Pit

Pit, the "Kid Icarus".
Pit
Species	Angel
Hair color	Brown
Eye color	Blue
Voiced by	Lani Minella (2008) Antony Del Rio (2012-Present)
Debut	Kid Icarus

Pit is the protagonist of the Kid Icarus series, which was initially short-lived as a pair of classic Nintendo games until it was revived following Pit's appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with Kid Icarus Uprising, which expanded heavily on the world of Kid Icarus. Pit is an angel of Skyworld who acts as servant of Palutena. Despite his wings, he can only fly when temporarily empowered.

Background

Classic Games

Pit was a young angel who acted as the leader of the Icarus Army, the personal guardians of Palutena in Skyworld. In the first Kid Icarus, Palutena was captured by the evil fallen goddess, Medusa and Pit ended up trapped in the Underworld. However, Palutena was able to use her power to send him a bow and arrow from the Palace in the Sky, and with it Pit was able to escape his prison due to the low amount of guards in the Underworld due to the invasion of Skyworld.

From there Pit was forced to ascend to the Land of Men, back to Skyworld and at last the Sky Palace. On his way he had to gather the Three Sacred Treasures so he would be prepared to fight. He also received training from Zeus along the way there. When he finally reached the Sky Palace, he was able to do battle with the evil Medusa and free Palutena. Palutena award him with a new adult body and a kiss.

Pit was forced to nearly repeat the same adventure in Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters when Palutena's soothsayer foresaw the coming of a great evil called Orcos. She then sent him to train so that he would have sufficient power to wield the Three Sacred Treasures by fighting his way from the Underworld up. Pit ascended from there back to the Sky Palace while also gathering his previous arsenal of weapons to prepare himself for Orcos. After finally returning to the Skyworld, he completed his training just in time for Orcos to attack and whisk away Palutena. In the Sky Palace, he was able to defeat Orcos in both his forms and free Palutena again.

Uprising

After a lengthy absence, Pit was called into action again by Palutena to fight off the forces of a newly resurrected Medusa, who was on a campaign of revenge and domination. He began to fight through her generals just as in the old days, and at one point he teamed up with an exceptionally powerful and brash human mercenary named Magnus. Eventually, he was sent into Pandora's Labyrinth of Deceit to destroy the Mirror of Truth that Pandora kept there. The Mirror could endlessly replicate anything that looked into the Mirror, so it could be used to reproduce massive amounts of Underworld enemies. Pit was able to find and destroy the Mirror, but it replicated him just before it was smashed. This doppelganger was known as Dark Pit, and he helped Pit to defeat Pandora, but he then sucker-punched Pit and called him the copier. Dark Pit also earned Pit's jealousy by gaining unlimited flightpower by absorbing the last of Pandora's power.

Pit spent some time pursuing Dark Pit, who had gone rogue and became a free agent. Dark Pit claimed to be the reflection of Pit's true self and mocked him for being just a puppet of Palutena. Dark Pit believed that Pit secretly shared those feelings, but Pit denied this and stood by his absolute faith in Palutena. He was able to defeat Dark Pit, who then escaped for the time being. Afterwards, Pit was able to track down Thanatos, a past enemy who he had forgotten, and he defeated him to gain the key to the Underworld. Then he made a detour into outer space to regain the Three Sacred Treasures, which had been stolen by space pirates. Once he was properly equipped with the Treasures, only a bit uneasy about them due to all the time that had passed since they were last used, he began his attack on the Underworld, with some help from Dark Pit. Pit eventually confronted Medusa and was successful in destroying her again. This seemed to end their adventure and the game, but Hades proceeded to literally stop the credits and announced that he had revived Medusa to serve as a distraction while he prepared his own, deadlier forces for his own invasion.

