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.
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, 16-years-old during the later events of Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts II, Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Kingdom Hearts III, and 17-years-old during Re Mind (LimitCut Episode) and Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory.
Riku's name is derived from the Japanese word for "land" (陸 Riku?).
History[]
Birth by Sleep[]
During the events of Birth by Sleep, Riku was a five-year-old boy who lived on Destiny Islands, along with Sora. They have always trained and pushed each other to make one another stronger. When Terra visits their home world, Riku says that Master Xehanort has already passed by Destiny Islands, which preoccupies Terra. Terra has a vision of Riku's future self, making him choose Riku as his successor, and submits him to the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony, but asks to keep this conversation as a secret to keep the world's order.
Kingdom Hearts[]
Riku appears as a cool and collected 15-year-old. He and his best friends, Sora and Kairi, live on the Destiny Islands. The three spend their days constructing a raft and gathering supplies, so that they might one day set out and search for other worlds. He and Sora share a fierce but good natured rivalry, competing over who is stronger in battle, among other things.
However, things take a drastic turn on the night before their journey. Because Riku had opened the door in the Secret Place at an unspecified time, the Heartless, beings of darkness, invade the islands, seeking out the world's heart. Both afraid that a storm would destroy the raft, Kairi and Sora set out for the island. Sora finds Riku first. However, while Sora is concerned for his friend's safety, Riku is only obsessed with finally escaping the islands. Darkness surrounds the two, and Riku disappears into it, while Sora gains the Keyblade.
Riku eventually ends up in Hollow Bastion via the Corridor of Darkness, separated from his friends. There, he is found by Maleficent who offers him shelter and protection. However, seeing the potential in him, Maleficent begins to corrupt Riku's mind by convincing him that Sora had replaced him and Kairi with Donald Duck and Goofy. She claims that the only way to save Kairi, who has lost her heart to the darkness, is to ally himself with her and her band of villains, while abandoning Sora. After his reunion with Sora in Traverse Town, Riku begins to agree with Maleficent and officially starts his stay with her, putting a strain on their friendship. However, he is still highly suspicious of her motives.
Before long, Riku learns from Maleficent that the keyblade wielded by Sora was originally meant for him, and that Sora had only received it in his absence. Upon Sora's arrival at Hollow Bastion, Riku steals the keyblade and mockingly leaves Sora with a wooden sword to "go play hero" with. Donald and Goofy, having been instructed to follow the keyblade, reluctantly abandon Sora and follow Riku.
Sora, with the help of Beast, makes his way to the Entrance Hall of Hollow Bastion where he is again confronted by Riku. Moved by Sora's perseverance and devotion to his friends, Donald and Goofy return to their friend's side, as does the keyblade. Sora and his companions proceed to defeat Riku, who then runs away in frustration.
In the Castle Chapel, Ansem convinces Riku to accept his power and possesses his body. The now Ansem-possessed Riku is confronted by Sora once more in the Grand Hall, but is again defeated despite his terrifying dark powers. As Riku's body fades, Ansem appears fully reconstituted in a new body, and moves to deliver a finishing blow to Donald, Goofy, and a reawakened Kairi. Fortunately, Riku's lingering spirit manages to hold his possessor back long enough for them to escape. In response, Ansem banishes Riku's heart from his body.
Riku awakens in the Realm of Darkness, a nightmarish, pitch black hellscape, convinced he is in the afterlife. Overwhelmed with guilt, regret, and despair for all his misdeeds, he falls to his knees. As his soul begins to fade, he begs for a chance to see Sora and Kairi one last time. A mysterious voice, later revealed to be Mickey Mouse, reaches out to the distraught boy, telling him where he is and how his possessor had transported him there.
Upon Ansem's defeat at the End of the World, Riku regains his body, and helps Sora to close the Door to Darkness from its opposite side. Their attempt to close the door appears to be hopeless at first and they are set upon by a swarm of Darksides. Fortunately, Mickey appears and destroys the Heartless, prompting Sora to seal the door with their Keyblades. As the door begins to shut, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi, and again disappears into darkness.
Chain of Memories[]
Riku awakes in the lowest basement of Castle Oblivion, being led there by his heart reacting with Sora, who also happens to be in Castle Oblivion, though on the ground floor. A dark card and a disembodied voice present themselves. The Voice offers Riku the chance to sleep and forget his troubles as well as the light, or take the card and take the first steps toward the truth.
