Riku

**Riku** is a life-long friend and rival of Sora, and he plays a key role in the Kingdom Hearts Series. Riku is from Destiny Islands and is a childhood friend of Sora and Kairi. Later in the series, he becomes a Keyblade master that has the power of light and darkness and is always ready to sacrifice himself to protect his friends. Riku is the original persona of his own replica and pseudo-Ansem. He is also friends with Bella's big sister, Willow

Riku was 5-years-old during *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, 15-years-old at the beginning of *Kingdom Hearts* and *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories*, and 16-years-old during the events of Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Riku's name is derived from the Japanese word for "land" (陸 *Riku*?).

Personality

In *Kingdom Hearts*, Riku is a calm, cool, collected teenager who is not afraid to push the boundaries. This is illustrated by his lack of fear while stepping into the dark portal during Destiny Islands' demise. His exclamation of, "I'm not afraid of the darkness!", furthers illustrates this point.

During *Kingdom Hearts*, in particular, Riku has a strong competitive streak. He shows his competitive side when he challenges Sora, saying that his heart is stronger than his friend's. Due to the influence that Maleficent has on him, Riku also becomes increasingly jealous of Sora. When he realises that Sora has acquired new friends in the form of Donald and Goofy, Riku feels that he has been replaced. His jealousy grows when he learns that Sora owns a Keyblade. This jealousy results in numerous fights with his former friend throughout *Kingdom Hearts* and opens the door for Ansem, Seeker of Darkness to possess him. He eventually snaps out of it and feels tremendous guilt and remorse for all he had done.

Though his traits are not akin to those of a protagonist in *Kingdom Hearts*, he becomes more heroic in *Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories*. During his time spent in Castle Oblivion, Riku begins to confront the darkness which lingers within his heart. At first, he rejects it. However, as the story progresses, Riku realizes that it is possible to use the darkness to achieve his goals. He matures immensely during this period, and leaves behind some of his more unlikable personality traits.

Riku had been curious about what lay outside of his world ever since his early youth in *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*. Over time, his curiosity turned to obsession, and he began to think of his world as a prison surrounded by water. This obsession appears to diminished throughout the year of Sora's slumber, most likely because he had by then travelled to a number of worlds. When he returns to Destiny Islands in *Kingdom Hearts II*, he still comments that it is a small world, but agrees with Sora's remark that it is only a part of one that's much bigger. Riku later stated that the real reason he wanted to explore outside of his home world was because of Terra.

A postive personality trait demonstrated by Riku is a strong desire to protect his friends. Examples of this would be his sacrifice to protect Sora from Xemnas' attacks during their final battle in *Kingdom Hearts II*, and his willingness to accept the darkness in order to subdue Roxas in *Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days*.

Though Riku matures significantly over the course of the series, he retains some of his more youthful personality from *Kingdom Hearts*, particularly his sense of humor; he refers to Sora, Donald, and Goofy as "wise guys" when talking to the Emperor, cracks a joke about Donald and Goofy's intelligence at their expense ("Sora never did pick the brightest friends"), and calls Sora a "total sap" when going to confront Xemnas.

Appearance

Riku wears a black, hooded jacket that he keeps unzipped, with short sleeves, gold buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears a white shirt with a V-neck. He also wears blue cropped trousers that are hemmed with the same checkered pattern as the jacket, black glovelettes on each hand, and black high-top boots. His hair remains the same length as it was in *Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance*, though it appears more spiked up in the back.

Relationship

Sunset Shimmer

In Sora's Adventure Series (Sora Lucis Caelum), He and sunset had a connection to each other and he would do anything to protect sunset shimmer from the darkness.

Voiced by

David Gallagher (Subtitled)

Master Riku (voiced)

Theme

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vefK5LaZQYE