Inspired Scents: Kingdom Hearts I.III

Welcome to part Xaldin of the Kingdom Hearts inspired scents! This one is a little more location focused in comparison to the previous instalments, but we're going with ~themes~ now. Because I just can't help myself. Check out the inspired scents tag for other parts of this series! 

I found myself really interested in the KHI worlds because of my new found love for the first game (sorry to KHII), and with all the different worlds and movies they come from, it's easy to imagine exactly what they'd smell like. 

Agrabah : A spice market, incense, cool marble, cloth coverings and a lion made of sand filled with treasures.  

A blend of spices and a dusty atmospheric. I would love to see a blend of coriander seeds, chai, pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove and ground coffee here. Paired with a touch of smoky, heady incense, dusty winds and sand for the Cave of Wonders, this is very much a dry, aromatic and warm scent for the Arabian desert. 

Atlantica : The endless depths of the confusing ocean, marked by glowing seashells, bubbling cauldrons, sea neons, a giant shark and treasure troves. 

I love Ariel. I distinctly remember being utterly mesmerised when I first saw her on screen and being told what the game was about, and I was immediately sold. While Atlantica now gets a terrible rep, eg. the controls have aged pretty badly, and underwater schematics are always difficult, the world is hideously difficult to navigate, and only to also find out the whole time that this world was completely optional, I would not forgive myself if I didn't at least do this world once. While I'm no longer as enamoured with Ariel and princesses as I used to be, I can't deny the charm of being able to walk (swim) through the world of the Little Mermaid (including the extremely spooky bit of all the shrivelled souls and Ursula's lair). Even if it is awful to try to navigate. 

And would it really be a Little Mermaid scent if it wasn't a full aquatic? This one is going to be ocean water, sea salt, seaweed, driftwood, seashells and maybe? the barest touch of ambergris. maybe. 

Deep Jungle - Tangled vines, damp forests, abandoned treehouses and moss covered jungle floors. 

Atlantica is bad, but trying to get through Deep Jungle's map with any semblance of where you're supposed to do and what? That's worse. I'm not strong enough. I don't particularly have any love for Deep Jungle (unless you're counting the fact that actual legend Brian Blessed himself is doing Clayton's voice here????) but you gotta admit it's kinda iconic that it showed up in KHI and was never again allowed to be mentioned ever after that. Bring it back! Hee hoo hhaa - not Clayton! 

This is a typical green scent, heaps of humidity, dew, damp ozone, snapped green stems, fuzzy moss, dirt and weathered teak. If I have to climb up and down those stupid trees one more time, I'm going to smack a gorilla. 

Wonderland: A confusing stack of black tea, confetti, smushed cupcakes, melted candles, singing flowers, grass cuttings, disappearing cat fur, and the indistinct blue and orange labels of magical elixirs. 

Wonderland, for it's name in KHI, is not all that Wonderful. It's markedly less visually interesting than all the other KHI worlds (sans, yknow, Olympus Coliseum), but it still holds its own secrets, like the cute little tea time table with the Mad Hatter imprisoned in the portrait, or all the hidden treats in the Bizarre room, and I think its intrigue still holds up even now.  

We've had a few Wonderland inspired gourmands before, but what's one more? I love gourmands that have a touch of atmospheric to them, and I also adore a melted candle note, so this one is a full gourmand with just a touch of floral/grass, a tuft of fur and some beeswax to give it a hint of intrigue. 

Halloween Town : Smashed pumpkins, pulpy flesh and a handful of spices, lit torches, cobbled stones, fog, calico bags and the whirring of metal blades and dice. 

I need to clarify, this is KH1 Halloween Town. None of that, nice, sterile KHII business with Christmastown spliced in, no. This is full, nitty gritty. fog obfuscation, and living mansions, claustraphobia and platforming hell. Home to the most finnicky boss fights (I seriously could not get myself onto that Oogie platform in the play room and it drives me up the wall), and running around smacking black masses of oogie-goo, it's definitely iconic. I won't lie and say I didn't have a good time just doing laps around this map just grinding my levels up (infinite respawns! sometimes!), and that's why I think it deserves a little spot on this list. 

So for this one, we're bringing in smoke and fog. It's not Halloween Town unless you're mildly panicked! Throw in an indie fave, heaps of pumpkin and spice, paired with cobblestone paths and stone arches, it's almost perfect. Just add in a little touch of that linen/calico bag, and some deadly steel and metal and...  I'll be jiggered. That works for me!