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About Kairi’s future role in the series



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Alpha Baymax

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Oh, fuck! Didn't even think of this! So obvious in hindsight. It'll probably be Ventus, right? He would want to take the test to prove himself and regardless of his own want for the title he's just a super nice guy that would be happy to be Kairi's training partner/friend. And them being tied together might assure Kairi's involvement with Ven's upcoming adventures involving his old life, sounds good to me. Ya know, I bet Ven's old life drama would come crashing down on them during their training because surely it'll have some sort of snag like what happened to Sora in DDD.

I wonder if Terra will be involved in this process. He probably still has issues with the title of Mastery, he might want to find something else to do. But Terra spending time with Kairi could be interesting, especially since Melody of Memory brought up her awkward history with 'him'.

Oh, shit. I didn't think of my idea like that. Ventus being Kairi's training partner really is obvious in hindsight. Granted, the training under Master Aqua doesn't even have to be for the role of Keyblade Master so much as it's a way for Kairi to be on par with Aqua's skills. As far as a conflict goes, having Darkness interfere by doing to Ventus what it did to Terra during Birth by Sleep is a really smart setup to delve into Ventus' past life as a Dandelion Union Leader.

I think Terra can work here because he's formed a connection to Namine post-Kingdom Hearts II. Namine has likely retained her powers over memories, and because she was formed when Ventus' heart was recovering inside Sora, she's arguably as connected to Ventus' memories as she is to Sora's memories... which in turn gets Marluxia involved with Namine again because of his connection to Ventus'... the setup for this writes itself and I genuinely hope Nomura pulls something off something like this.
 

Vulpes XIII

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I feel like y'all are fantasising too much about the possibilities of what can be done with Kairi under Aqua's tutelage and could be delivering yourselves to disappointment (like with Kairi's inclusion in MoM, but that was honestly deliberately done/marketing). The only precedent we have with Kairi's dealing as a character is the flopping Nomura has done ever since KH2. DDD's ending did tease her on a much more important role, but it ended underdelivering.

But I'll be objective and say that I think that KH3's ruined year or two of dev made Nomura rush whatever plans he had for her in KH3.

---

Edit:

I forgot to mention:

We keep forgetting that the plot line of the New Seven Hearts include Kairi. So there is a possibility she is going to have a more active role in the future (assuming the New Seven Hearts plot line gets to be developed or it was just a nice name to give to the newer generation of Disney Princesses).

Honestly the New Seven Princesses of Heart plot line is something I personally don’t have much hope for as I don’t think Nomura is actually ever intending to use it in the future and in my opinion they were just used as a plot device in KH3 and the only time I think the Princesses of Heart will be mentioned is in reference to Kairi that’s it. Considering how much Verum Rex seems to be Nomura‘s main focus and I guess the age of fairytales and the ancient Keyblade legacy as well. I can’t see Nomura actually wanting to work on the stuff to do with the Princesses of Heart storyline especially considering how bad it was to work with Disney In making certain worlds like Frozen in KH3 and he would probably not want to work on making Frozen 2 in a future Kingdom Hearts game in my opinion ( however he knows he can’t get rid of Disney so who knows what will happen.)
 
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Face My Fears

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Oh, shit. I didn't think of my idea like that. Ventus being Kairi's training partner really is obvious in hindsight. Granted, the training under Master Aqua doesn't even have to be for the role of Keyblade Master so much as it's a way for Kairi to be on par with Aqua's skills. As far as a conflict goes, having Darkness interfere by doing to Ventus what it did to Terra during Birth by Sleep is a really smart setup to delve into Ventus' past life as a Dandelion Union Leader.

I think Terra can work here because he's formed a connection to Namine post-Kingdom Hearts II. Namine has likely retained her powers over memories, and because she was formed when Ventus' heart was recovering inside Sora, she's arguably as connected to Ventus' memories as she is to Sora's memories... which in turn gets Marluxia involved with Namine again because of his connection to Ventus'... the setup for this writes itself and I genuinely hope Nomura pulls something off something like this.
Throwing Ven into the mix with Kairi is going to have another Sora-clone rob Kairi of attention. If Nomura is planning to give Kairi anything, her only hope is to have it be just her and Aqua (and Xion and Namine). Ven will completely ruin any chance Kairi has for a storyline if he gets included.

