Long before the events of the series, there was a Keyblade Master known as the Master of Masters. He had six apprentices, to five of them, the Foretellers. He gave the Book of Prophecies, which predicted the triumph of darkness over light. To his sixth apprentice, Lu Shu, he gave her the Keyblade and a mysterious box.
The Keyblade contained an eye that would allow the Master of Masters to see the future when Luxu passed it down to his apprentice. According to the Master, the Book of Prophecies was proof that Luxu succeeded. Currently, we don't know many details about this era. The Foretellers, fearful of a traitor among them, turned against each other and caused a terrible Keyblade War at a place that became known.
as the Keyblade Graveyard. In order to save the light, the foreteller, Ava, formed a group called the Dandelions. Ava charged five of the Dandelions, including one named Ephemer, with leading the others into the Unchained Realm, sometimes known as the Realm of Sleep, and erasing their memories of the Keyblade War. Ephemer met with the other new leaders, Skald, Ventus, Brain and Lauriam. However, one of them is an imposter.
The fifth leader chosen by Ava was a girl named Strelitzia, but an unseen enemy killed her and took her place. The clues point towards Lauriam as the murderer But this hasn't been confirmed yet. The dandelions relived the events from their pasts, but without the Keyblade War so that the war would feel like it was only a dream. At this point, we don't know the fate of the Dandelions or how their actions tie into the current era. Some people believe the original Keyblade War is different from the Keyblade War we are about to discuss.
During the Keyblade War, Keyblade wielders fought each other in an attempt to control the light and claim the original Keyblade. That would grant them access to Kingdom Hearts. The war shattered the Keyblade into 20 pieces.
13 of Darkness and 7 of Light. These 7 fragments of Light became the pure hearts of 7 princesses. The Princesses of Heart. The war shrouded the entire world in Darkness.
But since some Light remained, the world was rebuilt. This new world. was made up of many smaller worlds, kept separate from one another so that another Keyblade war could never happen.
Now, when most people think of Kingdom Hearts, the first thing they think of is a boy named Sora, travelling through various Disney worlds on an adventure. To fully understand the Kingdom Hearts series however, we need to understand a different boy from Destiny Islands, Xehanort. Xehanort grew up on Destiny Island, but he found the world to be small and constraining, like a prison. He found his way to the Land of Departure, where he trained to wield a Keyblade alongside another student, whose name was Eraqus. Eraqus and Xehanort disagreed strongly on the nature of darkness.
Eraqus was fiercely opposed to it, whereas Xehanort believed the power of darkness. could be channeled safely. Despite these differences, they became friends. However, Xehanort became obsessed with two things.
First, he believed light and darkness should have an equal balance in the world, and that the tyranny of light must be destroyed. Second, he was fascinated by the ancient Keyblade War, or rather, its aftermath. What would happen if another Keyblade War took place? Would the light once again create a new world?
Could it be a world where light and darkness coexisted in balance? These questions began to consume him. At an unknown point in time, he obtained the Keyblade.
given to Luxu by the Master of Masters. Eraqus and Xehanort both became Keyblade Masters, and Xehanort eventually came to the conclusion that the only way he could satisfy his curiosity was to start a new Keyblade War. He told Eraqus his plan, Forge the Keyblade, start a new Keyblade War, let the worlds be consumed by darkness again, and see.
What happened next? Understandably, Eraqus thought this was a terrible idea, and they fought each other. Xehanort still intended to move forward with his plan, but he had one major problem. He was old.
Even if he started a Keyblade War, he wasn't sure he would live long enough to see the aftermath. He decided to steal someone else's body. as a vessel to extend his life. He met a boy named Ventus, who was also one of the dandelions.
Although we don't know yet how he made it to the modern era, since Ventus wasn't a suitable vessel, Xehanort decided to use him for a different purpose, forging the Keyblade, which could be accomplished through the clash of light and darkness. This was Xehanort's first plan. to create the Keyblade.
