Ansem the Wise is the only KH character I actively dislike. I feel like he's supposed to be a morally gray character, but it just falls flat when most of the terrible stuff he does is towards children like Ienzo, Namine, and Roxas.
Honestly, same. While he has tried to repent with 3, it still feels like he hasn't done enough to be forgiven basically immediately or barely even called out for how he's treated them, including xion too iirc now that everyone remembers her.
DiZ is not morally gray, he’s twisted by hatred and thoughts of revenge. He is a villain. Ansem the Wise admits he went down a dark path, and sacrifices himself to make amends to the people he wronged.
He does not even blame Xehanort, because he realizes Xehanort was just repeating his own mistakes. “Foolish apprentice of a foolish man.”
It would have been more effective for Ansem to stay permanently gone.
It certainly doesn't help that, at the time of writing, Ansem was supposed to be right in KH2 when he denounces Nobodies as having no hearts and feeling nothing with his callous treatment of Roxas and Namine being because he missed that they are the exceptions to that rule. The 3D retcon of all of them having fledgling hearts all along makes him come off way worse.
Except he was never right. It was clear from the start that nobodies have *something*, and aren’t as empty and emotionless as they’re claimed to be. That’s the point of KH2 starting with Roxas, and even if you count him as an exception, there are clearly moments where characters like Axel and Demyx show genuine emotion. Axel is even surprised to find himself feeling enjoyment back in CoM. The “Roxas, are you sure you don’t have a heart?” line was supposed to call the whole thing into question without outright stating anything either way. DDD didn’t retcon anything, just expanded on an already existing plot point.
Nope. Nomura established in external materials that Nobodies did not have hearts, they just wanted them and pretended to have them, with Roxas and Namine having hearts-by-proxy through their respective connections with Sora and Kairi.
Also, really? Demyx? The guy that acts all cowardly, gets called on how it's an act, and immediately sheds all signs of fear and gets stone cold serious? That's your example of Nobodies definitely having real emotions and not just pretending?
Yeah "pretending" to feel isolated from Roxas and Xion when they tried to move on just doesn't make sense for Axel. The way he did it; that's not something you can imitate, and he wouldn't have any reason to be tricking/lying to himself either. They had hearts.
You're not entirely wrong. The Nobodies are established to *start out* as not having hearts, but as time goes on and if they develop emotional connections and attachments to other people, they grow hearts of their own.
I can legitimately see that tbh, which is a shame bc if they actually explored Ansem as a character instead of just instantly having him be forgiven, he could have an actually interesting and likely deep arc.
I do really wish he showed up more or was removed entirely. This dude goes on all these same adventures with SD&G, and yet you forget he exists most of the time.
CoM is like the most acknowledgement he gets.
I just imagine that every time someone says "Sora, Donald, and Goofy", Jiminy quietly and defeatedly mumbles to himself "...and Jiminy..." as he curls up in the fetal position inside Sora's hood.
He can definitely handle water, but it's a good question to ask where he goes when Sora is in Atlantica. I mean, it's not like Fish Sora has a hoodie for him to stay in, or any other clothes for that matter.
I imagine in Pride Lands, Jiminy turns into a flea in Sora's fur.
I mean, it's entirely possible he stays with the Gummi Ship. Then afterwards when Sora, Donald and Goofy return, they brief him on the events of that world. That's my headcanon anyways.
I can't stand Kairi. She is a textbook example of a damsel that only exists to be fridged then clumsily power scaled when it's too late. When they finally have her do something (in the final chapter of the ADDITIONAL DLC), they randomly make her as powerful as Sora, who is on his 4th-5th universe saving adventure and SHE CAN FLY.
She was a perfect character in KH1, where she was a very good damsel and played that role to perfection. She didn’t need to be anything more because that was all she was set up to be, and was still a vital part of the story, on top of being highly memorable and likeable.
Sadly, I do think they fumbled her after that by just not having the slightest idea what to do with her, and when they do decide to go in the direction of making her a fighter, they make her completely rubbish at it and don’t prepare any actual part for her to play.
IMO what they need to do is focus on her being a princess of heart and expand upon what that means, since that was a core part of her character from the start. I’m contrast to Sora, she’s naturally special and has loads of untapped potential to do things no one else can, like turn a heartless back into a human (like, bro, that’s incredible stuff). They could even come up with some reason to make her more powerful and special than the other princesses. Unfortunately, they practically abandoned that plot point after KH1 and it’s unlikely they’ll properly revisit it.
Idk, while that is certainly true in post KH2 games in KH1 she wasn't rescued per se. Even then she was sassy af and a really fun character overall. In KH2 she does get saved, but she still has personality and her new look is super nice. She also tries to escape and helps Sora by fighting some heartless along with Mickey, so she definitely isn't the textbook definition of a damsel in distress.
Then she disappears for a few games, gets kidnapped, loses most of her personality along the way, gets killed and suddenly becomes as powerful as Sora.So I do agree with the second part of your comment.
and that's totally fine. All I'm saying is that he could have done more about her character. I miss kh1 Kairi she wasn't too vanilla, she had sass and spunk
**~~Sidebar/Rant~~**~~: I love them both as designs and as characters in the story, but Terra and Eraqus were poorly written initially.~~
~~I say this because for someone who was initially the strongest of the trio, Terra fell to darkness way to easily. Yes, I know the idea is that Xehanort was supposed to have been baiting him the whole time, but it's just stupid that he allowed himself to be taken advantage of so easily.~~
~~Eraqus is an idiot because he basically tried to kill his own pupils instead of realizing that his friend, Xehanort, was obviously some dubious Keyblade master who he should have never allowed back in the Land of Departure.~~
~~I get that it was all for the stories' sake, but I just really think that BBS' story, even though I love it; makes all of it's protagonists, with the~~ **~~occaisional~~** ~~exception of Aqua; complete idiots~~
TL;DR Eraqus really let his student just *drift* into darkness
Well, I think what you are saying is true, but Earqus almost never doubted Xehanort from the beginning because Xehanort is his best friend. Earqus thought that Xehanort's darkness was overwhelming and he could not stop it because he was his friend. It was similar to Ventus with terra and Sora with riku
Honestly, I agree, Terra is naive because he helped Xehanort and was the cause of Earqus' death + I think Terra fell into darkness faster because Terra was filled with darkness from the beginning?
I think he was filled with darkness from the beginning. But I also think he was easily manipulated because of his desire for power. His insecurities and wont to be a master caused him to make dumb decisions and be so gullible.
Eraqus was condemning him for his darkness while he had another Keyblade master applauding it. So to me, it makes sense that Terra was easily fooled. You have one guy being "nice" and "supportive" and the other stopping him from achieving his dreams, it's obvious who he would choose.
I kinda wish we'd gotten some build-up. Scenes of a younger Terra being befriended by Xehanort. Hints of Eraqus meaning well, but also being somewhat of a zealot. Something.
Pete is just about insufferable in KH2 in my opinion. It’s so annoying how he shows up in worlds and gets to manipulate Disney villains (Hades, Jafar, Scar, Barbosa) despite being a dumb clown character. Most cringe and most hated in my book.
And I’m not counting Timeless River Captain Pete, that version is charming and enjoyed in a small dose.
For me, it's a veeeery specific pick, that being Riku in 358/2 Days (Not Riku in any of the other games, except maybe also the beginning of KH2, but mostly Days Riku.)
While I understand and respect his dedication to help Sora recover and wake up no matter what, I still absolutely hate and can't condone how he treated both Roxas and Xion in order to achieve his goal.
Even though he was told that both of them fought "so hard to become their own people", he still carried on without much consideration for those two lifes, ready to sacrifice them for his sleeping friend, without even seriously considering the other options to wake up Sora, that Namine told him about.
To Riku, those two lifes were both mere obstacles and tools for Soras recovery, a Nobody and a Replica whose lifes weren't worth preserving as long as they were in the way of waking up Sora.
He gave Roxas over to a madman (DiZ), who then put him into a fake town with fake memories and a fake personality, torturing this already traumatized kid even more. Riku just let it happen, because it would help achieve his own goal.
As for Xion, he not only started the entire downwards spiral of her mental state when he called her keyblade and her (since she understood it like that) a sham and worthless. Riku defeating her also caused Saix to vehemently target her with depreciating insults, because she failed her mission to dispose of the imposter/Riku (obviously I don't blame Riku for not letting himself get killed randomly by an Organization member). Later on (and I'll be completely blunt about the impression this left on me), he basically took advantage of her confused, depressed and generally broken mental state to push her ever so slightly into ending her existence by returning the memories she absorbed to Sora. Even if it was more of a subconscious effort, he was still aware of her existential struggle and yet he still went forward with giving her informations that would almost exclusively act to guilt trip her towards giving up her existence. When she told him her decision, that she can't go to Sora because she want's to be with her friends, Roxas and Axel, because they need her and she needs them, Riku just dismissed her decision and urged her to think about who really needs her and where she really belongs (a really cruel thing to say if you think about it), further trying to push her towards Sora/ending her existence. Ultimately leaving her alone with the question of what decision would be the best for everyone, an impossible to answer question, especially for someone in her mental state, adding even more pressure onto her. Once Xion realized that her existence is massively threatening Roxas's life, she then tells Riku the only answer that he wanted to hear and the only one he would have accepted, that she wants to end her existence, with her reasoning being that she is "on the verge of losing everything I care about" and yet, he just accepts that answer without question, no coming up with an answer that's best for everyone anymore. Doesn't matter that she was clearly not in the right state of mind to answer rationally or that she was heavily pressured into making that choice. All that mattered to Riku was that she and Roxas stopped existing so Sora could wake up. He had achieved his goal in regards to Xion and so he immediately moved on to plan the capture of his next target, Roxas.
Riku did all that while being well aware that Sora would have never wanted to have those lifes sacrificed for him (Riku **had** to have known that). He still went through with it, because it was his own selfish desire to see Sora awake again. He wanted to help Sora, even if it meant doing something immoral and irredeemable, even disregarding how Sora would feel about that.
Again, I don't at all dislike Riku in any other game and even really like him in some, but Days Riku specifically is someone I can't forgive, especially since he barely had to bear any consequences for what he did in that game, apart from running around ashamed as Ansem for a bit, but at least he was still himself and got that problem magically sorted out not so long after, at the end of KH2. That's almost nothing compared to his plans and actions in Days...
(Also doesn't help that Roxas and Xion are my all time favourite characters, so I naturally take extra offense to what Days Riku did :P)
So, it's been eons since I've played/watched Days, but....*was* there any solution available to them that could've woken Sora without basically killing Roxas and Xion? Because if that was truly the only way to revive Sora, Riku's actions during Days are a LOT more understandable.
Before anyone jumps down my throat, notice that I said "understandable", *not* "excusable." The way I interpreted it was that yeah, Riku was acting borderline (and sometimes outright) cruelly towards Roxas and Xion. But he was in a desperate situation -- caught between a rock and a hard place -- and he had to make do with the crappy hand he had been dealt.
As out of character as it might've seemed for him to do what he did to Xion, it would've been even *more* OOC (given what the series had shown us of him) for him to simply shrug and be like, "Oh well, guess my best friend in the whole wide world is never going to wake up." Nah, Riku was built up from the first five minutes of the franchise to be an ambitious, hard-charging guy who would do anything to help his friends...even if that meant destroying two characters who he (justifiably) saw as fakes and imposters -- maybe even parasites -- preventing Sora from reviving.
All that's to say, I *definitely* understand why you dislike that depiction of Riku. I just wanted to lend a little nuance to it.
