#thoughts about Kairi

[robotsafari]

Hollow No More.

[trashcantasch]

i heard someone say more

[aitsuheart]

Just because you like Soriku doesn't mean you have to hate Kairi or bring her down just because there is another ship involving one of the characters and her.

It's a normal ship.

Hating on her for that is very stupid and childish.

If you want to say how your ship is valid stop being her into it

[hyumjim]

just some of my little opinions btw

[chirpingchorus]

The more I learn about the translation/localization changes in KHIII, the more I wonder how much better I would've liked the ending and the game as a whole if I experienced the accurate version first...

[dreamsy990]

some wof au designs i made a while ago i forgot to post

[marigoldwriter]

Lady Kairi, and her pretty blue eyes.

(I think, for now, this is Kairi's final appearance, so, nothing better than finally introducing this character!)

Meet Kairi Blackthorne!

An obstinate and stubborn girl according to reports from servants, she loves stories (especially bedtime stories) about the sea, its many legends and ships their brave crews that tried to explore it. She's a Mariko's copy, with the exception of her blue eyes, her father's courtesy. Baby blue and lilac are her favorite colors (hence her signature colors). She knows english and portuguese (Pt) taught by her father, japanese and latin, taught by her mother, as well as taking classes (after a LOT of insistence) to learn archery and falconry (Toranaga-sama's distant influence).

[ladybugsimblr]

Komorebi Date Days and Nights

[jellyfishvibes]

Welcome back to the vague keyblade theory zone, i have ideas Mainly about the princesses of heart and what their keyblades might look like

Ok so keybaldes, of the types we know of we have Special Keyblades- The Kingdom Key and Kingdom Key D (the keyblades of the realm of light and dark respectively), The χ-blade (the keyblade of kingdom hearts), The Keyblade of Heart (the keyblade made of the princesses of heart's hearts), Ultima Weapon World Keyblades- keyblades that are manifestation of the heart of a world and generally look like that world Connection Keyblades- keyblades that are a representation of a connection between people (Sora's bond of flame or oathkeeper) Heart Keyblades- keyblades that represent the heart of the person summoning it, generally thought to be that persons 'default' keyblade (Ventus' wayward wind)

I think the princesses of heart are in some way very connected to the world they live in (don't get me started on princess of heart theorys i could go on) and as such a heart keyblade manifested from their heart would look like half heart keyblade and half world keyblade, my example is dun dun dun dun Kairi! my favorite little lore exception to theorize about

Destiny's Embrace, a fitting name for how she exists in the story, is her keyblade, and it looks like a mix of Radiant Garden and Destiny Island

the teeth and end looks like it could be a Radiant Garden keyblade, and the handle fades up to a sandy look and the hand itself literally fades into a transparent water effect, with the paopu keychain as well, its both her homes mashed together as a keyblade with a thread of gold tying them together, very much what you would expect from the Princess of Radiant Garden

But also the silhouette is familiar

(While this is it incomplete) it has the same heart cutout teeth section that the Keyblade of Heart has, so me thinks for potential design ideas (that i'm totally not thinking about shush, i would never) that the princesses of heart's keyblades would be a mix of their world, themselves and the silhouette of the Keyblade of Heart From my cursory glances the only keyblades that do have the heart cut out in the teeth are the kh1, 2 and 3 (and kind of dream drop but not really) versions of Ultima Weapon, which are all the versions that Sora wields and kind of Divewing which has half of a heart silhouette as the teeth, there are a few keyblades that have a heart there but not a cutout of it (ven's lost memories mostly, its an incomplete heart but still a heart)

I have no real point to this theorizing beyond thinking too damn hard about keyblades and their designs

[ok4ru]

I know. I know... Swap AU aren't original but Lauriam being swapped with Strelitzia and Sora being swapped with Kairi is also a great concept...

Not original but still!

Imagine a young Lauriam being protective over Kairi since in a way she reminds him of Strelitzia and left her all alone when he died...

They both like flowers and would be great besties so why not?

[aitsuheart]

As someone who likes Soriku, I also like Kairi. I hate how there are unfortunately some people that give everyone who likes Soriku a bad name by hating Kairi and just making her awful in non canon things.

It's quite sad.

The narrative also doesn't really do her justice either and it's such a shame. She could be really interesting. I have stated in the past, let her still have nice friendships with Sora and Riku along with various other characters. Let her have emotions about being left behind and change. Let her get frustrated that she feels that she cannot get strong enough. Let her find out what happened in her past to end up at the Destiny Islands.

I don't want her overpowered. There are some fans who show her a someone who is overpowered and can do anything and it feels like a weak characterization.

Let Kairi feel frustrated that she constantly becomes something to motivate others such as her kidnapping in kh2 and her heart getting destroyed in kh3. It would be so much more interesting if Kairi expressed that she hates how she became a liability. And I'm not saying she is, but she feels that way since she had to be saved.

Not enough people focus on that.

Let her show her feelings or emotions.

It's only reason I sometimes dislike aspects of the people who ship the opposing ship. It's not because it's opposing, but because they reduce Kairi to just that. People show her as having no character other than being a character's partner. It's the similar reason why I dislike the part in MOM where she has to turn to Sora to fight Xehanort.

