As promised, Kingdom Hearts Dark Road has returned with an update this early June after a hiatus brought on by the coronavirus. Not only that, but the game claims that it will return to a regular update schedule from here on out. Precisely what that schedule looks like remains a mystery, though.
Regardless, the most recent update brings some exciting news as the official Kingdom Hearts Dark Road Twitter account revealed the names of four new characters. The series hasn't had new faces since Kingdom Hearts Union Cross introduced Brain — one of the five new Foretellers — a few years ago.
These four characters are the same ones Kingdom Hearts Dark Road teased earlier on when it was still considered Project Xehanort. The Dark Road Twitter account describes them as the other friends Xehanort had aside from his brother-in-training, Eraqus. Their names are Urd, Herman, Bragi, and Vor.
Dark Road didn't specify what kind of relationship each character has with Xehanort, nor did it detail any of the characters' personalities and beliefs. It looks like the game may want fans to uncover that information via playing, which makes sense.
However, Kingdom Hearts does like to reveal things about characters through the names they have. For instance, the name "Xehanort" is an anagram of "No Heart" and "X" (Death), which pretty much sums up Xehanort's role in the series thus far.
With that in mind, fans may be able to glean something from the new KH characters' names. Each one comes from Nordic Mythology, so they already follow a telling theme. As far as the meaning of each one:
- Urd is a Norn or a female being that rules the destiny of gods and men. Along with Skuld, Urd is one of the three most important Norms in Norse Mythology.
- Hermand comes from Hermoor, who was the son of Odin and the Norse gods' messager. He's known for braving Niflheim to plead for his brother's, Baldr's life.
- Bragi was another son of Odin and was also the god of poetry and music. He was known for his wisdom and silver tongue.
- Vor comes from Vor. Like Bragi, people associated her with wisdom. Her name means "aware" or "Knowledge out of Darkness." She specifically searched out things because she didn't like having secrets hidden from her.
Kingdom Hearts Dark Road is currently delayed, but Square Enix is striving for a release window of spring 2020.