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{{trope}}
[[File:the-
{{quote|''"All they know is how to hurt and destroy and kill. Admirable when you need someone hurt, destroyed or killed, but what about the times when you just want them to sit down and shut up? Oh, FORGET that."''
|'''Dark General Cobalt''', ''[[Sailor Nothing]]'', about the problems with working with Yamiko}}
'''The Heartless''' are different from the average [[Monster of the Week]] in that they're basically born out of people's negative emotions, like a poltergeist. They can be a special case of the [[Body Horror]], but can also be a part of the victims [[Anatomy of the Soul|Soul Anatomy]] that has been [[Enemy Without|separated from them]], and [[Living Memory|may not]] [[Intangible Man|have a physical body at all]]. This is convenient for the right villain, since it can be an unlimited resource; the [[Victim of the Week]] always seems loaded with problems and angst for The Heartless to feed on. It can also have a [[Viral Transformation|self-propagating]] "[[The Virus|zombie]]" effect.
The trouble for the heroes is these are difficult to get rid of, especially if The Heartless still display an awareness of the world (usually, as a ruse of the [[Enigmatic Minion]]). If an established character becomes one of The Heartless, they may act as if they had undergone a [[Face Heel Turn]].
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[[The Messiah]]'s power is usually to combat The Heartless, or even to heal them. The [[Anti-Hero]] or [[Ineffectual Loner]] usually insists the victims are [[Mercy Kill|too far gone]] and [[I Did What I Had to Do|should be offed]] before more people get hurt. Occasionally, a victim who is [[Fighting From the Inside]] can resist The Heartless' control.
Depending on the context, this trope is a subtrope of [[Abstract Apotheosis]]. This is because nearly every series that this trope is used in represent these critters as [[An Aesop]] about them [[Not So Different|being in]] [[As Long
Obligatory [[Heart Drive]] link thrown in for good measure.
{{examples}}
== [[Trope Namer]] ==
* The ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' videogames have the Heartless, which fit the definition of this trope. However, they were described as starting out as decidedly less destructive before the series' [[Big Bad]], Xehanort, started his experiments on them.
** And the Unversed, which are the "opposite of life" are born from raw Darkness. They apparently feed off of negative emotions, in a different way than the Heartless do.
** There's also Vanitas of ''[[Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep|Birth By Sleep]]'' who {{spoiler|is the Darkness from Ven's heart, removed and made into a separate entity.}} Unversed take this to the next level. {{spoiler|Each is a living incarnation of one of Vanitas' emotions. Making them effectively the Heartless of a Heartless.}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Sailor Moon]]'''s Nephrite eschewed using typical [[Energy Absorption]] tactics, preferring to concentrate dark power into a single highly motivated (and increasingly obsessive) person to get the best energy. His predecessor Jadeite worked in a similar way by amplifying negative traits in people, except he worked with large groups of
** There is also Phages in the final season, and the Lemures of the previous forth. The former are humans without a 'Star Seed' while the latter are appearently people without their dreams (in the anime version).
** The [[Big Bad]] of the entire series, is a [[God of Evil]] born from the malice of all living beings called Chaos, and he ends up having his essence scattered into the hearts of everybody across the universe... to defeat it. Chaos also spawned the [[Big Bad
* The monsters {{spoiler|and the second season's [[Big Bad]]}} in ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' were born out the despair of Cephiro's citizens.
** {{spoiler|Don't forget Nova, Hikaru's own personal one.}}
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** Still later, it was revealed that their heart isn't destroyed, but transformed. Rather than disappearing, the negative feelings in it cause it to become the Hollow's mask, and acts as the source of the Hollow's energy. Perhaps part of the reason an Arrancar is more human is that by destroying their mask a part of their human heart is restored.
* The Virus from ''[[Venus Versus Virus]]''.
