King Dedede

"'Sing when you want to sing, dance when you want to dance! Everyday, have fun and enjoy life! That’s what it means to be a Great King!' - King Dedede on his idea of what it means to be a Great King • King Dedede’s Great Escape Strategy (translated by deafeninggardenerpanda)" "'The great king can lazily enjoy himself because Dream Land is at peace. Everyone in Dream Land doesn’t always respect him that much. Because it’s normal for everyone to be at peace. But when hard times arise, or if there’s trouble, King Dedede rises up to the forefront for everyone and protects them. When that happens, everyone finally realizes how strong King Dedede is. But when it becomes peaceful again, they forget. The times when King Dedede is lazy are the times when everyone in Dream Land is at their happiest. That’s why I have a lot of respect for the lazy King Dedede.' - Bandana Waddle Dee on why he's such a loyal follower of King Dedede • King Dedede’s Great Escape Strategy (translated by deafeninggardenerpanda)" "「デデデ大王」タイプのあなたは、責任感が人一倍強く、何事も断固としてやり抜こうとする強い信念を持っています. また、周りから頼られることを大きな喜びと感じて行動することが多く、決断力もあるため集団をまとめるリーダーの素質を持っています. 思慮深く、思いやりがある一方、面と向かって、相手に感情や愛情を表に出さないタイプです. ときには、自分の素直な気持ちを相手に伝えみてもよいかもしれません. " "(As a “King Dedede” type, your sense of responsibility is stronger than that of most people, and you firmly believe you can do anything as long as you try hard enough. Adding to that, being trusted by others often brings you great joy and gets you motivated. Since you also have determination, you’re good at putting together a team and acting as its leader. While you are thoughtful and considerate, you’re also the type to not directly show your emotions and affection to others. You might want to try expressing your honest feelings to another person some time.)" - Kirby Personality Quiz when King Dedede is the result (translated by kaialone) • Kirby Portal King Dedede (デデデ大王 Great King Dedede) is a portly, blue, penguin-like creature who wields a hammer and proclaims himself the "Great King of Dream Land". He is a recurring character who's Kirby's "destined rival" and is usually fought as a boss. Though he often engages in trouble-making, mostly involving stealing other people's food, he has helped far more than he has harmed, such as trying to seal away Nightmare, helping Kirby battle Queen Sectonia, and accompanying Kirby in several of his adventures. Because of this, he is considered a protagonist. King Dedede lives in Castle Dedede atop Mt. Dedede with a retinue of Waddle Dees acting as his servants.

Having debuted in the series' first installment, Kirby's Dream Land, King Dedede is arguably the most recognizable character from the Kirby series behind the pink hero himself. He has appeared in one form or another in nearly every game in the series, and he even stars in his own side game, Dedede's Drum Dash Deluxe. In older games, he was seldom playable, but this changed starting with Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, with the king being playable in many of his subsequent appearances.

