Ren Akiyama

For the alternate Kamen Rider Knight that appear in Kamen Rider Decade, see Ren Haguro

Kamen Rider Knight (仮面ライダーナイト, Kamen Raidā Naito) is a fictional character in the tokusatsu production Kamen Rider Ryuki. He is one of the main protagonists and the first of the 13 Kamen Riders the story revolves around.

TV Series
Ren Akiyama (秋山 蓮, Akiyama Ren) is a cold loner who fights constantly and is frequently unemployed. He received his Advent Deck before the start of the series. He accepted Kanzaki's offer to join the Rider war to give his fiancée, Eri Ogawa, a full recovery, who has been in a mysterious coma ever since an encounter with Darkwing. Ren later contracted with Darkwing and became Kamen Rider Knight.

After Shinji Kido, he would still persist to fight any and all Riders. But the ordeal of his memory loss had him leave the Tea Atori to clear his head. Meeting Miyuki Tezuka, who reveals himself as Raia, while pointing out that though he accepted his fate as a Kamen Rider, Ren had doubts in his heart if he could actually take a life. He later inherited the Survive Shippu Card from Tezuka. Over time he eventually softened up and slowly came to return Shinji's constant offers of friendship. Throughout the series they formed a somewhat of a rivalry, which Ren took more seriously than Shinji because of the Rider War.

Shiro eventually declares him as the last Rider. All the other Riders had died, but it was Shinji's death in Episode 49 that devastated him, as he had finally accepted Shinji as his best friend. Ironically enough however, Shinji's dying words galvanized Ren into bringing the war to an end. Shiro Kanzaki brought him to fight the remaining Rider, Kamen Rider Odin. As Ren was about to lose, Shiro Kanzaki was tormented by his sister Yui Kanzaki's words, and self-destroyed Odin, thus making Ren the final Rider. The wish appeared, and Ren used it to save Eri's life as he had originally intended. Returning to the hospital where Eri laid, she wakes up to see Ren's engagement ring on her finger, and a loyal Ren, apparently sleeping on the floor. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the battle with Odin had proved too much, and though it is not clearly stated, it's suggested that he died. After Shiro restored time to its proper course after Yui's death, Ren and Shinji gained a new life with no memory of being Riders, thus they are unable to recognize each other in one of the final scenes of the series.

Episode Final
In the movie: Episode Final (alternative ending), Ren, together with the remaining fighters fought one another. He too, like Miho Kirishima had mistook Shinji as Kamen Rider Ryuga from a battle he witnessed (Ryuga and Femme were fighting with each other) and in his case thought that Shinji had realised the meaning of the Rider War and demanded they battle, but he was quickly overpowered by Ryuga's strength. Until he saw the real Shinji absorbed into Ryuga he understood and battled Ryuga as well. Later seeing Yui dead, as Shinji and Ryuga battle, he witnesses Shinji finishing Ryuga off, after which he confesses his friendship to Shinji. However he marks his words that he must win, which Shinji promises to fight with, where Ren also agrees to Shinji's terms not to die before the fight with the Hydragoons. They then together as Kamen Rider Survive Knight and Kamen Rider Survive Ryuki battle the horde of Hydragoons as the film ends.

13 Riders
In the 13 Riders TV Special (alternate story), he sees Shinji taking over the Ryuki deck after its last owner dies, and demands the deck be returned, until he sees the list of names. He warns Shinji, but later after setting Shinji up as plotted with the other Riders (in a form of a truce between the Riders) he couldn't bring himself to finish Shinji off, which their friendship developing. In the end, he pushed Ryuki out of the way and took Kamen Rider Verde's Death Vanish Final Vent. He shook the damage long enough to kill Verde with his Flying Slash Final Vent (similar to how Miyuki Tezuka died in the series, pushing Ryuki out of the way to receive Kamen Rider Ohja's Veno Crash Final Vent). Shortly afterwards, he died on Shinji's arms after giving him the Knight deck, making Shinji Kido the second character to be two separate Riders in the same series.

Kamen Rider x Super Sentai: Super Hero Taisen
to be added

Fighting Style
Knight is essentially a close range fighter. His Advent Cards, combined with his fighting style, makes him suited for one - on - one combat. His primary weapon is his rapier Dark Visor as well as his powerful Sword Vent. His trick Advent Cards are centered on disorientation (Nasty Vent) or confusion (Trick Vent). However, he has a little disadvantage over fighting far-range or multiple opponents.

His Survive Mode enhances his close range capabilities, modifies his Nasty Vent into a more offensive form (Blust Vent) and gives him a far-range weapon (Shoot Vent).

Forms
Ren transforms into Kamen Rider Knight through his Advent Deck and his V-Buckle. These are the following forms throughout the course of the series run.

Contract monster
See Darkwing 

Trivia

 * Kamen Rider Knight's name, Naito, also sounds like the English "Night", which could also refer to his color scheme which reflects darkness and nighttime (his color is dark navy).
 * Also, his monster's motif is based on a nocturnal creature.
 * When in his Survive form, he has a cape on constantly, making him one of the few Kamen Riders in the entire franchise to wear a cape.
 * Ren is the second and the last Secondary Kamen Rider to have the first transformation and debuted before the Primary Rider.