The Christian Symbolism in the Kingdom Hearts Series

[Veritas7340]

Kingdom Hearts contains Christian symbolism that surprisingly seems to be quite stronger than one would initially think:

• Kingdom Hearts I
  • Sora sacrificed himself to save the hearts held captive by the keyblade of darkness, symbolizing how Jesus sacrificed himself to free our hearts held captive by sin.
  • Kairi, who has a heart of light because she is one of the seven princesses of heart, raised Sora from the Heartless state, symbolizing how God, who is light and who has a sevenfold Spirit, raised Jesus from the dead.
• Kingdom Hearts II
  • Xemnas, a false messiah, had taught his twelve Nobody disciples to put their hopes in Organization XIII and a counterfeit Kingdom Hearts, symbolizing how the Antichrist will deceive many to put their hopes in his counterfeit church Babylon
  • He deceived them into believing this Kingdom Hearts would grant them hearts. Yet, it would later be revealed that he was manipulating them into following Xehanort's dark plan, symbolizing how the beast in Revelation received its authority from the dragon, the devil.
  • Although Xemnas had threatened to kill anyone who tried to leave, Roxas and Axel eventually realized the right thing to do was to leave Organization XIII, symbolizing how God calls his people to come out ot Babylon in Revelation
• Birth by Sleep
  • It is revealed that Xehanort used to be an esteemed and powerful Keyblade master with white armor and wings, symbolizing lucifer's former position as an angel of light
  • When he chose the darkness, he became a fallen angel and deceiver, abandoning the armor and wings, symbolizing how lucifer became the devil
• Dream Drop Distance
  • Xehanort restored Organization XIII, symbolizing how the beast's fatal wound in Revelation was healed.
  • Xigbar revealed Xemnas's promise of new hearts for Organizarion XIII was a deception. Instead of receiving hearts, deceived members like Saix became sealed by Xehanort's dark heart, symbolizing how the Antichrist will deceive his followers into receiving the mark of the beast.
  • Xehanort revealed that either the seven warriors of light or the seven princesses of heart will clash with him and his twelve marked followers of darkness in a final battle, symbolizing Armaggedon

 

[VoidGear.]

I...don't get any of this.
Like, I fail to see any connection to Christianity in most of your points. o0

 

[Muke]

Yeah, I gotta agree with Void. There's next to no connection at all?

 

[BufferAqua]

Kingdom Hearts is a series made for entertainment. All that darkness and light mumbo jumbo is what you see all the time in fictional work. I don't see it, dude.

 

[Chuman]

What is it about religion and kingdom hearts that makes people lose their grip on logic

 

[Jochira]

I only saw the connections through the actual comparisons at KH1 and that Xehanort was somehow similiar to Lucifer... other than those, I fail to see the connections owo

 

[Veritas7340]

I underlined the main symbolisms. I think Kingdom Hearts is similar to Lord of the Rings. That is just my perspective on the series though. To each his or her own.

 

[Muke]

I underlined the main symbolisms.

No, you underlined the word.

 

[Elysium]

I get the parallels with the Organization/Xehanort in KH2-onwards. I don't really see the KH1 stuff though.

 

[Grizzly]

I underlined the main symbolisms. I think Kingdom Hearts is similar to Lord of the Rings. That is just my perspective on the series though. To each his or her own.

Not to put you down or anything here, but you actually just underlined the word symbolizing. The problem many people are having here, is you don't actually draw any complete comparisons to the Bible in your original post, you merely stated some things that happened in Kingdom Hearts, and as a Christian myself, there are no parallels between many of the things you stated and what actually happened in the Bible. Sure, you stated that x symbolized y, but you gave no reason or explanation as to why. Saying something doesn't make it true.

 

[Veritas7340]

I get the parallels with the Organization/Xehanort in KH2-onwards. I don't really see the KH1 stuff though.

Cool. Well, I thougt Sora's sacrifice and rebirth seemed similar to Gandalf's sacrifice and rebirth, who is seen as a character that represents Christ Jesus. The problem though is it can seen like a stretch due to Sora's other character traits lol

 

[hemmoheikkinen]

• Xemnas, a false messiah, had taught his twelve Nobody disciples to put their hopes in Organization XIII and a counterfeit Kingdom Hearts.

Aah, making a connection here with Jesus disciples, aka the Twelve Apostles? Interesting.

Birth by Sleep

• It is revealed that Xehanort used to be an esteemed and powerful Keyblade master with white armor and wings.
• When he chose the darkness, he became a fallen angel and deceiver, abandoning the armor and wings
• He tried to forge the x-blade in an attempt to claim Kingdom Hearts, the source of all hearts in the universe.
• It is revealed that Ansem SoD and Xemnas's plans to try to claim the power of Kingdom Hearts had actually originated from Xehanort.

