Royal Knights

The Royal Knights (ロイヤルナイツ Roiyaru Naitsu) are a group of thirteen Ultimate Holy Knight Digimon. Regarded as guardian deities of the Network, they are the highest rank of Network Security and are under the jurisdiction of Yggdrasill itself.

=Overview=

Origin
Imperialdramon: Paladin Mode was the founder of the Royal Knights, in its capacity as the one who saved the ancient Digital World from total collapse in a time of unprecedented crisis.

In order to manage the Digital World, Yggdrasill assembled thirteen Holy Knight Digimon and bestowed upon them the title of Royal Knight.

Although it had been said that the Royal Knights had thirteen members, for a long time there were only twelve due to the lack of a thirteenth worthy Digimon. This changed when Gankoomon encountered Hackmon, who was identified as having the makings of a Royal Knight. Upon completing Gankoomon's training regimen and evolving into JESmon, it filled the thirteenth position and completed the Royal Knights, notwithstanding the continued absence of a Digimon who fits Alphamon's profile.

Nature
The term "Royal Knight" has been variously defined as a group, a title bestowed upon Digimon by Yggdrasill, and a collective term for Holy Knight Digimon who act with the aim of defending the Digital World.

It is Yggdrasill who assembled the Royal Knights and who selects Digimon to be granted the title of Royal Knight. It is possible for new Royal Knights to be created as Yggdrasill sees fit.

The Royal Knights boast absolute power within the Digital World. Their abilities are rivaled by those of the Olympos XII from the Digital World: Iliad.

The majority of Royal Knights are Human Digimon. Sleipmon is an exception with its bestial silhouette. All Royal Knights are Holy Knight Digimon, but there are other Holy Knight Digimon who have never been identified as Royal Knights, such as Rapidmon Armor and various subspecies and variations of Omegamon.

Role and Duties
The Royal Knights are the guardian deities of the Network and the Digital World. They reign as the highest rank of Network Security; it is said that in their presence, violating security is absolutely impossible.

Each Royal Knight acts to defend the Digital World and resolve conflicts in various places. Although they all answer to Yggdrasill, each has their own differing personal principles, philosophies, and conceptions of justice, which influence both how they each interpret Yggdrasill's orders and the means by which they resolve problems and accomplish their missions. Their motivations range from absolute fealty to Yggdrasill, to gratitude to their chosen master, to absolute and unparalleled power, to the oaths between a teacher and its student. In some cases, they may clash with each other over their opinions, and even come to blows over them.

The majority of the Royal Knights typically act independently and tend to work alone. From time to time, depending on their respective philosophies, they may collaborate with each other. Rare exceptions include JESmon, who tends to employ teamwork such as by coordinating its response with local Digimon and the Sistermons; and Gankoomon, who is assisted by the Sistermons in various capacities. Duftmon is also noted for its ability to take command of the other Royal Knights despite their independence.

It is similarly rare for the Royal Knights to show their faces in the Digital World. Gankoomon is once again an exception, as it actively involves itself in affairs in the Digital World, and JESmon is likewise the first to come running when it senses signs of abnormality or chaos.

Some of the Royal Knights also preside over other Digimon species, such as with Examon and all Dragon Digimon, or Lord Knightmon and the Knightmons.

As the Royal Knight assigned to the position of the "," Alphamon plays a very different role to the others. Depsite being regarded as a Royal Knight, its purpose is to serve as a against the other Royal Knights. Under normal circumstances it does not appear at all, and no Digimon fitting its description has ever shown itself.

The Royal Knights are expressly unable to interfere with the Digital World: Iliad, owing to its protection by the Olympos XII.

Perception
The Royal Knights are famous among Digimon. Due to its delusions of being royalty, Prince Mamemon is convinced that the Royal Knights are its own servants. Among other royal titles, King Etemon has proclaimed itself to be a Royal Knight, and Omekamon dresses itself as one of the Royal Knights, Omegamon, in lieu of any identity of its own. Dracumon is currently attempting to play a prank on the Royal Knights.

