Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

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The Heartless Emblem

Throughout the Kingdom Hearts franchise, the Keyblade wielders face a variety of monsters created from darkness and hearts falling to it, the Heartless. The Heartless are beings of darkness that manifest in two forms, "Pureblood" and "Emblem". While most Heartless are in fact manifested hearts, they behave entirely devoid of emotion, and thus were named "Heartless". This is a page detailing them.

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The Heartless

General

Heartless are creatures of darkness born from the hearts within sentient and sapient beings. They are driven only by instinct to seize hearts from other beings and destroy them, either by attacking them or manipulating them into darkness, creating more Heartless in the process. As worlds also have hearts, this inevitably means the Heartless are drawn to worlds to destroy the world's heart and plunge it into darkness. Heartless come in two varieties — Pureblood, formed naturally, and Emblem, formed by forced production.

According to legend, only the Keyblade wielder can stop the Heartless, able to lock the hearts of worlds from their reach, and when a Heartless is killed by a Keyblade its captive heart is freed. Thus the Heartless instinctively seek out Keyblade wielders to strike them down.

Adorable Evil Minions: Most Heartless are cute and cartoony, though there are some genuinely scary exceptions.
Always Chaotic Evil: They are by their very nature a threat to all life, as they instinctively seek out hearts and cannot be reasoned with.
Animalistic Abomination: Several varieties including the Rabid Dog (dogs), the Sea Neon and Sheltering Zone (jellyfish) and the Powerwild and Bouncywild (monkeys).
As Long as There Is Evil: They're born from the darkness, and so long even a single heart has a bit of darkness in it, they'll always exist. However, it was only due to Xehanort's experiments that they were able to invade the Realm of Light, their inactivity in Birth by Sleep suggests perhaps they could be marginalized in the Realm of Darkness again.
Bishōnen Line: Zigzagged. Several of the strongest Heartless (Invisible, Neoshadow, Darkside, etc) look more humanoid than their lesser counterparts, and Xehanort's Heartless, the most powerful Heartless of all, looks entirely human. However, most Heartless (especially bosses) look like monsters. It's implied the humanoid Heartless are the exceptions, and the more monstrous a Heartless is the more powerful it is, in contrast to the Nobodies who play the trope straight.
Cute Bruiser: Most of them look too cute to be an army of bloodthirsty creatures.
The Corruption: The Heartless corrupt sentient and sapient beings by stealing their hearts away and plunging them in darkness, increasing their numbers in the process.
Dark Is Evil: While this doesn't apply to all Heartless, most of them tend to feature darker colors in their designs, fitting their status as hearts that have been corrupted by darkness.
Divinely Appearing Demons: The Angel Stars are the Heartless take on this trope.
Enemy Mine: They stop fighting against the Nobodies during the Battle of Hollow Bastion any time Sora shows up, but also ally with Organization XIII at one point.
Equal-Opportunity Evil: Unlike the Nobodies, which only go after those with powerful, strong hearts, the Heartless don't care whether their targets are human or not — as long as that being has a Heart and Darkness, then they'll be there to go after them.
Fisher Kingdom: While the Pureblood Heartless keep their appearances in all worlds, Emblem Heartless change their appearance to reflect the world they're in. As a result they can appear as almost anything, from cars to sorcerers to ghosts to plants.
Giant Mook: At least one a game, such as the Large Body or Fat Bandit. They also No-Sell against front attacks except Aquatanks.
Greater-Scope Villain: As the very embodiments of darkness and the main reason so many people and worlds are destroyed, they're the most significant evil force in the game universe. However as creatures of instinct with infinite numbers they aren't actual "villains" in terms of plot, thus the actual villain roles go to human characters.
The Heartless: The Trope Namer; they come from the darkness in people's hearts, and feast on hearts, from individuals to planets and beyond.
I Fight for the Strongest Side!: In the words of Saïx, the Heartless ally with whoever's the strongest, which is why most of them defect from Maleficent's service to ally with the Organization.
Informed Flaw: Many characters speak about Heartless as if they have no personality whatsoever, but several show varying degrees of emotion through their actions. For example, Powerwilds and Bouncywilds make cartoonish gestures (Powerwilds clutch one foot and hop around on the other when a sliding kick is blocked); White Mushrooms and their variations are the most obvious standouts however, as they can be helpful and fun in their challenges. It's implied that Emblem Heartless being artificial contributes to this, as Pureblood Heartless tend not to display this level of character.
Invincible Villain: Without a Keyblade or the Power of Light, it's virtually impossible to fight off the Heartless for good and many worlds have fallen into Darkness strictly because the inhabitants had no way of truly harming them.
Jagged Mouth: A common feature, often with a Slasher Smile.
The Legions of Hell: Albeit it with some of the most adorable interpretations of this trope, though quite a few Heartless can play this trope to a more straight degree.
Lovecraft Lite: While the Heartless and the Darkness controlling them are numerous and have succeeded in destroying worlds multiple times, the worlds, and the people they may have killed along the way, are able to be restored, like nothing happened, when the heroes save the day.
Made of Evil: They are made of the darkness in people's hearts.
Manipulative Bastard: They've no problems taking advantages of people's inner greed and anger to increase their number and power; even Maleficent, a Manipulative Bitch herself, was manipulated by them.
Meaningful Name: They were given the name "Heartless" because they act on pure instinct, with no emotion to speak of.
Metal Slime: Various mushroom-type Heartless, usually rare and/or hard to kill, but yield great rewards.
Mook Promotion: The Invisible Heartless gets one between games. While it was just a fast and fairly strong enemy in Kingdom Hearts, it became an Optional Damage-Sponge Boss in Days.
My Species Doth Protest Too Much: The mushrooms (with the exception of the Black Fungus) and the Flantastic Seven are all helpful.
Nonindicative Name: They're called Heartless, but they are made out of hearts. Their name actually refers to their seeming lack of emotion.
Non-Malicious Monster:
- They're not evil, they're essentially animals (or a virus, considering how they reproduce). They do horrible things to people, but it's never out of any malice. It's just what the darkness does.
- Played entirely straight with the Mushroom family of Heartless, save for the Black Fungus. The White Mushroom, Rare Truffle, and Pink Agaricus are all friendly and never attack the player. They either need the player's help in some form or another, or are there to challenge the player in some way. If successful, they happily jump around for a bit and toss out huge rewards. The Mushroom XIII look evil, but are more or less the same. Some are more aggressive than other, but at the end of the day it's all just a challenge. Defeating all twelve of them results in the thirteenth descending down like some cute, fungus-like angel to present the Winner's Proof Keyblade.
- As a general rule, Heartless typically act the way they do because they have someone to actually command them to do things, without those driving forces (such as Ansem and Disney Villains) to direct their attacks, they act far more aimlessly and less aggressively. Before Ansem's experiments and studies, they were content to mostly lurk as Shadows, and even the more widespread Emblem Heartless act as such, in places that connect to Darkness in particular. Halloween Town has them performing and curiously playing around with presents without Oogie and Malificent. However, exploration of the Realm of Darkness in later titles shows the true upper echelons of the Pureblood Heartless are monstrously dangerous and violent, and there are implications the entire race is the result of one of the unseen "Darkness" antagonists devolving into a completely feral form.
Our Angels Are Different: The Angel Star looks like a Christmas light with angel wings.
Our Monsters Are Weird: Some of the Heartless can be quite bizarre, such as the above-mentioned Angel Star and the Leechgrave, which is a plant-coffin thing that eats other Heartless.
Our Demons Are Different: The Invisible, Orcus and Dark Thorn Heartless all look demonic.
Palette Swap: Many of them have stronger variants that are this. Most of these appear in either the Final Mix games, Days or χ. The Final Mix games also give most of the regular Heartless more psychedelic color schemes. Additionally, one of the bosses in Days, a Darkside palette swap, can summon Shadows that are purple rather than the normal blueish color.
Raising the Steaks: The Heartless also have no qualms corrupting non-human beings into Heartless, with Storm Rider and Groundshaker from II as examples.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Their sigil is a black heart with jagged red lines. Many stronger Heartless add red, purple and blue to their color scheme.
Slasher Smile: Some of them have those.
Sigil Spam: Emblem Heartless, who the apprentices branded to further distinguish them from the naturally-occurring "Pureblood" ones; presumably either the apprentices or Maleficent are responsible for the enormous emblem on the Hollow Bastion castle.
Shout-Out: Many Heartless are based on Final Fantasy enemies. Trick Ghosts, for example, bear great resemblance to the "Hungry" ghost enemies from Final Fantasy VII. Parasite Cage is possibly the most blatant, being a more fleshy version of the Prison Cage.
Supernatural Gold Eyes: The only exceptions are the ones that don't even have faces.
Super-Persistent Predator: In the words of Squall, "They'll come at you from out of nowhere, and they'll keep coming after you, so long as you wield the Keyblade." This is the in-universe reasoning for why they appear around Sora when the player walks around a world.
Theme Naming: The mushroom type Heartless are called "Color Fungus-type" (Blue Truffle, Gold Tricholoma), while the floating spellcaster Heartless are "Color Music-type" (Emerald Blues, Crimson Jazz).
Transhuman Abomination: While purebred Heartless are the native inhabitants of the Realm of Darkness, most Heartless encountered in the games were regular somebodies before their hearts were consumed by darkness (mainly by force from other Heartless). What was left of the somebody would go on to become Nobodies, a different breed of Transhuman Abomination all-together.
The Usual Adversaries: Though the machinations of higher villains drive the plots, the Heartless make up the vast bulk of what the heroes have to fight in any given game.
The Virus: While there are multiple ways to create them, The Heartless mainly spread their kind by attacking humans and other sentient beings, killing them, and forcibly swallowing them in darkness, thus transforming them, and then those new Heartless attack more people.
Was Once a Man: Downplayed, as most Heartless don't get to keep their sentience. It's still true for most of them, though.
Wicked Heart Symbol: Their logo is a black-and-red heart with a thorny X across its center.
Wingding Eyes: A common feature among Heartless.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: They always ally with the strongest villains to further their goals of conquest. Those villains who are too weak are abandoned or brought into their ranks.
Zerg Rush: Their main "strategy" is to rush their prey en mass. Since Sora is basically a One-Man Army, it usually fails.

Enemy Heartless

Debuted in I

Shadow

The cutest Eldritch Abomination you'll ever see.

The most basic Pureblood Heartless, Shadows take the form of twitchy, insect-like, humanoid shadows. They are a constant found in nearly every world traversed on foot, though they become less common as the individual games progress and more powerful Heartless are introduced.

Badass Adorable: Cute — but a nightmare to catch if they decide to mess around with you.
The Goomba: They are in almost every single world in almost every single game, acting as the weakest form of foe.
Fragile Speedster: True, Shadows are weak, but their abilities and slight speed advantage means a player is more likely to get by them in groups (especially when they are mixed with stronger Heartless).
Giant Mook: Mega-Shadows are giant Shadows. Gigas Shadows are even bigger.
I Have Your Wife: One Shadow screws with The Beast by appearing as Belle, then turning back into a shadow and running off. Though this is simple, Beast had recently clawed his way through space for Belle so this understandably makes him go into a blind anger and abandon Sora temporarily, not bad for an indistinct Mook.
Living Shadow: Shadows can sink into the ground at any time to get to a different area, making them slightly annoying to fight.
Mascot Mook: Shadows are the most iconic Heartless, almost always used to represent them as a whole.
Metal Slime: Gigas Shadows in Final Mix are met in a special encounter in Wonderland. They are quite durable and if they land even a single hit on Sora they will immediately vanish. They're also the only source of the Fury Stone crafting material.
Palette Swap: Purple ones appear in the Dark Follower boss fight in 358/2 Days.

Soldier & High Soldier

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Soldiers are the most common Emblem Heartless and the second most common Heartless overall. They are clad in constantly clanking helmets and boots and sporting large red claws. They are somewhat threatening in groups, but heavily telegraph their attacks. Kingdom Hearts III also introduces a variant called the High Soldier.

Cowardly Mooks: Deserters in 358/2 Days appear in large groups but simply run in circles and flee if you get close — until you kill one, which prompts all of the others to retaliate in unison.
Invisibility: Stealth Soldiers, as their name suggests, are invisible until they are hit enough times.
Mascot Mook: They are second only to Shadows as the most recognized and ubiquitous Heartless.
Palette Swap: Final Mix versions of the games give it a bronze coloration. The first Final Mix also introduces the Stealth Soldier. 358/2 Days has the Sergeant, Commander, and Deserter variants.
Spectacular Spinning: They have two variations of a spinning kick, one that's more of a vertical lunging kick, and a horizontal spinning top-kick.
Took a Level in Badass: They gain a spinning kick attack in II (which is associated with a reaction command), and are generally harder to take out than in Kingdom Hearts I.
Tron Lines: In Space Paranoids.
Wolverine Claws: All of their fingers end in large red claws.

Neoshadow

Neoshadows are humanoid Pureblood Heartless that are more intelligent and far more dangerous than Shadows. Found on a variety of worlds, they are either reserved for endgame as Elite Mooks or start appearing around the mid-game to replace their weaker brethren.

A larger, purple variant called a Novashadow appears in Wonderland in 358/2 Days.

Boss in Mook Clothing: In the first game they use a variety of attack patterns unlike any other enemy, making it a Puzzle Boss sort of encounter to defeat them.
The Cameo: Briefly appear in a flashback in Birth by Sleep, summoned by Master Xehanort to test Ventus. He refuses to fight them, and they beat the stuffing out of him.
Creepy Long Fingers: They have large hands with very long claws that give this effect.
Elite Mooks: Universally far stronger and more dangerous than Shadows, and usually up there with Defenders and Invisibles as the most dangerous Heartless.
Four-Fingered Hands: Novashadows only have four claws per hand instead of the Neoshadows' five.
Me's a Crowd: In Final Mix when you get down to the last one.
Nerf: They've never been as strong as they are in Final Mix, mercifully. Also applies to the versions in the last mission of 358/2 Days, which've had their strength dramatically reduced.
Palette Swap: Subverted. Novashadows are purple, but also have different hands.
The Worf Effect: The first sight of Roxas was him taking on a whole horde of these guys, and annihilating them with his keyblades. Later depictions of events in II and 358/2 Days only reduce the amount of Neoshadows he fights, but he still creams them.

Large Body, Fat Bandit & Helmed Body

Large Body

Fat Bandit

Helmed Body

Large Bodies are fat Emblem Heartless that are protected from frontal assaults due to their large bulk. Attacking from behind or using magic is the way to go if you want to defeat them. Fat Bandits are similar, though they have an Arabian-inspired appearance and access to fire attacks. Large Bodies can be found in multiple worlds while Fat Bandits largely stay in Agrabah. In addition to bringing back the Large Body, Kingdom Hearts III also introduces a variant called the Helmed Body, which wears a helmet.

Achilles' Heel:
- Their bulk makes them immune to physical attacks, but only from the front; get behind them and they're wide open. Alternatively, you can bypass their defenses using magic.
- The Large Armor variants unique to 358/2 Days notably don large round shields on their backs to apparently erase that weakness but they don't wear helmets to protect their heads so they still have a weakpoint.
Balloon Belly: Fat Bandits will gain a huge one before unleashing a huge wave of fire.
Breath Weapon: Fat Bandits have a fire-based one.
Expy: Though Large Bodies do not appear in 358/2 Days, bosses based on them like Large Armor appear instead.
Fat Idiot: Large Bodies can come across as rather dimwitted at times, pausing to scratch their heads mid-combat and even falling asleep if they aren't currently being attacked. Other variants don't seem to have the same concentration issues.
Fat and Proud: The mannerisms of Large Bodies seems to indicate this, as the unique animations they make upon connecting certain attacks include beating their stomachs with pride.
Fireballs: Fat Bandits spit them, though they can be bounced back.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Large Bodies due this on low health.
Giant Mook: One of the largest normal Heartless.
I Shall Taunt You: If you get hit with certain attacks, Large Bodies will briefly taunt for a moment.
Immune to Flinching: They are very difficult to stun thanks to their bulk. You need to juggle them into the air somehow or block certain attacks to get them to flinch.
Jiggle Physics: Their round, jiggly bellies constantly shake with their movements, and Kingdom Hearts III has them wobble when hit in their guts.
Kevlard: Their roundness automatically blocks physical attacks at the front.
Mighty Glacier: Their attacks are slow, but they have high health and attack power. Large Bodies, however, have some attacks that makes them surprisingly quick.
Palette Swap: Similarly to the Soldier, it gains a bronze color scheme in the Final Mix games. Fat Bandits also become more colorful rather than their normal orange color scheme.
Playing with Fire: The biggest difference between Fat Bandits and Large Bodies is that Fat Bandits mostly use fire attacks.
Shield-Bearing Mook: Their bulk acts as a natural shield that blocks standard melee attacks from the front.
Shockwave Stomp: They can jump to release a shockwave on landing.
Slide Attack: Games from II and onward have Large Bodies penguin-slide at you when they get to low health. They move very quickly when doing this, bypassing their normal sluggishness. The Helmed Bodies can slide much further and faster than regular Large Bodies and even change direction and do highly damaging spins mid-slide.
Tennis Boss: Bouncing their fireballs back at them stuns whatever they hit.
Turns Red: Large Bodies start charging at you when their health gets low. There's also an animation of them going berserk.

Mage Heartless

Red Nocturne

Blue Rhapsody

Yellow Opera

Green Requiem

These flying, elementally-aligned Heartless all look vaguely like the Black Mage of Final Fantasy fame and have a color and a type of music in their names. Each variant can generally found in multiple worlds.

An Ice Person: Blue Rhapsody. The Watermelon Heartless and its size-differentiated variants use ice attacks.
Anthropomorphic Food: Variants appear in Kingdom Hearts χ that are based on macarons and rice cakes. The Watermelon Heartless are a Double Subversion as they keep the regular visual aesthetic of this group while still having a more rounded look.
Blow You Away: The Emerald Blues, Spring Metal, and Malachite Bolero use wind attacks.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Red Nocturne, Blue Rhapsody and Yellow Opera respectively, with Green Requiem rounding them out with Cure magic. They also appear ...In That Order as you progress through the early levels.
Flight: The first Heartless you meet that are capable of this.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: They were guilty of this in KHI, especially in high areas due to their flying abilities. Emerald Serenade is the center of two missions based around this, speeding up as they take more damage while staying on a single path. Grey Caprice can also become this in groups due to its ability to switch places with you and then despawn if you're too far from its spawn point.
Harmless Villain: The Green Requiem are unable to attack. They only serve to heal the other Heartless.
Having a Blast: Three of Crimson Jazz's abilities create explosions out of thin air.
Heal It With Fire: Or any other element as appropriate, or all of them in the case of the Green Requiem. Averted in KH2, which does not implement elemental absorption.
Life Drain: Turquiose March does this due to the element system in Days being more of status effect system with Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors for fire, ice and lightning being tacked on.
Logical Weakness: The ones in the first game give extra experience when hit with gravity. Red Nocturne and Blue Rhapsody also do this when hit by the opposite element in addition to being stunned.
Making a Splash: The Turquoise March and Marine Rumba use water attacks.
The Medic: Green Requiem.
Metal Slime: Black Ballade splits into several clones when confronted and Sora must track down and destroy the real one. Hitting the fakes too many times will cause it to run away, but defeating it earns a unique crafting material.
Mythology Gag: On top of resembling a typical Final Fantasy Black Mage, their naming convention is a reference to the Black Waltz line.
Palette Swap: They all share the same appearance aside from color.
Planar Shockwave: Crimson Jazz can generate these.
Playing with Fire: Red Nocturne, Crimson Jazz, Vermilion Samba, and Scarlet Tango all use fire attacks. The Fireworks Heartless and its size-differentiated variants in Kingdom Hearts χ also use fire attacks.
Pure Energy: Silver Rock uses generic energy attacks.
Robe and Wizard Hat: They ARE based on the Black Mage, after all.
Shell Game: Black Ballade's challenge is based on one. Using the pause button is highly recommended to tell the copies apart.
Shock and Awe: Yellow Opera and Black Ballade as well as the Gold Beat use lightning attacks.
Status Effects Courtesy of the ones from 358/2 Days. Scarlet Tango inflicts Burn, Yellow Opera returns to inflict Shock ^note, Pink Concerto inflicts Blind, Sapphire Elegy inflicts Flip-Foot and Striped Aria lowers your defense stat.
Tennis Boss: Can be done with Red Nocturne's homing fireballs.
Time Master: Striped Aria uses time magic, though it only comes into play as a status effect.
Theme Naming: Their names all follow the format of "[Color name] [Music-related term]".

