Dark Meta Knight

Dark Meta Knight is a dark copy of Meta Knight and a recurring villain in the Kirby series, first appearing as the secondary antagonist and boss character in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.

Appearance and traits
Dark Meta Knight bears a great resemblance to Meta Knight. The main difference between the two is their coloration. While Meta Knight's design is somewhat vibrant, Dark Meta Knight is gray and dark (perhaps in reference to his original design). Dark Meta Knight also possesses a very different mindset, having almost no sense of honor or chivalry. He has a dark gray body and has bright red shoes. His mask is basically the same as Meta Knight's; however, official art shows a large scar on one side. He wears a navy blue cape (torn in artwork) that apparently grants him wings like the original Meta Knight, and has thinner but wider eyes compared to Meta Knight's. His sword is now silver and has a blue sapphire embedded in its hilt.

Kirby & The Amazing Mirror
At the beginning of the game's events, Dark Meta Knight was created by the power of the Mirror World, and was made in the likeness of Meta Knight himself. When Meta Knight found that the Mirror World was in danger, the mirror created a copy of his dark side, and Dark Meta Knight came to be. Dark Meta Knight first attacks Kirby while he was on a walk, splitting him into four Kirbies as a consequence and prompting Kirby to chase the villain into the Mirror World. Not long thereafter, Meta Knight duels his dark counterpart and loses, resulting in his being trapped in the Dimension mirror; to prevent his escape, Dark Meta Knight shattered the mirror into eight pieces.

Kirby confronts Dark Meta Knight twice - first as the boss of Radish Ruins (under the alias of "? ? ?") and later inside the Dimension Mirror, where he serves as the penultimate boss. In neither of the two battles does Dark Meta Knight actually offer Kirby a Sword before the battle, a thing that the real Meta Knight would normally do. However, in Raddish Ruins, a Sword copy pedestal appears right before the battle, and all the stars generated by the Knight's attacks give Sword ability if swallowed.

As the boss of Radish Ruins, Dark Meta Knight disguises himself as Meta Knight, and even fights exactly the same way as Meta Knight did in Kirby's Adventure. After Kirby defeats him, Dark Meta Knight's mask is split in half. Just as Dark Meta Knight flees, his disguise begins to fade, revealing his true form. When Kirby encounters Dark Meta Knight in the Dimension Mirror, he attempts to use exactly the same disguise; however, the real Meta Knight watches from above and promptly blows his cover, forcing Dark Meta Knight to reveal his true form and to begin another fight with Kirby. His attacks are basically the same attacks that Meta Knight used in Kirby Super Star, except significantly more powerful and more difficult to avoid. Despite this, however, the Dark Knight was defeated a second time; this time, Dark Meta Knight shatters, seemingly killing him.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe


Despite having seemingly died in his prior appearance, Dark Meta Knight makes a surprise return as the final boss of the game's Extra Mode, Dedede Tour!; he is the implied main antagonist of the this mode. Here, he is closer to his Amazing Mirror artwork in appearance, but his cape is not seen, as his wings are always visible. Above Dark Meta Knight's health bar, it reads "Dark Meta Knight's Revenge", indicating Dark Meta Knight is returning after his previous defeat, and harbors a grudge. Notably, the villian seems to have become much more powerful in Kirby's absence, as he is shown to be able to summon and dismiss the Dimension Mirror at will at the beginning of the battle against him, and this fact implies that he may have thus been responsible for creating and perhaps controlling both Shadow Dedede and even Queen Sectonia DX, who are both fought before him. On the other hand, they may have attempted to protect Dark Meta knight from King Dedede of their own accord.

After Dedede defeats both Queen Sectonia DX and Shadow Dedede, he enters the Dimension Mirror that was left behind after Shadow Dedede's defeat. In an alternate dimension-like area, the Mirror appears again, and Dark Meta Knight emerges and confronts Dedede. Compared to his previous incarnation, Dark Meta Knight has many new attacks in this fight, such as raising giant swords from the ground to attack Dedede, throwing mach tornadoes from the background, and splitting into three mirror shard-copies; only one is the real one, and if the clones are attacked, they shatter into glass shards which try to home in on Dedede. When he is finally defeated, the Dimension Mirror appears and sucks Dark Meta Knight into it, and King Dedede proceeds to destroy the mirror with his hammer, completing Dedede Tour!.

Dark Meta Knight is also fought by Kirby as the penultimate boss of The True Arena. Here, Dark Meta Knight uses the same tactics as before, but upon defeat, he violently shatters into pieces of glass rather than being sucked back into the Dimension Mirror.

Trivia

 * Dark Meta Knight is the only suspected member of Kirby's species to be inherently evil - all other members and suspected members of Kirby's species are either heroes or are neutrals who vary in alignment from game to game.
 * Oddly, the real Meta Knight does not appear at all in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, while Dark Meta Knight's Revenge is a major villain in that game.
 * Dark Meta Knight Revenge's blade appears to be a version of Galaxia, with a more "blocky" edge to it. This is also true in the artwork of the original Dark Meta Knight
 * Although not making an actual appearance in Kirby Super Star Ultra, a card of Dark Meta Knight appears in the sub-game Card Swipe.
 * During his boss introduction in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, he slashes his sword as he enters the area. Oddly enough, fresh blood flies off him as he does so, disappearing in different directions. He also bleeds when he reopens his wings right before the second round of the fight, and also whenever him and his mirror duplicates come together during the second half of the fight.
 * This makes Dark Meta Knight the fourth secret final boss to have bled in a Kirby game, Zero, 0², and Shadow Dedede.