#soriku analysis

[matenr0u]

While deep sea diving in the web archive I stumbled upon some neat bits of Kingdom Hearts fandom history, like this— what may be the first ever “Riku is Gay” essay (in English).

The first snapshot of the page is from 26th November 2002, just after the international release of KH. Soriku really been out here since day 1…

The purple prose dates it a lot but I didn’t notice any blatant Kairi bashing, which is impressive. It’s interesting that Riku’s complicated feelings for Sora have been documented even as early as 2002, pointing to the same subtext fans discuss even 20 years later.

Here’s a link to the essay: Dissertation on Riku x Sora by Ruaki

“In the end, Riku fell into the 'as long as he's happy' mentality. A much needed noble gesture on his part, but who can say what the future holds for him?“

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Every day I have to contend with how Soriku fandom just spoils me with in depth analysis about the series itself as much as it spoils me with analysis of characters and the ship

Reading stuff like necklace theory, "riku is the light", the sleeping realms theory, and just fan analysis and translations of the original jp version of kh changed my life man

[andrewwtca]

Maybe I'm just looking way too deep into this, but I think the reason that BBS uses a command system instead of letting you freely use skills and magic because Masterhood requires you to discipline yourself and do things 'by the book'

And that's why in both BBS and DDD a command system is used, because the primary goals is to become a Master. You want to do things 'correctly' so that you can prove that you really understand how a Keyblade works.

(and also, funnily enough, the ones who seem to have the most freedom in this rigid system is Ven and Sora, who only want to be Masters by association of their friends)

And then in KH3, even though Sora was technically trying to be a Keyblade Master alongside Riku, he goes back to the normal action commands menu, because Sora never truly cared for being a master. But.... even then...

The game lets you play as Riku and Aqua, who have become Keyblade Masters, and the combat system doesn't change (and don't you dare stop me here and say, 'Andrew that's because it would be silly to change a combat system for two briefly playable characters' BECAUSE THAT'S NOT THE POINT). They've grown from the games where they achieved Masterhood and they realized the limitations of their teachers and of Mastery itself.

Aqua realized how fragile the balance truly is and Riku, time and time again, learned that doing things 'by the book' entails completely denying the darkness. Both of their struggles stem from darkness - Aqua rejecting it and Riku being unable to reject it. And they learn that the books were wrong: darkness can't be eliminated. They realize how their teachers have failed them, to an extent, and don't hold themselves to their exact teachings.

But, this is only a small example of breaking the toxic cycle their Masters taught them and RIKU IS STILL THE PRIMARY ONE TO LEAD THE CHANGE TO TRULY ACCEPTING BOTH LIGHT AND DARK (ROAD TO DAWN), AND OF COURSE, RIKU ONLY FINDS THE LIGHT BECAUSE OF SORA AND SORA ALSO HAS DARKNESS HE NEEDS TO ACCEPT, SO THEY'RE BOTH THE ONES TO LEAD THE CHANGE, SO THE COMMAND SYSTEM ACTUALLY PROVES SORIKU ENDGAME ANDliterary analysis is my special interest

[emblazons]

"I heard him call my name. He needs me."

RIKU & SORA in KINGDOM HEARTS ⤷ DREAM DROP DISTANCE

[freckledhylian]

Sora being knocked unconscious, and having his heart displays really old memories because it felt Riku’s heart presence is kinda… yeah.

[mythicalartistx]

KH3 Worlds ACTUALLY Matter and show Major Parallels and Foreshadowing through Sacrifice and Separation

The worlds in KH3 are often seen as just retelling of the Fairytales but with added Sora and his friends or Organization members. Because of this they're often disliked especially when there are some sections that are scene for scene and Sora and the others might not be present for this.

However, if you get passed the fact it's a retelling of the movie and get into how it connects with Kingdom Hearts story, they actually play a major role.

Olympus: Sacrifice

Olympus shows themes of sacrifice and love. It shows that Hercules didn't think and all he knew was that Meg was in trouble and threw himself in harm's way to save her. He sacrificed himself by doing that but also sacrificing his godhood to be with Meg. He would have to be separated from Meg and that's not the kind of life he would want to live.