Air Soldier

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

Flying, vaguely humanoid Heartless with goggles and mechanical wings. They are essentially an aerial variant of the Soldier.

Flight: Those wings aren't just for show.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: They sure do move around a lot, and they hit hard when they (or you) get close.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: One of the few aversions due to its goggles.
Goggles Do Nothing: Heartless aren't biological, so their eyes probably wouldn't be bothered by little things like air resistance.
Palette Swap: In a reverse of what happens to the Solder and Large Body, these guys are blue in Final Mix.
Winged Humanoid: Has mechanical wings.
The Bus Came Back: After being absent from the mainline games for years, they finally make a reappearance in III, albeit with a new Grecian-inspired design due to mainly appearing in Olympus.

Powerwild and Bouncywild

Powerwild

Bouncywild

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | χ[chi] | III

Two monkey-like Heartless of opposite genders. Powerwilds are muscular and attack directly while Bouncywilds are thin and use slingshots.

Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds wear hairbows.
The Artifact: Copyright issues with the Edgar Rice Burroughs estate mean Deep Jungle and its characters can't appear in any games past the first, but since Square Enix still owns the monkey-themed Heartless created specifically for the world, they appear in subsequent games. It actually ends up working in their favor in Chain of Memories, since Powerwilds and Bouncywilds now appear primarily in Olympus Coliseum, which doesn't have any native Heartless in the first game.
Banana Peel: Bouncywilds drop these. Stepping on one causes you to trip and drop an amount of munny proportional to how much you currently have.
Brats with Slingshots: Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds.
The Bus Came Back: Powerwilds return in III after making their last appearance (discounting χ) in Chain of Memories.
Close-Range Combatant: Powerwilds will try to maul you.
Crosshair Aware: Sniperwilds do this when they attack. It can be avoided semi-reliably if you keep running.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Powerwilds are close-range melee fighters, Bouncywilds use slingshots, and their respective designs are masculine and feminine.
Long-Range Fighter: Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds use slingshots.
Maniac Monkeys: Monkey-like Heartless who prove to be a threat from either up close or far away, depending on their type.
Metal Slime: Like other Heartless variants introduced in the first Final Mix Sniperwilds are encountered in one specific place, require complex tactics to overcome, and drop exclusive materials. They don't flee, but failing their challenge means they won't drop any prizes even if you do defeat them, so the effect is the same.
Palette Swap: Final Mix turns the Powerwilds orange and the Bouncywilds pink. It also introduces the purple Sniperwilds, which are based on Bouncywilds.
Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Powerwilds are blue in the base version while Bouncywilds are pink in Final Mix.
Stealth-Based Mission: Sniperwilds must be defeated without letting them spot you and raise the alarm.
Tennis Boss: Can be done with the Bouncywild's fairly well-telegraphed slingshot attack.
Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The bow that Bouncywilds and Sniperwilds wear.
Zerg Rush: If a Sniperwild notices you and gets the message out before you can finish it off, you'll be attacked by infinitely-spawning Sniperwilds spamming unblockable attacks.

Bandit and Luna Bandit

Bandit

Luna Bandit

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | χ[chi] | II

Sword-wielding Emblem Heartless that appear in Agrabah. The much more aggressive Luna Bandit appears instead in II despite the regular bandits' model being used in a cutscene.

Dual Wielding: Luna Bandits do this and fight much more acrobatically.
Expy: The Luna Bandit fulfills much the same role in KHII as regular Bandits did in the first game.
Palette Swap: The normally purple Bandit becomes orange in the Final Mix version of the first game. The Luna Bandits get one that makes them look like much thinner and shorter Final Mix Fat Bandits.
Sinister Scimitar: Both wield them. The Bandit wields one while Luna Bandits wield two, which are also red.
Technicolor Blade: The Luna Bandits have red and black scimitars.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Subverted. Bandits can throw their swords at you, but it can be blocked.

Pot Spider, Barrel Spider, and Pot Scorpion

Barrel Spider

Pot Spider

Pot Scorpion

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

Two spider-like Heartless that inhabit Agrabah's clay jars and various levels' exploding barrels respectively. The Final Mix exclusive Pot Scorpion appears as a puzzle before revealing itself.

Action Bomb: Barrel Spiders charge and you and explode to deal damage.
Animate Inanimate Object: Subverted. The actual Heartless is using them as a kind of shell.
Beware My Stinger Tail: The exclusive Pot Scorpion has one. Blocking this attack stuns it and renders it vulnerable for multiple hits.
Casting a Shadow: The Pot Scorpion launches globs of shadow that act as landmines when they land.
Chest Monster: All of them spawn from objects that drop orbs of various types.
Death or Glory Attack: Pot Spiders will jump at you, but blocking them causes them to shatter.
Exploding Barrels: Barrel Spiders weaponize this trope.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The Pot Scorpion does this. As with its stinger, blocking this attack stuns it.
Nigh-Invulnerable: The Pot Scorpion is invincible until you stun it.
Spot the Imposter: Your prize for defeating the Pot Scorpion depends on how many pots you destroyed before hitting its pot. It can be told apart for the other pots by it not moving when you walk into it.

Search Ghost

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

A ghost Heartless that uses its searchlight eye to detect enemies. Although Jiminy's Journal states they are mainly found in Atlantica, they're just as common in Halloween Town. Capable of teleportation.

Damage-Sponge Boss: Days introduces the Hover Ghost and Living Pod, which most definitely are this.
Deadly Gas: The variants from Days will grab you and spray you with a health-draining gas.
Eye Scream: Considering their fancy cufflinks, some people may at first mistake this heartless for having High-Class Glass. On closer examination however its eyeball is actually hanging out of its socket by a metal chain.
Floating Limbs: Their main method of attack is to hit you with these.
Mythology Gag: The fact that only healing items will damage the Grand Ghost is a reference to undead enemies in the Final Fantasy series, with a notable example being that a Phoenix Down can One Kit KO the Phantom Train in Final Fantasy VI.
Palette Swap: Final Mix turned their heads orange to evoke a jack o' lantern and gave them purple shirts as well as giving us the Grand Ghost. Days also has several more variants with more powerful attacks, including the lighter-colored Hover Ghost.
Revive Kills Zombie: The Grand Ghost is immune to all normal attacks. It can only be defeated by using healing items on it. Stronger items yield better rewards.
Superboss: The Living Pod from Days is insanely powerful and only appears as a boss in various optional missions.
Super-Persistent Predator: The Living Pods. Most other Heartless will simply de-spawn back into Corridor of Darkness or, in more rarer cases, stay in place while wandering in a small area if you're going too far from their spawning point. Not for Living Pods, they will constantly track you down if you attempt to run away from them.

Wight Knight

Appearances: I | Chain Of Memories | II

A thin, mummy-like Heartless that only appears in Halloween Town and attacks with claws.

Creepily Long Arms: If they stood upright, their arms would go past their knees and likely touch their own feet. Said arms also end in barbed Creepy Long Fingers.
Cyclops: Only has one eye showing.
Jump Physics: They can jump really high and their enemy card in Chain of Memories lets you do the same thing.
Lean and Mean: They're thinner than Jack Skellington and invariably hostile.
Mummy: Has the appearance of one.
Palette Swap: In the Final Mix games, its bandages look much dirtier.
Shout-Out: It looks like that mummy kid from the introduction of Nightmare Before Christmas.
Spin Attack: Two of their moves involve winding up with their arms and mowing down anyone around them in a circle or performing a vertical spinning slash in the air after leaping.
Wolverine Claws: The above-mentioned fingers of Wight Knights are shaped like the heads of arrows. All of their moves involve slashing at Sora in some way with them.

Gargoyle

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | χ[chi]

A flying Heartless that only appears in Halloween Town. It attempts to blend in by taking the place of various statues.

"Get Back Here!" Boss: Especially around Oogie Boogie's manor.
Intangible Man: Can turn into a puff of smoke at will.
Our Gargoyles Rock: They sometimes take the place of various decorative gargoyles.
Palette Swap: They are much more colorful in Final Mix.
Technicolor Fire: They can spit blue fireballs.
Tennis Boss: Their fireball attack can be knocked back at them. Subverted in that it can miss or go through them when they turn into smoke.

Sea Neon and Sheltering Zone

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sheltering_zone.png

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

Slow-moving, jellyfish-like Heartless that appear in Atlantica. Their main attack is to swing their tentacles. The Sheltering Zone can split into Sea Neons when destroyed.

Asteroids Monster: The Sheltering Zone splits into three Sea Neons when defeated, unless the finishing blow is either a magic spell or a critical hit.
Palette Swap: Final Mix turns them red, which makes sense since neon primarily emits red light.
Spin Attack: They are capable of doing this, but don't use it often.

Screwdiver and Aquatank

Screwdiver

Aquatank

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

Aquatanks are large fish-like Heartless that use electric attacks. Screwdivers are diver Heartless that are sometimes attached to Aquatanks to feed off their electricity and attack when it is destroyed. Screwdivers can also appear independently of Aquatanks.

Heal It With Fire: Both absorb Thunder spells.
"Get Back Here!" Boss:
- DAMN YOU JET BALLOON!
- Screwdivers also tend to jet around.
Jet Pack: Subverted. The Missiledivers glow like they have one, but seem to use propellers instead.
Palette Swap: Aquatanks are turned dull red and yellow and the teal Jet Balloon is introduced in Final Mix. The Jet Balloon's Missile Divers are blue. Averted with the Screwdiver.
Shock and Awe: The Aquatank uses lightning attacks.

Pirate

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

A Heartless that looks a stereotypical pirate and wields a sword. It can be encountered in Neverland.

Eyepatch of Power: In keeping with the pirate motif.
Pirate: Based on the regular seafaring kind.
Wingding Eyes: Has one spiral eye on its bandanna and an X on its eyepatch.

Air Pirate

Appearances: Kingdom Hearts | II Final Mix| Chain of Memories

Air Pirates are Emblem Heartless that act as a flying counterpart to Pirates, though they rely on their fists instead of swords. They can be found in Neverland and Port Royal.

II Final Mix introduces the Aerial Viking, a stronger variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Close-Range Combatant: Primarily uses melee attacks, but will charge at distant targets.
Expy: The Air Battler and its variants play a similar role as flying melee fighters in Days, just without pirate motif.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Will do this if you hit them and run away. KH2 lets you use an absurdly effective reaction command when they doe this.
Palette Swap: The Final Mix games give them a red and brown color scheme. KH2FM also has the Aerial Viking, which has a similar, but brighter, color scheme.
Sky Pirate: Based on the concept.

Battleship

Appearances: I

An Emblem Heartless in the shape of a ship with a Pirate at the helm. It can attack by firing its cannons.

Battleship Raid: In miniature due to its health and only appearing after you can fly in Neverland.
Combat Medic: On rare occasion, it will fire a green shell at another Heartless in an attempt to heal it. Sora can be healed by it instead of he gets in the way.
Cool Ship: A miniature pirate ship.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Retains the ability to fly during tournaments, where you can't fly.
Palette Swap: It's purple in Final Mix.
Tennis Boss: You can send its missiles back at it by blocking to destroy its cannons.

Darkball

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | Birth By Sleep Final Mix | coded | χ[chi]

Darkballs are spherical Pureblood Heartless found in Hollow Bastion. They have movement patterns similar to a deflating balloon, and can be difficult to predict in battle.

Confusion Fu: While it is possible to see what they're about to do, it's explicitly stated that Darkballs are unpredictable and they may suddenly thrash about with no warning.
Intangible Man: Has the same ability to turn into smoke that the Gargoyle has.
Jagged Mouth: Its mouth is a jagged, toothy opening.

Wyvern

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | coded | χ[chi]

Flying Emblem Heartless that look like the creature of their namesake. They can be found in Hollow Bastion.

While 358/2 Days doesn't have the actual Wyvern, it does has a number of variants with different elemental properties. These variants are treated as either mooks or bosses depending on the mission.

Foe-Tossing Charge: Fond of doing these.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Has a nasty habit of flying past platform edges.
Our Dragons Are Different: The only draconic-looking non-boss Heartess.
Palette Swap: Blue in Final Mix.

Wizard

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | coded | χ[chi]

Wizards are Emblem Heartless clad in a Robe and Wizard Hat that use magic of the three primary elements. They are immune to most magic, so don't bother. They are generally found in Hollow Bastion.

Anti-Magic: They're immune to attack magic, (except Gravity) and they'll even break out of Stop faster than usual. The only spell other than Gravity that can damage them is an upgraded Aero.
Deflector Shields: A secondary effect of its lightning spell is that most attacks will not hit it^note, instead showing a unique blocking effect.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Knows spells for all three.
Fireballs: One of its spells shoots one.
Rare Random Drop: Wizards rarely drop their staves, which can be used by Donald as a weapon. The odds of a drop are 0.5%; that equals a one in 200 chance.
Robe and Wizard Hat: Well, what did you expect?
Teleporters and Transporters: They can warp around the battlefield.
Tennis Boss: Its fireballs can be bounced back if the player has fast enough reflexes.

Defender

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | coded | χ[chi]

Large Emblem Heartless that carry living shields. Attacking Defenders from the front won't do much, so try to get behind them to deal damage. They are typically found in Hollow Bastion.

A red variant called the Eliminator can occasionally be encountered in Re:coded. It is the most powerful non-boss enemy the game, sporting high HP and capable of inflicting any Status Effects at random with its attacks.

An Ice Person: Their shield can cast Blizzard attacks, among others.
Breath Weapon: The shield has an ice breath attack.
Fireballs: The shield can shoot homing ones.
Living Weapon: The shield's face can move.
No Mouth: The main body doesn't have a mouth.
Palette Swap: The Eliminator from Coded, which is red.
Playing with Fire: Their shield can cast Fire attacks, among others.
Rare Random Drop: Defenders may drop their shields when killed in I, which Goofy can use as a weapon. Like the Wizard, it's only a .02% chance.
Shield Bash: Its physical attacks are these.
Shield-Bearing Mook: Their shields block all attacks from the front and also double as their primary form of attack.
Wingding Eyes: The main body has these.

Invisible

Appearances: I | 358/2 Days | coded | χ[chi]

Invisibles are large, demonic Pureblood Heartless that wield swords and are capable of flight. As their name suggests, they have the ability to turn themselves invisible (which also temporarily makes them invincible). They are generally found near the end of the games they appear in as one of the most powerful Heartless species encountered.

A recolored variant called the Orcus appears in 358/2 Days, which is treated as a boss.

Bilingual Bonus: The kanji on their swords, only present in I and Days, mean "Hard Core".
BFS: They fight using giant swords.
Damage-Sponge Boss: 358/2 Days upgraded them to this.
Elite Mook: Universally, if they're not the toughest rank and file Heartless in the games they appear, they're in the top three.
Fallen Angel: It has angelic gold-tipped feathered wings on its forearm, suggesting that this Heartless is based on fallen angels.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: They have shriveled demon wings.
Optional Boss: In Days, the Invisible appears as an optional encounter with the Orcus's moveset and a lot of health that appears at the end of a few missions.
Our Demons Are Different: Their horns form a heart.
Palette Swap: Days has a purple variant called the Orcus, which has stronger attacks but isn't a damage sponge.
Playing with Fire: They can attack with rings of fireballs that converge on targets.
Shock and Awe: Days has them briefly surround themselves with lightning bolts when they recover from being stunned.
Torso with a View: Like Darkside, they have a heart-shaped hole in their chests.

Angel Star

Appearances: I | coded

Angelic Heartless that look like Christmas lights with wings and oddly use light-based attacks. They are found towards the end of I and coded as one of the more powerful Heartless species encountered.

Angelic Abomination: They are Heartless that somewhat resemble biblically accurate angels. Their entry in Jiminy's Journal even mentions that they were born of "Holy spells."
Blocking Stops All Damage: Can block with its wings, which makes it completely immune to damage while it's doing so.
Extra Eyes: While most Heartless only have two glowing yellow eyes, these ones have three.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Inverted. It has angelic wings but is a hostile creature of darkness.
Light 'em Up: Unusually for a Heartless, it uses a light-based attack that's even named Holy. The game treats it as Non-Elemental. Its other attacks look the part too, but are other elements instead. Re:coded gives it a homing version of Holy as its only move.
Light Is Not Good: They may look angelic and use light magic, but they are still hostile creatures of darkness.
Tennis Boss: Its lightning ball attack can be deflected back at it by blocking it. Doing so damages and stuns it despite in normally being immune to lightning.
Tornado Move: It can release a glowy homing whirlwind that deals dark damage.

Bit Sniper

Appearances: I

A small flying Pureblood Heartless summoned by the final boss of I.

Energy Weapon: When it's not lunging at Sora to attack, a Bit Sniper will blast lasers from afar to try and stagger him.
Foe-Tossing Charge: They mainly attack by charging Sora.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: They have bat-like wings.
No Name Given: One of the few foes in the game to not have an entry dedicated to it in Jiminy's journal. Only supplementary material and strategy guides provide the name and according stats.
Unique Enemy: They only appear in the final battle of I, acting as back-up for Ansem, showing up nowhere else in the series after. It's possible to not even see them at first when he summons them, at least until they start attacking.

White Mushroom, Black Fungus, Rare Truffle, and Pink Agaricus

White Mushroom

Black Fungus

Rare Truffle

Pink Agaricus

Appearances: I (all) | Chain of Memories (White Mushroom and Black Fungus)

A group of four Heartless based on mushrooms, each of which must be defeated a different way. The Pink Agaricus only appears in Final Mix.

Luck-Based Mission: The Black Fungus will only drop a piece worth 9999 Munny if it is finished off with a critical hit.
Nigh-Invulnerable: The Black Fungus can become temporarily invincible.
Non-Malicious Monster: All of them except for the Black Fungus, which is hostile.
Palette Swap: The Mushroom XIII in II and the Gold Tricholoma in Coded.
Parlor Games: The game "Charades" is part of the White Mushroom's gimmick — it makes signals representing a different spell (shivering, fanning itself, a light appearing, falling over, floating into the air, freezing in place or spinning around rapidly), prompting Sora to cast the appropriate spell on it. If he does so three times in a row, it'll drop prizes and vanish.
Poisonous Person: The Black Fungus uses poison attacks.
Purple Is the New Black: The Black Fungus is mostly various shades of purple.
Puzzle Boss: Each has a different set of conditions for getting its reward. The Mushroom XIII also have their own challenges to complete.
Status Effects: The Black Fungus inflicts poison with its attacks. This is changed to stunning Sora in Chain of Memories. The Gold Tricholoma can inflict Blind.
Token Evil Teammate: The Black Fungus, which is the only hostile member of the group compared to the others being playful Puzzle Bosses.

Chimera

Appearances: I Final Mix

A large mechanical Heartless that can be found in Halloween Town.

Brain in a Jar: It has three heads in a large jar attached to its body. Your goal is to knock them out of the jar and then hit them as much as possible.
Flunky Boss: Always summons Gargoyles after getting its heads back in the jar.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It covers a fairly large range with one.
Lean and Mean: Very thin aside from the jar.
Sequential Boss: Alternates between attacking with its main body and bouncing its heads around. Each has a separate health bar and taking out the heads' health bar will finish it off.

Debuted in Chain of Memories

Creeper Plant

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II, several variations appear in: 358/2 Days, χ[chi]

Small flower-shaped Emblem Heartless that attack by firing seeds. They're planted into the ground, but a Reaction Command can uproot them and produce some HP Orbs. In II, they primarily appear in Olympus Coliseum and Halloween Town.

An Ice Person: The Blizzard Plant uses ice based attacks.
Bullet Seed: They attack by firing seeds from their mouths.
Casting a Shadow: The Dark Plant in Kingdom Hearts χ uses darkness based attacks.
Non-Elemental: The Dire Plant and the Creeper Plant itself use non-elemental attacks.
Playing with Fire: The Fire Plant.
Poisonous Person: The Poison Plant.
Ground Pound: The variants from Days can do this with their heads.
Status Effects: The Fire Plant can inflict Burn and the Blizzard Plant can inflict Freeze.
Tennis Boss: Its seeds can be bounced back at it. The same holds true for the Dire Plant.

