(no subject)
❖ character information
•CHARACTER ☆ Riku
•FANDOM ☆ Kingdom Hearts II
•AGE ☆ Seventeen
•SPECIES ☆ Human
•GENDER ☆ Male
•TIMELINE ☆ Dark Margin - Pre-Receiving Kairi's Letter
•CLOTHING ☆
Riku's appearance has changed through out the duration of the Kingdom Hearts saga. Although in his true form (Basically after the scene with Diz on the balcony of the Castle That Never Was, he returns to his true appearance after the explosion.) he wears jeans, a yellow and white vest and a black, cotton tank top that zips up the front. He also wears a black and silver belt, as well as a sturdy, black, white and yellow sneakers, as well as a white wrist band worn on his left wrist.
•PERSONALITY ☆
During the events of the original game, Riku appears to be a clam, cool, collected type of teenager, who is not afraid to go or push beynd his limits. This is most clearly shown when he shows no fear of stepping into the dark portal that appears on Destiny Islands the night he, Sora and Kairi make their departure. He willingly steps into it while the rest of the island, his home, is being consumed by darkness. It is during this moment when he first states that he's not afraid of the darkness, or what lies within it in a bid to convince Sora to come with him.
He also seems to be quite aware of Sora's more romantic feelings towards their mutual friend Kairi and even goes so far as to tease him about it. A good example of this can be seen in the way he often challenges Sora, making the prize something that he knows will impress Kairi, such as well he sets up a race between himself and Sora, stating at the last minute that if Sora wins, he will become the captain of the raft they are currently constructing. He goes on to say, however, that if he wins, he gets to share a papou fruit with Kairi, something he knows Sora wishes to do. Although he later says he only made the bet to see the reaction on Sora's face, even going so far as to chuckle while he says it.
Early on in the first game we also learn that Riku has a strong competitive streak that can often be mixed with a bit of jealousy. He seems to enjoy showing off how strong he is, often choosing to spar with other kids his age on the island, just to show off. Through out the game, he often mentions that his heart is strong than Sora's, as if everything about him must somehow be better than his best friends. During the events of the game, he also becomes quite jealous of Sora, due to the prodding of Maleficent and her influence over him. This feeling continues to grow, more and more, as he learns of Sora's journey. He's jealous over the fact that Sora possesses the keyblade, when he feels as though he should have been choosen as the rightful keyblade master. The jealousy slowly turns to rage, resulting in him turning his back on his best friend, even going so far as to fight him willingly.
He allows himself to be willingly manipulated by Maleficent and later by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. This shows a great weakness within him. A need to be wanted and needed by someone, and most namely, Sora.
His traits, unfavorable as they might be in the original game, drastically change as time wears on. In Chain of Memories, Riku comes to a series of important relizations. One of the most important was that he had allowed his heart to become weak. Starting from that moment on, he bagan to shy away from the darkness he contained within his heart. It is after the numerous battles he is forced into during his time within the castle that he comes to another important realization. That he'll never be entitrely rid of the darkness within his heart. But the difference between early on in the first game and now is that he make a decision that will lead him through what ever challenges he may face, and do so without bringing more harm onto those he feels he's already betrayed. He will use the darkness within him, but he will do so without turning away from the light as he had before. It is with this that Riku seems to have matured the most, leaving some of the events of the past behind him, showing a want to move on with his life, and to become a better and stronger person.
During the second game, he shows a great amount of loyalty and care for his friends, although those traits have always been there, just hidden under other emotions. In order to save Sora and wake him from his year long sleep, he does everything that is within his power to bring Roxas to DiZ, the man he had aligned himself with. He does this in order to make Sora's memories whole again, not only because Sora is, in a very real sense, the most important person to him, but because he has come to realize that Sora is in fact the true master of the keyblade. Without him, the work that still needs to be done will never happen. In order to acomplish this, Riku fights Roxas, and looses, but because the weight of what he must do is so great, he chooses to immerse himself within the darkness, a decision which changes his appearance. With the possiblity of being stuck in the body of Ansem forever, and with Sora now awake, he chooses to hide, not wanting to show Sora what he's become. This shows a need to protect his friends from the darkness that lies within him, as well as the darkness that's around him. The perfect example of this protectiveness can be seen while he and Sora are fighting Xemnas in the void. He willingly scarifices himself by throwing his body in the line of one of Xemnas' attacks that had been aimed at Sora. Instead of allowing his friend to take what very well could have been a death blow, he knocks him out of the way, a move that leaves him serverly injured. This also shows that he often puts his friends above himself. He does, however, leave Sora clues along the way, helping him figure out the mystery behind Organization 13, one that Riku already has completed. This shows a want and a need to be by his friends side and help them in anyway he can, even if he has to do so in secret.
When Sora finally catches up to him in The World That Never Was, he shows a great regret for what he has done, even if he does acknowledge that there was no other way. He admits to Sora that he didn't want him to find him, not in that form. Even after he had been returned to his nature form, he expresses a fear of returning to their home because of the mistakes he has made in the past.
Since he was young he has been painfully curious about the worlds outside of his own. Over time it appears that this naturual curiosity has become more of an obsession, leading him to think of his home as little more than a prison surrounded by water. This is why when the Heartless began to invade, he willingly let them into his world through the Keyhold of Destiny Islands, in exchange for a trip to another world. This obsession, as it were, seems to fade greatly during the year of Sora's sleep, more than likely because he has already seen and visited many other worlds. When he finally returns home during the second game, he makes the comment that it's still a small world, but he agrees with Sora when he says that it's part of a much bigger one. This shows that Riku has formed a much healthier view of his home and the life that he would lead there.
Even though he does mature significantly over the course of the series, he continues to maintain some of his more original traits. He has a good, strong sense of humor that allows him to laugh and be the teenager he really is. He also has a strong sense of pride in everything he does, and so he strives to be the best in everything and do the best he can at what ever task he is given. These things can make him appear as being cocky or overly confident, but he is neither. He is confident in himself and his abilities, although he no longer shows off the way he once did. He no longer feels the need to. He's grown in a more nature, cool, calm, collected version of himself.
•ABILITIES ☆ Riku has many abilities that have been granted to him because of his association with the darkness as well as the light. When he turned into what's known as his "true form" in the end of Kingdom Hearts II, his powers of light increased dramatically while his powers of darkness decreased. As a party member, Riku possesses various abilities that combine his dark powers with Sora's light powers. Riku can use a new Dark Aura that fires Dark Firaga orbs that inflict a Stop effect whenever Sora completes a combo, Dark Shield to project a barrier of darkness, as well as to numerous other powers.
He has some of the best abilities such as MP Hastega. Also his main action abilities: Dark Aura and Dark Shield, are activated upon the player's command, which helps him conserve MP for Cure Potion, which fully heals the party. Riku's greatest asset is his Limit: Eternal Session, which is tied with Sora's Trinity to unleash the best Limit in the game. He can equip one accessory and two armor pieces. In his Limit with Sora, Eternal Session, Riku is able to project waves of dark energy from his Keyblade in addition to unleashing fast combos and Dark Firaga barrages.
He also has the ability to summon and dismiss his keyblade, Way to the Dawn. It's also thought that he would still be able to summon, use and dismiss Soul Eater, since it's never explained in canon the reason for the change in his keyblade. He's skilled in the usage of it, and is a skilled fighter when it comes to fighting with said keyblades. He's also a pretty strong kid, for his size, and has been sword fighting with Sora since he was little, so he'd probably have some skill when fighting with other, similar weapons as well as fighting with his fist if need be.
Also as seen in both Kingdom Hearts and Deep Dive, Riku has the ability to wield other keyblades, such as the Kingdom Key (Although he can not summon or dismiss it, nor can he take it from Sora.) and Oblivion. He can also take and use a secondary keyblade, using the Synch Blade ability, as well as allow someone else to take and wield his own. More information on Keyblades can be found here. More information on Soul Eater can be found here and more information on Way to the Dawn may be found here.
•WEAKNESSES ☆ Riku's weaknesses truly lie inside himself, and in his own inability to to rely on anyone. He often takes things on himself, both because he believes that he can do it better, and because he thinks that by taking care of it himself, he'll spare those he cares about having to go through the pain and hassle of having to help or take care of it. He has a strong heart, but he often takes the hardest path, thinking that it's what he needs to do, even if the easier path would be the best choice. His main problem is truly the fact that he tries to take too much on himself even when it's too much for him to deal with on his own, as is shown in the second Kingdom Hearts.
He also has a weird way of showing that he cares for people, often choosing to be snarky or sarcastic with even those who are closest with him instead. He has a hard time expressing those feelings, and so they come out in a different form. He's serious, even when the situation may not call for it, but it's one of the many area's he seems to be working on and growing in.
