Ky Kiske

**Ky Kiske** (カイ＝キスク, *Kai Kisuku*) is a playable character in the*Guilty Gear* franchise. As one of the two leading characters (the other being Sol Badguy), he is one of the most well known characters, and has been an integral part of the series since the first *Guilty Gear*. He is a very charismatic young man who possesses a strong sense of justice and a devout religiosity, which sustain and guide him through all manner of shaking uncertainties.

## Character Design

Ky is a handsome young man with blond hair and blue eyes. His hair has grown in the timeline of the series, to the point where he sports it as a ponytail in *Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-*. His usual outfit is a loosely-fitting, blue base version of the white dime-a-dozenSacred Order of Holy Knights (aka, the Holy Order) Uniform, fastened together by a white belt buckle is inscribed with the word "HOPE".

## Personality

Ky is a deeply religious man, the adjective describing both his devotion to God, as well as his commitment to the ideals of law, order, and honor. He is diligent and scrupulous. However, despite his great faith and strong conviction, he is not beyond doubt, and is not entirely incapable of seeing the colors between black and white. Loyal to his ideas more than his surroundings, Ky will not hesitate to investigate his superiors if he believes them to be undermining his conceptions of justice. He is a compassionate man and chivalrous in the classical way, being known to hold back against female opponents if he is forced to fight them. However, other certain characters tend to mock him for such beliefs mainly since his position in the police force leads him into his strings being pulled, which is also true as his future position as a king.

Though his strong beliefs tend to color his moral world black and white, his experiences have developed his character beyond this caricature. In his *Overture* profile, it is stated that his said position as a king made him lose some of his zeal, but he gains a new perspective over things in its place.

## Powers & Abilities

Ky Kiske is an extremely talented strategist, swordsman, and magic practitioner. In the novel *Lightning the Argent*, it is revealed that his ability to create lightning projectiles from his sword Thunder seal is extraordinarily difficult, as lightning is the most difficult magic to control, a testament to his mastery of the weapon. It is also said that he is well adept at performing other forms of elemental magic, though he prefers to use lightning. In *Guilty Gear Vastedge XT*, it is also revealed that he is an expert marksman, as he is seen wielding a magic lightning-charged gunblade, which is suspected to be the original model of Magnolia Eclair.

Ironically in *Xrd*, his left eye becomes red, with a Gear symbol inscribed on the iris. When utilizing this power, it vastly increases his strength, speed, durability and magic to supernatural levels. He can regenerate fatal wounds in mere seconds and using raw strength in this state, He was able to prevent the titanic Justice from falling from the sky - as well as the small island of stone she rested on -. His lightning magic also intensifies greatly and takes on a violet hue. However, he can only maintain this state for short intervals and it seems to cause pain afterwards, possibly due to Ky still being a human.

Ky has also discovered that one of Thunderseal's hidden abilities is to isolate a person or object within a selective space where time has stopped. However, Ky discovered this power out of desperation to save Dizzy from sublimation and does not know how he performed such a feat.

In the After Story of *Guilty Gear Xrd Rev 2*, it is revealed that Ky's own battle ability rivals Sol's while the latter is in his human form, moving so fast that he catches him by surprise with a fist near his head from behind and even defeating him in combat. This is because when he's fighting against monsters (in this case, Gears), he becomes a fearsome fighter uninhibited by emotion and ideals such as honor. Sol even admits that the first time they met as fellow Holy Order knights, Sol was overcome with intense fear, as if his own demise was imminent. The only reason Ky had seemed weaker was because he viewed Sol as a man and not a monster, and sought to best him in a fair duel without the possibility of death (which has always been their unspoken agreement). This mentality consequently led to him inhibiting his abilities and because of what Ky becomes in the face of such beings, he wished to forget about it and put the past behind him. It was also for this reason that Sol sought him out personally because he was an expert in fighting Gears by utilizing the Holy Order's techniques and tactics, so he could prepare for his fight with That Man by learning from him.

## Themes

### Musical Themes

* **Holy Orders (Be Just Or Be Dead)** - *Guilty Gear*
* **Holy Orders (Be Just Or Be Dead) II** - *Guilty Gear X* and *Guilty Gear XX*
* **Pillars of the Underworld** - *Guilty Gear XX: ♯Reload* Korean OST
* **Holy Orders (Be Just Or Be Dead) III** - *Guilty Gear 2, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-*(in the round after Ky is hit by an Instant Kill)
* **Sheep Will Sleep (If You Become Fatigued)** - *Guilty Gear Isuka*
* **Magnolia Éclair** - *Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-*