Why couldn't she do it herself?

In all honesty, I'm fine with the pairing and Soriku is just really special to me.

Disclaimer: These are my thoughts of how Kairi is portrayed by fans and in canon. And what I would like to see from her in future games.

[psychopomp-namine]

still chewing on this but I do think there's a lot to be said about sora and kairi mirroring each other (it's more in your face in remind but I think it's something the series has been doing in small doses over multiple games)

[hqmillioncorn]

Turning and turning Our feelings are tumbling around

Pancake and Linnet watched as Cherrypit continued to climb up the Gridanian aetheryte. It was actually kind of impressive how much the baby leash could stretch. Both girls had decided to take Cherrypit out for an impromptu walk after their complementary breakfast. Courtesy of a promise Lunya had given the three of them the day before. And Cinnamon just decided to tag along. "Do you think he's trying to eat it?" Linnet asked out loud. "No I think he's just having fun biting it." Pancake recalled something Babycorn had told her years ago. "Babycorn said that Cherrypit is still growing his teeth so that's why he bites things still." "Ooh." That made sense. Pancake smiled, it was nice to have things back to normal for a change. Was a thought she had right before seeing Cherrypit take a bite out of the aetheryte. Well, as normal as things could get around here,

with @windupnamazu 's butter and pancake and linnet and cinnamon

when youre recovering from getting kidnapped and used to traverse and heal another world things can get a little boring and also hectic

The day felt like it was going too fast and going too slow at the same time. Somehow it was earlier than Babycorn thought, even though she didn’t feel the least bit tired.

Instead she seemed to feel more tired the darker outside it got. It was kinda annoying. 

Babycorn shuffled around the bed she was currently sitting on. Considering all the times she found herself sitting in such a similar position Babycorn was a little annoyed with herself that she wasn’t at least a little more used to it yet. Or at the very least figured out the perfect pillow ratio to sit comfortably against. 

‘Uncomfy…’ Babycorn thought to herself, chewing on a pencil in her hand. As uncomfortable as the beds in the Twin Adders infirmary were, they were a million times better than her previous accommodations had been. 

Just a little over a week ago she had spent night after night sleeping on the ground. 

Babycorn unconsciously began to crumple the important book she was holding in her other hand. It had only been a couple of days since she woke up from her latest Starsinger induced coma. Though, in her defense, this one wasn’t entirely her fault. 

It couldn’t really have been helped in the case of having been kidnapped and forced to use her power against her will. 

Babycorn still couldn’t remember much of it but from what she could remember, it was that Cremia and Scotch weren’t very nice. Cremia had been the worst of the two, berating her and ranting to her for such a long time. She could understand the desperation of getting something back that you lost but this was just on the verge of being crazy, in Babycorn’s opinion.

Whatever happened to them in the end, Babycorn hoped that they both got the punishment they deser-

Babycorn let out a hiccup, quickly covering her mouth. 

How could she have forgotten that Butter was in the room with her?!

If he heard her thinking such rotten things about his parents what would he think about her?! 

Babycorn kept her mouth covered as she watched Butter walk all around the room. 

He was happily humming a little song to himself while he cleaned up. Picking things up and putting them away, throwing out the trash and making sure that it didn’t get too dusty in here. 

Butter loved doing little tasks like these. For as long as Babycorn knew him he always seemed to be doing something. Babycorn was always a little worried that Butter would somehow complete all the little tasks in the world and he would run out one day…

With all the fun that they all had last night however, it was probably a safe bet that Butter wouldn’t run out of things to clean anytime soon. Pancake and Linnet had brought over several board games and a bunch of snacks courtesy of her allowance from Lunya and Tsuna. 

Babycorn, of course, won none of the games but she did learn just how fiercely competitive Tilika could be.

It was a little harrowing to see the final opponents of every game be Cinnamon, Lunya and Tilika. Though as suspenseful as it was, there was something fun about all of them being together. With nothing to worry about except for the possibility of Cinnamon flipping the game board over. 

At the end of the night Lunya won most of them, except charades. Pancake and Cinnamon won that one, to no one’s surprise. 

Everyone all had so much fun the whole night long that most of them ended up passing out, leaving whole game boards and pieces strewn about the room. Alongside some half-eaten snacks and drinks that were still half full. 

Babycorn had been asleep at the time but Tilika and Lunya had offered to help clean up, only to be waved away by Butter who assured them he had it handled. Both Lunya and Tilika had a hunch that some of Butter’s decision was influenced by the fact that he would be able to stay with Babycorn a little longer. 

Of course, Babycorn didn’t mind. She liked Butter being here! Babycorn liked any of her friends being here, but Butter was a special case. When he was around Babycorn felt like there was nothing that would hurt her because Butter would be there to save her! 

If anyone else tried to take her away he would find her! Just like he had done this time!

Babycorn’s smile and warm feeling in her chest faded a little as she watched Butter’s ears wiggle around. Nervously she reached her hand over to tug on one of her braids, only to find it absent since her hair was down. “Um, hey Butts?” It still felt a little strange to be able to talk with her mouth. Her throat felt oddly dry. 

