Vanitas

Unreleased

Vanitas (ヴァニタス) is a mysterious character introduced in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. He is the sole apprentice of Master Xehanort and one of the game's main antagonists. His name is derived from the Latin word for "Vanity" or "Emptiness", and was chosen both for its meaning, and that it sounded similar to "Ventus". Vanitas is the embodiment of the darkness inside Ventus's heart, and strives to absorb the young keybearer into his being.

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Appearance
Vanitas wears a black and red organic-looking bodysuit and a silver helmet covered with dark glass, hiding his face from view. It is revealed his face is identical to Sora's face, aside from his yellow eyes and black hair. His suit's appearance is quite similar to Riku's Dark Mode from Kingdom Hearts and Chain of Memories. He wields a Keyblade that is colored in red and black, also bearing two blue eyes that were previously unique to Riku's Soul Eater and Way to the Dawn.

Fighting Style
Vanitas is a skilled warrior with the Keyblade and with magic. He is seen casting thunder and blizzard magic, performing complicated acrobatics, and even rides the flying Keyblades that Master Xehanort sends out. Also, Vanitas's battle stance greatly resembles Riku's battle stance. It also seems that Vanitas can be summoned by Master Xehanort by force of will.

Trivia

 * Vanitas is shown reenacting a scene with Ventus mirroring Sora and Riku from the openings of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, in which Vanitas (like Riku) holds out his hand to Ventus (like Sora). This further indicates a connection between Ventus/Sora and Vanitas/Riku.
 * After his first spoken line, Nomura made a joke saying that he was to voice Vanitas. Nomura later stated that Vanitas is voiced in Japan by an actor known to be difficult to hire.