#writing this kind of makes me think kaiven is a likely eventuality

[hollowwhisperings]

Kairi getting to know Ven through Aqua would ALSO allow the story to elaborate on how Princesses of Heart/Light "work": we never got to see how the original 7 Princesses (Alice, Jasmine, Cinderella, Snow White, Aurora, Belle, Kairi) 'channeled' their lights as individuals working together rather than objects in Ansem SoD's Machine.

Each of these Princesses is individually powerful: each of their Lights/Hearts seems to function equivalently in KH like the sun to Earth. Kairi is one of these 'suns' while Riku is Sora's personal one (Sora being Riku's 'Moon').

The Seven Lights in the KH universe seem to have become integral to the post-Masters fabric of reality: we still have no idea what that means for Kairi, only able to extrapolate based on the abilities of Ven-as-split-from-Vanitas. Ven & Kairi have a LOT in common (amnesia, getting kidnapped by mad scientists, getting yeeted across space-time, being stuck in a role of 'distressed damsel' and 'eternal child').

I think one of the reasons why (some of) the original Lights have 'retired' is because, post KH1 & 2, their worlds stopped 'looping': none of the princesses who were in BBS seemed affected by the 10 years that passed for the Destiny Island trio. Maleficent, in KHUX and elsewhere, seems to be aware of her world (& others) 'looping': it's plausible that this was done TO those worlds in order to keep the Worlds at large on [life support]. After all, when Maleficent & Ansem SoD 'interrupted' this function of the Seven Lights... their universe at large started falling apart.

Kairi has never brought up what, exactly, the Princesses did nor how they did it: Kairi has, instead, attempted to mimic Sora (& thus Riku) verbatim. Kairi REMAINING a Princess of Heart despite (all of?) the others presumably 'returning to real time' alongside their Worlds... is because KAIRI has remained 'static' despite her home Worlds experiencing 'time'. Admittedly, even in 'moving' worlds, time is... weird. Donald's nephews are still kids; Mickey's relationships with his fellow Disney Towners is unphased by long periods of absense; Donald & Goofy have no issues with spending years with Sora despite having their own lives back home. It's possible that Disney Towners have much longer lifespans & thus different concepts of time; it could be different worlds experiencing time at different speeds, as in our own universe; it could be true of the ENTIRE KH universe, especially given the Enigma that is Kairi's Grandmother.

Sora and Riku seem unlikely to be much involved with the series' worldbuilding mysteries: Kairi is innately connected to these mysteries and will only become even more involved. She is uniquely qualified to explore these mysteries, which would require an entirely different approach than Sora's "Connections Make Me Strong Enough To Bash Heads With A Blunt Sword" or Riku's power of Gay Pining/Tea/Light&Darkness.

if we wanted to argue for Kairi to be 'strong' in the same way as her friends... THEORETICALLY, Kairi 'should' be as powerful in Light magic as Sora (through Riku) or Riku because they share that innate potential that comes from "hearts of strong light"... it's not that Kairi is 'lacking' but that Kairi's use of Riku & Sora's methodology must not work for her. Their methods work for THEM because their hearts & minds are in synch about what makes them 'strong': Sora makes Riku strong because [Gay Pining]; Sora has not, however, ever made KAIRI notably stronger. Which implies that... Kairi is not actually in love with Sora & her heart knows it, even if her mind believes otherwise.

Until Kairi understands herself as an individual, not just one part or a trio or 'someone who loves Sora'... Kairi will keep falling behind. Melody of Memory is the first time Kairi has taken agency over her own life: her story is her own, not one she'll face on the sidelines of the Main Games & their Soriku Focus.

False Start: Analyzing Kairi’s Arc After Melody of Memory

In October 2019, I did an analysis of Kairi’s character arc as of the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 and what I felt was being set up for her going forward.

My major point was that Kairi’s fear of change was holding her back from reaching her full potential and catching up to Sora and Riku, but that by the end of Kingdom Hearts III she had overcome that fear and was ready to move forward. 

In hindsight, I jumped the gun in assuming that the end of KH3 marked the definitive point where she got over her change and could truly move forward. While she had some good moments in Re:Mind, Limit Cut promptly put her to sleep for an entire year, trying to search the memories in her heart for a clue to Sora’s whereabouts. 

But then Melody of Memory happened. 

When Kairi faces the memory of Xehanort, she says in the original Japanese version that Sora and the others being hurt was the result of her strength not being enough. I’ll save the rant about how the English localization consistently removes Kairi’s moments of self-reflection throughout the series for another day, but my main point is that this sets the groundwork for her decision to remain behind while Riku goes to Quadratum. When she chose to increase her training under Aqua, I was thrilled because finally this was the sign I was looking for that Kairi was really, truly, ready to move forward. 

A lot of people were disappointed by this decision because they felt like Kairi needing more training was the whole point of her being brought to the Mysterious Tower at the end of Dream Drop Distance. But there are a few things that set this moment apart and explain why her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 did not amount to as much as fans were hoping. 

First, it’s that this time Kairi is exerting her own agency and making the choice herself. Her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 was never something we saw her actively choose. So Kairi making that choice on-screen has more weight than Riku bringing her to the Mysterious Tower for training on Yen Sid’s orders. 

