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Duh: Riku, Kairi, and Kairi's Keyblade



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Oracle Spockanort

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Taochan and I have pretty serious conversations about Kingdom Hearts sometimes. Usually it ends with "THIS MAKES NO SENSE" because even though the series does make sense, sometimes you just have to give the finger to how information is delivered in all kinds of ways.

Anyways, we were talking about got onto the topic about Kairi's Keyblade and the fact Riku was the one who gave it to her. We know that it was Aqua who bequeathed a Keyblade to Kairi (as accidental as it was), but in Kingdom Hearts II it is Riku who quite literally pulls Destiny's Embrace out of the clear blue and hands it to her. Even today this makes no sense. Nomura doesn't even bother to explain it because he likes leaving things ambiguous for fans to mull over while we wait for Theatrhythm Kingdom Hearts Kingdom Hearts III the next Kingdom Hearts title.

This is about as much as he says on the subject:

VI. Please explain Riku's newly obtained Way to the Dawn and the Keyblade Kairi wields, and tell us about the conditions of becoming a Keyblade Wielder.

There isn't just one Keyblade for the side of light and one for darkness. There are as many keyblades in existence as there are hearts qualified to wield them. At this stage, the only requirement that has been made clear is that someone must have a 'strong heart', but there are other requirements that haven't been spelled out yet which I plan to reveal another time when I have the chance. Riku's Way to the Dawn and the Keyblade Kairi wields are of the same nature as Sora's Keyblade. However, what with one having developed with the Soul Eater as intermediary and one having been handed to Kairi by Riku, I would like you to think that something not fully explained, outside the usual method of acquirement, is going on here.

A Look Back: Director's Secret Report XIII - News - Kingdom Hearts Insider

Of course, it isn't very helpful. Through the years, many people have tossed out theories about how that Keyblade got there in Riku's hands, if it was even Kairi's own Keyblade and instead was Xehanort's Keyblade transformed, or whatever.

Maybe we need to take a simple and clean approach to this. Let's look at how Sora was able to obtain Riku's Keyblade in KH1:

---Even though Riku was the rightful owner of the Keyblade, then why did Sora obtain the Keyblade in the beginning?

Nomura: Even though I would like to keep that obscure, there is a scene in Destiny islands where Riku is being swallowed by darkness, a light appears, and Sora first obtains the keyblade. With the setting I created, the darkness that surrounds them is Riku’s heart’s darkness. At that moment, Sora enters the darkness, and the light he sees inside is Riku’s heart’s light. Sora, who was squirming in the darkness to save Riku, touched the light and temporarily obtained the Keyblade from Riku.

Kingdom Hearts Ultimania - KH Ultimania - Nomura Interview (part 3)

After Sora took the Keyblade from Riku, he quite literally spends most of KH1 borrowing the Keyblade. It isn't until the events of Hollow Bastion that Sora truly earns the right to wield the Kingdom Key. Why do I bring this up? Taochan and I believe that it is extremely possible that Riku probably ended up doing something similar with Kairi's Keyblade.

From the time that Kairi ran away from Axel to the point that Kairi yells "You leave Sora alone!" to a bunch of Shadows, Kairi has been proving her strength of heart. She's faced adversity, stood up against those who would harm her and her friends, and time-and-time again she remained strong in her beliefs that she'd find Sora and Riku. This steadfast determination could have possibly been strong enough to call upon the strength of the Keyblade, and thus why it comes to her when a horde of Shadows are about to attack Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Kairi herself.

But where does Riku come into play? Well, he clearly pulled the Keyblade from wherever just as Kairi needed it to fight the Shadow Heartless. What if he just did what Sora did, and pretty much plucked it from hammerspace as it was coming to Kairi? During that scene, a light briefly flashes as Kairi is trapped under a Shadow pile and the Riku is there pulling her up with all of the Heartless destroyed. He doesn't have his own Keyblade out at this point in time, so what destroyed them?

We present the idea that the light that shone as Kairi was trapped was Kairi's Keyblade coming to her aid, and in that moment Riku grabbed it before giving it to Kairi.

It's so dumb, but so damn simple.

Pardon if the idea has been mentioned before, but I've seen many threads around here and nothing that mentioned this idea.
 
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Antifa Lockhart

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yeeeeeeeees!!! This is the delivery boy principle I've mentioned in threads that bring it up! It makes more sense to me than any other theory.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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It's my head canon now.

yeeeeeeeees!!! This is the delivery boy principle I've mentioned in threads that bring it up! It makes more sense to me than any other theory.

