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 one of the Keyblade Wielders 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, Ventus strongly resembles Roxas.

While his 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 358/2 Days
While Ventus does not make a physical appearance in the game, Xigbar sees Xion as Ventus for a moment before Xion strikes him down and leaves. Xigbar and Xemnas are the only ones who see Xion as Ventus, and Xigbar heavily implies that his original self has met the real Ventus sometime before when he mentions that he "always looked at him with those eyes".

Abilities
Ventus is the fastest of the trio, using swift combo attacks with quick movements. Unlike most Keyblade wielders, Ventus wields his own Keyblade 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. 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: Ventus' 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.
 * Wing Blade: A widespread mode change that involves spinning swords of light.
 * 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 trailer, 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
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 is primarily white on his right side (like Roxas's) and dark on his left (rather like Sora's in Kingdom Hearts II). 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, but over his black shirt.

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 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.

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. 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. In Joint Struggle, 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. Ven's armor loses the greens entirely, now sporting steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating it.

Video
Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 1) Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 2) Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 3)

Trivia

 * Because Sora's Nobody, Roxas, bears an uncanny resemblance to Ventus, it appears that he has some kind of connection with Sora. This is supported by the fact that Ventus shares both Japanese and English voice actors with Roxas. However, it is currently still unconfirmed what any connection between them might be.


 * Ventus 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.


 * Ventus's clothes resemble a hybrid of Roxas and Sora's clothes in Kingdom Hearts II.


 * The badge on Ventus'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 Ventus and is distracted. The reason for this is unknown, but it indicates a connection between Ventus and Sora as well as the possibility that Braig may have met Ventus since it's known that Even, Dilan, Ienzo, and Aeleus have done so.


 * Ventus is the only member of the trio not to have a Japanese voice actor who previously portrayed a Final Fantasy character from Kingdom Hearts II, as Terra's and Aqua's portrayed Setzer and Paine, respectively.
 * In a recent scan of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus is shown falling the same way Sora and Roxas do at the end of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II's opening movies.


 * In a recent commercial he says the Japanese equivalent to Sora's "My friends are my power" line word-for-word, adding more to the implied connection.


 * Recently confirmed, Jesse McCartney will be the Voice Actor for Ven, further implying the connection between Roxas and Ven.