Kingdom Hearts and the Heroine’s Journey Masterpost
Now that I’ve completed the main core of my Kingdom Hearts and the Heroine’s Journey essays, I’m compiling a master post with links to all 10 for easier navigation.
Updated with links to my additional essays outside my main series
Main Essays
The Heroine’s Journey of Sora: An explanation of the Heroine’s Journey framework and how the story of Kingdom Hearts follows Maureen Murdock’s template.
Ride of the Valkyrie: An outline of what the Heroine’s Journey and existing lore tell us about Yozora’s purpose in the overarching narrative of Kingdom Hearts.
Between Light and Darkness: How the games’ emphasis on the importance of balance between Light and Darkness mirrors the core themes of the Heroine’s Journey.
Break the Wheel: An observation of how the portrayal of major adult characters in the Kingdom Hearts series ties into the framework of the Heroine’s Journey.
Into the Unknown: An analysis of how the ubiquitousness of the Hero’s Journey and the metanarrative of the Heroine’s Journey influence fan perception of Kingdom Hearts II.
The Greater Your Shadow Becomes: A discussion of who the main antagonist of the next act of the story is likely to be based on the tropes commonly used in Heroine’s Journey stories.
The Elephant in the Room: An explanation of how the development of romantic relationships is portrayed in the Heroine’s Journey and what it means for the Kingdom Hearts story.
Dark Enchantress: An outline of what the Heroine’s Journey tells us about Maleficent’s role in the overall story and why she’s kept coming back despite her diminished threat level.
Mixed Signals: An analysis of how the depiction of Sora and Riku’s character arcs and relationship fits with how the Heroine’s Journey functions as a critique of cultural norms.
The Things That Matter: A summary of why it matters that Kingdom Hearts is following the path of the Heroine’s Journey, and how important it is that the formula be followed to its proper conclusion.
Side Essays
KH Heroine’s Journey Ramblings: the mini-meta that planted the idea to turn my thoughts into a series of essays.
Some observations on the relevance of To Find Is To Lose and To Lose is To Find for the themes of the Heroine’s Journey.
Symbolic Foreshadowing: An analysis of the KH1 opening title sequence from a Heroine’s Journey perspective.