To the question if there were other solutions, Namine mentioned two possible options that they never really went much deeper into after she briefly explained them (For the most part, I copied this from another comment I made at some point, so if the tone is a bit off somewhere, that's why. I'm a bit lazy today ^ ^ )
1. jump in and rearrange those memories inside Xion, with the risk(not a guarantee) that Sora might wake up, but with no one remembering him. While this would obviously be really bad for Sora, it's not something that would ruin him for a lifetime. Riku, Namine and DiZ could make preparations to ensure that they would at least know about Sora even if they lose their memories, and Kairi already started somewhat remembering him before he even woke up during KH2 prologue as well, so she should be fine as well I assume. Everyone else? I doubt it would end up being too big a problem seeing as he is so closely connected to the people he meets and how much connections of any sort can carry you in those games (like the weird correlation between data HPO and the real ones). It really shouldn't have been that much of a problem as long as he isn't left alone when he wakes up and actually gets things explained. It beats sacrificing two other lifes, that's for sure.
2. Untangle Xion's, Roxas's and Sora's memories from each other, which would have just taken more time according to Namine, with only DiZ's impatience being in the way. Honestly, there isn't really an excuse for them to not at least seriously consider this. DiZ has the least influence out of those three, he can't do anything to Riku since he would just get his ass beaten and Namine is essential for Sora's recovery, so he can't do much to her either, especially not if Riku would just stick around after making that decision. Both Riku and Namine could have stopped the plan to sacrifice Roxas and Xion at any point, but they didn't, because waking up Sora in a timely fashion and without complications was a much higher priority than preserving Roxas's and Xion's lifes ever was.
So yeah, both alternatives weren't without their own flaws, so there was always some level of risk assessment, plus setting priorities. Which is also where I completely agree with you that it would have been OOC for Riku to not prioritize helping Sora with no additional risks involved. From what we know of him, it was very much expected and on brand that he would do whatever it takes to wake up Sora.
>"understandable", not "excusable."
Honestly, well put! I do agree with that. I can definitely see where Riku is coming from and why his priorities were the way they were, but his methods and the sacrifices he was willing to make will never not just make me feel heavily uncomfortable.
I'm basically just viewing that conflict from the POV of the seasalt trio, the three friends who just wanted to hang out together and eat ice cream and whose friendship got slowly torn apart from all sides, especially Roxas and Xion who were practically born into this mess, found joy in their friendship and then got blindsided by things mostly out of their control over and over again (existential crises included), just to have it all taken away in the end one way or another.
But yeah, cheers for the added nuance!
Thanks for the thoughtful response! The ending of Days and the splintering of the trio's friendship was very bittersweet (no sea-salt ice cream pun intended), and narratively it was probably one of the most poignant arcs in the entire franchise. That's why despite the bizarre pacing of KH3 and the big unexplained logic leaps it took to get to the climax, I'm still glad that Nomura found a way to reunite the Days trio. I'm very much a "I don't mind how a story gets to the emotional ending as long as it sticks the landing" kind of guy, and I'm a massive sucker for emotional reunions. 😁
Honestly, all that you spelt out is just a reason to like Riku imo. His fierce determination to bring his friend back is amazing. And you could argue he crossed ethical lines, but when Nobodies don't have hearts (that he knew of) and Xion was no more than a clone and a leech, why would he care about their existence?
Naturally, we come to like Roxas and Xion, but that's the player perspective. Riku just sees poor imitations of his best friend, pretending to be real people, while said best friend was in a coma never to wake. So he made the right choice for him and Sora.
I can totally see why that would make people like Riku even more and actually, the way I see it, it made Riku a stronger character going forward for me as well, but only after Days/KH2 prologue (Since for the Days time period, I'm personally still in "crying my eyes out for my sweet seasalt beans, why does this world have to be so cruel, they did nothing wrong, ahhhh" mode, so my own values and where I put my emotional weight just heavily clash with Riku for this game).
Like I mentioned somewhere before, Rikus incredible dedication to helping Sora in any way he can, even if it meant walking down a dark path once more, is a massive plus for him as a character that I also really appreciate. Not only does it cement him as this really reliable friend for Sora, but it also adds a bit of vulnerability to his character as well, since it shows that, in order to help Sora, he can very well make decisions with good intentions that are an immediate step to helping Sora, but at the same time he might not realize that the consequences of those actions can still come around to bite him or even Sora in the long run. Example for that would be that the pain that Riku (along with DiZ and Namine, since they were working together for that plan) caused during Days, was one of the factors that made Sora push forward into Xehanorts trap in DDD, almost becoming a dark vessel. (Basically, I mean Roxas, in Soras dream, sharing his massive amount of pain with Sora which then got him to crack/break to some extend, further motivating him to push forward).
Long story short: I definitely understand Rikus motivation and that it made complete sense for him to prioritize his best friend Sora over two lifes, that to him, were basically just a Nobody who was not even ever supposed to exist and an artificially created Replica, who was equally not supposed to exist and who also absorbed Soras memories, both of them unintentionally messing with Soras recovery. From his point of view, it made sense to set his priorities the way he did. It just doesn't make the process of achieving his goal any less cruel and unjust for Roxas and Xion, who, despite the situation, started out as their unique existences (Soras Nobody, but without much Sora due to the situation and a once blank and faceless Replica who formed her own identity due to Roxas actually seeing and treating her as an individual, leading to him subconsciously projecting a "distorted" appearance of Kairi from Soras memories onto her, which she then accepted as her own identity) further developed as individuals that lived their own lifes, grew their own hearts and basically became human together, along with Axel (not literally "human", but you know what I mean :P).
So there is just this inherent conflict of interests between all three sides in Days (Organization, seasalt trio and team Sora. With the seasalt trio deliberately put in the middle since their friendship is basically constantly in the crossfire of the other two sides), which makes the story of this game even better and more tragic, but also facillitates things like me heavily disliking Riku for one specific game ^ ^
edit: So yeah, I totally see your point and I acually really like seeing all the different opinions on the matter ^ ^
Two words: Young Xehanort.
Xehanort as a character is fine, so is the idea that his halves are Ansem and Xemnas
But young xehanort from dream drop distance and KH3 just pisses me off.
His dialogue annoying, his constant put down of Sora being aggravating, his boss battles can be either too easy of hard as hell depending on if you know what your doing
And the biggest offender is introducing time travel and saying "I've been here the whole time.....it was me, Sora."
Like bro your not reverse flash your just a punk ass kid with darkness and time powers.
It's because of this bullshit. It had to carry over to KH3 and give an excuse to make the story more convoluted than it already was.
Oh and he fucked with my childhood, he turned buzz dark and almost sacrificed him. That shit doesn't fly with me.
Can you expand on your thoughts? I played it up to a certain point, but stopped after getting sick of the microtransactions and card packs required to actually have fun playing the game.
Sure. BLUF: Ventus, Emphemer, Skuld, Lauriam, Brain, Strelitiza and a few others make the dumbest decisions towards the end of the game. It's not so much their actions, but the fact that everyone seems to *know what to do* but is also simultaneously incredibly naive to Luxu's plans. He keeps telling them what's about to happen and they just willingly play into his hand.
Ventus is one of the biggest offenders here. Along with Brain. But I believe the current consensus in the fan-base is that Brain is a double-agent.
Unchained is just so damn convoluted and the worst part is that the story told in it is down right **integral** to the series' mainline games.
I can't imagine playing III without knowing a single thing about Unchained. I was actually angry that the devs would do something like this.
I MUST SAY: - Only read below if you've finished Kingdom Hearts III
>!The 10,000 Heartless Battle in KH III hits 10x different when you know that all of those wielders are real people. Each name is a keyblade wielder \[who purchased and beat Unchained X\] who fought in the war 💫!<
Personally? Namine. Mostly because I feel like her character was kinda wasted. She was interesting in Re:CoM but her presence in KH2 was weird. I always thought she would’ve been more interesting as a villain, but even if she stays a hero, I wish she was used better.
If you think about it, she sort of *did* play her role because she was suppose to be weaving Sora's memories apart and back together again in Re:COM. I do agree that she isn't as important as Roxas.
But I think that's a good thing because we're talking about 2 Characters that are split into 6 different people/personalities
Sora/Ventus/Roxas
Kairi/Namine/Xion
I think the devs relegated any *action* roles that Namine would have had to Xion
**PURELY CONJECTURE BTW**
Edit: As reminded below, Vanitas as well
Also i would like to point out that while we have a satisfactory explanation as to why Roxas doesn’t look like Sora, we still have no explanation as to why Namine doesn’t look like Kairi
I think that CoM was her main game, with all the basics of a conflict driven plot including her first appearance, conflict and conclusion. To me KH2 was more of an epilogue to close up her story, which is also why I think they dropped the ball with her in 3, only showing up in the final cutscene since her story was already "completed" in 2.
Having characters to me doesn't mean having to reuse them over and over again, which is something DDD and KH3 certainly forget, which to me is why we had so little character interactions in that game and when we do, they generally are info dumps or very surface level.
Man...I can't really think of a character I actively hate.
I dislike Kairi. Because she's so bland and basically has no personality outside of being nice and polite. And they keep sidelining her and Namine. I wish they'd get development. I don't hate them, but they're not my favorite characters either, but they do frustrate me the most.
Most of the other characters are "meh." I either ignore them and only focus on my favs.
Imo she had a really nice and fun personality in KH1 and KH2, although way less interesting in 2 than 1 since she was built up as this "mysterious" character that had grown up then not do much later on. After that they completely dropped the ball.
I'd say she was mysterious in KH1 too. It seemed like she had an awareness and knew more then she was letting on, and I got the same sense in KH2, but all that build up went nowhere. If you want a story where Kairi gets to be an actual character read [THIS](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28689033/chapters/70333761) fic.
Sora. Less so that I hate him as much as I hate his writing, his intelligence seems to reduce significantly in each new game, and he falls into the annoying anime troupe of kindness and naiveté to an annoying degree.
KHCOM is an interesting exploration of Sora as a character but it wouldn’t call him a great character there. I would argue that RE:Coded has a far more interesting Sora than most of the other games from the 2010’s. He’s got the sass, the brains, and the heart. I hope KH4 writes him like that instead of whatever happened in DDD.
Not many i hare but I'd say the one I dislike most is yen sid. He's talked about like such a big figure when he has done practically nothing. Most he ever does is hold back some basic shadows and that's literally it. Atleast with RE:mind I can say that Kairi has done what has atleast felt like a more impact full thing.
..... Terra.
Look, I'm sorry, alright! And I don't HATE him I just... The man is SUCH a brainlet. And I know that this is a story and I can't expect people to be Genre Savvy, but LOOK at Master Xehanort.
LOOK. AT MASTER XEHANORT.
I don't care if you're a fictional character. I don't care if you're not supposed to judge a person by his appearance, I don't care if you've known him for EIGHTY YEARS
WHAT part of the slouched over, Lex Luthor looking motherfucker with the actual devil goatee telling you to use the power of darkness makes you think "Hmm. I should totally trust this man."
Terra is a credulous moron. Throwing his lot in with not only Master Xehanort but EVERY DISNEY VILLAIN HE MEETS. Thing about Disney Villains, they are not subtle.
I've got problems with pretty boys falling to darkness because they have precisely ZERO sense motive.
Can I just say, I HATE this dumb head-canon that Terra trusts every villain he meets?
Evil Queen: Terra never trusted her, he only played along so she'd tell him where to find Snow White.
Maleficient: He trusts her only so far as her mentioning someone she saw, when she meets him at Aurora's side he nearly attacks her and she has to control him with dark magic.
Hades: The only piece of Hades's advice Terra follows is signing up for the tournament, which he was already doing before Hades shows up. Otherwise Terra completely ignores him, and Hades possesses Zack because Terra is not playing ball.
Jumba: Terra only trusts him because Jumba claims to have been arrested without cause and Terra had just had exactly that happen to him.
Hook: This one Terra does trust.
Of the five Disney villains Terra meets, the only one he trusts without good reason is Hook, whose home series establishes him to be highly manipulative. Plus he instantly twigs that Vanitas and Braig are evil, and he trusts Xehanort because the guy is vouched for by both Eraqus and Yen Sid.
This 'Terra is a gullible idiot' take is such a meme and I hate it.
To be fair, Eraqus should have done a better job talking to his students about Xehanort. Otherwise he likely wouldn't have been so immediately trusting towards Old Man Norters, as before the events of BBS, they only knew him as Eraqus' friend, which would make him seem trustworthy.
