Kairi

Kairi (カイリ) is one of three original characters appearing in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II. Kairi lives on Destiny Islands along with her companions, Sora and Riku. Kairi is voiced by Hayden Panettiere of Heroes fame in the English version, and by Risa Uchida in the Japanese version. She is 14 at the start of Kingdom Hearts, and presumably 15 during Kingdom Hearts II (as about a year has passed since the events of the first game.)

Kingdom Hearts
"Kairi, Sora and Riku were best 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".

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

"Sora's journey began as a search for Kairi, who disappeared 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


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. 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 (being manipulated by Maleficent to believe 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 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.

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 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.

Spoilers end here.

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 has 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.

Abilities
Because Kairi is a Princess of Heart, her heart possesses no darkness within it, leading to the unique birth of Naminé 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'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. She does, however, have the rare ability to wield a Keyblade. 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.

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). It's actually the Japanese term for a nautical mile, although another of it's literal meanings is 'separation'. All these terms have to do with the game in one way or another.
 * 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.
 * 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 says "Home is where the heart is", perhaps that is why she returned to Destiny Islands, where her heart now belongs, instead of Hollow Bastion.

Kairi