Keyblade Master

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The emblem of a Keyblade Master

Keyblade Master is the title given to exceptional Keyblade wielders who pass the Mark of Mastery exam in the Kingdom Hearts series. There are a total of 13 known Keyblade Masters: Master Eraqus, Master Xehanort, Yen Sid, Aqua, Mickey Mouse, Riku, The Master of Masters, Invi, Ava, Gula, Ira, Aced, and Luxu. Currently, out of said 13 individuals, 9 remain active: Mickey, Aqua, Riku, Invi, Gula, Ira, Aced, Luxu and the Master of Masters.

Master Xehanort previously lost his memories, becoming the younger Terra-Xehanort, but was restored following the destruction of his Heartless and his Nobody. Yen Sid retired his title and passed his Keyblade down to Mickey, Eraqus was slain by Master Xehanort, who himself was slain by Sora. After the Second Keyblade War, the Foretellers, who were heavily implied to have died in the First Keyblade War, were somehow revived and then summoned by Luxu while the Master of Masters, who had remained active but kept a low profile and ended up manipulating Xehanort into his path, would soon join them, meaning almost all the masters of the old are currently alive again, with only Ava's fate remaining unknown.

A Master is not necessarily the most powerful Keyblade wielders as Master Xehanort, who himself was one of the most powerful Keyblade wielders alive, lost to both Sora and Terra. Sora has also defeated Aqua, yet another Keyblade Master, and Xehanort when he was possessing Terra's body. Like Mickey and Riku, Sora also has the Power of Waking, one of the most powerful abilities a Keyblade wielder or Keyblade Master can possess, despite not having the title of Master.

The Keyblade Master, upon passing the Mark of Mastery exam, is given the choice to either travel to many worlds and explore his or her horizons, or to succeed his or her predecessor and take refuge in his or her own world to protect it from malevolent forces and later take on more apprentices.

Story

Before Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

In the age of fairy tales, a young boy who had fought in the Keyblade War, with every other keyblade wielders who he himself acknowledged to have been there seemingly dead, with no master of his own would apparently create the mantle of Keyblade Masters and become known as the Master of Masters. The Master of Masters, after studying the χ-blade, would acquire the ability to craft Keyblades from the hearts of others, an ability that he used to make six individuals into wielders of their own right and eventually would train them into becoming Keyblade Masters on their own right, with all but Luxu becoming known as the Foretellers and Luxu being chosen to carry the Gazing Eye Keyblade and tasked to survive as long as required while training an apprentice to inherit the blade by removing his heart and placing it in another vessel, while the Master, with aid from Luxu, carried out malicious plans to finally end the Keyblade War by turning the Foretellers against one another, destroying the light and the χ-blade, but the Master had planned ahead and ensured the worlds survival by ensuring as many children as possible survived, the light in their hearts keeping the world from being completely overrun, separating the once singular worlds into multiple worlds. The true Kingdom Hearts was lost to darkness following the clash and from those ancient Keyblade Masters, the idea came for masters to train apprentices to wield the Keyblade, but the truth of the ancient Keyblade Masters were lost in history, with them becoming known as the Lost Masters, with the Foretellers having died during the First Keyblade War and the Master of Masters and Luxu, the only survivors, keeping a low profile, leaving the truth effectively concealed.

Long before the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, two young men, Eraqus and Xehanort, were both tested for the Mark of Mastery by their Master. They both passed, but Eraqus was chosen as their Master's successor.

Years later, they both took in apprentices of their own. Eraqus took in a young man named Terra and a young woman named Aqua. Xehanort took in a boy named Ventus.

Xehanort abused his young apprentice by forcing him to fight creatures of the dark in order to strengthen his darkness so both his light and darkness could be equal, which would result in the χ-blade, a legendary Keyblade which allows its user to obtain Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds.

Ventus refused to fight the creatures, because he knew that he was not strong enough to take them on. The creatures attacked Ventus, knocking him unconscious. Xehanort approached his young apprentice and used his Keyblade to unlock his heart, and extract the darkness from within, resulting in the creation of a being with a heart of pure darkness, which Xehanort named Vanitas. This process left Ventus's heart fractured.

Xehanort brought Ventus's nearly lifeless body to his childhood home, Destiny Islands, so he could succumb in peace. However, Ventus's fractured heart was met by a newly born heart of another, and the two became one; just until Ventus's heart was strong enough to survive on it's own. Ventus then summoned his Wayward Wind Keyblade, which completely surprised Xehanort.

Ventus was then taken by Xehanort to his old fellow pupil, Eraqus. He asked Eraqus to take him in, knowing that Eraqus would strengthen his heart of light, while he continued to train Vanitas, to strengthen his heart of darkness, so that one day the two hearts would be able become one again and forge the χ-blade.

At an unknown amount of time before the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, Yen Sid had already trained and took on the title of an Keyblade Master. It is unclear if he had trained simultaneously along with Eraqus's and Xehanort's Master, or was their Master or a colleague of their Master. By the events of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, he had retired officially from the position as a Master, though he took his former apprentice, Mickey Mouse as his apprentice for more training.

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

After many years of training, Terra and Aqua were ready to take the Mark of Mastery exam. Unfortunately for Terra, he fails, while Aqua passes and is chosen as the successor of Eraqus. Terra could not control the darkness in his heart, a trait that Master Eraqus did not see fitting for the title of Master.

