The World That Never Was


 * This article is about the Dark City and the World That Never Was as a whole. For the castle above the world, see Castle That Never Was.

The World That Never Was is a world featured in Kingdom Hearts II. It is also the base of operations in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. The world is also set to have an appearance in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance as the seventh world submerged in sleep.

The world of Organization XIII, it is home to a seemingly endless horde of Heartless and Nobodies. The Heartless seem to spawn more here due to how close The World That Never Was is to the darkness of Kingdom Hearts. The Organization controls the world from the Castle That Never Was, a massive fortress that floats weightlessly over the expansive Dark City. Unlike the Heartless counterpart, End of the World, this world is more man-made in appearance to reflect the Nobodies' ability to think and plan rather than act on instinct like the Heartless.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
The World that Never Was has likely been the headquarters for Organization XIII since its creation. It remained so all the way through to Xemnas's death, even after the founding of Castle Oblivion as a secondary base. Meetings were held here, and members would return here when done with their missions. Up until the time of Sora's arrival on this world, it was a safe haven for Organization XIII.

When Roxas abandons the Organization, he wanders for a short time through the streets of the Dark City, likely contemplating where to go to start his search for himself. Here, outside one of the many locked stores, Roxas meets with Axel, who tries to stop him from leaving, warning him that the Organization would destroy him were he to leave. Roxas, stating that no one would miss him (were he to die), leaves a saddened Axel behind and moved along the streets to Memory's Skyscraper. Axel mutters that he would miss him, before Roxas disappeared into the darkness.

A few days later, Roxas returns to the city, hoping to engage Xemnas along with the other Organization XIII members, but instead he discovers multitudes of Heartless, sent to attack the Keyblade master while the Organization was not protecting him. Roxas fends off the hordes of Neoshadow Heartless, but realizes he is too far outnumbered. It is then that he sees Riku atop the Skyscraper. Roxas throws Oblivion to Riku. Using Roxas's Keyblade, Riku helps him defeat all of the Neoshadows (Roxas used his Oathkeeper).

But, as soon as the Heartless are defeated, the two immediately turn on each other. Roxas, having just lost Xion, is angry and hurt. He tells Riku he intends to free Kingdom Hearts and find Xion, to "get his life back." Riku tells him that by freeing Kingdom Hearts, the "last thing he'll get is his life back." He comments on the fact that Roxas can barely even remember Xion's name, since everyone's memories of her, including Riku's, are already disappearing. Riku, knowing he needs Roxas in order for Sora to wake up, trys to stop him from leaving, and the two duel. Roxas eventually defeats Riku. In order to subdue Roxas, Riku taps into the darkness in his heart, and uses the dark power he was holding back to defeat Roxas, resulting in his appearance becoming that of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, with his Guardian who resided within his heart. DiZ promptly arrives to find Riku-Ansem with his hood up, and the two take Roxas back to their secret base in Twilight Town.

It should be noted that in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts is seen above the castle on Day 94 and gradually gets bigger and bigger until Day 357, when Roxas and Xion have stopped working for the Organization.

Kingdom Hearts II
The World that Never Was continued to be used as a base of operations for the Organization throughout Kingdom Hearts II. Although their numbers continued to decrease, they still held meetings in the Castle that Never Was, and plotted a way to use the Keyblade.

Eventually, Sora arrived in the Dark City, with the help of the Organization's traitor, Axel. Making their way through the large amounts of Heartless, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey fought to the center of the city, Memory's Skyscraper. Here, Samurai Nobodies appeared from nowhere, and Roxas appeared to Sora, challenging him to a fight. The two disappeared from the scene and while Donald and Goofy fought off the Samurai, Sora and Roxas dueled on the Station of Awakening.

After Roxas was defeated, he told Sora that he's a "good other." The group then continued on to the Castle that Never Was. They made their way through the many levels of the castle, meeting up with Riku and Kairi, and finishing off the remaining members of the Organization.

After meeting with Ansem the Wise on one of the upper floors of the castle, he revealed that he was going to use a machine, the Kingdom Hearts Encoder, to transform Kingdom Hearts into data, but because of the fact that hearts are unpredictable, Ansem's mechanism overloaded and exploded, sending him to the Realm of Darkness and also destroying many of his memories. The blast also destroyed what was left of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness that was inside Riku, returning him to his original form. The party made their way to the top floor and finally defeated Xemnas.

During the extensive final battle with "The Superior," much of the Dark City and the Castle That Never Was was destroyed. Chunks of building were ripped up and thrown at Sora and Riku, and the main tower of the Castle collapsed.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Riku lands into destroyed version of Castle That Never Was. Meanwhile Sora ends up into the Dark City. At Memory Skyscraper, Sora encounters Xigbar, who calls him Roxas. He also notes that Sora glares at him like Ventus usually did ("Still staring at me like I drowned your goldfish?") while Sora is sure he is an enemy. Xigbar then shoots 12 arrows around Sora and they all turn into a black hooded person, including Young Xehanort. Sora then drops into sleep.

Sora soon awakes in his previous outfit. He sees Naminé and chases girl up to stairs and takes grip from her hand. Girl then turns into Xion. Sora wonders who she is and Xion manages to get free and she runs away with her hood on her head. Sora follows her through city, but then he saw Roxas and they have conversation. Sora telling that Roxas isn't him and he should have able to exist himself. Roxas is suprised by the comment and states that "Thats why it must be you" and then he shares all his painful memories with Sora and fades. Sora becomes more aggressive toward Xemnas and others. He later meets Kairi and Riku, who turns into Aqua and Terra. Sora turns into Ventus and when the duo turns around, turning back to Kairi and Riku, Sora tries to reach them, but somehow he's running slower than usual.

