Kingdom Hearts/Characters/Villains

This is a listing of the Major Villains that appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Visit here for the main characters index.
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Tropes applying to the Xehanorts as a whole
"Eraqus: You would risk an apocalypse out of sheer curiosity?!"
 * A God Am I: Master Xehanort planned to use the χ-Blade to control Kingdom Hearts, and use its power and knowledge to remake the universe in his idea of perfect balance. His incarnations have similar aspirations.
 * Badass: In whatever incarnation he appears, Xehanort is always a badass.
 * Badass Baritone: All his incarnations have very deep voices, with the justifiable exception of him as a teenager, and even then only in Japanese.
 * Badass Longcoat/Badass Long Robe: Always one or the other.
 * Big Bad: Xehanort and his incarnations are almost always the major villains of the game.
 * Hijacked By Xehanort: Aside from Marluxia and, every central villain of the franchise is either one of Xehanort's incarnations, is working for one of them, or is one of their Unwitting Pawns, and his connection to the villains of the latest game is usually The Reveal. And while Marluxia's Evil Scheme had nothing to do with Xehanort, he very likely owes his existence to him.
 * Black Magic/Casting a Shadow: Darkness is his whole shtick.
 * Body Surf:.
 * The Chessmaster
 * Drunk on the Dark Side
 * Evil Sorceror: Typically a Mix and Match of this and a Mad Scientist, as the series's focus on Magitek heavily blurs the line between science and magic.
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * Eyes of Gold:
 * For Science!: Everything Xehanort and his incarnations do is in the name of furthering their knowledge of hearts and darkness, even knowing it could cause The End of the World as We Know It.


 * Hades Shaded
 * I Have Many Names: Take your pick, (Master) Xehanort, Xemnas, Ansem, ...As of Dream Drop Distance you can add.
 * Large Ham: All of them provide a variety of sumptuous flavors.
 * Evil Is Hammy
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Pointy Ears:
 * Powers Via Possession:
 * Red and Black and Evil All Over: Master Xehanort's black and red cloak, passed on to Ansem, and Xemnas's Black Cloak and red Etheral Blades.
 * Relationship Voice Actor: Master Xehanort is voiced by Chikao Ohtsuka, while Xehanort and "Ansem" are voiced by his son, Akio Ohtsuka.
 * Thirteen Is Unlucky
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: The only exception is Master Xehanort, and that's only because he's bald from age.
 * X Makes Anything Cool
 * Let X Be the Unknown

Master Xehanort


""We know so little about the Keyblade War -- only that it was just the beginning. Amidst that crisis a precious light was found. It is a curious tale -- and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation. So what, then, would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers.""

- Voiced by: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), Leonard Nimoy (English)

