6. Kairi Awakens
Probably surprising no one, we just had to include Sora’s self-sacrifice at the end of Kingdom Hearts. Throughout the whole of the game, Sora has been trying to save his friend Kairi. In Neverland we found out that Riku had found her body, but without her missing heart, it seemed unlikely that she’d ever wake up again. In a twist, Riku finally discovers that the missing heart has been hiding inside Sora this whole time, relying on him for protection from the Heartless hunting her.
In one of the more well known moments even outside the fanbase, Sora instantly decides to sacrifice himself upon learning this. He grabs Riku’s evil Keyblade and impales himself, releasing Kairi’s heart and killing himself in the process. This is one of the defining moments of the entire franchise, solidifying Sora as one of the most lovable idiots of all time, along with being one of the single most influential decisions in the canon moving forward.
The sadness doesn’t last long, as you become a Heartless to find your friends, who quickly save you. However, the sheer surprise that even our heroes could be turned into monsters like the NPCs you’ve been trying to save all game is incredibly memorable.
5. The Last Bastion of Free Will
All of Birth By Sleep is a tragedy so most of the final act could be somewhere on this list. Whether it be Aqua becoming trapped in the Realm of Darkness, or Ventus having his heart shattered into pieces and left in a coma, no one had a fun time here.
Terra has maybe the roughest deal of the three. After struggling with his inner darkness all game, in a strikingly similar tale to Anakin Skywalker, Terra decides to do the right thing and save his friends. Sadly, by attacking the evil Master Xehanort he had given into his angry urges and opened his soul up to an attack. In a split second, Xehanort takes over his body, pushing his spirit into his empty suit of armour.
Despite an amazing final battle where you play as the hollow armour, now known as the ‘Lingering Will’, your efforts mean nothing and the villain manages to escape in the end. As this game is a prequel, we know for a fact that Xehanort uses Terra’s body to do terrible deeds, murdering his way through the scientific community and eventually opening the world up to the Heartless horde in Kingdom Hearts.
Fans of Kingdom Hearts II will also recognise Lingering Will as the secret final boss of the Final Mix version of the game. This means that we know that the poor suit of armour will be trapped in this wasteland for at least 10 years to come, waiting for Sora and his friends to finally fight him.
Click the next page to see the rest of our heartbreaking moments in the Kingdom Hearts series!