Soul Eater
| Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories 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 | ||
| Strike | Thrust | Finish |
| D+ | - | - |
| Swing Speed |
Break Recovery | |
| - | - | |
| Element | ||
| Physical | ||
| Obtained | ||
| Default | ||
| 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 | |||||
| Strength | Magic | ||||
| Base | Unit | Ultima | Base | Unit | |
| +70 | +1/ +2/ +3 |
+30 | +0 | +1/ +2/ +3 | |
| Defense | Crit Rate | Crit Bonus | |||
| Base | Unit | Base | Unit | Base | Unit |
| +0 | +1/ +2/ +3 |
+5 | +1/ +2/ +3 |
+7 | +1/ +2/ +3 |
| Attack Speed | Approach Speed | ||||
| Ground | Air | ||||
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||
| 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 358/2 Days Soul Eater+ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "An upgraded Soul Eater. Possesses high Strength." | |||||
| Japanese | ソウルイーター+ | ||||
| Stats | |||||
| Strength | Magic | ||||
| Base | Unit | Ultima | Base | Unit | |
| +100 | +3 | +15 | +15 | +3 | |
| Defense | Crit Rate | Crit Bonus | |||
| Base | Unit | Base | Unit | Base | Unit |
| +0 | +3 | +7 | +5 | +10 | +3 |
| Attack Speed | Approach Speed | ||||
| Ground | Air | ||||
| 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | |||
| 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++ | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "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 | ||||
| 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) | |||||
The Soul Eater (ソウルイーター Souru Ītā) is a weapon used by Riku, introduced in Kingdom Hearts. It is a sword that grows more powerful when used with darkness, and is the developing form of Way to the Dawn.
Story
Kingdom Hearts
Some time after arriving at Hollow Bastion and being taken in by Maleficent, Riku learns to summon the Soul Eater, which he uses as his primary weapon. Later, while he is in Traverse Town, he uses it to take out a pair of Soldiers that are about to attack Sora. He continues to use Soul Eater in his battles until he is possessed by Ansem; at that point he uses the Keyblade of heart instead. During Sora's final battle against Ansem and World of Chaos, Ansem uses a giant, double-bladed, pole-arm version of the Soul Eater.
Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
Riku continues to use the Soul Eater as he makes his way up from the lowest basement of Castle Oblivion. Along the way, he battles Vexen, who uses data from the battle to create the Riku Replica; this clone uses his own Soul Eater in his battles against both Riku and Sora, who is ascending the upper floors of the castle.
When Riku fights Zexion on the third basement, Zexion steals Riku's Soul Eater attack cards, which he uses to summon Soul Eater-wielding clones of himself.
Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
In order to avoid the notice of Organization XIII, Riku keeps a low profile. Even when he is spotted by Organization members, he avoids drawing his Soul Eater, instead electing to stay on the defensive and running when possible. However, on Day 149, he draws Soul Eater in a duel against Xion at Beast's Castle, and defeats her easily. He does not use it again, to the point of using Roxas's own Oblivion Keyblade during his final battle against the Nobody at The World That Never Was.
Kingdom Hearts II
In the form of Riku-Ansem, Riku once more uses Soul Eater as his main weapon; he fends off Dusks in front of the Old Mansion on the Sixth Day, and both duels Sora and subdues Li Shang in the Land of Dragons. His fighting style and use of Soul Eater start to clue Sora in on the identity of the mysterious hooded figure.
By the time Riku arrives at The World That Never Was, Soul Eater has transformed into the Way to the Dawn. Even after this, Riku continues to refer to his weapon as Soul Eater.[1]
Kingdom Hearts coded
Data-Riku wields his own Soul Eater in battle. He first draws it when he attempts to take on Maleficent and Pete in Agrabah, and wields it against Data-Sora after he is corrupted by bugs.
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
As Yen Sid introduces the Mark of Mastery exam to Sora and Riku, Riku summons the Soul Eater as he muses on his history with darkness.
After Sora and Riku begin their journey through the Sleeping Worlds, they fight Ursula on the ocean. During this battle, Riku wields the Soul Eater, but he begins wielding Way to the Dawn after the battle is over.
Design
The Soul Eater is a falchion-esque sword, with a red, purple and blue blade shaped like a demonic wing. Its handle bears an eye of darkness, 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. In Halloween Town, the Soul Eater gains an aged appearance; the scales on the wing are more apparent, the ivory clips on the handle bear red splatter spots that resemble rust, and the eye of darkness becomes cracked.
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; together, the two weapons fall along with Ventus.
Forms
The dual-bladed Soul Eater.
The Soul Eater as it appears while in Halloween Town.
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."
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