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A year older than his rival and a bit more superficially mature, Riku is Sora’s best friend and enemy both in Kingdom Hearts. He was offered the chance to wield the Keyblade for the sake of light, but unfortunately, he took something of a wrong turn along the way.
When the Heartless attacked their home in the Destiny Islands, both Sora and Riku were drawn away to different worlds. Sora found himself in Traverse Town with Donald and Goofy, while Riku followed a door to Hollow Bastion, the world where the Heartless reside (among other things). There, the sorceress Maleficent began to twist his heart towards darkness, playing on his desire to aid his friend Kairi, who was taken by the Heartless as the object of their attack.
Riku believes, at all times, that what he’s doing is for the sake of eventually rescuing Kairi, being held captive alongside the princesses of many other worlds. His motivations remain pure even as he’s embroiled deeper and deeper in the Heartless’ plot, and he’s eventually able to help Sora and his allies from the shadows on a number of occasions.
Riku’s name means “land” or “shore” in Japanese, forming one end of the three-way pun created by the main characters’ names in Kingdom Hearts. “Sora” means “sky,” while the “kai” in “Kairi” can mean “sea.”
