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Master Xehanort

"Destiny is never left to chance."

^{Click here to see the Boy in Black}

Voiced by: BBS, DDD: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), Leonard Nimoy (English); III: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Rutger Hauer (Main game), Christopher Lloyd (Re:Mind onwards) (English)

Appearances: II Final Mix | Birth by Sleep | Re:coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Dark Road | Melody of Memory

"We know so little about the Keyblade War — only that it was just the beginning. Amidst that crisis a precious light was found. It is a curious tale — and one worth exploring. They say ruin brings about creation. So what, then, would another Keyblade War bring? When the darkness falls, will we be found worthy of the precious light the legend speaks of? I must have these answers. The χ-blade needs to be forged and with it, the door to the Keyblade War unlocked."

The Big Bad of the Dark Seeker Saga. A Keyblade Master who once taught Ventus, Master Xehanort believes that darkness and light should exist in perfect balance, and for this reason, he seeks to conquer Kingdom Hearts and recreate the worlds according to his wishes. Through his many different incarnations, including Terra-Xehanort, his Heartless, Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and his Nobody, Xemnas, Xehanort is ultimately responsible for the series of events that repeatedly threaten the worlds with destruction, including the mass release of Heartless into the Realm of Light, and the creation of the Nobodies and Organization XIII. He has also brought tragedy to many that have crossed his path, including Sora, Riku, Kairi, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua.

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Master Xehanort

"Darkness cannot be destroyed. It can only be channeled."

The original Xehanort, an elderly Keyblade Master. He was once a noble and wise man, if somewhat shifty, though in his quest to unravel the mysteries of the Keyblade and its role in the fate of the worlds, he delved too deep into darkness and now seeks the power of Kingdom Hearts to cause an apocalypse For Science!. He's effectively the Big Bad of the Dark Seeker Saga, as his schemes and his various incarnations fuel the main conflicts behind almost every game. As of III he's Number I (and as such, the leader) of the XIII Seekers of Darkness.