Crescendo/Loudmouth and variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/crescendo_6.png

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II | 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

These Emblem Heartless resemble the horn ducks from Alice in Wonderland. They don't pose much a threat by themselves, but they are able to heal and summon other Heartless by playing Magic Music. Fought in Wonderland and Destiny Islands in Chain of Memories and Olympus Coliseum in II.

In 358/2 Days, they are renamed to "Loudmouth" and gain the ability to fire Aero magic to fight back. Regardless, they are still not very dangerous on their own. There are also two variants called Flare Note and Bubble Beat, which are large and shoot fire and water, respectively.

Blow You Away: Loudmouths can use Aero in Days.
Helpful Mook: In II, the Crescendo's Reaction Command causes them to drop a large amount of HP orbs.
Instrument of Murder: It can whack things with the horn it has in place of a mouth.
Magic Music: Its music can both heal and summon.
Making a Splash: Kingdom Hearts χ has a variant called the Rainy Loudmouth. Days has the Bubble Beat, which fires homing balls of water.
Mook Medic: One of their abilities is an area-of-effect healing spell. Sora can hijack it to heal the party with a reaction command.
Palette Swap: In Final Mix, their color scheme is changed to blue with some red mixed in. In Days, the Bubble Beat is entirely light blue while the Flare Note is bright red. The Rainy Loudmouth in χ[chi] is mostly blue with a raindrop pattern.
Playing with Fire: The Flare Note shoots bouncing fireballs from its horn.
Shout-Out: It looks like the horn ducks from Alice in Wonderland, which explains their placement in COM.
Summon Magic: It can use its music to summon new Heartless, though only one per use.

Tornado Step

Appearances: Chain of Memories | II | χ[chi]

A small blue Heartless with a hat with gloved arms on it. Fought in Wonderland and Destiny Islands in Chain of Memories and Port Royal and the Underworld in II .

Palette Swap: Red and orange in Final Mix.
Spin Attack: Its main method of attack. A reaction command lets you grab the Heartless and turn the attack against other enemies.
Weaponized Headgear: Its arms are attached to its hat and can be used as a propeller.

Debuted in II

Nightwalker

Appearances: II

Nightwalkers are humanoid Emblem Heartless that wear large hats and robes, and are based on Chinese Vampires. They are immune to Blizzard magic and can be found in the Land of Dragons.

Chinese Vampire: Seems to be based on the Jiangshi of Chinese folklore.
Paper Talisman: Has one inscribed with the Heartless symbol attached to its hat.
Spin Attack: Capable of doing this.
Zombie Gait: A variation. They move using hopping motions similar to their mythological inspiration.

Bolt Tower

Appearances: II

A tall, limbless Emblem Heartless that projects lightning with its antenna and is immune to Thunder magic. Bolt Towers mostly appear in the Land of Dragons, but they can also be found in Disney Castle during the Heartless invasion.

Button Mashing: Its Reaction Command requires hitting the button several times.
Palette Swap: A lighter color scheme that uses purple instead of black is used in Final Mix.
Press X to Not Die: A reaction command that is activated by mashing the triangle button not only saves Sora from a multi-hit electrocution, but also sends the attack right back at the Heartless.
Shock and Awe: Can grab Sora with lightning bolts, though the attack can be turned against it with a reaction command.
Use Your Head: It can bounce its head, which is on the lower edge of its body, out to attack.

Assault Rider

Appearances: II

Assault Riders are centaur-like Emblem Heartless that wield spears. They are bulkier than most other enemies, their weapon provides them with a long reach, and they are capable of making far jumps to close distance. They are found in the Land of Dragons.

Foe-Tossing Charge: One of its attacks.
Giant Mook: The first introduced in II. For the stage of the game they're introduced, they're an imposing enemy with plenty of health, an offensive attack that serves as a defense, and they stagger only after combo finishers.
Monster Threat Expiration: By the middle point of the game, they stagger significantly easier in the face of Sora's new abilities and are far too slow to catch up with his superior mobility.
Our Centaurs Are Different: They're basically centaur-based Heartless.
Palette Swap: Its color scheme is similar to the Bolt Tower's in each version.
Weapon Twirling: One of its attacks. It actually serves as a pretty good defense.

Rapid Thruster

Appearances: II

These small flying Emblem Heartless look vaguely like fish with propellers in the place of their tailfin. They often appear in swarms and show up in multiple worlds.

Palette Swap: Several gummi variants appeared during an event in Kingdom Hearts χ.
Spin Attack: Fond of doing this. Its reaction command also involves Sora pulling one off.
The Swarm: They often appear in swarms.
This Is a Drill: One of the gummi themed variants in Kingdom Hearts χ has drills on its sides.

Lance Soldier

Appearances: II

Lance Soldiers are tall, thin, armored Emblem Heartless wielding lances. Said lances have minds of their own and don't always cooperate with their owners, which can lead to some erratic attack patterns. Immune to Thunder magic. They mostly appear in Beast's Castle.

II Final Mix adds the Lance Warrior, a far stronger variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Evil Weapon: The Lance has a mind of its own and can attack independently of the soldier and even drag it around.
Flight: The lance can drag it into a flying attack.
Ground Pound: If it starts flying, a reaction command can be used to drag it down and force it into one of these to create a shockwave.
Palette Swap: It's blue in the Final Mix version. The more powerful Lance Warrior appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The Lance Warrior.
Spin Attack: Its strongest attack is one which is also the only one that isn't performed by its lance.

Gargoyle Knight and Gargoyle Warrior

Gargoyle Knight

Gargoyle Warrior

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

These Heartless are the result of a Possessor taking over a statue. Gargoyle Knights wield swords while Gargoyle Warriors wield axes, and both are immune to the three types of elemental magic. They can be found in Beast's Castle.

Demonic Possession: They're the result of Possessor Heartless hijacking statues found in Beast's Castle.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The Gargoyle Knight does a flying one while the Gargoyle Warrior combines a charge with a Spin Attack. In both cases, blocking the attack stuns them.
Hidden in Plain Sight: Since Gargoyle Knights and Gargoyle Warriors are possessed statues, they wait out in the open as part of the scenery of Beast's Castle.
Living Statue: They technically are statues, just possessed ones.
One-Hit Kill: A reaction command lets Sora banish the Possessor when they are stunned. Doing so also destroys the statue.
Our Gargoyles Rock: You can never tell which ones are just statues, though the Possessors will often alternate between different sets of statues during multiple visits to a single area.
Rolling Attack: The Gargoyle Warrior can do this.
Spin Attack: The Gargoyle Warrior combines this with Foe-Tossing Charge for one of its attacks. Blocking the attack stuns it.
Tennis Boss: It can be bounced back.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: The Gargoyle Warrior can do this with its axe. Averted with the sword-wielding Gargoyle Knight.

Hammer Frame

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

Hammer Frames are Emblem Heartless that take on the appearance of anthropomorphic hammers. They attack by slamming their hammer heads on the ground to create shockwaves. The cartoonish nature of Hammer Frames lends itself to Timeless River (where they are first introduced), but they are also fought in Beast's Castle and Port Royal.

II Final Mix also has the Iron Hammer, a far stronger variant found in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Ground Pound: The shockwave from it has a pretty good radius.
Palette Swap: Gold in Final Mix, which also introduces the pastel-yellow and green Iron Hammer.
Spin Attack: Propels itself a pretty good distance with one.

Hook Bat

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

Hook Bats are Emblem Heartless that are exactly what they sound like: bats with hooks attached to their bodies. They primarily attack by screeching and are found mainly in Beast's Castle. II Final Mix adds the Befuddler, a stronger variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Bat Out of Hell: A rather cute take on this trope.
Grievous Harm with a Body: Its reaction command lets you do this.
Palette Swap: Bright red in Final Mix which also introduces the white and purple Befuddler.
Super-Scream: Has a short range sonic attack.

Trick Ghost

Appearances: II

A ghost Heartless that changes its attack pattern when flipped over. Fought in the Underworld and Halloween Town. II Final Mix introduces the Magic Phantom, a stronger variant that appears in Hollow Bastion's Cavern of Remembrance.

Casting a Shadow: Can fire orbs of darkness.
Extra Eyes: Has two pairs of eyes so that one pair is always above its mouth.
No-Sell: The Magic Phantom is immune to physical attacks while flying.
Palette Swap: Acid green in Final Mix,, which also introduces the purple Magic Phantom.
Playing with Fire: When attacking with its candle.
Tennis Boss: Bouncing their projectiles back causes them to flip over.

Driller Mole

Appearances: II

Small Emblem Heartless on wheels with drills on their faces. They like to dig underground to avoid damage before attacking, but it's possible to track them while they do so. Fought in Olympus Coliseum's Underworld and Halloween Town.

Dig Attack: Its preferred method of attack.
Drill Mole: Based on the concept.
Palette Swap: Orange and yellow in Final Mix.
This Is a Drill: Has one in place of a nose.

Rabid Dog/Bad Dog and variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rabid_dog.png

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

Emblem Heartless that look like a small blue dogs. They attack by barking or biting, though neither is particularly threatening. Very weak to magic in 358/2 Days. They can be fought in Olympus Coliseum and Port Royal.

Larger variants called the Snapper Dog and Bully Dog appear in358/2 Days. They can be found in various worlds.

Hellhound: A dog Heartless that is fought in the Underworld.
Palette Swap: Red in Final Mix. Days introduces the green Snapper Dog and the red Bully Dog.
Super-Scream: Its bark is a sound-based attack.

Minute Bomb

Appearances: II, variations appear in: 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

Emblem Heartless that look like bombs with legs. While they are weak to Fire magic, it will cause them to explode (possibly damaging anybody nearby for a large amount of damage) or start a 5-second countdown for a Suicide Attack. Fought at Disney Castle and Timeless River.

358/2 Days introduces larger variants of with different explosion types. The Skater Bomb has an icy explosion that can freeze victims, while the Storm Bomb has a wind-based explosion that can Air Toss.

Action Bomb: Their self-destruct attack is preceded by a countdown and can be triggered with fire magic.
Blow You Away: Storm Bomb is an Aero-elemental variant.
Elemental Powers: It and its Days exclusive variants have them.
An Ice Person: Skater Bomb is a Blizzard-elemental variant.
Multiple Reference Pun: 'Minute' could refer to their timed fuse (though it's obviously nowhere near an actual minute long) or their small size.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Blocking their tackle breaks the top of their shell, which causes them to abruptly stop doing anything and curl up in a way similar to a Troubled Fetal Position.
Palette Swap: Gray in Final Mix.
Playing with Fire: Minute Bomb and Detonator deal Fire-type damange.
Use Your Head: Mostly uses a headbutt attack.

Aeroplane

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

Emblem Heartless that look like planes fused with their pilots. They can attack by shooting their machine guns or ramming into foes. Fought in Timeless River.

Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: Even by Heartless standards, the Aeroplanes seem tailor made for a specific battle. The first time they are introduced they are attacking Lilliput, a tiny but militaristic society isolated on an island. They are short (but still comparatively large to Lilliput) fighter pilot heartless in equally small airplanes that resemble an old timey airforce that would have a tactical advantage against an island nation.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Uses these a lot.
More Dakka: Shoots bullets from guns on its wings.
Palette Swap: Green in Final Mix as opposed to the usual blue.

Hot Rod

Appearances: II

Emblem Heartless that look like cartoon cars. They have high HP and will go berserk after taking a large amount of damage, causing them to charge around the battlefield while being difficult to hit. Fought in Timeless River.

II Final Mix also has the Mad Ride, a stronger variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Deliberately Monochrome: Palette-swapped to this in Final Mix in keeping with the rest of Timeless River.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Starts doing this once it gets below half health.
Hot Paint Job: The Mad Ride, a variant which appears in the Final Mix exclusive Cavern of Remembrance has one in addition to being colored red.
Turns Red: They become far more aggressive when their health gets low. The Mad Ride, fittingly for its red paint job, can go into their Foe-Tossing Charge state when blocked.

Cannon Gun and variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cannon_gun.png

Appearances: II | χ[chi], variations appear in: 358/2 Days

Cannon Guns are Emblem Heartless shaped like cannons. They typically don't due well at melee range, excelling instead at firing from afar. Their crosshairs are visible to you, so make sure you're out of the line of fire. Fought in Port Royal and Space Paranoids.

II Final Mix also has the Camo Cannon, a stronger variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

358/2 Days includes more variants: Ice Cannon, Jumbo Cannon, and Switch Cannon. Ice Cannons can freeze their targets, Jumbo Cannons are just bigger and stronger versions of the normal Cannon Gun, and Switch Cannons teleport their targets next to them when they hit.

Crosshair Aware: When it fires into the air, a crosshair appears on the ground below the projectile.
Elemental Powers: Happens with its Days exclusive variants.
An Ice Person: Ice Cannon deals Blizzard damage.
Playing with Fire: Cannon Gun and Jumbo Cannon deal Fire damage.
Palette Swap: Orange in Final Mix, which also introduces the Camo Cannon.
Tron Lines: In Space Paranoids.
Weaponized Teleportation: The Days exclusive Switch Launcher deals damage while teleporting the player next to it.

Fiery Globe and Icy Cube

Fiery Globe

Icy Cube

Appearances: II (both) | 358/2 Days (Icy Cube)

Two tiny Heartless fought in Agrabah that are weak to Blizzard magic and Fire magic, respectively. Fiery Globes look like a sphere of half-melted rock with legs, and Icy Cubes look like ice cubes containing a sphere with legs. While not much of a threat due to sporting low HP, they can be a problem when encountered in high numbers.

In 358/2 Days, Icy Cubes frequent Halloween Town. There is also a larger variant called the Snowy Crystal with far more HP, but its weakness to Fire magic still applies.

An Ice Person: The Icy Cube and the Snowy Crystal.
Harmless Freezing: The Icy Cube and Snowy Crystal can inflict this in Days.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The Icy Cube and Snowy Crystal use this in Days.
Palette Swap: Notably averted. Their appearance remains unchanged in Final Mix +.
Playing with Fire: Fiery Globe.
Shockwave Stomp: The Snowy Crystal can do this.
Zerg Rush: They're small and weak and usually appear in large numbers. Not nearly as numerous as the Rapid Thrusters, though.

Fortuneteller

Appearances: II

Fortunetellers are humanoid Emblem Heartless that resemble Arabian belly dancers. They fly around on crystal balls and use Blizzard magic to attack. Fought in Agrabah.

An Ice Person: Fires ice shards to attack.
Crystal Ball: Flies around on one and sometimes attempts to bludgeon Sora with it.
Harmless Freezing: Starts attempting to do this when its health gets low. A reaction command sends the attack right back at it.
Ms. Fanservice: Downplayed, They're shapely female heartless dressed in Sultry Belly Dancer garb, but they are still cartoonishly proportioned.
Palette Swap: Final Mix changes its normally purple clothes to a sandy tan color.
Smurfette Principle: The only heartless with an unmistakably female design at the time of 2's release, paving the way for more, particularly in Union χ.

Toy Soldier and Graveyard

Toy Soldier

Graveyard

Appearances: II

These counterpart Emblem Heartless look like jack-in-the-boxes, which contain several forms they use to attack. The main difference between them is that Toy Soldiers have a form that can attack from afar while Graveyards have a form that can summon ghosts and fly. Both have high HP and are very strong.

Toy Soldiers are encountered in Christmas Town, while Graveyards are encountered in Halloween Town.

Close-Range Combatant: The Graveyard's attacks are both short range, though it compensates by moving around a lot.
Foe-Tossing Charge: They can do this when on the ground.
Our Ghosts Are Different: The Graveyard can summon ghost constructs to attack.
Palette Swap: The Toy Soldier gets a Red and Black and Evil All Over in Final Mix while the Graveyard's box is changed to black.
Scary Jack-in-the-Box: They're both based on the concept. The Toy Soldier combines this with a nutcracker with an actual musket.
Sinister Scythe: Both of them can send out a spring-loaded pumpkin that attacks with this and an axe.

Aerial Knocker

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

A Heartless that looks like a parrot with boxing gloves for feet. It is fought in the Pride Lands and Final Mix introduces the more powerful Aerial Champ in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Boxing Battler: Prefers hooks and jabs.
Feathered Fiend: One of a very fire bird-themed Heartless.
Palette Swap: Recolored to blue in Final Mix. The Aerial Champ is gold and red.
Red Boxing Gloves: Has these on its legs.

Shaman

Appearances: II

Shamans are Emblem Heartless that look like monkeys wearing witch doctor masks. They attack with blue fire magic, can temporarily become invincible, and are occasionally found riding Living Bones. Fought in the Pride Lands.

II Final Mix also has the Necromancer, a more powerful variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Maniac Monkeys: God help you if you don't take them down quickly in the tournaments.
Nigh-Invulnerable: While flying around as a mask.
Palette Swap: Its Final Mix palette swap uses more black, purple and blue. There's also the Necromancer.
Playing with Fire: Fights using magic fire.
Rare Random Drop: Both the Shaman and Necromancer have a 1% chance of dropping their staves, which Donald can use as a weapon.
Technicolor Fire: Blue.
Will-o'-the-Wisp: Can surround Sora with these. A reaction command allows him to attack with them, though only in Sora's lion form. The attack can only be avoided in tournaments by killing the Shaman casting it before it goes off.
Witch Doctor: Based on one.

Living Bone

Appearances: II

Large Emblem Heartless that take on the appearance of undead reptilian beasts, occasionally missing their heads. Living Bones have high HP, are very strong, and may be found with a Shaman riding on their backs. Fought in the Pride Lands.

Man Bites Man: It will bite if it has its head.
Non-Human Undead: It's some sort of undead beast.
Power Up Mount: For the Shaman, whose attacks last longer and hit over a longer distance if they're together. The Shaman's Will O The Wisp Attack, for instance, now takes five uses of its reaction command to get rid of instead of the usual three. The arrangement also powers up the Living Bone's bite attack.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: The color scheme for its Final Mix Palette Swap.
Shockwave Stomp: Can do three in succession with increasing range.

Bookmaster and Runemaster

Bookmaster

Runemaster

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

Bookmasters are humanoid Emblem Heartless that carry large books, which they use to cast elemental magic or smack nearby Keyblade wielders. They're immune to the same type of magic they're able to cast, so don't bother trying unless it's Magnet or Reflect. Fought in Hollow Bastion from the second visit onward. II Final Mix also has the Runemaster, a more powerful variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Blocking Stops All Damage: The Runemaster can do this with its book.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: They have spells for each.
Magic Missile Storm: Their fire and lightning spells.
Palette Swap: Green in the base version, yellow in Final Mix and the Runemaster is silvery-purple.
Rare Random Drop: Both the Bookmaster and the Runemaster drop their books 1% of the time, which Goofy can use as a shield.
Throw the Book at Them: It can hit things with its book.
Tron Lines: In Space Paranoids.

Surveillance Robot/Watcher and variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/surveillance_robot.png

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days (as Watcher)

Surveillance Robots (Watchers in 358/2 Days) are small robotic Emblem Heartless that fly around and shoot lasers to attack. They appear mainly in Hollow Bastion in II.

358/2 Days also has Guardians and Destroyers, which are essentially larger and stronger Watchers.

Energy Weapon: Attacks solely with these. How it does so depends on the game.
One-Steve Limit: Averted, there is also the Heartless that Ansem calls which is known as Guardian.
Palette Swap: The Days-exclusive Guardian and Destroyer.
Tron Lines: The ones in Space Paranoids have red lines.
Wave-Motion Gun: Can be turned into one with the appropriate reaction command.

Morning Star

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | χ[chi]; Variants appear in: 358/2 Days

A round, mechanical Heartless covered in spikes that appears in several worlds starting with Hollow Bastion.

Foe-Tossing Charge: Uses a homing one to get to distant targets.
Palette Swap: Blue in Final Mix and bronze and gold in χ. There are also the Spiked Crawler and Scorching Sphere in Days and a gummi-block themed variant that appeared for an event in χ.
Playing with Fire: Scorching Sphere.
Shockwave Stomp: Starts doing this at half health. It can be countered with a reaction command.
Spin Attack: Can do one with its arms extended.

Armored Knight

Appearances: II | χ[chi]

Armored Knights are knight-themed Heartless that first appear in Hollow Bastion during the second visit. They are actually very frail despite their armor.

Blade Below the Shoulder: Fights with a sword attached to its left arm.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Its reaction command, Rising Sun, lets you do this up to five times.
The Straight and Arrow Path: A bow-wielding variant called the Armored Archer appears in Kingdom Hearts χ.