When Ventus refused to use the power of darkness, Xehanort forcibly extracted it from his heart. It manifested as a faceless being of pure darkness, which Xehanort named Vanitas. With his heart literally ripped into two, Ventus couldn't survive. Xehanort took the dying boy to Destiny Island, to spend his final moments in peace.
There, Ventus'fading heart found the heart of a newborn child on Destiny Island. A child named Sora. Sora's heart connected with Ventus'and stabilized him, saving him.
Through Ventus, this also created a connection with Vanitas, who took on Sora's appearance. Since Ventus was no longer dying, Xehanort could still use him and Vanitas to forge the Keyblade, but he didn't believe it was safe to train Ventus in close proximity to Vanitas, so he took Ventus to the Land of Departure. Eraqus forgave Xehanort and accepted Ventus as a third apprentice to train alongside his own students, Terra and Aqua.
Xehanort decided to make Terra his vessel. Four years later, Eraqus prepared to name Terra and Aqua Keyblade Masters. Xehanort advised him to put his students through the Mark of Mastery exam to see if Terra had control over his inner darkness, and then sabotaged the exam. Terra used the power of darkness, and Eraqus named only Aqua a Keyblade Master, Yen Sid a Sorcerer. and retired Keyblade Master, soon contacted Eraqus to warn him that strange creatures known as Unversed were attacking the world.
Eraqus tried to contact Xehanort, but couldn't reach him. He commanded Terra to investigate the Unversed and search for Master Xehanort. As Terra left, Vanitas taunted Ventus that Terra was leaving without him. and that Ventus would lose him forever.
Ventus left the land of departure in pursuit of Terra. Eraqus sent Aqua after both of them to bring Ventus back home and make sure Terra didn't give in to the darkness. Terra caught up with Master Xehanort, who said Vanitas was the source of the Unburst. Terra began to hunt for Vanitas. Meanwhile, Xehanort worked out a plan with a man named Braig.
It's currently unknown if he and Braig were already allies, or if this was the first time they met. Terra reunited with Ventus and Aqua in a world called Radiant Garden. However, when he learned Eraqus had sent Aqua to spy on him, he became angry and left. He ran to Braig, who claimed to have taken Xehanort prisoner. Terra fought him to save Xehanort, but was forced to use the darkness to defeat him.
Xehanort encouraged Terra to stop fearing the darkness. Xehanort also put part of his heart into Braig as part of his next plan to create the Keyblade if this one failed. Although this wouldn't be revealed until a few games later.
While in Radiant Garden, Aqua placed a protective spell on a girl named Kairi. Ventus and Aqua continued their journeys in which they clashed with Vanitas and his unversed. They also crossed paths with King Mickey, a Keyblade wielder training under Yen Sid. Terra found his way to Destiny Islands where he found two boys named Sora and Riku. He passed on the ability to wield a Keyblade to Riku.
Aqua later arrived and asked Sora to help Riku. if he ever fell into darkness. Meanwhile, Xehanort convinced Ventus that Eraqus hoped to keep him a prisoner to make sure he couldn't forge the Keyblade by fighting Vanitas.
Ventus returned home and confronted Eraqus, who decided his only course of action was to kill him. However, Xehanort alerted Terra, who intervened in time to save Ventus and send him to safety. Terra fought Eraqus.
Weakened, Eraqus realized he should never have considered murdering his own apprentice. Even as he admitted this, Xehanort finished him off. The remnants of Eraqus'heart secretly entered Terra's heart. Xehanort told Terra to go to the Keyblade Graveyard, where he threatened to kill Ventus and Aqua.
Lured by similar threats, Ventus and Aqua joined Terra there. And Master Xehanort and Vanitas attacked. Vanitas attacked Ventus, and their battle forged the Keyblade.
