| “ | In the very blackest abyss where dark thoughts gather, I am there. When in your very deepest nightmares, I am the face you see. I am a darkness beyond darkness itself, the end to all reality, and the opposition to everything you stand for. Now, Child of Light, draw your Keyblade and face me, lest you fall without giving me a semblance of a challenge. | „ |
| ~ Tenebris to Sora, before their first battle |
| “ | I hope you realize the utter futility of your efforts, Child of Light. You may be the savior of the Realm of Light, but you are still merely a child, unable to comprehend the power of a being such as myself. If you forfeit now, I shall not make you suffer, but if you choose to fight me again, you shall know the true meaning of agony. | „ |
| ~ Tenebris to Sora before their second encounter |
| “ | ENOUGH! I commend you, truly, for how far you have gotten, for overcoming any obstacle I have thrown your way, and especially for faring against me like you are now. But your quest for salvation ends now. You may try to stop me, you may attempt to end my darkness forever, but know this: Nothing you attempt could possibly end me forever, for darkness, like light, is eternal. Now, for the fate of all existence, battle me and try to save it! | „ |
| ~ Tenebris before his final battle with Sora and his brother |
Summary
The very embodiment of darkness itself, Tenebris is the main antagonist of Kingdom Hearts IV and the true main antagonist of the entire series, being the one who created the Heartless race and the cause behind Xehanort's drift to the darkness. While inactive for most of the series due to the actions of his “brother”, Tenebris remains the driving force behind the plot, and is finally freed during the final battle of Kingdom Hearts III after Xehanort's attempt to utilize Kingdom Hearts’ power, which had broken the boundaries between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness.
Backstory
Before the Universe
An enigmatic entity of unimaginable power, Tenebris' origin is very vague and never deeply delved into. According to his brother, Lux, Tenebris was the supreme ruler of all in the form of the darkness before the dawn of creation. However, when a light had shone in his infinite darkness, Tenebris grew angry, and sought to snuff it out with all his ability, only to learn that, when he did, it simply reappeared in another part of his own darkness.
One day, or whatever term could be used for the darkness from before time, Tenebris had been tending to his subjects (Who these beings were is never specified), a massive burst of light had shined, taking the form of an entity known as Lux. Encountering each other, the two "brothers" had clashed, the very aftereffects having an adverse effect on reality. This clash continued for an untold amount of time, with neither entity being able to topple the other, until eventually, their clashes had formed the very cosmos around them, coalescing into a single, massive world. In that moment, Lux banished Tenebris from reality and formed a border between the place Tenebris resided, and the main universe.
Before Kingdom Hearts χ
With the first life forms manifesting in the world, Lux had taken on a new form, that of an entity known as Kingdom Hearts, guarded by an object of his own creation known as the "χ-blade". Tenebris, enraged by his brothe'’s actions, had thrashed at the barrier Lux had set up for the next few centuries, with the only show of his efforts being small cracks. However, Tenebris still managed to seep infinitesimally small aspects of his existence through the cracks, which manifested in the World as greed over the light, forcing several of the inhabitants to want it for themselves, birthing darkness within their hearts. Taking a gamble, Tenebris had found a Keyblade Master titled "The Master of Masters", and imbued him with an eye of future-sight. However, he had also grown darkness in his heart, making him try and ensure the events he saw happened as opposed to trying to prevent them. This choice would eventually lead to the start of the Keyblade War.
Between Kingdom Hearts χ and Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
The resulting war over the light, the Keyblade War, had let Tenebris break free from his bonds and reach into the main universe. The very next instant, Lux had manifested and battled his opposite once again, the resulting clash shattering the entire World and consuming both it and Lux within Tenebris' own essence. However, much like before billions of years ago, a light had risen within the depths of Tenebris' darkness, and rebirthed the World, but separated it into countless individual worlds, once again banishing Tenebris' essence beyond reality, but taking Lux with him. For the next several thousand if not several million years, Tenebris had remained content within his own darkness, for no matter how much Lux struggled, his light would never break the boundaries he had set up eons ago.
An indeterminable amount of time later, Tenebris had his attention grabbed by a young man living on the world of Destiny Islands, with desires to explore other worlds. Seeing what the boy, named Xehanort, would accomplish if sent on the correct path, Tenebris planted seeds of darkness within Xehanort's heart, eventually sending him on the path he would later lead in the Kingdom Hearts series proper.