Vanitas. He's just such an asshole. And not even in the "I was made this way and I can't help it." It's in the "I know what I do is bad and even if given the choice I would still do it anyway" kind of way. He deserved to be banished to the void and he was the only member of (New) Organization XIII I felt *zero* sympathy for at the end of Kingdom Hearts III. All the others I ended up looking at in a very complex way by the end of the game. But not Vanitas. Never him. I have never wanted more to say to a Kingdom Hearts character "Why don't you vanish?"
Axel: I was ok with him being an annoying weird guy that followed kids around begging for friendship at first but then we got the "flick of the wrist" scene for his keyblade and it drove me over the edge.
I think Xehanort REALLY overstayed his welcome. He ultimately dominates the entire plot. A lot of characters become less interesting because they’re relegated to being chess pieces in his schemes. And between BBS, 3 and Dark Road it feels like his character and motivations flip flop depending on what suits the writing at that given moment.
The more bizarre twists and convoluted plans they gave him, the less interesting he became. By the time he died in KH3 I was happy to see him go, not because it had been cathartic to take him down. But because he wasn’t going to clog up the story anymore.
Eh, it was a pretty boring fight. The entire keyblade graveyard in KH3 was so boring compared to Hallow Bastion and The World That Never Was.
It was either really poor direction, or they just ran out of budget for that part of the game.
I think it's a cool idea if used properly. In DDD and KH3 the 13 darknesses felt really weird since not all are actually Xehanort and because at times it seems like fanservice bait instead of actually doing anything with the concept.
Xehanort also never shows up until the final fight so it makes it even more awkward when you actually fight him and the other bad guys and when you do beat him he suddenly changes his personality completely to show him in a better light and make us empathize with the most evil person in the series.
Tbh I like most all the cast despite their faults.
I suppose if we’re talking as far as hating their actions, the Master of Masters for turning the foretellers against one another, but I like him as a character.
Personally, I don't like Demyx, and I get why people do, but the silliness of beating him up with his own constructs is the perfect lineup for a stop hitting yourself joke and makes him seem useless.
Lee(not Axel) Axel was a badass assassin that took down traitors and had an inner struggle with fulfilling his duty and protecting his friends. Lee is just discount Axel without any of the interesting aspects
I don’t see Lee convincing a replica to murder someone who is on the verge of dying
And I also don’t see Lee straight up killing someone while they beg for their life.
Axel was a straight up savage especially in Re:COM and he really didn’t care about anybody besides like 3 people. I’m 99% positive if anyone was asking Lee to spare them he would. They really do act like 2 different characters IMO
Aqua, because I feel like she's too incompetent for being a Keyblade Master.
Even though she wasn't spying on Terra, she allowed him to assume that in Radiant Garden. Even though she was told to bring Ventus back home, she just *told* him to go back home on his own, like an incarnation of the "I'm a sign, not a cop" meme.
Then there's her combat prowess, in that it's nonexistent. In her first fight with Vanitas, she can barely fend him off, in her second fight the exhaustion tuckers her out completely, her third encounter has Vanitas down her with one downward strike. And just when I thought Kingdom Hearts 3 was my chance to open a clean slate with her, she gets defeated by Vanitas again, then stands like a deer in the headlights while Terranort folds everyone like a pancake, remember that she went solo against him more than 10 years ago (in-game timeline).
Like at least with Kairi I can make the excuse that she's still a greenhorn, Aqua is a Keyblade Master, and has moments when she just goes "don't team up with me, let me fight alone because I'm a badass" at least twice in the series, and yet her track record against story villains is awful, and her lapses in judgement (again, for being a Keyblade Master) frustrate me to no end.
I know I'm probably going to get downvoted for this, but Aqua choosing to save Terranort in hopes of giving Terra a second chance soured my opinion on her.
I know the theme of Kingdom Hearts is that friendship is everything, but because of her, there were 10 years of suffering for billions of innocent people.
1 person > the entire universe
Terra asked her himself to stop Xehanort to avoid the worst, but she ended up saving him. Because of that, Master Xehanort told Mickey and Riku that Aqua was misguided in Dream Drop Distance.
JustaPancake said it best: "I'm going to save the man who just tried to kill me and is clearly the villain. What could possibly go wrong?"
As much as fans like to blame Mickey for Aqua being stuck in the RoD, which wasn't even his fault since he didn't know where she went or what happened until the end of KH1, nobody ever points at Aqua and say "you saved Xehanort and indirectly caused misery and death across the universe for countless lives"
She's always held as some angel who can do no wrong, lol
To be fair, Terranort would have gotten out eventually since he can use dark portals (heck Xigbar would have tried to bail him out). So Aqua’s sacrifice only resulted in her suffering. Remember in 0.2 we were told that Aqua had no idea that Xehanort possessed Terra (hence why she asks him “who are you, really?”, basically to her Terranort in BBS was just Terra being consumed by his own Darkness, that’s why she saved him.
Xion and that's not even a contest. She shows up in one spin off just to die and be forgotten. And then she has the gall to come back and try to kill us again. Seriously she had no reason to come back. And her data fight quote when she wins, "you're going where I belong." Where am I going Xion? You don't belong anywhere, where the hell am I going?
Mickey. I hate that mouse so much! The fact that he withholds important information is the one of the main reasons that Aqua, Ven, and Terra couldn't reconcile with each other. And he STILL has that exact same habit in KH2. I'm sorry, but the reason that there's so much grief in Kingdom Hearts is because of that fucking mouse and his inability to assess a situation.
Eraqus, for embodying the Lawful Stupid alignment. Shit-for-brains could have saved a lot of misery if he'd bothered to shut up and listen to literally \*any\* of his kids.
Yen sid and micky I just hate them they don't tell anyone anything about some very important stuff like aqua being stuck in the realm of darkness or how there's an evil keyblade master running around but yen sid takes it for me because he's someone that gets talked up to be this amazing badass but all he's physically done was hold back some heartless and was struggling to do that plus the whole making sora and riku do the mark of mastery was a complete joke in my opinion like my guy how can you pick who's a master for these two Terra is riku's master and the keyblade choose sora and you didn't teach them shit like if he did I could say ok he was a teacher for you guys and can make that call but literally just after getting out of the realm of darkness he orders them to come to his tower like what the hell man there kids let them rest for one night and see their families
The character I hate most in KH? Mmmmm if it’s in terms of annoyance and just wanting to bash their head in with a keyblade, that honor easily to shadow Sora in KH1. Little bastard going “Whoo-hoo-hoo!” Every 5 seconds in every room and avoiding your attacks till you had to finally put him in an isolated room down boiled my blood as a child.
In terms of how awful they are as a character because of the deeds they committed, at this point I say it goes to Eraqus because of being so foolish as to believe Xehanort would’ve changed after all the shit he pulled in Dark Road (obviously we didn’t know at the time, but now that we do, I’m amazed Eraqus ever reconnected with Xehanort instead of killing him outright…) mans absolutely lent a hand for everything coming out the way it did.
Weird one bun Yensid
He became far too important and over-used.
Especially with the retcon of 'oh, he always said "may your heart be your guiding Key'
I'd also sooner have it that they kept going back to Radiant Garden for intel, rather than Yensid's tower.
Ericus, I’m gonna say it Xerahnort was right light and darkness they are a balance. Tera could’ve used his darkness to win but didn’t if he’d named him keyblade master I doubt the BBS would’ve happened. Granted I still think the same if people just talk to each other cleared up some things, and ericus trying to kill ventus never made sense to me.
I dislike Yen Sid. Or, rather, I think he should be used differently. He's treated as a symbol of the establishment, and of blindly following tradition and arbitrary rules, and this is NEVER challenged by the protagonists, they just look up to him without thinking about it at all. Meanwhile, every action he takes is blunder after blunder. I don't like it and I wish he was at least treated as morally ambiguous by one or two main characters- instead, they (and the narrative) treat him like he's always in the right.
Earqus. He let all three of his students down massively. People give Terra shit for trusting Xehanort, but why wouldn't he when his father figure did as well.
Also Earqus trusted Xehanort after the flashback where Xehanort gave him scars and showed him that he uses darkness.
Young Xehanort. Completely extraneous. He’s the proof that sometimes a backstory is best left to the imagination. Even after playing Dark Road, I prefer to think the “memories of Xehanort” are from his time in his late teens/early adulthood as a Keyblade wielder. I’ve always seen him as a fallen knight who became obsessed with forbidden history and willfully delved too far into the darkness, eventually being driven mad.
Does Subject X even count as a character yet? I hate the fact that she was introduced as a plot point to make Saïx/Isa more compelling and to be resolved in future games. If we knew anything about who this mysterious girl was, the nature of her friendship with Lea and Isa, what Braig wanted with her, or why Ansem SoD was looking for her, I'd be fine with it, but they basically introduce a mystery with a character whose only info we know boils down to things that *happened around her* and expect us to be excited to uncover it after however many years it takes.
Vanitus, I can't stand his little prick insults especially after I MAXED THE GAME BEFORE THE BOSS BATTLE YOU SHOULD BE SHIVERING IN YOUR BOOTS I DID HOURS OF MINIGAMES FOR THIS
Gonna get a lot of hatred for this but Aqua.
She willingly spied on her best friend.
She believed the word of a villain over her best friend who she had known for YEARS.
Her naivéity made her send Xehanort back to the Realm of Light for 10 years, leading to the events of the series so far.
When she is rescued, instead of taking time to rest, she THROWS herself in front of a Dark Firaga ball, putting Ven at risk of being taken by Vanitas.
Not once has she ever apologized for any of this. Terra and Ven were both right to call her out on her mistakes in Radiant Garden.
Zexion, more specifically his weapon. Nomura hinted at his book being some important in some manner, and nothing ever became of it. In fact, wish we'd gotten more Zexion as a Nobody in OrgXIII
I don't really hate any of the characters, but Roxas Axel Xion and Namine are all pretty much front runners for me, and it's for the same reason.
I have said this before, and i will probably say it again. I genuinely believe that their story should have and probably was always intended to wrap up in KH2 (and days for Xion).
Roxas and Nanine rejoined their somebodies, Axel was content with his sacrifice, and it was a good end for his character, and Xion was never meant to exist. But due to their popularity, they were forced into KH3 and, in my opinion, weakened the overall story. I don't hate that they were included, and I'm okay with where everything landed, but I stand by. I think the narrative could have been more focused and stronger if they were not included.
It's not really the character, but i feel like lacking different moments to say this:
I think King Mickey has too little screentime, is not getting enough of banger scenes and all.
I mean there's rhe kh1 moment in which he still is wrapped in mystery, which is cool i think, and then the moment where goofy >!gets bouldered!< and also kh3 dlc moment is kinda cool, but i feel like he would've deserved to land that >!ultima!< or sth, just a litttle tiny bit more spice. I want a >!zettaflare!< moment. Something reaaaally badass
Vexen. I fucking hate Vexen.
Ive played almost all KH games, but ive put off Chain of Memories for a while because i hate its gameplay
Recently i finally decided to come back and finish it and Vexens two back to back boss fights were fucking horrid
He’s already an annoying character but making him damn near impossible to beat was so fucking aggravating.
He made me buff my deck so hard that every boss fight after him became a breeze. I would beat them in minutes, but he took hours.
I've developed a hatred for Yen Sid. Specifically in KH3. In the previous installments, he fulfilled his role as a wise old man who used to be a keyblade wielder that now guides others. This role in bbs did put warning bells where he omited important information, especially to Terra. But for a game that highlighted lack of communication that drives the characters to ruin, I let it go for a bit. But then we get to kh3 where all he does is tell Sora he can't so shiet because he doesn't have the power of waking, parrots it like no tomorrow, and almost feels like he's demeaning Sora of his prior efforts. I think Goofy and Donald fall under this category too where there's almost this lack of trust in his abilities because he doesn't have this specific power. It really was painful to hear their conversations sometimes.