Ventus was able to destroy it, and Vanitas, shattering his own heart in the process. His heart once again found refuge with Sora, and Ventus fell into a deep sleep. Meanwhile, Terra gave in to the darkness in his attempt to defeat Xehanort.
who triumphantly released his own heart from his body and took over Terra's body. Although Terra's mind and will fought back, Terra Xehanort escaped the Keyblade Graveyard. Aqua escaped with the sleeping Ventus, who took him to the Land of Departure.
She then used the secret taught to her by Eraqus to transform the Land of Departure into Castle Oblivion, a place only she could navigate safely. With Ventus hidden in Castle Oblivion where no one could find him, Aqua went in search of Terra and found Terra Zeonaut in Radiant Garden. He attacked her, however, Terra fought back from within.
In an attempt to stop him, Zeonaut turned his keyblade on himself again. The results locked them both away, and Terra Zeonaut sank into the realm of darkness. Aqua followed.
But there wasn't enough time for both of them to escape. To save Terra, Aqua sent him on ahead and remained behind in the realm of darkness. Terra Xehanort awoke in Radiant Garden with no memory, except his name, inside his heart. His two halves were locked away in a struggle. With Terra's strength bolstered by Eraqus, Terra Xehanort was found by Ansem the Wise.
whose apprentices included Braig. Ansem took him in as a new apprentice. Ansem, who was curious about the nature of the heart, conducted experiments on him in the hope of restoring his lost memories.
Sometime after this, Xehanort and Braig led the other apprentices in more dangerous experiments. They captured people to use as test subjects and experimented. with the darkness in their hearts. This resulted in a number of Heartless being released, and Xehanort learned that worlds had hearts too. Ansem ordered them to stop the experiments, but Xehanort continued and discovered a way to manufacture Heartless.
He recorded the results in reports written falsely under Ansem's name. He and the others banished Ansem to the Realm of Darkness. When Xehanort officially took on his name as a false identity, he devised a new strategy to create an artificial kingdom heart by gathering the hearts of all worlds. We can consider this an alternate plan to start the Keyblade War.
As darkness consumed Radiant Garden, he recognized Kairi as a Princess of Heart and cast her into the darkness to test whether there was a connection between the Princess of Heart and Keyblade wielders. Thanks to Aqua's protective spell, Kairi was carried safely to Destiny Islands, where she became friends with Sora and Riku. Xehanort turned his fellow apprentices into heartless, and then did the same to himself.
Still calling himself Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, he proceeded with the next part of his plan. Without a body, he was able to travel through time. He traveled back to visit his younger self on Destiny Islands, and gave himself the ability to travel through time. His younger self, whom we'll call Younger Xehanort went into the future.
We'll return to this soon. Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, returned to his own timeline, unleashed the Heartless upon the worlds, and allowed Maleficent to take command of the Heartless in her own attempt to gather the Princess of Heart and obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts. He learned that when someone becomes a Heartless, their body takes on a new form of existence.
these creatures which lack hearts he dubbed nobodies. His own nobody took on the name Zenmas, gathered the nobodies of the other apprentices and began recruiting others into a group called Organization 13. Every member of Organization 13 was given a new name, an anagram of their name with an X added, a reference to Ki. 13 vessels filled with Xehanort's heart and the power of darkness would allow him to create a proper Keyblade, stronger than the one forged by Ventus and Vanitas. We can consider this his primary plan for obtaining the Keyblade. One of the new nobodies, Sykes, was turned into a partial vessel like Braig during this time period, although we don't know exactly when it occurred.
Vessels seeded with Xehanort's heart can be identified by their yellow eyes and pointed ears. Meanwhile, Ansem the Wise grew bitter in the realm of darkness. He began calling himself Darkness in Zero, or Diz, and used the power of darkness to escape.
He went to a world called Twilight Town and researched heartless and nobodies. while thoughts of revenge against his apprentices consumed him. Ten years after the events of Birth by Sleep, Maleficent had almost all the Princesses of Heart. Mickey set out to find the source of this chaos and a way to stop it, and ordered Donald and Goofy to find the Keyblade wielder to help. Back at Destiny Islands, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, appeared.
