#riku is the light

[ziireaux]

heartstrings - 大切な人

some zooms

between the riku is gay video, riku is the light theory, necklace theory, and setup for kh4, I’m having a lot of feelings about these two. nomura hurry I’m starving

[kiolilo]

大切な人を守る力〜♪( ´θ｀)ノ

[gulava]

Something is holding you here—refusing to let you go.

[avalon-knightly]

Something, something, Riku is the light...

[dotted-clouds]

My Favorite Red Vox song with Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts 3

[thefreshprinceofjunes]

people pointing to one heart as proof s/k is canon is sooooo funny when it seems to be a light only attack

bc like

its been stated consistently throughout the series that you cant just have light. light and dark need to be in balance.

like they literally say 'light!' as the attack starts.

that doesnt seem very balanced to me.

but you know what team attack is?

also, i feel like it being called one heart points even further to it being another s/k red herring.

like, compare that to hearts in tune

love is not being one with someone, or someone else 'completing' you. love is just being with someone. by their side.

and theres also the fact that the attack literally cannot function without the two of them together. they need both wings to fly. whereas the two halves of the combined keyblade can be used on their own

or at least i think they can, anyway. in nightmares end/mirage split we see them used individually to cut the chains before they merge:

plus all the emphasis on the nobodies/replicas/etc being their own people, and growing their own hearts. even tho they were 'content' with being merged with their og selves.

idk, maybe im reading too much into the name. maybe its not that deep. but it still seems kinda weird, with all the emphasis post-kh2 on everyone having their own identities

[holleighgram]

Inspired by @hollowwhisperings reminding me that Riku may not be entirely human

[blowingoffsteam2]

Just saw someone get mad about Riku is the light. Nothing new but it's been a good while. And it might be stupid but I got a bit upset. Like damn are they right am I making everything about Riku. I try to be objective with KH analysis... but what if it's bias clouded.

I mean at this point all I can say to that is what’s all this then

Coming to the conclusion that Riku is the light isn’t bias, regardless of whether we ever get any payoff (which I’m still certain we will). It’s extremely basic media literacy. It’s so blatant that I always compare it to this funny meme

The joke is that it’s not subtle at all. Just because something isn’t stated explicitly (yet) doesn’t mean we can’t be confident that something is intended when it’s THIS loud about it.

People being mad at the idea of Riku being important and there actually being a hidden layer to the story is the only bias clouding anyone’s judgement here.

[rikunih]

The Light

[temporalbystander]

To the lovely KH blog that I follow that asked why Kingdom Hearts is trending, I would like you to know just how much of my hate you have. I looked up what's recent on the Kingdom Hearts tag and you know what I found?

The earth shattering certainty that not only is Soriku canon but is also an allegory using Jungian psychology to perfectly illustrate the need to accept and find balance with oneself. And that, contrary to all my prior held beliefs that Sora is pure cinnamon bun levels of light and purity, I should have trusted the openings, the games, and the keyblade masters Terra and Aqua who state that it's Riku that guided them to destiny islands and also implying that Sora may be a big darkness villain at some point.

Don't even get me started on Roxas, or how I never put together that "Kairi arrived on the night of a meteor shower" means that Namine COULDN'T have been replacing Kairi in the memory she gave to Sora and Repliku in CoM about the promise to always protect her.

So, once again. To that lovely blog who asked the question that sent me down this rabbit hole 2 HOURS AGO!!!! Thank you.

[verathena14]

Scared of the crack where the light comes through I'm only really me when I'm here with you

[mythicalartistx]

So I just looked at Hikari English translation lyrics for the first time...

IT'S DEFINITELY FROM KH1 RIKU'S POV I'm going insane it's so him.

It shows how he is alone and that he got separated for Sora. He forgotten his destiny probably referring to his Kingdom Key going to Sora. Then he is referred to as light he awakens in the middle of the night.

Now the light is sometimes referred to him or Sora. Because to Riku, Sora is light.

He wishes he can tell him but he's scared and repressed his feelings. And he always wants to be together with Sora. Because with Sora who he views as light, he'll be fine when it's In the middle of the night when it's dark such as when he was going through a dark place in KH1

He's like turn everything off, don't do anything else but look at me. It gives KH1 Riku vibes so much.

He's still in his "I'm definitely not gay" phase and says he doesn't believe in us completely

But with Sora, he views as his Light

Riju wants to continue being with him and just want Sora to only pay attention to him.

And the thing about light, Riku is the light but to Riku, Sora is His Light.

They are each other lights.

Riku once said in the novels, Riku looked away from Sora because he was dazzling. For Riku he was too bright or dazzling.

And these are just some of the main stanzas I have thoughts on from it being about Riku

My thoughts on Chikai

[kiolilo]

Bare with me, my English is a little rusty but you will get what I mean

It makes me so sad and leaves me without words when someone who is gay, kingdom hearts fan and A SORIKU SHIPPER says: “yeah but disni won’t allow the ship becoming canon”

Context: I work at anime conventions (I’m an illustrator) and a fellow artist and I were talking about kingdom hearts (actually the whole classroom were talking about kh) and I was saying stuff about the neutral pronouns they use (chain of memories) in Japanese and how the English translation messed it up.

