Characters / Kingdom Hearts: Xigbar

Kingdom Hearts Main Character Index
Destiny Islands Trio (Sora | Riku | Kairi) | Disney Castle Trio | Clock Tower Trio (Roxas | Axel | Xion) | Wayfinder Trio (Terra | Aqua | Ventus) | Party Members and Summons | Xehanort's Incarnations (Master Xehanort) | Organization XIII (Xigbar | Saïx | Vanitas) | Disney Villains (Maleficent's Council and Allies | Other Disney Villains) | Independent Villains | Enemy Creatures (Heartless) | Ansem and his Apprentices | Kingdom Hearts χ[chi] Characters | Supporting Original Characters | Supporting Square Enix Characters | Supporting Disney Characters

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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.

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WARNING: Due to The Reveal during the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts III, Xigbar has a Walking Spoiler alternative identity which changes everything about the plot of the entire series. Read the second folder of this page at your own risk.

Braig/Xigbar

Xigbar, The Freeshooter (Original Name: Braig)

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

^{Click here to see Braig.}

Voiced by: Hōchū Ōtsuka (Japanese), James Patrick Stuart (English)

Appearances: II | 358/2 Days | Birth by Sleep | Re:coded | Dream Drop Distance | III

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

As a human, Braig was one of Ansem the Wise's six apprentices, but he made a deal with Master Xehanort to aid him in his plans in exchange for being made a Keyblade wielder. When Xehanort turned on Ansem and transformed his apprentices into Nobodies, Braig suffered the same fate, becoming Xigbar, Number II in Organization XIII. He became a complete person again follow his destruction in Kingdom Hearts II, and joined Master Xehanort's Thirteen Seekers of Darkness as Number IV, becoming a Nobody again.

Despite his laid-back and carefree attitude, Xigbar is well-deserving of his status in the Organization, being much more powerful and competent than his personality would indicate.