One of Butter’s ears turned towards Babycorn as he turned around in a split second at the sound of her voice. In his hands there was an empty board game box. “Hmm? Is everything ok?” He looked around the room, taking note of the sun coming in through the window. “Is the light bothering you? Do you want me to close the curtains a little?” 

“Huh?” Babycorn blinked. Now that he mentioned it the sun was sort of bothering her. “Yeah. Could you close them? Pretty please?” 

“Right away!” 

Babycorn kept her eyes on Butter as he happily made his way over to the window and adjusted the curtains. “Actually…Can I ask you a question?” Babycorn nervously chewed on her pencil again. 

“Yeah! Anything!” 

“...Could you hear what I was thinking?” 

Butter shook his head, “I couldn’t hear any of it!” He smiled. Normally such a question would probably have a normal person doing a double take at least three times but at this point neither Babycorn or Butter were normal by any sense of the word. 

“Oh! Okay that’s good!” That was the end of that, Babycorn decided and went right back to whatever she was doing before she started thinking or whatever. That is to say her attention went right back to the book of word searches that Butter had given her earlier. 

Butter had heard Babycorn mumbling to herself something about being bored and decided to let her borrow his book full of word searches.

As Butter picked up another piece of trash he heard Babycorn giggling. “Are you having fuuun?” Butter asked. He was glad she seemed to be having a good time. 

Babycorn nodded, wiggling her legs around. “Yeah! See? See?” She held up the book into the air and pointed at it with her pencil. “I’m circling all the letters! Just like you showed me!” Indeed, Babycorn was circling all the letters in a bunch. The only problem was that none of them formed anything that resembled an actual word. 

“I think I’m winning!” Babycorn kept giggling to herself.

Butter didn’t want to tell her otherwise. “I bet you are! They should give you a big trophy for it!” Something like, the most circles ever circled inside of a word search ever. Chances were that Babycorn probably did circle a real word with all the constant scribbling she was doing. 

“Can I do more pages? Is that okay?” Babycorn figured she should ask since this book was Butter’s. 

“Go for it!” Butter didn’t mind. There were countless word search books out there in the world but there was only one girl of his dreams. And if she wanted to write all over it, then who was he to say no. “I also have picross and word fill books if you wanted to try those!” 

Babycorn’s face lit up. “Wow! I have no idea what those are!!” 

“Don’t worry I’ll teach you!” 

Butter had spent the better half of the dawn teaching Babycorn how word searches work. Of course all she had really understood was circling letters but she was still in the early stages of learning to read still. It would probably make good practice later down the line. 

If Babycorn had her pom up it would have fluffed up in excitement. “Are you gonna hold my hand again and help me write!?” That’s what Butter had done earlier and it was really nice and made her face all warm and her heart beat a little faster than usual and and and and-!

Butter made a funny little noise with his mouth. Something that was a cross between a gasp and someone answering a question with a resounding ‘Yes!’ There was something kinda cute and endearing about it. At least Babycorn thought so. 

Babycorn took Butter’s squeak as a yes (which to be fair it was) and let out a little cheer. “Yay! Thank you Butts!” 

As excited as she was to learn a whole bunch of other things with her very cool friend Butter-first she needed to finish what he taught her first. There were so many more letters for her to circle! 

Babycorn continued to circle letter after letter as time marched forward she and Butter would have small conversations with each other. At one point Babycorn asked Butter what his favorite kind of cake was. Butter’s answer was his sister, Pancake. He felt extra proud of his little joke after Babycorn doubled over in laughter. 

The room was almost all clean now. All that was left was some trash under a small round table everyone had used to hold drinks. “Alright-!” Butter pumped himself up and dove under to pick up the candy wrappers strewn over the floor. 

Soon after Butter disappeared from Babycorn’s view, she took notice. “Butts…?” Babycorn leaned over as far as she could trying to see if Butter was still there, just out of view. Babycorn’s heart began to beat a little faster, she felt a lump in her throat. 

Did something happen? Did he go somewhere? Did someone take him?

It wasn’t long until Babycorn couldn’t take it anymore. “Butts!” She cried out, “Are you there? Butter?!”

Butter reacted a split second right after Babycorn had first yelled his name. His quick reaction time was not without its consequences however. Since his first instinct was to see if something was wrong with Babycorn. Which meant he had to stand back up. 

In doing so his head ended up impacting the bottom of the bottom of the round table with a loud crash. “Ow!!” Butter hissed at the pain and hunched himself over, waiting for the pain to subside. “Ow..Ow..Ouch…”

“...B-Butts?” It sounded like he was hurt. A faint glow appeared in Babycorn’s eyes. “A-Are you o-okay?” To someone who couldn’t see the whole picture it sounded like Butter had gotten really hurt by something. Or by someone Babycorn couldn’t see. 

Babycorn let out a sniffle, “Butter please be o-okay…! Butter…Butter…?” 

