Just a quick thought.
It's been taken to be common knowledge at this point that Riku was dual wielding when he passed Destiny's Embrace on to Kairi. While this is a reasonable assumption, and very probable, it's not confirmed. And that's really all I'm pointing out in this thread. We can't just act like Riku dual wielding is a confirmed fact.
So if he wasn't dual wielding, where did he get the keyblade? The implication in the very question I'm asking is that he literally took the keyblade from somewhere (or someone) else. I've come up with two ideas, both involving Aqua.
1. This idea is one I believe has been tossed around before, can't exactly remember. What Riku is holding is actually Eraqus' keyblade. In other words, Riku may have met Aqua in the Realm of Darkness and she passed his keyblade on to Riku, while Riku passed it on to Kairi.
Obviously, this brings up a couple questions.
Why would Aqua do that in the first place? Well, remember how Nomura said Aqua is the only one that currently knows how to get to Ven? Part of that undoubtedly comes from Eraqus' keyblade. If she can turn LoD into CO, she can probably turn it back, or at least stop it from being an endless maze. If Aqua wasn't capable of rescuing Ven herself, then I would think it logical for her to pass the keyblade on to the next in line. That is, if Aqua is the successor to Eraqus, who is the successor to Aqua? Kairi. Riku may have been the "delivery boy" for Kairi, and she may acquire the necessary knowledge in the future to find Ven and use Eraqus' keyblade.
If Riku were to reveal himself to Aqua (in the same manner as he did to Sora afterward), I'm sure she would recognize him as that little boy on the islands. Heck, Riku might even remember her since it's implied he remembers Terra. So I imagine she would trust him to pass it on. The problem is how she'd be aware that Kairi is her successor, since the rite was performed accidentally. Perhaps she wasn't and was simply passing the keyblade to Riku, and Riku in turn felt it belonged to Kairi for obvious reasons.
Why wouldn't Riku save Aqua though? This is another problem, but it's not contained to just Riku. You have to ask why Mickey didn't save her either. You could argue that they somehow got separated or something to that effect, but if that's the case, then why do Mickey and Yen Sid talk about her casually as if they know she's ok? ("Oh, well I found Aqua in the Dark Realm... and then left her... over a year ago... I'm sure she's ok now!").
That, coupled with the fact that Aqua has been there for ten years makes things questionable. It may be true that escape is based on luck if you're not capable of producing a CoD, but the difference seems almost ludicrous. Riku and Mickey are hardly in there for any time (months at the most), while Aqua has been in there for over 11 years? I think there may be some problem with her escape. Either she is incapable of escaping even through a CoD for some reason, or she chooses to stay voluntarily because there's something in there she must do.
2. This is a theory I don't believe I've seen before.
The keyblade Kairi uses is Aqua's. How did Riku get his mitts on Aqua's keyblade? Did he break into the Chamber of Repose? Not necessarily.
Remember that scene in KH2FM of Xemnas visiting the CoR. My understanding was that this scene was in the present time (if it wasn't, this still works, but yeah). Basically, while everyone was off fighting the Heartless invasion, Xemnas used this opportunity to sneak into the CoR. Seems odd, doesn't it? It's like he created a huge diversion just so he could see Aqua's armor/keyblade. Or maybe he did more than that. He may have taken them because he planned to use them for something.
I would venture to guess that he tried using Aqua's keyblade but wasn't capable. He does imply, after all, that he would like to use one ("were it only in more... capable hands). So where would he keep Aqua's Keyblade? Somewhere in TCTNW. And that's where we first see Riku with it.
Basically, then, when Riku sneaked in, he found the keyblade and then passed it on to Kairi. Perhaps it reacted to her presence since it transformed into Destiny's Embrace.
-----------
That's about it, not much to it.
I know that the novels basically say that Riku doesn't even know how he obtained the keyblade, but since they're second tier canon, I would take that fact with a grain of salt.
It could still work even with Riku being unaware in the latter case, though. For instance, he walks by the keyblade and it "gravitates" toward him, so to speak.
