Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory: Story Summary & Ending Explained

Rest assured that if you have questions following the story and ending of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory, you’re not alone. That’s why we’re here to help make sense of the biggest reveals with a guide meant to summarize the story and explain the ending of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory. *Warning: Spoilers Ahead*

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory Ending Explained

To start, it’s best to summarize exactly what happened at the end of Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.

After diving into her memories to find a clue as to Sora’s whereabouts, Kairi finds an old memory from when Xehanort sent her to Destiny Islands during Radiant Garden’s destruction. As he did this, he described a world that is neither of light nor darkness, and says that reaching it will make her journey far more difficult.

She then battles a memory of Master Xehanort, and while she couldn’t beat him on her own, Sora manifests partially to assist her. This allows her to defeat the memory, but Xehanort also seems to have deduced Sora’s whereabouts as a result.

Upon returning to consciousness, Kairi relays her findings to Riku and the others. Ansem then theorizes that they may need to look outside of their reality and known worlds for the place Xehanort mentioned, though he has no idea of how to do so.

This is when the Fairy God Mother appears and informs them that with this new knowledge, Kairi and Riku can now reach Sora with the help of a third party: The Mysterious Girl found in the Final World.

Not originally from the universe Kairi, Riku and everyone else are from, the Girl serves as a bridge of sorts between their universe and hers. Not only that, but she knows of the city that Riku has been seeing in his dreams which was shown during Kingdom Hearts 3’s secret ending.

It is known as Quadratum, and using the Mysterious Girl’s power, Riku is able to travel there. Kairi, meanwhile, stays behind to train and increase her powers before joining him.

Following this, Kairi returns to Master Yensid and informs him of these developments. He then instructs Donald and Goofy to gather their allies while Kairi prepared to train under Aqua. Mickey, meanwhile, will need to travel to Scala ad Caelum to look for clues about what this new reality entails and other ways of reaching it.

What the Ending Means for the Next Kingdom Hearts Game

With all this in mind, there are a few key takeaways to go over in terms of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory’s ending.

The first is that the next game will likely take place in Quadratum. The location has been hinted at multiple times, and now that we know its name – and have Riku there as a potential playable character – it seems primed for use as an upcoming game’s setting.

The tasks of each of the Keyblade Wielders are also now clear. While Riku searches for Sora in Quadratum, Kairi will train and become stronger with Aqua. Terra, Ven, Roxas, Axel and Xion may assist her, or they may team up with Mickey to explore other avenues of reaching Quadratum by exploring Scala ad Caelum.

Also of note is how the memory of Xehanort seemed to have figured out where Sora is. While this may have just been Kairi’s perception of what Xehanort would have said if he were still alive, it could also be an indication of someone – or something – has figured out where Sora is, kicking off a race against time with this villain to save Sora before it reaches him.

Finally, we know that the next entry or entries in the series will explore a new reality, referred to as Fiction or Unreality. This may mean there will be new elements, mechanics and such introduced both in the gameplay and the story, and that they’ll have wide-reaching implications for the overarching plot of the games.

Hopefully this served as a good summary of Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory’s story and explanation for its ending. For more on the game, check out our full review to see what we thought of the game overall.