Kingdom Hearts doesnt have many female characters tbh ngl

[yamibakura95]

Kairi, Namine and Xion are literally the same person. Then you have Aqua who is a Kairi clone and Larxene who despite being a ***** feels more real than the others who are just dolls at this point (Kairi had a personality in kh1 being sassy yet caring though).

 

[AR829038]

Don't forget Strelitzia, the character whose only two purposes were to have a crush on the player character and then die for the character development of her brother.



Yeah, I'll always love this series, but man, it has a terrible track record on female characters. Namine and Xion aren't even full people—they're literal extensions of the main male character (Xion more so than Namine, but her too). And Aqua's only purpose is to look after her two male companions as like an ersatz mother figure. And then, of course, we have the Nameless Star, who literally has no name and no agency to speak of as of yet. And Vor and Urd from Dark Road are literally styrofoam nothings at this point, interchangeable with anybody else.

Of all the OG female cast members in the series, Larxene is the only one with any kind of agency, and even she is only here because she had nothing better to do than follow Laurium into the future and help him on his missions. Plus, it's interesting that the one woman in the series with such agency also happens to be a raging b*tch.

Yeah, KH ain't good to its ladies. Shame.

 

[okhi12]

Not an original character but there's also Maleficent, who... is a rather outdated villain that Nomura refuses to forget about and appears here and there despite her being almost irrelevant and non threatening at all since KH1, making her more laughable than anything.
Yeah, KH sucks at handling female characters.

 

[yamibakura95]

Not an original character but there's also Maleficent, who... is a rather outdated villain that Nomura refuses to forget about and appears here and there despite her being almost irrelevant and non threatening at all since KH1, making her more laughable than anything.
Yeah, KH sucks at handling female characters.

i mean, the entire org 13 had like on female member lmao. its weird cause Nomura had designed plenty of fmale characters for other games

Don't forget Strelitzia, the character whose only two purposes were to have a crush on the player character and then die for the character development of her brother.

Who?

eah, I'll always love this series, but man, it has a terrible track record on female characters. Namine and Xion aren't even full people—they're literal extensions of the main male character (Xion more so than Namine, but her too)

man i cant swallow xion as an individual person. i cant find anything on her thats unique. even liking thalass shells is something kairi did too.

Of all the OG female cast members in the series, Larxene is the only one with any kind of agency, and even she is only here because she had nothing better to do than follow Laurium into the future and help him on his missions. Plus, it's interesting that the one woman in the series with such agency also happens to be a raging b*tch.

And at some point they lost their hearts and became Marluxia and Larxene, right?

Nomura created lots of female characters for union cross. 2 foretellers are girls and there are others too. But the main titles have very few original women (you can count ollete i guess).

 

[AR829038]

Nomura created lots of female characters for union cross. 2 foretellers are girls and there are others too. But the main titles have very few original women (you can count ollete i guess).

I barely count Invi and Olette because Olette doesn't really do anything and Invi barely has any defining characteristics. Oddly enough, Ava probably stands out as the only female character in this entire franchise with some defined sense of agency and motivation that doesn't have anything to do with a guy. I can't say the same about Aqua and Kairi, sadly. Just making a female character capable in battle doesn't make them a good female role model.
Of course, it's hard to have strong-willed characters in a series where most of the main cast is literally designed to just be off-shoots of other people and where the whole theme of the series is dependency on others.

 

[Vulpes XIII]

Nomura definitely needs to get better at writing female characters as when it comes to female characters the only ones that I actually consider good are Larxene and Xion as all the other female characters come across as boring in my opinion and honestly I find Strelitzia an more interesting character than Kairi which definitely shouldn’t be the case since Kairi has been a character who has been in the games since the start of the series and is a Princess of Heart/ Guardian of Light and Sora’s love interest while Strelitzia was only in the mobile game for 2-3 updates before getting killed ( I really hope that Strelitzia somehow gets brought back in a future game and gets a better role than she did in the mobile game)

In terms of Kairi personality the only time I thought she was good was in the manga ( that moment where she tricked the dusks and got herself out of the prison cell was one of my favourite Kairi moments) I know the manga not canon but the fact the person who writes the manga can write a better version of the character than Nomura is definitely not a good thing. Also it would be nice if Kairi stopped getting captured by the villains in the games and actually be allowed to do something useful but unfortunately that very unlikely to happen which is a shame because her character deserves better.

