Ventus

Ventus, also known as Ven, is one of the main protagonists in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. From the view of the story, it is revealed that he is a Keyblade Wielder before Sora and has a strong bond to him, even though they only ever meet through their hearts. Of the trio formed by himself, Terra and Aqua, he is the youngest of the three.

His name means "Wind" in Latin, and Sora's name in Japanese means "Sky". The two are connected, as Sora's heart makes contact with Ventus's injured heart, shortly after the creation of Vanitas, to fix his Awakening station, and at the game's ending, Ventus's heart merges with that of Sora, thus granting him the ability to wield the Keyblade. For this reason, Sora's Nobody, Roxas, takes on Ventus's appearance.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
''One of Master Eraqus's pupils. He usually goes by "Ven" for short. He and Terra and Aqua train together, sharing both a healthy rivalry and a strong bond of friendship.''

Haunted by the masked boy's warnings about Terra, Ven defied Master Eraqus, ran away from home, and set off for the outside world to find his friend.

Since Ventus is younger, Terra and Aqua tend to be very protective of him.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Ventus is the youngest of Master Eraqus's three apprentices. Ventus's earliest appearance is in the opening cutscene, where Master Xehanort carries Ven's body to Destiny Islands. In this flashback, Ventus has an Awakening, and it's revealed that his heart is damaged and may soon fade. It is there that Sora's heart speaks to him, offering to connect with his until the day he can become stronger. The two hearts connect to one another, and Ven's heart heals. At the end of this scene, Ventus summons a Keyblade, much to Master Xehanort's surprise.

Following these events, Xehanort brought Ventus to Land of Departure, where he could train as an apprentice to Master Eraqus. Terra and Aqua met Ventus with open arms. However, when Terra asked Ventus about his past, he screamed out in agony, eventually falling unconscious. Eraqus revealed that this was because Ven had lost his memories. Afterwards he remained asleep for some time. As he slept, Aqua kept watch over him, to keep him safe. Some time later, Ven woke up. Overjoyed, Aqua quickly alerted Eraqus and a worried Terra about Ven's recovery.

It was then that his heart began to heal and he started to form strong bonds of friendship with Terra and Aqua. During a training session, Ventus loses humiliatingly, but Terra and Aqua reassure Ven that he was getting stronger. As time went on, Terra and Ven grew close, forming a brotherly bond. Terra even went so far as to give Ven his wooden training Keyblade and recite a mock inheritance ceremony. Together, the three of them shared the same dream: to become Keyblade Masters.

Years later, Ventus awakes to a meteor shower and hurries out to look at the stars. Later, both Terra and Aqua join him. When Ven asks about stars and the light, Terra explains how each star is another world and compares the light to Ven, who doesn't understand. After a brief spat between the two boys, they, along with Aqua, spar in order to prepare for the Mark of Mastery exam the next day. Following their workout, Aqua gives both Ven and Terra good luck charms and tells them the story behind the charms. The charms, also known as Wayfinders, were gifted with a powerful magic that formed an "unbreakable connection". Upon receiving the charms, Ven and his friends return to their castle for the night, eagerly awaiting the exam.

However, things don't go smoothly. During the exam, Master Xehanort rigs the test, and the orbs of light attack Ven and his friends. Together, the three fight off the orbs, and the exam continues.

After the exam, it's clear that Ventus has earned the interest of Master Xehanort and his apprentice, Vanitas. Though their intentions are rather ambiguous at the time, Vanitas decides to give Ventus some incentive to leave his home. When Vanitas appears in Ven's room, he leaves dark hints of Terra's fate and how he'll "become a different person". Ven becomes very defensive, telling Vanitas that he doesn't know the first thing about Terra. However, once Vanitas leaves, Ven hurries out to find his friend in hopes of giving him a warning.

Unfortunately, Ven arrives much too late, as Terra leaves to go on his mission. Left with no other choice, Ventus leaves his home and begins a journey of his own.

