#darkling heartless

[incyrayinc]

It's been a wild week

Earthquake, solar eclipse, feeling emotionally overwhelmed...

Something something, Darkness...

(remember not to stare at an eclipse without legit eclipse glasses! Don't recreate this artwork lmao)

#inc's art #fan art #kingdom hearts #kh heartless #darkling heartless #solar eclipse

[bramblequeen]

Sometimes, you just have to draw a Lil’ Guy™️ be

I often wonder how much lesser Heartless/Nobodies/Darklings remember of their previous selves.

Colour Palette used here

#bramble arts #kingdom hearts #color palete challenge #heartless #darkling #the darkling #also tempted to make this a new icon for myself #they skrunkly #color palette #colour palette #colour palettes #colour palette challenge #color palettes #color palette challenge

[mizmageheart]

Little Darkling girl Ana wants to play on your phone.

#kingdom hearts #fanart #kh fanart #heartless #digital painting #art #monster girl #darkling

[thequibblingking13]

Darkness through the streets of Daybreak Town.

#kingdom hearts #kingdom hearts union cross #kingdom hearts union x #kh #KHUX #Khux oc #keykid oc #darkling kh #darkling #demon tide kh #demon tide #daybreak town #i just think that even at the brink. with the world on it's knees and no clue what's happening around her. that she'd try to keep fighting. #to take down as many of the swarming heartless and try to protect as many dandelion stragglers as she could find #even if it was hopeless. even if she knew they couldnt win. #because light survives in the heart of children. and someone had to fight to keep that light alive #anyways tumblr will probably destroy the quality of this the moment i post it but. thats the price i pay i guess #vivi #bee draws #keykid

[madasthyhatter]

Kingdom Hearts x Steven Universe Crossover Repost Pt. 4! Pt. 1 | Pt. 2 | Pt. 3 | Pt. 4

Inprnt | Twitter | DeviantArt

#Kingdom Hearts #Steven Universe #KH #SU #KH x SU #Kingdom Hearts x Steven Universe #Ruby #Sapphire #Rupphire #Steven Universe the Movie #Steven Universe Future #Stevonnie #Spinel #Heartless #Darkling #Keyblade #Jasper #Organization XIII #Keyblade Wielders #My art #MadAsThyHatter #Crossover #Artists on Tumblr

[remiconarts]

Playing bomb rush cyberfunk has made me more than a little bit inspired.

Also made a transparent version because why not.

#kingdom hearts #heartless #darkling #khux #kh #digital art #illustration

[aro-sora]

Heartless

This month's Carnival of Aros theme is "Humanity and the Non-Human" and these prompts were particularly resonant with me:

It’s been a fairly well-documented phenomenon that many aromantics tend to feel some sort of connection to some sort of fictional non-human species, whether as specific examples, or as a whole. If you relate, what are your thoughts on these characters and concepts as an aro(-spec)? Do you have any experiences in any subcultures related to non-humanity, such as Voidpunk?

So I thought I'd write something about my personal experiences.

It will come as no surprise to people who follow this blog that I am a heartless aromantic and I'm also a huge Kingdom Hearts fan. (To anyone who isn't familiar with KH, in the games there are beings of darkness called Heartless. There's a lot of designs and some are cooler than others so here are a few of my favorites:)

[ID: Various Heartless from Kingdom Heartles, in order, a Shadow, a Neoshadow, a Soldier, and a Darkling. End ID]

These beings are both literally and very much not literally (it's complicated) heartless. They are manifestations of the darkness in people's hearts and seek to steal more hearts to transform into Heartless.

(something something beings that are recognizably human but also . . . not and yet still have the instinctual desire to reclaim what was taken)

A common stereotype about aromantic people is that we are heartless and unfeeling because we don't experience romantic love. Aromanticism may influence a person's emotions and definitely impacts views on romance, but to say that all aros are cold and emotionless is hurtful and arophobic. But I also genuinely identify with the term "heartless." Not feeling romantic attractions makes me feel alienated from amatonormative society, and "heartless aro" is the best way for me to describe that feeling.