Strafer

Appearances: II

A yellow Heartless that appears in Space Paranoids. It runs in circles and shoots lasers.

Energy Weapon: Its main method of attack.
Pure Energy: Can fire a homing ring made of energy.
Spin Attack: Its only close-range move is to spin its torso to strike with its arms.
Tron Lines: Yellow ones.

Magnum Loader

Appearances: II

A fast-moving unicycle-themed Heartless that appears in Space Paranoids. It attacks by ramming its foes.

Deflector Shields: The green ones use these.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Used by the yellow variant.
Palette Swap: Each color indicates a variant that uses a different attack.
Shout-Out: To the Magna Roader from Final Fantasy VI, which is also unicycle-themed.
Spin Attack: Has several different ones depending on whether it is faced in regular gameplay or on the Light Cycle.
Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: The green, blue and yellow variants each counter one of the Light Cycle commands. The silver one can counter all three and attack normally as well.
Tron Lines: Red when in battle. The ones in the Light Cycle mini-game variably have yellow, blue, green or silver ones to indicate their attack pattern.

Devastator

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/devestator.png

Appearances: II

Devastators are quadrupedal Emblem Heartless that have both ground-based and aerial attacks. They are very dangerous due to having high HP and attack power. Fought in Space Paranoids.

II Final Mix adds the Reckless, a more powerful variant that appears in the Cavern of Remembrance.

Law of Chromatic Superiority: The Reckless is red and much more powerful that the Devastator.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: One of these is responsible for the hole in the arena wall that allows Tron, Sora, Donald and Goofy to escape the Light Cycle.
Palette Swap: The Reckless, which is red.
Shock and Awe: Discharges electricity while transforming.
Spin Attack: Can do one while flying.
Tron Lines: Purple.

Bulky Vendor

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days

Emblem Heartless that resemble gashapon machines and drop various rare items. In II you need to catch them and use a Reaction Command before their automatically-depleting HP hits zero, while in 358/2 Days you need to kill them before they run away. They are found in multiple worlds, though they don't always show up.

A larger variant called the Rare Vendor appears in 358/2 Days. Rare Vendors have more HP and drop more valuable prizes than Bulky Vendors.

Animate Inanimate Object: A living gashapon machine or gumball machine, whichever is more familiar to the player.
Cowardly Mooks: They flee from you as soon as they spawn and never attack, eventually despawning if you don't catch/kill them.
Loot Command: Any of four reaction commands depending on how much health it has left. Lower health equals better loot.
Palette Swap: It's blue in Final Mix and the Days-exclusive Rare Vendor is black.
Rare Random Drop: Bulky Venders have a small chance to drop the rare Orichalcum. Exactly how likely the chance of the drop is depends on when you use their Reaction Command.
Timed Mission: In II, its health drops like a rock and the reaction command and prizes depend on how much health it still has when said reaction command is used. In Days, it and the Rare Vendor must be defeated within a time limit.

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Large Armor and variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/large_armor.png

Appearances: 358/2 Days

These bulky Emblem Heartless are somewhat similar in appearance to the Large Body, though they wear armor that protects them from attacks directed anywhere but their heads. There are four types: Large Armors, Clay Armors, Solid Armors, and Land Armors.

Armors can potentially be knocked down if you hit them on their heads enough, providing a safe opening. They also have a huge weakness to specific types of elemental magic: Large Armors are weak to Fire, Clay Armors are weak to Thunder, Solid Armors are weak to Blizzard, and Land Armors are weak to Aero.

Attack Its Weak Point: You need to hit them on the head to deal damage.
Spin Attack: It always follows up with one after recovering from being stunned.
Underground Monkey: Besides the basic Large Armors, there are recolored variants (Clay Armors, Solid Armors, and Land Armors) with different elemental weaknesses.

Cymbal Monkey and Tricky Monkey

Cymbal Monkey

Tricky Monkey

Appearances: 358/2 Days

Emblem Heartless that vaguely resemble monkeys and carry cymbals. They hide in chests waiting to strike unsuspecting players, though they can be quickly dispatched by reflecting their initial attack with a guard.

Chest Monster: They lurk in fake chests and attack when you open them.
Instrument of Murder: Their weapons are a pair of cymbals.
Interface Screw: Getting hit by one of their attacks will flip your controls for a short period of time.
Tennis Boss: Oddly enough, their sound-based attacks can be deflected back at them. Doing so will even usually one-shot them.

Barrier Master

Appearances: 358/2 Days

These Emblem Heartless heavily resemble the book-toting Bookmasters, but they sport a blue coloration and function differently. Instead of attacking, Barrier Masters support other Heartless by conjuring barriers that make their allies invincible. You need to stun the Barrier Masters and knock their books away (or just kill them) to dispel their barriers. Also, they are not immune to magic like Bookmasters are, so feel free to throw spells their way.

Deflector Shields: They conjure barriers that protect other Heartless from damage.
Palette Swap: A blue version of the Bookmaster with very different powers.
Power Crutch: Barrier Masters need their spellbooks to use their magic. Knocking the books away will disrupt their ability to maintain their barriers.
Support Party Member: Barrier Masters don't attack, instead opting to support other Heartless with their magic.

Creepworm

Appearances: 358/2 Days

Small Emblem Heartless that resemble insects. Creepworms have extremely low HP and are completely harmless, but you sometimes have to search for them and they have a tendency to run. They are found in Halloween Town.

Big Creepy-Crawlies: While small by Heartless standards, Creepworms are big for insectoids. They're roughly the size of medium dogs.
Stealthy Mook: They occasionally hide themselves, necessitating that you examine the scenery of Halloween Town to draw them out.

Debuted in χ[chi]

Fluttering

Appearances: III | χ[chi]

Small Pureblood Heartless that resemble a cross between bats and crows. These things like to perch on tree branches and ceilings to get the drop on their prey. They're pretty much all over the place.

Airborne Mook: They stay on the air by flapping their umbrella-like wings to try and stay out of the Keyblade's reach, also using them to attack.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They resemble a cross between bats and birds with an umbrella in the mix.
Palette Swap: The Paralysis Platoon is an olive green variant of a Fluttering swarm with bright green lightning patterns on their wings.
Spin Attack: When their health is low, they'll perform a spinning attack closer to the ground to try and slash at Sora with the sharp tips of their wings.

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Flame Core

Appearances: 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- | III

Fireballs: They can spit fireballs out of their mouths as an attack.
Kill It with Water: As fire-based Heartless, they are naturally weak to Water-elemental attacks. They can also put out their fire and stop them in their tracks when they light themselves on fire and start flying around shooting fireballs.
Playing with Fire: Just as its name suggests, it controls fire.

Water Core

Appearances: 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- | III

Kill It with Fire: In a case of Artistic License – Physics, they are weak to Fire-elemental attacks despite being Water-based Heartless.
Making a Splash: Just as its name suggests, it controls water.

Earth Core

Appearances: 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- | III

Attack Its Weak Point: Its hard stone spikes are impervious to attack, so it can only be hurt by hits to the face.
Dishing Out Dirt: Just as its name suggests, it controls earth.

Debuted in III

Popcat

Appearances: III

Strange cat-like Heartless that hide out inside pots. They are usually encountered in large groups and can sometimes be found guarding valuables like treasure chests.

Cats Are Mean: They are cat-like Heartless and are just as willing to steal the hearts of other living beings as any other Heartless.
Chest Monster: They pretend to be the same kinds of pots that you would normally break for collectibles like HP orbs or munny until Sora comes close, at which point they pop out of their pots and attack.
Cute Kitten: They outshine even Shadows in the Adorable Evil Minions department.
Palette Swap: Subverted. The variants are distinguished primarily by the color of their pots, but they also have different designs.
Piñata Enemy: The rarer Vitality Popcats, Magic Popcats, Focus Popcats and Munny Popcats drop large quantities of their respective prizes.

Bizarre Archer

Appearances: III

Annoying Arrows: Their arrows don't do a lot of damage, but they have long range and will stagger Sora if they hit him.

Rock Troll & Metal Troll

Rock Troll

Metal Troll

Appearances: III

Large lumbering brutes that attack with powerful blows. These tanky and aggressive Heartless commonly appear throughout KHIII as minibosses.

Degraded Boss: The first one that is encountered near the beginning of the game is treated like a proper boss battle and gives Sora, Donald and Goofy a pretty decent challenge. Afterwards, it begins appearing alongside groups of weaker Heartless during some of the larger battles.
Spikes of Villainy: They have some impressive shoulder pads.
Top-Heavy Guy: Just look at them up there. It's a wonder they can even move at all with all that heavy armor they wear.

Satyr & Mechanitaur

Satyr

Mechanitaur

Appearances: III

Fauns and Satyrs: Downplayed. Satyrs have cloven hooves, a chin scruff, and a short tail that make them somewhat resemble their mythological inspiration.
Foe-Tossing Charge: The most powerful attack in their arsenal. The herd of Satyrs in Olympus can use it all together.
Immune to Flinching: They only stagger if hit right after using one of their attacks.
Our Minotaurs Are Different: Both of them more resemble minotaurs than satyrs with bulkier builds and bull-like horns.

Toy Trooper

Appearances: III

Flight: Courtesy of their jetpacks.

Pole Cannon

Appearances: III

An immobile turret-like Heartless that affixes itself to walls to snipe targets from afar.

Action Command: While they are extended, Sora can use flowmotion commands on them.
Energy Weapon: Its only attack is to shoot lasers from its barrel.

Marionette

Appearances: III

A goofy marionette puppet with a powerful ability that allows it to possess toys to convert them into Heartless. Luckily, they have very low health and can be easily destroyed before they can take over anything. Unluckily, they almost always appear in fairly large groups, which can make dealing with them a hassle.

Creepy Doll: What could be more creepy than a Heartless doll with the ability to possess other Living Toys?
Demonic Possession: They can transform ordinary toys into vicious Heartless by possessing them.

Pogo Shovel

Appearances: III

An industrial-themed Heartless that wields a shovel and occationally digs up goodies.

Cephalothorax: It's actual body is a spherical head with tiny arms and a drill for a nose.
Dig Attack: They can use their shovels to dig and attack from underneath. They can unearth HP or munny orbs this way.
Helpful Mook: Its Dig Attack usually brings up HP orbs and has a low chance of bringing up munny orbs instead.
Shovel Strike: It can either leap with its shovel or spin it around itself to attack.

Parasol Beauty

Appearances: III

A female humanoid Heartless commonly encountered in The Kingdom of Corona and Arendelle. Despite its beautiful and graceful appearance it is a ruthless combatant that can use its parasol to fire lasers at its foes.

Graceful Ladies Like Purple: It wears an elegant outfit consisting of a fancy purple, pink and white dress and hat.
Lady of War: It looks like a gentle southern belle type with its dress and parasol, but make no mistake, it's still a dangerous enemy with some pretty powerful attacks and decent HP to boot.
Parasol of Pain: It's called a Parasol Beauty for a reason. Those little umbrellas they carry aren't just part of their outfit, they can use them to fire powerful lasers at anyone who comes near.
Smurfette Principle: Among the few outwardly female Heartless, along with Fortunetellers, Bouncywilds and Union χ bosses below.

Chief Puff

Appearances: III

Flechette Storm: While atop a tower of Puffballs, it can fire a spray of needles at the ground.
King Mook: Is essentially a larger and tougher Puffball that can spawn and command regular Puffballs in a battle.
Mook Maker: They use their dandelion-like seeds to spawn Puffballs to back them up.

Puffball

Appearances: III

Leaning Tower of Mooks: They will form into one of these to lift the Chief Puff if one is present.
Zerg Rush: A Puffball is barely stronger than your average Shadow, but they always come in large groups.

Chaos Carriage

Appearances: III

An Emblem Heartless that resembles a fusion between the upper half of a horse and a medieval-themed carriage.

Animal-Vehicle Hybrid: It's a horse fused with a castle-like chariot, with two more chariots connected to the first. No only can it swing the chariots around to hit you, but each one has its own horse that forms once the one in front of it is beaten.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Its preferred tactic is to charge around the battlefield and run over anything in its path.
Horsing Around: It is a horse-like Heartless and just as hostile as the rest of them.
Rearing Horse: It rears up before its Shockwave Stomp attack, pulling the carriage it's connected to up with it.

Winterhorn

Appearances: III

An Emblem Heartless that resembles a reindeer buck. It often appears in groups and it is quite nimble in combat and uses Blizzard attacks.

An Ice Person: They have the ability to fire icicles from their horns.
Kill It with Fire: Not only do they take increased damage from Fire-elemental attacks, but such attacks will break their horns, greatly reducing the Heartless' strength until they regrow.

Frost Serpent

Appearances: III

An Ice Person: Most of their attacks are Ice-elemental.
Our Dragons Are Different: They resemble skeletal serpentine dragons with horns made of ice and wings shaped like snowflakes.

Vaporfly

Appearances: III

A mechanical type of flying Heartless found in The Caribbean, that looks like a cross between a insect and a lizard. They mainly feature in the fight against the Raging Vulture, but can be encountered on the islands and seas.

Gasshole: The multi-colored clouds they release come out of their back ends and trail behind them quite a distance in order for the player to Flowmotion slide and catch up.
Helpful Mook: Once Sora Mounts one, Vaporflies tend to offer no further resistance and allow Sora to use their guns and missiles.
Horse of a Different Color: At least in the Raging Vulture fight, Sora can mount a Vaporfly to combat the boss like a fighter pilot.
Mechanical Monster: They seem to be mechanical, given that they have guns and missile launchers as parts of their bodies.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Their design appears to be a cross between flies and lizards.
More Dakka: They have machine guns attached to their sides that they use to shoot at their enemies. When Sora mounts one of them in the Raging Vulture fight, he can use them against the bigger Heartless.

Sea Sprite

Appearances: III

Transparent fish Heartless encountered underwater in The Caribbean. They change color to indicate what magic they are weak to.

Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: They periodically change color from blue to red, yellow, iridescent, and blue again, in that order (though which color they are upon spawning varies depending on their location). In addition to changing the Elemental Powers of their attacks, this also changes what element they're weak to: blue is weak to Thunder magic, red is weak to Blizzard magic, and Yellow is weak to Fire magic. Iridescent has no specific weakness, but it No Sells Aero magic.
Mook: The underwater kind, in this case.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Sea Neons from Kingdom Hearts; both are transparent, swimming, mook-level Heartless with simple attacks to ease players unused to underwater combat.

Spear Lizard

Appearances: III

These mudskipper-humanoid-like Heartless are often encountered in The Caribbean, where they often run about blowing bubbles that cause sneezing.

Making a Splash: They can blow bubbles that cause their prey to sneeze.
Non-Indicative Name: Called Spear Lizards, but they look more akin to fishmen.

Anchor Raider

Appearances: III

Skeleton pirate Heartless with no legs dressed in tattered red captain's garb, suspended by the anchors latched on thin air.

Dem Bones: The fact that they hang suspended in the air also gives them a Ghost Pirate vibe.
Elite Mook: By far the most dangerous Heartless introduced in The Caribbean, they hardly stagger and can float out of reach, among other things. Hardly surprising that they tend to lead other Heartless on boarded ships.
Immune to Flinching: Not even Sora's strongest attacks can make them stagger.
Top-Heavy Guy: Despite having no legs, they have broad upper-bodies that narrow at the waist, giving this effect.

Tireblade

Appearances: III

High-tech purple tri-cycled Heartless that shift between close-fighting flying modes and missile flinging wheeled modes to fight.

Meaningful Name: Laser blades come out of their tires to make their wings when they shift from the wheeled forms to their flying forms.

Boss Heartless

Debuted in I

Darkside

Darkside is a large, humanoid Pureblood Heartless that first appears in the tutorial of I and acts as the boss of Destiny Islands. It's slow and predictable, though it's still capable of being a threat thanks to its ability to spawn Shadows and fire energy blasts. Darkside can be damaged by hitting its hands or head, with the head being more vulnerable.

A variant called the Dark Follower appears in 358/2 Days. It is colored purple instead of black and far more powerful, but it uses the same attack patterns.

Artifact Alias: It's name and the fact that it manifested out of Sora's shadow in it's first appearance implies that it's meant to be seen as a sort of Enemy Without for Sora. But as we see in Days and 0.2, there's nothing inherently special about it nor does it have any real connection to Sora, it's just a powerful but fairly common subspecies of Heartless.
The Bus Came Back: Kairi and Co. don't fight him in Melody of Memory. Then comes the trailer of Kingdom Hearts IV and guess who's back. Again.
Casting a Shadow: All of its attacks in some form.
Chekhov's Gunman: When Destiny Islands showed up at the End of the World, did anyone really expect him to not show up?
- He does it again in III, being both the first boss of the main game and the last Heartless boss in Re:Mind (and by extension, the entire Xehanort saga).
Chest Blaster: They can fire anywhere from two to six homing projectiles at a time from their chests. These can be bounced back. In Coded, it instead fires six shots into the air and they rain down around the battlefield, changing to shooting blox directly at you during its second phase. In χ[chi], it shoots a single huge orb into the air that then falls on the player.
Death from Above: They have an attack that rains orbs of darkness down on the battlefield. In the first game, it's mostly localized around Sora. In Chain of Memories and 0.2, it hits the entire battlefield much more quickly. The more powerful one that serves as a level boss for Enchanted Dominion also has its buddies feed power into the orb of darkness above it to call down lasers upon the battlefield and at other times. In Days, the attack calls down much larger orbs around Roxas and any party members that can prevent them from jumping. In Coded, it instead fires six shots into the air from its chest and lets them rain down on you.
Degraded Boss: Zigzagged in 0.2. The Darkside faced at the beginning of Enchanted Dominion is a full-fledged boss. Then a few more appear throughout, and these are weaker, with a pitiful amount of health by comparison. But the boss at the end of the area is yet another, this one leading a mob of other Darksides, and thus even stronger than the first.
Duel Boss: All battles against Darksides so far have had the player character alone with the exception of its appearance Days, where Roxas and Xion fight it together.
Enemy Summoner: It can sink its fist into the ground to create a pool of darkness from which a variable number of Shadows spawn. In Days, the Dark Follower summons purple Shadows instead of the usual blue-black ones. In χ[chi], the shadows just rush you and leave. χ[chi] also has a variant called the Lion Headliner that summons Lion Dancers instead. Curiously, the Lion Dancers are Purebloods while the Lion Headliner is an Emblem Heartless.
Ground Punch: In Re:Chain Of Memories, it can punch the ground to create a shockwave that hits the entire battlefield. Days has it use a slower version of this attack that moves slower, but deals continuous damage and knockback if it hits.
Large and in Charge: The second one fought is stated in Jiminy's Journal to have led the Heartless that destroyed Destiny Islands.
Leitmotif: "Destiny's Force" is a general boss theme in the first game, but later entries came to associate it with the Darkside in particular.
Living Shadow: The one in the tutorial is introduced as one, though all things considered, it's most likely not the case for the other ones.
Mighty Glacier: It is considered one of the most powerful types of pureblood Heartless, but it’s attacks are slow and telegraphed.
No Mouth: Even if it had one, its "hair" is wrapped around the bottom of its face.
Palette Swap:
- The Dark Follower in Days is purple, as are the Shadows it summons.
- The Darkside Ω in χ is purple with red hands, feet and 'hair'.
- The one in III is transparent and appears to be made of light, giving its body a constant shimmer effect.
- The one in Re:Mind glows pink due to holding a fragment of Kairi's heart in its chest cavity.
Pivotal Boss: In 0.2 and III, Darksides will actually turn to face you when not attacking, though they won't move from wherever they're standing.
Pre-Final Boss: The rematch with it in the Re:Mind episode of the Re:Mind DLC for III is fought immediately before the final gauntlet against the Xehanort Replicas.
Prehensile Hair: Averted. Despite looking like shriveled tentacles, its "hair" just sort of floats around its head.
See You in Hell: Sora tells him see ya as he kills him in Kingdom Hearts III. Then he dies and ends up in the afterlife. Then Darkside shows up in the afterlife. So this is literally a case of See You in Hell.
Recurring Boss: Fought three times in the first game and many more times in 0.2 at varying levels of power.
Small Role, Big Impact. In the overall Kudzu Plot of the series, Darkseid isn't really that important and is overall just a powerful, but un-noteworthy, Heartless. However, he's arguably the entire reason the Destiny Island Trio begin their journeys, being the reason how Sora gets a keyblade, and being the representation of Data Sora's Heartless. He also serves as both the first 'and' last boss of Re:Mind, becoming the the final boss of the Dark Seeker Saga.
Stationary Boss: They never move their legs except to stand and kneel.
Theme Naming: With the debut of its Nobody counterpart Twilight Thorn in II, their names are references to the horror anthology series Tales from the Darkside and The Twilight Zone.
Took a Level in Badass: Sure, you've fought this guy many, many times over the course of the series. Sure, Sora now has infinite airdashes and can reach his head off a regular jump attack now. Sure, Darkside himself does not have any new moves at all. But if you're playing III on Critical mode, do NOT underestimate him.
Torso with a View: The hole is, of course, heart-shaped. It fires energy blasts from it as well.
Warm-Up Boss: Serves as this a few times in the series. As intimidating as it is, its attacks tend to be rather slow and heavily telegraphed.
Wings Do Nothing: Like the Invisibles, it has a pair of wings coming from its shoulder-blades. Unlike the Invisibles, it at no point uses them to fly.