An elderly Keyblade Master, he was once a noble and wise man, if somewhat shifty. However, in his quest to unravel the mysteries of the Keyblade and its role in the fate of the worlds, he delved too deep into darkness and now seeks the power of Kingdom Hearts to cause an apocalypse For Science!. He's effectively the Big Bad of the franchise, as his schemes and his various incarnations fuel the main conflicts behind almost every game. -
 * Badass: Think of how badass all the other incarnations of Xehanort are. Then think, one way or another, it all started with him.
 * Badass Grandpa
 * Bald of Evil
 * Batman Gambit:
 * Beard of Evil
 * Big Bad: Of Birth By Sleep, and as the original Xehanort, the rest of the franchise through his incarnations.
 * : He mentions several times in his writings that he considers Eraqus a brother.
 * The Chessmaster: Not only in Birth By Sleep, but according to Dream Drop Distance, . Master Xehanort is clearly playing Gambit Roulette with a rigged wheel.
 * Combat Tropes
 * An Ice Person: Shows a preference for ice -- he freezes Ven, tosses out Blizzard attacks in battle, and ends his Keyblade combos in a blast of ice.
 * Black Magic/Casting a Shadow: Zigzagged, while he's shown using dark attacks in cutscenes, and his various incarnations use them liberally, he doesn't use any when you actually fight him (However the thunderbolts and ice he summons are black and have aura's of darkness).
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Raises pillars of earth to launch you into the air.
 * Flash Step: Not only does he Teleport Spam like his other incarnations enjoy, but as his health wears down he'll teleport in the middle of his combos to attack from multiple directions.
 * Kung Fu Wizard: As No Heart, whose fighting style is implied to be Master Xehanort's in his younger days, Xehanort was both a potent spellcaster and a first-class Lightning Bruiser in his youth, demonstrating not only advanced magic and swordplay but also transforming his Keyblade to enhance his punches and kicks to devastating effect. No wonder he still has Super Strength as an old man.
 * Morph Weapon: During the No Heart fight, his Keyblade becomes a floating shield, body armour, and a set of wings.
 * Shock and Awe: Calls down lightning strikes.
 * Squishy Wizard: Being that he's much older than the other incarnations of him out there, he's rather slow and prefers to assault you with magic from afar while teleporting to avoid you. His basic Keyblade combo, in contrast to his Spam Attack in other forms, is a weak four-hit blitz.
 * Storm of Blades: He frequently launches barrages of keyblades at you as No Heart and his normal form.
 * Super Strength: Despite being a Squishy Wizard, he's strong enough to hold Ven in the air by his helmet, cracking it for good measure, and can hold off Terra's Keyblade strikes with one hand.
 * Crazy Prepared: See The Chessmaster above.
 * Evil Counterpart: What we learn about Xehanort's past in Birth By Sleep has effectively turned him into an Evil Counterpart to Sora -- . While Xehanort and his incarnations betray their allies when they are of no further use, Sora relies on The Power of Friendship. Not to mention that both of them have multiple alter-egos, which have themselves clashed across the series. According to Word of God as of Dream Drop Distance, Master Xehanort also has the ability to attach different Keychains to his Keyblade to change it's form, too.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evil Makes You Monstrous: Though not directly confirmed, there's a few hints that perhaps.
 * Evil Mentor
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Evil Weapon: While Keyblades can't actually be evil themselves, his Keyblade is nonetheless just another clue to how Obviously Evil he is.
 * Eyes of Gold:.
 * The Faceless: Played With. His face is seen multiple times throughout Birth By Sleep, but he is always shown from his back during the flashbacks to his teenage days at Destiny Islands. Dream Drop Distance the scene with him on Destiny Islands still show him from the back mostly.
 * Fallen Hero
 * Gambit Roulette: And it worked.
 * Grand Theft Me: Pulls this on
 * Hades Shaded
 * I Need You Stronger: Tempts Terra to darkness and encourages him to continue his training in order to.
 * Hoist by His Own Petard:.
 * I Was Quite the Looker: Xehanort was a picture perfect Bishonen in his youth.
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi"
 * Kick the Dog: At the end of Birth By Sleep he liberally does this and then enjoys some Evil Gloating about it to keep driving Terra's hatred and anger deeper. The crowner is when he.
 * Knight of Cerebus: Once the final battle rolled up in Birth By Sleep, it was clear Master Xehanort was far more menacing, ambitious, powerful, and just downright evil than anyone seen in the series before. Dream Drop Distance, in revealing the full extent of his plans, has made him even worse.
 * Lack of Empathy: He feels no remorse for all the evil actions he's done. But he is not above petting the dog as seen below.
 * Legacy Character: All subsequent incarnations of Xehanort bear similarities to this one in appearance, personality and/or goals. Of course, that's chronologically -- with the games being told out of order, design-wise he's a Legacy Character to them.
 * Leitmotif: Titled "Xehanort", it really contributes to how Obviously Evil he is.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * : In Dream Drop Distance and beyond, this has apparently been his plan all along.
 * Milking the Giant Cow: He has exactly two positions for his hands -- clasping behind his back, and milking position. That picture up there? That's how either or both look for pretty much all of Birth By Sleep.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: No Heart, the Artificial Fallen Angel Kung-Fu Magic Knight.
 * Obviously Evil: Even if you didn't already know who he is and what he does, simply looking at his picture up there should tip you off.
 * Old Master
 * Omnicidal Maniac: While it's not his actual goal, Xehanort's goals to create the χ-blade, take control of Kingdom Hearts and start a Keyblade War, would more than likely cause widespread destruction across the entire Realm of Light, possibly even destroying the realm itself.
 * One Steve Limit: A rather complicated aversion, there are several "Xehanorts" throughout the series, but in various ways they're all different incarnations of this Xehanort, the original (so far).
 * Pet the Dog: The Xehanort Reports. The 10th one reveals, and the rest follow most of his life and show that while he wasn't warmhearted, he was a far cry from being an evil mastermind. At one point he laments that in spite of all he's accomplished, he's getting too old to continue his research on subjects that fascinate him, and he wonders if quietly living out his final years is all that's left for him. Then the reports go on and you can see him changing for the worse.
 * Power Gives You Wings: As No Heart.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Vanitas' red.
 * Rule of Symbolism: His Keyblade Armor is bright white with some feather motifs, and his Keyblade Glider is a set of wings. Alluding not just to him being a Fallen Hero, but in a way, a Fallen Angel like Satan.
 * Significant Anagram: "No Heart", "Another", or "No Earth" through the same system as the Organization's anagrams. "No Heart" serves as the name of a Bonus Boss in Birth By Sleep: Final Mix that is his animated Keyblade Armor, and Another is the password used to access the chamber of awakening. "No Earth" naturally refers to, but if you take "earth" as referring to worlds or planets, it's also what his plans would result in, ie the destruction of all worlds.
 * Slouch of Villainy:.
 * Start of Darkness: Xehanort would have been just another youth looking for an escape from his home much like Riku
 * The Sociopath: He began a Well-Intentioned Extremist as described below, but suffered in-universe Motive Decay and is now only interested in power, no matter what he has to do to achieve it.
 * The Unfought: Though he's the antagonist of the entire series he was never seen before Birth By Sleep and was only fought in that game by Terra. He and Sora have never met directly, and aside from Terra no one has actually faced him in battle.
 * Visionary Villain: Became one after Jumping Off the Slippery Slope. See Well-Intentioned Extremist.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: He started out this way, believing the universe ought to have a balance of light and darkness, and decides a flood of darkness to push it to the bring of destruction was the only way to bring about this re-balancing. However the darkness he delved into took its toll and whatever benevolent goals he once had have long been forgotten in favor of acquiring power and knowledge even at the cost of existence.
 * Worthy Opponent:
 * Would Hit a Girl: More like.
 * Xanatos Gambit:.
 * Worthy Opponent:
 * Would Hit a Girl: More like.
 * Xanatos Gambit:.

