That's especially odd to me, because though I know Namine's the much better and developed character, her growth seems to falter at times? Like, there's no denying that she admirably seems to grow a backbone in CoM, but then in II she falls into the same pattern she did in CoM, and works for DiZ to tear apart Roxas and Xion's lives. Understandable, of course, but Namine's a bit of headache to me.
I mean, she completely screws Sora over and feels bad about that, and then tries to set that right. However, she then effectively screws over Roxas and Xion, and we can clearly see she feels bad about that in Re:Coded. And the entire time, I'm just like clutching my head, wanting to scream, "Namine, break the cycle already, girl!"
...Sorry this is starting to turn into a post about my feelings on Namine. Just ignore me, as I don't want to derail the thread. But maybe I will make a thread about this, so we can all discuss Namine's future path.
Personally, I wouldn't mind if Namine walked a similar path to Riku, in seeking redemption. I think it could be a good character arc and development for her. Maybe...
Very interesting, as I actually made the same observation about Naminé when I played KH 2, but that does not count solely for her but also for Riku.
They
both screwed Sora over, she in CoM, he in KH 1, and both go about to "help" him by screwing over and destroying two other lives.
We can however see that Naminé feels bad about this even before it's done when she talks with Riku in Days:
Naminé: But if they join with her memories, things get a lot more complicated.
I would need to untangle her memory before I could finish Sora's... What was
supposed to take months might take years. DiZ would be furious.
Riku: So what's the solution?
Naminé: If I try to just jump in and rearrange her memory...then I risk Sora
waking up to find out that nobody remembers him anymore. I can't do that to
him. It's too late either way. His awakening will have to be delayed. I never
imagined Sora's Nobody and the other one would fight so hard to be their own
people. Unfortunately, the only real solution...is for them both to go away.
She's certainly reluctant to go that route, especially since one sentence before she remarks on her astonishment about Roxas and Xion fighting so hard to become their own entities.
Depending on how you read it though, you could however also be mean and say that Naminé proposes that solution only because she's too lazy to sort out the different memory sets and therefore resorts to having Roxas and Xion disappear because otherwise it would just take longer to restore Sora, but it would not be impossible.
Who cares if DiZ "gets furious" or if it takes longer to restore Sora? She certainly didn't care that Marluxia got furious when she refused to erase Sora's memory in CoM completely, and I dare to assume that Marluxia's wrath is surely more dangerous than DiZ's is.
Yet saying that totally disregards that Xemnas and the Org are still out there putting in place their own plans, so in the end it became a race for which team to succeed, leaving Naminé no real choice.
This is why Naminé is my favorite female main character in the series besides Aqua, it's not that she doesn't
want to break the cycle, but that she
cannot because all circumstances and other players are against her in the important situations so far. It's not like Riku who (partly) willingly caused a mess and chaos like in KH 1, but that she was forced into it the one or the other way anyways.
Her also making a connection with Namine (and maybe even Xion), the way Sora did Roxas also might help to develop her, if she has a similar, "your burden can be mine now" type thing going on, or whatever. But these are just my two-cents
That is actually one of the most important points, not only regarding Naminé, but all of the other main characters of the series, including Disney characters like Yen Sid, Mickey, Donald and Goofy. In order to become a full fledged main character on par with them and truly "part of the group" Kairi bitterly needs to interact and have screentime with characters other than Sora.
Although I think my reasoning still holds water as to why doesn't Namine doesn't get as much flak as Kairi when it comes to not fighting. To put it simply, Kairi's the fiery redhead who's been wanting to help since the first game and it's clear she means physically while Namine has always been more or a gentle, spiritual aid.
I always thought that that was kind of the point, Namine always gets stuck with the "icky jobs", the stuff she doesn't have full control over but has to do anyway for the "greater good". The massage she left in Jiminy's Journal was her attempt to break the cycle.
I think that has also much to do with the way both Kairi and Naminé were presented and handled throughout the series, while character development still doesn't equal with character screentime, the screentime Naminé had was used way better and more "concrete" than anything Kairi got (except maybe in KH 1 when she restores Sora).
So people can maybe easier "forgive" Naminé not fighting because she has another, not necessarily
good, but graspable role in the overall plot. What has Kairi really going for her other than "Princess of Heart" which is more a plot device and being an implied Sora-fangirl?
Even right now, with Naminé's role since Coded being reduced more to "Miss Explanation and Miss Exposition", a role she shares with Yen Sid to a degree, has more substance to it than Kairi has so far, which is really a pity considering her potential.
The KH 2-manga has an entire chapter devoted to Kairi interacting with Axel after he nabs her in Twilight Town while they travel through a dark corridor, showing off much of Kairi's personality and in the end leading to her becoming sympathetic to Axel and Nobodies and when Saix appears, attacks and wounds Axel she actually tries to help him before Saix has two Berserker Nobodies take her away.
Such little tidbits that flesh her out as a person
herself independently are nearly completely absent in the games, as small scenes like her interaction with Roxas or HPO in KH 2 are only scratching the surface
and/or are often solely focused on Sora again instead of having her making her own connections and friends.
Indeed, somehow it also serves to show that while Naminé may
have learnt a lesson and developed to another point, she cannot
act upon it due to outside circumstances and necessities that get in the way.
Keep her in the background and not bring too much attention to her? I'm still of the belief that out of all the games for Kairi to be involved in KH3 is the one she should take a back seat in. Sort of. Have a presence, participate, but not take center stage. KH3 was just a bad point to try a start making major contributions to her character.
Combatative wise though they can probably use that magic...time...compression thing Lea used 3D, but I hope they either don't use it, use it sparingly, or have some sort of consequences for using it too much because it can easily become a hax.
I agree, I had this discussion with someone else earlier as well. KH 3 is probably the most "unsafe" point in the story they may have chosen to start her development, as the danger of her either being pushed into the background again
too much so it becomes too few again is there as well as the prospect of giving her too much, making the rest of the narrative and characters suffer.
Both would probably result in her getting even more flak in the fandom than she already has, which would be something that should be avoided.
The writers in KH were never so good that they could juggle several subplots effectively, heck, even the pacing of the main plot feels off at times, so the chances of them messing this up is rather high.
I would guess that there is no real other realistic option than the time chamber, as sending her out on a real excursion before some significant training would be very unwise considering she's one of the seven holding up the stability of the universe. Nomura may have introduced this plot point specifically for that reason. In DDD Yen Sid only talks about the thingy when Lea is away to use it, so maybe in KH III we get to actually
see it.
I guess one of the easiest restrictions would be that this "chamber" cannot be maintained for long (since it requires apparently the powers of Merlin and the three fairies together) and such each training session, although longer inside the chamber of course, would still have a set limit.
