Dark Meta Knight

"..."

- Dark Meta Knight

Dark Meta Knight is a darker 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 and the surprise final boss of the Dededetour sub-game in Kirby: Triple Deluxe. He also appears as a Dream Friend in Kirby Star Allies in the game's second update.

Physical Appearance
As a Mirror World copy of Meta Knight, Dark Meta Knight bears a great resemblance to his original counterpart. 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 Meta Knight's original design from Kirby's Adventure.

He has a dark gray body (black in Kirby: Triple Deluxe), bright red sabatons, and pale yellow eyes that have an orange glow to them. His mask is essentially the same as Meta Knight's, although official art and Dededetour both show a large scar on its left side. He wears a torn black cape that apparently grants him wings like the original Meta Knight, and has smaller but wider eyes compared to his original counterpart, giving him a much more hostile look. His sword, a near-copy of Meta Knight's sword Galaxia, is silver, has seven branches of blades instead of Galaxia's typical five, and has a blue sapphire embedded in its hilt.

In Kirby Star Allies he maintains this appearance, but now he has Meta Knight’s emblem on his right shoulder (mirroring Meta Knight having this emblem on his left shoulder), tattered wings in lieu of his tattered cape, armored plates on his gloves, dark gray feet inside of his sabatons instead of both of them being the same color like Meta Knight's, and additional chinks and scratches present on his mask.

Personality
Dark Meta Knight possesses a drastically different mindset from Meta Knight – he has almost no sense of a knight's characteristic honor or chivalry like his brighter counterpart, rather adopting a very pragmatic approach to dealing with his enemies; this is displayed as he prefers ambushing his foes rather than giving them a chance to defend themselves, and as he trapped Meta Knight in the Dimension Mirror he promptly shatters it to preemptively remove a particularly dangerous obstacle in the near future. Another trait of Dark Meta Knight is his aggressiveness compared to the real one in lieu of his pragmatism, making frequent use of magic along with his accomplished swordplay as he does so. Curiously, he also seems to possess some minor desire to impersonate his real counterpart so long as said knight isn't present, as every encounter with him has his true colors altered in some manner as to deceive others, only revealing in his true nature when exposed as the imposter he is or (most likely unintentionally) as he is escaping after being beaten down.

After his defeat in Kirby & the Amazing Mirror, Dark Meta Knight (in his dubiously canon appearances) seems to have been consumed and is driven by revenge in Kirby: Triple Deluxe (him targeting King Dedede in Dededetour could be a form of revenge by proxy as the king is affiliated with both individuals responsible for his own and his master's defeats), and with the lack of a master following Dark Mind's defeat, his motives thereafter are shady at best (in a rare similarity to Meta Knight) even as he allies himself with Kirby and his friends during the events of Kirby Star Allies, with the darkness of the Jamba Heart pieces being cited as a possible explanation. Humorously, in the latter game he is shown to not be artistically inclined as his drawing is the poorest in quality between the other Wave 2 Dream Friends.

Abilities
Dark Meta Knight is capable of using many of Meta Knight's standard abilities, including wing-based flight, tornado columns, dark sword beams and crescents, and the dimensional cape (though not utilized to the extent of Meta Knight's); in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, he is also capable of summoning copies of himself, and even causing giant sword blades to pierce up from under the ground to impale his opponents, along with some of Galacta Knight's attacks present in Kirby's Return to Dream Land. He also seems to be capable of summoning mirrors to deflect projectiles. In Kirby Star Allies, Dark Meta Knight is shown with even further differing abilities than Meta Knight, primarily relying on his mirror-based techniques mixed in with his swordplay to protect him from harm—particularly from projectiles with his barriers, or to gain a ranged advantage in battle with his duplicates. His sword during these events is also shown to be a receptor for various elements much like Meta Knight's own Galaxia, enabling it to be empowered further and gaining different properties based on the element conferred upon it.

