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
It is confirmed that Master Xehanort as well as his apprentice wield a Keyblade. His 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 confirmed to be a Keyblade Wielder 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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Vanitas
Vanitas's 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.
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.
Aqua
Aqua is a Keyblade Apprentice from before the events of Kingdom Hearts. her Keyblade is called Rain Fall, but later in the game it transforms into Rain Storm
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.
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 "Darkside". 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, as shown in Birth By Sleep. Mickey wields the Star Seeker Keyblade 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 the Kingdom Key keychain, 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 original person chose to wield Sora's Keyblade, but he was denied by it 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.[1]
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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, the battle awakened Roxas's latent Synch Blade ability, in which he wields 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 left the group and was eventually returned to Sora, leading them to attempt to use Sora's Keyblade for their goals.
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Xion
Xion, the fourteenth member of Organization XIII, can wield a Keyblade due to the fact that she is a Replica of Roxas. She is created from both his tissue and from Sora's memories. As a being created out of memories, she is 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's Destiny Place was handed to Kairi in The World That Never Was. Destiny Place is delicate looking and sports a floral design. 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 the scene in which Riku gives her a Keyblade hints at something. It is assumed that this is the Keyblade that represents Destiny Islands, given its floral design and the Paopu Fruit Keychain.
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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 Block. Data Sora gained the Keyblade in the data Awakening, but lost it to real Maleficent in data Agrabah. Eventually he got a new one in data Hollow Bastion. The new Keyblade he got 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.
Notes and References
- ^ 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."