Xehanort


""The Heartless feed on other's hearts, and they yearn for that energy core. That thing beyond the door must be a heart, too—the heart of this world. There is no proof, but, having felt that immense energy, I am certain. That was the heart of the world.""

- Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (Japanese), Richard Epcar (English)

A young man that was found in Radiant Garden in the aftermath of a great battle between several Keyblade wielders, bearing no memories but his name. Ansem nursed him back to health and took him on as an apprentice, but he quickly became obsessed with The Heartless and Kingdom Hearts, and cast Ansem into the Realm of Darkness and became a Heartless and Nobody to delve deeper into the powers of darkness than his human form would allow. His backstory was a mystery until Birth By Sleep, which explains it in full. He is. - ""ENOUGH!" "You have lost!" "Sink into darkness!""
 * Badass
 * Badass Arm-Fold:
 * Badass Baritone: Same goes for his Heartless and Nobody.
 * Big Bad: An interesting case, this specific incarnation of Xehanort is actually a relatively minor character and has never been the major villain of a single game. However his various incarnations, past and present, make up the main villains of the franchise..
 * The Chessmaster
 * Combat Tropes
 * Black Magic/Casting a Shadow:
 * BFG:
 * BFS:
 * Colony Drop: Meteor
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Quake
 * Dual Boss: Sort of..
 * Flash Step/Teleport Spam
 * Get Back Here Boss: The main difficulty in the battles with him is that he'll dash around the arena and become immune to damage when you use a special attack like magic or a shotlock, and the only way to guarantee a special attack will hit is to hit him while he's in the middle of an attack. This is the main difficulty in facing him with.
 * Guardian Entity:.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Makes perfect sense, since
 * Magic Knight
 * Mirror Boss:
 * No Cure for Evil: Averted, he has Curaga.
 * Deceptive Disciple: He took the name of Ansem from his former teacher and stole his research for evil purposes.
 * Evilutionary Biologist: His experiments on the The Heartless helped turn them into the army of darkness they are today.
 * Evil Sorcerer:
 * Evil Sounds Deep: In Birth By Sleep, at least. In his short scene in Kingdom Hearts II, he's much more subdued.
 * Eyes of Gold: In Birth By Sleep, while in Kingdom Hearts II he has Brown Eyes..
 * Fan Nickname: . Apprentice Xehanort (or Apprenticenort), Xehanort the Apprentice, and Ansem Seeker of Darkness are all accurate and useful when trying not to confuse him with anyone else. The latter, however, will cause very many headaches since his Heartless didn't bother to change his name.
 * Hades Shaded
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi"
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Large Ham: By the time of Birth By Sleep's final battle it's been established as a requirement if you're an incarnation of Xehanort.

""Please tell me the amnesia was just a sick joke. Boy, this is some cliché.""
 * Laser-Guided Amnesia: . Lampshaded by Braig.


 * Literal Split Personality:.
 * Living Shadow:
 * Mad Scientist
 * The Man Behind the Monsters: Didn't create the Heartless, but is responsible for their escape into the Realm of Light.
 * Meaningful Rename: The source of several headaches in-universe. He even started writing about himself as though he were Ansem, as seen in the reports you spent the first game collecting.
 * Monster Sob Story: The ending of Birth By Sleep.  Sure, he became a mad scientist, betrayed the man who took him in, and became responsible for everything wrong in the series, but his origins are quite sad:
 * My Death Is Just the Beginning: Gave into darkness to become a Heartless and Nobody on purpose so he could acquire more power.
 * Back From the Dead: Because of the way the cosmology of Kingdom Hearts works, killing Xehanort's Heartless and his Nobody in that order resulted in his heart and body reuniting into a complete person. As of Dream Drop Distance it's made clear that this Xehanort was just a stepping stone for Master Xehanort to launch an even larger scheme than before, and dying and coming back was All According to Plan.
 * Mysterious Past: Explained in Birth by Sleep.
 * Neck Lift:.
 * Pointy Ears: Notably lacks the Eyes of Gold after a certain point in BBS and for most of his time.
 * Relationship Voice Actor: In the Japanese version, Xehanort is voiced by Akio Ohtsuka. Master Xehanort is voiced by Chikao Ohtsuka, Akio's father.
 * The Sociopath:
 * Start of Darkness: Birth by Sleep.
 * That Man Is Dead: ""
 * Villainous Breakdown: The only time he loses his cool in Birth By Sleep is when
 * Voices Are Mental: As covered under Relationship Voice Actor, Xehanort is voiced by the son of Master Xehanort's voice actor, the intended effect presumably to be that the two characters have the same, but age-affected, voice.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * Would Hit a Girl

"Ansem", the Seeker of Darkness


""All worlds begin in darkness, and all so end. The heart is no different. Darkness sprouts within it, grows, consumes it. Such is its nature. In the end, every heart returns to the darkness whence it came.""

