Like many games in the Kirby series, Kirby: Triple Deluxe has some surprisingly dark elements. While much of it is told through Flavor Text and Word of God rather than the main story, its sad content is still enough to warrant its own page from the rest of the series.
Unmarked spoilers below.
- Make sure you have a box of tissues handy when you read the pause menu descriptions in The Arena and The True Arena; you'll learn the heartwrenching stories of:
- Paintra being separated from her sister — presumably Drawcia — at birth, and vowing revenge.
- This brings a Cerebus Retcon due to the possibility that Drawcia herself was driven by vengeance, as questioned on the Fridge page of Kirby Star Allies.
- Dark Meta Knight becoming a Rōnin who has been utterly consumed by vengeance and bloodlust after being sealed inside the Dimension Mirror for aeons. Though considering what he did to Sectonia, Dark is pretty much an Asshole Victim.
- Queen Sectonia once being a good queen until her own vanity and the influence of the Dimension Mirror corrupted her.
- The worst has to be the pause description for the Final Boss, Soul of Sectonia, which explains some story. It tells of how there was one voice, presumably Taranza, constantly calling out to the Queen to try to help her, but she's rejected it at every turn, and now the voice is gone. It calls her a pitiable husk and pretty much tells you to put her out of her misery — worded along the lines as her 'final beauty sleep'. All of the Taranza × Sectonia pictures on the Internet do not help this situation.
- The original Japanese text is even worse; Sectonia has gone off the deep end, although she hears Taranza's voice calling for her. She keeps rejecting it because she doesn't recognize who she is or who her friends are anymore, and begs Kirby to kill her so her misery can end.
Sectonia: I have preyed on countless hosts, and possessed so many... that I can no longer remember which of them is my true shape. Now, I cannot hear the voice that called to me anymore. Before this night ends, give me... eternal rest...- The final nail in the coffin to it? Sectonia forgot her true form, and if the Epileptic Trees of Kirby's Dream Buffet are to be believed, she also forgot her true name. Yes, Sectonia forgot who she was.
- Paintra being separated from her sister — presumably Drawcia — at birth, and vowing revenge.
- Taranza goes through a lot.
- When Sectonia blasts Taranza off the balcony, you can practically feel the betrayal in his voice when he asks this question.
Taranza: Wh-Why...?- The backstory explains that Queen Sectonia was once a kind ruler who was on pretty good terms with the People of the Sky, especially Taranza until she had her Face–Heel Turn. But even then, Taranza still remained by her side, following her every command even if it meant hurting the People of the Sky. It wasn't until Sectonia tried to kill him that he finally acknowledged the painful truth: that the Queen he once faithfully served was no longer the Queen he knew and was now a monster that threatened both worlds who had to be stopped. In other words, he had to help Kirby put down his best friend. Take note that this all happens in a Kirby game!
- Word of God puts one last dagger in the coffin: Taranza, although he didn't mean to, was the one responsible for Sectonia's corruption when he gave her the Dimension Mirror. Basically, Sectonia going crazy was all because of a gift he gave her that happened to contain a revenge-driven ronin.
- And then they pull an entirely new knife out by having one of the statues in Star Allies portray Sectonia and Taranza, and making a point of using Sectonia before she was transformed.
- And another one by giving the possibility of having Taranza team up with Dark Meta Knight. That's right, you can have Taranza team up with the one who killed the Sectonia he once knew. Even worse, Dark gets away with what he did scot-free.
