Soldier

The Soldier is an Emblem Heartless introduced in .

Kingdom Hearts
Sora spots his first Soldier when he enters the Second District, as an exhausted man is caught by the Heartless and has his heart stolen. The heart is transformed into a Soldier Heartless, which escapes through a Corridor of Darkness. A platoon of Soldiers later lays siege to the Hotel in which Sora, Donald, Goofy, Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith are discussing the situation, and Leon helps hold them off so that Sora can escape and find the leader of the local Heartless, the Guard Armor.

Kingdom Hearts II
As Sora first returns to Hollow Bastion, a troop of Soldiers run past. Later on, another swarm steals the 100 Acre Wood novel, damaging it and shunting Sora back out of it. Sora defeats them and retrieves the book, returning it to Merlin and going out to retrieve the stolen pages.

Design
Soldiers have a much more refined appearance than Shadows, appearing as a noble knight-type warrior at first glance. A closer examination reveals the Soldiers are just as beastly as the other Heartless. Their muscular forms are clad in a bluish-black body suit bearing the Heartless emblem and purple inverted emblems trimmed in gold on the knees. They wear black, silver trimmed shoes that end in spiral toes, silver wristbands, and a silver knight's helm decorated with two angular, eye-like spirals on the front and a yellow stripe at the base of the curled silver plume. Its true Heartless behavior comes out on a close examination of their fierce blue and red-tipped claws, and their shadowed faces with bright yellow eyes and toothy maw.

Kingdom Hearts Final Mix Soldiers have their colors swapped with the Air Soldier, shading them in black, tan, and brown.

The Soldier's name references s serving the military. This highlights the Heartless's battle capabilities. They also appear in large numbers, referencing an army.

Kingdom Hearts II

 * Scratching Attack (引っかき攻撃): The Soldier swipes its target with the claws on its right hand.
 * Two-step Scratch (2段引っかき): The Soldier swipes at its target and then thrusts forward.
 * Rotating Kick (回転蹴り): The Soldier jumps and launches a spinning dropkick upon landing. Has heavy recoil if blocked.
 * Continuous Kicks (あびせ蹴り): The Soldier launches an attack consisting of multiple kicks.

Kingdom Hearts III

 * Scratch (引っかき)
 * Combo Thrust (コンボ突き)
 * Aerial Whirlwind Kick (空中旋風蹴り)
 * Pouring Kicks (あびせ蹴り)

Strategy
In Kingdom Hearts, Sora earns Tech Points every time he successfully blocks a Soldier's attacks. Soldiers often appear en masse, and can quickly kill Sora if they surround him, so prevent them from doing so.