Morality in Kingdom Hearts

For this week’s blog post I decided to study the morality of one of my favorite games, Kingdom Hearts. It is a classic good-vs.-evil game by Square Enix that involves Square Enix and Disney characters in a vast multiverse, and focuses on friendship.

1. Harm/Care:  In the game, your weapon is a large “Keyblade,” and you use it to defeat shadow creatures called “Heartless” that attempt to steal the hearts of characters. Those who try to harm others are classified as “bad guys,” and the designated “good guys” are allowed to harm the bad guys in order to protect or care for others. Teammates, or fellow good guys in your party, often care for you by replenishing your health.
2.  Fairness/Reciprocity: Fairness and forthright conduct are emphasized in the game; deceit is something practiced by the “bad guys.” Reciprocity frequently comes into to play. As you travel from world to world around the multiverse, you aid the native characters in each world and they in return help you on your journey, giving you items and occasionally joining your party temporarily.
3. Ingroup/Loyalty: This aspect is extremely important in the games. The game frequently emphasizes that friendship is the most important thing in life and that you have to take care of your friends. Most of your journey in the game is in fact in pursuit of a friend that has been swayed by the forces of darkness. Even though this person technically works with the “bad guys,” they are classified as a friend and must therefore be saved.
4. Authority/Respect:  a respect for authority figures is built into the game even though few appear. There are no parents shown for the young human protagonists, but Mickey Mouse appears as “King Mickey,” a royal authority figure that everyone seems to respect despite the fact that different worlds have different governments.
5. Purity/Sanctity: This is one of the main themes of the games. The enemies in the games are made when “darkness” overtakes someone’s “heart” (which seems to function like a soul or spirit). These corrupted hearts then become the puppets of the ultimate villain, who turned to darkness in order to gain power. The purity of the main character’s heart is supposedly what makes him such an effective hero.

This is a game for explorers (with multiple worlds and hidden areas) and achievers. Even though there are no actual social components with other human players, the game does promote social behavior and morality.