Guard Armor/Opposite Armor

Guard Armor

Opposite Armor

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | II | χ[chi]

The Guard Armor is a large Emblem Heartless that looks like a giant suit of armor and is the first boss in Traverse Town in the first game, appearing right after Sora meets Donald and Goofy. It is also the level boss for Traverse Town in Chain of Memories. The Opposite Armor is the second Traverse Town boss, appearing when Sora finds that world's keyhole. Its hands and feet have switched places and it has a somewhat different attack style from the Guard Armor.

A more powerful variant of Guard Armor, called the Powered Armor, appears in 358/2 Days as a part of Mission 89's Boss Bonanza.

Animated Armor: Both of them have this aesthetic.
Boss Room: The Third District, complete with blocks that spring up to keep you from leaving. The Opposite Armor is fought in the Second District. The Guard Armor uses the Second District in Chain of Memories.
Chest Blaster: A variation. One end of the Opposite Armor's torso can aim at Sora and fire a homing energy ball.
Cognizant Limbs: The Limbs can separate and attack at will. The feet are called Hammerlegs and the hands are called Gauntlets.
Didn't Need Those Anyway!: Part of both battles involves destroying the bosses' limbs.
Essence Drop: The limbs drop HP orbs when destroyed.
The Faceless: The Guard Armor and its palette swaps have their visors down, concealing their eyes. Averted with the Opposite Armor.
Floating Limbs: No Arms or Knees to bind these extremities. Notably the Opposite Armor form has the Hammerlegs be the arms and the Gauntlets be the feet.
Foe-Tossing Charge: Not a charge exactly, but in Days, the Guard Armor and Powered Armor will walk at you, which can knock you back.
Palette Swap:
- The Red Armor, which is fought during a tournament at Olympus Coliseum, but doesn't get named until Final Mix, which also gives the Guard Armor and Opposite Armor a more varied (and primary) color scheme.
- Days gives us the Powered Armor, which is blue.
- The Guard Armor Ω in χ is primarily gold with a blue-striped torso and red feet.
Recurring Boss: Guard Armor is fought twice as a forced boss in the original Kingdom Hearts, both times in Traverse Town. Shortly into the second fight, it stops and becomes the Opposite Armor. It can also be fought in the Olympus Coliseum.
Shockwave Stomp: The Hammerlegs are capable of doing this.
Spin Attack: Both Heartless can do this with their hands. The Opposite Armor can also do this with its head. The Guard Armor's torso does this when its limbs are removed.

Trickmaster/Crimson Prankster

Trickmaster

Crimson Prankster

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories | 358/2 Days | coded | χ[chi]

The Trickmaster is an Emblem Heartless that acts as the boss of Wonderland in I, Chain Of Memories, and coded. In I, it appears when Sora lights a pair of lamps on the ceiling of the Bizarre Room and must be fought in a shrunken state. In Re:coded, it is battled twice as part of the Rail Shooter section of Wonderland.

A variant called the Crimson Prankster appears as a boss in 358/2 Days during Mission 69, also found in the Bizarre Room of Wonderland. It's a single Heartless that splits itself in two, with the copies acting independently of one another to fight Roxas. Both must be defeated around the same time to slay the Crimson Prankster.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Its appearances seem to have it be taller than its opponents.
Breath Weapon: In Days, the Crimson Prankster's fire breath seems to be similar to real life fire breathing except that it's weaponized and has a much longer range.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: Averted in the first game and subverted in Chain of Memories. The only way you can hit this boss is to get up on the table at the center of the room and attack its faces. In both games, it can collapse the table. In the first game, it can also cause the table to spin.
Boss Room: The Bizarre Room.
Dual Boss: The Crimson Prankster is an unusual case. It splits into two. If one copy is defeated and the other is left standing, the first one is revived with the same health as the second.
Essence Drop: It drops HP orbs when stunned.
He Was Right There All Along: In Chain of Memories.
Incendiary Exponent: The Trickmaster has to light its batons on fire before it can shoot fireballs at you. The Crimson Prankster lights itself on fire and spins at you.
- One can take this away from it in I by casting Ice on the stove to put it out. It's tricky to target, though.
Let's Get Dangerous!: In terms of feel in any case, coded gives it "Tension Rising" as its boss theme, music which is usually saved for more serious battles that involve Nobodies.
Monster Clown: Well, Monster Juggler, anyway.
Multiple Head Case: Averted. Despite having five heads stacked on top of each other, it single-mindedly attacks Sora and company.
Palette Swap:
- Final Mix gives it a similar range of colors, but arranged differently and with chartreuse shoes.
- The Crimson Prankster in Days has a lighter color scheme, and fights very differently to the Trickmaster.
- The Trickmaster Ω in χ is done up in silver, gold and navy blue. It also wears a top hat.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Its actually one of the smallest Heartless on-record. Or is it? as its rather tough to say because Wonderland itself is extremely screwy anyway:
- To give you an idea, Sora and company shrink once to fight it in the Bizarre Room (and subsequently, the Heartless in general also shrink to fight them), where its as tall as the low table and stove, This means its size is comparable to Donald.
- In Re: coded It shrinks even further when its beaten a few times as a Sequential Boss.
Playing with Fire: It can use its batons to shoot homing fireballs. The Crimson Prankster has a wider range of fire attacks.
Static Stun Gun: If hit with Thunder, the Trickmaster will immediately become stunned and fall over.
Spin Attack: The Crimson Prankster does this while on fire.
Underground Monkey: χ has Easter- and Christmas-themed variants that appear in events.

Stealth Sneak

Appearances: I | 358/2 Days

A large, chameleon-like Emblem Heartless that fights alongside Clayton in Deep Jungle in the first game. Stealth Sneak is capable of making itself invisible via camouflage, but you can still identify its location due to a telltale blur.

Chameleon Camouflage: It resembles a chameleon, and can turn invisible until reaching a damage threshold.
Degraded Boss: Double Subverted. The Sneak Army is stronger and appears multiple times in the Hades Cup, but you're even stronger by comparison by that point.
Dual Boss: With Clayton.
Eye Beams: Homing ones. It also can't be killed when using this attack.
Homing Laser: Its Eye Beams will follow targets.
Horse of a Different Color: Clayton is riding it when it first appears.
Palette Swap: The dark gray Sneak Army, which is fought in a tournament, but only gets named in Final Mix. Final Mix also gives the normal Stealth Sneak a pattern of dark lines on a solid green body rather than the regular camo pattern. Two variants, Veil Lizard and Lurk Lizard, appear in Days.
Random Drop: Has a chance of dropping healing items when defeated.
Razor Wind: It can shoot a small one at its targets.
Unblockable Attack: Its Razor Wind attack.
Skippable Boss: Sort of. You don't actually have to defeat it, just beating Clayton automatically ends the boss fight.
Visible Invisibility: Its camouflage ability is a type 2, appearing as a large blur.
The Worf Effect: It knocks Tarzan halfway across the battlefield when it first appears. The trope is subverted if Tarzan is in your team during the battle, in which case he will not have taken any damage.

Pot Centipede

Appearances: I

An insectoid Heartless that Jafar summons in I while kidnapping Princess Jasmine. It consists of a head and an abdomen with several pot spiders forming the rest of its body.

Big Creepy-Crawlies: One of the few insectoid Heartless in the series.
Broken Bridge: The piles of junk that block off some of the entrances to different parts of Agrabah can be destroyed by this boss walking through them. Even if it doesn't, the roadblocks will all be gone after you defeat it.
Casting a Shadow: The antennae on its abdomen segment use a darkness attack.
Flunky Boss: Any Pot Spiders it doesn't use as part or its body will just attack you.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: If it is joined with any Pot Spiders, it moves constantly.
Mini-Boss: Not really connected to anything, and serves more as an obstacle to stop you from fighting Jafar then and there.
Shock and Awe: It electrifies its front antennae to attack.
Spin Attack: Sometimes does this when not connected to any Pot Spiders. It's the only way it can move without them.

Parasite Cage

Appearances: I | Chain of Memories

A large, pink Heartless found within Monstro in the first game and Chain of Memories that can use its mouth as a cage. In both appearances, it drags Pinocchio off to another area.

Attack Its Weak Point: An orb of darkness inside its mouth is vulnerable while it's stunned. Hitting it does more damage than attacking the boss normally.
Boss Room: Monstro's bowels for the first battle and stomach for the second battle.
Breath Weapon: It absorbs the Hollywood Acid surrounding it to spew at Sora.
Combat Tentacles: Not only can they whack you around, they can also absorb fluids to spit at opponents!
Essence Drop: Attacking the orb of darkness in its mouth causes it to drop HP orbs.
Hollywood Acid: Used as a hazard on the battlefield. In the first game, it uses its tentacles to suck it some of Monstro's stomach acid and use it as a Breath Weapon. In Chain of Memories, it spits it at you instead.
Optional Boss: In I, beating Ursula and Oogie Boogie before Parasite Cage will allow you to skip the fights.
Palette Swap: In Final Mix, its lower body is orange, its head is a dull yellow and its tentacles are green.
Platform Battle: In Chain of Memories, the only way to avoid being hurt by the acid is to stay of the four circling platforms in front of the boss.
Poisonous Person: It can poison Sora with its breath attack.
Recurring Boss: The Parasite Cage is fought twice in Monstro, first in his bowels, then in his stomach.
Status Effects: Its poison breath can poison Sora in the first game.
Stationary Boss: It's firmly rooted in place.
Status-Buff Dispel: Its enemy card in Chain of Memories does this once per battle if equipped.
Wake-Up Call Boss: The Parasite Cage is the mid-game boss, and where the game has a difficulty spike. If you've been slacking off on leveling up or avoiding Heartless a lot, this is your wake-up call to get your act together, as things are only going to get more difficult from here.

Behemoth

Appearances: I | χ[chi]

A large, quadrupedal Heartless that first appears when the Final Keyhole in Hollow Bastion is opened near the end of the first game.

Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: When you fight it in Hollow Bastion and both times you fight one in the End of the World.
Attack Its Weak Point: Its horn.
Degraded Boss: It is slightly weaker when you fight it at the End of the World. Final Mix averts this by using the weaker Arch Behemoth instead.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It can jump across the battlefield at you.
Mini-Boss: The Arch Behemoth acts as this for the End of the World in Final Mix, where it replaces the original game's regular Behemoth. The Destroyed Behemoth replaces the stronger Behemoth found in the Hades Cup.
Palette Swap: It is blue in Final Mix, which also gives the Arch Behemoth and Destroyed Behemoth, which take on flame patterns. χ[chi] downplayed this the Halloween-themed Hocus Pocus, whose body was a red-and-black recolor of the standard Behemoth, but changed the head to a jack-o-lantern and put a miniature haunted house on its rump.
- Kingdom Hearts II was originally going to have a gray Behemoth, but it was removed due to technical issues.
Recurring Boss: Appears multiple times in the Very Definitely Final Dungeon and is always fought alone. Final Mix replaces it with the Arch Behemoth. In either case, the one fought at the end of the Final Dimension area is the only repeatable boss outside the tournaments.

Ansem, The Seeker Of Darkness

See entry at the Xehanort's Incarnations page

Phantom

Appearances: I

A shrouded entity found in Neverland at the clock tower, only appearing after the Final Keyhole is locked.

Attack Its Weak Point: The Phantom has a heart at the bottom of the cloak that must be destroyed to destroy the boss. It's not visible all the time.
Barrier Change Boss: The Phantom will change the color of the heart at his base to determine what attacks the player must use to damage him. Red means Fire, Blue means Blizzard, Yellow means Thunder, and White means you have to attack it physically.
Bedsheet Ghost: Its color scheme in Final Mix somewhat resembles this.
Black Cloak: Blue or white depending on the version, but the Grim Reaper look is still there. Despite this, it's not a Pureblood Heartless but an Emblem one.
Casting a Shadow: Can send out an orb of darkness that follows Sora and deals multiple hits.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The colour of its heart indicates what attack you need to use against it. When it's red, use Fire, when it's blue, use Blizzard, when it's yellow, use Thunder and when it's white, hit it.
The Faceless: It is one of the few Heartless we've seen with no glowing yellow eyes visible.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: Its energy orb must be attacked with physical blows or one of these three spell types.
The Grim Reaper: It's appearance gives the look of a Reaper, and while not having a scythe to attack, it's claws and Doom-based attacks are enough for it to wipe out your team.
Light Is Not Good: Its Final Mix Palette Swap boasts some pretty bright robes for a deadly Heartless that fights with powerful Dark magic.
Palette Swap: In Final Mix, its cloak is light gray with smoke patterns on the sleeves.
No Saving Throw: Once he casts Doom, there is no way for the player to undo the spell for the remainder of the battle, nor are they able to revive party members that have fallen to it. Because the spell is activated after a set amount of time, the player is only capable of stalling it out by casting Stop on the clock.
One-Hit Kill: Every time he inflicts Doom, one of your party members is going to die when the clock makes a full revolution, and you cannot revive them if they are killed by Doom.
Shout-Out: Appears similar to Lord Ombra from the Peter Pan novel Peter and the Shadow Thieves.
Race Against the Clock: The fight against the Phantom takes place around the Clock Tower, and it will use said tower to cast a Doom spell to one of the members of your party or even yourself. You must put the clock down by using the Stop spell, so it's doesn't make anyone's time to go up, but once the stop spell has cleared after a certain amount of time, tick tock...
Status Effects: One of the few characters in the franchise to inflict Doom, which will automatically kill Sora once time runs out. The effect can be slowed down by casting Stop on the clock tower's hands.
Superboss: One of four in the first game, not counting the tournaments. It's also one of the few with a reward for defeating it — the last Stop spell upgrade. In the original Japanese PS2 release of the game, it was in fact the only Superboss period which is why it has a spell reward.
Time Master: Uses the clock tower to inflict Doom on your party members one by one, and then eventually on Sora.
Timed Mission: He will use the clock tower to eliminate your team one by one. This can be slowed down with the Stop Spell.

Kurt Zisa

Appearances: I

A large Heartless found in the Agrabah desert, only appearing after the Final Keyhole is locked.

Originally didn't appear in the Japan version, just international ones, as it was named after a Real Life person from the US who won a contest.

Anti-Magic: Can cast Silencega to disable the party's ability to cast magic. The only way to dispel its curse is by destroying the magic orbs it carries with melee attacks.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It's at least as tall as Darkside.
Barrier Change Boss: Cycles between disabling Sora's magic and shielding itself from physical attacks.
Dual Wielding: Its scimitars, which it uses after activating its Anti-Magic orbs.
Essence Drop: The glowing orbs that fuel its Anti-Magic ability drop HP orbs when destroyed. Using physical attacks on its shield causes it to drop MP orbs.
Loincloth: With the Heartless symbol on it.
Magic Missile Storm: Starts doing this when it puts up its shield when it Turns Red enough. Unusually, the attacks move through the sand and then burst out and fly at you when they're right next to you rather than just flying through the air.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: Six arms. One pair holds the swords, another generates its Anti-Magic ability.
Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: In addition to being a giant spider-limbed Heartless with the head of a cobra, Kurt Zisa makes mechanical sounds while moving (such as gear whirring while recovering from a hard landing).
1-Dimensional Thinking: How Sora and co. try to escape getting crushed by it after the battle. Carpet has to save them.
Power Floats: When it creates a barrier against physical attacks, Kurt Zisa begins floating around the battlefield while it resorts to spellcasting.
Random Drop: Destroying the energy orbs that power its Anti-Magic ability sometimes nets you a healing item or two in addition to the normal HP orbs. As with other drops, this is influenced by the Lucky Strike ability.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Has a cobra's head reminiscent of Jafar's staff.
Sequential Boss: It cycles through three modes until it is defeated.
Sinister Scimitar: Dual wields them after activating its Anti-Magic orbs. Its attacks with them become more aggressive as it increasingly Turns Red.
Spin Attack: It can alternate vertical and horizontal variations of this while flying through the air after it Turns Red. Horizontal spins can be jumped over, while vertical spins must be dodge rolled.
Superboss: It's an optional boss that only appears after you lock the Final Keyhole.
Turns Red: It uses a wider range of abilities the more it is damaged.
Weapon Twirling: Does this as one of its initial attacks. It also twists its body around to make the attack hit in all directions.

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Antlion

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A large Heartless with a mechanical, vaguely insect-like appearance. It is fought by Roxas in Agrabah in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.

Blow You Away: It uses a whirlwind as a shield.
Dishing Out Dirt: It can send shockwaves through the sand.
Fast Tunnelling: When it goes out of sight, it always gets to another part of the battle field in a matter of seconds.
Energy Weapon: It can fire one that causes an explosion.
Mechanical Monster: It has the appearance of a machine with a vaguely insectoid head.
Tennis Boss: It will launch explosives at you later in the battle. Knocking enough of them back to it will stun it. This is the only way to get through its whirlwind shield.

Infernal Engine

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A large Emblem Heartless that looks like a medieval siege engine. Weapons come out of its mouth and it is accompanied by several small archer Heartless on top. It is fought on the bridge at Beast's Castle by Roxas in 358/2 Days during Mission 50.

Advancing Boss of Doom: Subverted. While it will menacingly creep forward all the time, it always stops short, for whatever reason, of crushing Roxas against the back wall.
Annoying Arrows: The archers fire these.
Attack Its Weak Point: The Battering Ram it uses for its Foe-Tossing Charge attack.
Battering Ram: Its weakest point.
Crosshair Aware: Similar to attacks by the cannon Heartless, a crosshair will appear under Roxas when the archers fire their arrows.
Exploding Barrels: One of its attacks involves rolling these across the battlefield.
Expy: Perhaps a more lighthearted take on Final Fantasy's Demon Wall.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It uses a Battering Ram for this. It is at its most vulnerable while this attack is charging.
Mook Maker: It spits out crates of Soldier Heartless when its archers are gone.
Playing with Fire: It has a cannon that shoots fireballs.
Shock and Awe: The archers' arrows are a lightning-elemental attack.
Siege Engines: Modeled after a siege tower.
Tennis Boss: Bouncing the fireballs back eliminates the archers.
The Worf Effect: It throws the Beast over the wall prior to the battle.

Leechgrave

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A large Emblem Heartless that looks like a coffin hanging from a purple flower with four thorny vines radiating from it, with a peculiar habit of cannibalizing its brethren. It is fought by Roxas in Halloween Town during Mission 66 while he investigates the disappearances of the local Heartless in 358/2 Days.

Cannibalism Superpower: It got as powerful as it did by eating other Heartless.
Combat Tentacles: It is the source of the Tentaclaw enemies fought in previous missions.
Damage Over Time: Its poison gas drains health so long as Roxas is in its area of effect.
Deadly Gas: It has two attacks that release poison clouds, which drain Roxas's health if he does not move away.
Dinner Deformation: If one of Tentaclaws swallows Roxas during the boss fight, one of these moves along the tentacle until the flower spits him out.
Marathon Boss: Its weak point (the coffin) attacks you if you step near it, possesses extremely high defense, and can only be stunned and weakened by knocking out all the Tentaclaws, and even then you only get a few precious seconds to attack before it gets back up. If you've not been grinding, this back-and-forth cycle can take an exceedingly long time.
Poisonous Person: Its projectile attack releases poisonous pollen on impact and the flower spews clouds of poison.

