Characters / Guilty Gear - Ky Kiske

Guilty Gear Main Character Index
The Missing Link (Sol Badguy, Ky Kiske) | X | XX | Overture | Xrd | -STRIVE- | NPCs | Other

The Captain Ersatz, Expy, "No Celebrities Were Harmed", Mythology Gags, Continuity Nods and Shout-Out references go here.

Ky Kiske

I don't know what's right for the world, Oh, I may have lost my way. But there's no reason to doubt it now, So, what do I have to fear?

"Why must I make friends with the hated and make enemies of the respected?... It's times like these when I miss the days of the war. The days before I discovered the little space between good and evil..."

Voiced by:
JP: Takeshi Kusao
EN: Liam O'Brien (Overture), Sam Riegel (Xrd -SIGN-), Sean Chiplock (-STRIVE-)
KR: Gang Su-jin (X), An Jong-deok (XX), Kim Myeong-jun (-STRIVE-)

Playable in: The Missing Link, X, XX, Overture, Xrd -SIGN-, -STRIVE-

Profile:
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 128lbs
Gender: Male
Blood type: AB
Birthplace: France
Date of Birth: November 20th
Hobbies: Collecting teacups
Likes: Dizzy and Sin Kiske, the smiles of others
Dislikes: His own weak heart

Character themes:
Holy Orders (Be Just or Be Dead) (I, II, III), Pillars of the Underworld, Magnolia Éclair, The Roar of the Spark

Shared character themes:
Conclusion, No Mercy, Noontide, Revelations, Faith Shall Save Thee, The Re-coming, Reunion (With Sol), Sheep Will Sleep (If You Become Fatigued) (With Sol and I-No), Keep the Flag Flying (With Order-Sol), Communication (With Sin)

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Sol's rival. A goody-two-shoes former Holy Knight who is now a high ranking officer of the International Police Force. Ky is a firm believer in God and justice at all times. This was bad early in the story since his scale of morality consisted exclusively of black and white without shades of grey. Fortunately, by the end of XX he dropped this naive view. His weapon is the Thunderseal, which allows him to manipulate electricity. Throughout the series he is on orders from the IPF to investigate the Gear phenomena that are occurring around the world. In XX he finds out about the Post-War Administration Bureau and decides to investigate into their agenda. He discovers that they are creating robot impersonators of himself and have a dastardly agenda regarding the Gears, especially Dizzy.

In his Accent Core + story, Ky continues to investigate the PWAB, noticing that others have started to take an interest in their agenda as well. Eventually, he reunites with Dizzy and stops her when she loses control of her power due to stress. Johnny thanks him and both of them team up, with Dizzy in tow, to fight Crow and his Justice clone.

This is the fork in the road for the two ending paths. If Ky decides to handle things alone, then he, Johnny, and Dizzy will come to an agreement that allows Dizzy to be placed in Ky's protective custody, allowing her to fulfill her dreams of learning about the world. This is likely the canon path with the story of Overture taken into consideration. However, if Ky lets Johnny settle his grudge with Crow, he will stray from the path and accidentally encounter A.B.A, defeating her before the base explodes. One month later, he continues his work, with even more burdens on his mind due to the connections between the Bureau and the IPF.

In Overture he is unwillingly "promoted" to the king of a country called Illyria by the United Nations, using his secret wife's wellbeing as an incentive to accept the position. He is unofficially married to a woman known only as "The Maiden of the Grove", who was confirmed to be Dizzy in the 10th Memorial Book, and is the father of Sin, with whom he has a shaky relationship. If all that wasn't stressful enough for him, when Dizzy had begun to fade from existence, Ky was forced to sacrifice his Thunderseal sword in order to save her. He wielded a different sword called "Aquila", which, while originally just for decoration, was modified by Ky to be usable in battle.

In Xrd, Ky continues acting as one of Illyria's three kings, secretly prying into what the people who forced the position onto him, the Conclave, are up to, while also dealing with the impending threat on the world placed by Ramlethal Valentine. Over the course of the story, he begins to slowly learn more about Sol's past when it becomes apparent that he is a key player in the events that are transpiring, sympathizing with his situation but also trying to help his longtime rival move forward instead of continuing his cycle of guilt and self-loathing. Eventually, his own family issues with Sin begin to mend once Dizzy is finally awakened from her induced hibernation, as well as hilariously increase once some dots are finally connected. On top of all of this, it's also revealed during a near-fatal encounter with one of the Conclave members that, at some point after his relationship with Dizzy began but through as-of-yet unknown means, he became a human-Gear hybrid. He wields a new sword named "Magnolia Éclair" created from parts of his original Thunderseal sword.