By now the ringing in Butter’s ears was starting to fade. “Ah?” Butter rubbed the top of his head, it was still stinging but otherwise he would be fine. Now he could hear Babycorn saying his name, over and over. “Ah!” Butter crawled out from under the desk as quickly as he could and jumped back onto his feet. 

‘Are you okay? Please, Please be okay…!’ If something happened to Babycorn again…There was no force on or off the planet that would be able to stop him from keeping her safe and sound. 

Soon enough, both Babycorn and Butter were face to face again, both of them were breathing heavily with tears dangerously close to the corners of their eyes. It took a few seconds of looking at each other for each of them to realize that neither of them were in any sort of danger. Everything was okay. They were both okay. 

Without a second thought, Babycorn placed her hands on Butter’s. She let out another sniffle, “Are you okay…?” A part of her was having trouble trusting her eyes. Butter nodded, giving her a small smile. “I am! I just hit my head a little when I stood up.” He moved his hand away from Babycorn’s for just a moment to show where he had hit it, “It hurt but I’ll be okay!” 

“You got hurt…?” Babycorn felt a familiar lump in her throat. “Was it cause I was calling you?”

Butter hesitated to answer. “...That was why I stood up but it was just bad luck. It wasn’t your fault.” He decided to ask his own question now. “Are you okay? Babycorn?”

“Huh?” It was a bit of a surprise to hear that. Nothing had happened to her. Babycorn had gotten scared but other than that she had just been sitting here. “I’m fine!” For the most part. 

It was a relief for Butter to hear that. Though they were allegedly safe, there was still this pit of worry in Butter’s gut that something, anything else could happen. A growing anxiety that his parents would walk in and take Babycorn away again. 

That something just like this would happen to any of the other people he loved. 

Babycorn noticed Butter looking away from her. She looked down at her hair, the ends of her tips were still glowing. That was part of the reason she was still in the infirmary. That and she was still too weak to keep herself up without falling over. Which also meant walking was still out of the question.

She frowned, taking in a deep breath. “Butts? Can you promise me something?” 

“Huh…?” That knocked Butter straight out of his spiral of worries. Babycorn was always forward about these things but somehow after all these years he still found himself getting shocked by it. “O-Of course!” He felt Babycorn hold onto his hands a little tighter. 

“Can you promise me you won’t ever never get hurt like me?” 

“...What do you mean?” Butter wasn’t sure what Babycorn meant. 

“Like…this.” Babycorn let go of Butter’s hands and tugged at her hair. “And like what happened at the Ghimlyt dark and when we got back from Sharlayan.”Though they were faint, she could still remember seeing the worried looks from the people around her. “I don’t…” She hiccuped, “I don’t wanna see you be all hurt…” Even seeing Butter being sad was bad enough. Babycorn couldn’t possibly imagine the pain she would feel having to see him halfway dead, and her not being able to do anything about it. 

Maybe it was a little selfish. No, it was. She had been injured and hurt so many times now and Butter had been there every time. And now here she was-asking him to do the impossible. 

That made what happened next even more of a surprise. 

Butter smiled and just nodded his head, “I promise.” 

“...eh?” 

“I said I promise!” Butter remained firm, “I’m not going to get hurt! I won’t ever get hurt! And that’s a double promise!” He winked. 

Babycorn couldn’t hold back her tears at this point. “You…” She wiped her eyes. “Y-You won’t get hurt! Yeah! C-Cause I’ll be there to help you!” Another wail escaped Babycorn’s mouth, but something was different about it. There was a laugh mixed in with it. “C-Cause I’m always gonna be with you! So I’ll protect you and you won’t get hurt Butts!” 

Butter echoed Babycorn’s laugh. “I already promised I would protect you too!” He felt warm tears dripping down the side of his cheeks. “No matter what happens I’ll be there by your side. To keep you safe!” 

“Then we’ll protect each other!” Babycorn leaned forward as much as she could and stretched out her arms toward Butter. “That way we both don’t get hurt!!”

Butter wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly. “Yeah! That’s right!” After this, after everything. Nothing like this would ever happen again. Butter was going to protect all the people he loved, for now and forever. “And everything will be okay…” 

But he knew, he wasn’t alone in his promise. It wasn’t all on him. 

“Hey Butts?” 

“Hmm?” Did Babycorn have something else to say?

Babycorn leaned forward and gave him what some people would describe as a peck on the cheek.

“Butts, don’t ever change.”

[coruscantide]

the duality within a heart ( light & darkness )

In the distant past of the age of fairy tales, when the world was new, to the people there was only light. However, darkness is a natural consequence of light. Light begets darkness. Darkness seeks light. The two are fundamental forces within the universe and coexist inevitably as two halves of the same whole. You can’t have one without the other. People began to grow possessive and obsessive, and they began to covet the light and fight over it, and darkness was born in their hearts.

While not initially found in hearts, the darkness was something that naturally sought the light and expansion so likely out of survival instinct it found ways to worm into the heart through various means of unification ( possession, taking control of a person’s emotions, the bangles given out to union members ), replicating that same process in others as a corrupting influence, using vessels as reservoirs and spreading far and wide, acting like a parasitic virus.

