Chernabog

Chernabog is a giant demon that appears as a boss at the End of the World in  and in Symphony of Sorcery in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. He originally appeared in Disney's  in the segment set to "". In Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Chernabog can summon Fiends during battle.

In the international version of Kingdom Hearts, as well as in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, Chernabog's boss theme is an arrangement of "Night on Bald Mountain", "A Night on the Bare Mountain", referencing his film of origin.

In Kingdom Hearts, Chernabog is one of only eight enemies in who do not have entries in Jiminy's Journal. The others are AntiSora, Bit Sniper, the Cave of Wonders Guardian, Shadow Sora, the Crank Tower, the Shark, and the World of Chaos. The Fiends have a journal entry in the Japanese version of Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance only.

Kingdom Hearts
Chernabog survived the destruction of his homeworld, Symphony of Sorcery, and wound up at the End of the World.

While fighting through legions of Heartless and the World Terminus on their way to confront Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, Sora, Donald, and Goofy stumble upon Chernabog at the remnants of Bald Mountain. He awakens and promptly attacks the trio, but is defeated in an explosion of fire after a battle, revealing the passageway deeper into the mountain which the three heroes descend into.

Kingdom Hearts II
Chernabog makes a brief appearance in one of Roxas's dreams.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
After travelling through Symphony of Sorcery as part of his Mark of Mastery exam, Riku is cast off into Bald Mountain by Young Xehanort after retrieving the second Sound Idea. There, Young Xehanort mocks Riku for not being able to control the darkness within in him and for his failure to wield the Keyblade. After Riku states that he's here to change all of his past failures, Young Xehanort says that his abyss awaits and summons Chernabog from the volcano to fight Riku before disappearing. However, Riku defeats Chernabog and escapes Bald Mountain.

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Chernabog appears as a Scratch Card icon on the Villains Card.

Design
Chernabog is a gigantic, muscular, humanoid demon. His skin is entirely colored black, and he is so large that Sora is roughly the size of his head. His head sports two curved horns, he has four fangs in his mouth, and his eyes are a glowing yellow. He has enormous, black, bat-like wings, and his wingspan is larger than he is tall. Chernabog is always seen trapped from the knees-down in a volcano.

Abilities
Chernabog has many frightening powers at his disposal. His main ability is to control fire, and uses it in various ways such as breathing fire or shooting fireballs from his hands. He can also cause the volcano he resides in to erupt with tremendous force, flap his huge wings to create a gale to blow opponents away, and, when in desperate need, summon six orbs of light to attack opponents.

Kingdom Hearts
In this battle, Sora and party can fly around the area, similar to the battle with the Phantom and the 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. The reward for victory is the Superglide ability.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
Instead of maneuvering around Chernabog, the fight uses the format of Dive Mode. Riku must use the Diving Strike ability to attack Chernabog a total of three times to defeat him, however reaching him is not easy. Riku must avoid the fireballs the demon throws and the pillars of fire that erupt from below. These can be avoided by either flying around them or using Dodging Deflect, the latter technique grants temporary invincibility. Each time Riku successfully damages Chernabog, the demon will knock him back further down the valley and it will take longer to reach him.

Chernabog's most dangerous attack is to summon Fiends that will attempt to grab Riku. These Fiends slowly drain Riku's health and must be shaken off by performing a Dodging Deflect. There are two varieties of Fiends, the blue versions take longer to shake off. A risky but effective method of removing the Fiends is to perform a Dodging Deflect into a fire pillar. If timed successfully, Riku will remove the Fiends but not take damage. Another method is to use the Dive Charge right as Riku is about to pass the Fiends, aiming to an area where there are less of them. If a few fiends manage to hang onto Riku, simply use dodging Deflect to shake them off.

Origin
Chernabog first appeared in Walt Disney's , during the Night on Bald Mountain segment, in which he erupts from the mountain in the same way as in the game. Chernabog awakens on top of Bald Mountain on, and uses his dark powers to raise ghosts, skeletons, demons, witches, harpies, goblins, and zombies from a nearby town. He summons fire and lava, and makes the wretches in his control dance and fly around, before he destroys them. However, the Angelus bells suddenly begin ringing, heralding sunrise, driving Chernabog and his slaves back into hiding, as a line of monks proceeds through the forest and a ruined cathedral to the sounds of "".

His name is taken from the Slavic deity, whose name means "black god". However, Disney designed him with Satan in mind. His Japanese name, "Demon of Fantasia", references his role in Fantasia, the Disney film he first appeared in.