Dwarf Woodlands
First Appearance: KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep (2010)
Origin: Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (1937)
In a dark chamber at the top of a castle, an Evil Queen consults her Magic Mirror and is horrified when she learns that she is no longer the fairest in the land: Snow White, a maiden with a heart of pure light, has taken her place. Consumed with jealousy, she orders a visiting Terra to kill Snow White and bring back her heart. In return, Terra would be allowed to use the Magic Mirror to determine Master Xehanort's whereabouts.
Having sworn a vow to never extract another person's heart but believing that Snow White may hold the key to finding Master Xehanort, Terra eventually finds the princess in a flower glade. However, this turns out to be a dead end as Snow White has no knowledge of the Keyblade Master and shortly after, the Unversed appear and scare her into the forest. Left with no choice, Terra forcibly confronts the Evil Queen to gain access to her Mirror. Once her attempts to ensnare him in the Magic Mirror's dimension fails, the Queen, fearful of Terra's power, reluctantly complies with his wishes. The Mirror reveals that Master Xehanort is currently found in a wasteland between light and dark, where a great war was fought. Seeking the answer to the Mirror's riddle, Terra heads towards Master Yen Sid for further information.
On the other side of the great forest, Ven finds himself in the jewel mines, where seven Dwarves work tirelessly everyday. Ven is hoping that the Dwarves may have seen Terra, but is instead mistaken for a jewel thief and is chased into the forest. In the darkest parts of the woods, he finds a crying Snow White, whose fears have manifested as terrifying illusions. After being escorted to the Dwarves' cottage, Snow White reveals that a man wielding a large key was the one who sent a horde of demons after her. Fearing that the man in question is Terra, Ven rushes across the woods, but his best friend has already gone. Instead, he encounters an old peddler woman carrying a basket of apples. The old woman claims that Terra had threatened her to tell him the whereabouts of Master Xehanort, leaving Ven very worried about the change in his friend.
Unknown to Ven, the old woman is actually the Evil Queen in disguise, who has decided to take matters into her own hands by feeding Snow White a poisoned apple, thereby sealing her status as the fairest in the land. When Aqua arrives to the Dwarves' cottage, she comes across the seven Dwarves, who are mourning over Snow White's apparent death. Aqua promises the Dwarves that she will investigate the Queen's castle in search of a way to cure the princess.
In the castle courtyard, Aqua meets the Prince, who has fallen in love with Snow White months before but is unable to find her ever since the princess fled the castle. Aqua directs the Prince to the Dwarves' cottage and he rushes off to offer his assistance. After ascending the seemingly abandoned castle, she eventually finds the Magic Mirror, who proclaims that his mistress, the Evil Queen, is dead and thus his services are no longer needed. He vanishes, taking away with him the only lead Aqua has on saving Snow White.
When Aqua returns to Snow White's burial site, she sees the Prince giving the sleeping princess a final kiss farewell, but the power of true love frees her from her poisoned stupor. The Dwarves rejoice as Snow White and the Prince begin a journey together. This miracle reminds Aqua of Ven's arrival to the Land of Departure, where he has lain in slumber for a long while before finally waking up. Upon reflection, Aqua decides that every waking is a new journey, and perhaps it is Ven's time to carve out his own path by leaving their tiny world.