Honestly I know it’s unlikely but I‘m hoping that since we are going into a new saga that Nomura ability to write female characters gets better. As characters like Skuld and Ava seem to be good so far so hopefully that remains the same when they appear in future games and since Elrena most likely going to appear in future games as well,I’m hoping she will be still a interesting and entertaining character. As I noticed that with the majority of Organization XIII they tend to become less interesting when they go back to being their original self.

 

[AmaryllisMoth]

man i cant swallow xion as an individual person. i cant find anything on her thats unique.

Consider this: if you had twins who were separated at birth and grew up in two completely different environments, and the two of them ended up with completely different friends, dreams and life goals but then they end up meeting up later in life and their personalities are actually still pretty similar on top of looking alike, would you say that the two of them are the same person? Or not?

What about if instead of twins, we had some advanced science and you actually stole the DNA off of person A and used it to create person B but they still grew up separately. Are they the same person then?

Not saying you need to like Xion at all-- that's your opinion and fine enough, but I think the game tries very hard to establish an answer to said above hypothetical. No matter the circumstances of your birth, you are your own person and no one can take that away from you. If that rings true to you, then Xion being her own person at least shouldn't be too problematic to come to terms with.

imo, while both Xion, Namine and Kairi all have a similar "core" personality of sorts the three of them either by their environment or the dangers they have had to face along the way have caused different parts of that personality to stand out. Namine is far more subdued and gentle likely because of being constantly treated as a prisoner, emotionally abused, etc. Xion is much more prone to emotional outbursts and seems far more sensitive likely due to the specific abuse she had to suffer from, having to question her own worth in existence and who/what she really is. Kairi is the most cheerful of the three, and seems the most likely to tease her friends and be a bit playful since she fortunately grew up with far less trauma (that she could remember).
There are subtleties, but unfortunately the game doesn't highlight either of the girls long enough for those to become readily apparent. I am sure with more screen time and focus their differences in personality will shine out a lot more clearly. At the moment it is a flaw of the game design--unless one is actively looking and analyzing at the girls directly it would be very easy to miss and simply lump all three of them into the same role of "sweet, supportive but determined girl" archetype.

 

[Absent]

Not that many girls? I think you might be unto something.

 

[yamibakura95]

I can't say the same about Aqua and Kairi, sadly

It would be more interesting if Aqua was in Terra's place, her being the one to have a tendancy to use darkness

In terms of Kairi personality the only time I thought she was good was in the manga ( that moment where she tricked the dusks and got herself out of the prison cell was one of my favourite Kairi moments) I know the manga not canon but the fact the person who writes the manga can write a better version of the character than Nomura is definitely not a good thing. Also it would be nice if Kairi stopped getting captured by the villains in the games and actually be allowed to do something useful but unfortunately that very unlikely to happen which is a shame because her character deserves better

my favorite kair was in kh1 when she was kinda sassy and playful. in kh2 she became really boring.

As I noticed that with the majority of Organization XIII they tend to become less interesting when they go back to being their original self.

haha this is kinda legit. its ironic how being somebodies they have less personality than they did as nobodies

Not saying you need to like Xion at all--

she is my waifu lmao

here are subtleties, but unfortunately the game doesn't highlight either of the girls long enough for those to become readily apparent. I am sure with more screen time and focus their differences in personality will shine out a lot more clearly. At the moment it is a flaw of the game design--unless one is actively looking and analyzing at the girls directly it would be very easy to miss and simply lump all three of them into the same role of "sweet, supportive but determined girl" archetype.

its just that all three of them look so similar it drives me nuts. In FFX, the female characters were drawn to be very different from each other and i liked that but in kh they have the same face and the lack of screentime to develop their characters makes it worse. Xion is more militant than Kairi and Namine but even thats nt original since her fighting style is inherited from Sora.

 

[TrueTroper]

The reason KH's female characters are all such bland copy pasta is because Nomura can't bring himself to believe they can be anything other than cute, helpless girls or barely competent women. I think the best evidence of this is in Nomura's characterizations of the female characters in KH and the way he designs their outfits... I mean, Nomura can barely bring himself to design an outfit for a female character that DOESN'T include a dress or a skirt. Has anyone else noticed that?

 

[Skittles_Witch]

You know for this critique being common as it is a lot of the female characters have a lot of the most emotional storytelling and personal growth in the series and the critique I see usually tries to hold them to the standard of men while also ignoring all the plot details and character traits of each. As a woman I’d like to see more women characters but overcoming the oppressive odds and figures in this series towards them is a HUGE sign of agency and I’m tired of my feelings on that being argued against. Every original female character in this series has a feeling or a want and acts on it, and overcomes opposition to that act. Y’all just don’t see the strength in femininity. The other thing is that a lot of these characters are drawn to each other as well, and/or don’t have their arcs finished.

 

[May-Jor]

You know for this critique being common as it is a lot of the female characters have a lot of the most emotional storytelling and personal growth in the series and the critique I see usually tries to hold them to the standard of men while also ignoring all the plot details and character traits of each. As a woman I’d like to see more women characters but overcoming the oppressive odds and figures in this series towards them is a HUGE sign of agency and I’m tired of my feelings on that being argued against. Every original female character in this series has a feeling or a want and acts on it, and overcomes opposition to that act. Y’all just don’t see the strength in femininity. The other thing is that a lot of these characters are drawn to each other as well, and/or don’t have their arcs finished.

I don't think any of this changes how bland most of the girls are. It's not "unfeminine" for a cast of females to do more than collectively share a yamato nadeshiko archetype, and I don't think it's too much to ask that characters who previously had more personality to not be reduced to one. Why are the male characters even on a different standard? They too have emotional arcs and it's done a lot more effectively. And that's not saying much because their writing sucks, too, imo.

 

[TrueTroper]

You know for this critique being common as it is a lot of the female characters have a lot of the most emotional storytelling and personal growth in the series and the critique I see usually tries to hold them to the standard of men while also ignoring all the plot details and character traits of each. As a woman I’d like to see more women characters but overcoming the oppressive odds and figures in this series towards them is a HUGE sign of agency and I’m tired of my feelings on that being argued against. Every original female character in this series has a feeling or a want and acts on it, and overcomes opposition to that act. Y’all just don’t see the strength in femininity. The other thing is that a lot of these characters are drawn to each other as well, and/or don’t have their arcs finished.

Let's play a game, I'll describe a female character's personality and you try to guess which one I'm talking about, okay?

She's kind, polite, compassionate, responsible, cares about her friends, wants to spend time with the people she loves. Who am I talking about? You have several choices among these female characters to choose from: Kairi, Namine, Xion, Aqua, Ava, Skuld, Invi, Ollette.

Need some more clues...? Okay, I guess based on personality, the female characters are blah---it's not like Luxord and his gambling/games or Saix and his obedience, Marluxia and his ambitions, or Vexen and his science...

So let's cheat a bit and add some non-personality stuff. How about the fact that this female character can wield a keyblade as a weapon, ensuring that they have a "strong heart"? You still have quite a list to choose from: Kairi, Xion, Aqua, Ava, Skuld, Invi.

Wait, you still can't get it? Hmm... Maybe asking you to recognize a female character on personality and weapons isn't enough like Axel and his chakrams or Roxas and his dual-wielding, or Zexion and his giant book.

Uh, let's see, what else is there? Umm, I guess I could spell it out for you with the character's physical appearance: she has short hair and she wears a skirt. We'll exclude Invi and Ava because who knows what they look like, and Skuld has long hair and Xion wears the black Organization outfit... But---wait! That STILL leaves you to choose between Kairi and Aqua!

SO WHICH FEMALE CHARACTER AM I TALKING ABOUT?

IDK... Let's just say Aqua because she used to be awesome before KH3.

EDIT: Aqua is actually wearing shorts... That means the only answer left is Kairi because she's wearing a skirt.

 

[Sign]

Uh, let's see, what else is there? Umm, I guess I could spell it out for you with the character's physical appearance: she has short hair and she wears a skirt. We'll exclude Invi and Ava because who knows what they look like, and Skuld has long hair and Xion wears the black Organization outfit... But---wait! That STILL leaves you to choose between Kairi and Aqua!

Aqua's not wearing a skirt.

 

[MATGSY]

Well we could count the Disney characters. Sure feels like Rapunzel & Elsa got better development than Kairi & Xion in KH3.

 

[TrueTroper]

Aqua's not wearing a skirt.

Oh yeah, she isn't. From behind it looks an awful lot like a skirt and since she's rarely seen from the front in gameplay, and doesn't have much cutscene time in KH3, the "skirt" part of her outfit sticks out like a sore thumb rather than the fact that it's not a skirt... I was wrong--I apologize and I'll edit the above post to change the fact. Thanks.

Well we could count the Disney characters. Sure feels like Rapunzel & Elsa got better development than Kairi & Xion in KH3.

And between Rapunzel and Elsa, I feel like Rapunzel had more character development than Elsa--which I guess makes since because Sora spent more time with her and so she HAD to get more focus on her character--even if what little character focus she received was directly from her movie...

 

[Deleted member 246005]

I read somewhere that Marluxia was originally meant to be a female villian. They changed the gender because they wanted to avoid controversy of Sora hitting a woman in Japan. Which I understand but why leave Larxene a woman then? It just felt odd to me..

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Trivia/KingdomHearts- check the What could've been segment.

It's funny how bad KH is at writing female characters when most of the writers also worked on Final Fantasy. Which handles its female characters more competently.

They have their problems like FF10-2 but I still prefer hanging out with the Gullwings than any of these girls.

Granted Kingdom Hearts has weaker written characters than Final Fantasy. The female characters stand out more because they are less numerous.

Sora became really annoying in 2 but Kairi is so nondescript its easy to forget she was involved in 2. It became a case of pick your poison.

I'm ragging on Kairi but she is easier to fix than my problems with Sora. You just leave her with Leon and the others at instead of returning her to Destiny Islands. That allows you to do more with her character in between 1 and 2. She could train to be a fighter, learn about her birth family, bond with Yuffie and Aerith etc. She could even travel with Sora in the first half of 2. If you want to ship them or just have them be friends, this change allows you to develop that bond better. Her getting kidnapped now has more weight because the player got to know Kairi better.

In fact, Serah from FF13-2 is Kairi done right. She gets the arc fans wish for Kairi and she did it alot faster. Kairi feels like a lost cause because it's been 10+ years and 5+ games. Her time in 3 and MoM just feels like too little to late for me personally.

 

[Sign]

I read somewhere that Marluxia was originally meant to be a female villian. They changed the gender because they wanted to avoid controversy of Sora hitting a woman in Japan. Which I understand but why leave Larxene a woman then? It just felt odd to me..

The controversy wasn't about attacking women, but that in an organization otherwise full of men, the only women would be traitors. It's a very bad look.

 

[Absent]

 

[Deleted member 246005]

The controversy wasn't about attacking women, but that in an organization otherwise full of men, the only women would be traitors. It's a very bad look.

But they still kept Larxene. I don't see how keeping her solves that issue. Why not just scrap her too?