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The Shadow

Jun 23, 2008 19:19



Namine

Kairi's Nobody, claimed to have been created along with Roxas when Sora removed both his and Kairi's Hearts from his Body. She has full control over Sora's Memories and over the Memories of those in touch with him because of the way she was created - according to the Secret Ansem Reports, at least.

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Namine's Plot

From the instant she was found by Organization XIII, Namine was put in isolation so that when they came to her and said 'see, here's your Knight, he'll be yours if you hand him to us on a silver platter' - she'll ask for the size of the tray and how shiny it should be.
    As a result, she calls Sora, Donald and Goofy over to Castle Oblivion where from the instant they set foot inside, she begins to alter their memories - removing unwanted ones, creating new ones, and modifying existing ones to serve the plan laid before her by the Organization. The end result is a tear-jerking, heart-warming story of childhood friendship between Sora and her - that never was outside the Memories she created in his mind. These Memories dictate that Sora would do anything for Namine - anything - and thus would do whatever the Organization would tell him to do - should they take Namine hostage.
    A fault then in their perfect little plan - Sora isn't the only one devoted in here. Namine would do whatever she could to repay the kindness Sora shows her.
    She disobeys orders, gets beat up by Larxene, and eventually tells Sora the truth.
    Once Sora beats up all the members of the Organization standing in their way then, Namine is free and thus offers Sora to restore his Memories. Sora accepts and goes to sleep for a year - while forgetting Namine.

Thus far is Sora's part of Chain of Memories. There isn't too much to say about Namine in Riku's part, save for a single small scene out of which I took out the most important parts (it can be found in full  here in the first few minutes)

"Don't run from the Light - and don't fear the Darkness. Both will make you stronger. [..] Especially Darkness. Because that power is yours alone. The Darkness in your Heart is vast and deep... but if you can stare into it unflinching, you'll never know fear again.  [...] Just be brave. Know that the Darkness is there and don't give in. Do that, and you'll gain strength unlike any other. You'll be able to escape the deepest Darkness - [...] Follow the Darkness, Riku. It'll show you the way to the friends you miss."

That's what Namine did for Riku. Quite a good piece of advice, huh?

Namine goes on with us into Kingdom Hearts 2 which is where most people meet her (seeing how the vast majority doesn't play CoM) and that is a crying shame if you ask me.
    We see her first still hard at work restoring Sora's Memories while working alongside Riku, Mickey and Diz. In order to hurry up the process she disobeys Diz and gets in contact with Roxas - Sora's Nobody.
She effectively bases herself as one of the cruelest characters one can find when she tells Roxas quite bluntly that he was never meant to exist, while ironically being the only one who actually acknowledges him to the bitter end and is honest with him.
    Eventually Roxas disappears back into Sora, Sora wakes up, and Diz orders Riku to kill Namine, seeing how he cannot control her - and we saw in CoM how dangerous she can be with her hold over Sora.
    One can easily enough assume Riku did not follow that order (and KH:FM+ shows rather a nice reason as to why) since we get to see Namine again close to the end of the game, doing what not Sora, and not even Riku got to do before her - she is the one who actually saves Kairi from her imprisonment by the Organization.
    Being a Darkness character, however, she disappears into Kairi and thus ends her role in the KH universe..

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Namine's Plot Analysis

I've heard a lot of people come and say that Namine is a passive character. I did indeed say that about Kairi, but I just can't let this slide about Namine.
    Had she truly been a passive character, she wouldn't have defied orders over and over again. She wouldn't have done half the things she did - and may I remind you - every single action Namine does involves a direct and immediate risk to her life.
Marluxia kept threatening her; Riku half abused her when he thought her meeting with Roxas was harming their cause of getting Sora better; Diz ordered her executed.
    Yet despite it all - she remains an action taker. I can't even call her a reactionist like Sora, since she makes things move on her own accord. And let's see just how deep it goes -
    In Chain of Memories, we get to see two stories. One of them belongs to Riku. The other... is Namine's, not Sora's. Sora is the link connecting Namine's story to the general plot, but it is Namine's story that's told.
    Now you may recall that I simply quoted her part in Riku's half of the game. That was because she didn't do much else besides saying those words.
    Her saying those words, however, was effectively bringing an end to Riku's dilemma. At the very least, she was the one who pointed him on the right path towards his Dawn, the one who gave him Hope despite the Darkness that tainted him - and the Light that threatened to erase him.
    She solved Riku's problem, in a way.
    And of course she's the all knowing story-teller in Roxas's part at the beginning of KH2 that not only tells the story, but also makes it go foward.
    She's about the last character one can describe as 'passive'. And why?
    Because there's a huge difference between being a true feminine Princess character that just happens to not have a Keyblade - and being 'passive'.

