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 cop-out. 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 institutionally 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.
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33 Comments on "Too Many Keyblades"
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.
piff, thats not a theory thats the truth! 🙂 It was explained in the secret ansem reports remember??
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
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.
Actually if you remember from the first Kingdom Hearts inside Hallow Bastion When Sora Saved Kairi from Riku/Ansem he gave her his heart in which turned him into a heartless that later spawned Roxas.
I’ve heard that Kairi’s able to wield a keyblade because when she was still a child she touched Aqua’s keyblade and got her power to use one.
Actually, Kairi IS a keyblade master, as shown in Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep. Aqua unintentionally does the Keyblade ceremony on Kairi when they meet in Radiant Garden, (this happens when a child touches a keyblade master’s keyblade), do actually, Sora isn’t the one who shouldn’t have a Keyblade…
After Ven’s heart is damaged following a confrontation with his dark side, Vanitas, his heart finds its way into Sora, entering the his body. thats why hes able to use th keyblade of the realm of light.
i love kingdom hearts and keyblade !!! its amazing !!!
first of all Kairi was a part of soras soul for most of the first game so i think that it would give her control of one but riku throwing her one is what got me upset at first because if he had it in the first place then why doesnt he use it thourgh out the game but your right she should of been a character that you could use in the game to me i think she could of been apart of the final boss battle if not her at least king mickey you know
Hold on Kairi’s heart was given to sora, that’s most of the reason he’s the keyblade master, she has the right to wield a keyblade, play the first game and whatch the clips noob.
And she is a seventh of rikus keyblade
the key blade wasn’t kairis it was riku’s second one (like in valor or master form) kairi could just use it because of aquas heart
Well if you remember back in KH1 Sora had Kairi’s heart in his so I think that helps her having some use of it and like Sora said, all of his friends hearts makes his stronger and vice versa…
I say that they gave Kairi a keyblade for 1 reason and 1 reason only, in kingdom hearts 3 you will have riku and kairi as party members rather than donald and goofy, which would make a lot of sense since they have had a lot of conflict with O13 and as of yet they have not had a female heroine in kingdom hearts and eventually women are gonna complain about not having a female character in your team, so this is where kairi getting the keyblade comes into play.
Honestly, I feel the same way. Kairi does not and never will deserve the epicness that is a Keyblade. She is already a Princess of Heart (not to mention the strongest one) but now she’s a Keyblade Wielder too? I’m sorry but that just makes Kairi seem like a Mary Sue.
No offence to people who like Kairi; that’s just my opinion.
I think it’s awesome that she has one, I mean you really don’t meet that many wielders when looking at the story as a whole, and Kairi is part of the trio you meet in the beginning. I like the fact that she won’t be left out! You have Sora the determined hero, Riku the recovering from the dark badass friend, and Kairi the “has a lot to learn” late bloomer, who has this thrust upon her.