Ventus

Unreleased

Ventus (also known as Ven) is a character who will appear in the upcoming game Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. From the view of the story, it is revealed he is the Keyblade Wielder before Sora and may have the strongest bond to him. He first appeared in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II titled The Gathering. The video was continued in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, titled Birth by Sleep. In the video Ven was shown fighting against Master Xehanort and Vanitas with companions Aqua and Terra. He is the youngest member of the group. On an interesting note, Ven strongly resembles Roxas.

While Ven's full name Ventus means "Wind" in Latin, Sora's name in Japanese means "Sky." Any connection between the two is unconfirmed, however similar name meanings also apply with Kairi and Aqua and with Riku and Terra.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Ventus has a very large role in Birth by Sleep, serving as one of three playable characters, plus having his own scenario and storyline. Nomura has states that Ven will be mainly trying to find Terra throughout the game, which he will do by appearing in worlds after Terra does. Nomura has also stated that Ven became an apprentice of Master Eraqus after Aqua and Terra did, and therefore will not be taking the Master Qualification Exam.

Ventus finds himself in the Castle of Dreams. Having been shrunk down to the size of a mouse, he meets Cinderella's mouse friend, Jaq. Together, they collect items for Cinderella's ball gown, but not before getting attacked by and having to fight off the devious feline Lucifer. Ven is also seen at normal size, standing in front of Prince Charming's castle, staring up at it in awe while Cinderella walks into the castle in the background.

When Ven travels to Enchanted Dominion, he encounters the evil witch Maleficent. She reveals to him a horrible truth, that friend Terra has turned to the side of darkness. Ven refuses to believe her, yet later connects the dots and falls into a state of deep depression, wondering why his mentor would betray both himself and Aqua. When Aqua herself comes to the world, she tries to convince him of Terra's allegiance to the light.

Ven stands at Olympus Coliseum, meeting up with Master Xehanort. The elderly man speaks to Ven of the darkness, hinting towards his plans. He later vanishes, telling the young Keyblade wielder they will meet again.

When Ven comes to Deep Space, he finds the troublesome Experiment 626 and demonstrates his inner wild side as he helps the alien escape a prison Spaceship. He and the extraterrestrial run from the evil Captain Gantu and the guards he summons, also teaching 626 some minor human speech. The little, blue creature seems to understand, mimicking Ven's name, but adding an "izuma" suffix.

He visits Dwarf Woodlands and is seen talking to Snow White and comforting her. He is also seen handing the poison apple The Queen after she accidentally dropped it and fighting the Seven Dwarfs because they think he is a jewel thief. After the thief dispute is over, he hears from the Dwarfs that Terra sent a monster over Snow White.

When Ventus travels to Neverland, he comes before Tinker Bell. He is awed by the pixie, noticing she has found an item that one of his friends is missing. He then requests politely that she hand it over to him.

Ventus also finds himself on Destiny Islands. Standing on the beach, he mentions a friend and asks the friend to erase him. This angers the other, unknown figure, who refuses. The second figure is believed to be Aqua because of the silhouette on the sand next to him.

During his journey, Ventus met Vanitas, who told him that Terra will no longer be Terra, and that the existence if Terra will be gone.

At some point in his journey, Ven finds himself knocked unconscious at the Radiant Garden. He is rescued by Terra, the elder warrior protecting Ven with his life. When the young Ventus awakens, Terra reconfirms their friendship, thanking Ven for being his friend through their rough journey. In Radiant Garden, he also meets Even, Dilan and Aeleus. Even predicts they will share some connection in the future.

It eventually comes down to a battle with Master Xehanort's Apprentice at the Gathering Place. Ventus fought to his best ability, using all he had learned on his quest. He fails, however, knocked down whilst Vanitas draws in. The results of this climatic battle are unknown.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
While Ven does not make a physical appearance in the game, Xigbar sees Xion as Ven for a memorable moment before Xion strikes him down and leaves. Xigbar is the only one who sees Xion as Ven, and is heavily implied to have met the real Ven sometime before when he mentions that he always looked at him with those eyes.

The Gathering
In the opening of the secret trailer, Terra, clad in his armor, walks over towards three Keyblades lying in the center: Kingdom Key, Way to the Dawn and Kingdom Key D. Ven picks up Way to the Dawn, while Aqua picks up Kingdom Key D, and Terra picks up the Kingdom Key. Then they all notice a shadowed figure off in the distance.

Birth by sleep
Ven's most memorable role in the video is his capture by Master Xehanort, who teleports behind him and grabs him by the back of his head when Ven attempts to attack him from behind. Ven struggles against Master Xehanort's grip, but to no avail; Master Xehanort squeezes his head hard enough to crack his helmet, then freezes his entire body solid before letting him drop from the cliff. Ven's body is caught by Aqua after hitting the cliff wall, shattering his Keyblade and most of what remained of his helmet. When his face is fully revealed, apparently still alive as his eyes are moving and trying to focus on Aqua, it is shown that he is identical to Roxas. The connection between the two is not explained or even confirmed as an existent connection, leading to many theories among fans.

