Sora...more of a plot device than character?

[Tatsu]

As a character in the series, Sora is the least developed of everyone. But strangely though, as the plot continues he develops plotwise. Nomura said KH is Sora's story which means he is the heart of the story. Everything in the overall plot seems to revolve around him and yet he receives zero to no development or any spinoff to help further develop him.

So the realization hit me...Sora was never meant to be developed at all but to serve as the plot device for the series. Like the One Ring in LotR, the Force in SW, or Private Ryan in SPR, Sora is the plot device and the series is pretty much about how his power influences or affects the people around him. That's the vibe I'm getting.

 

[Orion]

No, Sora was meant to be developed, the only problem is no one in the KH development or writing team had any clue how to advance or mature such a retarded character in a such a convoluted, all-over-the-place, clusterfucked universe.

 

[Professor Ven]

No, Sora was meant to be developed, the only problem is no one in the KH development or writing team had any clue how to advance or mature such a retarded character in a such a convoluted, all-over-the-place, clusterfucked universe.

I second that, but also, he did have some development in KH I, if ever. Afterwards, eh.

 

[Crystal]

KH is Sora's story, surely he will be developed well.

 

[Mr. Crowley]

I thought he developed quite a bit in Chain of Memories. Then Namine put him to sleep.

 

[Orion]

KH is Sora's story, surely he will be developed well.

Nope. To do anything truly well in the context of existing characters - especially ones as 'established' as Sora - is beyond the conceptual skill of both Nomura and the writing staff.

 

[Crystal]

Nope. To do anything truly well in the context of existing characters - especially ones as 'established' as Sora - is beyond the conceptual skill of both Nomura and the writing staff.

Oh true.
They have to think many roles for Sora.

 

[Orion]

Another problem with Sora's character is that his persona is of the exact sort that doesn't change - and we've seen this over the course of his games. His knowledge and beliefs may change, but the core character is the same as when he unwittingly began his journey. Unless Nomura wants to throw in a hackneyed and horrendously predictable death-of-Riku to forcefully change Sora, he's destined to remain the stubborn, jolly, somewhat dim-witted boy forever.

 

[Yessir_23]

I agree, Orion, he can actually be a very annoying character...

Can someone tell me whether or not the characters in Birth by Sleep develop any better throughout the course of the game? I'd be impressed if they do.

 

[Evello]

As a character in the series, Sora is the least developed of everyone. But strangely though, as the plot continues he develops plotwise. Nomura said KH is Sora's story which means he is the heart of the story. Everything in the overall plot seems to revolve around him and yet he receives zero to no development or any spinoff to help further develop him.

So the realization hit me...Sora was never meant to be developed at all but to serve as the plot device for the series. Like the One Ring in LotR, the Force in SW, or Private Ryan in SPR, Sora is the plot device and the series is pretty much about how his power influences or affects the people around him. That's the vibe I'm getting.

I would say Sora had some decent development in KH1, and CoM somewhat continued that. But then KH2 came, Sora lost all his memories, and he returned to exactly where he was at KH1's end... if not even before that. I don't expect to see him change much in the future.

Can someone tell me whether or not the characters in Birth by Sleep develop any better throughout the course of the game? I'd be impressed if they do.

They didn't develop all that much. I think Ven did a fair amount (similar to Sora in KH1), but Terra and Aqua were pretty static. I don't think it's a big deal, however, since BbS is meant to be a tragedy, and one of the key parts of a tragedy is that some flaw in the main characters cause their downfall. You can't exactly have them changing that flaw.

 

[Xehanort's Crack]

Here's why Sora never changes or develops as a character:

Sora, don't ever change

 

[Tatsu]

You would think that they would have Sora star in one of these spinoffs to help develop him. But they don't. They give it to side character and the story develops Sora plotwise. This clearly makes him the main plot device. That's all Sora is...a plot device. And from what I can tell he won't get developed at all. Even DDD and BBS Vol. 2 looks to be more about how Sora's power inspires Riku and everyone.

And if he's not changing because his girlfriend told him to, that's kind of lame. Kairi shouldn't be controlling his life but oddly if we look at it...she has. Namine, who is also Kairi, controlled his mind and wiped out his memories. Sora in a way is Kairi's slave.

 

[Silverslide]

I second that, but also, he did have some development in KH I, if ever. Afterwards, eh.

He did, then he got developed decent in COM, then that development in COM got wiped for some reason and he is back to square one.

 

[billyzanesucks]

And it looks like we won't be seeing much Sora character development in 3d, due to Nomura saying that 'it won't be Sora you grow familiar with this time.'

 

[Eventua]

I agree with Jezza's point: some characters (and even real life people) simply *don't change* after a certain point, or even at all.
Actually, four year old Sora in BBS behaves more or less in exactly the same as fourteen year old Sora in KH1. Seriously, if you don't develop very much at all in ten years, you're not developing at all.

His ideas, appearance, abilities and friends all might change, but at heart he's still the same guy.

