Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

Set a decade prior to the events in the first Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep follows the three separate, yet intertwined adventures of Keyblade wielders Terra, Aqua, and Ventus, as they together search for the Princesses of Heart and the enigmatic Master Xehanort. As their individual paths take them through a number of fantastic and familiar worlds, the darkness relentlessly pursues, in the form of the shadowy Unversed and the wicked-hearted Disney villains. Till the very end, bonds will be tested to their limits, and when the dust finally clears, a young man named Xehanort will be all that remains.

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We first meet our trio of Keyblade wielders in their master’s homeworld, the Land of Departure, a stunningly gorgeous temple surrounded by verdant islands and mist-wrapped mountain peaks. There, the two senior apprentices, Terra and Aqua, ready themselves for their approaching Mastery Qualification Exams under Master Eraqus.

The Exams are not only a means of judging a wielder’s prowess, but also the strength and content of their heart, to see if they are truly able to wield the Keyblade with the power and wisdom of a master. Aqua and Terra gather inside the temple before Master Eraqus, who gives a preliminary speech explaining the details of the Exams. Seated behind him is colleague and fellow master, Xehanort, who traveled from afar to serve as a secondary judge for the Exams.

Following the Exams, Master Xehanort is halted outside the temple by a distraught Terra, whose tests revealed a hidden darkness within his heart. Confused and afraid at the danger lurking inside of him, he implores the master’s wisdom and guidance. Surprisingly, he bids him to nurture the darkness inside him rather than discard it, not even bothering to face Terra as he passes; with power, he lectures Terra, the darkness can be a tool beyond price. But before anyone else in the Land of Departure, including Eraqus himself, comes in contact with Xehanort again, disaster strikes: Master Xehanort inexplicably vanished without warning, and at the same time, a fearsome new threat disrupts the balance of the worlds. The Unversed, strange beings of the darkness that feed on negative emotion, emerge seemingly from nowhere, and begin to wreak havoc amidst the worlds.

Believing Master Xehanort's disappearance, the appearance of the Unversed and the state of the Princesses of Heart are all linked, Master Eraqus sends out his apprentices to find Master Xehanort. The final outcome of the following adventure will not only set the stage for Sora’s quest to stave back the darkness in Kingdom Hearts, but will determine the fate of the entire Kingdom Hearts series. Will Terra overcome the darkness in his heart? What will become of the other apprentices? Remember: “There is no coincidence in fate."

OUR SPECULATION

Also featured in the game are a number of Disney worlds. Of course, or else Disney would refuse to be a part of the game. Some places are the Castle of Dreams (Cinderella), Enchanted Dominion (Sleeping Beauty), Neverland (Peter Pan), Deep Space (Lilo and Stitch) Dwarf Woodlands (Snow White) Disney Town, an expansion to the Disney Castle world, The Land of Departure, the place where the three heroes always seem to be practising. Home to Master Eraqus. and lastly confirmed was Radiant Garden.

Also included in this game are the Somebodies of Organization members 2-8. Braig, a warrior completely different in appearance but similar through attitude, Dilan a guard/warrior, Even a mad scientist, Elaeus another guard/warrior, Ienzo a young scientist assisting Even, Isa and Lea, best friends with no true jobs quite yet. They are both teenagers. These characters all reside in Radiant Garden.

Many other features are included in this game including many new minigames, a unique board-game-style level up system, new abilities, stunning new graphics and more!

Other important characters appearing are King Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Kairi, Ansem the Wise and Vanitas, Master Xehanort's apprentice, who wears a full red and black body suit much like the one Riku wore in KH1. Vanitas is the result of a horrifying experiment conducted by Master Xehanort in the past involving Ven's heart. While using his heart to try to claim the X-Blade, (See later) Master Xehanort needed to have a heart with the same amount of Darkness and Light in it. So, he deduced that if the Darkness and Light were seperated, they would both be equally strong as human beings. The result was Vanitas, the pure darkness of Ven's heart; and Ventus, the pure light of his own heart. As a result of thiis, Ventus lost his memory and had the help of young Sora who accompanied him until he regained consciousness.

Hopefully, a gap is indeed bridged between this game and KH1 and hopefully this will explain more mysterious forces and problematic questions that we see in the future KH Games.

A new update to the Birth By Sleep section is to tell you all exactly what really happened to three soldiers after the end of the game.