Riku. who wanted to leave the island more than anything else, gave in to him. He opened a door that allowed the Heartless to attack their world.
Riku disappeared into the darkness. Although Terra had given him the power of the Keyblade, his Keyblade passed to Sora instead. Sora fought his way to Kairi, but she vanished. Her heart secretly entered his for safety. Darkness consumed Destiny Islands, and Sora was cast adrift.
He awoke in Traverse Town, where he met Donald and Goofy. The three of them departed together on a quest to protect the world's hearts from the Heartless. Learn the truth about Ansem's mysterious disappearance, and find Riku and Kairi. However, Maleficent found Riku first.
She promised to help and find Kairi. and convinced him that Sora had replaced them with his new friends, Donald and Goofy. Riku slowly turned against Sora. He found Kairi's body, and took her to the corrupt Radiant Garden, where Maleficent had gathered the other six princesses of Heart. Sora arrived, and Riku reclaimed his Keyblade, but the strength of Sora's Heart enabled him to take it back.
Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, told Riku, He needed to open himself more fully to the darkness. Riku obeyed, and Ansem possessed him. Sora fought and defeated Maleficent, and then confronted Riku, or rather, Ansem controlling Riku's body. After they fought, Sora used the Keyblade forged from the Princess'heart's power to unlock his own heart and free Kairi's.
This turned Sora... into a Heartless and created his Nobody. Due to the additional presence of Ventus'heart, Sora's Nobody looked like Ventus. This Nobody took on the name Roxas and joined Organization 13, where he befriended Axel.
Because Kairi's heart was freed at the same time, a second Nobody named Naminé was also created, with unusual powers. With Kairi's heart freed, the final keyhole that led to Kingdom Hearts opened. With no further need for Kairi, Anson tried to kill her.
Riku fought back from within, and bought enough time for Donald, Goofy and Kairi to escape. Ansem forced Riku's heart out of his body entirely and into the realm of darkness. Kairi's light allowed her to restore Sora to his human form.
He set out to stop Ansem from reaching Kingdom Hearts. They battled, and Ansem opened the door to darkness in the hopes that Kingdom Hearts would fill him with the power of darkness. However, Kingdom Hearts is light.
and the light destroyed him. With his stolen body destroyed, it returned to Riku in the Realm of Darkness. Meanwhile, Mickey had reunited with Aqua, and obtained a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness. That Keyblade on one side, together with a Keyblade from the Realm of Light on the other side, could close the door. Aqua once again sacrificed herself.
Remaining behind in the realm of darkness to give Mickey and Riku the chance they needed. They, together with Sora, closed the door. Although Destiny Islands was now restored, Sora didn't go home.
Instead, he vowed to search for a way to save Riku and Mickey. Back in Organization XIII, Zenmuse say naughts nobody. told the other Nobodies that if they obtained the power of Kingdom Hearts, they could regain their hearts. Although Nobodies naturally grow new hearts, Xenmas and Xigbar, Rhaeg's Nobody, hid this knowledge from them.
Although their primary purpose was to become vessels for Xehanort, we can also consider this another alternate plan to begin the Keyblade War. Unlike Ansem's artificial Kingdom Hearts, Created from the heart of worlds, Zenmus'artificial kingdom hearts would be created from the hearts of people. Released from Heartless, defeated by the Keyblade, Organization XIII had one Keyblade wielder, Roxas.
But Zenmus devised a backup plan. He ordered the creation of artificial beings called replicas, to absorb the powers of Keyblade wielders. Organization XIII took control of Castle Oblivion, although they could not find Ventus.
In Castle Oblivion, members of the organization researched Naminé's powers and created a replica based on Sora. The Sora replica was given the name Shion and introduced to Organization XIII as a fourteenth member. Meanwhile, six members were stationed at Castle Oblivion.
including Axel, who had a secret mission to identify traitors to the Organization and kill them. Even more secretly, Axel planned to kill some of the top members, so he and Sykes could take control of the Organization. Malusia, the member of Organization put in command of Castle Oblivion, thought to use Naminé to gain Sora's power for himself.
