Rank the Keyblade Users

[Wolf Kanno]

We did a few threads like this awhile back, figured now would be a good time to bring this topic up. To make this easier on people since KH has amassed a massive cast, stick to just Keyblade Wielders. To avoid spoilers, please only rank characters introduced before KHIII on the off chance some story shenenigans get raised.

So only Keyblade users from KH1-Dream Drop Distance

[Fynn]

Do we rank them by who we like best or by who would win in a fight?

[Wolf Kanno]

Do we rank them by who we like best or by who would win in a fight?

Your least favorite to your favorite.

[WarZidane]

Union Cross ones too? There are a couple there that people probably don't know about :p

[Wolf Kanno]

Union Cross ones too? There are a couple there that people probably don't know about :p

If you want to, by all means. I'm even counting Young Xehanort and others in this as well if you wish.

[Depression Moon]

Mickey Mouse

[Vermachtnis]

Terra
Kairi
Xion
Ventus (Ven for short)
Riku
Sora
Roxas
Aqua
King Mickey

It's more Terra and Kairi at the bottom. With the rest at the top. And King Mickey over all. And there's Lea, I can't remember if he got his keyblade at the end of 3D or a special movie between that and 3. So I left him out. He'd fall between Sora and Roxas.

[Wolf Kanno]

I'll fill in the details later, but this is probably what my ranking would look like. I'm going to ignore the Mobile characters for the moment because I'm still kind of playing it and while I'm sure Back Cover gives most of their interesting characterization, they're still too new for me to want to throw them in the list just yet.

13. Lea
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Once upon a time, I really liked Axel, but the blatant favoritism he's received over the course of the franchise has rubbed me the wrong way over time. I am still against him being a Keyblade user, I feel it was a cop out made by the devs to make the fans happy as opposed to being an actual good idea for the narrative and that's what always bothers me about him is that most of his story doesn't matter beyond CoM and 358/2. So I can't really stomach him being one of the "chosen".

12. Kairi
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Kairi is a character who had great potential and then was subsequently given the shaft for most of the franchise. I am often confused that she has fans because she hardly ever does anything in the plot, and it's taken replaying the first game again to see that she actually had more merit as a character before the sequels either kept her out of focus or fumbled around not knowing what to do with her. I still contend that KHII should have ended with Sora and Riku trapped in the Realm of Darkness and Kairi now having to take the role as world trotting adventurer to rescue them for a game. Maybe KHIII will fix things for her, but I doubt it, of anything I feel too much time has been wasted and she's now forever stuck as the token love interest instead of being her own person like many of the other female cast members.

11. Eraqus
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He's a bit of a flat character but I like the mythology gag going on here with his name being an anagram of Square and looking like a leaner badass version of Sakaguchi to work as a counterpart to Yen Sid on the Disney side of things. His role in BbS is also pretty good despite not getting much screen time but he's connected to some of the game's most powerful moments. It will be interesting to watch him play chess with a young Xehanort in KHIII.

10. King Mickey
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For a character who was almost the main star of the series, Mickey doesn't seem to do a whole lot in the series, in fact, I think his biggest contributions to the plot are basically CoM, BbS, and now Fragmentary Passage. Even then, he's always more of a background character in these titles. Mickey is amusing in the fact that he's kind of a total badass in the series, but he's also aggravating because it just seems like he stands aside to let other people do the work for him like most mentor figures in anime. I also like him better in his Organization cloak than his actual outfit.

09. Vanitas
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I feel the concept of Vanitas is pretty neat and the surprise when he's unmasked is interesting as well. Course I'm not quite as into axe-crazy psychopaths anymore after I got my fill from Kefka and Albedo. Course I may still be salty by the fact he's a total pain in the ass to fight in the series and his OHKO teleport spamming super boss variation still gives me PTSD when I think about him.