My love of Kingdom Hearts is also a huge influence on that. When I say KH rewired my brain, it's only a half joke. I was 5-6 years old when I first discovered these games and this bizarre Disney/Final Fantasy crossover was a very formative experience. "Heartless" is not just a way to describe my aromanticism, its a defining aspect.

What is it, to be Heartless? To be human, once, but now something . . . other: a being born of darkness. Darkness is a force that is often used for evil, but still KH makes a point of not making it inherently evil. Darkness exists in every heart. It can overwhelm, but it can also be accepted and mastered, like in Riku's case. To choose to become Heartless, in Sora's case, is a defining moment of humanity.

My blog url might be aro-sora (because let's be honest, he's super arospec) but the title, "My Heart Belongs to Me," is quote from Roxas, one of the best examples in KH of someone being denied humanity for supposedly not having a heart, yet being one of the most caring and emotional characters in the series. He's not an actual capital-H Heartless (that's Sora, briefly) but his story and his struggles just . . . resonate with me. "I am me! Nobody else!" I want for people to stop thinking of me as something I am not, as desiring relationships I don't want, or even being a gender I am not.

I don't have much experience with voidpunk culture (but now I want to look into it), but recently I discovered the term otherhearted: "Identifying strongly with something nonhuman and/or fictional, without literally identifying as that thing." (I'm a bit on the fence between being otherhearted and otherkin, but otherheart literally has the word "heart" in it and the KH influence is strong.) It's a very queer experience to want to change your identity and be something other than what people see you as. Sometimes I imagine that for myself—claws of darkness, eyes of burning gold. Darkness cannot exist without light, but neither can light exist without darkness. Nothing can destroy me, because I am the shadow at the very heart of the world.

I guess that would make me Heartless-hearted. An ironic term, I know, but similarly to my personal heartless aro identity I find it absolutely hilarious. So many parts of my identity are "contradictions": being bigender, being human and heartless. It fits with the lore of the Heartless themselves: some technically do possess hearts and some don't. (it's complicated)

I call myself heartless the same way I call myself queer. Bigots will use them as insults and an attempt to make me lesser and other and nonhuman, but to me these are my words. They are mine and I give them power, no one else. Someone thinks I'm "heartless" for not experiencing a certain feeling? Fuck them, I AM heartless. And I am still human because I choose to be, not because humanity is something to be given or taken away. I don't have to prove anything about myself to anyone. I define my own heart, NO ONE ELSE.

And if they still think that being heartless—being aromantic—is something "wrong" or "unnatural" or not human? I only have a warning for them:

Beware the darkness in your heart. The Heartless prey upon it.

#kh #carnival of aros #a carnival of aros #aromantic #aro #heartless #heartless aro #otherhearted #my ideal gender presentation is either a mix of masculine and feminine or literally just a neoshadow. or a darkling #semi-related note: the terms “Heartless” and “Nobody” make sense for their respective beings and I will fight anyone who says otherwise #i was very tempted to include images of the wackier heartless designs but it would have taken away from the point #non kh fans reading this i highly recommend browsing the kh wiki and seeing all the designs. some are . . . interesting #like scar. yes. scar the lion from the lion king #you may have heard of him #i also use loveless and lovequeer but mostly heartless because. as i said. the kh influence is very strong #it's about beings that USED TO BE human but AREN'T ANYMORE yet still have that instinctive desire to restore their missing heart #*gestures wildly to the air* DO YOU SEE MY POINT #ITS ABOUT A SCARED CONFUSED BOY HAVING EVERYTHING TAKEN AWAY AND HUMANITY DENIED FROM HIM YET STILL SO PAINFULLY HUMAN #i'm going to go cry about roxas now #happy spooky month everybody!

