Vanitas
| Vanitas | |||
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| Japanese | ヴァニタス | ||
| Rōmaji | Vanitasu | ||
| Other names | The Masked Boy (仮面の少年 Kamen no Shōnen) | ||
| Voice actors | (Ja:) Miyu Irino (En:) Haley Joel Osment | ||
| Homeworld | Keyblade Graveyard | ||
| Games | Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance Kingdom Hearts III | ||
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| Vanitas
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| Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep |
| The Masked Boy A mysterious figure with ties to Master Xehanort. He warned Ventus that Terra was in some kind of danger, but disappeared before explaining any further. (V) Vanitas A mysterious boy who hides his face behind a mask. He has ties to Master Xehanort. Vanitas warned Ventus that Terra was in some kind of danger, but disappeared before explaining any further. (V) |
| Kingdom Hearts Union χ |
| Vanitas/HD Vanitas KINGDOM HEARTS BbS (2010) A mysterious masked boy who seems to have ties with Master Xehanort. HD Vanitas [EX+] KINGDOM HEARTS BbS (2010) The embodiment of the darkness extracted from Ventus's heart. |
| Kingdom Hearts III |
| A member of the real Organization XIII. This is the pure darkness that Master Xehanort extracted from Ventus's heart. He was pitted against Ventus in order to forge the χ-blade, but Ventus prevailed and Vanitas ceased to exist. Now that he is back, he continues to seek his "brother," Ventus. |
- "Oh, grow up. Is that what you call friendship? You'll never know the truth unless you go out and look for it yourself. Come on, what could you possibly know when you're stuck here, looking at nothing but what's in your tiny world?"
- —Vanitas to Ventus
Vanitas, also known as The Masked Boy, is a Keyblade wielder who act as the secondary antagonist of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and a supporting antagonist in Kingdom Hearts III.
He is the second apprentice of Master Xehanort, having been created from the extracted darkness from Ventus's heart and becoming the source of the Unversed, and later, a member of the real Organization XIII.
Story
Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Four years prior, Ventus served as Master Xehanort's original apprentice. The Keyblade wielder was sent to the Keyblade Graveyard, where he was forced by his master to face several Neoshadow Heartless in an attempt to forge the χ-blade. Ventus was unable to use his darkness, and was knocked unconscious by the Heartless. Master Xehanort then proceeded to use his Keyblade to unlock Ventus's heart, extracting the darkness within and resulting in an orb of dark energy forming into a young boy in a mask who is then given the name "Vanitas" by Master Xehanort.
At first, Vanitas is born as a faceless being much like a Heartless, but with red eyes. The first thing he feels is sadness for his separation from Ventus, but that sadness soon turns to hate and contempt for what he considers his weakness, which eventually turns into self-hatred.Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag According to the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep novels, his appearance prior to Ventus's connection with Sora was that of a humanoid creature similar to a Heartless but with red eyes.[1] When he fuses with Ventus, he alters Ventus's body with his yellow eyes and bodysuit.
During his time as a member of the real Organization XIII, Vanitas wore the black coat over his normal outfit, though he discards it when he enters battle.
Vanitas's name is derived from the Latin word for "vanity" or "emptiness", and was chosen for its meaning, that it sounded similar to "Ventus", and that it was a written pun on "Sora" (空, lit. "emptiness") in Japanese.[2]
Personality
As the "dark" half of Ventus's heart, Vanitas was at first much like him. However, due to the suffering, he endured by the hands of Master Xehanort, and his desperate desire for salvation, he became proud, cunning, and cruel in order to achieve enough strength to forge the χ-blade with Ventus, believing that to be the salvation he desires. As such, the lives of others, including that of even Master Xehanort, hold absolutely no value to him, and he shows zero remorse for his actions. As a pragmatist, he will strike without a moment's thought, warning, or hesitation, as seen when he ambushes Aqua in the Keyblade Graveyard and attempts to eliminate her, but will also withdraw when the situation is clearly hopeless.