Sora meets Xigbar and Xemnas, and they have a conversation. Sora in end of cutscene states that "My friends are my power and I'm theirs!". Kairi, Riku, Roxas, Xion, Aqua, Terra, Ventus, Mickey, Donald and Goofy appear behind him as an illusion, ready for a battle. Xigbar is shocked by this and asks Xemnas to take care of Sora. After a fight with Xemnas, Young Xehanort appears telling that Soras clothes embraced the darkness in his heart, since Sora never made any protections for that like Riku. He then takes Sora to Where Nothing Gathers.

Riku finds Sora, floating in bubble surrounded by darkness. When he tries to pull his friend out from there, Anti Black Coat appears from darkness of bubble and Riku fights it. After this, Ansem Seeker of Darkness shows up and speaks with Riku. Where they are standing changes to a dark sphere and Riku fights Ansem. After this, Ansem's Guardian evolves into stronger Heartless and the area changes into an area from Realm of Darkness. After defeating Ansem, Riku is back at the tower but is sucked into dark corridor.

He ends up into Where Nothing Gathers and see unconscious Sora, sitting in a throne. When he runs to Sora Young Xehanort appears and they talk about Sora's condition. Mickey then freezes whole room with Stopga, freezing Young Xehanort as well. But soon Young Xehanort, who has power over time, manages to resist the spell and hits mickey into other side of room. He then challenges Riku to fight. After fight Stopga wares off, the room's thrones are starting to fill with hooded persons, including Xemnas, Ansem, and Xigbar. At highest throne, the darkness creates an figure, which is no one other than Master Xehanort himself. He tells his plans to still create x-blade and start new Keyblade war. He then makes Sora's throne to rise up and summons his Keyblade. Mickey tries to reach Sora, but is stopped by Xemnas. When Riku attempts to help him, Ansem strikes him against floor. Master Xehanort shoots a spell on Sora, but Lea manages to block the attack and save Sora. Then Saix (or as called by Lea, Isa) attacks Lea. Donald and Goofy appear to save them, but then Master Xehanort and his army of hooded figures vanish and Riku and others return home with an unconscious Sora.

Heartless
Heartless only appear in the Dark City, as the Castle is home to the Nobodies. Although Armored Knights are shown in cutscenes before you fight Xigbar, you can never actually fight them in that area.

Nobodies
Every type of Nobody besides the Twilight Thorn and the mech-like Nobody used by Marluxia in Castle Oblivion appears in Organization XIII's stronghold:

Alley to Between
The Alley to Between (狭間につながる路地) hides a portal to Betwixt and Between. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey used this portal to get into the world, thanks to Axel's sacrifice. The alleyway connects to the main route that leads to the Castle That Never Was. The first Save Point of the world is here. The Castle That Never Was can also been seen clearly in the light of the Kingdom Hearts moon, shaded in purple.

Fragment Crossing
Fragment Crossing (断片を紡ぐ道) is a long series of winding streets that lead to Memory's Skyscraper. It is full of neon signs attached to vacant buildings as well as a power plant which seems to power some or all of the city. Many Shadow Heartless are here, but in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, they are eventually replaced with Nobodies. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey took this route on their way to the Castle That Never Was. Pluto also had an encounter with Axel here.

Memory's Skyscraper
Memory's Skyscraper (記憶の摩天楼) is a tall building in the World That Never Was. Located near the Castle That Never Was, the building kept watch over the residents of the Dark. On its front, it has a massive television screen that seems to flash images of memories of those nearby, although this feature is only visible in the FMV videos at the end of the first Kingdom Hearts game. A truck is visible flipped on its side in one corner of the area. Roxas was battling a legion of Neoshadows when Riku appeared at the top of the building, and after the two eliminated the Neoshadows, they began their duel.

After arriving at the World That Never Was, Sora was confronted by Roxas at Memory's Skyscraper, while two Samurai blocked Donald and Goofy. Sora and Roxas soon disappeared to the Station of Awakening, but Donald and Goofy claimed to not see Roxas.

During his battle with Xemnas, Sora was pulled into an area that included Memory's Skyscraper, called Memory's Contortion, in a battle similar to the one Roxas and Riku had.

Brink of Despair
The Brink of Despair (絶望を望む断崖) seems to have been made by The Castle That Never Was which hovers above it. Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey arrive here and access the castle via a path using the Keyblade. It has the second Save Point of this world.

Castle That Never Was
The enormous white castle that floats above the city, dominating its skyline. It is decorated all over with Nobody symbols. It serves as the Organization's base of operations and home; lesser Nobodies infest it as well. Some areas are not accessible unless using a Corridor of Darkness.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, the boxart of Kingdom Hearts shows a scene with the younger versions of Kairi, Sora, Riku, Donald, and Goofy sitting on a skyscraper in a world, that bears an uncanny resemblance to the World That Never Was, including the Kingdom Hearts moon in the background, although this world didn't actually appear before Kingdom Hearts II.
 * The World That Never Was cannot be accessed via the Gummi Ship until after you enter the world via the Simulated Twilight Town.
 * For unknown reason, theres an massive pit below Castle That Never Was.
 * It is unknown if Young Xehanorts battle arena in Kingdom Hearts 3D Dream Drop Distance has any connection to this world, even though arena has similarities Castle designs.