Ansem the Wise

Ansem the Wise, also known by his alias DiZ, was the ruler of Radiant Garden. He spent much of his time in his study, researching the mysteries of the heart. He first appears as DiZ in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories and was revealed to be the infamous Ansem in Kingdom Hearts II.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain Of Memories
Truly an enigma.

DiZ appeared before Riku in the guise of Ansem, presenting him with choices regarding the darkness within his heart.

It is said he and the king have met.

Kingdom Hearts II
The man who called himself "DiZ" and dressed his face in bandages to conceal it, now revealed to be none other than Ansem the Wise.

''The true Ansem once studied hearts and the Heartless, but soon ceased his research for fear of disrupting the order of the worlds. But his apprentice Xehanort betrayed him, robbing Ansem of his discoveries and pride.''

Since that time, Ansem was driven by vengeance -- but when he saw Riku go so far as to give up his physical form to help Sora, he had a change of heart.


 * DiZ

An entity shrouded in mystery.

A Grave Mistake
A decade before the main games, Ansem the Wise was the ruler of the Radiant Garden, as well as a prominent scientist. He was also the master of apprentice scientists Xehanort, Braig, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo.

The sage was also the one who found the young Xehanort, on the brink of death, in the aftermath of a great battle by those who used Keyblades to fight, and nursed him back to health. Though the man had no memory of what happened to him before arriving at Radiant Garden, he still possessed a remarkable intellect and an insatiable curiosity. Thus, he became Ansem the Wise's apprentice, joining the five others.

However, as the years grew, Ansem the Wise became worried that the darkness of people's hearts would one day swallow his beloved home. In order to understand and counter it, Ansem began conducting tests on Xehanort's heart. Ansem also hoped to unlock Xehanort's hidden memories, with his apprentice also showing interest. However, the more he probed, the more he became worried about Xehanort's well being and his possibly superhuman abilities.

Still, Ansem eventually constructed a large laboratory in the basement of his castle, encouraged by Ienzo. However, Ansem's six apprentices used the laboratory in order to conduct inhumane experiments on the human heart and the darkness within it. Ansem immediately ordered his apprentices to cease their experiments and sealed the chamber. Still, Ansem sank into despair over his error in experimenting on Xehanort. Gummi Ship travel was now possible, thanks to Xehanort opening the door in Ansem's basement, and a king of another world, King Mickey arrived. The two rulers became great friends, conversing over many subjects, and their companionship began to heal Ansem's heart. King Mickey eventually advised Ansem the Wise to review the research data; Ansem discovered the Ansem Reports, penned under his name, but written by Xehanort. Ansem began to see that the damage he had done had become irreversible.

Eventually and unfortunately, the six apprentices dabbled too deep into the darkness behind his back. They were consumed by it, with Xehanort producing his Heartless as well as his Nobody, Xemnas, the founder and leader of Organization XIII. The five other apprentices also produced powerful Nobodies, making the elder members of the Organization. Ansem, his mistakes catching up to him, was plunged into the Realm of Darkness by his apprentices, and became embittered at their betrayal.

A New Identity
For some time, Ansem remained in the empty realm, constantly writing in order to maintain his sanity. Here, he also discarded his old, stolen name, and became DiZ, "Darkness in Zero". Eventually, he found a way to escape when he gained the power of darkness, though he did not intend to let himself be consumed by it like his apprentices. With his new found powers, DiZ also garbed himself in a red robe and a mask made of red bandages in order to fully conceal his real identity.

Using the Corridors of Darkness, DiZ found Twilight Town, and took refuge in an abandoned mansion on the outskirts of the town. There, he began researching the Nobodies and the Heartless, as well as watching Sora and King Mickey's efforts to defeat the Xehanort's Heartless from the sidelines.

Castle Oblivion
DiZ, hoping to gain revenge on Organization XIII, infiltrates the Organization's second base, Castle Oblivion. There, he monitors Sora and encounters Naminé. He also assists Riku in his quest to defeat his darkness, though not revealing his true identity for some time (instead, he took on the form of Xehanort's Heartless). DiZ also re-encounters King Mickey, but is privately saddened that he cannot talk to him like in the old days. Still, King Mickey begins to suspect DiZ's identity. Regardless of that, DiZ provides Riku and the King with Organization cloaks as well as the card that will draw out Xehanort's Heartless. Using it, Riku defeats Xehanort's Heartless, though a part of him still lingers in Riku's heart. He and King Mickey then set off, though DiZ appears to them at the crossroads in the grassy plain, asking which path they will take. Riku chooses the middle road, which DiZ refers to as the "twilight road to nightfall". However, Riku calls it the "road to dawn".

