Villain's Vale

The Villain's Vale is an unreachable location from Kingdom Hearts II. It acts as a base of operations for Maleficent and her forces of darkness.

Kingdom Hearts
Villain's Vale does not appear in Kingdom Hearts, instead we see Maleficent holding meetings in the chapel area in Hollow Bastion, the same area that Sora battles Maleficent in her human form. Why Maleficent didn't use Villain's Vale in the first game is unknown. Assumedly, she found that the castle of Hollow Bastion was much grander and macabre, perfect for Maleficent's tastes.

Kingdom Hearts II
Villian's Vale appears for the first time in Kingdom Hearts II. After learning that Maleficent was killed, Pete showed up here, to see if it was true. He found an empty fortress, but was soon greeted by a Diablo and a resurrected Maleficent. She begins to use it as a base of operations, even though now there are only two in her league.

Villain's Vale appears in several flashbacks (or rather, flashforwards) seen in Timeless River. As Maleficent treats Pete badly after his failure, the latter begins wishing he could return to the old days when he captained the Steamboat Willie. In response, the worlds gave Pete a doorway to his past to atone for his mistakes. He shows the door to Maleficent, who orders him to go to the past and destroy the Cornerstone of Light so that they may take control of Disney Castle in the present.

The fortress also acts as the driving force of most of Maleficent's actions during this game. After losing Hollow Bastion to the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, she deems the crumbling fortress unworthy, and begins searching for a new, grander castle in which to rule, setting her sights on both Disney Castle and the Castle that Never Was. It can now be seen from the Bailey of Radiant Garden in the distance, and the Ravine Trail and following maps lead one closer to the fortress from the town. In Kingdom Hearts II, if the player uses the Reaction Command on the left balcony in the Bailey at the Radiant Garden, the resulting text says that he can see the "Villain's Vale, where Maleficent once resided." Another mention lie in Jiminy's Journal; in the story section, Jiminy states "In Villain's Vale the Heartless were swarming, as Nobodies darted about." The dark depths is very close to it, and gives a good view of the whole citadel. Both Xemnas and Sephiroth stand on the edge of the cliff, looking over the fortress at different points in the game.In Sephiroth's case, he overlooks Villains Vale preceding the one to one battle that is supposively the hardest battle in the original Kingdom Hearts II.

Appearance
The Villain's Vale is a large fortress comprised of several spindly, crooked, golden-brown towers topped with black cone towers, also crooked and spindly. It resides over what appears to be the ruins of a tiny village of ramshackle stone buildings, and its facade is dominated by a giant Heartless emblem.

Inside, the only place ever seen is the the tower where Maleficent and Pete speak. It's a seemingly open room with a balcony looking back at the main Hollow Bastion area. On the inside, the walls have a sliding water effect, but not much more is seen.

Trivia

 * Through a cheat device, the player can access an area called "Villain's Vale", which is the meeting place of Pete and Maleficent. This is the castle seen from the Dark Depths, as Diablo is seen flying to it to herald the arrival of Maleficent.