Sleeping Lion

The Sleeping Lion is a Keychain for Sora's and Player's Keyblades that appears in Kingdom Hearts II and Kingdom Hearts Union χ. It is also one of the types of Keyblades left at the Keyblade Graveyard.

Design
The Sleeping Lion's design varies depending on the upgrade, most of which are seen in Kingdom Hearts Union χ. It bears a resemblance to Squall's Revolver Gunblade from .

The default Sleeping Lion has a dull grey color scheme. Its design invokes Squall's Revolver, with a barrel as the blade's base. Its handle is green, while the guard is a dark grey. The blade is a thin shaft, with a maneless lion head as the tip and a fleur-de-lis as the teeth. The Keychain is a dull grey, with the token being a maneless lion head.

The first upgrade, also seen in Kingdom Hearts II, has a grey hilt, blade, and Keychain. The lion's head on the tip and blade has a more visible mane. The fleur-de-lis has more prominent wings, and the blade has a wider shaft. The Keyblade bears resemblance to both Squall's Revolver and Twin Lance Gunblades from Final Fantasy VIII.

In the second upgrade, the handle remains the same, but the guard is now not as symmetrical as previous iterations and now bears a wing similar to the Way to the Dawn's teeth. The blade is longer and more cyan, as is the Keychain, and the fleur-de-lis has more prominent wings. The Keychain token now has a wing emerging from the mane. It is meant to resemble the Lionheart Gunblade from Final Fantasy VIII.

The third upgrade accompanies the Keyblade with an aquamarine aura, trailing wisps of light, a lens flare, and five Lux—three blues and two yellows.

The Keyblade Graveyard variant lacks the lion's head at the tip, and also lacks a Keychain.

Gameplay
In Kingdom Hearts II, the Sleeping Lion is a well-balanced weapon with decent stats and a long reach, but it is outclassed in all regards by other late-game Keyblades that are more focused, such as the Decisive Pumpkin or Fatal Crest. Its ability allows Sora to perform an extra hit on his ground combos, but as Sora is most proficient at aerial combat in Kingdom Hearts II, this is of dubious use. The weapon is best used with Valor Form, which is more ground-based and relies on rapid combos. When wielded together with the Decisive Pumpkin, Sora's attack strings are quite powerful and build to devastating finishers.

Play Arts Figures
Sleeping Lion is one of the Keyblades packaged with the Series 1 Play Arts Figures Final Form figure.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
The Sleeping Lion appears as a downloadable weapon for Squall Leonheart in Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, albeit with its handle replaced by that of his Revolver gunblade. It comes packaged with Squall's Sleeping Lion outfit, based on his appearances from Kingdom Hearts.