Kingdom Hearts started as one of the greatest (and most bizarre) crossovers of all time, bringing both Disney and Square Enix franchises together. At first, the only characters that belong to Square Enix were from the Final Fantasy games, such as Cloud, Cid, and Squall. However, 2012's Dream Drop Distance added the characters from The World Ends With You and 2019's Kingdom Hearts III included Schwarzgeist from Einhander as a boss.
Because of this, Square Enix fans have been wondering what characters could be introduced in upcoming games of the series, with some even hoping to see more of them and less Disney properties in the next title. Here are ten characters that would be amazing to see in a Kingdom Hearts game.
10 Noctis
Noctis is the main character of Final Fantasy XV. Seeing as how a lot of the protagonists from this series have met Sora, Noctis would feel like a very natural choice. In fact, Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts games actually created Noctis and was working on Final Fantasy Versus XIII, until it was scrapped and later became Final Fantasy XV. Nomura ended up making another character that has a lot of similarities to Noctis, Yozora, who is one of the newest Kingdom Hearts characters, so it is possible that Noctis won't ever appear. Regardless, it would be awesome and a great surprise for a lot of fans.
9 Kefka Palazzo
Sephiroth is known by many Kingdom Hearts fans to be one of the best antagonists in Final Fantasy. They were able to fight against him in the original title and Kingdom Hearts II, with both of these battles being some of the toughest within their respective games. Unfortunately, Square Enix hasn't really introduced other villains from Final Fantasy, and Kefka Palazzo would be a great choice. Many fans of the franchise consider Kefka Palazzo to be the best Final Fantasy villain, right next to Sephiroth, so it would be great if Sora was able to fight him.
8 Sho Minamimoto
Sho Minamimoto was one of the antagonists in The World Ends With You and is going to be a playable character in the upcoming sequel, NEO: The World Ends With You. Throughout the game, Neku wasn't sure if Minamimoto had killed him and was the reason he was in the Underground or if his killer was Joshua and it will be very interesting to see what his role in the next game is.
Since he is becoming a main character, it would be great to see him with the characters from the game that Sora met when he went to Traverse Town in Dream Drop Distance.
7 2B
2B is one of the main protagonists in NieR: Automata and, by far, the most popular. She is an android that works for YoRHa in a fight against the machines. Before the release of this game, the Drakengard franchise was very underrated, but now fans are very excited for the release of Nier Replicant ver. 1.22474487139..., an upgrade of NieR: Automata's prequel. Seeing as how popular 2B has become, fans would be thrilled to have her, along with any of the other characters from the game, added in a Kingdom Hearts title.
6 Erik
Despite Dragon Quest being one of Square Enix's best RPG franchises, just like Final Fantasy, it's never made an appearance in Kingdom Hearts. The most recent main title to release was Dragon Quest XI and many fans enjoyed it, becoming one of the most popular games in the series. The Luminary is the main character of Dragon Quest XI, but because he's a silent protagonist, he shouldn't be in a Kingdom Hearts game. Instead, his companion, Erik, would be a much better choice. Erik was a very helpful comrade and would get along great with Sora, Riku, and the other Guardians of Light.
5 Edward Elric
Many forget that Square Enix also publishes manga, with their most successful being Fullmetal Alchemist. The main character of the manga, Edward Elric, would be a great character to add to Kingdom Hearts if Square Enix were to introduce Sora to their manga characters. He lost an arm and a leg after trying to bring his mother back to life with his brother, Alphonse, who lost his entire body. The manga revolves around them trying to obtain the Philosopher's Stone so they can undo this tragedy. Both Elric brothers could easily fit into the video game series, but if only one were to be in it, it'd have to be Edward.
4 Geno
Not every Mario game has been developed by Nintendo. Square (before merging with Enix) worked on Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars, where players were introduced to Geno, one of the franchise's most underrated characters.
Seeing as how a few Kingdom Hearts games were Nintendo exclusives when they first launched, it would be great to add Geno in an upcoming title if it were also an exclusive.
3 Rush Sykes
Rush Sykes is the main character of The Last Remnant and would get along with Sora very easily. Like the wielder of the Kingdom Key, Rush is very kind and cares about his sister the same way that Sora cares for his friends. Rush can also use most of the arts and weapons in his game, so he'd be a greater party member to team up with.
2 Lara Croft
Lara Croft is the main character in the Tomb Raider series. She's gone on many adventures around the world so it'd be interesting to see explore another or for one of the Kingdom Hearts characters to go to hers. Seeing as how she's one of Square Enix's best and strongest female characters, Tetsuya Nomura and the other writers of Kingdom Hearts could also learn a lot from her.
1 Roddick
Star Ocean has a different protagonist in each game, with Roddick being the hero of the original title. He, along with his friends, Millie and Dorne travel to a town called Coule after hearing that the civilians there have been infected and can't be cured. From there, the three try to find a way to save everyone from turning to stone, which is what the virus does to people. As his story can be especially relatable to the current events of the world, now would be a great time for Roddick and his friends to join Kingdom Hearts.