#kh1 riku you are a petty little shit and i love you | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

nadziejastar · 6 years ago

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I don’t mind if Skuld meets up with Lea and Isa, as a friend. I just not looking forward to the writers pushing Skuld/Isa romantically. She barely had any screen time with him, and it would feel forced and infuriating. I’m fine with it if she’s meeting them again and getting to know each as FRIENDS, but I know the writers have a different idea. Honestly, there’s probably gonna be ship wars between Isa/Skuld and IsaLea.

Yeah, it does feel like they are going to push Isa/Skuld romantically, at least from Isa’s end. When I heard Lea and Isa’s backstory in KH3, I was totally incredulous. I knew it was total B.S. Like, it was just so contradictory to everything we saw previously, I didn’t buy it for one second. Like, who did they think they were kidding?

But even besides the bad retconning, it had such an awful effect on both Isa and Lea as characters. It was a horrible idea to make a mystery girl Isa’s motivation, let alone his potential love interest. That’s going to fuel terrible shipping wars. I have noticed that the worst shipping wars tend to happen because of bad writing. When the canon relationships are well-written, there is not as much controversy and toxicity.

Isa/Subject X Is A Horrible Pairing

Saïx: Back when we were still friends, we used to sneak into the castle.

Lea: Yeah.

Saïx: And we made a friend there, a girl. We apprenticed to Ansem the Wise to rescue her.

Subject X hasn’t had ANY screen time with them. She was just mentioned out of nowhere. Now all of a sudden, they were apprentices and doing everything in Organization XIII for her? And I love how Saïx is so casual about how they used to be friends. Nice to see how much you valued your friendship with Lea there. He talks like he couldn’t give less of a shit that they’re no longer friends.

Geppetto: Pinocchio! Pinocchio! Please! Give me back my son!

Riku: Sorry, old man. I have some unfinished business with this puppet.

Geppetto: He’s no puppet! Pinocchio is my little boy!

Riku: He is unusual. Not many puppets have hearts. I’m not sure, but maybe he can help someone who’s lost theirs.

In KH1, Riku was a huge asshole. It didn’t matter that he was trying to help Kairi. He kidnapped Pinocchio right in front of his pleading father and he wanted to steal his heart.

Axel: You’re sure things are better this way?

Saïx: I never expected you to question it. If you could save one of them…why would you choose the puppet? Or put it this way. Which would you rather suffer the loss of: some make-believe friendship, or a real one?

Saïx was also a huge asshole. He constantly dehumanized Xion and called her broken, defective, and “it”. He wanted to destroy her and didn’t care that Axel considered her a close friend. If you make finding Skuld his motivation, you are confirming that he was aware of his actions the whole time. If he had enough empathy to care about Skuld, why was he so cruel to Xion and Roxas? Why did he not feel bad for kidnapping Kairi, and trying to kill Sora and Riku?

Sora: Hey, let Pinocchio go, Riku.

Riku: A puppet that’s lost its heart to the Heartless… Maybe it holds the key to helping Kairi. How about it, Sora? Let’s join forces to save her. What? You’d rather fight me? Over a puppet that has no heart?

Sora: Heart or no heart, at least he still has a conscience.

Riku: Conscience?

Sora: You might not hear it, but right now it’s loud and clear. And it’s telling me you’re on the wrong side!

Riku: Then you leave me no choice.

In KH1, the message was clear: it’s wrong to join the villains, and steal people’s hearts, even for a girl. They’re the actions of a villain.

Kairi: You know, Riku has changed.

Sora: What do you mean?

Kairi: Well…

Sora: You okay?

Kairi: Sora, let’s take the raft and go—just the two of us!

And let’s face it: Riku was NOT presented as an appealing love interest for Kairi in KH1.

Lea: Yeah, and we failed. One day she was just gone!

Saïx: You gave up.

Lea: I did not give up. One day we’re apprentices, the next Ansem the Wise has up and vanished, the day after we’re Nobodies, the day after that we’re doing icky jobs for Xemnas. I couldn’t keep up with you.

Saïx: Following Xehanort’s Nobody was the only way to discover what happened to her. She was his lab rat.

