The Keyblade War narrative conflict has been a driving force of the Kingdom Hearts series' lore and story. The main antagonist, Xehanort, is obsessed with the legend; Details about what really happened are quite confusing, as its events happened long before the events of the Kingdom Hearts series. It's not even mentioned in the first game, let alone a decent number of the other sequels, but still remains very important to the series' overarching story.

Details about the Keyblade War were first revealed in Birth by Sleep, however mostly, it was revealed in Kingdom Hearts X. Many Kingdom Hearts fans played Birth by Sleep, though not many may have played Kingdom Hearts X since it was a mobile game. Due to this, a lot of fans missed out on details about the Keyblade War.

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Kingdom Hearts: The Keyblade War Legend

Keyblade Graveyard title.

The legend, as Yen Sid and Xehanort tell it, is centered on Kingdom Hearts (the place, not the game). This special world was full of light and power that many people desired to control. These people created the first keyblades, all in service of the goal of creating a single powerful keyblade called the x-blade. Every keyblade is, to some degree, a failed version of the x-blade.

Sides were taken and opponents clashed over who got the real x-blade, which led to the Keyblade War. This war broke the x-blade into seven pieces of light and thirteen pieces of darkness. This broken blade also caused the world of Kingdom Hearts to disappear into darkness.

The remains of the Keyblade War lay in the Keyblade Graveyard. According to the legend, the hearts of children kept the darkness unleashed from destroying everything. However, this did cause worlds to be separated. What few keyblade wielders remained decided to becomes protectors of the worlds and to make sure such a tragedy does not happen again.

What Really Happened In The Keyblade War

Character in keyblade graveyard surrounded by shadows.

What really happened is revealed in Kingdom Hearts X, which is more than a century before Birth by Sleep happens. In the early part of the war, there was a fight between light and darkness. Many people would turn into heartless and/or perish due to that darkness.

A keyblade wielder known as the Master of Masters took on many students and six apprentices to fight the darkness, and began to manipulate them into mistrusting and fighting amongst one another. Foretelling a future doom, this manipulation caused them to compete over the light needed to fight the darkness. This ultimately is what caused the Keyblade War to not end and how the x-blade broke into 20 pieces.

As for the purpose of the manipulation by the Master of Masters, that is still unknown. There are theories that he had an "ends define the means" justification and decided to end the war by letting the darkness win on purpose. It is possible that his character will be explored in future Kingdom Hearts games.

Xehanort's Keyblade War Plan

Xehanort in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Xehanort believed that balance between light and dark had been lost with the disappearance of Kingdom Hearts. Due to that, he researched the Keyblade War to find a way to bring back Kingdom Hearts. He figured doing that meant having another Keyblade War, and wanted to share this plan with his friend Eraqus, but Eraqus rejected the idea.

This did not stop Xehanort, and he attempted creating an x-blade in Birth by Sleep. He did this by splitting Ventus' darkness from him and making the two fight. He believed a pure heart of light and one of pure darkness would make an x-blade if they fought. However, his plan did not work thanks to Aqua's intervention. Xehanort moved on to plan B: start another Keyblade War.

This plan meant 13 pieces of darkness and seven pieces of light had to fight where the original Keyblade War happened. This is why he created Organization 13 and attempted to kidnapped seven princesses of heart, all in preparation for a second Keyblade War.

The Second Keyblade War

Organization 13 facing off with Sora's group.

The second Keyblade War comes to fruition in Kingdom Hearts 3. Sora's collection of friends and allies have a final battle against Organization 13, making Xehanort's plan to have 13 pieces of darkness and seven pieces of light come true.

Through the fighting, Xehanort does get the x-blade, but is defeated by Sora. Sora locks away Kingdom Hearts with the x-blade and ends the second Keyblade War. The war is far smaller and short-lived than the one that took place about a century ago, but light does prevail in the end. Kingdom Hearts 3 does mark the end of the "Dark Seeker Saga," but the Master of Masters seems to have a grander plan in place for future Kingdom Hearts games.

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