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After the success of “Kingdom Hearts” (2002), Square Enix released “Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories” for the Game Boy and later re-released it for the PS2 with improved graphics and additional story as “Re: Chain of Memories” (Re:CoM). This next installment in the franchise deviates from its predecessor in both gameplay and story-telling. “Kingdom Hearts” (2002) had a three-person battle party, real-time action system, and one protagonist. Re:CoM has a one-person party, a real-time card system, and two protagonists (( “Basics- Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories“. IGN, 12 Jan 2014. )).
Re:CoM immediately picks up after the events of “Kingdom Hearts” (2002) and follows both Sora and Riku as they separately make their way through the floors of Castle Oblivion. There is also a new group of mysterious, hooded figures who have a vested interest in Sora. Two protagonists with diverging but parallel paths and multiple antagonists with hidden agendas; Re:CoM further develops the Kingdom Hearts story and prepares us for the trials to come in later games.
Castle Oblivion
Following the ending of “Kingdom Hearts” (2002), Sora, Donald, and Goofy (SDG) find themselves wandering in the Realm of In-between. A mysterious hooded man approaches Sora, trying to lead him down a certain path. Shortly after this encounter, SDG arrive at Castle Oblivion.
The mysterious man appears again and explains that “to find is to lose, and to lose is to find” is the way of Castle Oblivion. As Sora goes through the Castle, he’ll encounter people he’s met from his past and people he misses. Sora interprets this to mean that Riku must be in the Castle. The stranger “samples” Sora’s memories and gives him a card with the image of Traverse Town on it. He instructs Sora to proceed if he wants to find Riku.
First Floor
The card acts as a key that allows Sora entry through a door on the first floor. When he steps through, he finds he is in Traverse Town. The stranger appears again and explains that what he sees is only an illusion created from Sora’s memories of that world that have been ingrained into the card. Jiminy points out that Donald and Goofy have disappeared. The laws of the Castle dictate that whenever Sora enters a floor, Donald and Goofy must be turned into cards. If he wants to borrow their strength, he would have to use these cards in battle. Everything in the Castle is ruled by cards.
After exploring “Traverse Town”, Donald and Goofy appear from their cards and the group tries to make sense of what’s happening. Leon and Yuffie appear, both claiming to not know SDG, despite knowing their names. In order to sort this out, they meet with Aerith. After arguing over whether they know each other or not, they decide that it may be Sora’s heart that is “remembering for them.” Sora further explores “Traverse Town” and encounters Guard Armor in the Second District. After defeating the Heartless, Leon and co. arrive. They wish Sora luck on his journey and see him off. Aerith stops Sora before he leaves to discuss the Town and his memories.
Aerith concludes that if the Town was created from his memories then she, and the rest of the inhabitants must be figments of Sora’s mind. She cautions him of his memories. As he goes further into the Castle, his memories may deceive him and try to lead him astray.
Exit First Floor
The stranger is waiting for SDG when they exit “Traverse Town”. They’re interrupted by another man named Axel who is dressed as the stranger. The stranger allows him to test Sora and leaves. Axel begins his test, in which Sora must fight him. After surviving the battle, Sora is given more “world cards” like Traverse Town.
He instructs Sora that he will need to follow his memories in order to find someone special to him. He also says that their most precious memories lie so deep in their hearts that they’re out of reach; because of this, Sora has lost sight of the light in the darkness. Axel gives a final warning before leaving: when Sora’s sleeping memories awaken, he may no longer be who he is now.
Second Floor
As they reach the second floor, Goofy warns that they must stay vigilant since anything can happen in Castle Oblivion, much like the “castle with all those weird contraptions.” Goofy is referring to the Hollow Bastion castle but Sora and Donald can’t remember it. Sora can choose which world to enter of the ones available to him on each floor. The events of each world are mostly similar to when he experienced them in “Kingdom Hearts” (2002).
There are a few minor differences in the narrative that lean towards “memories” such as Cloud looking for his memories instead of Sephiroth in Olympus Coliseum and Alice being charged with stealing the Queen of Heart’s memories instead of her heart in Wonderland. After going through the second floor, Goofy brings up the castle again. He remembers that it’s where Sora used Ansem’s keyblade on himself to save Kairi and then turned into a Heartless. Sora remembers those events but he doesn’t remember them happening in a castle. Donald asks Jiminy to look in his journal for the name of the castle, but all the journal entries have disappeared.
Third Floor
As they enter the third floor, Sora expresses concern that they’re losing their memories. Jiminy deduces that if they continue through the Castle, they’ll lose more memories. Meanwhile, with Axel in another part of the Castle, we are introduced to Larxene. She wears the same coat as Axel and the stranger. They’re observing Sora as he progresses through the Castle. Larxene wonders why Axel is so interested in Sora. He explains that when a person loses their heart they become a Heartless.