Kingdom Hearts III
During the final battle in the Keyblade Graveyard, Xehanort had caused the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness to attempt merging to make light and darkness exist in balance. While he was stopped and the barriers restored, Tenebris and Lux's essences managed to escape their imprisonment and engaged in battle once again, severely weakening each other and being forced into hiding for the time being.
Kingdom Hearts IV
In the one year following Sora's final battle with Xehanort, Tenebris had simply decided to bide his time and wait for himself to gather more power, but keeping a close eye on Sora through his insight gained by darkness, while also searching for his similarly weakened brother to ensure he doesn't interfere.
Eventually, despite not gaining his full power back, Tenebris decides to take action against Sora when he is unprepared, utterly dominating the Keyblade Wielder in the resulting battle. Attack after attack was thrown against the dark entity, but it did naught but briefly stagger him. However, the moment before the final blow would be dealt, a bright light appeared and shielded Sora from Tenebris, revealing itself to be Lux, and with a mere flick of his finger, Lux had reduced his brother to formless darkness for the time being, forcing him to disappear and regain his strength fully.
Appearance
Normally a formless mass of darkness, Tenebris' form entirely varies on what he simply desires to look like. His most typical form is that of an eight foot tall knight completely clad in armor, generally of golden and black color, with hints of blue and blood-red cloth. His armor is very asymmetrical in design, having two jagged spikes on one shoulder and four on the other, and generally having an inconsistent pattern on his body armor. Atop his head is a helmet, with four crimson lines running down the center and a more ornate design compared to the haphazard appearance of his armor. His final form is that of a massive, obsidian dragon with yellow eyes, razor-sharp claws and several spikes protruding from the back of his neck and the top of his head.
Personality
Befitting of his nature as darkness itself, Tenebris is an extremely sadistic and cruel being, laughing at the pain he delivers to others and carefully manipulating his enemies to psychologically break them apart. Loyal to no one, Tenebris completely follows his own agenda, with his cohorts merely being pawns in his game of chess, which he isn't afraid to sacrifice should the need arise. Immensely competent in combat (Even calling the abilities of any Keyblade Master in history "child's play"), Tenebris has a penchant of using underhanded tactics in battle to ensure his victory.
Powers and Stats
Tier: 3-A | Low 2-C | 2-C
Name: Tenebris, Darkness, Oscurita, "Supreme Lord", "Overlord of Shadows", "All-Father of Evil", "He-Who-Spreads-Shadows", "The Dark Demon", "The Supreme Master of Darkness"
Origin: Kingdom Hearts IV
Gender: Genderless, typically appears male
Age: Billions of years old (Represents the primordial darkness from before the dawn of creation)
Classification: Embodiment of Darkness, Creator of the Heartless
Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Immortality (Types 1, 3, 4 and 8), Regeneration (Mid-Godly), Reality Warping, Conceptual Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, Acausality, Primordial Darkness Manipulation, can turn beings into Heartless with a touch, Illusion Creation (Capable of creating virtually flawless illusions of even entire worlds in order to mentally break his foes), looking at his true form will cause one to see what they most deeply fear and eventually drive them insane, Possession, Precognition (Long-term), Clairvoyance, Mind Manipulation, Matter Manipulation, Space-Time Manipulation, Soul Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation, Nothingness Manipulation, Non-Corporeal, Necromancy, Fate Manipulation (Possesses his own collection of threads of life, which he can cut at will), Death Manipulation, Elemental Manipulation (Of the fire, ice, lightning, earth and air variety), can create black holes, can "undo" Healing or Regeneration, can attack the mind, soul, spirit and metaphysical essence all at once, can attack at every point in time simultaneously, Telepathy (Able to make make contact with Sora even when inside another universe), Telekinesis, Teleportation (Of himself and others, also able to teleport parts/aspects of an opponent off of them, cross-universal and cross-temporal range), Omnimalevolence (Tenebris represents boundless evil and cruelty, and is completely incapable of performing good deeds), Empathic Manipulation, can control divinity, science, magic and philosophy as one force, Absorption (Anything that touches Tenebris' true form will simply be absorbed into his essence), Barrier Creation, Chaotic Form (If Tenebris were to reveal his true form, the entire universe would twist into darkness), Irreversible Destruction (Any wounds Tenebris inflicts cannot be healed or regenerated, and anything he destroys cannot be recreated), Size Manipulation (Capable of growing large enough to hold worlds in his palm, and shrink worlds down to the size of chess pieces), transcends any