Kingdom Hearts' Story Has Gotten So Complex That Tetsuya Nomura Says Square Enix Hired a Loremaster to Keep the Plot Cohesive

The intricate lore of the Kingdom Hearts franchise has grown so vast that Square Enix enlisted the help of a loremaster to maintain the plot's cohesion. Tetsuya Nomura, the series creator, revealed this in an August 2026 interview with Famitsu. Kingdom Hearts IV, scheduled for a late 2027 release, has fans revisiting previous games, with a collection of titles becoming one of the highest-selling games on Steam following a D23 gameplay trailer.

There are a total of 13 games in the Kingdom Hearts franchise, released across various platforms, making it a significant undertaking for players to keep track of the story beats. Nomura noted that the increasing number of characters and the complexity of the story have made it challenging to explain the settings and scenarios, especially with the upcoming anime series.

To address this issue, the staff working on the 'χ series,' a set of prequel games set during the Age of Fairy Tales, hired a loremaster who meticulously compiled and organized the past series' settings. This loremaster also served as a proofreader for Kingdom Hearts IV, ensuring consistency between the current script and past settings.

Disney requested the loremaster's services, and he joined the Kingdom Hearts IV team officially as a proofreader. Despite his primary role being proofreading, Nomura emphasized the loremaster's importance in communicating the overarching story to Disney using visual diagrams. His thorough explanations have earned him the respect of both the developers and Disney.