As time passed, things changed. Over many years of integration, living, and existing together, darkness and hearts became entangled, reshaping living beings — who they were and what they could become. Hearts began to birth darkness on their own. Now they naturally produce both darkness and light and everyone has at least a bit of both inside them. People have spent more time with darkness in their hearts than without it. Given the nature of light and darkness and how they are meant to exist together, ironically this could have lead to the heart becoming complete and balanced.

Normal beings, Heartless, and princesses of heart exist on a spectrum regarding the amount of these two properties within their hearts. Heartless are on one end and the princesses are on the other, with everyone else in between. In the case of a Nobody they’re not even on it as they have no hearts at all. This spectrum likely affects what kinds of emotions someone would normally feel on a day to day basis. Most have a relatively normal emotional expression. Again, Nobodies have none at all due to a lack of a heart. Some can undergo drastic personality changes when one half of the equation is changed, like Ventus. This analysis of Ven pre and post removal of Vanitas shows a good job of illustrating what I mean. A person can then take that light / darkness inside them and channel it as a tangible power, bringing that force out and affecting the world around them. Usually in game you see this as the elements of light and darkness that you see characters using to shoot at enemies and each other.

But the light and darkness has core things that they stem from, which affects what they react to. What is that? What is light and darkness meant to be in Kingdom Hearts?

darkness

It's usually treated as an evil, corrupting force. Something malicious, hostile, and violent. It breeds and feeds heartless that lash out and steal hearts. All the villains are using and/or embracing it. Riku succumbed to it back in KH1, turning on Sora, getting possessed and struggling with it throughout most of the series. Despite all this, darkness within people is not evil. There's more to it than that.

In KH, "most are capable of controlling their heart's deep-seated emotions, but it is not easy for some" and so "when the negativity deep within someone's heart grows and can't be contained any longer, darkness is born". It can manifest from intense, negative emotions. Hatred, wrath, envy, loneliness, sadness, guilt, fear, doubt, insecurity, self hatred, and so on. Darkness is any negative emotion. Negativity as a whole it seems.

This is why by its nature, darkness is a little bit more caustic, a little bit more hard to handle than light, more volatile in general.

If a person, place, thing, memory, connection, whatever invokes negative emotions, darkness reacts to it. You could say this is where the term ‘darker emotions’ come from in this universe.

You can experience darker emotions without having darkness manifest itself, but doing so will feed the darkness naturally residing within you, resonating with it and enabling it to start growing. This can lead to the adverse side effect of a feedback loop which exacerbates those emotions, amplifying negative thoughts and feelings, allowing the person to spiral further. When one uses that darkness without caution, or are too tempted by the kind of power darkness can offer, it can draw you in too deep. Being consumed by darkness is the same as being consumed by negative thoughts of sadness, pain, revenge, overwhelming hate. Eventually, the amount of darkness can cross a person’s threshold and grow out of control, leading to it take over your heart if you let it. The darkness becomes too much for the heart to handle and you’re blinded by your feelings. The person completely loses sight of who they even are and their very existence. The heart separates from the body and they are then literally swallowed by their own emotions which shapes and creates the physical embodiment of their darkness — a heartless.

The shock of the heart being removed from the body is also enough to trigger the end of this process as well, the swell of negative emotions surging forth at the moment of death and dousing the heart with darkness, forming a Heartless. The Heartless are driven by instinct and emotions and act autonomously to inflict their negativity on others, their attacks able to corrupt even those with hearts of light, giving rise to new Heartless in turn. After all, misery loves company and negative emotions breed more negative emotion in the people around you.

This is how darkness works.

If a person has innate qualities that lets their heart have an inclination towards darkness, then by this logic they'd experience negative emotions more frequently. With enough negativity darkness grows, and the larger the darkness, the more often they feel this negativity. It’s easy access to a slippery slope.

Vanitas is the purest distilled example of all of this. His unversed are functionally the same thing as heartless. Rather than being individual hearts they are pieces of powerful negative stripped off one greater heart, arising from and returning to the source of pure darkness from which they came.

Most people are afraid to confront the darkness, what it means about themselves when they acknowledge that it exists inside them, but feeling negative emotions is normal and it's not healthy to force yourself to be positive all the time. It's completely fine to have bad thoughts or feelings. The real problem is the potential actions that can be driven by the intense emotions.

Let's look at two characters who use darkness. Sora and Riku.

Anti Form originated from when Sora got turned into a Heartless, and happens when he gets overcome by the power of darkness. It signals that he's more susceptible to negative emotions than ever. Anti Form stems from abuse of his drive power, but then in KH3 it evolves into Rage Form. It grew centered around a strong negative emotion and triggers for Sora when that emotion is too much for him to handle ( typically in moments of critical danger ). The overflow of darkness spills out and throws him straight into his pseudo heartless state. You can even see his darkness increase in his final battle with Xehanort, when the rage that sustains this mode — the same rage that had barely been kept in check after everything Sora just experienced — exploded out after Xehanort used the X-Blade to snatch the light out of his body.

