Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] Explained

(This is a part of my "Explained" series of posts. To view my "Time Travel Explained" post, click here, to view my "Heartless, Nobodies, Unversed, and Dream Eaters Explained" post, click here, to view my "The Realm of Sleep Explained" post, click here, and to view my "The Braig/Xigbar Situation Explained" post, click here.)

To start this off, I will first have to explain the differences between all of the "χ" titles of Kingdom Hearts games:

Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] was a Japanese-only browser game that is now discontinued. So, in order to experience this title, you can watch all of the story-related cutscenes translated to English in the YouTube playlist here. You can also watch a full English translated playthrough in the YouTube playlist here.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ was the name of an iOS and Android smartphone game before it got rebranded to "Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]."

Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] is essentially a rebranding of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ. You don't have to get Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, because by getting Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross], you are getting Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, since it's a part of the title. They renamed the app to "Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]" to help promote the "season two" of the game, which is titled "Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]."

Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover is a movie included in the Kingdom Hearts HD II.8 Final Chapter Prologue HD collection for the PlayStation 4.

Yes, Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover, and Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] are all different titles. They are not remakes or remasters of each other. Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is a sequel to Kingdom Hearts χ[chi]. Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] is a rebranding of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, as well as the name of the "season two" of the game. Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover is a movie that tells some of the story of Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], but through the perspective of different characters. These things makes all of these separate Kingdom Hearts titles.

It's sort of difficult to explain how Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is a sequel to the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi]without spoiling things, so here's an explanation that's light on spoilers and one that's heavy on spoilers:

Spoiler-light explanation: Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is a sequel to the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], because at the end of the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], something happened to the characters which causes them to go through their entire journey again, except without the finale (the Keyblade War). Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is you playing as the character from the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] going through their entire journey again, except without the finale. So, as you can see, Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ sort of acts as a mobile port of the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], as well as a sequel to it.

The "season two" of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, called "Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]" continues the game from after the characters have completed going through their entire journey a second time.

Spoiler-heavy explanation: A part of Ava's role given to her by The Master of Masters is to divide the Dandelions into five different Unions with their own Union leaders, just like how the Foretellers were the Union leaders of five different Unions. The five Dandelion Union Leaders are Ephemer, Skuld, Ventus, Brain, and Strelitzia.

Marluxia's original self, Lauriam, has killed Strelitzia, took her copy of the Dandelion Union Leader rule book, and then took her spot among the Dandelion Union Leaders.

They are to go into the Unchained realm (the realm of sleep) in order to prepare for the world after and to forget their moments of tragedy (their memories of the Keyblade War). To make this happen, the Chirithys owned by the Dandelions will bring their owners into the Unchained realm (they're Dream Eaters, so they can do this) and they have to lie to the Dandelions and say that the Keyblade War was just a dream and they can't tell them they're in the Unchained realm. This is all to make them forget their moments of tragedy because those memories won't be needed in the world after, according to The Master of Masters.

The only people who know about these lies that they have to tell the Dandelions are the Dandelion Union Leaders, Ava, The Master of Masters, and the Chirithys.

Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ is a sequel to the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] that takes place in the Unchained realm. During the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], the Dandelions (as well as the soon to be Dandelion Union Leaders) went into the Unchained realm. The Dandelion Union Leaders then left the Unchained realm and came back to the real world after the Keyblade War ended, while the rest of the Dandelions stayed in the Unchained realm. The Player survived the Keyblade War, and Ephemer and Skuld decided to make the Player a late Dandelion. The Player's Chirithy took the Player to the Unchained realm and had them forget what happened. Now, this is when Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ begins. There, in the Unchained realm, the Player and all the Dandelions are repeating their entire journey from the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] over again in order to have them forget the Keyblade War and make it seem like it was just a dream. They're within their own dreams, just like how Sora was within his own dreams near the end of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. Now, in the "season two" of Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, called "Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross]," the Player and the Dandelions have finally caught up with and gone through their entire journey from the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] over again (except without the Keyblade War). The Player has begun getting flashbacks from the Keyblade War. They think it's just from a dream though.

The group of Dandelion Union Leaders go from the Keyblade Graveyard back to Daybreak Town and decide to celebrate by providing new Spirits for the Dandelions. Ephemer goes with Skuld and Ventus to collect the necessary ingredients, while Brain and Lauriam stay behind in order to prepare. Soon after, a Chirithy approaches the Player and, using some of Player's Chirithy's fur, creates a "pet" Spirit for them.

In the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], the Foretellers used the Book of Prophecies to conjure up illusions/projections of worlds of the future. These are the Disney worlds in the game. In these projected worlds, the Keyblade wielders are to destroy Heartless (which are also conjured up projections from the future) in order to gather Lux (light) from the future.

In the original Kingdom Hearts χ[chi], all of the Disney worlds that the characters go to, all of the Disney characters that the characters meet, and all of the Heartless (except for Darklings) are just illusions/projections conjured up by the Book of Prophecies.

Since The Master of Masters and Luxu both disappeared and the Foretellers (presumably) died in the Keyblade War, there is no one to conjure up the illusory worlds of the future any more. So, The Master of Masters created data versions of the worlds in advance. The worlds that the Dandelions are going to in the Unchained realm are these data worlds.

Maleficent was stabbed by the Keyblade of Heart by Riku in the first Kingdom Hearts. This gave her the ability to time travel. So, she time traveled to the past in order to try and rewrite history and make it so she wasn't defeated. She time traveled to after the Keyblade War and ended up in the data version of Enchanted Dominion. A data version of herself exists there, so she was able to time travel there. She was unaware that it was a data world until a shadowy figure calling himself "Darkness" pointed it out to her. He explained that The Master of Masters knew she was going to do this, and prepared the data version of Enchanted Dominion to trap her in in advance, so that she would not be in the real world. He does not want her in the real world since she possesses memories and knowledge of the future. "Darkness" then explains to her that she needs to return to her own time.

If you would like to know how time travel works and how Maleficent was able to time travel since she was stabbed by a Keyblade, you can check out my "Time Travel Explained" post here. And if you would like to know more about the Unchained realm (the realm of sleep), you can check out my "The Realm of Sleep Explained" post here.

Here's a simple step-by-step of what you should do to experience the entire "χ" story:

1.) Watch the story-related cutscenes for Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] translated to English. You can watch them in the YouTube playlist here. You can also watch a full English translated playthrough in the YouTube playlist here.

2.) Watch the Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover movie that's included in Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. If you've already seen it, then watch it again since it will now make a lot more sense after watching the story-related cutscenes for Kingdom Hearts χ[chi].

3.) Watch the first cutscene in Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage- Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue. This cutscene with Luxu takes place after Kingdom Hearts χ Back Cover. If you've already seen it, then take a look at it again since it will make a lot more sense now.

4.) Download Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] for iOS or Android.

5.) Play Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] for iOS or Android. If you don't want to play it, then you can just watch the cutscenes. It's very repetitive and long, so I understand if you don't want to play it, but I recommend giving it a shot. If you don't like it and decide to just watch the story-related cutscenes, then you can watch them in the YouTube playlist here. The game is still ongoing, so I will update that playlist whenever new story-related cutscenes come out.

And that's it!

 

This is a really useful explanation, thank you so much! I had no idea that a lot of these were different stories and not just remakes of each other