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• Accent Adaptation: He was given a surfer-dude accent in the English version of II as the equivalent of the Japanese version of a similar accent to reflect his laid-back attitude. It gets downplayed in later appearances.
• Affably Evil: He's usually very friendly (if shady) and laid back about his position in Xehanort's schemes. Given who he really is, this makes sense.
• Affectionate Nickname: Demyx sometimes calls him "Xiggy".
• Alpha Strike: His desperation attack in II involves creating and firing projectiles from several directions down on Sora's current location.
• Arc Villain: Of the second visit to Land of Dragons in II.
• Authority in Name Only: Despite his high rank, Xigbar is not given high authority like Saïx or Marluxia, and is instead sent on missions against Sora. He does, however, maintain a position of importance in the Organization due to his past with Xehanort, and is privy to information about the Organization's leader that few others know. This continues in the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness, although he takes advantage of his position as the errand boy to the primary Xehanorts to give orders of his own, under the guise of them coming from above.
• Back from the Dead: He returns in Dream Drop Distance as Braig after the destruction of his Heartless and Nobody, but he becomes Nobody again to let Xehanort partially possess his body.
• Bad Liar: He's a Consummate Liar, just not a very good one. Just about no one buys into his lies for even one second due to the fact that he's almost always an unpleasant Jerkass, but Re Mind plays this in full force. Luxord instantly rips his lies apart and reveals for all his manipulations, Xigbar barely put in any effort to cover his bases when it came to the order to find the Black Box. It never occurred to him that someone might ask Xemnas or Xehanort directly about the Black Box if he told them the order came from them. To be fair, he didn't expect Luxord, a bottom rung member in the original Organization and someone originally resigned to let fate play out to be the one to dig up information on him.
• Bastard Understudy: To Master Xehanort. The secret ending of Birth by Sleep even shows that every event that transpires in the first Kingdom Hearts onwards is attributed to him carrying out Master Xehanort's plans.
• Batman Gambit: Thanks to Terra-Xehanort’s amnesia, he’s basically plotting one over the next ten years as soon as he remembers.
• Battle Aura: A good sign to stop trying to fight and to start focusing on dodging is when he suddenly bursts into a glowing white aura similar to the ones Xaldin and Saïx gain. In II, Birth By Sleep, and his data rematch in Limit Cut, it renders him invincible and is usually accompanied by copious amounts of Teleport Spam and bullets.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Being turned into a copy of Xehanort himself isn't necessarily the best way to getting your own Keyblade, but it is subverted in that Braig willingly went along with the process aware of the trade-off. He just wants another Keyblade War to happen, that's for sure.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: Invoked. In III, he smugly falls backwards to his apparent death after Sora and Riku defeat him in the Keyblade Graveyard, viewing it Better to Die than Be Killed. The epilogue reveals it was just an Villain: Exit, Stage Left.
• Bifurcated Weapon: He can combine his two arrowguns to form a sniper rifle, or use them together like a split-barrel cannon. The sniper rifle got cut in the English version of II for censorship reasons but was restored in the later collections and retained without changes in all future installments. In III, he combines them into a bow to shoot down a Rain of Arrows.
• Bizarre and Improbable Ballistics: His red bullets can curve in midair to home in on Sora, his larger blue-black bullets can bounce off the walls of the arena to strike from odd angles or hit Sora over and over again, and his purple buckshot rounds can fly a set distance, stop in midair, then move horizontally in the direction of their target. Should he somehow miss, he can just open a portal to redirect an arrow back towards his target.
• Bottomless Magazines: Averted. "R for reload!" Played straight with his Data Replica, though.
• Breakout Villain: Similar to Axel, Xigbar's role in the series has greatly expanded with each release. III implies that he knows more than he lets on about the Keyblades and the Keyblade Wars and that he has his own agenda.
• Bullet Dancing: In II, he'll always preface his Desperation Attack with "Let's see how you dance!" This behavior continues in III.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: He's extremely lax and joking, but this is all just a facade to lure people into a false sense of security to hide how dangerous he really is and what he really knows.
• Catchphrase: "As if!"
• Chekhov's Gunman: Appropriately enough for the Freeshooter, Xigbar first appears in Kingdom Hearts II, where his role in the Organization is secondary to Xemnas, Saïx, and Axel. By the time of Birth By Sleep it turns out every major event that transpires over the course of the series happens because he planted the ideas in Terra-Xehanort's head. The end of III also turns his strange actions and behavior into an important plot point.
• Co-Dragons:
  • With Vanitas to Master Xehanort in Birth By Sleep as his human self Braig, they were both Xehanort’s first minions but while Vanitas is Xehanort’s apprentice and his sole dragon in the beginning of the game, Braig joined Xehanort later on after he strikes a deal with him to get his own Keyblade.
  • With Saïx to Xemnas in II. Saïx serves as the Organization’s second-in-command carrying out order to the other members, while Xigbar keeps to the background while covertly working towards Xemnas's more private goals and was one of the first members of the original Organization XIII.
  • He once again shares the role again with Saïx this time to Master Xehanort in Re:Mind, but when Ansem, Xemnas, and Young Xehanort return in replica bodies, they are both demoted as lesser members.
• Combat Pragmatist: He engages his melee opponents with ranged weaponry, teleports and shapeshifts the arena to stay away from them, and holds Master Xehanort hostage to try and get Terra not to fight back. He even lampshades this to Terra.
  Braig: You think I'm gonna fight fair? As if!
• Combo Rifle: His Arrowguns can connect together to form a sniper rifle, used for charged attacks.
• Consummate Liar: A trait he carries as far back as his “original” self, Braig. He also manages to lie to Xehanort's many incarnations about why he's working for them the whole time. Even Master Xehanort himself fails to catch onto this, albeit Larxene, Vexen and Luxord do get suspicious.
• Deceptive Disciple: While he played the role of an apprentice to Ansem the Wise, he was working with Xehanort on evil schemes from the moment Xehanort came into Ansem's care, long before the other apprentices got in on it.
• Deadpan Snarker: Xigbar is a very sarcastic individual, almost never taking anything seriously.
