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"Xemnas and Xehanort have no hold over us now. We're just students of the heart, exactly the same as we were before all of this began."

—Ienzo to Sora

Ienzo is one ofAnsem the Wise's six apprentices, as well as the human form ofZexion. He heads scientific research atRadiant Garden alongsideDilan andAeleus, and, following their return after the events ofKingdom Hearts III, Ansem the Wise andEven.

Story[edit]

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep[edit]

Some time beforeTerra,Ventus, andAqua arrive atRadiant Garden, Ienzo's parents pass away and he comes under the care of Ansem the Wise, the ruler and leading scientist of Radiant Garden, and becomes one of his apprentices, alongside Even, Aeleus, Dilan, andBraig.

Despite being warned not to wander off by Even, Ienzo wanders Radiant Garden by himself and is surrounded and attacked byUnversed. Ventus intervenes and defeats the Unversed, rescuing him. Shortly after the battle, Even arrives and thanks Ventus before taking Ienzo back to the castle.

Blank Points[edit]

Ienzo eating sea-salt ice cream with Ansem the Wise.

Ienzo and Ansem walk down the hall of the castle, eatingsea-salt ice cream. Ienzo notices Braig andTerra-Xehanort conversing and stops walking to stare at them.

BetweenKingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep andKingdom Hearts[edit]

Ienzo and Even are consumed by darkness.

Ansem and his apprentices research theheart. Worried that thedarkness in people's hearts will eventually consume his world, Ansem begins performing tests on Xehanort's heart. Eventually, with Ienzo's persuasive influence, Ansem creates a laboratory in the castle's basement for such experimentation. Unbeknownst to Ansem, Ienzo and the other apprentices begin conducting inhumane experiments on the human heart and darkness within the laboratory. Such experimentation leads to the creation ofHeartless. Ansem discovers their secret experiments, and immediately orders them to stop.

Shortly afterLea andIsa join them as apprentices, and unknown to Ienzo, Xehanort and the other apprentices banish Ansem the Wise to theRealm of Darkness, and tell Ienzo that Ansem has gone mad and abandoned them.Kingdom Hearts III Ienzo and the other apprentices resume their inhumane research. Soon Xehanort convinces the other apprentices to remove their hearts, and uses his newly-regained ability to use aKeyblade to remove the hearts of Ienzo, himself, and the other apprentices, turning them into Nobodies.

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance[edit]

Ienzo speaks to Lea about Braig and Isa's disappearance.

Years after the creation of his Nobody, Zexion, a matured Ienzo is restored to human form following the destruction of his Heartless and Zexion. Ienzo awakens within theHeartless Manufactory alongside Aeleus, Lea, Dilan, and Even. Ienzo and Aeleus look through the files left in Ansem's Study while Lea searches the castle for the missing Braig and Isa. Ienzo attempts to explain the recompletion process to Lea, but Lea cuts him off and leaves to search for them.

Kingdom Hearts III[edit]

Ienzo informs Sora of the data left inside him by Ansem the Wise.

Ienzo works to decipherAnsem's Code, which has been retrieved from insideSora's memories, and finds that Sora's heart belongs to others as well. He is given aGummiphone byChip and Dale to allow them communication across the worlds. Ienzo joins a call with Sora,Donald, andGoofy to share his findings from Ansem's Code, though they initially express some hostility towards him. Sora reveals he thinksRoxas's heart is within his, and Ienzo says he will look into that hypothesis.

Afterward, Ienzo gets an alert that someone has logged into Ansem's computer system using a different terminal. He calls Sora, who informs him thatPence is using Ansem's lab inTwilight Town to look for information on Roxas. After helping Pence set up a link to his computer in Radiant Garden, Ienzo begins working to collect the data on Roxas from theVirtual Twilight Town to begin reconstructing Roxas's heart. Ienzo informs Sora that Even has gone missing and may be working with Xehanort.