A returning character in -STRIVE-. Ky has now gone back to his short hair cut from the first game, wearing a dark short-sleeved shirt and pants, topped with a white cape. He's called back into action after I-No breaks into Ariels' jail cell in Illyria, and works with Sol on figuring out I-No's motives.

Gameplay-wise, Ky is the gold-standard of Jack of All Stats in the Guilty Gear series and its only true Shotoclone to boast, with moves for every situation. He's great at mid-range (neutral) zoning and has an array of pokes and projectiles to control positioning when needed, but suffers against more specialized combatants when trying to fight them at their own games. -STRIVE- gives him a special "Shock State" that he can inflict on opponents with his projectiles; if he hits someone with this affliction using other specials, his attacks gain bonus properties like extra damage, hitstun, and advantage on block.

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Tropes Associated with Ky:

A-I

• Abdicate the Throne: Willingly steps down from his position as King of Illyria following Happy Chaos's attack on the White House...paving the way for Dizzy to succeed him as Queen of Illyria and fully realizing their dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and Gears after Ramlethal's saving of Delilah and thousands of citizens in Another Story are made known.
• Action Dad: A deadly holy knight who come Overture is married and has a son, Sin Kiske.
• Always Save the Girl:
  • In Overture, he won't let his love, the Maiden of the Grove, a.k.a Dizzy, die even if the universe is at stake.
  • Deconstructed in the drama CDs; attempting to save a woman led directly to his horrible demise and therefore the Bad Future.
• Amazon Chaser: In -Revelator-, his wife Dizzy joins the cast and shows herself as quite the Badass Adorable still. Ky's reaction to her Instant Kill is... going pretty much starry eyed at the sight and turning back to her with a loving smile.
• Ambiguously Human:
  • Ky is fatally shot several times by Axus during the climax of Xrd and seemingly dies. Thinking it over, Axus gives Ky credit for getting his kingdom to fall for his whole truth and justice. And just as he turns to leave Ky suddenly gets up. Heroic music begins as he makes a short speech of why his people truly believe in him and when he finally raises his head the music suddenly darkens considerably and it is revealed Ky's left eye is glowing crimson...a trait unique to Gears.
  • In Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, he gains the ability to use Dragon Install, making it clear that he's at least part Gear due to having one of Sin's eyes.
• And Then John Was a Zombie: A rare positive example. Ky seems to have gained Gear powers through his relationship with Dizzy, which allows him to survive being shot by Axus during Xrd. By -STRIVE- he can use Dragon Install like Sol, in his case to temporarily gearize the left side of his body.
• Art Evolution: In the first three games, Ky was more on the handsome side (but was still a Bishōnen). He also had shorter hair. His Overture design gives him longer hair though still retaining his handsome looks from the previous games, whilst his Xrd design sends him into Dude Looks Like a Lady territory. Rev 2 reintroduced his classic look.
• Artificial Hybrid: As a result of his genes being slowly merged with Gear cells by implanting his son's eye into his socket, Ky has slowly become a half-human-half-gear hybrid. This is even reflected by his Dragon Install which, unlike Sol's which turns the latter into a full gear state, only Ky's eye and a bit of his arm show gear characteristics, showing he's still mostly human.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: With Sin, after they talk out their issues a bit, in Mission #16.
• Badass Army: He commands a human Magitek knight army along with Sin.
• Badass Boast: He's not afraid to speak his own praises before combat:
  "I will show you the might of the Thunderseal."
  "Let me show you why they call me Lightning."
• Badass Cape: In Overture and Xrd he wears a cool cape on his back to visually denote his new position as a king.
• Badass in Distress: In Overture, he's trapped in Raven's seal in a badass pose. Sol and Sin have to bust him out.
• Badass Normal: In comparison with Sol and the rest. Ky is the most normal, archetypal and realistic among the characters. He's not famous in-universe for sheer magical power, he's famous for his control of lightning magic and his swordsmanship. Cranked up a notch in Overture, where he's still kicking ass without Thunderseal.
• Badass Preacher: His Order uniform resembles a priest's outfit, and he does tend to preach about God.
