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Was Riku trying to kill Sora?



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hlc1988

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So, was Riku trying to kill Sora or just trying to defeat him?

I always got the impression he was just trying to defeat Sora, not kill him. He got annoyed when Sora reclaimed the keyblade from him... so that, could, potentially, have been the only time Riku may have tried to kill Sora... though if he had killed Sora, I think Riku would have regretted it.

When he was possessed by Ansem, was Riku in contol/aware at all of what was going on? At that point on, Ansem-Riku was trying to kill Sora to extract Kairi's heart from him. I theorised this in another thread that I believe Riku started to fight back as soon as he was possessed - I can't imagine he would have taken being possessed lightly. He certainly didn't want it to happen in CoM again. He didn't know what Ansem was going to do to him when he agreed to open his heart to darkness. We know he pushed back when Ansem was about to kill Kairi and his heart was then banished to the realm of darkness while Ansem continued to possess his body and shape it to his own preferred form. But in the time of his possession, was Riku a willing participant in trying to kill Sora or was it all Ansem or was Riku's heart sleeping inside his body and was woken by the threat to Kairi?
 
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Divine Past

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Riku probably just wanted to wear Sora down. Pretty sure Riku would have stopped short of killing Sora.
 

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Are we talking about when possessed Riku fought Sora or this scene?



Because Sora hadn't took the keyblade back yet when Riku sent a hurling ball of dark fire at Sora. Its hard to see that scene as just wanting to wear Sora down when he's defenseless and has no way to take that Attack head on.

If we're talking about post possessed Riku then Riku likely would've resisted his possession sooner since he started acting up when Ansem tried to harm Kairi.
I'm not sure how to find out if Riku was resisting all along since Ansem seemed to have no problems using his body to swing deadly keys and dark fire at Sora. Maybe the beating he got from Sora gave Riku enough to fight back when Kairi was in danger?
 

Hakan Xatos

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Riku was probably upset at Sora's will and the strength of his heart. Riku probably did not want to kill him, but break him emotionally so Sora would "recognize" that he wasn't strong enough to win.
 

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Technically both scenes I'm querying.

But the main one I'm interested in is the first scene you linked to. Up to that point in the game before his possession by Ansem, Riku wasn't trying to kill Sora. He was just trying to best him and Riku's mind was being twisted and his heart opened to darkness, so technically he wasn't in full control of his own actions as he was being used. Sora couldn't really harm Riku in that scene... I would hope its a warning rather than a deadly dark fire ball that would kill Sora. What reason has Sora given Riku to try to kill him in that scene?

Though, Sora does say 'my heart will stay with my friends. It will never die!'. Riku then throws the dark fire ball at him. Maybe he's testing Sora's words?

Urgh I don't know... One reason Riku is my favourite character is because he is complicated and interesting and he goes from friend to enemy to friend to hero. If he genuinely wanted to kill Sora before his possession, then Riku is lucky Sora is one forgiving person!
 

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It's hard to consider that fire ball a warning after Sora's speech that "even if you destroy my body" jargon. But I don't think Riku was of right mind when shooting it. Riku was slowly being warped throughout the game and Zexion implies in Chain of Memories that Riku even opened Destiny islands door. (which lost countless people to darkness)
I always just saw the scene as Riku in his warped state deciding he's going to prove Sora wrong regardless of outcome.
 

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In my opinion regardless if he's possessed or not, he would have never let Sora die, let alone try to kill him. I would say he only wanted to hurt Sora(deeply), make him feel the same pain. KH1 Riku had some emotional baggage, but not enough to want Sora dead. Him holding back Ansem before the Final Keyhole shows that no matter what, he does care for his friends.
 

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Personally, I interpreted Riku as trying to kill him by that point in the game. As far as Riku thinks, Sora is a traitor who took the first chance he could to "up-grade" in friends and would leave Kairi to die (or in this case, perpetually as a heartless doll). We don't know what else was said to him, but we can only imagine that throughout their months working together, Maleficent little by little continued filling Riku's head with lies and doubt. At the same time he was willingly letting the darkness corrupt his heart thinking that he could control it.

By the time Sora gets to Neverland/Hook's ship Riku had already given up on their friendship and was dedicated to saving Kairi. By Hollow Bastion, Sora was a nuisance who kept getting in Riku's way, both by trying to "keep the Keyblade for himself", the tool that could potentially help Riku get Kairi's heart back and because Sora kept following him and trying to sway Riku back to his side where he thought there'd be less chance of restoring Kairi.

