Overview
“The masked knight enters, soaring through the air and deftly swinging his sword. His unrivaled speed is the result of intense training!”
― Meta Knight's pause screen description • Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe
Meta Knight is a recurring main character in the Kirby franchise who made his debut in Kirby's Adventure. He is an enigmatic masked swordsman, who leads the Meta-Knights, and flies across the skies of Planet Popstar on the Battleship Halberd. He's made many appearances in the series, usually as a boss, to challenge Kirby, but outside of Revenge of Meta Knight in Kirby Super Star, doesn't mean harm, but instead, purely to test his own strength. Almost every time he is defeated, his mask splits in two to reveal his true face, that's extremely similar to Kirby's, implying that they are the same species.
Characteristics
Personality
“My one wish is to become stronger... So I wish to fight... the greatest warrior in the galaxy!”
― Meta Knight • Kirby Super Star Ultra's Meta Knightmare Ultra
Meta Knight lives for the thrill of battle and desires to prove his might against the strongest opponents, such as in Kirby Super Star Ultra's Meta Knightmare Ultra, where he summons Galacta Knight, the greatest warrior in the galaxy who was sealed away for his power was too feared, simply because he wanted to challenge himself. He also follows a code of honor, and tends to give Kirby a sword before fighting, though in Kirby Star Allies, if you leave him waiting for too long he will angrily kick the sword away, which may or may not be due to the Jamba Heart's corruption.
Official artwork of Meta Knight with his crew, from the official Kirby Twitter account.Despite being having the title: "The Lone Swordsman", Meta Knight has a loyal crew of devoted followers known as the "Meta-Knights". In Revenge of Meta Knight, Meta Knight is shown to be a good leader that is able to remain cool and collected even when under pressure, but while he does care about his subordinates, his lack of emotional communication skills might make him come across as cold or indifferent.
Meta Knight: “So... Now it's time for the rest of you to escape as well.”
Axe Knight: “I will stay until the bitter end.”
Mace Knight: “We should finish off Kirby then all escape together!”
Meta Knight: “... ... ... ... ...You are all about to perish. Do as you please.” (...I'm sorry.)― Meta Knight to his Meta-Knights • Kirby Super Star Ultra's Revenge of Meta Knight
In plenty of material outside of the games, it is shown that Meta Knight secretly has a sweet tooth, much like Kirby. For example:
Why does Meta Knight feel the need to hide this about himself? Perhaps it's to preserve his cool and mysterious image, which might also be the same reason why he hides his cute face and instantly flees whenever it's revealed.
Powers & Abilities
Meta Knight is an incredibly skilled swordfighter with a ton of powerful techniques. He can create powerful tornados with his sword, vanish in a blink of an eye with his cape that can also transform into wings, create up to four duplicates of himself, and summon and control boulders. Obviously, he should be comparable to Kirby in strength as he is able keep up with him as a rival and as an ally, who can create a crack that reaches the other side of the planet, which Meta Knight can do himself in Kirby's Return to Dream Land Deluxe's Crackity Hack Sub-Game. One of his greatest feats would be defeating Galacta Knight in Kirby Super Star Ultra's Meta Knightmare Ultra mode, who, as already mentioned above, is the greatest warrior in the galaxy who was sealed away in fear of his power.
Relationships
Meta Knight & Kirby
Meta Knight greatly respects power, and Kirby is a being with potentially limitless power. Knowing this, Meta Knight constantly seeks to challenge Kirby as a rival, but Kirby, being a gluttonous and carefree little kid, isn't really interested in things like that unless there's some kind of reward. Considering his striking resemblance to Kirby when unmasked, it is possible that he is related to Kirby somehow, but that has always remained a mystery. One can interpret that Meta Knight sees himself in Kirby, and constantly challenges him to sword duels, not only to test his own strength, but also because it's his way of trying to train Kirby and make him more like himself. If that's the case, than his methods aren't really working, since Kirby hasn't really changed much personality-wise, and if anything, Meta Knight has actually grown softer.
Their one-sided rivalry aside, Kirby sees Meta Knight as a friend and the two have teamed up on several adventures. Notably, in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight lends Kirby his prized legendary blade, Galaxia, in the final battle against Dark Mind, and in Kirby: Planet Robobot, lends him his battleship Halberd in the final battle against Star Dream. And in the ending cutscene of Kirby: Planet Robobot, judging from the shadow the quickly leaves in the shot before Kirby wakes up, it was Meta Knight who safely retrieved Kirby after he was left floating in space.
Meta Knight & King Dedede: The Sworn Partners
“King Dedede and Meta Knight's power was genuine, flowing from their deepened bond. Even without the mask, they would have been worthy opponents.”
― Final Chapter epilogue narration• Kirby Fighters 2's Story Mode: The Destined Rivals
Meta Knight lending Dedede a handMeta Knight was one of King Dedede's friends who he entrusted to gaurd a piece of the Star Rod during the events of Kirby's Adventure, but in Revenge of Meta Knight, Meta Knight's plan to conquer Dream Land and put an end to it's "lazy lifestyle" meant that he intended to overthrow the Self-Made King. But upon being bested by Kirby, and witnessing that Dedede has grown and changed into a person more deserving of his title, perhaps Meta Knight decided that although the people of Dream Land were carefree and lazy, they are perfectly capable of defending themselves, which he respects. In Kirby Fighters 2, Meta Knight would team up with King Dedede and form a strong bond with him, becoming "Sworn Partners" over the fact that they have both lost to Kirby several times.
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