Why He's Dededelightful

 * 1) For one, his character design is very appealing. King Dedede as a character is a subversion of the typical "arch-enemy" trope, take Bowser and King K. Rool for example. If you look at those characters, you notice that angular shapes are very prominent in their designs. They have few rounder features to emphasize their more comedic traits, but angular shapes are still more prominent to show that they are evil. Dedede on the other hand, looks as unthreatening as possible. His design consists purely of round shapes. He looks cute and goofy, even in his earliest appearances. Dedede is shaped like a friend, just like Kirby! He is also wonderfully animated with numerous cartoonish and goofy expressions that make up his silly personality. The Great King also holds the record for most redesigns across the entire series' history. While the inconsistency may seem like a bad quality for some, a lot of these designs are all good in their own way and give a lot of variety for fan artists.
 * 2) He has a lot of cool and iconic boss battles across the series' history, each with their own creative twist that makes every fight feel fresh, while also evolving and adding onto his old moves. For example, ever since Triple Deluxe, the inhale attack of King Dedede (including his other forms) has got a significantly increased range, and has been titled ビッグバンすいこみ (Big Bang Inhale, Big Bang being the Japanese name of Hypernova) in the Japanese version.
 * 3) *Also, each battle is accompanied with an amazing boss theme. The Great King's theme is very iconic and has had countless remixes and variations across the series' history, and all of them can be heard down below in the Videos section.
 * 4) *The arenas for his fights are also very iconic. In Super Star and Super Star Ultra ' s "Spring Breeze", Dedede is faced in a boxing ring, with tons of watchers. You get the sense that this must be a huge event in Dream Land, when even the famous Mario has traveled from the Mushroom Kingdom to see this duel. But in Super Star Ultra ' s "Revenge of the King", the final battle against Masked Dedede takes place in an electric cage match, with Bandanna Waddle Dee as the only viewer. It tells you that this battle isn't about food or glory, but instead it's personal.
 * 5) In his debut, Kirby's Dream Land (as well as its remakes as Spring Breeze in Super Star and Super Star Ultra), King Dedede is at the top. Even before Kirby arrived, Dedede had an arena in his castle specifically for himself, with the title of champion and an adoring audience as well, implying that he's an active fighter with an impressive reputation. The power got to his head, and Dedede thought he could get away with stealing all of the food in Dream Land, but after being defeated for the first time by Kirby, Dedede decides to dedicate himself into being his rival. Although, that would have to wait, as many evil forces such as Nightmare and Dark Matter began invasions on Dream Land, and despite Dedede's best efforts of fending them off, he failed. In Nightmare's case, Dedede actually managed to defeat and seal him away by shattering the Star Rod, only to be beaten by Kirby again, who proceeded to undo his efforts by unintentionally reviving Nightmare. In Dark Matter's case, Dedede would constantly get possessed and used as a puppet against his own will. But despite this, Kirby always managed to save the day. Dedede had to sit on the sidelines, as Kirby not only defeats Nightmare, but kills him instead of merely sealing him. Every time Dedede got possessed, the one who returned him to his senses was Kirby. Dedede began to respect Kirby, and even became a close friend during the events of Kirby 64. But with those threats dealt with, Dedede must do what he set out to do. In Super Star Ultra's Revenge of the King, Dedede challenges Kirby to a serious rematch, and even offers him his hammer to ensure a fair fight. Once Kirby initiates the battle, Dedede says that their grudge will be settled at last. Of course, Dedede loses once again, but this time, his loss had an even more personal impact. Dedede already sees Kirby as a friend by this point, so the true reason why he went through all the trouble of trying to best Kirby is not "revenge", but rather the insecurity of feeling inferior after having so many losses weighing on him. The walk of shame he takes while the credits roll really shows just how serious Dedede is. He said their grudge would be settled, and he kept his word. At least he still has the loyalty of his Waddle Dees, who accompany him on his walk of shame, showing that despite Dedede's failures, there are people who still follow him, not because of his self-appointed authority, but because they genuinely admire him for who he his. From this point forward, Dedede's days of being a trouble-making king are officially over, and instead, he stays as one of Kirby's closest allies, and has gotten chances to prove himself as a hero far more then he ever did before. In Return to Dream Land, Dedede was the first to notice the Lor Starcutter crashing and offer Magolor his help, even though he had nothing to gain by doing so. In Triple Deluxe, Dedede was also chosen by the Dreamstalk (although he was mistaken for Kirby by Taranza), and it is stated in the end that Floralia would be in ruins had he not played his part. And most recently, in Forgotten Land, Dedede selflessness is on full display once he's freed from being controlled, by sacrificing himself to save a single Waddle Dee, which stands in stark contrast to his selfish actions in the first game. Dedede might have started as a selfish jerk, but he has changed into a hero worthy of being called a "Great King".
 * 6) *Dedede is often called an anti-hero, but this is false . Anti-hero is defined as a protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities, such as  idealism, courage, and morality . A good example of this is Wario: He’s not a villain for many years at this point and he does good things sometimes, but the difference is his motivation. He does them not out of goodness of his heart, but because it usually aligns with his primary goals, which are more often than not are completely self-serving. He might save people or even the world, but only if it benefits him, if it helps him get more rich. He has some standards, but ultimately, when he does the right thing only when it’s beneficial to him (with extremely rare exceptions, such as his sentimental attachment to his pet hen).  As proven above, Dedede doesn’t fall under same criteria, since he has done good deeds even when knowing he'd have nothing to gain from it. Dedede isn't a villain or anti-hero, he's just  a hero .
