Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse is a character from the Kingdom Hearts games.

Mickey Mouse, often referred to as King Mickey, The King, His Highness, Your Highness, or more commonly as Your Majesty, is the king of Disney Castle and Queen Minnie's husband. He travels the worlds battling the forces of darkness and is a Keyblade Master, and the chosen Keyblade wielder for the Realm of Darkness, though he follows the path of light. Originally believing that the darkness had to be eliminated, he eventually realized that light and darkness are interdependent and cannot exist without the other due to his encounters with Riku. Due to his quests—and thus, being away from his queen—he has no known children that will become the heirs to his kingdom.

While only being 2' 3" (69 cm) tall, King Mickey is an incredibly powerful character in the Kingdom Hearts universe, as shown when he defeated three Darkside Heartless in a single blow whilst inside the Realm of Darkness. First studying under Yen Sid, Mickey is possibly the inventor of Gummi Ships. He is the first to realize the threat of darkness spreading between worlds, and one of the characters most strongly affiliated with light, including Sora. His strength is not always readily apparent, as his character remains very simple spoken, colloquial, and lighthearted, but contrary to this appearance, King Mickey has played a major role in every Kingdom Hearts game.

Appearance
Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse with black fur, round ears of the same color, and a thin, long, black tail. His usual outfit in the Kingdom Hearts series is a modified version of the one he wears in modern Disney cartoons. He wears a short-sleeved jacket with white lining. The top half of this jacket is black, while the bottom half is red, and there are two yellow straps dangling in front of it. His pants are red and sport a zipper going down the front of each leg. Each leg also has a yellow pouch with a black strap that partially cover the zipper, as well as a blue strap on the outer side of each pant leg. Mickey wears very large, yellow shoes with grey backs and two orange, intersecting straps attached to the front of each shoe.

This design was eventually used as a base to create Sora's outfit in the first Kingdom Hearts. As he is not physically present until the final cutscene, at which point he is still only a silhouette, Jiminy was incapable of recording the King's outfit in the journal. However, if one looks closely, Mickey is wearing his normal Disney attire from his cartoons.

In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Mickey wears a black vest with white lining, two yellow buttons near the bottom, and a zipper that only reaches about halfway down the vest. Under this vest he wears a short-sleeved shirt that is seems to be the same black, white-lined color scheme as his vest, though the cuffs of the sleeves are red. His pants are red and quite baggy. The pockets have white lining. Similar to Goofy, the front of Mickey's pant legs are pulled up slightly by elastic, blue straps. Mickey's shoes here are also yellow, but the tips and lower halves are black and the soles are white. Each shoe has two blue straps that intersect over the top of the shoe.

While training under Yen Sid during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Mickey's outfit is virtually identical to the way it looks in Kingdom Hearts II, except for the color: Mickey's clothing is colored in grey-scale, losing all the colors it had, save for black, white, and grey, making it similar to Sora's outfit in Kingdom Hearts II. He also attacks using the teeth of his Star Seeker as opposed to the broad edge of the Kingdom Key D in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, adding more contrast between his appearances in both games.

During Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and the early stages of Kingdom Hearts II, Mickey wears the black coat, gloves, and shoes that Organization XIII members wear. Though largely the same as the other coats, Mickey's apparently has contortions in the hood for his ears, and the drawstrings on his version sport Hidden Mickey symbols on the tips. In all of his appearances, except for when he wears the black coat, Mickey dons the famous, white gloves common to most older Disney characters.

In Kingdom Hearts III, Mickey wears a black, hooded jacket that he keeps unzipped, with short sleeves, silver buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a grey shirt with a V-neck. He also wears red cropped trousers that are hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket and yellow and grey shoes.

Personality
King Mickey is a kind, brave, and noble king, valuing friendship and integrity much more highly than others. Though he is a King, he has little care for his title as King and often prefers his closest friends to address him by his name, such as when he and Riku bonded during their adventure in Castle Oblivion. He is also not above helping people himself. This can be seen during the Battle of 1000 Heartless; he took a role on the battlefield after Goofy was presumed dead.

He originally was very biased towards light, believing that Darkness, and everything that resided in it, was evil and needed to be wiped out, but his encounters with Riku taught him that light and darkness are in balance with each other, and one cannot exist without the other. Like Sora, Mickey has shown some concern for his foes, such as Maleficent and Pete, whom helped them reach the top of the Castle that Never Was. Mickey has had a reoccurring case of not remembering a person's face and name as was the case of Terra-Xehanort, feeling guilty of not figuring out his true identity and agenda in time.

