Naminé

Naminé is an important character in the Kingdom Hearts series of games and a minor character in The Interference and The Interference II: Curse of the Crimson Elixir. She is the Nobody, later counterpart of Kairi, and was originally a hostage of Organisation XIII.

Prior to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Naminé was born in Castle Oblivion after Sora unlocked his heart in Hollow Bastion, from Kairi's heart. Because Kairi's heart and body were separate at the time, Naminé was born without a body, unlike a regular Nobody, and like Roxas (who was created in the same incident) was born without memories of being Kairi. The Organisation eventually found her while they were constructing their new base of operations on the site.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Marluxia and Larxene, two of the younger members of the Organisation, took Naminé as a hostage and began to use her in their scheme to rebel against the older ranks.

To Sora, Naminé was alluded to as something missing that Sora had long forgotten, though 'to find [was] to lose and to lose [was] to find' - he would pay other memories for the cost of 'remembering' Naminé. In the background, Naminé gradually changed Sora's memories, inserting herself as initially a third playmate, then taking Kairi's position. This was 'paid' for by Sora (and Donald, Goofy and Jiminy Cricket, by extension) gradually losing his other memories, up until the point he could barely remember anything but her. The intention was to use Sora's developing devotion to Naminé to lure him closer and eventually erase all of his memories so that his power could be used against Xemnas.

During this time Naminé is also forced to insert false memories into a Replica of Riku created by Vexen, causing him to imagine himself as the real Riku, and that he made the same vow to Naminé that Sora now imagines. This caused the Riku Replica to come to clashes with both Sora and Riku, over both his identity and his false connection to Naminé.

Naminé was eventually freed by Axel, and she immediately made her way to tell Sora of what she had done. She told Sora that her position in his heart was false. Just as he came to terms with this, the Riku Replica attacked, and when he caught Sora off-guard, Naminé severed his false memories. After an additional battle with Larxene, Sora forgave Naminé for what she had done, and headed upstairs to defeat Marluxia, leaving Naminé with the Replica. Marluxia used the chance to kidnap her, and used her as a shield when Axel attacked him. Sora interrupted the battle, and Marluxia left with Naminé.

After the battle with Axel, Sora confronted Marluxia. Marluxia, disappointed with Sora, ordered Naminé to destroy his heart. Naminé refused, but Marluxia threatened to kill her, and Sora told her to do it. The Riku Replica arrived and saved her, then stood guard over her as Sora and his friends defeated Marluxia.

Naminé asked Sora whether he would rather keep his new memories or regain his old ones. Sora decided to regain his old memories, and she led him, Donald and Goofy to a trio of Memory Pods in which they would rest while their memories were restored. Sora believed that Naminé would remain in his heart even if she was forgotten. They promised to meet again, just before Sora went to sleep.

As Riku fought Zexion in the basement floors, Naminé appeared to him as Kairi. Later they met again and she took him to see the now sleeping Sora. She offered to interfere with Riku's heart and seal away his darkness, but Riku chose otherwise. DiZ asked Naminé to move Sora, Donald and Goofy to the Old Mansion in Twilight Town where they would be safe, and the three of them began working together to restore their memories.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Naminé tried to restore Sora, Donald and Goofy's memories over the course of the next year, but the process was halted when Sora's memories began to leak and separate. The memories were flowing between Roxas, Sora's Nobody, and Xion, a Replica designed to absorb Sora's memories and become his replacement. Naminé told Xion of her involvement in this process and her status as a Nobody, and allowed her to make an informed decision regarding her fate.

During this time, Naminé also found several old, painful memories inside Sora's heart that did not originally belong to him. Thinking she had made a mistake, she investigated and discovered that the memories were indeed a part of his heart. Because they were potentially damaging, and Sora needed to be consciously ready to call them to the surface, Naminé added a request for help in Jiminy Cricket's Journal.

The Interference
For the first six days, Naminé continues to work on Sora's memories at the Old Mansion, with the added and unwilling assistance of Roxas, who has been digitised into the Old Mansion's computer system to be eventually reunited with Sora. Naminé knows that Roxas has no memory of events prior to his capture or of his true identity, and so repeatedly enters the simulation to try and inform Roxas of what is happening to him; however, DiZ repeatedly stops her. On the sixth day, she uses a digital facsimile, but is foiled, and enters briefly herself to tell Roxas that he will not disappear when he returns to Sora, and that they will meet again. DiZ orders Naminé's destruction after Roxas is fully reintegrated into Sora. Riku instead leaves her in the care of Axel, and she is not heard from for a while.

Much later on, Naminé breaks Kairi out of the dungeons of The Castle That Never Was, and leads her away to try and find Sora. During this time, Naminé begins fading out of visibility. Saïx intercepts them, but Riku prevents him from recapturing Kairi. Naminé allows Riku to take over and disappears fully.

After the reunited party fight Xemnas in the first part of the final stretch, Naminé makes her only actual appearance in the story when she summons a Dark Corridor leading to Destiny Islands after Riku fails to. King Mickey, Donald and Goofy, unable to see her, are confused, but use the portal, leaving Sora, Riku, Kairi and Alex behind. Kairi thanks Naminé, and then Naminé addresses Roxas, greeting him. Roxas projects himself to meet her, and they note that they can be together again (though not without comment from Joumae). Naminé then clasps Kairi's hand, and she fades into her.

Personality
Naminé is quiet and reserved, though not without her rebellious side. She began developing her personality during a hostage situation, which has left obvious marks on her - though she often takes orders, she is ready to disobey if anyone comes to harm who does not deserve it; she will also make efforts to inform the targets of plans in which she is involved of the truth of their situations. She is concerned with honesty and the affected having the ability to decide their own fate.

Appearance
Naminé is a short, thin girl who is physically almost identical to Kairi. She has very pale skin and long, somewhat thick blonde hair swept across her right shoulder. Her eyes are a blue-violet, just as Kairi's are. She wears a simple white minidress with a lace-like hem that comes to her mid-thigh, and blue sandals with flower decorations.

Powers and Abilities
Due to her unusual birth, rather than the usual elemental manipulation available to other humanoid Nobodies, Naminé has the ability to manipulate the memories of Sora, and people who are connected to him. She is able to rearrange memories into new strings of events, insert memories into Replicas, or completely sever memories from a heart, which renders a victim, in essence, comatose. Her powers can be stopped when memories go missing, such as when Sora's memories leaked away into Xion, which prevented further restoration. It is thought that her powers are activated through drawing, as her drawings usually feature images from Sora and Roxas' memories.

Source games

 * Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, 2004
 * Kingdom Hearts II, 2005
 * Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, 2010