• Death In All Directions: Surpassed only by Xemnas in this regard. He's capable of unloading a firing squad's worth of bullets into a portal, rapidly opening other portals all over the place in order to shoot enemies from every conceivable angle.
• Defiant to the End: Meets his initial end in II, making one last quip at Sora for trying to ask him about Roxas before fading away. In III, he similarly goes out smug yet defiant, claiming to be worthy of the keyblade and snarking at Riku for saying he'd make for a poor keyblade wielder before falling off a nearby cliff in an apparent case of Better to Die than Be Killed.
• Didn't Think This Through: When Luxord presses him who gave the order to find the Black Box, he claims it was Xemnas. Except Luxord already asked Xemnas about it. Whoops.
• Double Meaning:
  • When he first encounters Sora in Hollow Bastion with his hood up, he said that "he used to give him the exact same look". It's initially assumed he's referring to Roxas, but following Birth By Sleep he is actually more likely referring to Ven.
  • Calling himself "half-Xehanort" not only reveals the existence Xehanort's Assimilation Plot, but also implies that Xigbar's loyalty to Master Xehanort is very shaky.
  • He tells Sora in Kingdom Hearts II that he's "not half the hero the others were", which is the series' very first mention of the existence of the protagonists of Birth By Sleep.
  • Xigbar, when he loses to Sora once again in Kingdom Hearts III, tells Sora and Riku that "If I had a Keyblade, it'd be different...". The player is to assume that it refers to Braig's original goal in Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, in which he wishes to work for Xehanort to gain a Keyblade for himself. It doesn’t.
• The Dragon: To Xehanort/Xemnas. Throughout the series he’s been Master Xehanort’s right-hand man from the beginning, in Birth by Sleep he shares the Dragon position with Vanitas, in II he was one of the founding members of Organization XIII and once again shares this position, this time with Saïx to Xemnas, in Dream Drop Distance he was one of the chosen vessels in the Thirteen Seekers of Darkness due to him being one of Xehanort’s first followers and implying that he’s the true Dragon to Xehanort/Xemnas, by virtue of being the only one besides Xehanort to know what the hell is going on.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He seems to have little interest personally in Xehanort's plot to win a second Keyblade War and obtain the power of Kingdom Hearts, constantly snarking at the old man and acting much less in line with Xehanort's will than the other longtime Xehanort vessels like Ansem and Xemnas.
• Dual Boss: Alongside Dark Riku in III.^note Ansem also takes part in the fight at first, but he departs shortly after Sora shows up.
• Enigmatic Minion: Even back in II, Xigbar always gave the impression that he knew more than he let on. This aspect is dialed up a ton in subsequent games, where there's no lack of hints and clues that he definitely knows more.
• Evil All Along: Earlier games indicated that all the apprentices other than Xehanort were manipulated and corrupted by him and were actually good people. Birth by Sleep confirms this was true for all of them except Braig, who was working with Xehanort long before and is heavily implied to be just as responsible for corrupting the rest, if not more so.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: In 3D he tries to break Sora's spirit by pointing out to him that, since his power comes from his friends, he has no power on his own. He's utterly baffled that his words have the exact opposite effect by reaffirming Sora's belief in The Power of Friendship, since it means he's a part of something much bigger.
• Evil Makeover: Braig started out with brown eyes and normal ears in BBS. By the end of the game, his remaining eye is yellow and his ears are pointed, a sign of Xehanort's possession over him.
• Evil Mentor: Of the Stealth Mentor type, Xigbar has a habit of divulging relatively important information to his enemies through his taunts, though he is typically vague enough that they do not understand his meaning, namely his numerous comments to Sora about Ventus and Roxas.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: His voice is more gravely compared to other characters.
• Eyepatch of Power: He's missing his right eye but he's still extremely powerful.
• Eye Scream: Birth by Sleep shows Braig losing his eye to Terra when the latter uses his darkness to nail him in the face with a Dark Volley shot.
• Face Death with Dignity: Unlike the other Organization members, Xigbar does not express fear or remorse while fading into darkness, instead chuckles rather triumphantly and gives Sora a cocky reply to the final question Sora asks him. Given his general knowledge of Xehanort's plans and his subsequent return, Xigbar may have known beforehand that he would be restored.
• Family-Friendly Firearms: His arrowguns shoot laser bullets and don't look like traditional firearms.
• Faux Affably Evil:
  • Braig, in general, comes across as a lot more sinister than Xigbar, making light of holding an old man hostage and how much of a beating he can take. After his injuries at the hands of Terra and an Evil Makeover, he falls further into this when he confronts Ventus and Aqua at the Keyblade Graveyard and threatens to finish them off so Terra can succumb to the Darkness all while still maintaining his laid-back demeanor. Considering how both instances were all part of a ruse by Master Xehanort, it's likely he was just playing up a villainous role to enrage the heroes.
  • Xigbar's attitude in 3D also has shades of this, being cheerfully indifferent over their master plan to turn Sora into another vessel for Xehanort just like him and his Villainous Breakdown when Sora accepts his apparent insignificance compared to the other heroes and continues to stand against them. III brings him closer to his original demeanor, encouraging the heroes to press on while still cheerfully snarky over everything and making vague statements relating to his real agenda.
• Firing in the Air a Lot: In his Data Rematch in Limit Cut, he'll shoot arrows straight up and use his spacial abilities have them slow down until they're hanging above him before he shoots other arrows straight at Sora. It does a decent job distracting Sora from when he's actually directly firing at him though he immediately has the suspended arrows launched towards Sora as well the moment he's done with the direct shots.
• Firing One-Handed: Xigbar wields his arrowguns a la Guns Akimbo despite how large they are.
