Special:Badtitle/NS90:Talk:Kingdom Hearts II/YMMV/The Great Big Xemnas Effort Post

Just about everyone seems to accept Master Xehanort and his Heartless incarnation Ansem as belonging in the Complete Monster trope, while his younger self is given leeway since he's largely a Punch Clock Villain who's still being corrupted by the darkness of his older self from the future. But Xemnas is more polarizing because since the empty shell he was born from was the body of Terra, whom Master Xehanort's heart had taken over during the time Terra-Xehanort, as Ansem's apprentice, cast himself into darkness and split into a Heartless and a Nobody. This means that while Ansem is purely Master Xehanort, Xemnas is partly Terra and even has some of his leftover memories. So does this make him not as much a Complete Monster? Well, let's see about that here...

'''Who is Xemnas? What has he done?''' - Xemnas is the Nobody of Terra-Xehanort, and the leader of Organization XIII. He made his debut in the Final Mix edition of the original game as a secret boss and proceeded to play the role of main villain for the time frame of Chain of Memories, 358/2 Days, and Kingdom Hearts II. He first showed up at the castle of Hollow Bastion and challenged Sora to a battle in order to test the strength of both the Keyblade and Sora's heart. He departed promising that they'd cross paths again some day, also indicating that he had plans of his own. A year later, Xemnas was leading the Nobodies and Organization XIII in a mission that spanned several worlds, the objective being to capture as many hearts as they could while also deliberately provoking Sora into fighting and killing more Heartless. Aside from sending a squadron of Nobodies to attack the Bailey at Hollow Bastion before showing up just to taunt Sora and then leaving, Xemnas remains an Orcus on His Throne for most of the game - literally in case of the Final Mix edition. The next time we see him doing something in person, it's when he unhoods himself and calls forth 1,000 Heartless to the Hollow Bastion battlefield in order to make Sora fight and kill them all. After he flees the scene, it's revealed that Xemnas has been manipulating Sora the whole time. Captive hearts released by the Heartless upon being killed by the Keyblade go back to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds where all hearts are born. However, through the collection and assimilation of countless hearts, Xemnas had forged his own link to Kingdom Hearts in the form of a heart-shaped moon in his world's sky. Once the way to Kingdom Hearts had been paved, Xemnas could use it's power to bestow hearts upon all Nobodies, making them complete beings, which is what the Organization is after. We next see Xemnas in the final level, the World That Never Was, as he's sending all the remaining hearts to the Kingdom Hearts moon. He tells Saix that their plan will soon be complete and gives him permission to "end this charade", referring to Saix keeping his emotions in check while loyally following Xemnas rather than working on his own. When Mickey and Ansem the Wise use a device to shoot a beam at the moon in order to free the hearts, Xemnas corners them and mocks Ansem the Wise for his weary state. After stating that Ansem holds all the blame for the current situation, as it was his research that inspired Terra-Xehanort to go further in studying and exploiting the powers of darkness, he is asked what his true objective behind all his actions are by Ansem. He responds that what he truly wants with Kingdom Hearts' power is to create a new World (referring to the KH Universe) one heart at a time, which will only happen after he's reduced all worlds to a state of nothingness. He expresses displeasure that Ansem wants to stop his plans but considers it to be because Ansem has a heart that makes him consumed with angry and jealous emotions. After this, Ansem's machine blows up, taking Kingdom Hearts and Ansem's life with it. Xemnas bemoans that his Kingdom Hearts has been ruined and that he needs to start all over again, so he beckons the Keyblade warriors to be his pawns again for bringing him even more captive hearts. When Sora, Riku, and Mickey refuse, Xemnas tries to make their resolve waver by asking them questions regarding their motivations and psychology. He says that as Nobodies, who were turned away by both light and darkness, he and his Organization never had a choice in the matter, and he seems a bit remorseful about this. Sora calls him on his crap by saying that he can't really feel anything, thus isn't sad or sorry about anything, to which Xemnas confirms, saying that no matter what misery befalls the worlds and how many lives of others are destroyed, he would feel no sorrow, no shame, no regret. No matter what others think, what they feel, or how they exist. He then transports Sora away to an exclusionary city when he attempts to kill him in a fight. After he's beaten, he hovers into the center of the Kingdom Hearts moon, beckoning it to bestow upon him power from all hearts that have been consumed by dark emotions such as hatred, rage, and envy. He makes declarations about how "we (him and Kingdom Hearts) may be complete and how the power to erase the fools that hinder us!" and "hearts are the source of all power!" He is then transported inside of Kingdom Hearts, where he uses the power he's gained to distort it into a nightmarish reflection of his world. He pulls out all the stops in an effort to kill the heroes but is defeated and exorcised from Kingdom Hearts. As he's fading, he says he needs more rage - more hearts. Sora finally shows some pity for him and tells him that hearts have more to offer than just negative feelings. He asks Xemnas if he remembers what those feelings felt like, but Xemnas defiantly replies "Unfortunately, I don't." as he fades away. When it looks to be all over, it turns out that Xemnas had made some sort of back-up for himself from the powers of nothingness itself, and he returns, separating Sora and Riku from Kairi and the others. He gradually begins to pull the entire World That Never Was into the realm of nothingness until Sora, Riku, and Xemnas are facing each other literally in nothing. Xemnas indicates he now wants to just use the powers of nothingness to destroy the worlds and secure his rule, stating that nothingness has to be eternal just as light and darkness are. Sora tells him "that doesn't make YOU eternal!" Xemnas merely laughs "No more eternal than that radiance of your's" and makes one final effort to kill Sora and Riku. But through combining powers of light and dark in unison, Sora and Riku blast Xemnas back before finishing him off with their keyblades, wiping him from existence for good. We find out after KH2 that Xemnas had always been planning to absorb Kingdom Hearts' power into himself and share his own power with Kingdom Hearts all so that he could become like a god who'd rule over all worlds, something he kept from the rest of the Organization. He'd also commissioned a project at Castle Oblivion to replicate Keyblade wielders so that, in case Sora proved unreliable and needed to be done away with, he could have an army of Sora-like keybearers that he could use to slay Heartless for him instead. However, since Sora's own Nobody Roxas was also initiated into the Organization, Xemnas hoped to use him as well, which is why he planted the first special made keybearer replica, Xion, close to Roxas during Roxas' time in the Organization, waiting to see which of the two of them would prove the superior pawn. He finally forcibly modified Xion in order to make her a full Sora replica who needed to kill Roxas and absorb his essence into herself in order to be complete. But Xion chose to be killed by Roxas instead, refusing to let Xemnas have his way. Lastly, we find out in 3D that Xemnas was well aware of the fact that, given enough time and energy, Nobodies could develop hearts of their own, yet not only did he choose to not work to gain such a heart, but he outright lied to the rest of the Organization by saying the only way for them to get hearts and be complete was through Kingdom Hearts' power. So while he made them all think they would benefit from his plans completion, it was truly he who he'd hoped would benefit the most. And once he had the power of hearts at his disposal, he could begin his "true plan". (Master Xehanort's X-Blade plan, which would require Xehanort to transfer his essence into 13 different vessels, which was the true purpose of Organization XIII - Xemnas was weeding out potential hosts.)

