Vanitas

Vanitas, also known as The Masked Boy, is a Keyblade wielder who acts as the secondary antagonist of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep and a supporting antagonist in Kingdom Hearts III.

He is the second apprentice of Master Xehanort, having been created from extracting the being  from Ventus's heart and becoming the source of the Unversed, and later, a member of the real Organization XIII.

Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Four years prior, Ventus served as Master Xehanort's original apprentice. The Keyblade wielder was sent to the Keyblade Graveyard, where he was forced by his master to face several Neoshadow Heartless in an attempt to forge the χ-blade. Ventus was unable to use his darkness, and was knocked unconscious by the Heartless. Master Xehanort then proceeded to use his Keyblade to unlock Ventus's heart, extracting the darkness within and resulting in an orb of dark energy forming into a young boy in a mask who is then given the name "Vanitas" by Master Xehanort.

After Master Xehanort leaves Ventus under Master Eraqus’s care in the Land of Departure, he finds Vanitas waiting outside of the room. Master Xehanort tells Vanitas that he should have stayed behind in the Badlands, and Vanitas instead answers with an inquiry into Ventus’s wellbeing. Upon the lack of response, he dismisses any concern.

Xehanort informs Vanitas of the existence of and their fates. Vanitas dodges all of Xehanort’s questions about the subject, either answering them with questions of his own or dismissing them entirely. Xehanort suggests that it was destiny that brought him, Vanitas, and Ventus together, which causes Vanitas to become lost in thought. Ultimately, Vanitas denies any connection to true Darkness, but Xehanort remains curious of Vanitas's true nature.

Due to the link between his heart and Ventus's, Vanitas could feel some of what Ventus felt, discovering the bond between Ventus and Terra. Vanitas reported this to Master Xehanort, who decided to use their bond against the two.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Four years later, after Master Xehanort views the battle between Terra and Aqua as part of their Mark of Mastery exam, he leaves the room to find a hidden Vanitas awaiting him. The two converse about Ventus, and Vanitas claims that Ventus's performance was weak, and he still needs to "break that loser in." Master Xehanort instructs him to do so somewhere else as he needed to keep up appearances. Vanitas complies, deciding to give Ventus an "incentive" to leave home. Vanitas later appears before Ventus in his room, speaking of Terra being a different person, and that Ventus should follow and try to help him before it's too late. Ventus becomes very defensive, saying that they will always be friends. Vanitas is unimpressed and simply mocks his friendship with Terra. He then vanishes into a Corridor of Darkness, claiming that unless Ventus sees it for himself and looks beyond his "tiny world," he will never know the truth.

Vanitas then travels to different worlds, spreading his Unversed across them in hopes of making Ventus strong enough to forge the χ-blade.

After his first few ventures throughout the worlds, Ventus spots Vanitas in the Lanes Between and is lured to the Keyblade Graveyard. Ventus interrogates the masked boy about his claims that Terra has changed, but Vanitas simply repeats what he said before and challenges Ventus to a duel, revealing his Keyblade. Despite Ventus's best efforts, Vanitas easily gains the upper hand and knocks Ventus to the ground. Just as Vanitas is about to execute the coup de grace, Mickey Mouse appears out of nowhere to heal Ventus, then reprimands Vanitas for using his Keyblade maliciously. Together, Mickey and Ventus defeat Vanitas, but the boy simply leaves the world after warning Ventus that he is on "probation".

After the battle against the Trinity Armor in Radiant Garden, the ensuing argument forces Terra, Ventus, and Aqua to go their separate ways. While Aqua is in the Central Square, Vanitas appears, taunting her by calmly inquiring about Ventus and if he has gotten stronger. When Aqua asks what he means, Vanitas becomes hostile, stating that he is asking the questions as he claims that between the two of them, he will be the only one who will walk away alive, and attacks, the two fighting a vicious battle with Aqua as the victor. After the duel, Aqua attempts to unmask Vanitas while he is unconscious, but the dark enigma quickly recovers, startling her with an insane laugh. He then compliments her skill and congratulates her on her victory, making an ambiguous comment about her being his backup plan, revealing that it was all a ruse to test her strength. Ventus returns to Aqua's side just as he leaves in another Corridor of Darkness.

