The World

The World is the universe featured in the series Kingdom Hearts. It serves as the setting for The Interference and makes cameos at the start of The Interference II: Curse of the Crimson Elixir and The Interference IV: Dark Renegade. This universe is the home of Sora and his friends.

Description
The World's many sub-worlds are based on Disney and Final Fantasy properties, with original worlds as homes for the Final Fantasy characters, and different worlds based on various Disney theatrical films. The worlds are very small, usually only consisting of a single large settlement, some outer buildings, and wilderness, and are not very highly populated. Disney and Final Fantasy characters do not tend to mingle, with the exception of worlds such as Traverse Town, Radiant Garden and Olympus Coliseum.

History
According to an old legend, all the various worlds were originally connected as one large World. However, in this World of light, sparks of conflict began to fly, and the Keyblade Masters all began to battle over the X-Blade, a weapon that would allow the bearer to unlock the mystical Kingdom Hearts, and required a clash between pure light and pure darkness to be forged. The war eventually escalated, and the darkness growing in the Masters' hearts overcame the World, plunging it into the darkness and destroying it. It was then that a miracle happened — children, being the only ones unaware of the war's origins, used the light in their own hearts to rebuild and recreate small pieces of the World. Unfortunately, these pieces were still disconnected, merely floating in Gummi Space.

Destiny Islands
Destiny Islands is a tropical archipelago residing within a large ocean and consisting of two islands - a mainland hosting a village, and an islet. The islet is the most visited part of this world; it has a dock, treehouse, caves, and an stump with a leaning tree. Its most famous item is the paopu fruit, said to bond people together for the rest of their lives. This is Sora, Kairi and Riku's hometown.

Twilight Town
Twilight Town is a small world, located in between the realms of light and darkness and covered in almost perpetual twilight, as its name would imply. The world is almost entirely devoid of enemies, except in The Woods and around the Old Mansion, where DiZ's (Ansem the Wise) lair once was. Yen Sid's tower (featured as a separate world known as Mysterious Tower later in the game series) is also connected to Twilight Town, only accessable via a special train that is called to the tram station when there is need.

This world is home to Hayner, Pence, Olette, Seifer, Rai, Fuu, and Vivi.

Radiant Garden
Formerly known as Hollow Bastion, Radiant Garden was once destroyed years ago by Heartless on Xehanort's initial rampage. It was later taken over by Maleficent as a basd of operations for her and her group of other villains comprised of Disney antagonists such as Captain Hook and Hades. After Sora and his friends defeated the villains there, people originally from the world began to move back in and make an effort to try and restore the town to its former beauty.

The restoration efforts are run by a committee comprising of Leon, Yuffie, Aeris, Cid, and Merlin. The world is the former home of the Heartless Apprentices.

There are also two 'mini-worlds' that can be accessed on Radiant Garden. Space Paranoids can be entered through the portal in Ansem the Wise's computer room, and a copy of Winnie-the-Pooh (The 100-Acre Wood) is kept in Merlin's home.

Space Paranoids
Based on the 1982 film Tron, Space Paranoids is a world existing inside Ansem the Wise's computer, in which computer programs are given an anthropomorphic existence and live in a large, sprawling fantasy community. The network was copied from ENCOM computers by Ansem, and installed in Radiant Garden several years ago. It is protected by Tron, a heavily-upgraded security program; formerly, the Master Control Program was its world ruler. One key aspect of the world is the Game Grid, a large combatant area featuring death sports.

The 100-Acre Wood
The 100-Acre Wood is home to the characters of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories and films. As per its name, the world consists of a large forest, which is home to several toy animals, as well as games. The pages of the book in which the world is kept have a deep connection to their inhabitants - removing pages can tear away entire locations. Most of the accessible areas are treehouses, although there is at least one natural landmark (a crystal cave) to be seen.

The Land of Dragons
The Land of Dragons is the home of Fa Mulan, Mushu and Li Shang, and is based on the 1998 film Mulan. It is mostly divided between green fields and forests, where the Imperial Army training camp lies, and a snowy, mountainous area that overlooks the Forbidden City, through which a snowy pass leads to parts unknown. The world is ruled by a nameless Emperor, and before the story's beginning was being beset by the Hun Army, led by Shan Yu.

Beast's Castle
The world mostly consists of the titular castle and is based on the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast, playing home to the Beast, Belle, and many enchanted servants of the former. It is a large, demonic-looking castle made of grey stone and covered in gargoyles, which is walled off from a wintery forest. The inside of the building has many rooms, all lushly furnished, until one heads to the West Wing, which are the Beast's quarters.

Olympus Coliseum
Based on the 1997 film Hercules, the Olympus Coliseum is an impressive stadium in the clouds, playing host to multiple tournaments. The facility is the training centre of Hercules as taught by Philoctetes, and stands overhead the city of Thebes, while being watched over by Mount Olympus and the Greek pantheon. The world also contains the Underworld, a grey land of the dead ruled by Hades, which is home to a competing stadium called the Underdrome.

Disney Castle
This world consists of the huge castle ruling over Disney Town and its fine gardens. The building is the home and workplace of King Mickey and Queen Minnie, and employs Donald, Goofy, Daisy, Chip and Dale, as well as many walking broomsticks. Disney Castle is protected by a large artefact hidden beneath the throne room known as the 'Cornerstone of Light', a powerful source of energy that repels dark forces.

The Hall of the Cornerstone also features a large time gate that allows one to travel to an area called Timeless River.

Timeless River
Set several decades before the original Disney Castle was built, Timeless River consists of a riverside area of Disney Town. The time gate used to visit itself drops onto the yard where the Castle is about to be constructed. Mickey's house, and other areas, are easily accessible through magical windows that float about the yard; and the Steamboat Willie can be found by the dock, captained by a past version of Pete.

