Chernabog

Chernabog (meaning "Black God" in Slavic) is the demonic denizen of Bald Mountain, but can be found in Kingdom Hearts as a boss in the End of the World. Although he is a difficult adversary, there are different tactics to defeating him quite easily.

Chernabog is originally a Disney villain, from Walt Disney's Masterpiece, Fantasia, during the Night on Bald Mountain segment, in which he erupts from the mountain in a similar way to his game-counterpart. He ensues with his devilish antics at night until church bells ringing "Ave Maria" cast him away in the morning.

An arranged version of the original score from the short is used as the battle music in Kingdom Hearts.

Location

 * End of the World

Strategy
In this battle, Sora and party can fly around the area, much similar to the battle with the Phantom and the final battle with World of Chaos.

Although his attacks are few, they are very upscale and dangerous to the health bar. The most powerful attack is when he looks as though he is bent over, apparently hurt, but then rises triumphantly, causing the volcano to erupt violently. This attack gets more powerful later in the battle. Another attack would be when he consistently breathes fire, either from left to right, or right to left. When he begins to lose health, he will use variants of Aero to knock the party far away from him, at which point he will send out beams of light similar to the ones Ansem casts from his World of Chaos form.

A good way to avoid the first one is to quickly fly away, and press to signal to Donald and Goofy to follow Sora, so that they will not perish either.

The second can be avoided by simply flying behind his head, and merely waiting for him to stop breathing fire. Also, now would be a good time to attack from the back of his skull.

The third cannot be avoided, but the fourth can be difficultly maneuvered past.

As Chernabog is fought while in flight, summons are not available to the party, which can be a serious hindrance. However Sora can get around this by landing on his shoulder or the summit of the mountain. Summoning Tinker Bell can be a tide turning advantage. Also, using Aeroga can help a great deal, as it helps decrease the damage dealt.

Trivia

 * Chernabog is the only Disney villain with no explained reason for fighting Sora or aiding the Heartless in the series. It is possible that he is such a dark entity already, he independently chooses to aid the Heartless in plummeting the universe into darkness by his own choice. This immense darkness could also be the reason he is the only non-Heartless fought in End of the World, because there's no point to turn him into a Heartless. It is also entirely possible that he is unaware of the Heartless and their goal, and simply fights because his dark and evil nature makes him want to wipe out sources of good and light, such as Sora, who just happens to cross his path. Considering his location, however, it is possible he is simply a gatekeeper used by Ansem to bar Sora from the innermost reaches of the End of the World.


 * Chernabog is one of only eight enemies who do not have entries in Jiminy's Journal (the others being AntiSora, Bit Sniper, Cave of Wonders Guardian, Crank Tower, Glut, Shadow Sora, and World of Chaos).


 * For obvious reasons, Chernabog has unique boss music not heard anywhere else in the game: an arrangement of the classical piece Night on Bald Mountain, originally by Modest Mussorgski (though the version heard here, like the one in Fantasia, underwent various permutations to get where it is today). The track is not on the original Kingdom Hearts soundtrack, but was included in the Final Mix Additional Tracks CD and Kingdom Hearts Original Soundtrack Complete. The original Japanese version had Squirming Evil (which played during Disney Villain battles) played during this fight.


 * Chernabog is one of two Disney villains not to use the Heartless in any way, the other being The Queen of Hearts.

Videos
Chernabog