What message is the Kingdom Hearts series trying to convey?

I can think of one lesson from Chain of Memories.... Memories are still with you even if nthey're forgotten. You just need to dig deeper in your heart.

 

Also fake memories are still real memories if you can remember them

 

That's nice and all for a corny Japanese game series that doesn't make sense more often than it does, but out here in the real world that doesn't mean anything, and it's not possible. You can't just 'dig deeper' and expect to miraculously remember everything you have forgotten. You have to be reminded by some external force and in that case you may not even remember it, it may be your imagination. I supposes you can say that the experiences are always with you (ignoring the philosophical implications of that statement, let's just roll with it for the moment) but they don't mean anything if you are unable to remember them.

 

The cheesy yet welcomed message of your friends are the most important thing.
However my personal fav message is one from xehanort about keeping balance between your light and darkness-look i know it cam from the villain but think about this: terra let darkness overcome him and because of this ended up having his body stolen by xehanort, eraqus let light completely rule him and always decided to do what was best for the world even though because of this he ended up hurting the people around him because of this and in his last moments deeply regretted this.
ven who could not live without his darkness had to take comfort in some of sora's dark which is why sora is so full of light because ven took a little bit of his darkness and when ven destroyed the dark part of himself he almost died only surviving once again because of the dark part of sora's heart where he could sleep-he did follow sora's light to get there but his dark was ultimately where he slept.
hell even in the end ven's darkness (he had mostly recovered by this point) was protecting sora was xehanort's heart and outside invaders even if it was keeping sora asleep and riku who was taken over by the dark once and feared it came to realize that there needed to be a balance (till ddd ruined it with the return it to light line)
so honestly i think that for the most part the series has a great message about balance

 

Especially in Kingdom Hearts 1, I feel like the Kingdom Hearts series is a coming of age story. By this, I'm talking about growing up in general as well as friends. If you notice, Nomura stresses the importance of friendship and love throughout the story. You have Roxas, Axel, and Xion; Riku, Kairi, and Sora; and even Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. I'm sure I'm forgetting others (such as the worlds and whatnot). Now I'll first discuss why I think coming of age is a theme within Kingdom Hearts.

Now coming of age is a tricky message to spot within Kingdom Hearts, but I think it's very prominent within KH1 because Nomura makes the characters more like children. The trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi all want to leave the island to explore the world. However, before they expect to leave, their entire life, symbolized through their island, is swallowed whole. This forces them out into the cold dark world where they're confronted with the idea of fending for themselves. Now I'm sure every KH1 player remembers that Sora's mom calls him down for dinner when the storm outside begins that swallows the island (And don't talk about how it could possibly be his grandma, sister, etc. or I'll hurt you ). Was it really just something Nomura/writers decided just to throw in there? I mean the story could have been the same with or without it. By having Sora's mom call Sora at that EXACT moment, Nomura is showing how Sora is leaving the comfort of his family and home by being forced into the real world. The point KH writers are emphasizing is that the real world just hits you. In Sora's case, completely devastating your home. In real life, you have to get a job, money, insurance, car, etc. and the comfort of your family is THERE, but you're really expected to do it yourself.

In reality, people can grow up well if they have good influences or they can grow up bad if they have terrible influences, right? Well this is seen through Sora and Riku. When first entering "the real world" Sora is able to make friends by meeting Donald and Goofy. Donald and Goofy are obviously meant to be the good influence, meanwhile Riku meets a bad influence when entering the real world, Maleficent. Now bringing in the other theme that "everybody has darkness in their heart", bad influences can draw that darkness out, or the good influences can oust it. Riku and Sora both worked towards the same goal, to save Kairi, but they had different methods of accomplishing their goal due to their different influences.

Another common theme the writers show is the importance of friends in life. At the end of KH1, Sora ends up

Spoiler

essentially killing himself for Kairi

. Through this, the writers are simply saying that friendship is extremely important, enough to die for (figuratively).

In Kingdom Hearts 2, Axel also ends up

Spoiler

sacrificing himself for Sora

because he knows Sora's Nobody is Roxas; this also stresses the importance of friendship theme. Donald, Goofy, and Sora also show that friends can always overcome hardships, the darkness symbolizing hardships. 358/2 Days really strengthens that there's some type of theme about friendship as well. There are tons of examples of friendship that you could find involving the various trios, and even Mickey/Riku. If I listed all of them then I might as well open up a wiki page.

The final theme I feel like listing which has a lesser but still important role is the idea of hearts. The heart is supposed to represent strength and the ultimate power. Sora is only so powerful because his heart is strong. His compassion is what motivates him because he sincerely cares about his friends. If you love something, you're going to do whatever you want to get it, and in this case, it's Sora protecting his friends. Xemnas and the Organization are pursuing Kingdom Hearts because they want hearts of their own. Realizing the power of the heart, they believe the heart can help them in their evil doings through its unlimited power. However, they fail to realize that the heart is a more complex being than just simply being able to obtain one and use it.

In 358/2 Days, Saix tells Axel to stop pretending he has a heart due to him having a friendship with Roxas. Axel also asks Roxas if he really doesn't have a heart because Roxas had been showing a lot of compassion and emotion. I really think that Axel and Roxas had "hearts" despite being Nobodies. Is a heart really something that is tangible? Do you really have to physically have a heart to feel compassion, friendship, and love? The Kingdom Hearts series isn't over so this whole heart dilemma could be solved then, but with the details I'm provided with I think KH is saying you don't need to physically have a heart to feel emotion.

If you don't need a heart, then what dictates whether or not you can feel emotion?
This is a question I have based off of my own presumptions, so if anybody agrees with what I've said and can throw around some ideas then that'd be awesome.

Now I haven't played Birth By Sleep, Dream Drop Distance, or coded so I can't tell you much about how they incorporate into the various themes. However, I feel these three themes are the core messages the Kingdom Hearts series really emphasizes.

 

Wow, i never thought of it that way, but I think you do have a point there. It does seem like a bunch of kids, who want to be in the real world, but encounter a lot of problems, when they are forced into it. It's like how kids like pretending to be grown ups, but when they reach a certain age they experience how the real world really is. The people Sora meet are liekt he friends you meet in life. They will help you and get you through life. just like how there is light in darkness, this could mean how there is always a bright side, and things could get better in the long run.

Spoiler

Actually in KH3D Xemnas mentions that nobodies actually do have hearts

In KH3D, I think one of the themes is obviously dreams. Like how a dream can make or break you.

Spoiler

Like how Rhyme's dream brought the TWEWY group into Traverse Town,

dreams can influence you. They can either be good like spirits and help you achieve your goals, or bad like nightmares, and stop you from reaching what you want to achieve. There will be people who will stop you from achieving your goal like Xehanort, but there will also be friends who are always with you whether you know it or not. Friends who will support you and cheer you on.

BBS I think could also mean a lot about friendship. Like how some friendships can go through a lot of problems, but if in the end they are still your friends,then they will help you, because that is how friends are.

 

Oh well I never played KH3D, so there's my excuse :P lol

Hmm interesting, I'll be sure to look for that message when I play it! I'm planning on playing all the games leading up to KH3 just to get a better understanding of the story and messages :P