KUBO.

The order of everything must be maintained, or at least, that is the law of the gods. So what happens when the union of goddess and mortal upsets the balance of the Moon Kingdom? His family could likely answer that question.

Our story begins with a samurai of legendary status: Hanzo of the Beetle Clan. Born and raised in a war-torn land, Hanzo fought his way to becoming a powerful Samurai lord, with many men who trained under his watchful eyes. Despite his tenacity in battle, Hanzo was a noble and kind man, treating his army much like family and his rivals with respect. He also had a childlike wonderment about him, having studied myths and legends ever since his childhood days. He had a fascination with the mystical and otherworldly, and so it was only natural for him to come across the legend of the sacred Sun Armor, and the Moon King, who was hellbent on keeping it from falling into the hands of mortal man.Legend goes that any warrior who found all three pieces of the Sun Armor would grow too powerful and be a threat to the heavens. To prevent this from happening, three mighty goddesses would come down from the stars to smite any who pursued it. They were not only beautiful, but incredibly powerful. Hanzo, being a man who pursued the thrill of a challenge, grew curious.Obviously, he began to pursue the armor for the chance to challenge the gods to battle. This decision would ultimately change the course of his life forever—and write a brand new one.It was in the Temple of Bones, the stronghold of the Sword Unbreakable, that he finally met her. The eldest child of the Moon King, and the strongest of her siblings, Sariatu. The divine being came down from the heavens before her younger sisters, and challenged Hanzo to battle. The two of them brawled valiantly, their blades almost equally matched. Hanzo proved to be a worthy match for her, perhaps more than any other warrior she had slain before. But it just so happened that during their batttle, Hanzo cleaved off his opponent's mask, and took a good, long look into her eyes.Gods, she was beautiful. The samurai was immediately smitten with his foe. In the midst of battle, he stopped, and uttered four simple words out of amazement and love: "You are my quest."...By some miraculous twist, these words struck Sariatu harder than the blades they had fought with. Perhaps it was the warmth in his gaze that she saw when their eyes met. Perhaps it was the softness of his words that she swears she never heard before. But it was through him that Sariatu recognized something she had never once felt in eons of existing: compassion.That night, Sariatu spared Hanzo's life. In the weeks that would follow, their strange interest in one another would bloom into love. It was through the eyes of a mortal man that a divine being such as herself found the strength to abandon the cold perfection of the heavens. She gave up her immortality to be with him. They married, and were deeply in love with each other. And eventually, that love would blossom in Sariatu's womb and write a new, young life.Many months later, Kubo was born.

Yet things were not all safe for the boy. In fact, the time he spent with his family complete was brief, and tragedy struck when he was still very new to the world. Sariatu had hidden from her father and her sisters all throughout her time on the mortal plane, but she and her husband were finally discovered when their son was nary even two months old. Sickened by the union between goddess and mortal, the Moon King, Raiden, came down with his remaining daughters and his army to lay seige on Hanzo's fortress, the Beetle Clan Castle.Hanzo and his army fought valiantly. Their sacrifice saved his wife and son's life, but it did not save Kubo's eye. Raiden was disgusted by the ways of mortal men, and attempted to 'spare' his grandson from its imperfections by stealing both of his eyes, thus making the infant blind to humanity. He only succeeded in stealing one before Sariatu intervened and fled with her child.Ultimately, Hanzo was killed alongside the rest of his army, and his fortress lay in ruins. Sariatu managed to escape with her infant son, and she sailed across the sea to a place where she and Kubo might be safe. Legends told that a piece of the sacred Sun Armor lay hidden within a tiny seaside village, so she made her way there. Unfortunately however, the sky was full of storms that night, and the waves were mighty. They plunged Sariatu into shoreline, and she suffered blunt trauma to the head as a result. Her memories spilled out of her mind as she and her child washed up onto the shore. She was weak, but at least her son was safe.

He and his mother were poor. Sariatu had once had access to a lavish life and luxuries granted to her by her husband's success -- but the night her family came down from the heavens left her with nothing but her enchanted shamisen, and her poor son for company. Rather than growing up under a thatched roof, with a warm hearth and the company of surrounding homes, Kubo grew up in a small cave at the peak of Mortal's Point, a mighty seaside cliff beside the quaint little Sun Village.In those younger years, Kubo recalls his mother being more active. She told him stories of the father he never got to know, and the many monsters that he had slain. When he grew curious, Kubo was taught the basic steps to play his mother's shamisen. But as the years went by, Sariatu steadily grew more and more catatonic from the injury she sustained on the beach that fateful evening, and her memories slipped further and further away.Unbeknownst to his mother, the young Kubo had inherited some of her powers–particularly the ability to manipulate paper and other planar materials. He also became very adept at playing his mother's shamisen from a very young age, allowing him to better control his abilities and center them. With this power, Kubo would often travel to the nearby seaside village to tell stories by manipulating paper into origami figures. The money he earned from his stories allowed him to buy food to feed himself and his mother.However, life was not all safe for the boy. His grandfather was still out there, and at night the Moon King would be ever watchful for the day Kubo may finally step out into the open. In order to keep her child safe, Sariatu insisted that Kubo never go out at night, so that her family would never find him and take his remaining eye.Thankfully, he was never lonely on those cold nights. Kubo would return home at sundown to hear stories of his father Hanzo--his inspiration for all his work. As the years went by, all the boy ever wanted was to meet his father and have advice to better take care of his mother.

Yet, unfortunately, it was on one of those afternoons when everything changed. During a festival in the village, twelve year-old Kubo stayed out after dark in hopes of hearing wisdom from his father. Ultimately his mistake would forever change his life; Sariatu's sisters found him immediately, and they proceeded to pursue him through the village as he fled for the cave, destroying everything in their path.Luckily for Kubo, his mother had taken initiative. Sariatu arrived and used her powers to blow her siblings back, allowing for her son to escape with the use of her magic. The boy was knocked unconscious as he watched his mother fight off his aunts.When the boy woke again, he found himself in the snowy farlands, and face to face with a talking macaque. The monkey guided him to shelter, where she proceeded to explain that, in order for him to be safe from his grandfather, Kubo must find the armor that he described his father having in his stories.The two began on a legendary journey, joined by a cursed samurai, to find Hanzo's armor.