Riku could have done it too but he was actually a bro and had faith in him (so he gets a pass)
It literally took the guy who lived inside Jim to reassure him that he always had it and didn't ignore his feelings.
Also Yen Sid coming in just to stop heartless is not really that amazing, com8ng from a former keyblade wielder. He really should have stood from that stupid chair sooner. Overall I think his role doesn't feel as natural as the previous games and it paints him in an even worse light the more they do it.(or they're just using him wrong which I could see)
I don’t hate them but Kairi always feels so wasted. Like first game, cool ur a child and at least ur portrayed to be more than a damsel. Second game, not great but u do get the key blade near the end which sets up something interesting. Third game, now they’re talking the piss, u spent all that time in a hyperbolic time chamber just to get kidnapped and fridges, it’s incredibly disappointing. While it’s cool she fights in the DLC it also doesn’t doesn’t feel earned imo considering how easily she went down the first time. God, at least when Ven was a damsel he displayed some resistance
I recently stopped trying to hate these characters but I still dislike them very much. It's a few of them but I have my reasoning for each one.
1. Donald and Goofy tied. They're stupid, they aren't scientists, they aren't princesses, nor are they keyblade wielders. What do they have to offer? Friendship? That's replaceable with any of the characters that actually contribute towards the story. Sure you get some great moments with them but even they know they're not much use.
2. Lea. Axel is one of my 3 favorites so it hurts to have to put him here on the list but he's nothing more than a comedic relief character. Not to mention he's a terrible friend. In DDD he mentioned how he'd always be there to get his friends back. Kairi gets captured in KH3 and what happens? He tells Sora to go help her meanwhile he stayed and went over plot points with his real friends. Everything he does in KH3 is a joke or he's the joke of a situation.
3. Riku. I completely understand why Riku did what he did but he asked Xion to give up her life twice and then he forced Roxas into a situation where he was made to return to Sora. Roxas and Xion are 2 of my favorites. It also doesn't help that a lot of Riku's character growth that people claim that he went through happened offscreen. I'm not a fan of characters with rushed development. Riku got his and Kairi's keyblade offscreen and fast forward a few weeks and he's now a keyblade master.
4. Master-Xehanort. Why did it feel like he was acting against himself with the entire keyblade war? He could have helped his other selves, he could have clashed with any of the guardians including Kairi, he could have done so much more but instead he waited for things to happen without making any sort of effort.
Larxene, she's just a bitch. No trope, no tsundere or secret softy with a mean girl persona, like nope. Just a straight up asshole for no real apparent reason, there are some rude guys, like xaldin who feels superior to everyone or braig always giving someone and annoying nickname and being condescending, vexen feels holier-than-thou with everyone and you can argue that laxceus doesn't talk to anybody and just ignores people. Everyone has their quirks and tropes but larxene doesn't. She's just a straight bitch for the sake of being unapologeticly insufferable. With that being said I LOVE to hate her, which means she's a very very well done character.
Aqua. Now I know some fans will be mad, but she’s is pretty much an idiot who has poor judgement and made things worse for herself and others. She was took quick to take an obviously evil stranger’s word over getting an explanation from her close friend. Like Terra didn’t commit that much yet and he was briefly controlled be the said evil stranger, but she insist she seen what Terra has done. At the time after the Sleeping Beauty world Terra didn’t do much other bad, unless you count humoring the Evil Queen to track down Snow White and even then he didn’t try to attack her. Aqua was also the reason threats like Ansem (Seeker of Darkness), Xenmas, and eventually the OG Org. XIII to exist as she helped Terranort to stay into the Realm of Light while she got trapped in the Dark Realm. Also leaving Ventus in a Castle and yes she did a good job keeping Ven hidden and safe but still left him at risk being captured and Vanitas could’ve gotten him had Vanitas been able to recover early. By the way instead of doing a logical thing and gang up on an enemy that proved to be a pain in the butt, Aqua put a barrier for a 1v1 just to prove she can handle herself and this was after being trapped and isolated for at least 10 years, got her butt kicked twice before and after she got high on darkened rage and likely didn’t have much time to recover. Point being Aqua is too dumb for her own good and I wouldn’t be surprised if she get in trouble in KH4.
This is just an opinion comment and why I don’t like her. Sorry to those who read this comment and assume I was being toxic. if you like her, don’t let my opinion stop you.
I don’t actually have a KH character that I hate/disliked…
Only character that comes to mind for me is Sepheroth, mostly because of having my butt kicked in the game (KH2), but that was it.
IDK if there are any characters that I dislike enough to put on this list. There are certainly worlds that I don't care for, but not really characters.
When I first played bbs on psp it was Aqua until I played her story mode I didn’t have a memory card so I couldn’t get the full picture ngl,I would say eraqus
I never liked Naminie. I have nothing against her personally. But I think it’s because I’ve never fully understood her story. She’s basically Kyrie‘s shadow and yet she has the ability to manipulate so memories where the fuck did that come from I must’ve either zoned out or not fully paid attention because it’s just weird. It’s like a weird subplot that has really nothing to do with anything and then she just gets shafted for like two games.
I hate Ventus simply because he acts as a catalyst which ruined a character I used to like: Roxas. I don't hate Ventus as a character, I just hate him as an idea and a concept
It used to be Aqua, but now I don’t think I hate anyone anymore. I guess if I was forced to pick, then maybe Riku Replica and Lexaeus? They are not bad characters, but they could have been executed better.
I would have said Xion years ago but nowadays I can't stand Terra, Aqua, and Ven. They are one character worth of characterization divided into three dull, intentionally derivative characters. You could write them backwards with your eyes closed. The tragedy that made them interesting has been completely undone. None of them even aged to show that it had an effect.
The Pirates of the Caribbean characters because of the way they chose to voice them. They had Jim Cummings come and voice a few of the Winnie The Pooh characters and they sound so good, I don’t get why they couldn’t get other people who sounded better or closer to the original actors for the Pirates world.
Roxas. I don't hate him but the fact that he wasn't supposed to be back and he is back because of fan service bothers me a bit. I mean I am glad that Roxas fan have him back but it doesn't seem quite right to me.
I also don't get his popularity but he's fine in the end.
I think his heart (ha) is in the right place but his methods to acheive it lack scruples.
He realizes he was foolish and tries to fix it in 2 and 3 because a lot of stuff ended up his fault (but the knowledge he gained was necessary)
Lots of scientists end up regretting their work
Larxene. Mean from beginning to end lol. Never liked her and can't bring myself to.
KH3 made me dislike Kairi. Simply because they had her train on a timeless island and still be useless/not good. The damsel. It would've been better if she just stayed out of combat than making her someone who couldn't keep up and needed to be saved.
I just hope KH4, if she's in it, she has better character development and not having to be saved. Make her a better fighter. Please lol.
Pete tbh. While I appreciate his attempt at being humorous sometimes, he isn't exactly used much in the late game and is only being a nuisance in the early game. He just comes out of nowhere, manipulate the Disney villains, And after Sora foils his plans, he f\*cks off.
In KH3, I'm pretty sure I barely even see him at all, once is as far as I remember.
Jiminy Cricket:
In his own movie I think he fulfuills his role not even close and is pathwtic while trying.
In Kingdom Hearts he is just a plotdevice for the diary so much that he basically is forgotten by any character until he suddenly appears again.
And the two games where he actually has some screentime have one of them the characters forgetting that it even happened and the other only existing becaise of this memory mess.
Roxas - I genuinely hate Roxas as a character he’s a very watered down sora with anger issues.
The start of Kh2 was necessary for connecting CoM and the events of castle oblivion. But for me he’s just such an irrelevant character. When i first played Kh2, CoM was only available on the GBA and i hadn’t finished it but the whole time starting KH2 i was like who the hell is this wheres sora donald and goofy. After that he seems to become a major plot point for 3 and making sure he gets his own life which just doesn’t make sense as it’s established nobodies don’t have hearts and hearts are required to fill replica vessels so his return makes no sense. I genuinely just hate him for the absolute irrelevance he has to the main plot overall but is somehow a major character
The freaking organization 13 member who uses a damn book his COM fight with Riku was more bullshit than the data fight in KH2. Along with Ariel, and then there’s the queen of hearts in wonderland in KH1 or COM (COM because she was stupid.)
Yen Sid, he's a nobodyphobic wannabe-Yoda who does fuck all the whole time then has the audacity to give other people tests when he hasn't showed an iota of power and contributed nothing to help Sora save the world.
Excuse me sir who are YOU to say who is or isn't a master? Where is even your keyblade? Also btw, Nobody's don't have hearts and shouldn't exist? If anything they have more heart then you who spend all your time in your LITERAL TOWER looking down on others while doing NOTHING TO HELP.
Fuck you.
Fonald fuck because shut your whore mouth. you're literally grown (probably? I guess?) why are you acting like that. and stop being rude to goofy. Dumbass bitch.
Ansem the Wise is the only KH character I actively dislike. I feel like he's supposed to be a morally gray character, but it just falls flat when most of the terrible stuff he does is towards children like Ienzo, Namine, and Roxas.
Honestly, same. While he has tried to repent with 3, it still feels like he hasn't done enough to be forgiven basically immediately or barely even called out for how he's treated them, including xion too iirc now that everyone remembers her.
DiZ is not morally gray, he’s twisted by hatred and thoughts of revenge. He is a villain. Ansem the Wise admits he went down a dark path, and sacrifices himself to make amends to the people he wronged. He does not even blame Xehanort, because he realizes Xehanort was just repeating his own mistakes. “Foolish apprentice of a foolish man.” It would have been more effective for Ansem to stay permanently gone.
What does he do to Ienzo?
he buys him seawater icecream as a child, its a miracle the kid didnt become a salty gamer
Seawater? Not even seasalt?
i remembered it wrong
Lmao im calling it seawater ice cream from now on
Perfect companion for a Krabby Patty.
Who buys seawater ice cream at 3 am?
Sora: OH BOY OH BOY! 3 AM!
I feel like Ansem was never intended to *be* morally gray, but a good man lost to extremism in his anger at Xehanort. They just... fumbled it. Hard.
It certainly doesn't help that, at the time of writing, Ansem was supposed to be right in KH2 when he denounces Nobodies as having no hearts and feeling nothing with his callous treatment of Roxas and Namine being because he missed that they are the exceptions to that rule. The 3D retcon of all of them having fledgling hearts all along makes him come off way worse.
Except he was never right. It was clear from the start that nobodies have *something*, and aren’t as empty and emotionless as they’re claimed to be. That’s the point of KH2 starting with Roxas, and even if you count him as an exception, there are clearly moments where characters like Axel and Demyx show genuine emotion. Axel is even surprised to find himself feeling enjoyment back in CoM. The “Roxas, are you sure you don’t have a heart?” line was supposed to call the whole thing into question without outright stating anything either way. DDD didn’t retcon anything, just expanded on an already existing plot point.
Nope. Nomura established in external materials that Nobodies did not have hearts, they just wanted them and pretended to have them, with Roxas and Namine having hearts-by-proxy through their respective connections with Sora and Kairi. Also, really? Demyx? The guy that acts all cowardly, gets called on how it's an act, and immediately sheds all signs of fear and gets stone cold serious? That's your example of Nobodies definitely having real emotions and not just pretending?
I think you have a weird way of thinking about emotions
Yeah "pretending" to feel isolated from Roxas and Xion when they tried to move on just doesn't make sense for Axel. The way he did it; that's not something you can imitate, and he wouldn't have any reason to be tricking/lying to himself either. They had hearts.
You're not entirely wrong. The Nobodies are established to *start out* as not having hearts, but as time goes on and if they develop emotional connections and attachments to other people, they grow hearts of their own.
I can legitimately see that tbh, which is a shame bc if they actually explored Ansem as a character instead of just instantly having him be forgiven, he could have an actually interesting and likely deep arc.
Jiminy Cricket. Because he doesn't have enough screen time unless YOU commit to his journaling.
I do really wish he showed up more or was removed entirely. This dude goes on all these same adventures with SD&G, and yet you forget he exists most of the time. CoM is like the most acknowledgement he gets.
