The main protagonist of the Kingdom Hearts series, Sora, has a long and storied history at this point. After appearing in nearly every game in the franchise, it would make sense that he could be one of the most powerful keyblade wielders around, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case. Despite always somehow saving the day, Sora is still ranked below Riku, Mickey, and other characters in the game, likely in part due to a nasty habit he has of losing all of his power. The first time this happened, fans were able to write it off, but Kingdom Hearts 4 really needs to break the pattern and not reset Sora’s strength again.
For reference, at the start of almost every game featuring Sora as the main character, there’s some kind of explanation that reveals he lost the power he’d gained from the previous game. The necessity for this sort of thing is clear, as Sora needs to start back over at level one and that wouldn’t make much sense in lore without an explanation, but it’s frustrating nonetheless. With Kingdom Hearts 3 ending after Sora disappears and the others start searching for him, the next game in the Kingdom Hearts franchise needs to avoid making Sora lose all of his power again.
During the time skip between the first Kingdom Hearts game and its direct sequel, Sora traverses through Castle Oblivion. As a result of this journey, many of his memories are rewritten, and he eventually falls asleep for a full year. Upon waking up, Sora’s power has seemingly been reset, and he’s much weaker than he was at the end of Kingdom Hearts. As a result, Sora has to travel around to various Disney worlds in order to gain enough power to take down Xemnas and the rest of the Organization XIII.
By the end of Kingdom Hearts 2, Sora has gained back his power and then some. Arguably, this is Sora in his strongest state, as his mastery over the Valor, Wisdom, Limit, Master, Final, and even Anti forms is beyond anything he’s been able to accomplish since, and he even had access to powerful spells like Reflega that haven’t made a return in the series since then. For this reason, it’s understandable that fans were a little bummed when Sora was revealed to have lost all of his powers again.
In between Kingdom Hearts 2 and Kingdom Hearts 3, Sora and Riku take the Mark of Mastery exam at the behest of Yen Sid, sending the two through a variety of dream worlds. By the end of this adventure, Sora nearly loses his heart to the darkness and almost becomes the new vessel for Xehanort, an experience that is apparently very taxing. As a result, when fans next see Sora in Kingdom Hearts 3, Yen Sid reveals that he not only failed to learn the power of waking but also lost all the abilities he gained over the course of Kingdom Hearts 2. This marks yet another time that Sora has to relearn everything again.
This one is especially sad, though, as Sora never regains the ability to enter his various drive forms again. Kingdom Hearts 3 sees him gain new powers such as the Power of Waking and activating each Keyblade’s unique formchange, but these aren’t quite the same. By the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, Sora shows that he has become powerful again, as it is ultimately him that is able to rescue everyone and finally defeat Xehanort once and for all, but fans can’t help but wonder how long this power will last.
Sora’s extensive use of the Power of Waking allows him to rescue Kairi but at a steep price. In the end, he disappears, seemingly fading away from existence, but the story of Melody of Memory has since revealed that he is in fact still alive. In order to rescue Sora, Riku and Kairi must travel to the world of Fiction (or Unreality), and this will likely be the basis of the next game. It seems probable that Kingdom Hearts 4 will actually focus on characters besides Sora, but if he is included, it would be too easy to reset him back to level 1.
Sora’s disappearance could easily explain the time traveling hero losing his powers yet again, but that’s the last thing fans want to see. There’s nothing wrong with him starting at level 1 in the next title, but there doesn’t always need to be a story explanation for it. There are plenty of other things that don’t make sense about Kingdom Hearts, so why this has to be one thing that is always canonically explained is strange. Instead, Sora’s next appearance as protagonist of a Kingdom Hearts game should see him start with at least some of the powers from previous games like the ability to cast basic spells and change forms.
Alternatively, it may be time for the Kingdom Hearts franchise to move on from Sora altogether. He’ll always be an important part of the franchise, but to many, it may feel as though his story has run its course. Sora has gone from a naive boy living on Destiny Island to the Keyblade’s Chosen One in Kingdom Hearts. He defeated the entirety of Organization XIII and prevented them from summoning Kingdom Hearts in Kingdom Hearts 2, and now in the most recent installment of the game, he defeated Master Xehanort and even learned how to basically time travel.
There are no doubt still ways this character could be used, but there are plenty of others that deserve a spotlight. Axel and Kairi formed a strong bond while training to wield Keyblades together, but were sorely misused during the game’s climax. Perhaps a new title focusing on them would be welcome. Likewise, Riku has always been a popular character and a sort of antithesis to Sora, so it would be fun to see more of him as well. One thing’s for certain though, Sora shouldn’t lose all his power again.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now on PS4 and Xbox One.
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