[pixiepalettes]

#Eliza #KH #khux #khux oc #khux player #kingdom hearts #original #original drawing #Original design #original art #original characters #digital art #digital drawing #digital artist #my art #darkling #kh darkling #heartless #OC art #KH OC #kingdom hearts OC #OC #disney oc

[haunteddemon13]

Salem Gloomison and Galem Sunniton, two opposites who want each other dead! Enjoy these lovable idiots, and be sure to choose one of them to draw in your style!

#artist sona #draw in your style #darkling #kingdom hearts heartless #opposites #rivals #demon oc #shadow demon

[void-kissed]

For some reason I kind of find it fitting that it's my Kingdom Hearts self-insert who has the most different appearances, out of all of the self-inserts I have

#and that's not even really because of kingdom hearts story nonsense. not as much as it could be anyway #a call from the void #heart of the void #sort of #self‑insert: darkness' champion (aria) #since you have her appearance before KH3 and then her appearance after KH3 (which is her current appearance) #but then you also have her true form (i.e. her appearance as just a heartless) #and only then do you start getting into the four other different things she appears in #which are NEO TWEWY (though the implication is that's an ''alternate-universe'' aria because she's human(-turned-reaper)) #fatebreakers (her arc 1 appearance is the same as her pre-KH3 appearance but I gave her a new outfit for arc 2) #(and then she also changes appearance after her chapter. which I cannot discuss because we haven't gotten to her chapter yet.) #@starlit-warren's alucinari project (where she has two appearances; one is her true form and the other is a darkling-like form) #and @ephemxras' sea of stars (where she's *similar* to her true form but smaller - i've been calling that her ''flower cloud'' form) #*and all of that is aria. none of this considers xiara or linaria.* #xiara has one thankfully but lina has.. four? pre-KHUX + post-KH3 + fatebreakers + alucinari #self‑insert: world's last vestige (linaria) #self‑insert: ambivalent shade (xiara) #is any of this relevant? not really! but did I notice it and proceed to ramble about it both in a server and here? absolutely!

[malicious-spectrum]

Kh OC references!!! (Main Trio edition)

Eas (She/It)

A shapeshifting Emblem Heartless (Darkling?) who met Spéir & Domhan one day & learned how to feel love again. She used to be mute, but slowly became more talkative as the other two helped get her out of her shell. She. May or may not be in denial about her crush on Spéir.

Spéir (She/He)

A human girl who lost her world to darkness. Her necklace seems to have some secrets to it, but it’s still pretty unclear about what it’s hiding… Anyways, pre-Spéir & Eas getting Keyblades, they & Domhan tried protected Traverse Town from Heartless before KH1 kicked off. They… were barely able to clear a single wave.

Domhan (He/Him)

He’s the straight man of the group, keeping people from finding out Eas’s identity, & making sure Spéir doesn’t Spéir. Dom was the first person to find out Eas’s secret, being able to keep it until she was ready to tell Spéir herself. Heeeeee’s the therapist friiiiend! :)

Reblogs > Likes! (Especially for art!)

#art #my art #ocs #my ocs #kh ocs #kh #kingdom hearts oc #kingdom hearts #eas the heartless #spéir the keyblade wielder #Domhan the Therapist Friend #heartless #kh darklings

[keykid-database]

I'm not explaining this

#khux #heartless #darklings #post s #this is an old image technically but i found it buried on my phone and did a double take for a hot sec

[royalberryriku]

Having a lot of feelings about my fic so bear with me but like...

// spoilers

The way that through the entire narrative, every single adult around Zorya pushes this idea of love, mercy and kindness being weaknesses, a thing that will never actually work for anyone and just lead to further pain. And, at first, Zorya takes this on, she believes them... But it never changes who she is; a person who loves humanity unconditionally and who can't help but be kind when it comes down to it. And, when she does allow herself to be kind and love, it only strengthens her, it isn't a weakness like they said but a form of resilience. As she learns this through the series, she begins to allow herself to be merciful and kind.

