Ventus

Ventus, or Ven for short, is one of the protagonists of the Kingdom Hearts series who made his debut in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. He was a Keyblade wielder who studied with Aqua and Terra long before Sora. Although cheerful and bright, Ventus holds a mysterious past he seeks to recover on his quest to become a Keyblade Master. What he finds is his dark connection with Vanitas, and a more vital one he once made with Sora. Ventus' heart lied within Sora until it rejoined with his proper body once more.
==Background==
Before losing his memory and being found by Master Xehanort, Ventus came from the age of fairytales in Daybreak Town a century before the events of Kingdom Hearts. Like many other Keyblade wielders, he joined one of the Unions under the foretellers. While fulfilling his duties as a Keyblade wielder, he finds it difficult to develop friendships due to his timid demeanor and according to him wasn't "high in the rankings" either. Then, was chosen by Master Ava to join the Dandelions and escape the war. But due to the Darkness entity messing with Master Ava's plans he unknowingly took over as one of the new Union Leaders as an imposter.
===Personality===
In Kingdom Hearts Union χ, Ventus' personality remains mostly the same except that he is shy and dislikes the idea of forcing keyblade wielders to fight each other. After learning the truth of his part in Strelitzia's demise, Ventus feels guilty that he was unable to save her when Darkness has possessed him.
According to the Darkness entity, he also had a hidden desire for power, leading to the entity possessing him into taking Strelitzia's life.
Ventus is the youngest of the three Keyblade warriors. Personality-wise, he has many similarities with Sora; he's sweet, cheerful, curious, and gets excited at anything new or interesting, and he also has Similarities with Roxas; he can be short-tempered, blunt and stands his ground. He also feels disappointed whenever Aqua and Terra refuse to allow him to join them on their missions because they do not want to put him in "harm's way." When he gives them their passes to Disney Town, he grudgingly mentions that Scrooge McDuck told him to "take two grown-ups," but he doesn't seem to dislike his status as the youngest of the three. 
He also makes new friends easily in different worlds and really cares about his best friends Terra and Aqua, viewing Terra as an older brother. Ventus is very much unable to cope with Terra turning and subsiding to the darkness in his heart. To the point where he bluntly asks them to kill him as he rather die knowing his friends are safe then see Terra, Aqua and the friends they made perish before his eyes if the X-blade is made.
Some of his traits and personality might have passed on to Sora when his heart joined him. Along with his kind personality, he also shows a lot of bravery, especially evident when he battles Vanitas for the final time, where he promises to fight for his friends and protect them no matter what, knowing the fact that he would lose his heart as a result. As well as the same being true for Sora as Ven used his heart to call his armor to protect him from being swallowed completely giving Riku the chance to save him. Through his heart felt a strong desire to rescue Aqua from the Realm of Darkness.
===Physical appearance===
Ventus has bright blue eyes and golden blond hair. His hair is spiky, as the front concentrates the spikes on the right side of his head as if windswept, while the back is smoother and flakier. Bearing identical facial features and similar clothes to Roxas. He wears a jacket that resembles a fusion of Roxas' jacket (white on the right side) and Sora's jacket in Kingdom Hearts II (black on the left side), also reminiscent of the Yin and Yang symbol. The collar of the jacket is red and pleated, again, similar to the collar on Roxas' own jacket. Underneath this, he wears what appears to be a grey vest with a single button and several white, angular patterns on it. He wears a third layer under this, in the form of a plain, high-necked, black shirt. He also has a chunk of dull green and grey blue armor on his midsection that appears to be under his vest and another piece of armor on his left shoulder. Master Eraqus wears a similar piece of armor, though more blue-green, and more obvious. Ventus' pants are also similar to the pants Roxas wore, though Ven's balloon outward slightly before closing up about halfway down his legs, similar to the pants of KH2 Sora. These pants are colored in shades of grey, black, and white. He also wears an ornate, dull green and grey blue piece of armor on his upper-left arm, along with a black and white checkered wristband that is, once again, strikingly similar to Roxas', but with white edges as opposed to Roxas' black-edged wristband. Like Aqua, he wears two crisscrossing straps on his chest, on which he wears a silver Keyblade Master emblem. His boots are rather odd when compared to Aqua's and Terra's, as they resemble an armored version of normal street shoes in shades of dull green and grey blue.