* A repeated, enigmatic
* The Zonder, in the [[Humongous Mecha]] series ''[[
* Yatagarasu, {{spoiler|Shiho's Child,}} is described as residing in the darkness of the human heart in ''[[
* The fear of Shonen Bat/Lil' Slugger in ''[[Paranoia Agent]]''.
* Akuma in ''[[D
** One of Noah claims that if an Akuma self-destructs, rather than freeing the soul, the human soul is ''destroyed''. She then demonstrates this to Allen, who watches in horror as [[Fate Worse Than Death|the soul is torn into screaming pieces]].
** More generally, it's stated that the human soul will be released only if the Akuma are killed by an Innocence weapon. Any other method will destroy the soul. It's just that since normal humans don't have a chance in hell of of killing an Akuma in the first place, the question never comes up.
* Miss Michiko from ''[[Dennou Coil]]'', while not technically a monster, {{spoiler|is literally born from Isako's rage and hatred}}.
* The ending of the ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' anime strongly implies that Aion was born from humans' negative emotions and as such, can resurrect himself at will [[As Long
* Naraku, the [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Inuyasha]]'', was partly born from a man's cruelty.
* In ''[[
* At a metaphorical level, Knives in the ''[[Trigun]]'' manga fulfills the definition too, as he might be viewed as an embodiment of the worst 'sins' of humankind. It is significant that in ''[[Trigun Maximum]]'', he starts of as {{spoiler|a loving and philanthropic kid and grows extremely fast into a crazed sociopath as a result of trauma or, more symbolically, of absorbing humans' violence and hatred}}. As such, he fits the [[Shadow Archetype]] not only for Vash but also for humans.
* The Reibi from the second ''[[Naruto Shippuden]]'' Movie is a demon made from the hate or other dark thoughts of others. {{spoiler|It can also [[Demonic Possession|posses people]] feeling these emotions}}.
** A major reason Naruto had difficulty controlling the Kyuubi was {{spoiler|the existence of Yami-Naruto, a being deep within Naruto's mind that the Kyuubi had helped form from all of his negative feelings}}.
* Also at a metaphorical level, the homunculi from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' may be seen as embodying the 'darkness' or despair in the heart of {{spoiler|the alchemists who created them and whose memories of a lost loved one they often carry}}. Or even of {{spoiler|the original person}} or humankind itself. Of course, their [[Theme Naming]] following the [[Seven Deadly Sins]] helps this interpretation. In the manga, they are manifestations of {{spoiler|Father's cruelty and sins - what he is and whether he could be
* The X-charas in ''[[Shugo Chara]]'' can be seen as a form of this: Usually, when a child needs help in fulfilling their dreams, these dreams materialize and become a "Guardian-chara". However, if the child has already GIVEN UP all hope, the dreams instead get corrupted with lack of self-esteem, the feeling of being useless and other negative-emotions and become an "X-chara" instead: A little, black creature, determined to destroy everyone and everything around it with the power of the dream, it was originally supposed to embody. The owner of the X-chara usually falls in a comatose-state, with his or her inner voice mourning about how useless he/she is. Amu usually tries to heal such Charas, by using the powers of the humpty-lock, while others, like Ikuto and Rima (at least in the beginning) prefer to simply destroy
* The [[Big Bad]] of ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' {{spoiler|started out as a [[
* In ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'', Dagomon's realm is formed by people's dark desires.
* The {{spoiler|Idea of Evil}}, the [[God Is Evil|God]] of the ''[[Berserk]]'' universe, is {{spoiler|created from mankind's desire for an explanation for [[Crapsack World|why we suffer]]}}. Qlippoth creatures are also reflections of humanity's darkest side.
** In addition, there's {{spoiler|the Hellhound, Guts's personal Heartless and [[Super-Powered Evil Side]], which was born from all the negative emotions that arose in Guts after the Eclipse went down, and which worked in concert with him during the Retribution/Conviction arc, but now works against him as his focus has turned to protecting Casca}}.
* Shikabane in ''[[Shikabane Hime]]'' are formed when someone dies with regrets or an attachment to this world, which turns them into a monster.