Abilities
Despite his small size, having been trained by Yen Sid, who was considered to be a great Keyblade Master, King Mickey wields tremendous skill with his Keyblade. He very effectively uses the advantages afforded by his size and agility to the maximum in order to easily counter and wear down his foes, flipping and spinning attacks, and finishing them with wide strokes of his blade and his body possesses the strength to deal crushing blows despite his size. Even with his training being incomplete, he could effectively fight side-by-side alongside Aqua and Ventus, both of whom being exceptional Keyblade wielders in their own right, in aiding them against Vanitas, successfully forcing Vanitas to flee, with Vanitas later resorting to surprising Mickey rather than taking him on directly to capture him in Neverland, although when Vanitas had the X-Blade, Mickey was forced back. At the present, as a full-fledged Keyblade Master, Mickey's level of prowess with his Keyblade is described as being superior to the likes of Sora and Riku at one point due to their lack of experience compared to Mickey. He is powerful enough to easily destroy 3 Darkside Heartless with a single blow, indicating the gap between him and Sora at the time of the first game was great due to Sora being a mere fledgling despite his already considerable abilities, and has been seen to easily take down many Nobodies and Heartless with a single attack from his Keyblade. In Kingdom Hearts III, after Riku gets knocked out by the Demon Tower in the Realm of Darkness, Mickey alone was able to single-handedly force the powerful Heartless to retreat, killing off half of the Heartless composing it and freeing Riku. He even fights Marluxia, Larxene and Luxord by himself and effectively stands his ground, quickly forcing back Marluxia and Larxene in close combat after only several clashes and was able to easily dodge Larxene and Luxord's ranged attacks before also avoiding Marluxia's attempt to stab him in the back effortlessly, seemingly having the upper hand alone up until Sora interfered. Mickey is also perfectly capable of using Keyblades other than his own, as in addition to using his Star Seeker, upon finding the Kingdom Key D, a Keyblade of the Realm of Darkness, he proved capable of making use of it effectively as well.

Although Mickey prefers swordsmanship over Magic, he is by no means incompetent in the use of magic in combat and proves to be a considerably powerful and adept spellcaster. His strong connection to Light makes him capable of making good use of it in combat, with just about all his offensive spells and even supportive ones being based on the element of light, ranging from projecting homing balls of bluish energy in the form of the spell "Pearl" to even using the ultimate light-magic spell "Holy" in 358/2 Days as his Limit Break, where he surrounds himself with hovering balls of light that acts as a shield and fires beams of light that can be charged to make one large beam and 3 thinner beams surrounding in a triangle formation and his final limit summons a storm of light rays and two orbs of light, as well as firing orbs and showers of light and manifesting a burst of light capable of both stunning enemies and healing Riku. Mickey is also capable of using Light to perform a special form of healing spell called "Healing Light" that would fully heal Sora both in HP and MP. In Kingdom Hearts III, Mickey even proves capable of casting a light-elemental version of "Ultima" that, while not completely cast, projected a wide orb of light that Xehanort had to use the most powerful of Stop spells to counter and even then it should be noted Mickey had managed to pressure and greatly wane the spell's strength as he seemed to be successfully clashing with and pushing the elderly Keyblade Master's Stopza back a bit before ultimately being overcame and although the spell still reached far enough to immobilize Riku, Mickey was successful enough to allow his and Riku's recovery to be far faster than when he stopped the Organization XIII with the same spell. Although not displayed often, Mickey is also capable of using Light to empower his physical attacks and greatly enhance his speed, as shown in Kingdom Hearts 2.8, where he can warp and deal blows able to instantly finish off Heartlesses in the Realm of Darkness when using "Wayfinder". He is also capable of using the normal "Cure" quite well, instantly healing Ventus from the severe beating Vanitas put on him and is capable of casting Curaga in Kingdom Hearts III to restore a huge portion of his and his allies health. Mickey has also displayed excellent expertise in the use of time-based Magic, capable of casting an extremely powerful Stopza spell, the most powerful variant of Stop currently active, as shown in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, where he cast a Stopza spell strong enough to hold the resurrection of Xehanort and the rest of the Organization XIII for a considerable length of time to try to save Sora and only Young Xehanort is able to break free and only because of his powers over time and even then he still briefly froze and he was confident he could freeze all the Heartless and Nobodies attacking them in the final battle, although Riku stated he would be exhausted from doing so.

