Kairi

Kairi (カイリ) is one of the three main characters appearing in Kingdom Hearts, and Kingdom Hearts II. Kairi lives on Destiny Islands along with her companions, Sora and Riku. She is the love interest of the two, who compete for her in the first part of the series. Kairi is voiced by Hayden Panettiere in the English version, and by Risa Uchida in the Japanese version.

Kingdom Hearts
"Kairi, Sora and Riku were best friends. They built a raft to sail out and see new worlds. The three were sepearted when a mysterious force struck the Destiny Islands. Thus did Sora's search for Kairi begin".

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
"Sora's childhood friend."

"Sora's journey began as a search for Kairi, who dissapeard when their island home was swallowed by the 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."

Kingdom Hearts II
"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 see him more and more with every passing day."

"Falling through an unexpected hole in 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."

Kingdom Hearts


In the original game Kairi is separated from Sora and Riku when they are taken from the island. Riku later finds Kairi, and uses the power of darkness to restore her (which eventually leads to Riku being possessed by Ansem). Sora also tries to find her, to no avail, until he (along with Donald and Goofy) is captured by Captain Hook's pirate ship. On the ship, he finds Riku, who is taking care of Kairi, and trying to heal her. Riku takes her to Hollow Bastion, and it is revealed that she is one of the Princesses of Heart. Sora and Riku engage in a battle, Sora emerges victorious, leaving him control of Kairi's empty body. By using Riku's Keyblade, and by sacrificing his own heart, Sora brings Kairi back to life, and Sora is turned into a Heartless. Kairi, Donald, and Goofy later find Sora in his Heartless form. Although Donald and Goofy begin to attack him, Kairi realizes that the Shadow is indeed Sora, and by protecting him from other Heartless, Sora is changed back to his human self. In the conclusion of the game also cause of her deep feelings for Sora, Kairi and Sora are seen after Sora locks Kingdom Hearts. Kairi is sent back to the Destiny Islands, while Sora is transported to a different world.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories


Although Kairi did not appear in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, she did play a very important role. In Sora's story Naminé tried to take Kairi's place in Sora's heart. However, she said that she could never replace Kairi and that she was only Kairi's shadow. When Sora was about to go to sleep she told him that if he remembered Kairi's name, his memories would restore faster. 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 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. 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. Eventually, she is found by Axel who 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 some 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.

Spoilers end here.

Personality


Kairi is a caring and kind-hearted girl, but despite her seemingly delicate appearance, she can be extremely determined and courageous when she needs to. She also can act rather spunky and tomboyish when she hangs out with Riku and Sora. She makes new friends easily, and quickly befriends Hayner, Pence, and Olette after fleeing from Axel. She is also fiercely protective of her friends, even to the point where she is willing to risk her life to protect them, as seen when she throws herself into danger twice to try to help Sora; Sora and Riku's friendship with her is exactly the same. While the mystery of her origin would bother others, she takes it in stride, and enjoys her new life on Destiny Islands.

Abilities
Kairi's abilities in combat are fairly inadequate. Kairi unfortunately isn't able to do much when she is in danger, and often depends on Sora or Riku to come to her aid. She does, however, have the rare ability of being able to wield a Keyblade. This is interesting as her Keyblade has a chain, which means possibly that it is a real one. It is possible that she is the chosen wielder for the Realm of Nothingness.

Besides this ability, she also has the powers of the Princesses of Heart, and her heart inherently has no darkness whatsoever within it, which led to the unique birth of Naminé (Because Kairi's heart didn't hold any darkness, her body couldn't be consumed by the darkness. Instead, Kairi's heart sheltered in Sora's body when Destiny's Island was consumed. Naminé was born when Kairi's heart was released from Sora's body. Naminé is the enitity of Kairi's heart and Sora's body).

Her being a Princess of Heart may also be the reason why she has the ability to wield her Keyblade.

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 shore or land). The whole of the name is a pun on the word "'Hikari'", meaning light.
 * Kairi, in her Kingdom Hearts II attire, has also made an appearance in the acclaimed fanmade 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.

Kairi