Abusive Parents: While not his biological son, he is one toward Ventus, his original apprentice; he acted as a Sink or Swim Mentor by pitting him against a dozen Heartless and watching them almost kill him. In the novelization he's also this to Vanitas, putting him through Training from Hell. In a sense, he is also this to his other selves, the ones directly created from him, as they were born solely to serve him and he sacrifices all of them without a second thought.
The Ace:
- Master Xehanort is an extremely skilled Keyblade Master and magic user. His magic skills are some of the most advanced seen in the series so far, as he can manipulate the elements around him, block shots without raising his arms, telekinetically control the Keyblades covering the Keyblade Graveyard to attack Terra and Aqua, and bombard foes with multiple Fire, Thunder, and Blizzard-based magic. He is also able to teleport if he is in danger. Without his magic, Master Xehanort strikes opponents with powerful, fast-paced attacks. Despite his age, Xehanort possesses physical strength sufficient enough to grab a fully-armored Ventus by the back of the head and lift him into the air, slowly cracking the helmet as he did so. His Keyblade skills have also not tarnished, as he was able to fight at incredible speeds and hold his own in battle.
- Thanks to his studies on the heart, Master Xehanort shows a great deal of skill in utilizing the heart and its capabilities, able to create a living being from a heart, and even able to direct his heart into Terra's body to possess it after his defeat in the Keyblade Graveyard. Master Xehanort's greatest asset, however, is his intellect and capacity for manipulation: he had, directly and indirectly, caused many of the hardships and suffering of the worlds for over a decade through complex schemes and contingencies, and always has backup plans ready.
Achilles' Heel: In his Data Rematch, almost all of his upper slashes. All but one of his upper slashes outside of his Desperation Attack gives a moment of vulnerability. Those upper slashes must be bad for his back. However, unlike attacks in the series that are both blockable and give Sora an opportunity to punish, Xehanort's upper slashes only leave him vulnerable if Sora dodges them. More so when Xehanort transforms the χ-blade into a double-bladed sword for the upper slash because it's an Unblockable Attack.
Adaptational Heroism: For some reason in the English version his speech had been changed to make it sound like he was fighting for the light all along. The confusion was caused by the Japanese word mashiro, which means both pure and blank, being Lost in Translation. What was actually happening was he was explaining to Sora that balancing light and darkness was not possible so he deemed the world a failure and decided to destroy it instead.
All According to Plan: Revealed in Dream Drop Distance. Master Xehanort admits to his past endeavors and his failed attempt to create the χ-blade to Riku and Mickey but also reveals that he has another way to create the χ-blade and restart the Keyblade War. Since the χ-blade was divided at the conclusion of the Keyblade War into thirteen darknesses and seven lights, he had orchestrated many previous events, including manipulating Maleficent into capturing the seven Princesses of Heart and the creation of Organization XIII as vessels of darkness, each meant to harbor a piece of his own heart.
All for Nothing: His final battle cathartically reeks of this. All those stolen bodies and extra vessels? He's reduced to his hated "real" form as a frail old man. The χ-blade he worked and schemed so hard to get? The Kingdom Key is able to keep up with it. Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all worlds that was supposed to give him unlimited power? The man who wields the progenitor of all keyblades loses to the three truly united ones of Sora, Donald, and Goofy. This is illustrated best by the juxtaposition in his final scene: while Eraqus and Sora are each seen with their friends and allies happy to just be together, Xehanort is shown alone, in the darkness and rather miserable, well aware that his state is all his own fault.
All Your Powers Combined: Xehanort's Heartless specializes in being The Corrupter, normally lacking a body and acting primarily by influencing others to darkness, while his Nobody is a powerful direct physical and aerial threat who specializes in being The Chessmaster. Young Xehanort was a master of Teleport Spam and time magic. Master Xehanort himself demonstrates both the skill at influencing and corrupting others of his Heartless and the intellect of his Nobody, while the No Heart battle shows that at his prime he was a truly terrifying wielder of the Keyblade on the battlefield. Even in his old age he's a Kung-Fu Wizard.
Ancestral Weapon: His Keyblade was originally wielded by Luxu from Kingdom Hearts χ. The secret ending for Re:coded HD calls it the oldest Keyblade, or at least the oldest one that still exists, and Back Cover elaborates that the Master of Masters gave it to Luxu to pass down in a Master-Apprentice Chain so that the eye embedded in it will let the Master of Masters see the future, allowing him to write the Book of Prophecies. After he's defeated, the No Name returns to Luxu, or as he's now called, Xigbar.
Animal Motif: His Keyblade has a distinct goat motif, due to its connection with Lust. Befitting a man who lusts for the Keyblade War and Kingdom Hearts. His beard goes further to evoke this, resembling the characteristic scruff on a goat's chin. The new armor he wears in III features a large goat’s head on its helmet just to drive the point home. The secret reports also add another aspect to the motif, when Luxu refers to him as a scapegoat.
Anti-Villain: Despite all his horrible actions towards the heroes, it was revealed in III that he wanted to summon Kingdom Hearts and use the χ-blade not to cover the worlds in eternal darkness, but rather use them to remake and save the worlds from more darkness and he believed that he has to stand up and lead the people in order to keep weak hearts in check so that they don't succumb to darkness. At least, these were his initial intentions - due to intaking so much from the powers of darkness into his own heart and Jumping Off Of The Slippery Slope, he grew more focused on the "destroy and remake the world" part for it's own sake with complete disregard to all the people he'd end up hurting and all the life that would be wiped out by the darkness he'd spread.
Apocalypse How: His true plan, as revealed in III, was to cause a Class X-5 before rebuilding the worlds into a world that’s pure and bright and then stand up to lead the people.
Arch-Enemy:
- To the entire Wayfinder trio, having ruined their lives.
  - Terra is by far the biggest example. Xehanort spent the entire game pulling strings on Terra by using his own insecurities and issues as ways to manipulate Terra and turn him against his friends and make him embrace the darkness, only to later reveal his true colors by sending Terra to fight Master Eraqus only to later kill him in front of Terra after the fight followed by him destroying his world and threatening to kill Ventus and Aqua.
  - Ventus is another one, though he’s not as personal as Vanitas. He was Xehanort's former pupil, who constantly put Ventus through Training from Hell to use the darkness inside him to turn the boy into his vessel and after the boy failed to do so, Xehanort extracted the darkness from him, which could've ended on Ventus' death.
  - Aqua is a downplayed example compared to the other two but is still present, as Xehanort is the one responsible to her losing both her best friends, the death of her Master and father-figure, and getting stuck in the Realm of Darkness for years.
- After III, he can safely be considered Sora's as well. If all the pain and suffering that him and his other incarnations put the boy and his friends through wasn't enough for that, then after striking down Kairi, it definitely puts him here, driving Sora to tears as he attacks the old man, something no other villain managed to do. It's especially notable when Sora comes across Xehanort in Re:Mind, despite Sora knowing of Xehanort's intentions by this point, he acts aggresive and confrontational to the Master, even summoning his Keyblade while shooting him a Death Glare.
Attack Drones: During his data rematch in III, one of the weapons Xehanort can formchange the χ-blade into are cannons that fire laser beams. And he loves using this in conjunction with his other attacks.
Back from the Dead: Is resurrected in 3D after the destruction of his Heartless and Nobody in the previous games that allowed his heart and body to rejoin.
Background Boss: Serves as this during the fight with Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort in III. He will occasionally conjure up a massive storm of keyblades to attack Sora.
Badass Boast: Has two in III.
Sora: Yeah, sure. And what makes you think there'd ever be any way we'd help you with that?
Xehanort: You forget I plan for every eventuality.
Sora: Kairi…
Riku: Even if you do summon Kingdom Hearts, we will defeat you, and we will close it again.
Xehanort: Perhaps. That is… if you survive that long!
Bad Boss: Downplayed. He may be the leader of the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, but it's plain to everybody he doesn't give a crap about any of the Seekers under his command. Ansem realizes the Seekers are being set up as glorified sacrifices, Marluxia outright says Xehanort doesn't see them as people, and dire consequences are implied should any of the Seekers go rogue. During the Keyblade War he doesn't lift a finger to help any of his subordinates other than occasionally providing some back-up to his top generals.
Badass Bookworm: During his journeys, Xehanort obtained vast knowledge concerning Keyblade lore, the Heartless, and the mysteries of the Keyblade War and Kingdom Hearts. Master Xehanort's greatest asset is his intellect and capacity for manipulation. For over a decade, he has, directly or indirectly, influenced many of the hardships and suffering the worlds have gone through, and always has backup plans ready in the event his initial schemes fail.
Bald of Authority: While he once had a full head of hair, it's long gone by the time of Birth By Sleep, leaving only his goatee. He is also a Keyblade Master and the leader of the true Organization XIII.
Bald of Evil: Has gone bald after descending into darkness. Dark Road reveals that his baldness is not a natural product of age, but rather Xehanort shaved his head, hence why he is bald while Eraqus still has a full head of hair on him.
Beard of Evil: His only hair left is a silver goatee.
Beware the Superman: As a Keyblade Master, Xehanort is supposed to be a hero who protects the worlds. Instead, he's become Drunk on the Dark Side and uses his power as a Master to spread darkness and chaos wherever he goes.
Beyond Redemption: No character aside from Eraqus sees in Xehanort anything salveagable or good, particularly Sora and Kairi as evidenced in both Re:Mind and Melody of Memory. It's likely that Xehanort even saw himself as this in the end, adding an extra layer to him telling Eraqus "It is too late!" when asked to do the right thing by handing over the χ-blade.
BFS: His Keyblade, the No Name◊, is one of the larger ones. In the climax of III, he finally acquires the χ-blade, which is even larger.^note
Big Bad: He's the central antagonist of the Dark Seeker Saga as a whole. As the original Xehanort, he's the true catalyst of all the events that has happened in the saga, having been responsible (either directly or indirectly) for converting Terra into the first of his many vessels, arranging his younger self's quest through time, the Disney Villains' hunt for Kingdom Hearts, the creation of Vanitas, the Unversed, and the original Organization XIII, the release of the Emblem Heartless and Nobodies, and the plaguing of the Sleeping Worlds with the Dream Eaters. While he's usually the Greater-Scope Villain for most of the games, he takes the center stage in Birth By Sleep and III.
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: For most of the main plot of Birth by Sleep. By this point he has made amends with Eraqus and has resumed their brotherhood, and poses as a friendly, wise Keyblade Master. Eraqus sounds a bit uneasy around him during the Mark of Mastery exam, but clearly has come to trust him again. It's not until the climax of the game when Eraqus realizes that Xehanort has not given up on his apocalyptic ambitions that Xehanort's true nature is outed.
Blow You Away: His Storm of Blades in the Keyblade Graveyard in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep seems to be through the use of wind and the Keyblades littering the battlefield. During the fight with Ansem, Xemnas and Young Xehanort in III he will occasionally conjure up a massive storm of keyblades to attack Sora.
Boss Remix: "Dark Domination", his final battle theme in III, is partially a remix of "Destati."
Broken Pedestal: As a young boy, Riku idolized the legendary "boy who left the island", and planned to follow suit not only in leaving the island, but in becoming stronger as well. Boy did that pedestal break…
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: His reaction in Dream Drop Distance when Mickey calls him out for what he did to Terra, Ven, and Aqua in Birth by Sleep.
Xehanort: Ah, but destiny is never left to chance. I merely guided them to their proper places. The broken boy who failed to be the blade… the misguided master who sacrificed herself for a friend… and the feckless youth who became my new vessel.
Bystander Syndrome: Despite being made aware that Xigbar has some other agenda, he doesn't question it and focuses his attention on his own scheme for the Keyblade War. Even when Xigbar is called on it outright and Xemnas is told about Xigbar's quest for the Black Box, Master Xehanort doesn't care. Luxord rightly says that Master Xehanort is too obsessed with the Keyblade War to even care about Xigbar carrying out his own agenda - though Marluxia points out that he doesn't see his Seekers as people, just vessels for his heart.
Cain and Abel: He mentions several times in his writings that he considers Eraqus a brother. In their youth, the two would spend time playing chess in between training sessions. And yet he murders Eraqus in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. In the end, it takes a conversation with Eraqus' spirit to finally convince Xehanort to give up his mad ambitions and come with him peacefully to the afterlife.
Call-Forward: His awful posture and way of moving actually foreshadows the way his Heartless would move in its robed form, as seen in the original Kingdom Hearts.
Casting a Shadow: During his Desperation Attack, he will sent Shadowy Doppergangers of himself using the No Name keyblade to attack Sora and co from all directions. As well, despite most of his attacks with the χ-blade being Light-based, they're actually Dark-based attacks according to the Ultimania.
Chained to a Rock: Braig chains him to a pole in Radiant Garden and uses him to lure Terra into a trap. It's later revealed to have all been an act to further force Terra to rely on the Darkness, though it costs Braig one of his eyes as a result.
Character Tics: Xehanort has a few unusual tendencies and quirks, such as turning away from the people he speaks to, or over-dramatizing his hand gestures when delivering a speech, even flexing his fingers in a peculiar grasping motion.
The Chessmaster: Plays everyone in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep to his own ends. Everything Ansem and Xemnas did was also part of his plan to create 13 avatars of darkness, combine them with the 7 Princess of Hearts' light, and start a second Keyblade War. In 3D, Yen Sid outright describes him as a "devious tactician," and that there's nothing they can do that Xehanort won't be able to predict to some degree.
The Chosen One: Played with. Growing up Xehanort was told by his caretaker that he was the "Child of Destiny" someone able to empathize with other hearts and able to connect theirs with others, and change the outcome of the light expiring. It's heavily implied, however, that his caretaker was mistaken and the real Child of Destiny is Sora, so this would make Xehanort The Chosen Wannabe.
Cold Ham: Rutger Hauer's performance as Xehanort in III is far more soft-spoken than the Large Ham portrayals of Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd, but is still prone to making grandiose speeches, overdramatic gestures, and beginning his speeches with "Behold!"
Confusion Fu: Employs this tactic during the final battle with him in III as many of his attacks are designed to get around and punish players who spam guard. Aside from constantly teleporting through keyholes and attacking from all sides, Xehanort may do things like attack your party members while in the middle of a combo, delay his attack to trick you into guarding too early, or pull a fake out and teleport mid-combo.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Like his other incarnations he seeks the power of Kingdom Hearts, however in contrast to them, Master Xehanort is an elderly Keyblade Master that seeks to unlock the secrets of both the Keyblade War and Kingdom Hearts by recreating the χ-blade. His goals in Birth by Sleep and III also contrast each other, in Birth by Sleep Xehanort planned to create both a being of pure light and a being of pure darkness and letting them fight each other to reforge the χ-blade and in III he wants to recreate the χ-blade by restarting the Keyblade War and having Seven Guardians of Light and Thirteen Seekers of Darkness clash in order to reforge it.
- His final boss fight in III is also a measure in contrasts to his previous selves. Ansem and Xemnas both used massive battleships or giant forms to attack Sora and Riku. Master Xehanort merely puts on a new suit of Keyblade Armor and fights using either his Keyblade or the X-Blade as weapons.
Cool Old Guy: Xehanort used this trope as a façade to trick Terra, acting as a grandfather figure to the young warrior in order to trick him into embracing the darkness. After Terra accidentally channels his darkness, scarring Braig's face and forcing him to flee, Xehanort consoles the distraught Terra, offering to take him under his wing so that they may pursue a balance between light and darkness together.
Complexity Addiction: That Kudzu Plot throughout the games? All According to Plan… somehow… for him. Nutshelled by his Time Travel method: It has so many rules, you can only make a Stable Time Loop at best. The TT that characters like Maleficent, Merlin, and Pete use? A basic trip to the past or future - which can change history, no less.
The Corrupter: To Terra and Braig, though Terra never falls completely until Xehanort possesses him. Braig had ulterior motives for supposedly working with Xehanort, and the end of III implies it was the other way around all along.
Crazy-Prepared: Managed to plan for his various incarnations' defeats in every single game of the series.
Curb Stomp Cushion: Kairi's fight with the illusory Xehanort in Melody of Memory. Though she puts up a good fight, she is unable to land a single hit on Xehanort, who dodges all of her attacks with ease and manages to overpower her. It takes Sora taking control of Kairi for her to prevail.
The Dark Side Will Make You Forget:
- He started out as a Well-Intentioned Extremist, believing that the worlds are too full of light and that a perfect balance between light and darkness is needed; his plan to trigger a second Keyblade War was so he could acquire the power of Kingdom Hearts and remake it in his image of balance. Of course, he's long since become Drunk on the Dark Side, and now just wants to cause an Apocalypse How on top of it. However, III reveals that this is a Subverted Trope. His goal all along was to bring balance to all of the worlds, but as long as there was darkness in all human hearts, balance could never be achieved in the long term, so he decided to use Kingdom Hearts to remake the old world to start anew. He sincerely believed his rhetoric, to a horrifying degree.