Are his actions heinous by the standards of the story? - Not only are his actions as bad as those committed by his Heartless counterpart, but in some respects, they're worse. Ansem had unleashed the Heartless upon many worlds in search of keyholes to crawl through and hearts of both living beings and entire worlds to swallow, which casts the worlds into total darkness, and he was using Maleficent and her band of Disney villains in order to abduct all seven princesses of heart in order to open the final keyhole that leads to the Door to Darkness that lies just beyond the Heartless' world. The way to Kingdom Hearts was behind the door, and Ansem had hoped to have the Heartless consume it so that the entire universe could be plunged into everlasting darkness. (Don't ask me how Master Xehanort's true plan fits there - IMHO, that's just really bad writing and retconning at work.) So with the Heartless, it was a universal invasion that many became aware was happening. Xemnas and the Nobodies, on the other hand, go about their business with stealth and subtlety. Organization XIII do most of their work from the shadows, in secret so that no one becomes aware of what they're up to. His plan revolved entirely around stealing both the hearts of others and captive hearts released by the Heartless after being slayed by the Keyblade. Once all hearts weaved together to form his Kingdom Hearts, Xemnas intended to have it "share it's power with all Nobodies", suggesting he did want them "complete". Why? Not for any altruistic reasons - Xemnas would then use those Nobodies for a full scale takeover of all worlds, reducing them to nothingness. This means the deaths of all living things and all worlds, perhaps even Deader Than Dead since they'd be consumed by the void of nothingness. Then once they were all nothing, Xemnas could use Kingdom Hearts' power to recreate the universe from the ground up, which is what "creating a brand new World, one heart at a time" refers to. This plan is both creepier than Ansem's and more sinister in how it would catch all peaceful worlds and peoples off guard by the time it's too late. Among other crimes are his callous treatment of Roxas and Xion described above, how he pretty much ruins Xion's entire existence through his selfish plans, how we see him threaten to turn Axel into a low-level Dusk if he fails to bring Roxas back to the Organization (which makes one wonder how many Dusks we see were once humanoid Nobodies, and also how many times this occurred right in front of the Organization members seeing as how Xemnas doesn't even say a word in this scene but Axel immediately knows what he's indicating and reacts with audible fear), how he sends out Nobodies to wreck the already in-construction Bailey at Hollow Bastion and endanger Sora and his friends, how he tricks Sora into slaying 1,000 Heartless, thus allowing him to enslave over 1,000 captive hearts that used to belong to other people, how he attempts to kill Sora and the rest many times during the game's climax, how he absorbs power from darkness-filled hearts and uses that to pervert Kingdom Hearts itself from within, and how he hopes to basically fuck over the entire universe by casting it all into nothingness so that "nothingness can be eternal." As the leader of Organization XIII, many of their crimes can be traced to him, and he shares culpability in Xehanort's master plan due to the despicable nature of his lies and exploitation of the members he'd hoped to turn into future Xehanort vessels.