Ruler of the Sky

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A large, avian Emblem Heartless with a treasure chest for a mouth and dominion over ice. The darkness of Captain Hook's heart causes the Ruler of the Sky to manifest in Neverland during Mission 78 of 358/2 Days, where it proceeds to attack Roxas. It's weak to Fire magic.

Abnormal Ammo: Its mouth is a treasure chest which can shoot gold coins.
An Ice Person: It can summon pillars of ice around the battlefield.
Attack Its Weak Point: The tail at first. Once it's gone, you need to attack the gem on its chest while it's trying to shoot coins at you.
Ascended Meme: In an amusing and unconventional way. Ruler of the Sky is often considered That One Boss for a number of reasons, one of which is the difficulty of hitting it. In the manga adaptation of Days, the roles are reversed, as the Ruler has a terrible time landing a hit on Roxas and Axel, and becomes visibly and increasingly hostile and irritated as they keep avoiding it.
Bling of War: Its wings are made of golden swords and it has a (weaponized) treasure chest where its beak should be.
Bullet Seed: Since its mouth is a treasure chest, it does this with gold coins.
Cast from Money: Inverted. Its coin attack gives you munny for every coin that connects. The downside is that the attack is still, an attack, so the flung metal takes away HP.
The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: It can fly past the edge of the battlefield while you can't.
Dem Bones: Has a bird's skull for a head and visible ribs sticking out of its chest.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It uses this when its body starts glowing red.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Until its tail is destroyed.
Giant Flyer: It's a giant parrot Heartless with bladed wings and a large tail.
Greed: Captain Hook's lust for treasure fueled by Pete's meddling caused it to appear.
Invisible Wall: It uses the one around the battlefield to its advantage.
Life Drain: His water attack has a chance of doing this.
Making a Splash: It fires homing balls of water from its tail.
Marathon Boss: Due to the fact that it actively moves away from you for most of the battle.
Pirate Parrot: Based on one.
Sequential Boss: It flies around shooting water orbs, then charges and fires coins at you when each segment of its tail is destroyed. Once all of the segments are destroyed, it will cycle through all three attacks with the addition of creating icy spires to slow you down.
Turns Red: It becomes more aggressive when its tail is destroyed (and, fortunately, becomes easier to hit).

Zip Slasher

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A blue Heartless that appears as an optional boss in some missions in various worlds in Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days. It appears to be a variation on II's Armored Knight with two blades and actual feet instead of pointy stubs.

Blade Below the Shoulder: It has two.
Blocking Stops All Damage: One of the few enemies in the game to be able to block attacks. It usually only does this when it's about to attack.
Boss in Mook Clothing: It's smaller than a lot of less-durable Heartless.
Damage-Sponge Boss: This is its main gimmick, though its attacks can be pretty severely damaging to a low-leveled player.
Dual Wielding: Unlike the Armored Knight, the Zip Slasher and its variants all have two blades.
Life Drain: Its spinning attack will heal it slightly if it hits you.
Making a Splash: Its spinning attack is water-based due to the game's element system being what determines added effects of attacks.
Marathon Boss: Due to its high health and defense.
Optional Boss: Only appears after the main objectives of the missions (some of which are early in the game) it appears in have been completed.
Palette Swap: There are several similar enemies that have more abilities and appear as mini-bosses with different Elemental Powers including fire, ice, lightning and wind. They have their own entry below.
Spin Attack: The first move in its attack sequence. The second is a lunge forward.

Zip Slasher variants

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zipslasher_army.png

Clockwise from the top-left: Heat Saber, Chill Ripper, Stalwart Blade, Blitz Spear, Dual Blade, and Zip Slasher

Appearances: 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

There are several larger and less durable variants of the Zip Slasher that appear as normal bosses and have a wider range of attacks and correspond to other elements.

An Ice Person: Most of the Chill Ripper's attacks deal ice damage and inflict Harmless Freezing.
Blade Below the Shoulder: Much like the Zip Slasher, though there's a lot more variation.
Blow You Away: Two of the Dual Blade's attacks deal wind damage and can air-toss the player, as can one of the Stalwart Blade's attacks.
Damage-Increasing Debuff: The Stalwart Blade's Shockwave Stomp is a time-elemental attack and has a chance of rewinding your defense.
Elemental Powers: All of them have access to a single element, save for the Stalwart Blade which has wind-, earth-, and time-elemental attacks.
Foe-Tossing Charge: They can all do one after taking a moment to charge and blocking it stuns them.
Ground Pound: Their jumping attack ends with one that releases a shockwave. The Heat Saber causes an explosion instead and the Blitz Spear accompanies its shockwave with lightning strikes.
Heal It With Fire: All of them absorb their respecting element except for the Stalwart Blade, which instead absorbs fire, ice and lightning instead of wind, which it's aligned with.
Mini-Boss: The Blitz Spear is an optional one encountered in the Undercroft during the search for Xaldin.
Palette Swap: Of the blue Zip Slasher. Most of them have gray armor while the Stalwart Blade is red. χ[chi] takes this further, turning the Heat Saber's armor red, the Chill Ripper's blue, and Blitz Spear's green, adds blue highlights to the Dual Blade's armor and gives the Dual Durandal fully gray armor.
Serrated Blade of Pain: The Heat Saber and Chill Ripper's blades are serrated.
Percent Damage Attack: The Stalwart Blade's Foe-Tossing Charge is earth-elemental and so has a high chance of halving your HP.
Playing with Fire: Most of the Heat Saber's attacks deal fire damage and inflict Ignite.
Shock and Awe: Most of the Blitz Spear's attacks deal lightning damage and Jolt the player.
Spin Attack: The same one that the Zip Slasher has, but with different effects.
Status Effects: The heat Saber inflicts Ignite, the Chill Ripper freezes you, and the Blitz Spear inflicts Jolt, which is essentially paralysis that deals damage when it wears off, and the Dual Blade air-tosses you. The Stalwart Blade can air-toss you, rewind your defense, and halve your HP. The Kingdom Hearts χ-exclusive Dual Durandal also inflicts paralysis.

Wyvern variants

Appearances: 358/2 Days

Though the Wyvern itself never appears in 358/2 Days, several elemental variations of it appear as mission targets. Each has a different elemental affinity and Breath Weapon. The Dustflier has its own entry below.

Beware My Stinger Tail: The Tailbunker has a massive spiked club on its tail that it uses for somersault attacks.
Breath Weapon: Each has a different one. The Tailbunker, Avalanche, and Phantomtail all fire homing orbs of their respective element from their mouths, the Wavecrest spews a directed stream of water, and the Windstorm exhales a pair of whirlwinds.
Elemental Dragon: Fire for the Tailbunker, ice for the Avalanche, water for the Wavecrest, illusion for the Phantomtail, and wind for the Windstorm, with breath attacks to match. Oddly, the Windstorm has only a resistance to wind while being immune to fire and ice.
Foe-Tossing Charge: They share the original Wyvern's corkscrew charge. Unlike the Wyvern, they can also do a normal midair charge.
Head Swap: The Wavecrest and Avalanche have a more triangular head than the original Wyvern and have a prominent crest. The Phantomtail and Windstorm instead have more prominent jaws and forward-facing ears. The Tailbunker has the jaw but its head is otherwise more angular.
Homing Projectile: The Tailbunker, Avalanche, and Phantomtail all fire homing attacks of their respective elements from their mouths.
Our Wyverns Are Different: They're all variations of the Wyvern's model with Head Swaps and different wing designs.
Palette Swap: The Avalance and Wavecrest share the same model with different colors, as do the Windstorm and Phantomtail.
Shockwave Stomp: The Tailbunker, Avalanche, and Windstorm can all crash down to create a non-elemental shockwave.

Dustflier

Appearances: 358/2 Days

A large wyvern-like Heartless that appears in Twilight Town during Mission 89 of Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days.

A.I. Roulette: Out of every two attacks, the first is a Shockwave Stomp. The other is randomly selected.
Breath Weapon: "Meteor Breath". The fireballs fly at you in a very fast salvo, though they're not homing once they start moving.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Has health and defense comparable to taking on the Zip Slasher at level 5. It gets even more health in Mission Mode.
Death from Above: Its Breath Weapon, which is a salvo of exploding fireballs.
Giant Flyer: Like the Storm Rider below, this heartless is a giant dragon-like breed. But this heartless is fought in a comparably small area, its large enough that its landing causes shockwaves.
Fireballs: Can unleash an entire salvo of them as one of its attacks.
Flunky Boss: It has respawning Shadows as backup. They're not much of a threat, but they can interfere with targeting.
Foe-Tossing Charge: This is its weakest attack.
Marathon Boss: You'll spend a lot more time dodging it than attacking, especially if you wind up with a status effect.
Our Wyverns Are Different: It's a variant of the Tailbunker, which in turn is based on the Wyvern from the first game.
Palette Swap: Of the Tailbunker from earlier Twilight Town missions.
Playing with Fire: Its Breath Weapon, which is a salvo of exploding fireballs.
Planar Shockwave: Its shockwaves radiate outward into empty air if the Dustflier lands on the stairs, making it harder to dodge.
Shockwave Stomp: One that has a HUGE range.
Spam Attack: Its meteor breath sends a salvo of fireballs at you.
Status Effects: The shockwave attack randomly selects from several of these. Its Breath Weapon inflicts burn.
Superboss: Defeating it is the optional objective in Mission 89 and it only appears after you defeat six other giant Heartless.

Debuted in II

Possessor/Thresholder

Possessor

Thresholder

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | χ[chi]

The Possessor is a Heartless that first appears in Beast's Castle in II. It looks like a puff of black smoke with a face and purple spikes. As its name suggests, the Possessor is capable of taking control of inanimate objects. Smaller Possessors inhabit the statues in Beast's Castle to become Gargoyle Knights and Gargoyle Warriors, while a larger variant takes control of a door carving to become the Thresholder boss.

The Possessor also appears in 358/2 Days as a regular enemy, with normal and large variants. Here, it attacks by enveloping its target to deal Damage Over Time.

Asteroids Monster: In Days, Possessors are regular enemies. Massive Possessors are large versions that split into regular Possessors upon dying.
Boss Room: The undercroft.
Casting a Shadow: The Thresholder can unleash homing balls of darkness.
Damage Over Time: The Possessor's only attack in Days is to engulf Roxas and do this with its spikes.
Demonic Possession: Possessors can take control of inanimate objects, resulting in the Gargoyle Knight and Gargoyle Warrior enemies appearing.
Essence Drop: When the Thresholders health reaches zero, it drops HP orbs in addition to revealing the Possessor.
Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The Possessor, well, possesses things. The Thresholder is blocking the threshold between two rooms.
Extendable Arms: In its Threshholder form, it extends its arms to swipe at the party members.
Flunky Boss: A Gargoyle Knight and a Gargoyle Warrior appear next to it at first. Once they're gone, swarms of Hook Bats start appearing.
Gate Guardian: The Thresholder is this due to being a Possessor that took over a carving on a door. This also gives it the advantage of being said door. Its Final Mix Palette Swap even provides the page picture for the trope.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Averted with the Possessor only due to the battlefield being relatively small.
King Mook: The Thresholder is this to the Gargoyle Knight and Gargoyle Warrior enemies with the twist that it appears at the same time as the first example of each.
Living Statue: The Thresholder is a living door carving thanks to the possessor's influence.
Mini-Boss: The Thresholder serves as one in Beast's Castle.
Mooks: Days and χ have the Possessors as regular enemies.
Palette Swap: The Thresholder is less colorful in the Final Mix version.
Sequential Boss: Bringing the Thresholder's health to zero will allow you to force the Possessor to appear. The Possessor will fly around the room for a short time before possessing the door again. Rinse and repeat until the boss is defeated.
Spikes of Doom: The Possessor has them, which explains why they deal damage by enveloping you in Days.
Stationary Boss: The Thresholder stays in place due to being a door.

Shadow Stalker/Dark Thorn

Shadow Stalker

Dark Thorn

Appearances: II

The Shadow Stalker and Dark Thorn are the bosses of the first visit to Beast's Castle in II. The Shadow Stalker is a spherical Pureblood Heartless wrapped in chains that is very similar in appearance to the Darkball, but it acts like a Possessor with the ability to inhabit inanimate objects. It mainly fights by taking control of the Ballroom to attack Sora and friends.

After the Shadow Stalker is defeated, it turns into the Dark Thorn, a demonic-looking Heartless with thorns wrapped around its body that vaguely resembles the Beast. While the Dark Thorn loses its possession capabilities upon transformation, it is able to turn itself invisible.

Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: The corrupted ballroom.
Boss Room: The corrupted ballroom.
Casting a Shadow: The Dark Thorn's primary ranged attack is to fire off several homing balls of darkness. It can also cause puffballs of darkness with Heartless eyes to spawn from the floor, similar to one of the Hydra's attacks.
Chained by Fashion: Both of them.
Demonic Possession: The Shadow Stalker attacks by controlling the back windows, the chandelier, the floor and a random pillar ...In That Order.
Evil Makeover: It does this to the ballroom as the battle starts.
Falling Chandelier of Doom: The Shadow Stalker does this before shooting lasers out of two points on the chandelier's edge. The Dark Thorn actually pulls the chandelier down and rides it around the room, something that you can do as well with the proper reaction command.
King Mook: The Shadow Stalker is this to the Possessor Heartless.
One-Winged Angel: The Dark Thorn form is this to the Shadow Stalker.
Sequential Boss: Its two forms are fought successively.
Shout-Out: invokedWord of God says that the Dark Thorn's design was based on Ifrit.
Spin Attack: The Dark Thorn uses these.
Torso with a View: The Dark Thorn has a heart-shaped hole it its chest.
Visible Invisibility: Type 2. The Dark Thorn appears as a shimmer while invisible.

Illuminator

Appearances: II

A lizard-like Heartless that appears during the boss battle with Barbossa in II. It uses the lantern on its tail to darken the room, making Barbossa invincible until it is defeated. It also respawns occasionally during the battle.

Boss Room: Shares the Isla de Muerta's treasure room with Barbossa during their boss fight.
Flash Step: It will sometimes do this when you get close, appearing on another part of the wall.
Fog of War: Its only ability is to create this.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: It sometimes zips around the room when you get close, especially when Barbossa is at low health.
Ironic Name: It is a being of darkness that causes everything to be hidden in shadow. The name on the other hand means something that lights up an area.
Overly-Long Tongue: Though it's not used for attacking.
Palette Swap: Gets one in Final Mix +. The palette swap has a pattern that looks like TV static superimposed on the new coloration.
Wall Crawl: Though this doesn't actually serve any practical purpose, given that it has no directly offensive abilities to speak of.

Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord

Volcanic Lord

Blizzard Lord

Appearances: II, Dark Road

A pair of pudgy-looking Heartless that appear at the end of the first visit to Agrabah in Kingdom Hearts II. They use fire and ice attacks respectively.

Acrofatic: The Volcanic Lord can bounce at Sora to attack.
Agony of the Feet: The Volcanic Lord can inflict this on Sora's allies.
An Ice Person: The Blizzard Lord.
Asteroids Monster: The Volcanic Lord and Blizzard Lord can split into Fiery Globes or Icy Cubes and then reform after taking a certain amount of damage. If one does this, the other starts attacking immediately.
Breath Weapon: The Blizzard Lord can use this.
Dual Boss: Subverted. One attacks while the other floats around nearly out of range. You can attack the floating one, but you can't lock on and there is a chance of any hits being blocked. You can also fight them individually in one of the Paradox Cup tournaments.
Fat Bastard: Both of them are fat, and given that they're Heartless, the "bastard" part is self-explanatory.
Harmless Freezing: The Blizzard Lord can inflict this upon Sora's allies.
Magic Staff: Both of them use this.
Mook Maker: They can split into several Fiery Globe or Icy Cube Heartless respectively.
Palette Swap: Subverted. While they are very similar in overall form, there are several differences besides just color: their heads, staves, and capes are all shaped differently and their pants have different patterns. They're also, like their component Heartless, notably among the few enemies whose palettes are unchanged in the Final Mix.
Playing with Fire: The Volcanic Lord.

Prison Keeper

Appearances: II

A large, mechanical-looking Heartless summoned by Maleficent to aid Lock, Shock and Barrel during the first visit to Halloween Town in II. The Prison Keeper has several different attack patterns, which it changes by temporarily swallowing one (or all) of its charges.

Cephalothorax: While its does have a cage hanging from the bottom of its head, its arms are attached to the head as well.
Eat Me: A Reaction Command allows you to hit it from the inside when it tries to power up again. It spits you out afterward.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: When it's not trying to bite its target, it's usually floating around high enough that you have to jump off of the highest point in the area to get at it.
Mechanical Monster: A Heartless that resembles a robot.
Mega Manning: It gains new powers by eating Lock, Shock and Barrel. They're perfectly fine afterward.
Palette Swap: Gets one in Final Mix +.
Sequential Boss: It gets a phase each time it swallows one of the masked troublemakers. Once you go through all three phases, it goes to a fourth phase where it can use all of the attacks it used before.
Spam Attack: After eating Shock, it can shoot energy projectiles from its claws.
Spin Attack: One that hits you with the cage.
Tennis Boss: After eating Lock, it shoots giant fireballs that can be deflected back at it.

Storm Rider

Appearances: II

A large flying Heartless based on Chinese dragons that attacks the Imperial City at the end of the second visit to the Land of Dragons. The Storm Rider's size and capacity to fly require climbing on to its back to attack its horns and deal damage.

Attack Its Weak Point: Destroying the nubs on its shoulders will stun it. Actually getting up on its back to do so is another matter. Attacking its horns is the only way to defeat it.
Barrier Warrior: Downplayed. It uses barriers to trap you near its Wave-Motion Gun attack.
Dragon Rider: Sora uses Reaction Commands to get onto its back during the fight.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Though the whirlwinds help with getting to the boss, they're not always effective.
Giant Flyer: It's a very large dragon Heartless and the 3rd largest enemy Sora has faced (after Ansem's One-Winged Angel form and the Groundshaker).
Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: The lightning to Mushu's fire. This contrast is emphasized even further with its being a gigantic divine beast compared to Mushu being a Shoulder-Sized Dragon.
Our Dragons Are Different: Apparently, it was an actual dragon that was corrupted by the Heartless. Design-wise, it's a pretty bog-standard Eastern dragon, albeit with a flat and slightly human-like face as well as four insect-like legs with cymbals for feet.
Palette Swap: Gets one in Final Mix +. Specifically the blue colors get replaced with vermilion hues.
Shock and Awe: Scattered Thunder casts, Electric barriers and and a Electric Wave-Motion Gun, a marked contrast to Mushu's Fire attacks.
Throw Down the Bomblet: It can drop a whole bunch of explosive spheres while flying across the battlefield air raid-style.
Vertebrate with Extra Limbs: It has two arms/wings and four insect-like legs that end in cymbals. This isn't too far off from how Western dragons have six limbs (with their wings forming one pair), but the configuration of the Storm Rider's limbs is completely different.
Wave-Motion Gun: A stationary version of this is its ultimate attack.

Grim Reaper

Normal State

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cursed_grim_reaper.png

Cursed State

Appearances: II

A large Heartless summoned by Luxord during the second visit to Port Royal. While not much of a challenge when first fought, it becomes an invincible undead monstrosity when Luxord steals four of the cursed Aztec medallions. It's extremely weak to magic.

