Dream Drop Distance
Terms and lore
Recompleted. What happened to some of the Organization's members once they were gone: they woke up as people again, their memories whole. Lea, who had been Axel, woke in Ansem's study with Dilan, Aeleus, Even and Ienzo. "We're people again. But only the ones who joined the Organization here." Braig and Isa were not with them.
The Keyblade War. Yen Sid's account. In the age of fairy tales the World was filled with light, a gift many believed came from Kingdom Hearts, which was protected by its counterpart, the χ-blade. Warriors who wanted the light for themselves crafted Keyblades in the χ-blade's image and fought a great war over Kingdom Hearts. The war put out all the light in the World, but the darkness could not reach the light inside children's hearts, and with it the World was remade as countless smaller worlds shining like stars. The χ-blade broke into twenty pieces: seven light, thirteen dark. The one true Kingdom Hearts was swallowed by darkness. Some then chose to use the Keyblade to defend the light: the first heroes of the Keyblade.
The Mark of Mastery exam. Yen Sid's test for Sora and Riku, because Xehanort is coming back and a true Master is needed. They were to go into the worlds' sleep and unlock seven Sleeping Keyholes, which would free those worlds and give them the power to free a heart from its sleep.
Sleeping Worlds. Worlds that were swallowed by darkness and plunged into sleep. One dream connects to another. Yen Sid sent Sora and Riku back to Destiny Islands just before it fell, and they woke there young again. A person can only go back in time, Xigbar said, where a past version of them already exists.
Dream Eaters. Creatures of the sleeping worlds. Nightmares eat happy dreams; Spirits eat the Nightmares, and fight at Sora's side. Riku learned from Ansem that he himself had become a Dream Eater, without knowing it, to protect Sora from nightmares, and that the sigil on his back says so.
Xehanort's new Organization. Xigbar's account of what the Organization was always for: round up empty husks, link them to Kingdom Hearts, and fill them all with the same heart and mind. "Translation, they were gonna turn all the members into Xehanort." Xigbar says he is already half Xehanort. Young Xehanort put it plainly: "Organization XIII's true goal is to divide Xehanort's heart among thirteen vessels." In a high round chamber of thirteen thrones, Master Xehanort was welcomed back by "my twelve selves," gathered from different times.
Seven lights and thirteen darknesses. Xehanort's plan now: seven guardians of light and thirteen seekers of darkness, whose final clash will produce the χ-blade. Maleficent's search for the seven princesses and the thirteen vessels were both his doing. Mickey counted the guardians and came up short: himself, Riku and Sora, and three missing friends. Xehanort says Sora and one more of those belong to him.
The heart grows back. Xemnas, in Sora's dreams, admitted what the Organization had learned: a heart can be banished from a body, but the body tries to replace it at the first chance, as many times as it takes. Several members showed signs of a new heart growing. Ansem the Wise told Riku the same: the heart is quick to grow, and Nobodies are no different.
Ansem the Wise's gift. Ansem the Wise digitised himself and his research and hid them inside Sora, as a clue for finding lost friends. His belief: Sora may have the power to bring back the hearts of those connected to him, even people thought lost forever. Some of the hearts Sora has touched have never left him.
Moving through time. Young Xehanort's rules: you must leave your body behind; a version of you must be waiting at the destination; on arrival you can only move forward; "and you cannot rewrite the events that are destined to happen." Returning to his own time will erase what he learned, though his path stays etched in his heart.
The sigil. The X on Sora's chest, which let the Organization find him wherever he was, the mark of the thirteenth dark vessel. Xemnas called him a recusant by it. Riku's sigil is a Dream Eater's.
"My name is Ansem." Long before, in the computer room under the castle in Radiant Garden, Braig found Even and Ienzo on the floor and the young man in Terra's body standing over them. Braig asked if he had never lost his memory; the young man put a Keyblade through him, and corrected his name: "I'm not 'Xehanort.' My name. is Ansem."
Characters and where they stand
Sora. Confident going in: "Me and the King, and Riku, we can take on anything." He was separated from Riku, guided through the dream worlds by people pretending to help him, and delivered to Xehanort. He fell into a sleep he could not wake from, and something that had slept in his heart since before he knew it rose up and closed a suit of armour round him that was not his. Riku woke him. He was not named a Master. He went back first to the Traverse Town of the sleeping worlds, to thank his Dream Eater friends.
