Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)
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| Kairi | |
|---|---|
 Kairi, as she appears in Kingdom Hearts. |
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| Game series | Kingdom Hearts series |
| First game | Kingdom Hearts |
| Designed by | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Hayden Panettiere |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Risa Uchida |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Home | Destiny Islands |
Kairi (カイリ?) is the female lead in the Kingdom Hearts series of videogames. She is voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the English versions of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II and by Risa Uchida in the Japanese versions. Kairi is derived from the Japanese word for sea (海 kai?), in comparison with land (陸 riku?) and sky (空 sora?).
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[edit] Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, Kairi is fourteen years old and living on the Destiny Islands with Sora and Riku and other children, including Selphie, Tidus, and Wakka. Kairi actually appeared on the islands several years ago and does not recall her life before then. However, she shows no real interest in returning to wherever it is she came from, and is content with her life on the Islands. Her arrival on the island spurs Riku's interest in other worlds beyond the island and gave him the idea to build a raft and explore the world(s).
Soon afterwards, a storm caused by darkness sweeps away everyone from the islands and Kairi is separated from Sora and Riku. By the time Sora finds Kairi, she is in a comatose state. It turns out that Kairi was a Princess of Heart originally from the Radiant Garden sent to the Destiny Islands by Xehanort to confirm his theory that a Princess of Heart and the Keyblade are connected. Though Maleficent found out this fact about her, Kairi's heart ended up inside Sora before their island was destroyed. Because of this, Maleficent is unable to unlock the Keyhole inside Hollow Bastion until Kairi's heart is recovered.
Kairi is saved by Sora, who gives up his heart in order to restore hers, transforming him into a Heartless. Kairi takes it upon herself to protect that Heartless, showing Sora the way to the light which restores him. During the final stages of the game, Kairi remains in the safety of Traverse Town, and in the temporary care of Leon, Aerith and Yuffie. She gave Sora her lucky charm, which she made from seashells back on Destiny Island the day before the storm occured, with the condition that he gives it back to her. After Ansem's defeat, Kairi is left behind on the reforming Destiny Islands and separated from Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts. Sora promises to return to her with Riku, and Kairi waits on the island for their return.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Kairi does not appear directly in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but still plays an important role.
Because Kairi is the most important person to Sora, Marluxia and Larxene of the mysterious Organization take advantage of the fact they can rearrange Sora's memories of Kairi so that they can manipulate him. By forcing a young girl named Naminé to alter Sora's memories so she replaces Kairi, they hope to make Sora their puppet. The plan fails when their "ally", Axel, betrays them and convinces Naminé to do what she believes is right. She promises to restore Sora's past memories by placing him in a cocoon-like chamber, despite that fact he would forget the events of Castle Oblivion and Naminé as a result.
Naminé employs her ability to be Kairi also in "Reverse/Rebirth" (Riku's story in Chain of Memories) in order to save him from Zexion's attempt to destroy him. Riku, however, was able to differentiate her from his friend because Kairi and Naminé do not share the same scent, though he does mention they are somewhat similar.
Naminé mentions that she is Kairi's shadow, making it impossible for her to completely erase the memory of Kairi from Sora's heart. It hints that there is a deeper connection between the two girls.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts II
One year has passed and 15-year-old Kairi attends school with Selphie and converses with her about their missing friends. Kairi's memories of Sora have faded as she recalls the days when she, Riku and Sora played together, but she does not identify Sora by name and mentions that she can no longer recall Sora's voice. However, no one else on the islands has any recollection of Sora at all. In addition, everyone Sora seems to have befriended have forgotten him until the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. This is due to Sora's memories being taken apart in Chain of Memories, although Naminé later corrected this. Kairi can still remember Sora, albeit barely. This is one of the many events that hint romantic feelings or connections between the characters.
She first appears in a parochial school-style prep school uniform, complete with plaid skirt, tie, long socks and boots, though her official game attire is a pink dress and a pair of sneakers. In addition, her hair has grown longer and darker, and her features and figure are more mature to show the passage of time. Eventually, she does remember Sora due to the restoration of his memories, writting a letter. After finally remembering Sora entirely, Kairi send the letter drifting to the sea in hopes of that it will find its way to him.
She is later confronted by Axel, who hopes to use Kairi to lure Sora to him. Kairi evades him thanks to Pluto and heads to Twilight Town, but is captured by Axel soon after. However, Saïx takes Kairi from Axel and imprisons her and Pluto in a jail cell in The World That Never Was. She escapes her cell with the help of Naminé and they are saved from Saïx by Riku (in the guise of Xehanort's Heartless). Riku gives her a keyblade which she uses to fight off the Heartless that Saïx summons.
The connection between Naminé and Kairi is resolved when she understands that Naminé is her Nobody, created when her heart was transferred from Sora's body back into her own. With that, Naminé gives up her existence as an independent entity to complete Kairi. Kairi returns to Destiny Islands to welcome Sora and Riku back after they find Kairi's letter, the poem which she cast off in a bottle earlier in the game. Additionally, Sora returns to Kairi her lucky charm, as he had finally fulfilled his promise to return it.
