"Aqua, Ven... One day I will set this right."

—The Lingering Will

The Lingering Will is a vestige of the Keyblade wielder Terra, composed of his thoughts and desires that possessed his discarded Keyblade Armor after losing his body to Master Xehanort. Along with Terra's heart within the Dark Figure and its master Terra-Xehanort, it represents Terra's continued consciousness even after his possession and takeover at the hands of Xehanort. The Lingering Will is playable for a short time at the end of Terra's scenario in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep; it made its debut appearance in the Kingdom Hearts series as a secret boss in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

Development

The Lingering Will's voice in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix is represented by metallic grinding, similar to Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix.

The Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX version of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix was updated to have the Lingering Will sprout a cape after its victory against Terra-Xehanort, maintaining continuity with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

Story

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep

The Lingering Will rises to fight Terra-Xehanort.

When Master Xehanort extracts his heart in an attempt to possess Terra, Terra summons his Keyblade Armor in a desperate attempt to defend himself, but fails due to his darkness, allowing Xehanort's heart to take over regardless. The newly born Terra-Xehanort discards the Keyblade Armor and walks off in triumph, only to become trapped in the Will's Cage. Terra-Xehanort turns in shock to see Terra's Keyblade Armor reassembled and standing before him; Terra's rage towards Xehanort and his desire to protect his friends have given life to his discarded armor. Determined to stop Master Xehanort at all costs and get back its body, Terra's "lingering will" challenges Terra-Xehanort to a battle. Angered by Terra's continued resistance, Terra-Xehanort readily engages it.

In the end, the Lingering Will is victorious in battle, but although Terra-Xehanort is knocked unconscious, it fails to expel Xehanort from Terra's body. The armored figure plunges its Ends of the Earth into the ground and slumps down, as Terra-Xehanort is consumed by the light storm created by the destruction of the χ-blade via Aqua and Ventus. The clouds that have masked the Keyblade Graveyard in darkness cover Kingdom Hearts in the sky above, and the Lingering Will is left alone. It silently promises Aqua and Ventus that someday, it will set things right.

Kingdom Hearts II

Sora prepares to fight the Lingering Will.

Eleven years later, a portal to the Badlands appears in Disney Castle. Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter it and find themselves standing before the kneeling Lingering Will. The animated Keyblade Armor mentions Aqua and Ventus before sensing Sora's Keyblade, and it mistakes Sora for the one it had chosen, Riku. Realizing its mistake, the Lingering Will then wonders if Sora is Xehanort. Determined to fulfill the promise it made long ago to avenge itself and its friends, the Lingering Will rises to its feet and picks up its Keyblade to fight. After an intense struggle, they eventually defeat their silent attacker. Upon its loss, the Lingering Will senses Ventus's presence within Sora and kneels back down.

If Sora returns to battle the Lingering Will after this, it accepts his challenge, but it states that it has nothing left to give the young Keyblade wielder other than its contempt for Xehanort.

Kingdom Hearts III

"As long as Master Xehanort resides within you, you're a threat to Aqua and Ven. [...] You must be removed from existence...at all costs."

—The Lingering Will's final words

Lingering Will clashes with Terra-Xehanort one last time.

In The Final World, Sora encounters Naminé's heart, who tells him she found a connection to Terra's "strong will", and tries to make contact with it.

After returning to the point in time before their defeat in the Keyblade Graveyard, the Guardians of Light are once again confronted by Terra-Xehanort. This time, however, the Lingering Will arrives and fights him, leading both of them away from the group.

During their battle, Terra-Xehanort catches the Lingering Will off guard with the Dark Figure. As the Dark Figure prepares to crush the Lingering Will's head, Sora's future self arrives and fends them off. Sora is caught by the Dark Figure, but before Terra-Xehanort can finish Sora off, the Lingering Will intercepts the attack and is destroyed, sacrificing itself to save Sora. Kingdom Hearts III Re Mind

Other appearances

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded

In the opening credits of Kingdom Hearts Re:coded, the Lingering Will is seen kneeling down after the defeat of Terra-Xehanort.

Design

The Lingering Will is Terra's animated suit of Keyblade Armor. Its helmet is mostly gold, except for its black visor, and it sports two red prongs (one on either side of the helmet) that point upwards. The arms, legs, and ribs of the armor are black and have orange patterns decorating them. Its knee guards, gauntlets, breastplate, and armored boots are gold, and there are other, smaller pieces of gold armor on its legs. The Lingering Will wears black pauldrons with gold edges. The front of the armor on its torso is red, as are small pieces of armor on its lower legs and gauntlets. Lingering Will also wears gold anklets with red spikes on the back that curve upward sharply.

In Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix and Kingdom Hearts III, the Lingering Will's armor is much darker in coloration. It also wears a cape that is gold on the outside and dark blue on the inside. This cape was removed from the Lingering Will's design in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep in order to avoid framerate issues.^[1] However, it was reintegrated in the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX version of "Return to Silence".

