Selphie

Selphie is a minor character in the Kingdom Hearts series, originally from Final Fantasy VIII. The official Kingdom Hearts website states that she is thirteen years old at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and fourteen during the events of Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts
Selphie is a resident of the Destiny Islands and a friend of Sora, Kairi and Riku. She spends most of her time with Tidus and Wakka.

She is one of three to ask Sora a question that helps determine his leveling pace during his Dive into the Heart in the Destiny Islands area. Her question, "What is most important to you?" can be answered with either, "being number one", "friendship", or "my prize possessions". Later, Selphie talks to Sora about the legends of mysterious effects the paopu fruit has on people.

When the Heartless destroyed Destiny Islands, her whereabouts were unknown. It's possible that she disappeared along with the islands when they were destroyed, but thanks to Sora she was able to return along with Destiny Islands.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories
A memory-based version of Selphie appears within Castle Oblivion. Sora briefly speaks to her along with Tidus and Wakka when he goes to Destiny Islands. When Riku goes there, she also appears with Tidus and Wakka, but quickly disappears.

Some time after the defeat of Marluxia, the real Selphie plays with Tidus and Wakka on the beach while Kairi watches the small island, waiting for Sora.

Kingdom Hearts II
Like the other islanders, Selphie has forgotten Sora as a result of Naminé's manipulations. She invites Kairi to go to the kids' island after school one day, but Kairi reveals that she promised herself not to go to the island until she remembers Sora's name. Although Selphie has no memory of Sora, she does believe Kairi's story of his existence.

Kingdom Hearts coded
A data version of Selphie appears on the Datascape's Destiny Islands, alongside Wakka and Tidus, all of them made of data. She tells the Data-Sora to destroy the block and gives him a Hi-Potion for doing so. In the remake of this game, the item was switched to a Defense +1.

Appearance
In Kingdom Hearts, Selphie has almost exactly the same appearance as in her original game, Final Fantasy VIII, albeit she is younger here. She wears an odd, yellow dress with overall straps and a large pocket on the chest. Minor changes to Selphie's appearance include her original brown boots changing to sandals and the blue strap she originally wore on her left wrist being replaced with a loose, blue beaded bracelet. Selphie's eyes are green and she uses a jump rope as a weapon, referencing Selphie's original weapons in Final Fantasy VIII, Nunchaku. She also retains her peculiar hairstyle; brown hair styled into one large curl on the back of her head and two more on either side.

In Kingdom Hearts II, a slightly older and noticeably taller Selphie is briefly seen in a school uniform similar to the one Kairi wears. However, Selphie wears her uniform straight, unlike Kairi, who rolls her sleeves up. Selphie wears a short-sleeved white polo shirt, a plaid, sky blue tie, a pleated skirt of the same color, navy blue knee-high socks, and black shoes. She also wears a small brown strap around her left wrist in lieu of her bracelet from Kingdom Hearts. Another accessory of hers is the "moogle bag", which she is seen with for a mere moment in Kingdom Hearts II.

In Kingdom Hearts Re:coded's cutscenes, Selphie's thighs are noticeably larger, giving her "quite an adult impression". This is due to a mistake among the developers, though they ultimately decided to keep the change.

Personality
Selphie is carefree and outgoing. She also seems to be a romantic of sorts, commenting how romantic the paopu fruit legend is to Sora when he speaks to her on Destiny Islands. In Kingdom Hearts II, after Kairi tells her she is sending a letter to the "other boy", who turns out to be Sora, Selphie appears rather charmed by Kairi's idea.

Origin
Selphie Tilmitt was originally a major character from Final Fantasy VIII, in which she is a classmate of Squall's at Balamb Garden, having recently transferred from Trabia Garden. She is active and energetic, although slightly clumsy. She participates in many extracurricular activities, such as planning the Garden Festival and running the school's website. She wields Nunchaku in battle, and her Limit Break, "Slot", allows the player to cast a random spell numerous times. She is obsessed with trains and other vehicles, and she ended up being the pilot of the team's starship. Selphie first shows up when she runs into Squall while late for class. Later, during a field exam in Dollet, she joins Squall's team after Seifer runs off. She later graduates to SeeD with Squall and Zell, and the three are assigned to the same team, which is given a mission to free the small nation of Timber from the giant Republic of Galbadia. During the game, she recovers her childhood closeness with Irvine, who serves as her copilot on the Ragnarok.

Selphie was the second character that Nomura drew, after Squall, intentionally giving her an impractical hairstyle. When he first designed Selphie, Nomura drew her in overalls; however, he realized that none of the characters would be wearing a skirt. In the end, he gave Selphie a mini-skirt and let Quistis have pants.

While Selphie is not the only character from Final Fantasy VIII to appear in the Kingdom Hearts series, she never meets Leon, Seifer, Fuu, or Rai, due to living on different worlds, breaking Selphie apart from her former castmates to coincide with the Kingdom Hearts series' theme of multiple franchises and works combining.

Notes and references
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