- "Don't forget. No matter where you are, I'm always with you."
- —Kairi to Sora
Kairi is one of three original characters appearing in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts II. Kairi lives on Destiny Islands along with her two best friends, Sora and Riku. She is 14 at the start of Kingdom Hearts, and 15 during Kingdom Hearts II.
Journal Entries
Kingdom Hearts
- First Entry
Islander. Kairi, Sora and Riku were three friends. They built a raft to sail out and see new worlds. The three were separated when a mysterious force struck the Destiny Islands. Thus did Sora's search for Kairi begin.
- Second Entry
Kairi, Sora, and Riku always hung out together. When their island vanished, Kairi lost her heart. It turned out that it was hidden within Sora's. As one of the princesses with the power to unlock the secret Keyhole, Kairi restored Sora's heart when he was turned into a Heartless.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Sora's childhood friend.
Sora's journey began as a search for Kairi, who disapeared when their island home was swallowed by darkness.
Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora she and the islands were saved.
She waits there for Sora and Riku's return.
- Reverse/Rebirth
Riku and Sora's friend growing up.
Kairi vanished when their home islands were devoured by darkness. Riku and Sora both journeyed to find her.
Kairi was held captive by the Heartless, but thanks to Sora, she and the islands were saved.
She waits there for Sora and Riku's return.
Kingdom Hearts II
- First Entry School outfit
Longtime friend of Riku and Sora, and one of the Seven Princesses with ties to the Keys and Keyholes. Not long ago, when she was lost in the darkness, Riku and Sora both tried to save her, each in his own way.
Thanks to them, Kairi was able to return to her home islands, but her memories of Sora were gone, and she soon stopped visiting the island where they once played.
- Second Entry Pink oufit
Longtime friend of Riku and Sora, and one of the Seven Princesses with ties to the Keys and Keyholes.
She had lost her memories of Sora, and after they returned, she wanted to meet him more and more with every passing day.
Falling through an unexpected hole into the darkness, she arrived in Twilight Town and befriended Hayner, Pence, and Olette before being captured by Axel.
Kairi is fervently hoping to meet up with Sora once more.
Story
Kingdom Hearts
Early Life
"Say, Kairi. What was your hometown like?"-- Sora to Kairi.
Nine years before the events of the first Kingdom Hearts, Kairi appeared off the coast of the Destiny Islands during a meteor shower. Sora, then five years old, carefully approaches her and asks, "Who are you? Where did you come from?"
Sometime later, Sora and Riku were in the Secret Cave and talking about "the new girl at the mayor's house". This provides the player a kind of insight into her origins: Kairi is not a native of the Destiny Islands, and was adopted by their mayor.
Leaving Destiny Islands
"So, suppose you get to another world. What would you do there?"--Kairi to Sora and Riku
Kairi later became very close friends with Sora and Riku who playfully competed for her attention. She often supported these competitions, although she didn't know they were contests for her affection and not just innocent rivalry. She bears no memory of her life before the Islands, and her mysterious past sparks curiosity in Sora and Riku, who are anxious to leave Destiny Islands and see other worlds. This leads the trio to build a raft in the hopes of traveling to other worlds. However, before they can leave, their Islands are attacked by the Heartless, and Sora finds Kairi in their Secret Cave. She turned towards him, looking sad and a little ill, then a huge gust of wind swept through the cave and Kairi flew towards him. Sora opened his arms to catch her, but she vanished right as she was about to be swept into his embrace. During this time, it is speculated that Kairi's heart chose Sora as a vessel and when she passed through him, her heart was left behind in him while her body vanished to some distance world.
She then becomes the game's driving force, as much of the game's story centers around Sora's and Riku's attempts at finding Kairi. However, Riku is hostile to Sora (having been manipulated by Maleficent into believing that Sora no longer cared for either Kairi or himself).
Riku finds her first, but she is in a comatose state, with a vacant, lifeless expression and a limp body. She'd lost her heart and because of her Princess status, her body remained untouched by the darkness that usually produced a Heartless. With empty promises by Maleficent, Riku was convinced that he alone could locate Kairi's heart and restore her to health.
In Neverland, Sora finally encounters her, along with a painful reunion with Riku; who is very defensive about her and ends up locking her in a room with Wendy so that Sora can't get to her. When Sora reaches the room below her cell, he extends his hand towards her, desperately hoping for a reaction as he is just now discovering the full lengths of Kairi's condition. Unconsciously, her hand twitches before going still again, much to Sora's relief. Riku then takes her away yet again, having new knowledge of where Kairi's heart is. After the defeat of Captain Hook, Goofy ponders aloud whether or not Kairi had indeed lost her heart, but Donald, not wanting to upset Sora, promptly shushes him. Sora, however, appears to be in denial, pondering over his disbelief that he could fly and whether or not Kairi would believe him.