- Voiced by: Akio Ohtsuka (Japanese), Billy Zane/Richard Epcar (English)

Xehanort's Heartless who kept the alias "Ansem" that Xehanort himself took. He was the driving force behind the Disney villains's search for the Princesses of Heart, and uses Riku as a vessel to try and obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts. Uniquely for a Heartless, he retains the memories, appearance, and personality of his original self, Xehanort. . - ""KINGDOM HEARTS! FILL ME... WITH THE POWER... OF DARKNESS!!!""
 * A God Am I: Wishes to access Kingdom Hearts to use as a source of ultimate knowledge and power.
 * Arch Enemy: Is treated as Riku's after the first game.
 * As Long as There Is Evil: Ansem was able to remain alive due to his control of Riku, allowing him to continue to exist as long as Riku held darkness in his heart..
 * : You'd think that.
 * Badass Arm-Fold: His default posture while fighting with his Guardian.
 * Badass Longcoat
 * No Shirt, Long Jacket: Well two coats undone anyway.
 * Be Careful What You Wish For:
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: With Maleficent, though Ansem is the bigger Bad.
 * Brown Cloak: Before he found a suitable host, Ansem could only appear as a hooded figure in a brown cloak with a creepy voice.
 * The Chessmaster: Masterminded the entire plot of the first game.
 * Chewing the Scenery: Good Lord, once he ditches his brown cloak, every scene he's in feels like it's being torn apart between his teeth, even the ones where he doesn't have a face!

""You are weak. You need darkness. Surrender. Bow to darkness. Bow to me.""
 * Let's put it this way. He features in the same game as a number of Disney Villains, whose hamminess is the stuff of legend, and he manages to out-ham them ALL.
 * Combat Tropes
 * Air Jousting: His Dark Rush Attack.
 * Attack Animal: The guardian itself is invincible and more or less a this for Ansem.
 * Black Magic/Casting a Shadow: All of his attacks.
 * Barrier Warrior
 * Double Weapon: His final form uses a lance resembling two huge Soul Eaters fused together.
 * Fusion Dance: With the Guardian for his final forms.
 * Frickin' Laser Beams: Summons Energy Balls which fire them.
 * Guardian Entity: "Come, Guardian!"
 * Power Floats
 * Sizeshifter: He's absolutely enormous for his final battle.
 * Sphere of Power:
 * Sphere of Destruction:
 * Squishy Wizard: In a sense, compared to the other Xehanort's his style of combat involves far more magic and hiding behind his wall of a Guardian.
 * Teleport Spam: Ansem does this with his Guardian for his Dark Shadow attack, sending him into a portal into the ground and rising and uppercutting the enemy.
 * Creepy Monotone: Earlier in the game when he was wearing a brown cloak and wasn't wolfing down scenery.
 * Dark-Skinned Blond
 * Demonic Possession
 * Drunk on the Dark Side
 * Eldritch Abomination: Being a Heartless and all.
 * Humanoid Abomination: He's the only intelligent, fully-sentient Heartless we've seen thus far, though he only gets the "humanoid" part after possessing Riku.
 * Evil Mentor: To Riku.
 * Historical/Cosmic/Dramatic Irony: Considering that Terra,, wanted Riku to take up his sword...
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Gloved Fist of Doom
 * Hades Shaded
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Kingdom Hearts, the so-called ultimate darkness he was searching for, turns out to be light, and ends up doing him in.
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi"
 * Kneel Before Zod
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi"
 * Kneel Before Zod

"Ansem: "SUBMIT!""
 * Lack of Empathy
 * Large Ham: Enough to get his picture on top of the Video Games section of this trope. Billy Zane's performance as him is pretty much legendary.