•HISTORY ☆
Riku's story begins a numbers of years before the actual events of the original game, before the Heartless invasion begins. Riku and Sora, having been friends since they were little, have always trained and pushed each other to become stronger. In Birth By Sleep, Terra is seen to be able to sense the potential in Riku easily, and becomming more interested in the boy, ask him why he wants to leave the Island. Riku responds that there was someone else who had left the island long ago, and had visted the other world. Riku states that he would like to leave his world in order to become stronger, strong enough to protect his friend as wel as everything he hold dear. During the conversation, Terra sees a vision of a white-haired man who then transforms into Riku's future self in Kingdom Hearts II. This convinced him to choose Riku as his successor, and he lets Riku hold his keyblade, Ends of the Earth, in order to test his strength. He then proceeds to convince Riku to keep their talk a secret, in order to perserve the world order.
He and Sora later encounter Aqua, who finds their friendship to be similar to that of hers, Ven's and Terra's. Because of this, she asks Sora to watch over and protect Riku if he ever looses his path.
After the ending credits, Riku and Sora can be seen sitting on the beach under a starry sky. When they are ready to go home, Riku sees Sora take on a sudden look of saddness, and says that perhaps someone from another world somewhere is feeling sadf, and suggest that he try and reach out to him. Afterwards, they both look up to the starry sky in peace.
One night a meteor shower occurs and a strange girl suddenly appears on the island. Kairi is, apparently, from another far off world and is not stuck on the lands with no way to return to her actual home. Kairi and Riku, along with Sora, quickly form a strong bond and friendship, playing and spending most of their time together. Not long after the arrival of Kairi, Riku and Sora go to what's known as the secret place, a small cave that they had found and often explored. Sora, on one hand, finds the place intriguing, but soon tires of it. Before pulling Riku away he notices a door at the back of the cave, and soon becomes obsessed with finding out what's beyond the door, wondering id perhaps it could be a passageway to another world.
When we first join the trio on Destiny Islands, Riku appears as a cool and collected fifteen year old boy. He spends his days, along with Sora and Kairi gathering supplies and trying to build a raft in hopes of one day using it to leave the island and go out in search of other worlds. He and Sora share a fierce but good natured rivalry, competing over who is stronger in battle, who can run faster, those sorts of things. Riku, however, begins to irritate Sora by being a bit of a sore loser and often being rather pushy in their apparent fight over Kairi, even taking things so far as to tell the other that is he fails to share a papou fruit with the younger girl soon, he will. However, the three still have a close bond, and treat the island as their own personal play ground, spending their days lazing in the sun and continuing work on their raft.
However, things take a rather dramatic turn on the night before they are set to begin their journey. Riku, likely unable to leave the islands without first knowing what's behind the door that's haunted him since it's discovery, finally opens it, desperate to see what secrets lie behind it. It's then that the Heartless, beings of darkness, begin to invade the island, seeking out the worlds heart. Both afraid that a brewing storm might destroy the raft they had worked so hard on, both Sora and Kairi go out to retrieve it. Sora finds Riku first, and while he's first and foremost concerned with his friends safety, Riku seems more concerned with finally being able to leave his island home. Darkness surrounds the two and Riku disappears into it, while Sora gains the Keyblade, becoming it's wielder and setting off the chain of events that was to follow.
Riku eventually ends up in Hollow Bastion via the Corridor of Darkness. There he is found by Maleficent, who offers him shelter and protection, seemingly until he can find and be reunited with his friends.
Though he has a safe place to stay with Maleficent, she slowly begins to corrupt his mind, convincing him that Sora had replaced him as well as Kairi with new friends, Donald and Goofy. She claims that the only way to save Kairi, who's heart has been lost to the darkness, is to ally himself with her and her band of villains, abandoning Sora. Not long after, he finds Sora in Traverse Town, ask to look at his Keyblade, and holds it for a few moments before giving it back easily, all without the Keyblade teleporting from his hand, all a foreshadowing of Riku's role as a Keyblade wielder. After his meeting with Sora, his stay with Maleficent officially begins, even though he's still highly suspicious of just what her motives are.
As time progresses, he becomes slowly and steadily angrier at Sora, slowly becoming convinced that he hates his one time friend. He obtains a Keyblade from Maleficent known as the Soul Eater and teaches himself how to use it, believing that it will aid him in his search for Kairi as well as her heart.
His mind now corrupted, Riku once again meets with Sora in Monstro, intending to use Pinocchio to aid him in finding a way to save Kairi's heart. However, Pinocchio is captured by a giant Heartless known as the Parasite Cage and Riku is forced, against his own wishes, to work along Side Sora, Donald and Goofy to try and save him. Afterwards, Riku manages to kidnap Pinocchio and is pursued by the other three into Monstro's stomach. Riku then ask Sora to join him in his quest to rescue Kairi but Sora refuses due to Riku's questionable methods. When the Parasite Cage returns, Riku once more vanishes into darkness, this time by the use of a dark portal.
Riku appears once more in Neverland, traveling on Captain Hook's ship where Kairi's body is being held. Riku also know shows that he has gained the power to control the Heartless, a gift that had been given to him by Maleficent. He then goes to find Sora, revealing that he is now in possession of Kairi's body. The two have an argument, and Riku retreats after the he creates what's know as Anti-Sora, a dark reflection of Sora with his newly acquired dark powers. However, before he can retreat back to Hollow Bastion, he instructs Captain Hook that his capture Wendy is not, in fact, a Princess of the Heart. Riku then proceeds to take Kairi back to Maleficent's castle, traveling by the Corridors of Darkness once more, only this time traveling with out a vessel, a reckless act that puts a strain even on his powerful heart. While still drained from his trip, Maleficent unlocks the last of Riku's power, sending his heart into almost complete darkness.
Riku again meets Sora at Hollow Bastion, jumping in to defend a wounded Beast from a swift death by Riku's hand. But Beast is hardly one of Riku's major concerns, as Riku soon reveals his true purpose for this confrontation with Sora. He is, in fact, able to wield the Keyblade into his grasp. Riku then proceeds to explain that Sora was merely a temporary recipient, taunting him and telling him that was "just the delivery boy" as Riku is the true Keyblade master. After leaving Sora with only the toy sword they had once fought with on Destiny Islands, he leaves, Donald and Goofy following him as they were ordered to by the King, although they do so regretfully.
Though Sora is weakened, he makes his way into the foyer of the castle with the help of Beast. Riku, having taken on a new appearance with the increasing strength of his dark powers, warns him to quit, but Sora refuses to leave with Kairi. Riku, intending to prove to Sora that he is indeed the stronger one, attacks his old friend, only for Donald and Goofy to go to Sora's aid, finding themselves unable and unwilling to betray the friendship they had formed with him. With the strength of his friends, Sora manages to regain the Keyblade, becoming the true master and driving Riku to retreat once again.
Somehow Riku managed to escape and at first is confused as to how Sora was able to regain the Keyblade. A mysterious voice managed to contact him from the Darkness, informing him that only one with a strong heart can claim the keyblade, and that Riku's heart was weaker than that of Sora. However, the voice slowly begins to take a shape and present Riku with an offer he can't resist. A Keyblade of his own. Under the influence of jealousy and rage, Riku agrees to becoming on with the Darkness, and in doing so becomes to possessed with by the mysterious voice.
Riku then presents himself to Maleficent and warms her of the dangers that lay in unlocking the Final Keyhole. When she claims not to b afraid, nor to care, Riku shows a new, dark Keyblade that had been created with six of the seven princesses' heart. However, it has no reaction to the keyhole. Realizing that it's still in need of Kairi's heart to be complete, Maleficent heads off to try and handle Sora, Donald and Goofy. After she is defeated by Sora, Riku appears with his Keyblade and explains that unlike Sora's Keyblade, his Keyblade possesses the ability to unlock a person's heart. Riku demonstrates this point by piercing Maleficent's chest, allowing the immense darkness that is attached to her overtake her heart, making her transform into a huge dragon. While this form is proven to be far deadlier than her previous form, she is still defeated and killed.
Riku, now calling himself Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, later confronts and battles Sora, who has by now been cut off from both Donald and Goofy at the Final Keyhole. He has hopes to release Kairi's heart from within that of Sora's, so that she, being the the final Princess of Heart can hope the Keyhole. Riku fails, but Sora chooses to impale himself anyway in order to save Kairi. With Sora gone, Xehanort's Heartless proceeds to attack Kairi, along with Donald and Goofy, but the three of them are aided and finally saved by Riku, using the last of his strength to hold the dark powers of his possessor off. Riku's rejection of Xehanort's Heartless leads to an internal struggles between the two of them. One that Riku ends up losing. This outcome causes Riku to lose control of his body once more, letting Xehanort's Heartless gain full control.