While in Neverland, Vanitas encounters and kidnaps Mickey on Master Xehanort's orders to use Mickey as bait to lure Ventus back to the Keyblade Graveyard. Though the fight is not shown, it is clear Vanitas won. The villain later crosses paths with Aqua again, this time with Ventus's cherished Wooden Keyblade. Vanitas cruelly mocks Aqua for playing treasure hunter with the "kiddies", proceeding to tell her that, with Ventus's newfound strength, he has "outgrown" the toy, and then snaps it in half, an act that both enrages and horrifies Aqua. Throwing the pieces aside, Vanitas also claims that he has outgrown his need for Aqua as his backup plan and draws his Keyblade, intent on eliminating her. Aqua, outraged by the act of cruelty and at the thought of Ventus being in danger, calls Vanitas a freak and battles the dark enigma once again, soundly defeating him and knocking him unconscious. Aqua, believing she has finally finished Vanitas, and exhausted by the battle, passes out, as a revived Vanitas takes the opportunity to escape once again.

Vanitas encounters Ventus again in Destiny Islands, after the latter is thrown through a portal summoned by Terra. Ventus initially tells Vanitas that he is through with him. Vanitas simply tells him that since he is strong enough, Ventus can join with him to forge the χ-blade. Ventus refuses, claiming that the χ-blade cannot be forged if he does not fight. Vanitas, though slightly angered, remains unfazed, responding only by coldly stating that Ventus was once "too broken to talk back." Then, in the ensuing flashback, Vanitas explains his birth from the darkness in Ventus's heart, and how he took his place as Master Xehanort's apprentice. This causes Ventus great pain in regaining his memories. Vanitas then gives Ventus a reason to fight, challenging the boy to come find him in the Keyblade Graveyard, the one and only place where the χ-blade can be forged, where he threatens Terra and Aqua's lives to see how long Ventus will "play the pacifist." He then disappears into a Corridor of Darkness. Ventus, haunted by Vanitas's deranged threats, and determined to end this once and for all, goes to the Keyblade Graveyard.

When Terra, Ventus, and Aqua approach their final battle with Vanitas and Master Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard, intense battles ensue. The two villains meet up with the trio, with Master Xehanort explaining his ultimate goal for the χ-blade. The trio armors up and Terra quickly charges towards them. Master Xehanort intervenes, however, blocking Terra's path with massive rock formations. As Terra continues to pursue Master Xehanort, Vanitas goes after Aqua and Ventus, riding on a cloud of Keyblades Master Xehanort created. The two fight valiantly against the dark apprentice, but not before Vanitas returns to Master Xehanort's side before the latter freezes Ventus. He battles Terra alongside Master Xehanort, who later commands Vanitas to go after Ventus and Aqua again.

Vanitas attacks Aqua from above, knocking her unconscious with a devastating blow, and prepares to impale her through the chest while Ventus lies helpless and frozen. Ventus summons all of his willpower, however, and thaws out of the ice to face Vanitas in battle, defeating him once again. Vanitas compliments Ventus on his skill and finally reveals his face, explaining himself to be the source of all Unversed. Glowing with dark energy, Vanitas then summons several Flood Unversed to restrain Ventus as he proudly explains his plan: to spread the Unversed across the worlds, in hopes of luring Ventus from home and making him strong enough to forge the χ-blade. He then forcefully integrates into him. In a burst of light, Vanitas and Ventus are transported to the Dive to the Heart. Ventus's pillar now hosts a picture of Vanitas alongside his own. Vanitas wields an incomplete version of the χ-blade.

Vanitas claims their union was incomplete, and they only managed to make a fraction of the χ-blade. He then tries to join with Ventus once again, but Ventus refuses, vowing to defeat Vanitas and destroy the χ-blade. The dark apprentice simply laughs, confident in the fact that they both know that if the χ-blade is destroyed, Ventus's heart would vanish forever. However, Ventus rebukes him, saying he will fight for his friends and destroy both him and the χ-blade no matter what, even if the price is his heart, despite Vanitas's mocking of his reason to fight. The two Keyblade wielders then begin a final showdown in the Dive to the Heart.