Basically, by Hollow Bastion Riku was convinced that Sora was the "bad guy" and had no more remorse for him.
 
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Blackdrazon

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I'm also of the opinion that he really was trying to kill Sora. Put another way: he didn't spent the next 4 games desperately searching for penance because he "secretly didn't mean it."
 
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My initial reaction to this was, "No! Absolutely not! Riku just wanted to teach Sora a lesson."

But honestly after reading others responses and giving it some thought...I think he actually was trying to kill Sora. I don't think he was quite in the right mind while he was doing it, with Maleficent's scheming and Ansem SOD lurking around the corner ready to overpower Riku first chance he got, but I truly do actually believe that Riku would've killed Sora if Donald and Goofy hadn't stepped in.

What's interesting to me is how Sora was still so quick to forgive him after that. I don't know if I should feel like Sora's an idiot/too trusting or if I should feel like Riku had done so much to try and fix things that he deserved forgiveness by the end of KH2. By the end of DDD, he for sure overcame his shortcomings and deserved Sora's trust but I'm not sure he did by the end of KH2.
 

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What's interesting to me is how Sora was still so quick to forgive him after that. I don't know if I should feel like Sora's an idiot/too trusting or if I should feel like Riku had done so much to try and fix things that he deserved forgiveness by the end of KH2. By the end of DDD, he for sure overcame his shortcomings and deserved Sora's trust but I'm not sure he did by the end of KH2.

Sora forgave Riku so easily because he's not the kind of person to hold grudges, and Riku has & always will be his best friend. Sora learned throughout his journey in KH1 that friendship is the greatest power of all, so why would he turn his back on a friend who has learned from their misdeeds? Not to mention that Riku had been manipulated by Maleficent and later Ansem: SoD to go against Sora, so it wasn't 100% Riku's fault.

I would have to say that at the end of KH2 he definitely did prove himself worthy of Sora's trust and forgiveness. Let's look at it like this:

Riku has given up multiple things for Sora that few have done in this series for another, and does it because he is Sora's friend and not just because he feels like he owes Sora something.

Riku gives up his freedom by staying on the other side of the Door to Darkness. As we know, Riku valued his freedom greatly and had been searching for at the start of KH1. He fled one prison to eventually willingly trap himself in another, just to protect Sora and Kairi and ensure they would be safe together in the Realm of Light.

In CoM, when Riku finds out Sora is sleeping, he decides to protect and watch over Sora in order to aid Namine in restoring his memories even though he was still fighting with the Darkness inside of him. Riku gives up an entire year of his life for Sora without hesitation. And during KH2, when Riku wasn't off doing whatever, he spends his free time following Sora and aiding him on his journey.

Riku gives up his heart and body for Sora, as well. He gives up his fight against the Darkness in his heart, his name, and his physical form just for Sora.

At the end of KH2, Riku nearly sacrifices his life for Sora by taking the brunt of Xemnas' attacks at the end of the final battle, and even using all of his energy to fight the Dusks that bombard them following the final battle. (He is even Sora's sword and shield considering you can directly control Riku with a press of triangle for him to erect a Dark Shield or blast enemies with a Dark Aura.)

Because of his freakish devotion to Sora and desire to make things up to Sora, he has practically given up all that he has for him, heart, body, and soul. What else could Riku have done by the end of KH2 to prove himself?

Nothing, because Sora forgave him in KH1. There wasn't anything he needed to prove. By time KH3D, he's gone well beyond the duties of a best friend and somebody seeking penance.

KH3D was more about proving himself to himself, and yet everything he does is still for Sora. He instinctually senses danger and acts to protect Sora by becoming Sora's personal Dream Eater. He goes back into Sora's heart just to try and awaken him despite the danger.
 
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Master Spockanort said:
Because of his freakish devotion to Sora and desire to make things up to Sora
I'd say a good deal of that freakish devotion was because of that desire to set things right. When you look closely at what Riku has done it shows a surprisingly dark set of choices.
He was even willing, albeit questioning of it, to help Diz and Namine make Roxas give up his own self to wake Sora.
 

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No, Riku was never going to kill Sora with that attack. I don't see it, at all...not even at this point.
 
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