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Replacing Namine

You might remember that back up in the part about Kairi I said that you could put, say, Selphie in her place and nothing would change too much (and I honestly have to wonder about how much would've changed had it been Selphie or heaven forbids Sora's mother that would've been kidnapped in KH2, basis to this later on).  I will thus say now, clearly -

Namine cannot be replaced.

I'll begin by saying that had it been anyone else but Namine, the content shown to Sora in each Memory World he went through in Castle Oblivion would've been different since it's Namine that dictated the content (I'm getting deep into that content in the SoNami section, fret not... if you'll read that far).
    The False Memories that Sora would've seen would've been entirely different - since it would've been someone else but Namine in the memories (dare not say 'but those were Memories from Kairi' - wait for the SoNami section, wait for it...), thus dictating a different set of events - and different reactions from Sora, both inside the Memories and out.
    And then we have the many, many direct plot changes replacing Namine would've caused - the amount is mind boggling, really.
    When Axel came and told her to go save Sora now that Marluxia wasn't looking - had she been a more passive character - she wouldn't have done it, despite Axel's coaxing.
    When Diz told her to stay away from Roxas - she might've actually stayed away and then the Organization would've gotten Roxas instead of him coming back to Sora.
    And what if she'd have been different to the other direction? Think Yuffie here. I doubt Larxene would've let her live long enough to make it to CoM - seeing how she shows no hesitation in knocking Namine's lights out when it turned out she betrayed them.

Quite a lot of possible differences, huh? See? You cannot replace Namine. And why? Because unlike Kairi, who matters simply for what she is - a Princess of Heart, Namine matters for whom she is (it helps she has an active power unlike Kairi's Princess traits, too...)

Let's have a look see at that aspect of her then, shall we?

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Namine's Character - Personality

There're quite a few things that can be said about Namine's personality and character traits, but I'll settle for two that struck me rather painfully when playing the games.
    The first is the ability to distinct between Good and Bad. She is in fact one of the few if not only characters that say 'it's not Black and White, it's shades of Gray' - not even Riku with all his glorious Dawn qualities can honestly say he's doing this with the way he taunts down Xemnas and hunts the Darkness around him while wearing his own with at times selfish shame, at other times immense pride.
    Namine, on the other hand, says it clearly on numerous occassions.
    When explaining about herself to Roxas - "I don't even know if there's a right way for me to use this power" - she understands that what she's been doing up until now was bad, and that is an understanding she reached rather early on in CoM but was unable to act accordingly until much later in that game. Now, all she can do is try and fix things - the least she can do, and possibly - the most.
    When Roxas says the Organization is a "bad group", Namine says - "Bad, or good - I don't know". She understand their motives and cause - to be whole. And look at the Organization - there are good and bad inside them. Lexeaus at least seemed to have some sort of a sense of Justice and seemed to take to Heart the Organization members fighting amongst each other. Roxas himself seemed to be emo - but I doubt he was cruel. Axel had a tender side as well - he's just as unsteady as the flames he wields.
    Namine understands this and differentiates the two groups - some are bad, some are evil - but there are those who're good. She's amongst the few who are willing to see that.
    Even when she comes and tells Roxas he wasn't meant to exist, ironically - she's the only person around who even remotely had the right to say this to him - allegedly being the same. Even then - she apologizes because she understands the horror of what she just said.
    Even though she claimed to have been joking, Kairi still said all the things she said to Sora about Riku (see the Kairi part). That wasn't good. That was even bad. But she still said it without once taking any of it back.
    On that aspect Namine is much more emotionally intelligent than Kairi and is more aware of her surroundings.

The second characteristic I wanted to present about Namine is - Tears.
In many stories the turning point in a character's development comes along with that character crying. One clear show of how important Namine's tears are is that - keeping in mind she's supposed to be a Nobody - we look at the title for one of the KHII Novels - Tears of a Nobody. Tears, especially from her "kind", are that important.
    Now, it doesn't only matter the character itself cries on its lonesome - someone else inside the story needs to bear witness to those tears and respond.
    Kingdom Hearts is no exception.
    Going according to the CoM Manga - Riku cried twice. Once silently and Mickey tries to comfort him, the other time - when he meets Namine and sees Sora. Namine then offers him the ways he can choose - and accepts his answer with a smile.
    When leaving Twilight Town for the first time - Roxas cries - through Sora. Hayner, Pence and Olette all see it and try to calm him down; Donald and Goofy try to comfort him later, saying they'll be back.
    And I hope I don't need to remind anyone whom Sora cried over and in front of, falling to his knees in the process no less.
    The only time we get to see Kairi crying is in the ending sequence of Kingdom Hearts 1. She cries symbolic tears while smiling, with no one to bear witness to it for she is alone.

