Ventus

Ventus (also known as Ven) is a main protagonist in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep. From the view of the story, it is revealed he is one of the Keyblade Wielders before Sora and may have the strongest bond to him. He first appeared in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II titled "The Gathering". The video was continued in the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, titled "Birth by sleep". In the video, Ventus was shown fighting against Master Xehanort and Vanitas with companions Aqua and Terra. He is the youngest member of the group. On an interesting note, Ventus strongly resembles Roxas.

While his name Ventus means "Wind" in Latin, Sora's name in Japanese means "Sky". Any connection between the two is unconfirmed; however similar name meanings also apply with Kairi and Aqua and with Riku and Terra.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Ventus is the youngest of Master Eraqus's three apprentices. The game opens up with a clip from his past, revealing a connection to Master Xehanort. In this flashback, Ventus has an Awakening and finds that his Station of Awakening is broken off. He hears a voice (Sora's), and he connects with the voice's heart to fix his Station.

Years later, following the Master Qualification Exams, he once again earns the interest of Master Xehanort and his apprentice Vanitas. After dark hints regarding Terra left by Vanitas, Ven attempts to follow Terra and embarks on a journey of his own in order to save his friend.

Along the way, it is revealed that Ventus was once the apprentice of Master Xehanort and that Vanitas is actually a being created from the darkness in Ventus's heart. During their final battle, Vanitas summons many Unversed to hold Ventus down as he forcefully intergrates into him. While Aqua and King Mickey battle the possessed Ventus, Vanitas and Ventus were transported to the Awakening, engaging in a metaphyiscal battle that resulted in Vanitas fading out of existence. However, this also results in Ventus losing his heart as Aqua later placed his body within the newly created Chamber of Waking within Castle Oblivion. Even after losing it, Ventus's incomplete heart found it's way to a young Sora, in his own Awakening, and his heart passed on into Sora's body.

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
While Ventus does not make a physical appearance in the game, Xigbar sees Xion as Ventus for a moment before Xion strikes him down and leaves. Xigbar and Xemnas are the only ones who see Xion as Ventus, and Xigbar reveales that his complete being has met the real Ventus sometime before when he mentions that he "always looked at him with those eyes".

Abilities
Ventus is the fastest of the trio, using swift combo attacks with quick movements. Unlike most Keyblade wielders, Ventus wields his Keyblade in a reverse grip. Aside from his impressive speed, Ventus also utilizes a variety of magic, including new and unique spells such as the Zero Gravity. He also seems to have access to some of Sora's very own techniques, such as the Strike Raid. His known Mode Changes are:
 * Speed Rave: Ventus's personal fighting style that puts a large emphasis on overwhelming enemies with wide-ranged, speed-based combos.
 * Cyclone: After meeting certain requirements, Speed Rave morphs into much more powerful Cyclone style, attacking surrounding enemies with spin attacks.
 * Wing Blade: A widespread mode change that involves attacking enemies from any direction with summoned spinning swords. Bears a resemblence to Riku's "Session" limit. Also in this mode, Ventus wields the spinning swords of light in a dual-wielding style.
 * Air Rider: A style that gives Ven great midair advantage, it allows him to ride his keyblade around to attack foes from above at high speed.
 * Thunder Bolt: A swift mode change that unleashes powerful lightning upon attacks.
 * Fire Blazer: A ranged and versatile mode change that focuses the Keyblade to erupt flames while attacking.

Additional abilities include:
 * Dimension Link: A mode that allows Ventus to summon characters from other worlds to aid him in battles.
 * Shoot Lock:
 * Photon Charge: Rush to locked on enemies for multiple hits. If the lock on number reaches MAX, a pillar of light raises for a Finish attack (The information for how to input it isn’t written, but according to last year’s trailer, you have to hit once at the correct time.). “Lock on to all enemies in the area.” “A straight attack with the speed of light!”
 * Pulse Bomb: Ventus holds his keyblade backhanded and sends out energy from the light of the Keyblade, causing many small explosions.