I would be kind of OK with Terra being involved in the story, as Terra has a somewhat "background" with Kairi. It would be good to see Kairi and Terra talk about the whole Xehanort possession thing or if he remembers anything Xehanort did that may help with understanding unreality.

Just no Ven please.
 

Megavoltage

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Throwing Ven into the mix with Kairi is going to have another Sora-clone rob Kairi of attention.
I didn’t think about it that way. I guess Kairi’s own journey could get buried by Ventus. But doesn’t it make sense for Ven to be her training partner? Sleepy boy would already be hanging out with Master Aqua when Kairi shows up and I can’t see him refusing to be involved like Terra might. And if Kairi wants more involvement in the quests instead of ever being left behind wouldn’t it be natural for her to try and help Ven as his life is thrown into a blender? Also, Kairi and Xion being a training/adventuring duo has fun potential, that would probably allow Kairi to grow more on her own than time spent with Ventus, but as things are right now I don’t think Xion would have an interest in Keyblade training, she’s still enjoying her life as a normal person. As the story progresses a couple games forward I could foresee a future where both Xion and Roxas will get caught up in the chaos that the Lost Masters will unleash on the multiverse and they’ll be brought back into the life of adventurers because of that, then they’ll probably get formal training so that they can keep up with the others. But as we are right now I don’t see any reason for Xion to show up at Land of Departure asking for training. I could be wrong on that, who knows what will happen. We all know how tricky this franchise is in trying to perfectly predict things! Maybe suddenly Xion does want training and then Ventus is sent to some errand by Yensid so he can’t be involved, who knows what will happen. It’s just... I dunno. I really don’t see things shaking out that way. Not that I’m against your idea.
 

Face My Fears

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I didn’t think about it that way. I guess Kairi’s own journey could get buried by Ventus. But doesn’t it make sense for Ven to be her training partner? Sleepy boy would already be hanging out with Master Aqua when Kairi shows up and I can’t see him refusing to be involved like Terra might. And if Kairi wants more involvement in the quests instead of ever being left behind wouldn’t it be natural for her to try and help Ven as his life is thrown into a blender? Also, Kairi and Xion being a training/adventuring duo has fun potential, that would probably allow Kairi to grow more on her own than time spent with Ventus, but as things are right now I don’t think Xion would have an interest in Keyblade training, she’s still enjoying her life as a normal person. As the story progresses a couple games forward I could foresee a future where both Xion and Roxas will get caught up in the chaos that the Lost Masters will unleash on the multiverse and they’ll be brought back into the life of adventurers because of that, then they’ll probably get formal training so that they can keep up with the others. But as we are right now I don’t see any reason for Xion to show up at Land of Departure asking for training. I could be wrong on that, who knows what will happen. We all know how tricky this franchise is in trying to perfectly predict things! Maybe suddenly Xion does want training and then Ventus is sent to some errand by Yensid so he can’t be involved, who knows what will happen. It’s just... I dunno. I really don’t see things shaking out that way. Not that I’m against your idea.
If Kairi wants to be trained by Aqua, it would be rude for Ven to just demand to also be trained at that moment. I can understand if Ven was already being trained by Aqua and Kairi joined in, but for Ven to be eavesdropping while Kairi asks Aqua to train her so she can be strong enough to go into another reality to save Sora, then Ven demands to be trained as well would come across pretty bad for Ven.

What I would like to see is: Kairi goes to the Land of Departure and asks Aqua to train her. While there, there's a one minute scene where Terra/Ven go off to do something explaining their absence, then Aqua and Kairi go off on a journey, ultimately leading up to Kairi's Mark of Mastery (which she passes). Xion and Namine come along on the journey, per Yen Sid's instructions, to be support. In one world, maybe Olympus, Aqua and Kairi come across Terra and Ven, then they all enter the games, and Aqua and Kairi beat Ven and Terra easily. Zack also reappears and asks Aqua on a date again, is denied, then tries Kairi and is denied (which then leads to a Sora montage in Kairi's mind and maybe even she gets a glimpse of what is happening to Sora).