Now, Riku's whole arc is about this. He is someone who fell to his own negativity and was completely taken over by it. He worked to come back from that. He had his ‘you have no power over me anymore’ moment with Ansem in DDD. "Consume the darkness, return it to light." Riku reconciled with his inner darkness somewhat and has better grips over it now compared to the start of the series, letting him harness its power without allowing himself to be swallowed up by it.

I say somewhat because of the kinda negative connotations they always refer to his darkness with. People in the series, including Riku, don't really focus on the fact that he can use darkness without being corrupted. We only hear how he's said to have "locked" the darkness within his heart and is "immune" to it. Remember that darkness is negative emotions. To me, I get the impression that they're treating his control over darkness as less overcoming despairs of his past / accepting the darkness for what it is and more denying the essence of darkness / only embracing its power. If they bother to, Riku fully coming to terms with the darkness and his negative emotions rather than just putting a leash on it and siccing it on his enemies is a possible character arc to explore. Also this means that the darkness Riku smells all the time is things like hatred, pain, sadness, etc.

When Ansem said darkness was the heart’s true essence, he was wrong. For the most part.

It’s a theory that stems from Xehanort's own pessimistic beliefs that light is essentially false. A masquerade people put on to fool themselves and justify their existence. Something to use as cover for the real thing underneath that could be stripped away to reveal the heart’s nature as darkness.

It is important to have darkness to exist and balance out the light, making it a core part of the heart. Perhaps he’s right that all worlds begin and end in darkness. However, the heart itself is different. It’s nature has been and always will be rooted in light. Even in the darkest heart, there’s a shred of light that never goes out.

light

To have a heart is to exist, and the first thing the heart is made of is light. It’s the foundation of the heart and everything that’s built on afterwards, including darkness.

Like with darkness, a person can have innate qualities that lets their heart have an inclination towards light. You might expect after reading all of that about darkness being the embodiment of negative emotions, that light also operates on the idea that it is positive emotions. However, you’d be wrong. Positive emotions are more so considered a frequent byproduct and thus share an association with light, but it’s not the source.

Think about it. The princesses of heart themselves don’t represent positive emotions. Sure, powerful emotions often drive their scenes and actions, things like love, hope, a desire to protect someone else, but they’re not always exclusively positive. To others, their light can even appear as things like charm and beauty in the case of Cinderella or Snow White being described as having “radiance” which references her inherent kind nature. But, light is often depicted as something you can search for and also something you can lose.

It actually seems light is more or less the embodiment of the connections a being has with others and to some extent the world around them. A connection is a relationship in which a person or thing is linked or associated with something else and so light is basically any part of the heart that connects to others. It’s the part that makes other people a part of who you are, forming memories and emotions. It is through others and the connections shared that you exist — that you have a heart. In other words, what the heart is all supposed to be about.

People can have traits and qualities that draw people to them and make it easier to form connections, and so they appear as light, like mentioned before with charm and beauty. Once you have that connection, the things created from it like love, affection, and friendship also appear as light.

Connections aren't just restricted to living people either. When you have a connection, even things like data, toys, machines, and empty puppets can be seen and eventually make hearts. I think that's why there was such a heavy emphasis on things like that in the latter half of the series. This is actually most clearly spelled out by both Joshua and Ansem in DDD.

Joshua — By ourselves, we're no one. It's when other people look at us and see someone - that's the moment we each start to exist. All they needed was for someone to see them, connect with them.

Ansem — The heart has always been quick to grow. Each exposure to light, to the natural world, to other people, shapes this most malleable part inside of us. Nobodies are not different from us in that manner. Sora was the only one able to return to his human form without destroying his Nobody. That is a statement to the love in his heart for other people, and the bonds that tie them together […] Our most precious treasures--even an empty puppet--the trees of the forest, and the petals on the wind--there are hearts around us everywhere we look. And it does not take superhuman powers to see them […] When he sees the heart in something, it then becomes real. When a connection seems broken, he may have the power to mend it. He has touched countless hearts, he has accepted them, and he has saved them.

The stronger the connection you have with someone or something, the stronger emotion you can experience towards it. This can include darkness/negative emotions (ex jealousy, hatred, greed), which you often see in the villains throughout the disney worlds. A cycle that also feeds into itself as a positive feedback loop, building both positive and negative emotions, further strengthening the connection. It reflects the conceptual context of lines like ‘the closer you get to the light, the greater your shadow becomes’ or 'the greater the light, the bigger the shadow it casts’ or ‘no matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within’.

Sora way back in KH1 also pointed a lot of this out the best in his discussion with Kairi, something that’s later mirrored in the scene in DDD where Riku needs to dive into Sora’s heart after Xehanort nearly snatches his body for a vessel: it doesn’t matter how deep the well of awful emotions you find yourself in, you have a connection to someone that can illuminate your way. Someone who can be that light at the end of the tunnel and pull you out of that darkness to bring you back. If you have someone important and believe in that connection, no amount of negative emotion will overtake you.

But breaking these links that form connections — the light, the heart — or at least obstructing and obscuring them and cutting a person off from others can cause the heart to collapse in on itself.

So light is the connection someone has with something else. How does that factor into what we see throughout the series? What examples can you see this in play?