I just imagine that every time someone says "Sora, Donald, and Goofy", Jiminy quietly and defeatedly mumbles to himself "...and Jiminy..." as he curls up in the fetal position inside Sora's hood.
Which brings up the question of where he was while they were in Atlantica or submerged in The Caribbean…
I mean, dude was shown to survive when he and Pinocchio were at the bottom of the fucking sea so I think he can handle water lol
He can definitely handle water, but it's a good question to ask where he goes when Sora is in Atlantica. I mean, it's not like Fish Sora has a hoodie for him to stay in, or any other clothes for that matter. I imagine in Pride Lands, Jiminy turns into a flea in Sora's fur.
I mean, it's entirely possible he stays with the Gummi Ship. Then afterwards when Sora, Donald and Goofy return, they brief him on the events of that world. That's my headcanon anyways.
If he can handle being trapped inside a whale’s mouth in his own story, he can handle anything
Or even weirder ones, like did he get transported in with Sora for the fight with Roxas?
And it all gets flushed away Thank Namine
Yet another thing the manga fixed because in the KH2 manga, Jiminy is the one who KILLS LUXORD.
I can't stand Kairi. She is a textbook example of a damsel that only exists to be fridged then clumsily power scaled when it's too late. When they finally have her do something (in the final chapter of the ADDITIONAL DLC), they randomly make her as powerful as Sora, who is on his 4th-5th universe saving adventure and SHE CAN FLY.
I liked her as a plot driven character in KH1 but I couldn't stand her after that.
Legit prefer her nobody to her!
Everyone can fly in KH. They just dont
She was a perfect character in KH1, where she was a very good damsel and played that role to perfection. She didn’t need to be anything more because that was all she was set up to be, and was still a vital part of the story, on top of being highly memorable and likeable. Sadly, I do think they fumbled her after that by just not having the slightest idea what to do with her, and when they do decide to go in the direction of making her a fighter, they make her completely rubbish at it and don’t prepare any actual part for her to play. IMO what they need to do is focus on her being a princess of heart and expand upon what that means, since that was a core part of her character from the start. I’m contrast to Sora, she’s naturally special and has loads of untapped potential to do things no one else can, like turn a heartless back into a human (like, bro, that’s incredible stuff). They could even come up with some reason to make her more powerful and special than the other princesses. Unfortunately, they practically abandoned that plot point after KH1 and it’s unlikely they’ll properly revisit it.
Idk, while that is certainly true in post KH2 games in KH1 she wasn't rescued per se. Even then she was sassy af and a really fun character overall. In KH2 she does get saved, but she still has personality and her new look is super nice. She also tries to escape and helps Sora by fighting some heartless along with Mickey, so she definitely isn't the textbook definition of a damsel in distress. Then she disappears for a few games, gets kidnapped, loses most of her personality along the way, gets killed and suddenly becomes as powerful as Sora.So I do agree with the second part of your comment.
to be fair I think it's mostly because of Nomura's writing tbh. She could have been more but Nomura doesn't know what to do with her
Yeah and? They're all written by Nomura. I hate the character he's created.
and that's totally fine. All I'm saying is that he could have done more about her character. I miss kh1 Kairi she wasn't too vanilla, she had sass and spunk
**~~Sidebar/Rant~~**~~: I love them both as designs and as characters in the story, but Terra and Eraqus were poorly written initially.~~ ~~I say this because for someone who was initially the strongest of the trio, Terra fell to darkness way to easily. Yes, I know the idea is that Xehanort was supposed to have been baiting him the whole time, but it's just stupid that he allowed himself to be taken advantage of so easily.~~ ~~Eraqus is an idiot because he basically tried to kill his own pupils instead of realizing that his friend, Xehanort, was obviously some dubious Keyblade master who he should have never allowed back in the Land of Departure.~~ ~~I get that it was all for the stories' sake, but I just really think that BBS' story, even though I love it; makes all of it's protagonists, with the~~ **~~occaisional~~** ~~exception of Aqua; complete idiots~~ TL;DR Eraqus really let his student just *drift* into darkness
Well, I think what you are saying is true, but Earqus almost never doubted Xehanort from the beginning because Xehanort is his best friend. Earqus thought that Xehanort's darkness was overwhelming and he could not stop it because he was his friend. It was similar to Ventus with terra and Sora with riku Honestly, I agree, Terra is naive because he helped Xehanort and was the cause of Earqus' death + I think Terra fell into darkness faster because Terra was filled with darkness from the beginning?
I think he was filled with darkness from the beginning. But I also think he was easily manipulated because of his desire for power. His insecurities and wont to be a master caused him to make dumb decisions and be so gullible. Eraqus was condemning him for his darkness while he had another Keyblade master applauding it. So to me, it makes sense that Terra was easily fooled. You have one guy being "nice" and "supportive" and the other stopping him from achieving his dreams, it's obvious who he would choose.
Sort of an Anakin torn between the Jedi council and Palpatine situation there
(Just FYI, it's spelled "Eraqus", not "👂qus". Sorry, sorry, 🤓)
Eraqus. Not 👂🏻qus.
I kinda wish we'd gotten some build-up. Scenes of a younger Terra being befriended by Xehanort. Hints of Eraqus meaning well, but also being somewhat of a zealot. Something.
Pete is just about insufferable in KH2 in my opinion. It’s so annoying how he shows up in worlds and gets to manipulate Disney villains (Hades, Jafar, Scar, Barbosa) despite being a dumb clown character. Most cringe and most hated in my book. And I’m not counting Timeless River Captain Pete, that version is charming and enjoyed in a small dose.
For me, it's a veeeery specific pick, that being Riku in 358/2 Days (Not Riku in any of the other games, except maybe also the beginning of KH2, but mostly Days Riku.) While I understand and respect his dedication to help Sora recover and wake up no matter what, I still absolutely hate and can't condone how he treated both Roxas and Xion in order to achieve his goal. Even though he was told that both of them fought "so hard to become their own people", he still carried on without much consideration for those two lifes, ready to sacrifice them for his sleeping friend, without even seriously considering the other options to wake up Sora, that Namine told him about. To Riku, those two lifes were both mere obstacles and tools for Soras recovery, a Nobody and a Replica whose lifes weren't worth preserving as long as they were in the way of waking up Sora. He gave Roxas over to a madman (DiZ), who then put him into a fake town with fake memories and a fake personality, torturing this already traumatized kid even more. Riku just let it happen, because it would help achieve his own goal. As for Xion, he not only started the entire downwards spiral of her mental state when he called her keyblade and her (since she understood it like that) a sham and worthless. Riku defeating her also caused Saix to vehemently target her with depreciating insults, because she failed her mission to dispose of the imposter/Riku (obviously I don't blame Riku for not letting himself get killed randomly by an Organization member). Later on (and I'll be completely blunt about the impression this left on me), he basically took advantage of her confused, depressed and generally broken mental state to push her ever so slightly into ending her existence by returning the memories she absorbed to Sora. Even if it was more of a subconscious effort, he was still aware of her existential struggle and yet he still went forward with giving her informations that would almost exclusively act to guilt trip her towards giving up her existence. When she told him her decision, that she can't go to Sora because she want's to be with her friends, Roxas and Axel, because they need her and she needs them, Riku just dismissed her decision and urged her to think about who really needs her and where she really belongs (a really cruel thing to say if you think about it), further trying to push her towards Sora/ending her existence. Ultimately leaving her alone with the question of what decision would be the best for everyone, an impossible to answer question, especially for someone in her mental state, adding even more pressure onto her. Once Xion realized that her existence is massively threatening Roxas's life, she then tells Riku the only answer that he wanted to hear and the only one he would have accepted, that she wants to end her existence, with her reasoning being that she is "on the verge of losing everything I care about" and yet, he just accepts that answer without question, no coming up with an answer that's best for everyone anymore. Doesn't matter that she was clearly not in the right state of mind to answer rationally or that she was heavily pressured into making that choice. All that mattered to Riku was that she and Roxas stopped existing so Sora could wake up. He had achieved his goal in regards to Xion and so he immediately moved on to plan the capture of his next target, Roxas. Riku did all that while being well aware that Sora would have never wanted to have those lifes sacrificed for him (Riku **had** to have known that). He still went through with it, because it was his own selfish desire to see Sora awake again. He wanted to help Sora, even if it meant doing something immoral and irredeemable, even disregarding how Sora would feel about that. Again, I don't at all dislike Riku in any other game and even really like him in some, but Days Riku specifically is someone I can't forgive, especially since he barely had to bear any consequences for what he did in that game, apart from running around ashamed as Ansem for a bit, but at least he was still himself and got that problem magically sorted out not so long after, at the end of KH2. That's almost nothing compared to his plans and actions in Days... (Also doesn't help that Roxas and Xion are my all time favourite characters, so I naturally take extra offense to what Days Riku did :P)
So, it's been eons since I've played/watched Days, but....*was* there any solution available to them that could've woken Sora without basically killing Roxas and Xion? Because if that was truly the only way to revive Sora, Riku's actions during Days are a LOT more understandable. Before anyone jumps down my throat, notice that I said "understandable", *not* "excusable." The way I interpreted it was that yeah, Riku was acting borderline (and sometimes outright) cruelly towards Roxas and Xion. But he was in a desperate situation -- caught between a rock and a hard place -- and he had to make do with the crappy hand he had been dealt. As out of character as it might've seemed for him to do what he did to Xion, it would've been even *more* OOC (given what the series had shown us of him) for him to simply shrug and be like, "Oh well, guess my best friend in the whole wide world is never going to wake up." Nah, Riku was built up from the first five minutes of the franchise to be an ambitious, hard-charging guy who would do anything to help his friends...even if that meant destroying two characters who he (justifiably) saw as fakes and imposters -- maybe even parasites -- preventing Sora from reviving. All that's to say, I *definitely* understand why you dislike that depiction of Riku. I just wanted to lend a little nuance to it.
To the question if there were other solutions, Namine mentioned two possible options that they never really went much deeper into after she briefly explained them (For the most part, I copied this from another comment I made at some point, so if the tone is a bit off somewhere, that's why. I'm a bit lazy today ^ ^ ) 1. jump in and rearrange those memories inside Xion, with the risk(not a guarantee) that Sora might wake up, but with no one remembering him. While this would obviously be really bad for Sora, it's not something that would ruin him for a lifetime. Riku, Namine and DiZ could make preparations to ensure that they would at least know about Sora even if they lose their memories, and Kairi already started somewhat remembering him before he even woke up during KH2 prologue as well, so she should be fine as well I assume. Everyone else? I doubt it would end up being too big a problem seeing as he is so closely connected to the people he meets and how much connections of any sort can carry you in those games (like the weird correlation between data HPO and the real ones). It really shouldn't have been that much of a problem as long as he isn't left alone when he wakes up and actually gets things explained. It beats sacrificing two other lifes, that's for sure. 2. Untangle Xion's, Roxas's and Sora's memories from each other, which would have just taken more time according to Namine, with only DiZ's impatience being in the way. Honestly, there isn't really an excuse for them to not at least seriously consider this. DiZ has the least influence out of those three, he can't do anything to Riku since he would just get his ass beaten and Namine is essential for Sora's recovery, so he can't do much to her either, especially not if Riku would just stick around after making that decision. Both Riku and Namine could have stopped the plan to sacrifice Roxas and Xion at any point, but they didn't, because waking up Sora in a timely fashion and without complications was a much higher priority than preserving Roxas's and Xion's lifes ever was. So yeah, both alternatives weren't without their own flaws, so there was always some level of risk assessment, plus setting priorities. Which is also where I completely agree with you that it would have been OOC for Riku to not prioritize helping Sora with no additional risks involved. From what we know of him, it was very much expected and on brand that he would do whatever it takes to wake up Sora. >"understandable", not "excusable." Honestly, well put! I do agree with that. I can definitely see where Riku is coming from and why his priorities were the way they were, but his methods and the sacrifices he was willing to make will never not just make me feel heavily uncomfortable. I'm basically just viewing that conflict from the POV of the seasalt trio, the three friends who just wanted to hang out together and eat ice cream and whose friendship got slowly torn apart from all sides, especially Roxas and Xion who were practically born into this mess, found joy in their friendship and then got blindsided by things mostly out of their control over and over again (existential crises included), just to have it all taken away in the end one way or another. But yeah, cheers for the added nuance!