• Badass Transplant: It is eventually confirmed that this is how Ky got his Gear powers by the time of Xrd. In order to hide Sin's identity as a Gear, Ky had his son's left eye surgically removed and replaced with his own. As Dizzy is the daughter of Justice/Aria, who had the Scales of Juno implanted within her by That Man, she carried "the Blood of Juno" within her, which Sin naturally inherited. Thus, when the two traded their eyes, Ky became part-Gear.
• Berserk Button:
  • Earlier in the franchise: Don't bring up Fireseal or the fact Sol stole it, or Ky will get very irritable.
  • Later: Do not EVER talk bad about Dizzy. When Sol tries to to get Ky to fight seriously by calling her a monster, Ky gets so angry he literally smashes Sol through the ground.
• Best Friends-in-Law: As heavily implied throughout the series (and all but outright confirmed in -Revelator-), there's him and Sol, due to Ky being "married" to Sol's offspring Dizzy. They try not to think about it too hard, judging by their reaction when they did connect the dots.
• Boring, but Practical: Ky has little in the way of flash or mystique in his moveset. His normals all give him great space control and have little flair, while his special moves are tailored to be extremely direct in their functions. At the same time, a good Ky player is absolute terror to fight, since Ky's lack of real weaknesses makes him very consistent to play at all levels.
• Big Damn Heroes: Between Missions 15 and 16 of Overture, Ky shows up with the army he almost singlehandedly beat down (see the page) to bail out Sol's party. The latter is openly thankful, albeit in his own special way.
• Black-and-White Morality: A major flaw of his from the original game, believing gears to be inherently evil and rarely if ever questioning the Order's methods. Justice's defeat and meeting Dizzy have gradually shed this mindset from him, instead adopting a more mature and nuanced perspective of the world.
• Blue Is Heroic: One of the main heroes of Guilty Gear, as signified by the regal blues across his outfits, as well as his blue lightning,
• The Cape: The series exemplifies this, the actual cape finally showing up in -STRIVE-. Always standing up for peace and justice, his flaw is his primarily black-and-white view that leads him to be at odds with the lawless-yet-positive Sol Badguy.
• Character Development: From an arrogant, if extremely well-meaning, Knight Templar to a more upstanding character, and his initially bitter rivalry with Sol gets better at each installment until they are virtually friends in Overture, though Sol did beat him to a pulp for bringing Sin into the world and making both their lives harder, and by -Revelator- he's offering Sol whiskey in his office despite not being a drinker himself with Sol telling him that he ought to learn to.
• Chaste Hero: In Missing Link through XX he's so committed to his mission of protecting the world he has no time for relationships with others. Eventually changes come Overture, where it's revealed he not only met a woman, namely Dizzy, but married her and had a child together, Sin Kiske.
• Child Prodigy: He wasn't just a Child Soldier, he was a very good one. How good? After Sol first saw him fight as a ruthless, emotionless, brutally efficient engine of slaughter in the Crusades then was later challenged to a duel by him... Sol was scared absolutely shitless thinking he had been found out as a Gear and that Ky is there to kill him.
• Child Soldier: His Backstory, having grown up during the crusades and becoming a decorated warrior at fifteen. It really speaks to his conflicted outlooks on life.
• Chronic Hero Syndrome: It's much worse in the drama CDs and produced a tragic result, his death, when mixed with too much chivalry.
• Church Militant: A definite good-guy example, leading the Sacred Order through the crusades. You might even say he kicks ass for the Lord.
• Coat Cape: He dons this look in -STRIVE-, signifying his time away from the throne.
• Combat Pragmatist: Tying into this via After Story A in Rev 2, it's revealed that Ky, unlike Sol, actually learned how to utilize various battle strategies that don't normally involve fair tactics (while Sol most likely just busted his way through everything with his powers). He first demonstrates he could strike at Sol's throat unnoticed, then comes his berserk button getting triggered to the point where he stabs his sword into Sol's foot, uses his lightning to dismantle Sol's sword, smashes his own sword's pommel into Sol's face until it breaks and Ky grabs the remaining pieces to toss it into Sol's face again before winding up his weapon for a massive lightning strike.
• Commonality Connection: In -STRIVE-, he's able to relate to Bridget's Trans Tribulations with his own relationship to Gears, especially coming out publicly about it. He encourages her to let go of her fears and live as her true self, no matter what anyone thinks.