Sora, now fully restored, along with Donald and Goofy eventually make their way to End of the World, the home of the heartless, where they once again are confronted by Xehanort's Heartless and defeat him in a series of battles that take place at the Door of Darkness. Upon his defeat, Riku is restored as well and appears on the other side of the Door to Darkness, aiding Sora in the closing of it, but is unable to cross it, as only those of pure darkness can go back and forth through the door. Waiting to enter the Realm of Light are thousands of Heartless, once more making things difficult for the two. However, King Mickey appears for the first time and wards them off, wielding a powerful golden Keyblade. The King and Sora then proceed to close the door, Sora on the outside and Mickey and Riku on the other side. Before the door is closed, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi.
When Riku reawakens in the lowest basement of Castle Oblivion, his heart has been led there by his heart resonating with that of Sora's who has also entered Castle Oblivion, but is on the ground floor and traveling upwards. Once more a mysterious and disembodied voice makes itself known, as well as a dark card. The voice then offers Riku the chance to sleep away his troubles, forgetting them as well as the light, or to take the card and the first steps toward the truth. Riku chooses confidently to take the card and find out the truth of his journey.
Riku then arrives in Hollow Bastion, though this is nothing more than a version that has been created from his memories. Though the town is the same as he remembers, he can't find anyone in it. While he continues to search, the voice once more speaks to him, mocking him as he franticly searches. At last Riku meets someone he knows, none other than Maleficent, who in turn taunts him and his refusal of the darkness. Riku fights her in hopes of proving that he is above the darkness. He wins.
When Riku leaves Hollow Bastion he returns to Castle Oblivion, only to be shown it;s true form. The voice once again comes to Riku, this time revealing himself as Xehanort's Heartless, who wants to over take Riku once more,. However, though his Heartless is powerful, King Mickey shows up to aid Riku with his light. With the aid of the King, Riku is able to fend off Xehanort's Heartless for the time being. Before he leaves, the Heartless leaves Riku with a type of world cards, and the ability to use his inner darkness as a weapon.
Riku soon comes to the realization that he now has the power to detect the "smell" of darkness, and is in turn discouraged by this. King Mickey attempts to comfort him, although at the time the King can only appear to Riku as a sort of project seeing as he is still in the Realm of Darkness. With the encouragement of the King, Riku begins to ascend the basements of Castle Oblivion in an attempt to rid himself of his darkness. Meanwhile, as Riku travels through the lower levels, Sora travels through the upper floors, being manipulated by Marluxia, a member of Organization XIII and has been out in charge of Castle Oblivion. But three of the other members, Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion work to counter Marluxia's plans by trying to use the dark wielding Riku against Sora's light.
To further the trio's goals, Vexen appears before Riku, and Riku wonders if it is Vexen that is Xehanort's Heartless. But Vexen, in turn, cryptically announces that he is another Ansem. Riku then fights Vexen, seeing him as an enemy instead of an ally. But the battle only helps Vexen, who then uses the data that has been gathered during the battle to create what is known at the Riku Replica. The replica soon comes to battle Riku, mocking his fear of the darkness while he himself embraces it. However, Riku once more wins, causing the replica to run off.
Soon, Xehanort's Heartless appears to him once more, saying that the replica is, in fact, a model of what Riku should be. But Riku states his desire to overcome the darkness. Passing throughout the castle (the bulk of Sora's part in the castle is now complete and Larxene and Vexen are dear) Riku encounters Lexaeus. Lexaeus, like the others, tells him that he should give in and accept the darkness, because if he does not, his journey will come to an end here. The two fight, and Riku barely manages to win out over the other. As a last move move, Riku covers the room in Darkness as Xehanort's Heartless moves in to take try and take his heart. Mickey, however, comes in just in time, saving him ones more and brings him out of the darkness.
As Riku comes closer to the ground level, and just as Marluxia's plan fails and Sora manages to finish him off, Riku senses the defeat. Zexion quickly arrives to attempt to explain it, but he also reveals that Sora is the one who completed the task, much to Riku's apparent surprise. Zexion then ask if Riku is capable of seeing Sora seeing as Riku has been shouldering the darkness for so long, and the Heartless of Xehanort still resides in his heart. Riku tries to resist the other's comments, but Zexion counters by giving him a world card of Destiny Islands. Drawn in, Riku enters.
In Destiny Islands Riku once again meets up with all of his friends, but they are silent and soon disappear, even Kairi. Zexion then appears, throwing Riku's fears at him once more, telling him that he is the one responsible for their disappearance, and that he belongs to the darkness now. He then transforms a version of himself into a Darkside Heatless, telling him that this is what he has become. Riku then fights the Heartless, allowing Zexion to disguise himself as Sora. He them tells him that it's time to finally face the light.
Riku sinks into the light as he begins to fade, but not before Namine can appear to him in the form of Kairi, telling him that he can't. The light can't beat him, but neither can the darkness. He should accept both, and then he won't have anything to fear. He then awakens his dark powers once more, admitting that it is in fact a part of him and not something of evil, fighting and winning against Zexion. He disappears, but is quickly attacked and killed by the replica, under the control of Axel.
Riku is almost to the main floor when Xehanort's Heartless once more appears to control him, but King Mickey appears once more, this time for real instead of the previous projection. Riku is relieved at the thought of finally having a real friend with him. Mickey then explains that he found a card which showed Riku's heart to him, and he followed it back. Riku uses the card, and ends up in Twilight Town. Xehanort's Heartless appears again, but Riku tells him that he's Ansem, because he does not smell of darkness. It's something else. Riku also sees that this is the mysterious voice that has been speaking to him, starting at the beginning of his journey. The voice finally introduces itself as DiZ, and Riku ask him what he wants from him, and DiZ answers he wants for him to make the choice between the Light and the Darkness, because he currently lies in the in-between. the decision is to be made with Namine, who Riku sets out to look for.
However, the Riku Replica manages to find him and demands that they fight, wanting to prove him worthy. The replica instead to kill Riku in order to become real, but fails. Riku, however, comforts him by telling him that the replica's heart will go to the same places as real one's. The replica then vanishes.
Riku then meets Namine, who is with Sora in what's know as a memory cells and explains the situation to Riku. She then offers a way to seal away Xehanort's Heartless and Riku's darkness so that he may forget both of them, but he will have to sleep to do so. Riku then refuses, wanting to overcome his darkness on his own, and leaves a satisfied Namine behind. Before he departs, he tells Namine that he knows it was her who had appeared to him as Kairi.
After the meeting with Namine, DiZ appears to Riku and the King, who notes this that DiZ is somehow familiar to him. Knowing his choice, DiZ gives Riku a card that will draw out the Heartless of Xehanort. After DiZ leaves, Riku tells Mickey that he is to destroy him if he should somehow fail to stop the Heartless, but the King refuses, stating that he'll only help him to regain control, but would never harm him. Riku agrees.
Riku faces Ansem one last time, going to battle alone. Ansem then asks him why he continues to refuse him if he has chosen to accept darkness, but Riku tells him "I can't stand your foul stench". During this battle the last of XEhanort's Heartless is destroyed, but not before he says that a part of him will still reside in Riku, and therefore he shall return.
Riku and Mickey wait at the front entrance, where Riku tells him that he can't go home yet. Ansem's shadow still lingers inside of him, but Mickey tells him that the darkness is a part of him. Darkness is not all bad, and Riku has chosen a road that he himself had never thought of before. One that is both Light and Darkness. Riku calls Mickey by name at the King's request, making him the only character in the game to be able to do so, with the exception of Queen Minnie.
When they leave, they take with them the Organization cloaks that DiZ had given them prior to confronting Xehanort's Heartless. DiZ appears once more and poses a question, if Riku will take the road to light, or the road to darkness. Riku says he choose neither, that he shall take the middle road, The Road to Dawn. Riku and the King eventually make it out of the plains and separate for a time, but only after Riku realizes that he can't completely rid himself of the darkness that has been festering inside of him. Deciding to return to DiZ and offer him his help, Riku dons a blindfold, knowing that his eyes couldn't lie about the darkness that he is preparing to us, and wished for Mickey not to witness.
Riku plays a very important role in the Day's story line. He is first seen at the bridge of Beast's Castle where he fights Xion. As a defeat Xion lies on the ground, Riku moves in to pull off her hood, lifting his blindfold in order to get a good look at her. He is then shocked by what he see's, questioning her appearance and why she is able to use a keyblade, calling it a sham and worthless. Angered by his words, Xion demandes what right he has to say such a thing and attacks, onky to be knocked down single-handedly. Riku then tells her to "find a new crowd". It can also be assumed that Riku is still having trouble forgiving himself for stepping into the darkness when he tells Xion, "You could say I am, the biggest nobody of them all."
