#i totally forgot kh2 changed the story so much. the added pendant. man are you kidding me

[cloudofash]

I'm so late but I wanted to reply to this theory.

I don't think K*airi is evil or malicious. I still don't know if she has hidden powers or not but I still find it strange that her Nobody just so happens to have the power of memory manipulation. Nobodies tend to take on the power of the original person (much like Axel wields fire the way he did when he was Lea the Human).

K*airi may have hidden powers that affect peoples' memories that simply haven't been revealed yet. Maybe she affects memory subconsciously and isn't even aware of the power.

Perhaps K*airi doesn't have the power at all, and Naminé having memory manipulation is a narrative tool to say "this is the effect K*airi has on Sora, he focuses on her so much that she almost affects his memories".

We'll never know until or unless her power is ever revealed. Maybe training with Aqua will be the way her powers are discovered and finally utilized properly.

Also: Yes some of the characters do kiss but the kisses are placed in the end credit scenes of the games (sans Snow White and Sleeping Beauty). I still think Sora and Riku's way of showing their love would be interlocked fingers because hand holding is kind of their thing and it would be soooo romantic sigh

The Ariel / Riku Parallel and the future of Sora and Riku

This is a parallel I see covered a lot of the time but when it's mentioned the comparison usually involves Naminé in place of Ursula.

The parallel typically follows:

Ariel is Riku. They both wanted to see the outside world.

Sora is Prince Eric.

Naminé is/was Ursula (Vanessa).

Naminé (Ursula) used witch like powers to place Sora (Eric) in a trance and blind him from his true light/the one, Riku (Ariel).

It's a direct parallel that needs little analysis or explanation.

I have also seen fellow Sorikus touch on this parallel with the Final World tunnel scene where Sora notices that the Light is Riku much like Eric notices "the one" who sang to him and saved him in the storm is Ariel.

My theory is that this parallel goes beyond just the tunnel scene. In fact, I believe that Nomura is following the KH2 Atlantica storyline for Sora and Riku's eventual romance later in the games. Walk with me here.

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The KH2 Atlantica story begins with Ariel saving Eric after a storm. She immediately falls in love, and sings to him. He wakes up just enough to hear her singing, she goes back to Atlantica and her father breaks her statue of him, her heart breaks and Ursula makes her contract with her...you know the tale.

In the KH2 version of this tale however, Ariel falls into a deep depression because she knows she can't be with a human up on land as a mermaid. Not to mention her father's hatred of humans casted fear and doubt into her. When Ariel and Eric defeat Ursula, Ariel reveals to Eric that she is actually a mermaid. However in this scene, Ariel hangs her head in shame and tells him "goodbye" anticipating that he would not accept her as she was. To her surprise, he does accept her.

This scene always struck me because at no point in the original film is Ariel ever ashamed of being a mermaid, she simply knew as a mermaid she couldn't live on land with the one she loved. Why would shame and fear of not being accepted for who you are be added to this tale?

And it doesn't stop there. All throughout the Atlantica storyline, we're told that Ariel and Eric's love is a "forbidden love". A love that shouldn't happen between mermaid and human, sea and land. We're told how a "love struck" mermaid in the sea felt she could only love her human soulmate from afar, that they could never be together despite her wanting them to be.

Who, in the entire Kingdom Hearts cast, does this sound like? Who else, if confirmed that he truly is in love with Sora, would have a forbidden love?

There is no one else other than Riku. Kai*ri, as a cishet female, would not have a forbidden love with Sora. Riku, as a demi/gay male, would have the forbidden love.

Riku has spent a good portion of this series loving and protecting Sora from afar, most often than not, without Sora even being aware.

Who would be more likely to be "ashamed" for loving Sora, and fearful of rejection? Kai*ri, or Riku? In fact, just as Ariel was ashamed that she was originally a mermaid and had to transform into a human, Riku was ashamed that he had to borrow the powers of Ansem and transformed into Ansem.

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Now why do I say this parallel is going to dictate the future of Sora and Riku's relationship? Because KH3 pretty much follows half of this parallel already.

