Chain of Memories
Terms and lore
Castle Oblivion. The castle at the end of the road Sora, Donald and Goofy were following. Its rule, in the words of the man who greeted them: "In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find." Crossing the threshold took their spells and abilities. The higher they climbed, the more they forgot, and Jiminy watched his journal empty itself a line at a time.
Cards. Everything in the castle runs on cards made from memories. A card held up to a door opens a world built out of what its holder remembers of a place, an illusion and not the place itself. Sora's friends became cards he had to pick up to fight with. Spent cards return when he wishes hard enough, each time more slowly. "Cards are the hearts of your friends."
The other side of the heart. Vexen made a card from memories "locked in the other side" of Sora's heart, and it opened onto a town at evening, a place Sora had never been. It broke the castle's only rule so far: until then, every world had come from Sora's own memory. "The other side remembers."
A chain of memories. Naminé's description of how memory works: "Remembering one thing leads to remembering another, and then another. Your memories are connected, like links in a chain." She does not destroy memories. She takes the links apart and rearranges them, and she can draw new memories of things that never happened. "Just because you can't remember something doesn't mean it's gone."
The good luck charm. The star-shaped charm of thalassa shells Kairi gave Sora in Traverse Town. Naminé changed its shape when she changed his memory, and Larxene held it up to him as Naminé's gift. When Sora thought of Kairi, it went back to what it had been. The Riku in the castle carried one just like it.
The Organization. The people in black coats, each with a number. Vexen is No. 4 and Marluxia No. 11. They answer to someone called the Superior, whom Vexen dreaded being reported to. By Axel's account, unlocking the secrets of the heart is the whole reason the Organization exists. Marluxia and Larxene meant to use Naminé and Sora to take it over. Axel was investigating them the whole time. In the basement, Vexen, Zexion and Lexaeus had plans of their own: Riku's scent is exactly like the Superior's, and they meant to acquire him.
Nobodies. What the Organization's members are. Axel to Vexen, before destroying him: "We've got no one to be, but we still 'are.'" Riku learned to smell them. Vexen said of the Ansem Riku knew: "He is Ansem and he is not, which is to say he is nobody," one who walks the twilight between light and dark. The coats Riku and the king were given hide them from the Organization's noses.
A heart that held on. People who lose their hearts lose their minds and feelings, as Larxene put it, and are consumed by the darkness. Sora became a Heartless and held on to his feelings anyway. According to Axel, only one other man ever managed that.
The replica. A copy of Riku that Vexen made from Riku's data. At first it knew what it was and boasted that, unlike Riku, it feared nothing; then Naminé planted memories of her in it, and it believed it was Riku until Larxene told Sora the truth. It feared nothing, took Zexion with the power it had been offered, and wanted above all to be somebody other than a copy.
The pods. Where Sora, Donald and Goofy sleep while Naminé gathers up the scattered links of their memories and reconnects them. It will take time. When they wake, they will remember nothing of the castle, or of her.
The smell of darkness. After his fight with Ansem's shadow, Riku found he could taste darkness, "the darkness even seeps into my senses," and then smell it. He could smell Nobodies too, and he knew Naminé by her scent, which is Kairi's, and he found the last room of the castle by following Ansem's scent.
The road to dawn. Riku's answer when the man who had worn Ansem's shape made him pick between light and darkness: "Neither. I'm taking the middle road." Not the twilit road to nightfall. The road to dawn. The king, who once thought darkness was nothing but bad, chose to walk it with him.
Characters and where they stand
Sora. Loyal to a fault, and in this castle that was used against him. His memories were rewritten until a girl he had never met became the most important person in his life, and he fought his way up thirteen floors to save her. When he learned the truth he forgave her anyway, because the memories still felt right. He chose his real memories over the castle's. He is asleep in a pod while Naminé puts his memories back, and he will not remember any of this.
Donald Duck and Goofy. Losing their own memories along with Sora's, and more worried for him than for themselves. Goofy asked the question that cut deepest: "You always get real touchy when it comes to Naminé. Did you ever ask yourself why?" It was also Goofy's idea to make a promise before they slept: whatever happens, they are friends. They sleep in pods beside Sora.
Jiminy Cricket. Watched his journal empty itself floor by floor, and was the first to notice that Sora was remembering things instead of forgetting them.