Zexion and Vexen have great roles in Riku's story. Vexen independently appears before Riku, and the latter wonders if Vexen is with "Ansem" (Xehanort's Heartless). Vexen cryptically responds that he is with "another Ansem". Still, Riku chooses to fight against Vexen, seeing him as an enemy. However, this was a mistake as the battle only helps Vexen, who uses the data he gathered from the battle to create a replica of Riku. The replica soon comes to battle Riku, mocking Riku's fear of the darkness while the replica embraces it. However, the real Riku proves victorious, and the replica runs off.
When Zexion encounters Riku in Destiny Islands, he lures Riku with his illusions. He also makes Riku sink into the light as he begins to fade, but Naminé appears in the form of Kairi and tells him that he can't fade, because light can't destroy him, and neither can darkness, so he should accept both to drive away his fears. He awakens his dark powers again, admitting that it's a part of him and not evil, defeating Zexion.
Riku faces Ansem for one final battle alone. Ansem asks why he still refuses him if he accepts darkness now, and inquires if Riku is still scared of the darkness. Riku denies this and merely says, "I just can't stand your foul stench." They fight and the last of Ansem is destroyed, but not before he says a part of him is still in Riku, and that he shall return.
358/2 Days[]
Riku allies himself with DiZ, as they have a common goal: to help Sora awaken (though Riku finds his memories of Sora fading, being a side-effect of Naminé's toying with Sora's memories). He is first seen on the bridge in Beast's Castle where he fights Xion. As a defeated Xion lies on the ground, Riku pulls off her hood and pulls up his blindfold to get a good look at her. He is shocked by her appearance and begins questioning her how she is able to use the Keyblade, calling it a sham and worthless. Angered, Xion demands what right he had to say such a thing and attacks him, only to be knocked down singlehandedly.
After Xion wakes up on Destiny Islands, she expresses her curiosity about "Sora and that girl he's always with," in which Riku tells her that Kairi is someone very special to Sora. He tells her that she is the reason Sora is unable to wake up because part of his memories are inside of her. Even though Xion is unsure of where she truly belongs and what the right choice is, Riku gives her some time to think about it. He is also seen conversing with DiZ next to the pod Sora sleeps in.
King Mickey appears in the Twilight Town woods facing Riku, who has taken on the form of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Mickey readies to attack as Riku calmly ties his blindfold into place, and looks shocked at Riku changing appearance. Riku tells Mickey that if he were to disappear it would be because he has taken this form permanently, and makes Mickey promise not to tell Sora what happened to him when he wakes up if this happens.
DiZ asks Riku to kidnap Roxas, the Nobody of Sora, who has been having trouble regaining his memories. If he and Roxas join, Sora should be able to reawaken. Riku enters the Realm of Darkness, and corners Roxas in The World That Never Was. The battle between him and Roxas depicted in several scenes in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, including the secret endings of Another Side, Another Story... and Deep Dive. When he is defeated by Roxas, Riku removes his blindfold, letting the Darkness in, and takes the form of Ansem. After Riku-Ansem defeats Roxas, DiZ appears and takes Roxas. DiZ then puts Roxas into a Simulated Twilight Town, to continue the progress of Sora's awakening.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
Riku helps DiZ awaken Sora and puts Naminé in line when she attempts to contact Roxas. When Roxas tries to enter the Old Mansion, several Nobodies appear, and Riku-Ansem hinders their progression.
He appears again in The Land of Dragons to alert them about the Storm Rider. Mulan is the first to see Riku and tries to catch him. Sora, Donald and Goofy arrive, and with Mulan, go to the Summit and find Riku. Sora confronts Riku but he escapes and goes to the Imperial Palace to talk with The Emperor. Riku-Ansem defeats Li Shang and talks about the Storm Rider. After relaying his message, he leaves the world.
Riku appears again in The World That Never Was after Naminé helps Kairi to escape. Saïx appears and attempts to capture the two girls, but Riku arrives with his Keyblade and confronts Saïx, who then escapes. Kairi discovers the truth about Riku through Naminé, and they go see Sora. In the Hall of Empty Melodies several Shadows appear; Riku summons two Keyblades and hands one to Kairi.