Lea: So? You found her? I helped you rise up the ranks, so I hope it paid off?

Following Xemnas’ icky orders without any remorse doesn’t make Isa more sympathetic, nor does it help us support a possible romance between them. And why is Lea so nonchalant about this? He helped Saïx rise through the ranks, and he hopes it all “paid off?”

Are you crazy!? Of course it didn’t pay off!!! Your best friend sold his soul to the devil and is a Seeker of Darkness! He has yellow eyes and pointy ears. He’s corrupted by darkness! He lost his heart to Xehanort! And you think it might have paid off!? What the hell is wrong with you!? Do you not care about your friend at all?

Sora: Riku, why are you siding with the Heartless?

Riku: The Heartless obey me now, Sora. Now I have nothing to fear.

Sora: You’re stupid. Sooner or later they’ll swallow your heart.

Riku: Not a chance. My heart’s too strong.

Sora: Riku…

Riku: I’ve picked up a few other tricks as well. Like this, for instance. You can go see your friends now. Let’s get under way, already. And keep Sora away from Kairi until we’re ready to land.

When Sora hears that Riku joined the dark side to save Kairi, he says he is stupid!!!! He cares about Kairi, too. But he’s afraid Riku’s heart will be swallowed by darkness. He’s worried for his friend, and rightfully so! Besides, Kairi wouldn’t want that. Lea would have said the same thing if he was a true friend.

Saïx: I’m afraid not. Nary a trace. I started to wonder if we’d imagined her. Maybe she never existed. And then in time I awakened to a new purpose. I realized I could be stronger.

Okay…? So now all you wanted was to become stronger? It wasn’t about the girl? It was about power? First off, I don’t buy that at all. But whatever. Let’s go with it for argument’s sake.

Ansem: The heart that is strong and true shall win the Keyblade.

Riku: What? You’re saying my heart’s weaker than his?

Ansem: For that instant, it was. However, you can become stronger. You showed no fear in stepping through the door to darkness. It held no terror for you. Plunge deeper into the darkness, and your heart will grow even stronger.

Riku: What should I do?

Ansem: It’s really quite simple. Open yourself to the darkness. That is all. Let your heart, your being become darkness itself.

Isa is basically KH1 Riku. It wasn’t even about saving Kairi at that point. It was about being stronger than Sora and gaining power. This tempted Riku to open himself up to darkness. He sold his soul to Ansem after he lost to Sora! This makes Saïx more sympathetic how?

Saïx: The marks under your eyes. They’re gone.

Lea: Yeah. Don’t need ‘em.

Saïx: Always told you they’d stop you from crying. The upside-down tears.

Apparently Saïx has “always” been a condescending douchebag…

Riku: It’s up to me. Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door…and change the world.

Sora: But that’s impossible. How did this happen? I’m the one who fought my way here with the Keyblade!

Riku: You were just the delivery boy. Sorry, your part’s over now. Here, go play hero with this.

You know who else was a condescending douchebag? KH1 Riku! He kidnapped Belle, taunted the Beast, took the Keyblade from Sora, and then threw him a wooden toy while he was wallowing on the floor as Donald and Goofy left him. The difference is, Riku was a condescending asshole when he was a villain—the very beginning of his arc in the Dark Seeker Saga. Saïx is a condescending asshole during his “redemption”—the very end of his arc in the Dark Seeker Saga.

Lea: I didn’t forget you.

Saïx: Yes…I know. You wouldn’t do that. But…I was jealous.

Lea: You admit it.

So, what is his excuse? Why is he still allowed to party with everyone in the epilogue? Well, instead of being a victim of Xehanort in need of rescue, Saïx was just mad that Lea forgot about him and Subject X. And I love how Lea acted like he knew the entire time that he was jealous, and was just being too stubborn to admit it. I’m sorry, I gotta call B.S. again.

And yet, Axel couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his response. “Well, nice to know where I stand.”

He said it with a grin, but the hint of a frown tugged at the scar between Saïx’s brows. Apparently, the joke wasn’t very funny. “You made it back in one piece, didn’t you?”

