Kairi

**Kairi** is one of the original main characters appearing in *Kingdom Hearts*. She is the original persona of Naminé. Kairi was born in Radiant Garden and currently lives on Destiny Islands along with her two best friends, Sora and Riku.

Kairi was 4-years-old during *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, 14-years-old at the start of *Kingdom Hearts*, and 15-years-old during the events of *Kingdom Hearts II* and *Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance*.

Kairi's name is derived from the Japanese word for "sea" (海, *Kai*), though her full name is homophonous with the word for "nautical mile" (海里,*Kairi*).

## Appearance

Kairi's appearance shows the most growth with aging of the trio of main characters. Kairi has auburn hair, blue eyes, a pale complexion, and a necklace with a silver bead that is only absent when she wears her school uniform.

At age 14, during the events of *Kingdom Hearts*, she wears a white top with a black one underneath (the black one shows at her collarbone and at the hem) which slightly exposes her navel, purple biker shorts underneath a purple skirt with a blue belt, and white slip-on shoes with purple caps. She also features a black choker, a yellow wristband as well as a purple armband on her left arm and a pair of bracelets on her right arm.

In *Kingdom Hearts II*, Kairi is taller, her hair is longer and has become a darker shade of auburn, her bangs part to the opposite side, and her body has developed into that of a young woman.

She dons two outfits in *Kingdom Hearts II*: her school uniform which features a white shirt of which she has rolled up the sleeves, a sky blue striped tie which she has slightly loosen up, a matching skirt with navy knee-high stockings and black shoes; and then her main outfit which mainly contains a pink strapless mini-dress made up of three zippers (two appear to be just decorative) as well as a white halter top underneath her mini-dress with a black hood. She also sports three bracelets on her left wrist, a black belt reminiscent of suspenders with a note book-shaped bag attachment, and lilac sneakers with black laces.

As a child, as seen during *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep* and scenes from *Kingdom Hearts*, her hair is a little longer than it is when she's 14; she wears a white apron-like shirt with blue flowers and a blue line across the chest, a pink skirt with a white line on it and large, white shoes with pink and purple lines on them.

In *Kingdom Hearts III*, Kairi has a pink and black dress, black ruffles on one side of her skirt and plaid on the other, with thick belted boots.

## Personality

Kairi is caring, kindhearted and brave. She is determined and courageous when someone she cares about is in danger, as she always puts herself in harm's way to help Sora when he's in trouble despite the dangers. Kairi's heart is said to be filled only with pure light and goodness, despite darkness and evil residing in almost every heart. Kairi's good heart filled with pure light helped lead Sora back to his true form when he was consumed by the Heartless, and led Sora and Riku back to Destiny Islands when they were trapped in the Realm of Darkness after their battle with Xemnas.

Kairi is also very charismatic, quickly befriending Hayner, Pence, and Olette in Twilight Town before being kidnapped by Axel. She's usually always very cheerful and upbeat. Although she has no ability to defend herself in combat like Sora and Riku, she is very brave and strong willed and will put herself in danger anyway to help her friends. Unfortunately, this sometimes results in her needing rescuing by Sora. Near the end of Kingdom Hearts II, she finally obtains a Keyblade of her own given to her by Riku and helps Sora and Riku fight against the Organization. She is currently assigned under Master Yen Sid to begin training with her Keyblade.

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. She is loyal, and she can be rather stubborn sometimes.

While the bond of friendship between Sora, Riku, and Kairi is very strong, Sora and Kairi seem to be particularly close to one another. This is evidenced by the fact that Kairi was proven to be the most special person in Sora's heart in *Chain of Memories*, and that their bond was strong enough for Kairi to recognize Sora in heartless form in *Kingdom Hearts*.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers as a Princess of Heart

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, who later sacrificed himself to restore her heart. Should her heart be lost, her body will remain in a dormant state until it returns, as revealed in the first game when her heart was lost.