Their friendship severed for the time being, Sora continues his journey, destined to clash with Riku in the near future once again over Kairi.
Hollow Bastion
"This time, I'll protect you!"--Kairi to Heartless Sora while sheilding him from the Heartless attack.
Eventually, Sora follows Riku and Maleficent to the world of Hollow Bastion where he too learns of Kairi's fate. However, Ansem, while possessing Riku, reveals that Kairi's heart has been resting within Sora all along, which explains all the visions he has had of her during his journey. Furthermore, Kairi is one of the Princesses of Heart, a maiden whose heart holds no darkness, and is needed to open the final Keyhole. He then attempts to take the keyblade from Sora. After winning a fight and driving Ansem from Hollow Bastion, Sora sacrifices himself using the Dark Keyblade to free Kairi's heart, and is turned into a Shadow Heartless. Awakened, Kairi runs towards him, but as soon as her fingers touch him, he vanishes. Devastated, she, along with Donald and Goofy, attempt to escape from Hollow Bastion as Xeanhort's Heartless, disguised as Ansem, arrives. But just as they are cornered by the Heartless, she recognizes Sora's Heartless from the crowd and manages to bring Sora back from the Darkness by embracing him and promising to protect him. The group escapes Hollow Bastion, revealed to be Kairi's home world, and find shelter in Traverse Town where she could be protected by Leon and the others.
Sora finds Kairi in the underground water tunnel after talking with Leon. She states absentmindedly how much this place reminds her of their Secret Place. While lost in darkness, Sora witnessed one of Kairi's memories of her as a little girl wondering around the Hollow Bastion library with her Grandmother. Sora mentions this and it is revealed that after her heart was restored, Kairi can remember certain things from her past. Though Kairi wants to help rescue Riku and stop the darkness from emanating, Sora convinces her to stay put, not wanting her to get hurt and also joking that she would be in his way; he also acknowledges that, since their hearts were one, they will always be together. During this conversation, it was revealed that Kairi's voice brought him back from the darkness. Kairi gives in and gives Sora her Lucky Charm, which doubles as the Oathkeeper keychain.
Departure
"Remember what you said before? I'm always with you too! I'll come back to you-I promise!"--Sora to Kairi
In the game's final cutscene, she appears on a section of Destiny Islands after the final battle, likely confused. Sora runs up to her, a little too late as the world is breaking apart, restoring all the old, destroyed worlds. Just before she is sent back, Sora promises that he will come back to her as soon as he finds Riku and King Mickey. She is then transported back to Destiny Islands without him, wistfully watching the island regenerate around her with Sora's goodbye still fresh in her mind.
During the credits, Kairi is seen in the Secret Cave, looking at the pictures that she and Sora have drawn over the years. Once she sees the picture that Sora had drawn of him giving her a Paopu Fruit, she is moved to tears and adds to it; now the picture depicts herself and Sora exchanging two halves of a paopu fruit. This is a definite sign that Kairi is in love with Sora (as Sora finds it later in the credits of Kingdom Hearts II and smiles).
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Although Kairi did not directly appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she did play a very important role. She served as a constant figure of light for both Sora and Riku and frevently awaited their return on Destiny Islands.
- Sora's Story
In Sora's story Naminé tried to take Kairi's place in Sora's heart. However, she said that she could never really replace Kairi and that she was only Kairi's shadow, meaning she is her Nobody. In Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kairi's image showed up on Destiny Islands when Sora remembered that the one he holds dear to is Kairi, and not Naminé. When Sora was about to go to sleep she told him that if he remembered Kairi's name, his memories would restore faster. So he looked deep into his heart and found Kairi.
- Riku's Story
In Riku's story, Naminé took Kairi's form to help Riku control the light and darkness in his heart. In the credits for Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, Kairi is shown to still be waiting for Sora and Riku's return.