 * Leitmotif: With the exception of the first game's final battle, any battle theme involving him opens with a series of six organ chords.
 * Manipulative Bastard: Played both the villains and through their darkest desires.
 * The Man Behind the Man: To Maleficent
 * The Man Behind the Monsters: To the Heartless.
 * Living Shadow: The Guardian.
 * Nietzsche Wannabe
 * No Name Given: Sort of. While there's several Ansems in the series, Xehanort and Riku were just using it as an alias while the real Ansem is of course the original. This Ansem however never got his own name, and is thus referred to as "Ansem SoD" to differentiate him from the actual Ansem, or is otherwise just "Xehanort's Heartless".
 * Omnicidal Maniac
 * Only Mostly Dead: Even after being destroyed by Kingdom Hearts, a small piece of himself was still alive in Riku..
 * The Other Darrin: Billy Zane in the first game, unfortunately replaced with Richard Epcar from Kingdom Hearts II onward. This led to more Flashbacks With The Other Darrin in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * Pointy Ears
 * Sequential Boss
 * Significant Anagram: Probably unintentional, but "nAmes" is surprisingly relevant.
 * Shirtless Scene: As the final boss of the first game. What a bod.
 * The Sociopath: Literally heartless, not to mention it comes with the territory as an incarnation of Xehanort.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Most players agree that Ansem was not a terribly difficult final boss in Kingdom Hearts 1. For his return in Dream Drop Distance, on the other hand... That's quite a step up there.
 * Vocal Evolution: Richard Epcar's voice acting improved a lot between KH2 and Re:COM, although it's more like the vocal director gave him some breathing room instead of forcing him to try and out-ham Billy Zane with unsuccessful results..
 * Also, Akio Ohtsuka himself was actually over-the-top hammy to an annoying level in the original Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts, but also sounded a lot better in Re: COM.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy

Xemnas
"See Kingdom Hearts"

Unknown


""Hypocrite. You are the one who has made your heart a prison...even if you are not the prisoner.""

- Voiced by: Takanori Okuda (Japanese), David Gallagher (English, Birth By Sleep) / Ben Diskin (English, Dream Drop Distance)

An enigmatic figure who appears out of thin air in Birth By Sleep to challenge the heroes in the Land of Departure as a Bonus Boss. The Unknown's identity is completely unknown -- he doesn't say a word, and even the Keyblade he drops upon defeat is simply named "No Name". Despite the seemingly random encounter, Word of God confirms that his battle with one of the trio is canon.

He reappears in Dream Drop Distance as the main antagonist, and is described as a being travelling worlds that causes beings of darkness to manifest in his wake.

Another "Unknown" is a Bonus Boss in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, and is eventually revealed to be. This section, however, only refers to the Birth by Sleep/3D character.


 * All Your Powers Combined: Has Meteor, Raging Storm, Mega Flare, Collision Magnet, Restore Barrier, Sonic Blade, Vanitas's X-shaped Sword Beam, Marluxia's Doom and Whirlwind to the Void, Laser Blades like Xemnas, and can clone himself like Xemnas. About the only attack of his that isn't taken from someone else is his Beam Spam, which in Dream Drop Distance still sort of resembles Sora's Wisdom Form shots fired in a Dark Volley-like pattern.
 * And in Dream Drop Distance he even.
 * Badass Baritone: In the English version, at least compared to his very youthful Japanese voice.
 * Beam Spam
 * Berserk Button: In his Birth By Sleep fight, trying to attack him while he's in the middle of his Beam Spam is a bad idea. He usually stands there and lets his beams do the work, but try and attack him and he decides to start attacking you again while the beams are still firing, and this will likely get you killed.
 * And then in Dream Drop Distance, the only time he breaks his Creepy Monotone is when.
 * Bifurcated Weapon: Will combine his laser blades into a Double Weapon.
 * Bishonen
 * Black Cloak
 * Black Magic/Casting a Shadow: As a its pretty much required.
 * Bonus Boss
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: He can knock the commands out of your menu, when he reverses time the music goes backwards too, and he teleports to avoid your targeting sensor when you try to use a Shotlock.
 * Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as a Bonus Boss in Birth by Sleep Final Mix; his next appearance in Dream Drop Distance sees him as The Heavy.
 * Creepy Monotone
 * Doppelganger Attack
 * Eyes of Gold: But he notably lacks the pointy and somewhat elfish ears that most users of darkness have.
 * Fan Nickname: Mysterious Figure, which is from the Brady Games Birth by Sleep guide. The name is unofficial, but persists in the fan community for the sake of distinction from the original Unknown.
 * A handful of fans also refer to him as Soranort. Because at this point, he's bound to be related to one of them somehow.
 * As of the release of 3D, he's been referred to as Trollanort, . Other variants include.
 * Flash Step
 * Hades Shaded
 * The Heavy: In Dream Drop Distance.
 * Interface Screw: He can actually knock commands off of his opponent, who is forced to scramble to pick them up off the ground while dodging his attacks.
 * Invisibility: Has a penchant for going invisible and pulling out an instant KO combo.
 * Laser Blade: Dual wielding laser blades! The Keyblade you get from him, No Name, is also essentially a Laser Blade Keyblade.
 * Legacy Character
 * Leitmotif :
 * Lightning Bruiser: Up to Eleven.
 * Mind Rape:
 * Morph Weapon: Combines his separate blades into one, throws them out as orbs of light to shoot out like projectiles, elongates them to stab forward, and can whirl them through the air..
 * Double Weapon
 * Javelin Thrower
 * Whip Sword
 * Mythology Gag: He's a thematic retraux of the Unknown Bonus Boss from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, wielding similar weapons and appearing in a similar fashion, and like it foreshadowing the Big Bad of the next game.
 * One Hit KO: Most of his attacks will do this to you if you do not have the Second Chance ability equipped.
 * Reverse Grip
 * SNK Boss: He can clone himself, with all five clones able to attack individually, his "Colision Magnet" attack stuns you so the follow-up attack doesn't trigger Second Chance, can blow your command cards across the arena forcing you to pick them up, and any time you land a hit on him he may decide to rewind time to undo the damage and recover from the blow. This is in addition to his lightning-fast, powerful attacks. Then he gets weak, when he turns invisible, preventing you from targetting him, and begins to use multiple attacks at once, in addition to all of the previous.
 * Theme Song Reveal: According to Word of God, his theme "Dark Impetus" contains a clue to his identity. It seems to take elements from  Which mostly all fits together when you learn he's.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Does this during one of his combos.
 * Time Travel:.
 * Time Master: He can avert No Cure for Evil by rewinding time to before you hit him. It even makes the background music go in reverse for a few seconds.
 * Turns Red: When low on health he'll turn invisible and will begin using multiple attacks at once.
 * Theme Song Reveal: According to Word of God, his theme "Dark Impetus" contains a clue to his identity. It seems to take elements from  Which mostly all fits together when you learn he's.
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Does this during one of his combos.
 * Time Travel:.
 * Time Master: He can avert No Cure for Evil by rewinding time to before you hit him. It even makes the background music go in reverse for a few seconds.
 * Turns Red: When low on health he'll turn invisible and will begin using multiple attacks at once.
 * Turns Red: When low on health he'll turn invisible and will begin using multiple attacks at once.

