
But yeah.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:15):
So there you go.
Thank you, everybody.
First off, thank you forsharing.
No, thank you for sharing.
Oh, I shared a lot this episode.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:24):
Because yeah, it was all it was all about Kingdom
Hearts.
And if you were not here, itwouldn't have been a very long
episode.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:32):
Uh you would just have read like a quick little
synopsis of each little game.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So a guy named this guy, uh,yeah, he he he hit things next
game.
Yeah.
No, but thank you everybody forlistening and putting up with
this.
I hope y'all enjoyed it.
I really enjoyed talking aboutit.

SPEAKER_02 (01:14:50):
I enjoyed your passion for it.

SPEAKER_03 (01:14:53):
Real quick.
Yeah.
So each trio represents uh land,sea, and air.
Okay.
So that's kind of how they do itthat way.
Like um Sora, Soaring, Sora, uh,Riku is land, and then air is
Kyrie.
Uh, it's a little bit more uhthere in the sense of aqua,

(01:15:19):
yeah.
Then, or which I think is aventus, it's kind of like a play
on the word air, and then terra,literally meaning earth, yeah,
yeah, and so on and so forth.

SPEAKER_02 (01:15:29):
Okay.

SPEAKER_03 (01:15:30):
Got it.
Anything else?
No, that's it.
I got it.
We're good now.

SPEAKER_02 (01:15:34):
Well, then I guess all that's left to say is Christ
is Lord.
In the kingdom hearts is now.
We are the saints that serve.

SPEAKER_03 (01:16:12):
What is the name of the podcast again that I've done
the fifty-four episodes up?
I was trying to say episodefifty-four, and the saints is
there.
Welcome to the same fourepisode.