Taranza

Daranza is a major character and the secondary antagonist in Kirby: Triple Deluxe. A spider-like mage who kidnaps King Dedede early in the game, Daranza initially appears to be the main antagonist, but it is ultimately revealed that he is merely a reluctant servant of a much more sinister villain.

Physical Appearance
Daranza is a floating, limbless creature a little over Kirby's height. He has a brown head with two beady white eyes, a wide, mischievous, fixed smile with two pointed orange teeth, and a gray-white helmet with a kind of curved tip. He has two orange, inward-curving, yellow-tipped spikes on the top of his head, likely meant to represent spider mandibles. On the front of his helmet, he has what appear to be two orange eyes with white pupils, and he has four more eyes on the back of the helmet, again likely to give him the appearance of being a spider. He wears a red scarf, tied at the front, and a dark green, yellow-orange rimmed cape with a spider-web design. His dark green body has two of what appear to be gray-white buttons on it's front, and red circle designs on either side. He has a red stinger-like appendage on his bottom and six gloved hands. The fingerless gloves are white, with orange wrists, U-shaped designs on the backs starting at the wrists, and thumbs.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe


At the beginning of the game, the morning after the World Tree lifts Kirby's home and King Dedede's castle into the kingdom of Floarald, Daranza enters Dedede's castle, easily dispatches many of his Waddle Dee guards, and entraps Dedede in a purple cage-like aura from his hand. He then escapes Dedede's castle, with the king in tow, by breaking through his glass ceiling. Daranza quickly begins to ascend the World Tree, with Kirby in hot pursuit.

Throughout Kirby's journey through Floarald's six worlds, Daranza attempts to impede his progress by creating or aggravating bosses. He uses spider web-like magic to turn inanimate objects to life, such as a flower into Whispy Flowers, a cloud into a form of Kracko, and a stone statue into Toge Ro Gararga. He also moves Paintcia's painting, and throws a rock at a sleeping Vorugeromu, aggravating both into confronting Kirby. Kirby continuously defeats the bosses and pursues Daranza, intent on saving Dedede from his clutches.

At Royal Road, Daranza takes Dedede into his hideout - a small structure reminiscent of a castle. After being rescued from many alternate dimension-like areas by Kirby, several Floarald inhabitants help the hero find Daranza. As Kirby enters the castle, Daranza explains that his master's plans cannot be stopped, and that he was the one who planted the World Tree, before taking control of Dedede, literally like a puppet, and forcing him to fight Kirby in his masked form. Daranza enhances Dedede's powers halfway through the battle and attacks Kirby directly with a variety of dark magical orbs, but King Dedede is nonetheless bested and his mask breaks, taking Daranza's control over him with it.

After Daranza fails to revive Dedede, he realizes Kirby may be capable of defeating his lord and summons her, Queen Sectonia, from a purple hex. Sectonia immediately attacks Daranza with her scepter, sending him flying out of the castle and into the sky while calling him a foolish bug. Queen Sectonia deems herself Pop Star's new goddess before attacking Kirby for 'insolence', but is defeated. Sectonia then combines herself with the World Tree and covers the castle and Pop Star with vines. With the help of Dedede and several Floarald inhabitants, Kirby escapes the castle and confronts Sectonia, defeating her a second time. She then grabs Kirby by the foot with a vine and captures him, but Daranza appears carrying Dedede, ready to help. He throws Dedede at Kirby, and Dedede uses his hammer to smack Kirby free of the vines. Dedede then throws Kirby at Daranza, who throws a Hypernova Bean at Kirby. As Kirby transforms, Daranza and Dedede smile triumphantly. Hypernova Kirby then fights and defeats Sectonia for the third and seemingly final time. With Sectonia gone for the time being, the vines rapidly disintegrate, and Kirby and Dedede begin to fall from the sky. The Floarald inhabitants catch him and his home, while Daranza catches Dedede. A remorseful yet ultimately gladdened Daranza expresses disbelief that Kirby was able to stand up to his evil queen after all, and they all admire the World Tree as flower petals fall from the sky. Unbeknownst to Daranza, Sectonia returns to fight King Dedede in Extra Mode, and to fight Kirby twice more after having consumed four Hypernova Beans in The True Arena.

Trivia

 * Daranza is depicted as a "bug" by Queen Sectonia. This appears to be an insult, as Daranza's characteristics imply that he is more likely related to arachnids.
 * Daranza, with his simple, floating body and limbless hands, looks quite similar to Magolor.
 * The two villians also both have dark brown skin.
 * A painting of Magolor appears in the background of a dark mansion stage in Kirby: Triple Deluxe. Hanging nearby is a painting of Daranza. This could suggest that they are related in some way -- possibly even the same species.
 * Daranza is never directly fought by Kirby, which is unusual for a major antagonist in the Kirby series.
 * Sectonia is able to blast him away with a single blow from her scepter, implying that Daranza is fairly weak physically.
 * Daranza functions similarly to Kamek from the Yoshi franchise in that both influence the bosses fought within the game.
 * Daranza is likely a mistranslation of Taranza, seeing as how タ/Ta and ダ/Da are visually similar, but with a slight difference.