The Keyblade War is one of the most significant events in Disney’s Kingdom Hearts series. But before I can explain what the Keyblade War is, I have to explain what a Keyblade is. Most games in the Kingdom Hearts series put you in control of a hero travelling across a variety of Disney worlds and fighting invaders with a weapon called a Keyblade. Keyblades are ancient and mysterious key-shaped blades often wielded by warriors in combat but also used to cast magic spells and to lock and unlock any door in the universe. They come in many different shapes and designs and most of them can only be wielded by those who have strong hearts.
The weapon’s origin goes back to the Age of Fairy Tales, which is the era back when the world was one (in other words, way before all the Disney worlds were separated by cosmic barriers and back when they all constituted a single world). The first version of the Keyblade is known as the X-Blade (which is obviously spelled differently but is still pronounced “key-blade” because the “X” symbol represents the Greek letter “chi.”) Many people who were alive during this period sought the X-Blade because it is the key that opens the gate to Kingdom Hearts.
Kingdom Hearts is a world that looks like a heart-shaped moon and it is the source of all power and wisdom in the universe, but only one who possesses the X-Blade can unlock the path to Kingdom Hearts. Hence why mankind was so obsessed with obtaining it. And when they couldn’t obtain it, they forged their own Keyblades that were modeled on the design of the original X-Blade and fought each other blade to blade in a great conflict that came to be known as the Keyblade War. In the middle of this clash, the X-Blade was shattered into 20 pieces: 7 pieces of pure light and 13 pieces of pure darkness. And with the destruction of the X-Blade came the disappearance of Kingdom Hearts, which vanished in a void of darkness.
Today the battlefield where the Keyblade War took place long ago is now a wasteland of fallen warriors littered with Keyblades known as the Keyblade Graveyard. And with the disappearance of Kingdom Hearts came the destruction of the World Order. Fortunately the void of darkness that engulfed Kingdom Hearts was kept at bay by the light – the light in the hearts of children. These children were too innocent to be corrupted by the greed that drove mankind to fight each other, and with that light, they became the arbiters of a new era.
Unfortunately with the World Order obliterated, the world became separated into multiple worlds across space and dimension, establishing the pattern for travel across multiple Disney worlds that this series of games has been known for since the beginning.
The Age of Fairy Tales ended when the era of Keyblade wielders began. As for the whereabouts of Kingdom Hearts, evil forces have continued their attempts to reach it, and they have done so by trying to replicate the power of the X-Blade. Because the X-Blade, as I said earlier, was split into 7 pieces of light and 13 pieces of darkness, it has been surmised by those who have researched the heart that in order to summon the X-Blade again and open the gate to Kingdom Hearts, an army of seven pure-hearted individuals and thirteen dark-hearted individuals must face each other in battle, and in this clash between the seven hearts of light and the thirteen vessels of darkness, Kingdom Hearts will once again be summoned. This is the beginning of the Dark Seeker Saga.