Naminé. Quiet, lonely, and ashamed. She can step into people's hearts and rearrange their memories, and Marluxia kept her in the castle to use that on Sora. She replaced Kairi in his memories with herself, and then refused to break his heart when ordered to. "I'm her shadow," she told Riku, and Riku said she and Kairi smell the same. She is putting Sora's memories back together, and she and Sora made a promise to find each other.
Riku. Woke in the dark between light and dark and chose to leave it. He fought his way up from the castle's lowest basement through his own memories, afraid of the darkness in himself and of Ansem, who was still inside him. He defeated Ansem's darkness and refused Naminé's offer to lock it away with his memories: "Keep your lock. I'd rather just finish Ansem off once and for all." He walks the road to dawn with the king, wearing an Organization coat, and he will not go home while Ansem's scent is still on him.
King Mickey. Reached Riku first as a light sent through the dark, and then through a card that showed him Riku's heart, then in person in a town at evening. He kept his promise to be there, and he decided to walk the road to dawn beside Riku.
Axel. Wry, theatrical, and loyal only to his own agenda. He introduced himself to Sora with "Commit it to memory," played along with Marluxia's plot as a double agent, destroyed Vexen, freed Naminé so she could tell Sora the truth, and let the replica take Zexion. Sora believes he destroyed him. He did not.
Marluxia. Graceful and cold, the keeper of the castle, who plotted with Larxene to make Sora their puppet and take over the Organization. Sora destroyed him, and he went into flower petals.
Larxene. Cruel, mocking, and delighted by other people's pain. She was Marluxia's partner in the plot. Sora, Donald and Goofy destroyed her together.
Vexen. A scientist and the Organization's No. 4, proud of his seniority and terrified of the Superior. He made the replica, drew a town Sora had never seen out of the other side of his heart, fought Riku to gather his data, and tried to warn Sora about Marluxia. Axel destroyed him before he could finish.
Lexaeus. Large, blunt and serious, who urged Riku to embrace the darkness and lost to him. As he went, his darkness went into Riku, and woke Ansem there, until the king's light drove him back.
Zexion. Calculating, with a nose for scents. He tried to break Riku with illusions of home and light, and could not understand how Riku found him inside them. The replica took him, on Axel's suggestion.
The replica. Proud, angry, and desperate to be real. It fought Sora three times over a promise it thought was its own, then stood between Naminé and Marluxia and left the room, the only one of them who left saying something kind. With the power it took from Zexion it faced the real Riku, and lost. It asked what happens when someone who is not real dies, and Riku told it its heart would go somewhere, probably the same place his own will.
Ansem. Still inside Riku's heart, speaking to him and taking him over when he could. Riku defeated his darkness, but Ansem's last words were a promise: "my shadow, lingers, I will return!" His scent is still faint on Riku.
The man in Ansem's shape. A voice in the dark who gave Riku the card that woke him, and then guided him through the castle wearing Ansem's shape. Riku smelled that he was not Ansem, and he dropped the disguise but gave no name: "Nobody, or anybody. It all depends on whether you choose to believe in me or not." He gave Riku and the king their coats and asked Riku which road he would take.
Questions
Who is the man who wore Ansem's shape to guide Riku, and why?
Who is the Superior, and why does the Organization want to unlock the secrets of the heart?
Who was the one other man who kept his feelings as a Heartless?
What did Vexen mean when he said the Ansem Riku knew "is Ansem and he is not, which is to say he is nobody"?
Why does the other side of Sora's heart remember the town at evening?
Why is Riku's scent exactly like the Superior's?
Where did Naminé come from, and why is she Kairi's shadow?
What is Axel really after?
Will Sora, Donald and Goofy wake with their memories whole, and will they ever remember Naminé?
Will Ansem return?
Where does the road to dawn lead?
Fun facts
Because children asked. Nomura was first told to make a Kingdom Hearts game for the Game Boy Advance and said it couldn't be done. He changed his mind after hearing more and more parents say their children wanted to play Kingdom Hearts on it.
Lost Memories. The game's working title was Kingdom Hearts Lost Memories. Nomura thought Chain of Memories had more style and fit the story better.
Staff voices. The original game had no voice acting beyond sounds reused from Kingdom Hearts. The Organization's battle grunts were recorded by members of the development staff. A PlayStation 2 remake, Re:Chain of Memories, later added full voice acting and 3D graphics.
Happiness that was real. Writer Daisuke Watanabe said the story's theme is that the happiness of having met someone is real even if it rests on lies or misunderstandings, and that rejecting it as fake would be sad.