User blog:DragonDude83/PE Proposal: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness (Manga)

I’m a little bit apprehensive of making a proposal for Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and I might make one for Xemnas, on their manga counterparts. The reason for this apprehension is the way you felt about them after their defeat in the final battle at Kingdom Hearts 3. Nevertheless, let’s get started.

What is the Setting?
The manga version of Kingdom Hearts is the same as the video game version, where the universe, or World (the capital W is important), is home to several different sub-worlds that co-exist with each other without knowing of one another's existence. At least it was before Maleficent and the Council of Disney Villains began invading those worlds with their dark magic, tearing down walls between worlds, unleashing Heartless all over the separate worlds, consuming hearts from people and worlds in their wake. The council searched for the seven Princesses of Heart so they can unlock the keyhole to darkness to reach Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of All Worlds. But the true mastermind is not Maleficent, it’s Ansem.

Who is Ansem, Seeker of Darkness and What Has He Done?
Like the games, Ansem is the Heartless form of Xehanort, the apprentice researcher for Ansem the Wise, who is a researcher himself and the benevolent ruler of Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion. The manga never divulged on the backstory of an amnesiac Master Xehanort, though a line of dialogue from Xigbar in the Kingdom Hearts II manga hints that the events of Birth By Sleep still occurred in this continuity, meaning that this character still could be interpreted as being what became of Master Xehanort. As Ansem’s apprentice, Xehanort opened the door to his world, letting more Heartless in, and continuing his research that Ansem told him to stop. He sent Kairi, who was a small child back then, away to another world, knowing that her heart will be drawn to a future Keyblade bearer (which is how she wound up in Destiny Islands). Eventually, Xehanort banished his mentor, Ansem, into the Realm of Darkness, stealing his name and research for himself. He struck down his coconspirators to turn them into Heartless, while leaving their bodies to become Nobodies. He cast away his own body, sending his heart to the darkness, and allowed the Heartless to ruin his world, bringing it to the state it’s in while Maleficent and the Council took over the castle.

Now a formless Heartless shrouded in a brown cloak, it was implied that Ansem lurked around the castle, nudging Maleficent along to capture the seven Princesses of Heart, so their hearts would merge and unlock the keyhole to darkness, which would give Maleficent the power to rule the world. The truth is Ansem was waiting for the moment to regain physical form, kill Maleficent when he has no further use for her, and enter through the final keyhole so he can find the Door to Darkness to command the Heartless to consume the Heart of All Worlds. Ansem is seen in Destiny Islands by the secret place (the same place we’ve seen him at the first game). He gives his cryptic messages to Sora; "This world is connected, tied to the darkness. One who knows nothing can understand nothing." He then vanishes without a trace. It’s not until his reemergence at Hollow Bastion where you really see his Adaptional Villainy come through.

For starters, in the game when he approaches Riku in the Castle Chapel, he coaxes him by telling him that while his heart at the time was not strong or true enough to wield a Keyblade, he can become stronger by plunging himself into the deepest darkness, letting his very being become darkness himself, all while bringing Riku's fullest darkness out of his heart so that he can possess him. Riku even addresses him twice in the scene ("What? You're saying my heart is weaker than his?" and "What should I do?") In the manga, Ansem doesn’t even bother to have an actual exchange with Riku. He just walks up to him, saying how bold he was to endure the darkness back on his island home to begin with and shouting at him to take his dark power further by fully embracing the darkness, by embracing him. Riku was confused and terrified through all this, so Ansem psychologically tortures Riku to the point where he can take his body by force, without any submission or consent from him whatsoever.

Now in possession of Riku’s body, Ansem approaches Maleficent at the Grand Hall and shows his new Keyblade, made from the extracted hearts of the six princesses. He says that the keyhole is opened, the Heartless will overrun the world, while Maleficent says that it doesn’t concern her, for she holds power over darkness rather than the other way around. Ansem’s response was, "Oh really? Shall we test that?" and stabs Maleficent with his Keyblade. In the game, he does that action after Maleficent has been weakened in a battle with Sora, Donald, and Goofy, and the reason for doing that was to unlock the darkness in her heart, granting her the power to turn into a dragon. He did show amusement in the irony that Maleficent was a pawn the whole time after she dies, but he wasn’t looking to destroy her. In the manga, however, he stabs her in the heart with a devilish glee as the darkness consumes Maleficent, and she does not turn into a dragon. It’s as if he anticipated this result the entire time.

When Sora, Donald, and Goofy then arrive on the scene immediately following this, Ansem introduces himself as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, making the heroes assume he's Ansem from the Reports (even though he's not - he's Xehanort's Heartless). He then reveals that the Final Keyhole will not open until the heart of the seventh Princess, Kairi, is set free from Sora's own heart, in which it has been residing this entire time. Now in the game, Ansem attempts to release the heart himself by striking Sora with his Keyblade only to be beaten back, which is followed by Sora using Ansem's Keyblade to pierce his own heart, setting free the 6 Princesses hearts from the Keyblade and Kairi's heart from inside of him, as a heroic sacrifice, that causes him to turn into a Heartless. In the manga, it’s Ansem himself who tells Sora that he can use Ansem's Keyblade, still lying there where Maleficent once stood, to unlock his heart and set Kairi free, vanishing after urging Sora to do this. So he deceives Sora into using the Keyblade on himself, knowing that Sora will turn into a Heartless if he does this, and that, as he told Maleficent earlier, a flood of Darkness and Heartless will emerge from the Final Keyhole once it's been completed by the release of all Seven Princesses' hearts, which could kill Donald, Goofy, and all the Princesses (Kairi included) anyway.

