Aqua is a protagonist from the Kingdom Hearts series, making her debut in North America's English release of Birth By Sleep, an entry on the PlayStation Portable. The game takes place 10 years before the original Kingdom Hearts, making it a prequel that many fans believed would segue into Kingdom Hearts 3. Aqua is also the protagonist of Kingdom Hearts 0.2 Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage, which is the true segue into Kingdom Hearts 3.

Aqua's Personal History

Aqua is a girl with blue hair and serves as one of three protagonists in Birth By Sleep, along with Terra and Ventus. Aqua is soft-spoken, has a kind heart and cares deeply about her friends. While Ventus's story is one of self-discovery and Terra acts as a bit of an antihero, Aqua's story revolves around protecting her friends. As such, her character is often criticized for being one-dimensional by fans of Kingdom Hearts. She could best be compared to Kairi, Sora's friend from Kingdom Hearts, and many on forums have argued she exists only to be "the female" of the group. Aqua plays a prominent role in the leadup to Kingdom Hearts 3, Birth By Sleep: A Fragmentary Passage, and then again in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Aqua's Keyblade, Rainfell

Aqua's keyblade is called Rainfell and is a slight misspelling of the original Japanese name, Rainfall. Rainfell has a thin, dull metallic blue color and features a teardrop gap in the base. The head is somewhat diamond shaped, and the handle is smooth and black. Rainfell has four "teeth" on the tip and has water droplet shaped links and tokens.

Aqua gains her keyblade long before Sora, the primary protagonist of Kingdom Hearts, does, after taking the Mark of Mastery exam with Terra. Aqua passes, but Terra fails due to an inability to control his darkness. Much like Anakin from Star Wars, this leads him down a dark path.

Aqua's fighting style flows like a river across the battlefield, giving her decent offense and defense. Her block is a 360 degree barrier, and she excels in magic, being proficient in all forms of it.

Birth By Sleep Changes

Birth By Sleep marks the first time there were multiple playable characters in a Kingdom Hearts game. Each character has their own, contained story, and all must be completed to view the true ending, which Aqua stars in. Players are recommended to keep a separate save file for each of Aqua, Ventus and Terra's adventure so the game can register a completion by all three protagonists to unlock the end-game.

Aqua's Story

Aqua was one of two pupils being trained by her master, Eraqus, in the Land of Departure. One day, a shifty-looking man named Master Xehanort showed up with a boy in tow, informing Eraqus that he had found a new apprentice. This boy was named Ventus.

Aqua and her friend, Terra tried to converse with Ventus and find out why he wanted to be a keyblade master, but the boy's brain short-circuited and he fell comatose. Aqua's master Eraqus informed them that this was due to Ventus losing his memories.

When the boy awoke, Aqua becoming protective of him, acting as a sort of big sister.

In Birth by Sleep, Aqua, Terra and Ventus set off on a journey which takes them across many Disney Worlds, similar to previous games. Many players will be familiar with the Disney locations present in these games.

After the Mark of Mastery exam, Terra leaves to learn how to control the darkness in his heart and Ventus leaves against her master's orders, while Aqua is sent by a worried Eraqus to watch over Terra and retrieve the boy Ventus. True to her master's concerns, Aqua learns that Eraqus is being easily led by the villains of the game such as Disney's Maleficent, and has stolen the princess Aurora's heart.

Aqua's story revolves following in Ventus and Terra's footsteps and learning what her friends have been up to. Terra is able to resist the machinations of Disney's Hades and helped Stitch, from Lilo and Stitch find a friend, which relieves Aqua, but eventually learns that Terra has struck down her master, Eraqus, from Master Yen Sid.

Meanwhile, Aqua continually runs into a strange boy called Vanitas, who mocks her and asks how Ventus is doing. Vanitas, a dark spectre, was extracted from Xehanort from Ventus's heart. Master Xehanort's plan, which revolves around Ventus and Vanitas fighting to create a legendary keyblade, eventually comes to fruition, and the game ends with Terra being taken over by darkness and possessed by Xehanort and her friend, Ventus, falling comatose. Xehanort is ultimately thwarted, but the damage is done.

Aqua enters the Realm of Darkness in Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage to try to find a way to save her friends, but is overtaken and possessed by Xehanort, leading to the meme "Aqua got norted" being popular during the trailer of Kingdom Hearts 3. The meme comes from Xehanort's habit of possessing the main protagonists, or "norting" them.

Birth By Sleep eventually sets up Kingdom Hearts 3 by having Aqua and Terra meet the young versions of Sora and Riku on Destiny Islands. Terra gives the power of the Keyblade to Riku, while Aqua refrains to save Sora from that burden, but tells him to help Riku if he ever falls to darkness.