After Xion leaves the Organization, the two stayed away in Castle Oblision. As her friends, Roxas and Axel continue to look for her across the worlds, they finally make contact in Twilight Town, where Riku stays behind to distract them while Xion escapes.
While creading Xion during her nightmare, Riku recalls an eariler conversation he had with Naminé in the white room about her, discussing what must be done in order for Sora to awaken. As well as being with Xion during her nightmare, he is also in it, appearing along with Zexion. Xion is shown to collapse in pain while hearing the painful speech that Zexion delivered to Riku from Chain of memories. She then transforms in first Roxas, followed by Riku and finally Sora. When she finally awakes she's on Destiny Islands, and she expresses her curiosity by asking Riku about "Sora and that girl he's always with." to which Riku replies that Kairi is someone who is very special to Sora. He then tells her that she is part of the reason why Sora us unable to wake up, because part of his memories are inside of. 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 then shown conversing with DiZ next to the pod that Sora sleeps in. Riku is also shown meeting with King Mickey in the thick forest outside of the Old Mansion, where he is in his Ansem, Seeker of Darkness form. The King calls the Keyblade to him, ready to attack, not knowing who he truly is. To let the King know that it's him, Riku replaces his blindfold, which causes him to return to his normal state, greatly surprising the King. He then informs Micket he will be fighting an Organization member soon, and may not survive, forcing the King to promise to protect Sora.
Riku is also the final boss of the game, as the game ends with the battle between himself and Roxas, also depicted in several scenes of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, including the secret endings of Another Side, Another Story and Deep Dive.
Riku then allies himself with DiZ, noting that they have a common goal. To help Sora awaken, though Riku finds that his memories of Sora are fading, being a side effect of Namine's messing with and realigning Sora's memories. DiZ ask Riku to kidnap Roxas, who is the Nobody of Sora, for him. If he and Sora were to rejoin, Sora should be able to wake up. Riku enters the Realm of Darkness, and manages to corner Roxas in The World That Never Was. When they seem to stalemate, Riku realizes that if he is to win in the Realm of Darkness, that he must submerse himself into that darkness. As a result, Riku unleashes his darkness, taking on the form of Xehanort's Heartless as a side effect. Riku then easily defeats Roxas, and returns him to DiZ in the base he had built under the abandoned mansion in Twilight Town, introducing himself to the other man as Ansem.
Roxas' memory is then erased by DiZ, who then places him into a Virtual Twilight Town that he has created, to live out his days until the time comes for him to meet and rejoin with Sora. In the meantime, Riku watches over Roxas, entering the town from time to time to make sure that Roxas is kept from finding out the truth, and to keep Namine from saying anything of importance to him. With these deeds finally done, Riku demands to know what DiZ's true intentions are. Upon hearing that it is merely for revenge, Riku reacts with shock and disgust.
When the time comes for Roxas, Riku makes sure to prevent the Nobodies from flooding the town. Soon, the goal that Riku had been searching for is finally reached and Roxas joins with Sora. Though DiZ has ordered him to eliminate Namine, Riku wants no part in DiZ's plan for revenge, and gave her to the now-renegade Axel, a member of Organization XIII before leaving DiZ.
Riku, after Roxas rejoins with Sora, comes into contact with the King once more. Riku begs for him not to reveal his whereabouts and condition to Sora, and the King, although reluctantly, agrees. He then leaves the King the digital versions of Olette's munny pouch and Roxas' crystal orb that he had stolen from Roxas before.
Later, when Axel tries to kidnap Kairi in an attempt to use her to turn Sora into a Heartless so that Roxas may be reborn, Riku comes to her rescue, and takes her to Twilight Town, where she meet Hayner, Pence and Olette, but never tells them who she is. However Axel appears again, but this time another member of Organization XIII, Saix, manages to kidnap Kairi instead, with the intent to use her to fuel Sora's rage. At the battle for Hollow Bastion, Sora, Donald and Goofy end up in an empty realm, where Riku arrives. He says nothing to them, but only leaves the trio a box that contains sea-salt ice cream along with a picture of Roxas, standing with Pence, Hayner and Olette in front of the haunted mansion.
Riku also shows up in the Land of Dragons, trying to warn the Emperor of a Heartless dragon that Xigbar has created. But he ends up meeting with Sora once more, only this time, Sora attacks him, believing that he is a member of the Organization. However, once Sora sees that Riku is wielding the Soul Eater, he begins to suspect that he is in fact Riku. But Riku still goes ahead with his mission and warns the Emperor of the dragon. When Sora talks to the Emperor, the wise rulers description of the man that had warned him only cements Sora's idea that the man he had attacked and fought was indeed Riku.
Riku appears once more later, in the World That Never Was, after Namine rescues Kairi from the Organization. The two are faced with Saix, but Riku quickly comes to their aid, his Soul Eater now transformed into a Keyblade known as Way to the Dawn. Namine calls Riku by name, and then quickly disappears. Kairi, excited to see Riku once more, removes his hood, only to be met with the face of Xehanort's Heartless. She takes it in stride, however, seeing the true Riku even in his current form.
Kairi is then later attacked by Heartless on her way to try and find Sora, but is once again saved by Riku. He then gives Kairi a Keyblade of her own so that she may also fight. After Sora defeats Xigbar, he and Kairi reunite. Riku tries to leave, but Kairi stops him before he can. She then reveals Riku's identity, and with some concentration, Sora is also able to see Riku's true form under the one he has current taken, and is overjoyed to the point of tears for once more having found his friend. Riku explains that he didn't want to be found, he didn't want the other's to see what he had become, and confirms to Sora that the clues he, Goofy and Donald had found had indeed been left by him. Sora, Riku and the others then make their way up the castle, defeating the last remaining Organization members save for Xemnas. It's during this time that Riku reveals the truth about Roxas to Sora, and realizes that he never had to fight him. Roxas had left the Organization because he had wanted to find Sora, and the two of them would most likely have met on their own over time.
Near the top, Riku reunites once more with King Mickey, and this time also with DiZ, who reveals that his true name is Ansem the Wise, and is using a machine to try and encode Kingdom Hearts into date. Xemnas then also arrives, and he and Ansem the wise trade bitter, angry words. The machine then explodes, unable to fully handle Kingdom Hearts, killing Ansem the Wise but causing the countless hearts that Xemnas had collected into Kingdom Hearts to rain down on the world, creating many, many Heartless. The explosion, however, also restores Riku to his true form, though he is still remorseful. After some encouragement from his friends and the King, Riku transcends the rest of the castle, leaving behind his cloak and the blindfold that he had hid behind for so long. He and the others also encounter Maleficent and Pete, who decide to try and hold off the Heartless that are currently over taking the castle, but only so that they may take the castle for their own.
Riku and the other's then confront Xemnas, refusing his demands for them to gather more hearts. Xemnas then somehow removes Sora from the area and his friends, choosing to fight him one on one, while everyone else calls out to him. When Sora returns, the groups sees that Xemnas has already reached and disappeared into Kingdom Hearts. A door, constructed by the will of the worlds appears, and the three wielders of the Keyblade, Sora, Mickey and Riku, open it and proceed to follow Xemnas. After a touch battle, Namine appears once more, opening a corridor of darkness that leads to Destiny Islands as Riku can no longer seem to use them. However, Xemnas attacks once more, riding on a robotic dragon, and separates Sora and Riku from their friends. After a series of intense battle, the two of them are drawn into nothingness by Xemnas and face off in a final and exhausting battle. Towards the end of the fight, after a final attack used by Xemnas, Sora is left open and Riku takes the blow intended to finish off his friend, in turn allowing Sora to finish off Xemnas, with both he and Riku firing a beam of light from Sora's Keyblade, Although after the battle they end up in the Realm of Darkness.
Finally having the time to talk, the two old friends reconcile with each other. Riku then finds a letter in a bottle that has been written by Kairi and gives it to Sora, saying that it's for him. Sora then manages to open the Door to Light, as King Mickey had predicted and the two are able to return home, reuniting with their friends at last. While Sora shares a hug with Donald and Goody, Riku shares a moment of his own with King Mickey. Even though Riku was once jealous of Sora's new friendship with Donald and Goofy, he himself has ended up having a similar one with Mickey.
Sometime later, as Sora and Riku watch the waves of Destiny Islands, they say that it's a small world, but also part of one that's much bigger. They then have a discussion about the Door to the Light, in which Kairi interrupts by appearing with a letter from the King. The contents of that letter, however, are a mystery.
