List of Keyblade wielders
The following is a list of known Keyblade Wielders, characters who have successfully wielded a Keyblade in battle. Characters who have held a Keyblade only for it to return to the hand of its true holder are not included in this list, as a Keyblade will typically refuse to be wielded by anyone without a strong enough heart.
Keyblade Wielders
Master Xehanort
Master Xehanort's Keyblade has a double-edged appearance with a separated black blade, a black hand-guard and a head resembling a battle axe. It resembles the "Oblivion Keyblade" somewhat, but with two shafts and a different head. Also, it contains a single eye above the handle, similar to that of the Soul Eater and "Way to the Dawn".
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Master Eraqus
Master Eraqus is a Keyblade Master and his Keyblade has a very simple design. His keychain is the same symbol that appears on his, Ven's Terra's and Aqua's armor.
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Ventus
Ventus is a Keyblade Apprentice from before the events of Kingdom Hearts. His original Keyblade is named "Fresh Breeze". It resembles the "Two Become One", while the hilt is similar to the "Kingdom Key".
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Vanitas
As an Unversed created from the dark half of Ventus's heart, Vanitas had the power to carry a Keyblade of his own. His Keyblade takes a strong resemblance to Riku and his Master's Keyblades. His Keyblade is red with a round, cog-like shape on the end with blue eyes on it.
Aside from his own Keyblade, he was also able to carry the legendary X-Blade, which was believed to have more power than any other Keyblade in the universe, but it was destroyed by Aqua in the end.
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Terra
Terra is a Keyblade Apprentice from before the events of Kingdom Hearts. His Keyblade is "Earth Shaker", but later in the game it transforms into "Gaia Bane".
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Aqua
Aqua is a Keyblade Master from before the events of Kingdom Hearts. Her Keyblade is called "Rain Fall", but later in the game it transforms into "Rain Storm". Near the end of the game, she begins using Master Eraqus's Keyblade after she picks it up in a corrupted Land of Departure. Her attempt to save Terra eventually causes her to lose her own Keyblade, and Master Eraqus's becomes her new weapon while she wanders in the realm of darkness.
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Master Yen Sid
Master Yen Sid has never been seen wielding a Keyblade in the series, but he is known to be a Keyblade Master. As a powerful wizard, his magic and wisdom extend beyond most people.
The only time he is ever seen holding a Keyblade at all is at the end of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep when he hands Mickey back the "Star Seeker Keyblade".
King Mickey
King Mickey's Keyblade is a Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness called "Kingdom Key D", which the King received sometime during his journey in that realm. It is identical to Sora's Keyblade, except the colors are reversed, the hilt being silver and the blade gold. Some Square-Enix materials give this Keyblade the name "Kingdom Key Darkside".[1] Mickey used this Keyblade along with Sora's to seal the Door to Darkness, as the door had to be locked from both sides, by Keyblades from opposite realms.
Prior to using the Kingdom Key D, Mickey wielded the "Star Seeker Keyblade", as shown in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. Mickey wields Star Seeker once again in Kingdom Hearts coded.
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Xehanort
Upon Master Xehanort possessing Terra's body to create Xehanort, he retained the ability to manifest Master Xehanort's Keyblade, and used it in battle to fight the Lingering Sentiment and Aqua. Though it is Master Xehanort's Keyblade, Xehanort held and wielded it like Terra. When Aqua defeated him, Terra took control of his body and stabbed himself with the Keyblade, sealing Xehanort's memories. With his memories gone, Xehanort forgot how to manifest the Keyblade and apparently lost the ability to do so, as he has not been seen using one since.
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Sora
Sora's Keyblade is a Keyblade from the Realm of Light, and it appears before him as his home world, Destiny Islands, is consumed by the Heartless. Its default form is "Kingdom Key", which uses a Hidden Mickey as its token.
Sora's Keyblade is the only Keyblade actually shown to seal any world's Keyhole or open its Gate. However, King Mickey was able to use his Keyblade alongside Sora to seal the Door to Darkness at the end of Kingdom Hearts, and King Mickey and Riku both were able to open the Gate to Xemnas at the end of Kingdom Hearts II.
During the final battle with Xemnas, Sora was also able to temporarily wield Riku's "Way to the Dawn".
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Riku
Riku was the one originally chosen to wield the Sora's Keyblade, but he was denied that when he chose to submit to darkness, weakening his heart and causing the Keyblade to choose Sora. Instead, Riku used the "Soul Eater", a sword which grows more powerful when used with darkness. When Sora first arrived at Hollow Bastion, Riku was able to temporarily take the Keyblade as well, but Sora's heart proved to be the strongest, and he reclaimed the Keyblade from Riku.
