Day 16: Sköll
People have some choice words for the Arendelle level in Kingdom Hearts 3, and these words have a tendency to be negative. Now while I personally enjoyed the level, I can understand why people would hate it.
We climb the mountain too much, the musical numbers from Frozen feel forced and unnecessary, Hans comes completely out of nowhere, the Frozen Slider mini-game sucks, the list goes on and on.
But if we can all agree on one thing about this level, it's that it ended on a high note by giving us one of the KH3's best boss fights; the battle against Prince Hans' heartless, Sköll!
Okay, first off, look at this thing! It's a heartless inspired by the Sköll from Norse mythology, where the myth states that at the end of the world, the wolf monster will devour the sun. That is just plain awesome! And as far as demonic wolf monsters go, this version of Sköll fits the bill perfectly with its glowing eyes, sharp crystals on its fur, sharper claws, and dark colored fur that makes this thing look like a ghostly entity.
Just like in the events of Frozen, Anna becomes completely frozen after saving her sister Elsa from getting killed by Hans. Only this time when Hans gets knocked down, his body forms a dark portal that traps Sora, Donald, and Goofy and takes them to a pocket dimension where you'll battle Sköll. Believing that defeating the giant Heartless will return Anna to normal, the three heroes and Elsa's guardian, Snowball…who I have no idea how he made it to this pocket dimension to begin with…engage Sköll in battle.
Sköll has a variety of vicious attacks that'll keep you on your toes throughout. Other than slash at you with his claws, Sköll will prove to move exceedingly fast in an attempt to run you down, he'll shoot fireballs that can obstruct the screen if you get hit by them, he can try perform a spin attack on you, and even summon his own little wolf pack to overpower you.
And then there's the matter of his ultimate attack.
Remember when I said moments ago that Sköll was based on the eponymous wolf monster of Norse mythology that's said to eat the sun at the end of the world? Well, his ultimate attack is flying into the sky to form a black sun that'll come down onto the battlefield and crush you!
At this point more of Sköll's wolf pack appears, and you are on a time limit to destroy as much of the wolf pack as possible, all while avoiding dark fire that's raining down on you. And if your time runs out, that's it, instant death!
But if you manage to destroy enough of the wolf pack, a reaction command will occur where Snowball will hold up the falling black sun and Sora freezes it, causing it to break, and causing Sköll to come crashing back down to the battlefield!
That is so awesome you'd think PlatinumGames developed the game for a minute.
After bringing the wolf heartless' health down to zero, Sora, Donald, and Goofy make it out of the pocket dimension, Anna is returned to normal, and springtime returns to Arendelle.
To wrap this up, the battle against Sköll is nothing short of exhilarating.
Arendelle may have been a low point in Kingdom Hearts 3, but at least it knew how to give off an amazing finale.
Now if only I can go the rest of my days without hearing 'Let it Go' ever again…then all will be right with the world.