Radiant Garden
Home of Ansem the Wise
Story and background
A flourishing world whose secret experiments help give rise to the Nobodies and Organization XIII. Its damaged form becomes Hollow Bastion before its citizens work to restore it.
Events and connections in the series
Lauriam will become Marluxia. Elrena will become Larxene. Ventus will be found far from the ancient period. Brain will awaken in a later Scala ad Caelum. Skuld's ultimate path remains more uncertain, and another girl found in Radiant Garden will later raise questions about the people scattered by time. These loose ends connect seemingly unrelated eras. We will encounter several of them again.
The trio visited many worlds, but two encounters matter especially to the overarching saga. In Radiant Garden, Aqua met a little girl named Kairi and unwittingly passed on the possibility of wielding a Keyblade, later protecting her with a charm. On the Destiny Islands, Terra encountered young Riku and performed the ceremony of inheritance, intending Riku as a future Keyblade bearer. That event explains a major turn in the first Kingdom Hearts: the Keyblade originally meant for Riku ends up in Sora's hands when Riku chooses darkness.
Aqua tracked Terra to Radiant Garden. The person wearing his face had white hair and behaved like someone who had forgotten how to be himself. But when Aqua reached him, Master Xehanort's personality surfaced and attacked. She defeated the possessed Terra, only for Xehanort to turn his Keyblade on his own heart, further burying Terra's resistance and losing his memories. As the body sank into darkness, Aqua sacrificed her own armor and Keyblade to rescue him. She was pulled into the Realm of Darkness instead.
More in the lore
Explore the complete chronology for the surrounding events, relationships and consequences across the games.