Kingdom Hearts/Characters/Organization XIII

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This is a listing of the Members of Organization XIII that appear in the Kingdom Hearts series. Visit this page for the main characters index.

Organization XIII

From left to right, Demyx, Luxord, Xaldin, Xigbar, Axel, Roxas, Xemnas, Xion, Saix, Marluxia, Lexaeus, Zexion, Larxene and Vexen

A group of, yes, thirteen (temporarily fourteen, sort of) villains introduced in Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days. When someone with a strong heart is turned into a Heartless, the discarded body gets up with a life and will of its own as a Nobody. This group of particularly powerful Nobodies, who were able to retain human form on top of "existing" in the first place, seeks to regain their hearts at whatever cost.

While the Organization is a pretty varied group, the following tropes are universal throughout the Organization:

• Back from the Dead: Several members of the Organization return in Dream Drop Distance, revived as humans.
• Badass Bookworm: Half of the gang were Mad Scientists before they got their Evil Makeover. Or rather some of them where, while others appeared to be apprenticed to Ansem for other ventures than his scientific ability.
• Beta Test Baddie
• Black Cloak
• Cast Full of Pretty Boys
  • Estrogen Brigade Bait
• The Chessmasters
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder
• Co-Dragons: Saïx and Xigbar. The former is more of an administrator/enforcer, handing out missions and punishing dissenters, while the latter keeps to the background.
• Cursed with Awesome: Congrats on being turned into a Nobody! Even if you lose your heart, you now have access to either one of several unique abilities (energy projectile, polymorphism, super strength) or if you were of strong will before losing your heart you can retain physical and magical ability you had in life.
• Elemental Powers: Each member controls a certain attribute. Some of these are a bit out there: time and space are elements, represented in-game as a timer and teleporting around/changing the layout of the room/defying gravity, respectively. Xemnas has Nothingness as a power, as paradoxical as it may seem, and it is represented, basically, as black and white lightning bolts and red laser swords. Yup. Said laser swords (named "ethereal blades") have been described as "hardened nothingness", whatever that's supposed to mean.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: They will also absorb the element they posses and will receive very heavy damage to the one they are weak too.
• Evil Versus Evil: They got into a hard competition with Maleficent and her allies for the claim of Kingdom Hearts. Since they had more knowledge about the powers of darkness, they were for a time one step ahead, but when Maleficent and Pete allied with Sora, King Mickey, and the rest of the group in the endgame, they eventually lost the game to them.
• Eyes of Gold: Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saïx have them.
• Fan Nickname: Orgy XIII. Take a wild guess why.
• Flanderization: A few of them canonically get it in 358/2 Days.
  • May also count as Fridge Brilliance, since Nobodies fake a personality based on strong memories and habits.
• Flat Character: Roughly half of them, since it's kind of hard to make thirteen well-rounded individuals when they're sharing spotlight in a cast of hundreds.
• Flip-Flop of God: Nomura stated in an interview that Nobodies do not age (with the exceptions of Roxas and Namine). However, Birth by Sleep and Dream Drop Distance appear to contradict this with the ages of Braig and Ienzo, though it is revealed that Xigbar was not going grey because of his age, leaving it as a possible case of Immortality Begins At Twenty.
• Grand Theft Me: Xehanort's entire reason for forming the Organization was to gather together 12 new hosts. He's already begun the process of taking over Braig/Xigbar and Isa/Saix, explaining why their eyes turned yellow.
• Humanoid Abomination: They are described as living rifts in the way things work: their existence defy the natural laws of the universe in a way that the Heartless do not. Since the very basis of their lives breaks physics (or whatever passes for it), they gain tremendous power over the arcane and the elemental. Doubles as a Bishonen Line.
• Immortality Begins At Twenty: Based on those we've seen pre-transformation. Aeleus, for instance, looks the same as Lexaeus, but the Nobodies who lost their heart at a young age (Zexion, Axel, Saix) all continue to age normally.
• It Was with You All Along: In Dream Drop Distance, Sora learns that Xemnas purposefully concealed from the Organization the fact that Nobodies can naturally develop a new heart over time. The promise of hearts was to string them all along, while he convinced them all that any emotions they had were fake which isolated them and kept them from maturing a new heart leaving them as potential empty vessels. Sora is suitably outraged by this revelation.
• Joke Weapon: All fourteen have one in 358/2's Mission Mode if they've equipped the Casual Gear; everyone but Roxas, Axel and Xion with the Mystery Gear.
• Lack of Empathy: Or so Xemnas leads them to believe.
• Leitmotif: "Another Side", various remixes of which appear as battle themes and other themes relating to the group.
• Let X Be the Unknown: The "X" theme is a mark of Xehanort's ownership
• Me's a Crowd: They're an integral part of one orchestrated by Xehanort to recreate the thirteen Darknesses needed to forge the χ-blade. Xehanort intends to use his own dark Heart split across all the members to achieve this.
• The Other Darrin: With the interesting exception of Keiji Fujiwara as Axel, every member introduced in Chain of Memories was voiced by a staff member who was replaced by a professional voice actor once Kingdom Hearts II and Re:Chain of Memories came around.
• Named Weapons
• Personality Powers: All of the members have a personality that fits their "Attribute", though a few fit in non-typical ways.
• Significant Anagram: Their names are actually scrambled versions of their past names with an X added. However, not all of their past names are known, and Xemnas technically used someone else's name.
  • Xion's name is the letter X added to the phrase "No. i", with the number i being an imaginary number. It sheds a lot of light on her.
• Sobriquet: All of the members except Xion have nicknames to this effect.
• The Sociopath: Almost every member except for Roxas, Xion, and Axel. Literally being heartless doesn't leave much room for empathy.
• The Soulless
• Standard Evil Organization Squad
• Tested on Humans: Most of the apprentices Mad Scientist ventures involved human experimentation like turning people into heartless.
• Tragic Monster: A lot of them seemed to be decent people before they became Nobodies.
• Theme Naming: In Days, most character's weapons all follow some sort of named theme Xemnas's are named after terms of authority and negativity, Xaldin's are Religious and Mythological Theme Naming, Vexen's are cold and thinking terminology, Laexeus's are Mineralsand Japanese idioms and literature references, Zexion's are synonyms for books and magic, Saix's are moon related, Axel's all refer to fire, heat and explosions, Demyx has Musical Theme Naming, Luxord's are tarot cards, Marluxia's are all flowers, Larxene's are all in French and Roxas's are light phenomenon and references to the pain of loneliness.)
• Thirteen Is Unlucky
• Uncanny Valley: Alluded to in-universe, although it's rarely apparent to the player.
• Unwitting Pawn: The entire Organization was formed not to regain the members' hearts, but out of a combination of Xemnas wanting to attain the reality-warping potential of Kingdom Hearts and to facilitate a plot that would allow Master Xehanort to clone his heart among thirteen separate bodies, which will give him another shot at forging the χ-Blade.
• Villain Teleportation: Several members get in on the action. The undisputed champion of this trope would be Fragile Speedster Larxene, who even possesses a sleight in Chain of Memories named Teleport Rush.
• You Are Number Six: While it definitely indicates order of joining, its significance to actual rank is debatable. For example, nobody cares that Vexen is number four, but he waves it in everybody's faces as they ignore his whining.
  • Also, Marluxia, who is pretty far down at number eleven, still gets to control half the Organization. He and Larxene were also trying to overthrow Xemnas using Sora.
  • 358/2 Days reveals that with the exception of Axel, all the members who were sent to Castle Oblivion were were intended to die thanks to Saïx's and Axel's plans to eliminate competition in treachery and rank under the guise of Xemnas's orders.
  • Then there's Saïx, who is number seven but acts as Xemnas's number two, and the real number two, Xigbar, who is a bit of a jokester. Though arguably Xigbar is the real number two anyway, given that Birth by Sleep indicates that he and Xemnas have been plotting together this whole time, and some cutscenes from KH2 Final Mix indicate that he knows more about the Organization's true goal than anyone other than the Superior.

Xemnas

The Superior of the In-Between

Original Name: Xehanort ("Ansem" is used for the anagram)

"I'm creating a brand new world, one heart at a time."

"Very good. You don't miss a thing. I cannot feel... sorrow... No matter what misery befalls the worlds. No matter what you think, what you feel, or how you exist."

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Paul St Peter (English)

The leader of Organization XIII, the Nobody of Xehanort, Ansem the Wise's first apprentice, and the Big Bad of Kingdom Hearts II. He does not appear in Chain of Memories, but he is referred to by others as "the Superior", and showed up in the first game's Final Mix as a taste of things to come. He comes Back from the Dead in Dream Drop Distance as one of the thirteen vessels of Xehanort's heart in his XIII Seekers of Darkness.

