Kairi (Kingdom Hearts)
is a character from the
Kingdom Hearts series of videogames. She is voiced by
Hayden Panettiere in the English versions of
Kingdom Hearts and
Kingdom Hearts II and by
Risa Uchida in the Japanese versions.
Kairi is derived from the Japanese word for , in comparison with and .
In
Kingdom Hearts, Kairi is fourteen years old and living on the Destiny Islands with
Sora and
Riku and other children, including
Selphie,
Tidus, and
Wakka. Kairi actually appeared on the islands several years ago and does not recall her life before then. However, she shows no real interest in returning to wherever it is she came from, and is content with her life on the Islands. Her arrival on the island spurred Riku's interest in other worlds and gave him the idea to build a raft and explore the world beyond the islands.
Soon afterwards, the storm caused by darkness sweeps away everyone from the islands and Kairi is separated from Sora and Riku. By the time Sora found Kairi, she was in a comatose state. It turned out that Kairi was a
Princess of Heart originally from the
Radiant Garden sent to the Destiny Islands by
Ansem to confirm his theory that a Princess of Heart and the Keyblade are connected. Though
Maleficent found out this fact about Kairi, her heart ended up inside Sora before their island was destroyed. Because of this, Maleficent was unable to unlock the Keyhole inside Hollow Bastion until Kairi's heart was recovered.
Kairi is saved by Sora, who gave up his heart in order to restore hers. Kairi takes it upon herself to protect Sora, showing Sora the way to the light which restored him. During the final stages of the game, Kairi remained in the safety of Traverse Town, and in the temporary care of
Leon,
Aerith and
Yuffie. After Ansem's defeat, Kairi is left behind on the reforming Destiny Islands and separated from Sora at the end of Kingdom Hearts. Sora promises to return to her with Riku, and Kairi waits on the island for their return.
Later, she also discovers a drawing Sora had created, depicting him giving her a Paopou fruit (which was said to bind the giver and the receiver's destinies) to her. She then picks up a rock, and draws herself giving one back to him, thus completing the circle and further hinting at her feelings towards him.
Kairi does not appear directly in
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, but still plays an important role.
Because she is the most important person to Sora, Marluxia and Larxene of the mysterious
Organization take advantage of the fact they can rearrange Sora's memories of Kairi so that they can manipulate him. By forcing a young girl named
Naminé to alter Sora's memories so she replaces Kairi, they hope to make Sora their puppet. The plan fails when their "ally",
Axel betrays them and convinces Naminé to do what she believes is right. She promises to restore Sora's past memories by placing him in a cocoon-like chamber, despite that fact he would forget the events of Castle Oblivion and Naminé as a result.
Naminé employs her ability to be Kairi also in "Reverse/Rebirth" (Riku's story in
Chain of Memories) in order to save him from Zexion's attempt to destroy him. Riku, however, was able to differentiate her from his friend because Kairi and Naminé do not share the same scent, thought he does mention they are somewhat similar.
Naminé mentions that she is Kairi's shadow, making it impossible for her to completely erase the memory of Kairi from Sora's heart. It hints that there is a deeper connection between the two girls.
One year has passed and 15-year-old Kairi attends school with Selphie and converses with her about their missing friends. Kairi's memories of Sora have faded as she recalls the days when she, Riku, and Sora played together, but she does not identify Sora by name and mentions that she can no longer recall Sora's voice. However, no one else on the islands has any recollection of Sora at all. In addition, everyone Sora seems to have befriended have forgotten him until the beginning of
Kingdom Hearts II. This is due to Sora's memories being taken apart in
Chain of Memories, although Naminé later corrected this. Kairi can still remember Sora, albeit barely.
She first appears in a
parochial school-style prep school uniform, complete with plaid skirt, tie, long socks and boots, though her official game attire is a pink dress and a pair of sneakers. In addition, her hair has grown longer, and her features and figure are more mature to show the passage of time. Eventually, she does remember Sora due to the restoration of his memories. After finally remembering Sora entirely, Kairi writes a letter and sends it drifting to the sea in hopes of that it will find its way to him.
She is later abducted by Axel, who hopes to use Kairi to convince Sora to work with him, and is held captive along with
Pluto. She and the
King's dog escape, but Saïx catches them both and imprisons them in a jail cell at Organization XIII's headquarters in The World That Never Was. She escapes her cell with the help of Naminé and they are saved from Saïx by
Riku (in the guise of Xehanort's Heartless). Near the end of
Kingdom Hearts II, Kairi receives a Keyblade from Riku and uses it to fight off the Heartless and find Sora. When she finally meets him agains they share a few words, before she ruushes to him and gives him a hug.
The connection between Naminé and Kairi is resolved when she understands that Naminé is her Nobody, created when her heart was transferred from Sora's body back into her own. With that, Naminé gives up her existence as an independent entity to complete Kairi.
Kairi returns to Destiny Islands to welcome Sora and Riku back after they find Kairi's letter, the poem (which appeared on both game menu trailers) which she cast off in a bottle earlier in the game. Additionally, Sora returns to Kairi her "Oathkeeper" keychain (an item she had given to him in the first game), as he had finally fullfilled his promise to return.