First Sora. He has so many connections, to so many people and places, that he’s the ‘key’ that connects them all. That's why his light is so powerful and why it's emphasized so much. Even though he was an ordinary boy at first, through his connections he easily makes up for not initially being picked to wield the keyblade. But it’s also a double edged Sora, acting as a potential for a great darkness inside him.

Again look at Anti Form. It’s a Drive Form, a power that allows Sora to transform using the aid of his friends and partners into a form that is based on them and their power, basically drawing on his connection to them. Valor form with Goofy, Wisdom with Donald, Master as a combination of Valor and Wisdom while being based on Mickey, Limit seemingly on his past experiences and connections in KH1, and Final being Roxas. Drive Forms rely on his connections, but unlike the rest Anti Form is an after effect of Sora’s time as a Shadow Heartless and is a consequence as a result of over-using the Drive system and subsequently his connections. You can basically say Anti Form triggers in KH when Sora abuses his connections / light too much, causing it to briefly falter, leading to an unintentional overflow of darkness which throws him into the form.

Second, Kairi and Naminé. I’ll make another post about them regarding this but I’ll point out things here and there. As a princess of heart, Kairi’s light and her connections are extremely strong. Her connection to Sora allowed her to recognize him, restore his sense of self, essentially rebuild a body out of nothing for him, get Sora’s heart to open the Door to Light, and to keep him alive after everyone got bodied in the Demon Tide. She’s also the character most associated with stars, something that has always been symbolized as light in various ways. Kairi being a princess of heart can actually be seen as subtle foreshadowing as early as the association with the paopu, a star shaped fruit on Destiny Islands, because it represents an unbreakable connection, thus an incredibly strong light. There is the whole tracing the connection between hearts to find and then put together the final pieces of Kairi's heart ( will be another another post ).

Naminé also goes onto use a paopu as her charm, something that hints at her own connection with Kairi. With light being connections and inextricably tied to memories, where Naminé’s powers came from begin to make more sense. Kairi’s close relationship to light, the importance of memories, and her ability to draw on connections trickled over into her Nobody, who gains the powerful ability to trace those connections and then affect the heart via the vehicle of memories. As you can see with Naminé shattering Riku Replica's false memories, the shock taking his heart out with them and effectively breaking him, it’s very dangerous.

Third, the worlds themselves explicitly have hearts. They are not particularly feeling any emotion so they pretty much lack darkness, but they are connected to the life on them and their residents. Even when a world falls to darkness, it maintains those connections by dreaming the memories of its residents over and over again. This can be how a world has a heart. An accumulation of all of that throughout its individual history post war. The light of their heart is what is seen as stars, which is why when one goes out it means a particular world has disappeared from existence, most likely from destruction by the Heartless who seek out hearts full of light. It’s also noted that though the worlds may seem far apart and out of reach, they nonetheless remain connected by invisible ties. Also, callback to a little deep dive headcanon I made years ago about Radiant Garden ( the city of light ) once being Scala ad Caelum and therefore Daybreak Town ( a bastion of light ).

Fourth, the kerfuffle subplot between Cloud, Tifa, and Sephiroth in KH2. Cloud's strongest connection seems to be to Tifa, and thus she represents his 'light', while the bulk of his most negative emotions somehow tie to Sephiroth, making him his 'darkness'. In Cloud’s own words, as long as Sepiroth exists, he'll never wake from this nightmare. Sephiroth is the source of his strongest negative emotions, thus making him the physical embodiment of Cloud’s darkness.

When Tifa says “Cloud, you can have my light”, she is saying you can have the connection you with me, you don’t have to be alone anymore, you just need someone to be there for you and surround you with light. On the other hand, Sephiroth is going “the light doesn't suit you”, being around others doesn’t suit you. He’s trying to isolate him and cut off that connection to Tifa, to encourage the darkness to grow in his heart. Cloud is blinded by random flashes of light throughout this entire event possibly because he isn’t ready to face that connection to Tifa, it’s too much for him, and so he turns away from it. Maybe because a part of him believes Sephiroth and that he doesn’t deserve to be in that light, to have someone who cares for him.

Fifth, Nobodies. When you have no real emotions or can’t connect to others, what do you have? Nothing. You have nothing and you mean nothing to anyone, aka Nobodies. But when you start building connections as a Nobody, you can start building memories, start to have feelings about said culmination of memories, both good and bad. And then before you know it? Bam, new heart.

Other examples. Vanitas. He’s a creature who literally spawns negativity in the form of unversed and can't comprehend friendships and connections, soe’s constantly mocking Ventus for it. In Union Cross, Nightmare Chirithy states Nightmares like it exist to show people bad dreams, creating negative emotions in the heart and therefore darkness, allowing them to sever connections aka the light and live free of them. The power of waking is also probably a light power, but I’ll make a separate post to focus on that. And Kingdom Hearts itself. It is the heart of everything, where all hearts eventually return, and so it connects to everything and becomes the ultimate source of connection and light.