### Rivalry Themes

* **Conclusion** (vs. Sol) - *Guilty Gear*
* **No Mercy** (vs. Sol) - *Guilty Gear X* and *Guilty Gear XX*
* **Noontide** (vs. Sol)- *Guilty Gear XX*
* **Revelations** (vs. Sol) - *Guilty Gear XX: ♯Reload* Korean OST
* **Faith Shall Save Thee** (EX vs EX Sol) - *Guilty Gear XX: ♯Reload* Korean OST
* **Keep the Flag Flying** (vs. Order Sol) - *Guilty Gear XX: AC*
* **Re-Coming** (vs. Sol) - *Guilty Gear 2*
* **Reunion** (vs. Sol) - *Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-*
* **Communication** (vs. Sin) - *Guilty Gear 2*and *Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-*

## TMNT X Pokemon

Ky is very respectful towards his friends. Even giving them proper titles such as sir, madame, and miss and mister. As a strategist, he will give command on how to have absolute victory as long as it's fair.

## References and Allusions

* Ky owes his name to the two musicians of Germany's Power Metal scene - Michael Kiske and Kai Hansen, former Helloween members.
* Ky shares his birthday (November 20) with several musicians, such as Oliver Sykes from Bring Me the Horizon, among others.
* Ky's theme name - Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead) - probably origins from Iron Maiden's song "Be Quick or Be Dead".
* Ky's overdrive is named Ride the Lightning, and one of Metallica's albums has the same name.
* Ky's Instant Kill is named Rising Force— an allusion to the Swedish rocker Yngwie J. Malmsteen's former band of the same name.
* Rhapsody, a band that is quite popular in Japan, has a song named "Holy Thunderforce", which could be another description of him.
* Ky's 6th theme "Magnolia Éclair" Is very clearly a homage to the song "Hellion/Electric Eye" by Judas Priest.
* The "HOPE" inscription on his belt is probably taken from a lyric in the Iron Maiden Song "Revelations":

*Bind all of us together*
Ablaze with **hope and free**,

No storm or heavy weather

Will rock the boat you'll see.

* Sol Badguy has "FREE" inscripted on his own belt.

## Trivia

* Ky appears as a guest character in Square Enix's upcoming game, *Lord of Vermilion III*.
* Ky's exact age is never revealed, but various hints can determine the range. He's at least 21 years old in the first game and at least 27 in *Xrd.*
* Ky was wearing an eye-patch like Sin in his short story, though on his left eye instead of his right. The significance of this is unknown, but in Xrd, he has a sigil in his left eye which is similar to a Gear's Mark. It is believed that he may have participated in an experiment to acquire these qualities.
* Ky has more themes than any other character; he shares six songs with Sol, one with Order-Sol and one with his own son, Sin, making a total of eight rivalry songs.
* One of Ky's shouts during battle is "kokoda", meaning "here it is". Because of the lack of English dub and translation, however, players always mishear this as "coconuts".
	+ Besides "coconuts," players always make fun of Ky's phrase in the *Guilty Gear X* anime trailer: "Oh no! I'm falling!"
* During Ky's Instant Kill (Rising Force), a figure of a woman can be seen curled into the ball of lightning, and then would fly along the projectile. Her nature is unknown, though it is hinted that she is connected to the Thunderseal.
* Ky can be seen once in a black outfit in one of the early drafting books.
* Takeshi Kusao, Ky's voice actor, is known for voicing heroic young men using swords. His english voice actor, Sam Riegel and Liam O'Brien, also play the roles of Shirou Emiya and Archer from Fate/Stay Night, two protagonists who were obsessed with becoming heroes of Justice(though Archer lost his sense of altruism to bitterness when he found that his ideal of justice betrayed him).
* In Xrd, if he were to be knocked down during his opponent's match point, his hair will become loose and his original theme, Holy Orders, will begin to play.
* It is revealed in Xrd that no matter the times he cuts his hair, it keeps growing at a rapid pace, thus leading to the belief that he also has Gear cells like Dizzy and his son who both share the same trait. As Sin is considered a Quarter-Gear, this means that this development did not occur until sometime after Sin's birth.
* In the final chapter of Xrd, Ky's left eye had changed to red when he is desperate to stop the pillar from collapsing making him to have heterochromia. However, in the next part of the chapter it reverts back to normal after usage when he and Sin are teleported by Daryl.
* Ky appears alongside Sol Badguy, Jam Kuradoberi, and Ramlethal Valentine in the mobile game, *Seven Knights*. Ky starts off his appearance in Xrd -SIGN- and Xrd -REVELATOR- default outfit. Upon reaching five stars, his default outfit becomes red and black and his hair is white and reaching maximum of six stars, Ky's default outfit is now in a different shades of blue and maintains his original blond hair.