After Sora defeats Xigbar, he meets Kairi and Riku. At first Sora believes that Riku is Xehanort's Heartless, but he discovers that Riku has taken the form of Xehanort's Heartless. Sora, Kairi, Riku, Donald and Goofy go to confront Xemnas, but first they defeat Saïx and Luxord. Near the top of the Castle That Never Was, Riku reunites with King Mickey and DiZ, and discovers that DiZ is actually Ansem the Wise, who is using a machine to try and encode Kingdom Hearts into data. Xemnas also arrives, and he and Ansem the Wise trade bitter words. The machine then explodes, unable to handle Kingdom Hearts, sending Ansem the Wise to the Realm of Darkness while causing countless hearts Xemnas had collected into Kingdom Hearts to rain down on the world, creating a slew of Heartless. The explosion also cleanses Riku's heart and restores Riku to his original form, though he is still remorseful.
Towards the end after the final attack used by Xemnas, Sora is left open and Riku takes a blow intended to finish off his friend, which allows Sora to finish Xemnas off with both Riku and Sora firing a beam of light from Sora's keyblade. After the fall of Xemnas, Sora and the injured Riku face an onslaught of Dusks ready to fulfill their master's final order: eliminate the Keyblade wielders. However, the Dusks disintegrate back into nothingness, and Sora and Riku escape the realm, entering the Dark Meridian.
Sora then manages to open the Door to Light, as King Mickey predicted while he read Kairi's Letter, and the two return home, reuniting with their friends. While Sora shares a hug with Donald and Goofy, Riku shares his own moment with King Mickey.
Coded[]
Main article: Data-Riku
In one of the memories recovered from the journal, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Riku encounter each other shortly before Destiny Islands is completely swallowed by the darkness. At the last minute, Ansem opens a portal for Riku, allowing him to escape.
In another memory, revealed to Data-Sora in the digital version of Castle Oblivion, Riku stands on top of the Clock Tower with an unconscious Kairi, looking out at the moon.
The real Riku does not appear again until the end of the game with the real Sora and Kairi as they read Mickey's Second Letter. This scene corresponds with the final scene of Kingdom Hearts II.
Blank Points[]
Afterwards, Sora sits on the Paopu tree while holding the message from King Mickey, staring off into the sunset. He is then approached by Riku who asks him if he has decided (about what is not specified), and Sora says that he has. Kairi then walks up to him and Sora tells her that everyone is suffering and waiting, and that he has to put back everything that is connected to him, or "Reconnect." She then hands him her lucky charm and tells him she'll see him soon.
Dream Drop Distance[]
Summoned by Yen Sid alongside Sora, Riku learns the truth of Master Xehanort and his impending return. Riku and Sora are tasked with the mission to awaken seven different worlds from a state of sleep as part of their Mark of Mastery exam. However, as he and Sora go through these worlds deep within the Realm of Sleep in new attire, Riku encounters both "Ansem" and a younger incarnation of Master Xehanort.
Ending up in The Castle that Never Was, Riku learns that Sora was captured by the new Organization XIII. Riku faces off against Xehanort's younger self in battle before Master Xehanort reveals himself. Revealing his overall scheme and role in the events of the years before, Xehanort reveals that Riku was originally planned to be the final vessel to complete the new Organization. However, Riku's ability to resist "Ansem" and retrain his inner darkness forces Xehanort to make Sora into a suitable replacement. Restrained by "Ansem" so as not to interfere, Riku is saved when Donald and Goofy arrive after Lea. After Master Xehanort and his group leave, Riku and the others take Sora back to Yen Sid's tower where he enters Sora's dream world to save him. Soon after, Riku learns that Yen Sid had deemed him to pass the Mark of Mastery and is entitled a Keyblade Master. Afterward, Riku brings Kairi to Yen Sid at his request so she may begin training with her Keyblade.
Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A fragmentary passage-[]
At the Mysterious Tower not long after Master Xehanort resurrection, Riku, Kairi, King Mickey are having an audience with Master Yen Sid where he explains that in order to confront Xehanort, they will need to gather the Seven Lights, among those which include the three Keyblade Wielders who befell a terrible fate over a decade ago. At Yen Sid's request, Mickey tells Riku and Kairi of the time he came across Aqua in the Realm of Darkness. When Mickey finishes retelling of his tale, at which point Riku lashes out at Mickey for not telling him that Aqua was there at the time and that she gave herself up to save him. Yen Sid intervenes and explains that neither Mickey nor Riku had the power to save her, and that he had personally forbade Mickey from telling them, lest Riku, or in higher probability Sora, stage a potentially suicidal rescue attempt. However, as Riku had recently become a Keyblade Master, they now possess the means to rescue Aqua. Mickey invites Riku to assist in his rescue mission, to which he agrees. Kairi, wishing to help, is told by Yen Sid that she will need to train as a Keyblade Master alongside Lea, much to her surprise. Yen Sid bestows upon Mickey and Riku a new set of clothes that will protect them from the darkness before they leave.
Kingdom Hearts III[]
Riku and King Mickey enter the Dark World in search of Aqua, losing her trail at the Dark Margin. A Demon Tower attacks and swallows Riku. Nearly drowning in its darkness, Riku is saved by his replica's disembodied heart; however, his Keyblade destroyed from the battle. Mickey convinces him to regroup and resupply. Before leaving, Riku plants his broken Keyblade on the beach for the Riku Replica to collect.
At the Mysterious Tower, Yen Sid suggests to visit worlds Aqua had been to for clues. He requests Riku and Mickey deliver new garments for Kairi and Lea when they visit Merlin for new Keyblades. Now armed with the Braveheart, Riku travels with Mickey to Radiant Garden, the last place Aqua visited. They discuss Xehanort's plans, realizing that when Aqua saved Terra, he was possessed by Xehanort. After a phone call from Sora, they head into the castle to discuss the replica project with Ienzo; Riku concludes the Organization is planning to use replicas, as the one who can create them, Even has gone missing. With no new leads, Riku and Mickey travel back to the Dark Margin. Attacked again by a Demon Tower, Mickey is disarmed and trapped within it. Anti-Aqua reveals herself and takes his Keyblade, planning to use it to the escape. Riku declines his replica's offer to return his Keyblade, facing Aqua and the Heartless. Faltering, he speaks Sora's name. This connection allows Sora to enter the Dark World, where he defends Riku and frees Aqua from the Darkness.
With all the Guardians of Light finally assembled, they meet at Yen Sid's tower, where Riku thanks Aqua for saving him. Yen Sid tells everyone to spend the day recuperating before the final battle. Riku accompanies Sora and Kairi to Destiny Islands but spends the evening on the beach alone with the replica in his heart. The replica admits he would rather exist within Riku's heart than fade into darkness and states he has "one last thing to do".
The next day, Riku joins the other guardians in the Keyblade Graveyard, where Terra-Xehanort attacks, before being ejected from the battlefield. A massive Demon Tide soon appears, devouring all the guardians, except Sora and Riku. When Sora breaks down in despair, Riku sacrifices himself for Sora's sake, putting his faith in Sora to save all of their friends.
Sora is then able to recover himself in the Final World and track down his friends' hearts using the power of waking. Riku's heart makes its way to Olympus, where it is captured by a Lich. Sora manages to catch the Lich and free Riku's heart, sending it back to the Keyblade Graveyard. When Sora frees all of his friends' hearts, they reappear together, moments before Terra-Xehanort first appeared. This time, they are rescued by the Lingering Will, allowing Riku and the others to fight off the incoming Heartless while Sora, Donald, and Goofy defeat the Demon Tide. Finally, they advance to face the organization within the Skein of Severance. Riku battles Dark Riku, Xigbar, and Ansem alone until Sora arrives. Ansem flees the battle, but Sora and Riku manage to defeat the others. The Riku Replica's heart exits Riku's body and reveals Dark Riku is his own heart from the past. He pulls Dark Riku's heart from the replica body and leaves the vessel behind for Naminé. After Sora proceeds to assist the other guardians Demyx arrives to retrieve the replica body on Ienzo's orders while Riku tells him to handle it with great care.
Riku then meets Sora and Mickey again after nine seekers of darkness have been defeated. Ansem, Xemnas, Master Xehanort, and his younger self remain, and Master Xehanort reveals that their four clashes would forge the final keys he needed to form the χ-blade. Riku claims that even if Master Xehanort manages to open Kingdom Hearts, they would simply close it again. The two groups clash, and all but Master Xehanort are eliminated. As Ansem fades away, he speaks to Riku, reminiscing on the journey they shared.