The battle soon began anew against Hades' forces in Chapter 10. Pit was sent to a volcano to stop the Underworld forces from obtaining an all-powerful Wish Seed that was said to be guarded by the Immortal Phoenix of the volcano. As they progressed, Hades' true plan became clear with the revelation that the Wish Seed did not exist. Making up the legend and sending his forces to "obtain" it was just a way to rally the human forces into fighting each other over the Seed, so that he would end up with more souls in the Underworld. Palutena had Pit perform damage control by defeating the Phoenix to prevent it from battling with the humans, but Hades was able to spin this battle in a way that made it look like the Wish Seed had been claimed, causing the humans' war to intensify. In Chapter 11, Pit and Palutena were short on ideas on how to pacify the humans' fighting, but this war soon attracted another party to story. It was Viridi, the Goddess of Nature, who dropped a Reset Bomb directly onto the battlefield, which wiped out most of the humans in the area. Viridi was enraged by the ways humans endangered life, and her campaign against humanity quickly made her a new enemy of Pit and Palutena. Pit first entered her Reset Bomb and was able to free some surviving humans. Afterwards, Pit was able to destroy a second Reset Bomb before it could land on a human settlement and was deployed to Viridi's Reset Bomb Depot. He was able to successfully shut the factory down, earning Viridi's ire in the progress.

He then was sent to attack the Lunar Sanctum, a mysterious stronghold of the Forces of Nature. The place was shut down once Pit defeated Viridi's lieutenant in charge of the place, Arlon the Serene, and they quickly moved on to return to the situation at home. Pit did notice a creature escaping from the Lunar Sanctum, but Palutena thought nothing of it, unaware that it was actually a Chaos Kin that would soon cause much trouble for them all. Once Pit was back earthside, he was caught in the mist of a raging battle between the forces of Hades and Viridi. Pit cut through the chaos to find and defeat Viridi's next lieutenant, who was Phosphora. The war was soon put on hold starting in Chapter 15, when an alien race known as the Aurum began an invasion of the Earth. Hades and Viridi reluctantly formed an alliance with Pit and Palutena to fend them off and save the Earth. They were also aided by a boisterous sun god named Pyrrhon, who was certainly powerful and was notably knowledgeable about the Aurum. However, he also had a tendency to make things worse when he tried to help. Pit eventually was able to make his way to a confrontation with the Aurum Brain in Chapter 17, but things quickly went downhill when Phyrrhon tried to stop it himself and ended up becoming part of the core as well as a pawn of the Aurum. With more help from the forces of both Palutena and Viridi, Pit was able to make his way back to Phyrron and shut down the Aurum Brain.

With the alien threat over, things should have returned to normal. However, another threat had come into play, unbeknownst to Pit or Palutena. Palutena had been infected by the Chaos Kin, which changed her to become cruel and ruthless, causing her to openly engage in a war against humanity as well as the Underworld Army. Pit's soul was separated from his body and trapped within an inanimate ring known as the Ring of Chaos. As for his body, it was used as a mindless weapon for the possessed Palutena and ravaged human cities. This went on until three years until Pit gained awareness of himself within the ring (possibly as a result of his body being within the vicinity). He was completely clueless about the situation and had no way of communicating with others, but he could possess anyone who wore the ring. The first person to pick up the ring was a young girl, who he used to approach the nearby town. He was then passed on to a dog, who he used to enter the city. There, he came across Magnus in the midst of a battle against Centurions. He tried to get Magnus's attention as the dog, and the ring wound up being dropped in the process. Magnus relented to curiosity, however, and he tried on the ring, which caused Pit and Magnus to temporarily share the body. Magnus was able to fill Pit in on the basics of what had occurred in Pit's absence, and Pit was shocked to learn of Palutena's actions. He refused to believe that she was truly responsible.

