Lingering Sentiment

The Lingering Sentiment is an unlockable secret boss featured in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and a briefly playable character at the climax of Terra's scenario in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. It is the lost thoughts and feelings of Keyblade wielder Terra residing within the man's discarded armor after his body is stolen by Master Xehanort.

Kingdom Hearts II
A man connected to the portal﻿ which appeared at Disney Castle.

The armor covering his body can master the Keyblade's power much more than Sora.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
After losing his first battle with Terra, Master Xehanort witnesses the creation of the X-Blade along with the young Keyblade wielder. Seeking to use the man's darkness as a younger, more powerful weapon as he ventures further into the mysteries of the Keyblade War, Master Xehanort proceeds to unlock his heart. Terra attempts to shield himself with his armor, this proving to no avail, the man becoming a younger incarnation of Master Xehanort. Just as the new Xehanort begins to venture away from the place of Terra's fall, he soon finds himself trapped within a force field, turning to find Terra's armor kneeling reassembled before him, Terra's emotions having found residence within it. Angered by Terra's defiance, Xehanort engages the Lingering Sentiment in a long, fierce battle.

In the end, the Lingering Sentiment emerges victorious, knocking Xehanort unconscious. The armored figure then thrusts its Keyblade into the ground, kneeling down. Soon after, Xehanort is consumed in an immense sphere of light, the result of Aqua and Ventus shattering the X-Blade during the process of defeating Vanitas. Kingdom Hearts then disappears from the sky above, leaving the Lingering Sentiment to remain alone in the Keyblade Graveyard, promising to Aqua and Ven that someday, somehow, it will put an end to the conflict.

Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix
Eleven years later, a portal to the Keyblade Graveyard mysteriously appears in Disney Castle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy proceed to enter the portal and find the Lingering Sentiment, which at first mentions Aqua and Ventus. It then mistakes Sora as "the one he (Terra) had chosen", wondering if Sora is Xehanort before finally attacking him. Sora manages to defeat the Lingering Sentiment after an intense battle, and the Lingering Sentiment merely kneels down again after this. If Sora returns for another match, the Sentiment accepts its defeat, but not before stating that it has nothing left to give him and that all it has left is its hatred for Xehanort.

Abilities
It, like Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix ' s other secret bosses, is difficult to defeat; its most basic moves are attacking with its Keyblade Gaia Bane, using a combo attack almost identical to Sora's, though it instead turns its Keyblade into a drill-like object for the forward thrust combo finisher, and can fly at very high speeds. Its main abilities are transforming its Keyblade into various attacking forms. It can turn it into a whip that does less damage than the blade form, but its greater speed and range makes up for it. In addition, the Lingering Sentiment's Keyblade can also turn into a massive cannon which is larger than the enemy itself, that fires out a large, very powerful ball of energy. Sora, however, can deflect this back to the Lingering Sentiment, which leaves it very vulnerable. The Lingering Sentiment can also transform its Keyblade into a jet ski-like object that lets it fly extremely fast, and a cog-like object that spins around so fast that if Sora gets hit by it once, then the rest of the hits will also hit Sora.

The Lingering Sentiment can also conjure a "ritual" like attack; in this attack, the Lingering Sentiment enters a berserker-like condition, similar to Saïx's Berserk technique. Its arm gauntlets and helmet will emit a bright red aura; it then can split its Keyblade into two weapons. This, when added with its combos, makes it extremely lethal. In this attack, the Lingering Sentiment is only vulnerable after completing an attack or after deflecting the cannon-formed Keyblade's shot back at it. Any other time that you attack it will be null. While in the berserk-like state, the last few attacks of the Sentiment's rapid combo can be blocked by Sora regularly, although it would take evading the first two slashes before it warps away and very precise timing.

In addition to its Keyblade, the Lingering Sentiment has other abilities as well. It can also create an unusual looking seal that either creates an orange or blue orb. An orange orb causes Sora to be unable to attack and a blue orb prevents Sora from using magic or items. It can also use some magic; for example, when the Lingering Sentiment is doing a Sonic Blade-like attack while low on HP or attacking with its jet ski-formed Keyblade, it sometimes will use Blizzaga. Also, when it turns its Keyblade into a jet-ski like object and rides it and if you are too far from it. It will sometimes use Magnega that does some damage, and will pull Sora into its path. The Lingering Sentiment can also conjure drone-like objects which fire plasma at Sora and his party. A particularly deadly attack is trapping Sora in a triangle of objects that drain his heath at a very fast rate, similar to an attack used by Xemnas, but much more powerful; only a "Break Free" command on Sora's command list can save him from it. If the player chooses the wrong command while he is trapped, then Sora will immediately die, even with Once More and Second Chance equipped. Interestingly, when it strikes Sora with its Keyblade(s), most of its combos resemble Sora's combos, most notably the Valor Form and Final Form combos. It should be noted that all of the Lingering Sentiment's attacks can be blocked or evaded with precise blocking, Reflega magic, Curaga magic with the Leaf Veil ability equipped, or Drive Form transformations if timed right. A recommended way to evade attacks is to activate Limits when Donald and Goofy are near, preferably Donald's as they can last longer.