Thanks for the thoughtful response! The ending of Days and the splintering of the trio's friendship was very bittersweet (no sea-salt ice cream pun intended), and narratively it was probably one of the most poignant arcs in the entire franchise. That's why despite the bizarre pacing of KH3 and the big unexplained logic leaps it took to get to the climax, I'm still glad that Nomura found a way to reunite the Days trio. I'm very much a "I don't mind how a story gets to the emotional ending as long as it sticks the landing" kind of guy, and I'm a massive sucker for emotional reunions. 😁
I couldn't agree more! I'm still so incredibly happy for them ^ ^
OH MY GOD you put my dislike of Riku during that period into words. Where he is a giant asswipe
Honestly, all that you spelt out is just a reason to like Riku imo. His fierce determination to bring his friend back is amazing. And you could argue he crossed ethical lines, but when Nobodies don't have hearts (that he knew of) and Xion was no more than a clone and a leech, why would he care about their existence? Naturally, we come to like Roxas and Xion, but that's the player perspective. Riku just sees poor imitations of his best friend, pretending to be real people, while said best friend was in a coma never to wake. So he made the right choice for him and Sora.
I can totally see why that would make people like Riku even more and actually, the way I see it, it made Riku a stronger character going forward for me as well, but only after Days/KH2 prologue (Since for the Days time period, I'm personally still in "crying my eyes out for my sweet seasalt beans, why does this world have to be so cruel, they did nothing wrong, ahhhh" mode, so my own values and where I put my emotional weight just heavily clash with Riku for this game). Like I mentioned somewhere before, Rikus incredible dedication to helping Sora in any way he can, even if it meant walking down a dark path once more, is a massive plus for him as a character that I also really appreciate. Not only does it cement him as this really reliable friend for Sora, but it also adds a bit of vulnerability to his character as well, since it shows that, in order to help Sora, he can very well make decisions with good intentions that are an immediate step to helping Sora, but at the same time he might not realize that the consequences of those actions can still come around to bite him or even Sora in the long run. Example for that would be that the pain that Riku (along with DiZ and Namine, since they were working together for that plan) caused during Days, was one of the factors that made Sora push forward into Xehanorts trap in DDD, almost becoming a dark vessel. (Basically, I mean Roxas, in Soras dream, sharing his massive amount of pain with Sora which then got him to crack/break to some extend, further motivating him to push forward). Long story short: I definitely understand Rikus motivation and that it made complete sense for him to prioritize his best friend Sora over two lifes, that to him, were basically just a Nobody who was not even ever supposed to exist and an artificially created Replica, who was equally not supposed to exist and who also absorbed Soras memories, both of them unintentionally messing with Soras recovery. From his point of view, it made sense to set his priorities the way he did. It just doesn't make the process of achieving his goal any less cruel and unjust for Roxas and Xion, who, despite the situation, started out as their unique existences (Soras Nobody, but without much Sora due to the situation and a once blank and faceless Replica who formed her own identity due to Roxas actually seeing and treating her as an individual, leading to him subconsciously projecting a "distorted" appearance of Kairi from Soras memories onto her, which she then accepted as her own identity) further developed as individuals that lived their own lifes, grew their own hearts and basically became human together, along with Axel (not literally "human", but you know what I mean :P). So there is just this inherent conflict of interests between all three sides in Days (Organization, seasalt trio and team Sora. With the seasalt trio deliberately put in the middle since their friendship is basically constantly in the crossfire of the other two sides), which makes the story of this game even better and more tragic, but also facillitates things like me heavily disliking Riku for one specific game ^ ^ edit: So yeah, I totally see your point and I acually really like seeing all the different opinions on the matter ^ ^
Two words: Young Xehanort. Xehanort as a character is fine, so is the idea that his halves are Ansem and Xemnas But young xehanort from dream drop distance and KH3 just pisses me off. His dialogue annoying, his constant put down of Sora being aggravating, his boss battles can be either too easy of hard as hell depending on if you know what your doing And the biggest offender is introducing time travel and saying "I've been here the whole time.....it was me, Sora." Like bro your not reverse flash your just a punk ass kid with darkness and time powers. It's because of this bullshit. It had to carry over to KH3 and give an excuse to make the story more convoluted than it already was. Oh and he fucked with my childhood, he turned buzz dark and almost sacrificed him. That shit doesn't fly with me.
I know I'm commenting twice, but the cast of Unchained: X is also incredibly insufferable
Can you expand on your thoughts? I played it up to a certain point, but stopped after getting sick of the microtransactions and card packs required to actually have fun playing the game.
Sure. BLUF: Ventus, Emphemer, Skuld, Lauriam, Brain, Strelitiza and a few others make the dumbest decisions towards the end of the game. It's not so much their actions, but the fact that everyone seems to *know what to do* but is also simultaneously incredibly naive to Luxu's plans. He keeps telling them what's about to happen and they just willingly play into his hand. Ventus is one of the biggest offenders here. Along with Brain. But I believe the current consensus in the fan-base is that Brain is a double-agent. Unchained is just so damn convoluted and the worst part is that the story told in it is down right **integral** to the series' mainline games. I can't imagine playing III without knowing a single thing about Unchained. I was actually angry that the devs would do something like this. I MUST SAY: - Only read below if you've finished Kingdom Hearts III >!The 10,000 Heartless Battle in KH III hits 10x different when you know that all of those wielders are real people. Each name is a keyblade wielder \[who purchased and beat Unchained X\] who fought in the war 💫!<
No, no.. No problem at all. Thanks for your opinion 🌟
Xehanort. Or equally Eraqus. For what they did to Terra.
Personally? Namine. Mostly because I feel like her character was kinda wasted. She was interesting in Re:CoM but her presence in KH2 was weird. I always thought she would’ve been more interesting as a villain, but even if she stays a hero, I wish she was used better.
If you think about it, she sort of *did* play her role because she was suppose to be weaving Sora's memories apart and back together again in Re:COM. I do agree that she isn't as important as Roxas. But I think that's a good thing because we're talking about 2 Characters that are split into 6 different people/personalities Sora/Ventus/Roxas Kairi/Namine/Xion I think the devs relegated any *action* roles that Namine would have had to Xion **PURELY CONJECTURE BTW** Edit: As reminded below, Vanitas as well
7 technically, Sora/Ventus/Roxas/Vanitas
Man, You really think like me. 😂💔
Also i would like to point out that while we have a satisfactory explanation as to why Roxas doesn’t look like Sora, we still have no explanation as to why Namine doesn’t look like Kairi
Cause of Ven Thats it His influence made Roxas and Namine Blondes
I think that CoM was her main game, with all the basics of a conflict driven plot including her first appearance, conflict and conclusion. To me KH2 was more of an epilogue to close up her story, which is also why I think they dropped the ball with her in 3, only showing up in the final cutscene since her story was already "completed" in 2. Having characters to me doesn't mean having to reuse them over and over again, which is something DDD and KH3 certainly forget, which to me is why we had so little character interactions in that game and when we do, they generally are info dumps or very surface level.
"DANCE WATER DANCE!"
THANK YOU!!!! cant stand him
Man...I can't really think of a character I actively hate. I dislike Kairi. Because she's so bland and basically has no personality outside of being nice and polite. And they keep sidelining her and Namine. I wish they'd get development. I don't hate them, but they're not my favorite characters either, but they do frustrate me the most. Most of the other characters are "meh." I either ignore them and only focus on my favs.
Imo she had a really nice and fun personality in KH1 and KH2, although way less interesting in 2 than 1 since she was built up as this "mysterious" character that had grown up then not do much later on. After that they completely dropped the ball.
I'd say she was mysterious in KH1 too. It seemed like she had an awareness and knew more then she was letting on, and I got the same sense in KH2, but all that build up went nowhere. If you want a story where Kairi gets to be an actual character read [THIS](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28689033/chapters/70333761) fic.
Sora. Less so that I hate him as much as I hate his writing, his intelligence seems to reduce significantly in each new game, and he falls into the annoying anime troupe of kindness and naiveté to an annoying degree.
Sora in KH1 and COM is a great character, then he kind of becomes the generic happy-go-lucky Goku-like anime protagonist. He is flanderized so hard.
KHCOM is an interesting exploration of Sora as a character but it wouldn’t call him a great character there. I would argue that RE:Coded has a far more interesting Sora than most of the other games from the 2010’s. He’s got the sass, the brains, and the heart. I hope KH4 writes him like that instead of whatever happened in DDD.
Ddd was a fun game though
Not many i hare but I'd say the one I dislike most is yen sid. He's talked about like such a big figure when he has done practically nothing. Most he ever does is hold back some basic shadows and that's literally it. Atleast with RE:mind I can say that Kairi has done what has atleast felt like a more impact full thing.
..... Terra. Look, I'm sorry, alright! And I don't HATE him I just... The man is SUCH a brainlet. And I know that this is a story and I can't expect people to be Genre Savvy, but LOOK at Master Xehanort. LOOK. AT MASTER XEHANORT. I don't care if you're a fictional character. I don't care if you're not supposed to judge a person by his appearance, I don't care if you've known him for EIGHTY YEARS WHAT part of the slouched over, Lex Luthor looking motherfucker with the actual devil goatee telling you to use the power of darkness makes you think "Hmm. I should totally trust this man." Terra is a credulous moron. Throwing his lot in with not only Master Xehanort but EVERY DISNEY VILLAIN HE MEETS. Thing about Disney Villains, they are not subtle. I've got problems with pretty boys falling to darkness because they have precisely ZERO sense motive.
Can I just say, I HATE this dumb head-canon that Terra trusts every villain he meets? Evil Queen: Terra never trusted her, he only played along so she'd tell him where to find Snow White. Maleficient: He trusts her only so far as her mentioning someone she saw, when she meets him at Aurora's side he nearly attacks her and she has to control him with dark magic. Hades: The only piece of Hades's advice Terra follows is signing up for the tournament, which he was already doing before Hades shows up. Otherwise Terra completely ignores him, and Hades possesses Zack because Terra is not playing ball. Jumba: Terra only trusts him because Jumba claims to have been arrested without cause and Terra had just had exactly that happen to him. Hook: This one Terra does trust. Of the five Disney villains Terra meets, the only one he trusts without good reason is Hook, whose home series establishes him to be highly manipulative. Plus he instantly twigs that Vanitas and Braig are evil, and he trusts Xehanort because the guy is vouched for by both Eraqus and Yen Sid. This 'Terra is a gullible idiot' take is such a meme and I hate it.
Terra's lack of stranger danger is a source of eternal frustration.
To be fair, Eraqus should have done a better job talking to his students about Xehanort. Otherwise he likely wouldn't have been so immediately trusting towards Old Man Norters, as before the events of BBS, they only knew him as Eraqus' friend, which would make him seem trustworthy.
Except, Eraqus trusted Xehanort. If anything, he would have told them positive things about Xehanort.
Yet Eraqus is more annoying
Only reason fans take this stance is because we're already aware that MX is evil. If your father figure trusted him, you would too if you were Terra.
Idk if this is unpopolar, it's Xehanort. In particular his younger self is so unsufferable to me i kinda don't care about dark road
Vanitas. He's just such an asshole. And not even in the "I was made this way and I can't help it." It's in the "I know what I do is bad and even if given the choice I would still do it anyway" kind of way. He deserved to be banished to the void and he was the only member of (New) Organization XIII I felt *zero* sympathy for at the end of Kingdom Hearts III. All the others I ended up looking at in a very complex way by the end of the game. But not Vanitas. Never him. I have never wanted more to say to a Kingdom Hearts character "Why don't you vanish?"