And at some point he said that Disney won’t allow… and everyone got quiet (everyone that was present at time were soriku shippers, even my mom) before that, everyone was having a good time talking about sora and riku and how the games are cool etc we even talked about how Donald is the most powerful wizard in the kingdom hearts universe

Even with all the information I have about the games, things I discovered in my wonderful time on twitter with the soriku community. I couldn’t say anything that time and made me realise how people still think “straight is the key” on media…

But even with all that Disney allowed representation on their stuff:

Star vs forces of evil

Owl house

Luca

Onward

Zootopia

Beauty and the beast

Finding dory

Toy Story 4

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Cruella

Lightyear

Strange world

It’s not impossible

The games are telling us a lot of things. There’s no way we are being played

SORIKU ENDGAME ACTUALLY

[gulava]

i feel like its easy to forget or miss that the exact reason sora was so emotional here is bc his subconscious briefly came in contact with the memory of aqua telling sora to keep riku "safe". then sora is ripped away from this by the very person who took riku away from him. hes plunged deeper into sleep because his light (riku) was stolen. its not hard to see just why hed be feeling so emotional and delighted to see riku "safe" from harm. even outside of riku risking his life to wake sora up, i feel the fact that sora is near tears and throws his arms around riku was a bit of a nod to there being more at play here. and the reason they show riku waking up here and not sora is because it was more important for sora to see riku waking up this time. and narratively yknow "the world was freed from darkness but has yet to wake from it". at this point, riku is finally no longer trapped in a never ending nightmare of things never getting better for him and sora gets to be the one to personally greet him upon waking from that nightmare.

hes awake and hell be okay.

sora needed to have this moment. he needed to see that.

[avalon-knightly]

[tennelleflowers]

Hey, just here to fuel your Dark Fiagra about Riku being gay and the Light.

In KH2 when Sora and Riku are in the Realm Between the portal to the Dark Margin doesn't open until Sora and Riku have the first part of their "heart to heart". He's literally being vunerable in every way and Sora just shows him patience and understanding. Then the portal opens.

Then on the Margin, Riku opens up once again. I think the reason that Riku wasn't the one to open the Door to Light was because Sora confirmed that he was happy to stay in the dark with Riku.

This part is a stretch but I think, maybe, Riku hearing Sora wistfully reading the letter may have opened the door. Or you know, Maybe it was Kairi. Riku is under the impression that Sora is the Loght because Sora is HIS light, which is why he tells Sora that the door to light was his heart.

Who knows, maybe Soras heart DID open the door, but imo, Kairis letter wasn't romantic. It doesn't even make much sense pertaining to the story.

You're so right. You want to know the funny thing tho? In the character files, there's a short story from Riku's pov about their conversation at the Dark Margin at the end of KH2. It's the same one where Riku says that he used to try to act like Sora's older brother as a kid, but doesn't think of their relationship that way anymore.

To tell you the truth, Sora...I was jealous of you.

As I sat on the dark shore next to Sora, I wondered when I began to feel that way.

Was it when Sora became a Keyblade wielder?

Or was it all the way back when we were children on the islands?

It wouldn’t be strange for me to think I was better than Sora. After all, when you’re a child, a year is a big age difference, so I played the older brother and took Sora around with me everywhere. When did that change?

And then, when it gets to the part where Kairi's letter is supposed to come in, it's just completely omitted???

“I wished I could live life the way you do. Just following my heart.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve got my share of problems, too.” Sora responded, staring at the horizon.

“Like what?” I asked Sora, smiling a bit.

“Like...wanting to be like you.”

“I see.”

That made me a little sad, so I responded with as cheerful a voice as I could manage.

“Well, there is one advantage to being me..something you could never imitate.”

“Really? What is it?”

“Having you for a friend.”

Sora was surprised for a moment. Then, he exhaled a bit.

“Then, I guess...I’m okay the way I am. I’ve got something you could never imitate too.” Sora responded with a smile, and he looked off beyond the horizon, at the moon shining faintly in the sky - at the world where we would meet our end.

We both had our own things that the other couldn’t do. Our hearts, each just like the other, were both filled to the brim with happy feelings at that moment.

I was glad to have been Sora’s friend.

“Light.”

My eyes instinctively narrowed at the sight of the bright sun-like light that appeared right before us.

“The door to light...we’ll go together!”

Sora stood up and offered his hand to me.

“Yeah.”

I responded and began to walk with Sora.

LIKE? Hello? Look at this thing just directly implying that it was actually Sora and Riku's hearts opening up to each other that opened the Door to Light??? Skipping Kairi's letter entirely??? (why do they keep doing this lol just let Kairi HAVE SOMETHING sakdfljsd)

Now, like I've said before, stuff in the novels/characters files are SECONDARY canon, so it is canon that Kairi's letter in a bottle shows up and Sora reads it, and then the Door to Light appears. But with this added context I wouldn't say it's a reach that the Door to Light opening to them probably has more to do with them than Kairi's letter specifically.