When touching the piece of armor on his shoulder, Ventus becomes fully clad in armor. In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Ventus' suit of armor shares the coloration of the pieces he normally wears, predominantly sporting shades of green and gold. In this suit, Ventus adds a yellow cape to his outfit that is discolored, almost appearing rusted. The armor on his knee is gold and bears a sharp, upward-pointing hook on the outer side of each one. Ventus' helmet has a notably different design from Aqua's and Terra's, appearing more squashed and flat at the top. His helmet also has two prongs on either side of his head which point backward and angle diagonally upward. Strangely, Ventus' boots are colored completely gold in this outfit, as opposed to the multi-colored ones he normally wears. In Birth by Sleep, Ventus' armor is altered. He loses his cape, his boots change to more closely resemble those in his unarmored state, and the coloration changes much more than Terra's or Aqua's. Ventus' armor loses the greens entirely, now sporting steel blue, gold, and black armor, with several red lines decorating it.
===Powers and abilities ===
Out of the main protagonists of Birth by Sleep, Ventus is the fastest and most agile, which reflects in his primary fighting style of dodging, quick movements, and swift combo attacks. His primary battle style consists of very fast, wide backhanded strikes with his Keyblade in quick succession to deal damage. His single strikes are not as powerful as Sora's two-handed strikes, but his ability to attack quickly in multiple-succession makes up for his lower attack power. He can even augment his swift combat style with the Fever Pitch Command Style.
Fitting his name, Ven has a strong affinity for aerokinesis, possessing wind-based skills, such as the Cyclone Command Style, Tornado Strike, the Tornado spell, and his Air Flair and Stratosphere finishers. His heart's nature as one of pure light is also reflected in his affinity for light, capable of using it in his Salvation and Faith techniques and his Wingblade Command Style.
==Appearances==
===358/2 Days===
Ventus is mentioned several times, although he is not referred to by name. Xigbar sees Xion (an imperfect Replica of Roxas) as Ventus, since Xion looks different depending on one's relationship to her. Ventus is sought by Xemnas, who desperately seeks to find him in the Chamber of Waking, thus he sends Axel numerous times to Castle Oblivion to locate Ventus, but Axel never succeeds (since only Aqua knows the layout of the castle).
===Kingdom Hearts II===
Xigbar alludes to Ventus a few times. When Sora is first accosted by Organization XIII at Hollow Bastion, Xigbar stays behind to taunt him, at one point comparing his glare to the one Ventus once showed him as Braig. When Sora runs into Xigbar at The World That Never Was, he remarks that Sora doesn't look like "half the hero" Terra, Aqua, and Ventus were.
===Kingdom Hearts coded===
Data-Naminé tells Mickey and Data-Sora that Ventus is one of the ones connected to Sora's heart that must be saved. Later on, Mickey tells Yen Sid that they may be close to finding Ventus' heart.
===Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep===
At the age of 12 before Aqua and Terra take their Mark of Mastery exam, Ventus served as an apprentice to Master Xehanort, as part of the elderly Keyblade Master's plans to forge the legendary χ-blade. However, Ventus proved to be a poor candidate, and when he proved to be no match for several Neoshadow Heartless in the Keyblade Graveyard, Master Xehanort finally lost patience with him and used his own Keyblade to unlock and extract the darkness from Ventus' heart, using it to form a being of pure darkness who is then named "Vanitas" by Master Xehanort.
Unfortunately, the process left Ventus in a comatose state, with his broken heart of pure light slowly fading out. Master Xehanort, donning a Black Coat, then took Ventus to the Destiny Islands to allow him to live out his last days peacefully. Ventus is sent to the Dive to the Heart, where he comes in contact with the heart of a newborn Sora. After a brief discussion, Ventus' heart connects with Sora's, mending his broken heart and allowing Ven to stay alive until he someday becomes strong enough to repair the damage by himself. Ventus then summons his Keyblade and shoots a ray of light into the sky above, much to Master Xehanort's surprise. Xehanort decides that Ventus could still be of use in his master plan, but with Ventus still too weak in comparison to Vanitas, the two boys could not be trained under him.