Mickey is capable of levitating himself above the ground, doing so in most of his coordinated attacks with allies. He can even actually fly, although it remains unknown how he is able to do so, as he was able to fly all the way to Aqua in the Dark Realm and keep them in the air until finding soft ground. He is also capable of surviving in the Lanes Between without requiring a Keyblade Armor, as he found and rescued Aqua and Ventus's wandering and unconscious body.

Despite his small body, Mickey has displayed surprising resilience and durability beyond that of any normal person of his size and body, as shown by how he survives a powerful lunging attack from the Demon Tower that ripped his clothes and violently threw him to the ground with no injury and quickly stands back up and later on when he is able to survive being constantly spin around by the Demon Tide while restrained and remain conscious, surviving being once again violently knocked down after being freed and quickly regaining consciousness soon after.

Among the strongest proponents of the light, in addition to his previously stated abilities to control light in combat, the strength of Mickey's heart is so great that not only has he never fought with his inner darkness, but the large amount of time he spent in the Dark Realm as well as wielding his Dark Realm Keyblade, the Kingdom Key D, is a polar opposite to Sora's Light Realm Keyblade, the Kingdom Key has no effect on him. Traveling with the Corridor of Darkness also completely has no effect on him. Mickey's strength in the light is even great enough that while trapped in the Realm of Darkness, he can still project a portion of himself that can still use a rather formidable level of power over light to aid Riku, even capable of supressing Ansem long enough for Riku to regain consciousness after he only barely defeated Lexaeus with Dark Mode. Upon managing to return fully, he easily prevents Ansem from possessing Riku forcibly when he was nearly overwhelmed. Later on, Mickey was able to hold the massive projection of Sora's Heartless at bay with a beam of light long enough for Sora to destroy the actual form of the heartless. Mickey also seems capable of using Light to travel between worlds, as he managed to reach the World That Never Was quickly enough to reach Sora and Riku in a burst of light.

Although Mickey is more prominently known for his combat abilities, his intellectual talents are also noteworthy. Known as a great king, Mickey is an excellent leader capable of commanding respect from all his denizens for his leadership over Disney Castle. Although his first attempts of using the Star Shard ended rashly, over time, Mickey became a skilled enough of a scientist and mechanic to discover it's Gummi nature and with it build a ship capable of transporting from world to world. He is also an excellent strategist, further backed up by his willingness to use drastic measures if needed, with a sharp eye for details, as shown by how he is the only one apart from Yen Sid to recognize the disturbances of the worlds as being potentially devastating and the involvement of the mysterious Organization XIII and managed to neutralize the first threat by first taking advantage of a Corridor of Darkness left behind by the Guard Armor to enter the Realm of Darkness and after entering, despite the rashness of his methods to enter the dark realm that he and Aqua had to acknowledge, he quickly developed a plan to find the keyblade of the realm of darkness to seal the door to the realm of darkness. After coming out, he was able to stay out of the Organization's eyes while simultaneously keeping watch of some of their activities without requiring aid from Riku or his allies, knowing enough to be able to deduce the Organization was planning to stall time, although due to having only himself to rely on, he was not able to gather as much information on their activities as Riku could with DIZ helping him.

Trivia

 * Although Kingdom Hearts credits Mickey's first appearance as the Disney short "Steamboat Willie", he technically first appeared in "Plane Crazy". Though "Plane Crazy" was made first and shown to test audiences before "Steamboat Willie", it was not picked up by a distributor for full release until after the success of "Steamboat Willie".
 * On May 18, 2009, Mickey's voice actor, Wayne Allwine, passed away from complications due to diabetes. Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days became the last work in which Allwine provided the voice of Mickey Mouse (and his final performance overall), and the English versions of the game were dedicated in his memory; the new official voice actor for him is Bret Iwan, who gave his first full performance as Mickey in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and later voiced him in Epic Mickey, Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, and Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two.
 * Mickey's "Healing Light" ability also occurs in the Co-op Version of the Mirage Arena in Birth by Sleep. When a friend loses all HP, you must go next to the friend and charge up the bar until full and then the friend is revived, similar to Mickey charging up the Drive Gauge and saying, "Light, give me Power!"
 * Mickey's image is on the cover of every Kingdom Hearts game after Kingdom Hearts/Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, even for his minor role in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days.
 * In Disney Infinity 3.0, the player is able to unlock an additional costume for Mickey Mouse that matches Mickey's King appearance in the Kingdom Hearts games using a power disk that was only released to audience members of Disney's D23 conference. Alongside the Keyblade being available to anyone who has every 3.0 figure, this is the first instance of official Kingdom Hearts content being added to the Disney Infinity games.