Malusia is also the nobody from Loriam, from the Dandelions. Although we still don't have full details about his role or how he came to be in the modern era because of her unusual creation, Naminé had the ability to alter Sora's memories. Marluxia lured Sora, Donald and Goofy into Castle Oblivion and Naminé began replacing his memories of Kairi with memories of her. Sora grew obsessed with thoughts of saving Naminé.
Meanwhile, Ansem the Wise, still disguised using the name Diz, guided the real Riku out of the realm of darkness and into the basement of Castle Oblivion. He began his own journey through the castle and struggled to accept the fact that the darkness was a part of him. His presence in Castle Oblivion allowed them to create a second replica, this one based on Riku. The Riku Replica.
was given false memories of Naminé and fought Sora several times. When Sora finally found Naminé, she realized what she was doing to him was wrong. She encouraged him to remember Kairi. Malusha tried to kill Naminé for betraying him, but the Riku Replica protected her.
Sora defeated Malusha and offered the Riku Replica friendship, but he left in the hopes that he could become stronger. than the real Riku. Naminé told Sora she could restore his old memories, but he would forget everything that happened in Castle Oblivion.
Sora and his friends made a note to thank Naminé so they wouldn't forget and went to sleep so she could repair his memories. As Riku struggled with his darkness, the remains of Ansem in his heart began to stir and even took control of him to destroy a member of Organization XIII. Axel meanwhile manipulated the Riku replica into killing the remaining member. Riku defeated his replica. Riku overcame his fear of the darkness and accepted that it was a part of him.
But he still had to deal with Ansem. Mickey finally escaped the realm of darkness and joined him. Diz then revealed himself and led them to Namine, who could lock Ansem away in Riku's heart.
However, if he chose that method, he would need to sleep like Sora. Riku chose instead to fight. With Mickey, he successfully destroyed Ansem.
Although, remnants of his power lingered in Riku's heart. Diz gave Riku and Mickey black coats, like those the Organization wore to protect them from the darkness. He then convinced Naminé to move Sora to Twilight Town, where he could be safer. Axel returned to Organization XIII as the sole survivor of the members sent to Castle Oblivion. In his absence, Roxas had become friends with Shion.
who took on an appearance similar to Kairi's due to Sora's memories. Axel became friends with Shion as well, and gradually grew more distant from his old friend, Sykes. Since Sora spent so little time as a Heartless, Roxas had almost none of his memories.
While he and Shion performed missions for the organization to gather hearts, they both experienced flashbacks of Sora's journey. Unfortunately, As Shion grew stronger, she began absorbing more and more of Sora's memories. Namine reported to Diz that the existence of Roxas and Shion was slowing her attempts to wake him up. Riku encountered Shion and attempted to convince her to leave the organization, but she was reluctant to leave her friends.
Nevertheless, as an unstable replica, she began draining not only Sora's memories, but but Roxas's energy. Realizing they couldn't use both Roxas and Xion, the organization attempted to trick one of them into killing the other, but Axel intervened. Xion then left the organization and learned the truth about her origins.
Meanwhile, Xenmas revealed the truth about Xion to the rest of the organization. Roxas, realizing they viewed her as nothing more than a tool to discard, and worrying about his own similarities with Shion, also left. Shion met with Namine, who revealed that since Shion was made up of Sora's lost memories, returning those memories to him would mean the destruction of both Shion and everyone's memory of her. Shion accepted that, when Axel arrived and took her back to the organization by force.
Seemingly reprogrammed by Xenmas, Xion tracked down Roxas and attacked him. However, it was a ruse on her part to force him to destroy her. Xion's death awoke both Roxas'ability to wield two Keyblades due to his connection with Ventus'heart, and his rage at Organization XIII for using him and Xion in such a way.
