Keyblade Graveyard
Site of the old war
Story and background
Terra, Aqua and Ventus face Xehanort on this battlefield. Years later the Guardians of Light return for the confrontation between seven lights and thirteen darknesses.
Events and connections in the series
The Foretellers' quarrels finally became open war. At the Keyblade Graveyard, thousands of wielders fell, and a place that once represented hope became a landscape filled with discarded Keyblades. The Player fought and nearly died. Ephemer and Skuld helped them survive. Luxu watched rather than intervening, carrying No Name as ordered. The War devastated the age of fairy tales, but Ava's Dandelions escaped the immediate massacre. The survivors believed they had been given a chance to rebuild. In reality, they had entered another carefully prepared trap.
At the Keyblade Graveyard, all the betrayals converged. Terra confronted Xehanort. Ventus faced Vanitas. Aqua and Mickey fought to protect them. Xehanort had two ways to profit from this conflict. If the pure halves of Ventus's heart clashed, the key-blade could emerge. And if Terra surrendered completely to rage and darkness, his young body might become a new vessel for the aging Master. Xehanort deliberately let Terra defeat him, then displaced his own heart into Terra's body. Terra's will resisted so fiercely that his abandoned armor rose as the Lingering Will and fought the possessor. A body had been stolen, but its rightful owner had not surrendered.
At the Keyblade Graveyard, Master Xehanort faced the guardians at the site of the ancient massacre. Terra-Xehanort and Dark Riku ambushed them, followed by an overwhelming storm of Heartless. One by one the guardians fell. Riku tried to protect Sora, but he too was swallowed. The story did not simply cut away from a failed battle. It followed Sora beyond death into the Final World.
More in the lore
Explore the complete chronology for the surrounding events, relationships and consequences across the games.