Long ago, before Sora’s story began, keyblades were more common than in the times depicted in Kingdom Hearts I + II. Though still rare, they were granted to many powerful people. But these people were very shortsighted, and didn’t see how their weapons could tip the scales in their struggles against each other. At this point, the original creators of the Keyblades came together once again, realizing that such a catastrophe as the massacre that would inevitably occur in the wars of these foolish Keyblade wielders. They came to be known as “Chasers”. They guarded the balance of the realms, both the Light and the Dark, for they were equal, and the realms themselves served no motive in actuality.

There was eventually a great Keyblade war between the realms, and so the Chasers stepped in to keep it from happening. This was done successfully, but there was one who opposed this. Not clad in the armor like the rest of them, he stood up against them, feeling that their keeping the balance was not objective, that they should leave the world as it was, and that the balance would keep itself. However, the more he revolted, the more he became emotional, easily influenced by belief, and goals. He no longer had the true ideals of the Chasers in mind. He fought three leaders of the Chasers, who easily overpowered him. They needed to do away with him, so they left him, nearly dead, and devoid of his memories, in Radiant Garden. They would wait for him to choose the right ideals, for he, like all Chasers, had no heart, in order not to be influenced.

But he didn’t choose the right ideals. He studied with Ansem the Wise, and became known as Xehanort. Xehanort became hungry for power, and he found that power in darkness. He then willingly gave up the heart he didn’t have for that power. He may have had no heart, but he was still complete in being. His body and soul were left as a Nobody, to be called Xemnas. The rest of him became a spirit, roaming the lands looking for a suitable body to inhabit. He was not “part” of the physical world, and therefore didn’t “exist”. But soon he found Riku, who was quite suitable for him to inhabit. He called himself Ansem, stealing the name from Ansem the Wise. Ansem was then able to return to the physical world, using Riku as his vessel.

This was only made possible by the fact that when the Chasers removed his memories, they had to implant them in his Keyblade, which would be returned to him once he returned, but that didn’t happen.

Sora dreams of the battle, and of Xehanort’s outrage against the Chasers. The next day, Sora, Riku, and Kairi receive a letter in the bottle from King Mickey, explaining the rise of a force that could spark a new Keyblade War. But things become confusing for Sora when he learns that these are not the forces of Darkness he is fighting, but the forces of Light. What’s worse is, the only way he knows to oppose them is by fighting to represent Darkness. Sora can’t accept working for them, so the Chasers contact him. They tell him that he doesn’t work for Darkness, but simply of his own devices to keep the balance of the Realms intact.

The Chasers then go on to decide that it is possible to remain objective and neutral even with a heart, as opposed to what they once believed. In light of this, Sora is inducted into the Chasers, in order to fight the forces of Light and restore balance to the Realms.

Three Keyblades for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Keyblade to rule them all, One Keyblade to find them,
One Keyblade to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

Sounds like a great story. Let's hope they tone down the FF cameos. I'm really sick of seeing Cloud and Sephiroth. Period.