He set out to destroy Xenmas'fledging Kingdom Hearts, But Diz sent Riku to capture him so he could merge with Sora. Riku fought Roxas and was forced to use the power of darkness to overcome him. Not only his own power, but the lingering power of Ansem inside his heart.
He succeeded, but transformed physically into Ansem. Ashamed that he gave into the darkness, Riku began calling himself Ansem, as he no longer felt worthy of his own name. Although Diz felt guilty over what happened to Riku, he showed Roxas no mercy. His hatred over the apprentices who betrayed him extended to the hatred of all nobodies.
He placed Roxas in a digital version of Twilight Town to keep him safe from the organization, until it was time to merge him with Sora. However, he did feel a slight amount of guilt, and secretly added data to Sora's memories that might allow him to save people like Roxas and Xion. In the digital world, Roxas'real memories were replaced with false memories. where he lived a normal life in Twilight Town. However, once Naminé neared the end of the restoration process, Roxas began having dreams about Sora.
Axel also arrived in Twilight Town under orders from the organization to bring him back. Finally, Naminé told him the truth, that he was Sora's nobody, and he needed to join with Sora to become a complete person. Roxas began to remember his former life and realized what Diz did to him. Despite his rage at Diz and attempts to resist his fate, Roxas faded away to become part of Sora, who was then able to wake up.
Sora, Donald and Goofy met with Yen Sid, who warned them about Organization XIII. Maleficent was also active again, commanding the Heartless with her ally Pete. Sora once again travelled from world to world, now to protect them from both Nobodies and the Heartless.
All the while, he searched for Riku, who remained hidden from his friends out of guilt. Along the way, they fought many members of Organization XIII, who often referred to Sora as Roxas. Axel also kidnapped Kairi in an attempt to turn Sora into a Heartless again and get Roxas back. However, Sykes stopped him and took her prisoner for the organization instead.
Mickey rejoined Sora and the others and told them the truth about how the Ansem they fought was not the true Ansem the Wise, but his apprentice, Xehanort. Xehanort's nobody, Xemnas, revealed their mission to create Kingdom Hearts, and how by fighting the Heartless, Sora was aiding their plan. Sora eventually made his way to Organization XIII's castle to stop them once and for all, and Axel sacrificed himself to save Sora for Roxas'sake.
Meanwhile, Kairi tried to escape and was aided by Riku, who gave her a Keyblade of her own. Sora and his friends joined them, and together they continued to fight Organization XIII. They finally reunited with Mickey, as well as Diz. who revealed his identity as Ansem the Wise at last. He attempted to digitize Xemnas'Kingdom Hearts, but the machine malfunctioned.
It destroyed most of Kingdom Hearts, restored Riku's appearance, and blasted Ansem the Wise into the Realm of Darkness. Maleficent and Pete then arrived and, in the hopes of taking the organization's castle for themselves, held back the attacking Nobodies, So Sora and his friends could fight Xemnas. With Xemnas defeated, Roxas and Naminé fully merged with Sora and Kairi, and Kairi returned home.
However, Riku and Sora had to face Xemnas one last time, after which point they were nearly trapped in the realm of darkness. Despite their acceptance of this possible fate, a message from Kairi guided them back home. Meanwhile... Mickey became curious about the unexplained, think-namine message, and digitized the journal to learn the truth about it. This sent a virtual Datasaura on a journey through the digital world.
Maleficent also entered the digital world, and noted the similarity between the journal and the Book of Prophecies. Datasaura successfully destroyed all the bugs and glitches in the journal, spoke to Dataroxus about the importance of of dealing with sadness and pain and encountered Naminé. Naminé revealed the truth of what happened, told him about Roxas and Xion, and revealed Terra, Aqua and Ventus as three people who needed Sora's help. Mickey promised to tell the real Sora about this.
