WHO IS META KNIGHT? A Kirby Series Character Analysis

The Kirby series is known for being simple, but having surprising deep lore. Does this surprising depth extend to the main characters? In this video, we take a look at the lone swordsman, Meta Knight, to find out just what exactly is under the mask!

Thank you for watching!

[pyrojack]

Anime fans would recognize him as Kirby's cool Spanish uncle.

[KoroHO]

There's a timeline where Meta Knight accomplishes his goal of becoming the most powerful warrior of all. That timeline is called "Super Smash Bros. Brawl"

[m.s.e.advanced]

Even Galacta Knight, the strongest warrior in the galaxy, couldn't defeat Brawl Meta Knight

[xx_squirtle]

Meta Knight was always a good guy, but he hadn’t always appeared as a “good guy”

[matti.]

"Why does Dedede have a chest containing Dark Nebula" there's a theory that Dedede and Meta Knight used to be adventuring heroes until they drifted apart, which would explain how they know each other and their knowledge on ancient evils like Nightmare or Dark Nebula.

[supersilver]

I think Meta Knight isn’t as power hungry as you said. He wants to better himself, and reach his full potential. That’s why he trains relentlessly. He wants to beat Galacta Knight because if he could, he could finally rest assured that he had achieved his pinnacle, becoming the greatest warrior of all time. In squeak squad, he’s trying to prevent Kirby from making a huge mistake, because he probably didn’t know Kirby thought the chest had his cake in it. MK figured that Kirby just thought it would be cool to unleash Dark Nebula, because that makes more sense to him than Kirby going on a rampage over some cake. In Return to Dreamland, MK probably thought, “yeah I’ll go to a distant world with these guys, it’s not like I have anything better to do and maybe there will be some strong opponents”. In Star Allies, probably the same thing, and in Robobot, he straight up was just trying to stop a planetary invasion. I think at this point, his faction, the Meta-Knights, are officially allied with Dreamland, and MK is on good terms with it’s ruler Dedede. In earlier games, his interest in Dreamland probably stemmed from the fact that Kirby lived there. Kirby, likely being from the same rare species as him, would catch Meta Knight’s attention. He agrees to help Dedede with the Star Rod so he can observe and test Kirby, and possibly see how he handles the encounter with Nightmare. In the amazing mirror, he again wishes to see what Kirby can do by giving him the Galaxia sword. In Super Star, I think he was trying to remake Dreamland which he saw as weak, and likely a hinderence on Kirby. He wants to refine Kirby so that he can someday take MK’s place as strongest warrior so he can better protect Dreamland. By threatening Kirby’s life, MK forces him to fight like everything he knows and loves depends on it, which we all know is when Kirby is most motivated.

[virgilio]

Ah yes, the Vegeta of the Kirby universe. Jokes aside, villians turned heroes are one of my favorite tropes

[PMBlackFox]

A selfish monarch with a heart of gold. What a true, yet contradicting, set of words

[riiverstyxx]

I'm convinced he has like 20 backup halberds

[StarForce]

The plot of Squeak Squad is literally a Regular Show plot:

-Starts off with something normal like eating cake
-You have to retrieve your stolen cake
-Fight a demon from the underworld
-You get your cake back and everything is back to normal

[gladd]

I always thought that after Kirby destroyed the Halberd, Meta Knight decided to rethink his actions and had a change of heart.

[keaton]

I always thought of Meta Knight as what Kirby could be if he trained himself in one specific copy ability. Maybe this is contradicted by some recent lore or something, but my idea was that maybe at one point Meta Knight could use copy abilities, but at some point he chose to hone his skills with the blade. This gives him specific strengths like learning new moves, while Kirby has the infinite potential of copy abilities to choose from.

[Cyberguy]

Star Allies was kinda skimpy in a lot of ways, but I think there's something worth noting about the ways the Jamba Hearts amplify the dark desires of their holders. For example, Dedede initially just reverted back to his greedy tendencies from his time as a villain. But when pushed to his limit, the reaction was to become physically stronger to try and match Kirby's considerable power. And we know Dedede has always had issues with the idea of Kirby being stronger than him. He explicitly trained to be stronger in Adventure, after all.

