Ansem (disambiguation)

Ansem is the name taken by several beings in the Kingdom Hearts series. The name originated from a researcher whose experiments into the darkness of the heart led to the release of Heartless onto the worlds.

Kingdom Hearts
In Kingdom Hearts, Ansem was the name given to a researcher, identified as Ansem the Wise, who was an old friend of King Mickey. Sora and his companions Donald and Goofy, both subjects of the King, collected the Ansem Reports in search for knowledge of the Heartless in order to devise a way to stop them. Sora also sought to find his friends Kairi and Riku, who had been seperated from him during the storm on Destiny Islands. Sora and his companions, in questing to stop the spread of the Heartless, squared off with Maleficent and her allies, who sought to use the Heartless to gain power over the worlds.

Riku, seeking a way to restore Kairi's lost heart to her, found himself on opposing sides with Sora and began to delve into the power of darkness. He faced off against Sora at Hollow Bastion, managing to weaken Sora's resolve to take the keyblade from him (since the keyblade resided with the person with the strongest heart). Sora later caught up with him, and with renewed resolve, was able to claim the keyblade again, and defeated Riku in a small scuffle. After fleeing from Sora, Riku was approached by a cloaked being, and offered extraordinary dark power, as well as a keyblade of his own. Riku accepted and was possessed by the entity, and given a keyblade with the ability to unlock people's hearts. After Maleficent was vanquished by Sora and his party, Riku and Sora squared off in front of the Door to Darkness for control of Kairi's heart. Despite the dark power available to him, Riku lost to Sora once more, and the dark being controlling him revealed itself as Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

Some time later, Sora and his friends confronted Ansem at the End of the World, where he abandoned Riku's form and fought them with the aid of a dark Guardian. Ansem was once again defeated and transformed himself and his guardian into a living ship swarming with Heartless. When even this was not enough to overcome Sora, Ansem tried to open the door to Kingdom Hearts, expecting to be empowered with all that darkness had to offer. Instead, he was overpowered by blinding light and vanished, believed to be destroyed.

Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
The name "Ansem" resurfaced in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories during Riku's storyline. When Sora appeared in Castle Oblivion, Riku appeared there as well due to his strong ties to him. He was confronted by Ansem, who taunted him, telling him he could only remember dark hearts and that his heart was full of only dark memories. Ansem journeyed through the basement of the castle, occassionally speaking with Ansem, who urged him onward and attempted to corrupt his heart again.

Once Riku reached the Twilight Town world, Ansem appeared before him, threatening him. Riku, whose dark powers had matured after his journey throught the castle, recognized him as a fake, however. "Ansem" then revealed himself as DiZ, saying he impersonated Ansem to guide Riku through the castle and develop his dark powers. Riku continued onward to find Naminé, who had been previously entered Riku's memories as Kairi to help him overcome Zexion's illusions and harness the full power of darkness still residing in him.

Naminé showed Riku where she was keeping Sora, who by then had been suspended in liquid to have his memories repaired. Naminé told Riku she could do something similar for him; she could seal his heart and memories against Ansem's influence and he could be rid of him for good. Riku declined, however, shoosing instead to awaken Ansem within himself and defeat him himself. As he ascended into the main floors of the castle out of the basement, he was halted by Ansem. The two fought one another, both calling upon the power of darkness, but Ansem was defeated and subdued. Riku, sure of his control over the darkness in him, left the castle along with King Mickey and DiZ.