VENTUS Okay, I will tell all of you EXACTLY what Ven's story is. To start off, Ven's heart was born around the time Sora's was born. In the meantime, Master Xehanort conducted experiments on Ven's heart. His mission? To aquire Kingdom Hearts. A mysterious Keyblade called the X-blade holds the power to reveal Kingdom Hearts, and the only way someone can wield it is if they have exactly the same amount of Light and Darkness in their heart. So, Master Xehanort first tested Ventus, summoning Neoshadows to see if he was truly a worthy master. Unfortunately he could only wield a regular Keyblade. So, Master Xehanort seperated all of the darkness from all of the light in Ven's heart. By doing this, each would take on their own form, one being pure light, the other pure darkness, and through time, they would become equal in their powers. They will have become full beings of Light and Darkness. After this, Master Xehanort would then fuse Ventus and Vanitas, (the name for Ventus' dark half) back together, so his heart would be of equal light and darkness thus, creating the X-Blade.

So, during the process, Master Xehanort chose to raise the dark half of Ventus' heart, Vanitas, while sending the light half, a Ventus who lost his memories, to Master Xehanort's former colleague, Master Eraqus, in which he was sure he'd train Ventus to become as powerful as he could be. After sending Ventus to Destiny Islands, where Terra and Aqua and Master Eraqus eventually found him, Master Xehanort began the training of what he called his own apprentice now. Thing is, being made purely of darkness, Vanitas has certain unique powers. He can gain power and energy from the negative emotions that radiate from people's hearts. In turn, his existence created creatures call Unversed, simple-minded incarnations of Vanitas himself. Like him, they feed off negative emotions too.

So, when they grew up, Ventus watched as Terra and Aqua started their Master Qualification Exam, with which, Master Xehanort played as a guest host. In this exam, Master Xehanort, seeing Terra's potential, manipulated the test to see if Terra could control the darkness. It seems he wasn't powerful enough. Terra was planned to be the back-up in case Ventus didn't work out. So, Master Xehanort movved on to Terra. Unaware of what was going on, Ventus set out to find Terra only to find that he left the world. After Aqua truly became a Keyblade Master, Ventus, worried for his other friend, set out in search of Terra. Aqua followed Ventus. Along the way, they came across the Unversed, as well as many new and different faces from the Disney worlds. He even talked for a bit with Lea and Isa, two teenagers of Radiant Garden, and got sort of aquainted with them, but still, he had to leave soon. Evenually, Ventus, confused of his own being after Vanitas confronted him, set out in search of Master Xehanort with whom he would ask what he really was. Ventus later confronted Master Eraqus asking of his own being, but before he could attack, being in such a rage, Terra interfered, pushing Ventus to safety.

After realizing the truth, Ventus, Terra and Aqua all travel after Master Xehanort to defeat him and Vanitas, and stop their crazy plan. Master Xehanort used a very powerful Blizzagun spell on Ventus after catching him, which froze Ventus' body instantly, with only his eyes still moving. Master Xehanort, disposing of this abmoination, dropped Ventus down the side of a huge cliff where much of his armour was broken and Ventus landed on the ground, starting to be comforted by Aqua. Braig stepped in to interfere, and wanted to fight Ventus and Aqua. Through all his willpower, Ventus managed to shake off the Blizzagun spell and become free to move again.

Unfortunately, now, that both are a full acting force, Master Xehanort ordered Vanitas to attempt to fuse back with Ventus. It turns out, his plan was a success after all, Vanitas posessed Ventus, fighting with an imperfect X-Blade in his Destati, where the fused being, controlled by Vanitas wielded a true X-Blade and began fighting Aqua with it. Ven countered the hige forece in his body, and through the efforts of everyone around him, Ventus managed to destroy Vanitas completely, wiping out the X-Blade with him. This created a huge explosion in which much of the crossroads world was consumed. Ven and Aqua both were sent wandering the different Realms unconscious. Unfortunately, during this time, Ven returned to contact Sora's heart, who helped Ven rebuild his Destati and wake up to begin being trained by Master Eraqus in the first place. Revealing himself in Sora's Destati, Venus asked if he could merge with Sora's heart. Sora said he would love to, as long as that meant Ventus wouldn't be sad anymore. And with that, Ventus' story is at a close.

