Destiny Islands Trio (Sora | Riku | Kairi) | Disney Castle Trio | Clock Tower Trio (Roxas | Axel | Xion) | Wayfinder Trio (Terra | Aqua | Ventus) | Party Members and Summons | Xehanort's Incarnations (Master Xehanort) | Organization XIII (Xigbar | Saïx | Vanitas) | Disney Villains (Maleficent's Council and Allies | Other Disney Villains) | Independent Villains | Enemy Creatures (Heartless) | Ansem and his Apprentices | Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] Characters | Supporting Original Characters | Supporting Square Enix Characters | Supporting Disney Characters
Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.
Sora, Riku, and Kairi are the primary characters of the Kingdom Hearts series. Raised on Destiny Islands (although Kairi was born in Radiant Garden), they dreamed of leaving their small world and exploring the other worlds. They got their wish when the Heartless consumed their world, separating them and setting them on an epic journey with the fate of all worlds hanging in the balance.
- Clones Are People, Too: Throughout the series, Sora and Kairi end up with Nobodies who become characters in their own right. Riku and Sora also end up with clones, and Sora has a data version of himself. All in all, these three characters end up creating quite a few more of them through the rules of the Kingdom Hearts universe.
- Color-Coded Characters: Sora's outfits always contain some amount of red and black outside of Drive Forms. Riku always includes blues to contrast Sora's red when they're a duo, but also yellow as the fourth main hero after Donald (another blue) and Goofy (green); his unique skills and HUD elements also take on purple hues in later games to acknowledge his dark powers. Kairi is marked by her purple skirt in the first game as a medium between Sora and Riku, but after KHII almost exclusively wears pink in the context of the larger team; her Light-based skills take on a pink hue to contrast other wielders' white and yellow lights.
- Dimensional Traveler: Besides the villains, they're the only people who can jump between worlds easily.
- The Friends Who Never Hang: Downplayed throughout the series but Riku and Kairi don't have too many moments actually interacting or conversing with one another in a meaningful way like they do with Sora, at least rarely on-screen. They clearly care about one another since Kairi is the motivation behind much of Riku's action in the first game while Kairi is very happy to reunite with Riku again in II. Not to mention, the events of the games frequently keep the trio from being together but it's still rather noticeable. By the time of III, they don't say a single word to one another at any point in the game despite several opportunities to do so.
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Word of God indicates that this is intentional, as Nomura has spoken in two separate interviews (one in the Ultimania for 'II' and one in the pre-release promotion for 'III') about depicting childhood friends growing apart as they get older, the former interview in particular addresses this concept in relation to Kairi.
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- Generation Xerox: Sora, Riku, and Kairi have the same Theme Naming, similar personalities and inherited the powers of Ven, Terra, and Aqua respectively. The connection is most apparent between Terra and Riku: both are tricked into aiding the villains, wield the power of Darkness, and are possessed by Xehanort. In contrast, the older trio had Ven out of commission while Aqua tried to redeem Terra, while the younger trio had Kairi go comatose and later be Put on a Bus while Sora tried to redeem Riku.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: All of them can use Keyblades.
- Land, Sea, Sky: Riku, Kairi, and Sora by their respective names.
- Magic Knight: All of them can use both magic and weapons.
- The Not-Love Interest: Riku and Sora have such a close friendship that it often overlaps with Homoerotic Subtext.
- Only One Name: They are simply "Sora," "Riku", and "Kairi", with no indication of a family name for any of them.
- Original Generation: They're some of the original characters in this crossover between Disney and Final Fantasy.
- Power Trio: The three of them form one, albeit that's almost always separated after the opening of the first game. Their goals throughout the series generally fall under reuniting with each other.
- Took a Level in Badass: They go from kids having fun in islands to saviors of the universe. Kairi in particular is a standout example, starting off as a Damsel in Distress but by Re:Mind, she's taking on Xehanort alongside Sora.