- He set out on his journey during his life to one day stand as an equal to Eraqus, who was descended from Keyblade nobility. Eventually Xehanort's journey to prove he was worthy to stand as his friend's equal degraded until it was all about how he knew better than everyone else and believed he alone could lead the world.
Death Equals Redemption: In what is considered to be one of the most controversial scenes of III, Xehanort, while he is slowly dying from the blow given to him in the final battle (plus all the darkness of his other selves getting obliterated elsewhere, revealed in Re𝄌Mind), finally gives up the χ-blade and abandons his wicked ways. When it becomes clear that he will not succeed, but rather he will pass on into the afterlife with Eraqus, Xehanort accepts his fate and gives Sora the χ-blade.
Desperation Attack:
- As Armored Xehanort in III, has two depending on what part of the fight you're in:
  - Halfway through the first phase, he creates a massive pillar of fire and forces Sora in the air while summoning more fire pillars. He eventually stops and alternates between burst shots and normal attacks before changing the pillar of fire into a sphere to suck Sora in, while also trying to teleport Sora straight to him, before the sphere explodes. He also has this in his third phase, but he always uses it as his second move there.
  - In the second phase, he summons four pillars of fire to spin around Sora and performs two normal combos. After the second, the pillars convene around Sora and send him flying away. Xehanort then creates walls of fireballs and sends them at Sora thrice before ending the attack.
- In the final battle, once bringing his health low enough and passing the Rage Form phase, he'll create an illusory version of the original Organization's throne room with shadowy doppelgangers of Xehanort. They'll alternate between rushing you and firing lasers for a bit until they eventually spam the lasers, ending in one large one. His recreated data uses a longer, more complex pattern that also include Formchanges.
Determinator: He will do anything to obtain the power and knowledge of Kingdom Hearts. No matter how many times Sora defeats him, he always returns with another plan until the final battle in III. Even then, when he gets defeated by Sora in their final, climactic battle in III, he still insists he can succeed. It ultimately takes a heart-to-heart with Eraqus' spirit to finally convince him to give up.
Devil in Plain Sight: He's an extremely suspicious man in nearly every aspect of his character, yet absolutely no one in Birth By Sleep suspects him of any malicious intentions until it's too late. Even Master Eraqus, who has previously been outright physically scarred by him in a disagreement over starting a war to satisfy his curiosity, still considered him a friend.
Devour the Dragon: Master Xehanort absorbs his replicas to empower himself after Sora defeats them. Though once Sora destroys his new armor, Xehanort releases them all and sends them after the other Guardians of Light.
Didn't See That Coming: After all the Xanatos Gambits and All According to Plan moments he had prepared, ultimately the one place he fell short was assuming that once he had the perfected χ-blade and Kingdom Hearts he was truly unstoppable, and is left completely without any backups when Sora, Donald and Goofy defeat him even at the height of his power.
- In another sense, he never foresaw Sora resurrecting his friends in III or Terra overcoming his Demonic Possession in Birth By Sleep.
Disc-One Final Boss: After Xehanort surrenders and moves on with Eraqus in III, Xigbar is revealed to be the villain who himself is advancing a plan by orders of the Master of Masters.
Dishing Out Dirt: Can raise massive pillars of earth to launch opponents into the air or separate them from their allies. Epitomized in his fight with Terra: That plateau they're on? He grew it in seconds. It's taken even further in III where he creates an entire labyrinth for the Seven Guardians and Thirteen Seekers to fight in.
Doorstop Baby: The finale of Union Cross reveals he was actually born in Scala Ad Caelum. A hooded figure (notable for distinctly not being Ansem, Seeker of Darkness) approached his mother when he was a baby, and for whatever reason, she gave him to the figure, who brought him to Destiny Islands. Effectively making him this. It's revealed in the ending to Dark Road that he is aware of this, as the hooded figure also raised him and told him this.
Doppelgänger Attack: His Desperation Attack in the final battle in III has him summon thirteen thrones, from where he'll assail Sora with shadow clones of himself that will either attack him directly or fire lasers. In his data rematch, he'll use the χ-blade's formchanges alongside his shadow clones.
Dramatic Irony:
- Turns out Xehanort starting a second Keyblade War becomes this after the Union Cross and Dark Road finale where it's revealed the Player Character lived a second life raising Xehanort from infancy. This is especially beautiful when you remember that some of Xehanort's actions in Birth By Sleep was to help his chances of seeing beyond the Keyblade War yet his caretaker both fought and survived the original event.
- Xehanort is implied to be envious and resentful of Eraqus's status as a "blue blood." But, his great-great-grandfather was Ephemer, leader of the Dandelions and founder of Scala ad Caelum.
- Master Xehanort claimed to foresee every eventuality, but the idea that any of his vessels would betray him or overcome his possession never crossed his mind. Ansem, Vexen, Terra, and especially Xigbar all do so at some point in III.
Easily Forgiven:
- He exploits this by feigning guilt for damaging Ventus's heart, allowing him to gain sympathy from Eraqus and Terra. As such, they fail to notice that he has even worse plans until it's too late.
- Downplayed, as he went through plenty of injury at the hands of Sora at the end of III, despite the previous instance of him exploiting Eraqus's forgiveness, Xehanort is Easily Forgiven again by Eraqus after he is defeated for real, and he gets to peacefully Go into the Light with him.
- Initially played somewhat straight by Sora when he just accepts his Graceful Loser gesture and lets him depart into the light with Eraqus without a word, but then shown to be subverted in Re:Mind. When searching through the immediate past for the fragments of Kairi's heart in Scala ad Caelum, he's confronted by pre-final battle Xehanort, and despite knowing his goal, is quickly aggressive towards the man who hurt him and so many others. Learning that the latter purposefully shattered Kairi to crystalize her, split her heart into seven fragments, then scattered them as insurance certainly doesn't help his view on the old man.
Evil Counterpart: He is this to the entire Destiny Islands Trio.
- Looking at the backstory revealed in Birth By Sleep, Xehanort is one to Sora. They both grew up at Destiny Islands, they both became Keyblade wielders, they both became a sort of composite being (Xehanort steals the bodies and hearts of others to extend his life. Sora lets others share his body and heart to extend their lives.), they both became a Heartless and a Nobody. Sora is a Naive Hero and increasingly portrayed as a Messianic Archetype, while Xehanort is The Chessmaster who shows some Fallen Angel symbolism. Also, like Sora, Xehanort came from a humbler background. Sora was an ordinary boy while Riku was chosen by the Keyblade. Xehanort was an islander while Eraqus is descended from the survivors of the Keyblade War. But while Sora comes about as a result of his selfless altruism and trying to help those he meets, Xehanort works to create new incarnations to further his goals and corrupts others to darkness.
- This also makes him Riku's Evil Counterpart, as they share very similar backgrounds of being dissatisfied with life on their tiny world and wanting to see the outside, even if it means delving into darkness. Both use darkness as their main weapon after losing themselves in darkness in pursuit of his ambitions. Riku however pulled himself back and reformed, while Xehanort kept going deeper into the darkness and was lost for it. They also both invaded Sora's subconscious during the events of Dream Drop Distance, but for differing reasons. Ansem shifting to being Riku's Arch-Enemy/Enemy Within exemplifies this.
- After the finale of Union Cross, he can be considered one to Kairi, both of them were born on different worlds before getting sent to Destiny Islands, they both wanted to leave Destiny Islands to explore more worlds, and both are wielders of the Keyblade, but while Kairi uses the power of light, Xehanort uses the power of Darkness. Kairi is also an inexperienced Keyblade Wielder, while Xehanort is a expert Keyblade Master.
Evil Is Bigger: While this is more obvious with his younger self when he interacts with Sora in III, it's clear that even with his hunched back he's still a fairly tall man in his old age, and when his Ghost Memory fights Kairi in Melody of Memory he absolutely towers over her.
Evil Is Petty: As pointed out by Eraqus in Birth by Sleep, Xehanort intends to bring forth the Keyblade War and essentially bring about The End of the World as We Know It for no other reason than to simply satisfy his own personal curiosity.
Evil Laugh: As a battle quote and in cutscenes, both laughing out loud and chuckling evilly.
Evil Makes You Ugly: Downplayed. He is supposed to be the same age as Eraqus, yet unlike the fit Cool Old Guy Eraqus is, Xehanort is a bald old man with a hunching back and declining health, but he is not that deformed unlike the common examples of this trope.
Evil Mentor: Toward Ventus in the backstory, and toward Terra during the course of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
Evil Old Folks: The oldest-looking character seen so far is one of the most sinister and evil. Being both an extremely skilled Keyblade Master and magic user. Master Xehanort's magical prowess is shown when King Mickey tries to confront him in Kingdom Hearts III; Mickey attempted to wipe him out with an Ultima spell, but Xehanort countered with a Stopza spell so powerful, it reached far enough to immobilize Riku. He also possesses physical strength sufficient to grab a fully-armored Ventus by the back of the head and lift him into the air with one hand. Re:MIND shows that he aged 75 years between his youthful form (who seems to be in his late teens) and his current form, putting him in his early eighties by the beginning of Birth by Sleep, and chronologically in his early nineties by the time of his defeat in III (though he’s not biologically a nonagenarian since he spent roughly eleven years out of action due to the transfer to Terra).
Evil Sorcerer: He typically uses his free hand to cast spells while he keeps his Keyblade ready in the other. his feats of sorcery include: Summoning pillars of earth, storms of Keyblades, calling down black lightning, freezing Ven just by grappling him, his summoning of Kingdom Hearts in Birth By Sleep manifests as a dark energy orb he generates and fires without the Keyblade, and he is shown enchanting the blade with his other hand in Dream Drop Distance before attempting to body snatch Sora. He can even cast Stopza this way.
Evil Sounds Raspy: In both the Japanese and English versions of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep and Kingdom Hearts 3D [Dream Drop Distance], where he is voiced by Chikao Ohtsuka and Leonard Nimoy, respectively. Likewise, Rutger Hauer and Christopher Lloyd give him a sinister and raspy voice as well.
Facepalm Of Doom: One attack used by his Armored form is to grab Sora by the face and throw him to the ground.
Faked Kidnapping: Pretends to have been captured by Braig (later known as Xigbar) to lure Terra into using his Darkness. While it ends in success, this, unfortunately, results in Braig losing his right eye, forcing him to wear an eyepatch indefinitely. Braig does not take this well, as Xehanort promised he wouldn't get hurt.
Fallen Hero: He was once a great Keyblade Master, but he's become one of the most dangerous foes to the worlds that Keyblade Masters are supposed to protect.
The Farmer and the Viper: How does he repay Eraqus for his post-scarring Forgiveness? By hurting him even more — sabotaging his students, then killing him.
Faux Affably Evil: In KH3D, he acts very laid-back and rather friendly with Mickey and Riku (though this may be because he feels so self-assured that destiny will work his way no matter what). Despite this, he is far from being nice. His other incarnations hold various if not worse shades of this, too.
Final Boss: Of Kingdom Hearts III. His Superboss version is also one of two potential final bosses of the Limitcut Episode.
Fire, Ice, Lightning: In the final battle, one of his attacks is to cast Blizzaza by throwing the χ-blade at Sora. If it connects (or if Sora is too far away), it will instantly freeze him, followed by Xehanort casting Firaza and finally Thundaza.
Flash Step: Uses short-range Super-Speed for his form of Teleport Spam.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Hard to believe that such a major threat to all the worlds started out as just a bored kid from Destiny Islands.
Fusion Dance: For the final battle with him in III, he merges with his 13 Xehanort clones and creates a new set of armor to fight Sora and Co.
Gambit Roulette: Everything Ansem and Xemnas did was planned out in advance by him. Further, Maleficent, Sora, Riku and most of Organization XIII were all Unwitting Pawns in his plans. Only Luxu does it better and completely played HIM, of all people.
Genius Bruiser: One of the smartest people in the KHVerse and a very capable combatant despite his old age.
Ghost Memory: His appearance in Melody of Memory amounts to this. He even has the ability to take on the shape and personality of each of his other incarnations.
Glacier Waif: Male example. Being an old man, he's rather slow and prefers to use magic from afar while teleporting to avoid you. But he still hits hard, nonetheless. Notably, he's a veritable Lightning Bruiser as Terra-Xehanort and Young Xehanort, so he always has raw strength and durability and only lacks speed as an old man. Of course, when fighting Sora after absorbing his heart fragments, he throws off his physical frailty and slowness.
Godzilla Threshold: Master Xehanort IS one. His very return inspires fear and dread in all who know of his legend and in order to stop him are willing to try anything, as things that would have been taboo less than ten years ago such as granting the title of Keyblade Master to someone who uses darkness are suddenly shredded because of sheer desperation for anything that could give the forces of light an edge.
Gone Horribly Right: His manipulations of Terra to make him stronger and tempt him to darkness were to groom him to be a suitable vessel for Xehanort's new body and make his heart vulnerable enough to darkness for Xehanort to commit Grand Theft Me on him. The problem is it works too well; Terra's powers and hatred are so strong, they reanimate his armor as the Lingering Will and he kicks Xehanort's ass.
Good Armor, Evil Armor: Keyblade wielders are traditionally given access to what is called Keyblade Armor, a suit of Instant Armor that is shoulder mounted and can be used as both protection in battle and protection from the corrosive darkness that exists between worlds, acting as a type of protective space-suit. Aqua, Ventus, Terra and Eraqus all have their own sets of armor that reflects their own specific motifs are predominantly built for practicality. Master Xehanort on the other hand possesses armor that is meant to either emphasize his inflated sense of importance (his "No Heart" armor done in an elaborate monarch motif) or his affinity to the darkness (his armor after forging the χ-blade emphasizing his Satanic Archetype role in the story).
Graceful Loser:
- Xehanort treats his failure in Birth By Sleep as a learning lesson, openly admitting he was "hasty" with his plans. He also took his failed attempt to gather the XIII Seekers in 3D fairly well. Of course, the fact that he plans on trying again helps.
  Xehanort: In my eagerness, I lost sight of the proper way to achieve my goal…I acted rashly; I can admit that now.
- After Sora defeats him at the end of III and after Eraqus is able to convince him that he won't be able to fulfill his ambitions, he surrenders the χ-blade and sincerely congratulates Sora before departing to the afterlife with Eraqus.
Gravity Master: In his armored form, he can rotate the orientation of Scala ad Caelum’s gravity with a wave of his hand.
Greater-Scope Villain: Of the earlier games, through his incarnations carrying out his plans while Master Xehanort exists in shadows, if he's mentioned at all.
Hated by All: By the ending of III, Eraqus is the only person that still likes him. The heroes all despise him for his horrible actions in ruining their lives and even his own Seekers of Darkness confess that none of them were loyal to Xehanort and joined him for their own motives.
Hoist by Their Own Petard: As pointed out repeatedly, messing with the past has consequences. His messing around with time has turned him into a living time portal, which is the thing that wrecks his decades long plan by letting the Guardians of Light banish him with their Keyblades long enough for Sora to defeat him.
Horrifying the Horror: The power at his disposal was, for a long time, enough to scare Vanitas, a Humanoid Abomination and one of the 13 Darknesses, into submission. When Master Xehanort tells him to watch his mouth in Dark Road, Vanitas outright stutters as he hastily shuts up.
- Master Xehanort's on the wrong end of this in his final battle with Sora. He rips all the light out of Sora's body in an inversion of what he did to Ventus... only for that to trap Sora in Rage Form. Sora beats the daylights out of him before reclaiming his light.
Humanoid Abomination: As revealed in III his abuse of his Complexity Addiction Time Travel method has essentially made him into a living temporal portal, a state that the Seven Guardians use to cast him through Kingdom Hearts itself to avoid him going through with his plan's final stages.
Hypocrite:
- Big time when it comes to his views on light and darkness. In the end, Xehanort is a Knight Templar fighting for the light : in III he bemoans how in the old times, darkness born of evil in the hearts of people spread across the worlds like a plague, and in a flashback his younger self is disgusted by how many people harbored darkness in their hearts and lied to themselves about it, shrouding themselves in "false light", and he wished to "prevent weak hearts from polluting the world with their endless darkness". Xehanort has freely used the powers of darkness for decades long before the events of the series, he's the primary reason that countless worlds and people living in them have fallen to darkness, and he has regularly manipulated and corrupted the weak-hearted into giving in to the darkness in their hearts. Even if Xehanort's views on things are correct, his actions have him perpetuate the very problems he thinks he can solve at a much larger scale than happened without his involvement.
- As a youth, he complained about how the weak-hearted stole power under the delusion that they'd earned it, believing whatever they wanted in order to justify themselves, citing this as a cause of the world's out-of-control darkness. Fast-forward 75 years, he has used and abused others (hearts, bodies, memories, you name it) to empower himself, claiming upon defeat to be some sort of Well-Intentioned Extremist when it was clear it was all just his own ego driving his actions. In other words, he grew up to be exactly like those weak-hearted people he looked down on.
