A very controversial title in gaming is the Kingdom Hearts series. It is generally played due to the participation of Disney Characters, but original characters from this franchise can also be very interesting. That is the case for Aqua, a selfless, loveable character that goes through a sad story in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

Aqua’s goal was to save her best friends, and she went through a lot trying to do so. The kind heart and sweet personality of Aqua instantly made her a favorite in the franchise. However, there is so much more about her than what we learn in Birth by Sleep.

10 Kairi Was Saved By Aqua

Aqua was supposed to bring back her friends. Terra left to prove himself, and Ventus went after him. After going after them, she ended up in Radiant Garden, where she saw a little child being attacked. She used the Keyblade to defeat the attacking creature, with some help from King Mickey.

That girl that Aqua saved with the help of the King was actually Kairi. She also cast a spell on Kairi to make her eventually find someone who would protect her. She said to Kairi that: “The light within you will lead to the light of another.”

9 Aqua’s Actions Cause Many Years of Trouble In The Worlds

Since her only goal was to keep her friends safe, to prevent Terra from falling in the Realm of Darkness, she sacrificed her armor and keyblade. That way, Aqua sent him to the Realm of Light. That caused Terra to become Apprentice Xehanort.

Apprentice Xehanort eventually becomes two different entities — one being his Nobody, Xemnas, who is the number 1 of the Organization XIII. He is also the main antagonist in Kingdom Hearts 2. The other half of Apprentice-Xehanort is his Heartless, Ansem, the main antagonist of the first Kingdom Hearts game.

8 Aqua Is Mentioned In Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix

Players can take a brief look at Aqua’s keyblade and keyblade armor in Kingdom Hearts 2: Final Mix. Both items are in a room that was constructed by apprentices under the Radiant Garden. The room is called the Chamber of Repose. When Xenmas visits the armor, he talks to it as if he was talking to a person and calls it “friend.”

At some point, these actions make Xigbar curious. At some point, he tells Zexion that there was this one time when someone responded to Xemnas when he was talking to the armor.

7 She Has Faith In Sora

Like most characters in the game, Aqua’s trust in Sora goes beyond reason. It’s pure faith. When in the Dark Meridian, she meets Ansem the Wise. It is revealed to her then that 12 years have passed already. Ansem tells her everything that is going on until the moment, including Sora’s latest actions.

This makes her feel comforted. Alleviated by what she heard, Aqua sheds a few tears and calls Sora’s name. With her hope restored, she waits for Sora to save Ventus, Terra, and her. There are so many easy-to-miss details in Kingdom Hearts that only prove how important the spin-offs are to the plot of the franchise.

6 She Becomes An Antagonist For A While

In Kingdom Hearts 3, Aqua loses a fight when standing up against Ansem, The Seeker of Darkness. This Ansem, who is Xehanort’s Heartless, defeats Aqua, who is soon overwhelmed by a blast of pure darkness. That ends up corrupting her and turning her into Anti-Aqua.

Anti-Aqua is quite the opposite of what Aqua is in many ways. She certainly looks different, but there is more to this change. Anti-Aqua is angry, bitter, and even cruel. She openly displays those feelings and accuses King Mickey of forgetting her within the darkness for over a decade. Thankfully, Anti-Aqua is not one of the hardest Kingdom Heart bosses.

5 She Fights Her Whole Life To Free Terra

Near the end of Kingdom Hearts 3, Aqua and Ventus are in a battle against Vanitas and Xehanort. The latter takes over Terra’s body and goes by Terra-Xehanort. After much struggle, and finally defeating the one who took over her friend’s body, Aqua and Ventus are snared by with the chains of their unbreakable bonds. Luckily, they are then saved by Terra’s Heartless.

It took Aqua over a decade to finally manage to rescue Terra from his own darkness and give him back his body. Sora helps Xehanort’s heartless to return to his body, making it possible for Aqua to finally see her friend Terra again.

4 Aqua Becomes Kairi’s Master

Aqua is a very talented Keyblade Master who is extremely powerful and kind-hearted. Although there are many times she needed help from Sora, Ventus, and Terra’s Heartless, she is clearly the stronger of her friendship circle. She also has an unbreakable will and an undying hope — traits that make her easy to like and admire.

That makes it only logical that she’d become someone’s master — especially someone who has a heart that is so much like hers. In Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory, it is confirmed that Kairi wants to keep training with Aqua, and Yen Sid agrees that she should. This is one of the many things that Melody of Memory hints at in terms of what happens after Kingdom Hearts 3.

3 Her Fight Style Reveals That She Is Also Smart

Nomura himself defines Aqua as a tricky character. She is a powerful magic wielder who is very agile. The Keyblade Master is strong enough to get into physical combat and succeed, but Aqua is even better when using her other talents. She uses her acrobatic skills combined with her magic prowess in an outstanding way.

It is said that, in Kingdom Hearts, the only magic user who is more talented than Aqua is Ansem the Wise himself. This only proves that she is an amazingly competent and powerful Keyblade Master.

2 You Can See A Bit Of Everybody In Aqua

Aqua is often seen as similar to Kairi. But the notorious thing about Aqua is that she has elements of many characters in Kingdom Hearts. Kindness is a strong trait of her personality, but she is also very blunt and determined, things that are often associated with Riku. She also values friendship above all, a trait mostly seen in Sora.

Something that is very much her own is the fact that she seems to have the strongest sense of justice of all Kingdom Hearts characters.

1 She Fights With Her Master’s Keyblade

After the events of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Aqua is seen fighting with Eraqus’s keyblade. That is a very interesting detail that carries on from the moment she avoids Terra from falling into the Darkness. This makes logical sense because she had her master’s keyblade and had to sacrifice her own, but there is more.

The fact that Aqua is using The Master’s Defender, Eraqus’ Keyblade, is a symbol of how much she has grown. It is this visual detail that tells us that she is a true Keyblade Master.

NEXT: Everything We Learned About Kingdom Hearts 4 In 2020