Kirby (novel character)
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- This article is about Kirby as a character in the novels. For the novel series itself, see Kirby (novel series). For Kirby in the games, see Kirby. For other uses of Kirby, see Kirby (disambiguation).
Kirby is one of the four primary protagonists of the Kirby novel series, alongside King Dedede, Meta Knight, and Waddle Dee, and stars in almost every novel volume in the series as the main focused protagonist. He resides in Dream Land, often spending his time either eating, daydreaming, or taking a nap. Much like his video game counterpart, he is portrayed as a young, naïve puffball with a very large appetite, along with the ability to inhale certain creatures to gain their respective Copy Ability. He is friends with Meta Knight and best friends with Waddle Dee, but he is often in conflict with King Dedede, as they are usually not particularly fond of each-other.
Characteristics[edit]
“ | Gluttonous and peppy! Can copy the abilities of those he inhales. Easily taken advantage of. | ” | — Unofficial translation of Kirby's description |
Kirby, identical in appearance to his video game counterpart, is a pink ball-shaped entity with red feet and blue eyes. He is portrayed as a cheerful young boy with the capability to speak in full sentences, and be understood clearly by other characters, which sets him apart from his video game counterpart, who in very few games in the Kirby series is able to speak, and his anime counterpart, who usually is only able to say 'poyo' and is portrayed as a toddler.
Because of his childish nature, he expects others to fulfill his desires without a word about it and will throw a tantrum otherwise. He will push around timid characters because of this, especially because of how widely renowned he is among most for his powers and adventures. He will often only pay full attention to what someone is saying to him if it is related to food or a particularly serious matter. Otherwise, he will almost completely forget what other characters tell him. Food of any type will make him lose track of what he was doing originally, and he will run after any he can get his hands on, even if in the middle of a dire situation. He is naïve and innocent, but despite this, he will toughen up when he must.
Additionally, upon gaining a Copy Ability after using his signature inhale on a certain creature or person, his strength will increase greatly, allowing him to accomplish feats otherwise hardly considerable for the puffball. Without a Copy Ability, Kirby uses his Air Bullet as his main method of attack, which is not as effective.
Relationships[edit]
Because of his innocence and cheery behavior, Kirby usually is accepting of anyone without a second thought on whether or not they are trustworthy, becoming quick friends with them, though he has a few closer friends in particular.
- Waddle Dee - Despite the trouble that their friendship causes, Kirby is the best of friends with Waddle Dee and enjoys his company. However, because of Waddle Dee's timid nature, Kirby often pushes him around.
- King Dedede - When in close contact, Kirby will often clash with King Dedede due to the aggression Dedede holds against him, but when he and Dedede must work towards the same goal, particularly one relating to food, Kirby will get along with Dedede particularly well in such a way that suggests they are old friends.
- Meta Knight - Due to Meta Knight's unknown origins and tendency to keep to himself, Kirby is not particularly close friends with Meta Knight, though he is still on good terms with the masked warrior and treats him as a trusted companion.
Volume appearances[edit]
The following is a complete list of every appearance Kirby has made in the Kirby novel series, along with the role he plays and its details in the plot of each volume:
Kirby's appearances in the Kirby novel series | ||||
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Volume | Image | Role | Role details | Notes |
Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby informally makes his way into a celebration hosted by a newcomer to Dream Land—Mrs. Parfaitski—by cross-dressing with King Dedede as Meta Knight's lady partner, as the knight received a formal invitation. Mrs. Parfaitski is then kidnapped during it, and Kirby and friends set off to find her. When they do, they learn she had went to unnecessary measures to make her celebration pleasing to her standards. In hopes to emotionally move her and change her ways, Kirby sings to her using the Mike Copy Ability, forcing her to give in because of her newfound dread for the puffball's ear-splitting singing. Afterwards, Mrs. Parfaitski gives the three fruit as a gift after a change of heart, but it is soon inhaled entirely by Kirby, and a chase commences after Dedede goes after him in anger. | ||
Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby is unknowingly targeted by a trio of siblings called Kerota, Keroji, and Kerolina, who are after him to use his powers to collect wondrous mystical fruits. The siblings, with hardly any leads, mistake King Dedede for the puffball, and Kirby and friends head after them. Once found, Kirby confronts Dedede in anger for willingly impersonating him, and ends up chasing him off. Later down the line, after Kirby manages to find and harvest the fruits, he and King Dedede come face-to-face again and cause a chaotic fight to break out. As they were distracted, the Woodkeeper—a sly thief who had tagged along with Dedede—then steals the source object of the fruits' growth. Kirby quickly inhales a nearby Miracle Fruit and gains Hypernova, then after putting a stop to the Woodkeeper's planned escape in an aircraft, returning things to normal, and coming to good terms with the siblings. | ||