In fact, once Sora's body has vanished and his heart is falling into Darkness, and Kairi has come to, Kairi refuses to accept what's befallen Sora and stands defiant, prompting Ansem to re-appear, having now re-shaped Riku's body into a new form that resembles Ansem's former human self, and declare that since Kairi's purpose to his plan has been served, he will kill her personally. Like in the game, Ansem is halted by Riku's heart fighting back from within, refusing to let Ansem use his body to kill one of his dear friend, and warning Kairi, Donald, and Goofy about the Heartless coming from the Keyhole. Unlike in the game, the manga shows us what follows - Ansem mocks Riku for his efforts, raises a hand, and banishes Riku's heart from his body into total darkness, which takes Riku's heart to the Realm of Darkness. Ansem then looks at the oncoming darkness that threatens to tear apart Hollow Bastion with joy, remarking that it's time for all to return to darkness. The Beast makes it to the Grand Hall in time to see Ansem entering through the Keyhole, and as he does, he glances back at Beast with a smirk, as if saying "I dare you to pursue me and try to stop me now." Thankfully, Belle arrives before Beast can do so.

When Sora, Donald, and Goofy confront Ansem in End of the World, Ansem mocks Sora for worrying for the fate of Riku's heart while also mocking Riku for opening his heart to darkness without knowing that it would mean his heart would eventually return to darkness. Before going into his "Darkness is the heart's true essence" monologue, Ansem explains that he needed the seven Princesses captured by Maleficent and her cohorts because only the Princesses pure hearts of light can create the way to the Door to Darkness, behind which the Heart of All Worlds, Kingdom Hearts, can be found. Kingdom Hearts has been consummated behind the Door to Darkness, which has been materialized in the core of the Heartless' world, both as result of the Heartless devouring countless worlds' hearts. There is no hidden agenda to forge the X-Blade for Master Xehanort when he returns behind the Princesses capturing, as this manga was written before that misbegotten retcon reared it's ugly head. Ansem has done this for his own purpose - the purpose of drowning the World in eternal darkness. Ansem breaks Destiny Islands apart and sends everyone to the Endless Abyss, core of the Heartless' world, where he transforms into a monstrous Heartless form complete with a freaky looking battleship, the World Of Chaos. The final chapter begins with Ansem beckoning the Door to Darkness to come open and let out the power of Kingdom Hearts, which he believes to be made of darkness, to fill him up with SUPREME DARKNESS! But Sora tells him that he's wrong - no matter how deep the darkness that afflicts a heart, there is always a light that never goes out, which means that Kingdom Hearts, from which all hearts are born, must truly be light by nature. He's proven right as a blast out light bursts from the door, obliterating Ansem as he has a look of horror on his face, with his last thoughts being "Light? Why? Why is there light?" With Ansem gone, Riku's body is restored to him within the Realm of Darkness.

Ansem reappears only in the follow-up Chain Of Memories manga adaptation as a specter made from his darkness that still lingers in Riku's heart. The manga does away with the plot point of DiZ (the real Ansem the Wise) impersonating Ansem (the Heartless of the false Ansem, Xehanort) in addition to the actual Ansem's spirit haunting Riku from within his heart, having the actual Ansem as the one who gives him the card to progress through Castle Oblivion. Aside from taunting Riku and trying to get him to embrace his darkness again, there's one point after Lexaeus has been killed where Ansem thinks to himself about how he is deliberately invoking emotions of fear, anger, sorrow, doubt, and regret in Riku because those emotions will strengthen him enough to eventually overtake Riku and gain a physical existence once more. Then in the final confrontation Riku has with Ansem, Ansem calls forth his Guardian Heartless and attempts to brutally strangle Riku, a 15 year old boy, in order to get his heart and body to succumb to darkness so that he may take Riku for himself once more. As Riku cuts Ansem down, Ansem declares that he will return, and so long as Riku's darkness is ruled by his dark thoughts and emotions, and as Riku continues to think of him, then he shall forever linger in his heart and never go away.

In the following two manga, we learn that Riku eventually exorcises Ansem from his heart, but only by immersing himself in all of his dark power, which allows him to take on the powers and physical appearance of Ansem himself. We also learn that Ansem wasn't truly Ansem, but was in fact Xehanort assuming the identity of Ansem.

Heinousness
He attempts to start an apocalypse by having the Heartless consume the hearts of all worlds and individuals, casting them into eternal darkness, and then have the Heartless consume Kingdom Hearts, which is pretty much Heaven, in this universe, while trying to absorb all its power for himself with the belief that said power is the greatest darkness that is the creation and sustaining essence of all that exists. And with the added predatory villainy toward Riku, and killing Maleficent after he had no more use for her. Of course he’s heinous. It’s worth noting that neither Master Xehanort nor the Master of Masters appear in the manga version. Xehanort’s Heartless sets the standard along with his Nobody, Xemnas.

Mitigating Factors
There are no mitigating factors for this version of Ansem. His added villainy (forcefully taking Riku’s body, murdering Maleficent after she outlived her usefulness, tricking Sora into using his Keyblade, etc.) pretty much cancel out any excuse he has. This version of Ansem doesn’t even make you feel sorry for him after his defeat.

Final Verdict
I say yes, though I understand if this is voted down since this is also under the Type Dependent on Version category.