The COMPLETE Kingdom Hearts Timeline Explained

The Totally Not Complicated Kingdom Hearts Timeline Explained

Welcome to MojoPlays, and what do you get when you mix Final Fantasy with every Disney IP under the sun? A massive f***ing ball-ache. Kingdom Hearts may hold the record for games that started off so simple and so cohesive, only to grow to have the most convoluted and complicated lore possible. It’s a toss up between Kingdom Hearts and Metal Gear Solid. But Metal Gear Solid doesn’t require you to play mobile games to follow the story, so it’s taking a backseat to this masterpiece. This is The Totally Not Complicated Kingdom Hearts Timeline Explained.

The Timeline Explained

Remember when you first heard about Kingdom Hearts? “Wait a minute, it’s like a sword combat RPG where your party members are Donald and Goofy? WAIT A MINUTE! I GET TO PUNCH JAFAR IN THE FACE!? Mum, grab your coat, you’re taking me to EB Games.” Kingdom Hearts came at the perfect time, as gaming was peaking on the highest selling console of all time (the PS2), and Final Fantasy X had shown us exactly what Square Enix was capable of on the console just one year prior. The desire for an edgy action adventure was strong with the teenage demographic that was dominating the console, and the Disney element lined up perfectly with the nostalgia of this demographic's younger years. It was a formula that could have been tried in any other decade and probably wouldn’t have worked as brilliantly. We’ll get into Kingdom Hearts later as we bash through these games in chronological order, but we should point out that Kingdom Hearts by itself was not a complicated game. It had a rich and full story, which perfectly blended characters who already had their own histories, but it was done so well whilst leaving enough room for the fleshing out and sometimes retconning that would come as this story unfurled in later entries.

Welcome to 2024, 22 years after the first game, and players are getting more and more excited for the future of the series - in particular, the release of Kingdom Hearts IV. It’s hard to ignore however, that the player count has dropped since the first two games as the story and world became too difficult to follow for casual fans. We can’t be totally blamed, we’re all adults now, and the unfortunate reality is we don’t have as much time on our hands, or as much as we wish we did. But, FRET NOT, as I am an adult with enough time on my hands to run my fellow adult nerds through this game's story in the simplest way I can. If you are expecting a keyblade masters synopsis, I can’t promise that, I’m just here to give you the highlights, but if you don’t know who Hercules is, you might need to do some research of your own. Hold onto your hats, let’s get chronological.

“Kingdom Hearts χ” (2013)

Alright, let's begin our journey with a mobile game, and let’s get a little lazy with it by joining Kingdom Hearts χ, Kingdom Hearts Union χ, and Kingdom Hearts Union χ Dark Road into the same entry. I’m already confusing myself, and we’re like two sentences into this monster. If you’re thinking to yourself “Mat, is there any point including the mobile games?” then you're underestimating the significance of mobile games. There are genuinely moments in the console games that you simply won’t understand because you didn’t play these games. Let's acknowledge that this is insane, take a breath, and power on. Kingdom Hearts χ sets the earliest mark in the chronological timeline, delving into the adventures of youthful keyblade wielders battling Heartless across distant past and future realms. It intricately weaves the narrative of the Keyblade War, shedding light on the genesis of the Keyblade Graveyard, pivotal in Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and Kingdom Hearts III. The Keyblade Graveyard served as the battleground for the Keyblade War, where the χ-blade was shattered, and it stands as the sole location where recreating the χ-blade is possible. Furthermore, Dark Road provides insights into the genesis of the series' primary antagonist, Xehanort. That’s as much as we’re touching on these games, because we’ve got lots to touch on.

“Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep” (2010)

Moving down the list, Birth by Sleep introduces us to three pivotal characters: Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, as they strive to attain the status of Keyblade Masters, inadvertently setting the entire Kingdom Hearts timeline into motion. We could spend hours talking about this game, but instead we’re going to give it about 26 seconds. This installment marks the initial canonical appearance (in terms of release order) of Xehanort, concluding with his manipulation of Terra's body and assumption of Ansem the Wise's identity, along with the majority, if not all, of his apprentices.
Birth by Sleep also unveils Castle Oblivion from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. Surprisingly, the castle is revealed to be a transformed version of Land of Departure, concealing within its depths the comatose body of Ventus, devoid of a heart since it resides within a newborn by the name of Sora. Spoiler alert: Sora is going to become quite a big deal in this timeline. This revelation clarifies why there is an uncanny resemblance between Sora's Nobody, Roxas, and Ventus. Now is an opportune moment to clarify the mechanics of Heartless and Nobodies. Essentially, when an individual's heart is extracted, two entities remain: a body without a heart, known as a Nobody, and the Heartless, which is the corrupted heart consumed by darkness. So a Nobody is a heartless body, and a Heartless has nobody's body… I don’t even think that is correct, I just really wanted to say it.

“Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage-” (2017)

In a classically genius move from Square Enix, we have Kingdom Hearts 0.2 which served as both a tech showcase for Kingdom Hearts III, and an epilogue for Birth by Sleep. I imagine when Square Enix carves up the Turkey at Thanksgiving, they make stock out of the carcass, because they let nothing go to waste. 0.2 delves into Aqua's journey in the Realm of Darkness, acting as a bridge between Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts. It also gives the player a reason why Mickey didn’t have a shirt on at the end of Kingdom Hearts 1… Oh wait, I’m sorry, no it doesn’t, it just takes his shirt away from him to preserve continuity. I don’t know what I would have preferred, the continuity issue or now wondering why the hell the heartless are so damn kinky?

“Kingdom Hearts” (2002)

Alright alright alright! This was the beginning, the OG, the simplest game of the lot. Unfortunately, I’m gonna give the retconned plot instead because we now know way too much, but you should all keep in mind that the majority of the stuff we’re going to talk about was not known when we played this game back in 2002. Sora, our main protagonist, our little hero, the kid who Ventus’ heart is hiding inside of, and his best mates Kairi and Rikku, are pulled from their comfortable and safe world to fight the heartless, a bunch of Disney villains. The ultimate antagonist of the game is Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. You might recall him as the Heartless born from the division of Terra-nort, who assumed the identity of Ansem the Wise. This division resulted in both a Heartless and a Nobody, which we'll discuss shortly. The ominous Dark Shadow that accompanies Ansem strongly suggests that it holds what remains of Terra's heart, kept captive within it. All this being said, it’s actually a remarkably simple plot to follow, the idea of a Nobody wasn’t even invented till the second game, and we had no idea what the f*** a Terra-nort was.

“Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days” (2009)

I feel like it’s important to note that some of this game takes place before the next entry Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and a bit of it takes place after, but to keep things cohesive, and because I GUESS it doesn’t really matter, we’re just gonna talk about the whole thing now. In this spinoff, which also functions as a significant installment in the series, we're introduced to Roxas, a Nobody spawned from Sora during the climax of Kingdom Hearts when Sora transformed into a Heartless. Unlike typical Nobodies, Roxas lacks memories of his original identity, Sora, and gradually forms his own distinct personality. Additionally, we meet the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, named Xion, an artificial human created as a fail-safe for Roxas, who inadvertently absorbs Sora's memories, hindering their complete restoration.

Under the guidance of Axel, Roxas embarks on daily missions across various worlds to combat Heartless and liberate captured hearts using his Keyblade. These missions align with the Organization's objective of creating Kingdom Hearts and achieving wholeness. However, at Twilight Town, Xion, manipulated by Xemnas, reverts to her original purpose of absorbing Roxas and becoming a flawless replica of Sora. After a confrontation, Xion's physical form dissolves, and her heart merges with Sora's, causing memories of her to gradually fade away.

Subsequently, Roxas finds himself placed in a simulated version of Twilight Town, with all his memories of life outside the town gone, as part of a plan for him to eventually merge with Sora.

I’m sorry I spent so much time on this entry, and I am acutely aware that I spent time explaining who Xion was but didn’t touch on at ALL what the Organisation actually is. If it becomes relevant to follow the basic plot later on, I might expand on it, but for now we’re just chillin.

“Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories” (2004)

This entry was originally published on the Game Boy Advance, and acted as an UNBELIEVABLY important plot bridge between the first and second Kingdom Hearts games on the PS2, if you don’t see the absurdity in that then you’re just deluding yourself. That’s like going to McDonald's for a burger, and they send you to KFC to collect your chips.

While Roxas enjoys his time indulging in ice cream and exploring the simulated Twilight Town, oblivious to his true identity, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stumble upon Castle Oblivion during their quest to locate Riku and King Mickey Mouse. As they progress through the castle, they begin to lose their memories as was explained to them before entering, and they confront and overcome roughly half of Organization XIII, including adversaries like Larxene, Vexen, and Marluxia.