In the aftermath, Ventus' body was sent to the Chamber of Awakening, situated in Castle Oblivion, right after it was created by Aqua, so when the time comes to retrieve the body and reunite it with the heart, Aqua would be the only one to succeed in doing this, presrving Ven's body in the process. His body remained in that secret room which Xemnas (a mixture of Terra's, and regular Xehanort's hearts turned into a Nobody) is constantly searching for, trying to awaken his friend. But for now, Ventus is asleep, and in KH3, it is up to Sora to reawaken him. (Also note that when Sora released his heart in KH1, Ventus' heart was still inside his, and somehow, his Nobody was the body and soul of Sora, but manipulantly was transformed by Ventus' heart to look like him instead.

TERRA Okay, next is the story of Terra. To start off, Terra had a normal past, and grew up to be a Keyblade Apprentice to Master Eraqus, who ruled over the Land of Departure. After becoming friends with a newly aquired Ventus, Terra began to train even harder, knowing someone else is in the competition too. So, along comes the Master Qualification Exam. Terra and Aqua are both eligible to take part in the exam. Master Xehanort has arrived and is watching to see if one of these wielders could possibly escalate the progress of his master plan to reclaim Kingdom Hearts, and make it easier for him. So, Master Xehanort, seeing potential in Terra, tested his strength by tampering with the Exam. After seeing how strong the darkness in his heart was, Master Xehanort began his plan to use Terra as a back-up plan in case Ventus and Vanitas didn't work out. In an effort to make the darkness stronger in Terra, Master Xehanort took him off by himself and told him about how he thinks Terra could very well be the next qualified Keyblade Master, Aqua having completed the Exam more accurately than Terra, thanks to Master Xehanort. Terra set off on his lonesome after Master Xehanort began convincing him of the darkness in his heart. That Terra should try to control the darkness.

So, after many different experiences with darkness, even Terra himself causing some of the problems of the Disney worlds, as well as fighting and permanently scarring Braig, who was also doing Master Xehanort's bidding, Terra began questioning himself, and in a confused state, returned to the Land of Departure to see Master Eraqus. To his shock, he saw Master Eraqus and Ventus squaring off in what looked like a fight to the death. Terra, outraged that Master Eraqus could do such a thing to his friend, pushed Ventus into a portal somewhere else, confronting Master Eraqus himself, ultimately defeating him. After the fight, Terra realized what he had done, but only a second too late. Master Xehanort appeared and quickly and swiftly dealt the final blow to Master Eraqus. In his last precious moments, Master Eraqus died willfully, falling towards Terra while dying. Terra didn't know it, but Master Eraqus migrated his own heart into Terra's body.

Along the way, Terra travelled back to Destiny Islands, knowing it was the place where Master Eraqus and Master Xehanort grew up together. While he was there, he saw a very young boy by the name of Riku, with whom he conversed with, asking him if he wanted to see othe worlds. Terra saw much potential in Riku, having a brief vision as to what he would be in the future, as well as seeing how he resembled Master Xehanort so much. Terra, wanting Riku to follow his own heart, hoping it was a light one, performed the passing of rights ceremony, where Terra hands out his Keyblade and if Riku could hold it without it disappearing, he would become the next Keyblade Wielder. Riku suceeded, and Terra left, smiling.

Seeing Master Xehanort for the evil lord he was, Terra set off to the Keyblade Graveyard to attack him directly. He continuously tried to get Master Xehanort by himself during the battle, and eventually got his will. After worrying for his friend's safety, Terra told Ventus to stay back as Terra went in for the first attack. Ventus followed and Aqua did what she could to help. Terra fought back against the thousands of Keyblades Master Xehanort sent after him, falling off a cliff by himself, but managing to stay up on his feet. He then returned back up to attack Master Xehanort, who countered with a Blizzara spell that hit Terra's hand, and spread throughout his arm. Suddenly, seeing Master Xehanort almost killing Ventus, Terra was struck by the Keyblades again and forced down to the ground. Master Xehanort then used the power of the newly aquired X-Blade to summon Kingdom Hearts which would give him utmost power. Terra wasn't about to let him succeed and confronted Master Xehanort by himself on the top of the highest cliff, which just so happened to have a perfectly circular battle ring as the top. Terra fought Master Xehanort and won. However, in his final attempts to stay alive to see what would be the results of his catastrophic efforts, Master Xehanort willfully sacrificed his own heart by stabbing himself with his Keyblade, laughing at the same time. Terra, preparing to fight back, was overcome by Master Xehanort's heart, and became truly posessed by Master Xehanort himself. In his last attempt, Terra cast aside his now useless armour which was to protect him from Master Xehanort and put a piece of his own heart and soul into it, giving it a chance to fight back, and wipe out Master Xehanort, Terra not caring anymore if he's destroyed as well.