• Foil: Increasingly framed as an antagonistic variant to Axel/Lea with the two making their individual debuts as snarky, relatively comedic, laid-back yet very dangerous members of the villainous Organization XIII who have little authority, Dual Wield their signature weapons and later on develop into Meta Guy Breakout Characters. That's about where the similarities end though as while Axel was incredibly manipulative and Faux Affably Evil in Chain of Memories, working towards some unknown agenda, he later turned out to only be working for the benefit of his friends and his developing friendship with Roxas and Xion would drive him to pull a Heel–Face Turn later on. Not to mention, his original persona of Lea was nothing more than a cheerful, ordinary kid prone to trying to befriend everyone he meets. By contrast, Xigbar while initially coming off as rather friendly if definitely shady in II whose odd vague statements indicate he knows way more than he lets on, it's later shown that his original persona of Braig was a sinister thug willing to resort to trickery and deception to aid the ambitions of the main antagonist for the apparently selfish motivation of wielding a keyblade himself and that he's always been privy to the malevolent true purpose of the Organization. There's also the fact that while Axel was a mostly close-range fighter that eventually gains his own keyblade after being recompleted as Lea, Braig/Xigbar fights from a distance in all appearances and regains his humanity only to give it up to continue working together with Xehanort as the Nobody Xigbar and seemingly perishes one last time in III lamenting his own lack of a keyblade.
• Foreshadowing:
  • In the epilogue of Re:coded for 2.5 HD Remix, when Young Xehanort explains to him that Master Xehanort's Keyblade is ancient, Braig squints his eye and gives him a Meaningful Look.
  • When fighting the twelve vessels at the start of the final battle of III, the one representing Xigbar is the only one with attacks the other eleven don't have and is always at the center of their formations.
• Fragile Speedster: In the sense that he teleports around a lot to keep his distance and is pretty vulnerable if you manage to reach him in II. Played straighter in the boss fights against him and his somebody form, Braig in games later released where he actually runs around, taking potshots while still abusing Teleport Spam. In 358/2 Days, the speed of his combos rival that of Larxene's, but he's got mediocre to poor stats all around.
• Friendly Sniper: Though he was definitely an Affably Evil Sniper as Braig.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Part of his boss fight in II has him teleport to the far end of a platform to take potshots at Sora while safely out of range of Sora's attacks and spells. He also frequently warps space to Teleportspam around the stage, making him annoying to catch.
• Grand Theft Me: In Dream Drop Distance, he reveals that he's been partially possessed by Master Xehanort since Birth by Sleep.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Take a wild guess which. Like with his eye, Xigbar received this as Braig by having a ball of dark energy from Terra's Keyblade graze his face when it was launched to free Master Xehanort from the chains that bound him to a pillar.
• Gravity Master: He can manipulate gravity, and uses it to hang upside-down above the battlefield and walk in the air.
• Guns Akimbo: He even did this as Braig, when they were crossbow-type weapons.
• The Gunslinger: Although with "arrowguns".
• Great Bow: His Desperation Attack in III has him combine his guns into one to fire a massive rain of arrows.
• Handicapped Badass: That missing eye and lack of depth perception don't hinder his ability to land shots at all. Then again his spacial abilities means he doesn't even need to really aim to hit enemies.
• Hidden Depths: Xigbar has a lot more going on then you might expect - for example, despite being an offputting weirdo, he is Xemnas's number two, which implies that he's perhaps more skilled than otherwise shown. This was the same back when he was Braig, with him being a loyal follower of Xehanort who, despite acting oddly, is there for the first attempt to re-create the χ-blade. Following The Reveal in III, this makes a lot more sense.
• I Just Want to Be Special: It's implied that Xigbar/Braig is envious of the Keyblade wielders and joined Xehanort in hopes of becoming one himself. It was just an excuse to get Xehanort to offer him a Deal with the Devil that would allow him to get close to the No Name wielder.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: Xigbar possesses deadly aim, as seen in Kingdom Hearts II, when he destroys a group of Heartless surrounding Sora, Donald, and Goofy without harming any of the protagonists even once.
• Instrument of Murder: Equipping Xigbar with the Mystery Gear makes him wield a pair of trumpets in the stead of his Arrowguns. They shoot musical notes, accompanied by the appropriate sound effects.
• Jerkass: It's on the same level as Master Xehanort, if not more so than his original self.
• Joke Weapons: Casual Gear gives him hair dryers. Mystery Gear gives him trumpets.
• Kick Them While They Are Down: In Birth By Sleep he approaches Aqua and Ventus and states his intention to kill them both, despite the latter being encased in ice.
• King Mook: To the Sniper Nobodies, who apply similar, but far less deadly, tactics to Xigbar. They even have eye-patches in the same place as Xigbar's.
• Lack of Empathy: He is a Nobody after all, but his response to Roxas anxiety over the Castle Oblivion massacre is telling him their lives are already meaningless anyway and even states that he is glad the castle is quieter. In the Organization's final meeting, Xigbar jokingly remarks that there are more free seats. Xigbar does show a degree of empathy on occasion, especially towards Xion when she failed to defeat the Organization's "impostor".
• Laughably Evil: Easily one of the snarkiest and most irreverent villains in the franchise. By 3D, his jokes have gotten downright meta.
• Lampshade Hanging: In Birth by Sleep, he notes about Terra's Keyblade "seems like these days everybody's got one of those", and remarks on Xehanort's amnesia "boy, this is some cliché."
• Lean and Mean: Braig's lanky build contrasts heavily with the barrel-chested Aeleus and Dilan who were also former bodyguards to Ansem The Wise. Of the former apprentices of Ansem The Wise, he also turned out to be 2nd only to Xehanort in terms of being the most malevolent.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In 3D. "Let's hit these plot points in order, Sora."
• Leitmotif: 3D gives him "Xigbar", a slightly faster variation of "Organization XIII" with a waltz rhythm and a sinister string part added.
• Limit Break: Critical Snipe. Pressing the attack button will cause the camera to change to an over-the-shoulder perspective as he combines his Arrow Guns into a single sniper rifle where you can aim left and right and press the attack button fire projectiles at enemies. You can't aim up or down but you can set yourself up in mid-air and cancel the sniper rifle at any time with the jump button to dodge and/or reposition yourself for maximum damage. For his Final Limit, the speed at which he shoot sgoes down but the projectiles become larger and more damaging as well as explosive.
• Locked into Strangeness: Black and grey. At first glance, you might think it's a sign of him aging, or his possession by Xehanort. It's actually the physical change he undergoes as a Nobody, since it reverts to pure black when he temporarily changes back into Braig during the secret ending of Re:coded.
• Long-Range Fighter: Exclusively a gunman, lacking any sort of close-range moves or weaponry whatsoever.
• Lured into a Trap: Tends to use this offensively. It's not uncommon for Braig/Xigbar to occasionally adopt a more relaxed and vulnerable pose during a fight, immediately teleporting away and launching into a counterattack if the bait is taken.
