Charles Marlow
Marlow's name may be inspired by the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Conrad's father was a translator of William Shakespeare who doubtless would have known of Marlowe's work as well. Some intertextual interpretations of "Heart of Darkness" have suggested that Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus" may have influenced Conrad. Charles Marlow describes a character as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", a reference to the Faust legend. Marlow's and Kurtz's journey up the Congo River in "Heart of Darkness" also has similarities to another work by Marlowe, "Dido, Queen of Carthage", in which Aeneas is stranded on the shore of Libya and meets the African queen Dido.
Characters of Kingdom Hearts
During the invasion of Heartless in "Kingdom Hearts", Riku immerses himself in darkness to discover new worlds beyond his home. Arriving at Hollow Bastion, Riku is manipulated by Maleficent into aiding her plans for world conquest in exchange for knowledge to restoring Kairi's missing heart. He is later tricked into allowing Xehanort's Heartless, Ansem, to possess his body. Following Ansem's defeat, Riku helps Sora and King Mickey close the door to Kingdom Hearts, remaining on the other side with the king. In "Chain of Memories", DiZ helps Riku escape from the dark realm. Initially rejecting his darkness out of guilt for his betrayal, Riku resolves to wield both powers of light and darkness to battle Ansem, whose essence lingers in his heart. In "Kingdom Hearts II", Riku is forced to harness Ansem's power to capture Roxas in order to restore Sora's missing memories, assuming the Heartless's physical appearance as a result; after the Heartless is destroyed by DiZ's exploding heart encoder, Riku returns to his regular appearance, and he and Sora return to the Destiny Islands together following Xemnas's defeat. In "Dream Drop Distance", he and Sora undertake a Mark of Mastery exam in preparation for Xehanort's return. Riku is promoted to Keyblade Master after venturing into Sora's dreams twice in the form of a Dream Eater to protect him from Xehanort. He subsequently embarks with Mickey in "A Fragmentary Passage" to rescue Aqua from the realm of darkness.