They eventually found Pit's body and defeated it. Once the Ring of Chaos was placed on Pit's fingers, it broke, and Pit was truly restored to his normal self. He then tried to call for the power of flight in order to find Palutena, as he still had faith that she was out there waiting for him. He thought his prayers were answered when he was granted the power, but this time it was actually done by Viridi. Viridi proceeded to give him more information on the events of the last three years and warned him that Palutena was still in charge of the Skyworld forces - that she truly seemed to have changed for the worst. Pit made it to Skyworld and saw how devastated it was, and on top of that Palutena appeared in person to assure Pit that she was sick of humanity. Viridi had to pull Pit out, because he could not penetrate her force field. He was then sent to a tall, winding tower which housed the Lightning Chariot, which Pit would need to penetrate the force field. He managed to scale the tower and defeated the Chariot Guardian to obtain it. With this Chariot, he was able to return to Skyworld and broke through the force field to reach Palutena's Temple. It was only then that Viridi voiced her theory about the truth behind Palutena's change: that she was being possessed by the Chaos Kin, which must be slowly consuming her soul. Once he found Palutena, Pit was able to attack the Chaos Kin to force it out of Palutena's body. It appeared to be defeated, and Palutena was restored back to normal, but the Chaos Kin sprung back to life. It quickly tore Palutena's soul from her body, turning her into stone, and it then retreated through a portal into the Chaos Vortex. The portal nearly closed on Pit, but Dark Pit arrived and used the Chariot to hold it open.

Pit and Dark Pit entered the Chaos Vortex and worked together in pursuing the Chaos Kin and then fighting off a barrage of enemies. They even collaborated in making an over-the-top heroic speech that was delivered before the battle with the Chaos Kin. Together, they were able to slay the parasite. But it still had enough life in it to tackle Dark Pit over a ledge and into the void, where he would fall to his doom. Pit jumped down in pursuit and pressed Viridi until she turned on the flight, fully aware of the consequences: he had used the power of flight recently and the five minutes had expired, so using it any more caused his wings to catch flame. Pit was able to save Dark Pit, but his wings burned up in the process. Pit's life was extinguished, but a method was devised to revive him. The newly restored Palutena and Viridi were able to guide Dark Pit through the Underworld to the Rewind Spring. Dark Pit dipped the remains of Pit's wings into the spring briefly, which was enough to bring Pit back to life. With Palutena back in commission and Viridi having become a reluctant ally, they were able to finally focus their efforts on Hades. Pit launched a new attack on the Underworld with the Three Sacred Treasures, but it did not go so well. The Treasures were destroyed by Hades, and Pit himself got swallowed by the god. He spent some time navigating Hades's innards while cut off from communication with the goddesses, until he was able to defeat Hades's heart, at which point Dark Pit was able to arrive to help him retreat with the Lightning Chariot.

Palutena's new counter measure was to send Pit to meet Dyntos, the forger who originally made the Sacred Treasures, in order to convince him to make a new one. But to prove himself worthy, Pit was first subjected to a series of Three Trials, which primarily consisted of battles against Dyntos's recreations of past bosses - along with the actual Magnus and Gaol, who Dyntos simply called in to test his strength. Once the trials were complete, Pit was given the new Sacred Treasure, which was a giant robot. Finally, in Chapter 25, he used this Sacred Weapon to engage in a large battle with Hades. Pit wound up getting Hades on the run, as he took off to the surface world, and Pit continued to do damage with the robot suit, but Hades also recovered some damage (such as growing back the lower part of his body when it was cut off) and slowly broke down Pit's suit. Eventually, it was destroyed completely, and Pit was left with just the suit's gun. Medusa was able to step in and, before being destroyed by Hades, she was able to prevent him from using his ultimate attack on Pit. Pit charged up a final blast with help from Palutena, and it was able to completely destroy Hades. With peace restored, Pit flew around gleefully with Dark Pit while bantering with Palutena and trying to reassure Viridi about mankind's worth.

Abilities

Pit's classic appearance.

In the original Kid Icarus games, Pit's primary weapon is his bow. He also he could not fly with his wings originally, except temporarily with the Angel's Feather Item. It is only after gaining the Wings of Pegasus, one of the Three Sacred Treasures, that Pit can fly indefinitely.

Uprising expands on his abilities. Pit is granted the power of flight temporarily - primarily by Palutena but also occasionally by Viridi - and it lasts for only five minutes. If Pit tries to press on longer with it, his wings will burn up and kill him. Otherwise, Pit is shown as skilled with a bow but also at using close-range melee weapons. Within the game, weapons could be customized to allow Pit to use a wider range of weapons aside from bows, including clubs and orbitars.