Riku. Came to the exam still asking whether someone who once let the darkness in is fit to wield the Keyblade. He faced his dark side in Ansem, refused him, and took him in: "You're part of my heart now. Part of the light!" He dove into Sora's heart to wake him, and Yen Sid named him a true Keyblade Master. He once confessed a secret: the main reason he dreamed about the outside world was the man who once passed him the power to wield the Keyblade.
Master Xehanort. Whole again in his own old body, patient and sure that "destiny is never left to chance." Yen Sid says he renounced his duties as a Master to seek the answer to the heart in the Keyblade War, and has clashed with Keyblade wielders in many guises ever since. He admitted his first attempt to forge the χ-blade failed, and named Terra, Aqua and Ventus only by what they became. His other selves went back to their own times, and he promised to finish it at the fated place.
Young Xehanort. The young man in the coat who watched Sora and Riku from the edges of every dream, and told Sora they would meet again. He travels through time, and he returned to his own.
Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Waiting for Riku in the dreams, offering the darkness again. Riku beat him and took him into his own heart as part of the light. He also appeared among the thirteen, and his dark figure seized Riku and Mickey.
Xemnas. Met Sora in the dreams and talked about hearts and data. He admitted the Organization learned that hearts grow back. Sora beat him.
Xigbar. Once Braig. He laid out the whole scheme for Sora with obvious enjoyment, called him Roxas, and said he is already half Xehanort.
Lea. Axel, recompleted, and quick to say so: "My name is Lea. Got it memorized?" He saved Queen Minnie from Maleficent, asked Yen Sid to teach him the Keyblade, trained in a forest where Merlin and the three fairies made time run differently, and burst into the chamber of thrones in time to stop Xehanort taking Sora. He finally summoned a Keyblade of his own. He found Isa among the thirteen, as Saïx.
King Mickey. Stopped time in the chamber of thrones long enough to reach Riku and Sora, and confronted Xehanort over what was done to his three friends. He counted six guardians of light and came up one short.
Yen Sid. Set the exam, and blamed himself for sending Sora and Riku into Xehanort's trap. He believes a new kind of Master is needed.
Ansem the Wise. Present only as data he hid inside Sora, left behind to atone. He told Riku that Sora was safe and awake, and asked, at last, for Riku's name.
Ventus. Still asleep in the white castle, in a chair in a white room. As Sora woke, he smiled in his sleep.
Maleficent and Pete. Kidnapped Queen Minnie to demand the data of all the worlds, which Maleficent means to conquer in her own way. Lea drove them off. Maleficent promised that what she seeks lies within the castle's walls.
Dilan, Aeleus, Even and Ienzo. Recompleted in Ansem's study alongside Lea. Dilan and Even woke unstable. Ienzo, a child when Lea last saw him and a young man now, explained that the recompleted return where they lost their hearts; Aeleus told Lea that if Braig and Isa were back, they would have been found.
Questions
Why were Braig and Isa not recompleted with the others?
What does Maleficent seek within the walls of Disney Castle, and what does she want with the data of all the worlds?
Who will be the seventh guardian of light?
Who is the other guardian of light that Xehanort says belongs to him?
When will the seven lights and the thirteen darknesses meet at the fated place?
Can Sora really bring back the hearts of people thought lost forever, as Ansem the Wise believes?
Will Ventus wake?
Fun facts
The hidden data. Before release, Nomura said the game would focus on the "hidden data" inside Sora.
Europe first. It was the first game in the series released in Europe and Australia before North America.
Falling into the screen. The game's keyword was "drop," as in something falling. It was made for the Nintendo 3DS, and its 3D effect was used mostly to make the screen feel deeper, for falls from high places and long flights, rather than to make things pop out.
New guests. Developers of The World Ends with You worked on the game, which is why characters from that game appear in it where Final Fantasy characters appeared before.
Straight to video. One of its worlds is based on Mickey, Donald, Goofy: The Three Musketeers, the first world in the series drawn from a direct-to-video film.