Mickey Mouse andRiku later visit Ienzo to ask about the possibility of usingreplicas as vessels for the hearts of Roxas andNaminé. Ienzo explains that Even is the only one who knows how to create replicas, and any documents they have are from well before he made significant progress. Riku speculates that theReal Organization XIII may have taken Even to use the replicas to fill out their ranks.

Ienzo finds some of Even's research, and manages to decipher more of Ansem's Code, which reveals that there are three hearts belonging to different people with Sora's heart, with one of them being Roxas's. He calls Sora to report this discovery.

Despite partially reconstructing Roxas's heart from the data, Ienzo is stumped on how to progress without a vessel to place the data in.Demyx arrives in the lab through acorridor of darkness, shocking Ienzo. Demyx then brings Ansem through the portal. Ienzo apologizes for letting the other apprentices fool him about Ansem's disappearance and lead him into darkness, and Ansem commends Ienzo for recognizing his mistake and apologizes for failing him as a mentor. Demyx interrupts them to reveal that Vexen has sent him with a blank replica for Roxas.

Ienzo, Ansem the Wise, and Even greet Naminé as she awakes.

Ienzo loads Roxas's data inside the replica and leaves it waiting for Roxas's heart to inhabit it. Knowing that they need another vessel for Naminé's heart, Ienzo gives Demyx aGummiphone as proof that they're on the same side and sends Demyx to theKeyblade Graveyard to collect any replicas that are left behind by defeated members of the new Organization.

Demyx brings Ienzo the replica left behind byDark Riku, and he, along with Ansem and Even, uses it to bring Naminé back into existence.

Some time afterward,Kairi volunteers to be put into a sleep at the lab while Ienzo and the other researchers study her memories for clues on Sora's whereabouts.

Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory[edit]

Ienzo, Ansem, and Even continue to study the memories in Kairi's heart. Eventually, Kairi awakens with a clue from her memories of Terra-Xehanort. After discussion, they surmise that the clue points to Sora being in a world of "unreality, or fiction". Riku explains his dreams of a large city, which Ienzo speculates is the fictional world.

Design[edit]

As a child, Ienzo wears a white lab coat with three large buttons, over a black V-neck top with a white collar. The sleeves of his lab coat are rolled back, but still partially cover his hands. He wears blue pants and black silver-trimmed shoes. His steel-blue hair is neatly parted into uneven bangs which are longer on the right and obscure the right side of his face, leaving only one of his bright blue eyes visible.

As an adult, Ienzo wears the same uniform as Even and Ansem. He wears a zippered white lab coat and a purple ascot, and, under his lab coat, a white dress shirt over a grey sweater-vest, and knee-high boots. His hair has grown much longer and is parted in a messier style, though still obscures the right side of his face.

Personality[edit]

As a child, Ienzo was quiet, yet observant and curious. Most of his time was spent with Even, sharing with him his love for knowledge. He likewise held a good relationship with Ansem, as they were shown sharing sea-salt ice cream together as Ienzo held his hand. It was also Ienzo's persuasion which convinced Ansem to build his laboratory - implying that he valued Ienzo's opinions despite his young age.

As an adult, Ienzo became immersed in his scholarly pursuits. His personality had become bright, cheerful, and pleasant. These qualities were first apparent in his animated explanation regarding a Nobody's rebirth. He is similarly patient and kind with Sora and the others he interacts with, such as guidingPence through establishing a server link to the laboratory computer. Where necessary, Ienzo rewords or rephrases concepts others have difficulty following on to lay terms, as demonstrated with his conversation with Sora on the Gummiphone.

Ienzo has shown great regret in his misdeeds as Zexion and that of his and his fellow apprentices's betrayal towards his teacher and father-figure, Ansem, the Wise. Thus, Ienzo strives to be of help to make amends and was able to make peace with Ansem upon reuniting with him, rekindling their friendship.

Notes and references[edit]

• Entelechy
• Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden
• Original characters
• Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep characters
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance characters
• Kingdom Hearts III characters
• Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memory characters