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Hollow Bastian/Radiant Garden

Hollow Bastion is an original world created for the Kingdom Hearts series which serves as the home to many Final Fantasy characters in the series. It is featured in all three of the main Kingdom Hearts games, and served as the hub world of Kingdom Hearts II, similar to how Traverse Town did in the first.[38][9] The gathering of the various Final Fantasy characters and the overall look of Hollow Bastion was changed for the third installment in order to help with the progression of the story.[38]

Hollow Bastion is dominated by a castle which, now derelict, once was the world's seat of power. A peculiar series of clockwork mechanisms and magic operate lifts, which are used to traverse the castle. Underneath the castle entrance are a series of waterways which provide plumbing throughout the castle, as well as the dungeons. A library is here, containing knowledge collected by its former scientists. Aside from the castle itself, there is a town at its foot which is the base of operations for the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee in Kingdom Hearts II.[44] A previously unknown entrance here leads to Ansem's study and his computer room. In the deepest part of the castle is a factory where Heartless were once manufactured.

Hollow Bastion was once a peaceful kingdom called the Radiant Garden,[45] ruled by Ansem the Wise. In his thirst for knowledge, he began studying the darkness in people's hearts, with six apprentices, including Xehanort. Ansem grew wary of the experiments and stopped them. Unknown to him, his apprentices continued his work, producing the Heartless from hearts that were overwhelmed by darkness. A chain of events led to Ansem the Wise being banished, Xehanort splitting into two beings, and the world overwhelmed by darkness. Empty, the castle was later adopted by Maleficent as a headquarters.