After the fight, the armour won, defeating the now unconscious and slver-haired Terranort. Suddenly, the events of Ventus' story have taken place and the X-Blade has become destroyed, creating a massive unstable explosion into which Terranort was obliterated by, yet the armour, kneeling behind his own Keyblade, was unharmed by the excessive light, and remained in teh centre of the platform, and Kingdom Hearts, hanging high in the sky, slowly disappeared once again, not to be encountered for another 10 years.

Terranort awoke in Radiant Garden, outside the big castle. Aqua managed to confront him, and seeing as he was posessed, attacked. Aqua barely won, and as a last resort, sacrificed herself, leaving her armour behind to save Terra's heart which was almost lost in the darkness, and it returned to Terranort, who, affected so much by these events, gained his own unique heart, losing all the memories of his past, and calling himself Xehanort. Ansme the Wise took in Xehanort, who became his prized apprentice into studying the heart. Within Xehanort, Terra's and Master Xehanort's hearts continue battling over who will have control over this boy. This is when both discover that Master Eraqus sleeps within Terra's heart, and, until one of their hearts is removed, they must wait to see what Xehanort, the boy, will do over the next ten years. With Braig as an influence, obviously it won't go well.

Terra's heart or his being was NOT transferred into the Heartless created when Xehanort opened his heart to darkness. Master Xehanort went to the Heartless, giving it a powerful form, where Terra's being went to Xemnas, the Nobody, giving it a powerful form. Why? Because Terra and Master Xehanort are both combined with a piece of the new Xehanort's heart or being, and having a multiple personality, Xemnas, acting like Terra, began his own plan to find Ventus, as well as use Kingdom Hearts as a way of regaining his own heart. In the end, though, his efforts were wasted as Sora and Riku came and vannquished their predecessor.

AQUA From the very beginning, Aqua was a strong, independant, caring girl. She put her friends first, and had such a positive outlook on life. Eventually, she began to wield a Keyblade, and began studying under Master Eraqus to eventually become a Master. So, years passed, and although her friend, Terra was older, the two of them took their Master Qualification Exam at the same time. When Master Xehanort intervened to test Terra, Terra messed up the test, unable to complete the task properly. Aqua, however, reacted first and, in the end, got her right as a Master of the Keyblade. She was permitted to perform the Passing of Rights if she wished to.

Afterwards, Master Xehanort took away Terra to tell him something related to the test, but Aqua didn't know what it was. Eventually, Terra was known to have disappeared from the world. Ven, hearing of this shocking piece of news, set out immediately after him, to keep track of him and to return him to the Land of Departure. After this, Master eraqus conversed with Aqua by herself, telling her of the dangers he's suspicious of, and how Master Xehanort may be behind some of it. Aqua understands and, leaving the world too, searches for Ven and Terra.

It's been quite a journey. She's seen many new faces, many enemies, and many traumatic moments. Aqua, watching over Terra and Ven like a mother, followed them through ther journeys, finally tracking them down when it was too late. Master Xehanort's plans were starting to unfold, and Terra and Ven were right in the middle of them. Aqua met King Mickey along the way, who talked with her for awhile about different subjects. King Mickey and Aqua once travelled to Radiant Garden, where Kairi and her grandmother were outside the big castle, when they had to fight some enemies. Kairi, accidentally, grabbed Aqua's Keyblade, thus performing the Rights, enlisting Kairi as a future wielder. Aqua, aware of Kairi's strong heart, set a powerful charm on her pendant, which, as long as Kairi wore it, she would be drawn to Ventus. This is how she arrived on Destiny Islands, almost a year later.