Later on Riku ends up doing the exact same thing. When Sora feels powerless and all alone he sacrifices his being and life for Sora. And I could also argue he does it out of love because when he does this he doesn't necessarily think of his actions but does it to his devotion to Sora and protecting him like he always promised Terra.

Corona: Sacrifice

In the Tangled world, Rapunzel is willing to sacrifice her freedom to save Flynn's life and become separated from the outside world she's grown to love forever.

However, Flynn decides that her freedom is more important and sacrifices himself by cutting her hair which could make her lose the power to heal.

Rapunzel is also compared to Riku because they both so desperately felt trapped. Riku felt trapped at the island and wished to leave and explore other worlds with Sora and Kairi to point where if the raft didn't work out, he would open the door to darkness. I'll also like to include they both felt that someone they were close to left them for others.

Toy Box: Separation

In Toy Box, we learn of how Woody and Buzz among a few other had separated from half of their group. However, they are later seen that the world was split in half and are separated from their beloved friends. They realize at the end their friends who they've been separated from that they are always connected through their hearts.

And this goes back to how Sora will soon be separated from everyone and become stuck at the Quadratum. It also shows that he is always connected to them through his hearts and that's how he uses/and abuses the power of waking through that connection.

Arrendale: Sacrifice

When Elsa is about to get slashed by Hans' sword, Anna who is in the brink of death rushes in and saves her by taking the hit instead. She freezes at the same time and makes it so the sword shatter from her entire body becoming ice. She sacrifice her life for her. Elsa manages to thaw her and the cold weather by the act of love.

Which Riku then does the act of love when he sacrifices his life for Sora. Riku is also compared to Elsa on how they both pushed the people they loved/ cared about away to protect them.

Monstropolis: Separation

In this world, Sullie goes through separation of being away from Boo. They have to separate so Boo will be safe.

This also refers to how Sora ends up in the Quadratum from bringing back Kairi and abusing the power of awakening by using it too many times.

100 Acre Woods: Separation

In this world, Pooh talks to hope they're growing apart and that he misses Sora. Sora feels sad that they're not as close. The eventual outcome is that he'll always be in his heart no matter what.

I feel like this refers to him and Kairi not being as close as they were before. Ever since KH1 things changed between them and she changed. She's no longer the Kairi he knew and they are slowly growing apart. (Which is honestly sad). It also shows that even if he's by himself in the Quadratum he'll have everyone in his heart no matter how far away they are.

Fransankyoto: Separation + Sacrifice

Unlike the others I decided to say this world shows both. In the past, Hiro's brother separated from him when he sacrificed himself to try to find and save the teacher. This is also reflected in the past when beymax also stays behind to sacrifice himself so Hiro can then leave.

It helps shows the connections that no matter how far they are away, the people you love and care for will be in his heart. This shows that to help save everyone he used his connection to his friends to bring them that. It furthers that he won't be alone in the Quadratum and that Riku was able to go to him in MOM because of this.

PoTC: Separation

Finally in the pirates world, we show separation. After Will gets stabbed and he is made Captain of the Flying Dutchman, he faces separation from the one he loves Elizabeth. Only every 10 years are they able to see each other.

This foreshadows both being separated from the ones Sora loves and bringing back all his friends' hearts when Will's life almost gets taken when he gets stabbed. Being apart for 10 years also could lead to how it will take at least a year to find Sora in the Quadratum.

[tennelleflowers]

Turns out I’ve got more to say about Riku >:3c

[holleighgram]

I Think Re:Coded Tells Us How The Story Will End

So I'm going to shamelessly tag @tennelleflowers because I had this moment of speculation while watching their fantastic 6 hour long video essay (yet again).

As the title states, I think Re:Coded for all of its many faults, is a rough outline for how the story will progress.

Data Riku is chosen by the Journal (a non sentient encapsulation of the story) to embody all that it contains to protect it from "corruption".

There is speculation that Riku may be some sort of avatar of Kingdom Hearts, and this theory will be using that as a jumping off point.

I think, down the line, Kingdom Hearts will be threatened again, and will choose Riku as the Child of Destiny, to embody it and protect it from corruption via the MoM or otherwise.

Now, Riku will probably keep this a secret from Sora as they go through their journey in this chapter because he thinks he needs to protect KH on his own because he was chosen OR he's not sure Sora is "up to the task" yet.