Ice Breaker: Has this in a partial Cutscene Power to the Max in the Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep promo video. While both cutscenes and in game boss battles have him with massive ice power, the promo video has him freeze Ven, then throw him off a cliff. While we see this shatter Ven's mask and keyblade, Aqua manages to save Ven before he himself shatters. This is replicated as close as possible in the game proper.
An Ice Person: Has a huge preference for ice magic. In BBS he freezes Ven and tosses him off a cliff. During his boss fight with Terra, he tosses out casts of Blizzard magic, ends his Keyblade combos in a blast of ice, and has an attack where he pins Terra down and begins charging a point-blank blast of ice. In III, one attack has him toss the χ-blade at Sora and have it cast Bizzaza, freezing Sora and leaving him vulnerable to subsequent Firaza and Thundaza attacks. In his data rematch, he can toss explosive discs that will freeze Sora on contact.
Iconic Sequel Character: One of the most notable examples of the series. Master Xehanort first appeared in the teaser for Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep as the antagonist battling Terra, Aqua, and Ventus alongside Vanitas. Despite being the true Big Bad of the "Dark Seeker Saga," Master Xehanort did not appear until Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep, the series's sixth installment, and he did not meet Sora face to face until Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, the seventh.
I Need You Stronger: Keeps forcing Terra to use the power of darkness in order for it to corrode Terra's heart enough for Master Xehanort to take over his body.
Inferiority Superiority Complex: It's heavily implied that his initial experimentation with Darkness and eventual fall into megalomania were motivated by a worry that he wasn't Eraqus's equal and thus a worthy defender of the worlds. Xehanort stressed Eraqus's 'blue-blood', his own humble beginnings in Destiny Islands, and his frail body both in his youth and to his elderly years. Before relinquishing the χ-blade, he weakly attempts to assure Sora and Eraqus that he is the strong leader capable of guiding everyone's hearts.
Informed Ability: The other characters regard him as the ultimate schemer, leaving nothing to chance and being skilled in long-term plans with multiple back-ups just in case. However, this status of his only comes about due to 3D retconning the actions of Maleficent, Ansem, and Xemnas as them acting in accordance with Master Xehanort's plans, and everything that happened in the prior games was All According to Plan. Also, his Manipulative Bastard successes frequently and noticeably involve his targets holding the Idiot Ball until it's too late (which certainly isn't helped by his Obviously Evil-ness). Further, all of Xehanort's incarnations are rather frequently blindsided or make mistakes, which Master Xehanort even admits in 3D. He's really not so much a great schemer as he is lucky at playing Gambit Roulette. It appears to have been deliberate, as painting him as The Chessmaster enabled Luxu to use him as an Unwitting Pawn with nobody out of the heroes having any idea whatsoever.
Informed Kindness: His Reports look like they were written by a genuinely Affably Evil Anti-Villain. His actually onscreen persona is a Faux Affably Evil and Obviously Evil Jerkass (and his seeming Pet the Dog moment with Ven in the flashback quickly turned into a Yank the Dog's Chain moment when Master simply decided to continue abusing and exploiting him after his survival). The morally questionable Young Xehanort lends some credibility to this, as he's essentially a Punch-Clock Villain with no real trace of evil in his demeanor. Ultimately subverted during his final, Graceful Loser moments in Kingdom Hearts III, where he showcases what's likely the most kindness he is capable of at that point.
Insane Troll Logic: Balance Between Good and Evil? Fine and dandy there. Problem is, the worlds were already in balance — with the Realms of Light and Darkness being rich in their respective namesakes. Oh, and he's been trying to balance the two elements in the Light Realm alone, which has predictably thrown everything out of whack. Goes even further with his claim that "Destiny is never left to chance", which flies in the face of the very concept of destiny in the first place. Subverted in the ending of III; turns out that he really believes that since darkness comes from human hearts that balance can't be sustained in the long term. As such his real goal is to open Kingdom Hearts and purge everything so that a newer, possibly better, world can come about.
Irony:
- Xehanort became the very imbalance between Light and Darkness he wanted to prevent.
- After being a villain Sora has fought a number of incarnations for the entire Dark Seeker Saga, Xehanort's last act towards Sora is to bequeath him a keyblade, the very χ-blade itself, to the boy and congratulate Sora for his hard work in foiling his own schemes.
- Xehanort's foresight and planning is extremely impressive and is enough to make even Yen Sid extremely fearful, and he treats his various partners like disposable pawns. Xigbar/Braig, one of his very first partners and by far his longest lasting, was playing Xehanort on an even grander scale and ultimately abandoned Xehanort after losing to Sora and Riku.
It's All About Me:
- He wants to possess Terra so he can live to see the results of his global machinations, the life of another be damned. While Master Xehanort is generally a Visionary Villain, this act of evil is nothing but pure selfishness.
- The prophecy calls for 13 darknesses, but Xehanort has no intention of sharing power with anyone in the long run, which is why he makes sure all 13 members are him and his incarnations rather than other darkness-associated villains. All twelve of his Seekers are either destroyed, with Ansem even noting that he figured out that the Seekers were glorified sacrifices for the prophecy. Taken to its logical conclusion in III where he announces his intention of merging with the crude Replicas of his vessels to become one, defeating the whole point.
I Was Quite a Looker: Despite being a pretty boy and Tall, Dark, and Handsome most of his life, he ends up a creepy old bald man.
Karma Houdini: Downplayed, though he did die in III, he did not express much if any regrets for what he did at the end. Instead, he gets to leave at a high note, reconciling with his friend Eraqus.
Kick the Morality Pet: His treatment towards his old friend Eraqus is this (culminating in outright murdering him), given that as far as the audience knows, Eraqus may be the only person in Xehanort's life with whom he shared a genuine friendship. ^notethough Dark Road may reveal others
Know When to Fold 'Em: What his final actions in III amount to. When Eraqus calls "Checkmate", Xehanort accepts his failure like a Graceful Loser but without outright admitting defeat, much like he always would whenever he lost one of his and Eraqus' childhood games of Chess.
Kung-Fu Wizard: Even as an old man possesses Super-Strength and a vast array of dark magic. His Animated Armor, No Heart, relies on martial arts by attaching his Keyblade to his body as weapon or armor, rather than fighting with the Keyblade itself.
Lack of Empathy: Feels no remorse for all the evil he's done or lives he's destroyed. Case in point: when Mickey chews him out for what he did to Terra, Ven, and Aqua in 3D, he brushes it off as a case of Because Destiny Says So and that he merely helped them reach their destinies that much quicker. Even when he explains the reason behind his actions after being defeated in the final battle in III, Xehanort never displays any remorse for all the lives he's ruined.
- However by the start of Birth by Sleep, he has shown to have some slight sympathy for his victims, such as he takes pity on Ventus, following the rupture of his heart, and decides to leave him to perish peacefully on Destiny Islands.
Large Ham: He's the page image in the video game section for a reason. Leonard Nimoy and Christopher Lloyd were definitely having the time of their lives voicing him, and it shows.
Xehanort: AND NOW IT IS YOUR DARKNESS, THAT SHALL BE THE ARK THAT SUSTAAAAAINS MEEEE!
Lean and Mean: He may be wearing the same clothes that Ansem the Seeker of Darkness wears years later, but he's got considerably less bulk on him in comparison. Considering how he used to wear the same bulky armor Xemnas would later wear years later, it's possible this wasn't always the case.
Leitmotif: "Xehanort".
Light 'em Up: He makes use of powerful light magic during the last phase of III’s final boss fight after literally ripping it from Sora's body, firing discs of light, a shockwave of light, and beams of light that rotate around the arena. In the data battle, he uses the light of Kingdom Hearts itself instead. The final boss fight against him in Melody of Memory shows that he can do this even without Kingdom Hearts, though his light magic is blue in color, similar to Roxas' and Xemnas' lasers. This version is most likely weaker because unlike his battle in III, he can't perform any other actions while using this attack and the beams don't move autonomously, so he has to stay at the center to manipulate the beams of light.
Light Is Not Good: While he is still dressed in black, Xehanort can also use the power of light stolen from Sora in the last phase of his battle.
Lightning Bruiser: His boss fights in III demonstrate that age hasn't completely dulled Xehanort's senses, and if they hadn't, it's for naught once he takes the power of Kingdom Hearts for his own. He mainly levitates and teleports around the field and is extremely swift, and he has a plethora of powerful attacks at his disposal. In his Data rematch, in turn, his Keyblade slashes are a lot slower than in the final battle, possibly to reflect his age and his slow and steady fighting style from Birth By Sleep and differentiate the fight from the final battle, but he still has a fast attack rate. Kairi's fight with the illusory Xehanort in Melody of Memory demonstrates this perfectly where he is able to dodge all of Kairi's attacks with speed and agility that belies his hunchbacked appearance and is strong enough to effortlessly grab Kairi by her Keyblade and lift her off the ground as well as win a Blade Lock against her all with one hand.
Living Legend: As the one person who left the Destiny Islands for other worlds prior to Sora, Riku, and Kairi.
Long-Lasting Last Words: The final attack from Sora, Donald, and Goofy mortally wounds him, yet he still thinks he can use the χ-Blade to remake the world, and has a long conversation with both Sora and Master Eraqus before finally succumbing to his wounds, ultimately entering death with his former brother-at-arms.
The Man Behind the Monsters: He created Vanitas, the source of all Unversed. Dark Road severely throws this into question as Master Xehanort himself theorizes that Vanitas is one of the surviving Darknesses, though he still unleashed Vanitas into the World again and brought with him the Unversed.
Manipulative Bastard:
- When accepting Eraqus's invitation to help preside over the Mark of Mastery exam, he suggests to Eraqus that he thinks Terra is already too steeped in darkness, playing Eraqus's light-based prejudice against darkness like a fiddle and rigging Terra to fail the exam before it even starts, which leads into...
- He knows exactly how to push Terra's buttons to lure him further into the darkness. Even when he finally reveals this to Terra and that he's Evil All Along, he's still pushing Terra toward the darkness — Terra just doesn't know it.
- He destroys Kairi's body, making it seem like he simply killed her, just to provoke Sora into attacking him so that they can forge the final key. In reality he hasn't killed her, as he still needs her and the other Seven Hearts alive in case he kills Sora and company before he can properly open Kingdom Hearts.
Many Spirits Inside of One: Xehanort is this, much like Sora, notable in that, for most of the series, he's the hijacker, with the proper owner body being Terra. It counts as this trope because Terra took in Master Eraqus as a passenger shortly before Xehanort did his thing.
Master of All: He can use all the other Organization XIII members' weapons, is extremely fast, has some instant-kill attacks, and is a great mage.
Master Swordsman: As shown when he's a full-memory Terra-Xehanort in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, and when he performs a Villain Override of his younger self in 3D he wasn't named a Keyblade Master on magical prowess alone. His No Heart self is also based on his fighting style when he was at his prime, and it puts up a hell of a fight.
Maximum HP Reduction: His data rematch has him Formchange the χ-blade into a double-bladed sword. Getting hit by this will reduce Sora's maximum HP.
Meaningful Name: Like the members of the original Organization XIII, his name is an anagram with an X thrown into the mix. The name Xehanort sans the X can be arranged as:
- No Heart, which can be seen as a nod to his affiliation with The Heartless, Xemnas, or just his cruel actions in general.
- Another, referencing his fondness for stealing identifies and bodies.
- No Earth. He's possessing Terra.
Menacing Stroll: When he's not invoking Power Floats, he's usually just walking slowly. And it's terrifying.
Me's a Crowd: Downplayed, but his Shadowy Clones from his desperation moves counts as they look like him and they can beat you up if you're not careful.
Mirror Character:
- Sora, The Hero, both grew up on Destiny Islands and became Keyblade wielders. Both became a sort of composite being (Xehanort steals the bodies and hearts of others to extend his life, while Sora lets others share his body and heart to extend their lives), and both became a Heartless and a Nobody.
- Xehanort is also Riku's Evil Counterpart, as they share very similar backgrounds being dissatisfied with life on their tiny world and wanting to see the outside, even if it means delving into darkness. Both lose themselves in darkness in pursuit of his ambitions. Riku however pulled himself back and reformed, while Xehanort kept going deeper into the darkness and was lost for it.
Morph Weapon:
- As seen with No Heart, he has greater mastery over this element of the Keyblade than the other characters. His Keyblade can become a floating shield, body armor that attaches to his arms or legs, and a set of wings. As of 3D it can even be used with different Keychains by different members of the Thirteen Seekers to have different Keyblade variants.
- His data match in Re:Mind has him formchanging the χ-blade for most of his attacks, creating gigantic Attack Drones that shoot lasers, Fuuma Shuriken that explode and freeze Sora on contact, a double-bladed sword, a pair of chakrams that can stun Sora, and a whip.
Motive Decay: He started out as a Well-Intentioned Extremist who wanted to cause a Keyblade War to remake the worlds and create a balance between light and darkness. Nowadays, he just wants power and knowledge for their own sake. Except not, as III reveals he never truly strayed from his original goal all along, only sought different means to achieve it. There also seems to have been a shift in how he viewed the worlds dilemma at some unknown point - in his reports he writes that he desires to tear down the "tyranny of light" and recreate the worlds around darkness that shall be everlasting and in balance with the light. But in III, he views darkness in the hearts of men begetting the darkness that plagues the worlds to be what needs to cease in order for the worlds to be in balance. It's possible he didn't realize the truly horrible effect darkness could have until he experienced it for himself.
Motive Rant: He gives one to Sora, Donald, and Goofy after his defeat at the end of III. As mentioned above, he tells them about his desire to reset everything and dictate the destiny of the world so that darkness can no longer plague the worlds.
Morton's Fork:
- He and Vanitas invoke this on Terra and Ven, forcing them to go for the obvious trap at the Keyblade Graveyard or else they will kill the other two members of the trio. They don't say anything to Aqua, but she comes as well to save Terra and Ven.
- Ansem and Xemnas being independent threats in their own right also forms one of these. Sure, the heroes can stop them since they both pose a threat to the World, but if they do, then Master Xehanort gets to come back once his Heartless and Nobody are destroyed. Word of God confirmed Yen Sid was fully aware of this during II when he briefed Sora but knew they had no choice but to stop Xemnas at the time.
No Celebrities Were Harmed: His appearance is quite likely based on executive Disney film producer Roy Conli. Parodied and acknowledged out-universe in the Tangled world trailer.
Greg Coleman: And I am joined with my dear friend here… Master Xehanort.
Roy Conli: *does Finger-Tenting* *playfully chuckles* No, actually, I am Roy Conli, and I am a producer here, at Walt Disney animation studios.
Greg Coleman: *points to Roy Conli* But he looks a lot like Master Xehanort.
Roy Conli: I like Master Xehanort. He's a nice guy.
Not Helping Your Case: Certainly reinforces Eraqus's negative views about Darkness.
Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He believed the balance between light and darkness was unsustainable and sought to begin a Keyblade War to engulf the worlds in darkness, and when he wins and claims the power of Kingdom Hearts with which to remake and fix it. However, he's since become Drunk on the Dark Side to the point he's dismissive as opposed to defensive when called out for the harm he's done. Kingdom Hearts III reveals he still sincerely believed his his actions were just and his plan was to lead the Next World in order to dictate all destinies to prevent them from polluting the world with Darkness. He's promptly called out how he's proven himself unworthy to be said leader and after being defeated realizes he did this to validate his ego.
Master Xehanort: The World began in darkness. And from that darkness came light. From the light came the people, and the people had hearts. Evil burgeoned in those hearts, begetting more darkness. And the darkness spread across the World like a plague. The light, the symbol of the World's hope, was devoured by shadow. Leaving nothing but ruin… an utter failure. But, the first light — the light of Kingdom Hearts — it can give us a new start. An empty World, pure and bright…
Sora: It wasn't your decision to make.
Master Xehanort: Then whose was it? The World needs someone to stand up and lead. Someone strong, to stop the weak from polluting the World with their endless darkness. Someone to dictate their destiny.
Sora: If so... You're not that person, Xehanort. A real leader knows that destiny is beyond his control... and accepts that.
Not Worth Killing: Despite him being the direct catalyst of their lives being ruined, the Guardians of Light are in no mood to punish Master Xehanort any longer and when Terra confronts him, Eraqus appears and simply talks him down into surrendering with only a few words.
Obviously Evil: Unsurprisingly for the Big Bad of the series, his character design is a mix of not just the Pointy Ears, Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness, Psychotic Smirk, and Dark Is Evil clothes of the other Xehanorts, but Bald of Evil, Beard of Evil, and a Spikes of Villainy weapon to boot.
Old Master: In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep he's a Magic Knight who prefers to attack with magic from afar. However, it's only because he's just held back by his old and feeble body. As shown by Terra-Xehanort and Young Xehanort, when he's at his full physical potential he has as much power and skill as you'd expect from a Keyblade Master with decades of experience. Re:Mind reveals that Xehanort was about seventeen seventy five years ago, meaning Xehanort is in his early eighties.
