Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)
Encyclopedia
, commonly nicknamed , is a fictional character
from Square Enix
's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts
. Having first made cameos in Kingdom Hearts II
and other related titles, Ventus was introduced in the 2010 prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
as one of the three main characters. In its story, Ventus is introduced as the youngest apprentice of Master Eraqus who trains him alongside his best friends, Terra
and Aqua
, to become experienced warriors with the weapon Keyblade. When Terra goes on a mission to find the missing Master Xehanort, Ventus follows him as he starts getting concerned about his fate. As he journeys through various worlds, Ventus learns about his origins and his relation with Xehanort and his apprentice Vanitas.
Ventus was designed by director Tetsuya Nomura
who wanted him to have an important connection with the series' main character Sora
. Ventus bears an extremely striking resemblance to the character of Roxas
, both of whom are voiced by Kōki Uchiyama
in Japanese and Jesse McCartney
in English. After Ventus' first cameos, Nomura had to state that both of them are different characters, and the reason for such connection would be revealed in Birth by Sleep. Video game websites also commented on Ventus' first appearance, first confusing him for Roxas during development of Birth by Sleep, but nevertheless, his role within the game has been well-received.
, when Xion, a replica of Sora, is seen as Ventus when fighting Xigbar. Ventus is also constantly referenced by Xigbar in Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days while Xemnas, the Nobody of Xehanort, is in search of him in Castle Oblivion.
In the start of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus appears semiconscious with Xehanort on Destiny Island. Having had his heart split, it is about to shatter, but an unknown person merges his heart with Ventus' in order to keep it safe. Sometime later, Ventus appears as the youngest Keyblade apprentice of Master Eraqus living in the Land of Departure alongside Terra and Aqua. When Eraqus sends Terra to seek out Xehanort, Vanitas goads Ventus into following him as he tells him that Terra may not be the same again. Ventus starts travelling around various worlds, fighting the mysterious creatures Unversed and meeting various people. Vanitas attacks Ventus during his journey to test his strength, but he is defeated when Ventus is aided by the Keyblade trainee Mickey
. When finding Xehanort, Ventus learns that he was previously his apprentice and Xehanort trained him to complete the legendary Keyblade χ-blade. However, due to Ventus' reluctance of using darkness, he extracted it from him, resulting in the creation of Vanitas. Ventus refuses to battle Vanitas to avoid the creation of the χ-blade, but is forced to battle him when threatened that he will kill Terra and Aqua if he does not. In the Keyblade Graveyard, Ventus, Terra and Aqua gather and battle Xehanort and Vanitas, and Ventus ends up fighting Vanitas after the latter knocks Aqua out cold. After defeating Vanitas, Ventus is restrained by the Unversed as he is forced to fuse with Vanitas to create the χ-blade, his body ending up in Vanitas' control. However, as Aqua fights Ventus' possessed body and the χ-blade is damaged, it turned out the fusion was incomplete as Ven sacrifices himself to destroy Vanitas within his mind. However, with the χ-blade destroyed as a result, Ventus loses his heart and his body is placed in the Chamber of Wakening within Castle Oblivion by Aqua. Ventus' wandering heart is able to find a young Sora, who accepts Ventus' heart into his body, having been the heart that contacted him when his heart was split in two. In the game's secret ending, he is seen in what appears to be the Land of Departure with Terra, and the two utter Sora's name with newfound hope.
Ventus is mentioned in the ending of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
, when Mickey reveals he has learned where Ventus' heart is, having searched for Terra, Aqua and him.
promotional video of the games. In the making of the endings, Nomura had only drawn the settings of Terra, Aqua and him, but after finishing them, he had drawn their faces. Despite not revealing their identities, Nomura still said that they are character from the past from the Kingdom Hearts series. Following their release, Nomura stated that his nickname was Ven, having been first mentioned by the character Lingering Sentiment in Final Mix, while his full name was still unrevealed. He also mentioned a connection between him and Xemnas but wanted to leave it up to people's imaginations as he still could not reveal his identity.