Personality
As mentioned earlier, Ven is the youngest of the three Keyblade warriors. Personality-wise, he has many similarities with Sora; he's cheerful, curious, and gets excited at anything new or interesting. He also makes new friends easily in different worlds and really cares about his best friends Terra and Aqua, viewing Terra as an older brother.

Appearance
Ventus bears an uncanny resemblance to Roxas, bearing identical facial features. Further highlighting this resemblance is Ventus's outfit, which is strikingly similar to Roxas's own Twilight Town clothes. He wears a jacket that resembles a fusion of Roxas's (white on the right side) and Sora's in Kingdom Hearts II(black on the left side). The collar of the jacket is red and pleated, again, similar to the collar on Roxas's own jacket. Underneath this, he wears what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. He wears a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also has a chunk of dull green and grey armor on his midsection that appears to be under his vest, and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. Master Eraqus wears a similar piece of armor, though more blue-green, and more obvious.

Ventus's pants are also similar to the pants Roxas wore, though Ven's balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs, similar to capris pants. These pants are colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wears an ornate, dull green and grey piece of armor on his upper-left arm, along with a wristband that is, once again, strikingly similar to Roxas's, but with white edges as opposed to Roxas's black-edged wristband. Like Aqua, he wears two criss-crossing straps on his chest, on which he wears a silver badge vaguely resembling the Heartless emblem or the Nobody emblem turned upside down. His boots are rather odd when compared to Aqua's and Terra's, as they resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey.

In "Birth by sleep", Ventus's suit of armor shares the coloration of the pieces he normally wears, predominantly sporting shades of green and gold. In this suit, Ventus adds a yellow cape to his outfit that is discolored, almost appearing rusted. The armor on his knee is gold and bears a sharp, upward-pointing hook on the outer side of each one. Ven's helmet has a notably different design from Aqua and Terra's, appearing more squashed and flat at the top. His helmet also has two prongs on either side of his head which point backwards and angle diagonally upward. Strangely, Ven's boots are colored completely gold in this outfit, as opposed to the multi-colored ones he normally wears. In Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep, Ventus's armor is altered. He loses his cape, his boots change to more closely resemble those in his unarmored state, and the coloration changes much more than Terra or Aqua's. Ven's armor loses the greens entirely, now sporting steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating it.

Videos
Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 1)|Ventus Gameplay - Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 2) Video:Birth by Sleep, Japanese trailer - Battle (Ven 3)

Trivia

 * In the secret ending of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a ball of light was fused with young Sora. This might be implying that Sora gained the possession of Ven's heart. This in turns provides an explaination as to why Sora can use a Keyblade and Sora's Nobody, Roxas, bearing an uncanny resemblance to Ventus. Furthermore, Xigbar's making cryptic remarkers to Sora relating to Ventus and why he and Xemnas sees Xion (a replica of Sora) as Ventus.
 * Ventus is apparently ambidextrous, as he is seen using his Keyblade in both his left and right hands, which has another connection to Roxas because Roxas uses both hands for his two Keyblades Oathkeeper & Oblivion.
 * The badge on Ventus's chest slightly resembles the symbol of the Nobodies turned upside down. The same badge is on Aqua's chest, Master Eraqus's belt and Terra's belt (except Terra's is yellow).
 * In a recent trailer of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus is shown falling the same way Sora does at the Kingdom Hearts opening movie and the same way Roxas does at the end of Kingdom Hearts II opening movie, but with Ventus, the Kingdom Key and Soul Eater are floating as he falls.
 * In a recent commercial he says the Japanese equivalent to Sora's "My friends are my power" line word-for-word, adding more to the implied connection.
 * In a recent trailer, Ventus is shown to stand in the same stance that Sora often does, with his hands behind his head. Several of his attacks shown in this video also resemble both Roxas's attacks during his boss battle in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Sora and Riku's Limit Eternal Session.