 * 7) Olive.jpg has an interesting relationship with Kirby. They are very similar people at their core, both are fairly happy-go-lucky, gluttonous, love peace and quiet, fairly blunt and straightforward, prone to impulsive decisions, but also charismatic leaders that attract a lot of people that genuinely admire them. The fact that they compete so much is fairly obvious, they are on another wave of understanding between each other compared to everyone else Kirby or Dedede interacts with. Dedede understands Kirby the best and vice-versa. They are two sides of the same coin. This is why they do silly gourmet races and test each other’s strength so often. They are only people to each other they genuinely recognize as rivals. Meta Knight also sees Kirby as his rival, but Kirby doesn’t feel the same way towards him. Meta Knight loves to challenge Kirby on occasion, but he is far more distant than Dedede, and Kirby would never go out of his way to fight Meta Knight unless he’s caught up in the moment. Dedede is very simple to understand, and this is why Kirby almost always accept his challenges without hesitation. According to one of Dedede's figurine descriptions from Forgotten Land (pictured), Dedede considers him and Kirby to be "Destined Rivals", and is even upset when he couldn't find him when he first arrived in the new world. It's very clear that Dedede enjoys having Kirby in his life, and wouldn't have it any other way.
 * 8) *In Super Star Ultra 's "Revenge of the King", Dedede offers Kirby his hammer before the final battle. Ever since then, pause descriptions for the Hammer ability in Return to Dream Land, Triple Deluxe, and Planet Robobot all either alluded or straight up said that it's Dedede's hammer on loan. According to Star Allies ' description, Kirby has kept that hammer since that duel. and inherited it. In Forgotten Land, Dedede even gives Kirby an upgrade for the Hammer ability, that upgrade literally being his Forgo mask and dual hammers. These aren't just gifts, they're hand-me-downs that Dedede trusts Kirby with.
 * 9) Marsupilami.pnge tries to seem more threatening/aloof than he actually is, but he’s not very good at it. It’s quite clear he cares a lot about the people he's close to. This is easily seen in his many adorab le interactions with Kirby & friends during Kirby 64 ' s cutscenes, Super Star Ultra ' s "Revenge of the King" where he spares Bandana Dee from facing Kirby, even more interactions in Mie Takase's official Kirby novels, the ending picture you get after beating "Guest Star ???? Star Allies Go!" as him in Star Allies (pictured), and Forgotten Land where he saves a Waddle Dee as previously mentioned above. Another thing in Forgotten Land, if you keep talking to Minion Waddle Dee in Waddle Dee Town, you’ll get different dialogues. In one of them, he says King Dedede is still a bit upset and jealous that Kirby was going out rescuing his Waddle Dees while he was stuck being controlled. So, not only does the King care deeply about his Dees, but he also feels bad he wasn't able to do more to help them (this also further proves him being insecure about not being able to protect his people, as mentioned above). Another thing of note, is that instead of pushing his servants around, he can be seen playing chess with them in Planet Robobot ' s opening, and peacefully gazing at the sky with them in Star Allies' opening.
 * 10) *Official illustrations from the Japanese Kirby Twitter show King Dedede secretly delivering gifts to Kirby (and presumably all the other the good boys and girls of Dream Land as well) on Christmas. There are more examples of the King's caring nature in these official Twitter illustrations, such as him protecting Lovely from the rain with a parasol, and him helping his friends make sweet treats, not for himself, but for others, in preparations for White Day.
 * 11) * The Japanese Kirby Twitter also has "Dedede Directories", where King Dedede talks about various characters from different Kirby games over the years in chronological order. In it, Dedede barely shows any signs of animosity towards Kirby, and when talking about Ribbon, he fondly reminisces about the time he spent with his friends in Kirby 64.
 * 12) Despite how most may see him, Dedede isn't just some lazy oaf. As already pointed out above, even before Kirby came into the picture, he had an arena in his castle specifically for himself, implying that he's an active fighter, and after being bested by Kirby for the first time, Dedede underwent serious training in order to match his abilities. According to the boss description of Dedede Clone in Planet Robobot, King Dedede is even considered to be one of the strongest beings on Planet Popstar, which is very impressive, especially considering the context that the descriptions in the game are actually being narrated by a super computer (Star Dream). But if you think that means Dedede's just brawn and no brains, think again. Dedede has been shown to be an intelligent and capable leader on multiple occasions. In Kirby's Adventure and Squeak Squad, Dedede had already defeated and imprisoned the main villain before Kirby arrived. And in Super Smash Bros. Brawl's story mode "Subspace Emissary", he planned ahead to counter Tabuu by creating special badges that restore his fellow fighters even after everyone has been turned into trophies, and it actually worked.
 * 13) Kirby is a strange being, with many strange abilities, however, the same can be said for Dedede. In Kirby's Pinball Land, Dedede can shoot lightning out of his hands, and in Forgotten Land, he can freeze things with a giant pillar and set things on fire with his punches. None of these elemental abilities are explained. In Star Allies, he has the ability to become abnormally swole, and before you argue that it was only a temporary effect from the Jamba Heart, Meta Knight gets to keep his duplication ability in Kirby Fighters 2, and Dedede swinging around humongous pillars like nothing in Forgotten Land implies that the effects of the Jamba Heart may still be lingering. Outside of supernatural abilities, Dedede also has a mysterious power amplifying mask. Yes. The mask isn't just a thing that makes him more intimidating, it actually gives him more power. It has been stated in Kirby Battle Royale, and by Shinya Kumazaki himself on Miiverse. What could be the source of the mask's power? Well, if you take a closer look, the mask bears a resemblance to Dark Mind, a past Kirby final boss. If you believe this is a stretch, Kumazaki has confirmed the resemblance to Dark Mind is entirely intentional (in the same Miiverse post from earlier), and if you're still somehow unconvinced, look no further than King D-Mind from Team Kirby Clash Deluxe and Super Kirby Clash. Since the Mask is connected to Dark Mind from the Mirror World, this would explain why Dedede and Bandana Dee seemed reluctant to resort to using it in Super Star Ultra's "Revenge of the King", why Dedede becomes more powerful upon wearing the mask, and why Taranza (who also has connections to the Dimension Mirror) would have it in his possession in Triple Deluxe.
 * 14) The current Kirby series director, Shinya Kumazaki, has mentioned many times that Kirby's Adventure is his favorite game in the series and the one that changed his perception on how videogames of this type even work. The reveal of Dedede actually being a good guy stuck with him and led to becoming his favorite character. In the 25th Anniversary Concert pamphlet, he mentioned that "[He] was fearing that Kirby might cease to exist if [he] won't take the chance" while speaking about his experience with directing Return to Dream Land. If Dedede was just another generic video game final boss, Kumazaki would never had been inspired to work on the series, meaning that all of the Kirby series' hidden expanded lore, grand stories, and modern titles likely would never had happened if it weren't for Dedede.

