‘Kingdom Hearts III’ Fans Dissect Director’s New Sora Art For Possible Teases

Kingdom Hearts III director Tetsuya Nomura recently tweeted some new Sora artwork to celebrate the franchise’s 15th anniversary, and fans have taken the homage as a chance to send the speculation machine into overdrive. Harmless sketch or not, we love the theories we’re seeing.

Before getting down to the nitty gritty, however, let’s take a quick look at the art’s front-facing design. In the image, we see a crowned Sora in his Kingdom Hearts III outfit sitting on a throne. His pose is analogous to the cover of Kingdom Hearts 1.5 for PS3, but the clothes he’s wearing are different.

That being said, this portrayal of Sora as royalty is starting to become all too common. Might our protagonist be the actual king of Kingdom Hearts? More importantly, will he choose Kairi as his queen? We’ve seen this suggestion too many times for it to not carry some weight, so that idea sounds OK to us.

Still, it’s what’s behind our king that most fans are concentrating on. While the image of Sora is extremely clear, the three paintings behind him almost appear to have an intended censorship blur. The fact that we’re seeing three pictures might signify ties to the third entry in the trilogy, but, between effects and text, we can’t get a clear view of what they are.

That, unfortunately, is where speculation must take over. If you look closely at the painting in the top left, you’ll notice an obscured but smiling face. It’s impossible to tell who’s hidden behind the letters, but current chatter is dominated by assumptions of Kairi or Naminé. The former has been confirmed to play a major role in the upcoming game, but the latter has essentially been absorbed by Kairi herself. Might we see her in her Nobody form one last time?

Read: Promised Kingdom Hearts III Winter News Never Came

Discussions get even looser when looking to the right. The top right appears to show a forested area with a large lily, while the bottom painting clearly features a musical note. The connections are tenuous to say the least, but some believe these portraits to be hints that the music-heavy Atlantica world and a world based on The Jungle Book might be featured in Kingdom Hearts III. The Jungle Book was planned for inclusion in the canceled Kingdom Hearts TV series and 2010’s Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep. With 2016’s live-action film remake still on the minds of Disney fans, now would be the perfect time to feature it.

One closing detail worth noting is the animal that appears to be resting on Sora’s lap. If you look towards the bottom of the five in 15, you’ll see its ears sprouting up. It’s theorized that this hidden creature may be a fox in honor of the Foreteller named Ava from Kingdom Hearts 2.8. She infamously wore a fox mask and trained her own army of keyblade wielders to head out into the world and fight all forms of darkness. Maybe Sora is a descendant of her movement.

Whether these theories prove true or false, it’s plain to see that franchise fans are starved for Kingdom Hearts III news. Despite promising a larger reveal this winter, all we’ve reported in the past few months are a new screenshot and some tiny lore tidbits.

Kingdom Hearts III is in development for PS4 and Xbox One.

Do you think this new Sora art teases anything about Kingdom Hearts III? Did we miss anything in our analysis of it? Tell us in the comments section!