If we look at how Meta Knight reacts to a heart, at first, he seems unchanged from any time he fights Kirby. He honorably throws him a sword for a proper duel and everything. But he's actually reverted back to his mindset from Revenge. If you wait long enough, or fly up to disturb him, he'll lose patience and fight you, even kicking the sword away as if to say "Screw honor, I just wanna beat you!" Just like in Super Star. And when he taps into the heart's power, he duplicates himself, which ties into Dark Meta Knight being a literal reflection of the darkness in his heart. Also, in a game all about friendship and teamwork, it's essentially saying "I will rely on my own strength. I am the only one who I can trust." This sentiment ties in nicely with MK's lone wolf habits of charging in to face the threat alone, without even trying to explain things or get help until Kirby reminds him "I'm Kirby, remember?"

I love how even the choice of boss attacks can have lore implications in current Kirby.

[dieg]

I’d say his villainous role in super star was sorta down scaled in ultra because they changed his dialogue, instead of being happy his crew stays to fight, he feels regret that they may die and also says “Kirby prepare to meet your doom”. Also I’d argue that it’s likely he was friends with Dedede given their paired role in Kirby fighters 2 showing them as strong partners and with the mask of dark bonds at the end of the game. Maybe this could imply that they’ve been defending dreamland way before Kirby?

[clairebun]

A possible explanation for Metaknight's conflicting roles is that his goal is to protect Dreamland and he attempts to do so through different methods. Metaknight aids Dedede in Adventure to protect the star rod, but Kirby shows enough promise that it is worth testing his capabilities. His plan in Super Star to rule over Dreamland through strength could have given him control over the direction of its populace and to arm them against outside threats. To continuously test himself as he does in the side canons ensures that he never becomes rusty when he is needed most.

We can at least say of his character that he is highly ambitious, and continuously seeks to test his ability to achieve greater heights. This may be just a piece of his personality or it could be part of his mission objective. Maybe both?

[Jesterman]

To answer your questions about squeak squad:
The squeaks likely thought there was gold or something in the chest

Dark Nebula is a form of Dark Matter so Dedede coming across it and sealing it isn't to unlikely given his experience with dark matter

If the Dedede and Meta Knight are friends theory is true then that would explain why Meta Knight would know about the chest.

[AnaReginaNica]

Meta Knight is my favorite too. And well, the anime actually answered all your questions, and explained a LOT of things about his character, far more than the games: Why he's so caring with both his subordinates and Kirby, why he works for Dedede, even why he looks like Kirby, why he helps him sometimes but not always, his motives, likes and dislikes, why he has wings, why he uses that mask all the time (even sleeping), and even the motive Halberd is so massive (it's actually far more altruistic than just power)... I know most people turns their faces when the anime is mentioned, but, in special about MK's story, it makes a ton of sense and explain some very important details about the games and why he's the character who always start the chaos (not really his fault... mostly). Meta Knight is actually a very complex character, with a full deep life story and a great personality we discover little by little (for example, I simply LOVE his - adult - humor sense, it's just too funny to see him bending all and every single one of Dedede's orders, then be a badass when a strong enemy appears, then when we enter his room on the castle, we find a HUGE candy jar hidden in plain sight in a corner).
So, as a fellow MK's fan, I suggest for you to watch the anime when you can. Pay special attention to Meta Knight, I swear you will find a lot of cool details.

[train]

I think you missed an important part about Squeak Squad. Meta Knight actually went and brought back the halberd in that game. It sunk in the secret sea back in Super Star. So basically this was implying that Meta Knight was working on bringing that ship back for awhile. Which is a really neat detail i find. Good video though. (Gotta dock point off for that jab at Star allies though)

[ileonardoi]

Meta Knight saying "Prepare to die" was a minstranslation if I remember correctly. Great video, will you also cover Bandana Dee? As you can guess, I like the little guy and think he has a bit to cover.

[sbyrd]

9:15 actually I heard that's a mistranslation and that he is suppose to be called ruler of the dark, also Star Allies wasn't that disappointing, ok when it first can out it was but after all the updates it's gotten I think it's great