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Dagesh Lene

How Kairi was Handled in Kingdom Hearts III [SPOILERS]

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This is a topic that has already been talked about a lot, but I wanted to give my two cents.  I tried to look at this as objectively as I could and chose to tackle this topic from how she fit into the story that was being told, how she was handled in that story, and how she was handled in relation to the other characters.  So, here’s my look at how Kairi was handled in Kingdom Hearts III.

There were two big things that the story of Kingdom Hearts III was doing.  It was trying to wrap up the stories of the main characters, and it was setting up for the future of the series.  When we look at Kairi, there were two things that had been set up in previous games that Kingdom Hearts III had to deliver on in order to wrap up her story.  It had to deliver on her romance with Sora, and it had to show the results of her training to become a Keyblade wielder.  Then, when it came to setting up for the future, she played in a crucial role in Sora’s sacrifice at the end of the game.

When we look at who Kairi was in this game, she can still just be defined as Sora’s love interest.  This is probably due to the focus on wrapping up of the romance arc that had started in the very first game and the focus on setting up for Sora’s sacrifice at the end of the game.  However, when we look at what she did in the game, she did do a decent amount.  She helped fight off the army of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed (granted, we didn’t see this, but it was implied), kept Sora from dying and guided him as he saved everyone, and helped Lea fight Saix and Xion until Sora arrived, at which point she became a party member for the beginning of the fight.  That being said, although Kairi did contribute a decent amount, it did end up with her getting kidnapped and killed.  The game explains this by saying that she had only just learned to use the Keyblade, which meant that she wasn’t as experienced, and it showed (this is explained in one of the entries in the story section of the Gummiphone).

To be fair, the game had been building up to this moment from the beginning of the game.  When Sora asked Hercules how he got his strength back, Hercules told him that it was because Meg was in danger and he wanted to save her with all his heart.  So, just as Hercules risked his life to save the one he loved, Sora risked his life to save the one he loved.  Xigbar pointed out how he thought this it was idiotic for someone to do this since someone else would then have to jump in to save that person, which was the first foreshadowing we got of Sora’s fate.  So, there was a point to Kairi’s kidnapping and death, but was it necessary?  No, Sora could have risked his life for Kairi without making her a damsel in distress, but it is possible that they didn’t consider that when writing Kingdom Hearts III.

When comparing Kairi to how the other characters were handled, I would have to say that they handled Kairi about as well as they handled the others.  The game focused on Sora the most, and because of that, all of the other characters took a back seat.  Once she and the others joined Sora for the final battle, she got a brief amount of time to talk to everyone, like the others did, she disappeared during the battle against the army of darkness, like the others did, was consumed by the storm of darkness, like the others were, stood her ground against the storm of darkness, only attacking the Heartless that lept at her, like the others did, began fighting some of the seekers of darkness before Sora arrived to help, like the others did, and became a party member who helped Sora fight some of the seekers of darkness, like the others did.  In a way, she outshined the others by being the reason why they were saved, but on the other hand, she was the only one who was kidnapped.  Even then though, Axel didn’t fare much better than she did.  He wasn’t that much better with the Keyblade than her, and his Keyblade was destroyed by Xemnas (but then it reappeared somehow when he helped lock Kingdom Hearts?).  So, all in all, she was handled about as well as everyone else was.

So, at the end of the day, what can we say about how Kairi was handled in Kingdom Hearts III after looking at all of these points?  Kairi did fulfill the role that she had to fulfill in the game, and she wasn’t handled any better than the other characters (other than Sora).  However, that doesn’t excuse how she was handled.  She still was just Sora’s love interest and ended up getting kidnapped again.  However, she also contributed just as much to the final battle as the other characters did (even if we didn’t get to see her do that much fighting), and she played a big role in saving everyone.  So, I would say that Kairi wasn’t handled perfectly, but there were still some things about her that were handled better than in previous games.

However, even though I tried to look at this as objectively as possible, these are still just my thoughts.  What do you guys think?

3
Edited by Dagesh Lene

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7 minutes ago, Dagesh Lene said:
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This is a topic that has already been talked about a lot, but I wanted to give my two cents.  I tried to look at this as objectively as I could and chose to tackle this topic from how she fit into the story that was being told, how she was handled in that story, and how she was handled in relation to the other characters.  So, here’s my look at how Kairi was handled in Kingdom Hearts III.

There were two big things that the story of Kingdom Hearts III was doing.  It was trying to wrap up the stories of the main characters, and it was setting up for the future of the series.  When we look at Kairi, there were two things that had been set up in previous games that Kingdom Hearts III had to deliver on in order to wrap up her story.  It had to deliver on her romance with Sora, and it had to show the results of her training to become a Keyblade wielder.  Then, when it came to setting up for the future, she played in a crucial role in Sora’s sacrifice at the end of the game.

When we look at who Kairi was in this game, she can still just be defined as Sora’s love interest.  This is probably due to the focus on wrapping up of the romance arc that had started in the very first game and the focus on setting up for Sora’s sacrifice at the end of the game.  However, when we look at what she did in the game, she did do a decent amount.  She helped fight off the army of Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed (granted, we didn’t see this, but it was implied), kept Sora from dying and guided him as he saved everyone, and helped Lea fight Saix and Xion until Sora arrived, at which point she became a party member for the beginning of the fight.  That being said, although Kairi did contribute a decent amount, it did end up with her getting kidnapped and killed.  The game explains this by saying that she had only just learned to use the Keyblade, which meant that she wasn’t as experienced, and it showed (this is explained in one of the entries in the story section of the Gummiphone).