Abilities
Ven is the fastest of the trio, using swift combo attacks with quick movements. Unlike most Keyblade wielders, Ven wields his Keyblade in a reverse grip. Aside from his impressive speed, Ven also utilizes a variety of magic, including new and unique spells such as the Zero Gravity. He also seems to have access to some of Sora's very own techniques, such as the Strike Raid. His known Mode Change are:
 * Speed Rave: Ven's personal fighting style that puts a large emphasis on overwhelming enemies with wide-ranged, speed-based combos.
 * Cyclone: After meeting certain requirements, Speed Rave morphs into much more powerful Cyclone style, attacking surrounding enemies with spin attacks.
 * Thunder Bolt: A swift mode change that unleashes powerful lightning upon attacks.
 * Fire Blazer: A ranged and versatile mode change that focuses the Keyblade to erupt flames while attacking.
 * Dimension Link: A mode that allows Ventus to summon characters from other worlds to aid him in battles.
 * Shoot Lock: Photon Charge: Rush to locked on enemies for multiple hits. If the lock on number reaches MAX, a pillar of light raises for a Finish attack.(The information for how to input it isn’t written, but according to last year’s movie you have to hit the O button once at the correct time.) “Lock on to all enemies in the area.” “A straight attack with the speed of light!”

Personality
As mentioned earlier, Ven is the youngest of the three Keyblade warriors. Personality-wise, he has many similarities with Sora; he's cheerful, curious, and gets excited at anything new or interesting. He also makes new friends easily in different worlds and really cares about his best friends Terra and Aqua, viewing Terra as an older brother.

Appearance
Ven bears an uncanny resemblance to Roxas, bearing identical facial features. Further highlighting this resemblance is Ven's outfit, which is strikingly similar to Roxas's own Twilight Town clothes. He wears a jacket that is primarily white on his right side (like Roxas's) and dark on his left (rather like Sora's). The collar of the jacket is red and pileated, again, similar to the collar on Roxas's own jacket. Underneath this, he wears what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. He wears a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also has a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appears to be under his vest, but over his black shirt.

Ven's pants are also similar to the pants Roxas wore, though Ven's balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs, similar to capris pants. These pants are colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wears an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm, along with a wristband that is, once again, strikingly similar to Roxas's, but with white edges as opposed to Roxas's black-edged wristband. Like Aqua, he wears two criss-crossing straps on his chest, on which he wears a silver badge vaguely resembling the Heartless emblem or the Nobody emblem turned upside down. His boots are rather odd when compared to Aqua's and Terra's, as the resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey.

Ven's suit of armor shares the coloration of the pieces he normally wears, predominantly sporting shades of green and gold. In this suit, Ven adds a yellow cape to his outfit that is discolored, almost appearing rusted. The armor on his knee is gold and bears a sharp, upward-pointing hook on the outer side of each one. Ven's helmet has a notably different design from Aqua and Terra's, appearing more squashed and flat at the top. His helmet also has two prongs on either side of his head which point backwards and angle diagonally upward. Strangely, Ven's boots are colored completely gold in this outfit, as opposed to the multi-colored ones he normally wears.

Trivia

 * Because Sora's Nobody, Roxas, bears an uncanny resemblance to Ven, it appears that he has some kind of connection with Sora. However, it is currently still unconfirmed what that connection might be.


 * Ven is apparently ambidextrous, as he is seen using his Keyblade in both his left and right hands, which has another connection to Roxas because Roxas uses both hands for his two Keyblades Oathkeeper & Oblivion.


 * Ven's clothes resemble a hybrid of Roxas and Sora's clothes in  II.


 * The yellow part of Ven's Keyblade resembles the Kingdom Key, while the teeth of Ven's Keyblade resemble those of Two Become One which in turn also represent Sora and Roxas.


 * The badge on Ven's chest slightly resembles the symbol of the Nobodies turned upside down. The same badge is on Aqua's chest, Master Eraqus's belt and Terra's belt (except Terra's is yellow).


 * In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Xigbar is about to fight Xion in Wonderland, when he sees Xion as Ven and is distracted. The reason for this is unknown, but it indicates a connection between Ven and Sora (and, in turn, Xion, who's produced from Sora's memory) as well as the possibility that Braig may have met Ven since it's known that Even, Dilan, and Aeleus have done so.


 * He is the only member of the trio not to have a voice actor who previously portrayed a Final Fantasy character from Kingdom Hearts II, as Terra's and Aqua's portrayed Setzer and Paine, respectively.
 * Has the same voice actor as Roxas further implying his connection to Sora.
 * Jesse Mccartney will voice Ventus, making him the only confirmed english voice actor for the new characters thus far.

Ven