• Concepts Are Cheap: Subverted trope. Ky actually took the original Big Bad Justice's words to heart about how he was just spouting heroic buzz words without actually understanding them, and much of his character arc surrounds his attempts to find some form of "true" justice, rather than the self-serving concept he originally espoused, and he attempts to acknowledge gray areas. From Ky's Story Mode Path 3 ending in XX, Sol further smacks that lesson into him:
  Ky: I am fully prepared to die for the sake of justice!
  Sol: Justice? What if your pursuit of this 'justice' brings an end to the current peace? Would you be able to live with that?
  Ky: I... but...
• Costume Porn: King Ky Kiske: the nightmare of fan-artists and cosplayers.
• Critical Status Buff: Ky's Dragon Install in -STRIVE- can only be activated when he is at low health, but it releases a damaging burst and gives him huge bonuses to his special attack damage, allowing the player to potentially get a second wind and come back from a losing position. The explosion on activation can also be used to set up a combo in the right circumstances.
• Cross Attack: Seems kinda strange that holy boy would instant-kill people with a freaking electric cross in the first game (his old GG1 Instant Kill, Zwei Voltage). To be sure, it looked WAY cooler than Rising Force (until Xrd).
• Cultured Badass: His hobby in most bios tends to be collecting teacups.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Once he stops holding himself back he's capable of dishing one of these out to Sol of all people.
  Ky: *Nonchalantly* If you're going to sleep, do so in a bed.
  Sol: *Flat on his back in a crater* I'm fine here. Do most of my sleeping on the ground anyway.
• Dash Attack: His signature Overdrive, "Ride the Lightning", where he charges forward in a cloak of electricity and sends you flying.
• Dead-Hand Shot: After being shot in Xrd's Story Mode. He got better.
• Determinator:
  • Almost to the point of madness — Ky repeatedly challenges Sol despite never winning in canon (and given how powerful Sol is, he most likely never will). Until Rev 2, where Sol deliberately taunts him and is utterly trounced in the ensuing fight. Sol even says that fighting Ky to learn about how humans can face off against Gears was pointless, calling Ky a monster.
  • In -STRIVE-, he's the only human who isn't brought to tears after witnessing I-No's ascent to godhood, unlike the other characters in the story—Zato included—and instead directly challenges her to a fight despite knowing how hopeless it would be to try and defeat her in her ascended state.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: In Order Sol's timeline, Ky dies in his arms after sustaining critical wounds, leaving Sol as the last hope for the Sacred Order.
• The Dreaded: To Sol, of all people. After Story A shows why: when facing someone he actually wants to kill, like Gears during the Crusades, Ky is a No-Nonsense Nemesis who employs any and all means to kill the enemy with zero compunction or remorse.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Ky's Xrd design, coupled with his even prettier looks and ponytail, would make him look not too dissimilar to BlazBlue's Izayoi◊. This is even acknowledged In-Universe by Millia in her Xrd win quote against him.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Despite Ky's status as the commander of the Holy Knights and his great contribution in ending a hundred-year war that ravaged humanity, the characters don't seem to know about it and/or give him the respect he deserves. Instead, he either gets treated like he's a corrupt cop or a Lawful Stupid. Many characters hate him, royal title or not. Eventually averted in Xrd where he is now respected by his peers and the public on a level that befits his kingly status.
• Empowered Badass Normal: As of Xrd, as he experienced at least partial conversion into a Gear after conceiving the Half-Gear Sin with his wife Dizzy.
• Expository Hairstyle Change: His hair has gotten longer over the course of the series. In Xrd, he claims his hair continues to grow rapidly even when he cuts it, foreshadowing his reveal as a half-Gear hybrid. By -STRIVE- he cuts it short again.
• Eyepatch of Power: Had one apparently for no reason in the Overture prequel short story in the 10th Memorial Book. Then in Xrd Ky gets shot behind his back by Axus, but then gets up, with a left eye glowing red, a mark of a Gear.
• Fair Cop: A very handsome Holy Knight.
• Final Boss: He is the final opponent faced in Bridget and Sin's Arcade mode in -STRIVE-, replacing Nagoriyuki from his usual role. To that end, he inherits "Crawl" from Nago for his boss fight.
