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" "'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" "' Dedede is already perfect, so his Inhale won't copy abilities. Instead, it has a longer range than Kirby's.' - Tips • Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U" 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) Unlike Nintendo's other king bosses, Dedede has actually had an endearing character arc that spans across multiple games. In his very first appearance, Kirby's Dream Land (as well as its remakes as "Spring Breeze" in Super Star and Super Star Ultra), Dedede is at the top. Even before Kirby arrived, Dedede had an arena in his castle specifically for himself, with 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 the case with Nightmare, Dedede tried to guard the Fountain of Dreams from Nightmare, but he was defeated by Kirby, who proceeded to unknowingly allows Nightmare to spread bad dreams across Dream Land. In the case with Dark Matter, Dedede would constantly get possessed and used as a puppet against his own will. But everything became find in the end, because of Kirby. Dedede watches Kirby do what he couldn't and defeat Nightmare. Every time Dedede got possessed, the one who returned him to his senses was Kirby. Dedede began to respect Kirby, and even became a very close friend during the events of Kirby 64. But with all those invasions out of the way, he's gotta do what he set out to do in the first place. In Super Star Ultra ' s "Revenge of the King", Dedede challenges Kirby to a serious rematch. He tests his strength by sending out his minions, and when it's time for the final battle, he offers him his hammer to ensure a fair fight, and says that after this battle "their grudge will be settled at last". Of course, Dedede loses once again, but this time, this loss really had a personal impact on him. Dedede already sees Kirby as a friend by this point, so why would he go through all of the trouble of trying to best Kirby? It's because Dedede is mad at HIMSELF, not Kirby. In fact, Dedede is mad at himself because he ISN'T Kirby. Dedede trained hard, and wanted a fair fight. He wanted to beat Kirby, not because he's a villain, but because he wants to prove himself. Prove he isn't just some washed up so-called king who gets possessed all the time and fails to protect his people. 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, but at least he still has his Waddle Dees. His loyal Waddle Dees accompany him on his walk of shame, showing him that despite his 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 friends, maybe even an older brother figure, and has gotten chances to prove himself as a hero far more then he ever did before. In Return to Dream Land, he was the first one to notice the Lor Starcutter crashing and offered Magolor his help, even though he had nothing to gain by doing so. In Triple Deluxe, he got involved into the whole Sectonia incident essentially against his will, and yet, not expecting any sort of recognition, he was basically the main reason why Kirby succeeded at saving the day. In Star Allies, his motivation is made clear in the pause screen description of his "Guest Star ????". He wants to bring peace to Dream Land, simply put. Nothing more or less. English localization adds bit of him “wanting to clean up his reputation” which might seem a bit self-serving, but that was nonexistent in Japanese original. And finally, in Forgotten Land, King Dedede selflessness is on full display once he's freed from being brainwashed, by putting the safety of Kirby and the Waddle Dees above his own, which is very unlike the villain most people assume him to be. His will is even growing strong enough to fight back being manipulated by the true villains, even if it's by a little bit. In Forgotten Land, before the fight against "Forgo Dedede" starts, you can see him trying to take of the mask that's controlling him. According to Phantom Forgo Dedede's Gotcha figurine description, Leongar gave Dedede the mask to "further cloud his mind", which implies that somewhere between kidnapping Elfilin and Kirby reaching the Redgar Forbidden Lands, he started to have moments of clarity, which wasn’t in Forgo’s favor, which is likely why they gave him the mask to begin with. Dedede might have started as a selfish jerk, but he's changed into a better person 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 WHY he’s doing them. 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, he might save 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 grown to become self less instead of staying self ish . Dedede isn't a villain or anti-hero, he's just  a hero .
 * 7) *Part of what makes Dedede's redemption so great, is that he really was a villain. Most redeemed antagonists were antagonistic in the first place because of circumstances outside of their control. A good example would be Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender: He did bad things, but it's hard to blame him when you know about all the suffering he's been through, and that his father, Ozai, is the true monster. But with Dedede, he actively chose to steal all the food in Dream Land with zero outside influence. That was his mistake. But then, he realized his faults afterwards, and worked hard to better himself. No blaming society, just owning up to his own mistakes.
 * 8) He 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, 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.
 * 9) *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.
 * 10) *Many people view Dedede as "the Bowser of the Kirby series", but a better and more accurate comparison would be Knuckles the Echidna. Both start out as antagonists in their debut games, but quickly goes through a redemption arc and becomes one of the main protagonists.  Despite their redemption, both have a trope that forces them to be “bad guys” for the sake of having a boss fight with them. That being Knuckles being tricked by Eggman time and time again and Dedede being possessed/controlled.
 * 11) Dedede 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, 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).
 * 12) *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.
 * 13) * 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.
 * 14) 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. 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 created special badges restore his fellow fighters even after everyone has been turned into trophies, and it actually worked!
 * 15) 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. 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, look no further than King D-Mind from Team Kirby Clash Deluxe and Super Kirby Clash, which is enough to prove that the connection between Dedede and Dark Mind is clearly intentional. It would also explain why Dedede and Bandana Dee seemed reluctant to resort to using it in Super Star Ultra's "Revenge of the King", and why Taranza (who also has connections to the Dimension Mirror) would have it in his possession in Triple Deluxe.

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.
 * 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.

Videos
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