Meanwhile, Riku and Mickey find themselves within Castle Oblivion as well, starting their journey from the basement and gradually ascending to the ground floor. Riku faces off against his own faction of the Organization, contending with members such as Lexaeus and Zexion. You might have noticed the recurring 'x' in the names of Organization members… It’s on purpose. After ascending the castle, Namine (a new friend), puts Sora and his party into pods to help them regain the memories they lost in the castle. This process will also erase the memories they made while in the castle, meaning that when they eventually wake up at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II with no memory of how they got there, they feel much like those of us who way back in 2005, didn’t realize there even was a Kingdom Hearts game on the GBA… So swings and roundabouts and all that.

“Kingdom Hearts II” (2005)

Kingdom Hearts II baby! The highly anticipated sequel that came out 4 years after the original, and the beginning of things getting really out of pocket in this story. Of course, going through the game chronologically makes it seem like this is pretty deep into the extensively confusing lore, but for those who missed the bridging entry between Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2, this game was our first introduction to Nobodies, Organisation XIII, Roxas, Xehanort, Xemnas, the keyblade wars, the keyblade graveyard and The World that Never Was. In this installment, Roxas is compelled to rejoin with Sora, who has been in a state of suspended animation since the conclusion of Chain of Memories. Sora embarks on a mission to vanquish the lingering remnants of the Heartless following the defeat of Maleficent, but she’s still alive so ignore what I just said. Meanwhile, the surviving members of Organization XIII, whom Sora has no recollection of defeating due to his memory loss at Castle Oblivion, seek vengeance and aim to summon Kingdom Hearts, an enigmatic concept that has never been thoroughly clarified. Honestly, give Micky his shirt back, and tell in clear detail what the f*** Kingdom Hearts is.

At the end of the game, Sora, Riku, and Kairi find themselves back on Destiny Islands, receiving a mysterious letter in a bottle from none other than King Mickey himself.

“Kingdom Hearts Coded” (2011)

I could take a second to warm you up to this entry, but what’s the point… King Mickey digitized Jiminy Cricket’s journal to find it has been corrupted, and he creates a digital Sora known as “Data-Sora” to go inside and investigate. The game elaborates on the concept of the data versions of our characters after it was introduced in Kingdom Hearts II, but apart from that, there’s not much else to talk about. We do however finally get to see what Mickey wrote in his letter to Sora, Riku and Kairi at the end of Kingdom Hearts II. The final line reads “It's possible that all your journeys so far have been preparing you for this great new task that's waiting for you. I should have known there were no coincidences, only links in a much larger chain of events. And now the door to your next journey is ready to be opened."

“Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance” (2012)

In the lead-up to Kingdom Hearts III, Sora and Riku embark on a quest to awaken the slumbering worlds and strive to attain the status of Keyblade Masters. This entry introduces the concept of time travel, as the ancient figure Xehanort resurfaces with the aid of his younger self.

Following the shortcomings of the former Organization, Xehanort adopts a "do it yourself" approach and establishes the genuine Organization XIII, composed mostly of various versions of himself. The roster includes Master Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Terra-Xehanort, Ansem (his Heartless), Xemnas (his Nobody), Vanitas, Xigbar (already infused with Xehanort's essence), Saix, Luxord, Marluxia, Larxene, Dark Riku, and Xion, with Vexen and Demyx serving as reserves.

In this installment, Sora fails his Mark of Mastery exam due to the near possession by the Organization. Unfortunately, the reason for his failure boils down to something as trivial as the addition of an 'x' to his shirt—an explanation that leaves much to be desired.

“Kingdom Hearts III” (2019)

Kingdom Hearts III finally graced us with its presence, a surreal moment indeed. It narrates the climactic showdown between the genuine Organization XIII, representing darkness, and the Seven Guardians of Light, determined to thwart their plans. The finale sees Sora sacrificing himself by overusing his Power of Waking to save Kairi, resulting in his loss. Although, we’ve seen the trailers for Kingdom Hearts IV, so we know he’s not lost forever, so… who cares?

The game unveils the surprising revelation that Xigbar, already intertwined with Xehanort, has been a covert operative from the start, actually embodying Luxu, an apprentice to the Master of Masters from Kingdom Hearts χ. Additionally, the foretellers make a comeback, hinting at their potentially significant roles in the forthcoming Kingdom Hearts IV.

“Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory” (2020)

And like bookends to our epic breakdown of the Kingdom Hearts timeline, our first chronological entry is a mobile game crucial to understanding the story, and our last entry is a rhythm game that seemingly bridges the gap between III and IV as Kairi tries to find Sora following Kingdom Hearts III.

With that, we are left here to ponder and wonder. I barely BARELY scratched even the surface of these games, as the characters and histories intertwined with one another in interesting and sometimes ridiculous ways. Basically, I’ve just told you the order of the games, so if nothing else, you’ve got that under your belt.