natural laws (Including physics, probability and mortality), Duplication, Poison Manipulation, Immunity to Soul Manipulation (Tenebris completely lacks a heart, which is essentially synonymous with the soul in Kingdom Hearts), Heavy Resistance to Mind Manipulation (According to both himself and Lux, Tenebris' mind is purely eldritch and unknowable by mortal beings, and trying to look into it will result in one losing their sanity), Immunity to Fate Manipulation (The Sisters of Fate stated that Tenebris was beyond their command, as was he beyond fate and destiny themselves), Anti Storage (His nature as somewhat omnipresent darkness makes it impossible to bind him in one place. The only way to truly bind him is to bind the very concept of darkness), Immunity to Empathic Manipulation (Tenebris does not feel true emotions as he has no heart, and the emotions we see him present are merely facades)
Attack Potency: Universe level (Casually outmatched KHIV Sora, whose KHIII incarnation fought and defeated Master Xehanort empowered by Kingdom Hearts, who planned to remake the Realm of Light) | Universe level+ (Commands and controls all space-time in the universe) | Multi-Universe level (Far more powerful than his previous form, and was going to destroy the Realm of Light, the Realm of Darkness, and the Realm Between)
Speed: Massively FTL+ (Has traveled the Oceans Between to several worlds without external assistance, mentioned that he's "wandered the cosmos" in the time between KHIII and KHIV) | Immeasurable (Predates the very concepts of time and space, and is capable of taking action during that period of time), Nigh-Omnipresent without a physical body (Tenebris’ existence is spread throughout wherever darkness exists), Omnipresent in the Realm of Darkness
Lifting Strength: At least Class M+, likely much higher (Casually overpowered Sora in a contest of physical strength) | Immeasurable (His sword, which he swings around with ease, is described as having "the weight of space-time itself" imbued into it)
Striking Strength: Universe Class (Tenebris' strikes were violent enough to even cause Sora's Keyblade to crack and nearly shatter) | Universal+ (Capable of matching his brother, his strikes demonstrated the ability to shatter time and space and leave an empty white void in their wake) | Multi-Universal (Capable of knocking back his own energy projectiles with tail strikes)
Durability: Universe level (Sora's strikes were unable to significantly damage Tenebris until Lux himself had driven him back) | Universe level+ (Tanked strikes from Lux and stalemated him for billions of years) | Multiverse level (Capable of tanking his projectiles redirected at him while only experiencing slight annoyance), in all forms, regeneration, immortality, the nature of his true form and conceptual existence make him virtually impossible to kill (Sora, even when empowered by Lux’s light, was unable to kill Tenebris and could only dissipate his existence to prevent him from ever manifesting in the Realm of Light)
Stamina: Limitless (By the nature of his existence he is incapable of feeling fatigue, fought his brother for eons on end)
Range: Multi-Universal (Capable of affecting the Realm of Light, the Realm Between and the Realm of Darkness at the same time)
Standard Equipment: A sword (Human form only), various threads of life
Intelligence: Nigh-Omniscient (Tenebris’ awareness extends to wherever darkness does, giving him insight on most of the universe since before the beginning of time)
Weaknesses: Light energies are capable of dissolving his physical form for an indeterminable amount of time (However, this requires light so strong that the combined light of Sora and Lux were only barely able to accomplish it), sufficiently pure entities can resist being transformed into Heartless, his own power is too overwhelming for his vessels to bear, and they'll quickly decompose if he remains in them long enough
Key: Weakened Form | Normal Form | Final Form
Notable Attacks/Techniques:
- Gaze of Agony: When one looks upon Tenebris' form, they suddenly experience every single pain imaginable while not actually being injured, leaving them crippled in agony while Tenebris merely stands there, not even lifting a finger.
- Conscious Misery: Tenebris swaps his opponent's conscious (Which determines actions, memory and reactions) and unconscious minds (Which makes dreams), leaving their dreams a futile reality while their entire life becomes impossible to grasp, essentially "shutting off" the opponent's body, as their mind is unable to make decisions for it anymore.
- Deprivation: Tenebris places his hand on his opponent's forehead and strips them of their five senses and completely scrambles their thought process, leaving them blindly stumbling around as they can't focus on one particular objective.
- De-Perfection: Tenebris is capable of taking any flaw in his opponent (Whether it be something like a small scar, a degenerating cell or some mental limitation) and amplify it by an untold amount, causing what would otherwise be minor imperfections and turn them into crippling weaknesses. This is even inclusive of mental flaws, letting him turn otherwise odd individuals into completely deranged lunatics.
