Prologue:

"The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says it's wielder saved the world while another says that he wrought chaos upon it. I must know what this keyblade is. A key opens doors..."

 

 

My Theory!

Though not officially confirmed by Square or Disney, creator Tetsuya Nomura has openly admitted to having a plot for Kingdom Hearts III in the works and is planning to create it. Though, he has stated that he is working on another title first. Much like Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts III's first look can be found in the secret trailer at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. The first look at the game shows some new, unknown characters and a whole lot of keyblades.

"The Keyblade is said to hold phenomenal power. One legend says it's wielder saved the world while another says that he wrought chaos upon it. I must know what this keyblade is. A key opens doors..."

WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD!

I bet everyone is wondering: "Will KH3 display a new main playable character"? My answer to this is no. Kingdom Hearts III will be having Sora again. What leads me to this believe? Well according to Nomura in the Famitsu interview a couple years ago said KH is different from Final Fantasy in that the same character is always the main character, thus leading to my conclusion that Kingdom Hearts will remain with Sora until the end.

Within the "secret" or additional ending to Kingdom Hearts II we see what we believe to be a Keyblade Graveyard full of Keyblades scattered everywhere. Three heavily armored soldiers go up to three particular Keyblades, one that looks like Kairi's Keyblade, the Kingdom Key, and Riku's Keyblade: the Road To Dawn. Due to the figure, and walking style we figure one of the armored soldiers to be a girl. With this all said could the three soldiers actually be Sora, Riku, and Kairi? From what I've heard it's been officially denied, and that they are three new characters being introduced to the Kingdom Hearts series.

Suddenly, there is a distant rumble, almost like an explosion. The three look into the distance and through the haze of the heat, an outline can be seen of a figure. After that some screen captions appear, below is only a few we found most important.

"Memory of Xehanort" Could it mean that Kingdom Hearts could largely deal with Xehanort's lost memories from before he met Ansem?

"Keyblade War" Perhaps a war that is coming or already passed. It could explain why the three characters are in armor.

And last but not least a theory told to me from a friend.

"This trailer is actually advertising a Kingdom Hearts CGI movie, much like Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children." I'm sorry but no. If you have read the Official Playstation Magazine (August '04 edition) Interview with Nomura it had said Nomura knows this experience is crucial to his career, but he relishes the opportunity to learn more about directing before moving on to other projects. But there's a bittersweet side to his involvement with Kingdom Hearts II. "I love Sora, but it's with a broken heart." Nomura mutters out from underneath his hat. Indeed, not unlike a parent giving a child up for adoption, Nomura has no control over Sora or any other original characters appearing in Kingdom Hearts. The contract between Square Enix and Disney gives almost full control of the Kingdom Hearts property over to Disney. If you happen to see Sora appearing outside of a game in a something like a cartoon, there's very little chance Nomura is involved, but that doesn't affect his excitement (or ours) for Kingdom Hearts II.

Well then again I look at that, and it only says that Nomura couldn't do it and that Disney is the one with the rights to the characters. So in truth if we did see a movie it would be done by Disney, and well honestly I doubt that would ever happen.

Well, it’s been months since any real news, but at last we have something to tide us over - a leaked trailer of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for Sony’s PSP, taken at the Square-Enix Character Showcase.

a preview of the upcoming kingdom hearts installment on PSP.
The game centres around the period of the Keyblade War. During this time, Keyblade Masters are commonplace, and our story centres around onesuch apprentice, named… Terra. The game will also eventually split off and explore two other, smaller scenarios, most likely featuring Ven and Aqua. On the topic of Terra’s story though, we follow him and his eventual meeting with both Ven and Aqua, how their friendship develops, and the growth of Terra’s hatred of Xehanort. After another Keyblade master goes missing, and Xehanort disappears alongside him as the main suspect, Terra tracks down his master to understand the truth of his past… and his future.

The trailer in the Mega Theater begins by saying “Far in the past… a hidden destiny is born by sleep…” and then showed off a clip with Terra (who is explicitly named this time) talking to Ven at Hollow Bastion, intertwining this footage with a training session between Terra and ‘Master Xehanort’. Terra summons the Keyblade, as seen in the shot released yesterday. A montage of worlds quickly flashes, featuring previous worlds such as Olympus Coliseum, and a new world that could very well be centred around Sleeping Beauty. We’re then shown an epic battle between Terra and the ’slave’ Unknown from the ‘Fate of the Unknown’ secret movie. The two battle until Terra gains the upperhand, and as the mysterious figure takes his helmet off, the scene cuts to Mickey summoning his Starseeker Keyblade, and another scene in which Terra watches two boys play on a beach reminiscent of Destiny Islands. Terra then says “Please… don’t depend on me… just erase me, friend…”

The video comes to an end by showing the words “Hidden… days are… born from sleep. The story leads… to an approaching time.” The first sentence relates to the three titles and how they connect, and the second informs us that these all lead into the approaching third major game!

As for staff, the title is, once again, directed by Nomura himself (unlike both versions of Chain of Memories). Is it just me, or is Nomura taking on far too much work at the moment? Three KH titles, Versus XIII, Advent Children Complete and if the rumoured new KH PS3 title is real, that makes a total of six titles! Hopefully this won’t affect quality…

It seems the title will be all we’ve been waiting for and more, finally showing us the truth about Xehanort’s past, and how the Keyblade Wars played out. Keep checking in for more updates on what could become one of the PSP’s biggest titles!!