Less than Dededesired Qualities

 * 1) In the non-canonical anime (Right Back At Ya!), Dedede was represented as a primary antagonist: cruel and abusive dictator, who orders monsters to get the job done for him, because he's too incompetent himself. Much more people have seen the show than actually play the games, which resulted in this version of the character to become more known among casual audiences. While some may claim that this version Dedede grew less antagonistic over the course of the series, this simply isn't true. While he might have been more caring in "Prediction Predicament" and "D'Preciation Day", he instantly regresses back into dictator mode the next episode. Even in the final moments of the last episode in the series, Dedede whines about not being able to order monsters and cause mayhem anymore, showing that he hasn't learned a thing.
 * 2) His characterization was also done poorly in Battle Royale. In Super Star Ultra 's "Revenge of the King", Dedede directly challenged Kirby to a duel, but he respected him, he wanted a fair challenging fight to prove himself and even offered him his own hammer. In Battle Royale, he was hellbent on humiliating Kirby and rigged the entire tournament against him, instead of trying to succeed over him fair and square. It's a total regression from all of the grown Dedede has had. Thankfully, this was only a one-off side-game.

Trivia

 * The symbol on the back of his robe is actually a very simplified version of a ✌️-sign.
 * He or his likeness has appeared in every game in the series except Kirby & The Amazing Mirror. As such, he is the most recurring major character of the series besides Kirby and Waddle Dee.
 * King Dedede is currently voiced by Shinya Kumazaki, the current series director for Kirby, and in the Super Smash Bros series, King Dedede is voiced by Masahiro Sakurai, the creator of both Kirby and Smash.
 * The games where Dedede got to shine the most are Triple Deluxe and Forgotten Land. Triple Deluxe 's title can be interpreted as 3D, and it also released on the 3DS. Forgotten Land is the very first 3D Kirby game. Dedede's name has 3 'De's. In Planet Robobot, Susie's Dedede Clone uses a Tri-Dimensional Cannon, 'Tri-Dimensional' also being another play on 3D and Dedede. Very clever, HAL.

Videos
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