He visits a number of worlds and builds new friendships along the way. In Dwarf Woodlands he helps Snow White escape the woods and guides her to the Dwarfs' home. There, he learns that Snow White encountered Terra and immediately tries to get to the bottom of things. After facing several more Unversed along the way, Ven encounters the Queen in the form of an old lady, and she tells Ven that Terra threatened her with his Keyblade. Refusing to believe this, Ventus leaves in hopes of finding Terra, wondering what's gotten into him.

Then, in Castle of Dreams, Ven befriends Jaq and Cinderella. Though Terra isn't there, Ven still lends a hand, helping gather supplies for Cinderella's dress, and even facing Lucifer. When the dress is complete, Cinderella thanks Jaq and Ventus, and the two talk about their dreams. It's here that Ven decides that his dream is to become a Keyblade Master-- the dream he and his friends all share.

It's in Enchanted Dominion that Ven gets another clue regarding Terra. After freeing Princess Aurora's heart, Ven encounters Maleficent. Maleficent reveals that Terra helped steal Aurora's heart, but Aqua arrives just in time to convince Ven otherwise. She then asks Ven to go home with her, but he refuses, remembering the cryptic warning left by Vanitas.

Coincidentally, Ven encounters Vanitas again after leaving Enchanted Dominion, and he follows him straight to the Keyblade Graveyard. There, Ven tries to get some answers out of Vanitas, who simply restates what he said before, that Terra will be gone forever. The two battle, but Vanitas easily overpowers Ven. It's not until King Mickey arrives, that Vanitas is defeated. Upon his defeat, Vanitas tells Ventus that he's on probation and disappears, leaving Ven and Mickey alone.

The two introduce themselves to one another, and Mickey tells Ven about the Star Shard. Apparently, it allows him to travel to different worlds, but he still doesn't know all of its secrets. Shortly after, the Star Shard sends the two of them both to Radiant Garden, and Ven tries to follow Mickey, only to be intercepted by Aeleus and Dilan. After spying an Unversed, Ven gives up his search for Mickey and instead trails after the Monster. He's interrupted several times, by Scrooge McDuck, who gives him lifetime passes to Disney Town and Merlin, who tells him of the book to the 100 Acre Wood.

Eventually, he does find the Unversed he was chasing, as well as Terra and Aqua. Together, they face the Trinity Armor, but after its defeat, things change for the worst.

First, Aqua tries to tell Ven to go home, and then she and Terra get into a fight regarding the darkness and Eraqus's intentions. The whole time, Ven is left completely confused, as he'd never seen his friends bicker in such a way. In the end, he tells Aqua that she's let being a Master go to her head, and he leaves to find Terra again.

His search is interrupted again, when he spots Ienzo being attacked by the Unversed. Without any hesitation, Ventus protects the boy and defeats his attackers. Even arrives shortly after and thanks Ventus for his help. Then, when asked about Terra's location, he tells Ven to look in the Outer Gardens.

Though Ven does find Terra, their reunion is short lived, as Terra leaves, telling Ven that he can't come along, but when he really needs him, he knows he'll be there.

For a while, Ven stays in Radiant Garden, reminiscing about the times when his friendship wasn't strained by newfound complications. He's left wondering just what it means to be friends, and after meeting Lea and Isa he becomes more and more curious about friendship.

Thus, when he continues his travels, Ven has a new resolve. Rather than search for Terra and Aqua, he decides to go out and make some new friends in hopes of redefining his simplistic views of friendship.

And by the time he leaves Olympus Coliseum, Ven finally comes to understand what it means to be friends and realizes that he, Terra, and Aqua will patch things up someday.

Later, in Neverland he finds Mickey's Star Shard, only for Captain Hook to steal both it and Tinker Bell. Together, both he and Peter Pan team up against the pirate captain, saving Tink in the process.

Together, Ventus, along with Peter and the Lost Boys, decide to put their own personal treasures in the empty chest they stole from Hook. As the Wooden Keyblade holds many cherished memories for Ven, he puts it in the chest, for his best memories with Terra and Aqua are still to come. With Hook out of the way, he also retrieves the Star Shard from Tinker Bell after a little persuasion from Peter, only to be whisked away, to the Mysterious Tower.

