Mickey, Goofy, and Donald have always been the Disney staples, but the counterparts waiting for them back at Disney Castle have served in a similar capacity to Sora’s Kairi: always waiting for their other halves to come home. While not featured nearly as heavily in the story, Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck are tremendously well-known Disney characters. For most of the series, they’ve remained a part of the backdrop compared to Mickey, Donald, and Goofy. In expanding on Minnie and Daisy’s cameos, fans could reconnect with the old whimsy of the original Kingdom Hearts.
RELATED: Kingdom Hearts 4 Needs Unique Worlds like Atlantica and The Pride Lands
Spotlighting Minnie as a Callback to Early Kingdom Hearts
After Mickey’s departure in the original Kingdom Hearts, and his subsequent sojourns during the other games, Minnie is left back at the castle overseeing the kingdom. Her role is also to protect the Cornerstone of Light, which shelters the castle from Heartless and other nefarious intruders. In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, this security is bypassed by Maleficent and Pete, but after they were thwarted, Kingdom Hearts has revealed little about what has been happening to the once story-central artifact. Minnie’s role has always been to wait and keep things in order, but there’s more interesting pieces to her character that Kingdom Hearts 4 can help explore, however briefly.
Part of the fun of Kingdom Hearts is that it didn’t seamlessly combine Disney with Final Fantasy, but rather played their strengths off of one another. Kingdom Hearts 3 strayed away from the old formula to focus on its Destiny Island trio and all the prominent original characters introduced since the first game. It shone brightest in the synergy between its Disney worlds and the colorful, more self-serious tones of Final Fantasy. In focusing once more on Disney Castle, and Minnie’s role as one of its longstanding protectors, Kingdom Hearts 4 can make its Disney heart shine through once more.
Daisy Duck Could Foster a New Connection to Disney Castle
Daisy Duck has always been a bit unknown. She’s really only ever seen as Donald’s significant other and a fixture at Minnie’s side during the more dire situations at Disney Castle. Fans don’t know much about her character or what she does, but shining just a little more light on her in Kingdom Hearts 4 could open a door into Disney Castle’s history. By giving a small bit of character focus to Daisy, the game would bring more depth to a character who has been with fans since its inception. There doesn’t need to be a big focus, but boosting a humbler character like Daisy would strengthen the world building in general, and re-establish a connection to an iconic Kingdom Hearts locale.
Kingdom Hearts has a great number of recurring characters, so the series could consider not adding anyone more. This isn’t to say that new characters aren’t needed, but more that the current characters shouldn’t be left behind in favor of them. Minnie and Daisy seem like they’ll always be secondary to others, but they should serve as more than window-dressing for Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, if only because it services all characters well to be somewhat dynamic. Their position as side characters is well served, but they could benefit from just a little more emphasis, and hopefully Kingdom Hearts 4 can do their small stories justice.
Kingdom Hearts 4 is in development.
MORE: Disney Worlds That Should Be In Kingdom Hearts 4