• A God Am I: Creator materials state his public mission to use Kingdom Hearts to bestow hearts on himself and the other members was a lie; his true intent is to absorb its power to reshape the universe.
• All Your Powers Combined: In the first stage of his final boss sequence, he can use the weapons of various other Organization members (namely, everyone who died in KH2).
  • Word of God states that he may even have a Keyblade, as he is the Nobody of Xehanort's heart from Terra's body, but may have chosen simply to not use it. It was likely to keep up the appearances of the false goal of the Organization.
• Bad Boss: Dream Drop Distance reveals just how far he went in manipulating the Organization. Not only was he directly responsible for several of them becoming Nobodies, but he purposefully concealed from them the fact that Nobodies naturally develop a new heart over time.
• Badass: Xehanort incarnation, natch.
  • Badass Baritone: The deepest of all of Xehanort's incarnations.
• Big Bad: Of Kingdom Hearts II.
• Bonus Boss: In the first Final Mix.
• Chekhov's Gunman: See Bonus Boss.
• The Chessmaster: Especially in 358/2 Days
• Co-Dragons: He and Ansem occupy this position in Master Xehanort's true organization, being his left and right hand men.
  • Demoted to Dragon
• Combat Tropes
  • Agony Beam
  • Barrier Warrior: One of the few recurring bosses in the series to regularly block your attacks, growing up a barrier of energy and then attacking while you're staggered.
  • Blade Below the Shoulder: His etheral blades manifest from his palms.
  • BFS: In his Tin Tyrant form.
  • Doppelganger Attack: In his final form.
  • Dual-Wielding
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Can fire his etheral blades like laser blasts.
    • Beam Spam: His final attack is a dome of them.
  • Joke Weapon: Causal Gear gives him fans. Mystery Gear gives him heart-shaped lightsabers.
  • Laser Blade: His lightsabers ethereal blades, Interdiction.
  • Lightning Bruiser: He's pretty acrobatic and painful with his blade combos. Birth By Sleep shows where he gets it from.
  • Magic Knight
  • Mind Over Matter: Throws buildings at you this way.
  • Mighty Glacier: As a player character in Days.
  • Power Floats: In Days, he's apparently above walking.
  • Power of the Void
  • She Fu: Rare Male Example
  • Teleport Spam
• Companion Cube: Aqua's discarded armor, and not in a cute way either.
• Complete Monster
• Crazy Prepared: Usually, in order to effectively play Xanatos Speed Chess.
• Dark-Skinned Blond
• Deceptive Disciple: His betrayal of Ansem the Wise was what caused him and the rest of the apprentices to turn into Nobodies in the first place.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Appears as a boss in the Final Mix version of the first game, though he remains hooded for the entire encounter, and at the time no one had any idea who it was meant to be. It wasn't until KH2 was released that it was made apparent that it was him.
• Evil Sorcerer: He commands the "Sorcerer Nobodies", if you needed a hint.
• Evil Sounds Deep: His voice, both in the Japanese and North American versions, is very deep, to the point where some think it simply doesn't match his Bishounen face.
• Fan Nickname: Mansex, due to an unfortunate anagram.
  • The same goes for Sexman.
  • There's also "Zebra Xemnas" for his final form.
• Final Boss: In Kingdom Hearts 2.
  • Climax Boss: He serves as Sora's Final Boss in 3D, coming after some major revelations about the heart, the Heartless, and the Nobodies, and beating him signals the end of Sora's story, but not the end of the game.
• Final Boss Preview: Two entire games in advance. How punctual of him.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite being the most powerful member of the Organization (and even having, on paper, nearly maxed stats) in 358/2 Days, his horrible speed (in both movement and attacking) severely nerfs him.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi".
• Large Ham: While still being The Stoic. It's Norio Wakamoto in Japanese, so this status is pretty unavoidable. Also justified when you realize it's an Invoked Trope--unlike the other Organization members he has few memories of his human life to tell him how to emote, so he overacts to try and hide that he feels the least of all of them.
• Leitmotif: 358/2 Days gives him one named "Xemnus".
• Magnificent Bastard
• Manipulative Bastard
• Nietzsche Wannabe: Though it's sort of justified, since he's a Nobody and therefore a being that is not supposed to exist.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: An Evil Overlord Nobody with pseudo-lightsabers and Norio Wakamoto's voice (in Japanese) who pilots a gigantic Humongous Mecha-dragon-ship while wearing a massive suit of Keyblade armor.
• Personality Powers: A Nietzsche Wannabe that has power over Nothingness.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: With his red Etheral Blades.
• Scary Black Man: In certain production art.
• Sequential Boss: Turned Up to Eleven.
• Sobriquet: The Superior of the In-between.
• Spell My Name with an "S": Misspelled "Xemnus" on the BBS/Days soundtrack.
• The Stoic: Most of his lines are spoken in an unemotional drone.
• Tin Tyrant: One of his multiple forms involves donning a suit of armor and attacking from his throne. It's Master Xehanort's Keyblade Armor.
• Tragic Villain

Sora: Xemnas. There's more to a heart than just anger or hate. It's full of all kinds of feelings. Don't you remember? Xemnas: Unfortunately...I don't.

• • Birth By Sleep, in revealing Xehanort's past, establishes he was telling the truth. With his memories as both Terra and Master Xehanort sealed, all Xemnas has are his memories as Ansem's apprentice when he experimented on the Heartless for a year or so. He really doesn't know any better. Though whether or not that's true is called into question in light of 3D.
• Xanatos Speed Chess: He's very good at this.
• What Could Have Been: These ^{[dead link]} could've been his final boss forms.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy
• Wistful Amnesia: The only part of his human life he remembers is the time he spent in Radiant Garden, and he wants his memories back about as much as he wants to become a "higher existence". Final Mix reveals that he regularly visits Aqua's lost armor and talks to it, calling it "friend".

Xigbar

The Freeshooter

Original Name: Braig

"See, that would work... if I were just any old dude. 'Cept I'm not. I'm with the Organization. Nothing 'any old' about me."

"Have you been a good boy? Oh, it sounds like you haven't!"

Voiced by: Hochu Otsuka (Japanese), James Patrick Stuart (English)

Number II, one of the founding members of the Organization. Although he acts like a surfer dude most of the time, he's actually one of the deadliest members of the group.

As a human, he was Braig, one of Ansem the Wise's six apprentices. He also returns in Birth by Sleep as a recurring foe, and turns out to be a lot more important then anyone suspected. In Dream Drop Distance he is Back from the Dead as Braig and one of the thirteen vessels of Xehanort's heart in the his XIII Seekers of Darkness.