When this happens, they lose their mind and their feelings are consumed by the darkness. This didn’t happen to Sora, he instead held onto his feelings even as a Heartless and the only other man who’s been able to do that was Ansem, seeker of darkness. Larxene concludes that it’s the strength of Sora’s heart, the reason why the Keyblade chose him, that interests Axel. He deflects by saying that “to unlock the mysteries of the heart” is the Organization’s mission. They and the stranger are members of this “Organization;” suggesting that Axel works in the interest of the Organization.
Fourth Floor
As SDG enter the fourth floor, Donald wonders whether they’ve forgotten anything. Goofy tries to remember if they did but can’t and rationalizes that they must not have been important memories if he can’t recall them. Sora agrees with this line of logic. He shows them Kairi’s good luck charm and remembers making the promise to return it to her.
He knows that because it’s such an important memory to him, he will never forget Kairi. At that moment, he sees an image of Kairi in his mind but at the same time, an image of another girl appears as well. Sora wonders if he knows her.
Fifth Floor
When SDG enter the fifth floor, Sora remembers who the girl is. He claims that she used to play with him, Riku, and Kairi when they were younger. But Jiminy has doubts since it’s the first time Sora has ever mentioned her. Sora just assumes he had forgotten. He’s not sure what’s made him remember now but the memory of her has been coming back in pieces the further they’ve gone through the Castle. He doesn’t remember her name though. As they exit the fifth floor, Sora tries to remember more about the girl. He remembers she was quiet and always drawing, but one day she was gone.
Jiminy points out that Sora keeps remembering things instead of forgetting. It seems that they must forget in order to reach the memories deep within their hearts. Back with the Organization, Larxene wants to test Sora next. Axel warns her not to “break him.” Larxene teases Axel, pointing out he may have a soft spot. Axel ignores her comment and reminds her that Sora is “the key” and that they need him if they’re going to take over the Organization.
Larxene tells Axel to keep their plan quiet until the time is right and leaves. When she does, Axel thinks she would have been smart to do the same herself. Axel is not entirely in league with Larxene and the stranger but is still working for the Organization.
Sixth Floor
SDG arrive on the sixth floor without a problem. As they’re about to leave, they meet Larxene. Sora asks if the girl is in the Castle and Larxene confirms. She explains that they are holding her captive and if he wants to get to the girl, he needs to go through her. Larxene attacks Sora, causing him to drop the good luck charm, but it looks different. Instead of a paopu fruit made of shells, it’s a simple yellow star.
Sora doesn’t recognize it but then remembers the girl’s name: Naminé. Larxene is about to smash the charm, but Sora takes it back from her, declaring it’s very important to him. Larxene begins the test and engages Sora in battle. She recognizes his strength but insults him by calling him a “heartless hero” for forgetting Naminé. She gives him another set of world cards and leaves.
Seventh Floor
Larxene returns to Axel and another Organization member, Vexen, arrives. He expresses disappointment in Larxene for losing to Sora and offers his services. Vexen suggests an experiment will show if Sora has any value. Meanwhile, Sora desperately rushes off to the next floor in order to save Naminé.
As SDG are leaving the seventh floor, they run into Riku. Sora is surprised, but Riku gets the impression that Sora isn’t happy to see him and had forgotten about him. Sora claims this isn’t true, but Riku thinks Sora is only concerned with saving Naminé. He argues that Sora never cared about him just as he never cared about Naminé’s feelings. He transforms into Dark Riku and attacks Sora to protect Naminé from him. After their battle, Riku runs off.
Eighth Floor
Sora is dejected after the encounter with Riku. Jiminy suggests that Riku may have just forgotten that they used to be friends. In the exit hall, they run into Riku again. Sora declares that he’s there to save him and Naminé but Riku doesn’t want to be saved. He has no intention of returning to the Islands. He declares that the Castle has helped him remember the one thing that is most important to him: protecting Naminé.
Sora doesn’t accept this answer and engages him in battle in order to help him remember his friends. This doesn’t work so Sora suggests they go help Naminé together. Riku thinks Sora is just trying to get into his heart and runs away again. Meanwhile, Naminé is visited by Axel. He asks her if it hurts her to watch Sora and Riku fight because of her. He expresses his sympathies “from the heart” but states that they as “Nobodies” can never hope to be “somebodies.” The Organization members we’ve met, including Naminé, are Nobodies.
Ninth Floor
Sora wonders why he and Riku are fighting each other if they both want to help Naminé. Goofy suggests that it may be that they both care about what happens to each other, but Sora isn’t so sure on Riku’s part. Donald tells Sora to not give up because Riku, Sora, and some other person he can’t remember, are friends. Sora has renewed hope because he, Riku, and Naminé are connected. They’ve all forgotten about Kairi. Back with the Organization, Larxene and Axel are skeptical of Vexen’s experiment.
