wait tell me more about kairi = terra
thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this!!!
so. at first this idea was based on vibes. in my head I've always gone Riku = Aqua and Sora = Ven, because the parallels. so naturally I also landed on Kairi = Terra, and that was that. but you see. as with many things in this series, there is always more to think about :))
for one, their default combat strategy is very similar. Kairi and Terra both follow the classic "hit it relentlessly until it dies" method of taking down enemies. they hit hard and don't give the enemy a chance to recover. Kairi didn't really get a chance to show off this ability because the only time we really get to see her fight is in ReMind, and she's obviously not as powerful as Xehanort (even though she absolutely deserves to be stronger than him, but I digress). but I think if we got to play as her more, we'd see her fighting in a very similar way to Terra. powerful melee combat, fairly good magic, but more focus on hitting things than anything else. that, and being a tank. Kairi absolutely would tank all the damage for her friends. she's tough, she deserves to act like it!
that's why I think Terra would be a fantastic mentor for Kairi. I think they could learn a lot from each other. imagine Terra training this girl who reminds him so much of Ven, with all of the light in her heart, and realizing that maybe he isn't a failure if he can train this bright young Keyblade wielder well. Kairi also desperately needs a confidence boost. she and Terra both have failure in common. they were taken advantage of and used to hurt their friends. they couldn't fight back when it mattered most, and they feel like they aren't strong enough to stand alongside their peers after what they've been through. but with each other, I think they'd realize that they haven't lost everything. they can still become Keyblade Masters. they do have the strength they've always wanted, and they can use that to protect their friends. Riku doesn't need this arc anymore because he's already gone through it, which is why I would rather him spend time with Aqua than Terra. but Kairi? she desperately needs this arc. let her find the strength she's always had. let Terra find his strength too, through spending time with her.
but the most important part of this comparison to me is that Kairi needs to go through a lot of the same development Terra has. she needs an antagonist to push her to her limit, to rip her away from her friends, to force her to become her strongest self. her heart is full of light, which makes her falling to darkness even more interesting. what if that actually happened? what if Kairi actually got Norted? wouldn't that do so much more for her character than whatever KH3 was doing? I think it would.
anyways, my point is, Kairi secret boss when.