Orion, Azazel, Rigel, Ardeo, then the canon villains, even just the teachings of Keyblade Masters being to fight with might and that in order to truly create any sort of justice in the world, you need to be violent and cruel. Yet, instead of falling into that, Zorya always chooses mercy instead. Even as someone who was expected to be a weapon against darkness, to literally be something that would end darkness as a concept, she chose to instead show even the dark monsters and demons she was created to destroy mercy because, at her core, that's who she is and she loves humanity too damn much to damn them, even when they have forgotten who they are and lost their humanity. No matter the cruelty she's seen and experienced at the hands of other people, even then, she realises that cruelty doesn't solve cruelty. No matter how terrible the world was to her, no matter how bitter and angry Zorya is over it, and even if she hasn't truly forgiven those who hurt her, she could never truly let go of the love she has for people, and that ends up, when it matters most and at the end of the day, being what saves herself and others; the strength to continue to be kind when it would be more convenient to be cruel.

That being said, Zorya is also someone who refuses to be complacent and wants to do what's right; she wants justice. This never changes, yet she does grow and realise that there's so much more to herself than her desire for revenge and that there's more to justice than violance; that's just a reaction, not truly righting what was wrong. She genuinely loves people and, maybe, that's why it hurts so much to see the cruelties she's seen. She realises that simply using violence against violance is exactly what those who hurt her have done and that, to break that cycle of abuse and relentless pain in pursuit of perfection, that she has to embrace people and allow herself to love. And she realises that, despite all the desire to push her own pain onto those who hurt her, what she wants deep down is for everything to just be okay; for herself and for others. And, in all these realisations, Zorya comes to find herself using mercy as a form of resistance against the systems of abuse in front of her and the people who have hurt her. And instead of violence, it is mercy that really does right those wrongs, not erasure or further pain, but by healing and helping others who were hurt.

But I think also what really gets me as well as how, yes, running away and pleasing oppressors is just a way to remain ignorant and complacent; peace through these means isn't really peace just willful ignorance, but justice isn't violence either, it's righting what's wrong; and that means showing mercy rather than being cruel. The way Zorya comes to realise this and comes to really pursue this message is really important. She stays with those who've been hurt, she tries her best to be their friend and ally even as they forget themselves and as they literally lose their sense of self and humanity, becoming nameless creatures. She realises that the image of herself standing over those who hurt her isn't the justice she wants, she wants to erase the systems that hurt her and these people; that the greatest form of vengeance is to literally make the world a better, safer place where this doesn't happen again.

Idk, it just really freaking makes me feel emotional when I think about that part of her character and story, and just how in general Zorya represents what it is to be a survivor, while also showing how effective as a form of resilience and resistance love and kindness are; how showing humanity and mercy is the greatest form of rebellion and justice against the cycle of abuse and exploitation she's endured.

#fanfic rambles #book of the lost #zorya #dreams of tomorrow #hope in the storm #ect. #I repeated myself a bit but I'm just really emotional over Zorya okay #especially just how she stays with the Heartless and Darklings and even Darkness itself rather than simply -- #--lash out and just simply be cruel like those who hurt her want her to be- #- she realises that she can save those they want her to hurt and she can be someone who's there for them and show love and kindness #the very act of her mercy is how she resists the intended exploitation of her abilities and even her own hatred #and I think that's really cool af #She is like 'oh you want me to kill darkness?? you want justice?? Too bad I'm gonna be nice and show it mercy as revenge instead' and I jusy #YES #go queen show mercy as a form of revenge that shit is so metal and I love it #fave trope is the “revenge but instead of killing I'll be someone I wish I had when I was hurt” and I cry every single time

[mizmageheart]

Happy Easter! Little Darkling girl Ana pops out of a flower to give you an easter egg!

pretend it's still Easter.