• Fire-Forged Friends: With Sol. Just listen to them quarrel in the drama CDs and the games then see them trusting each other afterwards.
• Flung Clothing: Ky's intro in Xrd has him throwing off his Badass Cape before fighting.
• Foreshadowing:
  • By Xrd, Ky is now sporting a really long ponytail of hair, and he complains of how out of control it gets despite all his attempts to cut it. It seems like just a gag, until you remember that his half-Gear son Sin also has to keep cutting his hair to stop it growing rapidly.
  • There's also Elphelt using her Gear-detecting abilities to find Sol, but she ends up running into Ky instead. Elphelt goofed up? Not entirely.
• For Want Of A Nail: His death or survival at the Battle of Rome decides the future according to the drama CDs.
• French Jerk: Inverted. Ky is French but he is also one of the most polite, helpful and generally nicest people in the whole series. This contrasts him with Sol, who is American and definitely plays to the national stereotype.
• Half-Human Hybrid:
  • Foreshadowed by his own son, no less. One of Sin's win quotes in Xrd mentions that due to the advanced growth traits unique to Gears, he has to constantly cut his hair every few days. In Story Mode, when Dizzy returns, Ky mentions that no matter how much he cuts his hair, it just keeps growing longer. At the end of Xrd's story mode, Ky gets up after having been supposedly fatally shot by Axus to reveal a red left eye, the mark of a Gear.
  • Was also foreshadowed with Elphelt's power to find other Gears. She was hoping it would bring her to Sol, but she found Ky instead.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In case you were ever unsure that he's a good guy. He passes this trait to Sin who's much more energetic and friendly than his dad.
• A Handful for an Eye: A variation ocurs during a fight between Ky and Sol in REV 2's after story, when Ky smashes the pommel of his sword against Sol's jaw, grabs the shattered pieces midair, and throws them in his eyes. In this case, it's less pragmatism and more that Ky was really pissed off.
• Happily Married: From what's been shown of their marriage, he and Dizzy have a very loving relationship, and their in-battle interactions showcase a lot of hesitation to hurt each other. By the end of -STRIVE-, Ky has officially passed his title of ruler over to Dizzy, furthering the two's goal of bridging peace between humans and gears.
• Hero Antagonist: To Sol. Also, to the other characters as well, being a police officer. Eventually, it was changed in Overture.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: In a series full of very bizarre weapon choices like anchors, scalpels and yo-yos, Ky's rather standard broadsword stands out for it's simplicity and practicality, symbolzing Ky's honest outlook and fighting style.
• The High King: According to Leo, he is the first among equals in the Illyria triumvirate of kings.
• Improbable Age: He led the Holy Knights when he was just 16 years old, though we still don't know how much power he actually held. It's implied that politicians pretty much use his charisma to gain support from the public.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Played straight in a good sense if you exclude his love affair. In the series, Ky is the only character who never or will probably never intentionally commit something evil or abandon his ideals.
  • Including the affair, however, deconstructs this quite brutally, to a point.
• In the Name of the Moon:
  "I am Illyria's king, Ky Kiske! Get ready!"
• Interpol Special Agent: After the Sacred Order of Holy Knights disbanded, Ky became a high-ranking member of an Interpol-analogous organization called the International Police Force, and spends most of X and XX traveling the world trying to track down and apprehend dangerous criminals and assassins like Crow and Venom. Of course, since Ky was Lawful Stupid at this point in the story, he would also try to handcuff obvious good guys who happened to not obey the law or be wanted criminals like Sol and Johnny.
• Interspecies Romance: The human Ky took a Gear as his wife: the "Maiden of the Grove", Dizzy.
• Invocation: In his Instant Kill in Xrd. As it turns out, what he says in gameplay is only the last part of a much longer poem, the full version of which can be unlocked and listened to in the Gallery.
  "They are modest to greed. Generous to the truths of this world. When the heart is peaceful the seven seas cry! Rising Force!"
• Irony:
  • Ky lost his family and his supposedly worry-free teenage years because of the brutal war with the Gears. He ends up becoming best friends with one, and another he marries and has a child with her. Xrd reveals that he himself has become at least partially Gear-ized as well.
  • He was the leader of the Holy Knights, yet his son is named Sin. Really, Ky?

