"But the more darkness I felt, the deeper my heart sank into the abyss. It started to consume me, until one day, I realized that the darkness I thought was theirs was in truth mine."

—Baldr

Baldr is the main antagonist ofKingdom Hearts Dark Road. He is the younger brother ofHoder and a student ofMaster Odin.

Story[edit]

Kingdom Hearts Dark Road[edit]

As a child on Scala ad Caelum, Baldr discovers that he has the ability to sense the contents of people's hearts. When he grows into his youth, he becomes aKeyblade Wielder alongside his older sister, Hoder, and the two begin training under Master Odin. At first, Baldr only feels safe with Hoder, due to thelight he senses in herheart, but opens up toEraqus and his other classmates when he senses the same thing in their hearts. This creates an insecurity aboutdarkness in Baldr’s heart that makes way for the darkness to take root in it.

Around the time ofXehanort’s arrival to the world, the upper classmen are sent on theirMark of Mastery to theEnchanted Dominion. Baldr grows anxious of Hoder’s safety and ventures out after her. Meanwhile, the darkness in Baldr’s heart sees this as an opportunity to gain power over Baldr by harming someone dear to him, Hoder. As Hoder engages in a battle with the evil fairy, Baldr rushes in to save her. He is there to witness his sister’s death, and then he is unable to recall what transpired whenHeimdall,Helgi, andSigrun died after he later wakes up in the infirmary.

Baldr falls into a depression following Hoder's death.

Initially, Baldr believes that his sister died protecting him from the evil fairy, and then the other three upper classmen succumbed to the same fate. However, according to the darkness, it is possible that instead, the darkness in Baldr’s heart lept out and ended Hoder’s life before her brother's very eyes. This caused Baldr to succumb to the grief and rage inside his heart, the darkness using his negative emotions to take over completely. While possessing Baldr’s body, the darkness kills Heimdall, Helgi, and Sigrun.

Following this tragedy, Baldr is confined to the infirmary, requiring time to heal from his grief. Master Odin disguises this from the others, claiming his absence is caused by a special assignment. Instead of healing, this isolation causes his negative emotions to grow and fester, the darkness in his heart becoming more powerful.

The darkness within Baldr allows its presence to be known toVidar, hoping this knowledge will serve as motivation for summoningKingdom Hearts; if Kingdom Hearts is summoned, the worlds will be reborn in darkness. Vidar, unable to bring himself to end Baldr, seeks out Kingdom Hearts to purge the darkness, just as planned. However, Vidar eventually realizes the potential consequences of this plan, and stops pursuing Kingdom Hearts.

Xehanort and his peers continue to investigate the missing upperclassmen, learning about true darkness and the threat it poses. Odin deems them too young to handle the situation. Suddenly, Baldr returns to his classmates, offering them the opportunity to find answers by exploring theUnderworld. There, while Xehanort and Eraqus speak to the spirits of the felled upperclassmen, Baldr confrontsBragi. However, Bragi is mysteriously strong; instead of fighting, Bragi chooses to disappear, leaving everyone to believe that he was killed by Baldr. All the while, Xehanort grows suspicious of Baldr, catching on to the darkness lingering inside him.

Baldr is restrained in the final showdown.

Xehanort, Eraqus,Hermod, andUrd are about to confrontHades, but they are sucked into a portal leading to aCorridor of Darkness. Surrounded by overwhelming dark emotions, Hermod and Urd are weakened, and Baldr arrives to finish them off. Xehanort and Eraqus return toScala ad Caelum alone. Baldr goes on a rampage, killing many throughout the city. In his quest to kill 13 lights to feed 13 darknesses, he eliminates Vidar,Vali,Vala, andVor.

Baldr invites Xehanort and Eraqus to a final battle atop Scala ad Caelum's central tower. After defeatingHringhorn, Xehanort prepares to finish off Baldr, but his former friend makes one final plea. Xehanort and Baldr are one and the same, Baldr claims; they are always in the shadow of a greater light. To quell Baldr, Hoder's spirit arrives, having been stowing away in Xehanort's heart since their meeting in the Underworld. In the end, Xehanort engages Baldr long enough for Master Odin to appear and restrain him with chains from theNo Name. Baldr is struck with a fatal blow from Xehanort and fades away, though not without leaving Xehanort with a deeper desire for answers.

Design[edit]

Baldr is a youth with pale skin, silver eyes, and long, feathery white hair that reaches his shoulders in the back and is shorter in the front and frames his face. He wears a white jacket with a very large hood with a goldTerra's Mark clasp, a thin black band around his upper left arm, and large gold-embroidered lapels bridged by an orange cord that ends in a tassel on the left side. Under this, he wears a black vest over a white undershirt, with loose, criss-crossing blue straps around the waist, a silver chain at his left hip, black fingerless gloves, dark grey pants, and tall black boots with gold buckles.

In Norse mythology,Baldr was the god of light, joy, purity, and the summer sun. Baldr's death at the hands of his brother signals the beginning ofRagnarök, a series of events filled with death and tragedy leading to the end of the world.

Abilities[edit]

Like his classmates, Baldr wields theKeyblade. During his time as a vessel of Darkness, he can manipulate a dark aura surrounding him to great effect. He can also manifest his darkness as the powerfulHringhorn.

• Entelechy
• Scala ad Caelum
• Original characters
• Kingdom Hearts Dark Road characters
• Keyblade Wielders