•CHARACTER ☆ Riku
•FANDOM ☆ Kingdom Hearts II
•AGE ☆ Seventeen
•SPECIES ☆ Human
•GENDER ☆ Male
•TIMELINE ☆ Dark Margin - Pre-Receiving Kairi's Letter
•CLOTHING ☆
Riku's appearance has changed through out the duration of the Kingdom Hearts saga. Although in his true form (Basically after the scene with Diz on the balcony of the Castle That Never Was, he returns to his true appearance after the explosion.) he wears jeans, a yellow and white vest and a black, cotton tank top that zips up the front. He also wears a black and silver belt, as well as a sturdy, black, white and yellow sneakers, as well as a white wrist band worn on his left wrist.
•PERSONALITY ☆
During the events of the original game, Riku appears to be a clam, cool, collected type of teenager, who is not afraid to go or push beynd his limits. This is most clearly shown when he shows no fear of stepping into the dark portal that appears on Destiny Islands the night he, Sora and Kairi make their departure. He willingly steps into it while the rest of the island, his home, is being consumed by darkness. It is during this moment when he first states that he's not afraid of the darkness, or what lies within it in a bid to convince Sora to come with him.
He also seems to be quite aware of Sora's more romantic feelings towards their mutual friend Kairi and even goes so far as to tease him about it. A good example of this can be seen in the way he often challenges Sora, making the prize something that he knows will impress Kairi, such as well he sets up a race between himself and Sora, stating at the last minute that if Sora wins, he will become the captain of the raft they are currently constructing. He goes on to say, however, that if he wins, he gets to share a papou fruit with Kairi, something he knows Sora wishes to do. Although he later says he only made the bet to see the reaction on Sora's face, even going so far as to chuckle while he says it.
Early on in the first game we also learn that Riku has a strong competitive streak that can often be mixed with a bit of jealousy. He seems to enjoy showing off how strong he is, often choosing to spar with other kids his age on the island, just to show off. Through out the game, he often mentions that his heart is strong than Sora's, as if everything about him must somehow be better than his best friends. During the events of the game, he also becomes quite jealous of Sora, due to the prodding of Maleficent and her influence over him. This feeling continues to grow, more and more, as he learns of Sora's journey. He's jealous over the fact that Sora possesses the keyblade, when he feels as though he should have been choosen as the rightful keyblade master. The jealousy slowly turns to rage, resulting in him turning his back on his best friend, even going so far as to fight him willingly.
He allows himself to be willingly manipulated by Maleficent and later by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. This shows a great weakness within him. A need to be wanted and needed by someone, and most namely, Sora.
His traits, unfavorable as they might be in the original game, drastically change as time wears on. In Chain of Memories, Riku comes to a series of important relizations. One of the most important was that he had allowed his heart to become weak. Starting from that moment on, he bagan to shy away from the darkness he contained within his heart. It is after the numerous battles he is forced into during his time within the castle that he comes to another important realization. That he'll never be entitrely rid of the darkness within his heart. But the difference between early on in the first game and now is that he make a decision that will lead him through what ever challenges he may face, and do so without bringing more harm onto those he feels he's already betrayed. He will use the darkness within him, but he will do so without turning away from the light as he had before. It is with this that Riku seems to have matured the most, leaving some of the events of the past behind him, showing a want to move on with his life, and to become a better and stronger person.
During the second game, he shows a great amount of loyalty and care for his friends, although those traits have always been there, just hidden under other emotions. In order to save Sora and wake him from his year long sleep, he does everything that is within his power to bring Roxas to DiZ, the man he had aligned himself with. He does this in order to make Sora's memories whole again, not only because Sora is, in a very real sense, the most important person to him, but because he has come to realize that Sora is in fact the true master of the keyblade. Without him, the work that still needs to be done will never happen. In order to acomplish this, Riku fights Roxas, and looses, but because the weight of what he must do is so great, he chooses to immerse himself within the darkness, a decision which changes his appearance. With the possiblity of being stuck in the body of Ansem forever, and with Sora now awake, he chooses to hide, not wanting to show Sora what he's become. This shows a need to protect his friends from the darkness that lies within him, as well as the darkness that's around him. The perfect example of this protectiveness can be seen while he and Sora are fighting Xemnas in the void. He willingly scarifices himself by throwing his body in the line of one of Xemnas' attacks that had been aimed at Sora. Instead of allowing his friend to take what very well could have been a death blow, he knocks him out of the way, a move that leaves him serverly injured. This also shows that he often puts his friends above himself. He does, however, leave Sora clues along the way, helping him figure out the mystery behind Organization 13, one that Riku already has completed. This shows a want and a need to be by his friends side and help them in anyway he can, even if he has to do so in secret.
When Sora finally catches up to him in The World That Never Was, he shows a great regret for what he has done, even if he does acknowledge that there was no other way. He admits to Sora that he didn't want him to find him, not in that form. Even after he had been returned to his nature form, he expresses a fear of returning to their home because of the mistakes he has made in the past.
Since he was young he has been painfully curious about the worlds outside of his own. Over time it appears that this naturual curiosity has become more of an obsession, leading him to think of his home as little more than a prison surrounded by water. This is why when the Heartless began to invade, he willingly let them into his world through the Keyhold of Destiny Islands, in exchange for a trip to another world. This obsession, as it were, seems to fade greatly during the year of Sora's sleep, more than likely because he has already seen and visited many other worlds. When he finally returns home during the second game, he makes the comment that it's still a small world, but he agrees with Sora when he says that it's part of a much bigger one. This shows that Riku has formed a much healthier view of his home and the life that he would lead there.
Even though he does mature significantly over the course of the series, he continues to maintain some of his more original traits. He has a good, strong sense of humor that allows him to laugh and be the teenager he really is. He also has a strong sense of pride in everything he does, and so he strives to be the best in everything and do the best he can at what ever task he is given. These things can make him appear as being cocky or overly confident, but he is neither. He is confident in himself and his abilities, although he no longer shows off the way he once did. He no longer feels the need to. He's grown in a more nature, cool, calm, collected version of himself.
•ABILITIES ☆ Riku has many abilities that have been granted to him because of his association with the darkness as well as the light. When he turned into what's known as his "true form" in the end of Kingdom Hearts II, his powers of light increased dramatically while his powers of darkness decreased. As a party member, Riku possesses various abilities that combine his dark powers with Sora's light powers. Riku can use a new Dark Aura that fires Dark Firaga orbs that inflict a Stop effect whenever Sora completes a combo, Dark Shield to project a barrier of darkness, as well as to numerous other powers.
He has some of the best abilities such as MP Hastega. Also his main action abilities: Dark Aura and Dark Shield, are activated upon the player's command, which helps him conserve MP for Cure Potion, which fully heals the party. Riku's greatest asset is his Limit: Eternal Session, which is tied with Sora's Trinity to unleash the best Limit in the game. He can equip one accessory and two armor pieces. In his Limit with Sora, Eternal Session, Riku is able to project waves of dark energy from his Keyblade in addition to unleashing fast combos and Dark Firaga barrages.
He also has the ability to summon and dismiss his keyblade, Way to the Dawn. It's also thought that he would still be able to summon, use and dismiss Soul Eater, since it's never explained in canon the reason for the change in his keyblade. He's skilled in the usage of it, and is a skilled fighter when it comes to fighting with said keyblades. He's also a pretty strong kid, for his size, and has been sword fighting with Sora since he was little, so he'd probably have some skill when fighting with other, similar weapons as well as fighting with his fist if need be.
Also as seen in both Kingdom Hearts and Deep Dive, Riku has the ability to wield other keyblades, such as the Kingdom Key (Although he can not summon or dismiss it, nor can he take it from Sora.) and Oblivion. He can also take and use a secondary keyblade, using the Synch Blade ability, as well as allow someone else to take and wield his own. More information on Keyblades can be found here. More information on Soul Eater can be found here and more information on Way to the Dawn may be found here.
•WEAKNESSES ☆ Riku's weaknesses truly lie inside himself, and in his own inability to to rely on anyone. He often takes things on himself, both because he believes that he can do it better, and because he thinks that by taking care of it himself, he'll spare those he cares about having to go through the pain and hassle of having to help or take care of it. He has a strong heart, but he often takes the hardest path, thinking that it's what he needs to do, even if the easier path would be the best choice. His main problem is truly the fact that he tries to take too much on himself even when it's too much for him to deal with on his own, as is shown in the second Kingdom Hearts.
He also has a weird way of showing that he cares for people, often choosing to be snarky or sarcastic with even those who are closest with him instead. He has a hard time expressing those feelings, and so they come out in a different form. He's serious, even when the situation may not call for it, but it's one of the many area's he seems to be working on and growing in.