- Complete Removal: Tenebris is capable of controlling a force of being known as the "core of life", the most absolute fundamental essence of anyone's existence, even moreso than the heart, body and mind. With the slightest bit of concentration, Tenebris can extract the core of life from his opponent's being, bypassing all durability, regeneration, and other defensive abilities, and killing them without even letting them experience the afterlife.
- Absolute Deconstruction: Tenebris' mere aura is a force of absolute destruction, and anything that gets near him gets broken down to the point where even their metaphysical existence gets destroyed.
- Hollow Shell: Tenebris, with a mere touch, can completely remove an entity of all of their feelings, leaving them empty husks. This also removes their will to fight and will to survive, leading them to soon suffocate due to lacking the will to breathe. Even if they do not need to breathe, their heart will simply stop beating and their blood will stop running through their body; and even then, they will simply stand there as Tenebris does what he wishes to them.
- Magic: Tenebris, due to his age, experience and nature, possesses a command of magic astronomically above any other character in the series, being able to cast the extremely devastating "-ma" level spells, whose effects are far above even the -za level spells. This includes spells such as:
- Firama: Tenebris summons a fireball burning with white fire. The heat emanating off of it is literally infinite (And he can increase it infinitely if he so desires) and if gone out of control could turn entire worlds to ash. Tenebris is even capable of enhancing this further by making it burn the target on a mental, spiritual and astral level. The flames are supernatural in nature and cannot be put out by regular means. Additionally, the flames "burn" other fire, causing them to stop existing.
- Blizzama: Tenebris generates ice within his hand to fire at his enemies, freezing them with Absolute Zero temperatures (Which he can enhance much like Firama) and even possessing the capacity to "freeze" time and space themselves. He can even take this one step further and freeze his opponent's mind, soul and spiritual essence.
- Thundama: Tenebris creates a cloud measuring several million kilometers across and rains down lightning upon his enemies, each bolt holding immeasurable voltage.
- Aeroma: Tenebris forms a barrier made of violent winds around himself. Any projectiles will merely be reflected back at the opponent or just torn to pieces, and attempting to reach through it will result in the person being shred to stains of blood.
- Gravima: Tenebris forms a miniature gravitational field with enough strength to make stellar gravity appear like zero gravity. The gravity is even intense enough to compress both time and space, forming singularities as a result of their usage, and causing both the past and future to appear in the present.
- Magnema: Tenebris creates a magnetic field to draw any objects towards him, even potent enough to shift the arrangements of worlds in the sky.
- Stopma: When Tenebris activates it, time across the entire universe across all of history is halted except for Tenebis himself, which will only be disabled when he so chooses. This is even capable of working in areas where time and space no longer exist.
- Reflema: Tenebris erects an omnidirectional shield around his being to nullify his opponent's attacks (Regardless of their type) and hit them back with even greater magnitude.
- Deathma: Tenebris waves his hand to emanate spectral energies that will instantly kill whatever they hit, be they living beings, spirits, concepts and even the particles within close proximity. Anything killed by Deathma cannot be resurrected and will not go to the afterlife, instead the essences of their existences being bound to Tenebris' own being, allowing him to use their powers and techniques whenever he desires.
- Poisonma: Tenebris generates a cloud of colorless air that's virtually invisible, and holds the deadliest toxin in all worlds. If a living being even breathes a few particles of it, their bodies will spontaneously break down as all of their cells degenerate and their organs stop functioning. This poison is even able to break down the mind and heart, soon erasing the recipient on all levels of existence.
Note: Currently a work-in-progress regarding his full backstory, personality and techniques.
Others
Notable Victories:
Notable Losses:
Inconclusive Matches:
Trivia
- Tenebris draws inspiration from Methuselah from the visual novel Dies Irae ~Interview with Kaziklu Bey~ and Unicron from the multi-media franchise Transformers. More specifically, with his nature as a primordial being that embodies darkness (Both), has a human form with red hair (Methuselah) and a twin brother who represents light (Unicron).
- He also has slight parallels with The Overlord from the CGI cartoon series Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu, namely with his final form being a massive black dragon.
- Tenebris' voice is meant to resemble Frank Welker in his voice work as Megatron in Transformers Prime, seen here.
- Tenebris' name is Latin for "Dark", while his alias of Oscurita is Italian for "Darkness".