Were you worried I wouldn’t? Axel almost said, but he didn’t want to deal with putting him in an even fouler mood. Disgust and rage seemed to linger closest to the surface of Saïx’s memories.

Axel didn’t know Saïx was “jealous”. He was desperate to find any evidence Saïx had feelings for him at all. On ~Day 72 Change~, Axel finally returns from Castle Oblivion. Roxas said he was worried about him, and Axel was upset that Saïx wasn’t. He is sad about how much his friend has changed. But let’s assume that was the truth. Let’s say that all of Saïx’s abuse in Days was him acting passive aggressively due to his petty jealousy over Axel hanging out with a couple of kids.

Maleficent: Why do you still care about that boy? He has all but deserted you for the Keyblade and his new companions, after all.

Riku: I don’t care about him. I was just messing with him a little.

Maleficent: Oh, really? Of course you were. Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.

Riku: Mind your own business.

Sora: Riku! What’s the matter with you? What are you thinking? Don’t you realize what you’re doing?

Riku: I was about to ask you the same thing, Sora. You only seem interested in running around and showing off that Keyblade these days. Do you even want to save Kairi?

Riku always used Kairi as a shield when he was bullying Sora. “Don’t you care about Kairi?” In reality, Riku was bitter that Sora made new friends. Yeah, he was trying to help Kairi. But she was just an excuse. He was being petty. It also seemed like he only became so hellbent on rescuing her, because he wanted to one-up Sora. The way KH3 was written, it also felt like Saïx was just using that girl as a cover for his own resentment of Lea. It didn’t seem like he genuinely cared about her very much. She was just a convenient scapegoat.

Right…this little room that Maleficent had made up just for me. I stayed here in this castle, except when I went to Captain Hook’s ship to get Kairi. And when I was here I spent most of that time in this room. Swinging a sword…reading books…and what else?

Thinking about things that upset him. He’d been angry at something. He’d believed it was his fault that Kairi was in that state…but he told himself that it wasn’t a mistake to have gone to other worlds and gently touched her face as she slept.

In KH1, they didn’t have an entire saga planned for the story. And it’s clear that Riku was originally written simply as a villain for the first game. An arrogant, jealous, bully who wants to steal your girlfriend. He has a weak heart that is prone to darkness. After they decided to make more games, they wanted to make Riku a main character. And so they focused on him being Sora’s best friend instead of his bully/rival. They tried to humanize his actions from the first game in the novel for CoM. They emphasized his his strong affection for Kairi as his motivation, and the reason for him turning to darkness. And...it didn’t work. He strokes her face while she’s sleeping.

All this did was make Riku seem creepy. To be honest, Riku always seemed creepy to me in KH1, even when I first played it as a 14-year-old. This is why they distanced themselves from that interpretation of Riku’s character. Terra became the reason he wanted to see the outside world, not Kairi. But now, this this what they want Isa to be like? He willingly joins someone he knows is evil, gladly follows their orders, and tries to murder his best friend…just so he can get his hands on the object of his affection? Someone he doesn’t even know? That comes off as creepy. And stalker-ish. They’re going backwards regarding positive character portrayals.

Lea: Stop it. The whole act. I thought this was all for her.

First of all, this is B.S.

“Shouldn’t you already be out on your mission, Axel?” Saïx interrupted.

Mission? Saïx hadn’t given him his assignment yet. Axel blinked up at him, and Saïx stared back. Oh. Axel felt a little bit sorry for Saïx and his inability to lie.

Saïx could not act to save his life.

Saïx: At first. I sacrificed everything to try and track her down. You’re the one who went off and made other friends. Left me and her both in the dust. It infuriated me how you just exited our lives. I lost…all sense of purpose.

Saïx never showed any kind of human emotion except disgust. He was by far the most Nobody-like Organization member. But he feels such rage after Axel leaves, that he tries to kill him over and over again. His best friend. All because he was jealous that Axel made new friends with a couple of children who didn’t treat him like shit? That makes him sympathetic how?

Saïx: Do you know what happens to those who lose their true purpose? Inevitably, they destroy themselves.