Blow You Away: It uses Wind to teleport and suck in treasure.
Desperation Attack: After the final time it transforms into its undead state by absorbing all of the medallions, it will enlarge its three floating skull minions to unleash Ground Pounds all over the boss arena.
Fisher Kingdom: While most of the (emblem) heartless gave this by default, The Grim Reaper takes it up to 11, since not only fits the world it's invaded like a ring to a finger, but it also uses the gimmicks of said world to it's advantages.
Greed: Luxord describes this Heartless as "a veritable maelstrom of avarice."
Harmless Freezing: Most noticeable in its undead form, where despite being frozen by a Blizzard spell it won't take damage (constrast to to its default form where it will). It will, however, drop medallions.
Immortality Inducer: It steals the medallions from the chest in order to gain the curse and use it to its advantage. It can only be truly damaged when all 882 pieces are returned to the chest, and after taking a certain amount of damage it will drain the chest of more medallions to start the next phase of the fight (culminating in the final phase where it will absorb all of the pieces) and more often attempt to suck out the pieces from the chest.
In Name Only: It looks like a grim reaper with a scythe, but doesn't have any death-based abilities.
Man on Fire: Runs around on fire when hit with a Fire spell. In its undead form, this causes it to drop medallions left and right.
Mini-Boss: When fought on the ship, it only has access to its default form.
Mythology Gag: His appearance as a Grim Reaper give mind of being inspired by the Aztec God of Death Mictlāntēcutli.
Notice This: Any medallions it drops have a very visible gleam effect.
Palette Swap: Gets one in Final Mix +, as seen in the picture of its cursed form.
Puzzle Boss: The Grim Reaper is actually a fairly straight-forward and easy boss in its default state. What makes it difficult is needing to force it back into said state from its undead form by forcing it to drop all the medallions and return them to the chest while keeping it from collecting the fallen medallions or sucking them straight out of the chest. Once it takes a certain amount of damage, it will suck up more medallions and go back to being undead, repeating the cycle.
Recurring Boss: You fight it twice. It's more powerful the second time.
Status Effects: In its normal state it's affected by Sora's magic the same way the undead pirates are. Blizzard freezes it in place, Fire sends it running, on fire, and Thunder stuns it. This carries over to its undead state, but without damage and forcing it to drop medallions.
The Undead: The second time you fight it.
Was Once a Man: Implied, according to Luxord, the Grim Reapers seems to be drawn out the darkness from the Cursed Medallions, which theorically means is the manifestation of Cortez and the Conquistadors' darkness.

''Luxord:" The darkness of men's hearts—drawn to these cursed medallions; and this Heartless—a veritable maelstrom of avarice: I wonder, are they worthy to serve Organization XIII?

Weak to Magic: Not only does magic cause it to suffer from Status Effects, it's also the only way to force it to drop the medallions outside of using the Reaction Commands, and it generally takes a decent amount of damage from magic attacks anyways.
Wings Do Nothing: Its undead form has filigree wings, but it floats anyway.

Groundshaker

Appearances: II

A Heartless so large that trees grow on its back. It appears at the end of the second visit to the Pride Lands in Kingdom Hearts II. It looks like a Witch Doctor riding a giant version of the Living Bone Heartless with tusks and an extra pair of legs. It is Scar's Heartless, which should tell you something about how rotten the guy was.

Attack Its Weak Point: The mask on the witch doctor and the eyes on the main body.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: It's the second-largest Heartless in the series right after the One-Winged Angel form of Xehanort's Heartless.
Came Back Strong: This is the second time that Scar comes back as a Heartless, this time having lost his original form.
Early-Installment Weirdness: It was the first of three Heartless bosses in the series to be reborn from a Disney villain, 12 years before Grim Guardianess and Sköll in III (aside from the many Heartless bosses in χ[chi] that bear an even closer resemblance to their original selves). However, Scar is also fought in his original lion form (possibly due to the two-"episode" structure of Disney worlds in II), whereas Mother Gothel and Hans are not fought as humans and transform before they are fought, and their transformation into Heartless is the climax of a single "episode" taking place in each of their worlds.
Extra Eyes: Both the "mount" and the "rider"'s mask have four eyes each, just like the Trick Ghost. They rotate their heads to indicate what attack patterns they'll use.
Horse of a Different Color: The "mount" is based on a Triceratops.
Kaiju: Certainly big enough to qualify.
Killer Gorilla: The "rider" is a giant ape with permanently crossed legs. Its "face" is a two-sided tribal mask hiding its actual, standard Heartless face inside its neck.
King Mook: To the Shaman and Living Bone Heartless.
Mask Power: The mask serves as one of the Heartless's vulnerable areas.
Monster Suit: You'd be forgiven for thinking that both of its bodies are separate Heartless, like with the Living Bone and Shaman, but in reality the "mount" seems to be an empty husk for the "rider" to control by merging into it. When the "rider" is separate and visible and Sora can jump on the Heartless' head, the "mount" is completely immobile, not even having an idle animation.
Morphic Resonance: Despite the "rider" body mostly being simian in design, both halves of its mask vaguely resemble Scar's face. This trope is even more pronounced in Final Mix where the "rider" is colored brown and both faces on its mask are colored like Scar's.
One-Winged Angel: Technically, this thing is Scar's Heartless. It's the first original Heartless design to have clearly transformed from a Disney villain, though unlike with the Grim Guardianess and Sköll in III, both Scar's original self and his Heartless are fought.
Optional Boss: The Pride Lands are optional, so you don't have to fight Groundshaker.
Palette Swap: It gets one in Final Mix +, which adds crimson accents to the "mount" and changes the "rider" to a brown coloration, making it more closely resemble its original self.
Planar Shockwave: Sometimes its shockwaves just go right over you despite you standing being right next to its feet.
Playing with Fire: It can use a homing fire attack with a VERY long range.
The Power of Hate: It is implied that it was Scar's hatred for Simba that caused him to become this.
Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs: The "rider" section does this when it goes invisible.
Shockwave Stomp: Causes this just by walking. A chain of reaction commands even involves you dodging them.
Shock and Awe: The Witch Doctor form with launch lightning bolts at you.
Was Once a Man: It was formed from the many ghosts of Scar left over from the darkness in his heart, and while he was never human to begin with he was a sapient lion who acted human like all animals in his world.
Wingding Eyes: The main body has them.
Witch Doctor: The "rider" section of the Heartless.
The Worm That Walks: It's formed from the many ghosts of Scar, though this is subverted in that all of Scar's ghosts are projections of a single being.

Mushroom XIII

Appearances: Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix

A series of thirteen Heartless thematically based on Organization XIII. They are optional bosses, of a sort, that can be challenged to minigames to appease these and win prizes.

Ambiguous Gender: Averted with three of the Mushrooms. 1 and 5 are male, and 10 is female.
Fairy Battle: No. 13 is the only one you don't need to challenge.
Friendly Enemy: Like most mushroom Heartless, they're not malevolent. Though some of them knock Sora around in their challenges, none of them can actually kill him or even try to.
Healing Factor: No. 5 regenerates HP very quickly. You have to overwhelm its healing to defeat it.
Infinity +1 Sword: Defeating all of them nets Sora the Winner's Proof, rivaling the Ultima Weapon for the best Keyblade in the game. They can also drop new ultimate weapons for Goofy and Donald, the Ultimate Mushroom and Premium Mushroom.
Me's a Crowd: No. 4, 6, 10, and 12 summon copies of themselves.
Puzzle Boss: All of them must be appeased in a certain manner to defeat them — Sora must land enough hits in a time limit, Sora has to fight swarms of clones, the boss is immune to damage under normal means, etc.
Tennis Boss: No. 2 requires Sora to reflect its projectiles back at it.
This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: Many of them require Sora to rapidly attack in a short time limit, making Wisdom Form and/or Berserk Charge the only feasible way to win their fights.
Timed Mission: Many of them have to be beaten within a time limit.

Debuted in coded

Sora's Heartless

"RAGE... HATRED... GLITCHES TO FEED MY DARKNESS... AND SOON, HEARTS TO SATE MY HUNGER!"

"LONG HAVE THE FALLEN WANDERED. NOW THEY SHALL SERVE THE WILL OF DARKNESS."
Appearances: I | coded

The source of the Bug Blox in coded and Re:coded, he's a massive Heartless wishing to break out into the real world. Despite taking the form of a Darkside, he's much stronger and more intelligent than such a form would make you think. His true identity and true form are revealed at the end of the game.

Arc Villain: He’s one of the three main antagonists not to be an incarnation of Xehanort (the others being Marluxia from Chain of Memories and Saix of 358/2 Days). Data-Sora’s Heartless is the villain of the game for seven out of eight chapters in coded.
Bishōnen Line: Transforms into Anti-Sora, complete with Keyblade, after being defeated as a Darkside.
Bold Inflation: As one can tell by his all caps quotes.
Chekhov's Gunman: Sora briefly turns into a Heartless in the first game, and most people probably didn't think to differentiate it as a character from Sora at all given that it kept his consciousness. Turns out it didn't just disappear, though.
Climax Boss: He's only the second-to-last boss in coded, despite being the Big Bad.
Composite Character: It's Sora's Heartless form being reformed to look like a Darkside, a reference to how the latter first appeared as Sora's shadow. It also possesses an attack that bears heavy resemblance to the Limit Break of Sora's Nobody, Roxas.
The Corruption: It is the source of all Bug Blox after all.
Evil Counterpart: To Sora. Data-Riku even comments that as Sora got stronger killing Heartless, their data was absorbed by his Heartless so it could grow stronger too.
Flat Character: Those two lines of dialogue at the top of his profile and under his picture? They're about all he says the entire game, and you don't even confront him until the final battle. Justified, as he's really just a Shadow Heartless pumped full of power, and by nature Heartless are driven by instinct and lack higher intelligence.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Started out as a puny Shadow but has since turned into a Darkside.
Light 'em Up: It fights almost exclusively with Light attacks.
Light Is Not Good: Despite its heavy use of light attacks, it is still The Virus and a member of The Heartless.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: No one ever thought about the fact that when the data Heartless are killed, they don't fade into hearts like real Heartless, and thus never thought about what happened to that destroyed data. Turns out this guy was absorbing it to grow stronger and stronger.
Pillar of Light: One of its attacks heavily resembles Roxas's Magic Hour.
Playing with Fire: Along with An Ice Person. In its first form, he casts Debug Blizzard with his left hand and Debug Fire with his right.
Storm of Blades: Launches light Keyblades at you and calls on a barrage of them for its Desperation Attack.
This Was His True Form: He is only defeated when Mickey separates him from the power he got from corrupting the journal and reduces him back to the form of a lowly Shadow.
Took a Level in Badass: Started out as a puny Shadow but has since turned into a Darkside.
Took a Level in Jerkass: When Sora turned into a Heartless, he retained his kind-hearted personality. The digital representation of his Heartless is a ravenous monster.
Tron Lines: His Darkside form has glowing Blox-like patterns across its body.
The Virus: It's an actual computer virus.

Debuted in Birth by Sleep

Dark Hide

Appearances: Birth by Sleep Final Mix

A massive, bestial Pureblood Heartless fought in the Realm of Darkness in Birth By Sleep Final Mix.

Animalistic Abomination: This thing can best be described as a Heartless apex predator.
The Cameo: In Kingdom Hearts III: Re:Mind, it appears in flashback during Aqua's Heroic BSoD.
Casting a Shadow: It fires off orbs of darkness that try to suck you in for one of its attacks. He can also cover himself in darkness, making it more harder to see when he attacks during the first phase of his fight.
Chained by Fashion: Similar to the Dark Thorn, it has shackles on its ankles. In this case, they're connected to anchor-like objects in the style of a ball-and-chain, though they don't slow the Dark Hide down at all.
Doppelgänger Attack: Yes, the afterimages can hurt you.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It can run across the battlefield as an attack. Its pre-battle cutscene also has it try to ambush Aqua this way.
Fog of War: Creates it during the first phase of the battle, where it keeps trying to ambush Aqua from the trees.
Jagged Mouth: Like several other Heartless.
"Jaws" First-Person Perspective: A terrestrial variant when it charges at Aqua.
Large and in Charge: Rivals the Darkside as one of the largest Pureblood Heartless ever seen.
Lightning Bruiser: Its size does nothing to slow it down.
Leitmotif: "Hunter of the Dark", its boss theme. It was exclusive to it for a time before becoming a general Heartless boss theme in 0.2 and III.
No Name Given: The original Birth by Sleep Final Mix did not show its name, so fans either called it "Red Eyes" for having said feature, which was unique among Heartless at the time, or "Hunter of the Dark" after its boss theme. It was finally named in the 2.5 version.
Playing with Fire: It can send giant fireballs along the ground.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: They're the first thing you see due to it being invisible at first.
See the Invisible: Due to its glowing red eyes.
Stealthy Colossus: It can hide itself perfectly in the dark, which it does in order to hunt Aqua. Once it thinks it has her cornered, though, it drops all pretense of subtlety and charges her before flitting in and out of the trees for repeated ambushes.
True Final Boss: It's the ultimate final boss of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep Final Mix, replacing Terra-Xehanort in this regard from the base game.
Turns Red: Once its health gets low enough, it starts creating afterimages to attack, indicated by it starting to glow various colors. It also becomes visible and stops charging out of the trees once you attack it enough.

Debuted in χ[chi]

Trident Tail

Appearances: χ[chi]

A series of whale-like Heartless that appeared as raid bosses in Kingdom Hearts χ. Each variant is a different color.

Beware My Stinger Tail: As the name suggests, that have a trident in place of a tail fin and can use it to attack.
Flying Seafood Special: It's a flying whale. It even has wings instead of fins.
Hot Paint Job: The Omega variant has a dark fire pattern.
Mechanical Monster: There's a mechanical variant called a Submarine Carp that also acts as a raid boss.
Palette Swap: The base version is blue. Variants have red, green and light blue color schemes and a fire pattern.
Weaponized Offspring: Whether they're actually offspring or not is debatable, but it stores smaller versions of itself in its mouth and sends them out to attack.

Wretched Witch

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless called on by the Queen in an attempt to stop the Player and the Seven Dwarves

Tempting Apple: In reference to the Evil Queen using a poisoned apple on Snow White, it uses apples as weapons.
Throw Down the Bomblet: Attacks with exploding apples.
Wicked Witch: As the name suggests, based on this trope. Specifically, the one that appears in Snow White.

Enraged Elk

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless summoned by Gaston in Beast's Castle to attack the player, Belle and Maurice.

Improvised Weapon: Wields a piece of a statue from the roof of Beast's castle.
Skull for a Head: Has an elk's skull for the upper half of its head.

Mean Maiden

Appearances: Unchained χ[chi]

A Heartless summoned by the darkness in Lady Tremaine's heart in Castle of Dreams to attack Cinderella.

Cool Crown: It wears a crown.
Little Bit Beastly: It has a mostly humanoid appearance but also has a cat's ears and tail.
Right-Hand Cat: It is accompanied by two cat Heartless, the Sly Cat and the Wily Cat.
Staff of Authority: It wields a staff.

Werewolf

Appearances: Unchained χ

A lupine Heartless that appears in various worlds. The countdown above its head decreases each time it's hit.

Canis Major: Its default form is a blue wolf the size of a person that attacks by biting.
Chained by Fashion: It has shackles on its forelegs, similar to the Dark Hide.
Our Werewolves Are Different: When the countdown above its head hits 0, it changes into a more anthropomorphic form and mauls the player on its next turn. The counter resets afterward.
Wolverine Claws: It attacks with its claws in its transformed state.

Darkling

Appearances: χ[chi]

An unusually strong sort of Heartless that attack The Player and Skuld.

Dual Boss: They frequently come in pairs, but they come at you in a group of three in your first encounter with the health bar to prove it.
Fallen Hero: They are Keyblade wielders that fell to darkness.
It Can Think: While most Heartless are mindless beings driven by instinct, Darklings possess — or rather retain their — human intelligence and can even speak, reiterating the Foretellers' instructions to gather as much Lux as possible.
Darkling: ive... Ux... Give me.. Give me Lux!
Was Once a Man: These Heartless are bron from the darkness of previous Keyblade Wielders.

Weapon Master

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless boss in a special event.

Homage: The Weapon Master's appearance is heavily inspired by Gilgamesh from the Final Fantasy series. Its golden sword even does very little damage in reference to Excalipoor. Even better, Battle on the Big Bridge plays during its boss fight.
Nerf Arm: One of its weapons is a golden sword that does pathetic damage to the player before revealing itself to be a Heartless in its own right and repeatedly bopping the Weapon Master on the head.
Walking Armory: Since it's based on Gilgamesh, this is to be expected.

Mysterious Sir

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless boss in a special event.

Fire, Ice, Lightning: One of its attacks is to have its Warring Triad Heartless attack with magic. The Demon uses fire, the Goddess uses lightning, and the Fiend uses ice.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: It has twin silver and gold wings on its back.
Homage: The Mysterious Sir's appearance is heavily inspired by Kefka Palazzo's final form from Final Fantasy VI. It is also accompanied by three Gummi Copter-like Heartless inspired by the Warring Triad: Demon, Fiend, and Goddess, has an attack based on the Light of Judgment, and even has "Dancing Mad" as its boss battle theme, suggesting that it might outright be the Kingdom Hearts incarnation of Kefka.
Light 'em Up: One of its attacks calls down a beam of light from above, similar to Kefka's Light of Judgment.
Our Angels Are Different: It is based on Kefka's angelic god form, after all.

Martial Monkey

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless boss in Agrabah.

Captain Ersatz: It seems to be modeled after the Pokémon Infernape design-wise, particularly considering that both monsters are based on Sun Wukong (a public domain character) and have near-identical color schemes and Flaming Hair.
Flaming Hair: Most likely a reference to how Sun Wukong was almost distilled by Samadhi fires, which earns him Gold Pupil Fire Eyes.
Monkey King Lite: A Heartless based on Sun Wukong.
Mythology Gag: Its appearance in Agrabah may seem random given that Sun Wukong is from Chinese literature. But then you remember Aladdin in the original fairy tale is a Chinese guy travelling to Middle East.
Shout-Out: Its design is clearly inspired by Sun Wukong from Journey to the West.

Shiva

Appearances: χ[chi]

A Heartless boss in a special event.

An Ice Person: It attacks with blasts of ice and summoned snowmen.
Anthropomorphic Food: Its body is made of ice cream cones.
Hand Blast: One of its attacks is to fire bursts of ice from its "hands" until the player is covered in it.
Homage To the various versions of Shiva from the Final Fantasy series, though it's very different from its various inspirations as compared to any of the other Final Fantasy-themed Heartless.
Snowlems: One of its attacks is to conjure three penguin-like snowmen. One of them is a Heartless in its own right.

Ifrit

Appearances: χ[chi], Dark Road

A Heartless boss in a special event.

Criss-Cross Attack: After using its minions to light itself on fire, it repeatedly rushes the player from different directions before slamming down from above.
Homage To the more bestial versions of Ifrit, particularly the one from Final Fantasy X.
Incendiary Exponent: With the help of the coal-like heartless around it, it can use its pyre to set itself ablaze before rushing the player.
Playing with Fire: It and its minions wield fire attacks against the player.
Zerg Rush: Its other attack is to just direct the coal-like Heartless to rush the player themselves.

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Demon Tower / Demon Tide

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/demon_tide.png

Appearances: 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- | III

A huge swarm of Shadows surrounding a single dark orb. It attacks at several points throughout A Fragmentary Passage in the form of a "Demon Tower" before going all-out as the final boss of the story.

Darker and Edgier: Notably the first time the Heartless have ever actually been referred to as "demons".
Fastball Special: One of the Tide's favorite attacks is flinging individual Shadows as projectiles. Better dodge this, because if you get hit by just one you'll probably get hit by about a dozen more in quick succession.
Final Boss: The Demon Tide is the final challenge of A Fragmentary Passage.
Leitmotif: "Wave of Darkness", its two-part final boss theme.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Individual Shadows are among the weakest enemies in the series. A swarm of them is a force to be reckoned with.
It Can Think: After Sora defeats it in the Keyblade Graveyard, the Demon Tide does something unprecedented — it stops attacking, seemingly realizing it can't defeat him, and lashes out a swath of swarming tendrils of Shadows, consuming all the remaining Emblem Heartless, Nobodies, and Unversed to increase its mass into what can only be called a dark hurricane. Only a last-minute assist from Ephemer and the wills of the fallen Keyblade wielders give Sora the means to stop it in this state.
Recurring Boss: The Demon Tower/Tide is fought four times in 0.2, and four times in III, not counting cutscenes.
Sora: (After at least five more Demon Towers appear in a cutscene) This again?
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The eyes of the swarming Shadows will glow red-orange when they're about to attack.
Red Sky, Take Warning: During the final battle of 0.2, it turns the sky blood-red after taking enough damage.
Surreal Humor: One rips off Mickey's shirt. The other gives Riku a haircut. While the latter instance is a touch more life-threatening, both characters wind up walking away from the encounter mostly untouched.
The Swarm: Individual Shadows can be killed, but the Tide continues to generate new Shadows as you kill them. The numbers are never-ending.
Tornado Move: Once its health starts getting low, the Tide reshapes itself into a whirling funnel around its core, widening or narrowing as necessary to attack.
Turns Red: At around half health, the Tide reorganizes itself as a tornado and becomes considerably more difficult, attacking much more frequently and with attacks that are extremely hard to avoid.
The Worm That Walks: The Demon Tower form is closer to this due to being more compact and moving and attacking much more cohesively. This aspect becomes much more evident when the swarm acts cleverly in the face of imminent defeat, forming limbs to ensnare the other hostile races.
Zerg Rush: Think Shadows are harmless? You'll be changing your tune when fighting hundreds of them at once.