---

• Accent Adaptation: His surfer-dude accent in the English version of KH2 is the Japanese version of a similar accent to reflect his laid-back attitude. It gets downplayed in later appearances, though.
• Affably Evil
• Back from the Dead: In 3D due to the destruction of his Heartless and Nobody.
• Bastard Understudy: As Braig to Master Xehanort. The secret ending of Birth by Sleep even shows that every event that transpires in Kingdom Hearts 1 onwards is attributed to him carrying out Master Xehanort's plans.
• Bifurcated Weapon: He can combine his weapons to form a sniper rifle. This got cut in the English version of II in order to keep things kid friendly. Haha...kid friendly...
• Breakout Villain: Similar to Axel, Xigbar's role in the series has greatly expanded with each release.
• Bunny Ears Lawyer
• Catch Phrase: "As if!"
• Cold Sniper/Friendly Sniper: Maybe. Depends on whether you believe he's truly emotionless. Though he was definitely an Affably Evil Sniper as Braig.
• Combat Tropes
  • Cool Gun: He has two Arrowguns, Sharpshooter.
    • Guns Akimbo
  • Bifurcated Weapon: He can combine his arrowguns to make a Sniper Rifle.
  • Gravity Master: Uses this to move along walls and ceilings.
  • The Gunslinger
  • Joke Weapons: Casual Gear gives him hair dryers. Mystery Gear gives him trumpets.
  • Space Master: With some overlap with Gravity Master.
  • Teleporters and Transporters: Thanks to his space attribute.
    • Teleport Spam
• The Dark Chick: He is this in the true organization, being Xehanort's most chatty and least serious vessel.
• Deceptive Disciple
• Deadpan Snarker
• The Dragon: As of BBS, where he was a secondary dragon, and revelations there mean he was a secret Dragon in II.
  • Dragon with an Agenda: Depending on how much Xemnas remembered about the Plans and his past(s), Xigbar, as the only one to remember everything, would therefore be secretly guiding him. Xigbar was almost certainly manipulating and/or providing planning for Xemnas, but whether it was a little helpful advice and a reminder, or Magnificent Bastard puppetry is as unknown as Xemnas's amnesia's extent, though it's probably in the middle. He, as Braig, probably served as The Corrupter for Terra-Xehanort, given that he's been at least partially possessed by Xehanort since the events of Birth By Sleep, to make sure that Xehanort's plan weren't laid to waste.
• Eyepatch of Power
• Eye Scream: Birth by Sleep shows that Braig lost his right eye by being hit in the face with a ball of darkness fired by Terra's Keyblade.
• Family-Friendly Firearms
• Eyes of Gold: Braig's remaining eye becomes yellow after he accepts the darkness. It's also a sign of Xehanort's gradual possession of him.
• Evil Makeover: Braig started out with brown eyes and normal ears. By the end of the game, his remaining eye is yellow and his ears are pointed, a sign of Xehanort's possession over him.
• Fan Nickname: Like Xemnas's Mansex, Xigbar has the unfortunate anagram of "Bigrax". Also, Demyx uses a fan nickname in 358/2 Days, calling Xigbar "Xiggy."
• Grand Theft Me: In Dream Drop Distance, he reveals that he's been influenced/partially possessed by Xehanort since Birth By Sleep.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Take a wild guess which.
• I Just Want to Be Special: It's implied that Xigbar/Braig is envious of the keyblade wielders and joined Xehanort in the first place in hopes of becoming one himself.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Lampshade Hanging: As Braig in Birth By Sleep, notes about Terra's Keyblade "seems like these days everybody's got one of those", and remarks on Xehanort's amnesia "boy, this is some cliché".
• Laughably Evil
• Leitmotif: 3D gives him "Xigbar", a slightly faster remake of "Organization XIII" with a sinister string part added.
• The Nicknamer
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He's probably one of the Organization's smarter members, particularly in regards to Xemnas's plans and the Keyblade.
• Meaningful Name: The Freeshooter anybody? The name comes from an opera, where the titular freeshooter makes a deal with the villain to gain seven magical bullets. Six of these strikes whoever he wants to, but the seventh is controlled by the devil. Considering what his human self, Braig, has been up to, this is an appropriate title for Xigbar, and serves as a foreshadowing of his greater role in the series.
• More Than Meets the Eye
• Paranoia Fuel: At the end of Birth by Sleep, Xehanort acts as an in-universe example of this for him. Braig isn't 100% sure that it's not really Terra under there, and given that Terra was the one who scarred Braig's face, his uneasiness is almost palpable. Given that he's at least partially Xehanort at the time, he's probably fearing that Terra's memories would resurface and their plans getting laid to waste.
• Personality Powers: He plays with people and with gravity, it fits.
• Pointy Ears
• Recurring Boss: In Birth by Sleep.
• Shipper on Deck: For Roxas/Xion. Though given Roxas's and Xion's true natures, it's very likely this was just a sick joke, especially given that the two look identical to Xigbar anyway.
• Skunk Stripes
• Slasher Smile: He gave one of those when he was about to snipe Sora's head.
• Sobriquet: The Freeshooter.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The North American release of KH 2 misinterpreted his real name as Bleig; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.
• Surfer Dude: But not just ANY old dude...
• Tall, Dark and Snarky: When he's Braig, before he gets his scars from Terra.
• Troll: See Shipper on Deck. He also trolls Saïx over Xemnas's true identity and Sora on his connection to Roxas.

Xaldin

The Whirlwind Lancer

Original Name: Dilan

"When Kingdom Hearts is ours, we can exist fully and completely. So you see, Beast -- that's why we need your Heartless AND your Nobody."

"Feed your anger! Only anger will keep you strong."

Voiced by: Yosuke Akimoto (Japanese), David Dayan Fisher (English)

Number III of the Organization and one of its founding members. He spends most of his time trying to corrupt the Beast for the Organization's purposes.

In his past life as Dilan, he was one of Ansem's six apprentices who betrayed him by researching the Heartless.

---

• Back from the Dead: As Dilan in Dream Drop Distance. Aeleus mentions that he and Even are back but that they aren't stable yet, so they are currently resting. Given Aeleus and Ienzo's attitudes after their resurrections, it's possible that Dilan will undergo a Heel Face Turn.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows
• The Brute: Like Lexaeus, not stupid.
• Combat Tropes
  • Blade on a Stick: His lances, Lindworm.
  • Blow You Away
  • Death From Above: He has the signature Jump attack of a Dragoon from Final Fantasy.
  • Flying Weapon
  • Joke Weapon: Casual Gear gives him broomsticks. Mystery Gear gives him dragon-themed lances.
  • Multi Wielding
  • Power Floats: Because he rides wind currents.
  • Shaping Your Attacks: Into a dragon.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Surprisingly enough, in Birth By Sleep' Dilan shows no signs of his eventual betrayal of his master and general douchebaggery. Instead, he is presented as both extremely loyal to his master and genuinely concerned for Ven's well being.
• Cynical Mentor/Stern Teacher: Zigzagged. Xaldouche is never emotionally supportive of Roxas and often snarks at his more naive comments on missions, but most of the advice that he gives Roxas is actually quite accurate and useful, especially his comment about where a giant Heartless would attack from at Beast's Castle. He also rewards Roxas generously if his sidequests are completed.
• Fan Nickname: Xaldouche, due to being an outright Jerkass in Days. His status as That One Boss in KH2 may have also helped. (Not to mention what he did to the Beast.)
• Hotblooded Sideburns
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Jerkass: In 358/2 Days. Just try to find a scrap of his dialogue that isn't insulting you or ordering you around. And let's not forget his attitude toward the Beast...
  • Though he does, in his way, seem genuinely interested in training Roxas.
• Kick the Dog: Everything he does to the Beast. His diary entry in 358/2 Days shows he's bitterly envious of the Beast, so obviously he wants to do his damndest to make him miserable.
• Manipulative Bastard: Spends most of his time playing with Beast's head to try and turn him into a Heartless AND a Nobody for the Organization.
• Personality Powers: He's nothing like the typical wind user. However, wind is considered the element of "Knowledge", something Xaldin had in spades. Wind can also be extremely brutal and destructive, such as tornados and hurricanes. Something we ALL know Xaldin, as his position of That One Boss, has in spades too.
• The Sadistic Choice: "What shall I leave behind? Belle... or the rose?"
  • For the record, Belle chooses the rose (and to be fair to Beast, he had already chosen Belle just before that.)
• Smug Snake
• Sobriquet: The Whirlwind Lancer.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The North American release of KH 2 misinterpreted his real name as Dilin; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.
• Wicked Cultured: His wild looks aside, Xaldin seems to have a good eye for art and architecture in 358/2 Days.

Vexen

The Chilly Academic

Original Name: Even

"I'm a scientist. Experiments are what I do, yes."

"Pity to be so ignorant. As you're only able to see the surface of things, I should not expect you to appreciate my true might."

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (COM), Nachi Nozawa (Japanese), Derek Stephen Prince (English)

Number IV of the Organization and one of its founders. The group's resident scientist, he's always interested in new test subjects for his experiments.

Before he became a Nobody, he was Even, one of the six apprentices of Ansem the Wise who betrayed him by researching the Heartless and destroying Radiant Garden.