Following these events, Xehanort brought Ventus to Land of Departure, where he could train as an apprentice to Master Eraqus. Terra and Aqua met Ventus with open arms. However, when Terra asked Ventus about his past, he screamed out in agony, eventually falling unconscious. Eraqus revealed that this was because Ven had lost his memories. Afterward, he remained asleep for some time. As he slept, Aqua watched over him, to keep him safe. Sometime later, Ven woke up. Overjoyed, Aqua quickly alerted Eraqus and a worried Terra about Ven's recovery.
It was then that his heart began to heal and he started to form strong bonds of friendship with Terra and Aqua. During a training session, Ventus loses humiliatingly, but Terra and Aqua reassure Ven that he was getting stronger. As time went on, Terra and Ven grew close, forming a brotherly bond. Terra even went so far as to give Ven his wooden training Keyblade and recite a mock inheritance ceremony. Together, the three of them shared the same dream: to become Keyblade Masters.
Four years later, Ventus awakens to a meteor shower and hurries out to look at the stars. Later, both Terra and Aqua join him. When Ven asks about stars and the light, Terra explains how each star is another world and compares the light to Ven, who doesn't understand. After a brief spat between the two boys, they, along with Aqua, spar in order to prepare for the Mark of Mastery exam the next day. Following their workout, Aqua gives both Ven and Terra good luck charms and tells them the story behind the charms. The charms, also known as Wayfinders, were gifted with powerful magic that formed an "unbreakable connection". Upon receiving the charms, Ven and his friends return to their castle for the night, eagerly awaiting the exam. However, things don't go smoothly. During the exam, Master Xehanort rigs the test, and the orbs of light attack Ven and his friends. Together, the three fight off the orbs and the exam continues.
After the exam, it's clear that Ventus has earned the interest of Master Xehanort and his apprentice, Vanitas. Though their intentions are rather ambiguous at the time, Vanitas decides to give Ventus some incentive to leave his home. When Vanitas appears in Ven's room, he leaves dark hints of Terra's fate and how he'll "become a different person". Ven becomes very defensive, telling Vanitas that he doesn't know the first thing about Terra. However, once Vanitas leaves, via the Corridor of Darkness, Ven hurries out to find his friend in hopes of giving him a warning. Unfortunately, Ven arrives much too late, as Terra leaves to go on his mission. Left with no other choice, Ventus leaves his home and begins a journey of his own.
Ven visits a number of worlds and builds new friendships along the way. In the Dwarf Woodlands, he helps Snow White escape the woods and guides her to the Dwarfs' home. There, he learns that Snow White encountered Terra and immediately tries to get to the bottom of things. After facing several more Unversed along the way, Ven encounters the Queen in the form of an old lady, and she tells Ven that Terra threatened her with his Keyblade. Refusing to believe this, Ventus leaves in hopes of finding Terra, wondering what's gotten into him.
Later, in the Castle of Dreams, Ven befriends Jaq and Cinderella. Though Terra isn't there, Ven still lends a hand, helping gather supplies for Cinderella's dress, and even facing Lucifer. When the dress is complete, Cinderella thanks Jaq and Ventus, and the two talk about their dreams. It's at this point that Ven decides that his dream is to become a Keyblade Master; the dream he and his friends all share.
While in Enchanted Dominion, Ven gets another clue regarding Terra. After freeing Princess Aurora's heart, Ven encounters Maleficent. Maleficent reveals that Terra helped steal Aurora's heart, but Aqua arrives just in time to convince Ven otherwise. She then asks Ven to go home with her, but he refuses, remembering the cryptic warning left by Vanitas.
Ven encounters Vanitas again after leaving Enchanted Dominion, and he follows him straight to the Keyblade Graveyard. There, Ven tries to get some answers out of Vanitas, who simply restates what he said before: that Terra will be gone forever. The two battle, but Vanitas easily outmatches Ven and nearly kills him. It's not until King Mickey arrives that Vanitas is defeated. Upon his defeat, Vanitas tells Ventus that he's on probation and disappears, leaving Ven and Mickey alone.
