#thoughts about Kairi

[airawisteria]

See, Kairi might not be my favourite character from KH (though, she's really fun to draw), but, like, the way she is so insecure about her friendship with Sora (I would say Riku as well, but let's be real here, those two could barely be considered friends, maybe acquaintances by this point, honestly) is something that would be so interesting to explore. I'm assuming it's probably from the trauma of losing her home world and everyone she cared about, like her Grandma, when her world was consumed by darkness—but, wow.

Even in KH1 where she and Sora are, in my opinion, the closest they've ever been shown to be, she's going on about leaving alone with Sora, the way that she immediately gives Sora a good luck charm the second she knows he's about to leave again, the way that she reaches out to Sora so desperately as if to say, "Please don't leave".

Then, in KH2, she straight up just forgets (not that it was her fault) about him and goes on with her life perfectly content. Once she realises, however, she immediately tries to remember him with such desperation that you have to wonder—why does she care so much for Sora but was perfectly fine staying on Destiny Islands instead of looking for her world or desperately trying to hold onto her memories of her Grandma? I think, at this point, some people would brush this off as 'her romantic feelings for Sora', but, like, is it really just that? I think it's more so about how she doesn't want to lose Sora completely as she did with her home world. She almost lost Sora completely, memories and all, and I think that after you've experienced losing your loved ones and the world that you've grown to love/have always loved almost completely at the ripe old age of a nursery kid. That leaves scars (obviously). So, when she realises she might lose someone she knew she was close with—she does whatever she can to get him back. Kairi wasn't able to do that with her home world, but maybe she could with Sora?

So! She immediately writes Sora a letter, puts it in a bottle and lets it float away. It's also probably why she takes such an active role in KH2, especially compared to KH1 where she was passed out for most of it and when she was awake she wasn't really doing much (like, Nomura, mate, couldn't you have had Kairi at least try to fend off some of the heartless??), but here she might still be getting kidnapped and stuff, but!! She's actually actively searching Sora out, trying to find him, fighting Axel, fighting the heartless with her keyblade, she's even the entire reason Sora even fucking found Riku, in the end. Now, let's fast forward to the end of KH2, Riku and Sora are stranded in the Realm of Darkness while Kairi is in Destiny Islands. She's alone, again. Imagine, finding two of your closest friends in the past, and then, bam! They're gone, again. And, again, you're helpless to do anything about it. That has to do something to your self-esteem, right? You've almost lost your friends twice, lost your world twice (kinda) and you couldn't do anything about it both times. It's like you're destined to be the only one left behind, the only one who can't take part in the Mark of Mastery exam, the only one who isn't in the Realm of Darkness or fighting Xemnas, the only one in the Realm of Light, and, the only one who will never be able to catch up with your friends.

So, the Mark of Mastery happens and Kairi's busy learning how to wield a keyblade with Lea/Axel. Just like how Sora's failures are getting to him, Kairi's incompetence is getting to her—I mean, have you heard her voice lines? She even fucking cuts her hair not because she thinks it's getting too long or something, but because she thinks Sora might like her more with short hair. It isn't about her, it's about how she needs to keep up, how she needs to be someone the others can turn to, how she needs to be on the same level as everyone else—because if she isn't, how will she ever be able to be there for her friends? How will she ever be able to stop being the 'damsel in distress'? She doesn't send her letters to Sora anymore, probably because she thinks she and Sora are no longer the same friends who could connect easily and talk to easily—she thinks Sora and her have gained some distance. Distance that could probably be shortened over time, maybe, but distance that is stopping her from being able to open up to him. Then, there's the whole paopu fruit thing where she gives Sora another good luck charm because, like in KH1, she's scared to lose him, again. So, she intertwines their fates, because what other reassurance does she have?

And, then, the whole thing with the Keyblade Graveyard happens where Sora has a mental breakdown, and Kairi isn't strong enough to be there for Sora—but, Riku is. I don't think she remembers that bit, but during the first timeline, she reaches out to Sora specifically. Maybe it's romance, or maybe it's her trying to be with him so she won't lose him again.

But, anyways, onto the second timeline. Sora loses Kairi again cause Xehanort's being an asshole as he does. This time, Sora has to sacrifice himself for Kairi to return—and so, she loses him, again. Only this time, it's all her fault (not that it really is, just what I think she thinks about the matter). And within seconds, her self-esteem probably crumbles—she's lost someone again, someone precious again, someone she couldn't save, someone who had to save her, just like how it was with her Grandma.

Okay!! Rambling about Kairi over, but, like, I could go on and on about how much losing her home world was like for her and all that jazz.

[haunted-xander]

It's Riku! Riku's here!

[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

[mochapanda]

my kh4 kairi thoughts. i think she deserves her own emo flop era

[localcryptideli]

So I am re-playing Kh1, and right now I need to tidy up my room, but please someone remind me to rant about a theory I am pretty sure about.

The summary of the theory is that 1. multiple forces were already at play by Kh1, and 2. Kairi was the one who opened the Door and caused the islands to fall.

[bitternace]

we were gods, we were kids

[ID: two digital drawings of Riku, Sora, and Kairi in their kingdom hearts 2 outfits. the background is shades of blue, lighter at the top. they appear as if floating in a body of water.

In the first image, Riku, on the left, stares down with a slightly worried expression, his visible hand on sora's shoulder, and the other on Kairi's. Kairi, on the right, leans into Sora's back, with either hand on his core. Sora, sandwiched between the two, has his hand on Riku's cheek, and the other on top of Kairi's on his stomach. he leans forward to kiss Riku's cheek.

The second image is a close-up. /End ID.]

[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).

[tragicclownwrites]

🤡

[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

[wyvernspirit]

I either need Kairi's hair to go back to its KH2 length OR for it to go back to being as short if not shorter then her KH 1 hair

Because the current bob feels like a backtrack on her character growth HOWEVER if they go back to her KH1 length it's a consistent backgrowth and an actual conscious design decision

And I would hope that design decision would result in a moment of Kairi reassessing herself and everything she's been through

But anyways like usual they'll just style her hair directly after Hikaru Utada's current hairstyle during production because god forbid they put any thought into Kairi's character design and growth

For Kingdom Hearts sake they ignored that her main colour in KH1 was purple to be the middle colour between Riku's blue and Sora's red to instead have her main colour be pink because she's "The girl" of the group

Sigh

It's tough wanting better for Kairi as a fan of these games

[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.

[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