---

• Actor Allusion: Who would've guessed that Uryuu Ishida, of all people, would become a mad scientist.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: In Birth By Sleep, Even seems to be genuinely kind and helpful instead of the Insufferable Genius he later becomes after betraying his master.
• Annoying Laugh: Here.
• Back from the Dead: As Even in Dream Drop Distance. Aeleus mentions that he and Dilan are back but that they aren't stable yet, so they are currently resting. Given Aeleus and Ienzo's attitudes after their resurrections, it's possible that Even will undergo a Heel Face Turn.
• The Chew Toy: A villainous example.
• Combat Tropes
  • An Ice Person
  • Evil Knockoff: In addition to making the Riku Replica he can make an Anti Sora replica mid combat in his Data battle.
  • Harmless Freezing: His Freeze spell.
  • Joke Weapon: Casual Gear gives him a pot lid. Mystery Gear gives him a snowman shield.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: His shield, Frozen Pride.
  • Reverse Shrapnel: With chunks of ice.
    • Shield-Bash: And considering that Frozen Pride is covered with spikes...
  • Spell Blade: Can enchant his shield to make a BFS made from ice with his Slide Break sleight.
  • Stone Wall: Vexen's primary offense is magic but offsets his true squishy nature by hiding behind his shield.
• Evilutionary Biologist: This seems to be his specialty, with his creation of Riku Replica and Xion.
• Evil Genius
• Evil Is Deathly Cold
• Expy: Of Professor Hojo. Mad Scientists whose work goes on to have horrible effects on the universe. Not to mention the loopy cackles. Oh, and they even have the same Japanese seiyuu: Nachi Nozawa. Though, this being an E-rated game, Vexen's a lot less... extreme than Hojo, and Nozawa's performance is significantly less frightening.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Either stabbed in the back or immolated.
• Four Is Death: He's the first of the Organization to be destroyed.
• His Name Is--: He ends up being executed by Axel for trying to tell Sora about Roxas.
• Insufferable Genius
• Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi".
• Jerkass: He loves to insult everyone else's intelligence.
  • May also be a bit of a Jerkass Woobie, being The Chew Toy and dying a particular horrible death while begging for his life.
• Mad Scientist
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Tatsuya Kando, his original seiyuu from Chain of Memories, gave him one. Since it was the only voice clip left in, fans immediately thought that Vexen was as effeminate as one could get.
• The Other Darrin: Staff member Tatsuya Kando in Chain of Memories on the GBA; professional voice actor Nachi Nozawa from then on. Who will voice him now that Nozawa has passed remains to be seen.
• Parental Substitute: His previous self, Even, was one of those responsible for raising Ienzo (Zexion).
• Personality Powers: Wields ice and is fairly cold.
• Pet The Dog: While he acts like quite the Jerkass around Roxas, almost as soon as Roxas begins making progress, despite it being mostly insignificant, he's quick to praise him, and even mildly respectful at the end. Mildly...
• Random Power Ranking: Vexen thinks that just because he's number IV, he thinks he's superior than the majority of the members. Even though the numbers represent when they actually joined the organisation.
• Smug Snake
• Sobriquet: The Chilly Academic.

Lexaeus

The Silent Hero

Original Name: Aeleus

"You've done well thus far. But to possess your powers, and yet fear the darkness... What a waste."

"I, Lexaeus, will not yield to the frail heart of an infantile coward!"

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (COM), Fumihiko Tachiki (Japanese), Dave Boat (English)

Number V of the Organization and one of its founders. While he's content with standing aside and letting Zexion do the talking, he's a lot more intelligent and powerful than he seems.

In his past life as Aeleus, he was one of Ansem's treacherous apprentices.

---

• Combat Tropes
  • An Axe to Grind: His "axe sword" Skysplitter.
  • Battle Aura
  • Dishing Out Dirt
  • Ground-Shattering Landing: Half of his brutish fighting style is smashing the earth with Full-Contact Magic.
  • Ground Pound
  • Implacable Man
  • Joke Weapons: Casual Gear gives him a squeaky toy hammer. Mystery Gear gives him a moai.
  • Mighty Glacier
  • Spell Blade: He can coat his axe with earth for extra power.
• A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil: Birth By Sleep shows Aeleus to have been a loyal and honorable man, before his betrayal of Ansem the Wise.
• Back from the Dead: He is revived in Dream Drop Distance as Aeleus, and appears to have undergone a Heel Face Turn.
• The Brute: But not stupid.
• The Dragon: To Zexion
• Elemental Hair
• Evil Sounds Deep: Lexaeus has a voice that is grittier and deeper in pitch than his voice as Aeleus.
• Genius Bruiser
• Heel Face Turn
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Zexion.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• The Only One I Can Trust: His journal entry in 358/2 Days reveals that he considers Zexion this.
• The Other Darrin: Staff member Tatsuya Kando in Chain of Memories on the GBA; professional voice actor Fumihiko Tachiki from then on.
• Personality Powers: Wields earth and is stalwart and quiet.
• Punch Clock Villain: He doesn't go out of his way to really antagonize anyone, and is much less of a Jerkass than most of the other members.
• The Quiet One
• Satellite Character
• Sobriquet: The Silent Hero.
• Sorry That I'm Dying: "Forgive me, Zexion. This was a fight I should not have started."
• Spell My Name with an "S": The North American release of KH 2 misinterpreted his real name as Eleus; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.

Zexion

The Cloaked Schemer

Original Name: Ienzo

"It's such a shame. The Organization used to be the rope that bound us together."

"Then I shall make you see... That your hopes are nothing. Nothing but a mere illusion!"

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese), Vincent Corazza (English)

Number VI in the Organization, and one of its founding members. In his previous life as Ienzo, he was an orphan adopted by Ansem the Wise, and the youngest of his apprentices.

During Chain of Memories, he tried to corrupt Riku so he could use him to counter Marluxia's coup.

---

• Adaptation Dye Job: His hair is much darker in the manga.
• Adorably Precocious Child: Or at least, when he was Ienzo. Look at him; he's shorter than Ven.
• Back from the Dead: Revived in Dream Drop Distance as Ienzo, and has apparently undergone a Heel Face Turn.
• Badass Bookworm: Literally! His weapon is the "Book of Retribution."
• Blue Eyes
• The Chessmaster
• Combat Tropes
  • Attack Drone: His books act as these when fighting his Absent Silhouette.
  • Casting a Shadow: Although his attribute is classified as Illusion, he has a notable motif of Darkness in his attacks, like Catastrophe and Meteor Mirage.
  • Do Not Touch the Funnel Cloud: His cyclone snatch which will steal your cards away with suction but only the tornado will damage you.
  • Doppleganger Attack
  • Life Drain
  • Joke Weapon: The Casual Gear gives him a sandwich. Mystery Gear will give him a laptop computer which is said to be his diary.
  • Master of Illusion
  • Mega Manning: He steals attacks from Riku when you fight him.
  • Pocket Dimension: His books can trap you in one.
  • Squishy Wizard
  • Throw the Book At Them: His lexicon, the Book of Retribution.
• Corruption by a Minor: Ienzo is the one that convinced Ansem the Wise to build the secret lab where they could experiment on people's hearts.
• Creepy Child: Ienzo's role in BBS seems to be staring....and staring....and staring some more. Now stop and think about it the fact he was still a child when he became a Nobody.
  • Enfant Terrible: He was the one who convinced Ansem to start experimentation with the powers of darkness which escalated into forcing people to turn into heartless.
• Deceptive Disciple
  • Either that or A Pupil of Mine Until He Turned to Evil, as it is not clear as to whether or not Ienzo was evil to begin with, or corrupted over time.
• Evil Laugh: See here for an example. Pretty damn impressive.
• Evil Sounds Deep: While his voice was not particularly deep as Zexion, once revived as Ienzo, his voice is noticeably lighter in pitch.
• Fan Nickname: "Sexy Zexy", at least in Fanfic.
  • Zexy was actually used in Chain of Memories. Re:COM left it out.
• Heel Face Turn
• Heterosexual Life Partners: With Lexaeus.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Boku".
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade: Zexion was actually in a position to become the 2nd in command. Saïx, being a Dragon with an Agenda, takes advantage of the traitor situation in Castle Oblivion and sends Axel to kill Zexion.
• Non-Action Guy: Spends more of his time plotting than fighting, and when he does, his fighting methods are rather unconventional.
• The Nose Knows: He can track people by scent from long range.
• Parental Abandonment: Ienzo became Ansem's ward after the death of his parents.
• Peek-a-Bangs: But he's not bloody Emo, damn it!
• Personality Powers: Has powers over illusions and is manipulative.
• Shape Shifter
  • Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Subjects Riku to one by turning into Sora.
• Smug Snake
• Sobriquet: The Cloaked Schemer.
• Teen Genius
• Tome of Eldritch Lore: All of his lexicons, judging from their names.
• Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Experimenting on the darkness in people's hearts? Check. Creating Heartless? Check. Helping destroy his home by accident? CHECK.
• Undying Loyalty: Completely and utterly loyal to the Organization, which is ironic considering he's also a Smug Snake and Deceptive Disciple.
• The Unfought: In the original Chain of Memories. Averted in the remake, as well as in KH2 Final Mix.
• The Un-Reveal: Zexion's weapon in Chain of Memories due to being The Unfought. In Kingdom Hearts II, there is a room which displays the weapons of every member of the Organization... except Zexion's, which is destroyed. It took the Updated Rerelease to learn what it was (a lexicon).
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He only gets a couple of scenes in Birth By Sleep, but this is the general impression.
• Villainous Breakdown
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Hard to believe he's only a few years older than the protagonists.
• You Gotta Have Steel-Blue Hair

Saïx

The Luna Diviner

Original Name: Isa

"Which would you rather suffer the loss of: Some make-believe friendship, or a real one?"

