Premise one: I feel that this is rather well-known information by now, but still. Mandatory clarification that "mastery" is a concept that's improperly employed by the eng localisation (likely out of commodity), though there is at least one instance where the translation closely follows the jp text. Semantics Important
Premise two: I'll reference a couple of things from other games because they retroactively help recontextualise Riku's behavior in part, but the story that KH1 wants to tell does stand on its own regardless of their inclusion. He's just my special boy ok
Having said that. Rivalry!
Much of the conflict between Sora and Riku is shaped along the lines of what makes a hero. In light of this, it's only fitting that KH1 is the game that most closely follows the structure of a fairy tale, but that's a story for another day. I think that the initial uncertainty on whether there'd be a sequel really pushed the devs to, ah, "go ham", because KH1 is both a miniature coming of age story for Sora and the setup for many elements that will recur in the future. At the core of this idea is one world in particular, but I think that it's better to set the stage first
Destiny Islands is a weird, fun place. I feel that many people remember KH1's prologue through rose-tinted glasses of sorts, "the simpler, better times before...", but to me it owes much of its charm to the tension between the location that it's set in (a child's dream playground, a pseudo locus amoenus even, if will) and the events that take place during it. Sora, Riku, and Kairi have been making preparations for something for some time now. The other kids don't quite know what, but they suspect that it's something dangerous - which it is. And Sora is a fourteen-year-old boy who's constantly compared and made to feel inferior to his best friend, who has been acting strangely and cruelly for a while without anyone understanding why. Growing pains...... Being on Destiny Islands at this time feels like being on a precipice. The game is really effective at capturing a certain Vibe of adolescence (this idea of being stuck in the middle of two opposite forces), but when it comes to Sora and Riku over time the unease between them develops from mundane competitiveness (however hurtful in its actualization) into a bigger conflict, one that's tied both to their characters and to the broader narrative of Kingdom Hearts
The notion that Sora can "always rely on Riku" specifically is super important. The other kids tease Sora because they perceive him to be weak and unreliable compared to him, and Riku... Well, Riku has internalized this belief as well in his urgency to just grow up and just leave already, or at least he tries to fool himself into thinking that he has, when really
One might wonder what it is exactly that led him to close himself off and double down on adopting a cool, cocky persona, but 🤫
Regardless, Riku's longing for strength and independence has quite honorable, gentle origins, ones that eventually begin to shine anew after he's freed of Ansem SoD's influence
Riku feels a certain entitlement to the title of hero, and he isn't entirely unjustified for that, but by KH1's prologue his anxieties and his impatience have already planted some seeds in him, and over time and through the influence of darkness his ambitions get warped into something self-serving rather than something altruistic. It's at this point that Riku is most cruel to Sora. Riku doesn't forcibly deprive Sora of the keyblade just because the Kingdom Key was originally his and he really wants it back, Riku does it because he actively wants to bring himself up by disempowering Sora. Like he says, this isn't rivalry anymore. It's viciousness, and it's why it's no mistake that this event keeps being referenced to this day, in varying degrees of subtlety
Nomura tells us that all that Riku does to save Kairi, he mainly does out of regret for his actions ("He's a surprising immoral guy"), and who am I object to the Word of God, but I can't help but think of it as a misguided attempt to prove himself. He is the hero! He is! Not Sora! Not Sora, who is younger and smaller and needs him to look after him.........
When the reality is that Sora scares him a little, Sora absolutely disarms him without even meaning to or being aware of it. And so Riku shuts him out, he shuts him out and he also tries his best to keep their dynamic as unbalanced as possible, because that's what allows him to both feel secure in his role and keep Sora dependent on him. Because what is it that Riku fears might happen if Sora were to realise that his presence isn't something that he needs in order to pull through?
... Yeah. It's really no wonder that this is what Maleficent latches on to in order to manipulate and corrupt him
As stated before, contrarily to Riku, Sora enters the story as an underdog, a normal boy who gets saddled with a task that wasn't meant for him - with having to be a hero - out of need, but it's no surprise that Riku's light can acknowledge Sora before he is ready to consciously do it as well: Riku is harsh on Sora to cover up how inadequate he makes him feel, and in turn those feelings of inadequacy are a reflection of his profound understanding of just how good Sora is
Riku's changes for the worse don't go without repercussions on Sora's state, which is why much of his journey throughout KH1 is split between two goals: an altruistic one - finding his friends, as well as helping Donald and Goofy on their quest, and a self-serving one - being acknowledged by the people around him. Hey, those are familiar words
It's an uphill climb, one that's made really evident by his time in Olympus Coliseum in particular. His rashness gains him his own turn at being directly mess with by a thematically-relevant villain, too
It's not surprising that Sora reacts with cockiness to the situation that he finds himself in: for what's probably the first time in his life, it's him that everyone is relying on, and he lets it go to his head a little. Not enough to distract him from what's most important, but just enough to feel the sting of Riku's jabs (who is very much projecting whenever he opens his mouth about this topic)
Their reunion in Traverse Town is a miniature minefield, because Riku's immediate instinct is to re-establish himself as the leader-keeper, and Sora's way of shutting down that thought is... a little bit of everything. On purpose, in my opinion. It's childish, it's a little arrogant, it's show-offy, it's kind of ridiculous, and it's a challenge to Riku's authority, one that he doesn't take well at all, least of all when he starts seeing in Donald and Goofy the realisation of his irrational fear of being abandoned by Sora
Sora is naive, but his inability to comprehend Riku's feelings has nothing to do with it and everything to do with his attunement to the bonds between people. They're the source of his strength! It could never cross his mind to doubt his connection to Riku, his best friend, least of all to consider it expendable or contingent on external factors
This unshakeable conviction is what defines Sora's progress, and it's what ultimately defines his path of heroism and makes the keyblade go back to him despite Riku's claim over it. Not fate or predestination, but belief and love for other people, so much love that it's detrimental to his own survival and that is also his way to hide just how little he thinks of himself even. Sora's story isn't that of a seemingly average boy who one day comes into his destined role, it's that of a boy who tenaciously fights for others and earns the right to wield a power that he was originally only granted out of necessity
I feel that this is what Riku's goodbye to Sora wants to get at
Pulling away for a second to say that no matter what, of course Riku genuinely wants Kairi to be safe, and the fact that Nomura doesn't even see it as the primary cause for his actions splits me between befuddlement and "Riku and Kairi have a complex relationship" hubris stocks. Even so, what I see in this line is also the renewed fulfillment of Sora's one selfish desire: acknowledgement. Acknowledgement from the person who most wanted him to be and remain a helpless boy on the sidelines, acknowledgement from one of the people he cares most deeply for, acknowledgement from someone who was meant to be a hero. Allowing himself to get sealed in the Realm of Darkness is not Riku's final act in KH1, Riku's final act in KH1 is to step down from his designated role and finally accept Sora, encourage him to be the hero that he couldn't be
gummygunk
izzy806
pixelskylines
jacobvanloon
areudirty
