riku
a heart that no darkness could eclipse
Riku (whose name means "land") is 15 (16 in CoM, and
17 in KHII), and lives in Destiny Islands, where he likes hanging out with his
friends Sora and Kairi. He's cool, collected, and your classic good-at-everything
guy. However, Riku feels that the world he lives in is small and boring, and
decides to go travelling with his friends to learn more about other worlds. Riku
likes watching the sea, teasing and challenging Sora. Like his friend, Riku has
lived all of his life in the island.
In Kingdom Hearts, Riku has a peaceful life in the
Destiny Islands, but then the place is attacked by the Heartless. He sees this as a chance to
leave the place, and isn't afraid of the darkness that literally engulfes him.
He disappears until he meets Sora in Traverse Town. By then, Riku also has a
weapon, Way to the Dawn, and 
seems
to know more about the Keyblade than Sora himself. Although he's happy to find
his friend again, he feels jealous of Sora's new friends Donald and Goofy, and,
with some Maleficent's brainwashing, he vanishes and decides to help her. This
is because Kairi is with them, but she lost her heart. Convinced that Sora is
wasting his time wandering around the worlds, Riku uses darkness to become more
powerful, and appears again inside Monstro, where he tries to kidnap Pinochio.
But he has a change of heart, and ends up helping Sora instead. The big
revelation comes when Riku is revealed to be the true Keyblade wielder. Donald
and Goofy are forced to leave Sora and join him, but are too loyal to the
brunette, and the three of them have a fight against him. Riku loses, and later
he also loses his own body... he's possessed by Ansem (who later turns out to be
Xehanort's Heartless), who fights Sora and loses again. By the end of the game,
we find that Riku's soul made it to the other side of the door to Kingdom Hearts,
and helps Sora closing it, staying in the dark...
However, Riku is safe and sound in Chain of Memories. He suddenly appears in the basement of Castle Oblivion, and goes to the top floor, while fighting his own darkness. After meeting him, Vexen creates a clone of him, called Riku Replica, who goes and meets Sora many times during the game. Riku also meets DiZ, who is interested in his decisions and helps him in his way. Later, he's saved by Naminé during his fight against Zexion, who convinces him not to refuse the darkness inside him if he's drowing in light (good quote). When they meet again, Naminé offers Riku to lock away his darkness, but he chooses to fight it.
After the end of CoM, Riku fights Roxas so that he can reunite with Sora. As he used the power of darkness to win, Riku assumes Xehanort's hearless appearance.
Riku's whereabouts is one
of the big mysteries of Kingdom Hearts II. At the beginning, he is the cloaked
man that helps DiZ to restore Sora's memories. He doesn't want anyone to know
what has happened to him, so he claims to be Ansem the Wise (giving DiZ a good
laugh, which is later explained). He steals Roxas' pouch of munny and gives it
to the King, who later gives it to Sora once he's awaken. Of course, this is
kept in secret until the end of the game, when DiZ reveals himself to be the
true Ansem the Wise, who seeks revenge and wants to destroy Organization XIII.
Seeing that he just wants to use Sora, Riku doesn't want to help him anymore,
causing a change in Ansem's objectives. With the destruction of Ansem's machine
to seal Kingdom Hearts, he regains his former look (although he needs a haircut
and some treatment for his arm xD). Riku and Sora defeat Xemnas in a final
battle, and end up in a dark beach, where they find a way back to their Destiny
Islands.