* The Dark Signers from [[
* In the ''[[Shaman King]]'' manga, Oni, which are dangerous spirits conjured by a shaman's ridiculously strong negative emotions. Namely loneliness.
* The armor bugs in ''[[Letter Bee]]''. They are insects that lost their heart. In fact, you kill them by [[Revive Kills Zombie|giving them heart]], i.e. shooting them with your [[Empathic Weapon]].
* The [[Monster of the Week|witches]] of ''[[Madoka Magica]]'' are embodiments of despair. {{spoiler|Specifically, the despair of the [[Magical Girl]] they used to be.}} In the ending {{spoiler|Madoka [[Ret
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** It's worth noting that his personal Heartless is {{spoiler|his addiction to oreos. Seriously.}}
*** {{spoiler|[[Bland-Name Product|Chocos]]}}, technically.
* Grant Morrison's run on ''[[Doom Patrol]]'' had one of these as the ultimate
* {{spoiler|The Thing Inside The Wall}} in ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]''.
* The emotional spectrum entities in [[Green Lantern]] are creatures born from, and embodying the emotions of sentient beings. Naturally, the ones born from fear, greed and rage are particularly nasty.
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* In ''[[Forbidden Planet]]'', the Monsters from the Id are invisible, [[Nigh Invulnerability|invincible]], incredibly strong [[Implacable Man|beings of pure vengeance]]. Their existence is a side effect of the [[Deadly Upgrade]].
* ''[[The Brood]]'' is about a woman who literally gives birth to her inner demons.
* The Nothing in ''[[The Neverending Story (
** However, [[Older Than They Think|in the original book]], it's implied to be more a result of increasing cynicism and loss of imagination, as it's spread by {{spoiler|people lying}}.
*** [[Fridge Logic|Hard to see]] how {{spoiler|people lying, i.e. ''making stuff up'', equals loss of imagination}}.
*** It's because {{spoiler|being lied to sours people on the idea of things that aren't real.}}
*** The book is big on emphasizing the difference between {{spoiler|lies, things made up to decieve, and stories, things made up to entertain and inspire.}} It also implies that {{spoiler|lies}} are themselves the Heartless, being the dark side of creatures from Fantasia. {{spoiler|Any creature from Fantasia who is caught by the Nothing is transformed into a lie and taken to the real world.}}
* The curse in ''[[Ju
* The Pink Slime in ''[[Ghostbusters]] II'' was generated by the negative emotions of New York. The substance itself is actually neutral, but New York is just that cynical and negative a city.
== Literature ==
* The Spectres of ''[[His Dark Materials]]''.
** {{spoiler|The truth is much worse than that: as it turns out, they're really [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** As are boggarts, whose shape depends on what the person nearest them is most afraid of.
* The demons in [[Simon R. Green]]'s ''Darkwood'' books {{spoiler|are just humans who've been taken over by the Darkness, completely against their will}}.
** The series also does something of an extension on the the trope by having the Infernal Devices (swords) chosen to ''fight'' the demon armies capable of burning the humanity right out of the user, in essence making them the same or worse than the things they're fighting.
* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s ''[[
* ''[[The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr. Hyde]]'' is about how Jekyll tries to chemically rid himself of negative impulses and emotions, but instead leads to his transformation into the embodiment of them.
** Hyde could be seen as the Ur-example of this trope. Also unmentioned above but relevant to this trope and the quote, the story not only makes much of Hyde's utter lack of any kind of positive emotion or morals, but also points out that because he has none of these things, and hence no limits, he has an unrivaled love for life. It is this addictive sensation that actually draws Jekyll into continuing the experiment until it is absolutely too late to turn back.
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* The Serpents in the ''[[Death Gate Cycle]]'' were created by magic gone mad fused with their creators' fear and hatred- their goal is to turn the universe into "a prison house of suffering and death" because negative emotions give them power and prolong their existence. Unlike a lot of examples they're actually very smart (most of the time), and can take whatever shape they want to further their goals, though they prefer appearing as hideous snakelike creatures in order to best terrify people.
