u/Cool_Beans327

RIKU.. IT’S RIKU, RIKU’S HERE…

I've been somewhat curious about how other SoRiku's formed a connection with this ship. Personally, as a queer person, I saw a lot of myself in both Sora and Riku.

In Sora, I saw the little signs of compulsory heterosexuality in Sora's behavior in CoM, KH2 and KH3. The instant I saw the reunion scene in KH2, I thought: "Wait, didn't he imagine dancing with Kairi in Halloween Town? Why is it so awkward now? This feels familiar.", because I do remember doing something to that effect as a young child, making fantasies in my head about romance with boys because that was what I was taught was normal back then.

As for Riku, I felt that his struggle with light and darkness had the component of being a metaphor for internalized homophobia. I also interpreted some of his actions as a display of the internalized belief that since Sora had to be in love with Kairi, that Kairi has to be his light, that his love would never be requited. And it just breaks my heart, because at the end of CoM, he chooses the Road to Dawn, and if the theory of Light being Selflessness and Darkness being Selfishness is true, it means that he chose the middle ground, and the middle ground between selflessness and selfishness is love. From my understanding, he chose to love Sora despite feeling that he was unworthy of Sora reciprocating those feelings, and that just hurts.

Those two observations just really hit home for me, and with all the other things that make the ship the way it is, I just can't help but cherish it.

They’re literally alone together in the heart in the background together, hello?? Plus, their backs are connected by the line that makes up the KH-style heart :,) No wonder KH2 was the game wherein so many of us began to ship SoRiku..

P.S. The direction in which they’re facing are nearly the same between the image in the heart and their pose outside of it.. I know I’m reaching but it looks almost like a kind of mirror.

Ok so this is basically a longer copy of a portion of a comment I made in another post I made, but oh well..

Just a heads up: this is probably a crack theory, but it’s late and I really need to get the full thought outta my head before I forget all of it. So here we go. (please also tell me about any errors i made or thoughts you have abt this theory, thanksssss)

Kairi in KH1 was written as a Princess of Light, the heart of pure light, opposite of Darkness. In that game, she was constantly associated with light, was implied to be Sora’s light. However, time skip to CoM & KH2, we find that Sora’s true light is Riku. Yet, Kairi’s status as Sora’s “light” hasn’t been removed— Kairi leads Sora into darkness, and back into light.

Let’s look at the events of the games.

(KH1, Hollow Bastion, EotW (darkness) -> Kingdom Hearts(light, Riku),

Sora is led to Hollow Bastion, Kairi’s home world, and sacrifices himself to free her heart. (Falling.. falling.. falling… into darkness.) She saves him using her PoL powers, before Sora has to go to the EotW(Darkness) to try to save Riku. The game ends with him reaching KH, giving his “KH is light!” speech, and meeting Mickey and Riku at the door.

(It’s also theorized that the light from KH came from Riku, given the speculation that he’s the Child of Destiny/he has some connection to KH).

CoM(although it's Naminé, not Kairi), Sora forgets his true memories -> Naminé reveals the truth & tries to guide him to his light (Riku or Kairi, although given that Kairi was a red herring in that game, his light is Riku) -> Sora falls asleep(Darkness) -> Sora wakes up after KH2’s Prologue(Light)

KH2, TWTNW, reunion scene, she asks Sora to close his eyes (darkness) and when he closes his eyes he sees Riku (the light), and also TWTNW -> RoD -> Destiny Islands

Interesting thing here to note is that Kairi acts as a bridge, closing the gap between Sora and Riku & opening Sora’s eyes to the truth.

For the 2nd case, Kairi leads Sora to TWTNW(Darkness) because she got kidnapped, Sora fights Org XIII, Sora and Riku fight Xemnas, they get stuck in the realm of Darkness, Kairi’s letter comes through and a door to light appears before them. They get to live & go home to the Realm of Light.

KH3, Kairi dies, Sora saves her and gets transported to Unreality(Darkness) -> ??

When Sora initially dies at the Keyblade Graveyard, we know that Kairi and Riku are the ones keeping him together. (Kairi keeps his form together, Riku’s words to Sora kept his heart and mind alive) However, when he abuses the Power of Waking & goes through the tunnel, he recognizes the light as Riku. But then when Sora abuses the PoW one last time to save Kairi, after YX’s speech about the “price to be paid”, Sora suddenly thinks Kairi is the light. There’s a subtle hint denying this claim (Kairi eclipsing the light they’re floating towards). This is where Kairi leads Sora into darkness again, and this does not get a resolution in KH3 (but hopefully will in KH4).

KHMoM, Kairi tries to get Sora back to no avail -> She steps aside so Riku can fulfill his role as Sora's knight in shining armor, as Cinderella going to the ball.

This is the part of the story that represents Kairi leading them back into light, I think.

And the opening sequence of KH1 could support this, too. I don’t know if Nomura truly planned it this way, but he could have made this connection later on and implemented it.