Aqua later found Mickey unconscious in the different Realms, and accidentally activated his Star Charm, which took them to Yen Sid's Tower. Here is where they got more aquainted. After a long while, Aqua found Terra and Ven at the Keyblade Graveyard, where Keyblade warriors of the past fought great battles. Terra and Ven had both defeated some grueling monsters, as well as Aqua. Then, the fight began. Master Xehanort and Vanitas appeared out of the dust, walking towards the trio. Aqua fought after Ven and Terra already took off to their sworn enemies. Being the odd woman out, she spent much of the battle protecting her friends. Aqua then noticed Terra falling from a cliff high above her, slowly starting to regain balance. In an effort to help Terra, Aqua jumped and sailed above her. Unfortunately, the wave of Keyblades caught her and she was knocked to the ground, but not a moment too soon, for she the Keyblades go after Ven next. She quickly cast a Reflega spell on Ven which stopped the Keyblades from skewering him. When he fell, Ven saw Master Xehanort atacking Terra, so he tried to attack form behind. Master Xehanort teleported at the last second, grabbed Ven from behind and cast a Blizzagun spell, which Aqua had to witness from many metres below. She saw Master Xehanort drop Ven, with a near-fatal experience. She rushed to his side, but saw him still able to move. Suddenly, Braig stepped in, looking almost just like Xigbar now, and explained how HE'D been working for Master Xehanort for awhile, without Ansem the Wise ever suspecting him.

Aqua fought Braig, but not until she saw Ven getting angry, and his body slowly beginning to thaw. Afterwards, she was forced into a battle with Ventus, after Vanitas was successfully posessed in Ven's body. Attacking her with the Keyblade, Aqua had no choice, and had to fight the beast. She took part in a grueling battle alongside King Mickey, who stepped in to help, and managed to defeat Vani-Ven. In his heart, Ven also manmaged to defeat Vanitas. In an unstable reaction, the X-Blade got destroyed, and created a huge explosion which absorbed most of the land.

Aqua never returned to the Land of Departure, where she knew it now as Castle Oblivion, having locked the world, activating a spell when Master Eraqus was about to die. The world transformed, and only Aqua could find the hidden rooms. She could only transfer throughout the castle without getting mind-wiped. No one with a heart other than her could withstand the great forces there.

Aqua wandered unconscious in the Realms, alongside Ven, whom she was united with, after her friendship charms took effect. Mickey, scouring the Realms trying to find them, located Aqua and Ven, and returned them to Yen Sid's Tower with his Star Charm. There, Aqua regained consciousness, looking over to see Ven. However, no matter much she tried to wake him, Ven would not leave his slumber. Aqua knows now that if she focuses on her frienship bond with Ven, he'll come back. In the end, Aqua finds out where Terra is, and sets off after him.

So, travelling to Radiant Garden, Aqua confronted Terranort who also appeared there. They fought another long battle, and eventually, Terra's heart was almost cast off into darkness. Aqua, in her final attempts, dove into that same darkness, casting aside her armour and Keyblade, and saved Terra's heart, returning it to Terranort. This caused Terranrt to become unstable, lose his memories, and ultimately create his own heart.

Aqua awoke this time in the Realm of Darkness, just beyond the door to Kingdom Hearts. She walked the path a long time, searching anywhere for her friends. Eventually, as Aqua was beginning to give up, Heartless began to spawn, multiple large Darksides. Aqua, wielding Eraqus' Keyblade after he performed the Right with her, was about to go into battle, until her Keyblade disappeared again. Then, Terra and Ven's Keyblades appeared out of the darkness, and destroyed all of the creatures for her. Aqua, remembering everyone, Terra and Ven, while gazing at her friendship charms, laughed. She caught ehrself, realizing that not all hope was gone and continued so far through the Realm of Darkness that she eventually came to the edge of it. The Dark Meridian.

Here, Aqua relaxed, looking out into the Realm beyond, which she couldnt get to. Here, she came across a man who wouldn't tell her his name, but claimed he knew of Sora, and did many things to him. After an explosion, he was transported to the Dark Meridian. This is indeed Ansem the Wise talking. While Aqua didn't realize it, 10 years had passed in the Realm of Light, while she remained unchanged in her appearance. Time travels differently in the different Realms. Aqua chatted wit Ansem the Wise about different things. When asking who her saviour was going to be, Aqua responded, along with everyone else who needed him to set them free, "Sora." Terra, Ven, Roxas, Namine, Xion, even Axel. All of them are now waiting for Sora to free them.