Aqua

Unreleased

Aqua is a playable character from the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Her first appearance was in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II, titled The Gathering. The video was continued on the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, named Birth by Sleep. She is depicted as one of the former Keyblade masters before Sora.

While Aqua's name means 'water' in Latin, Kairi's name contains the Japanese word for "sea." Any connection between the two is unconfirmed, however similar name meanings also apply with Sora and Ven, and with Riku and Terra.

Birth By Sleep
She first appears as a young, blue-haired female knight who fights alongside Ven and Terra in the secret ending movie of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, called Birth By Sleep. She is the first to be unmasked when her helmet gets smashed after being thrown to the ground in battle. She and Ven briefly take on Master Xehanort's Apprentice together, but make no progress in defeating him. She uses a spell reminiscent of Reflect to shield Terra from the Keyblade cyclone generated by Master Xehanort. She is a spectator for the rest of the battle, being too far away to reach their enemies before Ven becomes trapped by Master Xehanort's grip. She is seen looking on in horror as Ven struggles fruitlessly, and catches his frozen body after he is dropped off the cliff. She was originally seen in magazine scans as staring up at a glowing heart, and due to her hair color and style, was seen as connected to Kairi by some fans. The video ends with her holding a helpless but still living Ven, gazing up at what may be a newly appeared blue Kingdom Hearts in the sky.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Aqua's armor and Keyblade were briefly seen in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix. They reside in the Room of Sleep, a room constructed by the Organization under Radiant Garden for an as of yet unknown purpose. This reveals a possibility that at this point in time she is dead. Xemnas apparently visits the armor often, calling it "friend" and talking to it for long periods of time. This has piqued the curiosity and suspicion of Xigbar, who often eavesdrops on his conversations, and once shared this story with Zexion, stating that one time he heard another voice respond to Xemnas.

Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep
In the recent trailer, Aqua was shown at an unknown world, along with Terra and Ven, rushing towards stairs upon the arrival of someone. In Castle of Dreams, Aqua quickly glances at a running Cinderella, who had just lost a slipper. She was also seen conversing with Terra over the nature of Master Xehanort's plan. In the Wicked Queen's room at Snow White's Castle, she was seen looking into the Magic Mirror, where she then saw the mirror's face and jumped back startled. She was then immediately transformed into a ball of energy and then taken into the mirror. Battle scenes of Aqua where also shown to be in the forest of the world. In the Enchanted Dominion, Aqua was running towards Ven, yelling for him to not be fooled. She then told him to never believe what Maleficent said. Later on, Aqua was seen asking Maleficent if what she said was a lie. Claiming her words were truth, Maleficent then transformed into her Dragon form and proceeded to battle her. In a recent scan she is also shown to be fighting to defend Jaq from Unbirths while he carries a key, most likely meaning they are setting Cinderella free after Lady Tremaine locks her up.

Battle Style and Abilities
Aqua is described by Tetsuya Nomura as being "tricky". She is magic based and is said to be quite agile, doing cartwheels and spinning while making powerful slashes with her Keyblade. One of Aqua's "modes" also appears to be somewhat based off of Sora's Master Form, having her Keyblade float and being able to use a similar move to Sora's attack, Disaster. In this mode, she also has the ability to teleport in battle.

Recently, pictures of Aqua's gameplay in battle surfaced in a Famitsu magazine, confirming that her combat is very magic-based. Aqua has been shown to use an a fire-based ability called Fire Blazer, in which fire coats her Keyblade and leaves a trail of fire as she moves in the air; the flames then charge down towards enemies. Also shown was a Blizzard-based ability, in which Aqua summons two large Blizzard-type spheres that revolve around her. In other, much earlier magazines, Aqua has been shown to have a possible Thunder-based ability. She also has a new attack called Time Supriser shown in a recent scan while she was helping to defend Jaq from Unbirths, based on the Stop spell from Kingdom Hearts, in which Aqua freezes all enemies within a certain area in time, represented by clocks appearing over all of the frozen enemies.

Trivia

 * Aqua appears to share similar physical traits with Kairi, though somewhat older.
 * The Badge on Aqua's chest slightly resembles the symbol of the Heartless and the symbol of the Nobodies turned upside down. The same badge is on Terra's belt (except yellow) and Ven's chest.
 * Although Aqua is not the first playable female (that honor is shared by Larxene and Xion), she is the first one playable in gameplay that is part of the storyline; Xion and Larxene are only playable in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days's Multiplayer Mode.

Gallery
Aqua (KH)