Maleficent


""What in the world do you think you're prattling on about? Kingdom Hearts belongs to me! The Heart of all Kingdoms! The Heart of all that lives! A dominion fit to be called Kingdom Hearts must be my dominion!""

- Voiced by: Toshiko Sawada (Japanese), Susanne Blakeslee (English)

The villain from Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent is an evil fairy hellbent on taking over all worlds in existence. She poses a major threat early on in Sora's adventure, but her plan gets Hijacked By Xehanort before the climax. Unfortunately for Sora and co., you can't keep a good villain down for long...

- "Maleficent: "You think you can defeat ME?! ME, THE MISTRESS OF ALL EVIL?!""
 * Anti-Hero: Type V. She becomes this in the latter half of KH2. Nothing about her changes except that she's working with Sora and the others for a common goal.
 * As Long as There Is Evil: Chain of Memories has the Organization commenting on how Maleficent's "death" merely banished her "somewhere else." Then, in KH2, her crow Familiar shows her cloak to the Good Fairies, who try to resist acknowledging her existence, but they cannot and this brings her back.
 * Badass Boast: "You poor simple fools. Thinking you could defeat me! Me, the Mistress of All Evil!"
 * Back From the Dead: Not fully explained, see "As Long as There Is Evil". She's just that talented.
 * Big Bad: Of her own world in Birth by Sleep.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: With Ansem in Kingdom Hearts, though the lesser of the two.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: With Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * Big Bad Wannabe: In Coded and Dream Drop Distance.
 * The Chessmaster: At least until her demise.
 * Combat Tropes
 * Black Magic / Casting a Shadow
 * Black Mage: In her Witch form.
 * Breath Weapon: As a dragon.
 * Colony Drop
 * Get Back Here Boss
 * Magic Staff
 * Shock and Awe
 * Shockwave Stomp: When in her dragon form.
 * Playing with Fire
 * Scaled Up: You fight her dragon form in KH1 - right before That One Boss. To some, she's That One Boss in her own right. She also uses it against Aqua.
 * Squishy Wizard: Whenever you fight her in her Witch form.
 * The Dragon: Literally turned into one for Ansem in the first game.
 * Dragon-in-Chief: Was more powerful than Ansem until he got a new body.
 * Enemy Mine: With Sora & co. during the war against Organization XIII.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Although her not killing Sora in Kingdom Hearts II qualified more under Pragmatic Villainy, her not attacking Sora in Kingdom Hearts coded definitely qualifies under this trope, as apparently even the (self-proclaimed) Mistress of All Evil has qualms towards attacking Sora and company after they saved her life and thus "made it even", at least not immediately (even though it was technically Data-Riku who did the actual saving).
 * Evil Laugh
 * Evil Mentor: To Riku.
 * Evil Sorceress
 * The Fair Folk: The games didn't mention it (calling her a "sorceress") until her "origin story" in Birth by Sleep, but she's an evil fairy.
 * The Heavy: In Kingdom Hearts.
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi"
 * Lady of War
 * Large Ham


 * Manipulative Bitch: Or Magnificent, depending on your view. She played Riku like a fiddle, and even with a Villain Decay inducing lack of resources in KH2, she played events to the point that she became an asset in bringing down Organization XIII, establishing herself at the top once more.
 * Our Dragons Are Different
 * Talking To Herself: Maleficent shares the same English voice actress as the Evil Queen and Lady Tremaine.
 * Technicolor Fire: Her green dragon fire shows up with pretty much anything she does.
 * Villain Override: In the first game, she was the Big Bad until the climax where she's defeated and it's revealed that "Ansem" is the true villain behind everything.
 * Wicked Witch

Pete


""Just wait! Nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with The Mighty Pete!""

