Too Many Keyblades
For as easily as I can blindly love a game and ignore its faults, there are simply some instances in a story or within the midst of gameplay where I stop and realize, wow, that was just stupid. Regardless of my affection for the Kingdom Hearts series and the magic it has delivered, there was an instance within Kingdom Hearts II that upset me greatly and after discussing it with several other gamers, I realized I wasn’t the only one both confused and annoyed by this moment.
Kairi is Not a Keyblade Master
Near the conclusion of Kingdom Hearts II, once Kairi, Riku and Sora have been reunited and prepare to take on the final Organization members, Kairi receives a keyblade and then proceeds to do absolutely nothing with this miraculous gift. While this is a video game, I have a degree in film studies and learned how to critique and analyze storytelling effectively and to me, this feels like a copout. Giving Kairi a weapon that was created and welded specifically by the chosen ‘keyblade master,’ as seen in the fact that when others pick up Sora’s keyblade, it vanishes and goes back to his hand, it makes me ask suddenly, why is she so special now? Kairi was already found out to be one of the Seven Princesses and that I never had a problem with, but that doesn’t make her a keyblade master out of nowhere! In fact, from a story point of view, it makes it look like they were trying to boost Kairi’s popularity with gamers and make her role more useful in the story, which it can’t be argued, wasn’t very critical to the plot of the second game.
Why it Works for Riku and Not Kairi
Unlike Kairi, who was safe, fine and otherwise just a normal girl once she was rescued in game one, Riku continued to be important to the Kingdom Hearts story, as he is basically a mirror of Sora, should he have chosen the darkness instead of the light. It made sense that Riku should obtain a weapon similar in use and appearance, as he was in the beginning, Sora’s number one enemy. While in the soon to be released game, Birth By Sleep, which features three new characters known as keyblade apprentices, may explain why multiple keyblade wielders can exist more than the current games do; it does not currently explain Kairi’s sudden keyblade.
Non-Essential to the Game’s Climax
She literally received the weapon in order to aid her friends but as we can all recall, did nothing in the final scenes. Despite her appearance at the location and clearly holding a weapon, she is ignored. Riku is instead put on the team, allowing gamers to once again battle with a character whom has proven his worth time and time again throughout the second story within Chain of Memories. This is the crux of the problem with Kairi receiving a keyblade. Not only is she not a chosen master, but she is given the item merely to give her an excuse to be in another world and nothing more. If this were a wise decision on behalf of the storytellers, then both Riku and Kairi would have been put on Sora’s team, but that never happened.
Emphasis Taken Off Sora
Instead of writing in a good scene which allows us to accept Kairi’s presence and reunion with her friends, the keyblade thrown at her without just cause actually makes Sora’s less important and this is upsetting, as he is the hero of the game. Forcing her importance when it is clearly uncalled for makes me instinctually want to repel her character, which is a shame. As a gamer, I shouldn’t want to dislike one character in replace of another, but that’s what I feel has happened for a lot of players. I’m sure I’ll get a lot of grief for this article, as there are some hardcore Kairi fans out there, but my opinion still stands firm as to Kairi’s keyblade being completely uncalled for.
Well for one thing, the only thing you need to wield a keyblade is a strong heart. Since Kairi had a strong heart at the time, it probably gave her a little control over the keyblade for a time. When she went back to the damsel in distress, she lost the keyblade. This is just speculation, but if you needed an answer this one is as good as any. I do agree though, she should not have gotten one.
you really can’t say that the keyblade taht Riku gave to Kairi belongs to him because Kairi was the one who created that keyblade. I’m not going to spoil anything because BBS will explain how that keyblade that she used is not even Riku’s. I don’t think that throwing a keyblade is not uncalled for because it shows importance to other characters that came before Sora ever became a keyblade master in my opinion.
I don’t mind the whole Kairi getting a keyblade thing. As Zerieth said, one only needs to be strong of heart to wield one — which, like it or not, Kairi is. Yes, she is still essentially completely useless fighting-wise, but there are many reasons why it makes sense that there was little emphasis put on her as a fighter. Firstly, if she had joined Sora’s party alongside Riku, are we to believe that she would continue with them all towards the end of the battle? Was there really room for Kairi in those final fights against Xemnas? Not really. Not to mention that there is a strong repetition in the series — the final scene works so well because it combines the familiarity of Sora running towards a waving/smiling Kairi on the beach with that feeling of “Yes. They’re finally home.”