J-Z

• Jack of All Stats: Ky is arguably the most balanced character design-wise. His playstyle rewards good fundamentals and has a bit of everything for any situation like zoning, rushdown, and okizeme.
• Justice Will Prevail: Ironically subverted by his ending in the first Guilty Gear. After defeating her, Ky almost literally says the trope to Commander Gear Justice (it's really her name), but is silenced afterwards when she justifies her actions that the knight claims to be evil.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Deconstructed. It may be true that Ky is saving a lot of lives and protecting the innocent but his devotion to the public also makes him vulnerable to manipulation. The corrupt government is using his charisma to hide the fact that they're doing dirty work in secret. Ky never hesitates to investigate his superiors, but when he does, he's forcefully made into a Puppet King. What's worse is that only very few of the characters acknowledge his efforts and Ky is more of a nuisance to them, than an actual helping hand. His chivalrous and authoritative qualities are mocked by the cast. In the end, he has resolved to bring justice to the innocent but as he experiences different things he begins to question the idea of "justice" he believed all his life, thus prompting him to find his own definition.
• Knight Templar: Borderline example early on. In fact, he teetered dangerously close to full-on Black-and-White Insanity, until his encounters with Sol and Justice forced him to question his own ideals before they could potentially push him over the edge.
• Knight Templar Parent: With Sin.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: -STRIVE-'s pre-release trailers casually spoil his Half-Human Hybrid status as of Xrd by showing off his ability to use Dragon Install like Sol does.
• Law of Conservation of Detail: Ky seems to be the entire international police force, doesn't he? Literally no other member of the IPF is ever shown on screen.
• Legendary Weapon: The Thunderseal is one of eight legendary arms, gifted to Ky by Kliff when the former becomes leader of the Sacred Order. It's the source of Ky's lightning abilities. It was retired during the events of Xrd, but Ky takes it up again in -STRIVE-.
• Light Is Good: In contrast to Sol's Dark Is Not Evil. He's wearing white and blue and uses lightning, and his personality is probably exactly what you expect of a classic hero.
• Limited Wardrobe: He always wear his Holy Knight uniform... despite the war ending 5 years ago. He changes into something befitting a royalty in Overture, and changes into what is basically a slightly regal version of the Holy Knight uniform in Xrd. He finally gets a significant design overhaul in -STRIVE-, keeping the white and blue coat but switching out his uniform for a black shirt, pants, and shoes.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: From Overture and onwards. It's revealed he grew his hair long for Dizzy. It appears to have gotten even longer than originally expected. When Dizzy is freed from stasis and reunited with Ky near the end of Xrd, she remarks at how long it's actually gotten. -STRIVE- noticeably tones down his pretty boy-ness and makes him more conventionally masculine in appearance.
  Dizzy: Your hair's gotten so long...
  Ky: Yes, well... Lately it just keeps growing, no matter how much I cut it.
• Love Is a Weakness: Ky's involvement with Dizzy, who was Valentine's main target in her Gear sublimation. His kingdom suffered a lot of casualties because of this. Until -Revelator 2-, that is: by that point, the Ilyrians have warmed up to her.
• Magic Knight: He is both proficient in sword fighting and lightning magic at a genius level.
• Mark of the Supernatural: As of Xrd, Ky's left eye glows red when he unleashes more of his power. Glowing red eyes are noted to be a trait unique to Gears, marking Ky as a human-Gear hybrid.
• Martial Pacifist: Unless his hand is forced, Ky prefers to have things settled peacefully. His desire to not hurt anyone makes him hold back unconsciously on humanoid opponents.
• Missing Mom: His mother was killed by a Gear when he was little. It wasn't long before he joined Kliff to fight in the Sacred Order.
• Musical Spoiler: His Xrd theme, Magnolia Éclair (literally Lightning Magnolia), is very similar to Judas Priest's Electric Eye. Close to the end of -SIGN- it's heavily implied that Ky became part gear, with the side effect of that not only he's stronger now, but also that his eye is red, with an electric flow of energy. Literally, an Electric Eye.
• Nice Guy: A little distant (mainly due to his position as king), but he's nonetheless kind, patient, unfailingly polite, and unwilling to resort to violence unless absolutely necessary.
• Odd Friendship: Despite being your textbook lawful-good-type Knight in Shining Armor, he has plenty of wanted fugitives on speed dial; one would expect Johnny (wanted pirate), Sol (deserter and bounty hunter), Dizzy (wanted person), Potemkin (agent of opposing nation), and Dr. Paradigm (Gear leader) to be his targets rather than his strongest allies.
• Official Couple: He ends up hooking up with Dizzy. By Overture, the two are married and have a son together named Sin.
• Officer and a Gentleman: Ky is very courteous to his opponents, especially if they're women.
  (to Jam) "Please don't kick so high... I can see- Ouch!"
• Oh, Crap!:
  • When talking with Ariels relatively early in the Revelator story, Ky already had his suspicions about her but the moment she accidentally and nonchalantly reveals a complete lack of care for human life until he catches her on it, the camera specifically focuses on Ky's face as he realizes the very person in charge of humanity is not the saint the world and history paint her as.
  • A much more hilarious example occurs later in -Revelator-, where he discovers that since Dizzy is Sol's daughter, and he married her, that makes Sol his father-in-law. Neither he or Sol are pleased at this fact.
• The Only One: Ky is the only opponent that terrifies Sol, a fact which Sol kept secret for years.
• Open Secret: Dizzy is his wife. The age, origin, appearance, personality and ability uniquely match.