The end of the game (secret end boss) would actually be a boss fight like what happened to Kairi in MoM. Instead of Sora possessing her, Kairi senses Sora is in trouble and she possesses him (so the fight is Kairi in Quadratum) and helps Sora beat whoever he is fighting in Quadratum.
 

Megavoltage

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maybe Olympus
I’d adore TAV revisiting with their Olympus friends, it’s the Birth by Sleep reunion I want the most followed by Stitch. If Zack got flirty a second time I bet Aqua would be more prepared and handle it less awkwardly thn before, it could be a cute scene showing this home schooled person maturing socially. Aqua might even be impressed with how easily Kairi handles the situation on her first try, this would show the difference between them. Aqua’s the stronger fighter but Kairi wasn’t as socially stunted since she grew up in a world with many inhabitants and went to a normal school instead of just a weird Keyblade dojo. But that black feather in the ending credits, doesn’t that imply Zack is missing or even dead? If that’s the case I think TAV would be horrified about Zack’s disappearance, they’d want to help anyone in peril, especially a personal friend, but for Zack to be gone all this time would probably reignite their own pain of being forgotten and just left to rot for years and years. This would get them hurriedly investigating the Zack/Sephiroth/Cloud/Tifa subplot. Then the Restoration Committee would be happy to help anyone investigating Cloud’s disappearance which would lead to Kairi spending more time with her birth world inhabitants instead of just hanging out in Ansem the Wise’s lab. We didn’t get to see many interactions with them in her brief stay in KH1's Traverse Town but I bet she’d get along well with Yuffie.

Huh, wow, I just go into random fanfiction tangents. Oops. Assuming the Sephiroth subplot gets answered at all it’ll probably be a tiny segment after you finish another optional super boss. But I like to wonder.

Back to the training arc, would Aqua take Kairi to the Mirage Arena? I keep hoping that place shows up again.
 

Face My Fears

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I’d adore TAV revisiting with their Olympus friends, it’s the Birth by Sleep reunion I want the most followed by Stitch. If Zack got flirty a second time I bet Aqua would be more prepared and handle it less awkwardly thn before, it could be a cute scene showing this home schooled person maturing socially. Aqua might even be impressed with how easily Kairi handles the situation on her first try, this would show the difference between them. Aqua’s the stronger fighter but Kairi wasn’t as socially stunted since she grew up in a world with many inhabitants and went to a normal school instead of just a weird Keyblade dojo. But that black feather in the ending credits, doesn’t that imply Zack is missing or even dead? If that’s the case I think TAV would be horrified about Zack’s disappearance, they’d want to help anyone in peril, especially a personal friend, but for Zack to be gone all this time would probably reignite their own pain of being forgotten and just left to rot for years and years. This would get them hurriedly investigating the Zack/Sephiroth/Cloud/Tifa subplot. Then the Restoration Committee would be happy to help anyone investigating Cloud’s disappearance which would lead to Kairi spending more time with her birth world inhabitants instead of just hanging out in Ansem the Wise’s lab. We didn’t get to see many interactions with them in her brief stay in KH1's Traverse Town but I bet she’d get along well with Yuffie.

Huh, wow, I just go into random fanfiction tangents. Oops. Assuming the Sephiroth subplot gets answered at all it’ll probably be a tiny segment after you finish another optional super boss. But I like to wonder.

Back to the training arc, would Aqua take Kairi to the Mirage Arena? I keep hoping that place shows up again.
I thought the Mirage Arena was non-canon?

Also, I thought it was confirmed that Sephiroth and Cloud's storyline ended in KH and will continue in Super Smash Bros?