Ominous Walk: This was how Master Xehanort was introduced, trudging veeery slowly through a desert toward the protagonists of Birth by Sleep. Once he stops walking, things go rapidly downhill for the good guys. He employs it again upon confronting the Guardians of Light at the Keyblade Graveyard, shortly before he and his henchmen unleash a horde of darkness on them; and once more at the crossroads when he and his Seekers confront the Seven Guardians for the climactic clash.
Omnicidal Maniac: As mentioned before, his plan in a nutshell is to kick off Armageddon. So he can see what happens next. Even prior to his Graceful Loser moment in III, he unrepentantly admits that his plan would have wiped out all the worlds of life which he sees as being worth it if it will give the world a new start.
Orcus on His Throne: Generally averted in his debut appearance where he's both The Heavy and the Big Bad, but played straight in Dream Drop Distance and III; in the former, he only appears in a cutscene following the Climax Boss, and in the latter he only first appears at the start of The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, in both cases preferring to send his subordinates to menace the heroes throughout the game in his stead.
Pet the Dog: Despite his overweening malice, Xehanort has been shown to have some slight sympathy for his victims.
- His reports show he was a far cry from an evil mastermind even a few years before the events of Birth by Sleep, and that he seriously considered just quietly living out his final years in peace.
  Report VIII: Ordinarily, Keyblade Masters take pupils under their wings, malleable minds in which to impress the precepts of the Keyblade wielder and keep our profession alive for generations to come. Was my time drawing to an end, then, after all I had accomplished since casting away the place of my birth? Surely waiting for a quiet death would not do, not when there was still so much I needed to see for myself. Powers help me, I thought, my body is so old…
- He also took Ven to Destiny Islands after the creation of Vanitas to let him live out his final days peacefully before falling into an eternal coma. However, when Ven survived, Xehanort proceeded to subvert this moment by continuing to manipulate and torment him, albeit now from behind the scenes.
- All of Xehanort's other seeming virtues are a subversion as they are revealed to have sinister intentions behind them, demonstrated when he only took Ventus as an apprentice and cared for him solely with the intention of making the boy his vessel once he was strong enough, and when he only accepted Master Eraqus's invitation to witness the Mark of Mastery exam to win back Eraqus's trust following their falling-out and sabotage the exam to put Terra on the path to darkness so as to make him his new vessel after deciding to instead use Ventus for the χ-blade.
- In Melody of Memory, after being defeated by Sora and Kairi, a phantom of him agrees to give the latter the clue she needs to determine Sora’s whereabouts and how to save him - even though he earlier implied he wanted Sora gone in the first place.
Playing with Fire: He makes heavy use of fire magic in his armored form, creating delayed explosions, making pillars of fire erupt from the ground, and launching spreads of fireballs like shotgun blasts. His strongest attack has him encase himself in a sphere of energy that draws the party in before exploding.
Power Floats: By the time you get to fight him in III, he's either joined the power of 13 imperfect replicas with himself, cladding himself in powerful armor or is finally wielding the power of the almighty χ-blade against you. In either case, he's constantly hovering in gameplay and never touches the ground thus greatly enhancing his previously lackluster mobility.
Pride: Oh, this is the defining trait that drove him to evil. His entire plan kicked off because his mission to prove he was worthy to stand by his friend's side turned into an arrogant belief that everyone else was pretending to be a good guy yet he alone was special enough to take in the darkness and still be in control. Despite all the damage his machinations did, all the rest of the damage that was averted by others stopping his plans, every depth of evil that he stooped to, every time he was thwarted and defeated, he never let go of the belief that (A) his way was the right way, and (B) he could still do it. Only when Eraqus appeared and told him flatly to his face that he was defeated with no other options did he finally relent and stop with his plan for Kingdom Hearts. Worse, the memory this triggered shows that even in his more innocent youth, when he and Eraqus frequently played chess together, the two traded wins and losses yet he only ever admitted defeat once.
Pun: He wants to gain knowledge by gaining control of Kingdom Hearts and to be empowered by the light of Kingdom Hearts in III by stealing Sora's light in the story's final battle and by using the light of Kingdom Hearts in his Data Rematch.
Xehanort: Enlighten me!
Rank Scales with Asskicking: Xehanort is a Keyblade Master and the leader of the XIII Seekers of Darkness, and he shows to definitely have the strength to back up both these titles, being an extremely skilled arcane magic user. The magic he demonstrates are some of the most powerful seen in the series so far, as he is able to create massive rock formations and pillars, encase Ventus's body in ice, project a gust of wind powerful enough to send Ventus and Mickey flying from his hand, block Braig's Arrowgun shots without raising his arms, and telekinetically control the Keyblades covering the Keyblade Graveyard to attack Terra and Aqua.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The calm and calculating blue to Vanitas' Ax-Crazy red.
Restart the World: This ends up being his true plan in III; to completely destroy all worlds and rebuild them from scratch so as to achieve true balance. Despite this, he still wants be a leader, and was still mostly interested in uncovering the secrets of light and darkness.
Retroactive Preparation: Does this to himself. He uses his past self in his schemes to get the χ-blade, thus planting a seed of darkness in his past self's heart, which acts as a catalyst to eventually corrupt him into the monster that he becomes, who eventually uses his past self in his schemes…
Reverse Arm-Fold: His default pose, if he's not sitting or moving his hands around.
Satanic Archetype: His goat motif, the prevalence of black with red and silver accenting in his clothes, his powers over darkness, summoning of monsters, his penchant for possession, and the power he ascribes to symbols and names are all very telling.
The Scapegoat: Utilized as one by Luxu, as a means to start a Keyblade War, and never finds out that this is the case before his death. Luxu even calls the master this in his notes.
Shock and Awe: One attack used in his fight with Terra in BBS has him conjure a ring of dark lightning bolts.
Sink or Swim Mentor: Deconstructed Character Archetype. He acts this way during his tutelage of Ventus, and it's made perfectly clear that everything he is doing is completely and utterly evil and self-serving.
Slouch of Villainy: Gets a magnificent one in Dream Drop Distance, complete with propping his hand on his fist and folding his leg up onto his knee. This exact same pose returns during a powerful attack he uses during the Final Boss fight of III.
The Sociopath: Began as Well-Intentioned Extremist, but suffered Motive Decay till he became only interested in acquiring knowledge and power by whatever means, including restarting the Keyblade War. It is clear that while he himself feels zero attachment to others, he completely recognizes that others do feel empathy and deep friendship, as he exploits these feelings to further his plans. He shows no remorse over killing Eraqus and is even ready to strike him down again when his spirit appears before him at the end of KHIII, asking that he relinquish the χ-blade. Semi-averted when once Eraqus touches him and makes him remember the bond they shared as boys; Xehanort's friendship with Eraqus proves just genuine enough for him to accept that it was time to finally give up on his goals and place hope on the next generation. Doing this, he looks past his massive ego and sincerely admits that Sora has defeated him, awarding him the χ-blade in doing so.
Space Master: He uses a more powerful version of Xigbar’s abilities to fold part of Scala ad Caelum into a cube while in his armored form in III.
Start of Darkness: What drove this man down his path of villainy? His Heartless went back in time and showed his younger self all of the evil acts he would do, even bringing him to the future to help them out. Even though he would forget what he saw and do, the actions he would take are now engraved in his heart. Xehanort would have been just another youth looking for an escape from his home much like Riku if not for the intervention of his Heartless Ansem who had traveled back in time to facilitate his escape… which also means that it was Xehanort himself who was responsible for his own Start Of Darkness.
- After that, he's presented with a predicament similar to Sora's first adventure, during Kingdom Hearts:Dark Road.. A friend of his was corrupted by Darkness and goes mad with power. Unlike Sora, Xehanort kills Baldr in cold blood, destroying what empathy he has left and cementing his arrogant belief that he's the only one who can make the hard choices.
Storm of Blades: His Signature Move is to summon a barrage of Keyblades to attack opponents with. In his fight with Terra in BBS he'll summon a storm of Keyblades that will home in on him, and during the Triple Xehanort fight in III, he'll occasionally whip up a storm of Keyblades to attack Sora, taking Mickey and Riku out of the fight temporarily.
Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum: In the Japanese version, he explains that he wasn't able to balance light and darkness after all. In response he planned to use Kingdom Hearts to destroy all of existence including himself.
Super-Strength: He's strong enough to damage Ven's Power Armor and hold off Terra's attacks with one hand.
Tainted Veins: In his character model in III, you can see veins all along his head, showing just how much the darkness has corrupted him.
Teleport Spam: He enters and exits keyholes to teleport and attack you for his final battle's melee combos.
Thanatos Gambit: Terra beating him into submission is a Secret Test of Character to see if Terra is strong enough to be a worthy new body for him to take.
Xehanort: Only now, have I truly won…
This Cannot Be!: His reaction to being defeated in his data rematch.
Xehanort: This is not... what was written...!
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: In III, he’ll fling the χ-blade at Sora to initiate a deadly spell combo during the final boss fight.
Time Master: In III, he casts Stopza to counter Mickey’s Ultima spell.
Treacherous Advisor: Xehanort lies to Terra about wanting him as an apprentice in order to steal his body.
Treachery Is a Special Kind of Evil: He earns the trust of Terra, Eraqus, Ven, and to a lesser extent Aqua, only to betray them all in the most horrific ways possible. Though the player is certainly never fooled.
True Companions: To Eraqus in his youth. The connection is strong enough to survive two betrayals and redeem Xehanort at the end of his life.
Underestimating Badassery: Despite the fact that Sora has personally thwarted more than one of his Evil Plans, Xehanort openly dismisses him as a "dull, ordinary boy" in 3D, which is straight up played with. While Xehanort does openly dismiss him, he also notices how Sora tends to foil the plans of villains he encounters, which is why he wants to use him as one of his vessels. Then again, this could just be his bad habit of refusing to admit when he's defeated.
The Unfettered: Xehanort is shown to be a cunning, callous, and pragmatic being with the sole goal of merging with Kingdom Hearts and obtain ultimate knowledge, the lives of innocent people and even those who care for him meaning absolutely nothing to him. To this end, he is willing to put whatever he pleases on the line or destroy anything in his way, demonstrated when he manipulated several characters such as Terra, Aqua, Ventus and even Maleficent, created Vanitas, a sentient being born for the sole purpose of forwarding his evil plan, and slew his old friend Master Eraqus in cold blood after tricking Terra into defeating him in battle. He even shrugged off ruining Terra, Ventus, and Aqua's lives by telling Mickey and Riku that they were destined to fall, and went as far as to refer to Sora as a "dull, ordinary boy".
Unwitting Pawn: Master Xehanort's ultimate plan to start the second Keyblade War was merely part of Luxu's plan to fulfil the Master of Masters's prophecy. Xehanort dies before he ever finds out the truth. He was also this to the Master of Masters, since he was the one who told Xehanort to become a seeker during his youth.
Villain Has a Point:
- While he's hardly a reliable source of information and was just trying to manipulate Terra for his own ends, his statements in Birth by Sleep that Master Eraqus only thinks in absolutes regarding light and darkness aren't entirely wrong, considering the fact that Eraqus failed Terra in the Mark of Mastery Exam for showing a mere spark of darkness in his fighting style, accidental or otherwise.
- He's also right that Terra would actually be a better Keyblade Master than Aqua; Terra is like Riku - a mix of light and dark that he's able to use and control to stop it from hurting people. Aqua is too much like Eraqus, thinking in absolutes of light and dark. As 3D shows, Riku's balance of light and darkness made him a very skilled Keyblade wielder, while Sora's lack of darkness made it easy for him to be corrupted by the darkness when he wasn't prepared (Although Xehanort himself was directly responsible for Sora's near-corruption and failure by hijacking the exam). Yen Sid himself even supports this, citing Riku as a good candidate. Everything Xehanort says is true, he is just going about it entirely in the wrong way.
- That speech he gives to Eraqus that is repeated a few other times in his Myth Arc about Darkness being a source and basic fundament for creation and the existence of life... That part is true. Or at least strongly implied. For example with the Master of Masters creating the Dream Eaters from Darkness.
Villain Respect:
- After his final defeat in III, he acknowledges Sora's power, congratulates him on his victory and gives him the χ-blade. Even before that, he still showed respect to Sora (in his own twisted way) by admitting how impressive he is and choosing him as a potential vessel at the end of 3D.
  Master Xehanort: Very well done.
- His apparation in Melody of Memory compliments Kairi on how far she's come as a Keyblade wielder, saying outright that she was trained remarkably well.
  Master Xehanort: You've become quite the Keyblade wielder! For a retired master, Yen Sid prepared you remarkably well.
We Have Reserves: He doesn't view his Seekers or affiliates as people, just as the Thirteen Darknesses he has to gather for the Keyblade War. This is why he's willing to allow members to proceed with their own agendas like Xigbar, or induct Marluxia and Larxene who openly rebelled against Xemnas (the latter two being ancient Keyblade wielders is also a reason why they’re needed for the Seekers).
We Used to Be Friends: He did have a genuine friendship with Eraqus for a good chunk of their lives as they both became Keyblade Masters, but once he announced his intentions to start a Keyblade War and Eraqus his intentions to stop Xehanort from doing so, everything went to hell. From then on, Xehanort only considered Eraqus nothing more than yet another pawn in his schemes, and in the end outright murders him. Their past friendship was so strong that its only Eraqus who is able to convince him to finally surrender at the end of his life, and peacefully passes on to the afterlife with him.
World's Strongest Man: He is stated to have been the most powerful Keyblade Wielder of them all according to his character file in III, and even in his old age he can still give powerful Keyblade Master-level opponents a good run for their money, thanks to combination of immense strength and a nearly unrivaled command of magic. In Birth by Sleep, he leaves the World of Departure in complete ruins with a single spell, can overpower Terra (the physically strongest member of the Wayfinder Trio) in direct battle, and was able to grab and lift Ventus with one hand, crushing his armored helmet and then freezing Ventus solid with an ice spell. In III, Xehanort casts a Stopza spell to repel and overpower Mickey's Ultima spell during the climax of the second Keyblade War (though Mickey wasn't at his full strength as he was worn out after repeated battles). He later absorbs his Replicas into himself and is able to manipulate the structure of Scala ad Caelum at will, then wields both the legendary χ-blade and the power of Kingdom Hearts in his final battle against Sora, resulting in a Near-Villain Victory that's only thwarted when Donald and Goofy bring Sora back from the brink and help him triumph over Xehanort.
Worthy Opponent:
- Xehanort considers Mickey Mouse this, instead of just another tool for him to use. He compliments him for deducing his plans so quickly and later is more than happy to break out fourth-tier magic to personally stop him.
- He also disdainfully considers Sora this, while in the same breath states him as a "dull, ordinary boy" yet also calling him a sort of Keyblade wielder unlike any he'd ever seen before, something Riku can attest to. This is why he gives Sora the χ-blade at the end of the game.
- He evidently believes Eraqus to be one as he describes him as a "sly fox" when in Terra's heart.
- In Melody of Memory, he compliments Yen Sid’s (who was an old colleague of him and Eraqus) efforts training Kairi into the Keyblade wielder she’s become; fitting, since it was Yen Sid who led the war effort to defeat him in the first place.
Wrestler in All of Us: In-game, he'll occasionally chokeslam Terra (while trying to make him a Human Popsicle — just like Ven earlier).
Xanatos Gambit:
- If "Ansem" or Xemnas find the real Kingdom Hearts through their plans, they accomplish what he wants in the first place. If they're killed instead, he gets to come Back from the Dead and finish the job himself. Sora kills them both, so Master Xehanort does indeed revive during 3D.
- Master Xehanort sets up a particularly diabolical gambit at the end of 3D: He needs to forge a perfect χ-blade, which can only happen through a clash between seven hearts of light and thirteen of darkness. From what we can tell, Xehanort is on the cusp of gathering his thirteen. As for the lights, several candidates are imprisoned, comatose, or too green. Xehanort wants the heroes to get their act together, but if not, he can always attack the princesses of heart…
- His fight with Terra was this at first. If he wins, no one can stop him from using the χ-blade to open Kingdom Hearts. If Terra wins, then he can simply take over Terra's body and abandon his own dying one.
Xanatos Speed Chess: Plays everyone and everything within his plans like a boss. He's virtually a god of it considering his incarnations are nearly if not on the same level of scheming he has.
You Will Not Evade Me: One of his Armored form's attacks is to conjure a ring of green orbs and have them converge on Sora. If successful, Sora will be warped to Xehanort's position, where the Keyblade Master will greet him with a Keyblade to the skull.