And why is he so violent to Axel anyways? In his own words, when you lose your true purpose, it makes you inevitably destroy yourself. So why is he trying to destroy Axel and not himself?

"And we still haven’t found out where Axel went?” said Xaldin.

Saïx scowled with displeasure at the name.

It would make sense if Isa’s heart lost all sense of purpose and wanted to fade away after Axel left. And it would make sense if Saïx was not aware that it was Isa’s heart making him feel suicidal.

“What are you doing here?” The Claymore materialized in Saïx’s hand. “Foul traitor—”

“No, Saïx,” said Xigbar, glaring hard at Axel.

“What have you come for?” With rage barely contained under every word, Saïx stalked toward Axel.

It would make sense if Saïx felt Isa’s despair and took it out on Axel in a psychotic rage. He was so unhinged, even Xigbar had to stop him from attacking Axel.

Riku: Quit while you can.

Sora: No. Not without Kairi.

Riku: The darkness will destroy you.

Sora: You’re wrong, Riku. The darkness may destroy my body, but it can’t touch my heart. My heart will stay with my friends. It’ll never die!

Riku: Really… Well, we’ll just see about that!

KH1 Riku also tried to kill Sora when he was consumed with darkness. Goofy shields him from Riku’s attack. It didn’t matter that Riku had the Keyblade. Donald and Goofy chose to stay with Sora because he was on the right side and Riku was not.

Lea: Well, then, you blew it! Wise up already and just quit.

Um, its not that simple, Lea. You see when you have Xehanort’s heart implanted, you are consumed by it. You become one of his 12 selves. Your true heart and consciousness has to be put to sleep in order for Xehanort to turn you into a vessel.

Mickey: There’s something real strong that binds us to each other. Even in the darkness, you can reach him. All you gotta do is follow that connection!

Goofy: Gee, we’re all connected to Sora.

Donald: You said it!

Lea: And if the darkness gets ya, I promise I’ll bail you out. “Dark Rescue” is my middle name.

Riku: Guys, thank you. Sora and I will be back soon.

You should know this already after they almost made Sora the 13th vessel and Riku had to go save his heart afterwards. They didn’t ask Sora to fill out a résumé before they hired him as a vessel. Presumably they didn’t ask Isa, either. You can’t just quit. You couldn’t even leave the original Organization willingly. You’d be turned into a Dusk. But Lea thinks he should just quit…

Lea: Would you get lost? I’ll clobber you tomorrow.

Saïx: I expect no less.

This is how you act after you find out your best friend has been turned into Xehanort’s vessel? You want him to get lost and can’t wait to clobber him?

Sora: What? You… You’re not Riku.

Riku: The Keyhole cannot be completed so long as the last princess of heart still sleeps.

Sora: The princess…? Kairi’s a princess?

Riku: Yes, and without her power, the Keyhole will remain incomplete. It is time she awakened.

Sora: Whoever you are, let Riku go! Give him back his heart!

Sora knew Riku wasn’t acting like his old self. And neither was Isa. Axel complained CONSTANTLY about how much he had changed. When Sora learned the truth, he wanted Xehanort to let his friend’s heart go.

Young Xehanort: To move through time, you must leave your body behind. Ansem first sent me on my way, and then placed himself here when the time was right. That was what set all these events in motion.

Sora: What are you saying? That he knew everything that would happen?

Young Xehanort: No, not everything. But remember, Ansem possessed Riku and saw his experiences in real time.

The reason Riku acted like a sociopath is because he was possessed. BBSV2 would have gone into more detail and made Riku more sympathetic by showing how Xehanort’s heart took control of him from the very start. That’s why in KH3D, they showed Young Xehanort reach out his hand to Sora, causing him to have a flashback to when Riku did it in KH1.

Riku was being influenced by Xehanort’s heart for the entirety of KH1. If Saïx was possessed, then Xehanort also saw his experiences in real time. That’s why he always knew what Axel and Saïx were planning and why he didn’t stop them. It provided him with too much valuable information.

Saïx: Why…so sad?

Lea: You let them reduce you to this?

Even though his friend was supposed to be possessed, Lea isn’t the slightest bit sympathetic. He’s disgusted at him for bringing it on himself. After he’s defeated, he turns his head and can’t even look at him.