• Parental Abandonment: His parents are assumed to have died when he was very young, which led to him enlisting in the Sacred Order of Holy Knights not long after.
• Parental Neglect: Is guilty of this towards his son, Sin. As a result, come Overture, Sin considers Sol his only father, and Ky is already aware that he won't be able to fix the gap between them at this point. However, their relationship does get better over time, and Xrd marks the first time Sin considers Ky to be his father.
• Parents as People: Ky does love his son, but the complicated circumstances of Sin's birth, a union between a human and gear that Ky had to keep secret, eats at Ky's mind constantly, making him seem detached and distant from his son. When the Conclave forces his hand, he entrusts Sin's care to Sol, wanting him to have a better life free from political machinations.
• Power Dyes Your Hair: When Ky uses Dragon Install in -STRIVE-, the section of his hair that surrounds his left eye, which Turns Red due to him now having Gear DNA within him, goes from blonde to a bright neon blue.
• Pro-Human Transhuman: Even with his body slowly but surely turning into a Gear, he still wishes to stay to his true self as he always has, wishing to remain the king of Illyria while to settle peace between humans and Gears.
• Puppet King: Unwillingly made King of Illyria. The "puppeteers" didn't even bother to hide this fact from Ky.
• Real Men Love Jesus: While nothing is explicitly mentioned regarding his faith, he's shown doing the sign of the cross. And apparently, the Orthodox way.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Ky's hobby is collecting teacups. He's still a badass.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ky's left eye glows crimson whenever he taps into his Gear powers. The first time this happened, he had just been shot by one of the Conclave members, who he then proceeded to kill in a single slash.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm and regal Blue to Sol's gruff and Hot-Blooded red.
• Religious Bruiser: He is theistic and prays to God regularly.
• Ride the Lightning: Probably the most famous example, if only for bearing the trope name. While many of his specials utilize the trope like Stun Dipper and Vapor Thrust, the real Trope Namer is his eponymous Overdrive, a powerful Dash Attack encasing him in lightning.
• The Rival: To Sol Badguy, their rivalry providing framing for some of the series' most persistent conflicts like the aftermath of the Crusades.
• Royally Screwed Up:
  • At first. The Gears are a kind of living WMD which are widely despised by most of humanity for almost driving them to extinction. Naturally, Ky marries one and has a child with her, which makes things... occasionally challenging.
  • Averted after Dizzy ran around saving people and stopping the rampaging Gears at the end of -Revelator-. The masses were begging for her to be Illyria's Queen without knowing she already was.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: He is King by Xrd. Doesn't stop him from kicking ass.
• Samurai Ponytail: When he had super-long hair in Xrd, he naturally tied it up in this manner, being an honorable Illyrian knight and king.
• Save This Person, Save the World: To avoid a horrific Bad Future, he must survive the Battle of Rome.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: He helped fake Dizzy's death to protect her from bounty hunters, and formed an alliance with Dr. Paradigm at the end of Overture despite the obvious hostility of the populace with Gears.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Possibly in Overture, considering that Ky may have some noble, yet radical, agendas in hand (i.e. friendship with Gears).
• Secret Relationship: Ky and his wife, Dizzy, because it would be very scandalous to the public. By the time -Revelator 2- kicks in, they have been found out... but by that time they find out that Dizzy has become beloved among the Ilyrian crowds, who consider her their guardian angel and do want her to be their Queen.
• Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: The sensitive guy to Sol's manly man.
• Sexually Transmitted Superpowers: He somehow ended up becoming a human/Gear hybrid by the time of Guilty Gear Xrd. Exactly how this happened isn't explained in game, but the fact that he is married to a gear and fathered a child with her probably has something to do with it. It turns out Ky had replaced one of Sin's eyeballs with his own, hence Ky gaining Gear cells.
• Ship Tease: Let's see. One of the XX endings shows him having a picnic with Jam, who was pretty much all over him. Another one of his story endings has him rather tenderly watching over a sleeping Dizzy. And let's not get started on all the artwork which has him and Sol in... interesting positions.
• Significant Wardrobe Shift: -STRIVE- shows him breaking his all-white and blue wardrobe of prior games, with him now wearing a black shirt, pants, and shoes.
• Shock and Awe: His signature element; everyone of his specials utilizes lightning to some degree such as firing electric projectiles and empower his sword for electric attacks. Sin inherits this ability himself with a half-gear twist.
• Shoryuken: Vapor Thrust; Ky leaps up with an arcing slash. The attack is invincible on startup, making it a very effective reversal tool, and he has a light and heavy variant with different damage and frame data.
• Shotoclone: Much like Sol, Ky has a very basic but versatile movelist, consisting of a projectile (Stun Edge), anti-air (Vapor Thrust), and a few approaching moves. By Xrd, however, his moveset places more emphasis on zoning due to his "Durandal Call" which enhances Stun Edge's spacing properties. -STRIVE- brings him back to his roots by rounding out his variety of moves to be more versatile.
• Simple, yet Awesome: If one takes the time to really get good with Ky, he can be this, having decent tools for almost every situation, and good damage to boot.
• Single-Stroke Battle: Xrd upgraded his Instant Kill, Rising Force, to this. He pierces through the opponent with the strike, ending up positioned on the opposite side at end.
• Skilled, but Naive: Played straight in the first game (his conviction on what's good and evil), but not so much in the second (his pursuit of true justice), and definitely not in Overture and Xrd.
