Defender

This article is about the Heartless. You may be looking for the shield or the ability.

The Defender (ディフェンダー, Difendā) is an Emblem Heartless that is found in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

One of the Hollow Bastion Heartless, the Defender is essentially a Goofy-themed enemy and counterpart to the Wizard. Defenders have two minds; the Defender has a mind of its own. Though Defenders do not do much themselves, their shields use Fire and Blizzard magic, block attacks, and bite approaching targets. There is only a 0.2% chance that a Defender would leave behind its shield, which is equal to a 1 in 500 chance, making the shield extremely rare. It is suggested that the Lucky Strike ability is equipped, as many as possible.

The Defender seems to be the predecessor of the Lance Soldier from Kingdom Hearts II, and to a lesser extent the Berserker Nobodies as they appear to be controlled by their claymores and Defenders appear to be controlled by their shields.

Design

The Defenders themselves are rather simple in design, resembling a knight clad in purple and blue armor with white trim and yellow buttons; they also have the tell-tale Heartless zig-zag jawline, with a purple head and a silver jaw. The arms and torso are also proportioned much larger than the head and legs, the arm not holding the Defender's main weapon actually rests ape-like on the ground.

In battle, the portion of a Defender that tends to be seen most is the massive and fearsome shield. The barrier portion of the shield is a simple blue and light blue pattern with gold trim, but far more prominent is the very large and very dangerous blue-black dog head, complete with sharp fangs and spiked collar. The dog also has three glowing yellow eyes arranged in a triangle formation, a feature they oddly share with the far more delicate-looking but equally dangerous Angel Stars.

The Defender's name is a reference to the Defender job class from the Final Fantasy series.

Abilities

• Guards against frontal attacks with its dog-faced shield, though limit attacks can overcome this.
• Shoots fireballs at enemies for a mid-range attack.
• Sprays a freezing "breath" from the "mouth" of its shield.
• "Bites" nearby enemies with its shield.
• Swings its shield around once to knock away nearby enemies.

Gallery

• DefenderRecoded.png

  A Defender as it appears in Kingdom Hearts Re:coded.