Let's all headcanon this forever. The Xehanort Keyblade theory is interesting in all of its complexity and deep meanings but yes this is the one that makes the most sense. I am sad I never saw your comments sooner xD
 

LedxirnSimon

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This probably has to be the case similar to the those characters that tried to summon one by surprise but couldn't do it in other times afterwards like Roxas tries to summon a keyblade in Twilight town.exe before he remembered his keyblade usage fully or Xion tries to summon one on her own, so...

does it mean Riku didn't summoned Xehanort's transformed keyblade on the screen?
 

Lonbilly

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I feel like the Xehanort Keyblade theory was a really nice one, but sort of makes no sense after we got KH3D. But then again, that could just be because I like this idea a lot more as it doesn't make Kairi a character who is simply borrowing a Keyblade from Riku, but has it delivered to her by Riku. (Although I'm guessing she can't wield it/doesn't know how to wield it after since it disappears for the rest of the series after that scene)
 

Cosmic+Amarna

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He doesn't have his own Keyblade out at this point in time, so what destroyed them?
I can't account for the flash of light being shown, but Riku didn't need to be handling his keyblade in order to destroy those heartless. Dark Firaga. Well it probably wasn't that specifically but we do see Riku shoot dark blasts of whatever from his hands in KHII.
 

LedxirnSimon

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Yes, that is exactly what it means. How could he when Xehanort has his Keyblade in KH3D?

I refered to Xehanort's heartless/Ansem imposter which had the combined heart of Xehanort's and eraqus's and terra's hearts, despite being a heartless like riku stated in DDD that he is still unable to wield a keyblade, I think it requires someone's body in order to summon their "locked" power.

I really hope Riku says something about Kairi's keyblade in KH3 while kairi is training under Yen sid, like he saw her keyblade appeared in her hand when he was standing there in KH2.
 

Taochan

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I refered to Xehanort's heartless/Ansem imposter which had the combined heart of Xehanort's and eraqus's and terra's hearts, despite being a heartless like riku stated in DDD that he is still unable to wield a keyblade, I think it requires someone's body in order to summon their "locked" power.

I really hope Riku says something about Kairi's keyblade in KH3 while kairi is training under Yen sid, like he saw her keyblade appeared in her hand when he was standing there in KH2.
Sora wields a Keyblade as a glorified walking heart from the end of KH1 until Roxas rejoins him in KH2.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I can't account for the flash of light being shown, but Riku didn't need to be handling his keyblade in order to destroy those heartless. Dark Firaga. Well it probably wasn't that specifically but we do see Riku shoot dark blasts of whatever from his hands in KHII.

That kind of a dark-natured attack wouldn't cause a blinding flash of light like what was seen before the horde of Heatless vanish. In fact, it should be fair to say that most instances of a blinding flash in cutscenes tend to be light-related.

I refered to Xehanort's heartless/Ansem imposter which had the combined heart of Xehanort's and eraqus's and terra's heart

Yes, I understand this, but that does not eliminate the fact that the collective "Xehanort" mass share one Keyblade as we know at this time.

Apprentice Xehanort used Xehanort's Keyblade on himself and the other Apprentices. It was the heart of AX that becomes SoD, so in theory it would still be Xehanort's Keyblade.

Also, It was only Terra and Xehanort's heart that "fused". Eraqus' heart remains sleep deep within Terra's unless we are to be told differently in KH3.

despite being a heartless like riku stated in DDD that he is still unable to wield a keyblade, I think it requires someone's body in order to summon their "locked" power.

All that is really needed is a heart to wield a Keyblade. Sora lacked a conventional body after he became a Heartless and then gained a human form when Kairi's light purified the darkness around his heart and he still used the Keyblade.

Xehanort's Heartless was unable to wield because, as Riku aptly puts it, "But darkness stole your heart, and the Keyblade with it." SoD couldn't wield because he was lost to the darkness and a heartless, not because of the fact he was comprised of a heart-only.

I really hope Riku says something about Kairi's keyblade in KH3 while kairi is training under Yen sid, like he saw her keyblade appeared in her hand when he was standing there in KH2.

Except her Keyblade never appeared in her hand. It was in Riku's first.
 

LedxirnSimon

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Sora wields a Keyblade as a glorified walking heart from the end of KH1 until Roxas rejoins him in KH2.

I know, It's two different methods of wielding a keyblade when you are reduced to just a heart.

Sora were restored by Kairi's PoH powers after being a heartless for a short period.

XH is currently the only heartless that manages to wield a keyblade using the body of a teenage.

if there's anything I've missed.

EDIT: (after reading the other posts above) I'd tend to believe that one in scene was just a two seconds cut off, like picking up one from ground where kairi had summoned one but never keep it held in her hand, then handing it over her.

anyways, thanks alot for clear answers! :)

This shall be our headcanon forever.
 