The two introduce themselves to one another, and Mickey tells Ven about how the Star Shard allows him to travel to different worlds. However, Mickey still doesn't know all of its secrets. Shortly after, the Star Shard sends them both to Radiant Garden, and Ven tries to follow Mickey, only to be intercepted by Aeleus and Dilan. After spying an Unversed, Ven gives up his search for Mickey and instead trails after the monster. He's interrupted several times, by Scrooge McDuck, who gives him lifetime passes to Disney Town, and Merlin, who tells him of the book to the 100 Acre Wood. Eventually, he does find the Unversed he was chasing, as well as Terra and Aqua. Together, they face the Trinity Armor, but after its defeat, things change for the worse.
First, Aqua tries to tell Ven to go home, and then she and Terra get into a fight regarding the darkness and Eraqus' intentions. The whole time, Ven is left completely confused, as he'd never seen his friends bicker in such a way. In the end, he tells Aqua that she's let being a Master go to her head, and he leaves to find Terra again. His search is interrupted again when he spots Ienzo being attacked by the Unversed. Without any hesitation, Ventus protects the boy and defeats his attackers. Even arrives shortly after and thanks Ventus for his help. Then, when asked about Terra's location, he tells Ven to look in the Outer Gardens.
Though Ven does find Terra, their reunion is short-lived, as Terra leaves, telling Ven that he can't come along, but that they will meet again when they need each other. Meeting up with Aqua again, Ven asks to come along, but Aqua orders him to return to the Land of Departure in a somewhat harsh manner. Seeing Ven's disappointment, Aqua softens and explains that she merely doesn't want him to get hurt before departing.
For a while, Ven stays in Radiant Garden, reminiscing about the times when his friendship wasn't strained by newfound complications. He's left wondering just what it means to be friends, and after meeting Lea and Isa, he becomes more and more curious about friendship. Thus, Ventus decides to continue his travels with a new resolve. Rather than search for Terra and Aqua, he decides to go out and make some new friends in hopes of redefining his simplistic views of friendship.
It doesn't take long for Ven to find companions, as he quickly meets Zack and Hercules in Olympus Coliseum. After stopping an Unversed threat, Ven finally comes to understand what it means to be friends, and realizes that he, Terra, and Aqua will patch things up someday. He also meets Experiment 626, who has already met Terra and Aqua; he explains that friendship is much more than a Wayfinder when 626's is broken.
Eventually, Ventus finds Mickey's Star Shard in Neverland, only to have it stolen, along with Tinker Bell, by Captain Hook. He teams up with Peter Pan and the Lost Boys to defeat Captain Hook. Afterward, Ventus, along with Peter and the Lost Boys, decide to put their own personal treasures in the empty chest they stole from Hook. As the Wooden Keyblade holds many cherished memories for Ven, he puts it in the chest, believing his best memories with Terra and Aqua are still to come. With Hook out of the way, he also retrieves the Star Shard from Tinker Bell after a little persuasion from Peter, only to be whisked away to Yen Sid's Tower. Upon his arrival, Ven meets Donald Duck and Goofy, who take him straight to Yen Sid. There, it's discovered that Mickey went missing, but when Yen Sid uses his magic to find him, they discover that the King is in danger. Determined to save Mickey, Ven departs from the Tower and returns to the Keyblade Graveyard, but when he reaches Mickey, everything changes.
It turns out that Master Xehanort was waiting for him the whole time, and that's not all. Xehanort reveals Ven's destiny to forge the χ-blade. He tells Ven that this is the real reason why he was never allowed to leave home and constantly told to return, out of fear for the χ-blade's creation.
After learning of his past, Ventus returns to Eraqus, only for his Master to try and destroy him upon realizing Xehanort's plans. Fortunately, he is saved by Terra and sent to Destiny Islands, much to his displeasure. There, he encounters Vanitas again, who taunts Ven into remembering how Master Xehanort broke their heart in two.
Once the memories return, Vanitas decides to give Ventus a reason to fight: Vanitas tells Ventus to come to the Keyblade Graveyard, the only place where the χ-blade can be forged and threatens to kill Terra and Aqua to see if Ventus will continue to "play the pacifist." Left with no choice, Ven leaves in hopes of setting things right, once and for all. Once reunited with his friends, Ventus explains the situation between himself and Vanitas, and, admitting that he is terrified over the very thought of the χ-blade, asks to be destroyed in the event that he does have to fight Vanitas, much to their shock. However, there's little time to mull over Ven's request, as both Master Xehanort and Vanitas arrive.