When Namine cries it is after a whole game in which it was obvious she wanted to cry but wouldn't let herself. When she finally cries - she's mad at herself, saying she has no right to do so. And then - Sora bears witness to those tears and tells her, simply put - not to cry.
    And why? Because Namine's tears, unlike Kairi's - matter. The change in her character - her gaining Hope only to lose it afterwards - has an impact.
    Even with how much Kairi from KH1 is different from the Kairi of KH2 - it's hard for me to understand how she grew up to become it - despite the tears, none of which are shed during KH2.
    With Namine, on the other hand, I understand how the Namine of the start of CoM became the Namine of the start of KH2 - because I saw it all happening right in front of my very eyes.

Quite a difference.

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Namine as the Shadow

Alternatively - Namine's Plot Role.
    Ironically, this character - who's crucial to the plot and is actively half the plot presented to us in the games currently released - is supposed to be a Princess's mere shadow. The Princess Kairi's Shadow, to be precise.
    The beauty of it then is that while Kairi's Existence in the universe of Kingdom Hearts is completely dependent on her being a Priness of Heart - Namine's Existence is well based enough even without her being Kairi's Nobody.
    Why? Because her Existence is dependent on something completely different - Castle Oblivion.
    Need proof? Ok, here it is -
    Despite it being clearly and specifically said in both CoM and KH2 that Namine's powers are specifically over Sora's Memories, too many people still think her powers are over Memories in General, in a manner similar to Axel's control over Fire, for example.
    Keep in mind the bond between Namine and Sora was supposed to have came from Kairi's Heart being inside Sora's Body and thus Namine was created from Sora. Now, if we say Namine's powers are general and not only over Sora - what meaning and importance does her being Kairi's Nobody pose?
    I'll tell you - None whatsoever, to such an extent that the majority of people overlook this fact completely!
    Namine's existence as a "Memory Witch" is completely free from Kairi. All she needs to be is the girl who manipulates Memories from Castle Oblivion - and the only event which will really change as a result is her disappearing into Kairi at the end of KH2. Just about anything else will remain intact.

Now, it's not just that Namine doesn't serve the role originally giving to her - she doesn't stop at being a Witch over a Shadow.  
    She carries on to being anything else the people around her say she is, for they deny her being a Shadow as well.
    Even when Sora found out she was a Memory Witch, she kept on being his Princess held up in the Tower, the one he needed to save, to fight for. He never even learned of her being related to Kairi much less her Nobody.
    For both Roxas and Riku, she is a sort of a guide, doing for them what Sora did for her and bringing them a small sort of salvation.
Riku manages to get his Darkness under control thanks to her; Roxas manages what he left the Organization for, in fact - meeting Sora, understanding why he was chosen by the Keyblade, and being whole.

Namine being the Shadow has that little significance in the long run, much like Kairi's being a Princess of Heart, ironically, for Kairi as Kairi is seen not as a Princess by either Sora nor Riku.

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Conclusions

    What we have here in fact is an adolescent girl who goes from being an emo trapped in a cage to being someone who can stand up to herself and even manages to be strong enough to show weakness and cry before growing up.
    Unlike Kairi who shuts herself from anyone who isn't Sora, let's see who has ties to Namine - Sora of course, Riku, Roxas, Mickey, DiZ, Axel, Larxene, Marluxia, Saix... and the list goes on.
    It goes so deep that while Kairi matters for what she is, Namine matters for whom she is, so much that it became a freaking motive.
    Sora has it thrown in his face he doesn't really know Namine. He replies he'll fight and win and find out.
    Riku hears her voice, goes as far as seeing Kairi... and then recognizes Namine when he meets her, knowing it was in fact her and no one else. "It was you."
    Roxas goes the furthest with repaying Namine's cruelty with bluntness in this matter - "Who are you?".

And why? Because Namine's Character, much like for Sora and Riku - matters.

Why is it then that Namine gets pushed aside and eventually disappears without being remembered or mentioned?
    For like I said for her role - She is a Witch in a Disney story. Thus she, alongside Riku who fell to the Darkness, are doomed to live in the Shadows for despite how much plot the Square Characters here provide - Disney are also part of the game and they care not what they destroy in their wake. Even if that thing is called plot.

Now, while I would've prefered not to turn this into a SoKai vs. SoNami essay, considering I reached the conclusion earlier all Kairi has left as Kairi is being Sora's romantic interest, in order for me to further base my claim she shouldn't be so main a character - I need to show a. she fails at it, and b. Namine wins at it. And she does, for SoNami is in SoRiku's league, relationship wise.
SoRiku fans out for my head now, eh? Fine. Skip SoNami. Enjoy the SoKai part. See if I care.

(Coming soon, I swear!!!)

character analysis, namine, kingdom hearts

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