After being possessed by Xehanort's Heartless, he was used as a wielder for the incomplete "Keyblade of People's Hearts", which Xehanort had forged from the hearts of six of the seven Princesses of Heart. However, this Keyblade was destroyed after Riku was defeated by Sora, who used the Keyblade to free Kairi's heart from his body.
When Riku encountered Roxas in The World That Never Was, he was again able to temporarily wield a Keyblade, Roxas's "Oblivion". However, while as a Keyblade Wielder he was able to fight with the weapon, it was not his, and Roxas soon reclaimed it.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Riku's Soul Eater was somehow used as an intermediary for the manifestation of the "Way to the Dawn", Riku's true Keyblade. This Keyblade represents Riku's nature as a being of light and darkness in both name and form.
Riku was also somehow able to copy and transform his Keyblade into "Destiny Place", which he allowed Kairi to temporarily use.[2]
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Roxas
As the Nobody of Sora, Roxas is also able to wield the "Kingdom Key". In fact, Roxas was able to wield the Keyblade at the same time as Sora because his Keyblade was "lost" by Sora in Castle Oblivion. As the "Key of Destiny" of Organization XIII, Roxas is the only member able to actually collect hearts. Like the other Organization members, Roxas is able to modify the form of his weapon using Gears.
In order to duplicate this ability, and to replace Roxas with an even more malleable puppet, the Organization created the Replica, Xion. Xion gradually leeched Roxas's powers over the Keyblade, but when the two were forced into mortal combat, Roxas eventually defeated her and reabsorbed his lost powers. This awakened his latent Synch Blade ability, in which he is able to wield both the "Oathkeeper" and "Oblivion", which represent Sora's memories of Kairi and Riku. As Roxas essentially is Sora, Sora is also able to use Synch Blade.
Due to the constant lies the Organization had been feeding him about Xion and himself, Roxas resigned from the group and eventually returned to Sora, leading them to attempt to use Sora's Keyblade for their own goals.
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Xion
Xion, the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, could wield a Keyblade due to the fact that she was a Replica of Roxas (and Sora, in that sense). She is created from both his tissue and from Sora's memories. As a being created out of memories, she was able to use the "Kingdom Key" to produce the power of light in the way Sora and Roxas are able to.
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Kairi
Riku handed his "Destiny Place" to Kairi at The World That Never Was in order to protect Sora. Kairi used this Keyblade to fight against the Heartless for one battle in The World That Never Was. The complete reason Kairi was able to wield a Keyblade is unknown, but Nomura has stated that it is in part due to the strength of her heart. Nomura has said that the scene in which Riku gives her a Keyblade hints at something.
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Data Sora
Similar to its real-world counterpart, the Data Sora wields a data version of the "Kingdom Key". It utilizes this mighty blade to fend off Heartless and Bug Blocks. Data Sora gains the Keyblade in the data Awakening, but loses it to real the Maleficent in data Agrabah. Eventually he gets a new Keyblade in data Hollow Bastion. The new Keyblade he gets is tightly connected to the Power of the Hearts as said by King Mickey, so it is possible that Data Sora obtained the Keyblade in Sora's possesion.
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Trivia
- Despite the fact that Xehanort's Heartless wielded the Keyblade of People's Hearts for a short time, he cannot be considered a Keyblade master because he was using Riku (an actual Keyblade Master) as a medium for handling the weapon.
- Genie uses a fake Keyblade when he is summoned in Kingdom Hearts II as it is part of his tail formed into a Keyblade.
- Most of the Keyblade wielders hold their Keyblade in one hand. Only a few (Sora, Roxas, Xion, and Master Eraqus) hold it in two hands.
Notes and References
- ^ KINGDOM HEARTS MASTER ARMS KINGDOM KEY DarkSide
- ^ Director's Secret Report XIII, p. 28; Tetsuya Nomura: "There isn't necessarily one Keyblade for the dark side and one for the light side, just as many as there exist people with qualified hearts. Concerning the conditions to wield one, at this stage, 'those with strong hearts' is the only obvious one. However, less obvious conditions still exist and there are still plans for an opportunity to reveal those. Riku's 'Way to the Dawn' and Kairi's Keyblade are naturally the same type of Keyblade as Sora's. However there is no particular explanation for the Soul Eater's transfer and occurrence, as well as Riku's handing it to Kairi. When there isn't a normal process of acquisition, I think it's okay to think there is some deeper meaning there."