During their final battle at the Keyblade Graveyard, Master Xehanort encases Ven in ice and throws him off a cliff. Aqua manages to catch him before he hits the ground. Braig quickly appears and fights Aqua. Having stalled long enough as Master Xehanort ordered, Braig withdraws from the battle. Vanitas knocks out Aqua as he drops down from a cliff. Before the enigma can finish her off, Ventus uses all of his willpower to thaw out of his frozen state and shouts at Vanitas, causing him to flinch and turn towards Ventus. Ven then fights Vanitas and seemingly emerges victorious. After the battle, Vanitas reveals his true intentions and explains that the Unversed came from his own emotions and negativity. Trapping Ven with several Floods, Vanitas merges with Ventus and takes over his body.
The fusion completes Ventus, but Vanitas keeps control over the body. As a result of their union, the χ-blade is forged. Mickey arrives on the scene and helps Aqua awaken. Together, they engage Ventus-Vanitas in a battle. As this happens, Vanitas and Ventus engage in a metaphysical battle, where Vanitas tries to fully join with Ventus to complete the χ-blade. Ventus, however, refuses and chooses to defeat Vanitas and destroy the weapon, even if it means the destruction of his own heart.
The two engage in a decisive battle, and towards the climax when Vanitas destroys the station pillar, Vanitas forces a D-Link on him in hopes of completing their fusion; however, it also allows Ventus to copy all of Vanitas' move albeit Light versions. Ventus prevails, and the χ-blade is destroyed along with Vanitas. Unfortunately, this also causes Ven's heart to flee his body, leaving him in a comatose state. Aqua later places his body in a chamber within the newly created Castle Oblivion. Somehow, his heart finds its way to a young Sora once more, in his own Awakening, and his heart passes on into Sora's body, granting Sora the ability to use the Keyblade.
===Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance===
When Sora travels to The World That Never Was, he is plagued with illusions by Young Xehanort, Xemnas, and Xigbar in an attempt to get him to fall asleep and leave his heart vulnerable to damage. In one illusion, Sora takes on Ven's appearance before Terra and Aqua, and apparently feels Ven's pain of losing them again, prompting him to run after Terra and Aqua as they walk away.
Following Sora's descent into darkness after his heart is damaged by Xemnas and Young Xehanort, Ventus' heart envelops Sora in his Keyblade Armor in order to protect him from being swallowed completely, though it is temporarily corrupted by the darkness until Riku saves him. He later appears inside the research data that Ansem the Wise hid inside Sora a year ago, but Riku, having never met Ventus before, initially mistakes him for Roxas.
Physically, Ventus continues to sleep within Castle Oblivion. At the same time as Sora returning to Traverse Town and reuniting with his Dream Eater Spirit friends, Ventus slightly smiles from Sora's happiness.
===0.2 Birth by Sleep - A Fragmentary Passage===
In the Realm of Darkness, Aqua encounters a vision of Ventus sleeping in Snow White's coffin. Upon closer inspection, Ventus disappears.
Later, Aqua encounters phantoms of Terra and Ventus, pursuing them through the Forest of Thorns. When she catches up with them, Terra explains to her that his heart is tied to the darkness and that the Ventus beside him is an illusion created by her heart. Aqua wonders if this means Ventus and Terra are safe on the outside world, and while Terra thinks so, he warns her that Xehanort is looking for Ventus. As Aqua assures him that she has hidden Ventus somewhere where no one will find him, Terra's spirit transforms into Terra-Xehanort. Terra-Xehanort wonders if Ventus is in the Chamber of Waking and, when questioned by Aqua, begins to reveal his identity. However, Terra overpowers Xehanort's will, informing her of Xehanort's ruse to learn of Ventus' whereabouts.
===Kingdom Hearts Union χ ===
During his time as a Union leader, Ventus meets Ephemer, Skuld, Brain, and Lauriam in the Keyblade Graveyard. Unaware from them all, except that one of them is an imposter. Afterwards, they all start their journey as the new Union Leaders and celebrate their new status by making new spirit pets for the Dandelions to combat the nightmares.