When playing as the Lingering Sentiment during the final battle with Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it loses Terra's ability to use D-Links; the D-Link Gauge will be empty with no way to refill it. Retaining Terra's immense power, the Lingering Sentiment has access to any abilities equipped before the battle begins, including all Shoot Locks, attacks, and spells. While Terra was able to wield whichever Keyblade the player equipped, the Lingering Sentiment's weapon is preset as the Gaia Bane.

Weapon
When the new Xehanort was born, he sacrificed both Terra's armor and the Gaia Bane Keyblade for Master Xehanort's old weapon. Because a part of Terra resided within the Lingering Sentiment, it was able to wield the Gaia Bane to conquer Xehanort. The Gaia Bane would then remain with the Lingering Sentiment in its solitude at the Keyblade Graveyard; the animated armor would use the Keyblade a second time to battle Sora eleven years later.

The Lingering Sentiment is a very capable Keyblade wielder, able to morph the Gaia Bane into several different forms. It shares Terra's ability to Keyblade Ride, using what was once a form of transportation for the hero as an offensive technique. Other forms the Gaia Bane may take through the Lingering Sentiment's influence include a chain whip, the massive cannon-like form used in Terra's Ultima Cannon Shoot Lock, a drilling gauntlet, and a harken-like weapon. Save for the Keyblade Ride and Ultima Cannon, these forms were each unique to the Gaia Bane when wielded by the Lingering Sentiment. The armor also holds the weapon in a different fashion in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix than in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the latter's version identical to that of Terra.

Personality
As the Lingering Sentiment is truly an inanimate object, it cannot feel or possess a personality of its own. Since it was brought to life by Terra's discarded thoughts and emotions, however, it is able to "feel" a strong hatred towards Xehanort, as well as a close connection and devotion to Aqua and Ventus.

Appearance
The Lingering Sentiment is an animated suit of armor. The helmet is mostly gold, except for the visor, which is black, and it sports two, red prongs, one on either side of the helmet, that point straight up. The arms, legs, and ribs of the armor is black had have orange patterns decorating them. Its knee guards, gauntlets, breast plate, and armored boots are gold, and there are other, smaller pieces of gold armor on its legs. It wears black shoulder pauldrons with gold edges. The front of the armor on the Lingering Sentiment's torso is red, as are small pieces of armor on its lower legs and gauntlets. It also wears gold anklets with red spikes on the back that curve upward sharply.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, The Lingering Sentiment's armor seems to be much darker in coloration, either because of the lack of light in the Keyblade Graveyard, or that the long period of time it spent there simply faded the armor. It also wears a cape that is gold on the outside and black on the inside. However, this cape was removed from the design for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, to avoid lagging issues. As it is Terra's discarded armor, the Lingering Sentiment uses his main Keyblade, Gaia Bane, in all of its appearances.

In the game, the Sentiment speaks directly to Sora's mind, much like Xemnas did in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix. In Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it briefly talks with Terra's voice at the end of Terra's story.

Quotes

 * "Aqua... Ven... Keyblade... Who are you? I can feel it - we have met before. But when... No... it isn't you... It isn't you that I have chosen. Why isn't it him? Xe...ha...nort... Is that you? Xeha...nort... Xehanort!"
 * "I see. Your strength is... What I sensed in you is..."
 * "Xe....ha.....nort..... Where are you?"

Trivia

 * The Sentiment's first quote, about Sora not being "the one he chose" refers to when Terra met Riku on Destiny Islands as a child and saw him to be his successor.
 * The Lingering Sentiment's attacks demonstrated in his battle with Sora seem to not only derrive from Terra, but also from Aqua and Ventus. From Aqua, he displays incredible magical prowess, utilizing seals, casting spells and transforming his Keyblade into a bow and borrows Ventus immense speed prowess such as the whip and the ramming speed when using the Keyblade Ride as well as the Glide ability.
 * Unusually, unlike other bosses who wield Keyblades, the Lingering Sentiment almost never actually swings his Keyblade, only doing so during his desperation attack.
 * The portal to the Keyblade Graveyard in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix appears after the defeat of Xemnas, after which Sora was immediately returned to Destiny Islands, yet Tetsuya Nomura has confirmed the canonicity of the Sentiment's battle with Sora, leaving it unknown as to exactly when in the Kingdom Hearts II storyline Sora faces the Sentiment.