Nomura commented that, despite how similar they are, Roxas and Ventus are not the same character. Additionally, he stated that by playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
, players will be able to distinguish Roxas from Ventus, with one of the game's mission being exploring his true identity. In another interview, Nomura implied both characters are related, specifically to Sora, but he wanted fans to imagine reasons for such connection. The guidebook Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania
clarified the connection, stating that Roxas and Ventus look alike because Ventus' heart entered Sora's body and Roxas' birth allowed Ventus' heart to reside in Roxas. In early versions of development, Nomura thought that the heart healing Ventus's broken heart in the beginning would be Sora before being born, but due to overseas opinions, such portrayal was discarded. Like Roxas, Ventus has been voiced Kōki Uchiyama
in Japanese and Jesse McCartney
in English.
Ventus' name means "wind" in Latin; both it and his Keyblade have a "sky" theme similar to that of Sora's. During development of Birth by Sleep, the Osaka team in charge of making it thought that Ventus should be related with Vanitas, something which Nomura liked as he wanted to add more connections to the game. Therefore, the name Vanitas was also made to link it to Ventus' name, with both of them having similar meanings. Nomura had troubles designing Ventus', Terra's and Aqua's armors due how they would be able to summon them. Therefore, an "X" was added to their clothes as a mean to activate the armors as well as due to the fact it was one of the game's keywords. Ever since development of Birth by Sleep started, the staff already decided that Ventus', Aqua's and Terra's stories would be told in separate scenarios with Ventus' story being the second one written. They also wanted emphasize the lack of coincidences in the series, leading to the interaction between the three scenarios. In gameplay perspective, Ventus was designed to be the easiest character to play with in Birth by Sleep, although Nomura recommended to players that Ventus should be the second character to play with in order to understand the story better. Additionally, the way Ventus handles his Keyblade backwards is meant to show the gameplay differences between his and Terra's and Aqua's scenarios. Nomura also remarked Ventus' encounter with the characters Lea and Isa as an important event from the game, hoping both newcomers and older gamers will also find it important from Ventus' perspective.
particularly thought that there would be an eventual connection between the two of them and Sora. Amanda L. Kondolojy from Cheat Code Central
also commented on speculations regarding the similarities between both of them, but mentioned that due to the existence of Nobodies in series, it is hard to find them as coincidences. When Jesse McCartney confirmed he was working on the English localization of Birth by Sleep, sites thought that he would voice Ventus, as he also voiced Roxas in previous titles.
The character's story and actions shown in the demonstrations were praised for being the "most original take on Kingdom Hearts" and yet "frustratingly traditional". Particular comments were given to shrinking Ventus' height for the Cinderella
s world and his interactions in such world. Upon Ventus' introduction in Birth by Sleep, X-Play
found the character to be very similar to Sora's due to his friendly attitude. Despite advices to start Birth by Sleep with Terra, IGN's Ryan Clements chose Ventus as the first character to play with due to his similarities with Roxas and wanting to learn about his story. RPGamer
's Adriaan den Ouden also chose Ventus to start, noting his similarities with Roxas, but also finding that he had a similar personality to Sora's. GameSpot
writer Sophia Tong noted that people had to face the fact that Ventus and Roxas were identical, and also had a spiky hair like Sora. Kevin VanOrd from the same site gave praise to Ventus' character for his "well meaning" personality" and yet not "annoying." The site also said that the time players spend playing with Ventus would be "rewarding" and commented on the English voice acting. PlayStation LifeStyle's Thomas Williams found the trio of Ventus, Terra and Aqua as welcome additions to the franchise, finding their stories enjoyable although the three travel to the same worlds. On the other hand, PALGN
found the three characters unappealing, labelling Ventus as "just a Roxas clone, but without his personality." In contrast to 1UP's comments towards Ventus' actions in Cinderella's world, VanOrd commented that such interactions to be "more bothersome than boisterous." Videogamer.com writer Emily Gera stated that players may know little about them due to their role in Kingdom Hearts II, but with Birth by Sleep, players will be able to know about them. Writing for GamesRadar, Crhis Antista later called Ventus a "Roxas-clone", and commented that he still did not understand the importance of him and the other characters being briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II, although it could be explained once the player finishes Birth by Sleep.
Character (arts)
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts
Kingdom Hearts
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 video game console. The first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, it is the result of a collaboration between Square Enix and The Walt Disney Company. The game combines characters and settings from Disney...
