Soul Eater

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days; Soul Eater+
	"An upgraded Soul Eater.; Possesses high Strength."
Japanese	ソウルイーター+
Stats
Abilities
	1: Striker; 2: Grand Slam; 3: Critical Boost
Obtained
	Duel Gear++ ⑤, Crisis Gear ⑤, Crisis Gear+ ⑤, Rage Gear ⑤, Rage Gear+ ⑤ (Riku)

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days; Soul Eater
	"A sword that swims with darkness.; Possesses high Strength."
Japanese	ソウルイーター
Stats
Abilities
	1: Striker; 2: Grand Slam; 3: Critical Boost
Obtained
	No Gear, Skill Gear, Skill Gear+ ②, Technical Gear ③, Technical Gear+ ③, Duel Gear ④, Duel Gear+ ④, Loaded Gear, Loaded Gear+ ②, Chrono Gear ③, Chrono Gear+ ③, Phantom Gear ④, Phantom Gear+ ④, Phantom Gear++ ⑤, Lift Gear ③, Lift Gear+ ③, Nimble Gear ④, Nimble Gear+ ④, Wild Gear ③, Wild Gear+ ③, Ominous Gear ④, Ominous Gear+ ④, Valor Gear ②, Valor Gear+ ②, Fearless Gear ③, Fearless Gear+ ③, Prestige Gear ④, Prestige Gear+ ④, Hazard Gear ⑤, Hazard Gear+ ⑤, Casual Gear ②, Mystery Gear ③ (Riku)

Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories; Soul Eater
	Soul Eater"Reacts to dark power. Riku's strength is higher when he wields darkness in battle."
Japanese	ソウルイーター
Stats
-	-
Element
	Physical
Obtained
	Default

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Soul Eater++
"The ultimate Soul Eater. Possesses high Strength."
Japanese		ソウルイーター++
Stats
Strength				Magic
Base	Unit	Ultima		Base	Unit
+120	+3	+15		+25	+3
Defense		Crit Rate		Crit Bonus
Base	Unit	Base	Unit	Base	Unit
+0	+3	+12	+3	+15	+3
Attack Speed		Approach Speed
Attack Speed		Ground		Air
1.0		1.0		1.0
Abilities
1: Striker 2: Grand Slam 3: Critical Boost
Obtained
Omega Gear ⑥, Omega Gear+ ⑥, Champion Gear ⑤, Champion Gear+ ⑤, Ultimate Gear ⑥, Ultimate Gear+ ⑥ (Riku)

Template:Gallery The Soul Eater (ソウルイーター, Souru Ītā^?) is a form of one of Riku's Keyblades that appears in Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Kingdom Hearts II, and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. It is a sword that grows more powerful when used with darkness.

Soul Eater is first seen at Traverse Town, when Riku uses it upon two Soldiers that were about to attack Sora. He continues to use this weapon during his appearances until he is possessed by Ansem, who uses the Keyblade of People's Hearts instead. In the final battle against Ansem and World of Chaos, Ansem uses a giant, double-bladed, pole-arm version of the Soul Eater.

The Soul Eater reappears as Riku's only weapon in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, though unlike Sora, Riku can choose to strengthen his weapon as he levels up. Riku also uses this weapon in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, notably in his duel against Xion, though he never actually uses it while battling Roxas; in his first encounter he simply runs away from Roxas without using any weapon at all, and in his second encounter, he uses the Oblivion Keyblade Roxas throws to him, before using Ansem's darkness to defeat him.

In Kingdom Hearts II, Riku continues to use the Soul Eater throughout his appearances, and this eventually causes Sora to realize that Riku is the mysterious hooded stranger the group had been encountering. However, by the time Riku arrives at The World That Never Was, Soul Eater has been transformed into the Way to the Dawn. Even after this, Riku continues to refer to his weapon as Soul Eater.^[1]

A copy of the Soul Eater is also used by the Riku Replica and Zexion's clones, when he fights Riku, as well as Jiminy's Journal while it takes Riku's form and is possessed by the Bug Blocks.

Design

The Soul Eater is a falchion-esque sword, with a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a demonic wing. Its handle bears a blue eye, and the handle itself consists of dark braids. It has a striking resemblance to Way to the Dawn, as well as Void Gear. The weapon can be summoned at will, appearing in Riku's hand in an amorphous cloud of darkness.

The weapon's name is derived from an ability attributed to the Dark Knight class in the Final Fantasy series, in which Soul Eater drains the HP of the user to initiate an extra-powerful attack. The attack and the Dark Knight class are associated with darkness, and the Soul Eater ability is sometimes called Darkside, Dark Wave or even Darkness, making it a fitting name for Riku's weapon.

Gameplay

The Soul Eater serves as Riku's default weapon in Mission Mode, requiring no Gears in order to be equipped. Its ground combo starts with a diagonal upward slash from the left leg, followed by two thrusts, two more thrusts, and it ends with a forward rushing thrust. The aerial combo consists of a diagonal upward slash from the right leg, followed by a horizontal slash to the right, a vertical upward slash on the right side, two large forward thrust, and ends with a spinning slash.

Other appearances

The Soul Eater appears in the opening video of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, alongside the Kingdom Key.

Notes and References

^ Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania, "Scenario Mysteries"; Tetsuya Nomura: "Since Riku has always been using Soul Eater, he still calls it that even after it changed form. Keyblades aren't something that you can obtain suddenly out of nowhere so in Riku's case, his Soul Eater was used as an intermediary for that Keyblade."

Navigation

[1] Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania, "Scenario Mysteries"; Tetsuya Nomura: "Since Riku has always been using Soul Eater, he still calls it that even after it changed form. Keyblades aren't something that you can obtain suddenly out of nowhere so in Riku's case, his Soul Eater was used as an intermediary for that Keyblade."

[1]