| “ | May your heart be your guiding key. | „ |
| ~ The Master of Masters' most famous catchphrase. |
| “ | Well, I could lie and tell you I'm a fortune teller, when I'm actually a brilliant artist, or even a scholar. I could tell you that I dream of world peace, when I'm actually planning for its destruction. The truth is what you see with your eyes, not what you hear. | „ |
| ~ The Master of Masters talking to Xehanort. |
The Master of Masters is the main antagonist of the Kingdom Hearts franchise, being the overarching antagonist of the Dark Seeker Saga and the main antagonist of the Lost Masters Arc.
He is a Keyblade Master who is gifted with the power of foresight. He is the author of the Book of Prophecies, the mentor of Ira, Aced, Invi, Ava, Gula and Luxu, and the one indirectly responsible for the final battle for Keyblade War and the one who drove Xehanort to a path of Darkness.
He was voiced by Tomozaku Sugita (who also voiced Dark Lugiel, Charlotte Katakuri, Taiju Shiba, and Satan) in Japanese and Ray Chase (who also voiced Gabriel, Gendo Ikari, Sukuna, Yuuki Terumi, Roswaal Mathers, Genichiro Ashina, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky) in English.
Appearance
The Master of Masters appears as a person completely concealed in a black coat. Nothing else is known about the Master's appearance beneath the hood, although according to Chirithy he has an eye that gazes into the future. As the Master has installed one of his eyes inside the Gazing Eye, he has seemingly lost one of his eyes, although it remains unknown if he can't just regenerate or replace it.
Biography
When the Master of Masters was just a boy, the Keyblade War had already began between light and darkness. There were other Keyblade wielders at that time and he stated that he had many comrades and loved ones but he didn't have a Master of his own despite being a Keyblade Master, meaning he created the title himself. During the battle with the darkness, it took the form similar to, but not quite, that of a human. In time, the Master of Masters lost many of his comrades as darkness overtook their hearts.
Kingdom Hearts X Back Cover
Years later, the Master of Masters, having studied the χ-blade, used the skills he learned from it to take in six apprentices, Luxu, Ira, Ava, Invi, Aced and Gula, and began to train them into becoming Keyblade Masters of their own right, giving them Keyblades crafted from their own hearts and their names. The Master of Masters also created the Book of Prophecies with his Gazing Eye to view any events in the future it witnesses and copied it multiple times so all his apprentices except Luxu could have their own Book of Prophecies. The Master of Masters also devised a sophisticated plan to end the darkness once and for all by training his apprentices so they along with himself can lock away the seven strongest beings of darkness that would be defeated when they were sent away by the future generations of light that would be born in the future and then ending Keyblade War by temporarily destroying the world but leaving the Dandelions to recreate the world upon leaving the data world. Luxu, however, is unable to accept their roles as sacrifices, follows his own path, ultimately becoming the Traitor.
After Luxu leaves, the Master of Masters then proceeds to reveal that he will disappear and makes Ira leader of the Foretellers to keep his other apprentices in check, but rebukes Ira's desire to prevent the final battle of the Keyblade War he had planned, stating it was inevitable. He then makes Aced Ira's right-hand man, with the task of taking charge should Ira prove to slack in his task, accounting in Aced's react personality to push Ira into action but considering his true intentions, and Invi the moderator, tasked with keeping watch over the others and reporting to Ira if the others tried to disobey his teachings, with the likely intention to delay the Keyblade War until Ava's task, to gather all the exceptional Keyblade wielders he chose from every union to form the Dandelions and train them to venture out of the destroyed world to ensure the survival of the light and recreation of the world.
Gula's task to stop the traitor in the Lost Page was clearly a set-up mission to make Gula gather the Lux needed to summon Kingdom Hearts, knowing the others will have to counter him by gathering as many Lux as possible. Finally, he creates the Chirithy to aid Keyblade wielders, with a warning to his apprentices that if the wielder falls to darkness, their Chirithy will be corrupted and become a Nightmare.
With all his plans done, the Master of Masters then carries out his plan and vanishes into Quadratum to ensure no one would be able to find him, leaving so little traces that the Foretellers, despite their search, are unable to find the Master.
