Timeless River
Japanese	タイムレス・リバー
Romaji	Taimuresu Ribā
Games	Kingdom Hearts II Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory
Assistants	Captain Pete
Origin	Steamboat Willie (1928)
KHII tracks Field theme - Monochrome Dreams Battle theme - Old Friends, Old Rivals
Other worlds Introduced in Kingdom Hearts Dive to the Heart | Destiny Islands | Disney Castle Traverse Town | Wonderland | Olympus Coliseum Deep Jungle | Agrabah | Monstro Atlantica | Halloween Town | Neverland 100 Acre Wood | Hollow Bastion End of the World | Realm of Darkness Introduced in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories Castle Oblivion | Twilight Town Introduced in Kingdom Hearts II Mysterious Tower | Radiant Garden The Land of Dragons | Beast's Castle | Timeless River Port Royal | Pride Lands | Space Paranoids The World That Never Was | End of Sea | Keyblade Graveyard Introduced in Kingdom Hearts coded Datascape Introduced in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Land of Departure | Mirage Arena Dwarf Woodlands | Enchanted Dominion | Castle of Dreams Disney Town | Deep Space Introduced in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance La Cité des Cloches | The Grid | Symphony of Sorcery Country of the Musketeers | Prankster's Paradise Introduced in Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] Daybreak Town Introduced in Kingdom Hearts Union χ[Cross] Game Central Station | Niceland | Cy-Bug Sector | Candy Kingdom Introduced in Kingdom Hearts III The Final World | Secret Forest | Olympus Toy Box | Kingdom of Corona | Monstropolis Arendelle | The Caribbean | San Fransokyo Scala ad Caelum | Quadratum

Timeless River is a world from the past in Kingdom Hearts II. Entered through a door in the Hall of the Cornerstone at Disney Castle, Timeless River is an area back in time to when the world was still monochrome and the Castle had not been built. It is largely based on the 1928 short Steamboat Willie, as well as many other classic Disney shorts. Mono (single channel) sound is used in this world, as well as an audio filter which adds static and pops to game sounds, reminiscent of the original short film.

Settings and Areas

Kingdom Hearts II

Artwork of the Wharf.

Sora and his party enter the Timeless River on Cornerstone Hill (礎の丘, Ishizue no Oka), where they find the Cornerstone of Light unprotected but still safe. Signs around the area announce the impending construction of Disney Castle, and Clara Cluck, Clarabelle Cow, and Horace Horsecollar are around to chat with, as is a Moogle Shop.

Heading to the right leads to the Pier (桟橋, Sanbashi), where the party meets up with a young Captain Pete for the first time and knocks some sense into him. Continuing on the other path will take the party to the Waterway (水門, Suimon, lit. "Floodgate"), site of the battle with modern Pete for the Steamboat Willie, and the Wharf (停泊所, Teihaku-sho), where young Pete and Sora's group begin the final boss battle with Pete to finish Timeless River.

Also of note on Cornerstone Hill are four windows that eventually open as the story progresses; each of these leads to a new area based on a classic Disney short film. From left to right, the windows are:

• The Building Site (摩天楼, Matenrō, lit. "Skyscraper"), a high-altitude construction site with a rickety platform. It is based on the 1933 short Building a Building.
• Lilliput (ガリバータウン, Garibā Taun, lit. "Gulliver Town"), a tiny town with a big cannon that can be activated by jumping on it. It is from the 1934 short Gulliver Mickey.
• The Scene of the Fire (火災現場, Kasai Genba), a big building with fierce flames that was inspired by the 1930 short The Fire Fighters and the 1935 short Mickey's Fire Brigade.
• Mickey's House (ミッキーの家, Mikkī no Ie), which shows the inside of Mickey's House, decorated for Christmas, from the 1931 short Mickey's Orphans.

Story

Kingdom Hearts II

Arriving in a spectacular fashion, Sora, Donald, and Goofy work out that they have gone back to a place in time before Disney Castle was built, where the unprotected Cornerstone sits on a quiet hill. Before they can get much farther in the world, an oddly retro Pete belligerently runs past them. They chase him down and accuse him of trying to do something with the Cornerstone, but after a fight, the three realize they have just beaten on the wrong Pete. They return to the Hill and spot Heartless jumping into the four windows from the past. They also find a fifth window, which shows how the present Pete's desire to return to his simpler life as a steamboat captain created a door into the past in the first place. The party then leaps into each window, fighting off the Heartless there and discovering new windows that detail Maleficent's plan to take advantage of her lackey's porthole to the past to weaken the defenses of the present Disney Castle.

Upon exiting the last window, the party is aghast to find the Cornerstone missing. They manage to catch up with it at the Pier, in the possession of present Pete, who has also taken the past Pete's beloved Steamboat Willie to transport it. Sora and his party manage to defeat Pete and retake both the Cornerstone and the steamboat. They return the Cornerstone to the hill, and then catch up with past Pete at the Wharf, where he joins the party in a battle against the present Pete to expel him from Timeless River for good. Present Pete is soundly thrashed and is sent fleeing back to Maleficent; Sora locks his door into Timeless River so he cannot return. The Cornerstone and the present Disney Castle safe at last, the three are offered a reward by past Pete: a chance to pilot his beloved steamboat. After all, his pesky cabin boy never showed up for work.

Characters

• 

  Mickey Mouse
  ^{[KH II]}
• 

  Captain Pete
  ^{[KH II]}
• 

  Horace Horsecollar
  ^{[KH II]}
• 

  Clarabelle Cow
  ^{[KH II]}
• 

  Clara Cluck
  ^{[KH II]}
• 

  Mogtaro
  ^{[KH II]}

• Several Firefighters appear in the Kingdom Hearts II manga.

Character Design

In Timeless River, Sora, Donald, and Goofy are converted into black and white versions based on their original appearances. Sora appears in his original outfit from Kingdom Hearts, and is depicted reminiscent of Osamu Tezuka's style. Donald's appearance goes back to his 1934 debut in The Wise Little Hen, and Goofy resembles a younger version of his original 1932 appearance in Mickey's Revue. Pete, on the other hand, remains relatively unchanged save for sporting a black and white appearance.

Summon animations are also changed to black and white, though the images that pop up while using Never Land are still in color.

• 

  Sora in his Timeless River version.
• 

  Donald Duck in his Timeless River version.
• 

  Goofy in his Timeless River version.
• 

  Pete in Timeless River.

Enemies

Heartless

Other

See also

• Disney Castle
• Disney Town

• Kingdom Hearts II worlds
• Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory worlds
• Timeless River