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Is Darkling a heartless or new kind of dark creature?



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Nukara

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As far as I understand Darkling appears only from the owners of keyblade?
Is it possible to call him a kind of heartless or is it just the owner of a keyblade who has been perverted by darkness, but at the same time he has not divided into neither heartless nor anyone?
 
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Yes I think they are pureblood heartless, born from the darkness in the hearts of Keyblade Wielders. Apparently there has been an enemy in UX called a Heartless Tsum which is a stack of cute Heartless, and it includes a Darkling. 600px-Heartless_Tsum_KHUX.png
 

okhi12

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It's design makes quite obvious it is a heartless, though it's not explicitly stated.
However they must be a special type of heartless because they seem to retain some awareness and intellect, unlike usual heartless that are feral beings driven by instinct. Until they appeared the only exception to that rule was Xehanort's heartless who also retained his mind. I'd say the Guardian, too (kinda, at least in KH3D after Riku defeated Ansem and in KH3 before Terra was freed). But as it was a special entity acting as a container for Terra's imprisoned heart, maybe it doesn't count.
 
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It's design makes quite obvious it is a heartless, though it's not explicitly stated.
However they must be a special type of heartless because they seem to retain some awareness and intellect, unlike usual heartless that are feral beings driven by instinct. Until they appeared the only exception to that rule was Xehanort's heartless who also retained his mind. I'd say the Guardian, too (kinda, at least in KH3D after Riku defeated Ansem and in KH3 before Terra was freed). But as it was a special entity acting as a container for Terra's imprisoned heart, maybe it doesn't count.
Sora's heartless also retains his mind in KH1. And from what I recall, the Darklings keep their mind in a lesser way to Ansem, Sora, and the Guardian. Those three all have individual motivations whereas the Darklings just seem to speak a little bit.
 

okhi12

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Sora's heartless also retains his mind in KH1. And from what I recall, the Darklings keep their mind in a lesser way to Ansem, Sora, and the Guardian. Those three all have individual motivations whereas the Darklings just seem to speak a little bit.
To be honest I forgot about Sora's heartless. I think he didn't retain his mind at all, as a shadow he was instinctively drawn to Kairi but that's pretty much it. Sora himself mentioned that he felt lost, falling into darkness and forgetting his friends.
Unless you mean Sora after Kairi restored his human form while still being -technically- a heartless, which I agree. The org. members in Castle Oblivion also mentioned it.
 
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To be honest I forgot about Sora's heartless. I think he didn't retain his mind at all, as a shadow he was instinctively drawn to Kairi but that's pretty much it. Sora himself mentioned that he felt lost, falling into darkness and forgetting his friends.
Unless you mean Sora after Kairi restored his human form while still being -technically- a heartless, which I agree. The org. members in Castle Oblivion also mentioned it.
But in Castle Oblivion SDG say that Sora didn't forget his friends as a heartless. I think when Sora talks about forgetting his friends he meant that he was losing his grip on those memories but they hadn't gone yet. Sora's heartless does follow his friends without attacking them in Hollow Bastion, it could be instinct but it's still linked to his mind. He seems to retain more of his own self than the Darklings, even though they can speak, in my view.

On a related note, Sora's heartless in the Datascape certainly develops a mind and can speak as heartless work differently in datascapes but it might be relevant in UX (though I know Darklings first appear in the real world).
 

okhi12

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But in Castle Oblivion SDG say that Sora didn't forget his friends as a heartless. I think when Sora talks about forgetting his friends he meant that he was losing his grip on those memories but they hadn't gone yet. Sora's heartless does follow his friends without attacking them in Hollow Bastion, it could be instinct but it's still linked to his mind. He seems to retain more of his own self than the Darklings, even though they can speak, in my view.

On a related note, Sora's heartless in the Datascape certainly develops a mind and can speak as heartless work differently in datascapes but it might be relevant in UX (though I know Darklings first appear in the real world).
I hadn't seen it that way but you have a point. Shadow Sora was non-aggressive and acted way different than any other random shadow who just attack on first sight. He did not speak, but it would have been impossible... shadows don't have a mouth.

I always found Sora's data heartless very interesting as a villain, it was a different and unique entity completely unrelated to Xehanort that emerged due to Naminé's meddling with memories, affecting the journal. Such a shame it was underdeveloped and never touched upon again. San Fransokyo would have been a perfect opportunity because it involves an AI being (Baymax) being possessed by darkness and corrupted data. The darkubes should have been a manifestation of Sora's heartless that somehow escaped the datascape or was brought from the past by the organization or more likely Maleficent. Would have been much more interesting than Riku Replica being the one behind Dark Baymax, in my opinion. Young Xehanort's experiments in Toy Box already served as an excuse for them to bring Xion back as a vessel, there was no need of Riku Replica doing his own research, or he could have done it adding Sora's heartless to the equation.
Now that data is a more important theme than ever thanks to Union X I hope there's a chance we know more about it.
Maleficent was very interested in the datascape and the journal because of its apparent ties with the book of prophecies and then all of a sudden she forgot about it and went after the black box instead. Meh.
 

Ballad of Caius

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There could be a possibility that Darklings are another type of Pureblood Heartless that can only be born from Keyblade Wielders because of their strong will and connection to the Keyblade plus how pretty much their own darkness took over their heart and not outside forces.
 
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