Upon his arrival, Ven meets Donald and Goofy, who take him straight to Yen Sid. There, it's discovered that Mickey went missing, but when Yen Sid uses his magic to find him, they discover that the King is in danger. Determined to save Mickey, Ven departs from the Tower and returns to the Keyblade Graveyard, but when he reaches Mickey, everything changes.

It turns out that Master Xehanort was waiting for him the whole time, and that's not all. Xehanort reveals Ven's destiny to forge the χ-blade. He tells Ven that this is the real reason he could never leave his home, out of fear for the χ-blade's creation.

After learning of his past, Ventus returns to Eraqus, only for his Master to try and destroy him upon realizing Xehanort's plans. Fortunately, he is saved by Terra and sent to Destiny Islands, much to his displeasure. There, he encounters Vanitas again, as more memories of his past come to light.

A flashback sequence shows Ventus in the Keyblade Graveyard, surrounded by Neoshadows. At the time, he was still Master Xehanort's apprentice, and the Heartless were a means of bringing out Ven's inner darkness. However, Ventus refuses to unleash the darkness inside him, even if it means dying in the process. Disappointed in his failure of an apprentice, Master Xehanort extracts the darkness from within Ven, creating Vanitas.

Once the memories return, Vanitas decides to give Ventus a reason to fight: Vanitas tells Ventus to come to the Keyblade Graveyard, the only place where the χ-blade can be forged, and threatens to kill Terra and Aqua to see if Ventus will continue to "play the pacifist." Left with no choice, Ven leaves in hopes of setting things right, once and for all. Once reunited with his friends, Ventus explains the situation between himself and Vanitas, and, admitting that he is terrified over the very thought of the χ-blade, asks to be destroyed, much to their shock. However, there's little time to mull over Ven's request, as both Master Xehanort and Vanitas arrive.

During their final battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, Master Xehanort encases Ven in ice and throws him off a cliff. Aqua manages to catch him, saving his life. Braig quickly appears and fights Aqua. Stalling long enough, Braig withdraws from the battle. Vanitas knocks out Aqua as he drops down from a cliff. Before the enigma can finish her off, Ventus uses all of his willpower to thaw out of his frozen state and fights Vanitas. After the battle, Vanitas reveals his true intentions and explains that the Unversed came from his negativity. Trapping Ven with several Floods, Vanitas merges with Ventus and takes over his body.

However, Vanitas is defeated by Aqua and Mickey, and right as the χ-blade is damaged by their fight, Vanitas and Ventus engage in a metaphysical battle, where Vanitas tries to rejoin with Ventus and repair the χ-blade. Ven, however, refuses and chooses to defeat Vanitas and destroy the weapon, even if it means the destruction of his own heart.

The two engage in a decisive battle, and towards the end, Vanitas forces a D-Link on Ventus in hopes of completing their fusion. However, Ventus prevails, and the χ-blade is destroyed along with Vanitas. Unfortunately, this also results in Ventus losing his heart. Aqua later places his body in a chamber within Castle Oblivion. Somehow, Ventus's heart finds its way to a young Sora, in his own Awakening, and his heart passes on into Sora's body, granting the young boy the ability to use Ventus's Keyblade.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
While Ventus does not make a physical appearance in the game, Xemnas and Xigbar see Xion (an imperfect Replica of Roxas) as Ventus. He states that Ventus had always looked at him as if he had "drowned [his] goldfish" before he is defeated by Xion. Xigbar reveals that his complete being has met the real Ventus.

Kingdom Hearts II
When Sora first returns to Hollow Bastion and encounters Organization XIII, Xigbar stays behind to taunt him, at one point commenting that "he" used to give him the same glare that Sora did. Tetsuya Nomura has confirmed that Xigbar was referring to Ventus glaring at Braig when he was frozen in the Keyblade Graveyard.

Later in the story, at The World That Never Was, Sora encounters Xigbar again, who comments that the Keyblade chose "a dud this time" and mentions that Sora doesn't look like "half the hero the others were", referring to Terra, Aqua, and Ventus.