• Slide Attack: "Stun Dipper" has Ky slide forward with a low kick before following up with a sword strike. While useful for scoring a knockdown, it can be unsafe due to its high end lag.
• Slipknot Ponytail: In Xrd, if Ky is slammed around through enough wall bounces/hard knockdowns (determined by a random number generator per match) or is defeated by an instant kill, his ponytail becomes undone and stays that way for the rest of the fight, even in the victory screen. When it happens, "Holy Orders III" from Overture starts playing. Given the requirements for this to happen, it's likely that if a Ky player is going easy on their opponent, they're probably going to stop after the ponytail comes loose.
• SNK Boss: He serves as the Final Boss for Bridget and Sin's arcade story. Unfortunately for the players, this means he also comes with his own upgraded secret boss variant for Stage 9, and it's arguably even cheaper than Stage 9 Nagoriyuki. Ky is locked into a significantly buffed and permanent Dragon Install that grants him access to insanely buffed chip damage on all of his sword attacks, including supers., a double aerial Stun Edge, his old aerial Charged Stun Edge from Accent Core, an enhanced Vapor Thrust which has a followup like Sol's Volcanic Viper, massively increased stun on both hit and block for his Dire Eclat, the beta version of his Foudre Arc that bounces the opponent on hit and can be comboed from, and an exclusive new Overdrive that hits fullscreen and is Ky's equivalent to Holy Order-Sol's Dragon Install: Sakkai.
• The Strategist: It's his Informed Ability in the early games, but we finally see him in action in Overture. In fact the whole reason Sol had to undergo a Curb-Stomp Battle at Ky's hands was so he could ask Ky for advice on how to defeat Asuka in their impending battle.
• Stealth Pun: Ky starts the series believing Gears are evil and that eliminating them is justice, only to have this naive belief thrown right back in his face by the Commander of those very same Gears, who is NAMED Justice for extra Irony. His faith shaken, he later ends up becoming friends with a Gear (his rival Sol), falls in love with and has a child (Sin) with one (Dizzy), becomes one himself, and then realizes that his wife is actually the daughter of his rival, thus making Sol his father-in-law and meaning his entire family are Gears to at least some degree. In other words, Ky has become a "Guilty Gear", just like Sol. This becomes even more pronounced in -STRIVE-, where not only is Ky able to mimic Sol's Dragon Install technique, but by the end of the story Sol is more or less reverted back to being human while Ky remains a Gear. Ky is, figuratively and literally, carrying on Sol's legacy.
• Super Mode: In Guilty Gear -STRIVE-, he gains the ability to use Dragon Install. This form can only be used once he's at a third of his health, gaining a huge boost in speed, enhanced special moves, and damage on block. Technically he loses the Shock State inflicted by his normal's specials, but in exchange integrates their bonus attributes onto his moves without the need of landing a Stun Edge first.
• Super Special Move: "Sacred Edge" is a stronger version of his "Stun Edge" special, where he summons a blade-shaped electric projectile that shocks his opponent. Sacred Edge is bigger, stronger, and deals more hits than Stun Edge, while also having Ky perform a similar windup animation.
• Sword and Fist: His punch and kick attacks-obviously-don't utilize his sword. This even extends to a few special moves like Foudre Arc, an overhead kick, and the first hit of Stun Dipper which strikes with his foot.
• Tea Is Classy: A high-ranking soldier-turned King who greatly enjoys drinking tea and even collects tea cups.
• To Be Lawful or Good: An ongoing struggle is Ky's grappling with his faith, and whether or not he's making the right judgement in fighting "evil". His battle with Justice and their ensuing conversation leaves Ky shaken by her motivations, fighting for her survival against a people that created her to kill, and makes him reconsider whether or not Gears and humans truly deserve to continue living in conflict.
  "No... you can't die yet!! Who...? Wasn't I doing the right thing, Lord?"
• Took a Level in Badass: In -STRIVE-, where he gains his own version of Dragon Install.
• Touched by Vorlons: It's directly implied that his partial Gear powers in Xrd and -STRIVE- came from his relationship with Dizzy, since it's referred to as being "a few drops of the blood of Juno" (and thus likely came from Justice's bloodline).
• Trash Talk: Even he's not afraid to rile up his opponent:
  "...And you call yourself a fighter?"
  "Am I the only one taking this training seriously?"
• Willfully Weak: Rev2 reveals that as much as much as Sol is always holding back so is Ky. Sol finally calls him out about it during a man-to-man talk and tries to goad Ky into coming at him at full power by calling Dizzy a monster, but it works a bit too well and he gets put in a crater for it after an immensely one-sided fight. Sol calls him out that he's still holding back while Ky retorts that Sol didn't even transform; though via Combat Pragmatist up above, Ky's various battle tactics prevented Sol from being able to act on time. Also note that Ky back then considered Sol to be a man as opposed to a monster, making a timeline-long-unspoken-agreement to best him in combat in a fair duel as opposed to using uninhibited war tactics.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: He's quite young for a veteran soldier and king, only thirty years old. His older peers like Leo tend to underestimate or belittle him as a result. But it's also his vast experience that lets him empathize with others, and his kingly duties have since vastly expanded his worldview.
• Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Played with. He doesn't hold back against female opponents who are more than capable of kicking his ass, but he's extremely noble and courteous to the majority of them. I-no is fair game, which you can't blame him for, really.
• Yellow Lightning, Blue Lightning: For very on-the-nose reasons, he's got blue lightning effects. Although some of his attacks use yellow lightning too like his Stun Edges in -STRIVE-.