• Mage Marksman: A sharpshooter who's also skilled with gravity and space magic, and has been since before he even became a Nobody.
• Master of None: Despite his high ranking in the Organization, his playable incarnation in Days has stats that range from below average to outright bad with only his high attack speed and unique usage of a ranged weapon as compensation.
• Meaningful Name: While the name Braig may not hold much in the way, there's two reasons his name is important.
  • His name is a slight anagram for the Norse god of poetry and music, Bragi, the near-oldest of Odin's sons and the 'skald of skalds', the supreme of future-seers. This becomes more important in III where he asks a certain group of people if they like long stories and where he has more insight into the future than he seems.
  • "The Freeshooter" as well, since it's from the Germanic opera Der Freischütz about a marksman who has seven bullets, but only one controlled by the Devil. Since Master Xehanort in question is THE devil, it's a telling feat how he even got close enough to him long enough to observe things secretly on the behalf of his secret agenda.
• Mechanically Unusual Fighter: By virtue of being a purely Long-Range Fighter in 358/2 Days where everyone else uses melee attacks. He also has an ammo count and has to reload whenever it hits 0. The ammo count varies based on what weapon he's using which is a weapon-based consideration unique to him alone.
• Meta Guy: He was already snarky, but by 3D his jokes have gotten rather self-aware.
• Mind over Matter: Capable of levitating his Arrowguns though it usually just seems to be for show.
• More Dakka: His Limit Break in every one of his appearances involves him raining a storm of projectiles upon his opponent to dodge lest they get torn to bits by the sheer quantity of them. In his III data fight, he unleashes a hail of black arrows that slowly engulf the entire arena, forcing Sora to make a perfect dodge to dive through the wave to get to safety. This is while he's still firing his normal arrows and his bouncing arrows.
• More than Meets the Eye: He acts a lot more serious when talking to Xehanort, showing his calculating side, a sharp contrast to his casual attitude around others. And it turns out not even Xehanort is aware of how deep the act runs...
• Morph Weapon: While they might not be a Keyblade, Xigbar's Arrowguns have three Formchanges of their own: in II he can stick the barrel of one into the stock of the other to combine them into a sniper rifle, or join them at the circular portions to merge them into a split-barrel railgun which fires larger bullets capable of bouncing off walls. In III he also demonstrates the ability to join them at the stocks into a bow.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When he attacks Sora and co in The World That Never Was, they're cornered by a pack of Heartless after having been reminded that killing them will complete the Organization's Kingdom Hearts. Cue Xigbar gunning down all the Heartless himself, sparing the heroes the difficulty of getting of them without further enabling the Organization's plot. This serves as a subtle piece of foreshadowing that Xigbar is less interested in Xehanort's success than he appears to be.
• The Nicknamer: In 358/2 Days he calls Roxas "tiger" and "kiddo" several times, refers to Axel as "Flamsilocks" once and continually calls Xion "Poppet", though the last one is a critical clue on the nature of what Xion really is.
  • Given that the last one indicates Xion's true essence, perhaps by that theming he nicknamed Roxas "tiger" due to how similar he is to Gula, whom by that nature is one of his true friends.
• Not Quite Flight: Rather then floating he instead walks on air, what sets him apart from most is he usually walks on air, upside down.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Unafraid of wrapping an arm around others' shoulders when engaging in casual conversation as seen in his interactions with Terra-Xehanort in the secret ending to Birth By Sleep and Zexion in a cutscene added to Final Mix II. Neither of the two recipients of this behavior are particularly comfortable with this.
• Not What I Signed on For: After losing his eye and getting a facial scar from Terra, Braig furiously attacks Master Xehanort, who had apparently said he wouldn't get hurt.
  Braig: I didn't sign up to be collateral damage!
• Number Two: Literally and figuratively. He's literally the second member of the original Organization, and scenes from Birth by Sleep and 3D show that he's been Master Xehanort's right-hand man from the very beginning, helping him in various ways and Implied to be one of Xemnas' confidants in Organization XIII.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: He's probably one of the Organization's smarter members and is one of the only people in the franchise to actually know what Xehanort's up to. He also rarely takes anything seriously and likes to Troll his fellow Organization members. A secret report in III outright states that the whole act runs even deeper than that.
• Obviously Evil: His Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness, Pointy Ears, Evil Eyebrows, large jagged facial scar and Eyepatch of Power do not make for a particularly trustworthy-looking individual.
• Paranoia Fuel: At the end of Birth by Sleep, the memory-sealed Terra-Xehanort acts as an in-universe example of this for him. Braig isn't 100% sure that it's not really Terra under there, and given that Terra was the one who scarred Braig's face, his uneasiness is almost palpable. Given that he's at least partially Xehanort at the time, he's probably fearing that Terra's memories would resurface and their plans getting laid to waste.
• Perpetual Smiler: Rarely seen without some form of shit-eating grin though he does drop it for the right occasion.
• Personality Powers: He plays with people and with gravity, it fits. To elaborate, he's always using his gravity powers to give himself the high ground over everyone else, or to come in from confusing angles (like walking upside-down). This matches how far ahead of everyone he is in knowing Xehanort's plans, and how full of surprises he really is.
• Pet the Dog: Compared to Larxene, Xaldin, or Vexen, Xigbar's attitude towards Roxas is rather playful, serving as a Trickster Mentor to him. He once told Roxas that he cared for his future, called him and Xion the true elites of the Organization and exceptional and he often calls Roxas "kiddo" or "tiger". When Axel and Xigbar fought Xion to capture her, the latter fumbles the attempt when Xion suddenly takes Ventus's appearance, taking the upper hand in their fight. Saïx immediately tries to pin the blame on Axel and his attachment to her, but shockingly Xigbar agrees with Axel's claim that she simply managed to escape after Xigbar got overpowered and that the blame doesn't exactly rest on Axel alone though once Saïx leaves he then tells Roxas that Axel did nothing to stop her. He was also hurt by Roxas's eventual desertion of the Organization, showing there was genuine attachment.
• Pre-Final Boss: Braig is this in Aqua's story in Birth by Sleep, being fought immediately before the final battle with Ventus-Vanitas.