Within Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Pit can use his wings to fly and glide a certain amount of times. He can also split his bow into two blades. In games following Uprising, many of Pit's moves were changed to reflect elements of the new game. His special moves are as follows:

• Standard Special Move: Palutena's Arrow/Palutena Bow - Pit fires an arrow from his bow.
• Side Special Move: Angel Ring - In this move, Pit spins his bow around in front of him in a circular motion. This move can cause great cumulative damage to all fighters who get caught in it. This move is only present in Brawl.
• Side Special Move: Upperdash Arm - This move involves using the Upperdash Arm, a weapon from Uprising, to perform a dashing uppercut. This move was added for the 3DS/Wii U game.
• Up Special Move: Wings of Icarus/Power of Flight - The original version of this move from Brawl temporarily allows Pit to fly freely through the sky. In the 3DS/Wii U game, it was replaced by Power of Flight, where Pit instead flies upward through the air briefly and in one direction, although the angle of his trajectory can be adjusted.
• Down Special Move: Mirror Shield - Pit pulls out his reflective shield, which can be used to reflect projectiles. This move is only in Brawl.
• Down Special Move: Guardian Orbiters - Pit uses the Guardian Orbiters from Uprising to create one energy shield on both sides, capable of reflecting attacks. This move was added for the 3DS/Wii U game.
• Final Smash: Palutena's Army- Palutena appears in the background and a swarm of centurions are summoned who attack all the other fighters. This Final Smash was only present in Brawl.
• Final Smash: Three Sacred Treasures- Pit's Final Smash in the 3DS/Wii U game. When this move is activated, Pit flies through the air and fires several barrages of arrows.
• Final Smash: Lightning Chariot-' Pit's Final Smash in Ultimate. When this move is activated, Pit goes offscreen while boarding the Lightning Chariot. The player can then use a crosshair to send the Lightning Chariot hurtling towards an opponent.

Other Appearances

Video Games

• Pit made cameo appearances in the NES version of Tetris and F-1 Race. In the former, he appeared with other Nintendo characters and played some type of violin on the congratulatory screen for completing the game in Type B. In the latter, he waved to the player at the beginning of Course 8 and during the game's ending.
• In WarioWare: Twisted! there is a mini-game that features a sample of the original Kid Icarus. The caption for the game tauntingly says of it, "This is the closest you'll ever get to a sequel!". Pit has also been featured in some of the retro-themed microgames of later WarioWare games.
• Pit was playable in some segments of NES Remix 2 and Ultimate NES Remix that were based on Kid Icarus.
• In Super Mario Maker, Pit appeared as a potential Mystery Mushroom costume for Mario, which could be unlocked by scanning an amiibo of Pit or at random through completion of a 100 Mario Challenge on Normal or harder.
• A Pit skin for Yoshi could be unlocked in Yoshi's Woolly World by scanning an amiibo of Pit.

Super Smash Bros.

Pit's redesigned look in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Pit appears as a playable fighter in several Super Smash Bros. games, starting in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and continued in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. In Brawl, Pit received a drastic makeover to make him appear older (which was implemented into the next Kid Icarus game, Uprising). In this game, he is able to split his bow into two blades to attack with. His original Final Smash allows him to call in Palutena and Centurions to battle his opponents. Later Super Smash Bros. games would incorporate elements from Uprising into the character. Pit was a starting character in all appearances except for Ultimate, where he had to be unlocked either through the game's variable-based system for unlocking characters or by awakening him in Adventure Mode.

In Ultimate, Pit's personal Classic Mode route was called "Fighting for the Goddess". The battles followed the theme of Pit fighting opponents who stood in for people he faced off with in Uprising.