But, we know Sora is

And I think he will have to. Just like in coded, we will see Riku ready to give up and self destruct in order to spare Sora, but Sora won't have it.

I think he's going to have to dive into Rikus heart (now containing Kingdom Hearts itself, which would just be a SICK gameplay imo) and learn more about why Riku was chosen.

The reason KH chose Riku was the same reason the journal did-- because 2 defenders are better than one. Sora might not defend the Journal or KH with his life, but we know he will do just that for Riku.

Both Riku and Sora have the strength to protect what matters, which is what will ultimately save KH.

In the end, it's not about saving the Worlds. It's about saving *your* world. And this story is about these two heros and their bond being what ultimately saves the worlds.

The ENDING ending is up to speculation- sora sacrifices the his place in the realm of light to stay with Riku or they forget everything in the end or whatever. Nomura has the final shot already decided, apparently.

BUT anyway that's just my brainrot for today.

[blowingoffsteam2]

it's something that Sora has always acted like "villain Riku in kh1" never happened. Literally. And of course, we can think "it's because he's sora, it's his nature and he's his best friend", "he forgave him". But then DDD and KH3 in san fransokyo hint that it's because it's a trauma for him

Yeah I’d say it’s a mix of all those things. I think he’s kinda just in denial of how much it hurt him and still affects him because he HAS forgiven Riku and he just wants to move on. But trauma has a way of sticking to you until you face it head on and address it. Sora and Riku 100% need to have a “Dark Margin talk part 2”.

[raunchybanana69]

KH1-KH2 parallels to FF7 (Pt.3)

If you haven't looked at the first two parts please check them out

Riku + Ansem SoD + Sora parallels to Cloud + Sephiroth + Tifa (feat. small Kairi and Aerith parallel)

KH2 and Advent Children Parallels

So If you haven't gathered already from reading the first post, Tetsuya Nomura was working on Advent Children at the same time of the CoM and KH2 production. And by now if you haven't already saw the parallels in KH1 and CoM, Nomura basically all but shows you that Riku parallels Cloud, Sora parallels Tifa, and Ansem SoD parallels Sephiroth by this game.

Here we have a very obvious in your face parallel of Sora looking for Riku and Tifa looking for Cloud. If you haven't already seen the Sora and Tifa parallels, then...

Interesting thing to note is that Advent Children only came out a couple months in Japanese theaters before the release date of KH2. Nomura choosing the Advent Children outfits for specifically Cloud and Tifa (and Yuffie) while leaving Aerith and Sephiroth unique outfits was definitely a choice. Whether it's a matter of wanting to promote Advent Children for $$ or wanting people to looking into Advent Children because the parallels are interwoven into the KH writing (we can only speculate).

This one is more of a visual parallel with how Cloud and Riku look away. But also Aerith asks Cloud "you mean you don't want me there when you go away again?" and Cloud replies with "I just--- Listen even if I go far away, I'll come back". Aerith asks "Do you mean it?"

Cloud is unsure of whether he will come back or not which parallels Riku who was originally just going to leave once he was sure Sora and Kairi were safe.

Another note is how Aerith's KH2 outfit is something unique and incorporates white in her pink color palette which makes me wonder...

If you haven't gathered already that Sora was looking everywhere for Riku then idk...

When you look into the actual Advent Children movie, you'll start to see similar dialogue to KH2. In Advent Children, Cloud has Geostigma (a disease described as "the Sephiroth gene") and he camps out in the abandoned church for a couple weeks in seclusion while trying to find a cure. We see Tifa and Marlene stumbling upon Cloud's stuff. Marlene asks "Is Cloud Sick?" which Tifa replies with "He should have told me" ("Why didn't he say something?" in localization) a couple seconds later she says "I think he wants to fight alone" then pauses "I don't think that he will"

Sora in KH2 when finally reuniting with Riku is like "Why didn't you let me know you were okay?" and Riku replies with "I didn't want to be found... not like this."

Lmao funny dialogue but also

If you have not picked up on Riku paralleling Cloud and Ansem SoD paralleling Sephiroth then idk what to tell you...

Fun visual of driving a vehicle to the boss fight.

