Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)

**Aqua** is one of the major characters from the **Kingdom Hearts** franchise.

The only one of her trio of friends to become a Keyblade Master. She is tasked with looking after Terra to keep him from succumbing to darkness, and to bring Ventus back to the Land of Departure after he runs away from home. Specializing in magic instead of physical fighting like Terra, Aqua's promotion above him and Ven and her natural urge to try and guide them leads to their friendship fracturing when she seems to be acting superior to them. Despite this, she has a very strong sense of justice and a strong desire to do the right things, and she is the overall heroine of Birth by Sleep.

By the end of the game, Aqua duels Xehanort to try and break his control of Terra's body. Terra, in desperation, casts their body into the Realm of Darkness, and Aqua sacrifices her armor and Keyblade to save him. Trapped in the Realm of Darkness with Master Eraqus's Keyblade, she's been looking for a way out for ten years, and has had additional adventures in the darkness before she meets up with Ansem the Wise at the Dark Margin where they both waited together for help to escape.

The pair would come under attack by Xehanort’s Heartless, and Aqua was corrupted and succumbed to darkness and despair. However, the intervention of Sora and his friends finally freed her from the Realm of Darkness. Aqua quickly becomes one of the Guardians of Light’s primary assets and leaders, helping the group locate Ven and providing invaluable support when she takes part in the Second Keyblade War. After Xehanort’s defeat, Aqua settled down as the Master of the Land of Departure.

In the XP4 fics, Aqua debuted in the XP4 Heroes of the Multiverse - All-Star Adventures.

## **Appearance**

Aqua looks slightly like Kairi, but older. Aqua has blue eyes, and her hair is blue and relatively short. She wears a black and blue, high-collared halter top, two pink, intersecting belts over her chest, and black shorts. She wears a silver badge similar to badges also worn by Ven and Terra, though Terra's is gold. On Aqua's arms are white bell-sleeves and tan, fingerless gloves. She also wears a small, segmented piece of armor on each of her upper arms. She wears what appear to be black stockings or socks on her legs which reach to about halfway up her thighs, leaving a small area of bare skin on her upper thighs.

Aqua also bears two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of her hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist, draped in the same manner. Finally, she wears pointed, armored, silver boots with a sharp "hook" on the outer side of each.

By touching the piece of armor hanging on her arm, Aqua will become full clad in her Keyblade Armor. In *Birth by sleep*, Aqua's armor is mostly colored in shades of silver, black, grey and blue. Notable additions include a silver breastplate resembling an upside-down crescent moon and a dark-visored helmet. Her helmet, like Ventus and Terra's, bears two prongs on either side, with her silver ones wrapping around the sides and angling diagonally downwards. Her cape is that of a dusty-rose color.

In *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, Aqua's armor remains largely unchanged, though she loses her cape and grey becomes a more dominant color than black or blue. She also gains more armor near her upper legs and hips.

During the development for *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep*, Aqua's outfit was altered, as Tetsuya Nomura considered her exposed back to be too revealing, ultimately resulting in an outfit that is neither too conservative nor too revealing. As well, her eyes and hair were originally darker.

Artwork of Aqua from *Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep's* promotional artwork shows her hair spiking near the back of her head and falling just past her neck, as opposed to the spikes being splayed to the side and the back stopping short of the base of her neck.

## **Personality**

Aqua shows some similarities to Kairi, which she shows by making good luck charms for her friends. She also has a devotion to her friends similar to that of Sora's, for she did everything in her power to protect Ventus from harm and even sacrificed herself to save Terra. She is also similar to Sora in that she holds a strong sense of justice and desire to do what is right. Her judgments between what is right and wrong are never misplaced, although Ventus and Terra sometimes lose sight of the right thing to do. Her personality is serious, kind, strong willed, intelligent, and responsible, as she is the most reliable of the three.

She is always worrying about Terra and Ventus, who are two of her closest friends. She has been shown to be blushing and embarrassed when Zack asks her out on a date, shaking her head and arms in an attempt to compose herself. She seems rather modest, as despite becoming a master already, she still referred to herself as a trainee. The only time she referred to herself as "Master Aqua" was toward the end, when she fights the possessed Terra. Aqua also was the only one officially dubbed a Keyblade master, and unlike Terra, she never strayed from the path of light and her actions were all selfless and intended to help her friends. Despite this, her bluntness in talking with Terra and Ventus unintentionally pushed them further down their paths and into Master Xehanort's trap, indicating a "react" personality, rather than an "act" personality.