However over time, Ven hears from Lauriam that he's been looking for his younger sister, Strelitzia who had disappeared. Meanwhile, he hears from Brain that even though they were spared from the war they were heading towards a destructive path and he would become the virus that overwrites everything. He and Skuld started to wonder about what Brain said and both believed they should seek out Ephemer's opinion. But they were startled by a projection of Master Ava and the Master of Masters, noticing that something was wrong Ven left to find Brain. Meeting him along with Ephemer and Player in the Control Room, it's revealed that the glitches are the result of a new world that doesn't exist yet trying to connect to theirs and more so that they are trapped in a data version of Daybreak Town. After a while Ven is happy to hear about Ephemer's return, however as the mystery of Strelitzia's disappearance begins to unravel, he and Skuld are called to meeting by Brain's Chirithy.
Meeting up with everyone, Brain reveals that he has the Book of Prophecies and yet the most surprising news of all is that it wasn't suppose to go to him but Strelitzia as well as her being one of the Union Leaders. When asking of their encounter with Master Ava, Ven remembers meeting her near the clock tower, finding his answer very strange; Brain took out a memo written by Master Ava about who were suppose to be the Union Leaders however Ventus was shocked that his name wasn't on the list.
Saddened by this Ven was comforted by his friends that they'll work together to figure everything out. Starting with being pushed by Brain to remember his encounter with Master Ava and clarifies that he met her in an abandoned house and left together heading towards the tower but couldn't recall what happened inside. Understanding that he wouldn't hurt anyone and that it wasn't Master Ava's intention to change the leaders Brain believed that this Darkness entity killed Strelitzia and had Ven take her place, then is haunted by visions of Strelitzia's demise causing him great pain as they returned to the tower.
The strain of remembering Strelitzia puts Ven to sleep in his corridors, and through his dreams he remembered what happened to her. It was the Darkness entity that possessed him into taking Strelitzia's place as well as "it" being responsible for killing her while disguised as Master Ava. And yet, he wakes up with a shocking revelation as tears ran down his face feeling guilt reddened that he wasn't able to save Lauriam's sister. Upon reuniting with the others feeling responsible he terribly admits that he erased Strelitzia, when under the threat of a furious Lauriam who demanded to know what he did; the strain of remembering again left him unable to answer and fall to the ground. He was nearly attacked by Lauriam but defended by Ephemer and yet the strain was so painful for him that Ven felt something was terribly wrong with him saying "It's not me", before he fell unconscious with the Darkness entity emerging from him making itself known to the others.
During the conversation with the Darkness entity, it was revealed that Ventus was supposed to be a vessel that harbored the Darkness as the "fated child" foretold in the book of prophecies written by the Master of Masters.
After the Player's arrival and brief defeat over the Darkness, the group discovers that the Darklings were after Ventus but before they could take him he wakes up enveloped in light dispelling the creatures. Then attacks the Darkness entity alone which leaves him unconscious and watched over by a remorseful Luariam.
Aware that the state of the Data World wasn't safe, still unconscious Ventus uses the lifeboat pods to escape to real world along with Lauriam, Elrena, and Brain. In an effort to save Skuld, Ephemer, and Player, Ventus was sent into the future with Lauriam and Elrena but during the boats travel the three end up separated with Ventus lying unconscious in the Keyblade Graveyard found by an unknown person; this person is revealed in Kingdom Hearts Dark Road to be Xehanort.
===Kingdom Hearts III===
Ventus appears in this video game along with Terra and Aqua, and is stated to be one of the Seven Guardians of Light. His heart was still inside Sora's body and it would often react every time the topic of rescuing Aqua was brought up, surprising everyone. Afterwards, during Sora's visit in Monstropolis, from Vanitas he learned that as a little boy, he joined his heart with Ven's to prevent it from being damaged any further. Upon the three being in close proximity of each other, Ven's heart spoke through Sora making him realize the truth.
Meanwhile, his body remained asleep in the room back in Castle Oblivion that was sealed and could only be opened by Aqua with Master Eraqus' Keyblade. However, Sora is forced to fight Aqua after she had been corrupted by darkness by Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and purges her of the dark corruption. Restored to her old self, Aqua takes Sora and his friends with her back to Castle Oblivion, where she uses Eraqus' Keyblade to restore it back into the Land of Departure and enters the room where Ventus' body lay. Sora returns Ventus' heart to him, allowing him to finally awaken, moments before Vanitas could have killed Aqua, forcing Vanitas to retreat for the time being. As he awakens, coming to Aqua's aid, he forces Vanitas to retreat for the time being. Reunited with Aqua, he meets Sora for real, aware that he looked like his dark counterpart, and that he was "his second chance". Later, Ventus joins her and Sora as they go to save Terra and confront Master Xehanort and his True Organization XIII in the Keyblade Graveyard.