Eraqus informs Aqua of her new duties as a Keyblade Master, including a "secret" in particular that she should know; as his successor, if anything were to happen to him, and the darkness plundered the world, he wanted her to take his Keyblade and lock the world away.

He informs her that generations of Keyblade Masters have been entrusted with keeping the world safe, because the light and darkness were balanced there, and there were people who might want to abuse such a neutral powered world. Their predecessors devised a "trick" that allowed the Keyblade to transform the world, so that all who visit the world will be lost to oblivion, and none ever would be able to solve its mystery, except for the one who transformed it.

Meanwhile, retired Master Yen Sid had allowed his former apprentice, Mickey, to come back to him for more training. Yen Sid discovers that the worlds were being threatened by creatures that fed off negativity, which he called the Unversed, and that the Princesses of Heart were in danger from them. Mickey sees this as an opportunity to prove that he was Master material, so he steals his former Master's Star Shard, and leaves to investigate.

Yen Sid informs Eraqus of the situation and he calls forth Terra and Aqua to investigate. He tells Terra that if he performs well on this journey, he might reconsider making Terra a Keyblade Master, but he must not rely heavily on his darkness. However, Master Xehanort manipulates Terra into succumbing to darkness and possessed him, transforming him into Terra-Xehanort.

Much later, Aqua returns to the Land of Departure with Ventus, who lost his heart. She sees that it was completely destroyed by the darkness. She finds the fallen Master Eraqus's Keyblade lying in the remains and takes it. She brings Ventus into the castle and places him in one of the thrones.

Remembering the "trick" the Master told her about, she uses his Keyblade to completely transform the world. She promises Ventus to return with Terra to wake him up, and leaves him in the newly-formed Chamber of Waking. As she leaves the castle, she turns to see the new world she created, Castle Oblivion. She then leaves to search for the missing Terra, but following a brutal fight with Xehanort, Aqua ends up trapped in the Realm of Darkness.

Signs of What's Next

Mickey and Yen Sid converse about the revival of Xehanort. Knowing that Xehanort's revival will lead to the return of Master Xehanort, Yen Sid commands Mickey to summon both Sora and Riku to him, so that they can be tested for the Mark of Mastery in order to become Keyblade Masters themselves and finish Master Xehanort once and for all.

Kingdom Hearts III

Sora, having failed his Mark of Mastery Exam, is still not a Keyblade Master but having eventually regained the Power of Waking and proving himself to be the stronger Keyblade wielder than Aqua and Master Xehanort, can be considered to have already be on the level of one, if not even superior.

Masters Mickey and Riku journey to find Aqua in the Realm of Darkness and with Sora's help, eventually succeed, bringing Master Aqua back to the Realm of Light. During the subsequent Keyblade War, where Master Yen Sid, Master Mickey, Master Riku and Master Aqua participated against Master Xehanort and the 13 Seekers, despite managing to acquire the power of the X-Blade, Xehanort is eventually defeated by Sora and convinced to surrender by Eraqus. Xehanort gives the X-Blade to Sora before passing on and Sora and the Guardians close Kingdom Hearts.

Although Master Xehanort and Eraqus have finally truly passed on, leaving only Master Mickey, Master Yen Sid, Master Aqua, and Master Riku as the only active Keyblade Masters in the open, in truth, after the Second Keyblade War, Luxu, having masqueraded as Xigbar, summons the rest of the Foretellers and the Master of Masters soon would join them. This leaves the total of Keyblade Masters active as 8.

Powers and Abilities

All Keyblade Masters share the ability to extract the hearts of themselves or others, this is shown when Master Xehanort extracts the hearts of Aurora and himself. They can also extract part of the heart as well, for instance, Xehanort extracts the darkness from Ventus's heart, and creates Vanitas. Luxu shows an even greater control of this ability, not even needing a Keyblade to transfer his own heart into new vessels over the century.

Keyblade Masters also have the ability to perform the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony, a trial in which a person is chosen to inherit the power of the Keyblade by clutching the Keyblade in their hand and allowing it to accept them. This is shown when Terra performs it on Riku, and when it is accidentally performed on Kairi when she grasps Aqua's Keyblade. Although Terra does not have the title of Master, he is at the level of one, therefore he is able to perform this rite. The Master of Masters has the ability to extract keyblades from the hearts of others and can somehow create Keyblades even without that power, although as he is the first Keyblade Master and had studied the X-Blade, he is likely the only one who has the knowledge required as none of the Keyblade Masters have shown the ability to just create a Keyblade even from others hearts.

In addition to performing the Keyblade Inheritance Ceremony, Masters can conduct the Mark of Mastery exam upon potential Keyblade Masters. Although Yen Sid is a retired Master, he is still able to conduct the exam.

Also, Aqua is able to sense that the ceremony has been performed on Riku, although it is not known whether all Keyblade wielders can sense this, or if it is a Master's ability.

Current Masters

Master Aqua

Master Mickey Mouse

Master Riku

Previous Masters

Master Yen Sid (retired)

Master Eraqus (deceased)

Master Xehanort (deceased)

Master Odin (unknown)

Other Masters

Master of Masters

Master Ira

Master Aced

Master Invi

Master Ava

Master Gula

Luxu