Blank Points
Ventus is seen at the Land of Departure, sleeping on a bench outside before Terra wakes the boy by approaching him. They both smile and look up to the sky while uttering Sora's name with a sense of renewed hope. This is only symbolic, however, as Ven's true body is in the Chamber of Waking.

Reconnect. Kingdom Hearts
Ventus, or rather his heart, is mentioned in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded. Mickey reveals to Yen Sid that they now know the location of his heart.

Abilities
Ventus is the fastest of the trio, using swift combo attacks with quick movements. Unlike most Keyblade wielders, Ventus wields his Keyblade, Wayward Wind, in a reverse grip. Aside from his impressive speed, Ventus also utilizes a variety of magic, including new and unique spells such as the Zero Gravity. Due to his affinity for both light and wind he is able to use the powerful Holy and Tornado spells and mix both elements into his attacks. His known Command Styles are:

Level 1 Command Styles

 * Fever Pitch: Ven's personal Command Style that puts a large emphasis on overwhelming enemies with wide-ranged, speed-based combos. Activated by filling the Command Gauge with physical-based commands. The finisher of this Command Style consists of a long combo ending with five beams of light. This was named "Speed Rave" in the Japanese release.
 * Thunderbolt: A swift Command Style that unleashes powerful lightning upon attacks. Activated by filling the Command Gauge with Thunder-based commands. The finisher consists of Ventus summoning a ball of light over his Keyblade then thrusting his Keyblade into it causing multiple lightning bolts to come out of the energy ball and raining down on enemies.
 * Firestorm: A ranged and versatile Command Style that focuses the Keyblade to erupt in flames while attacking. Activated by filling the Command Gauge with Fire-based commands. This was named "Fire Blazer" in the Japanese release. The finisher consists of Ventus jumping in the air, charging energy, and hurling a fireball that erupts into multiple pillars of flame.
 * Diamond Dust: An ice-based Command Style that seems to specialize in crowd-control and dealing with multiple enemies, named after the common attack of the Blizzard-based summon Shiva from the Final Fantasy series. Activated by filling the Command Gauge with Ice-based commands. The finisher consists of Ventus summoning a surrounding ice formation that shatter after a certain time and damages enemies.
 * Frozen Fortune: Another ice-based Command Style that uses an ice cream theme. Randomly activated by filling the Command Gauge with an Ice Cream item. The finisher consists of Ventus summoning multiple balls of ice that shatter after certain time and damages enemies. This was named "Ice Blast" in the Japanese release.

Level 2 Command Styles

 * Cyclone: After meeting certain requirements, Ven's initial Command Style morphs into much more powerful Cyclone Command Style, attacking surrounding enemies with spin attacks. Activated by filling the Style Gauge with Raid, or Aero-based commands. The finisher consists of Ventus spinning hitting enemies around like a cyclone.
 * Wingblade: An omni-directional Command Style designed to combat multiple enemies from all directions with a wingspan of phantom swords.The finisher consists of Ventus jumping in the air with his blade pointed downward; Ventus lands and causes a flash of light that damages nearby enemies. Bears a resemblance to Riku and Sora's "Session" limit. Activated by filling the Style Gauge with Edge (e.g.Blizzard Edge), counter, or Magnet-based commands.
 * Sky Climber: A Command Style that gives Ven great midair advantage, it allows him to ride his Keyblade around to attack foes from above at high speed. Activated by filling the Style Gauge with Dash commands or Zero Gravity-based commands. The finisher consists of Ventus mounting his Keyblade and hitting multiple enemies before heading skyward, then coming back crashing down and finally, spinning on himself, causing a small tornado. This was called "Air Rider" in the Japanese release.