Debuted in III

Supreme Smasher

Appearances: III

Three enormous centaur-like dragon toys found inside Galaxy Toys. They are possessed by Marionette Heartless and forced to fight Sora.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Relatively speaking. Compared to a person they're only a couple of feet tall, similar to Angelic Amber, but they tower over the heroes, plus they have a lot more mass and bulk than Amber.
Breath Weapon: They fire laser beams from their mouths, sweeping the beam from directly in front of themselves out in a straight line.
Energy Weapon: From their mouths, which they sweep very quickly and can catch you off guard if you're not careful.
Foe-Tossing Charge: One of their more dangerous attacks, they assume a shoulder-down pose and slide very quickly toward Sora, dealing damage on impact and following up with a spinning slash attack. Any of Sora's friends who happen to be in the way are knocked aside.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Their eyes are a solid shining yellow, like nearly all other Heartless.
Marionette Motion: They "walk" with a bouncing motion and their upper bodies and arms move with stiff jerky motions, as if a child was playing with them and moving their joints.
Our Dragons Are Different: They're dragon toys built like centaurs, with a humanoid upper body and a four-legged lower body.
Playing with Fire: Surprisingly averted, while they do emit some heat ripples they don't have any fire-based attacks.
Shock and Awe: The structures on their backs emit several electric bolts that converge then fire a single bolt that tracks Sora for a few seconds.
Spectacular Spinning: They can twirl their upper bodies around in a circle dealing a strong clawing attack.
Wolfpack Boss: Individually they don't have that much health and are relatively easy to avoid, but you have to face three of them in an enclosed arena.

Angelic Amber

Appearances: III

A doll found inside Galaxy Toys, and another victim of Heartless possession.

Animal-Eared Headband: She wears a headband with white rabbit ears on them. The left ear has an Emblem Heartless symbol on it.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Relatively speaking. She's only a couple feet tall, but she towers over the likes of Buzz, Woody, and the toy form of Sora. In fact, Sora barely reaches her knee.
Creepy Doll: She's a doll controlled by darkness.
Elegant Gothic Lolita: She's dressed in this style, with a frilly black dress and ribbons in her hair.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: Her irises glow with a bright amber-orange color. After she's freed from possession they return to their normal emerald-green.
Grievous Harm with a Body: Two of her attacks involve using herself as a weapon, slamming herself down onto Sora and headbutting him.
Marionette Motion: She moves as if she were pulled by invisible strings.
Princess Curls: The only parts of her hair that aren't like this are the two foremost bangs in front of her ears.
Purple Is Powerful: The shockwave she makes and the rings she generates are purple/violet in color.
Shockwave Stomp: One of her attacks has her fly to the ceiling and crash straight down onto Sora or his allies, creating a large energy shockwave.
Spectacular Spinning: Two of her attacks do this. One is a drilling headbutt while trying to ram into Sora, the other is a stationary ballerina-like twirl that creates several energy rings around herself.
Tragic Monster: More so than other toy enemies. She's possessed and used by Heartless against Sora, and defeating her makes Buzz's heart waver greatly in addition to seemingly rendering her lifeless. The journal makes a point to say that her face seems melancholic.
The Voiceless: Never speaks or emotes even after being exorcised, despite being in a world where Living Toys are the primary lifeform.

King of Toys

Appearances: III

A huge, mechanical Emblem Heartless in the shape of a flying saucer. It was summoned by Young Xehanort to cover his escape in Toy Box. Unlike several of the other enemies fought in Toy Box, it is a true Heartless that merely resembles a toy.

Blow You Away: Its ultimate attack is to create a funnel cloud around itself.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: When charging up its Tornado Move, a single block appears high above its head. Sora can airstep up to it and perform a diving attack on the Heartless, cancelling the attack and grounding it so all five of the heroes can beat up on it.
Deflector Shields: Has a force field protecting it from attacks from below.
Everything-Is-Smashable Area: Its movements knock over the buildings in the block city on its battlefield. Some of the taller buildings will even topple just from your trying to run up them. The whole thing is reset to an intact state after it uses its Tornado Move.
Flying Saucer: Its design is based on one.
Macross Missile Massacre: Whether it's moving or stationary, its favorite move is to spam missiles.
Mechanical Monster: This Heartless is a giant flying saucer with the ability to fire missiles and generate electric barriers around itself.
Purple Is Powerful: Its main color is purple, and it is a very powerful Heartless.
Shock and Awe: It can generate an electric barrier around its body and creates an electrified ring around itself as it charges its Tornado Move.
Tornado Move: It can whip up a massive whirlwind around itself that pulls up all of the inanimate toys on the battlefield with it before charging around. The block city resets to an intact state afterward.
Toy Time: Taken even further than the rest of Toy Box as while most of the world merely contains toys that are often large enough to run around in, this boss's battlefield is a Pocket Dimension completely made from toys.

Grim Guardianess

Appearances: III

The huge Emblem Heartless of Mother Gothel that looks like a cross between a tree and a gorgon, and is encountered by Sora and company in the Kingdom of Corona.

Botanical Abomination: The average Heartless often falls under some category of Eldritch Abomination. This creature in particular is a giant, mobile tree-creature that regurgitates live blackbirds.
Creepy Crows: It can barf up a murder of shadowy crows for one of its attacks.
Desperation Attack: After suffering some damage, The Grim Guardianess will teleport to the Tower and from there she'll cast various attacks from trapping you in roots and branches, or dropping down explosive apples at you.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Despite its size, it is constantly moving, either levitating or slithering about by its tale. It will even sometimes teleport into the top of the tower, forcing the player to weave their way through the root-walls it summons and avoid its long-ranged attacks to get to it.
Green Thumb: It can conjure flowers that will restrain Sora with vines, and make wooden fences erupt from the ground to block him off.
Morphic Resonance: The branches and leaves on its head resemble Mother Gothel's bushy hair, complete with a few small wooden "locks" hanging down its face.
Multi-Armed and Dangerous: It has four arms.
Pepper Sneeze: One of its attacks is that it sheds pollen that causes uncontrollable sneezing (manifested as the "Sneeze" command replacing the "Attack" one, causing a stun effect for a moment if pressed).
Personality Powers: Many of the Guardianess's moves involve restraining Sora and his friends (like sneezing pollen to slow them down, flowers that grab them and root-walls jutting from the ground), reminiscent of Mother Gothel's life goal of keeping Rapunzel imprisoned. This is something that Jiminy Cricket takes note of in his journal entry for it.
Treants: A serpentine tree-like Heartless.
Was Once a Man: It's Mother Gothel's Heartless.

Sköll

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skll.png

Appearances: III

The massive ghost-like wolf Emblem Heartless of Hans fought in a place reminiscent of the mountains around Arendelle.

Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: This thing is bigger than Marshmallow, who is already a giant snowman.
Beast of the Apocalypse: His design evokes Fenrir from Norse Mythology, a giant wolf who breaks free from his bindings and swallows the sun (similar to the Heartless's ability to coat the sky in darkness), kickstarting the end of the world. Even the name "Sköll" is often interpreted as just being an alternate name for Fenrir.
Canis Major: This wolf's head is bigger than Sora's whole body.
Casting a Shadow: It periodically turns itself into a massive orb of darkness and lowers itself toward the battlefield in order to crush Sora and friends. It can also spit dark fireballs that inflict blindness. Upon its defeat, it tries to do this again only to explode instead.
Colony Drop: During his Desperation Attack, Skoll will go towards the "sun" at the arena, and then envelop it and himself in darkness, turning into a giant ball of darkness that slowly descends upon the arena, raining down Wolf Heads as well. You need the help of Marshmallow to push it away before it crashes down and deals massive damage to the party.
Desperation Attack: After suffering some damage, Skoll will go towards the sun and then turn into a giant dark ball that drops down to the arena, as well as dropping down Wolf Heads to hinder your progress.
Detachment Combat: Its paws are Floating Limbs, giving its swipe attacks incredible reach.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It likes to tear around the battlefield, sending anything it hits flying.
An Ice Person: Its head, paws, and shoulders are coated with ice.
Meaningful Name: On top of being named after a monstrous wolf of Norse Mythology, the word "Sköll" means "Treachery" and "Mockery" in Old Norse, words that describe Hans perfectly.
Mook Maker: Summons a pack of smaller ice wolf heads with shadow tails that fly around and bite at Sora and his allies every so often, with a huge onslaught of them dropping from the Ragnarok Orb Sköll creates before it starts to come down.
Names to Run Away from Really Fast: No Alliterative Name like Stealth Sneak or cutesy name like Trickmaster or even a real person's name like Kurt Zisa. Nope, this thing is directly named after the wolf demon who seeks to devour Söl and chases her across the sky every day.
Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Takes its name from a monstrous, sun-chasing wolf in Norse mythology.
Super-Scream: Its howls can stun Sora and inflict Knockback, though they don't inflict any damage.
Was Once a Man: It's Hans' Heartless.

Raging Vulture

Appearances: III

An enormous pterodactyl Emblem Heartless faced by Sora in the Caribbean after the party and the crew of the Black Pearl escape from Davy Jones' Locker.

Breath Weapon: A stream of fireballs from its mouth to attack the Black Pearl with, and a flamethrower-type breath against Sora.
Call-Back: To the Ruler of the Sky from Days. It also has the swirl eyes of Groundshaker and back-spikes to grab onto similar to the Storm Rider from II.
Expy: Between its body shape and its fire attacks, it seems rather similar to Rodan.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: Sora has to chase it down, in mid-air, in order to clobber it.
Giant Flyer: It's a VERY big beast with a long skeletal neck, a parrot-like head, and bat-like wings equipped with cannons.
Playing with Fire: Has fire breath and fireballs.

Lightning Angler

Appearances: III

A gigantic anglerfish-like Emblem Heartless that Sora and company encounter underwater while in the Caribbean.

Chest Monster: An anglerfish that uses a chest for a lure; it succeeds in luring in Sora, Donald and Goofy through it, which is how its boss battle starts.
Mix-and-Match Critter: It has anglerfish-like lures mounted on catfish-like whiskers.
Shock and Awe: As its name suggests, it uses lightning-based attacks when it's not just charging at you.
Secret Test of Character: Implied to at least partially be influenced by Calypso to test Sora's mettle underwater, judging on how it coincidentally opens a way forward after its defeat.
Schmuck Bait: Pretends to be a treasure chest, which just happens to have two conspicuous glowing fronds next to it. This is enough to lure in Sora.

Catastrochorus

Appearajnces: III

A huge Emblem Heartless that is actually comprised of three Heartless in one tyrannosaurus-like package, making a ruckus in downtown San Fransokyo.

Breath Weapon: Fire breath.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: It has the appearance of a cartoony T. rex and can breathe fire.
Foe-Tossing Charge: It has one such attack which can deal a chunk of damage if not dodged.
Magma Man: It's back houses a cauldron-like volcanic Heartless.
Multiple Head Case: Three Heartless that share a body, though it's unknown how much of the volcano and tail Heartless are fused to the main Tyrannosaurus body^note and whether they would instead count as The Dividual.
Playing with Fire: The Tyrannosaurus head can breathe fire, and the volcano on its back can attack by spewing fiery ejecta.
Shock and Awe: It can shoot lightning from it's tail, which houses a cloud-like Heartless.
T. Rexpy: It resembles a horned tyrannosaur with a volcano on its back and a tail shaped like an electrical plug.
Two Beings, One Body: You'd be forgiven for thinking this is one Heartless, but this is actually three Heartless in one body. The main fire-breathing dinosaur Heartless, the volcanic Heartless in the back, and the storm cloud Heartless in the tail.

Darkubes

Appearances: III

A giant Heartless in San Fransokyo that's made up of black cubes.

Line-of-Sight Name: The other members of Big Hero 6 aren't taken with the name, but none of them can think of a better alternative.
Mythology Gag: Twice over. As a group they resemble the microbots from Big Hero 6, and the characters even mistake them for the microbots at first. Individually, the blocks all have the same pattern on their sides as the Blox from Kingdom Hearts coded.
You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Once it fights Sora, Dark Riku revives it and culls the Heartless immediately so Dark Baymax can make his debut.

Dark Baymax

Appearances: III

Serving as the boss of San Fransokyo, this is a lost machine retrieved from an alternate dimension by Dark Riku, overloaded with data from the Darkubes.

Came Back Wrong: Empty Shell variety. He's the original Baymax in body only (and possibly Hiro's combat chip). His original programming (and one would assume his heart) is safely installed in good!Baymax.
Evil Knockoff: Of Baymax. Or rather, "evil original", since this is Baymax's original body turned into a Heartless.
Red Right Hand: The armor of its right hand has been replaced by Darkubes.
Walking Spoiler: For Big Hero 6. Suffice it to say this character was present in the movie, but anything more would be spoiling.

The Lich

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lich_21.png

Appearances: III

Sora encounters this Pureblood Heartless after being swallowed up by the Demon Tide and he constantly chases after it through various worlds while it attempts to steal the hearts of his friends. According to Young Xehanort, it's a special Heartless.

Arc Villain: Of the Final World, being Sora's main obstacle in bringing his friends back from the dead.
Blow You Away: It can summon a whirlwind in front of itself to knock Sora into the air.
Doppelgänger Attack: It creates exploding afterimages of itself as it moves. Making matters worse, if you're locked onto it, the lock is transferred to the afterimage.
Down the Rabbit Hole: According to Young Xehanort, this is its purpose.
Young Xehanort: The Lich you've been fighting—it's not like other Heartless. It exists to usher hearts down to the depths of darkness. If you chase it, you condemn your heart to that same abyss.
Elemental Powers: As the battle progresses and it attempts to steal more characters' hearts, it gains access to more of them.
Flunky Boss: It summons different types of Heartless to back it up in different worlds.
The Grim Reaper: Essentially acts as this, especially given its place as a special Heartless.
An Ice Person: It can use ice projectiles while in Arendelle.
Magic Missile Storm: Its fire and lightning spells each fire six projectiles and it can use them back-to-back.
Making a Splash: Uses water spells while in the Caribbean.
Our Liches Are Different
Playing with Fire: A fireball barrage is one of its default moves. It has a few variations of this attack.
Sequential Boss: Sora has to track it down and beat it seven times, one for each of his friends and allies and each in a different world with different sets of attacks. Its final phase has it using all of its attacks.
Shock and Awe: It can fire homing electric spells while in Toy Box.
Small Role, Big Impact: As Young Xehanort notes, its something of a Psychopomp that brings hearts from all worlds further down into the darkness. This ability to worldhop forces Sora to frequently use the Power of Waking and time travel to a point before everyone is lost, which are implied to contribute to him disappearing in the epilogue after rescuing Kairi.
Torso with a View: Has a heart-shaped hole in its chest, much like several other Pureblood Heartless.
Your Soul Is Mine!: It attempts this on each of Sora's friends at the beginning of each section of its boss fight.

Dark Inferno

Appearances: III

This Pureblood Heartless is the Superboss of Kingdom Hearts III and the first boss of the Re:Mind DLC.

Battle Aura: It gains a fiery purple aura after losing a third of its health. After losing two-thirds, the aura Turns Red and the Dark Inferno becomes much more aggressive, in addition to becoming immune to Fire.
Dual Wielding: Carries two large swords and definitely knows how to use them to inflict some vicious combos.
King Mook: Downplayed in that the weaker versions don't appear in III, but it's basically a dual-wielding, Superboss version of the Invisibles.
Lightning Bruiser: Don't let its bulky appearance fool you, it moves fast and hits pretty hard as well. Even if it is a step down in danger level from previous Superbosses it's still a very credible threat and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Palette Swap: Dark Inferno χ has all of the orange features of Dark Inferno turn yellow.
Magic Missile Storm: It can launch a swarm of dark fireballs which home in on Sora.
Took a Level in Badass: Inverted with Dark Inferno χ. Since the Re:Mind Episode of the DLC is balanced as a part of the main story, this version of the Dark Inferno was given two major nerfs: having only half of the main game version's health and not gaining a Battle Aura as the fight progresses.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Dark Inferno might be the Superboss of Kingdom Hearts III, but Dark Inferno χ is the first boss of the Re:Mind DLC.
Winged Humanoid: Downplayed, but it has a pair of small bat-like wings on its back.

The Flantastic Seven

Appearences: III

Cherry Flan

Strawberry Flan

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/orange_flan_khiii.png

Blood Orange Flan

Banana Flan

Grape Flan

Honeydew Flan

Watermelon Flan

Seven large Heartless in the shape of fruit flans that play minigames with Sora and reward him with extremely rare cooking ingredients (and perhaps a few other things) when he gets a high enough score. They are Cherry Flan, Strawberry Flan, Blood Orange Flan, Banana Flan, Grape Flan, Honeydew Flan, and Watermelon Flan. Each one is hidden on a different world and must be found before it'll give up any goodies, so get out there and get to searching!

Anthropomorphic Food: Large Heartless that look like flan, each with a crown showing what type of fruit it rewards for beating its minigame.
Cool Crown: Each one wears a crown with a different type of fruit on it. This is used to show what type of ingredient they offer for beating their minigame.
Expy: They're named after and look like the Flan species of monsters from the Final Fantasy series.
Friendly Enemy: Despite being Heartless none of them are actively malicious towards Sora and will not interact with him unless he seeks them out first. Some of them are hostile during their minigames, but their attacks are harmless and they'll even give Sora prizes for doing well enough to earn a high score.
- Despite this, six of the seven are labeled in the journal as malicious (or at least annoying) monsters that need to be taken out. For example, the Honeydew Flan is called evil by extension of its crown being called also evil, and the journal recommends Sora take out the Watermelon Flan before it can form a nefarious plan.
Gentle Giant: They're all pretty huge with some of them being larger than most Heartless in fact, and are much more harmless and playful than other Heartless as well.
Giant Food: Giant fruit flan Heartless.
Me's a Crowd: Each has the ability to summon different versions of itself for the various minigames they play.
Non-Malicious Monster: They're giant Heartless, but mostly keep to themselves until Sora interacts with them. A few will attack during their minigames, though this isn't actually harmful to Sora and will at worst end the current minigame if the attack succeeds. They also give out rare ingredients as prizes.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Mushroom Heartless from the earlier games, which similarly are Heartless that aren't so much "enemies" as they are givers of mini-games that can yield great rewards.

Debuted in Dark Road

Hringhorn

Appearences: Dark Road

An extremely dangerous Heartless that clashed with many Keyblade wielders in an assault on Scala Ad Caelum, but only Xehanort and Eraqus stood a real chance against it.

BFS: Its hands are massive swords, longer than Young Xehanort is tall.
Familiar: It's the manifestation of Baldr's darkness, and is at his beck and call.
Final Boss: Of Dark Road.
Hero Killer: Hringhorn killed Vidar, Vala and Vali to bring forth the eighth, ninth and tenth darknesses for Baldr's plan to summon Kingdom Hearts.
Meaningful Name: It gets its name from "Hringhorni", a ship from Norse Mythology. "Hringhorni" is Old Norse for "ship with a circle on the stem", as represented by the ring on Hringhorn's helm. More importantly, it's the name of Baldr's ship, and it's described to be the greatest of all ships. A fitting name for Baldr's familiar, and one of the most deadly Heartless there is.
Torso with a View: When it's holding both of its swords together, they form a hole in the shape of its Heartless emblem.
Wave-Motion Tuning Fork: It can fire lasers from the middle of the ring on its helm.

Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Heartless

Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

The Heartless

Enemy Heartless

Debuted in I

Debuted in Chain of Memories

Debuted in II

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Debuted in χ[chi]

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Debuted in III

Boss Heartless

Debuted in I

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Debuted in II

Debuted in coded

Debuted in Birth by Sleep

Debuted in χ[chi]

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Debuted in III

Debuted in Dark Road

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Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Heartless

Edit Locked

Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

The Heartless

Enemy Heartless

Debuted in I

Debuted in Chain of Memories

Debuted in II

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Debuted in χ[chi]

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Debuted in III

Boss Heartless

Debuted in I

Debuted in 358/2 Days

Debuted in II

Debuted in coded

Debuted in Birth by Sleep

Debuted in χ[chi]

Debuted in A Fragmentary Passage

Debuted in III

Debuted in Dark Road

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Index

Next