- Voiced by: Toru Ohira (Japanese), Jim Cummings (English)

There is also Pete. Once a humble steamboat captain, Pete turned to mischief-making until he got out of hand and was banished. He met Maleficent during his inter-dimensional exile and acts as her loyal servant. -


 * Beard of Evil: In the Country of Musketeers.
 * Boisterous Bruiser: At least his past-self, who ain't afraid to accept a fight when someone challenges him, whether it's Sora or his future-self. His future-self is to much of a coward to be this.
 * Cats Are Mean
 * Character Development: For better or for worse, he went from a well-meaning and essentially decent authority figure to Jerkass attention seeker to cowardly villain (though he still retains some of his mettle). It's shown that he longs for the old days of steam boat captaincy.
 * Combat Tropes
 * Barrier Warrior
 * Car Fu: He knows some as Captain Dark and when you use his D-Link Terra, Aqua and Ven can too.
 * Flunky Boss: In 3D where he has his henchmen the Beagle Boys.
 * I Know Madden Kombat: His battles involve explosive bowling balls.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs
 * Ground Pound
 * Recurring Boss
 * Royal Rapier: In The Land of Musketeers in 3D.
 * Shock and Awe: Can use D-Thundaga in re:coded which also is an example of Ride the Lightning.
 * Stout Strength
 * Teleport Spam: In re:coded.
 * Throw Down the Bomblet: In The Land of Musketeers in 3D.
 * Trap Master: Can summon rigged blox in re:coded.
 * Dirty Coward: Made clear in the Battle of Hollow Bastion, where he left Maleficent for herself with the Nobodies. Subverted in the end when he was able to conquer his fears in order to.
 * The Dragon: To Maleficent.
 * Fat Bastard
 * Fat Cat
 * Fat Idiot
 * Enemy Mine: Twice. His past self put aside his (misunderstood) difficulties with Sora, Donald, and Goofy in order to help them fight his future self, so that he could get his boat back. Later, his present self helped.
 * Evil Chancellor: He was this to Minnie in the past.
 * Go-Karting with Bowser: An interesting version in that despite his obvious, if only slight malevolence, he's still not a bad guy when you race him in Birth By Sleep. In fact, it's the race (or rather the fact that he lost) that causes him to pull a Face Heel Turn.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Oresama".
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: "Past-Pete" before his alliance with Maleficent and the Heartless.
 * Large Ham: Particularly as CAPTAIN JUSTICE!!!
 * Manipulative Bastard: Not particularly good at it, but he it's how he sows Heartless throughout the World.
 * Retcon: In Kingdom Hearts II, it was stated that King Mickey banished Pete to another dimension, presumably for doing something really bad, and Maleficent broke him out. In Birth By Sleep, however, Pete only throws a hissy fit, and Queen Minnie temporarily banishes him to another dimension "until he cools down". While there, Maleficent breaks him out in return for his service.
 * "Only" a hissy fit is arguable. See the pose he was in? It's the same as his fighting stance. In other words, he was going to attack Minnie. For ice cream.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: Even than, she couldn't have known that, and even if she did, she sent him to another dimension for a relatively minor offense. Do they not have jails in Disney Castle, or is the legal system just that strict? His past in The Land of Musketeers however reveals he has prior offences that went as high as treason.
 * Right-Hand-Cat: Technically he's this to Maleficent, being a cat.
 * Sentai: In Birth by Sleep.
 * Results in a Mix and Match of Good Costume Switch and Evil Costume Switch: He's both Captain Justice and Captain Dark.
 * You Shall Not Pass

Vanitas


""This χ-blade will open a door -- one that leads to all worlds! Then, Keyblade-bearing warriors will flock here from each and every one of them, to battle for the light within Kingdom Hearts! And just like the legend says, the Keyblade War will begin!""

- Voiced by:

