Destiny’s Embrace: A Closer Look

So Kairi got some awesome new renders of her battle poses earlier, one of which is this one:



Beautiful render, Kairi looks amazing, and never has Destiny’s Embrace looked so good.

Which got me to looking at it more, and…

Her Keyblade has a chess piece attached to it.

But not just any chess piece, no.

She has the king.

Note the cross on top matches the cross on the king piece (courtesy of Wikipedia).

Who is the king?

Well.

Glad you asked.

And not only that.



Sora’s chess piece in Eraqus and Xehanort’s chess game, pictured below, has his crown. We don’t know if he’s the king piece for sure yet… but this screenshot heavily implies it. Why else would Xehanort be trying so hard to capture him?

Because it would mean winning the game. Checkmate the king, and Xehanort will win.

Also, take a closer look at the part Kairi is gripping:

The king piece is black and gold. Black has been featured heavily in Sora’s color scheme for both his KH2 outfit…



…and his KH3 outfit.

Gold, the other color in the chess piece, also appears in the Kingdom Key…

…and is associated with royalty. Yellow, a related color, also features heavily in Sora’s color scheme.

So, if Sora is the king, why does Kairi have the king piece on her Keyblade instead of Sora?

Well.

Perhaps it’s because… she’s the queen? Also known as the most powerful piece in the game. Who else would the king’s safety be entrusted with?

Continuing on, let’s look at that part of Kairi’s Keyblade again.

Note the red string attached to the king piece. In Japanese culture, a red string of fate connects two people who are destined to be together.

The red string of fate is attached to the king.

And not only that; it also connects to the paopu fruit. And according to the legend of the paopu fruit, sharing a paopu with someone intertwines your destiny with theirs, as relayed by both Riku and Selphie.

Kairi’s Keyblade is pretty blatantly referring to this.

Continuing on, both the teeth of her Keyblade and the grip of it form the distinctive heart shape associated with the series:

Now, it’s interesting to see where else that heart motif is found. On Sora’s throne…

…and on this Heart Station showing Kairi and Sora with Naminé and Roxas in the background (Credit to @rapis-razuri I think it was for noticing this and for making the following connection - IIRC someone else was involved too, please remind me so I can properly credit them!). Note the distinct shade of blue used here, which also appears in the KH2 Final Mix Box Art…

…which looks like it might be the same world as…

…this one, which was recently revealed in the Winnie the Pooh trailer. Note the pillars seem to match the pillars everyone is sitting on in the KH2 Final Mix box art, and both are set in some heavenly realm in the sky with clouds.

Of course, this particular heart motif features heavily throughout the series in general and is certainly not unique to Kairi, but it’s interesting to note all the same. It could also potentially be a reference to her Princess of Heart status.

Continuing on, the hilt of Kairi’s Keyblade features a wave, referencing the meaning of her name (海 kai can mean “sea” or “ocean” in Japanese)…

…but also Naminé’s name, as 波 nami means “wave.” It also points to Kairi’s second home (now her main home), Destiny Islands. The shades of blue are also very similar to the ones in the Heart Station art and the KH2 Final Mix box art.

The hilt, in contrast, features flowers, no doubt a reference to her original home on Radiant Garden:



I tried to do a little digging to see what kinds of flowers they might be, and the yellow flower at least might very well be a chrysanthemum:

Chrysanthemums are associated with royalty and the Imperial Family in Japan, and as Kairi is a Princess of Heart even if she’s not an actual princess, the connection is fitting.

Not sure about the other flowers, but if anyone has any ideas, feel free to add to this.

Anyway, the takeaway from all this is Destiny’s Embrace is packed full of meaning and symbolism and likely foreshadowing as well.

Really, it’s a great Keyblade and it looks great and Kairi looks great wielding it.