Young Xehanort

"You haven't the slightest idea where you actually are."

Voiced by: Takanori Okuda (Japanese), David Gallagher (English, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep), Ben Diskin (English, 3D: Dream Drop Distance onwards)

"I have now told you all that I know. We are all here, and what the future holds in store is beyond my sight. I will return to my own time, and grow into the man who becomes all these others. While I know this future now that I have lived it, returning to my own time will erase the memories and experiences I have gained here. Still, my appointed path is now etched in my heart, which will first lead me to seek the outside world."

A younger version of Master Xehanort that first appears in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep as a Superboss that appears in the Land of Departure. Despite the encounter being optional, invokedWord of God is that it's canon that he battled one of the heroes there.

He later acts as the main antagonist of 3D: Dream Drop Distance, sabotaging Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exams and instigating a mysterious plan that involves somehow summoning Ansem and Xemnas to confront them. He is distinguished by somehow having the ability to manipulate time, which is a critical plot point. He is Number XII of the thirteen vessels of his older self's heart in the XIII Seekers of Darkness.

Ambiguously Evil: His moral standing as of 3D is rather unclear - mostly because he doesn't fully understand what he's doing, and he believes he wouldn't have any control over his actions even if he did. III makes it clear his morality is purely selfish, knowing that even if he is defeated he will return to the past and go on to live a long full life and become his elderly self and achieve his goals anyway.
Arc Villain: The main antagonist of the Toy Box arc in III. He creates a copy of the world and separates some of Andy's most beloved toys from their owner, wanting to study the bonds between humans and inanimate objects given life as research for the Seekers' final vessel.
The Assimilator: His goal was to travel to different time periods to gather appropriate vessels to become Xehanort clones.
Barrier Warrior: He can use a Renewal Barrier in BBS. In his fights from 3D onwards, he instead spins his Keyblade in front of himself like a clock.
Beam Spam: One of his attacks in BBS is to transform his Ethereal Blades into a cluster of orbs that fire lasers.
Because Destiny Says So: Not even his older self is above his manipulations — Young Xehanort says that although he'll forget what he's learned of the future when he returns to his own time, the knowledge will remain in his heart and he will inevitably live out the life he is meant to lead to bring everything to this point. He also comments that a rule of time travel is that you cannot change events that are meant to happen, implying this to be in effect for the entire series.
Beneath the Mask: Upon his final defeat in III, any pretenses of politeness go out the window as he spitefully gloats to Sora how he's going to die.
Berserk Button:
- In his Birth by Sleep fight, trying to attack him while he's in the middle of his Beam Spam is a bad idea. He usually stands there and lets his beams do the work, but if you try and attack him when he attacks you again while the beams are still happening, this will likely get you killed.
- In 3D he breaks his Creepy Monotone when Riku tries to rescue Sora before he can be made into Xehanort's 13th and final vessel. However, invokedWord of God reveals that this may be more a Berserk Button of Master Xehanort, who imposed Villain Override on his younger self and caused the personality change and enhanced power set.
BFS: The Keyblade associated with him, No Name, is pretty big. His variation of No Name in 3D is even larger.
Bifurcated Weapon: His laser blades can connect into a Double Weapon, but he usually wields them separately, only connecting them during his combos.
Big Bad: Of Dream Drop Distance. He's the one who drives the plot in Master Xehanort's stead prior to his revival, manipulating and sabotaging both Sora and Riku's Mark of Mastery exam in order to turn the former into the thirteenth vessel for the Organization.
Black Cloak: His only attire, as a throw-back to Xemnas's Superboss appearance.
Blow You Away: In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep he can use Whirlwind to the Void and knock away your commands.
Call-Back: In 3D, as he attempts to rewind time, you will be bombarded with attacks from his Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep battle.
Chekhov's Gunman: First appears as a Superboss in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep; his next appearance in Dream Drop Distance sees him as The Heavy.
Climax Boss: He is fought at the end of The Very Definitely Final Dungeon at the height of Dream Drop Distance's Wham Episode and is powerful enough to be a Final Boss. There is still one more boss after him but it is much easier and only there so we can have 3D end on a feeling of hope, instead of another Downer Ending.
Co-Dragons: With Ansem and Xemnas to his future self in the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, this also counts as Demoted to Dragon since he briefly lead the Seekers before his future self returns as a complete person again. In III, Ansem goes on a search to find Subject X, Xemnas stays to keep an eye on the lesser members, and Young Xehanort himself goes to the Toy Box world to study the bond between toys and people to fill in their ranks. Near the end of the Keyblade War, he, Ansem and Xemnas fight the heroes before they fight his future self.
Cold Ham: Uses Xehanort's typical overdramatic lingo, but doesn't seem to understand it well enough yet to become a true Large Ham who is Milking the Giant Cow like his future incarnations.
Comically Missing the Point: As a teenager, when Xehanort met the Master of Masters, he somehow manages to completely trip him up while utterly missing the point he was making at the same time.
Xehanort: Who are you really? Some kind of fortune-teller?
The Master: Well, I could lie and tell you that's what I am, when I'm actually a brilliant artist, or even a scholar. I could tell you that I dream of world peace, when I'm actually planning for its destruction. The truth is what you see with your eyes, not what you hear.
Xehanort: (Beat) So, your name?
The Master: What did I just!- Never mind, I guess there's no harm. My name is ________.
Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Ansem and Xemnas, the Big Bads of Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II respectively, each didn't debut in the flesh until very late in their respective game. Master Xehanort from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep by contrast did appear throughout the game, but the heroes were mostly unaware of his true colours. Young Xehanort, on the other hand, antagonizes both Sora and Riku throughout the entirety of Dream Drop Distance, with both being keenly aware of him being evil right from the get-go, ultimately creating a very different hero-villain dynamic for the game.
Cool Key: The No Name is a Laser Blade Keyblade with a clock motif. His Keyblade variant in 3D adds the goat head from Master Xehanort's Gazing Eye to the mix.
Counter-Attack: One of his attacks in his data rematch has him spin his Keyblade in front of him like a clock to rewind time and heal. If Sora attacks him while this happens, Young Xehanort will freeze time around Sora before firing off a ring of ice shards.
Creepy Monotone: He never raises his voice or shows much any emotion outside of facial expressions, except in a few flashbacks in III showing his apprenticeship alongside Eraqus. He breaks this entirely during his defeat, laughing spitefully as he taunts Sora that defeating him meant nothing because he's already lived a full life but Sora's own efforts in saving his friends have doomed himself.
Crosshair Aware: Try to charge up your Shotlock and he teleports to avoid your targeting cursor.
Curtains Match the Window: Re:Mind reveals that he originally had silver eyes before dabbling in darkness, which match well with his silver hair.
Dash Attack: One of his attacks in BBS is to dash forward with his blades in a similar manner to Sonic Blade.
Demoted to Dragon: Downplayed, as this was always the plan, he goes from being the leader of the Seekers of Darkness in Dream Drop Distance to becoming one of the lieutenants of the Real Organization XIII, after Master Xehanort is revived.
Desperation Attack:
- In Dream Drop Distance, once reduced to 1 HP, he freezes time and hides in a clock to reset the fight. Using Reality Shift will slow down the clock and weaken Young Xehanort's connection to it, forcing him to send doppelgangers to play defense in order to stop Riku from destroying the clock.
- His recreated data in III uses a variation of his Dream Drop Distance move. At low health, he'll turn the arena into a clock and create doppelgangers who will attack Sora with him. If the clock strikes twelve, he'll heal one bar of health and use the attack again; the only way to stop him is by attacking him until his armor is depleted. At 1 HP, he'll do it again with a more ferocious pattern.
Doppelgänger Attack: Summons four copies of himself in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep to attack you all at once. The clones vanish in one attack if you can manage to get one in, because they're all going to attack at once and will not let up. The second phase of the fight in 3D is a doppelganger battle — you can't actually damage Young Xehanort himself, but you have to attack the clock emblem which is producing a constant stream of doppelgangers to attack. The clones return as part of his Desperation Attack in his data battle in III.
Dual Wielding: As a Superboss in BBS, his primary weapon is two Ethereal Blades that he wields in a Reverse Grip. However, from 3D onwards, he abandons them when he gains his Keyblade, the blades only used by his phantom clones during the second phase of his boss fight in 3D.
The Empath: Both the Player and Baldr confirm it with him within Dark Road, with the former saying to him that he can sense the hearts of others and link to them, while the latter during his possession by Darkness sees a LOT of himself in Xehanort. His experiences of losing his friends is what turns him from this into a serious case of Lack of Empathy.
Empowered Badass Normal: This is Xehanort from before he was chosen by the Keyblade and long before he gained dark powers as Master Xehanort. Lacking a Keyblade does not keep him from putting up a fight against full-fledged Masters or near-Masters like Aqua and Terra. The "Empowered" comes in because he was taught how to control time from his later incarnations, and thus he probably didn't have that power at first.
Establishing Character Music: He first appears as a fully-cloaked Superboss whose theme combines nearly all of Xehanort's Leitmotifs with no other context to identify him. He reappears in 3D with the same theme, working for Xehanort. Turns out he's a younger Xehanort who's time travelling to unite his many incarnations, hence the reuse of all their themes.
Evil Gloating: He's quite fond of bragging about his plans. One particular scene in the Toy Box has Sora attempting to attack him while he's explaining how he separated the world into two halves, all the while nonchalantly dodging all of Sora's attacks.
Evil Is Bigger: It's not immediately obvious, but in various cutscenes in III (particularly in Toy Box) he completely towers over Sora.
Evil Is Deathly Cold: Despite displaying a wider variety of elemental magic as a Superboss in Birth By Sleep, from 3D onwards, he only makes usage of Blizzard-based spells alongside his signature time-altering abilities. Probably because while Blizzard can't stop time in general, it can stop his opponents' time by freezing them.
The Fatalist: His attitude regarding the Because Destiny Says So entry above. He's merely doing was he is fated to do. Even when he's finally defeated in III, he gloats to Sora that he'll simply go back to his time and live out his life.
Faux Affably Evil: He speaks in a polite and refined tone, but it always carries a condescending, mocking edge to it and he's just as cruel and malevolent as Master Xehanort. This trait is more pronounced in III. As his future self's plans begin to come to fruition, Young Xehanort begins to show more of his true colors. Tellingly, while the other Seekers have some epiphany upon their deaths, Young Xehanort spends his final moments gloating to Sora that he'll simply go back to his time and live out his life while Sora will soon disappear due to him misusing the Power of Waking.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: In the triple Xehanort fight in III, he's the thief to Xemnas' Fighter and Ansem's Mage, using quick hits to attack Sora and stealing time by holding him in place for the other two to attack.
Final Boss: In 3D. The story hits its climax with his battle, the boss after is just a Post-Final Boss to tie up a final loose end, and is much easier to defeat while this guy is still up to Birth by Sleep levels of power.
Freudian Excuse: While we've yet to fully understand the details and how it really affected him, it's heavily implied in Dark Road that four years after he began training as a Keyblade wielder in his youth, all of his fellow keyblade wielder trainees and close allies lost their lives except for himself and Eraqus (and secretly Bragi/Luxu). This could potentially go a long way in explaining much of his behavior like why he was so convinced that he alone could create a better world and at any cost, his Lack of Empathy towards the suffering of others, as well as his declaration to Terra that feelings of hopelessness, despair, and rage can become power.
Hate Sink: In III. Unlike almost all the other members of the Seekers of Darkness, Young Xehanort is constantly portrayed as a cruel, sociopathic villain who loves gloating and hurting people, all because he is aware that he'll return to his time and not remember any of the events of the game. Notably, he is the only incarnation of Xehanort without a Pet the Dog moment; even Terra-Xehanort was revealed to have sympathetic moments at times. Young Xehanort's final words are more or less laughing at Sora as he returns to his proper place in the past.
The Heavy: In Dream Drop Distance. He's the one driving Master Xehanort’s plot in his stead.
Help Yourself in the Future: Young Xehanort was tasked with gathering other Xehanorts from across time; the end result was TWELVE Xehanorts, including the final bosses of the first two proper games, all gathering to fulfill the present Xehanort’s desire for “thirteen Seekers of Darkness”… with Sora as the thirteenth and final vessel. Yen Sid's jaw dropped when he realized what Xehanort was capable of pulling off.
An Ice Person: In 3D and III he can fire homing ice shards at his opponent.
Insufferable Genius: Downplayed. While Young Xehanort doesn't brag about his intelligence, the condescending tone in his voice practically screams, "I'm smarter than you in every way". In his Character File "Transcends Time", which is narrated by Sora, he outright calls Xehanort a "know-it-all".
Interface Screw: He can actually knock commands off of his opponent, who is forced to scramble to pick them up off the ground while dodging his attacks.
Invisibility: Has a penchant for going invisible and pulling out an instant One-Hit Kill combo.
It Gets Easier: At the end of Dark Road, Master Odin tasked the teenage Xehanort with executing Baldr, which he did with reluctance. This is the act that ultimately cemented his Lack of Empathy, and in the future, he would not hesitate to kill many more Keyblade wielders.
Jerkass Has a Point: In the final stretch of the game, Young Xehanort repeatedly taunted Sora over how utterly doomed he was by repeatedly and recklessly misusing the Power of Waking to travel through time. He had every reason to: Sora was effectively erased from existence entirely. What was left of him was sent to the other side of reality, the very definition of an Eldritch Location, where the laws of reality simply don't exist. And he's pretty much stuck there with no known way back.