Maybe Aqua and Kairi can go back to Olympus. Terra and Ven greet them and inform Aqua that Hercules found out (ten years later) that Zack has gone missing. They launch an investigation together to find Zack which takes them to the Underworld. After a boss fight with Hades, we find out that Zack was brutally murdered and sent down the abyss of souls - which Hades then reveals takes someone to The Final World - where he has no jurisdiction. We're left to wonder what happened. In the closing credits of the game, we see a black feather and Zack standing up in Quadratum - where he will be a boss fight for Sora/Riku in their game.
 

the red monster

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Nomura is too busy with verum rex to care about kairi and aqua training. i actually think it's his way to side line aqua and kairi together for a game or two so riku, yozora and sora will get all the focus.
nomura only care for his boys and it's getting proven every single game.
he doesn't know how to give a female character meaningful role.
 

Swing

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Like I said in another thread, or maybe already in this one, I don't know, Kairi is nothing more than a price to collect. She is KHs version of the Stars from Mario, the Triforce from Zelda, the Jiggies from Banjo-Kazooie, the Golden Bananas from DK, etc. In other words: she is just an item!

At this point, I don't have any high hopes for her anymore. She couldn't even be the main character of her own freaking game, for crying out loud! This really, really shows me, that Nomura has no plans for her.

They should just write Kairi out of the franchise. Something I learned in art school is, that if you have a character that doesn't further your story, then you should just get rid of them. Maybe she can be a foot-model for a magazine? I would subscribe to it.
 

2 quid is good

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It's been like this for some time, but KH no longer treats its characters like characters, more like plot devices, and Kairi especially so.

I don't see it changing any time soon, so I guess you just accept it or keep living in hope (more power to you if you can, me personally, I think ten years of waiting on Kairi is enough)
 

Hedginka

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The more I think about it, the more I would have preferred she train under Riku instead of Aqua. The primary reason being that Riku/Kairi relationship building has been desperately needed from this series for like a decade now, but also Riku’s a Keyblade Master with overwhelming and unique experiences to share. I’m inclined to believe he’s stronger than Aqua with the accomplishments under his belt as well.

Kairi training with Aqua is still cool. But not my personal pick.
 

SweetYetSalty

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I like @Hedginka idea. Kairi training under Riku would also allow her to go with him to find Sora. This whole 'I need to go train' sounds like it's going to be a regular recurring thing to write a character off when not being used. What level does Kairi even need to be at to be allowed to have a adventure? Because I don't think either Riku or Aqua could beat Master Xehanort one-on-one either, so what are we even training for?

As far as Kairi's future goes, this is how I see it. Kairi will finish training, show up and do something really cool that Sora and Riku couldn't, just like in ReMind with Xemnas's guard, you'll team up with her and she's OP gameplay wise like Roxas was in KH3. After showing off how powerful she is, she'll go right back to the background and Sora and Riku will take charge again. If that happens I'll still be disappointed. You can make Kairi the most powerful character in the series and it won't mean anything if she doesn't have a good story to tell, which is what I mainly want from her. Being powerful doesn't equal being a well written protagonist. And I fear that is what is going to happen with Kairi, because ReMind seemed to satisfy a lot of her critics even though all it did was mask Kairi's problem rather then fix it. She is not the tritagonist of the series, even though she should be. Mickey and even Aqua fit that category more.
 

Swing

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The primary reason being that Riku/Kairi relationship building has been desperately needed from this series for like a decade now, but also Riku’s a Keyblade Master with overwhelming and unique experiences to share.
I could be wrong about this but did Riku and Kairi even interacted with each other in KH3? They might do in KH:MoM but I think in KH3, they had no meaningful interaction with each other. This kinda shows me how bad the characters are written in KH. Kairi and Riku were two of the three main ocs, and in modern games, you wouldn't even think that they are supposed to be friends. If they even are at all.
 

Megavoltage

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The more I think about it, the more I would have preferred she train under Riku instead of Aqua.
I’ve been completely desperate for Aqua and Kairi interactions since BBS and “I don’t remember that but it sounds important!” wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy me so I’m less annoyed with this compared to you. But in a perfect world she probably should have left with Riku to help rescue Sora, since KH2(2005!) she’s been upset with getting left behind and we’re still going through the same routine. If the plot didn’t drag its feet so much with finally rescuing Aqua we probably could have gotten this master and student interaction finished sooner...
 

