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Kingdom Hearts Religious Symbolism

Discussion in 'General Kingdom Hearts' started by Zenrot, Aug 19, 2012.

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  1. Aug 19, 2012 #1
    Zenrot

    Zenrot New Member

    As we all know Kingdom Hearts is rife with religious symbolism, a great deal of it Christian, and has been through the majority of the series. How do you feel about it, and what instances of it have you noticed? Personally it doesn't bother me at all, despite not being religious in the slightest.

    Examples:

    - Sora is spoken to by a faceless voice multiple times, similar to historical prophets.

    - Sora "walks on water" in the Hollow Bastion stage in the first game, however so do all the ally characters.

    - Kingdom Hearts is a sacred realm with two gigantic white doors, or "pearly gates"

    - Kingdom Hearts can closed and opened by the Keyblades, the keys of heaven. The "Kingdom Key" and "Kingdom Key D" (AKA, keys to the kingdom), even have coloration similarities to common depictions of the "Keys to Heaven"

    - Sora represents Jesus, constantly taking on the pains of others to ease their suffering. He willingly sacrifices himself and is "reborn", and carries Riku back from the darkness. It is heavily implied that he is capable of being the "savior" to all who's destiny's were "altered" by Master Xehanort.

    -Master Xehanort and his various incarnations represent Lucifer. He has a corrupting role, both subtly and directly, to many characters in the series. He both "corrupts" and "claims" Riku and Terra, and is famous for the line "Open your Heart to Darkness!". His keyblade armor is largely bright and holds white feathered wings, however when he began using the powers of darkness he ceased using the armor.

    - The "X-Blade" has multiple pronunciations that are applicable, one being "Christ-Blade".

    - The finale of the game is set up for the defenders of light and seekers of darkness to come to a final clash for control over Kingdom Hearts, or "Heaven".

    - It is also firmly rooted in a taoist belief that something cannot exist without its opposite, specifically that Darkness and Light will always co-exist.
     
  2. Aug 19, 2012 #2
    Ejox

    Ejox New Member

    i noticed something interesting while watching "Game theory" on youtube.
    The guy talked about in the old days the mayans had a ritual which included ripping out the heart of the sacrifice and offer it to the sun because the believed human hearts where shattered fragments of the sun.
    Doesn't this kinda sound like well the lore in Kingdom hearts? when a heartless or a "sacrifice" is defeated, the "heart" returns to kingdom hearts or the sun.
    Sounds disturbingly close if you ask me.
    Also sometimes the priest would tear of the skin of said person and wear it for 21 days as a offer to their "skin" god a god who sacrficed himself so that the humans could live.
    This could be a hint to the nobodies no?
     
  3. Aug 19, 2012 #3
    chrispwnu12

    chrispwnu12 New Member

    I never honestly noticed any religious symbols in Kingdom Hearts. I don't really mind tho as I am Christian.
     
  4. Aug 19, 2012 #4
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    ... ?_? Kingdom Hearts has Christian-related information? Huh? Almost all of us did not notice that.
     
  5. Aug 19, 2012 #5
    Kitty

    Kitty I Survived The BG Massacre Staff Member Administrator

    I have to say I never noticed any religious symbolism when playing any of the KH games. But if it's something you're looking for, you can pretty much always find it if you want to see it.
     
  6. Aug 19, 2012 #6
    EtherealSummoner

    EtherealSummoner Lamentations 3:22-26

    XD I laugh at the part about Sora representing Jesus, especially Sora has darkness in himself while Jesus does not.
     
  7. Aug 19, 2012 #7
    Zenrot

    Zenrot New Member

    He's not a direct parallel, but 9/10 isn't bad.

    I certainly wasn't looking for it, I'm not even religious. But there are some glaring similarities.

    Keys of Heaven - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    ^One silver, one gold. They're also crossed with a protrusion from the center, the exact shape of the X-blade.
     
  8. Aug 20, 2012 #8
    Ejox

    Ejox New Member

    wow thats really interesting actually... nice find :D
     
  9. Aug 20, 2012 #9
    Chocobo Dyl

    Chocobo Dyl New Member

    Granted, the Keys of Heaven is a pretty close similarity, but I honestly doubt there's any serious symbolism in the game (apart from the idea of Kingdom Hearts and heaven, seen as though heaven is a universally known idea). As Kitty says, you can find anything if you look hard enough for it.
     
  10. Aug 20, 2012 #10
    Angel

    Angel Lion Heart Staff Member Administrator

    Those weren't Kingdom Hearts's Doors. They were the Door to Darkness.