Adding to this, Kairi may yet prove to be useful later in the story — perhaps she will be a party member in KHIII, and to do that, she’ll need a weapon of it. Yeah, her acquisition was dumb, but c’mon. Kairi’s got enough haters as is. :]
I beleive you are forgetting that essentially at the end of KH1, and the entirety of KH2, Kairi IS Sora, or at least still holds a major part of him in her heart. Whenever he gives his heart to Kairi to save her at the end of KH1, Kairi holds Sora’s Heart, and vice versa when Sora gets it back.
As proven by Xion, Sora holding Kairi’s heart obviously affected the physical appearance of one of his nobodies (yes, she was a copy, but part of Sora nonetheless).
Kairi possibly retained enough of Sora’s to be able to weild a keyblade for a time. That’s my theory
piff, thats not a theory thats the truth!
It was explained in the secret ansem reports remember??
i’ll have to agree with Piff. from the start sora and kairis destinys have been intertwined and as piff said in KH1 where sora regains his heart makes it evident that they are in lamens terms part of each other. all you need is a strong herat to weild the keyblade but the fact that the game made no reference to it or previous signals beforehand shows that regardless of what excuse the producers are using for kairi using the keyblade is not enough to win me over.
there are possible excuses for kairi to use the keyblade but lets be honest it was a bit of a flop i must say regardless of how cool it may seem
ok i’m pretty sure all of that stuff is explained in Birth by Sleep
Also, the fact that Kairi can wield a keyblade may be essential in the next kingdom hearts game, kingdom hearts 3 or whatever.
Kairi could wield a keyblade, but i doubt she still can. The keyblade left when kairi became a damsel in distress once again. She doesn’t have a fighting attitude. She has a fluffy bunny’s/kitty’s attitude, which would make her pretty useless in a situation like a fight. Unless she grows up some more, i don’t think she’ll be using that keyblade any more.
Personally, I disliked Kairi from the beginning. To be fair, I dislike the whole “damsel in distress” stereotype. So when she was given a keyblade all I could think is ” Why?”. And we don’t even see her use it that much. There’s about 30 seconds of her using it then POOF! Goodbye Keyblade!
So unless that Keyblade has some importance in KH3, then I believe it was simply an annoying mistake on the developer’s behalf.
they made it so gamers could hack a girly-looking keyblade duh
Man, she isn’t a keyblade master? Sora and Riku didn’t magically become keyblade masters once they picked up the keyblade, thats why you ‘level’ up and learn how to fight better, thats why Sora get his butt kicked and gets stronger as he goes on. Only reason Sora and Riku have skill is because they been fighting since they were kids. Riku was already very strong, thats why he was ahead of Sora while Sora’s skills get honed as you go through the game. Kairi, never fought, so of course she dont know how to use her dang keyblade dude.
The story isn’t over yet, quit complainin.
kairi was meant to eat that fruit thingy with sora right?
so therefore they shared a bond throughout the KH1 and 2 and then seeing as she is apart of sora then she has that essence and true power to weild a keyblade =P
i really dont mind kairi with a keyblade but unless she does something important, then it is a waste but her role will probably get better later in the series
anyway kingdom hearts rocks!!
riku and sora get the keyblade, i might be wrong, but ive heard riku gets it because in bbs terra lets him use it and sora either gets it the same way or because ventus’s heart goes into soras body and thats why roxas and ventus look so much alike because when soras heartless was made it took ventus’s heart. so ya thats what ive heard
Why shouldnt Kairi get a keyblade riku and sora has a keyblade she should get something to defend her self
Because Kairi doesn’t have what it takes to wield one i.e. a strong heart. All you can really say is that she likes people, but that’s just about it.
She has a strong enough heart to lose her friends and bring sora back from the darkness so she should have a strong enough heart to weild the keyblade.
She only ever did anything useful once. The rest of the time she just sits waiting to be saved. I think it wouldn’t be bad, but not one like a keyblade. I always thought of her as a lighter blade kind of person, like a rapier or a katana. Something like that.
ps. Did the forums go down or something?
Yh as long as she has a weapon to defend herself with to fight the heartless or nobodies to help Sora and fight along side of him.