- "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."
- —Kairi to Sora
Kairi (カイリ) 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 2 best friends, Sora and Riku. She is 14 at the start of Kingdom Hearts, and 15 during Kingdom Hearts II (as about a year has passed since the events of the first game.)
Journal Entries
Kingdom Hearts
- First
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
Kingdom Hearts:Re 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.
Riku's Story
Kingdom Hearts II
- First School Oufit
Longtime friend of Riku and Sora, and one of the 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 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
Kairi begins the game as a resident of the Destiny Islands, although it is established early on that she is not a native of them, though it is also referenced that Kairi is the adoptive daughter of their mayor. Nine years before the start of the game, she appeared out of nowhere one night during a meteor shower, and became very close friends with Sora and Riku, two natives of the islands who, in their teenage years, often playfully competed for her attention; she didn't mind this, however, and at times even supported their competitions. She bears no memory of her life before the Islands, and Kairi's 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 turns towards him, looking sick, then a huge gust of wind sweeps through the cave and Kairi disappears. 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, though Riku is hostile to Sora (having been manipulated by Maleficent into believing that Sora no longer cared for either Kairi or himself). Eventually, Riku finds Kairi's body, but it is apparent she lost her heart. This causes Riku to give in to the Darkness in the hopes that once Maleficent's plans come to fruition, he will be able to find her lost heart. 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 rests within Sora. 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 it 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 as a result he is turned into a Shadow Heartless, although Donald, Goofy, and Kairi thought he had died at first). Awakened, Kairi attempts to escape from Hollow Bastion with Donald and Goofy, 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. The two escape Hollow Bastion, revealed to be Kairi's home world, and travel to Traverse Town. Kairi spends the rest of her time in Traverse Town with Leon and the others and gives Sora the Oathkeeper. However, in the game's final cutscene, she is seen greeting Sora before being transported back to Destiny Islands without him. Just before she is sent back, Sora promises that he will come back to her when he manages to find Riku and the King, and she tearfully says that she knows he will. 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 deeply touched, shedding a few tears, and adds to it; now the picture depicts herself and Sora exchanging two halves of a paopu fruit.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Although Kairi did not directly appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she did play a very important role.
- 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
Kairi, now 15 years old, lives her life normally on Destiny Islands. She misses Sora but does not remember his name or anything about him. After the conclusion of Roxas' story, she remembers his name to be Sora. One day, Axel comes to the Destiny Islands and tells Kairi to come with him. She refuses until Axel summons a group of Nobodies. She then runs off into a nearby portal with King Mickey's dog, Pluto, into Twilight Town and meets Hayner, Pence and Olette. She is found again by Axel, though Saïx finds Axel with Kairi and takes her to The World That Never Was as a prisoner, but she is eventually freed by her Nobody, Naminé. The two attempt to escape but are 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 by Riku, whose appearance has changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless. Kairi takes all this into stride and sees that it is indeed Riku even though his appearance has changed. 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 and shows him that the look-alike of Xehanort's Heartless is really Riku. After Sora and Riku lock Kingdom Hearts, she is sent back to the Destiny Islands, but is once again separated from her friends. After they defeat the final boss, they also return to the islands, where they are reunited with her. After the credits Kairi is seen running to Sora and Riku. Sora asks her why she came and as an answer she holds up a bottle containing a letter with King Mickey's seal on it. They read the letter together, although it is hidden from the player.
Personality
Kairi is caring and kind-hearted, as well as a bit of a tomboy. 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.
It is also hinted that she may have romantic feelings for Sora several times, namely when she draws herself giving him a paopu fruit in their Secret Cave, along with hugging him to make sure that she really has reunited with him. More examples are in The World That Never Was, where she attempts to attack the Shadow Heartless unarmed in an attempt to help Sora, and in the original Kingdom Hearts, where she is clearly distraught when Sora sacrifices himself to restore her and refuses to believe that Sora is dead ("No, he can't be. I won't let him go!"). She is loyal and headstrong, as well as stubborn to a point.
Abilities
- 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 and Sora sacrifices 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.
- Kairi's abilities in combat are fairly inadequate. Kairi isn't able to do much when she is in danger, and often depends on Sora or Riku to come to her aid; this also results in her being somewhat easily captured, which is seen when Axel merely grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her along without any problems. She does, however, have the rare ability to wield a Keyblade, although she only takes out two shadows and doesn't use it again after that. It is possible that she is the chosen wielder for the Realm of Nothingness, although it is unconfirmed whether she was able to keep the Keyblade. She may also have been able to wield a Keyblade due to her status as a Princess of Heart. Or she may have the ability due only to the fact that Riku allowed her to, similar to Roxas allowing Riku to use his Oblivion Keyblade during Deep Dive.
Trivia
- Part of her name ("Kai") is the Japanese word for 'sea' and goes with the overall "naming theme" of Kingdom Hearts main characters (Sora means sky and Riku means land ). It's actually the Japanese term for a nautical mile, although another of its literal meanings is 'separation'. All these terms have to do with the game in one way or another.
- Also, Aqua's name means 'water', relating to Kairi's name. Any connection between the two is unconfirmed, however similar name meanings also apply with Sora/Ven and Riku/Terra.
- Kairi, in her Kingdom Hearts II attire, has also made an appearance in the acclaimed fan made CG movie Dead Fantasy II, featuring an all female cast from the Dead or Alive and Final Fantasy series. Kairi's appearance came as a shock to viewers as all of her comrades were Final Fantasy characters, namely Tifa, Rinoa, Yuna and Rikku. In this video, in addition to her mysterious floral Keyblade, she was shown to transform into what appears to be Valor Form, as her dress becomes red and her Keyblade is replaced by both Oathkeeper and Oblivion, wielded in the style of Roxas, as well as the said Form.
- 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 a princess upon birth, but lost her wealth and position when she was sent to Destiny Islands where she grew up with Sora and Riku. Other people speculate that Kairi may be the granddaughter of Ansem the Wise, the then-ruler of Hollow Bastion.
- The reason to why Kairi returned to Destiny Islands instead of Hollow Bastion, where she truly comes from, has not been confirmed. However, the possibility of her heart belonging there is to be noted. People have a saying that goes "Home is where the heart is", perhaps that is why she returned to Destiny Islands, where her heart now belongs, instead of Hollow Bastion.
- Another form of Kairi in Kanji is Kai & Ri which means "seaside hometown".
- In the CG Ending of Kingdom Hearts, Kairi has a tear slide down the left side of her face, in the ending of Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Naminé has a tear slide down the right side of her face.
- In all games and artwork, Kairi has blue-coloured eyes. However, in the CG Ending of Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi's eyes have turned light purple.
- Kairi could appear in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, as it shows Terra and Ven visiting the Radiant Garden, which was her original home and being a Princess of Heart.
- As mentioned above, it is referenced that Kairi's father is the mayor of the Destiny Islands. However, since Kairi was born in the Radiant Garden, this simply means that she was adopted by the mayor upon her arrival to the islands.