Aah, so here you are making an link between Xehanort and Lucifer. I think I see at least parts of the connection. Like Lucifer who was cast down from the heavens, Xehanort opened his heart to darkness and lost his wings. One could also apply the idea of Deal with the Devil, since I think that can be viewed as one. It is also interesting to note that Xehanort is from Destiny Islands, a paradise like island which in BBS is only shown as a massive light orb in the world map. Maybe it can be viewed as heaven or paradise?

Hmm, the last part about BBS... I think I am grasping it but could you open it up a little bit so I know with your are drawing a connection with?

 

[Antifa Lockhart]

Yeah, I don't think a lot of this is explicitly allegorical to the Bible, but instead uses a lot of common tropes in story-telling. Like, I agree that Sora's sacrifice could be read as a parallel but that's a very common theme in general, the hero sacrificing themself.

 

[Veritas7340]

Not to put you down or anything here, but you actually just underlined the word symbolizing. The problem many people are having here, is you don't actually draw any complete comparisons to the Bible in your original post, you merely stated some things that happened in Kingdom Hearts, and as a Christian myself, there are no parallels between many of the things you stated and what actually happened in the Bible. Sure, you stated that x symbolized y, but you gave no reason or explanation as to why. Saying something doesn't make it true.

Thanks for the advice. I removed the extraneous events and tried to make actual comparisons. Again though, this was just my perspective.

@hemmoheikken

Actually, I was drawing a comparison with the Antichrist and his followers in Babylon in Revelation. In Matthew 24, Jesus warned false messiahs would come in his name to perform omens and deceive many. Thus, the twelve disciples here is an inverse, showing how the Antichrist deceives his followers into believing they are worshipping Jesus when they are really receiving the mark of the beast, just like Xemnas deceived his followers into belieiving they are receiving their own hearts when they are really being implanted with Xehanort's heart.

 

[Veritas7340]

Not to put you down or anything here, but you actually just underlined the word symbolizing. The problem many people are having here, is you don't actually draw any complete comparisons to the Bible in your original post, you merely stated some things that happened in Kingdom Hearts, and as a Christian myself, there are no parallels between many of the things you stated and what actually happened in the Bible. Sure, you stated that x symbolized y, but you gave no reason or explanation as to why. Saying something doesn't make it true.

Thanks for the advice. I removed the extraneous events and tried to make actual comparisons. Again though, this was just my perspective.

Edit: accidentally double posted.

 

[Veritas7340]

Aah, making a connection here with Jesus disciples, aka the Twelve Apostles? Interesting.



Aah, so here you are making an link between Xehanort and Lucifer. I think I see at least parts of the connection. Like Lucifer who was cast down from the heavens, Xehanort opened his heart to darkness and lost his wings. One could also apply the idea of Deal with the Devil, since I think that can be viewed as one. It is also interesting to note that Xehanort is from Destiny Islands, a paradise like island which in BBS is only shown as a massive light orb in the world map. Maybe it can be viewed as heaven or paradise?

Hmm, the last part about BBS... I think I am grasping it but could you open it up a little bit so I know with your are drawing a connection with?

Actually, I was drawing a comparison with the Antichrist and his followers in Babylon in Revelation, not Jesus's disciples. In Matthew 24, Jesus warned false messiahs would come in his name to perform omens and deceive many. Thus, the Antichrist deceives his disciples into believing they are worshiping Jesus when they are really receiving the mark of the beast, just like Xemnas deceived his followers into believing they are receiving their own hearts when they are really being implanted with Xehanort's heart.

Yeah, you got it! Those are the parallels I saw between Xehanort and lucifer.

I took down the last one because it was a little indirect there, and I ended up mentioning it elsewhere. Xemnas received his plan to infect Organization XIII with Xehanort's heart from Xehanort, symbolizing how the Antichrist of Babylon in Revelation received his authority from the dragon, the devil.

 

[Divine Past]

It took Jesus three days to be revived from the dead, it took Sora 3 minutes.

Clearly Sora surpass the powers of the son of God.

 

[BufferAqua]

It took Jesus three days to be revived from the dead, it took Sora 3 minutes.

Clearly Sora surpass the powers of the son of God.

actually three hours if you search mindlessly around hallow bastion as a heartless
or 20 minutes if your ps2/ps3 shuts off accidentally and you couldn't save because sora is a heartless

 

[VoidGear.]

It took Jesus three days to be revived from the dead, it took Sora 3 minutes.

Clearly Sora surpass the powers of the son of God.

Marry me.

hahahahahaahahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Laeril]

As a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, while I can see how you find the parallels between elements of the Kingdom Heart series and Christian theology (I've done it myself with various other works), I think you might be confusing parallels with outright Christian symbolism and allegory. The average Japanese person's grasp of Christian theology is tenuous at best, so any parallels between the two are not intentional on the part of Tetsuya Nomura and co.

And that's okay. In his essay "The Death of the Author" Roland Barthes talks extensively about how the work and it's creator don't really have to have anything to do with each other, and that even the creator has no more say about the "meaning" of the work than anybody else. So someone seeing Christian symbolism in Kingdom Hearts is no more or less valid an interpretation than someone saying it isn't there.