Destiny Trio

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Gen Relationship
Relationship: Destiny Trio
Alternative name(s): Paopu Trio; Sora-Riku-Kairi (SRK); 島っ子 (Island Kids); Sora & Riku & Kairi; SoRiKai (friendship)
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Type: Best friends,[1] brOT3
Canonical?: Yes
Prevalence: Very popular
Archives:
See also: Sea Salt Trio, Wayfinder Trio; SoRiku, SoKai, RiKai
KH3 by 裸餅 (2019)
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The Destiny Trio, also known as the Paopu Trio, is the fan name for the main trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi—best friends since childhood[1]—in the Kingdom Hearts video game series.

"Destiny Trio" usually refers to the canon Kairi & Riku & Sora friendship, though sometimes may also be applied to a non-canon romantic Sora x Riku x Kairi ship, which is otherwise often referred to as SoRiKai.

Canon background

Meta and popularity

  • Many fans appreciate this friendship.[2]
  • Some fans feel that the three-way friendship dynamic lacks a tangible presence in the series for all its nominal importance, particularly the Kairi & Riku friendship.[3][4]
  • Other fans believe this to be intentional, based on multiple comments from series creator Tetsuya Nomura about exploring the theme of childhood friends growing distant as they get older.[5][6]

Kairi & Riku

Most fans view that all three as being best friends who all care about each other more or less equally.[7] However, some believe that Kairi and Riku are not as close to each other as they are to Sora based on the fact that the two are rarely ever shown interacting with each other one-on-one onscreen. This is a common point of contention in the Sokai vs Soriku ship war due to both ships revolving around Sora. Among fans who support this interpretation, opinions vary as to the specifics of how Riku and Kairi feel about each other:

  • Some headcanon them actively disliking each other and only tolerating each other for Sora's sake.
  • Others see them as friends of Sora who hang out together when Sora is there and get along just fine, but otherwise aren't close friends with each other.
  • Another contingent argues that while Riku and Kairi were close friends growing up and clearly still care about each other in canon, their lack of one-on-one interactions indicate that they've grown distant from each other due to some unresolved issues between them.
    • Kairi's sassy joke - During a private conversation in the first game, Kairi says that she and Sora should steal the raft and abandon Riku. After Sora reacts with bewilderment, she laughs and says that she's just kidding. Some fans believe that she actually meant it and that it's a sign of her not really caring about Riku. Others believe that she genuinely was joking, but argue that it's still mean of her to say even as a joke, given how building the raft was Riku's idea in the first place and he had been the one to do most of the work building it. Some fans also headcanon that Riku somehow overheard Kairi, and that her words contributed to his decision to plunge their world into darkness by feeding into his existing fears about being left behind. The fact that Kairi's joke hasn't received any follow-up in canon is headcanoned as Kairi and Riku each being afraid to bring it up due to their individual insecurities and mutually choosing to tensely avoid the subject rather than address it. Some fans view this headcanon as pinning responsibility for Riku's villain arc on Kairi, contriving hurt that she never canonically caused; some also point out that Riku and Sora never feel the need to apologize for their jokes or for hitting each other with wooden swords--raising suspicions that some fans are subjecting Kairi to an unfair double-standard.
    • Riku's villain arc in the first game - Many fans headcanon that a rift formed between Kairi and Riku because Kairi disliked Riku's competitive behavior and his objectification of her in the first game's canon, and she sensed darkness and ambition corrupting him, even before his villain arc properly began.[8][9][10][11] Some believe that Riku genuinely felt deep concern and care for Kairi, as evidenced by Maleficent using Kairi as leverage for his cooperation, and he eventually lost sight of prioritizing Kairi's well-being as he was influenced by darkness; others believe that Riku only ever saw Kairi as an object to compete with Sora and to gain his attention; still others believe that it could have been some mixture of the two.[12] Most fans agree that Kairi doesn't have any grudge over Riku's villain period, but some interpret their personal relationship as still suffering damage caused by his past treatment of her.
Like, there’s that wonderful moment in The World That Never Was where Kairi goes up to him to pull his hood down. And he could fight back if he wanted to. He could push her. He could stop her. He could run. He could do whatever. But because it’s her, he just…stands there…and allows her to uncover the part of him he wouldn’t show to anybody else. And, of course, following this, Kairi is the one who actually gets Sora to see Riku for what and who he really is. It’s quite good.[13]

Let’s not idealise this. Don’t forget all of the various kidnappings of innocent people and various atrocities Riku committed in KH1. One of the best moments of Re:Com was how Ansem mocked him for abandoning his friends and his home for a fancy room.

Replaying KH1, you really start to notice that Riku comes across as more of a Stalker than anything. His possessiveness towards Kairi is less about her and more about spiting Sora by “taking” her away from him. Kairi probably saw the warning signs and figured that yeah, it’s not healthy, gtfo.

Probably explains why she doesn’t talk to him in KH3. He’s not a creep anymore, but she still needs to keep some distance And adjust.

In more recent times, I’ve really come to hate his line in KH1, “Take Care of Her”. It seems noble and romantic, but it sounds more like Riku considers Kairi his “property” to give away, with that line.[14]

Riku is mindful out of respect for Sora, the same way you dogsit for your friend’s dog while they’re out of town. Nomura has also hinted in an ultimania(either 1 or 2) that Kairi was a means to an end for him. I really don’t think that he ever loved her.[15]

Fanon and tropes

  • Sora and Kairi goof off while Riku tries to be the responsible, protective one.

Fan works

Fan art

Redraw KH animatic meme

Meta

Fan fiction

Zines

External links

Fan pages and communities

References

  1. ^ a b Jiminy's journal entries in Kingdom Hearts (2002); subsequently all three are described as "childhood friends" and "longtime friends" in Reverse/Rebirth (2004), HD 1.5 ReMIX (2013), and III (2019)
  2. ^ https://cloudgeals.tumblr.com/post/53676458807/sora-cried-when-he-found-riku-and-got-down-on-his
  3. ^ https://kh-info-block.tumblr.com/post/118929832906/not-denying-that-riku-kairi-is-the-weakest-arm-of
  4. ^ https://nadziejastar.tumblr.com/post/190901554985/another-thing-what-really-frutrated-me-about-kh3
  5. ^ https://www.khinsider.com/forums/index.php?threads/characters-report-vol-1-translations.195560/
  6. ^ https://www.ign.com/articles/2018/06/14/e3-2018-tetsuya-nomura-on-if-kingdom-hearts-3-is-the-end-of-soras-story
  7. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/peebls/95202599349/okay-so-ive-been-hearing-that-some-of-you
  8. ^ https://kh-info-block.tumblr.com/post/91418936746/at-the-beginning-of-kh1-when-kairi-says-to-sora
  9. ^ https://www.tumblr.com/nadziejastar/190901554985/another-thing-what-really-frutrated-me-about-kh3
  10. ^ [https://old.reddit.com/r/KingdomHearts/comments/cgszcl/comment/eukqary/
  11. ^ https://sharingthesamesky.tumblr.com/post/153333661650/1-i-love-your-meta-on-riku-3-im-watching-a-lp
  12. ^ https://kh-info-block.tumblr.com/post/97592523851/is-riku-still-in-love-with-kairi
  13. ^ https://kh-info-block.tumblr.com/post/93974423991/do-any-of-you-have-a-hard-time-believing-that-riku-and
  14. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/KingdomHearts/comments/cgszcl/comment/eukqary/
  15. ^ https://old.reddit.com/r/KingdomHearts/comments/xcb8ir/this_tumblr_post_has_a_point_about_riku_and/io4x74r/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
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