. Having first made cameos in Kingdom Hearts II
Kingdom Hearts II
is an action role-playing game developed by Square Enix and published by Buena Vista Games and Square Enix in 2005 for the Sony PlayStation 2 video game console...
and other related titles, Ventus was introduced in the 2010 prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and Disney for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the sixth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The game was released on UMD in Japan on January 9, 2010, in North America on September 7, 2010 and in Europe on September...
as one of the three main characters. In its story, Ventus is introduced as the youngest apprentice of Master Eraqus who trains him alongside his best friends, Terra
Terra (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. He was introduced in the 2010 video game prequel Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as one of the three main characters...
and Aqua
Aqua (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. Having first made cameo appearances in the game Kingdom Hearts II, Aqua was introduced as one of the three main characters from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, a prequel of the series released in 2010...
, to become experienced warriors with the weapon Keyblade. When Terra goes on a mission to find the missing Master Xehanort, Ventus follows him as he starts getting concerned about his fate. As he journeys through various worlds, Ventus learns about his origins and his relation with Xehanort and his apprentice Vanitas.
Ventus was designed by director Tetsuya Nomura
Tetsuya Nomura
is a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time before Square:Nomura was born in Kōchi, Japan...
who wanted him to have an important connection with the series' main character Sora
Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character and the main protagonist of Square Enix's best-selling Kingdom Hearts series. Introduced in the series' first game in 2002, Sora is a cheerful teenager who originates from Destiny Islands and has been best friends with Riku and Kairi since early childhood. When they plan to...
. Ventus bears an extremely striking resemblance to the character of Roxas
Roxas (Kingdom Hearts)
is a fictional character from Square Enix's video game franchise Kingdom Hearts. First revealed during the final scenes of the 2004 title Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, Roxas is a "Nobody", a being created when the series' main character Sora briefly lost his heart during the first game of the...
, both of whom are voiced by Kōki Uchiyama
Koki Uchiyama
is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Saitama Prefecture. He is currently affiliated with Gekidan Himawari.Uchiyama mainly voices over young males, such as in the Kingdom Hearts series, and rarely makes public appearances in the media as a seiyū...
in Japanese and Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
in English. After Ventus' first cameos, Nomura had to state that both of them are different characters, and the reason for such connection would be revealed in Birth by Sleep. Video game websites also commented on Ventus' first appearance, first confusing him for Roxas during development of Birth by Sleep, but nevertheless, his role within the game has been well-received.
Appearances
Before being introduced in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus first made cameos in the secret endings of Kingdom Hearts II and its rerelease, Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which depicted him and his friends Terra and Aqua battling Xehanort and Vanitas. Ventus is shown as cameos in Kingdom Hearts 358/2 DaysKingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
is an action roleplaying game developed and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DS with assistance from h.a.n.d. It is the fifth installment in the best-selling Kingdom Hearts series, and serves as an interquel beginning near the end of the first game, Kingdom Hearts, and covering the period...
, when Xion, a replica of Sora, is seen as Ventus when fighting Xigbar. Ventus is also constantly referenced by Xigbar in Kingdom Hearts II and 358/2 Days while Xemnas, the Nobody of Xehanort, is in search of him in Castle Oblivion.
In the start of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Ventus appears semiconscious with Xehanort on Destiny Island. Having had his heart split, it is about to shatter, but an unknown person merges his heart with Ventus' in order to keep it safe. Sometime later, Ventus appears as the youngest Keyblade apprentice of Master Eraqus living in the Land of Departure alongside Terra and Aqua. When Eraqus sends Terra to seek out Xehanort, Vanitas goads Ventus into following him as he tells him that Terra may not be the same again. Ventus starts travelling around various worlds, fighting the mysterious creatures Unversed and meeting various people. Vanitas attacks Ventus during his journey to test his strength, but he is defeated when Ventus is aided by the Keyblade trainee Mickey
Mickey Mouse
Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks at The Walt Disney Studio. Mickey is an anthropomorphic black mouse and typically wears red shorts, large yellow shoes, and white gloves...