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Oracle Spockanort

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I know, It's two different methods of wielding a keyblade when you are reduced to just a heart.

Sora were restored by Kairi's PoH powers after being a heartless for a short period.

Please read my post addressing these things above.

XH is currently the only heartless that manages to wield a keyblade using the body of a teenage.

Yes, but that really isn't related to any other methods that are relevant to this discussion. That Keyblade was created by the hearts of the Princesses of Heart minus Kairi's. It was a special Keyblade. SoD needed Riku's body to wield any Keyblade because being a Heartless and being a being lost to the Darkness made it impossible to do so.
 

Zephyr

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I actually think that Riku possesses Kairi's Keyblade is because in KH1, the Keyblade of People's Hearts needed the seven hearts of the princesses which may have indirectly caused Riku to borrow it. Note how Riku returns Kairi's Keyblade when he is in the appearance of Ansem in KH2. I think coincidentally it mirrors the time Riku was possessed by Ansem and how he has stolen Kairi's Heart along with her Keyblade.

  1. Aqua indirectly performs the Rite of Succession with Kairi
  2. Riku, possessed by Ansem, takes Kairi's Heart and indirectly borrows Kairi's Keyblade
  3. Riku, while in the appearance of Ansem, returns Kairi's Keyblade
  4. Yen Sid learns later learns that Kairi can wield a Keyblade because Keyblade inheritance methods were indirect

Then again, I think your theory could be better and simpler because it didn't really show who destroyed those Heartless besides implying Riku did somehow. The light from the first game could be the same light from the second game.
 
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Antifa Lockhart

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Zephyr

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Oh yeah, this is how I put it:

http://forums.khinsider.com/kingdom...-obtain-destinys-embrace-kh2.html#post6219665

but thank goodness this has gotten traction elsewhere, the Xehanort Keyblade thing was just...too much for me.

I definitely agree with this lol. I'm completely forgetting that a person loses a Keyblade when they're too close to the darkness and Kairi never was since she's pure light (unless we count the hoards of Heartless ganging up on Kairi) so my theory about Riku taking Kairi's Keyblade in KH1 seems off.
 

Oracle Spockanort

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I actually think that Riku possesses Kairi's Keyblade is because in KH1, the Keyblade of People's Hearts needed the seven hearts of the princesses which may have indirectly caused Riku to borrow it. Note how Riku returns Kairi's Keyblade when he is in the appearance of Ansem in KH2. I think coincidentally it mirrors the time Riku was possessed by Ansem and how he has stolen Kairi's Heart along with her Keyblade.

  1. Aqua indirectly performs the Rite of Succession with Kairi
  2. Riku, possessed by Ansem, takes Kairi's Heart and indirectly borrows Kairi's Keyblade
  3. Riku, while in the appearance of Ansem, returns Kairi's Keyblade
  4. Yen Sid learns later learns that Kairi can wield a Keyblade because Keyblade inheritance methods were indirect

Then again, I think your theory could be better and simpler because it didn't really show who destroyed those Heartless besides implying Riku did somehow. The light from the first game could be the same light from the second game.

The whole thing is an awesome idea but Kairi's heart was never used for the Keyblade of People's Hearts because it was still in Sora. So that is where the theory falls apart. Riku's never been in contact with Kairi's heart directly.

This is why SoD attacks Sora. He needs Kairi's heart to unlock the Door to Darkness but he doesn't have it.

Also, at that point in time Kairi wouldn't have a Keyblade for Riku to take. It didn't arrive to her until KH2 once she started being more proactive and could prove herself as a strong person. Kairi in KH1 merely slept until her heart was freed from Sora's.

The Rite of Succession does not give a Keyblade. It merely ensures one will one day reach the receiver if they prove themselves worthy of one.
 
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*that moment when something you've thought on for so long has such a simple answer you facepalm yourself*
 

Oracle Spockanort

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Oh yeah, this is how I put it:

http://forums.khinsider.com/kingdom...-obtain-destinys-embrace-kh2.html#post6219665

but thank goodness this has gotten traction elsewhere, the Xehanort Keyblade thing was just...too much for me.

Wow I totally missed that thread entirely. Now we just need more people to actually care about this.

*that moment when something you've thought on for so long has such a simple answer you facepalm yourself*

Yep. Yeeeeeeeep.
 

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Wow, I'm shocked at how much sense this theory makes..

If it turns out to be true in KH3, then I guess Kairi will still have her Destiny's Embrace. Shame as I kind of wanted her to get a new key blade with a better designde
 
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