While Ventus battles Vanitas in their shared mind, Aqua and Mickey in the Keyblade Graveyard are attacked by Ventus-Vanitas using the completed χ-blade, and tries to attack Aqua, only for her to be saved by Mickey. He then goes on to explain that he plans to unlock Kingdom Hearts so the worlds can be connected and the legendary Keyblade War can begin again. Aqua, sick of Vanitas's nonsense, confronts him in battle one last time. Ventus finally lays a finishing blow on Vanitas, who loses his grip on the incomplete χ-blade and helplessly gropes for it as it shatters. Vanitas is apparently destroyed, taking all Unversed in existence with him and relinquishing his control over Ventus. At the same time in the real world, the destruction of Vanitas and the incomplete χ-blade in Ven's Dive caused the completed χ-blade in the real world to revert to its incomplete form and become unstable. This momentarily shocks Ventus-Vanitas, allowing Aqua to overpower him while the χ-blade self-destructs. Unfortunately, it is a pyrrhic victory, as Ventus loses his heart and falls into a coma in the process.

Later, as Aqua is searching for Terra after Vanitas's defeat, she feels a powerful force coming from the Keyblade Graveyard. When she goes to investigate, she discovers it is the remnant of Vanitas. Aqua engages in battle with it and emerges victorious, with the Vanitas Remnant disappearing back into darkness.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Vanitas's fractured heart was collected by Young Xehanort so he could be made a member of the real Organization XIII. When Young Xehanort appears before Sora within the cathedral at La Cité des Cloches, Ventus's heart reacts within Sora and allows him to see an image of Vanitas. In unison, the youth and Vanitas claim that Sora has made his heart into a prison, then vanish.

Later, Vanitas, now in a replica body and wearing a black coat, appeared alongside his fellow members of the real Organization XIII at Where Nothing Gathers. As the heroes advance, the Organization's allotted time expires and its members, including Vanitas, retreat to their rightful points in time.

Kingdom Hearts III
Vanitas begins to once more seek out Ventus's heart to merge back into one being, but with him in control. At some point, Vanitas encountered the monster Randall and manipulated his desire for revenge, aided him in returning to Monstropolis by repairing the doorway he had been banished through so that he could harness the technology of Monsters Inc. to collect negative energy.

In Monstropolis, Vanitas gives Randall control over the Unversed. Vanitas's heart is reconstructed by the Unversed using the collected screams and sadness of children. Randall and Vanitas also create a secret weapon: an Unversed made of scream energy called the Lump of Horror, which Randall sends after Sora, Donald Duck, Goofy, Mike Wazowski, and Sulley. Detecting Ventus's heart sleeping within Sora, Vanitas confronts him after the defeat of his minions. However, before he could attempt to extract Ventus's heart, Vanitas was restrained by Sulley, who throws him through a series of doorways to get rid of him.

In hopes of finding Ventus, Vanitas follows Aqua, Sora, Donald, and Goofy to the Land of Departure, where Sora's group is there to awaken Ventus. He commends Aqua for being able to keep Ventus's body hidden away for so long. Aqua engaged in battle with him, but he manages to gravely injure her. Before he can finish her off, Vanitas is halted by Ventus after Sora uses the power of waking to reawaken the latter's heart within his body. Seeing himself heavily outnumbered, Vanitas withdraws to update the Organization on Ventus's status.

Vanitas later reappears at the Keyblade Graveyard with Master Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Xemnas and Ansem; together, they summon a swarm of Heartless, Nobodies and Unversed to wear down the Guardians of Light.

When the seven guardians face-off with the Organization, Vanitas fights alongside Terra-Xehanort against Aqua and Ventus. As Ven tried constantly to reach Terra's heart inside Terra-Xehanort, Vanitas mockingly says he feels left out. Ventus in turn tells Vanitas that they are the same and Vanitas would be returning to his heart. Vanitas then reveals to Ventus that he is not his dark half, but rather another being stuck inside him until Xehanort pulled him out.