* The Overlook Hotel in [[The Shining]] is depicted as basically being The Heartless in architectural form, if you go by the interpretation that the paranormal side of what's happening in it is genuine.
* The Shadowen in ''[[
** From the same author, the feeders in ''[[The Word and The Void]]'' are creepy, shadowy beings that feed on negative emotions, and induce them in people to boot. The demons, on the other hand, are closer to [[The Soulless]].
* The Fearlings in ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[
** In one episode, the crew land on a moon that forms itself to mimic the mind of Rimmer, who is... pretty much all the worst traits of humanity. They are trapped, and decide to build up Rimmer's self-esteem in order to escape. This culminates in giving Rimmer a group hug.
** "Polymorph", which featured a monster which feeds on emotions such as fear, guilt, rage and vanity, and changes its shape in response to each person's inner demon in order to elicit these emotions.
** Rimmerworld, which is populated entirely by descendants of Rimmer who have weeded out any trace of bravery, kindness or loyalty, in favor of all of Rimmer's worst qualities. They're all named Rimmer.
** Legion, a "gestalt entity" comprised of the four crew members' combined consciousnesses. They defeat it by {{spoiler|knocking themselves unconscious.}}
* The Mara from ''[[
** The Valeyard. The Doctor's worst possible future self, created by the Time Lords to condemn him. In return, he would get the Doctor's body. He's so bad, he terrifies the Master, who once held the universe to ransom.
** The Dream Lord. More a [[Master of Illusion]] and personification of the Doctor's darkness and self hatred than the Valeyard.
* The Horrors from ''[[Garo]]''.
* In one episode of ''[[Amazing Extraordinary Friends]]'', [[Applied Phlebotinum]] splits the heroes into separate beings embodying their good and evil sides (although their 'evil' sides are basically selfish more than anything else).
* The creature Armus from the ''[[Star Trek:
** An interesting example in that Armus is defeated by confronting him with that fact that he is less heartless than he first appears.
* ''[[Ultraman]] 80'' had a whole series of monsters created by negative emotional energy that was called "Minus Energy." One of these monsters was an [[Evil Twin]] of Ultra Seven.
== Tabletop Games ==
* Though [[Word of God]] says that the Devilbirds are supposed to be [[Mortasheen]]'s [[Our Demons Are Different|demon-equivalents]], they fit equally well under this trope. For those who don't know, they're Boschian bird-monsters each embodying a negative emotion, which [[Emotion Eater|feed by inducing said emotions in other people]] . Let us take the [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/gluttony.htm Devilbird of Gluttony] for example. It feeds by [[Horror Hunger|inducing a hunger so fierce in a bystander that they will eat anything in sight]]. They then are psychically forced to go back to the Devilbird's nest and [[Nausea Fuel|vomit up what they've eaten in said Devilbird's mouth]]. In the advanced stages of this hunger they may become so ravenous that they begin to eat themselves just to fill their hunger. And yes, almost all of the Devilbirds are this horrible. Even [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/phasmoria.htm the one based on positive emotions] [[Light Is Not Good|turns its victims into hopeless addicts]]. The only exception is the Devilbird of Sloth, which is so overcome with its negative emotion that it doesn't do '''anything''' -- harming and exploiting others or even ''hatching from its egg'' are far too much work for a creature that completely slothful.
** Oh, and by the way, there's actually going to be an area in the upcoming game dominated by these things. Not many details have been released on it by way of [[Word of God]] except for the fact that it's [[Oh Crap|"Worse than you can possibly imagine"]].
* The Shadows from ''[[
** However, the reverse is also true: Spectres have a Psyche, the voice of life and hope that tries to talk them into doing 'the right thing'.