Kingdom Hearts II
Recovered Memories
"Do you remember those boys who use to hang out with us?" --Kairi to Selphie
Kairi, now 15 years old, lives her life normally on Destiny Islands. She attends school regularly along with her friend Selphie and has noticeably aged, having longer hair and more defined features. It can be assumed that she has spent most of her time focusing on her studies, thinking about the boy she's forgotten, and hanging out with Selphie, Wakka, and Tidus--all of which have returned to Destiny Islands safely. She's also become slightly more withdrawn because of Sora's absence, has obtained wisdom usually beyond someone of her age, and has matured into a big sister figure for the younger kids. She's not as brash and bold as she was in the first game, but she's still pretty sociable. She understands that both Riku and Sora have great destinies and duties to fulfill, but that still doesn't keep her from pondering taking action and searching for them on her own.
She misses Sora, but most of her memories of him have faded away because of Naminé's interfering with his own memories. One day, while walking home from school with Selphie, her heart is put into contact with a young boy named Roxas, later revealed to be Sora's Nobody. It appeared that Roxas was trying to contact Naminé, Kairi's Nobody, and instead ended up reaching her instead. During this conversation, Roxas brings up Sora, and, when Kairi inquires about his name, Sora himself, despite being in stasis, somehow uses Roxas as a conduit to talk to her, chastises her for forgetting his name, and jokingly gives her a hint ("Starts with an 'S'!"). Soon afterwards, Kairi sends a letter in a bottle out to sea in hopes that it would reach Sora one day, and immediately remembers his name and everything else about him.
It is worth noting that this was the only conversation Kairi and Roxas had throughout the whole game.
Reunion With Sora and Riku
"Maybe... waiting isn't good enough." --Kairi
One day, Axel comes to the Destiny Islands and tells Kairi to come with him. She refuses until Axel summons a group of Nobodies. A bark behind her gives her another option. She then runs off into a nearby portal with King Mickey's dog, Pluto, into Twilight Town and meets Hayner, Pence and Olette. She hits it off with them, immediately fitting in with the three and going as far as to explain who she is searching for. To her joy, Hayner, Pence, and Olette know Sora, assuring her that she could stay in Twilight Town until his next visit.
Unfortunately, she is found again by Axel and forcibly taken with him, Olette, Hayner, and Pence's attempts doing nothing to prolong it. However Saïx finds Axel with Kairi and takes her to The World That Never Was as a prisoner, stating that she is the "fire that feeds Sora's anger." Kairi is devastated, thinking all hope is lost until she is freed by her Nobody, Naminé. Naminé uses a Corridor of Darkness to allow them to escape the cell, telling Kairi to trust herself.
The two's attempt to escape is stopped by Saïx and two Berserker Nobodies who offer to take Kairi to Sora. Once she refuses, Saïx gets ready to send the Nobodies to attack the two girls only to be saved a cloaked figure. Naminé hints at who the cloaked figure is, causing him to pause as Kairi strides towards him to remove the hood. Her guess is correct and it is indeed Riku even though his appearance has changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless, she takes this in stride and is just happy to be reunited with Riku. Riku leads her to Sora and is attacked by a group of Heartless. He hands Kairi a Keyblade, and they successfully fend off the remaining Heartless. She is then reunited with Sora with a touching hug between these two. She stopped Ansem (Riku) from leaving and showed Sora that Ansem was really Riku.
The three along with Donald and Goofy face off with Luxord and Saïx to get to Xemnas. Kairi is a pillar of support during these battles more than an actual participant--as Luxord's battle leaves them caged by cards and Saïx uses a shockwave to force both her and Riku (Riku uses his body to shield her) behind a barrier so he can battle alone with Sora, Donald, and Goofy.
After Sora and Riku defeat Xemnas, Naminé appears and creates a portal, where Donald, Goofy and Mickey go through leaving Sora, Kairi and Riku. Kairi walks towards her and Sora follows Kairi. Kairi thanks her as Naminé tries to make Sora remember her, but Sora gets confused. Roxas comes out of him. Namine and Roxas accept their fate together to live inside Sora and Kairi as they fuse with their original selves. Kairi walks into the portal, but when Sora and Riku follow the portal disappears and they fight again Xemnas. After they defeat Xemnas, they arrive to the shore of Dark Meridian. Kairi´s letter appears to them and Sora reads it. The Door To Light appears and the two boys go through it and arrive at Destiny Islands shores as Kairi shouts for them. Sora swims excited towards her but Donald and Goofy jump to Sora and Mickey to Riku. They hug Sora, as Sora shows her the lucky charm and replies to Kairi "We-We´re back!" and Kairi corrects "You´re home" and extends her hand as Sora takes her hand and at the same time returning the lucky charm to her.
For a brief moment, Roxas and Naminé are shown smiling back at each other, just as Sora and Kairi are.