Atlantica
Atlantica is a world mostly consisting of an underwater environment with only a single accessible beach, forcing any visitors to use magic to enter the majority of its known locales. It is named for the kingdom that takes named prominence in the 1989 film The Little Mermaid, and serves as Ariel's homeworld. King Triton rules from an underwater castle formed of coral and stone in what appears to be the epipelagic, while the witch Ursula makes her home in much deeper waters.

Port Royal
The world of Port Royal, based on the 2003 film The Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl in particular, actually consists of a large area of ocean in the middle of eternally stormy and cloudy weather, with multiple ports and small islands available to visit, including the Isla de Muerta, home to a chest of Aztec golden coins. The area requires local maps and a ship to navigate, with Port Royal itself acting as a hub, although it is under the control of the British Navy.

Hallowe'en Town
Originally appearing in The Nightmare Before Christmas from 1993, the world hosts two towns who both rule over the holidays they respectively represent. Hallowe'en Town itself is the living quarters of Jack Skellington, where he works as a leader and organiser of Hallowe'en every year. The town's outskirts lead to a large cemetery, the dens of Oogie Boogie and his minions, and a large dead forest with gates to holiday towns in. The gate to Christmas Town is open and the town itself, ruled by Santa Claus, is available to visit.

Agrabah
Based on the 1992 film Aladdin, Agrabah is a vaguely Arabic-inspired city surrounded entirely by desert, with a large palace occupying the side across from the main gate. The area is constructed of many sandstone buildings and rooms, with multiple shop stalls at ground level, including an entire bazaar area. Just outside of the city and across the sands are the Cave of Wonders, a large magical cave holding piles of treasure, and the ruins of a city destroyed by one of the many sandstorms that plague the area.

Pride Land
The Pride Land is a large group of lands somewhere deep in an undisclosed humanless area of Africa, and is based on the 1994 film The Lion King. The main area is a vast plain overlooked by Pride Rock, the home of the lion pride who rule over the area and of Rafiki, a mandrill. Lying away from the savannah are an elephants graveyard, and a gorge leading out to a desert, beyond which is a large tropical oasis where Timon and Pumbaa make their home.

The World That Never Was
Like Twilight Town, this world is located in between the Realms of Light and Dark, but situated much more closely to the Realm of Darkness, making it a dangerous place to visit. Formerly the homeworld of Organization XIII, the world is now roamed only by Heartless and Nobodies of weaker strength. It appears to be a gigantic, yet empty city, where it is constantly storming. The city abruptly ends at a massive ravine, over which floats Organization XIII's former fortress. And always floating over the world is the synthetic Kingdom Hearts moon, gathering hearts to one day be complete.

Castle Oblivion
This empty world was once known as the Land of Departure, a training grounds for budding Keyblade Masters. However, to prevent its destruction at the hands of darkness, the world's heart itself was 'locked' by a Master's Keyblade, turning it into a soulless shadow of what it once was. The castle's internal architecture is pure white and decorated occasionally with marble flowers, and supposedly is designed to always lead the visitor back to the doors regardless of the path they take, while the outside has a few indications as to its original physical appearance.

Keyblade Graveyard
The Keyblade Graveyard is a barren landscape marred by impressive craters and canyons. The setting of the Keyblade War, it is most notable for a large clearing covered in inactive Keyblades, in the middle of which a single giant plateau has formed.

Traverse Town
Traverse Town is a small world, mostly inhabited by an almagation of buildings created by its equally diverse inhabitants. The world's diversity is due to it being a world where all people who survived the destruction of their world end up. Because of a great infusion of darkness some years ago, the town was largely inhabited until recently, when those worlds were restored by Sora during his first adventure and people moved back to their own worlds. Now, the town is largely empty, meaning that there are little Heartless or Nobodies there either, due to there being no hearts to take.

Wonderland
Set in the world of the 1951 film Alice in Wonderland and reigned over by the Queen of Hearts, the realm of Wonderland is known for its sheer lack of sense and logic, and is home to mostly anthropomorphised objects and people. It is entered by falling through a rabbit's hole, which leads through to a small room that acts as the main hub of the world, with portals leading to various locations that can only be accessed via drinking the shrinking potion available on the table. Its only truly human resident is a girl called Alice.

Deep Jungle
From the 1999 film Tarzan, the world is a large area of tropical jungle somewhere along the coastline of the African continent, occupied by animals such as gorillas, leopards and elephants. There are two human-affected areas - the large treehouse built by Tarzan's parents, and the camp area set up by the Porter family, surrounded by a large bamboo grove. Most of the other areas are untampered jungle, as well as a large cliffside from which the local river forms a huge waterfall.

Monstro
Not really a world, but a giant whale displaced from its homeland, Monstro swims through the apparently breathable Gummi Space as a monster large enough and capable enough of swallowing Gummi Ships, and potentially large enough to crush worlds, though it has not yet attacked one. The insides of his mouth and stomach are lined with wood from the temporary structure Geppeto built inside him.

Neverland
Neverland consists of multiple areas and hails from the 1953 film Peter Pan. The accessible area consists of Neverland itself, with its main island (including areas like the Lost Boy's den and the mermaid's lagoon) and multiple islets, such as Skull Island; the pirate ship of Captain Hook, which Peter recently took control of; and a distorted vision of London which holds the islands in its own contained sky, which is where Wendy lives.

End of the World
End of the World is not actually a true world, instead a combination of the remnants of worlds that have been destroyed by the Heartless. As new worlds are constantly restored and destroyed, this place too is ever changing. One can easily get lost because of its constant shifting and from escaping the very powerful Heartless that exist there.