During the Bahamut boss fight, Cloud is being lifted by his team, and as Tifa lifts Cloud, in the Japanese version she says something like "まだんだ" (not over yet!) which got localized to "No giving up"

When Sora helps Riku up he says "まだ 終われないんだ" (it's not over yet) which got localized to "Don't say another word. It's not over, it's just not"

Anyways that's the end of the long post, keep winning Soriku

[nam-naelle]

Explaining the how and the why I relate to Riku:

Sora and Riku are my favorite characters from Kingdom Hearts. I love them like they love each other.

I've known Kingdom Hearts my whole life because my brother is a huge fan. Whenever I hear the sounds and music from the game, I'm taken back to when he'd be playing in the living room, and I'd be doing something else entirely, with the soundtrack as background noise. And since he'd always babble on to me about Ventus and Riku and Xion and everybody else, it's like all the characters are familiar people. Family. I've never NOT known them. But I never really cared to play the game and I never payed attention to the story until I was 17 years old.

By the time I took a controller in my hands and launched Kingdom Hearts Final Mix for the first time, I'd just come out of a year-long depression and I wanted to finally start paying attention to things that made me happy, and things that made the people around me happy. So, because I was so attached to the music already, and because I felt bad every time my brother talked to me about the game and I couldn't understand a word he said, I started playing it on my own.

At first, I related to Sora. He always looks on the bright side, never gives up, and he would do anything for his friends. I related to that mostly because, after the months upon months of despair and guilt and pain, I'd started feeling grateful and happy about things that wouldn't have had mattered otherwise. And of course since it took so much courage and strength to heal after my depression, I loved seeing Sora stand up after each failure to keep on fighting to become stronger and achieve his goals.

At the end of Kingdom Hearts II, it struck me suddenly that Sora wasn't my favorite character because I related to him. It was because I admired him. I wanted to be like him, and I wanted to have a friend like him in my life. And I was hit with the sudden realization that I was actually a lot more like Riku. I remember after spending a year thinking of myself as a monster and struggling to accept who I was, I'd started to understand that I could be a good person if I wanted to, and that I deserved to have friends by my side. So of course, I resonated with him so much when I saw him at the end of that game. When he said that he wanted to be like Sora, and that he felt lucky to have him for a friend, I understood why I cared about Sora so much: I loved him in the exact same way Riku did. These are some quotes that I really relate to:

"I wanted to live life the way you do. Just following my heart."

"How am I gonna face everyone?"

"Just who were you trying to fool?"

"Myself."

"I looked everywhere for you!"

"I didn't want to be found."

"Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff... So let's go."

Yes, there's even a quote from the first game! Riku is the one who's grown tired of his world, and who wants to discover something that's much bigger. Of course I relate to that so much. But at the time, I thought of myself as an adventurer for it. Like Sora. Sora is the true adventurer in the end after all. It's him who visits a lot of worlds and makes a lot of friends. I can see now that it's because I've always wanted to be like him, that I grew so attached to him from the very beginning. Even if it was Riku who ended up being a lot more like me. So I guess in the end, I love them both. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

[matenr0u]

Riku: Island Breeze

I was going to put this in my combat analysis, but it absolutely deserves its own post.

In 358/2 days, Riku wields Oblivion/Bygone Memories for the final encounter he has with Roxas. Having called out to him and realized that Roxas really is Sora’s nobody, Riku goes all out to bring him to Castle Oblivion where his best friend is sound asleep, having his memories pieced back together. 

During this iconic battle, Riku is specifically vulnerable to Aero: the power of wind. 

Why is this relevant, you might wonder. Riku is associated with a fair handful of things: bat wings, darkness, fleur-de-lis, but not wind.

On the contrary, Riku has a little known fondness for the wind. You could even say, it makes him feel nostalgic.

Fair enough, Roxas can hurt Riku with the wind because he misses the island breeze. Neat gameplay detail, no big deal. But if I can compel you to peer just a little closer… Because this is Riku— the guy who spent his days gazing enviously at the sea and the sky and brooding over his dark angsty feelings. This time, it actually is that deep. 

In other words Riku is weak to Roxas’ Aero attack because it reminds him of Sora.

Sounds like a reach, right? Allow me to demonstrate.

This passage alone is insane, but there’s more.

While Riku is elsewhere in Castle Oblivion reminiscing, Sora battles Repliku for the first time. This is before they have both been consumed with false memories.