** ''[[
* In ''Inferno'' for the [[New World of Darkness]], [[Our Demons Are Different|demons]] are pretty much the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of this trope, literally seeming to be created from human evil (although due to their universal [[Consummate Liar|Lord of Lies]] ability, this is nearly impossible to verify). They start off as [[The Faceless|bodyless]], [[The Nameless|nameless]] voices called Whisperers, [[The Corruption|spirits transformed by a combination of human evil]] and...''something'', [[Enemy Without|Enemies Without]] who gained a life beyond that, and the ghosts of the evil. After tempting [[Deal
* Fan-made expansion ''[[
** Additionally, while they're more like normal people than most, the [[Walking Techbane|Clockstoppers]] are pretty much anti-Geniuses; they possess no spark of creativity and reduce wonder and [[Weird Science|Wonders]] to emptiness. Did I mention the part where in place of a creative "spark" they possess a gnawing "void" that essentially means they ''run on spite?''
* In ''[[GURPS]] Fantasy II'', the various monsters infesting the Mad Lands not only are often humans corrupted by their dark sides, but their naming even follows the "-less" format. E.g. people who don't speak out when they should become Soundless, people who are too quick to take offense become Skinless, etc.
* The four gods of Chaos in ''[[Warhammer
* The Circles of Hell in ''Obsidian''.
* In ''[[Dungeons
* The Nightmares from ''[[Don't Rest Your Head]]'' are things from unfeeling bureaucracy to sleazy journalism to hatred itself given flesh, either by [[Body Horror|a person transforming into one due to severe insanity]], or by more exotic
* Most ''[[Deadlands]]'' monsters are of this variety. The setting runs on [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe|Clap Your Hands If You]] <s>Believe</s> Fear, and the [[Big Bad
* The Horrors of ''[[Earthdawn]]'' and ''[[Shadowrun]]'' are [[Eldritch Abomination
* ''[[Magic:
== Video Games ==
* Dark Force from ''[[Phantasy Star]]'' is a variation of this. While the ultimate villain of the series, the Profound Darkness, is [[Sealed Evil in
* The Poes from ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'', which are described in ''Ocarina of Time'' as spirits of hatred.
** Also, Dark Link.
* The spawn of Dark Gaia in ''[[Sonic Unleashed]]'' are, according the the in-game bestiary, negative emotions which have manifested physically using Dark Gaia's energy. In addition, they'll also possess people at night, completely turning their personalities arounds, usually for the worse.
* [[Monster Rancher Evo]] has these, but it's only apparent on the overworld stand-ins, as during actual battle the enemy monsters looks the same as if you were controlling them.
* The Fiends from ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' are the souls of anyone who died without being purified, either in the lack of regret in their soul in death, or via ritual after.
** The Aeons on the other hand are the manifestation of the souls in a more positive way. By technicality they still are pretty darn close to the monsters in concept because they chose to become an unsent. However, unlike the monsters, they willingly gave up their bodies to aid the summoners so they retain their humanity.
*** The fiends a particularly tragic example, as unlike most they are not forcibly converted. Rather, they're left in an [[And I Must Scream]] state until the combination of their latent emotions and the solitude drives them [[Ax Crazy|completely insane]].
** A good many monsters in ''[[
** And in ''[[
* The monsters in the ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series.
* The Gnosis in the ''[[
* The Shadows in ''[[Persona 3]]'' are essentially this. {{spoiler|This brings about the [[The End of the World
* ''[[
* In ''[[Persona 2]]'', Nyarlathotep is revealed to be {{spoiler|the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the negative emotions of ''humanity as a whole'' -- fear, hatred, anger, and all our other weaknesses. He's the [[Evil Counterpart]] to Philemon, who is similarly an [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of human strength and positive emotions... and it's further revealed that the entire series up to that point was little more than a contest between the two to see which was truly the more powerful aspect of humanity. And you ''do'' actually get to punch Philemon for this.}}
* In ''[[Raidou Kuzunoha vs. the Soulless Army]]'', the Hiruko are what happens when
* The Noise in ''[[
** This is understandable, since this game was made by the same people who made Kingdom Hearts, and the Noise resemble Heartless with tattoos.