[edit] Naminé
| Naminé | |
|---|---|
 Naminé, as she appears in Kingdom Hearts II. |
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| Game series | Kingdom Hearts series |
| First game | Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories |
| Designed by | Tetsuya Nomura |
| Voice actor(s) (English) | Brittany Snow |
| Voice actor(s) (Japanese) | Iku Nakahara |
| In-Universe Information | |
| Race | Nobody |
Naminé (ナミネ Namine?) is a character from the video games Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Naminé's name contains "nami" (波?), a Japanese word meaning "ocean wave", likely a reference to Kairi's name, which contains "kai" (海? , also read as "umi"), for "ocean".
A mysterious young girl, Naminé has the ability to change memories of those in relation to Sora by rearranging them and creating new links between them. Her ability derives from her unique birth. Because of her unusual powers, both DiZ, agents of the Organization and herself refer to Naminé as a witch. She seems to enjoy drawing, which is apparently how she manipulates memories.
She is forced by Marluxia to rearrange Sora's memories after he loses them upon entering Castle Oblivion. Being passive and timid, she takes the abuse Marluxia and Larxene heap upon her. After meeting Sora, Naminé appears to become less timid and afraid, seeming more willing to act upon what she believes is right.
Naminé is voiced by Brittany Snow in the English version of Kingdom Hearts II and Iku Nakahara in the Japanese version.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
When Sora enters the fifth floor of Castle Oblivion, he mentions that besides Riku and Kairi, there was another child (Naminé) who used to play with them until she disappeared one day. Despite the fact Sora "remembers" Naminé as a close friend from Destiny Islands, she tells Sora that, before Castle Oblivion, they had never met. She also mentions that she is Kairi's shadow, which is why even when she replaces Kairi with herself in Sora's memory, Sora will still be able to recall Kairi.
As she hears about Kairi, Naminé's loneliness is amplified by sparks of jealousy that Kairi has someone who cares so deeply for her. Naminé began to not only place herself in Sora's memories, but removed Kairi from them altogether. She also performed the same process on the Riku Replica at Vexen's request. Naminé almost completes her task of replacing Kairi with herself until Axel manipulates her into betraying Marluxia. Naminé manages to save Sora from forgetting about Kairi and reveals herself to him at last.
While Sora vaguely recalls the most important person to him, he cannot identify her (Kairi) though he now knows she is not Naminé. Naminé, wishing to right her wrongs and happy at least that Sora still wishes to protect her, promises to restore his memories once he defeats Marluxia, who is waiting for Sora on the 13th floor of Castle Oblivion.
Once Marluxia is defeated, Naminé has Sora, Donald, and Goofy step into devices that will rearrange the chains of their memories, but break the ones that she created. As a result, Sora's memories of Naminé will be erased as he begins to recall Kairi and the rest of his friends. However, Sora promises that in his heart, Naminé will still be there and he will find her again.
Since then, Naminé has been carefully caring for Sora and his friends and ensuring their true memories are restored. She also helps save Riku in Reverse/Rebirth from Zexion by taking on Kairi's appearance to convince Riku not to refuse the darkness within his heart while drowning in light. When they meet in person, she offers to lock away the darkness of his heart so that it can never hurt him again, but he refuses the offer, opting to battle the darkness within him rather than run from it. Naminé then suggests that Riku made the correct decision, and confirms his suspicion that she was the one guiding him.
[edit] Kingdom Hearts II
Naminé and Roxas appear to be of a similar nature, not quite supposed to exist, yet still existing because of someone else. While Roxas is the Nobody of Sora, Naminé is actually a "special Nobody" born from Kairi's heart when it left Sora's body. As Kairi had no darkness in her heart, her heart hid within Sora's body instead of becoming a Heartless when Destiny Islands was consumed by Darkness. When Sora impaled himself with the dark Keyblade, his body and soul were used to create not only Roxas, but Naminé as well. As a result of this, she has none of Kairi's memories. Naminé's special birth in conjunction with the fact that Kairi's heart had been in direct contact with Sora's is why, DiZ states, that Naminé's special powers could only affect the memories of Sora and those whose hearts are connected to his, which was why she was used by the Organization. DiZ had her protect Sora in his deep sleep while restoring Sora's memories, which affected Roxas.
Despite DiZ's orders, Naminé visits Roxas in Twilight Town. She appears to him several times, often before he is attacked by Nobodies, acting somewhat as a guide to him. It is Naminé who tells Roxas of his true nature as a Nobody. When he is told that he will disappear, Naminé quickly assures him that "he'll be whole". As DiZ takes her away, she tells him that they will meet again, even if they do not recognize each other. Though he was to destory Naminé as instructed by DiZ since he has no more need of her, as seen in KH2 Final Mix, Riku (in the guise of Xehanort's Heartless) decided to let her go with Axel to repay the favor to her for Castle Oblivion. She is not seen again until near the end of the game. She frees Kairi and Pluto from imprisonment and they attempt to escape from the Organization's stronghold. They encounter Saïx, but, fortunately, are saved by Riku.
Naminé gives up her own existence as an independent entity and fuses with Kairi to complete her, just as Roxas had with Sora in the beginning of the game. However, it is said in her and Roxas's conversation that they will not fade, but rather be whole and live on through Sora and Kairi, thus proving that not all Nobodies are destined to fade into darkness. This is further signified in the ending, as we see Roxas and Naminé one more time, smiling through their counterparts at each other when they return to the Islands complete.
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Kingdom Hearts • Chain of Memories • II |