Everything about this exchange is so Riku. It’s all of the real Riku’s messy, complicated feelings dialled up to 100 and Repliku doesn’t even understand why he’s having these thoughts. Sora is clueless of course.

So he runs away, and as he leaves, Sora picks up this…

After defeating Repliku, Sora finds the Aero card. The island breeze. Riku’s memories of chasing each other, rolling in the sand together, of jealously watching from afar as Sora and Kairi grew closer.

The way poor Repliku’s dramatic ass just drops it and runs away lmao

Some time later, following the second battle against Repliku, Sora obtains his lost Oblivion/Bygone Memories keyblade after talking to Namine. Wonder why Namine had that keyblade. Probably just a coincidence…

I’ll close this post with a few more of Riku’s thoughts.

Other Diamonds:

Chain of Memories:

“The wind brushed through Riku’s hair.

I wonder if I really will meet someone from my memories in this castle… I want to meet— Sora. More than Kairi, more than anything, I want to see Sora. I want to see him— and apologize.”

Translation credit: goldpanner, keijitranslates

[embraceyourdestiny]

I think sora and riku’s contrast / parallels are so interesting because Sora’s darkness is eating him from the outside in and riku’s ate from within him and came to the surface. riku’s golden light was pure and became tainted from the core and Sora’s warm flame was attemptedly stifled externally. and in that same way when riku let go of his darkness, not his affinity but his inner demons, it flushed out of him like a flowing river, the stream mixing with the tide to be a continuous cycle of self and sora meanwhile is slowly being suffocated, piled upon, an avalanche being set on him by expectations and duty and outward factors to bury him. sora never held insecurity or reservations about himself until other people affected him and riku had always held inner strife because of similar ideas of expectations and responsibility forced onto him. he’s older, the responsible one, the one with a reason to question and protect. he took on so much responsibility and it crushed him and now we’re seeing the same thing with sora. riku was always light and that uncertainty seeped into him like a poison until it binded itself to him and brought him ruin. and it was at such a young age that it quickly became defining for him meanwhile sora got to live with innocence and gentleness a bit longer because riku was the one to protect him. he preserved sora’s light and took on the scorn and fear and responsibility to keep him safe until he got jealous and upset that when he used to be the hero now sora sees him more of an equal and riku liked being looked up to, held in admiration, respected, because to him that felt a lot like love and now that’s what he holds for sora as riku’s overcome himself and seen sora grow into someone strong and good especially remembering the boy he was that was someone so kind and nice and im losing it sora and riku are everything the depth to their relationship the meaning the nuance the profundity they make me right poetry their love and relationship is respect it’s loyalty it’s faith it’s trust it’s hope it’s love it’s too fucking much i can’t take it oh my god

[andrewwtca]

Something really sad, and also INCREDIBELY telling, I found in the Ultimanias is how the Destiny Trio's bonds are described. like, Sora and Riku are kind of consistently described as best friends, but when Kairi gets involved, the bond just becomes childhood friends.

Sora: "Though he lived on Destiny Island with his childhood friends, Kairi and Riku..."

Riku: "A young man who cares deeply for his friends and is Sora's best friend and good rival."

Kairi: "A lively girl who possesses a pure heart of light and grew up on the same Destiny Island as Sora and Riku."

I found a translation, as well, of a character correlation diagram and they're the only trio that isn't described as best friends.

I understand that as a whole, their trio is supposed to represent growing up and how your bonds to one another can change - whether that means growing stronger and coming even closer or weakening and becoming distant - but you'll still care about each other. But it still is incredibly heartbreaking to see the main trio's friendship summed up as "they grew up together."

The only place I've so far seen to say different is the Story Before KHIII.

Sora:

Riku (ignore these god-awful screenshots I was literally watching a youtube review to try and read it because I couldn't find it anywhere else. Just trust me, it says 'Sora and Kairi's best friend since childhood'):

Kairi:

Now, I get it that maybe they don't want to use the same language, but it makes the most sense to me to say on Sora's bio to describe them as best friends, especially considering we see HIS bond with Riku and Kairi, but on Riku's? And the fact that Sora is always the 'friendship guy'? (This is just an outlier I wanted to bring up that calls Riku and Kairi best friends, and that's only if you take these translations as 100% faithful, which we have seen time and time again, that they often aren't.)

