The Heartless

The Heartless are hearts corrupted by darkness, lacking a body or soul.

They are named "Heartless" for their total lack of emotional capacity and are the most common type of enemy the player encounters in the Kingdom Hearts games.

Originally there are only "Pureblood" Heartless, black shadow creatures that lack hearts who were born of pure darkness, and usually exist in the realm of darkness, rarely appearing in realm of light.

However, the experiments by Ansem the Wise and his apprentices into the capacity of the heart lead to the seemingly unintentional creation of Heartless in the Realm of light.

While researching these Pureblood Heartless, a side effect of their research to control the mind through the heart, Xehanort and Ansem's other apprentices devise the means to create artificial "Emblem" Heartless via the corruption of living hearts.

Unlike Purebloods, which dissolve into black smoke when defeated, Emblem Heartless release hearts once defeated.

However, unless the Keyblade is used to defeat the Heartless, the stolen hearts go to the realm of darkness where they turn into Heartless again.

Ordinarily, the Heartless are mindless and function on instinct, but obey those with strong will.

However, in worlds closer to darkness, the Heartless are stronger and become uncontrollable.

They invade worlds through corridors of darkness, which are unpredictable pathways that interlink the many worlds.

When Heartless are created, the body and soul of those with strong hearts that have lost their hearts to darkness may become another type of creature called a Nobody.

As they lack hearts possessing light and darkness, they are "nothing", yet still exist within the Kingdom Hearts universe.

Members of Organization XIII, a group of Nobodies central to the plot of the series, keep their human form because they possessed strong hearts as humans and thus remember their original existence.

However, if they lack memories, such as weaker Nobodies, they assume malformed, inhuman shapes.

Most members of the Organization control one type of Nobody suited to their fighting style.

It's interesting to note that Roxas lacked any memories from his time as Sora, but retained a human form; it's likely thanks to the strength of Sora's heart.

Like the Emblem Heartless, Organization XIII and the Nobodies have an insignia—an upside-down, incomplete heart—which was designed to look like a splintered heart as a complement to the Heartless emblem.

However, upon being defeated, a Nobody fades into a state of non-existence until its Heartless counterpart is destroyed with the captive heart released, recreating the original being they were splintered from.

However, though many start off as emotionless beings, Nobodies eventually develop a heart over time and become complete beings again.

Despite this, they can still fade into a state of non-existence and reunite with their original heart, as seen in Axel's case.

In the case of Roxas, Unlike those who look nearly identical to their original selves, his form was a reflection of Ventus though considered Sora's Nobody.

The Heartless emblem appears to be based on the X-blade's keychain while the Nobodies' is based on the Mark of Mastery (the emblem Eraqus, Terra, Aqua and Ventus wear).

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