Meeting up with Kairi, Riku, Lea, King Mickey, Donald, and Goofy, they are confront by whom Ventus first believes to be Terra, but Aqua realizes it is Terra-Xehanort, who quickly incapacitates Ventus and Lea, before Donald repels him at the cost of passing out from overexerting himself, leaving everyone at the mercy of the Demon Tide as it becomes a powerful tornado of Heartless, sucking up everyone except Riku and Sora, where Riku makes a defiant last stand against the Demon Tide before he is consumed by it, then Sora, causing Sora to awaken in the Final World, where after restoring his own body, he sets about saving everyone else before their own hearts can be claimed by the Lich, Grim Reaper of the Heartless, and cast into oblivion, killing them permanently. Ventus is found in a translucent, comatose state in the Toy Box world. Once Sora is able to defeat the Lich and force it to give up Ventus' heart, the heart returns to the Keyblade Graveyard, resuscitating Ventus and restoring him to life. After Sora rescues everyone, sans Kairi, and warned of the penalty of misusing the power of waking by Young Xehanort, unknowingly violating the Master of Masters' prophecy of the Keyblade War in the process, Sora reunites with Kairi as they return to the graveyard moments before the encounter with Terra-Xehanort, finding everyone safe and sound, alive once more thanks to Sora's efforts. As a result, when confronting Terra-Xehanort again, history nearly repeats itself as he goes for Ventus as his first victim once more, only to be stopped this time by the Lingering Will, Terra's Keyblade Armor possessed by his willpower, who had been warned by Naminé after Sora found her star in the Final World when she and Kairi were taken by the Demon Tide, forcing Terra-Xehanort to retreat, while Sora destroys the Demon Tide with the support of the Keyblades of fallen Keyblade Warriors from around the Keyblade Graveyard.
After Master Xehanort creates the Skein of Severance for the Guardians of Light to face off with his Pieces of Darkness, Ventus and Aqua soon are fighting Terra-Xehanort and Vanitas again with Sora's help. After they beat both of them, while Vanitas disappears, Terra-Xehanort grabs Ventus, Aqua, and Sora in chains and flings Ventus and Aqua about before preparing to kill them. In what might be his final moments, Ventus whispers to Terra that he kept his promise, causing Terra-Xehanort's own Heartless Guardian to intervene on Sora's behalf, saving Ventus and Aqua, and freeing them and Sora from their bindings. When Terra-Xehanort demands how this is possible, his own Guardian grabs him by the face, before ripping off the straps over its mouth to allow it to speak, revealing itself to be Terra's Heartless, who has every intent of taking back his body from Master Xehanort. With Sora's help, Terra succeeds in reclaiming his body, and checks to see if Ventus and Aqua are alright. Once the three friends have a tearful reunion, Sora asks Terra to watch over them until they recover. Ventus wants to go with Sora, but Sora says that is just what Master Xehanort wants and tells them to stay there.
Some time later, Ventus arrives with Terra and Aqua, meeting up with Lea, Xion, and Roxas, causing Ventus to be startled upon seeing Roxas and how he looks like him in terms of face and hair, and realize they are too late to stop Master Xehanort. He had struck down Kairi in cold blood, provoking Sora, Riku, and King Mickey into attacking him, thus reforging the χ-blade so he could gain access to Kingdom Hearts. When Sora volunteers to deal with Master Xehanort himself, Ventus joins Aqua, Terra, Lea, Xion, Roxas, Riku, and King Mickey with lending their support to Sora with immobilizing Master Xehanort long enough for Sora, along with Donald and Goofy, to take Master Xehanort into the world within Kingdom Hearts to defeat him once and for all.