Aerith: No wonder there are more and more Heartless everywhere. The only way to stop them is—

Sora: Seal the Keyhole, right?

Leon: Maybe. But no one knows what will happen once it’s sealed.

Sora: Well, we can’t just stay here. We have to do something. I’ve got a friend back there.

After Sora defeated the possessed Riku, he wanted to go back and rescue him from Xehanort’s clutches.

Saïx: Well, if I make it back…you won’t get it out of me a second time.

Lea: See you, Isa.

Saïx: See you, Lea.

After Isa is finally freed from Xehanort’s control, there is no sincerity to his confession of jealousy. No apology for trying to kill Lea. No heart-to-heart conversation about everything they went through as kids. Isa is just an asshole, telling Lea that he won’t hear an apology from him a second time. Then it’s just “see ya”. And they’re magically friends again.

It was Naminé’s drawing of Roxas and Axel, standing side by side. “You’re best friends,” she said.

Right. Those two had been friends—well, Axel believed they still were. Roxas was his only friend and his best. And Axel was the same for Roxas—probably.

Axel states multiple times that Roxas was his only friend. After everything that happened between them, Axel to stopped thinking of Isa as his friend.

On the sofa opposite him, Naminé spoke up instead. “Sora and Riku are best friends.” Axel’s eyes crinkled as he remembered his own best friend—the only friend he’d ever had, in fact.

But more than that. Roxas was the only friend he’d ever had. He considered that Isa was never his friend in the first place. That’s how badly Axel was hurt by his relationship with Saïx. That’s how betrayed he felt.

“…Riku…” Sora looked up, holding tight to his friend’s hand. “It’s Riku… Riku is here.” He knew that it was Riku’s hand he clasped. It was bigger than the one he’d held a thousand times before, but in his heart, Sora felt it.

A knot of something he could barely define swelled in his chest. Clinging to that hand, to Riku’s hand, Sora fell to his knees. “I was looking for you…!” Tears spilled over and flowed down his cheeks as he pressed Riku’s hand against his face.

How long had he been searching? How badly had he wanted to see Riku, to talk to him again? And Riku was here. Here at last. I found you. Finally. I missed you. I’ve missed you for so long…

They’d been separated on Destiny Island, then they ended up fighting, and then they’d gone through that door together from opposite sides…and he’d been searching, searching for Riku all the while.

“C’mon, Sora,” Riku chided him lightly. “Keep it together.”

Riku allowed himself to be locked behind the Door to Darkness, and he sacrificed his appearance to save Sora. When Sora and Riku finally reunite, Sora was overcome with emotion.

Riku: What I said back there…about thinking I was better at stuff than you…To tell you the truth, Sora… I was jealous of you.

Sora: What for?

Riku: I wished I could live life the way you do. Just following my heart.

Sora: Yeah, well, I’ve got my share of problems, too.

Riku: Like what?

Sora: Like…wanting to be like you.

Riku: Well, there is one advantage to being me… Something you could never imitate.

Sora: Really? What’s that?

Riku: Having you for a friend.

Sora: Then I guess…I’m okay the way I am. I’ve got something you could never imitate too.

Compare Lea and Isa’s final conversation to Sora and Riku’s reconciliation at the end of KH2. The latter have a genuine talk where they gain insight into each other’s feelings. There is forgiveness and mutual respect. They are able to empathize with each other and grow closer as a result. Lea and Isa were turned into a cheap knockoff of Sora and Riku from KH1.

Only they forgot to actually, ya know, redeem Isa and show that he was possessed like they did with Riku. And unlike Sora, Lea became less concerned with his friend’s well-being after finding out he was possessed. Based on canon, I don’t know why they were even friends to begin with. And why are they friends again now? They don’t get along, they don’t seem to like each other, and they don’t act like they care about each other at all. But now Subject X is going to come along and be part of a healthy trio and have a possible romantic subplot with Isa? Yikes.

#kh meta #kh #kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts meta #kh lea #kh isa #kh axel #kh saix #kh riku #anti kh3

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