After Sora joins the fight, Vanitas is defeated. The right half of Vanitas's mask breaks off, revealing his face to Sora; Vanitas explains to the shocked boy that they look alike because Sora's heart replaced him as the missing piece of Ventus's heart, thus making the three of them "brothers". Sora and Ventus implore their "brother" to join their side and reject the darkness; however, Vanitas states that he is darkness, and in that sense, is already by their side as the shadow they cast. He then fades away, content with the role he has chosen for himself.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In , Vanitas appears in the 8 o'clock Stations in the Dive to the Heart sections of the stage.

Design


Vanitas wears a black and red organic-looking bodysuit, which is quite similar to Riku's Dark Mode. He wears a silver helmet covered with dark glass, hiding his face from view. Just before he possesses Ventus, he unmasks himself, revealing that he looks identical to Sora, although he possesses Xehanort's golden-yellow eyes, jet-black hair, paler skin, and a more muscular build. This similarity is due to Sora's heart connecting with Ventus after his heart was fractured, and had anyone else connected with Ventus's heart, Vanitas would have looked like that person. According to the Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep novels, his appearance prior to Ventus's connection with Sora was that of a humanoid creature similar to a Heartless but with red eyes. When he fuses with Ventus, he alters Ventus's body with his yellow eyes and bodysuit.

During his time as a member of the real Organization XIII, Vanitas wore the black coat over his normal outfit, though he discards it when he enters battle.

Vanitas's name is derived from the Latin word for "vanity" or "emptiness", and was chosen for its meaning, that it sounded similar to "Ventus", and that it was a written pun on "Sora" (空) in Japanese.

The songs associated with Vanitas—"Enter the Darkness", "Enter the Void" and "Unbreakable Chains"—were all composed by Takeharu Ishimoto.

Personality
As the manifestation of the darkness inside Ventus's heart, created and extracted by Master Xehanort, Vanitas is proud, cunning, and cruel in order to achieve enough strength to forge the χ-blade with Ventus, believing that to be the salvation he desires. As such, the lives of others, including that of his creator, hold absolutely no value to him, and he shows zero remorse for his actions. As a pragmatist, he will strike without hesitation, as seen when he ambushes Aqua in the Keyblade Graveyard and attempts to eliminate her, but will also withdraw when the situation is clearly hopeless.

Despite his loyalty to Master Xehanort, he has no qualms with disregarding his orders if he feels the need arises; for example, he attempts to eliminate Ventus after defeating him in their first battle despite full knowledge that Master Xehanort needed Ventus alive for his plans, even openly stating that he is well aware he is going against Xehanort's orders but does not care. Later, during the Keyblade War, he is willing to interfere with the Organization's plan to use the Seven Guardians of Light in order to retrieve Ventus's heart and restore himself, even though this will force the Organization to rely on the New Seven Hearts.

He is also shown to be an uncaring, cold, and ruthless individual, having not the slightest sympathy for anyone but himself. Vanitas holds everything and everyone in contempt and holds a great resentment against Ventus and the friends he has. The envy he feels against them is seen in his frequent criticizing of Ventus's friendships with Terra and Aqua, when he callously breaks Ventus's wooden Keyblade while cruelly antagonizing Aqua for playing with the Lost Boys, his constantly calling Ventus "idiot", and forcing Ventus to fight him by threatening to eliminate Terra and Aqua after Ventus refused to.

He possesses a high degree of arrogance, believing his skills surpass all others. In his first fight with Aqua, he claims that he will be the only one that will walk away alive, even bursting into a fit of laughter upon defeat. When fighting her for the final time, Vanitas taunts her by sarcastically asking if she has given up, and boasts that Aqua was just "wasting her energy" trying to stop him. Right before possessing Ventus, he remarks that Ventus never stood a chance against him and Master Xehanort. When fighting Ventus for the final time, he laughs when Ventus declared he would defeat him and destroy the χ-blade. During this same battle, Vanitas directly states his belief that he is the superior half of Ventus's heart. This extreme overconfidence in his abilities usually leads to his downfall as he underestimates his opponents when fighting.