• Rain of Arrows: One of his new tricks in III has him shoot an arrow into the sky that thunders down a shower of arrows in a gradually widening ring. In his story fight this is his Desperation Attack, while in his Data rematch it becomes a normal part of his attack routine.
• Recurring Boss: He is fought twice in Birth by Sleep. First by Terra in Radiant Garden and then by Aqua in the Keyblade Graveyard.
• Rewatch Bonus: After The Reveal during the post-credits scene of III, a lot of Xigbar's earlier lines throughout the series take whole new meaning in the greater scope of things, particularly ones pertaining to past Keyblade wielders.
  Xigbar: I guess thats why the Keyblade chose you. But, MAN, did it pick a dud this time. You don't look half the hero the others were.
• Rugged Scar: He has one over his left cheek.
• Running Gag: While it's generally not Played for Laughs, he will frequently comment on the "angry look" that Sora, Roxas, and Ventus (who are all connected) give him.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: In 3D, he quickly decides Xemnas can handle Sora alone after Sora's friendship speech makes images of ALL his allies appear around him.
  Xigbar: Those are just words! You - you've lost. Fine, see where your power gets you here. Xemnas, he's all yours! (books it out of there)
• Shipper on Deck: He teases Roxas about Xion, going so far as to give advice on how to impress her. It's heavily implied to have been a sick joke, as he knew about Xion's true purpose as a Replica designed to absorb Roxas.
• Short Range Guy, Long Range Guy: In III, his sniping abilities stand at stark contrast with his partner Dark Riku, who excels at melee combat while having limited ranged combat and no aerial attacks at all.
• Showdown at High Noon: His stronger, data incarnation in Re Mind has what is arguably one of the coolest things to come out of Kingdom Hearts, period: A quick-draw duel between him and Sora! It's triggered by the situation command named...well, Showdown, and it involves him and Sora walking slowly towards each other with their game faces on, facing each other for a few seconds, then firing off a single shot. Whoever gets hit takes massive damage and leaves themselves open to further attacks.
• Shout-Out: All of his weapons in Days are some sort of reference to the Final Fantasy games, from those that are around throughout the entire franchise (Bahamut), those that can be familiar to someone who played their respective games (Gullwings, Sunrise), to even some stuff not many people would realize (Crime and Punishment, named after a side quest in Final Fantasy XII).
• Slasher Smile: He gave one of those when he was about to snipe Sora's head.
• The Slow Walk: As Xigbar, he's prone to casually strolling around holding his hands up as if shrugging in the midst of combat, even upside down. It borders on being a Silly Walk. That said, this rarely means he's actually vulnerable.
• Space Master: With some overlap with Gravity Master. He is able to completely change the makeup of his boss arena at will when fought in Kingdom Hearts II, as well as having more control over Corridors of Darkness to attack from multiple angles at once. He can also change the trajectory of his arrows as shown in his boss fight in Kingdom Hearts III, or stop his arrows and have them change their course.
• Spell My Name With An S: The North American release of II misinterpreted his real name as Bleig; the PAL release and all subsequent games rectified this.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: In 358/2 Days, he blocks attacks by combining his Arrowguns together by the ends and rapidly spinning them in mid-air like some sort of makeshift buzzsaw.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes: Braig's remaining eye becomes yellow after he accepts Xehanort's gradual possession of him. Considering his playful, shady personality, it also doubles as a Yellow Eye Of Sneakiness.
• Surfer Dude: In the English Dub, he has the "laid back surfer" accent to portray him as less serious than the other Organization members. But as he puts it, he's "not just any old dude"...
• Tall, Dark, and Snarky: As Braig before he gets his scars from Terra.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Thanks to his space attribute.
• Teleport Spam: Uses corridors of darkness to rapidly attack from different angles during his boss fight in II.
• Thinking Up Portals: Capable of manifesting small portals that function differently than the corridors of darkness other Organization members use, presumably because of his unique powers over Space. As Braig he only ever shoots into them, but as Xigbar he'll outright stick his arms into them. Both have the effect of allowing him to fire at the heroes from a variety of angles.
• This Cannot Be!: When you defeat him in II he says "I lost...? Me!?"
• Troll: He trolls Zexion on Xemnas's connection to the Chamber of Repose, Saïx over Xemnas's true identity and Sora on his connection to Roxas.
• Unblockable Attack: In his Data rematch in III, he fires blue bullets that can't be blocked during his new Desperation Attack. He uses the same unblockable bullets just after firing three of the bouncing blue bullets, which can be blocked, in order to confuse the player.
• Villain Has a Point: After Hercules helps save a family in III, Xigbar rightly points out how, while he is a hero, he rightly puts too much stock in his natural advantage, and would have died several times over without it. More importantly, his point also applies to when Sora attributes too much of his strength to his friends, and when he's eventually put into a spot where all his allies are pulled away, he breaks down hard from the loss.
• A Villain Named "Z__rg": While he's hardly the only example in the series, "Xigbar" is probably the most blatant.
• Villainous Breakdown: Experiences two brief ones in 3D when Sora states that even though he's not one of the Keyblade's chosen ones, he's proud to be connected to the people that are and also when Lea shows up to save Sora from becoming one of Master Xehanort's vessels. In the former, he drops his affable demeanor and reasserts in a stunned tone that those are just words and Sora has lost. For the latter, he finally starts showing real anger and tells Master Xehanort "What now, you old coot?!"
• Villainous Friendship: In 358/2 Days, he gets along quite well with Demyx who is similarly laid-back, goofy and Affably Evil. They're often seen conversing together in the Grey Room. Demyx even has the Affectionate Nickname of "Xiggy" for him.
• Vocal Evolution: In III, his voice takes on a rasp reminiscent of Xehanort's.
• Weapon Across the Shoulder: As Xigbar, when he has his arrow guns out, he'll always have one resting upon his shoulder while he's standing still.
• Wham Line:
  • In Dream Drop Distance, he drops "I'm already half-Xehanort!" revealing he's truly been working hand in hand with Xehanort ever since Birth By Sleep.
  • In III, when Sora claims he'll never be worthy of wielding a Keyblade:
    Xigbar: Oh, I am worthy.
  • Even long before The Reveal, he has this to say at the end of Olympus world:
    Xigbar: May your hear-- [Smash Cut to black]
• Wild Card: It seems he has his own plans, as revealed in the Re:coded secret ending while he was talking with Young Xehanort. We see those plans unfold in III's epilogue.

