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Everyone who's heard of Kingdom Hearts is, usually, obsessed with it. The series is something of a rabbit hole, and once you step in you just never stop falling, the adrenaline of the drop never slowing. That sounds dramatic, but Kingdom Hearts really is quite an experience.
For example, why are there a bunch of Final Fantasy characters running around interacting with Disney characters? And Sora and a bunch of other unique creations of the series are just sandwiched in between like glue. There's actually a perfectly good reason for it all, if you can believe it.
How Kingdom Hearts Was Made
People talk about elevator pitches a lot, this idea of condensing your idea into a speech digestible and understandable in the length of an elevator ride. Series creator Tetsuya Nomura took the phrase literally.
After internal discussions about wanting to create characters rivalling Disney in popularity, Nomura took it upon himself to pitch a literal Final Fantasy collaboration with Disney characters after finding himself in an elevator with a Disney executive.
From that, Kingdom Hearts was born. The series has grown exponentially since then, focussing more on its original characters than either Disney or Final Fantasy, though the pair themselves are what birthed the series. At this point, it's impossible to deny the success of the series and the popularity of the unconventional combination.
The Prevalence of Final Fantasy In Kingdom Hearts
With Kingdom Hearts being created as a collaboration between Final Fantasy and Disney, it's only fair for both of them to have pretty prominent roles in the games. Though Disney has stayed fairly consistent, providing worlds and characters for the games, the role of Final Fantasy has shifted greatly, and mainly diminished.
At its beginning, Final Fantasy provided much of the mechanics. Spells were named after those from Final Fantasy, Moogles appeared as save points and so on. In the original Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy characters even had a world of their own in Hollow Bastion.
As the games have gone on, the presence of Final Fantasy characters has dwindled, with not a single one appearing in the base game of Kingdom Hearts 3. Nomura himself admitted that he didn't know Final Fantasy characters were so beloved in the series, and added them back in the ReMind DLC for KH3 to help find Sora.
That said, the base combat elements have always remained, with familiar spells and adorable Moogles dotting every world of the games.
Which Final Fantasy Characters Appear In Kingdom Hearts?
With the knowledge of how important Final Fantasy is to Kingdom Hearts, it would be pretty nice to know how prominent they are too, right? Though they've started appearing less in each game, many characters have had major roles, while others have had smaller cameo roles.
There are some other smaller characters who appear as well, though they didn't have major enough appearances in their original games to warrant a mention here.
Final Fantasy Characters With Major Roles
- Cloud appears in both Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. In the original, he is sporting an exceedingly edgy design while talking about the darkness in his heart. He is incredibly reminiscent of Vincent Valentine, which is actually because Vincent himself was meant to appear before being rolled into Cloud's design instead. He appears again in KH2 in his Advent Children design and eventually disappears with Sephiroth, never to be seen again. This was also the first instance of Cloud being voiced.
- Sephiroth is alluded to throughout Kingdom Hearts 1 by Cloud, though he doesn't appear until the secret fight in the Colisseum with his absurdly large health bar and equally long sword. He again appears in KH2, and has to acknowledge the existence of Goofy and Donald, which is a very odd sentence to write.
- Squall is one of the most prominent Final Fantasy characters in Kingdom Hearts, though he actually goes by the name Leon here. He guides Sora throughout the first game alongside Yuffie, holding heavy guilt for not being able to protect his home of Radiant Garden. This was the reason for his name change, a form of penance until he could restore it. He appears again in KH2 to commander the rebuilding efforts of Hollow Bastion, and again in the ReMind DLC to help locate Sora.
- Aerith appears periodically across the series alongside Yuffie and Squall. Despite her close connections to Cloud in FF7, she only ever interacts with him in the credits of Kingdom Hearts 1. She also shares her voice actor with Rapunzel, so he technically appears in the original KH3. At least in spirit, which feels in character.
- Tifa appears rather suddenly and randomly in Kingdom Hearts 2 while Mickey Mouse is delivering revelations about the antagonist. She just flips around furniture until she eventually finds Cloud and gives a dramatic monologue about their destined battle. She is never seen again.
- Zack appears briefly in the Colisseum world of Birth By Sleep, a parallel to his own appearance in the prequel, Crisis Core. Here we see him training alongside a young Cloud, and even briefly flirting with Aqua, who brushes him off in a decidedly straight away. In line with his character, he never appears again physically.
- Auron appears as a companion in KH2 in the Colisseum world. Under the control of Hades, he is forced to assist him until he breaks free to help Sora instead. He sadly doesn't get a chance to interact with any other Final Fantasy characters, but being in the Underworld feels fitting for Auron anyway.
- Cid's appearances in Kingdom Hearts are brief but perfectly in line with his character from the many Final Fantasy games he appears in. He creates the Gummi Ship, teaches Sora about computers, and helps repair Hollow Bastion.
- Yuffie gets more attention in the Kingdom Hearts games than she ever did in her own games, funny enough. She works alongside Squall to restore Hollow Bastion and hold back the Darkness, and is much less of a thief this time around.
Final Fantasy Characters With Cameo Roles
- The Gullwings make a very brief appearance in KH2 as fairies working for Maleficient. However, they turn to good after her defeat and gift Sora a Keyblade instead.
- Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka are all childhood friends of Sora and Kairi. Maybe Riku, though that's hard to tell. After they all leave Destiny Islands, none of them but Selphie appear again.
- Setzer is one of the first characters Tetsuya Nomura designed for Final Fantasy, and they appear as a brief antagonist for Roxas during the Struggle Tournament of KH2
- Vivi is the best Final Fantasy character and by extension one of the best Kingdom Hearts characters. They appear around the Simulated Twilight Town like a spectre, which is super creepy, but they're really just a nice little guy.
- Seifer, Raijin, and Fujin are originally from Final Fantasy 8, though even as teens in KH2 they fill the same role — being playground bullies. Which makes it all the more satisfying to beat them in the Struggle Tournament.
- Biggs and Wedge are, alongside Gilgamesh and Cid, the most recurring duo in Final Fantasy. They appear as shopkeepers in KH1, and as the Struggle Tournament officiator in KH2 respectively.