Personality

As the Lingering Will is not truly a living being, it cannot feel or possess a personality of its own. It was brought to life by the thoughts and emotions that Terra left behind when Xehanort took his body, so while it feels some connection to Aqua, Ventus, and Riku, its driving focus is to avenge itself on Xehanort. It is able to speak, but due to its single-minded purpose, its words are terse, dispassionate, and to-the-point. Despite this, it does feel a desire to protect Aqua and Ventus to the point it is willing to destroy its former body as long as Xehanort's heart inhabits it as it perceives Terra-Xehanort as a threat to Aqua and Ventus.

Despite being physically separate from Terra's heart and body, the Lingering Will carries Terra's continued consciousness, as shown when in-game tips refer to Terra-Xehanort's body as "[its] body" and how it refers to Riku as the one "it" chose. Before the Dark Figure's reveal as a vessel for Terra's heart, Sora and the other protagonists believe the Lingering Will to be all that remains of Terra's own thoughts and desires, and refer to it by the name of its original self.

Abilities

Fighting style

The many different Formchanges of the Lingering Will's Keyblade.

The Lingering Will, like other secret bosses in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, is difficult to defeat. Its most basic move is a three-rush combo, and it can chain this combo up to three times. The Lingering Will can Formchange its Keyblade into a variety of weapons to assault Sora, including a drill for a three-strike punching combo and a whip that deals less damage than its blade form in exchange for greater speed and range. Lingering Will can also fly at high speeds and use Terra's Ultima Cannon Shotlock. Unlike when Terra's Shotlock is used, however, the resulting blast can be deflected via a well-timed Guard to damage the Lingering Will instead. This leaves it vulnerable to further attacks. The Lingering Will can also Formchange its Keyblade into a Keyblade Glider or cog-like object to perform extremely quick attacks.

The Lingering Will can also create a large rune on the ground below it as lightning rains down from above. At this point, the Lingering Will enters a berserk state that causes its arm gauntlets and helmet to emit a bright red aura. The Lingering Will gains the ability to split its Keyblade into two, making its combos extremely lethal. After the first two stages of the Lingering Will's rapid combo have been evaded, the last few attacks can be blocked by Sora via a well-timed Guard.

The Lingering Will is also quite skilled at wielding magic. It can create an unusual-looking seal that either creates an orange or blue orb. An orange orb prevents Sora from attacking, while a blue orb blocks the use of magic and items. The Lingering Will may sometimes use Blizzaga while executing a Sonic Blade-like attack at low HP or when riding its Keyblade Glider. It will also use Magnega while atop its Keyblade Glider if Sora is too far from it. The Lingering Will can conjure drone-like objects which fire lasers at Sora, Donald, and Goofy, as well. It may sometimes transform its Keyblade into a bow and fire arrows that trap Sora in a triangular-shaped seal that drains his health at a fast rate; only a "Release" command can save Sora from it. If the player chooses the wrong command while Sora is trapped, Sora will expire regardless of Once More or Second Chance, although Peter Pan's Auto-Life ability will allow him to continue fighting.

When playing as the Lingering Will during the final battle with Terra-Xehanort at the Keyblade Graveyard in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it loses Terra's ability to use D-Links; the D-Link Gauge is empty and unable to be refilled for the entire battle. The Lingering Will does, however, retain Terra's immense power and has access to any abilities that were equipped to him before the battle begins. The Lingering Will also can use Terra's equipped Shotlock and all commands that were placed in his Command Deck. While Terra's Keyblade was able to be equipped with any Keychain of the player's choosing, the Lingering Will's Keyblade defaults to the Ends of the Earth.

Weapon

As Terra's possessed Keyblade Armor, the Lingering Will wields his former Keyblade, the Ends of the Earth. When Terra-Xehanort is created, he forsakes the Ends of the Earth in favor of No Name. Because Terra's will finds residence within his Keyblade Armor, the Lingering Will picks up the Ends of the Earth upon its creation and uses it to conquer its possessed body. The Ends of the Earth remains with Lingering Will during its solitude at the Keyblade Graveyard; the animated Keyblade Armor uses the weapon a second time to battle Sora eleven years after its struggle against Terra-Xehanort.

The Lingering Will can Formchange the Ends of the Earth into a myriad of weapons, including Terra's Keyblade Glider, the cannon-like form used in Terra's Ultima Cannon Shotlock, a chain whip, a drilling gauntlet, and a harken-like weapon. Save for the Keyblade Glider and Ultima Cannon, these forms are all unique to the Ends of the Earth when it is wielded by the Lingering Will. While Lingering Will's battle stance with the Ends of the Earth is identical to Terra's in Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, it adopts a different stance in Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix.

Notes and references

• Construct
• Keyblade Graveyard
• Keyblade Wielders