Sora

HISTORY

Sora (Japanese: ソラ) is a character and the main protagonist of Disney and Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts video game series. Introduced in the first Kingdom Hearts game in 2002, Sora is portrayed as a cheerful teenager who lives on the Destiny Islands and has been best friends with Riku and Kairi since childhood. While planning to leave on a journey to see other worlds, they are separated after creatures known as the Heartless destroy the Islands, with Sora obtaining a weapon called the Keyblade. Donald Duck and Goofy recruit him in their journey across various worlds in search of their king, Mickey Mouse, while Sora searches for his friends; along the way, the trio protects the worlds they visit from the Heartless and other villains.

Sora was initially designed by Kingdom Hearts series director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura during a discussion between Disney and Square about who the series' protagonist should be. Wanting an original character, Nomura made various sketches of Sora until the design met the approval of Disney. Throughout the series, Sora has been voiced by Haley Joel Osment in English and Miyu Irino in Japanese. For his depiction as a child in the prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Sora was voiced by Luke Manriquez and Takuto Yoshinaga in English and Japanese, respectively. Sora has made supporting appearances in other games from the series and reprised his role in manga and light novel adaptations of the games.

Sora's character has received a generally positive critical response due to his warm personality and adventurous spirit. His personal and martial growth in the series has also received praise, especially in his appearance in Kingdom Hearts II. He was added to Nintendo's fighting video game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a downloadable fighter and revealed to be the most requested fighter to appear in the Super Smash Bros. series.

Concept and creation

Sora was created by Tetsuya Nomura as the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts. He was not originally slated to be the protagonist, as Disney wanted Donald Duck to fill the role, while Square wanted Mickey Mouse. Because Sora was a new character in the first Kingdom Hearts, Square added Final Fantasy characters who support the protagonist. Nomura has stated that Sora's name can be interpreted as "sky", since the Japanese word sora (空) means sky. This name was chosen to symbolize Sora's role and his personality, as well as his close relationship with Riku and Kairi, with their names together meaning "sky, land, and sea." He was also described by Nomura as having an outgoing personality, which allows him to make friends throughout the series.

One of the main concepts of Sora's character in the series is that, according to Nomura, he is a normal boy instead of a supernatural being, despite being deeply connected with other characters from the series. With Sora, Nomura wants to give players the message that, though they are not "important people", they have the opportunity to accomplish great things. This was emphasized in Birth by Sleep's secret ending, which Nomura hoped players would find because it showed Sora's potential to influence others' lives. In early versions of development of Birth by Sleep, Nomura thought that Ventus would be Sora before being reborn, but due to negative feedback from overseas, this plot line was discarded. Of all of the characters he has designed, Nomura called Sora his favorite, describing him as "special" after having worked to develop the character over many games. The name of Noctis Lucis Caelum from Final Fantasy XV is also a reference to Sora; Sora and Caelum both mean "sky" in their respective languages, and Nomura considered Noctis to be his latest "son". When Kingdom Hearts II included a note using Sora's handwriting, Nomura wrote it himself. In response to rumors saying that Sora's story would end in Kingdom Hearts III, Nomura answered that Sora is the protagonist of the series and that his role will end once the series ends.

According to Super Smash Bros. series director Masahiro Sakurai, Sora had been the winner of the Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Wii U Fighter Ballot in 2015, and Sakurai was aware of the various fan campaigns advocating for Sora's inclusion in the series. Sakurai described Sora's inclusion as a "huge undertaking" and "perfect" as the concluding fighter for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sakurai also felt that it was "impossible" for Sora to appear in the series, but after Sakurai met a Disney executive at an awards show, Nintendo, Disney, and Square Enix began negotiations to include him. According to Luigi Priore, Vice President of Disney and Pixar Games, the company recognized that having Sora in Smash Bros. was something that fans had been asking for a long time, and the team was delighted to make it happen. "Knowing the passion of Kingdom Hearts fans, we were not surprised [by the reaction], but we were thrilled," Priore added. "It's been incredible watching all the videos and commentary online." Nomura was actually more hesitant than Disney about Sora's inclusion because of potential conflicts with the lore established in the Kingdom Hearts series at first, but seeing the positive reception by the public led him to conclude that "the end result was really great." Sora was designed as a floaty, light, and aerial fighter. The majority of his moves are inspired by his appearance in the original Kingdom Hearts, but per the limitations of the licensing agreement, Disney characters were not included as spirits or cameos.

Design

Nomura designed Sora with the concepts of the Disney characters in mind, basing his outfit on Mickey Mouse's trademark white gloves, red shorts, and giant yellow shoes. Sora originally wielded a weapon resembling a chainsaw; however, the weapon was not well received by Disney, which led Nomura to redesign the weapon into a Keyblade. He was also designed with lion-like features, which were removed as the staff found them to be similar to those of Final Fantasy IX protagonist Zidane Tribal. The design was further reworked after a talk with the Disney staff, and Nomura finished it after a night's work.

Following the first Kingdom Hearts, Nomura was worried that players would be unhappy that Sora would start Kingdom Hearts II as a weak character with few powers, who once again had to be leveled up like the first game. Therefore, Nomura developed the plot of Chain of Memories to explain how Sora loses his abilities in Castle Oblivion and starts anew. Additionally, a new mystery regarding Sora's memories of Twilight Town was added in Chain of Memories, which would be explained in Kingdom Hearts II.

Sora was given a new outfit to reflect the time spent between Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. The team in charge of Kingdom Hearts II expressed difficulties in animating Sora's "Valor" Drive Form, which had a different motion except for Sora's walking animation, which is shared with his regular motion. The Anti-Form was also made to focus on Sora's dark side from the first Kingdom Hearts, where he is temporarily transformed into a Heartless. Gameplay-wise, the form was created to be both powerful and troublesome. The fights Sora has with Roxas and Xemnas were meant to surprise gamers, especially in the latter, when the player loses control of Sora and Riku has to save him. To avoid misconceptions that Dream Drop Distance was a remake of the original game, Nomura decided to change Sora's and Riku's outfits for most of the game.…

STORY

"The beautiful blue sky is getting painted darker each passing moment.

War.

People killing each other.

No one even knows who started it anymore.

No one even knows how long they have been fighting against each other, forgetting what they are fighting for.

People have made themselves into weapons to snuff others out,

forgetting their dream of flying freely in the sky.

The war has been lasting forever.

But the end seems to be at hand.

The population has seen a massive decrease,

and the whole planet as the battlefiled is on the verge of destruction.

Knowing all that, people have become weak and keep warring without getting hurt themselves.

That way, they are merely postponing the inevitable.

During the war, a girl was born.

Her name was Sora.

She was born with a power for fighting.

She was not happy about it, but the people around her were and they sent her to the battlefield with no thought for her feelings at all.

The last war on the worn-out planet.

Whether it is won or lost, there would be nothing left.

Sora did not know the meaning of the fight."