Kirby Meets the Squeak Squad! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby and Waddle Dee discover an egg in an old temple. The mother bird, Acti Blade, trusts them to take care of it for ten days at Castle Dedede while she heals an injury of hers. The Squeaks repeatedly try to steal the egg, but Kirby successfully stops them each time. When they return to the temple, the Squeaks take Waddle Dee, but then fall into a trap door, so Kirby and King Dedede float down after them. Down there are underground rooms with many threats, which Kirby fends off with help from the others. After Acti Blade returns and flies them all out of the temple, her egg hatches. The newly-hatched chick recognizes Kirby's voice, and is delighted to see him. | ||
Kirby: Meta Knight and the Puppet Princess | Deuteragonist | In this volume, Kirby tags along with Meta Knight on his journey to the sweets-filled planet Chiffon Star. Their task is to search for the missing Princess Marona, but Kirby only has sweets on his mind. While Meta Knight asks around for details at the castle, Kirby and King Dedede chow down on cakes being served to them, much to Meta Knight's annoyance. The group finds out that the princess was manipulated by Baron Gallic, a villain who uses his powerful Malice Stone to control people. Kirby is unaffected by the stone's power, because he is always thinking about foods that he loves. When the group confronts Baron Gallic, Kirby almost defeats him with the Sword ability, but the baron puts Blade Knight under the control of his stone, and they escape to his lair. When Kirby and Meta Knight venture out to Baron Gallic's lair, the baron escapes outside, and puts Sword Knight under his control too. Kirby inhales the two hypnotized knights, allowing Meta Knight to go after Gallic. After Baron Gallic's defeat, the king's birthday party is finally held, but Kirby is so worried about Meta Knight that he cannot even enjoy his cake. When Meta Knight arrives, Kirby happily leaps at him, and is back to his old cheerfulness. | This is the first novel where Kirby is not the protagonist. Meta Knight is the star of this volume instead. | |
Kirby: Big Race in Pupupu Land! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby hears that a TV production will be filmed in Dream Land. He excitedly barges into Castle Dedede as the producer, Kizario, reveals that it will be a race. At the beginning of the race, Kirby runs behind by helping Waddle Dee, who is nowhere near as athletic as him. Kirby's vehicle of choice is the Warp Star, which is a perfect fit for him. At the spicy food-eating contest, Kirby inhales Mr. Frosty to soothe the spice with the Ice ability. Later on, Mr. Frosty finds Kirby, and angrily attacks him for this. This causes Kirby to crash, and his Warp Star breaks. He then meets a shady man named Kurron who uses magic to repair his Warp Star. A scream is heard in a forest nearby, and they rush over to help. They meet Kizario and the other contestants there and find Kizario's pet Peperon, who is gigantified. Peperon recognizes Kizario and approaches him, only for the two of them to fall off a cliff into a river. Kirby inhales Capsule J2 to fly down with the Jet ability and save them. In the end, Waddle Dee wins the race, and Kirby is the only good sport who is happy for him. | ||
Kirby Clash Team Unite! | Protagonist | |||
Kirby's Decisive Battle! Battle Royale!! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby wakes up from hearing Waddle Dee giving leaflets about Dedede's Cake Royale. Kirby mishears and thinks that the tournament is about food and not fighting. When the truth is revealed, Kirby loses interest, only being swayed after hearing that the prize for winning is a special cake. Kirby inhales Sword Knight to get the Sword ability for the tournament. He is challenged by Soldier Waddle Dee to a match of Apple Scramble. Kirby manages to collect enough apples to win the match, and he is let in the Battle Castle. Kirby joins the tournament with Waddle Dee as his partner. In the first match, Kirby and Waddle Dee fight two Kirby copies in a Battle Arena and win. For the next match, Kirby and Waddle Dee fight Mirror Kirby and Doctor Kirby in Crazy Theater. Kirby and Waddle Dee win the round and for the next one, face Hammer and Whip Kirby in a match of Ore Express. While Waddle Dee gets the ore, Kirby fends off Whip Kirby, and they win the match. In the next round, they face against Meta Knight and Axe Knight in a match of Flagball. Meta Knight wants to test Kirby's strength and continue to chase after him. Eventually Kirby becomes mad and accept the challenge of a swordfight. When Kirby sees the ball, he stops the fight and start chasing it. Waddle Dee brings the flag next to Kirby, helping him score the winning point. For the final round, Kirby and Dedede fight in a one-on-one match. When Kirby loses the Sword ability, Knuckle Joe tries to help and fails. Moonja lets Kirby inhale him, getting the Ninja ability, and with it, Kirby defeats King Dedede. However, Dedede refuses to quit and challenges Kirby to a match in the top floor against the Dededestroyer Z. The copies created by the machine overwhelm Kirby, until Waddle Dee shows up and gives him a cannon to shoot the copies to attack the machine. Kirby defeats Dedede and the Dededestroyer Z. Kirby tries to destroy the Kirby Printer, but to no avail. Only when Kirby and Dedede attack it together, the printer is destroyed. Kirby and Waddle are declared the winners of the tournament and Kirby gets to inhale all the cake. | ||
Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby is sent to Patch Land, where he meets Prince Fluff and he asks for his help putting together his world back together, which was torn apart by Yin-Yarn. As Kirby ate a Metamato at the beginning of the story, he is able to use a Yarn Whip, as well as transform into various Transformations, which end up being key to their success as the two go around Patch Land's various continents, defeat their bosses, and retrieve the pieces of the Magic Yarn each one hold. Occasionally, Kirby also makes use of Ravel Balls to get Ravel Abilities. After putting Patch Land back together, they hear from Meta Knight that Yin-Yarn transformed all of Dream Land into yarn, and Kirby and company go through a Magic Sock back to Dream Land. There, Kirby, with the help of Fluff, defeats Yin-Yarn for good, restoring his home back to normal. | As this volume is an adaptation of Kirby's Extra Epic Yarn, Kirby's role is largely the same as the one in the game. | |
Kirby: Save the Rainbow Islands! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby is visited by Rick, Kine and Coo, who tell him that it stopped raining in the Rainbow Islands which causes trouble and makes the Rainbow Bridges disappear and Kirby agrees to help. After finding Pirika and hearing her story, Kirby and his friends decide to join her and to help her defeat the creature. After they reach the cloud and find out that the creature is Gooey, Kirby dismisses Pirika's story as a misunderstanding, until Gooey starts to attack Pirika. As he doesn't want to fight his friend, Kirby runs away with Pirika. Because Kine is afraid to go into the lake alone, Kirby agrees to go with him. Before they jump into the water, Gooey attacks them again, hurling Kirby into the tree and making him faint. Coo wakes him up and Kirby uses his inhale to stop Gooey. Coo prevents Kirby from jumping into the water to rescue King Dedede and Meta Knight. Pirika orders the puppeted Meta Knight and Dedede to attack Kirby, and Kirby struggles to fight them. Coo saves Kirby from their attacks. Gooey wraps his tongue around Kirby and flings him at King Dedede. Due to the Knockback from the throw, they defeat Dedede and Meta Knight, knocks Kirby out too. After they defeat Pirika, the group wakes up Kirby. When the group inspects the tree, Kirby notices the similarities of the tree to the Dreamstalk. Kirby begins to chase Pirika after she breaks out, but fails to catch up. To stop Pirika from pouring the puppet potion onto the Rainbow Islands, Kirby sucks up all the water from the lake, making him fall unconscious. When unconscious, Kirby looks like he is in a lot of pain. Kirby wakes up and does not become puppeted because of his pure heart. Kirby tells Pirika that he sensed her pain while drinking the lake water and asks her about her feelings. Hearing her story, Kirby offers to her to be friends but and insists, joined by the others, until she accepts the offer. To make Dedede less mad at Pirika Kirby begins to play tag with everyone. Kirby offers Pirika to come with them, but she declines. The next day, Kirby and Waddle Dee go to the beach and enjoy the sight of the Rainbow Bridges. | ||
Kirby and the Search for the Dreamy Gears! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby is an airplane pilot who never lost a race. In the beginning of the story, Kirby wins his one hundredth race against President Dedede. When he hears the news about the missing gears, at first, he doesn’t care about the prize money, until he hears from Waddle Dee that the amount of money is equal to 100,000 servings at Chef Kawasaki’s restaurant, which makes him want to search after the gears. When Magolor offers Kirby to join his search for the gears, Kirby agrees. He tells Magolor that he got his Star Compass from the Great Elder of the Magic Guild as a thank you gift but didn’t understand its purpose. He gives Magolor his compass so they can find the place of the gears. Kirby and Waddle Dee agree to search for the gear in the field. They follow the Star Compass glow but can’t find the gear. Only when Kirby takes a break and lies down, he finds that the gear is in the sky. He flies with his airplane and catches the gear. Later, he puts the gear in Magolor’s box to keep them safe. He helps chase Magolor after he betrays the group. After learning about the true nature of the ancient machine, he and Waddle Dee have a plan into give the gears to Hugo unsuspiciously. When Waddle Dee is taken hostage by Hugo according to the plan, Kirby tells the group to give him the gears. In the end, the plan of Kirby and Waddle Dee succeeds, and they defeat Hugo. Kirby, President Dedede and Meta Knight have a plane race which ends in all their planes crushed, and they go eat chocolate cake. | This story takes place in an alternate universe. | |