It almost feels like their friendship is at an all-time low. And don't forget this is the guidebook that leads up to KHIII, which should hypothetically be the peak of their bond, because they're all on the same level (not in terms of Mastery as Riku is the only Master, but in terms of all being Keyblade Wielders), they're all safe, they all have opportunities to tell each other their feelings. This book is a chance to be a celebration of their friendship, of how they overcome and yet?

'Childhood friends.'

I remember, maybe a few weeks ago, there was a question going around on Twitter asking 'if you have to get rid of one trio, which one would it be?' and most people said Destiny Trio and yeah, it's for a very obvious reason! A lot of these same people say that the games just don't do a good job of showcasing their relationship and they're all really good friends with each other, and everyday, it just more and more obvious it's just wistful thinking. This is as close as we can get as a 'word from god.'

And when you look at the game, it's obvious that they're drifting. The last meaningful conversation we had in this group was Sora and Riku in KH2. KH2!!! That was literally 18 years ago (like a few months for them, but that's not the point I'm making)!!! Meanwhile, we got meaningful interactions in both the other trios in KH3 - which, I'll concede, it was because they were separated for long periods of time that they were so meaningful, but if the game wanted to show us Destiny Trio having deep interactions, it could've! Literally, Sora and Kairi sharing a paopu fruit didn't even have a conversation! it was just Kairi inadvertently voicing her (VERY WELL JUSTIFIED) fears that they'll drift away from each other!

The reason Destiny Trio doesn't feel like a trio is because they aren't one! There's Sora and Riku who are homoerotically close, there's Sora and Kairi who have are growing distant, and there's Riku and Kairi who's only meaningful interactions were founded on guilt or Sora.

TL;DR: "Destiny Trio" is slowly turning into "Sora and Riku dating with Kairi constantly left out of the picture"

They really are Destiny Trio because destiny brought them together and that's about it. Destiny can't give them the same drive to save each other as it gave Seasalt and Wayfinders. I mean yeah, they'll physically save each other, but they're so out of touch emotionally with each other. Like Kairi still refuses to process Sora growing up. Riku has never told Kairi about the things he did to try and save her. He's never even told Sora about his jealousy of Sora and Kairi. And god forbid Sora ever tell them about his insecurities!

The apathy towards destiny in Chikai's opening feels like the perfect way to describe what's going on with them. Destiny is there. Destiny brought them together. And that's it. What else is there to care for?

It's also, once again, very telling that this same song then proceeds with very romantic lyrics about making an oath with someONE. Hm. It's almost like even outside the games, on written supplements, we're constantly being told the path the Destiny Trio is on, and we're constantly being shown that every step they're taking is leading them further down it.

Just. OUGH, these kids!!! I need them to stop sacrificing themselves for each other and making these oaths that are all too big for them, and sit down and just TALK. (And please please please let Kairi interact with someone other than these two. Please, it hurts to see her fall away with nowhere to land!!!)

[hollowwhisperings]

'the yellow Riku wears was directly referenced in CoM to connect him with Belle (to Sora's "Beast")' wait... when did that happen? or is this just speculation?

It was poor wording! Riku has a lot of yellow in his colour scheme for Thematic Purposes: how much of it he's wearing (& with what other colours) tends to tell a [japanese] player what Riku's current state of mind/growth is, (JP colour theory); yellow is strongly connected with royalty, via gold & imperial china, tying to the Series Title & Riku's heavily foreshadowed relevance to it; yellow is also a colour of wisdom/maturity (young Riku is ~wise beyond his age~ & current Riku has regained that wisdom but his Internal Conflicts overshadow it, his current design being predominantly black/white); and, of course, The Sun is yellow.

With respect to Belle, she is always seen in KH wearing her yellow/golden ballgown & the costume "Riku" wears in CoM is very yellow. The "Aitsu" essay by the SoRiku Ultimania goes into how exactly Belle & Riku are paralleled, frame-for-frame & line-by-line, but it is more important to note that these points in CoM are from Sora's POV as his Heart tries to guide him toward Character Growth (after the traumas of KH1 & as a growing boy), Key Memories, and a better Understanding of himself.