•HISTORY ☆
Riku's story begins a numbers of years before the actual events of the original game, before the Heartless invasion begins. Riku and Sora, having been friends since they were little, have always trained and pushed each other to become stronger. In Birth By Sleep, Terra is seen to be able to sense the potential in Riku easily, and becomming more interested in the boy, ask him why he wants to leave the Island. Riku responds that there was someone else who had left the island long ago, and had visted the other world. Riku states that he would like to leave his world in order to become stronger, strong enough to protect his friend as wel as everything he hold dear. During the conversation, Terra sees a vision of a white-haired man who then transforms into Riku's future self in Kingdom Hearts II. This convinced him to choose Riku as his successor, and he lets Riku hold his keyblade, Ends of the Earth, in order to test his strength. He then proceeds to convince Riku to keep their talk a secret, in order to perserve the world order.
He and Sora later encounter Aqua, who finds their friendship to be similar to that of hers, Ven's and Terra's. Because of this, she asks Sora to watch over and protect Riku if he ever looses his path.
After the ending credits, Riku and Sora can be seen sitting on the beach under a starry sky. When they are ready to go home, Riku sees Sora take on a sudden look of saddness, and says that perhaps someone from another world somewhere is feeling sadf, and suggest that he try and reach out to him. Afterwards, they both look up to the starry sky in peace.
One night a meteor shower occurs and a strange girl suddenly appears on the island. Kairi is, apparently, from another far off world and is not stuck on the lands with no way to return to her actual home. Kairi and Riku, along with Sora, quickly form a strong bond and friendship, playing and spending most of their time together. Not long after the arrival of Kairi, Riku and Sora go to what's known as the secret place, a small cave that they had found and often explored. Sora, on one hand, finds the place intriguing, but soon tires of it. Before pulling Riku away he notices a door at the back of the cave, and soon becomes obsessed with finding out what's beyond the door, wondering id perhaps it could be a passageway to another world.
When we first join the trio on Destiny Islands, Riku appears as a cool and collected fifteen year old boy. He spends his days, along with Sora and Kairi gathering supplies and trying to build a raft in hopes of one day using it to leave the island and go out in search of other worlds. He and Sora share a fierce but good natured rivalry, competing over who is stronger in battle, who can run faster, those sorts of things. Riku, however, begins to irritate Sora by being a bit of a sore loser and often being rather pushy in their apparent fight over Kairi, even taking things so far as to tell the other that is he fails to share a papou fruit with the younger girl soon, he will. However, the three still have a close bond, and treat the island as their own personal play ground, spending their days lazing in the sun and continuing work on their raft.
However, things take a rather dramatic turn on the night before they are set to begin their journey. Riku, likely unable to leave the islands without first knowing what's behind the door that's haunted him since it's discovery, finally opens it, desperate to see what secrets lie behind it. It's then that the Heartless, beings of darkness, begin to invade the island, seeking out the worlds heart. Both afraid that a brewing storm might destroy the raft they had worked so hard on, both Sora and Kairi go out to retrieve it. Sora finds Riku first, and while he's first and foremost concerned with his friends safety, Riku seems more concerned with finally being able to leave his island home. Darkness surrounds the two and Riku disappears into it, while Sora gains the Keyblade, becoming it's wielder and setting off the chain of events that was to follow.
Riku eventually ends up in Hollow Bastion via the Corridor of Darkness. There he is found by Maleficent, who offers him shelter and protection, seemingly until he can find and be reunited with his friends.
Though he has a safe place to stay with Maleficent, she slowly begins to corrupt his mind, convincing him that Sora had replaced him as well as Kairi with new friends, Donald and Goofy. She claims that the only way to save Kairi, who's heart has been lost to the darkness, is to ally himself with her and her band of villains, abandoning Sora. Not long after, he finds Sora in Traverse Town, ask to look at his Keyblade, and holds it for a few moments before giving it back easily, all without the Keyblade teleporting from his hand, all a foreshadowing of Riku's role as a Keyblade wielder. After his meeting with Sora, his stay with Maleficent officially begins, even though he's still highly suspicious of just what her motives are.
As time progresses, he becomes slowly and steadily angrier at Sora, slowly becoming convinced that he hates his one time friend. He obtains a Keyblade from Maleficent known as the Soul Eater and teaches himself how to use it, believing that it will aid him in his search for Kairi as well as her heart.
His mind now corrupted, Riku once again meets with Sora in Monstro, intending to use Pinocchio to aid him in finding a way to save Kairi's heart. However, Pinocchio is captured by a giant Heartless known as the Parasite Cage and Riku is forced, against his own wishes, to work along Side Sora, Donald and Goofy to try and save him. Afterwards, Riku manages to kidnap Pinocchio and is pursued by the other three into Monstro's stomach. Riku then ask Sora to join him in his quest to rescue Kairi but Sora refuses due to Riku's questionable methods. When the Parasite Cage returns, Riku once more vanishes into darkness, this time by the use of a dark portal.
Riku appears once more in Neverland, traveling on Captain Hook's ship where Kairi's body is being held. Riku also know shows that he has gained the power to control the Heartless, a gift that had been given to him by Maleficent. He then goes to find Sora, revealing that he is now in possession of Kairi's body. The two have an argument, and Riku retreats after the he creates what's know as Anti-Sora, a dark reflection of Sora with his newly acquired dark powers. However, before he can retreat back to Hollow Bastion, he instructs Captain Hook that his capture Wendy is not, in fact, a Princess of the Heart. Riku then proceeds to take Kairi back to Maleficent's castle, traveling by the Corridors of Darkness once more, only this time traveling with out a vessel, a reckless act that puts a strain even on his powerful heart. While still drained from his trip, Maleficent unlocks the last of Riku's power, sending his heart into almost complete darkness.
Riku again meets Sora at Hollow Bastion, jumping in to defend a wounded Beast from a swift death by Riku's hand. But Beast is hardly one of Riku's major concerns, as Riku soon reveals his true purpose for this confrontation with Sora. He is, in fact, able to wield the Keyblade into his grasp. Riku then proceeds to explain that Sora was merely a temporary recipient, taunting him and telling him that was "just the delivery boy" as Riku is the true Keyblade master. After leaving Sora with only the toy sword they had once fought with on Destiny Islands, he leaves, Donald and Goofy following him as they were ordered to by the King, although they do so regretfully.
Though Sora is weakened, he makes his way into the foyer of the castle with the help of Beast. Riku, having taken on a new appearance with the increasing strength of his dark powers, warns him to quit, but Sora refuses to leave with Kairi. Riku, intending to prove to Sora that he is indeed the stronger one, attacks his old friend, only for Donald and Goofy to go to Sora's aid, finding themselves unable and unwilling to betray the friendship they had formed with him. With the strength of his friends, Sora manages to regain the Keyblade, becoming the true master and driving Riku to retreat once again.
Somehow Riku managed to escape and at first is confused as to how Sora was able to regain the Keyblade. A mysterious voice managed to contact him from the Darkness, informing him that only one with a strong heart can claim the keyblade, and that Riku's heart was weaker than that of Sora. However, the voice slowly begins to take a shape and present Riku with an offer he can't resist. A Keyblade of his own. Under the influence of jealousy and rage, Riku agrees to becoming on with the Darkness, and in doing so becomes to possessed with by the mysterious voice.
Riku then presents himself to Maleficent and warms her of the dangers that lay in unlocking the Final Keyhole. When she claims not to b afraid, nor to care, Riku shows a new, dark Keyblade that had been created with six of the seven princesses' heart. However, it has no reaction to the keyhole. Realizing that it's still in need of Kairi's heart to be complete, Maleficent heads off to try and handle Sora, Donald and Goofy. After she is defeated by Sora, Riku appears with his Keyblade and explains that unlike Sora's Keyblade, his Keyblade possesses the ability to unlock a person's heart. Riku demonstrates this point by piercing Maleficent's chest, allowing the immense darkness that is attached to her overtake her heart, making her transform into a huge dragon. While this form is proven to be far deadlier than her previous form, she is still defeated and killed.
Riku, now calling himself Ansem, the Seeker of Darkness, later confronts and battles Sora, who has by now been cut off from both Donald and Goofy at the Final Keyhole. He has hopes to release Kairi's heart from within that of Sora's, so that she, being the the final Princess of Heart can hope the Keyhole. Riku fails, but Sora chooses to impale himself anyway in order to save Kairi. With Sora gone, Xehanort's Heartless proceeds to attack Kairi, along with Donald and Goofy, but the three of them are aided and finally saved by Riku, using the last of his strength to hold the dark powers of his possessor off. Riku's rejection of Xehanort's Heartless leads to an internal struggles between the two of them. One that Riku ends up losing. This outcome causes Riku to lose control of his body once more, letting Xehanort's Heartless gain full control.
