Ansem, Seeker of Darkness: Difference between revisions

Terra-Xehanort, at the time using his king's name, "Ansem", willingly gave his heart to the darkness in the pursuit of knowledge, creating both his Heartless and his Nobody, [[Xemnas]]. His Heartless was able to retain its selfhood for uncertain reasons, though it was believed by the first [[Ansem the Wise|Ansem]] that this was due to Terra-Xehanort's willing abandonment of his heart.<ref>'''Secret Ansem Report 10''': "But what if one willingly releases one's heart from one's body? Sora and Xehanort retained their self-hood even after becoming Heartless."</ref> The self-styled "Seeker of Darkness" and the legions of Heartless at his command continued Xehanort's pursuit of knowledge in the belief that it lay with darkness, and stole countless hearts from both humans and worlds in their search for their ultimate goal, a legendary repository of tremendous power and knowledge known as [[Kingdom Hearts]]. To reach this heart of all worlds, Ansem would need to open the Final Keyhole, and to do that, he would need the [[Princesses of Heart]] to complete it first. He also realized that he needed to locate and neutralize the wielder of the legendary Keyblade, to prevent them from saving the worlds from his Heartless. He detected a power within [[Kairi]], a Princess of Heart living within Radiant Garden, linking her to a guardian of light, which he misidentified as an innate connection between Princesses and Keyblade wielders. In truth, the power within Kairi was the charm Aqua had placed upon her, with much the same effect—when he cast her loose in the [[Ocean Between]], she was naturally drawn to Sora and Riku on the Destiny Islands.<!--format this and cite as ref to 20 mysteries, BbS Ultimania, translation goldpanner

Ansem Seeker of Darkness felt a special power within Kairi and tried to use her to find the keyblade.-->

It would late turn out that Ansem was not insulting Sora for not knowing what about to happen that night, but what would happen in the future. The future versions of Sora and Riku from two years from then would return to the past right before the destruction of [[Destiny Islands]] as part of their [[Mark of Mastery exam]] to wake the [[Sleeping Worlds]]. As part of [[Master Xehanort]]'s plans, Ansem was there to allow himself and the other members of [[Real Organization XIII|the real Organization]] to follow the duo and make one of them another vessel for Master Xehanort's heart. To separate them to better the Organization's chances, Ansem creates a phantom of [[Ursula]] to attack them. After its defeat, Ansem watches as the two enter the [[Sleeping Worlds]], noting that he is connected this world to them.{{storylink|Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance}}

Ansem shortly returns, having reshaped Riku's body to resemble his original human self. Now that the final Keyhole is open from Sora's sacrifice, he plans to kill Kairi now that her purpose in his plans has been fulfilled. Donald and Goofy bravely make a stand against Ansem in order to protect Kairi, but both know that, without Sora, they may not be able to stop him. Before he can dispose of the three, Riku projects himself from Xehanort's stolen body and manages to establish enough control to stop the Heartless in his tracks, allowing Donald and Goofy to escape with Kairi. This leads to an internal struggle between the two that Riku ultimately loses. His heart is forced out of his body, and Ansem completely takes control. Ansem then allows himself to be enveloped by the darkness flowing out of the Keyhole, and travels to the [[End of the World]] and Kingdom Hearts.

 

Because Riku served as the host for Ansem, a piece of the Heartless remains even after his destruction by the light of Kingdom Hearts. Riku remained unaware of the this until [[DiZ]] impersonated Ansem and sent Riku on a trial through [[Castle Oblivion]] to overcome his regret and fear of the darkness within him. When [[Lexaeus]] fights Riku, the resulting battle causes Riku to lose consciousness and Ansem takes control of his body, slaying the Nobody. However, before Ansem can cement his control over Riky, [[King Mickey]]'s light seals him away for a time; this angers the Heartless to no end.

Eventually, Riku overcomes his fear of the darkness, intending to use it as well as the light. He also additionally receives some guidance from the enigmatic [[Ansem the Wise|DiZ]], the true owner of the mysterious voice, who in turn leads Riku to [[Naminé]]. Naminé offers to seal away Riku's darkness and Ansem, but he instead chooses to face the Heartless on his own. DiZ then gives Riku a card that will give Ansem form, so that Riku can finish him off once and for all.