Meeting Xehanort
The Master of Masters had met with a young Keyblade wielder named Xehanort. They both met each other at the Keyblade Graveyard, and how the latter would have given him his Black Coat with which to repel Darkness while browsing the different Worlds. Xehanort tells the Master that all the "Corruption" he had seen through the many Worlds he had visited had made him lose his faith in Humanity. Determined to put Order into this Chaos, he decides that it would be necessary to "remake the Worlds". He says his decision will become clear after his next Mark of Mastery Exam, but the Master of Masters tells Xehanort that the results don't matter if one has already made his decision. He says that soon Xehanort will no longer need his Black Coat, as it will be powerful enough to control the Darkness without it. Xehanort asks if he is a fortune teller, but Master of Masters will only make numerous claims about his identity before telling Xehanort his name, proving to be one of the "Lost Masters".
Kingdom Hearts III
The Master of Masters is mentioned by the Secret Reports written by Luxu. It was stated that out of the five new Union leaders, there is one he didn't chose. Luxu also lamented that without the Master, the darkness began to spread even without any Keyblade War. It has been stated that the Master will return after the Keyblade War comes to a close and the Foretellers are reunited with Luxu.
The Master of Masters is seen in the secret movie Yozora. As he stands atop a building, he uses his hands to make an outline of Kingdom Hearts with the distant moon.
Personality
The true personality of the Master is unknown due to his contradicting manner in all his appearances. He constantly behaves in an unpredictable and eccentric manner despite his extraordinary intelligence and wisdom but his ability to stage the Keyblade War while ensuring the worlds would still exist, manipulating his own loyal apprentices with no apparent qualms despite their absolute loyalty and his apparent affection for them, indicates a machiavellian personality.
His true allegiance remains unknown as although he apparently cared enough for the existence of the worlds to ensure they would survive despite this not stopping him from carrying out his mysterious plans, he was willing to let several disastrous events unfold while merely watching. In addition, he is quite capable of being serious, as displayed by his ability to strike clear worry into his extremely powerful apprentices when they asked him regarding their roles, despite often returning to his old self.
The Master of Masters is an extraordinary strategist and manipulator, as he gave each of the Foretellers their own roles specifically based on his knowledge of how they would react to successfully ensure the Keyblade War would occur and despite the overwhelming darkness unleashed from the war, he was still able to successfully keep the light from fully expiring and prevent the darkness from completely consuming everything, allowing the worlds to exist, but separated, by having the members of the Dandelions transported to a different worldline so as to protect them and their light.
The Master of Masters himself firmly stands against the Darkness to where he expresses clear shock that Luxu would compare Darkness to himself and considered the entity that refers to itself as Darkness as being his complete opposite, despite Darkness referring to the Master as an old friend, showing that the Master ultimately remains inclined to the light, even if he is willing to let darkness rampage. While conversing with Darkness, he keeps a polite tone but also makes his stance against it clear as he specifically stated that he ended the original world to recreate it to a better one with future generations of light capable of defeating the forces of darkness and also stated that he would have never let Darkness read the Book of Prophecies had it contained knowledge of everything.
Powers and Abilities
While the Master of Masters' true power remains unknown, he is still considered to be quite powerful, he can spawn Keyblades from the hearts of others. He is highly intelligent, as he is able to create new entities such as the Chirithy Dream Eaters, and he is able to see the future with his Gazing Eye, in other words, his eye on the Keyblade No Name.
Gallery
Trivia
- Its never confirmed if the Gazing Eye is the Master's literal eye or simply a talisman that connection to his mind's eye.
- Though its subtly implied to be true, as he turns his while body to the right when looking at someone and only tilts his head to the left; implying partial blindness.
- The Master is implied to have the ability to travel to and from Unreality with no consequences; even choosing the era of the Realm of Light he wishes to enter.
- The Master has an ironic sense of humor, as the new names he gave his apprentices are Latin for six of the Seven Deadly Sins; they all display the opposite traits he named them.
- Ira: named after Wrath, he is the most calm and rational.
- Aced: named after Sloth, he takes proactive action.
- Gula: named after Gluttony, he is content with what he has and doesnt wish for more.
- Invi: named aftee Envy, she is thoughtful of others and tries to mediate.
- Ava: named after Greed, she is always putting herself at risk to help others; even trying to find a way to do more.
- Luxu: named after Lust, he has no desire to form real bonds with anyone other than the Foretellers.
- Referring to above, the Master himself would represent Humility, the opposite of Pride; none of what he does is for any glory nor a reward of some kind.