Sora, now fully restored, along with Donald and Goofy eventually make their way to End of the World, the home of the heartless, where they once again are confronted by Xehanort's Heartless and defeat him in a series of battles that take place at the Door of Darkness. Upon his defeat, Riku is restored as well and appears on the other side of the Door to Darkness, aiding Sora in the closing of it, but is unable to cross it, as only those of pure darkness can go back and forth through the door. Waiting to enter the Realm of Light are thousands of Heartless, once more making things difficult for the two. However, King Mickey appears for the first time and wards them off, wielding a powerful golden Keyblade. The King and Sora then proceed to close the door, Sora on the outside and Mickey and Riku on the other side. Before the door is closed, Riku tells Sora to take care of Kairi.
When Riku reawakens in the lowest basement of Castle Oblivion, his heart has been led there by his heart resonating with that of Sora's who has also entered Castle Oblivion, but is on the ground floor and traveling upwards. Once more a mysterious and disembodied voice makes itself known, as well as a dark card. The voice then offers Riku the chance to sleep away his troubles, forgetting them as well as the light, or to take the card and the first steps toward the truth. Riku chooses confidently to take the card and find out the truth of his journey.
Riku then arrives in Hollow Bastion, though this is nothing more than a version that has been created from his memories. Though the town is the same as he remembers, he can't find anyone in it. While he continues to search, the voice once more speaks to him, mocking him as he franticly searches. At last Riku meets someone he knows, none other than Maleficent, who in turn taunts him and his refusal of the darkness. Riku fights her in hopes of proving that he is above the darkness. He wins.
When Riku leaves Hollow Bastion he returns to Castle Oblivion, only to be shown it;s true form. The voice once again comes to Riku, this time revealing himself as Xehanort's Heartless, who wants to over take Riku once more,. However, though his Heartless is powerful, King Mickey shows up to aid Riku with his light. With the aid of the King, Riku is able to fend off Xehanort's Heartless for the time being. Before he leaves, the Heartless leaves Riku with a type of world cards, and the ability to use his inner darkness as a weapon.
Riku soon comes to the realization that he now has the power to detect the "smell" of darkness, and is in turn discouraged by this. King Mickey attempts to comfort him, although at the time the King can only appear to Riku as a sort of project seeing as he is still in the Realm of Darkness. With the encouragement of the King, Riku begins to ascend the basements of Castle Oblivion in an attempt to rid himself of his darkness. Meanwhile, as Riku travels through the lower levels, Sora travels through the upper floors, being manipulated by Marluxia, a member of Organization XIII and has been out in charge of Castle Oblivion. But three of the other members, Vexen, Lexaeus and Zexion work to counter Marluxia's plans by trying to use the dark wielding Riku against Sora's light.
To further the trio's goals, Vexen appears before Riku, and Riku wonders if it is Vexen that is Xehanort's Heartless. But Vexen, in turn, cryptically announces that he is another Ansem. Riku then fights Vexen, seeing him as an enemy instead of an ally. But the battle only helps Vexen, who then uses the data that has been gathered during the battle to create what is known at the Riku Replica. The replica soon comes to battle Riku, mocking his fear of the darkness while he himself embraces it. However, Riku once more wins, causing the replica to run off.
Soon, Xehanort's Heartless appears to him once more, saying that the replica is, in fact, a model of what Riku should be. But Riku states his desire to overcome the darkness. Passing throughout the castle (the bulk of Sora's part in the castle is now complete and Larxene and Vexen are dear) Riku encounters Lexaeus. Lexaeus, like the others, tells him that he should give in and accept the darkness, because if he does not, his journey will come to an end here. The two fight, and Riku barely manages to win out over the other. As a last move move, Riku covers the room in Darkness as Xehanort's Heartless moves in to take try and take his heart. Mickey, however, comes in just in time, saving him ones more and brings him out of the darkness.
As Riku comes closer to the ground level, and just as Marluxia's plan fails and Sora manages to finish him off, Riku senses the defeat. Zexion quickly arrives to attempt to explain it, but he also reveals that Sora is the one who completed the task, much to Riku's apparent surprise. Zexion then ask if Riku is capable of seeing Sora seeing as Riku has been shouldering the darkness for so long, and the Heartless of Xehanort still resides in his heart. Riku tries to resist the other's comments, but Zexion counters by giving him a world card of Destiny Islands. Drawn in, Riku enters.
In Destiny Islands Riku once again meets up with all of his friends, but they are silent and soon disappear, even Kairi. Zexion then appears, throwing Riku's fears at him once more, telling him that he is the one responsible for their disappearance, and that he belongs to the darkness now. He then transforms a version of himself into a Darkside Heatless, telling him that this is what he has become. Riku then fights the Heartless, allowing Zexion to disguise himself as Sora. He them tells him that it's time to finally face the light.
Riku sinks into the light as he begins to fade, but not before Namine can appear to him in the form of Kairi, telling him that he can't. The light can't beat him, but neither can the darkness. He should accept both, and then he won't have anything to fear. He then awakens his dark powers once more, admitting that it is in fact a part of him and not something of evil, fighting and winning against Zexion. He disappears, but is quickly attacked and killed by the replica, under the control of Axel.
Riku is almost to the main floor when Xehanort's Heartless once more appears to control him, but King Mickey appears once more, this time for real instead of the previous projection. Riku is relieved at the thought of finally having a real friend with him. Mickey then explains that he found a card which showed Riku's heart to him, and he followed it back. Riku uses the card, and ends up in Twilight Town. Xehanort's Heartless appears again, but Riku tells him that he's Ansem, because he does not smell of darkness. It's something else. Riku also sees that this is the mysterious voice that has been speaking to him, starting at the beginning of his journey. The voice finally introduces itself as DiZ, and Riku ask him what he wants from him, and DiZ answers he wants for him to make the choice between the Light and the Darkness, because he currently lies in the in-between. the decision is to be made with Namine, who Riku sets out to look for.
However, the Riku Replica manages to find him and demands that they fight, wanting to prove him worthy. The replica instead to kill Riku in order to become real, but fails. Riku, however, comforts him by telling him that the replica's heart will go to the same places as real one's. The replica then vanishes.
Riku then meets Namine, who is with Sora in what's know as a memory cells and explains the situation to Riku. She then offers a way to seal away Xehanort's Heartless and Riku's darkness so that he may forget both of them, but he will have to sleep to do so. Riku then refuses, wanting to overcome his darkness on his own, and leaves a satisfied Namine behind. Before he departs, he tells Namine that he knows it was her who had appeared to him as Kairi.
After the meeting with Namine, DiZ appears to Riku and the King, who notes this that DiZ is somehow familiar to him. Knowing his choice, DiZ gives Riku a card that will draw out the Heartless of Xehanort. After DiZ leaves, Riku tells Mickey that he is to destroy him if he should somehow fail to stop the Heartless, but the King refuses, stating that he'll only help him to regain control, but would never harm him. Riku agrees.
Riku faces Ansem one last time, going to battle alone. Ansem then asks him why he continues to refuse him if he has chosen to accept darkness, but Riku tells him "I can't stand your foul stench". During this battle the last of XEhanort's Heartless is destroyed, but not before he says that a part of him will still reside in Riku, and therefore he shall return.
Riku and Mickey wait at the front entrance, where Riku tells him that he can't go home yet. Ansem's shadow still lingers inside of him, but Mickey tells him that the darkness is a part of him. Darkness is not all bad, and Riku has chosen a road that he himself had never thought of before. One that is both Light and Darkness. Riku calls Mickey by name at the King's request, making him the only character in the game to be able to do so, with the exception of Queen Minnie.
When they leave, they take with them the Organization cloaks that DiZ had given them prior to confronting Xehanort's Heartless. DiZ appears once more and poses a question, if Riku will take the road to light, or the road to darkness. Riku says he choose neither, that he shall take the middle road, The Road to Dawn. Riku and the King eventually make it out of the plains and separate for a time, but only after Riku realizes that he can't completely rid himself of the darkness that has been festering inside of him. Deciding to return to DiZ and offer him his help, Riku dons a blindfold, knowing that his eyes couldn't lie about the darkness that he is preparing to us, and wished for Mickey not to witness.
Riku plays a very important role in the Day's story line. He is first seen at the bridge of Beast's Castle where he fights Xion. As a defeat Xion lies on the ground, Riku moves in to pull off her hood, lifting his blindfold in order to get a good look at her. He is then shocked by what he see's, questioning her appearance and why she is able to use a keyblade, calling it a sham and worthless. Angered by his words, Xion demandes what right he has to say such a thing and attacks, onky to be knocked down single-handedly. Riku then tells her to "find a new crowd". It can also be assumed that Riku is still having trouble forgiving himself for stepping into the darkness when he tells Xion, "You could say I am, the biggest nobody of them all."