In KH, Beauty & the Beast has always existed to reference the current state of Riku & Sora's relationship: Sora meets Beast first, in a time where it is Beast whom he can best relate to.

Sora in KH1 & CoM is deeply insecure about himself, especially in relation to the wiser, always better & out-of-reach Riku. Given that Belle is, y'know, the "Beauty" (& Sora's eventual slip up in KH3 about Riku-expie "Yozora" being "good-looking") it also Implies that Sora is both Aware & Insecure about his own appearance as an "ordinary boy"... while Riku has the whole Princely Silver-Haired Mystery Bishōnen thing going on. Riku is also taller, visibly "stronger" and that whole 1 year older. Sora, at that point and arguably even moreso post-KH3, is definitely the "Beauty" in Sora's POV. Sora, more pointedly in CoM but also in KH1, also considers Riku to be the "Princess Jasmine" to his "Aladdin", no colour motifs required.

I'd guess that Nomura designed Riku without really having the B&tB references much in mind but "Went For It" when they were allowed to use Disney's Belle & Beast, using the shared yellow colour scheme to really emphasize how the Disney characters were paralleling the KH-original ones.

That said, Riku has never personally identified with Belle or Jasmine: he's identified with Beast, Quasimodo, and (possibly)Megara. If he was ever allowed to visually or verbally be associated with the Little Mermaid, Riku would feel Very Deeply Understood: alas, her story is too Queer-coded & Riku's similarities to her Too Strong for that to happen onscreen.

The Sora in KH2 gets to know Belle as her own person (not just as "the person Beast loves & is separated from") and finds that he can relate to her too, situationally at least. It's very rare for Sora to identify himself with any Disney Royalty: he, or the games themselves, almost always lead players to think of Riku instead. Even Rapunzel, who Sora becomes fast friends with prior to learning her Secret Bloodline, is seen by him to better resemble Riku than Sora himself. Rapunzel also goes from yellow-blonde to brunette, in-game, and I swear that the game used that for SoRiku purposes SOMEHOW but there's too much about the New Princesses of Light that overlaps with Riku, his relationship with Sora, & his role as The Sun to figure out the minutia.

[mythicalartistx]

Riku is a Disney Princess and here's why...

Riku displays Princess features

He's just so Princess. And I've been thinking why is he so princess what is it that makes him like this

So I turned to the official Disney princesses and the comparison is something else.

Kingdom Hearts itself does this all the time with how Riku or Sora acts and gives phenomenal parallels through the categories

Animal Sidekick

Royal Bloodline

Central Character

Prince

Adventure

Disney Princess Parallels

Animal Sidekick

One of the mainly criterias are animal Sidekicks, but wait Riku doesn't have one does he?

Guess again.

He in fact does, and so does Sora.

Let's take a look at Dream Drop Distance— a game where Riku displays affection and is accompanied by these silly little guys known as Dream Eaters and his main one is Komory Bat.

The novels add some great details and scenes where they show affection to Riku. They help him fight as well as rub against him.

How could you not find them so adorable and want one?

Royal Bloodline

The next thing is royalty and just note I'm using only knowledge we definitely know or implied, sorry no bloodline theories. In the criteria most princesses are princesses from having a royal bloodline or displaying some act of heroism.

And throughout the series we see these qualities of heroism.

Starting out in darkness, he redeems himself by displaying heroic qualities as any 15 yo in fiction.

In the second game, Riku helps defeat Xemnas, the ultimate bad of the group they were trying to defeat.

After KH1, he deeply regrets his actions and sacrifices himself multiple times, such as pushing Sora out of the way during the final Xemnas battle. Instead of Sora getting hit, he does himself. In DDD, he then displays skills to accept himself and who he is while also rescuing Sora from darkness.

He even states, "...Are you what's trapping him in that nightmare? Cause if you are... I'm what nightmares fear!"

P.S. the JPN translation of the scene is: If you're a nightmare, I'll eat/devore you

And in KH3 not only does he comfort Sora when he feels down, but he sacrifices his own life for Sora's in the keyblade graveyard

Central Character

Riku is one of the main characters, he is the second important character— the first being Sora. Riku actually is in more games than Sora. In 358/2 Days, Sora is not in the game. He is only shown through flashbacks, but Riku he is there. He interacts with Xion and Roxas. Then in DDD the game centers around him more than it really does Sora.