With one key left to forge, Xehanort reveals the kidnapped Kairi and slays her in front of them. Riku and Mickey are then frozen by a Stopza spell, and Xehanort summons Kingdom Hearts. The other guardians arrive as the spell wears off, and Riku presents the idea of using Xehanort as a portal and trapping him in it long enough to finish him. Sora, Donald, and Goofy volunteer to go instead, so that the other Keyblade wielders could hold back the power of Kingdom Hearts. Once Xehanort is defeated, Riku and the others follow their hearts to Sora. They lend their power to Sora as he uses the χ-blade to seal Kingdom Hearts away. Returning to the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora decides to use the power of waking to rescue Kairi. Though Mickey tries to argue, Riku convinces him to let Sora follow his heart.
Sometime later, Riku takes Sora's gummi ship to Radiant Garden to collect Naminé, and returns with her to Destiny Islands along with all the guardians and their friends. He runs a race with Terra and Roxas before looking toward the paopu tree where Kairi sits with the fading image of Sora.
Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind[]
Riku begins having a strange dream, where he awakens in Quadratum. Disoriented, he walks the streets observing where he is, eventually finding himself at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, unaware that Yozora watches him from atop.
Since Sora vanished, Riku and all his allies have been searching wherever they can think of, lasting well over a year with no results. After seeing Terra, Aqua, and Ventus leave to search the Dark World, Riku visits the Radiant Garden Restoration Comittee in the hopes they have any clues. Informing them that the King's group has had no luck in searching past worlds Sora's been to and that Ansem the Wise has not been able to find a lead in Kairi's dreams, Riku gains a sliver of hope in data on the Organization Cid compiled on his computer.
Despite "breaking through" the powerful data, there is no additional information. However, the arrival of Fairy Godmother changes the mood; Riku reveals his dream of looking for Sora, being told that there might be a lead in his dreams and those of two others.
Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory[]
Afterwards, Riku reunites with Ansem the Wise and his apprentices to find that Kairi has awakened. The two share their findings and with Fairy Godmother's help, she refers to him and Kairi as two of the three keys that can help find Sora. The Keyblade wielders are brought to the Final World, where they meet the third key, the Nameless Star informing her what has happened the star recognizes the city Riku described as Quadratum. With that, he uses the power of awaking and the Nameless Star as a portal to go to Quadratum, leaving Kairi to tell the others where he had gone.
Abilities[]
Already a strong and skillful individual as a child, Riku was always the strongest child on Destiny Islands even before awakening his ability to wield a Keyblade. Tidus remarked that he, Wakka, and Selphie were defeated by him even after they triple-teamed him and it seemed even at that time only Sora could challenge and surpass him. He is already an excellent swordsman and able hand-to-hand combatant, performing quite fast and athletic-related combos, with an athletic springing kick if knocked down. Over the years, as he acquires and continues to develop his skill with the Keyblade and gains the powers of both darkness and light, Riku's level of strength has increased greatly. What first started from him only being slightly stronger than he was with Soul Eater soon grew to levels where he became among the most powerful bosses in the first game and in Chain of Memories, his increase steadily becomes greater, at first fighting the weak Organization XIII member Vexen to a standstill before quickly becoming able to fight and exhaust Lexaeus, although he lost the fight due to his eagerness, defeat Zexion and even overpower Ansem.
In 358/2 Days, he trounces Xion rather easily and even holds his own against the full-power Roxas, even eventually briefly knocking him out, but was quickly overpowered once he allowed Roxas to regain his extra blade, forcing him to use the powers of Ansem, at which point he easily dispatched Roxas, although due to him catching Roxas off-guard, and overpowered Saïx and forced him to flee quickly. Although he lost the boost after the explosion of Kingdom Hearts stripped him of the darkness, Riku is still easily the strongest ally Sora can have and aids him effectively in defeating Xemnas powered by Kingdom Hearts. Riku is also shown to be skilled in hand-to-hand combat, as shown in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, in which he knocks down a charging Xion with a single punch after dismissing his Soul Eater weapon and while using the powers of Ansem, easily blind-sides and pins Saïx bare-handed.
Gallery[]