The mysterious masked apprentice of Master Xehanort. To keep up the parallels, his outfit is nearly identical to "Dark Mode" Riku and he frequently antagonizes Ven. . -
 * Anime Hair:
 * Ax Crazy, except with a Keyblade.
 * Bilingual Bonus/Multiple Reference Pun: "Ventus" (Latin for "wind") and "Vanitas" ("emptiness") sound similar, and both can be defined with the kanji 空, which means both and "emptiness".
 * And could also, due to one of those meanings, be read as.
 * Collapsible Helmet
 * Black Knight
 * Combat Tropes
 * Black Magic / Casting a Shadow
 * Combat Pragmatist: His crowning moment of this is very well demonstrated in this video. Please note how he didn't yell, or otherwise warn his victim of his imminent pwnage of them while they weren't looking, at all. Also note that it was a girl. There wasn't even a Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner. Just him, coming out of nowhere.
 * BFS: The.
 * Flash Step
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning
 * Lightning Bruiser
 * Sword Beam
 * Compressed Hair: I mean, seriously.
 * Cool Helmet
 * The Dragon
 * Dragon with an Agenda: Early on he's not pleased with Ven's progress and tries to kill him when he decides Ven is useless for their schemes. It's also hinted he was supposed to kill Aqua in the Radiant Garden, but she proved stronger than they expected so he let her live in case they needed a back-up if Ven turned out to be a bust.
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette
 * Enemy Without
 * Evil Counterpart: To Ventus.
 * Evil Is Deathly Cold: Zig Zagged. Vanitas can use both ice and fire-based attacks.
 * Evil Laugh
 * Eyes of Gold / Red Eyes, Take Warning: Although he has gold eyes in all of his appearances, accoridng to an interview from Nomura, Vanitas resembled a heartless-like creature with red eyes
 * Considering
 * Expy: Well let's see, his outfit is similar to Riku's Dark Mode, he takes the same battle stance as Riku, and he even dons Riku's iconic pose in the opening cinematic (with Ventus running towards him just like Sora no less).
 * In Japan, he is thought to be an Expy of Jagi from Fist of the North Star.
 * The Faceless
 * Faux Affably Evil: Like hell.
 * For the Evulz: It's indicated that he doesn't really have or need a reason to restart the keyblade war; he's just excited by the idea of a universal conflict, especially now that he's the guy with an Infinity+1 Sword.
 * Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: Subverted. He has eyes as large as Ven's.
 * : Not nearly as successful as, though, but manages to possess.
 * Hopeless Boss Fight: His first encounter with Ven.
 * Humanoid Abomination: Turns out he's.
 * I Need You Stronger: He's always going around telling people whom he fights to get stronger, and to show him their power...
 * Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
 * Kick the Dog: Breaking Ven's toy Keyblade that Terra gave him in front of Aqua.
 * Large Ham: Hoo boy, it seems Chikao Ohtsuka, , and decided to have a contest to see who can ham it up more.
 * Ditto for their English counterparts. You can definitely tell was enjoying himself on this one.
 * Laughing Mad: In Japanese and English.
 * Literal Split Personality: He is.
 * Made of Evil: He's quite literally made from.
 * Meaningful Name: His name is derived from the Latin word for emptiness, indicating his state of existence. Also, it sounds similar to Ventus, hinting at a connection between the two.
 * It's also similar to "vanity", reflecting his smug, self-absorbed nature. And, as mentioned above, the Japanese character for emptiness can also mean sky,.
 * Not So Different: Before the final battle with Ventus, Ven declares.
 * Obviously Evil
 * Pragmatic Villainy: He'd like to just kill his enemies straight-off, but he's smart enough to know that this won't get him anywhere and bides his time accordingly.
 * Person of Mass Destruction:
 * Psycho Strings: During one or two notes at the beginning of his theme, "Enter the Darkness".
 * Pure Is Not Good:
 * Red and Black and Evil All Over
 * Red Herring: At first glance, he has a lot of similarities to Riku, wearing an outfit similar to his Dark Mode ans using the same battle stance.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Master Xehanort's blue.
 * Slasher Smile
 * The Sociopath
 * The Starscream: It's hinted he planned to take the power of Kingdom Hearts for himself once he got the χ-Blade.
 * Theme Song Reveal: His battle themes borrow from 's Leitmotif.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Is portrayed as such in the novelization, in stark contrast to his unrepentent Complete Monster status in the actual game..
 * Would Hit a Girl: More like.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Master Xehanort's blue.
 * Slasher Smile
 * The Sociopath
 * The Starscream: It's hinted he planned to take the power of Kingdom Hearts for himself once he got the χ-Blade.
 * Theme Song Reveal: His battle themes borrow from 's Leitmotif.
 * Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Is portrayed as such in the novelization, in stark contrast to his unrepentent Complete Monster status in the actual game..
 * Would Hit a Girl: More like.

Heartless


""LONG HAVE THE FALLEN WANDERED. NOW THEY SHALL SERVE THE WILL OF DARKNESS""

Originally, when. However, the digital recording in Jiminy's Journal gained sentience and began corrupting the journal with bug blocks. -
 * Big Bad: Of Coded.
 * Arc Villain:
 * Bishonen Line:
 * Bold Inflation: As one can tell by his all caps quotes.
 * Combat Tropes
 * Blade Lock
 * Doppelganger Attack
 * Holy Hand Grenade/Light'Em Up: Surprisingly, instead of Dark attacks, it fights almost exclusively with light magic attacks, even having an attack that resembles.
 * Megaton Punch
 * Playing with Fire/An Ice Person: In its first form, he casts Debug Blizzard with his left hand and Debug Fire with his right.
 * Storm of Blades: Launches light at you for its desperation attacks.
 * Sword Beam
 * The Corruption
 * Doppelganger Attack
 * Eldritch Abomination
 * Eyes of Gold
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom
 * Heads I Win, Tails You Lose
 * Light Is Not Good
 * Living Shadow
 * Not So Harmless: In the first game, it was just a little shadow. It takes quite a few levels in badass in Coded.
 * This Was His True Form: He is only defeated when
 * Took a Level In Badass and Jerk Ass
 * Tron Lines
 * The Virus
 * You Will Be Assimilated