"True, we don't have hearts, but we remember what it was like. That's what makes us special."

Voiced by: Ginpei Sato (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)

Number VII in the Organization. Second-in-command to Xemnas and responsible for overseeing every other members' missions. Underneath his stoic exterior is a raging berserker just waiting to be released.

It's revealed later that his original self, Isa, was once best friends with Lea. The two even planned to overthrow the Organization together, with Saïx becoming Xemnas's right hand to facilitate this plan. When Axel started to have doubts about using some of the other members to further their goals, the friendship turned sour. In Dream Drop Distance he is Back from the Dead as Isa and one of the thirteen vessels of Xehanort's heart in his XIII Seekers of Darkness.

---

• Achilles' Heel: While in his Berserk mode, your attacks do pratically nothing. Grab one of the several claymores that Saïx flings around during his rampage, and you can blast him For Massive Damage (and knock him out of his trance). His Berserker nobodies suffer from the same weakness.
• Ax Crazy: In his berserk mode.
• Back from the Dead: Revealed near the end of Dream Drop Distance to be a member of the new Organization.
• Becoming the Mask
• Beta Test Baddie: He exemplifies this more than any other member of the Organization.
• Blue Oni: To Axel's Red Oni.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: It's unknown when it happened, or how aware of it he was, but he is slowly becoming a vessel for Xehanort with his Eyes of Gold being a sign of possession. Which explains his inability to understand good, his cruelty towards others, and why he seemed so different as a kid.
• Combat Tropes
  • The Berserker: Under the light of the moon. It's also one of the more effective ways to play him in Days.
  • BFS: His claymore, Lunatic.
    • One-Handed Zweihander
  • Critical Hit: His specialty in 358/2 Days: his Critical % and Crit Bonus stats are maxed, but his other stats are slightly above mediocre.
  • Joke Weapon: A banana... which even splits apart when you go into Berserker Mode.
    • And then there's the cutesy Bunny Moon... which somehow "draws forth his personality"?
  • Lunacy: Powers his even MORE Super Powered Evil Side with moonlight.
  • Reverse Grip
  • Spin Attack: Has a lot of these.
  • Sword Beam: Ones that resemble Cold Flames.
  • Throwing Your Sword Always Works: He does this a lot, but he keeps a lot of spare swords.
• The Dragon
• Dragon with an Agenda: In 358/2 Days, until he gave up on it as he slowly becomes a vessel for Xehanort.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He doesn't understand why Axel and Roxas are concerned when Xion starts passing out - it won't affect their records, after all.
• Eyes of Gold: Like Braig, this seems to indicate that his heart is slowly being taken over by Xehanort.
• Gender Blender Name: His human name was Isa.
• Green Eyes: When he was human.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars
• I Have Your Most Beloved: In II, Saïx kidnaps Kairi in order to lure Sora out and fuel his rage.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Jerkass: He's not a nice person, to say the least.
• Kick the Dog: His horrendous treatment of Xion.
  • He pretty much crosses the Moral Event Horizon when he sets up a mission with the purpose of having Roxas and Xion fight each other and one of them get slain just so he can see which one of them is better for the Organization's plans.
  • Kneel Before Zod: There's also what he did to Sora in Hollow Bastion. After the Organization kidnaps Kairi, Sora literally kneels down on the ground and begs him to let her go. Seeing how much he cares for her, Saïx flatly refuses so Sora can take his anger out on the Heartless.
    • Ironically, this may now be a subversion. 3D reveals that his heart has been influenced/possessed by Xehanort fo a while now, potentially making these moments belong to Xehanort.
• Kneel Before Zod: To Roxas (but not Sora, that part was his idea). "GROVEL BEFORE ME!"
• Never Say "Die": Nope. He wants to see Sora die fighting.
• Pointy Ears
• Poisonous Friend: To Axel after becoming a possessed by Xehanort.
• Perpetual Frowner Outside of his berserk state, he rarely changes his expression.
• Personality Powers: A two for one deal, arguably; he's usually calm and stoic, but he's also a berserker, which can both fit the moon.
• Sobriquet: The Luna Diviner.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The umlaut doesn't appear in any Japanese media.
• The Stoic
  • Not So Stoic: "ALL SHALL BE LOST TO YOU!"
  • And he gives Ansem a run for his money in the Large Ham department, funnily enough.
• Tragic Villain: Oh, Isa, you don't deserve this fate.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: 'Used to' being the operative words. In, 3D, we learn why.
• X Marks The Villain
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Axel

The Flurry of Dancing Flames

Original Name: Lea

"My show now, Keyblade master! Who am I? Oh, my name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

"What's your problem!? You both... think you can do whatever you want. Well, I'm sick of it. Go on, you just keep running! But I'll always be there to bring you back!"

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Quinton Flynn (English)

Org XIII's 8th member and the only one to survive Chain of Memories. Days reveals his Other's name to have been Lea, and then Birth by Sleep reveals that he was best friends with Isa, Saïx's Other. In Dream Drop Distance, Axel is back as Lea, his true self. Towards the end, it is revealed that Lea has gained the ability to wield his own Keyblade.

---

• Adorkable: As Lea, Axel had his moments, while interacting with Roxas and Xion, but Lea is pure marshmallow fluff. Even after coming back to life.
• Anti-Villain: He's a straight up villain at first, but changes due to his friendships with Roxas and Xion and ends up between Types I and II.
  • Anti-Villain -> Anti-Hero: Type III, after his Character Development.
  • Completes the change to full-blown hero as of Dream Drop Distance, rescuing Minnie from Maleficent and later showing up just in time to foil Master Xehanort's plan to possess Sora. He has also gained the ability to wield a keyblade, and seems intent on keeping his promise to Roxas by joining Sora's extended Nakama.
• Back from the Dead: He reappears in 3D in his human form, calling himself by his true name, Lea. This is because his Heartless was killed, thus returning him to life as a human.
• Becoming the Mask: Reading the secret reports in Days reveal that Axel's initial promise of friendship to Roxas was a lie and that he didn't really feel anything toward him. After coming back from the events at Castle Oblivion, he gradually became Roxas's friend for real.
• Big Brother Instinct: With regards to Roxas. His driving motivation from the middle of 358/2' through KH2, after he started essentially raising Roxas and acting as a surrogate parent. Of course, a lot of this has more to do with himself than with Roxas until toward the end.
• Big Damn Heroes: Several times in Dream Drop Distance.
• Breakout Character: He was supposed to die in the introductory sequence of II. He didn't, and has gone on to become a central hero.
• The Caretaker: Of Roxas and Xion in 358/2 Days.
• Catch Phrase: Kioku shita ka? In Chain of Memories it was "Commit it to memory." KH2 retranslated it as the more natural-sounding "Got it memorized?", which is used from then on.
• The Chessmaster
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Don't even try to deny it.
• Combat Tropes
  • Cool Keyblade: He gains his own Keyblade in 3D.
  • Flash Step: Will warp just in time to catch the chakrams he throws.
  • Joke Weapon: Pizzas with the Casual Gear.
  • Playing with Fire
    • Fireballs: His Firetooth sleight turns his chakrams into some.
    • Ring of Fire: In both his CoM and KH2 boss fights.
  • Precision-Guided Boomerang
    • Boomerang Comeback
  • Rings of Death: His chakrams, the Eternal Flames.
    • Fuuma Shuriken: Some of his weapon sets in Days, particularly the Conformers (named after Yuffie's best weapon from FFVII) and like Yuffie's the JPN version has them actually named Fuuma Shuriken.
• Compressed Hair: How does that fit under his hood?
• Demoted to Extra: From COM to KH2, which is ironic considering what happened to him afterwards.
  • He was originally supposed to die at the end of Roxas' section of the game, so he would've been in even less if he hadn't turned out to be so popular.
• Double Agent: Played straight, then subverted, then zigzagged, then does a loop-the-loop into an aversion. In the end the only side Axel is clearly on is his own.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Originally slated to die at the start of Kingdom Hearts II, Axel was instead left alive longer, which had the unfortunate side effect of making his eventual death rather anti-climactic.
  • And now subverted as of 3D.
• Dragon with an Agenda
• Elemental Hair: Was anyone really surprised he turned out to use fire-elemental attacks?
• Enemy Mine: When he helped Sora against the Nobodies at the Realm of Nothingless by blowing himself up and later used his last power to open a portal to the World That Never Was.
• Evil Redhead: At least in the beginning. See "Anti-Villain" above.
• Evil Versus Evil: In Chain of Memories.
• Expy: Of Reno from Final Fantasy VII. They share voice actors in English and in Japanese. (And French and Spanish and German...)
  • Invoked Trope: Nomura was asked about their similarities and said outright he made Axel in the image of Reno to try out a familiar character in a new universe and see how he developed.
• Faux Affably Evil: He acts like a Friendly Enemy to Sora in Chain of Memories and it looks like he's doing good by releasing Namine, but as the D-Report in Riku's story mode notes on his character bio, it's all a means of manipulating them.
• Fiery Redhead: Literally!
• Foreshadowing: After freeing Namine to go and save Sora he quickly notices how he was enjoying it Foreshadowing that his heart was beginning to manifest.
• Flanderization: The use of his Catch Phrase has gone up with each passing game. In his first appearance, Chain of Memories, he only said it once.
• Gender Blender Name: His human name is Lea. It's supposed to be pronounced "Leah" according to the katakana, but the English version pronounces it "Lee", presumably in an attempt to make it sound masculine.
• Green Eyes: The untrustworthy and spitfire take.
• Heel Face Turn
• Heroic Sacrifice
• Hot-Blooded
• Year Inside, Hour Outside: Yen Sid, Merlin, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather all pitch in to warp time and space to reduce the amount of time it takes to make Lea worthy of a keyblade.
• I Have Your Most Beloved: Kidnaps Kairi in II to lure Sora out so he can turn Sora into a Heartless and get Roxas back in the process. Kairi gets away from him, and shortly afterwards Axel abandons this plan.
• Insistent Terminology: Asserts for people to call him Lea after returning to life as a Running Gag in 3D, in the end he sighs defeated saying Axel works too.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Let's Get Dangerous: "You really do remember me this time? I'M SO FLATTERED."
• Lovable Traitor: He and Saïx were planning on betraying Xemnas, which meant he also needed to get in good with Marluxia and Larxene and then betray them so that they wouldn't betray Xemnas first. Then he betrays Zexion. And he's just so cool in doing all this.
• Magnificent Bastard: During his time as a member of the Organization.
• The Other Darrin: If only due to Non Dubbed Grunts, but he's played by Keiji Fujiwara in the English Chain of Memories, who's replaced by Quinton Flynn from II onward.
• Out of Focus: A major character in Chain of Memories and 358/2 Days; surprisingly inconsequential in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Parental Substitute: Acts as a mix of this and Big Brother Mentor to Roxas and Xion, although being a Nobody, it's flawed. Realizing he is the closest thing Roxas had to a father casts his desperation to protect him in II in a previously unconsidered light.
• Personality Powers: He's rather hot headed, as fire users are wont to be.
• Poisonous Friend: His obsession with "helping" or "protecting" Roxas and Xion rarely corresponds with what both of them actually want.
• Rebel Relaxation
• Redemption Equals Death
• Red Oni: To Saïx's Blue Oni.
• Sobriquet: The Flurry of Dancing Flames.
• Stalker with a Crush: Or at least borderlining it towards Roxas...
• Villainous Widow's Peak: Eventually grows out of the villainous part.
• Would Hit a Girl: He knocks Xion out to bring her back to Organization XIII... twice.
  • He's also willing to attack and destroy Namine if that means getting at Marluxia.I