His True Identity - Massive Spoilers

Luxu

"Finally. Back where it belongs."

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda (Back Cover), Hōchū Ōtsuka (III) (Japanese), Max Mittelman (Back Cover), James Patrick Stuart (III) (English)

Appearances: χ[chi] | 0.2 Birth by Sleep -A Fragmentary Passage- | χ Back Cover | III | Dark Road | IV

"I had a role to play. And after all these years, it's done."

The sixth apprentice to the Master of Masters. He is gifted the "No Name" Keyblade that would eventually be passed down to Master Xehanort, as well as a large black box, to fulfill the secret role bestowed upon him by the Master.

To fulfill his purpose, Luxu has been Body Surfing between different vessels for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, watching over the wielders of the No Name, until the second Keyblade War came and went. With the defeat of Master Xehanort at the end of Kingdom Hearts III, Luxu takes back his Master's Keyblade as his own and prepares for the next phase of his role.

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• Ancestral Weapon: His Keyblade would be passed down a Master-Apprentice Chain until it eventually reached Xehanort.
• Anti-Villain: Working to ensure the Evil Plan of the series' first Big Bad, Xehanort, would eventually come to fruition and there would be a second Keyblade War is without a doubt horrible. However, he did so because he believed it would allow him to save his mentor and his friends.
• The Bad Guy Wins: Sure, every Xehanort was stopped once and for all but Luxu himself managed to get exactly what he wanted: another Keyblade War and the return of the Foretellers. He even managed to get his No Name back and both the heroes and the villains played right into his hands, all because he’s been manipulating both sides since the beginning, not caring who won or lost as long as his role was completed.
• Because Destiny Says So: A variation. He steadfastly carried out the Master of Masters' task for him, ensuring his "No Name" Keyblade makes it to the second Keyblade War, and even that the second Keyblade war happens, because he believes fulfilling the book of prophecies is the only way to truly save his fellow Foretellers.
• Been There, Shaped History: He's spent countless lives making sure his Keyblade's Master-Apprentice Chain remains unbroken and that the second Keyblade War occurs as the Master of Masters foretold. All to ensure the lost Keyblade Masters may return again.
• Black Cloak: Wears a black long rain jacket.
• Body Surf: His heart has gone through multiple vessels in the time between the first Keyblade War and Kingdom Hearts III, with Kingdom Hearts χ implying he's been pulling one Grand Theft Me after another, kicking a person's heart out of their body so his can take it over, much like what Xehanort did to Terra.
  Luxu: Yeah, but some time ago I had to cast my old form away. Been through plenty more semblances since, but it's still me underneath it all.
• Breakout Villain: While Xigbar was already this before, him being Luxu solidifies his status as this, making him both The Man in Front of the Man for Xehanort and one of the most important characters in the entire franchise.
• Call-Back: When Xigbar first takes off his hood in II, he is surrounded by three men and a woman and referred to by a different name, to which he unhoods himself with a flippant "Nope, never heard of him!" and sneaks away. In The Stinger of III, he once again finds himself in this position, only this time he replies with a solemn "Haven't heard that name in a long while..." and stays in his position for the rest of the scene.
• Canon Character All Along: III's Secret Report 13, various comments by the character over the game, and the epilogue reveals that Luxu, who debuted in the χ games (2013), is in fact Braig / Xigbar, who debuted in II (2005).
• The Chessmaster: Like both his Master and Ava, Luxu is good at manipulating events from behind the scenes to his advantage and he’s also good at playing people like fiddles, as seen with what happened between the Guardians of Light and the Seekers of Darkness. It’s more impressive considering the fact that he successfully engineered for the Second Keyblade War to occur without anyone on either side getting a hint of his true plans.
• Corrupt the Cutie: Even moreso than the corruption in Kingdom Hearts χ. By the time he becomes Braig and Xigbar, he has no qualms with manipulating and toying with other people while also affiliating himself with a Keyblade Master of darkness. The worst part is that he did all of those not really because he enjoys it, but because destiny says so.
• Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: As an ancient Keyblade Master with literal lifetimes of experience, he's actually one of the most powerful warriors out there after the Keyblade War. Despite this, he lets himself get beaten up by various other characters, plays the Cowardly Lion, and does other ridiculous things to hide how powerful he really is. Although it is obvious that not actually having a Keyblade to fight with is his biggest handicap.
• The Determinator: He was determined to see through his task of passing down the Gazing Eye Keyblade from generation to generation until the next Keyblade War comes to pass, no matter what he had to give up, no matter how long it took, and no matter how many lives he had to live.
  Unknown: I will continue gazing upon each passing era, one unto the next [...] be it years or decades, centuries or millennia.
• Evil Counterpart: To Ava. Both of them are ancient keyblade masters who lived long ago before Sora and his friends were even born, both of them are apprentices of the Master of Masters who were each given a secret role that their fellow Foretellers aren’t aware of, both of them share similar chessmaster tendencies like their Master, both of them constantly question the Master’s motives and both of them miss their friends (the other Foretellers) and don’t want them to fight. However, the differences there are that unlike Luxu, who still blindly follows the Master of Masters’s orders despite knowing that he’s not being entirely honest with his students, Ava instead decided to bend the rules and eventually starts defying both the Master’s orders and his prophecy. Also, unlike Luxu, who only acts Faux Affably Evil towards his enemies, Ava’s niceness is genuine and she even tries to act kind towards her enemies if she can. Plus, the roles that the Master of Masters gave them are polar opposites: Ava’s role is to ensure that other keyblade wielders survive the upcoming keyblade war to rebuild anew, while Luxu’s role is to ensure only his own survival ahead of everything else and to not try to intervene in the war to save anyone.
