Pooh and Goofy are the MVPs and carry Sora through so much and I'm explain why. I will do my best to not like, ramble, but trust and believe ya girl is feral over deep diving her favorite blorbos.
tagging @faithfulservantoftheking because I need them to know Sora sees Goofy as his dad thank you amen.
First off look at them. LOOK AT THEM. Anyway now this will be under a read more because you know your girl is about to make a whole damn fucking essay. We'll be starting with Pooh first because my autistic ass is very much obsessed with Winnie the Pooh. I also wanna start off with him first because there is SO MUCH. Like with Goofy there is a lot to cover, but I think this will be good first.
Almost every relationship Sora has elsewhere revolves around what he can do.
Riku needs him.
Kairi worries about him.
Donald and Goofy depend on him.
Yen Sid trains him.
The worlds need saving.
With Pooh bear there is none of that. This silly bear literally just asks to play and help him do simple tasks. There is nothing heavy about it and Sora gets to...relax. Like I feel KH3 is probably the biggest reason I support the idea Pooh is important to Sora. Now people have said ofc that the weak connection was because its a sign he is getting older and leaving his childhood behind.
I, however, think it's the opposite. He's afraid of losing what innocence he has after...everything (cause lets be real that was a lot to process even for him) so when the idea of Pooh forgetting him or him not being on the cover is mentioned, he freaks out naturally. Of course he does tend to seem like he does not wanna be there in KH3 but that's also because, I feel, people are rushing him. His journeys into the storybook were his time to just be.
When Pooh bear said "Welcome home." (i think) it was like...home. Sora has no home, truly, and while I do hc he travels to the main destiny islands to visit his mother and let her know he is fine (he gave her the story he is helping a friend out and thats why he has been gone and periodically has said friend send letters or calls.) now this friend is none other than Wakka, though Wakka demands to know everything once Sora is done "whatever nonsense he is doing" to put it bluntly.
In fact Selphie and Tidus help with this, and I do think they understand that Sora is doing something that none of them can comprehend, but they were his friends first before Riku and Kairi and they are loyal to him.
Anyway moving back to Pooh !!
So throughout most of the series, Sora slowly takes on more responsibility far beyond what any teenager should bear.
He witnesses worlds collapsing.
He watches friends disappear.
He dies.
He forgets.
He loses memories.
He is manipulated by villains repeatedly.
He nearly becomes one of Master Xehanort's vessels.
He constantly carries everyone else's hopes.
Yet almost nobody asks how Sora himself is doing. No one stops to think: Is he okay?
He isn't of course, how could he be okay? Yet when he sees Pooh and friends? He get's asked how are you? are you okay? we missed you.
Sora of course does not want to burden any of them naturally, but he isn't as sad as he is outside of the book. For him this is a time to be and Pooh's love for him is so unconditional that he genuinely gets sad when he leaves the book and I just imagine Sora wanting to break the rules and bring Pooh with him, but he knows he can't.
Now while Sora rarely has time to process trauma, he understands that where he is right now is just time for him and him alone. Sure he has lots to process, but in those moments they seem to fade and he is safe. If given the option I feel like Sora's mental state would have him fully wanting to stay forever like Pooh wanted, but he is a selfless being and knows he cannot.
Also what I mean by trauma and unable to process? Shit happens literally one event after the other without stopping.
After KH1 comes Chain of Memories.
After Chain comes KH2.
Soon afterward comes Dream Drop Distance.
Then immediately into KH3.
He never has any time to recover so he just smiles instead because smiling is easy. Smiling means people do not need to worry and so he buries it deeper and deeper and deeper until he feels guilty for having any negative emotions because people want him to stay the same, they tell him to cheer up, they do not understand what he is going through and Sora is a teenager with very big emotions and hormones running wild. He wants to crash out, he wants to throw a tantrum, but he can't.
Instead...he keeps smiling.
This is why the Hundred Acre Wood becomes one of the few places where that smile doesn't have to be fake. There, he genuinely feels like the kid he once was and while no his childhood wasnt tragic growing up, what happened was tragic and traumatizing especially for a 14 year year old.