And finally I want to touch on the idea of false light the Master of Masters and Young Xehanort talks about in DR — “What you feel toward someone you love isn't always good or well-meaning. It can be a false kind of light. Which begs the question: are these messy feelings that emerge from love still light? Or are they darkness?” / "They believe themselves to be moral and virtuous, but it's all an act. Darkness lurks in the pit of everyone's heart. Their light is a total farce."

Xehanort tells the Master how he had seen many people with darkness hidden behind a false light within their hearts, claiming that they act like good people while secretly desiring great power. The weak stripping it from the strong under the belief that they deserve what they've taken from others and that their hollow reasons are justified to maintain a sense of self, causing their darkness to grow.

It actually ties into another conversation with the upperclassmen. "After we were left with only our hearts, we realized something ... There might not be a clear difference between the light and darkness in people's hearts. It's all about different beliefs. People want to believe they're right, so anyone who goes against them is wrong, making them darkness in the eye of the beholder. In every world there was strife born of conflicting beliefs.”

So with the added context of our new understanding, false light is a connection that has become by affected and twisted by negative emotions which can lead to unhealthy behaviours. Actions taken in the name of a connection and is driven by it, but ultimately causes real harm. All the while you justify and believe you’re “good”, “just”, “in the right”, “well-intentioned” or “doing this because you love/care about the other person”, often doubling down when you’re wrong rather than admitting your faults. It can be selfish, possessive, obsessive. Controlling and manipulating others. Abuse. It’s not genuine or healthy to the connection you share, nor does it nurture it and encourage it to grow. It stifles and poisons the connection. The whole thing becomes a complete sham.

Generally, it is people doing shitty things while believing themselves to have the moral high ground. People who think they’re doing what’s right when it comes to you, while they only hurt you and anyone who challenges that point of view is perceived as “darkness”.

Darkness hiding in the light, pretending to be pure while in reality it’s tainted.

In essence, false light is a toxic relationship. And all the implications that come with it.

You can see plenty of examples in the series. The Queen of Hearts denying darkness in her heart, claiming because of her position over her subjects she has the right to treat them however she pleases. Frollo acting as if he's a righteous man of god and really believing he is just in his actions against others because of it, when in reality he's using religion as a means to serve his own selfish needs and desire for power. Kind of like the Jedi, Eraqus condemns the darkness and insists that only the light is the way, seeking to suppress the darkness entirely and instilling his values to various degrees detrimental effects on his pupils, to the point of causing Terra massive insecurity issues about himself which leads to darkness. It eventually leads to his fear of the darkness driving him to attack his students and attempt murder, an action that can be definitely reasoned as for the greater good, but irreparably damages his bond to his students. He acknowledges as much that he failed them and darkness is within his own heart. Riku as well with his treatment of his friends in KH1. Him justifying all of his actions as for the right cause leads him to do a lot of terrible deeds as others around him take advantage of this, until it reaches his lowest point where he is vulnerable enough to have his body taken over.

Anyways, with the battle of light and darkness on the horizon, KH3 especially hammers home the theme of connections.

Olympus, Hercules saying that he was driven to save the one he loved who was in danger, and that true strength is seen as giving things "all your heart”. Twilight Town, when you are a creative person and use your creativity in ways that are hospitable and proactive, you will always draw people to you, making yourself and the people you love happy. Toy Box, the belief that no matter how far you are from your friends, your bonds are always there. Corona, experiencing the world around you and connecting with it and the people living in it. The act of saving / healing the ones who have been hurt and to bring back the person you want to be in your life. Monstropolis, being able to smile and laugh with others in the face of adversity and maintaining your optimism. Arendelle, selfless acts of sacrifice for the one you love, supporting someone who accepts themselves for who they are, and working past mistakes and misunderstandings to come out with a stronger connection in the end. 100 acre wood, the unintentional neglect of connections due to absence, but even if they fade they can always be found again and reestablished. Caribbean, there’s always enough time for hearts to say what’s true and there’s always a way to be with someone. San Fransokyo, being an inspiration for others and giving second chances.

And then, the guardians get wiped out completely and Sora gives up because without his friends he sees himself as nothing and unable to accomplish anything on his own so he’s swallowed by the darkness and dies. But there’s still someone who held on and has a connection to Sora, defying death itself to allow him to piece himself back together and save everyone else. That light in the darkness was still there.

In the end, being the focus of someone's heart can create light and darkness. But no matter how far away the light seems, the heart's voice will always reach it.

[empyreasheart]

i feel like theres a lot of argument over who soras most important person is - kairi or riku - and it kind of stumps me because i think the point is that BOTH of them are equally important to him. sure, depending on how you intepret it they can be important in different ways, but that doesnt make one less than the other. the games might as well be titled "sora loves riku and kairi so freaking much" because hes not shy about it

[embraceyourdestiny]

i feel like nomura not knowing what to do with kairi's character has a very meta explanation of kairi doesnt even know who she is and nomura lives / writes his characters so thoroughly that the quandary hes having is because shes having it too. we really live our characters when we're imaging their life and i myself have felt the total confusion, the heartbreak, the love, the fury, the betrayal, the anger of some characters as emotions completely separate from mine so it makes sense for him to be "stuck" / not utilizing her until now because he didnt know where she fit in because kairi didnt know her place in the universe either