Events
During Project Ark, Yggdrasill gives the Royal Knights the mission of deleting Digimon.

A prophecy that has been handed down from the ancient Digital World states that the Royal Knights will someday assemble when the Digital World faces its ultimate crisis.

It is speculated that some day, the Royal Knights and their Digital World: Iliad counterparts, the Olympos XII, will cross between the servers and face each other; hypothetical reasons include orders from Yggdrasill and a virus consuming the world. Whether the two groups will meet as enemies, or as allies with common cause, is unknown.

Design & Analysis
The Royal Knights are modeled on the motif of the from. Among the few overt references to the Knights of the Round Table are Examon's attack technique, which incorporates the epithet "" borne by 's father, ; and Alphamon and its "Empty Seat," which parallels the permanently empty at the.

The concept of the Royal Knights, and its first three identified members&mdash;the new Digimon Dukemon, and the two pre-existing Digimon Omegamon and Magnamon&mdash;ere first introduced in 2001 in Dukemon's profile text and other associated lore. The identification of Dukemon as a Royal Knight even extended to a profile of the Dukemon from Digimon Tamers (i.e. the Matrix Evolved form of Guilmon and Matsuda Takato) posted on Toei Animation's website for the series, even though the Royal Knights are not mentioned in Tamers itself at all.

More Royal Knights continued to be introduced over the next thirteen years. That the group serves Yggdrasill, and that there would ultimately be thirteen members, were both established in 2003 in the Digimon Chronicle narrative and the introduction of Alphamon. As of the introduction of the thirteenth member, JESmon, in 2014, the Royal Knights were identified as having complete membership.

Watanabe Kenji has publicly spoken of a concept for a possible future development for the Royal Knights, inspired by both the introduction of Hackmon and how the Royal Knights' membership of thirteen is far smaller than that of the Knights of the Round Table. The idea is that the current membership would "pass the baton" to a new generation of Royal Knights, with Hackmon/JESmon as a link between the two generations. This concept has yet to occur in any Digimon media, which Watanabe attributes to a dearth of opportunities in which to depict it, and as of 2017, he had no concrete plans for when, if ever, it would eventuate.

=Members= Despite being considered the Royal Knights' founder, Imperialdramon: Paladin Mode is not considered a member of the Royal Knights.

=Appearances=

According to Baromon, the Royal Knights are known for their righteous hearts.

Two Royal Knights, Dynasmon and Lord Knightmon, are servants of Lucemon. Viewing Lucemon as the only one capable of bringing order to the Digital World in its state of chaos, they harvest the Digicode of the Digital World's Areas in order to release Lucemon from his captivity in the Dark Area, and fight in the name of his brand of justice. The Chosen Children attempt to stop them, but are routinely defeated and unable to prevent Areas from being scanned.

The Royal Knights are also motivated by a desire to invade and conquer the Real World, and by the promise that Lucemon will give them the key to enter the Real World once he is revived. However, during their last battle with the Chosen Children on the Digital World's moons, Lucemon betrays them when the Chosen Children subdues them, and scans their data to evolve into Lucemon: Falldown Mode.

The Royal Knights are servants of Yggdrasill. There are twelve active members, including Omegamon, Dukemon, Magnamon, and Lord Knightmon; a thirteenth Royal Knight, Alphamon, is also acknowledged but is said to not actually exist. Despite taking orders from Yggdrasill, even the Royal Knights are unable to physically meet it. When not in action, they inhabit their own domain, which includes a viewscreen chamber for conferences set up with a circle of twelve viewscreens through which they can communicate remotely, with an empty space for a thirteenth.

