Warning #1: if you have not finished all three Kingdom Hearts games, and don't have a vague association with Birth by Sleep and 382/2 turn away now. This blog is highly spoileriffic

Follow up:

Warning #2: I haven't played 382/2, so please don't spoil it for me either.

Kingdom Hearts is one of my favorite franchises, it takes the most awesome elements of Final Fantasy and Disney, and combines them with great story, awesome game play and uber cool original characters. Though all the games are technically self-contained, there are many elements that always lead to yet another sequel. With the DS (382/2) and the PSP (Birth by Sleep) games coming out or already out in Japan I'm going to talk about plot elements that need to be answered in these games, and in the eventual KH3 (it's gonna happen, it's only a matter of time.)

#1: What's up with Kairi?

In KH1 we learned that Kairi came to the island when Riku and Sora were really young, and later we discover she's one of the Princesses of Heart needed to open the Door to Darkness. In KHII she could use a keyblade, she has a strangely powerful Nobody (Namine, as well as what seems to be a second Nobody, Xion) and in one of Ansem's Secret Reports Ansem says Kairi is originally from Twilight Garden/Hollow Bastion. So what is her deal? Is she Ansem's daughter/niece/little sister? Does she has some kind of specific tie to Kingdom Hearts? Is she a new chaser? Related to Aqua? Despite being a main character, and a huge influence on the whole theme of the game, we know next to nothing about her.

#2: What happened to Axel?

In one of the saddest moments in video games of all time, the Nobody Axel used all of his powers and faded to the Darkness to protect Sora from the onslaught of Dusks sent to prevent him from getting to the World that Never was. Axel proved to be an extremely important character as he was Roxas' best friend. Nobodies are said not to have hearts or real emotions, but throughout Chain of Memories and KHII, Axel acted out of nothing but love for his friend, even when sent to destroy him. Yet at the end of the game while Roxas and Namine were reunited, allowed to exist within Sora and Kairi and be together, Axel's fate is pretty much unknown. Did he really just fade away, nobody who never was and will never be? Or did his kindness and love (in traditional Disney fashion) grant him some kind of new life, or was he reunited with his own Somebody. All I can say it better have. Because while Square has bumped off a bunch of their own characters, starting with the legendary slaughter of Aerith by Sephiroth, they have always resolved deaths in some kind of satisfactory way. To have Axel get gipped, when he was such a caring being, would be waaay too dark for a kid's game and far too unfair. I suspect we'll find out in either Birth by Sleep, or Kingdom Hearts 3

#3: Who were the Neophytes?

Of the 13 (14 I guess) members of Organization 13, only seven (I guess, 8 when you include Xion) of the members we truly know anything about. #13 Roxas, turned out be Sora's Nobody, Xemnas was Xenohort, the real Ansem's top apprentice. Xigbar, Xaladin, Vexen, Zexion and Larxeus were Ansem's other apprentices, who betrayed their master to pursue their own ambitions. However, the other members are unknown. We have no idea who the Somebodies of Saix, Axel, Demyx, Marluxia, Larxine and Luxord are. The reports only say they are Neophytes who joined after the initial Orginization was established, and that they don't really like the original members, except for Saix. So who were they? Why is Saix so loyal to Xemnas? Were the others villains who got a second chance at power after losing their hearts? Or were they innocent people who once becoming Nobodies, wished to become their own persons?

#4 What's up with Sephiroth and Cloud, and what was Cloud looking for?

In KHI, Sora meets Cloud when he was working for Hades. He agreed to work for Hades in exchange for the return of his memory. Cloud said he was looking for someone, and while it can be assumed in the first game he was looking for Sephiroth and in the second he found them, why do they hate each other? Since the canon of FFVII doesn't apply, there is some other reason for Cloud and Sephiroth's rivalry. The only clue is that Cloud said Sephiroth is the dark side of his heart. Does that mean Sephiroth is a Heartless and Cloud is a Nobody? Or is a dark side of the heart a new form of being. Or is Cloud just being poetic and there is a reason completely unrelated to the fights for Kingdom Hearts?

#5 What were the Keyblade Wars? And exactly who was Xenohort?

While this will essentially be answered by Birth by Sleep, the secret ending of KHII led to a TON of questions, as well as the Ansem Reports description of how Xenahort was found.

#6 Why does Squall Leonhart want to be referred to as Leon?

While not a major plot point, I always did find it a little odd that Squall asked to be referred to 'Leon'. Seriously, what's up with that?