The Riku that we’ve seen in the Castle is actually Vexen’s experiment meant to test Sora (this Riku is referred to as “Repliku” by the fan community). They’re joined by Marluxia, the mysterious stranger. He deems the experiment a failure and warns Vexen to not disappoint a second time. Vexen is outraged by his comments since he is No. 4 in the Organization and Marluxia is No. 11, suggesting that Marluxia should show him more respect.
Marluxia disagrees; Castle Oblivion and Naminé have been entrusted to him by their Organization’s leader. Defying Marluxia will be seen as treason against the Organization and all traitors are to be eliminated. Marluxia doesn’t believe Vexen can win against Sora but Vexen sets out to prove himself. Axel expresses concern for giving this challenge to Vexen since he will certainly want to kill Sora, but Marluxia seems unconcerned.
Tenth Floor
SDG have made it to the tenth floor but this worries Jiminy; they’ve lost ten floors-worth of memories. Sora doesn’t want to turn back since that would mean breaking his promise to keep Naminé safe, a promise he only remembered after forgetting everything else. Vexen bars their exit. He takes credit for reuniting Sora with “Riku.” Sora demands to know what he’s done to change “Riku,” but Vexen denies him answers.
They battle and Vexen produces a card that he claims was made from memories “locked in the other side” of Sora’s heart. He hands it to Sora and disappears.
Eleventh Floor
Back with the Organization, Marluxia orders Axel to “eliminate the traitor.” Vexen has committed a treasonous act against the Organization: giving Sora the “Twilight Town” card. Axel complies but warns that Marluxia can’t take back the order later.
Twilight Town
SDG enter Twilight Town, but Sora has no idea what it is. He recalls the memory associated with the charm. Naminé had given it to him after he promised he would protect her from a meteor shower when they were little. He promised to keep her safe but one day she left and he forgot about her. SDG find an old mansion deep in the woods and Sora has a strangely familiar feeling, but he’s sure he hasn’t been there before. It’s not memories that he feels, but the idea that he may have been there before.
Vexen appears and asks Sora what is more real: his memories of Naminé or his feelings of the mansion? Sora confidently declares that Naminé is more real and that whatever he’s feeling now must be a trick. Vexen counters by saying Twilight Town was created only from memories on the other side of his heart and it’s his heart that remembers. Vexen declares that, just like his “Riku,” Sora’s existence is worth nothing for choosing to be a slave to memories. They engage in battle and Sora manages to subdue him.
Vexen explains that “Riku’s” only fate is to fall to darkness just as will be Sora’s fate if he continues to pursue Naminé. He warns that if he continues in his quest, he will lose his heart and become Marluxia’s pawn. Before Sora can ask for further explanation, Axel appears and attacks Vexen. Vexen begs for his life but Axel eliminates him.
Exit Eleventh Floor
Axel reports back to Marluxia and Larxene. Marluxia had used Vexen to not only test Sora’s strength but also Axel’s loyalty to them. Sora encounters Repliku on his way out of the eleventh floor. Repliku shares that he made a promise to Naminé to keep her safe the night of a meteor shower; a promise to protect her from a shooting star. Sora is shocked since this is the same promise he made. They argue over who made the promise to Naminé and Sora shows the good luck charm as proof. But Repliku has his own charm and decides Sora’s must be a fake. They battle once again.
Repliku escapes after the battle, dropping the charm. It turns into a world card: Destiny Islands. Sora is anxious to move forward but Donald and Goofy are still concerned about recent events. Goofy argues they can’t both share the same memory. Sora takes this personally to suggest that he must be the one lying. Sora becomes more aggravated and demands they go find Naminé for the truth. His behavior concerns Donald and Goofy.
They suggest Sora slow down and think about what to do next. This angers him more and he takes it to mean that they are suggesting he leave Naminé behind. Sora doesn’t want to hear anymore and he takes off leaving Donald and Goofy behind. Back with Axel, he approaches a distraught Naminé, suggesting she is the only one who can stop this mess. She fears it’s too late but Axel disagrees. He allows her to escape and find Sora. Axel chuckles at the thought of what’s about to unfold; this surprises him since he, as a Nobody, should not feel anything.
Twelfth Floor
Sora enters Destiny Islands and encounters Dark Side. He manages to stop it and Naminé appears. She feels guilty for having lured Sora to her. She apologizes to Sora and explains she’s not the one who’s supposed to be there because she’s not supposed to be in anyone’s heart.
Sora is confused, he’s certain that she is who he’s been looking for. Naminé tells him to reach out to his memory that’s deep in his heart to find who’s most special to him. He does so and the charm reverts back to the paopu fruit-shaped charm and the person standing before him is no longer Naminé but Kairi. Sora finds Naminé in the exit hall and asks for an explanation of what just happened. Before Naminé can explain, Repliku appears again and they battle for the final time.
