Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

You can find Sora's gallery page here, on The Keyhole.
 * "Although my heart may be weak, it's not alone. It's grown with each new experience. And it's found a home with all the friends I've made. I've become a part of their heart, just as they've become a part of mine. And if they think of me now and then, if they don't forget me, then our hearts will be one. I don't need a weapon. My friends are my power!"
 * —Sora

Sora is the main protagonist in the Kingdom Hearts series, as well as a Keyblade wielder. He is an upbeat teenager who may seem simple-minded at times, but is very aware of the importance of his quest. He possesses a strong sense of justice and an unrelenting heart. At times, he is impulsive and quick to anger when defending his friends, but he is always sincere about what he says and does. He lives on Destiny Islands with his best friends Kairi and Riku, where the trio dream to venture away from Destiny Islands to find out what lies beyond. Sora is the original persona of his own Heartless and Roxas, the source of Xion's memories, and the carrier of Ventus's heart.

Sora was 4-years-old during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, 14-years-old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, and 15-years-old during the events of Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts III.

Sora's name is derived from the Japanese word for "sky" (空 Sora).

Kingdom Hearts

 * "I've been having these weird thoughts lately… like, is any of this for real… or not?"
 * —Sora, in the beginning of Kingdom Hearts

One year after the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a mysterious little girl named Kairi came to their islands from a different place. She was adopted by the mayor, and Sora and Riku quickly became friends with her. Another day, Sora and Riku found a small, hidden cave on their islands. They search the "Secret Place" while discussing Kairi and the meteor shower that had recently fallen. They find a door with no handle at the back of the cave and, because they couldn't open it, they leave, but not before Riku sees the world's Keyhole.

During their childhood, Sora, Riku, and Kairi often wonder about what lay beyond their small world. By the time they reach adolescence, they decide to build a raft, in the hopes of sailing to other worlds. The day when they start construction, Sora dozes off on the shore of the beach, and has an odd dream where he travels through an odd, dark realm and battles a massive dark creature. Sora is awakened by Kairi, and he goes to help get the provisions for the raft. However, the night before they set sail, a storm ravages the island along with a strange, dark force. Riku succumbs to the force, claiming he is not afraid of the darkness it so clearly embodied, while Sora tries and fails to save his friend from the darkness.

However, it is during the tempest that Sora first unlocks his potential as a Keyblade wielder, summoning the power of the Kingdom Key to battle the Heartless that now infested his home. He makes his way to the Secret Place where he finds Kairi, who disappears when their bodies meet, forcing Sora to battle the same dark creature from his dream. Sora defeats the monster, but he is swept off the island and thrown into a Corridor of Darkness, which lands him in a world called Traverse Town.

In Traverse Town, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy, the respective Royal Court Magician and Captain of the Royal Guard of Disney Castle. Under orders from The King, the pair are searching for two things: a mysterious 'key' and a man called Leon. As the King has disappeared in his own quest, Donald and Goofy accompany Sora and they start searching for their respective friends. In addition to that, Sora finds that his Keyblade might perhaps be the mysterious key the King had asked them to find.

Sora discovers that Riku is also searching for Kairi, though neither of them can find her. Maleficent sees her chance and tells Riku that Sora had replaced him and Kairi for Donald, Goofy, and the Keyblade. With this false knowledge, he sets out to find Kairi on his own as Sora travels to a number of worlds to stop the Heartless. From there, Sora locks the Keyholes out from the reach of the Darkness to protect the worlds' hearts.

His quest allows him to make countless new friends while the power of his heart increases, which also improves his Keyblade's power.

Upon reaching Hollow Bastion, Riku confronts Sora and reveals to him that Riku himself was the true Keyblade master, explaining that Sora "was just the delivery boy". Riku then claims the Keyblade for his own. Despite their guilt at doing so, Donald and Goofy are forced to abandon Sora because of the King's orders: to stay with whoever has the Keyblade. When Beast pulls himself up to continue to the castle, Sora tells him to be careful due to his injuries. However, Beast shrugs off Sora's worries, saying that he would not leave before he completed what he'd come there for; to find Belle. When asked what he came for, Sora realizes that he needs to show the same attitude as the Beast, and continues with him into the entrance hall of the castle.

There Sora meets Riku, Goofy, and Donald once more. Feeling guilty, Donald and Goofy return to Sora's side. Riku then asks Sora, "How do you intend to fight without a weapon?" to which Sora answers, "I don't need the Keyblade. I've got a better weapon. My heart!". Riku taunts Sora, calling his heart pathetic and weak. Sora proceeds to tell him that his friends strengthen his heart. At this, the Keyblade realizes that Riku has turned to darkness, and Sora's heart is far stronger than Riku's, so it returns to Sora. Enraged, Riku fights Sora and loses. Furious at his weakness, he makes the mistake of listening to a mysterious man. Opening his heart fully to darkness, he allows himself to be possessed by this man.

After this, the party encounter Maleficent and defeat her. Using a Keyblade born of six of the Princesses of Hearts' hearts, Riku unlocks the darkness in her heart before stepping away through a Corridor of Darkness. She transforms into a black, fire-breathing dragon from the proliferation of darkness in her heart, but is again defeated and the Heartless swallow her heart. Further into the depths of Hollow Bastion, Sora encounters Riku once more, and he calls himself "Ansem, Seeker of Darkness", who intends to find Kingdom Hearts itself. Although it is difficult fighting his best friend, Sora emerges victorious in the struggle.

Kairi is revealed to be one of the Seven Princesses of Heart who possess the power to open the Final Keyhole that leads to Kingdom Hearts, but because her heart laid within Sora, it cannot open, as explained by "Ansem". In order to return her heart and wake her up, Sora uses the Keyblade of People's Hearts to remove both their hearts, sacrificing his humanity and becoming a Heartless, unknowingly creating Roxas and Naminé, the Nobodies of Sora and Kairi respectively. When he manages to reunite with Kairi after a brief stint as a Heartless, Kairi uses her light to restore his human form.

After regrouping in Traverse Town, Sora decides to return to Hollow Bastion to seal the Final Keyhole while he tries to reclaim Riku from the clutches of "Ansem". Kairi gives Sora her lucky charm (Oathkeeper's keychain) since he insists that she should stay behind, even joking that she would be in his way.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy set sail to Hollow Bastion and seal the Final Keyhole after a battle with a powerful Heartless. The six Princesses of Heart then inform him of a new darkness approaching, and the trio travel to End of the World, the "Heartless world" of all the worlds that fell into darkness, where they confront and defeat "Ansem" once and for all. "Ansem", defeated, calls forth to Kingdom Hearts to fill him with the power of darkness, but Sora proclaims that Kingdom Hearts is not darkness, but light, and "Ansem" is destroyed by the said light.

However, Heartless begin to swarm inside of the door and Sora, Donald, and Goofy rush forward to close it. As they attempt to close the Door to Darkness, Riku and King Mickey appear on the other side of the door and together, King Mickey and Sora seal it from both sides with Sora's Keyblade from the Realm of light and Mickey's Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness. However, Mickey and Riku become trapped behind the door as it closed shut. Riku's last words to Sora before it closed are "Take care of her", referring to Kairi.

As the worlds begin to restore themselves, Sora sees Kairi on a platform of sand that is drifting away. Kairi and Sora are separated with Kairi going back to Destiny Islands. Sora promises to return to her as soon as he finds Riku and King Mickey.