08. Master Xehanort
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As villains go in the series, I feel Xehanort's original incarnation is still the scariest guy in the series. He's also the first time we really got a taste of a character who really knows what he's doing with the keyblade and watching the original BbS trailer and seeing him own three of the strongest characters in the series was enough to make me excited to see him throw down with Sora and company. Being originally voiced by the late great Leonard Nimoy was an absolute treat as well since I feel you can tell he relished the performance of a such a deliciously hammy villain. While I know most people prefer his sexy counterparts of Ansem and Xemnas, or even his younger self, I still love the creepy old man who channeling his best Emperor Palpatine impression.


07. Riku
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I liked Riku once upon a time, but like Axel, his fanbase as well as my own growing distaste of the "cooler older and edgy rival" archetype that became pretty dominant in the anime scene around the time the series was going strong, leaves a bit of a poor taste in my mouth. I love his arc in CoM but I never felt like Riku fulfilled the promise made in that game. He's been perpetually trapped in the "woe is me and my foray into darkness" mentality he had (and resolved before he forgot the lesson) in CoM. Which is only annoying because he talks like a broken record in his later appearances and each game he plays prominent in tends to rehash the better story from CoM. Like Kairi, I sort of feel like Riku has stagnated and never moved on from his earlier interpretation which makes it frustrating when he's around. Listening to his fanbase talk about how much stronger and better he is than Sora and wishing he would be the real protagonist is also grating, especially since it feels eerily similar to a problem in the MMX series that I have.

06. Sora
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The main character of the series, and messianic figure for KHIII, Sora is a surprisingly complicated character despite having the personality of Winnie the Pooh. He's not a bad protagonist, but like Kairi and Riku, I feel like he growth as an actual character has stalled since CoM, and it feels like a lot of his worse traits have kind of been filed down if not out right removed. He's a simpler figure in more recent games which makes him easier to get along with, but not terribly interesting to follow. I think what hurt Sora the most was simply being upstaged by more engaging and versatile characters. Sora didn't have any glaring flaws in the early games, and thus it's hard to really add them in whereas the rest of the cast are basket cases of complications. So Sora feels bland simply by comparison. Even Riku at least has some serious baggage whereas Sora is kind of the bland hero of justice and goodness. On the other hand, you kind of need that personality if you're going to go toe to toe with other Disney figures, and thus Sora is the perfect playful figure to embrace the series major trademark. I can't exactly see Riku or Roxas getting as chummy with Ariel and Aladdin like Sora can, let alone a certain hunny eating bear.

05. Ventus
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The first of the three Keyblade users from BbS and the final piece in the puzzle to retco...er explain why all the rules established in the earlier entries about using keyblades and Roxas appearance finally makes sense. Ventus for me is like the store value brand version of Roxas. They look the same and they both have to deal with some serious existential angst along with a complicated relationship with their "other half" but Ventus has the misfortune of showing up after Roxas, so it's very difficult not to feel a real sense of deja vu going on here. I do feel his plotline with Vanitas and the X-Blade is a bit silly, but it's also been growing on me. He's more childish than past figures in the series and lord know Union X/[chi] is very likely going to muddle his story some more. I will say that of all the keyblade users in the series, I feel his awakening will probably be the most interesting since he's tied so closely to a lot of the series lore.

04. Terra
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Another character tied to a good chuunk of the game's lore and opening up a whole can of existential worms than I feel the writers are aware of. Terra also suffers the same issue as Ventus of having a "been there, done that" feel to his story since he's basically Riku 2.0. Yet Terra feels a bit more interesting to me because I feel the tragedy of his story was played well and unlike Riku who basically beats himself up because the cosmos gave him a slap on the wrist for his hubris, Terra is certainly knee deep in karmic hell for his actions and so it still feels like it will be interesting to see how this story plays out even though we've seen it before. This is ultimately what makes him different from Riku is that his story ends with places to go and grow..