* 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. This could be considered as the princesses' main power.
* Kairi also appears to have some kind of latent magical ability, as seen when she manages to restore Sora's humanity after he becomes a Heartless. However, it could imply that she is only able to restore him because they share the strongest connection.
* Since the other Princesses of Heart possess the abilities to hold back darkness and upgrade other people's powers, it is no doubt that Kairi can do so as well.
* Aqua cast a charm on Kairi in *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep* so that if she was ever captured by darkness, her light would lead her to the light of another. In an interview, Tetsuya Nomura stated it was this charm that led Kairi to Destiny Islands.
* She additionally has the ability to sense darkness, as the other Princesses of Heart are able to tell Sora of a great darkness nearby. It may also imply to why she was looking ill when Destiny Islands was devoured by the darkness before she disappeared.
* In the manga, according to Axel, Kairi is able to travel through the Dark Corridor without any negative effects because she is a Princess of Heart.

### Powers as a Keyblade Wielder

Kairi is the only Princess of Heart that is able to harness the power of the keyblade. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Kairi was granted the power to wield a keyblade due to her accidentally touching Aqua's keyblade, thus innitiating the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony. Kairi's abilities in combat are limited. Kairi isn't able to do much when she is in danger, but her bravery and determination to help her friends motivates her to put herself in danger for them anyway. This results in her sometimes being captured, and Sora and Riku having to come to her aid.

During the events that take place in the World That Never Was, Riku hands her a Keyblade crafted from his memories of Destiny Islands, and allows her to wield it so that she may combat the Heartless. She is shown to be fairly competent with it, and was shown to take out several Heartless on her own in cutscenes.

Kairi is able to wield the Keyblade due to her having touched Aqua's Keyblade many years earlier, which initiated the inheritance of the power.

At the end of *Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance* it was revealed that Yen Sid has sent Kairi to join Lea in training with Merlin to learn how to use their Keyblades.

By the time she finished her training under Merlin in Kingdom Hearts III, Kairi displays considerably improved abilities with her Keyblade. She was able to fight side-by-side alongside her allies to fend off the large amount of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed unleashed by Organization XIII, suffering no wounds in process. She also is capable of holding her ground against Xion despite being far less experienced than her, even able to at times force her into the defensive and ultimately briefly incapacitate her before being overpowered by Saix. She could even briefly surprise and pressure Xemnas, forcing him to use Nothingness to defeat her. Her fighting stance is similar to Sora's, but her fighting style revolves around performing a corkscrew-spinning ground-to-air combo effective for stunning foes or quick spinning combos. Kairi has also gotten versed in magic, able to use all the elemental spells at the ga level along with Curaga and can fire a blast of magical energy called "Flower Shoot" and use Barrier. Kairi is also able to manipulate light to empower her strikes, using a 7 Strike Raid-like combo called "Seven Wishes", could even rain down balls of light with her Shotlock "Heart of a Princess", and with the help of Sora she can preform an attack called "One Heart".

In Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, is able to temporarily hold her own against a manifestation of Xehanort, displaying reasonably creative techniques such as seamlessly summoning her Keyblade to her free hand when Xehanort catches it to get out of his grip, with Xehanort even complimenting Kairi on her skill, but ultimately she proved to be no match for the Keyblade Master and is only saved by an apparition of Sora, who defeats Xehanort.

## Role in Sora’s Adventures

In Sora’s Adventures, Kairi is the tritagonist of the series. Prior to the series proper, it is revealed she saved Sora sometime after Melody of Memory and goes to Radiant Garden Academy for Young Princesses. Similar to Sora's Drive Forms and Rick's Formchanges, Kairi can change her Style to suit the type of combat she is engaging in. She also has the power to use Attractions, similar to Sora's Limits and Riku's Team Attacks. All of these came with her new outfit, a present from the Three Good Fairies and Master Yen Sid.

In the final episode, Kairi and Sora are now married, becoming the rulers of Radiant Garden, and having a daughter who is also destined to wield a Keyblade.

## Jiminy's Journal App Entry

Age: 16

Place of Birth: Radiant Garden

Weapon: Keyblade

Special Powers: Attractions, Shotlocks and Style Changes

Laterality: Right-handed

Favorite Food: Shrimp Lo Mein

Favorite Color: Pink

Favorite Holiday: Valentine's Day

## Trivia

* In Kairi and the Mermaid Tales Kairi turns into a half human half mermaid.