An analysis of how Riku is shown as the light in the darkness for Sora in kh3, unrealized by Sora (yet) due to confusion over his own feelings and preconceived expectations.
The most important clue, the real clincher: The fact that they put a literal light in Riku’s place during the segment of the Dive to the heart that is a 1:1, shot for shot parallel of the kh1 opening:
An important difference here though, is at the end of the sequence, Riku’s light isn’t underwater like Riku is in the KH1 op- instead the light is above the water, symbolizing that Riku overcame the darkness he fell to in KH1:
(Hence why he can be Sora’s light now. Remember, Sora is shown blinded by Riku’s light in kh1 before he falls to darkness)
Then we come to Riku’s sacrifice. Earlier we had Mickey telling Riku, “Sometimes you care for somebody so much, that other feelings disappear. And then there’s no room for fear or doubt.”, and now we see this in practice, and who that “somebody” is, conclusively. It’s framed as one of the most significant moments in the game: the slow motion as Riku calmly walks away from Sora, all sound fading away except for Riku taking a breath before he puts his entire being into protecting Sora from the demon tide. The force of the heartless creates a literal tunnel of darkness around them, with Riku as the light in the center.
They absolutely did not have to make the visuals like this. They could have had Riku cast a reflect shield around himself and Sora until the heartless broke through it like glass- similar to how Vanitas tried breaking Aqua’s shield during her fight. But instead, they made sure Riku was a singular point of light in a tunnel of darkness as he protects Sora with everything he has.
Not only are the visual similarities clear, also take notice of the repeated compositions between the two scenes, many shots paralleled right to the end, with Sora reaching out to Riku.
I should also mention here that when Sora calls out to Riku in the tunnel and says “Riku! Answer me!”, the light starts making an odd sound as though it IS anwering him, and Sora gets a look on his face that makes it seem as though he’s having a revelation- or is on the cusp of one:
And when Sora reaches the other side of the light, where else does it lead, but straight to Riku. As if that wasn’t strong enough a hint on its own, Sora finds him floating atop a sacrificial tripod that seems to be a reference to the Delphic Tripod of Greek myth, which was used to deliver prophecies of Apollo, god of Sun and Light.
It’s an important point that the light only leads Sora to Riku. Through the rest of the sequence Sora is led through dark portals created by the lich.
After this, we get to another tunnel scene, which is hugely important but has been controversial to say the least. In order to not make this post a mile longer and keep anything that can be misconstrued negatively off of this one, I’ll go through that scene in the next part.
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