Yggdrasill commands the Royal Knights to execute Project Ark. The unclear intentions behind Project Ark, and its dubious morality as a mission to exterminate X-Antibody Digimon, begin to divide the Royal Knights along ideological lines, ranging from Magnamon's hardline stance of obedience to Yggdrasill, to Dukemon's open questioning and sympathy for the X-Antibody Digimon. Although Omegamon also initially has a hardline view similar to Magnamon's, he begins to have a crisis of faith following his encounters with DORUmon, his discovery of DORUmon's nature as an unexplained experiment, and his philosophical clashes with Dukemon which culminate in his killing of Dukemon.

The conflict between the Royal Knights comes to a head when DORUmon/DORUguremon enters the Royal Knights' domain with the assistance of Dukemon, who had returned from the data space in an X-Antibody form of his own to assist the rebels in fighting off Yggdrasill's hordes of Death-X-DORUguremons. Intrigued by DORUguremon expressing motivations similar to his own&mdash;in search of answers, seeking an audience with Yggdrasill&mdash;and engages him in a duel that results in DORUguremon evolving into Alphamon and filling the thirteenth Royal Knight' position (with a thirteenth viewscreen in the chamber also being added). Alphamon's intent to stop Yggdrasill convinces Omegamon to join him on his mission, over the objections of Magnamon, who does not waver from his hardline stance on order and obedience.

Alphamon and Omegamon intrude on Yggdrasill's domain and fight a series of battles which culminate in Alphamon and Death-X-mon defeating each other, Omegamon taking in Alphamon's X-Antibody, and Alphamon reverting into DORUmon. When Yggdrasill does not respond to his demands for answers, Omegamon X uses to shatter Yggdrasill and reform the Digital World.

After the reformation of the Digital World, Omegamon X and Dukemon X rejoin each other and watch over DORUmon.


 * Main article: Royal Knights (Savers)

The Royal Knights are servants of Yggdrasill. They are the highest rank of Network Security in the Digital World, and have been dubbed "guardian deities."

In the aftermath of Kurata Akihiro shattering the dimensional barrier between the Real and Digital Worlds, Yggdrasill&mdash;having deemed humanity unworthy of survival due to the constant crises that they have brought to the Digital World&mdash;orders the Royal Knights to eradicate humanity and destroy the Real World, in order to avert the destruction of the Digital World by collision with the Real World. However, their battles with the DATS team and the influence of Kudamon/Sleipmon cause them to waver, and ultimately, the six surviving Royal Knights defect from Yggdrasill and assist DATS.

Omegamon, Medieval Dukemon/Dukemon and Magnamon are the last of the the Royal Knights, who fought Death-X-mon 10,000 years ago, and allies of the chosen children.

DORUmon is ultimately revealed to be the lost leader of the Royal Knights Alphamon. He merges with Ouryumon to form Alphamon: Ouryuken, who destroys Death-X-mon.

The Royal Knights are servants of Yggdrasill, and have been tasked with enforcing Project Ark.

However, Alphamon and Ouryumon are fighting against Yggdrasill but make a compromise with him after they merge together to defeat Death-X-mon.



The Royal Knights are the guardian knights of the Digital World and servants of Homeostasis, the successor to Yggdrasill. There are, or were, ten known members, including Omegamon and an Ulforce V-dramon who once had his own adventures with a human partner.

Several hundreds of years in the Digital World's past, the Royal Knights heard a prediction from Homeostasis about a "red-black two-headed dragon" who would bring about the end of the Digital World, and embarked on a fruitless search to identify it and prevent its rise. During their search, however, the Bagra Army launched an invasion that none of them had seen coming. They attempted to resist, but failed to prevent the shattering of the Digital World, which cast Ulforce V-dramon and his squires into the Real World. They do not know for certain how many of their number survived these events, and Omegamon in particular went missing in action and is presumed deceased.

On April 3, 20XX, Ulforce V-dramon encounters Kudou Taiki and secures his assistance in returning to the Digital World.