The Beginning of the End
DiZ soon returned to Naminé to aid her in the task to restore Sora's memories after they were broken apart in Castle Oblivion. Since the castle was still under control of the Organization, DiZ convinced Naminé to move Sora, Donald, and Goofy to his lab in Twilight Town in order to keep them safe. However, Sora was taking too long to awaken, and DiZ soon noticed that Riku arrived with blindfold on, offering his aid to wake Sora. DiZ convinces a lone Riku to retrieve Roxas, Sora's Nobody. However, Riku had no choice but to take on the form of Xehanort's Heartless in order to fully utilize the power of darkness and defeat Roxas. DiZ, seeing Riku's (taking on the name "Ansem") devotion to Sora, slowly began to lose his lust for revenge, hiding it behind laughter. Still, DiZ continued with the plan, placing Roxas into a digital facsimile of Twilight Town where he could live out his days until it was time for him to reunite with Sora.

In the events of Kingdom Hearts II, DiZ, Riku, and Naminé still co-operate with each other to restore Sora. However, Naminé begins reaching out towards Roxas, to DiZ's annoyance, while Riku only intends to stick around until Sora awakens. Nonetheless, Roxas fuses with Sora eventually, though Riku does not dispose of Naminé as DiZ had wanted. The three go on their separate paths, while Sora goes off on his journey. Unfortunately, Sora does not function the way DiZ wanted, and all of his plans fall apart. It becomes increasingly obvious to the former ruler that the heart is something he cannot truly understand.

At this point in the story, DiZ has clearly established prejudices against Nobodies. He, unlike Riku, has no pity for Roxas when they abduct him ("It's the fate of a Nobody"). Later, when Roxas demands answers to his questions, stating that he has a right to know, DiZ coldly says, "A Nobody doesn't have a right to know, nor does it even have a right to be", and tells Riku that he doesn't care what happens to Roxas as long as Naminé succeeds in restoring Sora, Donald, and Goofy. Similarly, he does not care what becomes of Naminé, and only keeps her around due to her usefulness, telling Riku that he can dispose of her once Sora's memories are completely restored. This prejudice is likely due to his hatred of his former apprentices and the Nobodies that they have become. Apparently, he disregards the fact that Roxas and Naminé are special Nobodies who are truly capable of feeling human emotions. However, as the storyline progresses, he begins to regret having mistreated Roxas and Naminé, realizing that they are different from the other Nobodies.

The World That Never Was
DiZ eventually infiltrates the Organization's home world, The World That Never Was. With Sora's strength of heart having obliterated DiZ's plans, he takes it upon himself to stop Xemnas by using a machine to digitally encode Kingdom Hearts, which Xemnas had been feeding human hearts in order to eventually extract its power to become whole. However, as he climbs the Nobody's headquarters, he is attacked by Nobodies, though he is saved by his old friend King Mickey. Mickey helps him to his feet, and, seeing no more reason to hide his identity, DiZ unmasks himself. King Mickey asks Ansem why he didn't come to him before the situation got as bad as it did, but Ansem feels that the task of defeating Organization XIII was his because Xemnas, their leader, is Xehanort's Nobody. He also explains to King Mickey his part in causing Riku to take on his Xehanort's heartless form, and the regrets he had concealed with his true identity. He and King Mickey then set off to seal away Kingdom Hearts.

Ansem the Wise, finding a good spot, begins encoding Kingdom Hearts, but sees that the power of Kingdom Hearts is too great to be controlled, adding insult to his realization of the heart's unpredictable true nature, something he had known, but denied, since Roxas and Kairi crossed paths. The machine begins to overload, and Ansem does his best to contain it, but to little avail. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy, as well as Xemnas, all arrive at Ansem's location. Ansem throws bitter words and accusations at Xemnas, though Xemnas simply retorts that Ansem himself was the reason for the destruction wrought on the worlds. Ansem, though he knows his errors, says that both he and his former apprentices know as little about the heart as they did ten years ago. The machine then goes critical, only moments away from exploding. Ansem takes the time to give King Mickey and Riku final words, tells Sora that the rest is up to him, and then sincerely apologizes to Roxas for all that he had put him through (though he does not know if Roxas could hear him). It is at this point that his prejudice against Nobodies has excluded Roxas and, possibly, Naminé. Though Sora and co. want to save him, they have no choice but to let him do as his heart commands; however, Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey apparently don't want to let him do so, and they are only stopped from saving him by being physically restrained by Riku. The machine then explodes, killing Ansem. But his death is not in vain, as the explosion completely purifies Riku of the presence of Xehanort's Heartless and undoes the majority of the Organization's work on Kingdom Hearts.