. When finding Xehanort, Ventus learns that he was previously his apprentice and Xehanort trained him to complete the legendary Keyblade χ-blade. However, due to Ventus' reluctance of using darkness, he extracted it from him, resulting in the creation of Vanitas. Ventus refuses to battle Vanitas to avoid the creation of the χ-blade, but is forced to battle him when threatened that he will kill Terra and Aqua if he does not. In the Keyblade Graveyard, Ventus, Terra and Aqua gather and battle Xehanort and Vanitas, and Ventus ends up fighting Vanitas after the latter knocks Aqua out cold. After defeating Vanitas, Ventus is restrained by the Unversed as he is forced to fuse with Vanitas to create the χ-blade, his body ending up in Vanitas' control. However, as Aqua fights Ventus' possessed body and the χ-blade is damaged, it turned out the fusion was incomplete as Ven sacrifices himself to destroy Vanitas within his mind. However, with the χ-blade destroyed as a result, Ventus loses his heart and his body is placed in the Chamber of Wakening within Castle Oblivion by Aqua. Ventus' wandering heart is able to find a young Sora, who accepts Ventus' heart into his body, having been the heart that contacted him when his heart was split in two. In the game's secret ending, he is seen in what appears to be the Land of Departure with Terra, and the two utter Sora's name with newfound hope.
Ventus is mentioned in the ending of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded
Kingdom Hearts coded
is an episodic puzzle video game developed and published by Square Enix, in collaboration with the Walt Disney Internet Group for mobile phones. It is the fourth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series and is set after the events of the Kingdom Hearts II. The story focuses on a message written in...
, when Mickey reveals he has learned where Ventus' heart is, having searched for Terra, Aqua and him.
Creation and development
When first designing Ventus, Tetsuya Nomura already decided the character should look like Sora or Roxas, and decided to choose the latter when thinking that Vanitas' being revealed to have Sora's appearance would give a big impact to the gamers. Despite similarities with Roxas, Nomura wanted Ventus' personality to more closely resemble Sora's, which led to his forward attitude, yet at the same time, he wanted him to be slightly more serious as the game continued in order to differentiate them. Ventus was first shown in the secret endings of Kingdom Hearts II and its rerelease Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix. Ventus' name first appeared as a code in a 2006 Tokyo Game ShowTokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
promotional video of the games. In the making of the endings, Nomura had only drawn the settings of Terra, Aqua and him, but after finishing them, he had drawn their faces. Despite not revealing their identities, Nomura still said that they are character from the past from the Kingdom Hearts series. Following their release, Nomura stated that his nickname was Ven, having been first mentioned by the character Lingering Sentiment in Final Mix, while his full name was still unrevealed. He also mentioned a connection between him and Xemnas but wanted to leave it up to people's imaginations as he still could not reveal his identity.
Nomura commented that, despite how similar they are, Roxas and Ventus are not the same character. Additionally, he stated that by playing Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix and Disney for the PlayStation Portable, serving as the sixth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series. The game was released on UMD in Japan on January 9, 2010, in North America on September 7, 2010 and in Europe on September...
, players will be able to distinguish Roxas from Ventus, with one of the game's mission being exploring his true identity. In another interview, Nomura implied both characters are related, specifically to Sora, but he wanted fans to imagine reasons for such connection. The guidebook Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Ultimania
Ultimania
This is a list of companion books relating to games developed and published by Square Enix. Starting with Final Fantasy III, Square began publishing guide books for its games which traditionally include additional content such as developer interviews and expanded plot and setting information...
clarified the connection, stating that Roxas and Ventus look alike because Ventus' heart entered Sora's body and Roxas' birth allowed Ventus' heart to reside in Roxas. In early versions of development, Nomura thought that the heart healing Ventus's broken heart in the beginning would be Sora before being born, but due to overseas opinions, such portrayal was discarded. Like Roxas, Ventus has been voiced Kōki Uchiyama
Koki Uchiyama
is a Japanese actor and seiyū from Saitama Prefecture. He is currently affiliated with Gekidan Himawari.Uchiyama mainly voices over young males, such as in the Kingdom Hearts series, and rarely makes public appearances in the media as a seiyū...
in Japanese and Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney
Jesse McCartney is an American singer-songwriter, actor and voice actor. McCartney achieved fame in the late 1990s on the daytime drama All My Children as JR Chandler. He later joined boy band Dream Street, and eventually branched out into a solo musical career...
in English.
