Naminé

Naminé is the Nobody of Kairi, and wields the power to manipulate the memories of Sora and those close to him. Her first appearance is in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories. The nami of her name means "ocean wave" in Japanese.

Kingdom Hearts
Naminé was born when Sora stabbed himself with Ansem's artificial Keyblade in order to restore Kairi near the end of Kingdom Hearts. This made Naminé a very odd Nobody, born from Kairi's heart and Sora's body and soul. Kairi's own body never became a Nobody because her heart lacked darkness (since she was one of the Princesses of Heart), so her body and soul were never able to leave the Realm of Light and thus made it seem like Kairi was in a comatose state until she regained her heart. However, this means that Naminé was also born without Kairi's memories, only furthering her status as an unusual entity, and she and Kairi are incomplete without each other. And because of the fact that Naminé is formed from Sora's body, she has the power to manipulate his memories as well as the memories of those who are connected to him, prompting several others, even herself, to call her a "witch". She came into being at Castle Oblivion, found by Organization XIII.

Ansem the Wise stated in Report 9 of the Secret Ansem Reports that Naminé is a highly unusual Nobody, due to possessing neither the body nor the memories that a Nobody is usually made from.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Naminé, having become a captive of the Organization, resides in the upper floors of Castle Oblivion. When Sora is led into the castle, Naminé is forced by Marluxia and his partner Larxene to manipulate Sora's memories, slowly causing Sora and his companions to forget many of their friends. At the same time, he is led to believe that Naminé herself is a very important friend that he had forgotten, though in truth they had never met before. Sora undergoes this manipulation so that Marluxia can have Sora become a puppet under Naminé's control, giving Marluxia the ability to overthrow the Superior.

Even Kairi is soon forgotten, being replaced by Naminé, and the promise made between Sora and Kairi and her lucky charm take on new forms to reflect the replacement. Being motivated by these false memories, Sora continues to ascend Castle Oblivion when he realizes that she is being held against her will by the Organization. In the case of Sora's memories of Kairi, Kairi had someone who cared very deeply for her while Naminé was all alone in the world, and this motivated her to replace Kairi with herself in Sora's heart.

Meanwhile, Naminé is also forced to implant false memories into the Riku Replica, so that he thinks he is the real Riku. However, like Sora, he believes that Naminé is his long lost friend, and that he made the same promise to Naminé that Sora did, and even has an identical lucky charm (though this one is only a transformed card). Naminé's conscience eventually allows her to overcome her loneliness and fears, and she goes to reveal herself to Sora after being released by the two-faced Axel. She appears to Sora in the memory version of Destiny Islands as he is conversing with the memory version of Naminé. She tells him that she had never been in his heart, despite what his memories show him, and to look for a faint glimmer of light in the deepest regions of his heart, for that light is the person special to him.

Back in the halls of Castle Oblivion, Sora confronts Naminé, realizing that she is not the person special to him. Just then, the replica arrives, but is defeated. When Sora tries to help him, the replica catches Sora off-guard and strikes him, and is about to move in for the finishing blow, but Naminé quickly shatters the replica's false memories completely, knocking him unconscious. Then, Larxene arrives to finish Sora off, but she ends up defeated when she makes the mistake of incurring Sora's wrath by harming Naminé.

After the battle, Naminé explains her actions and motivations, and expresses deep regret, thinking that Sora will not forgive her. Much to her surprise, Sora is completely forgiving, despite the severity of Naminé's doings, though he does admit that he isn't happy about what she has done. When asked if anything can be done to restore their old memories, Naminé says she can do so, but only after they defeat the lord of Castle Oblivion, Marluxia, on the 13th floor. Sora heads off to fight him, and leaves the replica under her care. However, as she is watching over him, Marluxia arrives and kidnaps her.

Marluxia puts her to good use when Axel confronts him about his plot to overthrow the Organization. Marluxia puts up Naminé as a human shield, but Axel is not deterred, saying that he will go through her to defeat him, much to her shock. Of course, she is saved by the timely intervention of Sora, though he fails to stop Marluxia from escaping with Naminé. Nonetheless, Sora defeats Axel and moves on to Marluxia, who orders Naminé to completely shatter Sora's memories and destroy his heart, seeing that in his current state, he is of no use to him. But even so, Marluxia can eventually restore Sora and make him his puppet. However, remembering Sora's kindness towards her, Naminé refuses the order. When Marluxia threatens to kill her, Sora urges Naminé to erase his memory and destroy his heart, if it means saving her from Marluxia's wrath. But in the end, she is saved by the Riku Replica's arrival. Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy then initiate one final battle as the replica guards Naminé.

After Marluxia is defeated and the replica departs, Naminé presents Sora with the choice of either keeping his memories of the events that took place in Castle Oblivion and abandoning his old memories, or regain those and lose the ones of Castle Oblivion. She understands his choice of the latter, and leads Sora, Donald, and Goofy to a chamber housing crystal pods. In these, they can sleep while Naminé rewrites back their original memories that were forgotten. Though it will take some time, she assures him that he will eventually become his former self. However, Sora believes that Naminé will always be in his heart, forgotten but not lost. Thus, the two promise to meet again as real friends, just before Sora falls into a deep slumber.

Naminé also aids Riku in his efforts to conquer the darkness within his heart. When Zexion overwhelms him with light, Naminé takes on Kairi's form to convince him that he should accept the darkness as well as the light within him. Thus, he is given the strength to move through the light and strike down Zexion, who only just barely escapes.