Later it is seen Sora and Riku talking about the Door to light as Kairi appears running to them, shouting their names. Sora turns to her and asks "Hey, What's up?" and Kairi hands him a letter from the King.
Future Games
Kingdom Hearts coded
A data version of the then-14-year-old Kairi is set to appear in Neverland. Like in the first game of Kingdom Hearts, her body is a mere empty shell.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Kairi may reappear in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, as it features the reappearance of Destiny Islands. Xion and Naminé have a conversation about her.
Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep
Kairi may make an appearance as a 4 year-old girl living in Radiant Garden in the upcoming game, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, which features 10 years before the events of the first game. This could help explain more of her life before the islands.
Personality
Kairi is caring and kind-hearted, not afraid to speak out her mind. However, she is determined and courageous when someone she cares about is in danger, often risking her own safety to help that person. She also makes friends easily, quickly befriending Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town. In contrast to Sora and Riku, who were both bothered by not knowing about Kairi's hometown, she took it in stride and was able to look at the positives about living in the Destiny Islands. She is loyal and headstrong, as well as stubborn to a point though.
Kairi seems to be in love with Sora, which is entirely mutual. Numerous hints of this are as follows:
- She draws herself giving him a paopu fruit in their Secret Cave after seeing that Sora had made the same drawing of him extending a paopu fruit to her.
- When they reunite in the World That Never Was, Kairi quickly runs over and hugs Sora to make sure that he is really there.
- Beforehand, she attempts to attack the Shadow Heartless unarmed in an attempt to help Sora.
- During the sunset before the Heartless invasion of Destiny Islands, Kairi tells Sora "Don't ever change."
- When Sora sacrifices his own heart to restore hers, Kairi is visibly shaken and refuses to believe that Sora may be dead, shouting "No, he can't be. I won't let him go!"
- During their escape from Hollow Bastion on the first visit, Kairi hugs Sora (who is still a Heartless) to protect him while she, Donald, and Goofy are attacked by numerous Shadows.
- While escaping from the Castle That Never Was, Kairi tells Roxas and Naminé that she and Sora will be together everyday.
- In the ending sequence to the first Kingdom Hearts, she is genuinely moved to tears when she sees the aforementioned paopu fruit picture.
Abilities
As a Princess
- Because Kairi is a Princess of Heart, her heart possesses no darkness within it, leading to the unique birth of Naminé, and possibly Xion, when she accidentally gives it to Sora, who later sacrificed himself to restore her heart.
- Like the other princesses, she has the power to open the Final Keyhole to Kingdom Hearts in Hollow Bastion once she is gathered with the rest of the princesses.
- Kairi also appears to have some kind of latent magical ability, as seen when she manages to restore Sora's humanity after he becomes a Heartless.
- Since the other Princesses of Heart possess the abilities to hold back darkness and upgrade other people's powers, it is no doubt that Kairi can do so as well.
Combat
- Kairi's abilities in combat are limited. Kairi isn't able to do much when she is in danger, is always taken away from the action, and often depends on Sora or Riku to come to her aid; this also results in her sometimes being captured, which is seen when Axel merely grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along without any problems. She was once thought to have been able to wield a keyblade and it has been confirmed. Also, when she does fight, she does seem to have some skills; upon meeting her in the World That Never Was, Sora compliments her fighting skills.
Trivia
- Part of her name ("Kai") is the Japanese word for "sea" (海; her whole name is homophonous with the word for "nautical mile" (海里 or 浬)).
- Kairi is the first female in the Kingdom Hearts series to wield a Keyblade, though it is unknown if she was able to keep it. It is also unknown how well she weilds it, as she has shown to have little to no combat skills in most of her appearances, but after Sora meets up with her and Riku and they destroy a wave of Heartless, Donald exclaims, "Kairi, you were great!" suggesting she is, in fact, able to hold her own in battle.
- Kairi shares many strikingly similar physical traits with several other females. Specifically: Aqua, Xion, and Naminé (the only one of which is her Nobody--explaining the likeness).
- When Sora fell into a trance and visited Kairi's memories, he saw a young version of her and her then-alive grandmother in the library of Castle Hollow Bastion in Radiant Garden. This reveals a slim possibility that Kairi was indeed a princess upon birth.
- The reason to why Kairi returned to Destiny Islands instead of Hollow Bastion, where she truly comes from, has not been confirmed. However, Nomura said that everyone returned to the world they were on when it was destroyed.
- Because of her ability to wield a Keyblade, she is sometimes believed to be the strongest Princess of Heart by fans.