From the very beginning, Kingdom Hearts has been an epic magical adventure starring a mixture of Disney, Square Enix, and original characters. Sora, Donald, and Goofy set off on a worlds-hopping adventure to save the universe from an encroaching darkness and rescue their friends. Things have become more complicated since then, but the basic premise still holds true. In the ensuing years, many of those friends got larger roles, and everyone began their slow narrative journey to the climactic Keyblade War of Kingdom Hearts 3.
Perhaps the biggest expansion belongs to Riku, Sora's best friend and former rival. He started life as one of the major villains of Kingdom Hearts 1, and he's been dealing with the ramifications of that ever since. Riku has been through a lot, and he comes out the other side in KH3 as a powerful and dependable ally, able to match Sora in terms of power and almost in terms of heart. His boasting in the franchise's early days about how his heart is stronger than the darkness has been proven true, but this recently elevated Keyblade Master had to go through the wringer to understand what that strength really meant.
Riku's Early Days in Kingdom Hearts
In the first game, Riku fell in with the villains. He was tempted by the darkness that supposedly offered the strength to protect what mattered to him, and the thrill of feeling important in the world. He didn't realize he was being pulled deeper and deeper, and early on was still willing to collaborate with Sora occasionally. However, his selfishness and competitive spirit eventually got the best of him, and once Sora beat Riku definitively, he fully gave in to the darkness and became a vessel for Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. His own heart managed to reawaken to the light after Sora beat Ansem, and he ends Kingdom Hearts 1 gracefully by helping Sora close the Door to Darkness.
This begins Riku's franchise-spanning journey to redemption and self-actualization, but the beginning is a bumpy one. He ends up in Castle Oblivion in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where he not only needs to contend with Organization 13 but also a Replica of himself that embodies his flaws and Ansem's lingering spirit. Thanks to a burgeoning friendship with King Mickey, Riku starts to accept that darkness is a part of him, but he still has his reservations.
These worries come to a head when he needs to capture Roxas late in 358/2 Days to break Sora out of stasis. Roxas is violently upset by that point in the story, and has become so powerful that Riku needs to let Ansem possess and transform him again just to eke out a win. He spends Kingdom Hearts 2 hiding his face in shame, but the combination of Sora's unconditional friendship and a reality-bending explosion jolts him back to normal.
Riku's Development Into a Keyblade Master
The next chronological game to feature Riku is Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance, and it represents a major milestone in Riku's development. While Riku has been Sora's capable rival for some time, he frequently ends up needing to be rescued, both physically and emotionally, by his friends. KH3D is where Riku comes into his own as a character and a Keyblade wielder. Riku serves as Sora's Dream Eater in this game and ends up rescuing him from the darkness this time around. Riku is much more comfortable dealing with darkness, and with his most convincing victory over Ansem yet, he is proclaimed a Keyblade Master.
Kingdom Hearts 3 represents the culmination of all that Riku has struggled to become across the series. He and Mickey are the two heroes trusted with plumbing the depths of the Realm of Darkness, and although the sheer concentrated darkness is too much for them to handle, they do manage to find Aqua. Riku goes on to play a major supporting role in the finale, doing his best to help all of his allies however he can. While Sora may still outshine him, he isn't bothered by this anymore. The game even makes a point of using two Riku Replicas, the redeemed one from Chain of Memories and a time-traveling duplicate of that Replica when it thought it was Riku, to show just how much Riku has changed. With him leading the charge into Quadratum to rescue Sora again, it's safe to say that Riku's days of villainy are far behind him, and his friends are lucky to have him around.
Kingdom Hearts 3 is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.