• Generation Xerox: Master apprentice version. He's adopted many of the Master of Master's goofy and snarky personality traits by the time he's become Braig / Xigbar. Like his master, he also lost one of his eyes, and his general vocal patterns have also become very similar.
• I Have Many Names: In the χ games, he goes by Luxu. In Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep he goes by Braig, and in all games afterwards people refer to him as Xigbar. The only exceptions are the Foretellers themselves when he summons them during the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts III, who refer to Xigbar as Luxu as they have always done. He also goes by Bragi and Brain.
  Ira: Is that you, Luxu? You look different.
  Luxu: Haven't heard that name in a long while. These days they call me Xigbar, but hey, whatever suits you.
• It's a Long Story: Luxu's response to Aced furiously demanding an explanation to what his role was during the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts III embodies a rather passive-aggressive play on this trope.
  Aced: I've heard enough! Luxu, what was your role?
  Luxu: I hope you like long stories.
• The Man Behind the Man: It's implied Xehanort's plans would have completely fallen apart multiple times, such as after Terra and Eraqus sealed his memories as Terra-Xehanort at the end of BBS, if not for Luxu continuing to push him towards starting the second Keyblade War as Braig and Xigbar. Doubles as Hijacked by Ganon and The Man in Front of the Man because Xigbar appears before Master Xehanort does, posing as his underling.
• Manipulative Bastard: If the third game’s epilogue is anything to go by, he might be even better than the Xehanorts at deceiving people and screwing with their heads. He played everyone like fiddles and he made both the heroes and the villains help him fulfill his plans without any of them realizing it.
• Non-Indicative Name: Like most of the Foretellers, his name / sin (Luxuria / Lust) has very little to do with his actual personality. By the time he's become Xigbar / Braig, he doesn't even have a lust for what life has left in store for him, as he's tired of his generations long role and just wants to see his friends again.
• Playing Both Sides: The epilogue of III, reveals that Luxu has been using both Guardians of Light and Seekers of Darkness to further his own goals and ensuring the second Keyblade War would happen.
• Punch-Clock Villain: He generally follows the script that was given to him, but if his tone is anything to go by, he really doesn't like it.
  Unknown: Somewhere in this cyclical history of Bequeathings, a chosen one will appear and reenact the Keyblade War. When this scapegoat arrives and takes my Keyblade in hand, that will be the time to take the stage and finish my role.
• The Reveal: In the Secret Reports and epilogue of III, it's revealed he's retained his memories in life after life, ensuring the Book of Prophecies is fulfilled, with his most recent being none other than Xehanort's Dragon with an Agenda, Xigbar/Braig.
• Sad Clown: Despite how snarky and goofy he acts as Braig/Xigbar, his personal memoirs portray him as deeply depressed, lonely, and tired after spending literal ages making sure his teacher's prophecies came to pass, viewing everything that's happening as a farce and just wishing to see his friends again.
• Secret Identity: After the first Keyblade War, he bequeathed his Keyblade to another and kept his identity as a Keyblade Master secret. He even makes a fake Deal with the Devil with Xehanort for his own Keyblade, which he could've taken back at any time, just so he can ensure Xehanort completes the prophecy of the second Keyblade War.
• Sour Outside, Sad Inside: While his outer attitude is snarky, his inner attitude before the end of III reveals he's very lonely and wants to see his friends again. He sees that happen when the Foretellers return, sans Ava.
• Stepford Smiler: His Perpetual Smiler tendencies as Xigbar hide a great deal of emotional torment and mental stress over the massive role he's been assigned. He's also a...
• Stepford Snarker: One of the most sarcastic members of the cast, he doesn't actually care about anything except completing his Master's mission and reuniting with his friends.
• Time Abyss: By the time of Sora and Master Xehanort, he's spent generations, ages, eons even, keeping vigil over the Master of Master's Gazing Eye.
  Unknown: It has been a long time. Longer than I can express.
• Tomato Surprise: Xigbar is his latest vessel, a fact he is well aware of, but the audience is not till the end of III.
• The Unreveal: The Reveal in Kingdom Hearts III also doubles as this since the first face we see of his is actually Xigbar's, who afterwards admits that he "cast his old form away", meaning that the audience does not get to see his "real" face in that game either.
• Walking Spoiler: Talking at all about his role in III requires giving away The Reveal that he was Xigbar the whole time, and the one making sure Xehanort's plans for a Keyblade War came to a fruition.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: Invoked. After the first Keyblade War, he did everything in his power to make sure not just that his Keyblade continued to be passed down, but that the second Keyblade War happened. After Xehanort causes it however, he completely stops caring what happens to the Big Bad, instead setting off to complete his mission to bring back his teacher and friends.
• You Don't Look Like You: Subject to an in-universe example. During the reveal that Xigbar was Luxu in the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts III, Ira and then Invi make comments to this effect. Luxu's reply to these comments lampshades this.
  Ira: Is that you, Luxu? You look different.
  Invi: (After she sees Xigbar's face) Is it really you?
  Luxu: Yeah, but some time ago, I had to cast my old form away. Been through plenty more semblances since, but it's still me underneath it all.

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"I hope you like long stories."