Anyway so why Pooh loves Sora and why that means the world to him: For someone constantly valued because of what he can accomplish, Pooh values him because of who he is. Which is himself. Just Sora. However Near the end of Dream Drop Distance, Sora comes very close to becoming Xehanort's thirteenth vessel.
Although he survives, the experience leaves him…changed and not in a good way. By the beginning of KH3, Sora has lost much of his strength and spends the early game trying to reconnect with the power he once wielded and the Hundred Acre Wood reflects that pretty well. Going off of that, we can treatPooh's fading memories as simply as an emotional metaphor.
Sora's connection to one of the purest places in his heart has weakened because Sora himself has become disconnected from the emotional place that once allowed him to enter.
The world is responding to Sora's heart after all Sora’s connects everyone. Literally LOL this boy like a spider web and everyone else just branches off of him which kinda brings us to one of the saddest moments in KH3 which is Pooh not remember Sora clearly if at all so Sora immediately wonders why and starts to question himself. Like, what changed? What happened? Was it the heartless? Was it him? Was it…something else? Sora’s not sure and the anxiety in not knowing lowkey makes him tweak out.
The most logical explanation is that the pages have gone blank. However it’s probably deeper than that and more or less goes along with his emotional state through this whole dumb game.
Sora is afraid of something many teenagers experience, which is change and growing up and not knowing what’s going to happen and in Sora’s experience, does he even deserve this bit of happiness when the worlds are suffering. Does he deserve this break, since he’s supposed to be saving people (granted with others) but he has a job and he should not be here in this childish little storybook playing silly games. He isn’t worried if Pooh forgot him so much as he is worried if he deserves to be loved the way Pooh remembered him, because he is not the same a he was in KH1.
It’s that fear that because he’s changed Pooh will not love him as much or perhaps does not feel as close because there is so much he holds in because he doesn’t want to ruin something so precious, which is why again the phrase “You came home.” hits him in the gut.
Pooh has just told Sora pretty much that this is his home. Here, he can stay forever if he wanted. I think, while not understanding, Pooh knows instinctively that what Sora’s going through is hard and instinctively realizes that this is what he needs. Sora needs time to decompress and feel safe and not have the burden of others on him. Which is why the others also try to get him to stay.
They love him so much and there is no strings attached to it. Which is why Sora feels terrible when Pooh forgot him. When he starts to worry about their bond becoming weaker, and why Sora assured him that they will still have each other in their hearts. Which works to pacify, but it doesn’t address the main issue here which is Sora is a fucking child still who never had a chance to process anything and now he’s being forced to spend less time in a place that makes him safe because he has to put others first. He can’t be selfish. Heroes aren’t selfish.
However what ultimately heals the relationship isn't magic, but it's time spent together. Sora lets himself relax and play and laugh and spend time and Pooh realizes that this is still his Sora. This is still his friend and honestly I feel like Sora saying goodbye in KH3 was the most painful. I can’t recall if we got to take the book, but I feel like Sora should have honestly.
Anyway so that out of the way, let’s talk about Goofy now >:)
He fills a role in Sora's life that Sora desperately needs: a stable, emotionally mature adult who loves him without expecting anything in return.
Donald and Goofy are often treated as a package, but tbh they serve very different purposes.
Donald is Sora's peer. He argues with him, challenges him, gets frustrated, and pushes back. Their relationship is definitely more like brothers who occasionally butt heads but would die for one another.
Goofy, on the other hand, almost never competes with Sora.
He supports him.
He steadies him.
He trusts him.
He believes in him before Sora believes in himself.
Because Goofy is just a dad who cares for this dumb teen like his own son because he can probably see some of Max in him and Sora desperately needs that in his life by god. When Goofy and Donald first meet Sora in Traverse Town, their mission is simple.
Find the Keyblade wielder, but it doesn't stay that way.
Donald spends a long time focused on the mission while Goofy focuses on the kid. Also Goofy isn't loyal to Sora because of the Keyblade, he's loyal because Sora is Sora.
