Riku

**Riku** is a Keyblade Master and Sora's best friend.

He lives on Destiny Islands with his best friends, Sora and Kairi, and all three of them dream of venturing to the outside worlds. This dream comes true, although Riku becomes influenced by the darkness and struggles to find a place as Sora's ally.

He eventually does and also becomes a Keyblade Master after passing his Mark of Mastery exam.

## Personality

Riku is a calm, cool, collected teenager who is not afraid to go beyond his limits. He seemed to be aware of Sora's romantic feelings toward Kairi, and enjoyed teasing him about it, such as challenging Sora to a race, and saying that if he wins, he gets to share a paopu fruit with her, purely to get a reaction out of Sora. This also exemplifies his competitive nature.

In the past, Riku had become influenced by Maleficent, becoming jealous of Sora after learning about his possession of the Keyblade and of his new friends. For a time, he had fallen to darkness, eventually corrupting his perspective of their friendship into a rivalry, much to Sora's confusion, and resulted in his battles with Sora and his eventual possession by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

Since being freed from Maleficent, Riku began making many self-realizations, one of which is that he had let his heart become weak, and would shy away from the darkness within it. Eventually, he realized that he can't get rid of the darkness in his heart, and decides to use it without turning away from the light like before, declaring his path down the "road to dawn," also signifying his effort for redemption.

Riku now shows a great amount of loyalty and protectiveness for his friends. He never wanted Sora and Kairi to find out about his time spent in the darkness, and did everything he could to bring Roxas to DiZ to make Sora whole again, even going as far as giving up his physical form and assuming Ansem's. He continues to remain good friends with Sora, standing by his side whenever they go into a great battle. Though having mature, he still retains his own lighthearted and jokingly arrogant side, calling Sora a "total sap" and making remarks of his dense nature and impulsiveness.

Riku despises those who mistreat their allies in any way, even if they are his own enemies. He was disgusted when Yammy calls the other Espadas "trash".

## Appearance

Riku is a teenage boy with silver hair with bangs and spiked up in the back, has pale skin, bright blue-green eyes, and a muscular build. He wears a black, hooded jacket that he keeps unzipped, with short sleeves, gold buttons, and a checkered pattern at the hem. Underneath, he wears white shirt with a V-neck. He 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.

## Biography

Riku grew up in the Destiny Islands along with Sora and Kairi, who dreamed about leaving the islands and exploring the worlds beyond. On the night the Heartless invaded his world, Riku immerses himself in the darkness to discover new worlds beyond his home. Arriving at Hollow Bastion, Riku was manipulated by Maleficent into aiding her plans for world conquest in exchange for knowledge to restoring Kairi's missing heart. This would put him at odds with Sora, whom he believed no longer cared for Kairi and replaced them with Donald and Goofy. He is later tricked into allowing Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, to possess his body. Following Ansem's defeat, Riku helps Sora and King Mickey close the door to Kingdom Hearts, remaining on the other side with the king.

He wandered the Realm of Darkness for a certain amount of time until he escaped with help of a man named DiZ. Initially rejecting his darkness out of guilt for his betrayal, Riku resolves to wield both powers of light and darkness to battle Ansem, whose essence lingers in his heart. With help from DiZ and the King, Riku destroys Ansem, but notes that his shadow still lingers within him. Knowing that he can't get rid of the darkness in his heart, Riku decides to use it without turning away from the light, declaring that he will walk the "road to dawn."

A year later, Riku is forced to harness Ansem's power to capture Roxas in order to restore Sora's missing memories, assuming the Heartless's physical appearance as a result. After Sora is awaken, he takes his leave while secretly helping him from the shadows, not wanting him to know what he had to do to wake him up. They meet once more in Organization XIII's stronghold, where he offers his service. After the Kingdom Hearts moon is destroyed by Ansem the Wise's heart encoder, Riku returns to his regular appearance, and he and Sora return to the Destiny Islands together following Xemnas's defeat.

Later, He and Sora undertake the Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for Master Xehanort's return. Riku is promoted to Keyblade Master after venturing into Sora's dreams twice in the form of a Dream Eater to protect him from Xehanort.