#kingdom hearts #Art #digital painting #monster girl #kh fanart #heartless #fanart #Darkling #Easter

[karnaxa]

No offense to mal but if I was alina I would just kill him to close the fold

#people have called me heartless for this #but I’m talking about a blue scadoo into Alina’s body situation #cause me personally I don’t care for mal that much #he’s fun and cool but to close the fold and defeat the darkling? it’s an unfortunate and necessary sacrifice

[stromuprisahat]

Beware! Potential growth's peaking out!

Siege and Storm- Chapter 11

LOL

Alina doesn't know anything the Darkling himself didn't tell her.

Forget artist!

Modern!Alina would be a member of doomsday cult!

Just... what does she built her hypotheses on? Baghra's words about Aleksander and her own fatalism?!

Frodo, halfway to Mordor:

Yeah, I shouldn't talk much about the Ring. Sam doesn't want to go to Mount Doom already. What if he turns around and bails on me? I'd have to abandon my quest alongside him...

For a person certain the world's about to end, unless she "stops" the Darkling, Alina sure lacks determination.

No, you only wanted her to inform her rapist about Darkles' plans... I'm sure that would result into heartfelt apology and her promotion from a cocksleeve to respected member of household.

Alina, repeat after me: There's nothing wrong with becoming flushed, when an attractive man touches your bare skin, especially on parts not used for casual contact. It doesn't make you a wanton whore or fallen peasant girl, and it doesn't mean you're provoking further intimacies.

Gods! I so wish to shake her or at least watch her overcome her prudish upbringing.

Thought 1- Genya might be in trouble.

Thought 2- ... and what about poor lonely Alina?!

Subtle, but I'd more appreciate spiralling due to Genya's possible fate. Alina believes the Darkling to be heartless monster and theoretically understands mechanics of offence and punishment. Yet Genya's situations is a possiblity, Alina's feelings regarding herself certainty.

Alina's sense of duty's quite something. Especially for a lowly peasant. Instead of learning, she's learning new excuses she can use to get away with bare minimum.

I don't think actually poor person with no real status (lineage AND money) would attempt such thing. She constantly treats her "betters" as nuisances, equals at best. While not perhaps actively insulting, she's hardly behaving properly. Exactly in a way that cannot be ascribed to her origin.

Perhaps Nikolai should try acting like a Royal Prince towards her sometime. Remind her of their priorities, instead of tactfully insinuating she's forgetting to be discreet about her preferences of company.

Darling, uniforms have their purpose. And it's not only to make people hate you. Sure, a lovely LITTLE pin will make it obvious, who belongs to your retinue...

I didn't want uniforms.

The uniform in itself distinguishes members of the military from civilians, but also from one another (infantry, artillery, navy, and later air force).

I've read "they" and immediately went back, because that didn't sound like Alina at all. It seems too little sleep might conjure caring heroine, yet not even that's enough for the rest of the brain to believe it.

Oh dear, how shall Tolya cope?!

Look! A place for character development! Now's the time to set up for realization the Darkling was right to require his subordinates' obedience. Yes, that incudes you, Alina...

It's shocking to see Alina act as the voice of reason. If only her perception remained at all times.

Surprisingly sound logic on Alina's part.

Sleeping under the same roof as potential assassins?!

What's the point of all these parallels or at least similar situations offering them, if Alina won't connect the dots and change her worldview?

Why should I admire Alina's courage to accept and offer protection to possible traitors without granting the same courtesy to Aleksander?

Because she's the MC? Because she's the Sun Summoner, therefore a greater target?

Yeah, and Sasha's The Black General, the most powerful Grisha alive AND a living amplifier...

She ain't completely stupid! I'm officially rooting for THIS Alina to stick around!

#Grishaverse #S&S Chapter 11 #Alina Starkov #The Darkling #Nikolai Lantsov #Malyen Oretsev #Morozova's amplifiers #Genya Safin #self centred and paranoid #grishanalyticritical #Siege and Storm #Grisha trilogy #V #books #quotes #Leigh Bardugo