Demyx

The Melodious Nocturne

"Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..."

"Do you ever get the urge to do something stupid... and AWESOME!?"

Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese), Ryan O'Donohue (English)

Number IX of the Organization. While he is more capable than Sora is willing to give him credit for, he's pretty bad at being a villain. His fighting style, however, is deadly, and for many players he's That One Boss.

---

• Accidental Truth: "Oh, we do too have hearts! Don't be mad..."
• Affably Evil or Faux Affably Evil: It's unsure which he is.
• A Man Is Not a Virgin: In the 358/2 Days manga, Roxas attempts to ask Demyx about girls and the things that set them off (switches), resulting in a hilarious misunderstanding. When told that it's alright if he hasn't, Demyx forcefully insists that he's done it plenty of times.
• Beware the Silly Ones
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
• Brilliant but Lazy: Seemingly.
• Combat Tropes
  • Instrument of Murder: His Sitar, Arpeggio.
  • Joke Weapons: Casual Gear gives him a tennis racket, and Mystery Gear gives him a broom.
    • Shout-Out: The tennis racket is called the "Prince Of Awesome" and the description says that it "looks awfully familiar..."
  • Making a Splash
  • Musical Assassin
    • Magic Music
  • Squishy Wizard
  • Summon Backup Dancers
• Comedic Sociopathy: Again, see quote.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Or so it seems...
• Dismotivation
• Eighties Hair
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: We're supposed to believe he's a wimpy coward who absolutely sucks at fighting. THIS IS A DAMNABLE LIE.
• Get Back Here Boss
• The Hedonist: 358/2 Days shows that, while not necessarily a malicious person, Demyx isn't one to really care about other people's problems so long as he has a good time. His reaction to The Reveal about Xion is to go "Far out!" and then teleport away without a second thought.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Laughably Evil: He has no qualms about committing evil deeds... but he's usually really bad at carrying them out.
• The Load: The difference between him and Xion is that at least Xion actually tries fighting instead of looking for excuses.
• Lovable Coward: Especially in 358/2 Days, in which he's a lazy coward who bribes Roxas to do missions for him... but he's just so funny while being this.
  • Not So Harmless: But try to fight him when you've given him reason to be mad. Go ahead. Try.
• Minion with an F In Evil
• Non-Action Guy: Gameplay and Story Segregation aside, he's meant to be this.
• Not So Harmless: Oh, he's just a cowardly wimp, a kook who can't even fight...

Demyx: "Silence, traitor."

• Personality Powers: He doesn't fit the stereotype of a water user; however, water is the element of change and mutability. It can be calm and placid in one moment, harsh and brutal the next. Fits pretty well with Demyx’s Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass persona.
• Punch Clock Villain: More interested in writing songs than being evil.
• Satellite Character: He's really only here to be an enemy and fill the Number IX position.
  • Throw It In: Pretty much his entire personality was created by his seiyuu ad libbing.
• Sobriquet: The Melodious Nocturne.
• Two Scene Wonder

Luxord

The Gambler of Fate

"I'd rather we just skip the formalities."

"If only the whispers at the top of the ladder carried to the bottom rung..."

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (Japanese), Robin Atkin Downes (English)

Number X. He's suave, has a delicious British accent, and he likes card games. He views life as a game and has all the time in the world to win it.

---

• Affably Evil: He's just so damn polite.
• Author Appeal: Subverted. Luxord is Nomura's favorite member of Organization XIII, but as covered under Satellite Character he has the smallest role of its members in the series.
• Beard of Evil
• Blond Guys Are Evil
• Combat Tropes
  • Baleful Polymorph: He and his Gamblers can turn Sora into a card or a die, severely cutting offensive power.
  • Death Dealer: His deck of cards, Fair Game.
  • Duel Boss: He teleports Sora's friends elsewhere to even the odds. Guess how well it works out for him.
  • The Gambler
  • Joke Weapons: Video game discs from the Casual Gear and four-leaf clovers from the Mystery Gear.
  • Time Limit Boss: Played with - rather than HP bars, he has a time bar that depletes throughout the battle. Sora can speed it up by hitting him, but he has his own time bar and HP to keep an eye on.
  • Time Master: Although we only see him use it to give his battles a time limit.
  • Trap Master
• Evil Brit
• Evil Laugh: Uses this when he blows up the Interceptor.
• Fair Play Villain
• Graceful Loser: "You play the game quite well..."
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Man of Wealth and Taste
• Mind Over Manners: Despite having control over time, as stated above and below, the most Luxord does in his fight is set a time limit and teleport Sora's allies away. Apparently the only reason he didn't do so to Sora as well was just so he could play, and give him a fair game. Given his manners with Sora otherwise, this could be justified. Though it could just be Honor Before Reason.
• Personality Powers: It's a bit hard to pin down a stereotype for time powers, but given that he uses them to set time limits for the gameplay portions he's involved with, it ties into his character as a gambler and game master.
• Punch Clock Villain: Luxord is generally more interested in games than he is in Kicking The Dog, and Days shows that he has some degree of frustration towards Xemnas and his inner circle for being left outside of the loop for Xemnas's more complex Xanatos Speed Chess schemes.
• Satellite Character: His main purpose is to be Number X in the organization's ranks, and otherwise has little importance to anything. He has a very small role in 358/2 Days, accompanying Roxas on a handful of missions in Wonderland, and in Kingdom Hearts II he's the focus of the second visit to Port Royal but leaves once he sets the crisis in motion, and the fight with him before Saix is pretty much squeezed in just to make sure all the Organization members are dead.
• Sobriquet: The Gambler of Fate.
• Stealth Pun: His joke weapon, the aforementioned video game discs, are called "Finest Fantasy 13," and bear the description "This looks awfully familiar...", and bears the roman numeral for 13 on it. Guess what game came out a few months later.