Additional abilities include:
 * Dimension Link: An ability that allows Ventus to summon character's powers from other worlds to aid him in battles.
 * Shotlock: An ability to lock on to many enemy targets at once
 * Pulse Bomb: Ventus holds his keyblade backhanded and sends out energy from the light of the Keyblade, causing many small explosions. The orbs created slightly resemble those used in Sephiroth's Shadow Flare attack in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * Multi Vortex: Ventus starts by slashing in all directions multiple times before spinning and creating a giant tornado filled with shooting stars.
 * Dark Link: Ventus creates three crystals that concentrate together into a giant beam of light energy. Ventus and Vanitas take aim at one another, Vanitas firing a beam of blue energy while Ventus counters with a gold one of his own. Different buttons must be rapidly tapped, and even the analog stick may need to be rotated in order to win the grapple. This ability is only used in Ventus's final battle against Vanitas.

Personality
As mentioned earlier, Ventus is the youngest of the three Keyblade warriors. Personality-wise, he has many similarities with Sora; he's sweet, cheerful, curious, and gets excited at anything new or interesting. He seems to feel a bit disappointed whenever Aqua and Terra refuse to allow him to join them on their missions because they do not want to put him in "harm's way." When he gives them their passes to Disneytown, he grudgingly mentions that Scrooge McDuck told him to "take two adults," but he doesn't seem to dislike his status as the youngest of the three.

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. Ventus is very much unable to cope with Terra turning and subsiding to the darkness in his heart. Some of his traits and personality might have passed on to Sora when his heart joined him. Along with his kind personality, he also shows a lot of bravery, especially evident when he battles Vanitas for the final time, where he promises to fight for his friends no matter what, knowing the fact that he would lose his heart as a result.

Appearance
Ventus bears an uncanny resemblance to Roxas, bearing identical facial features. Further highlighting this resemblance is Ventus's outfit, which is strikingly similar to Roxas's own Twilight Town clothes. He wears a jacket that resembles a fusion of Roxas's jacket (white on the right side) and Sora's jacket in Kingdom Hearts II (black on the left side), also reminiscent of the Yin and Yang symbol. The collar of the jacket is red and pleated, 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, and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. Master Eraqus wears a similar piece of armor, though more blue-green, and more obvious.

Ventus'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 caprice 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 black and white checkered 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 they resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey.

When touching the piece of armor on his shoulder, Ventus becomes fully clad in armor. In Birth by sleep, Ventus's suit of armor shares the coloration of the pieces he normally wears, predominantly sporting shades of green and gold. In this suit, Ventus 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. Ventus'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, Ventus's boots are colored completely gold in this outfit, as opposed to the multi-colored ones he normally wears. In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Ventus's armor is altered. He loses his cape, his boots change to more closely resemble those in his unarmored state, and the coloration changes much more than Terra or Aqua's. Ventus's armor loses the greens entirely, now sporting steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating it.

During the climax of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus was forced to fuse with Vanitas, and ended up taking on the appearance of Vanitas's red and black bodysuit. While Ventus's head remained the same, his eyes were changed to the color of Vanitas's eyes.

Trivia

 * The Japanese Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep website's startup screen refers to Ventus as the "Swift Wind Returning to Bonds" (絆巡る疾風).
 * In the opening of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus is shown falling the same way Sora does at the Kingdom Hearts opening movie and the same way Roxas does at the end of the Kingdom Hearts II opening movie, but with Ventus, the Kingdom Key and Soul Eater are floating as he falls.
 * Ventus is shown to stand in the same stance that Sora often does, with his hands behind his head. Several of Ventus's attacks also resemble both Roxas's attacks during his boss battle in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Sora and Riku's Eternal Session Limit in Kingdom Hearts II.
 * Many of the Keyblades shared between Terra, Ventus, and Aqua differ in length based on who wields it. While Terra's Keyblades are the longest, Ventus's usually are the shortest.
 * In an early scene, Ventus falls asleep outside after watching a shooting star, and a little while later, he yawns and then is startled to find Aqua standing over him, who giggles upon his reaction and teases him affectionately, mirroring how Kairi startled Sora awake in the original Kingdom Hearts.
 * Although Ventus is the youngest of the three Keybearers in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, his voice actor, Jesse McCartney, is actually four years older than Willa Holland, Aqua's voice actress, although the age gap between Ventus and Aqua may not be as large as the gap between McCartney and Holland (their ages are not specified).