Dive to the Heart / Station of Awakening

About

Dive to the Heart and Station of Awakening refer to a fan art template based on imagery from the Kingdom Hearts franchise of Disney crossover video games that began in 2002, wherein a famous character (usually of animated origin) is depicted on a circular, stained glass-like canvas against a backdrop featuring smaller depictions of their associated supporting cast and other important symbols from their native canon and personal storylines, altogether forming a thematic reflection of what lies within the character's "heart" (a word whose used meaning within the Kingdom Hearts series is essentially synonymous with what is more generally referred to as a soul).

Origin

The "Dive to the Heart^[1]" itself is a symbolic, dream-like sequence featured at the beginning of most entries in the Kingdom Hearts series, where it serves in all of its appearances as the game's tutorial level. In the levels the player character is reminded of basic controls and abilities, makes decisions that affect their strengths and weaknesses throughout the coming journey, and ultimately battles the first true enemies and boss. The realm's contents consist of large, brightly-lit circular platforms, also officially known as "Stations of Awakening", within an otherwise empty expanse of darkness.

The original Stations of Awakening in the first Kingdom Hearts game depict Disney princesses Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) and Belle in this format; these are in fact the only preexisting characters not native to Kingdom Hearts itself to get the treatment within the official canon of the franchise, and all other Dive to the Heart sequences in subsequent games only feature the presently-controlled protagonist himself as the subject.

Fan Art Versions

The majority of fan-made variations based on the original Dive to the Heart murals are, predictably, themed around other Disney characters and/or Kingdom Hearts original characters. Among depictions of characters unrelated to the franchise's subject matter, some of the most commonly-used franchises include animated series such as, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Steven Universe and the internet-based RWBY (examples shown below).

While most variations of the template are unique artworks in and of themselves, versions constructed from other existing images have been made for less-serious tributes, such as the below iterations with less serious animated series SpongeBob SquarePants and Ed, Edd N Eddy.

Searches for "Divetotheheart"^[3] and "Stationofawakening" on DeviantArt presently return over 250 and 530 results, respectively.^[2]

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References