Marluxia

The Graceful Assassin

"I've been entrusted this castle and Naminé by our leader. Defying me will be seen as treason against the Organization."

"As lightless oblivion devours you, drown in the ever-blooming darkness!"

Voiced by: Tatsuya Kando (COM), Shuichi Ikeda (Japanese), Keith Ferguson (English)

Number XI, recruited by Xigbar and Xaldin. He is given charge of Castle Oblivion and attempts to engineer a coup against Xemnas with the help of Larxene and the presumed help of Axel.

---

• Adaptation Dye Job: His original sprites in the gameboy games have brown hair, they become a pink hue in the console games. His Cherry Blossoms also turn into the thematically similar rose.
• Big Bad: Of Chain of Memories.
• Blue Eyes
• The Caretaker: An emotionally abusive one for Namine. Poor thing.
• The Chessmaster: Not as good at it as Xemnas, but he's still skilled.
• Combat Tropes
  • Attack Drone: Flowerbuds that fire Frickin Laser Beam.
  • Death From Above: His Drop Shot sleight.
  • Green Thumb
  • Guardian Entity: The Specter Nobody in his final form.
  • Humongous Mecha: Pilots a mecha like nobody with scythe like arms in his second form.
  • Joke Weapons: Casual Gear gives him an enormous soup ladle, Mystery Gear transforms it into a gigantic flower stem.
  • Magic Knight: In 358/2 Days.
  • Petal Power
  • Sinister Scythe: His scythe, Graceful Dahlia.
  • Sword Beam: Or rather a Scythe Beam.
  • One-Hit Kill
• Cherry Blossoms: They look more like rose petals in Re:COM, however.
• Death Is Dramatic: Yep.
• Elemental Hair
• Even Evil Has Standards: He's very cruel, manipulative, and power-mad, but according to 358/2 Days, he wants to overthrow Xemnas partially because even he knows Xemnas is taking those same traits much too far.
  • With what we've learned in 3D, he was right on the button
• Final Boss: Of Chain of Memories.
• The Grim Reaper: Motif-wise, he fits. He uses a scythe, has several sleights referring to death (i.e. Death Scythe, Doom, etc.), originally appeared as a hooded figure, and his Nobody Familiar even uses the same weapon (including Dual-Wielding it in its first form) and appears in a form similar to Death during the Final Battle in Re:COM.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi".
• Large Ham: In the Japanese version. Still has nothing on Xemnas though.
• Manipulative Bastard: Not as magnificent as Xemnas, Axel, or Saïx, and not as smug as Xaldin, Vexen, or Zexion, but fairly in the middle.
• The Other Darrin: Staff member Tatsuya Kando in Chain of Memories on the GBA; professional voice actor Shuichi Ikeda from then on.
• Personality Powers: Possibly averted, but one could say he manipulates people like he does plants.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His attribute is flowers. Plants in general presumably, but mainly flowers. This seems less weird when you consider the significance of cherry blossoms in Japan, the fact that he was originally supposed to be a woman (well, that explains everything!), and that Byakuya Kuchiki uses pink flower petals to cut his opponents into teeny little bits.
• Sobriquet: The Graceful Assassin.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness

Axel: You give a challenge like that to Vexen, and he'll... seriously want to eliminate Sora. Marluxia: That would be an unfortunate denouement.

• The Starscream
• What Could Have Been: He was supposed to be a woman, but the idea of only two women in an organization of men trying to overthrow its leadership, and then failing, didn't fly.
• You Gotta Have Pink Hair

Larxene

The Savage Nymph

"I'M a bad guy so you'll have to go through me!"

"More pain for you means more fun for me!"

Voiced by: Reiko Katamaya (COM), Yuko Miyamura (Japanese), Shanelle Gray (English)

Number XII of the Organization and close ally of Marluxia. Gleefully sadistic, she enjoys tormenting others for the fun of it.

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• Ax Crazy
• The Baroness
• Blondes Are Evil
• Child-Hater: She definitely has shades of this, if her journal entry is anything to go by. To her credit, she does come to somewhat respect Roxas before she leaves for Castle Oblivion.
• Combat Stilettos
• Combat Tropes
  • Doppelganger Attack
  • Fragile Speedster: Larxene is pretty vulnerable to attacks, provided you can catch up to her.
    • In 358/2 Days, she is a mix between this and a Squishy Wizard.
  • Flash Step
    • Teleport Spam
  • Flechette Storm
  • Joke Weapons: Casual Gear, dragonflies. Mystery Gear, lightbulbs.
  • Kung Fu Wizard
  • Knife Nut: Her knives, Foudre.
  • She Fu: Woo boy howdy. Shown a lot in her game play. In Days, it becomes more prominent depending on the type of weapon chosen for her.
  • Shock and Awe
  • Wolverine Claws: Unless she is throwing them, she wields her knives in this manner.
• Cute and Psycho
• Dark Action Girl
• Elemental Hair
• Even Evil Has Standards: See Marluxia.
• Evil Laugh: Just. Listen.
• Faux Affably Evil: Aw, she's so cheerful... oh crap, that's because she's about to stab someone!
• Genre Blind: Larxene, if you didn't want to go out the way you did, you should NOT have tried to destroy Sora, Donald, and Goofy after they've reunited with The Power of Friendship.
• Giggling Villain: Adorable sounding (in Japanese at least), yet no less creepy.
• Good Eyes, Evil Eyes: A nice subversion of the standard large eyes equal good and innocent, as her eyes are about as large as Sora and Kairi's.
• Green Eyes/Blue Eyes: Hard to tell with her. Official images by way of Nomura's drawings have her with blue (which is a nice oxymoron), but in the game it looks a somewhat blue, a green, and sometimes an odd mixture of both.
  • A blue-green color is also called cyan.
• Hair Antennae
• Hartman Hips
• Hidden Depths: Though the dialogue only appears in the the non-canon novels, so it's validity is in question, Larxene stated there that her existence as a Nobody was preferable to regaining her heart, and remniscated that having had a heart had been a painful experience.
• I Shall Taunt You: Her second hobby next to Kick the Dog.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Watashi".
• Jerkass: She has the Japanese voice of Asuka Soryu for crying out loud!
• Kick the Dog: Literally kicks Sora to the ground twice, hits the Riku Replica when he charges at her and later throws him aside while he's unconcious, and bitch-slaps Naminé. Generally, this trope seems to be her hobby.
• Laughably Evil: Her sadism can be quite humorous when she's around her fellow Organization members, especially Vexen.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: You really should have hurried up and killed Sora instead of providing all that groundbreaking exposition, Larxene....
• No Sense of Personal Space: Occurs a lot in Re:COM with both Axel and Naminé, leading fans in fan fiction to either 1) paint her as a Depraved Bisexual, or 2) pair her up with Axel and create something remsembling a Romantic Two-Girl Friendship with Naminé.
• The Other Darrin: Square staff member Rieko Katayama in Chain of Memories on the GBA; professional voice actress Yuko Miyamura from then on.
• Personality Powers: Wields lightning and is gleeful and sadistic...
• Pet the Dog: Her last interaction with Roxas in Days is her saying that he's "almost half-competent now" and that maybe he'd make a good addition to her and Marluxia's rebellion plan. And that, friends, is just about the nicest Larxene has ever been.
• Psycho Electro
• Psycho for Hire
• The Smurfette Principle: The only girl in the Organization before Xion came along. And depending on your interpretation of Xion, she may still be.
• Sobriquet: The Savage Nymph.
• Terms of Endangerment
• Woman in Black: A fitting foil to Naminé's Woman in White, more present in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories.

Roxas

The Key of Destiny

Original Name: Sora

"What are you talking about? I am me! Nobody else!"

"Sora... You're lucky. Looks like my summer vacation is... over." —Voiced by: Kouki Uchiyama (Japanese), Jesse McCartney (English)

Number 13 in the above. A mysterious Nobody able to wield the Keyblade, he defected when he realized that the Organization (sans Axel, though at the time Roxas doubted even that) cared nothing for him. He's revealed to be Sora's Nobody, born when Sora took his own heart in Kingdom Hearts.