Once Sora finishes off Master Xehanort once and for all in Scala ad Caelum, Ventus arrives with everyone else, and watches as Master Eraqus convinces Master Xehanort to finally give up. Realizing his mistakes, and with his injuries catching up to him, Master Xehanort entrusts Sora with the χ-blade. Afterwards, Eraqus apologizes to Ventus, Terra, and Aqua for all the stuff they endured because of him, and passes peacefully onto the afterlife with Master Xehanort. After they leave, Ventus joins Sora and the others with using the χ-blade to close Kingdom Hearts for good, before returning to the Keyblade Graveyard. Ventus and the others see Sora use the power of awakening in order to find Kairi and bring her home. Ventus, Terra, and Aqua return to the Land of Departure, where they pay their respects to their old master Eraqus. As they leave, Ventus is reunited with his Chirithy, whom he he introduces to his friends. Ventus and the others would then head to Destiny Islands and celebrate with the other Guardians of Light. They would see Kairi and Sora returning to the islands, only for the latter to have disappeared, as punishment for misusing the power of waking and violating the Master of Masters' prophecy.
In everyone's efforts to find Sora, Ventus goes along with Terra and Aqua into the Realm of Darkness to search for him.
==Other appearances==
===Blank Points===
Ventus sleeps on a bench outside in the Land of Departure before Terra wakes him by approaching him. They both smile and look up to the sky while uttering Sora's name with a sense of renewed hope. The significance of this scene has yet to be revealed since Terra is trapped inside Terra-Xehanort, Ventus is inside Castle Oblivion and the Land of Departure is Castle Oblivion itself.
==Gallery==
==Trivia==
*Ventus' name means "wind" in Latin, similar to how Sora's name is Japanese for "sky". However, his name is pronounced "VEN-tus," which despite being rooted in Latin, in which "V" is pronounced as "W". Albeit this is how his name would be pronounced in ecclesiastical Latin.
*Dream Drop Distance's ending reveals that Ven has been sleeping in Castle Oblivion for over a decade, but he seems to not have aged. This could possibly be due to its magic. However, considering that Union χ reveals that he has been around ever since the Keyblade War, it may also be because he actually ages slower than the others given his magic training.
**Another possibility could be due to Ventus' comatose state and the loss of his heart, as he has not been able to "grow a heart" over the years without one.
**Due to Kingdom Hearts Union χ, dating back 100 years ago and Ventus being asleep for the last 10 years, physically and/or technically he should be over 120 years old making him age wise the oldest character in the series. 
*The official Japanese website refers to Ventus as the .
*Ven is the only one of the Birth by Sleep protagonists to never gain an upgrade of his default Keyblade. Terra's Keyblade goes from the "Earthshaker" to the "Ends of the Earth", while Aqua's goes from "Rainfell" to "Stormfall". Interestingly, Ven's Keyblade Glider seems to be an evolved version of the "Wayward Wind".
*Ven and other five members of the Organization XIII (Xigbar, Luxord, Demyx, Marluxia and Larxene) were from the age of fairy tales, during the period of the Keyblade War.
**As of the previous update, it's revealed that Ventus, along with the human counterparts of Marluxia and Larxene (Lauriam and Elrena) and Brain used the lifeboat pods to return to the real world like Maleficient, but it's still unknown how Luxord and Demyx made it to the future.
**Ven's amnesia is understandable, based upon what Luxu said about the lifeboat being unfinished and for someone to use it successfully a person would need to have a person at their destination who has memories of them as well as a medium but since, Brain nor the others didn't know about that at the time the pods were used it's likely due to them not having the right requirements is what caused them to forget the past.
*In Kingdom Hearts, when Sora stabbed himself with Riku's Keyblade in order to free Kairi's heart, Ven's heart stayed with him. This is most likely due to Ventus' heart being asleep as a result of the damage it took ten years ago, and to wake up a sleeping heart a keyblade wielder would need the power of awakening which Sora didn't know about at the time, as he would only learn it later in Dream Drop Distance and Kingdom Hearts III.
*According to the Darkness entity, Ventus had a hidden desire for power which led to Strelitzia's demise and him taking her place as union leader but it's currently unknown why he wanted his comrade's position. 
*Ventus actually became a being of pure light twice when the Darkness entity separated itself from him and again when Xehanort extracted the darkness out of his heart making him the first male to become one.
*In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Ventus' spirit is represented by Sora since he was the reason Sora was able to use a Keyblade. Dark Samus also fights with him, representing Vanitas.
==External Links==
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