After Xion leaves the Organization, the two stayed away in Castle Oblision. As her friends, Roxas and Axel continue to look for her across the worlds, they finally make contact in Twilight Town, where Riku stays behind to distract them while Xion escapes.
While creading Xion during her nightmare, Riku recalls an eariler conversation he had with Naminé in the white room about her, discussing what must be done in order for Sora to awaken. As well as being with Xion during her nightmare, he is also in it, appearing along with Zexion. Xion is shown to collapse in pain while hearing the painful speech that Zexion delivered to Riku from Chain of memories. She then transforms in first Roxas, followed by Riku and finally Sora. When she finally awakes she's on Destiny Islands, and she expresses her curiosity by asking Riku about "Sora and that girl he's always with." to which Riku replies that Kairi is someone who is very special to Sora. He then tells her that she is part of the reason why Sora us unable to wake up, because part of his memories are inside of. 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 then shown conversing with DiZ next to the pod that Sora sleeps in. Riku is also shown meeting with King Mickey in the thick forest outside of the Old Mansion, where he is in his Ansem, Seeker of Darkness form. The King calls the Keyblade to him, ready to attack, not knowing who he truly is. To let the King know that it's him, Riku replaces his blindfold, which causes him to return to his normal state, greatly surprising the King. He then informs Micket he will be fighting an Organization member soon, and may not survive, forcing the King to promise to protect Sora.
Riku is also the final boss of the game, as the game ends with the battle between himself and Roxas, also depicted in several scenes of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, including the secret endings of Another Side, Another Story and Deep Dive.
Riku then allies himself with DiZ, noting that they have a common goal. To help Sora awaken, though Riku finds that his memories of Sora are fading, being a side effect of Namine's messing with and realigning Sora's memories. DiZ ask Riku to kidnap Roxas, who is the Nobody of Sora, for him. If he and Sora were to rejoin, Sora should be able to wake up. Riku enters the Realm of Darkness, and manages to corner Roxas in The World That Never Was. When they seem to stalemate, Riku realizes that if he is to win in the Realm of Darkness, that he must submerse himself into that darkness. As a result, Riku unleashes his darkness, taking on the form of Xehanort's Heartless as a side effect. Riku then easily defeats Roxas, and returns him to DiZ in the base he had built under the abandoned mansion in Twilight Town, introducing himself to the other man as Ansem.
Roxas' memory is then erased by DiZ, who then places him into a Virtual Twilight Town that he has created, to live out his days until the time comes for him to meet and rejoin with Sora. In the meantime, Riku watches over Roxas, entering the town from time to time to make sure that Roxas is kept from finding out the truth, and to keep Namine from saying anything of importance to him. With these deeds finally done, Riku demands to know what DiZ's true intentions are. Upon hearing that it is merely for revenge, Riku reacts with shock and disgust.
When the time comes for Roxas, Riku makes sure to prevent the Nobodies from flooding the town. Soon, the goal that Riku had been searching for is finally reached and Roxas joins with Sora. Though DiZ has ordered him to eliminate Namine, Riku wants no part in DiZ's plan for revenge, and gave her to the now-renegade Axel, a member of Organization XIII before leaving DiZ.
Riku, after Roxas rejoins with Sora, comes into contact with the King once more. Riku begs for him not to reveal his whereabouts and condition to Sora, and the King, although reluctantly, agrees. He then leaves the King the digital versions of Olette's munny pouch and Roxas' crystal orb that he had stolen from Roxas before.
Later, when Axel tries to kidnap Kairi in an attempt to use her to turn Sora into a Heartless so that Roxas may be reborn, Riku comes to her rescue, and takes her to Twilight Town, where she meet Hayner, Pence and Olette, but never tells them who she is. However Axel appears again, but this time another member of Organization XIII, Saix, manages to kidnap Kairi instead, with the intent to use her to fuel Sora's rage. At the battle for Hollow Bastion, Sora, Donald and Goofy end up in an empty realm, where Riku arrives. He says nothing to them, but only leaves the trio a box that contains sea-salt ice cream along with a picture of Roxas, standing with Pence, Hayner and Olette in front of the haunted mansion.
Riku also shows up in the Land of Dragons, trying to warn the Emperor of a Heartless dragon that Xigbar has created. But he ends up meeting with Sora once more, only this time, Sora attacks him, believing that he is a member of the Organization. However, once Sora sees that Riku is wielding the Soul Eater, he begins to suspect that he is in fact Riku. But Riku still goes ahead with his mission and warns the Emperor of the dragon. When Sora talks to the Emperor, the wise rulers description of the man that had warned him only cements Sora's idea that the man he had attacked and fought was indeed Riku.
Riku appears once more later, in the World That Never Was, after Namine rescues Kairi from the Organization. The two are faced with Saix, but Riku quickly comes to their aid, his Soul Eater now transformed into a Keyblade known as Way to the Dawn. Namine calls Riku by name, and then quickly disappears. Kairi, excited to see Riku once more, removes his hood, only to be met with the face of Xehanort's Heartless. She takes it in stride, however, seeing the true Riku even in his current form.
Kairi is then later attacked by Heartless on her way to try and find Sora, but is once again saved by Riku. He then gives Kairi a Keyblade of her own so that she may also fight. After Sora defeats Xigbar, he and Kairi reunite. Riku tries to leave, but Kairi stops him before he can. She then reveals Riku's identity, and with some concentration, Sora is also able to see Riku's true form under the one he has current taken, and is overjoyed to the point of tears for once more having found his friend. Riku explains that he didn't want to be found, he didn't want the other's to see what he had become, and confirms to Sora that the clues he, Goofy and Donald had found had indeed been left by him. Sora, Riku and the others then make their way up the castle, defeating the last remaining Organization members save for Xemnas. It's during this time that Riku reveals the truth about Roxas to Sora, and realizes that he never had to fight him. Roxas had left the Organization because he had wanted to find Sora, and the two of them would most likely have met on their own over time.
Near the top, Riku reunites once more with King Mickey, and this time also with DiZ, who reveals that his true name is Ansem the Wise, and is using a machine to try and encode Kingdom Hearts into date. Xemnas then also arrives, and he and Ansem the wise trade bitter, angry words. The machine then explodes, unable to fully handle Kingdom Hearts, killing Ansem the Wise but causing the countless hearts that Xemnas had collected into Kingdom Hearts to rain down on the world, creating many, many Heartless. The explosion, however, also restores Riku to his true form, though he is still remorseful. After some encouragement from his friends and the King, Riku transcends the rest of the castle, leaving behind his cloak and the blindfold that he had hid behind for so long. He and the others also encounter Maleficent and Pete, who decide to try and hold off the Heartless that are currently over taking the castle, but only so that they may take the castle for their own.
Riku and the other's then confront Xemnas, refusing his demands for them to gather more hearts. Xemnas then somehow removes Sora from the area and his friends, choosing to fight him one on one, while everyone else calls out to him. When Sora returns, the groups sees that Xemnas has already reached and disappeared into Kingdom Hearts. A door, constructed by the will of the worlds appears, and the three wielders of the Keyblade, Sora, Mickey and Riku, open it and proceed to follow Xemnas. After a touch battle, Namine appears once more, opening a corridor of darkness that leads to Destiny Islands as Riku can no longer seem to use them. However, Xemnas attacks once more, riding on a robotic dragon, and separates Sora and Riku from their friends. After a series of intense battle, the two of them are drawn into nothingness by Xemnas and face off in a final and exhausting battle. Towards the end of the fight, after a final attack used by Xemnas, Sora is left open and Riku takes the blow intended to finish off his friend, in turn allowing Sora to finish off Xemnas, with both he and Riku firing a beam of light from Sora's Keyblade, Although after the battle they end up in the Realm of Darkness.
Finally having the time to talk, the two old friends reconcile with each other. Riku then finds a letter in a bottle that has been written by Kairi and gives it to Sora, saying that it's for him. Sora then manages to open the Door to Light, as King Mickey had predicted and the two are able to return home, reuniting with their friends at last. While Sora shares a hug with Donald and Goody, Riku shares a moment of his own with King Mickey. Even though Riku was once jealous of Sora's new friendship with Donald and Goofy, he himself has ended up having a similar one with Mickey.
Sometime later, as Sora and Riku watch the waves of Destiny Islands, they say that it's a small world, but also part of one that's much bigger. They then have a discussion about the Door to the Light, in which Kairi interrupts by appearing with a letter from the King. The contents of that letter, however, are a mystery.