03. Xion
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You know, I'm honestly surprised I ranked her this high. If you go back to any of my posts back when 358/2 was announced, you would see I was totally against her existence. Then I actually played the game and holy hell if she isn't one of the series most tragic figures who really send home the story of one of my favorite characters in the series. While her origins are a complicated mess and I'm sure KHIII is going to reverse her tragic circumstances, Xion is honestly one of the better parts of 358/2's story and the game's ending with her is honestly one of the most heartbreaking moments in the series history. She also has my favorite character theme in the whole franchise.
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02. Aqua
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Easily the most surprising and interesting of the Keyblade tragic trio, Aqua is a stark departure from her counterpart in Kairi and has more in common with Xion in the whole self-sacrificing department. While Ventus and Terra felt like a redux of plots come before, the whole plot of BbS comes together when you finally venture into Aqua's scenario and see the game's epilogue trhat sets the way for the rest of the KH fanbase. Of all of the figures to return in KH, Aqua is the one I feel will be the most interesting because like her counterparts, she holds the keys to so much of the long game storyline at play here. She's also a strong and total badass that finally made mage builds something to fear in this series. I also like her maturity and elegance which is something you don't really see much of in the heroes side of things. Ventus and Terra's story's were marked with tragedy from the get-go in their scenarios but it was more exciting to watch Aqua's story fall to pieces because unlike the other two, we didn't really have a clue as to what happened to her, nor an inkling of what was to come.


01. Roxas
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To no ones surprise who has ever listen to my rant and rave about KH, Roxas is my favorite character in the series, why? because I actually genuinely feel something for him. I mean I can't think of any character in the series who has had it worst than this kid. Roxas is basically the Spider-Man of the KH universe where anytime something good happens to him, the universe seems to inflict some disproportionate retribiution for the hubris of being happy as though the cosmic balance would be upset. It's hard not to really feel the fore the guy finishing 358/2 and then seguing into the prologue of KH2 and not feel like this guy is the universe' chew toy. Still he's got some great layers to him sharing Sora's freindliness while dealing with that short temper of his. He's honestly a more well rounded character than most protagnists in the series, which is saying something since his actual presence in KH2 is so short in comparison. He'll always be my fave guy in the series, unless KH3 manages to screw him up.His character theme is also my second favorite theme in the series.

[WarZidane]

24. Kairi
23. Brain
22. Sora
21. Aced
20. Mickey
19. Eraqus
18. Ira
17. Gula
16. Ephemer
15. Ventus
14. Xehanort
13. Invi
12. Elrena
11. Lauriam
10. Skuld
9. Riku
8. Roxas
7. Lea
6. Ava
5. Master of Masters
4. Terra
3. Xion
2. Luxu
1. Aqua

Something like that.

[maybee]

I think I love Axel/ Lea the most, but he's so crappy at being a Keyblade User. :lol:


I used to love Sora the most, but he's starting to feel too repetitive for me now. Sora used to feel like a naive teen, thrown into danger unwillingly, but now he just feels like "heart is strong, darkness, heart, heart, darkness, light, friendship, heart, friendship, darkness, light !''


Least favorite would be Terra. There's naive and easily gullible and then there's a moron.


So maybe, Axel, Aqua, Riku, Sora, Xion, Mickey for favorites.


The rest are okay.

[Lord Golbez]

If there's anything this thread has shown me it's that there aare way to many keyblade users, so here's my ranking: Sora. Everyone else shouldn't have one.

[Fynn]

I mean, even in the first game there are three

[Lord Golbez]

Yeah and it already felt like they were overdoing it. Especially with Mickey, which just made me laugh.

[maybee]

If there's anything this thread has shown me it's that there aare way to many keyblade users, so here's my ranking: Sora. Everyone else shouldn't have one.


Right !? Having a Keyblade used to be this rare and special thing. Now almost everybody has them.

[Fynn]

Honestly, I think it’s much cooler that Sora is special because he can connect to anyone and save the world by selflessly taking on the hurt of other people rather than being the only one who can hit people with a key. But that’s just me.

[maybee]

Honestly, I think it’s much cooler that Sora is special because he can connect to anyone and save the world by selflessly taking on the hurt of other people rather than being the only one who can hit people with a key. But that’s just me.

Idk Fynn, that always gives me a Naruto-y vibe.