It's been taken to be common knowledge at this point that Riku was dual wielding when he passed Destiny's Embrace on to Kairi. While this is a reasonable assumption, and very probable, it's not confirmed. And that's really all I'm pointing out in this thread. We can't just act like Riku dual wielding is a confirmed fact.
So if he wasn't dual wielding, where did he get the keyblade? The implication in the very question I'm asking is that he literally took the keyblade from somewhere (or someone) else. I've come up with two ideas, both involving Aqua.
1. This idea is one I believe has been tossed around before, can't exactly remember. What Riku is holding is actually Eraqus' keyblade. In other words, Riku may have met Aqua in the Realm of Darkness and she passed his keyblade on to Riku, while Riku passed it on to Kairi.
Obviously, this brings up a couple questions.
Why would Aqua do that in the first place? Well, remember how Nomura said Aqua is the only one that currently knows how to get to Ven? Part of that undoubtedly comes from Eraqus' keyblade. If she can turn LoD into CO, she can probably turn it back, or at least stop it from being an endless maze. If Aqua wasn't capable of rescuing Ven herself, then I would think it logical for her to pass the keyblade on to the next in line. That is, if Aqua is the successor to Eraqus, who is the successor to Aqua? Kairi. Riku may have been the "delivery boy" for Kairi, and she may acquire the necessary knowledge in the future to find Ven and use Eraqus' keyblade.
If Riku were to reveal himself to Aqua (in the same manner as he did to Sora afterward), I'm sure she would recognize him as that little boy on the islands. Heck, Riku might even remember her since it's implied he remembers Terra. So I imagine she would trust him to pass it on. The problem is how she'd be aware that Kairi is her successor, since the rite was performed accidentally. Perhaps she wasn't and was simply passing the keyblade to Riku, and Riku in turn felt it belonged to Kairi for obvious reasons.
Why wouldn't Riku save Aqua though? This is another problem, but it's not contained to just Riku. You have to ask why Mickey didn't save her either. You could argue that they somehow got separated or something to that effect, but if that's the case, then why do Mickey and Yen Sid talk about her casually as if they know she's ok? ("Oh, well I found Aqua in the Dark Realm... and then left her... over a year ago... I'm sure she's ok now!").
That, coupled with the fact that Aqua has been there for ten years makes things questionable. It may be true that escape is based on luck if you're not capable of producing a CoD, but the difference seems almost ludicrous. Riku and Mickey are hardly in there for any time (months at the most), while Aqua has been in there for over 11 years? I think there may be some problem with her escape. Either she is incapable of escaping even through a CoD for some reason, or she chooses to stay voluntarily because there's something in there she must do.
2. This is a theory I don't believe I've seen before.
The keyblade Kairi uses is Aqua's. How did Riku get his mitts on Aqua's keyblade? Did he break into the Chamber of Repose? Not necessarily.
Remember that scene in KH2FM of Xemnas visiting the CoR. My understanding was that this scene was in the present time (if it wasn't, this still works, but yeah). Basically, while everyone was off fighting the Heartless invasion, Xemnas used this opportunity to sneak into the CoR. Seems odd, doesn't it? It's like he created a huge diversion just so he could see Aqua's armor/keyblade. Or maybe he did more than that. He may have taken them because he planned to use them for something.
I would venture to guess that he tried using Aqua's keyblade but wasn't capable. He does imply, after all, that he would like to use one ("were it only in more... capable hands). So where would he keep Aqua's Keyblade? Somewhere in TCTNW. And that's where we first see Riku with it.
Basically, then, when Riku sneaked in, he found the keyblade and then passed it on to Kairi. Perhaps it reacted to her presence since it transformed into Destiny's Embrace.
-----------
That's about it, not much to it.
I know that the novels basically say that Riku doesn't even know how he obtained the keyblade, but since they're second tier canon, I would take that fact with a grain of salt.
It could still work even with Riku being unaware in the latter case, though. For instance, he walks by the keyblade and it "gravitates" toward him, so to speak.