Does he have any redeeming qualities? - Things start to get tricky here. As the empty shells of the body and soul of a person who'd possessed a very strong heart but then lost said heart to the Heartless, Nobodies have recollections or "leftovers" of their former selves, which explains why they seem to have emotions yet no feelings, but can begin to feel and grow hearts of their own if they get enough in touch with said emotions. Xemnas is the Nobody of Terra-Xehanort, which makes him a rare special Nobody in that he has recollections of a man with two hearts inside of him, one of which didn't truly belong to the body's owner (Xehanort's heart). This is why we have scenes of him saying to Roxas, who is a rebirth of Terra's friend Ventus, "sleep has taken you once again." and of him going to a hidden chamber of rest where Aqua's armor and keyblade are, where he talks to it and refers to it as his "friend." According to Xigbar, sometimes he's heard Xemnas inside the chamber talking in a voice that doesn't sound like his own, meaning Xemnas has some form of Split Personality going on. Now does this possibly give him redeeming qualities? Not really. It's a compulsion, not a choice on Xemnas' part. A Nobody's natural personality will always be one that reflects how their heart made them prior to the split between Heartless and Nobody. Tetsuya Nomura confirmed that at the time of apprentice Terra-Xehanort's split, Master Xehanort's heart was in total control and was commandeering Terra's body and mind. Therefore, Xemnas' dominant persona is purely of Xehanort, which is why he has Xehanort's personality traits, Xehanort's plans, and Xehanort's goals. Furthermore, to believe that he could have redeeming features is missing the point of a crucial moment in Xemnas' time as a character. At the climax of KH2, Xemnas states that he cannot feel sorrow, remorse, regret, empathy, or any form of decency at all no matter what befell other people, and he didn't care. One might believe that it's just in his nature as a Nobody, beyond his control, but then we're told that Nobodies can eventually grow hearts of their own, which makes this even worse since now we know that he chose to keep himself this way rather than learning how to feel and care, and he lied to everyone about it. He then thinks only to absorb the power of hearts fueled by dark emotions - hearts consumed by the darkness. When Sora asks him if he remembers the positive emotions, he replies that he doesn't, in a tone that's defiant and with a psychotic grin on his face. Even in the final battle, he states "anger and hate are supreme!" and "there's no such thing as light!", showing how much he priorities pure evil over light, positivity, and any semblance of goodness. So clearly he has no truly good qualities, thus no redeeming features.

