Vanitas

Unreleased

Vanitas (ヴァニタス) is a mysterious character introduced in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He is the sole apprentice of Master Xehanort, and appears to be one of the game's antagonists. His name is derived from the Latin word for "Vanity" or "Emptiness", and was chosen both for its meaning, and that it sounded similar to "Ventus". Vanitas is known to know something about Ventus; even Master Xehanort questions him about the young apprentice.

Appearance
Vanitas wears a black and red organic-looking bodysuit and a silver helmet covered with dark glass, hiding his face from view. The suit's appearance is quite similar to Riku's Dark Mode from Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. He wields an unnamed Keyblade that is colored in red and black, also bearing two blue eyes that were previously unique to Riku's Soul Eater and Way to the Dawn.

Fighting Style
Vanitas is a skilled warrior with the Keyblade and with magic. He is seen casting thunder and blizzard magic, performing complicated acrobatics, and even rides the flying Keyblades that Master Xehanort sends out.

In actual gameplay, he is known to fight Aqua in Radiant Garden sometime during Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, and when she attempts to unmask him, he merely laughs hysterically.

Also, Vanitas's battle stance, as seen in a trailer, greatly resembles Riku's battle stance.

Trivia

 * It is shown in the Tokyo Game Show trailer that Vanitas has a similar battle-stance to Riku, further implying a connection.
 * Vanitas is shown to reenact a scene of Sora and Riku from Kingdom Hearts with Ventus, in which he holds out his hand to him. This further indicates a connection between Vanitas and Riku.
 * Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that Vanitas's identity will be revealed at the end of the story of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep.
 * After his first spoken line, Nomura made a joke saying that he was to voice Vanitas. Nomura later stated that Vanitas and Master Eraqus are voiced in Japan by actors known to be difficult to hire.
 * In the most recent Famitsu scan, it was revealed that Vanitas has golden eyes and black eyebrows, indicating his hair is possibly black.
 * In the Jump Festa 2010 Trailer, it is revealed that Vanitas wants to make Ventus stronger, however the reason for this is still unknown.