Just as Repliku is about to declare victory, Naminé commands him to stop; he does and collapses to the floor. Larxene appears then, explaining that Naminé “smashed” his heart. She was only able to do this because “Riku” wasn’t real. Any memories he had were made by Naminé. Her powers allow her to enter, rearrange, and create new memories of anything, including things that never happened. Sora realizes then that his memories of her are fake.
Larxene decides to kill Sora. Naminé tries to stop her but fails. Sora believes that even if his memories are fake, the promise he made to her feels real to him. Donald and Goofy arrive then, ready to fight at Sora’s side. They engage in a final battle against Larxene and succeed. Larxene fades away into nothingness. Naminé explains that she took the people and memories from Sora’s heart and replaced them with false memories. Even the promise he made was fake.
They had never met before, she was never his friend. It was her magic that made the rest of them lose their memories as well. In order to fix their memories, they must go to the thirteenth floor, where Marluxia is. Marluxia had threatened Naminé with imprisonment in the Castle if she didn’t obey him. She was alone for so long that she felt she had no choice but to do as he said. Sora isn’t happy that she tampered with their memories, but he’s not upset either. The memories she gave them still feel right, but this is only because he can’t remember what they should be.
Thirteenth Floor
Goofy proposes they make a promise to give them the courage to face difficulties. They agree that no matter what happens, even if they forget each other, they’re still friends.
Axel and Marluxia meet and Axel is deemed a traitor for letting Naminé go. However, Axel points out that Marluxia had planned to use Naminé to rewrite Sora’s memories so he would be under their control. With Sora and Naminé, Marluxia and Larxene would be able to overthrow the Organization. As far as Axel is concerned, Marluxia is the real traitor. Axel took out Vexen to obtain proof of their plan. He claims he was just following his orders:
“eliminate the traitor.”
They battle, but Marluxia puts Naminé between them. He’s using her as a shield but this won’t stop Axel. But SDG have arrived and after hearing that Axel is willing to hurt Naminé, Sora is ready to fight. Axel and Sora battle, with Sora coming out the victor. Axel praises his strength and explains that he was worth saving after all; he disappears.
Marluxia commands Naminé to erase Sora’s memories. Doing this would destroy his heart. Naminé refuses, but Sora tells her to do it anyway, trusting that his friends will help him remember afterward. At that moment, Repliku appears and attacks Marluxia. He declares that while his memories may be fake, his promise to Naminé is real. Marluxia is frustrated with everyone’s decisions to keep their fake memories and cast aside their heart’s freedom. He declares that their decision to remember lies is due to their weak hearts. He and Sora battle, only for Sora to destroy an illusion. Before stepping through the final door, Sora instructs “Riku” to protect Naminé.
Sora steps forth to the final battle against the lord of the castle and defeats him. Repliku has come to terms with his manufactured existence and bids them all farewell. Naminé explains to them that she is able to put their memories back together because her ability doesn’t allow her to erase, but instead to take apart and rearrange memories. This means they all still have their original memories in their heart.
Another Promise
In order to put their memories back, Naminé will have to undo the chains she made with her fake memories and then find and piece together the memories in the correct order. This means they won’t remember anything that happened in Castle Oblivion, including her. It’ll take time to piece together the memories; until then, they will all have to sleep in memory pods. They worry that they won’t remember her after they wake up, so Jiminy’s solution is to write “Thank Naminé” in his journal.
Sora promises to find her when he wakes up. Even if he forgets, Sora is sure the memory of the promise will be inside him. Naminé tells Sora that she may not be able to find memories that are deep within his heart. But he made a promise to someone else, his light in the darkness; if he remembers her then the lost memories will come into the light. In the moments before he falls into a deep sleep, Sora reaches into his memories and finally remembers Kairi. He might forget about Naminé, but their promise may bring her back. Until then, she’ll be in his heart, forgotten, but not lost.
Reverse
Sora’s journey through Castle Oblivion was an arduous and emotional one. His memories of the past had been manipulated in order to make him more receptive to Marluxia’s and Larxene’s influence. This resulted in him turning on his friends only to realize that it was all a lie. Marluxia claimed that Sora’s heart was weak, which is why he was so willing to accept the lies, but it was the strength of Sora’s heart that allowed him to forgive the lies and accept Naminé and Repliku.
While it would have been easy to keep the new memories, Sora still remembers Riku and his promise to bring him home. In order to do that, he must regain his real memories and discard the fake ones. Sora, Donald, and Goofy must sleep for now but they’ll awaken in time. Until then, we must see what the real Riku has been up to, on the reverse side of this story.