Trophies/Stickers/Spirits

Before he was playable, the classic version of Pit appeared as a trophy in Super Smash Bros. Melee. In Brawl, Pit has two unlockable trophies in, one of which is a normal one while the other is of his Final Smash, and there are also two stickers of him that use artwork from Kid Icarus and Of Myth and Monsters. For 3DS/Wii U game, Pit has two trophies shared in both games, along with a trophy for him in Eggplant form in the 3DS game and a trophy for his Final Smash in the Wii U version. In Ultimate, Pit has a Fighter Spirit that is unlocked with his completion of Classic Mode, as well as an Ace-rank Primary Spirit of his original appearance from the first Kid Icarus.

Brawl: The Subspace Emissary

Pit also played a large role in Brawl's Adventure Mode, "The Subspace Emissary". He was first seen watching the battle between Mario and Kirby in the Mid-Air Stadium from Angel Land and cheering them on. After the Subspace Army attacked the stadium, Pit was granted his bow and arrow by Palutena along with a pair of bracelets, and he then set out to fight off the Subspace Army. He soon discovered Mario trapped in trophy form and freed him. The two then teamed up together in fighting off the minions of The Subspace Army. They first attempted to pursue the The Ancient Minister, but he ultimately eluded them in the Plains. Then a misunderstanding led to a battle against Link and Yoshi, but ultimately the four realized their mistake and teamed up to pursue King Dedede, while joined by Kirby. They were unable to find Dedede, but they wound up fighting off minions of the Subspace Army in the Canyon area and ultimately united with the other heroes to form the main party that traveled into Subspace to battle Tabuu.

Ultimate: World of Light

In the Adventure Mode of Ultimate, "World of Light", Pit was first seen during the opening cutscene, where he was one of the four characters to receive a voiced line. All of the fighters had assembled to confront Galeem and his Master Hand army. They had prepared for a big battle, and Pit expressed his optimistic belief that they would win the battle. However, Galeem proceeded to unleash a barrage of beams of light that quickly consumed the fighters. Pit and Dark Pit were both seen trying to fly to safety, but after Palutena was hit by the light, they both lost their powers of flight. They then were both hit by beams of light as they faltered.

Pit and the rest of the fighters were placed under Galeem's control. He could then be found at the end of the Temple of Light. After being defeated, he was awakened as his true self and would join the playable roster.

Other Media

• Pit was a major character in the Captain N cartoon series. Unlike in the games, he was constantly in flight, went by the name "Kid Icarus", and added "-icus" as a suffix to different words.
• Pit appeared in three animated shorts that were produced to promote the release of Uprising. One depicted a battle between Pit and Thanatos, while another involved Palutena retelling the story of the original Kid Icarus to Pit. In another short, Pit was sent off on an errand while Palutena ended up dealing with rebellious vegetables.

Trivia

• Pit is loosely based on the Icarus of Greek mythology, who tried to fly with his father Daedelus using wings made of wax in order to escape imprisonment. Icarus flew too close to the sun, which melted his wings and caused him to fall to his death. This is eventually alluded to Uprising with Pit's wings burning up in his rescue of Dark Pit.
• Pit is apparently ambidextrous, as his various artworks often have him switch which hand holds the bow and which holds the arrow. In Brawl, he is apparently left-handed.
• As part of the humor of Uprising, Pit (along with seemingly all of the characters) has medium awareness and makes various comments about the conventions of the video games and his series, as well as references to other video games. There are a few mentions of Brawl, and he also namedrops Donkey Kong, Metroids and Nintendogs, among others.
• Pit's game overs are accompanied by a screen where he exclaims "I'm finished!" This text is retained in Uprising, and Palutena teases him about it within the game.
• Uprising also acknowledges the manner of game overs in an in-universe way in which it is stated that Palutena usually revives him like she does regarding the rest of her Centurions. However, when Pit 'dies' as a part of the storyline, he is only revived through special means involving the Rewind Spring, although it may have to do with the conditions of that death (that his wings burned up).
• Oddly enough, Of Myths and Monsters is not mentioned in any of the Kid Icarus related trophies in Brawl and is only seen listed in the Chronicles section as well as in the sticker of Pit using artwork from that game.