Despite his loyalty to Master Xehanort, he has no qualms with disregarding his orders if he feels the need arises; for example, he attempts to eliminate Ventus after defeating him in their first battle despite full knowledge that Master Xehanort needed Ventus alive for his plans, even openly stating that he is well aware he's going against Xehanort's orders but does not care. Later, during the Keyblade War, he is willing to interfere with the Organization's plan to use the Seven Guardians of Light in order to retrieve Ventus's heart and restore himself, even though this will force the Organization to rely on the New Seven Hearts.
He is also shown to be an uncaring, cold, and ruthless individual, having not the slightest sympathy for anyone but himself. Vanitas holds everything and everyone in contempt and holds a great resentment against Ventus and the friends he has. The envy he feels against them is seen in his frequent criticizing of Ventus's friendships with Terra and Aqua, when he callously breaks Ventus's wooden Keyblade while cruelly antagonizing Aqua for playing with the Lost Boys, his constantly calling Ventus "idiot", and forcing Ventus to fight him by threatening to eliminate Terra and Aqua after Ventus refused to.
He also possesses a high degree of arrogance, believing his skills surpass all others; in his first fight with Aqua, he claims that he will be the only one that will walk away alive, even bursting into a fit of laughter upon defeat. When fighting her for the final time, Vanitas taunts her by sarcastically asking if she has given up, and boasts that Aqua was just "wasting her energy" trying to stop him. Right before possessing Ventus, he remarks that Ventus never stood a chance against him and Master Xehanort.
When fighting Ventus for the final time, he laughs when Ventus declared he would defeat him and destroy the χ-blade. During this same battle, Vanitas directly states his belief that he is the superior half of Ventus's heart. This extreme overconfidence in his abilities usually leads to his downfall as he underestimates his opponents when fighting.
Vanitas is also extremely calm and collected, rarely letting anything affect him. The only time in the entire game when Vanitas expresses genuine concern and fear is when he has been defeated by Ventus for the final time. He begins to panic and makes a desperate attempt to grab the floating χ-blade in a hopeless flurry to hold onto his only way of salvation before dying. Vanitas's whole personality, while a great contrast with those of Sora, Ventus, Roxas, and all connected to him, was modeled by the tragedies in his past brought about by Master Xehanort's ambitions, making him something of a tragic villain. As of the Keyblade War, Vanitas is even calmer, with him outright mocking Aqua for her outburst of emotion directly before their fight. He is also less attached to life, as upon being defeated, he accepts his demise, smiling contently as he fades away.
Abilities
Vanitas is a skilled and extremely aggressive opponent, showing mastery in both dark magic and wielding the Keyblade. He is swift and agile, able to perform complicated and nearly impossible acrobatic feats such as jumping off of a high cliff while landing squarely on his feet and even riding a tornado of flying Keyblades. He can teleport behind opponents at high speeds to launch attacks while leaving after-images of himself to confuse them. Vanitas is an extremely powerful and ruthlessly pragmatic fighter, easily punishing an opponent's opening or dodging out of the way at the last second. When the tide of battle turns against him, Vanitas will not hesitate to resort to underhanded tactics to defeat his opponent.
He is able to combine physical combos with magic such as attacking from above and causing a large pillar of ice to erupt out of the ground, or attacking opponents from below while bombarding them with fireballs. He can also leap into the air and fire dark lightning bolts from his Keyblade, as well as energize the Keyblade with darkness. Vanitas can also fire dark energy blasts from his Keyblade, and even has his own personal Shotlock dubbed Dark Cannon, wherein he creates three large crystals which focus together and fire a large beam of dark energy.
Vanitas appears to have superhuman endurance, surviving most of his battles while taking little to no bodily damage, able to instantly get back up as if nothing happened. Vanitas also seems to possess superhuman strength; while possessing Ventus, he is able to shatter Ventus's metaphysical Dive to the Heart pillar with a single strike and create a gust of wind powerful enough to send Aqua and Mickey flying with a single swing of his arm. It is most likely that these actions were made possible only through the χ-blade, which Vanitas wielded on both occasions.