Naminé and Riku meet again later at the urging of DiZ and she reveals Sora to him, who has fallen into a deep slumber in order to have his memories fully restored. She offers Riku a chance to seal away the darkness in his heart, though he, too, would have to sleep like Sora. But Riku ultimately chooses to face the darkness on his own, and Naminé sees that he has made the right choice. He also reveals his suspicion that it was Naminé who appeared to him as Kairi, which she confirms, although she is surprised. Riku notes that the two "smell the same", before going off to face his darkness. DiZ, knowing that Castle Oblivion is still under the control of the Organization, convinces her to move Sora, Donald, and Goofy to his laboratory in Twilight Town for safekeeping.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
During this time period, Naminé has been freed thanks to the actions of Sora, Donald, and Goofy and is trying to restore their memories while they sleep in pods at Twilight Town's Old Mansion with the help of Riku and DiZ. However, the process is taking longer than expected due to some of his "leaked memories" gaining sentience through one of Xemnas' experiments. The individual created from these memories is later named Xion, a name from "No. i" with the addition of an "X".

Naminé is the one who reveals to DiZ that Xion's existence may halt Sora's awakening, and she is the one who tells Xion of her nature as a replica after her interaction with Riku on Destiny Islands.

Kingdom Hearts II
Naminé again appears in Kingdom Hearts II, working with DiZ and Riku (who has taken on the appearance of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness in order to use the power of darkness) to restore Sora's memories. Because Sora is incomplete, Naminé is having difficulty chaining his memories back together, so his Nobody, Roxas, an ex-member of Organization XIII, is retrieved by Riku and placed into a digital Twilight Town, where he will live out his days until the time came for him to join with Sora.

However, Naminé desires to see Roxas, having developed a connection with him, as his situation is quite similar to her own in Castle Oblivion, and thus enters the digital Twilight Town herself. There, she meets him and acts as a guide towards him when he is attacked by Nobodies. After Roxas's Dive into the Heart, Naminé meets with him again, saving him from the darkness that bursts forth from the Twilight Thorn. She plans to reveal the truth of who he really is, but is stopped by Riku, who says that it's best for Roxas not to know. Even so, their encounter puts Roxas into contact with Kairi the next day, where Kairi manages to remember Sora's name.

On the day following, the two meet again, and this time, Naminé manages to reveal Roxas's status as a Nobody, his relationship with Axel, what his connection to Sora is, and that he was never supposed to exist. Upon seeing Roxas's reaction to the revelations, she apologizes and remarks that "some things really are better left unsaid".

On the final day of Roxas's time as an independent entity, they meet once more, and Naminé sheds light on Organization XIII, and their search for Kingdom Hearts. However, this Naminé is made from data, and is deleted before she can speak any further. But the true Naminé appears, telling Roxas that he will not disappear when he fuses with Sora, and will instead be whole. DiZ quickly tries to stop her, but before she is taken away, she promises him that they will meet again, even if they don't recognize each other. Despite Roxas's pleas for them to let her go, Naminé, DiZ, and Riku disappear into a Corridor of Darkness.

Having no further use for Naminé with Sora restored, DiZ orders Riku to destroy her. However, Riku, already angry and bitter towards DiZ for his selfish intentions, instead leaves her in the care of Axel, returning the favor for what she did for him during the Castle Oblivion incident (which was seen as an exclusive clip that appears only in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix). Naminé then makes a speech to Axel, stating that even Nobodies have people who are dear to them, which moves Axel.

Naminé makes her final appearance in the game's last world, The World That Never Was. She breaks into the Organization's stronghold, rescuing Pluto and Kairi from their cell in the Organization's dungeon. They then proceed to find Sora, though Naminé's close proximity to her true counterpart causes her to blink in and out of existence as they apparently begin to join together again.

While searching for Sora, they are intercepted by Saïx. However, Riku arrives on the scene, and manages to drive off Saïx. Naminé then tells Riku that he can take over from this point, and vanishes.

After the first battle with the Kingdom Hearts-powered Xemnas, Naminé appears another time, though in a transparent state, and opens up a pathway to Destiny Islands; apparently, only Sora, Riku, and Kairi can see her, as Mickey, Donald, and Goofy have no idea where the pathway came from (however, the French version alters this; when the Corridor to Destiny Islands is opened, Donald asks, "Who was that girl?" to which Mickey replies, "I'll explain to you some other time." Having said thus, Mickey, Donald and Goofy enter the corridor, leaving Sora, Riku and Kairi behind to speak to Roxas and Naminé). Kairi thanks her for the help.

Naminé then tells Sora that they meet again, though he does not understand what she means (due to his memory loss of Castle Oblivion). At that moment, Roxas projects himself from Sora, and the two Nobodies are glad to meet once more, just as Naminé promised. The two realize that not all Nobodies are doomed to fade into the darkness, as they were able to meet their original selves, and though they are no longer independent, they will still live on through Sora and Kairi. Sora and Kairi promise their counterparts that they will be together every day, and without regret, Naminé finally joins with Kairi, completing her.

The two are last seen in the ending FMV, when Sora and Riku return home to a waiting Kairi. As Sora looks up to smile at Kairi, he takes on the appearance of Roxas. Kairi then takes on the appearance of Naminé, smiling back.

Kingdom Hearts Coded
A data version of Naminé appears in the final episode of Kingdom Hearts coded in the white room where she meets up with Data Sora and Mickey to tell them about Terra, Aqua, and Ventus as well as Sora's destiny to save them from their suffering along with Axel, Xion, Roxas and Naminé herself. As a replicant of data existing specifically for this purpose, Naminé fades away after the message is delivered. The end of this story results Mickey in writing the letter that he sends to Sora, Riku and Kairi in Kingdom Hearts II.[1]

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Naminé is seen in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep in the White Room of the Old Mansion in Twilight Town, finishing a drawing of Sora on the Paopu tree, and says Sora's name.

Gallery
Namine