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• Anti-Villain: Type IV.
• Badass: There isn't a fan in existence that didn't go nuts when Roxas whipped out two Keyblades in the intro of II and started knocking Axel around the room like a ragdoll. He's only been defeated twice, by Riku and Sora, and Riku was forced to enact a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to surprise and overwhelm him.
• Blue Eyes
• Character Development: A central component of Days is that Roxas has to learn to emote on his own since he has no memories of his life to tell him how to, and he begins the game as a lifeless dullard. But by the end...
  • In 3D he says his name isn't Roxas and that he is just Sora, though Sora insists he should be his own person. A far cry from how he reacted to the reveal of his true identity in Kingdom Hearts II.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: Jesse McCartney.
• Combat Tropes
  • Cool Keyblade
  • Dual-Wielding: He uses two Keyblades as his Weapon of Choice.
  • Holy Hand Grenade and Light'Em Up: With skills like Event Horizon and Magic Hour.
  • Joke Weapon: An umbrella with the Casual Gear.
  • Jack of All Stats: In 358/2 Days.
    • Lightning Bruiser: Any other time he's featured.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Thematically with the Oathkeeper and Oblivion, symbolizing Light and Darkness as well as Kairi and Riku.
• Cosmic Plaything: Absolutely. You can't help but feel sorry for him.
• Decoy Protagonist: In KH2.
• Defector From Decadence
• Duel Boss
• Heel Face Turn: He was sort of strong-armed into it, though. He doesn't even come to grasp the Organization's malicious intentions, either. He leaves because they never tell him anything, they hurt Xion, and she tells him to fight them as she's dying.
• Fan Nickname: Was referred to as Blonde-Haired Kid or BHK based on promotional material before his name was revealed.
• Final Boss: Of coded.
  • Bonus Boss: The bugged version of him in the final system sector.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Ore".
• Light Is Not Good: Though he gets better.
• Lonely Piano Piece: His leitmotif.
  • Boss Remix: The Other Promise
• Manipulative Bastard: Seemed to have picked up a few tricks from Marluxia in coded.
• Personality Powers: Zigzagged, though he can be cheerful, happy and heroic, he also spends a lot of time being moody, and wrestles with Cloning Blues due to being Sora's Nobody.
• Punch Clock Villain: He doesn't have any idea what he's working towards for most of his life, and he doesn't really take any pleasure in his work.
• Redemption Demotion: Though more because he has amnesia than because he left the Organization.
• The Sixth Ranger
• Split Personality Merge: With Sora. And Xion. And possibly Ven... It's complicated.
• Sobriquet: The Key of Destiny.
• Tomato in the Mirror
• Took a Level in Badass: For most of his existence, he wasn't all that impressive. BUT THEN, when he quits the Organization, he's able to destroy Saïx, possibly the second most powerful member of the Organization, when he's only at half his peak strength. He's not even tired afterwards, while Saïx is keeled over in pain. And when he recovers his memories in the digital Twilight Town, his former buddy Axel is on the receiving end of the whup-ass.
• Token Good Teammate
• Took a Level in Jerkass: His data self in coded is extremely resentful of everyone. He spends the entirety of the Castle Oblivion level urging Data Sora to break people's hearts because it'll be quicker to get his trials over with, and they're just hunks of data that no one else knows about and that Data Sora will forget about immediately after, so who cares? This is because his Data self is dealing with two different layers of What Measure Is a Non-Human?. He's a Nobody, and a data copy at that.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Sea-salt ice cream.
• Tragic Villain: The villain part being very loose.
• Worthy Opponent: Sees Sora as this after their confrontation.

"You make a good Other."

Xion

Original Name: no.i

"Who am I? What am I... here for?"

"It's too late... for me to undo my mistakes. But you can't let Xemnas... have Kingdom Hearts. You can't. Goodbye, Roxas... See you again. I'm glad... I got to meet you. Oh... and of course Axel, too. You're both my best friends. Never forget. That's the truth."

Voiced by: Risa Uchida (Japanese), Alyson Stoner (English 358/2 Days), Hayden Panettiere (English Birth by Sleep)

The 14th member (though not really) of the Organization, introduced in 358/2 Days.

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• Acting for Two: Shares her Japanese voice actress with Kairi, and in Days Stoner also plays The Other Darrin for Kairi. However, Kairi's original voice, Hayden Panettiere, returned for Birth by Sleep... as Kairi and as Xion, interestingly enough.
• Action Girl/Faux Action Girl: Zigzagged, at first she's useless in battle but becomes more effective as the game progresses, and is just as competent (or not) as any other character in mission mode. However she never shows herself as particularly stand-out except for in cutscenes, where she finishes off a Darkside and can hold her own against Axel.
• Anti-Villain: Type IV.
• Artificial Human: Xion is artificial even by Nobody standards.
• Beta Test Baddie
• The Blank: She appears to some people as this...
  • No Biological Sex: Although she seems to consider herself a girl, probably because she initially truly manifested in her female form thanks to Sora's strong memories of Kairi.
• Blue Eyes
• Break the Cutie: Xemnas, you bastard...
• Brunette: To Naminé's Blond and Kairi's Redhead.
• Climax Boss
• Cloning Blues
• Combat Stilettos
• Combat Tropes
  • Cool Keyblade
  • Duel Boss
  • Joke Weapon: Like Roxas, the Casual Gear gives her an umbrella.
  • Light'Em Up: Uses the same limit (Event Horizon) as Roxas, and when fighting her, she uses Sora's attacks: Ragnarok, Ars Arcanum, and of course Trinity Limit.
  • Jack of All Stats: Her only difference from Roxas is that she can't dual-wield.
  • One-Winged Angel
  • Sequential Boss
• Dying as Yourself: Xion transforms into some kind of creature when you battle her, but returns to normal as she dies.
  • Go Out with a Smile
• Gender Bender: She's a Replica of Roxas. Open to interpretation, somewhat, as she typically manifests as Sora's strongest memories, i.e. as Kairi, though she also manifests as Sora at times.
  • "Kairi" to certain people though.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: Twice-subverted. She initially resists such a proposition despite the pain she feels, until Xemnas interferes in an attempt to force her to absorb Roxas. Not that he actually succeeded - she's only feigning insanity because she needed Roxas to destroy her artificial body so she could return to Sora, where she (quite lucidly) decided that she belonged.
• Heel Face Turn: Ultimately she decides to sacrifice herself for what's right and to stop Xemnas.
• Heroic Sacrifice
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Referred to such by Saïx.
• Japanese Pronouns: "Atashi".
• Leitmotif: Widely considered the series' best, too.
  • Boss Remix
• Light Is Not Good
  • Light Is Good: She sacrifices herself for what's right.
• The Load: She's a fairly weak fighter at first and has to be supported a lot on missions. However, it turns out this is intentional, as Xion is designed to grow stronger through absorbing memories of Sora from Roxas, which in turn makes Roxas weaker. This is why in later missions she's more useful, but Roxas in turn is weaker.
• Meaningful Name: She's named after a flower (shion) that symbolizes remembrance.
  • Nomura himself stated he liked the name instantly because of its many meanings. This means it has a shitload of meanings:
    • "shion", the flower meaning remembrance, as said above;
    • the anagram of No. i, an imaginary number;
    • her anagram could also be seen as No. I, demonstrating that she's Vexen's first (and faulty) experimental clone;
    • "shio", Japanese for "tide", that is, a nod to the likes of Kairi, Naminé, and Aqua
  • Xigbar frequently refers to Xion as "Poppet," cluing in to the fact that she is not so much a Nobody as she is a puppet.
• Mind Screw: The true nature of Xion is rather confusing, especially the validity of the aforementioned Gender Bender.
• My Friends and Zoidberg: She's a rare, non-comedic example of this trope. As the story goes on, it's shown she's nothing more than a puppet for Xemnas, not even a real Nobody, and Saix reveals that she was never even part of the Organization.
• Personality Powers: Double Subverted, much like Roxas, she's a bit too moody for a Light user, but she does have brighter aspects of her personality. Also, she (like Roxas) does seem to be one of the nicer members.
• Ret-Gone: When she's absorbed into Roxas, everyone forgets she ever existed.
• Shiny Midnight Black
• Significant Anagram: "No. i".
• Someone Has to Die: For Roxas (and in conjunction, Sora). Both of them are unable to coexist stably.
• The Southpaw: Not counting Ven in one of the secret movies (before he was changed to be right-handed), she is the first Keyblade wielder so far to be a lefty, at least in official art.
  • A Sinister Clue: If you consider her a villain due to being with the Organization.
• Split Personality Merge: With Roxas, and later Sora by extension.
• Suicide by Cop
• Talking To Herself: Alyson Stoner also voices Kairi in a quick flashback sequence in Days.
• Theme Naming: Her part in the "girls related to Kairi" group is shio for tide.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth

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