    I pretty much agree with Kitty. You can see religion in pretty much all things. Religion pretty much explains all things likewise all things explains religion so finding Christianity in Kingdom Hearts is easy if your looking for it. Benjamin Hoff explained Taoism through Winnie the Pooh. The book is called the Dao of Pooh and the series of Winnie the Pooh explains Taoism perfectly.
     
  11. Aug 20, 2012 #11
    Zenrot

    Zenrot New Member

    Kingdom Hearts (world) - The Keyhole: Ye Olde Kingdom Hearts Fansite
     
    Last edited: Aug 20, 2012
  12. Aug 20, 2012 #12
    Angel

    Angel Lion Heart Staff Member Administrator

  13. Aug 20, 2012 #13
    Zenrot

    Zenrot New Member

    I fixed it. Basically it says the Door to Darkness leads to Kingdom Hearts, and also it shows the door into Xemnas' Kingdom Hearts which is also similar in design.
     
  14. Sep 29, 2012 #14
    heartsride

    heartsride New Member

    i never really noticed honestly
     
  15. Oct 11, 2012 #15
    Mudstoise

    Mudstoise New Member

    I never saw christianity in KH, especially since I've put my christianity behind me... and though I can see your points, and since I don't know if these symbolisms were intentional on Nomura's part, I refuse to acknowledge these instanses as being connected to christianity. Yes there may be some instanses that remind one of christianity, but come on, ALL stories are centered around the "light versus darkness"-theme, and are you saying that the moment someone begin to care for other people and are willing to sacrifice themselves for their friends, they resemble Jesus??

    In other words, it's coincidense and please leave your christianity out of my video game, thanks. Religion has destroyed more than it has done good throughout history, I won't let it take my favorite game of all time too...
     
  16. Nov 16, 2012 #16
    Harrihaffi

    Harrihaffi New Member

    I didn't notice and I am a chritian! Then again that might be becuase these are all samll things and details! The biggest one would be that of Sora being the saviour which was kinda obvious in bbs!
    But Sora isn't really that close to Jesus! He does sacrific himself(KH1),but he doesn't really die! He just changes shape!

    MVHH
     
  17. Nov 16, 2012 #17
    ADogX

    ADogX R.I.P. Captain Unohana

    god dammit now religion theories have entered Kingdom Hearts. Can't people just let it be and leave religion out of it? They could just be coincidence.Tired of hearing religion trying to be related to everything (that I've heard at least).
     
  18. Nov 16, 2012 #18
    Angel

    Angel Lion Heart Staff Member Administrator

    I've been waiting all day to post this. Instead of Christianity how about Islam. Since we are doing religion.

    Sora represents Muhammad. Muhammad was called by the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus to tell the people of their sins and of God's good graces. Just as Muhammad, Sora ventures through different worlds changing their opinions and making friends and enemies.

    Organization XIII represents the TWELVERS. (Sh'ia Islam) The 12 true heirs of Muhammad and Muhammad being the 13th (Sora aka Roxas).

    Seven Lights are the SEVENERS. A conflicting branch of the Sh'ia known as Ismailis.
     
  19. Nov 16, 2012 #19
    Angel

    Angel Lion Heart Staff Member Administrator

    I've been waiting all day to post this. Instead of Christianity how about Islam. Since we are doing religion.

    Sora represents Muhammad. Muhammad was called by the God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus to tell the people of their sins and of God's good graces. Just as Muhammad, Sora ventures through different worlds changing their opinions and making friends and enemies.

    Organization XIII represents the TWELVERS. (Sh'ia Islam) The 12 true heirs of Muhammad and Muhammad being the 13th (Sora aka Roxas).

    Seven Lights are the SEVENERS. A conflicting branch of the Sh'ia known as Ismailis.
     
  20. Nov 24, 2012 #20
    Reprise

    Reprise Semi-present

    Aside from the Keys of Heaven, the Twelvers, Seveners and perhaps the Mayan Sacrifices, I don't see the similarities between any of these things. Naruto walks on water and saves people. Does that make him a representation of Jesus? Goku was reborn, does that make him Jesus? To be honest, perhaps Nomura was inspired by the Keys of Heaven, the Twelvers, Seveners and Mayan Sacrifices. Perhaps he was inspired, but I doubt he intentionally placed any hidden messages into Kingdom Hearts and he definitely didn't think of Christianity when he was designing Sora.

    This is a discussion about Kingdom Hearts, not a deep debate about religion. Please refrain from saying such controversial things.
     
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