* {{spoiler|Matias}} in ''[[
** Zerom in ''[[
* Darth Nihilus from ''[[Knights of the Old Republic|KotOR 2]]'' became a living entity of pure hunger when [[The Dark Side]] consumed him. His most infamous power is a life drain that can instantly cause the extinction of an entire planet.
* Darkling from ''[[Ghost Master]]''
* Dark Brain of ''The Great Battle'' and later ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'', who feeds on negative energy and gets more powerful. He CAN get punched out by the heroes, but they can't kill him, since there's no way they can destroy the negative energies of humanity.
** To that extension, ''[[Super Robot Wars Destiny|Destiny]]'''s evil group Ruina also feeds on negative energies to make them powerful, doubled that they reside in a [[Crapsack World]] where lots of such things exist.
* It's suggested several times that the power infusing DarkChips in ''[[
{{quote|
* The original-series antecedent of the above storyline is ''[[
* The demons of the ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' universe thrive on and are fueled by the negative emotions and hatred of the world, Malice. One of the perils of being a Harmonixer, one who [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|takes on demonic form]] to fight against the demons, is that killing them causes Malice to build up in one's soul, as well, risking [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity|the destruction of the Harmonixer's mind]].
* The [[Pokémon]] Shuppet feeds on the negative emotions of people.
{{quote|
** In the [[Pokémon (
* The Final Boss Devil in ''[[Battle Moon Wars]]'' is a [[Giant Space Flea From Nowhere]] that is the this trope, also apparently any land area that has magic will generate evil spirits that oddly looks like [[Shout
* Bogmire in ''[[
* One of the bosses in ''[[
* Since ''[[
** The Censors are, in some ways, the ''opposite'' of this---they're essentially antibodies of the mind that destroy thoughts that don't belong, such as forms of insanity. Unfortunately, since ''you'' don't belong in other people's minds, they consider you fair game.
* Dracula in the ''[[Castlevania]]'' series is occasionally described as this; people describe him as the product/manifestation of [[Humans Are
** The Lords of Shadow from ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]'' also count. When {{spoiler|the three founders of the Brotherhood of Light ascended to Heaven as beings of pure good}}, the evil they abandoned possessed their mortal bodies and became the Lords of Shadow responsible for so much misery in the world.
* The "blot" versions of eaten residents of wasteland in the final level of "[[Epic Mickey]]"
* The Ixupi from [[Shivers]] are ancient [[Mayincatec]] demons that suck away the life essence of any nearby human beings.
* The Negativitron of ''[[
* The enemies in the final chapter of ''[[Disgaea 4:
* In [[Ultima IX]], the Guardian, dimension conquering threat from the previous several games, is [[
* The Sha in the upcoming ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' expansion are said to be physical manifestations of negative energy. For example, fighting on the island of Pandaria releases energy that can form Sha.
* This is one of many fan theories regarding Wario of the [[Super Mario Bros.]] universe.
* The Gohma from ''[[Asura's Wrath]]''.
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** It's a bit more complicated than that. He feeds on planets, but the energy from hatred and violence is what gives him the strength to metaphorically get out of bed in the morning.
* [[Hannibal Lecture|Penelope Spectra]] from ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' was a [[Our Ghosts Are Different|ghost]] posing as a school guidance counselor. She made her patients ''more'' depressed, however, because she needed their negative emotions to keep herself young. {{spoiler|At least, until she was able to make herself a new ectoplasmic body that wasn't falling apart.}}
* Serpentor from the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' cartoon. Initially, a clone created via gene splicing some of the most notorious tyrants and conquerors in history, any and all humanity and morality the donors had seemed lost when made into this soulless gestalt. Serpentor was a sociopathic monster fueled by hate and rage, a quality which often blinded him and caused him to make mistakes that led to failure.
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:The Heartless]]
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heartless, The}}
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