## **XP4 Fanfics**

### **XP4 Heroes of the Multiverse - All-Star Adventures**

In Chapter 27, Aqua arrives in Twilight Town where she met up with the Heart Foundation alongside Hayner, Olette and Pence, she then informed everyone that Yen-Sid send her to inform them to relay some information.

In Chapter 28, Aqua, alongside Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Lola Bunny, are seen having a conversation inside a cafe somewhere in Twilight Town.

## **Abilities**

Aqua is described by Tetsuya Nomura as being "tricky". A magic-based fighter with agility to boot, she's capable of doing cartwheels while attacking with her Keyblade. While she's more than capable physically, her prowess lies with a more magic-oriented fighting style, being versed in all forms of it.

Aqua is third only to Master Xehanort and King Mickey in terms of magic amongst Keyblade Users, displaying superior skill to both Terra and Ven as well as later Keyblade users such as Sora and Riku. She has her own special variations of the Fire, Ice, and Thunder spells, and can cast the Reflect spell indefinitely without tiring, effectively giving Aqua a 360 degree defensive zone. She can also augment her jumping abilities with magic. She is slower than Ventus, but is faster than Terra, with her slender frame making her a difficult target. Small petals also appear when she summons her Keyblade. Her known Command Styles are:

* **Spell Weaver**: Her own exclusive Command Style; it utilizes the power of light to hover her Keyblade in midair, swiftly attacking enemies while enhancing her magic capabilities as well. Activated by filling the Command Gauge with a variety of multiple magic-based commands. The finisher consists of Aqua performing a magical spin attack that can be controlled with the analog stick. This was called **"Magic Wish"** in the Japanese release.
* **Ghost Drove**: Aqua's high speed Command Style and exclusive to her; it allows her to attack enemies at high speeds while using after-image illusions and tricky movements to her advantage. Activated by filling the Style Gauge with Thunder, Reprisal, and Magnet-based commands. The finisher consists of Aqua circling a certain area to impale magical pikes into the ground before creating an explosion.

### **D-Link**

Aqua becomes a D-Link for Terra and Ventus after they received the Wayfinder Aqua made for the three of them. While in link with Aqua, the player can utilize powerful magic attacks.

* **Prism Rain**: Light in seven colors bursts from the Keyblade and chases after enemies. Press  ( in Japanese versions) at the right time in the circle to input the command. It is named "Rainbow Shower" in the Japanese version.
* **Bubble Blaster**: A giant bubble surrounds Aqua and releases smaller bubbles that chase after enemies. Press  ( in Japanese versions) to fire bursts of two additional bubbles. It is named "Bubble Blast" in the Japanese version.
* **Lightbloom**: Aqua's strongest Shotlock. She twirls on the spot while shooting many orbs of white light. As it progresses, her spinning becomes more and more elaborate until she is spinning with one of her legs behind her head. It is named "Shiny Bloom" in the Japanese version.

### **Weapons**

Aqua's exclusive Keychains generally share a water-theme and are primarily focused on magical strength; in fact, her "Brightcrest" is the most magically-powerful Keyblade form in the game. Her Keyblade and its forms are of medium length, between those of Ventus and Terra.

Aqua starts off with her personal "Rainfell", but after visiting the Destiny Islands, she obtains a more powerful version of it named "Stormfall". However, after falling into the Realm of Darkness, she sacrifices her Keyblade and Keyblade Armor to save Terra, and is forced to use the Master Keeper, which she had retrieved earlier while visiting the Land of Departure and converting it into Castle Oblivion.

## **Trivia**

* Even though Sora is playable through the very end in III, Aqua is also playable in Castle Oblivion during the boss fight against Vanitas. Re:Mind also allows the player to use her during the boss fight against Vanitas and Terranort in the Keyblade Graveyard.
* Even though Aqua wasn't that popular at first when BBS came out, the developers were surprised to find that she was by far the most well-liked of the trio in the coming years. As a result, she was made the sole playable character in the (albeit rather short) game 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage, which served as a prologue to III. She was also featured as both a boss and a playable character in III and its DLC Re: Mind later on, as well as being the playable leader for Team BBS in Melody of Memory.