In COM he says one of the best lines of the series:
"You won't ever be alone. It's always been the three of us and we stick together."
It’s just so wholesome cause he doesn’t say it cause Sora is the hero he says it cause he genuinely cares and I just!!!!!!!! I love them so much. Literally chewing on wires right now. Anyway so Sora spends almost the entire series carrying everyone else's emotional burdens.
He comforts:
Riku
Kairi
Roxas
Xion
Ventus
Aqua
Beast
Hercules
countless Disney characters
Yet who comforts Sora? Very few people and Goofy is one of them. He notices when Sora is hurting, he encourages him without talking down to him, reassures him without making him feel weak and he never asks Sora to "man up."
He simply reminds him:
"We're here."
That's something Sora almost never hears from anyone else really it’s just…it makes him so soft and emotional ; w; Donald loves Sora, there's no question about that (Sora would like to think otherwise tho lol), but Donald's love tends to come out through action, arguing, or throwing himself into danger.
Goofy expresses affection differently, though. He’s very physical in his affection and love. He also has a very high emotional intelligence which honestly works for Sora who, while yes his is also high, does not understand his own needs as he does others, so Goofy being the one to notice stuff first and acting on it before Sora spirals is like so important. Clutching these two with my whole life I love them so much sobs.
One of my favorite Goofy moments is during Kingdom Hearts 1 cause when pressured to abandon Sora, Goofy says:
"Not on your life, but I'm not gonna betray Sora either. After all, he's become one of my very best buddies after all we've been through together."
Goofy literally said fuck Mickey and the mission my friends come first. I aint abandoning this boy. Also while Donald has shown care for Sora, it’s not really in the way he needs, which is why Goofy taking on the father role is so important!!! Sora's parents are almost entirely absent from the series. We hear his mother call him to dinner in KH1, but after Destiny Islands falls, his home life largely disappears from the story let’s be real and Goofy, in particular, displays qualities often associated with a nurturing parent that really helps Sora out especially when he’s sad because like:
He teaches without lecturing.
He lets Sora make his own decisions.
He steps in only when necessary.
He praises Sora's successes.
He forgives mistakes almost immediately.
He protects first and asks questions later.
He trusts Sora to make the right choice and he trusts his decisions. Goofy trusts him so explicitly it’s very jarring Sora when he thinks about. Like what do you mean, someone loves me like this? Cares for me like this?
Now I’m not trying to make Sora out to be a sad boy, cause while he is a sad boy it’s not his whole persona, but this essay is like about how Goofy and Pooh are very good for him and as such I am touching on some of the darker aspects of Sora’s growth through the series and why these two are so good for him and what they do.
So we clear. Moving on!!!
Goofy doesn’t hesitate to put himself between Sora and an attack. This hyuking humanoid doggo clothes line Larxene in COM to protect Sora. He literally put himself in harms way to protect him, which is something we rarely see Donald do (but trust and believe my hate for donald is not only just because he never healed me sobs, but this isn’t about Donald rn that’s a whole diff can of worms rn and my sleep addled mind doesn’t have the spoons).
Anyway the other reason why I think Goofy is so good with Sora is because he has a son. He has Max (idk if he’s canon in Kingdom Hearts but whatever) anyway because he does have a son who he was raising who was probs a teen??? Maybe preteen idk i gotta re-watch a goofy movie. Anyway because of this Goofy already has an idea on how to handle a moody teenager which is what Sora is. A teenager who is going through a timeTM. Goofy provides the parental care he probably needs off screen (because i refuse to believe that look of pure fondness at the end of kh2 is not just “my best buddy” thats Goofy looking at Sora like the proudest dad in the world).
Saying that, though, I think I yapped enough so closing notes <3
Pooh helps Sora understand its okay to have bad days and big feelings and sometimes you just gotta remember the whimsy in life and Goofy reminds him that it’s okay to rely on others and reminds him, like Pooh, that love can be unconditional and you can be loved no matter how broken you are.
Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk.