Riku's New Character Arc

[radiantmemories]

For almost the entire series, Riku's character arc has been about him overcoming the darkness and gaining redemption. But in KH 3D, he's finally done it. Not once throughout the game does Riku hesitate when a villain taunts him with his failings. He knows who he is know now and him earning the right to be a keyblade master is the final thing that he needs to prove to himself he has earned his redemption. So now that that character arc is finished, what are they going to do with him? I thought it would be kinda fun to speculate about that for both KH3 whatever games come afterwards. And even though I accidentally made the title about him having a new arc, I think they could either be lazy and give him no character arc (it's happened before) or ignore his progress and have him be battling the darkness again, so I wanted to include wich people think they will do in the discussion as well.

 

[Anagram]

I'd rather they leave him be and give other characters the development he was given. Riku has come full circle he doesn't need anymore. He should be present in the story yes but he doesn't need a new arc.

 

[Grono]

For almost the entire series, Riku's character arc has been about him overcoming the darkness and gaining redemption. But in KH 3D, he's finally done it. Not once throughout the game does Riku hesitate when a villain taunts him with his failings. He knows who he is know now and him earning the right to be a keyblade master is the final thing that he needs to prove to himself he has earned his redemption. So now that that character arc is finished, what are they going to do with him? I thought it would be kinda fun to speculate about that for both KH3 whatever games come afterwards.

I can see them furthering his comparisons with Xehanort, about how they were both born on the Islands with a desire to go abroad, took the temptation of darkness, and went out to seek their own deeds. He will most likely stand as a pillar showing where Xehanort is placed as a sympathetic character, but it will most likely be Riku being tempted by Ansem and being tempted by his self that he saw in DDD when he was in Monstro. I don't know, but I feel like Riku and himself in that one scene is going to be further explored in Kingdom Hearts III. Here's hoping, I guess.

 

[Zettaflare]

find a love interest

In all seriousness, I don't honestly know what else they can do with him. If he struggles with the darkness again, it will just feel like a retread and cause him to lose some development. I guess they could give him an arc on his status as a master. Maybe take on a student at the end of KH3

 

[namine_ftw]

He's a master now so he'll probably be doing master-y things. His arc wrapped up nicely already and it would be really annoying if they have him struggle with darkness again. Personally though, I'd rather have the game focus on developing characters who haven't been given Riku's amount of screen time/development*coughKairicough*

 

[The Dark Mamba]

If he struggles with darkness again then I'm skipping those cutscenes. Enough already.

 

[BlackOsprey]

Have him work on his social skills. No, really. It's like the only issue of his that hasn't been resolved in some way.

As far as I can tell, his development as a character has come full-circle. He's got the darkness under control, became a Keyblade master, and was able to pull off the whole "consume the darkness, return it to light" thing with Ansem. He's redeemed himself. Whether he's actually completely forgiven himself is another issue, but at this point, making conflict based on that would just make him sound needlessly angsty, since several games have already addressed that very issue.

I figure it's time to shift focus to characters who lack a completed arc. *cough Kairi and Sora cough*

 

[Dr_Mario64]

Have him work on his social skills. No, really. It's like the only issue of his that hasn't been resolved in some way.

As far as I can tell, his development as a character has come full-circle. He's got the darkness under control, became a Keyblade master, and was able to pull off the whole "consume the darkness, return it to light" thing with Ansem. He's redeemed himself. Whether he's actually completely forgiven himself is another issue, but at this point, making conflict based on that would just make him sound needlessly angsty, since several games have already addressed that very issue.

I figure it's time to shift focus to characters who lack a completed arc. *cough Kairi and Sora cough*

Sora's character dev, in my opinion, has received plenty of attention between COM and 3D. I'd rather see a more of a focus on Kairi. The time is right too; considering she's now wielding a Keyblade! Seriously Nomura, turn her into something other than a DiD or just plain bait! While you're at it, work on Namine too. I have several unanswered questions about her.

 

[Emperor]

Sora's character dev, in my opinion, has received plenty of attention between COM and 3D. I'd rather see a more of a focus on Kairi. The time is right too; considering she's now wielding a Keyblade! Seriously Nomura, turn her into something other than a DiD or just plain bait! While you're at it, work on Namine too. I have several unanswered questions about her.

Sora receiving more attention may be a given considering his failure in 3D, the fact that he'll be more mature, and his position as the central protagonist in KH3. It'd be disappointed to have to go through the whole game with him when he doesn't develop any. But yeah, I think we're all ready to see some Kairi development.

 

[Grono]

Sora receiving more attention may be a given considering his failure in 3D, the fact that he'll be more mature, and his position as the central protagonist in KH3. It'd be disappointed to have to go through the whole game with him when he doesn't develop any. But yeah, I think we're all ready to see some Kairi development.

Kairi's "development," eh?

 

[Emperor]

Kairi's "development," eh?

I'll admit that this made me smile.

 

[MegaWallflower]

Yeah, I agree with some of the earlier statements. Riku's character arc has come to a satisfactory end. Any further bouts with his internal darkness would feel a bit like it's being dragged out, especially since Riku is the only character with a complete character arc. Focus should be shifted to Kairi or Sora at least a bit. Sora needs more emotional depth and conflict, and while Kairi's got quite a bit to her, she's been so out of focus. It's fine if Riku's stagnant for a bit while other characters get some growth. He's finally in a good place.

 

[Blazingblue]

Sora's character dev, in my opinion, has received plenty of attention between COM and 3D. I'd rather see a more of a focus on Kairi. The time is right too; considering she's now wielding a Keyblade! Seriously Nomura, turn her into something other than a DiD or just plain bait! While you're at it, work on Namine too. I have several unanswered questions about her.

i AGREE 100% Those two characters need more screen time and more depth to there characters. Especially Kairi, I feel sad that she hasn't gotten enough screen time.

 

[Divine Past]

Riku and Kairi can do something built on the possible mistrust between the 2 *shrug*

 

[MegaWallflower]

Riku and Kairi can do something built on the possible mistrust between the 2 *shrug*

Nothing past KH1 has suggested there's any such thing. And nothing has ever suggested that Riku mistrusted Kairi as far as I know?

 

[Arcadia]

I think that, character arc wise, Riku should be ok to hang out in the background and chill out. Maybe some exploration into what it means to actually be a keyblade master, since that's an aspect we've never really got to dig into, series-wise.

Sora is in desperate need of any sort of maturing, and Kairi needs just... anything.

 

[Divine Past]

Nothing past KH1 has suggested there's any such thing. And nothing has ever suggested that Riku mistrusted Kairi as far as I know?

Indeed that's true. Only reason I brought it up is that it's an easy to write/set up arc to write that has some basis of history.

 

[Rosebudx]

Indeed that's true. Only reason I brought it up is that it's an easy to write/set up arc to write that has some basis of history.

I feel like that would be cheap writing, though, to the point of revising history. Kairi was more than happy to see Riku at TWTNW, and she recognized him and was eager to reunite him with Sora even though he was so thoroughly coated in darkness. For her to just suddenly be like "actually, just kidding, I don't have trust nor faith in Riku" would be horrible character development for both parties.

 

[radiantmemories]

Yeah, I guess it is kinda impossible to focus on everyone with the amount of characters that there are, and Riku is one of the most developed ones.

 

[MegaWallflower]

Indeed that's true. Only reason I brought it up is that it's an easy to write/set up arc to write that has some basis of history.

What's the basis of history?

Yeah, I guess it is kinda impossible to focus on everyone with the amount of characters that there are, and Riku is one of the most developed ones.

It's not that it's impossible to focus on everyone, but with Riku being the only one with a proper character arc out of all the KH original characters, it's really jarring that no one else has been given one. If the writers are unable to focus on very many arcs, then they should flesh out another character as much as they have Riku rather than continue on only him.