On their return, they succeed in reuniting some of the Royal Knights: Duftmon, Craniummon, Dynasmon and Lord Knightmon join Taiki, Ulforce V-dramon and the rest of Xros Heart and Blue Flare in their attack on the Bagra Pandemonium, while Sleipmon and Dukemon are occupied subduing Bagra Army factions in other Zones. The Royal Knights volunteer to take on Arkadimon while Shoutmon X7 focuses on Lilithmon, and Duftmon and Ulforce V-dramon destroy Arkadimon. After the battle, the Royal Knights hold off a surprise attack from Amano Nene and Dark Knightmon while Xros Heart and Blue Flare infiltrate the castle to confront Bagramon.

From outside the castle, the Royal Knights witness the formation of the "red-black two-headed dragon" as a candidate that, despite the warning signs, they had neglected to take seriously: Zeed Millenniumon. Dynasmon is soon sucked into Zeed Millenniumon in an attempt to destroy it gone awry.

When the Generals enact their plan to undo Zeed Millenniumon's DigiXros from within, the remaining Royal Knights remain outside and leave everything to the children. On observing Shoutmon X7's use of to enter Zeed Millenniumon, they all agree that they recognize the presence/code of the late Omegamon within Shoutmon. They witness the success of the Generals' plan and the splitting of Zeed Millenniumon into a horde of evil Digimon, as well as the return of Dynasmon.

The Royal Knights are servants of Yggdrasill.

Decades after Project Ark, Yggdrasill sends Sleipmon and Craniummon to survey the state of the old Digital World, and grants them both the X-Antibody; when they request reinforcements due to what they see, they are joined by JESmon (also X-Evolved), who devises a plan to resolve the chaotic state of the old Digital World with a one-on-one battle royale to determine a leader to shape the world's future. After the battle royale ends, however, the barrier between the old Digital World and the Dark Area breaks down, and the Royal Knights face an assault by the Seven Great Demon Lords, who have acquired the X-Antibody for themselves in the confusion.

Lord Knightmon is part of the Royal Knights.

The Royal Knights appear as a collectable card set.

The Royal Knights appear as a collectable card set.

Duftmon is a member of the Royal Knights.

"Royal Knights" is a Group property which is ascribed to Digimon cards depicting members of the Royal Knights from Expansion Kit S onward. Some Digimon cards' special abilities and Option cards have effects which target, or criteria which require or involve, cards with the "Royal Knights" Group.

The Royal Knights are prominently featured in the eponymous Royal Knights Set of Ultimate Battle Deck 4, and in the Premium Select File Vol.1. In addition to the Royal Knights, the former set contains several cards depicting non-Royal Knight Digimon who have "Royal Knights" Group-related effects, such as St-829 Rapidmon, St-832 Silphymon and, most notably, St-884 King Etemon, whose special ability enables it to itself acquire the "Royal Knights" Group as well.

From Super Digica Taisen Set 3 onward, cards depicting members of the Royal Knights often bear the D-Skill "Royal Knights," which powers up their DigiBlast attack based on how many fielded allies have D-Skills which share the same D-Skill attribute (Digisoul) of Light, including other instances of the "Royal Knights" D-Skill.

Super Digica Taisen Set 4 prominently features the Royal Knights, and touts their good affinity with the "legendary General" Yagami Taichi. Promotional material for the set gives a backstory in which the Royal Knights, with Taichi as their General, are assembling and mobilizing in response to the Digital World's "greatest crisis" and the appearance of Mega Decker Greymon, and an "ultimate clash" has broken out between them and Mega Decker Greymon's faction of dragon Digimon, commanded by Aonuma Kiriha.

"Royal Knights" is a Type characteristic which is ascribed to all cards depicting members of the Royal Knights. Numerous cards depicting Royal Knights or the Sistermons have effects which target, or have criteria requiring, cards or Digimon with the "Royal Knights" Type belonging to the player.

The Royal Knighs are scheduled to be prominently featured in the upcoming BT-13 VS Royal Knights booster set. They are also featured on merchandise releases like the PB-13 Royal Knights Binder Set, which contains both a binder with art of the Royal Knights and promotional cards featuring the Child forms of some of their members.

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=Additional Information=