Karma Houdini: Downplayed example in III. Unlike the other incarnations of Xehanort, he does not experience a final death or sobering epiphany upon his defeat, since Sora accomplished nothing but further his future self's plans and send Young Xehanort back to his own time unharmed. Master Xehanort is ultimately defeated by the end of III, so his confidence and bravado will ultimately fail him, but he won't remember any of it.
Killed Mid-Sentence: Downplayed in that he goes back to his time period rather than gets actually killed, but he attempts to give out one last Badass Boast before fading away.
Young Xehanort: Goodbye, Sora. Your time... in this world is...!
Laser Blade: Dual wields two laser blades as his weapons. The Keyblade you get from him, No Name, is a Laser Blade Keyblade. In 3D he wields a variation of it over his laser blades for the first part of the battle with him.
The Leader: In Dream Drop Distence, he leads the XIII Seekers of Darkness before his future self returns as a recompleted person.
Lean and Mean: While he coincidentally bears some physical resemblance to the young man whose body his older self would ultimately possess, the main difference is that Terra has a much bulkier build, whereas Young Xehanort is quite thin, though it doesn't make him any less dangerous.
Leitmotif: His character theme is "Xehanort -The Early Years-", an electronic rearrangement of his elderly self's theme. He also has two battle themes exclusive to him, "Dark Impetus" in Birth by Sleep and "L'Impeto Oscuro" in 3D and III. Both qualify for invokedAwesome Music, regardless.
Lightning Bruiser: He moves and teleports rapidly and hits with combos powerful enough to drain you from full health to critical.
Magic Missile Storm: In 3D, he can shoot barrages of energy in a similar fashion to Terra's Dark Volley Shotlock that will afflict Riku with Slow.
Me's a Crowd: During his Desperation Attack in Re:Mind and his fight agaisnt Riku in [3D], Young Xehanort will bring some phantom clones of himself to attack Riku/Sora from getting anywhere near the Real YX.
Mind over Matter: He force-pushes both Riku and Mickey at different points.
Mind Rape: Subjects poor Sora to this in 3D, dragging him further and further into sleep and weakening his heart with darkness to make him their 13th Vessel.
Mirror Boss: Has many of the same commands as you such as Meteor, Raging Storm, Mega Flare, Collision Magnet, Restore Barrier, Sonic Blade, Vanitas's X-shaped Sword Beam, Marluxia's Doom and Whirlwind to the Void, Laser Blades like Xemnas, can clone himself like Xemnas, orbs that shoot lasers like Ansem does in his final battle in ``1`` and in Dream Drop Distance he even wields a Keyblade. Dream Drop Distance also justifies how he can do this since he's a younger Xehanort that has visited multiple time periods to gather alter-egos of his older self. Notice most of those attacks can be used by people that Xehanort has or HAD corrupted, so presumably, this version of Xehanort is privy to All Your Powers Combined.
Morph Weapon: Combines his separate blades into one, throws them out as orbs of light to shoot out like projectiles, elongates them to stab forward, and can fling them through the air like a whip. He also does many of the same tricks with his Keyblade in 3D.
Mythology Gag: He's a thematic retraux of the Unknown Superboss from Kingdom Hearts Final Mix, wielding similar weapons and appearing in a similar fashion, and like it foreshadowing the Big Bad of the next game.
Nerf: The Final Mix version of Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (and by extension HD 2.5 ReMIX) allows players to escape from his Collision Magnet attack by dashing away in midair, and as it's his most infamous and deadly attack, it's a welcome relief.
No Ontological Inertia: The ending credits of III imply the two halves of Toy Box he created have been re-merged into one, meaning it was likely restored due to his death.
Obviously Evil: Even when his identity is unknown to the heroes at the beginning of Dream Drop Distance, his silver hair and Villainous Widow's Peak is a clue that he has some connection to the series' Big Bad (as Ansem, Xemnas, and Terra-Xehanort all share similar physical features). And then, of course, there are his blatantly evil actions in Traverse Town right from the get-go.
One-Hit Kill: He can use the Doom spell, grabbing you with tendrils of energy and beginning a six-second countdown. If you don't mash X in time, you die on the spot. And each time you're grabbed, the timer gets shorter.
- Most of his attacks as a Superboss in Birth By Sleep are so highly-damaging that not even being level 99 will save you on anything above Beginner. If anything hits you and you don't have Second Chance/Once More equipped, you're toast.
One-Steve Limit: Technically averted. In side materials his Birth by Sleep appearance is called "Unknown", the same not-really-a-name given to Xemnas' Kingdom Hearts Final Mix appearance.
The Quiet One: He's very soft-spoken and calm, especially compared to your typical Xehanort. Even in battle, he doesn't use attack calls like most bosses and only lets out the occasional grunt with a handful of actual dialogue. The one time he raises his voice is when Master Xehanort performs Villain Override and takes over his body, but then that's not even Young Xehanort doing it.
Painting the Medium: He can knock the commands out of your menu, when he reverses time the music goes backwards too, and he teleports to avoid your targeting sensor when you try to use a Shotlock. And then in 3D he can replay cutscenes.
Parental Abandonment: The ending of Union χ reveals that he was given away by his mother as a baby and taken to Destiny Islands to be raised by a hooded figure.
Past-Life Memories: In Dark Road, being so close to the Union χ Player Character's heart as a child causes him to have recurring dreams about the player's adventures in the distant past.
Playing with Fire: He uses powerful magics like Mega Flare and Raging Storm in Birth by Sleep, while in 3D he uses a fiery variation of Whirlwind To The Void in the clock phase of his battle.
Pre-Final Boss: In III he's fought alongside Ansem and Xemnas as the penultimate bosses of the game.
Punch-Clock Villain: In a certain sense of the word — as far as he's concerned he's just doing what's destined to be done, and while such acts are evil, there's no malice in his demeanor. Given that this is a teenage Xehanort from before he Jumped Off The Slippery Slope, how evil he was before Ansem told him about what he's going to end up becoming is up for discussion.
Reality Warper: He somehow has the ability to split a world into two separate realms, with half of the residents in one part and half in another. He does this to Traverse Town with Traverse Town and the Shibuya refugees (along with Sora and Riku) in Dream Drop Distance and then again to Toy Box in III, though in the latter case you only explore one of the halves.
Reverse Grip: Holds his laser blades like this. His Keyblade, however, not so much.
Retcon: Originally was portrayed as Xehanort before he began his apprenticeship as a Keyblade wielder and only able to wield the Keyblade when his elderly self possessed him, III instead treats him as the version of himself after his apprenticeship had finished, able to freely wield the Keyblade and a younger in-training Xehanort is shown via flashback.
Shadow Archetype: In a different way than his elder self, he's one to Riku. They have similar fighting stances and are on the cusp of earning the Master title, both use darkness as a major element of their fighting style, and both rely on a numbers advantage—Riku with his Dream Eaters and Young Xehanort with his clones. Both had their villain arcs started by a meeting with Ansem, and later fought a friend of theirs who still relied on the light. Unlike Riku, Young Xehanort's never had the Character Development or Humble Pie to temper his ego, and gave up on friendship years ago after killing Baldr. He only trusts himself and would gladly let his own allies die if it meant achieving his plans. In a sense, Young Xehanort's what Riku would have turned into had he never learned to care about others or had his arrogance brought down a few pegs.
Shout-Out: Young Xehanort is essentially the KH version of DIO Brando. His primary ability is to control time and ice, and he even yells out "Toki yo, tomare!" during his Desperation move in the Japanese version of 3D. In addition to this, one of his signature moves is to freeze time around his opponent and surround them with shards of ice, similarly to DIO's Circle of Knives attack. His ability to rewind time also brings to mind Yoshikage Kira's Stand Killer Queen Bites the Dust.
Smart People Play Chess: III shows that he and Eraqus spent their youth together playing chess. Also, one of his boss battle quotes has him shout "That's Checkmate!"
SNK Boss: He can clone himself, with all five clones able to attack individually; his "Collision Magnet" attack stuns you so the follow-up attack doesn't trigger Second Chance; he can blow your command cards across the arena, forcing you to pick them up; any time you land a hit on him he may decide to rewind time to undo the damage and recover from the blow. This is in addition to his lightning-fast, powerful attacks. When his HP gets low he turns invisible, preventing you from targeting him and begins to use multiple attacks at once, in addition to all of the previous.
Sore Loser: Although he knows he doesn't have to win in the final battle in III, he doesn't want to lose either. After his defeat, his response is to laugh in spite and wish death upon Sora. The flashbacks to his youth reveal that he was always like this as Eraqus states that in all of their chess matches, Xehanort has only ever admitted defeat once.
Young Xehanort: Yeah, you got me.
Young Eraqus: Huh? Really? It's just, you never admit it when you lose.
Young Xehanort: That's 'cause I never lose.
Speed Echoes: During his battles in 3D and III, he'll teleport just as you initiate an attack, leaving an afterimage.
Stable Time Loop: His ability to time travel is introduced to him by Ansem, who presumably learns how to accomplish it from his subconscious memories of Young Xehanort. Though his memories of what he's learned regarding what his other incarnations will do will be removed when he returns to his own time, the knowledge of the events will remain etched in his heart and draw him to live them out.
Start of Darkness: Xehanort grew up on the Destiny Islands. As a young man, he was paid a visit by his future self's Heartless, Ansem, who granted him the power to traverse time and tasked him with gathering twelve other incarnations of himself from across time. After carrying out his duties in the future, Xehanort returned to his proper place in time at the Destiny Islands. While the rules of time travel prevented him from keeping his memories of his travels, they engraved themselves on his heart so that he retained a desire to eventually leave the islands. Re:Mind shows us when he continuously started down the path that would make him into the Big Bad we know him as; The Master of Masters gave him the black coat, allowing Xehanort to travel the worlds freely and safely. After he talks about the darkness he saw pretending to be light, the Master encouraged this way of thinking. It's ambiguous whether or not the Master was doing this so his prophecies come to fruition, or if he has worse plans than Xehanort did.
Superboss: In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.
Sword Beam: In BBS, he can fire an X-shaped sword beam like Vanitas. In 3D, all of his regular attacks will fire sword beams.
Theme Song Reveal: According to invokedWord of God, his theme "Dark Impetus" contains a clue to his identity. It takes elements from "Rage Awakened" (Terra's Lingering Sentiment), "Darkness of the Unknown" (Xemnas' final battle theme in Kingdom Hearts II), and "Lord of the Castle" (Marluxia's final battle theme in Re:Chain of Memories). Which mostly all fits together when you learn he's a younger Xehanort that orchestrates the forming of the XIII Seekers of Darkness within the halls of the Castle That Never Was.
Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Does this during one of his combos with his Ethereal Blades.
Time Master: He averts No Cure for Evil by rewinding time to before you hit him in Birth by Sleep. It even makes the background music go in reverse for a few seconds. His desperation move in 3D is this on a larger scale — he only rewinds the battle to the start of the fight if you fail to defeat him in the battle to destroy the clock, even replaying the intro cutscene over again to complete the illusion, but he only recovers two bars of health. He's able to resist Mickey's fourth-level Stopza spell, which even Ansem and Xemnas are halted by - only because the older Xehanort was taking control of his body, given the fact that it's shortly after this that his version of No Name appears.
Time Travel: Xehanort's younger self who has travelled forward in time from the past.
Took a Level in Jerkass: Young Xehanort is a lot more of a malicious dick in III then he was in Dream Drop Distance as can be shown in his defeat scene. While most of Xehanort's incarnations are remarkably graceful about their deaths or even given moments of sympathy, the previously calm Young Xehanort spends his final moments spitefully taunting Sora about how he'll be victorious through his future self. Whether his change in attitude is due to being around his older self or he is just revealing his true colors is left unexplained.
Trap Master: This is his role in the triple Xehanort fight in III as all of his attacks are designed to hold Sora in place for the other two to attack. His ice shards can freeze Sora in place. One attack has him send his whip through a portal to grab him, and another attack has him lash out with his whip, freezing time around Sora and subjecting him to invisible slashes which will toss him into the air and leave him vulnerable.
Troll: Most of his appearances throughout 3D are him just appearing to taunt Sora and occasionally Riku before vanishing. Turns out this is precisely the idea since he's luring Sora deeper into his dream world in order to Mind Rape him… he also acts as this to the player while it's Riku, constantly rewinding time to reset the battle with him and keep the fight going on longer and longer.
Turns Red: When low on health in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep he'll turn invisible and will begin using multiple attacks at once. And then in 3D, he gets faster, teleports more often and his attacks are harder to avoid.
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: He was very similar to Riku in his youth — just a boy tired of being stuck on Destiny Islands and wanting to see the world. The chess games he and Eraqus play in various flashbacks in III really highlight the fact that Xehanort becomes an entirely different person by the time of his Mark of Mastery. Not fully dismissive of the power of darkness, but still not so different from any other boy.
Villain Has a Point: Prior to being returned to his own time, Young Xehanort claims that Sora will have a huge price to pay for misusing the Power of Waking to return hearts by travelling to worlds, rather than to return worlds by travelling to hearts. His claims are validated when Sora disappears without a trace after he uses the Power of Waking to revive Kairi during the Re:Mind scenario.
Villain Override: According to the Ultimania for 3D, Master Xehanort did this to him for the battle with Riku in Where Nothing Gathers so as to be able to override the Stopza imposed by Mickey.
Whip Sword: Can extend and lash his weapons out to ensnare opponents.
You Can't Fight Fate: In a conversation with a young Eraqus in III, Xehanort says he believes that the future has "already been written", likely due to him subconsciously remembering his time travel in 3D.
Eraqus: Who's to say I can't change it? And maybe light will prevail. There is more to light than meets the eye. You might be surprised.
Xehanort: Oh, I hope so.
You Will Not Evade Me: He starts using his Keyblade's whip form like this in III. After whipping the target twice, one of his follow-up hits pulls them closer, leaving them vulnerable for another hit. In the main story battle with him, he'll even sink his Keyblade into the ground, which creates a portal near from which the whip ensnares him, severely limiting his ability to move or attack.

