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So Kairi gets her keyblade in KHII and it happens thusly: she jumps down to save Sora, gets surrounded by heartless, and they immediately bury her. She calls out for Sora to help her as the heartless’ darkness begin to consume her and then there is a bright flash of light. This bright flash of light immediately kills all of the heartless and then Riku is holding out a keyblade for her (and really, this whole thing can be paralleled with how Sora got his keyblade in KHI). Clearly the light that vanquished the darkness is Riku’s. Think about that: Riku’s light despite him taking the form of Ansem, where darkness is currently winning in Riku’s internal dark/light battle.

Riku’s light, eh? Pretty damn strong.

So I have two theories about where her keyblade came from, and I’m not saying one is better than the other. I’m just kinda laying down my thoughts.

1.) This is Aqua’s keyblade

We know in BBS that Kairi accidentally touching Aqua’s keyblade meant that she inherited it. Which… I always thought was complete bullshit and ran counter to everything that had been established about how bequeathing ceremonies worked (Terra actually performed it for Riku, where Kairi just touched Aqua’s blade and that counts??), but supposedly Kairi’s heart was worthy of the blade which is why it’s legit. I don’t think that this keyblade was forged of Kairi’s personal light because none of the other princesses of heart were able to call forth a keyblade, and the manner in which she gained her keyblade suggests that it didn’t come directly from her, but from an external source.

So let’s assume this is Aqua’s keyblade. We know thanks to KHIII that at some point while Aqua was trapped in the RoD, she lost her keyblade. She had it in II.5, which covers the events of KHI, but lost it at some point during KHII. So it could be that Kairi being in danger called forth the keyblade that was ‘bequeathed’ to her by Aqua, and that’s where it came from, thus in effect leaving Aqua keyblade-less. Aqua ‘losing’ her keyblade shouldn’t be a thing, given that keyblades are connected to the wielder, but if Luxu literally lost his ability to keyblade once he passed it on then this would explain why Aqua suddenly lost her ability to keyblade: it passed on to Kairi, leaving Aqua behind.

This once more shows how powerful Riku really is. Aqua is a full on Keyblade Master but once she has lost her keyblade, that’s it. She’s defenceless. She cannot make another. And yet Riku, if my earlier observations hold any weight, has at least two keyblades in the Kingdom Key and Way To Dawn (later Braveheart).

How did Aqua’s keyblade seek Kairi out? Aqua put her own magic in Kairi’s necklace and given the things we have seen in this series so far, it isn’t too much of a stretch to believe the keyblade zoned in on this magic and ended up with Kairi.

But then why was Riku the one holding it? The fact he could hold it at all, when keyblades typically reject anyone but their true wielder, leads to my other idea.

2.) This is yet another keyblade forged from Riku’s light

So, in effect, this is the THIRD keyblade that Riku is sustaining. The bright light happens, Riku’s light, and suddenly he’s holding yet another keyblade that he quite literally hands over to Kairi. When he gave the Kingdom Key to Sora, it was more of his heart choosing to do so. But he just up and hands her this one. And I think it’s likely due to similar reasons as to why he gave one to Sora: Riku wants to keep Kairi safe.

Despite KHIII utterly ruining any relationship these two had, KHI and KHII actually did a decent job of making it seem that Kairi and Riku are friends. Riku in KHI is literally doing everything in his power to get Kairi’s heart back. He even says that he’ll work with Maleficent and embrace the the darkness more if that is what it takes to save Kairi (whether this is truly genuine or only part of the truth, in that he says this as an excuse to get closer to darkness, is up for debate). The last thing he says in KHI? “Take care of her [Kairi]”. And in KHII, when Kairi and Naminé are surrounded by Nobodies and shit looks dire? Riku swoops in to save the day, and subsequently spends a lot of his time protecting Kairi (he literally wraps his arms around her to protect her from Saïax’s berserker mode). So it isn’t wildly out of character for him to try and give her a means to protect herself, as he did for Sora, by giving her a keyblade. The only difference being that, while the Kingdom Key was actually Riku’s keyblade that he’s passed on, this seems to be a keyblade he forged specifically for Kairi.

Extra: I didn’t know this as I initially typed these musings as I haven’t read the manga, but a friend pointed out that in the manga Luxu seems shocked that Kairi had a keyblade and (with a sort of begrudging respect) asks Riku how the hell he managed to make one for her.

Kairi’s Keyblade: What’s In A Name?

So Kairi’s keyblade is called Destiny’s Embrace (in English) or Destiny’s Place (in Japanese). This emphasis on destiny is interesting to me. Sora, essentially a non-wielder who gained the ability to wield thanks to Riku’s heart choosing Sora over himself, was never ‘destined’ to wield the keyblade. Or, at least, not destined to wield the Kingdom Key (destined to wield Kingdom Key D, however… see this link to another theory that I think holds water). Whereas Destiny’s Embrace suggests that Kairi was always destined to become a keyblade wielder, which is… odd, given that her ‘inheriting’ of the keyblade from Aqua was a fluke. But what WASN’T a fluke was Aqua putting a charm on Kairi’s necklace and saying it would take her to someone that would keep her safe. She was destined to be protected, and sure enough, if Riku did make this keyblade for her, then this destiny is fulfilled. Interesting again to note that Riku, not Sora, was the one protecting her in this instance.