 

[Luap]

Well, apparently Sora has his own little torment of sorts. Maybe that will lead to him becoming more developed?

 

[Oracle Spockanort]

I agree with Jezza--to an extent.

Sora developed minutely in KH1, and had a nice stable growth in CoM, but they threw all that away by having Namine write his memories back to normal. The fact that everybody around him (and in him) have gone through some sort of "torture", we are to believe that by extension Sora feels this pain. And something I remember Smile saying, was that Sora didn't have development in KH2 because he was pretending to be happy the entire time.

Which is true, because we know when he had his bouts of anger and depression, he showed that he wasn't okay with everything that was happening, but he would shove that aside and put on his cheesy smile because that was expected of him. He is the hero, the kid who is supposed to spread Light across the worlds and save the Universe and protect Kingdom Hearts. He can't be depressed! That is how the Darkness gets to you! "You gotta stay positive!"

Which I am guessing was the lesson to be derived from KH2: Stay positive!

Also, I believe Sora suffers from typical Japanese storytelling. They either have a happy-go-lucky kid as the main character or the cool and quiet guy. Obviously, Riku is the cool and quiet guy, and Sora is the happy-go-lucky kid. ): Hopefully 3Ds changes that, considering the tagline is " When Darkness and Light are next to each other, Light fades to Darkness."

 

[Smile]

I actually think that the problem is in reverse. Way I see it, Sora did develop. He had some serious growing up to do in KH1, which resulted in some ridiculous anger issues in CoM. The mind-wipe messed him up to make the bad writing in KH2 remotely bearable but all of it was still there - manning up to the duty of being a Keyblade Wielder, as well as the suppressed frustration and anger that surfaced like in Hollow Bastion.
One of the things I did like in both KH1 and KH2 Sora, that KH2 Sora admitted out right - his happy-go-lucky is a mask, a pretending, but he really is trying his hardest for everyone. As opposed to many characters, however, his angst wasn't a given - it was something he acquired along the way and I appreciate that the most.

But the point comes when you deal with his plot connections. When we deal with the KH1-CoM-KH2 trio, Sora was, in a sense, plot-redundant. He was the kid with the Keyblade and that's why everyone and their mothers were after his hide. However, that's where everyone's plans fell apart, much like how AtW said himself - Sora's own personality and actions came into play, and it's who Sora was, rather than what, that mattered.
Standing contrast to him was the lackluster Kairi whose what was basically everything she had, be it the PoH or "the girl Sora cares for", whereas Riku, while leaning closer to Sora, was the only one of the three who had any semblance of a decent plot establishment due to his given role of falling into the Darkness. So we got him moving the plot along with being developed.
Sora only had being developed while the plot pushed him forward.

However, that's where Days and BBS came in. Sora wasn't the playable protagonist. But it's Sora's story so they had to tie it all back to him somehow again. So we have a game focusing around his Nobody and Replica, and BBS had Terra become the main antagonist, Ven be absorbed into Sora, and Aqua be some distorted female Sora with self esteem issues who went to hell.
Sora to begin with wasn't a plot device, and so long as the whole "KH = Sora's story" bit was believable, he didn't need to be. But the series has expanded far too far, and somehow, they had to tie it back to Sora, thus turning over half the cast to characters whose essences was to feed Sora plot to justify him being the protagonist in future installments. :V

 

[Maxyli138]

Hopefully 3Ds changes that, considering the tagline is " When Darkness and Light are next to each other, Light fades to Darkness."

That would be a nice little surprise. Having Sora be a little bit more like Riku would be a blessing for me.

As for Sora's development so far, he had gradually grown from the beginning of KH1 and CoM. He began as a normal boy who wasn't too smart to a boy with a key who still wasn't too smart but had a deeper voice and the personality of a complete ass. Then when KH2 came around he had woken up and became even worse than he was in the beginning of KH1. KH1 Sora was more clueless than dumb. KH2 Sora was just plain retarded.

After these events I went from someone who tolerated Sora to someone who wanted to scratch his eyes out. Sorry Sora fans, but it's just not working out too well for him. Maybe next game.

 

[Smile]

That would be a nice little surprise. Having Sora be a little bit more like Riku would be a blessing for me.

I fail to see how replicating characters would be a blessing.
Also, post KH2 Riku seems to be quite an emotional sap himself, less the angst boy he was in KH1 :V which, derp, we got a variation of in CoM-Sora, need I remind you.

Sorry Sora fans, but it's just not working out too well for him. Maybe next game.

My biggest issue here is that while KH2 did indeed massacre his character, it did so for most of the cast at large. Kairi became even more Sora-obsessed only now she got Deus Ex Machina balcony-jumping skills. Riku turned emo and for all my understanding of this after CoM and Days, it went a bit overboard. Mickey was a prick and DG's IQ was stolen by Namine along with Sora's.
It gets everyone to forget that Sora was adorable and kickassy in KH1 and CoM ;^;