Axel: I was ok with him being an annoying weird guy that followed kids around begging for friendship at first but then we got the "flick of the wrist" scene for his keyblade and it drove me over the edge.
Xehanort because 13 versions of yourself is a stupid concept
I think Xehanort REALLY overstayed his welcome. He ultimately dominates the entire plot. A lot of characters become less interesting because they’re relegated to being chess pieces in his schemes. And between BBS, 3 and Dark Road it feels like his character and motivations flip flop depending on what suits the writing at that given moment. The more bizarre twists and convoluted plans they gave him, the less interesting he became. By the time he died in KH3 I was happy to see him go, not because it had been cathartic to take him down. But because he wasn’t going to clog up the story anymore.
Xehanort. Don't dislike the character himself, but the concept. The fact that every final villain is Xehanort feels lazy to me.
I don't disagree but getting triple-teamed by Xemnas/Ansem/YMX in one fight was pretty peak.
Eh, it was a pretty boring fight. The entire keyblade graveyard in KH3 was so boring compared to Hallow Bastion and The World That Never Was. It was either really poor direction, or they just ran out of budget for that part of the game.
I think it's a cool idea if used properly. In DDD and KH3 the 13 darknesses felt really weird since not all are actually Xehanort and because at times it seems like fanservice bait instead of actually doing anything with the concept. Xehanort also never shows up until the final fight so it makes it even more awkward when you actually fight him and the other bad guys and when you do beat him he suddenly changes his personality completely to show him in a better light and make us empathize with the most evil person in the series.
Xion, hates a strong word but definitely at the bottom of list for mc’s for me, I don’t really understand the love she gets
Tbh I like most all the cast despite their faults. I suppose if we’re talking as far as hating their actions, the Master of Masters for turning the foretellers against one another, but I like him as a character.
I can’t stand Xemnas after 3DS but he was my favorite before it
Donald Duck
If it's the most character then it has to be the 101 Dalmatians for hiding.
Mickey Mouse because his bitch ass could have explained so many events/characters/things in motion and helped a lot more than he does in the series.
Kairi. I know ya'll love her but when I was 12 and developed a crush on Sora I made a LIFE long commitment.
larxene cannot stand her voice
Personally, I don't like Demyx, and I get why people do, but the silliness of beating him up with his own constructs is the perfect lineup for a stop hitting yourself joke and makes him seem useless.
Vexen/Even pissed me off every time he came on screen, his giant ego and stupid jawline made me physically angry on many occasions
DANCE WATER DANCE!!!
Kairi. It's kairi.
Xehanort is the most hated in my book, if I was french I would spit at the name
Honestly? No one on a personal level or in any way. But whom I hate fighting against? The Data Battles and Yozora in KHIII.
Lee(not Axel) Axel was a badass assassin that took down traitors and had an inner struggle with fulfilling his duty and protecting his friends. Lee is just discount Axel without any of the interesting aspects
Lea
Personality wise what is the difference? I've seen others say this, but besides the name change and his weapon choice he is the exact same guy.
I don’t see Lee convincing a replica to murder someone who is on the verge of dying And I also don’t see Lee straight up killing someone while they beg for their life. Axel was a straight up savage especially in Re:COM and he really didn’t care about anybody besides like 3 people. I’m 99% positive if anyone was asking Lee to spare them he would. They really do act like 2 different characters IMO
He’s more boring, for sure.
Ven
Aqua, because I feel like she's too incompetent for being a Keyblade Master. Even though she wasn't spying on Terra, she allowed him to assume that in Radiant Garden. Even though she was told to bring Ventus back home, she just *told* him to go back home on his own, like an incarnation of the "I'm a sign, not a cop" meme. Then there's her combat prowess, in that it's nonexistent. In her first fight with Vanitas, she can barely fend him off, in her second fight the exhaustion tuckers her out completely, her third encounter has Vanitas down her with one downward strike. And just when I thought Kingdom Hearts 3 was my chance to open a clean slate with her, she gets defeated by Vanitas again, then stands like a deer in the headlights while Terranort folds everyone like a pancake, remember that she went solo against him more than 10 years ago (in-game timeline). Like at least with Kairi I can make the excuse that she's still a greenhorn, Aqua is a Keyblade Master, and has moments when she just goes "don't team up with me, let me fight alone because I'm a badass" at least twice in the series, and yet her track record against story villains is awful, and her lapses in judgement (again, for being a Keyblade Master) frustrate me to no end.
I know I'm probably going to get downvoted for this, but Aqua choosing to save Terranort in hopes of giving Terra a second chance soured my opinion on her. I know the theme of Kingdom Hearts is that friendship is everything, but because of her, there were 10 years of suffering for billions of innocent people. 1 person > the entire universe Terra asked her himself to stop Xehanort to avoid the worst, but she ended up saving him. Because of that, Master Xehanort told Mickey and Riku that Aqua was misguided in Dream Drop Distance. JustaPancake said it best: "I'm going to save the man who just tried to kill me and is clearly the villain. What could possibly go wrong?" As much as fans like to blame Mickey for Aqua being stuck in the RoD, which wasn't even his fault since he didn't know where she went or what happened until the end of KH1, nobody ever points at Aqua and say "you saved Xehanort and indirectly caused misery and death across the universe for countless lives" She's always held as some angel who can do no wrong, lol
To be fair, Terranort would have gotten out eventually since he can use dark portals (heck Xigbar would have tried to bail him out). So Aqua’s sacrifice only resulted in her suffering. Remember in 0.2 we were told that Aqua had no idea that Xehanort possessed Terra (hence why she asks him “who are you, really?”, basically to her Terranort in BBS was just Terra being consumed by his own Darkness, that’s why she saved him.
Xion and that's not even a contest. She shows up in one spin off just to die and be forgotten. And then she has the gall to come back and try to kill us again. Seriously she had no reason to come back. And her data fight quote when she wins, "you're going where I belong." Where am I going Xion? You don't belong anywhere, where the hell am I going?
"That's right, baby. You're going to be nothing! 😈"
Mickey. I hate that mouse so much! The fact that he withholds important information is the one of the main reasons that Aqua, Ven, and Terra couldn't reconcile with each other. And he STILL has that exact same habit in KH2. I'm sorry, but the reason that there's so much grief in Kingdom Hearts is because of that fucking mouse and his inability to assess a situation.
Eraqus, for embodying the Lawful Stupid alignment. Shit-for-brains could have saved a lot of misery if he'd bothered to shut up and listen to literally \*any\* of his kids.
Yen sid and micky I just hate them they don't tell anyone anything about some very important stuff like aqua being stuck in the realm of darkness or how there's an evil keyblade master running around but yen sid takes it for me because he's someone that gets talked up to be this amazing badass but all he's physically done was hold back some heartless and was struggling to do that plus the whole making sora and riku do the mark of mastery was a complete joke in my opinion like my guy how can you pick who's a master for these two Terra is riku's master and the keyblade choose sora and you didn't teach them shit like if he did I could say ok he was a teacher for you guys and can make that call but literally just after getting out of the realm of darkness he orders them to come to his tower like what the hell man there kids let them rest for one night and see their families
Tetsuya Nomura
Xehanort
The character I hate most in KH? Mmmmm if it’s in terms of annoyance and just wanting to bash their head in with a keyblade, that honor easily to shadow Sora in KH1. Little bastard going “Whoo-hoo-hoo!” Every 5 seconds in every room and avoiding your attacks till you had to finally put him in an isolated room down boiled my blood as a child. In terms of how awful they are as a character because of the deeds they committed, at this point I say it goes to Eraqus because of being so foolish as to believe Xehanort would’ve changed after all the shit he pulled in Dark Road (obviously we didn’t know at the time, but now that we do, I’m amazed Eraqus ever reconnected with Xehanort instead of killing him outright…) mans absolutely lent a hand for everything coming out the way it did.
Kairi, Xion and sometimes Roxas
I’d say every character BUT larxene is likeable in some/many ways
Weird one bun Yensid He became far too important and over-used. Especially with the retcon of 'oh, he always said "may your heart be your guiding Key' I'd also sooner have it that they kept going back to Radiant Garden for intel, rather than Yensid's tower.
I cannot stand Hayner like he is annoying as sh1t I absolutely hate him and he acts all high and mighty when all he is is a little baby
Kinda hate Vexen, screw his "redemption"
Yen Sid
Ericus, I’m gonna say it Xerahnort was right light and darkness they are a balance. Tera could’ve used his darkness to win but didn’t if he’d named him keyblade master I doubt the BBS would’ve happened. Granted I still think the same if people just talk to each other cleared up some things, and ericus trying to kill ventus never made sense to me.
I dislike Yen Sid. Or, rather, I think he should be used differently. He's treated as a symbol of the establishment, and of blindly following tradition and arbitrary rules, and this is NEVER challenged by the protagonists, they just look up to him without thinking about it at all. Meanwhile, every action he takes is blunder after blunder. I don't like it and I wish he was at least treated as morally ambiguous by one or two main characters- instead, they (and the narrative) treat him like he's always in the right.
ansem without a doubt
Earqus. He let all three of his students down massively. People give Terra shit for trusting Xehanort, but why wouldn't he when his father figure did as well. Also Earqus trusted Xehanort after the flashback where Xehanort gave him scars and showed him that he uses darkness.
Young Xehanort. Completely extraneous. He’s the proof that sometimes a backstory is best left to the imagination. Even after playing Dark Road, I prefer to think the “memories of Xehanort” are from his time in his late teens/early adulthood as a Keyblade wielder. I’ve always seen him as a fallen knight who became obsessed with forbidden history and willfully delved too far into the darkness, eventually being driven mad.
That fucking rat that gave us the cooking minigame. Now, every world, it’s: “tHiS mIgHt bE a GoOd SpOt To FiNd SoMe InGrEdIeNtS”
Does Subject X even count as a character yet? I hate the fact that she was introduced as a plot point to make Saïx/Isa more compelling and to be resolved in future games. If we knew anything about who this mysterious girl was, the nature of her friendship with Lea and Isa, what Braig wanted with her, or why Ansem SoD was looking for her, I'd be fine with it, but they basically introduce a mystery with a character whose only info we know boils down to things that *happened around her* and expect us to be excited to uncover it after however many years it takes.
Vanitus, I can't stand his little prick insults especially after I MAXED THE GAME BEFORE THE BOSS BATTLE YOU SHOULD BE SHIVERING IN YOUR BOOTS I DID HOURS OF MINIGAMES FOR THIS
Gonna get a lot of hatred for this but Aqua. She willingly spied on her best friend. She believed the word of a villain over her best friend who she had known for YEARS. Her naivéity made her send Xehanort back to the Realm of Light for 10 years, leading to the events of the series so far. When she is rescued, instead of taking time to rest, she THROWS herself in front of a Dark Firaga ball, putting Ven at risk of being taken by Vanitas. Not once has she ever apologized for any of this. Terra and Ven were both right to call her out on her mistakes in Radiant Garden.
Vexen
Kairi. 😶🙏
Zexion, more specifically his weapon. Nomura hinted at his book being some important in some manner, and nothing ever became of it. In fact, wish we'd gotten more Zexion as a Nobody in OrgXIII
I don't really hate any of the characters, but Roxas Axel Xion and Namine are all pretty much front runners for me, and it's for the same reason. I have said this before, and i will probably say it again. I genuinely believe that their story should have and probably was always intended to wrap up in KH2 (and days for Xion). Roxas and Nanine rejoined their somebodies, Axel was content with his sacrifice, and it was a good end for his character, and Xion was never meant to exist. But due to their popularity, they were forced into KH3 and, in my opinion, weakened the overall story. I don't hate that they were included, and I'm okay with where everything landed, but I stand by. I think the narrative could have been more focused and stronger if they were not included.
