"I wonder whatever happened to him. I sure miss him."

—Selphie regarding Riku

Selphie is a minor character in the Kingdom Hearts series, originally from Final Fantasy VIII.

Story

Kingdom Hearts

Selphie is a resident of the Destiny Islands and a friend of Sora, Kairi and Riku. She spends most of her time with Tidus and Wakka.

She is one of three to ask Sora a question during his Dive to the Heart in the Destiny Islands area. Her question, "What is most important to you?" can be answered with either, "being number one", "friendship", or "my prize possessions". Later, Selphie talks to Sora about the legends of mysterious effects the paopu fruit has on people. Sora can also challenge her to a duel; if he defeats her, Tidus, and Wakka, he can challenge all three at once.

Her whereabouts are unknown after the Heartless destroy Destiny Islands. However, thanks to Sora, she is able to return to Destiny Islands when it is restored.

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories

A memory-based version of Selphie appears within Castle Oblivion. Sora briefly speaks to her along with Tidus and Wakka when he goes to Destiny Islands. When Riku goes there, she also appears with Tidus and Wakka, but quickly disappears.

Some time after the defeat of Marluxia, the real Selphie plays with Tidus and Wakka on the beach while Kairi watches the small island, waiting for Sora.^{[KH Re:CoM]}

Kingdom Hearts II

Selphie tells Kairi she does not have any memories of Sora as they discuss his existence.

Like the other islanders, Selphie has forgotten Sora as a result of Naminé's manipulations. She invites Kairi to go to the kids' island after school one day, but Kairi reveals that she promised herself not to go to the island until she remembers Sora's name. Although Selphie has no memory of Sora and can only remember Riku who she misses since his disappearance, she does believe Kairi's story of Sora's existence. She hopes that Kairi's letter to Sora reaches him.

Kingdom Hearts coded

A data version of Selphie appears on the Datascape's Destiny Islands, alongside Data-Wakka and Data-Tidus. She has Data-Sora destroy Bug Blox on the beach, and rewards him with an item.

Design

Selphie is thirteen years old in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories.^[1]

Selphie is a short, thin girl with lightly tanned skin, green eyes, and light brown hair in a peculiar hairstyle, with one large curl on the back of her head and two more on either side. In Kingdom Hearts, she wears a short yellow dress with overall straps and a large pocket on the chest, a blue beaded bracelet on her left wrist, and brown-strapped tan sandals. She carries a brown-handled jump rope that she uses as a practice weapon. She retains this appearance in Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories and Kingdom Hearts coded.

In Kingdom Hearts II, a slightly older and noticeably taller Selphie is briefly seen in a school uniform similar to the one Kairi wears: a short-sleeved white polo shirt, a plaid, sky blue tie, a pleated skirt of the same color, navy blue knee-high socks, and black shoes. She also wears a small brown strap around her left wrist in lieu of her bracelet from Kingdom Hearts, and carries a pink-lined white handbag with charms shaped like yellow stars and a moogle.

During development of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, a coding mistake made her legs slightly fatter, giving her a more adult impression.^[2]

Personality

Selphie is carefree and outgoing. She also seems to be a romantic of sorts, commenting how romantic the paopu fruit legend is to Sora when he speaks to her on Destiny Islands. She also appears rather charmed by Kairi's idea of sending a letter in a bottle to the "other boy."

Abilities

On Destiny Islands, Selphie practices fighting skills with Sora using a jump rope as a practice weapon. She is faster than Tidus or Wakka, jumps away from or around Sora during battle, and her jump rope can stun Sora if it lands. However, her jump rope can be deflected back at her and stun her instead. After defeating Tidus, Selphie, and Wakka as individuals, Sora is able to fight against them all at the same time.

Origin

Selphie Tilmitt originated as a major character from Final Fantasy VIII, in which she is a classmate of Squall Leonhart at Balamb Garden, having recently transferred from Trabia Garden. She is active and energetic, although slightly clumsy. She participates in many extracurricular activities, such as planning the Garden Festival and running the school's website. She wields Nunchaku in battle, and her Limit Break, "Slot", allows the player to cast a random spell numerous times. She is obsessed with trains and other vehicles, and she ended up being the pilot of the team's starship. Selphie first shows up when she runs into Squall while late for class, and later joins Squall's team after Seifer runs off during a field exam. She graduates to SeeD with Squall and Zell Dincht, and the three are assigned to the same team, which is given a mission to free the small nation of Timber from the giant Republic of Galbadia. During the game, she recovers her childhood closeness with Irvine Kinneas, who serves as her copilot on the Ragnarok.

Selphie was the second character that Nomura designed for the game, after Squall, intentionally giving her an impractical hairstyle. Initially, Nomura drew her in overalls; however, he realized that none of the characters would be wearing a skirt. In the end, he gave Selphie a mini-skirt and let Quistis have pants.

While Selphie is not the only character from Final Fantasy VIII to appear in the Kingdom Hearts series, she never meets Leon, Seifer, Fuu, or Rai, due to living on different worlds, breaking Selphie apart from her former castmates to coincide with the Kingdom Hearts series' theme of multiple franchises and works combining.

Notes and references

• Entelechy
• Destiny Islands
• Final Fantasy characters
• Kingdom Hearts characters
• Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories characters
• Kingdom Hearts II characters
• Kingdom Hearts coded characters