Kingdom Hearts: Kairi’s True Strength Has Never Been with a Keyblade
When it comes to commenting on the tropes and problems in the Kingdom Hearts series, Kairi often stands out as the lowest hanging fruit due to how the stories have mishandled her. However, while Kairi does deserve a win in Kingdom Hearts 4 after only ever acting as a damsel in distress in combat encounters, her strongest moments have come when fighting wasn't the way forward.
Across the Kingdom Hearts series, Kairi has mostly played a significant role in being a strong motivation for Sora's search from world to world. Beyond being one of the reasons for Sora to keep fighting, it can be easy for fans to brush off the fact that Kairi herself has saved the day in every game she's played a major role in.
Kingdom Hearts 4 Should Let Riku Flex His Dark Side
It can't be understated that Sora's time as the series' protagonist would have ended without Kairi in the very first Kingdom Hearts, from the start of the game all the way to the end. The circumstances where Kairi saved Sora in the beginning have since seen some retcons, originally implying that it was the combination of their hearts that summoned the keyblade when Riku fell to darkness. However, at the end of the Hollow Bastion level, the direct actions of Kairi are much clearer and lead directly to Sora being recovered from the dark and going on to defeat Ansem.
Specifically, when Sora attempts to sacrifice himself to save Kairi, he is turned into a Heartless and has to make the short trip back down to the entrance of Hollow Bastion. It's here that Kingdom Hearts shows a character revert back from being a Heartless for the first of very few instances across the series that someone is able to regain their consciousness. Sora magically changes back into his normal form, a
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