If Sora is an incarnated aspect of Kingdom Hearts (whether its deity, king, or whatever), I’ve had this idea that Riku could be the incarnated aspect of the x-blade, or rather, the Knight that wielded the x-blade to protect Kingdom Hearts. While it’s not a super solid theory in itself, there are things in the game that I think would support the idea. First, for the sake of argument let’s go with the idea that Sora is Kingdom Hearts in some way (its king or deity), as supported by what we know from the games. If Sora is Kingdom Hearts, why might Riku be the x-blade (its original wielder)?
Here’s what we know about the x-blade:
“Rather than being a man-made key to an artificial Kingdom Hearts, like the Keyblade of heart, it coexists with the true Kingdom Hearts itself, a perfect union of all hearts and worlds, and is the only thing that can summon its door.
Originally, the χ-blade was the counterpart of Kingdom Hearts, for which it acted as protector.”
Isn’t it interesting that in the same game we are introduced to the x-blade and the continuous hinting that Sora and Riku are somehow connected to it, we are also introduced to the now fundamental aspect of Riku’s character, “To protect the things that matter. You know, like my friends!”.
While protecting his friends has certainly been a large part of Riku’s character since after KH1 (and the fact that he felt Sora no longer needed his protection, and therefore no longer needed him, was a big factor in his fall to darkness) This was the first time it had been explicitly stated as his motivation, and ever since, this line has been hammered home over and over:
“Immediately you knew something was wrong, so without even knowing it, you dove into Sora’s dream. And you became exactly what that sigil on your back represents- a Dream Eater to protect Sora from nightmares.”
“What is the one thing you care about more than anything else?”
Data Riku: “Of all the possible vessels to protect the data, I was chosen from the journal’s pages. The full set of memories was transferred inside of me to shield them from corruption. So, in a way… what I really am is Jiminy’s Journal.”
“Everything in Jiminy’s Journal revolved around one person, and that person is you, Sora.”
And then, as if this wasn’t enough get the point across, Riku’s Dawn recap video has 6 separate points where it talks about Riku wanting to protect what matters/his precious person (explicitly Sora) in the span of 4 minutes. I mean I know this is an important part of Riku’s character, but this is just excessive (not that I’m complaining). And remember, the recap videos are supposed to be only the most important, need to know information in preparation for KH3. This complete emphasis on Riku’s drive to protect what matters seems like it might be going beyond a character trait, and could actually be a set-up for something more deeply lore related. Such as this seemingly innate drive to protect originating from his position as protector of Kingdom Hearts (especially if Sora is Kingdom Hearts/KH’s King).
But the parallels between Riku and the x-blade don’t stop here. As a keyblade is forged from its weilder’s heart and draws its strength it, it would make sense that the keyblade would be a reflection of the heart (and the designs of each wielders’ primary keyblades shows this). The original x-blade was made up of two elements- one of light and one of dark. While more than one person might be required to create the x-blade (and in the x-blade theory, Sora and Riku might be able to create it together due to their balanced light and dark), you would expect the original wielder of the x-blade to have embodied this balance of light and dark in their own heart. This is exactly what we see with Riku:
“The road you chose- I didn’t know. Light and dark, back to back. With you, I think they might meet in a way nobody’s seen before.”
Riku’s keyblade, Way to the Dawn is a visual representation of this as well- demon wings for darkness, angel wings for light.
And just to go back to this quote for a moment: “Originally, the χ-blade was the counterpart of Kingdom Hearts, for which it acted as protector.”
You could say that Dream Drop Distance established Sora and Riku as each other’s counterpart- showing how they helped each other in the worlds despite being separated by different realities, how they completed each other’s heart songs (and earned a keyblade called “counterpoint”, the musical equivalent of the word “counterpart”), and how the two halves of the combined keyblade joined together as a representation of light and dark in one. And Riku literally becomes a different class of being without even realizing it, for the sole purpose of protecting Sora- as if there is an aspect of himself that drives his very being whether he’s aware of it or not.
Then there’s the allusions to Riku as a Knight. For one thing, knights have a sworn duty to protect their king or lord: “The promise of faithful service to the lord was called the Oath of Fealty.” I think I’ve established that protecting his friends, especially Sora, is fundamental to Riku. Then, in Dream Drop Distance, Shiki asks Riku if he’s her Knight in Shining Armor:
“Aren’t you my knight in shining armor? Well?”
Riku reacts with surprise and rejects the idea, I think for a mix of two reasons. First, at this point in the game he still believes darkness as a hold on him. He doesn’t feel like he’d be worthy of the title of “knight”. Second, it becomes clear that Riku doesn’t have any interest in being her knight specifically, with the way he responds to her with sarcasm and outright annoyance. But later we learn he has become a Dream Eater to protect Sora, and in a way becomes Sora’s knight.
It almost seems like Dream Drop Distance is a play on the classic fairytale of the princess who falls under a sleeping curse and the brave knight must go on a quest to wake her up- except here it’s Sora who has fallen asleep, and Riku is the knight that wakes him up. *cough*
And there’s one last thing. I’m not necessarily convinced it’s intentional, but I entertain the idea of it only because I know Nomura LOVES double/triple meanings and plays on words when he names things in Kingdom Hearts (like how Heartless have hearts but no bodies, and Nobodies have bodies but no hearts, the many meanings of “Xion”, “Vanitas” and other character names). In DDD there are two types of “spirits”- Dream Eaters, and their dark counterpart, Nightmares. The word “nightmare” is derived from the old english “mare”: a malicious entity in Germanic and Slavic folklore that rides on people’s chests while they sleep, bringing on bad dreams. So you could say an uncorrupted (k)night-mare” is just a Knight.
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