Meanwhile, in the realm of darkness, Ansem the Wise met Aqua. He spoke about his guilt for all the suffering he caused, and said that Sora might be able to save many people. Implied to mean Namine, Roxas, Xion, Axel, Terra, Aqua and Ventus. Now, when a person's Heartless and Nobody are both destroyed, the original person is reborn. Organization XIII delayed this process by gathering hearts into Kingdom Hearts.
But when their Kingdom Hearts were destroyed, the hearts were free to rejoin their bodies and restore everyone. who became a Heartless, including Xehanort. Mickey and Yen Sid summoned Sora and Riku to prepare for the final offensive against Xehanort.
Since Sora and Riku were self-taught Keyblade wielders, Yen Sid wanted to test them with a Mark of Mastery exam. He commanded them to unlock the seven sleeping keyholes, which would give them the power to awaken sleeping hearts. To do this, He sent them back to the moment Destiny Islands was consumed by darkness, so that they could ride Destiny Islands'dream into the dreams of the sleeping worlds. Unfortunately, Xehanort predicted this. When young Xehanort travelled through time, he went to that moment to enter the sleeping worlds along with Sora.
Riku, subconsciously realizing something went wrong, entered Sora's dreams to protect him. From then on, they traveled to separate versions of the sleeping worlds. Sora in the dreams of the worlds themselves, and Riku in Sora's dreams, where they fought alongside spirits called Dream Eaters.
Yen Sid realized Sora and Riku had fallen beyond his reach, and New Xehanort had sabotaged the exam. He and Mickey began looking for them. Meanwhile, Axel, now restored to his human identity, Lee searched in vain for Sykes. Eventually, Lee allied himself with Mickey and the others, and asked Yen Sid if he could wield a Keyblade.
Yen Sid was skeptical, but decided it might be unexpected enough to take Xehanort by surprise. Back in the sleeping world, young Xehanort appeared at many points to taunt Sora. His time travel abilities also allowed him to pull- other versions of himself into the future, including Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas before their deaths.
They filled Sora with doubts, confusion, secretly preparing him to be the final vessel for Xehanort. Sora learned of the true purpose of Organization XIII, and how Xemnas and Xigbar deceived the other Nobodies. He fought Xemnas, but it left him weakened and vulnerable to the Darkness. The darkness consumed him, and young Xehanort took him to the place where all 13 vessels would meet. Riku, meanwhile, returned to the real world and hurried to save the sleeping Sora from his fate.
But every version of Xehanort began to appear around them. Mickey arrived and stopped time right before the reborn master Xehanort could arrive, freezing the Xehanort in place. However, Master Xehanort's consciousness had already arrived and seized control of his younger self's body.
This allowed young Xehanort to break free of Mickey's spell and fight Riku. After the battle, time resumed. Ansem and Xemnas restrained Riku and Mickey so that Master Xehanort could make Sora his final vessel.
But Lee arrived just in time to shield Sora. On Master Xehanort's command, Sykes revealed himself and attacked Lee. Master Xehanort explained his plan to form the Keyblade through a battle between his 13 vessels and the Seven Guardians of Light, or the Seven Princesses of Heart if necessary.
With their meeting across time and space at an end, all of the Xehanorts vanished. Riku and the others took Sora back to Yen Sid's tower, and Riku ended his heart. to wake him up. There, he released Sora's heart and spoke with a memory of Ansem the Wise, who gave him his secret data. With both Sora and Riku awake, Yen Sid named Riku a Keyblade Master, undeterred.
Sora briefly returned to the sleeping world to say goodbye to his dream eaters. While he was gone, Yen Sid summoned Kairi, whom he hoped to train alongside Lee as a Keyblade wielder. Mickey then told them the story of his meeting with Aqua in the Realm of Darkness, and he and Riku set out to save her.
Sora returned, and Yen Sid sent him, Donald and Goofy out, so that Sora could reclaim the power he lost in his struggle against Xehanort, and that- brings us to Kingdom Hearts 3.