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 is on a walk, splitting him into four Kirbys as a consequence and prompting the Kirbys to chase the villain into the Mirror World. Not long thereafter, Meta Knight duels his dark counterpart and loses, resulting in him 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 "? ? ?", making him the seventh boss) 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 Radish 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 uses a glamour to disguise 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 glamour begins to fade, revealing his true form. When Kirby encounters Dark Meta Knight in the Dimension Mirror, he attempts to utilize his glamour again; 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 essentially the same attacks that Meta Knight used in Kirby Super Star, except significantly more powerful and more difficult to avoid; this power spike is most likely due to his true form being used. Despite this, however, Dark Meta Knight was defeated a second time; this time, he shatters, seemingly destroying 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, Dededetour, as "Dark Meta Knight's Revenge"; he is the implied main antagonist of this mode. Here, he is closer to his Kirby & The Amazing Mirror artwork in appearance, but his cape is not seen, as his wings are always visible.

Notably, the villain seems to have become much more powerful in Kirby's absence, as he is shown to have much more attacks and powers. According to his Pause Screen description, he was apparently sealed away in the Dimension Mirror when he was defeated, and thus, emerges from it in order to fight King Dedede. He is also implied to be the darkness in the Dimension Mirror that corrupted Queen Sectonia.

After Dedede defeats both Queen Sectonia DX and Shadow Dedede, he enters the Dimension Mirror that summoned Shadow Dedede and was left behind after his defeat. In an alternate dimension-like area, the Mirror appears again, and Dark Meta Knight's Revenge emerges and confronts Dedede. Compared to his previous incarnation, Dark Meta Knight's Revenge has many new attacks in this fight, such as raising giant swords from the ground to attack his foe, 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's Revenge into it, and King Dedede proceeds to destroy the mirror with his hammer, completing Dededetour.

Dark Meta Knight's Revenge is also fought by Kirby as the penultimate boss of The True Arena. Here, Dark Meta Knight's Revenge 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.

Kirby Star Allies
Dark Meta Knight appears in Kirby Star Allies as one of the Dream Friends that came in the game's second update, which released on July 27, 2018. He’s apparently there because he is interested in and drawn to the dark powers of the Jamba Heart shards. He mainly uses sword techniques reminiscent of both the basic Sword ability and Meta Knight's take on it, with additional moves taken from his own boss fights mixed in with moves from the Mirror ability. He also has a unique defeat animation, shattering like he does when defeated in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror and Kirby: Triple Deluxe.

Canonicity
Dark Meta Knight's battle with King Dedede is non-canon, as it occurred during Dededetour, a non-canon sub-game. However, his appearance in that game may still be canon, but only limited to pulling strings behind-the-scenes (such as possibly corrupting Queen Sectonia with the Dimension Mirror).

Related Quotes
"He's back...with a vengeance. The darkest shadow of the strongest warrior. Sealed in the labyrinth of the mirror for aeons, this dark knight has returned with one thing on his mind... Revenge!"

- VS Dark Meta Knight's Revenge

"This headgear has the look of that dark knight sealed in the mirror."

- Headgear description

"The second character is Dark Meta Knight from the Kirby & The Amazing Mirror game. Dark Meta Knight is a shadow of a powerful knight that made a great impact to Mirror Land, located high above Dream Land. In addition to sword attacks, Dark Meta Knight can use mirrors in a variety of ways, such as reflecting enemy attacks back where they came from."

- Kirby Star Allies Channel (Update 7)

"This shadowy figure makes a bold return from the land of The Amazing Mirror! Perhaps he was drawn by the dark hearts, but while his motivations may be shady, he'll sure make a mighty ally. The power of the shadow can pierce through any light!"

- Flavor Text

"Is that the uninvited knight from Kirby & The Amazing Mirror?! Guess he had a fight with Meta Knight. The Mirror World must cast a long shadow across the galaxy... At least he's here as a friend!"

- Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go! Description

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's blade appears to be a "blocky" version of Galaxia. This is also true in the artwork of the original Dark Meta Knight in which his own sword was simply a mere recolor of Meta Knight's Galaxia at the time.
 * Although not making an actual appearance in Kirby Super Star Ultra, a card of Dark Meta Knight appears in the sub-game Card Swipe.
 * Dark Meta Knight is far more powerful in Kirby: Triple Deluxe than in Kirby & The Amazing Mirror.
 * Dark Meta Knight's Revenge's pause screen description suggests that Dark Meta Knight is unable to leave the Mirror World, as he has been "sealed in the labyrinth of the mirror for aeons." This contradicts the introduction of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, in which he freely leaves the Mirror World and attacks Kirby in Dream Land.
 * During his boss introduction in Kirby: Triple Deluxe, he slashes his sword as he enters the area. 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 he and his mirror duplicates combine during the second half of the fight.
 * This makes Dark Meta Knight the fourth boss in the Kirby series to shed blood, alongside Zero, Zero2, Shadow Dedede, and Star Dream Soul OS.
 * Much of Dark Meta Knight's first phase in Kirby: Triple Deluxe consists of moves copied from Galacta Knight's moveset in Kirby's Return to Dream Land.
 * Even the way Dark Meta Knight breaks out of the Dimension Mirror is similar to how Galacta Knight breaks out of his crystal.
 * In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U, Meta Knight has a coloration that makes him resemble Dark Meta Knight- albeit with no scar and an incorrectly-colored sword (the standard gold-and-red Galaxia rather than the silver-and-blue one he normally wields), cape (dark purple instead of black) and sabatons (dark purple, rather than red).
 * This, along with Meta Knight's Galacta Knight coloration and Kirby's Final Smash, Ultra Sword, is one of the only Kirby elements in the game that was created after Masahiro Sakurai left HAL Laboratory.
 * Dark Meta Knight appears in a cameo as one of the balloons the Circus ability will produce in Kirby: Planet Robobot, replacing the original Meta Knight balloon.
 * In Kirby Battle Royale, one of Meta Knight's alternative headgear dons him a mask similar to Dark Meta Knight. The Galaxia also changes to Dark Meta Knight's sword.
 * Dark Meta Knight's Pause Screen description in Kirby: Triple Deluxe describes Dark Meta Knight as the "shadow of the strongest warrior", hinting that the title has been taken from Galacta Knight. However, it should be noted that Galacta Knight has been referred to as the greatest and the most powerful, not the strongest.
 * Dark Meta Knight is the one of two secondary antagonists that became a playable character in Kirby Star Allies, with the second one being Daroach from Kirby: Squeak Squad.
 * According to Japan-exclusive 20th Anniversary Hoshi no Kābī Pupupu Taizen (Kirby of the Stars 20th Anniversary Encyclopedia), Dark Meta Knight got his scar from dueling Meta Knight during their first battle.
 * In Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!, when Dark Meta Knight faces Morpho Knight, a remixed medley of the Kirby & The Amazing Mirror boss theme and Dark Mind's second phase theme plays instead of the normal theme.
 * Dark Meta Knight appears to be oppositely hand-dominant compared to Meta Knight; in the original artwork of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, Meta Knight is depicted wielding Galaxia in his left hand while Dark Meta Knight's own sword is in his right hand, and in Kirby Star Allies their animations also sometimes showcases this opposite hand-dominance. As Meta Knight is quite possibly ambidextrous, the same could also apply to Dark Meta Knight.
 * In Kirby Star Allies on the title, file select, and menu screens, Dark Meta Knight can be seen falling out of the sky before chasing a random Dream Friend offscreen. He then flies away, and the Dream Friend is revealed to have been split into four. This is a reference to the opening of Kirby & The Amazing Mirror, where Dark Meta Knight attacked Kirby and split him into four.