Vanitas is a difficult opponent to fight in close combat, as he can quickly counterattack if struck multiple times, making him very dangerous. He also demonstrates the ability to levitate. Though he typically uses the Corridors of Darkness to travel, it is shown that Vanitas is freely capable of surviving in and navigating the Lanes Between unaided by surrounding himself in an aura of dark energy.
While Vanitas acts based on his own desires, it appears that Master Xehanort can summon him at will. Vanitas's arguably most dangerous and destructive ability, however, is the power to create and control the Unversed. As he was born from the purest form of darkness, Vanitas can manipulate his own negative emotions and spawn them as Unversed. Vanitas can also absorb the negativity of any defeated Unversed to increase his power and is able to summon them if needed.
D-Link
During the last battle against Vanitas in Ventus's story, Vanitas becomes a D-Link to Ventus. While using him as a D-Link, Ventus can fly and use some of Vanitas's attacks. It also changes Ventus's Shotlock into Dark Link, a light-based version of Vanitas's Shotlock, Dark Cannon. The finishing attack, Last Word, surrounds Vanitas with crystallized beams of light, followed by a powerful slash, to end the battle.
Weapon
Vanitas wields a Keyblade known as the Void Gear and has a battle pose that is very similar to Riku's stance. The Keyblade can be summoned at will, appearing in Vanitas's hand in a flash of purple flame. Vanitas can energize the weapon with dark energy, increasing his attack strength. The Vanitas Remnant also wields a monochrome version of this Keyblade. Vanitas is also capable of manipulating the degraded Keyblades that litter the Keyblade Graveyard for a variety of different attacks.
When fused with Ventus, Vanitas gains the ability to wield the most powerful Keyblade of all, the χ-blade. This weapon multiplies his initial strength and attack range a great deal. Vanitas shows great skill in wielding both the incomplete and finalized versions of the χ-blade, able to perform strong combos and powerful desperation moves.
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Trivia
- After the character's first spoken line, Nomura made a joke saying that he was to voice Vanitas.[3] It was later revealed that Vanitas was voiced by Miyu Irino, the Japanese voice actor for Sora. According to Tetsuya Nomura, Irino had said for a while that he wanted to play an evil character, and Nomura jokingly stated he sort of got carried away with it.[4]
- The songs associated with Vanitas—"Enter the Darkness", "Enter the Void" and "Unbreakable Chains"—were all composed by Takeharu Ishimoto.[5]
Notes and references
- ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedKHBbS Novel - ^ Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania, Interviewer: "How did you think of Vanitas's name?" / Tetsuya Nomura: "I wanted to give him a name that meant "empty", and so I looked for something that would be appropriate. When I was searching I found a word that meant "emptiness" in Latin, "Vanitas". It looked a lot like Ventus's name, and in Japanese it has the kanji for "sora" in it, so I thought it was perfect. Of course in Vanitas's case it doesn't mean "sora [sky]" but 'kara [empty]'." (These two words are written with the same kanji, but are said differently and have different meanings.) Translation via Lissar.
- ^ Weekly Famitsu, Interviewer: "At the trailer we saw at TGS, we heard Vanitas's voice. Can you tell us more about that?" / Tetsuya Nomura: "The voice...is mine [...] Of course that's not true (laughs). It will be a surprise." Translation vis Lissar.
- ^ Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania, Interviewer: "Of course the reason you chose Miyu Irino for Vanitas's voice is because they have the same face?" / Tetsuya Nomura: "Of course. Except he doesn't sound anything like Sora, does he? Irino has kept saying from long before that he wanted to play an evil guy, so he got sort of carried away with it (laughs)." Translation vis Lissar.
- ^ Weekly Famitsu Vol. 1104 (02/18/2010); Tetsuya Nomura: "We asked for quite a few songs this time. Not only did we have Shimomura (Yoko) working on the soundtrack, but Ishimoto (Takeharu) and Kawamori (Keiji) helped as well, each giving about five songs. Ishimoto took care of the songs having to do with Vanitas." Translation via Lissar.