Abilities

 * Ansem the Wise has no combat abilities to speak of, but since gaining the power of darkness during his banishment, he has been shown to be able to do at least three things. In one of his reports, Ansem stated that after he discovered his new-found powers, he gained the ability to use Corridors of Darkness for travel, though he admits that it was difficult to control initially. This was shown after Riku defeats Roxas; Ansem arrives shortly to take Roxas with him. To avoid being recognized, Ansem has also displayed the ability to change his outward appearance to conceal his identity. In Kingdom Hearts:Chain of Memories/Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories, he uses this ability to become Xehanort's Heartless to guide Riku. He also seems to be quite skilled at manipulating the darkness around himself and in other people's hearts. Both cases were shown when Ansem, as Xehanort's Heartless, easily deflects an attack from Riku with a shield of darkness and when he unlocks the darkness within Riku's heart to allow him to wield it as a weapon.
 * Ansem is also a technical genius, having created a near-perfect digital replica of Twilight Town. His facility in Twilight Town is a very high-tech laboratory, filled with computer screens, flashing lights, and several suspended animation pods.

Quotes
''"That is correct. DiZ, or so I am known. You—I’ve watched you all along."  "It's been too long, my friend."  "Sora and Riku are together. We have no part to play here."  "I was... obsessed with thoughts of revenge. My apprentices stole everything precious to me --my research, and my pride."  "Riku was the victim of my revenge. ...Oh, how my heart ached. I could only laugh to hide my shame."  "I do not claim to understand the outcome of this venture, either. After all, hearts are unpredictable."  "I'm a fool. I've spent years studying the workings of the heart. Yet it seems like I still haven't learned a thing!"  "It's always the same. I try to wrap my mind around things my heart already knows, only to fail."  "I'm afraid that any world you try to create... Any world of yours... would be an empire of ignorance. That is why you and your creation are destined to fall!"  "King Mickey, my friend, forgive me! Farewell!" ''

Trivia

 * Genzo Wakayama, Ansem's Japanese seiyuu, also voiced another Disney owned character: Zeus, from the 1997 film Hercules.


 * Sir Christopher Lee, Ansem's English voice actor, is a veteran actor with a reputation gained over many decades, often being labled as one of two greatest actors of all time (the other being Christopher Plummer) who has never been nominated for an Academy Award. His most-well known roles are Dracula, Count Dooku from the Star Wars Prequel trilogy and Saruman from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, to name a few. This is one of the few roles in which he did not portray a villain.


 * It is interesting to note that Ansem the Wise has a thick blonde beard that reaches his bottom lip. In the close ups of DiZ in Kingdom Hearts II, his mouth and part of his chin are exposed under his bandages and there is no sign of a beard; his skin is actually a tan shade under his bandages, and his mouth along with his eyes make him similar in appearance to Xehanort's Heartless. When he removes his bandages, black smoke also comes off of Ansem's face, meaning that he may have used some sort of essence from the darkness to cover the rest of his facial traits and appear as a completely different, sinister being.


 * Ansem is the only friendly human character in the series to die on-screen, although this may not be true depending on whether or not Axel could be considered a friendly character.


 * The name "Ansem" could interpreted from the Japanese katakana as the word anthem. This may be a coincidence, or it could possibly reference his devotion, patriotism and leadership of Radiant Garden. Confusion over "Ansem" versus "anthem" may also explain the otherwise nonsensical title of the fourth Kingdom Hearts II novel, Anthem―Meet Again/Axel Last Stand.


 * Also, Ansem the Wise's name could be an anagram as well. When the letters are rearranged, you get the word "names", perhaps hinting towards his connection with the name DiZ. Another possible anagram of his name is mensa, the name of a society of intellectuals, referring to Ansem's 'wisdom'.


 * Prior to Kingdom Hearts: Re: Chain of Memories' American release, Derek Stephen Prince confirmed on his blog that Sir Christopher Lee would reprise his role as DiZ, but Corey Burton replaced him on the release date. The reasons why Lee couldn't return are still unexplained, but he has been confirmed to reprise the role in the English version of 358/2 Days.


 * In both Chain of Memories and Re:Chain of Memories, Riku is led by DiZ through the basement levels of Castle Oblivion. Up until Riku meets him face to face as DiZ, Riku calls him "Voice", as he has only heard a voice, and no face to go along with it.