Second, while the memory of Xehanort notes that she did improve in the brief time she was training, the way she was being trained wasn’t suited to her style. The description we get of her training in Kingdom Hearts 3 mostly seems to amount to her and Lea sparring each other repeatedly - which is exactly how Sora and Riku developed their sword fighting skills growing up. And when you look at her battle stance and the way she holds her Keyblade in Kingdom Hearts 3 compared to how she held it in previous games, her stance is an exact copy of Sora’s. It’s no wonder then why she changed into Sora during the final boss fight in Melody of Memory then when she was clearly trying to imitate him. 

In the 2006 Characters Report Vol. 1 book, Tetsuya Nomura’s comments about Kairi in the early games identify the fear of growing apart from Sora and Riku as a major source of anxiety for her. The fact that her training and combat stance in Kingdom Hearts 3 imitate Sora so heavily indicates that Kairi is trying to catch up to Sora and Riku by trying to be exactly like them in that area as much as possible. With how much the series has focused on personal identity with regards to Roxas and Xion being their own people, it makes sense why Kairi doing that failed her in Kingdom Hearts 3. Because Sora and Riku’s style isn’t suited for her. 

Because she isn’t them. 

For Kairi to achieve her goal of catching up to Sora and Riku’s level, she needs to step out of their shadow and figure out how to be herself instead of trying to be Sora. And the best way for her to understand herself will be to understand her past. 

The Xehanort that Kairi faces in Melody of Memory is explicitly identified as a construct of her heart. He tells her that the answers she seeks “lie in memories that are long gone,” and tells her that there is nothing for her to find in her heart. However, that isn’t really true with what previous games have established about how memories work in this universe. Chain of Memories establishes that memories are stored in the heart, and that while the connections between them can be rearranged, they are never gone for good. 

So while Kairi may not consciously remember her childhood before arriving on Destiny Islands, the memories are still there deep in her heart. All she needs is something or someone to help her restore the connections between them. To rebuild the links in her Chain of Memories, so to speak. Kingdom Hearts 3 and Melody of Memory both specifically call attention to Kairi’s first meeting with Aqua in Birth by Sleep, as well as the fact that Kairi doesn’t remember it. From a narrative standpoint, the series has set up that remembering that first meeting will help Kairi regain the rest of her memories from Radiant Garden. 

But remembering her past is not the only arc the story has set up to help Kairi understand herself better. Training with Aqua also puts her in a position to interact with another teen who has a heart of pure light.

Who was also in a coma for a time while his heart rested in Sora’s body. 

It’s not a coincidence that Union X first revealed the existence of the entity known as Darkness just a few months after KH3 revealed that being a Princess of Heart was a mantle that could be passed on rather than a permanent state of being. Then Re:Mind revealed that Darkness is still hiding within Ventus’ heart in the present day. And following the release of Melody of Memory, the next Union X update revealed that Darkness had killed Streliztia because it saw her death as the best way to grant Ven’s desire for strength. The ability for Princesses of Heart to pass on their powers serves as set up for Kairi to do the same, opening herself up to struggling with darkness in her heart for the very first time. 

Kairi wants to become stronger in order to stand alongside Sora and Riku. But she has not struggled with her negative emotions the way that Riku has or that the narrative framework sets up Sora will be in the near future. But her decision to train alongside Aqua puts her in a position that has the potential to force her to go through that struggle herself should Darkness try to grant her desire for strength in ways that she doesn’t want. 

I know that I was wrong before about Kairi getting over her fear of change. But this time, I’m confident that Kairi’s character arc is finally picking up momentum. What Melody of Memory has that previous games didn’t is a clear sense of narrative direction. All Dream Drop Distance did was vaguely establish that she was going to start training. Kingdom Hearts 3 didn’t give enough information to form concrete theories about the trajectory of her arc. 

But all the Kingdom Hearts content released in 2020 has set up foreshadowing for a very specific plotline in regards to Kairi’s character growth. And not only that, Xehanort’s monologue in the flashback to her childhood where he says “if you arrive in a world that is neither light nor darkness, but somewhere on the other side, your task will be far from easy” adds a significant connection between Kairi rediscovering her past and the mysteries of “unreality.” Especially because Xehanort acting like it was actually possible for her to end up there instead of Destiny Islands raises the question of whether she truly went straight to Destiny Islands after Xehanort sent her off. 

Kairi's connection to “unreality” makes her the lynchpin of all the major story arcs being set up for the other characters while Sora and Riku are in Quadratum. The parallels between them foreshadow Ventus regaining his memories of the Age of Fairy Tales just as Kairi is set up to regain her memories of Radiant Garden. Ventus regaining his memories of the past logically connects the Birth by Sleep trio to Lauriam and Elrena through his role in Strelitzia’s death, as well as to the Twilight Town crew considering that Subject X is heavily implied to be Skuld. Then of course there’s Luxu, who is directly responsible for Subject X’s disappearance, and the Foretellers, who are still with Luxu last we saw them.  

With Sora and Riku off in Quadratum with Yozora and the Master of Masters, Kairi is narratively set to step up and take charge in dealing with the major unresolved plotlines from Union X and KH3 that need dealing with. By the time Sora and Riku finally make it back, she’ll be a whole lot closer to their level.

TL;DR: I was too hasty in 2019 when I declared that Kairi had gotten over hear fear of change. I only had nebulous ideas of what would come next. But now I can pick out all the subtle foreshadowing that illuminates a concrete path forward, and I’m confident that now she’s finally on the right track.