Ventus' name means "wind" in Latin; both it and his Keyblade have a "sky" theme similar to that of Sora's. During development of Birth by Sleep, the Osaka team in charge of making it thought that Ventus should be related with Vanitas, something which Nomura liked as he wanted to add more connections to the game. Therefore, the name Vanitas was also made to link it to Ventus' name, with both of them having similar meanings. Nomura had troubles designing Ventus', Terra's and Aqua's armors due how they would be able to summon them. Therefore, an "X" was added to their clothes as a mean to activate the armors as well as due to the fact it was one of the game's keywords. Ever since development of Birth by Sleep started, the staff already decided that Ventus', Aqua's and Terra's stories would be told in separate scenarios with Ventus' story being the second one written. They also wanted emphasize the lack of coincidences in the series, leading to the interaction between the three scenarios. In gameplay perspective, Ventus was designed to be the easiest character to play with in Birth by Sleep, although Nomura recommended to players that Ventus should be the second character to play with in order to understand the story better. Additionally, the way Ventus handles his Keyblade backwards is meant to show the gameplay differences between his and Terra's and Aqua's scenarios. Nomura also remarked Ventus' encounter with the characters Lea and Isa as an important event from the game, hoping both newcomers and older gamers will also find it important from Ventus' perspective.
Reception
Due to his resemblance with Roxas, video game publications initially thought that Roxas would be one of the protagonists from Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep when seeing one of Ventus' images. However, when it was revealed that the two were different, publications still discussed how similar they were and if there was a connection between them. GamesRadarGamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
particularly thought that there would be an eventual connection between the two of them and Sora. Amanda L. Kondolojy from Cheat Code Central
Cheat Code Central
Cheat Code Central is a video game website primarily known for its extensive list of cheat codes. Cheat Code Central, also known as CCC and CheatCC, offers previews, reviews, news, and various articles on the gaming industry...
also commented on speculations regarding the similarities between both of them, but mentioned that due to the existence of Nobodies in series, it is hard to find them as coincidences. When Jesse McCartney confirmed he was working on the English localization of Birth by Sleep, sites thought that he would voice Ventus, as he also voiced Roxas in previous titles.
The character's story and actions shown in the demonstrations were praised for being the "most original take on Kingdom Hearts" and yet "frustratingly traditional". Particular comments were given to shrinking Ventus' height for the Cinderella
Cinderella (1950 film)
Cinderella is a 1950 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "Cendrillon" by Charles Perrault. Twelfth in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film had a limited release on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio Pictures. Directing credits go to Clyde Geronimi,...
s world and his interactions in such world. Upon Ventus' introduction in Birth by Sleep, X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
found the character to be very similar to Sora's due to his friendly attitude. Despite advices to start Birth by Sleep with Terra, IGN's Ryan Clements chose Ventus as the first character to play with due to his similarities with Roxas and wanting to learn about his story. RPGamer
RPGamer
RPGamer is a media and news website dedicated to covering computer and video game RPGs. Its coverage includes North American game news, European game news, Asian game news, gaming industry news, game reviews, game previews, hands-on game impressions, gaming conventions, game merchandise, release...
's Adriaan den Ouden also chose Ventus to start, noting his similarities with Roxas, but also finding that he had a similar personality to Sora's. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
writer Sophia Tong noted that people had to face the fact that Ventus and Roxas were identical, and also had a spiky hair like Sora. Kevin VanOrd from the same site gave praise to Ventus' character for his "well meaning" personality" and yet not "annoying." The site also said that the time players spend playing with Ventus would be "rewarding" and commented on the English voice acting. PlayStation LifeStyle's Thomas Williams found the trio of Ventus, Terra and Aqua as welcome additions to the franchise, finding their stories enjoyable although the three travel to the same worlds. On the other hand, PALGN
PALGN
The PAL Gaming Network is an Australian based video game news and reviews website that focuses on the videogame industry and culture in PAL territories, particularly Australia and the UK. It was launched in 2003 by a group of PAL forum members on the IGN message boards who were disenfranchised by...
found the three characters unappealing, labelling Ventus as "just a Roxas clone, but without his personality." In contrast to 1UP's comments towards Ventus' actions in Cinderella's world, VanOrd commented that such interactions to be "more bothersome than boisterous." Videogamer.com writer Emily Gera stated that players may know little about them due to their role in Kingdom Hearts II, but with Birth by Sleep, players will be able to know about them. Writing for GamesRadar, Crhis Antista later called Ventus a "Roxas-clone", and commented that he still did not understand the importance of him and the other characters being briefly featured in Kingdom Hearts II, although it could be explained once the player finishes Birth by Sleep.