The opening sequence of KH3 is a copy of the opening sequence of KH1, but where Riku is supposed to be, is a ball of light instead. After that sequence, we’re greeted with The Final World, the Darkside, & the 1st chapter of KH3, beginning his journey(Light)..

Light, into Darkness, and back to Light.

Now compare this to KH1.

After the Riku portions(Light) Sora rises from the sea to meet up with Kairi. They smile at each other, before Kairi sees something behind Sora— and then Sora realizes that he’s still falling. Kairi acts shocked as Sora falls again, Sora lands in the Heart Stations. He fights some heartless, the Darkside(Darkness), then Kairi wakes him up beginning his journey(Light)..

Light into Darkness, and back to Light. The ending of these cycles always end in Light, and that Light is usually accompanied by Riku.

She's their bridge, their Chirithy, guiding Sora on the right path-- into darkness, back to their lights. She always leads Sora back to Riku, and Riku back to Sora. Sora and Riku are each others' light in the darkness. They do what they need to do once reunited, then, she finally guides them both to the end of their journeys.

So really, it’s Darkness into Light into Darkness into Light, but that’s just not catchy.

TL;DR Kairi is guiding Sora and Riku to each other, then to their rightful places.

P.S. Would it be more accurate to describe the endgame as Dawn? I described it as Darkness here because this is where we had to fight all the final bosses and vanquish the “darkness”, but may e it’d better be described as Dawn?

I found it interesting that when Young Xehanort talked to Riku in Symphony of Sorcery, right after commenting on his ability to trap darkness inside of him and his subsequent immunity to it, and also declaring that "A boy who is immune to darkness is of no use to us", he says: "Your abyss awaits." First of all, what is this "abyss", and second of all, why is it Riku's to presumably fall into?

While it's likely that this is just a coincidence, considering the 'Riku is the Light' Theory, I wonder if what YX said in KH3 to Sora("You've paid the price. And it lies at the bottom of the abyss.") could be alluding to Riku, or Sora's memories and/or connection to Riku. This would line up, as this world is one of the last ones he goes to in order to save the Guardians of Light, and Sora's already broken the 'nature taboo' several times at this point. Although, this would rely on either Xehanort being such a genius that he would have known Riku was the price to be paid, or that he was talking about something else. Then again, I could just be reading too much into this.

Other than that, the Combined Keyblade are two halves of a heart when apart, each having a wing (light for Sora, darkness for Riku), however when combined, the tip of the Keyblade makes the logo for Kingdom Hearts (a crown atop a heart). Since their hearts are connected, does that mean they share some type of special status (the Kings of Kingdom Hearts, or the Children of Destiny)? There is already a theory that they both share the status as the Child of Destiny, if I remember correctly.

Although I find the names of each boy's keyblade seem more fitted for the other. (You'd think Nightmare's End would belong to Riku, seeing as he's a Dream Eater and freed Sora from his nightmare, but no, it's Mirage Split.) I'm not entirely sure what Mirage Split means, though-- is it the splitting of an illusion or a reflection?

Mirage Split on the left, Nightmare's End on the right, Combined Keyblade in the middle.

https://www.reddit.com/r/SoRiku/comments/1ukh1x7/just_replayed_ddd_and_noticed_these/

Edit: added link to part 1

The track "Traverse in Trance" matches very well with these lyrics from "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid (just in a slower tempo), which Riku and Sora have been paralleled to. Coincidence? Maybe, but it's *very* fitting to their predicament in that game. I'm only allowed to link one video per post, apparently, so I'll continue this in another (significantly longer) one! :)

https://www.reddit.com/r/SoRiku/comments/1ukhlos/replayed_ddd_and_noticed_these_pt_2_spoilers_for/

Edit: Added link to Pt. 2

I noticed a motif with the Castle Chapel in Hollow Bastion with the numbers 12 and 8 whilst playing KH1FM. The sun image on the floor in the first picture has 12 rays. In the second picture, the keyhole-shaped light on the ceiling has 8 rays sticking out (same with the small suns on the bottom). There are 8 windows on each side of the circle part of the castle chapel (30 windows in the whole room in total)

Also, just another small detail, we have Ansem’s boss fight (the one where he turns into a ship) which has 8 phases in total. I think I saw a bit more of the 8-12 motif in some places, but I can’t really recall at the moment (and I could just have imagined it.)

At the end of the day, I’m pretty sure this means basically nothing for the plot of KH, but it‘s an interesting detail nonetheless.

P.S. In KH1FM at least, two of the scenes with Riku that occur in this room feature the keyhole-shaped light on the ceiling. The first instance of this being the cutscene where Maleficent warns Riku about relying too heavily on the power of darkness (I believe it pans from the light to Riku), and the second being when Ansem convinces Riku to accept the darkness (it pans from Riku to the light.)