Kairi’s Keyblade: The Paopu Keychain

Why is it that Destiny’s Embrace has a paopu keychain? I have a few ideas, some of which are more plausible than others.

1.) Riku wanted to share a paopu with Kairi

Wow, what a rogue idea! Full (and probably obvious) disclosure: I’m a SoRiku shipper and read a lot of the KHI moments of Riku getting jealous and bitchy as him being jealous that Sora didn’t like him, but let me just take my SoRiku goggles off for a hot second and… put my KaiRiku ones on?? It’s not as crazy as it seems.

As mentioned earlier, a huge part of Riku’s motivations in KHI was protecting Kairi and getting her heart back, and he even thanks Kairi for coming to the island and inspiring him to seek a world beyond Destiny Islands. During his race with Sora in KHI, he says that if he wins then he wants to share a paopu with Kairi (again, let’s say that this wasn’t actually Riku just trying to razz Sora and there was a part of him that did genuinely want to share it with her). If Destiny’s Embrace really is a keyblade that Riku forged for Kairi in order to keep her safe, then the paopu keychain is essentially him finally getting to share a paopu with her as per his request in KHI.

Now, of course, paopu fruits don’t necessarily have romantic connotations all the time. It could be that he just wanted to keep the two of them close, like how Kairi gave Sora her way-finder. Regardless of if this is read as romantic or platonic, Kairi’s keychain being a paopu fruit is symbolic of her relationship with Riku— and I would also extend it to Sora as well. If Riku gave both of them keyblades, he’s kind of like some secret guardian watching over those that matter to him and wanting to keep them safe. He is the origin of all of their keyblades, and in this way binds the Destiny Trio together.

‘Ah, but Alchemist!’ I hear you cry. ‘Riku no longer wants to protect the THINGS that matter, as KHIII made it very clear he cares about one person and one person only: Sora.’

Fair point. I think KHIII did Kairi and Riku’s relationship SUPER FUCKING DIRTY, but it’s also true that Riku’s number one priority is and always has been Sora. Giving Kairi a paopu fruit to keep the three of them together does make sense for his character, but when push comes to shove, Riku would probably push Kairi off a cliff if it would save Sora (I mean come on, RIku would throw HIMSELF off a bloody cliff if it would save Sora, and take King Mickey along with him for good measure). So maybe the keychain means something else.

2.) Kairi’s ‘destiny’ is a solitary one

So why does Kairi have a complete paopu fruit all to herself, but the combined halves of Sora’s Nightmare’s End and Riku’s Mirage Split together make a whole paopu fruit?

We know that if two people share a paopu fruit, they will remain part of each other’s lives forever. In effect: their destiny’s become entwined. The Gayblade being formed of two halves to form a whole, and being a keyblade that both Sora and Riku share, is a clear illustration that Sora and Riku’s destiny’s are entwined. By sharing this keyblade with its paopu imagery, they essentially seem to be sharing the same destiny. But Kairi has her own fruit, and it isn’t being shared with anyone. This makes for a rather tragic reading of her character, but one that seems to make sense given the events of KHIII:

If the Gayblade paopu is symbolic of Riku and Sora sharing the same destiny, the paopu of Destiny’s Embrace is symbolic of Kairi’s destiny being a solitary one. Her destiny is one that she will have to face alone, with no one to share it with her.

I’m sure you are all aware of the star-crossed quality that characterises SoKai; Sora even explicitly states this at the end of KHIII when he vents his frustration of always being separated from Kairi just when it looks like they can finally be together. Then there’s the fact that Kairi seems to have been left on her own in some alternate Destiny Islands at the very end of KHIII, so this all points to her destiny being apart from those of her close friends. Her ‘place’ (Destiny’s Place) is separate from them. And this is rather apt, given what her name means: Kairi means ‘ocean’, of course, but it also means ‘separation’.

We can take ‘separation’ in many ways: she tried to separate Sora from Riku in KHI by suggesting they take the raft together, and she seemed to keep them separated again in KHIII with the now infamous paopu scene. But really, the separation is felt most keenly on her end. Sora and Riku were friends long before she washed up on Destiny Islands, and they’re always going off and having adventures without her and leaving her behind. In KHII she very fervently states her desire for the three of them to stay together from now on, and almost immediately after she is separated from them AGAIN. The Destiny Trio is an uneven trio in a lot of ways, and while I could also write about the ways Riku is excluded from it, Kairi is excluded from it just as much if not more so. And that is why a single paopu fruit just to herself is fitting: no one to share it with, a destiny that she will have to face by herself.

3.) Kairi is whole but Sora and Riku are incomplete