#Riku and Terra

[strayheartless]

Do you ever think about the fact that Terra technically has a little bit of responsibility to take for what happened to Riku in KH1? Cause I do.

Like I’m not saying that Terra is terrible or that he’s completely to blame, because he’s not. I love Terra as a character. He’s great! However I am saying that one of the many mistakes Terra made in BBS was bequeathing his Keyblade to Riku the way he did.

And I think Aqua knew it too.

Maybe I’m stating the obvious here, but something that becomes pretty apparent to me from that scene is that Terra didn’t actually think about the logistics of giving his keyblade to a seven year old kid. Nor did he really think of the responsibility that placed on him, to teach Riku how to be a keyblade barer.

When Terra helps Riku make the oath, he doesn’t really explain the weight of it to Riku, and quite honestly even if he had, Riku was still only seven. Yes okay, he was a seven year old who thought protecting his best friend was the most important thing, but he’s still only seven. Terra could t really expect Riku to comprehend what taking on the role of a keyblade barer meant, especially since Riku didn’t even know what one was!

And then Terra leaves, and it’s not made clear whether or not he plans to come back and teach Riku. He leaves this kid to simply figure this stuff out by himself, when Riku doesn’t even know where to start.

By comparison Aqua makes a purposeful decision not to bequeath her keyblade to sora. And I think that was less to do with the fact that Terra had already given one of the boys a keyblade, and more to do with the fact that she recognised that unless she was sure she could come back, then giving the keyblade to sora would be a bad idea. Because she couldn’t come back to teach him the way Terra, Ven and herself were taught. She knew better then to place that pressure on a child, to simply do it themselves.

Personally I believe that part of Riku’s desperation to be the best. To be the strongest, the smartest, the fastest, the wisest; came from an expectation that Terra placed on him to “have the strength to protect what matters”.

Riku had no idea that what he needed was a teacher. He had no idea the amount of training and practice it took to become a keyblade master, because he didn’t have a teacher! Because Terra left, and he never came back.

And I know that’s not Terras fault. But part of the reason I think that it was such a bad idea to gift Riku the keyblade, was because -technically- Terra didn’t have the right. He wasn’t a master, he failed his exam and was made to go away and re-evaluate his relationship to the darkness.

To me thats the first sign that you shouldn’t be handing out keyblades to kids on beaches.

Riku had the same priorities as Terra, and that was both of their downfalls in the end. It’s becoming Sora’s weakness in real time as we play the games. The difference is, Riku became a master because -unlike Terra he stared long and hard at his relationship to the darkness and learned that it wasn’t about using it to protect his friends, it was about allowing it to consume him.

But Riku could only learn that because he was pushed to the brink of destruction, that was caused by his fear of failing to become a Keyblade barer.

And who placed that weight of expectation on him?

Terra.

I dunno man, I have a lot of thinking thoughts. Most of them incoherent.

Tell me what you think???

[cynnoct]

wish things could stay like this forever

[nebulousbren]

It's done! Everyone's having a good time playing games and nothing will ever be wrong :D

For anyone wondering where the Disney dudes are, Mickey and Donald are on a double date with Minnie and Daisy at Scrooge's bistro, while Goofy is catching a movie.

[riddlerosehearts]

and the universe said, i love you because you are love

[mr-foods]

[separatethingy]

How often do the prop keyblades break because the actors just have to much fun swinging them around?

And how often do they just recite their favorite sword fight scenes from their favorite movies while swinging the "blades" around for fun?

Riku consistently has the most breakable keyblades I've ever seen

[haunted-xander]

This is more for personal reference but figured I might as well post it. I love color-coding my textbubbles <3

[baihu27-blog]

Commission for someone on Twitter. This was a very fun idea to draw.

[jaysosillyart]

100 DAYS OF KINGDOM HEARTS DRAWINGS:

DAY 67

strength to protect what matters

[strayheartless]

SO going off of the back of my “Terra kinda messed Riku up” post, I kind of need a moment where they actually address it.

Like Terra is back, and Riku is the keyblade master he hoped he would be. We don’t know if Terra is aware of what happened to Riku, given that he was the Guardian for so long. So it’s logical to assume that he’d praise Riku, as if Riku had always been in the light.

And Riku having this moment where he’s so tired all of a sudden, and for once it’s not directed at himself. He’s not exactly mad at Terra, but he needs the other man to understand what having that amount of expectation did to him at such a young age.

And even though he’s not mad, even though he knows that circumstances were against everyone; there’s this moment where that same seven year old comes out of him, and he lashes out at Terra. Just fully whales on him with his keyblade and gets angry, because he’s been carrying around so much pressure for so long, and he owes it to his childhood self to let it out.

So he screams and rages and swipes and parries and cuts; Terra having to move quickly and frantically to dodge him, and in the end he realises that it had been a bad idea.

That he should not have given Riku the Keyblade. Not because Riku wasn’t worthy, but because he hadn’t been ready. So he stops fighting, let’s Riku hit him, let’s him get it out. He lets him do that, and then he catches him when Riku gives up. He holds him and tells him he’s sorry as Riku yells “I was just a kid!”

And that’s how they stay for a good ten minutes. Just Riku letting his childhood self cry the way he wanted to that night he met Ansem, and Terra just holding onto him for dear life, knowing that he has to make this right

[guiding-key]

Sora, Kairi, Aqua, Ventus, Mickey fucking Mouse:

[varietivity]

My contribution to the Kingdom Hearts community becoming Organization XIII members when Twitter rebranded to X in the last week.

There is also a BONUS PANEL in a reblog to this post.

[holleighgram]

TFW when you give a 5 year old kid a keyblade, and then suddenly that kid is 16, gay, depressed, and needs a hug but can’t break down because he has to be a “leader”.

[snowiferart]

Posted the stickers a while back, but I realized I never showed the art!

[haomnyangz]

[brother noises]

[separatethingy]

My friend and I were chatting about Terra a while back, and one of us thought it'd be interesting if his big armor thing was a prosthetic.

Then I made a silly doodle about Riku finding out cause Terra forgot to put it on that day