No Heart

A data simulation of Xehanort, either wearing or as a suit of armor wielding Xehanort's Keyblade - heavily implied to be the Keyblade Armor that Xehanort used in his youth. Its armor first appears (sans Keyblade) being worn by Xemnas in Kingdom Hearts II and later appears as its own entity in Birth by Sleep Final Mix as a Superboss. It can be fought in the Mirage Arena once the player has completed every other Arena Mode challenge to achieve an arena rank of 30.

All Your Powers Combined: Its attack patterns take cues from every other Xehanort incarnation. He uses slow, dignified combos like Master Xehanort and uses flurries of Keyblade Graveyard Keyblades, darts and zips around like Terra-Xehanort with sonic impact throughout the fight, which is also similar to Ansem's rush,does series of roundhouse kicks like Xemnas, fires bullets of darkness like Terra-Xehanort and Ansem, and creates pools of darkness that can slow down or speed up players and uses various weapon transformations like Young Xehanort.
Ambiguously Human: It's unclear whether No Heart is a simulation of Master Xehanort himself or of his Keyblade armor turned animate via some version of Xehanort's will, like with the Armor of Eraqus - though answering that question isn't a high priority for the game, given that a) it will whup your ass like there's no tomorrow and b) it's just a data simulation in the first place.
Animated Armor: Just like Terra's Lingering Will and the Armor of Eraqus, it's described as "a suit of armor worn by one who wields the Keyblade". However, this is also subverted in that it's also described with "no one knows who's behind the mask", which implies that it may also be a depiction of Xehanort himself wearing the armor.
Bragging Rights Reward: Defeating him earns the Royal Radiance, the most powerful Keyblade in the game bar-none. However, being that No Heart is the most difficult enemy in the game, getting that Keyblade means you clearly don't need it.
The Brute: It appears only to fight in the Mirage Arena, this is an incarnation of Xehanort less interested in pontificating and scheming and more interested in completely obliterating anyone who dares to face it - and it's more than capable of doing it, too. This is because it's a data simulation meant solely for fighting.
Call-Forward: Its suit of armor is the same one Xemnas wore in II.
- As of Dark Road, we finally see Young Xehanort wearing it as his keyblade armor, albeit with minor alterations such as the face plate having an extra symbol based on Terra's heart pin.
The Coats Are Off: After dispelling the dark barrier, No Heart throws off its cloak to challenge you directly.
The Corrupter: While Xehanort in general fits this trope, No Heart uses it as a gameplay mechanic. One of its attacks replaces your own commands with "Wrath of Darkness," which launches a single dark projectile (even for Aqua and Ven, who normally can't use darkness) at the cost of having increasingly-severe Status Effects inflicted on you. Cast it four times, and you're doomed — literally.
Dash Attack: It can use Sonic Impact to dart across the room.
Extremity Extremist: One of its attacks has it formchange its Keyblade into a greave that it will use for a six-hit kick combo or send out a wave of dark energy with a kick.
Fashionable Asymmetry: No Heart has a crown built into its left shoulder, and a white feathery wing in its right.
Flying Weapon: For the first part of the fight with it, it creates a wall of darkness anchored by its floating Keyblade. You have to destroy the Keyblade to disperse the wall so No Heart itself will fight you. During the second phase, it will formchange its Keyblade into the floating shield from the first phase. In this state, your forced to lock on to the Keyblade and it will fling itself at you like a buzzsaw.
Grapple Move: It can formchange its Keyblade into a claw to grab your character. If you don't mash X fast enough, it will clamp down on them.
Kung-Fu Wizard: Surprisingly, it prefers to turn its Keyblade into attachments for its armor and then beat you up with kick combos, rather than use the Keyblade directly.
Leitmotif: Its boss theme, Forze dell'Oscurità, is a combination of both Forze del Male and Darkness of the Unknown, boss themes for Ansem and Xemnas respectively. Fittingly, this theme is remixed in Re:Mind for that game's own Superboss data simulation of Master Xehanort.
Lightning Bruiser: It moves ridiculously fast, has the most HP of any enemy in the game, is Nigh-Invulnerable to most attacks, and can deplete your HP in one combo.
Light Is Not Good: While its actual powers are obviously darkness-related, the armor's silver and gold coloration and white feathers give it a rather holy appearance, despite it being Xehanort.
Magic Missile Storm: It can fire Dark Volley shots in waves, though unlike Terra-Xehanort, it fires it from its hands rather than its Keyblade.
Morph Weapon: It can transform its Keyblade into various different forms, such as a claw, a greave, a floating shield, or wings.
Motif Merger: Its boss theme, Forze dell'Oscurità, is a combination of both Forze del Male and Darkness of the Unknown, boss themes for Ansem and Xemnas respectively.
Nerf: Since the 2.5 HD release removed the multiplayer element, it was nerfed with slightly reduced HP to make it easier for players to challenge alone.
Power Gives You Wings: It can formchange its Keyblade into a set of wings for Flight. From above it will either dive at you, or surround itself in an orb of energy and explode.
Riddle for the Ages: Is it supposed to represent Master Xehanort himself or merely an Animated Armor version of him a la Lingering Will? If the former, is it supposed to be the game's "current" elderly Xehanort or the young version of him who actually wore the armor? The in-game journal isn't kidding when it says "no one knows who's behind the mask".
Royals Who Actually Do Something: Invoked. Its armor has a distinctly regal design to it and its incredibly powerful.
Shockwave Stomp: One of its attacks with its greave has it leap into the air and stomp the ground, stunning your character if they're too close.
Significant Anagram: No Heart is a rearrangement of the letters found in Xehanort, sans the "x".
Stationary Boss: The first phase has it sit on its throne, protected by a barrier of darkness. Once you dispel the dark barrier, No Heart fights you itself.
Storm of Blades: It continually assaults you with storms of darkness-imbued Keyblades. One particular attack has it knock your character into the air, where a number of Keyblades surround your character and explode.
Superboss: It's the ultimate challenge in Birth by Sleep Final Mix, making even the other bonus bosses look like warm-ups for it.
SNK Boss: It can do things no other enemy in the game can do, such as replace your deck commands with decoy darkness commands, create pillars to inflict Slow on you, deplete the recharge timer of all your deck commands, and is generally very fast and very powerful.
Time Master: One attack has No Heart create a pillar of dark energy that will either slow your character down, or increase their speed to make them harder to control.
Tin Tyrant: It perpetually wears/is its Keyblade armor.
Weaksauce Weakness: In 2.5 HD it was given a heavy weakness to Shotlocks; a full charge can deplete a full HP bar and then some, and even a partial charge can do heavy damage. Thankfully for its sake, it rarely holds still long enough for a full charge.
You Will Not Evade Me: One of its attacks in the first phase has it summon a Corridor of Darkness to suck your character in. If successful, they will be stuck on the wall, tethered to its floating Keyblade.

Replica Xehanorts

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/real_organization_xiii_remnants_khiii.png

^{Click here to see the Armor form}

Appearances: III

A group of twelve masked replicas representing Master Xehanort’s Seekers. Sora encounters them after transporting himself and Master Xehanort into Scala ad Caelum, where they make up the first phase of the final boss fight. Re:Mind clarifies that they are the first twelve Replicas created by Vexen, who were simply used as cannon fodder due to being too unstable to be used as vessels.

Battle Aura: They will occasionally glow with a red aura. In the main story, this is a sign that they're about to perform their Desperation Attack. In the boss fight in Re:Mind, this is the cue that they will perform a powerful attack.
Combat Stilettos: Their boots include high heels.
Cowardly Boss: They vanish right after their introductory cutscene, forcing Sora to hunt them down. Whenever he finds some of them, they will only fight him for a short time before disappearing again.
Degraded Boss: Collectively to the Seekers. Each Replica wields the weapon of one of the Seekers, but can only replicate the most basic attacks of their fighting style. When they switch to replicating Master Xehanort, they have most of his raw power, but can only attack with basic Keyblade swings and beams of magic. Their only form that isn't this trope is their final fused form, which is a more powerful version of Armored Xehanort.
Desperation Attack:
- The Replicas vanish and form a massive circle in the sky, which rains down lasers throughout Scala. Eventually the Replicas will appear in groups and rush at Sora repeatedly, culminating in one trying to launch Sora in the air so they all can attack him at once.
- As Armored Xehanort, they have two. While one is the same as the first the real Armored Xehanort has without the anti-gravity aspect, their second phase instead has Meteor. Throughout the attack, large meteors will rain in a specific pattern, with Xehanort hiding in certain ones to perform a normal attack on Sora and Kairi.
Final Boss: Of the Re:Mind episode.
Flawed Prototype: They were the original host Replicas Vexen created, predating even Xion and the Riku Replica, and were meant to be the initial stock of vessels designed to host the thirteen seekers, but they were ultimately not up to the task. Regardless of this, Xehanort still made use of them in Scala ad Caelum as blunt instruments under his control.
Foreshadowing: Xigbar's Replica is the only one that has his Seeker's moves, and is always at the center of the formation when you find a group of them. While this can be initially explained as Xigbar's weapon being ranged instead of melee like the most of the Seekers, the epilogue provides another reason as to why Xigbar's Replica stands out.
Fusion Dance: After Sora restores Kairi, the Replicas fuse together to form a copy of Armored Xehanort, who holds one copy of the Gazing Eye while telekinectically controlling the others.
Instant Runes: They form a magic circle vast enough to fill the sky from horizon to horizon as part of their Signature Move.
I Shall Taunt You: After defeating all of the Guardians of Light sans Mickey, one of the Replicas points its Keyblade at Mickey, as if daring him to get up and fight them.
Malevolent Masked Men: They wear horned, face-concealing helmets.
Moveset Clone: All of them have identical movesets to each other, with Xigbar's being the only one to have his origin's moves.
Playing with Fire: As Armored Xehanort, they primarily use fire based attacks such as pillars, localized explosions, fireballs, and surrounding themselves in an orb of energy and exploding.
Rasputinian Death: Re:Mind reveals that the vessels took a lot more to defeat that the main story showed. They had to be beaten by Sora, Donald, and Goofy to be fused into Xehanort's armor, which was immediately destroyed in the next fight. They then went to the Keyblade Graveyard and fought the Guardians of Light, which ended with Mickey and Sora obliterating them. And then they came back one more time, fusing into a copy of Armored Xehanort, at which point Sora and Kairi finally destroyed them.
Recurring Boss: Between the base game and the Re:Mind DLC, they’re fought a grand total of three times, although with entirely different moves and mechanics each time.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: They wear black robes with red trimming over black armor with red gauntlets and boots. If that wasn’t enough to convey their evil nature, their Signature Move turns the sky pitch black and fills it with a red magic circle.
Screaming Warrior: In contrast with Master Xehanort's calmer battle grunts, they let out enraged screams as Armored Xehanort.
Sequential Boss: In Re:Mind. First you fight the main game battle again, then you fight them as the Guardians of Light, then a weakened Mickey fends them off, and finally they fuse into a stronger copy of Armored Xehanort to fight Kairi and the time-traveling Sora.
Shared Life-Meter: They share a common set of health bars, and will drop dead as a group once those bars are depleted.
Silent Antagonist: They never utter a sound during their boss fight, not even to grunt in pain. Once they merge into a copy of Armored Xehanort, they begin delivering the same Boss Banter that he does, but don't speak outside of battle.
Spectral Weapon Copy: Eleven of the twelve wield a copy of a Seeker's weapon^note. Ansem's replica instead uses dark magic. In the Re:Mind DLC, they each wield a copy of the No Name while fighting the Guardians of Light.
Unskilled, but Strong: They may be replicas of Xehanort, but they do not share his skill with the Keyblade. Their attacks are slow, heavily telegraphed, and they generally rely more on their brute force and sheer numbers to overwhelm their opponents.
Villain of Another Story: While present Sora, Donald, and Goofy are fighting Xehanort with the χ-blade, the other Guardians and the future Sora are fighting these guys.
Walking Spoiler: They don’t appear until the final boss fight of III, so it’s difficult to talk about them without mentioning endgame spoilers.
Wake-Up Call Boss: For the DLC as Armored Xehanort, where they serve as an appetizer for the upcoming Superboss fights, being more complex and challenging than any fight prior while also being noticeably different from the base game Armored Xehanort, hinting that the data rematches with the Organization members won't just be stronger and faster versions of their base game fights.
Wolfpack Boss: In both of their encounters, they're fought as a group of twelve with a Shared Life-Meter. Sora fights them in groups of three to six at a time, while the Guardians fight them all at once, but do so as a Wolfpack Party.

Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Master Xehanort

Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

Master Xehanort

Voiced by: BBS, DDD: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), Leonard Nimoy (English); III: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Rutger Hauer (Main game), Christopher Lloyd (Re:Mind onwards) (English)

Appearances: II Final Mix | Birth by Sleep | Re:coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Dark Road | Melody of Memory

Master Xehanort

Young Xehanort

Voiced by: Takanori Okuda (Japanese), David Gallagher (English, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep), Ben Diskin (English, 3D: Dream Drop Distance onwards)

No Heart

Replica Xehanorts

Appearances: III

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Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Master Xehanort

Edit Locked

Due to lengthy periods between releases and the prevalence of Late Arrival Spoilers, spoilers from installments before 2010 may be unmarked. Read at your own risk.

Master Xehanort

Voiced by: BBS, DDD: Chikao Ohtsuka (Japanese), Leonard Nimoy (English); III: Akio Ōtsuka (Japanese), Rutger Hauer (Main game), Christopher Lloyd (Re:Mind onwards) (English)

Appearances: II Final Mix | Birth by Sleep | Re:coded | Dream Drop Distance | III | Dark Road | Melody of Memory

Master Xehanort

Young Xehanort

Voiced by: Takanori Okuda (Japanese), David Gallagher (English, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep), Ben Diskin (English, 3D: Dream Drop Distance onwards)

No Heart

Replica Xehanorts

Appearances: III

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