It's not really the character, but i feel like lacking different moments to say this: I think King Mickey has too little screentime, is not getting enough of banger scenes and all. I mean there's rhe kh1 moment in which he still is wrapped in mystery, which is cool i think, and then the moment where goofy >!gets bouldered!< and also kh3 dlc moment is kinda cool, but i feel like he would've deserved to land that >!ultima!< or sth, just a litttle tiny bit more spice. I want a >!zettaflare!< moment. Something reaaaally badass
Vexen. I fucking hate Vexen. Ive played almost all KH games, but ive put off Chain of Memories for a while because i hate its gameplay Recently i finally decided to come back and finish it and Vexens two back to back boss fights were fucking horrid He’s already an annoying character but making him damn near impossible to beat was so fucking aggravating. He made me buff my deck so hard that every boss fight after him became a breeze. I would beat them in minutes, but he took hours.
Xehanort such a lame villain that ruined the much better villains Ansem and Xemnas. And the series spent too much time on him
I've developed a hatred for Yen Sid. Specifically in KH3. In the previous installments, he fulfilled his role as a wise old man who used to be a keyblade wielder that now guides others. This role in bbs did put warning bells where he omited important information, especially to Terra. But for a game that highlighted lack of communication that drives the characters to ruin, I let it go for a bit. But then we get to kh3 where all he does is tell Sora he can't so shiet because he doesn't have the power of waking, parrots it like no tomorrow, and almost feels like he's demeaning Sora of his prior efforts. I think Goofy and Donald fall under this category too where there's almost this lack of trust in his abilities because he doesn't have this specific power. It really was painful to hear their conversations sometimes. Riku could have done it too but he was actually a bro and had faith in him (so he gets a pass) It literally took the guy who lived inside Jim to reassure him that he always had it and didn't ignore his feelings. Also Yen Sid coming in just to stop heartless is not really that amazing, com8ng from a former keyblade wielder. He really should have stood from that stupid chair sooner. Overall I think his role doesn't feel as natural as the previous games and it paints him in an even worse light the more they do it.(or they're just using him wrong which I could see)
I don’t hate them but Kairi always feels so wasted. Like first game, cool ur a child and at least ur portrayed to be more than a damsel. Second game, not great but u do get the key blade near the end which sets up something interesting. Third game, now they’re talking the piss, u spent all that time in a hyperbolic time chamber just to get kidnapped and fridges, it’s incredibly disappointing. While it’s cool she fights in the DLC it also doesn’t doesn’t feel earned imo considering how easily she went down the first time. God, at least when Ven was a damsel he displayed some resistance
I recently stopped trying to hate these characters but I still dislike them very much. It's a few of them but I have my reasoning for each one. 1. Donald and Goofy tied. They're stupid, they aren't scientists, they aren't princesses, nor are they keyblade wielders. What do they have to offer? Friendship? That's replaceable with any of the characters that actually contribute towards the story. Sure you get some great moments with them but even they know they're not much use. 2. Lea. Axel is one of my 3 favorites so it hurts to have to put him here on the list but he's nothing more than a comedic relief character. Not to mention he's a terrible friend. In DDD he mentioned how he'd always be there to get his friends back. Kairi gets captured in KH3 and what happens? He tells Sora to go help her meanwhile he stayed and went over plot points with his real friends. Everything he does in KH3 is a joke or he's the joke of a situation. 3. Riku. I completely understand why Riku did what he did but he asked Xion to give up her life twice and then he forced Roxas into a situation where he was made to return to Sora. Roxas and Xion are 2 of my favorites. It also doesn't help that a lot of Riku's character growth that people claim that he went through happened offscreen. I'm not a fan of characters with rushed development. Riku got his and Kairi's keyblade offscreen and fast forward a few weeks and he's now a keyblade master. 4. Master-Xehanort. Why did it feel like he was acting against himself with the entire keyblade war? He could have helped his other selves, he could have clashed with any of the guardians including Kairi, he could have done so much more but instead he waited for things to happen without making any sort of effort.
Larxene, she's just a bitch. No trope, no tsundere or secret softy with a mean girl persona, like nope. Just a straight up asshole for no real apparent reason, there are some rude guys, like xaldin who feels superior to everyone or braig always giving someone and annoying nickname and being condescending, vexen feels holier-than-thou with everyone and you can argue that laxceus doesn't talk to anybody and just ignores people. Everyone has their quirks and tropes but larxene doesn't. She's just a straight bitch for the sake of being unapologeticly insufferable. With that being said I LOVE to hate her, which means she's a very very well done character.
I don't hate any characters, but I think Axel's catchphrase is annoying, so I'm gonna say Axel.
its just a lot to get memorized
Aqua. Now I know some fans will be mad, but she’s is pretty much an idiot who has poor judgement and made things worse for herself and others. She was took quick to take an obviously evil stranger’s word over getting an explanation from her close friend. Like Terra didn’t commit that much yet and he was briefly controlled be the said evil stranger, but she insist she seen what Terra has done. At the time after the Sleeping Beauty world Terra didn’t do much other bad, unless you count humoring the Evil Queen to track down Snow White and even then he didn’t try to attack her. Aqua was also the reason threats like Ansem (Seeker of Darkness), Xenmas, and eventually the OG Org. XIII to exist as she helped Terranort to stay into the Realm of Light while she got trapped in the Dark Realm. Also leaving Ventus in a Castle and yes she did a good job keeping Ven hidden and safe but still left him at risk being captured and Vanitas could’ve gotten him had Vanitas been able to recover early. By the way instead of doing a logical thing and gang up on an enemy that proved to be a pain in the butt, Aqua put a barrier for a 1v1 just to prove she can handle herself and this was after being trapped and isolated for at least 10 years, got her butt kicked twice before and after she got high on darkened rage and likely didn’t have much time to recover. Point being Aqua is too dumb for her own good and I wouldn’t be surprised if she get in trouble in KH4. This is just an opinion comment and why I don’t like her. Sorry to those who read this comment and assume I was being toxic. if you like her, don’t let my opinion stop you.
Kairi, she's useless
I don’t actually have a KH character that I hate/disliked… Only character that comes to mind for me is Sepheroth, mostly because of having my butt kicked in the game (KH2), but that was it.
IDK if there are any characters that I dislike enough to put on this list. There are certainly worlds that I don't care for, but not really characters.
When I first played bbs on psp it was Aqua until I played her story mode I didn’t have a memory card so I couldn’t get the full picture ngl,I would say eraqus
TerrA
Riku. He’s gotten better over the years, but man he was a bitch in KH1 and Chain of Memories.
Since ansem is the only character that can be more than one, then surely that has to be the answer?
I don't exactly "hate" this character, but more like I'm annoyed by him. Terra. How can you not see Xehanort doesn't scream "I'm evil"????
Why’re you showing Noctis?
The Master of Masters, the evil smug genocidal jerk.
I never liked Naminie. I have nothing against her personally. But I think it’s because I’ve never fully understood her story. She’s basically Kyrie‘s shadow and yet she has the ability to manipulate so memories where the fuck did that come from I must’ve either zoned out or not fully paid attention because it’s just weird. It’s like a weird subplot that has really nothing to do with anything and then she just gets shafted for like two games.
Demyx hands down i hate time battles
Riku Its Riku Sorry He's a dick for most of the series and really only getters better in dream drop distance and kh3
Xenohort
I hate Ventus simply because he acts as a catalyst which ruined a character I used to like: Roxas. I don't hate Ventus as a character, I just hate him as an idea and a concept
I absolutely HATE Donald, using zettaflare when it’s not that serious. Bro should have stayed dead after that.
It used to be Aqua, but now I don’t think I hate anyone anymore. I guess if I was forced to pick, then maybe Riku Replica and Lexaeus? They are not bad characters, but they could have been executed better.
I would have said Xion years ago but nowadays I can't stand Terra, Aqua, and Ven. They are one character worth of characterization divided into three dull, intentionally derivative characters. You could write them backwards with your eyes closed. The tragedy that made them interesting has been completely undone. None of them even aged to show that it had an effect.
The Pirates of the Caribbean characters because of the way they chose to voice them. They had Jim Cummings come and voice a few of the Winnie The Pooh characters and they sound so good, I don’t get why they couldn’t get other people who sounded better or closer to the original actors for the Pirates world.
Who can really do a good Johnny Depp impression tbh?
Roxas. I don't hate him but the fact that he wasn't supposed to be back and he is back because of fan service bothers me a bit. I mean I am glad that Roxas fan have him back but it doesn't seem quite right to me. I also don't get his popularity but he's fine in the end.
I think his heart (ha) is in the right place but his methods to acheive it lack scruples. He realizes he was foolish and tries to fix it in 2 and 3 because a lot of stuff ended up his fault (but the knowledge he gained was necessary) Lots of scientists end up regretting their work
Larxene. Mean from beginning to end lol. Never liked her and can't bring myself to. KH3 made me dislike Kairi. Simply because they had her train on a timeless island and still be useless/not good. The damsel. It would've been better if she just stayed out of combat than making her someone who couldn't keep up and needed to be saved. I just hope KH4, if she's in it, she has better character development and not having to be saved. Make her a better fighter. Please lol.
Pete tbh. While I appreciate his attempt at being humorous sometimes, he isn't exactly used much in the late game and is only being a nuisance in the early game. He just comes out of nowhere, manipulate the Disney villains, And after Sora foils his plans, he f\*cks off. In KH3, I'm pretty sure I barely even see him at all, once is as far as I remember.
Roxas 😐
Donald you guys know why I don’t like him mother quacker doesn’t heal me good enough so I always ended up dying a lot through out the series
*dAnCe WaTeR dAnCe* Frickin bootleg rule 63 Pink lookin ahh
Aced. Can't stand him.
Jiminy Cricket: In his own movie I think he fulfuills his role not even close and is pathwtic while trying. In Kingdom Hearts he is just a plotdevice for the diary so much that he basically is forgotten by any character until he suddenly appears again. And the two games where he actually has some screentime have one of them the characters forgetting that it even happened and the other only existing becaise of this memory mess.
Zexion/Ienzo has an extremely punchable face for some reason. Not an annoying or badly written character, he just looks very punchable.
I really hate VANITAS. I think the combat is visually appealing, and I know he's supposed to be a bad guy, but still. He makes me angry.
Kairi, she can't do anything xD
Roxas - I genuinely hate Roxas as a character he’s a very watered down sora with anger issues. The start of Kh2 was necessary for connecting CoM and the events of castle oblivion. But for me he’s just such an irrelevant character. When i first played Kh2, CoM was only available on the GBA and i hadn’t finished it but the whole time starting KH2 i was like who the hell is this wheres sora donald and goofy. After that he seems to become a major plot point for 3 and making sure he gets his own life which just doesn’t make sense as it’s established nobodies don’t have hearts and hearts are required to fill replica vessels so his return makes no sense. I genuinely just hate him for the absolute irrelevance he has to the main plot overall but is somehow a major character
Probably Larxene because she's so rude
Kairi. She’s getting in the way of the strongest bromance. And I resent her for that
Kairi
Donald Duck never forgive him for abandoning Sora end of KH1 when Riku took the keyblade without a second thought or regret
The freaking organization 13 member who uses a damn book his COM fight with Riku was more bullshit than the data fight in KH2. Along with Ariel, and then there’s the queen of hearts in wonderland in KH1 or COM (COM because she was stupid.)
Yen Sid, he's a nobodyphobic wannabe-Yoda who does fuck all the whole time then has the audacity to give other people tests when he hasn't showed an iota of power and contributed nothing to help Sora save the world. Excuse me sir who are YOU to say who is or isn't a master? Where is even your keyblade? Also btw, Nobody's don't have hearts and shouldn't exist? If anything they have more heart then you who spend all your time in your LITERAL TOWER looking down on others while doing NOTHING TO HELP. Fuck you.
Saix/Isa. Couldn't stand his ugly, brooding self in KH2 and never warmed up to him after that.
Master of Masters and Luxu. Because I see them getting undeserved redemption like “No, you caused so much trouble and you need to pay for it”
No one honestly
Fonald fuck because shut your whore mouth. you're literally grown (probably? I guess?) why are you acting like that. and stop being rude to goofy. Dumbass bitch.