#keyblades

I've realized that waiting for the day that I'll have time again to do complex illustrations just for fun will never come at this point, but at least I can still do quick sketches, and apparently today is Kairi day, so... Just cleaned up this old sketch

The whole set!

It's been a bit since my last bit of KH tinhatting but I was looking at keyblades again and

HOW DOES HE KEEP SUMMONING THESE THINGS??

Keychains, I get! Something something, connecting with people's hearts, keyblades are "heart" swords, boom: your heartsword now resembles whomever you just trauma-bonded with! "Befriended", same thing.

BUT HOW IS RIKU MAKING NEW HEARTSWORDS??

Riku starts out as the "Chosen" of the Light Realm's Kingdom Key but, due to his being preoccupied by Teen Angst (Gay Panic), the Key instead passes to Riku's "Chosen": Sora. This is Keyblade 1.

Kingdom Key is happy to stick with Riku's Chosen but Riku's Villain Arc requires him to be armed so... Riku materializes a WHOLE SECOND KEYBLADE (how?? he's only got one heart! it wasn't like Terranort had one to spare!) to use instead of Kingdom Key. It starts out as the appropriately ominous "Soul Eater" (Devil Wing ft Eyeball) but turns into the much cooler "Way to the Dawn" (Devil AND Angel Wings ft Eyeball) when Riku has his Redemption Arc. Keyblade 2.

Then Maleficent somehow makes a "Keyblade of Hearts" via... daring Riku to de-heart some Disney Princesses? HOW DID SHE EVEN KNOW THIS WOULD WORK?? Why couldn't Xemnas have done this?? Why RIKU??? Is this the Darkness prodding Mal along or..? ugh, Keyblade 3.

It's very quickly brushed aside, in the midst of a big epic reunion between the Destiny Trio, but Riku casually pulls out a shiny new keyblade from nowhere and magically makes Kairi the wielder of "Destiny's Embrace". Aqua accidentally nudging toddler!Kairi with a keyblade always vibed like a red herring tbh: heartswords should require INTENT before being passed down! YET! SOMEHOW?? Untrained Riku can just... mediate on a heart's behalf? idk, man, nomura ain't said nothin'. Keyblade 4.

Fast forward to Dream Drop Distance where Riku AND Sora are now able to manifest their heartswords TO each other, across time and space, because... Best Friendship? Dream Eater & Dreamer? True Love? It's not a dream-only thing either - they summoned this "Combined Keyblade" (there's no official name for it yet but it's more commonly known as "The Gayblade" because... Rainbows) during the Aqua Rescue at the Dark Margin. Keyblade 4½ (Sora has joint custody).

Between the canonical appearances of The Glowing Rainbow Duet Heartsword in DDD & KH3, "Way to the Dawn" breaks. Riku leaves the broken heartsword for Repliku to use (oof), something something thinks of Sora yearningly, new keyblade summoned: "Braveheart" AKA Modern!Kingdom Key AKA Keyblade 5.

THAT'S FIVE FRIGGIN KEYBLADES! "Manifested" by Riku and handed out to FIVE DIFFERENT PEOPLE: Sora; Riku Replica; Terranort's Heartless; Kairi; and Riku himself.

(anyone else remember that one interview where Nomura casually implied Riku wasn't or wasn't entirely human? no? i haven't been able to track it down but it's haunted me ever since: what do you mean "what" Riku "really is" has yet to be revealed??? is he NOT just a dude from Xehanort's home world who bears an uncanny resemblance to Ephemer?? is Riku a changeling??? Kingdom Hearts' Humansona?? *pterodactyl shrieking*)

Oh and, just to feel even more agonized at how mysterious Riku somehow still is, I had a closer look at the symbolism of his keychains:

Hey, good friday to you all. ^^ I hope you had a good week! Thank you so much for all the positive feedback to last week's post, I'm glad you liked it! <3 ^-^ I managed to finish those WIPs, so here they are. 

For anyone who hasn't seen my post from last week: These works are kind of a crossover with Kingdom Hearts that I drew inspired by comments and reference sheets/mood boards in the discord server (a great thanks to @enjoyjellime for those inspirational sheets! ^^). If you want to see those sheets or want to know more about my thoughts and drawing process check this post where I'm rambling a lot about that, haha. I don't really have much to add to that other that I'm glad I got the colored versions done without the struggles and frustrations from last time. I even got the alternate version of Mashita with the beanie done. I didn't switch out the phone with a lighter (as a keychain) though, hope that's not too disappointing. 

Inktober Day 31 - Halloween Town Sora