Freudian Excuse or other mitigating factors? - See above for his Freudian Excuse. As for other migitating factors, let's look at his goals: while he claims that the Organization's mission is to unlock the secrets of the heart so that they can use Kingdom Hearts' power to grant them new hearts of their own, finally making them complete beings who can exist in the world, this is actually a lie. Xemnas really wants Kingdom Hearts for the sake of his new world order and wants the members of the Organization around so that he can make them vessels for copies of Xehanort's heart via the perversion of Kingdom Hearts' power. And as far as motivations goes, he says it himself: "Hearts are the source of all power!" He simply wanted god-like power for himself - he's like a strange combination of both Cyrus and Ghetsis from the Pokemon games. That leaves his relationships with others. While Saix is his second-in-command, his relationship with him is strictly professional and he seems to have no love for him. When he grants him permission to "drop the charade" and go after Sora himself, it's possible he either expected Sora to kill him, meaning he was knowingly sending Saix to his demise, or that he didn't care what Saix did or what befell him since he was going to bring him back as one of 13 Xehanorts anyway. He cares nothing for the other members seeing as they're all either future vessels, pawns, or disposable to him. He clearly doesn't think of other Nobodies as anything other than servants and tools he can use for achieving his ends, wanting to grant them new power solely for what it can allow them to do for him. What he does to Roxas and Xion is downright despicable, as he objectifies them, not just their keyblades, as weapons he can use for his cause. It goes without saying that he doesn't get along with any of the heroes. And lastly there's Ansem the Wise, whom Xemnas has recollections of working for and being like a son to, but cannot and will not feel any love for him nowadays. His resentment towards how "all he ever does is hold him back" calls to mind both Master Xehanort and Terra's own relationships with Master Eraqus, but there's no conflicting emotions behind Xemnas' feelings here - just pure resentment and belittlement towards the man whose life he ruined. Overall, Xemnas prioritizes himself and his power over all else.

Other considerations? - If we're looking at Xemnas as being partially Terra/an incarnation of Terra, then it's possible to see him as comparable to Angel and Angelus from Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Angel was a young man who lost his soul upon becoming a vampire, and as a vampire, an inner demon festered inside of him and took dominance, becoming the feared, sadistic Complete Monster Angelus. With his soul restored via a gypsy curse, Angel is able to feel empathy for his victims and sorrow over all the horrific things he'd done as Angelus, and is a much better person because of it. Similarly, Terra was a young man who lost his heart upon becoming a Nobody, and as a Nobody, his dominant persona was based upon the leftover recollections of Xehanort's heart that had taken dominance during the time of the split, which makes him the evil Xemnas (he goes by this because he'd assumed the identity of Ansem at the time of the split too). If Xemnas could ever get a heart like Terra's or maybe even Terra's own heart, he'd feel remorse over his horrific villainy and be a better person. But Xemnas seeks only to have Xehanort's heart and to share that heart with other vessels. If we were to assume that being partly Terra invalidates Xemnas' status as a Complete Monster, we'd have to do the same for Angelus being partly Angel - perhaps even moreso seeing as many characters in-universe treat Angel and Angelus as being the same guy (Xander talking about what an evil creep Angel is or Giles referring to how Angel killed his girlfriend and tortured him), therefore Angelus = Angel, who gets a sympathetic portrayal and redemption arc even after all his heinous crimes and is thus not a Complete Monster. Of course, I suggest we not do that. Angelus is Angelus and Xemnas is Xemnas. They are their own entities and posses none of the good qualities their other selves have. They are full stop pure evil villains, and Xemnas, being predominantly Xehanort rather than Terra, is just as heinous and despicable as Master Xehanort's other incarnations.

Final Verdict - The only criteria Xemnas arguably falls short of is the Freudian Excuse, since he didn't really have a choice in his own creation and it reasonably explains why he acts the way he does, like how he can express Terra-like qualities at points while still behaving more like Xehanort. Otherwise, he's truly heinous by KH standards (arguably outdoing his predecessor in that area), is never portrayed in a positive light even in his vaguely tragic moments, is taken seriously by the work and other characters, has no good relationships or positive interactions with anyone, is devoid of redeeming qualities, chooses to feel no regret for his crimes, and as far as we can tell, is irredeemable. So overall, he hits off enough qualifications to be objectively labeled a Complete Monster.