But even in the other games he is still important. Without him, all of the games would be different. No character could take his place.

If Riku simply didn't exist, there would be no one trying to bring destiny islands to darkness. Terra and Aqua wouldn't have gone to Destiny Islands since they came there following Riku's light.

Kairi also would never have gone there because there is no keyblade wielder there. Sora would probably make friends with the other Islanders and he wouldn't have gone on an adventure and there would be no one bringing the princesses to Maleficent.

Prince

Not every princess has a prince, but he certainly does. And Sora is certainly his.

Riku even called him a prince before

They would have a mutual relationship of both saving and comforting the other.

They both have a care and understanding. Sora always thinking of his princess and Riku does all he cans for his prince. They rescue the other multiple times, they sacrifice for the other, and the two even fight together

Adventure

Not every princess goes on an adventure, but Riku certainly does. He goes from using darkness to feeling at his lowest point where he has to accept himself and his darkness (and even possible romantic feelings for Sora his prince).

He then spends a year trying to defend his prince and sacrifices his form to help him awaken. Then he becomes a version of himself that is almost like a monster and refuses to let anyone see him like that.

But when Sora does he doesn't care Riku is still his friend, his princess. It doesn't change a thing and Riku is still Riku. And Sora loves who he is

This gives so much fairytale prince and princess vibes.

They both work together and save the day and after being stuck in darkness they're okay cause the two are together. Then a light appears and the adventure seems to be over..

But no, they both take an exam for becoming keyblade masters. Riku goes through it trying to understand himself and how he feels about Sora and his darkness. He becomes a dream eater for his prince,

Who says princesses can't do rescuing too?

In Recoded, Riku gets kidnapped by Maleficent and Pete and Sora his prince goes in search to save him.

His next journey arrives when he goes through the realm of darkness to search for a missing keyblade wielder. And when Riku is against her he calls out Sora's name and Sora, his prince comes to the rescue. Together they help free her from the darkness. Then after Riku sacrifices himself for Sora, Sora saves him by putting his heart back to his body.

And Riku is on his way to find his prince once again at the end of KH3... His adventure is still ongoing...

Fairytale Parallels

There are so many fairytale Parallels in Kingdom Hearts. Riku sacrificing himself with every little things reflecting a Disney princess.

In the beginning Riku wishes to explore other worlds and leave his island. Many of the Disney princesses also expressed this desire.

Ariel—who is basically a scholar, wants to know more as well as go to the human world.

Belle wants to go on an adventure that's more than her simple everyday life.

Rapunzel wants to go outside to see the world but also see floating lanterns.

Anna— who has barely any social interaction, is tired of being shut away from the world and wants to also experience it.

Riku also gets tricked/manipulated by darkness. While the other princess don't become an antagonist for the first game like he does, they do get tricked or manipulated.

Ursula tricks Ariel into signing a contract to make her into a human where Ursula hopes to eventually become the ruler of Atlantica when Triton trades places with her.

The evil queen manipulates Snow White into taking a bite of her apple after feeling bad for her.

Maleficent tricks Aurora into touching the spindle of the spinning wheel, causing her to die.

Mother Gothel manipulates and gaslights Rapunzel through her entire upbringing.

Raya gets tricked by Namaari into showing her the chamber with the magical gem

Anna gets tricked by Hans into thinking he's the one so he could rule her kingdom.

Riku makes sacrifices throughout the series like when he does it for Sora in kh3 or even sacrificing his form when fighting Roxas to wake Sora up. In general he sacrifices himself for Sora, as well does Sora sacrifice himself too and there are also many princesses who also make sacrifices

Mulan, wanting to protect her father, she sacrifices herself when she takes his place in the war.

While he's not technically a Disney prince, Hercules sacrifices himself to make the dive and save Meg. Hercules also gave up his strength for her but she pushed him out of the way of a pillar to then save him as well. This relates how Sora and Riku both constantly sacrifice for the other.

Anna sacrifices herself for Elsa by freezing to death.

Belle sacrifices her freedom to save her father.

Rapunzel was willing to sacrifice her freedom to save Flynn's life.

And there we have it, I'm sure there are many more examples then what I said but Riku is a Disney princess and should definitely be added to the line up.