Face My Fears

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I could be wrong about this but did Riku and Kairi even interacted with each other in KH3? They might do in KH:MoM but I think in KH3, they had no meaningful interaction with each other. This kinda shows me how bad the characters are written in KH. Kairi and Riku were two of the three main ocs, and in modern games, you wouldn't even think that they are supposed to be friends. If they even are at all.
Riku was super busy in KH3 and wasn't around while Kairi was training. Then they rushed off to the Keyblade Graveyard for a war. There wasn't time for them to chit-chat.

KH2 basically solidified Kairi/Riku's amazing friendship to me, then we got MoM that showed them as good friends.

Kairi training under Riku would have been a great excuse to have her force her way to Quadratum with Riku. At this stage of Kairi's development with what has been established, the only thing that will salvage Kairi's character now is an Aqua/Kairi game, where she becomes a keyblade master at the end. Kairi needs a solo storyline away from Sora. I always said that separating the two will actually help develop both their characters. Sora will finally be doing something other than "saving his friends" (especially Kairi) and Kairi will finally not be in distress/kidnapped/unconscious/waiting on a beach writing poetry. Nomura just needs to pull the trigger: Sora/Riku game AND Aqua/Kairi game. Show the fans that Aqua and Kairi are important.
 

Swing

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You can make Kairi the most powerful character in the series and it won't mean anything if she doesn't have a good story to tell, which is what I mainly want from her.

The worst part is, she actually has a story to tell. The concept is right there, they just never took advantage of it. She is one of the seven Princesses of Hearts, she grew up in Radiant Garden, has a pretty mysterious background, she is a key blade wheeler, she has a connection to the main villain of the series, she was the first of the main trio that encountered the Heartless. Everything was there for a decent character and they never did anything with it.
 

BassDS

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Nomura said we were only seeing a glimpse of her past in MoM, and on top of that, he was hesitant to outright say it was even her game at all.

The fact is, the next game is NOT taking place entirely in Quadratum; KH is a Disney IP, therefore, they have to have Disney themed locations in the game; to just not have a game like would be random as hell and make no sense; the Disney worlds in the next game can easily pave the way for it to be part of her training.

MoM, Xigbar and the foretellers completely outnumber Sora and Riku, and it'd be madness to think they could take all seven down by themselves; There is still meaning to insert Kairi into helping them, because if you forget, the new story lore takes from UX, so by default, Ven will be a part of it too; and with the extended cast, the warriors of light HAVE the numbers advantage. I don't believe Nomura is going to focus solely on Sora and Riku, lest he portrays them getting tossed around by ancient masters like rag dolls.

Point is, Kairi still has a role to play; she HAS a viable, and honestly more enjoyable moveset thanks to Re:MIND, and it would be a waste to NOT reuse them; because let's be honest here; we're PAST the days and years of long game droughts; and with them knowing the ins and outs of UE4, it'll be easy to construct new games faster while also using assets they currently have thanks to KHIII.

Nomura's had plans for Kairi since KH1, and he's now able to act on them in a new playing field and story with the Xehanort Saga now behind us.
 

Cumguardian69

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MoM, Xigbar and the foretellers completely outnumber Sora and Riku, and it'd be madness to think they could take all seven down by themselves; There is still meaning to insert Kairi into helping them, because if you forget, the new story lore takes from UX, so by default, Ven will be a part of it too; and with the extended cast, the warriors of light HAVE the numbers advantage. I don't believe Nomura is going to focus solely on Sora and Riku, lest he portrays them getting tossed around by ancient masters like rag dolls.
Except...yknow, KH3 happened, where Sora practically solos every dorkness with room to spare. yeah, he played second fiddle but every last dorkness was getting their meat tossed around (and even the lights the same way) until Sora shows up.
 
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