To be fair, the game had been building up to this moment from the beginning of the game.  When Sora asked Hercules how he got his strength back, Hercules told him that it was because Meg was in danger and he wanted to save her with all his heart.  So, just as Hercules risked his life to save the one he loved, Sora risked his life to save the one he loved.  Xigbar pointed out how he thought this it was idiotic for someone to do this since someone else would then have to jump in to save that person, which was the first foreshadowing we got of Sora’s fate.  So, there was a point to Kairi’s kidnapping and death, but was it necessary?  No, Sora could have risked his life for Kairi without making her a damsel in distress, but it is possible that they didn’t consider that when writing Kingdom Hearts III.

When comparing Kairi to how the other characters were handled, I would have to say that they handled Kairi about as well as they handled the others.  The game focused on Sora the most, and because of that, all of the other characters took a back seat.  Once she and the others joined Sora for the final battle, she got a brief amount of time to talk to everyone, like the others did, she disappeared during the battle against the army of darkness, like the others did, was consumed by the storm of darkness, like the others were, stood her ground against the storm of darkness, only attacking the Heartless that lept at her, like the others did, began fighting some of the seekers of darkness before Sora arrived to help, like the others did, and became a party member who helped Sora fight some of the seekers of darkness, like the others did.  In a way, she outshined the others by being the reason why they were saved, but on the other hand, she was the only one who was kidnapped.  Even then though, Axel didn’t fare much better than she did.  He wasn’t that much better with the Keyblade than her, and his Keyblade was destroyed by Xemnas (but then it reappeared somehow when he helped lock Kingdom Hearts?).  So, all in all, she was handled about as well as everyone else was.

So, at the end of the day, what can we say about how Kairi was handled in Kingdom Hearts III after looking at all of these points?  Kairi did fulfill the role that she had to fulfill in the game, and she wasn’t handled any better than the other characters (other than Sora).  However, that doesn’t excuse how she was handled.  She still was just Sora’s love interest and ended up getting kidnapped again.  However, she also contributed just as much to the final battle as the other characters did (even if we didn’t get to see her do that much fighting), and she played a big role in saving everyone.  So, I would say that Kairi wasn’t handled perfectly, but there were still some things about her that were handled better than in previous games.

However, even though I tried to look at this as objectively as possible, these are still just my thoughts.  What do you guys think?

3
Spoiler

My issue, which is also a lot of other people's issue, is that it went very underplayed. The music? bland. Reactions of literally everyone else involved in the battles? non-existent. Sora barely even cried when it happened. That reaction of him breaking down that was shown in the final battle trailer was him when all of his friends got wiped out. Lea trained with her for some time and didn't say/do anything. Riku was one of her best friends and he barely did anything. Hell when Donald and goofy reunited with sora they basically just went "aww cheer up" lmao. While it was pretty obvious that her "death" wasn't permanent it did not really add anything to the game. Even more so, after defeating Xehanort, THE GUY WHO KILLED THE MAIN CHARACTERS LOVE INTEREST, everyone was sorta just kay about it.

 

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24 minutes ago, Mkucherina said:
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My issue, which is also a lot of other people's issue, is that it went very underplayed. The music? bland. Reactions of literally everyone else involved in the battles? non-existent. Sora barely even cried when it happened. That reaction of him breaking down that was shown in the final battle trailer was him when all of his friends got wiped out. Lea trained with her for some time and didn't say/do anything. Riku was one of her best friends and he barely did anything. Hell when Donald and goofy reunited with sora they basically just went "aww cheer up" lmao. While it was pretty obvious that her "death" wasn't permanent it did not really add anything to the game. Even more so, after defeating Xehanort, THE GUY WHO KILLED THE MAIN CHARACTERS LOVE INTEREST, everyone was sorta just kay about it.

2

 

2

I agree and disagree.  Sora, Riku, and Kairi, who were the three who saw Master Xehanort kill Kairi, all responded by lashing out in anger against him, and Sora broke down into tears in addition to lashing out against Master Xehanort.  I didn't feel upset by a lack of reaction from the others because they weren't there to see it happen.  I saw what Donald and Goofy said to Sora as an encouragement to not give up and keep on fighting, but I do see where you are coming from and don't disagree with you.  This also isn't the first time we see the heroes treat a villain sympathetically once they were about to be defeated.  As for the music, while it wasn't as well done as other music in the game, I wasn't disappointed with it.

With that being said, Sora did recover and become his old self again rather quickly, and even though he originally lashed out against Master Xehanort, the fact that he no longer had that desire shortly afterwards for the final battle against him did seem a bit off.  Also, even though some of the villains have been treated sympathetically in the past, the argument could be made that they were a little too calm and sympathetic toward Master Xehanort.

As for Kairi's death not adding anything to the game, it added something crucial to the game.  Without it, Sora would not have sacrificed himself at the end of the game.  Sora's fate had been hinted from the beginning of the game, and without Kairi's death, it wouldn't have happened.  Does that mean it couldn't have been handled better?  No, but as it is, it still placed a crucial role.

So, I wasn't disappointed by the reactions of the characters, but I would agree that the sudden recovery didn't really work.

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