Kirby: Uproar at the Kirby Café?! | Protagonist | In this volume, Kirby comes to Chef Kawasaki's restaurant and orders food. Kawasaki offers to try the new Whispy Woods pie and Kirby agrees. Kirby tries to inhale the pie, but Kawasaki stops him because he wants him to savor the dish. Kirby does that and enjoys the pie. They discuss King Dedede's strange behavior with the pie and then go together to collect more fruit for the pie from Whispy Woods. When the pie becomes a hit, Kirby is tasked with gathering the fruit. He is joined by Bandana Waddle Dee, and Kirby convinces Whispy to let him help. Kirby and Waddle Dee gather the fruits, going back and forth which tires them. Kirby gets the idea to move the café closer to Whispy. He tells this to Kawasaki, and Kawasaki tells him that instead they should open a side café. Kirby and Bandana Waddle Dee start to work on the new café, building new furniture, but Kirby builds it too rashly. Seeing Kirby working on the café, the residents of Dream Land start calling it the "Kirby Café". When Kirby hears about the Dedede Café's dishes, he thinks the sound tasty and starts to come up with new dishes to try and beat them. Kirby accepts the cooking match against the Dedede Café. Kirby promises to help cure Whispy Woods and looks around for medicine, but he cannot find anything to help. Kirby and King Dedede go to search for Green Spider Grass in the mountains for a cure and eat all their food too quickly. Kirby accidentally touches a spider's web, triggering an alarm, which calls for the insects, who attack them. Kirby and Dedede are defeated and thrown to jail. After three days, they smell something sweet and hear from a Beetley about the harvesting of fruit, causing them to break out of their cell. They go to the insect's pantry, and begin to eat all the fruit. Kirby inhales Hornhead, who tried to stop them, gaining the Beetle ability. Kirby fights Bugzzy and wins, gaining his respect. Bugzzy gives them the Green Spider Grass, and they go back. They crash in the middle of the cooking competition and Kirby convinces Meta Knight to delay the final round so they can cure Whispy. After Whispy Wood is cured, Kirby helps Chef Kawasaki to create the final dish, stuffing everything he can to the parfait. When Meta Knight declares a tie, Kirby and Kawasaki celebrate. At the end of the story, Kirby is happy that Dedede allows Waddle Dee to work at the Kirby Café. |
Trivia[edit]
- Kirby is one of the three characters who appears in every volume of the novel series. The other two are Waddle Dee and Meta Knight.
Gallery[edit]
Artwork[edit]
Character artwork from Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!
Character artwork from Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods!
Character artwork from Kirby Meets the Squeak Squad!
Character artwork from Kirby: Meta Knight and the Puppet Princess
Character artwork from Kirby: Big Race in Pupupu Land!
Character artwork from Kirby's Labyrinth Rescue!
Character artwork from Kirby and the Great Planet Robobot Adventure!
Character artwork from Kirby Clash Team Unite!
Character artwork from Kirby's Decisive Battle! Battle Royale!!
Character artwork from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Character artwork from Kirby: Save the Rainbow Islands!
Character artwork from Kirby: Super Team Kirby's Big Battle!
Character artwork from Kirby and the Search for the Dreamy Gears!
Character artwork from Kirby: Meta Knight and the Knight of Yomi
Character artwork from Kirby: Uproar at the Kirby Café?!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby Meets the Squeak Squad!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby's Labyrinth Rescue!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby and the Great Planet Robobot Adventure!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby Clash Team Unite!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby's Decisive Battle! Battle Royale!!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby Star Allies: The Great Friend Adventure!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby Star Allies: The Universe is in Trouble?!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby: Save the Rainbow Islands!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby: Super Team Kirby's Big Battle!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby: Uproar at the Kirby Café?!
Dust jacket illustration from Kirby Fighters: The Destined Rivals!!
Obi illustration of Kirby from Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!
Illustrations[edit]
Illustration of Cutter Kirby from Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!
Illustration of Wheel Kirby from Kirby and the Dangerous Gourmet Mansion?!
Illustration of Fire Kirby from Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods!
Illustration of Kirby standing beside a Miracle Fruit vine from Kirby and the Big Panic in Gloomy Woods!
Illustration of Kirby being reunited with Waddle Dee from Kirby Clash Team Unite!
Illustration of Kirby and Fluff wreaking havoc in Grass Land with the Tankbot from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Illustration of Kirby with the Fire Engine transformation from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Illustration of Kirby with the Knitting Needles Ravel Ability from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Illustration of Kirby with the Marking Pins Ravel Ability from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Illustration of Kirby and Fluff watching the devils carry King Dedede to Patch Castle from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!
Illustration of Rocket Kirby and Fluff flying to Stellar Way from Kirby: Big Trouble in Patch Land!