We already know that Sora discovered that Riku was his true light in the tunnel. He then forgets all of this ever happened and forgets that he ever saved Riku.

And not only that, but Riku's light is blocked out and Sora ends up thinking that the light belongs to another character.

That's right. Sora (Prince Eric) has yet another haze over his eyes. And instead of Naminé, this time Kairi is Ursula.

This is an exact parallel of not only Atlantica, but of what happened in Chain of Memories with Naminé.

Naminé describes herself as a witch who controls the memories of Sora and everyone surrounding him.

Naminé is Ka*iri's Nobody, also described as her "alter ego". Vanessa is in a way Ursula's human alter ego, they're one in the same.

Ka*iri, most likely, has a similar power. She may not use it consciously, but whenever Sora turns his focus on Ka*iri, he forgets all about Riku. This has happened since KH1.

Ursula used her power to make Eric forget about Ariel, the girl who saved him and sang to him. Let's also not forget that Ursula made an appearance in Dream Drop Distance when Sora and Riku were building their dream raft.

We're following the Ariel parallel, just a bit out of order. We're past the point of Ariel's (Riku's) depression. We're past the point of Ariel makes a contract with Ursula to transform into a human / Riku making a contract with Ansem to transform into Ansem. We're at the point where Prince Eric is tricked by Ursula / Sora realized who his light is but forgot and is currently under the false impression that Kai*ri is his true light.

Memory of Melody aside, KH3 is the most recent major title in the series. KH2 happened way back in 2005 and Nomura is STILL referencing it. This tells me this parallel is not concluded nor going away, rather, it's building up. Which means, we will eventually reach the conclusion of this parallel.

Prince Eric finding the one. Sora finding his light.

Every Disney parallel thus far has either reached a conclusion, or is still ongoing (such as the Riku / Hercules and self sacrifice for love). I highly doubt this parallel will be dropped before its conclusion, unless Disney or some Square execs drop the hammer on it and either force Prince Sora to be with Kai*ri instead of Riku or force Sora into some "power of friendship" spiel. Or if Nomura's hands get sweaty and he remembers the pressures of homophobia in society and ends up fearing the anger of the fanbase for pushing an LGBTQ romance. So although I genuinely believe it's Nomura's intention to pair Sora and Riku given the buildup of their relationship over the longevity of this series, and the Disney couple parallels between the two, he may end up cracking and decide against pursuing it.

Given that Riku in the Novels all but confirmed Sora is his light and love and Nomura approved it, I'm hoping that he has the confidence in his tale to propel this love into the mainline titles. Nomura DID say that the series has taken a directional shift, this may be the shift he's referring to all along.

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So what would a Soriku love look like in future titles? Well let's look at the portion of the Atlantica parallel not explored yet.

Ariel returned Prince Eric's pendant. The Crown Necklace theory and Shooting Star Memory has yet to be addressed. Perhaps at some point in Quadratum Sora loses his crown necklace, Riku finds it and returns it to him triggering the both of them to finally address the Crown Necklace with Sora remembering that Riku is the one who gave it to him in the first place. Sora remembering that Riku was the light in the darkness and not Kai*ri is now a new plot point needing to be addressed. Just as Eric realized Ariel was the one he was looking for all along, he declared his love for her. Sora will eventually realize Riku was the one he's been searching for all his life and will probably apologize for not realizing it sooner.

Not to mention the Hercules parallel of self sacrifice for true love has also yet to be addressed on Sora's end. He's still figuring out what love is and what love means. Both the Ariel-Eric and Hercules-Meg parallels end with a confession of love. That confession may just be how Kingdom Hearts ends.

Additional Note: Do I think there will be a Soriku kiss? No.

Not a single Disney couple has kissed in-game. We know they're all in love because of how they look at each other, the things they say about each other, their warm embraces. If the cishet Disney characters have yet to kiss in game, then it's safe to say we won't get any Soriku kisses either. The only way that changes is if there is a future title and Nomura introduces kissing via Disney, then I think a Soriku kiss will be on the table.