Vanitas is also extremely calm and collected, rarely letting anything affect him. The only time in the entire game when Vanitas expresses genuine concern and fear is when he has been defeated by Ventus for the final time. He begins to panic and makes a desperate attempt to grab the floating χ-blade in a hopeless flurry to hold onto his only way of salvation before dying. By the time of second Keyblade War, Vanitas is even calmer, with him outright mocking Aqua for her outburst of emotion directly before their fight. He is also less attached to life, as upon being defeated, he accepts his demise, smiling contently as he fades away.

Abilities
Vanitas is a skilled and extremely aggressive opponent, showing mastery in both dark magic and wielding the Keyblade. He is swift and agile, able to perform complicated and nearly impossible acrobatic feats such as jumping off of a high cliff while landing squarely on his feet and even riding a tornado of flying Keyblades. He can teleport behind opponents at high speeds to launch attacks while leaving after-images of himself to confuse them. Vanitas is an extremely powerful and ruthlessly pragmatic fighter, easily punishing an opponent's opening or dodging out of the way at the last second. When the tide of battle turns against him, Vanitas will not hesitate to resort to underhanded tactics to defeat his opponent.

He is able to combine physical combos with magic such as attacking from above and causing a large pillar of ice to erupt out of the ground, or attacking opponents from below while bombarding them with fireballs. He can also leap into the air and fire dark lightning bolts from his Keyblade, as well as energize the Keyblade with darkness. Vanitas can also fire dark energy blasts from his Keyblade, and even has his own personal Shotlock, Dark Cannon, wherein he creates three large crystals which focus together and fire a large beam of dark energy.

Vanitas appears to have superhuman endurance, surviving most of his battles while taking little to no bodily damage, able to instantly get back up as if nothing happened. Vanitas also seems to possess superhuman strength; while possessing Ventus, he is able to shatter Ventus's metaphysical Dive to the Heart pillar with a single strike and create a gust of wind powerful enough to send Aqua and Mickey flying with a single swing of his arm. It is most likely that these actions were made possible only through the χ-blade, which Vanitas wielded on both occasions.

Vanitas is a difficult opponent to fight in close combat, as he can quickly counterattack if struck multiple times, making him very dangerous. He also demonstrates the ability to levitate. Though he typically uses the Corridors of Darkness to travel, it is shown that Vanitas is freely capable of surviving in and navigating the Lanes Between unaided by surrounding himself in an aura of dark energy.

While Vanitas acts based on his own desires, it appears that Master Xehanort can summon him at will. Vanitas's arguably most dangerous and destructive ability, however, is the power to create and control the Unversed. As he was born from the purest form of darkness, Vanitas can manipulate his own negative emotions and spawn them as Unversed. Vanitas can also absorb the negativity of any defeated Unversed to increase his power and is able to summon them if needed.

D-Link
Vanitas becomes a temporary D-Link for Ventus during their final battle at the Dive to the Heart. Ventus automatically links with Vanitas during the final phase of the battle, and needs to hit Vanitas with the Finish command to end the battle.

Unlike regular D-Links, Vanitas's D-Link does not drain the Link Gauge, and its Command Gauge only fills by "clashing" with Vanitas.

Weapon
Vanitas wields a Keyblade known as the Void Gear and has a battle pose that is very similar to Riku's stance. The Keyblade can be summoned at will, appearing in Vanitas's hand in a flash of purple flame. Vanitas can energize the weapon with dark energy, increasing his attack strength. The Vanitas Remnant also wields a monochrome version of this Keyblade. Vanitas is also capable of manipulating the degraded Keyblades that litter the Keyblade Graveyard for a variety of different attacks.

When fused with Ventus, Vanitas gains the ability to wield the most powerful Keyblade of all, the χ-blade. This weapon multiplies his initial strength and attack range a great deal. Vanitas shows great skill in wielding both the incomplete and finalized versions of the χ-blade, able to perform strong combos and powerful desperation moves.

Trivia

 * After the character's first spoken line, Nomura made a joke saying that he was to voice Vanitas. It was later revealed that Vanitas was voiced by, the Japanese voice actor for Sora. According to Tetsuya Nomura, Irino had said for a while that he wanted to play an evil character, and Nomura jokingly stated he sort of got carried away with it.