Sora (ソラ^?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square Enix's best-selling Kingdom Hearts series.^[1] Introduced in the series' first game in 2002, Sora is a cheerful teenager who originates from Destiny Islands and has been best friends with Riku and Kairi. When they plan to go on a journey to see other worlds, they are separated by creatures known as Heartless. Fighting them, Sora obtains a weapon called Keyblade which makes Donald Duck and Goofy recruit him in their journey across various worlds to aid King Mickey while Sora searches for his friends. In the meantime, the trio protect the worlds they visit from various villains. Sora has also made supporting appearances in a few games from the series, and reprised his role in manga and novel adaptations of the games.

Sora's original design was created by Kingdom Hearts series director and character designerTetsuya Nomura during a discussion between Disney and Square about who should be main character of the series. Wanting it to be an original character, Nomura made various sketches of him until it met the approval of Disney. Nomura came to regard Sora as his favorite character from all the ones he has designed, and wanted to emphasize the importance of him despite being an ordinary boy. Throughout the series, Sora has been voiced by Haley Joel Osment in the English version and Miyu Irino in the Japanese version. As a child, Sora was voiced by Takuto Yoshinaga and Luke Manriquez in Japanese and English, respectively. Sora's character has received mainly positive critical response due to his interactions and development across the series and has also appeared in various popularity polls from video game characters.

At the beginning of Kingdom Hearts, Sora lives on Destiny Islands along with his two best friends, Riku and Kairi. The three plan to leave the islands to explore new worlds,^[2] but when their world is attacked by a group of dark beings known as the Heartless,^[3] the three are separated. After obtaining the Keyblade, Sora drifts off to a town known as Traverse Town where he learns the Keyblade is used to eliminate the Heartless.^[4]Soon after, Sora meets Donald Duck and Goofy, who join forces in search of his friends while Sora helps Donald and Goofy look for King Mickey.^[5][6] They travel across worlds in their Gummi Ship, sealing the keyholes of worlds along the way to protect them from being consumed by the darkness of the Heartless. However, they are often opposed by an alliance of Disney villains led by Maleficent who are seeking out the seven Princesses of Heart to unlock the Keyhole that leads to "Kingdom Hearts",^[7] a repository of knowledge and power and the source of all hearts. Maleficent sows discord into Riku, causing him to antagonize Sora on several occasions.^[8]

Sora and his friends arrive at Hollow Bastion, headquarters to Maleficent, Sora defeats Riku, after the Keyblade decides to stay with the former although the latter was revealed to be the original chosen one.^[9][10] After defeating Maleficient, Sora encounters a Riku possessed byAnsem,^[11] who reveals that Kairi is a Princess of Heart, and that her heart has been hiding within Sora's body.^[12][13] In order to return Kairi's heart, Sora impales himself with Ansem's Keyblade, transforming him into a Heartless in the process.^[14] After awakening, Kairi returns Sora back to normal with her light.^[15] After taking Kairi to safety, Sora and company confront Ansem.^[16] Defeated, Ansem is obliterated by overwhelming light inside Kingdom Hearts as he passes its door. Beyond the door are Mickey and the now recovered Riku who keep the Heartless inside from getting out as the former and Sora use their Keyblades to lock the door.^[17] Sora is forced leave Kairi once again,^[18] as he, Donald and Goofy seek a way to rescue Riku and the King.^[19]

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Sora's group stumble onto a fortress known as Castle Oblivion as all the three sense that Mickey and Riku are there.^[20] Upon entering, Sora's memories are manipulated by a girl named Naminé, who was held captive by the group Organization XIIIto jumble up Sora's memories making him forget the past as well as replace memories of Kairi with herself. However, as Sora travels upwards in the castle Namine begins to unravel the truth as he encounters her throughout the castle.^[21] After learning the truth, Sora still wishes to protect Naminé and stop the Organization members.^[22] After the Organization members opposing him are killed, Naminé helps him, Donald, and Goofy to restore their memories to their state prior to entering Castle Oblivion, at the cost of losing their memories of the events in the castle. This requires them to sleep in the castle for the restoration of memories to completed.^[23]

In Kingdom Hearts II, taking place a year after Chain of Memories, Sora reawakens along with Donald and Goofy in Twilight Town once his Nobody, Roxas, merges within him.^[24] As they explore the town they are told by King Mickey to visit his master, Yen Sid,^[25] who explains the existence of the Nobodies as well asOrganization XIII.^[26] As Sora sets out to find Riku and King Mickey, the group traverse new and unfamiliar worlds where they often encounter the remaining members of the Organization. Sora later encounters Ansem's Nobody, Xemnas, learning that the Organization now has Kairi captive to force Sora to gather more hearts for them.^[27][28] Eventually, with Mickey joining them, Sora's group finds a way to the Organization's main base in The World That Never Was with the Nobody Axel sacrificing himself to give Sora safe passage.^[29] The group soon reunites with Riku and Kairi as Sora learns the truth behind Roxas after taking out the Organization members with only Xemnas left.^[30] Sora and Riku are separated from Mickey, Goofy, Kairi and Donald as they fight Xemnas for the final time before they end up in the realm of darkness with no means of return. As two accept their fate,^[31] a door appears in front of them, and use it return to Destiny Islands where they reunite with all their friends.^[32] Kairi later runs up to them and give them a bottle she found, containing a letter from King Mickey after he uncovered a revelation.

During the majority of events during Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Sora is in a state of sleep as his memories are being restored by Namine,^[33] but is also playable in the multiplayer game. In Kingdom Hearts codedSora himself does not appear until the game's final scene, in which he receives King Mickey's letter and reads it with Riku and Kairi. A computer program created from Sora's data serves as the primary protagonist of the game, finding out the truth behind a mysterious message found inside Jiminy's journal.^[34] A young Sora and Riku briefly appear in Destiny Islands in the prequel to Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.^[35] After Ventus, one of the protagonist, has his heart is damaged following a confrontation with his dark side, Vanitas, his heart finds its way into Sora, entering the boy's body.^[36] In the game's secret ending, set after the events of Kingdom Hearts II Ansem tells Aqua all about Sora's adventures, and how he may help all the people connected to him. In the final scene, Sora decides to save them after reading Mickey's letter.^[37] He and Riku will serve as the main protagonists inKingdom Hearts 3D.^[38]

A 2D cartoonish avatar version of Sora wearing his original outfit in Kingdom Hearts is also present in the online community-based social gaming networking service, Kingdom Hearts Mobile. Sora also appears in the Shiro Amano's manga and Tomoko Kanemaki's novels which reprise his role in the video games.^[39][40]