The lore of Kingdom Hearts is so expansive that Tetsuya Nomura says Square Enix employed a loremaster to maintain its story cohesive.
Kingdom Hearts IV is formally set for a late 2027 launch. In the lead-up to its extremely anticipated launch, followers have been returning to earlier video games in the collection, to the level the place a assortment of Kingdom Hearts titles turned one among the highest-selling video games on Steam following an prolonged gameplay trailer proven at D23 in July.
In complete, there are 13 video games in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, which have been launched on a bevy of various platforms over the years. That’s a lot to play by means of, not to point out a lot of story beats to maintain monitor of as you go.
This isn’t a player-specific drawback; even the builders discover themselves getting misplaced from time to time, as revealed by collection creator Tetsuya Nomura throughout an August 2026 interview with Famitsu. Actually, the storyline is so convoluted that Square Enix employed a loremaster to maintain all the pieces cohesive and clarify the plot to Disney.
“As the Kingdom Hearts collection has continued, the variety of characters has inevitably elevated, and the story has turn into extra complicated,” Nomura stated. “For instance, with the newly introduced anime collection, the variety of exterior individuals concerned in the Kingdom Hearts collection has elevated, and explaining the settings and eventualities every time has turn into fairly tough.
“Luckily, the workers engaged on the ‘χ collection’ had somebody who meticulously compiled and arranged the settings of previous Kingdom Hearts collection in an easy-to-understand manner, and he was additionally in control of explaining the eventualities and settings to Disney. Actually, at the starting of Kingdom Hearts IV’s improvement, Disney requested that he compile the supplies, so he formally joined the Kingdom Hearts IV staff as a proofreader.
Nomura says this “proofreader” was in control of speaking the overarching story to Disney. He is a well-liked workers member due to how thorough his is, as he breaks down story beats, characters, and lore utilizing visible diagrams.
“He’s well-liked as a result of he explains issues to Disney as clearly as doable, utilizing diagrams and such. His position internally is to proofread the script,” he continued. “He checks to ensure that there aren’t any inconsistencies between the present script and previous settings. He was particularly appropriate for this undertaking as a result of the χ collection is deeply concerned. Some individuals would possibly mistakenly suppose he is in control of composition, however it’s truly ‘proofreading.’”
Nomura’s reply additionally revealed an integral connection between Kingdom Hearts IV and the χ titles, a collection of prequel video games set throughout the Age of Fairy Tales. These video games have been primarily out there on net browsers and cellular units, however Nomura says that “even when you have not performed the smartphone model, don’t be concerned, their personalities are depicted inside [Kingdom Hearts IV].”
The truth that even Disney themselves wanted a loremaster to assist clarify the Kingdom Hearts story is a hilarious anecdote; the plot is famously convoluted and overwhelming, to the level the place we at IGN felt the want to make a video explaining the lore in just five minutes.
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s Information Editor. With ten years of expertise reporting on video games and leisure, she’s obtained a storied background in the combating sport group, influencer information, and viral on-line tendencies. Discover her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.